The Printed Page

I need a Bookation! It’s been a struggle so far this month to keep my reading batteries fully charged. I’m DNFing and not enjoying books that would usually interest me. I’ve decided a break is what I need to get over this major reading slump. Sadly favorite authors, series and genres have been sitting neglected on my bookshelves for months due to other reading commitments. Don’t get me wrong I love that publicists and authors offer me books but sometimes it can be overwhelming. So September is Bookation month here at The Printed Page. It will be filled with guilt-free, self-indulgent, pure pleasure reading. Bodice rippers, beach reads, dark mystery and gory thrills. No more staring at the bookshelves battling desire vs. commitment.  Instead I’m going simply pick up whatever interests me. I get giddy just thinking about it. ***

Need a reading battery re-charge? If so why not join me in September for a Bookation.

I’m a very visual person and love beautiful, or interesting, cover art. It entices, and invites, me to stop and take a peek instead of walking right on by. This week’s Cover Attraction is: Title: Muse of Fire Author: Susan Hill Release date: October ’09

The Muse of Fire schleps the Shakespearean troupe the Earth’s Men to the many planets inhabited by the slaves called arbeiters and doles, who, like the actors, are human. The players are slaves, too, really, like all humans since, thousands of years ago, the Archons found earth and erased its culture, except for Shakespeare. After a particularly good Macbeth, attended by some Archons and their dragomen (interpreters), one of the latter comes to the company and orders them to play for an all-Archon audience on another world. After that he orders them to yet another to play before the Demiurgos, who control the Archons, and after that to another to perform for Abraxas, the incarnate god. The actors thereby climb the ladder of a universal order humans have been made to believe is divine. They suspect they’re being tested. They are, as proxies for all humanity—and more.

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What’s your favorite cover attraction this week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Cover Attraction post.

Title: Decision and Destiny: Colette’s Legacy (2nd book in the Collette trilogy) Author/website: DeVa Gantt 363 pages Publisher: Avon Publication date: April ’09 Genre: Fiction/family saga Would I recommend it: Only if you like long, drawn out family sagas This is the 2nd book in the Collette trilogy and you really, really shouldn’t read this one w/o having read A Silent Ocean Away: Colette’s Dominion first. This trilogy is actually one very large book broken into three by the publishing house. There is no backtracking nor highlighting characters or story line from the first book so you’ll be lost if you aren’t familiar with what has come before. For me this saga is too drawn out and filled with fluff. Book 1 was 416 pages, book 2 is 363 pages and Amazon is showing book 3 to be 464 pages. Honestly I don’t think we’ve made much progress story wise. And what progress we have made was very easy to figure out from the numerous hints left all over the place by the authors. There’s lots of family drama but not much else to this story. I was bored for a great portion of this one. I doubt I’ll be reading the last book in this trilogy.

A spellbinding saga of a remarkable american family . . .

The beautiful, frail Colette Duvoisin trusted governess Charmaine Ryan with her worries, her dreams, and the care of her beloved children. But now Colette is gone—leaving her three young ones devastated . . . and the house of Duvoisin in turmoil.

To her children’s horror, their father, the enigmatic Frederic Duvoisin, weds his mistress and sister-in-law, Agatha, soon after their mother’s untimely death. A scheming and dangerous adversary, Agatha has no love for her predecessor’s offspring, ruthlessly wielding her newly won power while guarding her own dark secrets. Meanwhile, a rivalry between Colette’s stepsons—suave Paul and cynical John—is reignited, drawing battle lines among family, friends, and servants. When Frederic suddenly emerges from his self-imposed isolation, he touches off a struggle for patriarchal supremacy that threatens to lay the entire Duvoisin empire to waste.

At the center of the storm is innocent Charmaine, who must come to terms with shattering truths about the family she once believed she knew—and decide who among them deserves her admiration, her derision, her devotion . . . and her heart.

Title: The Lace Reader Author/website: Brunonia Barry 400 pages (DNF @ page 71) Publisher: William Morrow Publication date: July ’08 Genre: Fiction Would I recommend it: No but then I didn’t finish reading it either This has been on my Kindle since December of last year when I downloaded it for vacation reading. I’m guessing that’s where I should have left it, unread. I struggled to get to page 71.

Towner Whitney, a dazed young woman descended from a long line of mind readers and fortune tellers, has survived numerous traumas and returned to her hometown of Salem, Mass., to recover. Any tranquility in her life is short-lived when her beloved great-aunt Eva drowns under circumstances suggesting foul play. Towner’s suspicions are taken with a grain of salt given her history of hallucinatory visions and self-harm. The mystery enmeshes local cop John Rafferty, who had left the pressures of big city police work for a quieter life in Salem and now finds himself falling for the enigmatic Towner as he mourns Eva and delves into the history of the eccentric Whitney clan.

Here’s a highlight from Marcia’s Kindle Corner. This book has both print and, of course, Kindle editions. If you want to check out all the books I’m sampling/reading this month be sure and stop by the Corner.

Title: When Lightning Strikes Author/website: Jenny Carroll (aka Meg Cabot) File size: 374 KB/Print: 272 pages Publication date: January ’04 Genre: YA fiction Would I recommend it: Yes; a fun, entertaining book Sample size: 1/2 of Ch. 1 Price: $3.99 I rarely read YA fiction, the Harry Potter series being the exception to the rule. Its not at I don’t find it interesting, its that I don’t have much exposure to those authors as there are no tweens/teens in my life. Unbeknownst to me it was penned by a major author using a pseudonym – Meg Cabot writing as Jenny Carroll. It’s the first in a 1-800-Where-R-You series of 5 books. I loved our main character, Jess. She’s a feisty, sassy, no-holds barred kind of girl. She gives as good as she gets and a bit more when the situation calls for a more hands-on approach. Under her prickly outer shell is a true heart of gold. She’s your normal, average high school sophomore whose family is your normal, average neighborhood family. She runs in the middle of the pack – she isn’t trying to be something she’s not, her best friend has some weight issues and she’s just figuring out boys. And that lightning strike gives her a unique ability to locate missing children on the back of milk cartons. Jess has reported the locations of 6 missing children which sets off a chain of events that turn her life, and the lives of those around her, upside down. Not only did I enjoy When Lightning Strikes but I’m looking reading the rest of this fun YA series.

Jessica Mastriani walked two miles home from high school straight into a huge Indiana thunderstorm. And straight into trouble. Not that Jess had never been in trouble before. But this trouble was serious. Because somehow on that long walk home, Jessica acquired an amazing power that can be used for good… or evil.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

If you’re new to Mailbox Monday welcome! Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

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Fiction ~ Wait Until Twilight by Sang Pak (new-to-me author/author contact) (Claimed by Christina)

Samuel, 16 and motherless, is somewhat of a misfit at school, even though he is driven by a single-minded determination to clear every academic bar placed before him, with room to spare. As he navigates the miniature and large-scale dramas of adolescent life, which intersect, diverge, and explode at a moment’s notice, Samuel could be any teen ripe for a good coming-of-age. Which is what happens, in a way, when he gets involved with a set of malformed infant triplets and their psychotic older brother, who gets his hooks into Samuel, scarring the boy with the realization of his own capacity for horrific violence.

Fiction ~ The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha (new-to-me author/publicist contact)

Irene and Nate Stanley are living a quiet and contented life with their two children, Bliss and Shep, on their family farm in southern Illinois when Nate suddenly announces he’s been offered a job as a deputy sheriff in Oregon. Irene fights her husband. She does not want to uproot her family and has deep misgivings about the move. Nevertheless, the family leaves, and they are just settling into their life in Oregon’s high desert when the unthinkable happens. Fifteen-year-old Shep is shot and killed during an apparent robbery in their home. The murderer, a young mechanic with a history of assault, robbery, and drug-related offenses, is caught and sentenced to death.

Shep’s murder sends the Stanley family into a tailspin, with each member attempting to cope with the tragedy in his or her own way. Irene’s approach is to live, week after week, waiting for Daniel Robbin’s execution and the justice she feels she and her family deserve. Those weeks turn into months and then years. Ultimately, faced with a growing sense that Robbin’s death will not stop her pain, Irene takes the extraordinary and clandestine step of reaching out to her son’s killer. The two forge an unlikely connection that remains a secret from her family and friends.

Years later, Irene receives the notice that she had craved for so long—Daniel Robbin has stopped his appeals and will be executed within a month. This announcement shakes the very core of the Stanley family. Irene, it turns out, isn’t the only one with a shocking secret to hide. As the execution date nears, the Stanleys must face difficult truths and find a way to come to terms with the past.

Historical fiction ~ The Days the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan (Claimed by Laura)

1915. The dawn of the hydroelectric power era in Niagara Falls. Seventeen-year-old Bess Heath has led a sheltered existence as the youngest daughter of the director of the Niagara Power Company. After graduation day at her boarding school, she is impatient to return to her picturesque family home near Niagara Falls. But when she arrives, nothing is as she had left it. Her father has lost his job at the power company, her mother is reduced to taking in sewing from the society ladies she once entertained, and Isabel, her vivacious older sister, is a shadow of her former self. She has shut herself in her bedroom, barely eating–and harboring a secret.

The night of her return, Bess meets Tom Cole by chance on a trolley platform. She finds herself inexplicably drawn to him–against her family’s strong objections. He is not from their world. Rough-hewn and fearless, he lives off what the river provides and has an uncanny ability to predict the whims of the falls. His daring river rescues render him a local hero and cast him as a threat to the power companies that seek to harness the power of the falls for themselves. As their lives become more fully entwined, Bess is forced to make a painful choice between what she wants and what is best for her family and her future

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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.

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Read It Forward details

Title: One Foot Wrong Author/website: Sofie Laguna 208 pages (DNF @ page 14) Publisher: Other Press Publication date: July ’09 Genre: Fiction This is a strange book. It will appeal to a select group of readers but unfortunately I can’t describe what group that would be. Maybe the group that reads quirky, off-the-wall books. My intention isn’t to belittle this author or her work but this really is a different sort of story.

A child is imprisoned in a house by her reclusive, religious parents. Hester Wakefield has never spoken to another child, nor seen the outside world. Her one possession is an illustrated children’s Bible, and its imagery forms the sole basis for her capacity to make poetic, real-life connections. Her companions at home are Cat, Spoon, Door, Handle, Broom, and Tree, and they all speak to her, sometimes telling her what to do. One day she takes a brave Alice in Wonderland trip into the forbidden outside, at the behest of Handle, and this overwhelming encounter with light and sky and sunshine is a marvel to her. From this moment on, Hester learns that there are some things she cannot tell her parents, and she keeps this secret to herself. Hester buries it among her other secrets, the ones that take place in the shadowy corners of her insular world, and she keeps them all locked inside her as they multiply and grow, waiting until she can find other ways to be free.

Title: Radium Halos Author/website: Shelley Stout 298 pages (DNF @ page 148) Publisher: GirleBooks.com (there is a print edition of this book coming soon) Publication date: June ’09 Genre: Fiction First off let me say this is a story that will appeal to a wide audience of readers. The reason I DNF’d Radium Halos is because I was expecting something different from this story. I was hoping that this story would focus a bit more on the Radium Girls and their lives rather than being a straight fictional story about a woman who just happened to be a radium dial painter for one summer. I never really connected with our narrator Helen nor did her issue loaded personal family story particularly hit a note with me. Radium Halos is getting good reviews at Amazon. For those of you would like to read Radium Halos please visit Radium Halos at GirleBooks. For a limited time, enter code SSRH20 at checkout for a 20% discount! Currently Radium Halos is only available in a pdf file format which you can download to your computer or any eBook reader that accepts pdf files. A print edition of this book is coming soon.

Radium Halos is a fictional story based on the true events of the Radium Girls: a group of female factory workers who, in the early 1920s, contracted radiation poisoning from painting luminous watch dials with radium paint. Our narrator is Helen Waterman, a 65-year-old mental patient who worked at the factory when she was 16. She tells us her story through flashbacks, slowly revealing her past, the loved ones she’s lost, and the dangerous secrets she’s kept all these years.

Here’s a highlight from Marcia’s Kindle Corner. This book has both print and, of course, Kindle editions. If you want to check out all the books I’m sampling/reading this month be sure and stop by the Corner.

Title: All the Pretty Girls (Kindle Edition link / Print Edition link) Author/website: J.T. Ellison File size: 325 KB/Print: 416 pages Publication date: September ’08 Genre: Suspense/thriller Sample size: Ch. 1-3 Price: $3.60 I’m always on the lookout for new suspense/thriller authors as I read a lot in this genre. All the Pretty Girls was J.T.’s debut novel and a decent book. It wasn’t a total gripping edge-of-your-seat suspense ride but it did pack a couple of surprises (deaths) that I didn’t see coming. Overall I give it an average rating but would be willing to read more this author.

the body of a young girl discovered by the side of a Nashville highway puts homicide detective Taylor Jackson and her lowdown boyfriend, FBI Agent John Baldwin, on the trail of the Southern Strangler, a playful, brutal killer who likes to carry his victims across state lines before murdering them and removing their hands. Before long, however, Taylor’s reassigned to the suspicious death of a prominent TV personality, leaving John struggling to keep ahead of the Strangler’s mounting body count. Meanwhile, Taylor is still recovering from a near-fatal neck injury earned in her last case and worrying over her own demons—not the least of which is John’s threat to marry her.

I’m a very visual person and love beautiful, or interesting, cover art. It entices, and invites, me to stop and take a peek instead of walking right on by. This week’s Cover Attraction is: Title: Howards End Is On The Landing Author: Susan Hill Release date: October ’09

This is a year of reading from home, by one of Britain’s most distinguished authors. Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time. The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, forsaking new purchases in order to get to know her own collection again. A book which is left on a shelf for a decade is a dead thing, but it is also a chrysalis, packed with the potential to burst into new life. Wandering through her house that day, Hill’s eyes were opened to how much of that life was stored in her home, neglected for years. “Howard’s End is on the Landing” charts the journey of one of the nation’s most accomplished authors as she revisits the conversations, libraries and bookshelves of the past that have informed a lifetime of reading and writing.

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What’s your favorite cover attraction this week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Cover Attraction post.

Title: Sacred Hearts Author/website: Sarah Dunant 400 pages Publisher: Random House Publication date: July ’09 Genre: Historical fiction I will start by saying that I give this book high marks but if you’re fan of Ms. Dunant’s other historical novels (The Birth of Venus and In the Company of the Courtesan) as am I you may find the pacing of this story more sedate. And that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that this story is set entirely within convent walls. Life behind the walls and in veil is very structured. Your days and nights are planned for you far in advance seemingly without much room for deviation but don’t be fooled by appearances. The reader is slowly lead down a path that is building to confrontations and unfolding dramas. I found myself putting down and picking up this book for the first 1/3 and then I got the point where I couldn’t put it down. It provides the reader with a rare opportunity to peek around the sisters’ skirts and stern faces to glimpse their individual personalities and political ambitions. Once again the reader is engrossed and surrounded by the sights and sounds of a fascinating time in history.

The Santa Caterina convent’s newest novice, Serafina, is miserable, having been shunted off by her father to separate her from a forbidden romance. She also has a singing voice that will be the glory of the convent and—more importantly to some—a substantial bonus for the convent’s coffers. The convent’s apothecary, Suora Zuana, strikes up a friendship with Serafina, enlisting her as an assistant in the convent dispensary and herb garden, but despite Zuana’s attempts to help the girl adjust, Serafina remains focused on escaping. Serafina’s constant struggle and her faith (of a type different from that common to convents) challenge Zuana’s worldview and the political structure of Santa Caterina. A cast of complex characters breathe new life into the classic star-crossed lovers trope while affording readers a look at a facet of Renaissance life beyond the far more common viscounts and courtesans.

Title: Saffron Dreams Author/website: Sahila Abdullah 226 pages Publisher: Modern History Press Publication date: February ’09 Genre: Fiction Have you ever come across a book that is wonderful but you can’t really express why it’s wonderful. You just know you liked it and something about the story touched you. Well if you have then you’ll know what I mean. Saffron Dreams is that book for me. I truly enjoyed this touching, some times amazingly tender, and other times painful love story. I recommend you pick up a copy, get comfortable and then enjoy the time you spend with Arissa as she journeys through love, loss and love again.

You don’t know you’re a misfit until you are marked as an outcast.

From the darkest hour of American history emerges a mesmerizing tale of tender love, a life interrupted, and faith recovered. Arissa Illahi, a Muslim artist and writer, discovers in a single moment that no matter how carefully you map your life, it is life itself that chooses your destiny. After her husband’s death in the collapse of the World Trade Center, the discovery of his manuscript marks Arissa’s reconnection to life. Her unborn son and the unfinished novel fuse in her mind into one life-defining project that becomes, at once, the struggle for her emotional survival and the redemption of her race. Saffron Dreams is a novel about our ever evolving identities and the events and places that shape them. It reminds us that in the midst of tragedy, our dreams can become a lasting legacy.

Here’s a highlight from Marcia’s Kindle Corner. This book has both print and, of course, Kindle editions. If you want to check out all the books I’m sampling/reading this month be sure and stop by the Corner.

Title: Moonlight (Kindle link) / Moonlight (print link) Author/website: Keith Knapp File size: 394KB/Print: 472 pages Publication date: October ’07 Genre: Suspense/horror Sample size: Ch. 1-5 and the start of Ch. 6 So this another of those amazing 99¢ ‘finds’ that I stumbled across while reading ‘sample’ chapters for Amazon Kindles. First off it might be considered a zombie book or not. Seeing as this is the first book I can remember reading about the ‘undead’ and if the ‘undead’ are considered zombies then yes, it’s a zombie book. Now zombies don’t make my hit list of reading choices but in this case they weren’t at all what I imagined they might be and not the ‘turn off’ I suspected they would be. OK, now that we have that out of the way if you read suspense/horror books read Moonlight. I selected Moonlight on a whim thinking I didn’t have much to lose and a lot to gain. It was a winner for me. I did find beginning a bit slow but once the Man in Dark Coat starts making regular appearances in the story things move right along. Yep there’s horror but not the stomach churning, run for the puke bucket kind. I’ve read much more graphic books than Moonlight (Jack Kilborn’s Afraid which I loved!). Also if you don’t like strong language than Moonlight won’t appeal to you. Overall I give Moonlight high marks and my recommendation.

As the world around them becomes darker, so do the inhabitants of the small town of Westmont, Illinois. A mysterious and evil presence has taken a hold over the village, making the once peaceful town a place of violence and despair.

A small group of individuals, untouched by this presence, must uncover the mystery of why they remain normal and discover what (or who) is taking control of their town, one soul at a time.

Because the Man in the Dark Coat is out there. Hunting them.

And not everyone can remain untouched forever.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

If you’re new to Mailbox Monday welcome! Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

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Suspense/thriller ~ Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Claimed by Staci)

Kate Burkholder grew up in idyllic Painters Mill, where many residents drive buggies, shun electricity, and distance themselves from the complications of modern life. The presence of a serial killer shatters the stillness of the town, leaving its citizenry terrified and on guard. During this time, young Kate’s life takes a fateful turn when she is sexually assaulted by an Amish man named Daniel Lapp. She shoots Lapp in self-defense and, seeing blood splattered across the floor, is certain he’s dead. (Her father drags away the body, and the family banishes the incident from their memories, never reporting it to police.) With Lapp’s demise, the area murders cease. Rattled residents rest easily once again. Fast-forward 16 years. Kate, now chief of police in Painters Mill, is faced with a series of brutal crimes in which the female victims are tortured and raped. Could Daniel Lapp still be alive? Kate battles her inner demons as she tracks down a killer who shows no sign of letting up. Can she come clean about her past without losing her job?

Suspense/thriller ~ Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan (new-to-me author/publicist contact)

The enigmatic David Loogan, who’s recently moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., has stumbled into an editing job for Gray Streets, a mystery magazine, after anonymously submitting a short story. One night, Loogan’s boss, Tom Kristoll, asks him for help in disposing of a corpse. Loogan goes to Kristoll’s house and does so, despite his suspicions that Kristoll’s account of how the man ended up dead is incomplete at best. When Kristoll later dies in a fall from his office window, the police mark Loogan, who’s been having an affair with Kristoll’s wife, as a person of interest.

Suspense/thriller ~ A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi (new-to-me author/author contact) (Claimed by Wisteria)

The sleepy town of Newbury, Connecticut, is shocked when a little girl is found brutally murdered. With the murderer on the loose, the police desperately look for any clues to lead to his identity. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist in a nearby hospital is also in a desperate search to find the cause of seven-year-old Naya Hastings s devastating nightmares. Afraid that she might hurt herself in the midst of a torturous episode, Naya s parents have turned to the bright young doctor as their only hope. When these two situations converge, they set off an alarming chain of events. In this stunning psychological thriller, innocence gives way to evil, and trust lies forgotten in a web of deceit, fear, and murder.

Suspense/thriller ~ The Atlantis Revelation by Thomas Greanias (new-to-me author) (Claimed by IceDream)

The adventure begins with the wreckage of a sunken Nazi submarine and a shocking legacy of Hitler’s quest for Atlantis. Archaeologist Conrad Yeats discovers in the ruins of the Third Reich the key to an ancient conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of every major government. Suddenly Yeats is plunged into a deadly race across the Mediterranean, hunted by the assassins of an international organization that will stop at nothing to ignite global Armageddon and revive an empire. And only Serena Serghetti, the beautiful Vatican linguist he loved and lost, can help him save the world from the Atlantis Revelation.

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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.

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Read It Forward details