Mailbox Monday
Mailbox Monday was created by The Printed Page. It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their home last week.
Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blog each month. The July host is Mrs. Q Book Addict.
From AmazonVine for review:
The Dog Stars
by Peter Heller
Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life—something like his old life—exists beyond the airport. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return—not enough fuel to get him home…
From Hyperion for review:
Those We Love Most
by Lee Woodruff
On a warm June day, Maura Corrigan is walking with her nine-year-old son, James, as he rides his bike to school. The unthinkable happens: he darts onto the street and is hit by Alex, a 17-year-old neighbor. As if James’s death isn’t tragic enough for the Corrigan family, in its wake an intricate web of relationships, secrets, and betrayals begins to unravel. Told through the perspective of four family members, Those We Love Most chronicles how this sudden twist of fate forces each of them to confront their choices, examine their mistakes, and fight for their most valuable relationships.
Audiobooks from Penguin for review:
The Secret Pilgrim by John le Carré, Night Watch by Linda Fairstein, and Potboiler by Jesse Kellerman
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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
Share what you read last week and what you are currently reading.
The heat wave and our string of 100+ degree days has finally ended and I can get back to the garden with my audiobooks. Unfortunately my Sansa mini mp3 player is falling apart, probably from overuse. The pause button works when it feels like it, the volume is erratic and last night I dropped the battery cover between the boards of the deck, never to be seen again. I’ll be shopping for a new one and if anyone has a model they recommend, let me know so I can check it out.
This week I’ll be posting my review of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, plus I’ll have a copy to give away, and I’ll have an audiobook review of The Chaperone.
Reading/Listening This Week:
I am half way through the audiobook of Rebecca for the read-a-long at BookJourney next week and next up in audio is probably The Orphanmaster. I have a few to choose from so I’m not sure. In print I’ll be reading either The Pigeon Pie Mystery or The Violinist’s Thumb, or both since one is fiction and one is non-fiction.
What Are You Reading?
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© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
The House Wren is a tiny little bird commonly found in the northern two-thirds of the United States and parts of Canada. They don’t mind people and will readily nest in backyards.
They are migratory and head south of the frost line in winter but return to the same breeding grounds in the spring. The male arrives first and establishes his territory. He places sticks in multiple nesting cavities and then sings to attract a female. When a female arrives she chooses the nest site they will use and together they fill the box with sticks. The female will finish the nest cup with soft materials like feathers, hair, spider cocoons, moss and grass.
A few weeks ago a pair choose the nestbox on my back garage and worked non-stop for two days building the nest. I’m amazed at the size of the sticks they can carry and maneuver into the box.
Once the nest is finished the female lays an egg per day until the clutch is complete. After all the eggs are laid she will incubate them for 10 to 14 days. The eggs should hatch this weekend and both adults will then care for the young.
Inside the Nest
After the breeding season ends I clean out the nest boxes and get them ready for the next year. The photo on the right is a wren’s nest. The little box was stuffed so full of material I don’t know how they fit three baby birds in there. Click to enlarge and you can see the feathers and other soft materials that made up the nest cup.
Interesting Note on Behavior
While many birds are monogamous during the breeding season, and some mate for life, that is not true of the House Wren. Wrens can raise two or three broods per season and may mate with a different female for each brood. Males may also mate with two females simultaneously.
I monitor the nests for Project Nestwatch so I pay close attention to the bird’s behavior. Last year the male helped feed the young for the first week and then moved to a different nestbox ( I have four of them) and began singing to attract another female. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. After a little research I discovered that this is not uncommon behavior. Needless to say the female, who was now a single parent, did not raise a second brood with this male, who I began referring to as the deadbeat dad.
Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
The Cove
by Ron Rash
Narrated by Merritt Hicks
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publish Date: May 1, 2012
Format: Audio, 6 hours | 28 minutes
Audio Listening Level: Easy – Intermediate
Rating: 4 of 5
Laurel Shelton and and her brother Hank live deep within the Appalachians in the cove, a place the townspeople believe to be haunted. Laurel was born with a large birthmark on her shoulder and to many folks that means she is a witch. It’s near the end of World War I in rural North Carolina where superstition, prejudice and fear rule.
Lonely and shunned, Laurel spends much of her time in the woods in solitude. One day she hears music and sees a stranger in the cove playing the flute. He cannot speak and gives her a note saying that his name is Walter and he is a musician on his way to New York. He is suffering from bee stings and Laura brings him back to the house and offers to let him stay until he recovers. Laurel and Walter soon find they have feelings for one another and she doesn’t want him to leave. But Walter has a secret, a dangerous secret that can endanger both their lives.
The Cove is a beautifully written, haunting story told from Laurel’s point of view. There are elegant passages with many descriptions of nature and the land, creating a stark contrast to the the harshness of the life the people of Mars Hill were living. Through the vivid prose I could visualize the flowers and birds making me feel as if I was there. When Laurel told the story of the Carolina Parakeets it stirred emotion in me and I wanted help the now extinct birds.
While Laurel was a sympathetic and likeable character, the author doesn’t give us much background on most of the other people. Many of the townspeople are superstitious and some are evil, but I’m not sure I understand why other than “that’s how it was back then”. The story moves a little slowly in the first half, but accelerates later to an unexpected, climactic ending.
At only six and a half hours of listening time, this was a short book, almost a novella. Merrit Hicks’ narration was pleasant enough to listen to but it was lacking the drama that I am accustomed to in an audiobook.
A beautifully descriptive, memorable story with a haunting ending. Recommended.
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Source: Review copy.
© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Thanks to the publisher, Little, Brown & Company, I have three copies of This Bright River to give away to my readers in the US and Canada.
I haven’t had a chance to read the book yet but I am excited to discover a Chicago author and a Midwestern setting and am looking forward to reading it soon. Following is a little information about the book and the author.
This Bright River
by Patrick Somerville
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Publish Date: June 26, 2012
Format: Hardcover | 464 pages
About the Book
From the publisher: Lauren Sheehan’s career in medicine came to a halt after a chain of violent events abroad. Now she’s back in the safest place she knows-St. Helens, Wisconsin-cut off from career, friendship, and romance.
Ben Hanson’s aimless young life has bottomed out after a series of bad decisions, but a surprising offer from his father draws him home for what looks like his final second chance. In Wisconsin, he finds his family fractured, still unable to face the truth behind his troubled cousin’s death a decade earlier.
As Lauren cautiously expands her horizons and Ben wrestles with his regrets and mistakes, their paths intersect. Could each be exactly what the other needs? Or the last thing in the world either one can handle?
The weight of secrets, the price of success, and the cost of love all linger at the heart of this surprising, unsettling, deeply satisfying novel. Rich with the dark humor and piercing intelligence that made The Cradle so beloved, This Bright River confirms Somerville’s status as one of the most engaging and daring young writers at work today.
About the Author
Patrick Somerville grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and later earned his MFA from Cornell University. He is the author of the story collections Trouble and The Universe in Miniature in Miniature, and the novel The Cradle. He lives with his wife and son in Chicago, where he teaches creative writing at Northwestern University.
Giveaway Information
- Contest is open to those with an address in the US or Canada.
- To enter fill out the form below. For an extra entry, tweet or blog the giveaway.
- The deadline for entry is Wednesday, July 18th. I will draw three random winners who will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond with a mailing address. One winner per household.
[Contest has ended]
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© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Almost wordless: I added a small bird bath in the garden for the little birds and the robins are always in it.
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Weird Weather
Hail on the deck stairs.
Now we have sweltering heat. Thankfully my power has been restored but there are still a lot of power lines and trees down. We are very lucky that no trees fell on the house. Most of my damage was to landscaping and from the hail. Tiny pellets that shredded the plants. We needed rain, but not like this.
Tomorrow is Independence Day in the US. Anyone doing anything exciting? I’ll be relaxing in my backyard until the heat drives me indoors.
Giveaway Winners
SuiteJuju from Tales of Whimsy
has won an audio CD of
The Lost Years
by Mary Higgins Clark
(Audiobook Week Winner)
Ricki from Reading Challenged
has won an audio CD of
Believing the Lie
by Elizabeth George
(Audiobook Week Winner)
Susan
has won a copy of
The Age of Miracles
by Karen Walker Thompson
(TLC Book Tour)
Really Random Tuesday is hosted on random Tuesdays by Suko at Suko’s Notebook. It’s a way to post odds and ends–announcements, musings, quotes–any blogging and book-related things you can think of.
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© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Mailbox Monday
Mailbox Monday was created by The Printed Page. It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their home last week.
Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blog each month. The July host is Mrs. Q Book Addict.
Weekend Update
I’m still recovering from yesterday’s storm that blew through the Chicago area at 100 miles per hour.
I was sitting on my deck having coffee, reading the paper and enjoying my Sunday morning when what seemed like out of nowhere the sky darkened and the winds picked up. Within minutes the storm was upon us. I barely had time to take down the sun umbrella and move my potted plants to safety.
We had minor damage with some downed tree limbs and many of my plants in the vegetable garden shredded by the high winds and hail but everyone is ok. Power came back at my house during the night but a lot of the town is still without. I’m still cleaning up the yard and will be back to see what books everyone else received later today.
Here is the quick version of what arrived this week:
New Arrivals
The Violinist’s Thumb by Sam Kean
Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann
Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino
The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.
Share what you read last week and what you are currently reading.
This week I’ll be finishing up The Chaperone and Redshirts and then starting The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Rebecca for the read-a-long at BookJourney.
Now I’m off to do more yard clean-up before it gets too hot to breath outside with temps going into the upper 90s again.
Reading/Listening This Week:
What Are You Reading?
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© 2012 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Under My Apple Tree 