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TLC Book Tours: 92. Keith Donohue and Centuries of June...

July 19, 2011
Today's TLC tour is for Keith Donohue's Centuries of June...

TLC Tours


About Keith Donohue:
Keith Donohue is the Director of Communications for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the grant-making arm of the National Archives in Washington, DC. Until 1998 he worked at the National Endowment for the Arts and wrote hundreds of speeches for chairmen John Frohnmayer and Jane Alexander. He has written articles for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other newspapers. Donohue holds a Ph.D. in English from The Catholic University of America. His dissertation on Irish writer Flann O’Brien was published as The Irish Anatomist: A Study of Flann O’Brien (Maunsel Press, 2003).

Connect with Keith on his website www.keithdonohue.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

centuries of juneAbout the book:
Keith Donohue has been praised for his vivid imagination and for evoking “the otherworldly with humor and the ordinary with wonder” (Audrey Niffenegger). His first novel, The Stolen Child, was a national bestseller, and his second novel, Angels of Destruction, was hailed as “a magical tale of love and redemption that is as wonderfully written as it is captivating” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). Centuries of June is a bold departure, a work of dazzling breadth and technical virtuosity.

Set in the bathroom of an old house just before dawn on a night in June, Centuries of June is a black comedy about a man who is attempting to tell the story of how he ended up on the floor with a hole in his head. But he keeps getting interrupted by a series of suspects—eight women lying in the bedroom just down the hall. Each woman tells a story drawn from five centuries of American myth and legend in a wild medley of styles and voices.

Centuries of June is a romp through history, a madcap murder mystery, an existential ghost story, and a stunning tour de force at once ingenious, sexy, inspiring, and ultimately deeply moving.

Read an excerpt.
Title: Centuries of June
Author: Keith Donohue
ISBN-13: 9780307450289
Hardcover:
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, 2011
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Crown

drey's thoughts:
Keith Donohue is a new-to-me author, though I have The Stolen Child sitting on my shelves (and it's been sitting there for a while now).  But I couldn't turn down the opportunity to check out his latest, Centuries of June.  I mean, the blurb had me at "black comedy about a man who is attempting to tell the story of how he ended up on the floor with a hole in his head"...  How do you turn down something like that?

I will admit to reading this slowly at first.  Really slowly...  In fact, it probably took me a good 3-4 days to get through the first two stories, which is unheard of in my reading. And here I will state that while I thought those two stories were entertaining, I didn't quite get the whole picture then. In fact, I didn't even get a glimpse of what might be the whole picture.  The parts involving the guy-with-the-hole-in-the-head were hazy and confusing enough, and then all these other characters showed up.

Then I picked it up again--because, hey, I had to read it and review it--and started really getting into the stories.  Which is where Donohue shines, because the women and their stories were something I really enjoyed.  Each character was interesting, each story had a different style about it, and it all wrapped up nicely at the end...  And now that it's done, I think reading each story and savoring it slowly is the way to go here.  But don't take my word for it, enter the giveaway to win your own copy.  *grin*

drey's rating: Excellent!

Giveaway!
There's one copy of Centuries of June up for grabs, US/Canada only (no PO Boxes, please). To enter, fill out the form below before 6pm CST August 1st. Good luck!

6 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Wow! This book must have really redeemed itself to end up with an excellent rating after a slow start.

Denise Z said...

I am very busy today and was just reading my email post and just had to stop by and say this sounds awesome. I would really like to read this book and I thank you for sharing today and for the giveaway opportunity. Mr. Donohue sounds like an interesting person.

drey said...

Kathy--Yes, it did, once I actually picked it up again... Getting the whole picture and having it all click definitely helped! :)

Denise--You're welcome! Thanks for reading the blog... :)

holdenj said...

It definitely sounds like it has an interesting premise.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you gave it a 2nd chance - sounds like it was really worth it!

Thanks for being on the tour.

Gwendolyn B. said...

I'm glad you gave it another go, too. I'm looking forward to reading it because I love Donohue's previous novels. He is certainly unpredicable. Thanks so much for hosting the giveaway! (P.S. I listened to THE STOLEN CHILD on audio and highly recommend it!)

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