Kate Padilla's Blog, page 29

QUOTE: "COMMUNICATION IS A SHODDILY COBBLED SHOE ..."

"COMMUNICATION IS A SHODDILY COBBLED SHOE encrusted with the muddling sludge of time, trampling, and ill wear. We speak of Isis, unaware that, in the vowel-less phonetics of Egyptian hieroglyphs, the symbols of the throne and the loaf that signified her name give us not Isis but Jst. And we speak of Jesus, he of a later mythology; but how many of those who yet kneel unto him know that this is a name that he never would have recognized or answered to, for his name was Yeshua? And we say of any...

REVIEW: LOVE IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION

LOVE IN THE AGE OF MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION, BY JUDD TRICHTER. THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS: 304 PP. $25.99

This one's really fresh in my mind, guys. I actually finished it last night. Typically, I try to read 100 pages a day, sometimes I'll work through 100 pages of two different books. Yesterday, that would have put me at about page 200 for Judd Trichter's novel, Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. And I couldn't put it down. I read a little further, and finished it (over 300 pages) after I pu...

REVIEW: HOLY COW

HOLY COW: A MODERN-DAY DAIRY TALE, BY DAVID DUCHOVNY. FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX, 160 PP. $24

Sometimes, when I'm not sure how to approach the review of a book, I go to Goodreads and peruse the comments to see what other readers thought. I know what I think of most books, but I don't always know right away how to put my views into the right words. This was the case with David Duchovny's Holy Cow.

But from the comments, I got the feeling that a lot of readers were in the same position as me: we w...

PAPERBACK: THE FARM*

I went into Tom Rob Smith's novel, The Farm, with the frame of mind I've begun to associate with "thriller" novels. They're generally fast-paced, and therefore pretty quick to read. But they're relatively devoid of much depth regarding character and plot development. They're entertaining, provided you're not expecting much else from them.

I wasn't expecting the story Smith offered. Daniel, the main character, has settled into a comfortable routine between the two lives he led. In one, he live...

GIVEAWAY RESULTS

So we had a good turnout to the blog hop! Thank you everyone for stopping by and check out Blondie Marie, and I hope you had fun visiting all the other blogs on the hop as well.

Seven of you left comments, which was great to see. One of you, however, is the lucky recipient of Love Least Expected, which includes the story "Under the Mango Tree," by Meredith Bond. With the help of the random number generator on my phone, we've got a winner. Congratulations Claudette Alexander!

If you could...

SPECIAL: INDIE BLOG HOP [REVIEW + GIVEAWAY]

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm really excited because I get to participate in the SpreadSome Love Indie Blog Hop. TheBlog Hop was initiated by the lovely Debdatta atb00k r3vi3ws, and several of us indie book bloggers will be featuring reviews, posts, interviews and giveaways of indie- and self-published authors.

I've chosen to review a short story by Meredith Bond. "Under the Mango Tree" is a story in the anthology Love Least Expected. In addition to the review of "Under the Mango Tree," I'...

PAPERBACK: THE GOOD LUCK OF RIGHT NOW

I'll let you in on a little secret: I didn't really like Silver Linings Playbook. Everyone was talking about it, and it was so popular they made it into a movie. Perhaps that was the problem, I saw the movie first. I loved the movie and once I found the book I jumped right in. The book is always better, right? Maybe, but maybe not.

Now, with that on the table, I did like The Good Luck of Right Now. Bartholomew Neil is relatively crippled, emotionally speaking. He's been living with his mother...

REVIEW: THE NIGHTINGALE

THE NIGHTINGALE, BY KRISTIN HANNAH. ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, 440 PP. $27.99

Kristin Hannah is one of those big authors -- the ones that become New York Times bestsellers the moment a newbook is announced -- and, shamefully, I'd never read her. Honestly, I didn't know if I would like her all that much. I don't do well with a lot of those might-as-well-be-a-bodice-ripper novels. My mom calls them "fluffy."

But I read The Nightingale. And I loved The Nightingale. It wasn't at all what I expected.

Viann...

REVIEW: LOST & FOUND

LOST & FOUND, BY BROOKE DAVIS. DUTTON, 320 PP. $26.95

Some books are defined by the foundations -- thecentral plot line, the characters' relationships with each other and themselves, the focal symbol. Some books, including Brooke Davis' Lost & Found, are defined by the details. Millie Bird, a seven-year-old girl who is left at a department store by her mother, has red Wellington boots and equally red curly hair. Agatha keeps a strict schedule and has specific points in her house to execute ea...

PAPERBACK: REMEMBER ME LIKE THIS

I mentioned this earlier in my review of Tami Hoag's Cold, Cold Heart, but in most thrillers the focal point of the story is the abduction, whether it's the young TV journalist or the boy at the skate park. In Hoag's thriller, however, the story begins with Dana's escape from her captor. In Bret Anthony Johnston's Remember Me Like This, the story begins once Justin returns home with his family after four years missing.

The Campbell's home has been turned almost on end with Justin's disappear...