It's Monday! What Are You Reading? September 17, 2012

This meme starts at Book Journey!

What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I spent the weekend sitting in a hotel room feeling fairly yucky with a cold or sinus infection. We drove to South Florida to share in the memorial celebration for my Dad who died on July 3. Thanks for all you gave; we miss you Dad!

I did finish four books last week and posted five book reviews so I can keep up.  There was only one review with a giveaway link.  I posted the regular Friday Pick Giveaway, Saturday Sharing Beyond Books Comment Giveaway and Sunday Words.

I did get to visit a bit last week and hope I will get to a little tonight before I crash again. :-)
I truly appreciate all the nice people who visit me.

These were last week's posts, not including a winner's post:

• It's Monday What are You Reading? September 10, 2012.

• Monday Mailbox September 10, 2012.

• Book Review, Feature with Giveaway Link: Dangerous Shift by Jill James; Paranormal Romantic Suspense; my rating 4.5.

• Audio Book Review:  Steel Whispers by Hayden Trenholm; Science Fiction; my rating 4.5.

• Book Review: Summer's Crossing by Julie Kagawa; Fantasy; my rating 4.0.

• Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway September 14, 2012.  Open Worldwide.  Ends 9/13.

• Audio Book Review:  The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; Adapted Classic, Dramatization; my rating 4.25.

• Book Review:  What In God's Name by Simon Rich; Comedy; my rating 4.0.

• Sharing Beyond Books #65 Comment Giveaway. Open Worldwide. Ends 9/21.

• Sunday Words of Encouragement September 16, 2012.

Finished Reading:

1. Print
 

What in God's Name: A Novel
by Simon Rich
I had mixed feelings on this. The review is linked above.

2. Audio
 

Night Rounds: A Detective Inspector Irene Huss Investigation  
by Helene Tursten (Author), 
Suzanne Toren (Narrator)
This is a detailed and interesting mystery.
I will post a review early this week.
Reviewing for AudioGo  through Audiobook Jukebox.  
Book Description Publication Date: June 5, 2012 |   
Series: Inspector Irene Huss Investigation
Irene Huss is a former Ju–Jitsu champion, a mother of twin teenage girls, the wife of a successful chef, and a Detective Inspector with the Violent Crimes Unit in Goteborg, Sweden. And now she’s back with a gripping follow–up to Detective Inspector Huss. One nurse lies dead and another vanishes after their hospital is hit by a blackout. ....

3. Audio

The Grapes of Wrath
By John Steinbeck, Frank Galati [Adapt.]
Read by Shirley Knight, Jeffrey Donovan, and a Full Cast
Published by L.A. Theatre Works
I really enjoyed the dramatization of this
classic story.  The review is linked above.
Description:
Drought and economic depression are driving thousands from Oklahoma. As their land becomes just another strip in the dust bowl, the Joads, a family of sharecroppers, decide they have no choice but to follow. They head west, towards California, where they hope to find work and a future for their family.

"With a photographer’s eye for honest detail and a musician’s ear for the era’s language and dialogue, John Steinbeck’s Dustbowl epic of displacement, heartache, and hope became both a touchstone and lightning rod in American literature as soon as it was published in 1939. The novel continues to resonate and L.A. Theatre Works’s full-cast performance of Frank Galati’s Tony Award-winning stage adaptation hits all the high points. In this story of family and survival, Jeffrey Donovan provides a solid voice and foundation for the Prodigal Son figure, Tom Joad. Francis Guinan finds the wisdom and humor in the broken preacher, Jim Casey. And veteran Broadway star Shirley Knight shines as the matriarch, Ma Joad, bringing heart, soul, and tears to every line. A fine introduction to Steinbeck’s world.”

4. Kindle
 

Miss Buncle's Book  
by D.E. Stevenson
This is a fun story - very small town! I will post a review this week. Reviewing for Sourcebooks through NetGalley.   
Book Description  
Publication Date:  September 1, 2012  
Who Knew One Book Could Cause So Much Chaos?  
Barbara Buncle is in a bind. Times are harsh, and Barbara's bank account has seen better days. Maybe she could sell a novel ... if she knew any stories. Stumped for ideas, Barbara draws inspiration from her fellow residents of Silverstream, the little English village she knows inside and out.
 

Line Edits/Releases: I have another release to get posted this week.

Currently reading:  

1. Audible
 

The Lost Gate: Mithermages, Book 1

• UNABRIDGED
• by Orson Scott Card
• Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Emily Janice Card
•   Series: Mithermages, Book 1

 Since we had 10 hours of driving I chose a book that my daughter and grandson might like too.
We are about half way through and 
will listen to the rest on the drive home.
This is from my Audible Library.
Publisher's Summary
Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different - and that he was different from them. While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent, never form an "outself".

He grew up in the rambling old house, filled with dozens of cousins and aunts and uncles, all ruled by his father. Their home was isolated in the mountains of western Virginia, far from town, far from schools, far from other people.

There are many secrets in the House, and many rules that Danny must follow. There is a secret library with only a few dozen books, and none of them in English - but Danny and his cousins are expected to become fluent in the language of the books. While Danny’s cousins are free to create magic whenever they like, they must never do it where outsiders might see.

Unfortunately, there are some secrets kept from Danny as well. And that will lead to disaster for the North family.

Orson Scott Card, a New York Times best-selling author, has won several Hugo and Nebula Awards for his works of speculative fiction. He lives with his family in Greensboro, North Carolina.

©2011 Orson Scott Card (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

2. Print

A Man of Honor: First Responders Book #3
by Loree Lough
I have just started this and like it from just a few pages in. I will be posting the review 9/20 as part of Pump Up Your Book Blog Tour.
Book Description
Publication Date: August 2012 | Series: First Responders (Book 3)
On a steamy spring morning, Dusty Parker—part-time pastor, part-time search-and-rescue team member, and full-time administrator of a school for troubled boys—joins the search for a missing teenage girl. He partners with volunteer and inner-city school teacher Grace Sinclair, and what they find bonds them in ways neither could have expected.

As they begin to build their lives together, a visitor from the past causes Dusty and Grace to further open their hearts and home. But a threat is looming on their seemingly perfect lives and in one terrifying night, everything changes.

3. Print

Angels Landing (A Cavanaugh Island Novel)
by Rochelle Alers
I am 25% into this and it is reading quickly;
Reviewing for Forever/Hachette.
Book Description
Publication Date: August 28, 2012 | Series: A Cavanaugh Island Novel (Book 2)
Sometimes love can take you by surprise.

Kara Newell has a big-city life that needs a major shake-up. Her dedication as a social worker is unwavering, yet her heart tells her that there is more to life than just work. Kara gets the push she needs when she shockingly inherits a large estate on an island off the South Carolina coast. Now the charming town of Angels Landing awaits her . . . along with a secret family she never knew she had.

After surviving war, loss, and heartbreak, ex-marine Jeffrey Hamilton takes his position as sheriff of idyllic Cavanaugh Island very seriously. So he is the perfect person to watch over the beautiful, confident woman who has turned her new family's expectations upside down-and stepped into the crosshairs of angry local residents.

But soon Kara becomes more than just a job to him, and he begins to need her in ways he never expected. As Kara and Jeffrey confront the town gossips together, they'll learn to face their fears and forgive their pasts in order to find a future filled with happiness in Angels Landing.

I am again listening to The Listener's Bible NIV read by Max McLean. 

[Reading and listening on my new MP3.]

Instead of studying with the Tyndall One Year Bible this year I am studying with Through the Bible in One Year by Alan B. Stringfellow. It is a Study that I used for teaching back in around 1989 so I will enjoy it again.  This week the reading is Ephesians.

Line Edits: I am working on more formatting this week.

I thought I had selected fewer titles for September but there are already 17 in the starting list which means five per week continues.   I have read 7 from the list; 8 for the month so far.

Scheduled for September:

9/20 A Man of Honor (Pump Up Your Book Blog Tours)
Week of 9/20 - date tbd Angels Landing by Rochelle Alers (Hachette)
9/25 Kiss of Steel by Bec McMaster - Review and Interview (Sourcebooks)

Unscheduled for September:
NetGalley

Blades of Winter: A Novel of the Shadowstorm by G. T. Almasi
(Possibly one more)

Sourcebooks
When You Give a Duke a Diamond by Shana Galen
(Possibly two others)

Hachette
Power, Faces of Evil by Debra Webb

Audiobook Jukebox:

The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible by Matti Friedman
Bones Are Forever Kathy Reichs

Authors
Risking it All by Suzanne Barrett

TBR
I plan to read at least one "Won"/TBR books and one free Kindle book.:-)
Free Kindle - read; Free Audio - read.
Won TBR: Shift by Ami Rebecca Blackwelder

[To be posted - I am setting these up for interview/feature days. These were read and ready for reviews for Authors.  
Quest for Magic by Jean Hart Stewart - Read; review to be posted with interview.  
Seeing for the First Time (What You See is What You Get) and To See (What You See is What You Get) by Nicole Zoltack - Both Read; setting up author interview with reviews.]