Get Lost in Literature

 "There are some awful things in the world, it's true, but there's also some great books." -Jo Walton, Among Others Okay, so not a very imaginative B for a book blog, but that's why I'm here: Books. Beautiful, bountiful, books. A book is a dream recorded. A book is an adventure waiting to be had. A book is a hero undiscovered. And a villain just a little bit bad. Okay, so poet I am not. But there are a lot of things to like about books. They can offer education. From a baby’s ABC book to your childhood textbooks to how-to manuals… Like how-to build that cabinet from IKEA, books journey with us every step of the way, even if we don’t like them. And if you do like them a whole new world opens up to you, or should I say worlds? Because the best part about books is their ability to take you somewhere new. With so many genres - spine tingling horror to the warmth of fairytales, to contemporary fiction with cities as familiar as the one you live in, to the strangene...

"I suppose that is the nature of monument...The monument does not say that this man or that man walked here...The feeling, at least here...and there... it remains the same." Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice Imagination is the place where your dreams are true. And it's as simple as opening a book and allowing yourself to be drawn into the world between the pages, get lost in that adventure with characters you've only just met...  Or maybe you're not much of a reader. Maybe you seek adventure through television, movies, or videogames. Getting lost in the dream may mean getting lost in the screen.  There is a place where dreamers of all types merge: the adaptations. Admittedly, some adaptations are  better than others, others deviating laughably from source material, but literary works are often translated into other forms of media. Like The Walking Dead ... Which started out as a graphic novel (not really my cup of tea) about surviving the zombie apocalypse an...

"It was downright uncanny, in a way that had nothing to do with ghosts and monsters. You could feel the weight of the stone pressing down overhead..." Before I summarize the story, let me express my surprise that Alex Easton is non-binary. In the first book I was convinced Alex was a he and in the second book I saw evidence that Alex was a she.  In this last book, I realized Alex is neither which is why gender is never emphasized. Three books into the  Sworn   Soldier series(trilogy?)  and it’s clear to see that I’m kind of slow on the uptake. Alex Easton is back in a new adventure. Kan (the pronouns Alex uses are ‘ka/kan’ originating from Galician) old friend Dr. James Denton has written to tell kan about an abandoned mine where his cousin Oscar has gone missing. Denton insists that Oscar was taken by something ‘other’ and that there’s the possibility he is still alive. Alex agrees to look into Oscar’s disappearance. While the original inspiration for this series wa...

"One sailor saw a dead eel in a barrel of vinegar. But it might not have been dead, because you know what eels are like." In 1628, Mayken and her nursemaid Imke set sail for Batavia on the Batavia.  Imke is taking Mayken to live with her father after her mother dies. During the journey Mayken learns of a monster that lives below deck and takes the form of a giant eel, Bullebak. Mayken comes to believe Bullebak is real when Imke's toe is bitten and begins her quest to capture the monster on board. In 1989, newly orphaned Gil is sent to live with his ill-tempered grandfather, Joss, on the island where his mother grew up. Once on the island, Gil is ostracized by the small community and left alone most of the day while his grandfather goes out fishing. Left to his own devices, he learns about a ghost that haunts the island and the ship that wrecked just offshore. I loved the tone of this book. While killing mothers in the opening act is nothing new - Disney has made a fortune...

The A-Z Challenge is almost here and I'm pretty excited about it. (I think I started working on my posts in December). Last year I focused on posting A-Z Reviews, some new and some old, for the yearly April Challenge, but this year I decided to go a different way. This year, I'm going to be posting A-Z Bookish Topics/Discussions . I'm going to make sure to add a related question at the end of each blog post, hoping to make my blog a little more interactive this time around, and I look forward to hearing what other people will have to say. Be sure to leave me a link to your Theme Reveal, I'm curious to see what everyone else will be doing!

"Betrayal lodges in my heart like a hot coal trapped behind the grate of the hearth." In this final installment of the Forging Silver into Stars trilogy, Grey has been chased from the Crystal Palace in Syhl Shallow and has returned to Ironrose in Emberfall, leaving his wife Queen Lia Mara to rule her country alone. Like with the first two novels, the continuation of Grey and Lia Mara's complicated love story is a delicious side plot to compliment the story of Tycho, Jax, Callyn, and Alek. Tycho, who promised he'd only be gone for a few days, returns to Emberfall after months away from Jax. Jax had spent his alone time making friends and a not-so-secret admirer. They both feel a little guilty; Tycho per usual looking to hide his emotions behind a wall of toxic masculinity, and Jax trying to hide his emotions with fake indifference. Both agonize over the distance growing between them, neither willing to yield. Callyn is living under the weight of her anxiety; Alek upon ...