Words by Webb

Since our days of writing 2011 are definitely numbered I’d thought I’d jump ahead to 2012. What are you looking forward to reading in the new year? It could be a book being released next year, another installment in a favorite series, or an oldie but goodie that you just never got around to reading.

Today’s post includes a review of Karen Berner’s debut novel A Whisper to a Scream, the first in the Bibliophiles series. I wouldn’t mind reading the next book in the series which is coming out in spring 2012. Karen took time to share her top five for 2012 with me.

Karen’s 2012 Reading List

1. Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy
2. A Reader’s Guide to Writer’s Britain by Sally Varlow
3. An Object of Beauty by  Steve Martin
4. Persuasion by Jane Austen
5. Silenced by the Yams, the third Barbara Marr murder mystery by Karen
   Cantwell coming out in February 2012

So how about you? What are your top five for 2012?

A Whisper to a Scream

Author: Karen Berner

Paperback: 278 pages (also available in e-books)

Publisher: CreateSpace (June 14, 2011)

Synposis:

Annie Jacobs has dreamed of the day she would become a mother since the first time she held her Baby Tenderlove doll. Unfortunately, biology has not cooperated with her plan, and she finds herself dealing with a diagnosis of unexplained infertility instead of picking out baby names.

Across town, stay-at-home mom Sarah Anderson is just trying to make it through the grocery store without her toddler hurling a box of rice at a fellow shopper. She is exhausted from managing the house, a first grader and a toddler, all without any help from her work-obsessed, absentee husband.

A Whisper to a Scream is the story of two women on opposite ends of the child-bearing spectrum who come to realize the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side of the fence. A vivid portrayal of contemporary marriage and its problems, the novel speaks to a longing in all of us, a yearning that might start as a vague notion, but eventually grows into an unbearable, vociferous cry.

Review:

Women’s fiction. It doesn’t get more “women” than the issues of motherhood and infertility. True, this novel addresses the land mines that creating families introduce into our lives. But what I found most interesting about this book was the friendship between Annie and Sarah. It was an unlikely friendship between two women living opposite lives yet somehow they connect. There friendship is reflected in the friendships of the other members of the Classics Book Club — unlikely.

Because the situations of Annie and Sarah are familiar to so many women, either personally or through friends and family, we can find the questions that Annie and Sarah ask themselves the same questions we would ask ourselves. What would I do for a baby? How much loneliness in a marriage could I tolerate? What if my spouse and I don’t want the same things? Reading A Whisper to a Scream is like reading about your neighbors…or yourself.

Dancing on the Inside

Author: Glen Strathy

Paperback: 236 pages (also available in hardcover and e-formats)

Publisher: iUniverse (July 7, 2011)

You can read an excerpt on Dancing on the Inside here.

Synposis:

Back cover:

Ever since her grandparents gave her a DVD of Swan Lake, twelve-year old Jenny Spark has wanted to be a dancer. But on her first day of ballet class, she suffers a panic attack and makes a horrifying discovery. She’s terrified of dancing in front of the other kids, and as for actually performing for an audience? Forget it.

Yet Jenny refuses to give up her dream. With determination and a little ingenuity, she finds ways to observe ballet classes without actually participating. She trains in the safety of her room, while hiding the truth from her parents. Then Jenny meets her exact opposit: Ara Reyes, an outgoing, spontaneous, and accident-prone girl who loves dancing but has always been overlooked.

The girls’ friendship blossoms as they help each other uncover their real talents. Ara’s dancing takes a leap forward and Jenny discovers she has an amazing gift for choreography. With the support of the school’s newest teacher, Jenny’s original ballet might just make it on stage…but will she?

Review:

In Dancing on the Inside, Jenny unfolds like a blossom…both as a dancer and as a person. Despite bother internal and external obstacles she pursues her dream of dancing. I believe it will be an encouraging story for any young girl, no matter what her dreams. I must confess, I had doubts about a non-dancer’s ability to capture the mood of the ballet studio but I feel Strathy did admirably, both in the technical aspects and in the emotions of the dancers.

Instead of portraying all the adults characters as basically the same person, just with different names, Strathy creates a variety of personalities. Of course it feels a bit “good cop-bad cop” : her understanding father/her annoyed mother, her dismissive teacher/her nurturing teacher. Strathy also developed the personalities of each of the girls in class and, like 12 year old girls, they didn’t always stay true to form. Sometimes they were nice to Jenny, sometimes mean, sometimes just bored with her. Very typical 12 year old girl!

I think this book will appeal to a wide range of readers: obviously dance lovers and those with social phobia but more importantly to any young girl having trouble finding her place in the world. And what young girl doesn’t? It’s an encouraging tale of combining your dreams and your reality to create your world.

Note: My only nitpicking comment was that Jenny seems too old to be beginning ballet lessons. In any case, she wouldn’t have been in the same class with those auditioning for the National Ballet Corps. In my area, girls Jenny’s age are playing Clara in local productions of The Nutcracker (en pointe). If I was Jenny I probably would have been intimidated too since most girls begin dance classes around age 5. Maybe a 7 or 8 year old beginner, but 12? But that’s just me being difficult. It was still a great book!

I live in a spot where all the trucks are four wheel drive, most homes have a generator to keep the lights on or a wood burning stove to keep the place heated, and unless the snow hits really incredibly amounts life goes on. Of course, from my perusal of the weather channel, I realize that many parts of the country aren’t that well equipped to deal with snow. Surprisingly, one of those places is just about any big city. Not that they don’t have trucks for snow removal but simply because they have no where to go with that snow once they remove it from the streets. Buses and taxis don’t run. People can’t get to work. Pretty much everybody takes a snow day. When folks in the city say, “We’re snowed in” they truly mean it. This next book is about the evil opportunity being snowed in offers to people.

Snow Escape

Author: Roberta Goodman