Hi Everyone, It’s that exciting time of year again! Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting Once Upon a Time VIII. Participants get in touch with their inner child and read fantasy, mythology, or folklore and chat about it. You can find the guidelines here. I enjoyed participating last year in the multi-genre category, so I think I’ll go for it again. Last year for fantasy, I read The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. For mythology, Lavinia by Ursula…
The Bout of Books Read-a-thon is officially over, and like others before me, I have survived! Not only that, I had fun and enjoyed chatting online to some new folks. My goals were: 1. Finish Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 2. Read More Than You Know by Beth Gutcheon 3. Listen to Joyland by Stephen King 4. Comment on 3 blogs a day and participate in 2 challenges (besides my own). I achieved all my goals! Yay, me! The challenges…
(image credit: Konstantin Kirillov via Dreamstime) Create a found* poem in three easy steps! Welcome to the found poem challenge at Pen In Her Hand for Bout of Books. I’m thrilled to be hosting this challenge! There is no prize other than the joy of creating, so let’s begin and have fun! Just choose a novel from any genre, print or ebook, that you’re reading or have finished. I used Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison. Pick a number…
The Bout of Books Read-a-thon encourages goal-setting and sponsors several challenges as part of a week long celebration of reading. (Check back on Thursday as yours truly is hosting one!) One of my goals was to participate in two challenges. This one, hosted by Doing Dewey, is my second. The instructions are to introduce a reader to a favorite genre. Today I’d like to introduce you to a sub-genre, paranormal women’s fiction. Paranormal women’s fiction is not Paranormal Romance although the…
It’s baaaack…Bout of Books Read-a-thon! The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand…
This House Is Haunted by John Boyne This House Is Haunted is sort of like Jane Eyre meets Turn of the Screw. The author John Boyne writes 19th century sensibilities with the absolute authority of a waistcoat-wearing, mutton chopped Victorian. So much so, I was surprised to see his other books include The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. In fact, these two works are so different, I actually researched the author on Wikipedia! I thought there might be two John…
(image credit) Sadly, it’s time to wrap up Readers Imbibing.Peril VIII. It’s fitting that our cloaked heroine appears to be fleeing the scene, don’t you think? I had fun participating for my third time over at Stainless Steel Droppings and even surpassed past attempts. During the challenge, I viewed one movie and read six books. If you missed them, here they are: Ghost Town the movie with Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni, and Greg Kinnear Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison The…
Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison Olivia will always regret not confessing her undying love to best friend Lucas, for just as she begins to tell him, fate intervenes. The next time Olivia sees Lucas, he’s a ghost. So begins Notes from Ghost Town by Kate Ellison that I read as part of the RIP challenge at Stainless Steel Droppings. Olivia, a promising artist, faces multiple problems for one so young. Someone killed Lucas, and she must discover who…
For my next selection of the R.I.P. challenge, I read The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. This reading ended up as a serendipitous survey of literature based in Malaya (present day Malaysia). In the last two years, quite unplanned, I’ve read three works set in this country, all as different as they can be. The first novel I read is Old Filth by Jane Gardam about a cynical octogenarian barrister of British ancestry; the second was The Garden of Evening…
This is my second selection for Carl’s R.I.P. at Stainless Steel Droppings. I file The Search under the mystery/thriller category. The Search by Nora Roberts is a romantic thriller; i.e., heroine in peril narrative. I’m expanding my review categories from ghost novels to include young adult novels and dog fiction. The Search is of the latter variety. Simon isn’t Fiona’s type. And she’s definitely not his. But Simon is in desperate need of a dog whisperer/trainer for his recalcitrant canine…
Thank you, Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings, for once again hosting R.I.P! Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear, directed by David Koepp. I was visiting my daughter and son-in-law in Seattle, and we decided to watch a scifi movie. Of all things, our search netted Ghost Town. (Such is the difficulty with the ghost genre—there is no ghost genre; you find ghosts when you least expect them.) Anyhow, ghost aficionado that I am, I jumped at…
As a follow-up to the Bout of Books read-a-thon, Book Monsters has created a review-a-thon. Well, I’ve never heard of a review-a-thon before, but since I’ve participated in my first read-a-thon I’m up for anything. So, my goals for the review-a-thon are 1. To link a review for The Maze Runner (which I wrote yesterday when the event started) 2. To write and post a review for A Stir of Echoes. 3. To visit twelve other sites from fellow review-a-thoners….
(image credit) I survived my first read-a-thon ever; thank you Bout of Books! I enjoyed the experience immensely even though I didn’t quite meet my goals. But I guess that’s what goals are for, yes? Anyhow, I finished The Maze Runner by James Dashner and A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson. Reviews to follow, but of these two I enjoyed A Stir of Echoes more. In addition, I finished listening to Wolf Hall during the read-a-thon week although I…