Kell

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? Stephen Cole – Resurrection (Wereling Trilogy 3) This is the conclusion of the trilogy – I’m about half way through and you know what? It’s pretty good! I’ve rather enjoyed these books and it looks like the last book will be just as good as the others. Various – Dates From Hell (Compilation) I’m thinking of ditching this one for now and perhaps coming back to it at a later date. Contains the following novellas: Kim Harrison – Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil - 1/5 Absolutely dire. Reading this novella reminded me why I never got past the second book in the Rachel Morgan series. This novella includes the most unsexy and unexciting blood/sex scene I have ever had the misfortune to encounter and the story is both dull and predictable. I will be happy if I never read anything by this author again as long as I live. The Claire Switch Project (CURRENTLY READING) So far it’s pretty decent and a damned sight better than the previous story, so I’m hopeful the others will be better too… Kelley Armstrong – Chaotic Haven’t got this far yet, but I love Kelley Armstrong and am looking forward to it. Lori Handeland – Dead Man Dating This will be my first experience of Lori Handeland’s writing… What did you recently finish reading? Philippa Gregory – The Lady of the Rivers (Cousins’ War 3) - 3/5 The third installment in the wonderful Cousins’ War series. I love historical fiction and although I usually go for Roman or Tudor, this isn’t too far out of my usual era as it’s the history of what happened right before the Tudor dynasty attained the throne – it’s how they got there really. I love this sort of historical faction. It took me a while to get through it, simply because I didn’t have much reading time and although I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the previous novel, it was very good and I found the characters of Jacquetta and Richard to be quite enchanting. Stephen Cole – Wounded (Wereling Trilogy 1) - 3/5 At last, a young adult horror/paranormal trilogy that’s NOT about vampires! (Especially of the sparkly variety.) This is werewolves all the way and is a lot of fun with some decent thrills and spills along the way, and a fairly original premise to boot. On top of all this, it’s fairly short. All three of the books could have been put together in a single volume split into three parts, but it would have been a little chunky and perhaps intimidated the youth audience, so this bite-sized morsel (forgive me - I couldn’t resist punning!) is just the ticket and ends on an open note, ready for the second book to pick up where it leaves off. Stephen Cole – Prey (Wereling Trilogy 2) - 3/5 This second installment of the Wereling Trilogy is pretty exciting stuff! This is far more original than some other young adult paranormal novels and occasionally strays into some very adult themes (although there has been no sex so far, there has been the threat that Kate may be taken by force if her mother gets her hands on her and into the very situation Kate is trying to avoid). It’s quite gritty in places and there have been some real thrills so far. What do you think you’ll read next? My own books: * Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus From the library: * Julia Golding – Cat’s Cradle (Cat Royal 6) * Sarah Singleton – Century

Is anyone else watching American Horror Story? We've caught all four episodes shown so far (and they were all played again last night as an omnibus for Hallowe'en). It's showing on FX. And last night it was announced that it's been commissioned for a 2nd season of 13 episodes - yay! It's rather creepy and extremely good. If any True Blood fans are looking for a horror-based show to fill the gap till season 5 starts, this could be the one to keep you occupied!

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: Kate Folan comes from a family of werewolves. She’ll only become fully ‘wolf herself when she mates with a male werewolf. But she vows that will never happen. The last thing she wants is to give in to her evil heritage. Then she meets Tom Anderson. Tom is a wereling – a werewolf who retains his humanity even in his wolf form. He was “turned” by Kate’s mother, who chose wisely. Tom and Kate can’t help falling for each other. But if they give in to their feelings, Kate will become the thing she hates most. Unless they can find a cure… What I think of it so far: I can’t say because I’m just about to start it, but having enjoyed the previous two books in the trilogy, I hope this one will finish things off well. Judging by the quote above (which I chose by just opening the book at random) there’s a little humour injected into the horror, which has been the case with the other two as well – not laugh-out-loud humour, but a natural humour that comes from being in a tight situation with friends…

October Book Round-Up Half-way through the month I discovered the 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge and decided to take part. Fortunately I had already read three books that qualified so I wasn’t starting from scratch in the middle of the month! BOOKS FINISHED: 64. Elizabeth Chadwick – Shadows and Strongholds - 4/5 Although I love historical fiction, I usually go for Roman, Tudor and Victorian era, with occasional forays into Georgian life, but for some reason the medieval period tends to slip past me. It was high time I rectified that ad I’m glad it was with this historical “faction” (fictionalised account of actual historical events). I loved Brunin and Hawise from the very start and immersed myself completely in their world, their friendship and their lives together, their relationship changing from childhood to adulthood. I will certainly be looking out for more by this author, so if anyone has read more of her work and would like to recommend one or two they’ve particularly enjoyed, I would be very grateful! 65. Alyson Noël – Evermore (Immortals 1) - 3/5 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge This is one I picked up from the library – a new young adult urban fantasy/supernatural romance series for me to enjoy. And enjoy it I did. Ever Bloom is a little slower on the uptake than the likes of Bella Swan, but she’s no insipid, clingy, wimpy emo-teen either, which made this far more enjoyable than the Twilight Saga was all together. 66. Kelley Armstrong – Spellbound (WotOW 12) - 3/5 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge I was a little disappointed by this one, actually. I’m a HUGE fan of the series but Im’ not enjoying Savannah as a leading lady as much as I’d hoped. Waking the Witch (WotOW 11) was pretty good and Spellbound follows directly on from there, but it just didn’t get me anywhere near as excited. It’s still good, just not quite as good as the others in this series. Unfortunately, it’s been left wide open for another installment in this story arc. I just hope the next one will wind that story up and then we can move onto a different character in the driving seat – perhaps another Hope Adams or Jaime Vegas story, or coming full circle and returning to Elena Michaels – that would be very welcome! 67. Alyson Noël – Blue Moon (Immortals 2) - 2/5 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge Rather a disappointment, this one. The first book in the series was a little more original than some other (*ahem* Twilight *ahem*) urban fantasy series aimed at this age group and the heroine was a bit more solid and less wimpy than others, but in this second book, she went all Bella Swan on me and started mooning over her boyfriend who was being all aloof and ignoring her, so I’m sure you can understand why I was a little upset at this development. It was also very repetitive and predictable which made for dull reading. The two-star rating was being as generous as I could. 68. Titania Hardy – The House of the Wind (FOR REVIEW) - 2/5 Full review HERE. 69. Alyson Noël – Shadowland (Immortals 3) - 3/5 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge This one is actually a darned sight better than the second in the series and I may well pick up the fourth in the series when I visit the library this morning (if it’s there!). Both the writing and the story have improved this time round and I found myself re-reading short passages where I enjoyed the words themselves. I’m not a fan of misrepresenting Pagan religions (I’m not Wiccan, but I know people who are), or any religion, really, and what is described in this book is more akin to fantasy-based sorcery, but the author has attempted to ground it in reality by linking it to Wicca. However, the overall impression given by the author is a positive one – that magick can be used for good or bad and that it is the intent of the user that affects it and not magick itself being black or white (it’s all shades of grey, really). I can get on board with that. 70. Philippa Gregory – The Lady of the Rivers (Cousins’ War 3) - 3/5 The third installment in the wonderful Cousins’ War series. I love historical fiction and although I usually go for Roman or Tudor, this isn’t too far out of my usual era as it’s the history of what happened right before the Tudor dynasty attained the throne – it’s how they got there really. I love this sort of historical faction. It took me a while to get through it, simply because I didn’t have much reading time and although I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the previous novel, it was very good and I found the characters of Jacquetta and Richard to be quite enchanting. 71. Stephen Cole – Wounded (Wereling Trilogy 1) - 3/5 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge At last, a young adult horror/paranormal trilogy that’s NOT about vampires! (Especially of the sparkly variety.) This is werewolves all the way and is a lot of fun with some decent thrills and spills along the way, and a fairly original premise to boot. On top of all this, it’s fairly short. All three of the books could have been put together in a single volume split into three parts, but it would have been a little chunky and perhaps intimidated the youth audience, so this bite-sized morsel (forgive me - I couldn’t resist punning!) is just the ticket and ends on an open note, ready for the second book to pick up where it leaves off. 72. Stephen Cole – Prey (Wereling Trilogy 2) - 3/5 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge This second installment of the Wereling Trilogy is pretty exciting stuff! This is far more original than some other young adult paranormal novels and occasionally strays into some very adult themes (although there has been no sex so far, there has been the threat that Kate may be taken by force if her mother gets her hands on her and into the very situation Kate is trying to avoid). It’s quite gritty in places and there have been some real thrills so far. I’m looking forward to the final part now… BOOKS STARTED (carrying over to November): Various – Dates From Hell 2011 Spooktacular October Paranormal Reading Challenge Compilation of four novellas by four different authors as follows: Kim Harrison – Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil - 1/5 Absolutely dire. Reading this novella reminded me why I never got past the second book in the Rachel Morgan series. This novella includes the most unsexy and unexciting blood/sex scene I have ever had the misfortune to encounter and the story is both dull and predictable. I will be happy if I never read anything by this author again as long as I live. The Claire Switch Project (CURRENTLY READING) So far it’s pretty decent and a damned sight better than the previous story, so I’m hopeful the others will be better too… Kelley Armstrong – Chaotic Haven’t got this far yet, but I love Kelley Armstrong and am looking forward to it. Lori Handeland – Dead Man Dating This will be my first experience of Lori Handeland’s writing…

Musing Mondays Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less? Why? I used to read an average of around 125-150 books each year. Some were re-reads and some were completely new to me, but that was roughly how much reading I did (this was perhaps from my mid-teens onwards), depending on how thick the books were and how much I enjoyed them. I never ditched a book half-read – each one was read to the very end. As I got older, I realised I didn’t have to finish a book if I wasn’t enjoying it and introduced a rule that if I wasn’t enjoying a book by page 100, it would get ditched. I later amended this to 50 pages. As a result, I started a lot of books, but didn’t necessarily finish them all, so this affected my totals directly, although I was still averaging around 125 each year. Then I got pregnant with my son, Xander. I found I was too tired and listless to read as much as I used to and my reading took a huge dip. The year he was born (at the end of September 2008) I only read 58 books – a significant drop. During the first year of being a Mum, it dropped a little further and I slowed to a rate of one book each week for a total of 52. In 2010 I increased sightly to 58 again and this year I have so far read 70, so you can see I’m starting to edge back up to my previous levels. So, no – I don’t read quite as much as I used to, but that’s because my time is occupied in other ways, such as running around after my energetic little’un (I also took up cross stitching again in 2009), but it’s starting to increase again. Will I ever read as much as I used to and get through 125-150 books each year? Well, let’s just say, Mount To-Be-Read is the beginnings of my collection for retirement!

Here they are! The photo doesn't really show the true colour at all. The cakes are a very pale green but the icing is bright bogey-green - LOL!

Just baked what I HOPED would be a batch of gruesome green cupcakes, but they barely look green at all. However, I shall remedy that with green icing - ha! I plan on writing "Boo!" on them all.

I've just applied to give away books on World Book Night next year. I've asked for The Damned United as I plan to give away books to customers at William Hill's. Don't you think Books From The Bookies sounds fabulous?

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: - Julie Kagawa – The Iron Fey Trilogy - Michelle Hodkin – The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer - Jackson Pierce – Sisters Red - Kendare Blake – Anna Dressed In Blood - RJ Anderson – Ultraviolet They’ve all gone onto my wish list!

Sorry to have put you off a bit, Roland. I have t oadmit, though, one of my very good friends who was in the class with me loved the book so much she read the entire set (A Scot's Quair) for her special study and adored every second of it. She, on the other hand, can't stand Umberto Eco and couldn't get more than about a dozen chapters (at most) into The name of the Rose - LOL!

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY Hard What’s the hardest/most challenging book you’ve ever read? Was it worth the effort? Did you read it by choice or was it an assignment/obligation? I think I’ll give two examples which were polar opposites to answer this question. The first is The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. It was an incredibly hard book to get through as the writing, though wonderful, if extremely hard-going. However, it was worth sticking it out to the end as it’s a fantastic story. However, if I hadn’t already known the story from seeing the film several times, I don’t think I would have made it to the end. It was my choice to read this book and I’m glad I did, but it didn’t entice me to read any more of Eco’s novels based on how hard it was to read this one. The second is Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. We were forced to read this chunk of dullness for Higher English and I’ll freely admit I never finished it, despite it being required reading. I just couldn’t stand the style of writing – entire, long paragraphs that are a single sentence that are filled with “and” and “but” so that it reads something like this, “This and this and that and this happened, but that and this and that and that happened because of it, and then this and that occurred but this felt like that and this and the other…” When that constitutes and entire paragraph that is about twenty lines long you get pretty sick of it pretty quickly. I also hated that sentences were continually started with the aforementioned “and” and “but”. Add all that to the fact that the characters and story are dull as ditch water and you have a very bad time of it. I will never read anything by this author again simply because the guy couldn’t write anything interesting and couldn’t write it in an engaging and accessible way. It was a real slog to get even part way through this turgid heap of steaming crap. Yes, I hated it that much. So, sometimes a “hard” book is worth it, but other times, well, not so much!

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? Philippa Gregory – The Lady of the Rivers (Cousins’ War 3) The third installment in the wonderful Cousins’ War series. I love historical fiction and although I usually go for Roman or Tudor, this isn’t too far out of my usual era as it’s the history of what happened right before the Tudor dynasty attained the throne – it’s how they got there really. I love this sort of historical faction. I’m about two-thirds of the way through as this is the book that is by my bed for reading before going to sleep, and I’ve been too tired and ill to read much at night lately. Various – Dates From Hell (Compilation) Contains the following novellas: * Kim Harrison – Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil - 1/5 Absolutely dire. Reading this novella reminded me why I never got past the second book in the Rachel Morgan series. This novella includes the most unsexy and unexciting blood/sex scene I have ever had the misfortune to encounter and the story is both dull and predictable. I will be happy if I never read anything by this author again as long as I live. * The Claire Switch Project (CURRENTLY READING) So far it’s pretty decent and a damned sight better than the previous story, so I hope the others will be too… * Kelley Armstrong – Chaotic Haven’t got this far yet, but I love Kelley Armstrong and am looking forward to it. * Lori Handeland – Dead Man Dating This will be my first experience of Lori Handeland’s writing… What did you recently finish reading? Alyson Noël – Shadowland (Immortals 3) - 3/5 This one is actually a darned sight better than the second in the series and I may well pick up the fourth in the series when I visit the library this morning (if it’s there!). Both the writing and the story have improved this time round and I found myself re-reading short passages where I enjoyed the words themselves. I’m not a fan of misrepresenting Pagan religions (I’m not Wiccan, but I know people who are), or any religion, really, and what is described in this book is more akin to fantasy-based sorcery, but the author has attempted to ground it in reality by linking it to Wicca. However, the overall impression given by the author is a positive one – that magick can be used for good or bad and that it is the intent of the user that affects it and not magick itself being black or white (it’s all shades of grey, really). I can get on board with that. What do you think you’ll read next? My own books: * Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus From the library: *Julia Golding – Cat’s Cradle (Cat Royal 6) * Sarah Singleton – Century * Stephen Cole – Wounded (Wereling Trilogy 1) * Stephen Cole – Prey (Wreling Trilogy 2) * Stephen Cole – Resurrection (Wereling Trilogy 3)

Well, yes. But the main facts of the case were all present and correct. They had to squeeze in some suspense somehow.

I ended up doing more research afterwards too, just to see how much of it was fact and how much fiction. Obviously personal exchanges had to be imagined by the author, but pretty much the whole case as it was is in the novel.

I, on the other hand, loved Crippen and how the whole thing was portrayed. It meant there was still some suspense even though his case is very well-known.

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: Ever and Damen have travelled through countless past lives – and fought off the world’s darkest enemies – in search of each other. But just when their destiny seems finally within reach, a powerful curse falls upon them. A single touch of their hands, a soft brush of their lips will mean death for Damen – cast into the darkness of the Shadowland. But as she seeks to break the curse, Ever meets Jude – a green-eyed, golden surfer boy who understands magick, and understands Ever better than she realises. And she begins to ask a terrifying question: even if you’re immortal, can true love really last forever? Ever and Damen have travelled through countless past lives – and fought off the world’s darkest enemies – in search of each other. But just when their destiny seems finally within reach, a powerful curse falls upon them. A single touch of their hands, a soft brush of their lips will mean death for Damen – cast into the darkness of the Shadowland. But as she seeks to break the curse, Ever meets Jude – a green-eyed, golden surfer boy who understands magick, and understands Ever better than she realises. And she begins to ask a terrifying question: even if you’re immortal, can true love really last forever? What I think of it so far: This one is actually a darned sight better than the second in the series and I may well pick up the fourth in the series when I visit the library this morning (if it’s there!). Both the writing and the story have improved this time round and I found myself re-reading short passages where I enjoyed the words themselves. The teaser I left above was one of those moments – I just loved that “applause of thunder” and thought it very evocative. I’m not a fan of misrepresenting Pagan religions (I’m not Wiccan, but I know people who are), or any religion, really, and what is described in this book is more akin to fantasy-based sorcery, but the author has attempted to ground it in reality by linking it to Wicca. However, the overall impression given by the author is a positive one – that magick can be used for good or bad and that it is the intent of the user that affects it and not magick itself being black or white (it’s all shades of grey, really). I can get on board with that.

Musing Mondays Do you listen to audiobooks? Why, or why not? I used to listen to audio books rather a lot. The reason was I waked to and from work every day and it was a good 25 minutes each way, so I loaded up my iPod with audio books and got in a little literature while I walked. It was great and I discovered some real gems this way. Most of them were free out-of-copyright downloads from Librivox (all the audio books are read by regular folks, and not professionals, and they do it for the love of reading rather than for compensation of any kind). Of course, some readers are better than others, but on the whole, I found the quality to be quite high and quickly found a few favourite regular readers among them. I sometimes got hold of professional audio books though, and one particularly memorable foray into this medium was Michael York reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Of course, Michael York played d’Artagnan in the 70s movies based on the books, so it was very nostalgic, but his impersonations of the other people who had played the other pivotal characters were superb and it was almost like hearing them play their parts all over again. It has become one of my favourite novels of all time and I know I’ll read it again and again. Nowadays I don’t really listen to audio books, largely because I now share an iPod with my hubby and it’s loaded up with music to listen to in the car, but if I ever find myself with an iPod for my sole use, it will be loaded up with audio books once more!

Never! It's far to obeautiful to part with!

No problem. I took the genres from a list on Wikipedia, so you can see the kinds of things that comes under them here: Saga sub-genre - Family Saga Speculative Fcition Sub-genre - Science Fiction Sub-sub-genre - Hard science fiction Sub-sub-genre - Soft science fiction Sub-sub-genre - Space Opera Other sub-genres: - Punk (Cyberpunk, Dieselpunk, Atompunk, Nanopunk, Postcyberpunk, Steampunk, Clockpunk, Biopunk) - Alternative universe - Scientific romance So, although Sci-fi is a subgenre of speculative fiction, I felt it was so well-known and popular on it's own, it could stand as a seperate genre.

Sorry, I've changed the wording a little - you create a page or post to log your progress in the chellenge and link to that. Then I can list all the links so that all the participants can go and cheer each other on throughout the challenge.

I think I might make some corn muffins tomorrow. They're very popular in our house and as Xan and I are both under the weather it'll be nice to have a little treat to perk us both up!

I do urge people to choose one or two genres out of their comfort zone if possible, just to give other things a try and broaden horizons. I'm determined to try a western (I've never read one before!) and am looking to try more speculative fiction, war and my sadly neglected classics and modern classics.