Reading Wrap-up For December at Moonshine and Rosefire

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Rosefire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog. I originally posted my reviews over at my daughter's blog, Emeraldfire's Bookmark but am now in the process of transferring them all over to my own blog. My daughter makes blogging look like so much fun that I thought that I would try it out for myself! :)

Anyway, I started out December with 1,005 unread books lying around the house and ended the month with 994 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from Bookmooch, Paperback Swap and a Library Book Sale that Mareena and I went to on the 19th.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Rereads
- A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel by Scott Spencer

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- The After House by Michael Phillip Cash
- The House on Fortune Street: A Novel by Margot Livesey
- Preservation Hall by Scott Spencer
- Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag
- Like Water For Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments, With Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies by Laura Esquivel
- Wildwood Road by Christopher Golden
- Homework: A Novel by Margot Livesey
- The Rest of Her Life: A Novel by Laura Moriarty
- The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman
- Grave's End: A True Ghost Story by Elaine Mercado, R. N.

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))
- All That Glitters by Thomas Tryon
- The Missing World: A Novel by Margot Livesey
- 1225 Christmas Tree Lane by Debbie Macomber
- At Paradise Gate by Jane Smiley
- Atonement by Ian MacEwan
- Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor
- Blossom Street Brides by Debbie Macomber
- The Code of the Hills: An Ozarks Mystery by Nancy Allen
- December 6th by Martin Cruz Smith
- Deliver me From Evil by Mary Monroe
- Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
- Hell to Pay: The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Barbara Olson
- Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1929-1932 by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- I Couldn't Love You More by Jillian Medoff
- It's Always Something by Gilda Radner
- Keep a Little Secret by Dorothy Garlock
- The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier
- Lakeside Cottage by Susan Wiggs
- The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares
- Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
- Lucky: A Memoir by Alice Sebold
- A Perfect Evil by Alex Kava
- Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult
- Queen of Broken Hearts by Cassandra King
- Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog by Garth Stein
- The Road Taken by Rona Jaffe
- The Royal Family Quiz and Fact Book by Timothy B. Benford
- Silent Murders by Mary Miley
- The Sins of the Mother by Danielle Steel
- Three Junes by Julia Glass
- Three Wishes by Barbara Delinsky
- The Triumph of Katie Byrne by Barbara Taylor Bradford
- Where You Belong by Barbara Taylor Bradford
- The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin
- The Mothman Prophecies: Based on True Events by John A. Keel
- Jumbo Crossword Pad Volume #13 by Kappa Press
- The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :)) 
- The Great Potato Cookbook 250 Sensational Recipes for the World's Favorite Vegetable by The Editors of Reader's Digest
- The Attorney by Steve Martini
- Miami, It's Murder by Edna Buchanan
- Versions of the Truth by Richard Parrish
- Gone by Kit Craig
- Edge of Glass by Catherine Gaskin
- Reader's Digest Condensed Books Volume 1 1958: The Green Helmet/Dunbar's Cave/The Twentieth Maine/Life at Happy Knoll/The Horsecatcher/Sharks and Little Fish by Jon Cleary, John J. Pullen, John P. Marquand, Mari Sandoz and Wolfgang Ott
- Sidney Sheldon's Angel of the Dark by Tilly Bagshawe
- Ben by Gilbert A. Ralston
- Blood Beast by Don D'Ammassa
- The After House by Michael Phillip Cash
- A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel by Scott Spencer
- Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman
- The Taker by Alma Katsu
- Jack and Jill by James Patterson

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 11
Pages Read: 3,703
Grade Range: A+! to B+!

So, there you go! The reading month that was December. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

December's Book of the Month

 

Hello Everyone! I chose the picture posted above because it reminds me of reading to my daughter Mareena when she was little. Every afternoon until she was about eight or nine years old, we would take one of her books that she wanted to read or that she was reading and we would curl up together on my big bed. 

We would spend an hour or so reading a chapter of her book, and then take a nap together. Her absolutely favorite author at that time was an English author named Enid Blyton. Ahh, nice memories... 

My picks for 'Books of the Month' will be decidedly more adult these days, but they will be from almost any genre. December's Book of the Month is:

The Rest of Her Life: A Novel by Laura Moriarty

 Published as: The Rest of Her Life in August 2007 

Publisher: Hyperion

Birth Name: Laura Moriarty 
Born: 24 December 1970 in Honolulu, Hawaii

Canonical Name: Laura Moriarty 
Pseudonyms: None  

The Rest of Her Life: A Novel by Laura Moriarty was the one hundred and twenty-third book that I read in 2014. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since August 16, 2014 and it took me three days to read. This book is definitely a keeper for me.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Elaine Mercado, R. N. - Grave's End: A True Ghost Story

125. Grave's End: A True Ghost Story by Elaine Mercado, R. N. (2001)
Length: 174 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction
Started: 26 December 2014
Finished: 31 December 2014
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch 
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 26 December 2014
Why do I have it? I like non-fiction and Elaine Mercado, R. N. is a new author for me.

Just about everyone loves a good ghost story, but what does one do when it seems as if the very fabric of reality twists and the vastness of the shadowy unknown peers out from behind the everyday rhythm of life? In Grave's End: A True Ghost Story, Ms. Mercado addresses this issue with wrenching candor. Although this may not be a book to read in an old, shadowy house at midnight, the story offers both fear and hope, and a sense of something eternal. 

By the time Elaine Mercado and her first husband bought a charming - but somewhat dilapidated - Victorian-style house in Brooklyn, New York, in the winter of 1982, they had been house-hunting for a little over a year and were quite anxious to settle into a home of their own. Although the house was in need of some serious renovation, it was within their price range and they were more than content to do the work required to make the house their own. Little did they realize that they and their two young daughters would be embarking on a nightmare that would last for thirteen years.

Within a few days of moving in, Elaine and her eldest daughter - eleven-year-old Karin - began to experience the sensation of being watched. Next came the scratching noises and inexplicably weird smells, followed by whispering voices, maniacal laughter, fluffy, dust-ball sized apparitions flitting along baseboards, and mysterious orbs of light floating along the ceilings. Almost from the day the family moved in, each member was targeted by the haunting in some way; "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except for the youngest daughter - five-year-old Christine. Eventually, these paranormal experiences escalated to actual acts of physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls.

This is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of famed parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holzer and psychic medium Marisa Anderson, the family finally discovered the tragic and heart-breaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End. As of the publication of this book, Elaine Mercado continues to live in the once-haunted house with her family. 

I certainly enjoyed reading this book; as I always love reading true accounts of paranormal experiences. In my opinion, the story was very descriptive; written in a down-to-earth style that I appreciated. According to the author, while there is still residual paranormal activity, the primary source of the haunting has been cleansed from the house, and she and her family are able to live in their house in relative peace. Overall, I would give Grave's End: A True Ghost Story by Elaine Mercado, R. N. an A+!  

A+! - (96-100%)
               
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Happy Christmas to All, and May All Have a Wonderful Day!

MySpace background: CoolSpaceTricks.com

Hello everyone! :) I hope that you all have a wonderful and much blessed Christmas filled with as much friendly and family togetherness as you could wish for. :) Both Mareena and I are feeling fine, although perhaps just the slightest bit blah (not necessarily ill, but just wanting to take it easy for today) - we still intend to enjoy Christmas to the fullest! :)

The kitties are really getting into the Christmas spirit - 'Santa Paws' bought them a stocking full of catnip and kitty toys, and the purrs of thanks are resounding around the room. Lollipop and Leila are currently getting into minor fistipaws over who is going to get to play with the feather bells first (I'm not sure that the twins even realize that there are actually four feather bells in the stocking, so there is one for each of the girls, plus one extra!)

Ruby is currently fascinated by the bag of catnip. I opened it for her and she went over the moon! :) She sniffed in the bag, jumped up and rubbed her chin between a couple of gift bags in order to get a chance to investigate a little more closely.

At some point, Leila and Lollipop found out what Ruby was doing and ambled over to see what was going on. So the party had to be moved to the floor - Ruby went over to a special little spot of her own and ate up her catnip treat; and Leila and Lollipop rolled around on the floor like a couple of kittens for a while, and then the twins finally ate their catnip. Fun was had by all - humans and kitties alike!
  

MySpace stuff: CoolSpaceTricks.com 

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Alice Hoffman - The Ice Queen

124. The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman (2005)
Length: 211 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 21 December 2014
Finished: 23 December 2014
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 19 December 2014
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and have read and enjoyed Blackbird House by the same author in the past.

Once, in a childish fit of temper, the eight-year-old heroine of Alice Hoffman's The Ice Queen angrily wished to never see her mother again. Suddenly the little girl and her brother Ned were orphaned, and she was convinced that simply by stomping her feet she had shattered her world. While Ned dealt with the grief of his mother's passing by becoming a meteorologist: applying reason and logic to bad weather; as his sister grows into adulthood, she finds herself emotionally frozen.

Now working as a librarian somewhere in a small town, she lives a generally quiet life without much excitement. One day, she mutters an idle wish and suddenly, while standing in her house, she is struck by lightning. However, instead of ending her life, this cataclysmic event provides just the impetus she needs to restart her life. Determined to study the case histories of several survivors of lightning strikes, Ned convinces his sister to join him in learning more about the mysteries of lightning.

For her, being struck by lightning has left her with an inability to recognize the color red; and she soon finds herself fascinated by the awesome power of lightning. Witnessing the withering of trees and landscape near a strike, hearing the various stories of the medical traumas and odd new abilities of victims, all the myths of renewal; she is utterly amazed. Although she is a recluse, she goes in search of one Lazarus Jones - a local farmer rumored to have beaten death after a lightning strike: to have seen the other side and come back.

Perhaps this stranger who has seen death face to face can teach her to live without fear. When she finds him, he is her polar opposite, a burning man whose breath can boil water and whose touch scorches. As an obsessive love affair begins between them, both are forced to hide their most dangerous secrets - secrets that turned one person to ice and the other to fire.

I must say, that while this book was very good, and I enjoyed the story very much; in my opinion it still was slightly strange. I honestly don't know that much about lightning - although I do follow all the warnings about what not to do during thunderstorms - but even if only a fraction of what is described by the characters can happen in reality - I would be curious to find out. It was incredible to me. I give The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman an A! This was actually quite a fascinating book.

A! - (90-95%) 

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Laura Moriarty - The Rest of Her Life: A Novel

123. The Rest of Her Life: A Novel by Laura Moriarty (2007)
Length: 306 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 18 December 2014
Finished: 21 December 2014
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 16 August 2014
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Laura Moriarty is a new author for me.

Leigh Churchill is the mother of two lovely children - eighteen-year-old Kara - a high-achieving, popular high school senior, destined to go on to college; and Justin - a shy, awkward fourteen-year-old. While she has a wonderful relationship with Justin, for some reason that she can't identify, Leigh's relationship with Kara is strained and difficult. For the life of her, she can't understand what she may have done - or didn't do - that caused such coolness between herself and her daughter.

Then, in a single moment of careless distraction, Kara makes a mistake that ends in tragedy - something that no matter how much she may want to, she can't change or take back. Kara's actions not only divide Leigh's family, but polarize the entire community. We see the story from Leigh's perspective: as she watches her daughter struggling with the feelings of guilt and grief caused by what she has done; as Leigh herself grapples with the harsh reality of what happened and the devastating consequences which Kara's actions have on the family of another teenage girl in town; all while trying to shield and protect Kara in the face of rising public outcry. 

The Rest of Her Life: A Novel by Laura Moriarty delivers a luminous, compassionate, and provocative look at how even mothers and daughters with the best intentions can be blind to the harm they do to one another. Ms. Moriarty's novel is one of complex moral dilemma, filled with nuanced characters and a page-turning plot that makes readers ask themselves, "What would I do if I were in a similar situation?"

For myself, I absolutely loved this book. The story was filled with complex characters and intricate family dynamics, just the sort of story that I enjoy reading. I found Ms. Moriarty's writing and plot development to be spot on; very believable and with a strong basis in reality. I give The Rest of Her Life: A Novel by Laura Moriarty an A+! I will certainly be on the look out for more of Laura Moriarty's books to read in the future.

A+! - (96-100%)
  
Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Our Library Visit For December

Hello Everyone! How are you on this fine Friday? I'm doing just fine. :) Last Thursday, Mareena and I planned to go to our local library to raid the perpetual book sale for early Christmas gifts. However, it started snowing lightly on Tuesday morning, and the weather report was claiming there was going to be a Nor'easter blowing through which would dump between two and four feet of snow by Thursday morning.

We decided to change our library visit to Friday morning and left at around 11:30 A. M. We spent a delightful one and a half hours just browsing through the library book sale and ended up going home at around 1:00 P. M. We had bought a rather modest (for us) 44 books between us.

Between us, we bought 21 hardcovers and 23 paperbacks. We spent a whopping $40 for a total of 44 books. A pretty good haul, if I do say so, myself. :)

At the moment, I'm reading The Rest of Her Life: A Novel by Laura Moriarty - which I started yesterday evening, December 18th! This was a book that I acquired during our August 16th visit to the library!

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight