Friday Finds (12/12)

Unfortunately, I didn't get to post what I'd found last week, so this one's a double-shot...

Bookopolis reviewed
An Exact Replica of A Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken - This memoir talks of the loss of her child in her ninth month of pregnancy and how she dealt with her grief.

Bookopolis also recommended In the Land of Invisible Women by Qanta A. Ahmed, MD, who spent two years working as an ICU doctor in Saudi Arabia and offers an insider’s account of the restrictive society and the challenges faced.

Gautami reviews Booth's Sister by Jane Singer, a book about Asia Booth Clark, the sister of Abraham Lincoln’s assassinator John Wilkes Booth, and the shameful legacy she was forced to carry with her.

Bermudaonion reviews See You in a Hundred Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America by Logan Ward, is the story of Logan and Heather Ward who felt like they didn’t have time for anything anymore and consequently decided on a year-long experiment where they would live like Americans did in the year 1900, without electricity, cars, or any other modern conveniences.

Rebecca
posted her review of, (and highly recommends) The Declaration by Gemma Malley (first in a trilogy) on the Science Fiction Challenge site

Vertigo has another series of graphic novels! Chris reviewed volume 2 recently, and now has me hooked *shakes fist at Chris*: Fables, vol. 2: Animal Farm is completely unrelated to Orwell's work.

These two Don't Hex with Texas and Enchanted, Inc. by Shanna Swendson came up in the "recommended" bar on amazon while I was gathering information for some of my other Friday Finds. And yes, they're exactly what they sound like: Magickal Chick Lit. I'll have to see if any of my RL friends have read this series, and see what they think about it.

Queen of the Road by Doreen Orion was one of the selections from Book Giveaways (from which I have never won a book, is there a secret?). I'd love for my RVing friend Linda to see this book.

As I was cleaning out my feed for Early Word last night, I found the following titles:
The fourth book (Princeps’ Fury) in the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher (yes, the same author who has given us The Dresden Files), but of course I'd want to start at the beginning, with this title: Furies of Calderon. Battles in a magickal kingdom--perfect!

American Farmer: The Heart of Our Country by Katrina Fried and Paul Mobley "Photographs of 300 farmers in 35 states. Subjects are farmers who work 50 acres of organic vegetables and those who keep 3,000 acres of cherry orchards; many are barely getting by and no one says they are getting rich, although some are doing very well with everything from avocados to alligators. Fried transcribes their stories into engaging narratives."

Why We Suck, by Denis Leary is probably as un-PC as it gets, but I find myself in the mood for that sometimes. There is, apparently, a bad riff on autism, but Leary's apologized and clarified his position, and I'm willing to give him the benefit of doubt for now.

I'm sure there will be a big stampede for this one: The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling.

Early Word also pointed me to Stephen King's column in Entertainment Weekly, and in his "Best of 2008" were these two: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (Bookmarks magazine describes it as "a murder mystery with many plot twists, the novel most successfully reveals complex human desires, motivations, and relationships.") and The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III (King says "this book is so good, so damn compulsively readable, that I can hardly believe it. ")

And lastly, a Christmas book that I'll try to get hold of for next year's holiday season (although I could really use it now, see yesterday's post): Christmas Sucks: What to Do When Fruitcake, Family, and Finding the Perfect Gift Make You Miserable by Joanne Kimes. Latest in her "Sucks" series, the title pretty much says it all.

And that, my friends, adds at least 3 months worth of reading (counting the unlisted books in the 3 series noted here) to my already-burgeoning life list.

I hate you all.

;)