Color Me Katie

If you are like me and enjoy checking out other blogs, here is one from a quirky and fun-loving freelance photographer from Brooklyn. I realized that after reading her blog that I have seen her photo experiments before.

So if you ever need a chuckle and/or a smile, check out Katie Sokoler’s blog, Color Me Katie.

The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson

Book Description
England, 1766: After a long voyage from the East Indies, a ship docks in Bristol, England, and rumor quickly spreads about its unusual cargo. In the final two crates is a pair of young elephants, in poor health but alive.

Seeing a unique opportunity, a wealthy sugar merchant purchases the elephants for his country estate and turns their care over to a young stable boy, Tom Page. It takes time for Tom and the elephants to understand each other, but to the surprise of everyone on the estate, a remarkable bond is formed.

The Elephant Keeper is a captivating tale of love and loyalty between one man and the two exotic animals that change the lives of everyone who encounters them.

My thoughts
Tom Page is the son of a groom, who instead of taking care of horses, wants the task of taking care of two sickly elephants that have landed on the docks of England in 1766. The Elephant Keeper is the story of the bond between Tom and Jenny (one of the elephants he named) and their life together. He follows Jenny has she is sold to various owners and eventually ends up in a show.

Not an action filled novel, but one filled with a detailed look of life in England during that time and the separation of the classes. It is also a story of the love between animal and boy (and does Jenny really talk to Tom or is it in his mind). An intriguing tale that is thought-provoking. The author also provides an alternate ending.


Disclosure: I received this book for review from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

Blind Man's Alley Book Giveaway

Thanks to Judy at Doubleday, I am giving away TWO copies of Blind Man’s Alley by Justin Peacock.

Since this will be shipped from the publisher, U.S. residents only and no P.O. Boxes.

Please leave a comment with your e-mail address (so I can contact you if you win).

Subscribers and followers get 2 additional entries (but let me know that you are one or the other or both).

Contest ends Saturday, September 4, 2010

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Both my wife and daughter had read To Kill A Mockingbird in school. For some reason I don’t recall it being on my reading list, but am glad that I finally read this book. Since it is the 50th anniversary of the publishing of this classic, I suggest that if you haven’t read it (or even heard about it) or haven’t read in in ages, go out and read it now. This is a great book for anyone’s collection. And now a little bit about the book….

Book Description
Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often.

I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee

Book Description
Candid, outspoken, laugh-out-loud funny essays from the much-loved Samantha Bee, the Most Senior Correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Critics have called her “sweet, adorable, and vicious.” But there is so much more to be said about Samantha Bee. For one, she’s Canadian. Whatever that means. And now, she opens up for the very first time about her checkered Canadian past. With charming candor, she admits to her Lennie from Of Mice and Men–style love of baby animals, her teenage crime spree as one-half of a car-thieving couple (Bonnie and Clyde in Bermuda shorts and braces), and the fact that strangers seem compelled to show her their genitals. She also details her intriguing career history, which includes stints working in a frame store, at a penis clinic, and as a Japanese anime character in a touring children’s show.

Samantha delves into all these topics and many more in this thoroughly hilarious, unabashedly frank collection of personal essays. Whether detailing the creepiness that ensues when strangers assume that your mom is your lesbian lover, or recalling her girlhood crush on Jesus (who looked like Kris Kristofferson and sang like Kenny Loggins), Samantha turns the spotlight on her own imperfect yet highly entertaining life as relentlessly as she skewers hapless interview subjects on The Daily Show. She shares her unique point of view on a variety of subjects as wide ranging as her deep affinity for old people, to her hatred of hot ham. It’s all here, in irresistible prose that will leave you in stitches and eager for more.

My thoughts
I have never seen The Daily Show and did not know who Samantha Bee was, but after reading her book, I find her to be witty and hysterical. I enjoyed this memoir. It’s good to laugh and one self and a few people caught my laughing out loud as I read this book.


Disclosure: This book was received for review from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

The Body Shop by Paul Solotaroff

Book Description
As a scrawny college freshman in the mid-1970s, just before Arnold Schwarzenegger became a hero to boys everywhere and Pumping Iron became a cult hit, Paul Solotaroff discovered weights and steroids. In a matter of months, he grew from a dorky beanpole into a hulking behemoth, showing off his rock hard muscles first on the streets of New York City and then alongside his colorful gym-rat friends in strip clubs and in the homes of the gotham elite. It was a swinging time, when "Would you like to dance?" turned into "Your place or mine?" and the guys with the muscles had all the ladies--until their bodies, like Solotaroff''s, completely shut down.

But this isn't the gloom-and-doom addiction one might expect--Solotaroff looks back at even his lowest points with a wicked sense of humor, and he sends up the disco era and its excess with all the kaleidoscopic detail of Boogie Nights or Saturday Night Fever.

Written with candor and sarcasm, THE BODY SHOP is a memoir with all the elements of great fiction and dazzlingly displays Paul Solotaroff's celebrated writing talent.

My thoughts
Paul Solotaroff’s life in the seventies was no picnic and he describes what it was like weight lifting, taking steroids, hanging out in clubs and with famous people in his book, The Body Shop. With his witty sarcasm and honest writing, he lets the world in on how he went overboard and came crashing down and redeemed himself before it was too late. Too fast, too soon, but a life not lost. This memoir is a quick look into the weight-lifting world during the disco age.


Disclosure: I received this book for review from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

Bermuda Shorts by James J. Patterson

Book Description
"Bermuda Shorts. It's about life, love, liberty, and libations!" - Greg Wyshynski

"Bermuda Shorts has all the ingrediants of a classic conversation over a great meal with the author himself, savory flavors, contemplative moments, and pure hilarity all rolled into one fine repast. A steely mix of W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx, and Adlai Stevenson all hanging at the bar. I think it's my round." - Willy Porter

"The quality of my existence is enhanced by the knowledge that Patterson is out there working tirelessly for a world in which we all have a really good time." - Rick Walter

My thoughts
James J. Patterson’s book of short stories reminds of sitting around a party and hearing vignettes of people’s lives. He tells his story from summering in Canada as a child to various business ventures he tried through his life; including life on the road as a musician. I found the eighteen stories in this collection fascinating and it seemed I got to know a little bit about this gentleman. An easy summer read.



Disclosure: I received this book for review from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

Winners

I must admit I have been a little lax about posting the winners of my giveaways. Anyway here are the winners of my latest giveaways:

The Autographed copy of The Pearls of the Stone Man:
Elizabeth

My August Making Room for More Books giveaway:
Ruthie

Congratulations!

Hollywood Stories by Stephen Schochet

Book Description
At high noon on a cold November day in 1974, sixty-seven-year-old John Wayne faced off with the staff of the Harvard Lampoon on the famous campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The students had issued their challenge by calling the beloved American icon a fraud. Wayne, who had his new movie McQ to promote, responded by saying he would be happy to show his film in the pseudo-intellectual swamps of Harvard Square. After the screening, without writers, the former USC footballer delivered a classic performance. When one smart young man asked where he got his phony toupee, Wayne insisted the hair was real. It wasn t his, but it was real. The appreciative underclassmen loved him and after the Q and A session, they all sat down to dinner. Later Wayne, who was suffering greatly from both gout and the after effects of lung cancer (sadly the Duke only had five years to live), said that day at Harvard was the best time he ever had.

Just when you thought you've heard everything about Hollywood comes a totally original new book. Hollywood Stories: Short, Entertaining Anecdotes About the Stars and Legends of the Movies! by Stephen Schochet contains a timeless treasure trove of colorful vignettes featuring an amazing all-star cast of icons including John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Errol Flynn and many others both past and contemporary.

A special blend of biography, history and lore Hollywood Stories is full of humorous tales often with unexpected endings. What makes the book unique is that the reader can go to any page and find a completely engaging and illuminating yarn. Sometimes people won't realize that they are reading about The Three Stooges or Popeye the Sailor until they come to the end of the story.

A professional tour guide in Hollywood, Stephen Schochet has researched and told thousands of entertaining anecdotes for over twenty years. He is also the author and narrator of two audiobooks Tales of Hollywood and Fascinating Walt Disney. Tim Sika, host of the radio show Celluloid Dreams on KSJS in San Jose has called Stephen, "The best storyteller about Hollywood we have ever heard."

My thoughts
What a fun book to read. If you are into learning more about Hollywood and the people who make movies, these little tidbits of information are a treat. From his many years as a tour guide, Stephen Schochet has collected an enormous amount of material that is both funny and informative. Some you may have heard before, but most were new to me. I enjoyed reading these short and amusing pieces.


Disclosure: I received this book for review from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson

Book Description
When Tillie Harris goes into labor with her first child, nothing is right. Her husband is away on business, the boxes in her new home aren’t unpacked, and the telephone isn’t even connected yet. Forced to reach out to her estranged father for help, their first contact in years, Tillie must face the painful memories she’s been running from since she was a little girl—the memories of her own mother and the year that changed everything.

As a child, Tillie’s home was a manic and messy world with her mother, Mara, at its center. While some days brought dancing, dress-up, and laughter, others became long hours of listening to Mara cry, depressed and unable get out of bed. When Tillie’s father takes a top job at the Pentagon and forces the family to move, and as Mara’s worsening condition can no longer be ignored, Tillie’s life spirals out of control.

When the family arrives at their new home in Washington, Tillie’s mother has vanished—a stunning development made even more disorienting by her father’s refusal to discuss what happened. As he tries to impose a new, orderly pattern to family life, Tillie’s fertile imagination attempts to fill in the missing gaps, inventing elaborate narratives about what might have happened, and about her father’s culpability. But when the veil is lifted and the mystery revealed, Tillie discovers that the truth behind her mother’s disappearance is far more complicated than she could have imagined.

My thoughts
Up From the Blue begins with Matilda (Tillie) going into labor. She is in a new home and her husband is away and she calls her father whom she no longer has a relationship with. Now if that doesn’t grab you, the story then segues into a time when Tillie was eight years old and Tillie’s life goes into turmoil when her family is uprooted (her father was in the army) and her mother didn’t come with them.

Poor Tillie; all she wants is her mother. We watch as Tillie begins to fall apart and act up until she learns the truth behind it all. Susan Henderson writes a tale that his emotional and makes me feel for this little girl that just wants her mother’s love. This debut novel certainly pulls at your heart strings.


Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

Book Description
This debut novel tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy.

With her strict African American grandmother as her new guardian, Rachel moves to a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring mixed attention her way. Growing up in the 1980s, she learns to swallow her overwhelming grief and confronts her identity as a biracial young woman in a world that wants to see her as either black or white.

In the tradition of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, here is a portrait of a young girl— and society's ideas of race, class, and beauty. It is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice.

My thoughts
Here is a biracial girl that survives a tremendous fall that kills her mother and two brothers. All her life she was taught to perceive herself as white, but after moving halfway across the country to live with her grandmother, she now is told to be black. As Rachel asks in the book and what I thought to myself; what does color have to do with it. Why can’t she be herself? Each chapter of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is told by a different person’s point of view and at times had me confused. Although a tough subject, this was a light read, but I didn’t feel connected to the characters.


Note: I won this book from The Book Reporter.com

White Heat by Brenda Novak

Book Description
A dangerous cult has recently taken over the desert ghost town of Paradise, Arizona. Members worship at the feet—and in the bed—of its charismatic leader, Ethan Wycliff, and obey his orders blindly. They've already tried to murder one woman and they're implicated in the disappearance of another.

Nate Ferrentino, who works for private security contractor Department 6, has been assigned to infiltrate this group. It's a challenge he welcomes—until he learns that colleague Rachel Jessop will be going undercover with him. Thanks to their shared history, he'd much rather go alone….

The problem is, only married couples can participate in cult rituals. So, like it or not—and they don't—Rachel and Nate must pretend to be husband and wife.

There's no choice. Because if Wycliff isn't exposed, if he isn't stopped, more people will die. And Rachel might be one of them.

My thoughts
Nate and Rachel work for a private security firm and are hired to find out what happened to a woman who disappeared while part of a religious sect in Arizona. This cult is run by Ethan Wycliff who has his sexual sights on Rachel once he meets her. Rachel and Nate have their own sexual tension.

As the story unfolds we learn that Ethan and his Spiritual Guides are truly dangerous and Rachel and Nate are not the only ones in danger.

Although White Heat is categorized as a romantic suspense, the romance doesn’t take over the story, but it is bursting with suspense. Brenda Novak has written a dynamic tale of control, doubt and sex that I can easily see being read on the beach everywhere this summer. The climax was a little too quick for me, but an enjoyable read overall.

Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the author. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

Open Letter Jeffrey Smisek, President and CEO of Continental Airlines

I am neither a frequent flyer nor a member of the elite program, but that shouldn’t mean that I should receive bad service.

I recently flew Continental Airlines out of the country and back. To my dismay, there was a lack of customer service. You would think in this day and age, where money is tight; customer service would be top priority. The airlines in trying to compete and keep ticket prices done, add surcharges to every little thing.

I am a tall person and was told that I would have to pay an additional $59 for extra leg room. Ridiculous! I sat in a window seat with a few inches to spare until the child in front of me moved their seat back. I endured this for the 3½ hour flight. During this flight, the flight attendants handed out custom and immigration forms to the passengers. They handed out more custom forms than immigration from until they realized that they were to hand out immigration forms to each passenger. They ran out of forms and told us that we’d have to complete them once we arrived. (That slowed up the processing at the airport!) I’m sorry, but if you fly to another country on a regular basis and know that you have a full plane, wouldn’t you think of having enough forms before you took off? Also, the flight attendant did not acknowledge the passengers as they boarded and disembarked from the plane. They were too busy chatting amongst themselves. I can get that kind of friendliness from a cashier at the local McDonald’s.

Returning was not much better. Since we boarded the plane from the tarmac, they had both the front and rear doors open and since we were seated in the rear we boarded from the rear. The gentleman at the top of the steps said hello. The other flight attendant said nothing. Since this plane had the newly installed DIRECTV, there was no music or movies to watch unless you paid a $6.00 fee. There was an Italian couple two rows ahead of us who wanted to know how to change the language on the screen. They asked the flight attendant when she came around service beverages. Her answer was “I don’t know, this is an American airline.” My wife told the other attendant how it was done, who passed it on to the first who couldn’t be bothered. Real nice attitude.

So I ordered a Pibbs (which was listed in the brochure). They didn’t have it, so I got a Coke. When they came around for seconds, guess what? They no longer had a Coke. Good planning.

And when we disembarked, again there was no acknowledgement of the passengers. Needless to say I will think twice before taking Continental again.

Autographed Copy of Pearls of the Stone Man Giveaway!

Hopefully you’ve read my review of The Pearls of the Stone Man by Edward J. Mooney. If not you can check it out here.

Thanks to Kristin at Sourcebooks and the author, I am now offering an autographed copy of this wonderful book.

To enter, just leave a comment here letting us know of a book that made you cry and your e-mail address (so that I can contact you if you win).

This contest is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only and no P.O. Boxes.

Contest ends Sunday, August 15, 2010

August's Making Room for More Books Giveaway

For the month of August, I am giving away the following two books:

The Last Surgeon by Michael Palmer (the is an ARC copy)
Wrongsized by Larry Solomon

This contest is open to U.S. residents only

Please leave a comment with your e-mail address (so I can contact you if you win).

Subscribers and followers get 2 additional entries (but let me know that you are one or the other or both).

Contest ends Monday, August 16, 2010

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva

Book Description
Two families, one terrible secret, and a painting to die for ...

Determined to sever his ties with the Office, Gabriel Allon has retreated to the windswept cliffs of Cornwall with his beautiful Venetian-born wife Chiara. But once again his seclusion is interrupted by a visitor from his tangled past: the endearingly eccentric London art dealer, Julian Isherwood. As usual, Isherwood has a problem. And it is one only Gabriel can solve.

In the ancient English city of Glastonbury, an art restorer has been brutally murdered and a long-lost portrait by Rembrandt mysteriously stolen. Despite his reluctance, Gabriel is persuaded to use his unique skills to search for the painting and those responsible for the crime. But as he painstakingly follows a trail of clues leading from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires and, finally, to a villa on the graceful shores of Lake Geneva, Gabriel discovers there are deadly secrets connected to the painting. And evil men behind them.

Before he is done, Gabriel will once again be drawn into a world he thought he had left behind forever, and will come face to face with a remarkable cast of characters: a glamorous London journalist who is determined to undo the worst mistake of her career, an elusive master art thief who is burdened by a conscience, and a powerful Swiss billionaire who is known for his good deeds but may just be behind one of the greatest threats facing the world.

Filled with remarkable twists and turns of plot, and told with seductive prose, The Rembrandt Affair is more than just summer entertainment of the highest order. It is a timely reminder that there are men in the world who will do anything for money.

My thoughts
I have not read Daniel Silva in the past and the The Rembrandt Affair has made me a follower. Maybe it is the combination of artwork, Nazi Germany or just the whole spy game, but this novel kept me interested right up to the last sentence.

It begins with the murder of an art restorer and a long lost Rembrandt painting stolen once again. What is the secret behind this painting and why was the restorer killed? Gabriel Allon is brought in to investigate and soon learns that it more than just a stolen masterpiece with links to Nazi looting. Somehow involved are links to terrorism. Following Allon and he travels across the globe from one clue to another made it an intense read.

Silva creates such colorful characters and interesting locales, that I must go back and read his other novels.


Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.

Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky

Book Description
Bad Marie is the story of Marie, tall, voluptuous, beautiful, thirty years old, and fresh from six years in prison for being an accessory to murder and armed robbery. The only job Marie can get on the outside is as a nanny for her childhood friend Ellen Kendall, an upwardly mobile Manhattan executive whose mother employed Marie's mother as a housekeeper. After Marie moves in with Ellen, Ellen's angelic baby Caitlin, and Ellen's husband, a very attractive French novelist named Benoit Doniel, things get complicated, and almost before she knows what she's doing, Marie has absconded to Paris with both Caitlin and Benoit Doniel. On the run and out of her depth, Marie will travel to distant shores and experience the highs and lows of foreign culture, lawless living, and motherhood as she figures out how to be an adult; how deeply she can love; and what it truly means to be "bad".

My thoughts
Marie is just one person with a lot of bad luck that she seems to create herself. Marie spent six years in prison and a childhood friend takes pity on her and hires her as a nanny. But Marie likes her drink, and soon loses that job. She runs off to Paris with her friend’s husband and child, and begins to travel the globe with hopes of finding some happiness. Marie may be a wicked person but this novel was a fun read.


Disclaimer: I received this book for reviewer from the publisher. I received no compensation for my thoughts.