Introverted Reader

The Small Hand by Susan Hill: Book Review

Adam Snow gets lost in the countryside on a drive back to London one evening and finds himself at a derelict house. He gets out of the car to look around and feels a small hand slip into his. There's no one else there. He takes the memory of the hand with him and remembers it as a comforting presence. But then he starts to have panic attacks, near misses, and inexplicable urges to harm himself. The small hand obviously does not bear him good will. Eh. This was more Gothic than horror so I feel that it was too short to really work up some good suspense. Gothic novels are such a slow burn that they almost have to be chunksters to really pull me in and get my nerves on edge. At less than 200 pages, the events of this book happen relatively quickly and feel rushed and even a little obvious. The basic premise is very solid though and I think I would have enjoyed a longer book much more than I did this one. Being so short, it is worth a try if you're interested or if you're in the mood for a little Gothic fun though. Read an excerpt. Find author Susan Hill on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. Buy The Small Hand at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site. My opinions are completely my own.

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King: Book Review

Life hasn't been easy for Dan Torrance since the events of The Shining. Now that he's an adult, his shining has faded a little but it's still too much for him to handle. Following in his father's footsteps, he's turned to alcohol to escape from his problems. He eventually hits his bottom and tries to turn his life around. He ends up in a small town in New Hampshire, where he senses a girl with a shining even bigger than his own. But a sinister group called The True Knot have sensed her as well and they know they would feast off the "steam" she would release if they could just get their hands on her to torture her to death. Dan and little Abra, with the help of a few friends, must find a way to defeat The True Knot and keep them from feeding off children with the shining. It's been 10+ years since I've read The Shining or watched the movie so I can't address how well Doctor Sleep compares to it. But I can tell you that I loved this book. My one complaint is that it does feel a bit as if it's meandering at times. It took a very long time to even bring Abra into the story. Eventually though, all of those little "tangents" tie into the bigger scheme of things. As the story twisted and I realized exactly how things were fitting together, I would just laugh out loud sometimes. Not because the story was funny but because I was delighted that King was taking me in directions that I did not see coming at all. That's starting to feel like a rare thing for me to find in an author. The book was much stronger for it as well. I liked…

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Wow, it's been a month since I posted to this meme! It's been a busy month though. In case you're wondering after this sad little post, we did get to go on our vacation as planned. Utah and Arizona came through and paid to get the National Parks we were planning to visit open using state funds. Right at the end of our vacation the government shutdown nonsense ended too. So yay for Utah and Arizona! We had such a good time visiting Zion, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. They were all beautiful but Zion was probably our favorite. I've been trying to get caught up on everything else in my life since then so I've neglected my blog. Again. But here's the little that's been happening here over the past month. Posted: Review: Mountainfit by Meera Sethi--4 Stars. Beautifully written Guest Post from author Meera Sethi featuring a Mountainfit playlist Review: The Fallen by T. Jefferson Parker, read by David Colacci--3 Stars Read: 11/22/63 by Stephen King Doctor Sleep by Stephen King Mountainfit by Meera Lee Sethi The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey The Small Hand by Susan Hill Currently Reading: The Child Thief by Brom Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, read by Rebecca Soler The Trivia Lover's Guide to the World: Geography for the Lost and Found by Gary Fuller Sanctus by Simon Toyne Up Next: I don't think I'll finish anything this week, so I'll think about that later. What are you reading this week? I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on…

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November 4, 2013

Read more about the article <i>Mountainfit</i> Playlist: Guest Post from Author Meera Lee Sethi

Author Spotlight

Mountainfit Playlist: Guest Post from Author Meera Lee Sethi

Yesterday I reviewed Mountainfit, a beautiful little book of essays by Meera Lee Sethi about her summer volunteering at a bird observatory in Sweden. If you missed the review, I'll be happy to wait while you go check it out now. Want the short version? Read it. Beautiful, descriptive language that evokes the wildlife and landscape of Sweden while leaving you thinking about your own inner landscape. Good stuff. Today, Meera has agreed to guest post and she has treated us to something a little different. I know you'll all enjoy it! Meera Lee Sethi is the author of Mountainfit, a book of short essays about science, nature, birds, Sweden, and the many questions we ask ourselves as we're figuring out how to live in the world. She is currently on a ten-day "virtual book tour" organized by her publisher, the Chicago Center for Literature and Publishing. This is the very last day of Mountainfit 's book tour, and after sharing essays, interviews, video chats, a recipe, and a chapter recording, I thought I'd end on a high note and make a playlist to go with your enjoyment of the book. Approximately six hours of listening, reading, frowning, adding, and deleting later, I'm delighted to share with you the official soundtrack to Mountainfit in the form of this Spotify playlist (Apologies in advance for the ads you'll hear occasionally as it runs.) The playlist begins with the totally infectious Step Outside because that's exactly the invitation I'd like the book to extend. Mountainfit is about many things, but perhaps more than anything it's about how much you gain when you step outside—literally and figuratively. The two songs that follow are by the Swedish folk band Triakel; I fell in love with them when I was over there, and these songs…

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October 25, 2013

Mountainfit by Meera Lee Sethi: Book Review

Author Meera Lee Sethi travels to Sweden one summer to volunteer at a bird observatory. Her time in the mists and mountains of Sweden led her to write a collection of contemplative essays that are collected here. What beautiful language! I was in deep like from the beginning and in love by the closing sentences of the first chapter. "We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls. What you are reading was supposed to be a book about birds but it is about this, too." Aren't you just ready to sink into Sethi's writing and follow wherever she leads? This slim book is imbued with layers of meaning. There are the surface stories about the birds and the landscape of Sweden and then there are the ways in which Sethi ties those things back into human experience. In the first chapter the migratory cuckoo becomes a metaphor for the wanderlust and yearning for other lives we all feel sometimes. In another the isolation we each occasionally feel is linked to the poor "vagrant" birds who get blown so far away from their native lands that they will never make it back. And so it goes throughout the whole book. The fjälls of Sweden are so beautifully described that I'm ready to catch a plane and visit. Not being a fan of cold weather, Sweden isn't high on my list of places to visit, so this is really saying something. I loved that there is an index at the back listing some of the birds that Sethi mentions in the book. When I'm reading I really don't stop to look up things I want to know. I always think I'll do it later but, of course, when later comes I've forgotten the names of what…

The Fallen by T. Jefferson Parker: Book Review

Homicide Detective Robbie Brownlaw was promoted a few years ago after a crazed arsonist threw him out of a sixth-floor window. He obviously survived to tell the tale, but he was left with a form of synesthesia--he sees people's words as colored shapes. He's learned to use this ability as a primitive lie detector. He's called in when a former cop is found murdered. My attention wandered a bit a lot while I was reading this, but I can't say it was necessarily the book's fault; I've got a lot going on at the moment. Even so, I wasn't particularly surprised when I found out whodunnit. I even managed to figure it out a little before it was laid out plainly. I found Robbie to be irritating. His marriage is falling apart but he just goes on and on about how special his wife is. I saw her as a spoiled brat who had a lot of growing up to do. Then I started to see him as just being a step away from a stalker. He got a little pathetic. That's not how I want to see my heroes. And the whole synesthesia thing was kind of...redundant? Came off as a crutch? Something like that. It was just an easy way for Robbie to know if someone was lying without having to do a lot of footwork to actually prove it. I did enjoy narrator David Colacci's performance, but otherwise, this audiobook was forgettable for me. I enjoyed Cold Pursuit by this author much more. Read an excerpt. Find author T. Jefferson Parker on his website and Facebook. Buy The Fallen at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I…

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted: A desperate plea for vacation advice! My husband and I are supposed to be heading out to the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Parks soon. We're looking for alternate recommendations, just in case the National Parks are still shut down. Grrrr. Huge thanks to Suey at It's All About Books for the ideas she's already submitted! And by the way, if you want to email your Representative about what you think about this mess, you can find them and their email addresses on the House of Representatives website. Read: The Fallen by T. Jefferson Parker, read by David Colacci Currently Reading: 11/22/63 by Stephen King Mountainfit by Meera Lee Sethi (Lookout for a guest post from Meera on October 25!) Sanctus by Simon Toyne Up Next: I actually might finish 11/22/63 and Mountainfit! I'm debating whether or not to start a new audiobook this week. I won't have time to finish before our vacation. My husband is not a fan of audiobooks but we'll probably be doing a lot of driving, wherever we end up on vacation. Anyone have any ideas for something I can download that he might actually enjoy? The speaker would have to be incredibly engaging. He doesn't read a lot but he does like historical mysteries, David Sedaris, and I actually got him to read the last two Harry Potters before the movies came out. Other than that, I need to stop by the library and search out some horror books to take with me. I always like to scare myself in my October reading. Have you read any good horror books lately? What are you reading this week? I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore…

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October 7, 2013

Personal Stories

Vacation Plan B-ing (Driving Distance to Vegas)

So, with impeccable timing, my husband and I are going on vacation in about a week. To the National Parks of the Southwest. A few of them anyway. Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion. Do you see where this is going already? Yup. The government shutdown. I am generally an optimistic person, but I'm also a just-in-case-r at heart. So, just in case the shutdown is ongoing when we fly in to Vegas, do any of you have suggestions for where we should go if the National Parks are still closed? We're staying our first and last nights in Vegas and that's probably going to be more than enough for this Introverted Reader. We've come up with the vague idea of just driving across to San Diego, but we've never been to the Southwest at all; I'm not entirely ready to give up on the idea. I mean, look at these gorgeous photos: Grand Canyon. From Wikimedia Commons, taken by Muu-Karhu Bryce Canyon. From Wikimedia Commons, taken by Ymaup Zion. From Wikimedia Commons Taken by Diliff In the brief amount of time that I've spent looking for alternate ideas, I keep smacking into National Parks. I have one friend who has been telling me to go to Sedona ever since she heard we were going out that way, so that could be one possibility. I'm just looking for more ideas. That rocky landscape is so very different from what I'm used to: Blue Ridge Parkway. From Wikimedia Commons taken by Ken Thomas We've already booked hotels in Tusayan, AZ; Panguitch, UT; and Springdale, UT. If we have to, we'll cancel. I'd rather not, partly because I don't want to take a chance on any cancellation fees but also because I know local businesses have to be hurting from all this…

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October 5, 2013

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. I seem to be settling into a biweekly routine with this meme, don't I? Here's what's happened over the past two weeks. Posted: Review: The Fountain at St. James Court; or Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman by Sena Jeter Naslund--2.5 Stars Review: Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer--2.5 Stars Banned Books Week Review: Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak--2 Stars Banned Books Week Review: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck--4.5 Stars Banned Books Week Review: Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison--4 Stars Banned Books Week Review: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway--2 Stars Man, I was hard in my reviews! Read: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind: A Bestseller's Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood by Ellen F. Brown and John Wiley (This is not the novel) The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe Currently Reading: 11/22/63 by Stephen King Mountainfit by Meera Lee Sethi The Fallen by T. Jefferson Parker, read by David Colacci Sanctus by Simon Toyne Up Next: I feel like I say this every week, but I don't think I'll finish anything and if I do, I'll have to see where my mood takes me. What are you reading this week? I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site. My opinions are completely my own.

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September 30, 2013

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway: Book Review

A group of friends travel to Pamplona, Spain for the annual running of the bulls and subsequent bullfights and fiesta. I didn't like it. Not one bit. We read this for my book club because one of our members remembered loving it when she read it in an English class and had been wanting to re-read it. Even she said it was not at all what she remembered and it must have been made better by an awesome English teacher. Let's hear it for awesome English teachers! Left to struggle through on my own devices, however, I found nothing redeeming in any of these characters. Which was probably the point, but still. I like to read about characters that I actually like. The best one was the narrator, so that was a plus, but he couldn't keep his friends in line and I don't think he wanted to. They were all so very cynical and had seen everything and done everything that they got a little boring. I told one of my friends who hadn't quite finished by the time our meeting rolled around, "Let me save you some time. They go out, get drunk, Brett sleeps with someone who is not her fiance, the Jew (as he was mostly known) got mad that she wasn't sleeping with him and hit somebody, they all drank some more, and started over the next day." And that's what I took away from this book. Life is short and boring, you drink and argue, then you die. I did like Hemingway's style. He's very short and to the point and without seeming to waste a lot of time on description, he manages to put you firmly in a scene. I would occasionally get confused as to who was speaking because he didn't like…