Book Review: The Tower of SHadows by Drew Bowling

Read and reviewed for armchair interviews

The Land of Ellenrie is under the threat of a great evil.

Roughly fifteen years before, the wizard Dale stopped the culmination of an evil sacrifice that would have opened a door between Ellenrie and the demon world. His flight through the nearby town brings him close to being attacked by the not quite human followers of the watchers, (the shadowy half summoned demons who can’t quite materialize in this world) who have been empowered by the completed portion of the sacrificial ceremony. His flight is joined by a former mercenary named Wren, Wren’s wife and a baby boy that she has saved from death at the hands of the attackers who killed his parents.

Currently, rumors of strange happenings have been circulating through Ellenrie. When Wren’s daughter Kayla witnesses the murder of the guardians of an ancient artifact, their life is changed forever. They are forced to flee Nautalia, the capitol, chased by a pair of cunning assassins. Finally they arrive at Dale’s lonely cottage, they find that he has disappeared. Eventually they join Dale’s former apprentice Adriel (now a full fledged wizard with little control of the magic he carries) who is in search of the boy Colin.

For the threat of evil to become reality, Colin’s life needs to be sacrificed by a mysterious mage living in a tower of shadows. Can the group find and keep Colin safe in time, or will a shadowy doom fall on Ellenrie?

Fantasy is a hard genre to break into. Especially the epic fantasy style of the genre. It is easy for new authors to fall back on the writing styles that have influenced them, resulting in stories that while good can be easily picked apart. However, the Tower of Shadows does not do this. Drew Bowling brings us a glimpse of a world with little magic left in it(and few people who can control it), that is being threatened by a very magical source. Also, I loved that everything strange seeming that showed up (people who are no longer quite human, foreign plant growth) are all shown to have a solid reason for happening. This epic tale is an extremely strong first novel, and I look forward to reading future works by the author.


ISBN: 0345486706
ISBN-13: 9780345486707
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication Date: December 12, 2006
Binding: Hardcover

Book Review: Sentinel by D.M. Paul

Read and Reviewed for Frontstreet Reviews

Fox Strongbox was considered special from birth. From a very early age he has been in training to become one of the Elf King’s elite guardians known as Sentinels. His final test of his training takes him and his mentor Eldin out of the elf kingdom to a remote island to test his skill. On the return journey, an unplanned attack by an elder black dragon leaves fox and the sentinel’s bird mounts wounded, and Eldin possessed by the spirit of the dying dragon’s spirit.

Draco (as Eldin has now become), learns of the location of the key to unlock an ancient and powerful artifact through the elder sentinel’s memories. Draco becomes obsessed with obtaining the artifact and the power that it will grant him.

Along with the king’s high wizard, Fox sets off to Cloudville to stop Draco, and rescue his mentor from Draco’s evil control. Their quest is joined by the two agents from the Incantation Enforcement Agency as they search for the location of the artifact’s hiding spot (long forgotten where it was by almost everyone)and keep the hidden artifact as it was meant to be: buried away forever.

Sentinel is the second installation in the One Wizard Place series. Author D. M. Paul masterfully weaves together Fox’s story with events that took place during the first book (One Wizard Place). As a contrast to One Wizard Place, the reader is treated to a more in-depth exploration of the elf kingdom and the massive city of Cloudview. At the same time, though, plot and character development do not suffer. This book has cemented in my opinion that this is one of the best new young adult fantasy series that I have read this year.

ISBN: 1598007955

ISBN-13: 9781598007954

Publication Date: September 2006
Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.
Binding: Trade Paperback
Series: One Wizard Place Series, #2

LIGHTSPEED PAST THE KUIPER BELT NOW ON PODCAST AT DEEPLICIO.COM!!

http://deeplicio.us/Run by Mambo Italiano, this is a new website for House music and dance music.I'm very exicted to have been invited to be a part of this project!

Please take a moment and click over there to listen to all the mixes presented.We are just getting started and your support is GREATLY APPRECIATED!THANK YOU THANK YOU!

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This is non book related, but a fabulous thing to have happened to a great friend of mine. I hope this introduces some new people to the fantastic music she mixes up.

Book Review: A Day of Small Beginnings by Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum

Read and reviewed for armchair interviews

In 1906 Poland, Itzik Lieberman, - an overworked fourteen year old, stumbles across a Polish peasant whipping three young Jewish children on their way home from studying. He stops to help them, and in the process, accidentally kills the Pole. He flees the angry mob that comes looking for him, and hides in the Jewish cemetery. There, he falls on the newly uncovered grave of Friedl Alterman and prays to God for protection. His terrified and frantic prayers awake the spirit of Friedl, who comes to protect the scared boy. Itzik, who has been called faithless since his father left his family, can not hear Freidl’s spirit and does not realize the help he has been given. He eventually flees Poland for America, where he can be free from the horrible accident. Itzik raises a family and never talks about either Poland or the religion that he has cast aside for socialism. When his son and then his granddaughter return to Poland, after his death, the country they encounter is vastly different from the little they know of Itzik’s Poland.

Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum’s first novel explores the idea of the loss of family history once members make the journey to the new world. She bases her story on a tale she heard about her own family’s loss of heritage. She weaves a story that crosses four generations, two countries, and one religion. A Day of Small Beginnings examines what it means to be Jewish even when you don't practice the religion, and what happens when Jews-by-name begin to explore their heritage and the rich history of Judaism. Because this is such a plausible story, not just for Jews but for anyone with an immigrant background Rosenbaum's story engages readers across the spectrum and allows them to identify with the ill-fated Itzik and his reasons for running away from home.

ISBN: 0316014516

ISBN-13: 9780316014519

Publish Date: November 2006
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Binding: Hardcover

Book Review: The Healthiest Kids in the Neighborhood : Ten Ways to Get Your Family on the Right Nutritional Track

Read and Reviewed for Frontstreet Reviews

Are your kids junk food kids?

Dr. William Sears, a well known pediatrician, has written a book with his wife and two sons (themselves doctors) about getting your kids to eat healthier. He admits that raising healthy kids is getting harder and harder to do. These days, there are fast food restaurants everywhere, school lunches frequently have junk food as a part of the meal, and there is an overabundance of trans-fats and high risk sweeteners in the snacks and foods targeted at children. More and more kids are being diagnosed with illnesses like A.D.D., diabetes, cholesterol imbalances, and being overweight at an early age. These are situations that can be linked directly to the foods that children are eating.

The book is broken down into chapters that first identify good foods and then explain how and why these choices can boost a person's immunity. Another chapter focuses on how to make changes that will result in your children craving healthy foods, not junk, and one that shouldn't be missed talks about how to go shopping with young children and still come home with healthy foods instead of attractively-packaged junk. There are also answers to many nutritional questions that parents may have and a section with kid friendly recipes.

This book is written in a tone that sounds helpful without being preachy. It helps parents learn how to plan meals and snacks that will instill healthy eating habits that will carry over into adulthood. Dr. Sears is able to share with his readers the knowledge and experience that his family has gained throughout the years, and his sons are proof that his methods work. He uses examples of real families throughout the book along with some very helpful advice for both parents and children.

I found the book to be a great reference guide to how different foods help or hinder our health. I especially loved the chapters that broke down the “grow foods” or super foods for kids. They show us why the super foods are super for our children (and us as well) and give us ways to include these foods in our daily eating to maximize their importance to growth and general heath. Most of what was explained should be common sense to the caring parent, however it was great to see Dr. Sears’ advice on what to look for when reading labels, and which vitamins are good to give your children in supplement form to enhance what they should be getting through food. The charts breaking down how much of a mineral you need each day (example iron, and calcium) and the best food sources for those minerals were extremely helpful. This is a book that will be helpful for those parents determined to raise their children as healthily as they can. Whether it is from their child’s first solid food stage, or as an older child that is slowly having his food choices changed from "junk food" to "pure food".

ISBN: 0316060127
ISBN-13: 9780316060127
Publication Date: September 2006
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Binding: Paperback

the books come marching two by two...

I have two new review books staring at me right now.

1. Sentinal by D.M. Paul came yesterday
2. The Tower of Shadow by Drew Bowling came today.


I have to restrain myself from diving into either until I turn in the one review for frontstreet, and seriously revamp the one I'm writing for Armchair interviews.

It's hard as I have been waiting for Sentinal to come out since I read and wrote the review for One Wizard Place. I figure once I turn in the other review I can start the book...

never enough time in the week

I've recently discovered that there is a Nextbook Book Discussion Group at the main branch of the Evanston Library that meets once a month. It's a shame that they meet on an evening that I am not free to attend. Their books chosen list for this fall/winter has some amazing looking books on it.

Well, it gives me some more books to add to the list for the next couple of library trips :)

I should keep an eye on the African-American Literature Discussion Group's book list page as well, but so far I've read a big chunk of the books on their list

Book Signing and Discusion in Chicago

This is going to make WoM very envious.

On November 10 from 6-8pm, Joann Sfar, Eisner-award winning author/artist of The Rabbi's Cat, Vampire Loves, Sardine in Outer Space, and the recently-released Klezmer will hold a book signing & discussion at Chicago Comics, located at 3244 N Clark. He will play banjo and talk about his methods of art & story-telling, his perspective on Jewish culture, & his passion for comics.

Book Review: Dusk Before the Dawn

Read and Reviewed for Frontstreet Reviews

What would the world be like if ninety percent of the world’s population suddenly fell asleep?

In the Tike National Park a group of Mayan shamans led by Julius, a Mayan villager who has been educated in the United States, sit on the top of a temple waiting for the important event predicted as part of a cycle change in the Tzollhin (the Mayan calendar) hundreds of years before to happen. At the same time, hundreds of miles away, Joseph Davis watches helpless, as his family fall asleep in a strange set of events before asking a stranger for help. Janet Grayson, PhD, a well known nanotechnology scientist, wakes up in a hospital to find that the last things she remembers having happened, did so several months ago and not the day before.

Welcome to a world gone wrong. Gerald Tooney, a scientist, has decided that nature needs saving over humanity and introduced a devastating, and in some cases deadly nano-virus into the worlds water supply. This is to prevent the mass extinctions that he has come to believe will happen if humanity continues on the path it has been taking. The survivors are either dependant on a temporary vaccine that keeps them awake, or practitioners of ancient techniques that have led them to enlightenment.

Dusk before the Dawn is the first book in the Enlightenment Cycle. Larry Ketchersid has created a world in conflict. The author weaves his tale together with scientific technologies and oriental mysticism to show the struggle between . Gerald Tooney, who made this life affecting world decision, and the growing resistance group working against him. These men and women are led by an enlightened Mayan scientist and his student Carlos and are trying to search out other survivors and find a way to re awaken the sleeping humans.

This is Larry Ketchersid’s first novel. It is an excellent work of fiction. I found the story slow to start, but soon it became engrossing, and ended leaving me wondering what was going to happen next. One of the things I enjoyed most was the attention to detail and the descriptions of the martial arts amd ancient practices that he show us in his story. I will be looking forwards to the next installment in the series.

ISBN: 0741430169
ISBN-13: 9780741430168
Publication Date: April 2006
Publisher: Publisher: Buy Books on the Web.Com
Series: The Enlightenment Trillogy #1
Binding: Paperback

The Love of Reading Online Book Fair - October 3-5,2006

Check them out Here, there are a ton of interviews, raffles (North America only unfortunately), and guest bloggers

Book Review: The Kindergarten Wars by Alan Eisenstock

Read and reviewed for armchair interviews

When you are looking into prospective schools for your children, do you know what sort of questions that you need to ask yours?

Do you know that your answers on the application to questions like “where did you go to college?” may be one of the most important answers you can give. Yes, to get your child into kindergarten.

In these days of public schools getting less and less funding, more parents are turning to private schools to educate their children. Combine that with the fact that it is becoming more and more fixed in people’s minds that in order to get a coveted education at a prestigious university, it helps to have attended the right schools as a child. Also, there are the other facts like more children entering school, and that siblings get first picks at class openings. Competition to get one of the few openings at a private school can be fierce as hundreds of parents compete for the prize of having their child be one of the elite that made it into the class.

Alan Eisenstock has written a narrative book that follows four families through the process of looking at choosing, and applying to enroll their child into the kindergarten of their choice. Each prospective family takes us through the process of visiting schools, applying to them, going through the interview process, and finally the waiting to hear back from the schools as to whether or not their child has gotten one of those few coveted openings. Alan Eisenstock has traveled. The country interviewing the heads of many private schools, he has followed and interviewed many families about the processes and questions that they debt with. His book follows fictional families in a city that could be any big city in the United States. However, he brings us the readers all of the knowledge that he has gleaned from his research to try and answer the one question that parents in the same situations as his families all have:

“How do you get in?”

ISBN: 044657774X
ISBN-13: 9780446577748
Publisher: Warner Books, Incorporated
Publication Date: September 18, 2006
Binding: Hardcover

housing work's 2nd annual fair to help homeless people living w/ AIDS

For any NYC readers who might be looking for a good book sale that supports a great cause:

Housing Works is very happy to announce its second annual Open Air book Fair, on Saturday, September 30 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Crosby St. (between Broadway and Lafayette) at Prince Street. With tens of thousands of books, records, CDs and DVDs marked down to a dollar or less. A sale you can't afford to miss!

Too much inventory, not enough space! Housing Works Bookstore is bulging with books, and so it's time again for a street sale, our biggest and best yet! Boxes and boxes of modern fiction and classics; art books, cook books, children's books and more! Music lovers come early—be the first to check out the thousands of records we've been saving for this special sale! Once you're bored with books go try on the exclusive merchandise from Housing Works Thrift Shops! They will be offering clothing on an "all-you-can-stuff" $20 a bag basis, as well as shoes, accessories and furniture! Music and food all day long, this promises to be 100 percent fun!

http://www.housingworks.org/usedbookcafe/streetfair.html

Buy a Friend a Book Week!

Another contest, this time for y'all to play in if you like.

My friend, the keeper of the West of Mars and the folks at Front Street Reviews are running hand in hand contests to help promote the good folks at Buy A Friend a Book Week. This contest combines my two favorites, books and music.



Firstly, check out West of Mars' contest then check out then Front Street's and win some books!

blah

I do live. Just a note for those of you wondering why I have been so quiet.

I am working on writing a review and having a hard time wrapping my head around it, and working on reading another review book.

Plus I picked up a copy of a small press printed book off the leave a book, take a book shelf at the local coffee house and want to write a review of it as well. Since it seems to be a book that could use some exposure.

I think the biggest thing keeping me from concentrating very hard is the construction they are doing at the intersection right by our building. It is noisy, and they have guys working 24 hours so not much sleep had been getting had as our windows channel in their generator noises and the big Cla-Clank noise that happens after every car that drives over the inch thick steel plate covering a hole right where cars turn off or onto our street.

Another strange book banning attempt.

It's sad what people are protesting and trying to get pulled off of library bookshelves these day.


Mermaids afloat in Davis libraries despite protests

as someone who wishes she could draw fantasy images half as well as the artist being protested I'm glad that the descision that was made was that it should be up to the parentas discretion as to whether or not their kids could read this book. Illustrator James C. Christensen's work is amazingly well done, and I'm glad it is not getting pulled off of bookshelves.

Another viral blogging contest

I am participating in a blogging experiment hosted at dearauthor.com. To enter the contest, put up this blurb, image, and trackback and you are entered to win the following prize package.

• $200 Amazon gift certificate


• Signed copy of Slave to Sensation


• New Zealand goodies chosen by Singh


• ARC of Christine Feehan's October 31 release: Conspiracy Game

You can read about the experiment here and you can download the code that you need to participate here.

SLAVE TO SENSATION

Nalini Singh

Berkley / September 2006

Welcome to a future where emotion is a crime and powers of the mind clash brutally against those of the heart.

Sascha Duncan is one of the Psy, a psychic race that has cut off its emotions in an effort to prevent murderous insanity. Those who feel are punished by having their brains wiped clean, their personalities and memories destroyed.

Lucas Hunter is a Changeling, a shapeshifter who craves sensation, lives for touch. When their separate worlds collide in the serial murders of Changeling women, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities…or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation.

Excerpt

Book Review: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Read and reviewed for armchair interviews

"To my dear and unfortunate successor,"

When a young girl finds a yellowing packet of letters all beginning with the same phrase, and an eerily almost blank book, containing only a woodcut of a dragon and the name Drakuyla on its inner pages, in her father's study little does she suspect the strange story that will be revealed to her.

When she questions her father Paul, a widowed diplomat, a tale begins to slowly unfold. He tells her of how of how he found the book as a graduate student. How he became obsessed with the book, and upon showing it to his friend and advisor, professor Rossi found out that his was not the only book like it. Professor Rossi found a similar book when he was a graduate student. The professor gave Paul a packet of documents only to mysteriously disappear that night.

What follows is the story of how Paul and Helen Rossi (professor Rossi's daughter) travel from their American university across Europe looking for clues that might help them find the missing man. Elizabeth Kostova intertwines the story of Paul and Helen’s past with that of the girl as she discovers of the past through both her father telling her the tale, and then through letters he wrote to her before disappearing himself. The girl's own story turns into one of discovery and travel, as she tries to catch up with her missing father.

Many cultures have folk tales about vampires, and folk remedies to keep one safe from those creatures of the night. Elizabeth Kostova has taken her fascination with the vampire myths and Stoker's Dracula and woven a highly entertaining tale of her own, a tale which takes her readers through Europe following three generations of vampire hunters. While the size of this book may be intimidating to some readers, it contains a well-crafted story that is both engrossing and informative. Elizabeth Kostova has crafted a wonderfully written story filled with historical fact, mystery, suspense, and vampire lore from many countries. Fans of both historical fiction and vampire lore will find much to enjoy in this book.

ISBN10: 0316154547
Biding Format: Paperback
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Publication Date: October 3, 2006

One Book meme

tagged by antheras to do this meme.

1.One book that changed your life

This is hard as there have been so many good books over the years. I would have to say the first time I read The Hobbit in the third grade. It introduced me to a type of complex fantasy fiction that I had never experienced before.

2. One book you have read more than once?

The Lord of the Rings trillogy – I read it about once a year

3. One book you would want on a desert island?

The Hyperion Cantos – though to be fair that’s a several volume collection

4. One book that made you cry?

The White Shaman by Clive Nicol I read this in high school and it moved me.

5. One book that made you laugh?

Confesions of a Shopoholic I was rolling on the floor laughing at each decision made that got her further and further in trouble.

6. One book you wish had been written?

I have to think on this one some more

7. One book you wish had never had been written?

Mein Kampf by Adolph Hitler. Such a hatemongering book.

8. One book you are currently reading?

The Ragwitch by Garth Nix

9. One book you have been meaning to read?

Rhaeva by Linda Moore. It keeps staring at mefrom the to be read pile

10. Now tag five people

Not going to tag anyone in particular, but I would love to see any responses if any of y’all want to play in this meme

Happy Birthday to me

Today, this humble reviewer celebrates the day of her birth.

Let me tell you, 28 doesn't feel much different than 27 did so far.

I'm happy, I'm caught up on reviews to write, just editing the last one still unsubmitted. I have one book to read for a frontstreet review, but I have time to do that still. For once in the past month I can look at my pile of reachable "to be read" books (alot are still packed out of reach) and actually pick something to read and not have a deadline on it.

Currently I'm re-reading The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey. It's nice to revisit an old favorite.

For the friends who keep track of the books read list, you will be seeing an influx of science books and science based sci-fi as I start going through the books that I've collected for my mass themed release of bookcrossing books for UN World Space Week 2006 in October.

Book Review: Straight up and Dirty: A Memior by Stephanie Klein

Read and reviewed for armchair interviews

Stephanie Klein was living her dreams. Happily married to her husband Gabe, a medical student, she is several months pregnant, and is happily ignoring the problems with the relationship to keep this life that she loves. Never mind the fact that Gabe’s mother hates her (for not being good enough for her son, and other strongly implied reasons); that she and Gabe had to hide the fact that they eloped for three months because Gabe was afraid to tell his parents; and that he is increasingly gone from home. Suddenly Stephanie’s dream life spirals into her nightmare of being a divorcee shortly after discovering that Gabe had been cheating on her for several months with an older woman.

Straight Up and Dirty collects Stephanie’s recollections of that first year after her divorce. She struggles with jumping back into the dating scene much to soon after the divorce. We the readers are treated to her stories of trying to juggle “two dates and a spare” (on advice from her therapist), of being a small fish in the Manhattan dating scene at the ripe old age of “almost thirty”. Through her stories, we are witnesses to her triumphs and dramas as she learns to love herself for herself and not need to be in a relationship, grieves through her divorce, a breakup of a several month relationship (the first after her divorce), and the transformation from a woman who is afraid to love again to someone who is proud of herself and finding love unexpectedly.

Stephanie Klein shares the triumphs and lows she has experienced in her memoirs of becoming an older dater. In a market that is filled with memoirs of life before and after dating, this one stands out with its humor, honesty and attention grabbing stories. This book is a witty way to experience the dating scene in Manhattan, and take part in one woman's journey to find herself and true love. I found this to be a very engaging read and wondered where the time had gone when I finished the book.

ISBN10: 0060843276
Biding Format: Hardcover
Publisher: ReaganBooks
Publication Date: July 25, 2006
Author's Website: Greek Tragedy. Stories of my life