Thank you to everyone that stopped by to enter the giveaway. The winner was selected using random.org and has been notified by email.
Journey to Death
by Leigh Russell
Winner: Denise
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© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.
After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.
Here’s what arrived in my mailbox last week . . .
With spring on the horizon, I was thrilled to receive All the Presidents’ Gardens. I’m ready to start planting!
I’m also excited about getting a copy of the mystery/thriller Security. The story takes place at an exclusive resort and has been described as Grand Hotel meets Psycho in the age of surveillance.
New Arrivals
All the Presidents’ Gardens: Madison’s Cabbages to Kennedy’s Roses, How the White House Grounds Have Grown with America by Marta McDowell from Timber Press.
All the Presidents’ Gardens’ tells the untold history of the White House Grounds. Starting with the seed-collecting, plant-obsessed George Washington and ending with Michelle Obama’s focus on edibles, this rich and compelling narrative reveals how the story of the garden is also the story of America.
Security by Gina Wohlsdorf from Algonquin.
With stunning ingenuity, Gina Wohlsdorf puts readers front and center as the elite resort becomes a house of horrors. Riveting to the final sentence, Security is fierce, wry, and impossible to put down.
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© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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Read the book before you see the movie!
Originally published as The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the book was re-released this week as Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
The movie, staring Tina Fey, opens March 4th.
About the Book
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
by Kim Barker
Publisher: Anchor | February 2016
Soon to be a major film by Paramount Pictures, WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT, starring Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thornton and Alfred Molina, is based on Kim Barker’s memoir. Previously published as The Taliban Shuffle, Barker uses her wry, incisive voice to expose the absurdities and tragedies of the “forgotten war,” finding humor and humanity amid the rubble and heartbreak.
Kim first arrived in Kabul as a journalist in 2002. At the time she barely owned a passport, spoke only English and had little idea how to do the “Taliban Shuffle” between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Her stories about Islamic militants and shaky reconstruction were soon overshadowed by the bigger news in Iraq. The more she delved deeper into Pakistan and Afghanistan, the more her love for the hapless countries grew, along with her fear for their future stability. Read this darkly comic and unsparing memoir before you watch the movie.
About the Author
Kim Barker was the South Asia bureau chief for The Chicago Tribune from 2004 to 2009, based in New Delhi and Islamabad. Her book about those years, “The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” a dark comedic take on her time in South Asia, was published by Doubleday in 2011. The movie version, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” will be released in March 2016, starring Tina Fey, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Margot Robbie and Billy Bob Thornton. Barker has covered natural disasters such as the tsunami in Asia and the earthquake in Kashmir, as well as tracked manmade disasters — the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the corruption in Afghanistan, and the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Watch The Movie Trailer
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© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Source: Wunderkind PR.
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Almost wordless: While walking the nature trails a few months ago, I noticed glowing eyes off in the distance. I waited cautiously and watched. I never expected a black cat to emerge from the grass.
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More Wordless Wednesday. © 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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Hidden Bodies
by Caroline Kepnes
Genre: Thriller / Dark Humor
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Publish Date: February 23, 2016
Format: Hardcover | 448 pages
Rating: 5 of 5
From the Publisher
In the compulsively readable follow-up to her widely acclaimed debut novel, You, Caroline Kepnes weaves a tale that Booklist calls “the love child of Holden Caulfield and Patrick Bateman.”Hidden Bodies marks the return of a voice that Stephen King described as original and hypnotic, and through the divisive and charmingly sociopathic character of Joe Goldberg, Kepnes satirizes and dissects our culture, blending suspense with scathing wit.
About the Story
Joe Goldberg is back, and he’s just as charming and obsessive as ever. Now he has a new love interest, Amy, and he vows not to make the same mistakes he made in the past with Beck.
Amy seems perfect for Joe, and he tell her so. But the feeling isn’t mutual, and when she steals from him and runs off to Los Angeles, the stalking, murderous instincts re-emerge in Joe. He discovers that she has left New York for Hollywood and has signed up for acting classes. Joe is soon on his way to California to find her and make her pay for what she has done to him. But things are never simple for Joe. He soon becomes involved in a new relationship — Joe may have finally met his match.
My Thoughts
The story begins right where the first book, You, left off with the same fast pace and quick wit. It is written from Joe’s point of view so we are always aware of his thoughts and motivation. And that is what makes this such a great book. When we get into Joe’s head, he becomes likable, literate, and seductive in spite of all his faults. Yes, literate, he loves books. He works in a bookstore and appears to lead a normal life. Until you get to know him.
There was a bit of a slow spot in the middle of the story after Joe moved to Los Angeles and we meet a new group of characters, but it soon picked up again with the same dark humor, murderous thoughts, a few bodies, and a quick pace. The plot makes frequent changes in direction and just when I thought I knew where it was headed, we were off on a new course — and ultimately headed for a surprising ending.
Joe is one of the most compelling characters I’ve ever met. I wasn’t so much horrified by what Joe was thinking and doing as I was at the thought that there are people like him walking the streets and appearing normal. Joe was so needy and charming that I came dangerously close to rooting for him. Well, at times I was rooting for him! And then it was back to feeling creepy.
As in the first book, there is some explicit sexual content and more than a few swear words. It fits the character of Joe and his warped thoughts, but I felt it deserved mention. There is satire and social commentary accompanied by some biting dark humor. This isn’t for everyone, but it’s one of those books you won’t know you like until to try it.
While there is enough explanation of events in the first book to make this readable as a standalone, I don’t recommend it. And once you read the first chapter, you are completely spoiled for book one. Read You first! Even better, listen to the audiobook, it’s fantastic.
Although this was one of my first reads of the new year, it has definitely made it on to my 2016 favorites list.
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Source: Review copy provided by Atria Books
© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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Welcome to Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia of To Be Continued, a place where readers share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.
After several years of being on tour with different blogs as the monthly host, the Mailbox Monday Blog is now the permanent home for the meme.
Here’s what arrived in my mailbox last week . . .
New Arrivals
Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Ed Tarkington from LibraryThing.
Ed Tarkington’s debut novel draws you into a small-town American Gothic story of coming-of-age, brotherhood, and family fealty, first love, scandal, and murder.
The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas from Delacorte.
The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.
The 6:41 to Paris by Jean-Philippe Blondel, a win from France Book Tours.
A psychological thriller about past romance, with all its pain and promise.
Audio Books
Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop from Penguin Audio
For centuries, the Others and humans have lived side by side in uneasy peace. But when humankind oversteps its bounds, the Others will have to decide how much humanity they’re willing to tolerate—both within themselves and within their community…
All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage from Random House Audio
At once a classic “who-dun-it” that morphs into a “why-and-how-dun-it,” this is also a rich and complex portrait of a psychopath and a marriage, and an astute study of the various taints that can scar very different families, and even an entire community.
Sisi by Allison Pataki
Sisi tells the little-known story of Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary, the Princess Diana of her time, in an enthralling work of historical fiction that is also a gripping page-turner.
Still time to enter the giveaway for . . .
Journey To Death
Get in at the beginning with book one in a new mystery series from crime writer Leigh Russell.
Enter on or before February 27th. US addresses only.
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© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
Advertisements appearing on this site are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed or approved by me.
Thank you to everyone that stopped by to enter the giveaway. The winner was selected using random.org and has been notified by email.
Baggage
by S.G. Redling
Winner: Carl
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© 2016 Under My Apple Tree. All rights reserved.
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