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Mailbox Monday has moved over to Rose City Reader for the month of January 2011, and In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted at The Story Siren.
I received one book after two weeks of Lull. Well, it is a start!
1) The Noah's Ark Quest by Boyd Morrison:
Do the remains of Noah's Ark really exist? Before he dies, the father of ambitious young architect Dilara Kenner leaves her tantalising clues about the location of the legendary historical artefact - Noah's Ark. The most fabled relic of all time, the search for Noah's Ark has obsessed many over the years. And when Dilara starts her quest - aided by former army engineer Tyler Locke - she rapidly becomes transfixed by the thought of discovering it. But there are sinister forces gathering who have deadly reasons for wanting to be the first ones to get to the relic.
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I finished the following and posted reviews:
“I waited too long, Dan. I’m sorry. If I was the one killed like that, you’d have started the next day. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I’m starting now.”
~Page 123
Title: Blood of My Brother
Author: James LePore
ISBN: 9780981956886
Publisher: The Story Planet/2010
Pages: 313
Blood of My brother is a suspense novel with good thriller elements. It grips the reader right from the start. It has that human element too, which any reader will relate. This novel takes us from Newark, New Jersey to Miami and Mexico. It takes us to places where corruption rules the roost and drug cartels are a way of life.
Jay Cassio and Don Del Colliano have been friends since they were 5-year-olds. It formed under the shadow of racial riots of 1967 in Newark, New Jersey. From that day onwards, they became best of friends. Dan has always been there whenever Jay had needed him. And that too without asking. After Jay's parents die in a plane crash, it is Dan who sticks to him and gets him out of the tragedy.
Jay becomes a successful lawyer and Dan, a private Investigator, not very known at that, yet their friendship deepens and they are more like brothers now. A woman, Kate Powers, Jay is representing, is found dead, with her head cut off, her husband Bryce Powers is suspected of murder, but he too is murdered. Initially it is thought of as a murder-suicide. Dan too is brutally murdered, with marks of torture inflicted on his body, Jay thinks it is a coincidence. He goes around asking questions about his friend's murder and finds that FBI is somehow involved and want him to not to pursue it.
But he can't let it go as his best friend is dead and he wants to know why. He remembers that Dan had mentioned a woman, for whom he had acted as a courier of large amount of money for a good commission. Jay is determined to find that woman, who also seems to related to the Powers' murders somehow. Everyone is looking for her. FBI, Jay, Mexican drug lords. She seems to have disappeared into thin air.
Isabel Perez has nowhere to run, and she wants freedom desperately. She also wishes to kill the powerful men, who disrupted her life completely. For that she has to fight those powers, which no one has dared to fight. Her path gets crossed with Jay and together they know, they have to fight, in which they can either win or die. And both are fully prepared for that. Can Jay take revenge? Can Isabel escape from her past? From her cage? Can they have a future without their pasts? Blood of My brother covers these and gives us more.
Finally, it all about choices. Jay. Isabel. Dan. Not to forget the other characters. They meet, mix, amalgamate and leave the reader wanting more. And we must not forget the bigger issues of corruption, drugs, and using sex as a power. These rot the system. Any system.
For all those lovers of Crime Fiction...I say go for it....Blood of My Brother is well worth it.
I thank the author for my copy. You can also check out my review of
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
ParaJunkee asks: What book(s) have you discovered lately from someone's book blog?
Many crime fiction novels. Too man to name here. For some months now, I am finding all my books from other book blogs!
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!
Literary Blog Hop is hosted by The Blue Bookcase. If you features book reviews of literary fiction, classic literature, and general literary discussion, you too can join in!
This week's question is:
How did you find your way to reading literary fiction and nonfiction?
My mom had a collection of classic literature. She used to read aloud to us although I don't I understood any at a very young age. It was my dad who bought me the abridged edition of most of those classics. I especially remember Gulliver's Travels, Silas Marner, Tom Sawyer and Robin Hood. (I still have those old abridged editions somewhere. Yes, I read Enid Blyton books along with Nancy Drew,and Hardy Boys too. And lot of Mills & Boons and Harlequins. But never stopped reading classics. My brothers used to buy me books all the time. They knew what I owned and what I needed.
In a way, I have always been reading literary fiction and non-fiction. I do read varied genres but my reading is serious most of the times. My parents and my brothers encouraged me right from when I started to read. Now I try to do the same with my nephews and nieces...
She leaned in. "How many men do you know who can move their fingers and push in and out at the same time?"
~Page 201
Title: Pushing Up Daisies
Author: Rosemary Harris
ISBN: 9780312943721
Publisher: St. Martins/2008
Pages: 288
Paula Holliday, a television executive in New York City quits her job and moves to Springfield, CT. She wants to turn her interest in gardening to a career. She gets her chance in the restoration of the gardens of a property left to the Historical society, by Dorothy Peacock. She knows it will either make her or break her.
While digging, she discovers a body of a baby, which seems to be very old. The local authorities, thinking it would bring bad name to the Peacock sisters, drop the case. But Paula can't. She finds too many loose ends to rest.
Then one her helpers is arrested for attempted murder of a old lecher. She knows Hugo is innocent although the local police does not believe her. She has a friend in an aging rocker, babe who owns the greasy diner in that place. There is this mysterious Mexican labourer and more secrets tumble out. The list of suspects include the local congressman, and his gin drinking mother. With more interesting characters thrown in, Paula has a field day unearthing all the town's deeply buried secrets. In the way, she makes a few enemies too. She also solves a 50 year old case.
With varied mix of characters, a good town setting, long buried secrets and of course a past and a recent murder, this cozy mystery is also filled with wit. It has gardening tips too.
The author was kind enough to give me two of her books, that too, when she was in Delhi and had them sent to me.
I read a lot of Crime Fiction and I started the new year by reading Cozy Mystery. So I thought I will go in for those challenges where I don't have to think what to read.
I found this 2011 Cozy Mystery Reading challenge hosted by Debbie's Book Bag and thought why not join it. A cakewalk really!
There are three levels:
Amateur Detective: Read 1-5 Cozy Mystery's
Private-Eye: Read 6-10 Cozy Mystery's
GumShoe: Read 11 or more Cozy Mystery's
Also joining in Cruisin' thru the Cozies Reading Challenge 2011 hosted by Yvonne of Socrates' Book Review.
1. Choose the level you wish to participate:
"So what does all this mean? I have to go through life talking to ghosts now?"
He shrugged. "After that boy, you never mentioned anything else. I thought maybe you are ok."
~Page 237
Title: If Walls Could Talk
Author: Juliet Blackwell
ISBN: 9780451231819
Publisher: Obsidian Mystery/2010
Pages: 316
Melanie Turner is escaping her past and comes to San Fransisco Bay Area to her parents. Her mother passes away and she takes over her father's construction business. And she is well known for remodeling old houses. However, she has plans to get away from all this and go to Paris.
She is helping out one of her friend in renovating one of his house that he plans to sell. after the renovation. And something goes horribly wrong. Matt, her friend had invited his friends to half demolish the house before renovating and it ends up in a murder. No one knows who killed that man, who is the partner of Matt but Mel does not like him. Kenneth dies in her arms and that somehow makes her see him as a ghost. A ghost which is confused, and does not know what happened but wants her help in finding out his killer.
Mel has no lead except for an old box, which contains obsolete papers. Yet there are attacks, directly related to the crime. She knows she has to nail the killer, especially when Matt is arrested for it. Mel has never liked Kenneth, yet she does everything to nab his killer. And she finds dark dealings, which involves almost everyone....
It is a cozy mystery and has a good story line. Mel is very likeable. Although she professes to leave for Paris soon, she has too many entanglements to just let go. I look forward to read more by the author..
Meet Paula Holliday, a transplanted media exec who trades her stilettos for garden clogs when she makes the move from the big city to the suburbs to start a gardening business. Paula can handle deer, slugs, and the occasional human pest---but she's not prepared for the mummified body she finds while restoring the gardens at Halcyon, a local landmark.
