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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

WWW Wednesdays (July 27)

Ok so I found this game online at another book blog and thought it would be fun. So lets do it!

Hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading
To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions.....

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you will read next?

My answers:

What are you currently reading? I'm reading "When I Fall In Love" by Lynn Kurland.
Now don't be fooled by the really cheesy title, cause it's not that bad. It is a romance novel so what do you expect? This is a pretty good book. I'm liking it so far. (Besides the cheesy title...)



 
What did you recently finish reading? The last book I read was "A Letter Of Mary" by Laurie R. King.
It's the third book in the Mary Russell series, I keep talking about.
There's a lot of redos of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries but this one, so far, is right on. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and I can't wait for the next in the series.

                                                                                             


What do you think you'll read next?  Probably "The Mummy Case" by Elizabeth Peters.
This book is the third in the Amelia Peabody mysteries. I've read the first two books and I like them so far. Not as much as the "Mary Russell" series but it's humorous. It made me laugh out loud at some parts.





PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own WWW Wednesdays post, or share your answers in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks! :D   (You don't have to if you don't want to but if you do, go right ahead!)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Book Review: Just kidding! It's an update blog. ;D

It's always an update blog because at this point, I have no books to review... But I will soon so you'll just have to be patient. Ok updates. I haven't got really far in the Mary Russell series, I think the last time I had just got finished with the third book "A Letter Of Mary". I haven't been able to get the fourth one because 1: I haven't gone to my friends house to steal (Well not really. I asked ahead of time if I could borrow them.) the book from her private library and 2: I could go to the library and get it but I don't have any money to pay the library fine and I can't get anymore books until I pay it.... So I'm stuck. Until I get money or ask my parents to pay for it I can't do anything. So I'm just gonna have to wait until I go over to my friend's house and take the fourth book home with me.

I don't know if I've told you the story, but it's on the same subject as the Mary Russell series cause it's one of the books in the series. It's called "Beekeeping for Beginners". It's about that first meeting of Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes in the "Beekeepers Apprentice" when she bumps into him by accident, but in Sherlock Holmes POV (Point of view, for those of you who don't know the abbreviation.). It's a newer book, but it's only on eBook. You can't get it anywhere else but online. It's only 99. cents on Amazon and other sites but I don't have money, and if I got my parents to get it for me, they would just think it a waste of money. Which it is. But I wanted to read it. Badly. So I would stay on the computer and try to search for it, to get it free. That didn't turn out well because I couldn't find it. At all. I eventually gave up. That was a few weeks ago. Yesterday I was bored so I decided to try searching for it again. When I did, I found it. An easy, free, copy that I could download. I was sooo mad (cause I had searched for it and there it was, right under my nose!), but happy at the same time. So I got to read it, and I liked it. I think I should mention that the book I was looking for was a short story. (only 50 pages or less) I liked it a lot but I found it very unsatisfying. It was really short, and I wanted it to be a full book but it was not. It was... What's the word?-- refreshing, to have Sherlock Holmes be the narrator instead of May Russell. Not that I have anything against her but she just gets tiring after three or so books of her narrating. The book was very good, but I just wanted a bit more...

 I've been downloading a lot of stuff lately, especially audiobooks. I'm getting into them more and more. It makes the books come to life. So far I have download "The Name Of The Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss, "The Count Of Monte Crstio" by Alexander Dumas, "The Iron King" by Julie Kagawa, "The Curse of the Pharaohs" by Elizabeth Peters, and all of the Mary Russell series. I've also been downloading a lot of eBooks. So far I have downloaded The Complete Sherlock Holmes mysteries, "The Beekeeper Apprentice", "A Monstrous Regiment of Women", "The God of the Hive"and "Beekeeping For Beginners" by Laurie R. King, most of the Sevenwaters books, Wildwood Dancing and Cybeles Secret by Juliet Marillier, "Silent In The Grave" by Deanna Raybourn, and a short story from the "Iron King" series called "Summer's Crossing".

As you can see, I've been pretty busy downloading stuff, but it's worth it. I get to either read or listen to these books whenever I want. : D Anyways, I'm gonna go and do something with myself. So until next time, and remember, keep reading! (Or listening...)

Oh and just as a side note, any of the books that I have listed you want to read or haven't read, you should look them up. They are all really good books! and you should also check out this site. This is one of the places where I find most of my audiobooks: http://theaudiobookbay.com/       -Megan <3

Friday, July 15, 2011

Update time! :D

I always like these kinds of blogs because I get to tell you more about what I think on the books I read, it gives me a chance to vent and I can tell you what I think on some books without doing a whole review on them. Because sometimes they aren't amazing or they're just plain out bad, and I don't want to waste a whole review on them when I have other books that I would like to review, that were awesome, so I can gush about them.  Anyways, I finished a "Monstrous Regiment of Women" by Laurie R. King the same day a wrote the blog that I liked it.... cause I really liked it. It was really, really good. Why is it that I randomly find authors and love them???? It doesn't make any sense.... It's like they fall in my hands! Oh well. I'll go with it.

Well lets talk about the Mary Russell series, because I don't want to do a full review on it.  It would take too long and I haven't read all of them yet. Keep in mind that I'm only on the second in the series... but so far it's really good. And once I read all of them I'll tell you what I liked and didn't like about them cause I have some problems with this series and I don't mind some things that other people don't like about it. So I might have to do a book review on the series later. But then I run into a problem. If I do that, I would have to give spoilers and I hate doing that... so I'll think about it and get back to you. I might have to have give away some stuff... We'll see. Also, so far, this series is making me more interested in the original Sherlock Holmes mysteries. I want to read them now, so that's a plus.  Now is about the time where I tell you that I recommend this series highly because it's really good. Cause it is. BUT. This series, is mystery remember? And sometimes it takes a while for the story to start, and then when it does it get confusing, and then you get bored with it and don't read it again. Well that's what people usually say about mystery. Which is kinda true in a way, because it happened with me. The first mystery book I picked was "The Hound Of Baskervilles" by Arther Conan Doyle. I stared it, and never finished it because of this same problem. It's slow to start and then it gets boring. So I recommend that you start off with a mystery book that doesn't have a lot of mystery in it and is interesting to you. Because if you do what I did, and start off with a full fledged mystery book, you'll just get bored.  So start off slow. What got me started reading mystery was the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn, that I keep talking about.  Because that had a lot of stuff in it, not just mystery. You don't have to start off with the Lady Julia Grey series, you can start off with any mystery book you like, but just get something that has a lot of stuff in it, not just mystery. But also remember that mystery is not for everyone. It just might not be for you. If so, that's ok because there are tons of books out there that you might like. Mystery is not the kind of book you start off with. So now that I have read mystery books that are not all mystery, it's made me want to go and actually try reading the hard core mystery book. So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna try to read "The Hound Of Baskervilles" again and see if I still like it.

So about the Lynn Kurland series.  Just like I said before, my Grandma let me borrow all of them, so I could read them in order. Well, so far I'm only on the first one because other books have been getting in the way.... The one I'm reading now is called (now get ready for some cheesy titles...) "Another Chance To Dream". hehehe It's so cheesy! These books are classified as Historical Romance. It's all about knights in shining armor coming to rescue damsels in distress. haha Not really. It is about a knight trying to win the lady he loves, who is married by force, to be his. It's kinda sad, because they have to live with each other the whole time shes married and he takes it pretty hard and they have to fight to be together. hahaha I love these kinds of books because of how they are not like real life, at ALL. It makes you forget about your problems, and puts you in a good mood. Or at least it does for me... hehe
This book is where it all starts. The next book in the series is on the characters I'm reading about now, one of  they're childrens story. If that makes any sense. It goes down thorough the generations, so you have to read them in order to know what's going on. It's kinda cool.

Ok I think this blog is long enough. I think you've already stopped reading at the first few paragraphs... So until next time, and remember, keep reading! : D

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Is loaded with books, and loving it!

I have so much to read now I'm almost giddy. (Which I'm not, so don't get the wrong idea....) My Grandma gave me all of her Lynn Kurland books she had, and I have at least 13 books to read. It's a lot. I'm so excited! : D ANYways, today I went to Ashville with my family and friends. (Well one friend...) and got a whole bunch of new stuff I needed badly. And it was fun! The downside is I lost my hundred dollar bill I got from babysitting those dogs!!!!! I was sooooooo upset as you can imagine. I had to walk those stupid dogs FOUR freaking times a day, and have to clean up their poopy cages! AND wake up at 6 every morning! GAH. But on the bright side, those same people who own those dogs are going to the Keys and want me to babysit them for two weeks. Which means if they pay me the same they payed me for the first job I'll get 200 bucks, AND if I go clean with my friend, I can make MORE money. So it kinda makes up for what I lost today. Oh and I got some pretty awesome sleeper pants, so that's also another bright side. But still. I am upset that all that work is down the drain now, probably in someones pocket. >: (  -sigh- Oh well. What can you do?

Anyways back on the subject of books, I also got another book from that private library of that same friend I keep talking about in this blog. ( HI friend!!!!!!) I got the second to the Mary Russell series by Lauire R King. Called "A Monstrous Regiment of Women". So far it's really good! I'm enjoying it. So add that to the 13 Lynn Kurland books and you've got a happy Megan!  Lets just hope it lasts. ; )

Thursday, July 7, 2011

eBooks and other random things...

I've been reading a lot of eBooks lately.... I know, I know, and I've already said this, that nothing compares to actually holding a book and reading it. Reading a eBook is kinda the lazy way to read books. You don't have to go to your library and check it out, go to a bookstore and buy it, or borrow it from a friend. You just go on your computer, Google search the book and bam! You can read it.  Which is what I've been doing. Ok here's the story. Me and my family went to go have dinner at our friends house and they have their own private library. (Which is amazing, by the way!) I went to go look and see what kinda of new novels I could find. Well, I found two series of books that I now want to read and they both have at least 10 or more books in the series....Yeah, I blame them for having an awesome private library... Anyways, they didn't have the first book to the first series so I went online, downloaded it, and read it. Then, they didn't have the second one to the second series, and I want to download it.  Ok, ok ,ok, I know. I was desperate. I guess I could have gone to the public library, and got them but I was lazy and impatient. Shall I tell you what series they are? Well the first one is The Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. The second is the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters.  The one I most want to read right now is the Mary Russell series, and they didn't have the first one at the private library so I downloaded it and read it.  And I loved it. It was pretty amazing. Then they had the first one to the Amelia Peabody series but not the second one.... I think I'm gonna go to the public library and try to find the second one to this series because I'm tired of having to search on Google and find it. and I'm tired of eBooks. I want to hold a REAL book again instead of being hunched up over the computer reading one.

I've recently started The Iron King series through eBooks and so far they are really, really good! The are one of the best young adult I've read in a while...
I've also been listening to audiobooks a lot lately, because it's fun to read along with the person who's reading it. haha

-sigh- I really need to take a break from this reading stuff..... Once I finish a seires, I'll quit for about a week and see what happens. Cause I think by this point it's gotten pretty bad. I also want to see if anything will change when I do stop, because it seems like if I take them away and not read them, I'll just be grumpy all the time. So we'll have see. It's worth a shot.  There is quite a bit of books I'm dying to read, but I think this will be for my own good, and for the good of others. So once I read the Mary Russell series, you won't see me for a week on this blog. But I think that this will be a good thing...... I hope.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

-drum roll- Book review: Lady of the Forest by Jennifer Roberson!

Woo, it's a book review! It's about time right? So lets get to it.

Ok to start off this book review, I give this book......
Five star!!!
 Ok you know the drill, here's what it says on the back of the book:
"As the gates of Ravenskeep swing open and a young woman flees into the primeval depths of Sherwood Forest and into the arms of the man she loves, a saga of exceptional power and remarkable passion begins...

He is Sir Robery Locksley--the heroic nobleman who has turned his back on all he knows to embark on a dangerous quest for justice in an England torn apart by treachery, betrayal and war.

She is Lady Marian of Ravenskeep--the proud, defiant knight's daughter who leaves her sheltered life behind to join a shadowy band of outlaws who follow no law but their own.

Robin Hood and Maid Marian--Their love has belonged to legend for centuries, and now it belongs to us all, stunningly brought to life by the masterful pen of a truly gifted storyteller. Against a medieval tapestry of color and pageantry, Jennifer Roberson has woven a rich, sweeping tale of a woman whose courage and passion could forever alter the destiny of that mist-shrouded land of lore we know in our hearts and see in our dreams..."

So just like it says, this book is a retelling of the Robin Hood legends. She did an excellent job making it her own but still keeping with the overall theme.  The writing was great, and the characters were likeable. But this book goes into the overall story of Robin Hood and not just the acts of stealing and him becoming an outlaw. But she did it in a way where she made it her own and not totally ruining the original story. This was a big book, it's almost 600 pages long but it's worth every minute. And despite what the cover looks like it's not all about the romance. (I actually really like the cover, it's very pretty.) Although there is some in it. It's more of a action, adventure book. I liked it a lot. I would recommend this book to people who like historical fiction, some romance, and action... (a lot of action), and want to be kept on the edge of their seat through the whole book. The only thing I don't like about this book is how many perspectives it changes through... It never stays on one person too long and sometimes the perspective you want to read more about is too short and you don't get to read a lot... That is the only thing that bothered me about this book but don't let the change in perspectives stop you from reading this book. Once you get around that one little flaw, the whole book is great. I think I'll read it again some day..........

Friday, July 1, 2011

I know, I know. Your sick of these kinds of blogs... I got it.

Once again, this is not a book review but it's one of those "who gives a crap" blogs so here we go. I have just acquired a bit of money and I bought a couple of things today that I really needed. Like shampoo and stuff, but all the cool things I want to get are online and it makes me want a credit card.... Man, I wish I had one. It would be so cool! And of course, I want to get a book because I mean, really, isn't what this whole blog thing is about? Book reviews, talking about books, why I read books, so naturally I would want to get a book and then want to tell you about it.  Again, I know I keep bringing her books up, but it's the next one (and the newest) in the series that I couldn't afford to get with my gift card, the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn. I friggn' love this series. It's amazing. You need to read it, and as soon as you can. It's one of my most favorite series of all time. And that's sayin' something.

Anyways, in case you care, I've been dog sitting for my neighbors and I just started today. It pretty easy except that I have to water their flowers AND feed their cats.... Plus visit and walk the dogs at LEAST four times a day.... All I can say is, I better be loosing a few pounds from this.... But all in all it's simple and I'm only doing it for a week and a half, so it shouldn't be too bad......... Right?

Back to books, I wish my library wasn't so lame... I can even find half the books the friend I talked about like five blogs ago, suggested to me. Everyone keeps telling me: "Oh Megan, you can request books from other library's!", but what if even they don't have what I'm looking for??? What do I do then? -sigh- I'll just have to buy more books I guess.... ; ) hehe
But I really do like getting my own books. There's something about getting them in the mail and have them actually be yours, and you don't have to worry if you get something on it, or that you haven't finished reading it. You can always ignore the stain or read the book when you want to. It's great! Plus the pages smell good when there new. : D
Hmmmm... I don't think I told you some of the strange things I do when I read a book for the first time.....
Well, when I first get it in the mail, or at the library, I smell the pages. I love the smell of the books pages. It very comforting. If it has a cool cover, I like to stare at it for a long time, and study it. Sometimes what I do when I'm reading it, I'll do research. I look up the place the book is at, and get a mental picture of what the landscape looks like. (Example: If I'm reading a book a about Yorkshire moors, I look it up on Google and get a "scope of the land".) Or how they dressed in Victorian times.... It's pretty fun. Sometimes I'll run my hand through the pages and listen to the rustle of the pages, especially if I dose off, it helps me think. So yeah I think you get the idea.... I'm pretty..... what's the word? Passionate? about my books. It's probably at the point of insanity but what the heck? Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
If I had a whole bunch of people following me I would take a poll right about now. I would ask: "Which do you prefer, a book or a Kindle? But since nobody cares and there's not enough people to take a poll, I'll just tell you which I think is better. I think that a real book is WAY better than a Kindle in that I prefer to actually hold the book and smell it's pages than have a computer screen in front of my face. Besides, books are much, MUCH cheaper than a Kindle and don't hurt your eyes if you stare at it for too long.  But that's just me.

Anyways, I have to wake up very early tomorrow to walk the dogs so I'm gonna get as much sleep as I can. I'll talk to you guys later, and there might be a book review coming your way soon, so watch out for it. : )

P.S If you take my advice (which would be great if you did) and read the Lady Julia Grey series, please ignore some of the really bad covers.... Trust me, none of these books are the cheesy romance the covers make them out to be.