January 2013 ⋆ Lovely Bookshelf

Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood

Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood was last week's Free Fridays Nook selection from Barnes & Noble. It's geared for ages 8 and up, but I'd heard it's a fun read for all ages. I love magical realism - Haruki Murakami and Aimee Bender are two of my favorite authors - so I thought I'd give it a try.Title: Bliss (The Bliss Bakery #1)Author: Kathryn LittlewoodPublisher: Katherine Tegen BooksReleased: February 14, 2012Source: Barnes & Noble (Nook Free Fridays)Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:Rosemary Bliss's family has a secret. It’s the Bliss Cookery Booke—an ancient, leather-bound volume of enchanted recipes like Stone Sleep Snickerdoodles and Singing Gingersnaps. Rose and her siblings are supposed to keep the Cookery Booke under lock and whisk-shaped key…

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January 29, 2013

children's books / reviews

Magic Words by Vanita Oelschlager

I recently had the pleasure of reading a unique book to my daughter: Magic Words: From the Ancient Oral Tradition of the Inuit, published by Vanita Books. It is due to be released September 1, 2013.Title: Magic WordsAuthor: Mike Blanc and Edward FieldPublisher: Vanita BooksExpected Release: September 1, 2013Source: publisher (NetGalley)Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:Magic Words is a modern translation (1965) of a very old Inuit creation story by nationally known poet Edward Field. As a poem it captures beautifully the intimate relationship this Arctic people have with their natural world. Magic Words describes a world where humans and animals share bodies and languages, where the world of the imagination mixes easily with the physical.Overall the poem was a little too…

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January 29, 2013

Fiction / reviews

Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

Title: Perelandra (Space Trilogy, Book 2)Author: C.S. LewisPublisher: various (originally The Bodley Head)Released: 1943Source: my personal libraryAmazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:The second book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which also includes Out of the Silent Planet and That Hideous Strength, Perelandra continues the adventures of the extraordinary Dr. Ransom. Pitted against the most destructive of human weaknesses, temptation, the great man must battle evil on a new planet -- Perelandra -- when it is invaded by a dark force. Will Perelandra succumb to this malevolent being, who strives to create a new world order and who must destroy an old and beautiful civilization to do so? Or will it throw off the yoke of corruption and achieve…

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January 28, 2013

children's books / reviews

Carrot by Vanita Oelschlager

Title: CarrotAuthor: Vanita OelschlagerPublisher: Vanita BooksReleased: May 2011Source: publisher (NetGalley)Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:An ordinary house cat, Carrot envies the life of the pampered yacht cat Buffy and dreams of all she could do with such luxury, but comes to realize that her life is actually richer in many ways.Carrot by Vanita Oelschlager is a children's book for ages 4-8, illustrated by Kristin Blackwood. It tells the story of a simple orange house cat who one day notices a beautiful white cat sitting on a yacht at the pier. Carrot dreams of living that cat's fancy, rich life, fantasizing about all the amenities that would come with wealth. But soon Carrot starts to consider the things in her own…

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January 25, 2013

Fiction / reviews

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Title: Still Alice Author: Lisa Genova Publisher: Gallery Books Released: January 2009 Source: my personal library Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads Synopsis: Alice Howland - Harvard professor, gifted researcher and lecturer, wife, and mother of three grown children - sets out for a run and soon realizes she has no idea how to find her way home. She has taken the route for years, but nothing looks familiar. She is utterly lost. Medical consults reveal early-onset Alzheimer's. Alice's slowly but inevitably loses memory and connection with reality, told from her perspective. She gradually loses the ability to follow a conversational thread, the story line of a book, or to recall information she heard just moments before. Genova's debut shows…

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January 22, 2013

nonfiction / reviews

What My Mother Gave Me by Elizabeth Benedict

Title: What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-one Women on the Gifts That Mattered MostAuthor: Elizabeth BenedictPublisher: Algonquin BooksExpected Release: April 2, 2013Source: publisher (NetGalley)Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:Women look at the relationships between mothers and daughters through a new lens: a daughter’s story of a gift from her mother that has touched her to the bone and served as a model, a metaphor, or a touchstone in her own life. The contributors of these thirty-one original pieces – all written specifically for this book – include Pulitzer Prize winners, perennial bestselling novelists, and well-known NPR commentators.I was a little nervous that What My Mother Gave Me would be a simplistic, feel-good collection of daughters' memories of their mothers, where every…

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January 20, 2013

Fiction / reviews

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Title: The Paris WifeAuthor: Paula McLainPublisher: Ballantine BooksReleased: November 2012Source: my personal libraryAmazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.I've looked forward to reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. This carefully-researched historical fiction novel tells the story of the romance and marriage between Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, via Hadley's voice.I am a fan of Hemingway's writing, especially his short stories, but…

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January 18, 2013

Fiction / reviews / Short Stories

S is for Space by Ray Bradbury

Title: S is for SpaceAuthor: Ray BradburyPublisher: Doubleday & CompanyReleased: 1966Source: borrowed from Open LibraryAmazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:S is for science fiction, spine-tingling, supernatural and sublime! S is for stories from a "Star Wilderness that stretched as far as eye and mind could see and imagine". ChrysalisPillar of FireZero HourThe ManTime in Thy FlightThe PedestrianHall and FarewellInvisible BoyCome into My CellarThe Million-Year PicnicThe Screaming WomanThe SmileDark Tey Were, and Golden-EyedThe TrolleyThe Flying MachineIcarus Montgolfier WrightEven though I've had a Nook since they first came out, I admit I'm still an eBook newbie. Now that I've started this blog and have gotten involved on Twitter, I'm finding more and more ways to find ebooks outside the B&N and Google stores. I…

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January 15, 2013

children's books / Fiction / reviews

The Aeneid for Boys and Girls by Alfred J. Church

While browsing for an ebook version of the Latin epic poem The Aeneid by Virgil, I happened across The Aeneid for Boys and Girls by Alfred J. Church. The ebook was a free download so, thinking it could be a future read-aloud for my daughter, I thought I'd give it a try.Title: The Aeneid for Boys and GirlsAuthor: Alfred J. ChurchPublisher: The Macmillan CompanyReleased: 1917Source: Barnes & Noble (free Nook Book)Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:Relates in vigorous prose the tale of Aeneas, the legendary ancestor of Romulus, who escaped from the burning city of Troy and wandered the Mediterranean for years before settling in Italy. Patterned after the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Aeneid was composed as an epic poem by Virgil, to glorify…

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January 12, 2013

Music / nonfiction / reviews

Imperfect Harmony by Stacy Horn

Title: Imperfect HarmonyAuthor: Stacy HornPublisher: Algonquin BooksExpected Release: July 2, 2013Source: publisher (NetGalley)Amazon | Barnes & Noble | GoodreadsSynopsis:Why do we sing? For Stacy Horn, singing in a community choir the Choral Society of Grace Church in New York is the one thing in her life that never fails to take her to a transcendent place and remind her that everything good is possible. She's not particularly religious and (she ll be the first to point out) her voice isn't exactly the stuff of legend, but like thousands of other amateur chorus members throughout this country and the world, singing with other people makes her happy. As Horn relates her funny and profound experiences as a choir member, she treats us…

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January 9, 2013