Book Review - Snowglobe 7, Doctor Who Novel by Mike Tucker

Thursday, March 11, 2010

The Doctor Who novels are just as good as the television series. The Doctor lends himself perfectly to the crossover novel because he has so many wonderful adventures that simply can't all be packed into the television show so why not put them in a book, this is why I started the Doctor Who reading challenge to get into the books behind The Doctor.
I randomly picked Doctor Who: Snowglobe 7 from my local library but it turned out to be a perfect choice. See my husband spent two weeks in Dubai last month and Snowglobe 7 is set in Dubai. Turns out with global warming and such the earth is getting hotter and humans have built these snowglobes to preserve the arctic then moved them all around the globe. Two of them end up in Dubai, they were all supposed to be used for research but over time they have to give in to tourism to get enough money to stay afloat.
Inside one of the few snowglobes still used strictly for research an ancient and deadly alien is uncovered in the ice. This is where The Doctor and Martha come in to save the day. It's classic Doctor and it is great.
Also on a side note there is a real snowglobe type thing in Dubai. Inside one of their huge malls there is a ski slope. Hubby saw it but did not go skiing. I am sure that the author knew about the ski mall in Dubai before writing this book but wouldn't it be crazy if it were the other way around?

This book is a double header, it knocks off one of my required books for my Doctor Who Reading Challenge and one for my Time Travel Reading Challenge, go me!

Book Review - The Alphabet Challenge by Olga Gardner Galvin

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Like most of the encpress books I have encountered I don't love the cover of The Alphabet Challenge by Olga Gardner Galvin, I know about not judging a book by it's cover and I should not care about it at all but I just can not help myself. I will say in my defense however that although the cover of a book does give me a first impression I have learned to not let the cover of a book seal the deal, I will go on to read the book if the description looks like something I would like despite what the cover may look like.
All that being said I received this free ebook from ENC Press on Librarything's Member Giveaway. I again read it on my iPhone in bed. I love being able to read books on my phone that is a testament both to the phone and the ebook format. I love the idea of this alternative future, it's not in anyway one I want to live in but the idea is fleshed out in The Alphabet Challenge to such a degree that I can imagine us headed there very easily.

The Alphabet Challenge is available for sale from encpress.

Here is some more info on the book from the encpress website:

"Set several decades in the future, the nearly unrecognizable Manhattan is made kinder and gentler by PeopleCare, an umbrella organization of myriad victims’ rights groups whose members work their fingers to the bone to make caring, compassion, and lowest-common-denominator equality a federal law, now that they have already fought for and won their campaigns for federal prohibition on smoking and obesity, among other unhealthy things.

Enter entrepreneur Howell Langston Toland, who has learned absolutely nothing in the seven years he’d spent in jail for failure to recycle empty bottles. To cash in on the prevailing zeitgeist, he creates a new category of victimization, which encompasses the broadest audience yet. Threatened by the brazen invasion of its turf and the sudden popularity of the new cause, PeopleCare mounts a counterattack against the upstart. Toland, meanwhile, succumbs to the more natural for him entrepreneurial mode of thinking, urging his annoying followers to become self-reliant so that he may cut them loose.

Vicious politics ensue . . . "

Non-Fiction Reading Challenge

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Ok it's true I have joined way too many reading challenges but this one is with a serious purpose. Yesterday I discovered that I am far behind in my reading on books about women and equality and the struggle of women around the world. What kind of woman am I if I don't stay in touch with my sisters and their plight around the globe? Well, I was ashamed and so went to find a reading challenge that could help me shape up. That is when I stumbled on Trish's Reading Nook and her non-fiction reading challenge. I am excited to get started on this one but since the challenge doesn't officially start till May I will use that time to knock out as many books from all the other reading challenges I have signed up for so I have a clean(er) slate to get started with this one.
The rules to this one are pretty easy:

1. Read 5 non-fiction books during the months of May - September, 2010

2. Read at least one non-fiction book that is different from your other choices (i.e.: 4 memoirs and 1 self-help)

I plan to read all 5 of my non-fiction books with women as my theme, maybe current affairs maybe biographies, maybe sociology, whatever looks good at the time as long as it's about women and women's issues.

International Women's Day

Monday, March 8, 2010

It's International Women's Day. I didn't know that until Huffington Post told me which I find to be a sad situation indeed but I am over that now there is something else much worse that I am upset at myself about. The theme for this year's International Women's Day is equal rights, equal opportunity and progress for all. Here's what I'm mad at myself about, Huffington Post picked 13 essential books on equality for women and I haven't read any of them! I don't know how this can be but it is a cold hard fact I haven't read a single one of them. This is a sad sad state of affairs for a woman who calls herself a reader and a firm believer in woman's rights. This is awful and I am ashamed. I think I am going to join the non-fiction reading challenge to further motivate me to read some of these books soon. You can read the Huffington Post article here.

Book Review - The Secret of the Sacred Scarab by Fiona Ingram

Sunday, March 7, 2010

I was so happy to receive The Secret of the Sacred Scarab
by Fiona Ingram for review. I worked in a book store before I had my son who is now 3 years old and I know how hard it can be to get boys interested in reading to begin with but combine that with the hole that is the lack of quality books for boys and it's no wonder boys don't pick up a book unless they absolutely have to.
It was wonderful following two boys, Justin and Adam as they explore Egypt trying to uncover the Secret of the Sacred Scarab all the while avoiding the evil Dr. Khalid who wants the keys to the secret as much as the boys but for totally different reasons. The boys are brave and smart working their way through some tight situations full of excitement and curiosity. I look forward to keeping this on my shelf and sharing it with my son when he is old enough to enjoy it.

From Amazon:
"Cousins Justin and Adam are ecstatic about accompanying their aunt to Egypt. Both love adventure and know the work of James Kinnaird, an archaeologist searching for the tomb of an ancient Egyptian ruler, the Scarab King. Some dismiss the tomb as legend, but Justin and Adam believe differently.From the moment their plane lands, Justin and Adam bounce from one mysterious event to another, starting from the moment a street peddler gives Adam an ancient scarab. Dr. Khalid, head of the department of antiquities and research at the Egyptian Museum, shows excessive interest in the cousins and their relic. Then, when the boys learn that James Kinnaird is missing, they realize something sinister is afoot.Kidnapped and taken across the desert, the boys are plunged into serious danger and chased by ruthless enemies. Dr. Khalid will stop at nothing to discover the Scarab King's tomb and claim its treasures. But he has underestimated the boys' ingenuity.Join Justin and Adam as they evade their captors and unravel the secrets of the Scarab King. Relying on their wits, courage, and each other, the boys must solve the mystery of the sacred scarab and rescue James Kinnaird before time runs out. "


Currently "Reading":
Book - Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James
E-Book - Logan And The Magic Fish by Otto Scamfer
Audio - Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman

Book Review - Rusty by Ellen F. Feld

Saturday, March 6, 2010

I had a friend in high school who loved horses and by loved I mean LOVED HORSES. They were all over her room and last I heard she was working with a Veterinarian so I guess it worked out. As soon as I heard I was receiving this book to review I thought of her and wished we had stayed in better touch so I could pass this book on to her.
Rusty: The High-Flying Morgan Horse (Morgan Horse Series) is the third book in Ellen F. Feld's Morgan Horse Series. A cute book, well written which made it easy to get into the characters. I think a bit of it was lost on me because I don't know that much about horses and don't share my friend's LOVE of them. I think any child that is into horses boy or girl would like reading this series. These books could be the fuel that takes a spark that is a love for horses and turns it into a lifelong passion to own, preserve and care for horses in adulthood.

From The Willow Bend Publishing website:
"The third book in the popular Morgan Horse series, Rusty continues the adventures of Heather Richardson and her Morgan Horses. In this story, Frosty has her foal, a lovely gray filly. This adorable baby seems absolutely perfect, but is she? Meanwhile, Heather decides to try her luck in a new discipline and enters Rusty in several jumping competitions. Everything is going well until Heather begins to doubt herself. Will a new friend, Nicholas, be able to help Heather overcome her fears and win the Jump-Off?"




Currently "Reading":
Book - Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James
E-Book - Logan And The Magic Fish by Otto Scamfer
Audio - Count Karlstein by Philip Pullman

Book Review - Terror From Beyond Middle England by Sarah Crabtree

Friday, March 5, 2010

I received this ebook through a giveaway on librarything and at first I was a little scared I had gotten myself into something I wasn't going to enjoy. The title is a little more horror than I usually like and the cover is a little more...well...ugly than I would usually pick off of a shelf but as I got deeper into the story I was pleasantly surprised. In the end I found this to be a great little story. I looked forward to going to bed every night so I could cuddle into the covers with my iPhone and read some more.
Terror From Beyond Middle England by Sarah Crabtree is available for sale from encpress.

Here's more info on Terror From Beyond Middle England from the encpress website:

"What’s a thirtysomething, single, small-town temp to do to escape her dreadful life and her dysfunctional family? Our heroine, Zara, grabs a rucksack, jumps on a train going to a slightly bigger town, and falls into the arms of an intriguing young scientist called Alan. He could well be the solution to her problems — just so long as Zara’s cousin Julia’s love troubles don’t get in the way.

The adventure spirit thus unleashed, Zara develops a knack for attracting the most fascinating people, among them a coterie of queer and transsexual activists on a crusade against genetically modified foodstuffs. Not such an eccentric rallying point, as it turns out when the naughty goings-on at the lab where Alan works are uncovered. These ultimately lead to the creation of the Doomsday Globe, a pretty little knickknack that contains deadly bacteria in place of a snowstorm.

Up until this wonderful stage of her life, Zara has never had so much control over so much chaos. Life has never been so sweet as Zara and Alan fall helplessly in love. But don’t get out the sick-buckets yet: Zara’s suicidal mother doesn’t want to miss out on the fun, and Cousin Julia turns up on the doorstep pregnant and in denial. And it’s all Zara’s fault. Well, actually it isn’t, but she’s just too darned kind and competent for everybody’s good.

This is an eternal saga of human bondage made possible almost entirely by wireless technology..."