Month: March 2010

Lots of War and Little Peace

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This week Molly and I read Volume 3 parts 1 & 2 of Tolstoy’s War & Peace.  The weather has been so nice here that Max did not read with me this week.  I have lost him to the sun and I’m okay with that.  This week was mostly about how the war with Napoleon was affecting everyone in Russia.  Moscow was being abandoned by all those who could afford to get out and fear and rumor spread.  It culminated in the battle of Borodino which was expertly told through Pierre’s eyes.  Okay, on to what happened to my people…

Prince Andrei has not recovered from getting dissed by Natasha.  He goes to Turkey as a general, but he’s really looking for Anatole so that he can force him into a dual over his behavior with Natasha.  He doesn’t find him but does find satisfaction in being a military man once more.  He is able to visit Bald Hills and gets into his first fight with his father over Maria.  The next time he goes to Bald Hills it will be abandoned due to the invading French.  On the eve of the battle of Borodino he meets Pierre on the battlefield and treats him cooly.  He may regret that the next day as he lay dying from wounds on the battlefield.  Will he live?  It doesn’t look good.

Princess Maria is finally getting a story of her own.  Her domineering and awful father dies of a stroke when they should be leaving their land for the safer Moscow.  As he dies he makes an attempt to apologize to Maria and being the most virtuous woman ever, she comforts him.  As she tries to leave she makes a generous offer to the families of her brother’s land and it backfires.  They hold her hostage there until Prince Nikolai, serving in the Russian army, saves her.  Sparks fly between them and as she makes her way to Moscow she fancies herself in love.  I have high hopes that she can flourish into a woman now that she’s on her own.

Vaska Denisov is finally back, a little.  He is now a hussar lieutenant colonel and he meets Andrei as they are both waiting to meet the new commander.  Vaska has solid ideas for war strategy, but they are ignored.

Princess Natasha after her busy time last week is recovering.  She is depressed and broken-hearted, but Pierre and the church seem to awaken some of her spirit.  I’m not sure of what’s brewing between her and Pierre.  I just don’t get it.

This week was heavy on the war and I liked it.  Last week at the halfway point Jason asked me for a grade and I told him a B+, but it could easily be an A.  I am really enjoying this book.  Maybe next week my review will be excerpts from the book only.  The storytelling is beautiful.  Now go check out Molly’s take on it.  She’s covering Nikolai and I wonder of what she thinks of this infactuation with Maria.

The Proof is in the Pudding, by Melinda Wells

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The Proof Is in the Pudding by Melinda Wells: Book CoverFinished 3-8-10, rating 3.5/5, mystery, pub. 2010

Book 3 in the Della Cooks mystery series (Book 1) (Book 2)

“We look like twin cat burglars,” I said.  “Maybe we should stop at a gas station and buy some black grease to cover our faces.”

Liddy shuddered.  That would be awful for our skin.  Open the glove compartment and take out a baggie.”

I did as directed and removed a Ziploc bag.  “What’s in here?”

“Two pairs of Bill’s powder-free latex examination gloves.  So we won’t leave fingerprints.”

Chapter 13

TV chef Della Carmichael is asked to host a fancy Celebrity Cook-Off for charity.  As one of three judges she walks around the gala mingling with the guests and judging the celebrity dishes.  When a smoke bomb goes off Della is thrown to the floor by a favorite author and when the smoke clears Della finds another judge stabbed to death.  Della is afraid because one of her oldest friends, John O’Hara, is the lead suspect and Eileen who is like a daughter to her has been dating the dead judge.  Della decides to do a little investigation of her own.  The dead judge had been blackmailing Eileen so her first order of business is to break into his house and remove the sex tape. 

I enjoy the Della Carmichael series and this was no exception.  They are fun cozy mysteries with a protagonist in her 40’s and recipes included in the back.  This one even contained a little story about the actress Linda Dano (and a recipe) who I watched back in the day on Another World.  I didn’t guess the killer, although I had my suspicions, until it was revealed, so that’s a big plus.  And there was a fight with her boyfriend Nicholas and I enjoyed the progression of their relationship.

A fun, light  series.

This was from my personal library.

Irish Actors Quiz

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Time for the Tuesday quiz.  For this one you need to tell me the Irish actor in each of these movies.  There are only 5 actors, 2 movies each.  I’ve chosen my favorite movies from each of these well-know Irishmen. As I looked at this after I published it I decided it’s a little hard.  Here are the initials of the 5 actors GB, CF, PO, PB, LN

Each one is worth 10 points.  Check out the leaderboard from week 1.

No Googling and no copying off other commenters.  Your first answer is the one accepted.

1. Batman Begins (2005) – Liam Neeson

2. The Usual Suspects (1995) – Gabriel Byrne

3. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) – Pierce Brosnan

4. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) – Peter O’Toole

5. Love Actually (2003) – Liam Neeson

6. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) – Pierce Brosnan

7. The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) – Gabriel Byrne

8. Daredevil (2003) – Colin Farrell

9. Stardust (2007) – Peter O’Toole

10. Phone Booth (2002) – Colin Farrell

Good luck and wishing you a happy St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow!

Monday Movie Meme – Date Night

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Feature Presentation…
MONDAY MOVIE MEME
This week’s movie topic is all about Date Night…Share on your blog your best or worst movie date, movies featuring movie dates or how you use movies for dates these days.
  
I’ve been on many a date night starting in high school, less through college, with a resurgence in my after college life.  As I think back it’s hard to come up with a best or worst movie date night,  most of them blur together. 
 
I can tell you what our movie dates look like these days.  Jason & I both love college basketball (Jason is more obsessive about his Spartans than I am about my Buckeyes) and March Madness is truly that here.  We print out the brackets and make our picks and we have done this since we were married over 11 years ago.  We make the same bet every year.  The winner gets to choose the next 5 theater movies we see.  Usually we take turns choosing so this is a big deal.  I am the reigning champ, having won for  2 years in a row 🙂  If I win I make sure I pick at least one that we both like, but after that it’s chick flick city.
 
So, I’ll be filling out my brackets today and if any of you have some insight on a good pick leave me a comment and let me know.  I have movies and pride on the line.
Go Bucks and Go Spartans! (The mean tournament people put us in the same bracket this year:()

Deadly Illusions, by Brenda Joyce

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Cover ImageFinished 3-13-09, rating 4/5, romance, pub. 2005

This is Book 7 in the Deadly series (Book 1) (Book 2) (Book 3) (Book 4) (Book 5) (Book 6)

Francesca had always assumed she would one day marry a man like her father, someone respectable, admirable, honorable, a reformer and an activist – someone like Rick Bragg.  Instead, she was engaged to the city’s wealthiest businessman and most notorious womanizer.  She still remained uncertain as to how this had happened, and so quickly.  One moment she was friends with the enigmatic and oh-so-charismatic Hart and he was under suspicion for murder.  The next, they were secretly engaged – until he had taken matters in his own hands, tired of her procrastination, making a public announcement.  How had she fallen in love with Calder Hart?  And was it even love?

Chapter 2

It’s now April 1902 in New York City and the beautiful heiress and brave sleuth Francesca finds herself engaged to a man whose very look can make her heat up.  When she begins investigating a murder Calder tags along and she is again caught between her fiance and former flame, Calder’s half-brother, Rick Bragg, the police commissioner.  Rick has enough personal problems of his own as his estranged and now handicapped wife comes home from the hospital.

The mystery in this one was very good.  Women were being attacked and even killed by the Slasher and there was no shortage of suspects.  And I love how there is never a wasted character in this series – they all show up again at some point, making it easy to get invested in their lives.  I loved this as a continuation of Francesca and Calder’s love story, but all is not smooth sailing for the couple.  They are both plagued by doubts and Francesca’s father has decided not to allow the engagement to continue. 

This was from my personal library.

Donating Books

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I have two purposes for this post.  The first is to thank giveaway hosts and to accept donations from any of you who would like to donate to a good cause.  The second is to share info on this very cool book that I won from Dawn at  She is Too Fond of Books.  This may be long because I’m in a rambling mood.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned New Clevelanders, a welcome group for ladies who move to the east side of Cleveland.  We’ve lived here almost 10 years now and I’ve been involved with New Clevelanders for 8 of those years.  The great thing about this social group is that they never kick you out 🙂  When you move without kids or a job it is very difficult to meet people so this group was essential to my mental health.  There are around 150 members right now and I’m in my fifth year on the board, my second year publishing the 8 page monthly newsletter.  It is mainly a place to make friends, so many of the activities are for fun, but once a year we have a British Tea at a country club where we drink tea, dine on some delicious food and raise money for a local charity.  Last year we raised over $11,000 for the Karen P Nakon Breast Cancer Foundation.  We mainly raise the money by silent auctions on many donated items.  I always donate a Mary Kay basket, but there are big ticket items like Cleveland Cavs tickets, Florida condos for a week, etc.

I have been blessed to win many books over the past few months from many of you awesome book bloggers.  I decided to keep only a few a donate the rest for a nice basket of books to be auctioned or raffled off for the British Tea.  This year we are raising money for Providence House, a crisis nursery offering emergency shelter to children.  So, I want to thank all of you who have randomly chosen me as the winner of your book giveaways 🙂 

Interested in New Clevelanders?  Click on over.  Do you have a new book that you’d like to donate to the cause?  Let me know by leaving a comment or emailing me and I’ll get you my address.  I have about 3 weeks before I need it done. 

Now on to my second book donation topic.  I won Give + Take from Dawn and there are were a few rules.  Concord Free Press published this book for free and they only ask that you donate to a charity in the amount of your choice.  Then you read the book and pass it on to someone who agrees to do the same.  I have made my donation to The City Mission on Cleveland that do amazing things for the homeless, the poor, the addicted.   I volunteered there a few years ago by sorting the donated clothes once a week and I have the greatest respect for the place.  So, I made my donation and logged it on the website.  Next week I plan to read the book and then pass it along.  If you would like to be the next person to read this book, make a donation, and pass it on, let me know. 

Color Scattergories Quiz Results

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Thanks to all of you who played Color Scattergories!  To score points you had to be the only one to name that title.  10 points per unique title.  I have decided to offer bonus points this week.  I’m giving 5 EXTRA points for 7 titles that had 2 colors in the title.  Here are the overachievers…

The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother (McBride) – Molly

Violets are Blue (Patterson) – Heather

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (Dorris) – Heather

Black Swan Green (Mitchell) – Jackie

Riders of the Purple Sage (Grey) – Linda B

Black Rose (Roberts) – Calila

Seduction of the Crimson Rose (Willig) – Nise

And here are the other uniques titles.  There was less overlap than I thought there’d be.

Red Light Wives (Monroe) – Em,  Ravishing in Red (Hunter) – Calila,  The Man with the Red Tatoo (Benson) – Carol,  Woman in Red (Goudge) – Nise,  Careless in Red (George) – Kathy,  Red Sox Rule (Holley) – Molly,  Red Sky at Morning (Bradford) – Linda B,  The Red Pony (Steinbeck) – JoAnn,  My Hands Came Away Red (McKay) – Hannah,  The Red Heart (Thom) – Susan,  Red Dog Rising (Schettler) – Bermudaonion

Gathering Blue (Lowry) – Staci,  Blue Diablo (Aguirre) – Calila,  Blue Like Jazz (Miller) – Carol,  The Blue Zone (Gross) – Nise,  The Deep Blue Good-by (MacDonald) – Kathy,  Blue Shoe (Lamott) – Molly,  The Blue Flower (Fitzgerald) – Jackie,  The Blue Star (early) – Linda B,  Blue Latitudes (Horwitz) – JoAnn,  The Blue Parakeet (McKnight) – Hannah,  Island of the Blue Dolphins (O’Dell) – Susan,  Blue Notebook (Levine) – Bermudaonion

Black Ship (Dunn) – Candice, Bitter is the New Black (Lancaster) – Jenners, Black Coffee (Price) – Em,  The Black Moth (Heyer) – Calila, A Black Tie Affair (Bodine) – Carol,  Black Olives (Dudman) – Nise,  Black Cauldron (Alexandra) – Heather,  The Black Flower (Bahr) – Linda B,  Black Like Me (Griffin) – JoAnn,  Black Dogs (McEwan) – Susan,  Mennonite in a Little Black Dress (Janzen) – Bermudaonion

Woman in White (Collins) – Stephanie D,  A Heart So White (Maras) – Em,  Vision in White (Roberts) – Calila,  The Devil in the White City (Larson) – Carol,  Hypocrite in a Poufy White Dress (Gilman) – Molly,  White Fang (London) – Linda B, White Picket Fences(Meissner) – Hannah,  White Horses (Hoffman) – Susan, White Cat (Black) – Debbie

Green Rider (Britain) – Carol,  Jewel of Gresham Green (Blackwell) – Nise,  Shamus in the Green Room (Kandel) – Hannah,  Green Darkness (Seton) – Susan, Green (Dekker) – Debbie,  Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes (Salinger) – Candice (short story, 5 points)

Good as Gold (Heller) – Em,  Gold (Rhodes) – Jackie,  Five Golden Rings (Michaels) – Calila,  The Golden Tulip (Laker) – Linda B,  The Gold Coast (DeMille) – Susan,  Golden Compass (Pullman) – Debbie

The Yellow Wallpaper (Gilman) Jackie, The Yellow Star (Deedy) – Linda B, Yellow-Lighted Bookshop (Buzbee) – Hannah,  The Yellow House (Falvey) – Bermudaonion

Wearing Purple (Alexander) – Em,  A Purple Place for Dying (MacDonald) – Kathy,  The Purple Emperor (Brennan) – Heather,  Purple Hibiscus (Adiche) – Candice

Rose Matter (King) – Em,  The Name of the Rose (Eco) – Hannah,  Rose Hill (Grandstaff) – Debbie

Mr. Brown Can Moo…Can you? (Dr. Seuss) – Jenners,  Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective (Sobol) – Molly,  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Martin) – Heather

Lessons from a Scarlet Lady (Wildes) – Calila,  The Scarlet Thread (Rivers) – Heather,  Scarlett (Ripley) – Jackie

Five Quarters of the Orange (Harris) – Heather,  Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (Winterson) – Jackie, Blood Orange (Campbell) – Debbie

Princess in Pink (Cabot) – Candice,  Nightmare in Pink (MacDonald) – Kathy,  Silver Swan (Black) – JoAnn,  Silversword (Whitney) Susan,  Devil in Amber (Gatiss) – Carol,  The Amber Photograph (Stokes) – Hannah

The Sound of Turquiose (Gregory) – Jackie,  Violet Dawn (Collins) – Nise,  The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde) – Jenners,  A Tan & Sandy Silence (MacDonald) – Em,  Ice Cream War (Boyd) – Jackie,  Copper Beech (Binchy) – Molly,  Emerald Garden (Kane) – Jackie,  Midnight Bayou (Roberts) Calila,  Deception of the Emerald Ring (Willig) – Nise,  Plum Lucky (Evanovich) – Em,  The Book of Peach (Stokes) – Hannah,  Under the Lilacs (Alcott) – Linda B,  The Stream & the Sapphire (Levertov) – Hannah,  Chocolat (Harris) – Debbie,  American Rust (Grandstaff) – Debbie,  Ash (Lo) – Debbie,  Vermilion (Whitney) – Susan

So what are the point totals?  Check here to see the results of week 1.

War & Peace & Natasha

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No picture this week, but I encourage you to hop on over the Molly’s post where she shares the state of her book and the notes she has taken in the book.  My cover isn’t as beat up, but it does look similar on the inside.  This is a book just begging to be marked up.

We finished Volume II this week and it was high in the drama department and it was all my Natasha’s fault, so I’ll start with her this week. 

Natasha is a messed-up, boy-crazy 16-year-old who I’ve liked until this week.  Natasha has ‘it’, you know, that spark that certain people have that draws everyone to them.  The men can’t get enough of her.  Boris, Prince Andrei, and Prince Anatole all proposed marriage to the girl and even Pierre admitted his tender feelings.  And as much as I hate to say it she treated them all poorly (except for Anatole, but who cares about that jerk?).  She doesn’t have a self-confidence problem, but she doesn’t seem to use her brain very often.  Maybe it’s the hormones and she’ll recover.  I hope she does because she’s going to run out of potential husbands soon.

Prince Andrei recovered from his deep depression and he became interested in military study going as far to submit his ideas to the top Russian decision makers.  Though they did not accept his ideas they did appointment him the head of the Legislative Commission.  He met Natasha and felt youth returning to him.  So much so that he proposed.  His father disapproved and Andrei decided to wait one year to marry.  During that time their engagement was to remain secret.  He went away to heal and when he came back a year later he found that Natasha had refused him.

Maria is a tough one to understand.  Her two loves are her religion and her family.  At one point she had decided to becomes a religious wanderer, without home or possessions, but luckily it has not happened.  She loves her brother Andrei very much and hates Natasha before they even meet.  She doesn’t like the woman who will take Andrei away.  When the two finally do meet the dislike is intense and mutual and she is happy when the engagement is called off.  Her father is still hateful to her and has told her to move out.  I think that would be the best thing for her.

Vaska Denisov was nowhere to be seen this week.  The only thing I learned was that Molly’s Prince Nikolai took over his regiment.  I hope he’s okay.

We’re at the halfway point.  Thanks so much for following along with us.  Now head on over to Molly’s post.  The pics of her book make it worth your time.

Lake Magic, by Kimberly Fisk

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Cover ImageFinished 3-1-10, rating 4/5, romance, pub. 2010

“I don’t need to look at any contract.  I am the sole owner of Blue Sky Air.”

He muttered something under his breath, and Jenny had the sinking feeling she should be glad she hadn’t  been able to understand what he’d said.  “You’re exactly like Steven described.”

“Excuse me?”

“Just like Steven said.  All package, no product.”

For a moment she couldn’t breathe.

He was lying.  Steven would never have said anything like that about her.

Chapter One

Jenny was trying to run the fledgling business that she had started with her fiance before he had died nine months before.  Jenny is not the black sheep of the family, but she is the youngest sibling and the one everyone protects from harm.  Jared blows into town and announces that he is a partner in the Blue Sky Air charter business and he would like Jenny to buy him out.  Only Jenny can’t pay him because the business isn’t making any money.  So, Jared moves in with her and helps her get the business in order, all the while waiting for the money that will give him the freedom he craves.

This is a sweet romance with lots of family drama.  I loved Jenny’s family and the way they all came together and loved each other even if they didn’t always get along.  Jenny’s sister and nephew are important characters in the story and Jared himself is a great hero.  The author does a wonderful job of really digging into Jared’s history and psyche. 

I really enjoyed this one, but I wish that Jenny and Jared could have been a little less physically perfect.  This is what Jared though about Jenny, “She’d look completely at home frolicking around Hugh Hefner’s mansion in a bunny suit.”  His nickname for her was Bunny.  As for Jared, “he was one of those men who always looked good, whether they’d gotten off a motorcycle, out of the shower, or out of bed,”  and so on.  For me, their perfection made them less interesting.  A flaw or two can make a character endearing, but being reminded the Jenny was drop dead gorgeous every time Jared called her Bunny was a bit much for me.  Maybe I’m just jealous 🙂

I received this from the Library Thing Early Reviewer Program.

Color Scattergories Quiz

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This is the first round of Round 2 of my 2010 quizzes.  This round will last until May 18.  There will be a possible 100 points a week for 11 weeks.  Please don’t cheat by copying off other commenters (in this quiz it won’t help you).  Your first answers will be the only ones accepted.

Ever play the board game Scattergories?  This week’s game is a little like that.  At the beginning of the year I joined the Colorful Reading Challenge and I need to read 9 books with 9 different colors in the titles.  And I haven’t read any.  So, the game is for you to list up to 10 titles (& authors is possible, but not required) with 10 different colors in the titles. 

Like The Color Purple by Alice Walker could be one, but you couldn’t gave me another purple title. 

Where does Scattergories come in?  The title only counts if you are the only one who lists it.  If there are repeats no one gets points.

So, you may come up with 10 titles and get 0 points or give me one title and get 10 points.   Tricky, huh? 

I’m looking forward to seeing what titles you come up with 🙂  Feel free to browse your own blogs or bestseller lists for ideas.  You have until Thursday night to submit your answers.