Title: Kidnap & Ransom [buy the book]
Author: Michelle Gagnon [website] [FB] [Twitter]
Pages: 416
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Date Published: November 1, 2010

Summary:

When the world’s foremost kidnap and ransom negotiator is snatched by a ruthless drug cartel, Jake Riley becomes ensnared in the effort to save him. But he’s up against Los Zetas, an elite paramilitary organization renowned for its ferocity and skill. Now he and his colleagues must navigate the dark underbelly of Mexico, from raging street wars to perilous jungles, in an effort to rescue him before time runs out.

After nearly losing her life on her last case, FBI Agent Kelly Jones may never do fieldwork again. Determined to regain her confidence, she joins Jake on his mission—and quickly realizes she’s in over her head. Then in the slums of Mexico City, she encounters a former nemesis who’s enacting a nightmarish ritual on the weak and vulnerable. Now she has one last, desperate shot to prove herself—by taking down a killer.

My thoughts:

As you know, I love me some good mysteries. Michelle Gagnon has become a favorite author of mine, and my only complaint is that I don’t have 20 backlist titles to choose from when I finish her latest book. At this point, I’ve read everything she’s written, and I’m chomping at the bit for more.

I read this quite a while ago, back in November 2010 when I was still working two jobs and reading was quickly becoming something that I used to do. At a time when reading time was at a premium and getting through a book could take a month or longer, I flew through this one in just a few days.

One of the reasons I particularly wanted to mention this book was because it’s been over a year since I read it, and while I normally can’t remember details from any books, I still remember that she did something in this book I’d have bet she’d never do. It took my head clean off.

If you’re a mystery fan, I absolutely recommend Michelle’s books. I know I haven’t said much about the plot, but that’s what the summary is for. I’m just here to tell you that you’re missing out if you’re not reading her books.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

We’ve got this really cool thing in Sonoma County where this guy, Glen, gives away books. HE GIVES AWAY BOOKS. He started the Sonoma County Free Bookmobile with a trailer pulled by a Chevy Suburban. He did that for a year and a half. He would have to “lug carts from the back of the trailer to allow folks to peruse titles.” About three weekends a month, he and a volunteer, usually one of his children, would drive the backroads of Sonoma County, “stopping at senior centers, low-income apartment complexes and other under-served locations to give away donated books.”

After a year and a half, Glen was able to find a real bookmobile by trawling Craigslist. This bookmobile has built in cabinets and places for people to read. Quite the step up from lugging carts out of the back of a trailer so people can see what books you’ve got.

Why does he do it? In the words of a friend, “He basically loves books, believes fervently in the importance of getting books in the hands of young children and other people who don’t have the budget to buy books.”

Glen has since quit his day job and dedicates his time to running the bookmobile.

Cool guy, right? And what does he do for a living? He gives away books. We all talk about getting people to read more, but this guy IS ACTUALLY DOING IT.

When I contacted him recently to donate some books, he said he’s in dire need of young adult books because he’s down to his last reserve on those. Unfortunately, my donation doesn’t include any young adult books.

That’s where you come in.

I’m putting a call out to anyone who reads this. I’m putting a call out to all my blogging friends, who I know oftentimes have books they want to give away but don’t know who to give them to.

Send me your books! While I would take any books (adult books are always needed), children’s books (includes middle grade) and young adult books are really needed right now.

If you have books you can donate, send them to me and I will make sure they reach the bookmobile. Here’s the books that are especially needed:

NEEDS: We are in greatest need of current titles for youth and young adults, including science, music, art, nature, and popular fiction.  Please click here for a more detailed list of currently popular kids’ books (one-page Word doc).  For adults, our highest priorities are:

• Classics
• Art & Music
• Science & Nature
• Building/Do It Yourself
• Dictionaries/Reference
• Foreign Language (especially Spanish)
• Humor
• History
• Philosophy

WE DO NOT NEED: Our patrons appreciate a wide variety of gently used books.  There are a few kinds, however, that don’t fit within our mission parameters.  Thereby we don’t accept magazines, encyclopedias or other sets, condensed, abridged, or ‘digest’ versions, tear-offs (books without covers), books with illegible spines, torn, damaged, or marked-up books, school textbooks, or out-of-date books.  Old books are often great – especially the classics!  Out-of-date refers to old books without practical value, usually on topics of computers/software, electronics/technology, nutrition, finance markets, microwave cookery, etc.  We don’t circulate other types of media (CDs, DVDs, audiotapes, software).

If you have a box of books you’re willing to send but don’t have the money for postage, I can PayPal the money over so you can send the books via media mail.

If you have some books you’re willing to donate, please email me at trish@heylady.net and I’ll send you my mailing address.

If you don’t currently have books to donate, you can collect books you find at garage sales and flea markets and send a bunch of them later. You could go to a bookstore and buy a bunch of books, knowing that your donation is akin to a secret santa.

Thank you for helping such a worthy cause!

—–

Bookmobile website

Newspaper article about the Bookmobile

Another local blog mentioned the Bookmobile recently

—–

Special thanks to Galleysmith and @book_chatter for their immediate support when I put an initial call out on Twitter.

Title: My (not so) Storybook Life [buy the book]
Author: Elizabeth Owen [website]
Pages: 256
Genre: Memoir
Date published: October 18, 2011

Summary:

Fresh, funny, and poignant, My (not so) Storybook Life is old-fashioned humor mashed with literary spoofery. Elizabeth thinks of herself and her husband, Matt, as a modern day Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Together they’ve endured paint-color mishaps, sewage disasters, pest infestations, and a schnauzer that poops at tornado sirens. It was hardly the domestic perfection a young Liz imagined while reading Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice. Could it be that these literary stalwarts had led her astray?

Liz tells the story of her own path to happiness, along the way seeking revenge on her literary heroes: Jo March has to cope with a soul-sucking job, Elizabeth Bennett shepherds a Duggar-size brood of kids, and Anne Shirley deals with a penny-pinching husband. But every comedy is balanced by tragedy. Angela was one of Liz’s closest friends, a kindred spirit who at age of 33 was diagnosed with cancer. Before Angela, Liz was discontent. But it was the journey she took with this friend that made her realize that her house and its decorations and plumbing and dirty-clothes-covered Man Cave were not burdens to be tweaked and perfected, but blessings to be thankful for.

Why I’m Featuring It

Liz from Mabel’s House is one of my favorite bloggers. When I had a blogroll, she was on it. She recently published a book and asked if I would feature it on my blog. I couldn’t tell her yes fast enough.

I haven’t had the chance to read it, but I wanted to make sure you all knew about it. I kind of owe it to her.

Liz turned me on to Homer Laughlin Orange Tree bowls. If turning me on to beautiful vintage pottery like that doesn’t indebt me to someone, then I don’t know what does.

I think it was her who made me appreciate the wonder of turquoise paint.

Liz announced her pregnancy a month or two before I announced mine. I’ve watched her deal with post partum depression and come out on the other side. If we lived closer we’d be friends. So I absolutely wanted to tell you all about her book. If you like memoirs, why not give this one a shot?

*waves*

Oh, hello! Remember me? The one who posted here (fairly) regularly for the past four years? Seriously, I cannot believe I’ve been blogging for that long. I was just commenting on someone’s blog and telling them that one thing I’m thankful for is all my bloggy friends! Most of those friendships have lasted a few years (a few have bit the dust), and I consider myself extremely lucky to know you all!

Enough sentimentality. We’re like friends who can not see each other for a long time, then when we do see each other, it’s like no time has passed, right?

Soo…let’s see. Much to tell you!

Ethan: has two teef! He got them on the same night, with pretty minimal fussing. I’d say, What a trooper! except for the fact that he’s been extra fussy lately which I can only assume is more teething since we’ve been to the doctor and it’s not an ear infection. It’s hard (on the parents) to go from a super mellow baby to a (somewhat) fussy baby! The past few days have been pretty good, though, so I think we’re on the downward slope of that.

He sits up and can do this inchworm thing that can get him where he wants to go amazingly fast. Like, I would think with the way he’s moving his body, it would take him an hour to go from one end of the living room to the other. No, instead it takes 30 seconds and all the animals scatter when they see him coming.

HE SAID MAMA TODAY! I’m not positive he knows what he’s saying, but he said it more than once today. And no, he hasn’t said dada yet. I think he knows he owes me since he smiled at dad first.

Ethan was a skunk for Halloween!

I have pictures of him happy and not crying, but they’re not nearly as cute.

We went to Hawaii, and Ethan didn’t like the ocean the first day, but when we put his feet in the ocean again on the last day, he loved it. We were in Hawaii for my husband’s father’s 70th birthday (which was on 11/11/11 — thus the party in Hawaii), and some of his friends very thoughtfully bought him a cake. When they picked it up, they found out that 70th had somehow become 78th, so the cake showed he was 8 years older than he actually is:

All we need now for this to be a great Cake Wreck is for them to have misspelled his name. UnFortunately, it’s hard to misspell Tom.

The only things I can manage these days is to take care of Ethan and work on my business. Meals are sporadic, sleep is still not great because I have to work in the evenings and Ethan is waking up at night (after sleeping through the night for a few months), and reading is nowhere near where I want it to be (I can’t even read one book a month). But I love it. I’m loving life.

A few more pictures:

(This was the view standing in our living room in Hawaii.)

(Ethan on Thanksgiving.)

(After I attempted surfing. I got up on my knees, that was it.)

Title: State of Wonder [buy the book]
Author: Ann Patchett [website]
Pages: 368 pages
Genre: Fiction
Date published: June 7, 2011

Summary:

Ann Patchett has dazzled readers with her award-winning books, including The Magician’s Assistant and the New York Times bestselling Bel Canto. Now she raises the bar with State of Wonder, a provocative and ambitious novel set deep in the Amazon jungle.

Dr. Marina Singh, a research scientist with a Minnesota pharmaceutical company, is sent to Brazil to track down her former mentor, Dr. Annick Swenson, who seems to have all but disappeared in the Amazon while working on what is destined to be an extremely valuable new drug, the development of which has already cost the company a fortune. Nothing about Marina’s assignment is easy: not only does no one know where Dr. Swenson is, but the last person who was sent to find her, Marina’s research partner Anders Eckman, died before he could complete his mission. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the insect-infested jungle in hopes of finding her former mentor as well as answers to several troubling questions about her friend’s death, the state of her company’s future, and her own past.

Once found, Dr. Swenson, now in her seventies, is as ruthless and uncompromising as she ever was back in the days of Grand Rounds at Johns Hopkins. With a combination of science and subterfuge, she dominates her research team and the natives she is studying with the force of an imperial ruler. But while she is as threatening as anything the jungle has to offer, the greatest sacrifices to be made are the ones Dr. Swenson asks of herself, and will ultimately ask of Marina, who finds she may still be unable to live up to her teacher’s expectations.

In a narrative replete with poison arrows, devouring snakes, and a neighboring tribe of cannibals, State of Wonder is a world unto itself, where unlikely beauty stands beside unimaginable loss. It is a tale that leads the reader into the very heart of darkness, and then shows us what lies on the other side.

My thoughts:

If you’re an Ann Patchett fan, you’re stoked to have a new book by her to read! If you’re not an Ann Patchett fan, GET THEE TO A BOOKSTORE because you will be a convert. If you come back to me and confess your sins (not reading Ann Patchett), I will absolve you.

State of Wonder is the fourth Patchett book I’ve read. With Bel Canto and State of Wonder, one could say the setting and premise is unbelievable. Speaking specifically to State of Wonder, I found the setting plausible, though not a situation I’d ever find myself. But I don’t read Patchett for how mundane or commonplace her settings are. I read her for the questions she poses, for the relationships she so deftly develops, and for the truths I find in her books.

One quote that I will never forget:

Hope is a horrible thing, you know. I don’t know who decided to package hope as a virtue because it’s not. It’s a plague. Hope is like walking around with a fishhook in your mouth and somebody just keeps pulling it and pulling it.

I was able to see Ann Patchett at a literary luncheon. I’m not quite sure I conveyed the breadth and depth of my love for her. I didn’t, however, tell her I would have her babies (which I would) because while she fawned over Ethan (which was very nice), she mentioned in her talk that she doesn’t want children. Darn. That was how I was going to profess my love for her.

At the literary luncheon, Patchett read a passage from State of Wonder that made me almost run screaming from the room because the tension in the scene was so high. While on a boat, one of the characters in the book reaches in to the water, grabs an anaconda, and pulls it on to the boat. To see who does and doesn’t die, you’ll have to read the book. But suffice it to say that it was all I could do to stand the suspense while she read the scene aloud.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars