Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

You have made of me a madman. You fill me with a kind of horror, a devastating hate that is akin to love - a hunger that is nausea. If only I could be calm and clear for one moment - one moment only . . .

(Pg 15, The Doll: Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier)

What If?

This weekend during youth group at church, my youth played a game where everyone writes a question on a piece of paper, then we crumple them up into balls and have a "snowball" fight.  Everyone reads their question aloud and answers it.  Some of the questions are silly, but some of the questions really cause the person to think, and can start some great discussions.  Here is the question that struck me Sunday morning-"If you could kill someone with the power of your mind, and no one would know, would you do it?"

This question led to a discussion of Unitarian Universalist values, as the activity is supposed to ultimately do.  But it also led to a discussion of whether it is possible to change history.  If you add the ability to time travel to the ability to kill people with your mind, many of my youth said that maybe going back and killing Hitler as an infant would be an acceptable use of that power.  Because you already know what evil he created, and you would have a responsibility to stop it.  This exact idea is the central focus of Stephen King's latest tome, 11/22/63.


In the book, small town high school teacher named Jake Epping is floating through a rather drab existence.  Newly single, he spends his days teaching, grading papers, and eating his meals at a local diner.  One day the diner's owner and chief fry cook, A,l shares a secret with Jake-in the back of his store is an unexplained tear in the fabric of time.  Step through that tear and it takes you back to the same exact time on the same exact day in 1958.  No matter how long you stay or what you do while you are there, stepping through the tear resets any effect you may have had on the past.  Since Al discovered this mysterious tear, he's been travelling back and forth frequently.  His last trip lasted four years-because he had a mission, one that a lung cancer diagnosis is now forcing him to push on Jake.  His mission-to stop the assassination of JFK by Lee Harvey Oswald, thereby stopping one of the most turbulent times in American history.  At least, that's this theory...

What follows is a loooooong history lesson about Lee Harvey Oswald.  Jake studies Oswald like a scientist, trying to discern what kind of man he was, what kind of husband he was, whether he did, in fact act alone...He follows his movements, and as a result we learn a lot about the man who shot Kennedy.

At 849 pages, this is one of King's doorstops of a book, but unlike Under the Dome, which I thought could be shortened by a hundred pages or so, I was riveted every moment of this one.  Maybe it's the historical fiction lover in me, but I actually liked the minute descriptions of Oswald's life, and King provides a personal storyline for Jake that is mildly predictable but very engaging.  Not horror by any means, this genre bending book-part historical fiction part science fiction-evokes the optimism of mid-20th Century America and the tension that builds as Jake gets closer to his goal.  And if he succeeds, will things really be better?  Consider this a novel of unintended consequences...

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

ISBN-13: 9780380778553

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Published: November 1994

Format: Mass Market Paperback, 384 pgs

Source: Personal Library

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

From its opening line, I knew Daphne du Maurier would take me for an intriguing and exciting ride with the atmospheric setting she created around Manderley, an isolated mansion on the windswept Cornish coast where the brooding hero, Mr Maxim de Winter, resides.

The narrator, a young lady whose name we never know, gets acquainted with Mr de Winter when she is a companion to Mrs Van Hooper. Shy and with no friends to mingle with, the narrator is glad to find a friend in Mr de Winter and then they got married shortly.

During their acquaintance, the narrator has heard of the late Mrs de Winter and the cause of her death and while she could accept the fact being Maxim's second wife, what she couldn't stand is Mrs Danvers' cool and demeaning attitude towards her. Mrs Danvers is the housekeeper and she is fiercely devoted to the first Mrs de Winter, Rebecca. She feels the narrator is not up to par in all ways and although she still takes instructions from the narrator, she does it simply because it is her duty and not that she has accepted her being the new mistress of Manderley. Then, things began to worsen when she began to taunt the narrator until the latter began to start thinking that Maxim still love and think of Rebecca after all this time.

But, the real climax lies in the event of Manderley's annual costume ball and the mystery surrounding Rebecca's death and why. While the issues and mystery surrounding this classic literary may seem mild to some readers as compared to today's mystery and thrillers in which there are gory death scenes all over the place, what really makes Rebecca stands out among the others is Daphne du Maurier's writing style, the characterisations and most of all, the atmospheric setting she created that will get you hooked from the beginning till the end.

What is most unforgettable about Rebecca is the character of Mrs Danvers and the narrator respectively. Mrs Danvers always gave me the chills through her cool and sinister demeanour and very often her existence reminds me of a bitter, wandering spirit waiting for her moment to strike. On the other end, the narrator lacks the confidence and wit and although she tries very hard to keep up the role as the new mistress of Manderley, Mrs Danvers always managed to squash her last bit of confidence.

I really liked the way how Daphne du Maurier crafted Rebecca as she cleverly leads you into her world of Manderley and how the story slowly unfolds as you keep flipping through the pages. I especially liked her first opening line and the last line; I think it works perfectly and really suits the narrative style. Because I enjoyed reading Rebecca and Daphne du Maurier's writing style so much, I had gone out to buy four more of her books: Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, Don't Look Now and Other Stories, as well as the book which I'm currently reading, The Doll: The Lost Short Stories, a collection of short stories which she penned prior to writing Rebecca. I am sure I would be in for another intriguing and exciting ride, or perhaps the experience would be much greater considering that this short stories collection is much darker, so I have heard.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday

Starting this week, I will be posting pictures which I randomly took with my iPhone and today's post is all about Christmas trees. Well I haven't been to many malls but here are just a few I took recently.

Ngee Ann City

Cineleisure Orchard

Suntec City Mall

My office reception

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday

*sniff* This post shall be the last for my TX and MN series. Although my husband didn't have the time to visit all the lovely places in these two states (after all he was there for his business trip), still he had had a wonderful time exploring these places. He may have the chance to visit there again, I don't know, but I'm keeping fingers crossed that the next time around I'd be following him, if circumstances permit, that is.

I have no idea what pictures to post next for the Wordless Wednesday meme, perhaps I should go back to posting random pictures I took from my iPhone. Yeah!

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

I have read a lot of rave reviews on Daphne du Maurier's books, in particularly to Jamaica Inn and this book I just started reading yesterday, Rebecca. Though I'm only on page 38, I could already feel the intrigue and the story slowly unfolding as the narrator related her tale about meeting Max de Winter, the man who owns Manderley, an isolated gray stone mane on the windswept Cornish coast. They said he couldn't get over his wife's death, and the narrator is about to find out the truth behind it.

~*~*~*~*~*

Rather forlorn, more than a little dissatisfied, I leant back in my chair and took up the book of poems. The volume was well-worn, well-thumbed, falling open automatically at what must be a much-frequented page.

"I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed slopes I sped
And shot, precipitated
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong feet that followed, followed after."

I felt rather like someone peering through the keyhole of a locked door, and a little furtively I laid the book aside. What hound of heaven had driven him to the high hills this afternoon?

(Pg 32, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier)

Veil of Night by Linda Howard

ISBN-13: 9780345506900
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication date: June 2011
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 400 pgs
Source: Personal Library

It has been a long while since I read a romance suspense novel; I picked Linda Howard's Veil of Night because I enjoyed reading Linda's previous novels, plus the heroine in this story is a wedding planner and I was interested to know more about the profession through the story.

Jaclyn Wilde loves her job and she put in all her time and efforts in running her own events business, Premier. Together with her mother, they had built up Premier's name through their detailed and well organised planning and although their work is not entirely a bed of roses, Jaclyn and Madelyn always see through everything no matter how difficult the clients and/or the tasks at hand.

However, Carrie Edwards, her latest client has ways of irritating her and making things difficult not only to her and to the other vendors as well. She would decide to change the colour of the bridesmaids' wedding dresses at the last minute, or criticise that the food is not up to her taste and status, blah blah blah. As much as she is annoying and demanding, many people figured it wouldn't do them any good should they want to make a huge fuss over her unreasonable tantrums, considering that she is marrying the son of a senator.

Just as Jaclyn is trying to get over another one of Carrie's unreasonable demands and the slap she had given her, she is shocked to learn that Carrie was murdered after they had arranged to meet up to discuss more of the wedding details, together with the other vendors as well. Now everyone that is present during that meeting became a suspect and it doesn't put Jaclyn in a favourable spot as she had forgotten and left her briefcase where the crime scene is.

Detective Eric Wilder is assigned to the case, but he is in an awkward situation since he had had one passionate night with Jaclyn and although he is professional enough to not let his personal life mingle with his job, it bugs him as that means he has to lay his hands off of her and on top of that, Jaclyn is giving him a cold shoulder. Jaclyn knew he is doing his job, but she couldn't help feeling hurt and offended when Eric starts to question her.

What Jaclyn and Eric didn't know is while they are trying to sort out their situations the murderer has moved on to the next unaware target - Jaclyn.

I enjoyed reading Veil of Night and I think Jaclyn and Eric are both very likeable characters. While I think their chemistry and their exchanges are entertaining and add some spice to the story, however on the suspense front it lacks the punch. The whodunnit effect wasn't as great as what I had anticipated; I supposed I wanted a list of suspects for me to guess and to see if my hunch is correct. The real action only began towards the last quarter of the book and while I think there is nothing wrong with this approach, I have to say it somewhat took some of my patience away but suffice to say that the attraction between Jaclyn and Eric is enough to keep me occupied.

I have Linda Howard's latest release, Prey, in my TBR pile and I hope that it would be better on the suspense front.