Category: Books

Do you hear what I hear?

Oh, you guys, you guys. You will not believe what I just discovered this morning, quite by accident (because sometimes, that’s how publishing works):

The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading

That’s the audio version of The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading! Geek Girl! In audio! You can take her on your commute, download her to your Kindle–and who wouldn’t want to do that?

I listened to the sample and think they chose an excellent narrator. And then I listened to the very start on my Kindle and they totally said my last name correctly. (Three cheers for Audible!) It sounds so awesome to hear “… by Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance.” I’ve listened to so many audio books that to have one is just amazing.

Booking through Thursday: Baby, it’s cold outside

I haven’t booked for a while and today’s topic caught my attention:

It’s the depth of winter here where I live right now … what books do you like to read when it’s snowy and white? What books do you read to evoke a real feeling of winter (good or bad)?

I’m not sure I have a particular type of book I read during the winter. For the past couple of years, I’ve been a reading fool during the winter months since I was reading for the Rita contest–but I didn’t sign up this year. Honestly, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all this time I have now that I’m not charging through eight/nine novels in six weeks.

Cover via Amazon

As for a real feeling of winter, the first book that comes to mind is One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Want to forget how cold you are? This is the book you reach for. And it comes with one of my all-time favorite lines:

How can you expect a man who’s warm to understand a man who’s cold?

The world would be a better place if we tried to.

2012 Reading Challenge wrap up

WWIchallenge

So last night I finished my last book for the War Through the Generations 2012 WWI reading challenge.

I read seven books in all, which is the most I’ve read for this challenge since I started doing it. I signed up for the “wade” level of 4 – 10 books, so I accomplished that quite comfortably. And I still have more WWI books I want to read. Even so, I plan to sign up for the 2013 challenge: The American Revolution.

It’s perfect timing since this spring, Kyra’s class does a huge unit on the American Revolution and we plan to do the reading challenge together.

To sum up 2012, here’s a quick overview (with links to some reviews) of the books I read:

To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild (review here)

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Fantastic middle grade novel that should appeal to adults as well. One of my favorite constructs–the story within a story. This one is on audio as well and would make a good summer road trip book.

The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

I discovered this one thanks to a Facebook post. Yes! Facebook! Good for something.

A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd

WWI mystery. If you like the Maisie Dobbs series, this is a good choice for historical/WWI mysteries.

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by The Countess of Carnarvon (review here)

Not really connected to Downton Abbey, but still interesting.

World War One: History in an Hour by Rupert Colley (review here)

This book is exactly what it claims to be: a concise overview of World War I that you can read in an hour or so.

Not So Quiet … Stepdaughters of War by Helen Zenna Smith

Interesting if ultimately tragic (what else could it be) story about female ambulance drivers on the Western Front in WWI. Helen Zenna Smith is a pseudonym for Evadne Price, who had an interesting and varied writing career. Read more about her on here on Wikipedia.

Virtually yours

I forgot all about this very cool site, Authorgraph, until I received a request for an e-book autograph* this morning, which was a very nice post-Christmas type of present to get.

I have two books up on Authorgraph, The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading and The Trouble with Firsts. Click on through to the site and request an e-autograph or two. Or ten. Or more!

Get a free Authorgraph from Charity Tahmaseb

*While writing this post, I had one of those moments where a word totally loses its meaning and I had to look it up to make sure it was a real word. Today’s unreal word is autograph. I’m still not sure it means what I think it means.

It’s Unidentified Funny Objects anthology launch day

ufocover5001Today’s the day! Unidentified Funny Objects anthology is out in this world! Haven’t ordered your copy yet? No? That’s okay. Hop on over to the UFO Publishing landing page and grab a paperback or an e-book. The Kindle version is also live on Amazon.

Need to know more? Watch the video below or read the latest review in Tangent by Colleen Chen. Look at the nice thing she had to say about The Secret Life of Sleeping Beauty:

This is a well-written modernized version of the fairy tale. It’s really short, so there’s not much to it, but it leaves a pleasant aftertaste and I would definitely have liked to read more of the princess’ adventures.

Sleeping Beauty is short (under 1,000 words). I wrote it as flash fiction and the reason I submitted it was the editor mentioned he was specifically looking for more flash for the anthology. So that’s how she ended up in there.

If you buy a copy, I hope you enjoy the stories!

Read the Unidentified Funny Objects Press Release!

Read a bit more about how the Unidentified Funny Objects Anthology came to be, the Kickstarter campaign, and its brush with Hurricane Sandy.

And, of course, you can always pre-order a copy (or two) directly from the publisher–it’s the perfect holiday gift for someone who loves funny science fiction and fantasy.

World War One: History in an Hour ~ a short review for a short book

Book #6 for the War Through the Generations WWI reading challenge, which means I have thoroughly “waded” into the challenge–and feeling quite proud of myself.

World War One: History in an Hour is exactly what it claims to be: a concise overview of World War I that you can read in an hour (or so–I spent about an hour and a half reading). It is also a better book to read at the start of a WWI reading challenge, not closer to its end.

That being said, it’s a great place to start if you don’t have a passing familiarity with WWI, or haven’t done any serious reading on the topic since 11th grade world history. The narrative style is engaging, and the book itself is broken into sections, which makes it easy to set down and pick back up again. The author doesn’t go into any great depth, but again, that’s not this book’s purpose.

The book also includes short biographies of some of the major players in the war along with a timeline.

So, if you’re looking for an introduction, or need a quick read to round out this year’s challenge, you can’t go wrong with this one, especially if it continues to be free on Kindle.