by Kay | Jan 6, 2010 | Weekly Feature |
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that are being eagerly anticipated.
To Come and Go Like Magic by Katie Pickard Fawcett
Young Adult – February 9th 2010 by Knopf Books for Young Readers (Goodreads)
Twelve-year-old Chili Sue Mahoney has never been outside of her small Appalachian town. Momma says Mercy Hill, Kentucky, is her “true home,” but Chili longs to see the world—to have the freedom to leave and to explore.
So when Miss Matlock is brought in as the 7th grade substitute teacher, Chili and her classmate Willie Bright are thrilled. Everyone knows Miss Matlock has traveled around the globe. Why she’s come back to her childhood home after all this time is a mystery, but Chili and Willie are eager to befriend her despite the rumors. As the three spend time together, Chili learns about the jungles and deserts and cities of the world. But she also discovers that there’s more to Mercy Hill than she thought: beauty, in the people and places she’s known all her life, and secrets, sometimes where they’re least expected.
Told in vignettes and set in 1970s Appalachia, To Come and Go Like Magic is a heartwarming and hopeful debut novel about family, friendship, and the meaning of home.
This book sounds absolutely magical, but for some reason I have not seen it posted about on any of the blogs I frequent! I think it deserves a space on your wishlist and I actually plan on pre-ordering it (which is a pretty big step for me!). Also, if you are participating in Kristi’s 2010 Debut Author Challenge – this book qualifies as one of your 12. ♥
by Kay | Jan 4, 2010 | Weekly Feature |
Today’s Musing Mondays post is about New Year reading. With the New Year here already, do you have any reading resolutions or goals (challenges aside) for 2010? Perhaps a new author? Genre? Want to read more non-fiction? Write more reviews?
Besides the resolutions that I have already posted about, I do have one desire/goal for the upcoming year: to find “collectable” editions of my favourite books. I don’t mean that they have to be valuable, but I would like to own copies of my favourite books that will last me another few decades. Hardcover, first edition and preferably signed! I don’t really care if they are worth anything (and hopefully my favourites won’t be, as I am not exactly rolling in money) but I love the idea of having a book I love that I can plan on having for a while…
It is something that I have wanted to do for a while, but have never been too willing to part with my cash. But lately I have started to think of it more as an investment in my future. Also, a lot of the books I want can only be found used or in some warehouse in Kentucky – and are actually a lot cheaper than I expected!
I also want to plan out my reading time more efficiently… okay, plan my reading time, full stop. I am currently a bit of a spontaneous reader – which is great, but it also means that I never really get the opportunity to put everything on hold and just read. Could planning my reading time fix that? I don’t know… but it is worth a shot!
As for genres… I really need to read more popular science for my degree. It will be tough for me, but as I do believe that non-fiction can be amazing, I need to practice what I preach!
by Kay | Jan 1, 2010 | Weekly Feature |
Friday Finds is hosted over at Should be Reading where bloggers are asked to explain the growing pile of books on their TBR list by answering “What great books did you hear about / discover this past week?”
The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint (Amazon)
On the Day of the Dead, the Solona Music Hall is jumping. That’s where Altagracia Quintero meets John Burns, just two weeks too late.
Altagracia – her friends call her Grace – has a tattoo of Nuestra Señora de Altagracia on her shoulder, she’s got a Ford Motor Company tattoo running down her leg, and she has grease worked so deep into her hands that it’ll never wash out. Grace works at Sanchez Motorworks, customizing hot rods. Finding the line in a classic car is her calling.
Now Grace has to find the line in her own life. A few blocks around the Alverson Arms is all her world — from the little grocery store where she buys beans, tamales, and cigarettes (“cigarettes can kill you,” they tell her, but she smokes them anyway) to the record shop, to the library where Henry, a black man confined to a wheelchair, researches the mystery of life in death – but she’s got unfinished business keeping her close to home.
Grace loves John, and John loves her, and that would be wonderful, except that John, like Grace, has unfinished business – he’s haunted by the childhood death of his younger brother. He’s never stopped feeling responsible. Like Grace in her way, John is an artist, and before their relationship can find its resolution, the two of them will have to teach each other about life and love, about hot rods and Elvis Presley, and about why it’s necessary to let some things go.
I have been looking for an introduction to de Lint – and this looks like the perfect candidate. I am already in love!
by Kay | Dec 30, 2009 | Weekly Feature |
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that are being eagerly anticipated.
Dark Life by Kat Falls
Young Adult – May 1st 2010 by Scholastic Press
Set in an apocalyptic future where rising oceans have swallowed up entire regions and people live packed like sardines on the dry land left, DARK LIFE is the harrowing tale of underwater pioneers who have carved out a life for themselves in the harsh deep-sea environment, farming the seafloor in exchange for the land deed.
The story follows Ty, who has lived his whole life on his family’s homestead and has dreams of claiming his own stake when he turns eighteen. But when outlaws’ attacks on government supply ships and settlements…
… threaten to destroy the underwater territory, Ty finds himself in a fight to stop the outlaws and save the only home he has ever known.
Joined by a girl from the Topside who has come subsea to look for her prospector brother, Ty ventures into the frontier’s rough underworld and begins to discover some dark secrets to Dark Life.
As Ty gets closer to the truth, he discovers that the outlaws may not be the bloodthirsty criminals the government has portrayed them as. And that the government abandoning the territory might be the best thing for everyone, especially for someone like Ty, someone with a Dark Gift.
I am not usually a fan of post-apocalyptic books – but this one looks amazing! I used to watch a show called Ocean Girl where they characters lived on an underwater station. It was an amazing idea, and I can’t wait to read it in a novel!
by Kay | Dec 23, 2009 | Weekly Feature |
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that are being eagerly anticipated.
Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw
Young Adult – May 1st 2010 by Amulet Books
“Evangeline,” he repeated, calling at a whisper. “Evangeline.” He was not calling that she may hear, he was calling that somehow her soul might know that he was devoted entirely to her, only to her. “Evangeline, I will find you.”
Eva and Gabe explore the golden forest of their seaside Maine town, unknowingly tracing the footsteps of two teens, Evangeline and Gabriel, who once lived in the idyllic wooded village of Acadia more than one hundred years ago. On the day that Evangeline and Gabriel were be wed, their village was attacked and the two were separated. And now in the present, Gabe has mysteriously disappeared from Eva.
A dreamlike, loose retelling of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous love poem “Evangeline,” Anxious Hearts tells an epic tale of unrequited love and the hope that true love can be reunited.
To be honest, I only want this for the cover! Isn’t it just gorgeous??
by Kay | Sep 9, 2009 | Weekly Feature |
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that are being eagerly anticipated.
Taking a break from fiction to highlight a… cookbook! I LOVE the Post Punk Kitchen and can’t wait for this book! Also check out Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The WORLD – an awesome and yummy book by the same authors.
To Be Released: November 9th 2009
Going vegan doesn’t mean giving up dessert. In this revolutionary cookbook, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero’s vegan world-domination mission continues with dairy-free, egg-free batches of everyone’s favorite treat—cookies!
From classic favorites to fancy delights, Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar features 100 original recipes alongside beautiful color photographs. Chapters include mix n’ drop cookies, biscotti and bars, pipe-out cookies, copycat cookies (veganized versions of name-brands), frostings and fillings, and more. The book is armed with the authors’ signature advice on baking, decorating, even choosing which cookies to eat for dinner. When vegan cookies are invading your cookie jar, resistance is futile.
The lineup includes: Classy Classic Chocolate Chip • City Girl Snickerdoodles • Key Lime Shortbread • Butterscotch Blondies • Gingerpunks • Noreos • Nuttin’ Butterfingers • Pecan Dandies • Black & Whites • Cranberry-Walnut Thumbprints • Stained Glass Candy Cookies • Pumpkin Pie Brownies
Can I just reiterate the awesome that is this book??
Musing Mondays is held by Rebecca over at 
