Reading the Alphabet...

I think I might read my way through the Alphabet, starting with Z and working my way back to A. (Or maybe jumping around from letter to letter.) Why? I want to explore the library shelves again; I want to get away from To Read lists and books on hold and rediscover the serendipity of stumbling upon a great read from an author I never even knew existed. Plus, it sounds like fun. I could probably read my way through the alphabet in a year, reading a different alphabetical author every two weeks...but that feels a little too forced for me. I want this to be enjoyable; I don't want it to feel like an assignment or a chore. After all, reading shouldn't feel like work, should it? And I really don't want to stress about getting the next letter of the alphabet read in order to meet some imaginary deadline just so I can blog about it. If I want to spend a month reading from the Z shelf, I will. If I want to move on to a new letter after just one book, that's okay, too. I just want to read whatever and wherever the bookish spirits move me. So keep watch. A post called Reading From the Z Shelf just might be coming your way soon. (Or not.)

Happy Reading!

A Hero's Guide...

"There's a lot you don't know about Prince Charming...Some of you may not even realize that there's more than one Prince Charming. And that none of them are actually named Charming. No one is. Charming isn't a name; it's an adjective...(And) if there was anything that Liam, Duncan, Gustav, and Frederic all had in common, it was that none of them were very happy about being a Prince Charming. Their mutual hatred of that name was a big part of what brought them together. Not that teaming up was necessarily the best idea for these guys."

Whatever you do, don't dismiss this book simply because it's shelved in children's fiction. The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healey has a lot to offer to readers of all ages. First and foremost, it's funny. (Laugh out loud funny in some places.) I loved getting the princes' perspectives on Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, especially Prince Liam's. (He's the prince from the Sleeping Beauty story and by far the handsomest and most heroic of all the princes. Unfortunately for him, in this book Briar Rose is much more Briar than Rose--you would have called off the wedding, too.) These four princes are tired of getting short-changed in all the stories. After all, they're the heroes! Each one is uniquely flawed (and not always that heroic), but all of them made me laugh, especially Duncan, Snow White's talkative, eccentric and excitable prince. In fact, the only prince I didn't like quite as much as the others was hardheaded and impulsive Gustav, who charges into every situation without thinking, but even he had his humorous moments. Frederic is the quietest of all the princes and the least like a hero. (Most of the time he just wants to go home.) Their adventures are more like misadventures, and at times it's questionable whether or not they can save themselves let alone save a kingdom. Then there are the princesses. Ella is by far the best; she's adventurous and brave and the kind of girl who doesn't need a prince to rescue her...she'll rescue herself, thank you very much. I also liked Prince Liam's younger sister, Lila; she's daring and smart just like her brother. There are also trolls, dwarfs, a giant, a dragon, and an evil witch. Healy takes these classic fairy tale characters and makes them fresh, surprising, and fun. I loved everything about this book. (And so will you.)

Happy Reading!

The Day is Dark

Yrsa Sigurdardottir has written several thrillers, but this is the first one I've read. I picked it mostly because of the setting--it takes place at an arctic mining camp on the Eastern coast of Greenland. It's isolated, forbidding, and according to the locals, cursed. Three workers from the camp have disappeared and Thora Gudmundsdotter, an Icelandic lawyer, and her boyfriend, Matthew Reich, an employee of the bank underwriting the mining company, have been sent to this hostile landscape to investigate. What they find surprises even them.

The back of the book calls this mystery "chilling, unsettling, and compulsively readable", and I couldn't agree more. You don't know if the people at the camp went crazy, or if the harsh climate was responsible, or the locals, or the spirits of the dead ... but you don't want to stop reading until you find out. And even though Thora is a recurring character, it didn't seem to matter that I hadn't read any of her previous novels. This novel stands alone just fine. I thought it was a great read--an intense Nordic crime novel without being too dark or too gritty. I can't wait to try this author again.

Happy Reading!

Similar reads:

     The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi

     Where Monsters Dwell by Jorgen Brekke

Whither the Weather?

I've been trying to find a book with an element of weather in the title for the What's in a Name 2014 Challenge all year without any luck. Frost Hollow Hall (my first choice) was unavailable; The Wind in the Willows (my plan B book) was uninteresting; and Snow Garden (picked up on a whim from the library) was unreadable. I tried a couple of other snow-related titles (Snowblind and In Falling Snow) but ended up not finishing either book. And I'd already read Gone With the Wind, and I just wasn't in the mood for The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Obviously, weather isn't my thing.

So I'm changing directions. At the library this week I found a trio of picture books with clever stories and delightful illustrations and they ALL have an element of weather in their titles, from a great big storm to a windy day to the first snowfall. They're lots of fun to read, the pictures are great, and I recommend them all. (And if that's cheating for this challenge, I no longer care.)

Happy Reading!

Book titles: The Bears in the Bed and the Great Big Storm by Paul Bright

                    Flora's Very Windy Day by Jeanne Birdsall

                    Snow by Uri Shulevitz

What's in a Name Challenge: 6 books read; 0 to go!!!

(This challenge has been a lot of fun, but I have to admit...I'm glad I'm done.)

Tenth Classic of 2104...

"The Moonstone will have its vengeance yet on you and yours!"

Stolen from a Hindoo shrine by an Englishman, the Moonstone is a large yellow diamond with a curse on it--a promise of "certain disaster to the presumptuous mortal who laid hands on the sacred gem, and to all his house and name who received it after him."  Upon his death, the Englishman leaves it to his niece, Rachel Verinder, in his will. It is presented to her by her cousin, Mr. Franklin Blake, on her birthday. Twelve hours later the diamond disappears. What follows is the mystery of the Moonstone.

T.S. Eliot called this novel, "The first, the longest and the best of the modern English detective novels." This mystery is a great example of Victorian fiction. Each section is narrated by a different character who was witness to certain events surrounding the mystery, like the rambling Gabriel Betteridge, one of Lady Verinder's servants, and the tedious Miss Clack, Mr. Bruff, the straight-forward lawyer, and most important of all, Franklin Blake himself. (I enjoyed some narratives more than others, can you tell?) While I didn't love this book as much as I did Collins' The Woman in White, I did enjoy the many characters and the cautious unfolding of the mystery. Needless to say, at 446 pages this book is not a fast-paced page-turning thriller. It moves slow, but it's still a fun mystery. Wondering what really happened to the Moonstone kept me reading for 400+ pages.  But then, I really like Wilkie Collins.  I can't wait to read his novel, Armadale, next year. 

Happy Reading!

P.S. If you've never read Wilkie Collins before I recommend reading The Woman in White first. It's my favorite (and his best).

Bookshelf envy...

Oh, the books I could read in a room like this!

How would it be?

R.I.P.

Title: The Poisoned House by Michael Ford
Genre: Gothic/Mystery/Supernatural
Length: 319 pages
The Peril: Greave Hall in 1855 is not a pleasant place for scullery maid Abigail Tamper. Her mother died almost one year ago, old Lord Greave seems to be losing his mind, his only heir is off fighting in Crimea, and Mrs. Cotton, the cruel and autocratic housekeeper, seems to be hiding her own dark secrets. There's something else disturbing this unhappy household--an otherworldly presence. Is it the spirit of Abi's mother trying to warn her, or someone much more dangerous?

My Thoughts: Abi Tamper is a great narrator. Though she's just a scullery maid at Greave Hall now, her mother taught her to read and write and she grew up reading books from the library and playing with Lord Greave's son, Samuel. She's a brave and tenacious heroine, determined to figure out what (or who) is haunting her...and why. While there are some ghostly occurrences here and there, this novel is more mystery than ghost story. And there are plenty of secrets buried within Greave Hall that give this story an added Gothic feel. I really enjoyed it. It's interesting, and not too scary, and it reads fast. I didn't even mind the first-person narration. What a great way to wrap up this year's R.I.P. challenge! I read four books in all. It's been a a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again next year.

R.I.P. level completed:

Happy Reading!