Back with a vengeance....

It's about darned time that A Reader's Respite got back to the business of reviewing books around here. Enough of this slacking off.

We thought we come back with a bang and give you the low-down on Dan Brown's big sequel to The DaVinci Code (love it or hate it, it was a popular book and we mused a bit about it here), this one titled The Lost Symbol.



Did it live up to all the hype? Well, yes and no. The DaVinci Code was a best seller because, fact or fiction, readers liked all the secrets and revelations contained in the plot. Naturally, if Dan Brown wanted to replicate his original success, it was necessary for The Lost Symbol to use the same formula.

This time, instead of focusing on the Catholic Church and Mary Magdalene, Brown chose to direct his energies towards the Freemasons, a veritable treasure trove of symbolism, myth and conspiracy theories.

This is the Freemason's symbol, for all the uneducated masses out there. You'll also find this symbol on all of our currency, hidden inside your passport, and even imprinted on the front door of the White House. Sheesh, you didn't know that?

And because so many Freemason symbols are to be found lurking around our nation's capitol, Washington D.C. is the setting this time.

If running around Washington D.C. looking for an ancient treasure rings a vague bell in the back of your mind, you're not alone. We couldn't help but envision Nicholas Cage in National Treasure throughout the book.

Perhaps Ben Gates and Robert Langdon could join forces in the next installment to rid D.C. of all evil (politicians, that is).

Any-hoo, if you liked The DaVinci Code, you may enjoy this read as well. But beware that much of the novelty of protagonist Robert Langdon's revelations have worn off. Instead of riveting you to the page, this time around you may feel a bit tired of the lecturing Harvard professor.

But despite pages of formulaic plot and dialogue, we found a few choice spots of brilliance. We'll leave you with one of them:

From the Crusades, to the Inquisition, to American politics - the name Jesus had been hijacked as an ally in all kinds of power struggles. Since the beginning of time, the ignorant had always screamed the loudest, herding the unsuspecting masses and forcing them to do their bidding. They defended their worldly desires by citing Scripture they did not understand. They celebrated their intolerance as proof of their convictions. Now, after all these years, mankind had finally managed to utterly erode everything that had once been so beautiful about Jesus.

The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown

You're looking for the giveaway for this one, aren't you? A Reader's Respite would glady give away our copy of this one were it not ensconsed on our Amazonian Devil Device (ie, Kindle). But alas, we haven't figured out a way to seperate the novel from the device yet.

Who's feeling Queenly today?

Briana of The Book Pixie, that's who's feeling queenly with a copy of The Devil's Queen coming her way!

Email us your mailing address, Briana, and happy reading!

Welcome to A Reader's Respite's World....

As most of you know, moving into a new home is a messy business.

We hate it.

But tonight, A Reader's Respite thought we'd share a rare glimpse inside our personal hell world with you. Feel free to laugh or cry along with us.

By the way, this post is completely non-book related. Unless you count that we are providing you with photo evidence that our books did, for the most part, complete the move intact.

The horribly messy kitchen which is known as The Room to House the Coffee Maker.

Notice that the television is so new that we haven't even removed the plastic cover from the face of it. The wires are there to we always have the option of hanging ourselves if the stress of the move overwhelms us.


Proof that our internet really is working and that A Reader's Respite is now officially so far behind on book reviews we may never actually catch up. Ever.


All we can do when we gaze upon this room is laugh hysterically and then sob uncontrollably. Walk away.



See? We told you the books (or at least most of them) were safe and happy.



Except for these piles of non-fiction in what-will-someday-be-a-real-dining-room. (Oh, and the 14 other boxes still in the garage.)



Again, laugh and cry every time we pass by this room in which we lock our children. We refuse to even enter this room at this point.



So there you have it.

This has been a shameless attempt to garner sympathy.

Oh good golly, we missed posting a winner!

A Reader's Respite suspected we had forgotten something important. Sure enough, we forgot to post a WINNER!

Hey Daphne, of Tanzanite's Shelf and Stuff fame! YOU WON!

Zap us your email address so we can haul our butt to the post office and send you a copy of Matt Gasteier's F.U., Penguin.



Congrats and thanks for being patient with us this week!

A Reader's Respite will be back after a short break....

Unforseen complication from moving: A Reader's Respite internet connection will not be available until Monday. (You suck, Qwest. Hope your connection speeds are faster than your installation service.)

In the meantime, A Reader's Respite is using our time to tuck all of our books into their new shelf homes.


We'd invite you all over to help, but we know you'd just grab a book and park your lazy butt in a corner to read and that, so Mr. RR has been telling us over the past week, is NOT HELPING.

Pulp Novels

Are we the only one who is absolutely smitten with old pulp novels? More specifically, we love their cover art.

As A Reader's Respite has been busily moving into our new abode, we're bemoaning the fact that Mr. RR won't allow us to decorate the new place with reproduction prints of pulp novel covers.

Do you think this one hung in the living room would send the wrong message to my kids?

Perhaps a print of this in the entryway would discourage the neighbors from being too friendly?

Perfect for the game room, wouldn't you say? Subtitle: She Gave Her Charms to the Highest Bidder.

Not quite sure how this book never made it onto the shelves around here. There is a librarian in the title, a book on the cover, what's not to love?

This one on the wall in the master bedroom might give Mr. RR a complex. (Or not.)

We love the front cover description: The Uncensored Confessions of a Trailer Camp Tramp.


*Sigh* Time for a trip to the old, used bookstore. If we can't hang them on our walls, we can at least add them to our bookshelf.

Red queen, blue queen, green queen....oh yeah, WHITE queen

Not so long ago, A Reader's Respite finally got around to reading and reviewing Philippa Gregory's The Other Queen. Now we've finally moved on to her newest historical fiction novel, this one entitled The White Queen.


As most of you probably know by now, The White Queen is the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the oh-so-beautiful commoner who captured the heart of King Edward IV and elevated herself to the Queen of England.

Lizzy and Ed, according to Gregory, had a pretty happy marriage (despite Ed's penchant for screwing anything in a skirt) but a rocky reign. The Wars of the Roses were winding down, but rebellions were common and Ed was away a lot trying to keep his throne.

In the end, Ed met his maker and his younger brother assumed the throne as King Richard III. Ed and Lizzy's two sons, however, met an uncertain end and are known to history as the Princes in the Tower.

So how does Gregory measure up in this newest novel?

We assume you're interested in this novel because you loved Gregory's break-through novel, The Other Boleyn Girl. The cover of this newest book, as a matter of fact, still issues the proclamation: From the author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL. That the publisher still relies a five year old novel as a chief selling point should tell you something important.

The sad fact is that Gregory has never been able to recapture that same magic. The White Queen fall short.

That Gregory plays fast and loose with historical fact isn't a deep, dark secret. Many historians and respected novelists have already pointed out the myriad of glaring errors present in this work so we won't bore you with the same repetition Gregory subjected us to throughout the book (Melusine anyone?).

A painting of Melusine. If you're gonna read this book, get used to her. There are roughly 6.412 references to her in The White Queen. (Kidding. We have no idea how many references there actually are. But a lot.)

So does A Reader's Respite have anything at all good to say about this novel?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact. We have to acknowledge that Gregory's heart is in the right place. She has a soft spot for women who lived in a time where women had little, if any, control over their own lives. Gregory attempts to reveal their inner strengths and we applaud that.

Additionally, Gregory's mass-market popularity serves as an introduction to historical fiction for many readers. Granted, her history may be flawed and her research sloppy, but those readers who truly fall in love with the genre will eventually find themselves reading what long-time historical fiction fans call "the masters": Penman, Dunnett, Higginbotham, and Chadwick, amongst others.

So for that, P.G., we thank you.



Now you just knew we weren't going to keep this one taking up valuable shelf space around here.
So if you'd like to take a peek and see what her latest effort entails, leave us a comment and on October 5th, we'll draw a random winner who will receive this pristine, hard cover edition of The White Queen.

International entrants always welcome and don't forget to check back here to see if you won!

A Winner!

Rocha 85

You've won a copy of The Unit! Zap us an email please and we'll get this one in the mail to you straight away.

Books and Lists and More Books....

People who love books tend to also be people who love lists. And if it involves a list of books, well that's just the cat's meow.

Take, for example, the wildly popular best-seller 101 Books to Read Before You Die. Or even Amazon's Listmania program. See what we mean? Book lovers are list lovers. The two just go hand in hand.

As it turns out, one of our favorite book lovers/list makers Nancy Pearl, celebrated librarian and author of Book Lust, has paired up with writer Lizzie Skurnick of Jezebel fame to give us this:

That's right, baby. Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading is a collection of musings of the enduring classic books we devoured as teens. Think of it as a list with nostalgic notations.

So why is A Reader's Respite telling you about this? Because you now have an opportunity to get your own complimentary copy. Listen up:

On Wednesday, September 23rd at 3 pm EST, Blog Talk Radio will be featuring a interview with authors Pearl and Skurnick. If you call or write in with a question for these two fabulous ladies, you will receive a complimentary copy of Shelf Discovery.

Seriously, how cool is that?




Now here's the important part: you must, must, must subscribe to Blog Talk Radio (a worthwhile endeavor in any case if you haven't already checked them out!) before you'll be able to submit your questions. So go HERE to get yourself all set up before the show. Then tune in, ask your questions and enjoy the show (and your new book!).

Want more information? Here's the show's preview page.

So a free book and a chance to ask two very talented writers some questions. What more could you want?


Who loves ya, baby? That's right, we do.

We admit it....

A Reader's Respite shamefully admits that today we contributed to the unstoppable machine that is Dan Brown.

That's right. We paid real, hard-earned American dollars to download a copy of The Lost Symbol to our Amazonian Devil Device.

We did it for a Klondike Bar.




Please don't hate us.

Shame on You, Philadelphia!

Well it is official. Due to the budget crisis in the great city of Philadelphia - not to mention all of their inept politicians - the Free Library of Philadelphia will be closing all branches as of October 2nd.

You read that right. They don't have the budget for the library.

Hey, politicians, listen up and listen good.

You can take away our civil liberties and record all of our private phone calls. You can get away with mangling the Constitution and torturing foreigners on small, offshore Communist-nation islands. You can even tax us to bejeesus and not provide any kind of national health care in return.

But don't, for one short moment, think that you can get away with taking away our libraries.



This, of course, means war (or at the very least, peaceable demonstrations where protesters wear strongly-worded signs while sitting on the front steps of the Capitol building reading their un-returned library books).

Switching gears for a while....

A Reader's Respite has been reviewing far too many novels with the word "Queen" in the title lately. No wonder they all get their heads chopped off...too many queens can drive a person batty.

Even we were getting a little tired of it.

So we thought we'd switch continents (and eras) for a day and introduce you to a new novel by Paula Phelan, entitled 1939: Into the Dark.



1939 is the uniquely written story of one full year, January through December, of the American experience on the eve of our entrance into World War II. The Great Depression still loomed large in the memories of most Americans and yet the foreshadows of what was to come, not only the war but a shift in the political culture as ominous new policies, such as the House Committee on Un-American Activities, are lurking behind every corner.

Told from several points of view, all artists, playwrights, and musicians living in New York, the novel also features brilliant little cameo appearances from a myriad of famous Americans of the time, from Dorothy Parker to Clark Gable.

ah, Dorothy, how we love thee...

A Reader's Respite loved the time period, the artists and cameos, and even the presentation of the novel which, every few pages, is interspersed with reproductions of critical theater and movie reviews of the time and news dispatches from the war going on in Europe.

If we had any complaint at all, it was the sheer volume of characters presented in the novel (thank goodness for the list of characters provided!). While each character had a compelling story to tell, one or two could have been excised, allowing the author more room to further flesh out the remaining characters.

But this small flaw is easily overlooked when considering the unique time frame and the excellent history presented in this novel.

It's worth noting, as well, that author Paula Phelan is also a recipient of the Writer's Guild Persie Award for her short stories.

The Production Line.....for novels

Hot off the Associated Press:

NEW YORK —

After more than 40 best sellers, James Patterson is just getting started.

He has agreed to a 17-book deal with his longtime publisher, the Hachette Book Group - an unthinkable commitment for most writers, but for Patterson a mere three years worth of work.

"Jim has all of these incredible franchises," says his literary representative, Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who cited such popular series as "Maximum Ride," "Daniel X" and the Alex Cross detective stories. "And when you put all of those franchises together, that's a lot of books."

Hachette announced Tuesday that the ultra-prolific novelist will turn out 10 adult thrillers, one nonfiction work and six novels for young people by the end of 2012. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Patterson will have help with those books. His co-authors have included Maxine Paetro and Andrew Gross and he will continue to use collaborators, Barnett says.

"Whenever he works with a co-author he fully discloses it," Barnett says. "There's no secret he works with collaborators."

the new way to write a novel

A Reader's Respite just loves the way Patterson's literary representative refers to the author's different series of books as "franchises." Really? Franchises?

Is Patterson now the Golden Arches of the publishing world?


And if so, can we expect the prices of his books to drop considerably to reflect the quality?



Bye bye, Mr. Patterson. You've been voted off our bookshelves.

The Greatest Knight Winners

When A Reader's Respite's on-again, off-again blog secretary isn't getting ready to escort us to the BBAW Awards Ceremony - and when we can get his nose out of his worn copy of The Hobbit - we can sometimes convince him to randomly draw some winners.





Sandy (You've GOTTA Read This!) and Hawkeye Girl (hawkeyegirl.com), you've both won a copy of Elizabeth Chadwick's The Greatest Knight!

Zap us your mailing addresses, please, so A Reader's Respite can pass them along to the publicist and soon you'll be immersed in some first-rate historical fiction.

Yet another Queen....

A Reader's Respite finally got around to reading C.W. Gortner's much-hyped novel, The Last Queen, a couple of weeks ago. Now for those of you who missed this one, The Last Queen is a fictional look at Juana, the so-called Mad Queen of Castile.

Gee, a headless woman on the cover. How original.

History has pidgeon-holed this third daughter of the famed Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella as nuttier than the proverbial fruitcake, but like all historical people and events from the 16th Century, there's a lot of room for interpretation here.

After all, being madly in love with her bad-boy of a husband, Phillip of Flanders, and jealous enough to cut off his latest paramour's hair with a sharp pair of scissors doesn't necessarily mean Juana was insane. It meant she had attitude.

Here's our favorite portrait of Juana. She looks like one tough broad, eh?

But allegedly keeping Phillip's corpse nearby after he kicked the bucket so that she could periodically open the casket and embrace him? Well, if that particular historical rumor is true, Juana might indeed have benefited from some meds.

But in this novel, Gortner thankfully plunges far deeper into Juana's life, taking the reader from her childhood, her marriage and through her ultimate struggle with her own father for control of the kingdom that rightfully belonged to her.

If you don't have a good grasp on Spanish history, this is a fascinating place to begin. Gortner's work is accessible, yet detailed enough to lend it authority. His research is quite thorough and there is an impressive bibliography available for those who become hooked on this time period (easy to do!).

We'd recommend this one in a heartbeat.






If you didn't get a chance to read this novel the first time it made it's trip through the blogosphere, you do now. A Reader's Respite happens to have a copy that we'd like to give away. Leave us a comment if you'd like to enter and then check back here on October 1st to see if you won! (International peeps are welcome to enter!)

WTF Wednesday

Agnes Sorel: The Breast and Crotch That Changed History?

Really?

From the book description:

"Armed with breasts of unrivaled magnificence she used her cunning crotch to influence history forever ... Agnes shares her sexual secrets within the pages of this book. Check it out. You will love her dazzling breasts and clever crotch."

Oh, this is just priceless. Who's up for a group read?





(Thanks, Susan and Misfit. You're awesome.)




WTF Wednesdays are brought to you by The Book Resort!

It's that time of year again.....

Yes, it's time for the Annual Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards. Much to our surprise, A Reader's Respite has been nominated in two categories this year and now we need your help in deciding what dress to wear for the ceremony.



This is Dress 1. We like the minimalist design (less to wrinkle) but are unsure if our granny underpants would work with this.

We're favoring Dress 2 because when the Awards Ceremony gets to the boring acceptance speeches, we'll have something to occupy ourselves.




Dress 3 would solve the problem with our granny underpants and allow us the freedom to eat too much at the after-parties. (Note, however, that A Reader's Respite isn't exactly pregnant.)



Dress 4 is a bit more edgy. If we could hide a book in the feathered collar, this one should win hands-down.



Now Dress 5 appeals to our sense of originality. Our only worry is that when we sit down, the balloons surrounding our butt would pop and let's face it, that's more embarrassing than a whoopie cushion.

Please vote for your favorite.