Library Loot- August 12th

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures. We share what we each picked up at the library during the week.

I did good at the library this week as I took back two books read (Blindness and Iron Kissed) and only brought 4 books back home. And as an added bonus I've already reviewed Blindness which just doesn't happen...seriously, I'm still almost thirty reviews behind with no hopes of catching up anytime soon. Anyways, here is what I took home from the library this week:





Kissing Sin by Keri Arthur- 2nd in the Riley Jensen series and one that I am looking forward to. It has been awhile since I read the first book but I'm hoping the series is as good as I remember.



Vanish With The Rose by Barbara Michaels- I picked this one up because I was in the mood for a creepy, atmospheric read after the huge thunderstorm last night and after reading Amy's review of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I've read Be Buried In The Rain by this author and really enjoyed it. (BTW-I don't have the audio version but this is what the cover of my book looks like so I used it)



Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs- So the other day I was thinking about possibly writing a post on all of the series I read and the fact that I'm only caught up on a few of them...and I was thinking how nice it would be if I read this book and caught up on this series. It was like karma when I saw this book waiting for me on the shelf at the library :P



The Night Watch by Sarah Waters- Had to give this author a try...that's the only excuse I have.





So that is my loot for this week. I'm still currently reading The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale and am SO glad that I picked it up finally. I love it so far!! Share your thoughts on any of these if you've read them....

Teaser Tuesdays (My 1st!!)

TEASER TUESDAYS 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!


My Teaser:


"She's lovely and graceful and witty and courtly, and all that a princess should be." Geric shrugged, and he no longer smiled. "But there was some darkness with her arrival...



found on pg. 190 of The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Blindness by Jose Saramago

Blindness begins with a man going blind at a stoplight with an unknown type of "white blindness." He goes to an opthamologist to get his eyes checked and in hopes for a cure to the blindness which doesn't happen. Shortly thereafter all of the patients that were in the waiting room and the doctor himself go blind with the same instant white blindness. When news of this gets out, the government declares an epidemic and rounds up all of the blind internees and anyone who came into contact with them, to put them in an old, out of use mental aslyum. From there the story progresses, following the blind through their struggles to survive in a rapidly deteriating environment which no one can see except the doctor's wife. Blindness is one of those books that will stick with the reader for a very long time.

I'm not sure that I have the words to adequately review this book and do it justice. The reader knows from the beginning that this isn't going to be a light, happy read just from reading the book flap. But it is more than that...the author creates such a dark, intense atmosphere within the story that it completely drew me in and made me feel like I was there at times. I'm going to admit though that I didn't always want to read this book..you knew that there were bad things that were going to happen. And part of it was just waiting for them to happen. Another interesting aspect about this book is that we are never given the names of the main characters. The characters decide for themselves soon after they go blind that names are no longer important and focus more on other things.

This is a book that just begs for discussion in so many ways. I would love for anyone who has read this book to share your thoughts on it in the comment section. It is hard to say I loved it or even enjoyed such a dark book but I did find it to be a worthwhile read. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone though because it is not an easy read and some of the things that happen to the characters are pretty horrible. I did have questions at the end that were left unanswered. One of them was who was the narrator? At times it felt like the narrator was one of the blind and at other times if felt as if he/she was someone else completely. I have another question that would be open to debate but it is a spoiler so maybe I'll talk about it in the comment section.

All in all, a worthwhile read for me and a book that I won't be forgetting about anytime soon.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 (I debated on giving it a 5/5 but I just couldn't quite give it a 5 star rating...)

Challenges: 100+ Book challenge, Support Your Library challenge, New Author challenge, Year of Reading Dangerously challenge

Library Loot- August 6th

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures. We share what we each picked up at the library during the week.

How has another week gone by already? Summer is flying by and I cannot keep up ;) Sorry I haven't posted since last week but I've been busy getting my son ready for first grade which translates into shopping and dentist appointments and fun stuff like that. I'm almost finished with Blindness by Jose Saramago and am hoping to finish it up either tonight or tomorrow. I was bad at the library this week and picked up even more books although I still have a pile that I need to get to. Here is what I found and couldn't resist:


Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross- I first read a review on this book at Maw Books which sold me on this book and since then have read a few other reviews that convinced me to grab this one up as soon as I saw it.






Deadly Harvest by Heather Graham- 2nd in the Flynn brothers trilogy and one I am looking forward to....although I haven't quite reviewed the 1st book yet ;)






Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen- This one has been on my TBR list for forever!!! I cannot wait to get to this one!






Bitten by Kelley Armstrong- Another new to me paranormal series that I've been meaning to try.





The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King- I picked this book up solely because of Eva's reviews of this series.




I also re-checked out The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale for the TBR challenge. Hopefully I can get to it. My hours at work are going to be going up which is a good thing for the paycheck (overtime!) but a bad thing for my reading and blogging. So forgive me if I'm slow at commenting back but I do want to hear your thoughts if you've read any of these!

Library Loot- July 29th edition

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures. We share what we each picked up at the library during the week.

Unfortunately, I haven't finished any books from last week's loot but that didn't stop me from going to the library and checking out a few more. I am currently reading Blindness by Jose Saramago and don't quite know what to say about it yet. It is going to be good, I can tell you that much already but other than that...well, you'll have to wait and see. I am also still going to try and read more books out of my own piles so it looks like I need to get reading :)

A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen- Earlier this year I read the first book in this series and really enjoyed it. I decided to pick this one up for the 2nds challenge and to continue on with this cozy mystery series.

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost- This is Jackie's (over at Literary Escapism) favorite series and I decided after hearing so many good things about it that I needed to pick the first book up asap.

Songs for the Missing by Stewart O' Nan- Another author that I have been wanting to try for awhile now...and this book sounds awesome just from the synopsis.

Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs- Love, love, love this series so of course I ripped this one off of the shelves when I saw it waiting there.

Finally, I re-checked out Looking For Alaska by John Green. I've heard amazing things about this author and his books but have yet to read any of them. So there is my library loot for another week...share any thoughts if you like :)

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

From Barnes & Noble:

Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

My Thoughts:

I honestly felt that I might be the last person on the blogsphere to read this book. But I finally picked it up and am glad that I did. The world that Scott Westerfeld creates is completely new and unique to anything that I have previously read about. Tally begins the book completely obsessed with becoming pretty and the life that comes along with it. As the book progresses though, things change and Tally begins to grow and evolve as a main character. That isn't to say that Tally makes the best choices...in fact, there were times that she frustrated me like crazy. But it was such an interesting take on the importance of beauty to society and I couldn't help but like this book. I can't wait to see where Tally goes from here in the 2nd book and would recommend this to anyone looking for a good YA read!

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Challenges: 100+ Book Challenge, YA Challenge, New Author Challenge, Support Your Library Challenge

Library Loot - July 22nd edition

Hosted by Eva at A Striped Armchair and Marg at Reading Adventures. We share what we each picked up at the library during the week.

You guys would be so impressed with me lately as once again all of my books went back to the library....mostly read! And then I didn't go for a few weeks as life and work sadly got in the way. It worked out though as I read one off of my TBR shelf (this rarely happens) and knocked a review book off of my pile. I finally got to go this week and picked up few good books that I'm really excited to read.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson- I read and LOVED Gods In Alabama by this author so I am really looking forward to this one.

Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs- I read the first book in this series a long, long time ago and have been meaning to continue on with these.

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher- Who hasn't heard about this one all over the blogosphere? I HAD to pick it up when I spotted it on the shelves.

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson- I've been wanting to read this book every since Andi read and reviewed it.

Plus, I rechecked out Blindness by Jose Saramago as I really, really want to read that one. I will read it this time! I limited myself to 5 though as I really need to read more off of my shelves and review pile (and I'm not even currently taking review books). Let me know if you've read any of these :)

That Went Well (Adventures in Caring for My Sister) by Terrell Harris Dougan

That Went Well: Adventures In Caring for My Sister is a memoir about Terrell Dougan's life and how she dealt with having a sister with mental disabilities. Terrell's parents made the choice not to institutionalize her sister Irene which meant life was always interesting to say the least. They ended up becoming advocates for people with mental disabilities and working towards other types of living arrangements for them.

What I liked about this book were all of the stories about Irene and what made her tick. She was a joy to read about and it came across so clearly how much Terrell cares for her sister. Irene was fun to read about and had lots of interesting quirks that make her unique. Terrell was a strong sister and really worked hard for the rights of individuals with mental handicaps. She was the first to admit when something wasn't going well in regards to Irene's care and needs. There were some flaws in the flow of the writing at times but it was interesting to see Irene and Terrell's progression over the years. I'll admit to wanting to have read more about Irene at times but it was an interesting read overall.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 and recommended to those who enjoy memoirs

Challenges: 100+ Book Challenge, New Author Challenge

A Couple of New Challenges :)

So I was cleaning out my sidebar and realized that some challenges had come to an end that I hadn't finished. I'm too lazy to do a challenge update yet but I have been able to finish a few including the Once Upon a Time III challenge (except I only reviewed 2 of my reads for it so far), the Historical Reading challenge, the Winter Reading Challenge to name a few. I failed spectacularly on some other ones including the Spring Reading Thing where I read maybe 2 off of my list. But I decided to join two more challenges just because :)
The first challenge I joined is the perpetual Printz project. I'm beginning to read more YA and this seems like the perfect way to get some quality reads out of this challenge. In fact, I've already read one book off of the list, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, but it didn't win the award for that year. It is still on the honorable mention list or whatever so when I get around to reviewing it (and I will) I'll be able to use this for my 1st read for this ongoing challenge.
The second challenge I joined was the Book Awards III challenge that goes on until December of this year. I've failed on this challenge both times that I signed up for it but I still can't resist trying again. It requires me to read five different award winners which should be interesting.
I also need to focus on a couple of challenges that I have been neglecting including the Orbis Terrarum challenge and the 1% Well Read challenge. The World Citizen challenge and the TBR 2009 challenge need some love as well. I am reading The Glass Castle which is on my TBR list but I still need to work on this one if I plan on finishing it.
Huh, guess this did turn into a bit of a challenge update after all... :)
P.S.- Just wanted to share a 4th of July pic with you

Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn

Provide a brief summary of the book:

Kitty Raises Hell brings Kitty back to Denver and trying to protect her pack from an evil that was unleashed back in Las Vegas. Filled with action and suspense, the reader goes on another wild ride with Kitty that doesn't disappoint.

Likes?

What isn't there to like about this series? Kitty has become such a strong female character that I like more and more. She is learning more about what goes into being the leader of her pack while staying true to herself. I love the action and suspense that goes into each of these books and feel that each book has a fresh and original storyline.

Dislikes?

Hmm...I can't remember any. That is one of the problems when you get so far behind in book reviews. I do know that I felt that this book was better than the last one but other than that...sorry!

Additional thoughts?

This part is easy: I WILL definitely be continuing on with series and waiting impatiently for the next installment to come out. If you like paranormal and urban fantasy than this will be a series that you will enjoy. I cannot wait to see what Kitty gets herself into next :)

My Rating: 4 out of 5 and recommended

Challenges: Series 3 Challenge, 100+ Book Challenge

P.S.- Sorry this review is so short but it has been awhile since I read it and I've already passed this one on to my sister to read. I'm thinking that with some of these books (not review books) that I am behind on reviewing I might just post mini reviews. We'll see...some of them deserve a full review.