Teaser Tuesday & GIVEAWAY: Vacationland by Sarah Stonich

Meg walks the path from the lodge, hoping Polly might have leftover poundcake In her cabin for tea, maybe some of the oranges. The path twines along the shore through a copse of birch, down to the inlet of bald rock where the two remaining cabins stand.

-- From "Occlusion," one of the linked stories in Vacationland by Sarah Stonich.


I know from Stonich's earlier books, These Granite Islands and The Ice Chorus, which I reviewed here, that she knows how to set the scene and keep a story moving. Her writing is elegant, but unobtrusive – the story always comes through.

The connected stories in Stonich's new book are all set at Naledi Lodge, now the forlorn remnants of a once popular summer lake resort in northern Minnesota.  Once you start reading, you won't be able to stop.

THE BOOK

On a lake in northernmost Minnesota, you might find Naledi Lodge—only two cabins still standing, its pathways now trodden mostly by memories. And there you might meet Meg, or the ghost of the girl she was, growing up under her grandfather’s care in a world apart and a lifetime ago. Now an artist, Meg paints images “reflected across the mirrors of memory and water,” much as the linked stories of Vacationland cast shimmering spells across distance and time.

Those whose paths have crossed at Naledi inhabit Vacationland: a man from nearby Hatchet Inlet who knew Meg back when, a Sarajevo refugee sponsored by two parishes who can’t afford “their own refugee,” aged sisters traveling to fulfill a fateful pact once made at the resort, a philandering ad man, a lonely Ojibwe stonemason, and a haiku-spouting girl rescued from a bog.

THE GIVAWAY

The contest is for readers in the USA only (sorry) and is open until Labor Day Monday, September 2, 2013, at 4:00 PST. There are five ways to enter and each one is worth a chance to win. To enter, do any or all of the following, but you must leave a comment for each one and you must put an email address in a comment so I know you want to enter the giveaway:

1. Comment on this post. You must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway. Posting the giveaway on your sidebar is also acceptable. Leave a separate comment with a link to your post. (1 entry)

3. Follow this blog with Google or NetworkedBlogs, or subscribe via email (or tell me if you already are a subscriber or follower). Leave a separate comment for this. (1 entry)

4. Tweet this post on Twitter. Leave me a separate comment with your twitter user name. (1 entry)

5. Post this on a social network. Put it on facebook, post it on Google+, pin it on Pinterest, Stumble it, digg it, reddit, or otherwise put it out there in the social network. Leave a separate comment with a link or explanation. (1 entry)

There are a lot of ways to enter (maximum of five entries), but you must LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT for each one or they will not count. I will use random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is open to entries from the U.S. only. The deadline for entry is 4:00 PM, Pacific Time, on Labor Day Monday, September 2, 2013. I will draw and post the winner's name in my Teaser Tuesday post going up at 5:00 PM on September 2, 2013.  

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday this holiday weekend! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Kathy at Bermuda Onion stepped in to host in August -- thanks, Kathy!

I got one book last week, from Sasquatch Books:



Driving Home: An American Journey by Jonathan Raban. It is a collection of essays by a Brit living in America. It looks like it might be a little more heavy on politics than travel, but I'll give it an open mind.

PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION:

For more than thirty years, Jonathan Raban has written with infectious fascination about people and places in transition or on the margins, about journeys undertaken and destinations never quite reached, and, as an expat, about what it means to feel rooted in America. Spanning two decades, Driving Home charts a course through the Pacific Northwest, American history, and current events as witnessed by "a super-sensitive, all-seeing eye. Proving that an outsider is the keenest observer of the scene that natives take for granted, this collection of Jonathan Raban’s essays affirms his place as the most literate, perceptive, and humorous commentator on the places, characters, and obsessions that constitute the American scene. Raban spots things we might otherwise miss; he calls up the apt metaphors that transform things into phenomena. "He is one of our most gifted observers." (Newsday).

Kitchen Remodel, Week Twenty-Six: Hard at Work

We are down to the last bits of kitchen remodeling. The brick we've waited for for months finally got here. Most impressively, the guys who came to put  the concrete cap on top of the bricks arrived at 8:00 a.m. and were still here a little before 10:00 p.m. when I took this picture.

 

Meanwhile, the four books I'm reading this week are all great but have nothing to do with food: 

• Letting Go by Philip Roth (his first novel):
• What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies;
• Because He Could by Dick Morris; and
• Tales From St. Austin by P. G. Wodehouse

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

GIVEAWAY WINNER & Book Beginning: What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

GIVEAWAY:  Big thanks to everyone who participated in this week's giveaway for
Cleans Up Nicely by Linda Dahl, a new novel about the 1970s art scene in New York City.  The two lucky winners are Laurel-Rain Snow at Rainy Days & Mondays and Story Corner, and Tammi at Picture Perfect Cooking.

EARLY BIRDS: I am experimenting with getting this post up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. We'll try it this way for a couple of months to see if people like the option of early posting. If you have feelings one way or the other, please comment.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING



"The book must be dropped."

-- What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies.

This is the second book in his "Cornish Trilogy," following The Rebel Angels. The trilogy concludes with The Lyre of Orpheus. The three books are separate stories but all related to the life and influence of Francis Cornish, an eccentric Canadian art collector.

I have been slow to get to Robertson Davies, despite recommendations I would normally jump on. Several of his books have sat on my TBR shelf for years. The basis of my reluctance is insubstantial -- I was put off by the cover art of this book and others and by his author's picture. How could someone who looks like an Oregon Trail pioneer write a book that I would enjoy?

But I took the plunge with The Rebel Angels and enjoyed it -- loved it for the most part and was put off by a couple of atrocious set pieces that took time to recover from. My review is here. What's Bred in the Bone has me sucked in and I hope to devote much of the upcoming weekend to it.

What Are They Reading? Letting Go by Philip Roth

Authors tend to be readers, so it is natural for them to create characters who like to read.  It is always interesting to me to read what books the characters are reading in the books I read. Even if I can't say that ten times fast.

Usually, the characters' choice of books reflects the author's tastes or, I sometimes think, what the author was reading at the time.  But sometimes the character's reading material is a clue to the character's personality, or is even a part of the story. 

This is an occasional blog event. If anyone wants to join in, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your related post. And feel free to use the button.  If this catches on, I can pick a day and make it a weekly event.

LETTING GO BY PHILIP ROTH

Letting Go was Roth's first novel, published when he was only 29, but after he won the National Book Award (for the first time) for Goodbye, Columbus (reviewed here).

Letting Go catches flak for being long and more traditional than Roth's later books.  I am only about halfway through it and I don't care how long it is. I want it to go on and on.

Letting Go is the story of Gabe Wallach, a college professor, and his relationship with Paul and Libby Herz, from when they meet at graduate school in Iowa and then work together in Chicago.  The main plot is broken into side stories and set pieces, including those about Gabe's father, Paul's parents, and Gabe's girlfriend Martha.

Since Gabe and Paul are both English professors, it is no surprise that the characters in Letting Go read and talk about books.  Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady plays a big role in the first section of the book, as Gabe and Libby build an awkward, sexually charged friendship out of their discussions of James's masterpiece.