Waiting On Wednesday (12) Turning Japanese by Cathy Yardley

I was flipping through the St. Martin's Griffin winter 2009 catalog and this one caught my eye not only because it deals with Japanese culture (I lived in Fukuoka, Japan for a year) but also because they described it as the Japanese DEVIL WEARS PRADA (guilty pleasure book) and because YA author Lauren Baratz-Logsted blurbed it as "Adventurous, moving and just plain fun."

Here's the description from the catalog:

Meet Lisa Falloya, an aspiring half-Japanese, half-Italian American manga artist who follows her bliss by moving to Tokyo to draw the Japanese-style comics she's been reading for years. Lisa has everything planned - but hasn't taken into account that being half-Asian and enthusiatic isn't going to cut it. Faced with an exacting boss and a conniving "big fish" manga author, Lisa risks her wedding, her friends, and her fears for a shot at making it big.

Sounds like it could be really fun! We'll find out April 2009.

Library Thing Tuesday (31) + Pic of Emmy

Today's question: Most of us book bloggers like to write book reviews- if we don't love to write book reviews. When it comes to LT (and your blog), do you review every book you read? Do you just review Early Reviewers or ARCs? Do you review only if you like a book, or only if you feel like you have to? How soon after reading do you post your review? Do you post them other places- other social networking sites, Amazon, etc.?

I have reviewed every non-picture* book I've read since the end of April except for one: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. The reason I didn't was because I happened to read Jen Robinson's review (or reaction to it as she calls it) right before I was about to write mine, and what she said was exactly what I would've said, so I left good enough alone. *(I read a ton of children's picture books that I don't review on the blog).


In most cases, I post my reviews either right after I finish reading or a day or two after (depending on how my scheldule is). If a publicist or author requests that I hold my review, I wait on reading the book too. I have A LOT of books to read, so there is no problem for me to find one that is already out or about to be released. That means I have a lot of MUST READ books that I haven't gotten to yet...but I am patient.


I post many of my blog reviews to LT (when I think about it) and a few to amazon (if an author requests it or if I loved it and feel like it is underrepresented there). I don't post more to amazon because I am wary of their system. Whenever I posted a less than flattering review, I would get a ton of unhelpful votes (I never had a review removed though). Sort of turned me off to contributing there to be honest.


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NOTE: This may be the last Emmy pic of the year since I am flying to the US on Saturday and can't take the kitty with me. Or I could run pictures from the archive if demand is high (let me know in the comments).



Emmy spends about 16 hours a day sleeping and she likes to sleep on our laps/arms while we are working. Here is her "contribution" to Daniel's output:

Book Review: Have I Got A Guy for You, Edited by Alix Strauss

We’ve all had them – a really bad date. My worst was with a guy who lied about working in a restaurant to save money for MIT (in reality he was a high school dropout and set to be a waiter for life) and took me to a crack house (so he could pick up some drugs) where I observed a very large, very stoned man devour a bucket of fried chicken. I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was horrifying.

Have I Got a Guy for You is an anthology of short essays by women who were set up on bad blind dates by their well meaning mothers. The mismatches range in seriousness from the benign (a thirty year old being set up with a kindly grandfather) to the annoying (a date with a guy who complains of a sore throat and insists on writing his side of the conversation) to the truly dangerous (date speeds carelessly up a mountain after being denied a kiss).

These are perfect in small doses but tend to get repetitive if you read too many in one go. A big theme seems to be agreeing to go out with a guy because he is supposedly rich and expecting an expensive lobster dinner but then finding out the guy is a cheapskate and only buys deep dish pizza or greasy diner food. Most of the men are terminally clueless, dress inappropriately, have extremely bad breath or all of the above.

I think my favorite story was the one where the Indian mother signed her daughter up for an Indian online dating service and her date gave her a pop quiz on exactly what she wanted out of marriage with him as well as telling her exactly what he expected from her if she became his wife. Priceless!

Have I Got a Guy for You is out in paperback.

So tell me, what was your worst dating experience?

Tis the Season

I finished most of my Christmas shopping yesterday (not all books, but many) and today I made Christmas cookies at Roanne's with her and her son Theo. I've also started listening to Christmas music and wanted to share my playlist and get your suggestions.

We made two kinds: shortbread cookies with cookie cutters and these frosted christmas trees. In this picture, Theo is holding them upside down.

As far as Christmas music, I have two main playlists - one which contains Daniel's approved list and one to play when I am by myself . Let's start with the former:

God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman by Aimee Mann
Blue Christmas by Johnny Cash
O Little Town of Bethleham by Elvis Presley
Fairytale of New York by The Pogues
Rudy by The Be Good Tanyas
Away in a Manger by Sufjan Stevens
Good King Wenceslas by Loreena McKennit

And then come the songs I love but Daniel just tolerates:

O Holy Night by Emmy Rossum
The First Noel by Leigh Nash
What Child is This by Josh Groban
O Come O Come Emmanuel by Carter's Chord
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Tori Amos
Winter Wonderland by Tony Bennett
Ding Dong! Merrily on High by Chanticleer

I would love to find good versions of the following:

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Do you hear what I hear?
Let it Snow
Silver Bells (thinking of getting the version by Relient K)
Oh Come All Ye Faithful (maybe the Faith Hill version?)
I Saw Three Ships
Rockin around the Christmas Tree (something not so cheesy)

What Christmas songs and versions are your favorites?

More winners!

Thank you to everyone for making my November Book Blowout giveaway such a success (well over 1000 entries in all, far more than I ever expected). I got lots of great book suggestions, found out about princesses I never knew existed, learned that most people who read this blog are on team zombie, and made a Penguin publicist very happy (she loved reading your responses).

The winner of The Gemma Doyle Trilogy signed by Libba Bray is Keri Mikulski! Keri recommended Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt and I'll admit I'm intrigued. This one is going on my Christmas wish list/to buy if I don't get for Christmas list. Thanks Keri :)

The winner of You are so Undead to Me is Shalonda who is 100% on team zombie and thinks unicorns are corny. She may be on to something there, but I'm reserving judgement until I read Rampant by Diana Peterfreund (set to drop May 2009). I recently found out Diana and Daniel have the same editor at HarperCollins. Very cool!!

The winner of the 6+ books from Penguin is Allisonmariecat who couldn't quite decide between Death By Latte, Confessions of a Triple-Shot Betty and Savvy. Good choices! Please let us know what books you end up getting Allison. (On a side note, Allison is the second person to win two contests on my site. I believe Kelsey is the other.)

And finally, the winner of Aurelia is Carol of Carolsnotebook. Her favorite princess is Fiona from Shrek. Mine, in case you are interested, is Beauty from the book Beauty by Sherri Tepper.

Congrats to all my winners! Please send me your mailing addresses asap. And if you didn't win, don't despair. I have a few more cool contests coming up this month. YAY!

Book Review: The Green Beauty Guide by Julie Gabriel

I have a friend here in Germany who is extremely “green”. Most people I know here recycle (it’s pretty hard to get around so that’s no surprise), shop for organic vegetables and fruit, and try to minimize their impact on the environment by taking public transport or riding a bicycle through the city. I even have several friends who mostly buy organic food and who use mainly organic cosmetics and other products. But this friend, who just had a baby, would rather take the time to puree her own baby food than let her baby eat even organic processed food. I thought of her when I heard about the Green Beauty Guide, a book that provides recipes for making your own organic cosmetics.

I invited her and another friend, Jay, for a girls’ night to try out the recipes. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get a babysitter (and she’s allergic to Emmy). So it was just Jay and me. We decided on the only two recipes that didn’t look too complicated, didn’t need fancy kitchen appliances (which I don’t own), and had ingredients that were easy to find in the organic food stores near my apartment (that excluded any recipe that called for an essential oil other than rose oil).

The Sugar Mommy Scrub all mixed up and ready to use:

The first one we tried was the Sugar Mommy Scrub. The only thing I needed to buy was the rose oil, which set me back 4 Euro. We put the ingredients in a glass bowl and whisked them together. Then we massaged the mixture all over our faces for a couple of minutes and washed it off. Jay didn’t like the oily feel of the scrub but we were both pleased with the results – I don’t think my face has ever been so soft.

1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 drops rose oil
1 drop vanilla extract

Degree of difficulty: very easy
Feel of mixture: a bit too oily
Scent of mixture: ok
Results: Excellent – very soft skin and no breakouts, even days later.
Likelihood of repeat session: High

Jay and me after massaging in the scrub (we sparkle like vampires from Twilight!):

We also tried the Lemon Cheesecake Whitening Mask. I had all the ingredients already for this one, but our manual whisking didn’t thicken the mixture, so you probably need an electric hand mixer (which I don’t have). This one smelled heavenly, but felt tight on our faces. We were directed to leave it on for 15 minutes, but Jay said it started to burn her skin so she washed it off earlier.

2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons lemon juice
3 teaspoons plain yogurt
1 egg white

Degree of difficulty: medium (if you don’t have an electric mixer)
Feel of mixture: very runny and sticky
Scent of mixture: Excellent
Results: Ok, but nothing special
Likelihood of repeat session: Low

Jay enjoys putting on her Lemon Cheesecake Whitening mask (before the burn set in):

The Green Beauty Guide is more than just recipes however. Author Julie Gabriel also suggests store bought products that are good for your skin and helps you understand the nature of your skin and the beauty industry. I have an ARC of the book, which means I am missing chapters 10-16 and a list of toxic ingredients that help you weed out products in your bathroom that are doing you more harm than good. I’d definitely like to get the full version.

This review is part of the TLC Blog tour. Click here to find out more about author Julie Gabriel and to check out other reviews of this book.

Book Review: Persistence of Memory by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Erin Misrahe is no normal teen, though she is finally allowed to attend one class at a public high school. She’s been in and out of mental hospitals all her life due to a violent alter ego named Shevaun who comes out when Erin is stressed. When an old friend reappears in her life, he tells her that Shevaun is actually a vampire with powerful allies who want to sever Erin and Shevaun’s connection once and for all.

I read this novel with a great deal of fascination. Thanks to Shevaun’s memories somehow being a part of her, Erin learned several languages without even trying, is brilliant at fencing the first time she picks up a sword, and has other innate talents and knowledge that a normal 16 year old would not have. How this is all possible is one of the central questions of the narrative and one that apparently caused a lot of confusion for many readers (if you go by the reviews on amazon). The premise IS complicated, no doubt, and I know it’s hard to find the right balance between explaining too much (and risk losing your audience to boredom) and explaining too little (and risk losing your audience to confusion). For me, the amount of explanation was just right, but I guess some readers want/need more.

The story deals a lot with dreams, and because it is so dreamlike, many of the characters come off more as abstractions than flesh and blood mortals. Shevaun, a vampire created in the 15th century, is the most developed of the characters and the most interesting. Atwater-Rhodes is known for her shapeshifter novels, and this novel appears to exist within the same universe (see a Q&A with the author here), so fans of her other books will most certainly like this one too.

Persistence of Memory will be released in hardcover on December 9th.

On a side note, one of my favorite poems, Dream within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe, appears in the front of this book. I started to read it aloud to Daniel and he recited it from memory!! Wow!

Here it is:

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
This much let me avow---
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand
How few! Yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep --- while I weep!
Oh God! Can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
Oh God! Can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Waiting On Wednesday (11) Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman

A romantic teen Persephone/Hades story? How cool does that sound? I first heard about this at Fuse #8's HarperCollins Spring Library preview. Here's what Elizabeth said:

"Emily Whitman's Radiant Darkness takes a very interesting route with its tale. Hades is the kind of fellow a girl would want to give up natural sunshine for and (I was a little unclear on this but I HOPE it's the case) Demeter is the villain. How perfect is that? You're shacking up with your boyfriend/husband and here comes mom to hurl you back up to the surface where you do not want to be. Tell me a teen can't relate to that?"

And here's the description from the Frankfurt Rights Guide:

Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the Earth, but she is just like every teenager. She spends her days gossiping with friends, and looks forward to growing up. On the day it is tradition that a girl offers her childhood to Artemis in order to prove she is ready to be a woman, she is heartbroken when Demeter says she is not ready. Persephone is sick of her sheltered life and her controlling mother.

When a handsome stranger finds his way into their gardens, Persephone knows she should tell her mother, but she cannot. She has never spoken to a man before, and her attraction to the stranger is too much to resist. He returns to see her often and they meet whenever Persephone can sneak away. When Persephone discovers who he is, she is terrified—he is Hades, the God of the Underworld. Hades urges her to join him in the Underworld as his Queen.

I love mythology and Persephone's story has always been one of my favorites. It will be interesting to see where Whitman takes this! Radiant Darkness will be released April 2009.

Library Thing Tuesday (30) + Pic of Emmy

Today's question: What's the most popular book in your library? Have you read it? What did you think? How many users have it?

My answer is pretty typical. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The first time I read it for my high school English Literature class and wrote a paper on it. I've read it a few times since, but not in the past couple of years. Probably time to break it out again.

The 11th most popular book on my list is The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This was the first book I bought in hardcover with my own money because I couldn't wait for the paperback. It's still on my shelf and gets loaned out a lot.

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Emmy says:

Book Review: The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

Yann, a gypsy orphan raised by a dwarf in a magic show, meets convent raised Sido, the daughter of a ridiculously self indulgent marquis, near Paris on the cusp of the French Revolution. His love for her is as instant as his hate of their common enemy – the sinister Count Kalliovski. Can Yann find a way to save Sido from the count, her hateful father, and the upheaval of the revolution and subsequent Jacobin reign of terror?

Ever since doing a term paper on Charlotte Corday (the assassin of Marat, a key revolutionary figure and leader of the reign of terror), I have been fascinated with the French revolution and its aftermath. This novel is a successful historical thriller with elements of the supernatural woven in. Each of our three main characters is shrouded in mystery that is slowly revealed during the course of the narrative (though a few details are left open – perhaps saved for a possible sequel).

Some reviewers thought Sido was too passive as a character, but I thought she served the historically accurate storyline. Yann was well rounded enough to distract from Sido’s deficits, and I’m sure Sido would bloom once given the chance to live outside the extreme confines of her upbringing.

This is one I gulped down in one sitting – maybe you will too. The Red Necklace is out now in hardcover.