Tuesday, January 31, 2012

January 2012 in Review


 I can't believe the first month of 2012 is over already.

Instead of worrying about the number of books I read or meeting some self-imposed monthly goal, in January I just went with the flow --reading what I felt like reading and not worrying (too much) about review books.  I have to admit I loved it and I ended up really enjoying what I read a lot, except for one audio review book which was just so so.  Here is what my month looked like (I decided to include the movies I saw as well) ---

January

  1. A Sense of an Ending; Julian Barnes (5/5) - literary fiction
  2. Lethal; Sandra Brown - 4/5 (suspense - audio book)
  3. The Girl Who Played With Fire; Stieg Larsson - 4/5 (books to movies)
  4. Heft; Liz Moore - 4.5/5 (contemporary fiction)
  5. The Odds: A Love Story; Stewart O'Nan - 4/5 (contemporary fiction) 
  6. Home Front; Kristin Hannah - 3/5  (contemporary fiction  - audio book)
  7. East of Eden; John Steinbeck - 5/5 (classic challenge - audio) 
  8. The Invisible Ones; Stef Penney - 4/5 (arc/mystery) 
Books in Progress 

Movies
February Plans

First Chapter First Paragraph - Tuesday Intros


Every Tuesday, I'll be posting the opening paragraph (sometimes two) of a book I decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s). Feel free to grab the banner and play along.  This week's selection is a book that is scheduled to release on February 7th from Dutton Publishing.  Lisa Gardner is a favorite suspense/thriller author of mine.

(eGalley provided through NetGalley
quoted text may differ in final copy)

"My name is Charlene Rosalind Carter Grant.

I live in Boston, work in Boston, and in four days, will probably die here.  I'm twenty-eight years old.  And I don't feel like dying just yet.

It started two years ago, with the murder of my best friend, Randi Menke, in Providence.  She was strangled in her living room.  No sign of struggle, no sign of forced entry.  For a while the Rhode Island cops thought maybe her ex had done it.  I guess there'd be a history of domestic assaults.  Nothing she ever told me, or our other best friend, Jackie, about.  Jackie and I tried to console ourselves with that, as we wept together at Randi's funeral.  We hadn't known.  We just hadn't known or of course we would've done ...something. Anything.

That's what we told ourselves." 

Woukl you continue reading?  (The  paragraphs that follow these are even better!)

Monday, January 30, 2012

Mailbox Monday

 
Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. January's host is Alyce@ At Home with Books.


Sorry about the photo chop-job, but (4) books arrived last week.  The top (2): Five Chiefs; Stevens and Digital Photography; Horenstein were blog wins from Kim and Leslie. (Thank you so much, as well as the publishers for their generosity).

The bottom (2) The New Republic; Shriver and Waiting for Sunrise; Boyd, came to me from Shelf Awareness and the Amazon Vine Program.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Invisible Ones; Stef Penney


Author:  Stef Penney
Publication Year: 2012
Publisher: Putnam
Edition: ARC
Source: Amazon Vine
Setting: England
Date Completed: 1/22/2012
Rating: 4/5
Recommend: yes

Some of you may recall that a few weeks ago I quoted an intro from Stef Penney's new novel, The Invisible Ones.  It was one that really made me curious for more....(here it is again in case you missed it):

St. Luke's Hospital
"When I woke up, I remembered nothing--apart from one thing.  And little enough of that:  I remember that I was lying on my back while the woman was straddling me, grinding her hips against mine,  I have a feeling it was embarrassingly quick; but then, it had been a while.  The thing is, I remember how it felt, but not what anything looked like.  When I try to picture her face, I can't.  When I try to picture the surroundings, I can't.  I can't picture anything at all.  I try; I try really hard, because I'm worried.

After some time, one thing comes back to me: the taste of ashes."

In this unusual mystery, set in the 80s, Ray Lovell is a private investigator who finds himself in the situation quoted above.  Ray, because of his gypsy descent, has been hired by Leon Wood, to help find his daughter Rose, who went missing seven years earlier after marrying Ivo JankoLeon is a gypsy himself, who does not trust the authorities, and thinks Lovell, is the one who can help find Rose. The Janko family is a tight knit family of gypsies who keep to themselves. After Rose disappeared, no one bothered to even notify authorities, so Leon is suspecting that she may have been a victim of foul play. The Jankos think she ran off with someone else, and have hoped to have seen the last of her.

The story alternates between two narratives, Ray, the investigator, and JJ (Jimmy Janko) a 14-year old who is concerned about his uncle Ivo.  JJ is also concerned about little Christo, Ivo's young son who is suffering from a rare disease, that has stricken other male members of theJanko family, including Ivo when he was a young child.

PI Lovell has his work cut out for him, as there is plenty of misinformation which he needs to dissect, and plenty of twists and turns along the way,.  The secrets are plentiful in the story, so even though the plot line moved slowly at times, I was sucked in early and anxious to find out what was actually going on.

I cannot recall ever reading a mystery quite like this one.  It was interesting to find out about the gypsy culture, and the author really did a good job in this respect.  Readers who enjoy a good mystery that will keep you wondering until the end should enjoy this book. I was totally taken by surprise with the ending.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Saturday Snapshot

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ AT Home With Books.

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.


My coworker designed this pattern, and then bit by bit, over a long period of time, she painted the dining room ceiling in her old Victorian home.  Some people obviously have a lot more creativity and patience than me -- I couldn't imagine taking on a project this huge. (This is only a third of the ceiling, the rest still needs to be done.)

Thursday, January 26, 2012

East of Eden; John Steinbeck

Author:  John Steinbeck
Publication Year: (originally 1952)
Publisher: Penguin (2002) (Recorded Books - audio)
Edition: trade softcover and audio book
Source: my copy and Library audio book
Setting: (mostly Salinas Valley, California)
Date Completed: 1/20/2012
Rating: 5/5
Recommend: yes - a must read!

It's always difficult for me to write a review about a book I absolutely loved.  I can't believe I waited this long to read this epic masterpiece.  The writing is beautiful, the story and characters memorable; it's one of those stories you will never forget, but you will want to reread even though you know what will happen.

--just one of my favorite passages---

"In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved.  Indeed, most of their vices are attempted short cuts to love.  When a man comes to die, no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror.  It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world".

We have only one story.  All novels, all poetry, are built on the never ending contests in ourselves of good and evil.  And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal.  Vice has always a fresh young face,  while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is."

The book is 600 pages and the audio book was read by Richard Poe, a favorite reader. I loved the audio, but needed to reread sections, just because the writing was so wonderful.  The story is somewhat autobiographical and it also reminds the reader of the biblical story of Cain and Abel from the Book of Genesis. It is a story which spans a period covering the Civil War and World War 1, but yet, it is not a story about our country at war.

It's a story of three generations and two families. The family of Samuel and Liza Hamilton, Irish immigrants. Samuel was a wise and loving man, and a wonderful husband and father to nine children.  The other family is Cyrus and Alice Trask, and their two sons Charles and Adam.  Cyrus is a tough on his boys as well as his wife. 

Adam and Charles Trask are brothers with personalities as different as day and night, from an early age they vie for their father's love and approval. Adam is gentle, Charles is mean. After their mother passes away and later their powerful father, Cyrus, the brothers are left a large sum of money. Adam marries a woman named Cathy, who he knows very little about. Not only is she conniving, she has a sordid past and is pure evil. She's a woman who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Shortly after they move away to Salinas Valley, California, Cathy gives birth to twin sons, who she wants nothing to do with.  Not only doesn't she want to be a mother, she has no interest in being a wife either. She does what she must to escape her situation.

Lee, is a Chinese cook and servant for the Trasks who basically raises the young boys, after Cathy leaves. Adam is devastated after his wife has left and unable to deal with the young twins. It is only after she is gone that the twins are even given names after Lee insists on it.  They are named Caleb (Cal) and Aron,  after Cain and Abel.

Lee was an amazing character, a gentle and smart man who shares his bits of wisdom though out the story.  The boys, like their father and his brother Charles, are opposites, and each compete for their father's love and affection as well.  As the boys grow up Cal learn bits and pieces about the mother they knew.  Eventually they meet her, and one son fears he shares some of his mother's evil traits.

While the first half of the book tells mostly the story of the Hamilton's, Cyrus and Alice Trask and their son's Charles and Adam.  The second half's focus is on the sons of Adam and Cathy, Caleb (Cal) and Abel.

The entire story held my interest, and the 600 pages and numerous audio discs came to an end all too quickly. I want to read it again already.  So happy I read this book -- you must move it up on your TBR list--you'll be glad that you did. This is sure to be a new top 5 books of all time.

A Moveable Feast; Ernest Hemingway - Read-a-Long

(thanks for hosting)

In my efforts to read more classics in 2012, I've decided to participate in the February (month long) read a-long. It's a short book so you'll only be required to read about (8) pages a day.


Here is a little info about the read-a-long, but please go read the post for more information and to sign up.


Some Facts About the Read-a-Long:
  • You do not have to be a book blogger to join.
  • We will be reading the book in February (4 weeks), with the first discussion happening on Friday, February 3rd / the book is 210 pages (paperback, excluding introduction) so that’s roughly 8 pages a day.
  • Don’t be intimidated. We will be going at a slow pace and discussing the book throughout our reading. The discussions are quite fun, and make the reading process very enjoyable!
In case this one isn't right for you, here is the complete 2012 list for other Read-a-Longs.


2012 Schedule

Currently Reading! January 2012: Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald *
 March/ April/May 2012: Bleak House by Charles Dickens *
September/ October 2012: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte *

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday - Life Everlasting: The Animal Way of Death; Heinrich


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating! Want to participate? Post your own WOW entry on your blog, and leave your link at Breaking the Spine. My pick is a non-fiction book that seems fascinating to me......


Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - June 19, 2012

(overview) 

When a good friend with a severe illness wrote, asking if he might have his “green burial” at Bernd Heinrich’s hunting camp in Maine, it inspired the acclaimed biologist/author to investigate a subject that had long fascinated him. How exactly does the animal world deal with the flip side of the life cycle? And what are the lessons, ecological to spiritual, raised by a close look at how the animal world renews itself? Heinrich focuses his wholly original gaze on the fascinating doings of creatures most of us would otherwise turn away from—field mouse burials conducted by carrion beetles; the communication strategies ravens, “the premier northern undertakers,” use to do their work; and the “inadvertent teamwork” among wolves and large cats, foxes and weasels, bald eagles and nuthatches in cold-weather dispersal of killed prey. Heinrich reveals, too, how and where humans still play our ancient and important role as scavengers, thereby turning—not dust to dust—but life to life.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

First Chapter ~First Paragraph~Tuesday Intros


Every Tuesday, I'll be posting the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book I decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s). Feel free to grab the banner and play along.  This week's selection is a book that has been on my shelf since 2009. The1st paragraph has me wanting more ---- what do you think?



 I ENTER THE LOBBY of Claire Nightingale's apartment building, here to tell her I have murdered her only son.  As always, the marble foyer is hushed and dim, almost sepulchral, and, as always,  two doormen stand watch over the evening shift.  The one who opens the door for me is named Victor.  He recognizes my face--of course he does, he's worked here for years--and he says, "They starving you at college?  I can see your ribs, buddy."
 

Monday, January 23, 2012

The Stephen King Project ~ 2012


Somehow I overlooked signing up for this challenge for January 1st, but my 2012 plans definitely include reading more Stephen King novels.  I finished 2011 reading his latest novel, 11/22/63 (which I loved) so he is once again on my "must read more author's list".

The Stephen King Project is being hosted by:  Natalie at Coffee and a Book Chick and Kathleen at Boarding In My Forties.  It runs from January 2012 thru December 2012, and there are different levels of participation.  You can sign up HERE

My Goal  (3) Books - A Lil Bit of King
(tentative list subject to change)

  1. Gingerbread Girl (audio - 4/5)
  2. The Stand  - 4.5/5 (eBook) 
  3. UR (4/5)  (audio)
  4. In the Tall Grass; Stephen King and Joe Hill - 3.5/5 (audio)

Mailbox Monday


Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. January's host is Alyce@ At Home with Books. (2) new to me books last week - both came from other paperback swap members:




Saturday, January 21, 2012

Saturday Snapshot


Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ AT Home With Books.

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.




This isn't a great scan, but the photo is of my parents wedding in September of 1940.  My mother's oldest sister is to the right of her.  Both of my parents died in the late 80's at the ages of 69 and 72, but my mom's oldest sister lived to be 97 and just passed away in 2010.

I was one of those surprise babies who arrived 9 and 11 years after my (2) brothers. Sadly, they too have also passed away way too young (both in were their 60's).


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Home Front; Kristin Hannah


Title:  Home Front
Author:  Kristin Hannah
Publication Year: 2011
Publisher: MacMillian Audio
Edition: audio
Reader: Maggi - Meg Reed (very good)
Source: Amazon Vine
Date Completed: 1/18/2012
Rating: 3/5
Recommend: no


Kristin Hannah's latest novel, Home Front, explores how war affects families.

Jolene Zarkades, is a wife, a mother of two young daughters and a Black Hawk Pilot with the National Guards. She has been deployed to Iraq. Their marriage of 12 years is on shaky grounds, and to make matters worst on the day before she learns that she must go to Iraq, her husband, Michael, tells her he doesn't love her anymore.

Michael is a successful defense lawyer, who works long hours. He is not happy is not happy, nor is he support of what his wife is doing. Fortunately, Michael's mother, Mila is supportive of Jolene and is there for her grandchildren as well. The 12 year-old daughter is angry and is having issues at school, and the youngest child, only 4 years-old is a child who wants her mama around all the time.  It isn't until Michael is put in the position of defending a client who murdered his wife while suffering from PTSD, that he begins to realize what fighting for one's country does to a person and what war is really like.

The story gives readers an eye-opening account of how war affects military personnel and their families. Without going into what happens to Jolene, of course what happens is the wars changes her. The picture it paints is not pretty.

Did I like this book? Not really,  for a few reasons. While I felt it was an important story, the writing seemed overly sentimental, predictable and often very repetitive. Although the audio book reader, Maggi - Meg Reed did a good job, at times I just really got tired of listening to this story.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating! Want to participate? Post your own WOW entry on your blog, and leave your link at Breaking the Spine. My pick...... (love the cover and the overview)

July - 2012 - St. Martin's Press

From The New York Times bestselling author comes a poignant, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting novel about an unlikely path to motherhood, and of two lost souls healing each other
1950 Tennessee, a time and place that straddles the past and present. Ivorie Walker is considered an old maid by the town (though she’s only in her early thirties) and she takes that label with good humor and a grain of salt. Ever since her parents passed away, she has hidden her loneliness behind a fierce independence and a claim of not needing anyone. But her mother’s death hit her harder than anyone suspects and Ivorie wonders if she will be alone forever.
When she realizes that someone has been stealing vegetables from her garden—a feral, dirty-faced boy who disappears into the hills—something about him haunts Ivorie. She can’t imagine what would make him desperate enough to steal and eat from her garden. But what she truly can’t imagine is what the boy faces, each day and night, in the filthy lean-to hut miles up in the hills. Who is he? How did he come to live in the hills? Where did he come from? And, more importantly, can she save him? As Ivorie steps out of her comfort zone to uncover the answers, she unleashes a firestorm in the town—a community that would rather let secrets stay secret.


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Odds; Stewart O'Nan


Author:  Stewart O'Nan
Publication Year: 2012
Publisher: Viking
Edition: eGalley
Source: Net Galley 
Setting: Niagara Falls, Canada
Date Completed: 1/16/2012
Rating: 4/5
Recommend: yes

The Odds: A Love Story is a short but enjoyable novel of fewer than 200 pages.  It's the story of  Art and Marion Fowler, a couple married nearly 30 years, whose marriage is facing tough and desperate times. Both have lost their jobs, their home in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio is at risk of being foreclosed, credit card debt has mounted, and bankruptcy seems to be the next step.  The Fowler's have been stuck in a rut, and the mounting pressure has caused the couple to see divorce as a likely possibility.  

In a last ditch effort to save the marriage, Art convinces his wife to take what money they have left in their savings account, and  travel by bus for a Valentine's Day, for a second honeymoon to Niagara Falls. He has a plan which involves gambling their remaining savings in the casino's roulette wheel.  He's calculated "the odds", and is convinced they can hit it big,  hoping that they can save their marriage in the process.

The story moves back and forth in time over the couples 30 year marriage.  As the couple spends their time eating, drinking, and some sight-seeing, and at a concert,  the reader gets a glimpse at the tender times and troubling times of Art and Marion over the years.  The author goes deep into the inner and unsaid feelings of both Art and Marion, to let the reader know what is going on in their heads, including the grudges they have harbored against each other.  The things each has done and regretted, and all the many issues that lots of couples married that long may be faced to deal with at one time or another.

I loved the way the story was written. The beginning of each chapter features: "The Odds" of some event happening. For example, The Odds of a Married Couple Making Their 25th Anniversary: 1 in 6. I loved these headers, as they occasionally gave the reader a little prelude to what was to follow in each chapter.  The Odds: was a treat to read. It's the story of a marriage, with all of it's ups and downs.  It's not all doom and gloom; there is parts that made me laugh as well.  It's a story that might make you rethink your own relationship as well. I'm happy to have had the chance to read this one, and I think most readers will enjoy it.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph ~ Tuesday Intros


Every Tuesday, I'll be posting the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book I decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s). Feel free to grab the banner and play along. This week's "intro" is from a classic I've been wanting to read for a long time.


" The SALINAS VALLEY is in Northern California.  It is a long narrow swale between two ranges of mountains, and the Salinas River winds and twists up the center until it falls at last into Monterey Bay.

I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers.  I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer--and what trees and seasons smelled like--how people looked and walked and smelled even.  The memory of odors is very rich." 

(I've been listening to the audio version (amazing) as well as reading the above print edition and I'm really enjoying this powerful story).  Have you read it? What were your thoughts?

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Mailbox Monday


Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. January's host is Alyce@ At Home with Books. (3) new to me books last week:

 (all 3 books were sent by paperbackswap members)
 Get any new books last week?

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Saturday Snapshot


Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ AT Home With Books.

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.


My 1st Grandchild @23.5 weeks!
Isn't she precious ?



Friday, January 13, 2012

Friday the 13th - Are you Superstitious?

 
"We're not really all that superstitious, but since our dad can be a bit accident prone, we figured it might be a good day to stay indoors and read or sleep."  How about you? Do you take extra care in what you do on Friday the 13th?




Thursday, January 12, 2012

Heft; Liz Moore

 
Title: Heft
Author:  Liz Moore
Publication Year: 2012
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Edition: eGalley
Source: Net Galley 
Setting: New York
Date Completed: 1/9/2012
Rating: 4.5/5
Recommend: yes

Heft is a wonderful story that will make you want to rethink what the word "family" really means.

Arthur Opps once was a college professor, but that was 18 years ago.  Now, Arthur is a 58 year-old shut in who weighs in excess of 500 lbs. His best friend, who lived next door, passed away in 1997, and the last time Arthur has left his house in Brooklyn was in September 2001.  The internet has made his reclusive life easy, since food and anything else he needs is delivered right to his front door.  He has no family, no friends, no job, and no one to talk to, so over the years, his only comfort has come from the food he consumes, and occasional letters from a former student named Charlene Turner, who was 20 years younger than him.

Charlene and Arthur were two lost souls.  Both were sad and lonely people, who spent hours talking over the course of the semester.  When the class was finished, Charlene never took another course, but began to write Arthur letters.  First he was rather shocked, but when he lost his job soon after, to him she seemed like the only friend he had.

(Arthur)...."And partly it was that I recognized myself in her---in her awkwardness, her loneliness, her being very out of place, an outsider in a roomful of compatriots.  These feelings I recognized as my own.  She spoke differently than her classmates.  She had that accent, which I came to love, and that hopefulness that won me completely.  One of the things I loved most about her, what I valued, was her lack of awareness."

Then abruptly the letters stopped, until one day many years later she contacts Arthur to reveal a little more about her life, and to ask him a favor.  Her son Kel Keller, who is in high school is in need of some guidance, and since Arthur was the smartest man she had ever known, she asks that he help point her son in the right direction.  On the surface, Kel seems to have a lot going for him, but he is dealing with some difficult issues which he tries to conceal from others.

Suddenly, Arthur's spirits seem brighter at the possibility of seeing Charlene again after almost 20 years.  He hires a cleaning service to get his house in shape, and when 19 year-old Yolanda shows up, he finds himself looking forward to the days she cleans and their conversations which follow.  Little by little life seems a bit brighter for Arthur.

The way in which the story unfolds is not perfect, but I cared so much about the characters that I was able to overlook any flaws in the story structure.  The story alternates between Arthur's story, and Kel Keller's story. Both stories are heartbreaking at times.  Heft, was one of my favorite kinds of novels, complete with dysfunctional, but well developed characters that I was cheering on all the way.  It's a story that made me rethink what a "family" really is, and a story that left me feeling at least somewhat hopeful.  It's a page-turner.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday;


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating! Want to participate? Post your own WOW entry on your blog, and leave your link at Breaking the Spine. My pick:
June 12, 2012 - Doubleday

An dazzlingly inventive novel about modern family, from the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
The set-up of Mark Haddon's brilliant new novel is simple: Richard, a wealthy doctor, invites his estranged sister Angela and her family to join his for a week at a vacation home in the English countryside. Richard has just re-married and inherited a willful stepdaughter in the process; Angela has a feckless husband and three children who sometimes seem alien to her. The stage is set for seven days of resentment and guilt, a staple of family gatherings the world over.

But because of Haddon's extraordinary narrative technique, the stories of these eight people are anything but simple. Told through the alternating viewpoints of each character, The Red House becomes a symphony of long-held grudges, fading dreams and rising hopes, tightly-guarded secrets and illicit desires, all adding up to a portrait of contemporary family life that is bittersweet, comic, and deeply felt. As we come to know each character they become profoundly real to us. We understand them, even as we come to realize they will never fully understand each other, which is the tragicomedy of every family.

The Red House is a literary tour-de-force that illuminates the puzzle of family in a profoundly empathetic manner -- a novel sure to entrance the millions of readers of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The Girl Who Played With Fire; Stieg Larsson



Author:  Stieg Larsson
Publication Year: 2010
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
Edition: trade
Source: Purchased
Setting: Sweden
Date Completed: 1/7/2012
Rating: 4/5
Recommend: yes

In this follow up to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the second book of the Millennium series, The Girl Who Played With Fire, was probably even more fast paced than book one. In my opinion, you should read these books in order, as you'll really get a better feel for Lisbeth Salander, and what has been going on with her.

As this story begins, Lisbeth Salander enjoying her new wealth, altering or should I say enhancing her appearance through plastic surgery, and relaxing at a hotel in Grenada as a terrible storm looms. Back in Sweden no one knows where she is, but Mikel Blomkvist, publisher of Millennium magazine, is preparing to run an explosive feature exposing of the underage sex slave business in Sweden, which involves some top-ranked officials and crooked cops. The day before the feature is to run the journalist responsible, Dag Svensson and his partner Mia, are murdered. The following day there is another murder, that of Nils Bjurman.  Although he seems unconnected to the other two,  he happened to be Lisbeth Salander's legal guardian.

When the same fingerprints show up in both of these cases, the hunt is on for the elusive Lisbeth Salander.  Even her old pal Blomkvist has no idea where she is, but he believes she is innocent and wants to help prove it.  Having tapped into his computer, Lisbeth communicates in cryptic ways sending clues about who might be responsible.

The book started out full steam, but then had several lulls throughout the 600+ page storyline (much could have been eliminated, in my opinion). There were too many unnecessary details, throughout the book.  Don't get me wrong, this was still a fantastic story.  I liked the direction the continuation of this series took, and while some interesting things were revealed about Lisbeth's family history, I felt the that the introduction lead the reader to believe that we would learn a lot more about why she is the way she is.  That just didn't happen.  The story did pick up again in the last third of the book, with lots more action and revelations, which made me as the reader anxious to read the final book of the series.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros


Every Tuesday, I'll be posting the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book I decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s). Feel free to grab the banner and play along. This week's "intro" is from an ARC of : The Invisible Ones; Stef Penney:


January 5, 2012 - Putnam

St. Luke's Hospital

"When I woke up, I remembered nothing--apart from one thing.  And little enough of that:  I remember that I was lying on my back while the woman was straddling me, grinding her hips against mine,  I have a feeling it was embarrassingly quick; but then, it had been a while.  The thing is, I remember how it felt, but not what anything looked like.  When I try to picture her face, I can't.  When I try to picture the surroundings, I can't.  I can't picture anything at all.  I try; I try really hard, because I'm worried.

After some time, one thing comes back to me: the taste of ashes."

What do you think? Curious for more?
(I haven't started this one yet, but I hope to in a few days)

Monday, January 9, 2012

Mailbox Monday - January 9, 2012


Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. January's host is Alyce@ At Home with Books.

It was a quiet week for new books, but it's okay as I do have plenty of unread ones to keep me busy for a few years :)

First You Try Everything; Jane McCafferty
Harper - January 17th

(description) - An engrossing tale of a marriage that’s falling apart and a wife who will stop at nothing to keep it together.

From their early days in college, Evvie and Ben were drawn to each other by feelings of isolation stemming from their wounded childhoods, passionate idealism, and zeal for music. Sheltered by their love, they weathered the challenges and trials of the imperfect world around them. But as the years passed, they grew apart. Now Ben has his sights set on a completely different kind of future—alone, or with someone else.
Convinced that Ben cannot live without her, Evvie begins to unravel, as she obsessively devises ways to reclaim the love that she cannot let go of. She gambles on a spectacularly dangerous scheme, one that may ultimately have devastating consequences.

Jane McCafferty has written a highly original, utterly beguiling, and emotionally satisfying novel about marriage. Told from alternating viewpoints, this gripping, psychologically astute, and madcap novel illuminates the power of love to define and transform our lives, for better or for worse.

 The Glass of Time; Michael Cox
(purchased for my Kindle)

(this one is a sequel to The Meaning of Night which I already own)

(description) - The author’s first novel, The Meaning of Night (2006), set in London in 1854, was told from the viewpoint of a scholar turned murderer, but this sequel, set some 20 years later, is narrated by an innocent, 19-year-old Esperanza Gorst. Orphaned as a child, she has been raised in relative luxury in Paris by her guardian and given an excellent education by her tutor. However, her world is upended when they inform her that she is to leave for England in two months, where she will be employed as a lady’s maid by the widowed Baroness Tansor on the vast estate of Evenwood. It is to be the first step in what they call the Great Task, but Esperanza’s ultimate goal will only be revealed to her in phases. Although she appears far too refined for her occupation, Esperanza is immediately embraced by the family, but Lady Tansor proves to be a difficult employer, given to hysterics due to her tragic past—the love of her life, the pretentious poet Phoebus Daunt, was murdered by an old friend. Cox so cleverly incorporates the plot of his first novel that his new one can be read by both those who are familiar with The Meaning of Night and those who have never read it. Great period atmosphere, a cunning plot, and an intelligent narrator make this one a special treat for those who like some history with their mystery.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Saturday Snapshot


Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ AT Home With Books.

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.


 A few weeks ago, just as the sun had gone down, I stopped by a local florist, and snapped this "gerber daisy" photo with my iPhone. 

Friday, January 6, 2012

Lethal; Sandra Brown


Title: Lethal
Author:  Sandra Brown
Publication Year: 2011
Publisher: Hachette
Edition: audio
Reader: Victor Slezak (excellent)
Source: Library
Setting: Louisiana
Date Completed: 1/5/2012
Rating: 4/5
Recommend: yes

Honor Gillette is a widow.  Her husband Eddie was a police officer, who was killed in a suspicious  automobile accident.  Two years later, Honor is trying to resume some since of normalcy in her life. Her little girl Emily is now 4 years-old.  As the story opens, Honor and Emily have been baking cupcakes at their isolated home located somewhere near the Louisiana Bayou.   Emily tells her mother that she sees a sick man in their yard. When Honor goes outside to check it out, she finds a dirty and injured man lying on the ground in the bushes.  When she tries to help, he grabs her at gunpoint and forces her into the house, holding her and little Emily as hostages.

The man is Lee Coburn and he is wanted by the police and suspected of killing seven people the night before where he worked.  Coburn didn't just show up at Honor's house by chance either. He seems to believe that her late husband Eddie, hid something in the house which he is desperate to find.  While carefully watching Honor's every move, he begins to tear the house apart in search of that "something".  Honor has no idea what her husband might have hidden or why Coburn is so insistent about finding it.  At the same time, there is a manhunt going on for Coburn.

Initially, Coburn comes across as a man you wouldn't want to cross or try to escape from. However, towards the end of the book, he seems to soften a bit and there is some romantic tension in the air as well.  Little Emily is so sweet and innocent. She offers Coburn cupcakes and begins to ask him lots of questions, which seemed perfect pitched for a precocious 4 year-old.  The audio version was excellent as the reader, Victor Slezak was terrific and he did a great job with the voices, including capturing a perfect-pitch, believable voice of  little Emily.

Without giving away too much about the plot, I'll just say this suspense thriller has a little bit of everything in it. There is corruption, bad cops, good cops and plot twists along the way. There's more to Coburn than what we are first led to believe as well, and before long it seems as if Coburn may be the only person Honor and her daughter can really trust.

I liked this audio book a lot, especially since the reader was so good, but I was let down by the way the story ended.  Despite that, it's still a fast paced story and fun to listen to as well.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

The Sense of an Ending; Julian Barnes



Title: The Sense of an Ending
Author:  Julian Barnes
Publication Year: 2011
Publisher: Knopf
Edition: Kindle
Source: Library
Setting: England
Date Completed: 1/2/2012  
Rating: 5/5
Recommend: yes

In this story, the protagonist is an average guy; he's Tony Webster. Sixty-something, divorced, retired, and living a comfortable and somewhat unremarkable life near London..  The story covers two periods of Tony's life. One period was 40 years earlier (1960s) when he was attending a private school outside of London. At that time, he briefly dated a girl named Veronica Ford, who was clearly out of his league. At school, he was also part of a circle of young men, which included the enigmatic Adrian Finn.  When Tony and Veronica split up, Adian and Veronica become an item. School ends and the group goes their separate ways, and for the next 40 years Tony really hadn't thought about any of them.

Flash forward to the present and Tony learns that Veronica's mother has died and has made him an unusual bequest: money and the diary of his dead friend. It is this that causes Tony's mind to travel back to his younger days.  He tracks down old  friends, and before soon uncovers secrets to the past that makes him reevaluate his life and his relationships with others.

Some of the passages that resonated with me:

"remembering isn't always the same as what you have witnessed"

"It strikes me that this maybe one of the differences between youth and age: when you are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, when invent different pasts for others."

"How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? and the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around us to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life. Told to others, but --mainly -- to ourselves."

" Sometimes I think that the purpose of life is to reconcile us to its eventual loss by wearing us down, by proving, however, long it takes, that life isn't all that its cracked up to be."

The Sense of an Ending, winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize, is a short novel (fewer than 160 pages) that packs a punch.  The writing is simply gorgeous, and it tackles one of my favorite themes and plot techniques, the human condition and the reliability of our distant memory.  This is one of those stories that after you turn the final page, you may have several unanswered questions.  It may even cause you to reread some of the sections a second time -- it did me, but in the end, I felt it was well worth it. It's thought-provoking and literary fiction at its finest. I loved this one.


Waiting on Wednesday ~ The Uninvited Guests; Sadie Jones


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating! Want to participate? Post your own WOW entry on your blog, and leave your link at Breaking the Spine. My pick:

May 2012 - Harper

(isn't the cover awesome?)
(overview)

One late spring evening in 1912, in the kitchens at Sterne, preparations begin for an elegant supper party in honour of Emerald Torrington's twentieth birthday.  But only a few miles away, a dreadful accident propels a crowd of mysterious and not altogether savoury survivors to seek shelter at the ramshackle manor - and the household is thrown into confusion and mischief. The cook toils over mock turtle soup and a chocolate cake covered with green sugar roses, which the hungry band of visitors are not invited to taste.  But nothing, it seems, will go to plan.  As the passengers wearily search for rest, the house undergoes a strange transformation. One of their number (who is most definitely not a gentleman) makes it his business to join the birthday revels. Evening turns to stormy night, and a most unpleasant game threatens to blow respectability to smithereens: Smudge Torrington, the wayward youngest daughter of the house, decides that this is the perfect moment for her Great Undertaking. The Uninvited Guests is the bewitching new novel from number one bestseller Sadie Jones. The prizewinning author of The Outcast triumphs in this frightening yet delicious drama of dark surprises - where social codes are uprooted and desire daringly trumps propriety - and all is alight with Edwardian wit and opulence