Category Archives: Top Picks

Bookie Goodness, Spring Edition

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by Malena Lott

Sure, spring is wonderful and all that. If we’re hooked up on Facebook, you saw that I even posted a picture of monarchs mating in my backyard yesterday. Monarch, as in the butterfly, not royalty (But that would be more fun, wouldn’t it?)

But as much as I love the wisteria blooming and bees buzzing and azalea buds opening at my new house, I get positively psyched that books are in bloom year around. I know I sound like a total book geek when I say that, but it’s true. While books are more prolific than ever, thanks to Twitter, Facebook and great e-newsletters and blogs, I can always find just the right fit for my mood in the pages of a book.

I don’t get to thank my fellow bookettes often enough for their contributions on the blog. They blog because they love books, love meeting authors and want stories to get their due promotion. It’s tough in the book biz today, so we all need to “share” on FB, RT on Twitter and tell our real life friends about books we heart so much we stayed in the tub until our skin resembled great Aunt Fay’s. (Thanks, Sarah Pekkanen, SKIPPING A BEAT!)

Confession time: I haven’t had an in person book club party since 2010. With my house on the market and the move and now all the fixer upper goodness going on, I’ve put off something that makes my soul soar: getting the girls together to dish about books.

But, NO LONGER. I’m e-mailing my club this weekend and setting a date. I hope you’ll do the same with your girlfriends. I’ve also been way behind in sending out book totes and starter kits to the new book club chapters, so I promise I’ll get to that now that I’ve located the box that had them in it. (Nothing is easy, is it?)

Life is. What I mean by that is we have 24 hours in a day. We choose how to spend it and sometimes the universe forces us to spend it in ways we weren’t expecting. But we forge on and we MAKE TIME for our loved ones, including our girlfriends. That’s what this blog is all about. It’s also about ME TIME and connecting with stories that can make you laugh, cry and give you a-ha moments for life beyond the pages.

I hope you visit Book End Babes often, and remember each month you can click on the book covers in the sidebar for our top picks and read our blog entries for even more book recs in all genres.

Right now I’m laughing my hiney off reading Tina Fey’s BOSSYPANTS, and Rebecca Rasmussen’s THE BIRD SISTERS is so well drawn, I feel like I’m right there in the kitchen with the sisters. If you need a word pick-me-up, then try Sark’s GLAD NO MATTER WHAT. A lot of s*** goes down in life, and peppy people like Sark with her incredible insight into joy really is the icing on the cake some days.

Hugs to all my book-lovin’ friends. Books rock. Girlfriends rule.

March (Book) Madness

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by Malena Lott

Where I use to read and write in my former house. New one? No idea!

Besides the general confusion of not knowing where your things are, being in a new house is a kind of courtship – getting to know the sounds and space to be yourself. For me, high on that list is a) where I will read and b) where I will write. We downsized to upsize our life – slightly smaller space and in need of some renovation – so I miss having the floor to ceiling built-in bookshelves and a room we called the library where that’s mostly all we did. No TV in the space, just books, light and really comfortable chairs.

Fortunately, the chairs came with us, but they are now in the master bedroom. Thanks to houzz, I was able to see how one does a seating area in a bedroom, and I can always rely on my vintage glass nightstand to hold my current reads. You can see my top reads right here in the sidebar: THE OTHER LIFE by Ellen Meister (which was just optioned as a TV show for HBO), SKIPPING A BEAT by Sarah Pekkanen, THE WEIRD SISTERS by Eileen Brown and EMILY AND EINSTEIN by Linda Francis Lee. I was sent E&E first, and Lee’s writing continues to get stronger with each book. She does a nice job of blending humor and heartbreak. I can’t wait to dig in to THE BIRD SISTERS by Rebecca Rasmussen and THE HOUSE OF SIX DOORS by Patricia Selbert later this month, too. Thank goodness for spring break.

Then there’s all the posts that the bookettes write recommending fabulous reads I want to get my hands on! March is indeed book madness – so many great choices and I look forward to turning every delicious page. As soon as I figure out where I’m going to sit.

In other news, if you’re an aspiring author or an author who would like some more exposure, please check out my passion project, Buzz Books, where we are running three writing contests which will all be turned into books this fall. We offer custom promo materials for authors with specials all March long. I’m also pleased my ebook FIXER UPPER is available for the nook now.

Remember, real babes read books! Thanks, ladies!

Q & A with the Pioneer Woman

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by Malena Lott

(photos by Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman)

Book End Babes had the privilege to interview the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, a fellow Okie and the new author of The Pioneer Woman Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story, which is in bookstores everwhere today.

I hadn’t read her serial romance on her website , so when I received the book for review, it was new to me. The book is fresh and funny, told in the wit her readers have come to know and love, and I dare you not to fall in love with Marlboro Man.

Malena: What’s the secret to your successful marriage?

PW: It helps that we really are together pretty much 24/7. He’s on the ranch and sometimes I go with him or the kids work with him. It’s important to keep up with each other’s business. Sure, have your own friends and activities, but togetherness is important.

Malena: Did you start the blog to deal with the isolation of the ranch?

PW: When my blog started in 2006, we were already ten years into our marriage, and I had sort of surrended to the isolation and found contentment. I found myself in a way, started the blog, it became an avenue of connection to outside world. It allowed me to maintain what I had achieved. the contentment in the countryside. i think about the timing and how funny it is that I had to go through the process to get used to the pace and the schedule and then started homeschooling the kids.

Malena: Did you decide to homeschool because of the distance into town?

PW: My daughter had attended kindergarten in Pawhuska and we were happy with her year in kindergarten, but transportation was pretty grueling. The school bus picked her up at 6:30 a.m. – first on the route – and would bring her home at 4:30. My friend Cindy Kane and I met a group of people in Tulsa and they were all homeschoolers. I had this idea of home schoolers as denim jumpers like a lot of people have. We thought, “Wonder if we could do that?” 24 hours later, we decided to do it. It started out as solution to transportation but it wound up you see unexpected benefits.”

Malena: My 10-year-old daughter is jealous that your kids get to ride horses before they are homeschooled every morning.

PW: (laughs): Tell her that my daughter is jealous that your daughter gets to get up and *not* have to ride horses in the morning!

Malena: Marlboro Man once gave you a John Deere riding mower. Have his gift-giving skills improved since then?

PW: No ranch equipment since then. But that riding mower is still working!

Malena: You and Marlboro Man spent a lot of time watching movies in the book, too. What was your favorite movie of 2010?

PW: Movies are what we do. We have a satellite and probably every movie channel available in the universe. We don’t go to a lot of things for entertainment. For years and years, I’ve watched the Oscars blind, because we only go about twice a year to the theater. I haven’t seen the big movies from last year. We saw the original True Grit with John Wayne, but not the new one.

Malena: What type of movies do you like?

PW: The man I married he has eclectic taste in movies. He likes westerns and having the context of living on the ranch makes the whole thing more entertaining. It’s especially fun to watch a western with a rancher and cowboy and detect inaccuries. We also like the Jane Austen movies, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice. There’s not a genre we don’t watch: action/horror/rom coms.

Malena: What’s the latest on your movie?

PW: The story (Black Heels) was optioned and a statement was released on it, but I don’t stay in contact about the status. It’s still in development. I’m focusing on homeschooling and working on the website and the daily brand.

Malena: On Book End Babes, we celebrate great friends and great reads. What book or books are you reading now?

Ree's current read

PW: My sister is huge reader. She’s always saying, “You’ve got to read this book.” I re-read Sophie’s Choice. I love the book. I like to read non-fiction like David Sedaris and just started The Year of Living Biblically. My friend Cindy gave it to me for my birthday. I love the concept. I tend to read things aren’t long narratives that I can pick up and read when I have pockets of time.

Malena: How often do you get together with your girlfriends and how do you spend time together?

Ree's sister

PW: Cooking at my house. My sister is a built-in best friend and my friend Cindy and I spend a lot of time together. We bake cinnamon rolls and deliver them to friends. And once a year, I have a big cowgirl dinner party and invite the wives of neighboring ranchers and cook things that have nothing to do with cowboy cuisine.

Malena: What’s next for Pioneer Woman, the brand?

PW: We’re not really adding, but I’m in the process of redesigning Tasty Kitchen, the recipe sharing section, making it slicker and easier to use. I’m really always interested most in cooking and sharing recipes and the step-by-step tutorial is my main interest. If there’s anything want to do, I put it through the filter of my life on the ranch so it needs to be web-related things. This is where I want to be always, every day.

Thanks, Ree, and good luck on your book tour. Babes, rrder the book by clicking on the cover in the right sidebar.

Q+A with Author Julie Metz

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interviewed by Malena Lott

The questions I asked Julie Metz, the author of our October Top Pick PERFECTION, are ones I would usually ask an author about a character in a novel, not about someone’s personal life. Julie is the character. Her late husband plays both the love interest and the antagonist. She found out about his infidelity after his death, and her story takes us through that journey. I love memoirs because they can show us real courage through tragedy. Julie, thank you for sharing your story through the book and by being our guest today at Book End Babes. Join me in welcoming her.

Q: Writing about such a personal tragedy had to be both therapeutic and emotionally trying. How did you get through the tough times writing the book?
A: The writing experience was very intense and emotional. Since writing a book is all about rewriting and revising there were particular passages that were truly painful to revisit. But ultimately being patient and persistent really helped. Each time I worked through a section, I became calmer and I gained insights that I hoped I could share with readers.

Q: You found out about your husband’s infidelity after his death. What would you have done if you’d discovered it before he died?
A: It’s hard to know what I would have done. If he hadn’t died, I would have been much less informed about what was going on. He would have been able to control the narrative to a certain degree and I wouldn’t have had access to his journals or e-mails. Looking back to then, I know I had so much invested in my marriage and in my identity as a wife. I think he would have tried to persuade me to give him another chance and I think I would have given him that chance. I would have wanted to try for my daughter’s sake. But with my present understanding of how deep our troubles were I do not think our relationship would have lasted long-term.

Q: Oprah has said, “you are not your mistakes”. What did you come to realize about your marriage after the fact?
A: Over time, I found that I had compassion both for my husband and the self-destructive choices he made and for myself, being blind to what had been going on. He and I both made mistakes. I have tried to start over with an understanding that I will still make mistakes every day. I feel genuine sorrow for my husband because he did not have a chance to do the same.

Q: What did you learn about yourself through this ordeal?
A: I learned that I was tougher than I thought I was, but I also came to understand the importance of asking for help when you need it.

Q: What advice do you have for wives who may suspect their husbands of cheating?
A: I think that if you have a nagging feeling of trouble in your relationship you should honor that feeling. However painful it might be, it is better to open your mind to the idea of what might be going on than to shut yourself down. Some marriages can survive infidelity, but the sooner you confront the issues in your relationship the better, whatever the outcome might be.
Don’t panic, though you might feel that urge. Find someone you can talk to openly about the state of your marriage. This might be a friend, your mom, or perhaps a professional therapist if that is a resource available to you.
Be patient with yourself. However bleak things might look, you can make things better for yourself. You are stronger than you think!

Thanks again, Julie. Book babes, you can buy Perfection by clicking on the cover in the sidebar. It would definitely provide great discussion for your next book club! – ML

September Top Picks

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by Malena Lott

We’ve reached the second bookend of summer: Labor Day weekend, which means it’s time to put away our playthings and pull out our pom poms and denim for autumn.

First, I’d like to say a quick “thank you” to the Bookettes for being such faithful and interesting book bloggers here, and to the readers and our book club members for loving books and taking the time to get together to discuss them!

Every month, you’ll find fresh picks in our BEBookshelf in the sidebar of the site. For September, we’ve selected another diverse collection – a story of four women at a crossroads, two “birthday sisters” who love the same man, the story of what happens at a zoo, and a touching memoir about a writer and his mentor.

What they have in common is beautiful, engaging writing that makes you think. Click on the covers to learn more about each book and purchase if you so choose.

If you’d like to start a book club in your area, shoot me an e-mail and we’ll get you set up. We’re happy to add more lit sisters to our readerority. :)

What are you reading and loving?