Author Spotlight: Lesley Kagen

There’s such a feeling of satisfaction and anticipation in discovering a great author and in turn a path to new worlds and new characters to fall in love with, to learn from and to be inspired by. I had the good fortune during my blogging hiatus to do just that, when I found New York Times best-selling author Lesley Kagen, whose novels proved to be a gold mine of great stories filled with heart, humor, and compelling, memorable characters. Lesley’s simple stories of childhood and family bonds, set in simpler times and places draw you in and enchant you.

Relying on children or young adults as her narrators, she imbues each story with their unabashed sense of optimism, honesty, and courage. Kagen has said “The way kids see the world and the people in it is as close to the truth as one will ever get. Most children don't wear armor the way adults do. They wear their hearts.” Such is the case with my first Kagen novel, Whistling in the Dark, which was so funny and charming that I immediately followed it with Good Graces, Land of a Hundred Wonders, and Tomorrow River.

In Whistling in the Dark, it’s the summer of 1959 in Milwaukee, two young girls have been found dead in the span of the year, and ten year old Sally O’Malley is sure of two things: that she knows who the killer is and that she’s his next target. Determined to make good on the promise she made her daddy before he died, Sally is focusing all her energy in protecting her younger sister Troo. When their mother is hospitalized and their drunkard of a stepfather is too busy for them, the girls rely on their own courage and the kindness of neighbors to make it through unscathed.

Good Graces is the sequel to Whistling in the Dark and in it Kagen reconnects the reader with these two unforgettable sisters. It is one year later and now eleven-year old Sally is still dealing with the near escape from a murderer and molester the previous summer. Dealing with a new round of worries, including a string of home burglaries in town and the escape from reform school of her sister’s nemesis, Sally is still focused on keeping Troo out of danger and keeping her promise to her dad, even if her life depends on it.

In Tomorrow River, it’s the summer of 1968 when we meet Shenny Carmody and her twin sister Woody, who has stopped speaking since the night their mother disappeared. Dealing with their father’s drunken rants and dire threats of putting Woody away in an institution, Shenny is determined to find her mother before it’s too late. As her perilous search for the truth begins, Shenny begins to uncover some painful truths that could turn her young world upside down.

In Land of a Hundred Wonders, Gibby McGraw is what other’s term “not quite right” (brain damaged) since the tragic car accident that took both her parents. A fledgling newspaper reporter, Gibby stumbles upon the story of the century when she finds the dead body of Buster Malloy, the next governor of Kentucky. Determined to break the case, that is if she can remember what she found and where, Gibby hopes to prove to her overprotective grandfather that she can get Quite Right again, but in the process she finds more than she bargained for, including love.

It was Whistling in the Dark that hooked me like a trout and made me a Kagen fan. I fell in love with Sally O’Malley and her effervescent and wily sister Troo. While the book does have a mystery element to the plot, it doesn’t weigh down the story and is ultimately overshadowed by the larger than life personalities of these two intrepid young sisters and their unbreakable bond. As the story’s narrator, Sally’s wiser than her year’s insight, as well as her kindness, generosity and courage radiate light and warmth throughout her tale, and you can’t help but both admire and be dismayed by her gumption and innocence. The added bonus is the amusing and interesting cast of characters which comprise Sally and Troo’s circle of friends, including Fast Susie Fazio, Mary Lane (skinny as a rail and a big fat liar), Willie O’Hara, and Wendy Latour. The incredible sense of family in this small neighborhood brings you back to a simpler time when kids were truly kids with no scheduled play dates or organized activities; you just stepped outside your door and played with the countless kids which where your neighbors and friends.

Good Graces was as charming as Whistling, with Sally’s voice coming through as authentic and honest as ever. Troo is still giving her poor sister fits, while keeping us (the readers) well entertained. Both Shenny and Gibby from Tomorrow River and Land of a Hundred Wonders, respectively, are as sweet and endearing as the O’Malley sisters, while the mystery elements in these last two novels are much more compelling than either O’Malley tale, and play more of an integral role in the story. In addition to the light mysteries in all her novels, the books also deal with a number of other important subjects such as racism and loss.

Each of Kagen’s heroines will easily capture a spot both in your heart and memory. Do yourself a favor and dive into any of Kagen’s novel (with a special shout out to Whistling); you’ll be enveloped in pure unadulterated magic with a dash of nostalgia and a heaping teaspoon of fun.

Chocolate Bar IQ Test

I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed of the fact that I can name almost all of the chocolates pictured above; my double chin would say ashamed, definitely ashamed.

Friday's Double Feature

There are a select few movies which I love and have seen too many times to count. Movies that despite all plans to the contrary and all rational thought, I watch time and time again, sometimes even deliberately seeking them out, which was the case this past Friday when I watched You’ve Got Mail for the 100th time.

For those of you trapped under a rock for the past 15 years who haven’t seen this classic, You’ve Got Mail is a 1998 film written and directed by the brilliant Nora Ephron that stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. In the movie, set in NYC, the sweet and perky Meg Ryan plays Kathleen Kelly, the owner of an adorably charming children’s bookstore called Shop Around the Corner, which she inherited from her mother. Joe Fox owns Fox Books, a rival book superstore selling “cheap books and legal addictive stimulants” (cappuccinos)that is putting small independent books out of business, that could potentially include Shop Around the Corner when its newest superstore opens literally around the corner from the quaint little shop. Despite mixing like oil in water in person, unbeknownst to one another, this unlikeliest of pairs is actually falling in love with each other through their online communications as Shopgirl and NY152, respectively, that started after meeting in an over 30 chat room. Facing the loss of her shop, Kathleen aka Shopgirl turns to NY152 aka Joe for advice (“go to the matresses” he says), which is kind of like asking the fox to guard the henhouse. When Joe finally suggests that they meet in person, Kathleen agrees, and with Pride & Prejudice and red rose in hand she heads to the local café to meet the man of her dreams, but all does not go as planned and love decides to take a quick detour before these two soul mates finally find each other.

I love this movie! It’s so perfect; funny, romantic, sweet, and the sentimental (some would say sappy) ending truly caps off a perfect two hours. Hanks and Ryan had such wonderful onscreen chemistry; you can probably chalk it up to familiarity, since this was their third film together; Joe versus the Volcano and Sleepless in Seattle being the other two. In addition to the great leads, you also had a talented supporting cast featuring Dabney Coleman, Parker Posey and Jean Stapleton. Kathleen’s “I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly” makes me swoon every single time. They don’t make em’ like that anymore! I mean in the 90s there were so many great romantic comedies – Pretty Woman, Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, and Four Weddings and a Funeral, to name a few. What’s the last great romantic comedy you can name which doesn’t require tapping your long-term memory banks? There aren’t that many for me, maybe Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (more drama than comedy) and definitely Love Actually, but even those aren’t that recent. Oh, and lest I forget The Proposal, a recent favorite which is quickly racking up viewings.

The second movie in my double feature was one I had wanted to see for the longest time, The Shop Around the Corner, the 1940 film on which You’ve Got Mail was based that starred one of my favorite actors, James Stewart, and Maureen Sullavan.

The Shop Around the Corner is set in 1940 Budapest and stars Jimmy Stewart as Alfred Kralik, the lead sales person at the Matuschek & Co. gift shop. Despite Kralik’s recommendation otherwise, shop owner Hugo Matuschek (Frank Morgan) decides to hire Klara Novak (Sullavan) as a new shop girl after she successfully sells a cigarette box as a candy box (and for a mark-up). After their inauspicious beginning, Kralik and Klara continue to butt heads at every turn, unaware that each is the person they have fallen in love with through anonymous correspondences which Kralik began in response to a newspaper personals ad which Klara posted.

This was a sweet little film, but in my humble opinion, I think this is one of those rarest of occasions in which the remake actually exceeds the original. James Stewart was brilliant as always, bringing his usual every man, down-to-earth charm and witty humor to the role, and the supporting cast was equally talented, especially Felix Bressart as co-worker and family man, Pirovitch, but I found Sullavan’s Klara as sharp-tongued and annoying as did Kralik. While Hanks was more than equal to Stewart’s talent and charisma in the male lead, Ryan was by far the more likeable and endearing female lead between the two versions. The remake pays respectful homage to the original, obviously making concessions to the times by shifting the method of correspondence from handwritten letters to online communications, all the while staying true to the heart of the story and the memorable romantic dynamic between the two protagonists.

As a huge fan of James Stewart, as I am, The Shop Around the Corner was definitely worth watching. Though it wasn’t on par with some of my favorites of his, such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Harvey or It’s A Wonderful Life; I say any time spent in the company of Jimmy Stewart is always time well spent.

Unity

In honor of this year's Unity Day, a day to unite against bullying, I thought I'd post this animated spoken-word poem titled “To This Day” by Canadian poet Shane Koyczan, which beautifully expresses, with more eloquence than I could, the pain and scars bullying can leave behind.



DoSomething.org reports that "over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year" and one in seven students in grades K-12 is said to be involved in bullying -- whether as a bully or a bullying victim. More than 160,000 U.S. students stay home from school each day from fear of being bullied. It’s up to parents, teachers, and students to stop a problem the National Education Association says has reached epidemic levels.

Talk to your kids and empower them with information, as well as your love. Teach them that the rhyme "sticks and stones, may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is a lie; words can hurt but they can also heal and comfort, and by speaking up and being more than a bystander, they can be someone's hero.

Gravity

Director Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, a work of art four years in the making, stars Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first space shuttle mission with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) in command. During a space walk while Stone is making repairs, mission control warns them that debris from a strike on a Russian satellite has caused a chain reaction of destruction which is making its way to the location of their shuttle. Disaster strikes and the debris not only damages the shuttle, but causes Stone and Kowalsky to lose all contact with mission control and find themselves detached from their ship and stranded in space. Tumbling through space they remain determined to find a way to save themselves and make it back home.

This movie was breathtakingly, jaw-clenchingly and armrest grippingly great! I felt like my armrest was my tether (you'll hear that word alot during the movie) to the real world, and I was not letting go. If, no, when you go see this movie, see it on IMAX 3D like I did for you would be doing yourself and the movie a disservice by seeing it in any other format. The magnitude and majesty of each shot demands it. I'll never be an astronaut and get the chance to experience the grandeur of space in person, but after watching this movie, it feels like I just got pretty darn close to the real thing. The movie is dizzying in more ways than one; both literally dizzying as your eyes adjust to the tilted view of tumbling through space and zero gravity; and dizzying in the sheer scope and beauty of space, of our planet earth, of the sight of tears floating like crystalline pearls in front of you.

Bullock was great in her performance, conveying Stone's desperation in every gasp and panic-stricken stare, and deserves kudos not only for her acting but the incredible physicality of the role. I have to say though that George was just as phenomenal; his character's wit and humor serve to ground and tether us (there's that word again) to the human story that might otherwise get lost in all the CGI special effects. As to the CGI effects, they're so seamless that during not one second of the movie do you ever sit in awe of what is on the screen, you just accept it as real.

Is this a Best Picture Oscar winner? No, probably not. There isn't much of a plot or character development; the story mainly involves a chain of catastrophic events, a lot of heart pounding action, and two people struggling to survive. But is it a great movie that demands to be seen? Yes, a resounding yes; and if you watch it in IMAX 3D it's so much more than a movie, it's an awe-inspiring and at times frighteningly too real experience. So, book the babysitter and pull out the wallet, because this you've got to see.

The Voice 411

(First row, left to right: Brandon Chase, Holly Henry; Second row: Caroline Pennell, Jonny Gray)

During last night’s 2-hour episode, “The Voice” coaches completed their 12 member teams, and therefore ended the blind audition rounds. Hence, beginning next Monday we’ll be moving on to the battle rounds in which two contestants from the same team compete against each other while singing the same song; their coach chooses which one advances to the next round.

Each coach will be working with a celebrity advisor to guide and encourage their team duos in advance of their performance. This year’s celebrity advisors are Cher (Team Blake), Miguel (Team CeeLo), Ed Sheeran (Team Christina) and Ryan Tedder (Team Adam). As with last year, singers not chosen by their coach during the battle round will be available to be stolen by another coach, with each coach allowed two steals.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve already picked my favorite for this season, Holly Henry from Team Blake. The 19-year old singer-songwriter stunned me with her amazingly beautiful, breathy and vulnerable voice, when she sang Coldplay’s “The Scientist.” The added bonus was the touching shot of her little brother wiping away tears during her performance. While I’ll be rooting for Holly all the way, there are a couple other performers worth following, including another Team Blake member (Brandon Chase) and two Team CeeLo members (Caroline Pennell and Jonny Gray). I would love it if Blake could manage to steal Caroline, who had a sweet voice and a quirky/shy personality that was just as charming. Blake had a chance at her during the auditions, when both he and CeeLo turned their chairs, but while she didn’t end up with the cowboy on the first go around, here’s hoping the second time is the charm and she ends up on the right team in the end.

In addition, to the great contestants, I must say so far it’s been great to have CeeLo and Christina back this season. I love CeeLo; he’s always so laid back and almost poetic in his critique of each singer. As for Christina, what can I say? I don’t know if absence made the heart grow fonder and she’s actually happy to be back, or if it’s some kind of personality makeover done for PR; but whatever the reason or cause, she seems sincere, sweet, and friendly; a welcome change from season’s past.

You can watch the auditions for all 48 contestants heading into the battle rounds by visiting NBC’s The Voice page. Here’s to a great season and, fingers crossed, that Holly wins. Go Team Blake! Yee-haw!