DAILY DEALS: Food, angels, and the elderly
Book Dealsdaily deals5 Comments
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Now a major motion picture starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Billy Nighy, and Dev Patel
When Ravi Kapoor, an overworked London doctor, reaches the breaking point with his difficult father-in-law, he asks his wife: “Can’t we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away.” His prayer is seemingly answered when Ravi’s entrepreneurial cousin sets up a retirement home in India, hoping to re-create in Bangalore an elegant lost corner of England. Several retirees are enticed by the promise of indulgent living at a bargain price, but upon arriving, they are dismayed to find that restoration of the once sophisiticated hotel has stalled, and that such amenities as water and electricity are . . . infrequent. But what their new life lacks in luxury, they come to find, it’s plentiful in adventure, stunning beauty, and unexpected love.
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
A thrilling epic about an ancient clash reignited in our time- between a hidden society and heaven’s darkest creatures
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.
Genesis 6:5
Sister Evangeline was just a girl when her father entrusted her to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in upstate New York. Now, at twenty-three, her discovery of a 1943 letter from the famous philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller to the late mother superior of Saint Rose Convent plunges Evangeline into a secret history that stretches back a thousand years: an ancient conflict between the Society of Angelologists and the monstrously beautiful descendants of angels and humans, the Nephilim.
For the secrets these letters guard are desperately coveted by the once-powerful Nephilim, who aim to perpetuate war, subvert the good in humanity, and dominate mankind. Generations of angelologists have devoted their lives to stopping them, and their shared mission, which Evangeline has long been destined to join, reaches from her bucolic abbey on the Hudson to the apex of insular wealth in New York, to the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris and the mountains of Bulgaria.
Rich in history, full of mesmerizing characters, and wondrously conceived, Angelology blends biblical lore, the myth of Orpheus and the Miltonic visions of Paradise Lost into a riveting tale of ordinary people engaged in a battle that will determine the fate of the world.
Orient by Christopher Bollen $ 1.99
From the Jacket Copy:
Amazon Best Mystery of 2015
A gripping novel of culture clash and murder: as summer draws to a close, a small Long Island town is gripped by a series of mysterious deaths—and one young man, a loner taken in by a local, tries to piece together the crimes before his own time runs out.
Orient is an isolated town on the north fork of Long Island, its future as a historic village newly threatened by the arrival of wealthy transplants from Manhattan—many of them artists. One late summer morning, the body of a local caretaker is found in the open water; the same day, a monstrous animal corpse is found on the beach, presumed a casualty from a nearby research lab. With rumors flying, eyes turn to Mills Chevern—a tumbleweed orphan newly arrived in town from the west with no ties and a hazy history. As the deaths continue and fear in town escalates, Mills is enlisted by Beth, an Orient native in retreat from Manhattan, to help her uncover the truth. With the clock ticking, Mills and Beth struggle to find answers, faced with a killer they may not be able to outsmart.
Rich with character and incident, yet deeply suspenseful, Orient marks the emergence of a novelist of enormous talent.
French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon $ 0.99
From the Jacket Copy:
French Kids Eat Everything is a wonderfully wry account of how Karen Le Billon was able to alter her children’s deep-rooted, decidedly unhealthy North American eating habits while they were all living in France.
At once a memoir, a cookbook, a how-to handbook, and a delightful exploration of how the French manage to feed children without endless battles and struggles with pickiness, French Kids Eat Everything features recipes, practical tips, and ten easy-to-follow rules for raising happy and healthy young eaters—a sort of French Women Don’t Get Fat meets
Food Rules.
From my friend’s description it sounds like a literary mystery. She said it was beautifully written, with human interest, insight, and good setting details. There’s also, apparently, an homage to The Great Gatsby since it takes place on Long Island.
I read Angelology in 2010 & hated it. My GR review was short & to the point:
>The story idea was great, but was ruined by flat characters, a whole second tale wedged into the story, and the >absolute worst, stilted, awful dialog I have ever read. Also, endless, I repeat, enndddleesssssss descriptions of every >mundane possible detail. Bah.
So, there’s that.
@Sara yoyr review pretty much sums up my reaction to Angelology. My only addition would be that I was bored silly by the halfway point and skimmed to the end in the vain hope that it might get better. It did not.
I was very under impressed by ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’. Maybe it would have helped if I’d seen the movie?
I’m reading French Kids Eat Everything now and even though I don’t have kids, it is absolutely fascinating. If half of what the author says about the way French schools educate their children in eating is true… Reading this book is almost like visiting a different planet.