I have written before about my love of travel and adventure books. Often, these are more accurately about misadventure – an expedition gone wrong, a plane crash, a shipwreck. Some people live, some die. Why did Robert Falcon Scott lose every member of his expedition, while Edmund Shackleton brought all of his crewmembers – including a stowaway – home safely?… Read more
Anya Achtenberg calls The Stories of Devil-Girl a novella, but it reads more like a poem – a wild, surreal poem that occasionally bursts out in pain, in suffering so clearly described that it’s painful to read. The stories are not straightforward, but it is easy to pick out the threads – abuse (both physical and sexual), poverty, rape, prostitution… Read more
The mail carrier showed up today with 5 new books for me! I am going to have to quit my job and devote my life to my reading pile! The Stories of Devil-Girl by Anya Achtenberg (for Library Thing Early Reviewers)The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen KentTan Lines by J.J. Salem and best of all… Two copies of Stealing Athena by… Read more
From The Boston Bibliophile, here’s Tuesday’s question: Since we’re past the Fourth of July and the summer season has officially started, what are your plans for the summer? Vacations, trips? Trips that involve reading? Reading plans? If you’re going somewhere, do you do any reading to prepare? Do you read local literature as part of your trip? Have you thought… Read more
I have a lot of reading to do! I finished 5 books on my recent trip and I’m still not caught up – partly because three more ARCs came in while I was gone: American Wife, by Curtis SittenfeldOne More Year, by Sana KrasikovSurviving Ben’s Suicide, by C. Comfort Shields Read more
I have always been a fan of travel and adventure books, both fiction and non-fiction, which is what drew me to Kira Salak’s book, The White Mary. Although the book is a work of fiction, she drew on her long experience as a travel journalist to present a story full of detail and vibrant description. It is immediately apparent that… Read more
How do you go on when you have lost everything? That’s the question at the heart of Abbeville. George Bailey has lost everything in the dot-com bust. His office, which once bustled with activity and the smell of money, is now deserted. He may lose his home and he has to pull his son out of private school. How can… Read more
This is definitely a woman’s book. Although it is filled with danger and intrigue, men’s fantasies about harem girls are very different from the blushing virgins and vicious, back-stabbing women you’ll meet in The Aviary Gate – and it’s their loss if they don’t read it. It’s a fascinating glimpse of the inner workings of a harem and its denizens.… Read more
From The Boston Bibliophile: Here is the Top 100 Most Popular Books on LibraryThing. Bold what you own, italicize what you’ve read. Star what you liked. Star multiple times what you loved! 1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (32,484)***2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling (29,939)3. Harry Potter and the Order… Read more
I will be posting from Amsterdam for the next 2 weeks while I am away on business. My internet access will be limited, but I hope to post some reviews very soon. I finished The Aviary Gate on Saturday, before leaving on my trip. Due to a long lay-over and an 8 hour flight delay, I finished two books on… Read more