Thankfully Reading Weekend 2012: The Wrap-Up

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Jenn

Ahhh…yet another Thankfully Reading Weekend comes to a close, I’m truly thankful for the bookish community, specifically my partner-in-crime, Jennifer from The Literate Housewife. This annual event couldn’t happen without you all!

So….I didn’t get a lot of reading done yesterday. We did a bit to celebrate Small Business Saturday. Then this happened as we were leaving my favorite indie bookstore, One More Page Books in Arlington, VA.

Yep, that’s him. President Obama. His daughters joined him for a bit of early Christmas shopping at One More Page books, minutes after we left. While we weren’t in the store for his visit, we did get a chance to shake his hand. My boys and husband were with me and we were all star struck. Needless to say, the rest of the day was lost. After posting pictures on Facebook and Twitter, friends & family from all over started calling, asking about our encounter.

That said, Sunday is traditionally my day of rest so I intend on getting a substantial amount of reading accomplished. I’ve focused a great deal on cozy mysteries I plan on spotlighting for the Cozy Mystery feature I’ll be hosting in early December. So many good cozies, so little time.

As you wrap up your own reading, I do encourage you to do a wrap-up post of sorts, summarizing the books you read, etc. If you do happen to do such a post, please link it up below or summarize in the comments.

Since we still have quite a stack of giveaway books available, I will be picking random people who have participated via Twitter, here on the blog (via comments & link-ups). The list of winning books are below. Once the book has been spoken for, I will strike it from the list.

Also, Jennifer & I will be contacting the challenge winners directly to claim their prizes.  We’ll wait until early in the week to do so in the event that any late-comers still want to enter. Just as a reminder, the challenges are:

Day One: What is Your Reading Recipe (win a hand-crocheted eReader cover!)
Day Two: What Book Are You Most Thankful For? (win copies of Brain on Fire,  Man in the Blue Moon and The Trial of Fallen Angels)
Day Three: Share Your Favorite Bookish Tradition/Memory  (win a $25 gift certificate to Novel Places Books)

So, enjoy the last several hours of Thankfully Reading Weekend. Thank you once again to all who participated!

 

Book Prizes:

  •  If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch (ARC)
  • The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech (finished hardcover)
  • Do You See Me by Karen Rose (ARC)
  • Force Out by Tim Green (ARC)
  • Code: A Virals Novel by Kathy and Brendan Reichs (ARC)
  • A Fatal Winter by G.M. Malliet (finished hardcover)
  • Resurrection Express by Stephen Romano (finished hardcover)
  • Riding the Bullet (original novella) by Stephen King. Includes screenplay written by Mick Garris. A must-have for any King fan! (finished hardcover)

Link up your wrap up posts here:


Posted in Thankfully Reading Weekend | 9 Comments

Thankfully Reading Weekend 2012: Day Three Challenge!

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Jenn

You’ve made it to day three! I truly hope you’ve enjoyed your experience thus far! Today’s challenge is about family memories, specifically those that relate to books. Thanksgiving is all about families and the bonds/traditions we form.  Do you have any special family memories/traditions involving books? It doesn’t necessarily have to revolve around the holidays.

I have oodles of bookish memories, mainly because my grandmother was a librarian. We would spend summers with my grandparents and I loved the time spent in that quiet, small town library. Now, I’m forging new traditions with my own children. We’re about to embark upon a read-along of The Hobbit to prepare for the movie release. While I’m hopeful my boys enjoy it as much as I did, I’ll be understanding if they don’t.

So..either in the comments below or a post on your blog, facebook page, etc, tell us about your favorite bookish memory/tradition. One winner will be selected and, in honor of Small Business Saturday, will win a $25 gift card to Novel Places Bookstore.  This giftcard can be used online (or buy calling the store directly) so don’t worry if you aren’t local to the bookstore.

Remember to take part in the other Thankfully Reading Weekend Challenges! These are open all weekend for those unable to participate earlier in the week:



Posted in Thankfully Reading Weekend | 15 Comments

Thankfully Reading Weekend 2012: Day 2 Challenge

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Jenn

It’s day two of Thankfully Reading Weekend!  How did everyone do yesterday? Full stomachs, plenty of reading time…sounds like bliss to me! I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to a day of reading at home, avoiding the retail madness!

For today’s challenge, I invite you to write about the book you are most thankful for this year. Is it a book written by one of your favorite authors or one you just happened to come upon? Tell us about it!  Include a link to your post below (or if you don’t have a blog, tell us about the book in the comments.

The winner of this challenge will win three books I’ve been most thankful for recently. They include:

Man in the Blue Moon by Michael Morris
Brain on Fire by Susanna Cahalan (galley)
The Trial of Fallen Angels by James Kimmel (galley)

Don’t forget to check out Jennifer’s Thankfully Reading Recipe Challenge! Enter to win a hand-crocheted eReader cover!


Posted in Thankfully Reading Weekend | 16 Comments

Thankfully Reading Weekend 2012: The Kickoff

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Jenn

It’s time!!

This is the official kick off post for Thankfully Reading 2012.  Feel free to link up your kick-off post below, as well as any update posts you have. Don’t have a blog? Not to worry; keep us updated on your progress via the comments. Haven’t signed up yet to participate? Not to worry! There is still plenty of time!

If you don’t know what to post, here are some ideas. But remember there are no rules; feel free to post as little/as much as you like!

  • How did you celebrate Thanksgiving?
  • What’s in your TBR pile for the weekend?
  • How much time do you think you’ll have for reading?
  • What book are you starting out with?
  • Are you reading print, ebooks, or audio? Maybe a bit each?
  • What books will you be sharing at Thanksgiving dinner? Be sure to keep track of any recommendations you receive and share when you have the time.If you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, don’t worry, this is a weekend for everyone throughout the world.
  • Pictures and/or vlogs are a great thing to add to your kick-off posts!

Throughout the weekend, feel free to post about your progress or even get some reviews up. Be sure to come back and link up your posts. Then take a break and check out everyone else’s posts. We’re looking forward to seeing how everyone else is celebrating Thankfully Reading Weekend.

Oh and don’t forget that some of your fellow readers will be on Twitter. You can search for Thankfully Reading Weekend tweets and hook up with others by using the hashtag #thankfulreading.

On Sunday afternoon, we’ll post another link-up for your wrap-up post. Tell us how your Thankfully Reading Weekend went. You could give mini-reviews of your books, tell us how many books and which books you read, number of pages, number of hours, and so on. This is a rule-free, contest-free event, so you can wrap up the weekend however you’d like.

On to the challenges!! Today’s (Thursday) challenge is hosted by Jennifer over at Literate Housewife:

WHAT IS YOUR PERFECT READING RECIPE?

What ingredients when combined together make for a perfect read for you? This could be any combination of time, place, book, or refreshments. Does this book and that meal make for sweet reader’s bliss? Or is it this room, that recliner with this type of book make you scheme for reading time to yourself?

To complete this challenge, visit Jennifer’s blog!

With that said, let’s get reading!! Be sure to include your kick-off post (or comments about your plans!) below!



Posted in Thankfully Reading Weekend | 8 Comments

Review: The Good Woman by Jane Porter

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Jenn

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Berkley Trade; Original edition (September 4, 2012)
  • ISBN-10: 042525300
  • Source: Publisher

Meg Brennan Roberts is a successful publicist for a local winery. The oldest child in an Irish-American family, she’s always been the level-headed, sensible, and yes, somewhat boring child. One would think that her successful life as a working woman, wife, and mother would make Meg happy, but instead it has the opposite effect. She feels hollow, empty. She spends so much time transporting her children around to ballet, baseball and other extracurricular activities and juggling their schedules that she feels she’s missing out on life. Her husband, Jack, dedicated to his job. Unfortunately, this dedication is so strong that he doesn’t pay attention to Meg, even if she’s standing right before him.

When Meg is asked to go to London for a wine fair with her incredibly handsome and  boss, Chad Hallahan, Meg initially declines. Her family’s busy schedule won’t permit her to be away from them for the several days the trip requires. Instead of confirming this, Jack actually encourages Meg to go. It is in London that Chad pronounces his attraction to Meg. She is shocked, embarrassed, but also flattered. It has been quite some time since someone noticed her, was attracted to her. She loved Jack, but their sex life was less than stellar. He frequently turned down her attempts at love-making, insisting that they are both older now, not as free-spirited and adventurous as they once were. The thing is, their sex life would never be considered adventurous, even when they were younger. Chad’s revelation forces Meg to reevaluate her life, her marriage, and the levelheadedness she’s known for. For once, she banishes her conscious and dives in headfirst, allowing her heart, and her body, to make the decisions for once. The decisions, however, have reckless and irreversible consequences. Meg is forced to decide what is more important: to be the woman everyone wants her to be, or the woman she truly is, deep down inside.

The first book in Porter’s planned series spotlighting the Brennan sisters, Porter focuses not only on Meg’s life, but how her life relates to her loved ones around her.  While I appreciated the dedicated focus on each of the characters, this novel fell short for me. To be honest, I despised Meg’s character. One moment she’s a level-headed wife and mother, the next she’s dropping all obligations and having an affair. Porter attempts to create a realistic main character but instead, in my opinion, she creates a character that symbolizes, in a sense, all the behavior that isn’t realistic. It is possible that I’m living my live wearing rose-tinted glasses, ignorant to many of the experiences and situations Meg is forced to endure, but I doubt it. I can sympathize with her busy life and the occasional feelings of loneliness, but the average person deals with these situations in a completely different manner.

To be honest, I don’t read much chick-lit. Overall, I feel that I cannot form connections with many of the main characters. Honestly, in most cases I want to shake some sense in them, yell at them to grow a backbone. In accepting this book for review, I was attracted to Meg’s large family and its inner-workings. I’m fond of novels with strong family relationships and that aspect of this novel appealed to me. That said, while I didn’t get the anticipated reaction from this novel, I will continue to read the rest of the series. The next book, The Good Daughter, is scheduled for release in February and focuses on Meg’s younger sister, Kit, the one member of her family with which she seems to have the strongest bond and connection.

While I didn’t particularly enjoy this novel, don’t let my opinion alone sway you in reading this book. Looking at other reviews, my opinion of this book seems to be isolated.

Posted in Berkley Trade | 2 Comments

Small Business Saturday: November 24, 2012

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Jenn

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know already how much supporting local businesses, specifically local independent bookstores, is to me.  I don’t ask you for much, right? Well, today I am.

Small Business Saturday® (November 24th) is a day dedicated to supporting businesses that support the local economy. Although I will be hosting Thankfully Reading Weekend, I do plan on taking a break to shop local. Set between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is this special day to show support of local small businesses nationwide. Last year, over one hundred million people* came together to Shop Small® in their communities on Small Business Saturday®.  Let’s see if we can increase those numbers for 2012.

It’s really simple: just shop local! While I’d like you to do this every day, make a conscious effort on Small Business Saturday to shop local stores, be it coffee shops, bakeries, or in my case, bookstores!

Because of this tremendous event, this week’s #IndieThursday will be celebrated on Small Business Saturday. Use the hashtags #smallbizsat and/or #IndieThursday to share how you have helped support the local economy. To learn more, visit ShopSmall.com.

This is such a simple but important request. Go forth & shop local!

Posted in #IndieThursday | Leave a comment

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week?

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Jenn

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finish this week. It is hosted by Sheila from One Person’s Journey Through a World of  Books so stop by and join in!

Books Completed Last Week

The Trial of Fallen Angels by James Kimmel, Jr. (review)
The Books They Gave Me: True Stories of Life, Love, and Lit by Jen Adams (review)
Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel (review)
Encyclopedia Paranoiaca by Henry Beard

Currently Reading

V Wars: A Chronicle of Vampire Wars (audio)
Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Books to Complete This Week


Auraria by Tim Westover
The Good Woman by Jane Porter
I Am Lucky Bird by Fleur Philips

What are you reading this week?

Posted in It's Monday What Are you Reading This Week | 1 Comment

Frightful Friday: Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Jenn

Frightful Friday is a weekly meme in which I feature a particularly scary or chilling book that I’ve read that week. The featured title this week is Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel:

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Pegasus (November 14, 2012)
  • ISBN-10: 1605983918
  • Source: Publisher

Mike Zetterberg, his wife Ylva, and their daughter live a comfortable life outside Helsingborg in Sweden. One night, Ylva fails to return home. At first, Mike isn’t concerned; Ylva mentioned she might go out for drinks with coworkers that night. Perhaps she crashed on a friend’s couch, too intoxicated to make it home. Yet when the hours pass and Ylva still isn’t home, Mike begins to get concerned. First, he’s angry. Ylva had an affair in the past and while she’s promised things have ended, Mike still questions her fidelity. As the hours turn into days, however, Mike becomes tremendously concerned. There is no way Ylva would have left for that long a period of time without contacting Mike. Ylva, despite her faults as a wife has always been an incredible mother.

When the police finally get involved, Mike is obviously their first suspect for he fits the jealous husband role to a “t.”  But when the days turn into weeks and then months, the police close the case. No evidence has ever been found indicated Ylva was injured in any way, so they assumed she just ran off with her lover. Little do they know, but Ylva has been right across the street all along, kept prisoner in their neighbors basement, the object of revenge for an event that took place decades before. A camera has been set up on her home so she can see her families daily activities…how after time they seem to get by without her. They cannot see her or hear her desperate cries for help.

Koppel doesn’t hold back when he details the tremendous amount of torture and abuse Ylva is forced to endure during her imprisonment. Her captors, parents of a girl Ylva and her friends tormented in school, abuse her both physically and sexually. The violence is graphic but in this case I think it is necessary to truly understand the torment Ylva is under.

Never Coming Back is quite the intense read, one that I read in one sitting for I could not bear to put it down. The intensity really doesn’t waver throughout the entirety of the novel, keeping the pacing high and continuous throughout. My only complaint were the characters, specifically Ylva herself. I honestly didn’t feel a lot for her, wasn’t really rooting for her character because I liked her but more because a human being should have to endure what she did. I actually despised her a bit, hearing about her past and her lack of respect for her marriage. Conversely, while I did feel more sympathy and respect for Mike, that sort of waned and wavered throughout the book. All this said, the storyline more than makes up for my feelings about the lead characters.

Bottom line: Koppel’s latest proves that there is no cease to the intensity and popularity of Swedish crime fiction. Highly recommended.

Warning: graphic violence of a sexual nature.

 

Posted in Frightful Friday, Pegasus Books | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Book Spotlight: The Books They Gave Me: True Stories of Life, Love, and Lit by Jen Adams

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Jenn

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Free Press (November 6, 2012)
  • ISBN-10: 1451688792
  • Source: Publisher

Using her Tumblr blog, Jen Adams started collecting stories in 2011 about the books people have received as gifts and the impact those books made on their lives. The stories range from the humorous to the romantic, stories of books given as gives to daughters by fathers, wives by husbands, etc.

My own personal story: my uncle, a pastor, understanding my love of horror, gave me a copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s collected works when I was a teen. While I was skeptical at first, I devoured it, my first true taste of classic literary horror. It truly had an impact on my teen life and the books I chose to read after. My uncle has since passed, losing a battle to pancreatic cancer years ago. Still, whenever I read anything written by Poe, I think of him, and the gorgeous collected works he gave me over twenty years ago.

Reading these stories, I fell in love again when reading of books I’ve read before, experiencing how they affected the recipient.  Ultimately, that IS the power of books: many of us read the same titles, but the impact they make on our lives are as unique as we are as individuals. Additionally, I was introduced to a host of “new to me” titles, as well as books that I’ve overlooked completely on the shelves of bookstores and libraries.

Books as gifts can be challenging, never knowing just what book is the right one to gift, or if the recipient has it already.  I’ll make it easy for you; give The Books They Gave Me , a book guaranteed to delight any lover of books.

Posted in Free Press | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Review: The Trial of Fallen Angels by James Kimmel, Jr.

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Jenn

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (November 8, 2012)
  • ISBN-10: 039915969X
  • Source: Publisher

Brek Cuttler has the life people pine for: an adoring husband, a beautiful baby girl and a successful law practice. That all changes when she awakes on an empty train platform, blood covering her clothing. She soon realizes she has died and has been given a new, enormously important role in her new “life” in heaven: she has been chosen to join an elite group of lawyers whose sole role is to prosecute and defend those souls facing their final judgement.

The individuals Brek is assigned to represent at first seem meaningless to her, but eventually she discovers that seemingly unimportant events in her life have led her to this very moment, allowing her to finally uncover the cause of her own death. For those individuals whose lives cross her path, every act of kindness or cruelty help determine their ultimate fate. Able to experience their individual lives first hand, Brek sees a side of each of them that alters her opinion, once their identity and relation to her own life are revealed. She learns quickly that, as in life, the justice dealt must be fair, that one individual cruel action in life doesn’t result in a less desirable fate, just as one act of kindness doesn’t reverse a deplorable action.

A dynamic host of characters join Brek on her journey, many representing individuals from her own life. They walk side by side with her as she, through the lives of those she’s representing, she learns of the act that lead to her death.

It is nearly impossible to characterize this novel into one genre. While there are aspects of spirituality, don’t let that lead you to believe this is a religious novel. Themes of love, forgiveness and much more run throughout this incredibly dynamic novel. Most importantly, however, is the idea that one’s fate isn’t only determined by that individual themselves, but those around them, those that have an impact on their lives, no matter how minor. Quite the emotional subject matter, readers will experience every emotion imaginable, from sadness to exhilaration and anger.  This is a book that will continue to linger in the heart and souls of its readers, long after the final page is read. Highly recommended.

 

Posted in Amy Einhorn Books | Tagged , , | 4 Comments