Get Lost in Literature

“My darkness is squatting like a demon, right around the next corner, lurking in every shadow, just waiting for me to slip. And when I do it’s gonna grab me, Vince, and I don’t know if I can fight my way free the next time it does.” Maggie’s Shayne’s   The Gingerbread Man , opens with Vince O’Mally, a smart detective who has trouble separating himself from his victims. He’s haunted by Sara Prague, a mother who is determined not to let the cop forget her missing kids, and makes him promise her that he won’t rest until they’re found. Vince O’Mally does the unthinkable; he promises her that everything will be alright. When it turns out to be a promise he can’t keep, he gets forced into a 30 day leave and finds himself following leads on his own time. Holly Newman is a cleric at the Dilmun Police Department; Dilmun is a small town in New York where the community is tight and nothing bad ever happens. She suffers from OCD and panic attacks brought on by PTSD, brought on by the ...

Dust (Silo #3) by Hugh Howey “Our actions, you know? They last forever. Whatever we do, it’ll always be what we did. There’s no taking them back.” In Wool we’re introduced to the world of Silo 18; people have fled an inhospitable environment to live underground. They’ve forgotten the world they come from and anyone who dreams of returning to it, is forced out. Shift introduced us to the world of corrupt political heads who are willing to get what they want by any means necessary, as well as the survivors of failed Silo 17. Dust brings us back to present time in the Silo Saga universe, with Juliette as the newly elected Mayor of Silo 18. Juliette is determined to dig ; she wants to expand the Silo 18 and claim 17,  she wants to rescue her new friends and prove to everyone else that she isn’t crazy. Lukas is torn between his love for Juliette and his duties to the Silo as the new head of IT; he’s worried the Juliette is creating too much fear and that the Silo is headed...

My picks for the Tuesday Top Ten, as invented by  The Broke and Bookish . This week's theme is Top Ten Books I Read in 2014. I haven't done one of these in awhile, stuck in a dry, crusty, reading drought. I planned on a reading 30 books this year, via the GoodReads challenges, I've read 17 even though the GR-Challenge Widget appears to be stuck on 14. I'm probably not going to make 30, but I'm going to give it a go. In the meantime, these are my ten favorite so far!   1, 2,and 3 are going to Patrick Ness's YA, Sci-fi novels, the Chaos Walking trilogy.     4, 5, and 6 are going to Hugh Howey's Silo Saga. 7.   The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty 8.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 9.  Parasite by Mira Grant. (I can't wait for the sequel!) 10.   Winter's Tal e by Mark Helprin. This magical novel pulled me out of my dry spell!

“Desire, love hate, fear, repulsion--you feel these things in your muscle and bones, not just in your mind. That is how this little heartbreak felt: like a physical injury, deep inside my body, an internal bleeding, a nick that would continue to seep.” One morning, a young boy is found murdered, stabbed to death in the park. It’s a horrifying crime in suburban Massachusetts, but it’s business as usual for Assistant District Attorney Andrew Barber. Andy sets out to investigate and prosecute the crime himself, but an ambitious young colleague, is about to blindside him. Neal Logiudice is climbing his way to the top; he knows the case is high profile and he sees his chance to make a name for himself. Neal wants to follow the evidence straight back to Andy’s own son, Jacob. Andrew, finding himself pushed out of a job, must figure out how to save his son and hold his family together… I couldn’t put this book down. I admit it’s a slow burner; it isn’t a fast paced, overwhelmingly even...

“Peter Lake had no illusions about mortality. He knew that it made everyone perfectly equal, and that the treasures of the earth were movement, courage, laughter, and love. The wealthy could not buy these things. On the contrary, they were for the taking.” Winter’s Tale starts with as a poetic an image any fairy-tale could manage: a white horse traveling through scenic New York City on perfectly snow covered dawn. This is a story of winter romance, magic and miracles, good vs. evil, spanning the industrial age to modern times, as the characters search for reason and justice in the world. My initial reaction to the book? If you liked Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus , or any of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s work, you’ll probably love this story. The painstaking attention to surreal descriptions and the weaving of the fantastic into a canvas as bleak as a city filled with violence and sickness…Well, it dragged me right down to a time where a person could believe anything was pos...

I just finished reading Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin after breaking free of a reading drought. Beautiful story if you're looking for something that will add a little bit of magic to your life. While I type up a review, here's a long overdue couple of quotes. "The city was like war--battles raged all around, and desperate men were on the street in crawling legions. He had heard the Baymen tell of war, but they had never said it could be harnessed, its head held down, and made to run in place." And later: "Lonely people have enthusiasms which cannot always be explained. When something strikes them as funny, the intensity and length of their laughter mirrors the depth of their loneliness, and they are capable of laughing like hyenas. When something touches their emotions, it runs through them like Paul Revere, awakening feelings that gather into great armies..." Check back soon for the full review! Quotable Thursday  originally brought to yo...

  My picks for the Tuesday Top Ten, as invented by  The Broke and Bookish . Today's theme is: Ten Authors I Own The Most Books From. Brian Jacques JK Rowling Gregory Maguire Charles De Lint Dan Brown Stephanie Meyer Mira Grant John Ajvide Lindqvist Walter Farley David Clement Davies

“...writers are a savage breed, Mr. Strike. If you want life-long friendship and selfless camaraderie, join the army and learn to kill. If you want a lifetime of temporary alliances with peers who will glory in your every failure, write novels.”   ― Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm Cormoran Strike and Robin are back in the second Robert Galbraith novel (whose last name I can never spell correctly the first time around). After solving the Lula Landry case, Strike's business is doing better; he's able to take Robin on as a permanent employee, he's got an apartment, and more clients than he can accommodate. Then eccentric Leonora Quine walks in. Her husband, a drama-addicted, erotic-horror novelist, has gone missing and she wants Strike to find him. He accepts the case of the missing writer, only to discover that Owen Quine's newest novel depicts his wife, friends and business associates as sexually depraved monsters; giving just about everyone motive to make the ...

My picks for the Tuesday Top Ten, as invented by  The Broke and Bookish . Today's theme was "other stories," either Top Ten Favorite Movies or TV Shows! I went with my favorite TV shows because the movie list is way longer. 1.   LOST -- A plane crashes onto a mysterious island, leaving the survivors to fall prey to supernatural and scientific forces alike...  I fan-girled so hard, I nearly wet myself every season opener and cried for weeks after every season ender. The writing was superb, every episode full of little clues and mysteries and monsters, questions were answered just so the viewer would ask more. The casting was perfect. 2.   Breaking Bad -- A high school chemistry teacher, diagnosed with terminal cancer, realizes he's going to die and leave his family in debt. So  he invents his own meth-recipe and begins a crime spree to cover his medical bills...  The writing for this was smart, dark, and funny, all at once. A st...

I had a few TopTenTuesdays scheduled and for some reason they did not post, instead the reverted to drafts... I'm going to go ahead and post those manually because I did do them and, why the heck not. I randomly decided to abandon my current reads to read the new Robert Galbraith novel, The Silkworm ...Read it two days, it was so exciting, so I'm working on the review for that... Even though my Coming Soon list, shows Wicked is on its way, its going to be postponed again. I did download the 3rd book int the Silo Saga , only to find I'm not in the mood for sci-fi? I am having a  really weird summer.

My picks for the Tuesday Top Ten, as invented by  The Broke and Bookish . Today's theme is: Top Ten Characters I Would Want With Me On A Deserted Island.     1. Jack Shepherd from LOST  because you never know when you need a hot doctor.      2. Daryl Dixon from  The Walking Dead because he's got mad survival skills.     3. Shadowfax from Lord of the Rings so I continue riding until I am rescued.     4 . Jasper Cullen from Twilight  because he could probably make me feel better until help arrives.     5, 6, 7, 8, 9 will just be Dr. Evil's Anonymous Henchmen (from  Austin Powers ) because we'd need food for the the vampire.     10. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter because when Jasper's food runs out and Daryl is getting sick of seagull stew, and they both start looking at Shadowfax like he's something good to eat, I'm sure Hermione can magic us right out of ...

Shift (Silo #2) by Hugh Howey  In Wool , HH introduces us to a dystopian world where the survivors of the apocalypse are living in an underground bunker called a Silo. These survivors live in fear of the outside world which no longer supports life, even though they've been down there so long they no longer remember their own origin story. The seeds of doubt are sewn in Wool , as the main characters start to realize they've been lied to all along; leading to revolutions and revelations. Shift  is the totally creep-tastic sequel/prequel to  Wool .  The story starts before the construction of the Silos, introducing new and devious characters. Senator Thurman who'll save the world as he wants it to be, however he can, and his daughter Anna Thurman, who'll do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Donald Keene, a politician/architect who is asked onto a special classified project, and his wife Helen, who fears that the project is driving her husband insane. Thi...

Dropping in with a late quote from a book I've just marked finished, but haven't gotten the review live yet. This passage was too good not to share...Although I wonder, if it still reads the same when taken out of context. "The ghosts are watching. The ghosts are watching. They watch me stroll alone. corpses are laughing. The corpses are laughing. They go quiet when I step over them. parents are missing. My parents are missing. They are waiting for me to come home." Quotable Thursday  originally brought to you by  Bookshelf Fantasies .

This week I'm reading through Shift (Silo #2) by Hugh Howey, sequel-technically-prequel to Wool.  This part of the story provides a heartbreaking look into how the Silos came to be. "That word means something else, you know," his father had told him once, when Mission had spoken of revolution. "It also means to go around and around. To revolve. One revolution and you get right back to where you started." And Donald was verging on the sad realization that humanity had been thrown to the brink of extinction by insane men in positions of power following one another, each thinking the others knew where they were going. Quotable Thursday  originally brought to you by  Bookshelf Fantasies .

My picks for the Tuesday Top Ten, as invented by  The Broke and Bookish . Today's theme, is top ten favorite classics... I couldn't narrow down the list past eleven! War of the Worlds by HG Wells True Grit by Charles Portis Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll Black Beauty by Anna Sewell The Call of the Wild by Jack London Dracula by Bram Stoker The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty O Russet Witch by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Wool Omnibus (Silo #1) by Hugh Howey "These buildings"--he pointed to what looked like large white cans sitting on the ground--"these are silos. They hold seed for the bad times. For until times get good again... This is a silo. They put us here for the bad times." The world has become a toxic wasteland forcing people to live underground in an enormous, multi-story bunker called a silo. There only appear to be two rules in the silo: don't commit crime and don't speak about going outside. The punishment for breaking the rules: being sent out outside. This book actually started out as five self-published novellas; the Omnibus edition is all five novellas combined to a comprehensive novel. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this because self-publishing tends to be sloppy and dystopian tends to be sad... I was ready for a grammatically incorrect depress-fest. There's nothing sloppy about this book, although it is one of those stories difficult t...

Contrary to planning, my posting schedule has gone sporadically off course. I apologize, but make no promises for the future; I'm trying though. This past week marked the arrival of my birthday and with it: book money! And so I indulged in something new, Wool by Hugh Howey . "Killing a man should be harder than waving a length of pipe in their direction. It should take long enough for one's conscience to get in the way." And (though slightly shortened): "None of us asked to be where we are. What we control is our actions once fate puts us there." Quotable Thursday  originally brought to you by  Bookshelf Fantasies .

Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking #3)  by Patrick Ness "He is worse than the others, I show. He is worst of all of them. Because-- The rest are worth as much as their pack animals, I show, but worst is the one who knows better and does nothing." Spoiler Alert. Patrick Ness is a bastard. Just so you know ahead of time, there will be no mercy. Book 3 began exactly where Book 2 left off: The army of New Prentisstown is at war with the army of The Answer and Mayor President Prentiss is talking his way out of being overthrown by Todd. The Spackle forces are attacking and Viola's racing to intercept her incoming scout ship before Mistress Coyle can get there. The story once again expands by adding yet another point of view, that of 1017. 1017 is essentially the one that got away... and proceeds to plot vengeance. He was a Spackle slave in New Haven, who watched his one in particular,  die to keep him safe. Forced to work under Prentiss's command and brand...

My picks for the Tuesday Top Ten, as invented by  The Broke and Bookish . I had to think about this list, lol. See the beach is really sunny, full of distractions. So if I'm taking a book, it's got to full into one of two categories: 1. Well-worn , so the light bouncing off the pages, doesn't hurt my eyes. 2. Simple-written, Young Adult,  So I can follow the story easily, without having to put too much thought or effort into it. 1. Come on, Seabiscuit! by Ralph Moody. My copy belonged to my mother -- in the 70s. 2.   The Call of the Wild by Jack London. This book's gone on road trips and boat trips. Its been to the barn, the beach, camping, and to school...Well worn, yes, and well loved. 3.  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. 4.  The Great Gatsby. by F Scott Fitzgerald. Haven't read yet, but if I get a copy from the library I bet it'll be worn in. 5. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin....

My picks for the Tuesday Top Ten, as invented by  The Broke and Bookish . This week's theme was "Top Ten Tuesday Freebie! Pick your own topic!" and I decided to list my Top Ten Books I Want to Re-Read and Review for this theme for two very special reasons. The first reason is that my "repeat offenders," my favorite books that repeatedly make it onto my TTT Lists, were read long before I started blogging and logging onto GoodReads. So while I pimp my favorite books and authors out, loudly and proudly, I have never left fully articulated and complete reviews as to why they've capture my heart. I feel like that is something I should do. The second reason, is that my year of moving my reviews from GR to this blog every Wednesday morning, is over. They are all here. And while I strive to read new books every day, I can't always afford as many new ones as I like, and I can't always get out to the library. And when I finish a new book I'm so exc...