Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Essex County Vol. 3: The Country Nurse by Jeff Lemire

This book is the conclusion of the Essex County Trilogy. It ties the entire trilogy together and we learn about the loss and regret of some of the farming community's inhabitants  

It follows the town's traveling nurse, Anne Quenneville.  As she visits each patient, the story unfolds.  As Anne tends to her patient's we learn more about the town's secrets and the secrets of Anne's ancestors as well.

This didn't flow as well as the other two.  There were flash backs of Anne's family but you don't learn that they are her ancestors until the end.  It made it confusing.  I kept wonder "who are these people that keep popping up."  However, it finally did make sense and I did enjoy the book as a whole.

As in the other two books, the artistry of Jeff Lemire really shined, with both his sparse writing and drawings.  It is amazing how much of the story is told with just pictures and no captions.  He does an amazing job.

4/5

Read my review of the first two volumes, here:

Essex County Vol.1: Tales From the Farm by Jeff Lemire

Essex County Volume 2: Ghost Stories by Jeff Lemire

Also reviewed at:
A Season to Read
The Book Mine Set

Did you review this book?  Please leave the link in the comments so I can include it here.

Posted by Teddy Rose at 12:01 AM 0 comments  

Labels: ,

Monday, December 27, 2010

Two's Company by Jonathan Franzen


I have had Jonathan Frazen on my TBR (To be read) for a long time.  So, when I saw John's review of the short story, Two's Company, I knew I had to read it.  Though not all authors have the special talent to write a good short story, I find they can be a good introduction to "new to me" authors.

Paul and Pam are a successful comedy writing couple who have won Emmys.  They are known as a very loving couple and have even been profiled in magazines as such.

They are hired to write a romantic comedy movie.  As they work on the movie script together, their true colors start to unfold.  It turns out they aren't the romantic and loving couple everybody has pegged them as.

This story seems to be a kind of spoof on the Three Company's writers from the 70's.  Remember that show?  Yeah, I wish I didn't remember it either.  In fact, I'm gagging right now, thinking of it. LOL!  The ending of this story could of been better however, I agree with John, it's a fun story.  I hope to read more Franzen soon.

You can read Two's Company at The New Yorker.

If you would like to participate in Short Story Mondays, go to John of The Book Mine Set. He has a short story review every Monday and a place for you to link your short story review. Come join in the fun!

Posted by Teddy Rose at 10:26 PM 2 comments  

Labels:

Maibox Monday

MailBox Monday now has it's very own blog, Mailbox Monday.  It is also on tour and is being hosted by Lady Q at Let Them Read Books in December.  


These are the books I received (all ebooks):
 Thanks to Net Galley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Thanks to Net Galley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.



Thanks to The Workhorsery and John of The Book Mine Set.











Though I don't celebrate Christmas, Bill and I exchange gifts with his mother , sister, and brother.  They don't live in Vancouver so we receive gifts in the mail.

I received these accessories for my Kobo e-reader thanks to my dear MIL:

 E-reader light.


Kobo Holder with notebook.









Bill and I received these books from my dear SIL:
















My dear BIL sent me a renewal subscription of this fab magazine:

Posted by Teddy Rose at 9:30 PM 2 comments  

Labels:

Friday, December 24, 2010

Books Won Challenge 2011

January 1-December 31, 2011

I created this challenge last year to challenge myself and others that have won books, to read and review some of them.  The reason publishing companies supply books for book bloggers to give away is to get word out about the books and create buzz.  I didn't do very well with this challenge in 2010, I only read one won book.  However, 2011 is a New Year and a fresh start.  I feel bad that I haven't read many of the book I have won and want to make an effort to read them in 2011.
If you would like to join me, here are the levels:

Honorable Mention: Read 1-3 book you won.
Bronze: Read 4-6 books you won.
Silver: Read 7-9 Books you won.
Gold: Read 10 or more books you won.

The Rules:
     1. You must write a review for each book that you read for it to count.  If you do not have a blog you can write your reviews on a place like Amazon, Powell's, Chapters, etc.

     2.Crossovers with other challenges are okay.
     3. Audiobooks and ebooks count, as long as you won them. 
     4. You can change up levels but cannot go back down a level.  

     5. You don't have to make a list ahead of time for this challenge but you can if you want to.

To sign up, leave a direct link to your blog post about this challenge , using Mr. Linky below.  Please leave a comment as well.

Please subscribe to my blog, as I will be doing a monthly post with MR Linky.  Please add your reviews for each month in MR Linky in the monthly post.  For your Name, please use this format Name: (Your Name, Book Title and Author's Name) for example: (Teddy, Obsessive Reading by Helen Reader).  Please be sure to use the direct link to your review, not just to your blog.  Then please leave a comment. 

Let's have fun! 
1. House Arrest by Ellen Meeropol
2. Deadly: How to Catch an Invisible Killer by Julie Chibbaro
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
4. The Road to Destiny by Frank young, Illustrated by David Lasky




Posted by Teddy Rose at 10:58 PM 32 comments  

Labels:

Thursday, December 23, 2010

ARC Reading Challenge 2011

January 1-December 31, 2011

I hope all of you ARC Readers will join me again in 2011 for the ARC Reading Challenge.  I welcome old and new participants.  I don't know about you, but my ARC pile is way too big.  That is why I am making one big change to this challenge.  For 2011 you don't have to list all of the ARCs that you have.  That's right, no more "wall of shame."  LOL!  Although you can list them if you want to.  

Note:  I use the term "ARC" loosely,any book a publisher or author gives you with the expectation that you review it, counts for this challenge.

The Levels

Level Bronze: .a. All of us who have or will have less than 12 ARCS must read all of the ARCS we have. Note, that if you have 11 ARC's and then receive a 12th one you will be bumped up to catagory b.

b. All of us who have or will have 12 or more than 12 ARCS  must read and review at least 12.

Level Silver: Read 24 ARCS

Level Gold: Read 25 ARCS

Level Platinum: Read 30 or more ARCS


Rules:

  • To sign up, leave a direct link to your blog post about this challenge.  Please leave a comment as well.
  • You don't have to make a list of which ARC's you plan to read, but you can if you want.
  • If you choose a lower level, you can always change it to a higher level if you like.  However, you cannot go from a higher level back down to a lower level.
  • Crossovers with other challenges are allowed and Audio-books and ebooks are allowed as long as they are ARC's.
  • Read the books and review them on your blog. If you don't have a blog, you can post your review on sites like Powells, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. 
  • Please subscribe to my blog, as I will be doing a monthly post with MR Linky.  Please add your reviews for each month in MR Linky in the monthly post.  For your Name, please use this format Name: (Your Name, Book Title and Author's Name) for example: (Teddy, Obsessive Reading by Helen Reader).  Please be sure to use the direct link to your review, not just to your blog.  Then please leave a comment. 
  •  HAVE FUN!
My Progress:
2.Threads West by Reid Lance Rosenthal
3.The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry
4. To Defy a King by Elizabth Chadwick
5.Messages From an Unknown Chinese Mother by Xinran
6. The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird
7. Fresh and Fast Vegetarian: Recipes That Make a Meal by Marie Simmons
8.The Grammar Girl Devotional by Mignon Fogarty
9. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
10. Deadly: How to Catch an Invisible Killer by Julie Chibbaro
11. House Arrest by Ellen Meeropol
12. The Beauty Chorus by Kate Lord Brown
13. The Beautiful One Has Come by Suzanne Kamata
14.The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
15.Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey
16.Lady of the English by Elizabeth Chadwick
17.Love At Absolute Zero by Christopher Meeks
 

Posted by Teddy Rose at 11:18 PM 34 comments  

Labels:

Monday, December 20, 2010

Maibox Monday

MailBox Monday now has it's very own blog, Mailbox Monday.  It is also on tour and is being hosted by Lady Q at Let Them Read Books in December.  


I just received one book:


Thanks to Brianne of Hachette Book Group for the ARC of this book.

Posted by Teddy Rose at 4:10 PM 7 comments  

Labels:

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

First published in 1892 in the New England Magazine, The Yellow Wallpaper is said by many to be Charlotte Perkins Gilman best short story.  This is the first story I have read by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  If her other shorts are only half as good as The Yellow Wallpaper, I want to read them all.

Narrated in the first person by an un-named woman, The Yellow Wallpaper delves into the woman's post-partum depression.  Her husband, John takes her to a rented summer home, where she is kept in a roon with yellow wallpaper, that use to be a nursery.  Her husband/doctor prescribed total rest without any stimulation what so ever.  She is not even allowed to see her baby.

The woman thinks that some work, going outside, and meeting with friends would help her but her husband will not allow it.  So the woman goes about stimulating herself by staring at the ugly yellow wall paper for hours at a time.  She notices different patterns and shapes where the wallpaper has torn away from the wall and eventually she sees that there is a woman trapped in the wallpaper.

Total rest and no stimulation was the prescription for postpartum depression and depression for women back then. Both were viewed by men as "in the woman's head" rather than an actual disease.  Luckily things have changed.  Now exercise other stimulating activities are seen as very beneficial.

This is a gem of a story.  It's very deep and contemplative and explores the treatment of women.  Ms. Gilman had trouble getting anyone to publish it at first.  I would guess that it dug a little too deeply into woman's issues.  Highly recommended.  You can read it here.

Also reviewed by:

If you reviewed this story as well, please leave a link and I will post it.  Also, if you have any other writing by Charlotte Perkins Gilman to recommend, please leave a comment.  Of course any and all comments are always welcome.

Y

Posted by Teddy Rose at 12:01 AM 11 comments  

Labels:

Friday, December 17, 2010

Giveaway: Lastingness By Nicholas Delbanco

Thanks to Anna Balasi of Hachette Book Group, I am giving away up to 2 copies of this book.
Book Description:

America grows older yet stays focused on its young. Whatever hill we try to climb, we're "over" it by fifty and should that hill involve entertainment or athletics we're finished long before. But if younger is better, it doesn't appear that youngest is best: we want our teachers, doctors, generals, and presidents to have reached a certain age. In context after context and contest after contest, we're more than a little conflicted about elders of the tribe; when is it right to honor them, and when to say "step aside"?

In LASTINGNESS, Nicholas Delbanco, one of America's most celebrated men of letters, profiles great geniuses in the fields of visual art, literature, and music-Monet, Verdi, O'Keeffe, Yeats, among others - searching for the answers to why some artists' work diminishes with age, while others' reaches its peak. Both an intellectual inquiry into the essence of aging and creativity and a personal journey of discovery, this is a brilliant exploration of what determines what one needs to do to keep the habits of creation and achievement alive.

The number of entrants to this giveaway will determine how many copies of this book I will giveaway:

1-10 entrants= 1
11-20 or more entrants = 2

To Enter:
Leave a comment with your email address, so I can contact you if you win.

Extra Entries:  (please leave a separate comment for each, for instance you you are a follower, leave 3 comments that you are a follower).

+3 Old or new follower of this blog.
+3 Old or new follower on Twitter ().
+3 Be my friend on Facebook (Teddy Rose).
+3 "Like" the post about this giveaway on Facebook
+3 Be my friend on Goodreads (Teddy).
+1 for each comment on a book review I have done. (Be sure to tell me which ones).
+1 for clicking to give free food at The Animal Rescue Site (tell me you did it).( Up to 1 time per day)
+1 for clicking to give free books at The Literacy Site (tell me you did it). ( Up to 1 time per day)

That's 18 or more possible entries!

Sorry, the giveaway is only open US and Canadian residents only.
The winner’s mailing address: NO P.O.Boxes.
Only one entry per household/IP address
 
Winners will be subject to the one copy per household rule, which means that if you win the same title in two or more contests, you will receive only one copy of the book.

This giveaway will end on Friday, January 7th,11:59 P.M. E.S.T. The winners will be notified by email. Winners must respond within TWO days or will be disqualified.

Posted by Teddy Rose at 10:38 PM 108 comments  

Labels:

Giveaway:The Science of Kissing- What Our Lips Are Telling Us By Sheril Kirshenbaum

Thanks to Brianne Beers of Hachette Book Group, I am giving away up to 3 copies of this book. 

Book Description:

From a noted science journalist comes a wonderfully witty and fascinating exploration of how and why we kiss.

When did humans begin to kiss? Why is kissing integral to some cultures and alien to others? Do good kissers make the best lovers? And is that expensive lip-plumping gloss worth it? Sheril Kirshenbaum, a biologist and science journalist, tackles these questions and more in THE SCIENCE OF KISSING. It's everything you always wanted to know about kissing but either haven't asked, couldn't find out, or didn't realize you should understand. The book is informed by the latest studies and theories, but Kirshenbaum's engaging voice gives the information a light touch. Topics range from the kind of kissing men like to do (as distinct from women) to what animals can teach us about the kiss to whether or not the true art of kissing was lost sometime in the Dark Ages. Drawing upon classical history, evolutionary biology, psychology, popular culture, and more, Kirshenbaum's winning book will appeal to romantics and armchair scientists alike.



The number of entrants to this giveaway will determine how many copies of this book I will giveaway:

1-10 entrants= 1
11-20 entrants= 2
21 or more entrants= 3

To Enter:
Leave a comment with your email address, so I can contact you if you win.

Extra Entries:  (please leave a separate comment for each, for instance you you are a follower, leave 3 comments that you are a follower).

+3 Old or new follower of this blog.
+3 Old or new follower on Twitter ().
+3 Be my friend on Facebook (Teddy Rose).
+3 "Like" the post about this giveaway on Facebook
+3 Be my friend on Goodreads (Teddy).
+1 for each comment on a book review I have done. (Be sure to tell me which ones).
+1 for clicking to give free food at The Animal Rescue Site (tell me you did it).( Up to 1 time per day)
+1 for clicking to give free books at The Literacy Site (tell me you did it). ( Up to 1 time per day)

That's 18 or more possible entries!

Sorry, the giveaway is only open US and Canadian residents only.
The winner’s mailing address: NO P.O.Boxes.
Only one entry per household/IP address
 
Winners will be subject to the one copy per household rule, which means that if you win the same title in two or more contests, you will receive only one copy of the book.

This giveaway will end on Friday, January 7th,11:59 P.M. E.S.T. The winners will be notified by email. Winners must respond within TWO days or will be disqualified.


Posted by Teddy Rose at 12:01 AM 105 comments  

Labels:

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Winner: Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson

Thanks again to Valerie Russo of Hachette Books for making this giveaway possible.

The Winner is:
skkorman

Congratulations!  I emailed you.  Please respond with your shipping address within 2 days to claim your prize.

Posted by Teddy Rose at 9:51 PM 0 comments  

Labels:

Newer Posts Older Posts Home

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)