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Monthly Archives: May 2011

Review: Promises to Keep by Charles de Lint

31 May

Promises to Keep (Newford, #21)My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love Charles de Lint, and I love his Newford books. I haven’t read all of them, but I’ve read most of them.

Summary via Goodreads.com:

With the help of a mentor and an anonymous benefactor, Jilly Coppercorn has overcome abuse, addiction, and a stint in juvie. Though she still struggles to stay clean, she has found safety and love in a newly formed family that includes her loyal best friend, a lovely artist, and her caseworker. Temptation comes knocking, however, when her best friend from the bad old days rides in on a motorcycle and takes Jilly to a beautiful, mysterious city full of wonderful opportunities. It seems perfect at first, until Jilly discovers that it was a one-way trip and she still has unfinished business in Newford. At turns playful and serious, this urban fantasy introduces de Lint’s most enduring character and grapples with the realities of life-changing choices

This book fills in some of the story of Jilly’s past. She’s referred to these events frequently, and she’s told the story of how she emerged from her life of abuse before. There’s another part of her story that I haven’t encountered before, a part where she explores a world that isn’t the same Otherworld that Newford has such a strong link to, but a world the de Lint explores in The Mystery of Grace.

This being de Lint, it’s pretty much a given that there will be characters with depth facing real challenges. There will the not so nice side of life in our world, but presented through the eyes of characters that don’t make it seem easy, but keep it from being so impossible as to be dreary reading. There is magic in the story, and magic in the storytelling.

Certainly, any Newford fan should read this book. It disappoints mildly primarily in being short and in spending time revisiting known territory, but there is plenty of new content here. Even if you’ve only spent a little time getting acquainted with Newford,this book is fine to pick up any time. There are no spoilers for earlier books, and there are no plot points that hinge on earlier events.

But should someone who hasn’t read a Newford book start here? Certainly, there isn’t a need to have read the previous ones to follow the plot, and I think the characters are compelling exactly as the appear here. However, part of the fun was seeing early incarnations of some of the other characters that appear in the books, and in feeling like a layer of depth is being added to Jilly.

I don’t know that I’d start here, but I would recommend visiting Newford if you haven’t already.

Thank you to Tachyon Press for sending me this book to review!

 
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Posted by on May 31, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Mailbox Monday

29 May

My mailbox looks a little like this one!Welcome to Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a place to share all the wonderful books that have come to live in your home– including paper books, e-books and audio books.

Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia, who is now blogging at A girl and her books. When Marcia was ready to move on from being the weekly host, she was kind enough to set up the Mailbox Monday Blog Tour,

Mari @ Mari Reads is the May host!  In June, it is moving on to Bluestocking.

As for my mailbox:

Books for review!

The Case for the Only Child: Your Essential Guide by Susan Newman

What’s really wrong with having one child? Is one enough for you? For your partner? What constitutes a complete, happy family? Will your only child be lonely, spoiled, bossy, selfish? Read this book and find out.

My daughter is an only child, and I’ve long since come to peace with this being the right decision for our family, but I’m always interested in data on the subject.  When I was offered a chance to review it for a TLC tour, I jumped on it– even though my June schedule was already nuts.  I’m a little skeptical, of course, but definitely excited to pick it up.

Grace Interrupted (Manor of Murder, #2) by Julie Hyzy

On the grounds of Marshfield Manor, Civil War re-enactors have set up camp. And what a dedicated troupe! One of them has really been killed..

I liked the first book in this series, and was eager to read the second!

Dire Threads (Threadville Mystery, #1) by Janet Bolin

Willow Vanderling’s quaint new embroidery shop is not a hit with the local zoning commissioner. When he’s murdered, the evidence is stacked against Willow.

And that’s pretty much all I know about this one. Still, I was in the mood to start reading some new cozy series, and so I took a chance!

Books Won!

My American Unhappiness

by Dean Bakopoulos

“Why are you so unhappy?” That’s the question that Zeke Pappas, a thirty-three-year-old scholar, asks almost everybody he meets as part of an obsessive project, “The Inventory of American Unhappiness.” The answers he receives—a mix of true sadness and absurd complaint—create a collage of woe. Zeke, meanwhile, remains delightfully oblivious to the increasingly harsh realities that threaten his daily routine, opting instead to focus his energy on finding the perfect mate so that he can gain custody of his orphaned nieces. Following steps outlined in a women’s magazine, the ever-optimistic Zeke identifies some “prospects”: a newly divorced neighbor, a coffeehouse barista, his administrative assistant, and Sofia Coppola (“Why not aim high?”).

A clairvoyant when it comes to the Starbucks orders of strangers, a quixotic renegade when it comes to the federal bureaucracy, and a devoted believer in the afternoon cocktail and the evening binge, Zeke has an irreverent voice that is a marvel of lacerating wit and heart-on-sleeve emotion, underscored by a creeping paranoia and made more urgent by the hope that if he can only find a wife, he might have a second chance at life.

The Book Maven said to tweet a favorite book club read to be entered to win a copy of this  book.  I tweeted, and I won!  Yay!

Books Bought:

At Audible.com, I bought The Sins of the Fathers: The First Matthew Scudder Mystery, which I’ve wanted to read since finishing A Drop of the Hard Stuff.

I also took the advice My Friend Amy gave when I interviewed her, and bought Patricia Hickman’s The Pirate Queen on my Nook.

Your turn

What came in your mailbox this week? Let me know, then go to Mari Reads to check out others!

 
10 Comments

Posted by on May 29, 2011 in books, meme

 

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Book club books selected

28 May

One of my book clubs has selected our next 6 months of books to discuss. What do you think? Has your club talked about any of them? Would any of them temp you to join us?

We have:

  • No One You Know
    by Michelle Richmond
  • Skipping a Beat
    by Sarah Pekkanen
  • Speak 
    by Laurie Halse Anderson
  • A Regular Guy
    by Mona Simpson
  • The Heroine’s Bookshelf
    byErin Blakemore
  • Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
    by Jamie Ford
 
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Posted by on May 28, 2011 in Book Club, M

 

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Thoughts on blog comments & Dan Ariely

26 May

This post is inspired by reading Dan Ariely’s The Upside of Irrationality (which I just finished, a review will be coming soon). I actually wrote this post (as opposed to just thinking about it, but never getting around to it) because it ties in (albeit loosely) with today’s Armchair BEA theme, which is Nurturing Book Blogger relationships.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only blogger that really, really loves comments.  A post that actually gets them makes me smile all day and feel blogging with worthwhile for a little longer.

Reading Dan Ariely’s The Upside of Irationality, I realized we bloggers are not alone in wanting acknowledgement.

He describes an experiment that he (and some colleagues) performed.  In essence, the participants were all given pages of meaningless busywork to do.  They were paid a small amount per page.  This amount decreased with each successive page.  The subjects could continue with the task until it was no longer worthwhile to them.

The subjects were divided into 3 groups.  For the first, each page was acknowledged with a smile, and the experimenter glanced at the page before putting it into a stack.  For the second group, the pages were simply stacked, no acknowledgement at all.  For the third group, the experimenter simply took the page and fed it directly to a shredder.

For me, the first condition models getting comments on a blog post.  The second models getting hits but no comments, and the third is the post that simply goes unread.

It should come as no surprise that in the experiment, the first group continued with the task the longest, and the third the shortest length of time.   The surprise is that the middle group, where the work was simply stacked, had almost the same results as the group where the work was shredded.

I’ll freely admit that the cases in the study don’t map cleanly to my blogging example, but it’s close enough to cause me to think that my desire for some simple acknowledgement isn’t unusual.  I’m going to try to be better about commenting on other blogs from this point on.  Will you join me?

 
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Posted by on May 26, 2011 in blogging

 

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Armchair BEA: Introducing Amy from My Friend Amy

24 May

My main regret about missing BEA and the Book Blogger Convention this year is missing the chance to meet and hang out with other book bloggers. Armchair BEA is giving us a chance to do this by arranging a set of round robin interviews. It’s a chance to get to know each other, and for all of us (readers and bloggers alike) to discover new blogs.

I’m being interviewed by Holly from Book Harbinger. You can head to her blog to learn more about me.

I’m very, very happy to be talking with Amy from My Friend Amy! I met her last year at BEA, and she’s every bit as nice in person as she is on-line, but we didn’t really get much time to talk to each other. She’s got a fantastic blog, and she seems to be involved in almost every exciting activity in the book blogosphere, including being one of the organizers of Armchair BEA!

Here’s our interview!

You are so active in the blogging community that it’s hard to imagine that anyone doesn’t know you and your blog! For anyone that doesn’t know you already, tell us a little about you, how you started blogging, and what your blog is like.

My name is Amy, and I’ve been a lifelong reader. I started blogging about books when I working at a job that revolved around reading and books and I wanted an outlet to talk about them. Then I discovered book bloggers rocked. I don’t even think I can put into words how much some individual book bloggers have changed my life. It’s been an amazing experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. My blog doesn’t have a clear focus, apart from being about books. The strongest theme I have is on how faith is portrayed through literature, something I can’t seem to get enough of.

What upcoming summer or fall book are you most looking forward to? Do you have a copy of it yet? Will you read it as soon as you get it, or set it aside to savor the experience?

This is a really difficult question to answer because there are a few books I’m REALLY looking forward to. One book I’m really anticipating is Dancing on Glass by Pamela Ewen. Her book The Moon in the Mango Tree is one of the bravest books about women/faith/vocation/motherhood, etc I’ve ever read. I’ve been promised a copy but I’m still waiting for it.

You cover a lot of Christian Fiction on your blog, including hosting the Faith and Fiction roundtable discussions and co-founding the INSPY awards. I’d love a recommendation for a book to start with: Contemporary fiction, where the main character’s faith isn’t the primary focus of the book, but informs his/her decisions. Something that isn’t preachy.

Great question, thanks for asking! I suggest Patricia Hickman’s The Pirate Queen. I feel like this book very effortlessly and organically addresses the faith of the characters without ever being preachy. It’s also beautifully written and feels so emotionally honest and true.

I know you also have some favorite TV shows! What are you looking forward to watching this summer?

The summer is such a tough time when most of my shows go on hiatus, but I’m definitely looking forward to the final season of The Closer. I’m also planning on giving Falling Skies and Teen Wolf a shot. ;)

What plans do you have on your blog for the rest of BEA week?

I’m going to go with the flow and post on the Armchair BEA topics!

Part of the fun of BEA is going and doing something fun away from the convention itself. Are you doing something fun and non-book related this week?

I hope to finally see Something Borrowed, as that movie is based on, wait for it, a favorite book. So I guess, no, I’m not. :)

I’m always amazed at how involved you are in blogger activities! What are some ways that you’d suggest that other bloggers can get involved, and help give back to the book blogger community?

I think the number one rule is don’t be shy! Volunteer to help with activities and events that are already in process like Armchair BEA, BBAW is coming up and I’m going to need help with that, the Readalong always needs volunteers. You might be surprised by how good it feels to help out the community and just how much fun it can be, too!

Thank you to Amy!   I’ve got The Pirate Queen on my Nook already! If her blog isn’t already in your feed reader, go visit her at My Friend Amy. Visit the Armchair BEA blog for a list of other blogger interviews!

 
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Posted by on May 24, 2011 in blogging

 

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Review: The Cat, the Lady and the Liar by Leann Sweeney

24 May

The Cat, the Lady and the Liar (Cats in Trouble, #3)My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun read, not quite as good as the second book in the Cats in Trouble series, but still better than many I’ve read!

Summary via Goodreads:

Cat quilter Jillian Hart finds a gorgeous stray cat belonging to the fabulously wealthy Ritaestelle Longworth, who believes she’s being drugged. Before Jillian can get to those charges, a body turns up in the lake-and her cat Chablis finds Ritaestelle nearby. Can Jillian’s cats aid her in solving a mystery with decades old roots?

As always I liked spending time with Jillian and her friends, and appreciated the update on her life since the previous book, The Cat, the Professor and the Poison.

This book made it within my plausibility parameters for cozy mysteries, but not by much (and I allow quite a bit of leeway for them!). Still, I really wanted to believe that the grand matriarch of a small town would take one look at Jillian, and know she was the one that could help her, and I equally wanted to believe the Jillian would take on her cause (and her cat) without any further thought; offering her spare bedroom and her sleuthing skills to solving her problems.

The characters did hit the right balance on the quirkiness scale– just odd enough to be interesting and unique, but still within those plausibility parameters I mentioned above. At least, the humans were. I love the cats in these books, but they did push one of my buttons by producing the vital clue at just the right moment

Overall, the mystery was fine, particularly by cozy standards. It primarily served as an excuse to get to know this group of characters, which works for me in a cozy. There weren’t any glaring inconsistencies, and it did keep me wondering about the motivations of several people.

I’d suggest starting this series at the first or second book if you enjoy quiet, fun, character driven cozy mysteries.

I received this book for review from the publisher. Thank you, Penguin/Obsidian Mystery!

 
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Posted by on May 24, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Armchair BEA: Who I am and how I armchair

23 May

Hello to everyone stopping by, whether you are a regular reader or stopping by my blog for the first time.

Last year at this time, I was in New York for the my very first visit there.  The occasion was BEA (Book Expo America) and the BBC (Book Blogger Convention).  It was a wonderful experience, but not one I’m going to be able to repeat on a yearly basis.

So this year, I’m participating in Armchair BEA, a chance to network with other Book Bloggers that also aren’t able to attend BEA this year.  Today’s blog post theme is ” Who are you, and how do you Armchair?“.

So:

Who am I?

I’m a 40-something book lover and mom.  I love to talk about books.  I run two book clubs, in an effort to feed this desire in real life, but I also like sharing my views on-line.

I read a little of everything– check out the list of reviews in my sidebar to see what kind of range I cover.    Almost half of my reading is in audio format– I can listen while doing many other things, including writing this post.

How will I armchair?

I’m hoping to have all my normal blog posts (Mailbox Monday and hopefully 3 reviews) as well as the Armchair BEA posts.  I plan to participate in Wednesday’s Interview exchange.  And from there, we’ll see what time and interest permit.

My biggest interest is in using this event to connect with bloggers– those I met last year at BEA, those I only know on-line, those I haven’t met at all until this week.  If you leave a comment here, I’ll do my best to stop by your blog and comment in return.   (I usually try, but haven’t been as successful as I’d like recently).

Blogger, author or reader, thanks for stopping by!

 
10 Comments

Posted by on May 23, 2011 in blogging

 

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Mailbox Monday

22 May

My mailbox looks a little like this one!Welcome to Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a place to share all the wonderful books that have come to live in your home– including paper books, e-books and audio books.

Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia, who is now blogging at A girl and her books. When Marcia was ready to move on from being the weekly host, she was kind enough to set up the Mailbox Monday Blog Tour,

Mari @ Mari Reads is the May host!

As for my mailbox:

Books for review:

From Harper Collins, I received

Quarantine: Stories By Rahul Mehta

The characters in Quarantine—openly gay Indian-American men—are Westernized in some ways, with cosmopolitan views on friendship and sex, while struggling to maintain relationships with their families and cultural traditions. Grappling with the issues that concern all gay men—social acceptance, the right to pursue happiness, and the heavy toll of listening to their hearts and bodies—they confront an elder generation’s attachment to old-country ways. Estranged from their cultural in-group and still set apart from larger society, the young men in these lyrical, provocative, emotionally wrenching, yet frequently funny stories find themselves quarantined.

I received another beautiful box of childrens/YA audiobooks from Brilliance Audio!

Included were

(Has anyone read The Magnolia League?  My 13 year old daughter and I are embarking on a road trip in a few weeks, and she suggested listening to it.  I’m not sure what’s giving it the 15+ suggested age range, and I’m not sure either of us is looking for fodder for mother daughter talks on this particular trip).

Your turn

What came in your mailbox this week? Let me know, then go to Mari Reads to check out others!

 
5 Comments

Posted by on May 22, 2011 in books, meme

 

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Thank you!

21 May

Thank you for all the well wishes on my two years of blogging!  I really appreciate the thoughts, it makes the writing so much more fun to know there are people reading!

The winner of the celebratory giveaway is number 25 out of 41, which is

Rebenrio Traje

I’ll verify your e-mail address, and send out your prize!

Thank you to everyone that entered.

 
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Posted by on May 21, 2011 in blogging

 

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Review: Almost Home by Mariah Stewart

19 May

Almost Home (Chesapeake Diaries #3)My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the first book in this series. I liked the second one a lot. This one was a solid “like”.

Summary via Goodreads.com:

When she was young, Steffie Wyler always knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life: 1. Make ice cream. 2. Marry the coolest boy in town. 3. Live happily ever after. These days, Steffie is the proud owner of One Scoop or Two, a wildly popular ice cream parlor. But the cool guy left town right after high school, before they could scratch the surface of their mutual attraction to see what, if anything, lay beneath. Steffie’s made a great life for herself in St. Dennis, but true love has never come knocking.

Wade MacGregor left for college in Texas and remained there to start a successful business with his best friend, Robin Kennedy, but he’s always felt something was missing. Then life throws him a curveball: A third partner has robbed the company blind, and Robin has died—but not before entrusting Wade with a precious secret. Now back in St. Dennis, Wade’s determined to do whatever it takes to protect his friend’s legacy—and to figure out, once and for all, if the sparks that fly whenever he’s with Steffie are just temporary fireworks or the lights in the window leading him home.

Certainly, I enjoyed returning to St. Dennis and all the characters from the previous books. I liked Steffie in her previous appearances, and had been looking forward to getting to know her better.

Part of the problem was that I didn’t feel like I had a deeper understanding of her character by the end of the book. Sure, she was fun to hang out with, and I really enjoyed the look into the working of her ice cream creation process, but I never felt I knew her as more than a good buddy.

Part of the problem is all mine. The base story was a very standard romance plot– girl falls in love with boy, boy moves away. Boy turns into man, girl turns into woman, but somehow something is missing in both of their lives until they meet each other again as adults.

For someone that likes romance novels, I have very little patience with the ideas of love at first sight and that there are matches that are fated to be. On the other hand, these are such staples of the genre that it makes no sense to fault a book for containing them.

Wade (the love interest)did have a creative story, one that I haven’t seen before. It had moments of both predictability and of being over the top in what it asked me to believe, but mostly it was the blend of fun and touching that I would hope for.

As with the other books in the series, the strength is in the characters and their relationships. I particularly like the links between friends that cross generations, and I think the way the books actually let some of the folks older even than me be real people is a very refreshing change of pace.

If you’ve been following the series, go ahead and pick this one up. If you haven’t, I’d suggest starting at the beginning.

TLC Book ToursI read Almost Home as part of a TLC Books Tour.  Thank you to TLC and Random House for providing me a copy for review.

For other opinions on this book, check out the other tour stops:


 
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Posted by on May 19, 2011 in books, reviews, tour

 

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