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

A Little Death by Laura Wilson

Published as: A Little Death in 1999

Publisher: Bantam

Birth Name: Laura Wilson

Born: 1964 in London, England

Canonical Name: Laura Wilson

Pseudonyms: None

A Little Death by Laura Wilson was the twenty-eighth book that I read in 2013. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since February 2, 2013 although I didn't actually read it until April of 2013. This book took me two days to read and I sent it off to another good home on October 29, 2013.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Mariah Stewart - Mercy Street: A Novel

35. Mercy Street: A Novel by Mariah Stewart (2008)
Mercy Street Series Book 1
Length: 302 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 22 April 2013
Finished: 25 April 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 April 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and Mariah Stewart is a new author for me.

On a balmy spring evening, four high school seniors - three boys and one girl - enter a park in the small city of Conroy, Pennsylvania. The next morning, two of the boys are found shot to death, and the girl and the third boy are gone. After three weeks with no leads and no sign of either of the missing teenagers, the chief of police begins to wonder if they too were victims. But with no other suspects, the authorities conclude that one of these kids was the shooter. 

The missing boy's grandmother, a secretary at the local parish, maintains her grandson's innocence. On her behalf, the parish priest, Father Kevin Burch, hires former detective Mallory Russo as a private investigator to find out what happened in the park that night. Mallory had ended her nine-year stint with the Conroy police force some time ago after becoming the target of a smear campaign. Now a true-crime author, Mallory is surprised to receive the priest's offer - and highly intrigued by the case. She can't help but accept Father Kevin's request - especially when she learns that her investigation will be financed by Father Burch's cousin the reclusive billionaire Robert Magellan, a man whose own wife and infant son disappeared without a trace a year ago, a man who clearly understands the heartache of not knowing what happened to a loved one.

Detective Charlie Wanamaker is facing another sort of tragedy. He fled Conroy years ago with no intention of returning to what he considered a dying factory town - until a family emergency brought him back. Finding the situation much worse than he'd originally thought, Charlie trades his job as a big-city detective for one with the Conroy police department. Assigned to the park shooting case, Charlie quickly realizes that the initial investigation left many questions unanswered. Unofficially, he teams up with Mallory to uncover the truth and find the two teenagers, dead or alive. What Charlie and Mallory discover will take them down a twisted path that leads to an unsolved murder - and justice for a killer with a heart of stone.

I definitely enjoyed reading this book. I could follow the twists and turns of this mystery much better than the previous mystery that I had read. This book did have some romantic elements woven into the story, but they were very tastefully handled and not overdone in any way. I give Mercy Street: A Novel by Mariah Stewart an A! and will certainly be on the lookout for more books by this author to read.

A! - (90-95%)  

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Mariah Stewart - Mercy Street

35. Mercy Street by Mariah Stewart (2008)
Mercy Street Series Book 1
Length: 302 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 22 April 2013
Finished: 25 April 2013
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 April 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and Mariah Stewart is a new author for me.

On a balmy spring evening, four high school seniors - three boys and one girl - enter a park in the small city of Conroy, Pennsylvania. The next morning, two of the boys are found shot to death, and the girl and the third boy are gone. After three weeks with no leads and no sign of either of the missing teenagers, the chief of police begins to wonder if they too were victims. But with no other suspects, the authorities conclude that one of these kids was the shooter. 

The missing boy's grandmother, a secretary at the local parish, maintains her grandson's innocence. On her behalf, the parish priest, Father Kevin Burch, hires former detective Mallory Russo as a private investigator to find out what happened in the park that night. Mallory had ended her nine-year stint with the Conroy police force some time ago after becoming the target of a smear campaign. Now a true-crime author, Mallory is surprised to receive the priest's offer - and highly intrigued by the case. She can't help but accept Father Kevin's request - especially when she learns that her investigation will be financed by Father Burch's cousin the reclusive billionaire Robert Magellan, a man whose own wife and infant son disappeared without a trace a year ago, a man who clearly understands the heartache of not knowing what happened to a loved one.

Detective Charlie Wanamaker is facing another sort of tragedy. He fled Conroy years ago with no intention of returning to what he considered a dying factory town - until a family emergency brought him back. Finding the situation much worse than he'd originally thought, Charlie trades his job as a big-city detective for one with the Conroy police department. Assigned to the park shooting case, Charlie quickly realizes that the initial investigation left many questions unanswered. Unofficially, he teams up with Mallory to uncover the truth and find the two teenagers, dead or alive. What Charlie and Mallory discover will take them down a twisted path that leads to an unsolved murder - and justice for a killer with a heart of stone.

I definitely enjoyed reading this book. I could follow the twists and turns of this mystery much better than the previous mystery that I had read. This book did have some romantic elements woven into the story, but they were very tastefully handled and not overdone in any way. I give Mercy Street by Mariah Stewart an A! and will certainly be on the lookout for more books by this author to read.

A! - (90-95%)  

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

J. M. Coetzee - Disgrace

34. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (1999)
Length: 220 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 19 April 2013
Finished: 21 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 7 August 2009
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and J. M. Coetzee is a new author for me.

At fifty-two, Professor David Lurie is a disgraced man. He is divorced, filled with desire but lacking passion. An affair with one of his students has ultimately left him without a position and without friends. Except for his estranged daughter, Lucy, who works on her remote South African farm with her neighbor, Petrus, an African farmer who now lives a life of modest prosperity.

David decides to leave the city and moves in with Lucy and her partner, in an attempt to achieve a better relationship with his daughter. He has plans for the future to write an opera about Lord Byron and his Italian mistress, Contessa Teresa Guiccioli. Instead, David finds a job working with Bev - Lucy's friend and an animal welfare volunteer, who also works as an unofficial veterinarian.

Lucy and David's relationship is extremely strained to begin with - there is much from their past that they need to reconcile - and the situation becomes even more critical when they are the victims of a vicious and horrifying attack. I have to say that I'm not exactly sure why I waited so long to read this book, except that there are so many other books that I wanted to read as well, that this one kind of got lost in the shuffle for a time. It was beautifully written and very thought-provoking - just the sort of story that I love to read - I give this book a big, blazing A+! 

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Our Library Visit For April

Hello Everyone! How are you on this fine Saturday? I'm doing just fine. :) So, for the second time this year Mareena and I went to our local library and bought books at the library book sale. :) I suppose we each thought our separate TBR piles needed replenishing! We had promised ourselves that we wouldn't go overboard, but I think that that particular promise went out the window as soon as we both walked through the door! :) We came away with two boxes and three bags of books - not bad!!!

We hadn't been to the library since February of this year. We arrived at the library at about 12:00 P. M. and spent two hours there. We had a wonderful time together - as we always do! As a matter of fact, according to my book blogging friend Cheli, this past week - April 14-20, 2013 - is National Library Week! Yay!!! :)

Between us, we bought 27 hardcovers, 26 paperbacks and 4 oversized paperbacks, as well as 3 audiobooks and 4 movies. We spent a whopping $65 for a total of 60 books. A pretty good haul, if I do say so, myself. :)

At the moment, I'm reading an ebook Evil Stalks the Night by Kathryn Meyer Griffith, which I am currently stalled in reading because Mareena's Kindle's battery overloaded and so she (and I) have been unable to use it since Monday night, April 15th. I was just beginning Chapter 3 and really getting into the story. Anyway, I hope to finish reading Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee by tomorrow. I had started reading this book on Friday, April 19th despite having this book on my TBR pile since August of 2009.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Jenna Bush - Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope

33. Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope by Jenna Bush (2007)
Length: 290 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction
Started: 18 April 2013
Finished: 19 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 5 May 2011
Why do I have it? I like non-fiction and wasn't aware that Jenna Bush had written any books.

Ana's life is a collection of bits and pieces of her past. Infected at birth with HIV, she had lost her mother, her father and youngest sister to AIDS. Ana is unaware of many details from her early childhood, with only blurry memories of her parents and baby sister. Ana and her younger sister Isabel are sent to live with their grandparents, where ten-year-old Ana is informed by her grandmother that she has HIV. She is told to keep her illness a secret from others - just one of the many secrets young Ana is forced to keep to herself - from sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by her grandparents, to broader neglect and mistreatment from her other family members.

Shuffled from home to home, Ana rarely finds safety or acceptance. Until she meets and falls in love with Berto, becomes pregnant, and then a mother at age seventeen. She begins her journey of hope - a journey of protection of herself, her baby, and others. Struggling to break free from the cycle of abuse, silence, and illness with passion and eloquence - proving to the world that Ana is living with, not dying from HIV/AIDS.

I enjoyed this book. I think that it could be very instructive for children who are affected by HIV and/or AIDS. I give this book an A!  

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Rosamude Pilcher - The Empty House

32. The Empty House by Rosamunde Pilcher (1973)
Length: 249 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 16 April 2013
Finished: 17 April 2013
Where did it come from? From Bookmooch
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 March 2013
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Rosamunde Pilcher as an author, having read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

Virginia Keile's secret dream had always been to have a second chance at loving the tall, handsome Cornish farmer she had met - and foolishly lost - the summer she was a debutante. Now, ten years later, Virginia is twenty-seven years old and life has taught her a great many lessons. She had married a titled bachelor chosen by her mother, lived in a lonely marriage until her husband's accidental death, and had nearly lost her two children to her former mother-in-law and a bossy Nanny.

All Virginia wants now is to to take her daughter and son, return to picturesque Cornwall and rent a seaside cottage to help them recover. But her true love was also there, waiting, hoping and praying that this time Virginia would be strong enough to seize happiness and fill an empty house with love.

I did enjoy reading this book, however, I am beginning to find that Rosamunde Pilcher is just reworking the same plots. It may just be because I've read two books by the same author back to back, but in my opinion, Rosamunde Pilcher's plots tend to run along this similar theme: 'girl meets boy, they fall hopelessly in love, girl cruelly loses boy, girl marries the 'proper gentleman', girl somehow moves to Scotland, lives in an unhappy marriage for a certain amount of time, husband propitiously passes away and girl returns to live happily ever after with her one true love.'

I give this book an A! I think I will certainly read more by Rosamunde Pilcher in the future, but maybe not for a while yet.

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight