Days of Awe Giveaway Winners!

Days of Awe Giveaway Winners!

Lauren Fox was the Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on Booksnob for the month of January.  She is giving away 3 copies of her AWEsome book, Days of Awe to three readers from the United States.  I am way behind on posting the winners for this giveaway so please forgive me. Life gets busy and my nose gets stuck in a book.  So without further ado, here are the lucky winners....

Katie from Ann Arbor, Michigan
Torie from Midlothian, Virginia
Renee from Valleyford, Washington

Congratulations Ladies.  I hope you enjoy your new book.

If you didn't win a copy, never fear, they are at your local independent bookstores.

Here is an excerpt from my book review:
I love the main character, Isabel.  She is a great character and I could easily relate to her.  In fact it felt like we would be fast friends if only, she were real. She is a forty something woman who is struggling with the big events of her life and she is trying to figure how best to handle them.  Sometimes, she screams and yells, sometimes, she says the wrong thing, sometimes, she cries and sometimes, she just eats cake.

Days of Awe by Lauren Fox

Days of Awe by Lauren Fox 

Isabel Moore has been having a rough year.  Her husband, Chris has moved out, her daughter is becoming a moody teenager and her wild and crazy best friend, Josie, died in a car accident.  Isabel is struggling through her grief and feels her life is slowly coming apart at the seams.  Isabel is an elementary school teacher who has had several miscarriages that has affected her marriage and her single mother is trying to get Isabel to start dating.  

I love Isabel.  She is a great character and I could easily relate to her.  In fact it felt like we would be fast friends if only, she were real. She is a forty something woman who is struggling with the big events of her life and she is trying to figure how best to handle them.  Sometimes, she screams and yells, sometimes, she says the wrong thing, sometimes, she cries and sometimes, she just eats cake.  

Lauren Fox is an excellent, smart writer who takes the ordinary events of our lives, parenthood, marriage, grief, love, and aging and spins a tale that is contemplative yet electric.  You will laugh and you will be emotional. Fox has some pretty, witty one-liners in Days of Awe. Fox shows readers that when all you want to do is cry from grief, one of the best things you can do is to laugh.  

The title, Days of Awe refers to the days before Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, the holiest day of the year for Jewish people.  I think the title has double meaning as it also refers to the days of our lives when we are in awe of the world or in awe of our children, or in awe of life.  

I am in awe of Lauren Fox and can't wait to read all of her books.

Katie Pierson Author Interview + Giveaway

Katie Pierson Guest Post + Giveaway

Katie Pierson is the Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on Booksnob for the maddening month of March.  She is giving away 5 copies of her awesome book '89 Walls, which takes place in, you guessed it, 1989.  Read on to find out all about Katie and her writing life.

Hi Katie,

Tell us a bit about yourself.
My day job is public affairs consulting for local non-profits, using my background in public policy and grassroots organizing to overthrow the patriarchy one introverted step at a time. When I’m not writing fiction, I return library books, make soup, and try to be cooler than I really am by hip-hopping at the YMCA. I live with my husband and two daughters in a suburb of Minneapolis.

When did you begin writing?
I’ve been writing since I could hold a crayon. I had a wonderfully encouraging seventh grade English teacher. I staffed the high school yearbook and wrote a column for my college newspaper. In my office jobs, I contrived to write whether or not it was in my job description as a fundraiser for the Nebraska Humanities Council or lobbyist for Planned Parenthood. I’ve written a bunch of political commentaries for the Minneapolis StarTribune and have an actual fan base for my annual holiday letter. But I didn’t claim writing as my vocation until I was in my thirties. Taking a memoir class at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis motivated me to finally put “writer” on my business card.

Have you ever been discouraged in regard to your writing ability and if so, how did you get past it and move forward?
Absolutely. I feel like a fraud most of the time. When I’m stuck, I force myself to do one writing prompt a day. My favorites are from 642 Things to Write About by the San Francisco Writers' Grotto and A Writer's Book of Days by Judy Reeves. I also take classes at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis.

What's your favorite thing about writing?
It’s my happy place. It’s the only thing in the world (besides food poisoning) that can make me forget to eat a meal. The best part about writing for a living is the schedule. I write for two hours. I put my youngest on the school bus. I work out at the YMCA at 9:00. I write for another two hours. I read a section of the Sunday New York Times while eating lunch. (It takes me a week to read the whole paper). Then I write for another two hours before ramping up for after-school craziness and the dinner hour. Is it me or does literally everyone call my house at 4:00? I work in my yoga pants and t-shirts, usually with my hair sticking up. I feel lucky to be able to do daily this thing I love.

What is your writing style? Do you like to outline or just write as you go?
I start out just writing. If it seems like it’s turning into something, I outline the whole thing. I have a quote by Ernest Hemingway taped to my desk that says, “The first draft is always shit.” It’s so true. But Anne LaMott says go ahead and write that “shitty first draft.” So that’s what I do. My first drafts are painfully earnest and rambling. Revising is way more fun.

Do you have a favorite spot where you like to write?
I do all of my writing in my office. My dog sits on the red sofa behind me all day and stares at my back.

What is something you've written that will never see the light of day?
My journals. I also wrote a lot of memoir in my thirties: great therapy but not for public consumption.

What is your writer food?
I’m kind of a hippie health nut but under stress, my go-to junk is Lay’s potato chips and Chocolove cherry-almond chocolate bars.

What's the hardest thing about writing for you?
The isolation. I’m an introvert and love my solitude but it’s easy to get lost in my own crazy head. Once in a while my husband will joke, “You’re not going to pull a Sylvia Plath on me are you?” Going to the gym every day is crucial: my YMCA friends serve as my social life, colleagues, and therapy. And my daughters definitely ground me in daily reality.

What inspires you to write?
Real life, current events, random conversations. Like most writers, I start out trying to make myself understood and discover that I’m actually writing to understand.

How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
’89 Walls is my first book. I'm toying with a memoir of my family's sabbatical year in London during the final year of the Bush administration. The working title is Acting Canadian. I loved writing '89 Walls and read as much YA as I do adult fiction. I would love for another idea for a YA novel to drop in my lap.

What are some of your favorite books?
I love every single one of Alice Munro’s short stories. Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety is like comfort food. Persuasion by Jane Austen is my favorite book of all time. Cheryl Mendelson is as close as it comes to a modern-day Jane Austen. Anything for Jane is my favorite of her books.

What authors do you like to read?
Gwendolyn Brooks, Sarah Waters, M.T. Anderson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Elizabeth Wein, and Selden Edwards are my favorite authors of historical fiction. My favorite YA authors are Chris Crutcher, John Green, Kathryn Erskine, E. Lockhart, Norma Klein and Paula Danziger. John Green is also my famous author boyfriend although he is not aware of this having never met me.

What inspired you to write ’89 Walls?
Author Will Weaver says that Full Service was the book he had to write about the summer that changed everything. ’89 Walls is my Full Service—1989 was the summer that changed everything for me. That said, almost nothing in the novel actually happened. In 1989, I was a college junior home from the University of Pennsylvania and helping take care of my dying father. This book was a chance for me to imagine the adult conversations with him that would have helped me make sense of the huge shifts in the political landscape in the late Eighties.

Would you say you relate to any of your characters? If so, which one and why?
I relate to Quinn’s character. Her relationship with her father is 100% emotionally true for me although almost none of the events in the book actually happened. I did switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party after the Supreme Court’s Webster decision restricted abortion rights. Plus, I listened to Madonna in 1989, enjoy gardening, and grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Thank you Katie for this informative interview on your writing life.
Thank you so much for having me, Laura!

If you would like to win a copy of Katie's book "89 Walls, please enter here:  "89 Walls Giveaway

'89 Walls by Katie Pierson Giveaway

'89 Walls by Katie Pierson Giveaway

Katie Pierson is the Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on Booksnob and she has written a book that you need to get on your radar, '89 Walls.  You will love this story and the cover is awesome.  I love the cover art!  Katie is giving Booksnob readers who live in the United States a chance to win one of five copies.  Yay!

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:

College is not in the cards for Seth. He spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS they both know will kill her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity.

Quinn’s finishing high school on top. But that cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class makes her doubt her old assumptions. Challenging the rules now, though, would a) squander her last summer at home, b) antagonize her conservative dad, and c) make her a hypocrite.

Seth and Quinn’s passionate new romance takes them both by surprise. They keep it a secret: it’s too early to make plans and too late not to care. But it’s 1989. As politics suddenly get personal, they find themselves fighting bare-fisted for their beliefs—and each other—in the clear light of day.

Contest rules:
Fill out the form
U.S. residents only
Contest ends 4/13 at midnight
Good Luck!


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Lauren Fox Author Interview

Lauren Fox Author Interview

Lauren Fox was the Minnesota January Author in the Spotlight here on Booksnob and she has written a wonderful novel about marriage and grief.  Recently, I had the chance to ask her some questions about her books and she's sharing some of her secrets with us.  Read on to find out more.

Hi Lauren,

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself?
Since you can find my bio anywhere, I’ll tell you all my secrets instead.  Um, let’s see… I have the palate and aesthetic sensibilities of a nine-year-old. (My favorite food is Little Debbies.)  My lovely and smart thirteen-year-old daughter still calls Raisin Brain “Raisin Brand,” and I have decided that I’m not going to correct her, because it’s the only remnant of her babyhood.  I recently bought three pairs of fleece leggings, because I like to feel like I’m wearing pajamas 24 hours a day.  I hide ice cream from my unsuspecting husband by pushing it waaaay back in the freezer.  Three out of four of my secrets are about food!


2. What inspired you to write Days of Awe?
There was no single inspiration; Days of Awe is a book that I’d been ruminating about for years.  Jewish history and identity, mothers and daughters, the complexity of marriage, grief – they’re themes and ideas that have been living in my brain (and on a Word document) for a long time.

3. Can you tell us why or when you decided to become a writer?
I have always loved to write (or maybe, as they say, to have written?) I have a friend from grade school who told me recently that that’s how he remembers me – always writing.  There are notebooks in my parents’ house filled with my early poetry.  So I think it’s just always been a part of me.

4. Usually an author puts some of his own life experiences in the book.  Did you do that in Days of Awe?  Do you have anything in common with your characters?
I’m sure I include my life experiences in all of my books, in some ways, but it’s less like I drop them into the book and more like a prism – reflected and faceted and refracted. I take as much from my observations of others as I do from my own life, and of course I combine and alter and invent details

and characteristics. That’s what makes writing fiction such a pleasure for me.

5. I am intrigued by the other books you have written.  Tell us a little bit about your other books.
My first novel, Still Life with Husband, is about a thirty-year-old woman who deliberately sabotages her own life by having an affair.  Friends Like Us, my second, is about the close friendship between Willa and Jane, two women in their twenties, and how that friendship is tested when Willa’s male best friend from high school re-enters the scene and starts dating Jane. Both novels explore the complexity of friendship, love, and betrayal. Both feature flawed protagonists at a moment in their lives when they’re forced to figure out who and how they want to be.

6. Do you like to read?  What authors or books influence you?
I read all the time.  I feel like reading is the part-time job of the writer.  I love being part of a broader conversation about contemporary literature.  I always read as a writer – to learn something about how an author constructs plot, or works with a complicated timeline, or invokes a mood.  Some of the books that have meant a lot to me over the past few years are Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann, The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohue, Falling to Earth, by Kate Southwood, and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by Aimee Bender.


7. Are you working on a new book?  Can you tell us a little bit about it?
Yes! No. Honestly, I’ve learned the hard way not to talk about the stuff I’m working on while I’m working on it – it petrifies it, in a way, sort of stops it in its tracks.  But I am working on book four.

8. How do you carve time out of your busy day to write?  Are you a full time writer or do you have a day job? What is one of your daily writing rituals or habits?
I’m lucky that, right now, writing is my full-time (full-ish-time) job.  My kids are in school, so from 8:30 to 3:00, I’m at my desk. I don’t really have any rituals or habits. I’d probably be more productive if I did. Oh, I do have one:  I have an app on my computer called “Freedom,” which

disconnects me from the internet for a set period of time. That’s my best habit – clicking on the little Freedom butterfly and going offline.

9. What is the most important lesson/idea you want readers to take away from your book, Days of Awe?
I don’t really think that good fiction has obvious lessons.  I hope that Days of Awe doesn’t. I don’t really write to impart a lesson; I write to try to tell a good story, to excavate a complicated character, to touch on themes and ideas that preoccupy me. If I’m lucky enough that someone wants to read it, then that’s really the very best outcome.

10. In one sentence tell readers why they should read Days of Awe?
I’ve been thinking about this question for hours! It’s too hard!  I’ve decided to eat some M&Ms instead of answering it.

Thanks Lauren.

You can find more information about Lauren Fox and her books at her website:
http://laurenfoxwriter.com/

Announcing the March Author in the Spotlight

Announcing the March Author in the Spotlight

The first day of March appeared and I was in San Antonio, Texas with my friends, enjoying 80 degree weather, good food and tasty margaritas. We returned to Minnesota, tired and relaxed and cold at 20 degrees.  Why do vacations always go by so fast??

Back to reality.  Teaching, History Day competitions, ice skating show, Easter, student trip planning and fund raising, grading papers, writing in my journal and reading. I read to relax at the end of the day and believe me I need more time to read.  So busy and so exhausted.

This month I'm excited to announce that the Minnesota Author in the Spotlight is Katie Pierson and her book '89 Walls.  Katie and I met at the Twin Cities book fair.

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:

College is not in the cards for Seth. He spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS they both know will kill her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity.

Quinn’s finishing high school on top. But that cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class makes her doubt her old assumptions. Challenging the rules now, though, would a) squander her last summer at home, b) antagonize her conservative dad, and c) make her a hypocrite.

Seth and Quinn’s passionate new romance takes them both by surprise. They keep it a secret: it’s too early to make plans and too late not to care. But it’s 1989. As politics suddenly get personal, they find themselves fighting bare-fisted for their beliefs—and each other—in the clear light of day.

You can find more information about Katie at her website:
http://www.katiepierson.net/


This month you can expect a book review, an author interview, a giveaway of '89 Walls and if we are lucky, a guest post.

Hope you have a good start to Spring and that you read lots of good books this month.

Happy Reading!