Teaser Tuesday (July 28)

Teaser TuesdaysTeaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.
  • 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!

 

 

Harris - Living Dead in DallasWe reopened at four-thirty, by which time we were all as bored as  we could possibly be. I was ashamed of that, since after all, we were there because a man we knew had died, but it was undeniable that straightening up the storeroom, cleaning out Sam’s office, and playing several hands of bourre (Sam won five dollars and change) we were all ready to see someone new. (18)

 

Charlaine Harris – Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 2)

Musing Monday (July 27)

Musing Mondays (BIG) Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about online book sites…

Do you have an account with an online book database site (LibraryThing, Shelfari, GoodReads etc)? If so, do you have a preference? Do you use it for - your own record keeping? finding new books to read? social networking?

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.

 

 

I have an account with Shelfari and GoodReads (user: rebeccavoy for both). I started over at Shelfari but liked the GoodReads format so I tried that one out… then couldn’t decide which one I liked best, so I’ve been on both ever since.

I use them mostly for my own record keeping – not because I really needed to, but cause I seem to have a crazy need to keep multiple copies of the same records…

I’d have several ‘friends’ on both – from people I know in RL to people I’ve hardly ever spoken to even online.

I’d like to use these sites in more ways (other than playing trivia on GoodReads) so I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys use it for.

Because I have no will power…

Can I help it if this challenge just happened to pop up while I was having a weak moment? How can you argue with collective Potter-reading? You just can’t…

 

Harry Potter Reading Challenge

What: Read or listen to all seven books in the Harry Potter series

  • Sorcerer’s Stone
  • Chamber of Secrets
  • Prisoner of Azkaban
  • Goblet of Fire
  • Order of the Pheonix
  • Half-Blood Prince
  • Deathly Hallows

When: The challenge will run from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010.  I know we’re all busy with life and work and other such fun things so join up whenever you want, there are no deadlines to the challenge besides the end date above.

Graphic series

Runaways [Vol. 1-5] Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona published 2003-2005
Vaughn - Runaways - 1 - Pride and JoyEvery teenager, at some point in their lives, thinks their parents are evil. But what if it were true?
Mismatched teenagers Alex, Nico, Karolina, Chase, Gertrude, and Molly dread the yearly reunion of their boring socialite parents. But this dread moves to a whole new level when they see their parents murder a young girl – one not much older than they are.
Thieves, scientists, time travellers, mutants, sorcerers, and aliens, their parents make up “The Pride”, an organisation that runs the dark side of California. A group determined to destroy the world – and their children if necessary. The kids become the Runaways, falsely accused fugitives intent on staying alive and repairing some of the damage their parents have caused.
I flew through the first five volumes of this graphic novel series, and am very eager to get my hands on the rest. I love a good superhero story, but the appeal of this Marvel series is that it’s not really about superheroes at all, nor the villains either. These are real kids (effects of living in the Marvel universe aside) with real issues who are just forced into a bad situation.
I did find the characters a little clichéd at the start of the first volume – the gamer, the goth, the nerd, the jock, etc – but the fact that these characters all have a true personality to go along with it makes the cliché work to the series advantage.
Comic book fans will appreciate the appearance of regular superheroes, major and minor (yes, I did have to make use of my brother’s Marvel Encyclopedia to identify one or two heroes), but for the most part they play their role and move on, in no way overshadowing the main characters.
The illustrating, both pencilling and colouring, was excellent – very Marvel, of course, but a few new touches here and there. A few edition in the later volumes were pencilled by a different artist, giving a slightly different look to the established characters, which I found a little off-putting but not to the detriment of the story.
Overall, a good graphic series aimed at Marvel fans 12-16. An excellent story with nice artwork; plenty of action but not too violent. 4.5/5
Vol. 1 -  Pride and Joy Vol. 2 - Teenage Wasteland
Vol. 3 - The Good Die Young
Vol. 4 – True Believers
Vol. 5 – Escape to New York

runaways.jpg

Teaser Tuesday (July 21)

Teaser Tuesdays Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.
  • 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!

 

 

Pullman - The Golden CompassIt was a mighty voice, a woman’s voice, but a woman with lungs of brass and leather. Lyra looked around for her at once, because this was Ma Costa, who had clouted Lyra dizzy on two occasions but had given her hot gingerbread on three, and whole family was noted for the grandeur and sumptuousness of their boat. (48)

 

Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials, Book 1 – The Golden Compass

Musing Mondays (July 20)

Musing Mondays (BIG) Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about book covers (again)…

As a follow up to last week’s question, Melody asked about when book covers do not match the story. Do you feel disappointed when the cover’s don’t match the story? Have you ever been completely misled by a book cover?

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.

 

 

Like most people who commented last week, it’s usually the combination of the cover AND the blurb on the back (not to mention recommendation or research) that leads me to pick up a book, though I do like to pick up a mystery book from time to time based on the cover alone.

For the most part I’ve been fairly lucky with my random choices – at least, I’m presuming I have been because I can’t think of any where I was overly disappointed or mislead by the cover in a bad way. I have however, had books be recommended to me that (based on the cover) I would probably never have picked up.

Just recently I received an ARC for a book which I thoroughly loved, but kept putting down on the pile because the cover did not match I thought the book was going to be like – and even now, having read it, I still think that.

Once more with clarity…

Okay, let’s try it again :)

I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the movies last night – and I loved it! Some issues, all extremely minor.

I’ve been very much looking forward to seeing the new movie, as I am a Harry Potter fan. I’ve read (and reread) the books before. Coming up to the new film, however, I’ve been wanting to reread the books – probably just Half-Blood Prince – and have been resisting the urge.

Last night the book made it’s way from my bookshelf to my bedroom and I' left it on my desk to see if I get to it or not. I agree with most your comments and I’ll probably wait till after the last movie is made to reread them.

We’ll see what happens…

For the past few months I’ve heard them calling to me… and I ignored them, steadfastly refusing to give in.

You have plenty to read! I told myself. If you put one more book on by your bedside they’re going to get organised and smother you in your sleep.

So I held out.

I told people I was holding out.

I promised the girls in the bookstore I was holding out.

Then I went to see the movie.

The book is on my bedside table. Let’s just leave it there for a while and see if it makes it back to my bookshelf or not.

 

harrypotter6

Virtual Walking Tour: Sally and BethF

This week I headed off to visit with two bloggers:virtual walking tour vicky1

Sally from Books and Musings from Downunder
and
BethF from BethFish Reads

 

Sally

Explain the title of your blog: Well I live in Australia hence the Downunder - and my original blog is just about books and my thoughts on those books.   After a while I decided I wanted to do other blogging things - so kept my books and musings true to just my book reviews and added MORE!!!! My challenges to a Reading Challenge blog called 'My reading challenges', my memes and weekly activities such as Monday Musings and Friday Fill-ins to my 'Book and other games' blog.  Of course being obsessive I have just started a series list blog called 'Sally's list of series' - where I aim to keep track of the series I am following - or want to follow.

I have a couple of others as well - that are not book related - once for my recipes, wines I enjoy and the last, though by no means least is to do with my Christian Faith.

How did you get into blogging? To help my ailing memory as to what I have read and what I haven't - also we had a major computer crash and the word document I kept track of my readings on disappeared.  The blog was to counteract that and I set it up at the end of 2006 - I also use Google documents to upload my excel spreadsheet to that I keep the list of read books on my computer database.  i also have it saved on the work computer.  I am prepared for any future crashes.

What do you like best about blogging? My online friends!!!!  I have made many friends through blogging.  It was originally for my own use - then i discovered that people made comments about my book reviews - so I went to their sites and left my remarks - soon correspondence was set up.  it was so cool!!!!  It is such a comfort to know there are other book obsessed people out there and I am actually NORMAL!!!!!

What are the five books you would recommend to anyone?
Oh dear - only 5!!!

The little White Horse by Elizabeth Gouge
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The complete Laura Ingells Wilder series
Anything by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi
The Harry Potter Series

 

 

Beth Fish

Explain the title of your blog: My blog is called Beth Fish Reads. As many book bloggers know, Beth Fish is not my real name. I made it up! The "fish" part is a nod to my husband who has been a flyfisherman for most of his life.

How did you get into blogging? I started blogging for a number of reason. I've always been a voracious reader, and I've used different methods for keeping track of my reading (databases, journals, Word files), but I was never really happy with any of my methods. At the same time, I had been reading blogs in general and the major book blogs in particular and thought that blogging looked fun. It all came together when I discovered Wendy's (from CaribousMom) Yahoo! group and blog A Novel Challenge. I knew then that I had to join challenges and I had to blog. So ultimate thanks goes to Wendy.

At first I thought I'd blog about a variety of things, but I really focus just on books.

What do you like best about blogging? It's difficult to pick just one thing. I like that blogging forces me to be a more critical reader and a better writer, but the most fun is the community and the friends I have made. I love the challenges and events, I love getting and leaving comments, I love talking about books on Twitter. The very best was getting the chance to meet so many bloggers at BEA in May 2009. I hope I have many more chances to spend time with my blogging friends.

What are the five books that you would recommend to anyone?
Boy this a hard question. I'm going to answer it by listing five books I gave top ratings to this year:

Every Last Cuckoo
Wintergirls
Thirteen Reasons Why
Wicked Lovely
The Lincoln Lawyer

 

Thanks for letting me visit with you!

Who knew the truth would make such great fiction?

The Accidental Bestseller Wendy Wax 419 pages; published 2009
Wax - The Accidental BestsellerThere is an unwritten rule of writing that the number of trips to the refrigerator is in inverse proportion to how well a manuscript is going. When the fingers are flying over the keyboard and the brain is fully immersed in the scene being created, food is completely unimportant. But when the fingers slow and the focus blurs, or worse, when the writer sees nothing but the blank screen and the hypnotic blink of the cursor, food beckons. As does, oddly enough, a load of laundry, the flossing of one’s teeth, and the complete rearrangement of a kitchen pantry or walk-in closet. (70)
One day, four aspiring writers met at a writer’s conference. Coming from four very different worlds, these women form the unlikeliest of alliances in the dog-eat-dog world of publishing. Ten years later, Mallory St. James is a workaholic sophisticate, Tanya Mason a single mother working three jobs to support her two children, Faye Truett the wife of well-known televangelist ‘Pastor Steve’, and Kendall Aims a struggling mid-list author with a rocky marriage and empty-nest syndrome. But more than any of this, they are best friends.
When Kendall’s life starts to careen out of control (missing out on what could be a career-saving award, being informed that her publishing contract will not be renewed after she completes the last book she owes, and finally, finding out that her husband is having an affair), it is her friends who barge through her defences to help put her back together again. The four decide to write Kendall’s last book together, writing what they know – the behind-the-scene world of publishing. The base the story in their own lives, each writing the voice and life of one of four aspiring writers. It’s unlikely the book of a dropped author will garner much attention, so what’s the harm, right?
However, Sticks and Stones turns out to be a huge success, an ‘accidental’ bestseller in fact. But now these women must face what they have written – not only as separate writers secretly writing under Kendall’s name, but the secrets they have revealed in composing their ‘fictional’ characters. Perhaps these best friends don’t know each other as well as they think they do.
Once I picked this book up, I didn’t put it back down. The Accidental Bestseller was a fascinating look into the world of publishing, where author Wendy Wax has cleverly shown a realistic – yet ever humorous – presentation of the creative process, from the author’s first scribbled notes right through to a bookseller putting it on the shelves.
But more than all of this, it was the story of four amazing women and the friendship they shared – the ups, the downs, the lies and the laughs. These are four women who were so real, so believable, as they put their lives’ stories down on the page. I felt sympathy for them, I laughed with them, and I cheered them on whenever I could; these were women I would want to be friends with. 4/5

Library Loot

I haven’t had a library loot post for awhile, though I love to read others, so since I went to the library this week I thought I’d share what followed me home.

 

 Waddell - Starry Night Collins - The Earthborn Jacobs - Knit Two Pfeifer - Catwoman - It's Only a Movie Resnick - Nebula Awards Showcase 2007 Sedgwick - My Swordhand is Singing Vaughn - Runaways - 2 - Teenage Wasteland Vaughn - Runaways - 3 - The Good Die Young Vaughn - Runaways - 4 - True Believers Vaughn - Runaways - 5 - Escape to New York

 

  • Waddell, Martin – Starry Night
  • Collins, Paul – The Earthborn
  • Jacob, Kate – Knit Two
  • Pfeifer, Will – Catwoman: It’s Only a Movie
  • Resnick, Mike (ed.) – Nebula Awards Showcase 2007
  • Sedgewick, Marcus – My Swordhand is Singing
  • Vaughn, Brian K. – Runaways, Vol 2: Teenage Wasteland
  • Vaughn, Brian K. – Runaways, Vol 3: The Good Die Young
  • Vaughn, Brian K. – Runaways, Vol 4: True Believers
  • Vaughn, Brian K. – Runaways, Vol 5: Escape to New York

So… far more than I had intended to bring home, but I’d been waiting for the rest of the Runaway series to be returned to the library so when I saw them I grabbed then. Looks like I’ll be having a graphic novel week this week!

Thanks Hilarie!

090714 Kreative Blogger

Rules for accepting the Kreative Blogger Award require me to list seven of my favourite things, and nominate seven other fabulous blogs!

Seven of My Favourite Things

1. coffee with my friends
2. reading
3. science fiction
3. knitting
4. the smell of old books
5. warm socks
6. ice cream
7. nice pens and notebooks

Seven Amazing Blogs I would like to nominate:

1. BethF at Beth Fish Reads
2. Kim at Page after Page
3. Gautami at everything distils into reading
4. Diane at The Book Resort
5. Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit
6. MizB at Should Be Reading
7. Melissa at Melissa’s Bookshelf

Teaser Tuesday (July 14)

Teaser Tuesdays Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.
  • 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!

 

 

Resnick - Nebula Awards Showcase 2007You almost caught me the time I came home late with packages. I had to hide behind the curtains. I could tell that my feet showed out the bottom, but you didn’t notice. (65)

“I Live With You” – Carol Emshwiller, in Nebula Award Showcase 2007

 

 

 

*Sidenote: Wendy, in case I forget to tell you, you would LOVE this book

Musing Mondays (July 13)

Musing Mondays (BIG) Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about book covers…

We all know the old adage about not judging a book by it’s cover, but just how much sway does a book cover have when it comes to your choice of book – whether buying or borrowing? Are there any books you’ve bought based on the cover alone?

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.

I truly wish I could get the saying ‘never judge a book by it’s cover’ out of my head, because it usually runs through my mind at least once whenever I go to the library – where I usually pick up a book simply because it looks interesting. When it comes to buying books, I try not to let the covers sway me unduly – for no other reason than it tends to lead to impulse buys that I cannot afford.

In many ways, the cover and other physical aspects to the book can stop me from buying the book. For instance, I really dislike having editions with the movie tie-in cover. I also dislike having the larger sized paper-back* edition that usually comes out first – I will wait for the smaller size unless I’m truly desperate.

However, I have also picked up some great books simply because I loved the covers:

Thompson - Blankets PETERATSC_FOILMOCK_01167 Butcher - Storm Front Coleman - The Cure Selznick - Invention of Hugo Cabret

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*does this have a name?

too sleepy…

Had a bit of a down fortnight this week, so for any of you who subscribe to Just One More Page (thanks!), I haven’t disappeared. I have some upcoming reviews that should be ready to go over the next week and will be sending out some questionnaires to the people next on the Virtual Walking Tour list so check your emails to see if it’s you!

Happy reading!

Friday Firsts (…belated)

Friday_Firsts
When was the first time you thought ‘I can do that’ and put pen to paper for your first work of fiction? Care to share yours I’d love to read some new stories.

I’ve been sitting here for about 15 minutes trying to think back to a time when I WASN’T writing. Even after setting the majority of writing I did throughout my schooling (reports, yearbook, a mountain-load of essays I wouldn’t even attempt to count), I still couldn’t really remember not writing. School creative writing attempts (including a camp at some point) turned into fandom-based fiction (fanfiction) and then into a strange, though not entirely successful, fascination with poetry.
But this, I felt, didn’t really answer Wendy’s question.
The first time I truly got that ‘I can do that’ thought, or perhaps more accurately, ‘I’d like to see if I can truly do that’ thought was about a year ago. I work part time shelving books in a library and often find the need to distract myself so that I don’t actually READ said books. It was over the course of many many shifts that I plotted out and actually scribbled notes for the story that I want to write - if I were brave enough to say it, the book I want to write.
While I can tell you most of the plot in great detail, introduce you to the characters, much of the actual writing got waylaid over my final semester of uni. But it’s still here, bubbling away in my head, and I greatly enjoy sitting down for a few hours here and there to keep working away at it.

Musing Monday (July 6)

Musing Mondays (BIG)Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about library company…

Who, if anyone usually accompanies you to the library? Is it somewhere you go alone? Or is it a regular outing with family or friends? Which do you prefer?

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Musing Mondays post, or share your opinion in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks.

Edit: Sorry it's up so late, I scheduled the post but forgot to change the time along with the date.

In the past I had always gone to the library on my own – not having many readers amongst my friends or family. But over the past year or so, my sister has developed quite a nice little bookish streak and has been coming with me.

So now, while I still pop out for a couple hours reading/hiding every once in a while I usually always have someone with me. If not Bethany (my sister) then another friend of mine who will pop down and visit with me – which is handy cause then I can get him to carry the books :)

I can’t say that I have a strong preference for either. I enjoy the company because I usually pick up books I wouldn’t normally if I’m with someone else and the option of sneaking off for a lone visit is always available for next time.

Mid-Year Wrap-Up

I was inspired by Jenner’s post to do a mid-year summary of my own (thanks!). I also attempted to make some pretty graphs like Heather did in her MM post this week (I was quite impressed)… but that required far too much math for my poor brain.

 

Books Read: 54

Number of Pages Read: 13, 050

Authors: 34

New-to-me Authors: 22

Number of Books Written by Females: 42

Number of Books Written by Males: 12

Number of Review Copies Received: 8

Books Reviewed: 38

Reviews Owing: 16

Challenges:

100+ Books Challenge: 54/100
Arthurian Challenge:
13/12 – FINISHED!
42 Challenge:
36/42
A-Z Challenge:
29/52
Support Your Local Library Challenge:
20/25
Casual Classics Challenge:
1/4
Read Your Own Books Challenge:
6/25
2nds Challenge:
2/12
Take a Chance Challenge:
0/9
Sookie Stackhouse Challenge:
1/9

June Wrap-Up

06 june

Total: 7 books

Books Read*:

  • The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes – Neil Gaiman and Sam Keith
  • Flitterwig – Edrei Cullen
  • Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lindgren
  • Runaways, Vol. 1: Pride and Joy – Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona
  • Twilight – Stephenie Meyer
  • Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher
  • The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose – Diana Janney

Books started:

  • Hurting Distance – Sophie Hannah
  • Betrayed – P.C. and Kristen Cast

 

* I read more than I thought I did this month – guess I’d better actually write some reviews, huh!