The Sunday Salon – January 31, 2010 (the “January reading wrap-up” edition)

CarrieK | January 31, 2010

Can you believe that January is already over? It seems like it was just Christmas yesterday. Here is my reading progress for 2010 thus far:
Books started in 2009 but finished in 2010:
Now and Then by Jacqueline Sheehan – 3 stars – my review
Things That Make Us [Sic] by Martha Brockenbrough – 4 stars – my [...]

Bookish links for Saturday, January 30, 2010

CarrieK | January 30, 2010

Author links:
~ On Monday, Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go, will be participating in a Twitter interview.
Discussion starters:
~ Debbie’s World of Books: What makes a great blog?
~ My Friend Amy: On being a public reader and The death of our writers.
Reviews that have me adding to my to-read list:
~ A Wish [...]

Book Review: Belong to Me Marisa de los Santos

CarrieK | January 29, 2010

Title: Belong to Me
Author: Marisa de los Santos
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Publisher: Harper
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from my own library.
First line: My fall from suburban grace, or more accurately, my failure to achieve the merest molehill of suburban grace from which to fall, began with a dinner party and a perfectly innocent, modestly [...]

Book Review: A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

CarrieK | January 28, 2010

Title: A Breath of Snow and Ashes
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Historical fiction/fantasy
Publisher: Dell
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Audiobook from the public library
First line: The dog sensed them first.
Whew! I just finished listening to the audiobook edition of Diana Gabaldon’s A Breath of Snow and Ashes – all 48 discs of it! And after being a [...]

Literary Road Trip: Author Molly Blaisdell

CarrieK | January 28, 2010

Michelle at GalleySmith is hosting the Literary Road Trip:
The Literary Road Trip is a project in which bloggers are volunteering to showcase local authors. This showcase can be anything you want to make of it – book reviews, author interviews, giveaways – as long as you’re working with an author local to you.
Molly Blaisdell is [...]

Book Review: North River by Pete Hamill

CarrieK | January 27, 2010

Title: North River
Author: Pete Hamill
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Audiobook from the public library
First line: Delaney knew he’d been in the dream before, knew from the hurting whiteness, the icy needles that closed his eyes, the silence, the force of the river wind.
North River is the story of Jim [...]

Book Review: Gone by Michael Grant

CarrieK | January 26, 2010

Title: Gone
Author: Michael Grant
Genre: YA dystopian fiction
Publisher: Harper Teen
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: ARC from publisher
First line: One minute the teacher was talking about the Civil War. And the next minute he was gone.
In the blink of an eye, everyone disappears. Gone. Except for anyone young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not a single [...]

Teaser Tuesdays – January 26, 2010

CarrieK | January 26, 2010

Wounded by Claudia Mair Burney
She’d filled her bag with an impressive stock of prayer candles and religious sundries: holy cards, scapulars, medals, all kinds of stuff. Veronica had gone completely Roman Catholic on me overnight.

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
She didn’t like boys who looked as if they never got mad about anything. In Isabelle’s [...]