The Book Blogger Hop, a weekly event hosted by Jen at Crazy For Books, is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word!
Post about the Hop on your blog. Spread the word about the book party! The Hop lasts Friday through Monday. If you don’t have time to Hop today, come back later and join the fun! Each week there is a new discussion question for your post. This week’s question is:
“When you read a book that you just can’t get into, do you stick it out
and keep reading or move to your next title?”
If it’s a book I’ve accepted for review I try and push through and finish reading. There have been a few I didn’t really like but nothing yet that I absolutely despised. If it was that awful I’d stop and try and pass it on to another reviewer. If I don’t like a book but I see what other’s may enjoy I’ll write a review and note that. If I hate it I don’t want to write a nasty review, I’d rather just skip it, but so far that hasn’t happened. I’m sure eventually it will!
I have no problem stopping a non-review book. I’m an eclectic reader and I like to browse the library and book sales for interesting titles. I’ll give it about 30 or 40 pages to grab my interest and if not, back to the library it goes or I pass it on to someone else. There are too many books waiting out there for me to waste my time on one I don’t like.
What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share your FRIDAY FINDS! This weekly event is hosted by Should Be Reading.
I read a review of Annabel at Amy Reads and, wow, I wanted to run out and get a copy of it. It sounds that good. Unfortunately I’m going to have to wait until January, when it’s published in the US.
Annabel by Kathleen Winter
In 1968, into the devastating, spare atmosphere of the remote coastal town of Labrador, Canada, a child is born: a baby who appears to be neither fully boy nor fully girl, but both at once. Only three people are privy to the secret: the baby’s parents, Jacinta and Treadway, and a trusted neighbor and midwife, Thomasina. Though Treadway makes the difficult decision to raise the child as a boy named Wayne, the women continue to quietly nurture the boy’s female side. And as Wayne grows into adulthood within the hyper-masculine hunting society of his father, his shadow-self, a girl he thinks of as “Annabel,” is never entirely extinguished.
The Tower, The Zoo, And The Tortoise
by Julia Stuart
Genre: Fiction, Literature
Published: August 2010 by Doubleday
Rating: 5 of 5
Charming, quirky, whimsical, humorous, The Tower, The Zoo, And The Tortoise is all that and more. A delightful story with an eccentric cast of characters and a setting in The Tower of London, a real place brimming with actual history. Fortunately for the reader the author thought to include a “Cast of Characters” page for reference and a map of the Tower complex and buildings.
The story centers around Balthazar Jones, his wife Hebe and their 181 year old pet tortoise, Mrs. Cook. Balthazar is employed as a tower guard, a Beefeater, and the Beefeaters must live within the Tower complex. Hebe Jones misses her home with square walls and finds it difficult to decorate the round walls of the Tower. Hebe works at the London Underground’s Department of Lost Things where she and her co-worker try to return an assortment of strange items, along with the usual lost keys and bags, to their owners. Of course if there is a juicy book or diary that gets turned in they just might read it first!
We soon find out that Balthazar has been appointed overseer of the Tower’s new royal menagerie. All the animals that belonged to the Queen were being moved from the zoo into the Tower, and that is no easy job. Along the way the penguins go missing, the giraffes are stolen, the albatross is distraught because his mate remained with the zoo and someone wants to sabotage the new menagerie by leaving the gates open allowing them to escape.
For all of it’s humor and whimsy, there is a sad note that runs through the book. Balthazar and Hebe’s son, Milo, has recently died and it is putting a strain on their once perfect marriage. Balthazar could not talk about Milo’s death. Eventually Hebe Jones moves out leaving only a letter expressing her bitterness and despair. In between the lighthearted stories about the Tower’s history, the quirky character’s relationships, the strange items found on the Underground and the zoo animals, we learn the sad details. The second half of the book we learn how Balthazar and Hebe live apart and how they cope with it. At the same time the lonely albatross wanders and calls out at night, his heart broken, missing his mate, for albatrosses mate for life.
The author is British and the writing style is both whimsical and with a dry sense of humor. For example, the references to the “loathsome tourists” the Beefeaters have to put up with and the story of poor Mrs. Cook, the turtle, having her tail eaten off by a tower raven. I just loved it. I found it refreshing and funny even thought parts were sad.
The book is sprinkled with facts from the Tower’s rich history and are seamlessly woven into the story. The Tower has served as a prison, an armory, a treasury, a menagerie and the home of the Royal Mint. It is now a tourist attraction and more than two million people, I mean loathsome tourists, will visit this year.
My review got a little longer than I intended but there was a lot to say. I very much recommend this book as you can probably tell. It may take a few pages to get accustomed to the writing style but once you do the story flows along. I tried to think of another book I could compare it to but I really couldn’t; it’s very unique. In the style of humor I liken it a little bit to Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy.
And now for the good part. Doubleday is letting me give away two copies of this book to my readers. Instructions on how to enter the contest are here and the giveaway ends midnight 10/23.
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Source: Review Copy provided by the publisher.
A few weeks ago thanks to She Reads And Reads, I discovered the 2011 Women of Science Fiction Bookclub hosted at Dreams and Speculations.
The club has selected twelve books, one for each month, plus an anthology. We have the entire month to read the book and prepare for review and discussion which will be held on the last day of the month. Anyone is invited to participate for one month or all twelve months. The short stories from the anthology will be discussed on the 15th of each month.
Well, that’s pretty easy and sounds like fun. I signed up. You can too. Stop by Dreams and Speculations and check out the list of books for discussion.
Mailbox Monday is touring through blogs. For the month of October it will be hosted by She Reads and Reads. Next month the tour moves to Knitting and Sundries where it will be hosted for the month of November.
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.
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New books in my mailbox last week:
The Peanuts Collection: Treasures from the World’s Most Beloved Comic Strip by Nat Gertler for review from Little, Brown and Company. I’m really excited about this one.
This fully authorized, one-of-a-kind illustrated bookcelebrates the 60th anniversary of the world’s most beloved comic strip characters. A compendium of rare materials from the Charles M. Schulz Museum and family archives, The Peanuts Collection comes in a sturdy slipcase and features high-quality reproductions of original sketches, comics, and photographs from the world of Peanuts.
Ah-Choo!: The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold by Jennifer Ackerman, a Hachette Books Giveaway win from Rhodes Review. Just in time for the winter cold season.
In Ah-Choo!, Jennifer Ackerman explains what, exactly, a cold is, how it works, and whether it’s really possible to “fight one off.” Scientists call this the Golden Age of the Common Cold because Americans suffer up to a billion colds each year, resulting in 40 million days of missed work and school and 100 million doctor visits.
Get Out Of The Way by Daniel Dinges. A BBAW win from Stephanie Barko.
The 1960s are in full bloom and the Vietnam conflict had reached its precipice. Tom Daniels wants no part in fighting a war he doesn’t agree with. In an effort to avoid the seemingly black hole consuming thousands of American lives, he exhausts every resource to cling onto his personal freedom and refrain from picking up a weapon.
Recipes From An Italian Summer
From The Silver Spoon Kitchen
Genre: Cooking
Published: August 2010, Phaidon Press
I know summer is ending but I still have lots of fresh tomatoes, peppers and herbs in my garden and I’m still in a summer state of mind. When I saw this big beautiful book sitting on the new books shelf in the library with it’s attractive artwork of tomatoes on the cover, I just had to pick it up and take it home.
It contains almost 400 recipes, mouth watering photos plus some gorgeous pictures of the Italian countryside. I’ve been to Italy and I can definitely say they take their food and wine seriously and love to eat leisurely outdoors. The recipes in the book range from antipasti, main courses, fish, meats, salads, sauces, vegetables and the most scrumptious looking desserts I’ve seen in a long time. There are simple salads, recipes for the grill such as fish kebobs and more exotic dishes like sweet-and-sour rabbit. Many can be served cold, be prepared ahead of time and are easy to transport to picnics or get-togethers.
The instructions are simple and easy to understand. Anyone with a little cooking experience should be able to do well if they can procure the ingredients. All the recipes call for fresh foods which can readily be found in summer and often year round if you live near a major shopping area.
My garden is still producing zucchini and their flowers, so I was interested in the fried zucchini flower recipe which I will be making if the plants cooperate. The other recipe that caught my eye was for grilled eggplant. I love to grill and veggies are a favorite food of mine.
Recipe and photo from Recipes From An Italian Summer:
Grilled Eggplants
Preparation time: 1 3/4 hrs
Cooking Time: 10-15 min
Serves 6Ingredients:
3 eggplants, thickly sliced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
18 basil leaves
olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepperPreparation:
Put the eggplant slices in a colander, sprinkle with salt, and let drain for about 30 minutes. Light the grill. Rinse the eggplant slices and pat dry with paper towels. Grill on both sides for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.Arrange the eggplant slices in layers on a serving dish, sprinkling each layer with garlic, basil leaves, salt and pepper and drizzling with plenty of olive oil. Set aside in a cool place for at least 1 hour to let the flavors mingle before serving.
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Participation is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.
The Book Blogger Hop, a weekly event hosted by Jen at Crazy For Books, is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word!
Post about the Hop on your blog. Spread the word about the book party! The Hop lasts Friday through Monday. If you don’t have time to Hop today, come back later and join the fun! Each week there is a new discussion question for your post. This week’s question is:
“What’s your favorite beverage while reading or blogging, if any? Is it tea, coffee, water, a glass of wine, or something else?”
In the morning it’s coffee. Strong coffee. Sometimes espresso or latte. Hot or cold. Love my coffee in the morning. The rest of the day it’s iced tea or water.
Thanks for hopping by this week.
What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share your FRIDAY FINDS! This weekly event is hosted by Should Be Reading.
I was very excited to find out that there is a prequel to the excellent Ringworld series.
Betrayer of Worlds by Larry Niven, Edward M. Lerner
Since fleeing the supernova chain reaction at the galactic core, the cowardly Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds have just barely survived one crisis after another. The rebellion of their human slaves. The relentless questing of the species of Known Space. The spectacular rise of the starfish-like Gw’oth. The onslaught of the genocidal Pak. Now fresh disaster looms, as though past crises have returned and converged. Who can possibly save the Fleet this time?
When there is a bird on the cover of a book I go right to the description to see if I’ll like it. I admit, I can be enticed by the cover, and since I’m a birder (yes, one of those people who go on hikes with binoculars and stalk birds!) this one caught my eye. And it sounds like a good story too.
The Bird Sisters: A Novel by Rebecca Rasmussen
When a bird flies into a window in Spring Green, Wisconsin, sisters Milly and Twiss get a visit. Twiss listens to the birds’ heartbeats, assessing what she can fix and what she can’t, while Milly listens to the heartaches of the people who’ve brought them. The two sisters have spent their lives nursing people and birds back to health.
Under My Apple Tree 