Thursday, June 30, 2011

Books Read in June 2011

Berry, Steve
- The Amber Room

Fiction, divorced couple go on a journey to solve the mystery of the famous Amber Room that disappeared during WWII from Catherine's Palace in Russia.

Blackwell, Juliet
- Hexes and Hemlines

Fiction, third paranormal cozy mystery in A Witchcraft Mystery series.

Carroll, Rick
- Hawaii’s Best Spooky Tales: The Original 

Fiction, famous spooky stories from the Hawaiian Islands.

Heckman, Victoria
- K.O.’d in Honolulu 

Fiction, first in the K.O.'s police cozy mystery.  Eh...

Mayes, Frances
- Under the Tuscan Sun 

Non-fiction, author's adventures in purchasing and renovating a villa in Tuscany, has recipes, fictional movie based on this book starring Diane Lane.

Silva, Daniel
- The Rembrandt Affair 

Fiction, tenth book in the Gabriel Allon mystery series surrounding the theft of a painting during WWII.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Dream: Head Shots & Ghosts

I actually had four dreams last night.  In the first one, I was having a discussion about witchcraft and ceremony with a group of people.  Then we had our own ritual.  In the second dream, I was in a white room with a group of people, and we were either at work or in a store, and someone starting firing a gun in the next room.  We all scrambled to hide as he came closer to the door, but he ended up killing several people.  I was almost to the next room, when I was shot twice in the back of the head.  It didn't hurt, but I could feel the heaviness and pressure in my head.  I knew I had to get to the next room before I died, and I struggled to my feet and had just made it to the doorway, when I woke up.  The third dream had something to do with my cats and my old apartment, with a lot of people coming and going.  In the fourth dream, I was with my brother and my parents in our old Victorian house that has been in a number of my dreams.  Outside, it's one size, but inside, it seems to expand to whatever setup I need, and it's full of hidden rooms and secret passageways.  My parents were trying to go to sleep in the bedroom, but my brother and I were playing the piano in the next room, then we went to the mall to shop for clothes and video games and ended back in the same room playing the piano.  When we finished, I looked up and saw a girl running up the stairs in the hallway.  My brother and I followed her, but she was afraid and kept running faster.  When we reached the third floor, it was a dusty old room without any furniture.  There were four other ghosts up there, and all of them were afraid of us except for one girl that I had spoken with before.  As we talked, the other ghosts came around and joined the conversation.  They were all upset about something and trying to get me to help them...but I got woken up.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Books Read in May 2011

Golden, Arthur
- Memoirs of a Geisha

Fiction, tale of a girl who is sold into the life of a geisha.

Patterson, James
- Honeymoon
- Lifeguard 

Fiction, Black Widow murder mystery, so-so; lifeguard/pool guy is set up as the murderer in a killing spree.

Stewart, Carol Lynn
- Door in the Sky 

Fiction, half-Basque witch, Gascon daughter of the local nobleman, fights her way to freedom under the cloud of charges brought during the Inquisition.

Tan, Amy
- The Bonesetter’s Daughter
- The Kitchen God’s Wife

Fiction, tale-within-a-tale of a Chinese-American woman learning about her ancestors in China; another tale-within-a-tale of a Chinese-American woman who learns of her mother's early life in China.