The Printed Page

Archive for September, 2009

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: The Invisible City
Author: Emili Rosales
Release date: September ‘09

Emili Rosell, the young owner of one of Barcelona’s top galleries, receives an old manuscript written by an Italian architect about the ‘Invisible City’ – an ambitious project dreamt up by King Charles III to build an alternative capital city in the Ebro delta. The manuscript tells of a lost masterpiece by the Venetian painter Tiepolo, and the site of the Invisible City is where Emili used to play as a child; drawn in by these factors, he is plunged into a fascinating extinct world. Juxtaposing the eighteenth-century royal court life and the contemporary art world – both with a similar share of intrigue, politics and romance – “The Invisible City” is a gripping historical mystery and a compelling examination of the forces of power and love.

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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: Receive Me Falling
Author/website: Erika Robuck
266 pages
Publisher: Elysian Fields Press
Publication date: January ‘09
Genre: Contemporary/historical fiction mix
Would I recommend it: A hedged yes – debut author
I found this a pleasant read but not anything I’ll most likely remember beyond next week. It will blend in with all the other contemporary/historical fictional stories I’ve read. I found the last 30 or so pages the most interesting of the entire story. Even though I’m not gushing about this one I did enjoy it enough to give another book from this new author a try.

Every slave story is a ghost story. The haunting words of an historian and former cane worker on the Caribbean island of Nevis launch Meghan Owen on her quest to unlock the secrets of an abandoned sugar plantation and its ghosts. After Meg’s parents die in a car accident on the night of her engagement party, she calls off her wedding, takes leave of her job in Annapolis, and travels to land she’s inherited on Nevis. A series of discoveries in an old plantation house on the property, Eden, set her on a search for the truth surrounding the shameful past of her ancestors, their slaves, and the tragedy that resulted in the fall of the plantation and its inhabitants. Through a crushing phone call with her lawyer, Meg learns that her father’s estate was built on stolen money, and is being sued by multiple sources. She is faced with having to sell the land and plantation home, and deal with the betrayal she feels from her deceased father. In alternating chapters, the historical drama of the Dall family unfolds. Upon the arrival of British abolitionists to the hedonistic 19th century plantation society, Catherine Dall is forced to choose between her lifestyle and the scandal of deserting her family. An angry confrontation with Catherine’s slave, Leah, results in the girl’s death, but was it murder or suicide? Hidden texts, scandalous diaries, antique paintings, and confessional letters help Meghan Owen uncover the secrets of Eden and put the ghosts to rest.

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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Memoir ~ Lift by Rebecca K. O’Connor (new-to-me author/author contact) (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward)

The culmination of a ten-year career in falconry, Lift is a memoir that illustrates the journey and life lessons of a woman navigating a man’s ancient sport. Captivated by a chance meeting with a falconer’s peregrine as a child, the indelible memory eventually brings the author’s life full circle to flying a peregrine of her own. Exploring themes of predator and prey, finding tribe, forgiveness and femininity, the memoir asks universal questions through a unique backdrop. Lift illustrates the beauty and meaning the sport of falconry can add to a falconer’s life, echoing the challenges and triumphs of being human.

Legal thriller ~ Nibble & Kuhn by David Schmahmann (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward)

An unraveling law firm. An unwinnable case. An unworkable love.

Derek Dover has it all.

Derek’s up for partner at Nibble & Kuhn just as that most proper of Boston law firms comically tries to `rebrand’ itself for the Google era. Pompous and arbitrary, the ruling junta of partners saddles him with a high visibility lawsuit just weeks before trial. The diligent young attorney arranges things so that Maria Parma, a new associate in the firm for whom he’s fallen hard, also gets named to the case. Maria, in turn, can’t keep her hands off Derek, but it’s complicated because she’s engaged to someone else.

As Derek prepares his case on behalf of seven young victims of an industrial polluter, his anxieties about his career and his torments over Maria’s mixed messages only increase. Have his eccentric WASP superiors handed him a `toxic’ case to ruin his chances of becoming a partner? How can he get his opponents to settle – an outcome the presiding judge all but demands – unless his unorthodox `expert witnesses’ perform with enough gravitas to match that of the other side with its Harvard Medical School scientist? Will Nibble & Kuhn survive the partners’ spectacularly bad business judgments? Does it even matter to Derek, given that his looming fiasco of a trial and his indiscretions with Maria seem set to sink any chance he ever had at partnership?

Ultimately, Derek sets into motion a line of inquiry that spins events entirely out of the control of the judge, jury, and any and all attorneys.

Non-fiction ~ The Apple by Penelope Holt (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward)

Oprah called the tale of love in a concentration camp that lies at the heart of holocaust survivor, Herman Rosenblat’s controversial memoir, “The greatest love story every told.” But when his story is attacked and his memoir cancelled, Rosenblat must defend his narrative. The Apple first tells the story of his struggle to survive the camps and the girl he says helped him by tossing apples over the fence. It then uncovers the story behind the story: Why did an old man weave real love with a dream of love into an account that touched and inspired many, but also ignited a firestorm of criticism?

Non-fiction ~ Dracula Is Dead by Sheilah Kast and Jim Rosapepe (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward)

The book, a remarkable exploration of the country of Romania, is called Dracula Is Dead: How Romanians Survived Communism, Ended It, and Emerged since 1989 as the New Italy.

It follows former ambassador to Romania Jim Rosapepe and his wife, journalist Sheilah Kast, on a journey through the Romania of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Part travelogue and part memoir, Dracula Is Dead goes beyond the perceptions of Romania—Dracula, orphans, Communism—to present an amazing land, from Orthodox Christianity to information technology, from the Roman Empire through World War II through the fall of Communism, to Transylvania and the entire nation.

Jim and Sheilah have an unparalleled perspective on the country of Romania, and are sharing it just in time for the twentieth anniversary of the fall of Communism.

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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

A lot of my friends are spending the day at the National Book Festival today – lucky them! Yes, I’m green with envy and not ashamed to admit it. So I thought I’d check out the book festival(s) in my adopted home state (I was born and raised in WA). I was horrified to find Idaho is the only state in the nation without a book festival. I can’t say I’m really surprised by this as my hometown of Meridian (10 miles west of Boise) continually votes down library bonds. I don’t feel the library system in Boise and surrounding area is well supported as Boise (state capital, pop. 202,832) has only 4 library branches within the Boise city limits.

So I’ve marked my calendar, and warned my hubby, that I will be attending the Book Blogger Convention (interest form for the super serious attendees) and  Book Expo America in New York in of May 2010.

We’re in the dog days of summer with fall right around the corner and my bookation is coming to a end during these last days of September. I dedicated this month to taking a bookation – a month of guilt-free, self-indulgent, pure pleasure reading. A couple of ARCs and review books did sneak their way in as they kept whispering to me from the stacks. I also used it as a time to catch up on those nagging blogging and virtual library tasks that had fallen by the wayside. My bookation was a huge success and I had a wonderful time.

Blogging/virtual library tasks checked off:
Created a favorite authors page
Created a favorite books over the years page (this is very much a continuing project)
Updated my series reading page
Updated my About me & Contact Marcia page
Installed a new blog theme
Updated my Librarything library

The magazine stacks are no more. Well at least not for me. They’ve move to my hubby’s end table. We’ll see how long they gather dust over there.

And reading…

The main reason I took a bookation. My reading was suffering a serious case of the blahs. For every book I was finishing I was DNFing an equal number. So I was in need of comfort reading for my book soul.  I’ve also decided to go back to reading books that fall into genres that really call to me. My September reading list should give you a good idea of what those genres might be.

And sadly there were once again some DNFs.

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig
The Summer Kitchen by Karen Weinreb
The Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

I’ll be kicking off the new year in January with another bookation.

Title: However Tall the Mountain
Author/website: Awista Ayub
231 pages
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication date: August ‘09
Genre: Memoir
Would I recommend it: Yes
These young women have amazing stories. It showcases desire and determination. Every young girl should read this book. It will inspire them to reach for their dreams.

A group of Afghan girls are introduced to soccer American-style in this subtly composed, eye-opening tale of cultural clash and transformation. The author—the director of the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange whose own family emigrated from Kabul to Connecticut when the Soviet-backed coup took over the country in 1978—first sponsored eight Afghan girls to come to America to play soccer for six weeks in 2004. Having been grouped informally as a team only recently back in Afghanistan, where girls were rarely encouraged to play sports, the girls spent six weeks at soccer camps in America—in Washington, D.C.; Connecticut; and Cleveland—playing soccer publicly for the first time. Ayub’s account explores the diverse stories of the eight girls, who had lived through the recent nightmare era of the Taliban and in some cases were prohibited from attending school; excited and a little frightened by the attention they garnered in America, the eight girls ranging from 10 to 16 then had to return to their humble, war-town families with the hope they could use their newfound leadership skills to teach others.

Title: Pursuit of Honor (Mitch Rapp book #10)
Author: Vince Flynn
Publication date: October ‘09
Genre: Political thriller

The action begins six days after a series of explosions devastated Washington, D.C., targeting the National Counterterrorism Center and killing 185 people, including public officials and CIA employees. It was a bizarre act of extreme violence that called for extreme measures on the part of elite counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his trusted team member, Mike Nash. Now that the initial shock of the catastrophe is over, key Washington officials are up in arms over whether to make friends or foes of the agents who stepped between the enemy’s bullets and countless American lives regardless of the legal consequences. Not for the first time, Rapp finds himself in the frustrating position of having to illustrate the realities of national security to politicians whose view from the sidelines is inevitably obstructed.

Meanwhile, three of the al Qaeda terrorists are still at large, and Rapp has been unofficially ordered to find them by any means necessary. No one knows the personal, physical, and emotional sacrifices required of the job better than Rapp. When he sees Nash cracking under the pressure of the mission and the memories of the horrors he witnessed during the terrorist attack, he makes a call he hopes will save his friend, assuage the naysayers on Capitol Hill, and get him one step closer to the enemy before it’s too late.

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Jill at Breaking the Spine hosts Waiting on Wednesday. Stop by and check out the great books your fellow readers can’t wait to get their hands on. What book are you waiting for?

Title: The Lost Symbol
Author/website: Dan Brown / The Lost Symbol
528 pages
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Publication date: September ‘09
Genre: Action/adventure
Would I recommend it: Yes
I’ve already written two other posts for TLS. My first post was written when I was 37 pages into TLS and the second post was written when I was half way through TLS. My final conclusion: I really enjoyed TLS and consider it my favorite Robert Langdon book. TLS continues to take a beating in the review section at Amazon moving from 3 stars to 2-1/2 (as of this post). Still not having read any of the Amazon reviews/posts I’m wondering if the readers behind the 1 and 2 stars read the same book I did.  Yes its typical Dan Brown/Robert Langdon. Yes its written for the masses. Yes its written with a basic story formula in mind. And yes I found it very entertaining. Now if you’re really hard core, or just want to be contrary, you can find fault with anything. Your intention is to nit pick and belittle. I purposely avoided what everyone else was saying and based my opinion on what I was reading without all the outside ‘noise’. I picked up TLS intending to immerse myself in an action/adventure book that I wasn’t going to take as anything more substantial than vacation reading. Gosh here’s my chance to be contrary to a majority of TLS readers at Amazon ~ TLS was a hit with me and I’d recommend it. I like Robert Langdon. I like how he thinks. I like how he gets into and out of crazy situations. I like the combination of fact and fiction in Mr. Brown’s stories. It was worth the $9.99 I paid for the Kindle eBook. And personally I’m already looking forward to the next Robert Langdon adventure.

As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object–artfully encoded with five symbols–is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation… one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon–a prominent Mason and philanthropist–is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations–all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

I started reading The Lost Symbol Monday night and posted my thoughts about the first 37 pages here. So here we are Wednesday afternoon and I’m 53% (Kindle eBook) or approx. 280 pages into the story. And you know what I’m really enjoying it. Actually I think it’s my favorite Dan Brown book of the Robert Langdon series. And I’m pretty sure that puts me in the minority if you look at the star ratings at Amazon. My being in the minority with any hyped book doesn’t really surprise me. But usually its a book that everyone else just loves and I’ve DNFd.

So 102 readers have given it 2 stars and 91 just one star. Which makes me wonder did they really not enjoy the story or did they decide to give it a low rating just because they could? Big name author, lots of hype, it’s been said he writes for the masses and doesn’t really do it very well. I didn’t read their thoughts as I don’t want to be influenced by what they have to say and skew my view of TLS. Actually I didn’t read anything written by any of TLS readers at Amazon or anywhere else for that matter. I don’t want any outside influence. It’s also why I don’t really read blog reviews. I find my reading can be too influenced by outside opinions not giving me a fair shot at forming my opinion. I tend to skim, really skim, and then decide for myself. Which is exactly what I’ve done with TLS.

I read to be entertained pure and simple. I don’t read to make sure all the elements of the good plot line are included. Hell I can’t even name all the elements. I don’t read specifically looking for grammatical errors and good sentence structure. I’m lucky if I can string two or three words together that make sense. I’m most certainly don’t recall my 7th grade language arts lessons. I don’t want my reading to feel like Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?. I want my reading to have me come away thinking that was a good book and one I really enjoyed.

This month has brought me two other books along the same lines as TLS. One being The Lost Throne by Chris Kuzneski and the other, The Last Ember by Daniel Levin. All three can be described as action/adventure stories. All three mix ancient beliefs with contemporary happenings. All three have an element of mystery. And all three are solid, enjoyable, entertaining stories. At times The Last Ember was a little too complicated for me. If a plot becomes too intricate or has too much going on I tend to get lost and can’t keep everything from getting mixed up. Hence TLS is good for me in that respect as it isn’t overly complicated. I’m able to keep track of the all characters. I’m able to follow the story line as Mr. Brown has laid it out so far. Between the three books I like all three and don’t think any one of them is any better or worse than any of  others. And lastly this is a genre I love. It’s comfort reading for my book soul.

All of that is the round about way of saying I’m your avid, average, everyday reader who is enjoying Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. It’ll get high marks from me. And yes I want to see Tom Hanks on the big screen once again playing Robert Langdon.

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: The Book of Love (2nd book in the The Magdalene Line)
Author: Kathleen McGowan
Release date: March ‘09

Cultures throughout Europe believed there was once a gospel written in Christ’s own hand, a treasure of almost unimaginable magnitude. It was referred to by the Cathar culture in France, who claimed to be direct descendants of Christ, as The Book of Love. But the teachings in The Book of Love were radical and contrary to the political agenda of the Church. Papal forces launched one of the bloodiest crusades in history against the Cathars in an effort to wipe out their ‘heresy’ – and to gain possession of the original, incendiary manuscript – a document so revolutionary that its contents would be considered ground-breaking and visionary 2000 years later. In The Book of Love, Maureen Paschal continues her journey of discovery begun in The Expected One, following evidence in stone and stained glass, clues left 800 years ago by the ancient architects of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe. As Maureen and her team get closer to the truth, they find themselves locked in the most ancient human struggle – the epic battle between good and evil.

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I read The Expected One and very much enjoyed the story line. I’m looking forward to some day finding the time to read The Book of Love.

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