Book Review: Your Voice In My Head by Emma Forrest

Tuesday 31 May, 2011 By 13 Comments


Title: Your Voice In My Head
Author: Emma Forrest
Publisher: Other Press
Publication Date: May 3, 2011
Hardcover: 224 pages
ISBN: 9978-1590514467
Genre: Memoir

From the Publisher:

Emma Forrest, a British journalist, was just twenty-two and living the fast life in New York City when she realized that her quirks had gone beyond eccentricity. In a cycle of loneliness, damaging relationships, and destructive behavior, she found herself in the chair of a slim, balding, and effortlessly optimistic psychiatrist—a man whose wisdom and humanity would wrench her from the dangerous tide after she tried to end her life. She was on the brink of drowning, but she was still working, still exploring, still writing, and she had also fallen deeply in love. One day, when Emma called to make an appointment with her psychiatrist, she found no one there. He had died, shockingly, at the age of fifty-three, leaving behind a young family. Reeling from the premature death of a man who had become her anchor after she turned up on his doorstep, she was adrift. And when her all-consuming romantic relationship also fell apart, Emma was forced to cling to the page for survival and regain her footing on her own terms.
A modern-day fairy tale, Your Voice in My Head is a stunning memoir, clear-eyed and shot through with wit. In her unique voice, Emma Forrest explores the highs and lows of love and the heartbreak of loss.

My Review:

Reviewing memoirs, for me, is the most difficult of genres to review and yet it is also one of my most favourite genres to read.  While I was reading Your Voice In My Head by Emma Forrest I was emotionally touched by the raw and candid honesty of her writing.  I was not mesmerised immediately, rather the book took me awhile to really get into and even then there were parts I cared little about.  While I realise each section of this book is important to Forrest’s memoir, I felt as though there were two distinct books in this one memoir, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Dr. R. and would have definitely liked to have seen that explored more, however, this was not my memoir.  What I truly was uninterested in were the sections about GH, yet those times were an integral part of Forrest’s life.  Overall I enjoyed Your Voice In My Head and I am looking forward to reading other non-fiction works of Emma Forrest’s.  Forrest is a talented writer and I would recommend Your Voice In My Head to readers who enjoy memoirs.

About the Author:

Emma Forrest is the author of three novels and editor of the nonfiction essay collection Damage Control. Raised in London, she now lives in Los Angeles, where she is a screenwriter.

I received a complimentary copy of Your Voice In My Head by Emma Forrest from Other Press to offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Teaser Tuesdays-Your Voice In My Head

Tuesday 31 May, 2011 By 60 Comments

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

    “I like to think my parents have complementary eccentricities, two perfect jigsaw pieces of neurotica.  It’s all I ever wanted for myself.”

    Pages 7, Your Voice In My Head by Emma Forrest

    My Review of the book.

    What are you reading?
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Book Review: The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser

Monday 30 May, 2011 By 9 Comments


Title: The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You
Author: Eli Pariser
Publisher: Penguin Press HC
Publication Date: May 12, 2011
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN: 978-1594203008
Genre: Cultural

From the Publisher:

An eye-opening account of how the hidden rise of personalization on the Internet is controlling-and limiting-the information we consume.

In December 2009, Google began customizing its search results for each user. Instead of giving you the most broadly popular result, Google now tries to predict what you are most likely to click on. According to MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser, Google’s change in policy is symptomatic of the most significant shift to take place on the Web in recent years-the rise of personalization. In this groundbreaking investigation of the new hidden Web, Pariser uncovers how this growing trend threatens to control how we consume and share information as a society-and reveals what we can do about it.

Though the phenomenon has gone largely undetected until now, personalized filters are sweeping the Web, creating individual universes of information for each of us. Facebook-the primary news source for an increasing number of Americans-prioritizes the links it believes will appeal to you so that if you are a liberal, you can expect to see only progressive links. Even an old-media bastion like The Washington Post devotes the top of its home page to a news feed with the links your Facebook friends are sharing. Behind the scenes a burgeoning industry of data companies is tracking your personal information to sell to advertisers, from your political leanings to the color you painted your living room to the hiking boots you just browsed on Zappos.

In a personalized world, we will increasingly be typed and fed only news that is pleasant, familiar, and confirms our beliefs-and because these filters are invisible, we won’t know what is being hidden from us. Our past interests will determine what we are exposed to in the future, leaving less room for the unexpected encounters that spark creativity, innovation, and the democratic exchange of ideas.

While we all worry that the Internet is eroding privacy or shrinking our attention spans, Pariser uncovers a more pernicious and far- reaching trend on the Internet and shows how we can- and must-change course. With vivid detail and remarkable scope, The Filter Bubble reveals how personalization undermines the Internet’s original purpose as an open platform for the spread of ideas and could leave us all in an isolated, echoing world.

My Review:

I have always been leery of social networking, I share very little about myself and even less about my family, and after reading The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser I will be sharing even less.  Pariser takes the reader through what he refers to as the “filter bubble” leading readers inside the workings of major social networking sights along with the major sites such as Google and Facebook. Pariser tells how these sites are creating individualised “filter bubbles” which control what each of us see on a daily basis according to our clicking preferences.  I was curious to see what would happen if each of my family members Googled the exact same thing and low and behold, we all had different links suited to our presumed preferences.  As a political scientist I happen to like a broad spectrum of international news, my husband, a scientist received less on international relations and my teens received an eclectic array of links.  This worries me as it does author Eli Pariser, as more and more people come to find relationships and information on the internet. Are we being introduced to a wide range of thoughts and views or only those carefully chosen for us, individualised by the “filter bubble” to create an environment were what we see mirrors ourselves?  Pariser’s thoughts, research and interviews are extremely thorough, insightful, and he offers up ways to have the “filter bubble” work for the individual.  I highly recommend The Filter Bubble to anyone who happens to use a computer, especially to those who are exceedingly fond of social media sites.

About the Author:

Eli Pariser is the board president and former executive director of MoveOn.org, which at five million members is one of the largest citizens’ organizations in American politics. During his time leading MoveOn, he sent 937,510,800 e-mails to members in his name. He has written op-eds for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal and has appeared on The Colbert Report, Good Morning America, Fresh Air, and World News Tonight.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received an copy of The Filter Bubble by Eli Pariser from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Its Monday! What Are You Reading?

Sunday 29 May, 2011 By 58 Comments

It’s Monday What Are you Reading is the perfect way for me to begin my week and allows me to focus on what needs to be read and to see what I have or have not accomplished the previous week. I also enjoy discovering new books by visiting other participants blogs.

I Read and Reviewed (click the title to be taken to the review):

Visit next Monday to see if I managed to accomplish my reading goals.

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The Sunday Salon (TSS: 29 May 2011) Memorial Day Weekend Edition

Sunday 29 May, 2011 By 12 Comments
The Sunday Salon.com

Life: Happy Memorial Day weekend to all who celebrate the holiday.  Those of you who follow my blog weekly know this month and the first two weeks of June are a nightmare for me, and the worst will occur beginning on Friday.  Please think happy thoughts for me and my family.

Family Update: For my senior, school is almost over and then we have a flurry of senior activities, then uninvited out of town company arrives, then graduation.   My days are so packed thinking about them makes me want to dive under my duvet and stay there.  Sunday we attended the ceremony for those who have achieved high GPA while participating in sports, Monday night was my oldest son’s last concert and then there was a very long award ceremony, Tuesday was my 20th Wedding Anniversary, Wednesday was another banquet at school, Thursday evening twin 2 was inducted into the German Honour Society and Friday we were in charge of the Theatre Banquet preparations, which was a lot of fun!  Sadly, last week was tame compared to what awaits me and my family this week.

Saturday Night: We all crashed and watch DVDs.  It was our only free day in the near future.

Read and Reviewed: This past week I only read 7 books and reviewed 6 of them, as the 7th was not at all for me.  This week will be so packed with activities due to graduation and out of town guests I am hoping to get 3 books read.

Today I will be reading: The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen (sadly I never got to this book last Sunday)

Happy Reading and have a wonderful Sunday.
Visit the The Sunday Salon.
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This Is My One Day…

Saturday 28 May, 2011 By 2 Comments

out of the entire month where I have absolutely nothing that must be accomplished so my family and I are…

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Book Review: Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

Friday 27 May, 2011 By 15 Comments


Title: Island Beneath the Sea
Author: Isabel Allende
Publisher: Harper Perennial, Reprint Edition
Publication Date: April 26, 2011
Paperback: 480 pages
ISBN: 978-0061988257
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue—the daughter of an African mother she never knew and a white sailor who brought her into bondage—Zarité, known as Tété, survives a childhood of brutality and fear, finding solace in the traditional rhythms of African drums and in her exhilarating initiation into the mysteries of voodoo.

When twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island in 1770, he discovers that running his father’s plantation is neither glamorous nor easy. Marriage also proves problematic when, eight years later, he brings home a bride. But it is his teenaged slave, Tété, upon whom Valmorain becomes most dependent, as their lives intertwine across four tumultuous decades.

In Island Beneath the Sea, internationally acclaimed author Isabel Allende spins the unforgettable saga of an extraordinary woman determined to find love amid loss and forge her own identity under the cruelest of circumstances.

My Review:

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende is a powerfully written book of historical fiction about the 18th Century lives of the two main characters on the island of Saint Domingue, or what is now Haiti.  Tété is a slave, born of her African mother and white father who had enslaved her mother while Toulouse Valmorain is a 20-year-old arriving on the island to take charge of his father’s plantation.  Each of these characters, in their own way, are searching for a greater purpose or meaning to their lives, and Allende, by writing of their struggles and triumphs amidst the backdrop of life in 18th and early 19th Century Saint Domingue, gives yet another example of why her writing is so celebrated.  With genuine character development, Allende masterfully builds the story around how two so different individuals meet, their relationship that develops over several decade’s time and ultimately, readers see through Allende’s writing how love overcomes some of the most powerfully demeaning acts of cruelty amidst the enslavement of our fellow man.  Written on a time period long in the past, emotions brought out by Allende are timeless, making this book an excellent choice for discussion groups looking for a powerful work of historical fiction.  I would not hesitate to recommend Island Beneath the Sea to all readers.

About the Author:

Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is the author of many bestselling novels, including, most recently, Ines of My Soul, Zorro, Portrait in Sepia, and Daughter of Fortune. She has also written a collection of stories; three memoirs, The Sum of Our Days, My Invented Country, and Paula; and a trilogy of young adult novels. Her books have been translated into more than 27 languages and have become bestsellers across four continents. In 2004 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Allende lives in California.

Further information about author Isabel Allende may be found on her website.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received an copy of Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Blogging About Blogging-Armchair BEA 2011-Day 5

Friday 27 May, 2011 By 20 Comments

While the official Armchair BEA 2011 site offered me numerous prompts to create this post, I still have little to say.  Why?  Excellent question.  Let me provide some of the prompts and give my answers, or what I hope pass for answers.

1) How do you utilize social networking in relation to your blog? What may be the pros and cons of doing so?

For the most part I do not.  I am detest Facebook (I know, I should probably embrace it, but I do not).  I visit Twitter, Tweet new posts and follow along if a topic interests me, but for the most part, I truly have no time to be on Twitter, let alone reading the copious Tweets per day.  The second part I cannot answer.  I choose not to use most social media sites because I like my life to remain mainly private, I lack time, and there are a lot of social media sites.  For those who use them, I have no idea where they find the time.

2) Share some of your favorite blogging technical tips.

I have none.  Seriously.  I am hoping to learn some from fellow Armchair BEA bloggers.

3) Create a “rule list” of things you should and shouldn’t be doing on a book blog.

I blog what I know and what I enjoy.  I do not have any rules besides one: if it becomes stressful, it is time to move on.  I do not take myself too seriously.  I adore books and sharing books with others, but this is in reality a hobby (non-paid).  I have a husband and three children which take priority over everything else.

4) What are your tips for balance life and blogging?

My family comes first, it always has and always will.  I am grateful blogs were not in existance when my boys were young, I would not be here blogging today if I had small children.  Even though my boys are closer to adult than teen, I do not blog when they are home.  My boys and husband are a priority, my computer is not.

5) How do you keep your blog fresh and interesting to your readers & yourself?

I have no idea.  I just post my reviews and engage in three memes.  Whether I keep my blog fresh or not is up to my readers.

6) There are quite a few book blogging events out there. Which are your favorites and why? How do they affect your blog directly?

I participate in; The Sunday Salon, It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, and Teaser Tuesday.  The first allows me to recap the week and read recaps from other book bloggers.  The second is great fun and I not only get to share what I have read and will be reading, but I get to see so many books I might not have ever known about.  The last meme is always fun.  I like sharing a book teaser every week, but more importantly I enjoy reading others. Every Tuesday my TBR pile grows at an alarming rate.

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Book Review: Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax

Thursday 26 May, 2011 By 11 Comments


Title: Ten Beach Road
Author: Wendy Wax
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Publication Date: May 3, 2011
Paperback: 432 pages
ISBN: 978-0425240861
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

Madeline, Avery, and Nikki are strangers to each other, but they have one thing in common. They each wake up one morning to discover their life savings have vanished, along with their trusted financial manager- leaving them with nothing but co-ownership of a ramshackle beachfront house.

Throwing their lots in together, they take on the challenge of restoring the historic property. But just as they begin to reinvent themselves and discover the power of friendship, secrets threaten to tear down their trust-and destroy their lives a second time.

My Review:

Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax is an intriguing look at the lives of three women who suddenly find themselves financially ruined and co-owners of a ramshackle beachfront home, Bella Flora. Their collective decision is to remodel Bella Flora as quickly as possible and to sell the property.  While I have not read any previous books by Wax, I found her insight into human nature to resonate well as Wax tells the stories of Madeline, Avery, and Nikki, three very different women facing Herculean personal and familial circumstances.  Ten Beach Road is a light read, perfect as a vacation read, and while the book does not require copious amounts of concentration, Wax pulls the reader into the story about the lives of these three women and keeps the reader turning the pages to see how the story will unfold for Madeline, Avery and Nikki.  Ten Beach Road brings together the elements of family, struggle, hope, determination, and three strong female characters.  I would recommend Ten Beach Road to readers looking for a light, yet engrossing book as well as to book discussion groups, as this book would not only make for a lively discussion, but for fun summer reading.

About the Author:

Wendy Wax is the author of seven previous novels. A former broadcaster, she lives in the Atlanta suburbs with her husband and two teenage sons, who have turned her into the shortest member of their family.

Further information about author Wendy Wax may be found on her website.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the book tour.

I received an copy of Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.

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Nurturing Relationships-Armchair BEA 2011-Day 4

Thursday 26 May, 2011 By 20 Comments

The topic for today is community and nurturing relationships.  The official Armchair BEA 2011 site asks one to write about a specific relationship that has grown through book blogging, however I feel that is too limiting and I would rather not single out any one blogger, publisher, publicist or author.  Rather, through book blogging and the community that surrounds book blogging I have come to “know” many in all the aforementioned areas via blogging, Twitter, and reviewing.  The book blogging community is huge and I have merely scratched the surface.  I participate in three bookish memes, and these allow me to visit book blogs I may not have found on my own, have opened up new dialogues, and avenues I could never have expected when I first began to blog about books.

To learn more about community and nurturing relationships, The official Armchair BEA 2011 site has these two events coming up today!

Connect and build your relationships on Twitter during the Armchair BEA Twitter Parties! Yes, two parties! One from 10-12 am EST and the other from 8-10 pm EST to hopefully accommodate everyone that wants to participate.

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