The Printed Page

October was an average reading month. I read 11 books, DNFd 3 totaling 4,059 pages. Review books are listed first followed by personal selections. Clicking on a book cover will take you to Amazon US.

Review books for October ’09. My thoughts about these books can be found at Pondering the pages

I did manage to sneak in three personal reading selections this month.

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. Here’s a cover that caught my eye. Title: The Queen’s Dollmaker Author: Christine Trent Release date: January ’10

On the brink of revolution, with a tide of hate turned against the decadent royal court, France is in turmoil – as is the life of one young woman forced to leave her beloved Paris. After a fire destroys her home and family, Claudette Laurent is struggling to survive in London. But one precious gift remains: her talent for creating exquisite dolls that Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France herself, cherishes. When the Queen requests a meeting, Claudette seizes the opportunity to promote her business, and to return home…Amid the violence and unrest, Claudette befriends the Queen, who bears no resemblance to the figurehead rapidly becoming the scapegoat of the Revolution. But when Claudette herself is lured into a web of deadly political intrigue, it becomes clear that friendship with France’s most despised woman has grim consequences. Now, overshadowed by the spectre of Madame Guillotine, the Queen’s dollmaker will face the ultimate test.

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What book cover caught your eye? Leave a post link and share with your fellow readers. 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: Detectives Don’t Wear Seat Belts: True Adventures of a Female P.I. Author/website: Cici McNair (Hachette Book Group USA page) 354 pages Publisher: Center Street Publication date: September ’09 Genre: Memoir Would I recommend it: DNF’d @ pg. 260 of 354 Journal notes: If Detectives Don’t Wear Seat Belts had been billed as a fictional story it would have been decent. As a memoir there was a lot that didn’t add up for me, too many details missing. ** Updated 11/4/09 **

Growing up in Mississippi, Cici McNair was always more the tomboy her mother supported than the Southern belle her father demanded. She escaped her suffocating upbringing the first chance she had to travel the world. Whether working at the Vatican in Rome or consorting with a gunrunner in Haiti, she lived a life of international adventure. When Cici finds herself in New York, divorced, broke, and fashionably starving to death in a Madison Avenue apartment, she impulsively decides to become a private detective.

But, as Cici soon learns, the world of P.I.s is tight-knit and made up almost exclusively of former law enforcement officers. By nature, they are a highly suspicious group and are especially wary of a newcomer with an untraceable past. Diligently working her way through the Yellow Pages, doggedly pursuing the slightest lead, Cici is finally hired by a private investigator willing to take a chance. The next day she’s working side by side with a pair of seasoned detectives and a skip tracer who is scary to meet but like silk on the phone. She quickly realizes she’ll need all her energy and wits to succeed in this new world.

Being a private investigator is as exciting and liberating as Cici ever dreamed, from creating a false identity on the spot on her first case in the field to surviving adrenaline-rushing car chases. Working with law enforcement, she goes undercover, dealing with the ruthless Born to Kill gang in Chinatown and the Middle Eastern counterfeiters west of Broadway. A detailed account of the hidden world and real-life cases of a P.I., this action-packed memoir is as entertaining as any detective novel you’ve ever read.

(Detectives Don’t Wear Seat Belts was provided to me by Brianne of Hachette Book Group USA. I was not paid and will be sending this book to another book blogger )

The excellent adventure actually begins this coming Sunday when we board the plane for Sydney, Australia from Boise via LAX. This is a trip that we’ve been talking about and planning since last May. For me vacation began tonight when I walked out the office door at 11pm. Admittedly I happy danced across the parking lot because I have nearly the entire month off! I’m not back at work until Noon the last Monday of November which coincidentally just happens to be the last day of month. I job share with 5 co-workers so I’ll simply be able to hit the delete key on my unmanageable email box and say “tell me what I need to know.” Alas for Jim vacation doesn’t start until Thursday evening.

This is my first trip over seas. This is a dream vacation for me. For a number of years, too many to count, I’ve wanted to visit Australia and New Zealand. I don’t know what the fascination is. I just know I want to go and now I am. I’ve been out of the US before but never this far. Canada and Mexico are neighbors so in some aspects it’s like I’ve never left home when visiting those countries. We’re spending the first half of our adventure in Sydney and environs. Then we hop a plane and head to the south island of New Zealand. One of the nice things about traveling with Jim is he’s the trip planner and loves it. He’s a details kind of guy when it comes to big trips. All I do is ask him “what do I pack and when are we leaving?” he does the rest. Now this is far from our normal laze around around the pool all day kind of trip. He actually had the gall to ask if I was packing my Kindle. The nerve of some guys I tell ya. My response will typical me: “Ah yeah what’d you think I was going to do on the plane for 18 hours?” I’ve been told that reading time is limited so why bother. Gee does he leave his precious [whatever] home when we travel, I don’t think so.

You might have noticed the blog theme changed. I haven’t done a new one in a while because I love my usual theme so much but I thought vacations merited their own theme. Also you’ll know when I’m traveling because the gorgeous beach will appear before your very eyes. And these guys to the left are about as far from the beach as one can get but we’ll be seeing some of their relatives in NZ. They’re just do so darn cute I had to include them. We have a couple of celebrations while we’re gone plus we miss a Monday and a holiday. Jim and I each have birthdays this month so not only we will get to celebrate our American b-days but also our Aussie and NZ b-days. Its not like I really need another b-day at my age but this one is special. Because we’re flying Sunday and cross the international date line we won’t have a Monday in our first week. Most everyone wishes for no Monday and now I won’t have one. And because Thanksgiving is a US holiday no turkey day for us.

Mailbox Monday will post as usual. I noticed tonight that the linkies from today’s (11/2) MM post have done a disappearing act. If I can’t get linkies to work correctly before leaving we’ll go back to posting the old fashioned way – blog comments. We are traveling with a pint sized laptop so hopefully we’ll be able post some pictures here or at our Facebook pages. If you would like to friend me so that you can see pictures you can search for marcia [at] printedpage [dot] com. I’m not a big fan of Facebook and do nothing with my account but we’ve had several requests to post our pics there so that’s most likely where you’ll find them.

I know I have more to write but can’t remember what I wanted to say so goodnight for now. I’ll leave you with some more friends and scenery.

It is with deep sadness that we say to goodbye to a beloved family member. Sunday morning Daisy came down with a sudden onset devastating medical condition. Within hours she was no longer with us.

Daisy was daddy’s girl and will be missed. She is survived by her human parents, her daughter Lucy and several other feline family members. Sweet girl rest in peace.

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.

I really didn’t expect any review/Read It Forward books this week but a couple showed up. This week’s edition of MM is a combination of vacation book spree, part 2 and review/Read It Forward books. Read It Forward books will start mailing in January after vacation and the holidays.

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Review/Read It Forward books

The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Claimed by Gina)

One dark night in the winter of 1896, in remote upper Provence, a family is brutally massacred. Only a three-week-old baby miraculously survives. In 1920, the orphan, Seraphin Monge, finally returns home from the war to pursue the truth. Haunted by the image of his mother’s dying moments, he turns on the house that has seen such misery, destroying it stone by stone. As the walls crumble, the killers’ identities are laid bare and his anger turns to vengeance. But for every murder Seraphin plots, another hand silently executes it in his place.

The Silent Gift by Michael Landon Jr, and Cindy Kelley (new-to-me authors/publicist) (Claimed by Martha)

The 1930s were a decade of enormous uncertainty–for the world, for America, and in particular for one lonely, struggling mother and her disabled son. Their story is one of love and enormous sacrifices in the face of circumstances horrendous beyond belief. When her husband leaves her for someone whose time isn’t wrapped up in a silent, handicapped kid, Mary and little Jack are out on their own in a world that has no room for the poor and disabled. Especially not at a time when most Americans are simply trying to survive their economic woes and job losses. But then arrives The Gift…where has it come from, and why? How can a young boy who can neither hear nor speak provide comfort, direction, and sometimes challenges to seekers who learn of the special ability? Whatever the source, its presence brings a single shaft of light and hope to Mary and her beloved Jack. Will it be enough?

Vacation book spree, part 2 (all are Kindle eBooks and not available for Read It Forward) The Twilight Saga Collection by Stephenie Meyer (new-to-me author)

This stunning set, complete with all four books, makes the perfect gift for fans of the bestselling vampire love story.

Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn capture the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires.

I bought the Twilight saga for one reason only and that is Amazon so drastically under priced this collection (for 3 hours, possibly a blue light special?) that I couldn’t resist. I paid $5.27 for all 4 eBooks. I am not a fan of vampire fiction and really have no plans to read these books. But if I should ever have a change of mind I own them. Don’t be looking for my take on them any time soon.

Body of Lies by David Ignatius (new-to-me author)

idealistic CIA agent Roger Ferris, newly stationed in Jordan after being wounded in Iraq. After a failed initiative to flush out a terrorist mastermind known as Suleiman, Ferris, who’s dedicated to forestalling further al-Qaeda attacks, develops an intricate scheme modeled after a British plan used successfully against the Nazis. Ferris’s plot to turn the terrorists against each other by sowing seeds of suspicion that their leaders are collaborating with the Americans puts his personal life in turmoil and threatens his professional relationship with the head of Jordanian intelligence.

Honolulu by Alan Brennert (I snagged his other novel Moloka’i from a bargain bin and loved it)

Emboldened by her desire to be educated, Regret commits herself as a mail-order bride to a prosperous man in Hawaii, where girls are allowed to attend school. But when she arrives, she finds her new husband is a callous plantation worker with drinking and gambling problems. Soon, Regret (now known as Jin) and her fellow picture brides must discover their own ways to prosper in America and find that camaraderie and faith in themselves goes a long way.

The Concubine’s Daughter by Pai Kit Fai (new-to-me author)

An epic, heart-wrenching story of a mother and daughter’s journey to their destiny. L”otus Feet. He would give his daughter the dainty feet of a courtesan. This would enhance her beauty and her price, making her future shine like a new coin. He smiled to himself, pouring fresh tea. And it would stop her from running away…” When the young concubine of an old farmer in rural China gives birth to a daughter called Li-Xia, or “Beautiful One,” the child seems destined to become a concubine herself. Li refuses to submit to her fate, outwitting her father’s orders to bind her feet and escaping the silk farm with an English sea captain. Li takes her first steps toward fulfilling her mother’s dreams of becoming a scholar–but her final triumph must be left to her daughter, Su Sing, “Little Star,” in a journey that will take her from remote mountain refuges to the perils of Hong Kong on the eve of World War II.

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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to fill out Mister Linky or leave a comment with a list of books if you don’t blog. If you’re interested in Read It Forward you will need to leave a comment in addition to filling out Mister Linky.

• In the “Your name:” box, please enter either your name or your blog’s name.

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1. Savvy Verse & Wit 2. gautami tripathy 3. Kristi -(Books and Needlepoint) 4. Elysium 5. Shelly (Write For A Reader) 6. Library of Clean Reads 7. Zia@My Life In Not So Many Words 8. Vicki 9. Wrighty’s Reads 10. Gina @ BookDragon’s Lair 11. Kristen (BookNAround) 12. Cathy@Kittling: Books 13. Kathy (Bermudaonion’s Weblog) 14. Karissa’s Reading Review 15. Kim (Metroreader) 16. Staci-Life in the Thumb 17. Blodeuedd (Bookgirl at Mur-y-Castell) 18. Snowbell 19. Bluestocking 20. The Burton Review 21. Diane (Bibliophile By the Sea) 22. Katy (A Few More Pages) 23. The Crowded Leaf 24. Jo-Jo 25. Caitlin (chaotic compendiums) 26. Jaime @ Confessions of a Bibliophile 27. Robin 28. (Carrie K..) Books and Movies 29. sharonlovesbooksandcats 30. Freda @ Freda’s Voice 31. Wordsmithonia 32. Samantha (Bookworms and tea lovers) 33. Nicola (Back to Books) 34. Wendi B ~ Wendi’s Book Corner 35. Rose City Reader 36. Allison (Well-Read Reviews) 37. Carol’s Notebook 38. Diary of an Eccentric 39. Renee~Black ‘n Gold Girl’s Book Spot 40. Laura @ I’m Booking It 41. Dana’s Scrap Therapy 42. Okbolover 43. MarthaE (Martha’s Bookshelf) 44. Beth(bookaholicmom) 45. Andrea (So Many Books, So Little Time) 46. Stephanie-Reviews by Lola 47. Alyce (At Home With Books) 48. LIsa 49. Gwendolyn (A Sea of Books)

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Read It Forward details