continuing on .... i thought perhaps i wouldn't keep adding reviews to my challenge thread since i've already completed my challenge for the year, but hmm... i'm still continuing to read so let's see where I end up at the end of the year in terms of new books read and reviewed by me this year. :-)

Message edited by its author, Sep 25, 2009, 11:23pm.

Hello. I followed you to this new thread and anxiously await learning of your next reads.

Stain of the Berry by Anthony Bidulka is the 4th in the Russell Quant, gay detective extraordinaire series.

A group of singers, calling themselves the Pink Gophers, are being harassed and frightened by a bogeyman who leaves, as his calling card, one simple word 'BOO' on various mediums, in spots to be found by his increasingly frantic victims. There are knocks on their doors, but nobody appears to be there, calls followed by silence on the other end and damage to property. Russell is called to investigate the apparent suicide of one of the women, and his search for clues and answers lead him to uncover more mysterious deaths and attacks on other members of the group who have scattered across Saskatchewan.

While not my favorite thus far of the Russell Quant series, I did like the unraveling of the mystery of Sereena Orion Smith, and I was touchingly pleased that Russell got to be with his beloved Uncle Lawrence again, albeit for a brief and secretive visit.

There is a disturbing violent rape scene in the book, which, although not graphic, left an uncomfortable pit in my stomach. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone without a strong constitution, although I don't think this detracted from the overall tone of the book, which still carries waves of joy, fun, wonder, excitement and love.

And I've learned a new drinking game - Tequila Pigs!

*waves* to Linda .. hello, you found me

I found you too, Caroline!

I read the first book in the Russell Quant series, but have not managed to get my hands on any of the others. I will have to start tracking them down. Thanks for the reminder.

Hello! Got ya, starred ya, all is good. :-)

Making sure I don't lose you

Well, I'm glad you decided to keep going! I love the reviews this group puts together.

aha! here you are.....

hello y'all ....thanks for keeping me company here. i appreciate your taking time out of your day to come in for a little chat

I've just finished a wonderful book: Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner which I highly recommend.

An American woman in Tokyo during the time when America is involved in Vietnam, teaches English to students at the Kodaira College and finds that her friend has bequeathed a chest of plum wine to her following her death. As she opens the drawers, she finds each bottle tagged with the year, but also wrapped in paper which she discovers to contain Japanese calligraphy which she is unable to read.

She meets a potter who knew her friend, Michi Nakamoto, well and decides to ask him to translate the writings. Therein she soon discovers more than she had expected. She is drawn into the shadowy world of the Hiroshima survivors and the tragic consequences the atom bomb had on human lives on that fateful day. These survivors are considered ill-fated and some of them choose not to disclose the fact that they are from Hiroshima for fear of being shunned by other members of society.

The letters take her back to stories about Michi's grandmother Ko, Michi's mother and Michi's daughter. There is a surprising twist to the family history, and perhaps a quest that requires a friend to close. The stories are delicately told and offer such a depth of expression and feeling that one cannot help but be drawn into the human drama that unfolded in that year.

There are many wonderful expressions in this book, and none more poignant than the potter describing how, as a 12 year old who survived the bomb, he looked at shadow prints (pieces of ground cut out around shadowy figures) to try identify if his sister and father had cast these 'shadows' if they had been incinerated in the blast.

A forbidden love affair develops between the teacher and the secretive potter. I'm not going to hand out a spoiler as to the outcome of this love affair, but the ending was very touching.

The teacher, through the letters and through her interactions with one of her students, evolves gradually and finds she can no longer hide behind an apathy towards both the bombing of Hiroshima and America's involvement in the Vietnam war.

This is a wonderfully quiet book... quiet because the author has managed to capture the essence of the Japanese and their social dictates. The details of life in Japan in the 70s is particularly resonant.

Nice review of Plum Wine, I've added it to the wishlist

ditto drat it

Caroline- Good job on the review! It sounds very good!

jayde1599, Kath & Mark, thank you ... i think you'll enjoy Plum Wine when you read it. Given my experience with Japan, I thought the author really gave a really excellent description of Japanese culture and social strictures. And it was a really interesting story as well.

That sounds like a fascinating book. Thanks for the recommendation!

Caroline...

You have a hot review listed on today's home page, for your excellent comments regarding Plum wine.

Congratulations!

cameling...? Do I know you...? *grin*

Thank you, Linda.

richard - have you added Plum Wine yet to your wishlist? ;-)

NO! NO!! NNNOOO!!!

I refuse!!!

love your review of Plum Wine....but, Caroline, you are so far ahead of me, here.....i'll note the title on my ever-extending list..just keep me as a friend, please..i am reading so slow lately.........J

richard .. succumb, succumb..... you will succumb.... because if you don't, I'll come over and spread cat hairs all over your yard. *evil chuckle*

Jude : I usually have more time to read when I'm traveling for work, but once I'm home my reading slows to a crawl. Anyway, it's not a race and we all read at a pace that's comfortable to us. Of course, if you were Stasia .. that pace is only slightly slower than lightning speed. It's having the opportunity to read and enjoy what you're reading that's important.

*eep*realizes cameling knows where he lives*

Added! Added! No need to exercise the feline option!

succumb..... well I did. I ordered a used copy from Amazon...just read it rd, you know you want to :)

Kath ... I succumbed and started building a new farm in Farmville ..... aarrrggghhhh.... it was the pigs and chicken that did me in! I could not keep away from them!

Finally wrestling myself away from it - generally because I had no more money to expand my farm, I settled down and finished reading Beat by Amy Boaz, an ARC I started yesterday.

A woman, Frances, travels around Paris with her 7 year old daughter, leaving her husband and infant son behind. Her lover, Joseph, is being held for questioning over the disappearance of a woman he had been living with.

As they move from hotel to hotel in Paris, Frances thinks back to the first time she met Joseph, the man she knew she would have an affair with, and their affair of over 2 years.

Written in the first person, this reads more like a memoir of an unhappy and angry woman, and a woman obsessed with a man she realizes is not as obsessed over her as she would like him to be, a man who she discovers later, to be a womanizer.

There are too many unanswered questions in this story to make it a satisfying read. Why exactly is a man following Frances in Paris, what does she really know about the woman's disappearance, why does she really continue to stay away, and what is to be done about Harry ... to name but a few that surface as one gets to the end of the book.

I give this a 2 star and if not for the fact that I wanted to write a review on the book since it's an ARC, I would have given it up after 100 pages. There was very little in it to hold my constantly diverted attention.

Big wave to Caroline! Sorry Beat didn't work out. You hung in there though! I'm deeply immersed in The Likeness. She is such a good writer!

*waves back* to Mark. You know, I'm sure there will be folks out there who will enjoy Beat but I've never been able to get into books where the central character (and this one writes in the first person which makes it worse because it seems to take away some of the fictitious feel to it and makes it feel more like a memoir) is really a weak, self-centered person who's obsessed with a selfish individual who knows how to tweak those emotional strings.

Caroline
Here's hoping your next book is a good one!

I am adding myself to those adding Plum Wine to the various TBR stacks, piles, and mountains *sigh*

Hey Caroline! Look me up on FB if you're a Farmville woman, and I'll add you as a neighbour! Ellie Potten, dead easy to find because it's a weird surname... :-)

sadly cameling-less in farm TOWN

still waiting the arrival of Plum Wine

Eleanor, i've sent you a friend request on fb, then we can be neighbors.

Kath - come over to farm VILLE too. You can manage 2 farms. ;-)

Done and done. And how beautiful are you! You get so used to 'seeing' a tag on LT that you don't always think about it like you do on FB, but it's nice to be able to put faces to names and names to tags, if you see what I mean... :-D

Aww, thank you for the compliment, Ellie ... it's one of the few photos I have where I don't look like a camel. But I know what you mean... it is nice to be able to put faces to names and tags, especially for me because unless I have a face to put to a name/tag, I have a very very hard time remembering someone's name against their tag.

come to think of it, I'm also sometimes bad about remembering someone's name even when I've put their face to it. I called someone Fred for 2 years before he finally told me that his name was really Chris! I asked him why he never corrected me in all those 2 years, and he said he thought it was my cute nickname for him, until someone told him that I really did believe that Fred was his real name. oops.. *sigh*

Started and finished Deadly Charm by Claudia Mair Burney today. This is her 3rd book in the Amanda Bell Brown series but I've not yet read the first 2. I didn't feel as if I missed anything though by not having read them before this one. It's an ARC so I didn't know what to expect from this book...and the jacket cover didn't prepare me for what lay within.

A child dies in a bathroom accident ...but was it an accident or is there something more sinister leading to his untimely death?

The murder mystery itself unravels neatly but what's really at the forefront of this book is the insecurity children of alcoholic parents live with even as they reach the biological age of adulthood. They don't feel they deserve to be loved and yet they crave love and acceptance. The fortunate will find friends who can offer them safe haven when they are in need. They may not recognize kindred needy souls when they meet them because they are unable to admit to their own needy self.

Our sleuthing heroine, Amanda Bell Brown, is also devoutly religious and speaks with God on a regular basis, and at times, He's nice enough to speak with her in a small voice. She's convinced that the child's death was no accidental and starts to investigate. She's partnered with her husband, a suspended homicide detective, who has succumbed to alcoholism, and this book is as much about their relationship, the hurt, the anger, the mistrust, faith and the love, as it is about murder.

Lots of prayer and Bible references abound in this book, which made me feel a little guilty when I didn't recognize some of the stories quoted, reminding me that I haven't been to church in quite a while.

This book was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster and challenged what I thought I knew of adult children. I'm glad I read it and despite my feeling rather emotionally wrung out towards the end, I did enjoy it.

Reviewer thumbs up from me, O Lady Who Definitely Does NOT Look Like A Camel... Deary me. :-D

I didn't like Deadly Charms at all! See my review, if you like. http://www.librarything.com/work/7993657...

I'm enjoying seeing people here on Facebook. Linking names and faces is a lot of fun.

Ellie you sweetie...

cal8769: I can see why some people not like Deadly Charms and when I started reading it, I wasn't too keen on it either, but by the time I got halfway through, I wanted to know who killed little Zeekie, and also I was somewhat fascinated with the psychological analysis of adult children of alcoholic parents.

The rather heavy religious slant to this didn't bother me too much, although sometimes I did think it a little gratuitous, but then again I also know some people who do communicate on a regular basis with their chosen divine power ... sometimes when trying to find parking spots. ;-)

Howdy! Skipping both books recently reviewed with grateful thanks for the warnings issued, advertent and inadvertent.

Smooching your camel-like self

;->

Hey Caroline...

i love all this Farm Town/Farmville chat...i am on Facebook, too (two?),....because i live on 65 acres and need help always....on FB i do the MafiaWars bit...stick-up jobs and waste people...beats hell out of my "alternative" here...too many Jesus Freaks..and no body READS!!...eek!....but i have LT for my Brainy Buds...right?

#41: Look me up on FB, jdthloue. I play Mafia Wars, too.

see, this is why i gave up my farm the first time .... it was taking up way too much of my time. It's so terribly addictive!! arrggghh.... but how can you not want to spend time with those cute animals .. and you have to remember to go harvest your fruits and vegetables or they'll wilt on you. So terribly addictive!

i just know my farm's going to suffer this long weekend because we have friends visiting who want to do the whole leaf peeping thing and we may drive down to Providence, RI as well for the last WaterFire Festival of the year.

#41...I laughed right out loud at your comments regarding too many Jesus Freaks and that fact that no body reads...

My daughter lives in Beavercreek, Ohio. I sense that is also a conservative area. When I'm making the long trek from Bethlehem, PA to there (12 hours), the closer I get to Ohio, the more Christian radio stations I hear.

All in all though, it is a good area for her to raise three children.

I finally got to Joker One by Donovan Campbell, an ARC that I received late last year. I had put off reading this because it was about a Marine's account of his mission in Iraq and I thought it might be depressing. Boy was I wrong!

Joker One is a very interesting account of a platoon of Marines who had little time to train before they were shipped out to Ramadi and Donovan's memoir brings to light the day-to-day operations of a Marine platoon from how squads are formed to saving lives in hostile territory.

Following the platoon through their training, the intense tension that followed their mission in Iraq, the few glimpses of humor and relaxation and of course the horror and grief that followed deaths of some of the squad brought home the sacrifices these men make in serving their country. As you follow them along their journey, you live their fears, their stress, their anger, their courage, their grief, their thrills and the deep emotional bond that makes them an effective platoon.

The details can sometimes be a little overwhelming but they do give a different and I think stronger perspective of what the Marines had to go through compared to what's covered by the news stations.

Definitely recommended.

Caroline- Very nice review! I've had my eye on this book for sometime. A friend is supposed to lend it to me one of these days. Hope you have a nice weekend!

Thanks, Mark. I had a hard time with this review ... there wasn't much I could say without coming up with spoilers. Let me know if your friend 'loses' the copy he's supposed to lend you .. I'd be glad to send my copy to you. Just PM me

Caroline
Joker One sounds like a very powerful book. I agree with Mark, your review is very good.

Thanks Linda. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did or be as absorbed either.

Caroline- Thanks for your kind offer. You are sweet. I'll send you a message.

Great review - sounds like a brilliant book. You know, since I've just taken a few things off my wishlist (by buying them, but that's not the point), it wouldn't hurt to add another book, right?!

No Ellie, on the contrary, you have a responsibility to ensure that your wishlist doesn't get too depleted, otherwise you'll have no excuse to visit bookstores and libraries.

I am adding Joker One to Planet TBR. My local library just ordered it, so it may be a while before I get my hands on it though.

Eight short stories, each dealing with men and women in search of happiness.

Eight interesting and different stories.

Eight stories, that, although dealing with the concept of happiness, don't all have happy endings, but all end in the only way that's appropriate for their particular story.

A wealthy woman who, having reinvented herself, comes across an old friend from the past.

An author, receiving a hostile review of his latest book, receives a fan's letter.

A woman who is discontented with life, marries a man who sees nothing but joy in life, and upon his death discovers an excitement in the preparation for an activity.

An aging actor returns to a town where he had a mesmerizing evening with a mystery woman, seeking to find her.

A group of female prisoners in the Gulag find a way to leave some interesting messages for their children.

A man leaves his mistress, and in dire straits, she gives away the last gift he gave her.

A woman calls the police because of a persistent intruder.

A woman gets a new haircut which her husband finds attractive, and discovers a hidden secret.

Delightful, thoughtful and provoking. The book? The Most Beautiful Book in the World by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt.

What an intriguing review. I'm adding The Most Beautiful Book in the World.

Linda! What are you doing up at this hour with the fairies and the goblins? It's a school day, little missie!

Caro...you are Satanne tonight. Both books are must-haves.

Richard
I was about to ask you the same. Alas, a migrane headache keeps me wide awake..until the meds kick in.

And, what keeps you awake?

I am adding The Most Beautiful Book in the World to Planet TBR as well. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Caroline.

Richard : It is Halloween month after all, and what's the point of dressing up as a devilish miss this year if I can't behave like one once in a while.

Stasia : You'll probably read it in a half hour. ;-)

I'm unable to locate The Most Beautiful Book in the World. None of my local libraries have this book. I'm going to search Amazon.

#59: I have to find a copy first! I have the same trouble Linda does - no local library has it.

tsk tsk ... i hope you both requested your respective libraries order a couple of copies. Having said that, I found my copy at the Harvard Coop .. I just love that bookstore. My copy is currently loaned out to a friend. If you'd like to sign up for a loan after he's done with it, I'd be happy to mail it out to you ... if you promise to mail it back to me when you're done. This book is a keeper for me, and something I definitely want to re-read

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson.

This is not a book you can read casually. This is a book that requires a bit of concentration because of the interlocking stories. However, it is these very interlocking stories which capture your attention. It is the complexities in the different relationships between couples, families and then strangers that keep you engaged throughout the book.

This reads like a superbly directed fast-moving movie, you see the scenes in your mind, you feel the thrill of the chase, the twists in the plots and you feel the confusion in Martin, an author of cosy detective stories, as he is unwittingly dragged into a web of intrigue and murder.

Police detectives, ex-policemen, a suspicious agency of cleaners, a self-centered actress, an intrepid writer, a comedian wearing an unfortunate accessory, henchmen,the Russian mob and a couple of dead bodies are all thrown into the swirling cauldron. It had all the potential for a murky mess, but instead this is a very well constructed and captivating read.

Sounds good! By some strange mystical law of books (we all know it) I have about four Atkinsons but haven't read any of them... soon, soon!

Caroline- Nice review on One Good Turn. Now, we have to encourage each other to start the next one. I have it too!
Ellie- You need to pick up Case Histories! Amazing stuff!

Thank you Ellie and Mark.

Case Histories is a good book too. She does these interlocking stories of random fate really well. I have When Will There Be Good News on my TBR pile downstairs.

Magic Street by Orson Scott Card gripped me from the start.

When a book starts off with an old homeless man who is brought home by an English professor, who helps deliver a baby boy from the professor's wife who, an hour or so ago, wasn't pregnant, and then takes the baby away in a grocery bag, you know you've got a unique read in front of you.

Set in a middle class black neighborhood, the baby boy reappears as a foundling and is adopted by a single nurse, and looked after by a neighbor's son.

The boy is named Mack Street, and he starts to realize that he can see what people wish for in his dreams. They may get what they wish for, but not in the way they expect. He has his own recurring dream which he does not enjoy and cannot interpret.

When he's 13, Mack realizes that he's special in another different way ... he finds a house that leads him to Fairyland, and meets a man in the house whom he dubs Mr Christmas. But all is not as they appear, and before long, we are introduced to an interesting take on Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, where the stakes are raised to fighting for good against evil.

Who is Mack, exactly? The answer is as surprising as the many turn of events in this book. If you pick this up, be prepared to be settle down for a spell.

Caroline- You earned a Hot Review for One Good Turn. Good job! You go girl!

Wow...I go away for a few days and look what happens. Caroline gets a hot review! Cool beans, lady!

Magic Street sounds like a fascinating book.

I loved the Alvin series by Orson Scott Card.. but haven't found anything else compelling enough to pick up.. apparently you liked this one?
stars? how many?

Oh and confetti on you for your hot review :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Linda : It certainly held my attention and whooshed me away to Baldwin Hills where everything took place.

Kath, I loved the Alvin series too. This isn't as good as the Alvin series, but still good. I gave it 3 and a half stars in my review, but as i've thought about it more, I think I'm moving it to a 4 stars because I'm still thinking of the story.

I have Atkinson's Case Histories but still have not read it yet, and now you tell me there is another of hers for which I need to look? Totally unfair, that is.

Congratulations on the hot review! Here is the confetti Kath mentioned . . .

Hmmmm, Magic Street sounds intriguing!

Woe is me ... I've just read The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie. This was a tedious book. I think the author tried to style this along the lines of a 'Da Vinci Code' historical religious thriller but missed the mark by a thousand miles.

Surrounding the history of Elizabethan spy, astrologer and mathematician, John Dee and the books he wrote and buried, a modern day family find themselves in the middle of a growing and dangerous puzzle when one of their members dies after a motorcycle accident, leaving a few seemingly cryptic clues behind for his brother and best friend to follow up on.

A woman receives a heart transplant and begins to smell roses, crave meat when she used to be a vegetarian, and has vivid dreams of Elizabethan figures. Surprise, surprise, she has received the heart of the brother of her doctor and her donated heart seems to have come with its own cellular memory, allowing her to feel and maybe think like the previous owner of the heart.

The interactions between the people in this book are choppy and completely unbelievable. The author throws couples together without any credible relationship development and there is no chemistry between all the couples she forms.

Oh and along the way, there is a hint of unsavory characters following the family, and attempting to scare them into delivering hidden historical papers and keys to them. There wasn't enough tension between the shadowy organization and our intrepid heroes to build even a little suspense.

Too many leaps were made in solving bits of the puzzle and there weren't enough explanations as to how they came to their conclusions.

The book was as discombobulated as this choppy review!

Message edited by its author, Oct 19, 2009, 11:11pm.

Thanks for the confetti, Stasia. And since you're going to reading Case Studies, well why not make it a pair and read One Good Turn as well? You can shake them out, I'm sure in a single day since you choose to sleep for only an hour a day. ;-)

>flissp - if you like quirky fantastical books, you should enjoy this. Me? I'm just a quirky kinda person and Magic Street reminded me a little of Alice in Wonderland

The Rose Labyrinth sounds horrible, especially the part about the heart transplant.

#76 definitely on the wishlist then!

Caroline- It looks like we can take a pass on The Rose Labyrinth. Thank you!

Well, I am sorry you had to read The Rose Labyrinth, Caroline, and sincerely hope your next read is better!

I feel a little guilty now because someone asked me to send my copy of The Rose Labyrinth to him, despite my poor rating and review, and I sent it. Should I have donated it to the Halloween bonfire instead? I'm just baffled why someone would request the book if they've read my poor review of it?

I'm reading The Teardrop Story Woman by Catherine Lim now ... I don't want to jinx my read, but it seems to be better than Rose Labyrinth.

oh god, i post notes here..and never check for replies (sorry Caroline....for monopolizing your thread) but(t)...>42 Stasia..i gave up on Mafia Wars (FB)...pity, that...but i wasn't there for a few days and nearly got wiped out...
>44 Whisper1..my boyfriend here in town is originally from Beavercreek...irony abounds!..and i went to Antioch College in Yellow Springs...irony abounds even more...

....okay Caroline..you can have your thread back....

;-) J

haha.. feel free to stop in and take over my thread any time, Jude ... glad you visited... come back again soon.

The Teardrop Story Woman by Catherine Lim. This story takes place during the Japanese occupation of Malaya in the 1940s and then during the British occupation after WW2. The author has an interesting and very distinct voice.

The story centers around the life of Mei Kwei, beautiful but born with a teardrop shaped mole under her eye, which the superstitious Luping villagers including her father, believe is an omen for bad luck.

Her loutish brother abuses her as much as he loves and protects her, her father will not love her because she is not a boy and her mother sees her only as another burden in her life. The only person who has a soft spot for her is her grandmother, who filled her days with stories of her past glories.

Craving love and softness, she is accepts being courted by an old rich man while dating a young handsome son of a restaurant owner. Does she really love one or the other, or is she using them to save her family from falling further in debt? To complicate matters, foreigners roam their village, from the British governor and police seeking to rid Malaya of the communists who are hiding in the jungles, to missionary nuns and priests seeking to convert the peasants away from their pagan gods and goddesses.

When Mei Kwei falls in love with the French priest and he with her, their love has to be hidden because she's engaged and he's promised himself to God. Their love is thwarted as they both face the reality of their positions in life ... or is it? Can Mei Kwei make a new life for herself after a disaster occurs after she's married?

At times, the author appears to fill the story with unnecessary characters who flit in and out without making any noticeable impact on the story. Perhaps they were there to further convince the reader of the innate kindness of Mei Kwei, the coarseness of her brother, or the goodness of the priest, in the event that the reader had been reading mindless up until those points.

The local patois sprinkled here and there would have been appreciated more if some translation was provided.

I'm on the fence with this one.

As always at this time of year, I am in the mood for slightly haunting reads...
For the last little while I seem to have been avoiding "sad" books....

and this last sounds sad :(

It is a little sad, it is a little haunting and it's a little strange at times. I have read other books by this author and she's always a little quirky, and finds interesting angles for her stories. This is not one of her better ones in my opinion.

Promises in Death by J.D. Robb delivers on the promise of yet another great futuristic homicide investigation. This has got to be one of the few .. maybe the only Eve Dallas stories where our stalwart Lieutenant is not involved in a blood spilling fight at least once in the story. The only blood spilt is from a car accident she was in, and even that was a minor cut above her eye.

But the grit and determination to find the killer is still there, and is ramped up a level because the victim is a fellow cop, and the girlfriend of their chief medical examiner.

Regardless of the reduced violence in this book, the process by which the killer's identity is unraveled as well as the complex string-pulling of the evil mind behind the murders is still fascinating, and one of the traits of JD Robb's 'In Death' series.

Yet another good gripping read in the series.

The Lim is already on my wishlist; the Robb won't be because I just can't hack the "In Death" books; and I thought The Rose Labyrinth was super-peachy-keeno-cool!

Okay that's a lie, but I had to make sure you were paying attention to me.

My NaNoWriMo novel is...:
Synopsis: Death in Blue and White
What should a widowed gay man do about his stepson's stepfather's murder? Especially since it's the young man's mother who looks likely to be the killer?

Gloat?
Laugh unpleasantly?
Roll up his sleeves and find the real killer?
All of the above?

I know what my guy's gonna do, but I don't know what he's gonna find out yet....

how could I not pay attention to you, rdear? You shine like a beacon in a moonless night, the timber of your voice cuts through the fog, and your words gleam with the incandescence of a polished diamond. Plus, you always make me chortle and snort most indecorously.

a man's stepson's stepfather? Wouldn't that make it the man in question himself that is murdered? Is this a story about a ghost returning to wreck vengeance upon his murderer? Or am I missing a link in a more complex family unit?

Thanks to a broken vacuum cleaner and a rainy day, I had the perfect excuse to stay home, feet up on the couch and read while I peeked at college football on the tv.

The Other Mr Darcy by Monica Fairview was a wonderful couch companion.

Caroline Bingley, insufferable sister of Charles Bingley, is hysterically crying after the wedding of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet for she had expected to marry the man himself. Unfortunately, she had not thought to first check that the library was empty before she threw herself in there to give vent to her emotions. Enter stage left, Mr Robert Darcy, American cousin to the groom. Needless to say she's embarrassed that he witnessed her storm of emotions, and leaves.

This is an interesting continuation of the families anyone who loved 'Pride and Prejudice' will have come to know well. The Bingleys, Darcys and Bennets are all brought together following a family illness. A scandal, another scandal and yet more potential scandals dog the heels of our favorite families and we are thrown once again into the funny chaos of their lives. We shudder with giggles once more at the inappropriate behavior of Lydia and Mrs Bennet, we celebrate the irrepressible mischief of Lizzy, and we are introduced to an American, stuck in England because of the war between England and France, who flouts the strictures of English society, and we witness the gradual thawing of Caroline Bingley.

A fun book, which, although falling short of Jane Austen's elegant style and voice, which I expected, does not fail to entertain and delight.

>89 Think a minute...GAY widower...I'll wait over here....

>90 There seems to be quite an industry in "completing" or "accompanying" La Jane. Dozens and dozens of books, including an entire series of mysteries (I bought them on audiotape at the liberry book sale) featuring Jane as a sleuthess.

Since I don't love La Jane, I can see the appeal to publishers but not really to fans. I mean, I've heard of and read fanfic before, but this volume of material is approaching silliness! Still and all, your review makes it sound tempting....

Rdear... I think you too, should read The Haunting of Cambria
entertaining in the extreme... love the guy... hilarious after the almost dead part...
cool spookiness and a hottie or two if your taste runs that way. Mine? A little different, but still .

It is slow going for me only only because I have so much going on and also.. I did mention complicated. I spent some time there with...someone very special and it was the best of times it was the .. etc

anyway
gotta go sell some fish and get back to my book.. and my coughing.

#91: I agree with you about all of the 'Jane' books proliferating. I will stick with the originals, thank you very much, and leave the others to others.

I agree with y'all that there are too many Jane fanfics out there, and some are just too ridiculous for me to pick up, such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and while I've enjoyed the Carrie Bebris twist on the original Jane titles, and turning our stalwart Darcy couple into a pair of amateur sleuths ...the stories would still be entertaining and she could have named her pair Jack and Jane, but I suspect her titles and choosing the Darcys as her sleuthing pair caused her books to pop off the shelves more often thanks to the millions of Jane fans out there.

I do think that you have to really love Jane Austen's P&P in order to enjoy even a smidgeon of this book. I liked it as a rainy afternoon read, but it's not something I'll be keeping for a re-read.

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton, is part of a fantasy series from her that does not have anything to do with vampires or werewolves.

Book 7 in the series of Meredith Gentry, a Princess of the Unseelie Court in faerie, who works as a private detective in LA ...when she's not fighting off attempts on her life by her evil and mad cousin, Cel, staying out of range of her uncle Taranis, King of the Seelie Court, or not doing anything to anger her vindictive aunt Andais, Queen of the Unseelie Court.

Meredith is pregnant with twins, and the fathers of those twins will be her Kings if she ascends the throne that the Queen will vacate once she has her children. However, it is because she's with child that the attempts on her life from those loyal to Cel, increase, to ensure she does not take the throne from him.

Perhaps it is because she is a half-breed, part human, part faerie, that she manages to call the old power, communicates with the Goddess, and appears to be the instrument by which faerie starts to return to its previous glories. Protected and surrounded by her bodyguards, all of whom are male, some having left the painful services of the Queen, some goblins, the King of the underworld and an old friend, she finds her strength tested as she tries to race against time and magic to vindicate the death of her brownie grandmother, and save her loved ones from death.

You do need to have read the other 6 in the series in order to understand the continuing saga in this one.

Message edited by its author, Oct 25, 2009, 11:42am.

Hey Caroline- Nice review! It sounds interesting. Do you highly recommend the series? I have to be very picky these days, due to a book onslaught!

If you like dark fantasy books with ghouls, nightmarish creatures, beautiful faeries, goblins, blood, some violence, some sex (sometimes suggesting consensual violence), you may like this series. It's not a typical fantasy series where there's a quest, but there is a struggle to fight for the throne. I'd class this series as one to read during tv commercials.

It took me a little longer because the history was so fascinating, but I've just completed an ARC, The Artist, The Philosopher and the Warrior by Paul Strathern.

Leonardo da Vinci is world reknown as an inventor and artist. Niccolo Machiavelli, a strategist and philosopher. Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI, built a reputation for himself as a brilliant military strategist and commander.

One would think these 3 individuals had nothing in command, but what this book describes is an intriguing relationship between the 3, after Borgia took Romagna in Italy. Machiavelli was sent as an envoy from Florence to observe Borgia but not to concede to any sort of an alliance with him. During this time, Borgia met with with Leonardo, and impressed with his innovative engineering ideas, engaged the inventor to design military weapons that could be easily used to defend as well as to attack.

If you've read any history of these 3 individuals on their own, some of the information in this book will be familiar. But what makes this an interesting book is the angle with which the author has tied in not just the beginnings of each of them as an individual, but also the intersection of their lives, and how they were each affected by the other.

The author does a good job of bringing history alive.

Hey Caroline- Sounds fascinating! Good job!

I agree! It does sound fascinating. I will be sure and look for that one. Thanks, Caroline.

Thanks, Mark.

Stasia : wow .. I'm adding to your TBR list? haha.. payback is sweet

Sounds good! Onto the wishlist it flies...

I was late for work today because I HAD to finish The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato.

This is a delicate story about Leonora Manin, who seeks to build a new life and find herself in Venice, the city of her birth, and if possible to gain employment as a glassblower, following in the footsteps of her forebear, Corradino Manin.

But her talent notwithstanding, the mention of her ancestry results in her being ostracized by the maestros in the glassblowing foundry to which she was hired. As her mentor, and employer seeks to turn around the fortunes of his foundry by marketing the Manin name, a reporter uncovers an ugly accusation against Corradino Manin, and demonizes him as a traitor.

With the help of a Venetian detective and a University professor friend of her mother's, Leonora seeks to find out the truth around the man she had come to feel close to, in this watery city.

Alternating between the present and the past, the voices of Corradino and Leonora intersect, and leave us with a story as pretty and fragile as the Murano glass that is centered around them.

Right, so if you could just read a book that's a bit rubbish next that would be fine, k? ;-)

Now I actually have a little bit of disposable income your thread is becoming quite dangerous of late!

I have The Glassblower of Murano sitting here; I picked it up after seeing it on an ARC list completely on a whim. I'm glad to hear it's worth a try.

Hmm.... so I shouldn't post a review of The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani, then, Ellie? Sorry, but this isn't a bit of a rubbishy read at all. In fact, it is a good I really enjoyed.

A woman and her daughter are made homeless in Persia following the death of their husband/father. An uncle welcomes them to live with his family, and they pay for their keep by doing the housekeeping and cooking. There's a bit of the Cinderella element in this because his wife treats them as servants, and they are not allowed to eat in the main house with the family, but in the kitchen with the other servants. The uncle, like all men, just wants a peaceful house, so he goes along with his wife's dictates.

The daughter is fascinated by her uncle's carpet weaving business and starts to accompany him to work, to watch him as he designs carpets for commission, and then picks colors for his weavers to turn his designs into luxurious carpets that he sells.

As she gets older, her uncle notices that she has an eye for color and design, and allows her to design her own carpet, and to weave it. He becomes her mentor, much to the anger of his wife, who feels he is favoring her above his own daughters.

She eventually starts her own carpet business, hiring women who have to fend for themselves, or who are being abused by their husbands at home.

There's actually alot more that comes between her life with her uncle's family and her setting up her own business, but to include them in the review would be a huge spoiler, so I am desisting.

This is a great story about a woman who ignores societal dictates and builds a life for herself and helps others in the process. It's so rich with detail you can almost smell the spiced air, feel the rough looms, and see the carpets come to life.

That sounds quite charming

#103: I already have that one in the BlackHole, so you cannot add to it again!

#106: Ditto that one. Hah! Dodged 2 bullets on your thread.

Alas, I caught them full on... Damn you, Caroline! I have so many post-it notes full of recommendations stuck in the back of my book, and now YOU'VE ADDED ANOTHER ONE! *sigh* ;-)

Luxx : It's definitely a book I would recommend.

Stasia : I think my challenge for 2010 shouldn't be number of books read, but how many books I can add to your BlackHole! I think that would be a challenge worthy of a Key to the City

Ellie : But, but, but .... I just KNOW you'll really like them! ;-)

I've had Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason on my TBR for a long time and finally it made the roatation for a read.

One of the few crime thrillers where the uncovering of leads and evidence is slow and at times frustrating,where the clues don't just fall conveniently into the lap of a suave police inspector.

Set in Iceland, an old man is found dead in his home by his neighbors, with his head bashed in, apparently by a heavy ashtray. A hand-written message is found on his body, but it is so odd that nobody can understand it.

Inspector Erlendur leads the homicide investigation, and is a man determined to find the truth, even if it makes him unpopular with his superiors. His investigations takes him to seemingly unrelated individuals, uncovering even more disturbing and at times confusing past events. Could there have been errors made by a retired policeman? And who is the mysterious Marion Briem who looks to be involved in some way, but at the same time, has been providing some helpful tips to Erlendur? And what has the death of a little girl from a brain tumor have anything to do with the old man?

If all these different tangents weren't distracting enough, a woman goes missing on the night of her wedding, and Inspector Erlendur is asked to find her as a favor.

However, as tenacious and confident as he is professionally, Erlendur is unsure of himself when it comes to dealing with his daughter, a drug addict who's just found out that she's also pregnant. They both seem to want to reach out to the other, but their relationship is so fragile because of his long absence from her life after he divorced his ex-wife. She wants a safe haven with him, but at the same time, wants him to stay out of her life and not question her. He wants her to quit her drug habit, lectures her about her lifestyle and tells her that he's out of it, but when she's missing for a few days, he pays off one of her marks, finds her in a flophouse and brings her back home.

The only bit that I thought was unnecessary distraction was Erlendur having to try and find the missing bride. The manner in which she was not only found (very quickly with not much effort on his part), but the aftermath of her being found was pretty tepid. The story wasn't made any richer for this tangent, but neither did it take anything away from the attention to the leading story.

I'm definitely going to look for others in the series.

Hi Caroline- Great review on Jar City! I've had this book on my radar for awhile. It's time to track this baby down! Hope you are having a good weekend!

#110: But I do not have the Key to any City!!

Lalala, you can't catch me! *flits through determinedly averting eyes from new review...*

Hi Mark : Thanks. Since we pushed the clocks back an hour, I got an extra hour of sleep today which felt so decadent. And if the Yankees win tonight, it will indeed be a good weekend. ;-)

Hi Stasia : The Queen of the Book Universe requires no mere piddly Key to the City when she owns the Toll Booth at the entrance of her Literary Highway.

Hi Ellie : but your feet keep bringing you back and glimpses of the review catch the corner of your eye repeatedly, like crystal glinting in the sunshine ... come to me, my little ducky, come to me ....

sleep good....

endeavoring not to breathe germs into your thread....
*escapes without adding a thing!*

i have a mask around my thread so breathe away, Kath. I'm sorry to hear you're still sick ... ugh! I hope you're better before you have to go back to school tomorrow.

Blood From a Stone by Donna Leon.
Another good Commissario Brunetti murder mystery in Venice. An African street vendor is shot while a crowd of tourists examine his counterfeit designer bags. This time, the odds seem stacked against our stalwart Commissario Brunetti and his team against finding the identity of the murdered victim and his killer. Even more puzzling is the reason why the victim was killed.

Adding to the obstacles in his way is the fact that his boss inform him that he is not to follow through with this homicide investigation, but fails to give him any reason why he should stop.

Soon, computer files are missing, diamonds are found in a box of salt, both the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs appear to have invisible fingers in the mystery, and his various sources of information such as a gems dealer, his father-in-law, an ex-colleague, a Swiss Professor specializing in African arts and the unflappable Signorina Elettra all seem to be providing pieces of the puzzle that doesn't fit to provide a full picture.

The confusion and frustration that dogs him in his work is balanced by the warmth and solidity of his family life.

In this book, the author brings to our awareness racial prejudices that often befall illegal foreigners and the political bargaining that takes place behind closed doors. This murder mystery doesn't show any cracks at all and the answer at the end is surprising but apt.

I can't get enough of this series.

Caroline- Another nice review! I have never read any of these Brunetti books, people seem to really like them.

Hi Mark - One of the things I like about this series is that without being preachy, there is usually a message, either social or political, that's woven into the story. Not meant to lecture, but brings it to our awareness that there are people who will stand up for what's right, even if it means scorn from others. The series has tongue in cheek humor as well which I enjoy. Give it a shot .. maybe you'll like it for when you want something lighter to chew on.

The Queen of the Book Universe requires no mere piddly Key to the City when she owns the Toll Booth at the entrance of her Literary Highway.

I am fairly sure I cannot live up to any of that!

Oh crumbs... see, I was trying to flit through again and, and, well, I was around JUST long enough to read your next review and... yes, it's made it to the Post-it Note of Bookish Wishes stuck in my current read. *Sigh*, I was doing so well.

Stasia : Perhaps I should take a poll among LTers on your title and send out what I'm sure will be the expected results? hmmm....



In the meantime, I'll just polish that tiara for you...

Ellie : I'll try to read something that's terribly boring and poorly written next ...................... NOT. Just think... it could be worse though ..... I could read almost as quickly as Stasia and find half as many interesting books as she does. Think how much worse off you'd be then, my girl!

Point taken... cute gif, btw!

>118: I'm with you on can't get enough of the Leon books. I've actually forced myself to stop requesting them from the library for a bit and pick up other things. Otherwise, I'd probably just read the entire series straight through.

I have a rule for myself not to read more than 2 Leon books back to back. That way I draw out the enjoyment I get from reading her books, and give myself a chance to change the pace with other authors, although I do find myself drawn to books with elements of Italy or Venice in them immediately after reading a Leon book.

When I first got into the Leon books I read them one after the other until I caught up with her writing. Now I read them as they are published in paperback.

must...resist...adding...another...series..........

Please provide guidance re. the Leon books. Which one should I read first?

>129: Death at La Fenice, Linda. The series is somewhat sequential, so it's probably best to read it in order.

Thanks Tad. I'll start with that one!

#131

You'll love them :)

You won't regret it, Linda. A few of Leon's books and you'll be hooked.

TadAD : Do you really feel that it's better to read them in order? Because I've read them in random order and only got to Death at La Fenice after I'd already read a few of the later ones, but I've never felt that I was missing anything.

>133: It don't think it's critical but I think it helps. There are some characters that have been introduced and/or changed over the half-dozen I've read. There are also a few backward references between the books. I find those annoying if you don't know what the author is talking about.

I don't think it would hurt either way but, yes, I think it helps.

Over in "Le Salon Litteraire du Peuple pour le Peuple," Salon founder EnriqueFreeque started a thread called "Thanksgiving" in which he publicly gives thanks for his blessings.

You, dear Caroline, are a blessing to all you grace with your sparkle and verve. I am thankful you decided to be my friend!

#123: My title is simply Stasia. I like it that way. No tiara necessary.

Oh, what the heck. I just added the first of the Leon series to Mt. Wishlist . . .

Yeah, me too. Hey, I'm feeling frivolous today!

Aww, rdear .....*blush, shuffle*... thank you. Now how can I continue teasingly insult you after those beautiful and generous compliments? Then again, if I stopped teasing you, you might think I've been abducted by an alien life form. So you'll just have to accept that if I tease you, it's because I love you.

Terri and Ellie : You won't regret it, I know ... oh wait... you might when you find yourself searching shelves rabidly for more in the series after you've read a couple of her books.

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder turned out to be a wonderful journey into the history of philosophy.

A 14 year old Norwegian schoolgirl, Sophie, comes home from school and finds in her mailbox, an unstamped letter addressed to her contains a note that just asks "Who are you?". A couple of minutes later, she finds another letter in her mailbox addressed to her, containing yet another note with a simple question "Where does the world come from?. And still yet later on in the day, she finds in her mailbox, a postcard addressed to someone named Hilde, but in care of her address.

And so the letters prick Sophie's curiousity and gets her to start thinking about who's sending these letters to her, what they mean, and really.... where DOES the world come from?

A few days later, Sophie receives a package and therein begins her introduction to philosophy. We are taken on a journey tracing the history of philosophy from the natural philosophers in Greece back in about 500B.C., to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the moving through the ages and continents to St Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Kierkegaard, Marx, Darwin and Freud.

For anyone looking for an easy way to learn philosophy or interested in a refresher course in philosophy, this is a good book to pick up. Sophie's child-like wide-eyed curiousity and eagerness to explore new ways of thinking put a fresh new face on the subject.

And by the way, who's Hilde and why is someone sending postcards for her to Sophie? The answer to this puzzle is quite the surprise.

#141: That one intrigues me. I will look for it. Thanks for the review, Caroline.

Caroline...

Your review of Sophie's World is great!

I'm intrigued by your description. On to the tbr pile it goes!

I really must read Sophie's World again one of these days. I think I read it when I was about 13, on holiday in Wales, tucked up under a duvet. Good times... I'm sure I'd enjoy it even more the second time around, with a few more years behind me!

Sophie's World sounds great. I think of philosophy as pretty dry but this sounds really good.

I actually have no experience with philosophy, but Sophie's World sounds really interesting. Thanks!

#142 : Stasia - You're welcome. I think you'll enjoy this one.

#143 : Linda - Thank you. Your TBR pile will welcome this new addition.

#144: Ellie : I think the seamless insertion of the mystery surrounding Hilde helped to break up and at the same time add to, the principles of philosophy being introduced, preventing it from being anything but a slog read.

#145: Brenzi - I didn't enjoy philosophy much when I had to take it in school, but if they had all been written the way Sophie's World was, I probably would have paid more attention and enjoyed the subject more. Who knows... I may even have been the next Freud. ;-)

#146 : Luxx - This is a really good introduction to the subject, so I hope you give it a shot.

I finished The Killing Hour by Lisa Gardner - reading straight through the night because I couldn't put it down. It's been a while since I've read a suspenseful thriller that had me at the edge of my seat for the entire story.

On one of the hottest summer's day in Georgia, 2 women go to a bar and are never heard from again. One of them is found by the side of the road, dead. A few months later, the 2nd woman is found dead in a different area. The following year, on an extremely hot day, another 2 girls go to a bar and are never heard of again. One is found dead, by the side of the road. Her friend is found a few months later in an unrelated area.

The same thing happens twice more and then suddenly ... nothing. The Eco-killer, as the serial killer has come to be known, has gone to ground. Or has he?

Has he surfaced again, 5 years later, when another female body is found. Were there and are there, subtle clues on the bodies that are blatantly left to be found easily that could lead to the discovery of the other missing woman before she's dead?

Why is Special Agent McCormack receiving calls from someone claiming to know who the killer is, and warning him of future kills?

A new FBI recruit, with her own traumatic past, teams up with McCormack to find the 2nd girl before dies. Add to this team, a profiler, the FBI, the NCIS, geologists, dendrologist, linguist ... and you have a race against time, with seemingly obscure clues, snakes, vicious bugs, and the killing heat.

There are surprises at every corner, just when you think you've cracked the case, identified the serial killer, or identified one of the girls, a sharp twist flips you upside down and leaves you reevaluating what you thought you knew.

A fantastic suspenseful thriller.

I'm adding The Killing Hour to the tbr pile. Your description is fascinating!

Linda: I've also got The Survivors Club in my TBR pile and after reading The Killing Hour, I'm eager to get to this, and I hope it'll be just as edgy and thrilling.

Ooooh, The Killing Hour sounds like a real page-turner! I think I'd like that! And I can get it from the county library!

Onto the list it goes . . .

ETA to add I see that it's part of a series. Had you read any of the other ones first?

Message edited by its author, Nov 8, 2009, 8:02pm.

Yes I started with The Perfect Husband, The Other Daughter and then skipped a few in the series because I couldn't get hold of them, and jumped to The Next Accident. I loved them all ... and I realized that I didn't need to read them in order to enjoy them. They were strong enough stories to stand on their own.

Ah, that's the series with The Next Accident! I picked that one up on a whim when I saw it at the library, without noting that it was in a series, and read it straight through. Definitely strong enough to stand on its own. And The Killing Hour looks like it's next in the series.

Come to think of it, I read another one of those, too, Gone. (Those two were in our local library.)

Message edited by its author, Nov 8, 2009, 8:20pm.

Ewwww "edge of my seat for the entire story"....I haven't had one of these in a long time; onto the pile

I am putting The Killing Hour in the BlackHole, too. I have read several of Gardner's books, but not that one. Thanks for the recommendation, Caroline.

I don't read many thrillers - I don't know where to start! - but this one's headed straight for the Whirling Vortex of TBR. Congrats Caroline, you did it again! Sounds brilliant...

I finished Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston, which was recommended by Mark, a real sweetie who also shared his book with me.

Consider how you'd feel if you agreed to look after a neighbor's cat while he's away to visit his sick father. In the process of washing the blanket, you find an odd shaped key in the cat basket and leave it alone.

The next thing you know, you're at your job as a bartender, when 2 Eastern Europeans come in, order a drink, spit it all over your bar counter and then proceed to systematically beat you up. Life just goes downhill from that point.

You pass out, find yourself in a hospital where you're informed that you had a kidney removed because it ruptured as a result of the beating, returning to your apartment, you find a bunch of thugs going through your neighbor's apartment, you are again beaten up by different thugs and someone with a police connection.

How does one go from having a happy if aimless life to running from the first 2 thugs, the police, more thugs and being wanted for murder. Yes, there is murder ... multiple murders of your close friends and other strangers who happened to get in the way of the thugs. Why does everyone want this key? What does it unlock? And how do you avoid getting yourself killed? Oh and by the way, your neighbor comes back and wants his cat back.

I really hated what they did to the cat, and I'm just surprised it wasn't more traumatized and still liked humans.

If you like very raw and violent thrillers, this is one for the shelves.

Caroline- You are initiated, my friend! I hope I didn't downplay the violence. It is not for the squeamish, I should emphasize that point. I hope you liked it enough, to read the follow-up Six Bad Things, which is even better.
You've been reading some terrific thrillers! I was at the library yesterday (like I don't have enough books right here!!) and saw a display on Scandinavian mysteries and wanted to snag Jar City but it was out. :-(

Just stopping by to congratulate you on your hot review Caroline. Great job!

Mark : No, you didn't downplay the violence, so I was prepared for it, and I made sure not to read it immediately before a meal. haha. I'll be on the look out for Six Bad Things.

I hope you are waitlisted for Jar City at your library. I think you will enjoy this one.

#159 : Thanks brenzi. And Congratulations to your Hot Review for the Cellist of Sarajevo

I'm leaving later this afternoon for a flight to Australia - must make sure I pack a couple of books for the long flight. I've been tossing books about on my TBR and making a bigger mess of things trying to pick out the 2 that I think will be fantastic reads.

Have a great trip, Caroline! If I were you, I would pick up a copy of The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. It is still unavailable in the US or UK, and it won a major literary award this year.

Two hot reviews at the same time!!!!!! Wow!

>161 - Caroline - Hope that your trip is a good one. The hardest thing for me to pack when I travel for business is my plane reading. It seems like so much pressure - I'd hate to be stuck on a flight without a great read.

Have a great trip -- and happy reading to you -- as you bask in the warmth of your recent hot reviews! :)

Darryl - Thanks for the tip. I've added it to my list of books to buy which are currently unavailable at home.

brenzi : Thank you.

I know what you mean, porch-reader ..... I finished a couple on the flight from Boston to LA, and I have 2 more books for my flight from LA to Australia. I liked one, and thought the other was rather ho-hum. Could be worse I suppose... I could have hated both of them. I hope my next 2 reads for the next leg of my flight are good, and I suspect that The Irregulars by Jennet Conant should be good - since that's based on research on Roald Dahl and his part in the British spy ring in Washington during the war.

tymfos : Thank you ... I will indulge in a couple of glasses of wine to celebrate. :-)

After the recent slew of gritty thrillers, A Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank was a light and casual story following a 14 year old girl as she experiences life.

The chapters are centered around specific periods of her life, when she first observes love through her brother and his glamorous girlfriend, when she finds love herself at college, the love she observes between her parents, a relationship with an older man, her relationship with her new boss, an old relationship revisited, and the love she feels for her children and their loves.

This book reads like short vignettes into a woman's life as it unfolds.

Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwartz, on the other hand, turned out to be quite a dud.

Amanda, nurse returns home to her sister and niece after suffering from unexplained bouts of fatigue.

Her sister drowns in a lake by their house off an island, and she raises her niece, Ruth on their family farm. Ruth's father, Carl, wounded in the war, arrives back, and Amanda assumes the role of care-giver to help him mend.

The story alternates between Amanda and Ruth, between different time periods. There is a mystery surrounding Amanda. Why is she so reticent? Why does she not want Ruth to go into the water? Why does she not want Carl and Ruth to go to the island? And why is she fascinated with Imogene?

The mystery is an interesting one. The manner in which it is written is not. None of the characters were particularly well drawn out. I'd recommend this only to those who enjoy insipid novels.

hmm..touchstone not working.

Message edited by its author, Nov 11, 2009, 12:27am.

>167 "those who enjoy insipid novels" Who are they anyway? I know they're out there because many novels could be described as "insipid" and yet sell like gangbusters. I read this one a long time ago and don't really remember anything about it.

You know, brenzi, I wouldn't even consider this a beach read. If not for the fact that I was stuck on a plane and this was the last book I had to read for that leg of the flight, I wouldn't have bothered to finish it.

It is pretty amazing that for all the great writers out there, there are even more mediocre ones and their books seem to fly off the shelves.

I loved The Lost Choice by Andy Andrews. Every once in a while, a little gem comes along, and this is one of them.

This book was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a light mystery and what I received for my time, was a wonderful story and a new light on living life.

A couple find a piece of an old relic in their backyard, and try to find out more about the origins of the piece. In their search for answers, they discover that there are another 2 pieces of ancient relics that seem to fit the piece they have.

What ensues is a discovery over time, and the mystery involves many historical greats, both ancient and modern. Covering a brief history of well known figures such as Joan of Arc, Albert Vanderbilt, George Washington Carver, John Adams, and Oscar Schindler among others, the reader is given a brief glimpse into certain aspects of their lives.

What do these historical greats have in common? It has everything to do with the pieces of metal, and in the weaving of this story, comes a profound life lesson.

We all have choices in life. We can choose to do or not do something. We can choose to live life with the aim to help others, and in doing so, we may find a way to fulfil the potential we are all born with. Or we may choose to close our minds to the special talents hidden within ourselves.

The story itself and the clever weaving of history into it is interesting. But what this book left me with, was an opportunity to reflect on how I've been living my life thus far, and the choices that are open to me moving forward. This book spoke to my soul.

Sounds like another one for the pile.

>169 "mediocre ones and their books seem to fly off the shelves"

I shake my head in wonder when I look at the Amazon top 100 and don't find a single one I want to read. My books are like 250,318th on the list :-)

I've added The Lost Choice to the tbr pile. It sounds great!

Ditto what Linda said!

Yep, you got me too... again. ;-)

you have been busy!

#171 : I know exactly what you mean. You've just got to get used to the idea that when it comes to books you want to read, you are not a mainstream reader ..... which is not a bad thing. :-)

I hope you all enjoy The Lost Choice as much as I did, or maybe more. I loved how the author took historical figures and art, and managed to weave certain things into her story in such a fashion as to make it seem almost possible. Very clever.

#175: Kath - yes, that was all plane reads. Now that I'm in Australia, work has been crazy and I haven't been able to read as much as I planned. It doesn't help that I am with a colleague who hasn't been here before, so I'm taking her out in the evenings as well after work so that she has a bit of fun, and she's a party animal!!

Hey Caroline- Hope your business trip is going well, Down Under! Thanks to you, I did start Jar City and I think it will be a winner! Take it easy with the "party animal"! We want you back in one piece!

Thanks, Mark ... so far, it's been going great in Melbourne, but I head over to Sydney today, and the meetings there are going to be more taxing. It also doesn't help that my boss has scheduled a meeting to take place at 1am on a Saturday morning for me because of the time difference. So that's going to seriously curb wholehearted partying on Friday night. boooo....

I'm glad you are enjoying Jar City ... he has a good voice, don't you think? I like that his characters are flawed. Makes them more real, in my opinion.

So I've finally reached the Century mark!!! And to read The Irregulars : Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant was just perfect.

As Britain continued to fight against Hitler's army, Churchill is desperate to obtain the assistance of America to help keep them from invading English shores.

Enter Roald Dahl, a wounded war hero, who, no longer able to fly sorties, is sent to Washington DC. Here, he finds a ready audience for his war stories and also starts a fledgling career as a writer. His personality, charm and good looks makes him one of the most sought after dinner guest in Washington.

William Stephenson, (code name, Intrepid), coordinates and establishes the British Security Coordination, an organization with agents able to infiltrate the American movers and shakers in DC and pass information back to the British government.

Roald Dahl, handsome and personable steps is recruited by Stepehson. His garrulous nature allowed him to gain entry into the hallowed homes of many Washington DC power brokers and his memory for detail allowed him to pass many seemingly innocent comments to the British, with the goal of getting America to involve herself in the war with Britain against Hitler.

I thought there was alot of good researched material. A very engaging read. And here I thought Roald Dahl just wrote fun stories for children. Certainly I didn't know he was also such a good spy.

#179: Congratulations on hitting 100, Caroline!

I read The Irregulars last year and really enjoyed it, too. I am glad to see you did as well.

Congrats on reaching a milestone I can't even begin to comprehend. Great job!

Message edited by its author, Nov 17, 2009, 1:43pm.

Way to go, Caroline!

Have you picked up any good books on your travels?

Congratulations Caroline! Maybe I might reach 100 next year... who knows? :-)

Message edited by its author, Nov 20, 2009, 6:09am.

Wow, 100 books! That is really super! Congratulations!

Thank you, everyone for the well wishes. I'm surprised I hit the century mark myself. ;-)

It's been crazy here in Australia for the 2 weeks and I've had really little time to read or sleep. I'm looking forward to the plane ride home on Monday and catching up with some reading on the plane.

Darryl - I've hit some of the bookstores here and picked up a few books, but not as many that I wanted to. Books here are astronomically expensive. It's incredible that given the exchange rate, a normal paperback costs about $27 compared to the $15 that we pay at home. I saw a copy of Wolf Hall in paperback that cost AU$69!

So I just bought
The Migrant by Arunesh Choubey
Searching for Schindler by Thomas Keneally
Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving
My Place by Sally Morgan

I'm hitting a used bookstore on Manly later this afternoon, after I do some kite surfing, and hope to pick up some more reasonably priced gems.

Hi Caroline- Miss you around here! Hope your trip is going well! BTW, I loved Jar City! Also Last Night in Twisted River is on my next to buy list! Have a safe trip home!

So let's see....you have about 600 books in your library.......if you bought them all in Australia they would have cost you (conservatively) approximately...... $18,000. Whoa. I'll bet Australians use the library A LOT.

AU $69.00 = US $63.09, according to the online currency converter I just used. That is shocking! Why are books so expensive there? Do books by local authors cost that much? Who can afford to buy books there?

Have a safe and uneventful trip back home.

That's what I asked my business partners here, Darryl. Even books by local authors in paperback cost on average AU$25 and much higher if it's a deeper tome than a beach read. What I've been told is that the cost of living is higher here because of their exorbitant taxes on everything. GST taxes are, if I remember correctly, about 17% and there's also a print tax imposed on books and magazines. Can you imagine going to Uni here and having to pay for all your text books?!!!

Having said that, I went to the Sydney Public Library yesterday and it is an absolutely beautiful building with thousands and thousands of books. I could live here for the library alone.

I see people in the bookstores but they don't seem to buy as many books. They do a very brisk trade in travel books though, as the Aussies are very well-traveled individuals. So I've picked up a few books here, biting the bullet, mainly from local authors since I know I won't find them in my home bookstore.

In England books don't attract VAT (value added tax)... but do you not pay for your uni text books where you are?!

On the counter side, I seem to remember coming across a lot of very good second hand bookshops (that would also do exchanges) - particularly in Sydney when I was travelling around Oz - maybe that's the solution. There was one I particularly liked near Sydney central station - I wish I could remember the address for you...

190: E, you have to PAY for text books in the UK?? That's ridiculous!!!

...and they're NOT CHEAP (particularly if you do a science degree like me...)

wow that's crazy. If we had to pay for our texbooks, only the Norton Anthologies we got (all of them for free) would cost around 500 dollars since they seem to cost around 50-60 dollars each:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=se...

Yep, most of my text books ranged from £30 - £60 (and this is 10 years ago). The university medical library was very well stocked though - I know that most people didn't buy all the text books - particularly for the subsidary subjects.

College/univeristy students pay for textbooks in the US, too. I've had single textbooks that cost nearly $100. $500 (US) in a semester is not unheard of; by now, it may be quite common, I would imagine.

ETA for spelling

Message edited by its author, Nov 23, 2009, 6:16pm.

I don't think I spent less than $400 a semester as an undergrad (English major), and easily spent $200+ as a graduate student.

I teach at a community college, and I have come across a number of students who try to borrow as many texts as they can from the library. I try not to be a stickler for particular editions because I remember how expensive it can be to buy your books!

... and I love the Norton Anthologies.

Ahhh Norton Anthologies..........that brings back memories of college and English classes many, many years ago.

We do pay for everything here, but the system works around it a bit. We might be advised to buy a particular anthology or key text, for example, but then the department might sell us photocopied packs of other material, or the library will stockpile certain titles where they can't be taken out for weeks so everyone can access them quickly. It's not great, but it's better than buying every single thing on the reading list when we never used half of it anyway!

well I suppose no education system is perfect. We get everything for free here but on the other hand, everything else is pretty much awful: we have incompetent teachers for the most part, whose English isn't as good as it's supposed to be (they're supposed to teach us in English, but they often revert to Greek), we have constant , CONSTANT strikes, we only get the books at the end of the semester right before the exams and for a lot of classes reading the wikipedia and sparknotes analysis of the text is the same as attending the class.

We have to pay for text books here, and they are horribly expensive. So when I was in Uni, I'd hit up the used book stores for reference books, and seniors would also sell their old text books to incoming students.

Hotel Albatross by Debra Adelaide was read in a morning. A couple manage an old bed & breakfast in Australia and finds that running a b&b introduces them to a lot interesting characters. Some interesting vignettes, but rather ho-hum on the whole. Didn't grab my attention

The Beach House by Jane Green. This was a really nice story about a lady who, finding herself strapped for cash, opens up her beautiful old Nantucket house to short term tenants in the summer.

Into this house come various individuals, all seeking to find themselves and Nan, sees beyond the surface, and in her own way, helps them come to terms with who they are. There is, of course, a little surprise along the way, someone dead resurfaces, and will the conniving real-estate developer fool Nan into selling her house?

A cheery little lazy afternoon read.

you clearly rack up more air time than a lot of pilots ..... good grief!

glad you're home though...
down time now?

I like the description of The Beach House. Aren't those cozy reads wonderful!

Hi Kath, alas, not much of downtime. My in-laws descend upon us for Thanksgiving this year, so tomorrow's going to be spent grocery shopping and doing making soup, desserts, cranberry sauce and cornbread. Thursday will be turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, honey ham and salad.

Then we have friends over on friday night and Sunday for lunch. Monday I head out again, this time to Japan for a week, followed by 2 weeks in Singapore. Back home again just in time for Christmas. Whew!

Linda : I love cozy reads every once in a while.

I managed to hit a used book store in Sydney before I left and picked up
Map of Bones by James Rollins
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland
Merle's Door by Ted Kerasote
Open House by Elizabeth Berg

Caroline- Welcome home, friend! And have a great Thanksgiving!!

Thanks, Mark. It's great to be home again .... if a little frazzly since I've got company company for the Thanksgiving week.

Caroline

I hope your frazzles abate and your Thanksgiving time with company is a special time.

All good wishes for a wonderful holiday,

Linda

I hope that you're able to get some down time before your next trip, Caroline. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends.

I think I'll watch out for The Beach House - I'm in a cozy read kinda place right now and this one sounds right up my street...

frazzled nub.

That is what I would be if I had your life.

sheesh! Glad you were home for the holiday tho, and hope it was lovely :)

I am also glad to see that you made it safely home. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family.

woof....and i'm back.... back on LT that is, not back home. I'm out in Tokyo this week and with all the crazy schedules, I've not had time to come check in with my favorite biblio pals.

Went through an 'eh' and an 'Oh' thus far this week .... here goes:

Map of Bones by James Rollins left me struggling a little. It's supposed to be a thriller, but I thought it fell rather flat. A church is attacked by a group of terrorists who steal ancient bone relics and kills the entire congregation ... all but one, and the lone survivor manages to give his eye-witness account of the bizarre fashion in which most had died ... until he too dies.

The Vatican gets help from the Roman police and an American organization that provides secret operatives to find the terrorists and retrieve the relics. In the middle of everything is the puzzle as to what was really stolen and why. The thieves are vicious, clever and seemingly one step ahead all the time.

This fell into the realm of Raiders of the Lost Ark meets the Da Vinci Code but with boring direction. Eh... not great.

The one I fell into because I just liked the title turned out to be surprisingly good. The Shakespeare Secret by Jennifer Lee Carrell grabbed me from the get go. It had all the elements I enjoy - suspense, thrills, mystery and how can you go wrong when this is centered around the continued controversy in some circles over the 'true' writer of Shakespeare's plays?

What keeps you turning the pages though is not just that there appears to be a serial killer who is systematically killing everyone who has letters, documents or specific books on Shakespeare that could shed light on the true author, but also the many twists that will keep you changing your mind as to the identity of friends and fiends, victims and villains. Oh...what fun.

hmm... touchstone not working for The Shakespeare Secret

Message edited by its author, Dec 3, 2009, 5:04am.

The Shakespeare Secret sounds interesting, Caroline.

Your passport probably has more stamps than Hilary Clinton's does!

Caroline- Nice to hear from you, my world-weary friend! Hope you have a good safe trip! And, yes I have migrated and it feels like a literary graduation!

Shakespeare Secret does sound good! Onto the list !

(I can see that my resolution to read more off my own TBR bookshelves is heading down the tubes, and it's not even New Year's Day yet . . . ;)

ETA to add Ooooo noooo, I can't even find The Shakespeare Secret in the state database to get as an interlibrary loan . . . is it a really new book or an ARC?

Message edited by its author, Dec 3, 2009, 7:44am.

I LOVE the sounds of Shakespeare's Secret. Onto The Pile it goes.

I think THE SHAKESPEARE SECRET is also titled Interred with Their Bones.....at least that's where i ended up...when i did a Title Search here on LT...and the book's been on my List for a while...thanks, Caroline!

#219 Oh, I've seen that title, Interred with their bones, at our library! Thanks!

(I remember a co-worker asking how someone could be interred without their bones! :)

Darryl - I keep going to the same countries though ... at least Hillary gets to go to places I haven't yet been.

Terri : If you add this to your TBR pile and read it, it would count as reading off your own TBR bookshelf. voila! resolution kept! ;-)

hmmm... good find, Jude. Interesting that they changed the title for the US print to Interred with Their Bones .... I think I prefer the British title and cover better though.

#221 No, on my "books off the bookshelf" challenge thread I stipulated that for books to count there, they have to be owned by me before 12/1/09. The goal is to cut down the number of unread books I own . . . though I just bought two more yesterday . . .

Currently, my "To Read" (basically, owned but not read) almost equals my "read but not owned" category, at about 190 titles each. A lot of them are old beat-up, second-hand paperbacks, but they are books, and some good titles at that.

Ahh... I see the problem... and I think you're just going to have to chalk it down as the continual hazard of spending time on LT. I feel for you though, because I'm in the same boat. There are way too many good books being read and recommended here that I keep adding them to my pile of unread books, and some of the reviews are so enticing, that instead of reading the oldest on the pile first, i go out of rotation and pick up a new addition instead.

It is, though, comforting to know that I'll never be without a book I haven't read if I was snowbound in the winter. ;-)

Caroline- Excellent point! Maybe a couple of snowbound winters?

Just finished reading a delightful whodunit. The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly is indeed a cleverly written story (hey, it's early in the morning for me ... so that's the best pun I could come up with).

Set in India during the British occupation, an English woman, wife of a Colonel, is killed when a fire rages through their house while he is away. A tragedy to be sure. But over the years, 4 other wives of British officers are killed in accidents. A coincidence that they all occurred in the month of March? What of the last tragedy? Was it suicide or murder?

Our stalwart hero, Inspector Joe Sandilands, on the very brink of returning to England, a journey he was very much looking forward to, is sent for by the Governor and given the task of looking into the latest incident. Charmed by the Governor's niece, Nancy Drummond, he has no choice but to accept the case, and finds more troubling facts about not just the most recent tragedy but about the previous deaths which seem to point towards a series of murders rather than tragic but innocent accidents.

Why these women? What's the connection between the way they all died? Is there a connection and who's next? Is there a sinister killer lurking in their midst and if so, how do they find who he is, when nobody seems to have seen anything?

I'm definitely hooked and I'm going to look out for more of the books in the series.

#225: Adding that one to the BlackHole *sigh* It is another one my local library does not have . . . I really hope my husband gets me a gift card to Books A Million for Christmas!

Stasia : I'm hoping for B&N gift cards for Christmas this because I've amassed a long list of books that I want to buy. I know I'll get one from my brother and my husband's parents because he told them years ago, not to bother buying me stuff because I prefer books. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the others will start taking the hint from my enthusiastic glee every time I receive the B&N gift card from my in-laws to follow suit.

I hope that for your sake the others follow suit, too!

Ooooo Caroline The Last Kashmiri Rose sounds really good. I haven't read a good mystery in a while. Onto the pile it goes.

Came back to say I thumbed your review.

Message edited by its author, Dec 5, 2009, 2:46pm.

Thanks for the thumb, brenzi.

I'm in the midst of reading Miracle at St Anna by James McBride and it's pretty gripping. I've got a flight to Singapore today to finish the book before I start another mad work week.

I read Miracle at St. Anna a couple of years ago and loved it.

I read Song Yet Sung by James McBride earlier this year and loved it. I'll have to try Miracle at St. Anna soon.

Good luck with your mad work week!

My head spins when I read of your travels....

Now see, Map of Bones would have sucked me in with the description.. but thanks to you I don't have to read it. yay!

As for the others, I simply refuse to add anything today. really.
simply refuse. I have piles of books that won't fit on my shelves despite recent ongoing culling.

*sits on hands to avoid going to Amazon*

I loved it too, brenzi.

Thanks porch_reader...the madness has begun. The car I rented sounds really strange and I suspect the engine is going to blow up on me while I'm on the highway or something, so I've got to find the time to give Avis a call and ask for a replacement.

Kath : the description and title of Map of Bones was exactly what drew me to pick it up. *grumpy sigh*
You may need to get off your hands though ..... because Miracle at St Anna by James McBride is a really amazing book.

Over in Italy, 4 soldiers from the US Army's Negro 92nd Division are separated from their unit because of inept commands. They face the horror of having seen some of their platoon mates blown up and shot down in front of them. This is a story of how they found a quiet little village of St Anna di Stazzema in Tuscany, and how despite the horrors of war, they managed a few days of peace and relative normalcy among the villagers.

One soldier, Sam Train, is from the South, illiterate and a simple man ... he's also really large. All he wants is to get out of Italy and go home to his grandmother. He finds the marble head of the bust of Primavera, and thinks it's magic, so he keeps it with him at all times. He finds a little boy, shell-shocked and injured, hidden under a haystack, scoops him up, and tries to find medical help for him.

Bishop is a manipulative con-man, who found people would drown him in money if he pretended to be a preacher and dish out fire and brimstone sermons while telling his growing congregation not to give him money but to come to him only because they wanted their souls to be saved.

Hector is Hispanic, so he doesn't know why he's even with this division except that he's a little darker than his cousin who also signed up and was assigned to the white division. So he's disgruntled, has sleep apnea and definitely hates the war, hates Italy and figures he's got the short end of the stick being lumped with this lot.

The last, Stamps, is their lieutenant, tries to lead them back to their division but is challenged by their commander's demand at the base, that they hold their position until they capture a German soldier.

While fictitious, there's enough historical facts woven into this story to bring the the horror and terror of wartime Italy to the reader. The author also does a wonderful job of bringing out the depth of each character, and in the case of the separated soldiers, their memories and bitter resentment against the unfair treatment they faced back home before the war, in the war, and what they know they will once again face in terms of discrimination when they go home after the war.

This is one of those books that plucks at your heartstrings, brings tears of sorrow to your eyes, twists your gut in anger, and gives you a little chuckle every now and again.

Great review, Caroline! I'll have to get this one. I bought The Color of Water years ago, but haven't read it yet.

I read The Color of Water several years ago, but I have not read anything further of McBride's. I am adding Miracle at St. Anna to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Caroline!

Thanks, Darryl and you're welcome, Stasia.
I loved The Color of Water and I'm so glad that McBride's continued to write. I've just bought his latest, Song Yet Sung and plan on getting to this in the early part of next year.

I managed to squeeze in a quick visit to a tiny bookstore in between meetings today and came away with :
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro (at last)
A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif (only because it sounded so quirky)
A Dead Hand by Paul Theroux

Thankfully books are somewhat reasonably priced here ... and this store also gave me some very nice bookmarks for free with each book I bought. I need to come back and continue browsing when I have more time. It's such a pain when work interrupts a good browsing session.

#237: It's such a pain when work interrupts a good browsing session.

I agree!

Caroline- Miracle at St Anna sounds very good! I've added it to the WL. I wonder how Spike Lee's adaptation of it, holds up?

#237/8 - And when customers interrupt a good reading session! Honestly, anyone would think we were running a shop or something...

Caroline, I loved A Case of Exploding Mangoes, especially the author's (mis)characterization of General Zia.

Mark : I think you'll enjoy this book.

Ellie : That's just plain rude .... the interrupting customers, that is... not you. ;-)

Darryl : I just found the synopsis too funny not to pick it up. Your positive take on it makes me even more eager to read it.

I'm in a very contemplative mood following the completion of Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie.

Not for a long time have I read a book that plumbs the depth of human frailty, resilience, humility, generosity, kindness, loneliness, true friendship that knows no color, culture or language boundaries and love.

This is a story about 2 families and the effects the bombing of Nagasaki, the separation of India and Pakistan, the Afghan Soviet war, and 9/11 have on them through the decades.

Starting innocently enough with Hiroko Tanaka, a translator and linguist in Japan having gotten engaged to Konrad Weiss, a German teacher, these 2 individuals see their lives brilliantly ahead of them despite the ominous growlings of WWII. The Nagasaki bomb drops and all is changed.

Gently but not so that the horrors of the aftermath of the bomb are glossed over, Hiroko describes staccato scenes of the destruction while recovering from her own injuries (horrible scarring on her back where patches of her kimono have been seared into her skin)in hospital. She is now hibakusha - a term that carries with it all the stigma associated with being a survivor of the A-bomb in Japan.

Moving to India, she learns Urdu, builds a bond with her dead fiance's sister, and begins a journey filled with great joy and love, but which is also challenged with pain, betrayal and loss. Her journey takes her to Turkey, Pakistan and America, throughout which she is forced to call upon the very resilience that allowed her to survive and live after that dreadful day in Nagasaki.

Hiroko and her family present the sides to the story most often unheard. How do ordinary people who just want to live in peace and who have aspirational dreams find the strength to stay true to their values and continue to see the good in others, even those governments warn against?

This is a book about outsiders looking in, trying to find their place in a community, and of trying to belong. This is a book about the the human spirit and optimism. This is a book about living for what is right and not compromising one's beliefs because its an easier way to live. This is a book about despair for ruling governments. This is a book about hope for the world because there are people who make a difference.

This review does absolutely no justice whatsoever to the depth of this book, and for that I apologize. But it is a book I would encourage you to read because it will leave a mark on you.

#243: Terrific review, Caroline. I would add the book to the BlackHole if it was not already there.

Wonderful review!

Thank you.

I really enjoyed the book and now I'm reading Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers. Something a lot lighter but fun.

Terrific review Caroline and I thumbed it and added it to The Pile. It's actually on some of the Best of 2009 lists.

Hi Caroline.

I hope you are enjoying your travels..I agree with flissp and Brenzi..What a great review!

Beautiful review! Another thumb from me!

Great review of Burnt Shadows, Caroline! Onto the TBR list it goes. Have you (or anyone else) read any of Shamsie's other books?

I just found your thread and my wishlist has grown immensely thanks to it ;-)

Burnt Shadows sounds amazing. It'll be one of the first books I purchase when I have money again :D

I'm glad that you enjoyed Burnt Shadows too, Caroline. I'm still amazed that it didn't make the Booker Prize longlist this year.

Caroline- I am joining the masses on this one! Great review! I have it wishlisted!

Wow... thank you, everyone. I struggle with reviews ...except when I'm reviewing a book I don't like. Then somehow the words flow like jello on a hot sidewalk. I don't want to give too much away but I want to give enough of a glimpse so others get a sense of the atmosphere that's created for the reader by the author.

Linda : I'm enjoying today because :
a) I had a run by the beach this morning
b) I had the biggest laugh ...after I got over the shock... when I stepped into a vehicle, assuming it was my rental car, sat in, tried to put the key in the ignition, and in the same second, realizing that something's not quite right and someone's banging on the window ...... I had gone into a taxi and the driver thought I was stealing his vehicle! My defence -- hmm.... I have none. I wasn't paying attention, I was texting on the phone, and I walked to the nearest car, not noticing the big cab company name on the side, or the lightbox on the top declaring it as a taxi, or that it was a yellow Toyota sedan and my rental is a staid silver Mazda 2-door coup. oops?

#250: porch_reader : I haven't read her other books, but I've got her on my list of authors to look out for when I next pop into a bookstore.

#251 : RebeccaAnn : Have you visited Stasia's thread recently? If you don't want your TBRs or wishlists to grow to alarmingly, stay away from her thread. My wishlist and TBR piles multiple like hyperactive bunnies whenever I visit Stasia and Darryl's threads. ;-)

Darryl - The panel that make up the list deserve to ingest a case of Miracle Whip for this transgression.

>254: Unfortunately, I've already been sucked into bottomless pit of amazing books that is Stasia's thread ;-) But I love buying books, so it works out for me! I get paid $200 for a music gig in a week and half and I've been thread surfing for good books to buy with the money. Now that I think about it, I should go visit Stasia's thread. I think I completely missed the last two months because school got so busy.

Mmmmm...books...

You missed Stasia's thread for 2 months?! Uh oh....... You know that $200 you're about to receive? Wave goodbye to it because you'll need it after you catch up on her thread.

#256: Aw, my threads are not that bad! Darryl's is the truly dangerous one :)

"I don't want to give too much away but I want to give enough of a glimpse so others get a sense of the atmosphere that's created for the reader by the author."
That sounds like my objective, also! Well stated, my friend!

Well, I've been lurking since the beginning of this thread, cameling, and you finally caught me with Burnt Shadows.

I too, have Burnt Shadows on the tbr shelves... i will move it up

>256: *waves*

Goodbye, dear money! It was nice, that brief time we knew each other :P

congratulations on your hot review listed on today's home page!

#257: Nope, I disagree dearest Stasia. I've read less than a third of the books you have. Yours is the most dangerous thread for our collective TBR piles on LT. :)

Darryl and Stasia: between the two of you, my bank account is anorexic and my bookshelves are sagging, but my mind is bursting with contentment.

#259 : I thought I detected a little shy presence in the corner of my thread, lurking away. ;-) Nice to hear from you and you're welcome to continue lurking and piping up whenever you wish.

#261 : better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all..... the brief intimacy you had with your money, that is. ;-p

I managed to hit a bookstore yesterday before a meeting (I brought coffee and bribed the receptionist to hide my purchases until I was leaving their office) and came away with:

Wolf Hall - yes, finally! My very own copy .... and not for anything close to AU$68 either! That price in Sydney still shocks me.
True Compass by Ted Kennedy
The Limits of Enchantment by Graham Joyce
Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery
Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
Connected Steven Shaviro - by Steven Shaviro

#263: We are going to have to agree to disagree on this, lol.

#264: Nice haul, Caroline. I will be curious to see what you think of the Barbery book. I have The Elegance of the Hedgehog somewhere around here, to be read next year.

Stasia: I will be curious to see what you think of The Elegance of the Hedgehog ... lol. I loved it, but I think Richard was upset with the way it ended. I couldn't resist and started reading Gourmet Rhapsody at the store, and from the snippet that I read, I think I'm going to like it.

My local library has a copy of Gourmet Rhapsody, so if you like it, I can actually get my hands on that one!

Wow, your wonderful review of Burnt Shadows is still on the "hot" list!