THE MEMOIRS OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS

by Carolly Erickson



"Born Queen of Scotland, married as a young girl to the King of France, Mary took the reins of the unruly kingdom of Scotland as a young widow and fought to keep her throne. Many believed that she, and not her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, was the rightful Queen of England, but this only fueled their bitter rivalry, ending in Mary's execution at age forty-four." (From the back of the St. Martin's Press Advance Readers' Edition.)

For a woman who spent a good chunk of her adult life in the custody of England's Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary of Scotland sure got around! The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots gives a whirlwind tour of Mary's life from her marriage to Francis, Dauphin of France, to her death, minus the intricate details. It makes for a fabulous light read, but leaves a more curious reader not already familiar with her story wondering who some of the other players are. Important people pop into and out of Mary's life with alarming speed and we never really get to know them or the motives for their actions, nor are Mary's always clear. A reader looking for more entertainment than history will be very pleased with Carolly Erickson's newest fiction offering. If you're looking for something meatier but still fiction, I would recommend Margaret George's Mary Queen of Scotland & The Isles.



Other Carolly Erickson books on Books 'N Border Collies:

The Last Wife of Henry VIII
The Tsarina's Daughter

206 BONES

by Kathy Reichs



"Tempe awakes in a cramped, dark space, bound at the hands and feet and completely alone. As she reconstructs the events preceding her predicament, Tempe assembles a case of sabotage and murder that runs from Montreal to Chicago." (From the CD container.)

Despite what follows in the next paragraph, I want to make it clear that I really enjoyed 206 Bones, Kathy Reich's twelfth Temperance Brennan novel. No matter the foibles I may or may not identify in any given book, the series holds strong for me and keeps me not only coming back for more but anxiously awaiting the next installment.

Now for those foibles. I find it very odd that, unless I overlooked it somewhere, the death of a pretty significant recurring character in the previous book is never mentioned here. Not once. Is that weird to anyone but me? Also, you'd think Tempe would be a little more careful these days after being captured by the bad guy in -- what? Every other book? I'm surprised she isn't suffering a permanent concussion with as many times as she's been whacked on the head. Maybe she should take Ryan more seriously regarding those offers to look after her? I'm just sayin' . . .

But those are my only complaints, if you can even call them complaints. I adore this series and have every intention of snapping up every one Reichs puts out there for us, warts and all.



Other Reviews:

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He Followed Me Home . . . Can I Keep Him?

Book Giveaway, Part II: THE HERETIC QUEEN

**GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. THANK YOU, EVERYONE!**

Haven't we all told you how wonderful Michelle Moran is? Well, in case you don't believe it yet, after I posted yesterday's Giveaway announcement, Michelle herself offered up some more goodies for another winner!


Leave a comment on this post along with an email address where you can be reached, and you could win an autographed copy of the gorgeous paperback edition of THE HERETIC QUEEN. But that's not all! Just because she's such a great gal, she's also including these beautiful earrings!!


Is it wrong of me to enter my own giveaway? :-)

Entries will be accepted until Sept. 9, 6:00 Central Time, and the winner will be announced the morning of Sept. 10. Everyone is eligible to enter, and, yes, it would be possible to win both drawings, so go on, give it your best shot! And you never know. If lots of folks enter, maybe we can talk her into a second autographed copy of The Heretic Queen for another lucky winner. Let's show Michelle lots of blogger love!!

Book Giveaway: CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER by Michelle Moran

**GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED. THANK YOU, EVERYONE!**

No regulars here in the book blogosphere need any introduction to the wonderful Michelle Moran, therefore I'm going to skip all the appetizers and get right down to the main course:


One lucky winner here at Books 'N Border Collies will have delivered to her (or him!) an Autographed Copy of Michelle's upcoming novel, Cleopatra's Daughter. But that's not all! The winner will also receive an Autographed Hard Cover Copy of her previous book, The Heretic Queen that I've been keeping stashed away for a moment just like this!


Leave a comment on this post along with an email address if I can't easily find one in your profile, and you could be the lucky winner of both of these fabulous books! Everyone is eligible. Entries will be accepted until Sept. 9, 6:00 pm Central Time. The winner will be announced the morning of Sept. 10.

And keep your eyes peeled here at Books 'N Border Collies for another fantastic giveaway next week for those of you who were hoping to get your hands on the cool new Jeanne Kalogridis book. The publisher sent me a little surprise . . .

FINN

by Jon Clinch



"Jon Clinch takes us on a journey into the history and heart of one of American Literature's most brutal and mysterious figures: Huckleberry Finn's father.

The tale begins with a lifeless body drifting down the Mississippi. The circumstances of the murder, and the secret of the victim's identity, shape Finn's story as they will shape his life and his death. Along the way we meet a cast of unforgettable characters: Finn's terrifying father, known only as the Judge; his sickly, sycophantic brother, Will; blind Bliss, a secretive moonshiner; the strong and quick-witted Mary, a stolen slave who becomes Finn's mistress; and of course young Huck himself." (From the back of the Random House Trade Paperback edition.)

Finn is a remarkable book. Harsh and realistic in a manner that its inspiration only hinted at, it does not have the whimsical charm of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but is a perfect companion and foil.

Finn beautifully integrates characters and scenes from Huck Finn, sometimes perfectly, sometimes changed due to adopting the stance that Huck, being a child, was an unreliable narrator of his own story. Either way, Clinch's telling of Huck's father's story is riveting and haunting and has me itching to reread Huck Finn armed with this new knowledge. The scene of Huck and Jim discovering and exploring the house floating down the river will never feel the same again.

ELIZABETH COSTELLO

by J.M. Coetzee



"J.M Coetzee has crafted an unusual and deeply affecting tale told through in ingenious series of formal addresses. Vividly imagined and masterfully wrought, Elizabeth Costello is, on the surface, the story of a woman's life as mother, sister, lover and writer. Yet it is also a profound and haunting meditation on the nature of storytelling that only a writer of Coetzee's caliber could accomplish." (From the back cover of the Penguin Books edition.)

A highly philosophical, character-driven story. There is little of what most readers would think of as plot, but what I took away from this book was a sense of examining our personal belief systems and their alteration over the course of our lives. Not only beliefs regarding God and religion, but those regarding what is good and what is evil, the rights of the living -- both human and animal -- and of our part in influencing the beliefs and, consequently, actions of others. For what is life in general but a series of acts we carry out according to our beliefs?

One thing that would have been helpful for me would have been to have read Franz Kafka's short story, "A Report to an Academy", because Elizabeth refers to it extensively during her address in one section of the book. I read the short story after the fact, and it all would have made much more of an impact if I had read it first.

After both this book and Waiting for the Barbarians, I have turned the last page feeling as if I could glean so much more with a second or even third reading. Much like Graham Greene, Coetzee's writing is simple only until you peel back the first layer. He is a writer I will be returning to again soon.

How Many Short Stories Does It Take To Make A Book?

When it comes to my reading, I am a numbers junkie. I understand that what can be "counted" is highly subjective and that the "number" of books I read is really meaningful only to me. Still, I am a numbers junkie. I've accepted that about myself and I'm learning to deal with it.

What I'm discovering is that because of this weird obsession with numbers, I don't read very many short stories because I prefer to pick them out individually from various books and authors rather than read a book of short stories all the way through. My plan originally was to count the number of pages and have a certain number of pages count as a book in my final totals for the year. However, for some inexplicable reason I am finding that to be too inconvenient. And if I read short stories online I don't know how many pages there are. Consequently, even though I'm buying short story anthologies like mad, I'm once again procrastinating on reading all these little gems because I can't figure out a way to easily count them. Ridiculous but honest.

I'm considering setting a goal next year of 200 books, which is peanuts for some of you wildly prolific readers out there (of whom I am in jaw-dropping awe), but for me it's a major stretch and I don't want to neglect short stories again in pursuit of that goal. So -- How many individual short stories should I read before considering them equal to reading a "book"? I don't want to make it too easy, but I don't want to make it too demanding either. Here's where you come in. Take this poll and give me your thoughts. I understand it's silliness on my part, but I can't possibly be alone in this dilemma. And knowing that makes me feel normal. Well -- you know what I mean. . . :-)

THE QUIET AMERICAN

by Graham Greene




"Alden Pyle is sent to Vietnam to promote democracy with a unit known as Third Force. In Vietnam, Alden meets foreign journalist, Thomas Fowler. As naive and idealistic as Pyle is, Fowler, realistic and cynical, is very aware of the changing winds blowing in Vietnam." (From the CD container.)

I've only read three Graham Greene novels, but I find him to be a very compelling author. In this book and The Heart of the Matter, I was taken in by what appears on the surface to be a simple story but then unfolds to reveal hidden intricacies, like origami in reverse.

The Quiet American is not action-packed. It is subtle and graceful in its questions of right and wrong and its demand to know if the end sometimes can justify the means. It never offers an answer, but the one you give yourself may surprise you.