Saturday, December 31, 2011

Coming Soon: Jan 2

Nothing coming out next week got me interested. There was one book by James Patterson that looks like it could be good.

Private: #1 Suspect


This book focuses on Private, a investigative firm created by former Marine Jack Morgan. His firm always uncovers the truth no matter what. They have the smartest employees and the most advanced technology compared to any one else. For that it attracts the richest and most famous clients that want their problems solved discreetly.

When Jack finds his lover murdered in his bed, he is the number one suspect. While the police are investigating him, he is hired by a hotel chain to investigate a string of murders on their property and is also been forced by the mob to recover millions worth of stolen pharmaceuticals. In this gripping novel full of twists, Jack realizes that he may not be able to save himself this time.





Other books being released next week:





Saturday, December 24, 2011

Coming Soon: December 26

It looks like the good books are coming out next week!


77 Shadow StreetDean Koontz's new book is out next week. I really like his books so I'm excited to read it. This book sounds pretty creepy. Its about an old palace built at the top of Summit Hill. It was built in 1800s and since then it's history is full of murder, madness, and worse. Since the 1970s when it was remodeled and made into a luxury apartment building the residents have had good fortune, there is a successful songwriter, and a senator, the past of the building seems to have been forgotten. Then weird things start to happen, shadows cross the walls, muttering voices in the halls and a figure lurks in the basement. Whatever happened to the past residents of the house is happening again.






Down the Darkest Road




Down the Darkest Road is the third book in the series about the small town Oaks Knoll, in the 1980s. In the last book FBI agent Leone used a new technique called "profiling" to catch a killer. In this instalment Hoag's continues to examines the time when forensic science was just being introduced.











This sounds like a very interesting story. It is told in the form of a letter. I know this isn't a new idea but once in a while its nice to give a chance to a book that's a little different.
Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.



Other new books:




Thursday, December 22, 2011

Christmas Presents for Book Lovers

Have any book lovers on your list that you haven't got a present for yet? Here are some of my picks for Christmas presents.



Roots Black Croc Envelope
$40 at Chapters
This is a cute cover from Chapters for a Kobo cover. It's made by Roots so the envelope is made from leather. This would make by e-reader really chic.

Bench Ladies Knitted Scarf With Pockets - Foxy Cream
$20 at Amazon
I think this scarf from Bench would be nice to read with. It has pockets at the bottom. I would but my bookmark or cover from above in the pockets so I wouldn't loose them.


2 LED Blue Spike Light Clip-On Booklight
$8.97 at Barnes and Noble

I liked to have a book light for my e-reader, but these ones are cool too. Especially for in the car during long drives visiting family.

$48.47 at PB teen

These bookends are so cute. There were other ones I liked that said Read Books but they aren't available anymore :(

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Comin Soon: Dec 19

I found one book that looks good. December seems to be a slow month for book releases. So if you're looking for Christmas presents I'm sorry I don't have more options.



The Devil's Elixir by Raymond Khoury features two of his character from his popular Templar novels. Sean Reilly and Tess Chaykin are in the jungles of South America. A very powerful drug has been found that was thought to have been lost in history. This drug is suppose to induce an experience so unsettling that it could shake the foundation of western civilisation. Drug kingpin El Brujo, wants to synthesise the drug known as the Devil's Elixir into a pill form. FBI Agent Sean and his girlfriend Tess must stop the spread of this drug in this suspenseful novel with a paranormal twist.








There is also another Stewart Wood book being released. I don't really like his books that much. I find they are written for men and I find them a little boring. But if you like them or know someone who does here it is.


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Don't Burn Books




I heard an interesting bit of news the other day, ironically Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 has now been released in e-book format. Why is this ironic? Because Bradbury's story was about a future world where books had been banned in the U.S and firefighters job was to burn them. Hence the title Fahrenheit 451: the temperature in which books burn.


I read this book in high school and loved it. I was already a science fiction fan, so a story that took place in the future was appealing to me. I always enjoyed science fiction because the stories always made me think. The authors create a unique world and use their imagination to teach a lesson to the readers. Sometimes its easier to learn a lesson when its location isn't so close to home.


*Slight spoiler if you haven't read the book*
It's been a while since I read it, but what I do remember was that the main character was a firefighter, but in this future his job was to burn books. If anyone was found with books in their house the books were torched and the person arrested. It was decided by a small group of people that it was up to them to preserve the written world by memorizing a book each.
*Ok, it's safe to read again*
So naturally Bradbury was upset when the offer came to renew his contract and update it to include e-book rights. I can understand why he would be reluctant to agree to this. To him the very thing he was frightened of is coming true, his book, (about the destruction of books) is now being put into an electronic format. It is no longer a physical thing but an invisible file. He is afraid that the written word is being lost. Yet at the same time I think he made the right decision in allowing his book to be put into this format. After all, he wants the written word to be preserved, and despite his aversion to technology, it is where the world his headed. If he wants his story to be read and continue to pass on his message, he needs to move with the times and make it available in a format that will reach the highest readership.

It is a shame that he is so against the thought of an e-book, but it is the story that is important and not the method in which it is delivered to the readers.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Coming Soon: Dec 12

Wow not much to tell you about new releases. There doesn't seem to be much coming out next week. I do have one for you.


This Tom Clancy novel stars a father and a son. Jack Ryan Jr. wants nothing more then to be a field operative like his father. He has trained with the best drill instructors, and gained the best training from the Special Forces. What he wants in life is to be able to hunt down and eliminate terrorists.

His father Jack Ryan Sr. is preparing for re-election as president, but someone is trying to discredit him by releasing reports that an old friend and ally of the president, John Clark, committed a mysterious murder in the past.

While a team is sent to find Clark, Jack Jr. and his team, The Campus, are sent to the middle east. A corrupt Pakistani general has entered into a pact
with a fanatical terrorist to get nuclear weapons and it is up to them to stop it.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

My Top Ten Children's Books


My top 10 Childhood Favourites!

I like this top ten. Its been fun thinking back and remembering the books I read as a kid. These may not be all my favourites, just ten I could think of at the moment. I read lots of books as a kid and I'm sure I can think of lots more that I enjoyed as much as these.




 I had a lot of the Berenstain Bears books. I remember reading In the Dark, and one where they broke a lamp and blamed it on a bird.

Manners Series - I remember when I was a little kid and these books came in the mail. We got the whole series and I made my dad read them to me every night.




Animorphs - This is a series I became obsessed with later in public
school. It was about kids who could change into animals. It was up to them to save the world from parasitic aliens which took over peoples brains. Sounds weird but I loved them so much I would read them in one sitting.

Bridge to Terabithia - This book was soo sad. It was more of a serious children's book.





Everyone loved Robert Munch when they were a kid. Last year I got my niece 10 of my favorites for Christmas, hoping she would like them as I did.

Ah The Babysitters Club. I don't remember why I liked these nor do I remember any plot lines at all.







The Hatchet was a amazing book. After a plane crash a kid is stranded in the forest alone with only a hatchet to survive. Funny thing, when I first started reading this book I didn't know what a hatchet was. Took me a while to realize it was an axe.

The Secret Garden is also a great book. This one I kept in the back of my dad's truck and used to read it on the way to school. I liked the idea of having my own secret place that no one else knew about.




Time Cat was a really interesting story, where instead of having nine lives cats actually have nine journeys they can take through time. In this book the boys cat takes him along to places such as ancient Egypt.

A Little Princess - I had the movie which came with her locket, as well as the book. It's a great story about a girl who goes to a private school, but when her dad dies in the war she has to quit and forced to be the maid for all her old friends. She is moved to the attic and soon finds out that her friends are not her friends any longer. The other maid becomes her only friend.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Comin Soon: Dec 5

Death Comes to PemberleyThere is a book coming out that I am very curious about. Its a murder mystery based in the world Jane Austin created in Pride and Prejudice. Murder and Jane Austin are two things that you wouldn't think to put together. The characters in her book are prim and proper. When I picture a murder happening I see lots of fainting and shrill screams. J.D James is know as a great writer of whodunits. She veered from the tradition a few times (she is the author of the book Children of Men, which was turned into a movie)

This book is called Death comes to Pemberley and takes place 6 years after Elizabeth and Darcy got married. They are living on Darcy's estate and have two sons Fitzwilliam and Charles. Life seems perfect, Elizabeth's sister Jane lives near and her father visits them often. There is ever talk of Darcy's sister Georgina getting married. Then on the eve of the autumn ball a carriage pulls up with Elizabeth's sister Lydia, who has been banned along with her husband from Pemberley. She stumbles out of the coach hysterical the her husband Wickham has been murdered.



Ruthless (Pretty Little Liars #10)I haven't read the Pretty Little Liers books or watched the T.V show. The name itself doesn't appeal to me, I don't like teen drams, and I wouldn't want my kids reading a book where the main characters are the pretty girls in high school who are mean to everyone. Why isn't there a book titled Smart Little Truth-tellers. Isn't that a better example for our kids.

Anyways, if you must buy it, the tenth book in the series is coming out, Ruthless. Perhaps I am judging the book by it's cover, but just see what the description online says:
"It's their darkest secret yet and guess who found out? Now A is determined to make them pay for their crime, and the only thing scarier than A is the fear that maybe, just maybe, they deserve what's coming to them."
Well, girls. Then maybe you should stop lying.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

A Very Long Read

I might not be posting my next book review for a while. I picked up the 1Q84 e-book last week and started reading it. So far I am enjoying it, I read it on and off the whole day on Monday. Then on my way home I checked the status and I had only read 2% of the book! That was my first clue that this was a large novel. My second clue was last night when I went to the book store and saw the large hardcover, 944 page book in very small print. This may take a while..


In the meantime, while I slowly make my way through this thick book, I will try to keep you updated on new releases and any anything I find interesting in the world of books.

I'm glad I got the e-book version, I not sure if I could carry my purse with that brick in it. (I mean that in the nicest way of course)