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'I reckon they could be spies....men like that. They swore to Mussolini to kill us all."
The Paperbark Shoe by Goldie Goldbloom
~~~Posted for The Friday 56, which is hosted by Freda's Voice
Title: The Paperbark Shoe
Author: Goldie Goldbloom
They called it taking four. The tall, gaunt monk hovered at the lip of the five-hundred-foot cliff, nothing restraining him but the raw Himalayan wind. Shan Tao Yun squinted at the figure to see better. His heart clenched, It was Trinle who was going to jump---Trinle, his friend, who just that morning had whispered a blessing on Shan's feet so they would not trample insects.
Shan dropped his wheelbarrow and ran.
Title: The Skull Mantra
Author: Eliot Pattison
ISBN: 9780312204785
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotuar/1999
Pages: 403
It is one of those novels which took me into a spiritual journey. Deep into the world of Tibetan priests, Buddhist monks, Yerpas, and the psyche of the people. And politics. The resolute of the Tibetan people to be free from China. The fight that is never ending. The way they die for it without a word. Unbending.
Shan Tao Yun, a chinese investigator, has been put in one of the Chinese labour camps for a past misdemeanor. He has many Tibetan priests in his camp. When a headless body is found near the place they are working, Shan's help is sought to solve the murder. However, no one is interested to find the real killer but to put the blame on a Buddhist priest. Everyone wants Shan to endorse to that or the priests in his work brigade would be punished.
Shan finds outs about ancient Buddhist demon, an illegal monastery, sects working secretly for Tibet and people who will not bend even in the face of death. There is this American involvement too in the way of mining interests. The reader gets pulled into the religious and political maelstroms.
I highly recommend it for all those who want to learn about a religious belief, a country in another country, about people who won't give and above all, for a spiritual experience. I related to it because Dalai Lama lives in India. In Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh. I have visited his abode although I have not seen him. And because I am a Hindu.
What do you think of fanfiction? In general—do you think it’s a fun thing or a trespass on an author/producer’s world? And of course, obviously specific authors have very firm and very differing opinions about this, yet it’s getting more popular and more mainstream all the time. Do you ever read or write it yourself?
I am not much into fanfiction. I don't read it and writing it out of question. Maybe if someone offered me a book better than the original, I might consider reading it!
Urged on by the guards, he mounted the rough wooden planks, his movements slow and awkward because of the confining chains. Over their clanking, he suddenly became aware of a swelling roar. Surprised, Matt looked around and down. A milling, unruly crowd stretched around the gallows like an endless expanse of sea around a tiny island.The sight stopped him in his tracks. He had not been aware of them before, wished he had not become aware of them now. They were staring up at him, a featureless blur made up of hundreds of faces, come to watch him die. Their mouths shouted obscenities; their eyes screamed hate.
“That’s him. That’s the one. Grayson—bloody murderer.”
Matt stared at them. Missiles thrown by the crowd began slicing through the air around him, rotten tomatoes and eggs and even rocks. The guards, as caught up in the maelstrom of refuse as he was, cursed viciously and hurried him up the stairs. Matt did nothing to hinder them. Every ounce of his concentration was suddenly focused on fighting down the terror that tiptoed icily up and down his spine. He scarcely felt the rock that bounced off his left temple, leaving a darkening bruise and a trickle of crimson in its wake.
Amanda Rose by Karen Robards
The novel is set in the 1840s. It opens with our hero taken to the gallows to be hanged. For a crime he did not commit. Matt Grayson is a ship & merchant owner from New Orleans and travels to England. During a business deal Matt was drugged, later to be woken up to police arresting him for the murder of a well known family in England. Somehow he escapes the hangman's rope but gets shot shot during the escape. He ends up on a beach down below a convent. Hungry, sick, injured.
Amanda Rose has been sent to the convent five years ago by her half-brother after their father dies. She is almost eighteen now and he has arranged her marriage and made a deal that he would get her inheritance after the marriage is thru. Amanda Rose does not wish to marry the person her half-brother has selected for but she also does not wish to end up in the convent.
Unknown to the nuns, she escapes to the beach at night to calm her troubled thoughts. That's when she meets Matt Grayson. She takes him to a hidden cave and nurses him back to health. But he is caught and shot and presumed dead. And Amanda Rose is to be married in few days time.
Matt Grayson is very much alive, rescued by his brother. And he thinks Amanda led the police to him. His brother Zeke kidnaps Amanda at the behest of Matt, who is hell bent on taking revenge. He takes her to New Orleans....
The novel started out with the scene of Matt being taken to the gallows. A very harrowing experience. When he escapes, the reader breathes easy. Amanda is a spunky heroine. A fighter. There is good chemistry between them. Yet I found Matt a jerk in the second half. Zeke, his brother is a very likable character. There were moments, I wanted to kill the hero but I couldn't put it down until I finished it. Go for if you like a forceful hero as is the norm in historical romances.
Unintended Consequences by Marti Green
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
Go girls go, conquer the world!!
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| Look at the way she is burrowing into me! |
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| Sad to leave after 12 years of schooling yet happy... |
"What kind of idiot pleads to a life sentence? The smart move would've been to roll the dice. You never know what a San Francisco jury will do?"
Posted for The Friday 56, which is hosted by Freda's Voice
Title: A Criminal Defense
Author: Steven Gore
ISBN: 9780062025074
Publisher: Harper, Mass Market Paperback/2013
Pages: 352
Mark Hamlin, is found murdered gruesomely. He had the reputation of being a corrupt lawyer who intimidated witnesses, suborned perjury, laundered money and destroyed evidence.The way he is murdered, it is difficult to say if he was a victim of murder or of a sexual encounter gone bad. Former detective Harlan Donnally is assigned the case. As Donnally investigates, he finds himself drawn into unknown mystery. He starts to ponder over the deceits of Hamlin. Then the reader is shown the inner workings of, the justice system which is somehow filled with intricate lies and betrayals.
The beginning is good. In the middle it dragged quite a lot. There were too many red herrings. But the novel holds interest towards the end.
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I am trying to catch up with my 2013 reviews....
1930, Shantou, China
On a winter night shortly after the New Year festivities, Chen Kai sat on the edge of the family kang, the brick bed. He settled the blanket around his son.
“Gwai jai,” he said. Well behaved boy. “Close your eyes.”
“Sit with me?” said Chen Pie Sou with a yawn. “You promised . . .”
“I will.” He would stay until the boy slept. A little more delay.
Title: The Headmaster's Wager
Author: Vincent Lam
ISBN: 9780385661454
Publisher: Fourth Estate/2012
Pages: 391
Percival Chen (Chen Pie Sou) is the headmaster of a English School in Saigon, Vietnam. He is also a gambler, womanizer and also into bribing the Govt officials to keep his school on the top. Mak, one of the teachers' in his school has links and gets everything done for him. Chen does not know the connections Mak has and does not wish to know either.
Chen's son Dai Jai gets into trouble and has to be sent out of Saigon to China, their home country. Chen meets a young woman Jacqueline, who is half Vietnamese and half French. In his loneliness, he falls for her and they have a son. Meanwhile, there are sweeping political changes in Vietnam and Chen cannot escape it. Then he discovers certain secrets which totally change his life. Dai Jai too is somehow lost to him.
The Headmaster's Wager has characters which are flawed. Chen is not a lovable character yet we are with him through his journey. There is love, honour, betrayal and the ultimate sacrifice. For the loved one. This is not a fast paced novel but I could not put it down in the last half. I gained knowledge about China, Vietnam and most of all human faults and frailties.
This is one of those novels which makes reading worthwhile and blogging a pleasure.....
Wondering now, if I heard it correctly, I said," Did you say a child was murdered?"
"Yes. At the home. That's the main reason they shut down it down."
"I'm guessing the staff were suspected?"
"No, no. Not the staff, the other children. Have to go. See you tomorrow."
Title: Never Forget
Author: Lisa Cutts
ISBN: 9781908434265
Publisher: Myriad Editions/2013
Pages: 347
A woman is found brutally stabbed and DC Nina Foster is assigned the case. This is her first murder investigation. More victims are found and all these are somehow connected to Nina's own traumatic past. She had been kidnapped when she was child.
With a stalker and others who cannot be remotely connected to her kidnapping, Nina is thrown right into the nightmare. Her team want to protect her but Nina needs to get on with the investigation.
With believable characters and fast paced action, the novel is gripping. As a police procedural, it works great for the reader. Nina has her faults, what with a drinking habit but she turns out to be good detective.
As I take to toil in hand
The finer points of pen
Deeper I delve
Into the meaning of me
Wherein
I shall call to it
And it shall come
The meaning of me
It shall come
Title: The Meaning of Me 
Emmett Wheatfall
Author: Emmett Wheatfall
ISBN: 9780983723141
Publisher: Reflections Publishing House/2012
Pages: 98
With a cover as poetic as this, one can only expect the best of poetry. Emmett Wheatfall does not disappoint us on any account. I could connect to his poetry despite being in another part of the world, having different cultural values.
His world becomes ours because the journey he takes to find the meaning of me, is what we are seeking too....in the way of life, race, religion and the metaphysical. Somehow it all blends in with the physical world that we live in.
The poems are simple enough but with depth of meaning. In the despair, one can still find pleasure. That is what he teaches us. Beyond Me reached out to me.
I have read this book of poetry many a times and will continue to do so. Thanks to Emmett Wheatfall for sending this book of poetry to me.
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I am trying to catch up with my 2013 reviews....
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about something related to reading/books each week…...
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It's a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.
We caught up as I drove. Shane was pursuing a master's degree in library science. He hated it. He wanted to work with books, but was compelled instead to study "information architecture" and all manner of new technology.
"One of the professors called the phone book a database with limited search functionality the other day. With a straight face. That's when I decided to take a break."
Title: Snapper
Author: Brian Kimberling
ISBN: 9780307908056
Publisher: Pantheon/2013
Pages: 224
Nathan Lochmueller is a professional bird watcher. He is sometimes perched on trees, 50 feet above the ground to watch the birds. He ventured into this by default. He gets paid just enough to get by. He meets quirky birds as well as quirky people. In between all this, we learn about his on and off girl friend, Lola.
There are 13 interconnected stories which make it into a novel. I loved Nathan and his weird ways, his thoughts and his recollections. Indiana woods comes alive for the reader. It made a surprisingly good read. I recommend it for all bird lovers/watchers and all others who are neither!!
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I am trying to catch up with my 2013 reviews....
Me, I’m guilty of the charge. Unethical Conduct.
At least I admit it.
My lawyer arrives no time too soon, because you never want to be seen standing in the vicinity of this building on Friday mornings, the day when the Disciplinary Committee conducts hearings stemming from serious unethical conduct alleged by the client. The purpose of the committee is to protect the public by ensuring attorney adherence to the ethical standards codified in the Rules of Professional Conduct, “The Rules.” That’s why I insisted on meeting my attorney near the corner.
Title: Suzy's Case
Author: Andy Siegel
ISBN: 9781451658781
Publisher: Scribner/2012
Pages: 352
Tug Tyler is a New York City personal injury and medical malpractice attorney. He gets a case as a referral and told that it is a loser. When he meets Suzy and her mother June, he knows he cannot give up on the six year girl. She has severe brain damage and spastic conditions. These are the result of sickle cell anemia. It all began with something going wrong in a hospital six years ago. Suzy now has a brain of a two year old. Her mother is determined to win the case against the hospital.
Tug Tyler does not give up. He takes up the bigwigs. He is unethical at times, for bigger causes. He knows June needs to win the case in order to take care of Suzy for a very long time. Tug is load mouthed, obnoxious at times but he knows how to fight with dirty people. Those people who have big money and political connections.
There is a bit of suspense and the legal aspect made it a great reading. There is lot of twists and turns. The subject matter is serious. But the quirky way of handling it is done well. I quite liked Tug and look forward to read more novels involving him.
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I am trying to catch up with my 2013 reviews....
