Another pair of scary BooksYALove favorites for the witching season: if blood-spatter and dire peril aren’t your thing, search the tag cloud (over there on right) for something else!
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Somewhat scary & completely wonderful: spooky season books pair #1
Y’all know that I cannot read horror books; my imagination is just too good and needs no super-terrifying prompts.
I can take on scary tales in measured doses and do love mysteries, of course..
So as we count down the days till Hallowe’en, check out BooksYALove favorites to get you ghoul and ready for some frights! Today’ pair, future based on past inequities and past predicting the future: Click for today’s titles
Curses and Smoke, by Vicky Alvear Shecter (book review) – love, class conflicts, Pompeii
Old gods and older gods,
gladiators and slaves,
Pompeii is prosperous and proud…
Enjoy Curses and Smoke for its glimpses into the port city’s everyday life, its recounting of the weird phenomena observed prior to Vesuvius’ most famous eruption, its love story between owner and owned.
Forget not the past…
**kmm
Book info: Curses and Smoke: a Novel of Pompeii. Vicky Alvear Shecter. Arthur A Levine Books, 2014. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: As handsome Tag returns to her father’s gladiator school at Pompeii, Lucia’s unease about her upcoming marriage to an old man and the recent loss of her mother are echoed by the earth’s tremors.
It was different when Lucia was a little girl roaming the hillsides and Tages was the medical slave’s small son at her side, before he was sent away to learn the healing arts in Rome, before her mother’s untimely death, before these sulfurous emanations near Vesuvius began.
As Lucia tries to break her betrothal to elderly Vitulius and Tag tries to cure his father’s failing memory, rich young Quintus arrives at the school to play at being a gladiator – with a hidden agenda.
Is there any way for Lucia to escape her dreaded marriage?
Can Tag ever end his captivity in the gladiator school?
Are the old Estruscan gods angry that Romans took their sacred grounds at Pompeii?
Why will no one listen to Lucia’s ideas about the strange things happening?
A richly detailed story of love, loss, and the human spirit fighting against the inevitable. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)
Stories from the Holocaust in final AudioSYNC books of summer 2014
The last week of summer 2014 to download free audiobooks from SYNC so you can read with your ears!
As long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device, you can listen to either or both of these complete audiobooks, if you download them by Wednesday, August 13, 2014.
Living a Life That Matters: from Nazi Nightmare to American Dream (download here)
By: Ben Lesser
Read by: Jonathan Silverman and Ben Lesser
Published by: Remembrance Publishing
A Holocaust survivor urges us to stand up for our neighbors, not stand idly by and allow violence to injure anyone.
The Shawl 
By Cynthia Ozick
Read by Yelena Shmulenson
Published by HighBridge Audio
In this award-winning short story, an anguished mother in a Nazi concentration camp searches for the shawl which could bring her just-murdered child back to life.
Many thanks to the publishers who allowed free downloads of their noteworthy audiobooks this summer through AudioSYNC.
Thirteen weeks, 26 great audiobooks – which was your favorite title?
**kmm
Harlem Hellfighters, by Max Brooks & Canaan White (book review) – WW I graphic novel of prejudice, peril & courage
Volunteering to fight in the Great War,
stymied at every turn by their own countrymen,
the Black Rattlers will prevail or die trying.
As the world marks the centennial of World War I’s start this month, follow the African-American 369th Infantry from routine prejudices in the US to the unpredictable violence of trench warfare in this stunning graphic novel.
Combining emotion-packed art (be very, very glad that it’s not in full color) with the era’s poems and narratives, this book unlocks a little-known episode of American history as the “Men of Bronze” inch toward the Rhine through mud, blood, lice, and poison gas.
Get it today at your local library or independent bookstore. I’ll wait here for you – I’m going to read it again myself.
p.s. Will Smith has already optioned it for a movie.
p.p.s. Yes, the author is the same Max Brooks who wrote World War Z.
**kmm
Book info: Harlem Hellfighters / Max Brooks; art by Canaan White. Broadway Books, 2014. [author site] [artist Tumblr] [publisher site] [NPR interview] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through BloggingForBooks.org.
My book talk: Black skin, white-hot patriotism, red blood on the battlefields of France – the 369th Infantry fights prejudice from the US Army itself en route to pushing German forces back to the Rhine during the Great War.
Practicing with broomsticks instead of the new rifles issued to white troops, the black National Guardsmen nevertheless become a formidable fighting unit with the best regimental band anywhere.
When the Men of Bronze from New York complete their training in South Carolina and ship out overseas in 1914 with no parades or fanfare, they fight in the muddy, bloody trenches alongside grateful French forces, determined to reach the Rhine.
A most graphic illustrated retelling of an ignored episode of US history, Harlem Hellfighters uses the 369th’s enemy-given nickname in this true story of bravery and sacrifice.
War hits hard in SYNC audiobooks
What does war do to us? Listen in as two young men in different eras of US history – past and future – experience it firsthand in this week’s free audiobooks from SYNC.
Download these free complete audiobooks are before Wednesday, August 6th, and you can read them with your ears as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device
Divided We Fall (download here)
Available only in USA, Canada, & the Philippines
By Trent Reedy
Read by Andrew Eiden et al.
Published by Scholastic Audio
When a young National Guardsman’s gun misfires, it sparks a chain reaction of violence which could tear apart the USA in this near-future political thriller.
The Red Badge of Courage (download here)
By Stephen Crane
Read by Frank Muller
Published by Recorded Books
The Civil War’s bloody realities eclipse a young man’s lifelong dream of being a soldier as the Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
Will mankind ever learn from the violence of the past?
**kmm
Anyone But You, by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes (book review) – hate, love, & Chicago pizza
Feuding Italian families,
star-crossed secret lovers,
a deep-dish pizza war?
Welcome Shakespeare’s most-famous couple into the 21st century as Roman Monte and Julietta Caputo fall in love during the third generation of their Chicago families’ bitter restaurant rivalry. This third book in the Twisted Lit series takes us back into the early 20th century, too, as we discover what turned best friends into bitterest enemies.
Be sure to check out the Dear Teen Me site where Amy and Kim wrote letters to their teen selves.
Can true love have a happier ending this time?
**kmm
Book info: Anyone But You (Twisted Lit #3) / Kim Askew & Amy Helmes. Merit Press, 2014. [Kim’s website] [Amy’s website] [series site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: A missed rendezvous at the World’s Fair leads to an Italian restaurant feud decades later, and the boy who makes Gigi swoon is on the wrong side of these marinara wars in this Chicago-based version of Romeo and Juliet.
Gigi’s 16th birthday party at her family’s restaurant is marked by her first kiss, a handsome rival for an investor’s icky son, and potential mayhem from a rival restaurant family – all in the person of Roman Monte, whom her Caputo cousins would gladly pummel into pesto.
Why the big fight between the Caputos and Montes? Warned by longtime waitress Carmen about digging up old secrets, Gigi and Roman stealthily go on dates and try to uncover what started the feud… something about two pals sneaking into the Chicago World’s Fair ages ago, mistaken identities, social class differences, and pizza?
In this third Twisted Lit book based on Shakespeare’s plays, chapters alternate between Gigi and Roman’s growing relationship in the present and the past when Nick and Benny began a pizzeria only to lose their friendship. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)
Kiss of Deception, by Mary E. Pearson (book review) – princess seeks peace, finds danger
A dreaded arranged marriage,
a daring escape,
two girls on the run
with a killer on their trail!
Prepare for a galloping read across lands we’ve never seen as Lia tries to stay unnoticed in the lovely seaside town, the disguised prince seeks to know her, and the hidden assassin waits for the right moment when you grab this July 8 release at your local library or favorite independent bookstore.
Either a medieval future after failed interplanetary travel or space voyagers in the past created the setting of this great new series by the author of the well-known Jenna Fox Chronicles, which wrapped up last year with Fox Forever (my no-spoilers review here).
Marriage as a political alliance tool- yes or no?
**kmm
Book info: Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles, book 1) / Mary E. Pearson. Henry Holt, 2014. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
My book talk: Escaping a kingdom-uniting marriage, 17 year old Lia finds peace in a coastal village, unaware that the jilted prince and a stealthy assassin have found her.
Indeed, the First Daughter of Morrighan lacks the Gift of prophecy required by the kingdom of Dalbreck. Piqued by her note “I should like to inspect you before our wedding day”, the prince tracks Lia and Pauline to Terravin where they’re working at aunt Berdi’s inn and poses as a young farmer in town for the religious festival.
Also on her trail are the King’s Army scouts (her father won’t forgive Lia for leaving everyone waiting in the chapel) and an assassin bent on easing a Vendan invasion of Morrighan – by eliminating any alliance with Dalbreck.
Secrets shared, secrets kept, disguises and deceit – how long until Lia falls for handsome Rafe or charming Kaden, shattering her hard-sought peace with a Kiss of Deception? First in The Remnant Chronicle series where crumbling ruins mark the past’s spacefaring technology, and Lia’s gift of Sight may arrive much too late. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)
Sherlock Holmes… and his sister? Most mysterious audiobooks!
The great sleuth himself and his younger sister Enola (what? You thought that Mycroft was Sherlock Holmes’ only sibling?) are featured in this week’s pair of audiobooks, free for you to download so you can read with your ears!
Click on each title to open the SYNC download site in a new window. Snatch up either or both of this mysterious cases from today (July 17) through Wednesday; you have free use of them as long as you keep them on your computer or electronic device.
So hurry now, the game is afoot!
The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline
By Nancy Springer
Read by Katherine Kellgren
Published by Recorded Books
When her much-beloved landlady is kidnapped, Enola Holmes (yes, Sherlock’s sister) is on the case.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes II
By Arthur Conan Doyle
Read by David Timson
Published by Naxos AudioBooks
A missing racehorse, masked royalty visiting 221B Baker Street, and two other famous cases, as reported by faithful friend Dr. Watson: The Engineer’s Thumb, The Silver Band, A Scandal in Bohemia, and The Five Orange Pips.
What’s your favorite Holmes’ case>
**kmm
SYNC audiobooks showcase Civil Rights herstory
Courageous teen women in the early Civil Rights movement – this week’s free SYNC audiobooks bring little-heralded history/herstory to life.
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
By Philip Hoose
Read by Channie Waites
Published by Brilliance Audio
Several months before Rosa Parks’ celebrated bus ride in 1955, black teen Claudette rode a segregated Montgomery bus, but her protest was ignored by area Civil Rights leaders.
While the World Watched
By Carolyn Maull McKinstry with Denise George
Read by Felicia Bullock
Published by Oasis Audio
As a 15 year old, Carolyn was an eyewitness to the fatal Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, another KKK atrocity in the South as the Civil Rights Movement grew.
Remember that although these complete audiobooks are only available for free download from Thursday through Wednesday, you can listen to them as long as you keep the Overdrive Media files on your computer or electronic device.
Visit SYNC for a full list of this summer’s featured audiobooks. If you missed any, try your local library or the publisher.
**kmm