My Two Blessings

  It's book week 9 in our 52 Books quest and March's fictional librarian is Dr. Horace Worblehat from Terry Pratchett's Discworld  Reads in progress: The Count of Monte Cristo and learning a few new words.  Pratchett's The Colour of Magic which is weirdish but kind of reminds of Xanth series and having to learn a whole new world and cast of characters.   Karen Marie Moning's Kingdom of Shadow and Light which is very good and putting everyone to the test. 

  I'm currently reading Karen Marie Moning's 11th and final book in her Fever series - Kingdom of Shadow and Light . Completed my speed read and now going back to savor and absorb.  The final book is all the more poignant because Moning reveals she had been battling a chronic illness which left her unable to write for a couple years which is why it took so long for this book to come out.  "From the moment MacKayla Lane arrived in Dublin to hunt her sister’s murderer, she’s had to fight one dangerous battle after the next: to survive, to secure power, to keep her city safe, to protect the people she loves. The matter of who’s good and who’s evil can be decided by the answer to a single question: Whose side are you on? Now, as High Queen of the Fae, Mac faces her greatest challenge yet: ruling the very race she was born to hunt and kill - a race that wants her dead yesterday, so they can put a pure-blooded Fae queen on the throne."

  I started off listening To Sleep in a Sea of Stars on audiobook in the car, but soon couldn’t stand waiting for the next car trip to find out what happened next, so ended up buying the book.  Now that I’ve finished the hardcopy, I can enjoy listening in the car, listening at a slower pace, familiar with the story, and not having to click back 30 seconds because I missed something.  I had to recover from a book hangover before I could put my thoughts together on this story.  A space opera that I imagine mirrors long sea cruises in which there are many long days, with nothing to do but sleep and eat and talk and think, mixed in with shore excursions where one tries to fit in everything they can in a day, then off to another port of call.  It’s every thing I imagine how space travel would be.   At the center of it all is Cara, a xenobiologist, who discovers an ancient relic, the Soft Blade.   A sentient alien, the last of her kind, who melds w...

  It's week 8 in our 52 Books Quest Did you know Monday is Walk your Dog day, National Margarita day, and International Thinking day? So make a pitcher of margaritas, take a walk with your fur baby, and ponder life, the universe and everything.  Oh, and please share your favorite margarita recipes.  Don’t forget to buy some Girl Scout Cookies since thinking day was created in 1926 during the fourth Girl Guide/Girl Scout International Conference Plus. Plus the 26th is Tell a Fairy Tale day so read a fairy tale or make up one of your own.  Which I have done:   Bridge to Nowhere By Robin M.   On a bridge to Nowhere To see No One Who could be Anyone, Who has traveled, Happy and safe, Everywhere and somewhere. Music leads Them From near to far Across the bridge to Nowhere. The sky is full of light Sparkling and clear. The air is full of love, Plenty and dear. There, They sing And dance and play, Making up lines And have plenty to say. Past the bridge t...

  I'm nursing a book hangover as I finished reading  To Sleep in a Sea of Stars .  Lot to process and will write a review at some point. Still listening in the car and now can relax a little bit since I know what happened in the story.  Hard for me to listen to a story when it's new. Requires way more concentration and had to keep hitting 30 second rewind because I kept missing things.  I discovered Microsoft Word's read aloud function which has come in handy with my current WIP and making lots of changes, and its taking  up a lot of time, but I'm happy to be back in the writing zone after a long hiatus.  Plus I  finally got Netflix and I've been binge watching Schitts creek. ** grin**

  It's book week 7 in our 52 Books Quest and w e are diving into the world of romance literature this week as well as love poetry.  It’s quite apropos that our next Daughter of Mnemosyne is Erato, the muse of lyric and love poetry. Her name means the Lovely One and her symbol is the Kithara and she wears of wreath made from myrtle and roses.  Dip your toes into  Shakespeare's Sonnets , love poems of  Rumi  or  Pablo Neruda ,   ancient love Poems from Japan by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu  to contemporary poetry written by  Rupi Kaur .  "Love is the Water of Life. " "Because of you, in gardens of blossoming flowers I ache from the perfumes of spring." "A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;" "Remembering you . . . The fireflies of this marsh seem like sparks that rise from my body's longing." Sigh....  ******* I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Paolini’s To ...

  Jazzberry Blue   I started reading the Count of Monte Cristo with my 52 Books group this week in which we planned to read three chapters a week.  I couldn’t help myself because I needed to know what happened so read through Chapter 6.  Then I got totally bogged down in chapter 7 with all the history and will have to reread with my ipad standing by to look up information. Jealousy reared its ugly head.  Danglars, the supercargo, dislikes Dante taking over the ship and his super secret mission for the late captain.  Caderousse is jealous of his money or maybe just too greedy, but Dante's father felt the need to pay back a loan even though it left him destitute and hungry until Dantes returned from his trip. Fernand hates Dantes even before he meets him because he is Mercedes love.  Danglers is quite manipulative, feeding both Caderousse’s and Fernand’s dislike.  Is Dantes blind, too young and arrogant or is he really just that nice in that he is ...

James wrote the following fan fiction story which received a very amusing and thoughtful analysis by an anonymous source. The analysis is below the story.   Read and enjoy!  Kirby Gets Chased by a Bee - (Kirby - property of Nintendo)  " All was peaceful in Dream Land, it was a nice and sunny day. Squirrels gathered acorns, birds flew in the sky and insects roamed in their natural habitats. A bumblebee flew through a field of golden sunflowers, gathering pollen for its colony. The bee landed on a sunflower and was gathering as much pollen as possible, minding its own business... until a large shadow fell over. The bee looked up and was terrified to see a huge, round pink creature with dark eyes observing the bee. Curious yet willing to defend itself, the bee prepared its stinger and its eyes narrowed. Young Kirby's interest in this insect soon became replaced with fear when he saw the bee take flight and show its stinger, ready to attack. "AHHHHHH!" Kirby ran for it, ...

  Real Murders by Charlaine Harris is the first book in the 10 books series - Aurora Teagarden mysteries.  Once upon a time I wouldn't have noticed the writing style or the voice of the character and would have just enjoyed the cozy mystery, thinking the character was slightly weird or missing a few brain cells or just young for her age. I couldn't make up my mind whether I disliked Aurora or the writing which drove me crazy with all the telling vs showing.  There were several times I almost quit reading because Aurora annoyed me, but liked the premise and didn't have a clue who committed the murder, so was pleasantly surprised.  Written mostly in passive voice with many begin's, began's, was's, and seemed, which had me rewriting the sentences in my head and throwing me out of the story.    Realize I have to cut Charlaine some slack since Real Murders is her debut novel written back in 1990 and she's since grown in style and substance.   I read th...