Winners!

The winner of Eat the City is...... Emma of Words And Peace!

The winner of Miss Me When I'm Gone is..... Anita!

The Unconquered by Scott Wallace (Giveaway Included)

Part Of The Synopsis From Back Cover:

Even today there remain tribes in the far reaches of the Amazon rainforest that have avoided contact with modern civilization.  In this gripping first-person account of adventure and survival, Scott Wallace chronicles an expedition into the Amazon's uncharted depths, discovering the rainforest's secrets while moving ever closer to a possible encounter with one such tribe - the mysterious flecheiros, or "People of the Arrow," seldom-glimpsed warriors know to repulse all intruders with showers of deadly arrows.  Danger lurks at every step as the expedition seeks out the Arrow People even while trying to avoid them.

As a kid, the idea of the Amazon River fascinated me.  I would fantasize about swimming in the water, trekking through the jungle, and playing with the jaguars and monkeys.  Let's just say I had an overly romanticized notion of what the Amazon River was all about.  As a recently turned 36 year old, part of me still has an unrealistic idea of what the Amazon River is and what it means to those who call it's many tributaries home.  So when I have the opportunity to read a book, fiction or nonfiction, that takes place on or around the river, I jump at the chance.  At my age, I want to know how my childhood dreams stacks up against the reality.

Come to find out, after all these years, my dreams have been dashed by the reality of the situation on the ground.  I'm pretty sure the point of this book was not to dissuade people from wanting to visit the river, but it's had that affect on me.  I don't want to contribute to the desecration of progressively fragile ecosystem, that seems to be under assault from all sides.  If it's not corrupt government officials, illegal loggers, gold prospectors, poachers, drug runners, or other nefarious individuals raping the land for their own uses, it's the wanton subjugation of the indigenous tribes that have called the Amazon basin home for centuries.  Sitting in my air conditioned apartment in the middle of the United States, I had no idea of the dire situation facing the Amazon and it's denizens.

Now I don't want you to get the idea that this book is a treatise on the ravages of modernization, while it may speak to that, it's really the story of a lifetime, a story that the author simply could not pass up.  When he is asked by National Geographic to accompany a mapping trip, deep in the Amazon rainforest, Scott Wallace is torn in two directions.  Part of him wants to decline in order to rebuild the personal relationships he has neglected through the years as a traveling journalist.  But it's the side of him who simply can't pass up the opportunity of a lifetime to fulfill a dream of going deep into the Amazon.

It's through the travels that he truly begins to the understand what's going on, and how important it is to protect the last few tribes who have decided they want nothing to do with the modern world.  The mission he is accompanying is one that is designed to specify the boundaries of a section of rainforest that will be set aside for the "People of the Arrow" a tribe(s) that has thus far kept itself as far from white men as they can get.  The only way the government agency and it's headstrong leader can do that is by finding out where they live and the extent of their travels.  It's a mission made even harder by the fact that they need to do all this, without making direct contact with the Indians.

This is the story of a gruelling trip that took it's toll on all those involved.  It's a history of the region and the horrors of what has been perpetuated on the tribes that have been contacted by the outside world.  It's the story of a region and it's people that seem to be stuck in this middle area of trying to protect the environment and move a country, Brazil, into the modern world.  But most of all, it's a story of the people involved.  We meet, through Mr. Wallace's eyes, the egomaniac leader of the expedition, a man I grew to dislike and admire all at the same time.  We meet the various Indian and white men who make up the traveling party, and how the changes in the region have radically altered their lifestyle and culture.  It was a story that engrossed and repelled me at the same time.  I'm not sure that's a reaction many will have, but it's the only way I can really describe my feelings after I closed the last page.  It's a story that must be told, but it's also a story that I don't see ending well for anyone involved.  Hopefully I'm wrong, only time will tell.

Now for the giveaway.  I have one copy, generously offered by the publisher, up for grabs.  If you are interested in entering, please leave a comment with your email address.  The giveaway is, I believe, only open to residents of the US.  You will have until 11:59 pm CST, on September 1st to enter.  I will use random.org to pick the winner.

Winner of Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling!

And the winner is..... Laura of A Novel Review

The Gospel According to the Fix by Chris Cillizza (Plus Giveaway)

Synopsis From Back Cover:

The political world is full of acronyms, verbal shortcuts, and lingoes that stand as a barrier to entry for anyone not in the business.  The onset of social media has only mad that barrier higher, as insiders tweet furiously to one another in a language most of us can't even understand.  Everyday Americans and even political junkies nee a hot-to manual for understanding what words matter in this arena and why.

Enter Brother Chris Cillizza and The Gospel According to the Fix - an essential guide to the wonderfully odd religion of politics.  Based on a highly popular blog, The Gospel According to the Fix will teach you something new about politics, including parables the likes of:

• Why Ron Paul's candidacy is a lot like the TV show Friday Night Lights
• What it takes to be Richard Ben Cramer and write the political classic What it Takes
• The top ten negative campaign ads of all time
• The top ten issues candidates should be discussing but aren't because of the economy
• the dos and don'ts of surviving a political sex scandal

This was one of those books that I couldn't pass up.  I'm not sure anyone who is addicted to politics in the way that I am could.  Now I'm not going to sit and pretend that I know everything or that I even given an ounce of my time to learning all there is to know on the subject.  I wish I had the time, or made a different career choice in college, but since I don't and didn't, I have to rely on pundits that I respect.  I'm a big fan of The Fix, the blog written by Chris Cillizza for The Washington Post.  Sow when I saw a book version being discussed on an MSNBC show, I knew I needed to have it.  In an act of serendipity, I had an email waiting in my inbox the next day offering it for review.  I felt like the luckiest lad on Earth.  No joke, I almost squealed like a 12 year old girl at a Justin Beiber concert.

So needless to say that as soon as the book was in my possession, I dug in and rarely came up for air.  I'm one of those individuals who takes politics seriously but still sees the fun to be had by observing the whole process from a distance.  It's one of the reasons I enjoy Chris Cillizza as much as I do, his humor comes across on his blog and on TV, but it shines in this book.  I laughed out loud several times, nodded my head when I read something I agreed with, and couldn't wait to share certain sections with my other politically nerdy friends.  As a matter of fact, I now know what a lot of them are getting for Christmas.

I'm just hoping that he writes a second book sometime soon, so I have next Christmas covered as well.

Now for the giveaway.  I have one copy, generously offered by the publisher, up for grabs.  If you are interested in entering, please leave a comment with your email address.  The giveaway is, I believe, only open to residents of the US.  You will have until 11:59 pm CST, on August 27th to enter.  I will use random.org to pick the winner.

Winner of Let the Devil Sleep

And the winner is....... Pamela

Miss Me When I'm Gone by Emily Arsenault (Giveaway Included)

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Gretchen Waters is most famous for her book Tammyland - a "honky-tonk Eat, Pray, Love," a memoir about her divorce and her admiration for Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton.  When Gretchen dies falling on a set of stone steps outside of a library, everyone thinks it was an accident or a botched mugging.  Jamie, Gretchen's best friend from college, certainly has no reason to suspect foul play.  That is, until she becomes Gretchen's literary executor.  Gretchen's latest manuscript is much darker than Tammyland - ostensibly about her favorite classic male country singers, it's really about a murder in her family that haunted her childhood.  From beyond the grave, Gretchen opens up a sinister new world through her writing, and suddenly, her death seems suspicious.  And then Jamie finds herself in danger as well...

When I'm at a loss to how to start a review, I find it's easier if I just admit it up front.  The few times I try and get around that fact, the review just doesn't seem to come out well, and I end up redoing it anyway.  So let me start by saying I'm so stuck on this one that I feel as if my fingers are encased in molasses.  I have no idea  what I want to say, because I have no idea on what I feel towards this book.  I don't want anyone to think that ambivalence means I didn't like it, because if you have read this blog for any length of time, you know I'm not shy about telling you that I didn't like something.  I think I just had no reaction to it.

I really did want to like this book.  As most of you know, I'm a huge mystery fan, which should mean that I end up liking books that fall into the "suspense" category as well.  For the most part, that's proved true, but too often I end up not enjoying the book as much as I wanted.  If that was my only interest in reading this one, I would just chalk it up to trying something knew that didn't work out.  I would move on and let it go at that.  But the other factor that hooked me on giving this one a go, was the country music angle.  I adore classic country stars like Dolly Parton so I said yes before I really thought about it.

I'm afraid that it's the country sections of the book that almost killed this one for me.  The story is told in the first person by Jamie as she reacts to her friends death and tries to fulfill the obligations she feels toward Gretchen.  Over time I got to like Jamie and enjoyed the time I spent in her company.  What threw me off was the way the author chose to insert Gretchen's voice into the narrative.  From the beginning, we get glimpses of Gretchen through excerpts of Tammyland and from her new manuscript.  I almost closed the book for good after the first two chapters because of it.  I'm not normally patient with books that use journal entries, newspaper clippings, book pages, or letters to tell the story.  I think Dracula is about the only book that I ever liked that uses that storytelling device.  So when it's mixed in with first person narrative, it tends to really get on my nerves.  It's hard to concentrate on the story when it's being told in such a jumpy manner.  Dolly, Tammy, and Loretta where the only thing that saved those sections for me.

Where the book worked for me was in the present, and Jamie's attempt to finish Gretchen's book.  What starts off as an attempt to fulfill an obligations she feels toward Gretchen, quickly turns into something more.  By reading the manuscript and notes, listening to interview tapes, and talking to the interviewees themselves, Jamie begins to piece something together.  Gretchen stumbled upon something she wasn't looking for, at least not right away.  Jamie becomes immersed in Gretchen's search for her biological father and what happened to her mother all those years before.  It's a journey that may have ended Gretchen's life and could possibly end Jamie's.

So while I may have liked the underlying story, I'm not a huge fan of the way it was told.  I know I'll be in the minority on that one, and I'm okay with it.  There are plenty of books out there that I love, but other's just don't connect with for one reason or another.  After typing away for a good while, I wish I could tell you what I couldn't say in the first paragraph.  I'm still not sure what I think of this book, I didn't like it, but I didn't dislike it either.  I think it's a wash for me, and I'm okay with that too.

I would like to thank Trish of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment with an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.  The giveaway is open to US/Canada residents only and will run until 11:59 pm on August 23rd, 2012.  I will use random.org to pick the winner.

Challenges: A-Z

Eat the City by Robin Shulman (Giveaway Included)

Part Of The Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

New York is not a city for growing and manufacturing food.  It's a money and real estate city, with less naked earth and industry than high-rise glass and concrete.  Yet in this intimate, visceral, and beautifully written book, Robin Shulman introduces people of New York City - both paste and present - who do grow vegetables, butcher meat, fish local waters, cut and refine sugar, keep bees for honey, brew beer, and make win.  In the most heavily built urban environment in the country, she show an organic city full of intrepid and eccentric people who want to make things grow.  What's more, Shulman artfully places today's urban food production in the context of hundreds of years of history, and traces how we got to where we are.

In these pages meet Willie Morgan, a Harlem man who first grew his own vegetables in a vacant lot as a front for his gambling racket.  And David Selig, a beekeeper in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn who found his bees making a mysteriously red honey.  Get to know Yolene Joseph, who fishes crabs out of the waters off Coney Island to make curried stews for her family.  Meet the creators of the sickly sweet Manischewitz wine, whose brand grew out of Prohibition; and Jacob Ruppert, who owned a beer empire on the Upper East Side and the New York Yankees.

Eat the City is about how the ability of cities to feed peoples has changed over time.  Yet is is also, in a sens, the story of the things we long for in cities today:  closer human connections, a tangible link to more basic processes, a way to shape more rounded lives, a sense of something pure.

Naturally, most food and drink consumed by New Yorkers hundreds of years ago was grown and produced within what are now the five boroughs.  Yet people rarely realize that long after New York became a dense urban agglomeration, innovators, traditionalists, migrants, and immigrants continued to insist on producing their own food.  This book shows the perils and benefits - and the ironies and humor - when city people involve themselves in making what they eat.

There are times I like to pretend that I have not been living in the Midwest since about 1990.  Before that I moved around a lot and lived just about everywhere.  I was born on the shore of Lake Superior but have lived in Houston, the Los Angeles area, and gone to school in New Orleans.  I've lived in the country and have lived in a city for over 14 years now, of course comparing Wichita, KS to New York, NY is like comparing a dik-dik to a giraffe.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that I pretend to be more worldly than I am, I like to think I know everything there is to know about living in a "big" city, but books like Eat the City prove me wrong time and again.  They show me what it means to really understand city living, and that most of us have no clue about what's going on in their streets we walk everyday.

How many of us would be comfortable with having several bee hives on the roof or our apartment building?  Would we begrudge our neighbor growing a grape vine up the back of his house?  Would we complain if the vacant lot down the street was taken over by our neighbors who want to grow their own vegetables?  Or would be celebrate the fact that even amongst the miles of pavement and high rises, some of our fellow city dwellers are working with their own hands to produce the food for their kitchen table.  That they are rethinking how our food is produced and deciding that maybe the old days were better for us.  Maybe it's a great idea for those of us who live in urban setting to rethink what we've been doing and allow ourselves to fully appreciate what food means to our culture and our heritage.

Now I'm not saying I'm going to start keeping bees or growing my own tomatoes out on the balcony.  I don't have the space or the time.  That and the was summers have been going, I'm not sure how long those plants would even stay alive.  But I am curious to find out what, if any, local food is being produced in the city of Wichita.  Robin Shulman in her examination of New York and it's history of food production has made me want to know about what took place in and around Wichita over the last 100 years.  I want to know about our past cattle and dairy industry, signs of which can still be found today in and around downtown.  I'm curious to know how many bootleggers roamed the city of Wichita during Prohibition.  I want to know the fishing history of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers as they flow through the city of Wichita, waters of which I would not being eating out of today.  Robin Shulman has not only given me a glimpse of New York, it's history and it's present, but she has given me the desire to know more about my own city and how food has and continues to impact the people of Wichita.

The wonderful people at Crown have allowed me to give one copy of this book away to one lucky winner.  The giveaway is only open to the US and will run until 11:59 pm CST, on August 21st, 2012.  To enter, please leave comment about food.  Is there a local speciality that you love.  Or do you have a memory of your childhood centered around a garden?  Whatever it is, I would love to hear about it.  You also need to leave your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.  I will use random.org to pick the winner.

Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino (Giveaway Too!)

Synopsis From Back Cover:

When the nanny to the young Darrow boys is found mysteriously murdered on the outskirts of the village of Blackfield, Charlotte Markham, the recently hired governess, steps in to take over their care.  During an outing in the forest, they find themselves crossing over into The Ending, "the place for the Things Above Death," where Lily Darrow, the late mother of the children, has been waiting.  She invites them into the House of Darkling, a wondrous place filled with enchantment, mystery, and strange creatures that appear to be, but are not quite, human.

However, everything comes with a price, and as Charlotte begins to understand the unspeakable bargain Mrs. Darrow has made for a second chance at motherhood, she uncovers a connection to the sinister occurrences in Blackfield and enters into a deadly game with the  master of Darkling - one whose outcome will determine the fate of not just the Darrows but the world itself.

I have never thought about reading a slightly lighter Lovecraftian tale told within the confines of a Victorian  Gothic novel.  It's not something that I even considered before, but now that I've read it, I'm slightly confused as to the reason why nobody thought of doing this before.  Now when I say Victorian and Gothic, I'm still speaking of terms of being slightly lighter.  None of the thematic elements really dominate the structure of the novel.  Instead it's like the author used them as the basic outline of the structure, then filled those lines in with something else.  What that something else is, I'm still not sure I have a word for it.

Now despite my apparent confusion, I'm here to tell you that I actually really enjoyed this one.  Sadly, I can't really tell you the reason though.  There are sometimes, no matter how much you think about or analyze something, you can't really explain your reaction to it.  I know I liked it.  I know I enjoyed getting to know The Ending and those that dwelled inside.  I know I loved the way those denizens were structured after some of Lovecraft's well know Elder Beings.  I even liked the civil war the author forced them to fight.  I never thought of the Elder Beings as being political or of having schisms amongst themselves.  I also thought of them as monstrous beings bent on ending the world as we know it.  The author took the world of Lovecraft and made it more human, something I didn't think I would like until I read it.

I think the only thing that would have made this book stronger, at least for me, is that I would have liked to see the "romantic" elements be a bit stronger.  I guess I can't really enjoy a good Gothic novel without there being a strong romantic element.  The main "romance" was between Charlotte and Mr. Darrow.  It was never a relationship I ever bought into or liked, and it always felt as if it existed in her head more than anything else.  It was a bit too forced for my taste, and because of the direction the book took, it was doomed before it left the ground.  Similarly the minor romantic liaisons never felt all that explored and the one I liked the most was barely touched upon.  One one of their trips to Darkling, the oldest Darrow boy is introduced to a young man who belongs to a race of creatures that inhabit the world.  The particular family takes a human visage, and the two hit it off.  It's obvious from the get go that there is something between them from the start.  Of all the relationships, it was the only one that developed a real sense of affection, though it was only shown a few times towards the end.

I was going to ramble on about the causes behind the civil war, the landscape that Mr. Darrow and Charlotte traveled through on their last foray into the world, and the way Death is introduced; but I won't.  All these elements are interconnected and I think it best that a reader discover them on their own.  I was even going to touch upon the idea of a parent striking the deal that Lily Darrow made in order to see her children once again.  But her character and her motivations are, once again, best left to the reader to explore themselves.  What I will say is that whether you end up enjoying the book or not, Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling will be more than worth the time.

Now onto the giveaway.  One lucky reader will win the book for themselves, though that reader must reside in the United States or Canada.  All you need to do is leave a comment letting me in on a secret.  I want to know about a book that you liked, but can't really explain why.  You also need to leave an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.  The giveaway will run until 11:59 pm CST on Monday, August 13th.

Let The Devil Sleep by John Verdon (Giveaway Included)

Synopsis From Back Cover:

The most decorated detective in NYPD history, Dave Gurney is still trying to adjust to life of quasi-retirement in upstate New York when a young woman who is producing a documentary on a notorious murder spree seeks his counsel.  Soon after, Gurney begins feeling threatened; a razor-sharp hunting arrow lands in his yard, and he narrowly escaped serious injury in a booby-trapped basement.  As things grow more bizarre, he finds himself reexamining the Case of the Good Shepherd, which ten years before involved a series of roadside shootings and a rage-against-the-rich manifesto.  The killings ceased, and a cult of analysis grew up around the case with a consensus opinion that no one would dream of challenging - no one, that is, but Dave Gurney.

Mocked even by some who have been allies in previous investigations, Gurney realizes that the killer is too clever to ever be found.  The only gambit that may make sense is also the most dangerous - to make himself a target and get the killer to come to him.

To be perfectly honest with everyone, while I love mysteries, I'm not normally a huge fan of thrillers.  There have been a few over the last few years that grabbed and held my attention, but none refused to let me go once I got started on them.  Let the Devil Sleep is the first thriller that I didn't want to put down, and if it weren't for that fact I'm getting old and tire easily, I would have stayed up all night reading.

I was sucked in from the very beginning, and I'm not even sure I can truly say the whys of it.  I wish I could tell you what made this book so much better than the other thrillers I've read in the past.  If I had to make a guess, and a weak one at that, I would have to pick the fact that I loved the characters.  For me, there wasn't a weak one in the bunch.  Dave Gurney has to be one of the most interesting male protagonists that I've read in a thriller, since most of what I've read stars female leads, I'm not sure that really means anything though.  I found him to be compelling and someone I couldn't take my attention away from.  I haven't read the other books in the series, but he seems to be a character that has a lot of history and depth to him.  All of which has shaped who he is and how he reacts to situations.  He is joining a group of strong male leads that I'm discovering this year.  Now I just need to get caught up on the series.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews.

To enter the giveaway please leave a comment letting me know of another strong male lead you have come across lately.  You will also need to include your email in order to contact you if you are the winner.  The giveaway is open to residents of US/Canada only.  The giveaway will run until 11:59 pm CST on Tues. Aug. 7th.  Winner will be chosen by random.org.  I will contact the winner will have 48 hours to get back to me or another winner will be chosen.

Winner of Equal of the Sun by Anita Amirrezvani

And the belated winner is..... Melissa of Books and Things!

Equal of the Sun by Anita Amirrezvani (Plus Giveaway)

Part Of The Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Iran in 1576 is a place of wealth and dazzling beauty.  But when the Shah dies without having named an heir, the court is thrown into tumult.  Princess Pari, the Shah's daughter and protege, knows more about the inner workings of the state than almost anyone, but the princess's maneuvers to instill order after her father's sudden death incite resentment and dissent.  Pari and her closet adviser, Javaher, a eunuch able to navigate the harem as well as the world beyond the palace walls, are in possession of an incredible tapestry of secrets and information that reveals a power struggle of epic proportions.

I think I've finally come to that point in my relationship with historical fiction, and I'm going to stop bashing my head against a wall.  I'm going to surrender and admit defeat.  Historical fiction is just not for me, and I need to quit pretending that it is.  Now don't get me wrong, there have been a few books I have enjoyed in the past, but after some careful analysis, they all belong within the same sub genre.  If it's a mystery or police procedural, give it to me.  If it's not, I'm going to pass for now on.

The really sad thing, I can't really tell you why Equal of the Sun, and all the other historical ficiton books I've tried over the last few years don't work for me.  For the most part, and I include this one, they are well researched books that explore points in history that I'm not all that familiar with, but would love to know more about.  They explore cultures in such a way, that at their best, makes the reader feel as if they have stepped back in time and are experiencing everything for themselves.  But most importantly it's the characters, both real and fictional, that drive the action on the page.

Princess Pari Khan Khanoom Safavi, is one such character.  She was a driving force, behind the scenes, in her father's court and amongst the other women in her society.  She was born during a period in Iran where women were not allowed to rule, despite the fact that they were sometimes the best choice for the job.  This was at the same time that Elizabeth I was ruling England, so the geography involved makes the issue even more tragic in it's results.  She highlights the fact that there is so much about world history, especially the history of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa that those of us in the United States know absolutely nothing about.    She makes me think of everything else I don't know, but would love to know more about.  This book and others like it, makes me want to know more about those time periods, the cultures involved, and the people who populated them.

Now for the part I don't like so much, and this is my own reaction, so please don't feel as if you need to defend the genre to me.  With Equal of the Sun and other books I've read, there seems to be a sterility about them that I just can't seem to get over.  And to tell you the truth, I'm not even sure I can explain what I just said.  But sterile is the one word that constantly reverberates around my skull when I'm reading a work of historical ficiton, that is not a mystery or based on a true crime.  As detailed as the settings are and as rich the cultures are portrayed, the people never seem to come across as real to me.  Which is strange, because most of them are real people.  There is just something missing, something about the way they are drawn that just doesn't feel right to me.  Like I said, I know this is just me, so please don't get too mad at me.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read/review this book.  Please visit the tour page, where I know you will find lots of reviews by bloggers who adored this book.

Now, since I know most of you would love this book, I would love to be able to offer a copy to a lucky reader.  All you need to do is leave a comment telling me why you love historical ficiton, without yelling at me cause I don't.  And if you know of a book in the subgenre of mystery/true crime that you think I would like, please let me know that as well.  You don't need to be a follower of the blog, but it would be appreciated.  You do need to live within the United States though, sorry.  The giveaway will run until 11:59 pm CST on Monday, June 25th.  I will use random.org to draw the winner's name but since I will be on vacation, I will not be sending the email until after that Wed.

A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois (Winner!)

And the winner is Beth of Beth's Book Reviews

A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer Dubois (Plus Giveaway)

Synopsis From Back Cover:

In St. Petersburg, Russia, world chess champion Aleksandr Bezetov being a quixotic quest: launching a dissident presidential campaign against Vladimir Putin.  He knows he will not win, but a deeper conviction propels him forward.  And in the same way that he cannot abandon his aims, he cannot erase the memory of a mysterious woman he loved in his youth.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, thirty-year-old English lecturer Irina Ellison is on a improbable quest of her own.  Certain she has inherited Huntington's disease - the same cruel illness that ended her father's life - she struggles to find a sense of purpose.  Then Irina finds an old, photocopied letter her father had written to the young Aleksandr Bezetov, in which has asked the Soviet chess prodigy a profound question:  How does one proceed in a lost cause?  Since he had never received an adequate reply, Irina travels to Russia to find Bezetov and get an answer for her father, and for herself.

It's been a long time since I've read a book that is both beautifully written and depressing enough that I didn't want to finish it.  I found myself getting lost in the narrative voice of both Aleksandr and Irina.  Now normally when I say that, it's a good thing.  It would normally mean that the voice being used was so compelling that I became enraptured int he book and could no longer pay attention to anything else going on around me.  This time, it's a different story.  Both characters are so wounded psychologically that I really did want to get lost.  As in, put the book down and pretend it wasn't there.  I wanted to go out into the world of sunshine, kittens, and My Little Pony.  Needless to say I'm not a huge fan of any of those things, so for me to want to seek those things out is a little strange.

Irina was forced to watch her father die twice.  The first death was of his brain, which for both of them, is the most important aspect of living.  Once the mental abilities were gone, Irina observed the slow death of his body.  Now that she is facing the same disease, she kills herself first.  I'm not saying her character is a ghost, because she is still alive, but she isn't living life.  She has already given up, but she forces herself to believe she is doing the "right" thing.  She doesn't want to see pity from others nor does she feel she can really connect with someone else in anyway that is both true and real.  She has chosen to take the false stoic approach, which in my opinion means she's dead in everything but having her body in the ground.

Aleksandr on the other hand has been living in a limbo of his own.  He is in a loveless marriage that is more about habit than anything else.  He hasn't really ever let go of the prostitute he fell in love with as a young man or of his guilty in giving into the party system when he was playing chess.  He is living because of his guilt and anger, trying to correct things that really can never be corrected.  He is a shadow of his past and it's not until the end of the book that he really starts to live in the world again.

Both Irina and Aleksandr are compelling characters that I would have loved exploring on separate terms.  When the two of them were put together, it was just a bit much for me to deal with.  There was just too much life wasting away, not being fully lived.  It was a disheartening, depressing, and not something I could really enjoy at this point in time.  Now with that being said, I do know and can say with absolute conviciton, that one day I will pick this book up again, and I will love it.  I will be in the right frame of mind and be able to really connect with the characters without allowing their sadness to overwhelm me.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours of the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page to read other reviews (most of which raved about the book.)

Now onto the giveaway.  All you need to do is leave a comment (that actually touches on the review) with your email address.  The giveaway will run for two weeks, ending at 11:59 PM on 4/18.  The winner will be selected by random draw and will be contacted by email.  The winner will have 48 hours to email back with their mailing information or a new winner will be drawn.  The giveaway is for US residents only.

Winner of The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn

Congratulations to the winner......

Yvette of in so many words...

The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn (Plus Giveaway!)

Part Of The Synopsis From Back Cover:

Ian Hunt is a police dispatcher in East Texas.  Just as his shift is ending he gets a call from his fourteen-year-old daughter - who was declared dead four months earlier.

The call is cut off by the man who snatched her from her bedroom when she was seven.  A basic description of the kidnapper is all Ian has to go on.

The trail leads to a local couple, but this is just the start of Ian's fight to get his daughter back.  What follows is a bullet-strewn cross-country chase from Texas to California along Interstate 10.  

I can't recall a ton of books that I've read over the last few years that deal with a father doing everything they need to do to protect their child.  Other than Cormac McCarthy's The Road, my brain is a little stumped trying to remember another book that I've read, that deals with the specific relationship of father and child.  I don't even think I could name a book I've seen reviewed somewhere else in the last few years that reflect such a perspective.  I could name off tons of book that deal with mothers protecting or rescuing their kids, but not fathers.  I'm not sure if it's just that I'm not being exposed to the books, or if it's because they aren't being written.  Whatever the explanation, when I read the synopsis of this book, I jumped at the chance to read it.

From the get go, Ian and his fight to get his daughter back kept me on the proverbial edge of my seat the entire time I had the book open.  It was one of those reads that I didn't necessarily want to put down, and only did so under duress.  Ian is a emotionally crippled man who has had to deal with the abduction of his daughter seven years ago, a horrific experience that has destroyed every other relationship he had.  His wife left him for another police officer.  The relationship with his son, who was in high school at the time of the abduction, is damaged beyond repair.  Ian could not help but blame him for his sister's abduction.  He never wanted to feel that way, but sometimes the brain really has no control over how someone is going to react.

From the moment Ian receives that phone call, he is racing against time.  He doesn't know what the kidnapper will do now that he is in danger of being found out.  When the bodies of 3 other female toddlers along with the nightgown Ian's daughter was wearing the night she disappeared are discovered on private property, they get the break they need.  I'm not going to even get into how the bodies were discovered because it's the result of one of those seemingly random events that can get you into trouble, even if you don't realize it at the time.  But the way it happens is brilliant and never seems to be unbelievable.

When the initial contact with the suspect ends up with two officers dead and Ian in the hospital, it's up to Ian to get his ass in gear and save his daughter on his own.   He leaves the hospital and sets out on a crusade to get his daughter and his life back.  He does something that I'm sure some out there would find to be over the top or out of character, but I'm pretty damn sure I would have done the same thing Ian does.  If someone had knowledge of where my son was at, and would not spill the beans, I would do everything I had to do to get that information.  Rescuing my son would comes first, consequences can be dealt with after my child was safe.

What follows is a car chase across barren deserts and abandoned towns.  It's a chase filled with violence and blood shed.  Innocent people lose their lives along the way, people who were just trying to do the right thing.  It's a bloody journey that I would pray no father would ever have to make, but it's a journey that any father should be willing to embark on in order to protect their child.

I would like to thank Lisa of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book.  Please visit the tour page for other reviews and additional chances to win your very own copy.

Now onto the giveaway.  One lucky reader will win a copy of The Dispatcher.  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your email address.  It's as simple as that.  The giveaway will end on 3/15/12 at 11:59 PM CST.  I will select the winner using random.org and will then email the winner.  The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be picked.

Challenges: A-Z

Happy Haulidays!

The great people at Chronicle Books are hosting their Happy Haulidays giveaway once again this year.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it's this great opportunity for one blogger and one of their commenters to win $500 dollars worth of books.  This year they have added in another winner as well, the winning blogger will get to pick their favorite charity to win $500 dollars in books as well.  It's such a great thing that they are doing, now I just need to keep my fingers crossed.

If I win, the charity I chose is Positive Directions.  It's a local charity that assists clients with HIV/AIDS obtain housing, transportation, food, and a varied list of other services.  They also do a great job with HIV/AIDS prevention outreach.  Every year they give out holiday boxes with not only food but other items, such as books.

Not to the fun part, picking the books.  After selecting the books I wanted, the grand total was $494.25.

Non-Fiction:

This Is NPR by various authors

Ramayana by Sanjay Patel

Smart on Crime by Kamala D. Harris

The Anatomy of the Sea by Dr. David Ponsonby and Professor Georges Dussart

Cookbooks: 

Grilled Cheese by Marlena Spieler

Macaroni & Cheese by Marlena Spieler

The Big Book of Breakfast by Maryana Vollstedt

The Big Book of Casseroles by Maryana Vollstedt

The Big Book of Soups and Stews by Maryana Vollstedt

Photography:

Microworlds

Bird by Andrew Zuckerman

Creature by Andrew Zuckerman

The Life & Love of Trees by Lewis Blackwell

Fiction: 

A Time To Run by Barbara Boxer

Blind Trust by Barbara Boxer

The Conductor by Laetitia Devernay

Journals:

Birch Forest Flexi Journal

Winner Of Little Goblins Ten

The winner of Little Goblins Ten by Pamela Jane is.......

Gwendolyn!

Because the first winner had already won one, the new winner is.....

Anne!

Winner of Ivan and Misha by Michael Alenyikov

Congrats to Julie of Knitting and Sundries!

Winner of Centuries of June by Keith Donohue

The winner of Centuries of June by Keith Donohue is.....

Melissa Ann Goodwin! 

Winner of The Honored Dead by Joseph Braude

And the winner of The Honored Dead by Joseph Braude is....

Julie of Knitting and Sundries