December'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. December's Book of the Month is:

The Crooked Branch: A Novel by Jeanine Cummins

  Published as: The Crooked Branch in March 2013

Publisher: New American Library (NAL)

Birth Name: Jeanine Cummins

Born: in Spain (grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland)

Canonical Name: Jeanine Cummins
Pseudonyms: None

The Crooked Branch: A Novel by Jeanine Cummins was the fifty-sixth book that I read in 2016. I have had this book on my TBR shelf since December 8, 2016 and it only took me two days to read. This book is definitely still a keeper for me. 

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

I Think That my Reading Pace is Back up to Speed - Maybe!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't feeling all that great over Christmas, so Mareena and I pretty much did what we did for Holloween and Thanksgiving. That meant that we basically watched television all day, read and I did sum-doku puzzles and jigsaw puzzles. It was a quiet Christmas, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I'm also delighted to learn that The Exorcist will be played on IFC on Friday, December 30th at 2:15 P. M.

Anyway, I'm still working through an amazing backlog of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. So far, I've done approximately 53 sudoku and crossword puzzles from the newspaper, although I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle books, too! I haven't really finished an entire sum-doku puzzle book from my collection since Saturday, December 3rd - I have been working through partial puzzles from the moderately difficult to extremely difficult levels!

So, as regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was Point Hollow: A Novel by Rio Youers, which I finished on Tuesday, December 27th! Mareena had also requested a book for me: The Killer Department by Robert Cullen that arrived on Christmas Eve - Saturday afternoon, December 24th! It's the true story of the nearly two decade manhunt for Andrei Chickatilo - Russia's first known serial killer.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Rio Youers - Point Hollow: A Novel

58. Point Hollow: A Novel by Rio Youers (2015)

Length: 306 pages

Genre: Horror 

Started: 23 December 2016

Finished: 27 December 2016

Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap 

How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 22 December 2016

Why do I have it? I like horror and Rio Youers is a new author for me.

Point Hollow, New York is such a lovely little town - an idyllic tourist town filled with picturesque streets and stunningly beautiful scenery. It is certainly quintessential America - a place to where tourists come every summer to stroll through Point Hollow's quiet streets and hike its scenic nature trails. However, Point Hollow, New York is also a town with many secrets.

No one knows of the town's terrible history; of the secrets that have remained buried for so long - forgotten by so many. No one sees the delicate cracks in the close-knit town's facade. But Abraham's Faith, the mountain that overshadows Point Hollow, sees everything. And the imposing mountain has never forgotten, will never forget...

Because Abraham's Faith is wicked and controlling; it has always been the keeper of Point Hollow's deepest, darkest, most diabolical secrets. And the mountain has kept hold of the innocent souls of the town's children for decades. It has even become their burial ground...

Oliver Wray is Point Hollow's favorite son, its most generous benefactor, loved and admired by all. But Oliver, like the town, has a secret: Abraham's Faith speaks to him, and he has spent a lifetime serving its cruel needs; fulfilling the mountain's darkest desires. Oliver believes that his secret is safe, but one person has glimpsed the darkness in his heart...

Matthew Bridge hasn't set foot in Point Hollow for the past twenty-six years. Something happened to him there so long ago; something so horrifying that Matthew has spent decades trying to forget the trauma. However, as much as Matthew tries to move on with his life, he just can't. Memories of his ordeal continue to haunt him, to flicker through his memory and taunt the recesses of his mind - never to be fully recalled.

Now, determined to find the answers to his recently failed marriage and his equally failing life, Matthew is coming home again. Back to Point Hollow, New York. Back to Abraham's Faith...to confront his past and claim his future.

Actually, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion, Mr. Youers has a remarkably fertile imagination and I really wanted to see how the story would develop. The horror of the plot itself was certainly fantastic, but was used in such a way that the story seemed entirely plausible. The story was fast-paced and well-developed - I would definitely give this book an A+! 

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Happy Christmas to You All!

MySpace background: CoolSpaceTricks.com

So, in honor of the day, I would like to wish all my wonderful followers the happiest of Christmases. May your holiday be filled with great food, wonderful friendship and all the family ties that you may wish for. :) I have to say that Mareena and I actually ate a pared down dinner because I honestly wasn't feeling all that well - I have had a little bit of a stomachache, and have been feeling slightly off for some reason. So, we just had some wonderful stew meat, pan-fried potatoes and sliced ham. Mareena also had canned pears on the side.

After that, we will take a bit of a nap, watch some television, then kick up our feet and read books for the rest of the day! :)

So once again, may all of you have a wonderfully safe and blessed Christmas and a terrific holiday season. May you also have a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

I also hope that everyone who is away from their families at this time, will know that they are sorely missed, truly loved and deeply appreciated by all! God bless all of you, may you have a very happy and wonderful holiday season! :)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Daniel Rhodes - Next, After Lucifer

57. Next, After Lucifer by Daniel Rhodes (1987)
The Courdeval Trilogy Book 1

Length: 258 pages

Genre: Horror 

Started: 19 December 2016

Finished: 22 December 2016

Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap

How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 13 July 2016

Why do I have it? I like horror and had read and enjoyed Adversary by the same author in the past.

Evil never truly dies. It may sleep for centuries, only to reawaken when innocent souls least expect it. Yet, once such malevolence has made its mark - permeating the lives of modern people and filling their hearts with abject fear - it is always difficult to fully eradicate its touch; even among people who have never dreamed that the supernatural might actually exist.

While on sabbatical somewhere in the south of France - in the beautifully remote village of Saint-Bertrand - medieval history professor John McTell and his new wife Linden have recently rented a secluded villa. The newlyweds have decided to spend the next several months together seeing the sights and settling into their fledgling marriage. Professor McTell is initially drawn to the village of Saint-Bertrand because of its charming scenery and its historical significance.

He also finds himself oddly fascinated by the tales of local lore: most especially by the legend of Guilhem de Courdeval - a renegade Knight Templar, allegedly burned at the stake in 1307 for heresy and dark sorcery. While it is certainly an intriguing story, John finds himself strangely captivated by the dark sorcerer himself. Determined to learn more about Guilhem de Courdeval, the professor sets out to investigate the crumbling ruins of the knight's fortress.

According to the fantastic stories told by superstitious villagers, the sorcerer's malevolent soul has apparently remained imprisoned within carved and blessed stone for centuries. As skeptical of these stories as he may be, John still feels compelled to investigate them anyway. Unfortunately, his investigations will not only threaten his very soul, but could also potentially unleash a diabolically evil presence - to again stalk the land and claim its next victim.

In my opinion, this was a very intriguing book to read. I was utterly captivated by the story, and it definitely held my attention all the way through. I found that there was always something happening in the plot, the pace never slowed or became bogged down in any way. I would certainly give this book an A+! 

Daniel Rhodes is actually a pseudonym for prolific thriller author Neil McMahon; and was used for the four horror novels that he published in the late 1980s. I actually had the pleasure of reading Mr. Rhodes' second published novel Adversary about twenty years ago. Both books have since been put back on my bookshelf and I think that I will keep them to read again later.

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

We Have Christmas Day Off!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well, as Sunday, December 25th is actually Christmas Day, Mareena and I taped last week's show - Sunday, December 18th's - to be rebroadcast for this week. So that means that we get to have Christmas Day off. We are so excited that we get the chance to relax and do nothing for the entire day!

Anyway, I'm still working through an amazing backlog of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. So far, I've done approximately 44 sudoku and crossword puzzles from the newspaper, although I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle books, too! I haven't really finished an entire sum-doku puzzle book from my collection since Saturday, December 3rd - I have been working through partial puzzles from the moderately difficult to extremely difficult levels!

So, as regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Crooked Branch: A Novel by Jeanine Cummins, which I finished on Thursday, December 15th! Mareena told me that she had put this book on our joint wishlist about three years ago, and that it had just become available in late November. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it was just wonderful.

Since then, I have been trying to narrow down my choices for another book to read. I finally picked Next, After Lucifer by Daniel Rhodes, and started reading it yesterday evening - Monday, December 19th! According to Goodreads, as of today - Tuesday, December 20th - I've actually read 45 pages out of 272 in Next, After Lucifer by Daniel Rhodes; or approximately 16 percent. Since my copy of Next, After Lucifer by Daniel Rhodes is actually 258 pages, reading 45 pages means that I have read approximately 17 percent of the story so far.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Well Surprise, Surprise!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well, Mareena and I were just channel surfing the other night - on Tuesday night, December 13th - and we happened to catch Shutter Island just starting. I had no idea that the movie was actually going to be broadcast so soon after I read the book, but Mareena and I decided to watch the movie anyway. About an hour into the movie - which was actually much darker than I was expecting, although still really, really enjoyable - the cable box cut out. Mareena and I just looked at each other, looked at the television screen, and then Mareena grabbed the remote control to attempt a channel search.

It turned out that while the cable was still connected, several of the channels that we sometimes watched were not available. Actually, our cable company has been doing this type of thing (moving or completely removing certain channels, but continuing to increase our cable bill) for quite a while now, and we were just about reaching the end of our patience with them. So, on yesterday morning - Saturday, December 17th - we changed over our cable company; and everything seems to be working fine for us, so far.

We watched the tenth episode of 'The Exorcist', which aired on Friday night, December 16th. This show is so good, and I hope that it comes back for a second season, but if it doesn't the show definitely ended well, I suppose. Actually, although 'The Exorcist' seems to have dropped slightly in the ratings, the show also seems to have garnered a core fan base for itself as well. Mareena is surfing the internet, and apparently there is a twitter campaign being run with #renewtheexorcist as the 'hashtag'. I'm not quite sure how much this hashtag campaign will ultimately help, but definitely count Mareena and myself as supporters of it - #renewtheexorcist!

Anyway, I'm still working through an amazing backlog of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. So far, I've done approximately 42 sudoku and crossword puzzles from the newspaper, although I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle books, too! I haven't really finished an entire sum-doku puzzle book from my collection since Saturday, December 3rd - I have been working through partial puzzles from the moderately difficult to extremely difficult levels!

So, as regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The Crooked Branch: A Novel by Jeanine Cummins, which I finished on Thursday, December 15th! Mareena told me that she had put this book on our joint wishlist about three years ago, and that it had just become available in late November. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, it was just wonderful.

I haven't actually chosen another book to read as yet, although I do have quite a few on my radar. Since I finished The Crooked Branch: A Novel by Jeanine Cummins on Thursday, December 15th, I've decided to do a jigsaw puzzle or two. As of today, I'm just about finishing up my third puzzle out of the box of twelve that I thought I put away in my collection on Wednesday afternoon, November 30th! I started doing the puzzle on Thursday night, December 15th, and surprisingly, it appears to have only took me three days to finish the puzzle.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Jeanine Cummins - The Crooked Branch: A Novel

56. The Crooked Branch: A Novel by Jeanine Cummins (2013)

Length: 384 pages

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Started: 13 December 2016

Finished: 15 December 2016

Where did it come from? From Paperback Swap

How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 8 December 2016

Why do I have it? I like contemporary fiction and Jeanine Cummins is a new author for me.

After the birth of her daughter, Emma, first-time mother Majella finds herself feeling extremely strange - almost like she has somehow become separated or disconnected from herself and her family. The usually resilient and self-deprecating young woman suddenly feels isolated and exhausted - feelings which she slowly comes to realize reach far beyond simply being overwhelmed by her recent introduction to new motherhood. Trying to better understand her extraordinary feelings of 'differential otherness', Majella understands that no matter how much they may love her, her family just can't help her in this particular situation; so she seeks out professional help.

Late one night, while investigating the source of a strange sound up in her attic, Majella discovers the diary of her maternal ancestor - Ginny Doyle. While it is encouraging for Majella to find Ginny's diary - and to again feel the spark of a connection toward this tough and determined woman, Majella is nevertheless shocked to read a story of murder in her family history. Disturbed to think that she may be genetically predisposed to acts of violence herself, Majella sets out to explore Ginny's past.

With the ravages of the famine upon her, a terrified and distraught Ginny Doyle fled from Ireland to America. Although she was eventually able to acquire passage for herself and her children, not all of Ginny's family were able to escape and to start over fresh in their lives. So, what actually happened during those harrowing years, and just why does Ginny continue to call herself a killer?

Despite the centuries that separate them, Majella is heartened to learn that her ancestor Ginny was in so many ways a woman just like herself - just a mother struggling to find a way to raise and protect her young children. Ginny's battles may have been more fundamental than Majella's - as she struggled to keep her young family alive during the time of Ireland's Great Hunger - yet Majella can't deny the strong connection that she still feels towards Ginny. However, does the fierce tenderness that Majella begins to feel towards her newborn daughter outweigh everything else - or is she actually genetically fated to be a bad mother? Determined to understand the truth of her heritage as well as her own identity, Majella seeks to learn more about Ginny Doyle's personal history - and discovers surprising new truths about her family and, ultimately, about herself.

I must say that I absolutely loved this book. In my opinion, it was just a wonderful book; beautifully written and seamlessly woven together. Both Ginny's and Majella's stories were equally compelling for me to read, despite the centuries that separated both women. I'm definitely putting Ms. Cummins' name at the top of my wishlist, and I would certainly give this book an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Sebastian Junger - A Death in Belmont

55. A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger (2006)
Length: 266 pages
Genre: True Crime
Started: 6 December 2016
Finished: 13 December 2016
Where did it come from? From a Library Book Sale
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 10 October 2007
Why do I have it? I like true crime and Sebastian Junger is a new author for me.

It was the finding of an odd family photograph that initially led Sebastian Junger to investigate the murder which forms the basis of this extraordinary true story. Actually, it wasn't so much the photograph itself that was strange, but who was photographed with a one-year-old Sebastian and his thirty-four-year-old mother, Ellen. The story behind the taking of this photograph is actually the most horrifying revelation of all, as this information only further highlights just how close the Jungers came to experiencing their own personal tragedy on that particular day in the spring of 1963.

In 1963, residents of the city of Boston were being terrorized by a series of gruesome murders that soon became known as the 'Boston Stranglings'. However, the quiet suburb of Belmont had never experienced the same level of fear until the brutal murder of Bessie Goldberg - which happened only a few blocks from the Junger family home. While Bessie Goldberg's murder bore all the hallmarks of being committed by the Strangler, a young black man by the name of Roy Smith - who had just cleaned the victim's house that day - was arrested, tried, and convicted for her murder. And so, the Strangler continued his reign of terror.

Two years later, Albert DeSalvo - a handyman who was working at the Jungers' home on the day of the Belmont murder - confessed in lurid detail to being the Boston Strangler. Much to the horror of the Jungers, this competent, punctual, and unassuming young man had often spent time alone in their home, as well as with Sebastian and his mother. This disturbing revelation, and the chilling photograph that was taken to commemorate the building of a home studio, opens into a electrifying exploration of race and justice in America during the 1960s. This extraordinary narrative chronicles the multiple lives that collide - and are ultimately destroyed - in the vortex of one of the first and most controversial serial murder cases in America.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I found it to be very well-written and thought-provoking, if a little slow in certain parts. Although I felt that the story lost some of its momentum, it still picked up appreciably, and I would certainly give this book a strong A!

A! - (90-95%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Sudoku Puzzles and a Little Bit of Television...These Are Just a Few of my Favorite Things!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Well, Mareena and I watched the ninth episode of 'The Exorcist', which aired on Friday night, December 9th. This show is so good, and the season finale airs on Friday night, December 16th! Since this particular episode is being advertised as the season finale and not the actual series finale, that must mean there will possibly be a second season for the show, right? I honestly hope that the show comes back for a second season, even though the ratings are rather low.

Anyway, I'm still working through an amazing backlog of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. Despite that though, I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle book collection as well. So far, I've done approximately 35 sudoku and crossword puzzles from the newspaper, although I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle books, too! I haven't really finished an entire sum-doku puzzle book from my collection since Saturday, December 3rd - I have been working through partial puzzles from the moderately difficult to extremely difficult levels!

So, as regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was Shutter Island: A Novel by Dennis Lehane, which I finished on Monday, December 5th! Although Mareena saw the 2010 movie last year starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, I wanted to read the book first, before watching the movie. I actually really enjoyed reading the book, it kept me guessing right up until the end!

After starting another book called Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World by Johann Christophe Arnold on Monday, December 5th, I just wasn't getting into the book that much. I had received the book through the afternoon mail on Monday, November 28th and I have to say that the book wasn't quite what I was expecting; it was pretty good, but I had a little trouble getting into the story. Since this particular book is actually non-fiction and I had only read about 12 pages, I decided that I wanted to read another book that was already in my collection: A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger, a true crime book about The Boston Stranglings.

I actually started reading A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger on Tuesday, December 6th. According to Goodreads - as of today, December 11th - I've actually read 152 pages out of 288 in A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger; or approximately 52 percent. Since my copy of A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger is actually 266 pages, reading 152 pages means that I have read approximately 57 percent of the story so far.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

So, the Holidays Have Officially Begun!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

So, on Wednesday afternoon, December 7th, Lisa came and picked Mareena and myself up at about 3 P. M. and we went to lunch at Red Lobster. They had concluded the renovations to the restaurant, so we were able to use the more permanent ramp. As we ate, we talked about what we wanted to do after our meal and decided that we would go see the 'Capital Holiday Lights in the Park' in Washington Park - which starts at 6 P. M. and runs until 9 P. M.

This event has actually been going on for 20 years and Lisa, myself and Mareena have seen the lights in the park for the past two or three years. It was really quite good and lasts from Friday, November 25th, 2016 to Monday, January 2nd, 2017. We had so much fun together!

Although I'm still working through an amazing backlog of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper, I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle book collection as well. As regards my crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper though, I have done about 32 puzzles all together. I suppose that it's not too bad!

So, as regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was Shutter Island: A Novel by Dennis Lehane, which I finished on Monday, December 5th! Although Mareena saw the 2010 movie last year starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, I wanted to read the book first, before watching the movie. I actually really enjoyed reading the book, it kept me guessing right up until the end!

After starting another book called Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World by Johann Christophe Arnold on Monday, December 5th, I just wasn't getting into the book that much. I had received the book through the afternoon mail on Monday, November 28th and I have to say that the book wasn't quite what I was expecting; it was pretty good, but I had a little trouble getting into the story. Since this particular book is actually non-fiction and I had only read about 12 pages, I decided that I wanted to read another book that was already in my collection: A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger, a true crime book about The Boston Stranglings.

I actually started reading A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger on Tuesday, December 6th. According to Goodreads - as of today, December 8th - I've actually read 69 pages out of 288 in A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger; or approximately 23 percent. Since my copy of A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger is actually 266 pages, reading 69 pages means that I have read approximately 26 percent of the story so far.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Dennis Lehane - Shutter Island: A Novel

54. Shutter Island: A Novel by Dennis Lehane (2003)

Length: 369 pages 

Genre: Historical Mystery 

Started: 29 November 2016

Finished: 5 December 2016

Where did it come from? From Bookmooch

How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 29 November 2016

Why do I have it? I like historical mysteries and have read and enjoyed Moonlight Mile by the same author in the past.

The year is 1954. Two United States Marshals - Edward 'Teddy' Daniels and his partner Chuck Aule - have recently arrived on a remote island located in Boston Harbor. Shutter Island is the home of an extraordinary, groundbreaking medical facility - Ashecliffe Hospital For the Criminally Insane - an asylum which offers only the most modern psychiatric treatments for its patients. The marshals have come to investigate the mysterious disappearance of one of Ashecliffe's most notorious patients - a severely mentally disturbed woman who has been accused of drowning her three young children.

Rachel Solando has been incarcerated for several years, yet she has somehow managed to escape from a locked and guarded cell. Despite keeping her under constant surveillance, the doctors are baffled by Rachel's sudden and inexplicable disappearance, and they are alarmed by the knowledge that a multiple murderess is now loose somewhere on the barren island. As a deadly hurricane bears down relentlessly on the island, Teddy and Chuck find themselves in the middle of one of the most bizarre cases of their careers.

Actually, everything about Ashecliffe Hospital seems bizarre. Hints of radical experimentation and covert government machinations have begun to taint the stellar reputation of Ashecliffe, adding darker, more sinister shades to an already peculiar case. Because the closer Teddy and Chuck come to the truth, the more they realize that nothing about Ashecliffe Hospital is remotely what it seems.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion, it was a well-written, engrossing plot that kept me guessing right until the end. This was actually quite different from the typical story that I read, and I was intrigued to see how the story would eventually develop. I would certainly give this book an A+!

A+! - (96-100%)

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Apparently, my Reading Plans Can Change on a Dime!

Hello everyone! I hope that you're all just fine this morning - I certainly am! :) Anyway, I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing so far.

Although I'm still working through an amazing backlog of crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles from the newspaper, I have also done some sum-doku puzzles from my puzzle book collection as well. So far, I've finished 95 puzzles out of the puzzle book that I've been working on since June and approximately 85 puzzles from the book that I have been working on since September. As regards my crossword puzzles and sudoku puzzles, I have done about 27 puzzles all together.

So, after I finished the 750-piece puzzle of the fairytale-style castle on Monday, November 21st, I decided to do a couple more puzzles from the giant box of twelve that I finished on Friday, November 4th! I started the first of my two jigsaw puzzles on Tuesday, November 22nd and finished it two days later - on Thursday, November 24th! I actually didn't do that much on Thanksgiving - Mareena and I basically just did what we did for Halloween - on Monday, October 31st. Yes, we certainly are creatures of habit!

So, as regards my own reading, the most recent book that I've read was The House of Lost Souls by F. G. Cottam, which I finished on Saturday, November 26th! This was such a good book, and it has been quite a while since I have gotten so engrossed in a story in such a short period of time. I also started doing my second jigsaw puzzle from the box of twelve on Saturday afternoon, November 26th! I finished the puzzle on Wednesday afternoon, November 30th, and have since put the box back into my collection.

After spending about a day and a half trying to choose another book to read, I thought that I had settled on a book that has been on my bookshelf for almost eight years. Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel by David Guterson was Mareena's 'just because' gift for me from August of 2009. I've since changed the book that I was reading - Shutter Island: A Novel by Dennis Lehane arrived in the afternoon mail on Tuesday, November 29th, and I immediately started reading it on the day that the book arrived.

According to Goodreads - as of today, December 3rd - I've actually read 201 pages out of 369 in the Shutter Island: A Novel by Dennis Lehane; or approximately 54 percent. I'm actually really enjoying reading this book. Mareena saw the 2010 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo last year, and when the movie came back on television a couple of months ago I said that wanted to read the book first.

Till we Meet Again, Glow Brightly as Moonlight

Reading Wrap-up For November 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 November with 1,061 books lying around the house and ended the month with 1,057 books unread. All the books that I acquired this month came from Paperback Swap and Bookmooch.

Let me try to break down the influx for you:

Changes to the TBR pile

Rereads
- Between Husbands and Friends: A Novel by Nancy Thayer

Read from my TBR pile (Yes! I am a reading machine :))
- Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King
- When the Ghost Screams: True Stories of Victims Who Haunt by Leslie Rule
- The House of Lost Souls by F. G. Cottam

Added to my TBR pile (oh well, you win some and you lose some! Not too bad though, I suppose:))
- House by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti
- Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World by Johann Christoph Arnold
- Shutter Island: A Novel by Dennis Lehane

Taken off my TBR pile and sent to a new home (Yay! Happy Dance! :))

- Telling Lies to Alice by Laura Wilson
- Lisey's Story: A Novel by Stephen King
- Exclusive: A Novel by Sandra Brown
- Ladder of Years: A Novel by Anne Tyler

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

Books Read: 4
Pages Read: 1,389
Grade Range: A+! to A!

So, there you go! The reading month that was November. 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