Not a bad reading month this month. The number of books read was down a little, and I am not really sure why, but overall I have been reading less all year so that just continues the trend.
The books I did read this month were:
Hugh and Bess by Susan Higginbotham 4/5
Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas 4.5/5
The Dream Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon 4/5
The Piano Teacher by Janice Y K Lee 4/5
Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn 4.5/5
Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts 4.5/5
Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich 4/5
The Dark Rose by Cynthia Harrod Eagles 4.5/5
Chosen by P C Cast and Kristin Cast 4/5
An Affair Before Christmas by Eloisa James 4/5
Lord of the Silent by Elizabeth Peters 4.5/5
The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella 4.5/5
Of the challenges that I have not yet completed this year, I didn't make any progress on the Art History reading challenge, but I have borrowed a couple of books that will fit the theme, so hopefully in the next couple of months I will make some progress.
I read two books this month for the War Through the Generations challenge - The Piano Teacher by Janice Y K Lee and The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella. I think I have one more book to read to complete this challenge.
At this point I have read 86 books that I started this year and so not long to go before I finish the 100+ reading challenge.
This month I joined in the Period Drama Challenge, which isn't about reading at all, but rather watching period dramas. Last night I watched the last quarter of North and South (again) so now I will probably watch the whole thing again and then that will be one down for that challenge as well.
I did mention last month that I was thinking about joining a couple more challenges, and now I am officially joining both the Harry Potter reading challenge. Whilst I have read the first four books in the Harry Potter series, I didn't ever get around to reading the last three. My brother is supposed to be giving me the audio version as read by Stephen Fry so I will most likely listen to that in order to complete this challenge.
The other challenge that I am signing up for is the Reliquiae Challenge because I really can't resist paranormal books! I am going for the highest level (Haunted Nights). My first three books are going to be Kissing Sin by Keri Arthur, Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris and City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I will work out the other three books in due course.
Finally, a big thank you to Gina from Book Dragon who has awarded me the Kreativ Blogger award. Thanks Gina!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Come in Spinner
In the last cardmaking post I did I mentioned that I was trying out some new techniques, one of them involving a new to me product called Twinkling H2Os. Because I enjoy just sitting there painting across the page with the watercolours, I have numerous backgrounds created mostly in a similar shade to the ones that you see here, but also a couple of others. When I was at Paperific I also bought a new stamp featuring a stylised lady made by an Australian company called Eclectic Images. They have quite a few more of these ladies, and I think I am going to have to purchase some of them before too much longer. Once I had my background, I stamped and embossed the lady and then coloured her in using more Twinkling H2Os. At first this was just a play around, but I think it looks good with the two ladies on it. I am pretty pleased with the final effect, and am thinking that I am going to try and make more lady cards and/or bookmarks. To aid with this I just HAD to go and buy more colours yesterday!
I did try and create a colour chart of the different colours that I now own, but given that I have now bought more I need to add those. I just love that you can different depth in the shades from a single colour, and use them both for backgrounds and for colouring. The fact that you get a lovely shimmery effect doesn't hurt either!
The second card was inspired by one of the monthly card swap cards that I received last month - a spinner card!
A friend of mine is turning 40 this week. She is a very girlie girl who loves pink and Cosmo cocktails, so my aim was to incorporate those two aspects into one card. I used the same technique as I did with the dragonflies. You start by stamping your image using Perfect Medium or Versamark, and then sprinkling hot set glue powder over the image. You then use your heating tool to melt the powder and sprinkle your glitter over the now melted glue. By heating again with the heating tool you cause the glue to set, meaning that the glitter is set into the glue and therefore won't just wipe off the card in the future. The paper that I used is from Alison Ellis Designs as is the glitter.
I've put in an order for some really small word stamps so that in future I would be able to stamp the Happy Birthday in, but for now I had to write it. I think I am going to have to order this cocktail stamp as well. At the moment I am just borrowing it from a friend.
The neat thing about this card is that the cocktail spins. It is a bit difficult to show that in still photos so I took a few seconds of video with my phone to show it in action. It isn't exactly easy to get a good shot when you are the person holding both the camera and the object, but hopefully you will get the idea!
I feel as though I need to give you all fair warning that you are going to see various incarnations of these cards a few more times, because I am pretty enamoured of them! In my mind I am seeing spinning dragonflies amongst other things! I do love that dragonfly stamp that I used last time.
I did try and create a colour chart of the different colours that I now own, but given that I have now bought more I need to add those. I just love that you can different depth in the shades from a single colour, and use them both for backgrounds and for colouring. The fact that you get a lovely shimmery effect doesn't hurt either!
The second card was inspired by one of the monthly card swap cards that I received last month - a spinner card!
A friend of mine is turning 40 this week. She is a very girlie girl who loves pink and Cosmo cocktails, so my aim was to incorporate those two aspects into one card. I used the same technique as I did with the dragonflies. You start by stamping your image using Perfect Medium or Versamark, and then sprinkling hot set glue powder over the image. You then use your heating tool to melt the powder and sprinkle your glitter over the now melted glue. By heating again with the heating tool you cause the glue to set, meaning that the glitter is set into the glue and therefore won't just wipe off the card in the future. The paper that I used is from Alison Ellis Designs as is the glitter.
I've put in an order for some really small word stamps so that in future I would be able to stamp the Happy Birthday in, but for now I had to write it. I think I am going to have to order this cocktail stamp as well. At the moment I am just borrowing it from a friend.
The neat thing about this card is that the cocktail spins. It is a bit difficult to show that in still photos so I took a few seconds of video with my phone to show it in action. It isn't exactly easy to get a good shot when you are the person holding both the camera and the object, but hopefully you will get the idea!
I feel as though I need to give you all fair warning that you are going to see various incarnations of these cards a few more times, because I am pretty enamoured of them! In my mind I am seeing spinning dragonflies amongst other things! I do love that dragonfly stamp that I used last time.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Library Loot
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
It was a very exciting week for me last week. I got my first ever Inter Library Loan (ILL)! I actually didn't think I would get it because when I was filling in the online request it asked how much I was willing to pay and it said that the maximum cost could be up to almost $20 which I thought was a bit steep, but instead of filling it in I just left it blank. I have to say though that I was a bit surprised when I picked the book up from my library as they add a cover to it. It made me laugh a little because you can't even tell which book it is underneath the cover. It's very green!
Eva was supposed to be back from holidays last week, but there hasn't been a new post from her yet, so if there is no Mr Linky up by the time I get up on Thursday I will add one to this post.
My loot this week:
Honolulu by Alan Brennert - I have been wanting to read this author's first book, Moloka'i for ages, so when I saw that this book had been added to the catalogue I requested it.
Tears of the Moon by Nora Roberts - I read the first book in this trilogy, Jewels of the Sun, a couple of weeks ago.
The Royal Harlot by Susan Holloway Scott - Normally I don't read books out of order, but I have read the third book in this series, The French Mistress, not too long ago. Now I am going back to the beginning to work my way through. This is the book that is hidden underneath the green ILL cover.
Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris - As soon as I see the next Sookie Stackhouse book has been added to the library catalogue I request it. I was a bit slow this time, but it has finally come in!
Annette Vallon by James Tipton - One thing I don't do very often at the library is browse, but the other night I was walking past the end shelves where they display books and this one caught my eye.
The Princeling by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - the next book in the Morland Dynasty series of books. The cover I had is from about 30 years ago and is fabulous, but for the time being I will use this one. I will find the real one eventually though.
Only one reloot this week:
Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin - the third book in the Adelia series of medieval mysteries.
Edited to add Mr Linky.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Teaser Tuesday
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
For the first time ever I think I was really conscious today of looking for a teaser for tonight. The main reason is because I really wanted to find a quote which represented the reasons why I love reading this series - the humour, the mystery, the great characters, the fun locations. That's a lot for two lines to represent though, so in the end, despite searching while I was reading, I have ended up just opening the book and choosing from a random page, and then I cheated and chose more than two sentences!
My teaser this week comes from page 248 of Lord of the Silent, book number 13 in the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters:
I put my empty glass on the table and stood up. Emerson remained seated. '...like an avalanche,' he muttered, staring into space. 'Get out of the way...only chance...nine people and the cat...'
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The French Mistress by Susan Holloway Scott
2009 Pub Challenge •
Charles II •
Historical Fiction •
Mistresses of Charles II •
Review book •
Susan Holloway Scott
The acclaimed author of The King’s Favorite returns to the decadent court of King Charles II to follow the dazzling life of Louise de Keroualle, a shy maid of honor who would rise to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful women of her time.One of the regular subjects that I have seen discussed over the last couple of years in various forums is the fact that there are so many Tudor books around. Don't get me wrong, I still love to read a well written book on Henry VIII and his wives, but there are other very interesting English kings that don't seem to get anywhere near as much attention as Henry VIII. There are probably lots of other very interesting figures from history outside of English royalty that we don't hear about enough either.
1668: The daughter of a poor nobleman, Louise leaves the French countryside for the glittering court of the legendary King Louis XIV. As a baby-faced maid of honor, the innocent Louise attracts little notice––until she catches the eye of the visiting English king, Charles II. Before long, she is sent by the scheming Louis to London as a royal “gift” for Charles. There she is expected not only to please the tastes of the jaded English king, but to serve as a spy for France.
Alone in a foreign land with few friends, many rivals, and ever-shifting loyalties, Louise soon learns the perils of her new role. Yet she is too clever—and too ambitious—to be merely a pawn in the intrigues of others. With the promise of riches, power, and even the love of a king, Louise dares to create her own destiny in a dangerous dance of intrigue between two kings—and two countries.
One such king that I have only had small glimpses of in the past is the Merry Monarch, Charles II. He first came to my attention when I watched a mini-series that featured the very, very tasty Rufus Sewell as Charles II. Then there were glimpses in Forever Amber , enough to make me want to know more. And what a story it is. His father was dethroned and Charles II had to live in exile. Then Charles II was returned and he proceeded to have mistresses all over the place, whilst remaining married to his Queen. The long running struggle between Catholics and Protestants continued throughout his reign, especially when his heir came to the throne following Charles' death.
So what about this book? This is the third book in Susan Holloway Scott's ongoing series about the loves of Charles II, and features Louise de Keroualle. She was a young French lady who was a maid of honour to Charles sister, Henrietta, Duchess D'Orlean, known as Madame, who was married to the brother of Louis XIV (known as Monsieur). Louise came from a poor but noble family, and finds herself overwhelmed and overlooked at the French court, but she soon comes to be one of Madame's closest companions. When Henrietta travels to England to negotiate an integral treaty between her homeland and her adopted country, Louise accompanies her and so is introduced to the very handsome and virile King of England, Charles II.
Following the death of Henrietta, Louise finds herself sent back to England with a dual purpose. The first is to be a 'gift' to Charles, and the second is to be a spy for France. And so begins a love affair that stood the test of time, and the challenges associated with trying to love an English King but still serve the French nation. Even when Charles' attention strayed, he returned time and again to Louise.
The Charles that we see in this novel is a man of contradictions. He seems to have had unflagging energy (and he needed it with all those mistresses to keep happy, and the resulting children to be actively involved with), and appears to have an incredible charisma when it comes to charming the ladies. And yet, he obviously had his own personal integrity, stubbornly choosing to not put his queen aside despite the lack of an heir.
Having not read any of the other books in the series (yet!), it took me a few pages to get used to the way that the story was told. I was also a little uncomfortable with the first portion of the book that was set in the French court. I have read about Monsieur, Duc D'Orleans in other novels set in the French court, namely the Angelique novels, by Sergeanne Golon and he is inevitably portrayed as a very unlikeable character. It is no different here, but in a way it was a very intimate glimpse into a disastrously unhappy royal marriage and in some ways that was quite confronting to read.
Once the action moved away from the French court, Louise, and this book, really came into their own, becoming a very assured and confident lady and story. Without being graphic there was no doubt of the attraction between Charles and Louise, no doubt of the jealousy at Court as Louise is granted honours and gifts, and no doubt of the rivalry between Louise and the other established mistresses of the King, chief among them Barbara Palmer (Lady Castlemaine) and the actress Nell Gwynn.
If there was any other criticisms of this book, it is that the ending was quite rushed, and it would have been really interesting to see what happened to Louise once Charles died. I guess though, the fact that I wanted to read more about Louise, can be taken both as a bad thing and a good thing. The book was cut a little short, but I enjoyed the book enough to want to read more.
In the end I found this an enjoyable read, and I am now in the process of acquiring the first two books in the series. I will definitely be looking for the next book, which Susan has revealed will be called The Countess and the King about Catherine Sedley and should be released next year.
This is one of the books that I read for the Pub09 Challenge.
Thanks so much to the author for sending me an ARC of this book.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Library Loot
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
Eva is on holidays this week, so you are stuck with me for the second week in a row! Luckily I have been to the library twice this week so there is plenty of loot (and some reloot) to talk about! There are actually four books already waiting at the library to be picked up the next time I go there, but more about those next week!
So my loot this week is:
The Suspect by Michael Robotham - I have heard such good things about this Australian author's books, particularly Shatter but that book is a later book in the series. This book is the first book, because I have to read series in order.
The Company by Arabella Edge - When I was in Perth a couple of weeks ago, one of the things that we did was go to the Shipwrecks Gallery. The centrepiece of the museum is a small part of the Batavia, a ship from the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC). I now would like to read about the VOC, and this is the first book I have chosen to read.
Bluey's War by Herb Hamlet - My cousin dropped this book off for my grandmother to read while I was over in Perth visiting. I also think that this book my fit for the War Through the Generations Challenge.
The Lieutenant's Lover by Harry Bingham - I have had this book on my TBR list for ages, but I was reminded to actually borrow it by a review that I saw recently. Unfortunately I didn't write down when I saw the review! I think that this book will count for the War Through the Generations challenge as well.
Company of Liars: A Novel of the Plague by Karen Maitland - This book is Book of the Month for August over at Historical Fiction Online. I have heard lots and lots of good things about it!
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson - Wow, I am getting slack. Normally I am quite good at writing down where I saw the review that prompted me to request a book, but for the second time in this post I can't remember who inspired me!
My loot this week outnumbers my reloot which I am taking to be a good sign! My reloot for this week is:
The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland - for Art History challenge
Angelique in Revolt by Sergeanne Golon - the next Angelique book
Emma by Kaoru Mori - I started reading this book last time I had it out but couldn't finish it in time.
Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland - I swear I am going to read this book this time!
How about you? What did you get out of the library this week? Add your link to Mr Linky below:
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Teaser Tuesday
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
My teaser this week comes from The Dark Rose, the second book in the Morland Dynasty series by Cynthia Harrod Eagles. I read the first book a few months ago and really enjoyed it. Where the last book focused on the period during the War of the Roses started, this one is set during Henry VIII and features many of the names from that period that are still famous, or in some cases infamous, even today. My teaser comes from page 362:
The night wore on, and they sat quietly, barely pretending to sew any more, waiting for dawn when they could hear mass again, wating for the light to steal into the little chamber, waiting for the last day to reak. When the sky had grown pearly outside, and there was a new smell in the air, the poignant, heart-breaking smell of morning, the Queen lifted her head wearily and said,
" Do you remember Calais? It was growing light when he came."
Sunday, July 19, 2009
July Card Swap cards
The theme for this month's Card Swap was Christmas in July. Now I must confess that I was pretty unexcited about this theme because I find it hard enough to make up a design when I need to for Christmas let alone when I have to make another lot as well! I actually did have a good idea but it really didn't happen for a couple of reasons. The first reason was that I wanted to use one of my sister's stamps and she wasn't sure if she was going to end up using it for the workshop that she was designing. The second, and probably major reason, was that the only weekend I had to make all my card swap cards was the weekend that I ended up going away for, so needless to say last week I was trying to figure out how on earth I was going to get them made in time for Friday night!
In the end I ended up using a design that I already had four cards made of, so instead of having to make 11 in almost no time, I only had to make 7! The strange thing is that as soon as I was worried about making them all identical I kept on making errors, but I guess that is part of the good thing about hand made - everything is unique.
The workshop for this month was really good. My sister designed it herself and the idea was to give some out of the ordinary ideas for Christmas, so we made a gift box, the lid, and the bow to go on top, a gift card holder, a Christmas tag and a card. I am not sure if she is going to submit it to the company she works for or not, so I will see if she is happy for me to post them here or not. I will definitely be making the gift card holder again, because is such a good idea for those times when you get a gift card. It's made using an envelope so it is a very easy way to make something a bit mundane a little more special.
Some what unusually for me, I also made a card that wasn't for card swap this month! Shocking I know. Actually, originally I was just messing around trying a couple of new techniques that I learnt when we went to Paperific craft show last month. I bought a few different things to try and hadn't had time to play before now, but I really like the results of this one when I put it together.
The first technique is creating backgrounds using Twinkling H2Os, which are a watercolour type base that has a bit of a metallic sheen to it when it dries. You can also use these to colour images or like I have to create a background. The lady who we saw demonstrating it at the show has obviously had a lot of practice as she was able to just swish the brush over the paper using a couple of different colours and voila, fabulous even graduation of colour as a background. I have used three colours on this one, but I need to practice blending a little but I am relatively happy with it given that it was the first time I tried it!
Even though I am not that good a photographer, I am really happy that you can see a little bit of the shimmer, especially if you click on the image so that it enlarges, although if you do that you will also see a few bits of glitter that weren't heat set that I didn't rub off yet!
The second technique was using a new to me product called Heat Set Glue. It comes in a white powder form, almost like embossing powder, but instead of becoming solid when it is heated, the glue powder melts, which then enables you to sprinkle glitter over the glue. You then heat it again and the glue sets with the glitter inside it, so your glitter is stuck fast to the card and will not just brush off. So now I have the option of either embossing to get texture, or using the heat set glue to get a really glittery image!
I have used these dragon fly stamps before because I just love them, and I am sure that you will see them again at some point, maybe even in a similar fashion to these.
I am very excited about a new stamp set that I just received yesterday, but I am going to play with those a little before I unveil those!
My big challenge this month is to make a cool and groovy 40th birthday card for a friend. I have an idea but a lot of times I have trouble translating the idea into actuality! I will also need to make a male card for the next card swap so I will be off trawling the net looking for some inspiration. It is so much easier to make girls cards!
In the end I ended up using a design that I already had four cards made of, so instead of having to make 11 in almost no time, I only had to make 7! The strange thing is that as soon as I was worried about making them all identical I kept on making errors, but I guess that is part of the good thing about hand made - everything is unique.
The workshop for this month was really good. My sister designed it herself and the idea was to give some out of the ordinary ideas for Christmas, so we made a gift box, the lid, and the bow to go on top, a gift card holder, a Christmas tag and a card. I am not sure if she is going to submit it to the company she works for or not, so I will see if she is happy for me to post them here or not. I will definitely be making the gift card holder again, because is such a good idea for those times when you get a gift card. It's made using an envelope so it is a very easy way to make something a bit mundane a little more special.
Some what unusually for me, I also made a card that wasn't for card swap this month! Shocking I know. Actually, originally I was just messing around trying a couple of new techniques that I learnt when we went to Paperific craft show last month. I bought a few different things to try and hadn't had time to play before now, but I really like the results of this one when I put it together.
The first technique is creating backgrounds using Twinkling H2Os, which are a watercolour type base that has a bit of a metallic sheen to it when it dries. You can also use these to colour images or like I have to create a background. The lady who we saw demonstrating it at the show has obviously had a lot of practice as she was able to just swish the brush over the paper using a couple of different colours and voila, fabulous even graduation of colour as a background. I have used three colours on this one, but I need to practice blending a little but I am relatively happy with it given that it was the first time I tried it!
Even though I am not that good a photographer, I am really happy that you can see a little bit of the shimmer, especially if you click on the image so that it enlarges, although if you do that you will also see a few bits of glitter that weren't heat set that I didn't rub off yet!
The second technique was using a new to me product called Heat Set Glue. It comes in a white powder form, almost like embossing powder, but instead of becoming solid when it is heated, the glue powder melts, which then enables you to sprinkle glitter over the glue. You then heat it again and the glue sets with the glitter inside it, so your glitter is stuck fast to the card and will not just brush off. So now I have the option of either embossing to get texture, or using the heat set glue to get a really glittery image!
I have used these dragon fly stamps before because I just love them, and I am sure that you will see them again at some point, maybe even in a similar fashion to these.
I am very excited about a new stamp set that I just received yesterday, but I am going to play with those a little before I unveil those!
My big challenge this month is to make a cool and groovy 40th birthday card for a friend. I have an idea but a lot of times I have trouble translating the idea into actuality! I will also need to make a male card for the next card swap so I will be off trawling the net looking for some inspiration. It is so much easier to make girls cards!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Weekly Geeks - Where in the World Have You Been?
This week's Weekly Geeks theme is a good one, asking Where in the World Have You Been? in your reading.
This week's Weekly Geeks asks you to tell us about your globe trotting via books. Are you a global reader? How many countries have you "visited" in your reading? What are your favorite places or cultures to read about? Can you recommend particularly good books about certain regions, countries or continents? How do you find out about books from other countries? What countries would you like to read that you haven't yet?
Use your own criteria about what you consider to be "visiting" -- whether a book is written about the country or by a native or resident of the country.
For fun, create one of these maps at this website ticking off the countries you've read books from - you might be surprised how many (or how few!) countries you've read. Include the map in your blog post if you're so inclined.
So here's my map, based on the books that I have read in the last 18 months:
The one obvious gap is books set in South America, and Africa is probably a little under represented, although I did read a couple of books set in other African countries, but just not in the last couple of years. Other than that the map is pretty full. Of course, it helps when you block out huge blocks of the map with some of the larger countries like China, Russia, USA and Canada.
I think I am pretty open to reading books about most countries - as long as the story is a good one, then I will read it. I do particularly like books set in Russia and Europe, especially if it is historical fiction.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Library (re) Loot
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
First of all, I want to apologise for not getting around to visit any other Library Looters last week. I didn't have any internet access at all last week and had to survive checking my emails and Facebook on my phone, which is definitely not conducive to blog hopping. I am dreading receiving my next phone bill!
Prior to that, I have visited quite a few of you who have commented that, like me, you tend to end up borrowing the same books over and over because you have to return them unread. I have every intention of reading books when I borrow them, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. Some times I come to regret that particularly when I end up really loving a book. For example, I think I borrowed The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley three times at least before I actually read it, and I just loved it, which means that I really should have read it the first time I borrowed it!
My point with all that, is that I have been thinking about a term to use for those books - the ones you end up reborrowing - so today, my library loot is split into new loot, and reloot!
My new loot this week is:
Wild and Wicked in Scotland by Melody Thomas - I just recently read the first book in this series. While it wasn't the best book, I have enjoyed Melody Thomas' writing enough previously to give her another go!
Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon - I can't quite believe that I only finished my first Kenyon for the year last week! What is going on?
My reloot is:
The Winding Ways Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
Fishing for Stars by Bryce Courtney
The scary thing about my Library Loot this week is that I picked these books up last night, and there are already 5 books waiting to be picked up next time I go!
If you would like to share your loot, please add your link to Mr Linky below:
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Teaser Tuesday
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
My teaser this week comes from The Piano Teacher by Janice Y K Lee. It is set in WWII and early 1950s Hong Kong and so far is an interesting read. The teaser comes from page 243:
He reached behind and took her hands off his back. He did things like that a lot, gestures that felt like rebukes, ways to keep a distance between them.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Home sweet home!
After a whirlwind trip to Perth we are back. We had a really good time, balanced between spending time with my grandparents, dad and other family members and making sure that the ten year old wasn't too bored by doing some fun things! More details will follow later I am sure.
I managed to read a couple of books and I was planning to post about them when I found something far more interesting to talk about! I am sure that a lot of people will already have heard about this, but I have to thank Libby from Historicalfictiononline.com who pointed me in the direction of an interview with the totally delectable Richard Armitage over at Vulpes Libris. He talks about what he likes to read, and some of the roles he has played!
Click here to read the interview.
He just seems like an all round nice guy! Le sigh!
I managed to read a couple of books and I was planning to post about them when I found something far more interesting to talk about! I am sure that a lot of people will already have heard about this, but I have to thank Libby from Historicalfictiononline.com who pointed me in the direction of an interview with the totally delectable Richard Armitage over at Vulpes Libris. He talks about what he likes to read, and some of the roles he has played!
Click here to read the interview.
He just seems like an all round nice guy! Le sigh!
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
LIbrary Loot!
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and me that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
This week's Mr Linky is going to be up at Eva's blog, so head on over there to add your name to the list!
I thought I would start with something a bit more like anti library loot! This pile of books here are the books that I am having to return unread to the library as I drive past the library on the way to the airport this week!
It's fair to say that I have had a VERY average reading month so far. I haven't actually finished a single book yet. I am hoping that that might change while I am away as I will have at least 7 hours reading time on the flights, although they are early morning and late night flights so that might not happen either.
Of course, not reading doesn't mean I am not borrowing! Here are the books that I picked up this week:
Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich - I stopped buying this series a few books ago, but they are generally still feel good reads. I was pretty early on the list of requests for this one so I am getting a nearly new book to read.
Kissing Sin by Keri Arthur - the second Riley Jensen book. This series is set in Melbourne and so has added interest to me.
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - I have borrowed this book before but had to return it unread. Second time lucky perhaps?
The Man from Stone Creek by Linda Lael Miller - I recently read and really enjoyed the third or fourth book in this series. Now I am going back to the beginning!
Love Walked in by Marisa de los Santos - I saw a review for this over at Medieval Bookworm and decided that it sounded good so added it straight to the request list.
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber - this is kind of part of the Blossom Street series. Haven't read one of those for a while so thought I would give it a go.
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - I really enjoyed Half of a Yellow Sun and this is her new book. I am the first person to borrow it as well! Yay!
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