Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers – Charles W. Eliot.
In Light Lifting, Alexander MacLeod offers a suite of darkly urban and unflinching elegies for an industrial city and community on the brink. These are stories of work and its bonds, of tragedy and tragedy barely averted, but also of love and beauty and fragile understanding. – Publishers Website
What a refreshing book of short stories. At first I was unsure of what I would find inside, but as I started reading the first page, I knew it was a winner. The evocative writing especially in one of the stories, had me just a tad paranoid about one creature, that if you read the book you will know what I am talking about. Yes, I won’t mention it, because really, it is every parents nightmare receiving a phone call home about your child being infested with these creatures. Yes, those!
His stories in this edition, evoke every imaginable feeling as you read about the creatures, certain sports as if you are there watching or even being right beside in the throes of competition attempting to win the race, or the train. I really loved his narrative style and prose. I am anxiously awaiting his next work.
Light Lifting was short listed for the 2010 Giller Prize.
Nick my darling son posed a quite interesting question when he received this book – “Mom, How would you go about reviewing an atlas?” It is after all one of his favorite books in all of the ones he has received so far to review.
He is one of those kids who likes non-fiction, he especially enjoys history – wars, battles, and all of that stuff. This book will be worn out for sure.
This atlas is unique. Not only does it list all of the places in the world, the pictures, diagrams and text and captions are all up to date to even include even new countries or changes in their names.
The key to maps is that they are easy to navigate, to understand, compare geographical locations, and time zones.
In a section entitled “Countries of the World it gives you that little snippet of information about that particular country such as:
Languages spoken
Population
Formation
Capital
Total Area (bonus question – guess which country is just slightly larger than Canada ?)
Religions
Ethnic Mix
Government
Currency
Calorie consumption
The index itself could even be a whole other book. The back inside cover also includes flags of the world which are also updated.
Did you happen to know that the earth is actually shrinking?
David is returning to Israel. He just received word that his father was attacked in his shoe store where he makes custom shoes as well as repairs, has died. When he returns to the country he has known for most of his life, given up his citizenship for because of bad memories and experiences.
There is a catch with his fathers will.
David doesn’t want to be in Israel for many reasons. Strange things start to happen once he arrives, his bad nightmares return with force. The history of the country he gave up on, his experiences in the Army, his father’s experiences throughout his life.
In his father’s will, there is a stipulation that David must produce a play that his father wrote which could turn violent, while dredging up a lot of the past that he has tried so hard to forget – as well as the people of his country have suffered, and of course the real reason why he is there.
I really enjoyed this novel. In a place where so much has happened, so much conflict in the past as well as the present between the Israelites, The Jews, and the Arabs.
Avner incorporates the grim reality of living in the area, some laughter, personal reflections into a gripping suspenseful novel that will have you turning each page and devouring every word.
In This Cake is For The Party, Sarah delves into the lives of young people in their 20′s and 30′s, giving a glimpse into their lives, longing, what they want out of life, what they are experiencing. The little glimpses of what their friendships are all about, how they change, how they are carving out that niche they want or have ideas about.
I have thought about when I was that age, and one thing came to mind – how things have changed.
This Cake for the Party, or at least the title for the book is actually a short story in itself, but wasn’t included in this compilation of short stories.
Even more interesting, some of the characters have been used in previous short stories. So, if you want to read this collection, make sure you read the previous stories, it will give you a more rounded insight of some of the characters.
I can say it was an all right collection of short stories. I wasn’t immersed as much as I would with other short story collections that I have read, but it wasn’t terrible either. It is one of those cases of I kind of liked it, but I wasn’t completely overjoyed about it that I would scream it from the rooftops saying you absolutely must read this book.
As you can see my darling son has a serious game obsession !
I am doing all of these books in one post, because a lot of the same strategies are in all of the games you see in the stores and online.
Have you ever wanted to get ahead in one of those games you are playing? Is there something that you are stuck on and need a hint or trick to get you through to the next level?
Brady Games Guides has you covered. With the full colour illustrations and photographs, the graphs, as well as possible tricks, cheats, and cool things that you may not have gotten have you not gotten one of these game guides will make it all worth while.
Some of the books do include spoilers, but be assured, your game playing will never be the same. From start to finish, the books contain everything you need to know about the game – controls, features, levels, campaigns, weapons, and even multiplayer modes that will have you glued to the game more than before…Is that even possible?
The full colour photographs taken directly from the games themselves are just awesome in my son’s humble opinion. Right now he is glued to the UFC Undisputed 2010 looking inside the guide for tips and tricks that are new from the previous version of UFC 2009.
The guides themselves are most of the time for all games for instance Modern Warfare 2 covers Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the computer game, the reflex edition of Modern Warfare on ly covers the Wii edition, or just separate game consoles, so be careful when selecting a guide.
Brady Games also has a website where you can download certain e-guides, secret codes, and added extras for the serious gamer in your family.
I have to say, what a GREAT BOOK! Not just because most of my post high school education was in the form of Nursing School and the Sciences, this is a great book for anyone who is an old pro at knowing about the human body, or just beginning to wondering what it is all about.
This is the definitive visual guide to all things inside. The anatomy, physiology, development and some disorders. From computer generated illustrations along with the latest medical and microscopic imaging explain every aspect of the human body more clearly than ever before.
The Integrated Body – Overview of the body and what makes us unique – evolutionary and genetic makeup
Anatomy Atlas – Starting from the head working down to the toes on your feet, every part is examined in intimate detail using state of the art 3-d illustrations and scans.
How the Body Works - After structure, comes function right? Organized by system – skin, hair, nails, everything you need to know about everything using illustrations and clear understandable text.
Life Cycle – We go through various stages of growth and development as well as change during our lives. Using charts from birth right through to death.
Diseases and Disorders – We are vulnerable to disease malfunctions and infections. This part includes over 200 of the most common.
As well, there is an interactive DVD that is included as part of the book.
Like I said I absolutely love this book. My son has been studying some science this past term, so it is a great resource for him. He has been referring to it quite a bit.
Across the globe, there are hundreds of beautiful and unusual works of art that are largely unseen or fail to receive the critical acclaim they deserve.
Why, You ask?
From Peru to Papua New Guinea, this book uncovers neglected wonders in obscure corners of the world, or shut away in either private collections, museums store rooms, or just plain inaccessible because of where they are located – rock falls, shifts in trade routes, or just to avoid destruction of for use in the afterlife.
Many are hidden by changes in taste, marginalized because they don’t fit into the already established norms of art, demands of conservation. Many are still waiting to be re-discovered for the first time.
The author brings you into this part of the world throughout the amazing photography, alone with a detailed back stories about each work of art, the controversies behind the pieces that are unfamiliar to most to gain a fresh perspective.
I think this would be a great idea to plan a trip to see some of the more accessible pieces as part of a holiday or even as a holiday to see the pieces among the cities and places that take advantage of the art as they walk by on a street, or just fail to see the beauty.
Decorate the Christmas Tree with homemade gingerbread men, craft a simple wreath from fallen leaves, make gift labels and cards from vintage fabrics, or design a stocking, bake festive breads and use to fill gift baskets with and all with locally outsourced organic food.
Escape the modern-day commercialized Christmas and enjoy a simpler, more home spun way of celebrating.
I received this book and was looking forward to it to get some mew ideas on what I could do.
Right now, I am a bit divided on the book. The whole idea of getting away from the more commercialized parts of Christmas appealed to me. A lot of the activities you may have to plan ahead of time to be able to complete for example the leaf wreath, some of the activities are more for the younger children.
There are some good ideas as well as recipes in the back of the book. One thing I didn’t like about the book was suggesting that you re using old bottles and containers that could be possibly hard to find than just buying them.
The recipes are great, from the Vanilla cookies to the Honey Roast Ham to jams and jellies you can use in gift baskets are really great ideas – planning ahead is a big theme in this book like I mentioned before.
I may use one or two ideas out of the whole book this year to see how they work out.
There are also a huge list of websites not only from the US but Canada as well to help you reuse and recycle, or just for more ideas.
Morris Shutt is a syndicated newspaper columnist to many newspapers around the country. His wife is a Psychiatrist who is in practice. They also have three grown children – one is married, he also has a grandchild.
Everything in his life is as it seems – ordinary, peaceful, happy times. He works at his office, he answers letters from his readers, he writes his columns. Just everyday normal stuff.
Then that is, on one of these perfectly normal days that the bottom drops out of everything he has lived for. His son who has recently joined the army and stationed in Iraq is killed.
Morris’ column suffers tremendously as a result and is asked to take a sabbatical of sorts. He starts to lay blame with the politicians, and anyone else he can conjure up. To say the least, this is the beginning of his bottom – going from somewhat famous to somewhat psychotic.
Then his marriage falls apart. He leaves and buys a condominium and decides that one day he is going to cash in all of his investments – buy a safe – and store the money in the safe in his home.
In this very revealing introspective, Morris attempts to examine his life in different, diffused ways. He slowly bares all of his soul, how he was raised, his father being a pastor in the Mennonite faith. How his ideals have changed over time, the mistakes he’s made. He bears the responsibility of his son’s death in Iraq. Did I mention he also stashed $10,000 of cash pasted up behind his fridge..
But once he realizes that at an estate sale of a former professor he had in college; where he buys all of the philosophy books he can carry – Plato and Cicero, that for him these calm him in a strange sense. It helps him come to terms that it really wasn’t his fault his son joined the army, it was because his son really wanted to be there.
He realizes the most important part of all – Nothing is really as it seems to him. Even the craziness that he thinks his life has become.
This book was a finalist for the Giller Prize of 2010.
First of all an apology to all that come and frequent the good old blog, I have been away for a bit, but back once again with all sorts of books to keep you entertained over the holiday season, which I shall be posting as soon as I can, so keep checking in I am sure that there will be something for everyone.
I recently had a health scare that needed to be taken care of. If you have me on Facebook, you have heard about my woes and have waited patiently for a neurosurgery consultation, which I just had and the news is good…NO surgery for now. But, still work to be done, that will get started in the new year.
I think in the past month I have read close to 20 books. Some good and some I just couldn’t finish, the premises sounded great, but maybe it was that old being in a reading funk or my mind wasn’t into what I had chosen off my shelves at the time, but I did finish some really fantastic novels as well as some great short story collections that have recently been nominated throughout Canada and elsewhere. Some were just plain fun, that I have wanted to read for ages, but with my reading schedule, something had to break, so I indulged….and indulged I did.
First of all, I read Angelina the unauthorized biography of Angelina Jolie by Andrew Morton. From the sounds of it, she had a very tumultuous life so far, filled with strife and hopefully she is happier now. If you are a fan of these sorts of books, I would recommend it, possibly just to see how the other half live, or how she does.
My all time favorite author Nora Roberts (I know she is a favorite of yours too) I finally hunkered down and read all four books in the Bride Quartet. I can say that she hasn’t lost any of her talent, she keeps getting better and better, albeit, even if it is chick lit, a bit of escapism is good at times of stress right?
Lisa Black has come out with her third book – Trail of Blood. I read this and was impressed more with this one then her second book - Evidence of Murder. I liked this one more than her second and liked it just as much if not more than her first book – Takeover.
I have received many books, far more than I can possibly read and review for the end of the year. I have made the decision that I don’t want to accept any more review copies (unless they jump right out at me and scream READ ME) until I have finished all of the commitments I already have. Yeah, like that is going to stop me !
I also have to get my Best Books of 2010 whittled down to 10 from 25 books. That will be happening hopefully on the weekend, among other reviews I have to get posted.
Nick my amazing son also has a few reviews up his sleeve as well, so get ready for those. He really does has a few gems that were sent to him from the amazing people at DK Books here in Canada – Thank You Chris !! Phenomenal as always and you spoil us so much.
I have been also on a sewing rampage – from Reading Pillows to a nifty fleece coat I made for myself, there have been many, many late nights sitting in front of the sewing machine…not to mention thread all over the floor !
So, a busy few weeks ahead ! Enjoy, and keep checking in.
From Deryn impersonating a boy to realize her dream to be a mid-shipman, she/he are in for the ride / adventure of their lives.
Alek, as well is keeping a few secrets, mainly who he really is, but you will learn more about Alek, along with a few more characters amongst all of the other ” Bum Rags” that Deryn and Alek encounter on their fast paced adventures.
As with Leviathan, Scott has gone gangbusters with non stop action and adventure into this alternative historical account of a world that could very well resemble different places around the world. He does explain in more detail at the end of this book.
The fast paced action/ adventure/ thriller of this whole other world will have you laughing out loud at the things that Deryn says or waiting ever so patiently (right) for what will happen next. The detail, along with the fantastic art work done by Keith Thompson will have you entrenched until the last page is read and you want to know what happens in the third and final book of the series.
For all of the young readers eagerly anticipating this book, they certainly will not be disappointed…the adults won’t be disappointed either.
I cannot wait for the third and final installment. I wish I could get my hands on it now, instead of sometime NEXT YEAR!
Edie works for a small publishing house in London. After breaking up with her boyfriend and needing a new place to move into, for the meantime, her partner at work offers her his sofa until she can find a better option.
As she is at her parents house for those obligatory sunday dinners, she doesn;t tell her parents right away that she has broken up with her boyfriend and needs a new apartment. Her mother receives a letter that was lost long ago from 1941, when she was sent to the countryside as the war started.
Meredith was staying at Milderhurst Castle, home of the author of “Mud Men” and his three daughters. Edie loved the book as a child, who has had a long time obsession with the book. As she is driving back from a meeting, she comes across Milderhurst Castle on her way back to London. Memories come back to her as she sees the gates.
As present day gives way to the past, Edie makes her way to the castle, although, not in its former glory for a tour. She has no idea what secrets are inside, the suffering all of them who live at the castle have gone through. But as she is going through the castle itself, she can hear voices, conversations from long ago, although, the sisters now quite old say it is part of the castle, the history, all of it.
There are secrets that are about to merge the past with the present, and possibly finally laid to rest.
This is where Edie unravels her Mother’s past – her passion for writing, the things she once adored, now a distant memory, her life taken another path.
The truth lies in the distant hours, some by circumstance, haunted by memories will have you enthralled from the beginning right through to the end.
Catherine, A young woman who lives on a farm in Wales has had a prized childhood. Being able to roam free racing ponies with her best friend and neighbour Deio, who is a cattle drover (cattle driver).
All of this changes when her parents forbid her to hang around Deio, citing it is some sort of impropriety. She longs to leave and make her own mark on the world as she chooses.
When her mother dies in childbirth, the urge to leave is even moreso, she runs away disguised as a drover with Deio’s help on one of his trips to London.
When she arrives in London, a unfamiliar city, so large and busy, she lands a position in Florence Nightingale’s home for sick governesses.
As the country is gripping with the Crimean War, Catherine is determined to go and learn the skills to become a doctor or nurse.
Her life changes in an instant. She is thrown into a living, breathing nightmare beyond all comprehension.
She has to grow up faster than she has ever imagined. She not only learns about love, but the cruelty of war, as well as how far it will take you.
I loved the novel, I started it and finished it in about 24 hours time.
I have one difficulty with the book. With my background in Nursing and knowing all about Florence Nightingale, what she did during this war, what she has done for nurses, I had a slight disagreement with how she was portrayed as an administrator, and not a hands on Nurse that revolutionized the care of patients then and now.
Knowing this, I guess let me down a bit. I realize that Julia had some editorial discretion in how she was portrayed, but then again it is Women’s Fiction.
Julia is a favorite author of mine, and I have read another of her books – East of the Sun last year. I am looking forward to more of her future novels.
Once, a radical feminist uprising that was started in the 1990′s, being difficult as it was to be a woman, much less voicing your opinion about equal rights was almost unheard of.
Then came the Riot Grrrls.
Girls and young women were upset, not having patience about was happening with their voices weren’t being heard. A few girls from Seattle started an underground movement, that once it started hit the musical waves, it became to be noticed and listened to.
With the start of grunge bands such as Bikini Kill not to mention many others, helped make the movement mainstream.
Throughout the US, Canada and then Europe and beyond with their music, their homemade zines, the local chapters and most importantly through personal introspection of every one that joined, it grew.
Even today, as they started the movement, it still goes on, with women’s movements, groups and just a few women sitting down after a long day at work or tending to everyday life, they are learning to stand up for what they believe in, which at one time was easier than it sounded.
These no holes barred women are the ones that brought women’s rights and the right to be heard to the forefront. So that if a woman needed to be heard, it is easier now then it once was and for future young women.
Sure, there was problems along the way, but they brought feminism back to the main stage so to speak.
Not only is it a story about finding your own place in the world, but being not afraid to show it.
George and Sabine Harwood moved to Trinidad from London, England shortly after they were married. As soon as they came to the island, George has been in a love affair with it. Between the heat and humidity amongst other things, there has been one love for Sabine that keeps her there – Eric Williams. In the beginning, she used to write letters to him, but never sent them. They lay in boxes up in the attic until George comes across them while researching facts for an article he is writing for the local newspaper.
He is furious, but George has his own skeletons in the closet himself.
Between the moment they arrive on the island to the present with George helping a native man with his own problems with the corrupt police department. George’s secrets that he is keeping from Sabine over the decades they have been there have haunted him.
He realizes that he must tell Sabine (he doesn’t know she knows all about them already) about all of his indiscretions, before something else happens. He needs to be able to tell her about the undying love that he has for her since the time he married her and put up with him.
From George finding Sabines letters in the attic one night to the violence and desperation of a country which is in turmoil, can he do it and find some sort of peace before it is too late?
As both of their stories are told, you can tell they do love one another and will continue to do so. It is about the jealousies that both have for each others secrets, things they should have done and said to one another throughout their marriage. Not only to each other but to their friends and family.
Vanishing and Other Stories is a set of short stories where some vanishing does occur, and in others her pure depth and feeling of the characters whether they are missing lovers, never met before, parents or children.
I look at this book and think about all of the characters as if they are someone I know I have met once or twice.
In the 14 stories presented in this book, there isn’t just one particular story that is a favorite, they are all favorites.
The complexity of characters, their dilemmas, joys and failures are all relevant. They are the stories that anyone can relate to, or may not have experienced, but gain some sort of lesson or information about it.
It is as if you are in the same room with them as the story progresses.
Sure, short stories are not as long as a regular novel, if Deborah can write short stories like this, I will be looking forward to seeing some longer pieces of work in the future, such as a full length novel.
If you are a fan of the gothic – horror genres, get ready !
The Bitternest Chronicles is set in Bitternest, a foggy city in Louisiana – Unusual things including the fog are anything but ordinary.
Combining five previously published short stories, and two brand new novellas that will have you turning page by page, taking hold of you until it is ready to let you go from the beginning.
The writing itself is addictive, it will grab hold of you until the story is finished. You will feel the fog envelope you and take you away. The scenes are appropriate to modern and past times, but will pull you in whatever Alan has dreamed up. Pixie Dust Press
Mina is happy with her life, working as a teacher of manners, betrothed to her fiancée, making plans to be married in the near future even when she thought she would be a spinster considering her meager upbringing until she moved to where she now works in London for a finishing school for girls.
Lately, she’s been having these really vivid sexual dreams that seem as real as the life she is living. She has no idea as to who the man is in her dreams, it certainly isn’t her fiancée.
He is the count we all know as Dracula.
As her fiance is out-of-town researching, he becomes ill with some kind of delirium where he has the same kind of vivid dreams as his fiancée. His involves three women from a strange place. When he recounts his interaction with these women from his hospital bed, the doctors think he is a bit mad.
This book is the opposite of the original Dracula, based on the women’s perspective. I have to admit, while intrigued, this really wasn’t my cup of tea, and I did not finish it.
If you have read Dracula and liked it, you will like Karen’s interpretation from the woman’s point of view.
In the middle of WWI, a Northwest Mounted Police Officer Jack Creed and his Inuit interpreter are sent out on a journey to go as far up north, near the shores of the Arctic Ocean to search for 2 Catholic Priests that have disappeared in the remote Arctic region known as Coppermine.
As they get closer to Coppermine, they start to hear stories & rumours about the priests – One who believes very much in his mission, and the second one who has an angry temper that may have gotten them both into trouble.
Possibly even more than they bargained for…
As they travel, it isn’t only the Priests who have secrets. Why is it Jack has taken this particular assignment immediately after finishing one? The Inuit interpreter also has a few secrets as well.
On top of it all this, is the brutal, dangerous, frigid expanse of the Arctic to tend with.
The fight for survival has never been so desperate to overcome.
I loved this novel, it is written as if you are standing right next to the characters in the book whether they are in the courtroom, on the frigid expanse of the Arctic, or snuggling together in a makeshift igloo to keep the cold at bay, trying to survive.
Will all of the characters get what they are looking for or are attempting to avoid?
This book will be great for men and women, there is a little bit of everything. It is also based on real events.
Lilly of the Valley – Delivers life force, can replace digitalis as a medication for an ailing heart
Chicory – Plant of Freedom
Datura – Plant of mind travel and high adventures
10th Plant – has no name, but you will find out inside the book
Lila works in publicity bouncing back from a divorce. She lives in a plain apartment, where she is recommended a Bird of Paradise plant from on of the vendors in her New York neighbourhood market.
This is where it really becomes interesting.
The man she buys the plant from, shows her a life outside people and places – plants.
She then comes across a laundromat that looks more like a garden filled with lush and vibrant plants, even grass on the floor. It is filled with tropical and rare plants. The owner of this place is just as quirky as his laundromat that is smack dab in the middle of the city.
He gives her a clipping of a plant that is in the window and tells her if she can get it to root, he will show her the rest of the plants he has locked away in the back of his storefront.
The legend of the nine plants supposedly brings the owner fame, fortune, immortality and passion. They are so rare, they are worth thousands of dollars, not to mention the medicinal properties to rival anything found in today’s drugstores.
Through the city, the rainforests of Mexico Lila enters another world of shamans, spirits, animals, snake charmers and one particular sexy man, but then again it could be the plants talking.
She is forced to learn more than she’s ever wanted to know about the plants and herself on a journey of self discovery, amongst adventure, and possible death, humidity and heat in more ways than one.
Intriguing, yet mystical, a perfect novel for when one needs a bit of escapism, who are a bit skeptical, and possibly ones who have always believed.
It is the perfect book to take you away from the cold and the rain that fall and winter brings to us around this time of year alongside your favorite hot beverage being taken away to the hot and humid weather of Mexico into another world, what else could be a better remedy?
The time is 1998, the millennium looms. Yellowknife, capital of one-third of Canada and home to beasts and bureaucrats is about to become a player in the world diamond market.
People come here for the damnedest reasons. Something to do with the North Pole, maybe it attracts them, I think. Like, there’s metal filling in their heads of something.
A penniless drifter, a businessman v obsessed with bones, an artist with a baseball bat, a fellow academic who lives at the dump, a biologist with the name of a fungus, a native man older than Canada, a Mountie with a jaw of steel.
I was disappointed though. The book for me went very slow, I tried my damnedest to keep reading but in the end it held no real ties to me, as I gently laid it down back into the throes of my bookshelf, and I defeated and feeling like I should have really wanted to finish it, since it is a Canadian novel. I have been saying to anyone and everyone who will listen that Canadian novels are distinctly different from other from around the world – they feel different, their voices different, the land they come from just as different as any other place.
This is hands down another favorite for 2010 !! I laughed, cried, nodded my head up and down, was completely glued to the book from the first word the last. From the first few sentences I was immediately hooked, line and sinker. When I absolutely had to take a break, I did what I had to do right away and I rushed right back to the book. I think I started around 2 pm and finished it at about 4 am. I am climbing to my rooftop and screaming from the rafters GO AND GET THIS BOOK !!!
Isabel is one of the scientists at the Great Ape Language Lab. John Thigpen is a reporter who is meeting Isabel as well as the bonobos apes. They are unlike any other ape alive in existence. They are capable of reasoning, carrying on deep relationships, AND they know American Sign Language.
When John and Isabel meet for the first time at the lab, both of them are clueless as to what will happen next. The apes love John who is a stranger to them all, but he’s stacked the deck a bit. He brought them treats like backpacks, M & M’s, other things they adore.
Once John returns home to his wife who is struggling with day-to-day everyday things after she wrote a novel, shortly after her novel was published, she lost her agent as well as her publisher. Isabel is at the lab talking, interacting with the apes, as well as adding notes to the research they are conducting with them, when a bomb goes off just outside the lab. Isabel is seriously hurt, the apes flee to the trees, and John’s in-laws have come for a visit.
There have been animal rights protesters on the grounds of the university as well as the lab. Nothing like this has ever happened before. They haven’t intruded on anything that the researchers have been doing so far.
When John finds out, he and his wife jump on the next plane – He to the Animal Lab, she to Los Angeles to start her new career as a comedy show writer. Once John arrives, it is chaos. He isn’t allowed to see Isabel, his ex partner of his former paper has almost scooped him once again.
Did I mention the apes have been sold by the university, sold to an unidentified buyer. A few weeks later, a mysterious show airs on cable tv called Ape House. Can you guess who is starring?
Full of laugh out loud entertainment, with a smattering of everything in between this book will literally have you laughing on the floor, crying, mad, the whole gamut of feelings and fears all rolled into one.
Will John save not only the ape family, but his own family as well? Will Isabel recover from her life threatening injuries to begin again with the apes. Will the apes remember any of the people who were previously in their lives?
The amount of research that Sara did for this novel is nothing short of amazing. She had to study linguistics and a system of lexigrams so that she would be able to communicate with the Bonobos who live at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa. Even then after doing the courses she did, there wasn’t any guarantee that she would be introduced to the apes. They are selective as to who they meet and when. If you are ill, you will not be let in to interact with them. It is stated in the book that their DNA is 97% the same as ours, so if we have a virus, they are susceptible to it as well.
You will absolutely fall in love with Sara’s writing as well as the Apes she uses in her novel – guaranteed. The apes are simply amazingly stunning.
Are YOU ready ?!? I know I was, and Crescendo does NOT disappoint in the least!
We left Nora in the gym of her school at the end of Hush, Hush, well I don’t have to tell you how or why or any of it right? You have already gasped, been frightened down to your toes about whether Nora is saved right?
Ok, now that we are all on the same page, this time Nora is having thoughts about why and how her father really died.
Then there is that whole thing about her guardian angel Patch and her in a relationship with him which, really shouldn’t be happening, but it is and Nora is so in love with Patch it makes her sick when she isn’t around him. Patch is hiding his feelings, as we all probably know by now that all or most guys do that so they aren’t being too girly with all that mushy stuff right?
So, anyways, just a bit off topic here, but really, I’m getting to the point. She has the same best friend in the world, the same bullies at high school especially one Marcie Millar that has always does one thing or another to totally make Nora thinking of doing mean and nasty things back. There is really a hidden meaning to all of this hated and angst between the two that Nora wasn’t aware of until now.
So, as the story goes as fast as I am reading and pages are literally flying out of the book (they really did at the end).
Her relationship with Patch reaches a point where something she never imagined happens, she knows what she feels, but what she doesn’t know that Patch is keeping from her may well hurt her in the end as well, even as he really wants to tell her how he really feels about her.
There are a few new characters that are introduced into the mix - Patch’s best friend who is also one of those hunky, gorgeous angels so to speak, then there is a boy who moved back that Nora used to know who has major problems of his own. Once Nora is introduced into all of this, all of the pieces fall into place about her father’s murder, her background in all of this, and a few other tidbits that will have you flipping the pages as fast or maybe even faster than you can read to the end where it all comes to a head one way or another.
Breathe…
Will Nora found out the real truth behind how she feels? the things that are being kept from her? As well as all of the other things she doesn’t quite know everything about right now to make her see the full picture? Trust me, if you thought the end to Hush, Hush was spectacular, wait until you get to the end of this one…you will be craving more.
Did I happen to mention that there will be a THIRD book? Yep, that’s right ! More Nora and Patch !!
When I first received the pitch to review this book, I was really looking forward to reading it. Once I got it and began to read it, I was not feeling the book at first, but as I gave it a bit more time and effort on my part, I found it to be a great read.
I sis at first feel a bit daunted by all of the tendrils that the author suspended in my mind as the story played out, but, as it all came together it really all made sense. Plus, the fact that there is a first book before this one had me at a part of a disadvantage not really knowing all of the other characters a bit more intimately.
Fliss is working at a production company when her boss who she is madly in love with suddenly resigns and she is left in charge of putting a documentary about parental infanticide ( where one of the parents commits murder to one of their children). The mothers in the book were found guilty of committing murder of their child and in jail, who were then exonerated, released from prison and left to live their lives amidst the aftermath of what they went through.
You may have heard of recent real life events that have been publicized here in the last year in Canada of the same events happening to many parents at the hand of a pathologist who admitted he falsified documents based on his own opinions and not science.
If you have read the previous novel before this one, there are recurring characters that are back in this one, that you may know if you have read previous books of Sophie’s, I haven’t as this is the first of her work that I have read, but I will no doubly be reading more of her work.
Fliss doesn’t want to be working on this project at all. A few of the wrongfully accused are found murdered with a quirky addition – a small card with a code of somewhat near or on the body. Thing is Fliss has received one of two of these cards as well. She may be next on the killers list, possibly because she is just associated with the case, or even her old boss who is being quite deceptive about his whereabouts when Fliss needs him most.
With the backgrounds of all of the characters explicitly intertwined with one another in flawless detail, this is one that will have you intrigued from page one.
**Just a note A Room Swept White will be published in the US as The Cradle in The Grave**
I have to say, Michael Connelly’s latest doesn’t disappoint!
Harry Bosch is back from Hong Kong.
This time, he is investigating an old case for which someone has already been tried and convicted of, but in the day and age of DNA testing has been granted a retrial based upon these new findings.
Mickey Haller is one who usually defends the accused. This time however, he is representing the prosecution.
There are some problems with the case as it stands. There are political issues along with the rest of the prejudicial ones, as well as the case was tried so long ago that some of the witnesses are dead, and the trail of leads has been dry for many decades since the accused has been serving his sentence.
The accused new attorney is only defending him for just the celebrity of it, not because he is sure his client is innocent.
As the accused is back on the streets ( can you believe that) back to a life he long left when he was behind bars. But as time goes by as the trial is starting, he maybe back to his old haunts, old ways, even if he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
I am a bit divided on how the book ended. It had me going from the first page to the last in a feverish pace, even though I had another book on the go when I received the review copy, I had to start reading it right away. I was just a bit disappointed. That is the way I felt, but maybe you will feel different after you finish it. Please let me know!
In Light Lifting, Alexander MacLeod offers a suite of darkly urban and unflinching elegies for an industrial city and community on the brink. These are stories of work and its bonds, of tragedy and tragedy barely averted, but also of love and beauty and fragile understanding. – Publishers Website
