The BookFetish Blog

Steven C. Eisner’s debut novel, The Mine Fields, is a story about ambition, loss, dreams, and finding happiness, told against the backdrop of the advertising industry.

Our hero, Sam Spiegel, grew up the son of an ad man. Entrepreneurial from a young age, Sam takes on the challenge of changing his father’s small agency into one of Philadelphia’s most successful firms. Just as Sam’s dream of attracting an advertising conglomerate and cashing out are on the horizon, the unthinkable happens. Now, everything and everyone Sam has depended on and fought for is at risk and Sam starts to take stock of what’s really important.

The glimpse into the world of advertising is a great aspect of the book, but it’s really the backdrop for the meat of the story.

Everything is about relationships. Sam wants to do right by his father’s legacy, and at the same time, make it greater. Yet this puts a strain on their relationship and father and son struggle to see eye to eye.

Sam’s relationship with his brother Mikey has always been tricky but a terrible accident in their childhood put an irrevocable strain on the brothers’ relationship.  Even Sam’s relationship with his wife, Amy, falls apart as Sam sees everything he’s worked for slipping away.

This is when Eisner gives the heart of the story: when everything is crumbling around you, do you give in and accept it, or do you fight for what you really want? Most of the book read to me less like a novel and more like having a drink with someone who’s telling you his interesting life story.  But when Sam’s world crumbles,  The Mine Fields ratchets up a thrill.  I started thinking about possible outcomes, and really hoping to see a couple of them.

Thankfully, Eisner chose a different path that what initially crossed my mind.  He could have gone a cliched route where everything works out perfectly in the end, but instead, Eisner gives his readers a more complex, and more relatable resolution.

I think The Mine Fields benefits from Eisner’s experience as the chief executive of an advertising agency. It lends Sam a credibility and authenticity that might otherwise not be there. And I think it provides reality in the advertising campaign aspects of the story.  Thankfully, The Mine Fields is less a soap opera than Mad Men, but the same character development that draws fans to Don Draper also drives Sam Spiegel.

I’m glad I had a chance to be a part of the blog tour for The Mine Fields.  You can learn more about the book and book tour here.

At first, I wasn’t going to read Fifty Shades of Grey because everyone was reading it. And it started out as fan fiction- Twilight fan fiction at that. Nope, not going to touch it.

Then, my friend Ann posted about it on Facebook. And my friend Ashby said she liked the trilogy, too. My ears perked up. Ashby liked it? Now, granted, Ashby is a big Britney Spears fan, but aside from that, I trust her opinion in books. So I asked Ashby and Ann if they really liked the books. And would I?

Ann asked if I knew what the books were about. Erotica and BDSM Smuttiness, yes, I had caught that in the Entertainment Weekly article. And while BDSM doesn’t particularly flip my switch, I figured there had to be something to the books for two of my friends to be raving about them.

I fired up the trusty Nook and downloaded it. And while this wasn’t a book that kept me turning the pages at an incessant pace, I found myself totally sucked in.

The writing is not particularly great. I don’t really buy Christian Grey as a character- all that money in his mid-twenties? And the way he talks? Not like any twenty something I know. But he’s set up to be a dark romantic hero, a more sinister Mr. Darcy, perhaps. The language he uses is certainly more Austen than 2012. But he’s meant to be irresistible to Anastasia (Ana), and with her fondness for the British classics, the particular drawing of Grey as this type of hero must be deliberate. He’s irritatingly controlling. I feel confined as I read him. At the same time, like Ana, I want to know what it is that makes him tick.  I find Ana more believable, although her thoughts and speech are peppered so constantly with “Holy Cow’s” and “Boy’s!” that I still debate internally if this is a product of loose writing or a deliberate contrast to Christian Grey’s sophistication.

And the smut? Well, frankly, after the build up, some of it didn’t quite live up to expectations.  The first half of the book is fairly vanilla, and I reserved judgement on the more controversial items until I finished the book.  Fifty Shades  is a fascinating glimpse into the BDSM world. Judging by the descriptions  EL James provides, I would not make a good Submissive. Or a Domme, for that matter.  It’s just not my thing.  I was worried the story would go so far into this world that it would be off-putting for those of us that are “meh” about the lifestyle.  It isn’t.

Because what I found as I read is that I really wanted to know more about these characters. I may not understand (yet, as I think it will be revealed in the rest of the trilogy) why Christian is the way he is, and I may think he’s way too controlling, but I still actually care about him. And Ana. And I want to know what happens to them. I’m rooting for them to sort through their issues and their differences and find a mutually satisfying way to be together.

That was totally unexpected, and it’s what made me download Fifty Shades Darker to continue reading the story.  Mediocre writing aside, I really want EL James to do bring this couple their own happy ending.

Sometimes I feel like my reviews of Debora Geary’s books must get tedious, because they all say how much I love the books. Witches In Flight is no exception, so if you’re sick of hearing how much I love these books, and you’ve not read them yourself yet, well, then…. keep reading and deal with it.

This final installment in the Witches on Parole sub trilogy to the “Modern Witch” series wraps things up nicely. We’ve seen Lizard and Elsie grow with the support, community, and love of Witch Central. Change is hard, and believing in yourself is daunting, even with Witch Central behind you. Lizard and Elsie have come a long way, but the hardest part is yet to come- they must take everything they’ve learned about themselves and step out into their new lives.

Of course, this is not without challenge and drama. Can Lizard believe she’s more than her past? Can Elsie come out of her shell enough to embrace not only the goofy childlike creativity inside her, but also the creative, passionate woman she feels lingering just below the surface?

And just like in the first two books, I felt like Debora Geary was writing my story when she writes Elsie.  She uses Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as a song of praise and hope in this story, and I feel like it truly is Elsie’s anthem.

Chock full of the trademark humor, love, community, and magic we’ve come to love with Geary’s “Witch” novels, Witches In Flight wraps up the story in quite a satisfactory way… and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of some of our beloved characters (at least I hope so), sharing what they’ve learned and supporting Witch Central.

If you haven’t read these yet, what are you waiting for?

The Pursuit of Cool, debut novel by Robb Skidmore, is that book that reminds you, perfectly, that everyone was as screwed up and off kilter as you were as a young adult. Set against a fabulous soundtrack from the 1980’s, The Pursuit of Cool follows Lance Rally through his tumultuous college years.

From the book’s summary, “Lance comes from a super-achieving family and is intent on being a big success. But he is also an inept, hopeless romantic, obsessed with pop culture, and prone to distraction. Friendships with a punk rocker and a subversive scholar challenge his worldview, and relationships with a beautiful psych major and a feisty goth girl change him. This coming-of-age journey is a funny and emotional ride through album covers, dance techniques, all-nighter revelations, and corporate internships gone bad. The story comes alive with music and movies which give Lance solace as he questions beliefs and his heart gets crushed. He tries to capture that illusive quality, that magic of youth, the essence that is “cool.””

Reading this book, I often felt I was spying on Lance, somehow privy to his innermost thoughts.  Skidmore paints an awkward young man who just wants to fit in, whose bursts of confidence sometimes make him feel he is more than he actually is. At the same time, Lance is sympathetic, because he is everyone.  He makes some bad decisions, he makes a fool of himself, he dreams big.

In fact, outside the excellent sonic backdrop Skidmore provides, Lance’s big dreams were my favorite part of the book.  There’s a nostalgic quality to those dreams for anyone who’s been to college. I remember thinking in university that we were definitely thinking the deep thoughts, changing the world in our late night study sessions; solving world crises over hash browns and grits after partying at fraternity court.  And I remember the years before that, when I thought college would be deep thoughts and good parties and intellectual discussions all around.  The Pursuit of Cool centers the reader right in that hopeful era of high expectations, and jaded reality.

I’ve mentioned it a couple of times, so I have to applaud Skidmore’s use of music throughout the story. From the Clash to Joy Division, to Bauhaus, so much of the music I was too young to appreciate at the time but that I eventually discovered. It  provides the perfect setting to Lance’s experience, because if you’ve ever listened to these bands (and this is not an exhaustive list) you remember realizing how a song, a band, an album could indeed change your life.

At 410 pages, The Pursuit of Cool wasn’t a fast read for me, but it was engrossing.  I felt like I was on this journey with Lance, and I remember thinking “Wow! It was like this for everyone.  I wasn’t the only one struggling to find my niche.”  Because when you’re that age, it seems like everyone has it easier than you- you’re the only awkward one, pursuing the cool everyone else seems to have found effortlessly.

A great debut, and I can’t wait to read more from Robb Skidmore.

That’s me. I’m a bitchy traveler. I admit it. I’m bitchy because I’ve traveled enough over the years that I have learned what I call airport and airplane etiquette and it irks me when people who should know and practice it, don’t.

I’m not talking about the frazzled parents trying to get through security with children and all their paraphernalia. Although, I will offer a word of advice. If you have children, especially small ones, and can avoid it, don’t fly on Monday mornings or Thursday and Friday late afternoons/early evenings. Those flights are lots of single-minded business people, some of whom are really grumpy because the last place they want to be is on a plane. Again. If you can fly on a Tuesday at ten, you’ll find, I believe, a much friendlier group of travel companions.

I’m also not talking about people like my mother who fly maybe once every ten years. But I do coach her when she flies on what to do and what to avoid.

I’m really talking about people who should know better. Below, I present eight travel etiquette rules that have served me well over the last several years.

1. It’s not all about you. Or me.
As much as I would like it to be, the airport and that plane are not all about me. Or you. We’re going to be cramped together for some portion of time and the least we can do is be polite and civil. We’re all hot/cold/tired/hungry/anxious to be at our destination.

2. Be kind to the people behind you in the security line.
Don’t be like the fellow business traveler I was behind yesterday. The one who held up the conveyor belt of scanned carry on items so that he could reassemble his laptop bag and put back on his shoes and belt before removing a single item from the belt. He could have easily swooped up his belongings and moved to one of the empty benches to regroup. Instead, he let something like six bins and three people pile up behind him and try to maneuver their own gear out of the way.

3. If you approach gate agents, baggage claim workers, and ticket agents with a smile and good manners, you’re much more likely to get what you want if it is in their power to give it to you.
Granted, that is not true of all these people. Some have had a really long day. Some just don’t care. But most I have encountered just want to serve their customers and make them happy. Much like we heard when we were children, “please” and “thank you” go a long way.

4.Remember, unless you’re the last to board the plane, someone is boarding behind you. 
Don’t stand in the aisle and rustle through your luggage, causing a traffic jam in the aisle behind you. And while we’re on the subject of luggage… unless you’re so tall that you need copious amounts of the leg room under the seat in front of you, use that space for your smaller carry on item.  Especially  if you’re going to be digging into them in the flight, and especially if you have more than one carry on. Give that person who has to board late in the process a chance to store their bag, too. And note to the guy in 15E – you stow your bag under the seat in front of you, not under the seat you are occupying.
5. Don’t be an armrest hog.
Yes, it’s more comfortable to have both of them. But make sure your seat mate can use one if needed. I have a tendency to be guilty of this one, which I hate. I make a conscientious effort to remind myself to share. And 15 E? I’m talking to you, again.
6. Stand up and recline carefully.
If you absolutely must grab onto the seat in front of you to hoist yourself to your feet for any reason, please, please be aware that the person in said seat can feel you do this. It’s annoying. Also, be careful that you don’t pull the hair of the person in the seat. Please.

If you must recline (and who doesn’t like to, at least a little?) please do it carefully. There’s no need to slam back at full force. In fact, do you really need to recline the whole way? Really? Because it can seriously encroach on the comfort of the person behind you, setting off a chain reaction of fully reclined seats where no one is really comfortable. I’m all for reclining a bit, but do it slowly. You don’t know what the person behind you has on their tray table.

7. Be nice to the flight crew.
Like the gate agents, a “please” and “thank you” can go a long way with the flight crew. So can giving them the magazine(s) you finished on the flight. Back and forth on planes all day, they must get a little bored. Unless they were on that Jet Blue flight the other day.

8. Good manners apply to deplaning, as well.
We all want off the plane. Don’t be an ass while disembarking. It’s that simple.

I’m sure there are tons of etiquette tips I’m forgetting here, so please feel free to add your own, or share your own rude traveler story in the comments.