Category ArchiveBook
Book 21 Mar 2009 05:53 pm
MORE Lara Adrian
Just wanted to update on my Lara Adrian reading.
I have finished Kiss of Midnight, Kiss of Crimson, Midnight Awakening, Midnight Rising and am one quarter the way through Veil of Midnight.
THEY ARE SO MUCH FUN.
Wow.
yeah, go read them and enjoy!
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Book &Information 11 Mar 2009 08:35 am
Old School Mary Balogh
I have a bag (no literally, a BAG) full of Mary Balogh titles.
As I read down through the bag I am going to do a short review of each. Some are full length novels, and some are signet romances… let the fun begin!
The Notorious Rake: 1992 So… I would say, go ahead and miss this one. The last… 3 chapters were fun, but the rest just did not fit with what I think of the Ton and London life.
A Chance Encounter 1985. A lot of this book felt similar to Pride and Prejudice but I did like some parts of it.
Lord Carew’s Bride 1995: It was odd. Tried to be Beauty and the Beast, but didn’t exactly hit the mark. It was fun seeing how a man and woman could fit in a friendship in this time period.
A Counterfeit Proposal 1992 Was it the love story of the daughter or the parents? If she could have decided, it would have been better. It was still fun though.
The Ungrateful Governess 1988: This one was fun. She, poor fired governess. He, sinfully handsome rake who offers position of mistress (a few TOO many times over the course of the book). But have no fear, this girl has connections! It was fun, but her writing has DEFINITELY improved! Also, somehow there were TWO copies of this book in the “Bag of Balogh.”
The Ideal Wife 1991. I felt that I had read this book before… which is possible. But I liked it. It was fun, the characters were fun, there was a little “ton” and a lot of love. I like the books with a lot of love.
Last Waltz:1998. Well. I liked this one! But sometimes the whole, “6 years ago they were in love, but then a brutal misunderstanding happened and she married a different man who is a tyrant (but luckily dies!), and he comes back and is amazing and they FINALLY fall in love again,” well sometimes that is overdone. (not just by Balogh, in the genre overall. but yeah… it is overdone because it WORKS!)
Courting Julia 1993:This could have been bad, and yet it was GREAT! I loved each of the male cousins, and how they all dealt with each other. GREAT!!
Okay, here is the thing.
1st: Mary Balogh has a LOT of books.
2nd. I like the majority of said books
3rd; The majority of said books that I liked… yeah AFTER 1990. Great improvements in plot development, character development, and overall book enjoyment levels
4th. I love how often there are repeat characters, but many you can read individually/out of order and still be happy.
5th: JUST SO MUCH FUN! It makes me want to be rich and living in the 19th century! (Key being the rich part. Not too much fun being poor then… overall)
SO! With all that said, so find some classic and older Mary Balogh. It is a good time.
And enjoy yourself!
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Book &Information 23 Feb 2009 08:32 am
Baby
I just finished Joe Monninger’s Baby.
Wow. It was such a great novel and it was worth it to force through the painful parts (which were only painful because they were painful for Baby, and beautifully written by Joe). But I will be honest, there were some parts I did not want to read. But I did, and yeah, worth it.
For some reason, I seem to be reading a lot of foster care/abuse stories. Not sure why this is my genre of the season, but Baby deals with these issues as well. There is a tiny blurb on the Random House website. And From Booklist,
“New Hampshire. Cow-freaking Hampshire.” It’s the last place 15-year-old Baby, abandoned by her alcoholic mother again, wants to be. But her social worker tells her that this stop, with an older couple that races sled dogs, is her last chance before she ends up in a juvie home. Baby, still feeling the pain of her new tatttoo (an Asian tiger on her right butt cheek), thinks she doesn’t really care what happens to her; but Mary and Fred are not average foster parents, and their life with big dogs brings balance to Baby’s own existence. Baby too easily becomes a dog-racing expert, and her descent into trouble when her boyfriend arrives is predictable. But the girl’s first-person voice, the backdrop, and the details (working the streets in a gargoyle costume for tourist change) work together well to set this story apart from the many in which troubled teens find solace in animals.
It was a beautiful novel, and while some things were painful and others silly (who calls us Cow-Hampshire? really? don’t do that. its ridiculous. There aren’t that many cows here), it is worth the read. Check it out, and all his other titles. There is a wide variety and ALL are worth it. A list of titles are here at Amazon.com. His other exciting title is Letters, that was written with Luanne Rice.
Plymouth State University shared this bit of interview/news
A prestigious library group has chosen PSU English Professor Joe Monninger’s novel Baby as one of 2009’s best young adult books. The Young Adult Library Services Association reviewed nearly 200 nominated books before choosing the ten best. The books are nominated by librarians as having literary value and appeal to teens. Monninger said making the list is a wonderful surprise.
“This came completely out of the blue,†Monninger said. “The novel appeared in 2007, so I imagined the possibility for awards and nominations had passed by. For it to be considered, and to be named as one of the top ten books of 2008, is enormously rewarding. When you read the names of the other authors on the list, it’s thrilling to be included.â€
Baby is the story of a troubled 15 year-old girl who is sent to a foster home in New Hampshire, where she is placed with an older couple that races sled dogs. The foster home experience brings balance to Baby’s life. Nancy Keane, a children’s literature librarian and author of the Children’s Literature Webpage, said Baby’s inclusion on the top ten list could mean thousands of new readers enjoying Monninger’s work.
“These are the books that librarians rely on when purchasing and recommending books for teens,†said Keane. “To make the top 10 list is huge.â€To view the Young Adult Library Services Association’s top ten list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/09bbya.cfm
In addition to the latest accolade, Monninger received the 2008 Peace Corps Writers Award for Baby, winning the award in the Best Children’s Writing category. Monninger has taught at Plymouth State since 1990. He is the author of nine works of fiction but, most recently, has turned toward writing creative nonfiction. Two of these are memoirs that have been widely praised by reviewers: Home Waters: Fishing with an Old Friend (Broadway Books, 1999) and Barn in New England: Making a Home on Three Acres (Chronicle Books, 2001) His recent book, Two Ton: One Night, One Fight — Tony Galento v. Joe Louis (Steerforth Press, 2006) has drawn excellent reviews for its in-depth perspective on 1930s boxing.
Monninger’s awards include two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Fellowship in 2007. He has lectured at Dartmouth College, West Point and Harvard University.
Check out the novel. It is a 2007 release and not out in paperback yet, so if your local bookstore does not have it in, they CAN order it for you! Enjoy!
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Book 19 Feb 2009 09:08 am
Call Me Hope
If you want to read an amazing novel, check out Call me Hope by Gretchen Olson. Wow. It is written for the elementary age reader, but yeah, everyone should read it. Interestingly, this is my second “hope” story dealing with abuse. I read Hope’s boy, which is the story of one man’s life in the foster sister of California and how he continues to love his mother. That is true, but Call Me Hope is a novel.
The description from the Little, Brown/Hachette website.
Hope Elliot is an 11-year-old girl struggling to live under the pressures of her verbally abusive mother. But instead of running away, precocious Hope chooses resilience instead, and creates survival strategies for herself.
With these strategies: a support team that includes the employees of a used clothing store, the smartest kid in the sixth grade, and her older brother; and with the comfort from reading Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, will Hope be able to confront her mother about her hurtful words and help her begin to change?
It is a powerful novel that should be discussed before, during and after with whoever is reading it.
The author has a website, Gretchen Olson.com. That is an entirely different rant though, of how there needs to be at least 1 tech-friendly person in every author’s family that will keep their websites up to date. WordPress is your friend!
Regardless…
READ THIS BOOK. Make your 12 year old daughter READ THIS BOOK. Make your 59 year old aunt READ THIS BOOK.
MAKE EVERYONE READ THIS BOOK.
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Book 10 Feb 2009 06:10 am
Dog On It
Oh now this is fun. Dog On It is a private-eye mystery from the point of view of Chet, the dog.
Slim Jims, steak, and 2-for-1 coupons to restaurants get mentioned MANY times. But Chet is no stupid pooch. He saves the day, and while he may get distracted by cats and Slim Jims (he seems to realllly like the Slim Jims), he does his job and helps to solve the case.
Spencer Quinn did a good job of keeping this mystery light, while still having some good sleuthing.
From the website,
Meet Chet, the wise and lovable canine narrator of Dog on It, who works alongside Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator. Chet might have flunked out of police school (“I’d been the best leaper in K-9 class, which had led to all the trouble in a way I couldn’t remember exactly, although blood was involved”), but he’s a detective through and through.
In this, their first adventure, Chet and Bernie investigate the disappearance of Madison, a teenage girl who may or may not have been kidnapped, but who has definitely gotten mixed up with some very unsavory characters. A well-behaved, gifted student, she didn’t arrive home after school and her divorced mother is frantic. Bernie is quick to take the case — something about a cash flow problem that Chet’s not all that clear about — and he’s relieved, if vaguely suspicious, when Madison turns up unharmed with a story that doesn’t add up. But when she disappears for a second time in a week, Bernie and Chet aren’t taking any chances; they launch a full-blown investigation. Without a ransom demand, they’re not convinced it’s a kidnapping, but they are sure of one thing: something smells funny.
Their search for clues takes them into the desert to biker bars and other exotic locals, with Chet’s highly trained nose leading the way. Both Chet and Bernie bring their own special skills to the hunt, one that puts each of them in peril. But even as the bad guys try to turn the tables, this duo is nothing if not resourceful, and the result is an uncommonly satisfying adventure.
With his doggy ways and his endearingly hardboiled voice, Chet is full of heart and occasionally prone to mischief. He is intensely loyal to Bernie, who, though distracted by issues that Chet has difficulty understanding — like divorce, child custody, and other peculiar human concerns — is enormously likable himself, in his flawed, all-too-human way.
It is now available in hardcover in all fine stores, especially the Independent Bookshop near you!
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Book 05 Feb 2009 08:38 am
Stereotypes in Romance Novels
You know the covers. Buxom yet innocent lass and Strapping, muscular, and obviously well-hung muscular womanizer in a heated embrace…
An interesting article here at MSNBC.com. Talking about where the genre is going, and some new names that you wouldn’t think of in the “bodice ripper” genre, likeEmily Giffin. (By the way, her covers DEFINITELY do not fall into this post.)
For those that really just find the covers ridiculous… head on over to World of Long Mire.com. It pretty much sums it all up!
I know I should use the small Flickr size on this photo. But he really is too yummy looking to be anything smaller than medium. *drools*
Anyways, to get to the point of this post. Felicia Day did a post about the new Highland Hunk sub-genre in romance novels. She read 5 romance novels that all deal fairly exclusively with the Highlanders and did a mini-review on her reactions.
All are pretty standard reviews. Yes Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is not a trashy romance novel (though there are Highlanders and romance in it) but the others are pretty “generic.” I have read other books by some of those authors and yes they are just there for the fun. No real award winners, but the ones I read were fun.
However… I don’t feel that I could give a detailed account of the modern Scottish Man from these books. Which makes one of the comments and then subsequent post all the more interesting to me. In Response to Highland Hunk is a response in the Watch The Guild forums to Felicia’s post.
Really? First of all. Everyone in romance novels are attractive. Well. the rich ones anyways (or the poor ones that you are rooting for). The girls are always petite, and so small they gosh-darnit don’t even NEED a corset!!! The men are always muscular super-hunks.
And don’t we know that that is JUST LIKE IN THE REAL WORLD!!! uh wait… no it isnt. Yeah some people are attractive and some people are super hunks… most of those people, I definitely wouldn’t read a novel about since most of the rich people today are NOT attractive. Yeah Prince William is cute, but his dad… not so much…
Anyways, I love the Scots. I went there for a vacation with my dad in 2006 and was very impressed with… well mostly the scenery and the accents. But everyone was nice to us, and dealt well with my dad’s inability to understand their accents. And one place even had a man’s border collie outside the pub waiting for him to come out.
I, however, saw no super-stud Highland men in kilts galloping about on horseback. That would have MADE my vacation.
That said, I’d just like to remind people that Karen Marie Moning (one of the authors Felicia Day reads) also writes a contemporary romance in Ireland which is a bit more realistic to what people are today (plus fairies and evil shadows of course) called DARKFEVER. and that is a fabulous series. So even within one author who writes the Highland Hunk novels, they can also write other stuff that you might actually enjoy!
Thanks!
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Book 13 Jan 2009 04:07 pm
Hope’s Boy
This was a very powerful autobiography by Andrew Bridge. I found that reading it in half-hour bursts worked the best for me. Each chapter was more shocking and horrific than the last. Not because shocking and horrific things were happening to Andy (though sometimes yes) but because the foster care system is such crap.
Andrew Bridge is taken from his mother due to her mental illness. He becomes a permanent foster child to a family and eventually graduated from Harvard Law School. This biography was phenomenal. If you have any interest in foster care you should read this. If you have any interest in reading the story of one boy who was able to succeed despite innumerable odds, you should read this.
Pretty much everyone should read this.
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Book 17 Nov 2008 07:07 am
That was yesterday, this is Tamora
Ah, Tammy Pierce. How I love you. I don’t love that new books aren’t coming out 5 a year, but as an adult, I must deal.
yeah, I’ve lived that.
I do love that she also loved Impossible by Nancy Werlin. It was a beautiful novel and its use of “Scarborogh Fair,” WOW. I don’t know any young adults who have read it, just other staff from my shop, but yeah, everyone should read it.
Just a general, “make sure you have read some Tamora Pierce lately” blog post, with some fabulous Impossible thrown in for variety.
Happy Monday!
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Book 05 Oct 2008 08:57 pm
A Model Spy…
I just found a new book! No idea how I missed it since apparently there are now four out in the series. Oh well! I just know that it is FUN! Shannon Greenland has written a series called the Specialists. It is about teens who excel in one area, and are recruited to a secret government organization (who becomes more like a family) where they learn limits, further their skills, and learn respect for themselves and their friends.
From Shannon’s website, here is the description of the first novel, Model Spy…
Sixteen-year-old Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. When David, her incredibly nice, not to mention super cute and irresistible, college RA, asked her to uncover some top-secret information, she thought why not? All she has to do is hack into the government’s main computer system. Simple enough for a computer techie genius like herself. But a few hours later, she is caught. Only this isn’t a run-of-the-mill arrest. Rather than serve a jail sentence in a juvenile detention, she accepts the option to change her identity and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover. After all, she has no family or friends at school. What does she have to lose? Instantly, Kelly Spree, a.k.a. girl genius GiGi, is born. And as if that wasn’t overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well. Before she even begins to understand what is going on, she’s sent on her first mission as an undercover model. Her partner? None other than David himself!
A really nice review here at FlamingNet.com.
And from Shannon’s website is a great bio.
You name it. Shannon Greenland’s done it. Hiking, rafting, swimming, snorkeling, sailing, surfing, mountain biking, spelunking, canoeing, power lifting, running, camping, para sailing . . . well, you get the drift. She’s traveled the world extensively and is thrilled to be living on an island, looking for her new adventure. Believe it or not, Shannon dreaded reading and writing when she was a kid. How ironic that she’s now an award winning author.
Goes to show you, you don’t have to start out liking books and reading to end up loving them 
Check out the Specialists Novels, because they are F-U-N!
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