Book Review Blog Carnival

Welcome to the thirtieth edition of the Book Review Blog Carnival, hosted here today at the carnival office trailer. The Book Review Blog Carnival is published every other Sunday at a different blog. If you ever write book reviews on your blog you can participate by submitting your reviews at out page on Blogcarnival.com. If you are a glutton for punishment and would like to host a carnival, please contact me at the email address shown in the sidebar.

There are thirty seven reviews in this edition. I have rather arbitrarily divided them into categories, to make it a bit easier to find something that interests you or to make the reviewers angry at where I pout their reviews, whichever comes first. Click through the links to read the individual reviews. Please leave a comment and let the bloggers know that you came to them through this carnival. Enjoy!

Crime Fiction:

KerrieS, of MYSTERIES in PARADISE didn’t care for the way the narrator used his voice to distinguish one of the characters in the audio version of The Kill Call by Stephen Booth. It “sounds as if she is speaking with her epiglottis half closed, and a peg on her nose.” Beyond that, she seems to have liked the “book.”

KerrieS highly recommends Mad Hatter’s Holiday by Peter Lovesey, whom she calls a master storyteller.

KerrieS revisited the first novel by young Australian author, Felicity Young, entitled A Certain Malice.

At Mysteries and My Musings, AF Heart reviews Where There’s a Witch by Madelyn Alt. The book has a a Wiccan detective.

AF Heart also submitted a review of Burning Water by Mercedes Lackey. This book has an ancient Aztec connection. I’m beginning to see a pattern.

AF Heart came back again with a review of Angel’s Advocate by Mary Stanton, which features a lawyer that represents the dead in the “Celestial Courts.” Sort of a John Grisham meets Stephen King thing.

AF Heart is doing a month of pre Halloween reviews. The latest is Divine Circle of Ladies Playing with Fire by Dolores Stewart Riccio about an entire crime fighting coven of witches.

AF Heart just won’t quit, presenting a review of Murder Inside the Beltway by Margaret Truman, mixing Washington DC politics with a sordid crime . . . oh, what was I thinking.

Returning to her Halloween theme, AF Heart reviews Dead Girls Are Easy by Terri Garey.

Sparky Bates, of Accidental Reads accidentally read The Woods by Harlen Coben.

Scheng1 enjoyed The Narrows by Michael Connelly. Read her review at Rich in Every Sense.

Science Fiction:

Jeanne has read Neal Stephenson’s long but engrossing Anathem and written an similarly long and engrossing review at Necromancy Never Pays.

True Science Fiction presents a review of Don’t Panic , by Neil Gaiman, the story of the making of Douglas Adams’ Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy .

Also on the Hitchiker theme Jason Ward, at The Word of Ward, is concerned about And Another Thing? by Eoin Colfer, a continuation of the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.

Fantasy:

e-ManCave.com enjoyed reading Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. It is a fantasy series set in a medieval world without wizards or magic. “How is that fantasy?” one might ask.

Manga:

Ash Bruxvoort writes about English Major’s Junk Food where she has reviewed Emma Volume One , by Kaoru Mori, a nineteenth century romance in the form of a comic book, with the same title, but not the same plot or characters as the Jane Austin novel .

Novel:

Clark Bjorke – that’s me – reviewed Pilgrims: A Woebegone Romance by Garrison Kiellor in my book review blog, I’ll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book!. Just who does he think he is with his white suit and red socks, that’s what I’d like to know.

Jim Murdoch believes that The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov may be “the greatest novel to come out of Communist Russia.” Find out why at The Truth About Lies.

Jim Murdoch also liked Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster. Such high praise by Jim for two books in a row causes me to raise an eyebrow in an unconscious imitation of Mr. Spock.

Hazra calls The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro “a gem of a book, in Advance Booking. How odd to read a review written in India of a book about mannered English society of the last century written by a Japanese author.

Siobhan Hanlin reviews two books,Geek Love by Katharine Dunn and The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break by Steve Sherrill both reviews are posted at Facets of the Fabulous.

Bob Karpinski contributes to posted at bukisa, where he has written a review of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, whom he compares to Virginia Woolf.

Juvenile Fiction:

Tanya Ture writes in books4yourkids.com about When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, a short novel about a twelve year old girl who is obsessed with Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time and her mother who aspires to appear on the TV game show, The $20,000 Pyramid.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson is the latest book read by Nathan at Books For Sale?

Children’s Books:

Brian Frank leaves us in suspense as to what Baby Bear’s first word will be in Say Daddy! in his review at Book Dads.

Brian Frank also prepares us for the holiday season with Secrets of a Christmas Box.

Non Fiction:

David Dault, writing at Figaro-Pravda, tells the story of how Milton Meyer’s Biodegradable Man changed his life.

Andi of Misadventures with Andi, took a little foray away from her admitted Frankophelia to review Celia Rivenbark’sYou Can’t Drink All Day If You Don’ Start in the Morning, a book of essays on southern life.

Jim was amused by Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel by Phil Villarreal. His amusing review is at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

In another post, Jim asks you to make up your own mind about Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover .

Joel examines in detail the historical and theological arguments in Christian America and the Kingdom of God by Richard T. Hughes, in his blog, The Church of Jesus Christ.

Dan MacKinnon examines Elanor Robson’s Mathematics in Ancient Iraq in his blog mathrecreation.

The author of Mommy’s Life discovered that she was a chocolate addict after reading Healthy Living From the Inside Out byMariel Hemingway.

Florin says that if I can’t make it through his review of Online Consumer Psychology: Understanding and Influencing Consumer Behavior in the Virtual World by Curtis P. Haugtvedt, Karen A. Machleit and Richard Yalch, posted at PsychoAds that I’ll never make it all the way through the 576 page book. I’m not even going to try.

Chris gets his facts right at Martial Development, in his review of The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book by Chuck Norris and Todd DuBord.

CuriousGirl’s new best friend is Clinton Kelly, author of Freakin’ Faboulous. Find out why at Book of Randomness.

Memoir:

Nicole, at Linus’s Blanket, found Perfection by Julie Metz, to be as intense as anything she has ever read.

Charles Wilkins’ In The Land Of Of Long Fingernails isn’t about working in a fancy nail parlor. Deanna reveals all at Kitsch Slapped.