Twig & Leaf

The Soul Mirror (Collegia Magica #2) by Carol Berg

2011-03-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

The Soul Mirror by Carol Berg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Carol Berg kept me up all night reading her all-too engrossing book! I love the intrigue and the setting of this series, and I have always liked the main character since she first appeared near the end of book one. There is twisted deviousness and devious twists, betrayal, redemption and love in this story of magic and blood.

Looking forward very much to the next book, which I am guessing will feature my favorite chevalier and one wronged and bitter brother.

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In for a Penny by Rose Lerner

2011-02-11T10:49:00.000-05:00

In for a Penny by Rose Lerner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this! A lot of Georgette Heyer, a bit of Austen, actual danger, and a bit of of modern regency romance, and altogether a lovely feel-good story.

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The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

2011-02-08T10:47:00.000-05:00

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the overall story, mainly the Danny chapters. The worldbuilding is interesting. In the Danny chapters there is a reuse of tropes seen in Enchantment which was an enjoyable read. It starts out with me, as a reader, worried that the story would devolve into Lord of the Flies, but Card manages to spin it in a hopeful direction.

The Wad chapters remind me of Hart's Hope which is a repulsive book, imo, and probably for that reason, I found those chapters repellant.

I think Card is talented at telling stories that center on children's innocent amorality, but he really stinks when he tries to go into archetypes, so I am a bit worried about the sequel. But on it's own, I liked this book.

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Truthseeker promo at Bitten By Books!

2010-09-17T13:58:00.001-04:00

C.E. Murphy interview and a chance to win cool prizes!
I am really excited about her new series; almost as excited as I am to read the next book in The Walker Papers.

Knitted polka-dot messenger bag

2010-07-29T19:52:00.003-04:00

My first knitted bag! A learning experience for me. The crocheted dots are my 8yo's request.
Posted it on my ravelry projects here.

Demon Hunts by C.E. Murphy

2010-07-13T10:55:00.000-04:00

Demon Hunts by C.E. Murphy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked reading a snowy, cold mystery in the middle of a record-breaking heat-wave. Joanne displays a lot of maturity and is even more likable in this one. And let's hear it for awesome septuagenarians! Can't say too much without being spoilery, but we get to meet some interesting characters face-to-face.

minor spoilage
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Team M vs. Team C ?

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Cold Magic by Kate Elliott

2010-06-15T09:55:00.001-04:00

Cold Magic by Kate Elliott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Ever think about the good press the Romans STILL get, even today? That was the offhand comment that so luckily got me a chance to read an advanced copy of Kate Elliott's fantastic new novel, Cold Magic.

It's 1837 England in an ice-locked world where the Romans were battled to a standstill by the Phoenicians, and over time Europe had dissolved into small principalities. The real power resides in the Cold Mages, the magically gifted descendants of West African refugees and Celtic druids. But the Industrial Revolution is at hand, emphasis on "Revolution."

Catherine and Beatrice, or Cat and Bee, as they call each other, are devoted and inseparable cousins. They are genteel, if somewhat impoverished, young Phoenician ladies attending academy lectures on aerostatics on the all-girls balcony while teasing each other about the cute guy in the main hall. They keep secrets, but never from each other, and they can face anything together. Until Cat is suddenly taken away and finds herself first a prisoner, then a fugitive, in a terrible race to save herself and Bee from factions that are using them as battle pieces in an ugly conflict about to spark.

I love this book. It's about magic, romance, friendship, family, and loyalty, and history turned on it's head. It's about "Lies The Romans Told" and the Napoleon that might have been. I stayed up until 1 am to find out what happens, and now I am going back over alt-history details and looking them up on the web. And checking the map on the front against modern maps thinking "why is it named that ... oh, clever!" It's a great story set in a rich, fascinating world and I hope everyone gets a chance to read it when it hits the bookstore shelves in September.

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Jim Hines Fundraiser for Rape Crisis Centers

2010-04-02T12:08:00.000-04:00

Support rape crisis centers and enter to win an Advance Copy of Red Hood’s Revenge, by Jim C. Hines.

20 Books read in March

2010-04-01T10:49:00.003-04:00

Mayakda's read-in-2010-03 book montage

Mayakda's favorite books »

Black Magic Sanction by Rachel Morgan

2010-03-26T09:36:00.003-04:00

Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars rounded up. It's been a while since I read the last book of this series (which happens to be one of my favorites), and I wasn't sure if I would remember everything relevant to this book. The author does a good job of reminding without too much info-dumping, and the story is fast-paced and engrossing.

I took a half star off because I found the moment when Rachel was dithering over a major spell very annoying. I know it's supposed to show her moral center and all that, but I was on Ceri's side reading it. I took a whole star off because I don't really know what Rachel wants anymore; we know what she thinks she wants, but I don't feel that ultimate character want. She is spending too much time in the crossroads and needs to make a decision on what she is ... or as a reader I will start to lose interest. Just worried about that.

Minor spoilers from here on:
I really enjoyed the Al/Rachel interactions - talk about chemistry! I am a Rachel/Ivy shipper, and that had no movement in this book, and I was prepared to hate flavor-of-the-month Pierce, but I got to like him. Of course I think he is eventually doomed. I am very curious about what will happen next with Jenks.

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Snake Agent by Liz Williams

2010-03-24T11:03:00.002-04:00

Snake Agent by Liz Williams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wacky in a very good way.
I'm too lazy to write a full review but I really enjoyed it. If you get a chance, check it out.

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Green by Jay Lake

2010-03-23T10:04:00.000-04:00

Green by Jay Lake

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
For some reason the cover + title had me convinced this was SF, and I had to read several chapters before I conceded that it was fantasy.
This was well-written, on the literary side. The world-building was excellent. The first part reads rather like a version of Memoirs of a Geisha, but then sort of turns into Assassin's Apprentice. And it has a protagonist lifted from a dusty Asian-like paddy. It's got some feminist sensibilities. It sounds like a book I ought to love. But for some reason I don't. I suppose that on the whole I didn't warm to the main character, who is written as morally ambiguous AND in the first person. I think that is a tricky combination to pull off, and the author didn't quite make it for me.

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The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

2010-03-15T15:22:00.000-04:00

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was torn between 4 & 5 stars and rated up, because I usually hate dystopian settings and yet the author managed to overcome my bias.
The dystopian setting for Windup Girl is all-too plausible, and drives the plot, but the author wisely focuses on the characters' individual stories and motivations to make it real.

Anderson Lake is the primary character and he is an Iowa "calorie man", an agent of one of the powerful agricultural companies whose genetically modified seeds and plagues have devastated the world. He is working undercover to try to get to the Thai government's secret seed bank.

Emiko is a discarded "windup" - a genetically manufactured non-person designed to be a slavish toy for rich Japanese men. Stranded in Thailand, she is constantly in danger of being mulched by white shirts who regard her kind as a symbol of the evil of genetic tampering.

Hock Seng is a yellow-card Chinese-Malaya refugee of ethnic cleansing by "green headband" Muslim Malays.

Jaidee Rojjanasukthai is captain of the white shirts, the Environment Ministry's enforcement police. A muay thai champion, he fights a losing battle against invasive plagues and government corruption.

About those characters: at first I was mad at the story because it seemed to use the common stereotype of superior white man moving in world of shifty and corrupt brown/yellow people. The the story subverts the stereotypes.

Despite the dark themes, three things made me appreciate this novel. First was the South East Asian setting, well-done and written with authenticity. Second were the cool ideas(like storing energy in batteries). Thirdly and most of all, was the sensibility. This is a story of virtue subverting vengeance, conscience overcoming corruption.

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A Local Habitation

2010-03-11T12:31:00.002-05:00

A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I had placed a hold on this at the same time as Rosemary and Rue, and forgot about it. So I was surprised when I got it from the library, and not enthusiastic as I had not been impressed with book 1. My trepidations were well-founded.

First the good: McGuire pays attention to world-building, and obviously delights in introducing new flavors of changeling and fae. There are cool ideas in A Local Habitation, perhaps the coolest being the idea of a dryad living in a data tree. (That is so cool, truly.) The plot is more focused here, which is also good.

Also, like in book 1, the mystery is so well-telegraphed I guessed the killer's identity before the first dead body shows up.

The truly fatal flaw, though, is Toby Daye herself. We can't get a good sense of her character. She is supposedly a good PI, a tough bodyguard knighted for her services. But we still don't actually see that. The first scene finds her tottering home drunk in stilettos so that alpha-werecat she has flirt-fights with can carry her home and tuck her in to bed. Then she gets sent to "babysit" (bodyguard) a royal connection, and not only does she have spectacular failure of spidey-sense again, she has brag-fail. As soon as the first body shows up she actually brags to the person-in-charge that the need her. She's the expert, the "mechanic". And she fails completely to fix the car which then roars off the hill and kills the driver (figuratively speaking).

Moral, if you are a character in Toby's universe and she comes along to help you, run away as fast as you can.

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The Magicians and Mrs. Quent

2010-03-11T10:33:00.001-05:00

The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen M. Beckett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A wonderful new favorite!

The Magicians & Mrs. Quent is a fantasy pastiche of Austen and Bronte, with flourishes that seem inspired by Dickens and Lovecraft. That makes it sound like some kind of crazy patchwork quilt, but it is original and gripping.

Invernal, Altania is a magical analog to London, Britain. It is a world where eleven planets circle the sky in patterns that cause days and nights of varying lengths that are impossible to keep track of without an almanac. In class-bound, patriarchal Altania, magic is accepted historically but not deemed very relevant today. To quote the book on the state of the empire:"There was, in sum, an overall want of stability, a deficit of that most precious predictability upon which both civilization and business relied." The government is uneasy, for where seditious talk is rife, can conspiracy and rebellion be far behind?

In that setting the jewel of the story shines: Ivy, oldest of the three Lockwood sisters, seems to be the very essence of an Austenian heroine. Impoverished gentry, father mentally absent, by seeming accident she meets highborn Mr. Rafferdy, who has spent most of his twenty-five years determined to avoid all seriousness. They are deeply attracted to one another, but society dictates that they can never acknowledge this.

Then tragedy strikes, and Ivy, as all determined heroines do, seeks to save her family. This she does, oddly enough, by turning into Jane Eyre in all but name. In the Gothic second act of the book, Ivy is thrust into danger from rebels and witchery and the Wyrdwood and learns very unsettling things about herself. In the bittersweet third act, Ivy returns to Invernal and the story resumes its Austenian pattern.

Equally as engrossing is the story of Mr. Rafferdy's friend Mr. Garritt, which weaves a Dickensian thread through the book.

The book comes to an end with villainy foiled and virtue triumphant -- for now. Until we arrive at the The House on Durrow Street. Write quickly, Mr. Beckett.

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Dance of the Assassins by Herve Jubert

2010-03-03T17:34:00.001-05:00

Dance of the Assassins by Herve Jubert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this. Jubert writes with a fine sense of the absurd that never overwhelms the underlying story. It's set in a future where crime has been rendered almost obsolete by DNA tracers, and witches are on the unofficial payroll of the CID. A murder is discovered in one of the theme-park historic cities, where tracers are banned, and unlikely partners Roberta Morgenstein and rookie rich kid Clement Martineau are on the case.

Morgenstein is a joy to read about.

She was somewhere between forty-five and fifty-five, with a good life behind her, a life full of excellent meals, delicious liqueurs, and marshmallows. Not enough exercise. Well, none at all, except what came naturally. Roberta's love of comfort and a certain preference for making as little effort as possible had done nothing for her figure. Still, she'd come to terms with it.

What an unlikely heroine! But she moves through the story with dead-pan panache, competently foiling satan-worshipping villains and patiently fishing her puppy-like partner out of trouble while never passing up a shopping opportunity.

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2010 book count: 48

2010-02-23T16:14:00.002-05:00

According to goodreads, I have read 48 books so far this year.
I am not so sure I logged all of them, though I have been trying to.

Discovering Amelia Peabody

2010-02-12T11:49:00.000-05:00

I read the first Amelia Peabody mystery last night, Crocodile on the Sandbank.
Simply delightful. I think when I came to this part, on page 7 ...

After an interval he came bounding back with his eyes gleaming. Nothing delights these gentry so much as misfortune; I was therefore not surprised when he reported that the "turisti" were gathered around a young English lady who had fallen down dead upon the ground.
"How do you know that she is English?" I inquired.

... I realized that I had fallen in love with Ms. Peabody.

Smut!

2010-02-01T10:24:00.002-05:00

A celebration of those lovely guilty reading pleasures!

Party Promo Day!

2009-09-29T13:26:00.000-04:00

http://bitte nbybooks.com/?p=11236

Click the link an find out how to win!

On The Edge by Ilona Andrews Promo Party!

2009-09-24T08:31:00.002-04:00

I read this a few days ago and I love it so much I am actually going to re-read it, something I rarely do.

And what's even cooler is that they are doing a contest with a chance to win a Sony e-Reader and other cool stuff! (Stuff!)

Tiramisu

2009-09-11T14:45:00.001-04:00

I decided to make Tiramisu for hubby's bday (today), and after looking around I ended up using the Joy of Cooking recipe, more or less. Here's my version of the recipe, for an 8x8 pan.

Buy 3 packs of ladyfingers (12 in each pack) -- if you make your own ladyfingers I don't know why you are reading this recipe. Stick the ladyfingers in the fridge.
Buy a 4oz bar of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate and stick it in the fridge too.

I decided mascarpone is too expensive (it's almost $5/8oz) so I made
faux-carpone, which is made by stirring together until smooth in a LARGE bowl
- 8oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup heavy cream

(If you use mascarpone, you will need 12 to 14 oz of it, softened)

Using instant coffee, make around 1 cup of really really really strong coffee and add
1 Tablespoon rum (JoC says 2-3 T but that would be too much for my family)
1.5 Tablespoon sugar (JoC says 2-3 T also)
Put it in a shallow dish and stick it in the fridge.

In a heat-proof bowl (I used a pot that will fit in another pot), beat on high speed until thick & pale yellow (2 min):
5 large egg yolks (I always have fun separating eggs)
1/3 cup sugar
Whisk in :
1/3 cup Marsala (I got the cheapest kind which is $5/bottle)
1 Tablespoon water

Set the bowl/pot in a pot/skillet of simmering water and whisk or beat on low speed until it gets custardy i.e. reaches 160F. (This took forever.)
Remove from bowl and let cool for about 15min, stirring occasionally.

In another bowl beat until soft peaks form
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

The recipe says to then get the spiked coffee and quickly dip ladyfingers in it and layer on the bottom of the pan. This is tricky -- I think in the future I will put the ladyfinger in the pan then drizzle or brush the spiked coffee on to it.

Fold in the cooled custard (aka zabaglione) and whipped cream into the fauxcarpone.

Spread half of this wonderful stuff over the coffeed ladyfinger layer. Then grate some of the chocolate over it, (JoC says 2.5 oz, but it's up to you).
Dip the next batch of ladyfingers in the spiked coffee and layer it over. Then spread the rest of the stuff on top, and grate more of the chocolate bar onto it.
Sift over the top 1 Tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa. (I was too lazy to grab the sifter at this point and just used the grater.)

Cover and stick in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours before serving.

Clean up.

Snack on leftover ladyfingers and spiked coffee.

Elfland and Demon's Lexicon

2009-09-10T13:05:00.004-04:00

Two more wonderful reads, lumped together because I read them one after the other, but coincidentally they do share an underlying theme.

Elfland by Freda Warrington is a nice thick urban fantasy about faerie-like demi-mortal beings, Aetherials, some of whom live in our world as humans, although they really belong somewhere else (the Spiral). There is a Gatekeeper between worlds, and at the start of the book he tells the Aetherial community on earth that he's keeping the gate shut for their own good. So a generation of Aetherials grows up without connecting to their heritage. The story focuses on the Gatekeepers kids and the next door Aetherial kids, specially siblings Rose & Lucas. It's written as a family drama and a romance, and what I like best is that the Aetherial characters are written as deeply human. I specially recommend it for romantic readers.

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan is a fast-paced adventure. Magicians get their power by sacrificing people to demons, and brothers Nick & Alan are on the run from magicians who are trying to get back a magical amulet from their insane ex-magician mother. The story is told from Nick's pov, and he cares only about Alan, because Alan is the one who raised him and looked after him. The trouble is Alan cares about everyone, including a brother and sister who come to them for help, and it's all up to Nick to save Alan from his chivalrous impulses. I really loved this book, because even though Nick is moody and angry and literally murderous, I feel such empathy for him. A very dark story written with lots of humor and wit.

Kate Elliott's Crossroads (Spirit Gate, Shadow Gate, Traitor's Gate)

2009-09-10T09:43:00.006-04:00

I have fallen behind on logging all my reads, but I do try to keep up using goodreads. But I at least want to blog about really Wonderful Reads, and here is one from last week.

Traitor's Gate is the third book in the Crossroads series by Kate Elliott, one of my favorite authors, and it wraps up the first part of the saga. The first two books are Spirit Gate and Shadow Gate.

Hm, maybe I should show you what I wrote about each book after I read it:

Spirit Gate (August 2007)

What a big fat book! I love the old Asian feel of the worldbuilding. I admire how the book ends -- a big conflict resolved but so many questions left unanswered. The only downside is the wait 'til the next book

Shadow Gate (June 2008)
I've been meaning to post about Shadow Gate, which is book two in Kate Elliott's Crossroads series. This is a big fat book, rich is calories and flavor.

Consider the ingredients:

- Worldbuilding. Being Filipino, the asian and pacific islander influences in the cultures of the Qin & The Hundred are such a kick to me. The level of detail is wonderful; the feeling that this world really exists we're only seeing bits of it.

- Characters. Let me see if I can explain what I really like about the characters. They are all full of the prejudices of beliefs of their culture and upbringing, and they all consider their own worldviews to be perfectly valid. And that's how they are.

- Mastery. I don't know what else to call the storytelling. The choices she makes in the way she tells the story are just very good. Take for example, Cornflower's story. I usually dislike flashbacks, but I appreciated the choice here, since it allows some emotional distance from what would otherwise have been too painful.

Grand and bewilderingly big, like the construction of a Gothic cathedral -- that's what I think this series is like.

Traitors Gate (September 2009)
I've been busy and thus wary of starting this for fear I'd get sucked in and neglect all else. I was right! I started it yesterday and stayed up all night finishing it! Aui!

Another thing I was worried about was that I would have to refer to Books 1 & 2 to remember what was going on, but as soon as I read page one I was back in the flow. The characters do an initial info dump as they are reintroduced in a way that flows right with the story. Really well done.

In fact, I was a bit more than half-way through the book when I caught myself thinking that this whole trilogy is really a masterpiece of the epic fantasy form.

As to the ending, no WONDER the blurb on the front called it "surprising"*. One of those shocking things that nonetheless had a lot of warning. One might even call them red flags. I too, have perfect hindsight.
The most bittersweet wrap up ever.

I'm full of questions, of course (which the author graciously answered, and I will paraphrase her answers below to make them slightly less spoilery)

... spoilers ahoy ...
Is this the end of Mai & Anji's story as central characters? What about Shai, & Zubaidit? (Answer: Mai will be in the next book)
When did Kate Elliott know what was going to happen to Mai & Anji -- right at the start or did it surprise her too? Did it break her heart? I'm guessing it was planned; really an amazing way of driving home the point of the history Jothinin was retelling -- we didn't see until it was too late. (Answer: Very much planned)
What's the plan for the next books -- when & where will they be set? (Answer: "Crossroads 4 is supposed to take place 15 years later (snip big spoilers). It's not particularly epic. The follow up trilogy is meant to take place almost 60 years after the end of Traitors' Gate and is hugely epic."

*oops, actually, it says "extraordinary", but I somehow remembered it as "surprising". It's both, imo.

In conclusion, Kate Elliott writes three Big, Fat, DELICIOUS books that I heartily recommend to anyone with an appetite for a really wonderful read.
Go forth and DEVOUR them.

books read

2009-08-03T10:14:00.006-04:00

since my last book post:

Really great reads are two books from Jacqueline Carey -- Santa Olivia, which is basically a gritty super-hero story, and Naamah's Kiss, which starts a new trilogy in the the Terre Ange universe.

Finished the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris: A Bone to Pick ; Three Bedrooms, One Corpse ; The Julius House ; Dead Over Heels ; A Fool And His Honey ; Poppy Done to Death except that I accidentally skipped the penultimate Last Scene Alive.
And finished Charlaine Harris Lily Bard series: Shakespeare's Landlord ; Shakespeare's Champion ; Shakespeare's Christmas ; Shakespeare's Trollop ; Shakespeare's Counselor.
And read her first book Sweet & Deadly, which is really a novice effort. Or maybe she just doesn't do 3rd person well.

Read more of Lauren Willig's pink carnation series: The Masque of the Black Tulip ; The Deception of the Emerald Ring ; The Seduction of the Crimson Rose Emerald Ring was cringe-worthy but Crimson Rose was good.

Also read Julia Quinn's What Happens in London, which is a cute and light regency and Nalini Singh's Angel's Blood which is a paranormal romance which has some interesting world-building and an annoyingly "feisty" heroine.

YAs:
My 12yo made me read Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner, which is fantastic, and I sneakily read the sequel Nobody's Prize before her which totally ticked her off. :) They are about a young Helen of Troy as we'd like her to be, and I enjoyed her view of Helen's contemporaries.

She also wanted me to read the Faerie Path by Frewin Jones, but after I had to read about the heroine glancing into her mirror to check her beautiful self out I told my 12yo I am just too old for this many writing cliches.

Another good YA I read is the almost-too-angsty Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner.

dvd reviews

2009-08-03T09:26:00.005-04:00

Inkheart -- I love the book, I like Brendan Fraser a lot, and the movie was better than I expected from the reviews. Paul Bettany as Dustfinger really steals the show. I enjoyed this a lot and it's a great family film.

Push - I'd never heard of this before hubby rented the dvd. SF conspiracy thriller with psychic super-powered teens trying to escape the clutches of a shadowy government Division which wants them in their experiments. Geareded towards fans of Jumper. I liked that it was set in Hong Kong, although on the minus side it had stereotypical heartless Chinese villains and too much gore. Dakota Fanning has a really good moment when she begs the arch-villain for mercy. Worth renting.

Coraline - I think the book is so creepy (Neil Gaiman has serious Mommy issues) I couldn't imagine how they could make a children's film out of it. But they do pull it off, mainly because of the high quality animation. However, it still lacks the heart that Nightmare Before Christmas or Corpse Bride have. Younger kids will probably get nightmares if they watch it.

BBC's Elizabeth Gaskell collection. Ok, so I didn't actually get them in a set, just borrowed them from the library. Cranford, Wives & Daughters, North & South. Love, love, love them. Anyone who loves period pieces or classics like Austen & Bronte will love these.

Doubt - Love Meryl Streep in this. Sister Aloysius is the coolest nun ever. Sister James is a twit.

Watchmen- A completely stinky movie, didn't watch more than 15 min.

Good writing vs. good story-telling

2009-07-15T12:20:00.001-04:00

What keeps you reading -- the wordsmithing or the story? Or something else?

I was trying to read a book that had gotten really good reviews, and while the writing was undeniably good, the story just wasn't compelling enough to keep me reading, and I decided to stop a 3rd of the way in. I think I just didn't care what happened to the characters. (Anyone else come across any glowingly recommended books recently that just left you cold?)

In comparison, there is an urban fantasy series where the writing frequently makes me roll my eyes, but somehow, I keep gobbling up the books. My daughter said they must be like Doritos -- once I eat one chip I keep going until the bag is empty.

catch-up book list

2009-07-06T13:24:00.003-04:00

July:

Real Murders by Charlaine Harris, which is the first Roe Teagarden book.
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, which I have passed on to my 12yo. Also a YA anthology, Vacations from Hell, which was a bit too horror for me.
Also read The Secret History of The Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig, which I found amusing and annoying by turns. But I'm borrowing the sequel, so I guess I liked it overall.
I read a bunch of Black Dagger Brotherhood books by JR Ward, which I think probably turned my brain to mush, but are strangely addicting. In retrospect, I realize that Alyssa Day's Atlantis books are inspired by this series, but I think I prefer JR Ward's writing.
Also The Companion by Susan Squires, a regency vampire romance, which was better than I expected.
I am reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, which I am putting down for a bit to read Travelling with the Dead by Barbara Hambly.

June:

Really good stuff:

Stargazer by Claudia Gray, sequel to Evernight. It's a YA series about a vampire academy. The first book has a very neat twist. The sequel manages to surprise and raise the stakes. I'm looking forward to the third book.
The funniest book: Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Wendell & Tan.
Marta Acosta's Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, The Bride of Casa Dracula.
Charlaine Harris' Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, #9)
Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman
New Blood by Gail Dayton
Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout

Good stuff:

Elizabeth Hoyt's Raven Prince, Serpent Prince, Leopard Prince. And To Beguile A Beast, To Seduce A Sinner, To Taste Temptation.
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater.

The Courtesan's Wager by Claudia Dain, which is 3rd in a series of Regency romances that read like comedies of manners. The first two were great, this one is funny but a little lacking.Stephanie Laurens' The Taste of Innocence (Cynster, #14), What Price Love? (Cynster, #13) , All About Passion (Cynster, #7), All About Love (Cynster, #6) , On a Wild Night (Cynster, #8)
Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase
Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher

So-so stuff:

Amazon Ink by Lori Devoti.
Alyssa Day's Atlantis Rising, Atlantis Awakening, Atlantis Unleashed.

Two I didn't finish: Eve of Darkness by S.J. Day and What A Scoundrel Wants by Carrie Lofty.

May:

Coventry by Helen Humphreys.
Two Mary Balogh romances - First Comes Marriage & Then Comes Seduction
Arianna Franklin - The Serpent's Tale & Grave Goods
The Pretender's Crown by C.E.Murphy
Darkborn by Alison Sinclair
Rick Riordan's Olympians YA series (love this).

DC Field Trip

2009-05-21T08:46:00.002-04:00

I accompanied my daughter's 6th grade class to their Washington DC trip yesterday (3 hour trip each way), and the teachers just wanted them to see whatever museums we could. I was in a goup of 2 moms & 7 girls. So we went to Natural History (and oohed over the Hope Diamond), then Air & Space, then they said they wanted to go to an art museum, so we went to the National Gallery, which is just across Air & Space.
The girls were quiet and awed ( and appreciative of all the couches). They spent a lot of time watching an artist copy a panel of Ruben's Daniel in The Lion's Den (the artist's skill was amazing).
I was in heaven looking at all the paintings. As we were leaving, we passed through the French paintings on the ground floor and I saw Fragonard's A Young Reading" which, as a reader, is one of my all-time favorite paintings. I felt so happy!
If I had to be locked into a museum overnight, I would want it to be an art museum with a lot of old masters. In fact, I would love best of all to be locked in the Louvre.

YA Books that should have an NC-17 rating

2009-05-05T08:46:00.002-04:00

Do you read Young Adult (YA) books and if so, do you think the some of the newer ones are too graphic/mature?

Yesterday I passed by the library and saw a Young Adult fantasy book on the new arrivals shelf that had an intriguing cover and a shiny medal/award (best children's book of the year list) of some kind and a blurb that made it seem like a fairytale retelling. So I picked it up for my 12yo bookworm.

I decided to read it first and ugh, so glad I did. It is, in my opinion, horribly dark and graphic. I only made it midway then skipped to the end. I'm returning it.

The title is Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. I'm not much of a prude, but I thought it was really inappropriate for teens. I'm 40 and I feel like I need to scrub my mind of it. I am upset by it.

(spoilers in white font, highlight to read)
It starts off with the "real" - cruel -world, rather like a dark ages village. The main character is a girl being sexually abused by her father, and repeatedly dosed so she miscarries. Then her dad gets his head bashed in by a horse before he can make her miscarry again. She has a baby. Then she gets gang-raped. Suicidal, she attempts to kill her baby first but some kind of magic intervenes and she and the baby are whisked into a perfect world -- just like her old world but everything made nice. She has a second baby (from the gang-rape) there. The babies are obviously versions of Snow White & Rose Red.
In the meantime, a 1st person character, a greedy dwarf, uses the village witch (an old flame)to trespass into the perfect world and steal gold. (Same witch who had supplied the abortifacients to the father in the beginning). Somehow the two girls run across him, but by then I skipped to the last chapter, where Rose Red is now an apprentice witch. Snow White is staying in perfect world to be happily married to a bear, while still somewhat mourning her first love, a wolf. The mother (main character) is happy for her kids but heartbroken because she is also in love with the bear. I don't think (though I skipped a lot) that any reason for the magical intervention was given.
(end of spoilers)

What makes it ultimately horrible, for me, is that none of the characters engage my sympathy. The 1st person dwarf is selfish and greedy, the mother and daughters are written so remotely, like wooden puppets.

Sorry for such a long post, but I guess I just want to vent. This is an award winning YA book? What the heck?

40 days of rain

2009-05-04T10:38:00.003-04:00

Been raining since the weekend (at least) and won't let up until Sunday. I forget what sunlight feels like.

My sprouts stare at me accusingly from their jugs. "We should be in the ground, you slacker!"

Have started building an ark. Um, how long is a cubit?

In happier news that I should have blogged earlier:
- The three bare-root blueberries (Reka, Bluegold, Jersey) are two weeks in the ground, and seem to be doing ok (knock on wood).
- The 25 bare-root Mesabi strawberries are planted in painted styrofoam coolers, and are showing nice leaves. I daresay I have crowded them a bit, but I promise to clip runners to help them stay modest-sized.
- The two rose bushes(Morning Has Broken and Therese Bugnet) arrived last week. They are in gallon-pots, which I stuck in slightly bigger post, filled in with rocks and peat moss. I've just moved them from the very wet deck to the front step, which has a wee bit of roof to keep the rain off. I don't want them getting blackspot before they are even planted.
- the rain let up a wee bit on Saturday, and I planted the rest of the pea sprouts and some baby yellow onion bulbs (sets, I think they're called).

Last of the April reads

2009-05-04T10:22:00.005-04:00

My lord and spymaster by Joanna Bourne. Regency romance with a plucky heroine, much like The Spymaster's Lady.

The Weaver Takes a Wife and Brighton honeymoon by Sheri Cobb South. Funny G-rated regency romances in the Heyer style, but without the disturbing Tory sensibilities of Heyer.

Symphony by Jude Morgan tells the love story of composer Hector Berlioz & his muse actress Harriet Smithson. Too gloomy and ill-fated for me -- I skipped the middle and read the last chapter.

River of darkness and The blood-dimmed tide by Rennie Airth. I like these two mysteries very much. The first follows Scotland Yard Inspector Madden as he solves the mystery of a terrible family massacre in post-WWI England. The second is set 10 years later in 1932 when a happily domesticated Madden is drawn into the search for a serial killer of young girls.

Bone crossed by Patricia Briggs is the latest in the Mercy Thompson, mechanic & coyote-shifter, series. This one deal with a vampire problem. I like this series a lot.

Just read

2009-04-27T11:45:00.004-04:00

Should list these before I return them to the library:
Two Regency mysteries by Sheri Cobb South: In Milady's Chamber and A Dead Bore.
I like these a lot; fun, light reads, very much in period, rated only PG, I would say. I am looking for more of her books to read.

An Accomplished Woman by Jude Morgan, a Austen-styled regency romance, also very good and amusing. I am also reading more of her.

Hangman Blind by Cassandra Clark, which is the start of a medieval mystery series featuring Sister Hildegard, a rich widow turned nun who wants to establish her own abbey. Engrossing; I look forward to forthcoming books.

Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier, a sequel of sorts to her YA novel Wildwood Dancing. I like Marillier's writng very much; I think I've read all her books. So it's a shock to read on her blog that she's undergoing chemo for breast cancer. I very much hope for her recovery to complete health.

Fast Ships, Black Sails, a collection of pirate-themed fantasy stories edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer. I didn't like the stories much.

Demon's Delight, a collection of 4 paranormal romance novellettes; I borrowed it for the Yama "demon" story by Emma Holly. The MaryJanice Davidson story in it was also fun.

Recently read

2009-04-14T10:29:00.004-04:00

Death in Devil's Acre by Ann Perry. - I somehow skipped this book in the Inspector Pitt series (I think I am two books ahead of it).

A Pale Horse by Charles Todd. I think I only have one book to go in the Inspector Rutledge series.

The Secret Wedding by Jo Beverly. Although I wasn't really in the romance mood, read it because I usually like her books.

Mistress of the Art of Death. - Saw this rec'd on Dear Author. It's quite good after you buy into the idea of a forensic doctor in the 12th century. I'll be looking for the rest of the series.

A Christmas Visitor by Ann Perry. Henry Rathbone (Sir Oliver's father in the Monk series) solves a mystery. Quite unrealistic ending though.

Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism by Georgia Byng. My 12 yo made me read this. It's a fun read.

Computer issues

2009-04-08T14:48:00.004-04:00

Hopefully now resolved.

In the meantime I planted out some of the pea seedlings in jugs which is hard because it turns out peas have one long root! LOL. Next time I will just plant peas directly. Also planted some of the lettuce and pak choi seedlings.

I have no rabbit fence ... I put some bloodmeal in little yogurt cups covered with rocks, and bits of irish spring soap scattered around. The peas are also protected by cardboard collars (half of a tp cardboard) and plastic collars (small water bottle with ends cut off). The other seedlings were too big, so they are naked. I hope that's enough to keep the critters away.

Jug Ghetto

2009-03-31T08:49:00.005-04:00

Here are the wintersown jugs. I think around a third have sprouts now. I like the half-gallon milk jugs the best, I think. I lost one container (the cardboard milk-carton half in a plastic bag at the very left) when the wind knocked it over. It just had lettuce seeds so I don't feel too bad about it; just re-used the soil.

The two pots are pink double peonies from Costco. They have 2 tubers in each, but I will take out one each as soon as I can to plant in front. The remaining two will stay in the post a bit longer. I just added another pot for a bleeding heart tuber I got at KMart (hey, it was 20% off).

Fig cuttings

2009-03-30T10:36:00.004-04:00

I got these fig cuttings on March 3 (2 Brooklyn White and 3 Hardy Chicago).

I re-cut the bottoms, peeled a little bark off, dipped them in Rootone powder and potted them in a big plastic peanut jar (with drain holes) covered with a bottomless half-gallon milk jug. It is on top of the dryer, where there is an east-facing window.
At first I kept the cap of the milk jug on, taking it off only for an hour or so a day. At one point I saw a bit if white fuzz (mold) on one of the cuttings and I spritzed a weak bleach solution on it. Now that it has leaves I keep the cap off. Usually I just spritz some water into the jug to keep it moist; today I bottom watered the pot for the first time.

Wintersowing

2009-03-26T13:56:00.005-04:00

I am getting started on the hardy annuals, only to find I still have some perennials. Very excited to discover blue iris seeds, blackberry lily seeds, lots of south african daisy seeds ...

I'm on container 53 with a lot of seeds to go. Since I double up whenever possible, I am actually on my 82nd kind of seed.

This quote from Queen Victoria has been making a lot of WSers laugh lately:
"Nothing succeeds like wretched excess."

currently reading

2009-03-24T09:10:00.004-04:00

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
- This is for an online book discussion. I am finding it slow going.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
- Saw the BBC movie and was inordinately amused (read LMAO).

The High City by Cecelia Holland
- a new-to-me author; picked it up on impulse at the lib's new books shelf

Jackson & Perkins rose companions by Stephen Scanniello
- someone at the GW Rose forum rec'd this

Deer-resistant landscaping by Neil Soderstrom
- also grabbed of the new books shelf, so far very practical and engaging

Unknown weed

2009-03-23T18:39:00.002-04:00

UPDATE: It is either yellow rocket or wild mustard. Either way it gets pulled.

just read

2009-03-23T18:12:00.003-04:00

Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn
- This was good, but not as good as the first two books. I think Julia and Brisbane behave strangely; Brisbane turns into some kind of Heathcliff/Rochester hybrid and Julia is distrubringly doormat-like.

The Murder Stone by Charles Todd
- a stand-alone, not part of the Inspector Rutledge series. Not as good either. There is a supposed to be horrific twist at the end that is so out of character that it made me laugh, literally.

A Cold Treachery by Charles Todd
- In which which Inspector Rutledge appears to find a love interest.

White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison
- I am completely hooked on this series. I hope Harrison publishes the next book soon!

free compost

2009-03-23T17:42:00.003-04:00

Tried something new today: went to the township's yard waste recycling lot armed with a shovel & bags and took home 2 bags of compost (heavy!) and 2 bags of wood chips.

I'm going to use the compost in the new blueberry & rose beds -- it should be easy enough to spot weeds in those.