Teaser Tuesday - February 1

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• 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!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

Maybe Rosaleen had laid traps around the bungalow and I'd tripped a wire, moved a blade of grass out of place, walked through a beam and triggered an alarm in her handbag. She was going to tie me to a bed, break my legs with a sledgehammer, and force me to write her novel.

From The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

This final line in the quote just made me die laughing, I loved Misery and seeing this reference to it just endeared this book more to me.

January Summary

January Summary 

1.  The Last Straw (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) by Jeff Kinney, read 1/3/2011
2. Choker by Elizabeth Woods, read 1/3/2011
3. Misguided Angel by Melissa de la Cruz, read 1/9/2011 
4. Cross Fire by James Patterson, read 1/10/2011
5. Never Been Kissed by Melody Carlson, read 1/11/2011
6. Fatal Judgment by Irene Hannon, read 1/14/2011 
7. Haven by Kristi Cook, read 1/19/2011 
8. Awakened by P.C. & Kristin Cast, Read 1/20/2011
9. Deeper than the Dead by Tami Hoag, read 1/21/2011
10. Said the Spider by Earle E. Van Gilder, read 1/23/2011 
11. Little Princes by Conor Grennan, read 1/25/2011 
12. To Have Not by Frances Lefkowitz, read 1/28/2011
13. The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern, read 1/31/2011

Review books:8

Library Books:5
Books from my bookshelf:

My reading year is off to a slow start, but I hope to pick up momentum soon.  The great thing about this month is I really enjoyed all the books I read, so I can't complain on that account.

Favorite of the month: Little Princes by Conor Grennan, I just can't say enough about this one.

So how was your reading month?


Challenge Progress:

• YA Reading Challenge:  4/50
• Support Your Local Library Challenge:  5/51
• 100+ Reading Challenge:  13/217
• 2011 Audiobook Challenge:  1/20
• 2011 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge:  0/15
• Cruizin' Through Cozies: 0/12
• 2011 A to Z Challenge (Titles): 8/26
• 2011 Reading From My Shelves Project:  0/24
• Edgar Awards Reading Challenge:  0/6
• 2011 Debut Author Challenge:  2/30
• 2011 Ebook Challenge:  3/20
• Book Bucket List:  0/12
• 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die:  0/5
• The Alphabet in Crime Fiction:  2/26
• 2011 Show Me the Free Reading Challenge:  0/12

Books reviewed from earlier months:

• The Radleys by Matt Haig
• Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

It's Monday What Are You Reading - January 31

Come post weekly and see what others are reading too just so you can add to your tbr - I always do! For more information see Sheila at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books and join in!

Books Completed Last Week 

• Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan
• To Have Not by Frances Lefkowitz

Reading Now:

• Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich (audiobook, library)
• The Lost Saint by Bree Despain (library)
• The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

Next:

• Trickster's Girl by Hilari Bell
• The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld
• The Big Show Stopper by Hugh Dalton
  

Other reviews completed last week:

• Deeper than the Dead by Tami Hoag (library, audiobook)
• Said the Spider by Earle E Van Gilder
• Never Been Kissed by Melody Carlson
• Fatal Judgment by Irene Hannon

Summary -

I'm still not up to my optimal reading time, but I'm improving.  It was a week of great books so that counts for something.  I'm almost done with The Book of Tomorrow and it is great as well.

Best of the week:  Little Princes by Conor Grennan - just an amazing book.


How was your week?

Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis Giveaway Winner

 

The winner of Kat, Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis is: Theresa M

Thanks to all who entered.  The winner has been emailed and has 72 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Check out this week's giveaway here. 

Weekly Giveaway: Little Princes by Conor Grennan

This week's giveaway features a book I read and reviewed last week, Little Princes by Conor Grennan.  As you know from my review, I loved this book and I was lucky enough to receive an extra hardcover copy of this book in addition to the ARC I read, so I would love to get this book into the hands of one of my readers.  Not into non-fiction, honestly I'm not either, but this book is wonderful, inspiring and a great read.

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan

Release: January 25, 2011

Adult Non-fiction

Hardcover, 304 pages

About:

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.

To enter, simply fill out the form below.  Open to the US/Canada.  Runs through next Saturday 2/5.

If you can't see the form, you can find it here.

Series Spotlight: Septimus Heap Series by Angie Sage (+ Giveaway)

As an effort to continue my series spotlight I received a suggestion on Twitter this week to feature the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage (Thank you @GRGenius).  Perfect timing since I just got the first book for my Kindle for free earlier this week.

I am interested in this series but have never read it, so dear readers, tell me what you think about this series, is it amazing, pretty good or just ok?  Does it lag in the middle of the series and pick up steam again or is it great all the way through?  Your honest thoughts are what I am asking for, for myself and for others who have not read this series.  No spoilers please is all I ask.

Comment away and I'll giveaway a book of your choice under $10 from Book Depository to one lucky person who leaves a meaningful comment (you don't have to have read the books, just say something about the books, whether you want to read them or would never care to).  Open to anywhere the Book Depository ships free.

I'm really curious about this series because I am always looking for books to recommend to my 10-year-old who is just about finished with all the Goosebumps books which are his love :)  So would a 10-year-old boy like these books?

Also through 2/1 you can receive the Magyk ebook free:  Kindle     Nook    Kobo

So a little more about the series:



Magyk:  The seventh son of the seventh son, aptly named Septimus Heap, is stolen the night he is born by a midwife who pronounces him dead. That same night, the baby's father, Silas Heap, comes across a bundle in the snow containing a new born girl with violet eyes. The Heaps take this helpless newborn into their home, name her Jenna, and raise her as their own. But who is this mysterious baby girl, and what really happened to their beloved son Septimus? 

Flyte:   Following the events of Magyk, Septimus Heap continues his apprenticeship with ExtraOrdinary Wizard Marcia Overstrand, and Jenna is enjoying her new life as a princess. But something seems amiss; does the Darke Magyk still linger in this royal preserve? This installment of the exciting adventure series features a few new characters, including a memorable dragon.

Physik: Silas has only himself to blame for sparking the plot of the third Septimus Heap installment. Unsealing a long-forgotten room in the palace, he accidentally unleashes the formerly inert spirit of malevolent old Queen Etheldredda. Five hundred years of downtime have not mellowed the scheming monarch; in fact, she's now eager to enact a devilish plan to make herself immortal and omnipotent. To neutralize her, Septimus and his allies must go into corrective overdrive. Plot surprises, engaging characters, and snappy wit

Queste: There's trouble at the Castle, and it's all because Merrin Meredith has returned with Darke plans for Septimus. More trouble awaits Septimus and Jenna in the form of Tertius Fume, the ghost of the very first Chief Hermetic Scribe, who is determined to send Septimus on a deadly Queste. But Septimus and Jenna have other plans—they are headed for the mysterious House of Foryx


Syren: In this fifth book in the Magykal series, Septimus ends up on a captivatingly beautiful island, one of seven set in a sparkling sea. He's stranded there with his badly injured dragon, Spit Fyre, along with Jenna and Beetle.
There are some strange things about the island, including a Magykal girl named Syrah, a cat-shaped lighthouse that has lost its Light, and an eerie presence that sings to Septimus—can he escape the persistent call?
Trouble is also brewing for Lucy and Wolf Boy, who have become entangled with some nefarious sailors at sea, and for Milo Banda, Jenna's father, who is harboring a mysterious treasure chest in his ship's hold.

Thanks for joining in - I'll draw the winner next Saturday so I'll close entries on Friday 2/4/2011.

Book Review: To Have Not by Frances Lefkowitz

To Have Not by Frances Lefkowitz

Publisher: MacAdam/Cage

Publish Date:March 1, 2010

Paperback, 300 pages
Non-fiction; Memoir 

My Review:
Another non-fiction title for me, the self-professed fiction-only reader.  But the publicists keep sending these great sounding blurbs out so I seem to be branching out.  And I am glad I am.  I was sucked into Frances Lefkowitz's book, To Have Not from the first chapter.  I think most of us can relate to Frances on some level.  Whether you were rich or poor growing up, I think everyone has a feeling of resignation about some part of their life at some point in their life.

Through looking from the outside in to Frances' life I was able to look at my own life and be thankful for things.  Frances did not have an easy life, but she never whines or cries about it.  She does get angry, but I never felt the book was one of those "look at poor pitiful me" books, she mainly is stating the fact of her life with emotions thrown in as well.  Frances takes the hits that life gives her and keeps moving, learning lessons along the way.  I found her life fascinating from childhood to college and then when she moves on to trying to find a career.  I also found her relationships interesting.  The ones with her parents who were anything but typical parents and with her brothers, to the gifted children at her school and then the others she meets through life.

Frances' writing style is easy-going, I felt like I was talking with an old friend and catching up on her life.  The story of her life flows easily and moves quickly with little lessons interspersed and Frances often taking stock of her life at that point and relating to something in the past.  To Have Not is a fascinating memoir that takes a look at the ordinary, yet not-ordinary life of a child who grows into an adult and still is finding her way in the world.  It was truly enjoyable and I look forward to reading more by Ms. Lefkowitz and I think reading To Have Not has also opened my doors to more memoirs in the future.


My Rating: 4.5/5.0


About the Book:

Poverty has many guises: a lack of money, of course, but it can also be a lack of love or choice, pleasure or safety, faith or confidence or possibility. Poverty seeps into the soul and deadens the spirit. In To Have Not, Frances Lefkowitz reflects on her own life of poverties. A poor white girl from 1970s San Francisco, Lefkowitz tries to escape her upbringing through an Ivy League scholarship, only to realize that upward mobility is not all it s cracked up to be: being a Have Not and not having aren't necessarily the same thing. Crashing headfirst into boundaries of class, race, and sex, Lefkowitz emerges scarred but whole, humor intact. To Have Not speaks to anyone who has ever battled the feeling of being cut off from the world s abundance, and then settled, eventually, somewhere between resignation and appreciation for all they do have.

About the Author: 

Frances Lefkowitz was born in San Francisco and moved nine times in seventeen years, mostly within the confines of the city. She attended Brown University on scholarships. Frances has published hundreds of magazine articles and earned two Pushcart Prize nominations. She lives in Petaluma, California.

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FTC Information: I received this book from Lisa Steinke at BookSparks PR for a honest review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.