About the Book: Set against the Taiwanese criminal underworld, The Foreigner is Francie Lin’s audacious debut novel. A noirish tale about family, fraternity, conscience, and the curious gulf between a man’s culture and his deepest self

Emerson Chang is a mild mannered bachelor on the cusp of forty, a financial analyst in a neatly pressed suit, a child of Taiwanese immigrants who doesn’t speak a word of Chinese, and, well, a virgin. His only real family is his mother, whose subtle manipulations have kept him close–all in the name of preserving an obscure idea of family and culture.

But when his mother suddenly dies, Emerson sets out for Taipei to scatter her ashes, and to convey a surprising inheritance to his younger brother, Little P. Now enmeshed in the Taiwanese criminal underworld, Little P seems to be running some very shady business out of his uncle’s karaoke bar, and he conceals a secret–a crime that has not only severed him from his family, but may have annihilated his conscience. Hoping to appease both the living and the dead, Emerson isn’t about to give up the inheritance until he uncovers Little P’s past, and saves what is left of his family.

The Foreigner is a darkly comic tale of crime and contrition, and a riveting story about what it means to be a foreigner–even in one’s own family.

My Review: I generally love books set in Asia, I should get that out of the way first! I also love thrillers and stories that grapple with identity.

This book is unique because Francie Lin is as female author tackling first person point of view from a male perspective. And it’s her debut novel. I think we can expect tremendous things from her in the years to come as she pulls it off pretty successfully. This novel is crisply written, there’s no unnecessary blathering within its pages, it’s sharp and to the point.

Emerson Chang has just lost his mother, the last relative and person with whom he has a strong tie and connection. Fulfilling her last wishes and intending to pass the inheritance on to his brother, he heads to Taiwan. Once he arrives, he discovers his brother is deeply involved in some business that appears to be illegal. Desperate to salvage this last familial tie, he quickly finds himself caught up in the seedy world of criminal activity in Taiwan with no clear answers in sight.

I found Emerson to be a sympathetic character for the most part. I have to admit I did not fully understand his attachment to his mother and um, her remains and this was a bit off-putting for me. While I could understand why he wanted to have a relationship with his brother, I found myself shouting, “go home!” at the book.

I guessed the criminal activity that his brother was involved in long before it was revealed but this could be because it’s something I pay a lot of attention to. Having said that, I still found this book to be a page turner and I caught myself thinking about it and wanting to return to it when I wasn’t reading. The sign of a great book for sure!

A great exploration into the dark and seedy world of criminal Taiwan, but more than that, an exploration of the true nature of family.

The Foreigner was published by Picador in June of 2008 and is available in stores now.

We had a scheduling mix-up for today’s Saturday in the Nook post so how about a giveaway instead!

Here’s a little bit about the book….

Sometimes, the key that unlocks your future lies in someone else’s past…

Set in the lush vineyards of present and past Sonoma Valley, Ruby Among Us weaves a story of three generations of women and the memory that binds their hearts together. Journey with Lucy as she searches for a heritage long buried with her mother, Ruby, in this stirring tale of remembrance and redemption.

The Giveaway: I read this book and really enjoyed it. The description is really lush and the family relationships are very interesting. I think you’ll enjoy it as well!

To enter, just leave a comment on this post and tell us your favorite family saga book! For 3 extra entries, blog about this giveaway on your blog and include a link back to this post. You must have a United States or Canadian mailing address. I’ll draw a winner next Friday, August 23.

Also, be sure to visit Tina Ann Forkner’s blog!

From My Friend Amy’s Blog….

Book Bloggers: You work hard. You read books, you write reviews, you maintain relationships with your readers, publicists, and authors. You are constantly running to the post office to mail your giveaways and participating in carnivals to help boost traffic. You sometimes want to faint when you see the size of your TBR pile, but faithfully you read. And you do it because you love it. Book blogging is for most a hobby. But it’s a hobby that takes a lot of work and time. It’s a labor of love.

I’ve been blogging for three years but only really got into book blogging in the last year. I have found, without a doubt, that book bloggers are the kindest, most open minded, and supportive group of bloggers on the internet. With book blogging, it’s about community and a love for the written word.

The Readers: We love you! You don’t have a blog, but you read our reviews and share your thoughts with us. You enter our giveaways and click on our Amazon associates link. We do this for you and appreciate your readership. We hope you’ll join in the fun and festivities of BBAW! (we’ll have a special contest just for you!)

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Acknowledging the hard work of book bloggers and their growing impact on book marketing and their essential contribution to book buzz in general, I am excited to announce the first Book Blogger Appreciation Week. Think of it as a retreat for book bloggers and a chance for us to totally nerd out over books together. And of course, shower each other with love and appreciation.

Register: In order to experience the maximum impact of the week, I invite you to register your participation (just like a retreat)!
To register, just send an email to bookbloggerappreciationweekATgmailDOTcom with your blog url and what you consider your niche…i.e, general book blog, classics blog, personal blog with a healthy dose of books, YA books blog, etc. Then, add one of the two buttons at the bottom of this post to your sidebar. If you are a reader (no blog) just send an email announcing your plans to follow along.
Why bother? If you register, you will be added to a book blog directory which will exist long after this week is over. Additionally, you will receive one raffle entry into the daily giveaways during BBAW here at My Friend Amy.

Awards: Oh yes, there will be awards. The Oscars of Book Blogging. Nominations start next week.

Spread the Word: If you are excited about this idea like I am and the other book bloggers who are helping, please consider writing a post on your blog announcing this event and inviting other book bloggers and readers to join.

      Looking for something new for your 7 -10 year old to read?  Beverly Lewis, author of some great fiction based on the Amish lifestyle, has a great little series out called the Cul-De-Sac kids.  These books are all around 80 pages in length and are about the adventures of 9 children who live on a cul-de-sac called Blossom Hill Lane. 

      There are over 20 books in the series.  Each one tells a cute story while teaching a little about friendship, living a life for God even as a child, caring for others, or similar relevant topics.  My oldest daughter learned and still remembers all the fruits of the Spirit by reading one of these books.

       I like how all the children have quite different personalities.  I also appreciate how the stories show kids who are looking to please God with their lives.  Of course they are not perfect, yet they care to do the right thing.  I love that my girls can enjoy the stories, and be shown examples of kids living their lives for God at the same time.

Beverly Lewis’ Cul-De-Sac Kids books are available from Bethany House Publishers.

My Review: Eric Kampmann takes us a little deeper than the traditional devotional book in his book, “Trail Thoughts - A Daily Companion for Your Journey of Faith.”

He includes a devotional complete with daily Bible verse for each day of the year. In the back he includes Bible verses dealing with various topics such as guilt, fear, despair, and praise. The Bible verses are taken from the Old Testament - many are from the book of Psalms. The New Testament is referred to in the text of the devotional itself. We are all on a journey. If we are Christians, our lives are a process or a journey of faith. Trail Thoughts covers many of the bumps in the road we all face in one way or another as we strive to be what Christ wants us to be.

If you are looking for a devotional which will take only a couple of minutes a day, but gives you plenty of food for thought, this might just be the one.

About the Book: Many people can pinpoint an experience in their lives that changed them forever. Some call them “defining moments.” Others refer to significant “turning points.” But Eric Kampmann calls it his “Jonah Moment.” For Kampmann, it was after emerging from a personal crisis with a new perspective that he committed himself to encountering the words of the Bible on a daily basis in order to gain an understanding of God’s Word.

In part, Trail Thoughts was inspired by Kampmann’s love of hiking the 2,185 miles of arduous, beautiful paths that comprise the Appalachian Trail. His time on the trail has taught him that we need to step out of our normal routines in order to experience firsthand the mystery and majesty of God’s universe. He wrote this reader-friendly devotional to help others who are on their own journeys, whether they have just begun the trip or they are seasoned travelers.

About the Book: I want to talk to Smoky Barrett or I’ll kill myself.”

The girl is sixteen, at the scene of a grisly triple homicide, and has a gun to her head. She claims “The Stranger” killed her adoptive family, that he’s been following her all her life, killing everyone she ever loved, and that no one believes her.

No one has. Until now.

Special Agent Smoky Barrett is head of the violent crimes unit in Los Angeles, the part of the FBI reserved for tracking down the worst of the worst. Her team has been handpicked from among the nation’s elite law enforcement specialists and they are as obsessed and relentless as the psychos they hunt; they’ll have to be to deal with this case.

For another vicious double homicide reveals a killer embarked on a dark crusade of trauma and death: an “artist” who’s molding sixteen-year-old Sarah into the perfect victim — and the ultimate weapon. But Smoky Barrett has another, more personal reason for catching The Stranger — an adopted daughter and a new life that are worth protecting at any cost.

This time Smoky is going to have to put it all on the line. Because The Stranger is all too real, all too close, and all too relentless. And when he finally shows his face, if she’s not ready to confront her worst fear, Smoky won’t have time to do anything but die.

My Review: This is my first book by Cody McFadyen, but it won’t be my last. This is one of the more horrifying serial killer books I’ve read, because the main objective of the serial killer was to strip a living victim of all hope and love.

Even though there were 592 pages in this book, I zipped through them to see what was going to happen. I should mention that this book is very dark. I honestly wondered at times how some of the characters could feel like they could go on living after having endured so much. This was a main idea of the book..exploring life after having lived through so very many dark things. These occasional philosophical explorations gave a bit of depth to this story.

Also this is a male author writing from a first person point of view female. This is always a challenge, and McFadyen does a fine job. The character of Smoky is an interesting one, she’s endured a lot and is still fighting for some sort of life.

I did guess the killer way before the end of the book, but there was still a twist in store for me. There’s plenty of action, a rich assortment of characters, and a great tragic mystery making this a fantastic page turner though I don’t recommend reading it alone late at night!

Beth Shepherd is the winner of Wiser Than Serpents! Beth please email us your address and I’ll get the book out to you! We’ll be having another giveaway this week so check back everyone! Thanks so much for entering. If you are still interested in reading the book, Susan May Warren is donating 15% of all proceeds to International Justice Mission so it’s well worth your money.

The Friendly Book Nook welcomes Doreen Orion to Saturdays in the Nook.

When I was in third grade, we lived just a few blocks from the small, local library. I remember the librarian (there was just one) was an elderly woman (although, that’s just what she seemed to me. In truth, she was probably the same age I am now) I had always thought rather stern - until one day.

That one day, I went to check out a dozen books. She looked at me above her reading glasses (maybe I’m just imagining those, too, since I only just got my own pair) and said, “Well. We usually impose a three book limit. But, I’ll make an exception in your case, because I know you’ll read them all.”

It was a special moment for me - getting praise for something my classmates saw as my nerdy. And, although I might have forgotten that special woman’s name and most likely what she truly looked like, I never forgot her words to me.

Doreen Orion is author of QUEEN OF THE ROAD: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus With a Will of Its Own, available now from Broadway Books, an imprint of Random House. http://www.QueenOfTheRoadTheBook.com

Liza Palmer’s Conversations with the Fat Girl is in development to series for HBO! I think this is very exciting news. I have enjoyed both of Liza Palmer’s books and I imagine that a series like this would be very interesting. Read about it here.

You may have heard of the uproar surrounding The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones. This novel, which was a fictionalized account of one of Muhammad’s child brides, will not be published due to some protest from the Muslim community. I, for one, am really disappointed because I was looking forward to this book! It’s the kind of historical fiction that I enjoy the most. You can visit Sherry Jones blog and follow her progress to find another publisher here.

Katherine Neville’s book The Fire will be released in October and in order to get you ready for it, a free pdf download of her best-selling novel The Eight, is available on her website.

What’s some book news you want to share with us?

I love using Calvin Miller’s Devotionals. I found the first one I used, “The Christ of Christmas” when browsing in a local Christian bookstore in St. Louis. I bought it to help me really get ready for the spiritual significance of the holiday. It did just that. The next one I bought was “The Christ of the Easter” which helped me again zero in on what Easter is all about. Because I loved these books so much I also bought “The Christ We Knew: Eyewitness Accounts from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.” Even though I have had this book for several years, I am just now getting into it. It is thought-provoking and very helpful. The devotionals have really given me something to chew on for several days a piece. The format of this particular book is you first read the devotional on a particular passage of Scripture in one of the Gospels, then you read the entire chapter from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. This book includes classical art and explanations of each picture and gives a little information about the artist.

Calvin Miller’s writing is profound, yet easy to read and practical. The Christ We Knew takes you through the birth of Christ right to the Ascension of Christ. Each book is divided into 31 days of devotions. I usually spend about 5-10 minutes each morning before work reading them - that’s about how long it takes. I have gone back to reread several.

Calvin Miller is a writer and speaker. He worked with others on the translation of the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Miller is a career pastor and teaches at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. For more information on Calvin Miller visit his web site at www.calvinmillerauthor.com