Showing posts with label WoW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WoW. Show all posts

Feb 1, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: By a Thread by Jennifer Estep

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

And now for today's:

By a Thread (Book 6 in the Elemental Assassin series)
by Jennifer Estep
9781451651768, Pocket Books, Pub. Date: February 28, 2012 


I have such mixed feelings about this book. While the early books in the series drew me in, I'm sorry to say I think the writing has gotten worse rather than better over the course of the series. AND, I haven't enjoyed the two new YA titles in a new series Ms. Estep recently released. BUT, there's something about the basic premise of these books - kick-ass female assassin who is honest, straight-forward, well-read, uses both knives, skills, and her elemental magical powers to take down evil in her city - that has me hooked. So I keep trying. Here's the publisher's description:


When killing people is your job, there’s no such thing as a vacation. Then again, how often does an assassin live long enough to enjoy her retirement? In this line of work, you either get lucky or you get dead. And since I destroyed my nemesis Mab Monroe a few weeks ago, all of Ashland’s lowlifes are gunning to make a name for themselves by taking out the lethal Spider—me, Gin Blanco. So I’m leaving behind my beloved barbecue joint and heading south with my baby sister, Bria, to cool my heels in a swanky beach town. Call it a weekend of fun in the sun. But when a powerful vampire with deadly elemental magic threatens an old friend of Bria’s, it looks like I’ll have to dig my silverstone knives out of my suitcase after all. Complicating matters further is the reappearance of Detective Donovan Caine, my old lover. But Donovan is the least of my problems. Because this time, the danger is hot on my trail, and not even my elemental Ice and Stone magic may be enough to save me from getting buried in the sand—permanently.

Read the first chapter here.
Posted by at 9:37 AM 0 comments
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Jan 25, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: FrostFire by Zoe Marriott

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

And now for today's:

FrostFire (Burn #2)
by Zoe Marriott
9781406318142, Walker, Pub. Date: June 2012 

The first book in this series, Daughter of the Flames, was a much under-rated, under-appreciated, strong female protagonist fantasy novel that came out in 2008. Many years later, there is a whole new audience that will be appreciative of both the first and what promises to be an equally kick-ass second book in this series.
The publisher's description:

 Frost is cursed - possessed by a wolf demon that brings death everywhere she goes. Desperate to find a cure, she flees her home, only to be captured by the Ruan Hill Guard. Trapped until she can prove she is not an enemy, Frost grows increasingly close to the Guard’s charismatic leader Luca and his second in command, the tortured Arian. Torn between two very different men, Frost fears that she may not be able to protect either of them ... from herself.
Posted by at 7:10 AM 4 comments
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Jan 18, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:
Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep 
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y.S. Lee

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

And now for today's:

Froi of the Exiles: The Lumatere Chronicles
by Melina Marchetta
9780763647599, Candlewick, $18.99, Pub. Date: March 2012

It should be no secret by this point that I adore everything Melina Marchetta writes. This, the second novel in her first fantasy series, The Lumatere Chronicles, should be no exception. Though I was originally nervous about her foray into the fantasy genre, she has not let me down, and I rave about the first book, Finnikin of the Rock, here.

Here is the publisher's description:

Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home . . . or so he believes. Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been taken roughly and lovingly in hand by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper with a warrior's discipline. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds in its surreal royal court. Soon he must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad princess in this barren and mysterious place. It is in Charyn that he will discover there is a song sleeping in his blood . . . and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen.
Posted by at 6:03 AM 5 comments
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Jan 11, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel by Y.S. Lee

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:
Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep 
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

And now for today's:
9780763653163, Candlewick, $16.99, Pub. Date: February 2012 

I really enjoyed the mix of spy thriller, romance, and character growth that were present in the first two historical YA novels in this series (A Spy in the House and The Body at the Tower), so am very much looking forward to book # 3. Maybe I'll even write up a review this time!

Publisher's description:
Get steeped in suspense, romance, and high Victorian intrigue as Mary goes undercover at Buckingham Palace - and learns a startling secret at the Tower of London.

Queen Victoria has a little problem: there's a petty thief at work in Buckingham Palace. Charged with discretion, the Agency puts quickwitted Mary Quinn on the case, where she must pose as a domestic while fending off the attentions of a feckless Prince of Wales. But when the prince witnesses the murder of one of his friends in an opium den, the potential for scandal looms large. And Mary faces an even more unsettling possibility: the accused killer, a Chinese sailor imprisoned in the Tower of London, shares a name with her long-lost father. Meanwhile, engineer James Easton, Mary's onetime paramour, is at work shoring up the sewers beneath the palace, where an unexpected tunnel seems to be very much in use. Can Mary and James trust each other (and put their simmering feelings aside) long enough to solve the mystery and protect the Royal Family? Hoist on your waders for Mary's most personal case yet, where the stakes couldn't be higher - and she has everything to lose.
Posted by at 6:51 AM 2 comments
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Jan 4, 2012

Waiting on Wednesday: Diving Bells: And Other Stories by Lucy Wood

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:
Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep 
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood 
Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

And now for today's:
Diving Bells: And Other Stories 
by Lucy Wood
9780547595535, Mariner Books, 
Pub. Date: August 2012
I'm always thrilled to discover a new short story collection, especially one where I might actually enjoy most of the short stories. Here's the publisher's description:  

Straying husbands lured into the sea by mermaids can be fetched back, for a fee. Trees can make wishes come true. Houses creak and keep a fretful watch on their inhabitants, straightening shower curtains and worrying about frayed carpets. A mother, who seems alone and lonely, may be rubbing sore muscles or holding the hands of her invisible lover as he touches her neck. Wisht hounds roam the moors, and, on a windy beach, a boy and his grandmother beat back despair with an old white door.
Diving Belles is a luminous, spellbinding debut that introduces Lucy Wood as a spectacular new voice in fiction. In these stories, the line between the real and the imagined is blurred, as she takes us to Cornwall’s ancient coast, building on its rich storytelling history and recasting its myths in thoroughly contemporary ways. Calling forth the fantastic and fantastical, she mines these legends for that little bit of magic that remains in all our lives— if only we can let ourselves see it.
Posted by at 7:15 AM 0 comments
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Dec 21, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:
Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep 
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

My posts about middle grade titles are here:
The Pirate Captain's Daughter by Eve Bunting

And now for today's:

Scarlet
by A.C. Gaughen
9780802723468, Walker & Co (Bloomsbury, $17.99
Pub. Date: February 2012

A retelling of Robin Hood with "Will Scarlet" as a girl - so excited! This is my favorite type of retold story, with a new female character as the starring role; then throw in cross-dressing, thieves, and Robin Hood, and I'm hooked. Here's the publisher description:

Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance.

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in. It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.
Posted by at 6:30 AM 1 comments
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Dec 14, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

And now for today's:
Born Wicked, The Cahill Witch Chronicles, Book 1
by Jessica Spotswood
9780399257452, Penguin, $17.99
Pub. Date: February 2012
"A Great and Terrible Beauty meets Cassandra Clare in this spellbinding fantasy."
Uh, yes please! Here's the rest of the publisher description:
Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship - or an early grave.

Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word . . . especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.

If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood - not even from each other.
Posted by at 6:20 AM 8 comments
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Dec 7, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:

My posts about middle grade titles are here:
And now for today's:
by Veronica Rossi
9780062072030, Harper Collins, $17.99
Pub. Date: January 2012 

A young adult book by a first-time author, this is a retelling of Romeo & Juliet in a post-apocalyptic setting. Here is the publisher's description:

Since she’d been on the outside, she’d survived an Aether storm, she’d had a knife held to her throat, and she’d seen men murdered. This was worse.

Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.

A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.

In her enthralling debut, Veronica Rossi sends readers on an unforgettable adventure set in a world brimming with harshness and beauty.
Posted by at 6:00 AM 4 comments
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Nov 23, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:

My posts about middle grade titles are here:
 
And now for today's:
Kiss of Frost, Book 2, Mythos Academy series
by Jennifer Estep
9780758266941, $9.95, Kensington Publishing Corporation

Read my review of Book 1, Touch of Frost, to catch up. Here is the publisher's marketing copy for book 2, out in December 2011 - almost here!

I’m Gwen Frost, a second-year warrior-in-training at Mythos Academy, and I have no idea how I’m going to survive the rest of the semester. One day, I’m getting schooled in swordplay by the guy who broke my heart—the drop-dead gorgeous Logan who slays me every time. Then, an invisible archer in the Library of Antiquities decides to use me for target practice. And now, I find out that someone at the academy is really a Reaper bad guy who wants me dead. I’m afraid if I don’t learn how to live by the sword—with Logan’s help—I just might die by the sword…
Posted by at 10:12 AM 4 comments
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Nov 16, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: Timeless by Gail Carriger

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by

My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:

My posts about YA/teen titles are here:

My posts about middle grade titles are here:

And now for today's:
by Gail Carriger
9780316127189, $7.99, Orbit Books (Hachette)

If you have not been introduced to the Parasol Protectorate series yet, it is a delightful mix of Queen Victoria-era London and it's surrounding countryside, with occasional forays into other parts of Europe; the supernatural, paranormal, and preternatural worlds; steampunkery in terms of machinery and accessories, though the clothing is more typically Victorian; and lots and lots of tea drinking.

You can read my review of book 1: Soulless, my reviews of book 2: Changeless and book 3: Blameless, my review of book 4: Heartless, and watch a video about the making of cover art for Blameless here, in order to get caught up. If you read all of these reviews, you will notice that I've been a bit wishy-washy on whether I was fully in support of this series or not. There's always something that makes me feel vaguely irritated while reading them, and yet they suck me in with the quality of writing and the unexpected plot elements and the most ridiculous situations the characters get themselves into and the descriptions of Victorian life. Dammit.

Luckily, I loved book 4 as much as I loved book 1, so now I can't wait for book 5 to come out. Here's the publisher's description:

Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire's second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell's acting troupe's latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a damper on Alexia's enjoyment of her new London lifestyle.

Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. With husband, child, and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?
Posted by at 6:20 AM 7 comments
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Nov 2, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by
 
My posts about adult literary fiction are here:
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
 
My posts about my guilty pleasure reading (romantic, often paranormal, novels) can be found here:
 
My posts about YA/teen titles are here:
 
My posts about middle grade titles are here:

And now for today's:

The Flight of Gemma Hardy
by Margot Livesey
9780062064226, $25.99, HarperCollins

I've never read anything by Margot Livesey before, though she has published many novels, but this book caught my attention because it is a contemporary nod to Jane Eyre set in Iceland and Scotland. Sounds promising. Here is the publisher description:

When her widower father drowns at sea, ten-year-old Gemma Hardy is taken from her native Iceland to Scotland, to live with her uncle’s family. But the death of her doting guardian soon after leaves Gemma under the resentful eye of her aunt. When she receives a scholarship to a private school, Gemma believes she’s found the perfect solution, and she eagerly sets out again to a new home. Alas, at Claypoole she finds herself treated as an unpaid servant. To Gemma’s delight, the school finally goes bankrupt and she takes a job as an au pair on the Orkney Islands. The remote Blackbird Hall belongs to Mr. Sinclair, a London businessman; his eight-year-old niece is Gemma’s charge. Even before their first meeting Gemma is intrigued by Mr. Sinclair. Rich, single, flying in from London when he pleases, Hugh Sinclair fills the house with life. The unlikely pair are drawn to one another, but their courtship is cut short by Gemma’s discovery of a secret that has shadowed her employer’s life; soon after, she resolves to flee to mainland Scotland and vows to forget Mr. Sinclair. But as she rebuilds her life she wonders with increasing intensity whether she may still have a family in Iceland. As for her vow, that proves harder to keep than she imagines.
Posted by at 12:02 PM 7 comments
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Oct 26, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by
My first, second, and eighth WoW posts were about my guilty pleasure reading - romantic (often paranormal) paperback/mass market novels. My third, fourth, and eighth WoW posts were YA (young adult) titles. My fifth and sixth WoW posts were about adult literary fiction. My middle grade WoW post is here. And now, featuring another YA:
9781595143396, $17.99, Razorbill (Penguin)

I recently reviewed Brenna Yovanoff's first YA book, The Replacements, mostly in preparation for this book. No, you don't have to read one before the other, they have nothing to do with each other, but I read about The Space Between, saw that it wasn't out yet, and decided to read The Replacements because it was out and I wanted to test her writing and now I'm even more excited for The Space Between. In particular, I enjoy the way Yovanoff explores the sibling relationship, which she also does in her second book.
Here's the publisher's pitch for The Space Between:

Everything is made of steel, even the flowers. How can you love anything in a place like this?

Daphne is the half-demon, half-fallen angel daughter of Lucifer and Lilith. Life for her is an endless expanse of time, until her brother Obie is kidnapped - and Daphne realizes she may be partially responsible. Determined to find him, Daphne travels from her home in Pandemonium to the vast streets of Earth, where everything is colder and more terrifying. With the help of the human boy she believes was the last person to see her brother alive, Daphne glimpses into his dreams, discovering clues to Obie's whereabouts. As she delves deeper into her demonic powers, she must navigate the jealousies and alliances of the violent archangels who stand in her way. But she also discovers, unexpectedly, what it means to love and be human in a world where human is the hardest thing to be.

This second novel by rising star Brenna Yovanoff is a story of identity, discovery, and a troubled love between two people struggling to find their place both in our world and theirs.
Posted by at 6:39 AM 4 comments
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Oct 19, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: The Rivals (The Mockingbirds #2) by Daisy Whitney


Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by
My first and second  and eighth WoW posts were about my guilty pleasure reading - romantic (often paranormal) paperback/mass market novels. My third and fourth WoW posts were YA (young adult) titles. My fifth and sixth WoW posts were about adult literary fiction. My middle grade WoW post is here. And now, featuring another YA:
The Rivals (The Mockingbirds, Book 2)
9780316090575, $17.99, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette)

Read my book review of Book 1, The Mockingbirds, here.
Not sure how I feel about the new cover for this series, but I'm still excited to read Book 2!
Publisher's description: 
When Alex Patrick was assaulted by another student last year, her elite boarding school wouldn't do anything about it. This year Alex is head of the Mockingbirds, a secret society of students who police and protect the student body. While she desperately wants to live up to the legacy that's been given to her, she's now dealing with a case unlike any the Mockingbirds have seen before.

It isn't rape. It isn't bullying. It isn't hate speech. A far-reaching prescription drug ring has sprung up, and students are using the drugs to cheat. But how do you try a case with no obvious victim? Especially when the facts don't add up, and each new clue drives a wedge between Alex and the people she loves most: her friends, her boyfriend, and her fellow Mockingbirds.

As Alex unravels the layers of deceit within the school, the administration, and even the student body the Mockingbirds protect, her struggle to navigate the murky waters of vigilante justice may reveal more about herself than she ever expected.
Posted by at 8:01 AM 4 comments
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May 18, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by
My first and second WoW posts were about my guilty pleasure reading - romantic (often paranormal) paperback/mass market novels. My third and fourth WoW posts were YA (young adult) titles. My fifth and sixth WoW posts were about adult literary fiction. My middle grade WoW post is here. And now, featuring another guilty pleasure:

Saints Astray 
by Jacqueline Carey
9780446571425, Grand Central Publishing (Hachette), $14.99, Pub. Date: November 22, 2011 
Known for her (never-ending) Kushiel series, Saints Astray is the second book about Olivia, part super hero, part werewolf. Go here to read my review of the first book, Santa Olivia. This series is a mix of comic book superheros, post-apocalyptic ("near future") urban fantasy, and her signature heady romance - this time between two women.

Posted by at 3:18 PM 1 comments
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Feb 16, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: The Pirate Captain's Daughter by Eve Bunting

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by
My first and second WoW posts were about my guilty pleasure reading - romantic (often paranormal) paperback/mass market novels. My third and fourth WoW posts were YA (young adult) titles. My fifth and sixth WoW posts were about adult literary fiction. Introducing my first Middle Grade title.

Yes, THAT Eve Bunting. The one who wrote Cheyenne Again (illustrated by Irving Toddy), the Caldecott Award-winning Smoky Night (illustrated by David Diaz), Hurry! Hurry! (illustrated by Jeff Mack) and now, a new Middle Grade reader from Sleeping Bear Press.

The Pirate Captain's Daughter by Eve Bunting
9781585365258, Sleeping Bear Press, $8.99, Pub. Date: March 2011

The Publisher's Weekly description does the book credit, addressing the book's lack of sensationalism, placing it firmly in the Middle Grade genre:

After her mother dies, 15-year-old Catherine is determined to join her father, a pirate captain, on the high seas. She romanticizes his secret life and yearns for adventure (having been cooped up for most of her life), but Catherine is in for a rude awakening. With her father's help, Catherine goes aboard the Reprisal ("The shining, sleek shape of her. The way she seemed to lean forward, headed for adventure and ports unknown," swoons Catherine) disguised as a boy. While headstrong Catherine is capable of holding her own, challenges remain: the men are coarse, she falls for William (the ship's cook), and the constant threat of being found out hangs over her head. Additionally, the creepiest pirate, Herc, is after a mysterious object her father possesses. While Bunting's story and characters may seem tame to readers who have grown up with the over-the-top portrayals of pirate life in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the book is fast-paced and offers sufficient action, intrigue, and romance to hold interest. There are several scenes of violence, but they are not gratuitous.
Posted by at 3:24 AM 1 comments
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Feb 9, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by
My first and second WoW posts were about my guilty pleasure reading - romantic (often paranormal) paperback/mass market novels. My third and fourth WoW posts were YA (young adult) titles. Now my fifth and sixth WoW posts are about adult literary fiction:

9780670021048, Viking (Penguin), $26.95, Pub. Date: May 2011 

Though Geraldine Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for March, her imagined history Mr. March, the father in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, my favorite book of hers is actually Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague. Year of Wonders is historical fiction at its best, and you can read my review of it here. I also greatly enjoyed People of the Book, though I realized after reading it that my favorite portions of the book were the historical scenes.

Because of my love for her historical fiction, I'm particularly excited for the publication of Caleb's Crossing, due in May 2011. There are many elements similar to Year of Wonders: the year, for one (YoW takes place in 1666, CC centers around an event in 1665); the narrator for another (in both cases a woman, narrating both her own life and the piece of life very closely tied to another main character [a man, thus getting both the male & female slices-of-life from that time period]). I have high hopes Caleb's Crossing will prove to be as thought-provoking, well-researched, and richly-imagined as Year of Wonders. 

Here is the publisher's description:

Once again, Geraldine Brooks takes a remarkable shard of history and brings it to vivid life. In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Brooks has created a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure.
The narrator of "Caleb's Crossing" is Bethia Mayfield, growing up in the tiny settlement of Great Harbor amid a small band of pioneers and Puritans. Restless and curious, she yearns after an education that is closed to her by her sex. As often as she can, she slips away to explore the island's glistening beaches and observe its native Wampanoag inhabitants. At twelve, she encounters Caleb, the young son of a chieftain, and the two forge a tentative secret friendship that draws each into the alien world of the other. Bethia's minister father tries to convert the Wampanoag, awakening the wrath of the tribe's shaman, against whose magic he must test his own beliefs. One of his projects becomes the education of Caleb, and a year later, Caleb is in Cambridge, studying Latin and Greek among the colonial elite. There, Bethia finds herself reluctantly indentured as a housekeeper and can closely observe Caleb's crossing of cultures.
Like Brooks's beloved narrator Anna in "Year of Wonders," Bethia proves an emotionally irresistible guide to the wilds of Martha's Vineyard and the intimate spaces of the human heart. Evocative and utterly absorbing, "Caleb's Crossing" further establishes Brooks's place as one of our most acclaimed novelists.

Read more about the book on Geraldine Brooks's website.
Posted by at 10:26 AM 3 comments
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Jan 19, 2011

Waiting on Wednesday: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) is a weekly meme hosted by
My first and second WoW posts were about my guilty pleasure reading - romantic (often paranormal) paperback/mass market novels. My third and fourth WoW posts were YA (young adult) titles. For the first time ever, today's post will feature adult literary fiction:

State of Wonder by Anne Patchett
9780062049803, $26.99, Harper, Pub. Date: June 2011 

Oh, Anne Patchett, you make my heart sing. Bel Canto and Truth & Beauty (fiction and non-fiction, respectively) would make my top 20 favorite books of all time list, as both have the power to lift and inspire while compellingly describing the harsher aspects of love and life. Bel Canto is quite possibly one of her most famous works, about love, opera, terrorism, and sacrifice in South America. Truth & Beauty is simultaneously a love letter and a friendship manifesto, chronicling the relationship between Patchett and her best friend, Lucy Grealy. I recently picked up her first novel, The Magician's Assistant, and it's sitting on my shelf next-in-line to be read. And now, a new novel, due out in June. 
Here is the Library Journal early description:

Marina Singh, who's given up her medical practice for the relative quiet of pharmaceutical research, finds her world upturned when she's suddenly sent to the Amazon. A field team there, working on a new drug, has been unresponsive for two years, and Marina's colleague Anders, who has gone to investigate, is reported dead. An adventurous story of science and responsibility from the ever-popular Patchett, who's being rewarded with a one-day laydown on June 7, a 300,000-copy first printing, and a 12-city tour.
Doesn't that sound fascinating? Need more to be convinced? Here's a wonderful article from The Aspen Times about her new work. I've marked the on-sale date on my calendar; here's hoping you will, too.
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