Kell

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY Thankful What book or author are you most thankful to have discovered? Have you read everything they’ve written? Reread them? Why do you appreciate them so much? For me, the honour goes to Sir Terry Pratchett. I discovered his work quite by accident in the summer of 1992 whilst on holiday in the Lake District. I picked up a copy of The Carpet People from one of the shops and started reading. Several hours later, the book was finished and I couldn’t believe how the time had flown! Very soon, I got hold of his entire back catalogue of Discworld novels (which back then ran up to and including Lords and Ladies) and then continued with the rest of them as they were published. I also read The Bromeliad (the trilogy about Nomes aimed at younger readers), and his more sci-fi efforts (Strata and Dark Side of the Sun), and Good Omens, which he wrote with Neil Gaiman – another discovery off the back of Pratchett! I’ve also read his more recent non-Discworld novel, Nation. I’ve read all these books multiple times, and they never fail to transport me to another time and place, immerse me completely in another culture, and see things from the funny side of life. His wit and humour have rescued me from many a dark moment and for that I am eternally grateful. I still have the Johnny Maxwell books to read, but as I have a small son, I imagine it won’t be too much longer before that’s remedied and we’ll read them together…

A salt and vineger crisp sarnie and some cheese and a glass of ice-cold skimmed milk.

I received a copy of The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery today from Roland Butter who had finished reading it and spotted it on my wishlist. Thank you so much! I can hardly wait to start it, but I have two library books that have to go back next week and I have to read those first!

It's definitely worth a try, Noll - very magical.

Woah! That is AWESOME fun!

W... W... W... Wednesdays * What are you currently reading? * What did you recently finish reading? * What do you think you’ll read next? What are you currently reading? Sarwat Chadda – Devil’s Kiss I’m starting this one today. I’ve never read anything by this author, so it will be completely new to me. This one is from the YA section of the library, where I picked it up based on title and cover alone – I didn’t even read the blurb on the back! I figured that sometimes it’s nice to have something that’s a complete surprise… What did you recently finish reading? Ellen Morgenstern – The Night Circus - 4/5 When I first got notification of this novel’s impending publication, I fell completely in love with the hardback cover and just knew I had to have it. In the intervening time, I read synopses and then reviews before I bought it and everything pointed towards this being excellent. As a result, I had quite ridiculously high expectations of The Night Circus, but you know what? It pretty much lived up to them, which should have been almost impossible! The writing is just gorgeous and as the plot unfolds and the characters are developed, whilst hopping backwards and forwards in time to tell it, the mystery deepens till the reader is in exactly the same position as the participants – trying to work everything out and make sense of it all. It’s well worth reading this, so if you’re still on the fence, please do hop down on the side of “I’m going to try this book!” Maria V Snyder – Fire Study (Study 3) - 3/5 The final installment of the Study trilogy. Although I enjoyed this one, I wasn’t quite as enamoured of it as I was the others. The first in the series (Poison Study) is definitely the best, but that’s not to say the other two aren’t good – there’s marginal difference in my preference. Fire Study finished the story arc in a very satisfying manner with loads of action, adventure and intrigue between the pages. What do you think you’ll read next? Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely 1) Chosen from the young adult section of the library. I know absolutely nothing about this series – I chose it based on the title (which I love!) and the cover (which is rather pretty).

TEASER TUESDAYS 1. Grab your current read 2. Open to a random page 3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 5. Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser: Synopsis: The apprenticeship is over– now the real test has begun. When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder–able to capture and release souls–spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy. Already Yelena’s unusual abilities and past have set her apart. As the Council debates Yelena’s fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before.… Honor sets Yelena on a path that will test the limits of her skills, and the hope of reuniting with her beloved spurs her onward. Her journey is fraught with allies, enemies, lovers and would-be assassins, each of questionable loyalty. Yelena will have but one chance to prove herself–and save the land she holds dear. What I think of it so far: I’m not enjoying this one quite as much as the previous installments, but there’s not much in it really. I think this one just isn’t making as much of an impact because I’ve grown used to the characters, their situation and the writing style. However, there’s still plenty action, adventure and magic in this novel and it’s a pretty good read so far. I’m just past the half-way mark and hope the rest of it continues as well! ~***~ Top Ten Tuesday The Top Ten authors I would invite to dinner are: 1. Terry Pratchett – I love his wit and his satirical view of the world. He’d have everyone in stitches. He’s also rather philosophical and I’d love to discuss his views on the right to die with dignity as I know it’s a subject about which he feels very strongly. 2. Stuart MacBride – he’s actually quite local to me and is so nice he might actually come if asked! I’d love to quiz him on his research methods. He was very interesting at our book group a few years back and such an all-round nice guy it’s hard to believe he comes out with such gruesome murders in his books! 3. Brom - his artwork is so stunning, so dark and beautiful, that I couldn’t help but include him on my list. His prose is just as beautiful, so he’s multi-talented. 4. Kelley Armstrong – I adore her Women of the Otherworld books and she’d add a little balance to the entirely male list as it stands to this point. I’d love to talk about the role of strong female characters in modern literature. 5. Philippa Gregory – her historical novels are so brilliant and really bring the past to life. I’d love to talk about how women have quietly supported the men-folk in the past and how that translates into women of power today. 6. Simon Scarrow – another writer of historical fiction whose Roman series is phenomenal. The Roman Empire is something I find fascinating, so the chance to chatter about life in ancient Rome would be impossible to pass up! 7. Oscar Wilde – well, who wouldn’t want such a witty raconteur round for dinner? I suspect that with his manners and intellect, the dinner conversation would be both humourous and thoughtful. 8. William Shakespeare – his use of language is so beautiful I would have to include him on my wish-list. I’m afraid I would become something of a quivering wreck in his presence as I admire his work so much. 9. Jane Austen – she would simply sparkle in any set of polite company. Her views on polite society and a woman’s role in it would be interesting – I’d love to hear what she thinks of modern society and whether she feels much has changed since her time. 10. The Brontë Sisters – I know it’s cheating a little to include Anne, Charlotte and Emily all together, but I couldn’t invite one and not the others. Besides, they all have such distinct styles they would set a wonderful balance to the evening. Their ideas on love, passion and duty would be interesting to hear!

I was late coming to Harry Potter, but I think it sounds just great too.

I think Spike Milligan just meant it as making a point more than anything else. It was included with a bunch of his other humorous poems and this one was a sharp contrast because it drew attention to something more serious - the fact that sometimes just saying "hello" to someone who feels lonely can break through the loneliness for a moment and make a difference. I know Mr Miilgan suffered depression for much of his life and I wonder if he was a very lonely person too. Anyway, to me, poetry is something that should strike a chord and this one certainly affected me.

Musing Mondays How do you decide to read a book by an author you haven’t read before? What sort of recommendations count most highly in making that decision? If a friend or fellow blogger with similar past tastes to mine recommends a book, it certainly gets my attention, but to be honest, when it comes to trying new authors, I’m just as likely to find it from the back of another book I’ve just read. For example, I loved Ash by Malinda Lo and in the back of that book was an advert for Sisters Red by Jackson Pierce and I immediately fell in love with the cover art. Which leads me to the other thing that attracts me to new authors – the covers! I’m afraid I often do judge books by their covers and a particularly striking or beautiful cover is likely to attract me even if it’s the first time I’ve ever seen the author’s name. An example of this would be the day I saw a copy of The Plucker by Brom. The cover was so darkly beautiful that I just knew I had to check it out of the library. I fell completely in love with Brom’s work that day! There have been instances of “cover recommendations” going very badly wrong for me. For example, I read The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and on the front cover was a quote that read “This is the next The Lovely Bones.” So I got hold of a copy of Alice Sebold’s novel and absolutely hated it. In fact, if I’d read that one first and seen on the cover a recommendation that said, “This is the next The Time Traveler’s Wife,” I would never have read Niffenegger’s novel! ~***~ Cover Crazy What I love: I adore the juxtaposition of the natural with the manufactured – the key, front and foremost, with cogs in random placement against a background of leaves and trees. The muted colour scheme is also very appealing to me – the cool blues against the black and dark grey. And that title font is just gorgeous – curved and flowing, yet sharp and pointed at the same time. Synopsis: Incarceron — a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology — a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber — chains, great halls, dungeons. A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here. In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form of prison — a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage she dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists. But there comes a moment when Finn, inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside, simultaneously find a device — a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn’s escape is born !

It definitely gets better. Turns into quite the creep fest. Just wait till you see the rubber man...

Roland, I'd love to have a borrow. Thank you! PM on the way...

Depends on what you're in the mood for as they're socompletely different. If you fancy a magical coming of age series, go with HP. If you want something a bit lighthearted and parnormal with some seriously sexy bits, go for the Southern Vampires series (book 4 is still my favourite!).

Thanks, Roland - I shall look forward to getting hold of it at some point. These are all on my Friday Finds Wishlist on Amazon to get when I have some spare cash or when anyone asks for a birthday/Xmas wishlist.

What great books did you hear about / discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! By following links to blogs taking part in various memes, I’ve heard about so many great books it would be impossible to list them all. I’m also a regular visitor to our local library and am always eagerly awaiting newly published books by my favourite authors. However, here are the ones that really stood out for me this week and for which I’ll be looking out on future book acquisition expeditions: Catherynne M Valente – The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making Maureen Johnson – The Name of the Star (Shades of London 1) M Nova – Garden of Apples Gina Damico – Croak Catherine Fisher – Incarceron (Incarceron 1) Deborah Harkness – A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy 1) Ransom Riggs – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Jessica Day George – Princess of the Midnight Ball (book 1) Jessica Day George – Princess of Glass (book 2) Diane Setterfield – The Thirteenth Tale Muriel Barbery – The Elegance of the Hedgehog Melissa Anelli – Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon They’ve all gone onto my wish list!

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY Category Of the books you own, what’s the biggest category/genre? Is this also the category that you actually read the most? This is a bit of a funny one, really. I only keep a certain amount of my books due to limits on space. The largest section of my permanent collection is filled with Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels – all 39 of them – plus additional books by Mr Pratchett. However, I don’t read them most often. I have read each of them multiple times, but fantasy isn’t my most often-read category… Another very large section is given over to young adult/children’s books. I have all the Harry Potter books (J K Rowling), most of the Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer), and all of The Edge Chronicles (Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell), but again, although I’ve read all of them at least once, and they all belong firmly in the fantasy genre, fantasy is not the genre that most often finds its way onto Mount To-Be-Read. I would say my reading preference definitely gets pretty much equally divided between historical fiction, urban fantasy/paranormal fiction and crime fiction. Representing the past on my shelves are all of Simon Scarrow’s books (both his Roman and Revolution series) and Philippa Gregory (I adore her Tudor novels and the Cousins’ War series), but those are the only ones I keep. Other books tend to be paperbacks which get donated to a library when I’m finished with them. I also adore Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series, so she heads up my paranormal collection, but I’ll try almost anything that features vampires, werewolves and other creatures of that ilk. Finally, there’s crime fiction. Stuart Macbride (Logan McRae series) and Christopher Brookmyre (various novels involving crimes set) both have a pitch-black sense of humour which appeals to me, so they’re definitely worth mentioning as favourites who have a section all of their own on my bookcase. And of course, there are the books by Richard Castle (tying in with the TV show, Castle) of which there are only three (so far) but will be expanded upon as more are published… I will read just about anything apart from Mills and Boon style romances, and only a very little chick-lit, but those are the Big Three for me.

I think it's sad that anyone would think that any girl/woman is nothing without a man! This is one of the many problems I have with these books - the portrayal of a girl who cannot cope without her much older boyfriend. She's just so needy and whiny all the time! I wanted to shake her and shout "Grow up and get a life, you stupid girl!" I also failed to see the attraction in Edward. How any girl could possibly "deserve" a boyfriend who is, quite frankly, a dangerous stalker, is beyond me. The only remotely healthy-minded male in the picture is Jacob, and even he tips over the balance into obssessive jealousy when it comes to Bella, so although he's marginaly better for her than Edward, he's still no great shakes in the boyfriend candidate department. To be perfectly honest, her best bet of normality might have been someone like Mike - he's her own age and isn't obsessive or stalker-ish. Instead, he befriends her and looks out for her as such...

I think I'll win with this one. I remember reading it in a newspaper tribute to Spike Milligan when he died. He wrote a one-word poem which really stuck with me: A Poem for Lonely People Hello.

W... W... W... Wednesdays * What are you currently reading? * What did you recently finish reading? * What do you think you’ll read next? What are you currently reading? Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus I’m only a few chapters into this and it’s all very intriguing. There’s been a small smattering of magic and a little mystery, and I’m looking forward to delving deeper into this unusual story. Maria V Snyder - Fire Study (Study 3) The third and final book in the Study fantasy trilogy about Yelena Zaltana. I’ve enjoyed the other two, s oI hope this will be a fitting and enjoyable conclusion to the series. What did you recently finish reading? Sarah Singleton – Century - 3/5 A young adult novel that is very cryptic and the mystery is rather compelling - I felt like I was being slowly reeled in like a fish and at some point I would realise I couldn’t escape the pull. It was an enjoyable read but there was something about it that left me feeling there was something missing – some explanation as to the origins of the family’s secret. It is, however, beautifully written – Singleton is an author I will be trying again at some point in the future. Julia Golding – Cat’s Cradle (Cat Royal 6) - 3/5 This series of young adult novels has touched on some serious subjects, from slavery to revolution to piracy and fighting for a cause, but this one didn’t really have a “big” theme – just the more personal one of finding one’s family. That said, it was still a warming and endearing story and an enjoyable read, and I look forward to completing the series with the novella which is only available as an e-book. Chris Riddell – Ottoline and the Yellow Cat (Ottoline 1) - 4/5 I adore Chris Riddell’s illustrations, but before now I had only ever seen his work when accompanied by the words of another (Paul Stewart in The Edge Chronicles and Neil Gaiman in The Graveyard Book). This first experience of his own story with his gorgeous drawings is something of a revelation! I love the quirkiness of the characters and plot – Riddell has style and flair which, when coupled with those fantastic pen-and-ink renderings, is a winning combination. Chris Riddell – Ottoline Goes to School (Ottoline 2) - 4/5 The second Ottoline adventure is just as wonderful as the first. Such a sensible little girl in an unusual situation (absent parents who travel the world while she stays home with Mr Munroe, a small, hairy fellow from the bogs of Norway) trying to find some kind of normality but remaining extraordinary. This series has enough charm to appeal to readers of all ages! What do you think you’ll read next? Picked up from the library: - Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely 1) - Sarwat Chadda - Devil’s Kiss (Devil’s Kiss 1)

Be sure you get the covers you like! I didn't like the "children's" covers, so I went for the elegant "adult" hardbacks instead, as I knew I was going to keep them.

Top Ten Tuesday The Top Ten unread books on my bookshelf are: The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury The Last Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing Les Miserables by Victor Hugo The Crimson Petal and the White by Michele Faber Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben Winters The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson

Our local libraries charge to get a book brought in from another branch. I think they also charge to reserve them. This is why I just never bother with that - if the book isn't there, I just take different books and wait for another time to get the ones I originally wanted. They do, however, take note of any books I want that they don't have at any of their branches, so that they always have a list of books people want that the ydon't have when they're buying new books, which is great. My old school library, which is the local library for that area, has no spending budget at all (and hasn't for several years now) so I donate al lmy unwanted boks to them. If they get duplicate books, they sell them so they have a little money to buy other books, which is great. I must have donated several hundred books to them so far and wil lcontinue doing so until they tel lme they don't want any more - LOL!

TEASER TUESDAY 1. Grab your current read 2. Open to a random page 3. Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page 4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 5. Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser: Synopsis: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway – a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love – a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart. What I think of it so far: I’m not very far into this one yet, so I’ve purposely chosen a quote at random from early in the book. Although it’s not overtly about anything in particular, I feel it goes some way towards capturing some of the mystery. If I’d chosen one of the beautiful descriptions, I wouldn’t have been able to limit myself to just two sentences as they are so wonderful! Needless to say, I’m enjoying it immensely and looking forward to seeing how everything unfolds…