Top Ten Tuesday for October 2!

Here are previous Smoke & Mirrors Top Ten Tuesday posts.

This meme was created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by that site until

January 2018 when That Artsy Reader Girl took on the hosting duties!

Today's theme for Top Ten Tuesday is Authors I Would Love to Meet!
Wow. Honestly, there are so many! 
Although I have perhaps met more authors than I ever expected to be able to meet, 
there are more I would love to have the opportunity to meet...
(Perhaps I'm just never satisfied! LOL)

I don't know if I can limit this list to ten or not...but here goes!

First and foremost, Janet Evanovich! 
Her Stephanie Plum series is one of the silliest I've ever read, 
but also one of my absolutely favorite and most entertaining ways to spend time!
The newest installment, Look Alive Twenty-Five, is due to be released November 13th! 
That is a Tuesday. If at all possible, I will schedule myself off work for a day of vacation, head to my local bookstore that morning as soon as they open, 
purchase my pre-ordered copy, and enjoy my afternoon!
I am certain to be laughing out loud many times as I read.
The only question is how many times and how loudly! :)
I cannot imagine being the person whose imagination works in ways 
whereby you create Stephanie's world and all the very unique people and situations 
contained therein! Pure genius! (IMHO) :)

I have been privileged to have met many of the authors who might otherwise 
appear next on my list:
Garth Stein, Erica Bauermeister, Carol Cassella, Jennie Shortridge, Elizabeth Berg, 
Marisa de los Santos, Laurie R. King, Terese Marie Mailhot, Roxane Gay, Junot Diaz, 
AJ Finn, Lori Rader-Day, Annie Sullivan, Summer Heacock, 

And I feel as if I've met others due to having spoken with them via Skype/telephone and/or extensive contact via email/social media: Andrea Busfield, W. Bruce Cameron.

But to continue with the list of those I would love to meet in the future:

Jacqueline Winspear (I love her Maisie Dobbs series!)

David Rosenfelt (I love his Andy Carpenter series!)

Alexander McCall Smith (I love his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series,
Isabel Dalhousie series, and Corduroy Mansion series!)

Sarah Addison Allen (I love her magical realism!)

Kevin Kwan (I love those crazy rich Asians!)

Joyce Maynard (I loved Labor Day and The Good Daughters!)

Alafair Burke (I've loved all 10 of her books I have read!)

Susan Wittig Albert (I love her China Bayles series!)

Gennifer Choldenko (I adore her Al Capone at Alcatraz series!)

Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants--one of my all-time favorite books)

Emma Donoghue (Room was amazing!

Bill Clegg (I loved his debut, Did You Ever Have a Family!)

LaShonda Katrice Barnett (Jam on the Vine!)

Paula McClain (The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun!)

Penelope Lively (I loved Moon Tiger)

Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See...be still my heart!)

Susanna Kearsley (I've read two and need to read more!)

And if they were still alive: Kent Haruf and Sue Grafton 

Trust me! I could add more--but time has run out!

Happy reading!

--Lynn

Top Ten Tuesday for September 11!

Here are previous Smoke & Mirrors Top Ten Tuesday posts.

This meme was created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by that site until

January 2018 when That Artsy Reader Girl took on the hosting duties!

Today's theme for Top Ten Tuesday is HIDDEN GEMS!
This is one of my favorite topics! 
Those little-known favorite reads that I feel deserve to be Pulitzer Prize winners! :)

These are in no particular order...'cause there's no way I could prioritize this listing!
I am hopeless in that regard, especially with books I consider to be favorite reads!

One of the first books that comes to mind is 
A White Wind Blew (released February 6, 2013) 
by James Markert.
Having lived in the US midwest, I was amazed 
to read this book and learn of the 
Waverly Hills Tuberculosis Sanitorium 
in Louisville, Kentucky. I had no idea!
Oh, but this book is so very much more than that!
Markert includes so much history in this one book!
I love historical fiction and this is nearly perfect 
execution of that genre, in my humble opinion!
Dr. Wolfgang Pike and his wife are just two of 
the best defined characters I've known!
There is so very much that Markert includes 
that was so pertinent to the times:
prejudice/discrimination/lynchings,
bigger-than-life underworld villains and criminals, death/dying, recovery and rehabilitation, music/music therapy smuggling, love, romance, and commitment to faith. All this in an extremely readable and enjoyable book! 
And I obviously have not been keeping up with favorite authors' newest releases, 'cause there are now 3 more books authored by Markert and released since this one:
What Blooms from Dust (released July 26, 2018)
All Things Bright and Strange (released January 30, 2018)
The Angels' Share (released January 17, 2017)

The School of Essential Ingredients (released January 22, 2009) by Erica Bauermeister is the second book. 
While working at Borders for 4 1/2 years this was one 
of the few books I regularly recommended. 
Anyone I've ever known who read this book has at least enjoyed it a lot, but for most it became one of their "favorite reads"! 
That says so very much about this book...
Erica spoke with my book club on the phone during our discussion, and that made it so very special. She was quite forthcoming regarding her writing process and discussing her next book, Joy for Beginners (released June 9, 2011). 

The book club I facilitate also read the sequel 
to TSoEI, 
The Lost Art of Mixing (released January 24, 2013). 
And we were just as enamored with it!
It is Erica's use of language that sets her apart, in my opinion! As noted in my Goodreads review of TSoEI, 
"I smell, see, and hear as I read her words." 
I found that what she did for food in TSoEI, 
she was able to do for numbers in TLAoM. 
Unbelievable use of language to activate the senses! 
And such well-drawn enjoyable characters!
I just can't recommend her books highly enough!
And...per Goodreads, it looks as if she has a fourth book due to be released May 21, 2019--The Scent Keeper! 
I love it when my favorite authors have upcoming releases!
Don't you?!? :)

Now for something a bit more intense and perhaps pertinent to our current world situation, particularly in the United States, given the current political 'ruling party'...
The Boat People by Sharon Bala
I really like this BookPage review which gives 
a good brief summary of the book.
Goodreads classifies this as historical fiction 
based in Canada.
I have no idea how accurately this depiction may be with regard to Canadian immigration procedures, 
but there were definitely issues and situations 
which rang true given my experiences processing 
visa applications/renewals for employees. 
A researcher from Russia was very upset that her 
visa renewal was being delayed due to the federal agency's need to further research/verify her background. 
(And this was way before 9/11 
and the more restricted visa process in the aftermath!)
She had been in the US in the same position for at least 6-7 years at this point in time and was livid, finally shouting that it was impossible to verify anything anyway, since there were virtually no written record kept of much of anything in her home country!
Prior to that incident it had never occurred to me that other countries simply may not have the same ability to capture documentation or to organize information.
I think I always assumed other countries did things the same way as was done in the US!
Not necessarily... I mention this because I felt Bala's depiction of just such a situation--lack of documentation/facts to either refute or confirm asylum-seekers' claims--was spot on. 
There really is no viable way to verify these claims, is there? 
I greatly appreciated Grace's predicament. I felt it obvious that she was appointed to her position with the intent that she would deny most asylum-seekers' requests for entry. 
This, combined with the lack of actual facts regarding these people's lives in their home countries, and the increasing pressures of her personal life in dealing with her mother and children, etc. I had great empathy for her! I believe this book is so valuable for presenting many different perspectives to the whole immigration question...


One of my favorite 
books of all time is 
Jam! On the Vine 
by 
LaShonda Katrice Barnett.
I feel as if this book has been hugely overlooked and underrated! 
For more details, please click on the title above as it is linked to my two-part review/blog post.



(Yes, you read that correctly! I was unable to curb my enthusiasm into only one blog post!) 
There is so very much packed into this one book! 
If historical fiction is your thing, this one should prove enjoyable, 
if not also on your own list of favorite reads! 
Have you heard of the Red Summer of 1919? 
I had not...until I read this book!

Pieces of Happiness: A Novel of Friendship, Hope and Chocolate by Anne Østby
Firstly, thank you to the publisher for a free copy of this book as a member of the Keep Turning Pages Goodreads group! There was much more to this book than I expected.
Many different issues challenge these five women, yet they manage to work together and cooperate to help one another resolve whatever situation arises.
I don't know which of these five characters I sympathized and empathized with more, but I think probably Sina is the one I had the most respect for in some ways. And poor Lisbeth, 
what a shock she had regarding her husband's lack of fidelity and her former good friend. 
I could perhaps most relate to Maya, after having cared for my own mother as her health declined. Definitely a scary situation... I adored the descriptions of processing chocolate into candy, the island natives, and the tropical landscape. Made me long to travel there! 

Girl on the Leeside by Kathleen Anne Kenney
Ms. Kenney is a writer for whom the landscape 
becomes a character, in my opinion. 
And as I mentioned in the Goodreads review, 
I seem to always be enthralled by a setting in either 
Ireland or Scotland! It is true...and this book was no exception to that tendency!
This novel contained twists and turns 
that made me recognize each character's foibles 
as well as positive attributes. 
And what I specifically appreciated was 
the fact that the story arc was totally believable. 
I can easily imagine making the same decision Kee made, particularly given the rather solitary environment 
of rural Ireland. It would be a tough life 
for him to suddenly serve as main caregiver to his niece. 
I do believe it is never a good idea to hide the truth, especially from a child about her/his family, however...

Orphans of the Carnival by Carol Birch
I admit I was not particularly enamored with this book 
while reading it, but it has certainly stuck with me in the aftermath! I never cease to be amazed by 
how inhumane humans can be toward one another. 
Julia's life is a prime example of this.
I wish I had been aware this was historical fiction 
based upon a real person's life. 
Perhaps the issue most impressed upon my mind 
by this book is the idea of a marriage 
based upon an economic relationship: 
for example, Sonny and Cher and Celine Dion and Rene. 
In both marriages the male was the 
"manager" for his spouse. 
I think the general public always wonders how much of the relationship is based upon true love 
and how much might be influenced by monetary gain...
Though I do believe Theo did truly love Julia.
I just wish humans would learn to accept other humans. The fact that someone looks differently from the majority, doesn't mean they should be forced to become "sideshow" acts to make a living! We are all unique...some just look moreso than others!

Gemini,Oxygen, and Healer by Carol Cassella

 I can highly recommend all three of Carol's books. 
(Yes, I can call her by her first name since I have met her...a couple of times!) 
She is an anesthesiologist and I find the medical information/details she includes 
to be very informative as well as fascinating. 
I loaned all three to my best friend who is a Nurse Practitioner and she really liked them all. 
The book club I facilitate read Gemini and each member was fascinated by it. 
Just click on her website which is linked to her name for a summary of each of these books.
She is one of the very nicest, most sincere authors I have ever met!
She is someone I would like to call "friend"... :)

I met Dwight Ritter, author of Growin' Up White: A Novel, 
at the Christamore House Guild's Book Author Luncheon 
in Indianapolis, Indiana. If you are ever in Indianapolis in April and 
you enjoy reading and meeting and/or speaking with authors, 
you should attend this event! It is unique and the venue, 
the Indiana Roof Ballroom, is one of the most impressive venues...ever, in my opinion! 
And all money over and above cost is donated to 
the Christamore House located just west of the IUPUI campus 
in downtown Indianapolis. This event funds college scholarships for students in the area. So your money is going to a very good cause. What's not to like?!? Ah, but I digress...
This book is one of the best books I've read. Period! Not just due to the subject matter and themes, but especially due to the writing. These characters jump off the page into your life!
I respect Ritter on so many levels, not the least of which is that he has maintained control of his manuscript by self-publishing, even though that means he must shoulder the responsibility of all his own merchandising and public relations. There is no publishing company to book events, etc., but he wants total control and I can understand that!
Do yourself a favor and read this!

Okay, The Art of Racing in the Rain may not necessarily qualify as a "hidden gem," given that it has almost 400,000 ratings on Goodreads, but I believe the author, Garth Stein, does! As well as his most recent adult fiction book, 
A Sudden Light. Having met him, I can tell you he is one of the most passionate and enthusiastic among authors with whom I have spoken! He seems to have an endless supply of energy and is humorous and sincere. He is also a musician! 
A Sudden Light has stayed 'in my head' 
over the almost four years since I read it. 
Now that is a book that has really made an impression! 
The Art of Racing in the Rain is one of my absolute favorite reads ever! (Soon to be a movie!)
Every member of the book club I facilitate adored it as well!

And I have yet to purchase the 
"young reader" version of TAoRitR, 
Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog. 
I need to do so. Not only so I can read it,
but then I can send it on to my grandchildren.
When I met Garth, he was preparing for the release of Enzo Races in the Rain, 
a children's picture book. 

He was so excited!!

And now he has three more:

Enzo and the Christmas Tree Hunt!

Enzo's Very Scary Halloween

Enzo and the Fourth of July Races

(I have no idea why these images will not align as I wish them to do! But so be it!)

Happy Reading!!
--Lynn

Intricacy, complexity, and love?

Oxygen by Carol Cassella

This book cover and title are quite indicative of the story overall. I was utterly fascinated by the intricacies of delivering anesthesia; I never realized just how much is done by an anesthesiologist! Prior to reading this book I assumed an anesthesiologist would simply start "the gas" and then increase or decrease the delivery during the operation. That impression was sooooo wrong! I have met Carol Cassella face-to-face twice now and have been so impressed by her ease of communication and ability to connect; and it is that same forthright straightforward attitude that comes through her writing, particularly in Oxygen, her debut novel. 

I was utterly fascinated by the descriptions of the OR (Operating Room) and interactions among the staff: doctors, nurses, etc. Since I have no direct work experience in the medical professions, this was so enlightening to me. The amount of strict procedures involving the drugs to be prepared for and possibly used before and during surgery are mind-boggling to me, though I'm sure they are, unfortunately, necessary... As I reread bits and pieces of this book to write this review I am struck by the prescience and irony of the following passage:

          "Anesthesia is like aviation--we have backups for our backups, safety nets 
          stashed along the route. Only the human link in the chain comes without an 
          installed flashing red light." (p. 12) 

I am convinced that many times I overlook some of the most obvious "clues" as I read, though I wonder if some of this forewarning does actually register in my subconscious and I'm just well...unaware that it has... Hah! But I digress... Having read Gemini and discussed it with my book club, I am struck by Cassella's skill at interweaving mysteries into her stories alongside brilliantly detailed descriptions. I admit to being mislead as to the identity of the "guilty party" until it was REALLY obvious. I can appreciate an author's skill in accomplishing that! Although there was plenty of guilt and betrayal to go around in this story. 

I could so relate to Marie's inability to "let go" of her own assumed or imagined culpability in the catastrophic events of the OR, particularly with regard to the patient and her family. I appreciated the fact that no one but Joe was cruel enough to ever mention valuing Jolene's life less than any other child's life. I'm uncertain how realistic that might be, but I was appreciative, nonetheless. Each of us born into this world deserves respect and the right to the best life possible.  

Of Joe, Marie's father states, "He strikes me as a man who says a lot less than he says." (p. 244) So...he talks a lot, but really doesn't communicate much information. I do believe that somewhere deep down, Marie was aware, as was her father of something being "off" with Joe. That would certainly explain her reticence in committing to a long-term relationship with him. However, I had never imagined what was really going on with him, or the hospital, both person and institution so willing to commit illegal acts, "throw her under the bus," and thereby save themselves. Boy, oh boy...such betrayal... That is the one thing that has stuck with me so very strongly in the aftermath of reading this book: the betrayal. It was so thorough and so intricately planned. I was literally shaking my head. Yet it was Joe who finally forced Marie to recognize and "live in the now," as Eckhart Tolle would say:

       ...trapped and blind beside Joe, I force myself toward the conscious act of letting 
       go, and wind inwardly closer and closer, tighter and tighter into this moment, this 
       fraction of an instant, this incandescent flicker of time even before the electrical 
       synapse of thinking blisters into a concept of individual being. I exist only now. 
       A now of atoms more vacuous than solid, transiently amalgamated into human 
       before splitting into mineral and water and air, like a personal diaspora, a random 
       dispersion of all that was Marie. The completely profound senselessness of my 
       own existence explodes into its own blissful freedom. There is no impending 
       moment, no past moment, only this one, and without past there is no sorry, and 
       without future there can be no loss. (p. 226) 

For me, this passage is beyond lyricism, on into an even more melodious realm... It also demonstrated for me the power that Marie allowed Joe to exert over her. Although I could relate to these feelings, I think it was at this juncture that I began to suspect Joe of...something. 

I admit to being shocked that hospitals would overwork people making life and death decisions in this way... How can we expect doctors to be sharp enough not to make errors when they have been working 24+ hours with no rest? I rather assumed only Residents were treated this way, and was appalled at that. But hospitals evidently act like any other employers, trying to get by with paying as few staff as possible to handle the workload--with the expectation that each employee will do the work of more than one person. This is not good, in my humble opinion! 

Have you read any of Cassella's three books? What was your reaction? I have now read two, Oxygen and Gemini, and loved them both for their complexity and poignancy. Anxiously anticipating that I'll also like Healer!

So much more to this book than just the cover and title...

Gemini by Carol Cassella

I first read this book roughly one month after its release. Amazingly, I had managed to meet and speak with the author twice by that time! :) She seems to be a genuinely sincere and "nice" person! Beyond that, however, Gemini is definitely up there on my favorite reads for this year, and perhaps overall! I gently (or not so gently!) encouraged the book club I facilitate to read it and we discussed it in December 2014. Of the four of us, one didn't like it at all, one liked it, and two of us loved it! This prompted conversation and discussion that was amazingly diverse, including such topics as scientific validity and genetic analyses, death, the "right to die," medical intervention to keep a body "alive," love, selfishness, and familial influences on adult attitudes and beliefs. It was thought-provoking and enlightening! :)

My challenge for this book review? How to "translate" and condense 4 pages of notes and about 30 stickies placed throughout the book without writing another whole book in the process! ;) One of the things I loved most about this book was the fact that certain scenes/explanations were left up to the reader to interpret. I always feel that makes for a much more personalized reading experience, and great discussion with other readers! That proved true for our book club!

I loved Charlotte, though I do have reservations about her profession, particularly regarding a patient like Raney--keeping a body "alive" when there is no true hope of a return to a "normal" or interactive life. If a body is doomed to remain in a vegetative state, is that "living"? I don't believe so, but then I do believe in reincarnation, so that probably makes it easier for me to "let go" of one lifetime, since many more lifetimes will be experienced by any one soul. Charlotte was definitely an independent person, a feminist, if you will, and she found it difficult to truly "get close" to Eric. One book club member felt Charlotte was selfish, for not compromising or being dissuaded from wanting to establish a family that included children. Personally, I agree with another member who stated that it seems some people are just determined to have their own biological children, while others are not... The overall consensus was that Eric and Charlotte loved each other but wanted very different things from their lives at this point in time... Enter Jake. 

It is Jake for whom I had the most sympathy. He was truly a child with only one person serving as his life's anchor--his mother, Raney. I was so disappointed for Raney (and Bo) when she identified Jake's paternity based upon his physical characteristics at birth, for I truly wanted this baby to be a "love-child." Although we all believed Raney initially accepted Cleet into her life because he filled certain needs by respecting and caring for both her and Jake, he was good looking and a hard worker--we felt she did eventually learn to love Cleet. But in my opinion, she and Bo were true "soul mates." There was seemingly no effort involved for each of them to not only accept, but appreciate and respect the other. Finally, out of pure financial and psychological desperation, Raney brings Dave into their lives as a convenient "provider" and companion. However, this decision carried with it some dire results... 

How ironic and tragic that Raney helps her grandfather avoid institutionalization, but only a guardian ad litem, a total stranger to her, in conjunction with her medical team, oversees her own care. Her "husband" (I'm using this term loosely.) David refused to participate, not only denying Jake access to her, but also lying to him about her unexpected and sudden departure. This prompted discussion of living wills and self-selected medical advocates, both of which each of us should have prepared, even if we do have children! Interestingly, two of us have legally appointed friends to serve as our medical advocates, thus relieving our own children of the ultimate responsibility to "choose," if we are ever find ourselves in a similar predicament in the future. 

We also considered the possibility of "fatal flaws" in individuals' genetic codes, particularly with regard to bearing children and possibly passing those flaws along to future generations. There were mixed reactions among us as we discussed various scenarios where our genetic code could influence us to make certain life-altering decisions. Personally, I don't want to know... Firstly, just how accurate is this "analysis" and how can we know exactly what the chances are of transmission to future generations? (In my opinion, we can't...) After all, "scientific knowledge" is "man-made"--it is us trying to make sense of our world. That is not to diminish its value, but I believe it would be dangerous to ever consider it to be absolute, because it isn't...rather, it is  ever-changing as new "discoveries" occur. 

It was fascinating to consider the reasons behind each of these characters' decisions and life development. I was so very sad for Bo and Raney, as well as Jake, though by the book's end I was thrilled for the new beginnings and optimistic about the future... My description of these characters may seem very confusing, but trust me, it all makes sense in the end! Such depth and complexity underlies this deceptively brilliant story line...and that is what I appreciate most about this book. 

Exactly who was responsible for Raney's accident? None of us felt certain, even after rereading the passage aloud. And to what degree did it really matter? In my opinion, Dave was already destroying both Raney and Jake psychologically; it was a simple extension to imagine him harming her physically. And...did Charlotte finally decide not to keep providing mechanical life to a human body? Or did she follow the usual protocol and continue with  medical interventions? But...what would you do? 

As many people may already know, Gemini is an astrological sign referring to "twins." So, where are the "twins" in this book? I highly recommend you read it to answer these questions for yourself! And aren't these two adorable?!? :)