Roxiticus Book Blog

Page-Turner Update: Year of Fog

2008-04-15T21:42:00.001-07:00

I don't think it is a spoiler to tell you that I am halfway through the book and Emma, the missing kid, is still missing. Hmm....Year of Fog...title should have given it away.

So far, Year of Fog is well-written, engaging, and....realistic. It is entirely possible that I will finish the book and Emma will not be found. After all, in real life kids go missing and no one ever learns what happened to them.

Trivial pursuit (and poor marketing): Year of Fog references a (fictional) web site, findemma.com, set up to enable two-way communication with the public about the missing Emma. So I typed it into my web browser and whaddya know....it's a dead link! You'd think Bantam Dell Publishing could have at least bought the URL to promote the book or its author, Michelle Richmond.

It's Raining Page Turners: The Year of Fog

2008-04-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

My latest page-turner, despite the warning on the book jacket that "The Year of Fog" by Michele Richmond is "highly recommended [for fans of] authors like Jodi Picoult," may not turn out to be a shameful page-turner after all. I am only six chapters in, but I may have to stay up all night to finish this one. Then again, given the subject matter, I may not be able to get to sleep anyway. I'll give you the blurb from the back cover and let you decide if you want to know more:
Here is the truth, this is what I know: I was walking on the beach with Emma. It was cold and very foggy. She let go of my hand. I stopped to photograph a baby seal, then glanced up toward the Great Highway. When I looked back, Emma was gone.

From this moment unfolds the spellbinding story of Abby Mason -- photographer, fiancee, soon-to-be-stepmother -- and the consquences of her greatest error. A riveting drama of how life can change in an instant, of a family torn apart by the search for the truth behind a child's disappearance, and of one woman's unwavering faith in the power of love.

I guess I'm like one of those rubberneckers at a train wreck. Whether it is Russell Banks telling the story of a schoolbus accident in "The Sweet Hereafter" or Michelle Richmond's "The Year of Fog," I have to keep turning the pages.

Finished the Shameful Page-Turner: The Liar's Diary

2008-04-05T20:26:00.001-07:00

Without giving anything away, I'll summarize "The Liar's Diary" by Patry Francis as a cross between Zoe Heller's "What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal" and Jodi Picoult's "The Tenth Circle." I just won't tell you why. I will say Francis took an awfully long time to tell us anything about the Diary, which was the reason I bought the book in the first place. If you enjoyed those two books, I'll recommend "The Liar's Diary" to you as another of the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives shameful page-turners.

If you live in the Roxiticus Valley (Mendham, Bernardsville, Chester, Far Hills, Peapack-Gladstone, or anywhere in Morris County NJ), I'd suggest that you pick up a copy of the paperback at Mendham Books (in the Kings shopping center on "old" Route 24 in Mendham. If not, please click on the link below and pay for it with one-click so I can earn a few pennies!

Madonna and the English Roses

2008-03-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

I've never been a Madonna fan. Ever since she sang "Like A Virgin" when I was in high school, I've disliked her style and believed it would encourage men to treat all women as sex objects (like most of them needed any encouragement). Then I became a mom, and you would think I'd like Madonna even less. Believe it or not, my girls and I have really enjoyed her English Roses books.

Finished Another Page Turner Last Night...

2008-03-25T06:43:00.000-07:00

Stayed up late last night finishing The Pact by Jodi Picoult (John Grisham in a skirt). As always with Jodi Picoult, this one was a page turner, but I think it may have broken my shameful addiction.

A Trip to Mendham Books

2008-03-24T11:42:00.000-07:00

My older daughter asked for nothing but books for her birthday back in January, so we had several gift cards for Mendham Books. We went there on Saturday after the Mendham Juniors Easter Egg Hunt and came back with an amazing number of good books for both girls.

My kindergartner is past the three-letter-word books (like The Bob Books, which I highly recommend for pre-schoolers) and is on the verge of reading chapter books like her older sister, but not quite....so we found several easy reader chapter books that I will post here soon.

The books my girls like to read (or have read to them) are an interesting combination of old favorites from my childhood (e.g., Charlotte's Web, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing), new stories from my old favorite writers (e.g., the Amber Brown series by Paula Danziger), and new stories from new writers (e.g., Junie B. Jones).

FYI on Mendham Books....they do not appear to have their own web site, but Mendham Books is located in the Kings shopping center. Mendham Books Phone is 973-543-4949.

First Post -- Roxiticus Book Blog

2008-03-20T18:20:00.001-07:00

I'm trying to do a little bit of bloginization over on my primary site, Roxiticus Desperate Housewives. Since the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives and our kids love to read, I thought it was time to give Books We Love a space and a blog of its own. I'll do my best to divide it into book for kids and books for grown-ups, with reviews and comments by moms and kids.