BookCrossing

What a wonderful novel!

It is so rich in historical details and atmosphere that I could feel myself in 16th century Spain and Venice.

Hannah Mendes was a Jew, who had to live her whole life hiding her faith, pretending to be Christian to avoid persecution, torture and death.  Her family holds secret rituals and Seders, observes the Sabbath quietly and without fanfare ane passes their history down to each other by word of mouth.

After she marries and she is left widowed and rich by her husband's fortunes, she knows she must do something good to help those who are being persecuted and hunted by the Catholic church.  She participates in an underground railway of sorts, helping Jews move out of Italy and Spain into safe countries as well as bribing officials for their safe passage.

The current day part of the story involves Catherine Da Costa - a dying matriarch who wants to pass her sense of family and heritage on to her granddaughters. One is a career oriented, lonely young woman who is afraid of commitment and the other is promiscuous, fly by night charity worker who can't keep a job nor a man.  Her dying wish is that they go to Europe to find Hannah Mendes' manuscript so that Catherine may know her whole story and share it with them.

Along the way, the views of the small towns in Spain, the descriptions of Venice, the tortuous cruelty of the Inquisitors and the strength of Hannah Mendes make this novel one that I could not put down.

BookCrossing

This is a book I bought for my husband for a Christmas gift and after he read it gave it to me.

I read it over two days. It is definitely comparable to the DaVinci Code.

Handsome, rugged FBI agent and beautiful female archeaologist meet when 4 men riding horses and dressed as Knights Templar storm the MET during a Vatican exhibit. Although many priceless treasures are stolen, one seemingly incongruous and useless device  is also taken - a decoder dating to Templar times.

Tess, the archaelogist and Sean, the FBI guy track down the reason for the theft and the bad guys.  The result would lead to the unearthing of a secret.  (This is actually a "secret" that has not be rehashed yet in fiction that I am aware of...)  This secret would change the world if unleashed.

There are lots of car  chases, gun fights and nefarious bad guys to keep the pace of the novel fast. As is normal with these types of novel, there is very little character development and it is 100% plot driven.

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. Donut shop clerk
2. Day care worker
3. Teller in a Bank
4. Pizza order taker in a callcentre

Four movies I would watch over and over:

1. The Sound of Music
2. Wizard of Oz
3. Breakfast At Tiffanys
4. To Catch a Thief

Four places I have lived:

1. Toronto, ON Canada
2. small town near Naples, Italy
3. Cannock, England
4. Mississauga ON, Canada (doesn't really count since its so close to Toronto)

Four TV shows I love to watch (currently)

1. CSI (the original)
2. Crossing Jordan
3. The Apprentice
4. CSI New York

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. Italy
2. England
3. Savannah Georgia
4. North Carolina

Four of my favorite foods:

1. Lasagne
2. Pizza
3. Roast chicken
4. Fajitas

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. nowhere.
2. 
3. 
4. 

Things that make me happy (no particular order):

1. Christmas
2. My boys' laughter
3. Babies' smiling
4. Thunderstorms


Four TV shows I miss:

1. Columbo
2. McMillan and Wife
3. Hart to Hart
3. Law and Order

BookCrossing

The final installment in the Ellis Porter mystery series.

Ellis Porter, after recovering from substance abuse and mental instability is once again practising law. His first case is a high profile one, defending a Superior Court judge who just happened to be his one time best friend  and the Crown Prosecutor is none other than his daughter Ellen.

Determining why "Stow" is accused of murdering his wife, 5 years after her death, or why Stow even wants Ellis to be attorney is trouble enough, without being followed by an over eager reporter and chased by his ex wife.

Ellis also has a new, young law partner who he is not 100% he trusts and he is still trying to help the homeless people who live in Toronto's ravines near the Don Valley.

The mystery itself is pretty disappointing to be honest, but I do like these characters and probably will go back and read the other books in the series that I missed - I've only read "The Ferryman Will Be There".
The author's knowledge of Toronto and it's tiny neighbourhoods and it's people is what made this novel come alive for me.

BookCrossing

This is probably the third or fourth Richard Wright novel I've read and, most definitely, his talent lies with his characters. Not alot actually happens in this novel.

Howard Wheeler returns to his childhood home after the death of his mother, to clean out the house and recuperatre from his own heart attack.

In staying in the old home, he can't help but revisit his childhood and his parents' marriage as well as his father's minor brush with fame as a hockey player.

Wright shows us how frail humans and our lives are. I think his final message is live today for today and enjoy today for today. His character, Wheeler, laments over the seriousness of his childhood caused by his mother's lack of humour and sense of fun - very definitely, Wright is telling his readers to "lighten up".

The setting is depression and war time, small town Ontario and I think Wright does a good job of portraying the life style and the characters that would have lived then.  Although this could be seen as a depressing novel, it certainly isn't "happy", I think it is more a reaffirmation for Howard Wheeler than the beginning of the end.

BookCrossing

This sequel was slightly more enjoyable than the first novel, because it didn't have so much of the spy/cloak and dagger stuff in the first one and of course, didn't have to spend half the novel setting up the story and the how and why of the time travel.

Si Morley is happily living in the 19th century with his wife and son but has nagging questions about what happened to "The Project" after he left. He decides once more, to return to his own time and look up Rube Prien.

In the meantime, Rube and a group of others are keeping track of odd timelines and what seems to be simultaneous events in history that had two different outcomes.

When Si returns to his own time, his mission is to prevent WWII and to that, he has to prevent the sinking of the Titanic.

This is a fast paced novel, with alot more action than its predecessor and definitely well worth the read.

I'll be sending this along to Charleston as well.

BookCrossing

I read this months ago but forgot to journal it...not sure how that happened since I enjoyed it so much. There are few books I re-read but this is one of them that I just re-read today and enjoyed it just as much. GD sums it up nicely in her entry in the bookcrossing site, link above, and I have nothing else to add that could explain it better.

One inconsistency really bothered me in the first reading and again today - when Julia and Si are running from the cops in 1882 - why doesn't he take Julia to hide out in the Dakota? It seems like the perfect solution and escape for them and if he wanted to return to his own time, wouldn't it have been easier from there?

Although the book would probably have been considerably shorter ;)

Of course, this WILL go back to the convention in April - I am planning my trip right now as a matter of fact, but if by some chance I can't make it - I will mail this book to bookczuk so it can be there in my place.

From amazon.com

Book Description

"Sleep. And when you awake everything you know of the twentieth century will be gone from your mind. Tonight is January 21, 1882. There are no such things as automobiles, no planes, computers, television. 'Nuclear' appears in no dictionary. You have never heard the name Richard Nixon."

Did illustrator Si Morley really step out of his twentieth-century apartment one night -- right into the winter of 1882? The U.S. Government believed it, especially when Si returned with a portfolio of brand-new sketches and tintype photos of a world that no longer existed -- or did it?

About the Author
Let Jack Finney make a believer of you as he takes you on an incredible tour in words and pictures of a time long gone

I've mostly been busy with work the last few weeks and trying to keep house. We've had some problems with Iain at school that we are working at resolving and that has taken up alot of energy and time as well.

I am still in two minds about what to do about school and work. I've had some calls from agencies and I am at the point where I think I'm going to let them do the work for me for a bit, and I can focus on my health and my wellbeing as well as that of my family's.

Mostly, I don't spend enough time exercising anymore nor enough time with Iain and Liam and Dennis - nor enough time with just me doing stuff for me.  Although written down, that seems a bit contradictory, doesn't it?

I've always been a rather solitary person and if I don't get enough "me" time I really have a hard time coping with the world and those I love.

I am also excited about starting to make real plans for my trip to the BookCrossing convention in Charleston (SC - since apparently I've been told there are 3 Charlestons ;) ) this coming April and tying in a trip to NC to visit a few other friends at the same time.  This is a huge deal to me, to travel alone not work related and to visit some people I care about a great deal. I hope it all works out - keep your fingers crossed for me and I will post my plans as they become finalized.

Right now, it looks like Melissa, Shelley and I may drive down to Charleston and then I will meet my friend Sande there at the convention and then drive back up to NC with her and visit there for a few days before flying home from there.  I am sure the convention will be a ton of fun :) Last year's was.

Winter has finally hit Toronto!  We had our first snowfall of the season this past Monday after months of unseasonally warm weather while other parts of North America who are usually snow free are being blasted into the ice age. The planet is in a serious mess, I think.  The meteorologists are predicting a scorcher of a summer - which I am not looking forward to as we do not have A/C in this house....

BookCrossing

Read this in one sitting this afternoon. It is a cheesy romance - big city girl, small town sherriff, each with secrets.....totally outside the scope of what I normally read -
but it was actually a fun and light distraction from winter outside my window.

Hope goes to Gospel, Idaho with a bunch of secrets - planning to stay six months and work in peace.  She catches eye of Sherrif Dylan Taber - the only eligible bachelor in town with secrets of his own. From honkytonk bars to July 4th picnics - the heat between them is pretty predictable but like I said, a fun read.

Another fun read, second in the Demon Hunter series.

Kate O'Connor has all kinds of problems, a teenage daughter, a workaholic husband, a terrible twos toddler and oh yes....demons to kill.

In this story, her daughter's life is at risk when demons are using teenage boys to lure demons from Tartarus (the lowest, darkest part of Hell)so they can take the boys' place on Earth.

Strange letters from Kate's dead husband start to surface and Kate isn't sure if he is dead after all....

BookCrossing

This is somewhere between chicklit and women's fiction. The women are in their late 30's, (my age) and have four different lifestyles and a variety emotional problems.

Lucy, the tough "narc" still lives in her childhood neighbourhood in Denver.

Annie, devoted wife and mother to 5 girls, one who has just come out as a lesbian.

Cristina, married to an ex-Astros star, society queen and secret kleptomaniac.

and.. Mercedes, the New York CFO of her own magazine, who's staff nicknamed her Merciless.

They are getting together after 20 years for a wedding of one of them, Lucy Olivera. Lucy's family has an odd "curse", first marriages never last and although Lucy believes she is marrying the man of her dreams - Ruben - her family is discounting it as a trial period, her practice husband and not taking it seriously. Lucy, herself, is full of doubt and angst. Her friends get her down the aisle and married but Lucy bolts from the reception, afraid to return to Ruben.

From there they go on a quest to find a curandera in New Mexico who is reputed to solve problems. They finally all admit to each other their various issues and hope that "Tilly" can help them. The journey to find the curandera is funny and heartwarming at the same time and although what they learn at the end is nothing new - it is a happy ending story that makes the world seem a better place.

Its been a while since I wrote here, I didn't realise it had been over a week. I've been busy with work and tired as well. This was my first full 5 days of working since last January and I have to admit, it took alot out of me.  Most nights I was in bed by 9, hardly read anything.

I was focusing as much as I could on eating properly and taking all my medication on time as as for that,  I can say the week was a huge success. I ate properly all week - 3 meals, 3 snacks (good food) and took all the meds when I was supposed to.  Heck, just taking them at all would have been an accomplishment at this point.

Anyway, I am babysitting at Melissa's tonight so I may write more later.  But I am still hanging around  and I have some more pictures to post this week as well.

This week has been really hard, physically and emotionally. It is harder and harder to go to work each day and stay motivated to keep busy and productive. I am working on getting out - it's just going to take some time.

I have been reading more which is relaxing and I have been eating better the last few days so I am hoping that in time everything will come together.

I've been reading an interesting book called "YOU on a Diet" that more or less confirms what Dr. Werb has been telling me for the last three years about managing carbs, keeping the waist size down (because thats where the body stores insulin), eating every three hours, etc. It's not a hard concept really and it doesn't require any strange food or wierd habits - it's just doing it that is the problem!

Well I've managed for two days - so keep your fingers crossed for me :) I am hoping to start walking this weekend as well, just 30 minutes a day for the first week. I'll report back.

Tomorrow we are getting our portraits done at the Superstore as well and I am looking forward to that so I can send out our New Year's cards.

BookCrossing

I really enjoyed this story. It was heartwrenching at times and almost cliche in its sappiness - think Richard Evans or Nicholas Sparks - but certainly based on truisms. On a cold winter's nights, twins are born - and the father sends away the Down's Syndrome child to spare his wife the heartache his own mother had suffered when her own Down's Syndrome child (his sister) succumbed to an early death.

David Henry loves his wife more than anything in the world, he loves their son Paul and the life they have together, yet it is haunted by the missing child. The one he told everyone was dead. Paul's twin, Phoebe, is very much alive and loved - having been spirited away by the nurse that delivered her. David takes this secret to his grave, not realizing how high the price his silence will be.

This story is told alternately of Paul's life and then Phoebe's life and we watch them grow from struggling, tiny babies to young adults. We watch them through love and heartbreak and disappointment and finally come to terms with who they are and who their father was.

Although the writing was at time overly sentimental and sometimes disjointed, it was well worth the read and I would read another by this author.

BookCrossing

This is my favourite type of historical fiction. The author starts with real events and people and creates her own characters and weaves them in seamlessly so as I read, I hardly remember it is a work of fiction.

This novel is a perfect example of this and one of the best done I've read in a long time.

Kalogridis tackles the centuries old question: "Who was Mona Lisa?" She not only names Mona Lisa but shows us her life. The novel is as richly detailed as the time period deserves - the most rich and decadent of Florence's history.

Mona Lisa is a living, breathing, loving woman ande Kalogridis brings her to life while sharing her experiences and her relationship with Leonardo Da Vinci as well as the powerful Medici family.

This is definitely a wonderful, entertaining and somewhat educational read. From what I know of that time period and other readings, it is mostly accurate in terms of the Medici and Salvonara and the events surrounding their downfall.