Friday, October 29, 2010

ARE YOU LISTENING? FRIDAY: MY NEST ISN'T EMPTY, IT JUST HAS MORE CLOSET SPACE AUDIO BOOK REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

WELCOME TO
BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S
"ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY"
I AM EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THIS FRIDAY'S
"ARE YOU LISTENING? DAY"
AUDIO BOOK CHOICE IS.....

GIVEAWAY ENDED
MY NEST ISN'T EMPTY,
IT JUST HAS MORE  
CLOSET SPACE
AUDIO BOOK
BY LISA SCOTTOLINE
READ BY LISA & FRANCESCA SCOTTOLINE 
ABOUT THE AUDIO BOOK:
Critics and readers loved Lisa Scottoline’s first collection of true-life stories, which only encouraged her—now she’s back with these all-new, exciting adventures. She’s farther down the road now, and the scenery has changed—ex-husbands Thing One and Thing Two are in her rear-view mirror, daughter Francesca has moved into an apartment, and Lisa’s finding the silver lining in her empty nest, which has lots more room for her shoes. And some things have stayed the same—Mother Mary is still the feistiest octogenarian on the planet, who won’t part with her recipe for tomato sauce or her thirty-year old bra.
In this book Lisa and Francesca spill all their family secrets—which sound a lot like yours, if you understand that three generations of women is the formula for spontaneous combustion. 

Inspired by her weekly column entitled, “Chick Wit” for The Philadelphia Inquirer, this is a book you’ll have to put down—just to stop laughing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
LISA SCOTTOLINE is the New York Times bestselling and Edgar-award winning author of sixteen novels. She has 25 million copies of her books in print in the United States, and she has been published in twentyfive countries. She also teaches a course called Justice & Fiction at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, her alma mater. She lives in Philadelphia with an array of disobedient pets. FRANCESCA SCOTTOLINE SERRITELLA graduated cum laude from Harvard University, where she won the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize, the Baron Russell Briggs Fiction Prize, and the Charles Edmond Horman Prize for her creative writing. She is working on a novel, and she lives in New York with only one dog, so far.

MY REVIEW:
Best-selling mystery author Lisa Scottoline’s newest book, MY NEST ISN’T EMPTY, IT JUST HAS MORE CLOSET SPACE for me was a real departure from her books I was used to reading like LADY KILLER or DIRTY BLONDE for instance. I had no idea until I received this audio book from the good folks at Macmillan Audio Books that Lisa also writes a weekly column in The Philadelphia Inquirer called “Chick Wit“. I checked on some of her columns and they are charming and so is this audio book. This is Lisa’s second book of this kind with her first being WHY MY THIRD HUSBAND WILL BE A DOG, which I will now have to hunt up a copy of because I think this audio book was so entertaining. I could relate to so many of her topics. She has an amazing sense of humor and I think if you look at her video clips, or listen to an audio excerpt, you will know that right away.

MY NEST ISN’T EMPTY, IT JUST HAS MORE CLOSET SPACE is written and read by Lisa as well as her co-author and daughter, Francesca Scottoline. The interaction between mother and daughter is so typical and they both have their own style which results in views from both ends of the spectrum as they share family secrets. Lisa talks about everything and nothing is off-limits as far as her personal life…or Francesca’s! With Francesca having moved into her own place, Lisa voices many of the same feelings those of us with that “empty nest” can relate to, or really mothers in general. Francesca talks about riding the subway at night when going to see a friend and how she knew better than to mention it to Mom Lisa, as she would have just freaked out. Lisa’s reaction, similar to mine, is to worry about her “little girl” (age 24, I believe) on the subway alone at night being out among the degenerates and dangers plus all that entails. I know I thought of all the times I still worry about my thirty-three-year-old as if he were five!

One of my favorite parts was when Lisa talked about GRUDGES (guilty!). She didn’t sugar coat it but rather put it out there that she has grudges and believes when you have one, it should be held on to and used in every way possible. She tells about a long time grudge against a publisher who rejected her writing early on in her career and basically told her she shouldn’t be a writer. Well, Lisa goes on about how every time she sees this man, her blood boils and she always wants to throw it in his face…like “it” maybe being one of her many bestsellers that weighs a good bit! She finally takes the step and goes over to talk to him at a function and details the walk across the room in a sympathetic and remorseful sounding voice. She describes the wrinkles and what must be cataract scarred eyes, shaking hands and feeling the arthritic knuckles sticking out. Her compassionate tone leads you to believe, she is going to soften, but oh, no, don’t be fooled! She admits to his having aged but makes no bones about not still hating him and that NOT being any excuse to drop the grudge!

When Lisa talks about aging and her hair turning gray and then getting a chin hair followed by wolf-like sideburns as she enters her fifties, I almost wrecked the car as it was so funny. Her mention of strangling someone with her Spanx was also something I could easily relate to. Honestly, what made this 4 CD Audio Book a nice break especially to laugh at in my car, was hearing Lisa read it. I think had I read the book it would have entertained me, but not been quite as funny as hearing Lisa and Francesca reading it. I also love my audio books for relaxing but think this one is better for the car or while I was doing a "much loved" task like mending clothes!!! ARGH!

To finish and give you a taste this delectable audio book is all about, and how Lisa Scottoline has so cleverly written it, you will find, in what follows, the opening to the book. Those of us who were Nancy Drew fans as kids and now are empty nesters, or nearing it especially, will be able to relate. Enjoy!

I grew up with a girl crush on Nancy Drew, and it came back to me recently, when I was organizing my books at home. I found a few of the Nancy Drew books I had as a child, among them the blue-thatched copy of The Mystery at the Ski Jump. It’s even older than I am, copyrighted in 1952.

My copyright is 1955.

As a girl, I not only read the Nancy Drew books, I memorized them. I identified with her, although we had nothing in common. She was rich, I wasn’t. She was slim, I wasn’t. She had a distant father and no mother. I was close to my father, and I had Mother Mary.

Who’s enough mother for both of us.

Nevertheless I loved her and I still do, even in my fifties. Could there be two times in a woman’s life during which she feels like Nancy Drew—pre-puberty and post-menopause?

Possible.

But why, for me?

For starters, Nancy’s blond, and I’m blond in my mind.

She has a dog, and I have five dogs.

She drives a convertible roadster, and I drive an SUV.

Well, they’re both cars.

Plus we both have a boyfriend. Hers is Ned Nickerson, and mine is George Clooney
.” from MY NEST ISN'T EMPTY, IT JUST HAS MORE CLOSET SPACE
 
GIVEAWAY
THANKS TO STEPHANIE AND THE GOOD
 FOLKS AT MACMILLAN AUDIO BOOKS,
I HAVE 3 COPIES OF THIS DELIGHTFUL
AUDIO BOOK TO GIVE AWAY!

THE RULES:

--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE
--INCLUDE EMAIL ADDRESS IN COMMENT
--ALL ENTRIES/COMMENTS MUST BE
SEPARATE IN ORDER TO COUNT
AS MORE THAN ONE ENTRY



HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY:
COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT MY NEST ISN'T EMPTY, IT JUST HAS MORE CLOSET SPACE ABOVE THAT WOULD MAKE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS AUDIO BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRY:
BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND LEAVE A LINK I CAN FOLLOW IN THE ENTRY


+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING ON THE LISA SCOTTOLINE'S WEBSITE HERE. PERHAPS YOU MIGHT COMMENT ON ANOTHER BOOK OF HERS YOU HAVE READ, OR WOULD LIKE TO READ

+1 MORE ENTRY: GO TO MACMILLAN AUDIO BOOKS WEBSITE HERE (LOOK NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE) AND LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EXCERPT AND COMMENT ABOUT IT HERE

+1 MORE ENTRY: JOIN AND "LIKE" LISA SCOTTOLINE ON HER OFFICIAL FACEBOOK FAN GROUP PAGE

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
6 PM, EST, NOVEMBER 16!

 
GOOD LUCK!!!
************************************** 
IF YOU MISSED THE EARLIER ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY ABOUT THE MACMILLAN AUDIO BOOK CLUB FOR NOVEMBER ALL ABOUT FREEDOM, THE AUDIO BOOK, JUST CLICK ON THE SYMBOL BELOW TO READ ALL ABOUT IT. THE SAME SYMBOL IN MY RIGHT HAND COLUMN WILL TAKE YOU TO THE AUDIO BOOK CLUB ALL THROUGH NOVEMBER AND GIVE YOU A CHANCE NOT ONLY TO DISCUSS FREEDOM BUT ALSO A CHANCE TO WIN AN AUDIO BOOK OF YOUR CHOICE!