Bloggiesta

So this weekend is Bloggiesta weekend! So far today I have spent a couple of hours reading all the mini challenges, thinking about what it is that I am going to do to this blog, and then actually doing something!

So far I have gone through my links list in the sidebar and cleaned out the out of date links and generally updated.

There are quite a lot of suggestions for mini challenges so far - a couple of which I am intending to do. The first one I read was about cleaning out the feed reader. I have to say that it would take me more than a weekend to do that, but I really, really need to so maybe I will break it into sections.

Some of the other challenges include:

• Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog - Getting out from underneath the feed reader.
• Beth from Beth Fish Reads - On lists and opinions.
• Jill at Fizzy Thoughts - Just when you thought the feed reader was halfway managed.
• Emily from Emily’s Reading Room - Are you talking about me?
• Deborah from Books, Movies, and Chinese Food - You have a blog? So tell me about it.
• Lynn from Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile - Get listed.
• Jen from Devourer of Books - Wow. I wrote that when? Let’s update.
• Amy from My Friend Amy - I need a friend.
• Trish from Hey Lady! Watcha Readin’? - On favicons and gravatars. Huh?
• Michelle from GalleySmith - Anchor text. You mean there’s a way this *should* be done?
• Andrea from Book Blather - Authorities? What authorities?
• Ruth from Bookish Ruth - You’re going to analyze what?

Wallpaper

Kristie J is asking what do we all have as wallpaper. Mine used to be of my son, but it changed about 18 months ago and I have not yet found anything that I want to replace it with. My son does keep on hinting that maybe I should put another picture of him up, but you know, he might just have to wait a little while longer!




I don't think a lot of people will be surprised to see who stars on my wallpaper!

Library Loot announcement

You may have noticed that I am a pretty faithful patron of my local library. At any one time, I have a lot of books out and there always seems to be more waiting to be picked up. When Eva put out a call for a co host of the weekly Library Loot meme it made a lot of sense for me to volunteer my services, and luckily for me, Eva accepted, so from now on Eva and I will be co hosting Library Loot which I am very excited about!

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by myself and Eva 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!

I did mention a few posts ago that one of the things that I did while I was on my enforced internet break was get a new book case! I have been meaning to for at least 2 years, but it never quite seemed to be the right time! When I was at Ikea I did think that I was picking up the boxes for just a bookcase (with no space for a TV) but apparently not. I only figured that out as my friend and I were putting it together, but in the end I am thinking that I am pretty happy with it the way it was. So here is the new bookcase, you will see that there still seems to be a fair bit of space. In theory I should really reorganise the bookcase in the other room as that is stacked with books in every available space, but the books that are in here are all books that were sitting around in piles in the lounge room, precariously on top of the other bookshelf, or in my bedroom, or on the kitchen bench etc etc.

My point in mentioning this now is Library Loot related because the three cubes on the right hand side are my library books shelves. I don't think that it looks too bad, until you realise that two of those three cubes are already double stacked!

The only thing missing from this Library Loot post is the library books! I have literally just got back from picking up the following books:

Winston's War by Michael Dobbs. I have expressed numerous times my aversion to reading a series out of order, but this is one series that I am doing it with. I have read the second and fourth books, and this is the first. I have borrowed this one a few times but never managed to actually get to read it. Maybe I will get to this time.







Remember When by Nora Roberts/J D Robb - This is the next book in the In Death series which I really enjoy. From what I can gather this book is something of a hybrid between a normal Nora Roberts and the futuristic cop stories that form the J D Robb books. I have no idea how this is structured so it will be interested to see how she has managed it.









Her Secret Pleasure by Gaelen Foley - I seem to have picked up quite a few romances this visit. This is the second book in the Spice trilogy.












First Comes Marriage by Mary Balogh - Another book that I have borrowed before but had to return because someone else had requested it. The first book in the Huxtable series.












Dream Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon - next book in the Dark Hunter series.















Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas - I have really enjoyed both of this author's previous books, Private Arrangements and Delicious, and this appears to be another unusual setting.










Would you like to participate in Library Loot. Leave your link in Mr. Linky!

Update to add: Mr Linky seems to working a little infrequently. If it isn't working for you, simply leave a comment.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by 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, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!
  

I am very excited about my teaser this week, simply because I love Kelley Armstrong's writing, whether she is writing her Otherworld series, or anything else! This week's teaser comes from page 132 of Made to be Broken, the second book in the Nadia Stafford series which features a hitwoman as the main character. I am not sure that there are too many other authors around who I would trust to make a hitwoman a likable main character, but I definitely trust Kelley Armstrong.

The voice startled me from my thoughts and I spun to see him on a bench beside the cenotaph. He lifted his lit cigarette, with a grunt that probably translated to "want some?" I did. I haven't officially smoked in years, but I'm not above talking a drag off Jack's now and then, especially if I could use the nicotine hit to calm my swirling thoughts.

A little bit of this and that

I think that the world is trying to send me a cosmic message - catch up on your blogging! Not only is this weeks Weekly Geeks theme about catching up on reviews, Natasha from Maw Books is also hosting Bloggiesta this weekend. The idea of Bloggiesta is to "focus on blog content, improving/cleaning up your blog or working on your social network profiles". The sad truth is that I have so many reviews in draft that I will never catch up, but it does seem like a good time to go through and maybe clean up my links in the sidebar and write a couple of reviews. I do have a big weekend coming up but I am sure I can do something! If you would like me to add your link in to my blogroll please let me know.

I meant to mention that one of the things that I have had to do in order to have anyhope whatsoever is mark a whole lot of blog posts as read. By the time I had a month of either limited or no internet access my Bloglines account had over 11000 unread posts. Whilst I did get through quite a few of them, in the end I decided that it will take me a week if not to get through the rest of them, and it would be time better spent for me to actually be posting as opposed to reading all the blogs entry. I really hate doing that because I always get the feeling that I might have missed out on something great! My apologies to those people who I had to do that to!

One of the events that I missed out on over the last few weeks was the Mystery Read-a-thon. I didn't even hear about it until it was all over, but no danger of that happening this time. The second incarnation of this event is being held on August 8-9, and I am definitely planning on participating this time around.

To finish off this post I thought that I would post the trailer for the upcoming version of The Time Traveler's Wife. I have seen it a couple of other places around blogs, but I quite like it. When I read the book in my pre blogging days I remember sobbing as I read the end. Not just tears rolling down the cheeks but ugly, ugly big crying. Now, I am a crier from way back, but the fact that I was already tearing up watching this trailer means that I will have to be careful about who I go to the movies to see this with!



I have to say that normally Eric Bana doesn't do a lot for me but he looks quite good in this movie. Part of the reason for my ambivalent attitude is that I remember when Eric Bana was one of the members of an Australian comedy skit show and was really not hot. One of these days I will get over that early impression. He has done amazingly well and so is one of Melbourne's favourite sons! I do like him, I just don't normally lust after him. Here's an early comedy sketch:

A pleasant Sunday afternoon

I mentioned a couple of days ago that one of the things I got for my birthday was a Borders gift card. I don't really enjoy bookstore browsing these days mainly because I know that I can get almost anything that I want to read from the library. The other factor is that most of the time the books that catch my eye are the books I have already read.

Yesterday I was getting a massage and was chatting to the girl who was doing it and she just happened to mention that there was a new Borders that had opened in Geelong which is a town about 40 minutes away from where I live. There is another Borders that is probably a bit closer but it is in a major shopping centre and the parking is a real hassle. It was also a pretty nice winter day here so I thought that it would be good to go for the drive down to Geelong and then I could pick up something. I really only had one firm idea of what book I was going to buy, and a couple of other vague ideas for other choices, but in the end I managed to spend all my birthday book money.

The books I ended up buying were:


The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne

I am not sure why but it always seems to be something of a surprise to me to hear that John Boyne has a new book out. I am not really sure why there isn't any hype around them, but I found out ages after his Mutiny on the Bounty book came out (which I have out from the library but haven't read yet). The first I knew about this book was when I saw it on the new release shelf, but given that it features the Romanovs this was a pretty easy choice for me to make.



Love at First Bite anthology

This anthology is one that my library hasn't bought yet, and it contains the next Sherrilyn Kenyon story in her Dark Hunter series so this was a good opportunity to get it.









It Happened One Night anthology

Another anthology that my library hasn't bought, although thankfully it doesn't contain any entries in series that I am reading. I mainly got this for the Mary Balogh story, although it will also be a chance for me to read Stephanie Laurens as well. How a historical romance reader like me hasn't managed to read her is something of a mystery to me!







The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This was the book that I knew I was going to get. Since the first moment I heard that there was a new Carlos Ruiz Zafon book coming out I have been excited, even when I knew that there was still a year to wait for the English translation. Then I watched as loads of bloggers got to review ARCs and there was still no sign of it here, but now, I have my own copy. Now I just need to try and clear some space in the reading schedule to fit it in!

Party in my Tummy (Yo Gabba Gabba series)

For my nephew!









And just like that $100 is gone! Books here are so expensive. The Boyne was $36.50 for the trade paperback, and that is the price that The Angel's Game should have been as well but it was reduced for this week. That's part of the reason why most times I do buy a book I will buy it from The Book Depository. Even with the exchange rates not being great, it is still usually cheaper for me to buy it from there than it is to work into a bookstore there. This time it definitely helped that I wasn't actually paying for the books really!

Not sure if I would go to the Borders at Geelong specially again as it was a pretty small store, but there are other reasons for going down there. After shopping my son and I went for a walk along the foreshore at Geelong. When I first visited Geelong about 20-25 years ago, the foreshore was a bit of a dump really but they have really done a lot of work at revitalising the area. All along the main part there are lots of public spaces, restaurants etc and it is a real pleasure to wander along there.

Something that is pretty unique to Geelong is a collection of bollards that have been taken from the former pier and wharf buildings and have been painted up by a local artist to give what the guide says is an "affectionate history" of the town. There are 46 different displays covering a couple of kilometres including over one hundred separate displays. We didn't see all of them but one day I intend to start at one end and walk (or perhaps ride) all the way along.

I am still very excited by my new phone, so may have been a little snap happy but here are photos of some of the bollards that we saw during the day (click on the images for a larger picture):

Peter Lalor is a famous Australian as he led a revolt on the goldfields known as the Eureka Stockade in the 1860s against the unfair mining regulations.

Victorian bathers

The Volunteer Rifle Band

This is an early Geelong player of Australian Rules football.

This bollard represents a dance hall and rollerskating venue that stood near the spot. One of the regular themes was dressing up and that is why this one appears as it does.

June card swap

A couple of weeks ago I posted about how excited I was about this month's card swap card that I had decided to produce, and I posted a couple of images of my template card. Tonight is the card making workshop and it is time to send my creations out into the world.

It hasn't actually changed that much. The main changes are that I have coloured in the skater boy (or should that be sk8r boi) and used much brighter colours, oh and added some coordinating ribbon. I have to say that I am pretty impressed with this card. The one thing that card swap is making me do is to try and challenge myself and to actually make something instead of just thinking about it!

Having said all that, it was probably a good thing that I did have some extra time on my hands this month because making ten of these was a little time consuming with all the cutting and scoring, embossing and water colouring, more embossing and then putting it all together. I think it was worth it though. The great thing about this card is that even though it looks as though it would be difficult to do so, it fits inside a standard envelope for posting - no need to buy additional stationary or anything like that. So here it is first lying down flat and then standing up.




Looking at it now, I probably should have made the effort to come up with some kind of skin colour for his face and arms using the water colour crayons I was using, but it's a bit late now.

The other thing I wanted to mention was that while my photo taking skills are still completely rubbish, the camera is better. The sad thing is that the photos were taken using my new mobile phone camera as opposed to my digital camera. When I first bought my digital camera it was top of the range, but it is a bit aged now really. One of these days I will go and look at getting a new one, but at the moment my next big new purchase is most likely going to be a flat screen TV. The big question is whether it will go out here where I sit or in the main lounge area, but I suspect that I am really a soft touch and therefore it will go where my son spends most of his time watching TV.

Library Loot catch up, and an award!

It's been a little while since I have been able to do a Library Loot post, so I thought I would do a catch up, and then will be able to keep on top of things again. In the last couple of Library Loot posts I did mention that I had reached my maximum number of books out, so I have been being a bit careful about not just requesting everything that just catches my eye like I normally do. Now I am back down to ONLY 47 books out, I will be able to be a little freer with my requests again!

The books I have borrowed in the last couple of weeks are:

Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold - I really enjoyed the first book in this series and I am looking forward to reacquainting myself with Dag and Fawn.

Fishing for Stars by Bryce Courtney - I started reading this book earlier this year because it is the sequel to The Persimmon Tree which I really enjoyed. I ended up having to take this back to the library unfinished because I couldn't extend it.

Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint - My library is missing lots of the Newford books so I am just borrowing whichever ones they do have.

Calamity Jayne Rides Again by Kathleen Bacus - The first book was a fun read. I don't know that I would spend money on them, but I am happy to borrow as many as the library has.

The Likeness by Tana French - I really liked In the Woods, and until I actually picked this up from the library I didn't realise that The Likeness features one of the same characters. I am looking forward to reading this.

The Iron Hand of Mars by Lindsey Davis - next book in the Marcus Didius Falco mystery series set in ancient Rome.

The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray - I read the first two books in this series a couple of years ago and really enjoyed them. Ever since this book came out last year I have been waiting very impatiently to get hold of this book but it seemed to take forever for it to come in to the library.


I just wanted to quickly also say a special Thank You to Desert Rose Booklogue who awarded me with the Literary Blogger Award while I was MIA!

Better late than never!

I know that we are well and truly into June now, but I still haven't done my May reading update, so now that I can get back on the net, I thought this would be the first thing that I did!

So here are the books that I read in May.

The Terror by Dan Simmons 4.5
Children of Destiny by Elizabeth Chadwick 4
Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon 4.5
The girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson 4
Fish out of Water by Mary Janice Davidson 3.5
Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas 4
The Boat by Nam Le 4
My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding Anthology 4
The Sharing Knife - Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold 4.5
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton 4.5
The Dreaming Place by Charles de Lint 4
Her Only Desire by Gaelen Foley 4
Calamity Jayne by Kathleen Bacus 4
Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith 4.5

As for how I am going with my many challenges, the answer is not too badly, although there are a couple that I am not sure that I will be able to finish on time.

The Book Awards II challenge finished on 1 June, and I very nearly made it. During May I read The Boat, and that left me one short of completing the challenge, but in the first couple of days of June I did finish In the Woods by Tana French which won a few awards (the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best First Novel, The Strand Magazine’s Best First Novel award and Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards) so I am going to count that as completed!

I haven't managed to read any books for either the Art History Challenge or the War Through the Generations challenge. I really need to look at my reading lists and work towards reading some more for these two challenges.

Another challenge that I have now completed is the Support Your Local Library Challenge that was being hosted by J Kaye from J Kaye's Book Blog. J Kaye is also hosting the 100+ Challenge, and as at the end of May I was up to book number 61 so well on target for completing this challenge in the next couple of months.

The Victorian Challenge is another that I am going to struggle to finish I think. I am currently reading Tasha Alexander's A Fatal Waltz which will count, but that will still be one book short. I have a couple of others in the TBR pile but I am not sure I will get to them before the end of June.

Another challenge that I completed this month was the Chunkster Challenge. After April I had only one more chunkster to read, so this month I actually read two - Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon and The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson.

Not quite complete, but not too far off either, is the Pub09 Challenge. During May I read To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt and Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith. I have also read one other book in June which means that I only have one more book left to read in order to complete this challenge.

Sometimes you just seem to finish challenges without realising it. Last month I joined the Love Bites reading challenge, and this month I have read the two books that I needed to read in order to complete it - Betrayed by P C Cast and Kristin Cast, and Full Moon by Keri Arthur.

You know, my list of current challenges is looking a bit depleted. I might need to join some more!

My technological issues have been resolved!

Not only with my internet, but also I managed to finally resolve my mobile phone issues as well! Now, I just need to catch up. Will hopefully be back with a real post tomorrow!

Coming to you live from the library!

Just a really quick post to say that I am still alive, but still without a home internet connection. The ISP is saying that I should be up and going by this weekend, but I am pretty much at the point where I will believe it when I see it!

Had a busy weekend, got a $100 book voucher for Borders for my birthday so trying to figure out which books I am going to buy and got a $200 voucher when I finally got my new mobile phone so more decisions required there. I also finally bought some more bookcases which I am VERY happy with.

Fingers crossed for being back online on the weekend. I have more than 10000 feeds in my Bloglines account only so it is going to take me a while to catch up!

One frustrated blogger!

I am babysitting my nephew tonight, and because he is quite little still that means that I can get some internet time in now that he has gone to bed! I was hoping to do my May round up post, but I left the USB that I saved my spreadsheets onto at home, so that may need to wait a bit longer.

I am still without an internet connection at home and I have to tell you, it is driving me crazy. I was in bed at 8.30 the other night simply because I couldn't do what I would normally have done! Last night I was in bed early but I did read for a couple of hours so that probably doesn't count.

I am having issues with getting my old internet provider to take their codes off my phone line so my new internet provider can put their codes on. I rang up last Friday and asked for immediate removal of the codes, and then rang back again on Monday to see if it was going to be happening soon, only to find that it was scheduled for this Friday - a full week after I originally asked for it to happen. If it doesn't happen on Friday as it is supposed to you may well be able to hear me yelling at the person on the other end of the line on the other side of the world.

You would think that with no computer time I would be able to get more reading done, but that doesn't really seem to be happening either. The main reason for this was that I went away with a group of girlfriends over the weekend to a place called Phillip Island which is about 90 minutes away from Melbourne. It is most famous for the penguins that call the island home, but we really went for a pamper weekend which involved quite a bit of eating and drinking, massages for some of the girls, and a pedicure for others (including me!). I did manage to get up early on Sunday morning and go down to the surf beach to hear the roar of the ocean. It was a little cold so we didn't stay a terribly long time, but we did get to get a look at some of the wetsuit clad surfers.

This weekend I will be having quite a few people around which I am stressing out a little about because I don't normally do anything to celebrate, but I am sure it will be fine. I'll keep on telling myself that anyway.

Because I haven't done a lot of reading over the last few days I am actually still reading In the Woods by Tana French and Why Shoot the Butler by Georgette Heyer, as well as To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt. I think I should be finished those books in the next couple of days and so will be moving on.

The big question for when I do get reconnected again at home is whether I will ever be able to catch up on feeds and things. At the moment I have loads of requests on Facebook, over 8000 feeds in Bloglines and haven't visited the forums that I either am a member of or that I moderate for nearly a week and before that I was a bit sporadic due to the connection issues I was having.

Fingers crossed, I will be back on line properly this weekend, just in time for a big Sunday afternoon session and Monday recovery because we have a long weekend here this weekend.

Teaser Tuesday

I jinxed myself after my last post when I said that I was lucky to be able to be logged on tonight. Five minutes after I posted my connection dropped out again! I went to do something else, and came back again and got another connection. Hopefully it will be long enough for me to post my Teaser Tuesday post!


Teaser Tuesday is hosted by 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, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• 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!
  

My teaser this week comes from page 228 of Calamity Jayne by Kathleen Bacus. This book was recommended to me as the kind of book that fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series might like. I can definitely see why people would think that. It is also reminiscent of the Bubbles Yablonsky series by Sarah Strohmeyer.

I debated how to proceed. My earlier bombshell routing with this male had submarined big-time. And it was a safe bet I couldn't intellectually spar with him. Frankly, I was getting too tired to do much more than breathe in and breathe out.

Just a little excited!

I am still having connection issues but, touch wood, I seem to be able to be on for a little while tonight so I had to take advantage to talk about what else I have been doing while I haven't been able to get on the internet! Years ago I remember seeing a saying:

"A clean house is a sign of a broken computer"

and that is definitely true for me! In the last few days, I have actually managed to get my craft area a bit more organised, all my clothes are folded and I made a card!

This month's card swap theme is kids birthday cards. I knew that I wanted to do something with a skateboarder aiming at a target age range of about 10 or 11 for boys. Originally I was planning to put the skate boarder on the inside of the card and do something on the outside. Then my sister and I were talking about doing some kind of peekaboo card or perhaps a pop up.

The idea led me to a website called Dawn's Stamping Studio, where Dawn does the most amazing cards and an idea for a pop up card. (Click here to see Dawn's gorgeous card, and a tutorial on how to make it)

I can not tell you how excited I am by this card. I suspect that I have ended up with a card more suitable for someone younger than my target age, but never mind. These two images aren't how the finished product is going to look, but rather my "how hard is this pop up really going to be to make" card. Fortunately the answer is not very! I am planning to make the card in bolder colours, and to colour in the skate boarder, but you get the general idea!

So the first picture is the card laying down (almost) flat. It slides into a standard sized envelope:



And here is the card standing up!



I was so excited that the card worked that I ended up taking the photos without worrying about what was in the background or anything! Whoops!

Tonight I decided that I am definitely going to upgrade my internet and get a new modem, but unfortunately I made that decision after the sales office closed, so definitely tomorrow I will ring them. Hopefully by this time next week my connection woes will be a thing of the past!

Library Loot!

I am still having connection issues with my internet. I think I am going to have to buy a new modem, but strangely enough it seems fine in the morning when I have very limited time to write posts, so this will be a quick Library Loot this week.

This week I returned more books to the library than I borrowed which has to be a good thing right? The books I picked up were:

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith - the latest book in the No. 1 Detective Agency series set in Botswana. Can't wait to reintroduce myself to Precious Ramotswe and her friends and family.

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong - The first book in a new series by Kelley Armstrong. I am a bit of a fan girl of this author, so it was inevitable that I was going to read this book eventually.

Made to be Broken by Kelley Armstrong - I really enjoyed the first Nadia Stafford book, and I am expecting to like this one as well! I was a bit worried about having a hit woman as a heroine but Kelley Armstrong totally managed it!


****Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by Alessandra from Out of the Blue and Eva from A Striped Armchair****

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by 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, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!
  

I am a little bit late with Teaser Tuesday this week for two reasons. The first is that I am having trouble with my home internet connection. If it disconnects, it takes hours to get the darned thing to reconnect. Very frustrating. The second reason is that I spent ages last night looking for a specific book. As a result I now need to restack my bookshelves as I have got books everywhere on the lounge room floor! I also discovered that a book I returned to the library unread a couple of days is one that I actually already own! Whoops!

Anyway, this week's teaser comes from Australian author Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden (page172):

A distant face, bleached by candelight, was watching. Eliza moved claser to the window to get a better look, but when she did the face was gone.

My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding Anthology

Werewolves, vampires, witches, voodoo, Elvis---and weddings

An “ordinary” wedding can get crazy enough, so can you imagine what happens when otherworldly creatures are involved? Nine of the hottest authors of paranormal fiction answer that question in this delightful collection of supernatural wedding stories. What’s the seating plan when rival clans of werewolves and vampires meet under the same roof? How can a couple in the throes of love overcome traps set by feuding relatives---who are experts at voodoo? Will you have a good marriage if your high-seas wedding is held on a cursed ship? How do you deal with a wedding singer who’s just a little too good at impersonating Elvis?

· L. A. Banks
· Jim Butcher
· Rachel Caine
· P. N. Elrod
· Esther M. Friesner
· Lori Handeland
· Charlaine Harris
· Sherrilyn Kenyon
· Susan Krinard

Shape-shifters, wizards, and magic, oh my!

My main reason for picking up this short story collection was so that I continue working my way through Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. An unfortunate side effect is that I am pretty sure I read something out of order for the Harry Dresden series, but what can you do really? I am not 100% sure if some of the other stories were parts of series as well because that will really knock my "only read a series in order" mantra around a bit as well!

In Spellbound by L A Banks, the Hatfields and the McCoys have been feuding for generations, "working roots on each other, casting evil spells, dabblin' in hoodoo". When Odelia Hatfield and Jefferson McCoy fall in love, the one thing that can be guaranteed at the wedding is problems! It doesn't really help that the wedding was something of a surprise to all parties who thought they were coming to town to celebrate individuals graduations!

L A Banks is an author who I only ever seem to read in anthologies, but I do like her voice, and will maybe try to make an effort to read more of her longer books!

I really enjoy reading Jim Butcher's Dresden files stories, and Something Borrowed was no exception. Wizard Harry Dresden is a last minute replacement best man for his friend's wedding, but there just isn't quite something right about the bride! Once he puts his finger on what the issue is, it's a matter of life and death and Harry has to pull out all the stops to save the big day!

The only thing that was a bit annoying for the OCD in me, is that this story should be read between Dead Beat and Proven Guilty (books 7 and 8 in the series) and I am only up to book 3. I have previously read another short story out of order as well! Let it go Marg, let it go!

Dead Man's Chest by Rachel Caine was a really fun read. At first I was really confused at where the author was trying to take the story, but in the end I think this will be one of my favourites from the collection.

Cecilia couldn't believe her luck when romance cover model Ian Taylor fell for her. Only problem is that things are going a little bit fast for her when suddenly she is whisked onto an old style sailing ship to be married in what appears to be a ship wench outfit. Turns out there is something strange about the crew, and suddenly Ian doesn't seem to be quite the catch either. Lots of fun.

All Shook Up by P N Elrod was another fun read. Frankie is catering at a celebrity wedding reception when she is completely shocked to see that the entertainment is a VERY good Elvis impersonator. Whilst she is an excellent caterer, she also has another gift - seeing the future, and she is not sure that she likes what she sees, but Elvis seems to be doing a good job of distracting her for now! Another author that I only seem to read in anthologies. Last time I reviewed one I said I can definitely see myself reading more by this author. Same still applies - I just need to get around to starting a whole book by her.

If there was one story in this collection that didn't really work for me, it was Esther M Friesner's The Wedding of Wylda Serene. There haven't been many events held at the exclusive Club, basically because absolutely anything could, and has happened. It is therefore something of a surprise when the local darling, Wylda Serene insists that she must get married there, especially when no one seems to have met the lucky man yet. Whilst I did enjoy the premise, and think that it is one that the author could have a lot of fun with (who couldn't have fun with a bunch of ancient and trouble making Greek Gods), I don't think I really got the mother-of-the-bride-zilla moments enough to be able save this story from being meh!

Lori Handeland seems to be yet another author that I only read in anthologies, and yet I liked the last story I read from her featuring characters from her Jager-Sucher series. In this story, Charmed by the Moon, Jessie and Will are about to get married when they find a love charm that has been hidden amongst their belongings. This leads them to question whether they are really in love or if they have been manipulated, and by whom?

Tacky by Charlaine Harris is set in the same world as the Sookie Stackhouse books, but Sookie isn't one of the characters. This short story examines what might possibly happen if a vampire decides to marry a werewolf. The main character is neither bride nor groom, but the bridesmaid. She also has to figure out what the bridesmaid's role in the wedding is meant to be, with a special focus on not ending up with a bridesmaid dress that looks tacky! There is also the fact that not everyone on either side is comfortable with this union, which leads to some problems on the big day, and then there is also the opinions of regular humans that might well get in the way as well.

A Hard Day's Night-Searcher by Sherrilyn Kenyon was the reason I read this book, and was in itself an okay story. It certainly didn't blow my mind though. Rafael Santiago's squire Jeff is a bit of a problem. He has published a story where he has changed the names, but other than that he has basically written about the Dark Hunter world, and now the top squires want to see him. They send Celina to pick up Jeff, but Rafael manages to stall by offering her a deal - he can get her to break the Squire within a week if she has to stay with him.

"...Or Forever Hold Your Peace" by Susan Krinard, was more a mystery than a romance, but I would love to read more set in this world. It is set in a alternate Victorian style world called Albion, where all the best families pass on not only land and treasures but also paranormal Talents. At the key moment in the wedding of Lady Emma Wakefield and Lord Edward Parish, a stranger bursts into the wedding and objects to the union. As he runs away from the wedding, he is killed. The next day, the bride goes missing and it is up to Lady Olivia Dowling and her friend, Kit Meredith, to figure out how those two events are connected. I really liked Olivia and Kit as a couple and you could easily see something more developing between the two characters.

Library Loot

I havne't been adding books to my request at the library for the last couple of weeks as I need to get the number of books that I have down again, mainly because they won't let me take out too many more books. Having said all that, I still managed to borrow 4 books this week, and I have three waiting there to be picked up, but I will be taking back more than I borrow next time I go which has to be a good thing right?


The books I borrowed in the last week were:

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton - I read House at Riverton last year and quite enjoyed it, so I am looking forward to this one.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - I think there is a movie or something coming out soon so I thought I would give this a go.

Betrayed: A House of Night Novel by P C Cast and Kristin Cast - I read the first book a few weeks ago, so this is next in the series.

Shields of Pride by Elizabeth Chadwick - My quest to work my way through Elizabeth Chadwick's backlist in a slow and leisurely way continues. The only reason why I want to do that slowly and leisurely is that I don't really want to get to the point where I don't have any left to read. It's such a dilemna.


****Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by Alessandra from Out of the Blue and Eva from A Striped Armchair****

Guy Love

I don't often watch Scrubs, but when I do I really enjoy it. Tonight I was at a friends place for dinner, and they were playing the episode which was all done like a musical, which I thought was lots and lots of fun, including this song!





I should try and watch more episodes really!

The Boat by Nam Le

A stunningly inventive, deeply moving fiction debut: stories that take us from the slums of Colombia to the streets of Tehran; from New York City to Iowa City; from a tiny fishing village in Australia to a foundering vessel in the South China Sea, in a masterly display of literary virtuosity and feeling.

In the magnificent opening story, “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice,” a young writer is urged by his friends to mine his father’s experiences in Vietnam—and what seems at first a satire of turning one’s life into literary commerce becomes a transcendent exploration of homeland, and the ties between father and son. “Cartagena” provides a visceral glimpse of life in Colombia as it enters the mind of a fourteen-year-old hit man facing the ultimate test. In “Meeting Elise,” an aging New York painter mourns his body’s decline as he prepares to meet his daughter on the eve of her Carnegie Hall debut. And with graceful symmetry, the final, title story returns to Vietnam, to a fishing trawler crowded with refugees, where a young woman’s bond with a mother and her small son forces both women to a shattering decision.

Brilliant, daring, and demonstrating a jaw-dropping versatility of voice and point of view, The Boat is an extraordinary work of fiction that takes us to the heart of what it means to be human, and announces a writer of astonishing gifts.

Last year there was a great deal of excitement around this collection of short stories, culminating to being awarded at least one major literary prize (The Dylan Thomas Award). The author, Nam Le, was born in Vietnam, came to Australia as a child, and has lately been splitting his time between Australia, America and soon in the UK as well. We definitely claim him as an Aussie!

Nam Le has a chameleon like quality to his writing. In one story he is a struggling writer dealing with the visit of his father, in another he is a teenage assassin in the barrios of Columbia, and then again as a young woman visiting her friend in Tehran. He really doesn't miss a beat no matter whose voice he is telling the story in.

In Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice, the voice is that of a writer in his late 20s who is struggling to meet the deadline for an essay that is due, and with the visit by his father. Despite being of Vietnamese our writer has chosen to try and avoid telling the refugee stories that he knows, but during this visit by his father he gets to hear at least one more story of how his dad came to be living in Australia.

Having read that first story, it was something of a surprise to realise that the next story, Cartagena, is told from the point of view of a 14 year old hit man from the barrios of Columbia who needs to face up to the consequences of at least some of his actions.

Meeting Elise is another complete change of pace. This time the story is written from the perspective of an older man who is fast coming face to face with his mortality. He is hoping to meet up with his estranged daughter, but there is nothing at all certain in the arrangements.

The fourth story is probably my favourite, Halflead Bay. The main character is a young boy who is trying to deal with his mother's serious illness, and with the budding attraction he feels to Alison, who just happens to be connected with the town bully. My teaser from Teaser Tuesday came from this story.

If I had to pick my least favourite of this collection it would probably be Hiroshima. Le once again assumes a female voice, this time a young girl who is living in Hiroshima in the days before the end of WWII. Despite saying that it was my least favourite it was still a very poignant story, especially as the young girl comments about being able to differentiate between a squadron of planes flying overhead, and the war time slogans such as "do without until victory". One question that this story did make me think of is whether there are any historical fiction novels that are out there that speak about the Japanese WWII experience. There are a few that are set in Germany, but I don't know of any set in Japan about the normal Japanese persons experience.

In Tehran Calling, a young woman is trying to escape her broken romance and goes to visit her best friend who is now living in Tehran, and who is agitating for women's rights. Sarah and her friend Parvin had been somewhat estranged, but Sarah sees this as a chance to rectify that, but her visit to Tehran surprises her in many ways.

The final story in this collection, The Boat, is the story of a young girl who is trying to escape from Vietnam as one of the boat people. The boat is barely seaworthy, and very overcrowded, and it isn't long before the journey becomes perilous in many ways.

If you are looking for a short story collection, then this is certainly one to consider.

This is one of my reads from the Book Awards Reading Challenge II.