Get Lost in Literature

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. "Kell wore a very peculiar coat. It had neither one side, which would be conventional, nor two, which would be unexpected, but several , which was, of course, impossible." A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab So I quite loved this series and am rereading it to break out of a reading slump. I think it was better than The Villians duology which was also quite lovable, and way better than The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue which was however enjoyable, a little overrated (unpopular opinion). And the fact that I'm using it to break out of a reading slump makes today's Book Blogger Hop question very well timed.  Book Blogger Hop Q: How do you deal with reading slumps or moments when you can't get into a book? (submitted by Bill...

Today's Top Ten Tuesday hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl was listed as Thanksgiving Freebie and I decided to go with 10 authors I want to give thanks to for the positive impacts they've had on my life. Thank you, 1. Jack London - for teaching me all about survival of the fittest. 2. Brian Jacques - for taking me on so many adventures. 3. Chris Paolini - for letting me ride a dragon and inspiring me to become a writer myself. 4. J.K. Rowling - for never letting me forget the power of friendship, even if your political and humanitarian agendas are not the same as my own. 5. Gregory Maguire - for keeping the magic alive. 6. Bram Stoker - for writing Dracula because that book was epic. 7. John Ajvide Lindqvist - for knowing exactly how to scare me. 8. Edgar Allan Poe - for writing horror as if it were poetry. 9. V.E. Schwab - for the many worlds she's breathed to life. 10. J.R.R. Tolkien - for teaching me to dream big in a world where I'm small and reminding me that 'not ...

Today's topic for Tuesday Top Ten hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl  is officially listed as the Oldest (aka Earliest Published) Books On My TBR (submitted by Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits) . The reality is I don't know and my TBR list is so big I couldn't possibly sort through them all to find out. So this Tuesday, I'm doing Books with Red on the Cover. 1. Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben 2. Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire 3. Gone South by Robert McCammon 4. What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher 5. A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer 6. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth 7.Devolution by Max Brooks 8. Vicious by V.E. Schwab 9. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill 10. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

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. "Richard Strickland reads the brief from General Hoyt. He's at eleven thousand feet. The twin-prop taking hits as hard as a boxer's fists." This is one of my top ten favorite movies of all time. And while I don't remember what came first the movie or the book, either way it's great. If you've never heard of Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, it's a sci-fi/fantasy/romance about a mute woman who falls in love with a thing that's essentially The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Book Blogger Hop  Q: Do you like to annotate your books or leave them untouched? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer) A: I leave them untouched and take notes in a separate notebook.

 Today's Top Ten Tuesday is a book blog meme hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl . Today's topic is  Destination Titles (titles with name of places in them.)  1. Redwall by Brian Jacques 2. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan 3. The City of Brass by SA Chakraborty 4. Babel by RF Kuang 5. The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse 6. Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey 7. Zodiac Station by Tom Harper 8. Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton 9. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs 10. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Have you read any of these? What's your favorite fictional place?

 I'm taking a break from reviewing through the month of November. I want to recharge my batteries a bit. I don't want to fall into a reading slump from overdoing and November is a busy month. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo ( I won't make it anywhere near the winning word count ), Christmas shopping, and of course spending time with my family Thanksgiving week. And that's all on top of my regular schedule of work, making sure my horse is taken care of, and my never ending battle with laundry. But don't worry, I'll be back in December and I'll still be posting for my blog memes ( I think ).

Happy Sunday!  The Sunday Post is a weekly news meme created by  Caffeinated Reviewer . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The weather for the month of October was chilly, colder and damper than I remember of last year's October. Windier too. The leaves dropped off the trees like orange bolts of lightning. I'm wondering if it's a sign of the winter to come. The books I read in October were theme reads because Halloween is my favorite holiday. So today my review list presents a lovely assortment of witches and murderers. Books I reviewed in October were: Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire  (expected pub. date: 3/25/25) The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones The Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell In other news, someone stole my blog layout, and I'm not inspired to change my blog to accommodate the theft. I like the blues, blacks, and grays, I like my banner, I like my choices. I'm not sure what led t...