Giveaway: Goat Mountain by David Vann

Georges d’Espagnat (1870-1950), Liseuse sur un canapé
Via: pieterdebruijnkops

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Book Beginnings on Friday: Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke August 9, 2013



Charles Dickens reads to his daughters Mamie and Kate in the garden at Gad’s Hill, Kent.  1865
Via: bookorithms:
Book Beginnings on Friday

       

"Katie had been dreaming of the sea." Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke

 

Summary Courtesy of Goodreads:

People go traveling for two reasons: because they are searching for something, or they are running from something.

Katie's world is shattered by the news that her headstrong and bohemian younger sister, Mia, has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff in Bali. The authorities say that Mia jumped--that her death was a suicide.

Although they'd hardly spoken to each other since Mia suddenly left on an around-the-world trip six months earlier, Katie refuses to accept that her sister would have taken her own life. Distraught that they never made peace, Katie leaves her orderly, sheltered life in London behind and embarks on a journey to find out the truth. With only the entries in Mia's travel journal as her guide, Katie retraces the last few months of her sister's life and, page by page, country by country, begins to uncover the mystery surrounding her death. . . .

Weaving together the exotic settings and suspenseful twists of Alex Garland's The Beach with a powerful tale of familial love in the spirit of Rosamund Lupton's Sister, Swimming at Night is a fast-paced, accomplished, and gripping debut novel of secrets, loss, and forgiveness.

How about that first line?  Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke is the start of an older sister's journey to discover answers about her younger sister's death.  I'm over half way through this one and look forward to finishing it before the weekend.

 

Thanks to Rose City Reader for hosting this event every Friday allowing bloggers to share the first sentence of a book that they are  reading and offer some impression of said book!

Does Swimming at Night  grab your attention?  Is it one you'd be interested in reading?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read!

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Review: Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China

Title: Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China

Author: Paul French

Genre: True Crime, Nonfiction

Publisher/Publication Date: Penguin/Nonclassics  (Published 4/24/2012)

Literary Awards:  Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime (2013)

Source: Net Galley

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Finished or Not Finished:  Yes,  I finished this one.  Excellent nonfiction read.  I love nonfiction to read like fiction, and this one does.

One-sentence summary: It is 1937, glimpse inside old Peking in the last days of colonialism where mayhem and murder go hand-in-hand.

My thoughts on the cover art: Eye-catching cover, which captures what the book is about.

I'm reminded of...: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

First line: "The eastern section of old Peking has been dominated since the fifteenth century by a looming watchtower, built as part of the Tartar all to protect the city from invaders." Paul French, Midnight in

Buy, Borrow, or Avoid: Borrow or buy if you are a fan of true crime.

Why did I ask for this book to review?: Based on the description it sounded more like fiction and again proved the old saying that truth is stranger than fiction.

Other Thoughts: 
Fascinating how a footnote in one book can lead to so much more.  The author, Paul French, unable to stop thinking of a casual mention of the murder of Pamela Werner in Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow, led him to investigate the murdered girls story.  As he said, "When something casually read remains in the front of your brain the morning afterwards, it's usually the sign of a great tale." Paul French, Midnight in Peking

Summary Courtesy of Goodreads:

In the last days of old Peking, where anything goes, can a murderer escape justice?

Peking in 1937 is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, opulence and opium dens, rumors and superstition. The Japanese are encircling the city, and the discovery of Pamela Werner's body sends a shiver through already nervous Peking. Is it the work of a madman? One of the ruthless Japanese soldiers now surrounding the city? Or perhaps the dreaded fox spirits? With the suspect list growing and clues sparse, two detectives—one British and one Chinese—race against the clock to solve the crime before the Japanese invade and Peking as they know it is gone forever. Can they find the killer in time, before the Japanese invade?

Historian and China expert Paul French at last uncovers the truth behind this notorious murder, and offers a rare glimpse of the last days of colonial Peking.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Courtesy Net Galley:

Historian PAUL FRENCH lives in Shanghai, where he is a business advisor and analyst. He frequently comments on China for the English-speaking press around the world. He studied history, economics, and Mandarin at university and has an M. Phill in economics from the University of Glasgow. His previous books include Carl Crow: A Tough Old China Hand and Through the Looking Glass: China's Foreign Journalists from Opium Wars to Mao.

Does this sound like a book for you?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read.

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Waiting on Wednesday: August 7, 2013






Waiting on Wednesday

 

"The Salt from the ocean hung thick and heavy in the air." The Storycatcher by Ann Hite

Summary Courtesy of Goodreads:


Shelly Parker never much liked Faith Dobbins, the uppity way that girl bossed her around. But they had more in common than she knew. Shelly tried to ignore the haints that warned her Faith’s tyrannical father, Pastor Dobbins, was a devil in disguise. But when Faith started acting strange, Shelly couldn’t avoid the past—not anymore.

Critically acclaimed, award-winning author Ann Hite beckons readers back to the Depression-era South, from the saltwater marshes of Georgia’s coast to the whispering winds of North Carolina’s mystical Black Mountain, in a mesmerizing gothic tale about the dark family secrets that come back to haunt us.






What can I say, I'm a fan of gothic novels.  I'm also a sucker for a novel set in the depression-era south, which makes this book sound like it is right up my alley.  Publication is set for September 10, 2013.  Is anyone else eager for this one?

Thanks to Breaking the Spine  for hosting this event every Wednesday allowing bloggers to highlight a book that they are eagerly anticipating hitting the shelves!

Does The Storycatcher grab your attention?  Is it one you'd be interested in reading?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read!

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Is Jane Austen Back in Business? Joanna Trollope's Sense & Sensibility

 

 

Is Joanna Trollope channeling Jane Austen?  Find out by reading her retelling of Sense and Sensibility.  Don't have a copy?  Well, enter the giveaway [Click HERE].  Remember it won't be on bookstore shelves until October 29, 2013.

 

Let us know what Jane Austen tale you'd like to see retold here at The Things You Can Read.

 

Happy reading to all! ☮

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Book Beginnings on Friday: Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Book Beginnings on Friday

 

I have heard it said, by those that cannot possibly know, that in the final moments of a man's existence he sees his whole life pass before his eyes.-The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Summary Courtesy of Goodreads: 

As a boy, William Bellman commits one small, cruel act: killing a bird with his slingshot. Little does he know the unforeseen and terrible consequences of the deed, which is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to be a man blessed by fortune—until tragedy strikes and the stranger in black comes. Then he starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, William enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business.

And Bellman & Black is born.
 

How about that first line?  Having read it, how can you put this novel down?  And believe me it sure does set the tone for what is to come.  I'm over half way through Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale, and although I had to wait seven years to read her second novel it was worth the wait.  Bellman & Black  is intriguing.  It is the type of book that keeps you on your toes.  Just when you think you know where you are going with this one, you realize you don't.

Thanks to Rose City Reader for hosting this event every Friday allowing bloggers to share the first sentence of a book that they are  reading and offer some impression of said book!

 

 

Does Bellman & Black grab your attention?  Is it one you'd be interested in reading?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read!

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Waiting on Wednesday: July 31, 2013

Waiting on Wednesday

Summary Courtesy of Goodreads:

As a boy, William Bellman commits one small, cruel act: killing a bird with his slingshot. Little does he know the unforeseen and terrible consequences of the deed, which is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to be a man blessed by fortune—until tragedy strikes and the stranger in black comes. Then he starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, William enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business.

And Bellman & Black is born.

I loved Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale, and I am so happy that after a seven year hiatus, we will be able to read her second novel,  Bellman & Black .  Publication date for this one is scheduled for November 5, 2013.

Thanks to Breaking the Spine  for hosting this event every Wednesday allowing bloggers to highlight a book that they are eagerly anticipating hitting the shelves!

Does Bellman & Black grab your attention?  Is it one you'd be interested in reading?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read!

Happy reading to all! ☮

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Book Blogger Hop: July 26-August 1, 2013



Book Blogger Hop: July 26-August 1, 2013



 

How do you organize your books to be read?

 

I keep a master list on Goodreads in my Want to Read section. I also keep a list of ARCs and Amazon Samples of books I want to try on my Kindle. I also have a disorganized physical book library of sorts that has never recovered from my move, which I am ashamed to say was three years-ago, so I have no excurse except that I've had three children since I've moved, and organizing books keeps moving down the list, right after changing diapers and cleaning up Legos-BELIEVE me when I tell you, YOU don't want to step on Legos, nor smell stinky diapers.

How do you organize your books to be read?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read! 
 

 

Thanks to  Coffee Addicted Writer for hosting Book Blogger Hop!

Happy reading to all! ☮  

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Review: Whistling Past the Graveyard

 

Review:  Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall  

 

Do you find it hard to select that next book once you have just finished a really good read?  I do, so when I'm looking for my next read to replace that one I could not put down, I'm looking for something to jump out at me, and say PICK ME!  It might be a blurb on the back of the book from an author I respect, or it might come in the short summary provided by the publisher, or a comment from one of the great folks at Goodreads.  Well, I found myself leafing through my ARCs and my attention was drawn to Susan Crandall's new novel.  What caught my attention with this one was the fact that it is being compared in blurbs and in reviews to To Kill a Mockingbird, which if you don't already know is my all time favorite book and movie, so if these magic words are used as a comparison-I'm in!

 

Lets address how these two novels are similar?  Well, they both have young pre-teen southern narrators.  Both are coming of age stories that deal with the theme of "differences" in each case discrimination is the means to illustrate this uncomfortable lesson.  Yet Scout and Starla remain colorblind in their relationships. Other shared themes include Friendship and Courage.  The setting of each is the South, but Scout's South is the small town South of the Depression Era Alabama, while Starla's South is the small town South of the early 1960s Civil Rights era Mississippi.  Both children view the segregated South through innocent eyes, and both see it for what it is...unacceptable.  A one parent household is another similarity, and both think often about the parent that is not in their lives.  Both girls are precocious, headstrong and full of spunk, which makes for an interesting read.  Yes, Whistling Past the Graveyard shares many similarities with To Kill a Mockingbird, but rest assured it can stand alone as a great read on its own merits.

"My grandmother said she prays for me every day."  With this opening sentence one can tell already that this nine year-old red headed protagonist is in for some trouble.  The voice of Starla quickly sets the tone for what is to come.  Starla jumps out of the frying pan and into the fire every step of the way.  The author has a deft handle on the dialect of the South so Starla sounds real as do the other Southern characters that fill the novel.  In my opinion the classic, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is what I'd call the perfect novel, so Whistling Past the Graveyard had big shoes to fill, but it does, just in a different way from Harper Lee's classic.   I'd add that a comparison to Mark Twain's Huck Finn is also very accurate, because Miss Starla gets herself in a heap of trouble and ends up running away just like old Huck, which is where much of the conflicts of the novel occur, just like in Twain's classic.   

 

I have to add that I loved the title once I read Starla's explanation of this old Southern saying: "My daddy says that when you do somethin' to distract you from your worstest fears, it's like whistlin' past the graveyard. You know, making a racket to keep the scaredness and the ghosts away.  He says that's how we get by sometimes. But it's not weak, like hidin'... It's strong.  It means you're able to go on."  I've heard some old timey sayings, but I'd missed this one, and have added it to my repertoire.

 

If you like Southern fiction and you like "coming of age" stories check out Whistling Past the Graveyard.  You'll be glad you did.

 

I'd like to thank Gallery Books Publishing and Edelweiss for the Advanced Readers Copy of Whistling Past the Graveyard.

Watch a video of the author discussing Whistling Past the Graveyard:  Click HERE or watch below:

 

 

Book Club Reading Guide:  Click HERE

 



Summary Courtesy of Goodreads:

From an award-winning author comes a wise and tender coming-of-age story about a nine-year-old girl who runs away from her Mississippi home in 1963, befriends a lonely woman suffering loss and abuse, and embarks on a life-changing roadtrip.

The summer of 1963 begins like any other for nine-year-old Starla Claudelle. Born to teenage parents in Mississippi, Starla is being raised by a strict paternal grandmother, Mamie, whose worst fear is that Starla will turn out like her mother. Starla hasn’t seen her momma since she was three, but is convinced that her mother will keep her promise to take Starla and her daddy to Nashville, where her mother hopes to become a famous singer—and that one day her family will be whole and perfect.

When Starla is grounded on the Fourth of July, she sneaks out to see the parade. After getting caught, Starla’s fear that Mamie will make good on her threats and send her to reform school cause her to panic and run away from home. Once out in the country, Starla is offered a ride by a black woman, Eula, who is traveling with a white baby. She happily accepts a ride, with the ultimate goal of reaching her mother in Nashville.

As the two unlikely companions make their long and sometimes dangerous journey, Starla’s eyes are opened to the harsh realities of 1963 southern segregation. Through talks with Eula, reconnecting with her parents, and encountering a series of surprising misadventures, Starla learns to let go of long-held dreams and realizes family is forged from those who will sacrifice all for you, no matter if bound by blood or by the heart.

Does this sound like a book for you?  Let us know here at The Things You Can Read!

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Review: Is This Tomorrow By Caroline Leavitt

 

My Review

Rating	4 of 5 Stars

Divorce is awful. Divorce is hard. Divorce can destroy a person. Now, add in struggling as a single-working mom to raise a son. Did we mention the time period--1956. Are you interested yet? Well, you should be because this is just the beginning of Caroline Leavitt's Is This Tomorrow. These issues are nothing compared to what will happen next. If you aren't hooked by the first chapter of  Is This Tomorrow, keep reading, because by the third, you won't be able to put this book down. 

As you continue to read  Is This Tomorrow, you quickly realize that none of the issues previously mentioned are really the central theme. The real theme of this story is one of loss: the loss of a friend, the loss of a brother, the loss of a child. We can't imagine the pain of losing a child. This, in our opinion, is the worst thing that can happen to a family. It is the type of loss that a family is often unable to recover from. In fact, this reviewer has to admit, since becoming a parent, we shy away from such story lines, but we are glad we didn't let this stop us from reading  Is This Tomorrow. In our opinion, this is a cautionary tale. What unfolds after Lewis' best friend, Jimmy, disappears impacts those closest to him: His mother, Dot; his sister, Rose; his best friend, Lewis; and Lewis' mother, Ava. All of whom, bear the scares of Jimmy's disappearance. For the next ten years each struggles to overcome this loss. Each must strive to make peace with this tragic event. In the end, you'd think finding out what really happened to Jimmy would heal them, but sometimes knowing is worse than not knowing. 

Caroline Leavitt's character development is sharp. Ava Lark, the divorced mother of Lewis, is the character we were most drawn to, the author's description of her allowed us to easily conjure Ava up in our minds-eye, not to mention, we cared about her as if she were real flesh and blood. Ava is someone you'd like to be friends with, but friends are something Ava lacks in the stuffy world of the late 1950s suburbia. Her world severely limits Ava, but she never gives up. She has a good cry in the privacy of her bedroom, and wakes up the next day to try again. As a reader, you are rooting for her, you want her to make it. At times you wonder if all the forces working against her will allow her to succeed. Just keep reading. Ava's journey of self-discovery is amazing. From rummaging around in her neighbor's trashcans for aluminum to recycle in the wee hours of the morning, so she can make ends meat, to developing a hidden talent for baking, Ava continues to surprise the reader right up until the final pages of the novel.  Is This Tomorrow is not a novel with a fairy-tale ending. Don't look for a prince charming in this story, but keep reading you will be well rewarded with a satisfying ending that is unexpected, yet realistic. 

You know a book is good when you continue to think about it long after the last page has been turned. Is This Tomorrow is such a book. After finishing the novel you can't help, but think about the characters. Your sorrow for their loss is real. Your emotional investment in Caroline Leavitt's novel can't be helped, and again you will be well rewarded. As a reader, dealing with the "What if this happened to me?" question can be a bit squeamish, but as we all know, good storytelling takes us out of our comfort zone, which is exactly what this novel does.  Is This Tomorrow is a tale of how fate can allow all the right circumstances to converge together to create a situation that results in a tragic loss, and the reader can't help but feel on some level, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

We want to thank Algonquin Books and Net Gallery for providing us with an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) of Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt. As always, Algonquin continues to publish the best and the brightest writers. We are never disappointed after reading a book published by this house.

Summary of  Is This Tomorrow Courtesy of Goodreads: 

Is This Tomorrow

by Caroline Leavitt (Goodreads Author)

In 1956, when divorced working-mom Ava Lark rents a house with her twelve-year-old son, Lewis, in a Boston suburb, the neighborhood is less than welcoming. Lewis yearns for his absent father, befriending the only other fatherless kids: Jimmy and Rose. One afternoon, Jimmy goes missing. The neighborhood—in the era of the Cold War, bomb scares, and paranoia—seizes the opportunity to further ostracize Ava and her son.

Lewis never recovers from the disappearance of his childhood friend. By the time he reaches his twenties, he’s living a directionless life, a failure in love, estranged from his mother. Rose is now a schoolteacher in another city, watching over children as she was never able to watch over her own brother. Ava is building a new life for herself in a new decade. When the mystery of Jimmy’s disappearance is unexpectedly solved, all three must try to reclaim what they have lost.

Expected publication: May 13th 2013 by Algonquin Books (first published May 7th 2013)

Want another opinion?  Check out Shelf Awareness Review of Is This Tomorrow.

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Request an Advanced Readers Copy of Reboot by Amy Tintera

Request an Advanced Readers Copy of Reboot by Amy Tintera: CLICK HERE.  Not sure if you'd be interested, read the summary below:

Summary Courtesy of Goodreads:

Reboot (Reboot #1)

by Amy Tintera (Goodreads Author)

Five years ago, Wren Connolly was shot three times in the chest. After 178 minutes she came back as a Reboot: stronger, faster, able to heal, and less emotional. The longer Reboots are dead, the less human they are when they return. Wren 178 is the deadliest Reboot in the Republic of Texas. Now seventeen years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Wren’s favorite part of the job is training new Reboots, but her latest newbie is the worst she’s ever seen. As a 22, Callum Reyes is practically human. His reflexes are too slow, he’s always asking questions, and his ever-present smile is freaking her out. Yet there’s something about him she can’t ignore. When Callum refuses to follow an order, Wren is given one last chance to get him in line—or she’ll have to eliminate him. Wren has never disobeyed before and knows if she does, she’ll be eliminated, too. But she has also never felt as alive as she does around Callum.

The perfect soldier is done taking orders

What do you think?  Is this a book for you?  The ARCs are available for a limited time, if you are interested, act now!  Let us know if this is a book you think Teens might enjoy! 

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.

Request an ARC of The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

Image Credit:  Goodreads 

Macmillan is offering a limited number of ARC copies of the NEW Fairyland novel.  Here is what Macmillan has to say about the book, 

"September has longed to return to Fairyland after her first adventure there. And when she finally does, she learns that its inhabitants have been losing their shadows—and their magic—to the world of Fairyland Below. This underworld has a new ruler: Halloween, the Hollow Queen, who is September’s shadow. And Halloween does not want to give Fairyland’s shadows back.  

Fans of Valente’s bestselling, first Fairyland book will revel in the lush setting, characters, and language of September’s journey, all brought to life by fine artist Ana Juan. Readers will also welcome back good friends Ell, the Wyverary, and the boy Saturday. But in Fairyland Below, even the best of friends aren’t always what they seem. . . ."

Leave a comment, let us know what you think of this series, and Happy Reading, from the folks here at The Things You Can Read.

Image Credit: Macmillan

If you are still unsure about this one, here is what Goodreads has to say about The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There:

Excerpt from Goodreads:

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (Fairyland #2)

by Catherynne M. Valente (Goodreads Author), Ana Juan (Illustrator)

 4.23  ·   rating details  ·  35 ratings  ·  23 reviews

September returns to Fairyland to reunite with A-Through-L, Saturday, and Gleam, and to confront her shadow-self, who has become the queen of Fairyland-Below, the upside-down world beneath the Fairyland of the first novel, filled with creatures of water and shadow, tales of ancient Fairyland before the human world was born, and not a few hungry buffins, blind birds of ice and moonlight. The yearly revels of Fairyland-Below climax in a mysterious rite September must avert or else lose her shadow forever.

Hardcover, 272 pages

Expected publication: October 7th 2012 by Feiwel and Friends (first published October 2nd 2012)

edition language

English

url

http://us.macmillan.com/thegirlwhofellbeneathfairylandandledtherevelsthere/CatherynneMValente

series

Fairyland #2