Kapitoil - Teddy Wayne

Check out my new blog A Library of My Own for my review of Teddy Wayne's novel Kapitoil. It's become one of my favorite books this year. Tomorrow I will also be posting an author interview with him so stick around!

A Small Death in the Great Glen - A.D. Scott

Check out my new blog A Library of My Own for my review of A Small Death in the Great Glen by A.D. Scott. 

Please follow me and/or subscribe via Reader to my new blog. Thank you!

Sunflowers - Sheramy Bundrick

Check out my new blog A Library of My Own to read my review and recommendation of Sheramy Bundrick's novel Sunflowers: A Novel of Vincent van Gogh

Dracula in Love - Karen Essex (Giveaway!)

Book: Dracula in Love

Author: Karen Essex
Paperback (ARC): 384 pages
Publisher: Doubleday
Published Date: August 10, 2010

I love Karen Essex. Let me just put that out there right now. I read Leonardo's Swans a while back (my review) and fell in love with the story and her writing. She has this way of writing historical fiction that stays true to historical facts, something I love in an author. So when I heard she came out with Dracula in Love I immediately requested an ARC copy and jumped for joy when I received it (my post on the gorgeous cover). I also have to tell you that I've read Bram Stoker's Dracula quite a few times and also love that book.

Karen Essex's novel is from Mina's perspective as she tells the true story of her and the Count. It is a Victorian Gothic story of love, possession, betrayal, and of course some erotic scenes so yes, there is a bit of sex. But what I found fascinating is how Ms. Essex spun Mina's tale. The story starts off with Mina explaining how this was the true story and not Stoker's more popular fictional tale. Mr. Stoker even makes a cameo in the story which I thought was pretty cool.

While I adored the story and Ms. Essex's writing, I do have to warn you that it does have some a strong women's perspective from a very constrained Victorian society who deemed women as sort of a lesser class than men. For instance, once married most women did not control their property or money. It also shows an interesting spin on the asylum where Van Helsing is employed. **Side note: I had recently watched the Leonardo DiCaprio movie Shutter Island and found it's portrayal of the asylum very much like the one in this book. Very interesting.

My only gripe with the book is towards the end. I thought her explanation for the Count and Mina's attraction to each other was kind of, well, out of the blue. But it didn't detract my enjoyment of this highly Gothic love story. I've noticed another Mina/Dracula book out there called Dracula, My Love by Syrie James. I am really curious to see how the two compare. I will try hard and get my hand on a copy of that novel.

Now on to the giveaway!!

I asked Maxwell Brown at Random House if I could PLEASE have a copy to giveaway and he sent one to me ASAP! Woohoo! So I have a special ARC available to one lucky reader. Again my giveaway is open internationally. Here's the deal:


1) Please leave a comment with your email address (or blog address) telling me why you want to read this and if you are a fan of Stoker's version or any other vampire stories/movies/etc. Come on, talk to me!

2) I will give you an extra entry if you comment on my new blog A Library of My Own. If you only comment on my new blog I'll give you two entries as well.

3) Contest is open until August 17th when I get back from my trip to Alaska. Good luck!

31 Bond Street - Ellen Horan

Book: 31 Bond Street
Author: Ellen Horan
Hardback: 368 Pages
Publisher: Harpercollins
Published Date: 3-30-2010

Awhile back I was asked to join the TLC Book Tour for 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan: A Novel of Murder, Innocence, and Power in New York City.  I love historical fiction and I have a specific fondness for the 19th Century so I thought why not?  I'm not sure if it's was because recently I've been Netflixing the series Bones (forensic anthropology helps solve murders) or what, but I totally absorbed this book in just a couple of days.

Here's the story:

The setting is 1857 in New York City.  A real crime happened: a dentist, Dr. Burdell, was found gruesomely murdered in his home. The main suspect is a young widowed lady, Emma Cunningham, with a couple of daughters who lives with him (as a tenant) and claims to be his wife.  Suspicion is out whether or not they were married and if she murdered him.  A brilliant defense attorney, Henry Clinton, puts his career at stake defending her of this crime.

I thought this story was absolutely fascinating.  The story is told from various perspectives, mainly flipping from Henry Clinton's point of view as the trial proceeds, to Emma Cunnigham's view as she meets the Dr. Burdell and the events leading up to his death.  Sometimes I can figure out in a crime book who the culprit is, but in this case I had absolutely no clue.  Since this was a real life murder, I also refrained from looking it up on Wikipedia as I sometimes end up doing.  I know Ellen Horan had to employ creative license while writing the fictional parts but I thought she did a fabulous job doing a "what if" to this real life crime story.

I just have to mention that I loved the book's setting in NewYork City.  In her acknowledgements and explanations at the end of the book, she mentions that New York City was definitely a character in the book.  I loved seeing the city from this historic perspective - before the high rises, before the Civil War and abolition of slavery, and before women's rights.  Even the forensics I thought was interesting, like how they knew back then it had to be a left handed person.  I especially thought it was bizarre when they mentioned the crime scene was painted, not photographed.  This was before photography was used in a crime scene.  I just thought she did a wonderful job bringing this era and old New York City to life.

I visited the website for 31 Bond Street and found this cool book trailer:

Ellen Horan previously worked as a freelance photo editor for magazines and books in New York City.  She has a background in painting and visual art.  31 Bond Street is her first novel.

Connect with Ellen:

On her Website

On her Facebook

On Twitter





Ellen Horan's TLC Book Tour Stops:


Tuesday, July 6th: Word Lily

Wednesday, July 7th: Rundpinne

Thursday, July 8th: Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Monday, July 12th: Simply Stacie

Tuesday, July 13th: Novel Whore

Wednesday, July 14th: Ask Miss A

Thursday, July 15th: Life and Times of a "New" New Yorker

Monday, July 19th: The 3 R's Blog

Tuesday, July 20th: Scraps of Life

Wednesday, July 21st: A Few More Pages

Thursday, July 22nd: Novel Whore- Gabriella

Friday, July 23rd: Starting Fresh

Monday, July 26th: Caribousmom

Tuesday, July 27th: The Tome Traveller

Wednesday, July 28th: Jo-Jo Loves to Read!!!

Thursday, July 29th: Bibliofreak

Monday, August 2nd: A Bookworm's World

Tuesday, August 3rd: Jen's Book Thoughts

How to Knit a Love Song - Rachael Herron

Book: How to Knit a Love Song

Author: Rachael Herron

Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: Avon A (April 1, 2010)

A little while ago I read a knitting romance book by Rachael Herron called How to Knit a Love Song.  I received the book from Harper Collins and thought it was such a cute book.  I had no clue that there was a whole genre of knitting novels out there.  I have to say it's something that I could get into since I recently took up knitting.

Here's the story:

Abigail is running away from her old life and towards a new beginning.  Her mentor and friend, Eliza Carpenter (famous in the knitting circles) recently passed away and left Abigail a home on her California property.  Abigail's dreams are put on hold though when she shows up and finds Eliza's angry but attractive nephew living there.

Eliza apparently left Abigail the cottage on the property while Cade, the nephew, gets the property and the main house.  Cade is angry that the land he's made prosperous during his aunt's absence has been usurped by a city girl.

So yeah, this is a romance novel and normally I wouldn't be too big into it but I absolutely loved the knitting part.  I also have to admit that while not insanely original, the story was pretty cute and not too romantically annoying.  It also helped inspire me to knit more on my own.  There's even a pattern for a sweater, which is what Abigail is working on, at the back of the book.  I also loved that each chapter started with a pearl (or purl...sorry, had to do it) of wisdom from Eliza Carpenter.  This is one of those books I sent on to my sister to read and enjoy.

Speaking of knitting and sisters, here's what I made after I read this book.

It was my first attempt at a cable stitch.  I love this cool green color for a scarf. I used Lion Brand's Nature's Choice Organic Cotton because it is so soft. I hate itchy things around my neck:

 I call it the sister scarf. I made my sister the green one to match her hazel eyes and I am making myself a creamy white one.  If you want the pattern, head over to Lion Brand and search for Harbor Scarf.  You can also check out my Ravelry site (username: libraryofmyown) :

For more info about Rachael Herron's book, you can check out her blog Yarn-A-Go-Go.

Book Club Girl also interviewed her so go over and check out their show.

Also reviewed by:

Booking Mama

Bermudaonion's Weblog

The Language of Trees - Ilie Ruby

Book: The Language of Trees

Author: Ilie Ruby

Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: Avon A (July 20, 2010)

A while back I saw Ilie Ruby's novel The Language of Trees on Shelf Awareness and requested an ARC to read and review.  I think the main reason was because of it's gorgeous cover but also because it takes place in the Fingerlakes region of New York and involves Native American themes.  I thought it was a beautiful novel with touches of a mystery and romance with a supernatural twist.

Here's the synopsis:

Grant Shongo is part Seneca and has returned to his home town by Canandaigua Lake.  He's running away from a failed marriage and needs some time to repair his life.  By chance, he runs into his high school sweetheart, Echo, who's also come home to check on her adopted father, Joseph, who's health is ailing.  However, Joseph has other things on his mind.  Local town legend, Melanie Ellis, a young mother, has gone missing.

Twelve years earlier, Melanie Ellis was just a young girl when she took her young brother and sister, Maya and Luke, on a midnight canoe trip, through the pouring rain to Squaw Island.  No one knows what happened but after the storm subsided, Luke was gone.  Now Luke's spirit is haunting certain members of Canandiagua and long buried secrets will have to be resurrected.    

I hope that made some kind of sense as I usually like writing my own synopsis.  For the most part, I liked this book.  The way Ilie Ruby made the Fingerlakes area come alive was beautiful.  For instance, this blurb by author unknown at the beginning of the book is a running theme to the whole story:

Trees are the most trusting of all living creatures because they trust enough to put their roots down in one place, knowing they'll be there for life.

Ilie Ruby made all the characters multi-dimensional and I loved that not all problems were resolved at the end.  The story wasn't just narrated by Grant and Echo, but by almost all of the characters involved in the story.  It was a beautiful and sad story: bittersweet.  While I enjoyed the supernatural touches, it wasn't overly supernatural to make it unbelievable.  The only problem I had with it was sometimes it got a little over descriptive which can make me skim a bit too much.  But that might just be my problem, not the author's.  

I noticed a review over at TLC Book Tours which states that it's a "healing tale of redemption" (Elizabet Rosner) which describes it exactly.

I was going to find photos of Canandaigua Lake on Google Images but found that Ilie Ruby has a section on her website of photos of the area.  So go over there and check it out.

The Lacemakers of Glenmara - Heather Barbieri

A while back I had read some reviews of Heather Barbieri's book The Lacemakers of Glenmara and was dying to read it myself. So when I was asked to join the TLC Book tour for this book I jumped at the chance. I'm currently on vacation to see family in Colorado and read half the book on the plane and the other half the next day. This is a perfect summer read.


The story:

Kate Robinson's mother always told her bad things happen in threes. So when her mother passes away, her boyfriend leaves her for a skinny model, and her new clothing line bombs, she just has to get away.

She decides to take a journey to her family's ancestral homeland of Ireland. She manages to wind up in the small untourist town of Glenmara by the sea. Some of the women there take Kate under their wing and she joins their lace making society and starts to learn the trade. Kate also has the wonderful idea creating beautiful lingerie with the lace patterns. And then there's Sullivan... But everything doesn't go as planned. Not all the townsfolk of Glenmara approve of Kate and many have deep secrets of their own.

I totally enjoyed this novel. It helped that it wasn't just narrated by Kate but also by various people of Glenmara. Each character had their own struggles, problems, and concerns but Kate's arrival changes each one of their lives. Also, since I'm a newbie knitter, I enjoyed reading about the lace making itself. I really wanted to see the patterns they were creating and love to know how to do it myself.  And I"m just a sucker for anything Irish, so this book was the perfect vacation read.

As a side note, Heather Barbieri mentions a few books in her novel - favorite books of Kate's and others and I kept wanting to write them down so I could read them in the future. When I went to Heather's website, I noticed she had a link to her favorite books. How cool is that?

For more reviews for Heather Barbieri's book, check out the TLC Book Tour:

Tuesday, June 22nd: Life and Times of a "New" New Yorker
Thursday, June 24th: Books and Movies
Monday, June 28th: Bookalicio.us
Tuesday, June 29th: Drey's Library
Wednesday, June 30th: The Tome Traveler
Friday, July 2nd: Redlady's Reading Room
Wednesday, July 7th: Raging Bibliomania
Thursday, July 8th: Savvy Verse and Wit
Monday, July 12th: Bloggin' 'Bout Books
Tuesday, July 13th: Chefdruck Musings
Wednesday, July 14th: My Two Blessings
Thursday, July 15th: Diary of an Eccentric

1001 Update - The Thirty-Nine Steps

Earlier this year I decided to read John Buchan's classic novel The Thirty-Nine Steps.  Apart from it being on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list, it is also a Broadway show that the hubby and I had wanted to see before we left NYC.  I'd like to say we got the chance to see it, but we were a day late.  They had closed down for a period as they were moving venues.  Sigh.

But! PBS had a showing that weekend of a newer BBC version of the movie (more about the films below) so we still got our date night.

But you want to know what the book's about, right?  Here's how it starts out:

"I returned from the City about three o'clock on that May afternoon pretty well disgusted with life."

Richard Hannay has just returned to London after being in Rhodesia.  It's May 1914 and Europe is on the brink of WWI.  However, Richard is bored:

"Here was I, thirty-seven years old, sound in wind and limb, with enough money to have a good time, yawning my head off all day."

After returning home one night, a man approaches him at his apartment door and basically invites himself in.  This man, Schudder, lives upstairs, is an American from Kentucky, and has learned a bit too much of European politics.  Schudder tells him:

'Pardon,' he said, 'I'm a bit rattled tonight. You see, I happen at this moment to be dead.'

They sit down and Schudder tells him some things, secret things involving a German conspiracy to kill the Greek Premier.  Schudder's life is in danger and he's had to fake his death to get away from the bad guys.  He also has to stop the conspiracy.  Richard Hannay, while not sure if this man is crazy or not, decides to help him. However, a few days later, Hannay returns to find Schudder dead in his apartment.  Unable to call the police for fear of being accused of Schudder's death, Hannay takes Schudder's notebook, flees the scene, and must elude Schudder's murderers, stop the German conspiracy, and basically save the day.  Oh, and you'll just have to read the book to figure out what the 39 steps refers to.

I absolutely loved this little spy story.  I read the book for free online over at Project Gutenberg.  This is the first of five novels about Hannay.  They are short but chock full of adventure.  Hannay also kind of cracks me up since he's so obviously not your normal hero.  

On to the movie:  The new BBC version was very very good.  I love that Rupert Penry-Jones was cast as Hannay:

If you've seen the newest version of Jane Austen's Persuasion (my review), you'll recognize Rupert.  I've got a slight crush on him because of that...and he's in the BBC MI-5 (also called Spooks) series which I also love.  Side note: If you like Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, Rupert Penry-Jones, or Richard Armitage - check MI-5 out.

The book and movie both have all those lovely little spy elements that I love.  Apparently Alfred Hitchcock thought so too.  He made a movie version of The Thirty-Nine Steps in 1935.  I haven't watched his version yet. 

I love how the modern BBC version reminded me of the old classic spy movies.  Notice the lovely plane scene in the modern version:

Doesn't this remind you of the 1959 movie North by Northwest with Cary Grant...also a Hitchcock film?

One of the things I love about blogging is that while writing posts, I find the most interesting posts on other blogs.  Check these out:

Lights, Camera, History - Post on BBC film version (one of my favorite blogs on period films)

Redtree Times - Post on Alfred Hitchcock version 

Second Chance - Jane Green

I've had Jane Green's novel, Second Chance, on my bookshelf for a while now and I thought now was the time to read it. I needed something girly to read. I won a box of books a while back from Reading Group Choices and this was one of those books.

I've never read anything by Jane Green before and for some reason I thought her books would be a little too fluffy for me.  I am so glad I picked Second Chances up. It was the perfect read for me right now.

The story:

Holly, Olivia, Paul, and Saffron are mourning the death of their close friend Tom.  They were all close friends when they were school mates in London, but now they are in their late thirties and are all in various stages of life and relationships.  Most of them haven't seen each other in years and had mainly kept in contact with each other through Tom.

Holly is fairly wealthy, has two adorable kids, and an unhealthy relationship with her distant lawyer husband.  Olivia is single after dating a man for the better part of a decade and runs an animal shelter. Paul is married to the beautiful and successful Anna, but they have been unable to have children which is making Anna miserable.   Finally, Saffron is becoming a successful movie star and is moving on up, but her relationship with a very famous star who is married could bring her ruin.

Tom was always there for each one of them and because of his death, they are all reuniting once again.  And maybe because of Tom, they will all get their second chance at happiness.

--------

I loved that this story was set in England for some reason.  While the story rotates around all the friends, it does center the most on Holly.  While she is a character that I sometimes want to slap, I am still very sympathetic.  I enjoyed reading about each character. Each character appears to have the perfect life, but each character is going through their own struggles.  This book made me think a lot and ultimately be insanely thankful for my own lovely husband and marriage.

I WOULD normally do a giveaway for this book, BUT I'm seeing my beautiful sister later this month and want her to read it first.

**Has anyone read this or other Jane Green books?  Did you like them? I have to say I adore this book cover and noticed that her other covers are similar.  The photo doesn't do the shimmer of the green justice.

**I keep trying to picture, if this was a movie, who would play each character.  Please pitch in any ideas you have. Here's what I have so far:

Holly (Rachel Wiesz or Kate Beckinsale)

Saffron (Sienna Miller)

Olivia (Emily Blunt)

Couldn't find any reviews of Second Chance in my Google Reader so here's a couple reviews of her other books:

S. Krishna's Books - Dune Road
A Novel Menagerie - The Beach House

The Mighty Queens of Freeville - Amy Dickinson

I was asked a short while ago by Nicole from Bookreporter, if I wanted to read and review the book The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson. I jumped on the chance because I've heard Amy Dickinson on my favorite NPR podcast, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.  She also replaced Ann Landers for the Chicago Tribune and writes the famous advice column Ask Amy.

The subtitle of this book is "A Story of Surprising Second Chances" and what a wonderful little memoir this is.  Amy tells her story of getting married, divorced, becoming a single mom of young daughter, moving and living in London, D.C., and Chicago, and often going back home to Freeville, New York where she is surrounded by the strong women in her family who help her through it all.

The book is just over two hundred pages and is the perfect length with the perfect amount of humor and heartache.  I gobbled it right up.  I've never had a baby or been through a divorce, but this summer, after moving from NYC to Kentucky, trying to find a job and supporting my husband going back to school, this was exactly the type of book I needed to read.  This book made me laugh, want to cry, and wish I had my own Freeville.

For more info, you can check out her site My Second Chance Stories.

The Chicago Tribune and Amy Dickinson are also asking for people to write in their Second Chance stories.  Head on over to their website if you want to participate.

Amy Dickinson is also on Facebook and Twitter if you'd like to know more about her.

The Queen of Palmyra - Minrose Gwin (Giveaway!)

I was asked to join the TLC Book Tour for Minrose Gwin's novel The Queen of Palmyra. I'll have to admit that I was a bit hesitant because this is not normally the type of book I choose to read. But since I moved to the sort-of-South, I thought I'd broaden my horizons in reading. All I can say is Thank Goodness I did because this is an amazing novel. I sucked it right up and immediately gave it Five Stars on GoodReads.

The Queen of Palmyra takes place that fateful summer in 1963 in Mississippi when temperatures got to record breaking highs, JFK and Medgar Evers were assassinated, and the country's racial tensions were at an all time high.

Florence Forrest is a young white girl and it is the summer between her fourth and fifth year in school. However, she is way behind in studies because for the past year, her father and mother have been on the "lam" as she calls it, traveling around while her father unsuccessfully tries to hold one job after another. They finally return home to Millwood, Mississippi and that's when things start to crumble.

Florence's father, unbeknownst to her, is part of the Klan which is something her mother abhors. However, her father is a bit of a terror and as their marriage slowly crumbles, he tries to keep Florence close by telling her stories that have deeper darker meanings. Her mother manages a quite successful cake business but Florence starts being pawned off more and more on others, mainly Zenie, her grandmother's black housemaid. That summer, Zenie's college student niece, Eva, comes to stay with them. Florence is made a witness to all and must finally grow up and choose for herself which path she must follow.

I found this to be such an absorbing novel. I normally don't choose to read novels with such obvious serious topics. In the past, I normally tried to read lighter books for an escapism type of enjoyment. But I'm finding that more and more I'm steering toward books with tougher topics. This is definitely one of those novels.

Florence is such an interesting character because of her obvious lack of understanding but she observes everything and tries to figure out what is going on. She's such a neglected character. She is left to fend for herself often and goes long periods of time without food, a bath, or a a change of clothes.

I have to say that all the other characters were so well written as well. Her father, though while a terrifying character, is flawed and realistic. Her mother refuses to stand up and chooses to escape. Zenie and Eva were my favorite characters. Zenie, named after Zenobia the Queen of Palmyra, tells Florence stories about the Queen. While a good influence on Florence, Zenie views the care-taking of Florence as just another job and often refers to the girl as "it". Eva...well you'll just have to read the story to find out about Eva.

I keep wanting to blab about the book so I think this would make a perfect Book Club book. While I've never read The Help, I have read The Color Purple and Their Eyes Were Watching God.

***Would you recommend any books like this that are all absorbing?

The TLC Book Tour Stops:

Tuesday, May 4th: five borough book review
Wednesday, May 5th: The Bluestocking Society
Monday, May 10th: Rundpinne
Tuesday, May 11th: Natty Michelle

Wednesday, May 12th: Pam's Perspective

Wednesday, May 12th: My Reading Room
Wednesday, May 19th: Staircase Wit
Thursday, May 20th: Lit and Life
Tuesday, May 25th: Dolce Bellezza
Wednesday, May 26th: Take Me Away
Thursday, May 27th: Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker
Monday, May 31st: Green Jello

Tuesday, June 1st: Crazy for Books

More reviews:
Devourer of Books

This is Herbert Schmalz's 19th Century painting of the Queen of Palmyra.

You can also listen to Minrose Gwin talk about her book over at Book Club Girl

Now for the giveaway: I have an extra copy of The Queen of Palmyra. All you have to do is leave a comment, a way to contact you, and answer the question is asked just above. The giveaway is open through June 11th and like always, my contest is open international so good luck!

Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann

Last night I finished reading Colum McCann's novel Let the Great World Spin. It won the 2009 National Book Award and I can see why. When I first heard about this book with it's NYC setting, I wanted to get my hands on it. So of course when I was asked to join in the book tour for TLC Book Tours I was ecstatic.

 Let me start my synopsis by quoting a piece from the novel: It had never occurred to me before but everything in New York is built upon another thing, nothing is entirely by itself, each thing as strange as the last, and connected.

I love this quote. It depicts New York City AND the novel so very well. Most of the book takes place or focuses on NYC, 1974. We start the story centered around two Irish brothers in the Bronx. The story then skips perspectives, darting around the city but each story is somehow connected to each other. Pivoting in almost each story is the August event of Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the Twin Towers.

When I first heard about this book, I thought it was going to be a series of interconnected short stories. That's not really what it is. It's a full novel with various perspectives. Front and center is the story of Corrigan, an Irish man of God who moves to the Bronx to work with people in need. Think of Corrigan as an odd modern Francis of Assisi. Corrigan's story is mainly told through the eyes of his brother but we hear from nearby prostitutes as well. Then the story skips to others: an Upper East Side wife, a wealthy judge, a single black mother who's lost her son in Vietnam, an artist who's fifteen minutes has come and gone, and many others.

 I can't tell you all the voices in the story without giving away some of the pivotal story, but it's all interconnected. Just like the city. I remember living there and even though there are so many many people, the city hummed as one. If it was a bleak rainy day, everyone was bleak. If it was a beautiful sunny Spring day, everyone perked up. But what intrigued me was looking back into the past life of NYC and it's people. This glimpse in 1974 is not pretty. People were used to being mugged, seeing prostitutes on street corners, and drugged up people daily. I remember hearing stories from my neighbors about heroin needles on the street and the drug running from Jersey. While NYC today is a much cleaner and safer place to be, living there I often turned a blind eye to the darker aspects of the city. I remember one winter's day, seeing a homeless man on the subway going around stealing the coats of other homeless people sleeping on the benches. He had about five coats and was picking up his sixth. But what do you do? I'm not proud to say what I did (turn a blind eye) and what Corrigan would have done is not the same thing.

Was this book good? Yes. Was it a difficult read? Yes. Does it make me think? Yes.

 I'll end this review with something Colum McCann wrote at the end:

The world spins. We stumble on. It is enough.

Colum McCann's TLC Book Tour Stops:
Monday, May 3rd: Stephanie's Written Word
Tuesday, May 4th: S. Krishna's Books 
Wednesday, May 5th: The Literate Housewife Review 
Thursday, May 6th: Savvy Verse & Wit
Friday, May 7th: Luxury Reading 
Monday, May 10th: She is Too Fond of Books
Tuesday, May 11th: My Friend Amy
Wednesday, May 12th: The Brain Lair
Thursday, May 13th: Diary of an Eccentric 
Friday, May 14th: Lit and Life 
Monday, May 17th: Book Club Classics
Tuesday, May 18th: Beth Fish Reads
Wednesday, May 19th: Book Chatter
Thursday, May 20th: Evening All Afternoon
Friday, May 21st: Brunette on a Budget
Monday, May 24th: Ready When You Are, C.B. 
Tuesday, May 25th: The New Dork Review 
Wednesday, May 26th: Life and Times of a "New" New Yorker
Thursday, May 27th: Nonsuch Book
Friday, May 28th: Caribousmom

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

One of my favorite books I read last year was Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. I am an unabashed Gaiman fan. I even participated in the Dream King Challenge. So you can imagine how unbelievably excited I was when I won a limited edition copy of The Graveyard Book from Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. If you've never checked out Pat's website, I encourage you to do so. Even if you aren't a "fantasy" genre reader, there are so many interesting books listed you'll probably find a ton of new books to read.

Anyway. On to The Graveyard Book. I actually read the story online as an E-book from the library. I really didn't want to mess up the limited edition book so after I read the story I went back through and checked out all the lovely artwork.

If you haven't yet read this wonderful story, I'll give you a little synopsis. The story opens up to an assassin who enters a family's home and kills the entire family...well almost. He doesn't kill the youngest Owen. The baby is spirited to a nearby graveyard where the ghosts become his guardians and he is dubbed "Nobody Owens." He learns tricks and stories from these ghosts but eventually he must grow up, leave the cemetery and find out who killed his family and why.

I loved this book. Bod, as Nobody is dubbed, is so curious and smart and I just fell in love with him. The ghosts are amazingly well portrayed. It's one of those books where the words combined with the few illustrations make it just visually stunning. I could imagine all the scenes just as if I was watching it.

Which made me excited to go to my illustrated version. How gorgeous is the cover?

The front flap opens to show Bod as a baby walking down the assassin's knife. Loved it.

I loved how Bod was drawn. I thought he looked pretty much how I envisioned him.

Each chapter heading has a beautiful two page illustration:

This edition was made by Subterranean Press. I get their email newsletters. They do some gorgeous work. It looks like The Graveyard Book edition has been sold out but they have a limited edition of Smoke and Mirrors.

If you haven't read this Newbery Award winning book yet, please go out and read it.

Life After Yes - Aidan Donnelley Rowley (and giveaway!)

Last year I was asked to read book called Life After Yes by Aidan Donnelley Rowley. Since it wasn't published yet, I was asked to wait to review it until a much closer publication date (May 18th). Then I heard TLC Book Tours was promoting this book and I asked to be part of the tour since I wanted to review it as well.

The story revolves around Quinn (actually Prudence Quinn O'Malley) who is a young attorney living in New York City. She is living the life and is dating an attractive man who whisks her away to Paris. He then proposes, she accepts...and then she starts to doubt.

Now let me say right here that this is not normally my type of book. In fact, after the first page or two I was asking my self "Why did I decide to read this? It's so cliche!". But then something odd happened. Quinn thought the same thing. And that got me interested in the story. I wondered what was going to happen to a woman who supposedly has everything she should wish for but who suddenly doubts it all.

While I didn't always like Quinn and often wondered why in the world she was doing the things she was doing, I was sympathetic. I mean, I was never one to imagine my wedding day or dream about bridal dresses so I kind of understood her fight or flight reaction. Another interesting thing is that the story takes places just after 9/11 and Quinn's father was one of the casualties that day. I had lost my father almost ten years before I was married, but I think it's always one of those things a girl will think about: the fact that her father isn't there to walk her down the aisle.

So this wasn't a typical romance/chick-lit type of book. It had it's dark moments but there was a surprising amount of fun moments as well such as the witty best friend (cliche as well but hey...).

**Side note: Harper Collins asked me and Nicole from Linus's Blanket to come and chat with Aidan Donnelley Rowley and other Harper employees who had read the book. Aidan was a wonderful host and answered all our questions and chatted away with us. She was born in Manhattan, is a lawyer, mom and also has a great blog called Ivy League Insecurities if you want to check her out more.

**Another side note:
I have an extra copy to give away to one lucky winner. The giveaway is open internationally through May 25th and all you have to do is:
1) Leave a comment with your email or blog for contact purposes
2) Tell me what about this story interests you.

For more reviews check out the TLC Book Tour:

Tuesday, May 18th: Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker
Thursday, May 20th: Confessions of a Bookaholic
Monday, May 24th: Books Like Breathing
Wednesday, May 26th: Luxury Reading
Thursday, May 27th: Rundpinne
Tuesday, June 1st: Crazy for Books
Wednesday, June 2nd: Cindy’s Love of Books
Thursday, June 3rd: Write Meg
Tuesday, June 8th: Heart 2 Heart
Wednesday, June 9th: Thoughts From an Evil Overload
Thursday, June 10th: Book Club Classics!

More reviews:

Confessions of a Real Librarian

Linus's Blanket