RSS

Read-Along – Les Miserables

30 Aug

Thanks to Tien of Tien’s Blurb for hosting the above read-along.

I have to admit that I love the musical of Les Miserables, but I have never actually read the book. So with the upcoming new movie that is being released in December, I am excited to join in this read-along.

If anyone is interested in joining us, you can click on the Les Miserables image above and it will take you to the hosting blog. The schedule for the read-along is as follows:

15 Sept – 28 Sept: Fantine
29 Sept – 12 Oct: Cosette
13 Oct – 26 Oct: Marius
27 Oct – 9 Nov: Saint Denis
10 Nov – 23 Nov: Jean Valjean
1 Dec: Final Review

Tien will be using the Signet Classics version of the book available through Amazon Les Misérables (Signet Classics). I am still looking for a good kindle version to read – so ideas are welcome and I will post my version choice when I figure it out.

I look forward to chatting with people about it.

 
6 Comments

Posted by on August 30, 2012 in Read-Along

 

Tags: , , , ,

Review – Seriously…I’m Kidding – Ellen DeGeneres

30 Aug

Seriously…I’m Kidding
Author/Narrator: Ellen DeGeneres
Run Time: 3 hrs, 7 minutes

Book Description:
“Sometimes the greatest things are the most embarrassing.” Ellen Degeneres’ winning, upbeat candor has made her show one of the most popular, resilient and honored daytime shows on the air. (To date, it has won no fewer than 31 Emmys.) Seriously… I’m Kidding, Degeneres’ first book in eight years, brings us up to date about the life of a kindhearted woman who bowed out of American Idol because she didn’t want to be mean. Lively; hilarious; often sweetly poignant.

Review:
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan – I don’t know why, but I just don’t really like her. However, I did enjoy her narration of Dory in Finding Nemo…I mean, I walked around for days with “just keep swimming” stuck in my head…lol! However, when I was browsing the shelves at the library for a short-ish audiobook to fill in the time towards the end of a month, and I saw that this one was only 3 hours, I figured what the heck…why not.

I’ll also admit that authors for narrators typically don’t work for me because they don’t have the training that I feel they need in order to be successful. But I was proved wrong. Ellen’s narration had me in tears several times during this relatively short listen. I’m sure my co-workers were looking at me like I was insane because I was definitely laughing out loud.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was how she took it from a listeners perspective and said listeners, instead of readers…she even devoted a chapter to random noises just for the audiobook people (and no I’m not kidding about that). Either way, I would recommend this for a quick, lite listening, if you need a bit of humor to get through the day. Overall, I’d give it 3 stars

 
2 Comments

Posted by on August 30, 2012 in Book Review

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Review – Monique and the Mango Rains – Kris Holloway

29 Aug

Monique and the Mango Rains
Author: Kris Holloway & John Bidwell

Book Description:
Monique and the Mango Rains is the compelling story of a rare friendship between a young Peace Corps volunteer and a midwife who became a legend. Monique Dembele saved lives and dispensed hope in a place where childbirth is a life-and-death matter. This book tells of her unquenchable passion to better the lives of women and children in the face of poverty, unhappy marriages, and endless backbreaking work. Monique’s buoyant humor and willingness to defy tradition were uniquely hers. In the course of this deeply personal narrative, as readers immerse themselves in the rhythms of West African village life, they come to know Monique as friend, mother, and inspired woman.

Review:
Over the last few months, I have discovered that various peace corps memoirs are a trove of information for various countries in my around the world challenge, because they are often set in countries that don’t have all that many book set in them, or written about them. Monique and the Mango Rains was no exception – through it we are told of the friendship that developed over the course of the 2 years that Kris Holloway was assigned to Mali for her Peace Corps job, working with Monique, who was one of the few midwives in the area, and the one who had the highest success rate in working with the women and children.

For me, it was a look at two lives that were so vastly different growing up, that merged for that two year period, and then remained merged over the next several years. They never truly diverged from each other. I felt myself want to cheer with Monique and Kris when they helped save a baby from dying of malnutrition, or when they were able to replace the birthing house with funds provided by the Peace Corps. There was just so much to be learned through-out the course of the book. Ultimately through, there was a sad ending which is disclosed in the opening to the book and I felt myself tearing up as I read that.

This book is a quick read, but I highly recommend it if people would like an incite into life in Western Africa in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Monique and Kris’s story can be purchased from Amazon here: Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali (paperback). And personally, I’ll be donating the copy that I bought to the library because who knows, maybe a teenager reading this book will be inspired to join the Peace Corps just like Kris and maybe they’ll meet their own Monique.

 
6 Comments

Posted by on August 29, 2012 in Book Review

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Review – Cold Comfort – Quentin Bates (@graskeggur)

28 Aug

Cold Comfort
Author: Quentin Bates
Series: #2 in the Gunnhilder Mystery

Narrator: Davina Porter
Run Time: 12 hours, 12 min

Review Copy Provided by AudiobookJukebox Solid Gold Reviewer program

Book Description:
Officer Gunnhildur, recently promoted from her post in rural Iceland to Reykjavík’s Serious Crime Unit, is tasked with hunting down escaped convict Long Ommi, who has embarked on a spree of violent score-settling in and around the city. Meanwhile, she’s also investigating the murder of a fitness guru in her own city-center apartment. As Gunna delves into the cases, she unearths some unwelcome secrets and influential friends shared by both guru and convict. Set in an Iceland plagued by an ongoing financial crisis, Gunna has to take stock of the whirlwind changes that have swept through the country—and the fact that at the highest levels of power, the system’s endemic corruption still leads, inevitably, to murder.

Review:
I have to admit after reading the first book in the series, I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue. The author provided an interesting look into the world of financial crime, but for some reason it just didn’t really work for me. It wasn’t in the writing style, but rather the subject. However, I typically have a rule of trying at least 2 books in any series before deciding one way or another whether I’ll continue or not. So when the second book showed up as a review copy, I jumped on the chance to listen to it, and see if maybe that changed my level of enjoyment of the series (as it has been known to before – either for the good or the bad). And I was pleasantly surprised.

Cold Comfort pick up a few months after the events of Frozen Assets, and for me, it was like seeing into the lives of Gunnhildur and her family and friends. When it came to character development, I found that this installment had much more description and I felt like I got to know them. Having the narration of Davina Porter also helped, because I can only assume that she received training in how to say certain names and words in Icelandic – although since I don’t speak the language, i can’t say so for sure…The mystery is the story kept me guessing until the very end and the person who did it, wasn’t the one that I expected it to be.

I’ll have to admit that i have a certain bias when it comes to Davina Porter’s narration – to me, she is the epitome of an audiobook narrator and I judge many of the other books that I listen to against my experiences listening to her. And her narration of Cold Comfort didn’t disappoint. For a non-Icelandic speaker, the pronunciation of certain names/words sounded authentic (although, I would love to hear the authors take on that) and it helped me be able to visualize in my head how to sound them out in the future. Although Icelandic, Finnish or another Scandinavian language is on my to-learn pile for sometime in the future. Although I have to admit that a few times while I was listening, I thought that I picked up on more of an English accent than what I assume an Icelandic one would be – but it wasn’t enough to distract me from the narration.

I have been impressed with previous audiobooks released by AudioGO in the past and this one was no exception. I’ll definitely continue to look to them for more audiobooks in the future. All in all, I have to say that I was glad I continued with the series and hope to see book 3 in the near future (the author has the title posted to his website, so I can only hope). I would recommend this series to people who like the slower pace of Henning Mankell, vice the faster Steig Larsson, as well as anyone who likes James Thompson, although Bates isn’t quite as dark.

You can purchase the book from Amazon Cold Comfort: An Officer Gunnhildur Mystery (Officer Gunnhildur Mysteries) (Hardcover), Cold Comfort: An Officer Gunnhildur Mystery (Officer Gunnhildur Mysteries) (Kindle) or Cold Comfort: An Officer Gunnhildur Mystery (Audiobook). If can also be purchased from audible.com (account required).

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 28, 2012 in Book Review

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Recommend A…book with a character who plays a sport

27 Aug

Playing Hurt – Holly Schindler
Flux – March 8, 2011
Tradesize Paperback – 312 pages

Purchase from Amazon Playing Hurt (Paperback) or Playing Hurt (Kindle)

Star basketball player Chelsea “Nitro” Keyes had the promise of a full ride to college—and everyone’s admiration in her hometown. But everything changed senior year, when she took a horrible fall during a game. Now a metal plate holds her together and she feels like a stranger in her own family.

As a graduation present, Chelsea’s dad springs for a three-week summer “boot camp” program at a northern Minnesota lake resort. There, she’s immediately drawn to her trainer, Clint, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player who’s haunted by his own traumatic past. As they grow close, Chelsea is torn between her feelings for Clint and her loyalty to her devoted boyfriend back home. Will an unexpected romance just end up causing Chelsea and Clint more pain—or finally heal their heartbreak?

What I liked the most about this book wasn’t that it focused on the sport, but rather the recovery after getting hurt and it wasn’t idealized in a way that made no sense. You saw the pain the Chelsea was going through to try and regain herself, how she felt like she had lost a part of her. And you could see the same reflected in Clint. Although, I did want to beat them over the head a few times with dumb teenager stuff…but I figure that is the case in most YA…Overall, I gave it 3 stars and will be interested to check out more of the authors stuff in the future.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on August 27, 2012 in Recommend A...

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Deja Vu Review (1)

26 Aug

The Deja Vu Review is a weekly meme hosted by Brittany at The Book Addicts Guide. Its an opportunity to revisit old books you might have read before you launched your blog, but that you think should maybe still be highlighted.

A Book You Didn’t Enjoy as Much as You Thought You Would

For a while last year, everyone was raving about the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones. The first book in the series being First Grave on the Right. So I decided that I would reserve it at the library – since I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pay the price for either the hardcover or the kindle versions. Ultimately, I liked it, but didn’t love it, which for me is a 3 star review. It means that I would be curious to see where the series goes in the future, but that I would likely stick to borrowing the books from the library rather than using my limited book budget to buy them. However, it is a series that has grown on me overtime. The third one was by far my favorite so far, and it’ll be interesting to see where she goes with book 4.

First Grave on the Right
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: #1 in the Charley Davidson series
My Rating: 3/5 stars
Read: November 2011

 
2 Comments

Posted by on August 26, 2012 in Deja Vu Review

 

Feature & Follow (3)

24 Aug

Q: Worst cover? What is the worst cover of a book that you’ve read and loved?

When you first start reading in any new genre or sub-genre, you often ask others who already read in that genre for recommendations (or at least I do…). So when I first dipped my toes into reading m/m romance, almost 3 years ago, I did just that. There were several authors names that routinely started to come up in recommendations, as well as book titles. One of these was Crossing Borders by Z.A. Maxfield

Now theoretically, I guess, the cover could be a lot worse – I’ve seen them. But at the same time, this cover really put me off reading the book for the longest time. The individuals on the cover made me think that there was a huge age gap between the main characters, when really there was only like 8 years, and it was kind of skeevy in a way. It wasn’t until this book showed up as a group read that I actually picked it up and read it. I don’t ever remember laughing as hard as I did in a few scenes in this book and Z.A. Maxfield has become a favorite author of mine (in fact, I just finished reading one of her books last night before I went to sleep).

Runner-up: It Had To Be You – Susan Elizabeth Phillips and the boob cover…which they have thankfully since replaced…

 
20 Comments

Posted by on August 24, 2012 in Blog Hop, Feature & Follow

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Recommend A…Book By A Debut Author

20 Aug

Kiss the Morning Star – Elissa Janine Hoole
Amazon Children’s Publishing – May 15, 2012
Harcover – 240 pages

Purchase from Amazon Kiss the Morning Star (Hardcover) or Kiss the Morning Star (Kindle – or you can borrow for free as part of their Kindle Lending Library)

The summer after high-school graduation, a year after her mother’s tragic death, Anna has no plans – beyond her need to put a lot of miles between herself and the past. With forever friend Kat, a battered copy of Kerouac’s DHARMA BUMS, and a car with a dodgy oil filter, the girls set out on an epic road trip across the USA. Maybe somewhere along the way they’ll prove or disprove the existence of God. Maybe they’ll even get laid . . .

All I can say after finishing this book was, oh gawd, was I that awkward and idiotic as a teenager…well, actually, they weren’t that bad – but looking at them through the eyes of someone over a decade older than they were, I felt like if they were my kids, I never would have trusted them on a cross-country trip. But that being said, their idiocy and naivity in parts, is what made it a fun and cute read. Plus I just love the cover. Although it isn’t disclosed on the book jacket, it should be pointed out that there is some same gender relationships that develop – this didn’t bother me, but it did take me a bit by surprise, so you are warned

 
8 Comments

Posted by on August 20, 2012 in Recommend A...

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Review – The Dirty Secrets Club – Meg Gardiner

16 Aug

The Dirty Secrets Club
Author:Meg Gardiner
Series: Book 1 in the Jo Beckett series

Narrator: Susan Erickson
Run Time: 12 hrs, 13 mins

This book can be purchased from Amazon using the following links: The Dirty Secrets Club (Paperback) or The Dirty Secrets Club (Jo Beckett) (Kindle)

Book Description:
An ongoing string of high-profile and very public murder-suicides has San Francisco even more rattled than a string of recent earthquakes: A flamboyant fashion designer burns to death, clutching the body of his murdered lover. A superstar 49er jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. And most shocking of all, a U.S. attorney launches her BMW off a highway overpass, killing herself and three others.Enter forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, hired by the SFPD to cut open not the victim’s body, but the victim’s life. Jo’s job is to complete the psychological autopsy, shedding light on the circumstances of any equivocal death. Soon she makes a shocking discovery: All the suicides belonged to something called the Dirty Secrets Club, a group of A-listers with nothing but money and plenty to hide. As the deaths continue, Jo delves into the disturbing motives behind this shadowy group – until she receives a letter that contains a dark secret Jo thought she’d left deep in her past, a secret that ends with the most chilling words of all: Welcome to the Dirty Secrets Club.

Review:
I had previously heard about Meg Gardiner’s books in a mystery group, but this was the first time that I had ever actually read or listened to one of her books. My biggest complaint with the book in general (and I have mused about this before), is that apparently in order to be a strong successful women in the field that she is in, there has to have been some sort of tragedy in their past that influences her life. Jo Beckett, in The Dirty Secrets Club, is exactly the same – although, unlike previous books where the tragedy is revealled early on, in TDSC, you don’t find out about what happened until about half-way through. There are flash-backs here and there, but the full-story is eventually devolved and you can see why Jo is how she is. It is just pet peeve of mine, that it seems there is this perception in many mystery/thriller/suspense books that the women has to be damaged in order to be successful…But moving on – I liked the idea of the Dirty Secrets Club, where the exposure of your secret could be hugely detrimental to your life/career if it were to be divulged.

When it came to the audiobook narration, normally I am a huge fan of Susan Erickson’s narration – I mean, she does the In Death series by JD Robb (a la Nora Roberts) that I adore. But I think, I have listened to some of them too recently, because as I was listened to TDSC, I kept hearing Rourke and Eve in my head, instead of Jo and the cast of characters in TDSC. I’m not saying that the narration was bad, in fact, I liked it – I just didn’t feel like I was getting the whole Meg Gardiner experience while listening because I had the preconceived notions of Erickson’s narration because of my previous experiences. If I hadn’t had those experiences with her, I might not have had any issues with the narration.

I am curious enough to want to know more about Jo in the future and will either likely listen to at least the next book in the series, or pick it up and read it.

 
2 Comments

Posted by on August 16, 2012 in Book Review

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →