Playing Librarian

Title: The Secret Scripture: A Novel Author: Sebastian Barry Page: 312 pages Genre: Literary Fiction
Subject: Sligo (Ireland), Social Conditions (1922 - 1973), Physician and Patient First Published: 2008



Nearing her hundredth birthday, and still living in the mental hospital where she was committed as a young woman, Roseanne looks back on the tragedies and passions of her life through her secret journals. Growing up in rural Ireland in the 1930s, her adolescence is marked by civil war and a turbulent family life. When she marries Tom McNulty, she believes she has found love and security – only for a terrible misunderstanding, born of prejudice and deception, to threaten her fragile happiness.
- Synopsis from book cover I am going to jump the gun and say it right here and now that I just fell in love with this book! This is the sort of book that takes me in right from the very first paragraph, made me lose all sense of time and my sense of surrounding. I was reading it while the televi…

Title: Day After Night: A Novel Author: Anita Diamant Page: 294 pages Genre: Historical Fiction
Subject: Women Fiction, Jewish Refugees, Palestine, World War II (1939 - 1945), Holocaust Survivors First Published: 2009


Day After Night is based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than two hundred prisoners from the Atlit internment camp, a prison for “illegal” immigrants run by the British military near the Mediterranean coast south of Haifa. The story is told through the eyes of four young women at the camp who survived the Holocaust: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist; Leonie, a Parisian beauty; Tedi, a hidden Dutch Jew; and Zorah, a concentration camp survivor. Haunted by unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to hope, the four of them find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country. Diamant’s triumphant novel is an unforgettable story of tragedy and redemptio…

Theme Thursdays, created by Kavyen @ Reading Between Pages is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:
A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s) Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate” This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.


My participation this week will be from Day After Night by Anita Diamant. I’ve just started this book, so not much to choose from for this week’s theme… There’s something about trains but that sentence I think sounds a little too mor…

Title: Hallowe'en Party Author: Agatha Christie Page: 336 pages Genre: Vintage Crime
Subject: Hercule Poirot, Cozy Mysteries First Published: 1969



Mystery writer Ariadne Oliver has been invited to a Hallowe'en party at Woodleigh Common. One of the other guests is an adolescent girl known for telling tall tales of murder and intrigue -- and for being generally unpleasant. But when the girl, Joyce, is found drowned in an apple-bobbing tub, Mrs. Oliver wonders after the fictional nature of the girl's claim that she had once witnessed a murder. Which of the party guests wanted to keep her quiet is a question for Ariadne's friend Hercule Poirot. But unmasking a killer this Hallowe'en is not going to be easy -- for there isn't a soul in Woodleigh who believes the late little storyteller was actually murdered.
- Synopsis from Goodreads
When a thirteen-year-old girl confesses that she had once witnessed a murder, would you believe her?
Of course, not. Silly and an u…

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: * Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two "teaser" sentences from that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! You don't want to ruin the book for others!
* Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!
I have just finished Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie this morning. Still struggling to find time to write the review… I hate when that happens because I really want it to get done before I start a new book! Right now I’m stealing a few minutes of my time at work to construct one … ha ha hope I don’t get caught by my boss!!
Michael Garfield laughed.
‘Go on home to your police friends and leave me here in my local paradise. Get thee beyond me, Satan.’
- Page 276 , Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie

Title: The Fire: A Novel
Author: Katherine Neville Series: Montglane Service #2 Page: 536 pages Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Historical Fiction
Subject: Quests, Puzzles, Chess Sets, Family Secrets, Code and Cipher First Published: 2008


2003, Colorado: Alexandra Solarin is summoned home to her family’s ancestral Rocky Mountain hideaway for her mother’s birthday. Thirty years ago, her parents, Cat Velis and Alexander Solarin, believed that they had scattered the pieces of the Montglane Service around the world, burying with the chessmen the secrets of the power that comes with possessing them. But Alexandra arrives to find that her mother is missing – and that the Game has begun again.

1822, Albania: Haidee, the young daughter of a powerful Ottoman ruler, embarks on a dangerous mission to smuggle a valuable relic out of Albania and deliver it into the hands of the one man who might be able to save it. Haidee’s journey brings forth chilling revelations that burn through history to the presen…

Theme Thursdays, created by Kavyen @ Reading Between Pages is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Anyone can participate in it. The rules are simple:
A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s) Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word)
Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate” This will give us a wonderful opportunity to explore and understand different writing styles and descriptive approaches adopted by authors.

My participation this week will be from The Fire by Katherine Neville. This is something that I would not usually read, but so far I’m enjoying it (though the pace is a little bit slow with the historical facts and all).


“As you’ve s…

Title: As the Crow Flies
Author: Jeffrey Archer Page: 696 pages Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Subject: Business, Love Stories, Rivalry, Feud, Revenge, War First Published: 1991



If your dream is big enough, not even your enemies can stop you … Charlie Trumper’s earliest memory is of hearing his grandfather’s sales patter from behind his costermonger’s barrow. When Grandpa Charlie dies, young Charlie wants nothing more than to follow in his footsteps – his burning ambition is to own a shop that will sell everything: “The Biggest Barrow in the World.” 
Charlie’s progress from the teeming streets of Whitechapel to the elegance of Chelsea Terrace is only a few miles as the crow flies. But in Jeffrey Archer’s expert hands it becomes an epic journey through the triumphs and disasters of the century, as Charlie follows a thread of love, ambition and revenge to fulfill the dream his grandfather inspired.
- Synopsis from book cover
As The Crow Flies follows the life of Charlie Trumper, beginning f…

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: * Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two "teaser" sentences from that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! You don't want to ruin the book for others!
* Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!
This book is by one of my favorite authors, Mr. Jeffrey Archer.

‘How did it all go?’ were the first words Daphne uttered as she entered the drawing room, a little surprised to find her friend sitting in the dark. ‘A disaster.’ ‘So it’s all over?’ ‘No, not exactly,’ said Becky. ‘In fact, I have a feeling Guy proposed to me.’ ‘But did you accept?’ asked Daphne. ‘I rather think I did.’ ‘And what do you intend to do about India?’
- page 126, As The Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer