January's Book of the Month

Hello Everyone! I chose the picture posted above because it reminds me of reading to my daughter Mareena when she was little. Every afternoon until she was about eight or nine years old, we would take one of her books that she wanted to read or that she was reading and we would curl up together on my big bed. 

We would spend an hour or so reading a chapter of her book, and then take a nap together. Her absolutely favorite author at that time was an English author named Enid Blyton. Ahh, nice memories...

My picks for 'Books of the Month' will be decidedly more adult these days, but they will be from almost any genre. January's Book of the Month is:

The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon

Published as: The Stars Shine Down in October 1992

Publisher: William Morrow

Birth Name: Sidney Schechtel

Born: 11 February 1917 in Chicago, Illinois
Died: 30 January 2007 in Rancho Mirage, California

Canonical Name: Sidney Sheldon

Pseudonyms: Mark Rowane, Allan Devon and Christopher Golato

The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon was the second book that I read in 2010. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since November 20, 2009 although I didn't actually read it until January of 2010. This book took me one day to read and is currently on several swapping sites looking for another good home.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Anna Quindlen - Blessings

7. Blessings by Anna Quindlen (2002)
Length: 240 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 23 January 2010
Finished: 29 January 2010
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 November 2009
Why do I have it? I like Anna Quindlen as an author and have several other books by this author on my TBR pile.

When a young couple sneak onto an estate, they leave an abandoned baby in a cardboard box. It then falls to a recently released prisoner, the caretaker of the estate, to take care of the baby. What follows is a story about the owner of the estate, Lydia Blessing, and what happens when the caretaker tries to hide the baby from Lydia.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a very sweet and I give it an A+! I would definitely recommend this book to people who like books about family.

A+! - (96-100%)


Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Debbie Macomber - The Shop on Blossom Street

6. The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber (2003)
The Blossom Street Series Book 1
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Started: 15 January 2010
Finished: 22 January 2010
Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 14 December 2009
Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Debbie Macomber is a new author for me, although my sister Margaret in Australia actually recommended this book to me.

Lydia Hoffman decided to start a knitting shop on Blossom Street. She called it A Good Yarn and it represented her new life free from cancer. The shop offers knitting classes and the first one is "How to Knit a Baby Blanket".

Three people join the class: Jacqueline Donovan is estranged from her husband, doesn't like the woman married to her only son, but is determined to at least pretend she likes her pregnant daughter-in-law by knitting the baby blanket.

For Carol Girard, the baby blanket represents a message of hope as she and her husband make a final attempt at in vitro fertilization. And tough-looking Alix Townsend is knitting the blanket as part of a court-ordered community service project.

These four woman will learn about friendship, make unexpected discoveries - about themselves and each other - and experience love through the age-old craft of knitting. My sister in Australia recommended this book to me and I give it an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Lisa Scottoline - Moment of Truth

5. Moment of Truth by Lisa Scottoline (2000)
The Rosato and Associates Series Book 7
Length: 306 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 10 January 2010
Finished: 15 January 2010
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 November 2009
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and Lisa Scottoline is a new author for me.

When Jack Newlin comes home to find his wife dead on their elegant dining room floor, he's convinced he knows who has killed her. He sets out to stage the murder so that he appears to be guilty. To hammer the final nail in his coffin, he hires the most inexperienced lawyer he can find: Mary DiNunzio of Rosato and Associates.

Unfortunately for Jack, hiring Mary might be his biggest mistake. Inexperienced she might be, but Mary soon discovers that instead of defending a guilty client claiming to be innocent, she defending an innocent client claiming to be guilty. I give this story a B+!

B+! - (89-85%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Paul Andreota - The Sweet Taste of Burning: A Novel of the Occult

4. The Sweet Taste of Burning: A Novel of the Occult by Paul Andreota (1973)
Length: 161 pages
Genre: Horror
Started: 7 January 2010
Finished: 9 January 2010
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 November 2009
Why do I have it? I like horror and Paul Andreota is a new author for me.

When an investigative journalist goes to the French countryside to cover a story about a faith healing gone wrong, he doesn't know that sooner than he thinks he will be drawn into a horror deeper and more complex than he could have believed. I give this story an A!

A! - (90-95%) 

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Caroline Crane - Woman Vanishes

3. Woman Vanishes by Caroline Crane (1984)
Length: 210 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 4 January 2010
Finished: 6 January 2010
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 November 2009
Why do I have it? I like contemporary mysteries and Caroline Crane is a new author for me.

To save her life and the life of her daughter, Pauline has to disappear. Her husband Jarvis has left her a note claiming that he owes some people money and begs her not to look for him, a claim backed up by a late night visit from two loan sharks. Jarvis owes them $40,000 dollars to save his failing business. The loan sharks claim that if Pauline doesn't pay up, her daughter Kirby might become the victim of an "accident".


The police can't protect her without solid evidence. Her friends in the affluent suburb don't want to get involved. She must take Kirby and go into hiding - lose herself in New York City. But she has no money and few connections there. How will she survive? I really liked this book but the ending was a little confusing. I give it a B+!


B+! - (89-85%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Sidney Sheldon - The Stars Shine Down

2. The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon (1992)
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Contemporary Mystery
Started: 3 January 2010
Finished: 4 January 2010
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 November 2009
Why do I have it? I like Sidney Sheldon as an author and have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.


Lara Cameron is a young and beautiful self-made tycoon. She doesn't realize that a spurned lover will stop at nothing to get revenge against her. I give this book an A+! because it was so good.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

James B. Stewart - Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder

1. Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder by James B. Stewart (1999)
Length: 336 pages
Genre: True Crime
Started: 30 December 2009
Finished: 2 January 2010
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 20 November 2009
Why do I have it? I like true crime and I had never actually heard of the Michael Swango murder case.

In 1985, a young, handsome doctor named Michael Swango was convicted of poisoning five co-workers in Illinois. He was sentenced to five years, but was paroled in 1987, able to continue killing within the medical establishment for a further ten years until Michael was caught lying on a job application in Long Island. I really enjoyed this book although the crimes and Michael's ability to get away with murder infuriated me enough to want to throw the book across the room in anger. I give it an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Reading Wrap-up for December at Moonshine and Rosefire

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading month for yourselves. I am known as Rosefire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog. I originally posted my reviews over at my daughter's blog, Emeraldfire's Bookmark but am now in the process of transferring them all over to my own blog. My daughter makes blogging look like so much fun that I thought that I would try it out for myself! :)

Anyway, I started out December with 654 unread books lying around the house and ended the month with 647 books unread. All of the books that I acquired this month came from Paperback Swap.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Re-reads
- The Basement by Bari Wood 


Changes to the TBR pile 


Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- Painting the Darkness by Robert Goddard
- The Haunting of Sara Lessingham by Margaret James
- Errands by Judith Guest
- Exorcist: The Beginning by Stephen Piziks
- Martha Stewart Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography by Jerry Oppenheimer
- The Lost Queen by Norah Lofts

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! :))
- Duma Key by Stephen King
- The Great Fire by Monica Dickens
- The Tarnished Eye: A Novel of Suspense by Judith Guest
- Second Heaven by Judith Guest

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- Hints and Tips to Make Life Easier by Reader's Digest Editors
- Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
- Everything She Ever Wanted: A True Story of Obsessive Love, Murder, and Betrayal by Ann Rule
- Celtic Book of Seasonal Meditations: Celebrate the Traditions of the Ancient Celts by Claire Hamilton
- Little Girl Lost: A True Story of Shattered Innocence and Murder by Joan Merriam
- Bitter Almonds: The True Story of Mothers, Daughters, and the Seattle Cyanide Murders by Gregg Olsen

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading month for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 7
Pages Read: 2,401
Grade Range: A+! to B+!

So, there you go! The reading month that was December. I hope that you all had an equally good reading month; if not a little better. :) See you all next month! :)



Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Yearly Reading Wrap-up at Moonshine and Rosefire

Hello everyone out there and I hope that you all had a terrific reading year for yourselves. I am known as Rosefire around the Internet and this is my new personal reading blog. I originally posted my reviews over at my daughter's blog, Emeraldfire's Bookmark but am now in the process of transferring them all over to my own blog. My daughter makes blogging look like so much fun that I thought that I would try it out for myself! :)

Anyway, I started out January with about 200 unread books lying around the house and ended the year with 647 books unread. Even though I started actively tracking the books that I read in May 2009, all of the books that I acquired this year came from Paperback Swap and Library Book Sales, as well as several trips to our local library. I ended up with approximately 36 books read - I'm sure that I read more than that this year, but as I only started recording the books that I read in May, I couldn't tell you with any certainty what I read up until then. Quite a number of my books that I read this year left my house to go to new homes so that's something I guess. :)

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Re-reads:
- The Basement by Bari Wood
- A Place Called Saturday by Mary Astor
- Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
- The Legacy by Jere Cunningham

Changes to the TBR pile

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- Painting the Darkness by Robert Goddard
- The Haunting of Sara Lessingham by Margaret James
- Errands by Judith Guest
- Exorcist: The Beginning by Stephen Piziks
- Martha Stewart Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography by Jerry Oppenheimer
- The Lost Queen by Norah Lofts
- The Magic Cottage by James Herbert
- One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens
- The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth
- Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward
- Firebird by Janice Graham
- My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
- Call in the Night by Susan Howatch
- Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
- The House at Sunset by Norah Lofts
- Nickel Dreams: My Life by Tanya Tucker and Patsi Bale Cox
- Crown of Aloes by Norah Lofts
- The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
- The Woman Next Door by Barbara Delinsky
- The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
- A Paper Life by Tatum O'Neal
- A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi
- An Accidental Woman by Barbara Delinsky
- Out of the Dark by Norah Lofts
- A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve
- The Ice House by Nina Bawden
- To See a Fine Lady by Norah Lofts
- The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart
- The Brittle Glass by Norah Lofts
- Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart
- The Best Laid Plans by Sidney Sheldon
- Duma Key by Stephen King

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! :))
- Second Heaven by Judith Guest
- The Tarnished Eye by Judith Guest
- The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
- Duma Key by Stephen King
- The Great Fire by Monica Dickens
- The Haunted Mesa by Louis L'Amour
- Dear Doctor Lily by Monica Dickens
- The Stars Shine Down by Sidney Sheldon
-Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let the Doctor Get Away With Murder by James B. Stewart
- The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy
- Three-Dimensional Needlepoint by Gale Litvak
- Complete Guide to Creative Needlepoint by Jo Bucher
- 120 Needlepoint Design Projects by Charles Barnes and David Blake
- Nature in Needlepoint by Eva Brent and Meg Merrill
- Ireland by Mark Morris and Anthony Cassidy
- Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
-Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
- The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
- Debbie: My Life by Debbie Reynolds and David Patrick Columbia
- She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
- Give us This Day by R. F. Delderfield
- The Doctor's Wife: A True Story of Marriage, Deception and Two Gruesome Deaths by John Glatt
- House Sensation: Spirited and Stylish Home Decoration by Anne McKevitt
- Family Treason: The Walker Spy Case by Jack Kneece
- Claudia's Shadow by Charlotte Vale Allen
- My Beloved Son by Catherine Cookson
- Now You Know by Kitty Dukakis and Jane Scovell
- Crescent City by Belva Plain
- Loose Change: Three Women of the Sixties by Sara Davidson
- The Case of Lucy Bender by Lawrence Sanders
- The Letters by Luanne Rice and Joseph Moninger
- While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
- Horror House by J. N. Williamson
- The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
- A Paper Life by Tatum O'Neal
- An Accidental Woman by Barbara Delinsky
- The Town House: The Building of the House by Norah Lofts
- The History Channel: History's Mysteries: Dead, Doomed and Buried by Jane Mason and Sarah Hines Stephens
- The History Channel Presents Haunted History: Ghostly Graveyards and Spooky Spots by Cameron Banks
- Dubliners by James Joyce
- Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
- Sweet Everlasting by Patricia Gaffney
- Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy
- The Truth About the Irish by Terry Eagleton
- Unsolved Mysteries...Stranger Than Fiction by Clifford L. Linedecker
- The Angels of Morgan Hill by Donna VanLiere
- Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))
- Everything She Ever Wanted: A True Story of Obsessive Love, Murder, and Betrayal by Ann Rule
- Celtic Book of Seasonal Meditations: Celebrate the Traditions of the Ancient Celts by Claire Hamilton
- Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
- Hints and Tips to Make Life Easier by Reader's Digest Editors
- The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth
- Spartina by John Casey
- Bloodstream by Tess Gerritsen
-Ghosts: Washington's Most Famous Ghost Stories by John Alexander
-Bitter Medicine by Sara Paretsky
-The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart
-Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
-Call in the Night by Susan Howatch
- Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward
- Crown of Aloes by Norah Lofts
-Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
-The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley
- Billy Straight by Jonathan Kellerman
- The Painter's Composition Handbook by Jan Herring
- Your Naturally Healthy Home: Stylish, Safe Simple by Alan Berman
- Medieval Castles of Ireland by David Sweetman
- Encyclopedia of 312 Scroll Saw Designs by John La Forge
- The Godmother: The True Story of the Hunt For the Most Bloodthirsty Female Criminal in Our Time, Griselda Blanco by Richard Smitten
- Painting in Watercolor by Kate Gwynn
- Watercolour Painting: The Ron Ranson Technique by Ron Ranson
- Rockport's Colors For Living: Baths by Jennie L. Pugh and Sandra Ragan
- The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
- Anyone's Daughter: The Times and Trials of Patricia Hearst by Shana Alexander
- A Candle For St. Jude by Rumer Godden
- Plain Grief by Maxine Chernoff
- Stella: One Woman's True Tale of Evil, Betrayal and Survival in Hitler's Germany by Peter Wyden
- Joy in the Morning: A Novel by Betty Smith
- Dreams of Other Days by Elaine Crowley
- Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- Pilgrim's Progress: In Today's English by John Bunyan
- Slave Girls by Wensley Clarkson
- The Power of Darkness by Doris Sutcliffe Adams
- The Chisellers by Brendan O'Carroll

Well, there it is...the breakdown! All in all, a very good reading year for me. Here's a further breakdown:

Books Read: 36
Pages Read: 21,663
Grade Range: A+! to C!

So, there you go! The reading year that was 2009! I hope that you all had an equally good reading year; if not a little better. :) See you all next year! :)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight