Book Chatter and other stuff...

I've Moved!

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:25:00 +0000

Book Chatter and Other Stuff has moved!! After much thought I purchased a domain and decided to switch some stuff around. It's the same, but different! Please change your readers and blog roll to reflect the new url:

http://bookchatter.net

If you have trouble adding that to Google Reader, then use this: http://bookchatter.net/feed

I had some trouble transferring some of the comments over and my mister linky widgets vanished but for the most part I think everything transferred smoothly. For those that have been participating in my Confessions of a Reader post, I will be posting a new button sometime during the week if you want to grab it before Saturday. I will put in in my sidebar.

I always worry about changes such as these because I'm afraid I will lose people! I would hate to lose anyone. Please visit me over at my new digs and say 'hi" so that I know you saw this.

Confessions of a Reader: To Rate, or not to Rate?

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:46:00 +0000

It's time for Confessions of a Reader! You can read more about the idea here, but here it is in a nutshell:

Whenever you have something you want to share, just spill it (you know you want to). Just create a post of your own, grab the button thingy above and then add your post link to Mister Linky below.

I will be here every Saturday, but you need not commit to a weekly post. Post when you have something to share.

Posts can be rants about something you are reading, or a deep, dark secret. All I ask is that the post relates to reading or blog reading in some way. If you want to piggy-back off of what I post, then that's okay too.

Posts can be as short or as long as you like and can include more than one topic.

The goal is to get to know one another better.

Here's mine:

I've asked myself this question a million times but does it really matter if I use a rating system for my reviews? Right now, I do not. However, I about 6-8 months ago, there was a
Twitter conversation about the issue and some bloggers mentioned that they won't visit blogs that DO NOT employ a rating system of some sort. Really? I was surprised to hear this.
I know that there are plenty of blogs that do use them, but I would never avoid a blog for not using them. Would you?

For me, stars just don't mean much to me. I would much prefer to read what a blogger has to say. There are some bloggers that have completely different rating systems. Bethany over at Dreadlock Girl has her 'Stellar Five Chicken Book' award which I think is brilliant. She awards this to books that are exceptional. Click here to see an example of it. Diane over at Bibliophile by the Sea has a unique rating system as well. Diane assigns 'faces' to her reviews to let us know whether or not she liked them. Sort of reminds me of the pain chart at the hospital but it's clear and I know right away what she thinks of a book. For an example of her system, click here.

I use the rating system on Library Thing and Goodreads but I always feel weird doing so. Also, I have to tell you that when I heard that people may not visit without a rating system, the rebel in me automatically decided not to use one. Isn't that funny? I'm like a little kid sometimes when it comes to stuff like this. So as it stands now, no ratings for me and I blow raspberries (phwwwtttt) at anyone that won't visit because of it.

However, I realize that they won't see my virtual raspberries which is sort of funny in and of itself.

If you'd like to include your own confession, enter the name of your blog below and then add the permalink to your post. Or, if you aren't quite ready to post your own confession then comments are fine too ;)

Friday Finds: The Carnivore

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:30:00 +0000

The Carnivore by Mark Sinnett

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Here's the blurb from the publisher:

When Hurricane Hazel tore through Toronto on October 15, 1954, it left its mark on both the city and its inhabitants. In the aftermath, a young cop named Ray Townes emerges as a hero—numerous accounts detail the way he battled the raging Humber River to save those trapped in their homes—and his story is featured prominently in the newspapers, thrusting him into the spotlight as a local celebrity.

Meanwhile, his wife Mary is wrestling with doubts about her husband’s heroism. While performing her own miracles the night of the storm as a nurse at a mud-filled, overcrowded emergency room, Mary met a woman—disoriented and near death—with a disturbingly peculiar recollection of events. While Mary tries to shake her suspicions about Ray as they rebuild their life in the shell-shocked city, she can't help but wonder about her husband and that fateful night. When a reporter comes knocking 50 years later to revisit that horrendous night, the truth begins to surface and threatens to destroy them.

Looks like Ray may be harboring a little secret! The cover and title caught my eye first but the synopsis is just as appealing.

Review & Book Tour: Goldengrove

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Goldengrove
By Francine Prose
Pub. Date: September 2009
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Paperback, 275pp
ISBN-13: 9780060560027
ISBN: 0060560029

The blurb from the publisher:

At the center of Francine Prose's profoundly moving new novel is a young girl facing the consequences of sudden loss after the death of her sister. As her parents drift toward their own risky consolations, thirteen-year-old Nico is left alone to grope toward understanding and clarity, falling into a seductive, dangerous relationship with her sister's enigmatic boyfriend.

Over one haunted summer, Nico must face that life-changing moment when children realize their parents can no longer help them. She learns about the power of art, of time and place, the mystery of loss and recovery. But for all the darkness at the novel's heart, the narrative itself is radiant with the lightness of summer and charged by the restless sexual tension of teenage life.

The Short of It:

An unsettling look at what happens to a family when a loved one is suddenly no more.

The Rest of It:

I've often wondered about death. Death that results from illness is quite different than a death that results from an accident or a sudden heart attack. In this novel, Margaret dies suddenly. Her family has no time to prepare themselves for the loss and for Nico, Margaret's younger sister, it's as if Margaret is there one minute and gone the next. How does a family deal with such a loss?

As Nico struggles with her grief, she realizes that Aaron, Margaret's boyfriend is really the only person that understands what she is going through. They form an unlikely friendship which at times seems inappropriate but seeing what these two have been through, and what Margaret meant to them, all I saw were two people in a lot of pain trying desperately to overcome their grief.

Francine Prose does a remarkable job of describing what Nico is feeling and although Margaret was not on the page for long, you definitely get a feel for her personality as these characters look back on their moments with her. Many have said that Nico seems older than her thirteen years. This may be true, but to me she came across as an 'old soul' which made her relationship with Aaron a bit easier for me to understand.

As Prose takes us through the novel, Nico sees signs that Margaret is still with her. I've always been fascinated by signs. They function as a form of comfort and generally exist to help us through a crisis. Prose does a wonderful job of providing comfort to Nico in the way of signs and whether or not you believe they exist in real life doesn't really matter, because they exist realistically within the novel.

I had one small quibble with Aaron. At the beginning of the novel, a comment is made which might lead the reader to think that all is not right with Aaron. As I was reading, I kept waiting for that secret to be revealed but in my opinion nothing was revealed. I felt that his actions were motivated by his loss so perhaps I missed something there.

This novel was a very quick read. Once I started it, I could not put it down. The prose was easy to follow and I cared about the characters and what they were going through. This was my first experience with Prose's writing style but it definitely won't be my last.

If you'd like to read more about Francine Prose, click here to read her bio.

Check out her Blog Talk Radio interview with Book Club Girl here.

To purchase the book, visit Amazon, Barnes & Noble or an independent bookseller of your choice.

Check out the rest of Francine's tour stops here.

A big 'thank you' to TLC Book Tours for asking me to be a part of this tour.

Happy Birthday to My Little One! Then & Now.

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:24:00 +0000

Here she is at 8 months old. Look at all the folds!!

Here she is today at age 6!! Happy Birthday baby! Hope your day is great.

24 Hour Read-a-Thon: I'm In and I'm Nuts!

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:30:00 +0000

The 24 Hour Read-a-Thon takes place on October 24th and begins at 5am Pacific time. That's right around the corner! When I participated in April I had a blast but I made some mistakes:

I chose a lot of lengthy books. I need to go shorter this time. Page-turners or something with a tighter plot would be good.
I didn't plan my food well. I had snacks but my brain ran out of steam right around 4pm and 3am.
I need a better posting template to make posting updates a bit easier.
I am going to carve out time every 2 hours to blog hop so that I do not feel as if I am missing out on all of the fun. Last time I hopped every hour and it was a bit distracting and broke up my reading rhythm.

I will post a proposed reading list right before the event. Are you participating this year? If you have no idea what I am talking about click here for info and click here to sign-up. The Hub will be out of town during this event so doing this with the kids will be interesting. That is the "I'm nuts!" part of my title.

By the way, I don't know who made the button above but it sure is cute. Although I do not plan to wear my underwear while reading and cooking at the same time (that would be interesting) I find the button sort of fun.

The Sunday Salon: The Mannequin Girl Store

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:25:00 +0000

It's Sunday and I find myself a tad tired. I haven't been sleeping all that well. No reason for it really but it's left me sort of listless and droopy. I get this way sometimes right before the time changes. All I want to do is curl up in bed with a book by my side but once again The Hub is working so I have kid duty.

My daughter's birthday is later this week so I have been planning a smallish party for her too. It's what we call Fall Break here so I fear that only a few kids will be able to come. Most are on vacation with their folks. The invite said to RSVP by Monday and so far, she has two girls coming. That's it!

In honor of her birthday we took her to the Mannequin Girl Store. Oh...you've never heard of it? Well you might know it as the American Girl Store but my daughter swears it is the 'mannequin' girl store and if you visit, you will probably say that she is not that far off. The lure of the store is that you can find a doll that looks just like you. You can also dress like her and there is a doll hospital, and tea room and beauty shop.

As you can imagine, all of this is very expensive but there are books too! She received two with what she purchased but just look at her. So, so happy with her doppelgänger by her side.

So what's going on today? I am writing up my review of Goldengrove for a TLC Book Tour that is scheduled for October 8th. I am also finishing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I am down to the last 50 pages and find myself spreading them out in an attempt to make them last.

For dinner I am grilling up steak tacos. Easy and good and the kids enjoy them too.

On another note, I am giving away a copy of The Last Dickens. The giveaway is open through 10/9. If you haven't entered yet, click here for details. This post also happens to include an awesome guest post written by Matthew Pearl. Stop by if you can.

Also, thanks to everyone that commented on my first Confessions of a Reader post. I think we had a nice discussion of sorts and it's given me some food for thought.

Confessions of a Reader: Comment Etiquette

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:15:00 +0000

Today marks my very first Confessions of a Reader post. You can read more about the idea here, but here it is in a nutshell:

Whenever you have something you want to share, just spill it (you know you want to). Just create a post of your own, grab the button thingy above and then add your post link to Mister Linky below.

I will be here every Saturday, but you need not commit to a weekly post. Post when you have something to share.

Posts can be rants about something you are reading, or a deep, dark secret. All I ask is that the post relates to reading or blog reading in some way. If you want to piggy-back off of what I post, then that's okay too.

Posts can be as short or as long as you like and can include more than one topic.

The goal is to get to know one another better.

Here's mine:

I recently went through my reader and dropped some blogs from my follow list. These were blogs that I enjoyed, but after following them for several months and posting regular comments, these folks never once visited my blog...ever. At least not that I know of.

Now I realize that some bloggers are not in this for the comments. They blog about what they love and that's fine. The difference with them is that they never comment on any blogs. I get that. What I don't get are the ones that do comment elsewhere, but not on mine, yet I read and comment faithfully on theirs.

Is there such a thing as comment etiquette? Am I wrong to feel a bit jilted?

If someone posts a comment on my blog, and they sign-in with their contact info, then I almost always pay them a visit back. Why? Because I like to check out new blogs. I've met a lot of nice folks this way. I realize that everyone cannot do this, but stopping by to say 'hi' once every couple of months? Sounds doable to me. Would you agree?

So, there you go. I dropped them because interaction is important to me and I've never been a fan of one-sided relationships. Also, if you leave regular comments and wonder why I never visit your blog, then it's probably because you post anonymously. I cannot pay you a visit when it posts as a "no-reply comment." Some of you anonymous folks have wonderful things to say and I always want to respond to you but I am never sure if you will come back to see my comment. I need to figure out the threaded comments thing to make this process a bit easier.

On another note, I went to the bookstore last night and saw the Her Fearful Symmetry display and thought that the cover was u-g-l-y. Sorry, but it doesn't look anything like the ones that have been floating across the blogosphere. I realize that I tossed this in here and that it has nothing to do with my topic but it was on my mind.

If you'd like to include your own confession, enter the name of your blog below and then add the permalink to your post. Or, if you aren't quite ready to post your own confession then comments are fine too ;)

Friday Finds: The Monstrumologist

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:29:00 +0000

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Here's the blurb from the publisher:

These are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed.
But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets.The one who saved me...and the one who cursed me.

So begins the journal of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore War throp, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a grueso me find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.

Critically acclaimed author Rick Yancey has written a gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does a man become the very thing he hunts?

What I didn't know until I looked this one up, is that this is a Young Adult book. Maybe my son might enjoy it. Certainly suits the season.

What did you find this Friday?

Confessions of a Reader

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:27:00 +0000

I don't normally post on Saturdays so I thought I would add a Saturday post to my posting non-schedule (because I really don't care for schedules), but I want it to be sort of fun and unstructured so I am doing something that I will call Confessions of a Reader. This will be a meme of sorts and October 3rd will be my first post.

What will the post consist of? Well, confessions. Things that I would normally keep to myself. An example might be a rant about a book that I am reading or I may decide to share a deep, dark secret regarding my reading habits, etc. Anything related to book or blog reading. The goal is to get to know one another so if you'd like to join in, come by on Saturday and post your confession via Mister Linky (if I can get it to work).

If I have enough participation we'll do this every Saturday. I think it might be fun. What do you think? Some of the best comments I get are from offline conversations, meaning...not via blog comments so feel free to bare it all.

Guest Post: Matthew Pearl on Serial Thrillers & a GIVEAWAY!

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Matthew Pearl, author of the bestselling novel The Last Dickens, is stopping by Book Chatter and Other Stuff today and I couldn't be happier! As you may recall, as part of his TLC book tour, I reviewed his book and really enjoyed it. Click here for the review. Today, Matthew talks about serial thrillers. Would they work in today's society?

Dickens: Serial Thriller

In the 19th century, many novels were published serially in installments. Charles Dickens is the most cited and probably most famous example of a serial novelist.

I'm often asked about the impact of serialized writing since I used Dickens as a focus in my new novel The Last Dickens. I've noticed in these questions a nostalgia or at least a curiosity about serializing stories. Novelists back then would often live at the edge of their deadline for the next installment, or just a few installments ahead of publication (it's hard to imagine most novelists these days, myself included, being so good at deadlines!). Readers would line up on the last day of each month in London for Dickens's latest installments, sometimes published in a magazine or journal, sometimes on its own as a stand-alone supplement. People would grab it and start reading. Imagine the suspense they felt, not having been able just to turn the page to see what would come next.

Writers were in suspense, too. Dickens kept a close eye on sales, professional reviews and public reaction to each installment, and sometimes one or all of those influenced his decisions on where the story should go.

The truth is, it's harder and harder for us to relate to those readers. We live in an on-demand age. We can download entire books with the press of a button on the day of publication. People often talk about reading an entire novel in a single day or a few days. In fact, I notice attention spans might be reaching the point where some consumers insist they should be able to read a novel in a few days, or they don't read it at all. We're now accustomed never to wait for our fiction—at least once publication day rolls around.

That's what is especially interesting about The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the jumping-off point for my novel. It was Dickens's final novel and he died roughly in the middle of the writing process. In response to the existing fragment, there are as many scenarios as one can imagine as to where Dickens might have been going, from the straightforward to the bizarre. Whenever we read Edwin Drood today, we enter the same positions as those readers in September of 1870 when the last known installment was published. In other words, The Mystery of Edwin Drood freezes for all time the feeling of reading a novel in installments, a sensation we've largely forgotten.

That's what appealed to me so much about using The Mystery of Edwin Drood as the basis for The Last Dickens. I wanted to dramatize the way the reader, publisher, and author all converged in this very real-time process of finding satisfaction from an incomplete novel. I've hoped to dramatize that into a quest, by Dickens's real life American publisher, James Ripley Osgood, to find the ending to the book. The Last Dickens, essentially, picks up the story inside the limbo of the unfinished serial. My novel is even separated into six sections I title “Installments.”

As much as we might feel a rush of satisfaction trying to read a novel in a day or two, maybe we long for the community spirit that came from everyone reading installments at the same time. There is at least one excellent website channeling Dickens by serializing short stories each week, including Year of the Pig, one of my own. Another site, DailyLit.com offers to email or send a feed of serialized installments of many classic works of literature and some newer books. DailyLit's idea is that people's lives and schedules today are so fragmented, that reading in installments actually fits our modern rhythms better than full length books.

Television shows, one of the modern serialized forms of entertainment, may have entered a new epoch with the rise of series on DVD as well as the hoarding of episodes on digital recordings through Tivo or DVR. How many people (including myself) have spent a lazy day watching half a season or more of The Wire, Deadwood or Curb Your Enthusiasm? A funny thing. If you have the patience or willpower to wait before starting a show, you can avoid ever waiting to see how the next episode or the whole series will turn out. This is a fairly recent phenomenon. Serial adventure shorts used to be a mainstay of cinemas in the 1950s, and were converted in spirit into full length features like Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series in the 1970s and 80s, in which we sit through a complete story all at once (though obliged to wait for sequels and prequels).

Unfolding news stories, which we can't get ahead of because they're still happening, may be our last pure vestige of serial narratives, with journalists the new serial writers (Dickens himself started in journalism). Perhaps this is why news stories so often are presented in sensational narrative formats, and why certain otherwise narrow occurrences—murder mysteries, missing persons, personal scandals—that might have been found in any one of Dickens's novels are elevated to national and international headline status. These stories often don't directly impact many people, but we crave the real suspense that can only come from installment reading (or viewing).

Do you think we maintain the spirit of nineteenth century serials anywhere else in our culture? At some level, do we long for that feeling of anticipation rather than immediate gratification, or have we become just too busy for that? Any memories of how a serialized story became important in your own life as a reader or audience member?

~~~

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for asking me to be a part of this tour.

Check out the rest of Mathew's tour stops here.

To visit Matthew's website, click here.

To purchase the book, please visit Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or an independent bookseller of your choice!

Note: the trade paperback comes out October 6th! Pre-order it now!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Random House has offered to give away one copy to a lucky reader. This giveaway is open to the U.S. and Canada. There are two ways to enter. Please follow the instructions carefully because I want every entry to count!

1. At the end of Matthew's post, he asks a few questions. Answer one (or more) of his questions for ONE entry. Make sure that I have a way to contact you.

2. For another entry, Tweet about this giveaway and be sure to include @TiBookChatter so I can track it. After you Tweet, post a separate comment here telling me you did so.

This giveaway will run until Friday, October 9, 2009. The winner will be selected randomly and announced on Monday, October 12, 2009. I will contact the winner for his/her mailing address so be sure to include a way for me to contact you.

Good luck!!!

I Read (and Love) Banned Books

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:45:00 +0000

In honor of Banned Books Week, I'd like to take a moment to list some of my favorite books. I read them and immediately fell in love with them. Many of them were read when I was in college but I re-read them whenever I can and they all have a permanent home on my bookshelf.

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Lord of the Flies

1984

Lolita

Brave New World

Animal Farm

A Separate Peace

The Catcher in the Rye

The Grapes of Wrath

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I realize that some of these were challenged, as opposed to 'banned' but you get the idea. When they are old enough, I hope my kids enjoy them as much as I do.

Review & Book Tour: The Last Dickens

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:00:00 +0000

The Last Dickens
Matthew Pearl
Pub. Date: October 06, 2009
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Format: Paperback, 416pp
ISBN-13: 9780812978025
ISBN: 0812978021

The blurb from the publisher:

Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens’s untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood, partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await Dickens’s unfinished novel–The Mystery of Edwin Drood. But when Daniel’s body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel’s killer.

The Short of It:

A literary adventure of the most enjoyable kind. The Last Dickens is a historical literary thriller that includes a good dose of mystery, lots of bookish references and a smattering of romance all rolled into one.

The Rest of It:

The Last Dickens is a fictionalization that focuses on the unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Although the novel started out a tad slow for me, it didn't take long for me to get into the story or its characters. As I was reading, I found myself thinking about silent films from the early 1900's. Why, you ask? Well, the villains in those films were these creepy, shadowy apparitions that appeared out of nowhere. There is much of that in this novel as well. Additionally, the lure of the opium dens and their smoky interiors add to the mysterious air of the novel. Films from that era had to rely on setting and the setting that Pearl paints, draws the reader in.

However, what I really enjoyed were the passages about Dickens himself. Pearl does an excellent job of making Dickens an accessible, compassionate human being. The eccentricities of the author shine through, yet he is a bit softer around the edges...more likable I guess. Earlier in the year I read Drood by Dan Simmons. In that novel, the sections that dealt with Dickens and his American tour seemed a tad tedious to get through. I didn't find that to be the case with The Last Dickens. Pearl takes the time to focus on Dickens as a man, and not just his readings alone. I felt that this alone helped the reader understand how much this man was loved by his readers.

Another item of importance is that it is not necessary for you to have read any of Dickens's work. Doing so certainly adds to the experience but The Last Dickens does not require it of the reader. Overall, this reading adventure was well worth the trip and I look forward to reading Pearl's other works.

Matthew is coming by for another visit on Wednesday, September 30th for a guest post. Be sure to check it out because it will also include a chance to win the book!

If you'd like to read more about Matthew Pearl, click here to visit his website.

To purchase the book, visit Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or an independent bookseller of your choice. The paperback will be released on October 6th!

Check out the rest of Matthew's tour stops here.

A big 'thank you' to TLC Book Tours for asking me to be a part of this tour.

Thanks to Random House for providing me with this review copy.

The Sunday Salon: Halloween is in the Air

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:47:00 +0000

I spent a lovely morning with friends. My daughter and I attended a Halloween craft workshop. It was really not planned to be a daughter and me type of event but when The Hub has to work extra hours to make ends meet in this economy, I find myself taking the kids with me when I normally would not. Needless to say, she took over all my crafts and although I planned to post a nice pic to include with this post, I find myself unable to do that.

One of the projects was a candy bar wrapper. Well, the candy bar is gone so all I have is the wrapper which I have included here. Where did the candy go, you ask? Into her mouth, as quick as she could eat it because all I did was turn my head for a second and it was gone. Poof!

We made some other projects but they didn't do well on the short walk back to the house. However, my daughter did allow me to keep this bookmark party favor. I think it's adorable and if you ask me, I'd take the bookmark over the candy bar any day.

Right now I am making Albondigas soup. Mainly, this is a Mexican meatball soup that I make with ground turkey, fresh tomatoes, squash and anything else I have on hand. Today I had some fresh herbs so I tossed those in. I don't really use a recipe or I'd share it. Somehow it just always comes out perfect.

I just finished writing up my review of The Last Dickens which will post later tonight, for a book tour that starts tomorrow. I also finished Goldengrove. I really enjoyed it. The review for that won't post until October 8th as it is also part of a book tour.

So what am I reading now? I am still reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I am really getting into it but tonight I plan to read Viola in Reel Life for Book Club Girl's blog talk show with the author which takes place this Wednesday, September 30th.

Hope you are all enjoying the day.

Friday Finds: Alice I Have Been

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading.

Here's the (long) blurb from the publisher:

Few works of literature are as universally beloved as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Now, in this spellbinding historical novel, we meet the young girl whose bright spirit sent her on an unforgettable trip down the rabbit hole–and the grown woman whose story is no less enthralling.

But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful?

Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories.

That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war.

For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey.

A love story and a literary mystery, Alice I Have Been brilliantly blends fact and fiction to capture the passionate spirit of a woman who was truly worthy of her fictional alter ego, in a world as captivating as the Wonderland only she could inspire.

This book doesn't even come out until January so I guess I will be waiting a long time to read it!

Review: A Mercy

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:31:00 +0000

A Mercy
Toni Morrison
Pub. Date: November 2008
Publisher: Random House Audio Publishing Group
Format: Compact Disc
ISBN-13: 9780739332542
ISBN: 0739332546
Edition Description: Unabridged, 4 CDs

The blurb from the publisher:

In the 1680s the slave trade was still in its infancy. In the Americas, virulent religious and class divisions, prejudice and oppression were rife, providing the fertile soil in which slavery and race hatred were planted and took root.

Jacob is an Anglo-Dutch trader and adventurer, with a small holding in the harsh north. Despite his distaste for dealing in “flesh,” he takes a small slave girl in part payment for a bad debt from a plantation owner in Catholic Maryland. This is Florens, “with the hands of a slave and the feet of a Portuguese lady.” Florens looks for love, first from Lina, an older servant woman at her new master’s house, but later from a handsome blacksmith, an African, never enslaved.

There are other voices: Lina, whose tribe was decimated by smallpox; their mistress, Rebekka, herself a victim of religious intolerance back in England; Sorrow, a strange girl who’s spent her early years at sea; and finally the devastating voice of Florens’ mother. These are all men and women inventing themselves in the wilderness.

The Short of It:

Read by the author, this is a mesmerizing story of love, betrayal and pain.

The Rest of It:

I've read a few of Morrison's books and I always have trouble with them. For me, the words lack a certain rhythm and I find myself re-reading pages that I've just read. I never understood the draw. That said, my book group chose A Mercy for October's discussion and I was sort of dreading it and looking forward to it at the same time.

For one, it's been years since I've read one of her books. Perhaps I've grown as a reader. Perhaps my experience this time will be different. I promptly went out and got the book, read a chapter or two and then stopped. Nope, still the same. Still haltingly strange for me. So then I ordered the book on audio. It's read by Toni Morrison and I figured that if it didn't strike a chord with me, and she was reading it as it was meant to be heard, then I would give up on Morrison altogether.

I'm happy to report that I loved it! Morrison's voice is melodic at times but definitely has a certain cadence to it. That haltingly strange way of speaking that I mentioned in the book form, is present in her speech patterns, but hearing her voice brought it all together for me. I then went back to the book and had no problems reading it. Have you ever done that?

After smoothing all this out, I settled into the story and found it to be haunting at times, yet the strength of these women amazed me. There is a wonderful interview with the author at the end of the audio book which should not be missed. Now that I've had this experience, I plan to re-read some of her other books.

Have you ever had a hard time reading a famous author and then wondered what all the fuss was about? Have you ever resorted to the audio book to see if it was different in some way?

Review: Betsy-Tacy

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:08:00 +0000

Betsy-Tacy
Maud Hart Lovelace
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pub. Date: June 1979
ISBN-13: 9780064400961
Age Range: 7 to 10
144pp
Series: Betsy-Tacy
Edition Description: Reissue

The blurb from the publisher:

There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy's age. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough, they do—a little girl named Tacy. And from the moment they meet at Betsy's fifth birthday party, Betsy and Tacy becoms such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person—Betsy-Tacy.
Betsy and Tacy have lots of fun together. They make a playhouse from a piano box, have a sand store, and dress up and go calling. And one day, they come home to a wonderful surprise—a new friend named Tib.

The Short of It:

Delightful, fun and incredibly charming!

The Rest of It:

My daughter is new to reading so we are always looking for books to read together so when Book Club Girl mentioned Betsy-Tacy I was like "Who in the world is Betsy Tacy?" Well, Betsy and Tacy are actually two girls who happen to be best friends. Do you remember when you were young and how you used to play until the street lights came on? How you would carve that old refrigerator box into a playhouse because video and computer games didn't exist? Well, this book is all that and so much more!

Betsy-Tacy is the first book in the series and is made up of short stories about such things as picnics, paper dolls and the first day of school. There are hills to climb and family dinners to be had. This book is just charming. My daughter said that she is Tacy and that I am Betsy. We sit on the couch and look forward to the adventures that these girls share.

Even for me, an older reader, I find that it's quite easy to slip back into childhood while reading these stories. After a long day a work, who wouldn't want to slip back into childhood for a little bit of an escape? If you have never read a Betsy-Tacy book, I urge you to check them out. My daughter and I are really enjoying them but I think I am enjoying them a little bit more. Don't tell!

You've Won The Day The Falls Stood Still!

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Thank you for participating in my giveaway of The Day the Falls Stood Still! Now for the winner... Each comment was assigned a number in the order in which it was received, and entered into Random.org's random number generator.

The winner is:

Lori L. of She Treads Softly.

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy the book! I am sending you an email now!

Note: the winner will have 5 business days to respond to the notification email. If I do not receive a response, another winner will be selected.

Thanks to the folks over at Hyperion Voice for providing me with this copy.

The Sunday Salon: The Return to Regular Programming

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:20:00 +0000

Now that Book Blogger Appreciation Week is over, I find myself a bit antsy and twitchy and unable to focus. Bloggers around the blogosphere call it a hangover of sorts, I just feel like a runner that is waiting for the gun to go off. Bam!

I paced myself well over the week. A little blogging, a little blog reading...more blogging...more blog reading but very little BOOK reading. So today is all about reading. The two books that I am reading right now:

Of Bees and Mist (review copy)
Goldengrove (review copy for an upcoming TLC book tour)

I've got other books going as well but these are the ones I plan to start today. Aren't the covers gorgeous? They remind me of fall and right now, with it being 100 degrees outside, I need to be reminded of fall.

Tonight I am making meatloaf and mashed potatoes for our sunday supper. We tend to eat comfort food around here on Sundays so that is what's on the menu tonight. For those that are following the Game On Diet, this is my free day ;)

On a personal note, on Wednesday, my son is auditioning for a couple of parts in Lil' Abner so he's been walking around practicing his lines and my daughter, the one with the photographic memory, has already memorized all of HIS lines just from listening to him. For those that are familiar with the musical, he is auditioning for Pappy Yokum and Available Jones. I sure hope he gets ones of these.

Anyway, what's on your plate for today?

Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge 2009

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:58:00 +0000

I have a ton of books calling my name. Books that I just want to read because 'I' want to read them. However, review commitments seem to be taking up all my reading time lately so they sit patiently, waiting for me to pick them up. One example is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I bought that book when it came out (that was a long time ago) and it sits on the shelf, looking at me longingly, hoping that I will pick it up someday.

Is this you? If so, you may want to consider Swapna's challenge. It's time to clear off your shelves!

This challenge will work a little differently than other challenges. Instead of picking a set number of books to read during this time period, you will pick a percentage. This means that a certain percentage of the books you read during these two months will have to qualify for this challenge. For example, let’s say you pick 40% and you end up reading 10 books in October and November. 4 of those books would have to qualify for this challenge in order for you to complete it. I am setting a minimum percentage of 20%.

If this sounds like something you'd like to participate in, click here for details, and here to sign-up.

BBAW: It's Been Grand

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:11:00 +0000

It's hard to believe but Book Blogger Appreciation Week has come to an end. For me, this event is not about the awards. I can say that because I didn't win any. Ha! No seriously, for me, it's about getting to know all of YOU. I truly appreciate all that you do and it touches me that you choose to include me in your everyday routine. The comments and emails that you send make my day that much brighter. Thank you.

Since this post is supposed to be about goals, I will say this:

My goal is to reach out to the community this year. I do on an individual basis, and that may be all I want to do in the end, but a challenge or two would be nice.

Here's to another year of blogging.

P.S. I added a signature. Like? Don't like? Please let me know.

Friday Finds: The Wilderness

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading.

The blurb from the publisher:

It’s Jake’s birthday. He is sitting in a small plane, being flown over the landscape that has been the backdrop to his life – his childhood, his marriage, his work, his passions. Now he is in his mid-sixties, and he isn’t quite the man he used to be. He has lost his wife, his son is in prison, and he is about to lose his past. Jake has Alzheimer’s.

As the disease takes hold of him, Jake struggles to hold on to his personal story, to his memories and identity, but they become increasingly elusive and unreliable. What happened to his daughter? Is she alive, or long dead? And why exactly is his son in prison? What went so wrong in his life? There was a cherry tree once, and a yellow dress, but what exactly do they mean? As Jake fights the inevitable dying of the light, the key events of his life keep changing as he tries to grasp them, and what until recently seemed solid fact is melting into surreal dreams or nightmarish imaginings. Is there anything he’ll be able to salvage from the wreckage? Beauty, perhaps, the memory of love, or nothing at all?

From the first sentence to the last, The Wilderness holds us in its grip. This is writing of extraordinary power and beauty.

I must get my hands on this one. What did you find this week?

She Liked It, Then She Told a Friend and so on and so on...

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Today's Book Blogger Appreciation Week topic has to do with books. Books that you heard about on another blog, read and then loved! Well, way back in April, Raych over at Books I Done Read reviewed My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier and based on her review alone, I knew that I had to read the book.

She included a lot of CAPS in her review which told me that I must drop everything and read it now. She also stretched her words out reallyyyyy longgggg to get her point across. When Raych does that, my ears perk up. I can't help it.

So I read it and I LOVED it and now I am using CAPS to describe my OVERALL EXCITEMENT OVER IT. It hasn't stayed on my shelf since I've read it. I have been lending out to everyone I know!

What great books have you discovered?

BBAW Reading Meme: For The Love of Reading

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:00:00 +0000

As part of the celebration, book bloggers everywhere are being asked to participate in this reading meme. In an attempt to keep this short, I selected a few of the questions to answer.

Do you tend to mark your books while you read? Or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

I cannot deal with scribbles in a book. When I see it, I get a little bit weird.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter or are you able to put the book down at any point?

I read until the end, unless the said book is Netherland where there are no chapters. Took me awhile to figure that out.

What are you currently reading?

I am reading The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl for an upcoming TLC book tour. I am liking it a lot more than Drood. I am also reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

What is the last book you bought?

I just bought a copy of Northanger Abbey at the university's used book sale.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one at a time?

I really strive to read one book at a time but it never works out for me. My moods change and when they do, I need to move on to another book so I often have 3-4 going at once.

Do you have a favorite time of the day and/or place to read?

My favorite time to read is during lunch at work. I camp-out in the corner of my private office and have a little carpet picnic. It feels totally wrong to have a carpet picnic at work, and that is probably why I love it so.

BBAW: Here Comes The Sun

thereedfamily@sbcglobal.net (Ti) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:56:00 +0000

Book Blogger Appreciation Week has begun!! This is a week of bookish merriment. There are all sorts of giveaways, interviews and the like floating around the blogland. It's PURE fun and I am totally excited to kick it all off with the topic of the day:

What book blogs mean something to you? Who are your most trusted sources for recommendations, your greatest help, the blogger you turn to for a laugh or to vent? Whose writing do you admire or who introduced you to a whole new genre you didn’t know about? We want to hear all about them…because we want to know them too! Please share about the blogs we haven’t had a chance to meet via BBAW and let the party begin!

Several of the book blogs that I frequent were shortlisted for a BBAW award, but so many others were not. So I'll use this opportunity to talk about some of the ones that I read daily and why they are special to me.

At Home With Books

If I'm not mistaken, I do believe that Alyce and I stumbled upon the blogging scene on or about the same time. When you are new-ish, it helps to have friendly folks out there that you can visit regularly and spend some time with. Even in a virtual sense, when I visit her blog I feel as if we are sitting in a bookstore chatting about books. I love that. Her reviews are great and I love that she shares her vacation pics with us too. It really gives me a sense of who she is.

The Book Lady's Blog

Rebecca's blog is rock-solid. Solid reviews that are well written, concise and to the point. Her blog design is completely devoid of clutter which really allows me to focus on what she has to say. Additionally, and she is going to laugh, her Sunday Salon posts are quite entertaining. She often spends her sundays lounging in her PJ's and I find myself living vicariously through her.

Books Lists Life

If Lisa and I lived close to one another, our families would be in big trouble. Lisa is a very creative gal. In addition to reviewing books, she sews. Sewing is something that I would like to learn one day, but right now I am content with just enjoying her projects. Her blog is a mix of books, family and a lot of creativity peppered throughout. She's a busy mom and I love her stories about The Bug and The Pirate. I also enjoy her camping adventures and someday, she is going to have a girls-only camp out. Oh come on. It was a great idea Lisa!

Books on the Brain

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Lisa's blog (yes another Lisa) is one of the first book blogs that I ever visited. I never even knew there were book blogs!! I know, I must have been living under a rock. What's special about Lisa? She writes great reviews and really injects her voice into each of them. Even before I met her this year, I could 'hear' her voice coming through and that is exactly how she sounds in real life. Additionally, she really does try to reach out to new bloggers and I really appreciated that when I was brand new and shiny (and naive and clueless).

Kiss a Cloud

Claire's site is simple and clean. She includes beautiful photos along with her posts and she reads books that fall just outside of the trends. Her posts are 'dreamy' to me. That is the word that comes to mind when I visit her site. I click, the page loads and I am instantly transported to a calmer place. Seriously.

The Literate Housewife Review

I've gotten to know Jennifer this past year and what I've really noticed about her, is that she is really in tune with what is going on around the blogisphere (blogosphere?). She sees an opportunity, and she grabs it. She hosts her Historical Fiction Book Club via Facebook and she also puts her creativity to good use with her Bookmark It! Club. On a personal note, she is just a pleasure to know and she writes fab reviews. Need I say more?

Peeking Between the Pages

Dar amazes me. Her reviews include a wide variety of genres. There's always something that catches my eye and she too, seems to be one of those folks that likes to reach out and help when she can. She helped me convert my 2-column blog to a 3-column format. She hosts numerous giveaways and I enjoy her posts about Buddy.

There are several other blogs in my reader that I read daily that are not listed here, but they are all in my reader for a reason, whether it's because of their reviews or the personal comments that they share with me, they are all special to me and if they weren't, they simply would not be in my reader!

Here's to a wonderful week and thanks for letting me share it with you.