The Cruel Prince by Holly Black Short Review

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a great start to an intriguing story. I hope the rest of the series will hold up to this opener.
I especially liked the lore building that Black has weaved through the plot. I am not familiar with all the traditional lore of the fae but it felt like she drew on it rather than creating a new tradition that made this new tale feel like it was set in a familiar and loved world. Really enjoyed this and will be recommending it to others.

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Witchblade Rebirth vol 1 Review

Witchblade Rebirth Volume 1 by Tim Seeley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sara is in a new city and stirring up trouble. I liked this volume but as an intro to the witchblade universe I probably could have chosen a better starting point. They do an alright job re-introducing characters but some are not as clear as if you had read earlier volumes.
That being said, the story line is solid, and the artwork is amazing with some beautiful full page spreads that would be great as stand alone pieces of art.
I will be reading more from this universe.

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Second Hand Shopping Book Haul

All for less than $10. There is something immensely exhilarating about picking a pile of books and walking up to the counter and seeing a hand written sign that reads "All Books Half Price" Makes my heart sing.
The Letters of Cicero has hand written notes in it. Yay. Also, The Whisper of Leaves is Australian.
  

Day 7 Book Photo Challenge: This Book Inspired Me

We all know by now that this is my favorite book but now it has inspired my do something I haven't done in quite a while. Draw. I'm not that good and I am surrounded by people that are but drawing these quotes from the book have allowed me to enjoy my drawing again.

24 hr Reading Challenge Completed

Well i took part in the 24 hour reading challenge on tumblr today and completed my first book on the first day of 2014. According to goodreads that makes me 1% through my reading challenge for the year (1/70).

I read Doctor Who and The Carnival of Monsters by Terrance Dicks, a book of a mere 125 pages.  Picked because I didn't know how my dyslexia would go with anything to long and it satisfied my 1 Doctor Who book per month clause on my reading challenge.)

I set myself up for a good day of reading in the library and Colin, in turn set himself up for a good day of lap sitting:

Now for the review: (as this is also part of my book challenge and I can't very well fall at the first hurdle.)

Doctor Who and The Carnival of Monsters By Terrance Dicks

This book was published in 1977 and hence stars the 3rd Doctor played by Jon Pertwee with Jo Grant played by Katy Manning.
Once again the Doctor's overconfidence in his ability to steer the TARDIS is the catalyst to the darama in the story with the Doctor thinking they were headed for Metebelis Three that is described as if some utopia but arrive in the haul of a 1920 steam liner. As it turns out they are not on earth as Jo is trying to convince the Doctor either.

With the Doctors usually bluff and blunder they manage to save the day.  Written in a style that portays the Doctor and not going outside that ethos, this was a nice simple read to start my foray back into Doctor Who books.
 3 out of 5 stars.

Day 22 Book Photo Challenge: Winter Theme/Setting

Yeah, I am totally rebelling against this one because I live in Australia, if you haven't already worked this out, and quite frankly I'm thinking this is a Christmas themed book challenge and I have never seen snow let alone a white Christmas. What I have had a lot of are 40 degree Celsius Christmas days, pool side, eating seafood, cold meat and salads.
For these reasons I am giving you pictures of my favorite summer/desert themed book: Dune by Frank Herbert (note how cool this guy is with his popped collar)

 I love this book, specifically this edition of the trilogy. My parents had this edition when I was a kid but it was too involved for me to be able to tackle back then and my brother read it and I have never seen it since. This copy I found at a second hand book sale after having searched for years. This series effects me so much when reading it and for weeks after, that I drink more water and feel like I have a scar coming up on my cheek from the water collection apparatus they wear.
A perfect read for the hot dry Christmases that I know and love.

Literary Photo Challenge Day 13: Reading By The Fire

I couldn't pick one single book so I picked BOOKS 

I grew up on a farm where we had fire places and bonfires and outdoor stoves and things all the time so i would read by the fire because they were just always around. I miss them now that i don't have them but I don't have that fantasy of reading by an open fire because I have done it and i know how much work it is to maintain that sort of thing.

I might not be so romantic but I much prefer reading by central air. Considering it reached 40 degrees Celsius about an hour ago here, i much prefer it. 

As an added bonus, if I really want that extra sensory feeling of being in Westeros i can crank the air con up and feel like i'm freezing and then when i step outside i can be across the Narrow Sea and stretch my legs on the Dothraki Sea. 

Book Photo Challenge Day 8: Happily Ever After

I first read Threshold in year 12 and completely fell in love with her and her writing.

Threshold has an amazing twist "Happily Ever After" ending and I was devastated to find that at the time it was a stand alone book. This was rare even back then. So I read her other books.

What made it amazing for me was the maths involved and it being set in a fantasy world. Interests were colliding on the page in front of my very eyes.

Then, a few years ago, I was in the bookstore with my partner looking for books to take on a holiday with us and i found "The Serpent Bride" and i think I swelled with delight when I realised that is was a continuation of the "Threshold" world and story. I then tried to explain my reaction to my partner and give him a sense of how important it was that I start reading this book right now or I would die on the spot but couldn't get the words out over the hyperventilation.

Literary Photo Challenge Day 5: Plot Twist

Yay! I am all catched up with this now and the oddly timed Ender's Game is my choice for plot twist. I wont tell you what the plot twist was but it was a biggy and I don't now if its is the same in the movie that opened here today.

I got given this book as my year 12 english text and I will admit that it was the first and only english text I ever read in full. It was the first ever book in english class that was of the sci fi or fantasy genre and I loved it. 

Time to introduce some of my friends and where we hang out.

I thought it was high time to introduce you all to some of my friends. Some of which I have had for a very long time and some I have met and befriended quite recently. Also some of them are much older than I am but i think they are cool anyway.

This is the main place that we hang out.

I recently went and found a new large group of friends.

This group has fallen in with some high caliber, exclusive friends of a friend in a secondary meeting place (in other words my person best friend needed somewhere to store her books whilst she made room for the newest member of the family due in march, lucky me)

The bottom half being her's and the top half being mine.

I hope you liked being introduced to some of my friends and seeing where we hang out.

Ardent Forest by Nancy Jane Moore

This was a nice, if not overly complex, quick read that did not take much effort to get through.

The two privileged girls, Rosa and Cecily, are the step daughter and daughter, respectively, of the governor of Texas in a post economic meltdown of the US (and apparently that means the world too.)

The Governor, Guy Gisborn, seized the governorship from Rosa’s mother 5 years before the story takes place and in a fit of paranoia exiles Rosa from the city.

This sets up the rest of the story but I felt that everything came to the girls without the hardship and trials that make a good science fiction/ fantasy story.  It had all the elements and the set up but the complexities were not there.   The people or things they were looking for were found almost effortlessly.

If Moore was trying to also make a statement about sexuality and gender stereotypes in the modern world, that was also done poorly as the characters that were addressing these issues did not face any sort of judgement or hardship because of who they were, which is unfortunately the case at this point in time.

I gave this 2 out of 5 stars.

I received this book to review through Library Thing Early Reviewers  

War and Peace....Done!

I have finally finished last book of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.  I have to say, I’m a little proud of myself. Yes, I have been listening to most of it (I found an app that streams the Gutenberg recordings of books,) and I couldn't say I could give you an in depth analysis of all the military movements and battles contained within, but I can say I really liked it.

I liked it for the same reasons that I like some of the English classics like Pride and Prejudice and Emma and that ilk. I find the old world charm of the way they conduct themselves in "Society" incredibly attractive, beguiling and intriguing. The social structure was so well established and pervasively known by everyone that, although to us, it seems like a mysterious dance, but to these people, it was their life.

I had an emotional investment in Tolstoy’s characters. Who wouldn't have cried when the Princess Lisa Bolkonskaya died. It wasn't the death of the little princess with the fuzzy lip that made me cry but the truly heart wrenching description of the accusatory confusion on her face upon her death that gripped my heart and made me weep. “Why?” was her question in death, and that was heart breaking.

Being a little bit of a sucker for a happy ending, however, I did so enjoy the eventual joining of Princess Marya Bolkonskaya and  Nikolai Rostov.  With Nikolai’s act of devotion, he improved so many lives without compromising his morals of marring for money, (which he got anyway.)

Along this line, I felt the joining of Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha Rostova was a match made in heaven, to use I tiered, old phrase.  Both Natasha and Pierre needed someone to dote on and be doted upon.  Both deserved the happiness that they found in one another after all they had been through.

So, I cried, I laughed, I developed a deep emotional attachment to the characters and the journeys they underwent, and I can now say “I have read War And Peace”  

Look what I got!

Look what came in the mail and was sitting on the door step when I got home from work. I will admit that I haven't read the second book yet but I could not pass up the opportunity to get this when I saw the post for McNally Jackson Bookstore in America on my Tumblr feed.

Inspiration and realisation

So, I have started writing a novel/book/story. This is a big step for me as I have always wanted to write a novel but have always stopped myself for various reasons. The biggest reason in my mind has always been that nothing that I could possibly produce would stand up to the comparison with my favorite authors, namely Sara Douglas, George Orwell, Terry Pratchett and, of course, the great Douglas Adams (because all of these people are hoopy froods that know where their towels are at!) However, I have come to realise that the version of these authors books that I know and love, is not, in any way, shape or form, the version that they first put to paper or computer. Ohh Duh you say but sometimes things in my brain don't always click into place nice and easy like. How I came to this quite obvious realisation is a little roundabout but bear with me. I have now been a high school teacher for three years and in Australia, there is a big focus on really supporting new teachers with professional development in order to give us the conscious skills needed to run highly effective classrooms, and I honestly praise the work that gets put in to us new teachers in order to reduce the drop out rate. It works. Hence I have a "tool kit" of skills to draw upon in the classroom to deal with all sorts of situations. This development made me aware of the tools I had to do other things outside of my career. I was a student for a very long time, and it wasn't until I repeated year 12, did I learn the skills of how to study. I then went on to do a bachelor of science in chemistry, where I learnt lab skills and research skills. This process of looking back on my life and the thing that I have become proficient at, I realised that I had to learn/be taught or teach myself all of the skills required, even if i had a natural talent for something, I needed to practice some aspect of it. With that epiphany, came the well timed "Future of Storytelling" MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). I jumped at the chance to actually learn the skills I require to get the stories out of my head. The final piece of the puzzle dropped into place when I was watching one of the MOOC's videos that had an interview with Cornelia Funke, author of the Inkheart trilogy among others. She was saying that she had read approximately 50 books in the research of one of her novels, and said novel had taken 7 years to write (or 5 years, i can't quiet remember, but a really long time.) My brain lit up. She couldn't possibly have put the whole story down on paper in one go for it to have taken that long, it must have had multiple drafts and re-writes for that length of time....I can do that. Also this year I have been hearing about the 10,000 hours theory of mastery. It takes at least 10,000 hours of practicing something to master it. Considering I'm just this semester feeling confident about my teaching in a class and I have been teaching for three years, that equates to about 3000 hrs of classroom time. So once I get to about 3000 hours of writing, I should feel pretty good about what i am producing....maybe. So, I have started writing a novel. It may take me 10 years, it may never be published, (who knows what the book industry will look like by then) but you will hear about it here and I think I will enjoy the process.

Review Smog – Baggage of Eternal Night

This is another of the Double Down series that delivers two novellas in one neat little package.

Smog by Lisa Morton was a really easy read that flowed beautifully.  Set in the 1960’s when everything was more innocent and the only thing to fear was the Russians. This little slice of Americana becomes the setting of a chemical induced lord of the suburban flies where the main character , the tomboy Joey, has to fight for survival and deal with her first period.  A fun take on the coming of age story.

Baggage of Eternal Night by Eric J. Guignard is less of an easy read but a far grittier story. This story touches at the hoarder and collector in all of us. Charlie’s friend, the recovering problem gambler Joey Third, gets more than he bid for  on the purchase of a suitcase from the hotel auctions. Feeling a bit like House of Leaves, this story uncovers the things in the shadows that we don’t like to think about to truly giver the reader the yips.

The two novellas are certainly worth the Sunday afternoon perusal.    

I received this book to review through Library Thing Early Reviewers  

Musings on why my favorites are my favorites

I can always list what my favorite stories are when asked, but reading a discussion board today has made me realise why they are my favorites.

They are the stories and worlds that have been integrated into my own life, weather by a message or an ethos of the way i live, or by determining the relationships i have with other people or just simply by providing me with jewelry themes and dress styles.

Hence my favorite stories are:

Book: The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (the trilogy in are we up to 5 parts now?) by Douglas Adams.

Why: I'm Dyslexic and it was a wonderfully complex story that was in an easy to read format. It was so important to me that I carried an omnibus around with me as a teenager for ages. When I met my partner, I found it was his favorite book too and that sparked our relationship. Now as an adult, every towel day I walk the halls of the school where i work with a towel in hand, proudly remembering the great man. (this is also my favorite radio program because it is slightly different in dramatic ways)  

Movie: Nightmare Before Christmas by Tim Burton.

Why: Other than having everything nightmare before Christmas that i can get my hands on, i re-watch this every Christmas and it still gives me the same feelings of childlike joy about Christmas that it did when i was young. Its been out for 20yrs now and it still works! Which is especially telling since i was born and have grown up in Australia, where it is not unusual to have a +40 degree Celsius day and i have never seen snow.

TV: can not split Dr Who and The Simpsons

Why: I love the Simpsons, they tell so many stories and drop so many references that you end up looking it up and learning new things left, right and center. Than and i love Simpsons quotes so much i have on occasions, gone a whole party speaking only in them! If your a fan, give it a go, its a lot of fun.

Why: Dr Who is so important in my life that it may just be the reason why my best friend is my life long best friend and it definitely is the cause of her and her husbands relationship.

Oh and the Curse of Monkey Island because its funny.      

Why I Read Comics (The One That Sparked It All)

So I used to read Catwoman on and off as a teenager and I decided recently to get back into it since we had the reset of the new #52. I am not sure how I fell about the new #52 reset of comics and I have deliberately avoided reading any commentary on it, so I don't even know how I am expected to feel, so I will leave that discussion to another post.
 
As a kid and early teen, my mum would drive us the two hours to the city for the second hand card fairs and they were always one of the best days on the calender. It started out with trading cards and that gave me an appreciation for art no matter how small or mass produced the medium.  Pretty soon the trading card hype peaked and petered out but I still had a hankering for the art that I once got from trading cards.
In stepped the comic book!
Sure, having a mum that was into trading card (she was collecting them as well, there was a self serving motive to her motivations of persuading us to start a collection too,) we had comics in the house and i had read them in passing but they hadn't grabbed me yet. So, as the desks of trading card sellers shrank and the space was taken over by boxes of comics, well naturally I was attracted to the $1 comics boxes for a) a bargain and b) something to browse after I had finished looking at the cards.  One auspicious day I found this comic;

I'll admit, I judged a book by its cover, but what a cover. I had never been a traditional superhero comic book reader because they had never appealed to be with the big steroidy muscle men always doing the right thing and beating up the bad guy. But this was different, no brightly coloured cover with a suited man doing what suited men do. No this was the "hero" vulnerable in the distance being visited or haunted by a ghostly visage. As a teenage, I thought i could relate to this sort of "superhero" and she was a she and in purple (my favorite colour.  

And I have never looked back, with my stacks of random comics I have collected over the years, literally judging comic books by their covers and buy with that instinct and feeling I had back then.

Now I am going back to my comic book roots with Catwoman Vol 1 of the new #52.

I look forward to reliving the feelings of old.

This week’s acquisitions.

My local comic book store’s very helpful staff tell me that there will be a Harley Quinn series starting some time in November so got the one off to get back into the swing of things. I have to admit I quite enjoyed it and am now looking forward to the series…hopefully.

I also picked up the first of The Hollows, even though there was 1-4 on the shelf, just to see how it goes. i really liked the story line. Set in a post apocalyptic Japan where the lucky survivors live in gargantuan, genetically modified trees high above the not so lucky survivors who need to scratch out a life whilst protecting themselves from the soul sucking Hollows.  

I could be good, i will tell you how it goes.