In My Mailbox Monday: Such a Pretty Face

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren, and Mailbox Monday is hosted by The Printed Page.

A few weeks ago I posted about Cathy Lamb’s upcoming release Such a Pretty Face. Lo-and-behold Cathy saw the post and was kind enough to send me a review copy!

Such A Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb (Aug 2010)

Two years and 170 pounds ago, Stevie Barrett was wheeled into an operating room for surgery that most likely saved her life. Since that day, a new Stevie has emerged, one who walks without wheezing, plants a garden for self-therapy, and builds and paints fantastical wooden chairs. At thirty-five, Stevie is the one thing she never thought she’d be: thin.

But for everything that’s changed, some things remain the same. Stevie’s shyness refuses to melt away. She still can’t look her neighbors’ gorgeous great-nephew in the eye. The Portland law office where she works remains utterly dysfunctional, as does her family—the aunt, uncle, and cousins who took her in when she was a child. To top it off, her once supportive best friend clearly resents her weight loss.

By far the biggest challenge in Stevie’s new life lies in figuring out how to define her new self. Collaborating with her cousins to plan her aunt and uncle’s problematic fortieth anniversary party, Stevie starts to find some surprising answers—about who she is, who she wants to be, and how the old Stevie evolved in the first place. And with each revelation, she realizes the most important part of her transformation may not be what she’s lost, but the courage and confidence she’s gathering, day by day.

Review: The Passage by Justin Cronin

“I don’t know what we’ll find in Colorado, if we ever get there. I’m not even sure it matters. All those years, waiting for the Army, and it turns out the Army is us.” 
The Passage – Justin Cronin

Close your eyes and put yourself far into the future. Imagine a newly discovered virus is being experimented with, that the people experimenting with it are the military. That out of twelve experiments they’ve created human-vampire-like monsters. Beings that glow, that fear light, that live off the blood of humans and animals, that kill and massacre and destroy the entire North American continent. That no one will survive their bloodlust, except a handful of the population, living in a Colony in California. So goes The Passage.

Epically long, fantastically detailed, The Passage starts with the discovery of the virus and the creation of Project NOAH and takes us on an insanely intense journey. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and Cronin has created our destruction. But he’s also created our heros, a band of survivors from the Colony who embark on a journey to find the source of a signal. A signal embedded in a chip implanted at the base of the neck of a young girl named Amy. A girl who doesn’t speak, but sees and knows. A special girl.

With Amy, a few survivors must risk their lives to save the world. The first part of a trilogy, The Passage is headed to the bestseller list and beyond. There’s a reason the buzz is so loud about this book: it’s amazing. It’s dark and suspenseful; it’s not a lighthearted read and many people die, but there is hope. There is always hope. And love, and destiny.

It is impossible not to be immersed in the story, fully living with the characters and the things that happen to them. The virals are everywhere, and you can feel them in the dark, you fear for the lights to go out. Cronin has created an alter-universe where his imagination knows no bounds, but is creatively reigned in by the plot. Truly remarkable, this is a phenomenal book, thrilling and captivating, and the future movie had better do it justice.

June 8, 2010. Mark that day on your calendars. Pre-order, get to the store, do whatever you want to get the book, but know that if you don’t, you’ll find yourself left in the dark. Read it and then wait, like me, for 2012 (The Twelve) and 2014 (The City of Mirrors).

5 stars

(I received this book from the publisher for review)

Friday Finds: The Glass of Time

Happy Friday! This week is done, and so is BEA which means I can stop wallowing in the bitterness of not being able to attend. Until I see everyone’s fabulous updates on Monday, at which time bitterness will rear its ugly head. Til that time, I’ll just post a find… Friday Finds is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

The Glass of Time by Michael Cox

A Story of Murder, Love, and Revenge in Victorian England…

In the autumn of 1876, nineteen-year-old orphan Esperanza Gorst arrives at the great county house of Evenwood in Northamptonshire. There she will serve as the new lady’s maid to the former Emily Carteret, now Lady Tansor. But Esperanza is no ordinary servent. She has been sent by her guardian, the mysterious Madame de l’Orme, to uncover the secrets that her new mistress has sought to conceal — and to set right a past injustice in which her own life is intertwined. Unable to escape the reverberations of past misdeeds, Lady Tansor finds herself desperate to keep Esperanza from learning dark, dangerous truths.

This is Cox’s second historical-fiction mystery after The Meaning of Night. Looks pretty intense to me!

Booking Through Thursday: Bedside

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks us:

What books do you have next to your bed right now? How about other places in the house? What are you reading?

I am happy to answer that though I am currently (still and forever, it seems) reading The Passage, the two books next to my bed are Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock. I had hoped to sneak Nancy in before I started The Passage, but didn’t make it, and I’ve wanted to reread Through The Looking Glass for months now. All my other books are on their shelves.

WWW/Waiting On/Wishful Wednesday: The Language of Trees

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted at Breaking The Spine and Wishful Wednesday is hosted at The Bluestocking Guide. My pick this week has been getting rave reviews and looks truly extraordinary.

The Language of Trees by Ilie Ruby (July 2010)

Echo O’Connell knows that the summer holds its secrets. They are whispered in the rustling trees, in the lush scent of the lilacs, in the flurry of the mayflies batting against the screen door, and in the restless spirits that seem to clamor in the scant breezes on hot evenings. It is in summer that she returns home to Canandaigua, to confront these spirits, both living and not, and to share a secret with her first love, Grant Shongo—a secret that will forever change the lives of many people in the town and put to rest the mysterious disappearance of a little boy more than a decade earlier.

Grant, a descendant of the Seneca Indians who call this place “The Chosen Spot,” has also come back to face his past. After a broken marriage, he has moved into his childhood home, a lake house that has withstood happiness and tragedy. He knows the spirits of the past must be dealt with—that of the little boy who disappeared all those years ago; the boy’s sister, who never overcame the loss; and the love Grant still has for Echo. But before the healing must come the forgiveness. . . .

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:  

What are you currently reading? The Passage by Justin Cronin (Still)

What did you recently finish reading? Nothing since The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (so good!)

What do you think you’ll read next? The Gin Closet by Leslie Jameson

Teaser Tuesdays: The Passage (2)

It’s been a long time since I’ve had to go two weeks in a row with the same book for Teaser Tuesdays (hosted by Should Be Reading), but if you don’t know by now, then I should inform you: The Passage? It’s a giant chunkster of a book. Small font, less-than-average line spacing, 766 pages, and a plot that makes you want to read it forever. So though I didn’t get through much this weekend, which I usually feel guilty about, I read over 100 pages last night and I can officially say that shiz has hit the dystopian, viral-infected fan, my friends.  (I’m giving no details and no pages so as not to spoil anything for anyone.)

And in the last instant before all thought left her, she heard the voice of the runner, Kip Darrell crying from the rampart high above: “Sign, we have sign! Holy shit, they’re everywhere!”

But he spoke these words into the darkness. The lights had all gone out.

(Insert manacing, dramatic musical soundtrack here.)

In My Mailbox Monday: The Lumby Books

In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren, and Mailbox Monday is hosted by The Printed Page.

Cheating a bit because although these haven’t technically shown up in the mailbox yet, I’m really too excited to keep them to myself until next week! Thanks to Caitlin at FSB Associates, I’m receiving the five books in the Lumby Books series by Gail Fraser. The first book is:

The Lumby Lines

What Garrison Keillor did for Lake Wobegon, Gail Fraser has done for Lumby in this delightfully touching new novel which centers on outsiders Pam and Mark Walker, who set about converting the community’s fire-ravaged monastery into a historic inn. In the process they face the suspicions of the townsfolk, the open hostility of the cranky newspaper publisher, and the sometimes helpful, often humorously hapless assistance of the local tradespeople. An engaging cast of characters is led through an entertaining tale of foibles and romance, intrigue and benign mayhem, and are portrayed in the narratives and snippets from the local paper, The Lumby Lines.

There are five books total, the fifth of which is Lumby on the Air which is being released on July 6. This series looks so charming and adorable, I think it’s going to be a perfect summer series.

Friday Finds: In the Shadow of Gotham, A Curtain Falls

Friday Finds is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. I have a couple of tastey morsels that I found this week, both by Stefanie Pintoff.

In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff

Detective Simon Ziele lost his fiancée in the General Slocum ferry disaster—a thousand perished on that summer day in 1904 when an onboard fire burned the boat down in the waters of the East River. Still reeling from the tragedy, Ziele transferred to a police department north of New York, to escape the city and all the memories it conjured.

But only a few months into his new life in a quiet country town, he’s faced with the most shocking homicide of his career to date: Young Sarah Wingate has been brutally murdered in her own bedroom in the middle of an otherwise calm and quiet winter afternoon. After just one day of investigation, Simon’s contacted by Columbia University’s noted criminologist Alistair Sinclair, who offers a startling claim about one of his patients, Michael Fromley—that the facts of the murder bear an uncanny resemblance to Fromley’s deranged mutterings.

A Curtain Falls by Stefanie Pintoff

The careers of New York City detective Simon Ziele and his former partner Captain Declan Mulvaney went in remarkably different directions after the tragic death of Ziele’s fiancée in the 1904 General Slocum ferry disaster. Although both men were earmarked for much bigger things, Ziele moved to Dobson, a small town north of the city, to escape the violence, and Mulvaney buried himself even deeper, agreeing to head up the precinct in the most crime-ridden area in the city.

Yet with all of the detectives and resources at Mulvaney’s disposal, a particularly puzzling crime compels him to look for someone he can trust absolutely. When a chorus girl is found dead on a Broadway stage dressed in the leading lady’s costume, there are no signs of violence, no cuts, no bruises—no marks at all. If pressed, the coroner would call it a suicide, but then that would make her the second girl to turn up dead in such a manner in the last few weeks. And the news of a possible serial killer would be potentially disastrous to the burgeoning theater world, not to mention the citizens of New York.

WWW/Waiting On/Wishful Wednesday: The Blind Contessa’s New Machine

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted at Breaking The Spine and Wishful Wednesday is hosted at The Bluestocking Guide.

Ahh this book sounds absolutely adorable! Thanks to On The Bookcase for mentioning this one!

The Blind Contessa’s New Machine by Carey Wallace. (July 2010)

In the early 1800s, a young Italian contessa, Carolina Fantoni, realizes she is going blind shortly before she marries the town’s most sought-after bachelor. Her parents don’t believe her, nor does her fiancé. The only one who understands is the eccentric local inventor and her longtime companion, Turri. When her eyesight dims forever, Carolina can no longer see her beloved lake or the rich hues of her own dresses. But as darkness erases her world, she discovers one place she can still see-in her dreams. Carolina creates a vivid dreaming life, in which she can not only see, but also fly, exploring lands she had never known.

Desperate to communicate with Carolina, Turri invents a peculiar machine for her: the world’s first typewriter. His gift ignites a passionate love affair that will change both of their lives forever.

Based on the true story of a nineteenth-century inventor and his innovative contraption, The Blind Contessa’s New Machine is an enchanting confection of love and the triumph of the imagination.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions:  

What are you currently reading? The Passage by Justin Cronin

What did you recently finish reading? The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (so good!)

What do you think you’ll read next? Club Dead by Charlaine Harris, or The Gin Closet by Leslie Jameson.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Passage

I’m 114 pages into The Passage right now, and though there are a few different lines I could have shared for Teaser Tuesdays (hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading), the one that’s stuck with me from the very start is the very first line of the very first chapter:

Before she became the Girl from Nowhere–the One Who Walked In, the First and Last and Only, who lived a thousand years–she was just a little girl in Iowa, named Amy. Amy Harper Bellafonte. (3)

Simply brilliant. Sometimes books start with a bang, and this is one of those books.