Teaser Tuesdays – To Say Nothing of the Dog

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so other participants know what you’re reading.

I’m reading To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis and for a science fiction book it’s surprisingly funny.

“Yes,” he said. “I always thought it made a better shopping center than a cathedral.  Mid-Twentieth Century architecture was nearly as bad as Victorian…” (pg. 42)

Sunday Salon – Why I Shouldn’t Go to Going Out of Business Sales

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Yesterday, while out enjoying the lovely weather (it’s raining today so getting out yesterday was imperative) we crossed paths with the Borders that’s closing in our neighborhood.  We decided to browse a bit and that’s how I came home with six new books.  In bookstores, browsing and buying are the same thing for me.  My TBR pile is officially out of control but it’s all good because I managed to pick up several books on the mighty big list so I’m considering it a win-win.

The Gates by John Connolly – a young kid goes trick or treating a few days early and finds out his neighbors have managed to open the gates to hell.

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley – a writer using history as inspiration starts to wonder is she’s dealing with an ancestral memory.

Poison by Sara Poole – a young woman searching for her father’s killer finds herself in the position of poisoner for Cardinal Borgia.

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse – a man traveling in the French Pyrenees during a snowstorm crashes his car and ends up at a small tavern where he meets a woman with a tragic story to tell.

The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger – a lady’s maid finds a new life but also finds out it’s not one meant for her.

Devil’s Brood by Sharon Kay Penman – the last days of the marriage of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Recently, these books also made it into the house:

Livia: Empress of Rome by Matthew Dennison – present from my husband who knows how much I love ancient Rome.  It’s my next non-fiction read.

Don’t Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon – LibraryThing Early Reviewers Give Away.

Twice a Spy by Keith Thomson – from the publisher.

And from the library:

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis – for the Time Travel Challenge.

The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick – other than being fantasy, I don’t know much about it.  I found it searching but it looks interesting.

Busy the next few weeks?  I will be. 🙂

Last week I had the chance to read an ARC of The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen and if I had to describe it in one word it would be wonderful.  I’m planning to finish Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran today — another favorite author — and from there I have no idea what’s next but at least I have options.

A few fun things to share this week:

Harry Potter Quiz at The Guardian.

Life instructions, Jane Austen or JWwow (she’s on MTV’s Jersey Shore  if you don’t know who she is and since I had to Google that I wanted to share that bit of knowledge so others don’t have to look it up).  Trust me, you’ll go with Jane Austen.  Somehow this one made me feel old but smart then vindicated.

Minis Tirith out of toothpicks.

What your books do when you aren’t home.

New David Foster Wallace story to appear in The New Yorker. It’s been a few years since I’ve read one his books but I still don’t think I’m ready to tackle Infinite Jest.  I may never be but it will always be on my list.

Happy Sunday.

Review – The Forever Queen

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The Forever Queen

By Helen Hollick

Source Books

ISBN: 1402240686

4.5 stars

Emma was 13 years-old when her brother, the Norman King, married her off to the English King Æthelred.  Besides her being anointed Queen in her own right, it’s a terrible match that at times humiliates and terrifies Emma.  Her husband, who spent his life being ruled by his mother, has no idea what it takes to be a king let alone a decent man.  When Danish invaders take control, he capitulates and later dies a sad and very lonely death.  Not knowing what will become of her or her children now that the Danish king is in control of her land, Emma offers herself in marriage to Cnut, the Danish King, making him through her the new English King.  Her second marriage is much happier than her first and she and her country spend many content years with Cnut as their king.

When Cnut dies, Emma fears the loss of her crown and understands deeply the threat her country faces the day that Cnut’s son from his first marriage appears to lay claim to the thrown which he believes to be rightly his.  When her son with Cnut, Harthacnut, does not return to England to fight for the crown, she recalls her long abandoned sons from her first marriage, Edward and Alfred, to return with disastrous consequences forcing Emma to once again fight to keep her crown and position as Queen.

I usually don’t write such long descriptions in my reviews but I felt this one, being as long as it is (793 pages on my Nook) and the length of Emma’s rule, deserved a longer than normal introduction.  Emma, while not a likable character — she’s disgusted by her husband and her sons from her first marriage, isn’t motherly, is outwardly cruel to her husband and sons (the husband deserving though), and cares in some cases more for her crown and title as Queen above all else — is intensely interesting.  Her life is anything but boring; sad yes, horrid in some cases, lonely, and when she finds happiness there is always something that threatens it (another wife, more sons).  While I still don’t know if I liked her, I couldn’t put this book down wondering what would happen to her next.

Hollick is a great writer of historical fiction and since reading her Arthurian legend trilogy last year, she’s shot up my list of favorite authors.  While there were a few slow parts and an incredible list of characters to keep track of, I still liked this book a lot.  She picks subjects and characters whose parts in actual history may have been forgettable but gives them a fictional voice that makes them unforgettable.

Review – Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

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SpookSpook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

By Mary Roach

W.W. Norton & Company

ISBN: 0393059626

4.75 stars

While I don’t foster much belief in the afterlife, I do have a thing about ghosts.  I don’t know whether or not I actually believe in them, but I love stories about them.  This is what partly led me to read Spook, that and I love Mary Roach’s approach to non-fiction.  She doesn’t go all crazy and make you feel as if you must believe everything she’s writing about because it’s non-fiction — in some cases you even wonder if she believes it all — which is refreshing.

In Spook, she takes a look at what science has to say about the afterlife.  She starts out with reincarnation, moves on to measuring the weight of a soul, discusses debunking mediums and psychics, looks at the science of ectoplasm, tries to communicate with the dead, and wraps up with the effects of electromagnetic fields on humans.  For some of the topics, the weight of the soul and ectoplasm in particular, the science is rather thin and doesn’t leave you with a lot of hope or really any good scale for noting how much the soul would possibly weigh.  It seems very little but that doesn’t deter the author here.  She goes with it and at times even pokes fun at some of the methods used to determine such things and why someone would even be interested in finding out the information in the first place.

While I found the chapter on reincarnation interesting, what I loved was the section on debunking mediums.  I’m always fascinated by this, the debunking not crackpot mediums, and the lengths that people will go to to defraud someone, especially someone hurting from the loss of a loved one.  Communicating with the dead was another good chapter especially when she gets into describing the activities involved with talking to, or at least trying, to hear the dead.

Roach approaches her subject with a bit of humor but never lets it overcome what she’s set out to prove or disprove.  I’m not sure that I can say this book made me want to re-visit my belief system but it did provide me with some good info to talk to my sister about who also loves ghost stories.

 

Teaser Tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so other participants know what you’re reading.

I picked up Michelle Moran’s Madame Tussaud from the library a few days ago and even though it’s not the book I’m reading today, I wanted to share the first two lines.

“When she walks through the door of my exhibition, everything disappears: the sound of the rain against the windows, the wax models, the customers, even the children.  This is a face I have not seen in twenty-one years, and immediately I step back, wondering whether I have conjured her from my past.” (pg. 1)

The Sunday Salon – A Slow Week

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I didn’t do much posting this week which is ironic because I’m caught up on my reviews but for some reason I didn’t find the time to post anything much.  I finished Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (amazing), Emily and Einstein by Linda Frances Lee (fun), and I’m about half way through Fathom by Cherie Priest (interesting) so while the posting was slow, the reading was good.

Being honest, this will probably be rather short today too because I want to go to the Hirshhorn Museum to see an exhibit by Blinky Palermo.  At some point this week I will get some blog karma back and return to normally scheduled things though.  Admittedly, I’m a bit overscheduled so once that clears up all will be well.

Some more sharing…

Middle-earth According to Mordor – Salon article about a Russian author who re-tells the Lord of the Rings from the evil perspective.

Chicago Tribune article about the killing of the Dewey Decimal System – it seems my library or at least certain portions of it are going along with the trend.

The 2011 Tournament of Books begins March 7, 2011.

If you have an e-reader and don’t want people to know you’re reading it, you can make this nifty cover.

Happy Sunday.

Review – A Discovery of Witches

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A Discovery of Witches

By Deborah Harkness

Viking

ISBN: 9780670002241-0

5 stars

Diana Bishop is from one of the most powerful witch families known to exist and she may be one of the family’s most powerful witches ever, but she goes out of her way not to practice magic. She’s become a well-known scholar in the fields of history and science, in particular the intersection of science and witchcraft, and while she might not practice magic intentionally, she’s aware of it all around her. While doing research in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, Diana recalls a manuscript — Ashmole 782 — which has been considered lost for the last 150 years. Finding it bound by a spell, she breaks it unknowingly, and once the book is open, she can’t say why but something about it is all wrong. Slightly shaken by her discovery and the magic, Diana sends the book back to the stacks bothered by its contents and the influx of witches, daemons, and vampires that have suddenly gathered in her vicinity. Unsettled by what she’s seen, Diana leaves the library and plans to forget the book and hopes that the attention from the other creatures will fade too.

Matthew Clairmont is a pioneering researcher known for his work in the genetics field. He’s also a vampire looking for a way to get his hands on the Ashmole 782 manuscript and he thinks he may have found that way through Diana. What Matthew doesn’t expect is to fall in love with her in the process of looking for the book. Diana is an enigma to him — not only does she appeal to him both intellectually and physically but he stuns even himself when he can’t walk away from her even when he should.

Diana and Matthew find themselves in an unorthodox relationship, and because of it, are being hunted by the Congregation, a group of witches, daemons, and vampires that rule the world of creatures. Diana and Matthew find themselves in danger from not just from the discovery of Ashmole 782 but also their growing relationship. Knowing Diana will never be able to defend herself without knowledge of and control over her powers, Matthew convinces her they must go to her family for help.  Safe with Diana’s family of witches they try to understand what her connection is to the manuscript and why every vampire, witch, and daemon is after it.

I love books about books and throw in witches, daemons, and vampires and it appears I become very easy to please. Harkness throws a lot into the story — witchcraft, love, vampires, daemons, secret covens, lost spell-bounds books — but she makes it all work and very smoothly at that. It works thanks to the characters. Diana and Matthew are more than just witch and vampire and it’s about more than spells and bloodlust. While I’m not always a huge fan of love stories mixed with fantasy stories, it works very well here and manages to become the story without overwhelming it.

Matthew’s history combined with Diana’s research, lend the story a fantastic scope that spans generations but the science Harkness infuses into the story grounds it so it never feels as if it goes off on a strange tangent. There are explanations for the witchcraft as well as background for the hidden lives of the creatures (witches, vampires, daemons, and humans) that make the story feel less fantastic and more realistic. Well, as close as one can get to real in a story about creatures that don’t exist.

A Discovery of Witches is the first book in the All Souls Trilogy.  I for one will be waiting anxiously for the next two books in the series.

In addition to this blog, I also do reviews for The Book Reporter website. The above review was done for the Book Reporter which can be found here. The book was provided to me by the publisher.

Teaser Tuesdays – Rebecca

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so that other participants know what you’re reading.

This week, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.  It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter for the way was barred to me.” (pg. 1)

I finished last night and if you haven’t read this book all I have to say is read it, read it now.  It’s phenomenal.