Coming Soon to a Bookshelf Near You: March 2017

Happy March!   We have had some crazy weather in Minnesota.  Records highs of 60 degrees and huge snow storms.  If you love variety, it is a good year in Minnesota.   What better time to share some books that have caught my eye.   These books will be available in March.  If you like, maybe even get on the waitlist at the library for these upcoming titles.

As a book blogger, I am able to request, read and provide feedback on upcoming titles.   I love being able to do this, but some months my ambitions are larger than what time allows.  I still have a full time job which interferes regularly with my reading/blogging schedule.  So I decided to share with you some upcoming releases that have caught my eye.    I would hate for you to miss an upcoming title due to my lack of time!!

Here are some books which will be available in bookstores in March 2017, that caught my eye!

MARCH 2017

 

 

Happy Reading!

*Note – if you would like to keep up with book reviews on Reading in White Bear Lake, please take a moment to like us on facebook!   If you are interested in my other loves: cooking, menu planning, organizing and my family check out our other blog, Living in White Bear Lake.   Living in White Bear Lake can also be found on facebook.

* This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links

Beyond Words: July 6th, 2011

Beyond Words

Beyond Words is a weekly feature at Reading in White Bear Lake, in which I share the unfamiliar words I have encountered in my reading over the past week or two. This is a great way for me to build my vocabulary from what I am reading as well as share with others. 

Remember…..you are never too old to learn!! I love learning and reading, what better combination could there be.

The gift of using words best comes from knowing words
as intimately as you know your own family.
-Lloyd Edwin Smith-

New words to me this week:

Aspersions – (noun) : a false or misleading charge meant to harm someone's reputation <cast aspersions on her integrity>
Listen to the Audio Pronunciation
page 19, Come Sunday by Isla Morley
“ I knew better than to argue, especially after all the champagne, and I certainly knew better than to cast aspersions on her expertise, but dammit, why did it always have to be my fault?”

Banal – (adj) : lacking originality, freshness, or novelty : trite
Listen to the Audio Pronunciation
page 35, Come Sunday by Isla Morley
“the thought of even the most banal verbal exchange makes the dizziness return, so I go pee and climb back into the dark sea.”

Slaked – (verb) : satisfy, quench <slake your thirst> <will slake your curiosity>
Listen to the Audio Pronunciation
page 77, Come Sunday by Isla Morley
“I cannot say, for example, how long my mother slaked her thirst with the gin bottle.”

Come Sunday by Isla Morley - - (from Amazon.com) In her poignant first novel, former South African magazine editor Morley explores a mother's grief. Abbe Deighton, part-time journalist and full-time wife and mother, finds herself living in Hawaii with her preacher husband, Greg, and precocious three-year-old daughter, Cleo, thousands of miles from her South African birthplace. Her flight from an abusive father and complicit mother is not accidental—her poet brother also fled to America—and when Cleo is killed in a car accident, Abbe re-examines the choices that have brought her so far from home. She and her husband become estranged as he turns to God and forgives the man who killed their daughter while Abbe descends into self-pity and anger at the unfairness of life. Their marriage suffers and Greg loses his job, forcing Abbe to turn homeward for financial help. Upon returning to South Africa, she confronts the ghosts of her family's past and the reality of her homeland's future. Morley convincingly depicts a grief-stricken woman without resorting to clichés, and though she telegraphs the resolution of Abbe's plight early on, the storytelling, line by line, is rather beautiful.

I enjoy learning and increasing my vocabulary and I hope you will too!

Happy Reading!

Beyond Words: May 11th, 2011

Beyond Words

Beyond Words is a weekly feature at Reading in White Bear Lake, in which readers share the unfamiliar words they have encountered in their reading over the past week. This is a great way to build your vocabulary from what you are reading as well as from what others are reading.

Remember…..you are never to old to learn!! I love learning and reading, what better combination could there be.

The gift of using words best comes from knowing words
as intimately as you know your own family.
-Lloyd Edwin Smith-

New words to me this week:
Epaulets – (noun) : an ornamental strip or loop sewn across the shoulder of a dress or coat Listen to the audio pronunciation.
page 70, Purge by Sofi Oksanen
“In the car, Pasha ad taken off his shirt and lifted his shoulders like he was adjusting his tattooed epaulets.”

Kefir– (noun) : a beverage of fermented cow's milk
Listen to the audio pronunciation.
page 78, Purge by Sofi Oksanen
“She washed her hands thoroughly and started to change the milk in the kefir, tried to act natural, picked up the can from the floor,opened the lid, strained the liquid into the cup,and rinsed off the culture, trying again with wild boars, stray dogs and cats, although even she thought her explanations sounded stupid.”

I love being a part of this and I hope you will too! If you’d like to participate, just write up your post and link up. I hope you will participate!

Happy Reading!

Beyond Words: May 8th, 2011

Beyond Words

Happy Mother’s Day! Beyond Words is a weekly feature at Reading in White Bear Lake, in which readers share the words they have encountered in their reading over the past week.  This is a great way to build your vocabulary from what you are reading as well as from what others are reading. 

Remember…..you are never to old to learn!! I love learning and reading, what better combination could there be.

The gift of using words best comes from knowing words
as intimately as you know your own family.
Lloyd Edwin Smith

New words to me this week:

Bedraggled – (adj.) soiled and stained by or as if by trailing in mud
Listen to the audio pronunciation.
page 4, Purge by Sofi Oksanen
“Muddy, ragged, bedraggled, but a girl nonetheless.” 

Tricot – (noun) : a plain warp-knitted fabric (as of nylon, wool, rayon, silk, or cotton) with a close inelastic knit and used especially in clothing
Listen to the audio pronunciation
page 4, Purge by Sofi Oksanen
“The dress? Western.  The tricot was too good to come from over on the other side.”

Babushka – (noun): an elderly Russian woman
Listen to the audio pronunciation
page 4, Purge by Sofi Oksanen
“And what if the old woman was like the babushka that Katia had told her about, or like Oksanka, who did work for men like Pasha, sending girls to the city for men like him.”

I love being a part of this and I hope you will too!  If you’d like to participate, just write up your post and link up. I hope you will participate!

Happy Reading!

Beyond Words: New Weekly Feature

Beyond Words

I want to introduce you to a new weekly feature that will be appearing on Reading In White Bear Lake.  I am excited to add this weekly feature to my blog.   Beyond Words is a weekly feature that will build your vocabulary.  I find that since I am no longer in the academic world, I don’t take the time to learn new words.   If I do learn them, I quickly forget them.   I read voraciously, but find that I will skip over words that I am not familiar with.   Well, not anymore, Beyond Words will feature those words each week that I would normally skip right over.   I will post words that I come across in my weekly reading that I was previously unfamiliar with or unsure of their meaning.  

Why??   A wise mentor of mine once told me, “make the dictionary your friend”.   She believed that one true determination of level of success was your vocabulary.  A integral part of success is the ability to effectively communicate.   The other reason this idea has popped into my head is my children.   They both have great vocabularies beyond their years, but my youngest frequently asks me, “What does this word mean?”   I sometimes find it difficult to communicate the definition of a word I know in a manner he will understand.  This feature will give me practice in doing that.  This year my youngest has an amazing third grade teacher.  He uses vocabulary words at times that make me take a second listen! 

Remember…..you are never to old to learn!!   I love learning and reading, what better combination could there be.

The gift of using words best comes from knowing words
as intimately as you know your own family.
Lloyd Edwin Smith

 

New words to me this week:

Avaricious – (adj.) greedy of gain : excessively acquisitive especially in seeking to hoard riches
Listen to the audio pronunciation
Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards (did not mark the page as I encountered this word before I can up with the idea for this feature!)

Insular – (adj.) characteristic of an isolated people; especially: being, having, or reflecting a narrow provincial viewpoint
Listen to the audio of pronunciation
page 278, Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards
“His work had fallen out favor and he will not adopt the popular artistic fads, and so he was insular even before this loss.”

I hope you enjoy the addition of this feature to Reading In White Bear Lake.   I plan on adding a Mr. Linky or a similar application so you can share you newly discovered words with us each week as well.   I hope you will participate!

Happy Reading!