Book Review: The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson

For Amy Dickinson, family is her cornerstone. After becoming a single mother to a toddler, Amy found herself moving back from London to Freeville, New York to mend her broken heart. It was with the help of her unusual family of single mothers and strong independent women that Amy was able to find a new direction for her life while officially becoming a single mother.

As she moves away from Freeville to Washington DC, Amy finds herself returning to her hometown, and the advice of her supportive family. These strong, independent women provide Amy with advice, love, and help when needed to pick up the pieces of her life and make them whole again. The book spans the years from Amy’s divorce to her daughter going away to college. Well known advice columnist Amy Dickinson shares the many triumphs and failures that she has witnessed over the past twenty years.

The book is divided into topics of interest in the author’s life. These range from subjects such as divorce, becoming a single mother with and without a support net, gaining pets, seeing your child through the teen years and dating as an older adult. Each new topic explored has a tendency to jump back to the time before/leading up to the divorce and expanding forwards through the years. I found it a little confusing at first. However I found myself drawn into Amy Dickinson’s story.

As someone who lived in Chicago when Ann Landers passed away, I remember the hype surrounding the search for her replacement. I’ve read a few of Amy’s column’s. I am more familiar with her work on the NPR programs that she participates on though. It was because of this semi-familiarity that I jumped on the chance to read this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I found a wonderfully sweet memoir of the years leading up to Amy Dickinson’s jump into fame. I think that’s what endeared me most about the book. The author focuses on her family and her life at the time rather than how she became important. This is a book that I am going to pass along to my own mother. It is a book that I think she will be able to relate to, as a divorced single mother, and will hopefully enjoy.

BTT: A Second First Time

What book would you love to be able to read again for the first time?

This is hard, I re-read books all the time. Especially well loved books like The Lord of the Rongs Trillogy and The Dalemark Quartet by Diana Wynn Jones.

But I think if I had a chance to read any book for the first time again, it would be The Historian.

I read that one for a review on Armchair Interviews and felt I ended up rushing through it. Although it's one of those books that should be savored, but pulls you into the story so completely that you end up turning pages speedily.

*shrug* I don't know.

Book Review: Kitty & the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaghn

When a late radio dj, who is also a werewolf, gets bored what do you suppose will happen? Kitty Norville accidentally turns her late night music show into "The Midnight Hour". A late night talk show for all sorts of supernatural beings (and not) with problems. However, as her show skyrockets to fame, Kitty finds herself in dire need of help. The local vampire clan has hired a werewolf hunter to kill her, Local police have asked for her help in catching a serial killer who might be a vampire, and whoops! Kitty has just revealed herself to be a werewolf on air for hundreds of listeners!

I'm a fan of a good werewolf story. However, I find them to be few and far in between as most seem to take themselves so serious and end up being pretentious. I've started and put down many paranormal erotica/romances, mystery/thrillers, and fantasy books because of that. But not Kitty and the Midnight Hour.

I loved Kitty, with her low pack status, accidental role as a radio psychologist to the supernatural elements of society, and un-looked for celebrity status. I got caught up in her struggles with her place in the pack, her interactions with the local vampire family, and her budding friendship (and more) with the good looking hunter who tried to kill her at the start of the story.

I was intrigued enough to zoom through the book, and found it an enjoyable and quick read. I'm going to very much look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Booking Through Thursday: Gluttony

Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?

I used to use the library regularly. Only buying books that I knew I wanted to keep in my permanent collection. But over the years I started buying and trading books more and more. In fact, when I first started getting active on Bookcrossing.com I won the second RABCK tiara sweepstakes. I had over a hundred books sent my way.

It was then that I really learned to release books without reading them. If I had read all those books I still would have them in my To Be Read pile. As it is I sent the last book out in the world just recently over four years after wining it.

But I work around the corner from a Borders and a fantastic UBS Shake Rattle and Read. I do find myself perusing their shelves often on my lunch. But with a basket of about 60+ books waiting to be read plus another 30 - 40 still unacounted for in the books being stored I find myself limiting my purchases. Now it's books from a series we are missing to complete it, new books for the permanant collection by authors Elengil and I will reread, and books as gifts that usually get bought.

My goal for the year is to get that basket lightened. It doesn't seem to be working though as some of my unread series (Sharon Shinn's Archangal books, and some of Feist's Midkempia books among others) get added in when the basket looks a little emptier.

But I've got a commute every day which will get longer come fall. So I expect to beat the pile down a bit and hopefully have more room to buy books again.

Book Review: The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer

Read and reviewed for Front Street Reviews.

For Amy, life has become slightly stale. She is a stay at home mom, living a lifestyle slightly beyond the means of her one income home. She is the mother of a ten year old, and feels looked down on for still being a stay at home mom and not having returned to the working world. But she has not always been “Mason’s mom who doesn’t work”. Once she was a lawyer in a highly known law firm. When Mason was born, she set her law degree aside to be with him temporarily. But as the years pass, Amy finds her temporary hiatus becoming more and more permanent. She finds herself chafing at the roles and compromises that she sees as becoming her only identity.

However, Amy is not alone. She has a support group of women who all find themselves in the same roles. Wife, mother, and homemaker in a city which prides itself on its diversity and fast paced living where women hold as much power in the working world as their male co-workers. During a routine safety walk for Mason’s school, Amy discovers a new friend in a woman she only vaguely knows through the parent network of Mason’s classmates. As the women witness a horrible event, they form a fledgling bond of friendship. Amy finds her life becoming filled with excitement as she steps out of her confining roles into new ones.

However Amy’s new friendship changes some of her old ones. Until a tragic event swamps her new friendship, Amy doesn’t realize how special her old group of friends really is. Can this group survive the events that it suddenly faces or will these women quickly drift apart?

The Ten Year Nap explores the ideas of motherhood. Through Amy’s story and the stories of her circle of friends we are shown how girls are taught to strive for excellence and to be all they can be, only to be bogged down with the roles of motherhood. The story is punctuated by flashbacks to their mothers and the events which shaped each of these womens young lives.

Meg Wolitzer presents a strong story filled with strong and not so strong characters. We discover two generations of mothers and their hopes and dreams for their own children. I loved how the story was split into smaller sub stories; stories that make you think they are leading away from each other then at the last moment they turn and re-join in an unexpected way. This is not a book I might have picked up if I had seen it at the library. However, I enjoyed it very much and plan on seeking out earlier books by this author.

Book Review: Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques

Publish Date: 2001
Publisher: Philomel Books
Binding Type: Hardcover

The Flying Dutchman.

A name that brings fear to the hearts of all who hear of the cursed ship. A name which is still known throughout the centuries. A ship that even now is reported seen sailing the waters around Cape Horn. But no one really knows how the curse began. What caused The Flying Dutchman and its crew, captained by the feared Captain Vanderdecken, to be set on its eternal voyage across the seas?

When a nameless boy is found half dead and half frozen on the back of the Flying Dutchman, no one believes he will recover. The boy, claimed by the ship’s cook as a galley boy overcomes his deadly encounter in the harbor. Mute and homeless, the boy is christened Neb. He spends his days cooking and serving the captain and his rough crew. During one of the ship’s last stopovers in Europe, Neb rescues a half-starved dog. Together, the two witness Captain Vanderdecken’s decent into madness & the curse put on the ship by a vengeful angel. The two friends are swept overboard, saved from the curse by the same angel.

The angel grants the pair immortality, and the instructions that they are to roam the earth to help those in need. The friends brave the ages, and in their travels end up in the village of Chapelvale. This sleepy English village is threatened by the industrial progress covering the country. Its location above a vast limestone deposit, makes it a target for greedy men, with a planned quarry and cement factory where the town currently stands.

Neb – now called Ben- befriends several of the villagers. With their help he discovers an ancient riddle that could save the village. But there are only seven days before the machinery arrives, and the houses are sold. Can Ben, his faithful canine companion and the villagers helping the pair unravel the riddles and discover the hidden secrets in time to save Chapelvale from its impending doom?

I’ve been reading books by this author for years. I first stumbled onto Redwall my senior year of high school over a decade ago and kept reading the books as I could find them and as they were published. I don’t know that I’ve read every single book in the series. It’s gotten quite huge over the last five or six years. But They are comfortable books that I tend to check out from the library every few years to reread. So when I say Castaways of the Flying Dutchman on the entryway bargain shelf at the Borders by my work I was instantly intrigued. I bought the book hoping to read it, and pass it onto friends of mine who collect Brian Jacques’s works. I usually pass along copies of his books that I stumble across to younger readers rather than keeping them in our limited book shelves. It took me two weeks of walking by the store during lunch before I bought it. I had finished my commute book that morning and needed something to read on the train trip home.

I was amazed with the book! I found myself drawn into a richly written story. The pages flew by and I found myself wanting more of Ben and Neb’s adventures when the pages closed. I think that in my opinion this is probably one of Brian Jacques’ best novels. It introduces a well known subject – the doomed ship The Flying Dutchman and introduces the story with a twist. It is told from the viewpoint of a pair of survivors of the curse. Through their innocence and joy the pair of friends survive the curse the rest of the ship falls under. Through the angel’s love for them they are given a chance to live long and fruitful lives. Though Ben and Neb are haunted by their experiences of the Flying Dutchman, they are able to step past the fear that ruled their lives on the doomed ship and become stewards of love and friendship throughout the ages.

This is my highest form of praise. The copy I bought will go into my permanent collection of young adult books. Two days after I bought my copy, I found myself walking into Borders and buying three more copies. One to pass on to the friends I originally planned on sharing the book with, and two to pass along in a book giveaway here in the near future. I was reminded why I fell in love with the author’s writing the first time I picked up Redwall and Mossflower, and why I continue to return to re-read his books even now many years since then.


I’ve learned this is the first book in a trilogy. The second and third books in the series, The Angel's Command and Voyage of Slaves, were published in 2003 and 2006 respectively. I look forwards to finding and reading these titles as well.

Joy Nash's Countdown to Summer

Author Joy Nash sent me an e-mail letting me know about her celebration for her upcoming book release. She will be holding a Countdown to Summer.

To celebrate the May 26th release of her Jersey Shore romance A Little Light Magic, Joy’s hosting a month-long blog and Facebook party dedicated to everything wonderful about summer - summer fun, summer memories, summer vacations, summer food, summer entertainment, and - most importantly - the boys (and men!) of summer. Lots of chances to win goodies, including books by Joy and other authors such as Angie Fox, Emily Bryan, Gerri Russell and more. Starting May 1 and continuing through Memorial Day! Details at http://joynash.blogspot.com/

Book Review: The House on the Shore by Victoria Howard

Read and reviewed for Armchair Interviews

Anna MacDonald has been betrayed! The coveted teaching position she has been waiting to get has been given to the other woman that her boss, and boyfriend, has been sleeping with. In anger, Anna quits her job, gives up her flat in Edinburgh, and takes off for the only place that she has ever felt truly happy. Anna’s late grandmother’s croft, located on the shores of Loch Hourn, in the Scottish Highlands.


The croft is isolated. Anna has no phone, no close neighbors, and only her two border collies for company. Her plan for the summer is to nurse her broken heart and pride back to normal while working on the novel she has been yearning to write for years. She doesn’t plan for company during this time. Especially not the unexpectedly handsome company offered in the form of the slightly rude American who knocks at her door one morning.

Luke Tallantyre is a well known artist from Cape Cod Massachusetts. Faced with an artistic dry spell, he has set sail for the unknown wilds of Scotland. He has braved the Atlantic Ocean alone, and has come to Loch Hourn. When his yacht develops a navigational problem, he ends up knocking on Anna’s door for help.

Anna is more than a little resentful of Luke’s intrusion. Faced with an attraction she doesn’t know how to handle after her last rejection, she finds him an unwelcome distraction into her hermetic life. However, when an unknown assassin tries several times to kill both Anna and Luke, they find themselves thrown together in an attempt to find out why.

Will Anna and Luke find out who is trying to kill them and why? Will either of them realize the opportunity for true love that arises during the time they spend together?

I really enjoyed this book. The story drew me in quickly. I found myself having to pace my reading speed in order not to rush through the book. I enjoyed Victoria Howard’s descriptions of the Scottish Highlands, and Loch Hourn. They made me even more convinced that this is a part of the world that I want to someday visit. This was a very compelling story, and I totally enjoyed it despite it being a very quick read. It was one of those rare books that left me thinking "I can't be done yet!" when I turned the last page.

I need to stop this

I need to stop letting so much time fly by between posts. I have some very good books that have been reviewed to share soon. As well as a giveaway or two in the works. And lastly, I would like to start taking part in the Booking through Thursday questions on a regular basis again.

Those are a bit of a stretch for me right now with the spring semester winding down, and the work schedule about to get fluctuated around. Plus, I'm trying to shake a horrible chest cold.

So We will see if I can get on here once a week again. It would be nice if I can. I've missed this blog.

It's time to shake the dust off of it again.

Winners Shapeshifter The Demo Tapes Year 1 Drawing

I am proud to announce the winners of the drawing for ShapeShifter The Demo Tapes Year 1. The lucky people are:

Indigo
GateGypsy

Look for emails from me later today to find out where to send your book.

Book Review: ShapeShifter The Demo Tapes: Year 1 by Susan Helene Gottfried

Have you ever wondered what goes on backstage at a concert? Have you ever wanted to see the inner workings of a well known band? Did you ever wonder what forces shape a band into a powerhouse of music? Well, with The Demo Tapes: Year 1 you can find answers to these questions and more.

The Demo Tapes: Year 1 is a collection aimed at introducing readers into the fictional world of the band ShapeShifter. All of the short fiction pieces in this collection were first published online in the author’s blog between April 2006 and March 2007. The stories all parallel Susan’s currently unpublished novel Trevor’s Song. The Demo Tapes came into existence because author Susan Helene Gottfried was tired of people not being able to read the intense story that she had created starring the band ShapeShifter. The West of Mars Blog was born through these frustrations.

Along the way, her short fiction and musings on her blog Susan gained a following of loyal readers. Her groupies (as they call themselves) stared clamoring for her writing to be published. Because of their push, Susan took matters into her own hands, and self published The Demo Tapes: Year 1 using the services of Lulu.com. The collection cleans up the quickly written outtakes from the blog, and arranges them chronologically.

I’ve been reading the West of Mars blog from its conception. I read each of these pieces when they were originally first published on the blog. I found ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes: Year 1 a fantastic and fun way of revisiting these older stories. I’m hoping that Susan publishes The Demo Tapes: Year 2 in the near future. I look forward to reading more adventures of Trevor, Mitchell, Keri, and the other band members and fans. I also hope that the Demo Tapes becomes a stepping stone for Susan’s debut novel Trevor’s Song to make it through the gamut of the publishing industry and be available for purchase in bookstores worldwide. Susan has created a wonderful collection of characters in a full fleshed world, and it would be a shame if it was never published.

Places you can find The Demo Tapes: Year 1:
Amazon.com
Lulu.com
Author Susan Helene Gottfried’s web site: West of Mars the Meet & Greet


-------------------------------

As well, I have two autographed copies of The Demo Tapes: Year 1 to send out into the world.

Leave me a comment saying something about why music is important in your life, and a way to contact you and I'll add your name to the drawing.

The deadline for submissions will be 11:59 PM on Monday March 30, 2009.

If you leave a link showing that you are helping spread the word about this giveaway, I'll give you an extra entry in the drawing.

Good luck!

Just a note: Since bookcrossing is a site that both Susan and I love to use on our traveling books, I'm registering these two copies before sending them out to the winners. As usual, you don't need to pass the book along if you don't want to when you finish reading it. I'd love if the winners would use the information on the label to share what they think of the book after you reading it but don't feel like you absolutely have to if you don't want to."

Winner's Drawn!

I drew the names for the five book giveaway a little earlier this morning, and just had to share who they are right away.

Congratulations! Look for an email from me shortly asking for where to send your book(s) to. If I don't hear back in a week, I will redraw names for that particular title.

So, on to the winner's list:

Near Death in the Arctic goes to Bison 61

The Thief Lord goes to FatalisFortuna

The Courtier’s Secret goes to Victoria

Inwards to the Bones goes to guru

Rusty Son of Tall Elk goes to Becky

Once again congratulations to the winners, there was a lot of competition for titles. I wish I had more copies of each to pass along.

I'll probably be doing another giveaway in March and another book box cleaning giveaway later this spring, as I had alot of fun writing these reviews and doing such a big drawing. So keep visiting, and happy reading!

Book Review: The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Two orphaned brothers, Bo and Prosper, have run away from their grandfather’s house and their aunt Esther after their mother’s death. Esther plans on splitting the boys up, keeping Bo with her and their uncle and sending Prosper away to boarding school. The boys go to the magical city their mother told them many stories about, Venice Italy. Once there, they join up with a group of children who are led by a mysterious boy Scipio, also known as the “Thief Lord”.

But unknown to the boys, their aunt Esther has followed them to Venice and hired a private detective to find the boys. Suddenly, they and their friends are having to find ways to avoid the persistent detective, while trying to plan their most daring and dangerous break-in yet. Plus, when Prosper and his friends find out a shocking secret about Scipio, the group falls apart due to their new mistrust of the Thief Lord. Will the children make up their differences and finish their planned theft? Or will Bo and Prosper be caught and taken back to their horrible Aunt Esther without resolving their problems with the friend who took them in when they first came to Venice?

I was exited when I first received this book. I had heard good things about Cornelia Funke’s writing in regards to Inkheart from other book reading friends. It took me a couple of tries to get into this book. The first two times I picked it up I read the first three or four pages and set it down again. However, this was one of the first books that I read in 2009, and I found myself quickly entranced by the story. I really enjoyed this story with its hints of magic in an otherwise normal world. Also its recurring theme about the strength of friendships, and how they can help overcome many problems was a nice message. I still have not read Inkheart, though I do have Dragon Rider Sitting in my to be read basket right now. I’m looking forwards to reading more of this author’s writing in the near future

Publisher: Scholastic
Publish Date: September 2003
Author's Web Page: http://www.corneliafunke.de/en/

Book Giveaway: Five books for new homes!

I don't keep a lot of the books that I review. If a book really strikes my fancy, I'll shelve it in the pc, or buy a copy when the book comes out and pass along the ARC/review copy I read. I've done this for maybe ten books in the last four years. I usually prefer to share them with other readers. Most get labeled with bookcrossing labels and stuck in the bin of books to pass along. That poor bin holds books I plan on wild releasing in the future - Like some coffee table art books I plan on leaving in/around the Art Institute of Chicago at some point in the near future. As well as book I plan on passing along to other book reading friends.

My bin has gotten a bit packed recently, and as I am in the process of trying to get my to be read pile down in size (not an easy thing when there is a huge Borders and several really nice used book stores close to both my work, and home). I'm trying to pass along the older read books so I have room for the newer read books in the bin. I'm thinking of checking with a local hostel to see if they would take some book donations for their entertainment area, but I would love to pass on a few of the books I've reviewed here to someone who wants to read them.

To enter, leave a comment telling me which title you are interested in reading, and a way to contact you (can be an e-mail address, or a bookcrossing member name). I'll do a drawing on books that have multiple people interested in them and send them out to their new homes.

All of the books will be registered on bookcrossing.com, and while I would love to see what you think of the book when you read it, you are not obligated to visit the site, or to pass the book on when you finish it. If you end up loving it so much you want to keep it forever, feel free to do so!

The books are a mix of ARC's and regular published titles. All have been gently read, some show more wear than others as not all started their lives with me in pristine unread condition.

Here's the books I'm going to pass along. Click on the title, and it will take you to the review I wrote, or a bookcrossing page for the book.

1. Inward to the Bones: Georgia O'Keefe's Journey with Emily Carr by Kate Braid
2. Near Death in the Arctic by Cecil Kuhne
3. Rusty Son of Tall Elk by Charles H. Bertram
4. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
5. The Courtier's Secret By Donna Russo Morin

I'll close the acceptance of comments on the 26th, and will draw names and let folks know who gets which book by the 28th of February.

Book Review: Near Death in the Arctic: True Stories of Disaster and Survival Edited by Cecil Kuhne

Read and reviewed for Armchair Interviews

The Arctic. The very name pulls images of snowy landscapes, harsh weather, and intense travel conditions out of our imagination. Many men and women have raced against the elements to reach the North and South poles.

Near Death in the Arctic is a collection of writings concerning these journeys. Editor Cecil Kuhne has collected previous published writings by explorers such as Captain Roald Fram, Richard E. Byrd, Apsley Cherry-Garrard, David Lewis, and Robert Falcon Scott, as well as second hand writings of expeditions. This collection showcases both first hand experiences in exploring the North Pole, the race to reach the South Pole first, and exploration of the largely unknown continent of Antarctica.

Near Death in the Arctic, transports readers to a time where the world was not fully known, and exploration an important thing. We can learn more about the struggles these explorers faced from the weather, from lack of supplies, and unexpected situations such as their ships being frozen into the pack ice.

Reading this book during the recent extreme cold weather here in the Midwest gave me an appreciation for what these explorers went through. They braved the unknown to bring the world an idea of what was out there. They went to advance our knowledge of the geography of these harsh areas of the world. They went to advance scientific knowledge of the Arctic regions. They went for the glory of exploring. I really enjoyed reading this book because it expanded my knowledge of the explorers who looked for a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. I had been aware of Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton’s trips to the Antarctic, but I had not known that Scott was the second team to the South Pole.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading about the exploration of the planet’s North and South Poles from the turn of the twentieth century onwards.

Book Review: Amelia's War by Ann Rinaldi

Another book set in the American Civil War. I'm loving the fact that my "to be read soon" basket had a second book from the same time-frame as the Halifax Connection (which I reviewed last week) from another viewpoint of the war, in a totally different setting. I was wanting to read more historical fiction from this era of history after finishing The Halifax Connection

Scholastic Press
Publish Date 1999

Amelia Grafton’s life is changing in ways she didn’t expect. She and her family live in the Pro-Union state of Maryland. Her family supports the Union. But as the Civil War progresses and comes closer to her hometown it seems like everyone is slowly choosing sides with the Union or the Confederates. Everyone, it seems except her good friend Josh. Who is determined to keep a neutral outlook on the war in order to write well informed and truthful stories about the battles being fought around them for his father’s paper the Hagerstown Mail.

The War moves closer, with Lee’s forces invading Hagerstown three times. The final time there is even fighting in the town square! Amelia and her family struggle to keep their lives going as they had before the war. Her older brother Wes runs off to join the Union forces and Amelia is faced with the fact that he may not survive the battles being fought. Through it all, Amelia must decide how she can stay true to her own belief’s and figure out what she can do to help the war effort when the right time comes.

Amelia’s War is written by Ann Rinaldi, who has written many historical fiction stories. She based her story on the ransom of Hagerstown, Maryland, which happened the first week of July in 1864. She writes an informative story that sets a fictitious family into a well documented part of the American Civil War. This is the second book written by Ann Rinaldi that I have read, and I enjoyed it a lot. She has a way of writing that puts the reader right into the lives of her characters. I enjoyed seeing the war through the eyes of a young girl. It gave me a different insight to what was happening during that time frame. This is a fantastic look into how the Civil War affected the everyday life of the people who lived in the areas being fought on. I would recommend this book for any older child who is wanting to learn about the American Civil War.

Book Review: The Halifax Connection by Marie Jakober

Publishe: andom House Canada
Publish Date: 2007

Canada in 1862 was not the proud country we know today. It was still collection of colonies run by the British crown. To the south of Canada in the United States, the Civil War is becoming more volatile. As the fighting gets hotter, people from both sides, Yankee and Confederate alike cross the border into the British Colonies for many reasons. Among the southern gentry flooding into the cities of Halifax and Montreal, there are many spies and military personages. These men and women have ulterior motives to put into action secret plans against the Yankees. Secret plans that may or may not start a war between England and the United States. If a war is started between the two countries, the Confederacy would have an ally in fighting against the Yankees.

Former theater manager and ex-British aristocrat Erryn Shaw finds himself recruited as a spy for the British crown. His job is to befriend the Southern rebels and learn their secret plans. While on a mission to Montreal, he hears about an exceptionally sinister plot being planned by the Confederates. A plan, which the men in charge believe with all their hearts will win them the war.

While in Montreal, Erryn meets and courts a woman he finds intriguing and charming named Sylvie Bowen. Sylvie has recently emigrated to Canada, escaping life of drudgery working in the cotton mills of England. Sylvie also stands firm in her hatred of the Southern rebels. Because of their piracy, she and her aunt Franny were forced to land on Nassau. Only Sylvie would then travel onto Halifax. Her aunt left behind to be buried in a mass grave, for the victims of a Yellow Fever epidemic that was raging through the island when the women were forced ashore by the sinking of the English trader they were traveling on by the confederate ship the Alabama.

Erryn finds himself drawn deeper into the intrigue surrounding the plot he has uncovered. Meanwhile his feelings for Sylvie deepen as he spends more time with her. He finds himself in a race against time. Can Erryn Shaw find a way to stop the Rebel’s plans and keep England from starting a war with the United States? Can he do so and pull out of the spy game before his beloved Sylvie discovers he is a “Grey Tory” siding with those she despises? Or will he run out of time and loose both Sylvie and the hope of defeating the plan that the Rebels believe will end the war.

The Halifax Connection draws its story from actual events in Canada’s history. I was fascinated by the story, as much of my Civil War knowledge had ended with Canada being one of the end points of the underground railroad. This book is a fantastic example of historical fiction. It is superbly written and transports readers back in time to an exiting time in Canada’s colonial history. Author Marie Jakober takes us into the ballrooms and parlors of the bustling city of Montreal to the dirty, military garrisoned port town of Halifax. I originally won this book as a part of the first Hidden Treasures contest held by West of Mars back in the summer of 2007. I’m finding myself sorry for letting this book languish for so long in my “to be read soon" basket. This is one of the best examples of fiction set during the Civil War that I have read in a very long time. Author Marie Jakober has a love and passion for the Civil War and her own country’s involvement in it. This passion shows through in an extremely well crafted and exiting adventure of a story.

Poem: Rainy Night by Dorthy Parker

I stumbled across this saved in another place, and remembered how much I loved the poem. I first stumbled onto it in a fiction book, and was inspired to find out what the whole poem was from the two stanza's that were there in the book.

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Ghosts of all my lovely sins,
Who attend too well my pillow,
Gay the wanton rain begins;
Hide the limp and tearful willow.

Turn aside your eyes and ears,
Trail away your robes of sorrow,
You shall have my further years-
You shall walk with me tomorrow.

I am sister to the rain;
Fey and sudden and unholy,
Petulant at the windowpane,
Quickly lost, remembered slowly.

I have lived with shades, a shade;
I am hung with graveyard flowers.
Let me be tonight arrayed
In the silver of the showers.

Every fragile thing shall rust;
When another April passes
I may be a furry dust,
Sifting through the brittle grasses.

All sweet sins shall be forgot;
Who will live to tell their siring?
Hear me now, nor let me rot
Wistful still, and still aspiring.

Ghosts of dear temptations, heed;
I am frail, be you forgiving.
See you not that I have need
To be living with the living?

Sail, tonight, the Styx's breast;
Glide among the dim processions
Of the exquisite unblest,
Spirits of my shared transgressions,

Roam with young Persephone.
Plucking poppies for your slumber . . .
With the morrow, there shall be
One more wraith among your number.

Book Review: Inward to the Bones by Kate Braid

I received this book from bookcrosser NWPassage last summer. Over the past few months, I've picked this book up and set it down without reading it several times - not being in a poetry mood. However New Year's Day was spent just relaxing and I found myself curling up on the sofa with a cup of tea, a blanket and this book. I'm glad that I finally got into the right head space to read this collection.

Poet Kate Braid found her inspiration to write this collection from a brief meeting of the two painters Georgia O'Keefe and Emily Carr in February 1930 at a showing of O'Keefe's paintings in New York. It was a brief meeting, Emily Carr spent more time describing one of the painting in her journal than the actual meeting. However Kate Braid used this meeting as an inspiration to expand it into what would have happened had the two women become friends. What would happen if they were to visit each other's place of living and areas of inspiration for their paintings. O'Keefe in her New Mexican Desert, and Carr in her British Columbian forests.

The poems are told in the voice of Georgia O'Keefe, and explore the relationships an artist has with the land they paint The struggle they have with making their art, and the tenuous and often unpredicted power of friendship.

I'm a fan of O'Keefe's paintings, and have been since I was very young. One of the things I loved best about this collection was the fact that the author interspersed her poems with found poems gleaned from O'Keefe's own letters. These helped build a layer of depth on top of the wonderfully written poems to create an extremely powerful and moving collection of poetry.

There are two poems I want to save here to remeber once I share the book with someone else.

42.

Last night I dreamed the blood
ran in my veins like skeins of thread
each thread a different colour
as my heart beat scarlet
chartreuse, cerulean blue.

I awoke knowing that when I am an old woman
I shall live on cactus and thread.

84.

Bone to bone
I am embedded now
in this land

deep as a tick on a mangy old dog.
No matter how hard you scratch

You can't budge me now.
I shall die here, hot

and clean, finally
the faraway nearby.

------------

Publication Date: January 2000
Publisher: Polestar Book Publishers
Binding: paperback

Book Review: The Courtier's Secret by Donna Russo Morin

This was the last book I read in 2008. I read and reviewed this book for Armchair Interviews.

In the court of Louis XIV, the Sun King, courtier’s flock to Versailles for many varying reasons. For many it is the prestige and power gained by being a participating member of the court, for other’s it is for their love of the King and his Queen, for many it is a paradise. But for some courtiers like Jeanne Mas du Bois, life in the court is a pretty but unpleasant prison.

Jeanne, is recently returned to life at court after living in a convent for the past ten years. An independent and spirited young woman, Jeanne has a love for history and chafes at the restrictions placed upon her sex. Her uneasiness with her life chafes her spirit, and more than once she finds herself facing her father’s wrath over imagined and real slights to his image of noble courtier. However Jeanne’s cherished uncle, Jules Du Mas, one of the king’s fencing partner’s, encourages her spirited independence while secretly teaching her how to fence

It is during one of these secret lessons, that Jeanne and her uncle save the lives of two musketeers. Jeanne, mistaken for male, is admitted into the circle of friends who are all members of the King’s Musketeers. It is in their company, disguised as the young man Jean-Luc that Jeanne learns of a plot to kill the Queen. Jeanne soon finds herself in a precarious position as she tries to navigate the tangled web of court intrigue. As Jean-Luc she has the freedom that she yearns for, and the honor and respect of the four musketeers. But as Jeanne, female courtier, she is plagued with an impending forced marriage to a boy she care nothing for, a growing love for the musketeer Henri, and the trials of trying to help put an end to the villains trying to kill her beloved queen.

The Courtier’s Secret is Donna Russo Morin’s debut book, and it is a wonderfully spun gem of a story. I found myself transported back to 17th century France, and life in Versailles. I find myself looking forward to reading this author’s books in the future.

Winners for Resurrecting Randi Give Away!

I would like to congratulate the following people for winning a copy each of Resurrecting Randi by David P. Shephard. Watch your inbox for an e-mail/PM from me asking where to send your copy.

Book-Spy
Amanda Sue

Happy New Year! May you have many good books come your way in 2009.

2009 Goals for Confesions of a Literary Persuasion

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone reading this.

I'm setting a few goals for the next year. I read a lot, as I am dependent on public transportation to get to and from work and school. This means I have anywhere from a 20 - 45 minute ride each way. So I read when I can, and listen to audio books when I can't (I get motion sick on some of the low ride buses because of the seat positioning, and lower windows on the bus sides). In the past, I've used this blog to post reviews and reviews in progress for the few review sites that I read & review for.

However, there have been some extremely good books that I have read over the last two years that were not new ones. my goal is to try and include reviews of the older books I read.

I'm not going to do reviews for all of them, as I also have school work to look forward to, and have been reading massive long fantasy series which I have a hard time doing reviews for. But if something really catches my attention I'll try and put up a post about it.

I've got this laundry basket of books here that I've collected over the six years that I have been a bookcrossing member (as well as about 20 that got mixed in with the books in storage), and I'm trying to set a goal to get more books read and out of the house this year as we are faced with a move in 2009. I know how many books Elengil and I have combined in our permanent collection. I'm hoping to reduce the amount on my tbr pile before we start packing.

Finally, I was updating my Goodreads list, and it looks like I read 146 books in 2008. 20 of those were review books. 18 were audio books. 102 had bookcrossing BCID's (Either mine or from another bookcrossing member), and of the bookcrossing books, 34 were wild released and 47 were controlled released to friends, bookcrossing members, and blog readers.

Winners for Signature Give Away!

I would like to congratulate the following people for winning a copy each of Signature by Ron Sanders. Watch your inbox for an email from me asking where to send your copy.

Valorie
The Giveaway Diva

I will post the winners of Resurrecting Randi tomorrow, 2 January 2009. This way there is more cheer to give in the new year.

Happy New Year! May you have many good books come your way in 2009.

Book Review: Playing with Fire Whining and Dining on the Gold Coast by Thomas G. Schaudel

Read and Reviewed for armchair interviews
Have you ever gone to dinner and had a bad experience? Maybe your food wasn’t cooked right, or you found something that shouldn’t be there in your soup bowl. Perhaps you were witness to one of your fellow patrons being extremely rude and pushy. However, what do you do if you are the chef, and the customer’s complaint is just too off the wall for you to handle?

If you are Chef Tom Schaudel, you write a book about those customers. Tom writes in his introduction: “By my math, I have fed over two million Long Islanders in the last forty years. One million, nine hundred ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and fifteen have been wonderful; eighty five have made this book.” Playing with fire introduces readers to these most memorable characters that Tom and the staff of his four restaurants have met over the last forty years of being in the business.

From the moment I saw the table of contents which is laid out to look like a menu and the illustrations beginning each chapter, I knew I was in for a treat with this book. Chef and author Tom Schaudel shares these humorous “horror” stories of some of his best worst behaved customers. From the woman who tried to walk out of the restraint with a Christmas tree attached to her pocket, a grandma who liked to flip the bird at everyone in the place when not helped fast enough, the awkward situations of the woman on a date who is so drunk she is passed out on the ladies bathroom floor, and the young married couple who tried to redeem a counterfeit gift certificate given them as a wedding gift, as well as many others. The stories are told in a light hearted way that make the reader see how sometimes the wait and kitchen staff just have to have a good sense of humor to survive the night. I appreciated the recipes scattered through the pages, and while I don’t cook a lot of seafood myself I did see one or two that I would like to try some night for dinner.

Playing with Fire is a lighthearted romp through the restaurant industry and those nightmare customers who frequent it, as seen by the man behind the scenes.

Book Review: Signature by Ron Sanders

Read & Reviewed for Front Street Reviews

On the celebratory night of New Years Eve, four colleagues- academics all – welcome in the new year of 1346. Their leader Titus Mack has invited them to his home in the observatory outside of the outskirts in unprotected land with an arm of the colony coming up from the depths nearby.

Titus, begins to show and tell the trio of academics about the information that he has researched with the help of his advanced computing program Solomon over the past year since any of them had seen him last. His revelations show them a past history that has been erased from the history books, that the actual date is 2509 rather than 1346. He starts to show them why their world is strongly atheist with little religion at all. During his lecture, the perimeter of the Observatory is breeched my members of the colony, and the men are abducted and taken down into the depths of the underground colony.

The men find themselves in a strange world where nothing is what they know. Religion leads these people. In the years that they have been shuttered underground it has evolved into a society ruled by rituals and rules like nothing the four men have encountered before. The men are taken to meet the judgment of Mama and the ‘Postle, and nothing they do will let them escape this fate that has been handed to them.

I had a little bit of a hard time getting into this book. I found the first twenty or so pages slow reading. However I am glad that I pushed past and kept reading. Signature is an intellectual thrill ride that makes you think. It explores topics like what would happen if religion was segregated from the everyday world, and what would the world be like if its history was erased and restarted. This book was short, but really made me think while I was reading it. While I can see it not being something that everyone would enjoy, I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I originally thought that I would.

-----------------
I enjoyed this book so much that I have two paperback copies to pass along to readers.

Both are autographed by the author, one is slightly worn from being toted along in my bag on the bus to school and work.

Both have been registered at Bookcrossing.

Leave a comment with a way to contact you, and why you would like to read the book.

I'm leaving this open until the 31st of December, and will announce the winner on January 1 or 2nd.

Bookk Review: Resurrecting Randi by David P. Shephard

Read & Reviewed for Front Street Reviews

On the first day of the new semester, Professor Travis Harrison’s life is starting to look up. His first book has been published, and is jumping up the best sellers list, and he is engaged to be married to a wonderful and supportive woman. Life is no longer constantly reminding him of the tragic death of his daughter Randi in a car accident ten years ago.

Then he met Layla Sommers. The troubled nineteen year old, latches onto Travis, and soon he is fending off her unwanted advances (including an inappropriate sexually explicit e-mail). She seems to see Travis as someone who can save her from her chaotic life. After Travis responds to her phone call pleading for help, he seems to be her savior. He did keep her from committing suicide. Travis on the other hand, finds himself a temporary father figure as he agrees to sponsor Layla, and let her live in his home during the month of recovery time the hospital wants a suicide watch kept on her.

Already battered by Layla’s previous advances, Travis struggles with his feelings of attraction to this confused girl child. When he realizes how much Layla physically resembles his lost daughter Randi (and what she might look like at this age) Travis is hit with the submerged grief he has for his lost daughter. During the month that Layla is a part of Travis’s everyday life he sees his life change. His girlfriend leaves him, he struggles with feelings of attraction towards Layla as a young woman, and guilt because she reminds him of what his daughter might have grown to become had she not died at age nine. Travis and Layla’s relationship quickly deteriorates, eventually leading to his arrest as the murderer of Layla’s abusive ex-boyfriend.

Despite all the drama that Layla brings into Travis’s life: The upheaval of his re-emerging grief, the pushing away of his fiancé that happens with Layla living in his home, and the eventual destruction of his career as a writer and as a professor after his arrest. Travis finds positives to Layla’s presence in his life. She brings moments of tenderness, compassion, and love into his life. She lets him feel like a father again. Layla helps Travis face the grief he feels over the tragic loss of his daughter’s life.

Resurrecting Randi is author David P. Shepherd’s debut novel. It is an extremely well written story with highly developed characters. I enjoyed the twists and turns the plot took and was completely surprised with the ending. This book takes its readers deep into the psyche of Travis and Layla, and is an extremely well written psychological drama. I enjoyed Resurrecting Randi very much and look forward to seeing what this author writes in the future.

-------------------

I enjoyed this book so much that I have two hardcover copies to pass along to readers.

1 is autographed by the author
1 is not.
Both have been registered at Bookcrossing.

Leave a comment with a way to contact you, and why you would like to read the book.

I'm leaving this open until the 31st of December, and will announce the winner on January 1 or 2nd.

Book Review: The Gypsy Morph by Terry Brooks

Read & Reviewed for Front Street Reviews

The Gypsy Morph is the third book in the Genesis of Shannara trilogy.

With the United States fallen into ruin, the Knights of the Word, Logan Tom and Angel Perez face a challenge in facing the evil that is rampaging towards them.

Logan Tom has to keep the promise that he made to the boy Hawk and his band of survivors called the Ghosts. Hawk, a magical being called the Gypsy Morph, is leading the ghosts to meet with other survivors in the wilds of Oregon. He is charged with leading them to a place of eventual safety.

Angel Perez has risked her life to help the elves in their fight against the demons of the void. She has helped the young elf Kirisin Belloruus and his sister find the legendary Lodestone. Kirisin has been entrusted with the knowledge of an ancient magic. This magic will put his people and their home of Arborlon inside of the Lodestone. Kirisin is charged with taking the magical gem to safety with the help of a small band of elves. They must get past the demon army waiting to crush the elven city and find someplace safe.

Will the Knights of the Word guide their charges and keep them safe long enough to reach the gypsy morph, Hawk’s, safe haven? Or, will the demon army from the void sweep away the survivors, be they elven, human, or mutant, and bring about the destruction of the world?

I have been a fan of the Terry Brooks writing for a very long time. The first time I read my father’s copy of The Sword of Shannara I was transported to a world of magic and conflict that I fell in love with. Sadly though I’ve not kept up with reading the Shannara books over the years. The Genesis of Shannara trilogy gave me a chance to revisit the writing of a favorite author. In this trilogy, I found a story that shows us the readers the actual happenings of the appocolyptic past that was hinted at during various points in the original Shannara books that I read so many years ago.

I really enjoyed this final instalment to the trilogy. I enjoyed seeing the emergence of the elves into our world, and the destruction that caused life as we know it to fall apart and evolve into the less technically inclined world that the Shannara stories are set in. I loved seeing how author Terry Brooks brought two of his series that I enjoyed together with the Knights of the Word being involved in this part of the history of Shannara (The series being The Knight of the Word books and the Shannara books). Reading The Gypsy Morph made me realize how much I’ve missed reading this author’s writing, and I look forward to catching up with the books that I’ve missed over the years.

book review: Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes

Read and reviewed for Armchair Interviews.
Have you ever wondered what drives the health industry in touting what is correct to eat for a good healthy lifestyle? Have you ever wondered why common knowledge tells us that fat is bad, carbohydrates are good, and that to have a healthy weight you should eat less and exercise more? In Good Calories, Bad Calories author Gary Taubes tried to give readers answers to these questions, as well as showing them how this advice may not be right.
The book is split into three parts. Part one, The Fat-Cholesterol Hypothesis, looks at the effects of reducing fat and the rise of awareness of cholesterol and heart disease has played on diet in the last few decades. Part Two, The Carbohydrate Hypotheses, shows readers how the western diet slowly moved from one with more meat and fat in the late nineteenth century to one with more of an emphasis on breads and other carbohydrates. In this section, the author discusses the rise of refined carbohydrate use in meals, and how those are causing problems with both a rise in diabetes and obesity. The third section, Obesity and the Regulation of Weight, talks about hunger, different diets, and how they work or don’t with a person’s metabolism to help them lose weight or to hinder weight loss.
As a layperson, I had a hard time getting into this book. Author Gary Taubes gives his readers a whole lot of information on food, on nutrition, on different health concerns such as heart disease, diabetes, and the rise in obesity. His background as a science writer shows with the completeness of the information given. I did find that the information given aimed at a lower glycemic diet with its higher protein and less refined carbohydrates very interesting, as well as the fact that diets promoting such eating habits were not new in the sixties when Dr. Atkins first started promoting his diet.

I believe this would be an excellent book for anyone interested in finding out more about the various diet trends and advice given through the past decades

Book Review: Beneath the Mask by David Ward

Read and reviewed for Armchair interviews

Beneath the Mask picks up after the events in Escape the Mask. Coriko, Pippa and their friends have found life after escaping the Spears to be not quite what they had imagined. They have spent their days working on a way to escape the Grassland. However, their nights are filled with trying to avoid falling into the grasps of the Strays – the escaped children who have become wild and feral in their freedom. The night they attempt to escape the grasslands once and for all, they find their plans thwarted. The Spears, whom they thought all dead are in fact not.

Once again captured, the four friends face the trial of Separation. Coriko, separated from his love Pippa finds exactly who is underneath the masks of the Spears. The life he is forced into leaves Coriko cold. In order to protect Pippa and keep her alive, he must do unspeakable deeds. But by doing these things, he runs the risk of losing Pippa’s love and trust. Coriko is faced with a challenge. He needs to find out what he truly values in his life, and find a way to make that happen. Even if it means finally getting free of the Grassland.

I loved having the world we were introduced to in Escape the Mask expanded. Beneath the Mask shows us who the Spears are as a culture. The book delved deeper into the struggles that Pippa Coriko, Bran, and Tia find themselves thrown into. Where the first book showed us the changes happening in the lives of the children, this book focuses on the struggles they have to make the correct choice for their continued happiness. In Beneath the Mask author David Ward has strengthened the story of Coriko, Pippa and their friends. I look forward to the third book and seeing where their adventures lead them to, and if they will finally find a home of their own.

Beneath the Mask is an adventure packed, action filled journey of discovery that once again brings some very weighty topics to the reader’s attention.

And the winner is...

Raonaid Luckwell!

Congratulations, lady luck looked kindly on you this drawing!

After reading your enthusiastic comment about the series in the entry post last week, I was absolutely thrilled to see your name get pulled.

I hope you enjoy reading Immortals:The Crossing just as much as the past books.

I'll be sending off the congratulations e-mail in just a moment.

Book Giveaway: Immortals: The Crossing by Joy Nash

Well, It's my turn to host the book giveaway for author Joy Nash's 50 books in 50 days giveaway. I have to admit, that I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, as life has gotten in the way of my tackling the to be read mountain, but it looks like it will be worth waiting for.

Here are the contest rules:
1. The drawing is open worldwide
2. You must leave a comment on this post with a reason why you would like to read this book.
3. Your comment must have a way to contact you, it can be email, blog info, or for those of you who wandered here from bookcrossing, a bookcrossing member name.
4. I will announce the winner on September 25th (and will stop accepting entries on the 24th).
5. You can get a second chance in the drawing by letting your own blog readers know about my giveaway. Just share a link to your promotion :)

IMMORTALS: THE CROSSING

Joy Nash
Urban Fantasy Romance
Dorchester Love Spell
Release: September 30, 2008

ISBN 10 0-505-52767-7
ISBN 13 978-0-505-52767-7

Author's website
Immortals-series website
Immortals Myspace
Immortals on Dorchester website

Contact Joy:

Blurb:

USA Today Bestselling Author Joy Nash returns with another installment in Dorchester Publishing's Nationally Bestselling multi-author series, IMMORTALS.

Demigod Manannán mac Lir (Mac) is on the trail of Artemis Black, a stunningly dangerous woman who's inexplicably able to intertwine life magic with death magic. For the safety of his people, he should destroy the desperate witch—once he learns her darkest secrets.

Readers of paranormal romance and urban fantasy will enjoy this adventure filled with black magic, nasty demons, hot immortals, dark humor, steamy sex, and a heart-thumping descent into a modern version of Dante's Hell. Available September 30. 2008.

And the Winner is...

The name drawn from the hat for the copy of True Detective by James A. Huebner is: A Real Librarian from over at Confessions of a Real Librarian!

Watch your mailbox for my e-mail.

Thanks to everyone for entering. I have two giveaways coming up next week, so check back again.

Book Review: Mr Sebastian and the Negro Magician by Daniel Wallace

Read and reviewed for Armchair Interviews

Henry Walker, the negro magician, is a weak, thin and shaky black magician. An un-coorordinated sort of person, every night he drops cards, misses his cues and fumbles his way through his act. His show, part of the attractions offered at Musgrove’s Chinese Circus, is the sort that gives those watching a feeling of well being because even if life is bad, it can’t be as bad as this guy’s. But one summer night when the circus is stopped outside a small town in rural Mississippi Henry disappears as unexpectedly as he originally appeared in Jeremiah Musgrove’s office looking for work four years earlier. Three white teenagers decide that the world needs one less black man around. What they discover about Henry Walker is that the magician is not exactly what he seems.

What follows is a tale that spans over decades. Told from the viewpoints of Henry’s fellow circus performers and others that his life has touched, the varied story takes us through the years. Back to when he first learned magic, and survived the tragic loss of his adored sister Hannah, through his troubled life. Each story of Henry’s past is told from a different viewpoint, and is just a little different from the one before, until as a reader you don’t know what to believe until the story wraps itself up. I found myself entranced with this book and found in it an enchanting story dealing with loss, identity, the limits of magic, and how a person’s actions can influence others. The story crashes over the reader, leaving them to wonder, did Henry Walker make a deal with the devil for his magic, or was he instead just a gifted magician who had been run down by time?

This was an extremely well crafted and exiting story that hooked me from its first page. I’ve had this author recommended to me over the years, but while familiar with his prior story Big Fish through the quirky film adaptation I had never read any of his books. Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician hooked my imagination, and I know I will be seeking out more of Daniel Wallace’s writing in the future.

Author's web site http://www.danielwallace.org/
Book format: paperback
Publishing date: 8 July 2008

Book Giveaway: True Detective by James A. Huebner

I've come to the realization that my books to be passed on box is getting very full, so in order to help along some cleaning and organizing of said box (as it houses my bookcrossing available books as well), I am going to do a drawing for my trade paperback copy of True Detective by James A. Huebner. The review was posted yesterday, and can be read here.

This copy is a trade paperback, the corners did get a tiny bit dinged up in mailing and then when riding in my bag for reading oppurtunities on the bus and in waiting rooms. It is autographed by the author. It has also been registered at bookcrossing (as I do to all the review books I pass along). The winner is not expected to use the bookcrossing info, though I would love to see a response to the book after it gets read. Mostly because I'm nosy, and like hearing what others think of the books I share.

There are a couple rules for this drawing as I had an interesting amount of anonymouse entries on the last one.

1. Leave a comment on this post, with contact info. Either a blog link, or an email. I need a way to contact the winner.
2. To get an extra entry for the drawing, post about the contest in your blog, and send me a link to the post (either here or via e-mail is fine)
3. I will contact the winner, and if I do not hear back in 5 days I will pick a second name.
4. This contest is open worldwide.

I will accept entries for the drawing until 10 pm. on September 10, 2008 and will post the winner on September 11, 2008 (fitting given the subject matter and setting of the book).

I've got a few more give aways coming up in the next few months so come back and visit the blog again :)

Book Review: True Detective by James A. Huebner

Read and revieved for Front Street Reviews
New York City cop, Sergeant Detective Marlowe finds himself in a new place. Coming back to work after an extended leave of absence, sitting through sessions with a therapist that he believes he doesn’t really need, and starting work in a new precinct with a new partner. On their first night together, they discover an odd crime in Battery park. Someone has left a carefully stuffed cadaver skin, hanging above the water that formed one of the park’s boundaries, holding a sign that says SS New York on it.

In the days and weeks that follow Marlowe learns more about his partner. Both he and his partner Detective Captain Cross both had been touched by the events of 9-11 in ways besides helping with the rescue, and eventual body removal from the tower’s rubble. Both had been involved in investigations and arrests concerning the attacks on the World Trade Center. Marlowe finds that his partner cross believes that the “body” they found in the park was connected with the terrorists, and is adamant about discovering who did it and why before New York is attacked for a third time. The cadaver, along with a very prominent suicide/homicide and a sting on a well known local drug dealer all start to seem like they could be intertwined. Along with the stresses of work, Marlowe is starting to doubt the sanity of his partner.

I found the story a bit slow at first, but it built up to a nice pace. Author James Huebner has built a strong story based in mystery. As a reader I enjoyed following narrator Detective Marlowe on his journey to find the source of the “darkness” that is threatening his city. It becomes a tumultuous journey as he strives to figure out where the many cases they are investigating might connect, and which, is the true crime. We see Marlowe grow as a person with the discoveries about his self that he makes with the help of his psychiatrist, and his own personal reflection while on and off duty. I found True Detective to be a wonderful look into the police procedures of the daily work life of a modern day New York City Police detective. This was a great story, full of twists and turns, with a surprising twist of an ending.

Book Review: Escape the Mask by David Ward

Coriko and his partner Pippa are slaves to the Spears. The children are Twosies, children who have lived in the grasslands and worked at finding the shards that the Spears want mined from the sands for many years. Coriko – who doesn’t remember a life outside of captivity relies on Pippa for friendship and support as they struggle through each day trying to meet the gather quotas and keep from angering the Spear guards and the punishment that comes afterwards.

However, they find their life changing slowly when two newcomers are captured and brought to the grasslands who speak the same language as Pippa and Coriko. They bring news of unrest in the outside world, and the possibility of war. When the Spears suddenly start changing their gathering totals for the day, and are attacked by enemy archers inside the grasslands, the four friends team together with two other slave children to try and survive. The violence towards the Spears increases and the children find themselves looking for ways to free the other slaves, escape from the cave complex that they are kept in, and get past both the Spears and the attacking soldiers.

Escape the mask is the first book in The Grasslands Trilogy. The story explores the idea of freedom. Coriko and his friends find themselves free from the torture and cruelty of their captors, and faced with freedom from the slavery that was the life they were accustomed to. After they find freedom, each child has the opportunity to discover more about themselves, and who they are. They grow from slaves with no identity to individuals with very distinct strengths and weaknesses. I found the story engaging. I enjoyed watching the six children grow as they found strength together to break free from imprisonment and discover who each person is.

This is a great introduction to a new series, and I am looking forward to reading the next book when it is published.

Author's web site: http://www.davidward.ca/home.htm

a Neil Gaiman Extravaganza

Fashonista Pirahna is having a Neil Gaiman extravaganza of a give away. I thought y'all might like to know about it. go find out how to enter here

Prizes being offered are: an ARC of Neil's newest book The Graveyard Book (to be released on September 30, 2008), a Graphic novel version of Coraline, Gaiman's Bath Surprise: one Stardust bath bomb and one Comforter bubble bath, which Gaiman has written about in his blog, A hardcover copy of American Gods, $25 to a charity of choice, and more?

50 books in 50 days give away

Joy Nash’s Immortals: The Crossing--sixth book in Dorchester’s USA Today Bestselling series Immortals--hits the bookshelves on September 30. But 50 lucky readers will win autographed copies on or before that date!

Yes, that’s right – 50 copies of The Crossing will be given away on 50 participating websites and blogs, which means readers have 50 online chances to win this hot new paranormal romance during the 50 days between August 12 and September 30.

Find out where you can win a copy at by checking out the list

I will be offering a copy here on Confesions of a Literary Persuasion in September, so be sure to check in and enter when the time comes

(I'll also be doing a few other give aways in the next month or so as well so check back for those as well)

for the Joss Whedon fans out there.

This is not book related, but entertainment related.

Joss Whedon has a limited time web series premiering tomorrow (which will be available only until 20 July 2008).



It looks quite good, and has some very familiar faces in it. (click on the image to head over to the dr. horrible web site.)

May I have the envelope please?

The lucky winner of George Carlin's When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? is...

thekoolaidmom

Congratulations!

I'll be contacting you for mailing info, and this will go out the next time I head over to the post office.

BTT: Definition of a reader

What, in your opinion, is the definition of a “reader.” A person who indiscriminately reads everything in sight? A person who reads BOOKS? A person who reads, period, no matter what it is? … Or, more specific? Like the specific person who’s reading something you wrote?

Growing up, I heard the phrase "she's a reader" alot. As a child (and even now), I read alot. I read to experience new worlds, to visit places I someday hoped to visit, and to find out "who done it". I also read to escape the unhappiness of teasing at school, and family issues, but that is a whole different story.

As such I kinda hate the title reader. Yeah I read, so do a whole lot of others in the world.

But I think anyone who reads for pleasure is a "reader". Be they a child, teen, or adult who only reads once in a while, or those like myself who devour books in their free time. I think that anyone who has been drawn into a story and visited the world that the author has created is a reader whether they liked the book or hated it.

On a side note. I have a tote bag full of kids books for when friends bring their children over to visit. I love hearing "Can I get the books?" being asked as soon as they walk into the apartment.

In memory of:

As most of you have heard by now, comedian George Carlin passed away earlier this week.

His comedy has meant alot to me over the years. I remember watching his televiseed performances on the then young cable network with my dad, and listening to his recorded shows also with my dad (along with the Duck's Breath Mystery Theater, and the Firesign Theater), and I have devoured all his books over the years.

As I had just Finished listening to George read the audio version of his last book When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? on the day of his passing, I would like to pass along a copy of the book in his memory.

This will be a gently read used hardbound copy of the book that has been registered at Bookcrossing. Leave me a comment telling me what George Carlin's comedy meant to you, and a way of contacting you.

I'll draw the winner's name on July 2, 2008. This is open to anyone anywhere in the world.

So long George! Thanks for all the laughs!

Book Review: Tin Lizard Tales by Schuyler T. Wallace

Read and Reviewed for Front Street Reviews

What do you get when you put a retired couple on a train for a month? Take them from Bakersfield, California across the United States to the east coast, then North into Canada and head them back west again, across the Canadian wilderness? Tin Lizard Tales is exactly that. Part travelogue, part historical look into the cities they cross through, and part discussion/rant on various issues brought about by the former. Tin Lizard Tales is author Schuyler T. Wallace’s recollections of the cross country trip he and his wife Carol took via Amtrak (in the USA) and the VIA Rail (in Canada).

Tin Lizard Tales attempts to show various parts of the country in current days, what the author and his wife saw and visited while touring the country. The history lessons come when the author adds in looks into the history of the areas they’ve traveled in, and the cities that they visit. Even the title of the book is a bit of history, gleaned from the old time railroaders’ name for streamliners. Here and there Mr Wallace slips away from his format and shares with us his opinions and essays on topics such as homelessness, the meat packing industry, and the service encountered on the many trains he and his wife rode on their trip.

Author Schuyler T, Wallace has the following to say about his book: “I was prompted to write this book by a lot of reading and large amounts of coffee. Strangely enough, that’s probably what you will need to get through it.” I don’t drink coffee, but I don’t know if it would have helped me speed through the book any faster than I ended up doing. There is a lot of information between the first page and the back cover of this book. I could only read it a chapter or two at a time before setting it aside to process what I had read. The portion I had trouble with most, was when the author talked about their visit to the World Trade Center site, and his exploration of the events of 9/11. Even though it’s been almost seven years since the attacks, it’s still a very raw subject. I skimmed through those chapters and on to the rest of the Schuylers’ visit to the city that never sleeps. I did enjoy the descriptions of the scenery they traveled through especially the descriptions of the length of track traveled along the Hudson River, and while crossing Canada. I’ve traveled long distance via Amtrak as well, and it was a memorable experience. Reading Tin Lizard Tales reminded me of that experience, and made me look forward to perhaps exploring the country by train travel again some day.

Book Review: Keeper and Kid by Edward Hardey

Read and reviewed for Front Street Reviews

When Jim Keeper receives a call out of the blue from his ex-wife Cynthia’s mother, the last thing he expects to hear is that she is in the hospital. Jim drops everything to drive up to Boston to find out what the favor he has been told she needs to ask him is. A week later, when going to pick up what used to be their dog Arrow, Jim is faced with a huge problem that he was not expecting.

It’s been four years since He and Cynthia divorced, a little over three years since he had seen her last. His life in those years has changed significantly. He now lives in Providence, and is partner in a two man salvage shop. He spends his days looking for buyers of the stuff his partner and best friend Tim finds (everything from old mantelpieces salvaged from houses that have been demolished to antique toys), and running their warehouse. He has also just moved into a house with Leah, his current girlfriend.

Cynthia has passed away, and rather than going home with the dog he was expecting, he is introduced to Leo. Suddenly he is finding himself father to a three year old, whom he wasn’t even aware he had. Jim finds himself transporting home a toddler, and his belongings. He cannot fathom what has just happened, and can not figure out how to break the news to Leah.

His life becomes one of introduction to this small child who speaks of strange kid things such as the tv show Kipper, and who only eats round foods. Everywhere he turns, his small home he had been making with his girlfriend Leah is over run with bright colored toys, and child sized clothing. He is struggling to survive as a single parent, learning to cope with daily childcare and toilet training. Through all this, there is an urgency to get Leo integrated into the life he had, and to convince Leah to give him and Leo another chance.

Keeper and Kid is a warm and sweet story of a man and child thrown headfirst into each others lives. Edward Hardy has created an engaging look into life, as a new parent, as a single parent, and the receipt of an unexpected gift. Jim Keeper, a man who never thought about children in his life grows through the story. I found myself immersed in the book, and quickly sped through it to find out how Jim, Leo, and Leah survive the shock of being thrown together so suddenly.

Book Review: Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese

Read and Reviewed for Front Street Reviews.

Down to a Sunless Sea is a collection of fifteen short stories written by Mathias B. Freese. I have mixed feelings about this slim book. On one hand, there are a few gems in the collection. Then on the other hand, there are others that just seem to fall short of the mark. It took me a longer time than I usually take to commit myself to reading this book.

The author, uses his experiences and observations gained from twenty-five years as a clinical social worker and psychologist in crafting his stories. Most of them, are rather dark, keeping with the author’s dark view of humanity (something he has readily admitted to having). However, a few of the stories show both humor and a moving look at how we view life. In the introduction, Down to a Sunless Sea is promoted as “plunging the reader into uncomfortable situations and into the minds of troubled characters.” This is a very apt statement, but in my opinion a few of the stories just seemed abrupt, and the characters not given as much of an opportunity to establish themselves as they could. The stories, written over a thirty-year time frame delve deeply into the human psyche, and are excellently written if a bit raw and packed with emotion.

I found the story “Alabaster” to be one of most moving of the collection. This story introduces an old Polish woman and her daughter. The mother, a survivor of the Holocaust and her devoted daughter live in the neighborhood, but do not easily interact with their neighbors. They sit together, and alone, until their lives are brightened briefly by a small boy who is too young to know of the tragedy that they had lived through. He, after hearing from the old woman of her experiences during WWII, reads the tattoo she still carries out loud, wondering who 7859912 was. A person, the old woman can not tell him was herself as others had seen her, an undesirable, and not the alabaster armed young girl she once was.

The other stories I found enjoyable in the collection were:
“Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Father was a Nazi”
“Echoes”.
“Herbie”
“Mortise and Tenon”