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Product Description from Amazon:
The body of local Native American land developer Jason Red Cloud is found on the site for his new resort on the Pine Ridge Reservation. A war club is lodged in his skull-appearing as if someone may have performed a ritual at the crime scene.
FBI Special Agent Manny Tanno arrives in Pine Ridge to find that not everything has changed since he left. His former rival, now in charge of the Tribal Police, is just as bitter as ever, and has no intention of making Manny's life easy. And the spirit of Red Cloud haunting Manny's dreams is not much help either, leaving him on his own in hunting down a cold-blooded killer-and one misstep could send him down the spirit road as well..
Follow Friday, is hosted by ParaJunkee, Book Blogger Hop, is hosted by Jennifer (Crazy-For-Books), and Follow Friday 40 and over is hosted by Java
If you could see one book turned into the perfect movie–one that would capture everything you love, the characters, the look, the feel, the story–what book would you choose?
All the Jane Austen novels made into movies would make it easier for me to get around her work. I don't like her novels at all. I suppose that is only way I can tolerate her!
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, we get a theme to list our top tens.
This week's Top Ten is: Top Ten Mean Girls in Books
"Don't worry. I have your money."
"That's why I am worried. You have my money. I don't have my money."
~~~Page 14 ,The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
Mickey Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers - they're all on Mickey Haller's client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence, it's about negotiation and manipulation. Sometimes it's even about justice.
Do the members of your family read? Do you think it was passed down to you? ((or Who do you think influenced you as a reader?))
"This one? He was barely a child. They’d said he was three, but Len hadn’t . . . were three-year-olds that tiny? Len had expected something along the lines of a good-sized calf, seventy pounds or so, take a little muscle to roll— but this kid would have a tough time toe- to- toe with the goose that patrolled the ragged edges of Len’s yard. Did geese hurt children?"
~~~Page 1, Wrecker by Summer Wood
Title: Wrecker
Author: Summer Wood
ISBN: 9781608192809
Publisher: Bloomsbury/2011
Pages: 287
The title makes one think of destruction, disharmony and chaos. But it is not true. Wrecker is about a boy, and about Melody, Ruth, Willow, Johnny Appleseed, Len and Meg. And also about Lisa Fey, Wrecker's mother. When three year old Wrecker enters Len's life, he (Len) does not know what to do with this small boy. Wrecker's mother has been sent to jail for 15 years and Len is related to her by being married to Meg, Lisa Fey's sister. Meg is not quite okay in the head due to an infection.
After only a day, Len decides to send that boy away from him. He goes to Bow Farm asking them to look after the little boy while he sets the ball rolling. Ruth is only too happy to look after the boy and Melody, Willow and Johnny Appleseed accept her decision. However, for one reason or the other Wrecker lives with them for 6 months before Len takes him away to send him back.
The little boy, the troublesome little boy, has already made inroads into everyone's heart, especially Melody. All of them want him back, including Len, who decides to adopt Wrecker. However, Wrecker is brought by everyone at Bow Farm...Ruth, Melody, Willow and Johnny. None of them are related, not a family unit but they have love and affection for each other and the boy.
Melody becomes his "mother" and other love him just the same. Wrecker comes to love all of them. He is an unconventional boy, a high-spirited one, who misses his real mother Lisa Fey but with time he accepts these people as his own. Including Len and Meg. He comes to love each one of them. Meanwhile Lisa Fey waits for her release to be united with her son. She never had a good life but Wrecker is the best think that happened to her.
With wild California as its backdrop, Wrecker is a novel which makes an impact, the boy makes our heart ache for him, his mother makes us cry, and Melody is so full of love that one can't believe that she is not his mother. Ruth , Willow, Johnny are equally important part in Wrecker's life.
Summer Wood has written a novel, which stays long after we finish it. We keep thinking of Wrecker, Lisa Fey, Melody and Len, along with the others. It is about an extraordinary boy, and other people who are not a family unit as we know but nevertheless a family, and most important, they are Wrecker's family. He gets them all when he needs them most. Love has no boundaries. Especially a mother's love. And it does not have to be tied by blood.....the ending touches us deeply....
This is going to be one of my best books of 2011....
Synopsis:
What reason would an amiable dentist like Dr. Morley have for committing suicide? He didn't have emotional difficulties, money problems, or love trouble. What he did have was an appointment with Hercule Poirot, who is not persuaded by the suicide story. Poirot therefore takes it upon himself to question the good doctor's patients, partners and friends. He has a suspicion that Dr. Morley wasn't an unlikely murder victim after all. Nor was he the first...
One, Two, Buckle my Shoe has Second World War as its backdrop and is rather political. Frank Carter is a British fascist and Howard Raikes represents the competing force of communism. Alistair Blunt’s credentials as a champion of conservative reaction are made obvious throughout the text. And there are many other characters with political leanings. Poirot is not influenced by any of it and knows he has to save the innocent no matter what.
Mailbox Monday has moved over to Amy of Passages to the Past for the month of April 2011.
I received the following book in the the mailbox this past week:
1) Caribou Island by David Vann
2) The Civilized World by Susi Wyss
3) Wrecker by Summer Wood
I also downloaded 27 free e-books from Amazon and getfreeebooks, to read via Kindle for PC
I am having fun downloading free e-books!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I finished the following books:
Baby Bonanza by Maureen Child (e-book)
A Very Special Delivery by Linda Goodnight (e-book)
Wrecker by Summer Wood
And in the midst of reading:
TheTime Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
What’s at the top of your must-buy list, right now?Follow Friday, is hosted by ParaJunkee, Book Blogger Hop, is hosted by Jennifer (Crazy-For-Books), and
Follow Friday 40 and over is hosted by Java
Parajunjee asks: Do you have anyone that you can discuss books with IRL? Tell us about him/her.
I used to discuss with a friend of mine. We shared our books way back in college. Now she has no time to read! Ans I don't have the inclination to discuss books with anyone else!
Do feel free to explore my blog. You will definitely find something that interests you as I read wide range of genres, except maybe for a few. I also write poetry. You can read that on my other blog, rooted. Now go, explore both of my blogs! And follow them, if you like!! I follow blogs I like via Google Reader...
Enjoy!
Friday Find:
Shadow Sister by Simone van der Vlugt
Lydia and Elisa, twin sisters, identical in appearance, different in every other way. Lydia has her life in order and opinions on everything, from her husband's business to her sister's friends, to her fellow teachers. If only those around her could live up to her high standards. But when a student, Bilal, pulls a knife on Lydia her perfect life begins to unravel. She turns to her sister. But Elisa is powerless to protect her from what follows: an anonymous letter, her car vandalized, someone watching her house. How far will Bilal go? Or is someone else the real threat? And what part does Elisa play in all of this? Twins are close ... aren't they?
Up until recently, people could browse your bookshelves and learn a lot about you–what your interests are, your range of topics, favorite authors, how much you read (or at least buy books).
More and more, though, this is changing. People aren’t buying books so much as borrowing them from the library. Or reading them on their e-readers or computers. There’s nothing PHYSICAL on the shelves to tell strangers in your home, for better or worse, who you ARE.
Do you think this is a good thing? Bad? Discuss!
I am a "physical" book reader. I like to touch, smell, feel my books. And their presence in my shelves calm me, soothe me somehow. That is a plus for me. The minus is, too many books and no space.
E-books don't require physical space and you can carry hundreds of e-books in your e-reader (No, I don't own one as yet!). I have started to read e-books on my PC using the Kindle for PC. However, I can't read for long. Yet I find that I can manage to steal in few pages while working on my computer. E-books also help us save us the Environment. That is a positive!
Books do speak about us and I really get a kick when people comment about me after looking at my book shelves! However, most people have no idea of genre, non-readers, that is. Those who do, I meet in the book blog world. And it does not matter to them anyone reading a "physical" book or an 'e-book".
Having said all that, give me paper books any day! I am NOT likely to stop buying those!
Hosted by Ruthie Reads, here you get to share exactly 100 words from your current read(s). After you do that, you link it in the linky list at the end of her post. (This meme is somewhat like Teaser Tuesdays!!)
Here I share 100 words from Other Eyes by Barbara D'Amato:
The baby had found one of the many breaks in the chain link fence. Attracted by the activity of the cars going past, he pushed through the gap. He was a vigorous little boy who had loved model cars even before he was able to sit up and play with them, and now, at the age of eleven months, had his own fleet of plastic cars and trucks. These real ones were even more exciting.
He wore a small pair of waist-hung jeans, which didn't stay up very well, since he had no waist. The top of his diaper bulged....
~Page 9-10, Other Eyes by Barbara D'Amato
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, we get a theme to list our top tens.
This week's Top Ten asks us which Top Ten Books We'd Like To See Made Into Movies.
Let me think. Most of the classics have already made into movies. The fantasy novels too. And many Crime Fiction novels. Where does that leave me? I will take some fairly recent novels.
Here I go:
The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
The Gendarme by Mark T Mustian
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
Inside Out by Barry Eisler
The Likeness by Tana French
The Rule Book by Rob Kitchin
Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
"Emily Barton, I think, has a mental picture of men as interminably consuming whiskeys and sodas and smoking cigars, and in the intervals dropping out to do a few seductions of village maidens, or to conduct a liaison with a married woman."
~~~Page 82, The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie
Title: The Moving Finger
Author: Agatha Christie
ISBN: 0440158613
Publisher: Dell/1982
Pages: 189
Narrated by Jerry Burton, The Moving Finger is based in Lymstock, which is a typical idyllic English town. Everything seems to be in a slow pace here. But the tranquility ends when someone with a poison starts to write letters to its inhabitants, shredding their reputation. Everyone seems to dread the mailbox. One day the shock and scandal is so much that the receiver supposedly commits suicide. Some think there is truth in that letter and a few others have their misgivings.
Then another dead body is found and it is a murder. The police have to uncover the truth. Jerry Burton has had a nasty accident while flying and has arrived in Lymstock with his sister Joanna Burton, to recover. Joanna to receives one of the poisoned letters. Jerry knows he has to do something. And Miss Jane Marple comes to his aid in the last quarter of the novel.
The good doctor, Owen Griffith and his sister Aimee, the lawyer Symmington, and other characters including he childish Megan make it an entertaining reading. The novel moves slow for a mystery but it holds the interest of the reader. The ending was surprising. Agatha Christie novels never ever failed. Lovers of cozy mystery, can read it safely!
I read N or M? long time ago. All my Agatha Christie novels are pretty old. My copy has the cover shown here, published by Fontana in 1976. I am thinking of going through my collection again. Currently reading The Moving Finger. Thought I would showcase N or M? for Crime Fiction Alphabet. I don't recall much of it other than it being a Tommy and Tuppence novel!
Here is the synopsis from http://www.biblio.com/agatha-christie/n-or-m~36412941~title
This atmospheric story, set during World War Two, finds Tommy and Tuppence doing what they do best – having an adventure. These unlikely Intelligence Service spies decide to help Queen and country by tracking down two ruthless traitors. The only clue to the traitors' identities is a government agent's dying words that lead them to the Sans Souci boarding house, where it'll take some extremely subtle detection work to establish which of the guests are the treacherous N and M.Published in 1941, the novel is one of two which Christie worked on simultaneously during the Second World War whilst living alone in London. She alternated her writing of The Body in the Library and N or M? to keep herself "fresh at task."
Mailbox Monday has moved over to Amy of Passages to the Past for the month of April 2011.
I received the following book in the the mailbox this past week:
I finished two e-books:If you’re a mood reader, what (genre) do your moods usually call you to read?
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
I live in India. For me, the Read-a-thon started at 5:30 PM (1200GMT). I found it very difficult to sit up after 1 AM (6:30 GMT). That is, the 8th hour was tough for me. I couldn't stay awake after that.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Choose fast paced books. They keep you going. Slow books slow you down.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Cheerleaders, may the tribe increase.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
It always works well for readers!
5. How many books did you read?
I finished two books and was on my third.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren (256 pages), Blue by Lou Aronica (400 pages), and The Moving finger by Agatha Christie (70/189 pages). I read 726 pages in all. Not bad considering I have a reading slump!
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren (256 pages)
8. Which did you enjoy least?
N/A
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
Visit, Visit, Visit!!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Reader as well as cheerleader! We need more of the latter!
1. What are you reading right now?
Blue by Lou Aronica
2. How many books have you read so far?
One and a half. (600 pages in total)
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
Other Eyes by Barbara D'Amato
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
Not really
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Not much except for cooking.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
I seem to coming out of my reading slump!
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
It is fine except for lesser number of cheerleaders. We need MORE. I know there are MORE readers but doing the Math for reader/cheerleader, it is not THAT much!
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
Same as what I have been doing.
9. Are you getting tired yet?
No. I slept for more than 4 hours.
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
For readers, read short, easy books. For cheerleaders, visit, visit, visit!
I am on second book, Blue by Lou Aronica (pages 200/400). It is a fantasy novel and is NOT a fast paced one. One has to concentrate on it. It is 1:10 AM here. I will go to sleep after this. I have read 456 pages in these 8 hours. Not bad. I might overcome my reading slump. I have a small complaint. This time around, I see almost NO cheerleaders! What happened to them?
I am into my second book, Blue by Lou Aronica. As expected, it is going slow. I entered for two mini-challenges. I have been visiting others. And will read for a while before I go to sleep.
Finished reading an e-book, Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren (256 pages). I know it is a light read but enough to get me out of my reading slump.
Started my second e-book, Blue by Lou Aronica (Pages 400). It is a fantasy novel.
1) Where are you reading from today?
I am reading from Delhi, India
2) Three random facts about me…
I am a math teacher, a poet and love doing puzzles
3) How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
I will randomly pick books. No lists. Right now I am reading an e-book, Once a Cowboy by Linda Warren here on my PC.
4) Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
Not really. I am in a reading slump and just wish to get out of that.
5) If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
Just take it easy. Read shorter books. And light ones, preferably...In one word, enjoy!
I am again participating in the 24 Hour Read-a-thon. But I am not sure how much I am going to read. I am in some kind of reading slump since September 2010. It has been a LONG time. I do pick up a book, read few pages and chuck it out! I can't understand my non-reading phase.
It is not that I am NOT reading. I read POETRY all the time, read newspaper articles, scientific articles and lately some beauty related articles. The novel does not hold interest. Maybe I have developed a short attention span. I don't know.
Coming back, I have short listed some books. However, if I finish one, I would be lucky! Maybe I need a JOLT on my head. I don't know....
Synopsis:
Commissaire Adamsberg leaves Paris for a three-day conference in London. Accompanying him are Estalere, a young sergeant, and Commandant Danglard, who is terrified at the idea of travelling beneath the Channel. It is a welcome change of scenery, until a macabre and brutal case comes to the attention of their colleague Radstock from New Scotland Yard. Just outside the gates of the baroque Highgate Cemetery a pile of shoes is found. Not so strange in itself, but the shoes contain severed feet. As Scotland Yard's investigation begins, Adamsberg and his colleagues return home and are confronted with a massacre in a suburban home. Adamsberg and Danglard are drawn in to a trail of vampires and vampire-hunters that leads them all the way to Serbia, a place where the old certainties no longer apply. In Fred Vargas' riveting new novel, Commissaire Adamsberg finds himself in the line of fire as never before.
Follow Friday, is hosted by ParaJunkee, Book Blogger Hop, is hosted by Jennifer (Crazy-For-Books), and
Follow Friday 40 and over is hosted by Java
Parajunjee asks: Do you judge a book by its cover?
Sometimes, I do. Not all the time, though. Some novels are so good despite bad covers and the opposite is true too.
Do feel free to explore my blog. You will definitely find something that interests you as I read wide range of genres, except maybe for a few. I also write poetry. You can read that on my other blog, rooted. Now go, explore both of my blogs! And follow them, if you like!! I follow blogs I like via Google Reader...
Enjoy!
So … the books that you own (however many there may be) … do you display them proudly right there in plain sight for all the world to see? (At least the world that comes into your living room.)
Or do you keep them tucked away in your office or bedroom or library or closet or someplace less “public?”
My books are all over the place. But I do have very big bookshelf in the living room. And lots of my books are displayed for everyone to see. And I even let them pick a book or two, if they so desire. On the condition they return those to me. I also giveaway books right off the shelves, if I don't wish to keep those particular ones. My nephews and nieces do take a lot of my books.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, we get a theme to list our top tens.
This week is all about Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign!
I have taken these covers from Longmire does Romance Novels. Do visit the site to check out more! You will really love it. She has "redesigned" the titles. It can't get more tackier than these!
