AbielleRose Posted May 19, 2010 Author Share Posted May 19, 2010 Haha, thanks, Giu. I'm still changing it later though. I wish there was some sort of manual for review writing, I always feel weird doing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 Your wish is my command! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 We also had a good discussion here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted May 20, 2010 Author Share Posted May 20, 2010 Thanks for those links, Kylie and Chesilbeach I'm going to go through and make some notes on them hopefully tomorrow. Made a trip to the book store a bit ago and came home with: The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Tonight I plan to start reading Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast. Hopefully I'll finish it by tomorrow or Friday. All of the previous House of Night books have been pretty quick reads so I'm hoping this one is, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 I absolutely adore that cover, shame we don't have it here! You've convinced me to give this a shot, and as I don't really know much about Oz past having seen the movie as a kid, I'm really looking forward to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted May 21, 2010 Author Share Posted May 21, 2010 I hope you enjoy it! Going into a book like Wicked without any preconcieved notions about the Wicked Witch and Oz is really best if the reader is really to get the most out of the story. I've noticed that people who are hoping to get an extention of The Wizard of Oz rather than experience a whole new world are the ones who are disappointed with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted May 30, 2010 Author Share Posted May 30, 2010 *Is ashamaed* I went to the bookstore tonight to pick up one book and came home with four. I think 'hill' TBR has officially become MOUNT 'TBR' as I seem to be buying way more books than I've been reading. I would have walked out of there with five books but there was a massive June bug on the copy of The Complete Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson I wanted. Maybe nature was trying to intervene? That being said I am a very happy Abby with what I ended up buying: Dear John by Nicholas Sparks If I Should Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle John Lennon: The Life by Phillip Norman Of all of those the one I'm most anxious to read is If I Should Die Before I Wake. They synopsis is: Can an alienated, Jew-hating, Neo-Nazi teenager have lived a previous life as a Polish Jewish girl in the Lodz ghetto during the Holocaust? Can a motorcycle accident which lands her comatose in a Jewish hospital be the vehicle for her tumbling through time repeatedly to relive that life while fighting for this one? Can her horrendous experiences of surviving but losing everything, including her family, and finally giving up her last food to another girl shake her out of the self-destructive life she has fashioned for herself here in the today world? This is an intriguing and touching story that weaves the terrible drama of the Nazis' destruction of an entire population together with the age-old belief in reincarnation and past lives. All the reviews I've read of it so far have high praise for the novel so I'm really looking forward to starting it sometime after finishing Burned and The Polysyllabic Spree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted May 31, 2010 Share Posted May 31, 2010 Ohhh I can't wait to hear what you think of Dear John, I really want to read that too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 (edited) Lately it seems as if I have buying nearly 5 times as many books as I have been finishing. Because of this I have decided to give myself a bit of a challenge to try and focus more on the books in my TBR pile rather than the ones for sale in the bookshop. Here on out I am not allowed to buy a single book until I have read 5 from my TBR pile. At the end of every five (three of which I must write reviews on so that I can practice that skill) I will give myself an allowance of one carefully selected book purchace. To help with this little challenge I am going to start avoiding going to Barnes and Noble for coffee and computery stuff. As much as I love it there it is much too hard to simply walk in the front doors and make it to the back of the store without being distracted by the pretty books. I've broken them up already into groups of 5 so that I can just set a pile next to my bed and work my way through it. The List Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler (reading now) The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Dear John by Nicholas Sparks The Book Thief by Markus Zusak If I Sould Die Before I Wake by Han Nolan Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson Secrets of Mary Magdalene by Dan Burstein Push by Sapphire Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Columbine by Dave Cullen A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Stories I Wouldn't Tell Nobody but God by Rasheed Clark The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorn The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (started but never finished) As of right now my TBR pile is exactly 25 books. Hopefully this little 'challenge' will help me to get through them and help whip my rebellious little mojo back into submission. Off to go read some of Burned for a bit. It would be very nice to finish this one today! Edited June 26, 2010 by CaliLily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 That is a good idea Abby! You have some good books there to read Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 You have some fantastic books there, so I hope you really get into enjoying them without falling asleep so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 Thanks guys Hopefully this little incentive will help motivate the mojo a bit. You know, two months ago I couldn't even sleep with the help of a pill, now it seems like my body has done a complete 180 and everything makes me sleepy! Burned is really good so far. Its not my favorite in the series, but a good continuation from where the last book left off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 For me the HON series got so boring with Zoey and every male ever lusting over her, so this was a nice change of pace I particularly enjoyed the Stevie Rae sections Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Good luck with it Abby! You have some great reads ahead of you. There's a thread somewhere around here for a 'read 3, buy 1' challenge that a bunch of us were doing a while ago. I remember Kell was quite successful at it but I always fell off the wagon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted June 15, 2010 Author Share Posted June 15, 2010 I agree, the concept of the MC being the source of attraction for so many people is a bit over the top and annoying. If the Casts would have just stuck with the Zoey/Heath/Erik triangle I think it would have been much better because a triangle is much mroe believable than what they are trying to do. I've never been a big fan of the whole Red Fledgeling storyline or Stevie Rae. When that part of the series started being incorporated into the storyline I almost stopped reading it, TBH. In the end curiosity won and I'm glad it did. There's a thread somewhere around here for a 'read 3, buy 1' challenge that a bunch of us were doing a while ago. I remember Kell was quite successful at it but I always fell off the wagon. Is there? I'll have to go search for that Thanks, Kylie! Any little tips or advice is very welcome and appreciated. Right now it seems like I've developed literary narcolepsy. Read a few pages and wake up a couple hours later with my nose in the crease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 I've had trouble with reading and falling asleep for ages, it's a pain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted June 21, 2010 Author Share Posted June 21, 2010 (edited) I've had trouble with reading and falling asleep for ages, it's a pain! It is, especially when you know the book in front of you is great and you just want to be able to get through it so you can know what happens in the story. The mojo has still been evading me these last couple of days but I'm going to try again tonight. *Points to the Venti Starbucks with an extra shot of espresso next to her bed* See? Anti-sleep. Though I haven't made much progress reading Burned I have managed to get wrapped up in the enchanting world of poetry. Elizabeth Barrett Browning has always captured my heart in a way no other writer ever has before. Her most famous poem: How Do I Love Thee? (aka, Sonnet 43) has been sort of a literary security blanket for me since I can remember. No matter how many times I read it her words weave their way through my body like ribbons of warmth and comfort, leaving me a sense of fufillment that is unlike that of any other book or story. I've posted the poem below for those who are reading this and haven't read it before. Read it twice or three times because once isn't enough to really grasp the power and love she poured into the words she wrote to her husband, Robert Browning. How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. Edited June 21, 2010 by CaliLily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted June 22, 2010 Author Share Posted June 22, 2010 My reading mojo seems to have returned a bit so I'm taking full advantage and trying to finish Burned ASAP. In order to help with my review writing goals I have established a reading/reviewing/writing blog which can be found here if anyone is interested: http://stainedglassinthenight.blogspot.com/ If the master plan stays on track I plan on finishing Burned (both the book and the review) today and starting Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler. *crosses fingers* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted June 26, 2010 Author Share Posted June 26, 2010 Synopsis of Burned by P.C. and Kristin Cast Things have turned black at the House of Night. Zoey Redbird’s soul has shattered. With everything she’s ever stood for falling apart, and a broken heart making her want to stay in the Otherworld forever, Zoey’s fading fast. It’s seeming more and more doubtful that she will be able pull herself back together in time to rejoin her friends and set the world to rights. As the only living person who can reach her, Stark must find a way to get to her. But how? He will have to die to do so, the Vampire High Council stipulates. And then Zoey will give up for sure. There are only 7 days left… Enter BFF Stevie Rae. She wants to help Z but she has massive problems of her own. The rogue Red Fledglings are acting up, and this time not even Stevie Rae can protect them from the consequences. Her kinda boyfriend, Dallas, is sweet but too nosy for his own good. The truth is, Stevie Rae’s hiding a secret that might be the key to getting Zoey home but also threatens to explode her whole world. In the middle of the whole mess is Aphrodite: ex-Fledgling, trust-fund baby, total hag from Hell (and proud of it). She’s always been blessed (if you could call it that) with visions that can reveal the future, but now it seems Nyx has decided to speak through her with the goddess’s own voice, whether she wants it or not. Aphrodite’s loyalty can swing a lot of different ways, but right now Zoey’s fate hangs in the balance. Three girls… playing with fire… if they don’t watch out, everyone will get Burned. Review After months of eagerly awaiting the seventh installment of the House of Night Series I hate to admit that I feel greatly underwhelmed by Burned. One of the things that turns me off of a series is when it starts to feel like the author is writng book (insert next number in series here) instead of a must read continuation of the story, regardless of previous books published. To me this one felt like it was being put out as book number seven rather than a 'must read or the suspense will kill me' creation. Though the writing has always been just a little over mediocre, I've been able to overlook that in favor of a great story, but the House of Night seems to have hit its summit for me and I do not plan on reading any further in this series. That being said, if the Casts were to do a spin-off centered around the character of Aphrodite, I would be the first in line to pick up a copy. She is the only character in the whole thing who has gained my utter devotion as a reader. Overall I would rate this book a 1.5 out of 5 Next book on the list- Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexiepiper Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 Sorry you didn't enjoy burned as much as you hoped you would Hope you enjoy Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 I tried to get into it, unfortunately that series just lost the magic for me in Burned. Definitely disappointing but what can you do? CCBB is definitely not a book you should read in public because its absolutely hillarous and likely to make you laugh your pants off. I'm enjoying it a lot so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 Oops... I went to the store earlier to get some milk and came out with 4 seasons of Sex and the City, Season 1 of How I Met Your Mother, Season 1 of Dollhouse and two books: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Its not my fault... they just sort of jumped into my cart and I didn't have the heart to put them back on the shelf. They gave me puppy dog eyes... I'm a sucker for puppy dog eyes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 (edited) Those are two awesome books. But whatever happened to Janet Evanovich? Is Dollhouse the Joss Whedon series? Edited June 30, 2010 by Kylie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbielleRose Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 Those are two awesome books. But whatever happened to Janet Evanovich? Is Dollhouse the Joss Whedon series? I wasn't in an actual bookstore so their selection was limited. Guess since I'm already in debt 10 books per my 'read 5 buy 1' challenge I think I'm just going to go to Barnes and Noble later and make the debt 15 books Aw, who am I kidding... I can't go into B&N and buy only one single book... Yes, it is Joss Whedon's Dollhouse You a fan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 You remind me so much of myself when I was attempting the 'read 3, buy 1' challenge. I'm definitely a Joss Whedon fan. I absolutely love Buffy and Firefly (I never gave Angel much of a chance though for some reason). Dollhouse sounds so interesting; I'd love to see it one day. Did it get cancelled soon after it started? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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