Tag Archives: the diviners

Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday

Posted in Wishlist Wednesday by

Wednesday is a perfect day for a good book meme, and I thought I’d branch out a bit! I’ve been participating in Wishlist Wednesday, hosted by Pen to Paper, for over a year — and I’ve been wanting to jump into Waiting on Wednesday (hosted by Breaking the Spine) for a while now too. So why not do both?

Wishlist Wednesday is a place to highlight any book from our wish lists — old, new, not yet released — that we’re dying to read. Waiting on Wednesday focuses on upcoming new releases.

Some weeks, I’ll probably have two different books to wish and wait for… but this week, here’s one that works for both!

My wishlist book this week is:

Lair of Dreams (The Diviners, #2) by Libba Bray
(release date April 22, 2014)

From Goodreads:

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to “read” objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners’ abilities…

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

Why do I want to read this?

Because I absolutely loved The Diviners, and can’t wait to see what happens next! Evie is a fabulous main character, and I love the 1920s New York setting. The Diviners was a perfect mix of creepy and absolutely snazzy — and I was just so excited to find out this week that book #2 has a title, a cover, and a release date!

Who else is excited about Lair of Dreams?

So what are you doing on Thursdays and Fridays? Come join me for my regular weekly features, Thursday Quotables and Flashback Friday! You can find out more here — come share the book love!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

The Monday agenda

Posted in The Monday Check-In by

Not a lofty, ambitious to-be-read list consisting of 100+ book titles. Just a simple plan for the upcoming week — what I’m reading now, what I plan to read next, and what I’m hoping to squeeze in among the nooks and crannies.

Busy week ahead, so let’s dive right in. What’s on the agenda for this week?

From last week:

Quality over quantity, for sure! Real life (and by that, I mean the portion of my life that does not revolve around books) got in the way, big time, and it seemed that reading was relegated to the back burner — a most painful and frustrating situation for me. Here’s hoping that the coming week is a little less crazy. So, last week’s progress:

The Diviners by Libba Bray: Done! Loved it. My review is here.

And that’s really it. I caught up on a few weeks’ worth of the New York Times book review sections, but made no progress on any other books.

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Moving forward, getting closer to the end.

And this week’s new agenda:

Due to a weird confluence of coincidences (did I just make that up? sounds weird), The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell has been on my mind. My daughter just finished reading The Sparrow this past week, and was blown away. My husband, who relies on me for his book recommendations, is ready for something new, and I’m pushing The Sparrow on him. In addition, I’m going to hear Mary Doria Russell speak this week about The Sparrow! As a consequence of all this, I’ve decided to ignore my library stack and re-read The Sparrow myself. This is one of my very favorite books, which I’ve read once on my own and once as part of a book group. It’s been about five years, and I believe it’s time to treat myself to a re-read. I can’t say it enough times — if you’ve never read this book, what are you waiting for?

Assuming I finish up by mid-week, next on the agenda will be Breed by Chase Novak and then Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Sadly, I’ll be returning some books unread to the library this week, as there simply isn’t enough time for me to read them all before their due dates. Back on the request list they go!

My son and I finished up the book we were reading together (his review is here; my review is here) — looking forward to picking out some new bedtime reading material.

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon: Our online re-read is up to chapters 58 and 59 this week, and they’re good ones. My turn to write chapter summaries is next week. Gulp.

So many book, so little time…

That’s my agenda. What’s yours? Add your comments to share your bookish agenda for the week.

A photo montage in honor of The Diviners

Posted in Bookish Thoughts by

I just loved the world of Libba Bray’s The Diviners, and went searching for images to bring 1920s Manhattan to life. Here are some of my favorite finds so far:

Positutely the bee’s knees!

This picture instantly brought Evie to mind for me. Yes, I know Evie is a blonde, but let’s get beyond hair color. What I love about this girl is the sparkle in her eyes, the lovely smile, the sense that this is a girl who’s confident, knows how to have fun, and has a killer sense of humor.

Could one of these lovelies be Theta?

A photo from the Ziegfeld Follies — daring for the time, revealing yet covered up.

Ziegfeld girl, 1919, fifteen years old

Cotton Club, Harlem

Harlem’s Cotton Club, where Memphis and Gabriel would have spent many an evening.

A rally Mabel’s parents might have attended

Street scene in New York, 1920

And lots more flappers, taking life by storm:

Actress Mary Pickford — maybe more of a look for Mabel?

The iconic Louise Brooks

 

 

As I find more fabulous flappers, I’ll be sure to add to this collection. And if you come across any terrific photos that remind you of The Diviners, be sure to share your link in the comments. Will I appreciate it? You bet-ski!

The Monday agenda

Posted in The Monday Check-In by

Not a lofty, ambitious to-be-read list consisting of 100+ book titles. Just a simple plan for the upcoming week — what I’m reading now, what I plan to read next, and what I’m hoping to squeeze in among the nooks and crannies.

The fog horns are blowing, the skies are grey. What more could you want on a Monday morning? Perhaps a stack of books, a hot cup of coffee, and a warm quilt?

From last week:

Well, it felt like a productive week…

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller: I really and truly loved this book. Lovely writing and a haunting story. My review is here.

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison: Finished a few days ago. Enjoyable and moving, a quirky, sad novel of friendship, loss… and a road trip. My review is here.

I hit the library and picked up my various and assorted hold books, which — inconsiderately — all decided to become available in the same week. I’m going to have to set up a spreadsheet of due dates to help me strategize reading order and set a page-per-day minimum. Kidding… but it might help.

I ended up deciding that The Forgetting Tree was something I’d like to read at some point, but it didn’t need to be right now, so back to the library it went.

Finally, over the weekend, I started The Diviners by Libba Bray, which is just the bee’s knees! An occult mystery set in jazz age Manhattan… delightful!

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon (group re-read): Keeping on, keeping on.

And this week’s new agenda:

I should finish up The Diviners in the next couple of days. After that, it’ll be time to attack the library pile again.

The next three on the stack are Breed by Chase Novak (sounds like good, creepy horror), The Red House by Mark Haddon, and A Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman. It’ll just depend on my reading whim on the day I have to choose.

My son and I are getting closer to the end of his current read-aloud, Merits of Mischief, which he is continuing to enjoy and I am continuing to… not. I can’t wait to be done with this one.

This week’s chapters in my group re-read of  Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon promise plenty of agony and action for the beloved main characters. We’re up to chapters 56 and 57.

I’m hoping to squeeze in a little time over the weekend for a re-read (or at least a skim-through) of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell in preparation for an upcoming book discussion. The Sparrow is one of my all-time favorites, and I’ve read it more than once, but it’s been a few years and a refresher would definitely be helpful.

So many book, so little time…

That’s my agenda. What’s yours? Add your comments to share your bookish agenda for the week.