Booking Through Thursday: Restrictions

This week, BTT has come up with this truly devilish predicament:

God* comes to you and tells you that, from this day forward, you may only read ONE type of book–one genre–period, but you get to choose what it is. Classics, Science-Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Cookbooks, History, Business … you can choose, but you only get ONE.

What genre do you pick, and why?

*Whether you believe in God or not, pretend for the purposes of this discussion that He is real.

That's easy. No god I could ever believe in would try to enforce such horrendous restrictions.

My god believes variety is the spice of life. My god believes in live and let live. And my god believes all genres and literary devices are created equal.

Even those zombies and vampires.

A-Z Wednesday: "L"

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, just visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment.

This week's letter is "L." So I went to my shelves, and this is what I pulled out.

Lying Awake
Written by Mark Salzman
First published 2000

Description from Good Reads:

Sister John's cloistered life of peace and prayer has been electrified by ever more frequent visions of God's radiance, leading her toward a deep religious ecstasy. Her life and writings have become examples of devotion. Yet her visions are accompanied by shattering headaches that compel Sister John to seek medical help. When her doctor tells her an illness may be responsible for her gift, Sister John faces a wrenching choice: to risk her intimate glimpses of the divine in favor of a cure, or to continue her visions with the knowledge that they might be false-and might even cost her her life.

The book's page at Amazon.com.

And another cover (possibly the British edition?).

I read this gorgeous little novel a few years back and, even though I'm not really terribly religious, I absolutely fell in love with the book and Sister John. The book is beautifully written, and I honestly couldn't put it down until I'd finished. I've always intended to try something else by Mark Salzman, and thanks to A-Z Wednesday, I've given myself a good reminder now.

Teaser Tuesdays: Angels of Destruction

As usual, I've got several books going at the moment, so it took me a little while to make up my mind about which one to use for a teaser. Decided on Keith Donohue's Angels of Destruction – one of the ARCs I never managed to read last year (but thanks to the ARC Reading Challenge, I'm finally getting around to all those unread advance copies that were glaring at me from their shelves, making me feel so guilty).

I'm a few pages away from this snippet, so I'm not really sure exactly what's going on. But I know the two people involved are Norah, a mysterious young orphan, and her classmate Sean. And Norah has just been trying to persuade Sean to share her cigarette. From p.35:

"I know lots of things," she said, and catching the interest in his eyes, she shrieked and tore off through the woods, her shoes skating across the snow and bare earth, and he did not catch up to her until they reached the back fence of Mrs. Quinn's yard. At a blind corner, they nearly crashed, and as he caught himself short by grabbing her shoulders, Norah screamed at the touch and laughed and screamed again, and he could see stars glistening at the back of her throat.

Okey-dokey. Apparently the book combines elements of fantasy and reality in telling its tale, but even so, I'm wondering about those stars. . . .

How about you? Got a great teaser from a book you're reading right now? Want to play along? Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at One Persons Journey Through a World of Books. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link.

Yes, it really is Monday, isn't it? Don't know why I always have such a hard time getting started after the weekend, but I'm running behind today as usual.

In the last couple of weeks I've been doing pretty well with my reading, although I'm still lagging on review writing (what else is new?). Here's what's up lately:

• Finished last week:
  An American Type, by Henry Roth. Review to come next month (book is due out in June).
  A River in the Sky, by Elizabeth Peters
  Live To Tell, by Lisa Gardner. Review to come later (book is due out this summer).
  
  
• Reviews posted recently:
  A River in the Sky, by Elizabeth Peters
  The Swimming Pool, by Holly LeCraw
  
  
• Reading this week:
  The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton
  The Map of True Places, by Brunonia Barry
  
  
• Next up:
  The Sculptor, by Gregory Funaro (Won this in a Good Reads giveaway. Looks interesting.)
  
  
• In the works:
  Still at least half a dozen or so reviews to be finished up and posted. (Must do better!)
  

The Sunday Salon: Long Time No See

It's been a really long time since I checked in on the Sunday Salon. We're usually pretty busy around here on Sunday, and that doesn't leave me much time for blogging or blog reading. But today we've rescheduled all our errands and other business so that the hubby can stay home and spend the entire day watching the NBA playoffs. Well, maybe not the entire day – it'll just seem like the entire day. (Just kidding – I'll probably be watching, too.) But that does leave me with a little extra blogging/reading time, so I decided to see what's going on in TSS country.

Also time to do a little stock-taking. So far in 2010 I've read 17 books (see my list here). I know that doesn't sound like a lot to all you super readers out there who can get through two or three books a day. But for a slowpoke such as moi, that's doing pretty darn good – I'm averaging about a book a week, which should make it possible for me to reach my fifty book goal by the end of the year, or get very close.

Last week, I actually finished two books. A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters is the most recent addition (published this month, I believe) to her Amelia Peabody series, and a great adventure tale. I enjoyed it a lot even though I hadn't read any of the earlier books. Also finished reading An American Type, Henry Roth's posthumous novel due out in June. I received my ARC through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program, and I've put up a short review at LT; but I'll probably hold off a while on posting a blog review, until a little closer to the book's publication date.

If all goes well, I should be able to finish one of my current books today. I've been reading an ARC of Lisa Gardner's new D.D. Warren mystery, Live To Tell, and I've only got a few chapters to go. It's another one that's due out this summer, so I might hold off on that review, too. For now I'll just say it's packed with surprises, and I'm loving it.

The other book I've got going right now is The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. One of the groups I follow at Good Reads selected it as one of their April group reads, and I thought I'd join in. It's something of a chunkster, though, and I'm only about a third of the way in – so I might have to sit myself down and just blast through it this week. Wouldn't mind doing that because (so far) it's a great story!

So, that's where I'm at in the land of lit-ra-chure. Now I'm off to see what everyone else is occupying themselves with today. Hope we all have a great Sunday, and get lots of reading done!

Booking Through Thursday: Earth Day

This week Booking Through Thursday is all about Earth Day:

It’s Earth Day … what are you reading? Are your reading habits changing for the sake of the environment? What are you doing for the sake of the planet today?

It is, indeed, Earth Day today. Who would have thought, back in those ancient days of 1970, that the "hippie holiday" would turn into such a mainstream event and hang around for so long? Certainly not me. But then, I never expected bell-bottom pants to come back, either.

So. What am I reading? Well, nothing Earth Day related. Although one of my current reads does have a title that sounds like it could have an ecological theme. But somehow, I don't believe The Forgotten Garden (by Kate Morton) has anything to do with saving the planet. The other book I've got going at the moment is an ARC of Live To Tell, by Lisa Gardner; and the only earthy thing about it is the language of its chief protagonist, Detective D.D. Warren.

I don't think my feelings about the environment really have much influence on my reading habits. I have acquired an iPad recently, so I suppose I'll probably be reading more e-books which some think might save a few trees. However, that's a controversial subject that I don't want to get into right now (I know others disagree about the environmental impact of all these electronic devices).

And as for what I'm doing for the planet today – well, not much, I guess. Oh, I know – I'm using my new Brita water filtering pitcher which has cut way down on the amount of plastic water bottles we've used lately. But I'm not planting any trees or anything. In fact, given the horrendous pollen count we've got around here right now, I probably won't even be going outside!

A-Z Wednesday: "K"

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, just visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment.

This week's letter is "K." So I went to my shelves, and this is what I pulled out.

Katherine
Written by Anya Seton
First published 1954

Description from the publisher:

This classic romance novel tells the true story of the love affair that changed history – that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family. Set in the vibrant 14th century of Chaucer and the Black Death, the story features knights fighting in battle, serfs struggling in poverty, and the magnificent Plantagenets – Edward III, the Black Prince, and Richard II – who ruled despotically over a court rotten with intrigue. Within this era of danger and romance, John of Gaunt, the king's son, falls passionately in love with the already married Katherine. Their well-documented affair and love persist through decades of war, adultery, murder, loneliness, and redemption. This epic novel of conflict, cruelty, and untamable love has become a classic since its first publication in 1954.

The book's page at Amazon.com.

The Wikipedia article about the book.

The original cover from 1954:


And the cover of a more recent edition:


This is another book I haven't read yet, although I've skimmed through sections of it. Katherine (de Roet) Swynford is supposed to be an ancestress of mine, so I've always been interested in her, and the children she had with John of Gaunt. Those Plantagenets were so colorful, but so hard to keep track of!