In My Mailbox (Just Received) 4/11/11

In my mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Story Siren.

Here's what I found in my mailbox last week:

The Final Summit by Andy Andrews (complimentary copy provided by BookSneeze for review)

Max on Life by Max Lucado (complimentary copy provided by BookSneeze for review)

Recovery by Alexandrea Weis (complimentary copy provided by the author for review)

Born Under a Lucky Moon by Dana Precious (won this at Colloquoum book blog)

TurboCharged: Accelerate Your Fat Burning Metabolism, Get Lean Fast and Leave Diet and Exercise Runes in the Dust by Dian Griesel, PhD. and Tom Griesel (complimentary copy provided by author for review)

Purchases (from my wonderful local second-hand bookstore Never Without a Book):

Death by Inferior Design by Leslie Caine

Evening Class-The Copper Beach-Tara Road by Maeve Binchy (compilation of three novels in one volume)

What arrived in your mailbox this week?  Did you find some great buys online or at your local bookstore? Or did you perhaps borrow some good reads from your local library?  Say hi and be sure to link up with The Story Siren too.  Have a terrific week!

New Dr. Seuss Book Available September 2011

7 new Dr. Seuss stories have been discovered and will be published in one volume, The Bippolo Seed, this September!  Watch the following video for more information.



Here's another fun video by CBC News Now about the lost stories.  http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/lost-dr-seuss-stories/16ahloc5g?from=en-ca-hpquad

Do You Judge a Book By Its Cover? Follow My Book Blog Friday Blog Hop 4/8/11

Do You Judge a Book By Its Cover?

I do more than I care to admit.  There are some books that I will read regardless of the cover because I know the author and love their work or the book came highly recommended.  Some books have the BEST covers and you just can't resist them.  Take Quicksilver as an example.

I haven't read this book yet but I love this cover!  My daughter, 18, read it and loved the book.  Just take a look at the hidden pictures on this cover and the colour is superb!   It sits on my TBR list and waits....  I have books for reviews that I must read first but this one is getting close to the top of the list, finally.  I am definitely looking forward to spending some time with this novel.

How about you?  Do you judge a book by its cover?  If so, have they been as good in content as the cover suggests?

To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules: 

• (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee's View } and any one else you want to follow on the list  
• (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers - http://mykeepershelf.blogspot.com/  
• Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing on Parajunkee's blog.
• Grab the button from Parajunkee and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments  
• Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "HI"  
• If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers  
• If you're new to the Follow Friday hop, comment and let us know, so we can stop by and check out your blog!

 

Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark Release New Novels

 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Book Review: Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie

this is a different cover than mine

Partners In Crime
Author:  Agatha Christie
Copyright:  1929*
Publisher:  *Dodd, Meade & Company
Current edition publisher:  The Berkley Publishing Group
Edition:  Mass market paperback
Pages:  230
Genre:  Crime drama/Mystery fiction
Source:  I purchased this book

This novel is a compilation of short stories originally published in newpapers.  These are stories of Tommy and Tuppence during the era when they took on running a detective agency.

My Review:

Tuppence is at a loss, bored and looking for something exciting, anything, when the Beresfords' old friend, Mr. Carter (who works for an unnamed government intelligence agency) arrives with a proposition for the couple, Tommy and Tupence Beresford.  Asked to take over 'The International Detective Agency' and pose as the owners where it is expected they will intercept messages from a Russian spy ring.  In the meantime, Tommy and Tuppence are to run the detective agencyto their liking which delights the young couple. They employ Albert, a young man introduced in The Secret Adversary, as their assistant at the agency.

They tackle several cases, in the style of famous fictional detectives such as Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, which makes great fun for them and the reader.

This was my first introduction to Tommy and Tuppence, that I recall, and I found their bantering charming, their sleuthing skills insightful and the cases interesting.  There is one case, that of The Unbreakable Alibi, that I had figured out long before the sleuthing couple did.  I enjoyed reading their reasoning and modus operandi as they worked to solve this case and the others within this compilation of short stories. 

A great read, particularly when you are in the mood for something short, like a short story.  Rated 4/5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partners_in_Crime_(short_story_collection)

For more information about arguably the best crime fiction/mystery writer of all time, see Agatha Christie.

This book counts as a read for the Vintage Mystery challenge.

Meet Shilpa Somaya Gowda, author of Secret Daughter

THE HELP Arrives in Pbk.

THE HELP Arrives in Pbk. Now available in trade paperback. Libraries still have a hold ratio of 2:1 despite having 100 + copies available. Get yours in paperback. Sorry, not yet available in mass market paperback. See my review The Help by Kathryn Stockett. The Help hits theatres August 12, 2011!

Teaser Tuesdays 4/5/11

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"To use a familiar quotation 'It is a great advantage to be intelligent and not to look it.'"

"Tommy", said Tuppence, "You're a beast." ~page 162, Partners in Crime by Agatha Christie

This is the first Tommy and Tuppence novel I recall reading.  So far, I am finding it an entertaining read and, for the most part, enjoy the banter between the husband and wife team of sleuths. This book is my third for the Vintage Mystery Challenge.  Bev at My Reader's Block is hosting this challenge.
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"In business, we hear that, 'every project looks like a failure in the middle.' Artists call it 'the throwaway' stage, because it is the point when they are tempted to, or do actually, crumple up their sketch and toss it to the floor in frustration."  ~ page 36, Hot Leaders, Cool Facilitators by Bart R. Wendell, PhD

If you've ever had to conduct or facilitate a meeting, this book is a good resource.

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Share your tease or link to your Teaser Tuesday post so I can pop by, won't you?  Happy reading!!

In My Mailbox (Just Received) 4/4/11

In my mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

This week has been fun!!  Lots of exciting reads and I found some terrific deals on books at Coles too!  I gifted myself for my birthday, thanks to my kids.  XOXO

In the mail, shipped by the author for review:

A Time To...A Baby Boomer's Spiritual Adventures by Ronald Louis Peterson

Shut Up and Stay Married: The Secret to Marriage Success by Visroel Roll

The G Point:  How to Turn Your Business Into A Growth Machine by Jack Trytten (ARC)

Palm Trees on the Hudson:  A True Story of The Mob, Judy Garland & Interior Decorating by Elliot Tiber

In the mail shipped by Harlequin (I won this copy):

The Girl's Guide to Homelessness by Brianna Karp (ARC for review too) 

Purchases:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians:  The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (this month's bookclub read)

The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans

Black Hills by Nora Roberts

Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg

What's new in your mailbox?  Did you make it to the library on the weekend?  Find a good book sale?  Share your comments below and remember to link up with The Story Siren too. 

Thanks for visiting today!  Have a terrific week and happy reading!

What Inspired You to Start Writing? Where Do You Write? Follow My Book Blog Friday Blog Hop 4/1/11

The blog hop link code

Just copy the code in the box at the following link to get the snazzy image/link above and join the hopping fun!  http://somesharpwords.blogspot.com/

 

Liz Schulte from Bat Country with this week’s featured question:

Some people like to do it in the office. Others prefer it in bed. Some people like it on the dining room table. Get your mind out of the gutter, I'm asking where you like to write!
I can write just about anywhere if the mood hits.  I sometimes wake up at night with a thought and jot it down in the notebook I keep at my bedside.  Usually, though, I write while sitting on the couch, feet up, computer on my lap or a scribbler in hand.  I've written in the car too.  Not so effective with all the bumps and all.  Where do you like to write?

1) (Required) You must follow my blog
2) (Required) You must follow the guest poster featured in the blog hop post.
3) Go to Sharp Words and copy the image code found there and paste it in your blog. Add your name to the link at the bottom of the post while you are there
4) Copy and paste the rules in your blog, as well as this week’s question.
5) Answer the question
6) You must copy these rules, the hop link and the featured question with your answer on your own blog. This blog serves as a place for new followers to say hi.
7) Follow, follow, follow. This is about networking, people, making connections with people in your community. So talk to us. We don't bite!
8) If someone stops by, says hi and follows you, the polite thing to do is follow back.
9) Comment here and introduce yourself and you just might find a new follower or two.

That's it! It's as simple as that!

Question of the week- I guess this is last week's question but, whatever, here's my answer to that too!

What inspired you to start writing?

Books and my love, passion, addiction of them were the beginnings of my writing aspiration.  The library was the best thing in the world, aside from horses, when I was little.  School assignments brought high praise from the teachers and the desire was born.  I always wanted to be a writer, a little passion that remained hidden from most others, to be revealed only occasionally.  One year ago, approximately, I decided to start taking it seriously and got caught up in the addiction of blogging.  If Julie Powell could do it, why not me?  So I began.  From one blog about gardening, another of my passions, to a book review blog (this blog), to a family blog and a movie and about town review blog and lastly my writing blog, There Came a Dream,which has been rather neglected of late.  I love to write but there's that little fear, that doubt, that still holds me back a little .  Be a dear, read my one chapter, broken into two posts (I am going to fix that, I swear), and give me a little push, "literal" that is.  Thanks guys.  What inspired you to start writing?

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http://www.crazy-for-books.com/

"Since today is April Fool's Day in the USA and Canada, what is the best prank you have ever played on someone OR that someone has played on you?"

It isn't much of a trick, really.  When I was pregnant with our first child, I was a few days overdue.  The morning of April Fools, which was also Good Friday, my water broke and labour began.  I tried to wake my husband to let him know we needed to head to the hospital but he rolled over and went back to sleep believing it was an April Fool's joke.  The joke was on all of us, our eldest son was born that afternoon.  We did make it to the hospital on time because my husband finally believed me!  Happy April Fools Day!

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Welcome to Stalk Hop Friday where you can follow several different ways.  Just visit Novel Bloggers to get your badge, follow me and Novel Bloggers and we will follow back.  Please let me know you are a new follower.