Category: Literature / Books

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SWALLOW ON CRYSTAL REVIEWS

Swallow has received another positive blog review 🙂

I was out at ABT last night (Sascha Radetsky and Hee Seo’s Thais Pas de Deux is, I think, the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all season. I’d seen them in rehearsal and it was well worth waiting for, and I enjoyed this cast of The Dream – David Hallberg as Oberon, Gillian Murphy as Titania and Herman Cornejo as Puck – much better than the first, and Maria Riccetto for the first time really caught my eye in both The Dream and Ashton’s Birthday Offering – she was really lovely).

Anyway, I was out late last night (actually was working all night on this, which was unbelievably hard to write, that case is so complicated). Am just now getting around to watching So You Think You Can Dance. I’ll post a review as soon as I’ve watched it. I hope it was good!

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MISSING ARIZONA

 

I haven’t been to Phoenix since early 2001 and I’ve been getting a bit homesick for the desert. Everything seems to be reminding me of the Southwest lately – even last night’s NYCB program with Melissa Barak’s new ballet, Call Me Ben, set in Vegas with its Santiago Calatrava-designed desert-themed backdrops, and then Balanchine’s Western Symphony with the cowboys, saloon girls and Old Tombstone-looking stage piece.

 

 

Albert Evans and cast in earlier NYCB Western Symphony production, taken from Explore Dance. Photo above that of the main street in Tombstone, AZ, taken from the city’s website.

I have to get out there soon.

In the meantime, just ordered this book, which looks like the perfect proverbial beach read.

The photo of the little guy at the top of the post, by the way, is taken from the Facebook page of my childhood friend who operates a kind of traveling zoo featuring reptiles native to Arizona, exposing children to and creating respect for their unique little charms.

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GUEST POST ON "PUDGY PENGUIN PERUSALS"

The wonderful Kaye, who writes the charming book blog Pudgy Penguin Perusals, has a rather long write-up on my book today, for which I am immensely grateful!

I am really so grateful, beyond words, for all the bloggers who are helping me get the word out about my first book. The book blogging community is really tremendous – it’s got to be the largest arts blogging community in existence – and I’m so thankful for it and for all the wonderful writers who are so willing to help a first-time novelist get her start! Because I don’t think there’s anything harder than starting a writing career in this current publishing climate.

Anyway, thank you again, Kaye!

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GOTHAM GAL ON SWALLOW

The fabulous blogger, Gotham Gal (diary-style blog about New Yorky things she does – eating out, going to various performances, reading books, etc.) has written a little review of Swallow. It’s on the right-hand side-bar under “Books of the Moment.” Right now it’s the one listed at top. She says she “swallowed it up, no pun intended,” calls it “chatty and engaging,” and “a great beach read.” 😀

I’m a big fan of Gotham Gal so am really psyched! Thank you thank you Gotham Gal!

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ANOTHER GOOD SWALLOW REVIEW!

Just got another review of my novel by lit blogger Mystee, at A Moment With Mystee. I’m particularly happy because this isn’t the usual type of book Mystee reads, and she still liked it.

She concludes with: “This book leaves us wide open for a series. Will there be another Sophie book? Even if there isn’t this one is definitely worth picking up.”

Wow, thank you Mystee! I don’t know yet if there will be a sequel. I guess it depends on how this one fares in the long run. I’m working on something else at the moment, but had originally intended for there to be another Sophie book (with the second more focused on dance; I wrote the first one before I’d become a dance fanatic), so I’m absolutely thrilled there is interest!

Also, I’m going to be doing a Q&A with Mystee later in the week. How gracious of her 🙂 — will be my first author interview! So, I will definitely be linking to that when it’s up. Read the rest of her review here.

Also, I see the book has now been made available on Barnes & Noble.com (their list price is $10.79), as well as Amazon, and Smashwords.

Oh update! Mystee just published a guest post I wrote for her about the novel, my reasons for writing it, etc. It’s the first opportunity I’ve had to publicly chat about it, so if you’re interested please read! And thank you again to Mystee, who basically rocks!

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ANOTHER GOOD SWALLOW REVIEW

From Elizabeth A. White at Musings of an All Purpose Monkey:

“Plank has created a wonderfully three-dimensional and quite believable character in Sophie, and Swallow presents an almost painfully realistic portrait of a young woman’s journey from emotional repression and self-doubt to emotional freedom and self-assurance.”

Read the rest here.

Thank you so much, Ms. White! I’m so beyond thrilled that people are really liking the book!

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SWALLOW REVIEWED ON BASIL AND SPICE

I love this review, from a writer, Randall Radic, whom I met on Facebook.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Plank’s writing style is fluid and easy to read.  And she certainly has a knack for getting inside the heads of her Ivy League characters.  Her portrayal of New York’s hoity-toityness provides a crispy snap-crackle-pop kind of humor to the story.  And even though Sophie is a product of Yale Law School, she’s really just a small-town hick from Arizona.  Which means she’s like a vegetarian at a Kansas City steak house – out of place.  And it’s this asymmetry that brings about laugh-out-loud moments for the reader.

Essentially, Swallow is a coming-to-grips-with-who-you-are story.  And it’s a good one.”

Thank you thank you, Mr. Radic!

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BEA

You guys, I am sorry about being out of it the last few days. BookExpo America is currently underway at the Javits Center and my week is nuts. But I promise to get up a review of the two ABT Bayaderes that I saw last week — especially since it was Cory Stearns’s debut as Solor and Hee Seo’s debut as Gamzatti! I will write more later this week, after all the madness has ended. In the meantime, here are some photos of BEA thus far. Above, the entrance, although early in the week there wasn’t much activity. Today is the beginning of the free galley (book before book goes to market) giveaways so I think it’ll be a lot more packed.

Big advertisement for John Grisham’s new, soon-to-be-released book — because who needs more publicity than John Grisham, right?

Inside the Javits Center. I’m standing in the ridiculously long Starbucks line, for my overpriced cup of coffee. Everything in Javits is ridiculously expensive. If you ever have a conference there, bring your lunch!

My book, along with some of the other Book of the Year Award finalists in the ForeWord Reviews stand at the new book exhibit.

And last night at Providence in midtown was the IPPY (Independent Publisher) Book Awards. For each of the gold medalists they had a continuous little slide show whereby they’d project a picture of the cover of your book, along with details like author and publisher, onto these big screens throughout the restaurant so everyone could see. Very very nice 🙂

Anyway, thoughts on Bayadere, as well as the Millepied / Karoui / Escaich event at the Guggenheim coming soon!