Feature and Follow Friday #17

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

Book character(s) you'd like to see with their own Twitter page - Suggested by A Great Read

Answer:

I think I'd like to see Lord Akeldama and Miss Sophronia Temminnick with their own twitter pages. Both are characters featured in the writings of Gail Carriger's works (Lord Akeldama first appears in the Parasol Protectorate series, then reappears in the Finishing School Series that focuses around Miss Temminnick). 

Given that Lord Akeldama is a very fop-ish kind of Vampire, I imagine his page would be quite a twitter with things like the latest hose in fashion or wig-powder. Probably a fair number of pretty boys too. 

For Miss Temminnick, I think her page would be one of general disuse, that is to say, she'd use it to check in on other people and rarely post herself. If she did it'd probably alternate between fashion (to throw people off of course) and gadgets she finds useful.

Feature and Follow Friday #16

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

Blogger pet peeves? (Like when I've drafted an entire post, ready to publish it, and I see somewhere I've left out a html code... When I didn't even do my post in html) - Suggested byTake Me Away…

I guess my biggest peeve is clutter (ironic if you look at my blog I have nothing but clutter). I also dislike blogs that don't feature a contact page or a good tagging system. Ah and one final peeve is when I'm hosting a tour and it's written into the coding to make each section title it's own heading due to the nature of my blog layout, it puts it in a brown header box and that just bothers me inside the post. I tend to try and go in to remove that element if at all possible before posting.

Valentine's Mini Challenge - Day 3

Day 3 – The CHEESIEST ROMANCE scenes or topics you have read in a book.

I'd have to say, one of the Cheesiest Romance scenes I've ever read was in Her Mad Hatter. While it took over two-thirds of the book for the characters to even make it to having sex, and when they did, it was just poorly written and assumed that both would be experts at the subject. It also assumed that bringing someone back to a fantasy realm would save her of cancer and what not that nearly killed her when she returned to her own realm, but yes. Cheesy sex scenes there was almost too funny to bear.

Valentine's Mini Challenge - Day 2

Day 2 – The HOTTEST scene you have ever read in a book.

Recently I finished the first book of the Parasol Protectorate series, Soulless, and it literally ended in carriage sex. That was pretty raunchy and very well written, so I'll go with that.

Valentine's Mini Challenge - Day 1

Day 1 – Let us have it. Your Book Boyfriend/Girlfriend List.  (And I mean all of them!)

• Legolas Greenleaf - Lord of the Rings
• Draco Malfoy - Harry Potter Series
• Fred Weasley - Harry Potter Series
• Luna Lovegood -Harry Potter Series
• Tris Prior - Divergent Series
• Hermione Granger - Harry Potter Series
• Conall Maccon - Soulless

I'm sure there are a lot more, but I cannot for the life of me think of anymore off the top of my head.

Valentine's Book Blogging Mini Challenge 2014

This looks like a fun thing to do. If you want more details, definitely check out this post.

Friday Finds #2

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

          

      

• Backwards Compatible: A Geek Love Story by Sarah Daltry & Pete Clark
• Betrothal (Queen's Honor, Tales of Lady Guinevere: #1), a Medieval Fantasy Romance by Mande Matthews
• The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) by Philip Pullman
• Soul Taken (The Life After Trilogy #1)  by Katlyn Duncan
• Katrina, The Beginning (Royal Blood Chronicles #1) by Elizabeth Loraine
• Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1) by Aimee Carter

Feature and Follow Friday #15

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

If you could read a book for the “first time” again, which book would it be? Why?

That is a very tough question to answer. Generally speaking, there are a ton of books I'd love to go back and read for the first time. And sometimes, I do end up rereading them for the "first time" because it's been so long since I cracked open their covers. Sometimes I start a book and I'll reach a certain point and stop. When I get back to it, it's almost like reading it for the first time because once I get past whatever part stopped me before, it's new territory, new words. 

Still, if I could reread any book for the "first time", I think I'll have to go with:

When I read The Golden Compass for the first time, it was an amazing book. The idea of having my conscious as an animal form was a marvelous idea to me. After all, what child wouldn't like to have a companion animal you could talk to and have it talk back. The fact that the daemons (the little conscious animals of the world) didn't settle into a final form until you were grown as also appealing. While the rest of the books happenings (the children disappearing, the church's involvement, and ultimately the need to travel through the underworld to set free all the souls trapped there) are less than ideal, I can't say I'm not still drawn to the idea of having a daemon. 

Why would I reread this particular book for the first time? I'd like to see it from a more adult viewpoint, one that's less tainted by the idealism of childhood and the need for a daemon (though admittedly, I'm not certain I wouldn't want one even as an adult, I mean a badass wolf or something as a companion? Yes please.) and the consideration of Mr. Pullman's own views of religion in a more mature mind.

Friday Finds #1

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!




My Finds:

          

        

• The White Tree (Cycle of Arawn Book 1) by Edward Robertson
• The MacKinnon's Bride (The Highland Brides Book 1) by Tanya Anne Crosby
• The Good Knight (Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mysteries #1) by Sarah Woodbury
• Blood Skies (Blood Skies Book 1) by Steven Montano
• A March of Kings (The Sorcerer's Ring Book 2) by Morgan Rice
• Pride and Honour: The Battle for Saxony by Nathaniel Burns

I subscribe to Bookpub, a daily e-mail that gives me a number of deals on e-books. I tend to only collect ones that come up free.

Feature and Follow Friday #14

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

What books are you looking forward to reading in 2014?

I made a recent post about this, but I am looking forward to reading (and finishing):

• A Feast for Crows (A Song of Fire and Ice #4) by George R. R. Martin
• A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Fire and Ice #5) by George R. R. Martin
• The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Sable Quean by Brian Jacques
• Soulless by Gale Carrigen

Teaser Tuesday #7

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The gravity of her statement merely seemed to amuse him. 'My dear Mrs. Avery, if he'd ever once thought that you were actually a spy,then you'd never have been allowed into this building. At this moment you'd be languishing in His Majesty's Prison Holloway awaiting execution.'

                                                 -Dance Down the Moon, pg 87. by Robert Bartram

Teaser Tuesday #6

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"She found that mundane jobs such as housework and shopping helped relieve the stress, even though she had to force herself along, but there was no relief from the war."

-Dance the Moon Down, Robert Bartram, pg. 64

"Wide-open eyes, a childlike smile, just enough confidentiality for the lies to sound sincere. It had worked well then, and it was surprisingly easy to use the same technique, with only modest adjustments, in the adult world." 

- Game, Anders de la Motte 

Feature and Follow Friday #13

I am one of this week's Feature & Follow's Featured Bloggers.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

Are there any book to movie adaptations where you think the movie is better than the book?

Eh? Not really? Typically I view movies based on books as stand-alone things within a series, mostly because many of the movies tend to deviate widely away from the books. The only thing I can even remotely think of are possibly the comic book movies, but again they're a universe unto themselves. 

Feature and Follow Friday #12

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

What book are you embarrassed to admit you LOVED? (try to think beyond Twilight)

It is really difficult for me to think of a book that I'm embarrassed to admit that I loved. I find that embarrassment is fleeting emotion for me, and what might seem embarrassing at the time tends to just lose that quality over time. If I had to say one, I'd possibly go with:

 

I read these books ages ago, and for a brief period while trying to type this up, I could not remember the title of them for the life of me. They're interesting books, the concept of them intriguing, however they're simplistically written and seen as younger teen novels. Still, I love them and need to reread the first few so I can read the last ones.

Feature and Follow Friday #11

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

What are some of your favorite magazines?

Some of my favorite magazines in no particular order include:

 

 

Feature and Follow Friday #10

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

What book (or TV show or movie) have you not read that seemingly everyone else has?

I know it's only requiring one answer, however I'll give three, one for each item included in the question.

Book: Any novel by Sarah Dessen really. She's one of the authors I was assigned a book to read from in grad school that I tried to start and immediately lost interest in her works. They're more romance based, a genre I avoid like the plague. Still, she seems like an interesting author, even if I can't stand her novels.

T.V. Show: Breaking Bad. I don't subscribe to the channel it comes on (I don't believe I do anyways) and I'm not overly interested in the plot. 

Movie:  The Sound of Music. This musical turned movie has so many historical inaccuracies that it makes me laugh. It doesn't help that I was forced as a child to sing many of the songs from the musical without really seeing the entire movie. P.S. at the end of the movie, when they're running away over the mountains? They're totally heading for Nazi Germany. Oops.

Teaser Tuesday #5

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers:

"Mordred cut off any potential for further disruptions with an explanation. 'Classes include fighter, wizard, cleric-'." -Critical Failure by Robert Bevan

"Tori strained against the fretted sandalwood screen to observe the plaza in the gathering dusk. Her view was constricted by elaborate curlicues, making it difficult to see Jai's signal when it came, if it came." - A Thousand Perfect Things by Kay Kenton

 

Feature and Follow Friday #9

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

 This Week's Activity: 

Reading Nook Tour: Give us a tour of your favorite reading spots.

My favorite reading spots include my bed and a chair in our back room. They're both extremely comfortable.

Teaser Tuesday #4

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 My Teasers:

"In his long practice of being aware of six things at once, he noticed that Elizabeth Platt wasn't merely passing around candy. She was giving out picture books. Time to reign her in before a village elder threw her down the well. Merciful Christ, women on a political junket. It was going to take all his finesse.

Excusing himself from Astoria, he made it to the book wagon just as the village tahsildar strode up to bark at the children and confiscate the books. Old rascal didn't want the children educated, nor women either, come to that." - page 108, A Thousand Perfect Things by Kay Kenton

"Colette, Tucker's mom, was from another planet. France, specifically. She was exotic, glamorous, and the only person I knew whose parties required cocktail attire. Or were catered, for that matter.

Tuck never had any food in the fridge, but he always had designer clothes on his back-his appearance was the one thing about him that held Colette's interest. But that was no surprise. Tuck made pretty much every female pause and smooth down her hair." - Page 2, Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson.

Musing Monday #2

 

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits. • Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s). • What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!  • Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it. • Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us! • Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

My Musing:

I recently bought  The Left-Hander's 2014 Calendar for myself and thus far have found it amusing. Despite the calendar not officially starting until January of 2014, each page is designed for lefties (like me). Set up with all the pages of dates and space to write on the left side, this planner is reversed from a normal book and offers a bunch of tidbits, facts, and interesting helpful items that left-handed people might need. 

Want something else for left-handers? There's websites full of items reversed to make life easier for us, as well as a handbook. Also, don't forget an entire day dedicated to being Left Handed.