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Showing posts from October, 2010

No past, no future only now

Title : The Mindfulness Revolution: Leading Psychologists, Scientists, Artists and and Meditation Teachers on the Power of Mindfulness in Daily Life by Barry Boyce, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Thich Nhat Hahn, Daniel Siegel, Jack Kornfield Publisher: Shambhala 288 Pages Genre : Self-help, Psychology This book was received as an advanced electronic galley from the publisher via netgalley.  This title will be released in March 2011 . Synopsis: In recent years there has been an explosion of interest in the art and science of mindfulness. Simply put, mindfulness is a means for developing greater awareness of our moment-to-moment experience—for fully experiencing what is happening within us and around us. It has been scientifically shown to reduce stress and improve health. Recent studies also indicate that mindfulness can alleviate depression and anxiety, improve attention and performance, and increase an individual’s overall levels of happiness. Mindfulness is being applied in a wide...

Hoppy Halloween Weekend...

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Its that time again...The Friday book blog hop... This weeks question is, What is the one bookish thing you would love to have no matter the cost?   Hmm...this is a tough one.  I'm not really sure.  I mean I have a kindle, I have a ton of books, the only thing I really need is more time to read! But if money were no object I guess I would have to say that I would want a bigger house where I could have a library with shelves all around and one of those rolling ladders...a big fireplace and a really comfy chair just like in the movies. Happy Halloween everyone...have a ghoulishly good time!

Secrets, Ghosts, and Hidden Agenda's

Title: The Lovers by John Connolly Publisher:  Atria 344 pages Genre: Mystery, fiction Synopsis : Parker is working in a bar in Portland , having been deprived of his P.I.'s license. He uses his enforced retirement to begin a different kind of investigation: an examination of his own past and an inquiry into the death of his father, who took his own life after apparently shooting dead two unarmed teenagers, a search that will eventually lead to revelations about Parker's own parentage. Meanwhile, a troubled young woman is running from an unseen threat, one that already seems to have taken the life of her boyfriend, and a journalist-turned-writer named Mickey Wallace is conducting an investigation of his own into Charlie Parker in the hope of writing a non-fiction book about his exploits . And haunting the shadows, as they have done throughout Parker's life, are two figures: a man and a woman, the lovers of the title, who appear to have only one purpose, and that i...

Serial Killers and Closets...

Title: The Killing Room by Gerri Hill Publisher: Bella Books 385 pages Genre: Lesbian Romantic fiction Synopsis: Denver Detective Jake McCoy is trying to recover- both physically and emotionally- from the shooting death of a young boy that also left her injured.   She soon finds herself rehabbing at her cabin in the mountains, soaking in the remote natural springs - which is exactly where psychologist Nicole Westbrook vacations and soon stumbles across her... When Nicole leaves the next day , the two women know little more about the other than her first name - yet they are now lovers instead of strangers. When Jake returns to Denver, a serial murder investigation soon leads her to Nicole. As the investigation develops, their physical attraction threatens to compromise the case.  Nicole finds herself struggling to remain in the professional closet that she's been hiding in for so long - a place where an out cop like Jake McCoy simply does not belong. Review:...

Afghanistan before and after the Taliban

Title: The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad Publisher: Back Bay Books 288 pages Genre: non-fiction - Islamic Culture Synopsis: This mesmerizing portrait of a proud man who, through three decades and successive repressive regimes, heroically braved persecution to bring books to the people of Kabul has elicited extraordinary praise throughout the world and become a phenomenal international bestseller.  The Bookseller of Kabul is startling in its intimacy and its details - a revelation of the plight of Afghan women and a window into the surprising realities of daily life in today's Afghanistan. Review: This book has generated a lot of talk from critics and from the people involved.  Apparently even though the author attempted to keep the bookseller and his family anonymous he was too well known so even with the use of alias's he was identified.  Now he is seeking asylum in Sweden or Norway with his family.  He is also suing the author for defamation of ...

Torn Between Two Lovers

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Title: Runes by Em Petrova Publisher: Red Sage Publishing Genre: Paranormal, erotica Price : $3.99 ebook This book was received free from the publisher via netgalley.com Synopsis: When immortals Will Cochran and Evangeline Mayer are thrown together by a phenomenon known as The Calling, they breech the barriers of a conventional relationship.  By sharing their blood and bodies, their minds and souls are also entwined.  But Evangeline has been yanked from the arms of her mortal love, Sean Livingston, and the echo of his touch never leaves her. When she's kidnapped by a sadistic immortal seeking revenge for the loss of his own mate, Sean is summoned as a means to torture her. Their reunion both titillates and torments her new mate, Will. He and Sean make a pact to share the woman they both love, and find new desires arising in the arms of each other. Review : First I have to mention that it is very dangerous to just pick a book without reading the synopsis first or...

Bones, Secrets and Ancient Gods

Title: The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 336 Pages Genre: Mystery Suspense I received this book as an electronic galley from the publisher via netgalley . This title will be released January 2011 . Synopsis: It’s been only a few months since archaeologist Ruth Galloway found herself entangled in a missing persons case, barely escaping with her life. But when construction workers demolishing a large old house in Norwich uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway—minus its skull—Ruth is once again called upon to investigate. Is it a Roman-era ritual sacrifice, or is the killer closer at hand? Ruth and Detective Harry Nelson would like to find out—and fast. When they realize the house was once a children’s home, they track down the Catholic priest who served as its operator. Father Hennessey reports that two children did go missing from the home forty years before—a boy and a girl. They were never found. When carbon dating proves that...

Friday Hop

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Its that day again!  Today's question is: "When you read a book that you just can't get into, do you stick it out and keep reading or move to your next title?" The answer to this used to be yes I stuck it out...but now, it's getting harder and harder for me to do.  I will usually give a book about 100-150 pages to change my mind or grab me if it still isn't cutting it I'll reluctantly stop reading it.  So far I've only experienced this with one book that just really really sucked in my opinion.  Usually even if I don't particularly like it, if it has some redeeming quality I will continue to read it but I think I'm getting over this feeling of needing to finish the book despite feeling like I'm being tortured by reading it.

Science and Moral Dilemma's

Title: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Publisher: Vintage International 288 pages Genre: Fantasy/Sci fi Synopsis: Hailsham is a British boarding school for special students. The reminiscence is told from the point of view of Kathy H., now 31, whose evocation of the sheltered estate's sunlit rolling hills, guardians, dormitories, and sports pavilions is imbued with undercurrents of muted tension and foreboding that presage a darker reality. As an adult, Kathy re-engages in lapsed friendships with classmates Ruth and Tommy, examining the details of their shared youth and revisiting with growing awareness the clues and anecdotal evidence apparent to them even as youngsters that they were different from everyone outside. Review: I couldn't put this book down. It isn't until about 1/3 of the way through this book that you start to have a glimmer of what it is really about and since I don't want to spoil it my review is going to be fairly cryptic and for that I ...

Hoppity Hop Hop Hop

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Its Blog Hop Friday...This weeks questions is what is your favorite beverage to drink while blogging or reading? For me it has to be tea.  I am almost as obsessed with tea as I am with books.  I have an entire cabinet in my kitchen devoted to tea only! Black tea, green tea, white tea...you name it its probably in there.  Decaf, caffeinated it doesn't matter.  My favorites?  Depending on my mood, I like English Breakfast in the morning, something fruity in the afternoon or if its a rainy blah day that calls for Earl Grey. In the evening, something more mellow like a chamomile, or peppermint. Thanks for visiting! Enjoy.

Imagine life in an 11X11 room

Title: Room by Emma Donoghue Publisher: Little Brown and Company 336 Pages Genre: Synopsis:  To five year old Jack, Room is the world. It's where he was born, its where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. There are endless wonders that let loose Jack's imagination - the snake under Bed that he constructs out of eggshells, the imaginary world projected through the TV, the coziness of Wardrobe below Ma's clothes, where she tucks him in safely at night in case Old Nick comes. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held since she was nineteen - for seven years.  Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in that eleven by eleven foot space. But Jack's curiosity is building alongside her own desperation - and she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer. Review: Emma Donoghue has written a remarkable book.  Disturbing, uplifting and powerful, Room is a fabulous book about the power of a...

Rumshpringa Murder

Title:  Murder in Plain Sight by Marta Perry Publisher: Harlequin 384 Pages Genre: Romance I received this book as an advanced electronic readers copy from the publisher via netgalley.com .  It is due to be released November 30, 2010 Synopsis:  There are secrets buried in Amish country... Did a sweet-faced Amish teenager brutally murder a young woman? To save her career, big-city lawyer Jessica Langdon is determined to defend him—against the community’s bitter and even violent outrage. Yet without an understanding of Amish culture, Jessica must rely on arrogant businessman Trey Morgan, who has ties to the Amish community...and believes in the boy’s guilt. Jessica has threats coming from all sides: a local fanatic, stirred up by the biased publicity of the case; the dead girl’s boyfriend; even from the person she’s learned to trust the most, Trey Morgan. But just when Jessica fears she’s placed her trust in the wrong man, Trey saves her life. And now they must ...

Gangs, Guns and Politics

Title: South Phoenix Rules by Jon Talton Publisher: Poison Pen Press 250 Pages Genre: Urban Mystery This book will be released in December 2010.  I received this as an advanced  electronic  galley from the publisher through netgalley.com Synopsis: A handsome young New York professor comes to Phoenix to research his new book. But when he’s brutally murdered, police connect him to one of the world’s most deadly drug cartels. This shouldn’t be a case for historian-turned-deputy David Mapstone – except the victim has been dating David’s sister-in-law Robin and now she’s a target, too. David’s wife Lindsey is in Washington with an elite anti-cyber terror unit and she makes one demand of him: protect Robin. This won’t be an easy job with the city police suspicious of Robin and trying to pressure her. With the sheriff’s office in turmoil, David is even more of an outsider. And the gangsters are able to outgun and outspend law enforcement. It doesn’t help that David a...

Things that go bump in the night

Title: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (Book 3 of the Dresden Files) Publisher: ROC a division of Penguin Putnam Publishing 378 pages Genre : Fantasy Synopsis: In all Harry Dresden's years of supernatural sleuthing, he's never faced anything like this: the spirit world's gone postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble - and not just of the door slamming, boo shouting variety.  These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly.  Someone or something is purposely stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc.  But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? Review: Its always difficult to review books in a series without giving anything away but here goes nothing.  This is the third Harry Dresden book that I've read, and this one was better than the first two.  I was a huge fan of the SyFy series that only ran for one season and then realized that there were books! The books are different than the series but equally as good.  Harry i...