Bats of the Republic

Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel Zachary Thomas Dodson 4/5	Published 2015 First Sentence "It was the third massacre I'd witnessed."
Publisher's Description: Bats of the Republic features original artwork and an immaculate design to create a unique novel of adventure and science fiction, of political intrigue and future dystopian struggles, and, at its riveting core, of love. In 1843 Chicago, fragile naturalist Zadock Thomas falls in love with the high society daughter of Joseph Gray, a prominent ornithologist. Mr. Gray sets an impossible condition for their marriage—Zadock must deliver a sealed and highly secretive letter to General Irion, fighting one thousand miles southwest, deep within the embattled and newly independent Republic of Texas. The fate of the Union lies within the mysterious contents of that sealed letter, but that is only the beginning . . . Three hundred years later, in the dystopian city-state of the Texas Republic, Zeke Thomas has just received news of the death of his grandfather, an esteemed Chicago senator. The world has crumbled. Paper documents are banned, citizens are watched, and dissenters are thrown over the walls into "the rot." When Zeke inherits—and then loses—a very old, sealed letter from his grandfather, Zeke finds himself and the women he loves at the heart of a conspiracy whose secrets he must unravel, if it doesn't destroy his relationship, his family legacy, and the entire republic first. The two propulsive narratives converge through a wildly creative assortment of documents, books within books, maps, notes, illustrations, and more. Zach Dodson has created a gorgeous work of art and an eye-popping commercial adventure for the 21st century.
Dear Reader, The fun I had with this book! It reminded me of my time as a kid reading a 'choose your own adventure' book. It was borderline mixed media - not many loose leaf breadcrumbs or anything out on the www to connect to the pages. The art, though! Brilliant. I loved the feel, look and touch of this book. The spine was velvet lined (which ended up filled with cat/dog fur by the time I was finished). Have you seen this Author by the way? Check him out (pic to the right). He's as wacky as his book, and that moustache is FANCY! Speaking of mustaches, there are a few moustached characters - very distinguished gentlemen. Let me get to the book... what an adventure. I haven't had this much fun reading in a long time. "Bats" is chock full of MAPS (Love maps), letters (LOVE letters, history (yeah, history is cool), and the future (o0oo so very sci-fi, love that too). It is unlike anything I've ever read but at the same time reminded me of quite a few books I've read... if that makes sense. I was reminded of George Orwell's "1984", the future is controlled very similarly. I also got hints of Mark Z. Danielewski and the multi-colored text. Although, I couldn't find a strong distinction as to why the text was colored differently (where as Danielewski has purpose for everything he does funky in his books). If anyone found a connection, please share it with me! Anyways, this book goes back and forth in time (no middle here) between 1843 & 2143, both centering around Texas and Chicago. To try and explain the states in the future would ruin the surprise but let's just say Texas isn't just Texas and Chicago isn't just Chicago. The future is very sterile, a little bleak but with control and order. The past is just that... the past (but chock full of rich and exciting history). The surprising thing is that I didn't connect well with the main characters from the future, or even the main character from the past. My favorite storyline/character was within the sisters and the book within a book. Something about it reminded me a little of "Pride and Prejudice" with courtships and strong-willed females. I told you this book has many reminiscent moments towards some great classics. I wonder if the Author did this on purpose? So, we are left with the one burning question... should you read this book? Well, do what I did... crack the spine and feel the eyes of the bat staring into your soul... telling you to read this book. Yep, THAT'S what hooked me from the start... the bats! If the bats don't get you... the snakes will. I promise you that you'll embark upon an adventure like no other, filled with beautiful drawings and imaginative storylines. You will want to find out how it ends. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - I can't wait to see how far this one goes in the Tournament of Books.

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Modern Romance

Modern Romance Aziz Ansari & Eric Klinenberg 4 / 5	Published 2015 First Sentences "Oh, shit! Thanks for buying my book. That money is MINE. But I worked really hard on this, and I think you'll enjoy it."
Publisher's Description: A hilarious, thoughtful, and in-depth exploration of the pleasures and perils of modern romance from one of this generation’s sharpest comedic voices At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated? Some of our problems are unique to our time. “Why did this guy just text me an emoji of a pizza?” “Should I go out with this girl even though she listed Combos as one of her favorite snack foods? Combos?!” “My girlfriend just got a message from some dude named Nathan. Who’s Nathan? Did he just send her a photo of his penis? Should I check just to be sure?”  But the transformation of our romantic lives can’t be explained by technology alone. In a short period of time, the whole culture of finding love has changed dramatically. A few decades ago, people would find a decent person who lived in their neighborhood. Their families would meet and, after deciding neither party seemed like a murderer, they would get married and soon have a kid, all by the time they were twenty-four. Today, people marry later than ever and spend years of their lives on a quest to find the perfect person, a soul mate. For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his comic insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted the world’s leading social scientists, including Andrew Cherlin, Eli Finkel, Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we’ve seen before. In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of our new romantic world.
Dear Reader, It me took forever to read this book! Or rather, it took US forever to read this book: I audiobooked it with Troy, and we started it when it was released back in June. But we tend to audiobook together only when we are taking long drives (and very occasionally, long walks), so we picked it up and put it down so many times! Luckily, it was pretty easy to do that, since this didn't have a continuous storyline - just a bunch of interesting chapters. So I started listening to the audiobook (which, by the way, is an entirely different experience from the book - Ansari loves to talk to his listeners in asides, especially about how lazy we are for audiobooking!) because I always love to hear authors read their own work wherever possible. But I hit "pause" quickly - I realized that Troy would also love to listen with me, as we were both huge fans of Parks & Rec, and this was a different sort of celebrity book: instead of memoir, it was a study, and I knew that would appeal to us both. So be began to listen together, which then caused a 6 hour book to end up taking us 4 months to finish! Haha. It might have also taken us so long to read because we were constantly pausing to discuss one point or another! It was a great conversation kindler. Ansari and Klinenberg study people from all ages and walks of life - from an old folks' home in Brooklyn to love hotels in Japan. They explore the world of online dating, of texting (and sexting!), and the huge changes that have taken place both in marriage expectations and in courting rituals in the past hundred years. It was fascinating to consider everything they studied. And Ansari infused the entire thing with his trademark wit, which made even parts that might possibly have come off as dry into humorous episodes! I think this is a great book for our generation to read: it is important to remember we're all in this very odd, unprecedented moment of coupling together. You're not alone if you've received unsolicited "dick pics" or broken up with someone over texts. It's a strange new world we live in, and one where we are so much more conscious of our choices. Sometimes this can be overwhelming, but it is nice to know we're (mostly) all aiming for love rather than just settling down with some kid from the neighborhood. Or doing it for the donuts. Yours, Arianna

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Geek Sublime

Geek Sublime Vikram Chandra 2.5 / 5	Published 2014 First Sentence "Even if you're the kind of person who tells new acquaintances at dinner parties that you hate e-mail and e-books, you probably recognize the words above as being some kind of computer code."
Publisher's Description: The nonfiction debut from the author of the international bestseller Sacred Games about the surprising overlap between writing and computer coding Vikram Chandra has been a computer programmer for almost as long as he has been a novelist. In this extraordinary new book, his first work of nonfiction, he searches for the connections between the worlds of art and technology. Coders are obsessed with elegance and style, just as writers are, but do the words mean the same thing to both? Can we ascribe beauty to the craft of writing code? Exploring such varied topics as logic gates and literary modernism, the machismo of tech geeks, the omnipresence of an “Indian Mafia” in Silicon Valley, and the writings of the eleventh-century Kashmiri thinker Abhinavagupta, Geek Sublime is both an idiosyncratic history of coding and a fascinating meditation on the writer’s art. Part literary essay, part technology story, and part memoir, it is an engrossing, original, and heady book of sweeping ideas.
Dear Reader, I suppose I should have read the subtitle ("The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty") more closely. I'll be the first to admit (as ashamed as I am) that I skimmed several chapters in this book. I never do that! But my eyes just glazed over every time Chandra got into a deep discussion of Indian religions and beliefs and, well, anything that involved a ton of Indian terminology. I just couldn't follow along! I wanted to, and I really tried to. But all the talk of gods and goddesses just didn't interest me. I couldn't see how it associated with the "code" part of the book, until I realized it wasn't supposed to, but was rather supposed to address the "code of beauty" part. I wish that were something I were more interested in; I think this book must have had a lot to say, and made some beautiful points along the way (I was especially impressed by how coded of a language Sanskrit is!). But, unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it. As another reader pointed out, Chandra assumes you have the ability to remember every italicized Indian term he uses, and then sprinkles them liberally through his paragraphs. If I were able to grasp one concept in a chapter (even that a rarity), the author had already moved on through 20 others. It was frustrating, and difficult, and I admit that for my pleasure reading, I just didn't want to make the gargantuan effort required of me. However, I did really enjoy the other parts of this book, those that covered the computer programming side of things. Perhaps because that is my wheelhouse, I had no trouble following along with those chapters! (But I suspect his explanation of logic would appeal to non-programmers, too.) I particularly enjoyed Chandra's discussion of the similar problems that both women and Indians face when attempting to work within the largely male and American software field. He really understood the kinds of things that make women like me, who really LOVE code and who wanted to have a career in it, leave for other careers. It doesn't work that way with everyone; I know there are plenty of women who have "made it," and I am both highly respectful and jealous of their ability to manage (perhaps compartmentalize?) the environment. (I'm not talking about the jobs I've had in software, just the feeling of inadequacy that "alpha geeking" can bring out.) I was also fascinated by the idea that women who are raised in a culture that rewards hard work (India) are much more likely to succeed in their culture's software development firms; I certainly can understand the feeling of "oh, it doesn't come naturally to me, I shouldn't really try then" that the American culture has imbued in everyone - for a nation that is built on the ideals of Horatio Alger, you'd think we'd have a bit more faith in those who apply themselves, who work hard. But I feel that many get turned away from Computer Science because it doesn't just make sense. Those to whom it does, they have an easier time alpha-geeking in our geeky culture, I think. Anyway! So I did really love the chapters on the beauty of logic and the brief history of computing (which pointed out how programming the computer was "women's work" until hardware changed and could integrate things more smoothly; when the job became prestigious, it was back to the man's domain!). And I even enjoyed the author's discussions about his writing. Being passionate about both writing and computers, I figured I would really enjoy this book. Unfortunately, as far as pleasure reading went, it wasn't quite my speed. Chandra is brilliant, but he is beyond my scope of understanding. Yours, Arianna

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Jacob T. Marley

Jacob T. Marley R. William Bennett 4 / 5	Published 2014 First Sentence "To understand the time between Jacob's death and his wispy visit with Ebenezer in the bedroom with the old Dutch tiles showing the scenes of Bible stories, one must go back and see what path led him to this spot wherein he was permitted to frighten Scrooge for his own good."
Publisher's Description: Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is a holiday favorite and this new book, written in the style of Dickens, tells the story from the perspective of the character who was a ruthless taskmaster business partner who taught and influenced Scrooge and then saved him from the brink of a terrible fate. Jacob T. Marley is to A Christmas Carol as the world-famous Wicked is toThe Wizard of Oz and is a masterfully crafted story teaching us, once again, the true meaning of Christmas.
Dear Reader, I meant to write this review before Christmas, of course. But the holiday season caught up with me and I am still trying to find time for reading and posting here! My apologies that this is a bit delayed...I hope you will forgive me and allow this belated holiday post: I hope it will perhaps continue your celebrations just a little bit longer! I was very wary of this book, going into it. I loved the concept behind it: how did Scrooge become the true miser he was? - but was worried that it might try too hard and then fail to meet those expectations. Lucky for us, Bennet did a great job of writing in Dickens' style with enough of a touch of his own that it became an enjoyable but very traditional read - I could see this easily joining the A Christmas Carol canon, becoming the volume which everyone places to the left of the classic on the shelf. I was impressed by how well Bennett matched the style and feel of Dickens' classic: it feels as if he must have read and re-read that book a hundred times over! It is why I truly believe this book could be a serious companion piece to ACC, rather than a bit of fluff that someone felt like imagining up. And in many ways it was quite unlike Wiked as compared to The Wizard of Oz. While Wicked is a standalone piece which touts Maguire's own style and voice, Jacob T Marley is much more of an homage to the master, weaving Marley's view of things in with the story which Dickens originally told. My favorite quote from this book? "If we do nothing but remove a rock upon which someone might have tripped, though they may never know we did it, is this not our cause, our reason for life?" All I can do is recommend this to anyone who loves the classic and wants to see more of Scrooge's story. It's a wonderful explanation of how both men turned into who they were - and, who they would ultimately turn into, which is the heart of both of these original and timeless Christmas tales. Yours, Arianna

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Finding Zero

Finding Zero Amir Aczel 3.5 / 5	Published January 6, 2015 First Sentence "When I entered first grade in the late 1950s, at a private school in Haifa, Israel, called the Hebrew Reali School, I was asked a question the institution always asked its entering students."
Publisher's Description: The invention of numerals is perhaps the greatest abstraction the human mind has ever created. Virtually everything in our lives is digital, numerical, or quantified. The story of how and where we got these numerals, which we so depend on, has for thousands of years been shrouded in mystery. Finding Zero is an adventure filled saga of Amir Aczel’s lifelong obsession: to find the original sources of our numerals. Aczel has doggedly crisscrossed the ancient world, scouring dusty, moldy texts, cross examining so-called scholars who offered wildly differing sets of facts, and ultimately penetrating deep into a Cambodian jungle to find a definitive proof. Here, he takes the reader along for the ride. The history begins with the early Babylonian cuneiform numbers, followed by the later Greek and Roman letter numerals. Then Aczel asks the key question: where do the numbers we use today, the so-called Hindu-Arabic numerals, come from? It is this search that leads him to explore uncharted territory, to go on a grand quest into India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and ultimately into the wilds of Cambodia. There he is blown away to find the earliest zero—the keystone of our entire system of numbers—on a crumbling, vine-covered wall of a seventh-century temple adorned with eaten-away erotic sculptures. While on this odyssey, Aczel meets a host of fascinating characters: academics in search of truth, jungle trekkers looking for adventure, surprisingly honest politicians, shameless smugglers, and treacherous archaeological thieves—who finally reveal where our numbers come from.
Dear Reader, This book was so much more than I expected. I went in to it anticipating a somewhat dry (if layperson) look at numbers and how they came to be a part of our world. I expected chapters to be organized by history, or by theory. Instead, this book read much more like a memoir. It began with the author's adventures as a young boy as the son of a ship captain, and how he became interested in seeking out the source of our Arabic numerals. There were parts that were kind of slow and there were parts which I just wanted to get through, but by the end I was almost on the edge of my seat! Aczel isn't a great writer - you can tell he is more of a math-minded person than a literature one - but he really did capture my attention and got me joining him during his triumphs and missteps as he traveled the world seeking that elusive first zero. I will admit the book took some getting used to, and as I said there were certainly parts which had me questioning whether I wanted to go on, but I am so glad that I did. The story as a whole was really worth it. And, I learned so much more than I thought I would along the way! Going back to Dr. Aczel being more of an academic, there were certain points of the book which frustrated me, mostly relating to him skimming over concepts which I either didn't fully grasp from his glazed-over explanations, or ideas or references which I would have liked him to delve into further. For instance, on page 24 he mentions Maxwell's equations in physics as a good example of the important role the zero can play in other fields outside of mathematics - but never actually tells me what those are. Granted, they could be well beyond my understanding, I get that. But I'd have loved at least a footnote that gave me further reading or some sort of basic idea of the concept. I don't like having to pull myself away from a book just to Wikipedia something to get the gist of it. Another thing he mentions a page earlier is that "the double-entry bookkeeping system used in accounting today was developed in Europe in the thirteenth century in part to avoid using negative numbers." Okay, but I am not an account, and that intrigued me - I wanted to know more. I think I am familiar with the idea, but I'd have loved an example. In yet another point in the book, he examines logic and looks at syllogisms, using shorthand "A" and "O" which I am guessing to mean "assumption" and "observation" but...I don't know, and that bothers me. It was just those little tidbits which I would have liked to have given to me, the lay reader. He is clearly not writing to the mathematician. (NB: This was an ARC, and explanatory text may have been added during the final editing stages - I'd love to see a finished copy to check.) On the flip side, Aczel did a wonderful job of throwing in lots of little extras - from photos of his father and many of the other people he encountered there, to fascinating little histories that he scattered throughout the book which really made it the gem it turned out to be. Outside of his own quest, he shared those of fellow zero seekers, and short histories of many of the places he visited. While, for example, I had always been vaguely aware of the Khmer Rouge, I learned so much more about that awful era and what it did to Cambodia's history. It makes me eager to learn more - and I do so love books which can do that. Yours, Arianna

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Ireland

Ireland Frank Delaney 4 / 5	Published 2004 First Sentence "Wonderfully, it was the boy who saw him first."
Publisher's Description: In the winter of 1951, a storyteller arrives at the home of nine-year-old Ronan O'Mara in the Irish countryside. The last practitioner of an honored, centuries-old tradition, the Seanchai enthralls his assembled audience for three evenings running with narratives of foolish kings and fabled saints, of enduring accomplishments and selfless acts -- until he is banished from the household for blasphemy and moves on. But these three incomparable nights have changed young Ronan forever, setting him on the course he will follow for years to come -- as he pursues the elusive, itinerant storyteller . . . and the magical tales that are no less than the glorious saga of his tenacious, troubled, and extraordinary isle.
Dear Reader, I actually tried to read this book once before, right after I finished Mildred Pierce. For some reason (maybe it was the change in pacing from one book to the next?), I could not stick with it & my mind kept wandering! I was wary of trying again, but I have had it on my iPod waiting to be listened to forever, so I figured I should give it another go. I'm glad I did, too! It was a fascinating book. That might be heavily influenced by - as anyone who knows me well can attest - my infatuation with all things Irish. I love the Irish! I don't even know if I have a fraction of Irish blood in me (I've been told I may or may not - I'm that much of a mutt!), so it's not like I'm being patriotic for my home country or anything. I just love the scrappiness and spirit of the Irish, I guess. Plus, Irish boys. :) In ANY case, I digress: the point is, I chose this book based solely on the title when I was browsing through my library's Overdrive selection. The premise sounded intriguing, so I loaded it onto my iPod and gave it a go (well, two, to be exact!). There were certainly slow moments to the book, and parts I didn't love - some of the stories got very deep into describing battle scenes and the like, and that just doesn't appeal to me; my mind ends up drifting away from listening to those parts. Additionally, I found I enjoyed most those stories which were based in reality, versus the fairy-tale feel of some of them. Overall, though, all of the stories were entertaining. So. What was the book about, you ask? In the most basic description, it was about an Irish storyteller - or a seanchai, as they are called (I found a great video of what the old man probably looked like while telling his story!). This man travels the country, earning his room and board by entertaining the townsfolk he encounters. If he tells a good story, he is invited to stay longer, and thus have a place to call home for a time. He has no permanent address, no way to be found. It's a rather romantic idea, isn't it? Not something that would even be feasible today, but Delaney based his story in the 1950s. As someone on Goodreads rightly noted, this book was MADE to be audiobooked: I got to experience the closest thing to being in the room with a seanchai. The stories were made to be TOLD - not watched, not read on the page - so they were really well crafted for the aural venue. I'm glad I happened upon the audiobook version of the novel! The stories the old man tells begin with the earliest known Irish history and continue progressing until they reach the (relatively) present day - stories about everything, including the island's original clans, the British invasion, the IRA. I learned SO MUCH - about Irish history, and surprisingly about the origin of certain words & phrases, which as many know is right up my alley! The book was also really well done in that it didn't just consist of a bunch of stories told one after another. The author really knew what he was doing: he kept things varied (and really interesting, as it examined the fading calling of storytelling as the world became more technological) by having the stories told not only from the teller's mouth, but also through the mediums of television, transcription, audio tape, letters, and even through other characters. The story revolves not truly around the old man so much as it does around the life of Ronan O'Mara, a young boy who first becomes enchanted by the storyteller at the impressionable young age of nine. He spends his life following the man, in various ways, and there is even a mystery intertwined with everything! Delaney really understood what was necessary to make what sounds like a somewhat dry idea into something so much more robust and read-worthy. I'd definitely suggest this book, especially to those who seek to broaden their knowledge about their own Irish heritage. Yours, Arianna

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Life After Life (review by AmberBug)

Life After Life Kate Atkinson 4/5	Published 2013 First Sentence "A fug of tobacco smoke and damp clammy air hit her as she entered the cafe."
Publisher's Description: On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. Sadly, she dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Clearly history (and Kate Atkinson) have plans for her: In Ursula rests nothing less than the fate of civilization. Wildly inventive, darkly comic, startlingly poignant — this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best, playing with time and history, telling a story that is breathtaking for both its audacity and its endless satisfactions.
Dear Reader, I have been waiting to read this book ever since Arianna wrote a glowing review of it (check it out). I'm glad she convinced me to read the book, because I really enjoyed it. I thought the idea of reading someone living life over and over again would get annoying, but the Author makes very good use with repeating subjects (hardly at all) and jumping through time (skipping long bits to catch us up). I really appreciated the timeline of the story and the delicacy in which she traveled on it. Ursula, the main character, is the one who ends up living her life over multiple times... giving her the chance to set things right and change her future/history. In the beginning life, she is strangled by her umbilical cord, making her first life very short and tragic. Whenever Ursula dies, the "black bat of darkness" comes and then snow falls (Arianna points out the symbolism of that in her review). The remarkable thing surrounding each life, is that she gets to change her situation (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse). I loved the anticipation of the "do-over" that you started to realize was coming. My one gripe revolves around this as well though, I kept reading a little too quickly... anxious to get to the next part. This might be my own problem though, I get overly curious and anxious sometimes and this can be detrimental when reading a book that needs you to stay in the "here and now" without looking to what might be ahead. I don't think this is a universal problem and it probably didn't have the same effect on others reading this book. When something went "wrong" in her current life, I was just focused on what she would do to fix it in the "next" life. Smartly, the Author doesn't make Ursula's memory of her past lives clear cut. Each time she comes across an event that was troublesome in her past life, she has a feeling (almost like a dream) that something should be done about it but she doesn't really know why. The vague cloud of memory is a nice touch and might have been my favorite small detail to the crazy idea behind reincarnation (if you'd call it that). I loved the way the story progressed (even if it had me wanting to jump ahead), each life was unique and Ursula had fantastically unusual experiences in all of them. One of my favorite moments was when she rescues (more than once) a dog she dubs "lucky" from a building about to come down. I almost wished there would be more to the dog and the connection they might have shared. Alas, he plays a very small part but still won my heart over. I also liked how in each different life, she seemed to have different connections with her siblings, the situations changing the closeness she felt with different ones. In one life, she was best friends with her sister, Pamela (told her absolutely everything), while in another life... her younger brother was the one she constantly turned to. I found that fascinating, the turns and bends through life becoming waves that change small things but effect the larger picture (such as sibling relationships). To sum up my thoughts on this book, I loved reading it. Atkinson has a beautiful way with words and she thinks outside of the box (a value I absolutely love). I wish I could have slowed things down a bit, my anticipation got to me and I found myself on edge too many times. Again, this is my own silly personality and I shouldn't fault the book for this. I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes to read thoughtful literary novels with beautiful writing. Happy Reading, AmberBug

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Mrs. Poe - Review by AmberBug

Mrs. Poe Lynn Cullen 4.5/5	First Sentence "When given bad news, most women of my station can afford to slump into their divans, their china cups slipping from their fingers to the carpet, their hair falling prettily from its pins, their fourteen starched petticoats compacting with a plush crunch."
Publisher's Description: A vivid and compelling novel about a woman who becomes entangled in an affair with Edgar Allan Poe—at the same time she becomes the unwilling confidante of his much-younger wife.   It is 1845, and Frances Osgood is desperately trying to make a living as a writer in New York; not an easy task for a woman—especially one with two children and a philandering portrait painter as her husband. As Frances tries to sell her work, she finds that editors are only interested in writing similar to that of the new renegade literary sensation Edgar Allan Poe, whose poem, “The Raven” has struck a public nerve.   She meets the handsome and mysterious Poe at a literary party, and the two have an immediate connection. Poe wants Frances to meet with his wife since she claims to be an admirer of her poems, and Frances is curious to see the woman whom Edgar married.  As Frances spends more and more time with the intriguing couple, her intense attraction for Edgar brings her into dangerous territory. And Mrs. Poe, who acts like an innocent child, is actually more manipulative and threatening than she appears. As Frances and Edgar’s passionate affair escalates, Frances must decide whether she can walk away before it’s too late...  Set amidst the fascinating world of New York’s literati, this smart and sexy novel offers a unique view into the life of one of history’s most unforgettable literary figures. (Published 2013)
Dear Reader, I absolutely loved everything about this book, starting with the literary references right down to the forbidden romance. Cullen took all the pieces, fact and rumors, about Edgar Allen Poe and the characters around him and wrote a beautiful story that delves into feminism, technological progress, NYC literary society, and so much more. Right away Cullen gives us the setting perfectly, telling us of the NYC smells as horse manure, garbage and urine. This gives us a picture of what NYC was, pushing us into the past. I love when historical fiction adds quaint and factual details such as this. The characters, based on real life, are strong, opinionated and made me want to jump into a time machine to attend one of their conversaziones. Frances Osgood, the struggling poet that has chosen the wrong man to marry and struggles with this throughout the book. Samuel Osgood, the husband of Frances, who is the master charmer portrait artist, one we would call a player in our time. Virginia Poe, the wife of Edgar Poe, sick and fragile but has a dark side. Edgar Allen Poe, the famous poet/writer, creepy yet extremely intelligent and charming (in his own way). Cullen wrote Edgar with finesse, he comes across with dry humor which he even admits, "I do not joke... I never joke". That spoke to me because I'm a believer that the truth is what makes something so funny. As Dane Cook (I believe it was him) says, "It's funny because it's so true". Poe's personality is so dark with macabre retorts that had me enamored, I think I fell in love with him right along with Frances. One of my other favorite characters was Mrs. Fuller, even if she was only a minor part. She loves stirring the pot, has definitive views on feminism and is fantastic at defending her fellow females. Feminism plays a large part in this book, the idea of "free love" is brought up a few times and the conversations that play out around that theme are really interesting. One of the central ideas to "free love" is how "marital relations without the consent of the wife amount to rape." How complicated things were back then, suffocating in a marriage that wasn't right. The inequality of it all, something that is really hard to fathom in present times. The Author actually uses the doomed love of Edgar and Frances to show the injustice of the way things used to be. Shouldn't we be able to be with the one you love? Even now, with such changes in marriage, we suffer with the ideas of adultery and bad relationships. Should you stay with someone out of loyalty even if it means we'd be miserable? Doesn't that just make the person we're with suffer just as much if not more? A great quote from the book sums this up beautifully, "Why must women always deny their desires? Why must most men always deny theirs? It is completely unnatural to do so." This book might seem like a romance, but to me it was so much more. I'd normally run for the hills at the first mushy paragraph... However, this book spoke to my geeky side. Mrs. Poe is chock full of technological progress, like having a fun history lesson; how roads started, NYC indoor plumbing bringing the rats, daguerreotypes, the first x-mas trees, etc. I really loved the argument brought up around daguerreotypes(develops a portrait by exposing chemicals to light.. Ahem, photography anyone?) this brought up the argument of Fine Art vs. Photography, which interested me quite a bit, being an artist myself. Samuel Osgood, the artist, believed that daguerreotypes were a fad that would pass with time. Poe, on the other hand, felt it was a fantastic technology that was truest to the subject. How I would have likes to be a part of these discussions. I really would recommend this book to anyone who loves literature combined with history. Cullen gives us so many literary figures (mentioned or cameo); Walt Whitman, Mr. Audobon, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, even Charles Dickens. It left me star struck and wanting more. I can't wait to pick up another of her books, it left me wanting more. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - Check out Arianna's review of this book... Lynn Cullen commented on her post commending her for understanding where she was coming from, you have to read it!