Teaser Tuesday 12/15

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!
• Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

This week's book was recommended to me by a good friend:

"Roscoe," she said, "I want you to tell us exactly what happened."

Swire sat down near the fire, still heaving from his scramble through the slot canyon, oblivious to a nasty gash on his arm that was bleeding freely.

From Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Nora Kelly, a young archaeologist in Santa Fe, receives a letter written sixteen years ago, yet mysteriously mailed only recently. In it her father, long believed dead, hints at a fantastic discovery that will make him famous and rich---the lost city of an ancient civilization that suddenly vanished a thousand years ago. Now Nora is leading an expedition into a harsh, remote corner of Utah's canyon country. Searching for her father and his glory, Nora begins to unravel the greatest riddle of American archeology. But what she unearths will be the newest of horrors...

Review: Your Hate Mail Will be Graded

As regular readers of this blog may already know, I am a big fan of science fiction writer John Scalzi. He even has his own tag here, I write about him so much! His Old Man's War series is just fantastic. I am also a fan and daily reader of Scalzi's blog Whatever. "Whatever" is one of the longest running blogs - the first entry was on September 13, 1998, way back even before the term blog was invented - and has 40k plus readers a day (I can't even imagine having that many readers!). So what is "Whatever" about?

Well, about whatever: Politics, writing, family, war, popular culture and cats (especially with bacon on them). Sometimes he's funny. Sometimes he's serious (mostly he's sarcastic). Sometimes people agree with him. Sometimes they send him hate mail, which he grades on originality and sends back.

Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded is a collection of "Whatever" entries, some dating back to the early days of the site, some from 2008. The topics range from the serious to the ridiculous, and include such topics as September 11th, advice for writers, and fatherhood.

It is apparent what the dominant political topics were during the years Scalzi wrote these essays: gay marriage, George W. Bush, the Iraq War, etc. And some of those essays, in particular, felt a little dated. But many of the other essays, like the one on his childhood hero, Carl Sagan, or the financial advice for writers, felt more timeless.

No surprise, I really like Scalzi's writing. As the blurb points out, there's a lot of sarcasm in the humorous pieces, which I like, though I recognize not everyone will. But Scalzi has, to me, a distinctive voice, that I just love. I think other readers (and not just science fiction fans) will enjoy this book as well.

Buy Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded on Amazon.

A softcover version of this book will be coming out in January from Tor.

Fridate Update

(Almost) every Friday, I update my library and share what new books I bought or received during the past week.

Dudes! Its been so long since I've done this! I only posted about NaNoWriMo during my November updates. Its not like I didn't get any new books, of course, but I certainly haven't gotten as many. I just wasn't reading as much last month. But here's what I did get:

Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers by Dorie Greenspan



Kindred by Octavia Butler


The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange by Mark Barrowcliffe (purchased by my husband)

Its my turn to host book club tonight - we'll be discussing The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I reviewed this week. Plus, Thursday night began the rush of holiday parties for me. This all means that this weekend will be a lovely flurry of making and eating food - including two kinds of pie! - and spending time with friends. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

"Waiting On" Wednesday

I saw an announcement in Shelf Awareness this week that I think many of us will be excited about:

The as-yet-unnamed third book in Suzanne Collins's bestselling trilogy that began with The Hunger Games in fall 2008 and continued with Catching Fire this fall has been set for next August 24. The U.S. hardcover edition (Scholastic, $17.99, 9780439023511) will be released simultaneously with a U.S. audio version (Scholastic, $39.99, 9780545101424).

I can't wait!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Teaser Tuesday 12/8

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!
• Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

From Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded by John Scalzi:

I fell for Carl [Sagan] with the sort of blissful rapture that I strongly suspect is only available to pre-pubescent geeks, a sort of nerd crush that, to be clear, had no sexual component, but had the same sort of swoony intensity. This was the guy I wanted to be when I was age eleven.

If you buy this book through Subterranean Press (the publisher), you also get a little chapter book - a novella, of sorts - by Scalzi, FYI.

Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book….

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society [was] born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives.

I liked this book. I really liked the way the authors handled the epistolary style and I enjoyed the story. I can, though, point out about a dozen things wrong with this book that prevented me from loving it, though. The plot twists were visible from space, the off-screen lead character (Elizabeth, not the actual main character Juliet) was too good to be true, and the ending was pat. But I liked it! Does that mean there's something wrong with me? I guess not, since so many other people have loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society even more than I did. There are some sad moments, but overall this is a nice book to read when you want something sweet. Enjoy!

Buy The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on Amazon.

Off My Game

Its so hard to get back into blogging after taking a break! And I skipped Teaser Tuesday today as I am still reading the same massive tome I posted last week (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clark). But I'm not going away permanently or anything - I'll be back soon with new reviews and stuff.