Where Is Your Bookmark? (01/13/2015)

I had hoped everyone in the house would be well enough so that we could drive up the mountain and play in the snow this past weekend. It was not meant to be. Saturday afternoon, after we got home from soccer class, the park and library, Mouse laid down for a nap--something she rarely does anymore. She woke up with a 104F temperature.

She is much better now, thank goodness.

Stacy from Stacy's Books rekindled my interest in PostCrossing, a website that facilitates sending  and receiving postcards to and from random people around the world. I used to be active in the pen palling world and often miss receiving letters in the mail. Stacy convinced me to reactivate my PostCrossing account, and I have already sent six postcards out in the mail, one to Russia, Turkey, Germany, China, France, and one to here in the U.S. Now to just sit back and wait for something to come in the mail for me!

One thing I have discovered, however, is how difficult it is to find postcards around town.  It isn't as easy as it once was. I thought for sure the local Hallmark store would have some. No such luck. The drugstores have a few touristy-type cards, but I was hoping for something a little different. On my way home from my postcard search this weekend, I stopped in the local indie bookstore, The Cellar Door, to console myself and bought a couple books: Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan and Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast.

With my little one not feeling well, I was able to slip in a couple of books this weekend. finishing up the second book in Marc Krulewitch's Jules Landau Mystery Series, Windy City Blues, which I will be reviewing later this week. I also read Laura Foley's short collection of poetry called Joy Street. It's been ages since I last read a book of poetry. I enjoy poetry now and then, but consider it outside my comfort zone just the same. I think it is the intimidation factor. I have this fear that when I read a poem I will miss some deep meaning. Poetry isn't meant to be read that way though--it's about words and feelings. There is no right or wrong way to interpret a poem. I am trying to keep that in mind as a prepare my review of the collection.

This year I am participating in a postal bookclub exchange in which the members (all book bloggers) of the group each read a book, jot down thoughts in a journal, and then mail the book and journal to the next person on the list. This month I received a copy of  A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, which just happens to be first book on my Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To list (see below). I was quite excited when I found the book in my mailbox this past week. Of course, I dove right in.

What are you reading right now?  Would you recommend it?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely ladies at Broke and Bookish.

This weeks' Top Ten Tuesday theme is Top Ten 2014 Releases I Meant To Read But Didn't Get To.  This list could go on for mile. There were a number of books I had hoped to get to last year I just didn't for whatever reason. Here are a few 2014 releases I missed then, but will be reading at some point in the (hopefully near) future:

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman ~ This is getting wonderful reviews and was my mother-in-law's favorite book of 2014.  From the publisher:

. . . when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Skin Game by Jim Butcher ~ One of my favorite authors. I am not quite caught up to this one in the series (it's number 15), but I would like to be by the end of the year.  The series features Chicago's Harry Dresden, private investigator and wizard.  These books are always action-packed and intense.

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey ~ The synopsis for this one intrigues me.  From the Publisher:

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius." Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh. The Girl With All the Gifts is a groundbreaking thriller, emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end.

Deep Shelter by Oliver Harris ~ I really enjoyed the first book in Harris's DC Belsey's mystery series, and am looking forward to reading the next in the series. From the publisher:

In this gritty, white-knuckle crime thriller, Detective Nick Belsey—introduced in the acclaimed The Hollow Man as a shrewd, street-smart cynic who is one of London’s sharpest, but most unprincipled, investigators—is plunged into a perplexing mystery of secrets, danger, and suspense beneath the city’s streets.

The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson ~ A New York lawyer working for Thurgood Marshall is asked to investigate the murder of black war hero in the Deep South of 1946. From the publisher:

She must navigate the muddy waters of racism, relationships, and her own tragic past. The Secret of Magic brilliantly explores the power of stories and those who tell them.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel ~ I have enjoyed the author's other books and am looking forward to this one.  From the publisher:

An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh ~ I love a good crime fiction novel and have heard many great things about this one.  From the publisher:

For fans of Gillian Flynn and Daniel Woodrell, a dark, gripping debut novel of literary suspense about two mysterious disappearances, a generation apart, and the meaning of family-the sacrifices we make, the secrets we keep, and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love.

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill ~ This one has come highly recommended by fellow book bloggers who have read it.  From the publisher:

Dept. of Speculation is a portrait of a marriage. It is also a beguiling rumination on the mysteries of intimacy, trust, faith, knowledge, and the condition of universal shipwreck that unites us all.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng ~ This is another book blogger recommended book I have seen mentioned in several places.  From the publisher:

Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . . So begins this debut novel about a mixed-race family living in 1970's Ohio and the tragedy that will either be their undoing or their salvation. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee; their middle daughter, a girl who inherited her mother’s bright blue eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue—in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the center of every party.  

When Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart.

The Dress Shop of Dreams by Menna van Praag ~ I read the author's The House at the End of Hope Street and just loved it. I am anxious to read her latest book.  The publisher describes it:

For fans of Alice Hoffman, Sarah Addison Allen, and Adriana Trigiani, The Dress Shop of Dreams is a captivating novel of enduring hopes, second chances, and the life-changing magic of true love.

Have you read any of these?  What did you think?  What books came out last year you missed and hope to catch in the future?

Every Tuesday Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea hosts 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where  

participants share the first paragraph (or a few) of a 

book they are reading or thinking about reading soon.

Here is a taste of the opening of Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove (see below for a description of the book): 

Ove is fifty-nine. 

He drives a Saab. He's the kind of man who points at people he doesn't like the look of, as if they were burglars and his forefinger a policeman's flashlight. He stands at the counter of a shop where the owners of Japanese cars come to purchase while cables. Ove eyes the sales assistant for a long time before shaking a medium sized white box at him. 

"So this is one of those O-Pads, is it?" he demands. 

The assistant, a young man with a single-digit body mass index, looks ill at ease. He visibly struggles to control his urge to snatch the box out of Ove's hands. 

"Yes, exactly. An iPad. Do you think you could stop shaking it like that . . . ?"

Ove gives the box a skeptical glance, as if it's a highly dubious sort of box, a box that rides a scooter and wears tracksuit pants and just called Ove "my friend" before offering to sell him a watch.

Would you continue reading?

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