Waiting on Wednesday (4)

I haven't done this one in a while, because I'm often not very up to date on what's about to be coming out. I'm trying to change that, so without further ado: Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.



Basically, I pick a book I'm excited about that's coming out sometime soon.

This week's pick is a book about kids that like punk rock. So even if one of the characters is a chain smoking 16 year old (ick!), I'm in! I mean, YA about punk rock, ohhh yeah!!!!

The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni.
Publication Date: March 4, 2010
Publisher: Penguin
Summary from Penguin Website: Sebastian Prendergast lives in a geodesic dome with his eccentric grandmother, who homeschooled him in the teachings of futurist philosopher R. Buckminster Fuller. But when his grandmother has a stroke, Sebastian is forced to leave the dome and make his own way in town.

Jared Whitcomb is a chain-smoking sixteen-year-old heart-transplant recipient who befriends Sebastian, and begins to teach him about all the things he has been missing, including grape soda, girls, and Sid Vicious. They form a punk band called The Rash, and it's clear that the upcoming Methodist Church talent show has never seen the likes of them. Wholly original, The House of Tomorrow is the story of a young man's self-discovery, a dying woman's last wish, and a band of misfits trying desperately to be heard.

Rock on!

Review: Decoding the Lost Symbol by Simon Cox

Title: Decoding the Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Authoritative Guide to the Facts Behind the Fiction

Author: Simon Cox

Rating:

Who Should Read It? Anyone curious about mysteries and conspiracy theories. If you read the Lost Symbol and were curious about the things talked about, this book is DEFINITELY for you! If you are planning on reading the Lost Symbol, this book would be great to have nearby when reading, to look up things you may want to know more about.

What I Have to Say: I am an absolute fanatic when it comes to "mysteries" and Freemasons and alchemy and that sort of thing. One of the greatest classes I took in college was called "Alchemy and Transformation of Self." So, when reading the Lost Symbol, I wanted more facts, was literally thirsting for more facts. I knew a little bit about most of the things Dan Brown was talking about in his extensively researched novel, but I just needed more.

Simon Cox has given us that. In his well-organized Lost Symbol reference guide, you will find, in alphabetical order (of course!), brief descriptions of every possible thing one might have wondered about while reading the Lost Symbol. And he gives you just enough to satisfy your curiosity. As such, it doesn't get boring if you're reading a subject that's not particularly interesting, but you still get a good fill of all of the things that you find fascinating.

Still, I was so curious about some of the things he said that I'll definitely be doing a bit more research. I had never heard before, for example, that some people believe that Shakespeare didn't actually write any of his works. And that some people believe that maybe Sir Francis Bacon (whom I've always adored) did write them. I'll definitely be looking more into this.

All in all, even though it's a reference guide, it's extraordinarily easy and fascinating to read. Simon Cox has done a great job of separating Lost Symbol fact from Lost Symbol fiction while at the same time presenting the reader with enough knowledge to feel, well, knowledgeable.

Summary: Dan Brown's new novel once again features Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, this time in the United States, racing to uncover clues and crack codes involving secrets that are perpetuated to this day. But how much of the novel is true and what is pure fiction? Simon Cox, bestselling author of Cracking the Da Vinci Code and Illuminating Angels & Demons, offers the first definitive guide to all the mysteries featured in The Lost Symbol.

Based on extensive research, this A-to-Z guide lists the real people, organizations, and themes featured in Dan Brown's latest novel, explains their histories and their meanings, reproduces and analyzes the symbols themselves, and provides insider knowledge gleaned from years of exhaustive study. From the monuments of Washington, D.C., to the secrets of Salt Lake City and the hidden enclaves in Langley, Virginia, Cox knows where the facts are hidden about the Freemasons, Albert Pike, the Rosicrucians, the Founding Fathers, and more.

This is the only resource you'll need to understand and enjoy the complex new world of The Lost Symbol.

Cover Story: While I'm not a HUGE fan of this over, I think it complements nicely the cover of the Lost Symbol, which I also, unfortunately, didn't really like at all.

Disclosure: This book was sent to me by FSB Media to give an honest review.

Blog Tour Review and GIVEAWAY: Denise's Daily Dozen by Denise Austin

Title: Denise's Daily Dozen: the Easy, Everyday Program to Lose Up to 12 Pounds in 2 Weeks

Author: Denis Austin

Rating:

Who Should Read It? Anyone looking for awesome tips and motivation on how to lead a healthier lifestyle! Anyone looking for a great, easy, step-by-step exercise and eating program to help in becoming healthy or losing weight.

What I Have to Say: This is, BY FAR, the BEST exercise book I have ever read. I should premise by saying that I didn't read it because I need to lose weight. I'm supposedly actually underweight. My interest in this book came from the fact that I NEED to start exercising, and I was hoping for a book that would motivate me and give me some tips.

This book did so much more than that. The focus was so much more on healthy living and healthy eating than to help you to lose weight than on diets or over-exercising to lose weight. It gives you healthy, balanced (and, unfortunately, not vegan) meal plans and exercise plans every day for three straight weeks, making following the Daily Dozen plan as easy as possible.

Having the exact exercises to do there in front of me made things so easy. I didn't have to think about which ones to do and the order in which to do them and for how long to do them. Denise did that for me. And with her bubble personality shining through on every page, I find myself excited to get up and exercise in the mornings. I have been exercising EVERY SINGLE DAY for the past two weeks (this is BIG for me, you guys!)

More importantly than that, I can already see a change. My arm and leg muscles are both starting to show more definition; I can actually feel my abs for once. And I have energy to do all of the mini exercises throughout the day that she calls Fidget-Cisers. It's just plain awesome.

Denise's Daily Dozen is full of practical tips and easy, step-by-step insructions as to how to lead a healthy life. They're so easy, and she's so upbeat about giving them to you, that you can't help but want to follow! Her system is a way of life, and she has given you enough to have step-by-step instructions for every day of that new way of life for as long as it takes for you to no longer need them.
This book is golden (even if I haven't used the non-vegan friendly meal plans at all), and I'm planning on buying a Daily Dozen CD when I really feel like I need new exercises.

Summary (from GoodReads): From Denise Austin comes the perfect health book for anyone who wants to live better but just can't seem to find the time. Much more than just another excercise book, Denise's Daily Dozen covers a whole range of health and diet related concepts yet manages it all in a no-stress, time-conscious program of 12's. At it's core, this book contains the minimum daily requirements to keep the reader flexible, strong and trim. Organized simply into seven chapters, which equal the seven days of the week, it covers a full week in daily allotments. Each day will have it's own focus from Monday being "fat burning day" to Sunday's "recharge and rejuvenate."

Denise has created a total body program, including a 7-day balanced meal plan that includes healthy recipes, and a workout that encompasses 12 exercises done in 12 minutes each day. Everyone can take just 12 minutes, at whatever time of the day works for them, and turn it over to these simple and fun exercises. Cardio, toning, yoga and breathing exercises...they're all here but in a way the maximizes effect while minimizing time.

Beyond a dozen exercises for each day of the week this book will include many other of Denises dozens for each day.

Now, this awesome book could be yours! It's open internationally and ends on February 1!
Just fill out this form to win a copy of your very own!


Disclosure: Thanks to Anna from Hachette for sending me a copy of this book to give an honest review and for sending the copy to give away.

Blog Tour: Veracity by Laura Bynum

So, I was supposed to review Veracity by Laura Bynum here in Brizmus Blogs Books today, but unfortunately, I still haven't received it. :-( Everyone else on the tour seems to have received their copy, so I'm hoping mine wasn't lost in the mail or something. I'm very excited about it, though, so be expecting my review soon! It's supposed to be like 1984 or Fahrenheit 451, both of which I ADORED! In the meantime, a little bit about the book:

Title: Veracity

Author: Laura Bynum

Summary (direct to you from GoodReads): Harper Adams was six years old in 2012 when an act of viral terrorism wiped out one-half of the country's population. Out of the ashes rose a new government, the Confederation of the Willing, dedicated to maintaining order at any cost. The populace is controlled via government-sanctioned sex and drugs, a brutal police force known as the Blue Coats, and a device called the slate, a mandatory implant that monitors every word a person speaks. To utter a Red-Listed, forbidden word is to risk physical punishment or even death.

But there are those who resist. Guided by the fabled "Book of Noah," they are determined to shake the people from their apathy and ignorance, and are prepared to start a war in the name of freedom. The newest member of this resistance is Harper -- a woman driven by memories of a daughter lost, a daughter whose very name was erased by the Red List. And she possesses a power that could make her the underground warriors' ultimate weapon -- or the instrument of their destruction.

In the tradition of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Laura Bynum has written an astonishing debut novel about a chilling, all-too-plausible future in which speech is a weapon and security comes at the highest price of all.

About the Author (from http://laurabynum.com: Laura Bynum was born in Springfield, Illinois in 1968. Childhood plans to be a writer of novels and screenplays and a director of films are currently underway. Laura completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Communications at the University of Illinois at Springfield and Eastern Illinois University respectively. She’s since done some filmmaking (Ugly Girl Productions) and marketing consulting. In 2006, Laura won the Rupert Hughes Literary Writing Award at the Maui Writer’s Conference. As a result, she was signed with the Writer’s House. Her Literary Agent is Dan Conaway and her Books to Film Agent is Sylvie Rabineau of Rabineau, Wachter, Sanford & Harris. Laura’s first novel, Veracity, is due out January of 2010. In the summer of 2008, while moving from Illinois to Virginia, Laura was diagnosed with breast cancer and has since been successfully treated.

Laura’s favorite books are both by Steinbeck- East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath. Her favorite song is Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel. Her favorite movie is The Quiet Man. She lives with her husband and three daughters in a small Virginia town in the Shenandoah foothills and is currently writing her second novel and first full-length screenplay.

Check back soon for a review of this book, which is being sent to me by Sarah of Pocket Books!

IMM (5)

Before I get to In My Mailboxness, I just need to say this:

WHO DAT?

The Saints won last night against the Cardinals, which is AWESOME news. Now they just have to win against the Vikings, and to the Super Bowl they will go.
Why do I care, you may wonder? Well, my sister and brother and father have all been huge Saints fanatics for basically, well, their entire lives, supporting them through all their terrible playing. I've tried to care, but really, football just doesn't interest me.
This year, though, I SO want the Saints to go to the Superbowl! Not because I've suddenly developed an interest in football (I haven't seen a single game this season), but because my father has offered to buy me a plane ticket home and then plans on taking us all to the Superbowl. If they Saints are there. So, a free trip home? Awesomeness check! A free trip to Miami from home? Awesomeness check? A chance to get to hang out with the whole fam when it's not Christmas? Awesomeness check! A chance to get all those books I haven't read that I had to leave at home at Christmas time because of space issues? Awesomeness check!

Now on to things that might actually interest you guys.

In My Mailbox awesomeness is brought to you by Kristi at the Story Siren!!!!

Despite the fact that I have a HUGE TBR pile that has to be finished by the end of March, I managed to talk the boyfriend into buying me two books this week while on an outing at Fnac. Yay!

Is it weird that one of the reasons I am most excited about these books is because of how beautiful they are from the side? Maybe you can't tell because of the flash, but that bottom book is a beautiful silver on the side!!


The Girl with Glass Feet - Ali Shaw
The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson

I'd never heard of the first book, but it just sounded so interesting; I kept going back to it over and over again, so finally I had to get it. Right when we got home, I read over at The Bookette that Becky also is planning on reading this book soon. The Gargoyle is a book I have actually been wanting to read for a while now.

So I'm psyched.

I'm also psyched because the boyfriend also bought a huge stack of books for himself, most of which I am super excited about!


-City of the Dead - Herbert Lieberman [I have to admit that I probably won't be reading this one]
-La Theorie des Jeux (Game Theory) - Gael Giraud [This book doesn't seem to be out in English. It looks super interesting, though!!]
-The Green Brain - Frank Herbert
-Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubuer [already read this one!]
-Weave World - Clive Barker [YAY!!!!]
-Thorns - Robert Silverberg

And that's all for this week, folks! :-)

Neil Gaiman's Exciting News!

So, as some of you have probably seen and some of you have probably not seen,

Neil Gaiman's Getting Married!!!!

Neil Gaiman is my absolute FAVORITE author of all time (I'll actually theoretically be hosting a Neil Gaiman week some time in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled for that), so I am very excited for him! I'm also hoping this will motivate him to write another adult novel in the near future. I feel like it's been a while. The last was Anansi Boys, if I am not mistaken, and that was over 4 years ago.

Now, if, unlike me, you don't follow his life closely, you might be wondering to whom he is getting married. Well, to Amanda Palmer, of course. Some of you might know her as from the Dresden Dolls. Some of you might know her from this:



They officially announced the news to the world today in Neil Gaiman's blog. Check it out here!!

Anyhow, I'm very excited for them, and if you're excited for them, too, you can wish them both congratulations via twitter: @neilhimself and @amandapalmer

Yay!!!!

French Friday (9)

French Friday is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. We both live in France, so it's where we write about Frenchy bookish things.

This week, I've decided to focus on an American Author who writes books about France and living in Provence. Oddly enough (because I'm featuring him), I DIDN'T LIKE the book I read by him!


Peter Mayle was born June 13, 1939. He spent 15 years in the advertising business, first as a copywriter and then as a reluctant executive, before escaping Madison Avenue in 1975 to write educational books for children.

In 1990 Mayle published A Year in Provence, which became an international bestseller; his books have since been translated into more than 20 languages, Mayle has contributed to The Sunday Times, the Financial Times, The Independent, GQ, and Esquire.

He and his wife, Jennie, and their dogs live in the south of France.


So, the one and only book I have read by him was "A Year in Provence." I read it after about 20 (possibly more) people suggested it to me as a book I would absolutely LOVE! I live in France, I love books, and I love food (vegan food, but food nonetheless), and they had all LOVED the book, so they just knew it was for me.
I unfortunately found it exceedingly boring and, well, gluttonous. It seemed like the whole book was Peter Mayle acting like an idiot then going into restaurants, eating really disgusting totally not vegan food, commenting on it (snobbishly, if I do say so myself), and then feeling full. I know there was more to it than that, but that's just how it felt to me. I also found Peter Mayle to be slightly snobby, and I can't help but wonder what France he is living in. As his descriptions are NOTHING like the France I am living in today.
With 89 5 star reviews on amazon and only 7 one star reviews, I really somehow must have missed the genius behind it. Because really, the ONLY good thing I have to say about it is that it was really well written with beautiful (and sometimes, unfortunately, grotesque) descriptions. Peter Mayle at least knows how to write.



Because of my incredible distaste for this book, I was just not able to read Peter Mayle's other books about Provence, all of which my aunt had let me borrow. I just couldn't read more snobbery about food and more fiction about Provence.

So, since I disliked "A Year in Provence" so much, you might be wondering why I chose to feature Peter Mayle this week.
1)I know the book was immensely popular, so just because *I* didn't like it doesn't mean *you* won't like it. So, on the off chance you hadn't heard of Peter Mayle, I wanted to bring him to your attention.
2)I think it is important that people understand that Peter Mayle's view of Provence is exceedingly skewed. What he has presented in A Year in Provence, and probably his other books, is a fantasy about living in Southern France, not a reality.
3)It's been a very long time since I posted a review that was actually NEGATIVE, as it's been so long since I read a book I didn't like. I wanted to show you guys that I really don't love ALL books, in case you'd forgotten.
4)Sometimes I like being mean; it can be so fun to say mean things!! :-P (I'm just kidding about this one, in case you didn't get that).

And now that concludes this week's French Friday! I do hope you've enjoyed your time here! In the meantime, if I somehow peaked your interest, you can check out Peter Mayle at his website here. And don't forget to check out Charlotte's weekly French Friday Contribution at The Book on the Hill.

The biography was copied without permission from his website.