Goodbye 2011

Hello,
 
  Most of the blogs are doing their year end stats and I've been slack in keeping track this year.  It's been a weird year reading wise for me and a lot of personal problems got in my way of reading.  I hope to get better with reading this year and more posts as well.  I have a couple of really great reads that I'm finishing up and plan to post my reviews of in the next week or so.  One of them is a new YA author that does a retelling of Cinderella.
  I hope to be able to participate in the Tuesday Teaser meme more and do more Sunday Salon posts as well.
  Thanks to all my readers and fellow bloggers for a great year of reads.  Here's to 2012 and a lot of great reads to come.

Happy New Year Everyone.

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TeaserTuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. 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!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Mine is from pg.31 of Wayward Son by Tom Pollock

An impossibly stretched limousine glided through. The gates shut with a discreet click.

Happy Reading!

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American Dervish Review

American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar (January 9, 2012)

Genre: Adult fiction

Publisher: Little Brown

Source: Shelf Awareness Win

Book Description:

Hayat Shah is a young American in love for the first time. His normal life of school, baseball, and video games had previously been distinguished only by his Pakistani heritage and by the frequent chill between his parents, who fight over things he is too young to understand. Then Mina arrives, and everything changes.

Mina is Hayat's mother's oldest friend from Pakistan. She is independent, beautiful and intelligent, and arrives on the Shah's doorstep when her disastrous marriage in Pakistan disintegrates. Even Hayat's skeptical father can't deny the liveliness and happiness that accompanies Mina into their home. Her deep spirituality brings the family's Muslim faith to life in a way that resonates with Hayat as nothing has before. Studying the Quran by Mina's side and basking in the glow of her attention, he feels an entirely new purpose mingled with a growing infatuation for his teacher.

When Mina meets and begins dating a man, Hayat is confused by his feelings of betrayal. His growing passions, both spiritual and romantic, force him to question all that he has come to believe is true. Just as Mina finds happiness, Hayat is compelled to act -- with devastating consequences for all those he loves most.

American Dervish is a brilliantly written, nuanced, and emotionally forceful look inside the interplay of religion and modern life. Ayad Akhtar was raised in the Midwest himself, and through Hayat Shah he shows readers vividly the powerful forces at work on young men and women growing up Muslim in America. This is an intimate, personal first novel that will stay with readers long after they turn the last page.

Review:

This is a great read and I love this debut novel.  I love reading about other beliefs and cultures and this book takes us into the life of a young Muslim boy living in the Midwest and trying to reconcile his faith and his American life.

Hayat’s family has never been devout, but when Mina introduces him to the Quran, he thinks that that’s the way he should be to secure his family’s place in heaven.

I love how he wrestles with doing the right then according to Allah and being a decent loving young man. 

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to live in America and being a Muslim pre-9/11 then you’ll love this novel.

Happy Reading!

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Neat book covers for 2011

I saw this and wanted to share with you.  Do you agree with their choices?

http://www.bookpage.com/the-book-case/2011/12/20/25best-book-jackets-of-2011/?utm_source=XTRA&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=XTRA%3A%2B12%2F20%2F11

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and that you get lots of great books to read.


Happy Reading,
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Racing the Devil Review

Racing the Devil by Jaden Terrell (January 9, 2012)

Genre: Adult fiction

Publisher: Permanent Press

Source: Library Thing Early Review

Book Description:

Nashville private investigator Jared McKean has a son with Down's Syndrome, a best friend with AIDS, an ex-wife he can't seem to fall out of love with, and a weakness for women in jeopardy - until one frames him for muder.

His DNA and fingerprints are found at the murder scene. His voice is on the victim's answering machine, and the victim was killed with a bullet from his gun. To make matters worse, his teen-aged nephew comes out of the closet and runs away to join a dangerous fringe of the Goth subculture.

Now Jared must find a way to clear his name, hold his family together, and solve a case that could cost him his life.

Review:

This is a great read and I love this debut novel.  If you love crime thrillers, then this book is for you.

I love the character of Jared because he’s flawed and trying to do the best by his son, friend, and his ex-wife.  He is a lover of animals and tries to not let the bad in some people taint his look on life. 

I look forward to reading more from this author.  I hope you enjoy this read.  This was a Library Thing Early Review copy that I received.

Happy Reading!

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Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. 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!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Mine is from pg.21 of Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts

For this brief moment in time we appeared to have things under control,which, of course, was and illusion.  Life in Vegas was never under control; it walked trotted or galloped, as it chose, and we merely hung on for the ride.

Happy Reading!

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Sunday Salon

Good morning everyone,

  It's been a while since I've done a Sunday Salon and felt today would be a good day to do one.  I've been in a reading funk lately.  All the books I was reading were depressing and suffering from a slight bout of that myself I just couldn't find the right book.  So I called my book doctor Terry Pratchett and he prescribed a dose of Disc World and now I'm feeling better.  I've always believed you must be in the right frame of mind to read certain books.  I also believe that all books carry a message of some kind for us.   A little humor is sometimes the best medicine.  What kind of books bring you out of a reading slump or funk?
  Another book I read at work this week also helped.  It was Airborn by Kenneth Oppel.


  An original and imaginative Victorian-era fantasy. Matt, 15, only feels alive when he's aloft working as a cabin boy aboard the Aurora,a luxury airship that is part dirigible, part passenger cruise ship. When wealthy Kate and her chaperone come aboard, Matt soon discovers that she is determined to prove her grandfather's claims that he saw strange creatures flying in the sky in that area the year before. The man's diary describes them as huge, furry beasts with batlike wings and sharp claws. Soon after Kate arrives, pirates attack the ship and rob the wealthy passengers. A storm forces the damaged Aurora to set down on a seemingly deserted island. Kate and Matt discover the skeletal remains of one of the creatures, and, later, a live but deformed one that lives among the treetops. In their attempts to photograph "the cloud cat," they stumble upon the pirates' hideout and are captured. Can they escape in time to stop the brigands from stealing the Aurora? Will Kate prove the existence of this undiscovered species? This rousing adventure has something for everyone: appealing and enterprising characters, nasty villains, and a little romance. Oppel provides glimpses of the social conventions of the era, humorous byplay between the main characters, and comic relief in the form of Matt's cabin mate and Kate's straitlaced chaperone. (Amazon.com)
  I loved this book and the adventures Matt and Kate have will continue in Skybreaker.  I've had trouble getting into steam punk and my boss recommended this one.  
  Well that's what's up with me. How has your reading been lately?


Happy Reading
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