Stew!

So, I finished Alcatraz versus the Scrivener's Bones soon enough that I was able to return it to the library on Saturday afternoon. The book kept up the amusing asides from Alcatraz and many of the jokes from the first book. We get to meet more of the Smedry family and learn more about the Librarians evil plan - all while visiting the library of Alexandria. It could be a tempting place, all those books, but the price for checking out your first book is a bit higher than I'd like to pay - even if one person has figured out to solve that problem.

Having finished that, I moved to a book that I've been wanting to read for a while now - ever since I first heard about it (when my Mom got her copy in the mail). This is Awista Ayub's However Tall the Mountain: A Dream, Eight Girls, and a Journey Home. This book is quite enjoyable, and I can't wait for it to go into paperback editions, so I can suggest it for the Lemmings book club. My biggest complaint with the book is connected to what is possibly my favorite part of it. My possibly favorite part is the mention of Barbara and Duaine Goodno (although Duaine is never actually given a last name, Barbara is, and he's listed as her husband, so . . .) - and then my biggest complaint is that she's Barb, not Barbara - even though I know that Barbara is her full first name. Barb and Duaine are my aunt and uncle (Barb is one of my Mom's sisters), so I had a fun connection to the story. I am quite impressed with the story of these girls - I can't help but admire them. Because I got to read the copy Barb sent to my Mom, I did also get to learn one additional fact. Barb was not hiding the salt and sugar from the girls, as they thought she was; the salt and sugar are normally stored in the cupboard. I would recommend this book to almost everyone, if not everyone!

Having finished that yesterday (partially so it could stay at Mom's house as it's her book), I have now moved on to the book I checked out on Saturday at work - I chose not to resist the temptation. I'm reading Andrew Greeley's Irish Stew!, and would have the next book in the series waiting as well, if it had been available at the library on Saturday. This story has reminded me of lots, some of which is from the earlier books in the series, and some of which is from my own life. Nuala and Dermot's third child is born prematurely (at 25 weeks) and spends a few months in the hospital (presumably the NICU) because of that. I was also born early - but not quite as early as Socra Marie. Ned Fitzpatrick reappears in this story and we get to learn more of his life - and he's quite helpful in getting firsthand accounts of the historical mystery their solving this time - having a journalist around appears to helpful so far - especially as he's so willing to keep a journal of what's happening. This is a good way for Fr. Greeley to add the historical portion of the story. Although I didn't mind Dermot's mini research papers from the first few books, this is quite an enjoyable way to learn about the events, and the accounts don't feel as much like a textbook. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

I don't know how much reading I'll be able to do in the next week or so - I have to watch season one of The Big Bang Theory by Thursday, and then I need to finish the first five discs of season one of In Treatment, as well as watch The Lost Tapes, both of those by next Tuesday. Perhaps I shouldn't check out so many tv shows at once.

Smedries and their talents

So, last night I finished A Pound of Paper, which really wasn't quite as good as I expected, but there were some good bits.

I have now moved on to Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones, the other book I have checked out that I'm quite looking forward to (even if I live in the Hushlands). Even though I'm only a few pages into the story so far, I've already returned to much of the odd quirks of the story. One of my favorite parts are the talents the Smedries have - Alcatraz breaks things (like an airplane or the bathroom wall) and his grandfather arrives late to appointments (such and bullet wounds and disasters). Brandon Sanderson had lots of fun with this book (well, the whole series, really) and this allows the reader to do the same.

Catch Up for Now, and a Bit of the Future

So I finished The Doomsday Key pretty easily Tuesday evening (or perhaps it was Wednesday morning - but I don't think so). I found the ideas and solutions throughout the book, and especially at the end quite fascinating. as I rather mentioned already. I am especially intrigued by the author's proposed history for the Black Madonna "cult" (if memory serves correctly, that's how it was described in the book).

Part of why I think I actually finished that on Tuesday comes from the fact that I was well into Syren by the time of my Aunt Stephanie's birthday lunch around noon on Wednesday. I'll admit that it's a quick read, but still, I was over hundred pages into it at that point - possibly even over two hundred pages. I rather recognized/anticipated a few of the themes/plots purely from the book title, but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story. I think that my favorite character in this story was Miarr - and the CattRock (sp) Light. That sounds like a really cool/fun lighthouse. I'd argue about the probability/possibility of adding (sometime way back in one's family tree) some cat background, except for the fact that science or technology is getting pretty close to that, as well as the fact that this is a fictional, fantasy world - it doesn't have to follow normal earthly laws. In general, I do have to agree with Kris Hickman (a friend of mine from high school); this book is mind candy - not really any deep literary/philosophical aspects to the story, but despite that, lots of fun. I really enjoyed Beetle's thought at one point in the book: The smell of burning dragon is never good when you're on the dragon 500 feet in there. It's also not very good for the dragon, either.

I finished this book later Wednesday evening. On Thursday, I started the next book I'd had checked out from the library. When I was shelving this book at work, the title briefly caught my eye - just enough for me to choose to read the front flap to see what the book was about. This description drew me in enough for me to bring the book home with me after all. The Texan's Touch was a fast read - and as with Syren, it probably counts more as mind candy than great literature, but I did enjoy the story. The more I read of it, the more I suspected the accurancy of one thought I'd had while bringing it home - even though this copy was sorted with the general fiction, I wondered if it actually qualified as a romance book (and was only not there because it was the larger hardcover edition of the book). I know there are similarly titled books in the romance section (I'm pretty sure they're even by Jodi Thomas - the author of this book) - something about the/a Texan in the title. My favorite line was probably near the end of the book: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in this dusty dugout, awaiting our brother's hanging, to join this woman and this man . . ." Nick (Nichole) and Adam were finally getting married - which worked to their benefit later that day (or maybe the following day) when Wolf (Nick's brother) arrived quite enraged with Adam.

Thursday evening after work, I was able to finish this book - while waiting for supper, mostly. After finishing this, I read the short-ish book I'd found at the library earlier that day, The Mystery Girl - Boxcar Children #28 (created by Gertrude Chandler Warner). This was an even easier, quicker read than the previous two books I'd read - not really surprising as it was shorter, and a kids book. I suspected parts of the reasoning behind the title character's actions, although I didn't know nearly all of the story. More mind candy.

Friday morning, I moved on to a book I'd checked out from the library the previous week. It was John Baxter's A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict. I'm enjoying the book, even if it's not quite what I was expecting. The book contains a lot more background into early sf culture (for lack of a better term), and then some book collecting stories/background. This is much more an autobiography or memior in general as opposed to the book collecting stories/history/tradition that I'd actually been expecting. I am learning a bit from this, but I learned more in Harold Rabinowitz's A Passion for Books: A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Lore, and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books - which I read a little over a year ago. I would recommend it.

When I finish this book, which might take awhile (I plan to spend much of this next week actually catching up on the tv shows/movies I've got checked out from the library and/or have borrowed from others), I'm going to start Alcatraz vs. the Scrivener's Bones by Brandon Sanderson - I'm intrigued to see what Alcatraz Smedry is up to now; I've alreadly read the first book in the series: Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which was extremely amusing.

More history in the stories

I finished Irish Love Sunday morning while waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to come pick me up to bring me to Owatonna where Kathy and Paul would finish taking me and Grandma to the Lemmings book club (unfortunately, I'm too stuck into the plot of the book I'm currently in the middle of reading - well, actually I'm almost finished with it (under fifty pages left) - to be able to actually describe much of this book). I can say that I greatly enjoyed it and only barely resisted the temptation of checking out from the library the next book in that series - I even had the book in hand (of course, now I can't quite recall what the title was - but alphabetically it was somewhere between Irish Mist and Irish Whiskey.

The discussions at book club were much of what I expected, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. There's too much to say here - but overall it (The Grapes of Wrath) was a very well liked book.

I'm now reading The Doomsday Key by James Rollins. I've been enjoying the bits of history that are in the book as they've mostly followed bits of history I'm already interested in. The book does have a rather different interpretation of some history than is typically used, but it's still quite believable (although reading the first part that takes place actually in history, rather than being researched in the present, might help with that sense a bit). I liked the part about St. Malachy's predictions about the popes; in thinking on this more, especially in terms of the new movie and books related to the Mayan calender which places the end of the world in 2012 - Malachy's popes stop after the 112th one - that one will see the end of the world. Pope Benedict XVI is the 111th pope, which means it is somewhat conceivable that both time lines are accurate - at least based on how they coincide with each other. Just an interesting thought I had while reading this book. I didn't like the impression I'd gotten of what Ivar and his company Viatus were trying to do with genetically modified grains (at least with the corn); however, after reading his speech of what he'd been planning to do, although I still don't like it, it's not nearly as bad as what I'd thought he was trying to do. I'm intrigued to see how this will end - so I'm going to stop here, and continue reading.

When I finish this book, I plan to move on to Syren, by Angie Sage - it's the next/newest Septimus Heap book.

Busy reading

It's been a few days since I've posted anything, but that's because I've mostly been too busy reading (I've also had a few things going on the last few evenings).

I finished The Darkness on Wednesday pretty easily, but only by staying up later than I should have. I took too long of a nap that afternoon and had too much else that I chose to do instead of reading I guess I just delayed reading a bit, and then couldn't put the book down, added to which was a desire to finish it so I could return it to the library the following morning while I was at work. I greatly enjoyed the story and look forward to the next on (with a little sorrow that it will be the last one in the series). There were, as expected, more battle scenes. It was a little tense for awhile as I couldn't tell for certain that Carlos was going to survive, but was glad he did. I rather suspected he had to, after all of the rest of his amazing/fortunate/unbelievable survivals he's already had, but you never can tell. I am also happy for Yonnie (Yolando officially - I just realized that his nickname doesn't match his real name as well as I'd thought it did - wonder why it took me this long) and Val (her nickname works with her real name (Valkyrie) much more sensibly). As usuall when reading this book, my personal, conversational prayer strengthened and deepened - I don't know how long it will last - but hopefully at least until the library gets the final book in the series and I get to read it. I really needed this book right now (I suppose the argument could be made that that's why I searched to see if this book was already available in general and if so (as it was) to get a copy at the library so I can read it).

After I finished that book, I started a book I'd checked out from the library on Tuesday (skipping a couple of books I'd already had checked out - in hopes of finishing it quickly and returning it on Friday to get my items checked out list back down to ten - I cheated a little). I skipped ahead to Andrew M. Greeley's Irish Love, the next Nuala Anne McGrail novel expecting that I'd plow through it as I've done with the rest of his books. I haven't quite yet finished the book, but that's no reflection on the quality of the book itself; rather it connects to this being a busy week for me and that I've been staying up too late watching tv online with Mom, leading to me choosing napping instead reading during the day around the work schedule. Thursday night was the bookclub meeting at church (quite enjoyable - they're a great group of women and we had some good discussion about The Good Earth - even if I never could get a word in to be able to share my idea of why O-lan was so quiet and stoic - I expect that as a slave in the "big house" she probably could have gotten into much trouble for sharing her ideas and talking in general and for showing any emotion - especially contempt for those she served. Also I suspect that if she'd shown much joy at anything, her owners could have done whatever they could to remove that joy from her. I suspect that her whole experience as a slave could have taught her that it was much better to hide her true thoughts and feelings). Friday night Mom and I went to the IHN-Greater Rochester Area annual concert. This was a lovely concert, but it took up much of the evening - my available reading time. I have been finding it interesting that Nuala and Dermot are back in Ireland - they've bought a cottage in Connemara and are living there for now - also Nuala has given up her singing. Their family has grown quite a bit now - in addition to Nelliecoyne they've also got a young son, mostly referred to as the Mick (officially named Micheal (shucks, I can't quite remember the exact middle name - to an extent his name is the inverse of his fathers though), and Fiona (the wolfhound) is expecting (or actually at this point in the story now has) three puppies - two girls and a boy - all as white as their mother. We knew this ahead of time because Nuala's a dark one. I find it interesting that in most of the Nuala mysteries so far she's been referred to as fey, but now in this one the phrase dark one has been used much more. I suspect it may have something more to do with living in Ireland again/for now perhaps, but I don't know. I do like the phrase though - it reminds me of "The Secret of Roan Inish" - actually much of this story (as well as some of the previous one) has reminded me of it. Nuala and Dermot seem to be talking about much of the time period and area that the movie utilized/referred to. The Maamstrasna (I think I've got the spelling correct) story portion of this book is maddening - it's almost laughable that this could ever happen - however, I suspect Andrew Greeley researched it well enough and in addition, as Eddie says, it's not much different to what happened in the U.S., both with the Native Americans, as well as with African Americans (similar to the themes found in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird) (which may also still happen to some extent - but I certainly hope not).

Also, on Thursday at work, I briefly read another kids book - I've the other two, similar books already. Llama Llama Misses Mama, is just as cute and touching (with the same endearing rhyming as Llama Llama Red Pajamma, and Llama Llama Mad at Mama. This was a fun story about the first day at school.

Similarly, at work today, the next Junie B. Jones book came in, so I checked out Junie B., First Grader at Last. I read it walking to and from the bank after work so I could get cash - and then I got to return it before coming home. At the beginning, first grade isn't looking so good to Junie B. - and she needs to get glasses - she's not that pleased with this idea, but is told she has no choice. Although a few of her classmates - one in particular, teases her about them, many of her other classmates think they're pretty cool, so by the end of the book she's thinking first grade might not be too bad after all. I would rather like to know what her teacher's real name is (and/or how it's spelled) because she says he said his name is Mr. Scary and I rather doubt that's true - at least she says she does think he "just made [it] up."

The Big Battle Continues

As it has probably been at least a year since I last read any of the Vampire Huntress Legend series, I wasn't quite sure how easily I'd reconnect with the story, but it has been going extremely well, so far. More than anything, I keep getting disappointed that I need to stop reading for various reasons - but some interruptions can't be avoided.

The characters still draw me in - they'd be cool to know (I suspect I think that about most of the main characters in books I actually like - and the better I think the book is, the stronger this idea is).

I'm ready for the big fight again, but I know that as I'm not even a third of the way into the book, I've got a bit of wait for that.

Damali's wings would be fun to see (I also would like to have seen the expression on Inez's mother's face when D showed her wings). I was greatly amused at the initial argument that she should go with to get Inez's family (her mother and her daughter) instead of Carlos - but there was a very valid point. In battle D's wings would have been much more comforting and acceptable than Carlos' battle bulk (especially the fangs).

I was also amused at Lucifer's offense at being called a human - but my heart goes out to Fr. Pat, as well as Carlos, D, and the rest of the team.

Reference has again been made about D's music - I still wonder if there's a CD made with some of it, and if there isn't, I think there ought to be - the clips (lyric bits) included in the books are amazing.

Lots of news

There's a lot of updating I've got to do here - which is kind of sad considering it's only been a few days.

First of all, I stayed up a little later than I should have on Friday night to finish Irish Eyes. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening (and read) - although with a Tia puppy in my lap and half of an admittedly large mug of tea (officially it's two and a half to three normal cups of tea) to go, I wouldn't have minded if it were a bit longer, or if I'd had the next book in my stack with me as well. Near the beginning of the book, I'd been amused that one character had only ever (in the whole series) been listed as either George the Priest's boss, or the Little Bishop (I'm not quite sure how he got this nickname exactly, but oh well). I'd been wondering if he was going to actually get a name. Then, farther into the book, he's at the Coyne house having dinner with Dermot and Nuala as well as their babysitter and her boyfriend (whose names I seem to have forgotten at the moment) - they were trying to do a little matchmaking/mending. During dinner, however, the Little Bishop comments that they should call him "Blackie." I had to laugh at this because, at least to me, that means he's Blackie Ryan - the main character in a bunch of other books by Fr. Greeley. From the little I've read about him (he's referenced a bit in the two autobiographies Fr. Greeley has written and I've also read Virgin and Martyr in which he's one of the major minor characters - if that makes sense), he's a character I'd like to get to know more - one of those characters one wishes were a real person - someone to chat with or get to know - sort of, say, bounce your ideas/thoughts off of them. I guess I'm just out of luck. In the other books in the series there's usually been at least a slight connection between the modern mystery they have to solve and the historical mystery, but that wasn't much the case in this book. But that's okay, I think I like it better this way - everything fit together a little too nicely otherwise.

So, Saturday morning, I started the next book in my stack (after a bit of debate on skipping ahead to the following book in the stack - I'd renewed this one and wasn't sure I'd be able to do that with the next one if need be - but I decided I'd be better off sticking to my original plan and my rule of reading them in order of when I got them - except in very particular situations). The book was Witchery: A Ghosts of Albion Novel by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden. I'd already read the first book in this series (Ghosts of Albion: Accursed) and had been looking forward to this next one. I did enjoy the story - Victorian England culture with fantasy/sci-fi twists is quite fun. The characters are mostly quite enjoyable - some are still a bit of a mystery to me (mostly John) but I also think they're supposed to be, so I'm not too upset by this. In this story, girls (both human and fairy) have been disappearing - and a few have been found murdered as well. The Protectors of Albion, especially Tamara, are interested in solving this, but have some difficulty as the fairies don't want their help (until the very end once Tamara determines what the actually cause is). The witches in this book aren't quite what I expected of witches - I'm a bit interested in doing some research to see how much (if any) of the depiction in this book is actual lore and how much is pure fiction. I was also amused by the New Orleans trip and the references to Marie Laveau. By the end of saturday, I had finished this book, and was tempted to start the next book in the stack, but ended up deciding that it was actually getting late and if I were smart I'd go to bed - so I did.

This morning after church, I started that book (another Andrew Greeley book); it's called Home for Christmas and is quite interesting. In some ways, it reminded me of The Shack, but I suppose that's mostly in the talking with God part. I cried through much of the book, but I did quite enjoy it. Oh, and Blackie makes a brief appearance in this story too! This book is the story of a couple who were meant to be together, but almost miss out - God intervenes a bit with an NDE (near death experience). It is a sweet and touching tale that I'd recommend to most anyone. I'd rather like to suggest it for the Lemmings bookclub, except for the fact that it's so new, I suspect it's not in paperback format yet, so it's not allowed. I may have to suggest it anyone, as a "for anyone who's interested" book.

Having finished that book early this afternoon, I'm about to start L.A. Banks' book The Darkness. I'd have started it earlier today perhaps, except I'd had plans to knit this afternoon, and it was already packed up for the trip to Mom's house. Instead, I took a nice long nap - probably too long, however. I'll get to this one soon, though.

Back to the Irish

Last night I ended up staying up late - reading just one more chapter (about ten times, I think). Finally having reached the 3/4 of the way through the book, I decided I really needed to go to bed so I stopped. Then, this morning, I just barely finished reading The Good Earth before I had to go to work.

For quite a while, I was reminded of The Grapes of Wrath while reading this - the whole traveling elsewhere looking for work during a famine, with a result of barely being able to keep fed. I was intrigued at all of the Chinese cultural descriptions, although I don't know for certain that they are (or perhaps at least were) accurate. I didn't really like that their success essentially came from theft (especially after Wang Lung's statement to his younger son that "we may be beggars, but we're not thieves." For Wang Lung at least, the theft was mostly unintentional/random chance, but still it just felt a little funny. At one point in particular Wang Lung reflects/comments on O-lan's large feet; until her response that her feet weren't bound because the time her parents would have started the binding process she was about to be sold into slavery, I hadn't realized he meant unbound feet when he said large feet.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the book club thought of this book and to hear what discussion there is.

Having finished the book club books, I'm moving on to the next book I'd checked out from the library: Irish Eyes by Andrew M. Greeley. This is another Nuala Anne mystery - Nuala and Dermot now have have a daughter - Nelliecoyne - I wasn't quite sure I liked the name chosen until I read the discussion of how it was chosen; she's named after Dermot's grandmother Nell Pat (aka Ma) but they couldn't use the exact same nickname and the coyne part of her name is actually her last name, that just gets elided into the Nellie part. As usual, I'm quickly falling back into this world and this family - I love these people. Sometimes I still wish they were "real" people that I could meet and/or sit and talk with, but I'm just out of luck.

I'm also starting to read Build a Highway for God: Isaiah 40-55 by Kevin Perrotta. This is the book for a fall/advent Bible study at church. So far, I've only read the introduction, but I think I'm going to enjoy the Bible study, even if it may involve more group discussion than I'd really prefer - besides that discussion part will be good for me. I was intrigued to learn, somewhat by accident that the NAB translation of the Bible does not have Ezekiel 11: 22-23; chapter 11 just stops after verse 21. Included in the main text there are recommended readings that expand the current topic a bit more - usually they occur where Kevin Perrotta is referencing a Bible passage that wasn't part of the assigned reading and he gives the reference for it so that if you're so inclined you can read it for yourself. However, because of this discrepancy, I'm going to use my grandmother's Bible instead - her translation does have those verses.

Keeping Up

In an effort to keep this updated better than it has been so far, I'm posting again even though the last post wasn't that long ago.

I'm about 50 pages into The Good Earth so far and am quite enjoying it. The pace is pretty fast and it is written so that the reader seems to almost know what's going to happen next, but only almost.

I'm slightly surprised at how much prosperity came just from getting married, but the extra pair of hands for housework and farming can make a big difference. O-lan was impressive with her solo child-birth, but I'm still not sure that it was the best idea. I can perhaps understand her choice of no help coming from the house where she used to be a slave, but no one at all?

I'm hoping there will be more background into her life before the book takes place, but I'm suspicious that I'm just going to have to be disappointed in that matter.

Well, I'm off to curl up cozy in bed with the book and a cute little Tia pup.

Apologies and Moving On

I must apologize again to anyone who's following my blog - I have been terrible about keeping posts current. There was a mission at church that kept me quite busy and I didn't get to do too much reading; also the book was a bit slower paced and hard to read in short sittings.

However, I did get to spend a few hours reading today and have now finished The Grapes of Wrath. Over all I enjoyed it as much as you can enjoy reading about all of those troubles. Through much of the Joad family's plight (and that of all Okies) I was rather reminded of the current illegal immigration problem, especially in terms of their treatment by most everyone, their living conditions, and their motivation for being here.

In particular I found the final image interesting. I mostly guessed this action on their part before it happened, but only by a few paragraphs margin.

I'm now moving on to read The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. So far I've only read the quotes at the beginning of the book - I was amused by the Swann's Way quote; mostly because my sister read that book not too long ago (she somewhat enjoyed it).