TEASER TUESDAYS at Should Be Reading asks you to:

Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

So...

She pointed a quivering green finger at the approaching commander. The gremlin mob turned on Root, and when they saw the triple-barelled blaster on his hip, they kept on turning.

From Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.

Hiya me again

Actually I thought it would be a good idea to check in and see if the blog was still here. You may have gathered that I haven't been around much (slight understatement there).

You'll all be happy to know that I have in my hand a book, a real honest to goodness book and I've read the first couple of chapters of it. Ok it's a children's/YA book but it's a start. I'm reading Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer and I'm enjoying it so will I manage a review? Watch this space.

You can all send me nasty comments if I don't. (Not too nasty though!)

I shall return anon and I've seen a few meme's knocking around that have given my mind a bit of a workout so I may even do one of those too.

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It has been a while and yes I said back whenever my last post was that reviews would be up in a couple of days... FAIL!

To give you the honest version, I really haven't felt like reading or reviewing and that's the plain truth. People talk about book droughts and so on. I don't think that's what it was I just think it was an overload of sensations from different aspects of my life, which gets more and more like the plot of a book the longer it goes on (Alice through the Looking Glass springs to mind).

Lots of things have been going on with me, majority of it good but unfortunately not all, still time is a great healer as they say. They also say that it waits for no man so I'd better be up and at 'em.

So I’m not giving a time line for my next review just saying that there will be one... eventually :)

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It appears that I'm back. I've had a few problems getting into the blog, not sure what caused it but it seems to have worked itself out. So normal service will resume as soon as possible and the backlog of reviews will appear in a few days.

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To join in this week's Friday Finds link to MizB at Should be Reading.

Here are my finds for this week. A great library sale and each book was 20 pence so I paid out the 'enormous' sum of £1.20. I love my Library so much.




The Liar by Stephen Fry. From the cover -

Page after page of the most outrageous and often filthy jokes, delicious conceits, instant, brilliant ripostes that would only occur to ordinary mortals after days of teeth-grinding lunacy... Literary Review.

Can you guess why I bought it?

The Sleepless by Graham Masterton. Horror! It appealed to me because it's about people that don't sleep (familiar!) with a bit of detective work thrown in.

A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R King. As I'm a big fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his character Sherlock Holmes this book appealed to me. Holmes has an apprentice - Mary Russell - compelling enough considering Holmes' misogyny but it's also a detective novel set in 1921, with suffragettes and religious cults... How could I pass this up?

1610 A Sundial in a Grave by Mary Gentle. A fantasy novel set, funnily enough, in the 17th Century. Contains swash buckling action, blackmail, royalty, politicians, magic, changing the timeline and of course love. It's also a big book weighing in at 704 pages. Yum!

And in the End by Keith R Lindsay. This is a non-fiction book which I bought because its about funerals. Yup death rites are something else that I'm interested in and also as my niece works for a funeral home it's something that I can relate to more than most. From the cover -

A hilarious romp through the past, present and future of the funeral, And In The End looks at some of the most bizarre and unusual ways to say goodbye.

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin. Dr Joseph Mengele and his hopes of the Aryan race are still alive in the 70s. This is a wonderful book that was made into a wonderful film with Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier and James Mason. One I haven't read but I know the story having seen the film countless times. Looking forward to reading it finally.

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These questions are from Beth at BethFishReads and I had a lot of fun answering them. Ok, I know, they're not very mini, I talk a lot!




I see you have been reading vampire books. Is this a new kick or have you always liked the genre?

I have, I admit, been reading an awful lot of vampire fiction lately what with Charlaine Harris, MaryJanice Davidson and Elizabeth Kostova. When I read this question I thought nah I’m not that into vampires then I thought about it and realised that I must be!

As a child I used to watch the re-runs of Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee as Dracula (and frighten myself out of going to bed). It’s just gone on from there really, from Dracula and The Lair of the White Worm by Stoker, to Salem’s Lot by King, on to the Necroscope series by Lumley and beyond to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. I even role-played a vampire in the game Vampire the Masquerade, which was so cool.

If you had to choose only one genre of fiction for, say, the next five years, which would it be?

That is just so cruel and doesn’t really bear thinking about! But if I must then I would say Historical Fiction. I love the research that goes into the books if they’re written well. I’m about to read Rapscallion by James McGee which is the third book in a series about a Bow Street Runner at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. It is my big "must have" since last year.

Of course choosing this genre opens up a wide range there are so many historical mystery stories right now, I think I’d have to have longer than 5 years. Not that I’m offering!

Name one of your favorite elderly characters from a book.

The first character that came into my mind was Master Harper Robinton from the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey which is really strange because I haven’t read those books for a long time. He was such an emotionally strong man taking up position in the middle of things and keeping weyr, hold and craft from each other’s throats.

I’m cheating now because as I said that popped into my mind straight off. After thinking for a while (not for very long) I came up with Brother Cadfael, absolutely adore the books and the man, and the way he juggles his life in the abbey with the solving of crime and has such a mischievous air about him. Again another strong man, emotionally. Wonder if this is a trend?

You belong to Library Thing. Do keep your library there up to date?

I try. At the moment I have 666 books in my online catalogue, that wasn't contrived honestly. It is only a fraction of the books that I own though and at some point I will put the rest on there it’s just getting them all out of boxes that puts me off. But the books that are online I try to be as thorough as possible, there are endless permutations of ways and types of data you can input.

Then there are the site wide things you can add such as characters in a particular book, locations, dates of publication, what language it was originally written in. It can be a long process but it’s still an enjoyable one. When it ceases to be enjoyable then my library will not have such comprehensive notes.

You live in the UK. Do you have the same Tudor obsession that so many of us in other parts of the world have?

That is a great question for me. I am Tudor obsessed. I love history always have and the period I love most, in British history at least, is Tudor, in the lesser degree the Henrys, Edward, poor Jane and Mary, because my passion lies definitely with Elizabeth I. So many things happened during her reign and of course there’s all the secrecy and mystery about the Queen herself. Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake and all the spying and intrigue that went on.

Probably the person I would most like to meet would be Elizabeth I, but only if I wasn’t standing in the way of her getting what she wanted.

If anyone wants a series of questions let me know in a comment, I'll follow in my questioner's footsteps and say I can take 3. They don't have to be book related, I'll get inspiration from your blogs.

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ISBN: 9780553817669
Publisher: Transworld Publishers
Copyright: © Manda Scott 2008
Genre: Mystery, Historical
Pages 536, Paperback



2012 So the Mayans believed is when the end of the 5th Age will happen, but more than that, there is also the possibility that the human race will cease to be, unless...

So glad there is an "unless"! This book is an adventure against the clock. Stella Cody must find out the history of the 13 crystal skulls mentioned in the Dresden Codex in order for us humans and perhaps the world itself to have a chance.

Dr Cody, whilst on a caving trip, finds a crystal skull that has been hidden since the time of Elizabeth I. We follow her as she attempts to decipher journals, maps and old tales in order to find the time, date and location that the artefact must be placed into the earth. We travel from 2007 back to the 16th century through the medium of the diaries of Cedric Owen the last keeper of the skull. Of course all the time Stella's attempts are hampered by the fact that someone is trying to stop her from finding the truth, murderously so.

This was a good, solid story, well written and researched. The voices of the two main characters, 21st Century Stella and 16th Century Cedric are separate and distinct from each other, which is no mean feat. Perhaps the colourful and dangerous 1500s was slightly more believable and enjoyable than the lacklustre 2000s. After all how could 2007 compete with notable characters such as Nostradamus, Catherine de Medici, Sir Francis Walsingham the Spymaster and Fernandez de Aguilar (last is fictional and I'll leave it up to you to discover who he is and what he does).

Yet it was still a good adventure mystery, with the whodunits not becoming completely clear until the last few chapters of the book. This was an enjoyable and easy read for me.

I shall certainly be looking out for the author's other books, especially her Boudica series of novels.

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TEASER TUESDAYS at Should Be Reading asks you to:

Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

So...

Lex, for one, had taken her own time to accept that it would make no odds to her fortunes or reputation if the others knew of her place in the annals of either hackerdom or international diplomacy. However, even after reaching that understanding, she'd still felt protective of her past for reasons she couldn't quite nail down.

From All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye by Christopher Brookmyre.

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Here is the Tuesday Thingers question for this week from Wendi's Book Corner.

Today's question: Do you use a rating system on your blog? How do you feel about using the rating system provided on sites like Library Thing and Amazon? When looking up information on a book you are interested in, do you use the ratings provided by these sites (or similar sites) to help you make the decision on purchasing the book?

My Answer: I don't use a rating system on my blog. I just give my honest opinion in a review saying its either good, bad or mediocre and leave it at that, rating as well would be overkill to my mind. However on LibraryThing and Amazon I do click the stars mainly because it's expected (isn't it required on Amazon or am I confusing that with another site?).

For the second part of the question I'm more interested in reading a review than looking at a score, most of the time I don't even notice the rating. As I've said before though, if I'm interested in a book I'll read what people have to say but I'll still read it anyway even if the reviews have been scathing in the majority. The only concession I make is that perhaps I'll get it from the library first, just to be on the safe side.

Although if it really has been slated by people who's judgment I trust then I'll think twice or maybe three times. Unfortunately I'm a contrary so and so and if someone say's a book is awful I want to read it just to see if they're right :)

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Here are some links to book blogs that I visit. It's not finished yet, probably never will be as it will always be being updated. When this post falls off the end of the page you can click on the Links tab at the top and it will show up.

1 More Chapter

A Girl Walks into a Bookstore
A Life in Books
A Lovely Shore Breeze
A Novel Challenge
A Novel Mind
A Reader's Respite
All About Kimberly
Allison's Attic of Books
And Another Book Read
As usual, I need more bookshelves
At Home With Books

Booklust
B&B ex libris
Becky's Book Reviews
Bermudaonion's Weblog
Beth Fish Reads
Between the Covers
Bibliolatry
Blog Literarily
Book Nut
book-a-rama
Bookfan-Mary
Bookfoolery and Babble
Bookgirl's Nightstand
Bookhopping
Booking Mama
Bookish Ruth
Bookninja
Books Ahoy!
Books I Done Read
Books Please

Dwell in Possibility

Fallen Angel Reviews Blog
Fizzy Thoughts
Fleur Fisher Reads

Gimme More Books
Giving Reading a Chance

Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?
Hope's Bookshelf

I Heart Paperbacks!
In Spring it is the Dawn

J Kaye's Book Blog
Jenny Loves to Read
Jo-Jo Loves to Read!!!
Joyfully Retired
Joy's Blog

Kay's Bookshelf
Kiss My Book

Life in the Thumb
Literary Coldcuts on Toasty Buns
Literate Housewife
Living Between the Pages
Liv's Book Reviews
Look at that Book
Lynda's Book Blog

Marny the Bookworm
Maw Books Blog
Medieval Bookworm
Medieval History, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Writing Fiction
Michele - only one 'L'
Mommablogsalot
Mrs Magoo Reads
Ms Bookish
My Friend Amy

Not enough bookshelves

Peeking Between the Pages
Pop Culture Junkie
Presenting Lenore
Pudgy Penguin Perusals

Reading and Writing About it
Reading in Bed
Reading Keeps You Sane
Reading Room
Reading, Writing and Retirement
Reading Adventures
Reflections from Hog Hill

S Krishna's Books
She reads and reads
Shhh I'm Reading
So Many Books, So Little Time
Stacy's Bookblog
Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic
Stephanie's Written Word

TexasRed Books
The Book Lady's Blog
The Book Vault
The Book Zombie
The Boston Bibliophile
The Bumbles Blog
The Narrative Causality
Things mean a lot
Thoughts of Joy
Ticket to Anywhere
Today, I Read...
Trish's Reading Nook

Under the Boardwalk

Wandeca Reads
Wendi's Book Corner
Write for a Reader

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