Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann

400 pages
Published December 2009 by Random House
Source: the publisher and TLC Book Tours

On an August day in 1974, one man has done the impossible. Philippe Petit has brought the city to a stand still as he performs an exhibition of funambulism. That is to say, Petit was walking a tightrope---between the twin towers of the new World Trade Center.

Meanwhile, others are doing their own tightrope walking.

Corrigan, an Irish monk living in the Bronx amongst the thugs and prostitutes is battling his own demons as well as taking on theirs. On Park Avenue, Claire is playing hostess to a group of women who meet to help deal with the loss of their sons in Vietnam. Tillie, prostitute and mother of teenage prostitute Jazzlyn, deals with the consequences of the choices she has made in her life and the chances she never had. And Lara, an artist who is involved in a car accident that has consequences far beyond anything she could have imagined.

It is no surprise to me that this book won the National Book Award--not just because it is brilliantly written but because it has all of the elements that make books award winning. It is sweeping story while at the same time being intimate portraits of people at a particular moment in their lives. McCann says in an interview in the back of the book that he wanted it to be "Whitmanesque" with everything in it--highs and lows; rich and poor; whites, blacks, Hispanics. It truly is the song of the city that he envisioned.

The book did have slow points for me. After falling in love with the book within fifteen pages, I felt like the next section, talking about Corrigan, dragged a bit and I had a hard time connecting to him. But then we were introduced to Claire and things picked up again for me. As a mother of nearly the same age, with sons about the age that her son was when he died, I could completely relate to her pain as she tried to move on with her life while dealing with a loss that I cannot begin to imagine. A chapter that involves a group of computer nerds hacking into the phone system to call pay phones in NYC to get more information about the tightrope walker they have just seen mentioned on the press wire, is light and funny. And then, bam!, McCann hits you with Tillie's story and it is heartbreaking.

McCann has an unusual style--there are no quotation marks, no indication of who is speaking in coversations--and it can be difficult to follow. Some of the subject matter and language may be difficult for some readers. And there were a couple of things that made me stop and wonder "would that have existed in 1974?" which took me, momentarily, out of the novel. But there was so much here that redeemed any flaws for me and Let The Great World Spin will almost certainly be amongst my top ten books of the year when it comes time to wrap the year up.

"A stupid, endless menu of death.

But death by tightrope?

Death by performance?

That's what it amounted to. So flagrant with his body. Making it cheap. The puppetry of it all. His little Charlie Chaplin walk, coming in like a hack on her morning. How dare he do that with his own body? Throwing his life in everyone's face? Making her own son's so cheap? Yes, he has intruded on her coffee morning like a hack on her code. With his hijinks above the city. Coffee and cookies and a man out there walking in the sky, munching away what should have been."

Thanks to Lisa and TLC Book Tours for allowing me to be on this tour. For other reviews, please visit:

Monday, May 3rd: Stephanie’s Written Word

Tuesday, May 4th: S. Krishna’s Blog

Wednesday, May 5th: The Literate Housewife Review

Thursday, May 6th: Savvy Verse and Wit

Friday, May 7th: Luxury Reading

Monday, May 10th: She is Too Fond of Books

Tuesday, May 11th: My Friend Amy

Wednesday, May 12th: The Brain Lair

Thursday, May 13th: Diary of an Eccentric

Monday, May 17th: Book Club Classics

Tuesday, May 18th: Beth Fish Reads

Wednesday, May 19th: Book Chatter

Thursday, May 20th: Evening All Afternoon

Friday, May 21st: Brunette on a Budget

Monday, May 24th: Ready When You Are, CB

Tuesday, May 25th: The New Dork Review of Books

Wednesday, May 26th: Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker

Thursday, May 27th: Nonsuch Book

Friday, May 28th: Caribousmom

For more information about McCann, this book and his other works, please visit his website.

My Sister's Voice by Mary Carter

My Sister's Voice by Mary Carter
352 pages
Published June 2010 by Kensington Publishing
Source: the publisher and Pump Up Your Book Promotions

Twenty-eight year old Lacey Gears is finally exactly where she wants to be--she has a terrific boyfriend, a fulfilling artistic career and a large group of friends in the Deaf community. Then one day she finds a letter in her mail that reads:

"You have a twin sister. Her name is Monica."

The letter directs Lacey to a poster on the window of a bookstore. Lacey isn't sure what to think--she wavers between wondering if someone is playing a joke on her and wondering if this might actually be real. Lacey grew up in a foster home, never knowing anything about her biological roots but her first reaction upon seeing her likeness on the poster is that someone has stolen her image from the computer. Determined to get to the truth, Lacey begins plotting ways to ambush the phony in a very public way.

Monica Bowman is on tour with her self-help book, doing weekend workshops when she is approached to do an interview. Unbeknownst to Monica, the "journalist" is actually Mike, the artist that Lacey share space with who's been talked into trying to get information on Monica. Mike is sure the minute he sees Monica that she is, in fact, Lacey's twin but doesn't say anything about it to Monica. When Monica goes to spend a weekend with her parents and Aunt Grace, she finds out that she did have a sister, but her parents tell her that the sister died as a baby.

When Lacey finally shows up at one of Monica's workshops, the two find that they have an immediate bond. Lacey isn't ready to let a sister into her life; Monica is desperate to hold on to this sister that she has just found.

The idea of twins separated and then reunited years later intrigued me and books about the relationship between sisters are always of interest to me so I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, almost immediately realized that I was going to have problems with it.

Early on, Carter does a lot of brand name dropping which I always hate in a story. I'm sure it's done to give an instant visualization of a thing but I'd really rather you described it to me--if it even needs to be described. It's probably sufficient for me to know that Lacey rides a motorcycle; I didn't feel like I needed to know exactly what model and color she rides.

Then there were things that happened throughout the book that I just was not able to buy into. When Lacey finds the flyer in the bookstore window, she immediately believes that the author has stolen her image. But the author is supposed to be coming to the bookstore for a reading--how would it not become immediately obvious that the image on her book was not real? And the fact that Mike is immediately attracted to Monica is a little odd--he's known Lacey for a long while and doesn't seem to be attracted to her despite them being identical twins.

Carter clearly knows a lot about the Deaf community; she is a graduate of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and a certified sign language interpreter. I'm all for learning while I read but whole passages here felt like lessons rather than part of the natural flow of the story. That said, I had no idea that there were "deaf idioms" or that every country has it's own sign language.

About now you're probably thinking there was nothing I liked about this book. Not true. I really did enjoy watching the sisters try to develop a relationship, particularly as they feel into the same roles that they had played as toddlers. Carter did a terrific job of making me feel Lacey's pain as she relived her life in the foster home, being raised by an unpredictable alcoholic, and her pain and anger as she dealt with the fact that her parents had gotten rid of her.

And Carter can write vivid descriptions:

"Lacey entered a small mudroom. It was crammed with coats, and shoes, and boots, and caps, yet there was a clear order to the chaos. A stacked washer and dryer combo sat to her left. The dryer was on; the flipping clothes looked like children jumping up and down in a bouncy hut. A sleeve waved at her, and she couldn't help but wave back. She started laughing then slapped her hand over her mouth, remembering hearing people could actually hear."

And I've got to admit that Carter got me--I had no idea what was going to happen in the last fifty pages. I'm generally not the easy to surprise so I give Carter big props for pulling that off.

Book clubs would find a lot in this book to discuss. Beyond the relationship between Monica and Lacey, there's also the question about what exactly makes someone a sister. Of course, because of Lacey being Deaf, and the girls' relationships with their boyfriends, there would be a lot to discuss about communication between people.

Thanks to Dorothy and Pump Up Your Book Promotions for including me in this tour!

Book List Meme -- What Books Are You Intimidated By?

Rebecca, of Lost In Books, hosts The Book List meme and recently asked us to list the books that intimidate us. Piece of cake for me. While these are all books I probably should read, the only one I'm even remotely considering is The Canterbury Tales for The Gilmore Girls challenge. But I'll bet I'll find something to substitute for it!

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer










The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka








Ulysses by James Joyce

Winner of A Signed Copy of The Threadbare Heart

Congratulations to Lori, the winner of a signed copy of The Threadbare Heart by Jennie Nash! Of course you all know how much I love The Gilmore Girls so Lori caught my interest with that and I love how she compared her own situation to the fictional family to show why she likes them so much.

"This was really tough. I wanted to say Vivi and Sidda from Ya-Ya Sisterhood, but they don't have a tremendous relationship. So I had to go with my standby. I love Lorelai and Rory from The Gilmore Girls. Their relationship is so natural and comfortable to them. I wish that I had that with my own mom. I guess ours is more like Lorelai and Emily, but in the later seasons, after some level on understanding is found. We get along for the most part, but it can turn really quickly. I think that my feelings towards Lorelai and Rory are because I find so much of myself in both of them that I can't help watching and loving them. "

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers, mothers-to-be, and everyone who has ever mothered a child in some way!

Last Chance To Enter For A Signed Copy of Jennie Nash's The Threadbare Heart!

Entries are due by midnight, Saturday, May 8th. Winning entry will be posted Sunday, May 9th! What fictional mother/daughter pair is your favorite?

Wuthering Heights Wednesday, er, Friday

Welcome to Wuthering Heights Wednesday, hosted by Softdrink at Fizzy Thoughts! I'm late this week because I had so many other great things to share with you but I didn't want to miss playing. Things are are really starting to heat up now--big, big drama is building!

Chapter 13
Two months has passed and Cathy is only just now starting to recover from her brain fever but she's by no means the same person despite Edgar's best nursing attempts. Yeah, bleeding will do that to you.

Heathcliff and Isabella finally return, married, and Nelly receives a letter from Isabella detailing how miserable she is and how much she regrets marrying Heathcliff and how awful things are at Wuthering Heights. And will Nelly please have Edgar come to visit Isabella and won't Nelly please come.

Chapter 14
Ellen (Nelly) goes to Wuthering Heights but Edgar won't have anything more to do with Isabella so he sends nothing. Ellen is appalled to find that things have fallen into even worse disrepair than the last time she was there, including Isabella. Heathcliff, who looks quite the gentelman, brags to Ellen about how he hanged Isabella dog and how he has made her hate him.

Heathcliff is desperate to see Catherine, especially when Ellen tells him how bad she's been, and finally convinces her to take a note to Cathy to see if she'll allow him to come visit.

Chapter 15
Heathcliff comes to the Grange while Edgar and most of the servants are at church. He can't believe how different Catherine is.

"The flash of her eyes had been succeeded by a dreamy and melancholy softness: they no onger gave the impression of looking at the objects around her: they appeared always to gaze beyound, and far beyond - you would have said out of this world. Then the paleness of her face - its haggard aspect having vanished as she recovered flesh - and the peculiar expression arising from her mental state..."

He's distraught when Cathy curses him to suffer after she dies and the more upset he becomes, the meaner she gets. Finally, she sees that she's pretty much crushed him and begs him to come to her and they fall into each other's arms, kissing.

Ellen sees Edgar coming but Cathy begs Heathcliff to stay so, of course, he does. Cathy passes out just before Edgar returns and before Edgar can even think about raising a hand to Heathcliff, Heathcliff hands Cathy to him and walks out

My Thoughts
I know I should be feeling sorry for Cathy; she's in a terrible state. But, come one, she completely brought it on herself. Heathcliff I'm having mixed feelings about. Seriously, the first thing he did when Isabella came to him was hang her dog? On the other hand, he is so obviously painfully in love with Catherine and devastated by her condition. Isabella--don't feel a bit sorry for her; she brought what she got on herself and made it so much easier for Heathcliff to wreck havoc.

David Ebershoff On The Mystery Of Inspiration

Please join me in welcoming David Ebershoff, author of The Danish Girl and The 19th Wife to Lit and Life. I'm always curious to know where authors ideas come from and David has kindly agreed to tell us about his inspiration.

Where do your ideas come from? It’s a question I’ve heard before and it’s a question I often wonder about other writers. Even so, I’m never confident in answering it because the process of finding ideas is a mystery, even to me. I do not write from a well of inspiration, or a trunk, or a wheelie bag – or any other container I can unlock, lift the lid to, and search through in order to come up with the core idea of a new novel. Yet the ideas must come from somewhere, for there is evidence of them right there on the page. If my inspiration has a source, if I must identify it, I should tell you about my eyes and my ears. I look and listen for stories. I try to press myself through my day with my mind open. I am scanning the horizon for a good tale. Or a partial tale with a promising set up and no discernible ending. Like how did that puppy end up leashed to that post? Who would do something like that? That’s the beginning of a story, or might be. Or maybe it’s a memorable character who, at first meeting, is difficult to explain. You know that person at work or at school who shows flashes of irrational behavior? Most of the time we dismiss him or her as a pain in the ass. But I try to remind myself that the more creative reaction is to ask what made him or her that way? Or, sometimes, my mind has a strange ability to hold back a memory for years and then thrust it to the forefront, where I can see it freshly and evaluate it in a way I had never before. Just last night I recalled the summer job I had when I was twenty: I was a messenger, delivering packages all over Los Angeles. For the first time in years I remembered the woman who ordered three dozen lemon muffins every day and the man who tipped me twenty dollars after I served his wife divorce papers and the pair of screenwriters who messengered their revisions across town each afternoon. I don’t know what I can do with this memory, but already it feels like enough material to bend into a narrative. If there is a trick to inspiration, then that’s it: I must keep my mind open to all that comes before me every day. Of course I will never be able to do this all the time, but if I try to, if I remember to, if slow myself down to simply listen and see, then an idea will shove its way up and soon I will be on my way.

Thanks, David! I'm looking forward to seeing The Danish Girl come to life on the big screen and so glad you're doing the screenplay so I'll know it's done the way the author envisions it.