Musing Mondays 5/13/13

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week. Hosted by Should Be Reading.

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

I feel like I should get a prize or something. Maybe a gold star next to my name? I have finished the biggest, nastiest book I can remember ever reading (that wasn’t a school text book).Last week I was lamenting the size of Game by Barry Lyga, sequel to I Hunt Killers. At over 500 pages, I despaired of finishing it. I thought Game would lag and fail to hold my attention. I was wrong. Wow, was I wrong. I couldn’t put it down. I finished in three days and that’s just because I had to stop and do actual work while at work. (shakes fist) I’m pretty sure Game is the largest fiction book I’ve ever read. It still had some problems but, overall, it was really good. I’ll have a full review up on…oh… let’s say Wednesday.

I just started reading Orleans by Sherri L. Smith. I was tootling around the library and recognized the cover from a few other reviews. (Pretty cover. Sparkly.) I took a chance. I like the beginning, where the timeline and news articles give us a brief idea of what’s going on. I thought that was clever. Then we got into the meat of the story and I ran into the wall of the protagonist’s speech pattern. (whimper) It’s first person POV, which isn’t my favorite, and then Fen has the stereotypical (and in my opinion, cartoonish) deep bayou speech pattern that threw me so far that I landed on a different world.

I can understand the reasoning behind using it but I can’t understand why the author thought it would be a good idea. It’s like Smith wrote Orleans correctly the first time and then went back and just threw around a bunch of ‘be’ and ‘they’ and whatever it took to kill proper grammar. It does not help that I can’t get the picture of Fen as a little old black lady, smacking her toothless gums, out of my head because of it. Nothing drives me crazier than improper grammar. Smith must have driven her editor nuts. It makes reading the book jerky because my mind stumbles over it, thinking “that’s not right”. Very hard to read a book like that. It would have been just fine if just the dialogue was like that but the whole book it just too much.

I have to gush for a moment. I saw Iron Man 3 on Saturday! (Lights the candles on her Robert Downey Jr. shrine.) [Not really. I’m not that nuts.] {Well, not quite.} (Yet.) I’m obsessed with the Marvel movies and with Iron Man in particular, so I loved it. At the same time, (sobs) what the HELL did you people do!? The Mandarin!? (cries) Extremis!? (moans) That bloody ending! (dying whale sound) [SPOILER] If Tony could just have the shrapnel and arc reactor surgically removed, then why didn’t he do that back in Iron Man 2 when he was freaking dying!? Or are we supposed to take that to mean Tony injected himself with Extremis and would now survive the surgery when he wouldn’t have before? Why would you leave us so confused!? I mean, I know Mr. Downey isn’t signed up for Iron Man 4 (if there is one at all) and you have to work around that and that Marvel is having problems locking him down for Avengers 2 (You go, Robert!) but did you have to leave it so open ended? I think I’m having a nervous breakdown…

I need a bloody drink. I cannot deal with this.

Musing Mondays 4/29/13

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga was one of my favorite books last year. So I was super excited when Barry announced the sequel, Game, was to be released April 16th,2013. I had my reserve in at my library since the beginning of April. I went to pick my copy up at my library on Friday night. At first I thought the book I was given was not the right one. It was the Game cover wrapped around, oh I don’t know, some brick. This thing is 528 pages long. It is both book and murder weapon. Just hurl at your opponent’s head and their skulls will be crushed!

Barry, Barry, Barry! My man, what are you thinking? This is young adult, not the Odyssey.  Books should be 300 to 400 pages long. Even just 400 pages seem to drag in most books. The quality of books that long is rarely equal to the effort needed to read it. But I’ll try, Barry. I really will. I Hunt Killers was just that great that I’ll make the effort to read Game. But, Barry, it better be the best book I’ve read this year or I’ll be very disappointed.

Has anyone else seen this? Where the second book in a series is so much bigger than the first? I know the Harry Potter series ballooned once it started getting so popular and Rowling went pretty nuts by the end, length wise. Any other series that just keep getting longer and longer? Let’s see how long it takes me to read a 500 page book!

 

Friday Finds 4/26/13

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased). Hosted by Should Be Reading.

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! Added to my to be read shelf this week was:

It’s Fairy Tale Friday!

Fairy Godmothers, Inc. by Jenniffer Wardell
Expected publication: April 27th 2013 by Jolly Fish Press

In a world where fairy tale situations are as much a fact of life as death and taxes, everyone knows hiring Fairy Godmothers, Inc. is the best way to assure that your beautiful daughter or enchanted frog of a grandson will get the happily-ever-after he or she deserves. Sure, sometimes a little love potion is required to make sure those quotas stay up, but what Prince Charming doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

Kate, an experienced Fairy Godmother, who’s enough of a romantic to frustrate her rigidly rule-bound boss, has just received a specialty assignment from one of the company’s board of directors. Cinderella—Rellie for short—was placed with an appropriately wicked stepfamily years before, and now needs the dress, ball, and handsome prince to complete her happily-ever-after. The fact that Rellie isn’t sure this is her dream come true—balls are fun, but princes tend to be less interesting than fluffy bunnies—isn’t something management considers a problem.

Complicating things a bit is Jon, the youngest son of the royal family, who meets Kate, and is smitten, but isn’t quite ready yet to reveal his true identity. After all, it’s his older brother Rupert who’s supposed to marry Rellie, which means pretending to be a lowly civil servant will give him the chance to spend more time with Kate. (As long as he can get the ball arranged, and stop Rupert from getting himself into trouble over his “self-actualization” business, he should have the perfect opportunity to explain everything and get started on making a little magic with the Fairy Godmother of his dreams.)

But, of course, things never ever happen as planned.

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson
Published March 30th 2010 by Henry Holt and Co.

Diribani has come to the village well to get water for her family’s scant meal of curry and rice. She never expected to meet a goddess there. Yet she is granted a remarkable gift: Flowers and precious jewels drop from her lips whenever she speaks.

It seems only right to Tana that the goddess judged her kind, lovely stepsister worthy of such riches. And when she encounters the goddess, she is not surprised to find herself speaking snakes and toads as a reward.

Blessings and curses are never so clear as they might seem, however. Diribani’s newfound wealth brings her a prince—and an attempt on her life. Tana is chased out of the village because the province’s governor fears snakes, yet thousands are dying of a plague spread by rats. As the sisters’ fates hang in the balance, each struggles to understand her gift. Will it bring her wisdom, good fortune, love . . . or death?

Far Far Away by Tom McNeal
Expected publication: June 11th 2013 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

It says quite a lot about Jeremy Johnson Johnson that the strangest thing about him isn’t even the fact his mother and father both had the same last name. Jeremy once admitted he’s able to hear voices, and the townspeople of Never Better have treated him like an outsider since. After his mother left, his father became a recluse, and it’s been up to Jeremy to support the family. But it hasn’t been up to Jeremy alone. The truth is, Jeremy can hear voices. Or, specifically, one voice: the voice of the ghost of Jacob Grimm, one half of the infamous writing duo, The Brothers Grimm. Jacob watches over Jeremy, protecting him from an unknown dark evil whispered about in the space between this world and the next. But when the provocative local girl Ginger Boultinghouse takes an interest in Jeremy (and his unique abilities), a grim chain of events is put into motion. And as anyone familiar with the Grimm Brothers know, not all fairy tales have happy endings. . .

Musing Mondays 4/22/13

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

Happy Earth Day, everybody!  I hope everyone has their little seedlings to plant. I get to run out to the store and get more potting soil this evening since I ran out yesterday right in the middle of my planting spree. Five marigolds, two parsley, two basil, and one rosemary plant survived to planting age and have been transferred into proper pots. I didn’t have enough soil left to get my morning glory seeds planted. Next I need to get some flowers for my hanging baskets. I need to be careful because I’m on a budget and going over means big trouble in May. Ouchie!

Anyway, made a library trip last week and came home with another stack of books. Finished The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielson and The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal and started Small Medium at Large by Joanne Levy. So, expect a review for Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter tomorrow and a review for The Runaway King by Jennifer A. Nielson on Wednesday. (I’ll continue to post two reviews a week for as long as I can keep up the pace. So, fingers crossed.)

My bookish plans for this week are to do a cleanup of my Goodreads to be read shelf. There are books on there I added over two years ago and I really have no interest in reading them anymore. (I wonder if I can keep them on a secondary list without having them in the three primary lists? Like, I could keep a book listed under LBGT without it also being listed under read, to be read, or currently reading? Can I do that?) [Answer: BIG FAT NO!]

I’m still waiting for my tax refunds to be dropped into my checking account. At that point, I need to renew my car insurance. Whatever is left will be split between the savings account and maybe a couple of bucks for a night on the town. Sorry, no plans for a book buying spree. I might head down to the garden district in the city and hit a few of the bookstores I wanted to feature down there. A spiritual group meets once a month at MoKoBe’s Coffeehouse on the corner of Tower Grove Park. Dunn Books is right next to there. I might kill two birds with one stone.

Did anybody do anything for Earth Day this past weekend?

Friday Finds 4/19/13

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased). Hosted by Should Be Reading.

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! Added to my to be read shelf this week was…

My Backyard Jungle: The Adventures of an Urban Wildlife Lover Who Turned His Yard into Habitat and Learned to Live with It by James Barilla
Expected publication: April 22nd 2013 by Yale University Press

For James Barilla and his family, the dream of transforming their Columbia, South Carolina, backyard into a haven for wildlife evoked images of kids catching grasshoppers by day and fireflies at night, of digging up potatoes and picking strawberries. When they signed up with the National Wildlife Federation to certify their yard as a wildlife habitat, it felt like pushing back, in however small a way, against the tide of bad news about vanishing species, changing climate, dying coral reefs. Then the animals started to arrive, and Barilla soon discovered the complexities (and possible mayhem) of merging human with animal habitats. What are the limits of coexistence, he wondered? To find out, Barilla set out across continents to explore cities where populations of bears, monkeys, marmosets, and honeybees live alongside human residents. My Backyard Jungle brings these unique stories together, making Barilla’s yard the centerpiece of a meditation on possibilities for coexistence with animals in an increasingly urban world. Not since Gerald Durrell penned My Family and Other Animals have readers encountered a naturalist with such a gift for storytelling and such an open heart toward all things wild.

For Earth Day.

My Ideal Bookshelf by Thessaly La Force (Editor)
Published November 13th 2012 by Little, Brown and Company

The books that we choose to keep –let alone read– can say a lot about who we are and how we see ourselves. In MY IDEAL BOOKSHELF, dozens of leading cultural figures share the books that matter to them most; books that define their dreams and ambitions and in many cases helped them find their way in the world. Contributors include Malcolm Gladwell, Thomas Keller, Michael Chabon, Alice Waters, James Patterson, Maira Kalman, Judd Apatow, Chuck Klosterman, Miranda July, Alex Ross, Nancy Pearl, David Chang, Patti Smith, Jennifer Egan, and Dave Eggers, among many others. With colorful and endearingly hand-rendered images of book spines by Jane Mount, and first-person commentary from all the contributors, this is a perfect gift for avid readers, writers, and all who have known the influence of a great book.

I love a great coffee table book! And a coffee table book about books? Want it!

The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
Expected publication: November 5th 2013 by Ecco Press

The New York Times bestselling author and international sensation returns with her long-awaited novel, a magnificent family saga of fate and identity that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village

Moving between the dazzling world of courtesans in turn of the century Shanghai, a remote Chinese mountain village, and the rough-hewn streets of nineteenth-century San Francisco, Amy Tan’s sweeping new novel maps the lives of three generations of women connected by blood and history-and the mystery of an evocative painting known as “The Valley of Amazement.”

Violet is one of the most celebrated courtesans in Shanghai, a beautiful and intelligent woman who has honed her ability to become any man’s fantasy since her start as a “Virgin Courtesan” at the age of twelve. Half-Chinese and half-American, she moves effortlessly between the East and the West. But her talents belie her private struggle to understand who she really is and her search for a home in the world. Abandoned by her mother, Lucia, and uncertain of her father’s identity, Violet’s quest to truly love and be loved will set her on a path fraught with danger and complexity-and the loss of her own daughter.

Lucia, a willful and wild American woman who was once herself the proprietress of Shanghai’s most exclusive courtesan house, nurses her own secret wounds, which she first sustained when, as a teenager, she fell in love with a Chinese painter and followed him from San Francisco to Shanghai. Her search for penance and redemption will bring her to a startling reunion with Flora, Violet’s daughter, and will shatter all that Violet believed she knew about her mother.

Spanning fifty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement is a deeply moving narrative of family secrets, the legacy of trauma, and the profound connections between mothers and daughters, that returns readers to the compelling territory Amy Tan so expertly mapped in The Joy Luck Club. With her characteristic wisdom, grace, and humor, she conjures a story of the inheritance of love, its mysteries and senses, its illusions and truths.

I’ll bite. It sounds interesting.

Musing Mondays 4/15/13

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

It’s Monday. It’s raining. And it is tax day. I can’t think of a more yucky combination to ruin a day. I should have stayed in bed.

My reading habits…

I can read, on average, 150 to 200 pages a day provided I use all my spare time to read. That’s on weekdays when I’m at work and can spend my lunch hour and the two hours I spend answering phones reading. Even then, I don’t get much reading done when I’m answering phones because, well, I have to stop and answer the phone when it rings. Very annoying. Very irritating. And probably the reason I might one day quit this job. I hate phones. But enough about that. On weekends I can read up to 300 pages. So, I can read a 300 to 350 page book in two days. Books closer to 400 pages take three days. And books with 400 pages are pretty much my limit. My attention span doesn’t last any longer than that and if the book is longer than 400 pages it’s usually because the plot wanders or the events are just too slow. Most Young Adult and Middle Grade books land in the mid to high 300’s and that plenty long in my opinion.

I’m a fidgety reader. I have to get up and walk around. I pause and put down the book to do something else a lot. I have the attention span of a gnat and I get restless. I bore easily. I probably wouldn’t finish a book if I also weren’t so stubborn. It takes focus to read a book in two days. If I don’t force myself to read as much as I can then it can take me weeks to finish a book. It’s happened. I just lose the drive and then I hardly read at all. I must have like ADD or something. I like to read. I love to read. But sometimes reading takes work and I just don’t have the drive. I snub the book in favor of cleaning or fiddling with a project or just wandering around the neighborhood because I can’t stay still. It’s like I’m trying to crawl out of my skin!

Anybody else like that? Is anybody else a fidgety reader or have times when you just lose the drive to read even though the book you’re reading is fine. I feel like such a scatter brain! Tell me I’m not alone!

Friday Finds 4/12/13

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! Added to my to be read shelf this week:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Expected publication: June 18th 2013 by William Morrow Books

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac – as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly’s wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark, from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman.

It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed – within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.

His only defense is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang.

Neil Gaiman has a new book! (runs around like a chicken with her head cut off)

The Gentleman and the Rogue by Summer Devon & Bonnie Dee
Published March 13th 2013 by duet publishing

A lad from the streets meets a lord of the manor…

When Crimean war veteran Sir Alan Watleigh goes searching for sex, he never imagines the street rat he brings home for one last bit of pleasure in his darkest hour will be the man who hauls him back from the edge of the grave.

A night of meaningless sex turns into an offer of permanent employment. As Alan’s valet, Jem offers much more than polished boots and starched cravats. He makes Alan smile and warms his bed. Just as the men are adjusting to their new living arrangement, news about a former soldier under his command sends Sir Watleigh and Jem on the road to save a child in danger.

The journey brings them closer together as they travel from lust toward love. But is Alan’s love strong enough to risk society discovering the truth about him?

It’s like a classic wet dream. I can’t resist!

My Darrling by Krystal McLean
Published January 22nd 2013

To the world, nineteen-year-old Isaac Darrling was nothing more than pure, unsalvageable evil, a sadistic serial killer on a quest for notoriety, fame.

To me, he was the love of my life.

My obsession.

My Darrling, as I called him.

This is a story about unconditional love in its rawest—and possibly sickest—form. A story that forces you to face the dark and the beautiful sides of forbidden love.

Yes! I’m all for some dark and twisted.

Concilium by Michelle K. Pickett
Published July 27th 2012 by MuseItUp Publishing

A tale of deadly creatures and forbidden romance…

Leslee hit a strange animal with her car. Now she’s marked for death.

It was a simple car accident – the animal didn’t even die – but it drew the attention of the Cruor Imbibo. Driven by their insatiable need to feed, the secret society of Imbibo has devoured the dregs of civilization for centuries. Afraid Leslee will expose them, and put an end to their meal ticket, the Imbibo want her dead.

The Concilium is Leslee’s only protection. Guardian of the ancient secret and the protector of humans, the Concilium fights to control the Imbibo and end their feeding frenzy. Miller works for the Concilium. Keeping Leslee alive is his next assignment.

Now Leslee is on the run, and the only thing between her flesh and the snapping jaws of the Imbibo is Miller. He and Leslee quickly form a bond, but will falling in love make Miller’s job more difficult? Because if he fails, Leslee will be next on the Imbibo menu.

The Cruor Imbibo are coming, and they’re coming for Leslee.

Vampires? Sounds like vampires. Yay! Vampires!

Friday Finds (4/5/13)

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased). Hosted by Should Be Reading

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! Added to my to read shelf this week…

Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops by Jen Campbell
Published April 5th 2012 by Constable and Robinson

From the hugely popular blog, a miscellany of hilarious and peculiar bookshop moments: ‘Can books conduct electricity?’ ‘My children are just climbing your bookshelves: that’s ok… isn’t it?’

A John Cleese Twitter question ['What is your pet peeve?'], first sparked the ‘Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops’ blog, which grew over three years into one bookseller’s collection of ridiculous conversations on the shop floor.

From ‘Did Beatrix Potter ever write a book about dinosaurs?’ to the hunt for a paperback which could forecast the next year’s weather; and from ‘I’ve forgotten my glasses, please read me the first chapter’ to’Excuse me… is this book edible?’

This full-length collection illustrated by the Brothers McLeod also includes top ‘Weird Things’ from bookshops around the world.

I felt like adding a funny this week.

Gaven by J.C. Owens
Published August 8th 2009 by Loose ID, LLC

When the Masarians attack Gaven’s people, they are defeated and Gaven himself is taken captive. By a man claiming to be his father. It turns out his entire life has been a lie, and now his ‘father’ will give him into the hands of another man to indoctrinate and train him. Gaven vows he will never shame his people by giving into the Masarians’ way of loving other men.

But Vlar, the legendary warrior to whom he has been given, has other plans. The blood-drinker is determined to have Gaven and to make him yield.

Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, dubious consent, male/male sexual practices, violence, voyeurism.

It’s either going to be so hot I’ll melt or so ridiculous I’ll die laughing.

The Girl With the Cat Tattoo by Theresa Weir
Published May 29th 2012 by Belfry Press

For cat lovers everywhere, this sweet, quirky, and delightful romance is about a young woman and her matchmaking cat. A little bit of mystery, a whole lot of whimsy.

When a matchmaking cat takes it upon himself to find his young mistress a new mate, he accidentally stirs up memories better left forgotten.

Melody’s husband was murdered by what seemed a random act of violence. Two years later, the killer hasn’t been caught, and Melody is coping in unhealthy ways. During the day she’s a mild-mannered children’s librarian, but at night she’s a party girl, hanging out in bars, drinking with new friends, and often bringing home strange men. Although acquaintances have tried to keep in touch, Melody has cut herself off from most of the people in her old life. Max, her eccentric cat, doesn’t approve of her new friends, he’s tired of the parade of losers, and he finally takes it upon himself to find Melody a new man.

The title. The cover. The cat. I just had to add it, even if it is chick lit.

The Frog Prince by Elle Lothlorien
Published July 27th 2010

“Some day your prince will come. Sort of.”

It was his pheromones that did it. With one sniff, sex researcher Leigh Fromm recognizes that any offspring she might have with the mysterious stranger would have a better-than-average chance of surviving any number of impending pandemics.

But when Leigh finds out that the handsome “someone” at her great aunt’s wake is Prince Roman Habsburg von Lorraine of Austria, she suddenly doubts her instincts—not that she was intending to sleep with the guy. The royal house of Habsburg was once completely inbred, insanity and impotency among the highlights of their genetic pedigree. (The extreme “bulldog underbite” that plagued them wasn’t called the Habsburg Jaw for nothing.)

It doesn’t matter that his family hasn’t sat on a throne (other than the ones in their Toilette) since 1918, or that Austria is now a parliamentary democracy. Their lives couldn’t be more different: Roman is routinely mobbed by paparazzi in Europe. Leigh is regularly mocked for having the social skills of a potted plant. Even if she suddenly developed grace, charm and a pedigree that would withstand the scrutiny of the press and his family, what exactly is she supposed to do with this would-have-been king of Austria who is in self-imposed exile in Denver, Colorado?

Fairytale mashup! Also, that has to be a pen name. Nobody is really walking around with a Tolkien Middle Earth forest as a surname. (And if they are, they are the most awesome person on the earth.)

Musing Mondays 4/1/13

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
 
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

I finished in the last few days Merry Lee and the Cursed Grandfather Clock by Amanda L. Kidd (Middle Grade) and The Secret Tunnel by James Lear (Gay Erotica). You can expect reviews up on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Merry Lee and the Cursed Grandfather Clock was a book I got as a Kindle freebie and it’s a bit of a mess but was an otherwise fun read. The Secret Tunnel was not a good as its predecessor, The Back Passage, but it was still hot and hilarious. I plan to read all of James Lear’s books, so expect to be seeing A Sticky End, the third and so far last Mitch Mitchell Mystery, up on here soon. I’m just a couple pages into The Ugly Stepsister Strikes Back by Sariah Wilson (Middle Grade). So far it’s okay.

My Reading Habits

Honestly, I do most of my reading at work. I know, I know. Why am I not working at working? Well, I spend two hours answering the stupid phone and this is so mind numbingly boring that if I didn’t read I think I might slip into a coma. Mostly I spend the first hour surfing the internet. (Mostly because this is in the middle of the day and I don’t want customers or any of my co-workers/bosses walking past and thinking I’m not doing anything. At least if I’m on the computer it looks like I’m doing something even if I’m not.) For the last hour of the day I read because it’s obvious I’m doing jack shit besides minding the phone. Then I get an hour for lunch. I usually spend the first half an hour walking around in circles in the storage area reading and then the second half an hour actually getting something to eat. Even then I’m reading while sitting in the kitchen.

I read a lot. Not all of it published books. Most of it is fanfiction. At home I might read for a little while after showering and I’m lounging in bed. I don’t read published books a lot at home. I mostly watch TV and movies or surf the internet for fanfiction. If I posted about every piece of fanfiction I read I could get a post up every few hours. You don’t care about my fanfiction obsession. I do have a reading chair in my apartment. That I don’t use. The chair used to be my grandmother’s and we stored it in the basement before I moved with it and even though our basement is clean and dry, the chair still smells. I’ve been meaning to get rid of it but I’m too lazy to figure out how to get it out of my second floor apartment. It takes up a lot of room too. I could have another shelf if I got rid of the chair. (glares at stupid chair)

No! No! No! No!

The news is out; retail giant Amazon is slated to buy book haven Goodreads. Frankly, I’m surprised Goodreads lasted this long. Amazon even has its claws in Library Thing and they had to be salivating over the paradise of information that is Goodreads. I don’t blame either entity for the move but I am disappointed. All I can do is sit here and wait for the Buy buttons to appear and links for other purchases options to disappear. If we’re very lucky Amazon will restrain itself and very little will change with how Goodreads functions. Already more than a few people have deleted their Goodreads account. The buy is reported to go through in July of this year.

Exciting News About Goodreads: We’re Joining the Amazon Family!

Musing Mondays (3\18\13)

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

A character’s name is very important. By giving a character a certain name, you can make them seem mysterious, brave, cruel, or any number of things. You can also make them seem silly. I know authors try to make their characters stand out in a crowd but if I giggle every time I read that character’s name then you’ve lost any chance I’ll take the book seriously. Also, if two characters’ names are very similar looking then that has a habit of tripping up a reader. It’s very annoying to be flying along and get confused when you have to backtrack to make sure you read a character’s name right when something doesn’t add up. (This happened to me a lot in a book where two main characters that had a great deal of scene time with each other were called Thomas and Tony. My brain just blew past the T names and then I ended up confused when I mixed them up. I skim read, ok! It’s what happened when you’re in the zone.)

I finished my first gay erotica book this weekend. Now, I’m used to reading erotica on the internet but this was the first time I’d read a book instead of a piece of fanfiction. (It was very good and I’ve already bought the second book in the series.) But I just have to pause and say – erotica is silly. There, I said it. The cat is out of the bag. It’s silly. The sex is silly and giggle worthy. The reproductive process of humans is ridiculous.  It’s messy and awkward and if what I was reading were happening in real life, then probably painful. I laughed a lot. I probably looked like a loon. I giggled when character A’s dick was being stroked by character B’s hand. It’s stupid but we read it anyway. I don’t know why either. Humans are odd.

Speaking of erotica, I need to announce that my reviews will now be labeled with appropriate age levels and warnings. Meaning erotica (having graphic sex), adult, young adult, and middle grade books. The first, will be posted late at night. (What should I call it? After Dark? Red Light Books?) I’m doing this so readers will be able to avoid posts they don’t wish to read or are too young for. (Not that I expect that to stop any curious teen but I promise to keep any erotica book talk fairly clean for public consumption.)

It’s Monday, the Irish lady who usually answers phones took the day off to recover from Saint Patrick’s Day, so I’m stuck doing phones all day long. I hate phones. But this also means I get to prop my Kindle up against the computer screen and read. But still, phones. Ugh. (I hate phones because people are rude and the help desk set up is asinine. I must content myself with copious amounts of coffee to get through the day instead of hard liquor.)