Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
Last year, my son-in-law made “cupcakes” that were really meatloaf with mashed potatoes on top. He even colored the potatoes pink and green. The 11 year old and the 7 year old were pretty put out, the 4 year old thought they were waaay cool, and the 2 year old cried his lungs out. The next day to make up for it, he made real cupcakes.
I expect that some of my readers have some cool jokes they could share. My brother and I were never that creative. My dad was really angry about salt in the sugar container.
I thought about teasing you with pretend titles such as:
Borne Away by Leaf to the Moon by Magellan da Vinci
Pulsing Leaf Blowers and Snarling Snow Blowers by Earnest Worker
Dragon Journeys Across Mars by Danielle Day Tripper
(Feel free to indulge yourselves in a similar style in the comments. I am sure you can do better).
Instead, I have some real titles of new books that just came out, some that are coming soon, and one that is more than a bit into the future that for me comes very fast. I hope you all will share new books or books coming out in paperback that you are interested in. That is how my wish list grows.
Fantasy
Jinx’s Fire by Sage Blackwood came out on March 24th. (Our Sensible Shoes).
See the review: http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
The forest is under attack and its magic is fading. Can Jinx summon enough of his magic—the bright fire within him—to rescue Simon, defeat the Bonemaster, unite the Urwald, and fight off the invaders? He is the Urwald's only hope. . .
Tracker: A Foreigner Novel by C. J. Cherryh 4/7/2015
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
Tracker is the sixteenth installment of CJ Cherryh's acclaimed Foreigner series.
Darkened Blade: A Fallen Blade Novel by Kelly McCullough 4/28/2015 (Another DKos author)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
Aral Kingslayer has nothing to lose—and only justice to gain. Torn apart by the death of his goddess, he must avenge her in order to save himself from being lost forever.
It’s been nine long years since the death of his patron, Namara, and exalted assassin Aral Kingslayer desperately misses the thrill and glory of being a higher power of justice. Now he is haunted by the ghosts of the past—and by the ghost of the lost goddess herself...
The Time Cellar by Marc Emory (also a DKos author, DFW Dallas)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
Robert Packard, born in Los Angeles in 1974, love-starved wine nerd, frustrated physicist, and over-qualified gofer for a California law firm in the year 2010, suddenly gets two accidental windows to the past: Château Lafite in 1860, and Monticello, Virginia in 1818. They appear courtesy of the proverbial "Dark and Stormy Night."
Not yet knowing if animate beings can cross through unscathed, he enlists the help of a local coin expert, and obtains the vintage coins to buy impossibly fresh wine from the Bordeaux vineyards in 1860 and "30 year old" wine from the 18th century directly from the cellar of his new friend, Thomas Jefferson. Hearing Robert is from California, and knowing only the geography of 1818, Jefferson compliments Robert on his English ("You speak impeccable English for a Mexican"). Robert has some history to fill in...
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson May 19th
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.
But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . .
Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.
Mysteries
A Dangerous Place (Maisie Dobbs Series #11) by Jacqueline Winspear
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
...On a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn't ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain who warns her, "You will be alone in a most dangerous place," she disembarks in Gibraltar. Though she is on her own, Maisie is far from alone: the British garrison town is teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain.
And the danger is very real. Days after Maisie's arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar's Sephardic Jewish community, Sebastian Babayoff, is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case, drawing the attention of the British Secret Service. Under the suspicious eye of a British agent, Maisie is pulled deeper into political intrigue on "the Rock"—arguably Britain's most important strategic territory—and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process. At a crossroads between her past and her future, Maisie must choose a direction, knowing that England is, for her, an equally dangerous place, but in quite a different way.
Dreaming Spies (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes Series #13) by Laurie R. King
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
After a lengthy case that had the couple traipsing all over India, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are on their way to California to deal with some family business that Russell has been neglecting for far too long. Along the way, they plan to break up the long voyage with a sojourn in southern Japan. The cruising steamer Thomas Carlyle is leaving Bombay, bound for Kobe. Though they’re not the vacationing types, Russell is looking forward to a change of focus—not to mention a chance to travel to a location Holmes has not visited before. The idea of the pair being on equal footing is enticing to a woman who often must race to catch up with her older, highly skilled husband.
Aboard the ship, intrigue stirs almost immediately...
The Stranger by Harlan Coben
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or a parking lot, or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world...
Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline April 14, 2015.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
Dr. Eric Parrish is the Chief of the Psychiatric Unit at Havemeyer General Hospital outside of Philadelphia. Recently separated from his wife Alice, he is doing his best as a single Dad to his seven-year-old daughter Hannah. His work seems to be going better than his home life, however. His unit at the hospital has just been named number two in the country and Eric has a devoted staff of doctors and nurses who are as caring as Eric is. But when he takes on a new patient, Eric's entire world begins to crumble. Seventeen-year-old Max has a terminally ill grandmother and is having trouble handling it. That, plus his OCD and violent thoughts about a girl he likes makes Max a high risk patient. Max can't turn off the mental rituals he needs to perform every fifteen minutes that keep him calm. With the pressure mounting, Max just might reach the breaking point...
The Nature of the Beast (Armand Gamache Series #11) by Louise Penny
8/25/2015
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
Hardly a day goes by when nine year old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in the little Quebec village.
But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.
And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet.
General Fiction
At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
At the Water’s Edge is a gripping and poignant love story about a privileged young woman’s awakening as she experiences the devastation of World War II in a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands...
The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg (About George Sand) April 14, 2015
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
At the beginning of this powerful novel, we meet Aurore Dupin as she is leaving her estranged husband, a loveless marriage, and her family’s estate in the French countryside to start a new life in Paris. There, she gives herself a new name—George Sand—and pursues her dream of becoming a writer, embracing an unconventional and even scandalous lifestyle.
Paris in the nineteenth century comes vividly alive, illuminated by the story of the loves, passions, and fierce struggles of a woman who defied the confines of society. Sand’s many lovers and friends include Frédéric Chopin, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Liszt, Eugène Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Marie Dorval, and Alfred de Musset.
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
“It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon. . .” This is how Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she fell in love with Red that day in July 1959. The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate togetherness: an indefinable, enviable kind of specialness. But they are also like all families, in that the stories they tell themselves reveal only part of the picture.
Abby and Red and their four grown children have accumulated not only tender moments, laughter, and celebrations, but also jealousies, disappointments, and carefully guarded secrets. From Red’s father and mother, newly arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to Abby and Red’s grandchildren carrying the family legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century, here are four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their anchor.
Brimming with all the insight, humor, and generosity of spirit that are the hallmarks of Anne Tyler’s work, A Spool of Blue Thread tells a poignant yet unsentimental story in praise of family in all its emotional complexity. It is a novel to cherish.
Longlisted for the 2015 Women's Prize for Fiction
Young Adult
We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, a true story by Josh Sundquist
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
From the Publisher
Praise for We Should Hang Out Sometime:
"[A] laugh-out-loud memoir...This is a unique, earnest, and funny coming-of-age story about Sundquist's experiences as a cancer survivor, amputee, Paralympic ski racer, and motivational speaker. Readers will appreciate the humorous and often embarrassingly accurate tales depicted in the pages of this book."—SLJ
For those of you who are looking for new fantasy worlds to explore…some lists:
I have read 48 from this list:
http://www.listchallenges.com/...
I have read 45 from this list:
http://www.npr.org/...
I have read 5 of the 17 from this list:
http://www.tor.com/...
Diaries of the Week:
Write On! Caesar's Ghost Rides the Trolley of Doom
by James Wells
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Note: A big congratulations to MT Spaces for having his book published.
“The First U.S. Edition of The Great Salt Lake Mime Saga and Amsterdam's Festival of Fools was officially published on St. Patrick's Day 2015.
(information on how to order.)
https://greatsaltlakemimesagaplusadamfestivalfools.wordpress.com/...
Standing invitation to my Bookflurries posse -- if anyone is sincere about writing a review this theatrical memoir, please send me an email via the link above.”