Judging Books By Their Covers: Assassin's Apprentice

 

Since last week's guess-this-book game was way too easy, I'm back to cover-judging this week! 

You may remember me babbling last year about how much I love Robin Hobb's books. I own the copy on the left - with the standard American cover. The right hand cover is the British one. I have to say, I think this is one of the rare instances where I much prefer the American one. 

How about you? Which cover do you prefer?

Want to judge more books? Check out my Judging Books By Their Covers page.

Questions to Ponder: Reading Goals

This is the first year I really set specific reading goals for myself. I've always set a target number, usually 100, but nothing more than that. Since 2012 was my first year as a full-time mom/book blogger, I figured I'd read more, but I stayed fairly conservative with my goals.
You can read my full goals here, or just keep reading and see my summary.

Since I only have a little more than a month left in 2012, I decided to look at my stats so far, and see where I'm lacking.

The Walnut Tree: Review and Gift Idea

In The Walnut Tree, Charles Todd--the mother-son writing team behind the popular Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford mystery series--turns to romance, with a story that shares the same First World War setting as their earlier books, including a tangential reference to Bess Crawford herself. The book opens as war begins, and Lady Elspeth Douglas finds herself trapped in Paris. Her almost-fiancé, the gallant Alain, is off with the French army, and Elspeth feels compelled to return to England and be of service. As she attempts to reach Calais, she gets drawn into a battle and is rescued by handsome Captain Peter Gilchrist, a childhood acquaintance.

With Peter's aid, Elspeth eventually makes it back to England; against her guardian's wishes, she begins training as a nurse. Abandoning her title and privileged lifestyle, Elspeth serves as a regular member of the service. Nursing takes her to bloody field hospitals in France, back to England accompanying injured men, then to her ancestral home in Scotland and eventually to Sussex, where stands an old, beloved walnut tree. Along the way, Elspeth learns eye-opening lessons about class, society and coping. And she'll have to choose between the dashing Alain and the dependable Peter.

The Walnut Tree is a sweet, simple little book--a perfect holiday tale to read with a mug of hot cocoa (and a must-read for Downton Abbey fans). It conjures up an earlier time, a genteel era obliterated by the onslaught of war.

If you know someone who has read Charles Todd or Jacqueline Winspear, or just someone who likes romantic easy reads - this would be a perfect gift. It's a short book, with likeable characters, and a plot that moves gently. I didn't like it quite as well as the mysteries, but it was still a very enjoyable read. Although really, I think the "A Holiday Tale" subtitle is slightly misleading, because it wasn't as Christmas-y as I was expecting. But I could easily see it joining my usual December re-read rotation.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Should I recommend this to my grandma? Absolutely! 
The cover image is an Amazon affiliate link. The main part of this review was originally published in Shelf Awareness for Readers.

Have you read Charles Todd?

#DailyBookPic Catch-Up

I fell behind on the #DailyBookPic-ing while we were moving. But in the middle of last week I played catch-up, and posted six or seven at once to get back on track. It made me oh-so-happy to be able to take pictures of all my unpacked books!

Day 11 - Borrowing books. I love the kid-book-swapping that my friend Dayna and I have going on.

Day 12 - Book stack. In the old garage.

Day 13 - series read. I'm really loving Camilla's stuff!

Day 14 - Nonfiction. Those of you who are Quirky Bookworm fans on Facebook already saw this - and heard me gush about how much I enjoyed My Berlin Kitchen.

Day 15 - Quotable. Oh frabjous day!

 Day 16 - Adaptations. I liked the movie better than the graphic novel. Noel is appalled.

Day 17 - Books in transit. If only I'd thought to take a pic of the moving van! Or the multitudinous books of boxes on dollies! (For those of you from the east - "dolly" means "hand truck".) But alas, the best I could do was my to-read-for-review pile on the desk - which is always in a state of transition.

Day 18 - Regional reads. A few of my favorite geography books.

Day 19 - Book(s) in Progress - my current reads. Although I have yet to actually finish a book since moving...

Day 20 - Exceeds expectations. Every recipe I've ever made from my America's Test Kitchen books has turned out deliciously.

What are your current reads? 

What book(s) do you quote a lot?

Can You Guess What Book This Is?

If you (like me) are avoiding the Black Friday madness - I thought I'd offer a little game for you. It's a twist on my regular Judging Books By Their Covers posts; I just snapped a little pic of a corner of one of my books.

I think it should be pretty easy - can you guess what it is?

Thankgiving (via picture book)

Happy Thanksgiving! Last year for Thanksgiving I gave you the adult, slightly more cynical version of things: with reviews of Caleb's Crossing, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, and Constance: A Story of Early Plymouth.

This year I've got the picture book version - which actually could work out nicely in conjunction with some of those others. Your toddler and tween could each join you in reading a great book about early Thanksgivings!

The Best and Worst of Georgette Heyer

Today I'm guest-posting at At Home with Books about the best and worst of Georgette Heyer.

Some of her books may have less likeable characters than others, and some have plotting that is a bit contrived, but they all have her superb, hilarious dialogue lending them wit. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Georgette Heyer, I like to describe her as “like Jane Austen but funnier“. She’s best known for her Regency romances (she essentially created the subgenre) but she also wrote nonfiction, historical fiction, and very Christie-esque mysteries. I love Death in the Stocks and An Infamous Army is a fantastic fictionalization of the battle of Waterloo, but I’m going to discuss the ‘best and worst’ of her best-known genre: the Regency romance....

Read the rest of the post over on Alyce's blog!

Bookmarkin' Stats

I am so happy that 58 of you participated in my bookmark survey! Thanks, it was a lot of fun to see your answers, and to read your hilarious comments on that post.

And now, (drumroll please) for the results!

An overwhelming majority of you use bookmarks (hooray!). Or at least you said you did since I said I hate broken spines... The "other" answers were  "I do all of the above" or "I bookmark and fold pages" etc.

As to how you mark your page, just about half of you use whatever paper is handy. A whole bunch of you have crafty friends who make fancy stamped or beaded bookmarks, or your kids made you bookmarks, or you use ribbons, which I forgot to put as an option.

And, quite to my surprise, only about 51% of you said that you'd take the $20 bill. Really? I thought it would be about 97%! You all are remarkably un-mercenary. Also, I hope that whoever said they wanted the birth pictures was joking. Because trust me, you didn't want to see those. At all. 

To wrap up this bookmark chatter, here's a picture of a few of my favorite bookmarks. The other one I like a lot (which you can see in this #DailyBookPic post) went missing somewhere in the move. I hope it'll turn up!

What does your favorite bookmark look like?

Young Cam Jansen and the Baseball Mystery

I wrote this review in October, originally planning to make it Day 29 of 31 Days of Awesome Kids' Books. But then that Jon Scieszka book just snuck in there... so I saved this one. Which works out perfectly today, since I'm swamped in unpacking/Thanksgiving prep. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'll have some Thanksgiving picture book recommends for you later this week, and also some results from the oh-so-awesome bookmark survey last week! See you again in a day or two when I surface from beneath these boxes.

The Cam Jansen books came out after my time, but were popular with my youngest brother (who is 12 years younger than I am). They're a series of easy-reader mystery books, geared at children ages 5-8 who are just learning to read on their own.

Cam's real name is Jennifer - but she has a photographic memory. The other kids started calling her "the Camera", and that got shortened to Cam. Cam remembers things by closing her eyes and saying "Click!" to bring back the memory.

Cam and her friend Eric are planning to meet their friends for baseball at the park, but several people are missing. Rachel says, "I had a list of them all, but I left it at school." Everyone tries to remember who was on the list, but then Cam says "Click!" and tells them who's missing.

Later, one kid hits a home run, and the ball vanishes. The children search all over the park, but cannot find the ball until Cam uses her memory to figure out who took the ball.

These books are really cute, and nice little mysteries that invite the reader to use their own memory to figure out things along with Cam. The very first picture in the book has a caption saying, "Look at this picture. Blink your eyes and say "Click." Then turn to the last page of this book." On the last page are questions like "Who is in front, Cam or Eric?" "How many dogs are in the picture?"

Short chapters, big text, and simple words should make Young Cam Jansen and the Baseball Mystery popular with the beginning reader crowd. And, since it's about a girl - but also about baseball - I think it would appeal to both boys and girls. 

Do you know anyone with a photographic memory?

Rating: 4 out of 5
Recommended age: 5-8 

This post was almost part of 31 Days of Awesome Kids' Books.
This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

It's Moving Day! (Links)

Our new backyard - with the previous owner's furnishings.

Yup! It's finally moving day! If you follow me on Instagram (I'm jessquirkybookworm) I'm sure I'll be posting lots of pics. In the meantime, enjoy these links.

• Have you already heard the news about William Shatner's new poetry app? It includes 400 words so far. You use the words to write whatever you want, and then you can listen to the Shat read your creation!
• I love these tips on throwing a book party. I really want to have one now.
• Like to start getting in the holiday spirit by reading books set at Christmas? Cathy from Kittling: Books published an extensive list of new Christmas mysteries.
• I posted this on Facebook a few weeks ago, but I'm considering giving Ken Follett's Century Trilogy a shot. I'm not sure though... I couldn't finish his Cathedral books.
• And Amy posted this list of bizarre looking libraries on the Quirky Bookworm facebook page. I have to say, I'm pretty happy (given its recent history) that Kosovo even has a huge national library, even if it is weird looking.

 What are YOU doing this weekend?

 

Fantastic Italian Mysteries

The best thing about a good international mystery is its ability to transport you to a location far away. Longing to visit Italy, but unable to afford the exorbitant air fare? Tour the country with a few of these delicious mysteries.

Perhaps the best known Italian detective is Commissario Guido Brunetti, the thoughtful, socially conscious, gourmet creation of Donna Leon. He, his fiery wife Paola, their two bright children, and his phlegmatic assistant Inspector Vianello have now appeared in 21 books. Brunetti's love for his native Venice flavors every investigation he undertakes, including his latest excursion: Beastly Things. Brunetti wanders the streets and canals of Venice, dodging tourists, and frequently eating at enticing restaurants and coffee shops.

At the other end of the country, Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano is fiercely proud of Sicily, in spite of its Mafia connections. In The Potter's Field he must contend with a recalcitrant subordinate and the intertwined, corrupt layers of Sicilian society while trying to solve a crime that draws him to the mainland and back in his quest for truth.

The busy Italian capital shines in the Commissario Alec Blume series by Conor Fitzgerald. Originally from Seattle, Blume now works for the Roman police force, and is obstinately determined to catch killers, no matter the odds. In his latest adventure, The Namesake, Blume struggles against both Mafia interference and the perpetual construction that defines Italian highways as he tries to solve a murder.

Even Tuscany, portrayed as idyllic in countless movies and books, was once plagued by a vicious serial killer. Author Douglas Preston tells the true story of this person who terrorized the Tuscan countryside in the 1970s and 1980s in The Monster of Florence. The real Monster was never caught, but Preston's detailing of the case brings Tuscany disturbingly to life. 

These recommendations were originally published in Shelf Awareness for Readers on October 9. Donna Leon is hands-down my favorite, just because I have a bit of a crush on Brunetti, but I liked all of these books.

Have you read any of them? 

Or been to Italy?

Survey: Are you a Bookmarker?

 

Photo found here.

I'm definitely a bookmarker. It makes me cringe when I see people slap down books open face, usually breaking the binding. (Although that table thing pictured above looks like a handy idea). 

I used to be better about just remembering what page I left off on, but I am almost 30, and in my old age I often can't remember. And my reading time is more limited these days, so I don't want to waste precious seconds flipping around looking for my spot.

The Return of #DailyBookPic!

Remember how back in July I took a bunch of pictures of my books? Well, #dailybookpic is happening again this November, and I couldn't resist playing along. (Besides, it gives my Instagram followers* a break from all Eleanor all the time.) Here are the pics from the first third of the month.

Day 1 - Scary Story. (Not scary precisely... but the scariest book I have that's unpacked!)

Day 2 - Reading in the dark. (Sometimes at night I totally just lie in bed and listen to audiobooks, because holding a book sounds like a lot of work).

Judging Books by Their Covers: Still Life

Speaking of Louise Penny's Still Life... I have to say, I was kind of surprised how good it was. Mostly because for years at Bookmans I stocked the version on the left, and I dismissed it as a cozy. Much to my surprise - it wasn't, which I think the newer, right-hand cover reflects better.

Which cover do you prefer?

This post is part of my Judging Books By Their Covers series. Check out other judgments here.

A List of Five: What I'm Listening To

I've been on a huge audio book kick lately - partly because I gave into the temptation of an Audible membership (which I'm going to cancel soon Noel, I swear... *ahem*) and partly because I've had a lot of listening time. Audiobooks are perfect for the box-packing, house-cleaning, painting phase of life I'm in right now.

I've had some great success with my selections lately too - I've listened to some fantastic stuff. Mostly mysteries, sorry for the lack of variety, but I promise, they're excellent!

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, narrated by Julia Whelan and Kirby Heyborne. I think it might be a waste of time to review this, since so many great book bloggers already have. Read reviews of it here, here and here. Be warned: the language is ROUGH. F-bombs galore. But the story is irresistibly creepy, and I was genuinely surprised twice, which is hard when you read as many mysteries as I do. Whelan and Heyborne both did a superb job narrating - they completely nailed the nuances of Amy and Nick's complicated characters.

The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg, narrated by David Thorn. I'm going to have to dedicate a whole post to Camilla soon. (Yes, I feel like I adore her enough that we're on a first name basis now). I've fallen in love with her books, and have gotten Meghan hooked on them too. They're really great Swedish mysteries - and I identify so much with Erika, one of the main protagonists, than I can't get enough of them. Thorn's narration is generally excellent, although I do think his inflection made Inspector Patrik Hedstrom sound slightly dumb, which he definitely isn't. But I like how all the Swedish names and places rolled off his tongue.