BW22: Happy Memorial Day!

It's book week 22 in our 52 Books Quest and honoring Memorial Day. I’m in between as well.  Reading Brandon Sanderson’s Words of Radiance in his Stormlight archive series, and George Eliot’s Middlemarch. 

Inbetween reading, I’m still binging on Korean Drama’s. This week, it’s Her Private Life.


 We’re right at that in between stage between May and June, so instead of starting something new, here’s a poem in honor of Memorial Day.


We Honor You Today

By

Susan R. Smith


To all of our veterans

Far and near.

We thank you for your service

For all those years.


You sacrificed your time,

And some gave your life.

You preserved our freedom

By willingly paying the price.


Many of you

Were sent overseas.

You were wounded in battle,

With scars and disease.


But courageous and brave,

You weathered the storm.

You faced every battle

With faith and beyond.


We honor you with joy

For all that you've done.

You stood strong for our country,

For our daughters and sons.


 So no one stands alone,

We walk hand in hand.

Remember, we are with you.

Together we shall stand.


 We salute you today.

Hear what we say.

Let our words speak eloquently

In this special way.


On this day,

Let us express our love and thanks

For the sacrifice you paid.

You served in honor

For many years and days,

And we will never forget

How you were strong and brave.


 

BW21: From K-Dramas to Middlemarch to Brandon Sanderson

 Happy Sunday! I'm in a mood. Can't tell you which one, but a mood. So today, you get a bit of this, a bit of that.  A bit of this from my wild mind as well as a bit of that from the world wide web. 

One of the dusty books in my virtual shelves is A.S. Byatt's The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye. It's one of those one day I'll get round to it. Saw George Miller Presents His “Anti-Mad Max” in Three Thousand Years of Longing Trailer on Tor which is based on Byatt's book and is quite intriguing.  Especially since Idris Elba is in it. Yum.  I'll be diving into The Djinn soon. 

I recently got sucked into a Korean drama on Netflix, Romance is a Bonus Book which is set in a publishing company.  It was quite fascinating and wondered if any of the books mentioned were real. Quite pleased to discover they are!  Discovered there are a few K drama's that are based on books

Stumbled across Lessons Learned from a Year Listening to the Fictional Octopus in My Head by Shelby Van Pelt. Reminded me of my very literal minded son when he was young and how I had to rethink each sentence and learn how to talk to him without slang or metaphor. Will definitely be reading Remarkably Bright Creatures this year. 

As we all know, Nora Roberts is one of my favorite authors. Her assistant Laura recently posted her latest Notes from a Cranky Publicist in which she mentioned books she read while recovering from hip surgery.  Besides Nora of course, she listed several great books including other authors I love such as Nalini Singh and Sarah Addison Allen. She talked about some new to me authors and Beach Read by Emily Henry and Every Summer After by Carley Fortune immediately went on my wish list.  My ever growing wish list because my buying ban is still in force.  Maybe I'll break down in June. 

***

I finished my reread of S.K.Dunstall’s Stars Uncharted and started the 2nd book in the series, Stars Beyond. (ebook)

Finished Jodi Taylor’s 4th book in her Chronicles of St. Mary’s series with A Trail through Time.  

And thanks to my son for buying me Brandon Sanderson’s Words of Radiance in his Stormlight archive series, which will take me a while since it’s quite chunky.

I think my sip read of George Eliot’s Middlemarch is probably going to take me the rest of the year.

I did a stupid thing on Thursday. Forgot I’m not as flexible as I used to be.  I attempted to shave my legs by resting my foot up on the bathroom counter. I lost my balance and landed flat on my back. Ouch! Ever felt like you were falling in slow motion? Weird. But nothing broken fortunately.  Heating pad whenever I’m sitting; Tylenol, and Salonpas patches have kept me mobile.  Oy!

Watched the remainder of Romance is a Book, Sandra Bullock’s Lost City which was hilarious, as well as Jennifer Hudson’s Respect which wasn’t so hilarious. Plus got sucked into the Dep/Heard thing for a bit.


James M's double review of IDW Sonic FCBD 2022 & Imposter Syndrome issue 4

 









Salutations once again, Sonic fans. I'm back... WITH A DOUBLE REVIEW!

First up, we have IDW SONIC FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2022 with a new story. So, what's that about?

Well, the story involves Sonic and Tails going to Angel Island and teaming up with Knuckles to assist him with an issue and they end up battling Eggman, who is stirring up trouble. This comic story was well-done, just like the others. 

Don't you just love great Sonic comic stories, no matter who writes them? 

I'll tell ya now, it was Ian Flynn who wrote it. That's write, the main story's an Ian Flynn story and it was also written by IDW editor David Mariotte. I gladly give the story "Deep Trouble" (and FCBD 2022) a nicely deserved 8.5 out of 10.

As for Imposter Syndrome issue 4?

That was an intense, amazing and almost mind-blowing issue. It wrapped up the miniseries excellently and set the stage for issue 50. 

Doctor Starline, Surge and Kit took Eggman's city and Starline successfully took over the Eggman Empire, ousting Doctor Eggman (for now anyway), while Surge took down Metal Sonic with Kit's help and the two continue planning to kill Starline when the time is right. The writing in this was beyond incredible to a point where I'm gonna read it again. 

Ian Flynn, you knocked it outta the park real good, you and the writing team deserve a good salute from me. 10/10.

Well, that's all, folks. See ya next time, ya'll.

-James M



BW20: A bit of this, a bit of that

 It's book week 20 in our 52 Books Quest and this week our 52 Books bingo category is Ensemble casts. My favorite kind of book. I love books with ensemble casts, especially series books because they make it seem like the story goes on and on and on.  There are books in which the cast revolves around one main character and others which rotate through a series of characters, all working together for a common end.

 finished Jayne Castle’s The Hot Zone in her Rainshadow series this week and look forward to reading the rest of the series. 


Stephen Lawhead Taliesin –I don’t particularly enjoy Lawhead’s writing which I remember now is what stopped me when reading the King Raven Series, so reshelving it for now.  


My sip read is George Eliot’s Middlemarch which I’m reading at breakfast and very slow going because Eliot tends to be very wordy. 


Rereading S.K.Dunstall’s Stars Uncharted (ebook) before I start the 2nd book in the series, Stars Beyond.


Started Jodi Taylor’s 4th book in her Chronicles of St. Mary’s series with A Trail through Time. 


We watched the 2nd movie in the Hobbit trilogy - The Desolation of Smaug which was quite intense and enjoyable.   

James M's review of IDW Sonic issue 49

 













Greetings to all of you, sorry for the long delay, but its time to review IDW SONIC ISSUE 49. We're coming up on issue 50 and its gonna be big, but not as big as Archie Sonic, mind you.
So, what's the story?

Well, its about Badniks, good Badniks, Belle and something connected to Mister Tinker. 

After the heroes met Motobud, a good Moto Bug that helped the girls during a perilous and fiery situation, Sonic, Tails and the crew decided to experiment with some Eggman robots. So they reprogrammed a pair and Sonic revealed himself from under some tarp, testing to see if the robots would attack. The test was a success when the robots did not.

That night, the robots started acting strange and began leaving the workshop, responding to a rogue signal coming from Eggman's base in Eggtropolis. Belle briefly complied with the signal until Sonic and Tails made her snap out of it, then they shut off Motobud, who was following the signal, and found a note inside that was from Belle's creator Mr. Tinker before he turned back into Doctor Eggman.

You gotta feel sorry for the poor puppet robot, even though having Eggman as the main villain of the Sonic franchise is too important. Unless there was a way to bring him back, Tinker's gone for good, but at least you'll have his belated daughter. 

IDW Sonic issue 49 here was a great issue, nice set up for issue 50 and very nicely written. Sonic comics have never been better, this is beyond stellar and is unforgettable to the max. See you next time, fellow Sonic fans of every age. 10/10.
-James M

BW19: Happy Mother's Day

 It's book week 19 in our 52 Books quest and this week we're highlighting Mother's of course. 

Reading a very dusty series from my shelves starting with Taliesin in Stephen Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle Trilogy. 

"A magnificent epic of cataclysmic upheaval and heroic love in a breathless age of mythic wonders

It was a time of legend, when the last shadows of the mighty Roman conqueror faded from the captured Isle of Britain. While, across a vast sea, bloody war shattered a peace that had flourished for two thousand years in the doomed kingdom of Atlantis.

 It is the remarkable adventure of Charis—the courageous princess from Atlantis who escapes the terrible devastation of her land—and of the fabled seer and druid prince Taliesin, singer at the dawn of the age. A story of an incomparable love that joins two astonishing worlds amid the fires of chaos, and spawns the miracles of Merlin . . . and Arthur the king!"


Watched the first movie in the Hobbit trilogy which was very good.

BW18: April Reading Wrap Up


 

It's book week 18 in our 52 books quest and this month is all about historical mysteries.  

Since we're saying goodbye to April, it's time for a reading wrap up.  I finished eight books in April; all of which were dusty books except for The Bone Shard Daughter.  I cheated once, and broke my buying ban in February for Bone Shards Daughter, which was so worth it.  However, I've been good since then and haven't added any new books to my stacks. My wish list though is growing ever longer.  One more month.... maybe. 

Bone Shard Daughter - Andrea Stewart (Historical Fantasy)

Ice Hunt - James Rollins (Thriller, reread)

Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro (Dystopian Fiction)

Library of the Unwritten (#1 Hell's Library) - A.J.Hackwith (Fantasy, e)

A Cold Day for Murder (#1 Kate Shugak) - Dana Stabenow (Mystery, e)

The Round House - Louise Erdrich (Native American mystery)

City of Dark Magic  (#1 Dark Magic) - Magnus Flyte (Fantasy, Prague, e)

Reliquary (#2 Pendergast) - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Thriller, e)

Stats wise: 

4 physical books with 1782 pages and 4 ebooks with 1506 virtual pages for a total of 3288 pages.  I noticed that although it hasn't been my intention, I read the same number of ebooks as the number of the month. Interesting.  We'll see what next month brings.  Genre wise, three fantasies and one dystopian fiction, along with two thrillers, and two mysteries. I seem be to be sticking with fantasy, sci fi, and mystery genres. Six are new to me authors.  

I'm still sipping on George Eliot's Middlemarch, one chapter at a time in the mornings with breakfast. My current chunkster is Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings which is really good.  I'm currently on page 732 out of 1200+ pages but enjoying the heck out of it. 

I'm taking a mini break at the moment for our May historical mysteries reading month to read dusty book And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander which has been on my virtual shelves since 2014.