24…it’s the number of books waiting for me on my Kobo

I posted on Facebook about Fall Reading Lists. There always seems to be dozens of reading lists posted for Summer, but I find that Fall is the most wonderful time to cozy up with a good read, a nice fire, beautiful and changing colours all around and the smells, oh those smells of cinnamon, pumpkin and spice! I started considering what I should include in my reading lists and checked what was waiting for me on my Kobo. Well, for starters….I definitely should begin here:

The Blackberry Bush

Case Histories

Children and Fire

Cool Water

Die with Me

A Discovery of Witches

The Family Fang

Garden Spells

The Hanging Shed

The Hidden Child

The Hypnotist

The Illuminator (and now #2 in the series listed too, The Mercy Seller!)

A Lesson in Secrets

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand

The Mists of Avalon (and if I don’t start with this one, my friend Alice will hang me by my toenails I’m certain!!)

Patron Saint of Liars

Red Herring Without Mustard

The Singer’s Gun

The Snowman

The Soldier’s Wife

The Weight of Silence

When God was a Rabbit

The Woefield Poultry Collective

A World Elsewhere

I can see why we deemed ourselves Literary Hoarders! This is only what sits on my Kobo, I haven’t even catalogued what is on the shelf and hiding out in the closet yet! Sigh…But! My Fall Reading List Rocks! ☺

Review: Don’t Breathe a Word

I will say that this was a page burner.  It quickly turns into an incredibly fast read.  Once the story is laid out, you become totally engrossed in what happened to 12-year old Lisa, who, by all accounts, seemed to disappear into a magical Fairy World.  She vanished from the woods behind her home.  Should I also mention that she was willing?  I’ll leave that piece alone…

For 15 years, Lisa was missing.  The story then bounces back and forth between present day, and “15 years ago.”    Present day revolves around the missing girl’s adult brother Sam, and his longtime girlfriend Phoebe (Phoebe will become your favorite character).  “15 years ago” revolves around young Lisa, her brother Sam, and their oddball cousin Evie.  I can’t write too much without giving the story away.  I can’t talk about the end of the book at all, which I ultimately found to be frustrating.  The writing toward the end became almost frantic, as the author hurriedly tied up the many loose ends that she created.  What resulted was a whirlwind that left me disappointed, and wondering if the author could actually make up her mind which way to go.  There’s also great sadness at the end, which is never fun to read in fiction.

I’m giving this 3.75 stars, because I found myself cracking it open at every available opportunity.  I wish, however, that the story turned out differently, if only to allow the reader more satisfaction after the roller coaster ride.  I would recommend this for anyone who wants to enjoy a mysterious read that keeps you guessing, and then I would love to hear what you thought of the story’s close.  😉

Looks like another good “Free Friday”

thanks B&N!!

Free Fridays

When we named Scott O’Connor’s novel Untouchable a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection this spring, here’s what we had to say: “Tender, haunting, exquisitely profound; O’Connor’s debut novel is an eloquent celebration of familial love made all the more poignant by tragedy. Painful, yet liberating, ‘Untouchable’ takes the measure of a father and son with honesty, humor, and uncommon resonance.”

 Today, this fantastic debut is our Free Fridays selection, and I’m excited to share this critically-acclaimed novel with NOOK readers. O’Connor’s subtle but self-assured writing captures the grief of a widower and his son, both grappling with their family’s loss in their own way. David, the father, works as a trauma site clean-up tech, and while he’s confronted with gruesome deaths on a daily basis, he’s unable to process the trauma of his wife Lucy’s passing. His son Whitley is having an even harder time adapting to life without his mother, refusing to speak and instead filling copious notebooks with his fantastical thoughts.

As this fractured family retreats into even more isolation, both David and Whitley start to believe that the circumstances of Lucy’s death aren’t what they first seemed, and each loses his grip on reality while struggling to snap out of a downward spiral.

As the Los Angeles Times stated, O’Connor really is “one to watch,” and his freshman effort is one of the best debut novels of the year.

Look what came in the mail for me today…

The cover is pretty, the book has a really nice heft to it and the chapter titles are so pretty too! I love that!

Mr. Emerson’s Wife: In this novel about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s wife, Lidian, Amy Belding Brown examines the emotional landscape of love and marriage. Living in the shadow of one of the most famous men of her time, Lidian becomes deeply disappointed by marriage, but consigned to public silence by social conventions and concern for her children and her husband’s reputation. Drawn to the erotic energy and intellect of close family friend Henry David Thoreau, she struggles to negotiate the confusing territory between love and friendship while maintaining her moral authority and inner strength. In the course of the book, she deals with overwhelming social demands, faces devastating personal loss, and discovers the deepest meaning of love. Lidian eventually discovers the truth of her own character and learns that even our faults can lead us to independence.