becke_davis wrote:Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad Series #4)
I love this author!
Wow, it seems crazy she's up to #4 on this series already! Where does the time go?
basson_mommy12 wrote:
becke_davis wrote:
Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad Series #4)
I love this author!
Wow, it seems crazy she's up to #4 on this series already! Where does the time go?
I've read all four, but my favorites are #2 and #3.
Just finished
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette and here's my review:
The Penderwicks continue their delightful adventures in the summer vacation locale of Point Mouette.
While Rosalind and their father are away on separate vacations, the remaining Penderwicks travel with Aunt Claire to the Atlantic coast of Maine. But it will fall to Skye to be the OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick) in Rosalind's absence, and the care and safety of Jane, Batty and the irrepressible Hound will rest on her young shoulders. Will she be able to keep Batty from drowning or worse? Will she be able to keep the Sabrina Star-crazed Jane from losing her heart to a boy not worthy of her in her quest for understanding Love? Will Hound ever eat dog food?
Their greatest friend, Jeffrey joins them on their two-week vacation for an exciting visit with laughs, tears and fun.
----------------------------
Next up:
basson_mommy12 wrote:
Just finished
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette and here's my review:
While Rosalind and their father are away on separate vacations, the remaining Penderwicks travel with Aunt Claire to the Atlantic coast of Maine. But it will fall to Skye to be the OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick) in Rosalind's absence, and the care and safety of Jane, Batty and the irrepressible Hound will rest on her young shoulders. Will she be able to keep Batty from drowning or worse? Will she be able to keep the Sabrina Star-crazed Jane from losing her heart to a boy not worthy of her in her quest for understanding Love? Will Hound ever eat dog food?
Their greatest friend, Jeffrey joins them on their two-week vacation for an exciting visit with laughs, tears and fun.
----------------------------
Next up:
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time .
The Mark Haddon book is great! I love the Penderwick books. What makes the OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick) designation even funnier is that "OAP" Is commonly used in England to mean "Old Age Pensioner" (the way we would say Senior Citizen). I think it's intended as a little pun on that.
The Diva Digs Up the Dirt by Krista Davis- Isn't this a beautiful cover? I just finished reading the book, and Sophie literally does dig up the dirt in this one! I don't want to write a spoiler, but must say I was pretty surprised at the turn of events at the end of the book. Not the business with Wolf per se-- it was pretty clear to see that coming, from the middle of the book on, but there are a couple of major plot surprises that Davis pulls off towards the end. Of course, Natasha is back at her meddling self again, this time signing Sophie up for one of those " Home Makeover" shows and Sophie is horrified to find out that the Star of the show wants to dig up HER back garden in order to make way for a new garage! OK, that's probably all I should say here, except thanks, becke, for including this book in one of my "Got Books?" packages!
becke_davis wrote:
basson_mommy12 wrote:Just finished
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette and here's my review:
While Rosalind and their father are away on separate vacations, the remaining Penderwicks travel with Aunt Claire to the Atlantic coast of Maine. But it will fall to Skye to be the OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick) in Rosalind's absence, and the care and safety of Jane, Batty and the irrepressible Hound will rest on her young shoulders. Will she be able to keep Batty from drowning or worse? Will she be able to keep the Sabrina Star-crazed Jane from losing her heart to a boy not worthy of her in her quest for understanding Love? Will Hound ever eat dog food?
Their greatest friend, Jeffrey joins them on their two-week vacation for an exciting visit with laughs, tears and fun.
----------------------------
Next up:
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time .
The Mark Haddon book is great! I love the Penderwick books. What makes the OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick) designation even funnier is that "OAP" Is commonly used in England to mean "Old Age Pensioner" (the way we would say Senior Citizen). I think it's intended as a little pun on that.
OAP - 
That's hilarious! Even if you haven't read Book Two of the Penderwicks series, I'd recommend skipping it to make sure you read Book Three, though Book Two is so fun, I'd hate you to miss that one: Skye and Jane really make a mess of things at school, and Batty gets involved in a mystery.
I'm enjoying the Curious Incident. It hits close to home, because my ten-year-old son is a bit "different" - he has a minor case of Tourettes, so I understand what it is to be the parent of a child who is misunderstood and yet so gifted and bright.
basson_mommy12 wrote:
becke_davis wrote:
basson_mommy12 wrote:
Just finished
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette and here's my review:
While Rosalind and their father are away on separate vacations, the remaining Penderwicks travel with Aunt Claire to the Atlantic coast of Maine. But it will fall to Skye to be the OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick) in Rosalind's absence, and the care and safety of Jane, Batty and the irrepressible Hound will rest on her young shoulders. Will she be able to keep Batty from drowning or worse? Will she be able to keep the Sabrina Star-crazed Jane from losing her heart to a boy not worthy of her in her quest for understanding Love? Will Hound ever eat dog food?
Their greatest friend, Jeffrey joins them on their two-week vacation for an exciting visit with laughs, tears and fun.
----------------------------
Next up:
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time .
The Mark Haddon book is great! I love the Penderwick books. What makes the OAP (Oldest Available Penderwick) designation even funnier is that "OAP" Is commonly used in England to mean "Old Age Pensioner" (the way we would say Senior Citizen). I think it's intended as a little pun on that.
OAP -
I'm enjoying the Curious Incident. It hits close to home, because my ten-year-old son is a bit "different" - he has a minor case of Tourettes, so I understand what it is to be the parent of a child who is misunderstood and yet so gifted and bright.
The son of a good friend is autistic, so this resonated with me. My own son is what they call a "cognitive thinker," so he always looks at things a bit differently, too.
Right now, I'm re-reading some chapters from Harry Potter and History. I think most of you know I'm a big HP fan, and his birthday(and Jo Rowlings, too!) is coming up soon. Anyway, I'm reading in Part Three, Chapter 11, "Women and Witches: What Muggles Could Learn from Wizarding History," by Janice Liedl.
Here are a couple of sample quotes from the chapter:
"The English were never comfortable with the idea of women wielding power or even claiming equality with men until very recently in historical terms. Although women could inherit power and position, the practice of primogeniture (where the oldest son inherited all or most of the family property on his father's death) meant that a younger brother would inherit before an older sister would and, in some cases, a male cousin instead of a daughter had the right to the inheritance" (p.247).
Just a couple of quick thoughts here.
Of course, this is a subject that pops up in literature and cinema. In literature, Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice deals with this legal problem, as the Bennet family has no sons, and so Jane Bennet has no right to inherit her parent's property, and it would pass to the Bennet's cousin, the odious, toadying Mr. Collins. In the BBC production of Downtown Abbey, the aristocratic family has the same problem. Austen deals quite adroitly with the problem, even using it to further her plot, as Jane and Lizzy must find suitable husbands in order not to end up as the wife of Mr. Collins, or later on, thrown on the tender mercies of Mr. Collins and his wife Charlotte. While Jane Austen managed to give her female characters in P&P a happy ending, many families in real life had to struggle with the consequences of the law.
Janice Liedl expalins the problems that beset Henry VIII as a result of that same rule of primogeniture. Henry's inability to produce a legitimate male heir is what led to his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and also wrenching England out of the Roman Catholic Church, "after the Pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine"(p. 247). Compared to the status of women in the muggle world, Liedl states,
" We have no evidence that either wizards or witches enjoyed an advantage in the wizarding world when it came to the inheritance of property or social standing. The infamous Black family tapestry that Sirius interprets for his godson gives no hint that witches labored under any disability when it came to status or recognition within a wizarding family. What mattered most to the ferociously pureblood-minded Blacks was blood purity and magical ability. Across wizarding Britain, magical ability, not gender, was the key to your status. Muggle-born witches and wizards automatically gained entrance to the wizarding world through the
manisfestations of their abilities and their admission to Hogwarts"(p.253).
Of course, JK Rowling created the world of Harry Potter, but it's interesting to think about how history could have been different in reality had there been the same kind of attitude toward both genders, in re ability vs heredity.
Just finished
Buying Time It was an okay read. I got it via lendleme. It should have been funny, but was mostly kind of...well, it missed the mark there for me. The plot was decent, but had some very weak areas when it came to wrapping things up (pretty haphazard.) Good characters; they were the best part.
dulcinea3 wrote:
Finished The Door Between, and now I'm into my second Ellery Queen novel, The Devil to Pay (I have both of these in one paperback). After this, I have two short story collections (again, in one volume), so I'll see how far I get!
I finished the two Ellery Queen novels I had, and now am into the short stories. I have a large book (a Got Books selection!) called Ellery Queen's Adventure Omnibus, which is made up of two short story collections, Adventures of Ellery Queen, and New Adventures of Ellery Queen. I'm only two stories in, but enjoying them!
dulcinea3 wrote:
dulcinea3 wrote:
Finished The Door Between, and now I'm into my second Ellery Queen novel, The Devil to Pay (I have both of these in one paperback). After this, I have two short story collections (again, in one volume), so I'll see how far I get!
I finished the two Ellery Queen novels I had, and now am into the short stories. I have a large book (a Got Books selection!) called Ellery Queen's Adventure Omnibus, which is made up of two short story collections, Adventures of Ellery Queen, and New Adventures of Ellery Queen. I'm only two stories in, but enjoying them!
I've read a lot of Ellery Queen books and short stories but by no means all of them. Do you have a favorite so far?
