Holiday Reading Challenge

I was reading Ana's blog and she joined a particular Reading Challenge I thought would fit the bill to wrap up my reading year. So, I'm joining too!

Nely at All About {n} is hosting the 2009 Holiday Reading Challenge. Here is what she says about the challenge and the guidelines:

As I'm sure you can all tell, I'm in a "Christmassy" mood already. The blog is decked out, my giveaways are up, the iPod is set to holiday tunes, and I'm ready to snuggle up with a... Frappucino (because sadly, it is still too hot in Florida for hot chocolate). But what I'm really ready for is to crack open those holiday books that I have (bows head in shame) already begun buying. I can't help it! I love reading holiday books - they make me feel warm and toasty inside. And I thought what better way to get some of you guys in that same mood then to have (ahem) my very FIRST reading challenge. (Hooray!)

Challenge Requirements:

1- Challenge will start Friday, November 20 and will end Thursday, December 31.

2- You can read anywhere from 1 to 5 books for the challenge and, of course, if you're like me, you are more than welcome to surpass that number.

3- And now, here's the clincher... they must be holiday related books. That's right, the holiday doesn't really matter, but it would be more "jolly" if your choices were Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.

4- The size of the book does not matter, nor does the genre. It is also okay for the book to overlap with other challenges. The only thing I ask is that they are not children's books. YA is okay. And so are re-reads. I for one tend to read the same books every Christmas - they are tradition.

5- To sign up - leave a link back to your challenge post. There will also be a post for review links as well as one for challenge wrap-ups.

6- And.... there will be goodies. That's right, we'll call them presents. At the end of every week that the challenge is running I will choose one winner from the review links and I will allow them to pick a book of their choosing (of course, I will provide a list). Meaning the more books you read, review and link up, the more chances you have at winning a "present".

 

I already have a couple of titles in mind so wish me luck.

October is my FAVORITE reading month.

I admit I'm a bit freaky. I need a reason to justify my reading paranormal books to an excessive degree. Yes, I read the darn things all the time but during the month of October, I go all out!

I've revisited Kelley Armstrong, discovered Carrie Vaughn and caught up with Patricia Briggs. Werewolves and Witches! Oh My!!

I still have two more weeks of delicious Paranormal reading to go! Yum!!

To Spoil or not to Spoil

Do you like to be spoiled as to the ending of a book?

I'm reading Scott Westerfeld's YA series 'Uglies' and I'm loving it! The problem is that I wish I could get to the end quicker. Since I'm reading it in Audiobook format I can't turn to the end of the book for a glimpse at how it will all turn out and I'm DYING here!

Yeah, I am spoiler fan. I have no problem reading the end of the book before I get to the middle. Mind you I don't do it often and I don't read the WHOLE ending but I can read the last few pages without it affecting my enjoyment of the book. I'm sure this is because I tend to select books with happy ever after endings.

Funny thing is that I will not do this for mysteries (like my Baldacci reads) which you would think are the books you would really want to spoil. For some reason I acknowledge that these books can have not-so-happy endings and I stay away. Not all character's survive in these books and I find that if I know someone will die I cannot read the book without changing the way I see that character.

But in general, I have no problems turning to the end of the book to get a glimpse of The End.

I feel the same way about movies. I have found myself renting a movie I completed disregarded because someone has spoiled it for me.

So in the end, I love to be spoiled. Sue me!

Where were you?

I wanted to leave a link from my post over at Textile House about my thoughts on today's 9/11 Anniversary.

Where were you?

God Bless.

Still alive...

Yeah, I'm still kicking but I've been keeping myself busy (check out what I've been up to HERE).

Work is rearing up for the busy season so I'll be even busier but I have been reading like a crazy woman too. Just not much time to blog my reviews.

I'm looking forward to many fall new releases (picking up Dan Brown's and Gabaldon's as soon as they hit the floor) but it's not just the books that have me anticipating fall reving up.

Gotta make time to watch Bones, Castle, Fringe, The Mentalist, Medium, NCIS and the most anticipated new series this season, GLEE.

I love this series! It premiered this week. We say it's like watching a musical every week! My daughter says that with the line up of Glee after So You Think You Can Dance, it's a night of song, dance and feel good music!

It's sad that it is doomed to get canceled. I jinx most of the series I fall in love with (i.e. Journey man, Eli Stone, Jericho, Tru Calling, Moonlighting, Pushing Daisies, etc) so I'm always careful about getting attached to any new series, but I was hooked on Glee since the sneak preview in May. The first episode did not disappoint. If you missed it check it out on Hulu.com

Since I'm already hooked all we can do is have a little faith. So I leave you with a glimpse of Eli.

And this is why I love my Sony Reader!

As most of you know I have been trying to go paperless for the last year and I mostly have succeeded. This year, out of 119 books that I have read, only 11 have been paper-books. I think I'm doing fairly well.

When I first looked into which eBook reader I would buy I did some research and searched among those that read the largest amount of formats, because let's face it, eBooks come in different shapes and colors and until the format war was decided I wanted to be able to read all my books in the same device. Well, Sony really did it for me and I have never looked back.

What was great about the Sony Reader was that even though they sold their own format at their eBook store (format was .lrf) it also allowed you to upload .rtf files and .pdf files which for me was a biggie. I can take almost any format and change it to a .rtf file (a real text format is similar to a word document) or a PDF file which made Sony the winner for me.

Well, this past week Sony took the step that us eBook readers have been waiting to hear (from the NYTimes):

On Thursday, Sony Electronics, which sells e-book devices under the Reader brand, plans to announce that by the end of the year it will sell digital books only in the ePub format, an open standard created by a group including publishers like Random House and HarperCollins.

Sony will also scrap its proprietary anticopying software in favor of technology from the software maker Adobe that restricts how often e-books can be shared or copied.

After the change, books bought from Sony’s online store will be readable not just on its own device but on the growing constellation of other readers that support ePub. Those include the Plastic Logic eReader, a thin device that has been in development for nearly a decade and is expected to go on sale early next year.

“There is going to be a proliferation of different reading devices, with different features and capabilities and prices for a different set of consumer requirements,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading unit. “If people are going to this e-book shopping mall, they are going to want to shop at all the stores, and not just be required to shop at one store.”

Yeah... I love my Reader!

Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia Series

I have been putting this review off for a while now (no reflection on the books, I'm just a lazy bum) but I thought I'd get to it since this series is probably one of my favorites in 2009. First off these books are a YA (young adult) series. I mention this because many people (adults) prefer to leave the YA books to YA, and they don't know what they are missing so I'd thought I'd give a heads up.

To set the scene, the Attolia series takes place among three kingdoms, Eddis, Sounis, and Attolia in an era that likens itself to ancient Greece with all the mythical gods and beliefs firmly in place. The main character is a thief called Eugenides who finds himself in jail more times than he would like.

The Thief (A): We start the series with Gen incarcerated in the Sounis prisons where he was thrown after boasting of and then stealing the King's seal. Gen twiddles away his time the best he can until the King's top adviser comes a calling. The Magus makes Eugenides an offer he has a tough time refusing... Help me retrieve this ancient artifact from this mythical temple or die a long, slow, excruciating death. Hmm... let me think about that one and get back to you. Yeah, Gen accepts.

Off they go, Gen, the Magus, the magus apprentices Sophos and Ambiades, and a soldier called Pol in search of the hidden temple. The story builds up slowly and at times you wonder, where is this going? but Turner has a purpose for everything, from the confrontations with the apprentices "Useless the younger and Useless the elder" to his unlikely friendship with Pol who never seems to fit in. The book just wraps around you and then when you get to the end you have to do a double take because nothing is what it seems... and then some.

Honestly, Gen wormed his way into my heart and kept a firm grasp. He made me smile, laugh out loud and finally gasp in surprise. You really need to start the series with this one because it introduces you to Eugenides and gives you a clear idea of what this mild manner Thief is capable of.

The Queen of Attolia (A): A lot to live up to as the sequel to The Thief, The Queen of Attolia doesn't disappoint. You won't find the silly Eugenides in this one but more of a man dealing with loss. The three kingdoms (Eddis, Sounis, and Attolia) are losing the uneasy balance they have achieved in the past under the pressures of the Mede Empire. No one knows who is to be trusted and the Queen of Attolia, who has had to prove herself a capable queen since she took her throne, finds herself with the reputation of an implacable and cruel monarch which is put to the test when she captures the Thief of the Queen of Eddis.

Gen had been sent to spy on the neighboring kingdom when he was captured. At first he believed that the Attolian's would kill him but was proven wrong when he receives the sentence thieves of old received and is sent home maimed. Eddis is devastated by the pain and loss that Gen suffers and retaliates by declaring war against the Attolians, something that the Mede Ambassador encourages since it falls right into plans with his Emperor

This one is full of political intrigue and alliances made and broken. The author deviates from the single point of view of Eugenides and gives us the Queen of Attolia's point of view as well. Everyone talks about this book as the star of the series because there is so much going on but it really depends on what you are looking for in the book (my favorite is the last book - more on this later).

Like in the Thief, you sometimes have to pay close attention to what you might think are insignificant details because when all is revealed you end up with a WTF? Superb writing and wonderful characterization brings the war and different sides of the confrontation to life as well as Eugenides' pain and in the end the one handed thief still is capable of stealing our hearts.

The King of Attolia (A+): For me this one was the prize that had been promised through the other two installments of this series. I graded the others as wonderful but this one was fabulous! In the King we find Eugenides married to the Queen of Attolia, which makes him... The King of Attolia! but this is not a position that he actually wanted and the Attolian's would want him off the throne too. They show him no respect and think little of him as their monarch, regarding him as a humiliation to all Attolia.

Gen is away from everything that is familiar to him and misses his carefree days but he loves his Queen and will not give up his position by her side. The Queen sees how her people disrespect the man she has chosen to rule with her and knows that the only way that they will change their minds is if Eugenides steps up to the plate and starts acting like the kind his is but he refuses to become King to her Queen.

Love Love Love this one. We see Gen not so much from his point of view but that of a complete stranger. Costis is a guard that eventually gets to know the real Eugenides and little by little finds himself respecting the thief turned king. We watch through the eyes of the Attolians how Gen is perceived and how that perception changes.

I loved the relationship between Gen and the Queen, loved how human she became from the first time we met her in the previous book. I love that she was a strong Queen but also a strong partner for Gen who needs a bit of nudging to get him going. We can see in this book how she matches him perfectly, something we were left wondering in the previous installment. Like the previous books there is a twist at the end that should not catch us off guard because we should have learned to expect this from Turner but still she marvels us with her twists and turns.

This series is my favorite (as of yet) for this year and it's a YA. Doesn't surprise me since last year a YA series was also my favorite for the year (Stephanie Meyer's Twilight). The Thief was awarded the Newbery Honor award in 1997 and each subsequent installment also deserves a prize. If you have not yet read this series, don't hesitate in picking it up, you will not regret it. I recently posted about the announcement of a new addition to this series (more of a spin off as I'm lead to believe) which is centered in the world Whalen-Turner created. It is suppose to release early 2010 and is called A Conspiracy of Kings.

Can you guess I'm a bit excited about that?

A Night with Sherrilyn Kenyon

There are just a few authors I consider autobuys - which means that regardless what they write I will go out and pick it up automatically due to their proven ability to produce exceptional work. Kenyon is an autobuy for me and her Dark Hunter series is one of two series that are on my keeper shelf and actually gets re-read (on purpose).

Last Wednesday, my daughter Nyshma and I had a chance to meet Ms. Kenyon when her book signing tour brought her to Dallas.

The signing started at 5pm but we couldn't head out to Barnes & Noble until 5:15 which is when Nysh got out of work. Then we battled rush hour traffic for over an hour to arrive at 6:30 for the signing. Kenyon was to have a reading and a short Q&A that we missed but we were able to secure a ticket for the signing (#191).

While we waited, Diana Love (co-author to some of Kenyon's books from the B.A.D series) entertained us with anecdotes and gave out door prizes. We found a cozy corner where we settled in to wait our turn to get our copy of Bad Moon Rising (as well as our copy of Acheron) signed. I pulled out my Sony eReader and finished reading Night Play (I'm re-reading her Dark Hunter series) and started Phantom Lover while Nyshma started reading the new book. On occasion we would pull our noses out of our books to pay attention to the shenanigans happening around us and actually heard our door prize ticket being called. We won a little B.A.D. booklet autographed by Kenyon & Love.



While we waited we also met Sara Reyes from Fresh Fiction who was sitting next to us twittering about the signing for Fresh Fiction. She was so charming chatting us up about the Readers and Ritas get togethers and the DFW Tea Readers group. Susan Elizabeth Phillips (another favorite of mine) will be stopping by their book club in August!


It was finally our turn to get our books signed around 10pm. We spoke to Kenyon for about two minutes but she was a doll. She found Nyshma's name interesting (what a shocker there - this is why she goes by Andrea / Dre) and commented that her own children have name issues as well.

We chatted about her series coming out in Audiobook and that she is trying to get the older books done in that format and how handsome the narrator of Night Pleasure was.... It's funny how much you can chat about in a little over 2 minutes.


Pictures taken and books signed, we waved goodbye to Sara and headed home.
Wonderful evening!