By the time this post is published, we will all be back home, but right this moment, as I type this up, we are enjoying our last day at Daufuskie, a secluded island near Hilton Head, SC and Savannah, GA. We were lucky to score a cottage (without having to break the bank) with front-row access to the beach, something that has always been on my bucket list and that I was thrilled to cross off. This week has been very refreshing and just what I needed - a getaway, a break from it all, a retreat with family with no thoughts of work, to-do lists, and chores getting in the way. The island sure runs on its own time. The streetlights aren't turned ON at night to avoid attracting turtles too far from their ideal nesting place. There's the alligator crossing time at night when they go from pond to pond visiting friends (and hence tourists are advised to stay home when it's dark). There are very few cars - instead the preferred mode of transportation is via golf carts, which can go o
This meme is hosted by MizB at Should be reading. What great books did you hear about/discover this past week?
My finds
This week, I came across some really interesting books.
Fireworks over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff
Lily was married for just days before her husband was sent abroad to
fight in WWII. Now, he and the other soldiers are returning, and the
small town of Toccoa, Georgia plans a big celebration. But a handsome
and kind Italian immigrant, responsible for the elaborate fireworks
display the town commissioned captures Lily's heart and soul. Torn
between duty to society and her husband, and a poor, passionate man who
might be her only true love--Lily must choose between a love she never
knew and a commitment she'd already made.
Seventeen-year-old Colt has been sneaking out at night to meet Julia, a
girl from an upper-class neighborhood unlike his own. They’ve never
told anyone else about their relationship: not their family or friends,
and especially not Julia’s boyfriend.When Julia dies suddenly, Colt
tries to cope with her death while pretending that he never even knew
her. He discovers a journal she left behind. But he is not prepared for
the truths he discovers about their intense relationship, nor to pay
the price for the secrets he’s kept.
First published in 1892, The Yellow Wall-Paper is written as
the secret journal of a woman who, failing to relish the joys of
marriage and motherhood, is sentenced to a country rest cure. Though
she longs to write, her husband and doctor forbid it, prescribing
instead complete passivity. In the involuntary confinement of her
bedroom, the hero creates a reality of her own beyond the hypnotic
pattern of the faded yellow wallpaper รข€“ a pattern that has come to
symbolize her own imprisonment. Narrated with superb psychological and
dramatic precision, The Yellow Wall-Paper stands out not only
for the imaginative authenticity with which it depicts one woman's
descent into insanity, but also for the power of its testimony to the
importance of freedom and self-empowerment for women.
American pathologist Nora Gavin has come to the Irish midlands to
examine a body unearthed by peat workers at a desolate spot known as
the Lake of Sorrows. As with all the artifacts culled from its
prehistoric depths, the bog has effectively preserved the dead man's
remains, and his multiple wounds suggest he was the victim of the
ancient pagan sacrifice known as the triple death. But signs of a more
recent slaying emerge when a second body, bearing a similar wound
pattern, is found -- this one sporting a wristwatch. Someone has come
to this quagmire to sink their dreadful handiwork -- and Nora soon
realizes that she is being pulled deeper into the land and all it
holds: the secrets to a cache of missing gold, a tumultuous love affair
with archeologist Cormac Maguire, the dark mysteries and desires of the
workers at the site, and a determined killer fixated on the gruesome
notion of triple death.
Comments
I'm interested in Fireworks over Toccoa also.
I've read Erin Hart's first book, Haunted Ground, and I remember liking it. I should probably get around to reading Lake of Sorrows also.
Great choices!
Have read Lake of Sorrows and enjoyed it.
Cat, that makes two of us who didn't hear of The Yellow Wallpaper. :) Glad to hear you liked Lake of Sorrows.
bermudaonion, Aleksandra, Fireworks over Toccoa has been making big news in the blog world lately. I can't wait to read it soon!
purplg8r, glad to hear you liked The Secret Year. I can't wait to hear how you liked Fireworks over Toccoa.
Sherry, thanks for making it here!! :)
You have great taste!