Loitering with Intent

I started reading Stuart Wood’s Stone Barrington novels a few years ago when we moved to the Miramichi and had easy library access. I like them. Stone is a lawyer / detective who seems to fall into situations that need to be unraveled. Loitering with Intent (Stone Barrington Novels) is his latest adventure, and it lives up to the rest of the series.

I like these books as they are similar to the Kinsey Malone series, and you can read them out of order. Or, at least the order you read them in doesn’t mean so much, as the events in the background aren’t linear.

If you like that kind of book, you should definitely pick it up. I prefer the paperbacks.

Disclaimer: Penguin Canada provided me a copy of this book for review.

Loser’s Town

Loser’s Town: A David Spandau Novel by Daniel Depp is billed as “gritty noir fiction & Hollywood insider novel”. I thought it was depressing with no redeeming characters whatsoever. Daniel Depp is indeed related to Johnny Depp - they’re brothers, and he’s written screenplays. When I read that, I went, “Ahh!” as the book reads like a movie. Probably one done by Quentin Tarentino. It’s violent, sometimes excessively so. The patter of conversations were excellent though - staccato delivery, like an actor’s lines.

If it was a movie, it would have been enjoyable. As a book, not so much.

Disclaimer: this book was provided to me for review by Penguin Canada.

Connected Parenting review

Connected Parenting
by Jennifer Kolari promises to “transform your challenging child and build living bonds for life”. The main premise of her techniques are the CALM technique:

Connect
Affect
Listen
Mirror

For harried parents of young children stuck in the rat race of modern life, this book could be a lifesaver. Or at least an eye opener. For me, my kids are mostly all older and I have followed some of the same premises. Treating them like people, for example. The part I didn’t like was ultimately this is about getting kids to do what you say. I wasn’t very happy with the section on school battles, for instance. There are times when the child who really resists going to school has serious issues happening, and would be better off being pulled out. There’s no acknowledgment of that possibility.

I’m probably too far out in the alternative to get much out of this book, as well as having older kids, but mainstream parents who are at their wits end and willing to try something new should pick it up in paperback.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from Penguin Canada.

New Books!

Castle: Medieval Days and Knights (A Sabuda & Reinhart Pop-up Book)

We bought this book at the incredible price of FOUR DOLLARS. I have no iea why Amazon has it listed twice at two different prices - both hardcover. I literally stumbled across it while topping up an order using a gift card we got. This book is seriously awesome. A nice overview of the highlights of castle life with stunning pop-ups. The architecture of the pieces will keep adults occupied, while the detail given to the illustrations is just amazing. There’s even a miniature working catapult inside. Seriously! This book is so great, I would have paid full retail for it, so that’s saying something. You can see some pictures of Emma reading it here on Flickr.

We also bought The Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World, over which Meaghan and I fell headlong into like with. It’s like your best girlfriend, dear to your heart, is giving you the advice you *must* know if you are to move up in the world. It’s an adorable book, well-suited for young ladies of historical leaning towards upstart young authoresses. More for entertainment than serious study, it’s lightheartedness doesn’t detract from the stalwart advice within.

Unpacking books and library trips

I was unpacking books yesterday, which really is not as simple as it seems. I mean, you’d think it was simple, like:

- open box
- remove books
- place on shelf.

But no.

It’s more like, open box, gasp to myself, roll eyes or go “Hmmm.. that’s where that went…” followed by removing some book sthen standing bewildered while I figure out what shelf to put them on, use my other hand to cram previously shelved books off to the side and hopefully wedge the new handfull of books in.

The sad part is I have read almost every book in the house at least once (or skimmed enough to tell you about it) and yet we all still have the compunction to go visit our friendly librarians every couple of weeks.

Today is one of those days.

I find myself surrounded by boxes and stacks of books, yet nothing to read.

At some point there will be pictures. And it will be scary. I was commenting to Melissa earlier about the amount of books we have. Yet I could barely purge before we moved. There’s ten bookcases in the house and not enough shelving to hold them all.

What a horrible problem to have.

Foggy Cat

My aunt Glenda wrote a book! Actually, she wrote it a while ago (last year I think) for a contest and she won. They had a big ceremony and book reading at the governer-general’s house and everything, which we missed because I had just come out of the hospital. She did send a signed copy though and it holds a place of honour with all our other signed-by-author books.

We give it two paws up. The only down side is the cat in the book is not black, like Portia is. Portia was the inspiration for the book.

I’m sorry to say that it’s not available on Amazon, and it was a limited print run, but they are doing a second printing, so that’s a good sign! Because she was the contest winner, a copy of the book will be given to every new mom in the province, as part of the Early literacy program. (I still have the books and the bag they came in when Emma was born.)

You can get the book from:

The UNB bookstore
Westminster Books