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 November host is Marcia, the founder of Mailbox Monday at the Mailbox Monday Blog.
For review from the publicist:
Wanna Get Lucky
by Deborah Coonts
A young woman plunges from a Las Vegas sightseeing helicopter, landing in the Pirate’s lagoon in front of the Treasure Island Hotel in the middle of the 8:30 Pirate Show. Almost everyone writes her off as another Vegas victim.
But Lucky O’Toole smells a rat. She’s head of Customer Relations at The Babylon, the newest, most opulent mega-casino and resort on the Strip, so she’s got a lot on her plate: the Adult Film industry’s annual awards banquet, a spouse-swapping convention, sex toy purveyors preying on the pocket-protector crowd attending ElectroniCon.
Lucky Stiff
by Deborah Coonts
Lucky O’Toole—Head of Customer Relations at The Babylon, premier mega-resort on the Vegas Strip—thinks it’s just another night in Las Vegas. A tractor-trailer has spilled its load of a million honeybees, blocking not only the Strip but the entrance to her hotel…the District Attorney for Clark County—apparently the odd man out of a threesome on the twelfth floor—is hiding in the buff in one of the hotel’s laundry rooms…and Numbers Neidermeyer—one of Vegas’ less-than-savory oddsmakers—is arguing with Las Vegas’ ace private investigator, the Beautiful Jeremy Whitlock.
For review from the publisher:
Arcadia
by Lauren Groff
In the fields and forests of western New York State in the late 1960s, several dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what becomes a famous commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this lyrical, rollicking, tragic, and exquisite utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday and after.
How was your week?
Fare Forward
by Wendy Dubow Polins
Genre: Science Fiction / Mysticism
Publisher: Hamilton Hall Press
Publish Date: September 1, 2011
Format: Paperback | 366 pages
Rating: 4 of 5
Gabriella Vogel always knew she was different. Like her grandmother, Sophie, she has premonitions and can see and feel things before they happen. But for Gabriella, is this a gift or a burden? Can she change what she sees or must she accept her destiny?
The story opens over 60 years ago when we meet Sophie as a young girl on a trip to Jerusalem. This was an important period for Sophie. Her time in the Judean Desert has given her a clear vision of the future. She meets the mysterious Benjamin Landsman, gains a greater understanding of her heritage and ultimately meets a young man whom she knows will be her future husband.
Fast forward 50 years and we meet Gabriella, her granddaughter, as a young girl living in Massachusetts. We then jump forward another 12 years to the present where Gabriella is a college student studying architecture. Her grandfather is about to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics. He is about to reveal proof of the existence of tunnels that connect our world to other universes, and that time travel might be possible. But Gabriella senses danger; there are people that do not want this information revealed.
We remain in the present for the remainder of the book and Gabriella is our narrator. We begin to feel her confusion, her need to know what is happening and why. Layer by layer we begin to understand. After Gabriella meets Benjamin, a man who doesn’t seem to age, the story becomes more intense. Gabriella cannot stay away from Benjamin; he is her destiny.
I found the story to be compelling in the same manner as the Time Travelers Wife. At times I was confused, things were vague and not always clear as Gabriella struggled to put the pieces together. We feel her passion as she strives to comprehend whether love can transcend time and space and asks herself if the choices we make are really our own.
Physics and science are ever present themes but do not overpower the reader, and a science background or understanding of physics is not necessary. Romance and mystery are woven into the plot engaging the reader in Gabriella’s emotional struggle to understand the meaning of her life.
To find the answers we eventually come full circle, back to Jerusalem. There Gabriella discovers the ancient secret hidden by her family for generations and the astonishing truth is revealed. Suspenseful, compelling and enticing, this was a page turner that kept me wanting until the very end.
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Source: Review copy provided by the author
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For more information on Wendy Dubow Polins and Fare Forward, go to her webpage, the Fare Forward Facebook page or connect with Wendy on twitter.
The cute little Chickadee is one of my favorite birds. They can be found in a wide range of habitats from woodlands to backyards. They are friendly and curious and don’t mind people.
The ones I see in my area are the Black-capped Chickadee and they are found across the northern US and Canada and are here year round; they don’t migrate. In the west is the Mountain Chickadee and in the southeast is the Carolina Chickadee.
This is one of the more difficult birds for me to photograph because they never stay still. I can get close to them but they are always in motion. The bird in the photo above was busy twirling around plucking seeds from the dried out plants and when he paused to get his balance, I got him.
This little guy on the right was nice enough to sit still for a moment, but that rarely happens.
Interesting Facts:
- The Black-capped Chickadee has one of the most complex, language-like songs with the ability to communicate information as well as alarms.
- The more “dee” notes in a chickadee-dee-dee call, the higher the threat level.
- They store food in hundreds of different places and can remember those locations.
- It is the state bird of Maine and Massachusetts.
- When temperatures are below zero they will hollow out a roosting cavity to sleep in.
I link up my bird photos on Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. Visit her blog to see more great photos or add your own.
Today is day one of Thankfully Reading Weekend, an excuse to do an obscene amount of reading over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
For many people here in the US, today is Black Friday, a traditional day of shopping, shopping, and more shopping. I dislike crowded shopping centers and will be avoiding them this weekend. That will give me time to catch up on some of my reading and even write a few reviews.
I have plenty of books to choose from and I’ve selected a few I want to have finished before the end of the year. I’m not the fastest reader on the planet but I do listen to a lot of audiobooks and should be able to get through a few of these. The weather is supposed to be unseasonably warm this weekend and my audiobooks will accompany me out in the garden and on walks.
Here’s what I chose, a little ambitious, I know.
I would like to finish
I Gave My Heart To Know This
and
Laughing At Wall Street
And make a start on
The Human Race, winner of the ugliest cover contest.
I’m currently three quarters of the way through Stephen King’s newest 11/22/63 and should get this finished today. It’s that good.
Then I’ll be listening to When Elves Attack, a little holiday humor.
And finally I want to spend some time with my camera and Digital Photography: A Basic Manual. I’ll have a giveaway for two copies of this book posted early next week for US and Canadian readers.
Join in for one day or all three. There will be mini-challenges throughout the weekend.
Will you be reading this weekend?
Almost Wordless: The turkeys have been laying low this month.
Photo taken at Cantigny Gardens. (Click for sharper image.)
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More Wordless Wednesday.
Adam at Roofbeam Reader is hosting the TBR Pile Challenge.
I have been adding many more books to my shelves than I have been reading and now it is time to do something about that and commit to reading at least 12 books that have been on my shelf for over a year. Some of these books have been waiting even longer, one of them has been waiting about 5 years! As I read and review each book I’ll link up the review on my master list.
Head over to the sign up page for the full details and to take a look at some of the reading lists compiled by other bloggers. There are some lists far more ambitious than mine.
The Goal
To read 12 books from your “to be read” pile in 12 months.
Specifics
Each of these 12 books must have been on your bookshelf or “To Be Read” list for AT LEAST one full year. This means the book cannot have a publication date of 1/1/2011 or later (any book published in the year 2010 or earlier qualifies, as long as it has been on your TBR pile. Two (2) alternates are allowed, just in case one or two of the books end up in the “can’t get through” pile.
My 2012 TBR Challenge List:
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
- Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
- The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
- ‘A’ is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
- The Summer House by Jude Deveraux
- Blind Man’s Alley by Justin Peacock
Received this from LibraryThing in August 2010 and forgot about it. Time for a review. - The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Winner of the first Hugo Award in 1953; a classic. - Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
This is my ambitious read.
Flew all the way to the Mexican Riviera for a week at the beach; never found time to read it.
I think everyone has read this except me.
Heard so many good things about this one and never got around to it.
I live in the Chicago area. I’m fascinated with the history of it. Why haven’t I read this yet?
I started the series in the middle and stopped because I wanted to start at the beginning.
Have wanted to read this for years.
Alternates:
- Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Peel Society by Mary Ann Schaffer
No idea why I haven’t read this yet. It will make a great alternate if one of the first 10 fails me.
Anyone else joining this challenge?
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 November host is Marcia, the founder of Mailbox Monday at the Mailbox Monday Blog.
For review from Simon & Schuster:
Carry The One
by Carol Anshaw
Carry the One begins in the hours following Carmen’s wedding reception, when a car filled with stoned, drunk, and sleepy guests accidently hits and kills a girl on a dark, country road. For the next twenty-five years, those involved, including Carmen and her brother and sister, connect and disconnect and reconnect with each other and their victim. As one character says, “When you add us up, you always have to carry the one.” more
For review from Penguin Group:
The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen
by Thomas M. Caplan
The novel’s charismatic hero, former covert operative Ty Hunter, has become, almost by accident, the number one film star in the world. When he is recruited on a clandestine mission to thwart the transfer of nuclear warheads into rogue hands, he must deploy every skill he has as an actor, soldier, and spy. Donning his fame as a disguise, Ty matches wits and muscle with the enigmatic billionaire Ian Santal and his nefarious protégé Philip Frost-two supremely sophisticated adversaries- even as he falls in love with the entrancing young woman closest to them both, the jewelry designer Isabella Cavill.
For review and giveaway from Doubleday Books:
In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination
by Margaret Atwood
In Other Worlds: Science Fiction and the Human Imagination is Margaret Atwood’s account of her relationship with the literary form we have come to know as science fiction. This relationship has been lifelong, stretching from her days as a child reader in the 1940s through her time as a graduate student at Harvard, where she explored the Victorian ancestors of the form, and continuing with her work as a writer and reviewer. more.
A win from Jo-Jo Loves to Read!!! Thanks Joanne.
The Heretic’s Daughter and The Traitor’s Wife
by Kathleen Kent
Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft. This is the story of Martha’s courageous defiance and ultimate death, as told by the daughter who survived.
How was your week?:
Under My Apple Tree 