My lousy week and some books I wish I had

This has been a pretty lousy week* and all I want to do is crawl into bed and spend the weekend under the covers with a good book. Unfortunately this probably won't happen due my wonderful but demanding kids who seem to think that my sitting (or lying) down means that I'm available to carry out one of their many requests. Except for my four year-old who sees it as his opportunity to get done  things done that he knows I wouldn't approve of (which is pretty much everything, from bringing rusty pipes into the house to build with to painting the walls with chocolate milk). Ah, the joys of motherhood.


Unfortunately it's also been a while since I acquired any new books, not in electronic format** so if I do manage to get my weekend in bed I'll probably have to settle for a reread. But I have come across some new books recently which I'm very eager to get a hold of and jump into bed with ;)


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Ammonite by Nicola Griffith


Change or die. These are the only options available on the planet Jeep. Centuries earlier, a deadly virus shattered the original colony, killing the men and forever altering the few surviving women. Now, generations after the colony has lost touch with the rest of humanity, a company arrives to exploit Jeep–and its forces find themselves fighting for their lives. Terrified of spreading the virus, the company abandons its employees, leaving them afraid and isolated from the natives. In the face of this crisis, anthropologist Marghe Taishan arrives to test a new vaccine. As she risks death to uncover the women’s biological secret, she finds that she, too, is changing–and realizes that not only has she found a home on Jeep, but that she alone carries the seeds of its destruction. . . .


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The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.: A Novel by Nichole Bernier


Before there were blogs, there were journals. And in them we’d write as we really were, not as we wanted to appear. But there comes a day when journals outlive us. And with them, our secrets.


Summer vacation on Great Rock Island was supposed to be a restorative time for Kate, who’d lost her close friend Elizabeth in a sudden accident. But when she inherits a trunk of Elizabeth's journals, they reveal a woman far different than the cheerful wife and mother Kate thought she knew. The complicated portrait of Elizabeth—her troubled upbringing, and her route to marriage and motherhood—makes Kate question not just their friendship, but her own deepest beliefs about loyalty and honesty at a period of uncertainty in her own marriage.


The more Kate reads, the more she learns the complicated truth of who Elizabeth really was, and rethinks her own choices as a wife, mother, and professional, and the legacy she herself would want to leave behind. When an unfamiliar man’s name appears in the pages, Kate realizes the extent of what she didn’t know about her friend, including where she was really going on the day she died. Set in the anxious summer after the September 11th attacks, this story of two women—their friendship, their marriages, private ambitions and fears—considers the aspects of ourselves we show and those we conceal, and the repercussions of our choices.


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City of a Thousand Dolls by Miriam Forster
(Expected publication: February 5th 2013) 


The girl with no past, and no future, may be the only one who can save their lives. Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die. Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.


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This isn't my usual fare but Michael's review of it, on Books on the Nightstand, sold me on it anyways.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn


 "'What are you thinking, Amy? The question I've asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions stormcloud over every marriage: What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?'"


Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what did really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife? And what was left in that half-wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war...


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* Yup, more job rejections.  Plus my son got two of his teeth knocked out which totally freaked me out though I had to pretend it didn't because I'm the responsible adult (which can be such a drag). Thankfully they turned out to be baby teeth but he now looks like mini-vampire.


** As an Orthodox Jew I can't use my ereader on the weekends, which is the Sabbath.  This means that when I get a "real" book I save it for the weekends and if I read slowly I can make it last for several weeks. A book by Brandon Sanderson or Patrick Rothfuss can last me a month!

Come for a visit

Come visit me at Wordsmithonia where I have a guest post recommending books that will help keep you cool in the summer heat. Feel free to let know about any other books that you think make good summer reads.

Free audiobooks for the summer

Summer is now here and you know what that means. Free audiobooks, of course!

Once again Sync is running their summer audio book program where each week they offer two new audiobooks for free, one of which is a classic novel and the other contemporary.

Here are this week's two free audiobook downloads:

Irises by Francisco X. Stork, Read by Carrington MacDuffie

Two sisters discover what's truly worth living for in the new novel by the author of MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD.

TWO SISTERS: Kate is bound for Stanford and an M.D. -- if her family will let her go. Mary wants only to stay home and paint. When their loving but repressive father dies, they must figure out how to support themselves and their mother, who is in a permanent vegetative state, and how to get along in all their uneasy sisterhood.

THREE YOUNG MEN: Then three men sway their lives: Kate's boyfriend Simon offers to marry her, providing much-needed stability. Mary is drawn to Marcos, though she fears his violent past. And Andy tempts Kate with more than romance, recognizing her ambition because it matches his own.

ONE AGONIZING CHOICE: Kate and Mary each find new possibilities and darknesses in their sudden freedom. But it's Mama's life that might divide them for good -- the question of *if* she lives, and what's worth living for.

IRISES is Francisco X. Stork's most provocative and courageous novel yet.

Download it here

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Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Read by Wanda McCaddon

Jane Austen's first published novel, Sense and Sensibility is a wonderfully entertaining tale of flirtation and folly that revolves around two starkly different sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. While Elinor is thoughtful, considerate, and calm, her younger sister is emotional and wildly romantic. Both are looking for a husband, but neither Elinor's reason nor Marianne's passion can lead them to perfect happiness-as Marianne falls for an unscrupulous rascal and Elinor becomes attached to a man who's already engaged. Startling secrets, unexpected twists, and heartless betrayals interrupt the marriage games that follow. Filled with satiric wit and subtle characterizations, Sense and Sensibility teaches that true love requires a balance of reason and emotion.

Download it here

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These are the titles that will be offered in the following weeks.

June 28 – July 4, 2012

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, Read by Simon Jones (Listening Library)

Tales from the Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang, Read by Toby Stephens (Naxos AudioBooks)


July 5 – July 11, 2012

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Read by August Ross (AudioGO)

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Read by Ian Holm (AudioGO)



July 12 – July 18, 2012

Guys Read: Funny Business by Jon Scieszka [Ed.] et al., Read by Michael Boatman, Kate DiCamillo, John Keating, Jon Scieszka, Bronson Pinchot (Harper Audio)

The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories by Mark Twain, Read by Norman Dietz (Recorded Books)


July 19 – July 25, 2012

Cleopatra’s Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter, Read by Kirsten Potter (Oasis Audio)

Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, Read by a Full Cast (AudioGO)




July 26 – August 1, 2012

Pinned by Alfred C. Martino, Read by Mark Shanahan (Listen & Live Audio)

TBA (Brilliance Audio)


August 2 – August 8, 2012

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Read by Khristine Hvam (Hachette Audio)

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Read by Simon Prebble (Blackstone Audio)





August 9 – August 15, 2012

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Read by Rupert Degas (Harper Audio)

Dead Men Kill by L. Ron Hubbard, Read by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast (Galaxy Press)

August 16 – August 22, 2012

The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, Read by Jay Laga’aia (Bolinda Audio)

The Call of the Wild by Jack London, Read by William Roberts (Naxos AudioBooks)


Unfortunately not all of these titles are available to international readers. Visit this page to see which books are available to non-US listeners.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

If I were able to choose one book to send back in time to my younger-self that book would be Wonder. Perhaps reading this book as a preteen would have given me the right perspective to help me overcome my discomfort around people who are physically disabled. Perhaps if I had read this book when I was in fifth grade I would have understood that my paralyzed, wheelchair-bound classmate was not that different than myself and perhaps I would have shed my discomfort and gone over to befriend her. At least, I would like to think so.


Wonder puts us in the head of eleven year-old Auggie Pullman who, after years of surgery, is about to attend school for the first time. Auggie is nervous because he knows that the kids will laugh and stare, and maybe even run away. It happens all of the time. Even after all of the surgeries, his deformed features tend to startle, and sometimes frighten, both children and adults. But now Auggie is ready to give school a try and perhaps show the other kids that inside he really is just like them.


After Wonder introduces us to Auggie and allows us get to know him a bit, it then switches to the point of view of Auggie's older sister who struggles with her own adjustments to high school and to creating for herself an identity independent of her younger brother. The narration also switches between several of Auggie's new classmates who describe their experiences interacting with Auggie, before returning back to the point of view of Auggie himself. Normally I don't like it when a story is handed around to so many different narrators but it worked very well in this situation, providing us with a better understanding of the different characters involved and their interactions with Auggie.


With all of the stories circulating about bullying I had expected Wonder to be a bit darker than it was but it turned out to be a sweet and heartwarming story. While there are a few bullies who take pleasure in picking on Auggie there are also those kids who reach out to befriend him and who realize just how funny and fun Auggie really is. Auggie is also surrounded by a warm and loving family who do their best to guide and protect him. By the end Auggie does manage to convince his fellow schoolmates to overlook his differences and to see him as he really is, and as one of them.


I think Wonder conveys a really important message for kids about looking under the surface and not judging others strictly by their looks. It give children a protagonist that they can relate to and sympathize with, especially in the face of adversity. It makes them want to be the kid who stands by Auggie's side, not the one ridiculing him, and hopefully it will make them rethink similar real-life situations. I would like to think that this would have been my reaction if I had read the book when I was a kid though even as an adult the book's message is one that I will be holding on to.

The Thorn and the Blossom by Theodora Goss

I have been wanting to read The Thorn and the Blossom from the moment I first heard about it. Based on a romantic 14th century poem and able to be read in two different ways, this sounded like a fun and unique book.

When I finally did get a hold of The Thorn and the Blossom I was impressed by the lovely box it came in and the obvious consideration that went into the book's design. When a majority of my reading time is spent clutching the hard plastic- cover of my Nook I have come to really appreciate a well-crafted book.

The story itself was sweet, telling of two teenagers, Evelyn and Brandon, who meet and quickly fall-in love but whose budding relationship comes to a halt when Evelyn abruptly runs off. Years later Evelyn and Brandon unexpectedly meet again and the feelings that they had for each other immediately resurface, but a secret from their years apart may prevent them from ever being together.

The text in the book is printed on both sides of the paper and the paper is folded in an accordion style so that it can be read on both sides. If you begin reading on one side of the book you get Evelyn's point of view and if you start on the other you get Brendan's POV. It's up to the reader to decide where to begin. And once both sides are read the full story comes together and it becomes clear what will happen next. I do have to say, though, that the unconventional way that this book was put together made it a bit awkward to handle at times. It had no binding and if not held tightly the pages would sag to the floor. Luckily this only happened to me once.

The book is pretty short, I read in within an hour, and I might have been disappointed by this if I hadn't been in the mood for just this kind of story. I had just finished a 1,000 page novel and was looking for something short and light to enjoy for "dessert." As it was, The Thorn and the Blossom hit the spot.

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Thank you to Quirk Books for providing me with a copy of The Thorn and the Blossom for review

Starters by Lissa Price

It's rare that I don't finish a book that I received for review but it was a close call with Starters. While I thought the story was interesting I began getting irritated by some of the ridiculous decisions that Callie, the sixteen year-old protagonist, was making. After a while I got fed up and I put the ebook aside until it expired, but then I felt bad about not finishing it so when I came across the book in my library I decided to give the book another shot.




Here's the synopsis, from Goodreads:

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . .

In my second reading of the book I tried not to get too bothered by Callie's poorly-made decisions and to just assume that they were due to her age. Perhaps any sixteen year-old would ask personal and dangerous favors of cute guys they just met and go off blithely to meet with dangerous men that they have no hope against. I'm pretty sure that if I were sixteen years-old and reading this book none of this would have bothered me in the least, so I decided to assume that it's an age thing.

What bothered me more, though, was the fact that we don't really get to know any of the characters other than Callie. We do meet a lot of characters throughout the story including Callie's little brother, two possible love interests, the woman renting Callie's body and some of the other elderly renters, but only briefly. And those characters that we do spend a bit more time with we only get to know in a superficial way. This was particularly problematic towards the end when Callie chooses to ally herself with certain acquaintances whom she assumes are reliable though they seemed to me to be just as bad as everyone else in the story. I couldn't tell if this was another foolish decision on her part or if the lack of character development just made it hard for me to judge these characters the same way that Callie did. I'm pretty sure, though, that it was the lack of character development.


And finally, there was the matter of the rather dubious premises for the story, which never really made much sense to me. I just wasn't convinced that in a scenario in which all the adult are killed off, that the elderly would respond by turning against the children and having them hunted down and imprisoned, while gathering for themselves power and wealth. This just didn't seem plausible. I was also confused by the fact that, as we eventually learn, not all of the kids are imprisoned or on the streets. There are some children who have living grandparents to comfortably care for them, but we don't hear much about them or what percentage of the population they make up.

I had also assumed for the majority of the story that all of the remaining adults were pretty much evil and corrupt though suddenly, towards the end, we discover that this isn't the case, which made me realize that the story had actually given us a very narrow and unbalanced view of this world, which was frustrating.

I can't say that this a story that I would recommend to my friends though I could see that younger readers may enjoy it. The whole body rental idea was creative and satisfyingly creepy and towards the end the story does get pretty exciting. There is even an unexpected revelation in the end, which I always love, and which completely surprised me because I had thought that I had everything figured out by then. So I guess I'm glad that I finally finished the story though I don't think I'll be picking up the sequel.

Armchair BEA Day 3: Beyond Your Blog

It's Day 3 of Armchair BEA and today's topic addresses the benefits that come along with being a book blogger, aside from the free books:

 Has blogging opened up opportunities for you beyond getting free, advance copies of new books? Has it helped you get offers to write or review elsewhere (maybe even for pay)? Have you gotten invites to special events or places you might not have been to otherwise?

Well, my answer to the question above would have to be no. Being a book blogger hasn't afforded me any special privileges and even free books rarely come my way since so few publishers are willing to send books internationally. But even though I don't get invited to special events and am not offered gifts and special promotions for my readers, being a book blogger has been a wonderful experience that has taught me more than I had ever anticipated.


Through blogging I learned some invaluable skills about developing relationships online and how to use social media to promote yourself and your website. I learned about the importance of regularly visiting other blogs and leaving thoughtful comments and to not only promote my own content but also the content of my online friends and acquaintances. I suddenly realized that my years of blogging had actually taught me skills that I could use in the workforce, skills which every business now considers to be valuable. So I decided to begin offering my skills and experience to small businesses to help them develop their own online presence, the same way I did with my blog, and I already have my first client.


When I began my blog I had no idea that I would stick with it for so long or that the experience would impact me the way that it did. I don't know if my new plan to become a social media manager will take off or not but I'm excited to try and I'm so grateful to everyone that had helped me along the way.


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P.S I can't believe that I had forgotten to mention one of the greatest things that has happened to me as a book blogger, though if you are a regular reader then you already know about it. . An excerpt from one of my reviews was published inside of a book! That was definitely one of the highlights of my blogging career. 


P.PS. And how can I not mention the opportunity that being a blogger has given me to develop relationships with some of my favorite authors? While I am sure the authors would have happily interacted with me even if I wasn't a book blogger I never would have dared to reach out to them if it wasn't for my blog.