The Friday 56: 5-28-10

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.And
*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

And as you look longer, if you let yourself see, the subtleties will clamor to show themselves. Doubts, compromises, and disappointments little and big--those usually reside around the eyes, but there are no rules. The hopes usually lurk around the mouth, but so does bitterness and tenacity. (My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares, p56 uncorrected proof)







My Name is Memory
Publisher/Publication Date: Riverhead Books, June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59448-758-3
324 pages

Friday Finds: 5-28-2010

Here are my finds this week!

Remarkable Creatures

by Tracy Chevalier

In the year of the 150th anniversary of Origin of Species, set in a town where Jane Austen was a frequent visitor, Tracy Chevalier once again shows her uncanny sense for the topical. In the early nineteenth century, a windswept beach along the English coast brims with fossils for those with the eye!

From the moment she's struck by lightning as a baby, it is clear Mary Anning is marked for greatness. When she uncovers unknown dinosaur fossils in the cliffs near her home, she sets the scientific world alight, challenging ideas about the world's creation and stimulating debate over our origins. In an arena dominated by men, however, Mary is soon reduced to a serving role, facing prejudice from the academic community, vicious gossip from neighbours, and the heartbreak of forbidden love. Even nature is a threat, throwing bitter cold, storms, and landslips at her.

Luckily Mary finds an unlikely champion in prickly, intelligent Elizabeth Philpot, a middle-class spinster who is also fossil-obsessed. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty and barely suppressed envy. Despite their differences in age and background, Mary and Elizabeth discover that, in struggling for recognition, friendship is their strongest weapon.

Remarkable Creatures is Tracy Chevalier's stunning new novel of how one woman's gift transcends class and gender to lead to some of the most important discoveries of the nineteenth century. Above all, it is a revealing portrait of the intricate and resilient nature of female friendship.

My Husband's Sweethearts

by Bridget Asher

When Lucy discovered that her charming, cheating husband was dying, she came home, opened up his little black book, and decided she wasn't going through this alone. After all, Artie's sweethearts were there for the good times - is it fair that Lucy should have to manage the hard times herself? In this wise, wickedly funny new novel, Lucy dials up the women in Artie's black book and invites them for one last visit. The last thing she expects is that any will actually show up.

But one by one, they do show up: The one who hates him. The one who owes her life to him. The one he turned into a lesbian, and the one he taught to dance. And among them is a visitor with the strangest story of all: the young man who may or may not be Artie's long-lost son.

For Lucy, the jaw-dropping procession of women is an education in the man she can't forgive and couldn't leave. And as the women find themselves sharing secrets and sharing tears, they start to discover kindred spirits - and even something that's a lot like family. But Lucy knows one thing for certain: the biggest surprises are yet to come..

Full of heart, Bridget Asher's unforgettable novel is about mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and the deep friendships between women. It's about sweet liars and tenderhearted cheaters - about loving those we love for reasons we can't always fully rationalize, and about the sort of forgiveness that can change someone's entire life in the most unexpected and extraordinary ways.

What's Happening Wednesday?

Welcome to What's Happening Wednesdays?

I always have things going on during the week - or things going on with my kids - just stuff that I think I should post - but never seem to have anywhere to post it! I would love it if others would do posts about whatever is going on with them that they want to share - whether it be a gripe or good news - it will all be welcome here!

We discovered that we had some baby birds living outside our back door. 

I sure hope that our dogs are not outside when mama bird "pushes" them out of the nest!

Protective mama bird now swoops at us anytime we go into the backyard!

Saturday night my husband and I went to see REO Speedwagon.  He had bought the tickets for me for my birthday back in March.  The concet was cancelled then because of illness - They did one of my favorite songs - I Can't Fight This Feeling - took me back to college and a certain young man (who is now happily married to some one else, as am I!)  Isn't that what is so great about music?  The memories that it is able to envoke?

And since I am talking about birthday presents - I have been meaning to share the song that my daughter wrote for me for my birthday - so here you go - an original by Tori.

So What's Happening with you this week?

Waiting on Wednesday: 5-26-2010

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Let's Take the Long Way Home:

A Memoir of Friendship

by Gail Caldwell

Publication Date: Aug 10, 2010

“It’s an old, old story: I had a friend and we shared everything, and then she died and so we shared that, too.”

So begins this gorgeous memoir by Pulitzer Prize winner Gail Caldwell, a testament to the power of friendship, a story of how an extraordinary bond between two women can illuminate the loneliest, funniest, hardest moments in life, including the final and ultimate challenge.

They met over their dogs. Both writers, Gail Caldwell and Caroline Knapp, author of Drinking: A Love Story, became best friends, talking about everything from their shared history of a struggle with alcohol, to their relationships with men and colleagues, to their love of books. They walked the woods of New England and rowed on the Charles River, and the miles they logged on land and water became a measure of the interior ground they covered. From disparate backgrounds but with striking emotional similarities, these two private, fiercely self-reliant women created an attachment more profound than either of them could ever have foreseen.

The friendship helped them define the ordinary moments of life as the ones worth cherishing. Then, several years into this remarkable connection, Knapp was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

With her signature exquisite prose, Caldwell mines the deepest levels of devotion and grief in this moving memoir about treasuring and losing a best friend. Let’s Take the Long Way Home is a celebration of life and of the transformations that come from intimate connection—and it affirms, once again, why Gail Caldwell is recognized as one of our bravest and most honest literary voices. (Amazon)

Infinite Days

(Vampire Queen Novels)

by Rebecca Maizel

Publication Date: August 3, 2010

She longs to be like everybody else. But her history is written in blood...

Lenah Beaudonte is in many ways your average sixteen-year-old: the “new girl,” she struggles to fit in enough to survive at school, and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy captain of the lacrosse team. But her challenges are beyond what anyone could have expected. Lenah just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire turned human…

She’s just awakened from a century-long hibernation and each passing hour hears another tick of the time-bomb, counting down to the moment when her abandoned vampire coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping, and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as the passing moments allow. But, to do so, she must first answer the ominous questions at hand: Can an ex-vampire survive in a time and place so alien to her? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm? (Amazon)

Waiting on Wednesdays is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

What are you waiting for?

The Last Christian by David Gregory (Blog Tour and Giveaway!)

The Last Christian

by David Gregory

In the future, it's possible to live forever-- but at what cost?

A.D. 2088. Missionary daughter Abigail Caldwell emerges from the jungle for the first time in her thirty-four years, the sole survivor of a mysterious disease that killed her village. Abby goes to America, only to discover a nation where Christianity has completely died out. A curious message from her grandfather assigns her a surprising mission: re-introduce the Christian faith in America, no matter how insurmountable the odds.

But a larger threat looms. The world's leading artificial intelligence industrialist has perfected a technique for downloading the human brain into a silicon form. Brain transplants have begun, and with them comes the potential of eliminating physical death altogether -- but at what expense?

As Abby navigates a society grown more addicted to stimulating the body than nurturing the soul, she and Creighton Daniels, a historian troubled by his father's unexpected death, become unwitting targets of powerful men who will stop at nothing to further their nefarious goals. Hanging in the balance -- the spiritual future of all humanity.

In this fast-paced thriller, startling near-future science collides with thought-provoking religious themes to create a spell-binding "what-if?" novel.

GIVEAWAY!

I am going to make my giveaways easy for summer (quicker for both of us!)  Just leave a comment  with your email address. 

This giveaway if open to U.S. only and will end on June 15th.

Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (Book Review)

Title: Marked
Authors: P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

My Synopsis: Zoey Redbird is leading a somewhat normal, if non-desirable teenage life in Oklahoma when she is "marked". Marked means that she will be leaving everything that she knows to take up residence at the House of Night and learn how to become a vampire as her body changes.  Many fledglings, as new vampires are called, do not survive the changes and die.

Zoey never really felt like she fit in at her human school or even with her family - especially since her mom remarried a few years earlier.  She has a secret hope that at the House of Night she will finally fit in.  Her mark fills in overnight though and this immediately sets her apart from the other fledglings.  This is usually something that happens over the course of their training.  Neferet has also become her mentor - and this is definitely a big thing.  Neferet is like the high priestess at the House of Night.

It doesn't take long for Zoey to make some friends - Stevie Ray - her roommate, Damien, and the twins (not really) Shaunee and Erin.  Then there is also Erik Night, someone for whom Zoey feels an instant attraction. 

On the other end of the specturm is Aphrodite.  She is currently the leader of the Dark Daughters - sort of the elite group at the House of Night, and thinks she is still Erik's girlfriend - even though he has made it very clear that they are through.  Hoping to intimidate Zoey, she invites her to one of their rituals.  Unfortunately, things don't work out exactly as Aphrodite had planned.  The things that Zoey is learning about herself though also leaves her feeling unsettled and unsure - especially of her mark and what makes her special.

I cannot believe that it has taken me so long to start this series!  I had given this first book to my sister, and after receiving Burned, knew that I had to get it back and get reading!  I was sucked in pretty quickly - but who doesn't like a story about beautiful (mean) rich girl vs beautiful (but thinks she is ordinary) nice girl - Then throw in a little romance, some good friends, and vampires and it is a win-win! 

I am lucky that I have the first four books of this series (thank you Paperbackswap!) and also have the sixth!  So I can keep reading and hopefully get a hold of the fifth book before I reach that point!


Marked (House of Night, Book 1)
Publisher/Publication Date: St. Martin's Griffin, May 2007
ISBN: 978-0-312-36026-9
306 pages

Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell (Book Review)

Title: Rumor Has It
Author: Jill Mansell
Publisher: Sourcebooks

My synopsis:  Tilly and Erin have been friends since college - but after Tilly went to London and Erin went home to Roxborough to care for an ailing mother.  After her boyfriend moves out of their flat and leaves her with the rent, Tilly decides it is time for a change.  When visiting Erin for the weekend she stumbles across an ad for a job - a "girl Friday" and decides to give it a shot.

Strong-arming her way in for an interview, she meets Max Dineen - interior designer, father of Lou, and decidedly gay.  He had been married to Kaye, Lou's mom, but finally had to admit that he was gay and so they divorced.  He was looking for someone to help him with his business and raising his teenage daughter.  Lou had lived in California with her mother for awhile, but decided that she missed this home too much.  Max and Tilly hit it off famously and the deal was sealed.

Tilly meets Jack Lucas soon after moving to Roxborough and is warned by everyone that he is a "love 'em and leave 'em" type of guy and that she would just be a notch on his bedpost.  She does a good job of keeping her distance until she learns that Jack had been engaged and that his fiance had died.  She continues to get to know him, and despite herself, the attraction grows.  She continues to push him away, telling herself that regardless of what he says, she would not be different than any other girl. Finally with a weekend with Max and Lou out of town, she decides to accept a date with Jack. Unfortunately Jack's almost in-laws show up that night and he has to call and cancel.  For Tilly, that was the last straw - she feels she was saved from certain disaster.

Jill Mansell gives you a whole cast of wacky characters to round out the story.  There is Erin, Tilly's friend. Fergus, Erin's boyfriend who is married but separated from Stella - Scary Stella as some call her.  She has a way of being mean to just about everybody but tries to use the reasoning that she is just telling them the truth.  Kaye, Max's ex-wife also joins the fray when she arrives from America - having been put on "trial by tabloid"  and losing her job on a TV show. Oh - and we mustn't forget Betty, Max and Lou's dog!

I always enjoy reading one of Ms. Mansell's books.  This one was no exception.  The characters are fun and full of life and the books are always very humorous.  If you are looking for a good British chick lit book/author - you need look no further.  I am definitely a fan!

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Sourcebooks in exchange for my unbiased review.~

Rumor Has It
Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks Landmark, May 1 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3750-8
404 pages

YOU ARE A WINNER!

Well - you are if your name is below!

Winners of Glorious by Bernice McFadden -
#2 ossmcalc/Christine
#35 - Anita Yancey

Winner of Glaen by Fred Lybrand
#22 ChristyJan

Winners of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
#5 - Anonymous/two of a kind
#12 - Christine H.
#8 - thaeter7

Winner of the Window Cling from Digital Room is Steve Capell!

Congrats winners!

Play Dead by Ryan Brown (Book Review)

Title: Play Dead
Author: Ryan Brown
Publisher: Gallery

About the book: For the first time in Killington High School history, the Jackrabbits football team is one win away from the district championship where it will face its most vicious rival, the Elmwood Heights Badgers. On the way to the game, the Jackrabbits' bus plunges into a river, killing every player except for bad-boy quarterback Cole Logan who is certain the crash was no accident -- given that Cole himself was severely injured in a brutal attack by three ski-masked men earlier that day. Bent on payback, Cole turns to a mysterious fan skilled in black magic to resurrect his teammates. But unless the undead Jackrabbits defeat their murderous rival on the field, the team is destined for hell. In a desperate race against time, with only his coach's clever daughter, Savannah Hickman, to assist him, Cole must lead his zombie team to victory. . .in a final showdown where the stakes aren't just life or death -- but damnation or salvation.

My Thoughts: I enjoyed reading this book.  To me, it was a very tongue-in-cheek jab at football in Texas - where one team is taking enough steroids to choke a horse and the other team is brought back from the dead for "one last game".   And the fact that the opposing team would try to take out Cole by injuring him and when that didn't work try to take out the team.  At the same time there was a lot of gore (they are zombies) and a lot of humor.

"But did you get a good look at those guys, Logan?"
"So they're a little pale. . .no one's gonna expect them to look tan and rested."
"Pale? Cole, one of those boys had a cleat poking out of his kidney.  They don't look pale, they look dead."
"Well then, we'll fix 'em up a little. What time does this memorial thing start?"
"Five p.m."
"Perfect. It'll be getting dark by then, make it harder for people to get a good look at the guys. Plus that gives us plenty of time to clean them up."
"Clean them up? I'm not going anywhere near those things."
"Look, this isn't a big deal. We'll line them up and hose them down, for godsake. You can work the hose and I'll pull out whatever's poking out of 'em. They won't feel a thing. Hell, they can't feel a thing." (p188, Play Dead)

Now maybe I just have a twisted sense of humor, but I found that funny! And of course, every good Zombie story has to have some romance right?  Chemistry does build between Savannah and Cole, even though they barely spoke to each other before the bus accident.  They both realize that the other person is more than they appear and begin to open up.  Savannah and her dad (the coach) have a history that is not known in Killington, but explains a lot to Cole when Savannah finally tells him their history.  I felt like I was left hanging a little at the end as there was an unspoken (written) exchange between Cole and Savannah and you are not told what it was!  All in all though, it was a fun read and I would recommend it.  I will be passing this book along to my daughter.

Play Dead
Publisher/Publication Date: Gallery, May 4, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4391-7130-1
344 pages

New trailer - Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Infinity: Chronicles of Nick

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Publication Date: May 25, 2010

**Note to Dark-Hunter fans. The Chronicles of Nick *is* Nick's real and true past.

At fourteen, Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything about the world around him. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is the stuff of legends. . .until the night when his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior who has more fighting skills than Chuck Norris, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity.

Nick quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one: a world where the captain of the football team is a werewolf and the girl he has a crush on goes out at night to stake the undead.

But before he can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students are turning into flesh eating zombies. And he’s next on the menu.

As if starting high school isn't hard enough. . .now Nick has to hide his new friends from his mom, his chainsaw from the principal, and keep the zombies and the demon Simi from eating his brains, all without getting grounded or suspended. How in the world is he supposed to do that?

Read an interview and excerpts of Infinity.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

What are you reading on Mondays is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey - You can hook up with the Mr. Linky there with your own post - but be sure and let me know what you are reading too!  What a week - busy busy!  The next couple are only going to be worse with all the end of school activities and my oldest daughter graduating from high school.  I can't believe she is that old - I can't believe I am that old!

I was asked this week what a bathroom book was - simply - it is a book that I leave in the bathroom to read - sometimes it is the only place I can get any quiet!  If the book is REALLY good - I will bring it out and replace it with something else.  It is usually a book that I don't have to have done quickly.

CURRENTLY READING:
1. Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell
2. Glaen: A Novel Message on Romance, Love and Relating by Fred Lybrand

E-BOOK:
1. This World We Live In (The Last Survivors, Book 3) by Susan Beth Pfeffer

BATHROOM BOOK:
1. Betrayed (House of Night, Book 2) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

AUDIO BOOKS:
1. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
2. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

NEW THIS WEEK:
1. The Last Christian: A Novel by David Gregory
2. A Woman's Walk in Grace: God's Pathway to Spiritual Growth by Catherine Martin
3. My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares
4. Strange Neighbors by Ashlyn Chase
5. I Love This Bar by Carolyn Brown
6. The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel
7. Never Let You Go by Erin Healy

OLD BOOKS REVIEWED LAST WEEK:
1. Read, Remember, Recommend: A Reading Journal For Book Lovers by Rachelle Rogers Knight


BOOKS READ AND REVIEWED LAST WEEK:
1. This Fine Life by Eva Marie Everson

BOOKS WAITING TO BE REVIEWED:
1. Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) by Stephenie Meyer
2. Heart of My Heart: 365 Reflections on the Magnitude and Meaning of Motherhood A Devotional by Kristin Armstrong
3. Play Dead by Ryan Brown
4. Marked: A House of Night Novel (House of Night Novels) by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

Ready - Set - Read!

My Mailbox (5/17-5/23)

In My Mailbox is hosted at The Story Siren. 

Mailbox Monday is hosted at The Printed Page . Please visit Kristi and Marcia  and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!

Hurricanes in Paradise

by Denise Hildreth

From the moment Riley Sinclair stepped onto Paradise Island, Bahamas, and into her new job as director of guest relations at a five-star resort, she felt the pieces of her once-broken life finally coming together. But the waters become choppy when Riley discovers that some who come to the Atlantis hotel arrive with more than just suitcases and suntan lotion in tow--they're accompanied by their lurking demons, paralyzing secrets, and overwhelming fears.

Riley and three women guests are in desperate but unknowing need of each other, eventually forging unlikely yet powerful friendships. With a hurricane headed straight for the island, together they embark on a journey of laughter and lunacy, heartache and healing.

Heart of Lies: A Novel

by M.L. Malcolm

Leo Hoffman was born with a gift for languages. When his dreams for the future are destroyed by World War I, the dashing young Hungarian attempts to use his rare talent to rebuild his life, only to find himself inadvertently embroiled in an international counterfeiting scheme. Suddenly Leo is wanted across the European continent for a host of crimes, including murder. Left with no options, he must escape to Shanghai with his lover, carrying with him a stolen treasure that could be his salvation. . . or his death warrant. But the gangsters who control the decadent Asian city have no intention of letting him outrun his past. And when the Japanese invade, one wrong move could cost Leo Hoffman everything he holds dear.

An epic tale of intrigue, passion, and adventure, Heart of Lies heralds the arrival of a remarkable writer.

The Knight Life: "Chivalry Ain't Dead"

Gentleman Cartoonist by Keith Knight

With his funny, fresh and offbeat worldview, cartoonist Keith Knight's irreverent and topical comics have surprised and delighted readers across the country. The creator of the award-winning comic The K Chronicles now presents a collection of his new nationally syndicated comic strip The Knight Life. Loosely based on Knight's life -- real and imaginary -- this provocative social and political satire skewers just about every subject that crosses his clever mind. From police brutality to the joy of bacon to the election of the first black president, these hilarious musings will have readers laughing and thinking (and laughing some more). Get ready to enjoy The Knight Life.

WHAT DID YOU FIND IN YOUR MAILBOX THIS WEEK?