Get Lost in Literature

This week's Top Ten Topic is New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023 hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl , I read 15 books last year, 11 of which were new to me. Simon Jimenez, The Vanished Birds Chuck Wendig, Wanderers Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones Alex Grecian, The Yard Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora Eric Barnes, The City Where We Once Lived Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns Jennifer McMahon, The Winter People Lisa Gardener, Crash & Burn Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?

  "They would use your life as if it were oil for a proper lamp. You must defy them, but you must defy them with purity and confidence."  Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice This is the story of Louis, a vampire from New Orleans, which is the perfect place for a vampire to come from IMHO. It’s of his maker, Lestat, and his companions Claudia and Armand. I find there are two types of vampires in pop culture. The first type is the ruthless killer who embraces its vampire nature, like in classic story Dracula or newer NOS4A2. You also have the brooding vampire, overly emotional, like in Twilight or Vampire Diaries . Lestat is the former, Louis the latter. Lestat is greedy, flamboyant, reveling in his own nature; coldly and sometimes erratically trying to teach Louis what it means to be a vampire. “Let the flesh instruct the mind.” Louis is aghast at what he’s become and hesitant to start killing humans because he’s retained his human nature…I say hesitant because he does...

Book Blogger Hop Q: How long have you gone without reading?  (submitted by Billy @  Coffee Addicted Writer ) A: I think a year. Maybe a little more than a year, but definitely not two years. I usually read a few pages a day, a few chapters maybe on weekends, but sometimes there's no time or I get a little burnout and the weeks go by... But I always come back to it. What about you? How often do you read? Join me this monday for my review of Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice!

Tuesday Top Ten is hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl . This week's Top Ten topic is: Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To . Picking only ten seemed like a trying task because my TBR list is over three hundred strong, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized there are books on that list I'd like to read sooner than others. Spare by Prince Harry (although why he's calling himself 'Prince' when he no longer is?) Midnight Library by Matt Haig A Weekend in Paris by Robin Sysman (a friend gave me this but I don't often read 'chick-lit'.) Edgar Allen Poe short stories (started not finished yet) Babel by RF Kuang Murtagh by Christopher Paolini The Retreat by Sarah Pearse Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini The Brides of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire A Thousand Recipes for Revenge by Beth Cato These books were all available in 2023, but for one reason or another I didn't read them. Better luck this year? What's on your list?

  "No one has tried to kill me, but this feels like an ambush all the same."  A Vow So Bold & Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer A Curse So Dark & Lonely , covers the story of Harper, a heroine with cerebral palsy and an attitude problem, saving Rhen, a prince struggling under the weight of a cruel enchantress's curse.  A Heart So Fierce & Broken , covers the story of ex-Royal Guard Commander Grey, searching for sanctuary and finding it with Lia Mara, the extra heir of an enemy kingdom.  So we've got our characters a set up for the exciting conclusion,  A Vow So Bold and Deadly .  The Kingdom of Emberfall is split between loyalties; those who would be loyal to the True Heir, and those who remain loyal to Prince Rhen. It appears hopeless... how can they repel an invasion, if Rhen can't unify his own people.   Lia Mara, the new Queen of Syhl Shallow, is facing much the same problem. There are those who would have preferred the rule of her sister...

"...his next attack is brutal and swift and brings me to the ground. I taste blood and dirt on my tongue." - A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer So this is on the list of reviews that isn't really my best work. But Cursebreakers is reading material heavy on entertainment but light on substance, and my reviews tend to mirror the book.   In the first book, we followed Harper and Rhen on their fairytale romance. In the sequel, the story swaps between the perspectives of Grey, the used to be Commander of the Royal Guard and Not Quite Princess Lia Mara who wants to bring peace to two warring countries.  I feel a little irritated by the character developments that had to occur for this story to take place. In the first book, Harper was a fighter and in this one the fight went bye-bye. Rhen became crueler and more defensive, aggresive. But ultimately A Heart so Fierce and Broken was not their story...  The fairytale is gone.  Grey is in hiding as a means to p...

Book Blogger Hop   Q: How many books are on your "to be read" list?  (submitted by Billy @  Coffee Addicted Writer ) A: According to Goodreads, 320, although I'm sure the actual number is slightly higher. I don't own them already, I'm not some book addicted nut with 320 unread books on her shelves...I'm just a book addicted nut with shelves that contain previously read books. It is an endless list though, I no sooner read one and I add one or two more. What's your TBR look like? Do you get books to read and store them for a 'rainy' day?

Looking Back at 2023 Happy New Year!  In 2023, I challenged myself to 12 books, determined to make time for at least one book a month.  It's not a flashy number, but I was pretty excited to see myself surpass it by three, reading 15 instead of 12. Overall, I read 6,656 pages in 2023. My second goal was to cut back on impulse buys and read something off my to-be-read list. Good Omens   by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen  was a book I was inspired to re-read after watching the adaptation of the same name. Th e City Where We Once Lived by Eric Barnes , being my only impulse buy of the year, was also my shortest book . Everything else I read in 2023 was either sitting unread on a physical shelf, or sitting on Good Reads TBR shelf. My  Favorite Book of 2023 was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini , if you haven't read it I recommend that you do.  My Worst Read of the year was Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice . I don't want to say it wasn't a g...