Book Review: The Thieves of Darkness by Richard Doetsch

Title: The Thieves of Darkness
Author: Richard Doetsch

Publisher: Pocket Star Books
Paperback edition: Feb. 22, 2011
Genre: thriller, adventure
Source: review copy, Simon and Schuster
Objective rating: 4 out of 5

"Michael's heart plummeted his mind spun into confusion by the unexpected sight of the woman before him, the woman who sat on death row, the woman he had held in his arms less than two weeks ago.

Michael was left speechless as he stared into KC's eyes." (Ch. 1)

Publisher's description:

WILL A TREACHEROUS MISSION LEAD THEM INTO ANCIENT PARADISE . Reformed master thief Michael St. Pierre thinks his criminal days are behind him when his best friend Simon is sentenced to die in a brutal desert prison. Breaking into jail for the first time in his checkered career, Michael frees his friend only to discover his own girlfriend in the next cell.. . .

OR STRAIGHT TO A RUTHLESS ENEMY?
With a madman on their heels, the trio plots a series of daring thefts inside the world’s most celebrated and heavily guarded sanctums to find the mysterious artifact that landed them behind bars: a map to a secret holy place predating Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. From the glittering banks of the Bosporus to the highest peaks of the Himalayas, they embark on a globe-trotting adventure to preserve the priceless relics at stake and protect the fate of humanity.

Comments: Reminds me of books like The DaVinci Code with plots in holy places, secret maps, mysterious relics and a dash to find holy sanctums. For those who love adventure, a thrilling and dangerous ride through exotic locales, and a search important enough to affect the future.  

I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kingston

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

.... the artists of the chi, mostly women, Chinese
women, were moving, dancing the air/the wind/ energy/life, and getting the world turning.... They played with the chi, drawing circles in the sky, lifting earth to sky, pulling sky
to earth, swirling the controllable universe. Then walked off to do their daily ordinary tasks. (p. 61)

From I Love a Broad Margin to My Life, a verse memoir by Maxine Hong Kingston, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Jan. 18, 2011.

Description from Goodreads: "In her singular voice—humble, elegiac, practical—Maxine Hong Kingston's ....swift, effortlessly flowing verse lines feel instantly natural in this fresh approach to the art of memoir, as she circles from present to past and back, from lunch with a writer friend to the funeral of a Vietnam veteran, from her long marriage (“can’t divorce until we get it right. / Love, that is. Get love right”) to her arrest at a peace march in Washington....

 
On her journeys as writer, peace activist, teacher, and mother, Kingston revisits her most beloved characters: she learns the final fate of her Woman Warrior, and she takes her Tripmaster Monkey, a hip Chinese American, on a journey through China, where he has never been—a trip that becomes a beautiful meditation on the country then and now, on a culture where rice farmers still work in the age-old way, even as a new era is dawning. “All over China,” she writes, “and places where Chinese are, populations / are on the move, going home. That home / where Mother and Father are buried. Doors / between heaven and earth open wide.”
 
Such is the spirit of this wonderful book—a sense of doors opening wide onto an American life of great purpose and joy, and the tonic wisdom of a writer we have come to cherish." (Goodreads)

Blog Hop: Little Princes

The blog hop is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-for-Books. Hop on over to join in the fun.

This week's question..."Tell us about one of your posts from this week and give us a link so we can read it (review or otherwise)!"

My last post was a quote and a book description of The Little Princes. Click on the title to see the post and the book cover. Thanks for visiting! 

Teaser Tuesday: Little Princes by Conor Grennan

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

"Dawa - what is it? What's wrong?" I whispered frantically, my face just inches from his.
"Eyes, Brother!" he pleaded, blinking. ( p. 36)

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan
(William Morrow, Jan. 25, 2011)


Amazon's product description: "In search of adventure, 29-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children’s Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal.

Conor was initially reluctant to volunteer, unsure whether he had the proper skill, or enough passion, to get involved in a developing country in the middle of a civil war. But he was soon overcome by the herd of rambunctious, resilient children who would challenge and reward him in a way that he had never imagined. When Conor learned the unthinkable truth about their situation, he was stunned: The children were not orphans at all. Child traffickers were promising families in remote villages to protect their children from the civil war—for a huge fee—by taking them to safety. They would then abandon the children far from home, in the chaos of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.

For Conor, what began as a footloose adventure becomes a commitment to reunite the children he had grown to love with their families, but this would be no small task. He would risk his life on a journey through the legendary mountains of Nepal, facing the dangers of a bloody civil war and a debilitating injury. Waiting for Conor back in Kathmandu, and hopeful he would make it out before being trapped in by snow, was the woman who would eventually become his wife and share his life’s work.

Little Princes is a true story of families and children, and what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations. "

Book Blogger Hop: Voltaire's Calligrapher

Welcome to Book Blogger Hop! Visit other blogs by linking up to the Hop at Crazy for Books, weekly from Friday through Monday, blog hop other blogs in the Linky list, and answer the question of the week.

This week's question: What are you reading now and why?

I picked up a slim paperback that has been languishing on my shelf: Voltaire's Calligrapher: A Novel by Pablo De Santis, published Oct. 1, 2010. I see it as literary fiction, but it's described also as "steampunk mystery set in the time of Voltaire." (Booklist) Wish I had started it sooner!

The novel was sent to me by the publisher and I'm planning a review. The author is South American but this edition is published in English.

What are you reading right  now?

Book Review: The Tapestry Shop by Joyce Elson Moore

Title: The Tapestry Shop 
Author: Joyce Elson Moore

"Catherine glanced at the musician; all eyes were on him. This musician has smitten all the ladies and probably cannot see past his Norman nose, pampered as he is in court circles." (ch. 7)

Goodreads description: "The Tapestry Shop, by Joyce Elson Moore, is an historical novel based on the life of Adam de la Halle, a 13th century poet/musician who entertained in France's royal courts and who left behind a vast collection of secular compositions.
 
While researching Adam's music, the author discovered ... that the earliest version of the Robin Hood legend may have been Adam's play, Le Jeu de Robin et Marion. Because Adam was patronized by royalty, his play was probably performed in English courts, and would have changed, as legends do. In the retelling, Robin became an English hero, and Robin's companions became the Merry Men.

The book draws the reader into the Middle Ages, where women joined the crusades and students held discourse on the Street of Straw, but the overriding appeal of The Tapestry Shop may be Adam's connection to the popular legend of Robin Hood."
 
Comments: Romance, religion, history, music and poetry all rolled into one in this novel by Joyce Elson Moore about Adam de la Halle, a French trouvere or troubadour whom she did extensive research on for her novel. Well worth while for lovers of poetry and literature, history, and legend.

Title: The Tapestry Shop (Five Star Expressions)
Published: October 15th 2010 by Five Star
Genre: Historical, biographical fiction
Source: ARC from Carol Fass Publicity
Objective rating: 4 out of 5

The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal

Welcome to the Sunday Salon. Click on the logo to join in!

I've read only three books since last Sunday but enjoyed A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer, Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris, and a third,

The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal, September 1, 2009, Kensington Publishing.

Genre: women's fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: personal library/book giveaway

Product description: "Pungent curry. . .sweet fried onions. . .incense. . .colorful beads. . .lush fabrics. Shobhan Bantwal's compelling new novel is set on the streets of Edison, New Jersey's Little India, where a young businesswoman rediscovers the magic of love and family. ..

Since becoming a widow at age twenty-seven, Anjali Kapadia has devoted herself to transforming her parents' sari shop into a chic boutique, brimming with exquisite jewelry and clothing. Now, ten years later, it stands out like a proud maharani amid Edison's bustling Little India. But when Anjali learns the shop is on the brink of bankruptcy, she feels her world unraveling. . .

To the rescue comes Anjali's wealthy, dictatorial Uncle Jeevan and his business partner, Rishi Shah--a mysterious Londoner, complete with British accent, cool gray eyes, and skin so fair it makes it hard to believe he's Indian. Rishi's cool, foreign demeanor triggers distrust in Anjali and her mother. But for Anjali, he also stirs something else, a powerful attraction she hasn't felt in a decade. And the feeling is mutual. . .

Love disappointed Anjali once before and she's vowed to live without it--though Rishi is slowly melting her resolve and, as the shop regains its footing, gaining her trust. But when a secret from Rishi's past is revealed, Anjali must turn to her family and her strong cultural upbringing to guide her in finding the truth. . ."

Comments: I learned a lot about Indian-Americans and Gujarati family traditions, how the East and the West meet and co-exist in contemporary times. I recommend this for those who read women's fiction and international authors.

My next read is Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut: Essays and Observations by Jill Kargman, a new release.

What have you been reading recently?