Wordless Wednesday: Quince Blossom Surprise

Last year, this japonica or ornamental quince bush had three coral blooms. This year, multiple buds.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB, asks you to choose two sentences at random from your current read.

Bjorck looked at the noose, failing to understand. Then he heard movements behind him and felt his knees buckle.

from The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

This quote is from an uncorrected proof. It may be different from the final version of the book, which is to be released in hardcover May 27, 2010 by Alfred A. Knopf Publishers.

The Scandinavian thriller is the third in the Millennium Trilogy by Larsson, completed just before he died in 2004.  It features the "troubled but genius" main character, Lisbeth Salander. The first novel was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage) and the second,
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)

What the critics say:

"Stieg Larsson's vivid characters, the depth of the detail across the three books, the powerfully imaginative plot, and the sheer verve of the writing make the trilogy a masterpiece of its genre." - The Economist.

Magpie Tales: Lip Color

Magpie Tales is hosted weekly by Willow.
Visit her for more poetry, prose created by using a photo as a prompt.

My first contribution to Magpie Tales:

Lip Color

Like a dark tongue
That films my lips,
Like a weapon

Pointed and curved,
A slash, a shimmer of red and brown
Changes who I am.

It makes demands.
I am no longer me.

That was a bit of fun! Try it out!

Book Review: Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

I joined my first 25-Hour Read-a-Thon early yesterday and am wrapping it up in this Sunday Salon!

I finished Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult as planned

My comments: Picoult's Songs of the Humpback Whale was an unusual story of family, love, and marriage told by several people with different points of view. Basically it's about a married woman in San Diego who leaves her husband and takes off cross country with her teenage daughter to join her brother on an apple farm in Massachusetts. At the farm, she meets new people, loses some of her phobias, comes to terms with her childhood by revealing her past to a new lover, faces a crisis with her daughter, and is left with more confidence in herself. There are also changes for her daughter and for her husband, who follows and finds them in Massachusetts. I found that the technique of using 5 and sometimes a sixth narrator worked well for this book. As contemporary women's fiction, it rated four stars..

This past week, I also reviewed Feeling the Vibe by Candace Dow, set in DC, and A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta Novel by famed travel writer Paul Theroux, two very different books.

Read-a-Thon: Yes I Can! When I Can!

This is my first time to join Dewey's Read-a-Thon, and I'm excited to join, although there are chores to do!!! But I can fit it in. Yes, I can!

Hour 1: Three questions to answer:

Where are you reading from today: Ohio, the heart of the Midwest.

Three facts about me:
1. I love gardening almost as much as reading.
2. I get up early in the morning to blog.
3. I can't limit myself to one or two genre of books, as I love reading a variety of novels, though I like mysteries and good contemporary fiction among others.

How many books in my to be read pile for the next 24 hours?

1. Realistically, I hope to finish Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult, a writer I've heard a lot about but have just discovered for myself. I'm enjoying this book so far but am only on page 42.

2. Arabesk: Inspector Ikmen #3 by Barbara Nadel, a new mystery set in Turkey.
3.The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson, a thick book that I may not be able to finish before the Read-a-Thon is over.

Do you have any goals for the Read-a-Thoner?
1. I must finish Songs of the Humpback Whale and Arabesk! Those are my goals.
2. I may even do more of the Mini Challenges!

Good luck all!

Book Review: A Dead Hand by Paul Theroux

A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta by Paul Theroux
(Hardcover - Feb. 11, 2010)

Summary: Jerry Delfont is a failed writer, a writer with a "dead hand" that can no longer write as he has no ideas left. He goes to a city he obviously dislikes, Calcutta, to find inspiration or material for his writing, and stays after meeting an intriguing expatriate, Mrs. Unger, who inflames his imagination and his passion, with her beautiful silk saris and tantric massages, her philantrophy, and her worship of the goddess Kali.

When Mrs. Unger asks Jerry to help a friend escape a possible murder charge, Jerry plays detective and sets out to do Mrs. Unger's bidding.

Comments: Don't let the cover scare you. That's only Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction and creation, according to Theroux in this book set in Calcutta, India.

I saw A Dead Hand as another one of Theroux's travel books, this one masquerading as a crime novel. The characters give their frank opinions about the hot, dusty city and about the people who come to live in India. Even Mother Theresa doesn't escape their critical eye. Those comments and observations were more interesting to me than the murder mystery, which you can easily solve early in the book, I thought. I guessed the culprit(s) and possible motives half way through. Theroux drops hints here and there and then just about layers the pages with clues and insinuations that can only lead to one logical conclusion. Only the details were left to be filled in. Wanting to know the details kept me reading to the end.

Comments: I gave this book 4 stars as a travel book in disguise, 4 stars as a book about social injustice, and 3 stars as crime fiction.

Challenge: Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge

 

Feeling the Vibe: A Novel by Candace Dow

Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB, asks you to choose two sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

Feelin' the Vibe

By the third day in Nicaragua, I was tempted to build a little hut and run away from it all, just Devin and me. We could leave it all behind for the peace and tranquility of this small island. (ch. 36)

Feelin' the Vibe: A Novel by Candace Dow (Paperback - Sept. 24, 2009)

Publisher's description: "He's Washington's hottest new political figure, blessed with savvy charisma, and a perfect wife. She runs Baltimore's most respected social program and is happily married to the man who helped put her life back together. But Devin and Clark never forgot the love that was once their world. Now a chance meeting...is plunging both their marriages into disaster. And even if they can make things right amid lies and unexpected betrayal, Devin and Clark must face the truth about themselves...and decide if their second chance is important enough to risk losing everything they have."

Comments: Well written, with appealing dialogue that moves the story along quickly. There are two narrators, Devin and Clark, and their points of view mesh well to tell their love story. The author has added twelve pertinent questions in a Reading Group Guide at the end of the novel.

Author: Candace Dow is the author of six novels. A graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Johns Hopkins University, she is at work on her next book.

A review copy of this book was provided free by Hachette Books.