Guys and Molls--November 10 - 17...Coming Soon!

Guys and Molls

Event production by

Random Magic Tour

Sasha Soren (Random Magic)

Schedule of events

Nov. 10-17, 2011

Nov. 10
vvb32reads (@vvb32reads)
Lit noir - Fictional henchmen

Nov. 11
This Miss Loves to Read (@MissIrenne)
Concrete shoes and tommy guns - How to talk like a gangster

Nov. 12
Double feature
vvb32reads (@vvb32reads)
Secret doors and liquid fire - Speakeasies
and
Theater of the air - Radio show: Angels with Dirty Faces

Nov. 13
Beyond Strange New Words
(@StrangeNewWords)
Sing, you sinners! - Vintage mobster music

Nov. 14
I Love Books (vlog) (@Booklover_622)
The Book Addict (blog) (@Christina_622)
Mob rules - A mafia code of honor
and
Splash of our Worlds (@SplashOOWorlds)
Rogue's gallery - Top 15 vintage mob flicks

Nov. 15
The True Book Addict (@truebookaddict)
Kings of the boardwalk empire - Atlantic City's real-life wise guys
and
Reviews from my First Reads Shelf  (Twitter N/A)
Jimmy Blue Eyes and the Wizard of Odds - Mobster nicknames

Nov. 16
Story Wings (@StoryWings)
The bitter end - Assassinated gangsters
and
Inky Pages - Coffee and a Good Book (vlog)
(@inkypages)
Inky Pages (blog)
From ink to screen - Mob movies based on books, short stories or plays

Nov. 17
Spellbound by Books (@Meeka_21)
Pinstripes and fedoras - Gangster fashion

(And event goodies! Details available on event posts.)

*****COMING SOON*****
          Nov. 10-17, 2011
************************

Guest Post (and giveaway): J. S. Dunn, author of Bending the Boyne

Please join me today in welcoming author J. S. Dunn to the blog....

Fresh Eire! Bending The Boyne uses the latest concepts about the ancient Gaels (later called Celts by Greeks and Romans) in a tale of greed and gold set at Ireland’s ancient, sacred heart: the Boyne passage mounds. Thank you Michelle, for inviting me to post on the ideas behind Bending The Boyne ! Reading a novel set in such a remote era can be a challenge.

The Boyne mounds in Ireland are older than the Pyramids, and Stonehenge. How did these great mounds fall into disuse? Additional background follows to enhance reading of Bending The Boyne. 

Boann, the female protagonist, comes from the earliest Irish myths where she appears briefly in a tangled story that mentions the birth of her son Aengus. “...they made the sun stand still to the end of nine months / strange the tale...” That has to be the original version of our modern “Who’s Your Daddy?” celebrity gossip. Her son Aengus, born at winter solstice, ties in the astronomy practiced at the mounds.

In our era four thousand years later, the winter solstice sunrise still penetrates into the central mound of Newgrange and lights the inner chamber. The Boyne astronomy culture had the action and was a power center for the north Atlantic. The Boyne mounds are now a UN World Heritage site and hold much of Europe’s Neolithic stone artwork. The mounds receive over 200,000 visitors every year.

Myth has endless possibility for interpretation and re-telling. The Isles’ myths were transcribed from native tongues (old Irish, and old Welsh) by devout but cold, hungry, cloistered monks in a later millennium. How much authentic oral history or fact the Christianized monks’ versions contain is hotly debated. Yet, archaeologist William O’Brien used a bit of “myth” about Ross Lake in county Kerry to locate and excavate at the Lake Of Many Hammers, said to be home for an ancient smith, Lein. Lein’s Lake Of Many Hammers turned out to be the site of the Isles’ first known copper mine. O’Brien made a stunning find and started a paradigm shift. The Isles’ should no longer be seen as an outpost or on the fringe of prehistory. (At this time, Mediterannean cultures lived in huts; Troy, the Greek cities, Carthage, and Rome, did not exist.)

What inspired Bending The Boyne specifically was a passage of medieval text that describes the huge and intricately engineered Boyne mounds as “elfmounds”. Wow, that’s some piece of propaganda! How did these impressive mounds come to be dismissed as the home of elves and fairies? Bending The Boyne uses myth plus bang-on archaeology to make the Bronze Age clash of cultures accessible to the modern reader – as Auel’s Clan series did for the Paleolithic.

As the centennial of Ireland’s Rising approaches in 2016, this novel offers a new perspective on the unending Troubles for one notable island that has had successive waves of newcomers – foreigners, which is the meaning of “Gael” and of which the English were only the latest incarnation.

The reader may find the maps in the front matter, and the Glossary of names and author’s note at the back matter, to be useful. The author’s website, www.jsdunnbooks.com, contains reading group questions, and web links to find photos and interesting information about the objects and places depicted in Bending The Boyne.

More on the new concepts about “Celts” and the early origin of the Gaelic language can be found in Celtic From The West (Cunliffe and Koch, editors, 2010, Oxford Press).

Visit J. S. Dunn:

Website

Facebook

Bending the Boyne can be purchased at:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Giveaway--publisher, Seriously Good Books is giving away ONE copy of Bending the Boyne to a U.S. reader.  Please fill out the Rafflecopter form below.  Ends Friday, November 25th at 11:59pm CST.  Good luck!

TTBA Weekly News and Mailbox Monday

This feature was inspired by It's Monday! What are you reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey and by The Sunday Salon.

Yes, I am in the midst of the frenzy that is NaNoWriMo and I'm behind (WAY behind) so you're probably wondering why I'm doing this post.  I'm a creature of habit...what can I say!

EVENTS/NEWS

You can still sign up for the Bag of Bones read-a-long I'm hosting over at Castle Macabre.  You can check out the details and sign-up HERE.

The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge has been announced! You can find out the details and sign up over at The Christmas Spirit HERE.



Read 2 Review has officially opened their doors and they have some exciting features and events planned, including a twitter contest and a Grand Opening Competition.  Head over and join in the fun HERE!

NEW FEATURE

I have a new weekly feature, which I'm cross hosting between here and Castle Macabre.  It's Wednesdays on the Trail(er)...where I post a new or favorite book trailer on Wednesdays.  At Castle Macabre, these will be horror/speculative fiction trailers for books and movies.  I started last week so be watching for this week's trailers.  Hope you enjoy it!

WHAT I'M READING
Last week:
--finished A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (no review yet)
--yesterday, read and reviewed The Art of War by Angela Panayotopulos (REVIEW)
Currently reading:
--Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (still trying to catch up...should I give up?)
--What Alice Knew by Paula Marantz Cohen (TuesBookTalk)
--Under the Dome by Stephen King
--The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe (for review)
Next Week:
--Bag of Bones by Stephen King (for my read-a-long at Castle Macabre)
--Women of the Cousins' War by Philippa Gregory, etc. (Crazy Book Tours-Review on Monday)
--The Luminist by David Rocklin (review and author interview on Wednesday and Thursday)

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia and is currently on tour. This month, Marcia is hosting it herself on the Mailbox Monday dedicated blog HERE.(want to read a book description? Clicking the book covers will take you to the book's page on Amazon).


WON:
Weight of Stone: Book Two of The Vineart War by Laura Anne Gilman...from Crystal at My Reading Room
The Favored Queen by Carolly Erickson...from BookTrib
The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls by Wendy Delsol...from Princess Bookie/Contest Craze

FOR REVIEW:
Jane Was Here by Sarah Kernochan...Crazy Book Tours-tour stop on Castle Macabre (December)
Lifting the Wheel of Karma by Paul H. Magid...tour with Tribute Books (January)

FROM DOUBLEDAY BOOK CLUB (INTRO PKG):
Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir  <3
Lost December by Richard Paul Evans
A Clash of Kings (Book 2-ASOIAF) by George R.R. Martin
The Farm Chicks Christmas by Serena Thompson
Christmas in Williamsburg: 300 Years of Family Traditions by Karen Kostyal
Martha Stewart's Handmade Holiday Crafts
2011 Christmas with Southern Living

PURCHASED FROM GOODWILL:
The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia A. McKillip
The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
The Remedy by Michelle Lovric
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Magi by Daniel L. Gilbert
The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage
Midwinter by Matthew Sturges

Book Review: The Art of War by Angela Panayotopulos

My thoughts:

When I first started reading The Art of War, I wasn't so sure if I liked it, but as I kept reading, I realized that there was no way I could not like this book.  The author's prose is so descriptive and engaging, I couldn't help but get lost in the story.  The characters are so diverse and interesting and I found myself caring for them more and more as the story progressed.  As with any book set during WWII and Nazi occupation, the atrocities are vivid and unforgettable.  The imagery is burned into my mind, which is good story wise, but not so good for the emotions.  However, this novel is not your typical tale about a village oppressed and terrorized by Nazis.  It is so much more.  A beautifully told story about a family separated by the harsh realities of war, The Art of War is a novel that will stay with you long after reading the last page. 

About the book:
An unforgivable war... An unforgettable love... An inconceivable secret...

Once upon a war, three ethnicities are catapulted together on the island of Mythaki. A Nazi discriminated for his conscience. An artist whose iconography becomes her worst nightmare. A rebel soldier whose heart begs for desertion. An officer who taints a village with his madness. And a WWII-ravaged Greece that pulses with the blood and love of its children.

Weaving themes of Greek mythology and Norse lore, The Art of War: a Novel explores both the brightest and darkest facets of mankind. Here, life can be at once a Heaven and a Hell.

Find out more about the author, Angela Panayotopulos:


Website
Facebook 


Buy it on Smashwords


Stop back by on Friday when I will be hosting a guest post from Angela.




FTC Disclosure:  I received an eBook copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review.  I received no monetary compensation.

TuesBookTalk November Book Selection: What Alice Knew

TuesBookTalk Read-a-Longs on Twitter (@tuesbooktalk  #tuesbooktalk) and on Goodreads is reading in the mystery/thriller genre for November.  Our discussion starts Tuesday, November 8 (sorry for the late notice) on Twitter at 10:30pm ET/9:30pm CT.  You do not have to join us on Twitter.  Feel free to share your thoughts in the Goodreads group if you can't make the chat on Twitter.  Get the full reading schedule HERE.  This month we are reading:

Cat Thursday---Special NaNoWriMo Edition

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

As I embark on my journey into the craziness of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), this is what people will most likely be getting from me, either literally or figuratively.  LOL!

And since I'm completely determined to get this book written (at least the first draft) during this month, at the end of this experience, there may be an AA meeting in my future.  ;O)

Wednesdays on the Trail(er)...A New Feature! (1)

***You will find the music player in the right sidebar and there you may turn off the auto play music before enjoying the trailer***

One of the mini-challenges during Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon was to post a favorite book trailer and it was during this challenge that I realized how much I truly love book trailers.  So I decided to create this new weekly feature every Wednesday to showcase a favorite or newly discovered book trailer.  I'm going to cross host this feature over at Castle Macabre as well, with the only difference being that over there, horror movie trailers will also be featured since CM is technically a horror book/movie review site.  Please feel free to join in every week, if you would like.  I hope you enjoy it!

Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees