Romance is in the air as Valentine’s Day quickly approaches, and the subject matter of Lana Citron’s new book A Compendium of Kisses (Harlequin, 224pgs) couldn’t be more appropriate. The British actress and author has compiled numerous facts, stories and quotes about locking lips and discusses the kiss in all its forms, from an expression of eroticism to its role in politics and religious ceremonies. A short story Citron wrote years ago about a woman saving kisses in jars, and later an art installation she created exhibiting labeled kisses in glass containers inspired her to write the book. “It was almost like opening a Pandora’s chest and just being overwhelmed by all the different ways a kiss is expressed, the meanings attached to it and the things it symbolizes,” she explains in an interview with Reuters. “I fell in love with it, I really did. I was submerged in the world of kisses for a year and came out of it with a book.”
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By Angela Balcita
Harper Perennial | 240pgs
Release Date: February 1, 2011
Summary:
Angela Balcita’s sweet and amusing biography about life and love Moonface: A True Romance, arrives as many minds turn to romance in anticipation of Valentine’s Day. Yet, her story is anything but a fairytale romance. Suffering kidney failure in her late teens, Balcita was already dealing with the complications of her first kidney transplant, donated by her brother, when she met Chris Doyle in her junior year of college. As it became apparent that she would need another kidney, Doyle selflessly volunteered to be a donor, though their relationship was still new. This was the beginning of a deep love affair that has lasted 14 years and produced two-year-old daughter, Nico. “My big feeling was like we were transcending something magical – we were being united. I saw it as very emotional and spiritual, this gift,” Balcita expresses in an interview with USA Today. Doyle, now the author’s husband, has been her champion and cheerleader, helping her through illness and pain (she would eventually need an third transplant), and focusing their lives on a positive future. The couple’s coping mechanism of wit and humor is evident in the books narrative, and helps to craft an inspiring testimony of love’s endurance. Read more…
By Anne Fortier
Ballantine Books | 464 pages
Release Date: August 24, 2010
Summary:
The heartbreak that Julie Jacobs feels over the loss of her cherished aunt Rose soon turns to puzzled dismay as she learns the entire estate has been left to Julie’s twin sister, while she herself has only been bequeathed a single key. The mystery and adventure of Anne Fortier’s Juliet, begins with this small key, once owned by Julie’s dead mother, that fits a safety-deposit box in the city of Siena, Italy. The Twenty-five-year-old American travels to Siena and unlocks not only the box, but dangerous secrets about her Italian ancestors. She discovers a familial link to Giulietta Tolomei, a girl who fell in love with a young man from a rival family named Romeo in 1340, all to disastrous effect. This tragic love story went on to be immortalized through the ages by artists and writers, most famously by Shakespeare himself. The letters that Julie finds in the safety-deposit box point to the long hidden treasure of “Juliet’s Eyes,” beautiful jewels that adorn a gold statue. In her quest to find the valuable artifact, she encounters a mysterious contessa as well as intimidating mobsters, and realizes the blood feud that started between ancient families still exists in modern Siena. Alternating between the 21st and 14th centuries, Fortier weaves a story of intrigue and romance centered around one of the world’s most famous couples.
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By Lynn Cullen
Putnam Adult | 400pgs
Release Date: March 23, 2010
Lynn Cullen depicts the lavish and politically charged court of Spain’s Golden Age, in her new historical novel The Creation of Eve. Based on the obscure true-life story of Sofonisba Anguissola, one of the few distinguished female painters of the Renaissance, the book opens in 1559 as she leaves her Italian homeland amid rumors of a scandal involving a fellow art student. At the invitation of King Felipe II of Spain, Sofi becomes a lady-in-waiting at his court, and begins giving painting lessons to his new bride. The young Queen Elisabeth finds an ally in Sofi, as the artist helps the Queen maneuver through the gossipy trenches of the Spanish court and win the affections of the King. The painter yearns only to focus on her art, but is soon entangled in a dangerous love triangle between King Felipe, Queen Elisabeth and Don Juan, the King’s half brother. Drawing on historical fact, Cullen spins an engrossing tale of art, love and Renaissance culture.
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Several blogs have published their lists of the best book cover designs of 2009. Here is a round-up of the standouts: This year, The Book Design Review asked employees of three independent book stores to contribute to their Favorite Covers list. The three part post showcases the selections of staff from WORD in Brooklyn, NY, RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, NH, and The Book Table in Oak Park, IL. The design styles, like the books’ subject matter, vary greatly. But there are some stellar examples of good design, particularly The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Readers can vote for their own favorite design in the on-line polls. The Book Cover Archive takes the list one step further with their Top Ten of Covers of the ’00s post. Two covers were chosen to represent each year in the decade, among them, memorable designs for A Shortcut Through Time by George Johnson and The Murder by John Steinbeck.
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By Rosina Lippi
G.P Putnam’s Sons ©2008 | Hardback 351pgs
Two guarded souls come together in the beginning pages of The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square. When John Dodge first meets Julia Darrow, he is immediately intrigued by her choice of wardrobe. Julia, owner of Lambert Square’s upscale bedding boutique, Cocoon, requires all employees (herself included) to wear pajamas to work. Dodge soon learns that these pajama-wearing ladies are just a few of the Southern eccentrics that people the shopping area of Lambert Square, and the town of Lamb’s Corner in general.
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By Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore
Spiegel & Grau ©2008 | Hardback 500pgs
Blindspot opens in Boston on the eve of the American Revolution, during the spring of 1764. When portrait painter Stewart Jameson sets foot on the docs of Boston Harbor, he arrives not hoping for a new life, but running from an old one. Wanted in his homeland of Scotland for outstanding debts, he has come to the Colonies to escape jail time and find his only true friend. Accompanied by his mastiff, Gulliver, he quickly sets up a small artist studio on Queen Street and advertises for a young man to apprentice him in his art.
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