"The Historian" Chapters 3-5

The diplomat father travels often and takes his daughter with him.
The author descriptively paints a picture of the towns they travel to. Filled with quaint cafes, stone streets and beautiful scenery.

-Rossi said emphatically, "I discovered in Istanbul that Dracula lives among us today. Or did then, at least."
The reader learns the story of Professor Rossi (who also has one of the books). In his early years he is researching the supposed burial place of Vlad Tepes. While pondering over old maps that possibly point to the location of the Unholy Tomb. A strange man burst into the room and informs Rossi that he does not have authority to examine the maps. He confiscates them and leaves, but not before Rossi notices 2 strange puncture wounds on the mans neck...

At the end of chapter 5 a friend of the fathers states:
"Poor Rossi, Tragic, wonderful man. Strange to think anyone one has known personally can just - poof - disappear."
The father has agreed to explain what happened to Rossi starting in chapter 6.


Next chapters: 6 & 7 pages: 43-61
on Thursday Oct 23rd
THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova

Mrs. Marine

Book Review Blog Carnival - Second Edition

Welcome to the second edition of Book Review Blog Carnival. If you write book reviews on your blog you may submit a review for the next carnival, which will appear at Ruthie's Book Reviews on October 26th.


Biographies and Memoirs
Ronnica at Book Nook Club read The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs, the title says it all; it’s a memoir of a man who tries to live by the bible, but fails.

Clark Bjorke at I'll Never Forget the Day I Read a Book! Reviews A Freewheelin' Time by Suze Rotolo, the memoir of a young girl in the 1960’s living in Greenwich Village and learning of Bob Dylan.

Joana at The Symposium discussed From Baghdad, With Love by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman, wow, this is a wonderful story; I had to Google this one it was on CBS News in Oct. 2006.

Natasha at Maw Books Blog read Tears of the Desert, A Memoir of Survival in Darfur by Halima Bashir with Damien Lewis. What a terrible heart wrenching story, just reading the review put tears in my eyes.

Children’s Books

Nicole B. at Linus's Blanket reviews The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Warner Chandler about four orphaned children who ban together as a family. I vaguely remember this from my childhood.

Yat-Yee at Yat-Yee Chong read Savvy by Ingrid Law, A story of the young Beaumont children who get special abilities on their 13th birthday.

NathanKP at Inkweaver Review presents Fergus Crane by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, the exiting tale of a young boy and a mechanical flying horse.

History
Shana at Literarily read The Last Queen by C.W. Gortner, the intriguing tale of Juana la Loca, in 15th century Europe.

Flash Gordon at Great New Books that Are a Must Read, reviews The Map Thief by Heather Terrell, he describes this book as a historical thriller that captures the past and present.

Diane Saarinen at Wavelength Tarot, read Famous Hussies of History: Stories of the Super-Women by Albert Payson. The title alone makes me want to read this.

David Gross at The Picket Line presents On Liberty: Man v. The State by Milton Mayer, analyzing the conflict between government and liberty throughout history.

Sarah Small at SmallWorld Reads reviews Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the story of the Igbo people in Biafra and their determination to be an independent nation.

Fiction
Ruth Schaller at Books Books and more Books! Reviews Marked A House of Night Novel by PC & Kristin Cast, a young vampire (yes young, not 600 years old for a change) attending school and learning of her powers, quite a different take on the vampire world.

NathanKP at Inkweaver Review presents Hit the Road by Caroline B. Cooney, a 16 year old at the wheel on a road trip with her grandmother and friends; this is defiantly one I will have to read.

Michael Lundin at Bent Bindings read The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the story of a father and son in a world destroyed by an apocalyptic event.

Becky at Becky's Book Reviews read Impossible by Nancy Werlin, A seventeen year old getting ready for prom, unaware of the old family curse.

Alyce at At Home With Books reviews Testimony by Anita Shreve, a prestigious boarding school and a scandalous video with a 14 year old girl. Kind of sounds like an episode of Law & Order SVU (one of my favorite shows).

Mon at Holistic Mama read The Ovum Factor by Marvin Zimmerman, quoting Mon, “for those with less literary expectations and who enjoy a good yawn, this isn’t too bad a read.” In other words, it was boring.

Alessandra at Out of the Blue presents The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, a governess and two children haunted by two ghosts.

Craig S. Kiessling at CSKnet, thoughts on Gerald’s Game by Stephen King, quoting Craig, “A funny thing about life I learned while reading one of Stephen King’s excellent novels….”

Lindsey at A Kindred Spirit's Thoughts reviews You Had Me At Goodbye by Tracey Bateman, this is the second book in the Drama Queen series, which features three roommates and best friends.

Keira at Love Romance Passion, read The Diamond King by Patricia Potter it’s a romance novel where the two main characters go from dislike to fierce desire for each other.

Non Fiction
Cin Langston at The Rich Women Sisterhood read Skinny Bitch by Rory Freidman and Kim Barnoulin, there is no way to sum this one up; you have to read the review. Don’t judge the book by the title.

Amitabh Mukherjee at Churning News, Views & Insights reviews Learning Chess from Bobby Fischer Himself, I have always wanted to learn how to play chess.

Fiona Veitch Smith at The Crafty Writer presents Screenwriting for Dummies, yet another “blank” for Dummies book. Don’t get me wrong, there great books, it’s just funny how many different versions there are. I wonder if there is a “Tying Shoes for Dummies”?

Barry Wright III at 3stylelife discussed It’s So You - edited by Michelle Tea, compilation of essays about personal expression through fashion and style.

Peter at we overstep presents Personal Development for SMART PEOPLE by Steve Pavlina, a personal growth self-help book.

Mac at Actorlicious reviewed The Money Book for the Young Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman, a self-help book with tips on saving money.

LivingAlmostLarge presents Middle Class Millionaire by Russ Prince and Lewis Schiff, finance book examining a new middle class of people.



That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Book Review Blog Carnival using the carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: book review blog carnival, blog carnival.

Mrs. Marine

"The Historian" Chapters 1 & 2

Its 1972, the reader is introduced to a 16 year old girl and her diplomatic father.
The young girl stumbles across a strange old book in her fathers library, all the pages are blank except a strange picture across the two center pages of the book. When she asks her father about the book he tells her the story of how it came into his possession.
The story involves; another book just like it which belongs to a university professor, the history of Vlad the Impaler and the legend of Dracula.

I am quite intrigued so far. There is a lot of history involved (hence the name of the book). But not too much that I have lost interest. I am not a history buff in the slightest. My husband is, I may have to get him to read this book when I am done with it.

Join me and read along, write your own posts here or comment on my posts.

Next chapters: 3-5 pages: 22 - 42
on Thursday Oct 16th
THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova

Mrs. Marine

Book Review Blog Carnival

There is a new Book Review Blog Carnival! I will be hosting it here on Sunday Oct. 12th. The first addition was hosted by the creator at I'll Never Forget the Day I Read a Book!
There will be a new addition every other Sunday hosted at a different blog. If you review books and would like to submit an article ( blog post) to the carnival or host a carnival on your site go to the carnival link to get more details and sign up.

Mrs. Marine

The Historian, Are you reading with me?

I finally got The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova today in the mail. I will read a few chapters at a time (around 20 pages) and write a post about each set of chapters. I plan to post every Thursday. If you would like to read along with me you can be a guest blogger and write your own posts. Leave a comment here or email me if you are interested. SAHMilitaryWife @ aol.com

My first post will be on Chapters: One & Two: pages 1-21
On Thursday October 9th

Mrs. Marine