Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals:

• Polar Bear Island by Lindsay Bonilla and Cinta Villalobos - from Sterling Children's Books for review
• Monstrous Devices by Damien Love - from Penguin Random House for review
• The Huntress by Kate Quinn - from HarperCollins for review

Books finished since last Malarkey:

• The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
• To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel by Harper Lee and Fred Fordham
• Polar Bear Island by Lindsay Bonilla and Cinta Villalobos

I also read a single short story: "Twentieth Century Ghosts" by Joe Hill. Since I don't feel like I have the time to slot in a spooky or atmospheric book for fall, I decided to just read this old favorite ghost story from Joe Hill's first book. It's creepy without being terrifying, which is just about perfect for me.

Currently reading:

• Monstrous Devices by Damien Love
• D-Day: The WWII Invasion that Changed History by Deborah Hopkinson
• Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy
• The Third Level by Jack Finney

My review of Monstrous Devices is due tomorrow and I'm only 90 pages in but so far it's a terrific adventure (middle grade). I'll have to read hard to finish it today, though. I can't remember what compelled me to pluck The Third Level off the shelves, but it's one of only two Jack Finney books (short stories, in this case) I know of that I haven't gotten around to reading. Jack Finney is one of my all-time favorite authors. I've read two short stories and they were both amazing. In the title story, "The Third Level", the narrator gets lost in Grand Central Station and discovers an unexpected underground level that has led him into the 19th century, where he tries to buy a train ticket to Galesburg, Illinois. But, his modern money is considered suspicious, so he's unable to buy the ticket and wanders through the station till he returns to the present time. 

I hardly touched D-Day and only read the prologue and first chapter of Marilla of Green Gables, but both are great, so far, and I only set them aside because two of the books I've recently read were time sensitive (one a tour book, one just recently published). After Monstrous Devices, I think I only have one book tour coming up and that's not till the 15th of November, so I should be able to enjoy finishing the books I've started. 

Posts since last Malarkey:

• Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak (book review)
• Perfect Little Books (just chatter)
• Mini reviews: A Brown Man in Russia by V. Menon and The Birds of Opulence by C. Wilkinson (book reviews)
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa (book review)
• Fiona Friday on the Wrong Day: Pumpkin spice cuddles (cat photo)

In other news:

I finished all of Doc Martin, last week, and wasn't sure what to move on to, next, then the shooting in Pittsburgh happened and I realized that after a week of truly horrifying news (bombs in the mail, African Americans deliberately targeted and then Jews), I needed to find something escapist. So, I talked my husband into subscribing to the Hallmark Channel and this weekend I watched two Hallmark movies:

Mail Order Bride starring Daphne Zuniga and Cameron Bancroft is about a woman who steals $10,000 and then takes the place of her friend, who has been writing to a rancher and planned to marry him but passed away.

Diana has been forced to work for a con man since she picked his pocket while still young. Seeing an opportunity to get away, she steals from a man who has just won a large sum of money and takes her friend's place as a mail order bride. But, it's hard to stop her thieving ways and she isn't sure the ranching life is right for her. Will she move on to San Francisco or stay with Beau?

Christmas at Pemberley Manor is new for the fall season and I saw people live-tweeting about it on Saturday. It sounded fun.

Elizabeth Bennett works behind the scenes as an event planner. She's very organized, always keeping her events in separate colored binders. When she's asked by an old friend, George, to plan the Christmas Festival in the town where he is now mayor, she does the planning herself instead of staying behind the scenes. But, then disaster strikes. Now, the festival can't be held where she'd originally planned.

William Darcy has inherited his aunt and uncle's mansion, Pemberley Manor, but the board of directors for his company is planning to sell the home and tear it down to build condos. The house has sat empty for years and he's decided to return for a few days to the place he most enjoyed holidays, before saying goodbye to the house forever.

When the local town festival's planned location falls through, Elizabeth finds a way to convince Mr. Darcy to let her hold the festival on the grounds of Pemberley Manor. But, then Elizabeth's boss, Caroline Bingley, finds out Elizabeth has a connection to William Darcy, whom she's been trying to persuade to become one of her clients for years. When Caroline takes over the planning, Elizabeth no longer has an excuse to spend so much time with William. Will the spark between them die?

I loved both movies because they're pure escapism and that was exactly what I needed. The Hallmark Channel is definitely my panacea for a sad news week.

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