Quirky Bookworm

My Vacation Reading Options

2013-05-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

Noel, Eleanor and I are on our way home from Show Low, Arizona, after enjoying some lovely, relaxing days in the cooler 70s! I queued this up ahead of time, because I don't like telling the internet that we're on vacation till we're actually back.

Since there isn't any tv or internet where we stayed, I requested a ton of books at the library for all of us, packed some puzzles and board games, and bought Eleanor a new Color Wonder book and markers.

There's no way I could have possibly read all of these books, but I brought up spares in case I didn't like some of them. My selections fall into three basic categories:

These Need Reviewed, But They're Nice Light Reading

Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe: A Novel with Recipes by Jenny Colgan. Chick lit, about Issy Randall, who is starting her own bakery. I've read about a third of this one already, and oh man, the recipes make my mouth water. Perfect light vacation reading, for Shelf Awareness.
What Darkness Brings: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C.S. Harris. I requested a copy of this from the publisher because I love these books. Stay tuned for a review and a giveaway for one of you soon!

Bread and Wine and a surprise visor from Noel arrived in my mailbox on the same day!

I've Been Meaning to Read These

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche. I read Katie's review of this forever ago, and I've been meaning to get around to it ever since.
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. I've been wanting to read this for two reasons: I've heard it's really good, and South America is sadly neglected on my 2013 reading map.
Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequest. I've read rave reviews of this all over the internet, and I was totally excited to win a copy of it at Hollywood Housewife a few weeks ago. I purposely saved it for this trip.

I Love Young Adult Lit

The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg. I heard Elizabeth at the TFOB this year, and she was so funny in real life that I can't wait to read one of her books.
Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien. At some point I added this to my "to-read" shelf on Goodreads, so I just randomly requested it from the library. It gets pretty good reviews, hoping it lives up to the hype! Of course, it's book 1 in a trilogy.
Pure by Julianna Baggott. This one is ditto Birthmarked, although the reviews aren't quite as good.

Once I've unpacked everything and done our laundry, I'll fill you in on what I actually got around to reading!

What do you like to read on vacation?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

Judging Books By Their Covers: Thunder on the Right

2013-05-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

I've been re-reading bits of Thunder on the Right by Mary Stewart before bed the last few evenings. It's a gothic mystery, starring 22 year old Jennifer Silver, set in 1950s France. Jennifer's cousin Gillian supposedly died in a mysterious convent... but Jenny is quite sure that Gilly can't be dead. I know, it breaks my normal no-fiction-before-bed rule, but with a re-read I'm not as strict!

I own the cover at left, which is super cheesy, but actually kind of accurate for the story. I think my favorite cover is the second from the right.

Which cover do you prefer?

This is part of my ongoing Judging Books by Their Covers series. Feel free to judge more of them too! The cover images are affiliate links.

Book Review: Criminal Enterprise by Owen Laukkanen

2013-05-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Owen Laukkanen reunites the team of FBI agent Carla Windermere and Kirk Stevens of Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (from 2012's The Professionals) in Criminal Enterprise. Windermere and her partner are tracking a gang of bank robbers whose crimes keep getting bigger; while her colleagues are investigating typical criminals, she suspects the main perpetrator is an accountant. Meanwhile, Stevens has taken a desk job investigating cold cases so that he can spend more time with his family. He's busy coaching his teenage daughter's basketball team, until he bumps into Windermere and realizes he has a strange connection to the robberies she's investigating.

Criminal Enterprise is a fast-paced thriller that keeps the reader guessing as Stevens and Windermere narrow in on the robbers' identities. Adding to the tension are alternating chapters told from the point of view of the main bank robber--detailing his transformation from an ordinary businessman into something much more deadly.

Laukkanen has done an excellent job creating an entirely plausible criminal--a man who would do anything to protect his family. The heightening tension of the escalating crimes keeps the pages turning, making the reader eager to see just how far things may go. Set in a vividly cold Minnesota winter, Criminal Enterprise offers a perfect escape into a freezing, suspenseful world.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this one. It seemed like a pretty generic thriller at first glance, but it was well-written, and I was fascinated by the bad guy's evolution from a typical family man into a vicious killer.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Possibly not. There are a couple of scenes with a lot of language/violence.

What's the best thriller you've read recently?

I originally wrote this review for Shelf Awareness. This post contains affiliate links.

Book Spine Poetry

2013-05-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Inspired by this pinboard from the Pima County Library, I decided to try my hand at a little book spine poetry! I don't consider myself very good at writing poetry, but Deborah Crombie and Jacqueline Winspear both have a lot of handily poetic titles.

this rough magic

dead souls

kissed a sad goodbye quietly in their sleep

before the frost

upon a dark night among the mad

the delicate storm

when maidens mourn

the holy thief

the stolen child

have mercy on us all

children of God

what angels fear

leaving everything most loved

don't look back

now may you weep a sea of troubles

Have you ever made any book spine poetry?

Elswyth Thane's Williamsburg Novels

2013-05-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I'd finally get around to sharing brief reviews for Elswyth Thane's Williamsburg novels; some of my mom's favorite books. They're a series of seven historical fiction books covering the sprawling Day/Sprague/Murray/Campion family from their origins in the Revolutionary War up through World War Two.

Dawn's Early Light

Probably my favorite in the series, this book tells of Julian Day (a staunch Tory) who arrives in Virginia in 1771, and who becomes close friends with American patriot St. John Sprague. Both men are in love with spoiled beauty Regina Greensleeves for a time, but in the long run Julian realizes he cares for someone else.

Julian's romance with the shy, but brilliant Tabitha Mawes is sweet; I just love Tibby's character. I also love that the book is set in Williamsburg (the capital of Virginia at the time), so the characters casually interact with people like Jefferson and Washington.

Yankee Stranger

Tibby Day is now 95, and her great-granddaughter Eden is just 17. It's 1860 and there are rumors of war, but Tibby can't believe that another war could come so "soon" to the United States. Eden is strangely attracted to Cabot Murray - but he's a Yankee! How can a southern belle admit her feelings for a northern reporter?

The romance of Cabot and Eden stretches across the war; and they each suffer deep losses along the way. This book made me cry the hardest when re-reading them; it's tough to see such a close-knit family torn by war. And the love story of Eden's sister Susannah? TRAGIC.

Ever After

Bracken Murray and his sister Virginia are off to England to start up an English branch of the Murray's newspaper and get Virginia presented at court.*

Bracken and Virginia go back to Farthingale**, a house originally owned by St. John Sprague's family 130 years earlier, and decide to buy it. Coincidentally, the Earl's family next door has seven children - among whom are Archie, whom Virginia finds alluring, and Dinah, with whom Bracken is completely besotted.

But Dinah is underage, so Bracken has to head off to Cuba to report on the Spanish-American war without revealing his feelings. He takes with him his cousin Fitz Sprague, who leaves behind a new romance of his own in New York...

The Light Heart

This tells of Fitz's younger sister Phoebe, who is engaged to cousin Miles Day, but ends up getting to go to England thanks to the generosity of Aunt Susannah. In England Phoebe meets Oliver Campion (brother of Dinah and Archie); and they fall desperately in love. But Oliver is engaged, and Phoebe is engaged, so they decide to do the honorable thing and go their separate ways.

A decade passes, and Phoebe becomes a famous author, but she can't quite shake her feelings for Oliver. A trip to Germany to visit her old friend Rosalind makes her realize that war between England and Germany is looming. And sure enough, soon Phoebe, Virginia, Dinah, and the rest of the women in the family are busy nursing; while the soldiers like Oliver fight, and the reporters like Bracken rush frantically into the front lines searching for stories.

I didn't like The Light Heart as well the first time I read it; I think I was too young to appreciate Phoebe and Oliver's nobility. But I really liked it a lot this time around, and I'd probably call it my 2nd or 3rd favorite.

Kissing Kin

Twins Calvert and Camilla, niece and nephew of Miles Day (who was briefly married to Phoebe Sprague), head to England to join the fight, since Woodrow Wilson can't decide to enter the war or not. Camilla falls in love with a most unsuitable man, while Calvert is wounded in battle.

Camilla nurses Calvert for several years, but his death in the early 1920s sends her back to Europe to visit the family. Along the way she becomes a celebrated singer, leads a shockingly modern (by Williamsburg standards) life in Cannes, and dabbles at love with several different men. Finally, on the brink of WWII, she finds true love of her own.

This Was Tomorrow

Archie and Virginia's youngest, Evadne, has been sucked into a cult, along with Oliver's poisonous daughter Hermione. Luckily Stephen Sprague (Fitz's son) has recently come from America, and decides to make it his mission to rescue and marry Evadne.

This is my least favorite of the series - because Evadne herself is so annoyingly wishy-washy and in need of rescue, unlike most of Thane's heroines, and because Hermione is AWFUL. I want to kill her the whole time. This is the only book that doesn't take place during an active war - but rather in the 2-3 years leading up to WWII, and apparently Thane decided that since the family wasn't fighting the Germans, they needed to fight each other a little. I wish she'd settled for a book without an antagonist.

Homing

Jefferson Day, Phoebe's son, who was raised by Bracken and Dinah Murray (it's complicated), is in love with his cousin Sylvia Sprague. (Yeah, there are quite a few cousin romances in this series!) But Virginia's granddaughter Mab is desperately in love with Jeff. And although Mab is only 13, the family is uneasy, because Jeff is the spitting image of Julian Day, and Mab looks just like Tibby's portrait. And the British Mab, who's never even been to America, seems to have a spooky knowledge of what Williamsburg is like.

As the Blitz rains down on London, the Murrays, Campions, Days, and Spragues pluckily throw themselves into rescue efforts; and the series ends perhaps a bit anticlimactically, but still satisfactorily.

I highly recommend the whole series - but especially books 1 - 4. They're superb.

What book does your mom love?

*Small complaint alert: their middle sister Marietta is mentioned casually in this book and in books 4 and 5, and then vanishes completely. Middle children do this a lot in the Williamsburg novels -- as does Eden herself! It drives me crazy that Thane never mentions Eden dying or anything, she just kind of fizzles out of the story. I almost want to write some fan fiction to wrap up some of the unfinished stories.

**In 2001 my aunt and I spent a whole day driving through tiny villages in the Cotswolds looking for Farthingale. We finally settled on a lovely manor house outside Lower Slaughter as Thane's probable inspiration, because in Ever After she mentions that the village near Farthingale has a stream running right down the center of the main street; just like Lower Slaughter does.

This post contains affiliate links.

Babynameitis: It's a Real Thing, I Swear

2013-05-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

2012 stats: Noel #418, Jessica #138, Eleanor, #135

I was going to write up a little "what Eleanor and I have been reading" post for you.

But... then I saw that the Social Security Administration had released the 2012 name states (which they do just before Mother's Day each year), and all bookish productivity was thrown out the window.

I may or may not have emailed all my family members to tell them what their name ranked last year, the year they were born, and how many people with their name were born in the last century.

Anyway, as I've mentioned before, I'm totally obsessed with baby names. I think a large part of it is due to the commonality of my name.

(In case you're really curious: 1,036,278 Jessicas were born from 1913-2012, making it the 9th most used name of the century. Of that, 469,395 of us were born in the 1980s. For only the 2nd time since 1969, Jessica was not in the top 100 girl names last year!)

The rest is from teaching at church for years, and being an avid reader. I have really strong associations with lots of names - some from real life, some from fiction. In middle school I used to check out baby name books from the library and obsessively pore over them... resulting in my short stories having rather hilariously named participants. (Stephania and Carlton anyone?)

Noel, on the other hand, has never met another Noel in real life, except for the grandfather he was named after. Lots of people just call him Noah, since they mishear his name, and he gets hilariously misspelled renderings sometimes.

My two favorites: at his old job he got faxes addressed to both Knoll Howard and Knowles Howard, ha! Due to the latter, his coworkers jokingly called him Beyonce. Due to the former, he keeps saying that one of these years for Halloween he's just going to wear a strip of fake turf for Halloween (thus making him "the grassy Noel").

So, when we were coming up with Eleanor's name, I didn't want it to be too trendy, and Noel didn't want it to be too uncommon. I think we struck a nice balance.

It's risen a bit in popularity since she was born: last year it was #135, but it'll never be overwhelmingly trendy the way Sophia or Emma or Ava are.

Oh, and I checked all the potential names we're considering for the Jellybean. None of the girl ones are in the top 100, and none of the boy ones are in the top 200. Phew!

Now, if you want to do some obsessive baby name sleuthing of your own, here is the main SSA baby name webpage, and here is a fascinating page that tracks names based on their rising/falling popularity. Here is the list of the top names of the century. And you can't go wrong with any of the Baby Name Wizard's articles about the name trends.

Do you like baby names?

Book Review: Baksheesh by Esmahan Aykol

2013-05-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Baksheesh (the second in a series that began with Hotel Bosphorus) is a quick-paced look at life in modern Istanbul. The convoluted mystery Esmahan Aykol sets up is intimately linked to deep corruption within the Turkish political system. Kati Hirschel, owner of the only mystery bookstore in Istanbul, needs to move. Her landlady is upping the rent, so Kati finds a government employee willing to accept a little baksheesh in return for putting her at the top of the waiting list for a new apartment. She's offered a place, only to find squatters already there. She argues violently with one of the men; when he turns up dead a few days later, Kati becomes the main suspect.

Kati's already busy dealing with a fight with her boyfriend, fears that she's starting menopause and is irritated that everyone in Turkey keeps telling her how well she speaks Turkish. In order to clear her name, though, she decides she needs to investigate this murder on her own--clearly the Turkish police are no match for her brisk German efficiency.

Kati is a comical heroine whose many quirks (chain-smoking, picking quarrels, worrying about her cellulite) make her very relatable. The language is sometimes stilted--which may be a result of translation, or perhaps reflective of Kati's abrupt style. Either way, Esmahan Aykol has brought Istanbul's chaotic, colorful world to life and has created an engaging detective as its tour guide.

I saw an Amazon review that compared Kati to Stephanie Plum from the Janet Evanovich books. I haven't read those, so I'm not sure if that's an accurate comparison, but hey, if you like Janet Evanovich you may want to give this one a try.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Maybe?

Have you read Esmahan Aykol or Janet Evanovich?

I originally wrote this review for Shelf Awareness. The post contains affiliate links.

Board Games and Books for the Mothers (and Others) in Your Life

2013-05-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

Actually, I wouldn't gift this one. It's WAY TOO HARD. Who made this game?!

So for Mother's Day I'm getting a new toaster oven. I know this because our current toaster oven (a wedding present, and thus nearly seven years old) recently gave up the ghost. It's crazy how sad I am about not being able to reheat slices of pizza in properly toasty fashion. The microwave is just not the same.

If, however, I wasn't getting a new toaster oven for Mother's Day, I would (of course) be totally interested in either books or board games, pretty much my two favorite forms of entertainment.

Here are some of my recent favorite board games and books, any of which would make perfect gifts (and some of which I've recently gifted)!

Qwirkle. We've given this to our last couple of friends to get married as a wedding present along with a restaurant gift card for a "cheap date night". You make lines of shapes or colors, building off each other (it's a bit like Scrabble meets Set), and it's perfect for non-gamey people, because it's easy to learn the basic rules, but you can get tricky with your strategy if you're so inclined.

The Secret Keeper. As you know, I love this book. And I actually did buy it for my mom for Mother's Day this year! (Don't worry, I'm not giving anything away, I gave it to her early so she could take it on a road trip).

Left Center Right. Noel just got this for his birthday, and it's super fun. It's a fast-paced dice game that's all luck, and can be easily adapted for really big groups. Someone told me they played it at their work Christmas party with dollar bills instead of chips, and the winner got to keep the center pot. That version sounds kinda awesome!

Cinder. Trust me, I've had the experience of trying to describe this book to someone, and feeling really dumb while doing so. "Well, it's like Cinderella, but set in a future dystopic Beijing. And Cinder is a cyborg, who gets invited to a ball by the Prince, but the Lunar Queen is trying to destroy the Prince and..." yeah. I recommend more of the "Just read it, no arguing!" approach. So far everyone I've gotten to read it has loved it.

Ticket to Ride. I like just about all Days of Wonder games - we also own Pirate's Cove and Cleopatra And The Society of Architects. But you can't beat Ticket to Ride, a classic strategy game where you're trying to get your train to certain destinations while the other players are trying to make their destinations, and you inevitably all get in each others' way. (Incidentally, this game has a stellar app too, and if your friend(s) happens to have the app too, you can play a Wifi-linked game, which is just about as awesome as the real deal).

Call the Midwife. You may have seen me babbling on Twitter or Facebook about how much I'm loving these books and the BBC TV show. The show is based on the books, which tell the story of a young midwife in the East End in the 1950s. They're so great, you can't go wrong with the books or dvds. I bet your mom and grandma and all your aunts would love this as a gift!

We Didn't Playtest This at All. This is a very silly card game, perfect for big groups. It's kind of like Apples to Apples meets Curses...kinda. But it's basically pointless, yet guaranteed to cause extensive giggling. (At least in my personal experience).

11/22/63. This one is for those whose mothers like hefty novels, and who aren't afraid to cry a little. This is probably the best book I've read so far in 2013, at least in my top three for sure. And, I heard that J.J. Abrams optioned the movie rights, so it's probably going to be an awesome movie too! Get it for your mom so she can be ahead of the movie-reading curve.

Likewise. This is a great game for those who like wordy party games, but are tired of Taboo and Catch Phrase . It's the opposite of Scattergories - you're purposely trying to get the same answers as other people. Sometimes you write your answers, sometimes you draw them, and it's always hilarious to see what people put.

False Colours. C'mon, you knew that I couldn't write a list of gift ideas without sneaking a Heyer in, right? This is one of my favorites, and I think any mom would love it. It's a tale of twin brothers who fall in love with two very different women; and who get up to crazy machinations in order to get their beloved, spendthrift mama out of debt.

There you have it! Five each of the books and games I'm loving right now.

How about you?

What are you giving (or getting?) for Mother's Day?

This post is chock-full of affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

Currently: What I'm Reading/Eating/Watching

2013-05-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness to write this post.

Time // 1:58 pm, Wednesday. I'm queuing this post up for Sunday because we have a super busy weekend planned.
Place // The computer, which sits on our desk in the corner of our bedroom.
Eating // 73% dark chocolate from Trader Joe's. (I'm trying to cut back on my caffeine due to the Jellybean, so a small bar of dark chocolate has replaced my afternoon diet Dr Pepper habit.)
Listening // To Eleanor yakkity yakking over the monitor during her "quiet" time. She's currently singing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song at the top of her lungs.
Reading // I listened to a disc of The House at Riverton this morning. In a few minutes I plan to start either The Square of Revenge or Blood Orange for review, we'll see what I settle on.
Celebrating // Noel's birthday! He's 32 tomorrow, and thanks to a giftcard and his sister's offer to have Eleanor over for a "sleepover", we're headed to a hotel for the night sans kiddo. We're planning to lunch at Hub and catch Iron Man 3 on Friday.
Watching // The Voice. I love these battle rounds, such fun. And it's the perfect show to have on in the background while blogging since I'm listening more than watching.
Making // Tonight Meghan and I are making Nigella Lawson's Supper Onion Pie for dinner. And tomorrow I'm making Noel a Chocolate Cherry Garcia cake. I've made it for his birthday five years in a row now.
Remembering // How delicious that fried cookie dough was at the fair last weekend. I wonder if I could recreate it at home?
Blogging // I'm queuing up posts ahead of time! I'm so excited that I'm feeling better, and actually writing more.
Accomplishing // This morning a friend watched Eleanor for about 2 hours, and I wrote a book review, finished an author interview, did three loads of laundry, sorted and dated all my June/July books for review, and did the dishes. Crazy what I can get done without a 3-year-old asking "Why?" every 4.2 seconds!

Now it's 2:23 pm. Time to start reading!

What are you reading today?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Bookity Links

2013-05-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

Image found here.

It's been a long time since I've done any weekend links! Here's some of the awesomeness I've seen around lately...

You already saw my What I'm Into post on Sunday, but check out all these other What I'm Into posts at Leigh's link-up.
To tide you over till Gatsby comes out in theater, check out Book Riot's Gatsby-Arrested Development mash-ups; which are some of the funniest things I've ever seen.
I got 24/24 on this book cover quiz. Working in a used bookstore for 6.5 years was good for something after all!
Hollywood Housewife is giving away a Kindle Paperwhite. You have till midnight tonight (5/3) to enter.
Katie tweeted me this Goodreads infographic. See, that's why I failed at the Classics Catch-Up Challenge... the infographic proves I just picked the wrong plays for my mood right now!
And, I updated my 2013 reading map. I knew I was an Anglophile, but geez do I look biased when it's all mapped out.

Got any good links I should see?

P.S. Don't forget the Classics Catch-Up Challenge Link-Up is still open.

Book Review: The Chalice by Nancy Bilyeau

2013-05-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

Joanna Stafford, ex-novice, is attempting to put her life together after her convent at Dartford was dismantled on Henry VIII's orders. (See Bilyeau's previous novel, The Crown, for the full story there.) Convinced Catholicism is the one true faith, Joanna is in despair over the continuing Reformation; on the practical side, raising her young cousin Arthur after his mother was executed at Henry's command, she's trying to get a tapestry business up and running. Then her cousin the Marquis of Exeter, and his wife, Gertrude, offer Joanna and Arthur a place to stay.

Joanna gratefully heads to London, leaving behind two men to whom she is strangely attracted (despite her vow of chastity). In the city, she discovers Gertrude knows the guilty secret Joanna has tried to squelch for a decade. Three separate prophecies suggest Joanna has a vital role to play in the Catholic cause. She resists, but Gertrude presses the point, and Joanna comes to accept that the fate of Henry VIII--perhaps of all England--is in her hands.

The Chalice is an engrossing mix of the complicated politics of the Reformation with the magical elements of the Dominican order, and Joanna--fiery, passionate, determined to honor what she thinks God wants her to do--is a fascinating character. Fans of historical mysteries, Tudor politics and supernatural fiction will all be pleased by the broad scope, quick-moving plot and historical integrity of Bilyeau's second novel.

I really enjoyed it; in spite of jumping straight into book two of a trilogy. I've seen The Crown and The Chalice reviewed on lots of other book blogs, and everyone seemed to agree that both books are good, so you may want to start in order!

Rating: 4 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Weeell, my grandma wouldn't approve of the magicky religion (Nostradamus shows up at one point...), but it's grandma-friendly otherwise.

Have you read Nancy Bilyeau?

This review was originally published in Shelf Awareness. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

Classics Catch-Up Challenge: Oh the Shame (Thought of Changing my Name)

2013-04-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes that was a Hakuna Matata reference in the title. ("When he was young warthog!")

It's appropriate since The Lion King is a rough retelling of Hamlet, right?

And since the March-April picks for the Classics Catch-Up Challenge were Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello.

The picks which I *ahem* did not read. At all. Even a little bit. Well, I did listen to about 2 minutes of Macbeth on audio before deciding it'd be too confusing to listen to it without reading it first. And then I got the flu, and then I fell behind, and then, well. You get the picture.

It's embarrassing really to fail at your own challenge.

But I don't want to penalize those of you who are actually on target! So, without further ado: the March-April Classics Catch-Up Challenge Link Up!

Link-up your post(s) or Amazon/Goodreads review(s) below. The linky will be open for a week. (Remember you have to link up reviews for at least 9 of the 13 selections to be entered in the Amazon gift card drawing at the end of the year).

Next up: the May-June picks are Madame Bovary and Catch-22. We'll see if I do any better, since I'm only 1 for 5 on the challenge selections so far! (Seriously, I'm going to have to start wearing a scarlet Q for quitter soon at this rate).

What did you think of Macbeth/Hamlet/Othello?

What I'm Into: April Edition

2013-04-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

Books

I finally got back in the reading groove a bit. I'm reading Call the Midwife, The Summer of Dead Toys, and listening to The House at Riverton on audiobook.

Movies

The old James Bond movies were all on Amazon Prime for a couple of weeks, so Noel and I watched a bunch of them. We also finally, finally watched Lincoln, and we're hopefully going to go see Iron Man 3 soon!

TV

I'm kind of in a tv rut. I've been half-heartedly watching The Voice, and Once Upon a Time and Modern Family are still my go-to shows, but nothing else has really grabbed me. I think what I want is a really fun reality show, to fill my Biggest Loser withdrawals.

Sweets

My sugar aversion seems to be waning, YIPPEE! It was kind of awful, from weeks 8-12 or so, I literally threw up every time I ate something even remotely sweet. But I'll be 15 weeks tomorrow, and as long as I don't over-indulge, the baby (aka The Jellybean for future reference) seems to be tolerating the sugar. Thus I have recommenced the baking and homemade ice cream-making, and it's been lovely. Eleanor's catch phrase when she's in the mood to bake is, "Mom! Can we make something yummy in a bowl?" and lately I've been happy to oblige.

Sleeping

It's all The Jellybean's fault. I seriously have been sleeping about 9-9.5 hours a night, plus taking a nap on lots of days. Which means that I'm really behind on reading and housecleaning and basically everything else in life, but I just can't keep my silly eyes open.

Blogs

I have a sad confession; I'm terribly, horribly behind on my blog reading. I'm so sorry if you've noticed my absence in your comments! My Google reader has an embarrassing number of unread posts. But due to all the sleeping I just have less time, and blogs were one of the things that temporarily had to go. Hopefully I'll catch back up soon. (And figure out what to replace Google Reader with. Have you found a good feedreader option?)

Grilled Cheese

I love grilled cheese a lot. So does my friend Meghan, which is why we blog about it quite often. And apparently we're not alone, because our cheesy grilled cheese board has more than 2300 followers! I think next up on our agenda is going to be some Chipotle Cheddar and Chorizo Grilled Cheese or Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheese.

What are YOU into?

What feed-reader do you use?

Linking up with Leigh Kramer's What I'm Into. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

Book Review: Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It

2013-04-26T09:44:00.002-07:00

G. Bruce Knecht (Hooked, The Proving Ground) returns to the seas in Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It, focusing this time on the rarefied yachting world of the super-rich. It's 2008, and the yachting business is booming: Doug Van Allmen wants his fifth yacht, the Lady Linda, to be the best American yacht ever built, and he determines to spare no expense; the 187-foot boat has a projected coast of around $40 million.

Then the economy starts crashing, and a nervous Van Allmen puts $100 million into what turns out to be a Ponzi scheme in an attempt to recoup his losses. After that investment collapses, the fate of the Lady Linda and the thousands of blue-collar workers employed in building her is at stake.

Knecht gracefully interweaves the stories of the Van Allmens and their incredibly wealthy friends with the lives of the men working on the Lady Linda, from the Australian surfer to the Mississippi welder to the illegal Honduran immigrant. The progress (or lack thereof) on the yacht reflects the state of the U.S. economy as production drags on well into 2012.

Will Van Allmen even be able to afford the Lady Linda if it's ever completed? What will the lack of demand for enormous yachts do to the companies and workers whose livelihoods depend on them? Knecht teases out the political and monetary ramifications of the Lady Linda and all those who are connected to her; but leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves if Van Allmen's ambition was too grand.

I was rather surprised how much Grand Ambition interested me. It's not something I ever in a million years would've picked up on my own, but Shelf Awareness sent it to me, and I decided to give it a shot. I guess it's the same reason I watched "The Fabulous Life of ______ " on VH1 in college: a voyeuristic interest in the lives of people whose wealth so far surpasses anyone that I know that it's mind-boggling.

Knecht does a great job of pacing the tale of the yacht-building, and really bringing out the people in the story - from the quiet, hardworking welder and the Honduran doing the surface coating (who already has lung trouble in his early 20s because it's such a toxic job) to the Van Allmens and their Ponzi-scheming lawyer friend.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Sure! I really enjoyed it.

Which book has surprised YOU recently?

I originally wrote most of this review for Shelf Awareness. The cover image is an Amazon affiliate link. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

I Made Cupcakes!

2013-04-24T08:22:00.002-07:00

I think in the last week I've read for 1.5 hours. In a whole week! And that 1.5 hours was dedicated to a Jo Nesbo book that technically I should've already finished and reviewed about 4 days ago. Oops.

The problem is that I got totally sidetracked by Eleanor's birthday. (She turned 3 on Monday). Because my second-favorite thing to do is bake (which is why my old blog was called the Bibliophile Baker).

So I ruthlessly abandoned my books for flour and sugar and made some Monsters, Inc inspired cupcakes. I used the basic buttercream and yellow cake recipes from America's Test Kitchen, and they're rather delectable; plus ridiculously cute (if I do say so myself).

Eh, let's face it, I wanna show off the whole thing. Here's a pic of the main party. (We had a pool party for her friends on Friday. Then Monday night we invited the family over for dinner and those Monster cupcakes). You can see more of the pool party here.

I had a lot of fun putting everything together. And Eleanor seemed to have a lot of fun at both parties. Although she told me this morning that she needs to have one more party because she's three. Ha! Better discourage that notion long before she hits age seven or eight.

But I'm hoping to hop back on the book bandwagon today, because Insurgent finally came in at the library, hooray! I'm making myself be a good little book reviewer and finish the Nesbo first, but then YA gluttony, here I come.

What are you reading/baking?

Squeee!! (Or, How I Got to Interview One of My Favorite Authors)

2013-04-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about reviewing for Shelf Awareness is that I can swap book talk with our editor, Marilyn, who happens to like a lot of the same mystery authors I do.

Way back in December I sent Marilyn an email saying, "Can I review the newest Deborah Crombie when you get it, pretty please?" She replied sure, and THEN, in January, she emailed and asked if I'd like to interview Deborah after reading the book. (!)

In spite of my giddy schoolgirl excitement, I managed it. The Sound of Broken Glass arrived in my mailbox, and I devoured it.

In The Sound of Broken Glass, the 15th novel in Deborah Crombie's mystery series starring the husband-and-wife team of Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and Inspector Gemma James, Kincaid is on family leave, caring for their two boys and helping their foster daughter, Charlotte, adapt to life with them, while James is busy investigating a gruesome murder.

The victim is a respected London barrister, found naked, bound and strangled in a very seedy Crystal Palace hotel. Gemma and her sergeant, Melody Talbot, quickly trace the victim back to his usual pub, where they learn that he was involved in a fight, then left with a mysterious woman. Is she the killer?

The investigation is juxtaposed with flashbacks to 15 years earlier, as a young boy tries to care for his alcoholic mother. A beautiful woman moves in next door and they become unlikely friends--until something terrible happens.

Crombie crafts an elaborate crime with roots extending many years into the past, as well as a fair number of apparently coincidental connections that turn out to be not quite coincidental. Minor characters from earlier books in the James-Kincaid series play a larger role here, and Duncan and Gemma’s own relationship is developing and changing, as they adapt to their different parenting and working roles.

The Sound of Broken Glass is an excellent mystery on its own, but even better as the latest entry in a great series. Fans of Deborah Crombie won't be disappointed, and The Sound of Broken Glass is bound to create new Crombie enthusiasts.

And then, after finishing the awesomeness of Broken Glass, I got to email back and forth with Deborah and ask her questions about it! It took me a small eternity but I finally managed to narrow down the questions I wanted to ask her, and it was a lot of fun. Read the full text of our conversation here.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Sure. But she might wanna go back and start a little earlier in the series too...

Have I converted you into a Deborah Crombie fan yet?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. I was compensated by Shelf Awareness for the review/interview.

Judging Books by Their Covers: Othello

2013-04-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

I said to myself, "Hm, it's been a while since I did a Judging Books by Their Covers post!" When did I last do one? And then I realized the last one I did was Macbeth.

And then I realized, "OH NO, I need to hurry up and read Macbeth for the Classics Catch-Up Challenge!" I still have 10 days, phew, but I gotta get crackin'. Can't believe I almost totally spaced it.

So, I'm off to read Macbeth. I hope that you've already finished it (and maybe Hamlet and Othello too?). In the meantime, if you're not frantically reading for the Classics Catch-Up Challenge, feel free to get all judgey.

Which cover of Othello do you prefer?

Images are Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm.

Short Takes on My Historical Fiction Craze

2013-04-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

I know I said that I was looking for a good YA book to break up my mystery monotony. But instead I went the historical fiction route. It was a lovely little departure from my usual reviewing material, and a nice little break while I was sick and didn't feel like focusing on anything.

Here's what I read:

My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart. Set in 1950s Greece, this was written as a contemporary romance/mystery. But sixty-odd years later it's historical (right?) and still irresistible. Camilla stumbles upon a mystery (and a handsome man named Simon) in Delphi.

The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer. Set in 1740s England, this tells the story of an eccentric family, led by a clever, criminal father whose two dutiful children cross-dress in order to hide their identities as escaped Jacobites. But then Peter (Prudence) and Kate (Robin) each meet someone they could love. How to resume their own genders and find true love without creating a scandal?

The Williamsburg Series by Elswyth Thane. A gorgeous family saga starting in the 1770s, which follows the Day and Sprague families from the Revolutionary War through World War Two. I'll give you a more detailed breakdown on these soon, because they deserve a full review post. My favorites are the first four though for sure, they're basically perfect literature; except for the slightly awkward references to "coloreds" and such. (But they were written back in the 1930s, and at least they never use the N-word...)

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. This one is set between 1920s and modern-day England, told in alternating chapters. I just started it on audio, and I'm trying to savor it a little, since once it's over I'll be done with all of Kate Morton's books! But, I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll end up blitzing through it just like I did with all her other books.

Have you read any good historical fiction lately?

Check out my earlier reviews of Mary Stewart's Madam, Will You Talk?, and Georgette Heyer's Charity Girl for more great historical fiction.

Images are Amazon affiliate links.

Book Review: The Woman Who Wouldn't Die by Colin Cotterill

2013-04-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Woman Who Wouldn't Die is a fascinating mystery in its own right, but the insights into Lao history and culture in the ninth installment of Colin Cotterill's series about Dr. Siri Paiboun, the ostensibly retired coroner, make it even more irresistible; for new readers as well as established fans.

A woman was shot and killed, her body burned on a funeral pyre. Then she woke up in her bed again--now able to speak to the dead. Known as Madame Keui (Madame Used-to-Be), the medium attracts visitors from across Laos, including the wife of a general. This general's brother has been missing since the revolution, and Madame Keui claims to know where his body is.

Dr. Siri is called in to accompany the general and Madame Keui to the location. He brings along his wife, Daeng, who is jealous of the beautiful Madame Keui and Siri's intense interest in her. Siri, who has seen spirits himself, hopes that Madame Keui can help him unlock the secrets of the dead. Daeng suspects that Madame Keui is up to no good--and that the "visions" are a sham. Is she right, or is it jealousy talking?

Cotterill re-creates Laos in the late 1970s, bringing to life characters ranging from suspicious Communist officers to superstitious peasants. Most vivid are Siri and Daeng, a clever elderly couple whose witty banter and passion for each other make them immensely likable.

I really enjoyed The Woman Who Wouldn't Die. Thank goodness Shelf Awareness finally sent me one of these for review, or I might never have realized how fun they are! I've owned The Coroner's Lunch for about three years, but had never gotten around to reading it.

I will say that in the wake of the iPhone Siri, it took me a chapter or so to get used to Siri as (a) a real person and (b) a male, but then I didn't think about it anymore.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Sure! She'll probably love reading about elderly romance.

Are you familiar with Lao culture?

This post contains affiliate links. The review was originally published in Shelf Awareness.

Binge-Reading

2013-04-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

This has been a rough week in the Howard household. We took turns with a violent flu, which has left us all rather shaky and tired. But we're all feeling a little better now, and slowly resuming our normal routines.

In between endless loads of laundry, I sat around and read a lot, because I didn't have energy for anything else.

I read Elswyth Thane's Dawn's Early Light (and bawled my eyes out, because sick + pregnant is NOT the time to read about Revolutionary War battles with dry eyes) and then proceeded to blitz through Yankee Stranger, Ever After, and The Light Heart right after. Then I was about to start Kissing Kin (book 5 in the Williamsburg novels), but I felt like I needed a break. I'm not sure that I can binge-read all 7 in a row.

That made me stop to ponder, and realize that actually 4 books is about my limit. When I re-read Harry Potter I took a break between books 4 and 5, and when I read the Temeraire books I read 4 books in a week, and then had to take a break.

So now I'm curious: when you read obsessively do you have a limit?

Do you keep reading till the series is done?

Or do you savor a series one book at a time?

P.S. The Williamsburg books are SUPERB historical fiction. Full review coming soon, once I've finished them.

This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

Book Review: The Afrika Reich

2013-04-11T16:48:00.003-07:00

Guy Saville's The Afrika Reich begins in 1952--12 years after the war in Western Europe ended with French defeat and a British-German nonaggression pact. Since then, the Third Reich has spread to cover large parts of the globe. The head of Nazi Afrika is Walter Hochburg, a crazed racist notable for his viciousness even by Nazi standards. His Kongo is a scary world of slave labor and the rampant looting of natural resources.

Former mercenary Burton Cole is pulled out of retirement to lead a team to kill Hochburg and protect the few remaining British colonies in Africa. It's supposed to be easy money, and it will enable Cole to support his pregnant girlfriend. But, inevitably perhaps, the mission falls apart, and Cole is forced to flee across thousands of miles of Nazi territory. Desperate to find his way home, Cole will do anything to get to the African coast and kill anyone who gets in his path.

The world of The Afrika Reich is vividly imagined, and horrifyingly plausible, as Saville shows us what the world could have become if the Nazis had won. The Afrika Reich is not for the faint of heart--gruesome and gory, it depicts a continent where racist men have had free reign over the native populace for nearly a decade. Burton Cole must fight not only for his life and those of his comrades, but for the lives of thousands of innocents who will suffer unimaginable torments if he fails.

As I mentioned before, I really enjoyed the creative world of The Afrika Reich. It's a really innovative setting, and I appreciate that a lot. I did not, however, enjoy the detailed violence. Granted the Nazis were extremely violent in real life, so I'm sure that Guy Saville didn't write anything they didn't do... but it was too much for me. I think maybe this is more of a "guy" book.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Nope. Probably not.

I originally wrote this review for Shelf Awareness. The image is an affiliate link.

What I'm Reading (and Awkwardly Publicly Crying About)

2013-04-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all your suggestions on what to read next!

I ended up reading Mary Stewart's My Brother Michael, and now I've started Georgette Heyer's The Masqueraders. They're both perfect for my mood right now - light, entertaining, but well-written.

I also started an audio book called Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala - which details her life after her husband, two sons, and parents all died in the 2004 tsunami in south Asia. I'm reviewing it for Shelf Awareness, and it's really good, in a very difficult way. Perhaps not the best choice while pregnant though; I've already started crying about six times and I'm barely on disc 2. I was listening to it while walking through Target, but randomly burst into tears and had to turn it off. Oh the awkwardness of sad audiobooks.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and didn't even mind the 45 minute wait, since I got to read a big chunk of The Masqueraders. I have another one tomorrow... and I'm secretly kind of hoping for another wait.

What are YOU reading?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Camilla Lackberg and What I'm Reading Next

2013-04-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

I posted that picture of my "to-review" pile on Facebook recently. And... I've gotten 8 more books in the mail since then, ACK. I don't have to review them all, but I do have to sort through them, and make selections, and read about half of them. Which generally means reading at least a chapter or two of each of them, before I decide what's worth reviewing.

Since taking the picture I finished the Lackberg. And yup, I still have a fangirl crush on Camilla Lackberg. The press release that came with the book is amazing. Camilla is a huge celebrity in Sweden, and is married to a famous cop. She's been on the Swedish version of Dancing with the Stars, he won the Swedish Survivor, they have five kids between them, and she still manages to write awesome mysteries.

Although I really enjoyed The Stranger, I'm craving a break from all the mysteriousness now; since a good chunk of those review books are police procedurals or historical mysteries. I think next up is a Heyer re-read. Or maybe I'll finally get around to one of my 2013 reading goals and read Dawn's Early Light by Elswyth Thane.

Or perhaps one of you has a good YA recommendation for me? I'm still on the library waitlist for Insurgent, and I just devoured Scarlet last week. Ideas?

What author are YOU crushing on?

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm!

P.S. Don't forget the giveaway for A Conspiracy of Alchemists is open through tomorrow night! Go comment to enter to win.

TLC Blog Tour: A Conspiracy of Alchemists (& a giveaway!)

2013-04-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

Set in an alternate, steampunk 1903 where warlocks rule the world, 'Nightwalkers' (vampires) are governed by alchemists, and people fly around in spark reactor powered dirigibles, A Conspiracy of Alchemists will grab your attention immediately. As I mentioned a while ago, even though the plot was a little thin, I couldn't put it down because the world Liesel Schwarz has created is so vivid.

Eleanor "Elle" Chance stubbornly refused all the offers of marriage she received during her London Season in order to become a dirigible pilot. Her eccentric father, a brilliant physicist, has essentially let her do whatever she wants, and her high society aunt has washed her hands of Elle.

Elle heads to Paris on what should be a simple task - picking up a wooden case and bringing it back to England. But she's attacked by Nightwalkers, and ends up on the run with a mysterious (and handsome) man named "Mr. Marsh". When Eleanor and Marsh arrive in Oxford, they discover that Elle's father has been kidnapped. Marsh reveals two big secrets about himself: (a) he's a warlock that's hundreds of years old, and he's (b) Viscount Greychester, and then he and Elle set off on a chase across France, Italy, Austria, and Turkey in an attempt to find the Nightwalkers that they suspect of having kidnapped Elle's father. (Spoiler alert! Text is in white, highlight the blank space if you want to see Marsh's secrets).

Along the way they wreck a dirigible, helicopter, and train, are attacked by alchemists, air pirates, and Nightwalkers, and separated by scheming factions of warlocks.

A Conspiracy of Alchemists is one of those books that you can't think too hard about. You have to just accept Liesel Schwarz's crazy world on faith, or you'll spend the whole time saying, "But why would the warlocks do ( ____ )?" And "Absinthe fairies? What?" Or "Wait, Marsh is HOW old?" Or "Seriously Elle, does that seem like a good idea? Really?"

But as long as you're not thinking too hard, it's a fun, fast adventure; with a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Uh, I wouldn't recommend it to my grandma. But if your grandma likes vampires, go for it!

WIN IT! One of you can win a copy of A Conspiracy of Alchemists. To enter to win just leave a comment telling me if you're a fan of steampunk novels or not. Comments close at midnight on Monday 4/8, then I'll randomly choose the winner and contact you for your mailing info. Entries from USA and Canada only please.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links, thanks for supporting Quirky Bookworm! And I received a copy of this book in exchange for participating in the TLC Book Tour.

Update: The winner of A Conspiracy of Alchemists is commenter #3 - Ryann. Congrats Ryann, I'll be contacting you!

Cook Fight: Chocolate!

2013-04-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

January's post, where I mentioned what I've been cooking, reminded me that I never shared with you an experiment that I did with several of my fellow Shelf Awareness reviewers last fall. We participated in what we called an "Iron Shelf" where we each made a recipe from a cookbook entitled CookFight: 2 Cooks, 12 Challenges, 125 Recipes, an Epic Battle for Kitchen Dominance .

From the 'Iron Shelf':

Jessica Howard chose to make "the scrumptious Chocolate Log." Considering that the ingredients consist largely of heavy cream and dark chocolate, she was sure she had a winner on her hands. "My trusty stand mixer and I got to work: whipping egg whites, beating cream, and stirring in oodles of melted chocolate. After the cake baked, sweetened whipped cream was spread thickly across it. Now came the tricky part: rolling up the log, jelly-roll style. I am a novice roller, and it started cracking at first, much to my alarm. The title of CookFight Champion was at stake! But things came together; the log was rolled, and set to chill." Jessica could not wait for the requisite few hours' cooling time, so cut into it after only 45 minutes. The verdict? "Heavenly chocolate perfection. And it's grain free--which is nice for the gluten-free among us."

Read about the rest of the Cook Fight battle here.

And seriously, go make that chocolate log. It's absolutely delectable. Too bad I didn't tell you sooner, it would've made a great Easter dessert! If I could eat sweets right now I would be making it. (But sadly the baby violently rejects any attempt on my part to sneak in a jelly bean or cookie or such. Boo.)

What have YOU been cooking?