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.

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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.

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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.

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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.