It sounded like a good idea...

OK  I went to the library, no this is not a joke, and I decided not to get any mysteries (shocker).  I decided to read a few plain fiction books.  The problem with that is, I keep waiting for someone to die.  No I'm serious.  I keep expecting for someone to drown in the swimming pool or die from strangulation by tinsel.  That's not to say I don't like fiction, I do....but I love mystery.

So I started reading:
Comfort and Joy
by India Knight

Genre: fiction, novel
pages:  230
Rating **

   I never made it past page 8.  The writer is British, I love British mysteries.  This was no mystery.  I read the blurb on the back and it sounded like a really good book.  It may be a good book, but I didn't make it to the end.  I didn't like how it seemed like a total stream of consciousness.  The character kept rattling off about one thing or another.  Then the language was....let's just say there were words in it that made me want to make sure my kids weren't reading over my shoulder.  Which they like to do.  Take this review with a grain of salt, but I didn't like it, so I didn't finish it.
-Caren

Classic Revenge, a review

Classic Revenge
by Mitzi Kelly

Series:  Silver Sleuths Mystery
Genre:  cozy
Pages:  262
Rating:  ****

   I was asked by the author for a review.  The review is mine.  I was not required to give a positive review.  She sent me a copy of the book.
   I was approached by Mitzi to read her book and give a review, in preparation for her new book coming out.  I was thrilled.  It sounded like fun, and it was.
   Classic Revenge, is about three "older" women trying to solve the murder of one of their friends.  The husband is wrongly accused, forcing the three to seek out the true killer.

   Sounds good to me.  The start of the book was a little slow, but it quickly made up for it.  The characters are great fun.  They are well developed.  I swear I personally know some of these women.  Mitzi steered away from the clique of old ladies.  These women are capable, bright, and feisty.  They do bicker back and forth to some degree, but it is a hoot to read.

   The plot was smooth and fast paced, once it got started.  It was refreshing to get in on the start of a series.  To see how three people with no experience, unless you count being a nosy neighbor, trying to solve a crime.  The fact that they are elderly, only in age, helps.  Older people are seen as safe and are usually overlooked.  They can get away with things younger people can not.  Age has benefits.

   It was a very enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the next  book

-Caren

Q& A with Clare O'Donohue

This a copy of the post on my quilt blog.  I thought I would share it with the readers of my book blog.  The giveaway is open to all.  Just click on the link below.

In honor of my GIVEAWAY of Clare O'Donohue's new book, The Devil's Puzzle, I have a Q&A with the author.  What fun.  I tried to ask questions of interest to quilters and readers alike.  I hope you enjoy.  Don't forget, leave a comment on the original post (here) for a chance to win.

1. I noticed, from your website, that you made a Drunkard' Path (Book #2). Have you made a quilt from each book title?

Not yet – though I’d like to at some point. I made the drunkard’s path quilt as part of an Accuquilt raffle, so I didn’t even get to keep it, but I have been collecting blue and white fabrics to make one for myself. And I’ve been thinking of making a Lover’s Knot table runner, but it hasn’t gotten past the planning stages.

2. How do you go about matching a quilt block with the books? Do you have a list of names that you would like to use?

I look for names that are interesting for both quilters and non-quilters, as well as have a mysterious feel – so something like The Devil’s Puzzle, is great. Unfortunately, there aren’t many patterns that fit the bill so it’s always a struggle to come up with a great title.   

3. I know I am fascinated by how people learned to quilt. Especially in an age of technology. Who taught you to quilt?

I’m a self-taught quilter. There’s no tradition of quilting in my family, though my grandmother did make clothes. I loved the look of quilts, and thought (foolishly) it would be less expensive to make one than to buy one, so I gave it a try. My first quilt was a 5 foot square hand-pieced hexagon quilt, which just shows you how nuts I was. My first ‘real’ quilt was log cabin. I call it a real quilt because I knew enough by then to have quarter inch seams, and to quilt evenly across the surface. 

4. What was it like working on Simply Quilts surrounded by such wonderful artists?

It was an amazing experience. Alex Anderson is a dream to work with, and I met wonderful quilters, from Eleanor Burns and Georgia Bonesteel to Jinny Beyer and Caryl Bryer Fallert. Seeing the quilts up close was absolutely heaven for me. At the end of each season (I worked on four of them) the producers would divide up the stuff, so I still have many of the rulers, fabric, pins and books that we used on the show.

5. Do you have a writing routine? I know you have a brand new book out, Devil's Puzzle, and another book, Kate Conway Series, coming out in Spring 2012. WOW. There must be a routine.

Yes and no. Usually I aim to write about 25 pages a week. Ideally, I write Monday through Friday from about 10am to 5pm, which includes time blogging, updating Facebook, and watching downloaded episodes of Dexter. Sometimes, though, it’s not ideal and I have forgo my goofing off time. I still work as a freelance TV producer. I don’t work at that job every day, but when I do, I have to travel, so I write in airports, hotel rooms and while my crew is setting up for an interview. As long as I find my 25 pages somewhere in that week, I feel I’m on schedule. 

6. With your busy schedule of writing, promoting, traveling, etc...do you still find time to quilt? I know you are knitting, that's a lot easier to travel with.

Quilting is my sanity, so I make time for it one way or another. If I’m home, I usually mark out space on Sundays to quilt but I’m also working on a few hand-pieced projects, so I can take those with me when I travel. Right now I’m doing a hand appliqué project. I haven’t done a lot of hand appliqué and this has thin vines and tiny pieces. I love it, but it’s also a challenge for me.

Do you follow a process for writing? I know some writer's just sit down and start writing with little idea of where the story will take them. Other's plan flow charts of major scenes and events. Where do you fall?

I don’t go into a book cold, but I don’t have a detailed plan either. I know the story I want to tell, and who the characters are. I usually have a synopsis of six or seven pages that highlights the major plot points. But that’s it. I don’t know every scene, and I usually don’t know who the killer is until I’m well into the first draft. I like to get to know everyone, and really let the characters determine their fate. I find it’s more fun that way.   

8. (& 9 combined) I haven't read the Kate Conway series. (My library didn't have it this weekend!) The mood seems very different from the Someday Quilt Series. Was it hard switching to a different style and mood?

It is very different – more cynical, a bit deeper. I had this character in mind and I wanted to see what I could do with her, and Missing Persons is the book that came out.  I don’t find it difficult to switch. I can keep two quilting projects separate, two friends separate… so really, keeping the characters separate isn’t much different. In fact, I think moving back and forth is refreshing. It allows me to take a break and come back to it with fresh eyes – the way working on multiple quilt projects actually makes each one more interesting.

10. I know you have pulled names for your characters from those around you. In reading the Someday Quilt Series I have fallen in love with the ladies in the Quilt Club. The experiences Nell has with the older ladies and quilting is similar to real life experiences I have had with guilds. The ladies are always so willing to help the newbies out. Are any of these characters taken from people you have experienced in real life?

While the supportive, fun nature of a group of quilters is something I’ve gotten from my own experience, none of the characters are based on anyone in particular. I wanted a diverse group, in age and backgrounds, and as I created the characters they developed their own personalities. They feel very real to me, but everyone from Nell to Barney the dog is purely fiction.

Don't forget leave a comment on the original post for a chance to win!

Happy Quilting

Caren

Read your own Library Challenge!

This is the first installment of Read your own library Challenge.  That sounded like so much fun, so I signed up.   Then I went to my library and found....3 books to read. 

- One Thousand Paper Cranes

- Winesburg, Ohio

- Cold Sassy Tree

Most of these were leftovers from college!

That's it 3 books.  HMMMM...where did all of my unread books go?  I will have to put out an APB as soon as possible.  Anyway, in preparation for this challenge I read one of the three books.  So, for the next 2 months I will read one "old" book a month.  Hopefully, I will find my other books.  If not I can always raid my children's books!  On with the review:

One Thousand Paper Cranes

by Takayuki Ishii

Genre: children's,  age 10 and over, non fiction

Pages:97

Rating: ***

  I have had this book for years.  When I was a teacher I would have my students read an "easier" version.  Then we would make paper cranes.  I bought this version, but never got around to read it.

   One Thousand Paper Cranes, is the story of Sadako Sasaki and the effort to build the Children's Peace Statue in Japan.  The title comes from the myth that one who folds a thousand cranes, gets their wish.  The book covers a brief explanation of what the atomic bomb was and it's effects on people and objects when it hit.  Some of this may be difficult for a small child to read and understand, which is why I put the age at 10.  It will also bring some hard questions.  The book moves into the first hand accounts of the Sasaki family on the morning when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  If you have never read Japanese accounts of that day, this book is an easy one to start with.  Most of the book centers around 9 year old Sadako as she becomes ill, years after the bomb hit, and her struggle and eventual death.  There are photos of Sadako and letters from her and friends.  Lastly, the book follows the children of Sadako's school and their effort to build a monument for all the children who had died from Atomic Bomb Disease.

   I had difficulty rating this book.  It is a great book, very moving, and is still timely.  It is well written, if simplistic.  The topic is hard to read, especially with the first hand accounts of the time right after the drop of the bomb.  It is meant to persuade readers against the horrors of war and it does. 

- Caren

Short Stories

The Civilized  World
by Susi Wyss

Genre: Fiction, short stories, novel
Pages: 226
Rating:  ***
Released: 2011

   I have read nothing but mysteries for months.  I am in the mood for something different.  So, this weekend when I went to the library I headed straight for the new releases.  I came home with only two mysteries.

   The Civilized World is something different.  It is a collection of short stories, that also forms a novel.  The stories follow a group of women in Africa and one in America.  The tales weave the women together, mixing them  and moving them around.  It allows the reader into a glimpse of a modern Africa, through the eyes of the native born, recent white arrivals, and long term white ex-pats. 

   When I picked the book out I didn't really read the blurb on the back cover.  I skimmed it and remember it said something about a woman opening a beauty parlor in Africa.  That sounds interesting.  After reading the first story I wasn't sure I was going to finish the book.  But I was curious about the next story, so I read on.  I'm glad I did.

  The stories are bittersweet.  They don't leave you depressed, but like a good blues song they leave a lot to think about.  They actually remind me of southern folk tales.  They are rich in character and each has a nugget of truth about life.

   This is not the type of book I normally read, but I did enjoy it.

-Caren

A Review

The Devil's Puzzle

by Clare O'Donohue

Series: Someday Quilts Mystery Book 4

Genre: Cozy, Mystery

Pages:  276

Rating: ****

Full Disclosure:  I was given a copy of this book by Plume.  This review is my own opinion.  I was not paid for this review.

  When I was given this copy, from Plume, I was thrilled.  I have read three of the Someday Quilts Mysteries and love them.  The Devil's Puzzle, does not disappoint.  Yet, there are quite a few differences between this book and the previous books.
  The same enjoyable characters are back to solve a murder.  Nell, her grandmother Elenor, Jesse, and the rest of the crime solving quilters return with a full cast of the town's movers and shakers.  All of the things a reader expects from an O'Donohue novel is here.  Great characters, vivid scenes, snappy dialogue, and quilt history, are woven through the story. 
   In Devil's Puzzle, the town of Archers Rest is faced with a skeleton, that's been buried in Elenor's backyard, for 30 years.  Questions and accusations fly as everyone tries to solve who the skeleton belongs to, and who put him there.  No one is safe.  Residents have old skeletons popping out of  every closet.  The investigation goes on while the town readies for a huge Founder's Day celebration.
   This book, more so than the others, has colorful characters.  There are suspicions of witches and ghosts.   There are rumors of affairs, engagements, and babies.   It is fast paced and fun to read.  Given the topic it is a great read for October.  If you don't like scary books, but want something with Halloween overtones, give it a shot.
   This is a series book, but they do not have to be read in order.  You can pick up anyone and read without fear of discovering the plot from an earlier book.  A few events in the character's lives will be spoiled, but that's about it.

-Caren
 

A Book Review

Tears of Pearl
By Tasha Alexander

Series: Lady Emily Mystery Book 4
Genre: Suspense, Historical
Pages: 306
Rating: ****

  Tears of Pearl is a beautifully written book.  It is centered around Lady Emily and her husband Colin, in 1892.  The couple are on their honeymoon in Constantinople.  In classic mystery style it all starts on the Orient Express.  The mystery surrounds an Englishman working for the British Embassy and the death of a young woman in the Sultan's harem.  What's not to love about that.  The imigary is rich and the scenes are vivid.  It is a fast paced book.  But like the others, I kept a dictionary on hand!  Tasha Alexander does not skimp on words.
   If you have read a Lady Emily mystery you will not be disappointed with Tears of Pearl.  She is still breaking the rules of propriety.  Marraige has not tamed her love of adventure.  Old friends will join the adventure and new ones are introduced.  This book digs deep into Lady Emily, revealing fears that have not been seen before.  In the end she finds herself in grave danger. 
   Tasha Alexander is a wonderful writer.  The writing is elegant and fits the age and the characters beautifully.  The witty banter between Lady Emily and Colin is exciting and sexually charged.  The characters are not only believable, but become favorites. 

    This is the third book in the series, centered around Lady Emily, that I have read.  I still need to read the first book.  This series can be read out of order, but that may spoil some of the mystery.  For instance, I know some of the events that take place in book one, but I do not know who is guilty of murder.  Too much of the plot is not given away, to spoil reading book one.

   I highly recommend this book.  It is lush, vibarant, and sexy.