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Showing posts from January, 2015

A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon

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Gina Bellamy is a very sympathetic character. I felt like the world had turned its back on her. I wanted to tell her, stop the world and get off now. There are three significant relationships in Gina's life. All three center around men. The first one is with Kit. The second one is with Stuart. The third one is with her stepfather, Terry. There is a snag in each of these relationships. Gina and Kit's time together comes to a tragic ending. An ending that would leave her feeling guilty for a long time. Gina's marriage to Stuart ends because he is a complete jerk. He begins to date a woman much younger than himself. Then, decides he no longer wants Gina. He wants a divorce. For him, all that matters is the property they shared together. Terry, Gina's wonderful stepfather dies at the wrong time. All of these problems and more leave Gina feeling a deep vulnerability. While she continues to consult about the restoration of houses, her life slowly begins to gather its

Friday 56

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"Would the rebels taking over and putting their ideal government in place make things better for everyone? Did the poor know what they were talking about? Or were they just interested in forcibly taking what didn't belong to them so they could wield power?" http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com

Book Beginnings

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"The biggest rebellions begin with the smallest steps, and I took my first small step one December morning during study hall." http://rosecityreader.blogspot.com

A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon (Berkley)

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"I wanted to take you to the National Gallery. There's an amazing Holman Hunt retrospective," He's talking over her head, gazing out at the city below. Then his voice drops. "So, do you think you could live here?"

A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon

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"Oxford is magical, but London is something very different. Gina's been to London many times since Kit started working here, but it still gives her a giddy sensation in the pit of her stomach. It's like being in a film. Everything is loud and bright, new and familiar at the same time."(Berkley)

Dawn by Octavia Butler

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I have never read any Science Fiction books. Believe it or not, I have never watched Star Trek. I owe Octavia Butler a thank you. Because of Dawn I now have an interest in Fantasy and Science Fiction. From the very first sentences, Dawn by Octavia Butler is impossible to stop reading. As I read her novel, many themes entered my mind. The main character is Lilith. Lilith's life made me think of change and readjustment to new ideas, places and people, in this case th aliens known as Olinka. Lilith quickly becomes a portrayal of a strong woman.She is definitely a survivor. Lilith never slides into self pity. Due to war, her husband and son are dead. She finds herself under the control of strange slimy creatures likened to slugs. After a deep sleep, she wakes up. She acquiesces to their learning process. Her old way of life must be forgotten. If Lilith is obedient to the wishes of the aliens, she will become the first leader on the new earth. Leadership on this future earth wi

Wondrous Words

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Breadfruit  A few people had also been cutting pineapples and picking papayas and breadfruits from existing trees. Most people did not like the breadfruit until Lilith showed them the seeded form of the fruit.."  Breadfruit is used widely in Caribbean cuisine to make both savory and sweet dishes. Throughout the Caribbean one can find many breadfruit trees. Breadfruit was brought to the Caribbean during the colonial era by Captain Bligh on behalf of the plantation owners who wanted to find a cheap but filing type of food to feed the slaves. http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com

The Evangelism Study Bible NKJV New King James Version

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When I first received The Evangelism Study Bible in the mail , I had no idea where to begin or end in order to write a book review for Kregel. Thank goodness, I could see from the contents and other Bible aides that user friendly would be the perfect term to describe this Bible. I became very interested in reading this Bible and looking through it.  My knowledge about the term evangelism is almost nil. It is my desire to describe in a goodly manner the fine points of this Bible. For one, there is a short, simple synopsis of the Bible books. These short plot outlines do not veer away from the subject evangelism. For example, one of the descriptions of Job is: "How to Witness to Suffering people(6:14-21). Under the subject of Job there are seven topics about evangelism. I had no idea the Book of Job could be used for witnessing. Another topic is: How To Witness In The Aftermath Of Tragedy." It's easy to see that the books are for everyday usage. These are subjects an

Wondrous Words

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A lychgate , also spelled lichgate , lycugate , or as two separate words lych gate , (from Old English lic , corpse) is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard . Examples exist also outside the British Isles in places such as Sweden.Wikipedia (Bing) Lychgate appeared more than a few times in A Saintly Killing by Martha Ockley. Took its appearance for granted and didn't write down a sentence. I had no idea what one would look like. I had never heard or read the word. In this instance, the lychgate is part of a vicarage. http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com

Teaser Tuesday

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"The organist was taking his seat. He glanced round to check that she was ready for him to begin playing a short piece to introduce the service, Faith nodded. Confronting Pat would have to wait. She made her way to the pulpit." http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com

First Chapter First Paragraph

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"When Caroline Meeber boarded the afternoon train for Chicago, her total outfit consisted of a small trunk, a cheap imitation alligator-skin satchel, a small lunch in a paper box, and a yellow leather snap purse, containing her ticket, a scrap of paper with her sister's address in Van Buren Street, and four dollars in money. It was in August, 1889. She was eighteen years of age, bright, timid, and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth." http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com

CFD EReader Challenge 2015

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https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/3071-e-reader-challenge-2015 CD - 10 ebooks

Am I Close to the Garden Wall or Am I Blowing in the Breeze?

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It's always fun to read and look at other blogs. It's impossible not to get excited. The blogs really inspire me to try a different path.In other words, this might have worked once. Now it doesn't work. Then, there are times when friends publish books while keeping a blog. I wonder how. Then, think there is always time. It's a matter of me using my time well. I've read those wise words somewhere or heard  the words spoken by a relative or friend. However, there are the quiet times. At the time I'm not looking at blogs. I choose a moment to think. Seldom, but sometimes I wonder where have I gone, what have I done, am I even alive? I can answer yes. I truly believe wherever I am is where God wants me. For me, I've always gotten lost somewhere near the bottom of the ladder. I'm that far behind, and I am still a little lost, confused and afraid. At this time, I can praise others as they travel a mite quicker on life's journey. And that's al

The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen

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Friday, January 2, 2015 Bethany House Pub. Pembrooke Park is a mansion which belonged to a family named Pembrooke. Pembrooke Park is in England. The time is the Nineteenth Century. Each person has a personal reason to return to Pembrooke Park. For those who are already living there, Pembrooke Park is like a living place that they pay tribute to each day by telling about hauntings and treasure. All have one thing in common. There is a need to make peace with the past. This is Christian Fiction at its best. Julie Klassen is an author with an extraordinary ability to make the past come alive. There are fine details that can not go unnoticed: a dollhouse, a green cloaked man or just his skull, a rusty gun, letters and journal entries placed between bricks in a wall, an emerald necklace and even a secret room. What really stays with me is the power of a scandal to hurt or destroy people. It hurts the people directly involved and those who just like a nicely pa

Friday 56

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"But she was happy with the final result. A few candid touches had brought life and humour to the writing. She smiled, rereading her description of the pilgrimage she had made to the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, shortly after she had made the decision to leave the force and commit to a life within the church. http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com

Book Beginnings

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http://rosecityreader.blogspot.com Tuesday morning, 10:30 a.m. The calm before the storm. Faith Morgan swept a scatter of confetti across the stone floor of the church porch and chivvied it towards the pile of dust and other detritus she was collecting by the door. Outside in the churchyard, the heat of the July sun was already intense. If only this glorious weather could hold out until the weekend! St Jame's Church, Little Worthy, was celebrating its  900th year on the Sunday coming. Faith's time as custodian, just twelve months so far, seemed an almost insignificant chapter in such a long history. Lion Fiction

Book Beginnings

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Grandmothers

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My paternal grandmother lived in Florida. My maternal grandmother had already died when I was born. Since my grandma Hattie lived in Florida, I didn't see her often. I remember one special trip taken with my aunt, my father's sister. She took me on a train from Philadelphia to Florida. I remember enjoying the train ride. Most of all, I enjoyed the time with my Grandma Hattie. I especially remember eating oatmeal every single morning. I didn't complain. She acted as though the porridge were made especially for me. She also had an old piano in her slightly lopsided house. I had heard stories about her learning to play at the cool age of eighty. I also remember the water pump outside of her house. Sadly, I can't remember the sound of her voice. I don't remember it while there or when she came to Philly. I think she spoke softly. I don't remember a smile. My family had a painted portrait done of her face. The man painted the portrait from a black and white ph

The Black Orchid by Persia Walker

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Black Orchid Blues by Persia Walker is more than a mystery. It's a highly dramatic book about the mind of a person who operates outside of his gender. Queenie/Junior is an impersonator in a New York high society nightclub during the 1920's. Queenie is kidnapped at the nightclub. It causes chaos and mayhem. However, this is not just a novel about the murderous rages of  a psychotic mind. It's also a novel about the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. Persia Walker shares on a deep level what a child might do if abused by a family member. It's also about the family members involved. How far will a family go to protect their reputation, and how far will they go to keep their lies and dreadful activities a secret? Plus, how many innocent people become lost in the spiderweb of a dysfunctional family? Persia Walker writes professionally about Queenie and Junior's slide from one person to the other Their need to survive is almost magical. Most events are told  throug

Wondrous Words

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etiology "Of the fact that you're interested in my etiology. " n. The branch of medicine that deals with the causes or origins of disease. _____________________________________________________________ palanquins  noun a covered litter, formerly used in the Orient, carried on the shoulders of four men Dictionary.com   " beyond desires and beyond  regrets,  at which I may arrive      eventually, whose palms droop in the sun      like palanquins with tigerish shadows under them.  to study them in their      mythical conceit that they have beat across the     sea from Egypt with the pharaonic ibis, its...   Pharaonic  1: of, relating to, or characteristic of a pharaoh or the pharaohs. 2: enormous in size or magnitude < pharaonic construction projects> Merriam Webster Dictionary http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com      

First Chapter, First Paragraph

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Prologue 1827 Nine-year-old Viscount Randall gazed toward Lyme's coast but didn't see where the glistening water met the vast sky. He  was too lost in a vivid daydream of being all grown-up, wearing the black robes of the British prime minister, and delivering a blistering piece of oratorical brilliance to Parliament about why perfectly reasonable boys shouldn't be forced to spend their summer holidays with jingle brained girls." http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.com

Teaser Tuesday

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"Judith, founding member of the Mary Wollstonecraft Society Against the Injurious Treatment of Women Whose Rights Have Been Unjustly Usurped by the Tyrannical and Ignorant Regime of the Male Kind, strolled in.....her reading glasses sitting low on her Roman nose." Netgalley http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com

Whom Can I Trust?

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On our currency are the words, "In God we trust." I've never paid  much attention to those words until this week. It's this week I thought about how much it means to have a person or people near whom you can trust. Trust means a friend or relative will never harm you physically or emotionally because they love you deeply. I've often heard it said that true friends are hard to find. Rarely do you find people with five or more best friends. However, that alright. The quantity isn't important. The quality is important. Therefore, when I have a true friend or a true, loving relative, it's important not to take that person for granted. I must treat them with the care given to fine china dishes. Jesus is a true friend and a true brother. He gave His life for all our lives. He didn't want us to suffer for our sins. Now we aren't penalized with eternal death. He wanted us to experience eternal life with eternal peace and eternal pleasure. This is w

Writing Daily The Second Day

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It's the second day of my writing goal. The goal is to write thoughts on the blog every day. I'm already stumped for an idea. What will happen on Day 7?  I once read, if you're faced with Writer's Block, you should write about being blocked. At the time, I didn't see the sense in the idea. Now that I'm sitting here writing about being stumped, it seems like a fantastic idea. Since I'm new at this writing daily idea, I will need help. I'm sure there are many helpful articles about writing on the Internet. Secondly, I need to keep a small notepad beside me all the time. Ideas seem to rush in to the mind at inconvenient moments. I just wrote an idea down for tomorrow. I'll spend  time today thinking of ways to develop the entry. Since I am a worry wort,  I don't want writing to become another thing to worry over. I want to enjoy writing. Reading other blogs will inspire me not to give up. While on Twitter last week, someone asked this question.

Do You Know Where You're Going To by Diana Ross...with Lyrics

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It's 2015!

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I can't believe it's the new year, 2015. I have to admit my stomach feels a bit cramped with anxiety. Usually, years come and go with my least amount of attention. I do look at the old year on documentaries: I remember those talented people we've lost. I think about the horrible airplane accidents and mindless murders of innocent people. Then, I just go on living waiting for the next celebration or the next bad shoe to drop in my life. This year it's different. I am very aware of the new year. I feel like the days of this year are precious. I should treat these days gently and with care like a jeweler would treat the new rubies and pearls that have come into his shop. I should treat the new year like a geneaologist would treat ancient papers from the Old City of Jerusalem or the way he would treat a diary from the Civil War. I should mentally put on white gloves and  treat the year  like a fragile package addressed to me. I want to live it differently. Not the same

Friday 56

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Sunday afternoons in this house: cold ham and Songs of praise and heavy silences. It rushed up at Gina so vividly she could smell it. Everything she'd longed to get away from as a teenager, and thought in some ways she had--yet here she was, even down to the same Sunday-afternoon paranoia that she hadn't wrung enough out of the weekend as Monday approached. And the time ticking inexorably past, metronomed by the carriage clock on the 1950s slate mantelpiece. http://fredasvoice.blogspot.com

Book Beginnings

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Prologue Item: a red cashmere scarf Longhampton, June 2008 Gina wraps her new scarf rightly around her wrist, like a bandage. It's a scarlet cashmere one that she bought on the way home from work two days ago, the color of lipstick and poisoned apples and danger. For something that cost so much, it took no time to buy: she was cold, she'd always wanted a beautiful big cashmere scarf, and the usual sensible voice of caution, reminding her of the gas bill or the council tax, had gone, and in the silence Gina could hear her own voice asking aloud, "Why not?" Berkley, Penguin, Random Thank you. http://rosecityreader.blogspot.com

The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen

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Bethany House Pub. Pembrooke Park is a mansion which belonged to a family named Pembrooke. Pembrooke Park is in England. The time is the Nineteenth Century. Each person has a personal reason to return to Pembrooke Park. For those who are already living there, Pembrooke Park is like a living place that they pay tribute to each day by telling about hauntings and treasure. All have one thing in common. There is a need to make peace with the past. This is Christian Fiction at its best. Julie Klassen is an author with an extraordinary ability to make the past come alive. There are fine details that can not go unnoticed: a dollhouse, a green cloaked man or just his skull, a rusty gun, letters and journal entries placed between bricks in a wall, an emerald necklace and even a secret room. What really stays with me is the power of a scandal to hurt or destroy people. It hurts the people directly involved and those who just like a nicely packaged piece of gossip each morning with their c