Observatory Mansions: A Book Blurb

OBSERVATORY MANSIONS

by Edward Carey

The Blurb 

With his parents and other equally maladjusted misfits and eccentrics, Francis Orme lives in Observatory Mansions, once a magnificent ancestral home with beautiful grounds, now a crumbling apartment block. In a blocked off corridor of the basement if Francis's Exhibition: a carefully catalogues and private display of the hundreds of items he has ever stolen, all of them precious to their original owners. But the arrival of a new tenant upsets the delicate balance of Observatory Mansions and Francis finds himself taking drastic measures to protect the secrets of his past and the sanctity of his collection.

The First Line 

I wore white gloves.

Why I Decided to Take on the Read

The bizarre cover made me grab it. I like the handwriting font used at the back of the book. The front cover displays the things that Francis is collecting. The drawing is weird. The handwriting is weird. The objects are weird. And I thought to myself, I must read it.

Post Script. The copy that I have obtained has a different look. Take a look at it here. 

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Five Quarters of the Orange: A Book Blurb

The Blurb

When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous woman they hold responsible for a tragedy during the German occupation years ago. But the past and present are inextricably entwined, particularly in a scrapbook of recipes and memories that Framboise has inherited from her mother. And soon Framboise will realize that the journal also contains the key to ther tragedy that indelibly marked that summer of her ninth year....

The First Line

When my mother died she left the farm to my brother, Cassis, the fortune in the wine cellar to my sister, Reine-Claude, and to me, the youngest, her album and a two-liter jar containing a single black Périgord truffle, large as a tennis ball, suspended in sunflower oil, that, when uncorked, still releases the rich dank perfume of the forest floor.

Why I Decided to Take on the Read

I was instantly owned by this book upon my eyes laid upon it. The cover has a finely grainy texture. The wicked black font and orange peel on the cover made me want to go home and read it. The first line was breathtaking. Long sentences with carefully picked dainty words are love to me.

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The Birth of Venus: A Book Blurb

The blurb

Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family's Florence palazzo. A child of Renaissance with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the artist's abilities.                                                                                             But Alessandra's parents have made plans for their daughter, and she is soon married off to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, the reign of the Medicis, with their love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, is being threatened by the hellfire preaching and increasing brutality of the fundamentalist monk Savonarola and his reactionary followers. As the city shudders with violence and change, Alessandra must find her own way -- and finally explore the passions she's kept so long at bay.
Why I decided to take on the read

First, I love the cover. The pages' thinness and color takes me to book heaven. And I like the way the blurb is written. And I share a thing with Alessandra -- I'm fighting for one of the passions. And the first line (of the novel) was so intriguing. It got me.

Take a look at the first page here. 

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The Piano Tuner: A Book Blurb

The blurb

In 1886 a shy, middle-aged piano tuner named Edgar Drake receives an unusual commission from the British War Office: to travel to the remote jungles of northeast Burma and there repair a rare piano belonging to an eccentric army surgeon who has proven mysteriously indispensable to the imperial design. From this irresistible beginning, The Piano Tuner launches readers into a world of seductive, vibrantly rendered characters, and enmeshes them in an unbreakable spell of stroytelling.

Why I decided to take on the read


First of all, I love and miss playing the piano. I figured if I could somehow connect with my passion even through reading all about it, then maybe I'd be happier. I have to say the reviews made me seal the Php60 deal.

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The Darwin Awards Next Evolution: A Book Blurb

AN ALL-NEW COLLECTION OF 

GENE POOL BELLY FLOPS

It doesn't require a Ph.D. to know that doing pull-ups off the edge of a seventh-floor balcony is a recipe for disaster. Or that it's a bad idea to put a paintball gun into your mouth and pull the trigger. Or to think twice before joyriding in a shopping cart strapped to an SUV. Darwin Award winners lack this basic sound judgment.

Named for Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, The Darwin Awards celebrates those who have dived headfirst into the shallow end of the gene pool. From offering a bear a beer to self-testing a Taser to jumping a drawbridge on a bike, The Darwin Awards Next Evolution honors these macabre and entertaining feats of hapless misjudgment. 

Fully illustrated and with over a hundred new awe-inspiring tales, including science essays from guest writers and answers to FAQs about evolution in action, The Darwin Awards Next Evolution demonstrates how uncommon common sense still is. 

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Dreamland: A Book Blurb

The blurb

Riley’s finding that the afterlife can be a lonely place when all you do is focus on work. So she goes to the place where dreams happen, hoping to find a way to contact her sister, Ever. She meets the director, who tells her about the two ways to send dreams. As a Dream Jumper, a person can jump into a dreamer’s dream, share a message, and participate. As a Dreamweaver, an entire dream can be created in a studio and sent to the dreamer. But Dreamweaving was outlawed decades ago, and the studio was boarded up. Thinking it’s her only way to reach out to her sister, Riley goes in search of the old studio. There she finds a ghost boy, who’s been creating and sending nightmares to people for years. In order to stop him and reach out to Ever, Riley is going to have to confront and overcome her own fears.

Why I Decided to Take on the Read




I won this book from Coffee Table Reviews! So, yeah, I'm lucky. :} 

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The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories: A Book Blurb

The Blurb

Faerie is never as far away as you think. Sometimes you find you have crossed an invisible line and must cope, as best you can, with petulant princesses, vengeful owls, ladies who pass their time embroidering terrible fates or with endless paths in deep, dark woods and houses that never appear the same way twice. The heroines and heroes bedeviled by such problems in these fairy tales include a conceited Regency clergyman, an eighteenth-century Jewish doctor and Mary, Queen of Scots, as well as two characters from Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: Strange himself and the Raven King. 

Why I Decided to Take on the Read

The blurb made me buy it. I love how Clarke crocheted fragile words and turned my imagination into a fairytale setting.

Stay tuned for my book review.

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Inviting More Book Lovers

I am totally excited with this week's task: Liking Facebook Blog Fan Pages!! :} So, without, further ado, let me proceed with this blog entry.

Thanks for this week's blog sponsors: Pink Memoirs and Postcard Enthusiast.

You can like my Facebook Page just by clicking the button below. I want to make it easier for you.

Much love,


Miss `C

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Put Your Dream to the Test: A Book Review

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The Chocolate Diaries: A Book Review

The Chocolate Diaries is not a recipe book. It's a book that contains sweet life stories, tips and quotes that could make a tough battle with life bearable. 

I got inspired by the drive through lane story. I would love to do that once in a while, but in my own little way. {I wouldn't want to be a spoiler and re-tell the whole story. You have to find out yourself.} It taught me on how one person can be good when everything is just a mess. The morale of the story will hold you back to do miserable and pathetic things that seems too easy (or stupid) to do when our life seems to suck.

The author also gets to talk about scientific processes that occur when we feel down or happy. Like how stress causes adrenaline, and in the process, fats are released into the bloodstream. So, we have all the reasons to be happy. Everyone doesn't like to be called fat, right?

And, I love Top 10 Reasons to be a Writer. Once again, I am disclosing those reasons. The article inspired me more to become a writer. I want to be a writer, even though it means only writing for myself. It is my passion. Even though I may suck at it, I still want to be a writer. But, if it's infinitely possible, I would write for my readers. 

However, I found reading the book to be dragging and redundant at times. That doesn't erase the great stories and thoughts that one could derive from the book though. 

To end the review, let me share to you some of the quotes I love in this book:

The sorrow which has no vent in tears may make other organs weep.

-- Henry Maudsley

When you need a quicker picker-upper, you can reach for a paper towel or some chocolate. Chocolate may taste better, but paper towels provide more dietary fiber. Tough choice, I know 

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How to be God's Little Princess: Book Review

How to be God's Little Princess

Royal Tips for Manners, Etiquette, and True Beauty

by Shiela Walsh with Jennifer Gerelds

This is my first book from BookSneeze.com and I was so excited to read it. The book has a light, princessy effect, with shimmering silver text titles on a pink background. When you open the book, you can also see that the sides of each page has pink hues, which dramatically fades in.

This book is dedicated to every young lady in the world and it holds guidelines on how a little girl can be a good Christian and how she can be pleasing to God and to others at such a young age. The guidelines ranges from how to obtain the regal posture and poise, how to apply table manners, how to wear a tiara, how to host a great party, how to write a thank you note, and what are the proper and improper things to do in cyberspace.

The way that these things are taught are made more interactive and fun through quizzes, cute illustrations, do-it-yourself's and scribbling sections. The faith in God of these little girls would be strengthened more and they would be taught how to act properly in different situations. Also, related Bible verses are printed on each new topic page. 

How to be God's Little Princess would make an excellent gift for young girls whose age is from 7 to 12 years old. This would definitely bring up a lady that is beautiful, inside and outside in the eyes of God.

I would be give it to my little cousin in the right time. She is just five years old now. :)

Buy This Book:

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