It’s so hard to find a decent apartment that is affordable.
When Nate gets a tip on an apartment at an incredible price with utilities included he jumps at the chance to get at it. While the building is old, the studio like apartment works for Nate and he is moved in quickly.
Things in the building are a little off. As Nate meets the other tenants he finds that each apartment is very different and each tenant has a reason to not really care because, as previously stated – the price was right. Yet as the tenants continue to meet up, Nate finds things to be more and more strange. There is a strange staircase int he basement… and lets not even get started on Apartment that has been painted shut and padlocked and never NEVER rented out.
As the tenants work together to solve the mystery of their building cautiously avoiding the building manager, things become more and more strange…
I discovered this book on audible.com last week and thought it sounded really interesting. Sci fi is not normally my thing and for the most part the book did not give off a sci-fi feel (until the very end).
I really enjoyed the mystery and the friendships built-in this book. Never creepy or gory I found I enjoyed this audio right from the very first. Narrator Ray Porter did a fantastic job for a multiple character read. Normally I don’t like books with many characters playing front and center as I find it confusing to get to know them – but that was not the case in 14, the characters were introduced to Nate at a good pace and perhaps because it was a first meeting for him as well. it seemed to work for me too.
Half way through this read I knew I wanted to try something else by this author as well. I see he has many other books but they all looked pretty sci-fi based to me and again, not my style. This one seemed to be his first dabbling into a bit of suspense/adventure and mystery almost taking center stage. Although I may try him anyway as I was so impressed with this one.
Again, I listened to this on audio. While not my usual genre, I think this would greatly appeal to lovers of sci fi. This book won the best sci-fi audiobook of 2012 by Audible.com.
What does a typical start to your day look like? Maybe you wake up to an alarm clock, or at least look at a clock when you wake up. You might make coffee, cook breakfast, check your email, shower, blow dry and style your hair, turn on the radio, or your IPOD while you start your day and eventually get in your car and go – to work, to run errands, make a call on your cell phone., stop and get a coffee at your favorite coffee shop…
Now. What if everything that required electricity no longer worked? What if something called an Electric Magnetic Pulse (EMP), something like a nuclear bomb that hits the earth’s atmosphere and wipes out the magnetic field that covers the earth and all things that require electricity (or have electrical parts like our vehicles) come to a stop.
For months. Maybe years.
We can no longer run water through an electric pump. Keep our food cold in refrigerators. Make a pot of coffee, cook our food on a stove, watch tv or use our computers to get a report of what is going on…the elderly in Nursing homes no longer have working monitors, electric wheel chairs do not work, pace makers… Fire trucks, Police cars, don’t move. You can’t call a friend to see what happened, you can’t watch tv or listen to a radio.
There would be a panic and a rush on grocery stores – but it is cash only as credit cards can not be run. (Do you have a large amount of cash on you?) Pharmacy’s are over taken as the panic sets in no one bothers paying anymore, it is now looting and survival of the fittest.
as time goes on and food becomes scarce, the family pet suddenly may be needed to feed your family…
freaked out yet?
In One Second After, this is exactly what happens. John Matherson lives a small quiet life in North Carolina, has two daughters and is a teacher at the local college. His wife had passed away a few years earlier. When everything shuts down, cars abandoned on the interstate, planes drop out of the sky, people leave their posts at their jobs; John knows something big has happened and he has to protect his family. When the town leaders realize that an electric pulse has hit the United States, John makes a list of what they need to survive. With one daughter who is a diabetic insulin is a must to find.
As the days turn into weeks, and the weeks into months, people turn on each other for survival. Students are recruited to protect the town as waves of people try to get in, homes are guarded with loaded rifles and it becomes common to hear that someone was shot and killed as they tried to steal from a neighbor.
The mechanism for a 400 km high altitude burst EMP: gamma rays hit the atmosphere between 20–40 km altitude, ejecting electrons which are then deflected sideways by the Earth’s magnetic field. This makes the electrons radiate EMP over a massive area. Because of the curvature and downward tilt of Earth’s magnetic field over the USA, the maximum EMP occurs south of the detonation and the minimum occurs to the north. – Wikepedia
This book was brought to my attention by a friend over a year ago. I found the topic frightening and fascinating and while listening to this book on audio I found it really was both frightening and fascinating. Joe Barrett does a wonderful job narrating this one.
I think what is most frightening about this book is that this could actually happen. As I look around my house and think how much I count on the lights to work, the electric pump to bring heat into my home this time of year, my cell phone to work, the faucet to provide water for my coffee, tea, cooking – and Lord knows I do love my lap top time…..
what if all that came to a screeching halt? Scratch that… not even screeching… a silent stop.
Think about how much as a society we have come to rely on things to work by the slip of a switch, a push of a button or a flip of a handle.
While I admit, sometimes I think that the world was probably a better place before we had such access to one another, while I do love the conveniences of going to Facebook and seeing what happening with friends and family, we sure have become a society of being in each others business…. and sharing info, shoot… I am as big of a social network junky as many! But what if we were sent back 50 – 100 years back to when you heated your homes with wood, everyone had gardens to provide food and raised animals for meat. While yes, a lot of work for sure, when people were busy working together as a family – was that a better way?
I am just thinking here because that is something this book will make you do… think.
I thoroughly enjoyed the read and highly recommend this book.
For more audio reviews, check out Jen’s Sound Bites at Devourer Of Books.
Elizabeth Nelson had many a man turn his eyes towards her, but Elizabeth only had eyes for one man.
Henry. It had always been Henry.
When Henry finally proposes he offers Elizabeth a life in California where he has spent his life savings on a 120 acre ranch. Elizabeth packs up her belongings and her beautiful wedding quilts and the newlyweds are soon on their way to their dreams.
Upon arriving to the claim they are hit with some shocking news and instead of being land owners, they become hired hands on the very property they thought they would own with barely a penny to their name. Where Henry is ashamed of their misfortune, feisty and high-spirited Elizabeth does what she can to help out to get them back on their feet and on their way back to the home and family she loves.
Of course, more surprises and bumps in the road keep the plans of Henry and Elizabeth at bay, but along this journey they never intended to take they meet some interesting people – some shady, some meek, some bullies, and some kind… and some how this new reality, becomes a home.
A blending of the past and present brings the story of this place and this last together.
This picture is from the Elm Creek website where all the books are featured. Click to go to site
Normally this would not be my kind of read, or so I thought. Set in the 1920’s – I prefer more modern-day reads and like strong female characters, not the “Oh save me!” type. That is where the book caught hold of me. Elizabeth is not an “oh save me” girl. She is strong-willed, self-sufficient, and met my criteria of “no wimpy chicks”.
I really enjoyed the story of Elizabeth and Henry and was surprised to find out that this is actually book ten in the Elm Creek Quilts series. The book easily stood alone, but now I find myself wondering what happened in the 9 books before? Did I miss something good?
I really enjoyed the quilts as a back drop. After all every quilt tells a story and I found it smart of author Jennifer Chiaverini to set these books around quilts.
This book, and I suspect the others as well, make for a wonderful cold weather read, even reading about quilts makes you a little warmer on this inside. I think a quilters club will really enjoy this series.
Rick Springfield, pop star of the 80’s, actor in soap operas and movies. People pictured him living the life of a king, huge homes and money to burn. But that was not the truth. Rick battled demons all his life – self-esteem, sexual addiction, lack of closure from his father’s death, and depression. Instead of money to burn and big homes during his prime he was staying in seedy motels and wondering how he would afford to get to his next gig…
This is Rick’s story the good… and oh yeah, the bad… and certainly the ugly.
If you were to ask my husband what my favorite song is, to this day he would answer “Jesse’s Girl” by Rick Springfield. This… has never been true. While I like the song, yes, very much – it was never my favorite song and I am not even sure where Al (hubby) gets that it was. I have however always enjoyed Rick Springfield’s music and admit to finding him to be “hot” (80’s word) and sexy back in the day.
I have listened to and enjoyed many memoirs over this past year and really like hearing the deeper, behind the scenes stories of the people who I admired from the speakers of my stereo (yup… again, 80’s) or from the screen of my tv.
I think Rick’s story was good – but, and maybe this is because he is my first rock star memoir, a bit more language and the constant pursue of sex – whenever and whoever then I had anticipated or enjoyed listening about chapter after chapter after chapter. While that was a large part of the memoir, if you can dig through the crud there is a good story there. Rick does have one girl who he returns to time and again, eventually even marries and has two sons with. While he is brutally honest about how many times he has cheated on her – before and after children and I appreciate the honesty, I would be lying if I said it didn’t affect how I felt about Rick as a person. Rick himself says in the audio that if you are going to judge him for what he has done to her that we (I) was not an understanding person – but I think I am and I still don’t get the “Oh poor me… I cheated again” attitude.
In Rick’s defense, it is true I do not know much about sexual addiction so maybe what he is sharing is spot on correct behavior and I struggle because I do not and not understand.
“nuf about that.
It was interesting to hear the stories behind the album titles (much more thought goes into this then I knew!) and even the story behind Jesse’s Girl (my – fo-favorite) which was never supposed to be a hit.
In the end, I think fans of Rick will enjoy this memoir and if you go with the audio version like I did, you do have the privilege of having Rick narrate which is always a plus for me and I think you would enjoy it too.
Leo Demidov lives a life in Russia with his beautiful wife Raisa being loyal to the country he is a war hero of. He wants to serve his country and serve it well. But Leo is not without his secrets – both past and present… dark and far back into his childhood there was this time… with his brother… but that was then and this is now. At times he looks upon his wife still a beauty and wonders if she has ever really loved him.
Loyal to a fault Leo goes about his days starting early working late. And then a series of child murders start to happen and Leo, who has never had children of his own but has always wanted them can not imagine such a hideous unthinkable crime. When his very State seems to sweep these happenings under the rug looking at the fact that this could be happening as an embarrassment to their very country therefore it must not be acknowledged, Leo knows he needs to take a stand.
When Leo starts to investigate these crimes further than his country would like he becomes a criminal against the state and before he knows it he and Raisa are running for their very lives, trying to uncover the truth before they are captured and killed.
Sometimes the truth is closer than you think.
Why did I want to read this book? Many years ago a friend of my husband and I mentioned that this was a book he enjoyed very much. On his recommendation I purchased the book but never a big fan of political issues or war type books I left it on the shelf for a long long time. I knew I always wanted to read it, I just did not know when. When recently I came into owning the second and third books of this trilogy, I felt it was time to begin.
Child 44 reminded me a lot of a book I read when I was in my teens (and I read it to impress a boy I liked but well… you know) Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith which honestly surprised me how much I got into it, and really as I type this now think I should have that book in my collection just because it holds some pretty amazing memories for me.
The beginning of this book captures you right from the start you get a piece of information that at first I didn’t connect it but later you will find in a mind exploding sort of way how that is so important to the story itself, it is moments like these that I really appreciate an authors talent to surprise and inform all at the same time. Truly… awesome.
The story line never lags, there is always something going on weaving in and out of Leo and Raisa’s life to the mind of the killer himself. When it switches to the killer stalking a child, planning the next move – I really got chills of anticipation of the capture…. certainly someone had to put a stop to this!
In the end the book was really a pleasure to read and one I can not wait to share with our friend that I finally took the time and read it. Child 44 has won many awards: 2009 Thriller Award for Best First Novel, The Strand Magazine 2008 Critics Award for Best First Novel, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, and was long listed for the Man Booker Prize. It was released in 2008 and the second book in 2012, and the third in January of 2012. It could easily be read as a standalone book, but I am curious of where it will go in the second book, The Second Speech.
Note: I did wind up listening to this on audio as I have been traveling a bit lately and needed a good story for the car time. Narrator Dennis Boutsikaris had a wonderful voice for this book. I really enjoyed listening to him.
Life has never really been easy for Detective Michael Bennett. After he and his wife adopted ten , children (not a typo), she took ill and eventually died of cancer. For years non Michael has been making it work with the help of Grandpa Seamus and the live in nanny Mary Catherine. He juggles life between the kids and his job and for the most part it works.
Then Michael finds himself with the opportunity to be part of taking down a big time crime lord and after the set up is launched and the gun smoke has cleared, a good friend and fellow officer is left dead and the crime lord has escaped. Michael feels as though he is about to crack in two, and instead grabs the whole family, Seamus and Mary Catherine too and heads to the sanctuary of their family cabin in Newburgh New York.
At first this time away is bliss, kids splashing in the lake, burgers and steaks on the grill. really just what the doctor ordered – but as Michael has learned all to well time and again… things are not always as they seem. When two of his kids get caught up with some local gang members things go bad very quickly… what starts out as looking random is soon discovered it is not. It looks that Michael and hid family are being targeted.
Whats a guy got to do for a little “r and r”?
I just seen this new cover…. is that what Michael looks like? Is it? Is it???? 😉
I have enjoyed the Patterson/Ledwidge author combo in this series since I first listened to the first book in this series, Step On A Crack, which explains the Bennett family dynamics. This series is not as gruesome as some of Patterson’s books can be, the family dynamics really give it a nice level feel without being overly gushy the other direction…. Michael is still a detective in New York and the crimes are sometimes harsh.
As this series goes on I am really enjoying it. The story line has not become old for me, I enjoy the family and the underlying possible relationship (someday…. maybe…) between Mary Catherine and Michael. The kids, ages 3 to 13, offer a fun addition to the books to as kids will be kids… the little ones adorable… the older boys getting into mischief as you will see in this book.
I have seen on-line a bit of grumbling about how this one ends and some others saying they didn’t know they would have to read another book. To that I say…. hello….. you are in the middle of a series and no one has said “Michael Bennett – The End yet. 😀 If I were to guess, I am going to say that due to the way this one ended I think the series is going to wrap up soon with this one big case.
If you like a good detective story with really good characters and writing, give these books a try. I have thoroughly enjoyed them all on audio. Something about Patterson’s narrated books that are pretty AWESOME!
Camie Shapiro enjoyed her as a reporter for the Philadelphia Examiner. Her quick wit and sharp mind make her stories interesting and she had no problem writing about anyone or anything…
But…
when the day came she opened up a national women’s magazine and seen an article titled “Good In Bed” written by her “on pause” boyfriend, Bruce, things changed. Bruce’s article is about his ex-girlfriend…. and about their sex life. And when Bruce refers to this woman as good in bed, but “plus size” and curvy and some reference to a line backer… Camie is shocked to realize he is writing about her.
Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in our world, Bruce has written.
As if Camie’s world wasn’t already a hot mess with her fathers disappearing act, her mother finding love in another woman’s arms, and her sister into God only knows what… now she can deal with the insecurities of being called out about her size in a very public way…
Jennifer was a speaker at BEA this past June.
Many years ago a few of the girls in my book club were reading this book. I was appalled thinking the title referred to a book that was going to be all about sex and multiple relationships. Note to self, Do not judge a book by it’s title…
Flash forward and now I have a few of Jennifer Weiner’s books read and I had found the title on audio so thought I would give it a try. Turns out Good In Bed, is not so bad… The Good In Bed title while definitely a good “caught my attention” title, is somewhat misleading… while that is what the article in the magazine is about (not a spoiler, that’s on the synopsis on the book) , the book itself is very non-sexual, I think I could safely give it a PG13 rating.
While not as engaging as some of Jennifer’s books – the audio was still good. I liked Camie throughout most of the book finding her to be a likeable protagonist for the majority of the book. Her relationship with Bruce (or the one she imagines) is a little “Bridget Jones’ish” but don’t go jonesing just yet – as while you get a bit of that vibe… Camie is a whole other story.
To sum it up I found Good In Bed to be simply a good listen, nothing over the top and a bit predictable as I figured out what most likely was going to happen early on in the book and that is the way it all went down.
You can’t blend in when you were born to stand out.
10-year-old August Pullman is a sweet boy. He has a loving family and a dog who adores him named Daisy. But August’s world is a small one. Born with severe facial deformities he is used to being gasped at when in public places. Small children point at him and adults quickly scurry away acting as thought there was some emergency “to do: they had forgotten about. Because of all of this, August has been home schooled.
Until now.
Now as August is about to enter 5th grade his parents think that maybe trying a regular school would be a good idea. August is not so sure but agrees to give it a try under the safety net that if he wants to quit he can. As anticipated, most of Augie’s classmates can not get past his face. Augie is called names and noted are left in his locker. One boy Jack, seems to be a friend, and a girl named Summer (who likes that both of their names are seasons…) but one can never be too sure because peer pressure to agree with everyone else is a strong force in 5th grade.
In an age where bullying amongst kids is strong, can Augie survive the tests and the lessons of being the bigger person?
Why did I want to read this book? WONDER has been on my “”I want to read!” list since last year. In fact, it was on track to be my first read of 2012 and then at the last second I decided on another book and WONDER was set aside. Now, October being National Bully Prevention month, I thought I would give it a try to I downloaded it from audible.com to listen to.
Wonder is just that. A wonder. Narrated in the beginning by August, he tells of his childhood and the start of this school year. You do not get a clear idea of what his deformities exactly are – August mainly focuses on the reaction of the people around when they see him. It’s actually heart breaking to hear it from his perspective…
The next part of the book is narrated by August’s sister and then we get into the what August looks like and what that is like from an older sisters perspective. As you can imagine, at times she is protective… but at other times she is tired of the focus always being on August and what August needs as well as some of the comments made in school.
As the book goes on, the narration changes to August’s new friends in school and what it was like to hang out with August. The narration changes are actually smart and witty. It is interesting to hear the “other sides” of what is happening.
Wonder is a story of triumph over tragedy – it’s about kids acting as kids do, parents trying to hang on and make things right and learning to just be yourself and to heck with the rest. Wonder is a book that will speak to kids as well as adults.
“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.” ―Donald Miller
Donald Miller knew of God but didn’t really know what to do with God. While going about college and life he discovered a Jesus different then the one that can be shoved down throats – instead he found Jesus as the one who walks beside him and teaches him about looking at people, life, and situations in new and positive ways.
While taking off with his new-found faith in a loving God, Miller finds himself fried out on his ministry and falls away. Yes Jesus continues to show up in the strangest of ways slowly pulling Miller back to Him and creating a passion that is bone deep.
Blue Like Jazz is an honest walk with Donald Miller through his younger years of funny college moments, a crazy hippy movement, relationships, friendships and more. Attending Reed College in Portland Oregon, known as the least faith-based school around instead cranking out brilliance at an academic level unheard of by most colleges. As Don struggles through, his thoughts are at times profound and even funny. Don, like any one of us, is just trying to get it right.
Why did I want to read this book? I have read Donald Miller before and enjoyed his laid back style. I had heard good things about this book and now there is also a movie out that I have also heard is very good.
Blue Like Jazz is now a movie as well
Blue Like Jazz is a book I listened to on audio. Read by its author, Donald Miller I loved the steady – not preachy or “lecturey” (my word) but instead in a tone of “hey, here’s what happened and here’s what I did with it…” I actually enjoyed the narrating very much.
Blue Like Jazz was a good audio. Don’s stories of his college, and the people he hung out with and what they did were truly college actions except Don always was looking for the connections between this life and how it plays into Gods plan for us. Even when he seems to not be walking in a way that God would find worthy, he still was and that really is the beauty of this book.
Never preachy, Blue Like Jazz reads like any other no fiction novel with the bonus of this book can make you think. There are some wonderful moments in Blue Like Jazz, I especially liked his little group of Christians in the school (a rarity) and their plan to come out with a reverse confession booth – I loved this whole section of the book – shoot, I loved the whole book. There were times I listened to whole chapters again as I loved how Don Miller talks of loving people no matter what and losing this judgey attitude.
I can’t wait to see the movie and have it rented now from Netflix waiting for me 😉
Fun fact: The book has been made into a movie by director Steve Taylor. On his blog on September 16, 2010, Donald Miller stated that despite a strong screenplay, a stellar cast, and rave reviews, the project was put on hold indefinitely due to lack of funding. Two fans created a site called “Save Blue Like Jazz”where they urged fans to help raise money to fund the movie through a website called Kickstarter. This campaign raised over $340,000, more than doubling the original goal of $125,000 by October 25, 2010.
Kristin Burns is working on her photography career and not doing too badly. By day she is a nanny for two kids she adores, and working on getting the man she hopes to spend the rest of her life with… there are just a few kinks to work out. Like… his wife. But really, isn’t all fair in love and war and the wife, really is a piece of work…. really.
The Kristin starts having crazy nightmares every night. They seem so real… and they involve 4 body bags coming out of a hotel. As if the nightmare itself isn’t bad enough, Kristin starts seeing things throughout her daily life that make her think the nightmare may be coming true. But who is going to believe that? Is she going crazy? Are the secrets within her reach, maybe through the lens of her camera?
I have enjoyed some of Patterson’s work in the past. He has a couple of series that I follow and this one sounded like it could be good. Kristin’s story I felt was a bit hard to follow. Choppy at best. First her morals are obviously a little off base as she justifies the affair she is having. The random nightmares connecting with her day-to-day life are interesting enough to hold me to the read, wanting to know what is happening and why.
Mostly – I enjoyed the story line of her life with friends and even the kids and yes, even the guy…. but the nightmare twists felt forced and odd and when it was all over I was not left with a big “AHA” moment but a “Wha?”
Book Journey 