2012 Book Club books: A Moveable Feast - Mildly enjoyable, made me want to eat food in Paris, Hemingway quite a vicious gossip and possibly unreliable... How to be a Woman - Whoa - I never wanted to taste my menstrual blood, so NOT a universal coming of age experience... In One Person - John Irving has explored these sexual themes before but this time its on steroids! The Innocents - Missed Nation - I enjoyed it. Milder then Discworld, provocative for YA The Lacuna - Yawn - long winded. More about communism then I wanted to know (and mildly... Continue reading

Somewhere along the way life got crazy, and I got a wee bit discouraged writing a blog about books when there were sooo many other blogs about books out there. It was a little like being a drop of water in the Atlantic Ocean. But I have been active on Goodreads lately and inspired to write book reviews again - so I would like to link to my own blog to do it. And what the heck, it doesn't matter if anyone reads me, I am doing it for me. So - Im back in black! Continue reading

The northern hemisphere, at least, is socked in by winter right now… So, on a cold, wintry day, when you want nothing more than to curl up with a good book on the couch … what kind of reading do you want to do? Well it looks like the winter stars have aligned and Weekly Geeks and Booking Through Thursday are on the same page (Literary pun intended!) Here is the link to my Geeks post about winter reading. I will just update that to say I am currently reading A.S. Byatt's Possession. After finishing Martin Chuzzlewit and Cranford I... Continue reading

For this week's Weekly Geeks, share with us the books which call out to you during the cold, wintry months. Are there genres which appeal to you most? Why do you think you are drawn to these types of books during winter? Do you have some book recommendations for other readers who are looking for some escape from the blustery weather? Give us some of your favorites and tell us why you recommend them. As "extra credit" why not share some photos of what the weather looks like outside your home...or where you curl up to read when 'the weather... Continue reading

I always keep an eye out for new ideas on Authors to read. Here are a few items that caught my eye this week: Alistair Maclean - I was reading a technical manual, brushing up on some skills for work this week. I had the TV playing in the background - and I tried to pick a channel that would not distract me. So I put it on AMC - which was playing some sort of war movie(Guns of Navarone). Well - I ended up peeking at it a few times (did I mention technical manuals can be pretty dry?)... Continue reading

Who’s your favorite author that other people are NOT reading? The one you want to evangelize for, the one you would run popularity campaigns for? The author that, so far as you’re concerned, everyone should be reading–but that nobody seems to have heard of. You know, not JK Rowling, not Jane Austen, not Hemingway–everybody’s heard of them. The author that you think should be that famous and can’t understand why they’re not… Hmmm - this is a good question! And I am sure I have a ton that I have felt this way over the years - but this is... Continue reading

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith Rating: D- Genre: Zombie, Satire, Mashup, RegencyQuick Summary: Mashup of Jane Austen's original novel with a strange zombie plague worked into the text. Why I chose this book: I love Jane Austen. I also love zombie comedy. Enjoyed Zombieland, loved Sean of the Dead, The Stupidest Angel (Christmas Zombies). I like good black comedy. So I was excited to read this book, especially after hearing how funny it was from the reviews. And the cover art is just plain awesome. So - I was completely primed for this mashup.... Continue reading

The Seance by John Harwood Rating: A- Genre: Gothic, Thriller, Ghost Story Quick Summary: A young woman, alone in the world in Victorian England, inherits a run down English estate with a mysterious past and a sinister reputation. She must unlock its mysteries. Why I chose this book: I am in my Victorian reading mode for the 'Our Mutual Read' Challenge. I had read another of the authors books - The Ghost Writer - and I had found that many of the short stories embedded in that novel had a distinct Gothic flair. So when I saw that his next... Continue reading

This weekend I went out for dinner on Friday night with friends and woke up Saturday morning with a full blown cold. So - I hunkered down with tissues, junk food, blankets, books, TV remote. So - I have been making quick progress on John Hardwood's 'Seance' - liking it - he does a great job with Victorian spine tinglers. On that note - mesmerism figures strongly in this novel. It also figured into The D. Case, and Speaks the Nightbird. Kind of freaky huh? Granted - my reading has been circling around the Victorian era and it was kind... Continue reading

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens Rating: A+ Genre: Mystery, Victorian, 19th Century Novel Quick Summary: Edwin Drood is a likable youth blessed with a beautiful fiance - who mysteriously disappears and has apparently been murdered - perhaps for that beautiful fiance? This was Charles Dickens last novel. Dickens was one of the most prolific and popular novelists of his time. Dickens former friend and now rival, Wilkie Collins, had just had great success with his own mystery novel 'The Moonstone.' So Dickens decided to turn his hand to mystery. However - we will never know how he... Continue reading

The D. Case: Or the Truth About the Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, Carlo Fruttero, Franco Lucentini Rating: B Genre: Mystery, Victorian Quick Summary: The authors have convened a convention of some of the greatest fictional detectives of all time to see if they can come up with an ending for Dickens' unfinished last novel, the Mystery of Edwin Drood. My dog is named Dickens. This may tell you a little something about my reading habits. I read most of Dickens' novels when I was in high school, and have read and reread many of my beloved favorites... Continue reading

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore Rating : B- Genre: Comic Fiction Quick Summary: A little boy sees a drunk in a Santa costume take a shovel to the head and his wish for Santa to be alive again results in Christmas zombies. Bookclub Verdict: Funny satire, light easy read, overall the group liked it Our group read this book over the holiday season and came together in January to discuss this over cheap Mexican food and margaritas. It turned out almost everyone enjoyed the book, some to their surprise! Most everyone cranked it... Continue reading

The Crimson Petal and The White by Michael Faber Rating : A Genre: Victorian, Historical Fiction Quick Summary: This is the story of a smart, young prostitute in Victorian England who uses her wits and her wiles to rise from brothel to mistress to a very tenuous position of respectability. I am kind of late to the party on this one. This book was much buzzed about a few years ago, was a bestseller and on the list of reading for many book clubs. I have eyed it multiple times in the bookstore, but I was a little mixed on... Continue reading

Do you read the inside flaps that describe a book before or while reading it? I am very much a Flapper! That is one of the things I do love about hardback books - I love to read the inner flap - especially when I am browsing bookstores and have book in hand. It gives you a summary, and points out key bits of information that can hook your interest. I also love to read the back flap and any information provided about the author. Sometimes it is the author information that will intrigue me most! The 'Flap' information is... Continue reading

Sunday Salon is a great blog that aggregates many literary and reading blogs together. They take Sunday just to chit chat and update the blog-verse on what they are reading and what is going on in their lives outside of their book reviews. I have been following it awhile and have meant to join. But I had not quite got my blog rolling yet. So I went and revisited it at the beginning of the year - only to find they had reached their maximum membership they felt they could sustain for now. So - no Sunday Salon for me... Continue reading

What books did you get for Christmas (or whichever holiday you may have celebrated last month)? Do you usually ask for books on gift-giving occasions or do you prefer to buy them yourself? Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves! This Christmas I did not get any books. Usually I do though. I usually send my Dad my Amazon Wish list :) And he generally picks a few books off of there and adds that... Continue reading

The Ghost Writer by John Hardwood hearkens back to the good old Victorian and 'Turn of the Century' ghost stories of Henry James or Edith Wharton. During the course of this novel there will be appearances by mysterious women shrouded in veils, guttering candles, musty old houses, hair standing on end and many other classic examples of the genre. What the novel does brilliantly is that it somehow transplants that ghostly feeling into our modern world. Although the main character exists in the modern world, there is a timeless feeling to his life and story. He could easily be growing... Continue reading

Robin McKinley re-imagines Robin Hood. Mckinley is often known for retelling fairy tales - and she applies that talent to the Sherwood legends. However there is no magic in this. Instead she makes her Robin Hood more of a manager of men. She spends time explaining the Saxon/Norman conflict. Robin is written as an every man in this novel. He is not particularly brave or talented or swashbuckling. But he is a good and responsible leader of people. We are also introduced to Marian - who is painted as having some of the many traits we expect Robin to have.... Continue reading

This novel is written by Robert McCammon who is known for his horror novels. One of my favorites is Boys Life - which has a great coming of age story with a good dose of Stephen King horror. However - Speaks the Nightbird is Historical Fiction - written in Charleston in a time period not far removed from the Salem Witch trials. We follow a Witch on trial. Our main character, Matthew is a young law clerk who questions whether the accused is truly a witch. He goes about proving her innocence. During the course of his investigation he manages... Continue reading

This was an interesting book, very different in many ways from my normal reading experience. Although it is a translation I found the prose to be excellent and challenging - and at times difficult. It painted a white, wintery, icy atmosphere that made it a perfect winter read. I felt the need to sit in front of a warm fire while reading this book and its explanations of the different varieties of glaciers. The main character Smilla is part Danish and part native Greenlander, or Intuit. Her Eskimo childhood and blood have given her an instinctive ability to read snowy... Continue reading

“Life is too short to read bad books.” I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense of obligation. That is, until this week when I tried (really tried) to read a book that is utterly boring and unrealistic. I had to stop reading. Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books? I generally read everything all the way through. There are very few books that are so bad that I can... Continue reading

I find that each book I read leads me to the next one. I go through literary phases. If I a read and enjoy chick lit then I will go on a run of those titles. If I read a scary novel I will go on a run of eerie novels. If I read a memoir I may go on a run of nonfiction. So - after having finished Winter's Tales by Isak Dineson - I felt the need for something else that would be challenging. Something snowy. Something with a whiff of that gothic feel. I have settled on... Continue reading

Most people know of Isak Dineson because of Out of Africa. More specifically from the movie Out of Africa..But she spent most of her literary career perfecting her short stories. I read my first Dineson short story with my book club - as part of collection of short stories by women authors that we were trying out. I was completely mesmerized. The story was 'The Old Chevalier' from 'Seven Gothic Tales.' The story was set in an earlier century. Her writing style very much in the tone of the novels from the Victorian period. Atmospheric, romantic, unsettling. The overwhelming sensation... Continue reading