Get Lost in Literature

  “She wanted to say 'I love you like a thunderstorm, like a lion, like a helpless rage'...” This book was probably my most ambitious read of the year. A story over 900 pages, that covers decades of life. The characters were richly fleshed out: Tom Mason who dreams of building the greatest cathedral England has ever seen. Philip, youngest Prior of a defunct monestary, determined to raise it to glory. Young noble lady Aliena, betrayed, assaulted, robbed of her home, and fighting back for her rights in a time that favors patriarchs. William Hamleigh, cunning and cruel, who can't decide whether revenge or power is more rewarding. This story was a fine example of how characters should drive a plot and not be controlled by a preconceived notion of what should happen. Ken Follet crafted a world on paper where the characters didn't just live a little; they breathed and they bled into the soul of the book. I cried when they cried, I hoped when they hoped. My review does not do ...

"Make friends with fear, Lucien always said, because it will not go away, and it will destroy you if left uncontrolled." I'm a long time fan of the film, just reading the book for the first time. The story takes place in rural, 1980s Mississippi, where two men brutally assault a ten year old girl. Her father, Carl Lee Hailey, believes they'll get away with it because his daughter is black while the perpetrators are white... and he seeks revenge. Jake Brigance is a criminal lawyer who is called to represent Mr. Hailey and defend him from the ultimate punishment: death. I've never been to Mississippi so I can't say as to whether or not the public racial tensions depicted in this book are entertainingly cliche or disturbingly spot on. Segregation legally ended, but in the hearts of the citizens of Clanton, it ended too soon. White on Black on White crimes invite protests, Klansmen, excessive use of the N-word, more violence, and the National Guard... It also illu...

Book Blogger Hop Do you drink tea or coffee while reading? (submitted by Billy @  Coffee Addicted Writer ) My preference is actually for hot chocolate. I'll occasionally swap out the hot chocolate for a non-caffeinated herbal tea, and on hot summer days, swap out the hot beverage for a tall glass of chilled lemonade. What's your literary beverage of choice?

  "It isn't selfish to protect yourself from abusive people." No Gods No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull No, it's really not. Thursday Quotables @  Bookshelf Fantasies

There is something wrong with my brain when it comes to connecting long-term human dialogue, to a story I can follow.  I first discovered this problem with radio broadcasts.  As a kid, my dad always had a radio outside on hot summer days, blasting the Red Sox game for the whole neighborhood to hear. I could sit in the stands and watch a baseball game, or sit in front of the television, but I never could bring the announcers voice into my mind's eye to hear the game.  Alternatively, my mother not only could listen and understand the broadcasts, she once told me she actually preferred listening to football and baseball on the radio. She'd get excited about some call made during a Patriot's game during a car ride, and be unhappy when I didn't know what was happening, never-mind which team it was happening too. I made a friend, who was older than myself, but shared my love of reading. Her thing was English Mysteries. She also liked to read "whatever the kids are readin...

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is: Books I Was SO EXCITED to Get, but Still Haven’t Read. I considered skipping today, because I couldn't think of a single title to add to the list... And then something inside me went, "C'mon, be honest..." My eyes glanced sideways at the two reusable shopping bags in the corner of my room, loaded up with books. It feels weird, and maybe a little shameful that I had to have these books, and there they sit. But I take comfort knowing, that this topic is proof: I am not alone. 1. Norwegian by Night , by Derek B Miller 2. Salvage the Bones , by Jesmyn Ward 3. The Yard , by Alex Grecian 4. Vicious , by VE Schwab. 5. The Sanatorium, by Sara Pearse 6. The Song of Achilles , by Madeline Miller 7. The House Next Door , by James Patterson 8. Hour Game , by David Baldacci 9. Classic Stories , by Edgar Allen Poe 10. A Thousand Splendid Suns , by Khaled Hosseini I'm waiting on some hot summer weekends, to spend lounging in a lawn chair, t...

  "We're Miss Peregrine's peculiar children," said Bronwyn. "You know what," said Enoch. "That doesn't sound quite right anymore." You've got that right, Enoch. When I reviewed Library of Souls , I opened with the words, "The final installment of Miss Peregrine's, was a surplus of ebb and flow..." I felt like book 3 was comparatively lacking the magic and intrigue of the first two books, and neither book 3 or 2 had the charm of the first novel. It was the final installment and a part of me was relieved to have an ending... Quite obviously, Ransom Riggs wasn't ready to let go because the story continues on. (I know, I know, no one is making me read it.) Book 4 came as a surprise to me, not just because it exists when it shouldn't, but because I almost wish the book had been marketed as a new series for the same characters. Jacob and the Peculiars' original story arc is complete and this is something new. Long at la...

T. Kingfisher's  What Moves the Dead,  is a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's, The Fall of the House of Usher.  I've never read anything by T.Kingfisher before, I couldn't resist the temptation offered by this ARC from NetGalley. I'm a longtime Poe fan, and The Fall of the House of Usher is my favorite. Alex Easton, a retired Gallacian soldier, receives a letter from his childhood friend, Madeline Usher. The letter is urgent, she doesn't have long left to live and now her brother's health is failing as well. He rides out to the House of Usher, to find the manor decrepit; its occupants too poor to maintain it, and too sickly to leave it. An American surgeon, Dr. James Denton, has been called to treat the Ushers' strange malady, but admits to not knowing what it is or how to help them. As Alex tries to help his friends, he begins to realize there is more to the mystery than meets the eye. Out on the heath, the animals are acting strangely... The first two par...

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl , today's topic is Top Ten Bookish Characters (these could be readers, writers, authors, librarians, professors, etc.) I quite like when writers write books with bookish characters and plots, so I'm super excited about this topic. 1.  Liesel Meminger in  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak . An orphan growing up in Nazi Germany, Liesel covets books above all else. 2.  Clay Jannon in  Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan . Clay's just been hired to work at the 24 Hour Bookstore, where strange customer ask for even stranger books. 3.   Mori Phelps in  Among Others by Jo Walton . Mori is the daughter of a witch, who finds refuge from her family tragedy with science fiction novels. 4.   Zachary Ezra Rawlins, a college student, discovers a strange book at his school's library. As he tries to uncover the book's secret's he is eventually led to an ancient library hidden below the earth ...

“It had become one of the defining truths of my life that, no matter how I tried to keep them flattened, two-dimensional, jailed in paper and ink, there would always be stories that refused to stay bound inside books. It was never just a story. I would know: a story had swallowed my whole life.” The "final installment" of Miss Peregrine's was a surplus of ebb and flow. There were moments of high anxiety action and moments that dragged sleepily onward. The photographs were fewer and less quirky than in the previous two books, and when they appeared, the dialogue had to go out of its way to include the photos. This book probably could have been improved upon by removing the photos and all descriptions of them. Jacob and Emma are racing against time to save all their friends, the ymbrynes, and all of Peculiardom... But the story of Jacob and Emma, heroes of a children's book, seemed at odds with the story of Jacob and Emma the-mutant-teenage-couple. Ransom couldn't r...

  "It showed me him–a miserable little piss-ant trying to make himself feel bigger by hurting people who couldn’t fight back. He wasn’t small in stature, but he was small inside, where it counted. His very soul was shriveled as a raisin and about the same size."- That Which is Hidden , by Julie Frost That Which is Hidden  by Julie Frost, is kind of an unusual story. I liked the idea: a werewolf seeks justice for a murdered loved one. It was a little bit of a cheesefest here and there; in the end, I appreciated the moral of the story. What are you reading this week? * Thursday Quotables  hosted by  Bookshelf Fantasies . 

 Today's list for the Top Ten Tuesday  hosted by   That Artsy Reader Girl ,  is: One Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read , but it was a bit long for a blog title. I've never actually done a one word review before; am I supposed to tell you what the book was about, or whether I thought the book was good or bad?  Under normal circumstances, I usually try and do both. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth:    Lesbians. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi:    Racism. The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living by Meik Wiking:    Ambiance. Fantastic Fungi: How Mushrooms Can Heal, Shift Consciousness, and Save the Planet  by Paul Stamets:    Repetitive. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith:    Creepy. Jaws by Peter Benchley:    Karma. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini:    Spaceships The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness:    Misogyn...

“That version, as with so many of the stories we tell about our history, erased a woman- a plain, bad heroine- in favor of a less messy and more palatable yarn about two feuding brothers from New England.” ― Emily M. Danforth, Plain Bad Heroines Plain Bad Heroines is a book with two settings; the story begins in 1902 Rhode Island, at Brookhants School for Girls. The girls at the school become infatuated with each other, and obsessed with a memoir by teen author, Mary MacLane. They start a society that worships the book and, eventually, die tragically with the book in their company. Libbie Brookhants and her long time girlfriend, Alexandra Trills are trying to unravel the mystery before they themselves become unraveled. The second setting is in modern day Hollywood, where actresses Harper Harper and Audrey Wells have been cast to play leading roles in an upcoming horror movie titled: Happenings at Brookhants , based on the novel written by teen writer Merritt Emmons who will be consulti...