Reading Wrap-up for November 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 November with 631 unread books lying around the house and ended the month with 628 books unread. All of the books that I acquired this month came from Paperback Swap and a Library Book Sale that we went to on the 20th.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Changes to the TBR pile 


Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- The Magic Cottage by James Herbert
- One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens
- The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! :))
- Dear Doctor Lily by Monica Dickens
- The Unholy by Michael Falconer Anderson
- The Sweet Taste of Burning: A Novel of the Occult by Paul Andreota
- Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy
- The Hampton Sisters by Bernard F. Conners
- Wife Found Slain by Caroline Crane
- Woman Vanishes by Caroline Crane
- The Visitor by Jere Cunningham
- Mary Anne by Daphne du Maurier
- The Haunting of Sara Lessingham by Margaret James
- Hollywood's Greatest Love Stories by Dick Kliener
- Celebrity Detox: (The Fame Game) by Rosie O'Donnell
- Martha Stewart Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography by Jerry Oppenheimer
- Ruin Creek by David Payne
- Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
- Blessings by Anna Quindlen
- The Perfect Summer by Luanne Rice
- Moment of Truth by Lisa Scottoline
- Demon Summer by Elaine Booth Selig
- The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon
- Change Baby by June Spence
- Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder by James B. Stewart
- The Forbidden Zone by Whitley Strieber
- False Witness by Dorothy Uhnak
- Blood Sisters by Judith Henry Wall
- Painting the Darkness by Robert Goddard

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- Spartina by John Casey
- The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth
- Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, not a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 3
Pages Read: 797
Grade Range: A! to B+!

So, there you go! The reading month that was November. 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

November'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. November's Book of the Month is: 

One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens

Published as: One Pair of Feet in January 1942

Publisher: Harper and Brothers

Birth Name: Monica Enid Dickens

Born: 10 May 1915 in London, England
Died: 25 December 1992 in Reading, Berkshire, England

Canonical Name: Monica Dickens

Pseudonyms: None

One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens was the twenty-eighth book that I read in 2009. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since November 12, 2009 and it took me six days to read. I sent this book off to another good home on March 16, 2010.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

James Herbert - The Magic Cottage

29. The Magic Cottage by James Herbert (1986)
Length: 394 pages
Genre: Horror
Started: 24 November 2009
Finished: 28 November 2009
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 21 November 2009
Why do I have it? I like horror and James Herbert is a relatively new author for me.


The cottage was so peaceful; maybe a little rundown, but so magically quiet. But then there was an alternate side; the bad magic. I loved this book and give it an A!

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Monica Dickens - One Pair of Feet

28. One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens (1942)
Length: 224 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction
Started: 18 November 2009
Finished: 24 November 2009
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 12 November 2009
Why do I have it? I like non-fiction and I remember reading this book in college.

I just finished One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens. It's semi autobiographical of Ms. Dickens' time as a nurse in England during World War II. I loved this book and give it an A! I thought it was a little dated now, but still very good.


A! - (90-95%)


Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Monica Dickens - One Pair of Feet

28. One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens (1942)
Length: 224 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction
Started: 18 November 2009
Finished: 24 November 2009
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 12 November 2009
Why do I have it? I like non-fiction and I remember reading this book in college.

I just finished One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens. It's semi autobiographical of Ms. Dickens' time as a nurse in England during World War II. I loved this book and give it an A! I thought it was a little dated now, but still very good.


A! - (90-95%)


Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Philip Roth - The Ghost Writer

27. The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth (1979)
Zuckerman Bound Series Book 1
Length: 179 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 15 November 2009
Finished: 17 November 2009
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 15 September 2009
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Philip Roth is a new author for me.

I just finished reading The Ghost Writer by Phillip Roth. Nathan Zuckerman was a 23 year old up-and-coming writer with four stories published and an author profile in the Saturday Review. He has already ruined his relationship with his family by his autobiographical work, and his relationship with his girlfriend is on the rocks because of adultery and honesty.

Visiting his reclusive idol in the Berkshires, Nathan has a chance to evaluate his life and work and finds himself turning his problems into metafiction. I found this book funny in parts and very well-written. I give it a B+!

B+! - (89-94%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Reading Wrap-up for October 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 October with 633 unread books lying around the house and ended the month with 630 books unread. All of the books that I acquired this month came from Paperback Swap.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Re-reads
- A Place Called Saturday by Mary Astor 


Changes to the TBR pile 


Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward
- Firebird by Janice Graham

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! :))
- The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- Bloodstream by Tess Gerritsen
- Ghosts: Washington's Most Famous Ghost Stories by John Alexander
- Bitter Medicine by Sara Paretsky

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

Books Read: 3
Pages Read: 833
Grade Range: A+! to B!

So, there you go! The reading month that was October. 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