Swallow...Pleazzzzze!!!

 Roses called "Ophelia" .... the lady floating, dying in the lake .... choking on the beautiful flowers of the fieldRose:  Madame Laurette....or laurarette....a tie around the throat, perhaps?  Beautiful but deadly????"Swallow"  A Novel  by Tanya Plank     Tanya Plank is a fantastic writer of the young, priviledged, slightly disturbed and disoriented New York professionals. She's the voice of the over-educated,...

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Versatile Blogger Award ~~ A First For My New Blog!!!

I was so stunned and delighted to have received this awesome award from two of my new blogging friends!  The first was from  LJ of Reader Recommended , and the latest is from Crystal, of Crystal's Reading Corner.   Please go over and say "hello" to them.  They have beautiful blogs with great book reviews and gadgets to admire.The conditions of this award are as follows:Thank and link back to the person...

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"Not Just Spirited" (Sensory Processing/Integration Disorder) by Chynna Laird

Having struggles and successes with a child who has Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) or Sensory Integration Disorder is an exhausting and bittersweet battle. Chynna Laird's book gives both hope and a sense of "you're not alone in this" messages to the reader who seeks more enlightenment on this somewhat obscure and misunderstood problem.Often mislabeled in the categories of autism, Asbergers, or even "gifted," SPD is a neurological or ...

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Southern Writers and the Okra Picks Challenge

http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/okra-picks-challenge/ Click here to find out all about this "Okra" Picks Challenge I have to admit to a favoritism for Southern writers.  There's just something about their gothic vision, their love of the grotesque, family secrets, dark arts, legends, mysteries, old customs and humor that's based in the roots of our people.  I love Southerners and those who write about them and all their idiosyncracies. ...

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Miami Book Fair 2010 Spectacular Event!

Miami Book Fair 2010  Here's a link to see the events and authors.Miami's Bicardi's BuildingThis was such fun yesterday!  DH and I walked for miles, ate so many different things I felt like the proverbial child whose mommy tells her she's going to have a stomach ache, and touched hundreds of books!  We saw and listened to talks by authors...of "The Postmistress,"  "Major Pettigrew...,"  "Something Red,"  "Swan Thieves,"...

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The New Dork Review of Books: The Top Five Sins of the Book Reviewer#comment-form

This was such a great blog entry and group of comments that I thought it was be a shame not to share it with my bookish friends.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!      Your Bookish Dame/DebThe New Dork Review of Books: The Top Five Sins of the Book Reviewer#comment-formPS:   Let me know what you thi...

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Jane Austen Readers Attention!! New Reading Challenge!

By way of finding  "The Book Buff" today, one of my new and wonderful "followers," I found her awesome Jane Austen reading challenge.I thought it might be a great one to introduce to my new readers (and myself) for the new 2011 year.  Some of these books are ones we may have already read, but many are new to me and I'd love to give them a try in a Jane Austen mindset.I promise if you haven't had the stomach to try one of the new (what shall...

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Not Interested in Readings

I feel bad about my head, but I'm really not interested in another story written by a celebrity about her struggles with her eating disorder.  I'm just not!   Besides, Ellen already gave the book so much time, video, pictures and press that it would be anti-climatic just to read this one!   Poor beautiful, sweet Portia now has a good handle on her life, and we can all be happy for that, so I say, "Let's just move along now...

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"Theodosia..." A Nancy Drew on Ritalin for Bookish 'tweeners!

What a darling book for mystery~loving 'tweeners! Theodosia is just the most precocious little girl who lives in a museum with her absent-minded curator/researcher of a father, her  and a motley crew of others, including her cat. She is the most awake and aware of the dangers seeping the bowels of the museum, of course, and she's bountifully to the rescue! I loved Theodosia and her funny ways...so smart and sassy...so Nancy Drew on ritalin....

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"Saffron Dreams" A Book About Letting Go

5 stars"Saffron Dreams," is about letting go and learning to live despite every challenge life brings.  It's about the strength of women and relationships.  It's about the experience of women left behind in the 9/ll Twin Towers/World Trade Center terrorist attack.  And, it's about the Muslim woman's experience in America.  It's also about what immigrants have to leave behind and let go of when they choose to become a part of a...

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"Look Again" by Lisa Scottoline ~ And Freebie!

This is the story of a adoptive's mother's conflicts and angst after she sees a "milk carton" picture of abducted and missing children...which features a child looking exactly like her adopted 3 year old son. Since she is a devoted mother, a journalist and as driven as a freight train, the novel starts off with a kick and speeds along.The characters are well drawn, there's a love interest, and I'm so sad for the little boy!Before I begin a review...

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"The Widower's Tale" ~~ From a former widow's perspective

Julia Glass writes so that you feel as if you've just slipped into your favorite silk pjs.  Her novels just slip gently over your soul, and her new character, the widower in question, is a character that one finds both sympathic as well as one you could spend your life with. I relate so much to the widower's reactions and feelings about the changing world, the changing attitudes and values...and, yet, the beautiful improvements at the same time! ...

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Books I Want To Read Before the New Year!!

I simply cannot believe we’re fast approaching a new year and I’m way behind in all the books I wanted to read this year!!   Now I have to make a list of those I want to finish before January 1st, 2011:1)   The Iron Duke      by  Maljean Brook2)   The Widower’s Tale     by  Julia Glass3)   Mothers & Other Liars    by  Amy Bourret4)  ...

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Snakewoman~~ Bet you thought you'd never find out about one!!!

"Snakewoman of Little Egypt," is an intelligent, witty, engaging and oddly twisted tale of love, adventure, education and life's defining moments.  It's a book written with no apologies for it's use of vocabulary and substance, and I love it for that alone, if nothing else!Let me depart for a moment just to comment that so much of today's popular literature is "dumbed down" and lacking the intellectual element we need to reach for in our continuing...

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"The Wife's Tale: A Novel," by Lori Lansens

Lori Lansens is a gifted writer.  She can lift the heart out of human emotion and psychological distress and translate it onto paper as if she had a magic wand.  That's a gift.  It translates, as well, to her readers as we are kicked full force in our hearts by her "wife" in "The Wife's Tale."Mary Gooch, the wife in question, is a youngish, married woman....childless...who is obese and not altogether upset about it!   She...

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"Breaking Dawn" as it Dawned on Me.....

I tried "Breaking Dawn" on audio because I couldn't bring myself to waste good time actually reading the book...audio works for me while I'm working on jewelry-making. However, this time, the audio version just left me feeling out-of-sorts (as they say in the mid-West!).  I kept thinking the story would be best enjoyed like little children of the early to mid-1900's were; that is, "to be seen, and not heard."  In keeping with that...

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