Friday Finds!

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!


Friday Finds is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading


From the  ALA Historical Fiction Awards shortlist - this one is in my library and I already have it on hold.

The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon

A bold reimagining of one of history's most intriguing relationships: between legendary philosopher Aristotle and his most famous pupil, the young Alexander the Great.

Told in the brilliantly rendered voice of Aristotle--keenly intelligent, often darkly funny--"The Golden Mean "brings ancient Greece to vivid life via the story of this remarkable friendship between two towering figures, innovator and conqueror, whose views of the world still resonate today.



A recommendation from Coffee and a Book Chick in my google reader this morning. Do check out her post for an interesting author interview and an international giveaway.

Evenfall by Liz Michalski

In life, Frank could've had any woman he wanted.

In death, he'll try to win back the one that mattered...
Frank Wildermuth always regretted a mistake he made as a teenager: choosing Clara Murphy over her sister Gert. And like a true Murphy woman, Gert got on with her life, never admitting to heartbreak. Not even now, decades later, with Frank dead-dead, that is, but not quite gone.

Release date - Feb 1, 2011
 
 
A promotion email from Amazon this morning ... sounds interesting.
 

The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas
 
A magical historical novel about an astonishing eight-year-old girl in the last days of the Ottoman Empire. It is 1877, on the shores of the Black Sea, and the omens for the newborn Eleanora Cohen are hardly promising. Not only does her mother die in childbirth, but her village is being attacked by the Tsar's Royal Cavalry. However, despite this bad beginning, a sour stepmother and a traumatic journey in the hold of a ship, young Eleanora grows into a remarkably clever but very engaging child.
 
Release date Feb 8, 2011
 
 
Reviewed by The Lost Entwife - the cover really caught my eye and the story sounds lovely
 

The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasmussen
 
 Love is timeless. So too is heartbreak.

Whenever a bird flies into a window in Spring Green, Wisconsin, sisters Milly and Twiss get a visit. Twiss listens to the birds' heartbeats, assessing what she can fix and what she can't, while Milly listens to the heartaches of the people who've brought them. The two sisters have spent their lives nursing people and birds back to health.

Release date April, 2011


This last one I spotted at My Love Affair With Books.......... a new author alreading being compared with  Barbara Vine, Tana French and Sophie Hannah .

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly

It is the sweltering summer of 1997, and Karen is a straight-laced, straight-A university student. When she meets the impossibly glamorous Biba, a bohemian orphan who lives in a crumbling old mansion in Highgate with her enigmatic brother Rex, she is soon drawn into their world -- but something terrible is about to happen, and someone's going to end up dead

Less is Not Always More

In fact Less is often exactly what it says - not enough of what one wants, needs , desires or expects. This year I've read two books by Dean Koontz,  a favourite author from whom I expected a great deal More than what I got.

RelentLESS
BreathLESS

For me, both these books lacked  depth and substance ...........short chapters, fewer pages and double spacing between the lines have had me asking if Mr Koontz may be going down the same road some of my other old favourite writers have gone -  settling for quantity over quality.

So I was very happy to find this review at LibraryJournal  of his next book to be released in January, 2011.

I'm Hoping for More from

"Yet, from his always-popular body of work there sometimes emerges one of particular merit, one likely to add even more readers to his fan base. This spooky ghost story is such a book. It succeeds as an outstanding work of horror because of several elements: the appeal of the main character, homicide detective John Calvino, whose family was murdered by a serial killer when he was 14; the unstoppable evil of the killer, Alton Turner Blackwood, whose spirit returns from death to embody others so that he can force them to do his bidding; and Koontz’s adherence (as outlined in his 1972 Writing Popular Fiction) to his own creed for writing suspense in which The Chase, The Race Against Time, and The Anticipation of a Violent Event are of equal importance."...........LibraryJournal Review - Nov 15, 2010

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!



Friday Finds is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading

Friday Finds!

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

Hosted by MizB at shouldbereading

It'a been a while since I've done a FF post - Fridays of late have been "a too busy to blog' sort of day but this week life is a little quieter and the prospect of a peaceful weekend is looking promising. Here are three historical fiction books that came to my attention this week.

From Amy at Passages to the Past

The Gallows Curse by Karen Maitland

I've recently read The Owl Killers (read my review) by this author and loved it so will be looking forward to the March, 2011 release of her new one.

1210 and a black force is sweeping England. For a vengeful King John has seized control of the Church, leaving corpses to lie in unconsecrated ground, babies unbaptized in their cradles and the people terrified of dying in sin. And in the village of Gastmere, the consequences grow darker still when Elena, a servant girl, is dragged into a conspiracy to absolve the sins of the lord of the manor. As the terrors that soon begin to plague Elena's sleep grow darker, in desperation she visits the cunning woman, who has been waiting for just such an opportunity to fulfill an ancient curse conjured at the gallows. Elena, haunted by this curse and threatened with death for a crime she didn't commit, flees the village ... only to find her nightmare has barely begun. For treachery lurks in every shadow as King John’s brutal reign makes enemies of brothers, murderers of virgins and sinners of us all.

From Daphne at Tanzanite's Shelf

The Countess by Rebecca Johns

I came across Countess Erzsebet Bathory as I googled Dracula links so will definitely be interested in reading this account of her life.

In 1611, Countess Erzsébet Báthory, a powerful Hungarian noblewoman, stood helpless as masons walled her inside her castle tower, dooming her to spend her final years in solitary confinement. Her crime—the gruesome murders of dozens of female servants, mostly young girls tortured to death for displeasing their ruthless mistress. Her opponents painted her as a bloodthirsty" škrata"—a witch—a portrayal that would expand to grotesque proportions through the centuries.

And lastly from my library's new books list:

The Wedding Shroud by Elisabeth Storrs

In 406 BC, to seal a tenuous truce, the young Roman Caecilia is wedded to Vel Mastarna, an Etruscan nobleman from the city of Veii. The fledgling Republic lies only twelve miles across the Tiber from its neighbour, but the cities are from opposing worlds - so different are their customs and beliefs. Leaving behind a righteous society, Caecilia is determined to remain true to Roman virtues while living among the sinful Etruscans. Instead she finds herself tempted by a mystical, hedonistic culture which offers pleasure and independence to women as well as a chance to persuade the Gods to delay her destiny. Yet Mastarna and his people also hold dark secrets and, as war looms, Caecilia discovers that Fate is not so easy to control and that she must finally choose where her allegiance lies.

Friday Finds!

Hosted by MizB at shouldbereading

Its been a while since I did a Friday Finds but here are three soon to be released books I've  added to the TBR list.

Time's Legacy -Barbara Erskine

......a beautiful and haunting tale of dark forces and mystical powers. In present-day Cambridge, Abi, a recently-ordained priest of the Church of England, is appointed to a notoriously difficult parish. The priest in charge is the charismatic but fundamentalist Kier. He objects to her mysticism, her practice of healing in particular. When she sees a vision of a congregation in an old church, Kier accuses her of witchcraft, but Abi soon sees more visions; an entire Roman family history, dark with betrayal and a promise of bloody revenge. With foreboding forces building up to violence, Abi must battle the approaching terror along with her own personal demons, drawing upon the expertise of Druidry and shamanism from a questionable source...

Dracula, My Love: the secret journals of Mina Harker by Syrie James

A vibrant dramatization, told from Mina's point of view, brings to life crucial parts of Stoker's story while showcasing Mina's sexual awakening and evolution as a woman, revealing a secret that could destroy her life. Torn between two men—a loving husband and a dangerous lover—Mina struggles to hang on to the deep love she's found within her marriage, even as she is inexorably drawn to Dracula himself—the vampire that everyone she knows is determined to destroy.





Fall of Giants by Ken Follet

Fall of Giants is his magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in The Century Trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families-American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh-as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage.

 Fall of Giants moves seamlessly from Washington to St. Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty. As always with Ken Follett, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. It is destined to be a new classic.

Friday Finds!

Hosted by MizB at shouldbereading

Its been a while since I posted some finds so here are three that have taken my eye recently.

A review from Blodeuedd at Mur-y-Castell

The Calligrapher's Daughter

                 by

Eugenia Kim

A sweeping debut novel, inspired by the life of the author’s mother, about a young woman who dares to fight for a brighter future in occupied Korea

 
 

From an Australian book magazine

 

Fields of Gold by Fiona McIntosh

From the windswept clifftops of the Cornish coast to the goldmines of southern India, this is a page-turning story of high adventure, devastating tragedy and enduring love.







Thanks to Elena at All Booked Up who mentioned that Jo Graham had a new book being released this week. I've just finished her first Black Ships and looking forward to more.

Stealing Fire by Jo Graham


Aided by the eunuch Bagoas, the Persian archer Artashir, and the Athenian coutesan Thais, Ptolemy and Lydias must take on all contenders in a desperate adventure whose prize is the fate of a white city by the sea, and Alexander's legacy.

Hope you have some great finds to share.

Friday Finds!

Hosted by MizB at shouldbereading

Have you ever noticed how often books with a similar theme come to your attention at the same time? It seems to happen to me quite regularly.

These first two I found when browsing my library's new books list. They were pages apart but were the only two I noted down. And considering I already have Angelology on hold..........

Ten Hail Marys by Kate Howarth ( a memoir)

An extraordinary story of courage and survival in the tradition of Angela's Ashes. Ten Hail Marys follows the first seventeen years of Kate Howarth's life in Sydney and country New South Wales. Raised by various Indigenous relatives, she is abandoned by her mother and then her grandmother, and through it all manages to believe that she will have a better life. In the mid-1960s, at the age of fifteen, she becomes pregnant and is sent to St Margaret's Home for unwed mothers in Sydney, where she resists intense pressure to give up her baby for adoption. She becomes one of the few women to ever leave the Home with her baby.

The Convent by Panos Karnezis

Those whom God wishes to destroy he first makes mad...The crumbling convent of Our Lady of Mercy stands alone in an uninhabited part of the Spanish sierra, hidden on a hill among dense pine forest. Its inhabitants are devoted to God, to solitude and silence; six women cut off from the world they've chosen to leave behind. This is all to change, on the day that Mother Superior Maria Ines discovers a suitcase punctured with air-holes at the entrance to the retreat. Soon she is to find the box and its contents are to have consequences beyond her imagining, and that even in her carefully protected sanctuary she is unable to keep the world, or her past, at bay.

Then in Eva's library loot this one caught my eye.

The Sagas of Icelanders : ed Jane Smiley

A unique body of medieval literature, the Sagas rank with the world's greatest literary treasures — as epic as Homer, as deep in tragedy as Sophocles, as engagingly human as Shakespeare. Set around the turn of the last millennium, these stories depict with an astonishingly modern realism the lives and deeds of the Norse men and women who first settled Iceland and of their descendants, who ventured further west — to Greenland and, ultimately, the coast of North America itself.

and finally last night a post on Royal Reviews

Ice Land by Betsy Tobin

Infused with the rich history and mythology of Iceland, Betsy Tobin's sweeping novel is an epic adventure of forbidden love, lust, jealousy, faith and magical wonder set under the shadow of a smoldering volcano.

That volcano has done a good deal more than smoulder recently!

Friday Finds!

Hosted by MizB at shouldbereading

The NZ Post Children's Book Awards will be announced in May and the finalists in the Young Adult category all look really good. Here are three of them.......

Banquo's Son by T M Roxborogh

For Fleance, the only son of Banquo, Thane of Lochaber, the time has come to make a choice. Since his father’s brutal murder ten years ago, he has kept his identity a secret from all. Now Fleance must unmask his enemies and discover why he is plagued by his father’s ghost.


An epic tale of love, loss and revenge set amidst the turmoil of Scotland after Macbeth.

The Beginners Guide to Living by Lia Hills

Seventeen-year-old Will is in turmoil after the sudden death of his mother. Will begins a search for the answers he craved, using his mum’s old camera to document the experience and scrambles to find an idea for which he can live and die.


This is a stunning novel about grief, ideas and experience, about those moments in your life that change you forever.


 

The Crossing (Blood of the Lamb) by Mandy Hagar
 
This is the first book in a stunning new trilogy that follows the fate of Maryam and her unlikely companions – Joseph, Ruth and Lazarus. Set on a small island in the Pacific, where the elite control the population from a rotting cruise ship, this fast, suspenseful drama is underpinned by a powerful and moving story about love and loss.
 
 
 
 
 

What did you find this week?

Friday Finds!

Hosted by MizB at shouldbereading

Looking for some books that fit into the fantasy category .. .......

The Telling by Jo Baker...............When Rachel sets off alone for her mother's isolated country house, she promises herself that the business of packing up and selling will only take a couple of weeks, and then she'll be home again, and back to normal. But from the moment she steps through the front door, Rachel feels that the house contains more than she had expected: along with the memories of her mother, there is something else, a presence - not quite tangible - trying to make itself felt. As Rachel struggles to put her mother's affairs in order, she grows ever more convinced that the house holds a message for her. Can the ghosts of the past be nudging their way into the present, or is Rachel really beginning to lose her mind?

Horns by Joe Hill......................Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover, a raging headache ...and a pair of horns growing from his temples. Once, Ig lived the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned American musician, and the younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, Ig had security and wealth and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more - he had the love of Merrin Williams, a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic. Then beautiful, vivacious Merrin was gone - raped and murdered, under inexplicable circumstances - with Ig the only suspect. He was never tried for the crime, but in the court of public opinion, Ig was and always would be guilty. Now Ig is possessed with a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look, and he means to use it to find the man who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge; it's time the devil had his due.

Francis G. Cottam............It only takes a couple of visits to convince Dr Elizabeth Bancroft that Adam Hunter is not just having bad dreams. He's a child possessed. His father is desperate: adamant that his son's affliction is the result of a curse he incurred in the depths of the Amazon, where a badly misguided military operation ended in a terrifying and macabre encounter. There he met two women -- one more bad than good, who placed the curse - and the other more good than bad, with whom any hope of saving his son resides. Mark Hunter leaves the Scottish Highlands to beg help from the mysterious woman, leaving his son in the care of Elizabeth -- who is about to discover there are equally dark secrets on their own doorstep. And in her blood...

.............and these three are all in my library!

Friday Finds!

Hosted by MizB at Shouldbe reading

My Friday Finds are from the Orange Prize 2010 longlist that was announced this week. Of the twenty listed I've only read three and have one on hold at the library. So plenty to add to the TBR but as I limit my finds posted to only three the cover junkie had a say!

The Wilding by Maria McCann

In her second novel Maria McCann returns to 17th Century England, where life is struggling to return to normal after the horrific tumult of the Civil War. In the village of Spadboro Jonathan Dymond, a 26-year old cider-maker who lives with his parents, has until now enjoyed a quiet, harmonious existence. As the novel opens, a letter arrives from his uncle with a desperate request to speak with his father. When his father returns from the visit the next day, all he can say is that Jonathan's uncle has died. Then Jonathan finds a fragment of the letter in the family orchard, with talk of inheritance and vengeance. He resolves to unravel the mystery at the heart of his family - a mystery which will eventually threaten the lives and happiness of Jonathan and all those he holds dear.

The Still Point by Amy Sackville

the turn of the twentieth century, Arctic explorer Edward Mackley sets out to reach the North Pole and vanishes into the icy landscape without a trace. He leaves behind a young wife, Emily, who awaits his return for decades, her dreams and devotion gradually freezing into rigid widowhood. A hundred years later, on a sweltering mid-summer's day, Edward's great-grand-niece Julia moves through the old family house, attempting to impose some order on the clutter of inherited belongings and memories from that ill-fated expedition, and taking care to ignore the deepening cracks within her own marriage. But as afternoon turns into evening, Julia makes a discovery that splinters her long-held image of Edward and Emily's romance, and her husband Simon faces a precipitous choice that will decide the future of their relationship. Sharply observed and deeply engaging, "The Still Point" is a powerful literary debut, and a moving meditation on the distances - geographical and emotional - that can exist between two people.

The Twisted Heart by Rebecca Gowers

A literary murder mystery : When Kit goes to a dance class she is hoping simply to take her mind off her studies. Soon it looks like Joe, a stranger she meets there, might do more than that. But when Kit uncovers a mystery involving the young Charles Dickens and the slaughter of a prostitute known as The Countess, she is sucked back in to the world of books, and discovers how Dickens became tangled up with this horrendous crime.

Hope you've had some great finds this week, too!

Friday Finds!

Hosted by by MizB at shouldbereading

My finds this week are inspired by The Pirate's Daughter which I'm reading now. I want to read some more about Jamaica and books by Jamaican authors so rather than put this on a 'one day' plan, and again inspired by Eva's wonderful post on researching today , I went looking.

Here are three from my Jamaica list and all confirmed as available in my library.

From Harvey River: a memoir of my mother and her island by Lorna Goodison.............In her lovingly written, richly imaginative and effortlessly joyful memoir, poet Lorna Goodison weaves the history of her family - 'the fabulous Harvey girls' - with the history of Jamaica. It is a powerful love letter to the people and places that have shaped her. Peopled with a cast of wonderfully drawn characters and written in a lush, vivid prose textured with the cadences of Creole, Lorna Goodison's memoir weaves together memory and island lore to create a vivid and irresistible tapestry.

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction
"is a courageous novel of tender emotion and sparkling wit, of crossings taken and passages lost, of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers---in short, an encapsulation of that most American of experiences: the immigrant's life.

The Same Earth by Kei Miller

It all begins with the theft of Tessa Walcott's polkadot panties and a river that changes course overnight...When Imelda Richardson leaves the small village of Watersgate, Jamaica, armed only with one small suitcase, she is doing so for the second time. One of the throng of young Jamaicans who left the island after the devastating hurricane of 1974, Imelda's journey has taken her to England, to the home of ganja-growing rebel Purletta Johnson, the arms of fake Northerner Ozzie, and a law degree. But when her mother dies Imelda returns to Watersgate, choosing Jamaica over England. 1983 is still a couple of years shy of the great dancehall explosion in which artistes like Shabba Ranks would sing how he 'loved punany bad', and the village is still dominated by the Evangelical church and the thundering voice of Pastor Braithwaite.

What did you find this week?

Friday Finds!

Hosted by MizB at shouldreading

Three of the titles that caught my eye as I browsed the New Releases lists.

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W Durrow

Inspired by a true story of a mother's twisted love, "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky" paints the haunting portrait of a young orphan's quest for truth. A bizarre mystery surrounding a family tragedy forms the centrepiece of Rachel's struggle as an astonishingly beautiful mixed-race child in a mostly black community. As terrible secrets begin to emerge, Rachel learns to swallow her grief and construct her self-image in a world that wants to see her as either Black or White.

A winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice.

Pretty Little Things by Jilliane Hoffman

A terrifying new standalone psychological thriller from the bestselling writer of 'Retribution'.Special Agent Bobby Dees knows what grief feels like. He understands the pain of losing a child. And he'll do whatever he can to prevent it from happening again. The phone call that comes on a Sunday morning will take him away from his insular world of grief and sleepless nights -- and into a far darker place. A young girl, Elaine Emerson, has gone missing and only Dees has a chance of finding her. It seems that Elaine had gone to meet her boyfriend, a mysterious figure she met secretly on the internet, who goes by the name of "Boogeyman", and whose reality is as cruel and chilling as the worst thing Dees can imagine!

Bloodroot by Amy Greene

Named for a flower whose blood-red sap possesses the power both to heal and poison, "Bloodroot" is a stunning fiction debut about the legacies--of magic and madness, faith and secrets, passion and loss--that haunt one family across the generations.





While you are here do check out my February Giveaway here - open to all!

Friday Finds!

What great books did you hear about / discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!


Hosted by shouldbe reading.



From the ALA 2010 Reading List awards announced this week.

Three titles shortlisted for the Historical Fiction section.

Etta by Gerald Kolpan

Beautiful, elusive, and refined, Etta Place captivated the nation at the turn of the last century as she dodged the law with the Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Her true identity and fate have remained a mystery. Kolpan envisions this remarkable woman's life in a stunning debut novel.
         

Grace Hammer: A novel of the Victorian Underworld by Sara Stockbridge
 
This first novel reads like early Dickens, with every character name aptly fitting its owner, and each scene piquantly described: Grace's sons line up at the door 'like a row of sparrows on a chimneystack,' and lovers are like 'mice in a newspaper hat, afloat on their own private sea.' Then there is the unforgettable Miss Spragg, who steals little children and fondles a severed ear tucked in her pocket.... Stockbridge captures the mood of Dickensian London perfectly in this gripping debut.

The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland

England, 1321. Deep in the heart of countryside lies an isolated village governed by a sinister regime of Owl Masters - theirs is a pagan world of terror and blackmail, where neighbour denounces neighbour and sin is punishable by murder. This dark status quo is disturbed by the arrival of a house of religious women, who establish a community outside the village. Why do their crops succeed when village crops fail; their cattle survive despite the plague? But petty jealousy turns deadly when the women give refuge to a young martyr.

Friday Finds!

What great books did you hear about / discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

Hosted by shouldbe reading.

I came across both of these as I was browsing an online bookseller for ideas for my 2010 challenge reading lists.

Someone Knows my Name by Lawrence Hill

"Wonderfully written...as in the slave narratives that inspired it, language is power."--Nancy Kline, "New York Times Book Review" Kidnapped as a child from Africa, Aminata Diallo is enslaved in South Carolina but escapes during the chaos of the Revolutionary War. In Manhattan she becomes a scribe for the British, recording the names of blacks who have served the King and earned freedom in Nova Scotia. But the hardship and prejudice there prompt her to follow her heart back to Africa, then on to London, where she bears witness to the injustices of slavery and its toll on her life

and a whole people. It is a story that no listener, and no reader, will ever forget. Reading group guide included.

The Other Hand by Chris Cleave

We don't want to tell you what happens in this book. It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know enough to buy it so we will just say this: This is the story of two women. Their lives collide one fateful day, and one of them has to make a terrible choice. Two years later, they meet again -- the story starts there...Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds. 'Totally believable.' -- Daily Express 'It would be hard not to romp through it.' -- Financial Times 'Impresses as a feat of literary engineering...the plot exerts a fearsome grip.' -- Telegraph