The book couldn't vanish fast enough - Vanishing Acts

Title: Vanishing Acts

Author: Jodi Picoult

Publisher: Washington Square Press

Pages: 418

Maybe it was the context of reading this book – sitting in a hospital waiting for my dad to finish non-emergency surgery, but I groaned and complained all the way through this book. At first I found the main character, Delia, to be intriguing and heroic. But, then her reaction to her father's arrest and her constant whining, yet enabling of her fiancee's drinking and the love triangle got tedious and I couldn't wait for the book to end. Though, I have to admit, I was hooked on the how the fiancee was going to finagle the trial to get the father acquitted – but I could have watched any episode of Law & Order and had more fun.

Each chapter is told by a different main character in the book. Delia was “abducted” by her own father as a small child and they started a new life together, with Delia believing her mother was dead. As an adult, with a daughter of her own, Delia works with her dog as a search and rescue team to find missing children. (Yes, the irony couldn't be more obvious). With multiple successful cases, her newspaper clippings leads to the uncovering of her own abduction, for which her father is arrested. Come to find out, her mother was an alcoholic (hmmm...so Delia becomes involved with one) and Delia was possibly molested by her mother's boyfriend, which led Delia's father to taking her and starting a new life. Within this, there is an up-close and personal look of the father's life in prison (too harsh and too graphic for me), the struggle of the love triangle of Delia, her fiancee, and their best friend/reporter, and Delia rediscovering who she really is.

I enjoyed My Sister's Keeper, and had hopes for this one but found the storyline too predictable and the characters too flat.

Soap Opera in London - The White Queen

Title: The White Queen
Author: Philippa Gregory
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 978-1-4165-6369-3
Pages: 415

Off the Shelf Challenge book.  This book has been on my shelf for over a year.  My mother-in-law read through Philippa Gregory’s The Cousin’s War series which is based on the historical events of England’s War of the Roses.  It was a time of political intrigue, as the two royal houses, Lancaster (Red Rose) and York (White Rose) connived and murdered to gain control of the monarchy.  The White Queen is the story of Elizabeth Woodville, who, as a widow, became Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV.  In this story, her mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, was a shrewd maneuverer with potential supernatural powers, who engineered her daughter’s assent to royal status.   The Tower of London, as a residence, and Westminster Abbey are central locations in the story.  As a historical fiction, much of the general facts of the story are based in documents, with the detailed fictionalized.  I enjoyed the courtship and early days of Elizabeth and Edward, but got lost in the soap opera of the political maneuvering. Elizabeth was also ambitious and protective of her own family.   The mystery of the princes in the Tower of London is illustrated toward the end.  Having been to London several times, it was interesting imagining the scenes as Gregory described them.

2012 Tea & Books Reading Challenge - 2 Books - Chamomile Lover

This is a challenge made for me - I love tea and I love books!  As much as I would like to be an Earl Grey lover (as that is my favorite tea) I don't think I'll be able to read 6 large 700+ page books this year.  But, I do have a few on my shelf that I would like to read, so I will be a Chamomile Lover at 2 books, they are:

• Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd
• The Pillars of the Eart by Ken Follett

Tea & Books Reading Challenge

This challenge was inspired by C.S. Lewis' famous words, "You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."

You better settle in with a large cup of tea, because in this challenge you will only get to read ... wait for it ... books with more than 700 pages. I'm deadly serious. We all have a few of those tomes on our shelves and somehow the amount of pages often prevents us from finally picking them up. You may choose novels only, no short story collections or anthologies, and in case you're trying a short cut by picking large print editions of a book, well I'm sorry, those do not qualify for this challenge! Let's battle those tomes that have been collecting dust on our shelves, so no re-reads, please!

2 Books - Chamomile Lover

4 Books - Berry Tea Devotee

6 Books - Earl Grey Aficionado (this will be the one I'll try)

8 or more Books - Sencha Connoisseur



This is the sponsoring blog, so click on this to sign up!
The Book Garden

*****

RULES

Anyone may join. Just leave a comment on the Book Garden blog with the following info:
Name / Blog (if you have one) / Chosen Level

The Book Garden wil comprise a list with everyone and add it to this page!

Updates on the challenge will be posted on a regular basis and you may then comment with your own progress.

The challenge will take place between January 1st and December 31st 2012.

You can join any time between now and early 2012.

You have to pick a level, though you may "upgrade" to the next one at any time. In this case just drop me a line, so I can change your previous level.

You don't need to list your books ahead of time, though I won't object if you do. I'm definitely curious about your book choices for these challenges.

The books you choose may crossover into other challenges.

Both physical and eBooks are allowed, though personally I feel that especially the Tea & Books Reading Challenge is more fun with real books.

Reviews of the books read are not mandatory.

2012 Off The Shelf Book Challenge - Make A Dint - 30 books

Bookish Ardour is hosting their second annual Off the Shelf challenge in 2012.

As I mentioned in my first post, I've collected a lot of books over the last 4 years and have been ignoring them. So, I challenge myself to Make A Dint – and choose 30 books to read this year that are already on my shelves.

What It’s All About

Do you love books? Do you love them so much your to be read list seems to keep growing, and growing, and growing? Is space on your bookshelf taken up with unread books? Is your eBook library burgeoning with unread stories? We’ve been there at BA and we still are!

This challenge is to read those books you own a copy of, print, digital, and audio, you have been meaning to read, but never gotten to. If you don’t own enough books for the challenge you can read your TBR list instead. And no, you do not need to get rid of your books afterwards, that’s completely your choice, this challenge is only to read them.

The Deets

• The Main Rule: Do not include books acquired during 2012, it defeats the purpose, read those books from before 2012 started!
  
• Running Dates: 1st of January – 31st of December 2012
• When Can I Sign Up: All the way up to the last two weeks of December 2012!
• Crossover Genres: Anything! The name of the game is to turn those unread books into read ones.
• Mr Linky: To use the Mr Linky you’ll need to click on the graphic then enter your link. These will be updated and posted into this page every couple of weeks or so.
• Further Details: Crossover challenges are fine, you can change levels at any time, this is eBook, short story, and graphic novel friendly, and you don’t need a blog to join in (read further for details).

The How To

1. Choose Your Level:These are listed further down and you can change levels at any time.
2. Grab The Badge: Place it somewhere on your blog, profile, or in a signature where possible and link back (main page or this page, it’s up to you).
3. Sign Up Post: Create a post on your blog, in a group, or on a forum (only if allowed) to let others see what you’re aiming for (a predefined list of books is optional).
4. Link Up: Grab the direct URL to your sign up post, not your blog, click the Mr Linky graphic and enter your link!
5. Blogless? Don’t worry, you can sign up with your social network profile (YouTube, Twitter, GoodReads, Shelfari included), just make sure you link to your review list, shelf, tweet, or category. If you don’t have any of those feel free to comment!

Afterwards

1. Your Reviews: Reviewing is optional! But if you do review we’d love for you to share them by submitting them on the Review Page (including social networks).
2. Finished: When you’re done it’s completion post time and you can share these on the Completion Post page!
   

Challenge Levels

1. Tempted– Choose 5 books to read
2. Trying – Choose 15 books to read
3. Making A Dint – Choose 30 books to read
4. On A Roll – Choose 50 books to read
5. Flying Off – Choose 75 books to read
6. Hoarder – Choose between 76-135 books to read
7. Buried – Choose between 136-200 books to read

Extra Challenges

If you feel like that extra kick to your reading challenges here’s a couple you can choose from.

• World:Choose a country as your theme, reading only books from that country or where it’s the setting. For how high you go you can choose more than one country;
  • Level Tempted and Trying: Choose one country
  • Level Making a Dint and On A Roll: Choose two countries
  • Level Flying Off to end of Hoarder: Choose three countries
  • Level Buried: Choose four countries.
• Gender Battle: Read books only by female or male authors. Another alternative is to read equal amounts of both.

Sign Up

Click Mr Linky and away you go!