As I mentioned in this post, I've been a bit overwhelmed lately. When I'm stressed I'm fond of pulling out old standbys. My current choice for comfort reading is Mary Hoffman's Stravaganza series, which I first posted about in 2008 (post). The Americans were used to working with Colombian officers who would joke about failed missions, who took them no more seriously than getting the wrong order at a restaurant.
There were plenty of reasons why they repeatedly failed. On one occasion, approaching a suspect finca on a morning raid, the assault force lined up along a ridge and then simply walked toward the structure. A Centra Spike soldier accompanying them suggested that the force drop down on the ground and crawl.
"In the dirt?" asked a Colombian officer, insulted by the suggestion. "My guys don't crawl in the dirt and the mud."
The occupants of the target house fled well before the raiding party arrived. The finca had all the hallmarks of an Escobar hideout [...] The occupants had fled in such haste that they hadn't had time to completely burn documents, so they had urinated and defecated on them. This was enough to dissuade the national police from taking a look. When the Centra Spike man began to fish the papers out of the mess, the colonel himself objected.
"I can't believe you'd do that," he said. "That's human waste!"
"Where I come from we also low-crawl and get our uniforms dirty," the American said. (88)
Now onto our continuing coverage of Sync's summer free audiobook extravaganza... 
Epidemics, floods, droughts--for sixteen-year-old Lucy, the end of the world came and went, taking 99% of the population with it. As the weather continues to rage out of control, and Sweepers clean the streets of plague victims, Lucy survives alone in the wilds of Central Park. But when she's rescued from a pack of hunting dogs by a mysterious boy named Aidan, she reluctantly realizes she can't continue on her own. She joins his band of survivors, yet, a new danger awaits her: the Sweepers are looking for her. There's something special about Lucy, and they will stop at nothing to have her.
Following the successes of Epic, High, and Rough Water, the latest addition to the Adrenaline series presents the most gripping rescue narratives. Rescue includes Doug Scott's account of saving himself by crawling off Pakistan's Ogre with two broken legs, and Spike Walker's story of the race to recover a king crab fisherman from the Bering Sea in midwinter. The book also includes an account of trying to rescue two canoeists battling hypothermia on a storm-tossed lake; Alison Osius's tale of two teenagers lost in the Great Gulf Wilderness of New Hampshire; and a missionary doctor and his dog team being blown out to sea on an iceberg off the coast of Labrador.
Last week a coworker and fellow Austen fan she made a reference to how Mr. Bennet handles Mary's performance at the ball (in Pride and Prejudice) in conversation. Maya's wonderfully horrific cobra dance in Gurinder Chadha's Bollywood-style adaption, Bride & Prejudice, leapt to mind so I mentioned it. When my coworker admitted to not having seen the film, I insisted that she borrow my copy. This weekend I decided that I need to watch Bride & Prejudice once more before it left the house. 
top shelf: 28 books
top shelf: 66 books
The fifth week of Sync's summer free audiobook extravaganza started yesterday.
Sixteen-year-old Chanda Kabelo has secrets. Her mother is acting strangely, her little sister is out of control, and her best friend is in serious trouble. To make matters worse, people are dying around her. Everyone is afraid to say why, but Chanda knows: it’s because of AIDS. Chanda's Secrets is a suspense-filled novel about a teenager who fights to rescue the people she loves. Through his dramatic story-telling, Allan Stratton captures the love of family, the loyalty of friends, the pain of bereavement, and a fearlessness that is powered by the heart. Above all, this is a story about the courage of living with truth 
A ne'er-do-well exploits his gentle daughter's beauty for social advancement in this masterpiece of tragic fiction. Hardy's 1891 novel defied convention to focus on the rural lower class for a frank treatment of sexuality and religion. Then and now, his sympathetic portrait of a victim of Victorian hypocrisy offers compelling reading.
Fitz is the bastard son of the Six Duchies' king-in-waiting, Prince Chivalry, who abdicates the throne when he learns of Fitz's existence. Fitz is left in the care of Chivalry's gamekeeper until King Shrewd decides that Fitz must live in the keep and be trained. But Fitz is not given an education appropriate to a prince, he's apprenticed to Chade, King Shrewd's assassin. Fitz must put his talents, learned and innate, to use for the king because royal bastards are only kept alive as long as they are useful.
17-year-old Jeanne Du Bois was sent off to a convent seven years ago. When the sisters tire of her insolence, Jeanne is returned to court (Louis XIV's at Versailles). Stifled by the restrictions of life as a female courtier, Jeanne spends what free time she has eavesdropping on the palace's school room and sneaking off to fencing lessons with her uncle.
Subtitled "a novel of terrible optimism," Eutopia is a genre-bending novel with a title that promises a terrific blend of eugenics and utopia.1disclosure: I received a review copy of Eutopia from ChiZine via NetGalley.
I hope you all don't mind these reminder posts. I have to admit that doing them is a bit self-serving as it has helped me to remember to download the books.
Revenge of the Witch is the first book in Delaney's Wardstone Chronicles / Last Apprentice series. It has also been published under the title The Spook's Apprentice. 
The first true masterpiece of English literature, Beowulf depicts the thrilling adventures of a Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. Part history and part mythology, Beowulf begins in the court of the Danish king, where a demon named Grendel devours men in their sleep. The mighty warrior Beowulf kills the monster, but rejoicing turns to terror when Grendel's mother attacks the hall to avenge the death of her child. After slaying the mighty beast, Beowulf becomes king, ruling peacefully for fifty years. But the day comes when he must confront a foe more powerful than any he has yet faced--an ancient dragon who guards a horde of treasure. Once again Beowulf must gather his strength and courage to defeat the monster, but this time victory exacts a terrible price.34-year-old Rachel Goldman has decided to take a year off to "find herself" in the wake of her divorce. She starts a blog, in which she chronicles her adventures in the kitchen (she's learning to cook since she can't afford to eat out anymore) and struggles navigating life on her own.ETA (13 April 2012): A commenter on GoodReads expressed concern about spoiler information in my review so I thought it'd be best for me to add a warning. There is one questionable bit in here, but when I was writing the review I honestly didn't think of that comment as being a spoiler.
disclosure: I received a review copy of Life from Scratch from Bell Bridge Books via NetGalley.
Four children with unusual talents are recruited for a top-secret mission. There is only one rule - there are no rules. Of more immediate consequence for the governments of Pennsylvania and Virginia was an event that occurred not long not long after the [treaty] conference [at Logstown, PA in the spring of 1752] ended, two hundred miles farther west, at Pickawillany--the Miami town where George Croghan and his associates maintained their trading post. At about nine o'clock on the morning of June 21, 1752, a party of about 180 Chippewa and 30 Ottawa warriors, accompanied by 30 French soldiers from Detroit under the command of a French-Ottawa office named Charles-Michel Mouet de Langlade, attacked the settlement. Most of Pickawillany's men were away hunting; most of its women, who had been working in the cornfields, were made captive. After a six-hour attack, Langlade called a cease-fire. He would, he said, return the women and spare the defenders (who numbered only about twenty) if they agreed to surrender to the traders. Lacking any alternative, the defenders agreed, then looked on while the raiders demonstrated what the consequences of trading with the English could be. First they dispatched a wounded trader "and took out his heart and eat it"; then they turned their attention to the settlement's headman, Memeskia. This chief, known to the French as La Demoiselle, had lately acquired a new sobriquet, Old Briton, from Croghan and his colleagues. Now, to repay "his attachment to the English" and to acquire his powers for themselves, the raiders "boiled [him] and eat him all up." Then, with five profoundly apprehensive traders and a vast amount of booty in hand, they returned to Detroit. Behind them lay the smoking ruin that, twenty-four house earlier, had been one of the largest settlements and the richest trading point went of the Appalachians. (28-29)This falls into the "weren't things great back then?" category.
17-year-old Alera is Crown Princess of Hytanica. Custom dictates that she marry on her eighteenth birthday, after which point her father will retire from his responsibilities as king. Alera will be queen, but her husband will be the true ruler of the kingdom. Alera's father has the perfect candidate lined up--Steldor, the conceited son of the Captain of the Guard--but Alera can't stand him. Alera wants to marry for love, but Steldor's the only person who seems to meet all of her father's qualifications."I really have no choice," I said, confident he would acknowledge the difficulty of my circumstances.
"You always have a choice." (295)
disclosure: I received a review copy of Legacy from Harlequin Teen via NetGalley.
What is the worst book that you've ever read and actually finished? Today's the beginning of the third week of Sync's summer free audiobook extravaganza. 
Thirteen year old Hayaat is on a mission. She believes a handful of soil from her grandmother's ancestral home in Jerusalem will save her beloved Sitti Zeynab's life. The only problem is that Hayaat and her family live behind the impenetrable wall that divides the West Bank, and they're on the wrong side of check points, curfews, and the travel permit system. Plus, Hayaat's best friend Samy always manages to attract trouble. But luck is on the pair's side as they undertake the journey to Jerusalem from the Palestinian Territories when Hayaat and Samy have a curfew-free day to travel.
Among the greatest novels of the twentieth century, A Passage to India tells of the clash of cultures in British India after the turn of the century. In exquisite prose, Forster reveals the menace that lurks just beneath the surface of ordinary life, as a common misunderstanding erupts into a devastating affair.
As I mentioned before, I picked up The Dream of Perpetual Motion at the Strand (for some reason this bookstore requires the definite article). I was intrigued by the novel's title and cover design (art and text). "Write down what you think happened, or what you believe happened, of something like what might have happened. All these things are better in the end than writing down nothing at all; all are true in their own way" (113).That being said, the bits of the novel that I found really and truly interesting were few and far between. Thinking back, I keep remembering little bits and wishing that they could have been expanded on.
"an imperfect grace is never what we seek when we fantasize about our futures, when we dream of a long life with someone we claim to love or we build machines that we read about in science fiction. We want all possible things made actual, the perpetual possibility of perfection, the best of all futures all at once. But whatever we accomplish in the end never measures up. We always fail. We always fall short. Because when we see the perfect thing before us we fell we have to touch it. And then it vanishes or bruises or turns to show its hidden flaws or turns to dust" (340-341).
Domestic Violets and I did not get off to a good start. I was eager to read it, mostly because it was being touted on The Olive Reader,1 but I was completely put off by the first chapter. I'm not even sure that I made it through the first chapter the first time I picked up Domestic Violets. The novel opens with its protagonist, Tom Violet, angst-ridden over his inappropriately flaccid penis. I had no patience for that so set Domestic Violets aside in favor of one of the other books loaded onto my Nook. If I hadn't gotten Domestic Violets from NetGalley and felt duty-bound to review it, I probably wouldn't have picked it up again. But, I'm glad that I did. By the time I finished Domestic Violets, my irritations2 seemed minor.disclosure: I received a review copy of Domestic Violets from HarperCollins via NetGalley.
The Book of Lies opens in late 1985 with 15-year-old Cat Rozier admitting that she's murdered her best friend, Nicolette. Her narrative then begins to chart the short history of Cat's tumultuous relationship with Nic. Cat's written confession is interspersed with pages of documents that Cat found in her late father's office. Those documents tell the story of Cat's uncle Charlie, "who got in trouble with the Germans and ended up being starved and tortured and driven mad. He only just survived the War and he was the reason Dad made himself an expert on said German Occupation" (27).We talk about getting away and seeing the world, but we never do. We stay here making the same mistakes, over and over. (8)
disclosure: I received a review copy of The Book of Lies from HarperCollins via NetGalley.
