Things and Stuff and Books

For the last four months I have been recieving a free ARC in the mail to read and reveiw courtesy of Library Thing Early Reveiwers. I am really enjoying reading and reviewing books (which is something I do anyways) and getting more books for free. It's a truly lovely system! So far I have read and reveiwed Shades of Gray by Jasper Fforde (who is one of my favourite authors, so reveiwing an early copy of his book was absolutly AMAZING), Impatient With Desire by Gabrielle Burton (which I think is unfortunatly titled, because it is NOT a trashy harlequin), and The Little Known (which was actually an e-book that I was able to read on my blackberry ^_^ ) by Janice Daugharty. You can see my reveiws for these books on my librarything profile. I just recieved Heartless by Ann Elisabeth Stengl and am looking forward to reading it.

Something else new is that I have made a change in my schooling. I have decided university is not for me, and I am taking a more direct route towards working in a library. So I am very excitied! Even if I can't get into my school for two more years...

I am going to participate in Script Frenzy during April. It is like a sister to Nanowrimo, except with scripts instead of novels. So I shall be trying my hand at writing a stage play. I have an idea and I am very curious to see if I can make it work!

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog.


EDIT: After I posted this I realized my last blog post from the summer had been a reveiw of the book that came before this one, Shiver. In no way was that planned, its just a funny coincidance. :)

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver was an AMAZING book! It was absolutly beautiful, inside and out! Firstly, the cover is absolutly lovely! It captured the feeling of the book perfectly, and its just so beautiful. I want to hang it on my wall. The dull, light blue, against the white, with the bright splash of red in the center is so eye catching and captures the books...starkness? Contrast? Rawness? I can't find the right word, I don't think either of those are quite right.

As for the book within the covers, once I got used to the pace and the POV switches I couldn't put it down. The writing, plot, characters, and mood were wonderful and I am running out of adjectives to describe it. The book make my smile, and cry, and being a hopeless romantic completley tugged at my heart strings. I didn't find it to be just a simple romance either, there was more to it than that. I am terrible at reveiwing books I like - I end up gushing. So I shant call this a review. This is me, gushing. I loved this book. I loved the cover, the blue ink, the fact that I felt chilly throughout, and how it made me feel after I was done reading. It was quite the read. :)

I also have to comment on the playlist the author posted on her blog that she used to right the book, I think the music fits it perfectly. I am going to be downloading these songs. :)

"I have operations which be humours of revenge!" *

I just finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo. It was my summer reading project and I am so glad it did not take me all summer! It was a very good book, although very different from the movie. At first I thought it was a bad thing, because it made it longer, more complicated and drawn out, but once I reached the exciting revengy ending all the suspense and slow build up was worth it. It made the revelations and revenges so much more meaningful and earned. I really felt for the characters, and the end was really very engaging which made up for the slowish middle. I have to say I loved this book. I don't think I shall be reading it again, just because of how long it is, but I think it shall remain a favourite.

Now on to the other books in my TBR pile who have been waiting patiently. I hear them calling...Adieu!**

Edit: Ahhh, I completly forgot to mention the quote I wanted to share. I even sticky note tabbed it for easy reference! Well I shall share it now.

Thus at length, by one of those unexpected strokes of fortune which sometimes
occur to those on whom an evil destiny has for a long time vented its spleen...
(190, Ch 3)

OR in other words..."Thus at length, by one of those unexpected strokes of fortune which sometime happens to those who have been often been farted upon by evil..."

Ahhaha....it made me laugh out loud :)

Interesting to note is that when I tried to find that quote at online-literature.com it was DIFFERENT :O and much less humourus.

Thus, at length, by one of the unexpected strokes of fortunewhich sometimes
befall those who have for a long time beenthe victims of an evil destiny...

Thats not very funny.

---

* from Merry Wives of Windor, spoken by the character Pistol in act 1 scene 3 i think?

** Influence from the Merry Wives of Windsor actually, and not Count of Monte Cristo. Tho the phrase "ma foi" is stuck in my head due to both MWW and Count of Monte Cristo as at least one character in both use that phrase and I was/am imersed in both at the same time and yeah.

And Done!

I finished the 48 Hour Book Challenge this morning at 11 o'clock. Sadly I did not finish the book I was reading, though I was very close. I was reading Dragonhaven by Robin Mckinley, a book I had been looking forward to reading ever since I heard it was coming out because I am a big Robin Mckinley fan. I was waiting to buy the paperback but this weekend I broke down and just took it out from the library. I figured it was a much cheaper option considering how much of my nearly non-existent money I had spent on books lately. So far however it is really good and it is just too tempting to add it to my Mckinley collection so when I find it in paperback I may just buy it anyways.

Since I havn't finished the book I cannot give a very good reveiw, but so far I think it is living up to her previous books that I have adored. The way its written and how the story is told as if the main character was writing it down after everything had happened is very effective. I can't wait to finish it!

Hours: 10 Hrs, 10 Mins + 7 Hrs = 17 Hrs, 10 Mins

Total Books Read = 3 (and 3/4)

Total Pages Read=327(WS) + 325(L) + 376(RN) + 256(D) = 1284

Funny how the least amount of pages read took the most time. I guess the pages were a little bigger, but I was also probably getting a little tired.

All in all I really enjoyed taking (most) of this weekend off to read, and I would love to do it again next year, but hopefully with my full health and less busy weekend. :D

48 Hour Book Challange - The Red Necklace

I never thought I would make it through the three books I most wanted to read this weekend, but I have!

The Red Necklace - Sally Gardner

A historical work of fiction set during the French revolution. With a little twist on reality, many of the charcters in the novel can work magic, read minds, tell the future, or move objects with their minds. Not in a huge obvious Harry Potter kind of way but a quite secret way that makes you believe as if that kind of magic is possible. The main focus of the book is not however the magic - it is the characters and their struggle to survive during the revolution. My university mind clicked in and began noticing a theme, that of the "sheep". Many times through out the novel people are described as sheep, blindly following the herd even though the herd is headed towards slaughter. I thought this was a very well written book, one that I believe could be studied in school to educational benifit and to the students enjoyment.

Hours: 5 hrs, 30 Mins + 4 Hrs, 40 Mins = 10 Hrs, 10 Mins

Edit: I forgot to add; so far all three of my books have mentioned Shakespeare. Wondrous Strange used Midsummer Nights Dream heavily in its plot, A Midsummer Nights Dream was briefly mentioned in Lament, and in The Red Necklace an acter quoted Shakespeare. It is tempting to continue the Shakespeare trend but the only other Shakespeare related book in my TBR pile is "Othello" and I don't feel quite like tackeling that at the moment...

48 Hour Challange - Lament

My second read of the 48 Hour book challenge (first whole book) was Maggie Stiefvater's "Lament". This has been on my TBR pile for some time, and half of me is kicking myself for waiting so long to read it, the other half is quite happy that I do not have to wait as long for the sequal. It's release date is still to far away (a WHOLE summer!!) but it will be worth it.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought I might be faeried out after Wondrous Strange, but this book did a original take on fearies I thought. They were still faeries, but it felt different somehow. Ms. Stiefvater's writing style was very fun to read, the voice of Deirdre felt real and unique. And Luke. Such a cutie. It was a suspensful and entertaining read and I would recommend it to fans of faeries or romance, or just YA.

Hours: 1 Hr, 50 Min + 3 Hrs, 40 Min = 5 Hr, 30 Min