Category Archives: Polls

Hey everyone! It’s that time of the month again – time to pick what you want to see  me read and review in September! The poll is on the right hand side, so get your vote in by August 31st, kay?

Usually I post the descriptions from Goodreads, but I’m doing this at work at 3:45 am, and Goodreads is blocked at work… so all the descriptions below are from Amazon. Here are the choices!

Millie’s Fling by Jill Mansell – the chick-lit pick

Bestselling novelist Orla Hart owes her life to her friend Millie Brady, whose rotten boyfriend has just left her. So Orla invites Millie to Cornwall, where Millie looks forward to a summer without any dating whatsoever. But Orla envisions Millie as the heroine of her next novel and decides to find Millie the man of her dreams. Except the two women have drastically different ideas about what kind of guy that should be. With Orla and Millie working at cross-purposes, and a dashing but bewildered hero stuck in the middle, the summer will turn out to be unforgettable for all concerned…

The Soldier’s Wife by Margaret Leroy – the historical fiction pick

As World War II draws closer and closer to Guernsey, Vivienne de la Mare knows that there will be sacrifices to be made. Not just for herself, but for her two young daughters and for her mother-in-law, for whom she cares while her husband is away fighting. What she does not expect is that she will fall in love with one of the enigmatic German soldiers who take up residence in the house next door to her home. As their relationship intensifies, so do the pressures on Vivienne. Food and resources grow scant, and the restrictions placed upon the residents of the island grow with each passing week. Though Vivienne knows the perils of her love affair with Gunther, she believes that she can keep their relationship–and her family–safe. But when she becomes aware of the full brutality of the Occupation, she must decide if she is willing to risk her personal happiness for the life of a stranger.

 Seven Seasons in Siena by Robert Rodi – the travel memoir pick

Siena seems at first glance a typical Italian city: within its venerable medieval walls the citizens sport designer clothes, wield digital phones, and prize their dazzling local cuisine. But unlike neighboring Florence, Siena is still deeply rooted in ancient traditions—chiefly the spectacular Palio, in which seventeen independent societies known as contrade vie for bragging rights in an annual bareback horse race around the central piazza.

Into this strange, closed world steps Robert Rodi. A Chicago writer with few friends in town and a shaky command of conversational Italian, he couldn’t be more out of place. Yet something about the sense of belonging radiating from the ritual-obsessed Sienese excites him, and draws him back to witness firsthand how their passionate brand of community extends beyond the Palio into the entire calendar year. Smitten, Rodi undertakes a plan to insinuate himself into this body politic, learn their ways, and win their acceptance. Seven Seasons in Siena is the story of Rodi’s love affair with the people of Siena—and of his awkward, heartfelt, intermittently successful, occasionally disastrous attempts to become a naturalized member of the Noble Contrada of the Caterpillar. It won’t be easy. As one of the locals points out, someone who’s American, gay, and a writer is the equivalent of a triple unicorn in this corner of Tuscany.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow – the YA pick

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems. But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson – the classic pick

Treasure Island is the ultimate pirate adventure story, replete with treasure and an unforgettable cast, including Jim Hawkins, the boy at the centre of the action; Billy Bones, the pirate with the all important treasure map; Captain Alexander Smollet, the stubborn yet loyal captain of the Hispaniola; Israel Hands, ship’s coxswain who tries to kill Jim Hawkins but ends up in Davy Jones’ Locker; Ben Gunn, a half-insane and marooned ex-pirate; Pew, a blind ex-pirate who dies when trampled by horses; and, of course, Long John Silver, the famous amputee who was formerly Flint’s quartermaster but later becomes the leader of Hispaniola’s mutineers. Join this cast for a fantastic adventure and treasure hunt, but watch out for the “Black Spot”-a card with a circular black spot in the middle given to an accused. It means the pirate will be overturned as leader, by force if necessary-or else killed outright. Not impressed? You should be-after all, just being tipped with the Black Spot scared poor Billy Bones to death.
 

So there they are… get votin, folks!

~Sarah