Mailbox Monday has a new home

Mailbox Monday has moved to my new home over at Wordpress. Don't forget to update bookmarks and blog links.

Come on over and check it out,

Marcia

New web address for The Printed Page... I've moved to wordpress

** my f2f book club group our information will migrate in '09. continue to use this site until then **

The Printed Page here are Blogger is relocating to wordpress. Please update your readers, blogrolls and links to reflect the change in site host.

Stop by and check out the new home of The Printed Page.

There are some features at wordpress that attracted me and I decided a change was needed even though I've spent hours updating this site. I'll think of this site as my 2nd home and if for some reason things don't work out at my new primary home I can always move back. At last these homes are recession proof. It's always nice to have someplace to come home to.

There will be no changes at Up For Grabs

Novel Action ... changing the way book lovers share books

Literally I just came across this site and thought I'd post for all you booklovers who swap, mooch and trade to check out.

Novel Action

The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music by Steve Lopez

The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music
Steve Lopez
Putnam Adult, 2008
288 pages

From Amazon: Starred Review. Scurrying back to his office one day, Lopez, a columnist for the L.A. Times, is stopped short by the ethereal strains of a violin. Searching for the sound, he spots a homeless man coaxing those beautiful sounds from a battered two-string violin. When the man finishes, Lopez compliments him briefly and rushes off to write about his newfound subject, Nathaniel Ayers, the homeless violinist. Over the next few days, Lopez discovers that Nathaniel was once a promising classical bass student at Juilliard, but that various pressures—including being one of a few African-American students and mounting schizophrenia—caused him to drop out. Enlisting the help of doctors, mental health professionals and professional musicians, Lopez attempts to help Nathaniel move off Skid Row, regain his dignity, develop his musical talent and free himself of the demons induced by the schizophrenia (at one point, Lopez arranges to have Ayers take cello lessons with a cellist from the L.A. Symphony). Throughout, Lopez endures disappointments and setbacks with Nathaniel's case, questions his own motives for helping his friend and acknowledges that Nathaniel has taught him about courage and humanity. With self-effacing humor, fast-paced yet elegant prose and unsparing honesty, Lopez tells an inspiring story of heartbreak and hope.

*****

This is one book that I couldn't wait to get posted to my blog. It touched me on so many levels and in so many ways. I won't even attempt to put into words how I feel about this book because honestly I don't have the skills to get my thoughts and feelings across like I'd like to. It made me laugh, cry, believe, have faith and hope. It made me look at myself and those around me. It's one of those stories that I want to shout from the rooftops about. Talk about to everyone I come in contact with. I'm not a wordsmith like Mr. Lopez. I don't have the god-given musical ability of Mr. Ayers. But I do have my blog and I simply want to share it. It's a rare gem in a crowded field. Please read it, share it and pay it forward in any way that you feel is fitting.

Book Giveaway...Before I Wake: A Novel by Robert J. Wiersema

New book giveaway at Up For Grabs. Check here for details

Before I Wake: A Novel by Robert J. Wiersema

From Amazon: In this impressive debut, Wiersema crafts an intelligent, contemplative supernatural thriller replete with well-rounded characters, artless dialogue and a plot that, while imbued with the unexplained, develops organically, revealing its secrets at just the right pace. In the novel's opening pages, three-year-old Sherry Barrett, an only child, is rendered comatose in a hit and run accident. What follows could have been a typical thriller full of cartoonish villains and escalating peril; it also could have been a treacly fairy tale about God's miraculous healing power. Happily, Wiersema steers clear of these well-traveled roads and, by way of multiple first-person narratives, tells an engrossing story of flawed but genuinely good people who must bear up under the stress of loss, betrayal, unwarranted miracles and unconventional spiritual warfare. Particularly well-imagined is the purgatory of sorts that Henry, the truck driver, must endure after he fails to come forward after the accident. Reminiscent of Wim Wenders's film Wings of Desire, Henry's nature, longings and environs paint a poignant picture of souls in need of redemption. While some readers may find one of the novel's final revelations less original than the rest of the story, Wiersema gets nearly everything else right, and the result is an engaging, emotionally resonant read.

Mailbox Monday

So did you mooch a book this week? Maybe you swapped one or two? The ARCs caused a flood in your mailbox and the mail carrier cruses your name! If so let us know what books you got last week.

My mailbox last week gave me Swimming With Strangers by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum. It's a collection of short stories. I'm not really a short story kind of reader but I'll give this one a fair shake.

Reading Journal ... the latest from the library

The First Patient
Michael Palmer
St. Martin's Press, 2008
384 pages
Mystery, thriller
My impression: This is the first book by Mr. Palmer that I've read in years. After enjoying this one so much I'm wondering why I haven't kept up with his work. I definitely will read more of his back list. There was more than enough medical mystery, emerging technology and thriller to keep me turning the pages long after I should have been asleep. The sign of a good book for me is the length of time it takes me to read it ~ 2 days with limited reading time. Must have been a page turner.

The Map Thief
Heather Terrell
Ballantine Books, 2008
272 pages
Mystery, historical fiction
Book provided by Authors on the Web
My impression: This is a mystery within a mystery built around astonishing historical detail. Mystery one is the theft of the map itself and returning it to it's rightful owner. The second mystery revolves around which country lays claim to having completed the first world map ~ China or Portugal. This book is rich in historical detail and interesting facts woven around a real life mystery. I found the story of Zhi and his life fascinating and the most intriguing. The Portugal story line was less developed but played an integral part in history. The mystery of finding and returning the map didn't keep me on the edge of my seat as I felt it was pretty low key and didn't carry any real suspense. This is Ms. Terrell's 2nd book staring Mara Coyne. I intend to go back and read The Chrysalis as I did enjoy this one and would like to know more about the lead character's background. This was another one that only took me 2 days to get through with limited reading time

Friday Finds! ... 7/25/08

Friday Finds! is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading

I actually came across two of my Friday Finds! this very morning at 5 Minutes for Books

Winter Haven by Atol Dickson



My Heart Remembers by Kim Vogel Sawyer



The Wishing Year: A House, a Man, My Soul A Memoir of Fulfilled Desire by Noelle Oxenhandler

Tuesday Thingers ... Recommendations

It's Tuesday which means Tuesday Thingers hosted by The Boston Bibliophile. Today's topic: Recommendations. Do you use LT's recommendations feature? Have you found any good books by using it? Do you use the anti-recommendations, or the "special sauce" recommendations? How do you find out about books you want to read?

When I first signed up at Librarything I looked at the recommendations but didn't really find anything useful as it was mostly books I'd already read or had in a TBR pile. I was more curious than anything else. I also spent a lot of time on the Connections page looking at the books others were entering into their libraries to see if anything caught my interest. I've found that I don't use LT for recommendations. I find books that interest me through the blogs of fellow book bloggers, dedicated book websites, newsletters, magazines, newspapers, and my local library.

** I'm using new "Blogger in Draft" features so things go a bit haywire I apologize.

Reading Journal ... the latest from the library

What Angels Fear: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery
C.S Harris
Signet, 2006
432 pages
Historical fiction, mystery
1st in a series
My impression: A solid historical murder mystery set in England in early 1800s. Not a cozy by any means ~ there are vicious murders and rape. I enjoyed this book start to finish and plan to read the others in this series.



Tribute
Nora Roberts
Putnam Adult, 2008
Womens fiction
464 pages
My impression: First of all I'm a big Nora Roberts fan ~ her mainstream fiction and the "In Death" series written as J.D. Robb. That said this one didn't grab me like most of her others have. Her writing style from the "In Death" series is starting to bleed over into her womens fiction work and I'm not sure that it suits these type of story lines. I'm glad I read it but I'm not raving about it. I'm also wondering if she's starting to write too much in a year and writing to meet deadlines.