~ Meghan at Medieval Bookworm has a guest post by one of my favorite authors, Laurie R. King.

Discussion starters:

~ Bookalicious: An open letter to Goodreads

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ The Companion by Lorcan Roche, reviewed by Marie at The Boston Bibliophile

~ Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran, reviewed by Raidergirl at An Adventure in Reading

Other bookish links:

~ The Onion: Nation Shudders at Large Block of Uninterrupted Text

~ You can now get shoes that reflect your love of all things literary.

~ The Help Criticism: See It Before You Judge

~ 40 Publishing Buzzwords, Cliches and Euphemisms Decoded – Very funny!

~ Still time to sign up for the September read-along of Brooklyn by Colm Toibin.

~ This picture that Karen posted cracks me up.

Non-bookish links of interest:

~ The Atlantic: The Debt Crisis at American Colleges

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Post tags: book to film, laurie r. king, read-alongs, reviewing, TBR list

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~ Laurie R. King is releasing an e-novella called Beekeeping for Beginners on July 6th. It tells the story of Holmes and Russell’s meeting – the same story as The Beekeeper’s Apprentice – but from Holmes’ point of view. Can. not. wait.

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Memoir by John McGahern, reviewed by Marleen at More Than a Reading Journal

~ The Transformation of Things by Jillian Cantor, reviewed by Amy at My Friend Amy

~ Jenny by Sigrid Undset, reviewed by Eva at A Striped Armchair

~ Sister by Rosamund Lupton, reviewed by Swapna at S. Krishna’s Books

~ The Silent Land by Graham Joyce, mentioned at Mental Multivitamin

~ The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni, reviewed by Sandy at You’ve Gotta Read This

Book to movie news:

~ The film version of John le Carre’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is being released in November. Two words: Colin Firth. Two more: Gary Oldman. Here’s the trailer:

Other bookish links:

~ I can so relate to this comic.

~ There is still time to join the read-along of Blackout by Connie Willis.

~ Vasilly wrote a great post for the Family Reading Challenge.

~ This amazing little boy read 1700 chapter books in one year.

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Post tags: book to film, bookshelves, colin firth, laurie r. king, mary russell, TBR list

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Author links:

~ Congratulations to Newlywed Neil Gaiman.

Discussion starters:

~ Book, Line, and Sinker: What percentage of your books read do you review on your blog?

~ Caribousmom: E-Books – Are we losing something essential?

~ The Perpetual Page-Turner: ARCs – When should you post your review?

~ Bookstore People: How do you decide the best book of the year?

Reviews and blog posts that have me adding to my to-read list:

~ Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster, reviewed by Kelly at The Written World.

Giveaways:

~ The War Through the Generations blog has posted giveaways for participants in last year’s Vietnam challenge: for those who read 2 to 4 books, for those who read 5 books, and for those who met their challenge commitment.

~ Pam at Bookalicious is hosting an amazing giveaway in honor of her two year blogging anniversary – tons of fantastic prize packages up for grabs, plus a Nook Color.

Other bookish links:

~ Los Angeles Times: 37 literary resolutions for 2011 – Vasilly makes an appearance on the list!

~ Pirate King, the eleventh Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel by Laurie R. King, will be released on September 6th of this year.

~ Rhapsody in Books has a post that links some great resource sites for when you’re wondering how to pronounce character or author names.

~ Don’t forget to vote for the March read-along title for the Ireland Challenge.

© CarrieK for BOOKS AND MOVIES, 2011. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ARCs, ebooks, giveaways, laurie r. king, mary russell, reading, reviews, sherlock holmes

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This one picks up right where The Language of Bees left off. King continues to hit them out of the park, one right after another, with this series! This one deals with political issues in Britain after WW I – the rise of the Labor Party and how it changes the face of intelligence and politics for Mycroft Holmes. It includes some scenes that had me in tears, others that had me holding my breath, and some of the scenes that involved Mary taking care of a small girl had me laughing. This remains my favorite mystery series ever.

Title: Flood Child
Author: Emily Diamand
Genre: Middle grade science fiction, futuristic fiction
Publisher: The Chicken House
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: Audiobook from the public library
Audiobook reader: Charlotte Parry, James Clamp
First line: Cat puts up his nose to sniff the breath of wind barely filling the sail, and opens his small pink mouth to speak.

I can’t remember which book blogger recommended this one, but I am grateful. In a future Britain that is mostly flooded, Lilly Melkin is a Fisher. She owns a sea cat, a magical creature which helps her when she’s on her boat. The Fishers live in constant fear of the Raiders, pirates who occasionally raid Fisher villages. Scotland is the only area of Britain that has maintained at least a small amount of technology – most of which was destroyed during the floods, and which the Fishers and Raiders now believe is wicked or demonic. When a Raider ship comes to Lilly’s town and kidnaps the Prime Minister’s daughter, Lilly is determined to get her back and prevent her village from destruction. I loved the premise and the character of Lilly. I do wish the male narrator who read the character of Zeph, son of one of the Raider chiefs, was a little less melodramatic; his performance was a tad over the top. It wasn’t enough to make me stop listening, though, and I am looking forward to Flood and Fire, the sequel, which comes out next month.

Title: The Plague of Doves
Author: Louise Erdrich
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Source: Audiobook from the public library
Audiobook reader: Peter Francis James, Kathleen McInerny
First line: In the year 1896, my great-uncle, one of the first Catholic priests of aboriginal blood, put the call out to his parishioners that they should gather at St. Joseph’s wearing scapulars and holding missals.

The Plague of Doves is more a set of connected stories than a linear novel, and like many story collections, some were definitely stronger than others. The over-arching mystery of a murdered white family and the Native Americans that were unjustly lynched for the crime, as well as the excellent narration, kept me listening to the end. I liked the writing, but there wasn’t anything there that stood out or took this from an okay book to a terrific one. If I had been reading it in print, without the amazing narration, I might not have continued reading it.

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Post tags: audiobooks, futuristic fiction, historical fiction, laurie r. king, mary russell, middle grade fiction, mysteries, science fiction, sherlock holmes

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Title: Never Let Me Go
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Genre: Dystopian fiction
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from the public library
First line: My name is Kathy H.

I’ve been wanting to read Never Let Me Go for a couple of years, but it was seeing the trailer for the film version that prompted me to pick it up and read it now. It is just as good as everyone says. It is dystopian fiction that focuses more on the characters rather than world-building, which means that the way Kathy’s world works was revealed one bit at a time. The premise wasn’t difficult to guess, but that didn’t take away from the pleasure of reading. The only thing that bugged me was that I felt like Kathy was a bit detached emotionally from the story she told. I think this was intentional on the part of the author, but it kept me from being as emotionally invested in the characters as I could have been. Still, it is a fantastic read, and I can’t wait to see how it translates into film.

Title: The Language of Bees
Author: Laurie R. King
Genre: Mystery, historical fiction
Publisher: Bantam Books
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from the public library
First line: As homecomings go, it was not auspicious.

There is nothing like the book equivalent of an old friend to comfort you in times of stress. The Language of Bees was the book that accompanied me to the hospital with Natalie. Only Russell and Holmes could have taken me away from my present reality enough to give my mind some rest from the constant stress and fear of sitting with a sick child and comforting her while she is poked and prodded in ways usually reserved for 40-year-old adults, not 13-year-old girls. This foray into the world of Holmes and Russell deals with a figure from Holmes’ past, was one of my favorites of the series, and ends on a cliff-hanger. I was languishing on the hold list for the next book, God of the Hive, when the lovely Laura from I’m Booking It said she’d put her ARC copy in the mail for me. Don’t you love book bloggers?

Title: Genesis
Author: Bernard Beckett
Genre: YA dystopian fiction
Publisher: Mariner Books
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy borrowed from a friend
First line: Anax moved down the long corridor.

My friend Michelle loaned me her copy of Genesis, telling me that it made her think more than any book had in a long time. It is a deceptively small book – only 150 pages or so – and yet it packs a huge wallop. Beckett deals with the issue of what it means to be human – and then kicks you in the gut with the ending. A must-read.

Title: The Likeness
Author: Tana French
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Penguin
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from the public library
First line: Some nights, if I’m sleeping on my own, I still dream about Whitethorn House.

I was one of the readers who was disappointed in the ending of In the Woods, even as I acknowledged that the writing is brilliant. People kept telling me that I would love The Likeness even more – and they were right. The character of Cassie Maddox is a wonderfully complex one, and this was one of the best mysteries I’ve read in a long, long time. Literary writing and a creepy mystery with vivid characters – I absolutely cannot wait for the next book in French’s Dublin Murder Squad series: Faithful Place.

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Post tags: dystopian fiction, laurie r. king, mary russell, mysteries, science fiction, sherlock holmes

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Spoiler alert: If you have read through book three in this series, nothing in this review will be a spoiler. If not, consider yourself warned.

Laurie King’s Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mysteries have become on of my favorite series, and this is one of the best installments, in my opinion. I have enjoyed each book, some more than others, but this is the first one I can say I loved as much as book one, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.

Mary and Holmes are fresh off the events in the previous book, The Game. They are headed from India to San Francisco, where Mary is needed to wrap up some business matters concerning the estate of her late parents. It is the first time Mary has been back to California since her parents and younger brother died in a car accident, an accident from which she was the sole survivor. As the ship approaches California, Mary starts to be haunted by three dreams, dreams that repeat themselves and seem to have some significance rooted in her past.

When they arrive in San Francisco, they discover that Mary’s childhood home has been locked up since she left, due to a strange amendment to her father’s will. Even though his will prohibited anyone from entering unless accompanied by a blood relative, there are clues that point to an earlier break-in and papers being destroyed. As Mary’s memories start to come back, she is forced to face the worst time of her life – and it leaves her brilliant mind a bit unhinged. Holmes begins investigating, while keeping a worried eye on his wife.

Most of the Russell/Holmes books are written in first person from Mary’s point of view. This is the first one that has alternated between her experience of events and Holmes’ story. It worked very well, and I loved getting an inside look into his amazing mind. Although Mary and Holmes have married, theirs is not a particularly romantic relationship, and it gives the reader an idea of how deeply Holmes loves his wife.

King likes to introduce other literary characters or references into the Russell books, something I thoroughly appreciate. In The Game, it was Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. In Locked Rooms, Holmes is helped in his investigation by a struggling author named Dashiell Hammett.

While the characters of Holmes and Russell are at the heart of this series, King is also a brilliant wordsmith, giving the reader an intricately woven plot, amazing description of setting, and beautiful phrases and sentences. I can’t recommend this series highly enough.

© CarrieK for BOOKS AND MOVIES, 2010. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: historical fiction, laurie r. king, mary russell, mysteries, sherlock holmes

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A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King is the second of the Mary Russell mystery series. Mary met Sherlock Holmes as an orphaned teenager, living under the care of her aunt until she reaches the age of her majority and comes into her inheritance at 21. This book picks up a while after the events in The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, which was the first book documenting Mary’s partnership with Holmes.

Mary is busy working on her final presentation for her degree at Oxford, where she studies theology. She is enjoying the holidays and anticipating her birthday on January 2nd, when she will finally be 21 and able to rid herself of her money-grubbing aunt’s guardianship. While in London, she meets her former schoolmate, Veronica Beaconsfield, and gets swept up in a mystery.

Veronica is part of Margery Childe’s inner circle; Childe is a women minister who is lobbying for women’s rights, health care, and equality under the law. While Mary sees the good that Childe’s various ministries are doing in the lives of women – particularly the poor – she is unsettled by the power Childe seems to hold over her followers. When Veronica is attacked, Mary is caught up in a web of money, power, drugs, and murder. And on top of solving the case, Mary has to wrestle with her feelings for Holmes, and discover the place he will hold in her life.

King’s mysteries are truly amazing, unlike any other mysteries I’ve read. King managed to weave together the theology of women, age in relationships, drug addiction, and women’s rights into a story that had me hooked from page one. I can’t recommend this series highly enough.

(I read this book in 2008; this review is a repost from then.)

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Post tags: historical fiction, laurie r. king, mary russell, mysteries

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Cameron Smith is dying of Mad Cow disease. Instead of wasting away in the hospital, he heads out on a road trip with his new dwarf friend Gonzo to find the mysterious Dr. X, save the world, and find a cure. This book defies description. Coming-of age, road trip, paranormal fantasy, buddy story, ode to Don Quixote, celebration of life. This book made me both laugh harder and cry harder than any book has done in a long time. I LOVED the characters, loved the writing style – and Erik Davies, the actor who read the audiobook edition, does a perfect job. I could have done with a little less of the main character describing the reactions of “Mr. Happy” to the girls he meets, but I suppose that was realistic for a seventeen-year-old boy. Highly recommended. (Definitely on the upper age spectrum of YA)

Title: Down the Long Hills
Author: Louis L’Amour
Genre: Western fiction, historical fiction
Publisher: Bantam
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy borrowed from my dad.
First line: When Hardy Collins woke up, Big Red was gone.

My dad is a huge Louis L’Amour fan. I mean huge – he owns all of his works in the expensive leather-bound editions. When the boys and I started studying westward expansion, I asked him for a read-aloud idea that would give the boys a good idea of what life was like during the days of the wagon trains. He suggested the absolute perfect book: the story of a seven-year-old boy and four-year-old girl who are the only survivors when their wagon train is attacked by Indians. Hardy and Betty Sue set out on Big Red, Hardy’s father’s stallion, heading toward Fort Bridger, where Hardy’s father is waiting. Relying on the wilderness and survival training he has learned from his father, Hardy must protect Betty Sue from the wildlife and the Indian tracking them. I admit that the western isn’t my favorite genre to read, but any book that keeps the boys engrossed and teaches them a bit about stepping up to responsibility is a positive.

Title: Wives and Daughters
Author: Elizabeth Gaskell
Genre: Classic fiction
Publisher: Various
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: Read online through DailyLit
First line: To begin with the old rigmarole of childhood.

I’ve been wanting to read a Gaskell for a while now, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Molly Gibson is perfectly happy being raised by her widowed doctor father, but as she reaches her teens, he is convinced she needs a woman’s touch. He marries the thoroughly selfish and manipulative Widow Kirkpatrick. The new Mrs. Gibson comes with a daughter, Cynthia. The story tells of Molly’s adjustment to her stepmother, her friendship with Cynthia, and the two girls’ experiences with courtship and romance. Gaskell is a bit like a wordier Austen, and I enjoyed the characters in this book. It was not finished before she died, but is only missing a few chapters. Her editor had her notes for how the book would end, and so he wrote an epilogue that filled the rest of us in on her plans, none of which were surprises to me – it ended the way I thought it would, and the way I wanted it to. This will definitely not be my last Gaskell.

Title: The Game
Author: Laurie R. King
Genre: Historical fiction, mystery
Publisher: Bantam
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: Audiobook from the public library
Audiobook reader: Jenny Sterlin
First line: Travel broadens, they say.

This is the seventh novel in Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes series, and the series shows no signs of slowing down. King is a master of writing not only an intriguing mystery, but is a fantastic painter of setting and character as well. This time the setting is India, as Holmes and Mary head out to find Kimball O’Hara, the famed Kim of Rudyard Kipling’s novel. O’Hara was working as a member of the British Survey in India, which is a polite way of saying he is a spy. When he goes missing, Holmes’ brother Mycroft tasks the couple with locating O’Hara. Along the way, Mary and Holmes pose as itinerant magicians, meet up with an American marxist, and get held captive by a mad Maharaja. This Russell novel is the first one I’ve listened to on audio since the first, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, and it reminded me how much I loved Jenny Sterlin’s reading. I wish our library had the rest of the series on audio!

© CarrieK for BOOKS AND MOVIES, 2010. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: audiobooks, classics, fantasy, historical fiction, laurie r. king, magical realism, mary russell, mysteries, read-alouds, sherlock holmes, speculative fiction, westerns, YA fiction

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I almost always have two audiobooks going at a time; I listen to one disc of one, then one disc of another. This only works if the books in question are completely different, of course, but so far, I’m enjoying experiencing audiobooks this way. Often, when I get down to the last few discs, one or the other will completely grab me, and I’ll listen to it exclusively until I finish – which is exactly what happens when I’m reading multiple print books, too.

Anyway, all of that rambling was to say that I want to blog about the books I’m currently listening to, and I’m hoping to do it on a semi-regular basis. Here are my latest listens:

Going Bovine by Libba Bray
This YA novel about Cameron Smith, a young man dying of Mad Cow Disease is hysterically funny. Dark comedy, yes, but still hysterical. (And very much for older teens, as far as language and content are concerned.) The writing style reminds me a bit of John Green, but the plot is weirdly fantastical, and I’m enjoying it very much. Erik Davies is the narrator, and he does a wonderful job as the wryly sarcastic Cameron. And the best thing about this book is that I get to hear sentences unlike anything I would ever expect to come across in a book, sentences like these:

As a kid, I imagined a lot of scenarios for my life. I would be an astronaut. Maybe a cartoonist. A famous explorer or rock star. Never once did I see myself standing under the window of a house belonging to some druggie named Carbine, waiting for his yard gnome to steal his stash so I could get a cab back to a cheap motel where my friend, a neurotic, death-obsessed dwarf was waiting for me so we could get on the road to an undefined place and a mysterious Dr. X, who could cure me of mad cow disease and stop a band of dark energy from destroying the universe.

Isn’t that delicious?

The Game by Laurie R. King
This is the seventh book in Laurie King’s Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. The pair of intrepid investigators are assigned to India by Holmes’s brother, Mycroft. A member of the British Survey in India – by the name of Kimball O’Hara, the “Kim” from the novel by Rudyard Kipling – has gone missing. Actor Jenny Sterlin truly becomes Mary Russell as she reads. I listened to the first book in the series, but the library only had print copies of subsequent novels in the series, and so I had forgotten how much I enjoyed her narration. Laurie King is amazingly talented when it comes to writing character and setting, and listening to this book is like traveling through India.

What about you? Listened to any good audiobooks lately?

© CarrieK for BOOKS AND MOVIES, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: audiobooks, laurie r. king, mary russell, mysteries, YA fiction

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Author links:

~ Yvonne at Socrates’ Book Reviews has an interview with Gail Graham, author of the amazing Sea Changes.

~ Westport Public Library has a podcast of Laurie R. King discussing her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. Scroll down to May 2nd.

~ Judith R. Hendricks, author of The Laws of Harmony (which I loved) has a guest post at Caribousmom.

~ Girls Just Reading has an interview with Jamie Ford, author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

Discussion starters:

~ Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews asks, “How long do you stick with a book that isn’t grabbing you?”

~ Angela Wilson has a great post for authors about responding to bad reviews.

~ Avis at She Reads and Reads says she wants to read some negative reviews. Good discussion in the post and the comments.

Book resources:

~ The other day on Twitter, I was asking how to find out where the “between the numbers” books in the Stephanie Plum series fit in, and Beth at Beth Fish Reads pointed me to two fantastic web sites: Fantastic Fiction and Stop, You’re Killing Me!.

Reviews:

~ BookChick reviews Evermore by Alyson Noel – and dubs it a one-night read. I’m definitely adding this one to my wish list.

~ Shelly at Write for a Reader has a review of Julianne Moore’s new children’s book Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully.

Book lists:

~ Looking for some summer books? USA Today has a whole calendar full of suggested summer reading.

~ Real Simple also has a list of suggested summer reading.

~ Claire at Bookstore People has posted A List of the Best Classics You’ve (Probably) Never Read.

Giveaways:

~ Toni at A Circle of Books is giving away three audiobook copies of Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

~ The bloggers at 5 Minutes for Books are giving away five copies of Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

~ Katrina at Callapidder Days is giving away five copies of The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly.

~ Dar at Peeking Between the Pages is giving away two copies of Sea Changes by Gail Graham. I loved this book – you should definitely enter.

~ Yvonne at Socrates’ Book Reviews is giving away five copies of The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos.

Other bookish news:

~ Jen at Devourer of Books has a post for all of us wishing we were at BEA this weekend: Not going to BEA this weekend? Feeling left out? We say: “No BEA? Books anyway!”

~ Kanye West, while on a book tour, promoting his book, says he’s no fan of books. Doesn’t that make you want to rush out and buy his book?

~ The Telegraph has a great column: We still believe in Sherlock Holmes, even in the age of DNA.

© CarrieK for BOOKS AND MOVIES, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: authors, book lists, classics, giveaways, laurie r. king, reviews

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