Book Covers

Huffington Post's Coolest Book Covers of 2010 (via Shelf Awareness). I'm not familiar with any of these books, I'll confess (though I've read a couple of the authors) but I always love hearing the behind the scenes take on a cover.

Review: Persona Non Grata

Persona Non Grata is the third book in Ruth Downie's Medicus series, after Medicus and Terra Incognita (links go to my reviews).

In this installment, Ruso, a medic in the Roman army, heads home to Gaul in response to a letter from his family, with his "barbarian" lover Tilla in tow. Once home, he finds out that no one really wants him there. Things go from bad to worse, as they always seem to do around Ruso, when the creditor he's trying to negotiate with is murdered in Ruso's home. Further complications arise: Tilla gets caught up with the wrong crowd (aka Christians), Ruso's half-sister falls in love with a gladiator, and his stepmother keeps trying to fix him up with their wealthy neighbor.

I loved the first one and liked the second one, but thought it had lost a bit of its luster. Now with the third book, I was a little bored. It took me a while to get through it, as I kept losing interest (partly due to my own lack of interest in reading in general, I'll admit). For starters, I felt more annoyed by Ruso and Tilla's exploits than intrigued. Ruso is so hapless, it was hard to root for him. And, out of her element, Tilla seemed a little shrewish, not the feisty heroine from the first two books. There were also many, many secondary characters to keep track of. In the midst of this, the mystery seemed to get lost.

Other readers, especially those in a better reading mood than I, may disagree. I still highly recommend the first book and think there was a lot to like in this one (the setting, in particular). I just expected something more.

Buy Persona Non Grata: A Novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie on Amazon.

I did really like this slideshow on the author's website of some of the real places in this book.

Note: I received Persona Non Grata from LibraryThings' Early Reviewer program.

Teaser Tuesday 11/2

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!

Today's teaser is from The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be by Armin A. Brott.

My wife and I thought about a home birth for our second baby but ultimately decided against it. While I don't consider myself particularly squeamish, I just couldn't imagine how we'd avoid making a mess all over the bedroom carpet.

My husband bought this for himself, on the advice of friends, and I read it, too, just for fun. I don't plan on reviewing it, but thought it was enjoyable enough to share this snippet.

NaBloPoMo: Day 1

Since I stink as a book blogger these days, I thought I'd see if participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) would help kickstart me back into being a better blogger. Even in my blogging heyday, I never posted daily, so this might be interesting.

I am not, sadly, participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year. With baby due December 3, I just can't do it. And to be honest, being pregnant has made my arm injury flare back up (not surprisingly) which means that I can't type that much. This is actually one of the contributing factors to my lack of blogging.

Anyway, if any of you are participating in NaNoWriMo, I can't wait to hear all about it. I loved participating the past two years and winning last year felt great. I highly recommend doing it to anyone who likes writing.

Interesting Links

My links today are sort of all over the place, but are more about architecture than books.

Via Shelf Awareness: Near the Library, D’Espresso’s Bookish Coffee Bar.

Via (sort of surprisingly) Go Fug Yourself:
10 music videos set in libraries and bookstores.

Via archinect: Should you build your own home? Loved this! FYI, home in this context, refers to your website, not to an actual house.

At the NY Times, AT HOME WITH PATRICK DOUGHERTY: Building With Sticks and Stones. I've written about the artist previously.

Teaser Tuesday 10/12

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!

As frequent readers may have noticed from the lack of anything going on here, I'm in a slump. Since I think the universal cure for a slump is well-loved classics, I'm browsing my shelves these days looking for something that seems appealing. Over the weekend, I read an old favorite: Friday by Robert A. Heinlein. This week's Teaser:

As I left the Kenya Beanstalk capsule he was right on my heels. He followed me through the door leading to Customs, Health, and Immigration. As the door contracted behind him I killed him.

This isn't my favorite Heinlein by any stretch, but it's a quick and fun read (especially if you skim the typical Heinlein lectures on everything from politics to astrophysics and avert your eyes from the outdated sexual politics).

Teaser Tuesday 10/5

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 Teaser is from Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott.

[A moral position] begins in the heart of a character and grows from there. Tell the truth and write about freedom and fight for it, however you can, and you will be richly rewarded.

I've been reading this book for some time now, somewhat because I've been in a general reading slump, but also because this book lends itself really well to being read in snippets.