From My Reader

Today I have an eclectic group of links for you:
Makeuseof.com recommended Criticker, a movie recommendation site.
To prepare your kids (or yourself) for mass next week, Catholic Mom has series of coloring pages and worksheets.
I've heard there are people who are looking for something to read. While I can't relate, given my large TBR stacks, if you are one of them, MakeUseOf has a post about sites that recommend books.
I emailed my son this site about Tips for Gamers.
Afraid to turn your kids loose on YouTube, but want to let them watch videos online? Check out this Research Buzz article on a video site for kids.
I don't mind paying more to get more, but I hate paying more than I have to for a particular item. If you want to know the cheapest place to download a song, try this site.
I'm not a movie watcher, but if you are, you may like this site where you can search for movies you can watch online.

Mailbox Monday

Marica at the Printed Page hosts this weekly meme where book bloggers tell you what showed up in their mailboxes. Stop by and check out some new (and old) blogs.
The summer deluge of books is starting to slow, which is a good thing since school starts today and my reading time will now be interrupted by reading to my little one and helping the big ones with homework. I got these books this week: Piece de Resistance, which is the third book in a series about a young American woman who becomes a French chef. I have the second, Bon Appetit sitting in my room; guess its time to move it closer to the top of the stack. Piece de Resistance is for a First Wildcard tour. I got two other books via First Wildcard: The Great Christmas Bowl which is about one mother's hilarious quest to serve up the perfect holiday and Cottonwood Whispers which is a sequel to Fireflies in December. The nice folks at Hatchette sent me Cult Insanity which is about polygamists. From the Catholic Company I got Fire of God's Love: 120 Reflections on the Eucharist, which went with me to adoration Friday nite.

Holy Bullet: My Review

I got my review copy of this book from Goodreads' program. I don't usually read thrillers and spy stories so maybe that's why I don't "get" this book, but I don't. Basically, this is the story of a bunch of spies, intelligence agencies, and operatives, all of whom are working together and apart to make sure what is secret stays secret. There were no real good guys and while I think there was one bad guy on whom everything could be blamed, at the end of the book my general thought was "all that trouble, all those deaths, for THAT?"

I found the book difficult to read. There were chapters set in the present day, some in the 1980's, some in other years. The non-current chapters were generally dated. There were a lot of characters and it was hard to remember who was who and with whom. Perhaps if spy thrillers are a favorite genre for you, your opinion of this book would be different from mine, but I was disappointed in this book. I like things nicely wrapped up--a reason for the mayhem if you would, and I didn't get that.

From Amazon: An international journalist, a war-weary Portuguese veteran, a Muslim with visions of the Virgin MAry, a rogue priest, and members of the world's most pwoerful--and secretive--organizations come together after the suspicous death of Pope John Paul I. A few operatives bold enough to penetrate the Vatican's shadowy inner circle will investigate what went wrong--and try to prevent the popular new pope from meeting the same fate.

In London, journalist Sarah Monteiro is again drawn into the web of international conspiracy, and must reunite--reluctantly--with the mysterious priest/assassin Rafael, and the sinister mastermind known only as JC. Sarah's and Rafael's commitment to truth and justice could prove to be extremely dangerous, for thema nd for John Paul II, especially if they discover the true power behind the papal throne. Author Bio:Luis Miguel Rocha was born in Oporto, Portugal, and worked for many years in London as a television writer and producer.

Blog Tour and Review: The Believer

Somewhere, once upon a time, I happened onto a book about the Shakers, a religious sect that prospered during the 1800's. As was my habit, I then went looking for more information about them (so no, research is not a new interest, the internet has just changed how I do it). I found that the Shakers were an Anabaptist sect founded by an Englishwoman who had suffered through an unhappy marriage and had lost four babies. She believed she was the second coming of Christ and that God had told her that the believers were to live together communally, in celibacy. While they had a formal name, they were known as Shakers (or Shaking Quakers) because of their mode of worship, which was to perform what we'd now probably call line dances to religious music. While never huge, the group grew to several large colonies before it started to decline. One thing for which the Shakers were known was not turning away people in need. One way they grew or replenished their numbers was to take in orphans.

With that as background, it doesn't take much imagination to figure out the end of the story when the cover shows a young man and young woman making eyes at each other. However, the story itself was interesting, and gives what my memory of my long-ago research says is a pretty accurate depiction of Shaker life. Ethan, the hero, was kidnapped by his father from the home where is dying mother left him. He escapes from his father and is found and taken in by the Shakers. He finds a surrogate father in one of the men and sees no reason to leave the life in which he has grown up. Elizabeth, the heroine, seeks out the Shakers as sanctuary when her widowed father dies leaving her with two younger siblings and a very aggressive and unwanted suitor. Her father had told her about some seeds he purchased from the Shakers and had mentioned that they didn't turn anyone away. She and her sister have difficulty adjusting to Shaker life, and Ethan starts questioning it when, for the first time, he feels desire for a woman. The suitor she is trying to avoid is the bad guy in the book and yes, everything works out for the best.

Ann Gabhart does a good job of working Shaker customs and beliefs into the story. She shows the characters as human; some good, some less than so. She points out both the advantages of communal living Shaker-style, and the disadvantages. In short, this may not be the great American novel, but it is an interesting enjoyable easy read.

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.