Goodbye to one of our own....

Goodbye, Dewey. I'd like to think that you are in a wonderful place where there is no pain and the books are plentiful.







I've closed this post for comments. Please visit The Hidden Side of a Leaf to leave condolences for our dear friend Dewey, who recently passed away.

I'm off to buy more Kleenex.

Out With the Old....

Books that joined forces and weaseled their way into the Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa TBR Pile this week:


The King's Daughter: A Novel of the First Tudor Queen, by Sandra Worth. (Have you read the author's guest post at Loaded Questions?)


The Widows of Eastwick, by John Updike. Not sure why this one was allowed to sneak in...I'm not a huge Updike fan, but we'll give it a go.


The Hour I First Believed, by Wally Lamb. I've read some *bleh* reviews on this one, but I love Wally Lamb so I couldn't help it.



Books that were wishlist-worthy:

• Somebody Else's Daughter, by Elizabeth Brundage; courtesy of The Friendly Book Nook.
• Homecoming, by Cynthia Voigt; courtesy of Chain Reading.
• The Dracula Dossier, by James Reese; courtesy of At Home With Books.
• Things the Grandchildren Should Know, by Mark Oliver Everett; courtesy of The Book Lady's Blog.
• East of the Sun, by Julia Gregson; courtesy of Reading Adventures.
• Flight to St. Antony, by Tony Blackman; courtesy of Bookfoolery and Babble.
• An Inconvenient Wife, by Megan Chance; courtesy of A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore.

Things happening in Blogland this past week....

• Author Neil Gaiman gave us his *ahem* interesting recipe for holiday cranberry sauce.
• Need a good laugh? Head over to 15 Minute Lunch to read about holiday yard displays.
• Historical fiction fans will love the list of upcoming titles posted at Reading the Past.
• Have you supported First Book? If you haven't yet gotten around to this great cause, go over to She is too Fond of Books to grab a coupon for Barnes and Noble online and join in.
• Check out my new favorite recipe blog, Ezra Pound Cake (don't you just love that name?)

Big Summation of the Week:

The American Lit-Bloggers all gorged themselves on a Thanksgiving Feast and will be dieting for the next year to get rid of all the pounds we gained! And it was so worth it.

Out With the Old....

Did you happen to catch the shortlist for this year's Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Awards?
Never fear, I've got you covered. Go here to read all about this year's shortlist or if you're really in need of a good laugh, go read last year's shortlisted passages. Funny stuff, right there.

Okay, on with the show....books added to the Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa-TBR-Pile this week:


The Witch's Trinity, by Erika Mailman; courtesy of The Literate Housewife Review and Erika Mailman (many, many thanks to you both!!!).







The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, by David Grann; courtesy of Random House. Release date is Februrary 17, 2009. This new book will appear in a new series of reviews coming to A Reader's Respite in 2009: Manly Reviews of Manly Books written by our Manly Guest Reviewer, Steve.



To a Native Shore, by Valerie Anand; courtesy of the generosity of Carey at The Tome Traveller's Weblog (thank you!). Although Carey and I fly for different airlines, I'm thinking we should start an inter-airline traveling library for flight crews.







The Heaven Tree Trilogy, by Edith Pargeter; courtesy of BookMooch. (I am so excited over this one...I've been hunting for it for months now!)






Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood, by Donovan Campbell; courtesy of Random House. Scheduled for release on March 10, 2009. This is another book in our new series of Manly Reviews of Manly Books (but we all know it's the gals who read 'em!).





The Mighty Queens of Freeville, by Amy Dickinson; courtesy of Hyperion Books. This one has a release date of February 3, 2009, so you can expect a review then.





The Fire, by Katherine Neville; signed by the lady herself at a book signing in Houston this past week (thank you, Katherine!). Now that I finally have both of her books, I can start reading them (OCD acting up again).






Added to my wishlist:

• The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan; courtesy of ChainReading.
• My Mother's Wish, by Jerry Camery-Hoggart; courtesy of The Friendly Book Nook.

• Stuart Sharp at Estella's Revenge gave us 10 Bookish Things to Be Grateful For.
• Becky's Book Reviews provided a wonderful Thanksgiving Bibliography.

...and In With the New

Yes, the holiday season is rapidly approaching and it's time to start thinking about gifts. So this year, why not join all of us in giving books, books, and more books to your friends and family? Get ideas and join in the fun at Books for the Holidays. And look for A Reader's Respite Holiday Bookish Gift Guide debuting this week.


Speaking of buying books, please consider supporting First Book by heading over to Bookstack and pledging to buy books for kids! Here's the link to Dawn's page where you can donate.


For those fans of In the Land of Invisible Women, author Qanta Ahmed is available to answer any questions you might have over at LibraryThing. She'll be participating in Author Chat until November 21st.

Out With the Old....

A look back at the week....


Books that found their way into my Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa TBR pile this week:
In the Shadow of the Sun King (Darkness to Light Series, Book 1), by Golden Keyes Parsons; courtesy of publisher.

The Jewel of Medina, by Sherry Jones; courtesy of LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program.


The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett; courtesy of my over-active trigger finger on the Amazon "Add to Cart" button.


The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart; ditto on the trigger finger.


Pythagorean Crimes, by Tefcros Michaelides; trigger finger once more (it's not worth an order unless there are at least 3 books in your cart....sheesh....stop judging me!)


The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia, by Laura Miller; courtesy of publisher.


Night of Flames: A Novel of WWII, by Douglas W. Jacobsen; courtesy of Mr. Reader's Respite for our anniversary (where we celebrate five whole years of not killing each other).


The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman; Mr. Reader's Respite again.


The Last Queen, by C.W. Gornter; honestly can't remember how this one came to me this week, but sure am glad it did.


Added to the ol' wishlist:

• A Mercy, by Toni Morrison; courtesy of The Book Lady's Blog.
• Heat, by Bill Buford; courtesy of Beth Fish Reads.
• Mistress Shakespeare, by Karen Harper; courtesy of Passages to the Past.
• Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, by Julie Powell; courtesy of Literarily.

• Author Catherine Delors started a fascinating series about the daughters of Louis XV on her blog, Versailles and More.
• Bloody Hell, It's a Book Barrage posted a very well-written review of the big O's latest book club choice, The Story of Edward Sawtelle.
• The author of the Outlander Series, Diana Gabaldon, posted her thoughts on the movie version of Outlander.
• Aren't you glad I didn 't mention the hullabaloo?

...and In With the New

Yes, the nominations for the 2008 weblog awards are going on. (Thanks for the nomination, Amy! I *heart* you!). You can head on over to see some of the great nominations this year and see when the voting begins. Be sure to register if you want to cast a vote.

Greenwood Publishing Group is releasing several titles in November that caught the eye of this history buff, including:

• Cooking in Europe, 1650-1850, by Ivan Day. Although I can't cook for squat, I love looking over old recipes and reading about cooking techniques at different points in history because it illuminates their way of life. After all, food is a thread that connects us all (see Poo Book post)
  
• Daily Life in Anglo-Saxon England, by Sally Crawford. Fun!
• Daily Life in Victorian England, by Sally Mitchell. Same theory, different era.

(random Anglo-Saxon reenactment photo)

Out With the Old....

Books added to the Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa TBR pile this week:

• I, Lorelei, by Yeardley Smith, courtesy of Harper Collins.
• Down to a Sunless Sea, by Mathias B. Freeze, courtesy of the author.
• The Eight, by Katherine Neville, courtesy of bookstore in Houston Airport.
• Through a Glass Darkly: A Novel, by Karleen Koen, courtesy of Bookmooch.
• Fire from Heaven, by Mary Renault, courtesy of Bookmooch.

Added to my wishlist this week:

• The Serpent's Tale, by Ariana Franklin, courtesy of Historical Tapestry.
• Zorgamazoo, by Robert Paul Weston, courtesy of The Fickle Hand of Fate.
• Prop Wash, by Betty Kaseman, courtesy of POD People.
• Gildenford, by Valerie Anand, courtesy of Tanzanite's Shelf and Stuff.
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid, courtesy of Lost in a Good Story.
• The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart, courtesy of Book Therapy (must, must have this book!)
• The Four Seasons, by Laurel Corona, courtesy of A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore.

Things around blog-land I hope you didn't miss:

• Author Erika Mailman (The Witch's Trinity) wrote a lovely piece on why she loves historical fiction over at Historical Tapestry. If you love historical fiction, don't miss this guest post.
• A beautiful portrait of Marie-Antoinette over at author Catherine Delors' blog Versailles and More. While you're there, check out her post about The White House...great stuff!
• Bookroom Reviews hosted a book giveaway carnival- looks like the turnout was great.
• Author Susan Higginbotham's first novel, The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II, is being reissued by Sourcebooks next year (yay!). I, for one, am so happy Sourcebooks is doing this --- I tried to get my grubby paws on this book through Powell's Books, but it is back-ordered (and the hardcover is spendy). I'm far, far too impatient once I've found a book I must have, but this time it looks like I'll just have to cool my jets.
• This is really cool - Lezlie from Books 'N Border Collies has initiated the U.S. Presidents Reading Project. You must check this out!
• The elections are (finally) over and 15 Minute Lunch has the best summation around.
• I'm still hanging in there with National Blog Posting Month (I'm not giving in to their stupid abbreviation...NaBloPoMo just sticks in my craw). But it's only the 7th and I'm seriously running out of things to say. It's ticking me off, so don't be surprised if my posts start getting a little cranky.

...and In With the New

The Book Giveaway Carnival will be up and running on November 3rd (that's Monday, folks) - click here to read all about it! Speaking of giveaways, here is a sampling of some great current contests in the book world:

• A Bookworm's World is giving away five copies of Lost and Found, by Carolyn Parkhurst.
• At Home with Books is giving away a copy of Life After Genius, by M. Ann Jacoby.
• Booklorn will be giving away Where am I Wearing, by Kelsey Timmerman; Capitol Reflections, by Jonathan Javitt; Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips; and Lost and Found, by Carolyn Parkhurst.
• Diary of an Eccentric is giving away Jesus Takes the Wheel, by Stuart Migdon; The Islands of Divine Music, by John Addiego; and Life After Genius, by M. Ann Jacoby.
• If you don't follow her blog already, head over to author Kathy-Diane Leveille's blog and subscribe, then enter for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift certificate.

Speaking of giveaways, at B&B Ex Libris there is a great discussion going on about giveaways in the book blog world. Be sure to stop in and voice your opinion.



On another note, I've foolishly decided to participate in the November edition of National Blog Posting Month. What does that mean to you? Not much, other than you'll be subjected to a post from me every single day of November. Notice I didn't say "meaningful post." I just said "post," so don't be expecting something profound every day around here. Not to say that there won't be the occasional brilliant remark or observation. I'm just saying.

Out With the Old....

It was a busy week out there in blog-land. Please feel free to bring to my attention anything I missed and I'd be happy to add it.

Added to the Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa TBR pile:
I'm not going to reiterate my dramatic fall from the book-buying wagon that took place earlier in the week. If you'd like to read the dirty details, just go here.

But this came in the mail and I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself (!):

Guernica, by Dave Boling. Dave is a local author and after reading his Tacoma News Tribune columns for most of my life, I now have a copy of his very well-received historical fiction novel about the Spanish Civil War and a small Spanish town that was fire-bombed by the Germans during WWII.

Books that made it on to the wishlist:

Here, There Be Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica), by James A. Owen, courtesy of Muse Book Reviews.
Beneath a Marble Sky, by John Shors, courtesy of Tanzanite's Shelf and Stuff.
The Island of Divine Music, by John Addiego, courtesy of Diary of an Eccentric.
Creepers, by Joanne Dahme, courtesy of Book Chatter and Other Stuff.
Heart of Diamonds, by Dave Donelson, courtesy of J. Kaye's Book Blog.
Owl Babies, by Martin Waddell, courtesy of The Friendly Book Nook (I absolutely must buy this book!)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart, courtesy of Publisher's Weekly.


Things happening in the blog world that I hope you didn't miss:

• Passages to the Past gave us historical fiction fanatics a good look at what's due to be released in November.
• There was a great interview with David Ebershoff, author of The 19th Wife, over at Wendi's Book Corner.
• Over at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time there is a great giveaway of The Lace Reader -- don't forget to enter if you haven't read it!
• The Hidden Side of a Leaf presented a review of Neil Gaiman's new novel, The Graveyard Book.
• If you haven't already caught it, I'm directing you all over to Michele with One 'L' to read one of the best politically-oriented posts I've read thus far. Michele is proving to us that despite appearances, common sense is not dead (thank you, Michele!).
• If you missed Blog Talk Radio this week, there was an excellent talk with Kathleen Kent, author of The Heretic's Daughter. Don't worry if you missed it -- Bermuda Onion's Weblog provided us with a link to listen to the talk.

I Fell Off the Wagon....

After promising myself NOT to buy any further books, I made the huge mistake of wandering into a used bookstore this afternoon. Lo and behold, I fell off the wagon, to no one's surprise. Feel free to comment on any of these that you have read!

I rounded out Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles with King Hereafter, The Ringed Castle, and Checkmate. Whew. Now I can finally start in on this series (those of you who know me are aware of my OCD when it comes to series: I cannot begin a series until I have all of them available on my shelves. This little problem of mine has bitten me in the butt more than once, but what can you do?).

I found an Elizabeth Chadwick novel, The Champion, and practically knocked over a poor lady who was reaching for it at the same time. She admittedly had no idea what she was reaching for so I feel completely justified in laying claim to it. Knowledge is power and all that.

Crossed: A Tale of the Fourth Crusade, by Nicole Galland, was just one I stumbled on, never having heard of this author before. I enjoy any novels about the Crusades, so I thought I'd take a chance on this one.

Crown in Candlelight, by Rosemary Hawley Jarman was just added to my wishlist this morning when Amy at Passages to the Past announced that this novel would be re-released in November. The copy I picked up is an original hardcover published in 1978.

I ran across The Last Empress, by Anchee Min, and picked it up. As it turns out, this one is a sequel to Empress Orchid, so alas, I'll have to find the first book before I can read this one.

I always look for Jean Plaidy novels at any used bookstore and happily I found two today: The Rose Without a Thorn, about Katherine Howard, and Victoria Victorious, clearly written about Queen Victoria. (Who says a title doesn't say it all?)

I also tend to search for Mary Renault books and finally found an old copy of The Persian Boy today. I've been searching for that one used for months now, so I'm feeling a little smug over that find.

As Meat Loves Salt, by Maria McCann, was added to my wishlist a couple of weeks ago and while it may be in the running for Worst Title of a Book Ever, the reviews I read were incredible and I can't wait to dive into this one about war in England during the 17th-century.

The last one I picked up was an Iris Murdoch novel, The Green Knight. Can you belive I have never read one of her novels? Nancy Pearl recommends them above all others, so that is good enough for me.

As pleased with myself as I am over this haul, the logistics of getting these books home is just setting in as I realized I'm over 1500 miles away from home. Hmmmmm. I see a trip to FedEx in my future.