Get Lost in Literature

  “A story,” said Rain, “is like a room. You enter it through a door like ‘Once upon a time’ or ‘Once there was a little girl’…” Rain, Cossy, and Iskinaary have escaped prison with the help of Flying Monkeys and are fleeing the city that’s come under naval attack. Lucickles has gone into hiding with his family at his mother-in-law’s farm, where they are besieged by refugees, eventually including the green-skinned teenager that ruined the world as he knew it. I love that this story (both books so far) wants to ask existential questions. The difference of life and death is a curiosity to be studied, more so by Cossy than Rain. They are both transfixed be the question of ‘who am I?’ as Rain tries to discover her lost memories and Cossy tries to discover herself with the loss of the brides and the only home she’s ever known. There’s also the subject of destiny… If you believe in that sort of thing, which Rain does not but some of the characters around her do. They believe it is her des...

Book Beginnings on Fridays by Rose City Reader -  Share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now. “Sidestep the hangman’s noose, don’t show up for your own execution, and where has it got you?” The Oracle of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire For those of you new to my blog, I love love love Gregory Maguire. I'm maybe a little biased when I read his books because I am a fan. This trilogy follows Elphaba's granddaughter Rain and I'm two books in and am enjoying it so far. Book Blogger Hop Q: What do you think about rising prices for hardcovers, paperbacks, and eBooks? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee-Addicted Writer) A: Quite frankly, it pisses me off… and it makes me feel old. I remember when: When $5 could get me a paperback, the price of eBooks was $2, and hardbacks somewhere between $15-20. Now I’ve spent as much as $20 on paperbacks, ...

 What is the difference between a mystery and a thriller? Some of you may already know this, especially if you are mystery or thriller readers, but I only learned the difference recently. I always assumed a thriller was a mystery with a lot of action in it. After all, action is thrilling. I was always perplexed when a book classified as a thriller, had no action in it at all and read like a mystery. Apparently, there can be a bit of crossover between the two. A thriller can be mysterious and a mystery can be action packed, so maybe I’m not the only one who has been confused. The biggest defining characteristic of a mystery is that it should revolve around crimes that take place in the past . It’s usually intellectually driven, slow burn, and filled with clues that dribble out over time. The antagonist is kept a secret, usually not revealed until the end, or the climax at the earliest. The biggest defining characteristic of a thriller? The opposite of a mystery, it revolve...

“Shadows in the corridor loomed, only to scurry away. They seemed taller in the witching hour, dawn mere hours away.” In this sequel to One Dark Window , Nightmare has finally taken over Elspeth’s mind, leaving her imprisoned in the dark. Ravyn, who is desperate to save her and break the curse on Blunder, must find the last Providence card before time runs out. With Hauth on his deathbed, Elm finds himself becoming an unwilling heir to the throne. I loved the plot of this a little bit better than the first. I think maybe the first book was simply introducing the world… The second book is more of a quest as the future of Blunder hangs in the balance. There was no waffling about either, nothing extraneous included. RG knew where she wanted her characters to go and she sent them there. The romantasy elements were really fun. The story is passionate without being super smutty. Ravyn’s determined to save Elspeth even if it means allying himself with the monster that lives in her head, even ...

“He didn’t particularly like being himself, but he didn’t want to be anyone else either.” Julia Malmros is a successful mystery novelist with a whole career ahead of her. When she’s asked to ghostwrite for the Millennium series she reaches out to Kim Ribbing, a mysterious hacker, to help her prepare for the task. Olof Helander is throwing a Midsummer’s Eve party when armed assassins unleash a rain of bullets. Julia and Kim find themselves drawn into the violent murder when they discover the brutal aftermath. This author is on my auto-buy list. Doesn’t matter what it is, if he wrote it, I’ll give it a try. Up until now, I’ve only known him as a horror writer. I was deeply intrigued when I saw this newest translated novel was a mystery. The characters are interesting to say the least. Julia is a retired cop, turned crime-writer investigating the murder of a childhood friend. Kim, a hacker, lives his life under the oppressive weight of childhood trauma as revealed in flashbacks throughou...

For this year’s A-Z Challenge, I decided to focus my posts on bookish topics. I don’t think all of them were as bookish as I wanted them to be, but I took a shot at it. I’m proud to say this is the third year in a row I managed to blog from A-Z without missing any letters. If you want to take a look at some of my topics, I posted a list here . I am disappointed in myself though. The difference between this year and the previous two, is I didn’t have time to blog as thoroughly as I wanted. I usually visit ten new blogs a day, but my blogging this year was restricted to weekends. I tried to visit everyone who visited me, but some days that just wasn’t possible. So I apologize if you were kind enough to visit me and I couldn’t make it to your blog in return. Mostly when I look back at this challenge, I consider it a semi-success. I found some new blogs and rejuvenated my interest in some old ones. I managed to post from A-Z even if I didn’t have time to enjoy as many of your blogs as I ...