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.

I can sleep a bit easier now

Thank you to everyone who commented about my lock and key issue yesterday. In the comments Teddy Rose said "do not pass go, do not stop to collect $200, do not blog, get the locks changed now, as in yesterday!"

I'm telling you, I could do with that $200 right about now. Today I took the day off at work, and the locksmith came and changed every lock in the house that could be changed, as well as adding one to the garage door. So, several hour and $600 later, we are feeling a little more secure.

I may have to replace two screen doors and maybe look at some kind of security system, but for now, anyone using the old keys won't be able to get into the house at all, and that is the main thing.

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 not quite sure how this has happened but I seem to be reading two short story collections at the same time. Luckily, they have very different tones - one is paranormal/romance and the other is more literary! This week's teaser comes from page 135 of The Boat by Nam Le. The lines comes from a short story called Halflead Bay:

The sea was like this. You could wait all day and then, just when you were leaving, it might offer something up - the rubbery back of a whale, the glass-sharp glint of jumping mackerel - something.

Anyone know a locksmith?

I am freaking out a little at the moment. I think someone has managed to get hold of the key to my sliding doors that lead to my deck and has been trying to get in while I have been at work.

Last night when I got home from work I noticed that both the sliding glass door and sliding security doors were open. We had had one of the doors open on Sunday afternoon but I was sure that it was all shut up before I went to bed on Sunday night. I looked around the house and it doesn't look like anything had been touched so then I thought maybe we really hadn't shut it. Only problem is the keys that were in the sliding security door were missing, but I couldn't remember if I had taken them out a while ago and just not put them back. So last night before I went to bed, I locked both doors from the inside (don't need the keys to do that), put the barbecue against the door on the outside, and then put the dining room table, some chairs and the heavy leather couch up against it on the inside.

When I got home from work tonight, the barbecue has been moved, the sliding security door was open, and I think that the sliding glass door has been locked from the outside as now I can't open it from the inside.

I think I am going to have to get the locks changed.

The Last Queen by C W Gortner

Juana of Castile, the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country’s throne, is an enigmatic figure, shrouded in lurid myth. Was she the bereft widow of legend who was driven mad by her loss, or has history misjudged a woman who was ahead of her time? In his stunning new novel, C.W. Gortner challenges centuries of myths about Queen Juana, unraveling the mystery surrounding her to reveal a brave, determined woman we can only now begin to fully understand.

The third child of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand of Spain, Juana is born amidst her parents’ ruthless unification of their kingdom, bearing witness to the fall of Granada and Columbus’s discoveries. At the age of sixteen, she is sent to wed Philip, the Archduke of Flanders, as part of her parents’ strategy to strengthen Spain, just as her youngest sister, Catherine of Aragon, is sent to England to become the first wife of Henry VIII.

Juana finds unexpected love and passion with her handsome young husband, the sole heir to the Hapsburg Empire. At first she is content with her children and her life in Flanders. But when tragedy strikes and she inherits the Spanish throne, Juana finds herself plunged into a struggle for power against her husband that grows to involve the major monarchs of Europe. Besieged by foes on all sides, her intelligence and pride used as weapons against her, Juana vows to win her crown and save Spain from ruin, even if it could cost her everything . . . .

With brilliant, lyrical prose, author and historian C. W. Gortner conjures Juana through her own words, taking the reader from the somber majesty of Spain to the glittering and lethal courts of Flanders, France, and Tudor England. The Last Queen brings to life all the grandeur and drama of an incomparable era; and the singular humanity of this courageous, passionate princess whose fight to claim her birthright captivated the world.

As much as I love reading historical fiction that is set in England, every now and again I really appreciate a change of location and characters. If that sounds a bit like you, then you can't really go wrong with The Last Queen by C W Gortner.

Whilst a lot of historical fiction fans will be familiar with the life and times of Catherine of Aragon, I must confess that I knew very little about any of her other family members. In this book, the author focuses on the life of Juana, Catherine's older sister who married into the Hapsberg family, to Phillip of Flanders (known as Phillip the Handsome). What started out as an arranged marriage quickly turned into a passionate, loving marriage but just as quickly turns into a passionate marriage of what can be a far stronger emotion - loathing and hate.

Due to a series of tragedies that hit the Aragonese royal family, Juana becomes the rightful heir to the Castilian throne. She is however forced to fight for her birthright against not only against her husband who was determined to claim the throne for himself, but also against the church, her own remaining family members, and against the distrust of the idea of a queen reigning.

As husband and wife engage in political power plays to try and gain the upper hand, as family members betray each other, and as mother becomes separated both physically and emotionally from her children, we are left with a portrayal of a woman who many would have envied as having everything, but who is left with nothing. Some of the choices that Juana did make seem somewhat foolhardy and yes, slightly mad, and the author does not shy away from these events. The portrayal of Juana is handled with sensitivity and perceptiveness, and yet as a reader, it is quite easy to be swept up in the drama and the emotion of the story.

I am glad to have been introduced to this fascinating character who in some ways is a footnote in history for many non-Europeans. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from C W Gortner.

Rating 4.5/5


Cross posted at Historical Tapestry

May Card Swap

For the second month running I have managed to get all my card swap cards made with time to spare - very unusual! This month's theme was circles.

My original idea was to try and create a photo frame effect with a silhouette of an old fashioned woman inside the circles, sort of inspired by a cameo brooch. The idea was to have several circles of expanding diameter building up around the sides of the silhouette to give it dimension. It very quickly became obvious that there were several issues with this idea. It was incredibly difficult to locate a suitable silhouette that was either free to use from the internet or that was a stamp that I could use. The second issue was creating the circular frames themselves in such a way that they would all align when the card was created.

So, I had a rethink, and instead of having a silhouette, I decided to use half of a stamp that I bought a little while ago of a Victorian lady and go the opposite way, so that one circle is smaller than the other, and they are built up with Magic Mount, give three levels of dimension. Originally I bought this stamp to use for bookmarks for Historical Tapestry, and while I still may use it for that purpose, I haven't figured out the rest of the components yet. This is an image of what the lady looks like normally:


The next issue I had was getting hold of papers to use. What I wanted was so blue and cream type colours. I had a look through the papers that I had, and I had one sheet each of a couple of designs which would have been perfect, including those pictured below. Unfortunately, when I went to the scrap booking shop there was nothing that was really similar, so had to rethink that was well.



So what I ended up with instead was this finished card which is more brown and light blue than dark blue and cream, but never mind. The embossing is really getting caught in the flash and kind of hides the fact that there is a small pearl stuck just at the collar of the dress to try and bring the idea back to the cameo idea.


I did have a bit of an issue with the ribbon that I used because when I wanted to buy 2 metres, there wasn't that much on the roll, but I just had enough allowing for a test card and also for one screw up. There is a certain irony with the screw up because before I had finished making all the cards, I had to clear the table for dinner. When I came back to it I happily started working away, not realising that I was working on a scrap piece of paper that wasn't the same width as the actual card until far too late in the process. I thought I would try to rescue that card for my own use and not as part of the card swap (because you needed 11 identical cards) and so I put a strip of brown down the side to cover the fact that this one was narrower. Only problem is that I think that my rescued card looks better than the 11 actual cards! Whoops! Too late now though.


The other thing that I did over the last couple of days is play with a sheet of images that I bought a while ago when I went to the Stitches and Craft show. The idea is very similar to decoupage with the idea that you build up different levels of a picture, but this time with a twist. I love the image that is on this sheet. I kind of wish I had of bought a couple more of this type because with the fact that the shapes are all rectangles it was really quite easy to assemble. I also bought some Japanese ladies to do, but the cutting out on those ones is much more intricate so I will save them for a bit later. Below are two images of the same card. The first is from above, and the second is from the side so hopefully it will be clearer to see how the layering works.

Quick post

Just a quick note to say, (a) I am still around and (b) we are giving away a copy of Christine Blevins' The Tory Widow over at Historical Tapestry!

I have a relatively busy weekend coming up but have finished a few books lately so hopefully will get a more substantial post up shortly.