Book Blogger Hop No. 58: Favorite Authors, Most of Whose Books I've Read

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop,

hosted by Billy @

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

For more information, click HERE.

What to Do

1.) Post on your blog answering this week's

question:

Name an author or authors most

of whose books you've read,

and would recommend to others.

(submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews)

2.)  Enter the link to your post in the

Linky list on Billy's blog.

3.)  Visit other blogs on the list and

comment on their posts. 

4.)  Be sure to find out next week's

question when you visit

Ramblings of a Coffee-Addicted Writer!

Note

There was some confusion recently

with the topic questions, so 

some of us who are participating are 

answering another question this week..

Billy has given us a choice of which 

one to answer. Since I had not replied

to this question yet, I am doing so this week.

My Answer

There are four such authors -- two of them in the Young Adult Fiction genre, one in the adult Literary Fiction genre, and one in the adult Fantasy genre.

These are my two favorite YA Fiction authors. 

Stephenie Meyer

Anyone who has visited my blog from time to time knows how much I love The Twilight Saga! The story of Bella, a human girl, and Edward, a brooding vampire, is one that I will always treasure! I have read all four books three times, and recommend this series to all romantics!

  J.K. Rowling

 

I will ALWAYS love this series!!  I don't care how old I live to be -- I will forever be enchanted and enthralled by these books which tell the wonderful adventures of "The Boy Who Lived"! I heartily recommend these books to all lovers of fantasy, young and old!! I need to re-read the entire series, but have read the first book twice. I can't wait for the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, because I'm going to the midnight release party in my Gryffindor robe, with my Hermione Granger magic wand!!!!

The following are my favorite authors who wrote for adults. Tolkien, however, also wrote The Hobbit, which is more for young  adults. I have also read that novel, which is a prequel to his major work, The Lord of the Rings.

 J.R.R. Tolkien

These are the very BEST adult fantasy novels I've ever read! I can remember when I read  them for the very first time (I've re-read parts of the first book from time to time), and feeling sad that I couldn't go live in Middle-Earth..... I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these books!! I happen to own this particular, GORGEOUS, edition, too!  I definitely recommend them to all those who are addicted to the Fantasy genre! And yes, Frodo lives!!

Hermann Hesse

Hesse was a very prolific writer, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. I think he should be in the Magic Realism genre, because, while not exactly fantasy, his novels do tend toward some surrealism. His characters are larger than life, too, and wrestle with many profound issues. I would recommend this author for those who enjoy reading novels that contain deep psychological and philosophical themes. I have read most of the books written by Hesse. Besides the ones below, I've also read Beneath The Wheel, Demian, and Steppenwolf (the only one of his books I totally dislike), but the following are my favorites.

This novel, first published in 1930, beautifully depicts the tension and conflict between the flesh and the spirit. It tells the story of the two medieval men named in the title, one of whom is a contemplative monk, content with the spiritual life, while the other is a restless artist, whose quest is of another type: that of art and the emotions.

Also known as The Glass Bead Game, this utterly fascinating novel chronicles the life of Joseph Knecht, a young musician who is chosen to reside in Castalia, a fictional European province reserved strictly for the life of the mind. The Castalian Order is a quasi-monastic group of men who devote themselves to playing "The Glass Bead Game", mastery of which requires years of study in music, mathematics, and cultural history. My only quibble with this novel is that women are not included in this intellectual utopia! The novel was first published in 1943, and was the one that won Hesse the Nobel Prize for Literature.

This is the story of Siddhartha, the son of a Brahmin, whose search for enlightenment takes place during the time of Gautama Buddha (most likely between the fourth and seventh centuries, BC). In order to write this profound novel, Hesse immersed himself in the study of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. The book was first published in 1922.



What do you think of my choices?

Have you ever read these books?

Please leave a comment,

and I'll go check out your post!

Top Ten Tuesday #2: My Top Ten Auto-Buy Authors

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday!

This terrific meme is hosted by 

The Broke and the Bookish!!

Each Tuesday, we obsessed bookworms
post our top ten list of whatever
the topic is for that week, 

and then visit our fellow book bloggers 
to see what their lists look like!

For the master page of this book meme/blog hop,

which includes the rules, as well as upcoming 
topics, please click HERE. 

You can add your blog post to the Linky list
at The Broke and the Bookish, and 

have fun checking out other bloggers' lists!

 

My Top Ten Auto-Buy Authors


This is actually a very hard list to compile, since I do have so many favorite authors! However, I can narrow it down somewhat.  So here's the list of my absolute faves!  Click on each name in 
order to access each author's website! 

You can access my reviews of the books 
I have read by these authors on my
Book Reviews Page.







Stephenie Meyer

I am a passionate fan of The Twilight Saga,
and do intend to read The Host at
some point in time. I love the way she 
writes, and just pulls me into the story!

J.K. Rowling

I love the Harry Potter series, and own
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard",
which I do need to read.
I'd also like to sample her adult t novels!!

 Amy Plum

I adore her Die For Me series, and would love
to read more of her books!
Her writing and characters just 
blow me away!

Claudia Gray

I have so far read two of her books -- Spellcaster, 
and A Thousand Pieces of You -- and
each time, I have fallen in love 
with the book! I own and need to 
read her Evernight series! 

Lisa Tawn Bergren

I devoured the River of Time series by this
author, and I will definitely read
anything she writes in the future!!

L.J.  Smith

Although I don't like The Vampire Diaries,
I absolutely adored The Night World
series, so I'm willing to give any
new books of hers a chance!

Stephanie Feldman

Feldman  writes in the magic realism genre, , and her first  novel, The Angel of Losses, absolutely
delighted and fascinated me!
I can't wait to see what she publishes next!

Mary Balogh

Balogh is my favorite historical romance
author! She writes beautiful Regency
romances that I will never get tired of! I
have just bought her most recent,
Only A Promise! 

Andrea Cremer

Her Nightshade series totally enthralled me,
and I would love to read more great
novels from her! I know I will not
be disappointed!

L.G. O'Connor

She's the author of The Angelorum Chronicles,
the first book of which, Trinity Stones,
I have greatly enjoyed reading!
I need to read the second one,
The Wanderer's Children,
and can't wait to buy the latest book,
Hope's Prelude!

What do you think of my choices?
Leave your link in 
the comments, so I can come
over to check out your
own picks! 

The Wonder of All Things, by Jason Mott: Book Review/Giveaway!!

 

The Wonder of All Things

Jason Mott

Trade Paperback, 304 pages

Mira Reprint Edition

July 28, 2015

Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction,
Magic Realism

On the heels of his critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling debut novel, The Returned, Jason Mott delivers a spellbinding tale of love and sacrifice.

On an ordinary day, at an air show like that in any small town across the country, a plane crashes into a crowd of spectators. After the dust clears, a thirteen-year-old girl named Ava is found huddled beneath a pocket of rubble with her best friend, Wash. He is injured and bleeding, and when Ava places her hands over him, his wounds disappear.

Ava has an unusual gift: she can heal others of their physical ailments. Until the air show tragedy, her gift was a secret. Now the whole world knows, and suddenly people from all over the globe begin flocking to her small town, looking for healing and eager to catch a glimpse of The Miracle Child. But Ava's unique ability comes at a great cost, and as she grows weaker with each healing, she soon finds herself having to decide just how much she's willing to give up in order to save the ones she loves most.

Elegantly written, deeply intimate and emotionally astute, The Wonder of All Things is an unforgettable story and a poignant reminder of life's extraordinary gifts.

  

Amazon US/Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

The Book Depository

Reviewer's Note

I received a paperback copy of this novel

from the author in return for an honest review.

 One of the joys of reading literary fiction is the beauty of the prose style. Jason Mott's writing in this novel is absolutely beautiful, flowing, poetic, and full of wonderfully vivid details. The setting in The Wonder of All Things is the fictional town of Stone Temple, which is located near mountains, and Mott masterfully immerses the reader in this beautiful natural locale.

The plot revolves around Ava, the daughter of the town sheriff, who has suddenly developed the ability to heal physical ailments. She first discovers this when she unknowingly heals her best friend, Wash, after a tragic accident at a carnival air show being held at the town.

Mott deals with several themes in this novel, such as the ethics involved in Ava's healings and their concomitant effects on her health, coming of age, facing tragic losses, the heady power of first love, the questioning of spiritual beliefs, the responsibilities of parents and siblings, and the underlying themes of the book -- the fragility and sacredness of human life, as well as the power of memory.

Mott deftly interweaves all of these themes through the interactions of his characters.

Ava is still struggling to accept the loss of her mother, whom she vividly remembers, and is resentful of the presence of her father's new wife, who is unfailingly kind to Ava in spite of the child's obvious hostility toward her.

Macon, Ava's father, is caught in the middle, and, at the same time, has to deal with the growing problem of Ava's sudden fame, which brings hordes of people into the town.

Carmen, Macon's second wife, has regrets and fears of her own, which she tries her best to deal with, pretty much by herself.

Reverend Isaiah Brown is perhaps the book's most complex character. He leads a church, one of several that have descended upon Stone Temple as a result of the appearance of what Brown sees as the miraculous. He also has a brother, Sam, who is a heavy responsibility for him, and for whom he feels unfailing love. Their relationship is a very poignant one.

Then there's Heather, Ava's enigmatic mother, who only appears in the story in flashbacks, which are Ava's memories of her. Through Heather, Mott gives a certain sense of foreboding to the novel. 

I love the relationship between Ava and Wash. They are constantly bantering with each other, each also constantly concerned about the other. Wash's healing has taken a terrible toll on Ava, and she is taken to the hospital. Wash is always there for her throughout her stay in the hospital, with his interminable, funny, discussions of Moby Dick, which succeed in lifting her spirits. 

Ava is the more outgoing of the two; Wash is shy with everyone except her, and is a dedicated reader. Their contrasting personalities work well together, though. He supports her in everything, and she, in turn, confides in him completely.

There's a dreamlike quality to this book, as the plot gradually moves along, with no sudden shifts or twists, the way people and things in nature grow. While I enjoyed this at times, I did wonder, at other times, just where the plot was heading. I was expecting more dramatic events, more healings, more personal confrontations between some of the characters. For instance, I couldn't believe that no one in Ava's family actually told the public at large that Ava couldn't commit to more healings because doing so would undermine her health. People who only knew her as "The Miracle Child" thought that she was actually being selfish in keeping her gift to herself, and that she had a duty to help humanity. Why didn't either Macon or Carmen at least explain things to Reverend Brown, who had more personal contact with them?  I must admit to some disappointment in this regard.

Another disappointment, one that is nevertheless a necessary part of the story, is Macon himself. Although he does love his daughter, he puts her health at risk by allowing, even encouraging her, to perform more healings. He seems to be more concerned with trying to improve the family's financial situation than with the debilitating effect of each healing on Ava. Ironically, it's Carmen, Ava's stepmother, who fights with Macon to protect Ava from having to carry out these healings. It's Carmen who is worried about Ava's health, Carmen who notices that the child is growing thinner. Still, she does nothing to enlighten the world about Ava's condition.

Interestingly, Mott includes another disappointing father in this novel -- Tom, Wash's father, who had abandoned his son due to his own inability to deal with his grief after his wife's death. When he returns to Stone Temple, it becomes painfully clear that he's not a fit parent for Wash. 

It's the mothers in the book -- and one grandmother -- who come across as truly nurturing, truly patient and loving with Ava and Wash. Heather, Carmen (although she could have done more for Ava), and Brenda are true heroines in this respect. Heather, unfortunately, was unable to be completely there for Ava, but she did try,  even in the face of her own unhappiness. That's more than can be said for Macon.

In spite of these objections, I do think that this is a novel worth reading, for its gently poetic sentences, for the slice of life in a small town which is a microcosm of the grand themes of existence, and, most of all, for its tenacious insistence on hope, in spite of all the tragedies the characters must face.

In short, Mott has penned a book that will long stay with the reader, a haunting, poignant memento of the truly important things in life.

MY RATING: 

JASON MOTT holds a BA in fiction and an MFA in poetry both from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and is the author of two poetry collections. His writing has appeared in numerous literary journals, and he was nominated for the 2009 Pushcart Prize. In addition to the rare achievement of receiving starred reviews from all four of the top publishing industry magazines—Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews—The Returned was named a “People Pick” by People magazine, and was featured in Essence, Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post, among others.  Mott also appeared on numerous broadcast programs including NPR’s All Things Considered and Tell Me More, The Travis Smiley Show, the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Radio Show and many local television shows across the U.S. Mott lives in North Carolina.

  

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Book Review/Tour: The Angel of Losses, by Stephanie Feldman

The Angel of Losses

Stephanie Feldman

Hardcover, 288 pages

Ecco, July 29, 2014

Historical Fiction, Judaism, Literary Fiction, 
Magic Realism, Mysticism 

Book Synopsis
 
The Tiger's Wife meets A History of Love in this inventive, lushly imagined debut novel that explores the intersections of family secrets, Jewish myths, the legacy of war and history, and the bonds between sisters.

When Eli Burke dies, he leaves behind a mysterious notebook full of stories about a magical figure named "The White Rebbe", a miracle worker in league with the enigmatic Angel of Losses, protector of things gone astray, and guardian of the lost letter of the alphabet, which completes the secret name of God.

When his granddaughter, Marjorie, discovers Eli's notebook, everything she thought she knew about her grandfather--and her family--comes undone. To find the truth about Eli's origins and unlock the secrets he kept, she embarks on an odyssey that takes her deep into the past, from 18th-century Europe to Nazi-occupied Lithuania, and back to the present, to New York City and her estranged sister Holly, whom she must save from the consequences of Eli's past.

Interweaving history, theology, and both real and imagined Jewish folktales, The Angel of Losses is a family story of what lasts, and of what we can -- and cannot -- escape.






My Review

(Reviewer's Note: The publisher provided me with a paperback ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.)

Although the Kabbalah has fascinated me for some time now, I am not at all familiar with Jewish myths and legends. I was therefore delighted to discover that this novel not only touches upon Kabbalistic ideas, but also interweaves them with the tales of the miracle-working White Rebbe. This character is not entirely fictitious; the stories of his exploits are most likely based on traditional  Jewish legends, especially of the Hasidim, which is a mystical Jewish sect.   The result, for me, was sheer fascination, and I found it extremely hard to put the book down!

There's a very poignant thread running through this novel, because, also interwoven in its pages of beautiful, lyrical prose are the eternal themes of the Jewish soul -- the longing for the Messiah, the heartbreak of exile, as well as a deep reverence for the Divine, whose true name is ineffable.

There are references to the Holocaust, too, which Eli Burke, Marjorie's beloved grandfather, incorporated into his stories of The White Rebbe, which he told his two granddaughters when they were children. After Eli's death, Marjorie comes into possession of one of his notebooks, and embarks on a quest to find out more about her grandfather's mysterious past. As she does, she gradually discovers his painful experiences during this terrible time in history. She had not even known he was Jewish.

Ironically, she is also  struggling to understand her estranged sister, Holly, who has converted to Orthodox Judaism.

Adding to the irony is the fact that Marjorie's search is fueled not only by her need to find out more about Eli, but also by the connection between The White Rebbe and the legends of The Wandering Jew. This just happens to be the topic of her doctoral dissertation in comparative literature.

Like the great exponents of magic realism -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Isabel Allende -- Feldman combines fantasy elements with everyday, mundane reality.  Marjorie's frequently surreal quest is juxtaposed with the conflicts within her own family.  The novel seamlessly moves back and forth between these two worlds, the mythical and the real, even mixing them up at times. I love the myths and legends Feldman writes about, the spiritual knowledge behind them, the way she transports the reader into a mysterious, mystical world that is larger than real life. 

Another aspect of the book I really enjoyed was the story-within-a-story format, as there were several chapters dedicated to the stories from Eli's notebooks. These were absolutely beautiful, and I didn't find them at all distracting to the main narrative; they actually fit in quite well.

It's highly ironic that Marjorie, the non-believer, is the sister who goes through all of these fantastical experiences. Meanwhile, her sister, Holly, has re-discovered her Jewish roots -- without knowing she was doing so -- through her romance with, and subsequent marriage to, Nathan, a man who belongs to a mystical Jewish group, and who subsequently becomes interested in the legends of The White Rebbe.

Holly's easy journey into her roots is contrasted with Marjorie's, and this is an interesting parallel. Holly accepts her new life with little reflection or understanding of its deeper, mystical traditions. She is totally focused on more immediate, real-life concerns. Marjorie instead finds it quite a challenge to remain connected to the real world, in the face of all of her mystical experiences.

I especially love Marjorie and Eli Burke, who emerges as a mythical character in his own right. There's an unbreakable bond between the two of them, even after his death, that is very touching and strong. They are both storytellers, dwellers in myths themselves. In Marjorie, Eli has found his literary and spiritual heir, thus bypassing his own son, Marjorie's father, in a nontraditional succession that echoes the increasing role of women as spiritual leaders in world religions.

Filled with wondrous events and painful family dynamics, full of longing, hope, and sorrow, The Angel of Losses is a literary jewel, a debut novel that astonishes and fascinates. It's a brilliant work that deserves the highest literary accolades. It's also a work that should be read several times, in order to completely savor all of its intricate, totally mesmerizing beauty. I know I will return to it in the very near future, to immerse myself again in these stories that not only fire my imagination, but also, touch my soul.

MY RATING: 

  

Book Buy Links

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Advance Praise for The Angel of Losses

"Lucid, tender, and masterfully portrayed, rich with Jewish lore and history, The Angel of Losses is an intergenerational story of perseverance and love in a changing world. There is magic at play here in more than one sense. A must-read."

-- G. Willow Wilson, author of

Alif the Unseen 

"Stephanie Feldman is one of the smartest and most original young writers at work today. Here she imagines the eternally exiled Wandering Jew as a wonder-worker, a frightened boy in the Vilna Ghetto, and a feminist scholar in Coney Island. With a deft understanding of the irreducibility of human relatiionships, Feldman leads us through love and loss and back to love again. Watch out for her. She is here to stay."

-- Sheri Holman, author of

The Dress Lodger 

For Further Information On 

Jewish Myths and Legends

Tree of Souls - Howard Schwartz

Hasidic Stories

Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends
The Wandering Jew
Across the Sabbath River - Hillel Halkin  

About the Author

Stephanie Feldman grew up in Philadelphia and studied writing at the University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts, and Barnard College. She lived in New York City for 10 years before returning to Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.

The Angel of Losses is her first novel.

Author Links

Website/Facebook/Goodreads
Instagram/Pinterest/Twitter
Library Thing

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