Sunday Salon: Library Finds and Giveaway Winner

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

Congratulations to Beverly S., who was chosen by a random number generator as the winner of:The Twelve Rooms of the Nile.

Another giveaway courtesy of the publisher is open until Sept. 28 for The Shoemaker's Wife.

Yesterday, I returned a book to the library and came away with four books I didn't intend to borrow.

1. The Dead Do Not Improve by Jay Caspian Kang is about twentysomethings being bored and self pitying as they go between real life and the Internet. I like this one so far.

2. Buddhaland Brooklyn by Richard C. Morais is about an elderly priest who moves from a serene village in Japan to bustling Brooklyn, New York.

3. The Incense Game: A Novel of Feudal Japan by Laura Joh Rowland is the latest in the Sano Ichiro mystery series set in early 18th century Japan.

4. The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura is an award winning novel that follows the events in the life of a Tokyo pickpocket.

Sometimes it's a nice feeling to choose books from the library, as opposed to picking up the ones already on my shelves.

Books for Upstairs and Downstairs

I have a mystery novel for reading upstairs, bedtime reading, and for when I wake up too early in the morning. And there is another book downstairs that I'd rather not take up and down the stairs.

My upstairs read is:

Bear Bait: a Summer Westin Mystery by Pamela Beason, to be released October 2, 2012.

A lover of the great outdoors, albeit from an armchair, I enjoyed the first book in the series, Endangered, and am liking this one with Summer Westin as a biologist, volunteer, and amateur sleuth in the National Park Forest in Olympic National Park, the Pacific Northwest.



My downstairs book is quite different.
The Devil Soldier: The Story of Frederick Townsend Ward, the Most Honored and Controversial American in Chinese History is a biography of  an American soldier of fortune from Salem, Mass. who fought in China in the mid 19th century, on the side of the Chinese emperor and against the Taiping rebels.

The book describes The Devil Soldier as a "compelling adventure story and an important piece of Chinese and American history."

It was first published January 8, 1992 by Random House.

Which book will I'll finish first?

It's Thursday - What Are You Reading: Allergic to Death

Quick–what are you reading right now? Would you recommend it? What’s it about? Leave your link at Booking Through Thursday.

Allergic to Death: A Gourmet De-Lite Mystery by Peg Cochran is the first in a new cozy series published August 7, 2012. As I'm allergic to a lot of foods, meds and even animals, except for non-shedding dogs like that Westie on the book cover, I put the book near the top of my TBR pile!

About the book: Restaurant reviewer Martha Bernhardt drops dead from a severe peanut allergy...right after eating one of caterer Gigi's signature dishes. Gigi suddenly finds her diet catering business on the chopping block. Now she'll have to track down who tampered with her recipe before her own goose is cooked.(book description)

What are you reading this Thursday?

Book Teaser: Not My Blood by Barbara Cleverly

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB; choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify author and title for readers. 

 "I'm not absolutely certain, Lydia, but there's trouble with a runaway boy. At Victoria Station. They're holding him until I can get there." (ch. 2)

Not My Blood: A Joe Sandilands Murder Mystery by Barbara Cleverly
Published August 21, 2012; Soho Crime
Setting: England, 1933
Source: publisher

Scotland Yard Detective Joe Sandilands gets a phone call from a distressed boy named Jackie Drummond, who just might be Joe's illegitimate son. Jackie is in trouble at his Sussex boarding school, where a teacher has been murdered. A frightening number of boys, all from wealthy families, have gone missing over the school’s history, but by a strange coincidence none of the families have followed up on their sons' whereabouts. (Book description)

It's Monday: What Are You Reading This Week?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week. It is hosted by Book Journey.

The Voluntourist: A Six-Country Tale of Love, Loss, Fatherhood, Fate, and Singing Bon Jovi in Bethlehem by Ken Budd.

A travel memoir of the author's volunteer trips to New Orleans, Costa Rica, China, Ecuador, Palestine, and Kenya. I don't know how popular volunteer vacations are but they seem to be a growing trend.

The Book of Madness and Cures: A Novel by Regina O'Melveny is set in the Venice of 1590.

Gabriella Mondini helps her physician father with his work, The Book of Diseases, and must fend for herself when he disappears. She searches for him in Europe all the way to Morocco and discovers family secrets while developing her skills in healing.

Two different books, but they are taking me to different countries and back in history too. What are you reading this week?

Two Books: Judging a Book By Its Lover and Resurrection Express

Can't wait to read a book entitled Judging a Book By Its Lover: A Field Guide to the Hearts and Minds of Readers Everywhere as I want to see what the author, Lauren Leto, says about how books grab attention. I am curious to compare it to my own experiences as a reader. The book is a paperback to be released October 2, 2012 by Harper Perennial.

Resurrection Express: A Thriller by Stephen Romano involves a a high tech thief challenged with hacking into a complex security grid, unaware the stakes could mean the death of billions of people if the wrong people win. The expected publication date is September 18, 2012 by Gallery Books.

These two books were sent by the publishers.

Three Food Mystery Novels

Lots of new cozies with a food theme this summer. These three feature a food critic, a soup shop owner, and a cookie shop owner as the main characters/amateur sleuths in these cozies.

Death in Four Courses by Lucy Burdette is a Key West Food Critic Mystery Novel which includes five recipes and published September 4, 2012. A restaurant critic is found dead in a dipping pool at the Key West Loves Literature Seminar. Food critic Haley Snow, another attendee, plays amateur sleuth to make sure she is not the next victim.

A Spoonful of Murder is the first in A Soup Lover's Mystery by Connie Archer, published August 7, 2012. When a blond tourist is found frozen to death behind Lucky Jamieson's soup shop in Vermont, her soup chef is arrested by police. Lucky becomes a sleuth to save her shop and her chef. Recipes are included.

When the Cookie Crumbles by Virginia Lowell was published August 7, 2012, and is a Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery. The owner of a cookie shop, Olivia Grayson, investigates the history of the Chatterly Mansion and the sudden death of its heir, Payne.