Reading Wrap-up for May 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 May with 642 unread books lying around the house and ended the month with 633 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from an author.

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 :))
- Looking For Peyton Place by Barbara Delinsky
- The Saints and Sinners of Okay County by Dayna Dunbar
- A Sight For Sore Eyes by Ruth Rendell
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
- The White Voyage by John Christopher
- Sally: Unconventional Success by Sally Jessy Raphael and Pam Proctor
- Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
- Anima by Marie Buchanan
- Lullaby and Good Night by Vincent Bugliosi and William Stadiem

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))

- Evil Stalks the Night by Kathryn Meyer Griffith 

- The Calling by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

- The Ice Bridge by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- Crooked House by Agatha Christie
- False Witness by Dorothy Uhnak
- The Story of Winston Churchill by Alida Sims Malkus
- The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
- The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansen

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

Books Read: 9
Pages Read: 2,980
Grade Range: A+! to B+!


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

May'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. May's Book of the Month is: 

   The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Published as: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel in July 2008

Publisher: The Dial Press

Birth Name: Mary Ann Fiery

Born: 13 December 1934 in Martinsburg, West Virginia
Died: 16 February 2008 in San Anselmo, California

Canonical Name: Mary Ann Shaffer

Pseudonyms: None

Birth Name: Annie Barrows

Born: 1962 in San Diego, California

Canonical Name: Annie Barrows

Pseudonyms: None

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows was the thirty-ninth book that I read in 2012. I had had this book on my TBR bookshelf since March 3, 2012 although I didn't actually read it until May of 2012. It took me three days to read this book and I sent it off to another good home on May 29, 2012.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Vincent Bugliosi and William Stadiem - Lullaby and Good Night

44. Lullaby and Good Night by Vincent Bugliosi and William Stadiem (1987)
Length: 405 pages
Genre: True Crime
Started: 23 May 2012
Finished: 29 May 2012
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 26 April 2012
Why do I have it? I like true crime and had read Helter Skelter many, many years ago.

Loosely based around the life and times of Vivian Gordon - the convicted prostitute who tried to fight the corruption of Tammany Hall and lost - Lullaby and Good Night introduces us to Emily Stanton - a beautiful 17-year-old chorus girl who meets up-and-coming Tammany businessman, Warren Matthews. Vivacious Emily is ultimately swept off her feet and into marriage to Warren, but the marriage eventually turns sour as Warren forbids Emily's return to the stage. He violently squelches her attempts to disobey and she leaves him. Warren immediately has Emily jailed for prostitution, thus gaining custody of their daughter and grounds for a divorce in one fell swoop.

After serving time, her reputation in ruins, Emily becomes a hostess at a raucous, glittering speakeasy; a high-priced call girl who "dated" many of the men who ran New York. The case which she built against Tammany Hall backfires when Warren is murdered and she is set up to take the fall. In a murder trial that rocks New York, Emily finds a platform to reveal her inside knowledge of corruption.

As I said before, I had read Helter Skelter many, many years ago and disliked it. In my opinion, Helter Skelter was incredibly long and detailed. Because of this, I was slightly wary of reading another Vincent Bugliosi book. I was extremely surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this book. I give this book an A+! I perhaps wouldn't recommend every book by Vincent Bugliosi, however I do recommend Lullaby and Good Night and I have high hopes for another Vincent Bugliosi book which I have on my bookshelf, And the Sea Will Tell.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Marie Buchanan - Anima

43. Anima by Marie Buchanan (1972)

Length: 223 pages

Genre: Horror
Started: 20 May 2012
Finished: 22 May 2012
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 April 2009
Why do I have it? I like horror and Marie Buchanan is a new author for me.


To all appearances. The Mintons seemed to be an ordinary family living in the English countryside. There was the maiden aunt Olive and her cousins Edward and Megan. Nothing of significance happened to any of them - until the Blanchards moved into Greenshards - the house next door. Greenshards had originally been in Olive's family for years. and now the enigmatic Giles and his strangely lovely wife Fenella lived there.

Perhaps it was the house. Perhaps it was the attraction which Olive felt for Giles Blanchard. Whatever it was, Olive suddenly became aware of a second self; a presence who spoke through her, as her, revealing Olive's deepest desires and most private thoughts to others. This presence was now inhabiting Olive's body, planning horrifying and downright destructive deeds.

I have never read any of Marie Buchanan's books before, but I found this book to be suitably frightening for me to start off with. I give this book an A+! and I'm hoping to read some of Ms. Buchanan's earlier books soon. Unfortunately, my copy of Anima fell apart during my reading of it, so I am not sure whether I'll be ever be able to read it again; maybe in a couple of years or so I will get myself a newer copy and reread it.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Audrey Niffenegger - Her Fearful Symmetry

42. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (2009)

Length: 406 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 16 May 2012
Finished: 20 May 2012
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 29 February 2012
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction with a bit of a supernatural flavor to it and Audrey Niffenegger is a new author for me.

Upon Elspeth Noblin's death from cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her American twin neices, Julia and Valentina. The girls had never actually met their English aunt, only knew of her as their mother's twin sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers - with seemingly little or no interest in going to college, finding jobs, or anything outside of their cozy suburban Chicago home, and with an abnormally intense attachment to each other. The girls move into Elspeth's flat - which borders London's Highgate Cemetery - under the understanding that they must live in the apartment for one year before they can sell it, and their parents cannot enter the apartment.

As the twins embark on this new, adventurous chapter in their lives, they come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Majike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover; a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including - perhaps - their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

I was somewhat undecided about whether or not I wanted to read this book. I generally love horror and books that have a tinge of the supernatural about them; however, I also have discovered this about myself: I just can't concentrate in order to read extremely long books. By this I mean, books of about 400 pages onwards, are somewhat daunting for me to begin. This book was unusual from the beginning: I wouldn't classify it as strictly horror - it's too gentle for that - perhaps Contemporary Paranormal Mystery, if there even is a particular genre called that? :)

I did find that the book was rather lengthy but overall I enjoyed it and give it a strong A! For those of you who've read Ms. Niffenegger's debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, and enjoyed that book, you might enjoy this as well as it was her second book written six years later. I started reading Ms. Niffenegger's work with Her Fearful Symmetry and am just curious: should I backtrack and read The Time Traveler's Wife some time? Or am I fine having read this book and enjoying it as I have?

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Sally Jessy Raphael and Pam Proctor - Sally: Unconventional Success

41. Sally: Unconventional Success by Sally Jessy Raphael and Pam Proctor (1990)

Length: 237 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction
Started: 15 May 2012
Finished: 16 May 2012
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 April 2009
Why do I have it? I like autobiographies and have always been curious about Sally Jessy Raphael's life

Sally Jessy Raphael has been in show business for over 40 years. In this autobiography, she chronicles her unique rise to fame. With her characteristically quirky sense of humour, she recalls the sometimes crazy, sometimes funny and oftentimes poignant events that have accompanied her on her rocky road to success.

I truly did enjoy this book, however I found that sometimes Ms. Raphael's attempts at humour didn't quite come off - at least for me. It was still a very interesting read and I learned quite a lot about her life that I didn't know before. I give this book an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

John Christopher - The White Voyage

40. The White Voyage by John Christopher (1960)

Length: 212 pages

Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 12 May 2012
Finished: 15 May 2012
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 1 April 2009
Why do I have it? I was intrigued by the plot and John Christopher is a new author for me.

From the very beginning of their voyage, the portents are ominous when the Kreya sets sail from Dublin to Copenhagan: bad weather, discontent among the crew, suspicion and secrecy amongst the passengers. Then, during an horrific storm, in midst of humongous swells, disaster strikes: a smashed rudder that cannot be repaired, followed by a mutiny.
The passengers and ship's officers who are left, are completely at the mercy of the mighty ocean, drifting helplessly, driven inexorably north by wind and waves towards the most terrible ordeal of all.

I have had this book for about three years, sitting on my shelf; alternately being shifted in and out of my field of vision. I don't know why I just didn't just sit down one day and read it straight out. Maybe it was a sense that I just really wasn't in the mood to read this book at certain times. However, I finally took the plunge and read it. I'm so glad that I did! It was heart-stopping for me in places and I found myself alternately booing and cheering the characters actions. I whole-heartedly give this book an A+! and was saddened to learn that Mr. Youd (John Christopher is just one of his many pseudonyms) passed away recently from cancer. He was probably better well-known for his science fiction, however he did write quite a number of books in a variety of genres.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight