The Vanishing by Wendy Webb

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Julia Bishop - a young, beautiful, and vulnerable widow in need of a safe haven.
Amaris Sinclair - a "famous and rather eccentric horror novelist" with a deep interest in the occult who dropped out of public view ten years ago, and who currently resides at Havenwood.
Adrian Sinclair - Amaris' grown-up son who purportedly hires Julia to be a companion to his aging mother, but who has another reason for wanting Julia at Havenwood.
Drew McCullough - the sexy Scotsman who takes care of the horses; he's also Havenwood's real owner and heir.
Tundra, Tika and Molly - the three Alaskan Malamutes who protect Havenwood from ALL trespassers, both ghostly and real.

While not a perfect book, The Vanishing is an entertaining mix of mystery, psychological thriller and supernatural ghost story. And it takes place in one of those atmospheric gothic mansions, complete with library, that I've always wanted to visit. But Havenwood seems to be haunted by more than just the spirits of the dead. Are Julia's ghostly visions real, or mere hallucinations? And what secrets are Amaris and her son hiding? The fun part of this book is in trying to figure out just where the truth lies. The setting is great and the characters are sympathetic and likeable. So ignore the few minor flaws here and there and enjoy the ride.

Happy Reading!

Buying happiness...

"You can't buy happiness, but you can buy books

and that's kind of the same thing."

--Anonymous

So, I splurged and bought a little happiness today in the shape of four new books. Two favorites:

And two books that I've never read:

It didn't cost me a lot of money because I found them used (thank you, Powells!), which makes me even happier. The best part? I now get to curl up in my favorite comfy chair and read them! Any day with a good book in it is a good day. What about you? Bought any happiness lately?

Another round of bookish fun...

Last year I did a post on how books are the answer to everything, and I thought it would be fun to revisit it with some new categories. Want to play, too? Just answer the following with titles of books that you've recently read and see what your books say about you.

Here are mine:
     Who you are: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie  (by Alan Bradley)
     Who you wanted to be when you were younger: Guitar Girl  (by Sarra Manning
     A Typical Day: Much Ado About Nothing  (Shakespeare)
     Where you want to be in a year: East of the Sun  (by Julia Gregson)
     Something you love: Castles in the Air  (by Judy Corbett)
     Something that scares you: The Uncertain Places (by Lisa Goldstein)
     Something you'd like to change: The Never List  (by Koethi Zan)
     Your hopes for the future: Belle Epoque  (by Elizabeth Ross) OR A Rather Lovely Inheritance  (by C.A. Belmond)

Play along. It's fun.

(And let me know what answers you come up with.)

The Gentleman Poet by Kathryn Johnson

10 cents at a library book sale. That's how much I paid for this book. (Don't you just love a bookish bargain?) And after reading it, I have to say it's worth a lot more than that. This novel is a perfect combination of love, survival, adventure, and Shakespeare.

It's 1609. The Sea Venture is sailing for Jamestown when it encounters a storm which causes it to wreck off the coast of Bermuda, the "dreaded Devil's Isles". Among the ship's stranded passengers are Elizabeth Miranda Persons, a young servant girl, and William Strachey, the ship's historian who is really William Shakespeare in disguise. Then there's Thomas Powell, the ship's cook, who hopes to win Elizabeth Miranda's heart.

This novel is a skillful weaving of truth and fiction, history and fantasy, with a little of Shakespeare's The Tempest thrown in for good measure. Johnson ably captures the feel of the 1600s without slowing down the plot. It's mostly Elizabeth Miranda's story, but also the story of the crew and passengers who survived the very real "storm and wreck" of the Sea Venture. Be warned, though, the ending is a bit abrupt. I enjoyed this read. And Bermuda sounds beautiful...I wouldn't mind spending a month, or two, there (without the shipwreck, of course). But I think it's the Shakespearean quotes that Johnson puts at the beginning of each chapter that I liked most of all.

Happy Reading!

A Life Lesson...

Here's some of my favorite bits of wisdom from Mother Teresa:

Life is beauty, admire it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is sorrow, overcome it.

Life is a struggle, accept it.

Life is an adventure, dare it.

Life is luck, make it.

Life is life, fight for it.

I can relate to each and every one of these. Sometimes I wish there was a little less sorrow and struggle, and a little more luck, beauty and adventure, but that's what makes life LIFE. And it's up to each of us to realize, overcome, accept and meet it.  

The Taliban Cricket Club

Before the Taliban came into power, Rukhsana attended university, played cricket, fell in love, and even became a journalist. But now she is just one of the faceless, voiceless single women of Kabul, unable to leave her home alone, condemned to invisibility under her burka, hoping to find a way out of Afghanistan for both herself and her younger brother, Jahan.

"A few meters of fabric, soft, fragile, and pliable, became our cell. No granite was was more impregnable, no bars more unbreakable, no dungeon darker or more dreadful. I vanished from sight, as if a magician had passed a wand over me. I was no longer Rukhsana with a distinctive nose, a mouth, eyes, a forehead, a chin, a head of hair, but a walking shroud, identical to every other shamed and shrouded woman in the street. Under the burka it was clear that this Afghanistan had no place for women."

 It looks hopeless...until the Taliban themselves unexpectedly offer a way out:  playing cricket. They want to show the world that sport is alive and well in Afghanistan by forming a state cricket team. If Rukhsana can teach her brother and her many male cousins how to play, she just might be able to get them all out of Afghanistan. But she only has 3 weeks in which to do it. And, as a woman, she's been forbidden to play. If she's caught, they could all be sent to prison. Or worse. To add to her difficulties, there is a hateful Taliban minister who wants to marry her....

Wow. I loved this book! Timeri N. Murari's writing is poetic and powerful. I held my breath with Rukhsana, and cringed in fear, and laughed and cried with her. I worried about her brother and her cousins. Murari even made me care about a cricket match. The Taliban Cricket Club is a remarkable story of one young woman's hope, strength, and defiance in the face of overwhelming cruelty and terror. It is a story of family loyalty. Most of all, it is a love story. One I won't soon forget.

Similar Reads:
     Kabul Girls Soccer Club by Awista Ayub
     The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
     The Sewing Circles of Herat by Christina Lamb

A Bookish Arrangement...

Everyone has their own bookish preferences when it comes to organizing and arranging their books. Some are strict alphabetists--bibliophiles who arrange all their books in alphabetical order by the author's last name, no exceptions, and who wouldn't dream of doing it any other way.

Then there are the Dewey Decimalphiles--library lovers who like to order their own books according to subject matter and the random numberization of the Dewey Decimal system.

Interior decorators like to arrange books by the size and color of their covers, sometimes even turning them around on the shelves so they all look the same. (Which has got to be the dumbest way to organize a shelf full of books! They may look pretty, but how do you find anything?)

Then there are the random stackers and plastic tote packers--those book lovers who keep their books in piles and stacks (and in boxes and totes), in no particular order, all over the house. On nightstands. On stairs. Even under the bed. There's always room for more books with this particular system, but finding what you want to read when you want to read it can be a challenge.

As for me, my system's a bit of an eclectic mix. I like to separate my non-fiction from my fiction and I like to group certain genres together. For example, all my classics reside on their own shelf, as do my children's books. But because of space limitations, a lot of my other books have to mingle together, in mostly alphabetical order, on my remaining shelves. It's not a perfect system, and I'm sure others would find it a bit random and confusing, but as long as I know where all my books live that's all that really matters. Right?

What about you? How do you organize your books?