My Own Little Book Corner

Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke 5 stars I enjoyed this Dave Robicheaux novel more than the last one. Burke still had a lot of his signature plot lines - the corrupt rich family, Clete getting in major trouble, Helen cutting Dave some slack and of course the rain. But things seemed a little "toned" down and more believable. The Law of Similars by Christ Bohjalian 4 1/2 stars I like Bohjalian's books. He presents a moral dilemma that always makes me think about what I would do. This story was the weakest one of the 3 of his I've read though. It is the story of a widowed lawyer who goes to a homeopathy and falls in love with her. When one of her patients ends up in a coma, he faces hard choices and decisions about how to help her. I think why I found this weak is because I felt more like he was in lust instead of love, even though we are told it's love. I just had a hard time reconciling some of his decisions and actions based on feeling there had not been ...

A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeleine L'Engle 3 1/2 stars This is a story of family asking what makes a family? Is it important to know your bloodline or is your family based more on relationships? This is a story of love, forgiveness, mercy and grace. All wonderful spiritual type concepts. I personally have a hard time reading L'Engle's books though. While her stories are interesting, her style gets in the way for me. Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices by Jodi Picoult 4 stars This was Picout's first novel. The story is about a family that has fallen apart. Oliver is the dad, a marine biologist, Jane, a speech pathologist is the wife and then there is the 14 about to turn 15 year old Rebecca. Jane and Rebecca embark on a cross country trip to see Jane's brother, Joley, who is working at an apple orchard in Massachusetts. The story is full of interesting twists on their journey there and during their stay. It is full of emotions - good and bad - and...

I've already recommended Paperbackswap.com as a great place to get and get rid of your books. I've recently signed up at another site - Bookins . This site is different from Paperbackswap in several ways. At Bookins each book is assigned a different point value where at PB each book is one credit (except audio books which are 2.) The other main difference is that with Bookins you print out the postage for any books you send out at no cost to you. You then pay $3.99 for each book you receive. UPDATE - I got the Bookins newsletter today and beginning Sept. 23 the price will increase to $4.49 per book. Not so sure if that's going to be a good deal for me or not. Other minor differences are that there is no "community" at Bookins. The books are all sent "delivery confirmation" so there is no need to log on and confirm that you received the book. Paperbackswap is my favorite of the 2 because of the simplicity of 1 credit for 1 book. Plus while I like the i...

Twelve Years as a Slave by Solomon Northup This was a surprisingly good book. When I saw all the footnotes, appendixes, etc. I was afraid that it may read too much like a textbook, but I was wrong. This account of Mr. Northup’s life from freeman to slave and back to freeman was very interesting. It was a straight forward account depicting his slave owners as he saw them. One was a kind, Christian man, but the one he labored under for 10 years was a drunk who was fond of the whip. This book brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. 5 stars Cutting Lisa by Percival Everett This book promised to be much more than it was. In fact, reading the summary on the back is more thought provoking and entertaining than the book. The book does have it moments of wit and dialogue, but overall a big disappointment. Good premise – not carried out though. 2 1/2 stars Savannah Comes Undone by Denise Hildreth An enjoyable book, but not as enjoyable as the first one – “Savannah from Savannah.” ...

Vote here for the state of Louisiana and our children could receive 50,000 new books to read! You can only vote once a day, but you can vote everyday until the end of the contest on July 31st. Please help put Louisiana in the #1 spot!

Check out Paperback Swap . This is a place to get rid of books you no longer want, and to get some new ones to read. Condensed version - you sign up and post 9 books. You then recieve 3 credits that can be used to order 3 books. (Each book is 1 credit whether paperback or hard cover. The exception - books on tape are 2 credits.) Your books are listed and can be ordered by others. Your cost is in mailing books that others order. These are sent Media Mail and most books cost $2.13 to send. When the person you sent a book to recieves it, you recieve a credit and the cycle continues. If you sign up, use me as a reference (jantalk) . If you do, I will recieve a credit, which I will return to you. So, you can get 4 credits to start your trading. Be warned - this is an addictive site and you may find yourself at the post office more than ususal,, but it's well worth it.

Summer was always a season of reading for me growing up. Those were the days that Jackie and I could go to the library, browse, get our books and then take them home and read. Now there are reading incentive programs to encourage summer reading. Most libraries have them and a few bookstores. (If you have children in grades 1 - 6, check out the program at Barnes & Noble . For reading any 8 books and keeping a brief journal, your child can get a free book. Not a bad deal. ) Of course the library programs are always good too. I'm participating in the one with the East Baton Rouge Parish Library . They made it easy for adults - read 3 books, record them with a brief summary and turn it in for prizes. The prizes that made me sign up were a $5 certificate for the Recycled Reads sale and a cookie on a stick from Cookies by Design . If they had only had a coupon for CC's it would have been perfect - a book, a cookie and a cup of coffee. What more do you need?!

Here's the latest book reviews (trying to keep it short and sweet): "The Goodbye Summer" by Patricia Gaffney This is the story of a few months in the life of Cadie Winger. These months find her living alone for the first time in her 32 years of life as her grandmother moved into Wake House, a place that those who do not need intensive medical care, just a little help, can go and live together. Caddie quickly makes friends with the residents, visiting them and helping them to record their biographies among other things. There's more than one goodbye in the story, but the main goodbye is Caddie’s goodbye to her old self. 4 stars "The Virgin's Lover" by Philippa Gregory The follow up book to “The Queen’s Fool” this chronicles the time in England when Elizabeth became queen. A tale of politics and love as Elizabeth and Robert Dudley become close companions in both areas. Those around them see the pitfalls – the largest being that Dudley is married and that...

Time for the monthly reviews. I'm really trying to shorten them up, so here goes - First I read the novel that the movie "Simon Birch" was based on - John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" . I didn't see the movie - but enjoyed the book. It is a good story of friendship, faith and politics. I like how Irving fits it all together. Owen Meany is the type character that I would have liked to know. He may have been short in stature, but he was a big person in many other ways - unselfish, kind, loving. The story has it's funny moments and it's serious times. I give it 5 stars. The next book I read was "S is for Silence" . In this book Kinsey becomes involved in a search for a missing mom. The catch is that the mom has been missing for years. Foul play is suspected, but then again with the lifestyle the mom had, she may have just ran away. Leave it to Kinsey to solve it. Another good one from Sue Grafton - 4 stars. "Jewel" by Bret...

Hard to believe that another month has flown by and it's time for my much anticipated book reviews. (Read sarcasm there.) But whether you like them or not, I'm going to keep them up. I will try to keep them short though. So here goes - The first book of the month was "The Time Travelers Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. This book will mess with your head. This is the story of a man who has a genetic disorder that causes him to travel through time. It was a little confusing to me at times because of the past, present, future thing – even at times there being 2 Henry's at different ages. But it is an interesting concept and story. I would have liked to read more about why Clare was so attracted to him, but overall a good read - 5 stars. "Light on Snow" by Anita Shreve was my next read. It is a touching story of a father and daughter coping with the loss of their wife/mother and daughter/sister. The father couldn't stand the memories, loaded up the girl, N...