Happy Reading Everybody!

Hola Readers.  I have come to a difficult decision.  Between work, school, clinical's and studying I just do not have the time to do this blog justice.  I am finding that the few moments I do get to myself I just want to read :-)   Unfortunately I am going to have to put the blog on hiatus.  I hate it because this is one of my few creative outlets and I love writing it, but I always promised myself if I couldn't keep up and it started stressing me out more then giving me a release I would stop.  I will probably keep my reading list and TBR list updated and if I just find and or read something to awesome not to share a spontaneous post may appear on occasion.  Hopefully someday sooner rather then later I can get back to it.  Until then, as always HAPPY READING EVERYBODY!

Dilemma

Hi Readers!  First of all it took me like an hour to figure out how to spell dilemma so there's that.   It's been one of those weeks where I am so far behind I feel like I am going backwards.  I have so much I need to get done and so much I want to get done and then in the end all I want to do is curl up and
read.  So this week I have an insane amount of homework and studying to get done and our AC is out.  As my house is currently sitting at 89 degrees I decided to head to my local Barnes and Nobles to study and utilize their AC.   Of course as soon as I walk in I have to force my self to a table and to open my backpack and take out my homework instead of browsing the books.  Seriously I don't think people understand how excruciatingly hard it is to study in a bookstore/library.  I did buckle down and get at least half of my stuff done and decided to come home and take a break.  I also have a whole stack of books waiting to be rambled about, but instead I have to go get back to studying...boo :-(  Hopefully I will get a good one up soon.  Anyways thanks for listening to me babble :-)  Happy Reading Everybody!

Books For The Road

Hola Readers!  It's road trip time again!!!  This time I'm doing double duty with a quick Chicago/Rockford trip to see G-man and L-bud, then down south to meet up with K-dude and R-boy.  Totally excited to all my babies (who are no longer babies...sniff).   I've been packing all day...which pretty much means perusing my bookshelf trying to decide what to bring.  Here is what  I came up with.

Cosmic Powers edited by John Joseph Adams - My go to editor, especially for sci-fi collections that for some reason always seem to fit my summer/road trip mood short story collection book.

Street Magics edited by Paula Guran - The alternate short story collection for in case I finish my primary short story collection and want some more short stories book.

Spellcast by Barbara Ashford - The summer stock theatre, magic, new town book that not only seems to sum up so many of my younger summers but just sounds like the perfect summer read book.

Too Many Curses by A. Lee Martinez - My humorous yet well written and kind of weird yet makes total sense 'cause you know book.

One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey - The I need a fantasy book  in a series I know I like and I've been slacking book.

Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia McKillip - The wildly atmospheric and dreamy and worst case scenario it's got an amazing cover to look at book.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi - The one of my favorite books and requisite ocean book 'cause it's summer books

The Last Treasure by Janet Anderson - My middle grade story 'cause I love these books when I'm in a nostalgic mood especially with the little boys book

Alice by Christina Henry - My WTF is going on her, but it's and Alice in Wonderland book so it will be awesome or horrific but either way I'll get a great rambling out of it book.

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex  - The I'm really sick of Hubbin asking me about this book so I'm gonna read it so he'll shut up book

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer - The firehouse book club recommendation and loan and also it sounds pretty cool so why not book.

Boneshaker by Cheri Priest - The this has been on my TBR pile forever and I've been dying to read and just haven't yet book

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund - The OMG I totally forgot I had this on my bookshelf and dude killer unicorns awesome book

Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie -  The I love a good mystery especially in the summer and might as well read the queen of mystery book

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien - My I'm obsessed with the classics at the moment and also I need at least one high fantasy and do I really need a reason for Tolkien book.

The Masterharper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey - Dragons!!!!!!!!!  Also I always need at least one Anne McCaffrey book with me on vacation book.

Since I'm gonna be gone there will be no posts next week :-(  BUT my rambling pile is growing pretty quickly so be prepared for that.  Also I'm working on a couple other ideas.  Happy Reading Everybody!!!

No AC!

Soooo...our AC broke...and since we are now proud home owners we get to deal with it all by ourselves...yay.  This wouldn't be to bad as a) I really like the windows open and b)  I pay the electric bill, but it's been in the upper 90's plus humidity. Normally I would just run away to the fire station...but the AC is out in the bunk rooms.

Melting Book

Just how hot is it?  Well everything is melting...especially me!  Plus side is that reading does not require a whole lot of energy (technically neither does studying...but who wants to do that) so if you need me I will be stuck to my couch with a pile of books and ice...or at the bookstore...cause you know...AC.   Happy Reading Everybody!

Book Beyond Imagination

Hola Readers!  Who's ready for another rambling?  I am YAY!  Today let's ramble about...The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers.  It is part of his Zamonia series but can be read as a stand alone like I did.  I think this one was recommended to me by my baby sis...which is always a good thing.  Let me tell you people this book hit all my literary emotions.  It was not at all what I expected in a very very very good way. What the heck do I mean?  I'll tell you, but first, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

First of all, let me just warn you that I am not going to be able to get a billionth of this book into the synopsis 'cause every page, every word is dripping with meaning and story and well...yeah.  So instead I'm gonna try and just give you enough of an outline to not be too lost, but seriously you just should go read it. Our story is narrated by Optimus Yarnspinner, a Lindworm (a being that resembles a dinosaur) from the fabled Lindworm Castle, home to many a worthy author.  Optimus has just lost his authorial godfather Dancealot and has set out on a quest to find the author of a fantastic manuscript left to him.  This manuscript has the ability to run the reader through every emotion known to living beings and yet it has not been published.  To find this mysterious author, Optimus heads to Bookholm which is essentially a city devoted to all things books.  It is filled with book sellers, book binders, book publishers, cafe's with book themes, literary music, ink, pens whatever you can possibly relate to books you will find in Bookholm (kind of like my blog lol).  Upon arrival Optimus is thrust into an adventure that any book hero would envy.  He starts by showing his book to a couple of very interesting book vendors in the hope that they will recognize it.  This leads him to various other places and to aquiring the book The Catacombs of Bookholm by the famous Book Hunter Colophonius Regenschein and we as the readers learn along with Optimus all about the catacombs of Bookholm.  Optimus is finally directed to Pfistomel Smyke a collector of the rare book brought up from the catacombs and also a kind of literary scientist.  He turns out to be one nasty dude and after reading the manuscript reveals his nefarious plan to Optimus.  Smyke's whole goal in life is to essentially turn all art mediocre, to eliminate any greatness and essentially control everything.  To this end he drugs Optimus and traps him in the catacombs beneath Bookholm...and this is where his adventure really starts.  Optimus uses the knowledge he aquired to try and traverse the catacombs, but disaster keeps befalling him.  After several misadventures he is rescued by the not so malicious

Booklings, who despite their fearsome reputation, choose to care for Optimus.  They show Optimus many of the safer wonders of the catacombs and inspire him with their dedication to memorizing all the works of all the authors.  Tragedy strikes when an unusual alliance of Book Hunters finds the Booklings Grotto and destroy it along with killing many of the Booklings.  Optimus is shoved into a bookshelf contraption and sent spinning through the catacombs to more adventures.  He eventually ends up in the Hall of the Shadow King, a mysterious character that plays a part in almost all the scary tales of the Underworld of Bookholm.  After even more adventures (are you sensing a theme here?) we finally get the Shadow Kings story.  Turns out that he is the author of the fantastic manuscript, but that it was also his downfall.  The Shadow King started out life as a human who had the misfortune of running into Smyke, who of course could not stand the idea of such great art outside of his control.  Smyke then used many arcane techniques and wondrous supplies to turn the human into what is now the Shadow King.  He was made to be pretty much immortal, strong, smart, literary and unable to ever enter sun or moon light on the dire consequence of bursting into flame.  More conversation and writing and adventuring and book stuff and Optimus and the Shadow King decide to go back up to the surface regardless of the consequences.  They face down a hoard of Book Hunters, discover a confession and will and finally confront Smyke.  The Shadow King allows himself to catch on fire, burning down a good portion of Bookhom and Optimus escapes, inspired finally to write his first masterpiece.  This does not even BEGIN to remotely tell the rich and full story of this insanely wonderful world...but then short of reading the book, I don' think anybody could do it justice.

World Building - This book is set in the fictional world of Zamonia...which I cannot wait to read more of!  We got to visit Bookholm and the insane amount of detail was just fantastic!  I felt like I could find myself in any section of this city and know exactly where I am.  It felt whole and complete and layered.  There were customs, cultures, rules, consequences, legends, language, all in abundant variety.  There were notes that added to the depth of this world and for having so much shoved into one book, the world was not confusing in the least. I loved the little touches, like the cafe's with the literary inspired treats, or the various parts of the city dedicated to different area's of the book process.  It was just so full in a good way, it felt almost endless, like there was always another nook or crany or passageway to explore, new treasures to find, so cool.   Again this is just one part of whole world and this one book has made me very eager to explore the rest of it...such amazing world building.

Story - The story was whole and complete.  It had a beginning, middle and end.  It was in some ways your typical adventure story, but more along the lines of an epic saga like Beowulf with many small adventures, meetings and incidents adding to the whole adventure.  The story had a fairly classic structure with a lot of original ideas, giving the reader the comfort of structure and the thrill of discovery, very cool story.

Character - Variety is the word I think best describes the characters in this book.  In this book we see so many species (Lindworms, Booklings, Uggly's, Spinxxx and so many many many more), characters from different backgrounds, classes, shapes, sizes, needs, modes.  Again you would think that this would detract from actual character development, but I found that the characters that mattered where very fully formed and all the other characters added some delicious flavor.  Yay characters.

Editing - I'm shocked at how well this book is edited.  Again (are we getting sick of me saying this yet?)  it is just stuffed full of so many things that it should feel cluttered or choppy or overly long...but...it doesn't.  I found myself reading every single word, trying to absorb as much of the literary goodness that I could.  It was a page turner and I had very few complaints about the pacing.  Not sure how this happened, if the author is just that amazing, or his relationship with his editor is that good or some combination, but epic editing.

Book Lovers Dream - This book was written for lovers of the written word.  The language, the setting, the story, everything about it seems tailored to bibliophiles.  I seriously want to go wander into one of the bookshops and get me a stack of books, curl up in a cafe with a cup of Midnight Oil Espresso and a Book pastry and read my brains out.  The amount of literariness that has been poured into the book makes me feel like the author loves books and all things literary as much as I do.  It is finally a book about books that doesn't drive me nuts.  It is not just about reading books either, it is about how they are written, how they are published, the materials, the variety and the idea that there are types of books we can only imagine out there somewhere if we can just look hard enough.

Wordplay - If forced to choose a favorite component about this book, I would say it is the language.  The author uses a MASSIVE variety of words....and if there was no human word that was sufficient, he made one up and attributed it to one of his zillions of non human races.  On top of that the author would constantly list numerous books and their authors...I kept waiting for this to get annoying...but somehow it worked perfectly with the story.  To make it even better, he cleverly disguised some famous authors by anagraming their names.  For example:  Selwi Rollcar = Lewis Carroll, Aliesha Wimperslake = William Shakespeare, so very cool.  I love words, and when an author uses them correctly it just makes my little literary heart go pitter patter.

Not What I Thought - So to be honest I wasn't 100% sure what I was getting into when I started this book.  From the description and the titles of the authors other books in the series I thought it might be a kids book.  Then the illustrations and mostly almost silly animalistic characteristics of most of the characters led to me thinking it might be a light hearted tale....Nope.  This is definitely a book for at the very least older kids.  There is violence (so much violence), betrayal, complex ideas...not a book for 7 year old.  It was great though and the juxtaposition (sorry this book makes me pull out my big girl words) of the simple illustrations, the fun characters and the adult writing were very original and a great read.

Overall Impression - Ok, so I don't think I have been able to impart even a tenth of what I want to about this book.  In the end all I can say is that it is an experience, and one I think anybody who loves books should have.  I give this book 9 out of 10 Animatomes and really encourage every book reader to pick it up....even if it's just to figure out what the heck I'm talking about.  Happy Reading Everybody!!! 

Crazy Reader

So this is how life is right now

So...yeah.  Happy Reading Everybody!

FriendsThat Are Family

Ok, so these last couple weeks have been super rough and to be honest it is probably not gonna improve for at least a couple weeks more.  That being said I have this amazing group of friends that have become my family.  After coming home from work and sobbing and blubbering to Hubbin (who was f*%#ing amazing by the way) I immediately contacted my friends...who in all honesty are not my friends, they are my family and boy did they come through and help pull me out of my funk.  Being of the literary minded I was eventually led to think of all of the awesome friendships in my beloved books (who also work as friends and family lol).  Here are some friendships that I feel bring the vibe that I have with my peeps.

Samwise Gamgeee - After mentioning this one to Hubbin, he made the point that I really did not need to look any further, and he is probably right.  Sam from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, embodies true friendship to the point of family.  He takes his duties as Frodo's best friend very seriously. He keeps Frodo fed, clothed and in all honesty grounded in reality.  I still maintain without Sam, Frodo would have perished...or at least given up very early on.  This guy embodies everything one looks for in a true best friend.  Loyalty, helpfulness, intelligence, resourcefulness...seriously this guy is the ultimate best friend!

Jill and Eustace - At the outset this mismatched pair from C.S. Lewis Silver Chair don't seem like friends at all.  Over the course of the book however the two learn to not only work together, but to trust each other in a way that ensures an enduring life long friendship.  This friendship is proven in later books as the pair are brought back the to magical world of Narnia once again to help it.  This is a case of circumstances leading to the choice of becoming mortal enemies or best of friends and these two decide on the bond of friendship, much to their mutual benefit.

A Through L - After being brought to a world of pure awesomeness, our favorite heroine, September meets up with the wavery A-L and forms a lifelong friendship that can never end.  Through out the series we see just how tight these two are and just how valuable the friendship is.  This is a case of truly mutual beneficial a friendship can be, as both parties rely on each other, help each other, depend on each other and come through for each other no matter the situation.  Even though both parties meet other entities the truest friendship is with each other and that is awesome.

Piemur - This lovable scamp is the friend that all of need.  When Menolly arrives friendless, familyless and pretty much nothingless (that's a word right?), this guy steps right in.  Through his cleverness and ability to manipulate almost anybody, Piemur helps Menolly go from a friendless oddity to one of the most valued members of Harper Hall.  This friendship continues as both parties grow older.  This is a friendship that is shared until death, this is a friendship that causes children to call them auntie and uncle, this is a friendship that can never end as it is so tight that the bonds of family and friend are irrevocably blurred.

The Hogwarts Trinity - We can't really mention bestest friends without mentioning Harry, Ron and Hermione.  This trio's ability to maintain the tightest of friendships regardless of insane circumstances is utterly amazing.  I kind of feel like my firehouse family has a bond like this...given a bit expanded as there are more then 3, but still a super tight bond that is able to endure hardships, squabbles, boy/girl troubles and pretty much anything else life has to throw at us.  The author imagines this trio enduring well into adulthood and beyond and to be honest my boys and girls are there for me in the same way.  It is nice to know that friendships like this are real.

Ok, I'm done gushing now, but seriously I feel that friendship is very important, in both a real and literary sense.  I am always rooting for the friends, I always want the friendship to endure and a large part of this is my amazing luck at having people like this in my own life.  My boys and girls who get me through this sh*t...you know who your are ( I know at least two of you read this on at least a semi-regular basis lol).  I love you all so very much and am glad to have these legendary friends in my life.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Tumbling TBR

Oh my goodness you guys!  My TBR pile is getting so big I'm pretty sure it's gonna crush me.

 Seriously though, I probably need to quit getting new books until I finish up at least a few on my list.  It's giving me a bit of anxiety the sheer number of books that are in my house that have never been read...but it's also a little bit exciting!  I'm starting to wonder if I will actually have enough time in this life to finish everything in my house, much less on my list.  On that note I'm off to go find the elixer of eternal reading...or just maybe just go get another book read.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Fountains To Read By

Well folks the weather has finally started to feel spring like and I am stoked!  I get a few extra days off next week and am already planning all the wonderful outdoor places I want to read.  One of my favorite places to read is by fountains.  I love the sound, feel and smell of moving water.  Coupled with the fact that they are usually pretty accessible they make an ideal place to read.  Here are a few I would love to hunt down.

Cincinnati Main Library 

I really really just want to climb to the top and read

Budapest Hungry 

The fountain part mimics a turning page...so cool

Australia

I love the colors on this one

Chattanooga Public Library

Sleek, modern, classic

I will do my best to hunt down some interesting fountains, nooks, crannies and so forth to blog about in my local area.  Until then HAPPY READING EVERYBODY!

Frustrated

All right folks, this is gonna be short and sweet.  I'm pretty frustrated right now 'cause I have gotten very little reading in as of late.  This follows a couple weeks where I was doing pretty well so it makes it all that much more frustrating.  To top it off my insomnia has been kicking in hard core.  Normally my lack of sleep has the side effect of allowing me some extra reading time, this cycle though has not been nice and I have not been able to concentrate enough to get any real reading in.

 I'm assuming this is because of the fact that I have been working at least 10 hour days...and often 24-72 hour days for the last three weeks...sigh.  Oh well, I just have to get through this epic weekend (working from Friday night to Monday morning) and I should be able to refocus and get some quality reading time in.  Until then, Happy Reading Everybody!

Immortal In The Pages

I'm in one of those weird moods where everything is just getting to me today.  One of the randomly weird things that popped in my head, was the death of a beloved book character.  I have found that the death, or even the ending of a book/series with a favorite character always gets to me.  Then I
reminded myself that even though a book may end, or a character may die...I can always go back and reread a story where they are alive and well.  For some reason today this did not make it any easier.  I don't know if the knowing that a character is gonna leave me changes the way I go back and read about them, or that I already know the whole story or what.  Anyways...not really sure where I am going with this.  I guess I'm just writing this to remind my self that as long as I keep reading, nothing every has to end and all my literary friends are essentially immortal.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Jumping The Pages

It is snowy, cold and blech outside...seems to be the perfect time to curl up with my computer, a cup of coffee and write a rambling.  Today I shall ramble on about a book that caught my eye called The Book Jumper by Mechthild Glaser.  I was at the bookstore looking for a completely different book, when the cover jumped out at me...and seriously with a cover like this I pretty much had to buy it.  It ended up being a bit hit or miss for me, though it did re inspire the return of my book journal...but before we get to that, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Amy and her young mother Alexis are both in the throes of heartache.  Alexis has been dumped by her married boyfriend and Amy is experiencing the teenage angst of betrayal and embarrassment by a friend via social media.  They flee from their town in Germany to the tiny Scottish isle of Stormsay and their family home called the Lennox House.  They arrive fittingly in a storm and are greeted by the stern matriarch of the family Lady Mairead, Alexis's mother and Amy's grandmother.  They are welcomed on the condition that Amy learn how to become a book jumper.  What the heck is a book jumper?  I'm glad you asked.  You see on this little tiny isle there are two families, the Lennox family and the Macalister family.  These two clans have been responsible for hundreds of years for caring for the storylines of books.  They accomplish this by lying in a circle of standing stones, laying a book over their face then voila! they are in the book.  Amy chooses The Jungle Book as her practice book, but finds that she can easily move between stories, making friends with various characters.  Amy also discovers that she can jump into her e-reader and that she does not need to be in the standing circle to do so.  She is in a class with Betsy and William, the daughter and nephew of the current Laird of the Macalister clan.  Betsy is not a fan of Amy's, feeling she is too old to be properly trained...also she is a Lennox.  Will is cordial.  The three are taught by three guy's who are kind of monk like and are all scarred by burns.  While exploring the various literary worlds, Amy discovers that idea's are being stolen, altering the storylines in all the books in the world (yeah...we will discuss this later).  Nobody believes her, until she and Will discover the body of Sherlock Holmes in the real world.  Apparently Will would pull Sherlock out of the book to talk to him.  He vanished one day and it turns out he was murdered.  Apparently the Sherlocks in the other stories agreed to help out in the dead ones book so all was well.  The three students are taken to a place deep in the library and shown a story that explains a lot.  Apparently the Lennox family used to have a castle, but after a tussel, a fire broke out and destroyed it along with a one of a kind manuscript of a story not written down anywhere else.  The three teachers turn out to be the only characters rescued from the destroyed story and now live on the Stormstay teaching the new jumpers.  Amy discovers her mother making out with Desmond, one of the rescued book guys,  and after a bunch of angst and back and forthness learns that he is her father.  Yep, I guess when you spend most of your life on an island that only houses two families and a less then a dozen other people, you fall in love with the ageless book character...and then have a kid with him.  This helps explain why Amy is such an advanced jumper as in reality she is half fictional...yeah...anyways moving on.  We continue to go back and forth, Will and Amy fall in teenage love, accusations and suspicions fly 'cause nobody actually talks to each other and finally we figure out what is going on.  The old burned manuscript that had only fragments of pages and the three men saved had one more surprise.  Somehow the princess in the story also managed to escape the destruction and has been hibernating on the island.  She is a young, spoiled petulant thing who enchanted Will to be her Knight and jump into the stories to steal ideas.  She is trying to use these ideas to restore her story.  Once we know this we are able to piece together her story...which is not a very nice one. Most of the info finally comes from Desmond, who was the original Knight in the story.  Essentially the princess, when she get's bored, enchants a man to be her Knight, sending him out to slay a monster that is ravaging her kingdom.  The sick part is that the princess has actually turned the Knight into the monster, having him commit heinous acts, then sending him out unknowing to find the monster.  The only way to stop the monster is for the Knight to kill himself...starting the cycle all over again.  Will finds a way to stop the princess, getting himself killed in the process and Amy is able to return the idea's back to their original books.  She takes Will's body into his favorite book, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell is able to bring him back to life as a story character.  Amy spends most of her time in the books, exploring them with Will and that is how the book ends.

World Building - There is a lot of different ways to look at the world building in this book.  The island of Stormsay is fairly well realized, I could probably find my way around it if I needed to, and the atmosphere of it is complete.  The rest of it however is patchy.  I never got a full sense of the family, the history or the mechanics of the book jumping.  I felt I wanted either more information, or better merging of the different pieces of this complicated world.  I unfortunately did not get the feeling of full immersion that is the hallmark of a well built world.

Story - We have the problem of too many stories to accurately judge this category.  Some of these stories are more successful then others.  The best story in my humble opinion was the one of the ruined manuscript.  Through out the book, there are fragments given to us that make it sound like a fairly typical fairy tale, to find out that it is a pretty dark and twisted story is pretty awesome.  I feel like I did with the world building that if we had more information it would have been easier for the reader to see where all the various disparate stories tied together.  For me it was a bunch of flipping back and forth and wondering if I missed something.  In general, each story line was pretty good, they just didn't completely gel to create a whole.

Character - This book had a ton of characters in it.  Some where created just for the book and some were pulled from the literary world.  I was pretty ambivalent about most of the characters, didn't really hate any of them...but didn't really fall in love with any of them either.  For the most part, most of the characters where just there to further the story without a whole lot of personality, history or motivation.  Will, Amy and Alexis where the most formed of the characters, and I liked Will the best of those three.  Amy and Alexis where your fairly typical young mom/teenager duo that seems to be popular lately, didn't hate them, didn't love them.

Editing - So this book was translated from it's native German, which is pretty cool 'cause I love getting view points that are not typically American.  That being said, the flow of the book was not my favorite.  I felt that the there were to many storylines and not enough information.  While this is mostly on the writer, I feel an editor can maybe point out to an author that maybe the reader isn't in the author's head and needs some background, or history, or consistency for the book to work.  It isn't horrible editing, but like the rest of the categories...meh

Book Jumping - Ok, here we have one of my biggest issues with this book, and a particular literary peeve in general.  For me the overall concept of the book jumping left me with a ton of questions and very few answers, in fact it inspired me to get out my book journal again so that I could write down all my questions about book jumping.  Here are just a few thoughts I had.  Who discovered it? Why only these two families?  How diluted can the blood get?  Seriously how do these two tiny families keep track of EVERY book?  What is their purpose again?  If they are the only ones who can jump...aren't they the only ones who can mess up the story? Why are the characters aware of the jumpers?  Umm...about the timelines?  How do you turn the page?  Seriously, other then the mechanism of lying down and putting the book on your face there is not much given to us about the jumping.  I hate it when an author has a concept, especially a potentially good concept and then the execution is poor.  I understand that I will never have all the info or answers I want for things like this, and I don't always need them...I just want a concept to make sense. Since the book jumping was such a huge part of the book, I don't feel like I am wrong in wanting to know how it actually works.

Books About Getting Into Books - I have not yet found a book that has successfully executed a concept where characters from the real world can get into book worlds.  I have read some great ones that deal with elements of books in the real world, or authors or things like that, but anytime I read about a character actually getting into Wonderland, or Neverland, or Pemberly...it just does not work for me.  I think it's cause for me a good book world is complete and personal to the reader.  If you asked me to draw, or describe Pemberly and then you asked my baby sis to do the same thing, I bet you would come up with two equally valid, yet very different pictures.  So when an author tries to put a character into that world it infringes on my view of the world.  As for my own personal self, I'm always torn.  If I had the opportunity would I want to jump into a literary world, or is the bigger appeal the fact that I am completely outside of it?  Ok this is getting very philosophical and may require it's own post.

Fictional Father - After all of my mehness about the book...I have to admit I kind of liked the idea that Amy had a father that was a fictional character. Aside from the zillions of questions it brings forth, it also had the added advantage of me paring up literary characters and wondering what their offspring would be like.  I may have also had some literary fantasy's on which literary crush I would allow to father my fictional kids...

Overall Impression - Overall I feel pretty meh about the whole book.  It seemed to have a ton of stuff in it without really going anywhere.  There were moments of awesome and the concept was pretty cool, but the overall muddledness, lack of info and too many literary pet peeves made this book disappointing.  I feel that it had a lot of potential and if this author exports any other books over the pond, I will probably give her another chance 'cause I feel like she has good ideas.  I give this book 5 out of 10 inkpots and realize that other people enjoyed it more then I did which is also awesome.   Also the book cover is worth it just to have on my book shelf.   Happy Reading Everybody!

Finally A Usable Forcast

It has started snowing and the forecast is predicting everything from 1 inch to OMG WE ARE ALL GONNA FREEZE TO DEATH IN AN INCALCULABLE AMOUNT OF SNOW.  Lucky for us this local library has provided us with a much more accurate forecast

Anne Arundel County Library

This graph gives us an accurate estimate of how many books an average bibliophile will need to obtain before being snowed in.  Lucky for me, I have stocked up and am ready to go!  Happy Reading Everybody!

Soaking It All In

I LOVE a good bath.  I love being immersed in hot water with the perfect seasonal bubble bath, sipping a beverage and of course reading a good book.  Unfortunately I have been spoiled rotten at my old house and the bathtub at our new house is just not up to my exacting standards.   Lucky for me, we own this house and can upgrade!  Here are some epic tubs that I am looking at to enhance my soaking experience

Claw Foot Tub

I have a thing for these old fashioned claw foot bathtubs.  In fact on our Great Redwood Trip, one of the awesome parts was soaking in a tub like this.

Kyoto Ofuro Soaking Tub

Seriously though, there is nothing not to love about this tub!

Dark Patina Tub

This totally looks like something straight out of a book...I want it

Copper Bath

I love the borderline medieval feel of this tub...now I just need some fine strapping lads to fill it for me...

Steampunk Tub

Seriously we are probably gonna do the bathroom in a steampunk theme...so this is pretty much perfect.

Obviously the options for tubs are pretty much limited only by our imagination and budget.  I seriously can't wait until I have a tub that fits my soaking/reading needs.  Happy Reading Everybody!

The Great Jane Austen ReRead Of Awesome

Hola Readers!  It's spring time...kind of...well it's supposed to snow all weekend...but still...it's March sooooo in my head it's spring time.   I have been seriously craving the classics lately (seriously the
last trip to the book store brought home new Tolkien's, Lewis's and other such greats).  Spring also always puts me into an Austen mood.  I also realized that there are several books of this awesome lady that I have not read in a while.  Since I can usually get through a Jane Austen book pretty quickly I've decided to spend the spring (and let's be honest, probably a chunk of the summer) rereading these awesome books.  I will also be watching the movies (in some cases multiple versions of the movies) and rambling on them as I finish.  I'm excited!!!! Happy Reading Everybody!

A Week Of Bits Of Reading

Hi All,  as usual it's been an overly busy week with absolutely no signs of slowing down...and to be honest I wouldn't have it any other way.  Amongst the crazy however, there were little spots of perfect reading times that kept me sane.

Big Monster

Here we have one of my nephews starting to learn how to read as we cuddled up just the two of us for a read out loud marathon

Little Monster

Even the little monster found a book that he refused to let go through out the whole day.

Nice Day

Here I am sneaking a bit of outdoor reading time while the monsters are sleeping...ah sanity

New Stash

Here is my current reading pile...added to by one of my favorite firehouse book buddies

Dinner and Reading

After a looooooong day, some homemade dinner, a glass of wine and uninterrupted reading

All of these little moments of reading really do add up, and they are crucial to keeping my sanity.  I am glad that I get to have these moments and that I get to share them.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Book On My Face

Hola Readers, I'm feeling a bit whimsical and daring today so I have been experimenting with all the makeups.  I have discovered that us bibliophiles are so prevalent and obsessed that make up is now on the list of book themed things we can own...so cool!  Here are some neat things I found wandering around the internet.

Harry Potter Makeup Brushes

Considering the apparent magic that takes place when I use makeup, I feel it is fitting that they are now in the form of a magic wand from our favorite magical tomes.

Harry Potter Eyeshadow

This is unfortunately sold out, but they have/had all four houses in their collection and it pretty magical if I do say so myself.

Hunger Games Covergirl Collection

Inspired by the 12 districts, there is something for everyone in this collection of makeup

Snow White Book Palatte

I love how this makeup collection opens up like a book and even has a story!

I feel like their is room for even MORE awesome book inspired make up collections, let's campaign for them shall we?  Happy Reading Everybody!

Authors And Reading

Hola Readers, how is everybody?  Shockingly I've been super busy...I know *gasp*...I'm never busy right.  Anyways today I would like to talk about one of the things that struck me while I was on my trip.  It mostly has to do with a readers...or more specifically my view on a book in relation to who wrote it.  One of the books that I read on this trip (rambling in the next couple of days, I promise) almost completely changed when I realized the demographics of who wrote it.  I have lately found that the more I know about an author of a particular book, the more it seems to influence how I

perceive it.  For example, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke was all that much cooler for me because I know how long it took her to write it and how it was her first book and any other little details like that really enhanced my enjoyment of the book.  I find I am pre-dispositioned to like books by my favorite authors and am willing to defend even their occasional duds.  I find it hard to pick up a book by a disappointing author, even if the book is supposed to be completely different.  Sometimes I'll pick up a book by an author I know nothing about, sometimes I'm not even sure of their gender and then I'll read that book and form an opinion.  If the book is really good, or really bad, or something about it strikes me, then I will usually do some research on it, and that usually includes the author.  I can not tell you how many times I have discovered facts an tidbits about the author and/or the circumstances behind a book that has changed my whole out look on it.  After this revelation of something that has been part of my reading psyche since the age of four, I've been trying to decide how I feel about it.  On one hand, I like forming my own opinions of books with minimal outside influence...that being said, I feel that a book should be a piece of art from the author and I would assume that pieces of them, their personality, their experiances, their beliefs, etc... all play at least some small part in what they write, so of course knowing those things is going to affect my reading experience.  Anyways, I guess I was just surprised at how much the various details of the authors changed my whole reading experience.  Ok enough of my overly introspective thoughts.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Happens All The Time

Keeping up my streak of awesome reading

Sleep Optional LOL  I'll write more when I've finally attempted some sleep.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Inspired And Accomplished

Hola Readers...did you all think I had finally been buried by my books with no hope of escape?
 Nope, I was just on a whirlwind Las Vegas trip for Hubbins birthday.  The trip was awesome, like so awesome, like so so so awesome.  We purposely designed the trip with very few time crunches so that we could maximize relaxation time, which is what we both really needed.  This environment seriously got my creative juices flowing and I not only came up with several brand spanking new post ideas, but I also finished two books, both of which were amazing in their own ways.  The new post ideas really excite me because I have been feeling drained of all creativity lately and feel like I am either repeating myself, or that I am just throwing up generic random posts.  These new ideas are ones that, to me at least, really make me feel happy, creative and the reason I got into writing this blog in the first place.  The books I finished made me happy.  One was a book I have been trying to finish for a couple weeks.  I finished it on the plane on the way there and then just sat there, inspired to write and write and write.  The second book was one that fit the environment so well I swear it was written just for this trip.  The whole feel of the trip also inspired my poor over worked brain.  We got to see the Cirque du Soleil aquatic show "O" and it was sheer magic.  After the show, all I wanted to do was dive into my magical books and continue the dream.  The bath tub in our room was another great bit.
 These tubs are so deep and so long I actually float when I'm in them.  Combine that with a glass or three of wine, a good book and some great music and my brain is just happy happy happy.  To finish of this trip of inspiration my brother flew us over the Grand Canyon in his helicopter.  We got the total VIP experience, complete with champagne at the bottom of the canyon.  Aside from a little desperately needing to pee incident, it was just the coolest thing ever.  Got to finish off my trip by going straight to my fire station and working and chilling with my other family, which just cemented the great brain space.  So all of this to say you will hopefully be seeing some high quality posts and some in depth ramblings in the near future.  Happy Reading Everybody!