5 favorite coming-of-age books by Candi Sary

Five Favorite Books is a special feature at LA Books Examiner in which our favorite authors share their five favorite books within a category. In this edition, Los Angeles author Candi Sary discusses her five favorite Coming-of-Age Books. Candi is the author of Black Crow White Lie, an excellent coming-of-age novel set in Hollywood that releases on October 1 from Casperian Books. To learn more about Candi and her books, visit candisary.com.

Five Favorite Coming-of-Age Books by Candi Sary

#5: The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
While reading The Highest Tide, Miles O’Mally felt more like a kid who lived somewhere in my life than just the narrator of this exceptional novel. The story looks at life through the eyes of the bright thirteen-year-old who spends most of his time on the mud flats of Skookumchuck Bay in Washington, collecting sea creatures for money, and paying close attention to life in the water. He’s a young scientist trying to understand the natural world, while also trying to make sense of friendships, his first crush, his parents’ separation, and his own unique identity. Miles comes up with profound ideas while observing sea life — just little bits of wisdom that stuck in my mind for days after reading the passages. The novel plays with the opposing perspectives of science and magic, at times giving the feeling that science is magic. This is a novel about the challenges of growing up, and yet the author does a wonderful job of pointing out the magic and the beauty along that difficult journey. There is something so special about this book that even after the story ended, its ideas continue to make me wonder.

#4: White Oleander by Janet Fitch
White Oleander made me fall in love with fiction all over again. It came along when I hadn’t read anything in a while that blew me away. Then I met Astrid and Ingrid. Ingrid, the poet/murderess, is the intriguing bohemian who kills her boyfriend and leaves her daughter to a life of foster care. Astrid is the daughter on a journey of self-discovery. She tries to make sense of the world through the variety of foster families she has to live with, as well as through her mother who still influences her from jail. The Los Angeles setting comes alive with the Santa Ana winds and the intense heat, and it gives a haunting quality to the story. This is a powerful novel with some of the most stunning sentences I’ve ever come across. The detail put into this book makes it so complete and thorough and a one-of-a-kind literary experience.

Read the rest of Candi Sary’s Five Favorite books at LA Books Examiner.

 

Purchase Black Crow White Lie by Candi Sary at Amazon.com or Casperian Books. Read the LA Books Examiner’s review of Black Crow White Lie.

Read more Five Favorite Books

For the latest updates to Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, be sure to subscribe and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer.

Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories.

Read Chapter One of One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper

If you haven’t read Jonathan Tropper’s books, you’re in for a wickedly funny treat. USA Today calls Tropper “a more sincere, insightful version of Nick Hornby, that other master of the male psyche,” and Entertainment Weekly exclaimed “It’s amazing what can happen in the hands of a casually brilliant author.”

An acclaimed screenwriter, Tropper has also written for Steven Spielberg and is currently writing a new Cinemax series, Banshee, that will debut in January. Tropper’s last novel, This Is Where I Leave You, was a phenomenal success named one of the best books of 2009 by NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Amazon, among others.

One Last Thing Before I Go demonstrates yet again Tropper’s deft touch with the darkest of materials and his ability to make readers laugh out loud in one paragraph and move them to tears in the next. You can meet Jonathan Tropper on Tuesday night at The Grove in LA where he’ll be reading and signing from his new novel. In the meantime, take a few minutes to read the first chapter of One Last Thing Before I Go, which the author has generously shared with readers at LA Books Examiner below. Enjoy!

When: Tuesday August 28 @ 7 pm
Where: Barnes & Noble (The Grove)
189 Grove Drive Suite K-30 Los Angeles
Get directions

Learn more about Jonathan Tropper and his work at his website: jonathantropper.com

About the book:
You don’t have to look very hard at Drew Silver to see that mistakes have been made. His fleeting fame as the drummer for a one-hit wonder rock band is nearly a decade behind him. He lives in the Versailles, an apartment building filled almost exclusively with divorced men like him, and makes a living playing in wedding bands. His ex-wife, Denise, is about to marry a guy Silver can’t quite bring himself to hate. And his Princeton-bound teenage daughter Casey has just confided in him that she’s pregnant—because Silver is the one she cares least about letting down.

So when he learns that his heart requires emergency, lifesaving surgery, Silver makes the radical decision to refuse the operation, choosing instead to use what little time he has left to repair his relationship with Casey, become a better man, and live in the moment, even if that moment isn’t destined to last very long. As his exasperated family looks on, Silver grapples with the ultimate question of whether or not his own life is worth saving.

With the wedding looming and both Silver and Casey in crisis, this broken family struggles to come together, only to risk damaging each other even more. One Last Thing Before I Go is Jonathan Tropper at his funny, insightful, heartbreaking best.

Read Chapter On at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

“Read Chapter One” is a special feature at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner where authors, from emerging to bestsellers, share an excerpt of their newest books:

North of Hollywood by actor/playwright and local author Rick Lenz

The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by Los Angeles author A.G.S. Johnson

33 Days by LA author and former 80′s indie rocker Bill See

Girl in Translation, the bestselling debut novel by Jean Kwok

The Heights, the bestselling book by novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Peter Hedges

The Omega Theory by international bestselling author Mark Alpert

Fatal Error by bestselling author J.A. Jance

The Dark Side of Innocence by LA writer and bestselling author Terri Cheney

Golden State, the fresh and entertaining debut novel by local author David Prybil, Barnes and Noble Rising Star Award Winner

A Discovery of Witches by professor of history at the University of Southern California and bestselling author Deborah Harkness

The Meaning of Matthew by Judy Shepard, an activist and co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation

The Ark, the bestselling Internet sensation by Boyd Morrison

The Insider by Reece Hirsch

Changes by Jim Butcher, bestselling author of The Dresden Files

Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne, former lead singer of The Talking Heads

Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories (now available for Kindle and Nook). Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates.

A Coupla Shades of Taupe by Court Burback: Read Chapter One

Love it or hate it, the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by former TV executive turned mega bestselling author E.L. James is a true publishing phenomenon. In fact, according to CBS News, these books are “among the fastest-selling series of all time” with more than 10 million copies sold and counting. Film versions of the books are almost certainly on the way, and so is the onslaught of copycats and parodies.

And that’s why we’re here. Before you’re inundated with Fifty Shades of Everything books, meet Court Burback, an LA writer and author of a new Fifty Shades parody A Coupla Shades of Taupe that’s been getting some buzz around town and some great reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Court Burback has agreed to share the first chapter of A Coupla Shades of Taupe below, a wild and funny parody she describes as, “a romantic, tender tale of blossoming emotions and hardcore schtupping” for which “a Pulitzer is inevitable.” Enjoy!

About the author
Court Burback was a finalist for the Glass Woman Fiction Prize, and her nonfiction has appeared in publications that include Playgirl, Laguna Beach Magazine, and Hustler. A Coupla Shades of Taupe is available at Amazon, and you can learn more about Burback at her website onedumbbunny.com.

About the book:
Pagan Taupe is the wealthiest man in all of Arkansas. He’s got a home with a working refrigerator, a private rickshaw driver, and a respected empire of taxidermy/fro-yo chain stores. The only thing that’s missing is a whiny young codependent named Alexandra Aluminum. From the moment he sees her tripping over an angry raccoon, it’s clear that Alexandra dills his pickle. Pagan becomes obsessed with Alexandra at a level normally portrayed by Rob Lowe in Lifetime movies. But unlike Rob Lowe, Pagan doesn’t want to beat her with a tire iron and bury her beneath the town bridge—he wants to make her his live-in sex slave.

But if eager young Alexandra wants to feel the caress of Pagan’s ear hair against her cheek, she’s going to have to play by his rules. When Pagan reveals the special room he’s built to live out his sexual proclivities, Alexandra’s natural reaction is to cold cock him and call the police. But the clown chained to the wall assures Alexandra that Pagan is a stand-up guy, and if she gives him a chance he can introduce her to a world of unimaginable pleasure. Alexandra takes the leap and agrees to be Pagan’s unquestioning “submissive,” and the two embark on a sexual journey that would make Gloria Steinem put a loaded gun to her temple.

Read Chapter On at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

 

“Read Chapter One” is a special feature at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner where authors, from emerging to bestsellers, share an excerpt of their newest books:

North of Hollywood by actor/playwright and local author Rick Lenz

The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by Los Angeles author A.G.S. Johnson

33 Days by LA author and former 80′s indie rocker Bill See

Girl in Translation, the bestselling debut novel by Jean Kwok

The Heights, the bestselling book by novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Peter Hedges

The Omega Theory by international bestselling author Mark Alpert

Fatal Error by bestselling author J.A. Jance

The Dark Side of Innocence by LA writer and bestselling author Terri Cheney

Golden State, the fresh and entertaining debut novel by local author David Prybil, Barnes and Noble Rising Star Award Winner

A Discovery of Witches by professor of history at the University of Southern California and bestselling author Deborah Harkness

The Meaning of Matthew by Judy Shepard, an activist and co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation

The Ark, the bestselling Internet sensation by Boyd Morrison

The Insider by Reece Hirsch

Changes by Jim Butcher, bestselling author of The Dresden Files

Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne, former lead singer of The Talking Heads

Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories (now available for Kindle and Nook). Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates.

Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts Poetry Series

According to Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts poetry series producer and creator Daniel Yaryan, the idea for SWBG was “to channel the spirits of the deceased Beats through back-to-back poems and songs that seemed to flow continuously and colorfully like the spontaneous thoughts of Jack Kerouac being typed upon his scroll of teletype paper.” And, in August of 2008, Yaryan hosted a six-hour, non-stop marathon of music and poetry at the Li Po Lounge in San Francisco (stomping grounds for Beats Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Philip Lamantia and Philip Whalen) becoming the very first installment or Round One of this mystic poetry boxing match called Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts.

On Sunday, July 15, 2012, the SWBG poetry series comes to the LAst Bookstore in Downtown Los Angeles for Round 37 of this exciting spoken-word poetry event that’s sure to knock you out! Hosted by local hero Mike “The Poet” Sonksen, author of I Am Alive in Los Angeles!, the bygone beatniks will throw down with some of the best spoken-word champs LA has to offer.

The scorecard for Round 37 includes: Steve Abee, Jason Brain, Chiwan Choi, Sean Hill, Armond Kinard, Terry McCarty, Amy Uyematsu, plus some mystery poets and surprise ringers to help stack the deck for the living bards.

When:
Sunday, July 15, 2012 – 3 p.m.

Where:
The Last Bookstore – Downtown Los Angeles
453 S. Spring St. (main entrance around the corner on 5th)

Who:
Mike “The Poet” Sonksen is a 3rd-generation LA native acclaimed for poetry performances, published articles and legendary city tours. Poet, journalist, historian, tour guide, teacher, Sonksen graduated from U.C.L.A. and is the author of I Am Alive in Los Angeles, which is also available on iTunes and has been added to the curriculum of several universities. Mike has performed his poetry coast to coast at college campuses, museums, bookstores, nightclubs and just about any venue you can imagine. See Mike The Poet in action on YouTube.

Read about the rest of the contributors: Steve Abee, Jason Brain, Chiwan Choi, Sean Hill, Armond Kinard, Terry McCarty, Amy Uyematsu at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

Frank Mundo Reads from The Brubury Tales at Beyond Baroque Bookstore

Frank Mundo reads and signs The Brubury Tales, a modern version of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in Los Angeles, at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center and Bookstore.

Date: June 15, Friday, 2012
Time: 7:30 PM

Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center and Bookstore
681 Venice Bl. Venice, CA 90291
310-822-3006  Get directions
$7, $5 students, seniors & kids
www.beyondbaroque.org

About the Book
An ambitious homage to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, The Brubury Tales takes Chaucer’s story and frame to Los Angeles just after the riots, where seven security guards on the graveyard shift swap tales in a hilarious storytelling competition for Christmas vacation time. The tales themselves are “readable” updates of classic stories by Dostoevsky, Dickens, Boccaccio, O Henry, Poe, Twain, Gilman, Crane, Saki, Anderson, Bierce, and even Khayyam’s Rubaiyat.

The Brubury Tales, a bestselling Amazon.com poetry book in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, won a Poet Laureate Award nomination for UCLA and Berkeley, Reader Views 2011 Reviewers Choice Award for Poetry Book of the Year and the 2011 Bookhitch award for Most Innovative Poetry Book of the Year. The book has also won a Reason to Rhyme Award from Byline Magazine, was selected for Powell library’s month-long WORDS… exhibit, and an excerpt was published by Indiana University.

This unique novel-in-verse also contains a special foreword by California literary legend, Carolyn See, who says, “The Brubury Tales is a landmark book, in what is going to be — and already is — an exceptional, distinguished literary career.”

About the Author
Frank Mundo, the LA Books Examiner, is the author of The Brubury Tales and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories. Frank Mundo has been a writer and book reviewer in Los Angeles for almost 20 years, publishing hundreds of stories, poems, essays, book reviews and author interviews. Frank earned a BA in English from UCLA, where he completed the Creative Writing Program. Frank grew up in Los Angeles where he currently lives with his wife, Nancy, and their dogs, Jax and Rusty.

The Brubury Tales by Frank Mundo is available in paperback and eBook formats at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Underground Heroes Feature: LA Poetry Scene

Wow, I was mentioned, along with my book The Brubury Tales, in this really great article by Mike Sonksen about the LA poetry scene called Underground Heroes on KCET’s page.

http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/landofsunshine/la-letters/underground-heroes-dispatch-1.html

Check it out if you have a minute and please like the page.

Meet local author Rick Lenz and read chapter one of North of Hollywood

Rick Lenz has been a working actor almost all his adult life. His acting ranges from the serious to the comedic, and he has been featured in both starring and supporting roles on TV and in film. In addition to acting opposite many of the entertainment industry’s biggest stars—Peter Sellers, Goldie Hawn and Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few—Lenz is a playwright, artist, and now an author of a new memoir called North of Hollywood, a gut-wrenchingly honest account of the actor/playwright’s experiences over the years. Last month, North of Hollywood won first place at the 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Festival awards for Biography/Autobiography.

North of Hollywood is just the beginning for this budding new author. Lenz is also planning his first novel called Redeeming Norma Jean. Originally from Michigan and having acted across the country, Rick Lenz lives in North Hollywood with his wife. They are parents to three children, and have recently become proud grandparents.

You can meet Rick Lenz and get signed copies of his memoir North of Hollywood at three local venues this weekend and next week:

5/18/2012            12 PM – 4 PM at Barnes & Noble – Manhattan Beach, CA.

5/20/2012            3:00 PM at Diesel – Brentwood, Santa Monica, CA.

6/07/2012            1:30 – 3:30 PM at Theatre of Arts -

In the meantime, click here to enjoy an excerpt from North of Hollywood by Rick Lenz, which the author has generously shared with readers of LA Books Examiner.

 

Frank Mundo, LA Books Examiner, is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates.

Two New Interviews

Very exciting! I was interviewed twice this week about my books and my life. I’ve posted links to both if you want to check them out

First, I had a Q and A with Jess C Scott about writing, my favorite poets and my novel in verse, The Brubury Tales, which is now available on kindle. (The Brubury Tales made Amazon’s bestseller list #81 in the UK, #40 in Italy, #99 in Spain!)

And, on April 28th I was interviewed by Laura Lme and Cecilia Francisquini on the Verses In Motion Show on GetYourz Radio | Blog Talk Radio. It was recorded live and you can listen to it now.  In the interview I read an excerpt from The Brubury Tales and discussed the book, its inspiration and origin.

Here’s a link to some previous interviews I did with the Cypress Park branch of the LA Public Library and author Susan Whitfield http://frankmundo.wordpress.com/category/author-interviews/

Read Chapter One of The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by AGS Johnson

The 2011-2012 Los Angeles Book Festival awarded The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by Los Angeles author A.G.S. Johnson an Honorable Mention at its annual competition honoring the best of world publishing. If you missed this up-and-coming local author at the book festival earlier this month, don’t worry. You’ve got another chance next week.

On Wednesday, May 2 at 8 p.m., A.G.S. Johnson will be signing her debut novel, The Sausage Maker’s Daughters, at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles at 453 South Spring Street.

In the meantime, learn more about A.G.S. Johnson and read the first chapter of The Sausage Maker’s Daughters below:

About the author
A.G.S. Johnson always intended to be a writer. But raised in a Midwestern family of five girls and no boys, she embarked on a career in the corporate world that would allow her to explore why men were treated differently than women. Armed with a business degree, for over 20 years she was a banker, most often working with international currencies.

Still, writing remained a dream, so she returned to school, earned a masters degree in fiction writing from the University of Southern California and proceeded to pursue her lifelong ambition. Her debut novel The Sausage Maker’s Daughters, 12 years in the making, releases Feb. 7, 2012.

In addition to her passion for reading, traveling and all things French, Johnson serves on the Board of the Council of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, and is a founding board member of The World is Just a Book Away. Proceeds from The Sausage Maker’s Daughters benefit this relatively young charity that builds libraries in developing countries.

Since the late 70′s Johnson has made her home first in Northern California, now in Los Angeles, where the author lives with her husband of 20 years and their menagerie of cats and dogs. She is currently working on her second novel, a medical murder mystery based on a true story of discovery and deceit.

Learn more about A.G.S. Johnson and her work at her official website: AGSJohnsonauthor.com.

About the book
It’s the era of the counterculture and Vietnam. Women’s consciousness is being raised and they’re beginning to find their places outside of the home.

But twenty-four-year-old Kip Czermanski is nowhere near her home in California. She’s in a jail cell in her hometown in Wisconsin awaiting a court appearance in the mysterious death of her ex-lover, who happened to be her brother-in-law.

Since her father is the small town’s leading citizen, Kip isn’t overly worried—at first. But the personal grudge the DA holds for all the Czermanskis is about to find a foil. Kip.

What follows is a wild ride through Kip’s present predicament and her past. Family dynamics and sibling rivalries, magnified by her counterculture attitudes and feminist beliefs, will lay bare Kip’s life before the crowded courtroom, right along with the self-important Czermanskis’ darkest secrets.

Excerpt of The Sausage Maker’s Daughters by A.G.S. Johnson

Read excerpt at Frank Mundo’s LA Books Examiner.

 
Frank Mundo is the author of The Brubury Tales (foreword by Carolyn See) and Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories. Don’t forget to subscribe to my emails and follow me on Twitter @LABooksExaminer for the latest updates to LA Books Examiner.

A Favorite Read and a Bestseller…

It’s been an amazing week for me and my books.

My first book, a novel in verse called The Brubury Tales, is now available on kindle. In the first week it made Amazon’s bestselling poetry book list in the UK #81 and #40 in Italy (for books in English).

My second book, Gary, the Four-Eyed Fairy and Other Stories was reviewed and name a 2012 favorite read for April by Multi-Story.co.uk and received a 5-star review. It’s available on Kindle today for only 99 cents. Download it now before the price goes up.

Thanks to everyone who has given these books a shot. I really appreciate your support! It’s very exciting and beyond my wildest dreams how well the books are doing.