Thank You Jackie

Jackie from Farm Lane Books Blog kindly gave me this I love Your Blog Award. Thank you so much, it's great to be noticed out there in the cyber world. I really appreciate it!

37 - The Seance; John Harwood

John Harwood’s debut nThe Ghost Writernovel was one of those novels that will go down as a favorite of mine, so naturally when Harwood’s second novel , The Seance was recently released, I could not wait to read it.

The Seanceis set in Victorian England and has all the elements which make for a great gothic mystery. There is a cursed run down mansion, a ghostly suit of armor, lightening bolts that strike out the blue, apparitions and other strange phenomena.

Constance Langton is introduced early in the novel. She grows up in a house marked by death. Constance is a lonely girl living with her distant father, and a mother who has never recovered from the death of her infant daughter. Hoping to help her mother recover from her depression Constance becomes interested in seances. Constance pretends to be the voice of her departed baby sister. Constance hopes her mother will benefits by hearing from the lost child in the afterlife. She then convinces her mother to attend a séance. Unfortunately, this ends with disaster.

Soon after Constance becomes the heir to a mansion. She is advised to sell it sight unseen or to burn it down. Years before a family disappeared at Wraxford Hall and the mansion is believed to be cursed. The story then moves on and the reader learns about the tragic events that happened at Wraxford Hall.

The story is told from three different points of view: Constance Langton, John Montague who advises her to sell the mansion sight unseen. The third point of view character is Eleanor Unwin, a young woman much like Constance with psychic powers that seem to want to destroy her.

The story is full of twist and turns, and sometimes I found it a little tough to keep track of who was who. Despite this The Seanceis a chilling, creepy novel to enjoy, preferably in the daylight.

RATING – 4/5 - COMPLETED – 3/5/09

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by A Striped Armchair and Out of the Blue that encourages Bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

This weeks haul. (3) weeks (no renewals as they are all new books with others waiting for them:

1. The Seance; Harwood (current read - very good)
2. The Help; Stockett
3. Honolulu; Brennert
4. While My Sister Sleeps; Delinsky
5. The Piano Teacher; Lee
6. The Rose Variations; Chamberlain
7. Tallgrass; Dallas (audio - current read - excellent)
8. After You've Gone; Lent

Next up will be The Help; Stockett, Can you see why I have trouble reading my own books now? Hope the Library was good to you this week too.

Tuesday Teasers

Tuesday Teasers is hosted by Should Be Reading.


TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

My teasers are from my current read :

The Seance; John Harwood
p23.........."At half past six the following evening, therefore I let myself out of the house, telling Mama that I had a headache and needed to walk. She had sunk further toward her old blank misery, but I did not want to risk another summoning until I had seen how Mrs. Veasey conducted a seance".

This book has hooked me from the very first page. This is John Harwood's second novel. I loved his first book: The Ghost Writer when I read it a few years ago. Now I'm off to search for your Tuesday Teasers.

36 - The Housekeeper and the Professor; Yoko Ogawa

The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Novel, by Yoko Ogawa is such an amazing book. The book is only 180 pages but once I began reading it, I was unable to put the book down.

In Japan a brilliant mathematician is involved in a car accident in 1978 and is left with a traumatic head injury. The injury has left him with just 80 minutes of short term memory. Despite this, he has never lost his love for numbers and complex mathematical equations.

One day an Housekeeping Agency sends a 9th housekeeper out to cook, clean and care for the professor, since none of the other housekeepers have worked out. The young housekeeper is a single mother of a 10 year old son. When the professor first meets the young boy he calls him: Root because his flat head reminds him of the math symbol for a square root. (It's strange, but no one in this book has a name except for Root). The professor before long grows to care deeply care for this fatherless boy, and the housekeeper seeing this soon begins to fall into a routine as the professor's housekeeper. Root comes to the professor’s house after school and they work on math homework together and share a fondness for baseball games.

A strange but beautiful relationship begins for these individuals. The story is funny yet bitter sweet. Every morning the housekeeper, has to introduce herself and her son to the professor as if they were meeting for the first time. He asks her the same questions when he does not know what to say: what is her age, her shoe size and her telephone number. When she tells him the numbers he responds with something mathematical and quite profound about the numbers.

The characters in this story are so likable, the writing is beautiful. The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Novel is a wonderful story about unlikely relationships, and how it is really the simple things that make life worthwhile.

RATING - 5/5 - COMPLETED - 3/3/09
WHERE FROM: Library

35 - Little Bee; Chris Cleave

I have to admit, it was what I read on the inside flap on the dust jacket of Little Bee: A Novelthat made me curious about this book. Here's what made me read more:

"We don't want to tell you too much about this book. It is truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice. Two years later, they meet again. The story starts there. Once you have read it you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens. The magic is in how it unfolds."
The chapters alternate between Little Bee, a young Nigerian refugee whose country is in the midst of war, and Sarah O'Rourke, wife then widow, mother of a young son, and magazine editor in England.

The past and present are woven together seamlessly to tell the story a little bit at a time about the horrible event that occurred when the two women met on a Nigerian beach for the first time. Two years later when Little Bee flees a British Detention center, she tracks down Sarah and shows up at her home.
This poignant story has some serious themes, both women must deal with the death of loved ones and each has concerns about what the future holds in store for them. Despite the serious themes, there is also some humor for the reader. I found myself rereading certain excerpts as the writing was so moving.

Don't be fooled, if you think this type of story is one you would not enjoy, you might be as pleasantly surprised as I was. Little Bee: A Novel is an amazing young girl you will not easily forget, long after the final page is turned. Little Bee is sure to be one of my Top 10 books for 2009. Don't Miss It!

RATING - 5/5 - COMPLETED - 3/2/09
WHERE FROM: Library

34 - True Colors; Kristin Hannah

True Colors was one of those books that I could not wait to get my hands on; I thought the cover was gorgeous. Unfortunately once I finished listening to the audio version I felt a little disappointed. In my opinion, this was not Kristin Hannah at her best.

The story begins in 1979 and takes place in Washington State. It is about three very different sisters, Winona, Aurora, and Vivi Ann whose mother dies of cancer when they are at an impressionable age. Their father is strict and seems to care more about his image, and less about the emotional needs of his daughters. To fill the void in their lives, the sisters though very different, form strong bonds, but as adults normal jealousy and sister rifts come into play.

The story seemed to focus more on the oldest and the youngest sister. While the descriptions of Oyster Shores, Puget Sound and the ranch were beautiful, I found that this was just another one of those so so stories that left me feeling like I've "been there and read that" so many times before. I also found the the reader's voice got to me after a while. If you are looking for a vacation or beach read, generally you can't go wrong with Kristin Hannah, but if you are looking for a memorable story that will stick with you long after the final page, this book is not the one I would recommend.

RATING - 2.5/5 - COMPLETED - 3/1/09
WHERE FROM: Library