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December
This cold has taught me
about the nature of souls.
Although I have known
a long time ago that the body
is meant to be a sieve for
the soul fermenting inside,
I am still surprised by the fog
of breath coming out of my mouth.
So dense. It seems that I am not the only one
who is exhaling in this frozen yard.
Night Fish by Kristine Ong Muslim
Night Fish is a 13-poem chapbook. The poems refer to water, all kinds of water bodies and watery life. Life is compared with the uncertainty of the ocean and how the human mind adapts to it.
A key poem that familiarises the reader to the whole collection is “Heat Stroke”, a condition where moisture is non-existent and grief has triumphed. Heat Stroke is palpable. We can almost touch it----
We ultimately learn to slice impressions,
separate them according to texture.
Smooth-skinned on top. Rusty underneath.
Grit and cruelty crammed in the middle.
Heat presents itself in the form of waves
melting the world away. Squandering nothing.
Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.
If she hadn’t been dusting the reading nook so beloved by customers, young and old, Mrs.Honoria Duchamp, owner and proprietress of Evans Books, would not have heard the cruel comments about her from some society mum shepherding her daughter to matrimonial slaughter.
Now it echoed in her mind: “Did you see that woman, Margaret? Did you? Take a close look at her and at this cramped, suffocating little shop. This is the best you can hope for if you don’t marry well. Do you think that shriveled-up mouse of a woman wanted this menial life?”
The mother’s sharp voice had grown shrill toward the end of this little speech. It just goes to show, she thought, nothing good can come of dusting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She stared back into his eyes and nodded. “Sometimes we have no choice but to sacrifice ourselves for our families, for the greater good.”
Posted for The Friday 56, which is hosted by Freda's Voice
Never Too Late by Amara Royce
Honoria Duchamp is a widow owning a bookstore. She is 40 years of age. Lord Devlin is in his mid 20s. He comes to her shop to "investigate" her role as pamphlets containing “incendiary materials” have surfaced and she is believed to be the source. He falls for her and wishes to marry her. But Honoria knows nothing can come out of it. Nora, the heroine, is in trade, and no, she is not some heiress or inherits loads from a relative from a long lost relation. Alex isn't just some bored Duke, but a Viscount who loves his family and does everything he has to do to protect his brother and mother. Alex's attraction to Nora is genuine and he is the one who keeps pursuing the possibility of a relationship. He is not a rake, or a roguewho needs to be needed to be reformed. Even though he's only 26, he knows he has something special with her and isn't willing to give it up.
Lord Devlin's mother is not averse to their relationship. I liked the way she encourages "Nora" to go for Lord Devlin. The story line is unconventional and I liked that. Nora is a do gooder for social causes.
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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.
Gracie was the first to speak. “That woman just gave her baby to Isobel.”
Title: The Nesting Dolls
Author: Gail Bowen
ISBN: 9780771012754
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart/2010
Pages: 336
It might sound strange but, this 12th Joane Kilburn novel is my first. Although it might appear that some parts are missing but It is a stand alone one. Here she is married to Zack Shreve, and they are both happy with her adopted daughter Taylor. With Christmas around the corner, everything looks bright and happy. But a young woman enters their life, and leaves her infant son with Isobel Wainberg, Taylor's best friend, and disappears. Everyone is looking for her wanting to know her motive of leaving the baby boy. But she is found dead, after being raped. No one has seen her in the vicinity, and no one knows who she is.
It turns out that she was the daughter of Delia Wainberg, Isobel's mother. Zack, Delia, and Noah, are old college friends, yet Noah and Zack do not know Delia's past. The baby is much loved by all and Delia is anguished to find her long lost daughter dead. Abby has left the baby in Delia;s care but Nadine, her partner to wants the child. Zack is representing Deila and Joanne thinks Nadine too deserves a chance.
The novel sometimes gets off the mark but it has a good pace. The complications of relationships is well depicted. And the suspense holds good till the end. I liked the title and the characters. Another good crime fiction novel!!
Title: Not Quite a Husband
Author: Sherry Thomas
ISBN: 9780553592436
Publisher: Bantam/2009
Pages: 352
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book Blurb
Their marriage lasted only slightly longer than the honeymoon—to no one’s surprise, not even Bryony Asquith's. A man as talented, handsome, and sought after by society as Leo Marsden couldn't possibly want to spend his entire life with a woman who rebelled against propriety by becoming a doctor. Why, then, three years after their annulment and half a world away, does he track her down at her clinic in the remotest corner of India?
Leo has no reason to think Bryony could ever forgive him for the way he treated her, but he won't rest until he’s delivered an urgent message from her sister—and fulfilled his duty by escorting her safely back to England. But as they risk their lives for each other on the journey home, will the biggest danger be the treacherous war around them—or their rekindling passion?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I read the pdf version of the book, and surprisingly I could make it at one go! Pairing a rebellious doctor with a mathematician works very well. Both are intelligent, head-strong and very much attracted to each other. It is Bryony who proposes marriage to Leo, and as he had always loved her since they were kids, he is thrilled to accept!
Title: Night Secrets
Author: Kat Martin
ISBN: 9780-312970024
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks/1999
Pages: 342
Brandy Winters is works as a serving girl in her father's tavern, in Charleston. As a serving girl, she comes to know many sailors as they sail in to port and back out, month after month and year after year. One of those sailors is English Captain Marcus Delaine who is also the Earl of Hawksmoor. Brandy has admired and loved Marcus from afar for many years and Marcus too has watched Brandy grow into a very attractive young lady. One night he rescues her from a tavern patron. When Marcus tells her that his crew is taking a month long voyage before returning to England, on a whim Brandy decides to stow away on Marcus's ship for the short voyage. When she is found, sick and half dead, Marcus is not as kind as Brandy had hoped. He is very angry with her. However, she is not easily intimidated.
Night Secrets set in Charleston, on the seas, England, and takes a full circle. Marcus is a man of the sea and doesn't wish to be anywhere else. He doesn't want to fulfill his duties as Earl of Hawksmoor and thinks e will never marry because no one can take the place of the sea in life. A major accident occurs in the sea and Marcus is left disabled, he becomes embitted. When Brandy reaches out for him, he refuses to acknowledge even her existence. But Brandy doesn't give up easily, even though his behaviour is quiet hurtful.
Although unbelievable at times, Kat has managed to write a engrossing romance novel. With a spunky heroine, one can enjoy this book. Of course, as usual, it has that predictable ending. But then romance novels are!
Title: A Note From An Old Acquaintance
Author: Bill Walker
ISBN: 978-1440133336
Publisher: iUniverse/2005)
Pages: 360 pages
Brian Weller is a tormented man. His three year old son is dead and his wife is in a coma due to an accident. He is a well known author but is now struggling with writer's block. One day he gets an email from Joanna, the woman he had fallen in love with 15 years back. He has mixed feelings about that. In the meantime, his wife passes away.
Brain decides to go to Boston for book signings as an excuse to see her. Joanna is an artist, is married and has a teenage son now. However, their feelings for each other has not changed much.
When they had first met, Joanna was engaged to a rich and powerful man, Erik Rudy. Eric does love her and cannot give her up. Brian is forced to make a choice and disappears from Joanna's life. And Joanna gets in touch with him after 15 years.
Walker has managed to create well etched characters. One can understand and feel for Brian, Joanna and Erik too. The strong love between Brian and Joanna sustains thorough all these years. The plot line is good too. Yet I found loose ends. Why did Joanna cheat on her fiance in the first place? They had been engaged for 6 years. And how did Brian meet his wife? Why did Joanna contact Brian after so many years? Erik might be arrogant but he loves Joanna, no matter what. He goes to any length to make her happy. He is not the abusive kind of husband. He is not the artistic kind but he is not an ogre either.
Despite those questions, the love story aspect appeals although the cheating part doesn't. The writing style is good as that holds interest throughout. I hope in his next book, Bill Walker puts more twists and turns.
Thanks to Tracee Gleichner for this copy for Pump Up Your Book Promotion
The child lay still; anyone observing it would have been certain it was sound asleep. But it was not, for long ago-----so long ago that there was no memory of how it began-----the child's mind had learned to defend itself from the agony that the body it inhabited was forced to bear.
Title: Nightshade
Author: John Saul
ISBN: 044900590
Publisher: Ballantine Books/2001
Pages: 399
Mark is a 15 year old good natured boy, who is happy enough with his mother Joan and step father Bill Hapwood in New Hampshire. Hapwood House is where Mark is at peace since he arrived there when his mother married Bill. He was 5 years old at that time. All seems well until Emily, Joan's mother arrives to the Hapwood house to live with them. She has Alzheimer's and Joan can't simply abandon her. Not that Emily doesn't deserve it.
Emily is obssessed with her dead daughter Cynthia and recreates her room in their house. From then onwards, they have trouble at home. Bill and Joan grow distant and Bill leaves his home. Mark is affected by it all. He also starts seeing his Aunt Cynthia, and can hear her speak, beckoning him. And on the morning of Mark's 16th birthday, tragedy strikes in a way that affects the whole town. Mark finds himself all alone except for the support of his mother. He finds himself drawn to the shadow of his aunt. And when Emily too disappears along with his friend Kelly, Mark knows he has to get into the bottom of it. But the voices in his head stop him, give him a false sense of hope.
Nightshade grabs the reader right from the first page. Emily has never loved Joan but adored her older daughter Cynthia, who has been dead for more than 15 years. She keeps Cynthia alive by keeping all her things in one place and doesn't let anyone touch those. She considers Mark as a bastard child and doesn't love him either. In Joan memories, Cynthia too is not a loving person but is manipulative who blames Joan. Joan has been abused as a child and we can see her fear even now in her memories. Yet she loves her mother who has never returned her feelings. Bill loves Mark as his own son even though he had not adopted the boy.
Cynthia although dead, holds some sort of power over Joan and now Mark. She is present even though she is not there. Her shadow looms large over their lives. In the climax, dark secrets tumble out destroying everyone in its way. Can Mark come out it? What with tragic consequences, one can only wait and watch.
The prose might be stilted, writing may leave much to be desired but the fear, secrets, horror, child abuse, ghost, nightmares and the tragedy keeps one on the edge. And one has to finish it, no matter what. The scent of Nightshade engulfs the reader too, the way it does with Mark.
Title: the nine planets
Title: Nineteen Minutes
Author: Jodi Picoult
ISBN: 9781741750720
Publisher: Allen & Unwin/2007
Pages: 455
Nineteen Minutes is set in a small town where a horrific shootout takes place in the high school. It takes only nineteen minutes to change the whole scenario of that place. Life is never the same again for the inhabitants of Sterling. In that shootout, there are ten deaths and nineteen seriously injured.
Peter Houghton is the boy who shot at all those people in his school and is represented by the lawyer, Jordan McAfee. Patrick Ducharme, the detective tries to unravel the reasons behind the shootout but finds a dead end with Josie, who was at the shootout but was not shot at. She has that part blocked out of her mind and does not remember anything. Her boy friend, Matt Royston was also one of those killed. Her mother is the Judge who is assigned the case but is recused afterwards.
Jordan as well as Peter’s parents are the most hated persons in that town as they are seen to be siding with Peter. Lacy and Lewis are his parents and have no choice other than to love him and Jordan is his lawyer who has to believe in him. Slowly we see disintegration of relationships and also the reasons behind Peter’s actions. Nevertheless, he goes overboard. Josie has her reasons to break off her friendship with him, although they had been friends since kindergarten.
The unanswered questions of---Why is being different taken as a weakness? Why acceptance by peers is so very important? Why cannot some children cope better? Why bullying is persistent? Why do elders---teachers as well as parents—turn a blind eye when they should protect the weaker ones? What takes to tilt the balance? How much one can bear until he/she breaks? How a loner like Peter turns out to be a killer? Initially, the accused was the victim. Most of his life, he had been bullied even when he tried to be invisible. Does this justify what he did? Does anything?
Picoult has taken all those into account and more. She has questions for the legal system, education system and students. Her questions hit hard. They make us sit back and think. She shows us all the sides. There are no blacks or whites but greys, which are more prevalent. Another captivating novel by Jodi Picoult, which speaks out about the prevalent system and its loopholes.
Title: Northanger Abbey
Author: Jane Austen
ISBN: 1853260436
Publisher: Wordsworth Classics/165 pages
This early Jane Austen novel is a satire of the reading tastes of the young, their near addiction to Gothic "horror" stories. Here Austen is overflowing with her unmistakable satiric wit, charm, and astonishing worldly wisdom.
Catherine Morland, aged 17, is expanding her horizons by visiting Bath with her neighbours, The Allens. She gets involved with the Thorpe family, who are not what they seem, and the Tilney family, with whom she forms genuine warmth that leads her to visit their family home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine has spent a good deal of time reading novels, and she allows her imagination to run wild once she finds herself in the dark corridors of the abbey. The appearance of Henry helps subdue her theatrics a bit but she still finds herself drawn into situations she does not understand. She expects the worst horrors because of her enthusiastic reading of Mrs. Radcliff’s novels. She feels certain to have stumbled upon a secret family shame or even horror. The General's odd behaviour seems to confirm her growing suspicious of dark deeds surrounding the death of the late Mrs. Tileny.
Without any explanation, the domineering General gets Catherine thrown out of his home defying all the rules of hospitality and decency. Henry is not present to protest, so Catherine is sent off in ignominy and secret tears back to her unsuspecting family.
.
Austen is mocking the meeting and mating customs of that period in Britain. She is also mocking the gothic novels of the day: Catherine, influenced by the lowbrow literature she reads, is forever attributing dark motives to her acquaintances and skeletons to their closets.
Catherine is easily manipulated and slow to learn from her mistakes, and she bumbles into her eventual successful conclusion completely by accident, none the wiser for her troubles. Austen makes clear right at the onset that she does not wish to attack the novelists who wrote the books from which Catherine derives many of her false ideas but that the error is Catherine's interpretation of the stories.
Much of the story fits in with typical Gothic novel, but the frightening and dismaying things Catherine eventually discovers are of a far from supernatural sort. Greed, selfishness and pride, these are the horrors of Northanger Abbey. The hidden motive of seemingly delightful friends is brought to light, teaching young Catherine as well as the reader a painful lesson in real life.
