About Me

Hello there, and welcome to my book blog! I hope to become your regular book blog rest stop.

I am a 40 (cough, cough) something bibliophile and busy mother of 2 girls, but somehow manage to find time to read!


REVIEW POLICY:
 
I am thrilled that you have decided to have a look at my review policy.

I am happy to consider books for review, however I do not accept romance/horror/christian at this time. This book blog is a volunteer passion of mine, and I will always read the books that I have solicited for review.

It may take me several weeks to read and post a review depending on the length of the novel and how heavy my reading schedule is at the time I obtain your book.

I do not guarantee a positive review, however if you read past reviews you will see that my reviews are balanced, professional and courteous to all affected.

If you have a novel you would like for me to consider for review,and/or giveaway, please email me at circlebooks(at)shaw(dot)ca And thanks for visiting BOOK BLAB!

Contact Me

Lisa Jemus
circlebooks@shaw.ca

I welcome any and all inquiries and comments!   Thanks so much for stopping by!

Author's Corner

Here are interviews with various authors:

AUGUST 2009:

John Higham author of 360 Degrees Longitude: Our Family's Journey Around The World

SEPTEMBER 2009

Sarah Stonich author of The Ice Chorus

UPCOMING AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:

Howard J. Morris and Jenny Lee authors of Women are Crazy, Men are Stupid! (An autographed copy will be up for grabs along with this interview!)

Book Buzz

One of my readers had a GREAT suggestion.  She was looking for a quick way to find all of the books that Book Blab has rated 5 stars.  I immediately tweaked my blog and PING!  Here are all of the books I have reviewed in order of RATINGS starting with my 5-r's.  :0)  The asterisk beside the title indicates my suggestion for book club selections.

RATED 5/5

The Fault of Our Stars by John Green
The Giver by Lois Lowry
A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn *
Sold by Patricia McCormick  * (YA)
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand  *
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway  *
Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne
Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross *
The Road by Cormac McCarthy *
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant *
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
The Magicians Elephant by Kate DiCamillo (Children)  *
Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza (Non-Fiction) *
360 Degrees Longitude Our Family's Journey Around the World by John Higham (Non-Fiction)
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
The Triumph of Deborah by Eva Etzioni-Halevy
The Pearl by John Steinbeck *
Cowboy and Wills by Monica Holloway (Non-Fiction)
The Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (YA)
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier



RATING 4.5/5

The Light Between Two Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill *
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Eragon by Christopher Paolini (YA)
Crispin by Avi (Children/YA)


RATING 4/5

Proof of Heaven by Dr. Eben Alexander 
Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secret Religion by Janet Reitman
Wild by Cheryl Strayed *
Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Stories I Only Tell my Friends by Rob Lowe
Peace from Broken Pieces by Iyanla Vanzant
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
The Help by Kathryn Stockett *
Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin and Lisa Brown (YA)
Losing It by Valerie Bertinelli (Non-Fiction)
The Ice Chorus by Sarah Stronich
The Sign for Drowning by Rachel Stolzman
His Last Letter by Jeane Westin
Unbearable Lightness by Portia DeRossi

RATING 3/5

Farewell Titanic: Her final Legacy by Charles Pellegrino
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali *
Leaving the Saints by Martha Beck (Non-Fiction)
The Legacy of Luna by Julia Butterfly Hill (Non-Fiction)
The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells
Eternal on the Water by Joseph Moninger
It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han (YA)
Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup



RATING 2/5


The Shoemakers Wife by Adriana Trigiani
Out of Oz  by Gregory Maguire
Harry a History by Melissa Anelli
Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (YA)
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
Dewey by Vicky Myron (Non-Fiction)
Edgar Sawtelle by David Wrobleski
Falling Apart in One Piece by Stacey Morrison (Non-Fiction)


RATING 1/5

Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman














HERE'S THE LATEST BOOKS WITH SOME BUZZ!

March 2, 2010

RUBY'S SPOON by ANNA PIETRONI

Hardcover (Feb 2010), 384 pages.

Publisher: Random House
ISBN-13: 9781400068685

From the book jacket:

Cradle Cross in 1933 is a town in the heart of Black Country, England, still reeling from the Great War and dominated by a button factory in terminal decline. Into this exotically grim environment arrives a white-haired young woman from the coast named Isa Fly. Isa is a mysterious and magnetic presence who exerts a romantic pull on everyone she meets. Motherless, thirteen-year-old Ruby Tailor is instantly drawn to her, as is Captin, the proprietor of the local chip shop, a fifty-year-old bachelor and father figure to Ruby, and Truda Blick, the Oxford-educated spinster who's inherited the failing button factory. As the reasons for Isa's sudden appearance become less clear with each passing day, she is viewed with increasing suspicion by the tight-knit women of Cradle Cross who come to see her as the cause of the town's accelerating misfortunes and ultimately fear her as a witch.

Anna Lawrence Pietroni, in her fiction debut, captures for the first time the dialect of Black Country. Cradle Cross is a town out of time - battered by war and yet linked to a distant past, an isolated pocket of the country whose customs and views have remained intact since medieval times, where talismans protect loved ones and rituals can help wring away the grief of loss.

 

THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett

Hardcover: 464 pages

Publisher: GP Putnam And Sons; 1 edition (Feb 10 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0399155341

This is a novel that is starting to gather some steam in the blogosphere.  It looks FANTASTIC and is near the top of my wishlist!

Here is the summary:

A first novel from Kathryn Stockett, tells the story of a young white woman in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s and a group of black maids who work for the families of her friends. Use these book club discussion questions on The Help to discuss the struggles the women face as they chafe against the written and unwritten rules that limit their lives.

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NEW in BOOKS ~  WENCH by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

There is a new book that is starting to gain some buzz in the literary world, and I can't get my  hands on this book fast enough.  It is a tale of four black enslaved women in the years preceding the civil war.  Cane River was one of my favourite books of all time, and so when I heard of this book just a few days ago I just knew I had to read it.  Popping onto Oprah's site briefly I noticed it as one of her recommended reads as well.  I predict that in the weeks to come, more and more bloggers will be talking about this one! 

Here is the blurb from HarperCollins:

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez is startling and original fiction that raises provocative questions of power and freedom, love and dependence. An enchanting and unforgettable novel based on little-known fact, Wench combines the narrative allure of Cane River by Lalita Tademy and the moral complexities of Edward P. Jones’s The Known World as it tells the story of four black enslaved women in the years preceding the Civil War. A stunning debut novel, Wench marks author Perkins-Valdez—previously a finalist for the 2009 Robert Olen Butler Short Fiction Prize—as a writer destined for greatness.





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So, looking back there are several books that have made some buzz in 2009, and therefore books coming out in 2010 are already getting some buzz in the blogosphere.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

This is the first of a trilogy and apparently it is super terrific.  I had it on hold at the library and was all excited, and then didn't pick it up in time so now I am waiting in the huge line AGAIN to read it.  ANYway, the next in the trilogy will be released in the fall of this year, and people are already getting all hot and bothered about it.  It is entitled The Scorch Files and I bet it will be a huge hit.

This was arguably one of the most talked about books in recent history in the blog world, and the second book Cathing Fire had many bloggies practically frothing at the mouth with excitement.  Here is the mock up of the cover that is circulating.  See?  It's coming out IN AUGUST.  This is another one I have on my imminent "to read" list (and yes I do have an imminent one and a not so imminent one.  Actually I just like to say the word imminent.)

It is currently on order through my daughters Scholastic Book order and I can't get my hands on the thing fast enough.

So far that's all I have for THE BUZZ, but will be adding to it every month as I get wind of this or that.  Thanks for stopping by!