Literary Update - Sunday Salon, Friday Finds, etc

Currently Reading/Listening to:

Right now I'm reading The Shadow of Colossus by T.L. Higley - it is excellent so far! It's the first of The Seven Wonders series and takes us into the mind of a Greek haetera (courtesan) who has given herself only two options in life: Escape her half-life as a slave to rich and important men, or die.

Stay tuned, a review will be coming soon!


Also, being a restless nursing mom to a six-month-old daughter, there are times when I have to sit still for minutes at a time (*gasp*). I've found that the best and most pleasurable way of passing the time is to listen to an audio book. I've started The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. It's a fun book about some children who don't quite fit in with "regular" children - they are gifted in different ways but are somewhat ashamed of themselves and wish they could fit in. An ad in the newspaper advertising "opportunities for gifted children" brings them together. This book is full of mind-bending puzzles that challenged even me to think differently. I also persuaded my husband to listen to it with me and he's enjoying it as well - it's laugh-out-loud funny at times and the children and other characters are endearing. I recommend it! I'll post a review when I finish it. :-)

Up Next:

Probably The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner - it looks so good!

New Finds:

Having read and loved Karen Hancock's Arena, a fast-paced Christian fantasy novel, I was thrilled to see the author has a new book coming out! The Enclave will be released in July of 2009. Here is the description from Bethany House:

When Lacey McHenry accepts a prestigious research fellowship at the world-renowned Kendell-Jakes Longevity Institute, she sees it as a new start on life. But a disturbing late-night encounter with an intruder leads to an unexpected cover-up by Institute authorities, and she soon realizes there's more going on than she ever imagined.

She finds a supporter in genetics researcher Cameron Reinhardt. However, Reinhardt is a favorite of the Institute's director, and she can't help wondering if he, too, is in on the cover-up. The brilliant but absentminded researcher turns out to have his own secrets, some of them dark and deadly.

The Enclave is characterized by adventure, intrigue, spiritual analogy, and romance, all set in an unusual but fully realized world-one that may have its foundations on earth but which, the more one learns of it, doesn't seem much like the earth we know at all.

So what are you reading right now? Found anything new and exciting lately? If you have a post on your blog about it, feel free to leave the link in a comment! :-)