The arrivals you've longed to see on Mondays

Well, maybe you longed to see photos of arrivals, maybe you didn't, but here is most of what has shown up in the past 5 weeks:

Shadows of Paradise by Isabel Wolff and
Sisters of Shiloh by Kathy & Becky Hepinstall - sent by a friend
A Tender Struggle by Krista Bremer - unsolicited from Algonquin
The Reluctant Midwife by Patricia Harman  - from William Morrow
Wait for Me by Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire and
Something Missing by Matthew Dicks - via Paperback Swap
Black Run by Antonio Manzini and
Finding Samuel Lowe by Paula Williams Madison - from HarperCollins
My Sunshine Away by M. O. Walsh - purchased
Bug Detective by Maggi Li - unsolicited from Sterling Children's Books

The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate - via Paperback Swap (so in love with this cover)
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig,
FDR's Fireside Chats, ed. by Suhite and Levy, and
The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey - purchased
The Year My Mother Came Back by Alice Eve Cohen - unsolicited from Algonquin

Not pictured:

The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson - via Paperback Swap
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan - purchased
That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott - purchased
Orhan's Inheritance by Ohanesian - unsolicited from Algonquin
Code Talker by Chester Nez - via Paperback Swap
When the Moon is Low by Nadia Hashimi - from William Morrow

Okay, there may be more than I realized, especially if you include these library sale purchases:

The book about The Waste Land was an especially serendipitous find as I started reading The Waste Land, last month, and basically had to put my head back together with duct tape. Or, it felt that way. I need help understanding it. Also, the two outside books, both on poetry, are fitting because it's National Poetry Month. Wahoo! So far, I haven't read anything but random poems online. I'll need to remedy that.

I know I missed at least one book, but I've already reviewed it so . . . close enough.

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Look where I went, this weekend!

We had a long weekend visit with Eldest Son, Daughter-in-law and Grand-dog and managed to pop into New York's wonderful Strand Bookstore.  Okay, actually, we did more than pop in.  Naturally, we bought a few books but they were all from the bargain carts outside.

Top to bottom:

The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
The 12.30 from Croydon by Freeman Wills Crofts
22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson
The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker (2nd in the Regeneration series)
70% Acrylic 30% Wool by Viola Di Grado

22 Britannia Road and The Eye in the Door were on my wish list so I was especially excited to find both titles for $1 each.  Open slots at Paperback Swap!  Wahoo!

What I read, during my mini-vacation:

The Tilted World by Tom Franklin & Beth Ann Fennelly - I absolutely loved The Tilted World.  It has great characters, a terrific storyline and an excellent plot, all set during the Great Flood of 1927, which we hear a lot about, down here.  It's thanks to the levee system that was built after the 1927 flood that we haven't had an equally deadly recurrence during recent flood years.  

Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor was my first Taylor book and the last book she wrote.  It's sad but it gave me a good idea of why people are so besotted with her books.  I love her writing style and am looking forward to reading more.  I got my copy of Blaming at a recent book sale, along with two more of her Virago titles.  I was so excited when I saw them that I snatched all 3 and plunked them on my to-buy stack without even bothering to read the cover blurbs.

I had one book waiting for me when I got home and I completely forgot to photograph it so I'll hold it for next week's Monday Malarkey.  I'm hoping to hit the reviews hard, tomorrow.  Wish me luck!  I've been summoned for jury duty in November and I'm planning to join in on NaNoWriMo so it would be helpful to get those reviews out of the way, ASAP.  

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Tuesday Twaddle - Reading, life, blogging, arrivals, etc.

This has already been a busy week and it's going to become even more overwhelming, so this might be my only post.  Then, hopefully, I can get back on the ball and post some of my backlog of reviews.  I've decided I'm not going to pressure myself about reviewing as soon as possible after finishing a book and, fortunately, I have a pretty good memory so it shouldn't be a big deal to wait another week to hit the reviews.  There may be no Monday Malarkey or Tuesday Twaddle post, next week, just so I can dive straight into reviewing. We shall see.  

Last week was unique! 

• I was summoned for jury duty (for a "petit" crime). I'm to report for duty in November.
• I went to an architectural salvage store with my new BFF.  The bottles shown above were my only purchases.  I've been looking for a milk bottle for quite a while and after I bought the bottle, I looked up the dairy, online.  Babblin' Brook Dairies operated in Tyler, Texas from 1929 to 1943.  So, my bottle is at least 70 years old, although it looks new.  How cool is that?
• Husband had me running back and forth between old house and new.  Now that it's cooled off, I can get a lot more work accomplished at the old house (which unfortunately "breathes" a bit too much -- it's not well insulated).  Heat and I do not get along.
• We forgot to put out the recycling, last week, so our two bins are both overflowing.  Usually we're quite good about putting out the recycling because we've found we put out more recyclable trash than garbage.  I love curb-side recycling.

Reading:

I finished 4 books, last week:

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Woman in the Dark by Dashiell Hammett  (one of my recent book sale purchases)

The Compound by S. A. Bodeen (also off my shelves; read and discussed with a friend)

Before I Die by Candy Chang (which I started pretty much the moment it walked in the door)

I'm currently reading The Radleys by Matt Haig, a library check-out.  I think I'm going to give The Tilted World by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly a second go, next.  I wasn't in the right mood for it, the first time I picked it up, but we hear a great deal about the Great Flood of 1927 in Mississippi and I'm quite anxious to read a novel set during that time.  Hopefully, this time it will click.

Blogging:

I wrote about my September reads, shared an anecdote about my husband's desire to debone a chicken, babbled about my reading and bafflement over cat hatred and wrote a lengthy review and F2F report about Donna Tartt's new release, The Goldfinch.

Recent Arrivals include:

• Snow on the Tulips by Liz Tolsma, which I signed up to tour before I gave up the blog. I haven't yet received a tour date.  
• Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier - The third in a series (sent by friend Tammy).  I haven't read the first two books and my library system doesn't carry them so I've added them to my Paperback Swap wish list, for now. I may eventually buy them.  
• The Report by Jessica Francis Kane - A WWII novel received via Paperback Swap.
• Before I Die by Candy Chang - nonfiction about a fascinating and quite illuminating project to paint walls with the sentence, "Before I die I want to ______."  People can fill in the blanks with chalk. The idea has spread around the world.
• A stack of books from my friend Sandie, which I've already dragged away to the bedroom.

Other things:

We spent one day working on painting and putting in a new light fixture at the old house, this weekend, the other day deep cleaning in the new house.  One yard has been mowed, the other needs work.  Husband has removed wallpaper in both bathrooms in the old house and started the painting, which leaves one last room with wallpaper to remove. When we moved in, every room was covered with wallpaper, dark panelling or both, and we worked on updating the walls and flooring the entire time we lived in Vicksburg.  I have always disliked wallpaper (and dark paneling, although I'm okay with lighter woods).  If wallpaper makes a comeback, you won't see me joining in on the trend.  

Photography:

I finally managed to take a few new pics of the kitties and I took the camera along to snap a few pics (including the bottles, on a bench outside) at the salvage store.  I've also photographed the wild, abstract painting I bought at a recent flea market, to share with friends.  Otherwise . . . nada. But, I'm happy that I managed to snap a few pics.  It's a start.  I can also look at photos of River without even feeling a pang of loss, now.  Progress!

Sidebar failure:

I haven't been updating my sidebar as I've been reading and I may just ditch the "Currently Reading/Recently Finished" updates -- another very small way to save time online.  It'll probably vary, depending upon how my week is going.  I think it will be easier to just do weekly updates.  

Hope you've all had a fantastic week! 

Bookfool, enjoying Autumn

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Stable in Bethlehem: A Countdown to Christmas by Hulme & Andreasen, a new arrival, and The 13 Clocks by James Thurber

Stable in Bethlehem: A Countdown to Christmas, written by Joy N. Hulme and illustrated by Dan Andreasen is a board book in with a countdown from the number 12 down.  Obviously, I'm getting to my last little stockpile of Christmas books a bit late but if you have a little one who is in need of a Christmas book and still at the tearing stage, Stable in Bethlehem is a good one.

Over a stable in Bethlehem, 12 drowsy doves are cooing,
Snuggling in the fragrant hay, 11 cows are mooing.
Weary and resting in their stalls, 10 donkeys nod their heads.
Scurrying over the stable floor, 9 mice run from their beds.

That's three page spreads' worth that I just quoted, the donkeys and mice sharing one layout.  The next page made me laugh:

8 shepherds wrapped in woolen robes watch over their flocks by night.

The illustration is a tiny bit funny because there are 8 shepherds watching a mere 7 sheep.  But, Stable in Bethlehem is a counting book, not a logic book.  On the next page, you count the 7 sheep.  As the mother of a little one, I probably would have already counted the sheep along with my child.

When I received this book from Sterling Children's, I didn't think it looked all that attractive, cover-wise, but I really liked it a lot when I opened the book and read.  The illustrations inside are much prettier than I expected, brightly colored but they have a nice, "soft" look that's lovely.  And, the book fit my most important requirement for a children's book:  a comfortably rhythmic text that's pleasant to read aloud.  Beginning readers will need a lot of help with words like "frankincense" if you keep the book around long enough, but I like the fact that the author didn't avoid adding a difficult word that's relevant.

Highly recommended, particularly if you'd like to share the Christmas story with a very young child in a way that's educational and factual without being in any way religiously dubious or emphatic.

More Christmas reviews will be forthcoming.  I spent a good portion of yesterday in the car, so that makes 5 days during which I spent a major portion of my day driving.  I am very happy to be at home and going nowhere, just cleaning and writing, today!

Arrived in the mail, yesterday:  

Jamie's Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver!

This was one of those cases of "Buy a book for someone, buy one for yourself."  At least I bought a used copy instead of spending the big bucks.  I'm on page 76 or so and absolutely loving the reading.  I need inspiration desperately.  Now that we've finally got a decent kitchen, I want to get back to cooking!  But, it's been so long that I've been hoping to find something basic.  Well, Jamie's Food Revolution is fairly basic.  There are a few things I'll have to ask the spouse to explain, but not many.  I gushed so much I actually inspired Huzzybuns, last night.  We had a terrific supper.

The only problem I've found with this cookbook, so far (and most others by well-known chefs) is that cookbooks by popular chefs tend to ignore the fact that not everyone lives in a big city and has access to unusual ingredients.  And, in fact, some ingredients that don't seem unusual may even be hard to locate.  I noticed Jamie Oliver uses a lot of red chiles.  We were unable to find any at all -- fresh or dried -- last night.  Still.  I'm inspired. I've already got a recipe picked out for experimentation, tonight.

I finished The 13 Clocks by James Thurber, last night.  A children's book written in 1950, it's a quick read that would make an excellent RIP challenge book.  It has a seriously creepy villain (a duke who is so cold he claims to have frozen the 13 clocks in his home and who regularly feeds suitors of his niece to the geese), a prince who decides to take on the challenge and a hilarious sidekick with an "indescribable" hat who admits that he may not ever remember anything accurately -- but he's cheerful and anxious to help.

The 13 Clocks is typical Thurber -- funny, extremely witty, full of brilliant wordplay.  If you have a youngster you read to, it's well worth hunting down a copy.  Or, if you just like a clever story, read it for yourself as I did.  I got my copy (used) for $1 at Off-Square Books in Oxford, MS, this weekend.  It's obviously been around the block and back, a few times . . . 'tis pretty beat-up.  The illustrations are every bit as terrific and funny/creepy as the story, so it's another highly recommended book.  Definitely add this to your list if you're a regular Readers Imbibing Peril challenge participant.

More later!  Gotta check the dryer and finish emptying the dishwasher.  Fun times.


©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey

Happy Monday!  I had a 4-day weekend that began with a run to the old homestead to pick up some planters we left behind, zip around town trying to get my address changed and bills paid (two did not arrive, this month), visit old neighbors and my former personal trainer and eat lunch with the husband.  That was just Thursday!  The rest of the "weekend" began on Friday with a trip to Oxford to visit Kiddo.  We took the futon to his apartment because the poor fellow had only a rocking chair and a beanbag in his tiny living area.  Visitors had to sprawl on the floor. He's very happy to have some decent seating.  

Saturday, we ran to Memphis to meet up with Eldest for lunch (he was in town for a wedding) and do some critical shopping, including the search for a new, padded desk chair for Kiddo (success!).  His other chair was a wreck and very uncomfortable.  It didn't take much complaining to convince me that we needed to find a solution.  I think we've got Kiddo's home away from home pretty well kitted out, now.  We stayed with him both Friday and Saturday night and discovered you quickly figure out what your child needs when you spend the night at his place.  

I think I forgot to mention that this book arrived for TLC Tour, last week:

On the other hand, maybe I did mention it.  At any rate, we're excited about it and have already cooked one recipe, "Heavenly Salmon Salad".   It was absolutely amazing.  

Here are this week's arrivals and purchases (in front of a pile that I unfortunately misplaced for a month -- I have some serious ARC catch-up to do):

   

Top to bottom:

Ned Kelly & the City of the Bees by Thomas Keneally - purchased at Burke's Books in Memphis

The Girl Below by Bianca Zander - from Paperback Swap

Soldiers - Fighting Men's Lives: 1901-2001 by Philip Ziegler - purchased at Burke's Books 

The Man Who Never Was by Ewen Montagu - Extremely exciting library sale discovery

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver - ARC for review from Harper

Sixties: Years of Hope, Years of Rage by Todd Gitlin - Library sale purchase

On Prejudice: A Global Perspective ed. by Daniela Gioseffi - Library sale purchase

Wildflower by Mark Seal - Library sale purchase

Not pictured: 

Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James - Another library sale find

Totally out of order:  

A photo of moi driving past Sun Records in Memphis.  Note the tourists snapping pics on the sidewalk.

The Monday Malarkey photo at the top of this post shows my new goat sculpture, which I purchased at our favorite produce stand -- to which we are now much closer in proximity (squee!) -- standing in one of our planters.  Below, the same planter about a week later.  Our broccoli is growing like crazy!  We've also planted mums, an aster, salvia (to draw the hummingbirds), basil and cauliflower.  Some pansies and a new gerbera daisy are waiting to be planted.  

Some day I'll finish the whopper of a chunkster pictured below, but it's taking me so long that I set it aside to read two of my purchases, this weekend.  

I read The Man Who Never Was (about WWII's Operation Mincemeat) and Ned Kelly & the City of the Bees (a children's book about a boy who goes into the hospital with appendicitis and ends up spending the summer in a bee hive -- apparently based on a hallucination the author had when he went into the hospital at the age of 10). Kiddo does not have a TV, which made for quiet evenings with plenty of reading time.  Both books were quick reads and very, very enjoyable.

You can imagine how much I appreciated Vice President Joe Biden's use of the word "malarkey" in last week's televised debate.  I think the word needs to be used as often as possible.  I just do. 

Since I didn't have time to load a Fiona Friday pic, here's your kitty fix: 

How was your week?

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Tuesday Twaddle

I just had an epiphany, this week.  When I mention books that have "walked in" (aka, arrivals), it never occurs to me to mention e-books.  I purchased one e-book and downloaded one for tour, but I probably will continue to forget to mention them because you can't stack e-books in a convenient location to remind yourself what you acquired.  This week, I will definitely mention them.

New arrivals, the past week:

Lola's Secret by Monica McInerney - e-book for TLC tour, requested because it's a Christmas book and I'm reading as many as I can to help me come up with decent suggestions for my F2F group's December meeting.
Jamie Oliver's Great Britain by Jamie Oliver - also for TLC tour
When It Happens to You by Molly Ringwald - from Harper It for review
Among the Missing by Dan Chaon - purchased at my local secondhand bookstore . . . which, unfortunately, was a pretty big disappointment, otherwise.
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn - e-book purchased because I felt like a quick, creepy read.
11/22/63 by Stephen King - an impulse purchase

General Twaddle About My Week:

• This week I discovered I was definitely not meant to be a librarian.  I've been shelving my books by category, as we unpack.  I've got at least the following categories and then some:  YA, history, historical fiction, WWII (both NF and F, mixed together), short stories, poetry, classics, sci-fi, science, travel and travel memoirs (but I have an entire separate shelf dedicated to books about France and/or set in Paris and an entire shelf of memoirs), psychology, law, Christian/inspirational/spiritual, writing, literature studies, writing reference, books about reading or with bookish subject matter, "potentially fluffy" and "I'm not sure how to categorize this".  
• We don't necessarily have to go to the big city to do city-related errands.  There is a tiny town we can go to, instead. I drove there to do some banking and scout out the courthouse, this week.  I'm familiar with the town but I hadn't paid much attention to the courthouse.  It's beautiful!  You can park to the side, where there is a row of towering pecan trees and an iron fence covered in lichen.  
• It is acting like autumn, although our leaves are not yet turning.  We're enjoying the cool air and have begun taking daily walks through our neighborhood.  It's truly exciting to finally live in a subdivision with sidewalks in a city with leash laws that are enforced!
• The photo of squash at the top of this post was taken at a produce stand we love.  We've only been there a few times, in the past, but it's been a favorite place since we discovered it on the way to a swim meet.  We're thrilled to be 30 miles closer to one of our old favorite haunts!

Random conversation with husband:

Me:  "I was thinking maybe we could make a pumpkin man.  You know, like a snowman but with 3 pumpkins stacked on top of each other, instead of balls of snow?"
Husband:  "Nancy, this is a nice neighborhood."
Me:  "But, we don't have snow, so . . ."
Husband:  ". . . "

Reading update:

I have been an ADD reader, this week.  I set aside the books I was reading last week and started 11/22/63 practically the moment I brought it home.  But, I haven't gotten far because I keep picking up other books.  I read the first story in Miracle and Other Stories by Connie Willis, this weekend (loved it).  And, then I downloaded my creepy e-book, Wait Till Helen Comes, and read that at once.  I finished Lola's Secret (a November tour book) and read maybe 25 pages of Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure.  I can't remember if I finished The Lifeboat this past week or the week before, but it kept my attention long enough to complete.  That's saying something, I suppose.  I also read Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory.

Blogging:

I've been bad, haven't I?


©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

New on my shelf

I bought several books over Thanksgiving break and one arrived by mail. Here's what I got:

The Book of Marvels: An Explorer's Miscellany by Mervyn Peake came from Hastings Books & Music in Conway, Arkansas. I love that store. It's been one of our "stop and stretch" points on the trip home to Oklahoma for well over a decade and I was especially excited to visit the store because I'm spending almost zero time in bookstores since the demise of Borders.

When I picked up this beautifully illustrated volume, I was immediately captured. It's subtitled, "An Explorer's Miscellany" for good reason. The writings look to be quite a hodge-podge with excerpts dating as far back as the writings of Herodotus. I'm going to really enjoy digging into this book.

Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake is a book I've read about, but I don't know where or when. I just recall reading about it and thinking, "Hmm, maybe someday." So, when I found a copy on a table full of remainders, I flipped through it. The writing looks a little intense, but sometimes I like a good challenge. We'll see how that goes, when I get around to reading.

As always, I read a few random passages. The beginning looked particularly daunting, but the language is lovely. When I returned home, I discovered why the opening seems a little confusing. Gormenghast is the second book in a series. I'll need to find a copy of Titus Groan, the first book. Reading the first book will likely make sense of the foggy beginning. I read a trade publication description in which it's referred to as a "gothic masterpiece" and elsewhere I've seen the word "fantasy" bandied about. Gormenghast is a crumbling castle; Titus Groan its owner. I'm intrigued.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano has been on my mental wish list for a while -- not a physical wish list, but I have a couple trusted blogger friends who read and enjoyed the book, so the idea of finding a copy has been lurking in the aging neurons. Sounds like it's about two fish out of water who try to get together (romantically speaking) and find that loners don't necessarily work well in a relationship.

While searching for a cover image, I discovered that there is a movie version of The Solitude of Prime Numbers. I'll have to look into that. Has anyone seen it? Near as I can tell, it's an Italian film and possibly the artsy type that a lot of people don't like. I tend to really like foreign flicks because they're so much less predictable and far more interesting than the standard Hollywood fare but we don't get them, here. I don't actually know anyone who is partial to foreign films (except for my eldest son, who hasn't mentioned it) so I don't know whether it was well received by its intended audience.

Edward S. Curtis: Coming to Light by Anne Makepeace has been on my PaperbackSwap wish list since . . . um, 2006? Maybe 2007. I recently considered dropping it off my wish list to open up a slot because I was starting to think it was never going to be listed. But, just before we left for Tulsa, a copy became available and it arrived while we were away.

At any rate, I'm very excited to finally acquire a copy of Coming to Light. It's a National Geographic book, large but not coffee-table huge -- just big enough that some of the more detailed photographs, at about 8" x 10", are satisfying. There's plenty of text, as well. I've desired to read more about Curtis, the man who became obsessed with photographing Native Americans before their traditions completely disappeared, since I read a fictional account of his life. I didn't realize he'd altered some photos and reused certain costumes when photographing men from different tribes; I learned that much just in perusing the book after we arrived home, yesterday. I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy this book!

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Monday Malarkey - reading and otherwise

This post has been brought to you by a particularly beautiful autumn in Mississippi:

I'm going to do my best to hack away at that backlog of unwritten reviews, this week, but for now . . . an update on life and books, starting with books.

I finished 3 books, last week (links lead to Amazon, although I am not an associate):

Remembering You by Tricia Goyer - A Christian novel about a woman who travels to Europe with her grandfather, his best friend and his best friend's grandson to retrace the older fellows' path in WWII. This is a tour book and will be reviewed soon.

Flight to Heaven by Capt. Dale Black - An e-book, also Christian but non-fiction about a man who was the only survivor of a plane crash at the age of 19, in 1969. A pretty exciting read by a very impressive guy. I didn't mean to read Flight to Heaven, but I actually hit the wrong book image, started reading and, by the time I figured out I'd opened the wrong book (about a paragraph in) couldn't bear to switch back to the book I'd intended to read.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin - A novel I likely would have avoided because of the "mystery" aspect if not for my book group, but thank goodness I didn't. My F2F book club meets this week to discuss the book. I can't wait! It is definitely deserving of the awards and praise it's received.

I've recently received two books in the mail:

Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire came unsolicited from HarperCollins. Since I haven't read Wicked or any of the other books in the series but my son's girlfriend has read them all, I handed it to her and asked if she'd be willing to write a guest review. She said, "Yes, but it might take me a while." She's a busy college student, so her response was expected. I'm hoping she'll find the time to read it over Thanksgiving break. She's going to loan me her copy of Wicked so that I can eventually review Out of Oz, as well.

Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast by Bill Richardson - from Paperback Swap. I have no earthly idea where I read about this book, but it has a badge saying it won "The Stephen Leacock Award for Humour," which seems like a very positive sign.

And, now the bad news, which isn't really all that bad:

Nano went splat. Actually, I'm not surprised that I simply let go of my Nano writing because I'm still a little off on my wake-sleep schedule and knew it would be a stretch to keep up the kind of dedication you need to write a novel in a single month after a big trip. I'm not even disappointed. Writing for a couple weeks has nicely reawakened my desire to write fiction, so I'm going to continue to do so -- just not the book I started writing on the 1st of November. It was fun but turned out to be a book about . . . nothing. It was so seriously lacking in plot that I decided it wasn't worth my time to continue.

I love NaNoWriMo and believe it is an excellent event, a positive activity to join in on, a great way to give people that little nudge they need to at least try (if writing is something they've only talked about), to start over (if you've written in the past and let your skills lapse) or to shove yourself through a novel (if you're already a success and just love the challenge). My wishes for success to those who are still participating.

In everyday life:

Still pretty out there, still taking lots of pictures. But, we had a gusty day and we're on the downhill side of our fall color. Some trees are close to being totally bare. We've enjoyed taking drives to enjoy the color while it lasted. Winter is pleasant in Mississippi and we're really enjoying the unusually brisk autumn air (well, we were -- it's supposed to get nearly to 80, today). It's not winter, yet, but this shot looks a bit wintery, doesn't it?

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Sunday Jumble Pie - Mostly a reading update

It's kind of a lazy Sunday, here. I made the mistake of reading a few pages of One Second After, a post-apocalyptic novel by William R. Forstchen, when it arrived in the mail from PBS, yesterday. Couldn't put it down. I just finished reading it, early this afternoon. The apocalypse, as it were, is a result of EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) caused by the detonation of nuclear bombs high in the atmosphere above the U.S. EMP causes electronics to short out unless they're "hardened" in advance, so the entire United States loses electricity, cell and land-line phone service, cars and planes cease to function and crash or roll to a stop, medical equipment and even back-up generators fail, etc.

I thought the idea was great but the execution was disappointing. One Second After simply was not a well-written book. Many of the adult characters peppered their dialogue with swear words -- and they all used them in the same manner. So, they didn't necessarily sound distinctive. There were also some major grammatical errors which, at first, I thought were an attempt at portraying a particular dialect. But, those errors were consistent across characters. Specifically, the author had his characters saying "would of" rather than "would have" or "would've". Boy, was that irritating.

Still, One Second After was interesting for the perspective and I always enjoy reading post-apocalyptic books because they're thought-provoking. Everyone who writes about a world after an apocalypse chooses a different focus and Forstchen examined things I might not have considered, such as how quickly many of our pharmaceutically-dependent population would die or go nuts, now that so many people are kept artificially healthy -- both physically and mentally -- with medication. I thought that was rather fascinating. And, the whole EMP concept? It's apparently feasible and certainly terrifying. It makes you want to read up on survival skills, how to successfully live an old-fashioned, pre-technology lifestyle and forage for food, etc.

Not a great book, not awful. I was surprised to find that the author has published 40 books; One Second After certainly could have used a lot more tightening. I'm not going to write a formal review -- this is it, kids.

Otherwise, I haven't made much progress on any of the books in my sidebar. I'm about 2/3 of the way through Amazing & Extraordinary Facts: Great Britain and enjoying it immensely. It's one of those books that you read in short bites so it may take me another week or so to finish, but I feel like I've learned a lot of interesting little tidbits. I got a kick out of the fact that baked beans were originally brought to Great Britain by Fortnum & Mason as an exotic (and overpriced) American import. Americans will probably laugh at the idea of anything by Heinz being billed as "exotic".

I started The Help and was totally in love by page

3, but haven't progressed past the first chapter in spite of that. Hopefully, I'll get back to that, soon. It's one of those books that I've avoided because of the hype, so I was really pleased when I started reading and found out it is, in fact, a very special kind of storytelling and not just another book set in the Deep South. I'm really not a big fan of Southern Lit, simply because I don't consider reading about the area in which I live escapist enough and I am definitely into escapism. But, I know already that I'm going to love The Help because of the writing and the genuine Southerness.

The Beekeeper's Lament is another book I'm reading rather slowly and finding fascinating. I knew we had a big die-off of European honeybees, a while back (the book says there was a big die-off in 2005, but there were previous bee plagues of unknown origin and I thought the big die-off was earlier; I do remember a year without

bees). I thought they were rebounding, so it really shocked me to find out that there are no longer any naturally-existing European honeybees in the continental United States. All the remaining bees are kept by beekeepers.

Really? That is kind of horrifying. At this point, our food supply is largely reliant upon beekeepers who truck their bees from farm to farm in order to help farmers with pollination. But, they still have large, mysterious die-offs that occur on a regular basis with no explanation. Imagine what would happen if we no longer had bees around at all. Scary.

Agonizing Love just arrived a few days ago and it's another one of those

books that I made the mistake of immediately opening. It's a book about romance comics, a type of comic books that were only popular for a handful of years. There's not all that much text but the author makes it clear that the book is more a celebration of romance comics and a sampling of them than a definitive text. In other words, you get a fun peek into a really dramatic style of old-fashioned graphic storytelling along with a little description by the author. Agonizing Love is a bit of a hoot. I'll tell you more about it when I finish.

Other books besides Agonizing Love and One Second After that have arrived, recently:

In the Heat of the Bite by Lydia Dare - from my friend, Melissa

Pillow Talk by Freya North - from Sourcebooks for a book chat

Jamie Durie's The Outdoor Room - from HarperCollins for review

That's all I can think of to chat about, so here's another London photo. On one brilliant, sunny day when my feet were weary, I sat on the little stretch of grass in front of the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, eating a cheese & onion sandwich and watching the crowd while husband dashed off to fetch theatre tickets to Les Miserables. I was a little envious of the juicy strawberries those fellows in front of me thought to buy. Tired bodies love fruit.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Sleeping Beauties (and some new book arrivals)

This looks so tiny!! But, I loaded the full-pixel image, so you should be able to click on the image to see the kitties a little closer (I hope).

I'm just now cooling off from a workout that involved throwing the little toys we call "milk carton tabs" in two different directions and zipping back and forth to keep repeating the process, so that the two kitties didn't cross paths and get peeved at each other for "stealing my toy". Chiefly, I'm referring to Fiona, who has recently taken to gnawing on Izzy until Izzy cries out, "Help me, help me, help me, stop her, stop her, stop her, OUCH!" in kitten language (the sound is very much like several steps on a squeaky toy). The only solution is to wear out both furballs, although there may be some time-outs involved if Fi keeps this up.

I wear out much faster than the cats do, unfortunately.

I began working on a review of Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce, last night, but I didn't get far before I was overcome with a sudden and overwhelming urge to read, which resulted in one of those really late nights that you have when you're an insane book addict who keeps saying, "Just one more chapter. Okay. Just one more. Really, this time I'll stop at the end of the chapter." On and on until I finished Pemberley Ranch. I got to bed at 3:00 am. Then I had to wake up (oh, the trauma) to go fetch Kiddo from school and run some errands. I'm kind of beat.

Tomorrow, I plan to finish my Cosmic review some time during a day of mad cleaning. It's going to be a very positive review, in case you're interested.

Since I still haven't charged my camera batteries, I'll just copy some images to show you my 4 most recent arrivals.

The Thief of Time by John Boyne - from a swap site (I've decided to simply refer to Paperback Swap generically, in the future, for the sake of those who might not know what PBS stands for). I have no earthly idea where I heard about The Thief of Time but it sure sounds fun. Here's the cover blurb:

It is 1758 and Matthieu Zela is fleeing Paris for Dover, having witnessed the murder of his mother by his stepfather.

Beginning in murder and ending in redemption, Matthieu's life is characterised by one extraordinary fact: before the eighteenth century ends he discovers that his body has stopped ageing. At the end of the twentieth century he is able to look back on a life lived to the full. He has been an engineer, a rogue, a movie mogul, a soldier, a cable TV executive and a lover to many. Spanning two-and-a-half centuries, The Thief of Time weaves Hollywood in the 1920s, the Great Exhibition of 1851, the French Revolution, the Wall Street Crash and much more into a dazzling novel of murder, treachery, passion and glamour.

Angel Harp by Michael Phillips - Advanced Reader's Copy from Faith Words for FirstWild review

Selected excerpt from the cover blurb (not the entire blurb):

Widowed at thirty-four, amateur harpist Marie Buchan realizes that her life and dreams are slowly slipping away. A longed-for summer in Scotland offers far more than a change of scenery. Not only does the music of her harp capture the fancy of the small coastal village she visits, but she is unexpectedly drawn into a love triangle involving the local curate and the local duke.

In this sparkling new novel, acclaimed author Michael Phillips takes readers on a romantic journey along Scotland's beautiful shores and into a young widow's search for love, faith and fulfillment.

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong - from a swap site

After reading the entire young adult Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong, I decided I absolutely must read more and Melissa recommended the Women of the Otherworld series. I got two of the books whilst on Thanksgiving holiday and neither was the first book (I had to guess), so I ordered Bitten.

Elena Michaels seems like the typically strong and sexy modern woman. She lives with her architect boyfriend, writes for a popular newspaper, and works out at the gym. She's also a werewolf.

Elena has done all she can to assimilate to the human world, but the man whose bite changed her existence forever, and his legacy, continue to haunt her. Thrown into a desperate war for survival that tests her allegiance to a secret clan of werewolves, Elena must reckon with who and what she is in this passionate and page-turning novel.

La Petite Four by Regina Scott - from a swap site and highly recommended by a blogger, but I have this unfortunate tendency not to write down who wrote the review that swayed me. I'm going to work on trying to become more organized in that way, in 2011.

La Petite Four are Lady Emily and her three best friends: Priscilla, Ariadne and Daphne. They've finally graduated from the Barnsley School for Young Ladies and can't wait for the ball that will launch them into London Society.

Then detestable Lord Robert announces that he wants to mary Emily! This dreadful news threatens to prevent their ball from ever taking place! La Petite Four vow that no gentleman will come between them and what promises to be the biggest party of the season. Even if it means chasing Lord Robert all over town to discover his ugly secret, muddying their hems and constantly running into wickedly charming strangers like the mysterious James Cropper. Or could it be that James is following them?

But when La Petite Four uncover a deadly scheme, they realize they are the only ones who can put a stop to it. Now they don't know who to trust--only that they must save the ball, and Emily, before it's too late!

I have more titles I haven't mentioned and which I'll share another day.

Question:

Have you got any great plans for the weekend? My plans, besides mad cleaning and writing my Cosmic review are to finish at least two books, watch a couple of movies, begin writing Christmas cards (yes, yes, I know I'm getting a late start, but usually I just ignore them completely) and do a bit more Christmas decorating. We haven't even got a tree, but that's okay since we don't yet have any packages to put under one. This is the tree I want.

2 DNFs; 2 Arrivals

It seems like I've abandoned more books than usual, recently, but at the moment I can only find two. One I will return to and one I will not. Here's why I didn't finish them, and whether or not I'll give them a second go:

Jane's Fame by Claire Harman

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Jane's Fame. Don't let the fact that I've set it aside twice fool you. The first time, I simply had too many books going at once. The second time was one of those phases when non-fiction was just not grabbing me, although even then I enjoyed what I read. In fact, I totally dumped everything I was reading and started over on a new batch, at some point. So, Jane's Fame was simply a victim of an attention-deficit summer. I will definitely continue to read Jane's Fame, when I get over my summer slump . . . which seems to be lingering.

The Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme

I got an ARC of The Outer Banks House from Shelf Awareness, based on the description and that gorgeous cover. I'll admit, the cover really grabbed me. Read this excellent review at Fiction Addiction for a full description of the story. To be honest, there's little that I remember apart from how I felt as I read. My general feeling, as I was reading the book, was that the story was too contrived. It didn't work for me; it didn't flow and the book never succeeded in capturing my interest. After two attempts, the book went into a roving book box being passed around by friends and I will not give this book another try.

Just walked in:

Beneath the Thirteen Moons by Kathryne Kennedy - An ARC from Sourcebooks to be released in December, 2010. I really like the cover at left, but that's a cover from a previous edition. The new Sourcebooks cover has a slightly mystical look at the bottom and a man with his shirt open on top. Have I ever told you what I think of bare-chested-man covers? About the same thing I think of scantily-dressed female covers. I think they're self-limiting, meaning some people will look at them and assume "romance" then refuse to touch them. Romance is actually the top-selling genre, so it's probably a good move for Sourcebooks to go with the bare-chested look, but it's one I tend to dislike. Fantasy is not as big a seller, but I do love a beautiful fantasy-related cover and that's why I thought I'd share the old cover.

Part of the cover description: She's an outcast, but at least she has her independence . . . Mahri Zin would stop at nothing to save her village, and when they needed a healer she didn't think twice about kidnapping one. But when she realizes that the healer she so impulsively stole is none other than the crown prince of the Sea Forest, Mahri knows that she has a chance to change the fate of her people.

Whisper on the Wind by Maureen Lang

Whisper on the Wind follows the story of Isabelle Lassone, a Belgian-American socialite whose parents whisked her away to safety at the start of the war. Yet at great personal risk, Isa sneaks back into the country to rescue those dearest to her, Edward and his mother. But Edward refuses to go, and soon Isa is drawn into his secret life working on the newspaper -- and into his heart.

Again, that's just a portion of the publisher's blurb. I requested Whisper on the Wind for a blog tour because I read Lang's My Sister Dilly in 2008 and thought Maureen Lang's writing was excellent. I've kept her name in the back of my head but hadn't managed to acquire any more of her books, so I jumped at the chance to review another. My Sister Dilly was contemporary, so it will be fun to see how the author handles historical fiction.

In other news:

Gosh, there's not much of that to be had. It is still way too quiet, around here. I'm trying to motivate myself to clean like crazy but it might take me some time to get into a new routine that doesn't revolve around Kiddo. The best news is that I hear from him regularly. Although he plans to come home on weekends, he's already reconsidering because he doesn't yet have a roommate and that means his dorm is a quiet place where he can study and get plenty of sleep -- better sleep than he's ever managed with an insomniac mother padding around at all hours. He's happy, so far, and that's nice to know.

In case you missed my last post, I'm giving myself 2-4 weeks to catch up, get used to the empty house and ponder what to do with myself. I have a lot of reviews to catch up on and I've found that I write best in spurts, so don't be surprised if one day I write three reviews and then you hear nothing for a week or two. Be patient with me. I've been a stay-at-home wife and mom for over 25 years. This empty nest business is a bit of a shock!

Love to all,

Bookfool, a little wacky but eventually she'll figure it out

©2010 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Bookfoolery and Babble, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.