The Introvert's Way by Sophia Dembling

Writer Sophia Dembling knew she'd hit a nerve when she wrote an online essay entitled "Confessions of an Introverted Traveler" and hundreds of people responded with comments. Dembling's piece, which celebrated the charms of exploring new places alone, clearly resonated with others who, like her, had never felt the need to be sociable by reaching out and connecting with strangers.

Dembling started a blog on the topic, comparing notes with thousands of others, resulting in her book The Introvert's Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World (155.232 DEMBLING). For those who prefer a quiet night in to a noisy night out, a party of two to a party of 20, this is the book for you. For those who have friends who always seem to shun the social scene and you want to know why, this is the book for you.

Readers who are introverts themselves (or who don't realize they're introverts until they've read the book) will find vindication in its pages. Dembling puts forth a case for why introversion is common, normal and, perhaps most importantly, totally okay. Readers who have introverts for friends will come to understand what fuels an introvert and how best to find common ground.

What makes an introvert? An abiding need for privacy and periods of solitude. An aversion to small talk and crowds. A tendency to take time to think things through rather than fling out off-the-cuff reactions. These qualities, Dembling writes, goes against the very grain of American culture, which gravitates toward the clamor of the multitudes, two things that introverts abhor.

Dembling goes on to give an easy-to-digest pop-science account of how introverts are different from extroverts and the connotations — most of the negative — that society heaps upon them.

We appear mild-mannered and we're not usually ones to gripe in public, but introverts can be as surly as the next guy. We get annoyed by assumptions made about us and behaviors directed at us.

With chapter titles like "I Like People, Just Not All People All the Time" and "Introverts are Not Failed Extroverts," Dembling doesn't pull any punches and make any apologies. She's frank and personable as she disputes common attitudes and researchers' often less-than-charitable descriptions of introversion, bolstering her argument with her own experiences and those her readers have shared.

What Dembling succeeds most at, however, is soothing the slighted souls of her fellow introverts, affirming their legitimacy and their right to be who they are. They don't need therapy. They don’t need to change. They simply need acceptance.

Attachments / by Rainbow Rowell

In the early days of the internet, Beth and Jennifer are two co-workers who've just discovered the joys of e-mailing. Even though they've been warned that the company they work for monitors their computer activity, including email communications, the two fun-loving newspaper employees spend all day sending each other nonsense messages, gossiping about their coworkers and arguing about who has the lamest personal life. Lincoln, the network administrator for the company, and defacto internet security officer, can't help but be amused by this correspondence which he's supposed to be perusing for red flag material. Sort of an electronic Peeping Tom, he finds himself becoming engrossed in the pair's perky but harmless back-and-forths, especially when he starts finding himself the subject of their messages. But by the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, who he's seen a handful of times in passing, it's a bit late for honest encounters.

Attachments is an OK book, basically one that plays the cuteness factor all the way to the bank. The humor, or what the characters think is humor, gets sort of old after the first few chapters and some readers may grow impatient with both protagonists. There's also some unlikely coincidences which attempt to forward the plot but really just delay the inevitable. Very, very imitative of the You've Got Mail movie from that era (circa 1998), knowledgeable readers will be pretty much up to speed on what the end will look like well before the last third of the story. Rowell, a lifestyle columnist for the Omaha World-Herald, writes credible dialogue and description but her characters just aren't very believable and circumstances seem too fixed and manipulated for the story to be taken seriously. The book will find an audience with readers wanting another office-style/workplace comedy. (FIC ROWELL)

Don't Be That Girl: A Guide To Finding The Confident, Rational Girl Within / by Travis Stork & Leah Furman

"Don't be that girl or you'll end up with that guy." (p. 3). So says Travis Stork, an ER doctor from Tennessee, who was chosen as the bachelor for the eighth season of the same-named reality television show. His subsequent experiences--both on TV and in his own time--helped him parlay his wisdom into book form. That girl, Stork claims, might fit any combination of undesirable qualifications. But of the variety of women he's met, the ones deemed most preferable and well-suited to successful relationships most certainly do not fall into the following categories: 1) Agenda Girl, 2) Yes Girl, 3) Drama Queen Girl, 4) Bitter Girl, 5) Insecure Girl, 6) Desperate Girl, 7) Working Girl & 8) Lost Girl.
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Nothing is more important, if you're a woman, than finding the right guy. But if categorized within one or more of these 'girl-types'--there's quizzes and surveys to determine if you are--then you're no doubt, as Stork puts it, "walking, talking man-repellant" (p. 10). But there's hope. The author discusses all of these damaging qualities in depth, but he also illuminates how you can steer clear of potentially plaguing personality flaws and reposition yourself apart from these eight types of which you "absolutely, positively do not want to be . . .", thus providing you with "both long-term and short-term solutions to help you stop acting crazy right here and now." (p. 10). Despite its laughable, unintended comedic quality, this book can be found in the self-help section. (155.6423 STORK)

Rachel Simon has been writing since she was a child, and presently makes a living from her writing and public speaking. This is her second memoir. The first was “Riding the Bus with my Sister”, which is about her mentally challenged sister, Beth. That book relates how Rachel built a relationship with Beth by giving up her own life (temporarily) to share her sister’s total commitment to riding busses as a way of life. It was made into a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” television movie in 2005.
Ms. Simon is a “chatty writer”, and is not hesitant to “spill the beans” at any moment, which means she describes what’s going on but at the same time is directing your attention to her personal gut reaction to events. The memoir relates how she and her husband “build” a home together. They actually “renovate” the home her husband bought some years ago when they were in the midst of a split, but the renovation is so extensive it amounts to a “rebuilding” of the inside. Her husband is an architect, and his design is perfect in mirroring their individual and communal spirits (although a lot has to be given up to stay in the projected budget.) By the time the renovation is over, you know all about Ms. Simon’s relationships with all of her family, and all of her friends (at least the meaningful ones). Ms. Simon is Jewish but not a believer, and her husband is a Zen enthusiast. Both of their spiritual resources come up dry on occasion, but sober yet positive realism helps them get through conflict, along with healthy doses of humility. There’s a lot of detail in the emotionally inventory-taking, but the narrative manages to carry the weight without becoming maudlin or moribund. What’s important in the end is to notice things enough so you can stop and experience an art installation (Detroit airport’s lighted tunnel) and say hello to a stranger who’s special (How the author met her husband).

Challenger Park / by Stephen Harrigan

Lucy Kincheloe is no ordinary working-mom. A wife, mother, and NASA astronaut, her life holds a cosmic element even if currently her dream of spaceflight looms in bureaucratic limbo. For now she's focused on her young daughter and seriously asthmatic son while husband Brian--also an astronaut--orbits the earth overhead in his second trip to outerspace. When, upon return, a shuttle mishap is informally acknowledged as Brian's fault, his resentment boils over at home creating instability in the couple's already tenuous marriage. A slot on the next shuttle mission allocated for Lucy--her lifelong dream--does little to alleviate tension; only inflating Brian's resentment. Between her child's near fatal asthma attacks, Brian's sulky attitude, and her own deathly fear of catastrophe, stress presses down hard on Lucy causing cracks in her always-stable identity.

Spliced into the drama is an emerging relationship between Lucy and recently-widowed, mission coordinator Walt Womack; a man taunted by his own internal demons. Desperately needing escape from a nonstop world of demands, their professional lives soon merge into an affair which, despite heed to the potential consequences, overwhelms their conscious resolve. With the take-off date nearing Lucy deals with more than the rigors of pre-flight preparation: she faces the unavoidable decision to leave her family for Walt.

Aside from well-plugged, can't-miss-it local color, this read offers what so many "space" books don't--real life stuff. Harrigan, a frequent contributor to Texas Monthly, does a good job to juggle the techie space protocol and interpersonal drama without diluting the primary storyline: an account of one woman's voyage into outerspace.

New African-American Fiction Titles!

Between Goodbyes

by Anita Bunkley
After a harrowing escape to Florida aboard a renegade boat of Haitians, Afro-Cuban Niya Loundres must now cope with unfamiliar surroundings and fair-weather ‘friends’. By chance she lands a waitress job at a floundering Jamaican restaurant where, with time, she works her way into a life as a nightclub dancer. Meshing natural ability with innate beauty, Niya becomes in-demand almost overnight; finding success to be as treacherous as it is advantageous.



What You Won’t Do for Love

by Wendy Coakley-Thompson
After another letdown in the romance department, Chaney Braxton moves to Washington D.C. hoping for a fresh start. One day while walking her sister’s dog, she meets Devin Rhym who, in addition to being a veterinarian, also has a penchant for Asian cuisine. As sparks fly between Chaney and Devin, so does the baggage as past relationships, family drama, and tragedy force each to re-evaluate their feelings.

Trouble Loves Company

by Angie Daniels
Renee, Danielle, and Kayla are three sexy, sassy thirty-somethings rolling with life’s ups and downs and together sharing life’s hard-learned lessons. Despite a devoted husband, romance author Renee is dissatisfied with marriage; viewing it more and more as the button-down lifestyle she’s always dreaded. Kayla just knows the Rev. Leroy Brown will leave his family for her until she finds him in bed with another woman (not his wife) and single mom Danielle struggles to raise her teenage daughter even as her own relationship drama heats up.



Gotta’ Keep on Tryin’

by Virginia Deberry & Donna Grant
Pat and Gayle are longtime best friends who co-own and operate a business together—Ell & Me, Inc., a children’s toy company based around a storytime character Gayle created several years ago. But trouble arises when secrets from the past emerge threatening to destroy both their business partnership and time-tested friendship.

Gaudy Night / by Dorothy Sayers

Female sleuth Harriet Vane stalks a phantom in another Dorothy Sayers mystery showcasing the one and only Lord Peter Wimsey. When an invitation to Oxford's 'gaudy' reunion beckons, a bored and idle Harriet accepts and (with some cajoling) stays on to investigate a series of threatening letters aimed at faculty members. Posing as a research assistant, Harriet retreads her old haunts seeking a culprate capable of such malice. An opportune coincidance soon lands Lord Peter at her side as together they follow the perpetrator's clues ultimately unearthing a dreadful secret lying below the surface all the while.

Lord Peter Wimsey is (in today-speak) an uber-hustler. Never ruffled, he is the definition of composure eliciting a sort of classy elitism all over the place. His only weakness is, of course, Harriet for whom he remains the devoted fool. The book is as much a social novel as it is mystery dissecting personalities while simultaneously perusing crime scenes. Somehow Sayers was a master at this, meshing relational intrigue with CSI-type drama to form an addictive type of character series. This book could be enjoyed by fans of the "cozy" mystery as much as domestic fiction.

Now Is The Time To Open Your Heart / by Alice Walker

 

Classic-contemporary author Alice Walker, she of The Color Purple fame, details a freethinking couple's vacation to separate locales in this surrealistic novel. Thrice-divorced Kate is a well-accomplished writer living with her current partner, Yolo, a successful painter when the couple decides to take a break from it all and re-evaluate their relationship, each on their own "spiritual" sabbatical. Kate's journey begins and stays rooted in nature first rafting the Colorado River and finally backpacking into Mexico with a group seeking spiritual enlightenment. Accompanied by a shaman spirit guide and complete with some organic hallucinogenic aids, Kate and her diverse companions attempt a mystical brand of spiritual revival. More conventional but no less unpredictable, Yolo escapes to Hawaii seeking peace and quiet after a rigorous period of painting only to discover some re-awakening of his own when he encounters a former lover.

Walker's easy style allows any reader to tap into her characters even during the most "out-there" episodes and the down-to-earth frankness in her delivery will relate well to any reader. Fans of Walker's poetry and non-fiction will recognize her own voice clearly realized in Kate's oft-given reflections on personal, social, political, and relational concerns. This is a great book for anyone seeking a bit of fantasy within realistic fiction and as well as some new vacation ideas. (FIC WALKER)