Book Report Monday: Out of the Easy

Title: Out of the Easy

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Genre: Young Adult

Synopsis: It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer. 

She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny. (from Goodreads)

Why did I pick it up?: My friend Liz handed it to me saying, "I think you would like this." She was right. Thanks Liz!

Favorite Lines: "I didn't ask for a light," Willie said.
"No, but you've tapped your cigarette fifty-three...now fifty-four times and I thought you might like to smoke it."

My Review: I loved Josie right away. She's a no-nonsense girl who from a young age is exposed to the details of her mother's life as a prostitute. At seven she can make a martini and sass the madam at the brothel where her mother later works. Josie moves out on her own, living and working at a bookstore. As if I needed more of a reason to relate with her, she views college as a way to change her unpleasant situation.

Her mother is rarely seen in the story but her actions are widely felt. A realistic scenario for negligent parents. Josie seems to be bombarded by her mother's unseemly profession and bad decisions at every turn. In lieu of a traditional family Josie has Willie the brothel madam, Cokie the loyal chauffeur, and the father and son in charge of the bookstore, Patrick and Charlie Marlowe. Every member of her motley family recognizes Josie as an exceptional young woman and does what they can to help. But when her mother gets involved with a notoriously dangerous man there's nothing anyone can do to stop Josie's life from being turned upside down.

The writing is succinct and keeps the story moving along a quick yet unhurried pace. Sepetys provides just enough details about the French Quarter and life there in the 50's to intrigue and educate but not to weigh the story down with lengthy descriptions.

I've often read and enjoyed YA novels that while entertaining for me are setting poor examples for adolescent girls. Characters who take no initiative but wait for the male lead or villain to force her to react. There's nothing wrong with these characters or stories. I don't think teens are all so impressionable that they will mimic that behavior. However Out of the Easy is not one of those books. Josie is smart, independent, and determined to do something to improve her prospects. Of course being a 17-year old girl and desperate to get out of New Orleans she does make a fair amount of poor choices that had me cringing. Josie tells more lies than she can keep track of, withholds information from police and blackmails a wealthy man. None of which serve her any good or help her to reach her goal of attending college in New England.

I wish there were more books like this and have added Between Shades of Grey to my read list.

My Recommendation: Fans of YA

For Next Time: Monster by Dave Zeltserman

An Evening with Alice Hoffman

On February 25th Alice Hoffman made an appearance at Newtonville Books, conveniently accessible to me via the subway. It's important to note that in June of 2009, I headed to Long Island to attend one of her signings for The Story Sisters. I had never been to Long Island and had printed directions from MapQuest. Turned out that was a mistake. I was in traffic for hours. I was in the Lincoln Tunnel forever. The directions estimated 2.5 hours and even though I had taken the day off from work and left at 3pm for a 7pm signing, I didn't arrive until 8:30. The signing was over and Alice Hoffman was gone. I bought one of the signed copies and left. Since then I've read more of her novels and my admiration has at least doubled. You can imagine how determined I was to actually meet her this time.

I arrived with time to snag a seat in the center and purchase her latest book, The Museum of Extraordinary Things. Newtonville Books is a cool bookstore. I know all bookstores are cool, right? But check out their check out counter filled with books.

I could feel energy dancing through me, but I managed to stay still and not draw unwanted attention. Thanks yoga. The first thing she talked about was her life as a writer. As much as I love her books, I didn't know much about her personal life or how her writing career began. It's generally reassuring to hear wildly successful authors talk about writing. Their habits and methods are so similar to my own that it's a validation that I'm not on the completely wrong track, as I frequently fear I might be. She described her feelings when she starts a new project saying, "I can't write this. I don't know who that writer was that wrote all those other novels under my name but it can't have been me." While it's not exactly reassuring that writers never lose their doubt, it is a comfort that they write their way through it. If they can, maybe I can too. She talked about having writer's block and how she never expected to write a book like The Dovekeepers or The Museum of Extraordinary Things. She read from the book and answered questions.

The book I'm currently writing has involved a lot of research and I asked her how she approached her research for The Dovekeepers, which is set in Masada in 70. She said it was overwhelming at first, but eventually she realized that she only needed to know what her characters knew and so that helped her target her research area. As there isn't a lot of information about women's lives during that time, she found other ways to answer her questions. For example, nomadic tribes making bread in the desert today without any modern technology probably isn't all that different from making bread in the desert almost 2,000 years ago.

Finally, it was book signing time. I was getting my chance to speak to her privately. I had so many things I wanted to say and ask, didn't I? I must have lost most of them while waiting in line. The only ones I could remember seemed foolish. I managed to tell her that I loved all of her novels and she seemed flattered and a bit surprised, maybe because I was much younger than most of the people there. I thought afterwards I'd remember a million questions to ask her, but I didn't. Turns out the words she gives us in her books are enough for me.

Letting Go: It's a Process

I don't know why I need books the way I do. Obviously reading them is wonderful. Every book is a unique experience in a different world, an escape from reality, a journey into the unknown, and like George R.R. Martin* says, "A reader lives a thousand lives." I understand what I love about them, but I don't know why I need books around.  

Libraries make me feel like dancing too, Belle.

Once upon a time, I was a having horrible day. I was at work and needed to get out before I emotionally imploded. Lucky for me, there was a Barnes & Noble next door. I grabbed a Soy Chai Tea Latte and walked around the fiction and young adult sections. I ended up buying a gorgeous copy of Persuasion, my favorite Jane Austen. I don't know why the sight of books calms me, but it does and it didn't let me down on Monica's horrible day. There's so much to discover and experience in the world, too much to get caught up in the trivial annoyances and hiccups of daily life. Books are a tangible representation of all the world has to offer. Okay, I guess I just realized why I like having them around...

The flip-side to basking in their presence is getting nervous at the thought of parting with my books. When my friend mentioned her school's annual book drive, my first thought was going and increasing my collection. When she said they were accepting donations, I felt an irrational pulse of terror. 

Not my books!**

Fortunately for the school, I am a rational individual and (though it was with much trepidation) I decided to donate some. My shelves are overflowing and I can't stop buying more. Yes I have a Nook and I take advantage of the Boston Library's fabulous eBook loaning program, but I continue to buy new and used books. I just love them.

When I went through my 300+ books, I did my best to consider the ones I should keep. Those being the ones I thought I might read again or would be likely to loan to other readers. I came up with four that I was willing to part with...

I have problems. First world problems. Nerd girl problems. Ravenclaw problems. I could go on, but won't.

I gave myself a stern talking to about how important it is for affordable used books to be available, how great it is to support a wonderful local school, and how I probably wasn't going to read most of these books again. What was I doing really? Just hoarding the knowledge for myself, which isn't cool. Knowledge is power and I want to share that power. Plus hoarding is unhealthy and kind of weird. I mean it would be weirder if they were cats or VHS tapes of my favorite late night infomercials. Minimal level of weirdness aside, I went through my shelves again. 

The donate pile grew and grew until it contained about twenty books!

I felt great after I filled the huge tote bag with thousands of pages of goodness. Soon other people will enjoy these books. Three cheers for being charitable. Plus, now I've got some space on my shelves...

*But writers only live one, so maybe write a bit faster, okay Georgie?
**Those actually aren't my books. They belong to the Boston Public Library. They were also mostly in French, which Belle would have appreciated.

Boston Book Festival 2013

Saturday was the Fifth Boston Book Festival in Copley Square. I went to hear the YA: Legends Revisited talk featuring Maggie Stiefvater, Nancy Werlin, Shelly Dickinson Carr, and Marisa Meyer. I haven't read anything by Carr or Meyer yet, though Meyer's Cinder has been on my to read list for a while and after hearing about Carr's take on Jack the Ripper in Ripped, I can't wait to pick it up. I've reviewed Stiefvater and Werlin's books on this blog. The talk focused on using pre-existing stories, myths, fairy tales, and historic events in their writing. It was right up my alley! Also, it was conveniently located near my office.

I felt a familiar sense of validation in hearing successful authors discuss their writing methods. 

"Hey, they do some things like I do. Maybe I am really a writer." 

Okay, maybe I let go of the doubt about whether or not I'm a "real writer" a while ago. Thank goodness! Still it's nice to know these women have had success and their processes are not all that different from mine. They also got me thinking about some things that could become blog topics in the future. Thanks ladies!

There were a lot of panels and readings, though I only attended that one. Outside they had booths set up for local publishers, self publishing companies, magazines, schools featuring MFA programs, and pretty much anything related to books, literature or reading. It was a gorgeous day and I was totally in the zone.

Check out the swag I snagged: a copy of Writer magazine, a SciFi Story Anthology, and a free ticket to the Boston Book Fair in November.

The Return

As much as I wanted to continue blogging regularly I couldn't find it in me to make the time for it over the last eight months. It's been a long while since I've been active here and I've had a lot of guilt about that. Life got in the way. I still read lots of books and blogs though I did not write as much as I would have liked, but I couldn't harness the energy to blog.

I switched my day job and quit Philadelphia for Boston. Leaving my job was hard, I'd been there for almost 6 years and I was sad to say goodbye to many of my coworkers, but I wanted to relocate and I am happy that I did. The move was an adventure for sure but it took a long time to come to fruition.  I've had the desire to flee to New England for years. I primarily credit Alice Hoffman, maple syrup, and the Autumn season for this desire. In theory it sounds dreadfully romantic, doesn't it?

Picking up and moving however involved a lot more steps, planning, and frustrating apartment hunting than they show in books and movies. Though I enjoy planning, list making, and employing excel spreadsheets to pave the way so I'm not complaining. Also, the most frustrating piece of apartment hunting was getting a landlord to accept my 50 pound dog and I would never complain about that. I knew what I was signing up for when I adopted him five years ago and I'm happy I found a place with a fenced in yard.

I think he likes it.

We arrived just in time for our new city to be attacked on Marathon Monday. My family was not entirely pleased to see me relocating so far away, but they understood it was something I needed to do. I live alone and I think that stresses them out to a certain extent. The Marathon Bombings, which occurred half a block from my new office, did not help assuage their worries. Boston, however, is a strong city and the response to the attacks have only served to affirm that I made the right decision.

Yesterday when she was over my friend, Liz-who played a vital role in my move, said it looks like I've lived here for years. And I do feel settled now. With the to do lists put aside and the stress of moving ebbing, I find the words come easier. The itch to dust off my last project and breath life into it is stronger than ever. Writing playlists are revamped. Deadlines are updated in spreadsheets and I feel the writer inside of me nudging herself to the forefront again. I'm more myself when I'm writing regularly and though I was too occupied to feel the hole not writing left in my days I can sense the completeness that was not there over recent months. It's a comfort and I'm beyond grateful for it.

Hopefully, I'll get back on track with a blogging schedule soon. I know some folks have missed my Book Reports and I have definitely missed some folks.