Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: The Chaos by Rachel Ward

First line: The knock on the door comes early in the morning, just as it’s getting light.

Book description:

When he was a little boy, Adam learned about the numbers.

The first ones he saw were Jem’s. That was how he knew she was going to die.

Adam inherited his mother’s curse. With a vengeance. When he stares into someone’s eyes, he doesn’t just see the date of their death, he feels the searing, shocking pain of it.

Orphaned, Adam has grown up by the sea with his great-grandmother, Val. But as rising tides flood the coast, they flee to London. The city is an alien, anarchic place. Most disturbing of all, Adam can’t help but clock how many people’s numbers are in January 2027; how many are on New Year’s Day.

What chaos awaits the world?

Can Adam and his damaged friend Sarah stop a catastrophe?

Or are they, too, counted among the "twenty-sevens"?

Book Details: 352 pages; Chicken House; Pub. March 2011

Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: Totally Tangled by Sandy Steen Bartholomew

Initial thoughts: I’d never heard of Zentangles before, but the idea intrigued me. I looked it up online and found the originator’s website selling an instructional kit for around $50. Um, no. Not for something I wasn’t sure I’d be all that interested in doing.

I decided to check out Amazon and found a few books that were more reasonably priced and decided on Totally Tangled because of the positive reviews.

I’ve gone through it and I have mixed feelings. Zentangles seems like it could be a fun relaxing way to release some creative energy, but the book is much lighter on the instruction than I anticipated.

Review forthcoming. Review completed.

Book description:

Can’t draw? Stressed out? Even if you are an artist and feel perfectly calm…Zentangle is for you! Learn to focus, relax your mind and boost your creative confidence. No kidding!

Book Details: 50 pages; Design Originals; Pub. April 6, 2010

Happy Tuesday! It’s time again for another edition of Teaser Tuesdays…

Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read
• Let the book fall open to a random page
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• You also need to share the title of the book where you get your teaser from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given
• Please avoid spoilers

This week’s teaser:

"Carts were used to wheel it all in. It was dumped in the middle of the town square and dowsed with something sweet." pg. 109 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I have no idea what I’m getting myself into with this book, but I’ve seen it mentioned and heard nothing but good things, so I’m hoping I won’t be disappointed.

To be honest, I didn’t realize that it dealt with such heavy subject matter matter and not sure if it’s something I can handle right now…but I’ll try.

(“Grammatical errors in Twilight?” is searched for so often that I felt it deserved its own post.)

First, there are many grammatical errors in Twilight, however, in my opinion, the worst is the one that happens on page nine since it’s glaring* and should have been caught within the first or second round of edits.

“The room was familiar; it had been belonged to me since I was born.” –Twilight pg. 9 (technically 7 if we go by the start of the chapter)

Various sources tell me that this has been fixed in later reprints, so I’m hoping that means my edition is a collector’s item and one day I’ll be able to sell it on eBay for a bazillion dollars. Anyone care to make me an offer?

*Did you see what I did there? (I understand that only those who’ve read the book will probably get it.)

Happy Tuesday! It’s time again for another edition of Teaser Tuesdays…

Here are the rules:

• Grab your current read
• Let the book fall open to a random page
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• You also need to share the title of the book where you get your teaser from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given
• Please avoid spoilers

This week’s teaser:

The others followed his example, putting their packs against the bank and their legs out into the road. After a rest they had a good lunch, and then more rest. pg. 74 The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

It’s probably not a surprise, but I love The Lord of the Rings and it’s been a very long time since I read any part of it. I’ve had this mammoth single volume edition sitting on my bookshelf for too long, so I decided to read it a chapter at a time in between my other books. So far, I’ve smiled, gasped, and laughed…and it’s reminded me why I prefer reading books before watching movies–so many little things end up changed in a movie and a book povides you with the broader picture, usually. (But to be clear, I think the movie production was awesome.)