Bookwormom

Access Romance

2009-11-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

My monthly post is up over at Access Romance. I'm talking about playing games as a method of courtship, especially in historicals. Come on over and say hi!

Glomming

2009-11-08T23:12:00.004-05:00

Sort of. I've spent the last week devouring romances. Avoiding homework and papers due in favor of going on a book buying and reading binge. I've read the following:

1.The Untamed Bride~ Stephanie Laurens her newest book, will write it up in a day or two

2. On the Way to the Wedding~ Julia Quinn

3. Desperate Duchesses~ Eloisa James

4. Kiss Me Annabel~ Eloisa James

5. The Disdainful Marquis~ Edith Layton

6. The Abandoned Bride~ Edith Layton

Five and six are a Signet traditional Regency double. Ms. Layton is one of the classic, standard setting founders of the genre. Until this week I'd never read anything of hers & now I'm planning a raid on the UBS for her backlist.

Impromptu Road Trip

2009-10-26T10:42:00.009-04:00

Last Monday (or Tuesday, I can't quite remember) Anime Queen, our teenage daughter, asked, "Which one of you is going out to Tiny College that Offers Japanese with me on Friday and Saturday?" Uh, what was that?? How long have you known about this road trip & not mentioned it to anyone?? Er.. since October 5th. Several dozen phone calls and a few last minute arrangements later, the trip was a go.

Also last week, more great news! Joy of joys, the Pianist has been given a new piano. A gift from a friend at church who is seriously ill and will be unable to play anymore. Can you guess what the only compatible day to pick up our new gift? Why Friday of course. The day daughter and I will be on the road. The older son called in sick and the younger one was exempted from school so they could help dad put the old piano in storage and the new one into the house.

I guess it all went well. I didn't hear any horror stories about moving the pianos or the joys of driving a small moving truck in heavy Friday traffic. No fingers or toes were accidentally crushed. The old one will be given away via Craigslist soon. I hope. At least it would be if one of us could remember to put the listing up.

Thursday night Anime Queen and I made it 'down the valley' to the tiny, picturesque town where her potential college is. Kids and parents have traveled from up and down the East Coast to be there so I feel less put out about AQ's lack of advance warning. I guess. She has totally fallen in love with it. I kind of wonder how much of a fit it'll be, but she can be stubborn and persistent when she wants to be, so we'll see.

I ended up driving all the way home Friday evening. I couldn't face spending the night alone in an economy hotel at a tiny crossroad beside the highway, so I drove 3+ hours home in pouring rain to spend the night in my own bed with my own sheets and my own hubby. Then I got up at 6 am Saturday morning and did it all over again. I don't care, it was worth the stress to be home in my own bed. However, I might have felt differently if I was psychic and knew ahead of time that it'd pour cats and dogs all the way down the valley and back again Saturday morning.

Of course, never mind the fact that I had a midterm to study for or a paper to do research for or a blog that is being seriously neglected. You know, teenagers think it's perfectly acceptable to drop and/or rearrange your entire life to accomodate them. Hubby's theory is that she miscalculated and thought that we'd automatically tell her 'no way, we can't go' because of the ridiculous time frame and get her off the hook. I don't know which one of us is right, but she ended up loving the place- which she told me she didn't expect.

We're back now and so far all is pretty much right with the world- that is to say, completely crazy and a total soap opera from start to finish. This particular storyline has to do with Pianist, but I'm too tired to tell that one today.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

If You're on my Feed Reader

2009-10-21T20:40:00.002-04:00

Please be aware that as I now have well over 1,700 posts on my reader I am forced to delete them all and begin anew. At almost zero. :{ Am unhappy at the necessity of doing this but I've no time to physically sort through the posts.

Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, Jane Doiron

2009-10-20T05:00:00.000-04:00

I guess the fact that I've posted all of three times in October versus roughly fourteen (which is still not great, BTW) in September qualifies me as a busy mom. So this was definitely the book for me to road test. Click the link in the title above to go to the book webpage. This review is part of a book tour sponsored by Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours. I received an ARC for this review.

TBH, I most likely would've purchased one of these from a bricks and mortar bookstore. I try very hard to be organized, and one of the keys is good tools to help you become and remain organized. This book is one of those tools. Funny observation- the dessert section is pretty early on in this book. To my way of thinking placing it there matches up pretty closely with how my days go sometimes- I just want to start with dessert and skip the main course entirely. IIRC Garfield agrees with me!

On a slightly more serious note, I appreciated the tips pages in the very front of the book the most. They helped keep me on track and out of the woods several times. The recipes themselves are as advertised: quick, familiar, and easy. Even your fussiest appetite will find something to love in here. Most of all the recipes use mainly pantry staples, which means no buying an unfamiliar ingredient that will then sit on your shelves unused. Which is always a plus nowadays with the economy being what it is.

Around my house the earliest bus pick up is 6:15 am. Obviously that means sleeping in until 5:45, racing through a shower and running out the door at 6:10. If I'm lucky this child remembers to grab the premade lunch & a quick yogurt or piece of fruit for breakfast. I tried some of Ms. Doiron's breakfast recipes, some of which can be 'bus stop friendly' or carpool friendly or what have you. Now, I tried them over the weekends, so we've yet to try and incorporate them into the am frenzy, but we're going to give it a try.

Another child despises standard breakfast fare and is known to eat hot chili or tuna salad in the morning before school. Make Ahead Meals came to the rescue for this child too, because the recipes I tried hold up quite well for reheating any leftovers the next morning. If you're lucky enough to have leftovers, that is. I don't always have those. The hubby is on a supervised diet, which the side dish and soup sections accommodated with only a few changes here and there.

Overall, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms was a success for our house. The recipes are teen friendly (both to cook and to eat), fussy-eater friendly and sure to save your bacon in an emergency. Plan out a week's menu using this book, go to the grocery store and try it out. Ms. Doiron's book is a winner in the daily struggle to feed the kids and maintain some sanity.

Cover image found on Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours

Chemistry in the Rain

2009-10-17T20:26:00.011-04:00

Friday was spent standing on a pebbly spit beside a stream in the middle of the woods surrounded by twenty five high school seniors (17 years old). The kids were testing the stream water for: fecal choliform (eewwww!), organophosphates, nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, two temperature readings, turbidity (cloudiness) & some other stuff. The park ranger says the stream is the standard for purity in our area because it flows through both the park and the military base beside it, which means the land around it is protected from development & thus protected from pollution. The weather was chilly and drizzly, made worse by pouring rain the all the previous day.

Fortunately I was dressed warmly and I made sure I stayed dry so it was fun. I love the woods. One of the boys nearly fell face first off of a log into the water trying to take the upstream temperature. I have to be honest here and say I laughed, although it would've been a serious issue if he'd actually fallen in. Stupid kids are always afraid of not looking the part or whatever, so only one of them was dressed warmly- the rest of them were in t shirts or other thin shirts and sweatshirts, no warm jackets or (heaven forbid) raincoats. No hiking boots or wellies for their feet, sneakers all around. They all spent the entire morning whining about how cold it was & how they couldn't wait to get back to school because it was warm!!

Luckily the teachers ignored this & wandered around making sure they finished all of their experiments. She only had one parent chaperone (ie: me), so she had to ask one of the administrators to accompany us so she didn't have to cancel the whole thing. The park doesn't have the funding to support this type of event, so a nonprofit called The Alice Ferguson Foundation steps in to provide an extra resource teacher/biologist and all of the equipment the kids used for the experiment. It was really neat watching her lead the kids along to recognizing that all of the development they enjoy can damage the environment and thus the water they drink, bathe in and cook with.

It was a relaxing if chilly way to spend the morning watching the kids play in the water & realize that in science, as in many other things, one must follow the directions to get optimal results or else start all over. LOL :)

Back Again

2009-10-15T22:42:00.004-04:00

Somehow I managed to catch a serious chest cold. Two days in bed, low grade fever for three days, went through two jumbo boxes of tissues and two packages of cough drops all by myself. Managed to worry everyone in my family, since I barely remember the last time I was so sick. I think the last time I got pneumonia- which was on Christmas Day when I had thirty people over for dinner- was nearly ten years ago. I'm generally a healthy person, thank heavens.

Anyhow, I had to get out of bed before I felt better to take an exam from a prof who refuses to allow test retakes. Then two days later I had to to turn in a paper to another prof who doesn't allow papers to be submitted via email (!!!!) the first time. So I ended up getting worse again & spent a few more days in bed. The hubby made some of the best ever chicken soup, which I've no doubt made me stronger sooner than I would have been otherwise.

Of course, college courses wait for no one and nothing short of the end of the world. Homework piled higher and higher- I was assigned another paper. If you please, "write a Socratic discussion between two Nobel Peace Prize winners with appropriate citations." Yes, folks you can just imagine how thrilled I was when I found out about that one. President Obama hadn't won when this was assigned. I also have to write a paper about the indigenous people of Sweden- the Sami, nomadic reindeer herders. That one's not due for another five weeks or so. I need to do some food history research for an 'ethnic food night' next week. You know the drill, give a 5 minute presentation & contribute a dish.

What about books you ask? I managed to finish Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. That will be a buddy review with Kailana over at The Written World. A doorstopper, for sure. Worth the time though, especially if you like 'locked room' mysteries and can tolerate business and financial details.

Out sick

2009-10-05T22:31:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the temporary hiatus- been in bed sick since Thursday last. Am now behind in my homework on top of everything else. :( Missed the reread. Double :( Back soonest.

Banned Books #3

2009-09-28T11:42:00.007-04:00

Walter Dean Myers

In support of banned books week, I've decided to read A Mercy by Toni Morrison. Ms. Morrison has several titles that regularly show up on 'challenged' book lists. I've also decided to read one of the young adult titles, probably one that's shelved in my local branch since I need to go down there to pick up a title I ordered via ILL to do research on for a term paper. The branch is little, but I'm hoping to find a book by Walter Dean Myers, who has several titles that show up in challenge lists.

Audiobook image found at Barnes & Noble. Image of Walter Dean Myers found on Random House

Most Challenged Books by Authors of Color

2009-09-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

From the ALA list (link in title above):

3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

17. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane

34. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

36. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers

45. Beloved by Toni Morrison

69. Native Son by Richard Wright

73. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

78. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya

84. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

85. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez

Also written by authors of color & challenged frequently:

Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

American Indian Myths and Legends by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz.

Banned Books Week

2009-09-24T09:25:00.005-04:00

Banned books week rolls around again. This year it will be 26 Sept. through 3 Oct. Every year I promise myself I'll read one of the books on the list & post a review. I've yet to do that. :( This year isn't looking terribly promising for accomplishing that goal either. However, once again I will attempt this. I've not picked one yet, but I plan to read one of the most challenged books of

Banned Classics, top 50, according to the ALA, link at bottom of list:

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses by James Joyce
7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
13. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
22. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
23. Their Eyes are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
27. Native Son by Richard Wright
28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
32. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
38. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
39. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
40. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
41. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
47. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
48. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin

To see the entire list click here.

YAY for Free Library of Philly!!

2009-09-21T13:20:00.003-04:00

Victory is at hand for those in Philadelphia who love libraries. According to Consumerist.com the Philadelphia libraries will be able to remain open. Verified by an article in Library Journal. Link to LJ found in Consumerist article.

2009-09-21T06:00:00.002-04:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Yeah, nothing new happening here re: regular 'pleasure' reading. I'm behind the scheduled readings for my Tuesday class. The Monday night class textbook won't be in until this morning, despite the fact that tonight's the second class meeting. :( Plus I've a H1N1 research project due Thursday, but this time I'm a little ahead of the curve and have actually completed more than half of the assignment already.

Tomorrow ma chere maman will visit most of the day so I'd like to be ahead of the curve if possible so I can relax and enjoy her company. :)

Off to the mines. Have a great day! :)

Riddle Me This

2009-09-20T00:05:00.001-04:00

1. Long legs, crooked thighs, little head and no eyes.

2. Black we are but much admired; men seek for us til they are tired. We tire
the horse, but comfort man: Tell me this riddle if you can.

3. Flour of England, fruit of Spain, Met together in a shower of rain, put in a bag and tied round with a string, if you tell me this riddle I’ll give you a ring.

4. Old Mother Twitchett had but one eye, and long tail, which she let fly; and everytime she went over a gap she left a bit of her tail in a trap.

5. I’ve seen you where you never were, and where you never will be, and you in that same place, may still be seen by me.

6. As I went through the garden gap, who should I meet but Dick Red-Cap! A stick in his hand, a stone in his throat, if you tell me this riddle, I’ll give you a groat.

Answers:

yrrech.6 rorrim ni noitcelfer .5 daerht dna eldeen .4 gniddup mulp .3 slaoc .2
sgnot .1

Midnight Secretary; Tomu Ohmi

2009-09-16T00:05:00.000-04:00

I first found Midnight Secretary via Smart Bitches. The author's name may also be found spelled Oumi and Oomi.Click title above for link to wiki page talking about this series. This is a josei manga (aimed at women)- click here for wiki page detailing what josei manga is and who it’s marketed towards. Originally published in Petit Comic magazine in Japan starting in 2006 and finishing in May of 2009, with 34 chapters and a few extras. It was serialized. I’m very grateful I found it near the end of its serialization. It would’ve been torture to wait weeks and months between chapters. This is the first manga I read and as a ‘newbie’ genre reader I had to get my daughter to explain some of the background and symbolism the genre comes with. If you are a new reader there are lots of resources out there on the internet to help you along.

Kaya Satozuka is what I think we here in the U.S. would call an executive secretary. She’s in her mid twenties and works for the Touma company. In the opening section Kaya has just been assigned to CEO Kyouhei Touma’s office as his only secretary. Not a prospect to be relished, since he goes through secretaries as others might use tissues. However, Kaya is no ordinary secretary either. Preternaturally organized and efficient, Kaya soon makes herself indispensible.

Kaya is a total workaholic, with little or no personal time. The only sticking point is that she’s frumpy. Dresses conservatively, wears glasses despite not needing them. Why this would be a problem given her competence otherwise I didn’t understand. Kyouhei complains about her unattractiveness at first although eventually he shuts up about it. Kyouhei is openly a womanizer, going so far as to instruct Kaya in scheduling and gifts to be given. Chasing Kaya off once in a while. He’s very open about it all- Kaya’s only his secretary after all. & really? Who cares what she thinks?

Everyone has a flaw though, and Kaya’s is curiosity. Eventually Kaya tires of juggling all these women for him. She wants to know just what the hell is going on with Kyouhei and his harem and all of the rules attached to their relationships. So what does she do? She sets him up for a fall by hiding during one of Kyouhei’s trysts. Is she prepared for what she’ll find out? What will the fallout be for her and for Kyouhei? Is everything really as it seems? Can Kaya balance work and her growing involvement with Kyouhei?

This was an eye opening introduction into the world of romantic, paranormal josei manga. The world created has unique features and Kaya has a viewpoint towards work and loyalty that I’ve never come across. Kyouhei is totally a type A dominant guy- will Kaya truly be able to tame him? Even just a little? Available to read here and here.

Image is copyrighted & is Tomu Ohmi's, from the series. This manga is currently scanlated onto these sites and is likely done illegally so far as I can tell. Yes, it's piracy and theft of copyrighted material and deprives the author of income. Yes, it's wrong. So far as I can tell it's not available in english anywhere at this time. If you have very strong feelings about supporting author's rights, fighting piracy etc. I recommend you find something else to read.

Medicus; Ruth Downie

2009-09-15T00:05:00.000-04:00

This is an historical mystery set in ancient Roman controlled Britain. Ms. Downie is a new to me author, there are two other titles in this series. The next one is Terra Incognita and the newest is Persona non Grata. The Hubby and I listened to this as we road tripped from home to mid-coast Maine and back again. Medicus was released in March 2007 by Bloomsbury.

Gaius Ruso, the eponymous medicus (doctor) has arrived in the wild and uncivilized territory called Britannica. He’s divorced, childless, originally from the south of France, and has served in the emperor’s army in rather warmer climbs. Ruso is his father’s oldest son, thus inheritor of the estate upon his father’s recent death. However, due to his father’s financial house of cards Ruso is forced to serve in the army to keep the estate afloat and to fund the upkeep of a large passel of relatives. Ruso appears to be a capable and caring physician, short tempered in the face of unyielding bureaucracy especially when it interferes with the good care of those soldiers who are injured.

Newly arrived in town, Ruso is out exploring and getting small errands done when he rescues a young female slave who is injured and being maltreated by her owner. Eventually Ruso ends up buying her with his last pocket money so that she will get treatment. Besides, he and his roommate Valens live in a filthy bachelor hovel that could use a little cleanliness. First he has to hide her & treat her and get her healthy.

Via performing an autopsy on a drowning victim, Ruso begins to poke around town asking questions about a few missing or murdered prostitutes. The prevailing attitude in the garrison, and even among some of the natives, is: “Who cares about some missing whores, really? Don’t you have better things to do?”Meanwhile, the hospital bean counter is making Ruso’s life hell, Valens is taking off at critical moments, and the female slave isn’t as grateful or compliant as Ruso thought she ought to be. Imagine that? LOL 

The critical thing to remember is that Ruso isn’t a detective, he’s a physician. That’s his worldview, his identity and the basis for all of his actions. What does this mean for the reader? It means that Ruso is slow and misses the obvious and is oblivious when suspicious things happen to him or others around him. Ms. Downie manages to find that delicate balance between shining a light on life in ancient Britain and not overwhelming the reader or the storyline.

As an audiobook, this worked quite well. The reader has a pleasant voice, although the accent made me wonder if a well traveled French military doctor would really have a British accent! Of course, I probably over think these things, so don’t mind me. Otherwise, we enjoyed this quite a bit. It’s funny, and some of the dialogue is very deft.

Image found on B & N

August Monthly Synopsis

2009-09-14T00:05:00.001-04:00

Listed in no particular order, those that have been reviewed are hyperlinked. Those that aren’t, will be reviewed ASAP and the links will be updated early in October.

1.Death Wore White~ Jim Kelly
2.20’s Girl~ Sophie Kinsella
3.Four Wives~ Wendy Walker
4.The Enchantment Emporium~ Tanya Huff
5.Medicus~ Ruth Downie
6. The Graveyard Book~ Neil Gaiman
7.Midnight Secretary~ Tomu Ohmi (josei manga)
8. Love Cruise~ Tomu Ohmi (josei manga)

DNFs

1.Prince of Midnight~ Laura Kinsale
2.Driving Like Crazy~ P.J. O’Rourke

The Last Leaf;

2009-09-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

I saw him once before
As he passed by the door
And Again
The pavement stones resound,
As he totters o’er the ground
With his cane.
They say that in his prime,
Ere the pruning-knife of Time
Cut him down,
Not a better man was found
By the Crier on his round
Through the town.
But now he walks the streets,
And he looks at all he meets
Sad and wan,
And he shakes his feeble head,
That it seems as if he said,
“They are gone.”
The mossy marbles rest
On the lips that he has prest
In their bloom,
And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb.
My grandmamma has said-
Poor old lady, she is dead
Long ago-
That he had a Roman nose,
And his cheek was like a rose
In the snow.
But now his nose is thin,
And it rests upon his chin
Like a staff,
And a crook in his back
And a melancholy crack
In his laugh.
I know it is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here;
But the old three-cornered hat,
And the breeches, and all that,
Are so queer!
And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let smile as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman

2009-09-12T15:24:00.006-04:00

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
I listened to this in the audiobook version, cover opposite. Mr. Gaiman performs his book- incredibly well I might add. It truly was a performance as opposed to a simple reading. I highly recommend borrowing this version from your library even if you’ve read it. He’s that good. You won’t be sorry, I promise you. I’m probably going to buy this for my nephew for Christmas. The Graveyard Book was originally published by Harper Collins in September of 2008.

I love Neil Gaiman’s books. I’ve read most of his sci fi alternate reality titles aimed at adults. However, I’ve avoided most of the titles aimed at children. I don’t exactly have a reason, truth be told. I’m coming around to thinking that I need to add Mr. Gaiman to my (very short) list of authors whose work I need to read no matter what the plot is supposed to be, who it’s ‘aimed’ at, what type of fiction it’s categorized as. I should’ve known better than to skip it. I read children’s fiction and young adult lit. frequently and I’m well aware that these fields are full of highly talented authors who write smart, entertaining fiction for kids.

The plot is deceptively simple. An eighteen month old toddler happens to climb out of his crib and wander off exploring on the night his parents are murdered. Purely by happenstance he wanders into the graveyard near his home, in time to simultaneously be saved from the murderers and adopted by the graveyard residents once it becomes clear that this is what his mother’s ghost wants. After that the reader follows along as Bod grows up. Makes friends with his first live human. Watch him try to cope with a teacher he doesn’t like. Cringe as he falls in with the wrong crowd- literally. Bod learns the truth about what happened on that long ago night. He meets a person who I came to believe is the embodiment of the old poem “To see a fine lady upon a white horse; Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, And she shall have music wherever she goes.”

A wonderful, unique story about a boy who survives and thrives against the fearsome odds arrayed against him from the very start of his life.

Prince of Midnight; Laura Kinsale

2009-09-11T06:00:00.002-04:00

I'm sure there are people who won't believe this, but this is a DNF for me. PoM fell flat on its face because the plot hit a hurdle that up until now I hadn't realized I have. In this review, I will be discussing things that happen up to page 100 or so & I may reference things that are or would be spoilers. Consider yourself warned. My copy is a hardcover put out by Avon in 1990 and has Fabio on the cover. The cover pictured here is a Sourcebooks cover, according to Amazon.

Prince of Midnight is set in late 18th century France amid the revolution. Leigh Strachan is a young Englishwoman running around France disguised as young man. She's looking for a legendary highwayman whom she wants to teach her swordsmanship. Ms. Kinsale turns a typical plot on its head by making Leigh the one who burns for vengeance. S.T. Maitland, despite being disabled by severe vertigo and deafness in one ear, is the highwayman Leigh is looking for. Let's just say that Leigh is a tad surprised when she realizes that Maitland is indeed who she's looking for.

Now, I love to read about women in disguise as young men, women who seek vengeance for a wrong committed against them or those they love. I liked the topsy turvy aspect of Maitland being the one who falls head over heels in love, no matter how improbable I found it. The problem I ran up against is that Leigh's desire for revenge is based on religious persecution of her family. The abuses could have been made as a power grab or for revenge or any number of other reasons.

I did a little investigating & found out that there was religious persecution of certain individuals in England during this time period and possibly in the place mentioned. This is all fine. All fiction has grains of truth embedded within it. However, I am tired of reading books wherein the main character's personal problems are rooted in active persecution of that person or their loved ones by religious functionaries. It may well be true- I have no argument with that truth. I am simply tired of reading about it. I am tired of reading fictionalized accounts of the abuses of religious authorities. Why is it so hard to find fiction that reveals the good things faith does?

*Sigh* I chose not to finish PoM. There is already too much authentic, serious, faith based controversy in the news for me to be able to set this aside in the fiction I read.

ETA: Corrected author's name in the title. My apologies to all! :(

Praise for M & B

2009-09-10T22:42:00.002-04:00

The Guardian published an article discussing contemporary M&B romances- it's great stuff. Click title above to read it. The article's author also writes an extract for a romance, click here to read. Great stuff. I wish she'd write & submit it to them- I'd read it. :)

OMG- where did the time go?!

2009-09-07T21:52:00.002-04:00

My first two weeks of classes has flown by! I can't believe it. Mostly because I also had to start prepping the kids for the beginning of school and it was our anniversary. My head is spinning so much I can barely remember my name. The kids are off for the first day tomorrow & our anniversary was this past Saturday. #22! Can you believe it? Neither can I.

That leaves school. It's intimidating to enter a classroom & realize that most of your classmates are young enough to be your children. :( Luckily for me the prof is a very genteel Southern lady who gives off what I call "nun vibes"-gentle and sweet looking on the outside yet very no nonsense when you scratch the surface. She wore the neatest raspberry colored suit the first day of class. Anyhow. The Husband bet me I couldn't keep my mouth shut even on the first day- I barely made it. What can I say? Idiots annoy me & teenagers who think they have the answer to it all are especially annoying. *shrug* I didn't have to whip out the mom voice until the second class, so I guess I won the bet. Problem is we can't remember the stakes. LOL :)

As for books I'm way way behind. What else is new? I have three books for the international relations class, one of which I'm supposed to have finished by Sept. 15th. Haven't read more than 75 pages out of 600+. LOL :) I can catch up pretty quickly- it's a Thomas Friedman, so it should go pretty fast once I really get going. Anime Queen somehow has me hooked on Fruits Basket. Why and how I really don't know, but FB has totally caught my attention. How much of a contest can there be, honestly- between T. Friedman and Fruits Basket?

So there you have it. My first two weeks of class, getting the kids prepped for school, our anniversary & remembering I have homework now. Very calm & quiet life I lead, huh?

Library Sale Finder!!

2009-08-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

Michele at Reader's Respite posted a link to this cool website that helps you find nearby library sales! Searchable by state and by date, you can sign up for reminder emails!! How fab is that! My bookshelves are pleading for mercy even as we sit here. LOL :)

Attention Michael Crichton Fans

2009-08-29T14:15:00.002-04:00

Rumors are going around that Steven Spielberg has optioned the rights to Mr. Crichton's unfinished novel Pirate Latitudes. The Guardian has published a story with more details, click here. According to the article the book will be published in November.

New Adventures

2009-08-25T19:33:00.004-04:00

I've signed up for two classes at our local community college. I took a computer class in the spring of '08 and I didn't do very well trying to juggle home and work and school along with a long commute. I've been out of the Supermom game for a while and it took a lot out of me. I enjoyed it though. So this time I'm taking international relations and 'culture and geography'. Should be interesting I think.

Post #975 in Giveaway