Review: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Title:  The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Author:  William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer

Publisher:  William Morrow

# of Pages:  270

Favorite Line:  "And I try, and I made it."

Plot Summary:
William Kamkwamba grew up in Kasungu, Malawi, a village that depends almost completely on farming and is prone to floods and droughts.  He was the only son of a poor family, and when it was planting season, or harvest season, he would have to stay home from school to help out around the farm.  And when there were floods or droughts, his family couldn't afford to send him.  Eventually, William dropped out of school.  He wasn't willing to give up on learning, though, so he began visiting a library, checking out books on science and energy, particularly.  After reading about different ways of creating energy and power, William set about making a windmill to power his home, bringing light and electricity to his family.  His eventual goal was to use wind power to help irrigate his village so that people weren't at the mercy of the rains and government.  His windmill earned him a great deal of interest and news, and he became an international green entreprenuerial sensation (all at the tender age of 13!).

It's really amazing to me sometimes how smart people can be.  And how innovative.  I've never been the sort to really think about how things work; I just appreciate when they do and get annoyed when they do not.  But I have a great deal of respect for anyone that can take something apart and put it together again.  And for people who can improve things.  Especially those that are self-taught, as William Kamkwamba is.

This is a really important book.  Not really because of its storytelling ability- yes, it tells William's story, and it's interesting to follow, but not gripping or breath-taking.  But because it really is about a real person who wanted something and went after it.  And improved his own life, his family's life and his whole village with his innovation; at the end of the story, William says that his entire village has electricity, a well with clean water, and is able to grow a variety of crops where before they only grew maize and tobacco.  That is impressive for anyone, but he did it all before he was twenty.  Goodness only knows what this guy will accomplish after he finishes school!

We hear all the time about how terrible life in Africa is, about the squalor and the disease and the infection.  This book didn't ignore that; William describes for quite some time the effects of famine and starvation.  But he does not ask for pity.  He does not ask for international aid or bemoan corrupt government officials.  Rather, the famine made him really think about what he could do to make his life better, how to raise himself above the cycle of poverty.  It was really refreshing to read.  William doesn't want international aid- he wants Africans to use the resources they have to innovate and create things they can be proud of. 

The language used can be really technical at times.  Well, for me- I am very happy for William that he created a massive windmill, but I didn't need to know about every part used and how they all fit together.  I admit to skimming through those parts.  But they serve to show just how much passion William has for his project, and just how hard he was willing to work to see it to fruition.  It's a very inspiring story.  I really enjoy reading about grassroots programs like this, where people just try so hard to make an impact on the world (other books that show people like this are Leaving Microsoft to Change the World and Three Cups of Tea).  If anyone has further suggested reading along these lines, let me know!  In the meantime, read and enjoy William's story.

Sunday Salon: Random Thoughts

This week has been a slow one, blogging-wise, for me.  I haven't blogged much, nor have I spent much time catching up on other people's blogs.  Or chatting with other people in general.  I feel a bit out of the loop!  Hopefully, you all still remember me :-)

It is the Thanksgiving weekend here in the US, so I can see why I'm a bit slow and not as much on the computer.  Hopefully I'll be back on track with everything soon.  I am excited to do my joint review of Fingersmith with Kelly soon!  Fingersmith is the first book on my reading list for the Women Unbound challenge, so I'm glad to have gotten cracking on that one.  I'm a little (ok, a lot) worried that I have signed up to lead two challenges, and may not actually complete either of them.  That's why I'm sort of not signing up officially for many challenges at all, because I usually shoot myself in the foot by signing up for them and then losing all interest in reading the books I put on my list.  So my idea now is to just kind of read along with other people and see what happens as the year continues.  For example, Fingersmith would also qualify for the GLBT challenge... but I am not officially signed up for that challenge.

I am currently reading and will hopefully review in a couple of days The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.  It's a story about a teenager in Malawi who tries to bring electricity to his impoverished village by building windmills.  I'm more than halfway through the book, however, and he has yet to mention anything about windmills, so I'm not sure exactly when that will pick up.  Hopefully, I find out soon!

A random question I have for those who participate in or host book giveaways on their blogs, just for interest.  I have only run a few giveaways, so I am by no means an expert.  For a couple of them, I gave extra points to people who followed me, but I never gave extra points for tweets or for reposts or anything because I felt a little uncomfortable doing so.  I would post about the giveaways myself on sites and such, but I never really feel comfortable asking other people to do that for me.  And then I even got rid of the extra points for followers thing because that seemed a lot like bribery to me.

However, seeing all the contests and giveaways hosted on other people's blogs, I feel that I'm overthinking or being some sort of stick in the mud.  I no longer enter any giveaways in which people get extra entries for following or tweeting, etc., because, I admit, I don't really like to make the extra effort.  Also, I'm not really sure how people are able to track all that stuff!  Is it an honor system?  Do you actually check?  How can you be sure that you are giving people the exact correct number of points and entries?  It makes me nervous.

And, the part that annoys me more, is that it really artifically boosts up your follower numbers.  I have before, and I doubt I'm the only one, just started following a blog in hopes of getting an extra entry in a drawing for a book I wanted.  I would rarely return to the site again.  But I'm still listed as a follower (at least, unless I clear our my Google Reader some time soon).  And if people host several contests and keep giving points for followers, either on the blog or on Twitter or wherever... then there is the potential for a lot of blogs to have a really high number of followers but not that many people who actually read them.  Isn't that a bit misleading?  I don't think it's very honest.

Granted, saying this, I'm not really sure how someone else's follower numbers really impact me.  So I should, perhaps, mind my own business.  But it does bother me. And I'd just like to know- what are others' thoughts on this subject?  I hope I did not offend anyone with my comments above; I just really want to know if it's just me that feels this way.

Thanks!

Rosie's Riveters: Susan & Lessa

Note:  Rosie is posting a day early this week as tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US and she wants to ensure that everyone has a chance to read all about Susan's Riveter.


Rosie's Riveters is a weekly posting written by Booklust readers about riveting females in literature. Many readers have strong reactions to the women in the books they read- either very positive or very negative. These are the characters we find riveting, for good reasons or bad ones, and they form the population of Rosie's Riveters. Through this weekly post, we can discuss females we love to hate, or love to love. And maybe, just maybe- we can determine why we react so strongly to them.

If you are interested in participating, please comment on this post, e-mail me, or just fill out the template below and send it to me. I am always looking for more participants!

This week's post is by Susan of West of Mars and Win a Book! fame.  I only met Susan very recently, when I asked her to post a giveaway on her blog.  She did so, very promptly, and I got so many more contest entries because of it!  Susan is also a writer and does a lot of work on her blog promoting author events around blogosphere and trying to ensure people have access to finding the Next Great Read.

Who is your Riveter?

Lessa

What book does she feature in? 
Anne McCaffrey's original Dragonriders of Pern series: Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon. And then a bunch after that, too, but more as a secondary character.

Do you love her or hate her? 

Love her. I was young when I discovered these books (twelve, I think) and her strength of character helped shape my idea of who I want to be if I ever grow up.

Describe her personality- how would you describe her to a friend? 
She's tough. No-nonsense. A survivor. Fierce. In-your-face. She hides her fears behind bravado.

Can you compare her to a celebrity? 
Uhh, nope. I don't know any celebrities. Sorry.

What makes her riveting? 

I don't know, exactly. Her toughness is definitely appealing. She's also a natural, easy leader. As someone who has a hard time NOT being a leader, that works for me.

What do you most admire/despise about her? 
Admire: her guts and, at times, foolhardy ways. And abiilty to land on her feet.
Despise: the fact that she's not real. I need more people like her in my life.

Would you recommend reading the book in which the Riveter features? 
Absolutely. I have for years, in fact. I think Anne McCafferey's dragon series (now either co-written or entirely written with/by her son Todd) are a great introduction to the world of fantasy.

Do you have a quote by or about your Riveter that you'd like to share?  
A quote, no. But there's a moment where she sits for the first time in the chair that was used by one of the great women in history and she's in awe, thinking that Moreta had sat there, too. That moment, and one early on when Lessa tried to hide her identity from the dragonriders, are the two scenes that stand out most in my memory. I won't tell you how many years it's been since I first read these books, but it's a lot. Yet those images remain.

Amazing Book Video

This was linked on the Chicago Tribune Printers' Row book blog yesterday, and I shared itwith Maree last night.  Then realized that I should show it to everyone because it is so wonderful.  Those Kiwis really know how to write (and read and make movies literally out of) wonderful books.

Needless to say, Going West has now been added to my TBR list!

Enjoy!  And apologies for the width of this video.  It doesn't work with my custom settings on Blogspot!

Review: The King's English: Adventures of an Independent Bookseller

Title:  The King's English:  Adventures of an Independent Bookseller

Author:  Betsy Burton

Publisher:  Gibbs Smith


# of Pages:  301 (including appendices)

Favorite Line:
But the real source of authorial star power is that reading a brilliant novel can be exactly like falling in love, *is* falling in love.  Falling into a book, reveling in its language, recognizing its truth, reading on and on in a state of absolute rapture, unable to pull yourself away from the story... 

Plot Summary:
In 1977, Betsy Burton and her good friend decided to give up trying to be authors and try to sell other people's books instead.  They opened up a small bookstore, The King's English, in Salt Lake City, cheerfully unaware of the difficulties associating with bookselling or running a small business.  Over the past forty years, Betsy has been the focal point of The King's English, surviving with the store through different partners, ups and downs in the economy, various political influences and the interesting dichotomy of Mormons and non-Mormons reading in Salt Lake City.  She shares vignettes and gems in her book- stories about author visits, about the struggles of running a bookstore, about the happiness of matching the right book with the right person, and her strong and vivid belief that the world would be a sad place without independent booksellers.

First off, this is a beautiful book.  I know we are told not to judge a book by its cover, but some covers are just so pretty I want to buy them to display on my shelf.  I have a hardcover version of The King's English, and it's lovely.  It is almost square in shape, it has wide margins on the pages, the pages are made of very fine material, and there are several pictures in the book.  Clearly, this was written by and then published by people who really love books, which is fabulous.

The content is pretty good, too.  I wouldn't really call it a memoir because much of the book isn't just about Burton and her trials and triumphs in independent bookselling.  There are stories about bookselling, yes, but those were not the ones I found compelling.  Burton jumps around a lot in her narrative- saying "More on that later" or "This is a story for another book," or "X, by the way, is someone I met Y years ago and...."  It's very conversational and stream-of-consciousness, but in a way I sometimes found distracting.  A timeline of events relating to The King's English would have been helpful; then, I'd know who she was talking about more often than not.

But luckily, much of Burton's narrative is comprised of stories about authors and literary notables- stories about building relationships, sharing important moments, and impacting people's lives.  Those are what really bring this book to life.  Authors that you glance at on the shelf and might not give a second glance- they are given prime space in this book, their books gushed over.  I have added both Walter Satterthwaite and E. L. Doctorow to my books to look for list based solely on Burton's descriptions of the authors themselves.  I have also considered looking into some poets, particularly Mark Strand (who now lives in Chicago, it appears).  The only thing I noticed is that Burton is full of praise for the authors she likes; however, she never names any that she does not like, just saying "will remain anonymous," or speaking in general terms.  This is probably polite and good business sense on her part, but it makes it seem a little fake to me, as though certain authors asked to be included in her book and presented positively, so she complied.  I think I'm reading into things, though.

In addition to these wonderfully insightful looks into the private lives of some amazing writers, Burton provides, at the end of each chapter, several suggested reading lists.  They cover moods, ages, genres, fiction & non-fiction, famous authors and obscure ones, in-print books and out-of-print ones.  They're amazing.  The book is worth getting your hands on, if only for the sake of the lists, so that you can troll bookstores and libraries for as yet undiscovered-by-you authors.

And that's really where Burton shines.  She says countless times that over and above everything else, she is a bookseller.  She truly believes that "Putting the right book in the right hands at the right time can actually change lives."  Any reader can tell you that's true.  Burton's most powerful and passionate chapter in the story is not about how difficult it is to make a profit in bookselling, or how diva-like some authors can be, or how precarious walking the line of religion in Salt Lake City is.  It's the chapter on the importance of independent bookstores that really rings true.  She explains the bookselling system and explains why chain stores will hurt us.

I am not a huge fan of big box stores, but for much of this book I was a little tired of Burton's holier-than-though, anti-corporate, anti-establishment stance on things.  However, the chapter on independent bookstores made me change my mind.  It's important and imperative that they stay in business.  Big box stores hurt the publishing companies, and they in turn stifle new and different talent in the ranks of writers.  This is really sad, especially when I think of all the authors out there who really believe in their books, trying to be published.  Or, when I think of the authors whose books I've loved, but who are not able to write the stories they want any more because publishers are terrified that those stories won't sell well.

People are willing to pay a premium for the products they deem worthy of higher value.  That's why the people who shop at farmers' markets tend to spend much more on groceries than those who shop at the local grocery store.  It's why people who buy designer handbags or shoes pay more for those than people who shop at the discount store.  So really, shouldn't we all, as booklovers and advocates, pay a premium for our books?  I don't mean those people who buy a book here and there, before a flight or a vacation.  I mean those of us who really research and read and follow the book industry and our favorite authors.  If we value books so highly that we purchase them, then perhaps we should purchase them somewhere that most benefits the publisher and the author who brought us those books, too.

I have bought many books on Amazon or on discount online bookstores.  It's really hard not to; they're so cheap.  But if I am one of those people who prefers farmers' market to the local grocery store, and who likes to eat in nice restaurants once in a while, even if they're pricey, then I should extend the same courtesy to my beloved books.

I have veered away from reviewing the book, but that's what it led me to ponder.  The King's English is a series of short stories- making it eminently readable before bed- that will introduce you to so many new authors, so many new people that you have never read or even heard of before.  And its recommended reads will cause your heart to skip a beat.  But most of all, it will make you think.  Can you imagine Barnes & Noble's founder taking time out of his day to write a book about how much he loves books?  About the authors that have impacted him?  I don't think so; and that's ultimately what independent booksellers bring.  The passion and enthusiasm for their work, and their hope to pair you up with exactly the right book for you.

Rosie's Riveters: Sassy Brit & Julia

Rosie's Riveters is a weekly posting written by Booklust readers about riveting females in literature. Many readers have strong reactions to the women in the books they read- either very positive or very negative. These are the characters we find riveting, for good reasons or bad ones, and they form the population of Rosie's Riveters. Through this weekly post, we can discuss females we love to hate, or love to love. And maybe, just maybe- we can determine why we react so strongly to them.

If you are interested in participating, please comment on this post, e-mail me, or just fill out the template below and send it to me. I am always looking for more participants!


This week's post is by Sassy Brit, from Alternative Reads.  I don't remember when I first came across Sassy's blog, but she quickly won me over with her funny writing style (as you'll witness below!).  She reads a lot of fantasy and speculative fiction and always seems to know about the next hit book before it's released.  If you're into fantasy, paranormal or speculative fiction- I recommend checking her out!

Who is your Riveter?
Julia

What book does she feature in?
1984, by George Orwell, in which a pair of lovers, Winston and Julia fail to defeat the system of a utopian society. Poor Winston was doomed the day he met her.

Do you love her or hate her?
I hate her with a passion! More than spiders, and squeaky cotton wool, and that's pure satanical hatred for you!

Describe her personality- how would you describe her to a friend?
She sits in the Chestnut Tree Cafe all day long, planning her class notes for the Junior Anti-Sex league, with a head full of secrets, and smokes like a trooper. Yet, she obviously didn't listen to her mother when told how a woman should conduct herself in the presence of men. Talk about sexually promiscuous! Couldn't she just admire Winston from afar? It would have saved them both a lot of trouble in the long run.

Hey, did you know she rents a room she uses as her love nest (for a bit of hanky-panky) above Mr, Charrington's antique shop? Oh, yes, she does! Tsk! Tsk!

Can you compare her to a celebrity?
Yes. Any one of the famous liars. Remember Janet Cooke a Washington Post journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize  for a book called Jimmy's World that she fabricated completely? And don't get me started on Bill Clinton and  Monika Lewinsky or Baron Münchhausen!

What makes her riveting?
I see her as a love-to-hate character. On one hand she's a rebel, with a cause, she knows what she wants and will  step over her dying grandma to get it. On the other hand, this does make her interesting and ultimately proves what a selfish bint she is. 

What do you most admire/despise about her?
Well, where shall I start?  Julia doesn't even know Winston, (okay she's been spying on him just to see he would  be gullible enough to fall for a dumb arse trick that she pulls off later), yet, she slips him a note which says  "I LOVE YOU" practically upon their first meeting!  Now, if that's not the sign of a floozy, I don't know what is!  You wouldn't have Cherie Blair behave that way, would you?  So, why should she get away with it?  Didn't the poor long-suffering soul, Winston, learn facecrime?  (An improper expression on one's face).  If he had, he would have spotted her underlying motives and lying expressions, before it was too late!  And maybe, just maybe, he would have had time to think it through and say "No!" to her advances.  I mean, if the party can  control history and everyone in it, surely Julia could control her animalistic urges for a couple of days?  Nuns manage okay.

Oh!  And another thing (as if that wasn't enough), if it wasn't for her bewitching him in the first place, Winston would be living a nice quiet life in his bachelor pad with lots of time to write his secret diary, and a huge wall-mounted plasma telly all to himself.

Would you recommend reading the book in which the Riveter features?
Absolutely!  It's my favourite most re-read book of all time.  I'm sure you and your readers have read it, too.  It's bleak, full of isolation, repression and loneliness.  It highlights horrific similarities to our world today, but more extreme, of course.  Sounds depressing, but it's because of this it really makes you think about what life could be like in the not so distant future if we are not careful, and it's hard to believe that this was written in 1949.

Yes, there are countries today committing atrocities against their own people, however, at the same time I believe a depressing story such as this brings forth the good things in our world today:  Kindness and humanity, for starters.  For those of of us that live in a country where we have got rights, and freedom of speech we should celebrate this and think ourselves lucky.  No matter what, there is always something to be grateful for.  But not for Winston once she gets her evil, unladylike clutches into him.  Poor devil!


Do you have a quote by your Riveter that you'd like to share?
In the book Julia tells Winston that, "...even though the Party can torture a person and make him say anything, they cannot make him believe it."

In my eyes, that makes her the world's worst hypocrite.  After all, she flaunts herself so he can't resist, tortures him with her body and makes him believe she loves him, and then after a teeny-weeny bit of torture, betrays him.  How easily the girl gives up!  How fickle!

There, that's better.  I got my Two Minutes of Hate off my chest.

Thank you very much for having me.  I rather enjoyed that. We must do it again sometime. :)  

Review: The Greatest Knight

Title:  The Greatest Knight

Author:  Elizabeth Chadwick

Publisher:  Sourcebooks

# of Pages:  529

I received this book for free to review.

Plot Summary:
William Marshall lived through a very volatile time in English history.  When he was a child, he was used as a hostage against his father's continued loyalty to King Stephen.  As a youth, he fought for a nobleman in France.  Then he caught the attention of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and his life changed profoundly.  He became a knight in the Young King Henry's household and quickly had to learn courtly manners and strategies to deal with the wily Plantagenet family.  He protected the king from his enemies, from bad influences, and from himself.  Unexpectedly, however, Young Henry passes away and William must find his own way once more.  Over the next several years, he sets about becoming the greatest knight in English history, making a mark on the world and trying to find peace and happiness for himself.

Elizabeth Chadwick has admitted that she herself is a little in love with William Marshall, and it shows.  The man is wonderful- it would be hard not to be in love with him.  I don't know if he was as handsome as he is portrayed in the book, particularly if he ran the jousting circuit and probably got beat up quite a bit around the head.  But even if he was ugly, Chadwick has solid proof that he was a chivalrous, well-liked gentleman, and I believe it.  He really is a knight in shining armor. 
There is romance in this book, but it is not a romance novel.  William has a mistress and then, much later, he has a wife, but neither of those stories is the main one (though they're interesting as well).  No, William stands firmly in the center of this novel, as does the Plantagenet family.  Everyone else, in my opinion, is just a satellite to the action.  And it is completely understandable.  Particularly towards the end of the novel, there was so much going on, politically and strategically, that I was grateful to only have a few characters to concentrate on.  Any more would have confused me past knowing.  Particularly as, in Medieval Britain, it seems like there were only about three names for parents to choose from to name their children.  There were multiple Johns & Richards to keep track of.

After the Hanovers, the Plantagenets are my favorite English royals.  They are crafty.  No loyalty to parents or siblings amongst the offspring of Henry II & Eleanor of Aquitaine, certainly.  Some people think the Tudors are dicey, but they are tame compared to the Plantagenets, in my opinion.  And they didn't last nearly as long.  After reading this book, I really want to pick up Thomas Costain's Plantagenet history volumes!  Those people are the definition of Machiavellian.

So, it's really, really impressive that William Marshall managed to not only survive, but thrive, in the late 12th century.  He walked a very fine line between the multiple camps but somehow emerged a victor.  Anyone who can do that should be commended.  Chadwick does very well in making William Marshall realistic and sympathetic, and I really enjoyed learning about him through this book.  I look forward to the sequel, The Scarlet Lion.

Historical fiction that centers around actual historical figures always makes me pause a bit because I wonder where the author draws the line.  How do you know that William Marshall had a sense of humor?  Are you sure his wife was beautiful and had blond hair?  Did he really have a blue cloak?  How much of this story is comprised of you projecting your interpretation of events?  It's hard to tell.  I don't know anything about William Marshall, and very little about the turbulent 12th century, but I have a feeling that if I asked her about major events that shaped Marshall in her story, she could give me primary evidence to back up her claims.  That's always nice to know.  Also, she knows Medieval England well enough to have hated The Pillars of the Earth, so that is always a good sign.

Considering that William Marshall's life was the subject of a long Medieval poem, that he was so involved in politics, and that he did so much to shape England, it's amazing that he is practically unknown to people today.  What a comment on how the collective memory works!  Luckily for all of us, we have an author like Elizabeth Chadwick to raise him back up out of obscurity and give him a dignified place of honor in history!

A great find!

The Open Books store opens this Saturday in Chicago!  If you don't know already, I am a marketing intern at this fabulous literacy organization.  It's great, but it's definitely different than the corporate world :-)   For example, we have to move all our own furniture, which would be a big no-no at either of my old jobs.  But, on a positive note, I am no longer doing accounting and am working towards my career goal of getting into marketing for non-profits.  So, a very good experience!

Anyway, as the store is opening so soon, all of us are spending a great deal of time downstairs shelving books.  There are some authors whom I always scan bookshelves in libraries and bookstores for.  It usually disappoints me not to see anything by those authors, but if I do- then I feel really, really happy and the bookstore or library goes up significantly in my estimation.  One of those authors is Lindsay Davis, though I don't know why as I think I own all Davis' books.  Another is Teresa Edgerton, who writes very hard-to-find fantasy novels.  Another is Guy Gavriel Kay, who also writes fantasy novels, my favorite being The Lions of Al-Rassan. 

But the one I most look for is Georgette Heyer, the queen of Regency England.  Yes, she writes romance novels, but not the trashy kind.  She's so witty.  I adore her.  Any bookstore that sells her books has the Aarti seal of approval.

The Open Books store, therefore, has my stamp of approval.  Not only does it carry Heyer, but it has her books in hardcover!  Sadly, the most often-found Heyer hardcovers are Lady of Quality, Regency Buck and Charity Girl.  These are not on my list of favorite Heyers at all.  Regency Buck, in particular, I strongly dislike.  Both the hero and the heroine appall me.  Appall!  I can see why those are the books most often found on used bookstore shelves as, if I had to purge my book collection and somehow needed to decrease my 50+ volume Heyer collection, I'd get rid of those.

Anyway, Open Books has Charity Girl and Lady of Quality.  BUT ALSO, it has (or had, before I purchased it for myself) a copy of Penhallow!  Penhallow is one of Heyer's mystery novels, and not one of the popular ones.  It's hard to find in paperback, and even harder to find in hardcover.  I've been looking around for it in used bookstores for years.  And I found it at Open Books!

Here is a picture of a newer issue of the book, published by Arrow. 

The copy I found is an old edition, by Doubleday :-)  I can't even find a picture online to show you, but it has a big, dark blue cover with an English stately home on it.  It was clearly published during World War II because the back cover has this big announcement about how buying the book helps literacy and thus helps the world.  And the book's back cover also encourages you to BUY WAR BONDS in big, block capital letters.  So fabulous!  I love a book with a sense of history.  I can't even describe how thrilled I was to find this book for myself.  And I didn't feel bad about purchasing it as all proceeds from the sale go towards fighting illiteracy in my beloved Chicago.  If that's not a win-win situation, I don't know what is.

If you're in the Chicago area, come check out Open Books' Grand Opening this weekend!

Which authors do you automatically look for on shelves?  Any?  And do you have a story of a rare find that made you very happy, either in a bookstore or library?

Flashback Challenge Reading List

I have been trying to think of a list of books for the Flashback Challenge, but I have no idea what to choose!  It's a matter of far too many books to fill the list.  With other challenges, it is somewhat easier to choose because there are some guidelines as to what to choose, and you kind of pick books that sound good or have been recommended to you or have been sitting on your shelves for a while.  With the Flashback Challenge, you already know the book.  You know whether you like it or not.  You know what happens at the end.  You know what impact it had on your life.  And there are so many books that I want to reread, to recapture that response I had upon first reading them.  So it's very hard to pick.

Should I read a book I read when much younger?  That I loved and has a place in my heart that I cherish?  Or is it too scary to read a book from then, in case it is tarnished?  For example, will I find The Phantom Tollbooth as witty and clever now as I did at age seven?  Or will I even see my favorite characters of Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables in the same way, now that I'm a somewhat cynical adult, compared to when I was an idealistic girl?  I don't know!

Should I read a classic from high school that I really enjoyed, or one that I didn't like at all?  Or one that I didn't really "get"?  I really loved To Kill a Mockingbird and All Quiet on the Western Front when I read them for class.  I absolutely hated Lord of the Flies.  But maybe that was because I was younger and just thought it was odd.  And I think there were many aspects of A Tale of Two Cities that I missed that I might pick up on a reread.  Plus, that book takes place during one of my favorite periods, the French Revolution.

And then the list of books from adulthood... my goodness, there are too many!  Spanning all genres.  I certainly want to reread Persuasion.  I should remind myself of why it's my favorite Jane Austen book.  I also want to reread The Shadow of the Wind, mostly because I don't remember what happened in that story, except that I loved it.  And then there's Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy, which I've been talking up a lot recently but don't really remember.  And I'd love to reread The Lions of Al-Rassan because it's been so long since I've read Guy Gavriel Kay and I'd like to brush up a bit.  And I seriously want to reread some Georgette Heyer (more on my FABULOUS Georgette Heyer find tomorrow!).

So... what to do?  I have no idea!  I am just going to make a huge list of possible titles below and see what happens... I am hoping for the Literati level myself!


1.  The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (a book from childhood)
2.  A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (a book from high school)
3.  All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Remarque (a book from high school)
4.  To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (a book from high school)
5.  The Lions of Al-Rassan, by Guy Gavriel Kay (a book from adulthood)
6.  The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (a book from adulthood)
7.  Any number of books by Georgette Heyer (a book from adulthood)
8.  Any number of books by Terry Pratchett (a book from adulthood)
9.  Persuasion, by Jane Austen (a book from adulthood)
10.  Goblin Moon, by Teresa Edgerton (a book from adulthood)
11.  Rilla of Ingleside, by L. M. Montgomery (a book from childhood)
12.  The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia C. Wrede (a book from childhood)

Ok.. that is where I am going to end that list!  So many books, so many options, so many difficulties choosing!  Do you suggest any of the above over another?  Or do you think I may have missed one that "everyone" read when they were younger?

Flashback Challenge!!

A truly great book should be read in youth,

again in maturity and once more in old age,

as a fine building should be seen by morning light,

at noon and by moonlight. 

~ Robertson Davies ~

Last month (I think), I volunteered to host a Re-Read Challenge, and Kristen M volunteered to co-host.  We have been emailing each other back and forth about the logistics, and we plan to have the challenge officially start in January.  Though if you decide to reread a book before then and want it to count, that is fine, too.  I am not sure if we should set up an entirely new site to link to people's reviews.  I personally have no desire to maintain another website, so I'm going to see what happens with Kristen and I hosting on our blogs.  If it seems that, based on sign-ups, we should set up a separate site for the challenge, then maybe we'll do that, too.  But at this point, I think we can just make monthly posts with Mr. Linkys set up so that everyone can see other people's reviews.

We still don't have any buttons.  As Eva can attest, I have seriously abysmal button-making skills.  We all have different skill sets, I suppose, and Microsoft Paint is not one of mine.  Really, anything involving artistry or coordination of any sort is not really my forte.  I have equilibrium issues.  It's risky for me to drink red wine on white carpet.  But I do it anyway because I like to live dangerously.

So, this is the part where I beg people to make us buttons.  PLEASE!  Nothing flashy (haha- even though it's the Flashback Challenge!), just serviceable.  Maybe a picture of a little kid reading a book?  Or an older person reading a book?  A flashlight and a book?  Or something retro?  Something with a quote such as Holbrook Johnson's, "Books worth reading are worth re-reading"?

I don't know. Go crazy.  It would be much appreciated :-)

Onto the particulars!

The Flashback Challenge will run from January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010.  If you're super-excited and want to reread a book before that, feel free, and let me know.  If many people do so, then I'll do a December challenge linky post and you can all link to it here.  Otherwise, we can hold them over to January.

You can sign up for the following levels:
Bookworm - Up to three books
Scholar - Four to six books
Literati - Over six books

Within these levels, we have mini-challenges!  These are:

1. Re-read a favorite book from your childhood

2. Re-read a book assigned to you in high school

3. Re-read a book you loved as an adult

Thus, if you sign up for the Bookworm level, you could ostensibly choose to read one book from each mini-challenge.  Or you could choose to do none of the above (though, granted, not sure what you could have possibly read that does not fit into either childhood, high school or adulthood).

Also, would just like to make clear that this isn't specifically limited to books you loved reading previously and want to reread.  It could also be a book you don't remember enjoying.  Or just don't remember reading.  It might be interesting to see how your perceptions may have changed.

***************
And now, courtesy of Sheila from Bookjourney, Wendy from A Novel Challenge and Katy from A Few More Pages, we have buttons for the challenge!  Thanks, ladies- much, much appreciated :-)

Ok, that's all.  Here's Mr. Linky for everyone to sign up (with or without their reading lists).  I'll post mine tomorrow!

Review: The Kingmaking

Title:  The Kingmaking

Author:  Helen Hollick

Publisher:  Sourcebooks

# of Pages:  592

Favorite Line:  "We had so many dreams as children.  Where do they go when we grow?  Are they swallowed up by the mundane things of everyday life?  Or do we lose them, leave them behind us in the dust, for new children to find and take up?"

I received this book for free to review.

Plot Summary:
In the 5th century BC, Britain has been abandoned by the Romans and there is unrest amongst the Britons and the Saxons.  Uthr Pendragon leads the Britons against Vortigern, hoping to regain Britain for the British.  Though he loses, he leaves behind his son and heir- Arthur- to continue the fight.  But Arthur is young and untrained in the ways of war, so he must first work for Vortigern in his cavalry before rising up and leading against him.  He spends his years learning how to fight, learning how to lead men and inspire devotion, gaining a following and making enough money to lead a country of his own.  And then there is Gwenhwyvar, his lady love, who fights her own battles and challenges him to become a better person.  This is the first book in the Kingmaking trilogy by Hollick, a series retelling the story of Arthur in a more realistic way than that of romantic legend.  It takes up to the point when Arthur gains Excalibur and begins consolidating his power.

This review is being done a little differently than usual.  I have seen so many fun joint reviews out there in blogosphere lately that I invited Linda to try this one out with me.  You can see the first half of our review on her site, At the Court of Mur-y-Castell, here.  Then be sure to check back to finish it off here at BookLust.  As you will be able to tell, we had similar reactions to the book, though I think I liked it more than Linda- so it was a lot of fun to discuss the book and see our varied reactions!

What aspect of the book did you like best?

L:  Do I have to say something? Well ok, that she tried to tell the story as it could have been.

A:  Hahahaha.  I would say I liked that part best, too.  Though, again, I miss Merlin :-)

What aspect of the book did you least like?

L:  Everything! I am sorry but it started good then I started to loathe everyone, especially Arthur. I can't remember the last time I came across such a sorry excuse for a man. It was too black and white, the characters were not well done, there were no truth in them. So yes the characters ruined the book for me.

A:  Winifred was my least favorite person in the book.  Every time her name showed up on a page, I groaned inwardly.  I think that's why I enjoyed the beginning and the end of the book- because she was not there in them!  I have a feeling she's going to keep popping up in this series, though...

Will you continue on with this series?

L: No. I am too upset, I hate bitchy characters and TSTL [Too stupid to live] women. Everyone else seems to love this book, but I do not wanna read about a would be rapist (if he hasn't already). It was good that she tried but if this was the real story then why they they keep telling it? He would never be a man I would look up too.

Though the second half of the book was better I confess. But the book just made me too upset. It felt unrealistic. Where is Merlin when you need him?

A: I will continue with this series.  I really like Arthurian literature of any type, so I think I may be more forgiving of Arthur's character as I know this is one of many interpretations of him.  I also think Hollick is really good at telling a story, and I'm interested to see where she goes with the more well-known parts of Arthurian legend.  I liked her explanation of the Sword in the Stone/Excalibur.  It was very easy to believe and I could see it really happening.

 I agree that Arthur is a very flawed character.  I am not sure if I like him or not.  It's fascinating to realize that you have spent over 500 pages with a person and not know, at the end of it, how you really feel about him.  Hopefully I'll know after books two and three!

Have you read other Arthurian books?  Where does Kingmaking rank in comparison to those?

L: No, I tried with the Marion Zimmer Bradley book but never got anywhere.  I should try again.

A: I really like Arthurian legend, though I haven't read that many books of it.  The most recent I tried was Sword at Sunset, but I haven't gotten far enough in that retelling (I set it down a few weeks ago) to get to the legend part.  My standard for all books is Mary Stewart's series centering around Merlin.  I think I will soon pick up The Wicked Day to finish that series.  I admit I can't really remember that much about Arthur and Gwen from that one, but I just love, love, love that version of the story.  I also read Mists of Avalon, which is the version Hollick really disliked.  I read it in high school, so I am vague on many aspects of the story, but I do remember really liking Morgaine and feeling a great deal of empathy for her during the story.  I hated Gwenhwyvar in that version (as did Hollick).

I am not sure where Hollick's story ranks for me yet as I will have to read the other two books to make sure.  I have a feeling that her version and Bernard Cornwell's version are very similar.  I hope to read Cornwell's Arthurian legend soon, too.  I have book one on my shelf, just have to bring it down :-)

Review: Soulless

Title:  Soulless

Author:  Gail Carriger

Publisher:  Orbit Books

# of Pages:  357

Plot Summary:

Alexia Tarabotti is a half-Italian spinster living in an alternate version of Victorian England.  She is also a preternatural- soulless- and so can counteract the vampires and werewolves around her.  Being basically immune to supernatural activity, and also being a free-thinking older woman, Alexia is pretty used to doing things her own way, unless Lord Maccon the werewolf is involved.  And, he generally is.  At a ball one night, Alexia accidentally kills a vampire while defending herself; upon further investigation, she and Lord Maccon find that there are a great many loner vampires and werewolves disappearing around London.  This is upsetting enough, but when coupled with attacks on her person by wax-faced men and several irritating intrusions by Alexia's horrid family, it is the outside of enough.  Alexia and Maccon, with a strong cast of supporting characters, work together to determine where all the werewolves and vampires are going.  And get up to some shenanigans of their own along the way.

This is one of those books that, while you're reading it, you can just tell that the author had a lot of fun writing it.  I adore historical fiction, though I am more a Georgian and Regency era fan than a Victorian era one.  I also really like fantasy, though I have never really ventured into the vampire or werewolf camp before.  So while this book really intrigued me, I wasn't sure if I would love it.  Luckily, Cara sent me a copy and I was thus able to read it much more quickly than I had expected.  Thanks, Cara!

I will first talk about the many aspects of the books I did like, because I have a feeling the things that annoyed me probably wouldn't annoy the vast majority of people reading this book.

The writing absolutely sparkles.  It is witty, it is sassy, it is wonderful.  Not only the dialogue between characters, but also the internal dialogue.  For example:

She would have colored gracefully with embarrassment had she not possessed the complexion of one of those "heathen Italians," as her mother said, who never colored, gracefully or otherwise.  (Convincing her mother that Christianity had, to all intents and purposes, originated with the Italians, thus making them the exact opposite of heathen, was a waste of time and breath.)  Alexia refused to apologize for the boisterousness of her stomach...

It is hard not to giggle when reading the above, and while reading this book, I often had a smile on my face.  Gail Carriger, I think, set out to write a book in Victorian times because she really likes the way people from that era converse.  I don't blame her- she uses language really well in the book.  It's smart and teasing the whole way through, even while being quite decorous.  Alexia is exactly the sort of person you'd like to sit down with after a bad day and have a snark-fest.

And that's another part I really liked- Alexia, the character.  She could be depressingly down on herself sometimes.  I found that aspect of her character  fairly difficult to believe.  The girl can kill vampires without breaking a sweat, and yet is inordinately self-conscious about the size of her nose.  But then- I'm pretty awesome myself and have moments of insecurity, so I suppose I can understand to an extent.  Alexia is a woman who can hold her own in a conversation and in a fight, and she was a fabulous character.

Maccon, also, as the romantic interest, is a great alpha male.  He's strong and angry and attractive and the interplay between the two of them is a lot of fun to watch.  I also really liked the side characters- one used italics in his speech an excessive amount, but he was still fun.

And that's the big word I'd use to describe this book- fun.  Light and frothy are two others.  Kind of like champagne at midnight on New Year's Eve.  I will definitely be looking into the sequel.

The only aspect of the book that upset me slightly was the treatment Victorian era.  I feel that if you set a book in London in the late 1800s, then you have to work within the confines of the era.  If you don't want to, then I think the book should be set in a different era.  I don't think it's very likely that a young Victorian woman's mother would just decide that her daughter's come-out was not worth the cost due to her being "not pretty."  The logic of this doesn't really make sense as it is far more expensive to house, feed and clothe a person for the rest of her life than it is to launch her into society.  Also, I can't for a moment believe that an unmarried girl would be allowed to entertain gentleman callers alone in the parlor, bar the door to intruders, and then spend an hour with the gentleman while her family sits around outside.

Casting aside these strictures certainly makes it easier for characters to get up to some hanky-panky.  But I personally enjoy the subtlety of the romance of books set in the 19th century, and how it is based on conversation and meaningful smiles and thoughtful acts.  Possibly lame and naive on my part, but it kind of ruins it for me to have characters cheerfully ignoring societal norms and getting it on with each other.

However, that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I will look out for the sequel next year.  I need to learn to just appreciate a book on its fun merits alone, and not let other aspects detract from my enjoyment.  Soulless is clever and entertaining and I'd highly recommend it, as long as you don't let it offend your Victorian sensibilities!

Rosie's Riveters: Luanne & Mary Gooch

Rosie's Riveters is a weekly posting written by Booklust readers about riveting females in literature. Many readers have strong reactions to the women in the books they read- either very positive or very negative. These are the characters we find riveting, for good reasons or bad ones, and they form the population of Rosie's Riveters. Through this weekly post, we can discuss females we love to hate, or love to love. And maybe, just maybe- we can determine why we react so strongly to them.

If you are interested in participating, please comment on this post, e-mail me, or just fill out the template below and send it to me. I am always looking for more participants!

 This week's poster is Luanne from A Bookworm's World.  Luanne and I met through BBAW.  We were matched as interview partners and she very kindly put up with all the delays and scatterbrained emails on my end as I was trying (and failing!) to participate in BBAW while in India.  It was really fun to meet Luanne as she reads very different books than I do, and thus interacts with really different book bloggers than I do.  It's really interesting to see how vast the internet is, and how people make their own little pockets within it.  I am really happy to have met Luanne through BBAW and to have been introduced to her blog.

Who is your Riveter?

Mary Gooch 

What book does she feature in?

My favourite author is Canadian Lori Lansens. Mary is the lead character in her latest book - The Wife's Tale.

Do you love her or hate her?

Oh I absolutely love her.

Describe her personality- how would you describe her to a friend?

Mary's personality changes as she grows throughout the book. She is shy and reclusive when we meet her. But when circumstances force her into the world, she reluctantly steps out. She is unaware of the person she is becoming - kind and true ands steadfast. She finally becomes accepting of herself.

Can you compare her to a celebrity?

No -  it would be an injustice to the character of Mary.

What makes her riveting?

Her strength. This is the hallmark of Lansen's characters. I am moved to tears by both Mary and another Lansen character I'll save for my next Riveter post.

Mary is at the absolute bottom of the well. Her determination to do things she's never done, to go places, to keep putting one foot in front of the other and move forward even though it's sometimes two steps forward and one step back. Her humanity. She is an object of scorn and ridicule by some, but she never wavers from her own core beliefs.

What do you most admire/despise about her?

Again, the obstacles she faces and overcomes. Her journey towards self discovery and her unflagging journey to get there.

Would you recommend reading the book in which the Riveter features?

Absolutely - but it's not coming out in the US until Feb 2010 - put it on your wishlist!

Do you have a quote by or about your Riveter that you'd like to share?

Mary remembered, when she was nine years old, stepping off the scale in Dr. Ruttle's office and hearing him whisper the word to her slight mother, Irma. It was an unfamiliar word, but one she understood in the context of the fairy-tale world. Obeast. There were witches and warlocks. So must there be ogres and obeasts. Little big Mary wasn't confused by the diagnosis. It made sense to her child's mind that her body had become an outward manifestation of the starving animal in her gut.

The B Word

This post really has nothing to do with books, but it relates somewhat loosely to the Women Unbound challenge.  It started when I was watching Top Chef last week and one of the contestants said something about being a b*tch and that she was happy to "own that word."  What?  Who are you?  Why would you ever want to "own" that word?  How are you happy to be associated with it?  Then there's the picture with this post...

And now I'm reading Helen Hollick's excellent book The Kingmaking, and the book is just littered with the word everywhere- however, at least in that book, it's used very much in a derogatory sense and no one is happy to be the recipient of the term.  That is fine with me- I don't think it's something you should like being called.  I would be highly offended if someone called me that.  And I'd be mortified if I had done something to earn the term.  But I seem to be in the minority.

Really, what is with women today being so proud to be called the b-word?  I don't know when being associated with a word that means rude, aggressive, mean and all-around horrible became a badge of honor.  But it seems more and more to me that women use the word and don't apologize for it. 

And then I got to thinking about how many people feel the word feminist has a negative connotation.  And that maybe these are related.  I feel like the term b*tch has become, for some, synonymous with "feminist."  This is upsetting and disturbing.  Feminists are assertive about their rights, not aggressive about stupid, negligible things.  Feminists want equality, not to be seen as dominant.  Feminists know their end goal, but that doesn't mean they'll sabotage other people to get there.

B*tches, on the other hand... well, they do whatever they want and don't seem to care for the consequences.  And I think for many people, when they hear the word "feminist," they think of the word "b*tch."  Because they think of really aggressive, spoiled women who go after what they want, regardless of how it may affect other people.

I understand that language evolves as the use of words changes.  Maybe the b-word has a stronger connotation for me than it does for other people who use it so loosely.  Personally, I rarely ever swear or cuss (I can't even type out the b-word on this blog).  And so when I do, each word really means something to me.  And when I hear a word that has such a negative association, and when I hear women cheerfully referring to themselves by that word, it really gets on my nerves.  Being a b*tch is not cool.  It doesn't mean that you value your independence or that you are willing to make sacrifices to get where you want to be in life.  It means you are manipulative and crafty and not the sort of person anyone wants to be around.  Why in the world would you ever want to own that word?

What do you think about this?  Am I being overly sensitive?  Am I making random and baseless connections between the increase of the usage of the b-word and the negative view people have of the word feminist?

WINNERS: The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers

There were a total of 37 entries in the giveaway for The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers.  Several entries could not be counted because they either a) did not list a favorite historical figure or b) did not list an email address.  Please be sure to read all the directions when entering a giveaway!  They are in bold for a reason, I promise :-)

The two winners ARE:

MINDY
BARB

Thank you all for playing and good luck during the next giveaway!

Review: The Daughter of Time

Title:  The Daughter of Time

Author:   Josephine Tey

Favorite Line:  ...perhaps a series of small satisfactions scattered like sequins over the texture of everyday life was of greater worth than the academic satisfaction of owning a collection of fine objects at the back of a drawer.

Note:  In doing these reviews, I've realized how many different publishers and page lengths some books can have, so I'm getting rid of publisher information for older books, and only using it for the newer releases where it may actually matter.

Plot Summary:

Inspector Grant of the Scotland Yard is hospitalized for a leg injury, and the bed rest is driving him crazy.  His friend Marta suggests that he start looking into historical mysteries- unsolved cases from hundreds of years before that he can prove one way or another.  She gives him several portraits of historic personages, but the one that draws his attention is a portrait of a thoughtful, somewhat sickly man whom he thinks must be a judge or minister of some sort.  Instead, he realizes, it is a portrait of the reviled King Richard III.  He wonders how someone with such a kind and worried face can have such a horrible reputation of killing his two nephews so that he can take the throne of England for himself.  With the help of an eager young American, Brent Carradine, who works at the British Museum, he goes back through archives, contemporary writings, motives and political maneuvers.  He finds that it's unlikely Richard III killed his nephews- and that history is full of completely untrue "rallying cries."  Events that never occurred or were reported erroneously but that took on a life of their own.

Josephine Tey's work about a detective setting about to prove Richard III's innocence is pretty well-known.  It is also a very different sort of approach to the mystery of the Princes in the Tower.  Instead of writing a long treatise setting out each minute point about Richard's motives, Tey's detective focuses first on Richard's personality.  First- pretty much everyone liked him.  He was a really great leader, well-respected.  He also was extremely loyal to his older brother Edward, the king (and the father of the princes who were lost).  Thus, to Inspector Grant, it was unlikely just based on his background that Richard would have murdered his own nephews.  He strengthens his point by determing where Richard was and what he was doing in the dramatic period after his older brother's death.

The book was a bit confusing to me at times.  It was written in the 1950s in England and so some of the slang and the references were hard for me to understand.  Also, there are just so many Plantaganets (or there were, at least, before Henry Tudor came to the throne and they became an endangered species).  And then there are the hangers-on, the in-laws, the other aristocrats, the Church.  It was hard to keep them all straight.  The story is also written as a pretty rapid-fire conversation between Grant and Carradine- so they'd be discussing one aspect of the mystery, and then would jump to a different aspect and I'd sometimes get confused.

The book reiterated to me why I love history and historical fiction.  People act as though history is static and unchanging- but it's always written by the victors and always with some agenda.  While reading this book, I was reminded so much of Lies My Teacher Told Me, a book written about all the things Americans learn in school about American history that are just blatantly incorrect or misleading.  It's scary how national pride and patriotism can blind people and make them unwilling to hear anything negative- or not even negative, but just different- about the things they hold true.  And those just snowball and snowball so that, a hundred years later, people accept as fact something that started as a vicious and baseless rumor.

I love that Tey sets out in her book to disprove one "historical fact" and invigorates people to do their own research and not accept things as gospel just because they are repeated often and loudly.  And it's great that Richard III has so many supporters now.  After reading Sharon Kay Penman's The Sunne in Splendour, I became a huge fan of his and now I'm even more of one!

Sunday Salon: Reading Update

I was quite stressed out a week ago this time because of all the reading I had on my plate.  I am feeling a bit better now as I've gotten through two of the books I need to read for the YA panel discussion I'm organizing.  Whew! 

I also last night finished reading The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey.  That review will go up tomorrow.  It was a really good read and refreshed my love of Richard III.  It also made me realize just how dependent upon chance people are.  Honestly, it's easy say with hindsight that "if this had happened, then X wouldn't have been able to do this and the course of history would have been completely changed."  And maybe it's not always true.  But it's so fascinating to think about and explore.  I think there is a series of books called "What if?" or something like that in which historians go over what they think would have happened if key moments in history had gone differently.  "What if America had lost the Revoutionary war?"  "What if Napoleon had succeeded in Russia?"  Those kinds of things.  I should look those books up.

I started reading Soulless by Gail Carriger last night.  It is a lot of fun and has a great deal of witty dialogue.  However, it also uses a lot of terms I am not familiar with, not really being "in" with the vampire/werewolf literary crowd.  So I felt a little out of my depths.  I think it is a book that will take much more concentration and much more time to savor the banter than I have to give it at the moment.  I was reading it now because I wanted a short book to read before picking up Helen Hollick's huge Arthurian novel, The Kingmaking.  However, as I was reading Soulless, I started thinking that I should have been reading Hollick's novel, and then I wasn't really enjoying it, so I put aside the one for the other and now I'm about to go back to Wales in the Dark Ages.  I'm reading Hollick's novel with Linda, so that should be fun!  Also, Cara gave me my copy of Soulless to read- thanks very much :-)  Yay, reading friends!

Hope you're all doing well with your reading, too!  What's up for this week?