SUNDAY SALON

Aaaaahhhh, Sunday.....  I LOVE Sundays.  And this Sunday in particular is awesome because we had our first snow fall!  So, at 730 this morning I put on a fire and read the paper while the rest of my house was sleeping. 

This week turned out to be a great reading week!  After several weeks of not a whole lot of productive reading, I finished Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden and started and finished Susan Higginbotham's "Hugh and Bess", which I LOVED.  I will be reviewing it on Tuesday after hopefully being able to arrange for a giveaway of the book!  (fingers crossed!) 

I carry Echo in the Bone around with me everywhere, and have not been able to read as much as I like of it.  It's not a book I want to read with distractions around.  Because I love this series so much, I want to savour every single word of this latest book, knowing the next (and LAST) one will not be out for 3 years or more.  Sigh.  After following on Diana Gabaldon's blog for the past year, I still stare at its cover in awe that it is finally here in my possesion.  Yes, I love it THAT much.  Sad, really.  What is cool about following an author's blog such as Diana's is that all along while writing Echo she shared with us little excerpts AND even described in detail HOW she wrote a few bits.  We even were let in on the stress of the final weeks of the "final frenzy", as she puts it, where she basically did nothing but write.  Diana also kept us apprised of the discussions over various cover designs and posted the final cover long before anyone else knew about it.  She also replies often to comments, and is very approachable to her readers.  Here is here blog in case you would like to follow her too:  Voyage of the Artemis

This week I will be reading "The Christmas Cookie Club" by Ann Pearlman.  I recieved this ARC back in the summer, but have been waiting until now to read and review it.  It looks like a fun read, and I think it would be a great gift for the women in your life! 

I'll also be reading "Dewey - The Small Town Cat who Touched the World" by Vicki Myron.  This book is already very heartwarming, and Dewey is quite possibly one of the cutest cats I have EVER seen in my LIFE.  EVER.  

I may add one more book to the pile, James Patterson's "The Murder of King Tut."  It was also a review copy from the lovely folks at Little Brown Publishing co., and it looks like a fascinating read. 

Other than that, I am going to go BACK to my fire and knit while my 9 year old daughter watches "That's So Raven" and enjoy some scream-free moments before our 2 year old wakes up!

Have a WONDEFUL Sunday!

For more Sunday Salons visit here.

REVIEW: THREE DAY ROAD by JOSEPH BOYDEN

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

This book is the current selection for our family book club, which consists of my Mom, my two sisters and my neice.  We are scheduled to meet on October 18th, but due to having too many books on the go, and several to read and review, I needed to read ahead and finish it.

Three Day Road is a very heavy read.  It is about two Cree Soldiers in the Canadian military during World War I, the descent into madness by one, and the power of love from an Auntie who saves the other. 

This is Boyden's debut novel and is a compelling read that successfully weaves the past, present and the storylines of Xavier with Elijah during the war, and with Xavier and Niska, his Aunt, in the "present."  I found I needed to be in the right frame of mind to read it, and I definately did not read it at night before sleeping!  The scenes of war are brutal in their realism, and Elijah's behaviour will likely turn your stomach.  But what is fascinating is how the author so masterfully and seamlessly tells the story from varying perspectives and time frames.

The story opens with Niska at the train station waiting for her nephew Elijah as she has been told that her other nephew, Xavier, has died in the war.  But the gaunt and injured soldier that departs the train is not Elijah, but a morphine addicted and severely damaged Xavier who Niska then takes to her canoe for the long slow river ride back home.  And on that journey we learn of all of the horrifac things Xavier has seen, done and lived through.  The flashbacks to war where Elijah, although a dispicable man, becomes a hero, and Xavier his silent witness to his friend's plummet to hell.  During the slow river ride Xavier  is unable to eat due to his addiction, but Niska "feeds" him with many stories from her childhood and his.  She nourishes him with stories of his culture, his people, and his family.

This book, though well written, was a tough read for me.  It was upsetting on many levels, but I can say I'm  glad I read it.  During the last few weeks my family and I have been having some email discussions of our feelings about it at various points of the read, and at the very least we will be able to have some very good discussions at our Book Club Dinner in a couple of weeks. 

I am now going to start reading a book about a very very cute adorable fluffy kitten named DEWEY.

Have a great day!

TEASER TUESDAY

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from…
  
• Please avoid spoilers!

Here is my teaser:

In the end the answer is simple.  Elijah has learned to take pleasure in killing.

~ Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
   
For more Teaser Tuesdays click here.