Sunday Shout-Out 11/24/13

A new Meme that I am all about. I read so many books but getting reviews done for all of them is a challenge. You can participate too, just check out the Meme rules below, and check my Shout Out!
 

Is there ever such a thing as too many books? I don’t think there are too many books to read, but there can definitely be too many to review. Often I’m sent books and, with an already sagging review shelf, these unsolicited books often end being overlooked – I just can’t fit them in to my schedule. Sunday Shout-Out aims to acknowledge these books and the publishers who have sent them to me. Sunday Shout-Out is a bookish meme hosted by Monique of Write Note Reviews. If you’re a book blogger and you want to join in, just:

• Share the title, author, blurb and image from a book (or more than one) you want to acknowledge
• Share the genre, price and link to the publisher so readers can follow up if they like the sound of the book
• Ping back to Write Note Reviews in your post.

A Midnight Clear: A Novel by William Wharton. Literature, Fiction. Kindle $9.78 and paperback $11.12. Originally published in 1983. Set in the Ardennes Forest on Christmas Eve 1944, Sergeant Will Knott and five other GIs are ordered close to the German lines to establish an observation post in an abandoned chateau. Here they play at being soldiers in what seems to be complete isolation. That is, until the Germans begin revealing their whereabouts and leaving signs of their presence: a scarecrow, equipment the squad had dropped on a retreat from a reconnaissance mission and, strangest of all, a small fir tree hung with fruit, candles, and cardboard stars. Suddenly, Knott and the others must unravel these mysteries, learning as they do about themselves, about one another, and about the "enemy," until A Midnight Clear reaches its unexpected climax, one of the most shattering in the literature of war. I read this stellar book years ago then watched the movie that was also good. Well written and thought provoking. A recommended read!

I read this stellar book years ago then watched the movie that was also good. Well written and thought-provoking. A recommended read!

Also available and recommended the movie from 1992. NTSC/Region 0. Director Keith Gordon based his excellent script for "A Midnight Clear" on the book by William Wharton, who had been seriously wounded in the Battle of the Bulge towards the end of WWII. He wrote of an American Intelligence team which came upon a team of young German soldiers, desperate to surrender to the Americans, in order to survive Germany's last offensive. He wrote of fear and suspicion, pain and loss, friendship and hope and a snow-ball fight. And of the agreement to save the lives of the Germans, which went horribly wrong. A haunting, disturbing war movie without much war, looking tenderly at those who go to kill and be killed, and gently painting a truth: There are no real victors; all are wounded by war's inherent, random cruelty. DVD info.: A special slip-case presentation imported from S. Korea, with Dolby 5.1 sound doing justice to Mark Isham's beautiful score, the movie is in the original English, with optional English and Korean subtitles, with the original 107 minutes .

Tuesday Teasers 10/22/13

Tuesday Teasers!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain by Gregory Berns. My Pre Order from Coming Soon and Dogs and Animal Rights arrived!  So very first thing this morning I am reading because I love books - and dogs!

"Callie was dancing in the lab.  Zooming from person to person, the little black village dog with the energy of a rocket knew that all the months of training had led to this moment.  Her eyes sparkled with life, and her rat-tail wagged side to side with such intensity that her head moved in exactly the opposite direction.  She was ready."

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Teaser Tuesdays 10/15/13

Tuesday  Teasers!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be  Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

 

• Grab  your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences  from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make  sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT  participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

 

"You may kiss me now," she stated in a voice devoid of music.  The mirthless bow of her full lips betrayed her intent to me, but I knew the invitation, like my costume was a lie. She was pretending to be human."

WWW Wednesday 10/9/13

 

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

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?



Currently reading:
SlumberingThe Forest Bull by Terry Maggert. Three lovers who stalk and kill the immortals that drift through South Florida (tourists are a moveable feast, after all) are living a simple life of leisure- until one of them is nearly killed by woman who is a new kind of lethal. When Ring Hardigan isn't making sandwiches for, and with, his two partners, Waleska and Risa (they're cool like that), he's got a busy schedule doing the dirty work of sending immortals to the ever after. Wally and Risa provide linguistics, logistics, and finding the right place for him and his knife-- together, they're a well-oiled machine, and they've settled into a rhythm that bodes ill for the Undying. Warlocks, vampires, succubae and the odd ghoul have all fallen to their teamwork. Life is tough, but they soldier on killing the undead, liberating their worldly goods for charity, and generally achieving very little.

Refreshing my read for review of  The Morac by Colleen M. Bratley.






Finished Reading: Last Week I read very little. So my list is short.



Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Recommended.
I refreshed my read for review of The Starlight Chronicles: Slumbering by C.S. Johnson.




Reading Next:

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Feature & Follow Friday 10/4/13

What its all about!

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

RULES: 1. (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts Parajunkee & Alison Can Read (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers. This weeks Featured Blogger is Attic Reviews.

2. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.

3. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say "hi" in your comments and that they are now following you.

If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn't have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed

4. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"

If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers. If you're new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

This weeks Question: What book (or TV show or movie) have you not read that seemingly everyone else has?

Believe it or not! I have never read the Harry Potter books. Years ago I was helping a friends son with his read requirement - the first book.  And the section we were reading bored me out of my mind. 

I have never watched Breaking Bad on TV. I know, I know but I haven't watched much TV.  I just watched The Walking Dead until the show was featured in entirety in a 4th of July Marathon.

Thank you for following Me!

Tuesday Teasers 10/1/13

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.


"We were having this conversation on a fine summer evening, sitting out on the little balcony of her recovery room. It was a few months after her first donation, and now she was over the worst of it, I'd always time my evening visits so that we'd be able to spend a half hour or so out there, watching the sun go down over the rooftops."

 

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

 

Teaser Tuesdays 9/24/13

Tuesday Teasers!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 

The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindness (Shambhala Library) by Pema Chodron

Page 123. From an everyday perspective, it seems good to do things that are kind of convenient; there is no problem with that journey – which is to say, when you start to want to live your life fully instead of opting for death when you begin to feel this passion for life and for growth, when discovery and exploration and curiosity become your path – then basically, if you follow your heart, you’re going to find that it’s often extremely inconvenient.

Summary from Amazon “It’s possible to say yes to life in all its manifestations, Pema Chödrön teaches—by embracing all the happiness and suffering, all the intelligence and confusion that are a natural part of our existence. Doing so opens a wellspring of courage and love within our hearts. In this gift edition of her first book, Pema presents traditional Buddhist wisdom that anyone can relate to.”

 

 

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Tuesday Teasers Meme - 9/17/13

Tuesday Teasers!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


 

 



When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

"I have always felt," Nathan said, "that the truth is simply the truth. And perhaps does not exist for us to bend and revise. Or even filter to suit the feelings of those we love and want to protect."





Synopsis: "While duck hunting one morning, childless, middle-aged Nathan McCann finds a newborn abandoned in the woods. To his shock, the child—wrapped in a sweater and wearing a tiny knitted hat—is still alive. To his wife’s shock, Nathan wants to adopt the boy…but the child’s grandmother steps in. Nathan makes her promise, however, that one day she’ll bring the boy to meet him so he can reveal that he was the one who rescued him.
Fifteen years later, the widowed Nathan discovers the child abandoned once again—this time at his doorstep. Named Nat, the teenager has grown into a sullen delinquent whose grandmother can no longer tolerate him. Nathan agrees to care for Nat, and the two engage in a battle of wills that spans years. Still, the older man repeatedly assures the youngster that, unlike the rest of the world, he will never abandon him—not even when Nat suffers a trauma that changes both of their lives forever.
From the bestselling author of Pay It Forward comes When I Found You, an exquisite, emotional tale of the unexpected bonds that nothing in life can break."