Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday

This is a meme hosted by Jenny at TakeMeAway. You can highlight a book you've loved in the past, or an oldie you've always wanted to read or a classic.

This Thursday I picked Red Leaves by Paulinna Simons. This definitely an oldie but goodie for me. It was a powerful read that was recommended to me, once again, by my good friend Cheryl. I am such a big fan of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, I was looking for something with the same chill to it. Red Leaves is all that and a bag of chips.

Here is a description from Library Journal:

At 21, Kristina Kim is a senior at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. She is beautiful, pleasant, and the star player on the women's basketball team. Surrounded by her close friends Jim Shaw, Conni Tobias, and Albert Maplethorpe, Kristina has her whole life before her. But a week after Thanksgiving her body is found frozen in the deep snow near her dormitory. Spencer Patrick O'Malley, the detective in charge, coincidentally met Kristina shortly before her death and even had a date with her the week after the holiday. As Spencer conducts his investigation, he uncovers many peculiarities; for example, why did none of her trusted friends report Kristina missing in the nine days previous to the discovery of her body? When Spencer learns that Kristina died leaving $9 million to her friends, he digs deeper and finds a frightful secret.

Happy Reading!

* red headed book child

Review #28: Eggs Benedict Arnold by Laura Childs

Title: Eggs Benedict Arnold

Author: Laura Childs

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Mystery (Penguin)

Format: Mass Market Paperback purchased

ISBN: 978-0-425-23155-5

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Series: Cackleberry Club Mystery

Rating: 4/5

My Review and Description:

This book is the second in a newer series by cozy mystery author, Laura Childs. It focuses on the lives of three older woman; Suzanne, Petra and Toni- all of which have "lost" their husbands in some way shape or form. One to death, one to Alzheimer's, one to prison. They find solace, friendship and survival in the opening of a cafe, The Cackleberry Cafe, in their small midwestern town of Kindred.

As small town's go, shit happens. (sorry for the language) But that shit happens to be murder and the gals find themselves as amatuer sleuths.

This time the victim is the owner of the local funeral home and Suzanne is the first to discover the body and then knocked out before she could see who did it.

What I am noticing about these cozy mysteries is that I don't really care too much about the actual crime but what I love are the people. Laura Childs is very gifted in that way; in her description of the three women, the cafe, the glorious food they prepare, the small town, and the humor and spirit that is middle America. She also includes some of the delicious recipes that are featured in the book. That makes it even more cozy but also the cafe has a Knitting Corner AND a Book Nook. So not only does it appeal to my love of all things food, it also appeals to my dream of having a bookstore AND possibly learning how to knit (though I've tried and I'm so not talented in that respect!). But still the combo of the three makes for an incredibly warm and fuzzy setting and the three women are really quite delightful, not at all stereotypical cutouts that they could be if it wasn't written well.

I rated this book and the series so far at a 4. They are really fun but not shallow or "simple". I really want to see how these characters progress. These would be fun fillers in between some heavier reads.

Also, on a very cool, small world note, Laura Childs is from Minnesota and was born and raised in the same town as my dad! My mom and I are going to a book signing + "treats" (they say) on Saturday to meet her and I'm going to ask her if she knows my dad's family. Hmm! Cool, huh?

Both books are only available in paperback and if you interested in her other series, check out her website here.

Happy Reading!

* red headed book child

Author Love-a-Thon #2- Joy Fielding

Author Love-a-Thon # 2

Joy Fielding

It is the beginning of a new month and that means it is time for another Author Love-a-Thon! December's pick is mystery/thriller author, Joy Fielding. I only own a few of her titles though I have read atleast 3/4 of her titles.

Why I love Joy Fielding by Red Headed book Child

The fun thing with doing this Author Love-a-Thons is that not only do I get to share a great author with all of you, I get to share a little bit more about myself and my adventures in reading. I discovered Joy Fielding many years ago, I would say maybe eight years ago. Gee, I think of that and feel old! My good friend Cheryl, who I have mentioned many times before, and really truly is my equal in book love and devotion, told me about this great mystery, See Jane Run. She is one of the only people I can talk to for HOURS about books. I was reading mostly novels at this point in my life and didn't know much about mystery authors. Well, let me tell you, the first line had me hooked.

"One afternoon in late spring, Jane Whittaker went to the store for some milk and some eggs and forgot who she was."

Um, okay? You got me. I'm in for the ride.

And it didn't stop. It was heart pounding and earth shattering and unbelievably exciting to read. Thank you, Cheryl, once again. From then on, this became one of my go to recommends to as many customers, friends, relatives that I came in contact with. Even my husband read it and liked it! Cheryl and I got the chance to go to a book signing of Joy's at a Barnes and Noble. She is a pretty private person and hardly tours but is wickedly funny and dry and very smart. I was very happy to have her sign my copy of

See Jane Run.

She has since gone on to become one of my favorite mystery authors, one that I do try honestly to read each new one that comes out (though I have missed a few).

Why you should love Joy Fielding

She writes with suspense. She puts you in situations that are normal and every day and throws in a twist. You never know who to trust in her books. The characters are always hiding something and you end up changing your mind a million times while reading. To me, this is talented and unexpecting. I don't want to be able to figure everything out before the book ends, though I have on some of hers but the majority have really knocked me over. She is certainly not the most popular mystery author out there but regularly puts out a book every year, sometimes every two years. I always like to discover and support authors like this, the ones that may not dominate the bestseller lists every time a book comes out but that keep plugging away every year or so.

She is the author of 22 books.

Still Life

Charley's Web

Heartstopper +

Mad River Road *

Puppet

Lost *

Whispers and Lies

Grand Avenue

The First Time *

Missing Pieces

Don't Cry Now

Tell me no secrets

See Jane Run *

Good Intentions +

The Deep End

Life Penalty

The Other Woman +

Kiss Mommy Goodbye

Trance +

The Transformation +

The Best of Friends +

The Wild Zone (due out March 2010) +

+ = Have not read

*= My favorites!

Check her out at her website: Joy Fielding

I hope I have helped you discover a new author in your book life.

Until next time, Happy reading!

* red headed book child

Week in Review: November 22-28

Week in Review

Hello everyone! I have decided to actually post a picture of myself instead of just shamelessly posting only pics of my cute kid. He's much cuter, I know. I'm sorry you all have to look at this while reading :) (ha ha)

Remember in last week's post when I talked all about the "health

y" days we seemed to be having? Well, that went out the window around 7pm on Tuesday. The kid came down with a fever again and was generally just grumpytoons. The doctor declared it a virus with no help but to wait it out. Gee, I love news like that. Oh boy, can we fret for the next three days over a fever of 103 degrees instead of eating turkey and bathing in pumpkin pie? Can I? Where do I sign up?

(Sigh) So I spread disappointment to my family this Thanksgiving and spent the entire rest of the week taking care of boy. It's okay though. I give thanks for him and my guy every day. Good news, we did get our Christmas tree up and decorated and put lights up on the tree. And then I got a wild hair up my you-know-what and cleaned all of his toys and washed his stuffed

animals. As I was shoving them in the washer I couldn't help but think of Toy Story. Their poor tangled furry bodies and faces looking up at me screaming "My god woman, what are you doing with us in here?" Suck up fellas and blame it on the ol' virus.

Anyhoo, on to my book world.

The only new book that came into my house this week was a beautiful hardcover of Home by Marilynne Robinson, author of Gilead. It was a review copy from my bookstore and I had to snag it after I heard such rave reviews from a customer of mine.

I only finished one book and it was a tiny one. Mistletoe Murder by Leslie Meier for the Fall/Winter Mystery Reading Challenge. Review to come.

I see a bunch of new challenges being posted from many of you for the new year and I haven't decided what I am going to do yet. I want to finish the Christmas Reading Challenge and the one that I mentioned above, which ends in February. Maybe at that time I'll hop on board a few new ones.

I've decided to only do one review/request per month meaning if I am approached by an author or I sign up to do a review for someone, it will only be one a month. So far, I am already booked through March. I don't want to overwhelm myself with "required" reading. I also posted a sidebar to list ALL of my reviews that I plan to post.

I saw New Moon and have come to the final conclusion that Bella must go away. Not that I need to look to her for a role model but she just bugs the crap out of me. I will be glad to take her place however and can reached any time of day or night. I think I could handle Jacob, otherwise known as Hottie McHottie Pants and dark and brooding hunk-o-rama, Edward.

I did ask for the DVD of Twilight for Christmas and told my inlaws that it was my son's request. Is that wrong? (ha...ha)

Okay, enough rambling. Hopefully more book reading will occur next week.

Happy reading!

* red headed book child

New Moon review

My review of New Moon:

Bella is ridiculous. (sorry if this offends!)

Edward is still hot.

Jacob is even HOTTER. Yum.

End of story.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

* red headed book child

The Secret of Joy winner!

Thank you to all of those who entered The Secret of Joy contest giveaway! Winner chosen very officially on little scraps of paper, picked out of a very fancy bowl by my very handsome husband. :)

The winner is...

KAREN at Novels During Naptime!

Congrats to you! I will email Karen and she has 24 hours to respond.

Thanks Everyone!

* red headed book child

Award: Thank you, Amy!

I received this award from the fabulous Amy J- Book Addict at My Overstuffed BookShelf. Put down your computer and go check out her blog now. Find the follow button and click on it. I'll wait.

Okay, welcome back.

Here are the rules to this cool award:

Answer the following questions using single word answers. Then pass the award to 5 other people and let them know.(I apparently have a hard time with directions and could not keep my responses to one word!)

Your cell phone? dirty
Your hair? really big right now, like crazy 80s big
Your mother? very loving and supportive
Your father? very loving and supportive
Your favorite food? noodles
Your dream last night? some craziness because I ate a burrito before bed. it involved lots of doors. hmmm...
Your favorite drink? soy vanilla latte
Your dream/goal? to live on a farm with my family, music, animals and lots of books.
What room are you in? my living room
Your hobby? reading
Your fear? loss of my son, my husband, my family...loss in general
Where do you want to be in 6 years? still home with my family, in the country, with money saved
Where were you last night? at my part-time bookstore job shelving mystery books
Something that you aren't? girlie
Muffins? bran carrot
Wish list item? BOOKS or Spa Day ( I may not be girlie but I do like being clean and pampered)
Where did you grow up? Minnesota
Last thing you did? put my kiddo down for a nap
What are you wearing? GAP sweats and a HANES white tshirt. Total product placement, right? Can I get a sponsor? j/k
Your TV? dirty
Your Pets? 2 cats, one locked in basement now due to his need to howl next to my son's crib.
Friends? smart!
Your life? pray to Mary to keep it blessed!
Your mood? a little anxious and snarky due to some insurance company crap going on.
Missing someone? Grandparents
Vehicle? Subaru Forester named Frida
Something you're not wearing? socks
Your favorite store? Oh who am I kidding? Target. I'm soothed by all that red.
Your favorite color? blue (surprised you, didn't I?)
When was the last time you laughed? this morning
Last time you cried? yesterday when I saw that darn movie preview for "Dear John" (the movie based on the book by Nicholas Spark) good lord.
Your best friend? fabulous
One place that you go to over and over? New York City
Facebook? a little
Favorite place to eat? Saji-ya, a sushi bar

I pass this on to :

Amo at Where a Woman Shakes her Tablecloth

Christine at The Happliy Ever After

Lisa at Lit and Life

Julie at My 5 Monkeys

Jenny at TakeMeAway

Happy Reading!

* red headed book child