Thursday, August 9, 2012

From the Review Pile (14)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday. The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review. (or any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

Today I am showcasing Blue Collar Eulogies by Michael Meyerhofer, a poetry book.


Blue Collar Eulogies

Synopsis

Blue Collar Eulogies is the second full-length book of poems by Michael Meyerhofer, the award-winning author of Leaving Iowa. Poet Dorianne Laux says, Michael Meyerhofer takes us with him everywhere he goes, from the back rooms of hash-slingers to the Star of Africa. He weighs a whale's brain and imagines the cattle-dark eyes of Neanderthals. I like these poems, kinetic and half-crazed, they remind me that poetry is an explosion, that energy plus mass equals a dark magic.

Paperback: 100 pages

  • Publisher: Steel Toe Books (April 15, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0982416903
  • ISBN-13: 978-0982416907

Booking Through Branching Out

Name a book you love in a genre you normally don’t care for. What made you decide to read it? Did it make you want to try more in that genre?

I loved reading Stolen by Lucy Christopher, a YA novel. It had many rave reviews in the book blogs I visit. So I thought to pick it up. It is about a girl who goes missing. As I teach young girls, I thought why not read it. I have tried a few more YA novels but not much. Maybe if I find interesting stuff, I will go for that.

What genre do you avoid reading and why?

I cannot stand paranormal stuff. The weird creatures and erotic stuff totally put me off.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros

Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea hosts this weekly meme. The idea is that you post the opening paragraph (sometimes maybe a few ) of a book you decided to read based on the opening paragraph (s).

I am posting the opening paragraph of The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry.

Tom Sagan gripped the gun. He'd thought about this moment for the past year, debating the pros and cons, finally deciding that one pro outweighed all cons.

He simply did not want to live any longer.

He'd once been an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, knocking down a solid six figure salary, his marquee by-line generating one front page, above-the-fold story after another. He'd worked all over the world-Sarajevo, Beijing, Johannesburg, Belgrade, and Moscow. But the Middle East became his specialty, a place he came to know intimately, where his reputation had been forged. His confidential files were once filled with hundreds of willing sources, people who knew he'd protect them at all costs. He'd proved that when he spent eleven days in a D.C. jail for failing to reveal his source on a story about a corrupt Pennsylvania congressman.

That man had gone to prison.

Tom had received his third Pulitzer nomination.

There were twenty-one awarded categories. One was for 'distinguished investigative reporting by an individual or team, reported as a single newspaper article or a series.' Winners received a certificate, $10,000, and the ability to add three precious words-Pulitzer Prize winner-to their name.

He won his.

But they took it back.

Which seemed the story of his life.

Everything had been taken back.

Firefly Beach by Meira Pentermann


"Beth was beset by disturbing dreams; rapid firing images flashed before her eyes – a car screeching down a country road, a yellow duck, her father’s face. She awoke with a start. Why am I dreaming about my father after all of these years?”

Title: Firefly Beach
Author: Meira Pentermann
ISBN: 978-0982417089

Publisher: Lyrical Press/2009
Pages: 316

Beth moves into a small town in the coast of Maine. She rents out a house and sets up a deal with the local antique store to sell her paintings. She is preparing for a new start to her life. She needs to escape the demons in her life. And then she meets a "firefly’ who is seemingly is awaiting her arrival.  The Firefly leads her to a diary of a girl Katherine, who was the daughter of her landlord and had disappeared 36 years ago. No one knows what happened to Katherine.

Beth sets about to find the mystery behind Katherine's disappearance.  With a unique plot, a bit of supernatural element and good writing, one gets engrossed in the story. 

Mary and Abigail, are another two characters which are typical ladies from a small community running the only inn in the town. Then there is this jeweller Kenny, who is an enigma. The novel is not as simple as it seems. It has a complicated plot, weird and interesting characters and a firefly which is the thick of things. 

Top Ten Posts On Your Blog That Would Give The BEST Picture of YOU

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the BookishEach week, we get a theme to list our top tens. 

This week's Top Ten pick : Top Ten Posts On Your Blog That Would Give The BEST Picture of YOU

This is NOT as easy as seems. Let's see how I go:

1) musty scent of love : I am a poet. Need I say more?
10) Moi

Monday, August 6, 2012

Monday: Mailbox/What Am I reading?/Musings

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at A Girl and Her Books5 Minutes For Books hosting MM for the month of August.

My mailbox was empty last week. Hope I get a few in the coming week. However, I downloaded a few galleys from Netgalley.

1) Thrall by Natasha Trethewey (poetry)
2) The Reunion by Dan Walsh
3) How to Mend a Broken Heart by Amy Andrews
4) The Rancher's Secret Wife by Brenda Minton
5) Lakeside Family by Lisa Jordan
6) When the Duke Found Love by Isabella Bradford

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila of Book 

I finished reading:

Her Wicked Ways by Darcy Burke
Chasing Rainbow by Victoria Lynne
Secret Vow by Susan R. Hughes
Her Proper Scoundrel by A. M. Westerling
Winter's Heat by Denise Domning

I am in the midst of reading:

Varied Novels!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What attracts you to a book blog? What puts you off in a book blog? Do you share personal stuff on your book blog?

Concise reviews attract me to a book blog. I also tend to gravitate towards blogs with similar genres that I read. 

To much of clutter, glitter and music put me off. I do share personal stuff but not too much. 

Sunday, August 5, 2012

The Sunday Post/Sunday Salon: A mixed 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.

The Week started with a sad note. One of our colleagues died in a road accident, along with her father in law and mother in law. On Monday, all of us got emotional and we visited her place. It was so heart rending looking at her two sons. They were totally lost. It was so devastating for us, more so for her family. The whole school was subdued for the next two days. 

On Thursday, it was Raksha Bandhan, which is a big Hindu festival between brothers and sisters. I visited my brothers with Rakhi and sweets etc. I needed this to get my mind out of that state of shock. Life has to go on....

I did not do much reading in these days, although I got around to that in the next two days. I posted the following on my blog:

Saturday Snapshot: August 04, 2012
Booking Through Picking and Choosing
From The Review Pile (13)
Top Ten Characters I’d Like To Switch Places With ...
Teaser Tuesday: Calico Joe by John Grisham
Monday: Mailbox/What Am I reading?/Musing
Crime Fiction Alphabet: K is for Kari Lee Townsend

I finished the following "Trashy" e-books in July: (Where have the crime fiction novels gone?)

1) California Man by E C Seedy
2) A Regency Holiday by Allison Lane, Alicia Rasley, Lynn Kerstan, Rebecca Hagan Lee
3) A Lesson in Passion by Jennifer Connors
4) Ruthless by Cheryl Douglas
5) Twin Passions by Miriam Minger
6) Salt Bride by Lucinda Brant
7) Wild Irish by Jennifer Saints
8) Defiant Impostor by Miriam Minger
9) Suddenly A Bride by Cynthia Thomason
10) Double Trouble by Deborah Cook
11) The Ninth Step by Barbara Taylor Sissel
12) The Love of a Stranger by Anna Jeffrey



Saturday, August 4, 2012

Saturday Snapshot: August 04, 2012

Rakhi tied to Krishna

Rakhis for my brother, SIL, and nephew
Tying on my nephews' wrist
 Rakshabandhan was on August 2, 2012. It is big festival for Hindus.

Posted for Saturday Snapshot, hosted by Alyce of At Home With books

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Booking Through Picking and Choosing


btt button


Overall, what factor most influences your choice of your next read?

Many a times, it is not I but a particular book decides for me. I stand in front of one of my bookshelves, and wait for a book to call out to me. It can be anything. The genre I have been reading or something entirely different. I have never been disappointed.

What is it that makes you want to read a book by an author you have never read before?

Recommendations from people I know or book bloggers I trust do influence me in reading a new author. But then the genre I like is also a deciding factor. There can never be any hard and fast rule!

From The Review Pile (13)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday. The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review. (or any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I am showcasing The Islands by Carlos Gamerro, which I received from the publicist

Buenos Aires, 1992. Hacker Felipe Felix is summoned to the vertiginous twin towers of magnate Fausto Tamerlan and charged with finding the witnesses to a very public crime. Rejecting the mission is not an option. After a decade spent immersed in drugs and virtual realities, trying to forget the freezing trench in which he passed the Falklands War, Felix is forced to confront the city around him - and realises to his shock that the war never really ended. 

A detective novel, a cyber-thriller, an inner-city road trip and a war memoir, The Islands is a hilarious, devastating and dizzyingly surreal account of a history that remains all too raw.

Paperback: 545
Publisher:  And Other Stories/2012
ISBN-10:  1908276088
ISBN-13:  978-1908276087