Friday Wish-List: The Kindness of Strangers

I was looking something up when I ran across a description of The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. (Long title!)

From Amazon's product description: "In The Kindness of Strangers, John Boswell argues persuasively that child abandonment was a common and morally acceptable practice from antiquity until the Renaissance. Using a wide variety of sources, including drama and mythological-literary texts as well as demographics, Boswell examines the evidence that parents of all classes gave up unwanted children, "exposing" them in public places, donating them to the church, or delivering them in later centuries to foundling hospitals. The Kindness of Strangers presents a startling history of the abandoned child that helps to illustrate the changing meaning of family."

Isn't that fascinating? I really want to read this. It's a little outside my current book budget, though, so I'll have to hope my library has a copy. Or maybe I can get it through interlibrary loan (that might be my best shot, actually, given that my local library system is somewhat ... unimpressive.)

Another book I'm interested in, but don't need any money to get (yay!), is Breakthrough!: How the 10 Greatest Discoveries in Medicine Saved Millions and Changed Our View of the World by Jon Queijo. (Another long title!) Barnes & Noble is giving the ebook away as part of their Free Fridays NOOK promotion. You can find other free titles at their Unbound: The NOOK Blog every Friday. (If you're interested, make sure you don't procrastinate - the free books are only free for a short time.)

My parents had several books like this when I was in high school. I was riveted, and for a while couldn't get enough of reading about medical history. I toyed with the idea of becoming a microbiologist and took every biology class my high school would let me into (they didn't offer very many, unfortunately.)

It's because of that experience that I try to make sure I have plenty of interesting non-fiction on my shelves as well as the fiction that I love so much. I don't know what my kids might decide to page through and I want there to be books that stimulate their interests and imaginations in several different directions. Maybe I'll get lucky and one of them will become a Nobel Prize winner someday. I can imagine the speech: "I owe it all to my mother!

('Scuse me - I have to go laugh at myself now.)

Follow Friday

We haven't participated in Parajunkee's Friday Follow before. Naturally I pick the week to join in that the question is "Who do you cheer for?"

And the answer to that would be, "Ummmm, cheer? Isn't that something associated with sports?" Sorry, but the last time I did something like that was my first year of high school, when I joined the official school-club-for-cheering-for-the-school-sports-teams club. My mother bought the sweater and wool miniskirt (which were very expensive) after I promised 17 different ways that I would stay with it, honest, Mom, I will! I lasted through one football game. I have never been so bored in my life. Sports and I - not a couple.

Just a few words to introduce us (if you're thinking of following, it's good to know what you'd be following, right?) We are Cannwin and Jennifer, two sisters who love music and books. This blog is about the ways we put music and books together - the soundtracks that we find and make for the books we like.

Head over to Parajunkee if you want to participate in the Friday Follow! She's got a great blog, so check it out while you're there; also check out this week's featured blogger for Follow Friday, Logan E. Turner.

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This week I've been thinking about Robin McKinley's Pegasus, which has been checked out at our library since it came out. I can wait until it's finally my turn, or I can go ahead and buy it. I'm so very, very tempted to go out and buy it. I love Robin McKinley, and this book sounds like everything I like best about her books - a strong female lead, adventure, and the importance of friendship and staying true to who you really are.

Do you have a book you wish you could get your hands on? Share with us what it is!

Book Blogger Hop / Friday Wishlist

This weeks question for the Book Blogger Hop, from Crazy For Books:
"Why do you read the genre that you do?  What draws you to it?"

Honestly, I don't know. I just like fantasy. I like other genres, too. Mysteries, science fiction, romances, thrillers - you know. Other stuff. But fantasy is the kick I'm on right now, and have been for a while. Especially urban fantasy, and in that area, especially Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews. Maybe there's just a part of me that has never given up on the hope of running into a fairy and getting a wish or two.

               


Want to participate in the Friday Wishlist? Link up here, then share a post on what book in on your wishlist this week!

Personally, I've been impatiently waiting for March 1, when Patricia Briggs' next Mercy Thompson book, River Marked, comes out. We finally learn more about Mercy's father! But not until March 1. Big sigh. That's just way too far away.

I have another book on my wishlist, but it's not out yet, either. Although it's hitting the shelves in only 12 more days! Woohoo! Bound in Blood, by P.C. Hodgell. (And I'm really going to have a do a post raving about her, one of these days. Her Chronicles of the Kencyrath series is fantastic. I highly recommend them.

What are you wishing for?

Friday Wishlist: How About Some More Time

Today I want to tell you about how much I wish for more reading time. Over the holidays I consumed books at an alarming rate and enjoyed every moment of it, but then the kids head back to school and life gets back to normal. Leaving me to cope with the withdrawals of my drug.

More time--that's what I need. More time to read that pile that's forever amassing on my dresser. More time to consume that list of books I have inside of my head.

I once read a book where one of the characters had hidden himself away in a home in the middle of nowhere (hermit style) and just read the books that covered everyone of his walls. Wouldn't that be nice?

My mom told me recently that she couldn't imagine being confined to a bed for a long period of time because she would get bored. Not me, I'd just read until my eyes bled and my head throbbed.

So my wishlist for today is time to read the books I already have:

Arabian Nights
Soulless
Horizon
The Curse of the Chalion
The Towers of Midnight

I don't dare add to my list today... because my list is much to long as it stands.




What do you want to read? Link up with us and share those books!


Books in this post:
Arabian Nights by (who did write Arabian Nights?)
Soulless by Gail Carriger
The Sharing Knife: Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan

Friday Wish-List: Unbroken

I want to read Lauren Hillenbrand's Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, but I'm a little nervous.

Louie Zamperini was an Olympic athlete, a runner of whom it was said, “The only runner who could beat him was Seabiscuit.” He was scheduled to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, but the games were canceled. A few years later,  instead of participating in a competition dedicated to the concept of peace, he found himself fighting against the Japanese in the South Pacific, where his plane was shot down, and he was captured.

That's the part that scares me. The reviews I've read about this book indicate its depiction of the tortures Louie Zamperini went through as a prisoner of war are very ... ummm ... honest. I've read before about what Japanese POWs went through in WWII, and reading things like that is not what I consider to be a fantastic experience. And yet, this story fascinates me to the point that I'm seriously considering reading it anyway, and just skimming the difficult sections.

(I'm such a coward. No need to point it out. I already know.)

Any books you want to read, but think might be a little too intense for you?

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Friday Wish-list: The Book of Qualities

Wish-list? Forget the wish-list! My next few Friday posts will have nothing to do with wishes, believe me. Christmas is coming. This is a full-on Christmas present demand list. So, dear family of mine - take notes!

I just ran across a review of J. Ruth Gendler's The Book of Qualities and wow! WANT. Very much. We're talking instant book lust.

As I understand it, if emotions/qualities were people, this book is a list of their character descriptions. Taken from the two sample pages up on Gendler's website:

Pleasure is wild and sweet. She likes purple flowers... Many people mistrust Pleasure, and even more misunderstand her. For a long time I could hardly stand to be in the same room with her.

Courage has roots... She is not impressed with powertrippers, and she knows first aid... The people who told me she is stern were not lying, they just forgot to mention that she is kind.

Other bits I've picked up from various reviews: Terror keeps a long list of rules on her living room wall. Whimsy organizes her clothing by color. Pain has cold grey fingers. Excitement wears orange socks. Depression is the child of Lethargy and Despair.

I can't wait to read this!. This book is at the very top of my Christmas list. (Did you hear that family? The Very Top.)

What books are on your Christmas list?

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 Books: The Book of Qualities, J. Ruth Gendler

Friday Wishlist: Nine Coaches Waiting

This morning I sat here staring at my computer as my roommate walked past.

"I don't know what book to write about." I said in despair.

"How about 'Nine Coaches Waiting' by Mary Stewart?" she chimed.

"What's that about?"

"It's about this girl who goes to be Governess of a wealthy French family. The parents are dead so the uncle takes care of the boy, who's heir to a huge estate. So then things start happening to the little boy and it becomes clear someone's trying to off him."

I wrinkled my nose.

"It's a love story." She reassured me.

"Set in what time period?"

"The right one."

"Like old, with fun dresses?" I prodded.

She rolled her eyes. "Yes."

So that's what I'm going to read next.

Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart.

Here's the official review:

The opulence and history surrounding Linda Martin at ChateÂu Valmy are all part of some wondrous, ecstatic dream. But there is a palpable terror crouching in the shadows. And then an accident that is no accident nearly kills the young English nanny's innocent, nine-year-old charge.
This is not "chance" -- this is something planned...and deadly.-Publisher's Review

I'm still a little wary. I just finished a book called Flint by Paul Eddy and I was less than pleased so my patience with murder mysteries is running thin.

However, this particular friend of mine gives good book recommendations so I can't really argue with her. Have you read it? What did you think?

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Books: Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
            Flint by Paul Eddy

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Friday Wish-list Linkup

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Today is our second time running our Friday link up. I'm so excited for you all to participate and I hope that you do.

The two things that I want you to remember are to:

1) list a book you haven't read but want to.

2) please be sure to add our little logo (linked back to us) on the post.

Other than that, have fun looking for new books to read.

Mine for today is Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry.

Only the toughest and the most able come to compete in this annual torturous test of endurance, skill, and courage. Now, suddenly and inexplicably, the top Iditarod contestants are dying one by one in bizarre and gruesome ways. Jessie Arnold, Alaska's premier female "musher," fears she may be the next intended victim, but nothings going to prevent her from aggressively pursuing the glory and the rewards that victory brings. -Back cover of the paperback edition

It does sound a little bit cheesy, but I'm willing to try it out... for the sake of a last man standing sort of fight.

But I'm not the only one! (Obviously or I would have never heard of it.)

This book has a good plot, good research ,well written, good characters, and a believable mystery. I was wondering how the author could justify running a race when people were getting killed but Sue Henry makes it work. I think the romance hit the right note too. I guessed who done it but that sure didn't lessen the enjoyment. I liked seeing how the ending unfolded.-L.J. Maul, Amazon Reviewer

I like nice easy reads... with good romances in them. ::sigh:: I love, love.

So what's your pick?

Tell us all about it!

Books: Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry