Carol's Notebook

Thanks to Marcia at The Printed Page for hosting Mailbox Monday. I got two in the mail this week, and I picked up a few at the bookstore. Our Waldenbooks is closing and all the books are at least 40% off. Of course, that's the only bookstore we have in town that sells new books, so it's pretty sad that we're losing it. We have a used bookstore downtown, but it just opened a couple of weeks ago and I haven't made it down yet. The Italian's Inexperienced Mistress by Lynne Graham When Angelo Riccardi sought revenge Gwenna Hamilton added another, delicious dimension. Innocent and pretty, she had no chance when the Italian tycoon offered her the devil's bargain: pay for her father's freedom with her body. In her naiveté, Gwenna thought that Angelo would tire of her and her innocence very quickly. But he had more in mind than just one night…   Wally the Walking Fish: Meets Madison and Cooper by Gary Lamit When...

I thought I’d let you know some of the giveaways I ran across this week. As always, my current giveaways are listed on my sidebar and make sure you check out West of Mars- Win a Book! where there's always a ton of links to great contests, interviews and guest posts. The Devil's Queen by Jeanne Kalogridis, at Books 'n Border Collies (ends August 14, International) The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer, at S. Krishna's Books (ends August 16, US) Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett, at Pop Culture Junkie (ends August 19, US) The Glamorous (Double) Life of Isabel Bookbinder by Holly McQueen, The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano, That Went Well by Terrell Harris Dougan, and Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann, at At Home with Books (ends August 27, US and Canada) The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst, at Wendy's Minding Spot (ends August 17, US) Pope Joan byDonna Woolfolk Cross, at The Tome Traveler (ends August 19,...

 Friday Firsts is a monthly meme hosted by Wendy at We Read. An easy FF this month (but one of my favourites because I’m passionate about first lines)…let’s have a teaser from your current read…first line/title/author please.   I once listened to an Indian on television say that God was in the wind and the water, and I wondered at how beautiful that was because it meant you could swim in Him or have Him brush your face in a breeze. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller ...

Lenore at Presenting Lenore, among others, got me thinking about where my last 20 books came from and how does that affect my blog. I've listed the last 20 books I've commented on here and where the books came from. Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter - from the library as a Lenten devotional The Celery Stalks at Midnight by James Howe - from the library, Amber's choice Murder Uncorked by Michele Scott - from the library for an on-line book group A Night at the Operation by Jeffrey Cohen - purchased at the Festival of Mystery in Oakmont The Case of the Night-Stalking Bone Monster by John R. Erickson - from the library, Amber's choice Trinity by Joseph F. Girzone - from the library The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - from the library for an on-line book group The Mystery of the Black Raven created by Getrude Chandler Warner - from the library, Amber's choice The Dragon of Doom by Bruce Coville - audiobook from the library for...

Join in at Booking through Thursday. What’s the most serious book you’ve read recently? (I figure it’s easier than asking your most serious boook ever, because, well, it’s recent!) "Serious" is a hard one. What makes a book serious? It's tone, it's topic? If it makes me really think about the subject? I'm not sure, and I don't read many books that I consider truly serious. Looking at my list of recent reads, only one really jumps out at me, Bread and Wine, wich I finished back in May. What about you ? What serious books have you read recently?...

Thanks to Bermudaonion's Weblog for hosting this weekly event. Head over there to play along. My words this week are from Eyewitness to Jesus: Amazing New Manuscript Evidence About the Origin of the Gospels by Carsten Peter Thiede and Matthew D'Ancona.   potsherd- A fragment of broken pottery, especially one found in an archaeological excavation ostracon- A potsherd, esp. one used as a ballot on which the name of a person voted to be ostracized was inscribed. "all sorts of materials—papyrus, parchment...wax tablets, potsherds (so-called ostraca) and so forth.   polemical- Of or relating to a controversy, argument, or refutation. "Even the Babylonian Talmud, polemical and aggressive wherever it refers to Christianity"   philology- The study of literary texts and of written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning. "In brief, classical philogists do not doubt that the text without epi ten gen is not only the shorter by also the better original version."   itacism- Pronunciation of  (eta) as the modern Greeks pronounce it,...