My Journal

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ISBN: Global Overview for this book
Registered by tania-in-nc of Mooresville, North Carolina USA on 8/6/2005
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Saturday, August 6, 2005
This journal is to record books read from either booksfree.com or from the library.

[edited to include a alphabetical index for easy finding

At Close Range -- October 12th, 2005
Black Ice -- August 15th, 2005
Dark Horse -- October 7th, 2005
Heaven's Song -- August 29th, 2005
Indigo Celebration -- August 19th, 2005
Odd Thomas -- August 27th, 2005
Tears of the Moon -- today
The Home -- September 6th, 2005
The Sleeping Father -- September 13th, 2005
Timewalker -- August 10th, 2005
Wanting Something More -- November 6th, 2005]

The first one ...

"Tears of the Moon" by Di Morrissey, c. 1995.

This copy comes from booksfree.com

Book Description via Amazon...
Not since The Thorn Birds has the lush and romantic land of Australia been brought so vividly to life. Tears of the Moon is the thrilling and dramatic story of an endless love that overcomes all odds.

Lily Barton's most prized possession is a beautiful tear-drop pearl pendant. Alone in the world, she has no idea where it came from or why she has it. But she is desperate to learn more of her forgotten past, to find her identity and claim her legacy, whatever it might be. Seeking everwhere for answers, she discovers her great-grandmother Olivia's diary. Across the years it reaches out to her, revealing the truth behind a love that is so profound, so passionate and so complete, that nothing can destroy the power of its magic.

Started this one after Scandalous by Karen Robards, c. 2001

I collect quotes as I read. These ones are fun, poetical, or even philosophical. Take what you like, and leave the rest. Note that these aren't necessarily the "best" in the book. These happen to be close to the spot where I stopped reading each night.

Brother Frederick made a note of the event in his journal and never mentioned it again. Life and death were like leaves falling from a tree to him. p321
[comment: interesting analogy]

-- oh, i loved this book. There was enough adventure to be of interest and I learnt things all the way.

Journal Entry 2 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Wednesday, August 10, 2005
"Timewalker," by Aimee Thurlo, c. 1994

timeframe from June 1864 to June 1993

This is next after Succession by Joyce Carlow, c. 1994

passages ...

... their lives extinguished like burning twigs cast into the river. p5

She waited for him to join her. "What were you doing?"
"It's a prayer to a new day," he explained. "Pollen is life, and we scatter it as a blessing." p141
[comment: Native American 'custom']

--
oh, copy is from booksfree.com

I found this book to be okay. Perhaps it was because there were too many plot lines?

Journal Entry 3 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Monday, August 15, 2005
"Black Ice," by Anne Stuart, c. 2005

This is next after "Timewalker," by Aimee Thurlo, c. 1994 -- see above. Copy is from the Mooresville Public Library.

Fun quotes ..

"You wouldn't mind that, would you, Chloe?"
She'd rather have her toes eaten by lizards. "That would be fine." p314
[comment: i like the lizards part]

Journal Entry 4 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Friday, August 19, 2005
"An Indigo Celebration," by Lee Carroll and Jan Tober, c. 2001

On loan from a friend. I'm looking forward to it. Subtitled: More messages, Stories, Insights From the Indigo Children.

reading after "Black Ice" see above

Things to ponder ...

In the first Indigo book, we told parents that the best thing they could do was to: (1) respect their children as friends, and (2) give them choice. Many have reported that the best method for parenting Indigos was to treat them as adults in small bodies who are trying to "remember" everything. You're just helping them with rediscovery. Would you yell at a friend you didn't want to eat when you did? No. Then don't do it with children either. If you don't treat these kids with respect, they will often come down on you in ways that aren't childlike. p38

His behavior here (drugs, drinking, DUIs) stretched me to every limit. He had many accidents, walking away from many without a scratch, until the last one. Then "poof!" - he was gone. My test was to either transform spiritually or crumble. I chose transformation. p227

Journal Entry 5 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Saturday, August 27, 2005
"Odd Thomas," by Dean Koontz, c. 2003

Book is from booksfree.com

This is next after Spitting Feathers by Kelly Harte, c. 2004

--

Fortunately, his movements were nearly as slow and methodical as the growth of mildew. By the time he backed out of his parking space, I was able to follow him without leaving scraps of blistered skin on the steering wheel. p72
[comment: I like the mildew part]

"Odd, I would be indescribably disappointed if, having not yet employed your writing gift to any useful purpose, you wound up dead tomorrow?"
"Just think how I'd feel."
"I might wish that you'd grow wiser faster, get a gain and write a book, but I won't wish anyone's life away for him. 'How swift are the feet of the days of the years of youth.'"
Giving attribution to the quote, I said, "Mark Twain."
"Excellent! Perhaps you aren't a willfully ignorant young fool, after all." p135

Her husband, Rafael, who'd left her and who'd contributed not one penny to his children's welfare, was a fool of such dimensions that he should have been required to dress like a jester, complete with silly hat and curled-toe-shoes. p195

Dr. Takuda is on the faculty of California State University at Pico Mundo. He teaches twentieth-century American literature.
Considering the modern and contemporary literature taught in most universities is a largely bleak, cynical, morbid, pessimistic, misanthropic dogmatism, often written by suicidal types who sooner or later kill themselves with alcohol or drugs, or shotguns, Professor Takuda was a remarkably cheerful man. p329
[comment: I thought this was interesting ...]

Journal Entry 6 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Sunday, August 28, 2005
Books read June 28th, 2005 to August 27th, 2005

Like Father, Like Daughter by Judith Bowen, c. 1998
An Indigo Celebration by Lee Carroll and Jan Tober, c. 2001
Black Ice by Anne Stuart, c. 2005
Timewalker by Aimee Thurlo, c. 1994
Succession by Joyce Carlow, c. 1984
Life & Times of Michael K. by J.M. Coetzee, c. 1983
Tears of the Moon by Di Morissey, c. 1995
Scandalous by Karen Robards, c. 2001
Lion's Lady by Suzanne Barclay, c. 1998
Apocalypse Watch by Robert Ludlum, c. 1995
The Photograph, by Penelope Lively, c. 2003 -- link goes to blog as it's from booksfree.com. See entry of July 21st, 2005
The Angel of Devil's Camp by Lynna Banning, c. 2003
Split Second, by David Baldacci, c. 2003 -- link goes to blog as it's from booksfree.com. See entry of July 15th, 2005
The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney, c. 1999
Summer Secrets, by Barbara Freethy, c. 2003 -- link goes to blog as it's from Davidson Library. See entry of July 7th, 2005
Remembrance by Jude Deveraux, c. 1994
The Clothes They Stood Up In, by Alan Bennett, c. 1994 -- link goes to blog as it's from booksfree.com. See entry of June 26th, 2005

Journal Entry 7 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Monday, August 29, 2005
"Heaven's Song," by Marilyn Kok, c. 1997

This book from booksfree.com happens to be next after The Duchess and Her Bodyguard by Mollie Molay, c. 2002.

-- update September 5th, 2005. Change of plan in terms of reading order. I finished "Duchess" in the middle of the night and rather than go downstairs to get "Heaven's Song" I started Almost an Angel by Debbie Macomber, c. 1989.

quotes ...

But how stupid to be thinking of anything with C. She was just starting graduate school. He would be finished in a few months. And long-distance relationships had about as much chance as a Packers bumper sticker making it through a weekend in Dallas. p96
[comment: I liked the comparison]

Journal Entry 8 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Tuesday, September 6, 2005
"The Home," by Scott Nicholson, c. 2005

Copy is from Mooresville Public Library

This is next after The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher, c. 1987.

From back cover:

"A terrific writer. Like Stephen King,he knows how to summon serious scares." - Bentley Little


Update September 18th, 2005 -- a bookring has snuck in ahead of this book -- just finished Shell Seekers and now it's Rites of Passage by William Golding, c. 1980

The floor was tiled, spattered gray and brown, the kind that hid blood stains and vomit. A strip of worn red carpet lay along its middle like a weary tongue. p14

Guys these days thought just because you kissed them meant you were obligated to roll back the sheets and let them wallow like hogs in the slop of your skin. p125

And then he broke through, bridged with her as she was trying to reach him, and for the most beautiful, terrible moment they were linked, their sentences cramming together and overflowing like two glasses of water poured into a third, thoughts circling and dancing and taking on meanings beyond words. p300

--

I'm not sure that I would classify this as horror - a thriller perhaps? Passable read.

Journal Entry 9 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Tuesday, September 13, 2005
"The Sleeping Father," by Matthew Sharpe, c. 2003

Copy is from booksfree.com

From back cover:

Bernard Schwartz has lost his wife, his career, and finally, thanks to the accidental combination of two classes of antidepressants, his consciousness. He emerges from a coma to find his son Chris, the perpetual smart-ass, and his daughter, Cathy, a Jewish teen turned self-martyered Catholic, stumbling headlong toward trauma-induced maturity. The Sleeping Father is about the loss of innocence, the disorienting innocence of second childhood, the biochemical mechanics of sanity and love, the nature of language and meaning, and spirituality of selfhood. But most of all it is about the Schwartzes, a singular yet typical American family, making their way the best way they know how in a small town called Bellwether, CT.

To be read after What About the Big Stuff by Richard Carlson, c. 2002

passages:

They stepped off the blacktop of the parking lot onto the packed dirt of the path that led down into the woods behind it. The woods were like a mustache of wilderness between the gelid nose of the high school and the hot maw of the adult world. p17

February arrived. Some people celebrated this fact, others bemoaned it. Chris was among the latter, always the latter. Time moved forward, erratically perhaps, but never so erratically that it moved backward, or to the side: just that one outrageous direction, as if Time were a dutiful idiot sent on an infinitely long errand. Space, on the other hand, could move backward and to the side. Not that space was any great shakes. Space was pretty stupid too. Space was limited. In Time, at least, two or more things could co-exist in a given space, whereas in Space, only one thing could exist in a given space. The worst was when you put Time and Space together. They diminished each other. They added up to less than the sum of their parts. Thought, however, could do things Time and Space couldn't. Thought could go backward and forward in time, and legend had it you could hold up to seven thoughts at one in the single space of your head. But Thought was weak compared to Time and Space, and entirely dependent on them. One little puff of nitrous oxide to the brain and Thought was obliterated, whereas Time and Space had always existed and would always exist, world without end. p139

Journal Entry 10 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Friday, October 7, 2005
"Dark Horse," by Tami Hoag c. 2002

This is next after The Villa Faustino by Katrina Britt, c. 1977. Book is from booksfree.com

Passages:

The difference was that now it mattered to me.
Somewhere in all this, hope had snuck in the back door. If it had come knocking, I would have turned it away as quickly as I would turn away a door-to-door missionary. 'No thanks. I don't want what you're selling.'
"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings without words
And never stops - at all -- Emily Dickinson
I didn't want to have hope for myself. I wanted to simply exist.
Existence is uncomplicated. One foot in front of the other. Eat, sleep, function. Living, truly living, with all the emotion and risk that entails, is hard work. Every risk presents the possibility of both success and failure. Every emotion has a counterbalance. Fear cannot exist without hope, nor hope without fear. I wanted neither. I had both. p317

Journal Entry 11 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Wednesday, October 12, 2005
"At Close Range," by Marilyn Tracy, c. 2003

This is next after She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb, c. 1994

Change of plan ... a bookring came in the mail and snuck ahead of this book. The book is The Ghost Road by Pat Barker, c. 1995

Passages..

She wasn't what he'd expected [as a radio host]. He'd heard her voice a million times, a thousand hours beyond that. Low and sultry, her subdued voice, with its inherent sexuality, had led him to picture her to be long-legged, lush and ultraseductive.
Instead, she appeared scarcely tethered to this planet, held down by sheer gravity only. The epitome of petite, she was an almost elfin creature, only some five foot something, all long delicate fingers, sloe eyes and cheery red toenails. And yet, her gaze, somewhat shy and attempting to hide her nervousness, spoke volumes. And let him know she was lying. p16


Journal Entry 12 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Saturday, October 15, 2005
Books read August 28th to about October 6th, 2005

The Villa Faustino by Katrina Britt, c. 1977
Mirror Image by Danielle Steel, c. 1998
The Sleeping Father by Matthew Sharpe, c. 2003
What About the Big Stuff by Richard Carlson, c. 2002
The Home by Scott Nicholson, c. 2005
Rites of Passage by William Golding, c. 1980
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher, c. 1987
Amber by Night by Sharon Sala, c. 2003
The Firm by John Grisham, c. 1991
Heaven's Song by Marilyn Kok, c. 1997
Almost an Angel by Debbie Macomber, c. 1989
The Duchess and Her Bodyguard by Mollie Molay, c. 2002
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz, c. 2004
Spitting Feathers by Kelly Harte, c. 2004
The Christmas Basket by Debbie Macomber, c. 2002

Journal Entry 13 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Sunday, November 6, 2005
I have a Booksfree.com copy of "Wanting Something More" by Kathy Love, c. 2005.

This is going to be next after The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker, c. 1993.

Update November 9th, 2005 -- Starting this one this afternoon.

This was pure, pure escapism. It was fun, though.


Journal Entry 14 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Wednesday, November 9, 2005
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