The Archer's Tale - Bernard Cornwell

Okay, I've found my next audiobook and next 2nds Challenge. It's a good story, so far, and the narrator is fine. It starts in 1643 and goes from there. Thomas was the illegitimate son of a priest and becomes an archer after his village is pillaged by the Normands for a spear that St George used to kill the dragon. That's where I am now. So far, so good.

Anyone want a great grin, watch 'Shrek the Halls'!! Lordy, I hope this comes out on DVD. I was in a bad mood and now...not so much. Thanks Shrek and Donkey and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas....yummeh...). Sweet dreams now, babeh....

Coldheart Canyon - Clive Barker

Glad to be finished with Coldheart Canyon - Clive Barker. I have been listening to this for over a month, what with no listening time during the Thanksgiving week and not using my car much. 17 tapes, 22 hours long. Thankfully a very talented narrator, Frank Muller, kept me listening. I did fast forward through what seemed the millionth multi-partnered sex scene and kept fast forwarding when it got to be too much from then on. The story itself was intriguing, but I became a little overwhelmed at times. And I am not a Fainting Fanny nor get wrapped around the axle with sex scenes, but some of these became too much.
I liked how Clive dispatched the bad guys (male and female) and redeemed the iffy characters. Tammy was my favorite of the good guys and Katya was a well written evil biotch.

Ready to move on and try something new from the stacks of audiobooks in the backseat of the vehicle. The Archer's Tale - Bernard Cornwell might be up next.

Started On Strike for Christmas

I started On Strike for Christmas last night. If given the time, I will read this one fast. It's very good and I don't blame these first two women for thinking about this strike. I would too!

I read for 30 min on the recumbent bike this morning, so that means I am a little over halfway through Memory in Death - J D Robb. I love a good fast read. They make the time on the bike go faster and I can mow through more in a month without skimming. I can mow and savor. I can't so much with skimming. If I am skimming, something is wrong with the book.

I have no idea what ol' Clive can do to fill the last two tapes of Coldheart Canyon, because most all of the main players have bit the dust. It will be a very long time before I get such a loooooong book on tape or CD again. I get antsy to finish and move on to the next one. I have several in the backseat of my vehicle and one or two in the closet at home.

Hissy Fit...what FUN!

I initially chose Hissy Fit - Mary Kay Andrews because of the title. What's not to like about that term? Not necessarily being on the receiving end of one, unless you deserve it of course, but they can be a site to behold. Especially when it's from someone who is not known for throwing them. Keely is one such woman. But she finds out something of her soon to be husband and throws a doozy. And it goes from there. It is funny and warm and a mystery thrown in. I love all of the characters, even the pewpheads. Well, I'd love to take a cast iron skillet to the flat side of some of the characters' craniums for what they did to Keely. But she perseveres. I love Austin, her best friend. He steals the scenes he's in. Would love to know someone like him in real life.
I highly recommend this as not just a chick-lit book, which I am sure it was labelled. I am going out this afternoon and finding more books by Mary Kay Andrews. She is a new-to-me author and so glad I found her.
Now to find something new to read....holiday book, perhaps On Strike for Christmas - Sheila Roberts.

Soliloquy to Black Friday.....

Here is something I started on another site and a friend, Carol Ann, finished. I snort laughed and shared with DH...he did his version of snort laugh. I asked Carol Ann if I could use her Soliloquy to Black Friday. She said she would be flattered...here it is:

My start:

To shop or not to shop...that is the question....whether it is nobler to stay home and away from the crowds....

Carol Ann's deee-lightful finish:

Or to rise before dawn seeking outrageous bargains
While wading against a sea of determined shoppers
Should I oppose them in a made dash to the 40% off table?
Or shall I sleep; perchance to dream another 4 hours.
Aye, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of decadence what treasures might I miss?
It gives me pause to contemplate
The calamity of one item left for three shoppers
For whom would bear the scorn and trampling of the madding crowd
The oppressor wresting away your rightly claimed prize
The pangs of despising humanity
As you witness the insolence of one stealing your parking space
Shall I grunt and sweat hauling packages, boxes and bags?
And yet dread that next stop on my list?
The risk of missing the undiscovered 70% off item
Will I become one who puzzles other travelers?
Making me a bear and casting ill will round me
To fly at another who holds the last down blanket?
Thus my conscience does make a coward of me
And I must contemplate a resolution
To leave my sickle home or anything else I might cast
And enterprise to use only guile and the moment
If I encounter currents of people in need of being turned away
For I am inspired in the name of action
And free coupons for the first 250 customers
And pray that not all my sins be remembered


Happy shopping!!

First Christmas Book

Holidays Are Hell - Vicki Petterssen, Marjorie M Liu, Kim Harrison, and Lynsay Sands. A 50/50 kind of book which is what tends to happen with these compilation books. Sometimes it's only 1/4 good and that's sad. And I still get them and hope for the best. The better half was Kim Harrison who can write no wrong as far as I am concerned and I also am now a fan of Lynsay Sands. I think I could be a fan of the other two authors if I didn't feel like I'd been dropped into the middle of a story and was hopelessly lost, but maybe that was just me...cuz that happens a lot to me....

Next up for purse book, I have Memory in Death - JD Robb, who I adore in this incarnation, but not so much as Nora Roberts. This one occurs during the Christmas season in 2059, so I am calling it for the Christmas Challenge, too.

Read quite a bit in Hissy Fit - Mary Kay Andrews this morning due to early wakefulness. It's gooooood!
On tape 15 of 17, side 1 Coldheart Canyon - Clive Barker in the car. It's back to moving right along and most of the bad people are kicking off right and left. Not sure what the story will do for the next five sides.....let's listen, shall we??

Hope Amanda Stevens, I mean Nina Frost, doesn't mind....

http://rockstarname.com/index.php

Go find out who you are on stage!!! I am Ivy Ambrose. Bring on the drum solo, three encores and Bic Lighters babeeeee!!!

Time to Finish Some Books

I finished An Acquaintance with Darkness - Ann Rinaldi last night and began Hissy Fit - Mary Kay Andrews. I had a hard time sleeping last night and was at the mercy of what was on the shelves in the Candy Room to read. Hissy Fit looked to be a good starting point.
I skimmed the last 10 or so pages of An Acquaintance with Darkness because I just could not like the main character, a 14 year old spoiled brat. I just got tired of reading about her. So I skimmed.
I hope Hissy Fit is more my style. I know how to throw one, so maybe I can learn some new angles.
= )
I have resorted to fastforwarding through Coldheart Canyon again. I am close to finishing and the ick parts are just getting to be too much. I am ready to move on there too. I am on the last story of Holidays are Hell and hope to finish that the next day or so.

Fabulous Web Site

http://www.freerice.com

This is a fab site for word power building and, as per the site, United Nations donates rice for all of the words you get correct. It is addicting in a very good way. Give it a try.

Hello Seester!!

I forwarded my blogspot site address to my sister and she told me last night that she is reading it now. So a shout out to my Seester! Luvs ya!! Thank you for the pearl bracelet. It's

gorgeous (in my best Barbara Streisand...much as I dislike that broad, love her caricature) !

I am on tape 14 of 17, side 1 Coldheart Canyon - Clive Barker in the car. The man can write and keep me interested even with the truly creepy things going on. It's done in rest-freaky-rest-freaky-rest-ewwgross-rest-holy crap...sort of roller coaster pattern. You get a chance to catch your breath a bit before the next weirdness kicks in. Definitlely listening to something warm and fuzzy after this.

I am a little over halfway through An Acquaintance with Darkness - Ann Rinaldi as bedside reading. I would love some more time with it, but I keep getting interrupted with falling asleep. Not due to the book, but from my thing of getting up so flippin' early to get my workout done for the day.

I started the second story in Holidays are Hell - four authors of paranormal genre. Kim Harrison wrote the first story wonderfully and can only hope the rest of the stories stand up as well. This is my beginning of the winter time holiday books and one for my Christmas Challenge.

I Believe I Found It

I went looking for a different purse book. One that would fit in my purse and be fun to read while on the bike and while standing in line and wouldn't take too much brain cells to catch up if I went for periods of time before getting back to it. But not too inane a book....I don't ask much. I believe I found what I was looking for, Holidays are Hell - Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M Liu and Vicki Pettersson. Sometimes these collaboration books can go awry, but I think this one might be pretty good. It starts with a very strong Kim Harrison writing about a very young Rachel Morgan, the main character in Kim's series. I fell for the series immediately (back in the day) upon seeing the titles For a Few Demons More, A Fistful of Charms, The Good the Bad and the Dead, and Every Which Way But Dead.

from b&n
This holiday, spend quality time with family and loved ones—living and dead . . .
There's no place like home for the horrordays—unless you'd prefer a romantic midnight walk through a ghost-infested graveyard . . . or a haunted house candlelight dinner with the sexy vampire of your dreams. The (black) magical season is here—and whether it's a solstice séance gone demonically wrong with the incomparable Kim Harrison, a grossly misshapen Christmas with the remarkable Lynsay Sands, a blood-chilling-and-spilling New Year's with the wonderful Marjorie M. Liu, or a super-powered Thanksgiving with the phenomenal Vicki Pettersson, one thing is for certain: in the able hands of these exceptional dark side explorers, the holidays are going to be deliciously hellish!

I am looking forward to the rest of the book. My only problem will be finding the time this next week of holiday prep. If nothing else, it will get my butt down to the mancave to ride our recumbent bike just to get the chance to read. Work off the turkey and get my readin' on.

Thank goodness for purse books....

I always carry a purse book with me. I had a doctor's appt yesterday afternoon....I was early, the doctor was running late. I was at the halfway point in What's a Ghoul to Do? - Victoria Laurie when I sat down in the waiting room and I finished while waiting for my blood draw two hours later. Thankfully, that meant the appt was complete and it left me looking forward to choosing a new purse book. I stopped at Super Tarjay on the way to picking up Lady K at school and kept myself to my shopping list even though I did wander through the book section. I was hoping to find On Strike for Christmas - Sheila Roberts, but no joy. I will just have to go to B&N and renew my B&N card and use my discount now....oh the tragedy....

I went home after Lady K pick-up and got my schtuff ready for the next day of work and working out. I also thought I'd found my next purse book The Butler Did It - Kasey Michaels. No, he really didn't...at least not for me. It's an eHarlequin set in Regency England timeframe that I somehow thought would be a fun read and it so is not. So now to weed out the Kasey Michaels I thought would be a good deal to get all at once having never read her. I will try one more of another era and see how it goes. I will start this one at home or will carry two choices in my purse this time. It makes for a long recumbent bike ride when one doesn't have a book to read when one is used to having a book to read.

Possums....Coldheart Canyon is not for the faint of heart....

Yikes!!! Listening to Coldheart Canyon - Clive Barker on my commute is getting more difficult. I am not a prude by any stretch, but jeezoh-peezoh!!! My eyebrows are raised as high as they can go (granted, this is not very high...) at some points of the listening. Thankfully, it alternates between stories or characters, so there is some relief. I will have to listen to something warm and fuzzy after this one. I am on tape 8 of 17, side 1.

I am about a third of the way through An Acquaintance with Darkness - Ann Rinaldi as bedside reading. It is billed as YA, but it is good for adults too. Or maybe I am YA at heart.

I have been enjoying my time on the recumbent bike while reading What's a Ghould to Do? - Victoria Laurie. This is the first of another the author's series and I will be getting more of this one along with her other Abby Cooper - Psychic Eye series.

Seconds Challenge - Birds of a Feather - Jacqueline Winspear

I stayed up past my bedtime last night to finish Birds of a Feather - Jacqueline Winspear (hey, it wasn't a school night). I chose it for my list of Seconds Challenge and was very glad I did. I loved Maisie Dobbs, the first in the series. That one was billed as a mystery, but it was more of a character development study with a tinge of mystery in that Maisie is a private investigator. Throughout that book it shows how she came to choose that path and all of the people along that path and showing the way, however inadvertantly. I should have been disappointed with Ms Winspear for misleading me somewhat, but I wasn't. I adored Maisie and enjoyed the other characters in that first book of her life.
Birds of a Feather continues the story and is actually a mystery. Women are being murdered and only Maisie sees the connection, however tenuous.
This is only a part of the book, though. It continues to be a character study of everyone in Maisie's life. I love Billy, Maisie's assistant, and all that they discuss and go through. He is a wounded soldier from WWI and is fighting his personal demons. I think he is my favorite character in the series, besides Maisie.
There are several things going on at once and I do not know how Maisie continues to carry on as she does, but she is described as showing signs of wear and concern for her well-being after the concern for her father and Billy. She wonders at her life and if she is capable of love again after Simon (read the first book).
With all that is occurring in her life, she never wavers from her self-assurance of her chosen path as a private investigator. I love how she calms and centers herself with meditation.

It is good, but it was early this morning when I chose it. All of my challenge choices were in the master bedroom and I was in the spare, Candy Room, and choices were limited to quietly choosing something from those shelves on the landing or in the Candy Room. Ann Rinaldi's young reader book An Acquaintance With Darkness looked intriguing enough. It is during the time of Lincoln, Civil War and a young girl's life at this time. So far, there has been mention of John Wilkes Booth, Dr Mudd, and body snatching. This will be a book for my Unread Author challenge, if I continue.

Giving Up on a Book....for now.....

It's actually two books. Both purse books are just not gettin' it for me. So, putting The Visitant and The Chemistry of Death back on Mt Git'r'Read for now and picking up What's a Ghoul To Do? - Victoria Laurie. This should even out the trilogy of books I usually have going. I need a balance of something light to go with my version of heavy or dark.
Easier to hold and pay attention to on the recumbent bike is a good thing, too. Stay on bike longer to read more book, lose more floof off of my 'aithe'. All good.

I am on tape 6 of 17, side 1 Coldheart Canyon - Clive Barker in the car and we have ghost-age now. OR do we????? Ooooooooooooooooooooooo...........spoooooookeeeeeeeee........

I am fairly close to finishing bedside book Birds of a Feather - Jacqueline Winspear. I would like to finish this weekend, but not sure what kind of reading time I am going to get. Keep your fingers crossed for some quality reading time. Thankin' you.

Not Normally 'Into' Clive Barker....ready to make and exception

I saw Hellraiser back in the day as my then boyfriend's way to get me over my phobia of scary movies...it worked, mostly. That has been the extent of my Clive Barker delving. Nothing else intrigued me to grab one of his books and read. Until I saw the blurb on Recordedbooks.com for Coldheart Canyon a few months ago. I added it to my wishlist and it was sent in August.....and it has been in the box it arrived in for all of that time until earlier this week and I decided I just could not get into Diamond in the Ruff. I looked at all seven of the audiobooks left to my choice in the back seat of my car and decided to try ol' Clive. Was I glad I did. It is not scary yet, but I am thinking it will be. I don't even care that it hasn't gotten to the scary parts yet. The characters and the scenery, heck the description of the dog dying as I drove in this morning made my cry. I don't do that! I could rationalize the lack of quality sleep last night or this cold I have going, but I really think I am involved in this book. Good thing as it 17 tapes long, 22 hours of listening! I am looking forward to my commute.

Life is Too Short and All That Jazz

I have decided that life is indeed to short to listen to Diamond in the Ruff - Emily Carmichael. Way too much whining and not all of it from the dawg. I decided to give good ol' scary Clive Barker a shot with his Coldheart Canyon. Good choice that and I am only one side 2 of tape 1.
For next purse book, I thought I would dig on Aaron Elkins - Unnatural Selection, but I was wrong. It is #15 in the series and I am getting to like starting in the beginning or close to the beginning of a new to me series. Soooo, back on Mt Git'r'Read it went and I picked out one from my sister's last package titled The Chemistry of Death - Simon Beckett. It's already intriguing and will make for loooong rides on the recumbent bike I can tell.

Two More....

Bubbles in Trouble - Sarah Strohmeyer, BOT in the car, finished on Friday on the way home from work. I began Diamond in the Ruff - Emily Carmichael, BOCD. This is not a worthy follow-on to Bubbles and company, but it will reasonably do. Bubbles has moxie, the group of chicks in Diamond in the Ruff don't (doesn't?) seem to. Much whining, which is acceptable as one of the characters is a woman trapped in a Corgie's sausage shaped bod because of a past life thing. This is her penance and she must atone for her misdeeds by doing good ones in this current incarnation. Saving grace, so far, the book is set in the Denver/Boulder area and it's fun picking out familiar sites. The most saving grace is that the narrator is one of my favorites, Barbara Rosenblatt. She can make the phone book interesting were she inclined to narrate that.
I also finished Fire Me Up, An Aisling Grey, Guardian Novel - Katie MacAlister this morning on the recumbent bike. Magic, intrigue, dragons, sex, funny characters, a talking dog demon...what more can one want from a series? It's very fun and I really can't wait to start the next one.
I think I started Aaron Elkins - Unnatural Selection, but I may not stick with it at this time. It's #15 or so in the series and I'd like to start closer to the beginning, I think. We'll see if I get more time with it, but I have a feeling I will be choosing something else for now. JD Robb is calling, I think.

OCTOBER 2007 BOOKS READ

The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even - Julie Kenner, TPB, good YA vamp book. Kenner certainly does good vamp!

The Tunnels - Michelle Gagnon, PBK, GOOD thriller, hope there's more!

Wicked Women Whodunnit - MaryJanice Davidson, Amy Garvey (my favorite story of the bunch), Jennifer Apodaca, Nancy J Cohen, TPB, decent collection of female driven mysteries

Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris, PBK, GOOD..GOOD..GOOD

Stonehenge - Bernard Cornwell, BOT, decently longwinded tale, lot of groin touching and not in a good way

Rumor of Bones - Beverly Connor, PBK, beginning of another wonderful series by Beverly

Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire - Michele Bardsley, PBK, very funny rather disturbing vamp cozy. Second in series.

Deep in the Woods: The Beginning - Larry J Hillhouse, TPB, pretty nifty sci-fi (if you listen closely you can hear Rod Serling narrating)

Harvest - Tess Gerritsen, BOT, YOWZAH GOOD as always

Whole Lotta Trouble - Stephanie Bond, PBK, good twist and shout read!

Shoo-Fly Pie: A Bug Man Novel - Tim Downs, TPB, twisty turny good!

Just About Done

I am so close to finishing Bubbles in Trouble - Sarah Strohmeyer in the car. I am on tape 8 of 8, side 2. I should be seeing what to listen to next on the way home this afternoon. I will be leaving early from work today, so plan to go to The Hilltop Coffee and sit and sip and read purse book Fire Me Up - Katie MacAlister, ideally until I finish it as well. Thank goodness for time on the recumbent bike and my 50 mile roundtrip commute five days a week or I'd never get any books read. My bedside book Birds of a Feather - Jacqueline Winspear is going slowly only because I get to bed and either get interrupted by Lady K being done with her bath early or I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. Good reason for that is the sacrifice of extra zzzzzz's so that I can make it to the gym early in the AM and get this floof of my bod. 6 hours of sleep a night for five nights in a row and going on three weeks in a row, is definitely making me sleep better, but the reading is suffering. I hope to get in more time this weekend. No one in the spare room, so if I wander awake, I can go to the Candy Room (Lady K's name for the main spare room) and read. Then get up and ride the bike for some activity points and start the weekend.