Learn Your Numbers

Numerology is any of many systems, traditions or beliefs in a mystical or esoteric relationship between numbers and physical objects or living things. For this task we will need to go to this website Numerology and enter your First and Last name to find your magic number. Once you know your number you will need to read...
A. A book written by an author who has the same number as you. (EXAMPLE: My number is 6 and so is Joanna Trollope)
AND
B. A novel where a character demonstrates one or more of the characteristics of your number (EXAMPLE: 6's characteristics are...Responsibility, protection, nurturing, community, balance, sympathy...so I could read a book about a police officer or soldier because their duty is to protect.) Include a short explanation of how the character matches the characteristics in your post. A sentence or two would be sufficient.

Whew it's been a long week two three weeks. Nothing better than to read a few romance novels then right?

So. This was an interesting challenge, trying to find an author that was a 6. I found Murray Tillman, the author of Meet Me on the Paisley Roof, which I was already reading (and reviewed over at the Broke and the Bookish earlier this week) was a 6 that was exciting. Now to find a book that has the characteristics. Enter A Kiss At Midnight.

Book Title/Author: A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James
Publisher/Year Published: 2010 by Avon
Where I got it: The library (first one to get my greedy hands on it; two in a row! :) )
Rating: 3/5 stars

Let me just start off by saying how beautiful this cover is! And it completely relates to the story. Not too many romance novel covers can claim that. It really puts me in the right mood to read something whimsical and enchanting.

Anyway this is a retelling of Cinderella in an unknown time (that resembled regency England) where people sometimes use colloquial english (like "man up" lol. I seriously love that phrase). Kate has a stepmother and a (not so mean) step sister. She is charged with going to meet a prince pretending to be her sister to gain his approval of her sister's marriage to his cousin.

She doesn't quite embody the essence of her sister, the Prince Gabriel is intreigued by her. Shenanigans ensue.

All in all I thought it was a good book. It is one of the few Eloisa has written as a stand alone. It wasn't my favorite, but it was definitely entertaining. A great, fresh twist on something most all of us are already familiar with.

Dropping Names

If you visit the following webpage Authors We Read This Spring you will find a list of authors that were mentioned in the completed task posts for the spring challenge (only linked authors are included in this list). Find an author on this list that you haven't read previously and read their most popular book. (The author's most popular work is the one listed first on their profile).

I read Mockinjay in 24 hours. It would have taken less, but that thing called “work” got in my way. I’ve decided that I want a place to let my spoiler filled views to be known, so…

Book Title/Author: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Publisher/Year Published: 2010 by Scholastic
Where I got it: My local library (first one to get my greedy hands on it :) )
Rating: 4/5 stars

WARNING: THIS REVIEW IS GOING TO CONTAIN WICKED AMOUNTS OF SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY AND THE ENTIRE MOCKINGJAY BOOK. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Great Minds Think Alike

For this task we will find out if this saying is true when in comes to reading preferences. Go to the individual page for the last book you gave a 5 star rating to (i.e. if the last book you rated 5 stars was The Help by Kathryn Stockett you would go to this page The Help). Scroll down to the section for other reviews and click on the link for 5 stars...then click on the link to organize the list by date. Once you do that you will need to click on page 6,7, or 8 (if the book you use does not have that many pages of 5 stars use page 1-3) and select a person. Visit that persons profile and select another book (one that you haven't read before) that they gave 5 stars to and that will be the book you need to read for this challenge task.

Yeah. This one was a bit confusing, but somehow at some point in time this summer I stumbled on someone reading the following.

Book Title/Author: The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose
Publisher/Year Published: 2009 by Grand Central Publishing
Where I got it: My local library
Rating: 4/5 stars

I've been wanting to read The Unlikely Disciple since I found out about it through a Goodreads giveaway. When I found out he was a protegee of A.J Jacobs (whose The Year of Living Biblically I absolutely adored!), I needed to read this book.

Here is some of the summary from Goodreads:

As a sophomore at Brown University, Kevin Roose didn't have much contact with the Religious Right. Raised in a secular home by staunchly liberal parents, he fit right in with Brown's sweatshop-protesting, fair-trade coffee-drinking, God-ambivalent student body. So when he had a chance encounter with a group of students from Liberty University, a conservative Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia, he found himself staring across a massive culture gap. But rather than brush the Liberty students off, Roose decided to do something much bolder: he became one of them.

I have to give him credit. Going into it I thought it would be more biased than it actually was. He did a great job of separating himself from what he already knew and trying to understand the things he didn't. I don't know if I could have been so forgiving to some of the things he witnessed. Also I think it would be a whole different experience for a woman (not to mention the fact that I was raised Catholic).

But Roose takes a very open-minded stance, but he does this without losing himself. Many of the passages he wrote, I could feel the struggle within him between what he thought he knew about Liberty students and what he was seeing before his eyes.

If you are at all interested in religion and the perception thereof in modern American society, this is a great book, especially for the college sect. It was something I could relate to while learning a lot about a major religious demographic that I know next to nothing about.

Happy Birthday to Me! Book B

In honor of my (Nicole's) July 10th birthday:

A. Read a book by a writer who is a Cancer (June 21-July 22)
AND
B. Read a book that has a NOUN in the title. This noun MUST appear on page 31 of your Part A book (I am turning 31 this summer).

As you may or may not recall, I read The Outsiders for the first part of this challenge. On that page was the word "name". Actually, the phrase "My Name is" was on that page. So I chose to read My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares. She is most known for the books about the traveling pants, but since I have not read those, this was my first taste of her.

I wrote up a full book review over at The Broke and the Bookish but I wanted to talk about something else in relation to this book. The book trailer. Take a look.



Seems like a great book! Where was that book? Because it sure as hell wasn't the story I read. I don't know how I feel about book trailers. I like ones like this better then the words floating on the screen. But they don't really influence me to read a book one way or another. Mostly because you get trailers like the above one, trailers I want to have babies with I love it so much, and then they are nothing like the book. But then you get other book trailers that have meh trailers and the books are made of win.

So I guess my point is with this is wondering what you all think of book trailers, and to complain that this was not the book I read. Though this trailer does remind me of Bright Star. And if you are looking for a good movie with some romance in a historical setting, I suggest that one.

The Name Game: Book B

A. For the first half of the task, read any book you like of at least 100 pages.
AND
B. For the second half of the task read another book (of at least 100 pages) whose author’s first or last name, is the same as the last name of the author of the book you read for the first half of the task.

For Book A I read Promise Me Tonight by Sara Lindsey. Thus for book B, I chose a romance novel by Johanna Lindsey.

Book Title/Author: Angel by Johanna Lindsey
Publisher/Year Published: 1992 by Avon
Where I got it: I read it during my early romance novel days and I picked up a copy at the library book sale.
Rating: 3/5 stars

First of all, I must address this inlet. When I read it the first time, my cover was a nice picture of a house. There was not suggestive inlet either, disappointed to 14 year old me. But the book I got from the booksale is not a nice house cover, but instead has this on the inside.

I almost spit my drink when I saw this. Not only does it have 1) the exposed women shoulder 2)FABIO and 3)scenic back drop BUT A PANTHER! A black panther looks like it was photoshopped in to add some sort of tie with the story because it is in the story believe it or not, even though it is set in the wild west. I don't understand how people could have thought Fabio was the best thing on romance novels since sliced bread. All he does is make me laugh.

Anyway the book. This is one of the few western romances I have read. Angel is a hired gunslinger forced to help Cassie, a meddling woman, to pay off a debt he owes. Hijinks ensue. Now the plot is sort of lack luster, but not as bad some some romance novels I have read. What really carries this story is the characterization. They act consistently and I can clearly see their motivations for doing what they are doing. Everything makes total sense to me, even in the ridiculous world of the romance west.

If you like cowboys, love and good characterization, pick this up. Don't be discouraged by the bad inlet. At least its not on the cover.

It's Time For The Swim Suit Edition: Book B

Pick one of the following swim suit styles to fit your reading type.

A. Tank Suit - Read 1 book of at least 850 pages.
B. Bikini - Read 2 books totaling at least 850 pages and first published in 1946 (date of first named bikini) or later.
C. Tankini - Read 850 pages of book(s) published in last 5 years.
D. Victorian (The kind with sleeves, skirt & bloomers.) - Read 850 pages of book(s) published between 1834 and 1901.

Book title and author:Changeless (The Parasol Protectorate, #2) by Gail Carriger (Goodreads Author)
Info: published 2010 by Orbit
Where: The new fantasy book shelf at the library
Rating: 3/5

Changeless is the second in the Parasol Protectorate series that started with Soulless. This series follows the life of Alexia, a lady living in Victorian England, but she is not a normal Victorian lady. First of all, she is living in a world where paranormals are integrated into society. Second of all, she has no soul.

In this book she starts another adventure, a new job with the Queen. When some mysterious things start to happen to the supernaturals in London, she is tasked with finding out what and why this is happening. This may involve awesome weapons made out of an umbrella and dirigibles.

Compared to this first book, this one was not as gripping, but it was still entertaining. There were more characters introduced this time around and some of our old favorites returned where we found out more about them. The steampunk is in full swing with all of the awesome gadgets and science things. The climax had me reading without putting it down.

So why only a 3 out of 5? Well, with the more time spent with our heroine, the more she started to annoy me. She seemed quite inconsistent in her smarts. Maybe it's just limitations on her knowledge of the time, but she is continually called a blue stocking so I cant completely buy that. Lord Maccon was adorable in Scotland, but especially toward the end his stubbornness made me want to ring his neck! The secondary characters are amazing though.

The third book in the series, Blameless comes out August 31st. I found this awesome promotional video about the making of the cover. It's quite entertaining and interesting to see the process. I suggest you watch it and check out these books. They are really quite witty and entertaining. The writing makes me laugh out loud drawing quite a few looks from people around me.

Anyway check out the video! And the book!

B&N Classics

For this task you need to read a book off the Barnes and Noble classic list. Classics

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
first published 1914
Notes: I received this ebook free from Barnes and Noble classic summer downloads
Rating: 4/5

Just a warning before we begin. I go a little into detail about the relationship between Eliza and Henry which includes commentary about what happens after. If you have not seen the play and want to be surprised, be warned.

When I was in high school, I tried out for Pygmalion. I didn't get any part and in my anguish did not go see the show. I had heard that My Fair Lady was based on this play, but I've never seen that. I've read the myth about Pygmalion, but honestly didn't make the connection until I was reading the footnotes. So suffice it to say all I knew about Pygmalion's Eliza and Henry I learned from Family Guy.

So with practically a clean slate I dove in and I must say I rather enjoyed myself. I've always liked the quotes I've seen by Shaw floating around the internet, but never made the connection to the playwright.

It was interesting, surprisingly funny and quite entertaining. I could see in my head some of the cues onstage and how well they would work. I enjoyed Eliza and Henry's interactions the most, and was honestly quite confused by the ending. I clicked next page and there was no more play, but a nice essay by Shaw about what happened after. Toward the end there is quite a conversation between Higgins and Eliza which to me it dripped with sexual tension, but that was just my romance novel reader brain apparently. Because that is not how it ended. It was really interesting reading Shaw talking about why he chose to end the play the way he did going against what the mainstream public would want. Apparently, he added this afterword because everyone kept asking, but why can't they be together?

There have been times, wikipedia told me, that certain directors have changed the ending to suit the happiness of the audience, but I understand where Shaw is coming from. The play he wrote is a jab and society. Its a comedic satire, not a love story. There is no need for a happily ever after, because this is supposed to be real life. It's interesting also because the myth of Pygmalion has the sculptor living happily ever after with his creation, so he even deviated from the source material.

I don't know how I feel about changing the ending to suit the coffers. Part of me says "If you don't like it, write your own play!" but the other part of me says "Gotta do what's best for business." I am not really curious to see how My Fair Lady ends but I would tend to be more lenient about this seeing as it is an adaptation of the play.

So in conclusion, this really is a great play. I really enjoyed it and would love to see it onstage at some point.

Summer 2010 Group Reads

20.10 - Group Reads
Read One Of The Following Group Read Selections And Make At Least One Post In The Discussion Thread.
A. Books About Books - The Book Thief
B. Sci-Fi/Fantasy - The Hunger Games
C. Mystery - The ABC Murders

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
Published2006 by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers (first published 1936
Notes I listened to this on audiobook checked out from the library.
Rating: 3/5

Normally when I see the three books chosen to be the three group read options, I have three to chose from because I've never read any of them. This time was different. I just recently devoured The Hunger Games and I read The Book Thief about 6 months ago. So that left the ABC Murders. I must say, I really enjoyed And Then There Were None so I was looking forward to this as well.

The ABC Murders is a Hercule Poirot mystery. I don't know much about Christie's works, but it didn't take long to figure out that this was an established character. Normally this would bother me, the not reading things in the order they were intended, but with mysteries, I don't see how it would matter. Nothing would be given away. I can use all of my brainpower alloted for daily use and still not figure it out.

The plot is that Mr. Poirot receives some letters claiming a crime with happen in Andover and challenges Poirot to figure it out. The brush it off at first but as B and C happen, things start falling apart and coming together (as they do in mysteries). I did guess the whodunit part, but I had no idea why I was right.

I really enjoyed listening to this mystery unfold and I believe I would have enjoyed it if I had only read it as well. But the plus for the audiobook was that the actor who played all these characters was superb! It was quite easy for me to tell who was saying what before the "Mr Jones said" and it made the whole experience rather enjoyable.

This is a great mystery! I don't know of anyone who is into mysteries and never read Christie but if that happens to be you, give this one a shot. It's not your normal mystery.

Birthdays and Birthmonths: Book B

Since roughly 90% of the people in my (Ms. Anderson's) life were born in June, I thought it would be fun to do a task related to birthdays!

For your first book, pick out your birthday month from this list and read a NONFICTION book about that topic.
...
December: History of Language (EXAMPLE: Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World)

For your second book, find out what day of the week on which you were born (if you don't know already) and read a FICTION book from that genre.
...Tuesday: Alternate History (EXAMPLE: The Yiddish Policemen's Union)
...
Note: The books are two distinct categories, so therefore do not need to be related at all.

Book title and author:Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate, #1) by Gail Carriger
Info: published 2009 by Orbit
Where: Picked it up off the new book shelf at my college library
Rating: 4/5

This book was a breath of fresh air. I think reading this first chunk of the summary (via Goodreads) sums it up quite nicely.

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

First of all, what is "soulless"? Why are there vampires in Victorian England? And when have vampires ever been in the realm of social etiquette?

This first book in the series answers all those questions and more. It is a debut effort by Gail Carriger that mixes steampunk, paranormal elements and a powerfully strong heroine, adding a dash of romance and a whole smattering of intelligence. The writing is snarky and delicious and really brings you into a story where you have no trouble believing that vampires and werewolves are an integral and excepted part of English society.

With the resident werewolf love interest, Lord Maccon (who is to die for in his powerful manliness) and the lovable effeminate vampire Lord Akeldama are wonderful characters! And that only really names two. The secondary characters really round out the story and give it that extra something. The book is complete with horrible sisters, a mysterious society and all the glories of steampunk London.

It is worth taking a look. A good alternative to the many formulaic books on the shelf today. An interesting world, an interesting plot, awesome characters. Win, win, win.

For Those We Love To Hate

Read a book written from a villain's point of view.

For this I read the infamous Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Don't be fooled; despite Nakokov being Russian, this book is not a translation. And yet it has the most brilliant prose.

The review is featured today over at The Broke and the Bookish. Check it out!

Here is a teaser:

It is beautifully written. You would never think that you could get caught up in the mind of such a sick person, but you do. You're not really rooting for him, per say, but I definitely understood him most of the time. The author sums this up in the foreward, "But how magically his singing violin can conjure up a tendresse, a compassion for Lolita that makes us entranced with the book while abhorring its author!"

It's Time For The Swim Suit Edition: Book A

Pick one of the following swim suit styles to fit your reading type.

A. Tank Suit - Read 1 book of at least 850 pages.
B. Bikini - Read 2 books totaling at least 850 pages and first published in 1946 (date of first named bikini) or later.
C. Tankini - Read 850 pages of book(s) published in last 5 years.
D. Victorian (The kind with sleeves, skirt & bloomers.) - Read 850 pages of book(s) published between 1834 and 1901.

I decided that the Tankini would fit me best as I a) hate tomes and b&d) older books. For the beginning of these pages I chose to read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.

Book Title/Author: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow (Goodreads Author)
Published: 2008 by Hyperion
Notes: Audio book from the library
Rating: 4/5
I had heard a lot about the lecture and his book, but had yet to experience either. As a recently graduated college student, I thought this would be a good get out into the world book. So I found the audio.

Even though he wasn't reading it, I could hear his orators voice in the wording. The man who did read it was excellent. Each chapter dealt with a different anecdote and the lesson he learned from each. It was ridiculous how many cool things he has done in his life. Being a computer science graduate, I also really enjoyed the bits of that he put into the story.

Overall I would recomend this to anyone who is at a juncture in their lives. Any juncture really. It's good to read at the begining of something, to give you hope for the change to come. I gave it 4 stars.

Birthdays and Birthmonths: Book A

Since roughly 90% of the people in my (Ms. Anderson's) life were born in June, I thought it would be fun to do a task related to birthdays!

For your first book, pick out your birthday month from this list and read a NONFICTION book about that topic.
...
December: History of Language (EXAMPLE: Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World)

For your second book, find out what day of the week on which you were born (if you don't know already) and read a FICTION book from that genre.
...Tuesday: Alternate History (EXAMPLE: The Yiddish Policemen's Union)
...
Note: The books are two distinct categories, so therefore do not need to be related at all.

I truncated the task for this one because just listing out all that it entailed would be a substantial post! I just left Tuesday in December since that is what applied to me, but if you are interested in seeing what you would have had to read, check it out over here.

The Mother Tongue: English and How it got that way by Bill Bryson

When I read the description of this book it sounded really intresting:

The author of the acclaimed The Lost Continent now steers us through the quirks and byways of the English language. We learn why island, freight, and colonel are spelled in such unphonetic ways, why four has a u in it but forty doesn't, plus bizarre and enlightening facts about some of the patriarchs of this peculiar language

"Wow," I thought "I've always wondered this! Why is there that u in four? Tell me oh non-fiction book of research!"

There were times when this book was really interesting. Certain chapters made me nod my head in wonder, excited that I would be able to answer that Jeopardy question correctly. But other times, though the information slightly interesting, I felt cheated. You know that forty four thing? Well it pretty much was answered "I dont know. It just developed that way"

What?

Why even tease me, book! Overall though, it was interesting and it takes a lot of a non-fiction book to keep me with it. So I gave it three stars.

Happy Birthday to Me! Book A

In honor of my (Nicole's) July 10th birthday:

A. Read a book by a writer who is a Cancer (June 21-July 22)
AND
B. Read a book that has a NOUN in the title. This noun MUST appear on page 31 of your Part A book (I am turning 31 this summer).

First off. It's not my birthday. Mine is a good 5 months away (also so is Christmas. fyi get your shopping done early!) It was the designer of this challenge's birthday. And thus our Cancer challenge.

(Side note about Cancers. My roommate in college is a Cancer and she was always so mad she couldn't get the panties that had your astrological sign on them. She thought it would just be asking for trouble.)

Anyway book A was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The Outsider's is a classic coming of age tale. I read this as a 7th grader and was enthralled. I loved everyone from Ponyboy to Dally. I wanted Sodapop to be my brother or maybe my boyfriend... I was a seventh grade girl.

I remember loving this book so much that a few months later I got the book out from the library and read the entire thing out loud to my younger sister, who also really enjoyed it.

Now, I reread it, hoping to feel that magic again. But it didn't happen for me. I found myself reading it more as a look back into a time where they used words like "tuff" and "heaters." In a side note though, when I read that in 7th grade I thought they were literally talking about heaters. You know, the small portable kind. Taking heaters to a rumble always seemed kind of strange to me.

Why was I not captivated again? Did I love it the first go round because I was in love with the '50s decade? Did I relate to it more as a preteen? Probably a little of both. I enjoyed it this time, but i enjoy the memory of it more. The next time I read this, if ever, it will be to someone who can show me it again through the eyes of a 12 year old.

I still give it four stars though, if only for the memory of what once was 5.

I also remember seeing the movie of this with all those young stars (like Tom Cruise) and being utterly disappointed. "Way to ruin a good book", I thought. I henceforth ignored its existence.

Has that ever happened to you? The movie ruin the book? Which ones? I am sure I have more that this applies to, but it's just when I think of this book that memory of my dislike for the movie is there as well.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Read a book involving Greek and/or Roman gods. May be non-fiction or fiction. Half-blood Gods are fine.

Book Title/Author: Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Publisher/Year Published: 2002 by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Where I got it: I own it. I think I purchased it from Half Price Books back in the day
Rating: 3/5 stars

Fantasy Lover is the first in The Dark-Hunter series. Well, I would call it more of a prequel to the series because it stands alone quite nicely and really doesn't have any part in the mythos of the Dark-Hunters. It does the following: 1)sets up the thoughts that the gods are a part of life, even still today 2)mentions the character of the real first Dark-Hunter book a couple of times.

But let's get to the actual book, shall we? This book stars Grace, a frustrated sex therapist who is not getting any herself. Her concerned friend gives her a supposedly ancient book that will help alleviate this problem. Skeptical Grace gets drunk enough to say the enchantment that will release the sex slave from the book. It works and Julian, an ancient demigod who has been cursed in the book since Sparta was a viable state, pops out and starts wanting to get his freak on. Grace, though drunk, does not and decides to help him get out of the book with all that entails.

Writing that all out makes the book sound ridiculous, but in actuality it is quite funny. The premise is interesting. Ancient Greek sex slave, yours for a month! And the characters are very well rounded. Some of the secondary characters I love to death. Take for instance Cupid and Psyche, the bikers. Cupid, excuse me, Eros wears his bow on a little necklace!

If you like romance novels that have humor in them and a little bit of the super natural, I recommend this book. There is no commitment to the rest of the series as it wraps up quite nicely at the end. I'm not sure what number the Dark-Hunters are on now. I fell off the wagon when they all were the same plot with a slightly different take. But the first ones were quite enjoyable, starting with Fantasy Lover.

Sorry, followers. I thought this posted quite awhile ago. Apparently I screwed up the scheduling. My bad.

For the Children: Book B

The Summer Challenge starts on 1 June, and 1 June 2010 is International Children's Day.
A.Read a children’s classic book (EXAMPLE: Peter Pan) AND either pass it on, or recommend it to a child (give details when you claim your points).
AND
B. Read any book where a child is the main character. (EXAMPLE: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)
Both books must be at least 100 pages.

Book Title/Author: The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
Publisher/Year Published: 2005 by Miramax
Where I got it: Library. A helpful librarian helped me find it actually.
Rating: 3/5 stars

Since I am on a books with Greek gods kick, lets review The Lightening Thief, the first book in the Percy Jackson series. I've heard a lot about this book from people of different ages. The first time I heard about this book was a few years ago from my then 7 or 8 year old cousin. He adored it! Loved the quests and the gods (having never known anything about Greek mythology before this). Putting myself in his place, at 8 years old I was in the mythology club (yes we had one at my grade school) and trying to read Edith Hamilton's Mythology, but being unable to get into it. This book would have been a godsend.

I understand its appeal to a younger audience. Fast paced, scary monsters, winning in the end. But for me reading it as a 23 year old, it's just alright. I enjoyed how the author modernizes the Greek myths and guessing who the gods and monsters were before we were told, but I just couldn't get into it.

Don't get me wrong; it was fun and I'll probably pick up the next book. It just seemed a little too easy. Before his quest, he was struggling, trying to find his way, screwing up. But any time he faced an adversary slash boom dead? I don't buy it. Especially the climax. No one can mature that much in a week.

For kids, thumbs up. I'd give it 4 as an adult rating it for kids. As a kid, I'd have give it s 5. But for me, a 3. It was just too easy. (And I can hear Percy in my head "You think that was EASY?!")

In related notes, I heard the movie was good. I'll have to pick that up soon.

Roll the Dice!

So today I am the featured blogger over at The Broke and the Bookish. I reviewed Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo by Beth Whitman.

The challenge for this was outlined below:

Do you feel lucky...are the dice on your side? For this task you will need to visit the website (3 Random Dice). The amount shown on the dice (+/- 10) will be the amount of pages that you will need to read for this task. I.E. if you rolled a 3,5,2 you would need to read a book between between 342 and 362 pages long (EXAMPLE: Son of a Witch (Wicked Years, #2)). You can only click on the link one time.

I rolled a 262 and Wanderlust was 272 pages.

Check out the link above for the review!

Wedding Bells Are Ringing: Book A

June is one of the most popular months for weddings and weddings as we all know are full of traditions. One of the most commonly followed of those traditions is for the bride to have "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue" on her wedding day. To honor that tradition...

A. OLD - Read an old book (to qualify as an old book it must have been published before you were born).
AND
B. NEW - Read a book written by a new author i.e. a book by an author you haven't read previously.

BORROWED - One of the books above must be borrowed (from the library, from a friend or family member etc.)
BLUE - And the other book must either have a blue cover or the word blue in the title.

(I.E. You need to read an old book that is borrowed and a new book that is blue OR an old book that is blue and a new book that is borrowed.)

Book Title/Author: Somewhere In Time (aka Bid Time Return) by Richard Matheson
Publisher/Year Published: Tor Books 1974
Where I got it: Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

So this book was something old and something borrowed. I wish I could remember why I decided to read this. I feel like it had something to do with Wikipedia and Christopher Reeve. You know one of those moments where you just get lost for hours clicking links and then all of a sudden an hour has past and you've ended up on a page about Ebola.

So I found this book that way. Apparently its also a movie, which I do want to see at one point. When I mentioned to most of the women of my acquaintance who are closer to 40 than 20 they all were like "Oh that movie was great!" so we'll see.

Now the book. Basically its about this guy, Richard, who is leaving his life behind to get away from his family who are treating him as if he will die at any moment. Which apparently he might.

Richard ends up at this hotel and sees a picture of this woman, Elise, whom he is drawn to. He spends most of the beginning of the book finding out as much as he can about her and traveling in time to her.

He does go back in time, and that is the part of the book that I really became interested. It was a good 100 pages before he meets her, and while the beginning was somewhat interesting it just wasn't as interesting as the end. And even that dragged a bit. I enjoyed the time travel aspect quite a bit actually and I like how he thought about things like changing his speech pattern.

Overall, I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. It was a decent read. I am curious to see how they adapted it to the screen, to see if it engages me more.

Six Degrees of Separation: Book B

In honor of Six Degrees of Separation (play premiered on May 16, 1990) and Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (headlined on April 7, 1994, do the following:

A. Read any book off your TBR
AND
B. Read a book that the author is at a maximum of six degrees of separation from the author in Part A. In your post for this task you must explain the connection in order to get credit.

Book Title/Author: In the Electric Eden: Stories by Nick Arvin
Year Published: January 28th 2003 by Penguin (Non-Classics)
Where I got it: New books shelf at my campus library
Rating: 2/5 stars

This was the second book in the Six Degrees Challenge. I found this collection of short stories on the shelf at my library and it looked interesting. Some of these stories were really interesting, but most of them were ridiculously depressing.

Overall it was okay. Nothing I would pick up again, but most of the stories made me think, if not about life then at least how many pages were left until the next one started.

Although, my inner computer scientist does have to give props to the phrase "binary smile."

Again, how I completed the 6 degree challenge:

Book A: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Book B: In the Electric Eden: Stories by Nick Arvin

Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 which is being (re)made into a movie directed by Frank Darabont.
Frank Darabont also directed The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, all written by Steven King.
Steven King was on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in Feb 1999
Conan O'Brien also interviewed Fred Savage in Feb 1999
Fred Savage graduated from Stanford where Nick Arvin is also a grad.

The Name Game: Book A

Let's Play The Name Game
A. For the first half of the task, read any book you like of at least 100 pages.
AND
B. For the second half of the task read another book (of at least 100 pages) whose author’s first or last name, is the same as the last name of the author of the book you read for the first half of the task.

Well, I've finished the first half of this challenge, and decided to do the review for that book:

Book Title/Author: Promise Me Tonight by Sara Lindsey
Publisher/Year Published: 2010 by Signet
Where I got it: Another... interesting cover. It called to me when looking for an eBook to read that fit a challenge.
Rating: 2/5 stars

This book is about a girl, Isabella Weston, who falls in love with her neighbor, James (who is best friends with her older brother), at an early age. She knows she will marry him and stops at nothing to get the outcome she desires. James, a emphatic bachelor, though stunned by the beauty she has turned out to be, is unmoved by her machinations. Hijinks ensue.

There were times when reading this book that I literally laughed out loud. Sadly, these times did not outweigh the times I was sighing in exasperation.

The character's are not bad. In fact, their dialog was occasionally some of the wittiest that I have read in this genre in a while. They have potential, but they fit too well into types that I could read anywhere and written better.

It's the author's first novel, so I may give her another chance once she has had some time to polish things up, but right now it was just not engaging, boring and repetitive. I sometimes had problems understanding why characters acted the way they did and why what they ended up doing was even an option in the first place. It proved to be more frustrating than enjoyable.

It didn't help that my eBook was somehow missing most of chapter 21 but at that point I had given up the redemption of this book.

Too much misunderstanding, not enough sexual tension. But there were times when I laughed at loud.

Maybe in a couple of years I'll give some of the other Weston siblings a chance.

Virtual Foreign Vacation

Summer is traditionally the time of year for family vacations. It is not always feasible to go to the places you wish to see, so for this task..

A. Read a fictional book that takes place in a country that you have always wanted to visit but have never had the chance to.
AND
B. Read a book that was originally written in a foreign language.

Book Title/Author: The Taming of the Duke by Eloisa James
Publisher/Year Published: 2006 by Avon
Where I got it: It haunted me from the end cap at Wal*Mart... and I gave in to it's awesome cover
Rating: 3/5 stars

This book is the third of the four in the Essex sister's quartet of books. There are no plot spoilers other than what you would find in the summary on the back of the book, but just in case this is my warning.

This was a reread for me. I loved the tension between Imogen and Rafe throughout this series. This book, their book, is book three and the culmination of that, but the "big reveal" wasn't enough for me and was kind of a "Wait... what?" I still thought it was good, and I still really love the secondary characters. It just seems that there was not enough time spent with just Rafe (and I mean Rafe) and Imogen. It was like their relationship was on the back burner.

But I can't hate this book. It is still so wonderful. And it introduced me to Eloisa James as a writer.

In another note, the cover is to die for and may be my favorite cover that I own.

Book Title/Author: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
Publisher/Year Published: 2001 by Knopf Publishing Group (first published 1985)
Where I got it: Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

I sort of stumbled into this book. I don't normally read whatever genre you would call this, so I went in with a little trepidation. I like plot driven novels more than character driven, and unfortunately this falls mostly in the latter. There were times when Grenouille was doing something that I was completely engaged, turning pages to see what would happen next. And others, especially during chapters told from people I just met, where I wanted to get back to the point.

It was an interesting novel though, and at some points I was really thrown. I did not expect the ending at all but it was fitting for this story.

The idea of scent as the main focus is intriguing to me. I always found it one of the harder senses to capture in media. But Süskind (or his translator I guess) does a good job of helping me smell what Grenouille did through vivid vocabulary. The evolution from form to perfume also really interested me.

So I give it three stars. It's a good book, just not the kind that I fall in love with.