30 September 2009
Short Review: Hit Man by Lawrence Block
John Keller is a hit man. He's also a regular kind of guy going through a midlife crisis. It is a bit bizarre to describe a book about murders and a paid assassin as being fun, but that's the word I used when I finished this book in 2005. Keller is a hoot! Recommended for fans of black humor.
I don't remember the plot well enough to write a summary, so here's one from Powell's:
Keller is a killer. Professional, cool, confident, competent, reliable. But he is also a complex person: Guarded and reclusive, icy and ruthlessly efficient, he is prone to loneliness and self-doubt, nightmares and career worries. He is known to his therapist as a "corporate troubleshooter," but Keller's real business is murder. He lives the life of a well-paid but lonely traveling businessman, a habitue of impersonal hotel rooms, bleak stretches of highways in rental cars, and anonymous eateries. A born New Yorker, he nonetheless fantasizes about the good life in the country, and in every place he visits, he dreams of setting up a home, away from the pressures and moral complexities his line of work entails.Hit Man, the first in a series, was published by HarperTorch in 1998. Robert Forster read the audio skillfully, adding to my enjoyment of the book.
Hit Man at an Indie
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Reading at the Beach is the host for this meme: Each week she invites us to spotlight a book whose title begins with the featured letter. This week it's H.
29 September 2009
Review: Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
Sixteen-year-old Anne Michaelson is plagued by bad dreams in which she is trapped in a small cabin with a hideous old lady who has iron teeth and huge hands. The dream girl has only a set of nested Russian dolls for comfort. One fateful evening, Anne notices Ethan Kozninsky, a handsome boy, staring at her. After that, the line between dreams and waking life begins to crumble.
Dreaming Anastasia is a fresh look at the fate of Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov. Although the entire Russian royal family was supposed to have been murdered in 1918, rumors have surfaced many times over the past century that one daughter, Anastasia, survived the execution. Preble starts with that premise, mixes in elements of the Russian folk tale of Baba Yaga, adds some magic, and finishes with romance.
The principal plot is told in alternating chapters from Anne's and Ethan's perspectives. The device works well, and it is always clear who is telling the story. Throughout the novel, we also hear from Anastasia, either directly or through her letters. There is plenty of action, and, although we are pretty sure our heroes will prevail, it isn't always clear whom Anne and Ethan should trust and just how they will fulfill their destiny.
Unfortunately, I was not totally lost in the world Preble created. I'm not sure if that's because I didn't strongly identify with Anne or because the book was geared to too young of an audience for me. However, because there is plenty to like about the novel, I can definitely recommend it to older middle readers and younger teens.
Dreaming Anastasia is a fine debut novel, and Joy Preble is an author to keep on your radar. For more on Preble, be sure to read her fabulous guest post, published on Beth Fish Reads yesterday.
Published by Sourcebooks, 2009
ISBN-13: 9781402218170
Challenges: 100+, 999
YTD: 72
Rating: B− Click for more
28 September 2009
Guest Post: Joy Preble, author of Dreaming Anastasia
Last Tuesday, I spotlighted Dreaming Anastasia, a novel that incorporates Russian history and folklore. I've long been fascinated with both because my grandfather was born in tsarist Russia. I'll post my review tomorrow, but today I have the great pleasure to welcome Joy Preble, author of Dreaming Anastasia, which is a YA fantasy, historical fiction, love story. Heck, don't listen to me--let's see what Joy has to say about genres and being just a bit different.
Dreaming Anastasia: What about Genre?
More and more people continue to comment on how I’ve blended genres in Dreaming Anastasia. I like to tell them that had I known I was doing it when I began, I might have stopped myself, but that’s one of the problems about being a debut author. Sometimes you’re not the sharpest little tool in the authorial shed. You’re just writing the story that’s in your head and letting the pieces fall where they may and only afterward are you saying “Holy crap, what have I done and what are reviewers going to do when they want to place a neat little label on this book?” (Full disclosure, you’re probably not even thinking about that. You probably don’t even know that reviewers like to label stuff. You’re just typing away and thinking you’re ever so brilliant or ever so lame, depending on your mood, caffeine level, and how many people are tugging at your sleeve and interrupting you during the process)Let us just say that eventually, I began to realize why Fox dumped the brilliant space western known as Joss Whedon’s Firefly into the abyss of Friday night programming where it died a sad little death after just a handful of episodes and I had to buy the DVDs to see everything. Now let me interject here that I am in no way comparing myself to the god that is Joss. Just that when I realized that I had written a novel that was part contemporary fantasy, part fairy tale, part historical fiction, and part romance, I knew that I had probably broken a lot of rules and that either people would really, really like that and hail me as a literary genius (I’d love to say literary prodigy but we all know that I missed that boat by a few years, having quite enjoyed my misspent youth in ways that I can now cleverly use and possibly even make money from which let me say is quite a pleasant surprise given how stupid I was once upon a time) or laugh me off the literary reservation.
In a related anecdote, a couple of years ago, my husband and I were invited to a Bar Mitzvah costume party. Yes, that is as odd as it sounds, but the Bar Mitzvah had been on Halloween. (Not that Halloween is a Jewish holiday, just that the two events had occurred on the same day and I guess the family decided to capitalize on this for whatever reason. I am not judging this choice. Just attempting to tell a related story.) Anyway, we decided to go as Wash and Calie--two of our favorite characters from Firefly. (Actually my favorite is Mal, and husband’s favorite is Zoe. But as neither of us look anything like those two and much more like Calie and Wash, this is what we did. Okay, we don’t look like Calie and Wash either. But whatever.) And here’s the thing. Except for our friend Andrew who is an unabashed geek like us and came in his Star Trek uniform that he wears--lord love him--to Trekkie conventions and the like, no one knew who we were. No. One. We wore name tags to help them. And still no one. Not that we minded. In fact, it made the whole event more amusing. The Bar Mitzvah boy’s sister came as the Corpse Bride. Even she didn’t recognize who we were.
And that’s the thing about trying something different. You really run this risk, but if tha
t’s how the story is coming out of your head, then sometimes you just don’t have a choice. Or like I say, you’re too darn dumb to realize the risk.Dreaming Anastasia asks the question, “What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?” And obviously the answer is that she really didn’t die with her family on that horrible day in 1918. It adds in a juicy family secret--there’s the alternate history--a Russian folklore witch and a magic doll and a really funky Russian folk art lacquer box--there’s the fairy tale part. It gives you two heroes--sixteen-year-old normal high school girl Anne and mysterious handsome hottie Ethan who keep edging toward romance in ways that I could tell you but won’t since I’d like you to read the book. It’s got magic and adventure and blood and a house that moves on chicken legs. It’s about the choices we make and those we regret and the wacky things we do for the people we love. It breaks every rule in the genre book except, I think, the most important one. That’s the one where the author gives you characters she cares about, treats them with love and sends them out into the world hoping someone else will love them back.
And if some day someone dresses up as Anne and Ethan for a Bar Mitzvah costume party, just send me a picture.
Joy Preble has a website where you can learn more about her and the book, see photos, and read her blog.
I'm curious: what's the oddest costume party you've ever been to?
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27 September 2009
Awards!
Today I want to thank four special bloggers who took the time to kindly recognize my blog by giving me an award.
Melissa from Vintage Joy gave me the Let's Be Friends award. If you like books and flea markets and all kinds of cool antiques (and I did say books, right?) then Vintage Joy is a blog you don't want to miss.
The wonderful J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book Blog gave me the Heart of the Dragon award. Books, books, and more books and great guest posts are what you'll find on J. Kaye's blog. You've been there already, haven't you?
The Lemonade award came from Unfinished Person at Just A (Reading) Fool. Check out UP's blog and find posts about books and the blogging experience. Don't be shy, read the opinion posts and then leave a comment with your response.
I got the Zombie Chicken award from Kristen at BookNAround. Kristin blogs about books and participates in several bookish memes. She reads a variety of genres, and I know there's a review or two or three that will interest you.
Thanks so much for thinking of me, it really means a lot. In return, instead of passing along the awards, I want you, my readers, to take a moment to visit all four blogs. You might just find a new friend. Click for more
26 September 2009
Support Your Local Library Challenge: Wrap Up
I officially completed J. Kaye's Support Your Local Library Challenge. There were three levels of commitment and I thought I had signed up to read 25 library books in 2009. Just now when I was linking to the sign-up post, I see that I actually committed to only 12 books! So I guess I finished the challenge a while back and I'm an over-achiever.
Book List for Support Your Local Library Challenge
Here are the books I read for this challenge (in alphabetical order by author). Click on the links for my review.
Wintergirls by Laura Halse Anderson
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Death of a Travelling Man by M. C. Beaton
Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Rebel by Bernard Cornwell
The House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar
Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
Rumors by Anna Godbersen
A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton
Dead As a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
Willow by Julia Hoban
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (review posted yesterday)
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
A Killing Frost by John Marsden
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
The Dragonslayer by Jeff Smith
Eyes of the Storm by Jeff Smith
Rock Jaw by Jeff Smith
A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow
No Angel by Penny Vincenz
This was an excellent batch of books. Not everything here was rated A or B, but there was only one book that completely didn't work for me (A Kiss of Shadows). Wicked Lovely and The Forest of Hands and Teeth are two of the best audio productions I've ever listened to, and Willow is the book that I'm currently hand-selling.
Thanks to J. Kaye for hosting this terrific challenge.
I love my library and will continue to use it and support it. How about you? Do you visit your library on a regular basis?
25 September 2009
Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The other day, Jill at Fizzy Thoughts wrote an amazing review, and I'm basically stealing her format. Be sure to read her post because I'm not going to address the same issues. Also note that, like Jill, I'm not going to provide a summary because this book has been reviewed a hundred times on book blogs and because I really don't know how to do the book justice in a summary.
Instead, I'm going to talk about just two aspects of the novel that have stuck with me.
One of the plot devices that I found most compelling in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is that I was never sure who the main protagonist was. I read a lot of mysteries, and I generally know within a chapter or two who I'm supposed to be rooting for, who will be solving the case, and who will be the star of the series. Before I even started Tattoo a, I knew I was reading the first in a trilogy. But what I didn't know was whether Lisbeth Salander or Mikael Blomkvist or someone else was going to end up being the person who anchored the books.
What this means is that I could never relax and say, "Oh that person can't die" or "Of course that character will figure it out." It was not clear to me, even as I reached the concluding chapters, who would be around for the next book. This was brilliant move on Larsson's part. Imagine reading a mystery series and realizing that every character had an equal chance to make it to the next book. That means it was just a bit tricky to predict the ending.
The other aspect of the book I found interesting was learning about the protective and welfare system in Sweden. I didn't do any research into this, so I'm not sure how accurately Larsson described the federal programs, but the structure of those programs plays a part in the novel, which I think helps make the book uniquely Swedish.
I listened to the unabridged audio edition (Books on Tape) read by Simon Vance. His narration is absolutely fabulous. His characterizations, pacing, and inflections perfectly match the novel. Vance is one of my go-to narrators, and he didn't let me down here.
In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the trailer for the movie:
24 September 2009
Today's Listen: Darkness, Be My Friend by John Marsden
This week I'm listening to Darkness, Be My Friend, the fourth novel in Marsden's Tomorrow series. (I reviewed the second and third books earlier this year.) If you are unfamiliar with the series, the general premise is that Australia has been invaded by enemy forces, and a group of teenagers must find a way to survive and to help their families and country. I'm just about halfway through Darkness, and Marsden has stayed true to the earlier novels: an amazing combination of adrenaline-pumping action and realistic character development and introspection. I can't say enough about these books.
The Tea. Fall is in the air, and I'm drinking one of my seasonal favorites: Stash Tea's Decaf Pumpkin Spice, which the company describes as "A delicious blend of naturally decaffeinated black teas and natural pumpkin spice flavor combines with nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and clove." It's really yummy and perfect for fall.
The Assessment. Ellie and gang are living in war zone. They miss tea and would drink whatever flavor they could find. But I'm going to say that before the war, the kids would have liked pumpkin spice tea in the afternoon when doing homework or after finishing their chores.
What are you reading or listening to this week? I love an Australian setting, can you recommend some titles I should add to my wish list?
Thursday Tea is hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. Here's how it works: Tell us what tea you are drinking (and if you like it). And then tell us what book are you reading (and if you like it). Finally, tell us if they go together. Click for more
23 September 2009
Short Review: Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden
I love historical fiction, and I'm always happy to find a well-written novel that is set in a time or place that is relatively unfamiliar to me. Iggulden's Genghis trilogy fits the bill. I posted my review of Genghis, Lords of the Bow last November. Although I finished the first book, Genghis, Birth of an Empire, the day I started my blog, I didn't review it here.
As I wrote last fall, Birth of an Empire covers the first 30 years of Genghis's life, provides the needed background for understanding his relationships with his family, and presents the key events that shaped his personality and ambitions. Despite strong enemies, setbacks, and betrayals, Genghis stayed true to his vision of uniting the Mongol tribes under one leader.
The story is fascinating and very well done. I gave the book an A-. I hope to read the final novel in the trilogy, Genghis, Bones of the Hills, before year's end. I listened to the unabridged audio edition read by Stefan Rudnicki. My reading notes say he did a great job.
Genghis, Birth of an Empire at an Indie
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Reading at the Beach is the host for this meme: Each week she invites us to spotlight a book whose title begins with the featured letter. This week it's G.
22 September 2009
Today's Read: Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
When I went to the Chicago ballet with my best friend, Tess, I thought the most memorable part was going to be the dancing or maybe the music. But instead it's that tall boy with dark hair and blue eyes I remember. Why was he staring at me? And it wasn't a flirty kind of stare either, it was way too intense. That night I dream of a girl, and there is shooting, shouting, and blood.
For more Where Are You? answers, visit Raidergirl3 at An Adventure in Reading.
MizB at Should Be Reading hosts Teaser Tuesdays. Here's how it works: Grab your current read; let the book fall open to a random page; and share 2 “teaser” sentences from that page. For more teasers, click on through to MizB's blog.
[T]his time the dream changed. This time, she was doing the dreaming. And it was a dream she was struggling not to have. But let me say, she was spectacularly unsuccessful at stopping it. And so was I. (p. 17)—From Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
Challenge: Clear Off Your Shelves
Here's a challenge that's easy to do. It's the Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge hosted by Swapna over at S. Krishna's Books. The idea is to read (1) review books that have been in your house for more than six months and/or (2) non-review books. Library books don't count for this challenge because the idea is to clear off your shelves!
I am committing to 25%, which means that a quarter of the books I read in October and November will count for this challenge. I'd go higher, but I need to leave room for library books and for Echo in the Bones by Diana Gabaldon (likely very long).
Note that Swapna cleverly scheduled this challenge to overlap with the October read-a-thon. If you want to join the challenge, read the full rules on the challenge post.
21 September 2009
Making Some Changes
Some time next week Beth Fish Reads will have a new look. I spent many hours yesterday customizing a template, including tweaking CSS code, creating pretty tabs, and picking fonts and text colors.
What does this mean for you? Don't be thrown if you start to see new colors, reformatted older posts and other strange changes going on here during the week. It's just me getting ready for my new look.
I also wanted to take a moment to welcome new readers. I hope I can live up to your expectations. To everyone who left me comments last week during BBAW: I plan to visit all of your blogs. I am really excited to have met so many new-to-me bloggers, and I can't wait to start reading your reviews and posts.
Review: Between Me and the River by Carrie Host
Carrie Host was just shy of 40 years old when she got the news that many of us fear most. She had cancer—and not just any cancer but carcinoid tumors, which are resistant to both chemotherapy and radiation. Surgery was the only answer, but Host's body was riddled with many small cancerous growths throughout her abdomen and even on her lungs.
Between Me and the River is an almost daily look at Host's 3.5-year journey from pain and misdiagnosis to multiple surgeries and hospitalizations to the news that she was likely cancer free. As we follow her to Mayo Clinic, acupuncturists, nutritionists, and support groups, we learn how cancer, while never welcome, can still provide life lessons.
The river as a metaphor for a cancer-focused life works well and helps us form a clear picture of the steps along the way: being swept up in the current, drowning, going over the falls, and even hitting calm spots when floating comfortably seems possible. Most of the chapters end with a paragraph describing personal insights, finding hope, or coping emotionally. The book concludes with a short list of resources.
It is evident in her memoir that Host was luckier than many cancer patients: She had siblings and parents who could leave their own homes to help with her baby and older children, she had the money and resources to visit multiple doctors in multiple states, and she had the means to hire someone to help out at home. I am not implying that Host's story is not honest, difficult, and inspirational but that she had a head start over many families who must deal with cancer with far less support, adequate healthcare insurance, and money.
Host has a clear and easy style, even when writing about the most emotional and difficult parts of her life. The book, however, could have used a tighter copyedit, I noticed punctuation and grammar errors scattered throughout; fortunately, these did not take away from my overall connection with Host's story.
Published by Harlequin, 2009
ISBN-13: 9780373892143
Challenges: 999, 100+
YTD: 70
Rating: B− Click for more
20 September 2009
How High Can I Climb? A Visit to Mt. TBR
Here's a look at some of the books that have found their way into my house this month. Where did they come from? They were won, bought, borrowed, pitched, requested, or unsolicited. What format? They are print, eBook, or audiobook. That's right, a variety of media and a variety of sources!
This is a mixed batch of genres, from memoir to mystery.
This batch is fantasy.
All these are part of the In Death mystery series by J. D. Robb (duh!).
Here's the sad thing: I was bragging to Mr. BFR just yesterday about how I gave away eleven books for BBAW. I was so proud of myself. Then he had the audacity to ask me how many new books I had gotten in the last few weeks. The nerve of him! And so this post is part of my public confession that I'm losing the battle against the the TBR piles.
Please tell me that I'm not alone. Click for more
19 September 2009
BBAW: What I Want in an eReader
IREX Technologies is generously offering their one of their forthcoming consumer eReaders to one lucky BBAW participant. They ask us to tell them "what you think the most important feature is in an eReader." Enjoy!
What I'd Like to See in an eReader
I'd like to see a great touch screen
I think that you know what I mean.
My suitcase groans from just one more book
The nice light weight is one great hook.
Taking notes helps with reviews
A stylus feature is welcome news.
I come across a new word now.
A dictionary? Yes and wow!
Let me use my library card
Downloading from there is just not hard.
I want books from all over the place
No one store can hope to keep pace.
I love the trees, I love the shade
An eReader won't let them fade.
And finally when the mood hits me
I want to buy using fast G3.
Thanks to Irex and to BBAW!
BBAW: Wrap-Up and Winners!
BBAW is over for another year, and Amy and crew deserve a standing ovation and fifteen minutes of applause for the fabulous job they did pulling the even together. I'd also like to thank all the individuals and companies who offered support in so many ways.
I just saw a fantastic wrap-up post by Kathy of Bermuda Onion Weblog and I loved her format so much I decided to steal borrow it. She asks: What did you learn this week?
♦ There are a ton of terrific book blogs out there, and I clearly need to do more exploring.
♦ Pretty much everyone has some kind of organizing system for their books . . . except me.
♦ No matter what your favorite genre, there are other blook bloggers with your same tastes.
♦ The book blogging community, publishing industry, and related businesses and individuals are amazingly generous with their time and with giveaways.
♦ I have absolutely no resistance to books . . . My name (isn't really) Beth Fish and I'm a bookaholic.
The Winners of my BBAW Giveaways
For each giveaway, I used random.org to pick the winner from among the valid entries. All winners have been notified by email.
Monday (lace bookmark): Penny of Penny's Pages
Tuesday (Cutting Loose and Love Is a Four-Letter Word): Emily of Fantasy Fairytales Retold
Wednesday (The Lake That Stole Children, Wally the Walking Fish, and Fairy Hunters, Ink): Lucyinthesky
Thursday (Stone's Fall and Blame): Barb from Meditative Reading
Friday (Dreams of the Dead and New Stories from the South): Dorte H from DJs Krimblog
Future Giveaways
I will be giving away another handmade lace bookmark during the fall Read-a-Thon, so I hope you will be participating. Now I just have to come up with a good challenge . . .
Thanks again to Amy and everyone involved with BBAW and congrats to the winners of my giveaways.
18 September 2009
BBAW: Goals, My TBR, and Giveaway
It's the last day of BBAW! Today's post prompt was to discuss goals. One of my goals is to read through my TBR piles. And in a crazy mix of a popular meme and an invitation from BBAW to photograph our books, here is . . .
My Life in the TBR
Describe yourself. Lacemakers of GlenmaraHow do you feel? Among the Mad
Describe where you currently live. Drawing in the Dust
If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Winter in Thrush Green
Your favorite form of transport? In Hovering Flight
Your best friend is _____. The Mapmaker's Wife
You and your friends are _____. Sometimes We're always Real Same-Same
What’s the weather like? Ice Land
Favorite time of day? Waking up in Eden
If only your life were a ____. Fragile Eternity
What is life to you? Atlas of Unknowns
Your fear _____. Cheating at Solitare
What is the best advice you have to give? Trust Me
Thought for the day. To Catch the Lightning
How would you like to die? After Many a Summer
Your soul's present condition. How Sweet It Is
Your spouse or significant other. The Greatest Knight
Today's Giveaway (THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED)
Today I'm giving away two ARCs, each from a different genre. The first is Dreams of the Dead by Thomas Randall and the second is New Stories for the South 2009, edited my Madison Smartt Bell. To win these two ARCs, all you have to do is leave a comment here telling me (1) your email address and (2) a genre that you almost never read. If your comment is missing this information, I can't count your entry. This giveaway is open all week, and I'll pick a winner (via random.org) on Saturday, September 19 soon after I turn on my computer. There is still time to enter my giveaways from earlier in the week.
BBAW: Thank You, Thank You!
All week winners have been announced for the 2009 Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards and more are still going to be announced today.
Congratulations to all the winners in every category. The competition was stiff, and all who were nominated as well as all who made a short list should feel good about themselves and their blogs.
I was in the running for the Best New Blog along with Books and Bards, Galleysmith, Scifiguy.ca, and Steph Su Reads. As soon as I saw who I was honored to be sitting next to, I realized that there just wasn't any wrong answer in this category. I read all these blogs, and I urge you to do the same.
I truly could not believe my eyes when I saw that I was the winner. Wow! I am thrilled and amazed and touched. I work hard on my blog and on supporting the community, and I am so pleased to know that it shows. I was floating several inches off the floor all last night.
I particularly would like to thank Amy of My Friend Amy and everyone who put in long hours for BBAW. The week has been a blast, and I can't believe how many book bloggers I have discovered.
Thanks so much again.
17 September 2009
Today's Listen: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
This week I'm listening to and reading in print Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. I loved See's earlier novels, Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Whereas those novels took place in traditional China, Shanghai Girls begins in the 1930s with the Japanese invasion of that country and takes us to San Fransisco and the building of Chinatown. It is interesting to see how May and Pearl change and cope as their comfortable life as Beautiful Girls in Shanghai collapses and they find themselves in arranged marriages and destined to life in America.
The Tea. Oh the irony! I haven't been drinking tea this week -- the week when I'm reading a book in which the characters are drinking tea all the time! I've been sipping espresso in the afternoons instead.
What are you reading or listening to this week? Have your beverage choices changed with the change of seasons?
Thursday Tea is hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. Here's how it works: Tell us what tea you are drinking (and if you like it). And then tell us what book are you reading (and if you like it). Finally, tell us if they go together. Click for more
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