Book Review, Waiting: A Novel by Ha Jin

In modern China, two people wait over seventeen years for each other to have a change of heart that would profoundly affect their lives.

From publisher's description of Waiting: A Novel by Ha Jin:
"For more than seventeen years, this devoted and ambitious doctor has been in love with an educated... modern woman, Manna Wu. But back in the traditional world of his home village lives the wife his family chose for him when he was young - a humble and touchingly loyal woman, whom he visits in order to ask, again and again, for a divorce....


... Ha Jin vividly conjures the texture of daily life in a place where the demands of human longing must contend with the weight of centuries of custom. "

My comments: Lin's anguish in wanting a divorce so he can marry the woman of his choice is balanced by the long-suffering patience of the wife he left behind, Shuyu. A very worthwhile novel about a clash of the new and the old in a new China that changed only in some aspects.

The book was first printed in 1999 by writer Ha Jin and was a National Book Award finalist. Ha Jin decided after the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989 to remain in the U.S. I pulled this book from my personal library to review for Jen's China Challenge over at Biblio File.

An award winning writer, Ha Jin is now a professor of English at Boston University. His other well known book is A Free Life.

Review, Andrea Bocelli: My Christmas

I watched tenor Andrea Bocelli's Christmas special on TV the other night and liked it so much, I went out and bought the CD, Andrea Bocelli: My Christmas for two family members and myself.

Loved "Blue Christmas" sung with country singer Reba McIntyre, "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" (opening lines) with Natalie Cole, and his "Jingle Bells" accompanied by the Muppets. The highlight of the album was the Lord's Prayer with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, in English. I missed the "Ave Maria" however, which Bocelli sang on the Christmas show. That prayer is on the two-disc version of the album, along with more holiday songs, and is not included on the single CD that I bought. Too bad.

Bocelli sang in five languages - English, French, German, Italian, and Latin. A few of the songs were standard renditions of popular Christmas music, but most were interpreted in Bocelli's own style.

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The Superior Scribbler Award

What a surprise and an honor to get this lovely award! Thank you Sassy Brit of Alternative-Read. Please visit her fantastic blog! I think I'm a little late in thanking her for this award  but I just saw it and I really appreciate it.

The rules:
1. Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
2. Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received the award.
3. Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to host Blogeuedd at this post, which explains the award.
4. Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives this prestigious honor!
5. Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

I am hard pressed to limit myself to just five bloggers for this award, but here are the nominees:
Beth of Beth's Book Review Blog
Diane of Bibliophile By The Sea
Jonna of SHE in China
tanabata at in spring it is the dawn
Suzanne of Chick With Books

I've linked to host Blogeuedd's post, the Scholastic Scribe, above and added my blog to the Mr. Linky List. I plan to visit all of those scribblers whose names appear there. Please visit the nominees above and join me in sending them congrats on their blogs!

Book Review: Blood and Groom by Jill Edmondson

Blood and Groom by Jill Edmondson

Publisher's description:

Someone in Toronto has murdered nearly bankrupt art dealer Christine Arvisais's groom-to-be. Former rock band singer and neophyte private investigator Sasha Jackson lands the case because she's all Christine can afford. The high society gal was jilted at the altar and she's the prime suspect, not to mention Sascha's first major client.


Relying on wit, technology, luck, and a nerdy semi-stalker to help her clear the unlikable Christine's name, Sasha digs further into the muck only to discover high-finance shenanigans, an unnerving pattern of slaughtered fiancés, and a growing list of brides that never were who might be killers. Along the way, the wisecracking, sassy sleuth uncovers murky secrets among the city's bluebloods, including drug addiction, art forgery, and possible insider trading.


In order to trap the murderer, Sasha enlists her ex-boyfriend and former band mate to pose as her fiancé, but will her ruse make her ex the next victim on the hit list and lead to her own untimely demise?

My comments:  Good mystery plots, clever title. The mystery splits into two separate stories later in the book and it's done well. However, the cover of the book and some of the language could have been more attractive to readers.

In addition, the main character, Sasha, does some unlikely things to earn a living, such as working in the phone sex business. She also does some very illegal things while sleuthing. Though most mysteries have the main character and P.I. doing a few things outside the law to solve the larger crime, Sasha does more than her fair share. However, at the end of the book, she still comes out being a likeable main character.

Thanks to the author for providing a review copy.(This review was listed on Mystery/Crime Fiction Blog Carnival)

Antiques Mysteries

Killer Keepsakes (A Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery, Book #4) by Jane K. Cleland

Antiques mysteries are among my favorites. Just found Killer Keepsakes by Jane K. Cleland, who also wrote Antiques To Die for, Deadly Appraisal, and Consigned to Death. The titles sound dreadful, but they are cozy mysteries and not full of violence or gore.

The Ming and I by Tamar Myers

The Ming and I has a similar theme on its front cover and is also an antiques mystery. I remember this book as being very funny. In fact, the entire series is humorous. Myers also writes a more serious cozy, the Magdalena Yoder Pennsylvania Dutch mysteries.

Part of Thankfully Reading Weekend reading.

Book Review: Pistonhead by Thomas A. Hauck

PISTONHEAD by Thomas A. Hauck

Charlie Sinclair works in the days on an assembly line. His life is not going well and he persists in wanting to be famous as a rock guitarist.  He plays at night with a band called Pistonhead. This novel follows Charlie for one week and tells the way in which he finds success.

From the publisher's description: "Charlie Sinclair plays guitar in a rock band and works on an assembly line. His best friend is a drug addict. The girl he wants is unattainable. His apartment is filled with mice. People in the audience throw bottles at him. His mother has a creepy new boyfriend. The kids from his old neighborhood hate him. The band's manager is clueless.

This is the story of one week in Charlie Sinclair's life. One week that changed him forever.

Charlie finds success. But in a way that he does not expect. he never gives up. He is a Pistonhead."

Author Thomas A. Hauck was a rock musician and songwriter for 15 years before leaving the entertainment world in the 1990s. He earned an MBA in 2004 and founded the Thomas Hauck Communications Services in 2006. He is now a freelance writer and editor of Renaissance Magazine.

Pistonhead was published February 2009 by Booklocker.com, Inc.

Book Review: Cheating Death by Sanjay Gupta, MD

Cheating Death: The Doctors and Medical Miracles that Are Saving Lives Against All Odds by Sanjay Gupta

Publisher's description : "Twenty years ago all of them would have been given up for dead, with no realistic hope for survival. But today, thanks to incredible new medical advances, each of these individuals is alive and well...


In this riveting book, Dr. Sanjay Gupta - neurosurgeon, chief medical correspondent for CNN, and bestselling author - chronicles the almost unbelievable science that has made these seemingly miraculous recoveries possible."

My comments: There are eight chapters with many stories of people cheating death through modern medicine. The book is well researched and there are extensive notes at the end for those who want to read more about the cases. Cheating Death makes for easy reading. Even though it's not very technical, even people who know about the medical field would be interested in the narratives.

One particularly good story was the case "where a patient seems to have accurate memories from a time when he or she was measurably, clinically dead. There are thousands of stories like this, but it's extremely rare to find one that comes with medical documentation." (ch. 4) The incident Dr. Gupta recounts is of the experience of Pam Reynolds in 1991 during a brain operation when she had no brain activity for a brief time. Pam recalls feeling her late grandmother calling her to enter a tunnel with a light beckoning at the end, but other deceased relatives warned her to turn back. A deceased uncle led Pam back to the place where she saw herself, in a kind of out-of-body experience, lying on the operating table . Pam also had flashbacks to the past.

According to Dr. Gupta, "(Pam) is easily the most-cited example of a person having memories at a time when they were clinically dead."  I found some of the discussions well worth reading, topics such as "What is death?"

Thanks to Hachette for a review copy of this book.