(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday

Since it looks like the option of "shake it up-- do Wednesday Morsels some weeks" won out on the poll... Welcome to a (nearly) wordless Wednesday.

THIS ^^ is why I have nearly nothing intelligent to say this week. That my friends is Sagebrush... and until the "pretty" yellow stuff goes away, my sinuses are taking over my brain.

Our Very Own Banned (Utah) Author

Well, almost banned.

Check out Emily Wing Smith's post about her book being challenged in Florida!

Happy Banned Books Week

Yeah, a day late... or two... whatever.

I'm having a terrible time finding a full list. I guess that's only to be expected.

Anyway.

I did find this fabulous list of Challenged Children's Books.

I don't understand banned books. I don't. I will be THE FIRST to admit that there are books (both on and off that list) that I think are inappropriate for my kids, for me, or just plain inappropriate. But that's my opinion. My value system. What right do I have to enforce that for the general public?

I DO, however, have the right and the duty to be aware of what my children are reading-- and to step in if it's something inappropriate. Or to read it with them if it's a book that deals with sensitive or difficult subjects.

And, frankly, some things are simply, universally wrong. Explicit and/or pornographic material should not be where kids can get their hands on it. Period. (Frankly, I think it shouldn't be anywhere for anyone, but whatever. Adults can make their own decisions.) And some of the books on the banned lists are bordering the pornographic.

What boggles the mind, though, is how many seemingly random books are on the list. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing? Seriously?? You've got to be kidding me. Ditto to James and the Giant Peach... and soooooo many others.

I also LOVE how many of them are books I was REQUIRED to read at some point or another! LOL.

Also, couldn't help noticing that on the map of censorship, Utah is in the clear. Somewhat surprising given that this is probably the most conservative state in the country. I am amused.

So, what Banned Books do YOU love?? Me? I love a lot of them.

I Survived my Weekend

No mean feat, I tell you.

**Why am I blogging about this? Well, because my faith (and my "calling" or "job at church") is important to me. And I know that while I share everything I read, I don't often share much else about me.

Yesterday was our ward (congregation) Primary Program. Those of you who are LDS understand what kind of a weekend I had with just those words.

For those of you unfamiliar with this little event, allow me to explain.

Primary is the LDS church's program for children ages 3 to 12 (well, 3-11, I guess is more accurate). It's a great program. It occupies the children's time during the 2 hours of every Sunday meeting when their parents are in grown-up classes. In one hour the children are all together (well, in most wards Jr primary is all together while Sr is in class and vice versa. Jr. primary is ages 3-7 or 8 while Sr is 8-11) and they have Sharing Time and Singing Time and the other hour they go to class (organized by birth year). Sharing Time is usually a lesson given by a member of the Primary Presidency on a topic relating to the monthly theme. This year, all of the monthly themes involve ways to strengthen families.

Then there's Singing Time. As chorister, that's my job. For the first nine months of the calendar year, Singing Time involves teaching the monthly song (which goes along with the monthly theme) so that when fall rolls around the children have learned all the requisite songs for the Primary Program.

This is a fair amount of work. Trust me.

This year songs included "Families Can Be Together Forever", which is a beautiful song and had the added bonus of the kids already knowing it. Also "Baptism" which is a harder song, but wonderfully teaches the story of Christ's baptism by John the Baptist. (If you're curious, you can listen to a bunch of the songs from this year at LDS.org by following the Primary Music link.)

Now, the Program is a fabulous opportunity for the children to present what they've been learning in Sacrament Meeting (the main worship meeting in which everyone meets together).

It is also the most amazingly stressful time of any chorister's life.

Saturday we spent 2 hours (well, I left after 2 hours-- I had play tickets that I'd bought months ago!) going through the program in the chapel. Kind of a dress rehearsal. Which involved boys smacking each other in the middle of songs.... and Boo spinning so that her hair would make a mushroom cloud. Yeah, you guessed it-- not a lot of singing was happening all the time it was supposed to.

Sunday morning was the true test-- and the big payoff. They did a wonderful job. The psycho boys behaved... mostly. Boo stayed in her seat.... mostly. She also forgot her flawlessly memorized part at the last second, but that's alright. That's why an adult is up there with all the parts.

The Sunbeams (children turning 4 this year) were adorable. That's really their only job. They're good at it.

Mister didn't scream about Mommy being too busy to hold him! This was a true triumph, as he could possibly be the clingiest child known to mankind.

It was great. And now it's over. Which is truly great. :D Honestly, this is my 5th one in 5 years, and I tell you, they do not get easier!

(Forgot to add-- my ward right now, over 100 kids in Primary. That's right. 100. yeah.)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to convince Mister to stop eating leftovers out of the garbage. TMI? Sorry. ;)

A Note From An Old Acquaintance by Bill Walker

4 stars
R- 3.5

I think I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I was going to.

I LOVE the cover. It's beautiful.

Brian, I thought, was a really well-written character. Joanna I had some problems with early on... (how could she really stay with a guy as obviously jerky as her fiance?) but I thought later revelations/developments smoothed most of that out pretty well. For the most part.

I thought the setup really worked well. Sometimes a story that goes back and forth between past and present is confusing, but Bill Walker clearly defines which decade we're in and doesn't jump back and forth too many times.

All in all, a good read.

Read another great review from Laura at I'm Booking It. And you can learn more about the book tour at Virtual Book Tours.

Wednesday Morsel-- Reopening the Poll

Not to discount the opinion of the person that's voted, but I'm pretty sure there's more than one person reading this!!

SO, I'm going to reopen the Wednesday Morsel Poll.

Go vote!

Mount TBR

This was a topic during BBAW, but I didn't get it posted then, so I thought I'd do it now! (Plus, I fell asleep yesterday afternoon, and spent the evening playing with my new digital scrapbooking software!! so no reading was accomplished...)

Anyway.

I wasn't about to search out all my TBR books that I actually own because, well, they're all nicely sorted and shelved where they belong. This, then, is the library TBR pile. Or piles, rather.

Yeah, the piano doesn't get played a whole lot.

I think there are 13 books there. (Plus the kids' library books. They don't count, though.) Actually it could be a lot worse. I have been known to have every spot on my card filled (you can have 30 items out). At that point I start using my husband's! AND pretty soon it will be time for Boo to get her own! I think I may be more excited about that than she is.... 10 more hold spots!!

If you'd like to see my uber-scary virtual TBR pile, check out my To-Read shelf on Goodreads!

What does YOUR TBR pile look like??

The Hidden Branch by GG Vandagriff

5 Stars
R- 0

I love these books. You already knew that though.

This came in the mail the other day and even though I had PROMISED myself I wouldn't read anything else before finishing Mormon Scientist AND even though I wasn't at ALL prepped for the TWO Stampin' Up! events I was doing in two days, I read the whole thing right then. That's the hold these books have on me.

It's crazy.

I am so sad to see this series end! By the same token, though, I love the characters too much to see this series ruined.

What do I mean? Well, have you ever read a sequel where you can tell that the author didn't really have anything else to say about the characters, but was pressured into writing more or wanted to ride the wave of success from the previous book? They suck. I'd hate for GG Vandagriff to write another Alex and Briggie story just because fans wanted more.

I do wish it had been about two chapters longer. Maybe she'll write a couple more scenes to put on her website as extras. (Hint hint, nudge nudge.... I'm pretty sure you're reading this...)

:D

Light, fluffy kind of mystery. Briggie and Richard end up in jail (naturally) and Alex ends up in the hospital (naturally) but in the end all is right with the world.

I think I've read the first two at least 3 times each. And numbers 3 and 4 at least twice.

And I'm already thinking about rereading this one..... :D
THE Hidden Branch

Saturday with Boo and Mister-- DVDs

Check out what we found at the library!!!

It's a read-along dvd for the book I Stink!

How awesome is that?

PLUS it has Mike Mulligan on it and a few others. So cool.

And it must be fairly new, because the disc wasn't scratched to within an inch of its life.

Speaking of which-- WHAT IN THE STINKIN' WORLD are people DOING with these discs?!??!?!?!? I mean, seriously.

My husband loves video games, right? But he's got a bunch of sports games for PS2 that came with other things-- and he's just not into them. And they have NO resell value. Like seriously none.

SO (I have a point, I promise) he lets Mister play with them. These things float around with the other toys.... sometimes in cases, most times not. They look pretty darn awful. They're certainly not playable.

AND YET, they look BETTER than half the kids dvds from the library! What the heck?

My theory, people are letting their kids use the discs as pucks for street hockey. It's the only explanation, I tell you. Ri-freakin'-diculous. (That's the whole SSDC thing again, folks. Sorry.)

Okay, stepping off my soapbox.

This is why I miss VHS. They're a lot harder to destroy without actually trying. And more kid friendly. I'll cry when the library stops carrying them.

Dragon's Loyalty Award

The Dragon's Loyalty Award is an award for the loyal fan/commenter, whether the recipient is a fellow blogger or just a someone who follows and comments regularly.

Here are the rules:

* If you have a blog, post it on your blog with a link back to the site who gave it to you.

* Leave them a comment on their site, email, etc. to let them know.

* If you don't have a blog but have a website, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or other type account, post there with a link back.

* Pass this on to 3-10 loyal fans.

Thanks so much to CC Chronicles for this way cool award!! How awesome is that picture?

So I'm passing this on to:

Suey at It's All About Books

Lynn at Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile

Angie at Angieville (Who has the most awesome header.)

and Melissa at One Librarian's Book Reviews

BBAW-- Goals

I am not an overly concise person, so this will likely not be 50 words or less. Sorry. Deal with it.

(Seriously Sleep-Deprived and Cranky today-- that's SSDC for those keeping track.)

I pretty much like where my blog's at, though I hope to increase readership between now and next year. Don't we all. :D
I definitely need to comment more on other blogs. I'm terrible at that. Really really terrible. So that's a goal for sure.

I'm also continuing to suspend the Monthly Possibilities for a couple more months at least. I just can't keep up! I FINALLY have The Actor and the Housewife, but haven't had a chance to open it yet. (I have GOT to finish Mormon Scientist first!!)

I have also given myself permission to miss a day now and then. The world won't end. Readers won't abandon me. At least, I don't think they will. You won't, will you?

There, 122 words. That's not that bad.

Check out my new poll in the sidebar-- can't decide what to do about Wednesday Morsels...

A BBAW Meme

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Are there people who don't? I mean, really. I love flavored Wheat Thins... chocolate... chocolate-covered pretzels... flavor-blast Goldfish... cheese... Really, I just like food.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea ofwriting in books horrify you?
It depends on the book. I mark in the margins of my scriptures... and sometimes in textbooks, but that's about it. I don't see much point in marking up my novels.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?Laying the book flat open?
Um, yes? Actually I never dog-ear if I can help it. It bugs me. It's the only thing my husband ever does, though. For me, it depends on what my kids are getting into to make me put the book down. ;)

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Little bit of both. Mostly fiction

Hard copy or audiobooks?
Hard copy. Audiobooks would have to be either totally child-friendly or listened to with headphones, which limits how much I can hear of what my kids are yelling at each other.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
I vastly prefer to finish a chapter, which drives my husband nuts. He can stop mid-paragraph, I swear.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
Not usually. I can generally figure it out through context.

What are you currently reading?
Just finished Cleopatra's Daughter. Really need to finish Mormon Scientist.

What is the last book you bought?
Oooh. Um... I'm honestly not sure. Bought for myself, right? Silent on the Moor, maybe? Or Trouble with Demons...

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
With a few minor exceptions, I am a one book at a time person. Partly because I read them so quickly I'm not sure where I'd fit in reading more than one at once!

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
Um, all day. :D I usually read on the couch while my kids play or while watching TV...

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
Either way, really. I love series, but I love a lot of stand alones too.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
Oh let's see, maybe Lisa Shearin, Deanna Raybourn and Tasha Alexander? :D Just maybe though. ;)

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
I am so OCD. With the exception of the kids' books, which I can't seem to keep organized for some strange reason, ALL the books in our house are organized first by genre, then by author's last name, then by title or place in series. Not kidding. Our random collection of David Drake books actually have sticky notes on them detailing what series they belong to and where they fall in that series. (Which information was not nearly as easy to gather as you would think.)

Hope you're enjoying BBAW!!

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

5 Stars
R- 3

Loved this book. Devoured it yesterday. I mean, I read about 50 pages before yesterday and over 350 pages of it yesterday. Fabulous.

Selene and her siblings are taken to Rome by Octavian after Cleopatra's death, but their fate is far from certain. Yes, they're given rooms in Octavia's villa (sister of Octavian-- Roman names are a pain), but once the Triumph is over, are they really going to be left alive?

Throw in a traitor stirring up trouble all over Rome, an empty-headed but well-meaning princess, the cruel Livia, and a young man who could pass for Hercules and you've got quite an interesting story.

I LOVED the portrayal of Octavia. Even though Antony left her for Cleopatra, she welcomes their children with open arms and defends them as if they were her own.

Agrippa, though not a hugely prominent character, is also well-portrayed.

Octavian and his wife, Livia, are not terribly likeable people, but hey, I knew that going in. I took Roman History. (True story. It did nothing to further my major, but it was just too interesting to pass up. Yes it was like a 300 level class, yes it was my first semester. I told you, I'm a nerd.)

Selene, our narrator is wonderfully done. You see her grow from childhood to adulthood and she is everything a daughter of Cleopatra should be. (Or Kleopatra, rather. Other than the title, her name is never spelled with a "C" in the book.)

I read The Memoirs of Cleopatra a few years ago and thought Michelle Moran picked up the threads left at the end of the queen's life and wove a beautiful story out of them.

All in all, highly recommended.

(This is a Virtual Book Tour book.)

And The Winner IS.....

(Sorry about not posting this Monday! It's been a weird week!)

Haiku Amy! Who loves Regency England, the American west and whose favorite historical figure is Joseph Smith.

Congrats Amy! Email me your address-- schriftstellarin at hotmail dot com

BBAW Day 2-- Interviews!

It's interview day! This has been so much fun! I was paired with Mary from Just One More Page.

We've had a great email conversation going on for days and days-- here are excerpts for your enjoyment!

So, you have to tell me how you got started... and how you picked a name for your blog. Do you review everything you read, or do you skip books you didn't like? What's been your favorite book this year? -- Britt

Oh, great questions! May I ask the same ones back to you, or would that be cheating? :-b

I started a blog called The Anything Blog back in May 2008 because I was reading others' blogs and thought it might be fun. The Anything Blog, which is about whatever caught my fancy ~ a herd of goats in downtown L.A., banned books, 9/11, The Hollywood Bowl, the new TV series which is now in its second (or is it third) season ~ True Blood, and so on, I haven't really kept up. But after a couple of months of writing that blog, I found that I was blogging a lot about books ~ reviews, commentaries, etc. ~ so I thought maybe I should have one blog for "anything" and another dedicated solely to books and reviews. That's when I started Just One More Page.

The day I started it ~ it was a lovely end of summer day ~ I was reading on the couch next to a window that overlooks a park. I kept glancing out the window and telling myself that I should go outside and take a walk since the weather was so gorgeous and not too hot, but I couldn't seem to put the book down. Instead I kept on reading, turning page after page, telling myself that I'd stop after just one more page and go out. Well, later (after having finished the book without having gone out for that walk), I created the blog, and Just One More Page...Or Two seemed the perfect name for it.

In the beginning, I considered writing reviews for every book I read, but like you I was reading a lot of books, and my job was very demanding at the time, requiring a lot of overtime. So I decided against it. Then I started being contacted by PR people or publishers or even authors to do reviews, and I also reached out to publishers for ARCs to review, such that reviewing began to seem more of a chore than a pleasure for me.

Upshot is, other than a couple of authors with whom I have developed a relationship (and whose novels I love), and the Early Review program on Library Thing, I decided not to accept free books in exchange for reviews in future. Unless the book sounds really really good and it's an author I really really like. Or, if it's unfamiliar, if it sounds really fascinating. Or... Okay, I'm not OCD so much as addicted.

I plan to eventually review all the ARCs I have received (I have 3 left), even the ones I don't care for a lot, but, once I've finished, I'm planning to review only books about which I have strong feelings, either positive or negative, because I usually have a lot of enthusiasm to write a review and can find a lot to say about such books.

My favorite book so far for 2009 is "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara. Two and three in the lineup of favorites are "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman and "Cavalier of the Apocalypse" by Susanne Alleyn, although the non-fiction I'm reading now ~ "Annie's Ghosts" by Steve Luxenberg ~ may just edge out the other runners up and slip into second place.

Whew! That's probably a lot more info than you wanted. Feel free to edit and hopefully make me sound more intelligent. :) (No need, Mary, no need.)

Seriously, I would be interested in your answers to the questions you asked me, especially where your book blog name came from and what your top 3 books are so far for 2009. And what book you are particularly looking forward to reading. -- Mary


I read some blogger interviews today, so I got some new questions! :D
Do you run any memes or features? Is there a book you remember that really got you into reading? What is your review/rating system? Participating in any challenges? Where do you get most of your books-- buy, borrow, library,etc?

Ooh, I thought of one more question-- Do you ever find yourself finishing a book or series you aren't enjoying at all just because you've invested enough that you have to know what happens? -- Britt

Hmm, I better go read some blogger interviews myself. lol

No memes or features ~ yet. I've decided to change things up, so future blog will include some new stuff including memes and will omit some stuff that has been more or less regular. Not finished planning yet, so not going to say more about it.

I've been reading since I was 2 years old (or so...all I really know is that I can remember sitting on the floor of my grandma's kitchen, next to the roaster that was on a rolling cart, and the bottom shelf of the cart was filled with Little Golden Books and other children's books (remember, this is back in the time just after the Earth's crust cooled enough to walk on it, so my memory of specifics is vague), and pulling out book after book and "reading" them. The very first book that impressed me to the point I still remember it vividly was "The Lively Little Rabbit," which was a Little Golden Book. It was about, well, a rabbit, but the character that really got to me was the villain of the piece ~ a weasel. I used to get into bed by taking a running jump in order to avoid the weasel that I was afraid was hiding under it. To this day, I sometimes catch myself wondering if a little weasel paw will come out from beneath my bed to catch my ankle.

I'm not sure I'm organized enough to have a system. When I review books, I take into consideration the depth of the characterizations, if the plot is tight or all over the place, how skilled the storytelling, how polished the writing, how correct the punctuation and grammar (a sore point with me). That kind of thing. I also give points for sheer inventiveness and fascinating subject matter. When I review on my blog, I don't use a rating system. I only rate books on Library Thing, but it's purely subjective. (I've given excellent books a 4 star and mind candy 4.5 stars, just because I enjoyed it more.)

The only challenge I currently participate in is the 100-book Challenge on Library Thing, mostly to have a place to keep track of them. I'm up to 73 books, will be 75 in a day or two. I decided not to do any other challenges this year because I wanted to take it easy.

I borrow most of my books from the library and have done for many years now, at first because, as a single mom, I couldn't afford to buy them, and now mostly because I live in a tiny apartment and have room for only one small bookshelf plus I'm paying $75/month for a storage unit to keep the bulk of my library. Also, I am planning to move in a couple of years and don't want to have to shlepp a lot of additional books with me to wherever I settle. The number of boxes of books I already have would fill a small moving van. One other reason, which is perhaps the strangest of all, is because I tend not to read the books I buy, instead reading borrowed books "first" and "saving" the ones I own for when I don't have anything else to read. Which, the way I borrow books, will be never.

As to your last question: I used to finish every book and every series I started, whether I was enjoying them or not. Now, being older and much more aware of the comparable brevity of time left me, I no longer force myself to read stuff that doesn't give me extreme pleasure (unless I'm doing it for a promised review, of course). My feeling is, there are so many great books to read and only so much time left to read them, I don't want to waste a minute on anything that isn't wonderful. -- Mary

I have to say, I really enjoyed this. And I am so the same way about borrowing books. Library books have a DUE DATE so I HAVE to read them! The books I own are always here!! And I really need to adopt Mary's view on books that aren't wonderful. Too many books, too little time... :D

For more of our conversation, hop over to Mary's blog for her side of the interview!!

Happy BBAW

Happy BBAW!!

(That would be Book Blogger Appreciation Week.)

Today's blog theme is blogs you love that didn't win awards this year. To check out who DID win this year (awesome blogs) check out the BBAW Awards page.

So-- first off, awesome author blogs:
Brodi Ashton-- Brodi's not published YET, but I count her as an author. And her blog is hysterical. (AND I met her at our Utah Book Bloggers shindig.)
Deanna Raybourn-- Love her books, love her blog.
Lisa Shearin-- You know I love her books; have you checked out her blog? GREAT information on writing and the publishing industry.

Awesome book blogs:
Bookscoops-- I've said it before, I'll say it again, LOVE the ladies of Bookscoops! Check out their awesome Doublescoops-- they crack me up!
Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile-- As a mom, I LOVE this site. So many awesome kid books!!
I'm Booking It-- excellent reviews, wide variety, LOVE it!
Book Bird Dog-- great source for mysteries and international books!
Ink and Paper-- Features Belle's Library every week, along with lots of great reviews!
It's All About Books-- Suey makes me smile-- always always!
One Librarian's Book Reviews-- Awesome reviews, and she notes the books mrg factor (mature romantic garbage) which I always like to know!

I hate compiling these lists, because I'm sure I missed somebody. If I missed you-- SORRY!!! I didn't mean to, I promise. (It's lack of sleep, I tell you.)

Saturday with Mister

Yup, just Mister. Boo's out of town with Grandma and Grandpa. (It's been a weird week for Mister and I.)

So, I've got a cute pic of our little "reading nook" for you. Mister tends to want to pull a ton of books off the shelf at once, so it's usually a mess.

At least, I'm trying to give you a cute pic. Picassa hates me today...

How about a picture of Mister in the hat he's adopted (Boo having outgrown it).

Yes, it's pink. With Tinkerbell on the flower to the left there. Mommy should really find him a less-pink hat.

Here we go. Picasa is slowly but surely sort of cooperating.

And one more since you were so patient...

There. He's cute. He's also well aware of that fact. :D

Hmm. I'm only posting 4 1/2 hours late today... ;)

A Moment of Silence-- A Book About Hope

September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right

Hidden Branch, A Pre-Review

(Yes, I am aware that "pre-review" is not a word and is inherently contradictory.)

I canNOT WAIT to get this book in my hot little hands!!!!!! I will devour it, I tell you. I want it, and I want it now. It's not here yet, though. Sigh.

GG Vandagriff's novel of mystery, romance, and comedy, The Hidden Branch, will be released on or before September 16th. Taking place in Huntington Beach, CA, it is the fifth in the Alex and Briggie Mystery Series.

(See http://ggvandagriff.com/ for more info)

From GG--

-Anyone who buys the book on line or in the store before September 17th can qualify for an Alex and Briggie gift package and a chance to win an autographed set of the entire series by doing the following:
e-mail me your name and address through the above website
tell me where you bought the book

How cool is that?!?! A special gift package!

So, go forth and respond to the call!

(Just a little excitement here.... just a little....)

:D

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson

3 stars
R- 2 maybe... the innuendo is fairly subtle

Cute enough story, but there's really not a lot to it. Not a ton of plot, not a ton of character development. Lots of birds, though.

I've heard a lot of comparisons to The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, and I would agree. It has the same kind of slow meandering storyline.

The narrative style is fun and chatty, though the narrator takes several random detours. (Which sometimes amounted to the narrator tacitly agreeing that what the characters were doing wasn't all that interesting.)

Mr. Malik is an almost well-developed character. His competitor (for the right to ask a lady to a ball) is not quite as developed. The lady? Not developed much at all.

All in all, it's a short, quick cute story. I would never have picked it up if it weren't a Reader's Choice, but it wasn't bad.

It would make a good relaxing read for this crazy back-to-school season!

Wednesday Morsel-- Special GIVEAWAY Edition

"You should go to her."

I looked up the stairs to the second story, where my mother was sitting on a carved wooden couch. Her silk dress fluttered in the warm breeze, and she was staring out at the sea. "She'll be angry."

"She's never angry at you. You're her little moon."

While Alexander Helios had been named for the sun, I had been named for the moon. Although she always said her little moon could never do anything wrong, I hesitated.

"You can't let her sit there alone, Selene. She's afraid."

-- Page 9 (uncorrected proof) of Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran

What an interesting perspective on the final days of Cleopatra. And then the story goes on to follow the life of Cleopatra Selene-- one of the twins born to Antony and Cleopatra.

AND in conjunction with the debut of this novel, Michelle Moran is graciously offering a copy for a GIVEAWAY!!!

US only please.

SO-- leave a comment telling me your favorite era of history or your favorite historical figure!

Contest will close Saturday night (the 12th) at 11:59 pm. I'll announce the winner on Monday!
(Also, watch for the full review next week, along with a bunch of fun BBAW posts!)

Dead Run by PJ Tracy

5 stars
R- 2 maybe

It's a whole new ball game.

And I don't just mean for the characters.

While the first two Monkeewrench books were more or less your standard "whodunnit" murder mysteries, this one is not. Not at all.

Dead Run is an action/thriller. And it's definitely the most intense of the three I've read so far.

And while it's not quite as funny as Live Bait was, it's got some great laugh out loud moments!

The Monkeewrench crew is more present in this one then they were in Live Bait, and Halloran and Sharon return also. Magozzi is present, of course, but Dead Run isn't as much about him as Live Bait was.

All in all, it was really good and I'm really enjoying these as a series, though each book could also stand alone reasonably well.

I'm looking forward to reading the next one-- Snow Blind-- and according to Amazon the 5th book is set to come out next summer.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

3 stars
R- 3.5 (Note there are some rather disturbing situations)

I'm not really sure what to say about this book. I'm feeling ambivalent.

I've checked this book out without getting it read more times than I care to admit to, and I think part of it is that I was nervous about the hype. Was it really going to be as good as I wanted it to be? Always a tricky thing.

Did I like it? Well... yes... for the most part. I think.

Here's my problem-- there was too much going on. I mean, really, you've got like 3 almost completely unrelated plotlines. Now I can deal with multiple plotlines, but this just felt like it should have been a couple of books.

And I am not at all thrilled with the ending. Too many things just feel like they're left hanging. Not in a "oooh, let's read the next book in the series" way but in a "oops, did the author forget about that" way. At least that's how it feels. To me.

Plus, I have issues with casual sex relationships. They do not jive with my personal beliefs. Now don't get me wrong, I don't expect characters to live by my beliefs, but the ending left a bad taste in my mouth this way. Not only did it kill whatever attempt at a love story the book had, but... I don't know. It just didn't sit well with me. And since that's the last taste you have of a book... well, you can see my ambivalence.

Or I'm not making any sense at all, which is also completely possible. :D

All in all, it was an interesting story, and reading the next one might alter my opinion a bit.

But I'm hold number 149... so it'll be a while.

The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton

5 stars
nonfiction

This is an absolutely enchanting story of a woman who falls in love with a state... and ends up raising a coyote.

Random, yes.

But it is a wonderful story and I really enjoyed it.

My only complaint-- I wanted more pictures!! This whole idea started as a daily email she sent out with a picture of Charlie, and yet I didn't think there were nearly enough pictures in the book!

You can see lots of pictures, though, at the Daily Coyote blog. Charlie's so cute!

What I found amazing-- Shreve Stockton actually finally had to REMOVE the comment section on the blog because people were being rude, judgemental and FIGHTING! Is that not ridiculous? The idea that people found something to be mean about looking at these adorable pictures is beyond me! The internet seriously makes people go crazy. (Random tidbit, Blogger's spellcheck doesn't like the word "internet" or "Blogger's". There's a certain irony there.)

Anyway, I usually have a harder time getting through the nonfiction Reader's Choice books... and sometimes I skip them entirely. This was a great read, though, and it went really fast.

Live Bait by PJ Tracy

5 stars
R- 2

The sequel, more or less, to Monkeewrench doesn't really feature the Monkeewrench crew. I mean, sure, they're in there... briefly... but it's really more of a Magozzi and co. story.

Since I really liked Magozzi in the first book, that was fine with me!

This one is FUNNY! Funnier than Monkeewrench. Like laugh-out-loud, kids-looking-at-you-like-you've-lost-it funny. Though, honestly, I think my kids are fairly used to Mommy spontaneously laughing for no apparent reason.

AND, there are no potential alibi issues in this one. It works. Which makes me happy.

Old people are dropping like flies, and after four months of no homicides, Magozzi is regretting wishing for some action. First they get two in one night. Then another the next day... then another. What's going on? Who's got a vendetta against old people? That's just wrong!

But as the truth is slowly unfurled, the detectives realize that nothing is quite what it seems.

Really great read. Kind of a creepy concept, but hey, it's a murder mystery, right?

And the title does make sense, I promise. You just might have to read the whole book before it completely does. :D

Wednesday Morsel-- Live Bait

Magozzi hefted a suspicious-looking, dark orange brick of cheese. "Twelve-year cheddar? Is that legal?"

Gino grinned. "That stuff'll make you week with joy, I promise. Got it at a great little cheese house in Door County. Somebody forgot about a wheel in the cellar and found it twelve years later, covered in about a foot of mold. Nirvana, my friend. Pure nirvana. It's amazing what a cow and some bacteria can do."

Magozzi sniffed it and cringed. "Oh yeah. Every time I see a cow I think, Hey, wouldn't it be great to get some bacteria and really do something with this thing. Why do you have a file folder in the cooler?"

"It's a cold case."

"Very funny."

*From Live Bait (by PJ Tracy) chapter 2. I laughed out loud through this whole chapter! Review up tomorrow!

August in Review

13 books in August. That's not too bad for a summer month, right?

4 mysteries, 3 yf type fantasy, 1 Virtual Book Tour, 1 book not finished, 1 urban fantasy, 3 historical/mystery/romance (all Deanna Raybourns... I read all three in like a day and a half), a couple of thrillers... a couple of Reader's Choice.

Not too shabby. Only 19 Reader's Choice to go... hmm. Maybe I should start really reading those.

No book club books finished this month... I'm still slowly plodding through the July/August book. It's good, it's just feeling hard to commit to.

No monthly possibilities either. They're still on hold. Through the end of eternity apparently.

Finished the Summer Reading stuff-- picked out our prize books on Saturday.
Boo got The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, yea!
Mister got a Diego book with "e'pants" in it, so he's happy.

The adult choices were a bit slim. Several romances... no thanks. A couple of Patricia Cornwells... nah, I stopped reading hers a while ago. Too creepy and the characters are just not overly likeable people. Totally just my opinion, though.


I ended up with one called Dark Horse by Tami Hoag. Anybody heard of it? Hopefully it's good. We'll see. The problem with books I own is that they don't have a due date... so we'll see when I actually get around to reading it!

Dark Horse is a popular title. You put it in on Amazon and come up with all sorts of things.

That's not the cover I have, though. I have the hardback. That's the mass market paperback.

Which sparks an interesting question-- do you prefer paperback or hardback?

I'll buy either if the price is right, but when it comes right down to it-- I like paperbacks. They're easier to deal with. They aren't as heavy if I want to shove the book in my massive purse. They're easier to hold up if I'm reading in the tub.

How about you?