Sunday, March 31, 2013

HAPPY EASTER!!











This beautiful painting is part of
the Isenheim altarpiece,
which is now on display at
 the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar,
in Alsace, France.
The artist is Matthias Grunewald,
and he painted it around 1506 to 1515.


May His Divine blessings
fill your life with joy and peace!!












Saturday, March 30, 2013

Stacking The Shelves #9




This is a weekly book meme/blog hop hosted by
Jennifer, Lili, Stephanie, and Tynga @ Tynga's
Reviews!  As the title implies, this is all about
sharing the books you're adding to your shelves,
be they physical or virtual.  For the complete
rules and to sign up, just click on the link above.




This week's haul!!











Books Bought


These 3 books need no introduction.
I first bought this edition years ago,
and don't know what happened to it,
so I bought another one.
This particular sample (copyrighted 1965)
comes with a slipcase, which really made this
bibliophile ecstatic!!
Of course, I own several editions
of this immortal masterpiece!




(The Lord of the Rings Trilogy #1)
Mass Market Paperback, 527 pages
Ballantine Books
September, 1969
(Twenty-third U.S. printing)
Fantasy, Literary Fiction



(The Lord of the Rings Trilogy #2)
J.R.R. Tolkien
Mass Market Paperback, 447 pages
Ballantine Books
December, 1968
(Seventeenth U.S. printing)
Fantasy, Literary Fiction



(The Lord of the Rings Trilogy #3)
J.R.R, Tolkien
Mass Market Paperback, 543 pages
Ballantine Books
March, 1969
(Seventeenth U.S. printing)
Fantasy, Literary Fiction




Shelf Candy Saturday #62: She Rises, by Kate Worsley




Welcome to
Shelf Candy Saturday!!

This weekly meme/hop,
hosted here,
features beautiful book covers!


If you'd like to participate, just grab my button (or create your own). write your own post, and link up in the Linky widget at the bottom of this post.  (Just click on "Read more" so that the entire post will open up.)

As a bonus, you can include information on the artist, designer, and/or photographer, but it's not required.  You can simply feature a cover and explain why you love it!



Here's my choice for this week!




Hardcover, 432 pages
Bloomsbury, USA
June 18th, 2013
Historical Fiction, Romance


Why do I love this cover?


Truly inspired covers immediately catch my eye, and this one is certainly inspired!  It's simply stunning.  Those beautiful swirling blue ribbons in the sea, as well as the girl's hair!   They have such a beautiful, repetitive rhythm, as they move over the cover, in and out, mimicking the ebb and flow of the sea...

The basic composition is really pretty simple.  The girl's three-quarter profile is drawn with an utmost economy of line.   However, this image is breathtakingly beautiful because of the brilliant design concept of those swirling ribbons! 


Friday, March 29, 2013

The Friday 56 #1: The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas






This is a blog hop hosted by
Freda @ Freda's Voice.

Here are the participation rules:

* Grab a book -- any book.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find any sentence (or a few,
just don't spoil it) that grabs you.
* Post it.
* Add your post url (not your home page
url) to the Linky widget HERE.


In honor of Good Friday, and following
aobibliosphere's excellent example,
I have picked a great spiritual classic!




Hardcover, 512 pages
Peter Davies
January 1, 1954
Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction


From page 56:

After the evening meal had been disposed of, and his immediate duties performed, Demetrius had stretched out on the ground in the shadow of the Commander's tent -- a quite imposing tent, larger than the others, trimmed with red flouncing, red silk curtains at the entrance and a canopy over the doorway supported by slanting spear-shafts.  With his fingers interlaced behind his head, Demetrius lay gazing up at the stars, marveling at their uncommon brightness, and effortlessly listening to the subdued voices of his master and Paulus, lounging in camp-chairs under the gaudy canopy.



Monday, March 25, 2013

Tour Book Review: The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow, by Rita Leganski



The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow
Rita Leganski
Trade Paperback, 400 pages
Harper Collins Publishers
February 26, 2013
Christianity, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Magic Realism, Pro-Life Fiction, Religion,
Spirituality

(Note: I received a copy of this book through TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.)


Meaning is rooted in silence, the silence of true listening.  This is one of the themes of this beautifully-written novel.  Leganski's protagonist, Bonaventure Arrow, listens with every fiber of his being, even while he does not speak.  He hears sounds no human being should be able to hear, such as the sounds of faraway stars....  His gift is described in beautiful, rhythmic sentences that astonish with their beauty, that seize the heart and soul, making it necessary to pause, making it necessary to listen....  This is exactly what I did at the beginning of this luminous book -- I paused in my reading to sound the words out in my mind.  Then I sounded them out loud.  In the process, I was transported to a richly magical universe, seen through the eyes of a true poet. 

Here's an example of the literary gold to be encountered in this novel.

"Nor did they know that Bonaventure's silence was full of sound that came to him in the same way it had come to the universe when space expanded to form nebulae and novas and all things celestial out of a divine and loving pulse."

The plot itself seems simple enough -- on the surface, at least.  William Arrow and Dancy Roman meet in May of 1949, fall gloriously in love, and immediately marry.  They begin their married life as they did their courtship, with a contagious, giddy excitement.

Until William is killed -- shot at close range by someone nobody knows, at an A & P where his wife had asked him to pick up a few things for her....

It was not easy for me to keep on reading after that, so I picked up and put down the book many times, reading in spurts.  Leganski let me feel the depths of Dancy's sorrow, as well as William's own at being so suddenly separated from his wife and unborn son.  His spirit could not leave them, and indeed, stayed near them throughout most of the novel. 

And only Bonaventure could hear him, so the two communicated through their minds, in secret...

This story is full of secrets, too, and there's one, the biggest one of all, haunting Letice Arrow, William's mother.  In fact, this secret is the one mysterious underpinning of the novel.  Letice is sure that there's some connection to William's murder.  She is determined to find out just what it might be.

Leganski's novel is not the typical, action-filled book that tops bestseller lists, although it definitely deserves to be a bestseller.  It's more like a smoothly flowing river, with strong currents and undertows.  It is a page-turner in its own way, ensnaring the reader in its silken prose, moving along, from one apparently insignificant event to another, until the climax, the reason behind all the events, is reached. 

The characters are totally unforgettable.  Aside from Bonaventure himself, whose innocence hides a certain deep wisdom, there's his father William, who is totally devoted to his wife and son, so much so that he can't move on to heaven, Letice, his paternal grandmother, who attempts to educate him in the Catholic faith, and loves him unconditionally.   His mother Dancy treasures him as a gift from her late husband, and knows how very special he is.  And Trinidad Prefontaine, a hoodoo practitioner and compassionate healer who is wise in the ways of the soul, understands Bonaventure much more than anyone ever could.  Then there's Adelaide Roman, Dancy's mother and Bonaventure's other grandmother, who harbors a couple of dark secrets of her own... Gabriel, Bonaventure's gentle, sign-language teacher, is memorable as well, although he only becomes more important to the story as the plot approaches resolution.

The most mysterious of all the characters is known simply as "The Wanderer"...a man driven half-mad by the demons of his past, a man who doesn't really know who he is anymore...

In the midst of all this praise, I must mention something that did bother me about this novel: the characterizations of Letice Arrow and Adelaide Roman, the two grandmothers.   Letice comes across as a flawed, but very real human being.  Adelaide, in contrast, is merely a stereotype, a caricature of a Fundamentalist Christian.  

I can't help but feel a bit uncomfortable with this, especially after loving so many of the book's other aspects. 

Having stated the above, I can still say that I love this novel!  Reading it was a truly wonderful, if at times heart-wrenching, experience!

The story moves from the fictional town of Bayou Cymbaline to the very real, yet magically recreated city of New Orleans, back and forth, as the present fades into the past, and then returns again.  This creates an easy, flowing rhythm, an inescapably hypnotic one that effectively carries the reader into a world in which everything is, paradoxically, more real, more vibrantly alive. 

In 1957, when Bonaventure celebrates his seventh birthday, everything finds its place, everything is finally revealed.  Everyone, including his tormented parents, find peace.

At bottom, the overarching themes of this novel are the beauty and sacredness of life, of nature, and of how redemption and forgiveness are attained in the end, and thus, everything is set right, although things will never be quite the same again. 

Through its magical, mystical prose, its sorrow-filled characters, and its apparently senseless tragedies, The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow unabashedly presents the magic and wonder present in the world, even in the midst of any suffering, if only we are willing to open our hearts and souls to it.
 
MY RATING:




Purchase Links

Rita Leganski

Author Bio
(from Harper Collins Publishers)

Rita Leganski holds an MA in writing and publishing and a BA in literary studies and creative writing from DePaul University. She teaches a writing workshop at DePaul's School for New Learning and was a recipient of the Arthur Weinberg Memorial Prize for a work of historical fiction.



Rita Leganski Online




For a complete list of all
the stops on this tour,
simply click on the button below.







Saturday, March 23, 2013

Shelf Candy Saturday #61: Los Libros Arden Mal (Books Burn Badly), by Manuel Rivas





Welcome to
Shelf Candy Saturday!!


This weekly meme/blog hop, hosted here,
features beautiful book covers!

If you'd like to participate, just grab my button (or create your own), write your own post, and link up in the Linky widget at the bottom of this post.  (You have to click on "Read more" so that the entire post will open up.)

As a bonus, you can include information on the artist, designer, and/or photographer, but it's not required.  You can simply feature a cover and explain why you love it!




Here's my choice for this week!



(translated from Galician to Spanish
by Dolores Vilavedra)
Trade Paperback, 610 pages
Alfaguara
November 1, 2006
Bibliophilia, Literary Fiction


Why do I love this cover?

This image has a surreal quality about it,  even though, for the most part, it looks very ordinary...until one glances down at the lower right-hand corner, and then realizes, with a little shock, that a painted fire is licking away at it... 

When I first saw this cover, the Surrealist painter Rene Magritte immediately came to mind.  He painted pictures full of very ordinary objects, but placed in completely illogical compositions, or placed together with other objects that would normally not be found near them.  Yet, his paintings were very realistic. 


Book Review: Captured, by Erica Stevens



Captured (Captive Series #1)
Erica Stevens
Trade Paperback, 188 pages
CreateSpace, June 17, 2012
Dystopian Fiction, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction


This is one of the sweetest, most romantic novels regarding vampire love that I have yet read!  My only regrets are that it wasn't longer, and that the world-building wasn't more detailed.  However, these factors are more than made up for through the author's wonderful characterizations.

In Stevens's futuristic, dystopian world, vampires rule, having emerged triumphant after a series of wars with humans.  They have created an empire, and have, for the most part, stamped out rebellion -- save for a small pocket of resistance, a group of humans who absolutely refuse to submit.  This group lives in the woods surrounding the Imperial palace, engaging in guerrilla warfare against their enemies, and undergoing a lot of hardship most of the time.

Arianna is the daughter of the leader of this human resistance, captured during a skirmish with their vampire enemies.  She and the other captives are gathered together to await their fate -- instant death, or an existence as a blood slave, subject to the bloodlust of a vampire master, whether male or female.  Arianna is hoping for death, for she has heard that the life of a blood slave is horrible.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Waiting On Wednesday #67: Awaken, by Meg Cabot




This is a weekly book meme/blog hop,
hosted by
It showcases future releases which
we book bloggers
are eagerly anticipating!



Here's my pick for this week!




(Abandon Trilogy #3)
Hardcover, 336 pages
Point
July 2, 2013
(according to Amazon)
Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy,
Young Adult Fiction


From the Goodreads Synopsis


Death has her in his clutches. She doesn’t
want him to let go.

Seventeen-year-old Pierce Oliviera knew by accepting the love of John Hayden, she’d be forced to live forever in the one place she’s always dreaded most: the Underworld. The sacrifice seemed worth it, though, because it meant she could be with the boy she loves.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Stacking The Shelves #8



This is a weekly book meme/blog hop hosted by
Jennifer, Lili, Stephanie and Tynga @ Tynga's
Reviews!  As the title implies, this is all about
sharing the books you're adding to your shelves,
be they physical or virtual.  For the complete
rules and to sign up, just click on the link above.




This week's haul!




I have decided to start including my nonfiction acquisitions, as well.  Although I have created a second blog, meant strictly for nonfiction books, I haven't been able to dedicate much time to it.  That's because I have two jobs, so my time is pretty limited....




 Books Bought



Lynn Cullen
Hardcover, 392 pages
Putnam Adult
March 23, 2010
Art, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

This is a novel based on the life of a
little-known Renaissance artist, named
Sofonisba Anguissola.  Unfortunately, female
artists have until very recently not
received their due in the history of art.
Anguissola's story is riveting!
She becomes court painter to King Felipe II
of Spain, and is reluctantly drawn into
court intrigue.





(Watersong #1)
Amanda Hocking
Hardcover, 320 pages
St. Martin's Griffin
August 7, 2012
Fantasy, Paranormal Romance,
Young Adult Fiction

I've been wanting to read the novels
of this very talented young author
for some time now...
I might very well begin with this one.
This mermaid story sounds
like a different take on the traditional type
of story.  It has a scary atmosphere...
I'm intrigued!






(Drake Chronicles #5)
Alyxandra Harvey
Trade Paperback, 320 pages
Walker Children's Books
June 19, 2012
Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy,
Young Adult Fiction

I had never heard of this author before,
but that cover drew me in.
It looks very intense, as well as romantic!
Of course, I love the plot, which
features vampires, my favorite
paranormal creatures!
I have already put the first four books
on my Amazon wish list.


Shelf Candy Saturday #60: The Night Itself, by Zoe Marriott





Welcome to
Shelf Candy Saturday!!


This weekly meme/blog hop, hosted here,
features beautiful book covers!


If you'd like to participate, just grab my button (or create your own), write your own post, and link up in the Linky widget at the bottom of this post.  (You have to click on "Read more" so that the entire post will open up.)

As a bonus, you can include information on the artist, designer, and/or photographer, but it's not required.  You can simply feature a cover and explain why you love it!



Here's my choice for this week!



(The Name of the Blade #1)
Trade Paperback, 368 pages
Walker Books
July 4, 2013
Fantasy, Mythology, Paranormal Romance,
Young Adult Fiction


Why do I love this cover?


This is truly inspired design!  The bold simplicity of it is part of its beauty.  Those bright, hot-pink necklaces entwined all over the cover space are not only gorgeous, but serve to help the eye move all over the image, bringing it to the girl's head, then moving all over again, thus bringing dynamism to the whole space.

The girl's face has been drawn realistically, but still echoes the stylized drawings done by such Japanese masters as Hokusai.  Her nicely-shaped haircut gives her face a modern look, and yet, reminds me of the hair styles popular in the 1920's.  Perhaps that's because this particular cover has an Art Deco influence, too. (Scroll down the page when you get to this site.)