Book Spotlight with Excerpt: Night Ringing by Laura Foley

Night Ringing
By: Laura Foley

Blurb  "I revel in the genius of simplicity" Laura Foley writes as she gives us in plain-spoken but deeply lyrical moments, poems that explore a life filled with twists and turns and with many transformations. Through it all is a search for a fulfilling personal and sexual identity, a way to be most fully alive in the world. From multicultural love affairs through marriage with a much older man, through raising a family, through grief, to lesbian love affairs, "Night Ringing" is the portrait of a woman willing to take risks to find her own best way. And she does this with grace and wisdom. As she says: "All my life I've been swimming, not drowning." 
-Patricia Fargnoli, author of "Winter, Duties of the Spirit, " and "Then, Something 

"I love the words and white space of poetry. I love stories even more. In this collection, Laura Foley evokes stories of crystallized moments, of quiet and overpowering emotion, of bathtubs and lemon chicken. The author grows up on the pages, comes of age, and reconciles past with present. Almost. Try to put the book down between poems to savor each experience. Try, but it won't be easy. 
-Joni B. Cole, author of "Toxic Feedback, Helping Writers Survive and Thrive" 

Plain-spoken and spare, Laura Foley's poems in "Night Ringing" trace a life story through a series of brief scenes: separate, intense moments of perception, in which the speaker's focus is arrested, when a moment opens to reveal a glimpse of the larger whole. Memories of a powerful, enigmatic father, a loving but elusive mother, a much older husband, thread Foley's stories of childhood, marriage and motherhood, finally yielding to the pressure of her attention, as she constructs a series of escapes from family expectations, and moves toward a new life. In these lucid, intense poems, Foley's quiet gaze, her concentration, and emotional accuracy of detail, render this collection real as rain. 
-Cynthia Huntington, author of "Heavenly Bodies" 

Foley's voice rings with quiet authority undercut by calamity, examining a life so extraordinary, she seems to have lived several people's lives, setting a high bar for poetic craft she meets, in great mystery perfectly expressed in the tiny, quotidian, "spent matches pressed on wet pavement," to soulful beauty, "as wind lifts/every shining wave"; in wisdom rooted in humor, from the deliciously funny "Flunking Jung," to self-deprecating wit, misreading "poetic" as "pathetic," reminding us wisdom is love, grown from self-compassion. 
-April Ossmann, author of "Anxious Music"

Excerpt

Not Drowning

On my back like a corpse, enjoying buoyancy,

I drift downstream as Amtrak, hooting, passes over.

I'm waving at passengers from the city,

who peer out their little windows, down at me.

I wave so they'll know I'm not dead,

but floating.

All my life I've been waving

to passengers passing,

all my life I've been swimming,

not drowning.

PURCHASE

      Amazon  / Norwich Bookstore / B&N

Author Info Laura Foley is the author of five poetry collections. The Glass Tree won the Foreword Book of the Year Award, Silver, and was a Finalist for the New Hampshire Writer’s Project, Outstanding Book of Poetry. Joy Street won the Bi-Writer’s Award. Her poems have appeared in journals and magazines including Valparaiso Poetry Review, Inquiring Mind, Pulse Magazine, Poetry Nook, Lavender Review, The Mom Egg Review and in the British Aesthetica Magazine. She won Harpur Palate’s Milton Kessler Memorial Poetry Award and the Grand Prize for the Atlanta Review’s International Poetry Contest. 

Author Links:  Website | Goodreads 

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Book Review: Farm Animals and Wild Animals (Animal Bites) from Animal Planet

Farm Animals is part of the Animal Bites series from Animal Planet. This is a children’s non fiction book with more than 200  animal photos of cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, llamas, and others. It includes a habitat-by-habitat guide that offers young readers a bite-sized view of their favorite farm animals. The book is divided by theme, including animal behavior and family relationships, animal bodies, baby animals, food, play time, conservation and more. There are Quick Bites sidebars with cool animal facts, simple infographics, and illustrated maps of life in on the farm and at the petting zoo.

Wild Animals is part of the Animal Bites series from Animal Planet, like Farm Animals. This book the same abundance of photography of lions, giraffes, ibexes, flamingos, hippopotamuses, and many others as well as the habitat-by-habitat guide of  wild animals. Arranged thematically with focus on animal behavior and family relationships, young readers will explore sections about animal bodies, baby animals, food, play time, conservation and more. Special book features designed for this age group include Quick Bites sidebars with cool animal facts, simple infographics, and illustrated maps of life in the African Savannah and Amazon rain forest.

It looks like this entire series would be a nice addition to any library, including personal  collections. The photograph are crisp, bright, and sometimes beautiful. I think the photography work alone will capture the attention of young readers. The information, especially the Animal Bites in the sidebars are well worded and organized to keep the interest of young readers while still being very informative. I think animal lovers will quickly take to this book, and not want to giver it up. I think Animal Planet found the perfect combination of fun and information to keep readers of all ages interested own the book and wanting to revisit it time and again. As a bonus to those buying these books, a portion of the proceeds will benefit Animal Planet's R.O.A.R. (Reach Out. Act. Respond.) campaign that partners with leading animal organization to make the world a better place for domestic and wild animals.

Book Review: Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale by David Kudler

Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale by David Kudler is the first book in the Seasons of the Sword series. Though Japan has been devastated by a century of civil war, Kano Murasaki, called Risuko (Squirrel) is more comfortable climbing trees than down on the ground. Growing up far from the battlefields and court intrigues, the fatherless girl finds herself pulled into a plot that may reunite Japan, or may destroy it. She is torn from her home and what is left of her family, but finds new friends at a school that may not be what it seems. Historical adventure fiction appropriate for young adult and middle-grade readers.

Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale was a nice surprise. I am a big fan of Japanese culture and mythology, and the classic coming of age quest  story, so I was drawn to the book and needed to give it a chance. I greatly enjoyed the character building for Risuko, she is a growing, dynamic character that is very observant of the world around her. While the reader only knows what Risuko see and hear, sometimes we can understand more than she does and enjoy the realization as it comes. Because of her uncertainty and struggles the readers get to see and understand more than they might with a different narrator. I like that there seem to be no assumptions on the authors part about how much or Japanese history or folklore the reader knows, or does not know. The world building is solid but subtle, so at no point does ignorance of a certain word, story, or event turn off a reader. Additionally there is a collection of related information at the end of the book to sooth the eager minds of any reader that seeks to understand more about anything they might not have fully understood while reading. I found myself so wrapped up in Risuko's story, that I finished the book in less than a day, begrudging the menial tasks that took me from the read, like making meals for my family and eating.

Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale is a wonderful read for middle grade, young adult, and older readers. I think anyone that enjoys historical fiction or the  coming of age combined with a quest that seems to be most common in fantasy. I think this will be a wonderful surprise for any reader that gives it a chance. I cannot recommend this read highly enough.