Good Day Saloner’s!  It looks like rain here in Iowa again, so in other words, perfect reading weather!  I just finished one INTENSE book and am ready to start another.  I guess I’m on a roll with these type of books.  First off I just finished an advanced copy of The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.  I will have my review up this week,   I did like it and I predict it will be a big success.  Next up is a memoir,  House Rules by Rachel Sontag.  I picked this one up in part because of the controversy surrounding it, which I read about on Galley Cat’s website.  Here is an excerpt from that article:

House Rules by Rachel Sontag is about growing up in what she describes as an abusively controlling environment by a domineering father who went so far as to dope his wife up on lithium to keep her from divorcing him and rescuing Sontag and her sister from his tyranny.

And, oh boy, her father lashes out hard. Two reviews posted earlier this week, purportedly from both of Sontag’s parents, describe her in no uncertain terms as a fraud. “What Rachel Sontag does not want you to know are the many events that she refused to share,” this review claims. “They are not pleasant, but they are critical to understanding the duplicity and deceit of an adult with a fabricated childhood.” According to this version of events, Sontag was a willful brat who for some quasi-Oedipal reason was fixated on busting up her parents’ marriage and managed to convince several relatives to buy into her pathology. (Yes, yes, I know that with women it’s supposed to be an “Electra complex,” but the review explicitly states that she wanted to drive away her father to live alone with her mother.) The attacks get extremely personal, even gratuitously mean: “Rachel created conflict whenever she was at home,” the reviewer claiming to be her father writes, “which is why life was so pleasant when she was away.” Ouch.

Amazon.com customers have already started picking sides—and the side they’re picking is usually Rachel’s. “It must be terribly embarrassing to have your daughter write such a beautiful book about such a sad and dysfunctional family situation,” runs a typical response. “Rachel needs to have her feelings and memories acknowledged with love and respect,” says another reader. “I doubt this has ever been done or her book would have had a different ending.

You can go to Amazon and still read her father’s reviews.  Very sad and I think is very telling of her father’s character.  I can’t wait to see what all of you are reading! 

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P.S.  I have to brag on some wonderful websites because I have been on a lucky streak this week.  I have won some books for The Friendly Book Nook for participating in their Summer Reading Extrvaganza.  I won another book from Gina at writerinterrupted.com and I won this movie basket from DailyMishMash.com.  I encourage you to visit them, they are always hosting great giveaways!

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