tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26550440777988602032024-03-13T03:38:23.400+00:00ConprimoRowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.comBlogger269125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-67060784997924412162017-01-01T09:00:00.000+00:002017-01-01T09:00:10.986+00:00Patrick Rothfuss reasonably well read in fantasy challenge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So a couple of years ago, or in fact nearly 6, Patrick Rothfuss posted this <a href="http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2011/06/fanmail-faq-looking-for-good-books/" target="_blank">list</a> on his blog of books which he believes you could consider yourself to be reasonably well read in fantasy having read. Now last year I signed up for questions number of challenges and although I was going pretty strong at the start of the year by the end of the year I'd failed miserably. I did quite enjoy the challenge so there's a chance I'll sign up for some of them again, but I also thought I'd give this one a go for myself.<br />
<br />
I'm going to list out the books, every book in each series included, and as I read them I'll mark them off. The plan is by the end of 2017 (or maybe 2018) I'll have read the lot. There are a few of these I've already read so I'll try and make those clear also.<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>The Dresden Files: Storm Front - Jim Butcher [read prior]</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Fool Moon - Jim Butcher [read prior]</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Grave Peril - Jim Butcher </li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Summer Knight - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Death Masks - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Blood Rites - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Dead Beat - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Proven Guilty - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: White Night - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Small Favor - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Turn Coat - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Changes - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Ghost Story - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Cold Days - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Dresden Files: Skin Game - Jim Butcher</li>
<li>The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle</li>
<li>Green Town: Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury</li>
<li>Green Town: Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury</li>
<li>Green Town: Farewell Summer - Ray Bradbury</li>
<li>Green Town: Summer Morning, Summer Night - Ray Bradbury</li>
<li>Stranger In a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein</li>
<li>Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - J. R. R. Tolkien [read prior]</li>
<li>Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - J. R. R. Tolkien [read prior]</li>
<li>Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien [read prior]</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magicians Nephew - C. S. Lewis [read prior]</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis [read prior]</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy - C. S Lewis [read prior] </li>
<li>The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - C. S Lewis [read prior]</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawntreader - C. S Lewis [read prior]</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair - C. S Lewis [read prior]</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle - C. S Lewis [read prior]</li>
<li>Dragonriders of Pern: Dragonflight - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Dragonriders of Pern: Dragonquest - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Dragonsong - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Dragonsinger - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Dragondrums - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Dragonriders of Pern: White Dragon - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Moreta - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Nerilka's Story - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Dragonsdawn - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: The Chronicles of Pern - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: The Impression - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Smallest Dragonboy - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Girl Who Heard Dragons - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: The Renegades of Pern - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern : All the Weyrs of Pern - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: The Dolphins of Pern - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Dragonseye - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: The Masterharper of Pern - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Runner of Pern - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: The Skies of Pern - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Ever the Twain - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Dragon's Kin - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Beyond Between - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Dragonsblood - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Dragon's Fire - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Pern: Dragon Harper - Anne McCaffrey</li>
<li>Dune: Dune - Frank Herbert</li>
<li>Dune: Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert</li>
<li>Dune: Children of Dune - Frank Herbert</li>
<li>Dune: God Emperor of Dune - Frank Herbert</li>
<li>Dune: Heretics of Dune - Frank Herbert</li>
<li>Dune: Chapterhouse - Frank Herbert</li>
<li>Dune: Hunters of Dune - Frank Herbert</li>
<li>Dune: Sandworms of Dune - Frank Herbert</li>
<li>Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep? - Philip K. Dick [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Mort - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Sourcery - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Pyramids - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Eric - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett </li>
<li>Discworld: Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett </li>
<li>Discworld: Witches Abroad - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Small Gods - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Men at Arms - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Soul Music - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Interesting Times - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Maskerade - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Feet of Clay - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Hogfather - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Jingo - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: The Last Continent - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Carpe Jugulum - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: The Truth - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Thief of Time - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Night Watch - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett [read prior]</li>
<li>Discworld: Going Postal - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Thud! - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Making Money - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: I Shall Wear Midnight - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Snuff - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: Raising Steam - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Discworld: The Shepherd's Crown - Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: The Guns of Avalon - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: Sign of the Unicorn - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: The Hand of Oberon - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: The Courts of Chaos - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: Trumps of Doom - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: Blood of Amber - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: Sign of Chaos - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: Knight of Shadows - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Amber: Prince of Chaos - Roger Zelazny</li>
<li>Brave New World - Aldous Huxley</li>
<li>Earthsea Cycle: A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin</li>
<li>Earthsea Cycle: The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. Le Guin</li>
<li>Earthsea Cycle: The Farthest Shore - Ursula K. Le Guin</li>
<li>Earthsea Cycle: Tehanu - Ursula K. Le Guin</li>
<li>Earthsea Cycle: Tales of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin</li>
<li>Earthsea Cycle: The Other Wind - Ursula K. Le Guin</li>
<li>Sandman - Neil Gaiman (comic)</li>
<li>The Fisher King Trilogy: Last Call - Tim Powers</li>
<li>The Fisher King Trilogy: Expiration Date - Tim Powers</li>
<li>The Fisher King Trilogy: Earthquake Weather - Tim Powers</li>
<li>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Hitchhiker' Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams [read prior]</li>
<li>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Restaurant at the end of the Universe - Douglas Adams [read prior]</li>
<li>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams [read prior]</li>
<li>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: So Long, and thanks for all the fish - Douglas Adams [read prior]</li>
<li>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Mostly Harmless - Douglas Adams</li>
<li>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: And Another Thing... - Douglas Adams</li>
<li>Riddlemaster: Riddlemaster of Hed - Patricia McKillip</li>
<li>Riddlemaster: Heir of Sea and Fire - Patricia McKillip</li>
<li>Riddlemaster: Harpist in the Wind - Patricia McKillip</li>
<li>Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath - H. P Lovecraft</li>
<li>Reprimanded - William Gibson</li>
<li>Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut</li>
<li>1984 - George Orwell</li>
<li>Callahan's: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon - Spider Robinson</li>
<li>Callahan's: Time Travellers Strictly Cash - Spider Robinson</li>
<li>Callahan's: Callahan's Secret - Spider Robinson</li>
<li>Callahan's: Callahan's Lady - Spider Robinson</li>
<li>Callahan's: Lady slings the booze - Spider Robinson</li>
<li>Callahan's: The Callahan Touch - Spider Robinson</li>
<li>Callahan's: Callahan's Legacy - Spider Robinson</li>
<li>Callahan's: Callahan's Key - Spider Robinson</li>
<li>Callahan's: Callahan's Con - Spider Robinson</li>
<li>Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare [read prior]</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox: Bridge of Birds - Barry Hughart</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox: The Story of the Stone - Barry Hughart</li>
<li>The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox: Eight Skilled Gentlemen - Barry Hughart</li>
<li>The Princess Bride - William Goldman</li>
<li>The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter</li>
<li>Gun, with Occasional Music - Jonathan Lethem</li>
<li>The Odyssey - Homer</li>
<li>The Last Herald Mage: Magic's Pawn - Mercedes Lackey</li>
<li>The Last Herald Mage: Magic's Promise - Mercedes Lackey</li>
<li>The Last Herald Mage: Magic's Price - Mercedes Lackey</li>
<li>Ender's Saga: Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card</li>
<li>Ender's Saga: Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card</li>
<li>Ender's Saga: Xenocide - Orson Scott Card</li>
<li>Ender's Saga: Children of the Mind - Orson Scott Card</li>
<li>Riverworld: To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Phillip Jose Farmer</li>
<li>Riverworld: The Fabulous Riverboat - Phillip Jose Farmer</li>
<li>Riverworld: The Dark Design - Phillip Jose Farmer</li>
<li>Riverworld: The Magic Labyrinth - Phillip Jose Farmer</li>
<li>Riverworld: The Gods of Riverworld - Phillip Jose Farmer</li>
<li>One Thousand and One Nights</li>
<li>Riftwar Saga: Magician:Apprentice - Raymond E. Feist</li>
<li>Riftwar Saga: Magician:Master - Raymond E. Feist</li>
<li>Riftwar Saga: Silverthorne - Raymond E. Feist</li>
<li>Riftwar Saga: A Darkness at Sethanon - Raymond E. Feist</li>
<li>The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - Stephen King</li>
<li>The Dark Tower: The Drawing of Three - Stephen King</li>
<li>The Dark Tower: The Waste Lands - Stephen King</li>
<li>The Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass - Stephen King</li>
<li>The Dark Tower: Wolves of the Calla - Stephen King</li>
<li>The Dark Tower: Song of Susannah - Stephen King</li>
<li>The Dark Tower: The Dark Tower - Stephen King</li>
<li>Memory, Sorrow and Thorn: The Dragonbone Chair - Tad Williams</li>
<li>Memory, Sorrow and Thorn: Stone of Farewell - Tad Williams</li>
<li>Memory, Sorrow and Thorn: To Green Angel Tower - Tad Williams</li>
<li>Belgariad: Pawn of Prophecy - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Belgariad: Queen of Sorcery - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Belgariad: Magician's Gambit - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Belgariad: Castle of Wizardry - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Belgariad: Enchanter's End Game - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Malloreon: Guardian's of the West - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Malloreon: King of the Murgos - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Malloreon: Demon Lord of Karanda - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Malloreon: Sorceress of Darshiva - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Malloreon: The Seeress of Kell - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Belgarath the Sorcerer - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Polgara the Sorceress - David Eddings [read prior]</li>
<li>Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson</li>
<li>The Neverending Story - Michael Ende</li>
<li>The Dragonlance Chronicles: Dragons of Autumn Twilight - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman</li>
<li>The Dragonlance Chronicles: Dragons of Winter's Night - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman</li>
<li>The Dragonlance Chronicles: Dragon's of Spring Dawning - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman</li>
<li>The Dragonlance Chronicles: Time of the Twins - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman</li>
<li>The Dragonlance Chronicles: War of the Twins - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman</li>
<li>The Dragonlance Chronicles: Test of the Twins - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman</li>
<li>The Dragonlance Chronicles: Dragons of the Dwarven Depths - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman</li>
<li>The Dragonlance Chronicles: Dragons of the Highlord Skies - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman</li>
<li>The Dragonlance Chronicles: Dragons of the Hourglass Mage - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman</li>
<li>The Shannara Trilogy: The Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks</li>
<li>The Shannara Trilogy: The Elfstones of Shannara - Terry Brooks</li>
<li>The Shannara Trilogy: The Wishsong of Shannara - Terry Brooks</li>
</ol>
<div>
If you click over to the post you'll see Patrick Rothfuss actually listed around a further 40 Books/Series, but I think I'll be pushing myself enough with this many for this year! In all honesty I think it unlikely I'll complete these, but I can give it a go!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are a few of the above that I've read either partially or in their entirety and consider to be my personal gateway to fantasy. Some which I've read after they've been recommended. A couple I own having inherited them from my Dad, but haven't picked up yet. Several I've heard of as fantasy greats since reading book blogs and a significant number I've never heard of. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Wish me luck! </div>
</div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-27707729020797191272016-12-15T09:00:00.000+00:002016-12-15T09:00:03.483+00:00Worth the Lies - Mara Jacobs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ2L5rttAnWs6sZzyfWZZT-Yp2c6aZHtmYaHSZrxuA-ftpHZo97VthLCb-M2YGPo2IQHQDhdtuuaaFdnnSvcpKzFwtlEOcypB8VXCrynGSjXBFU2oqLkTCmXCvoEWHtxYUr-TO09OT3Qc/s1600/28371562.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ2L5rttAnWs6sZzyfWZZT-Yp2c6aZHtmYaHSZrxuA-ftpHZo97VthLCb-M2YGPo2IQHQDhdtuuaaFdnnSvcpKzFwtlEOcypB8VXCrynGSjXBFU2oqLkTCmXCvoEWHtxYUr-TO09OT3Qc/s320/28371562.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28371562-worth-the-lies" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Oh, what a tangled web... </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Kelsey Cameron has spent the past four years thinking about a man she saw for only a minute. But it was a good minute.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Huck Beck is getting a second chance at fulfilling a dream. And he won't do anything to mess that up. Even if every time he looks at Kelsey he desperately wants to do just that.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Forced to pretend to be a married couple, Kelsey and Huck have to lie to Huck's family and friends. But in the end, are they really just lying to themselves?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Is the possibility of finding love...</span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> Worth The Lies </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">? </span></i><br />
<div>
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Worth the Lies is the sixth full book and the seventh story released in Mara Jacobs worth series. I really enjoy returning to this series and seeing how characters from the earlier stories are moving on with their lives it's one of the things that has kept me going back to the series time after time. The sense of community that Mara Jacobs has built up with these books is brilliant, however I do feel slightly as though the group of people she's moving through, friends, are possibly just too close to have this many romances occur in such a short space of time. It's the cynic in me but my only criticism of the series.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">What I live about Mara Jacobs storytelling is that the characters are fully fleshed out, they have unique back stories, unique attitudes and unique foibles. What's more is that because Mara Jacobs takes her time between books and gets to know her characters they feel real. Too often you find that with this kind of series the heroines are identical all the way down to their underwear. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Specifically this story, between Huck and Kelsey, was good because the connection between them felt genuine. Yes there was a flavour of insta-love but it was backed up by something that had been churning away in the background for several years. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">I liked the way the undercover angle was worked into the story, it wasn't the main line but it had me turning the pages nearly as eagerly as the romance story did. It was particularly interesting to see how they each dealt with their guilt from lying to Buck's family and I'll even admit to being slightly disappointed there wasn't more fallout from the Lies they told each other. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">All in all it was a well rounded but comfortable story.</span></span></div>
</div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-42549750264900931872016-10-01T06:07:00.000+01:002016-10-01T06:07:02.219+01:00The Mother in Law Cure - Farha Z. Hassan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAYZqM0ZsJQGyyQJfBGmrOVEL98GWcCf0e_5xdqWaNG8jfs8OrKCuqsBLxPdBu0ui0-msjscEr-Vnhc6ROVbT68VYxM-FEPmQW6bB0cJH0TvYBsH-xeE2haJPyDfsO_nR2Wt0xh_m_Gc/s1600/18580696.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAYZqM0ZsJQGyyQJfBGmrOVEL98GWcCf0e_5xdqWaNG8jfs8OrKCuqsBLxPdBu0ui0-msjscEr-Vnhc6ROVbT68VYxM-FEPmQW6bB0cJH0TvYBsH-xeE2haJPyDfsO_nR2Wt0xh_m_Gc/s320/18580696.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18580696-the-mother-in-law-cure?ac=1&from_search=1" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>The Mother-in-Law Cure is a modern day fairy tale that chronicles the rise of the book's central character, Humara from orphan to power matriarch in an affluent family. Humara's influence spans generations and continents, but things are seldom as they appear. Humara's prosperity is not simply good fortune but stems from something dark and sinister - as those who encounter her quickly begin to realize. It seems that nothing can stand in Humara's way as she pulls the strings of those around her, until she meets the unlikeliest of nemesis. Another young orphan whose status in the household is little more than a servant will be the instrument of Humara's demise. The Mother-in-Law Cure is an urban fantasy that takes you from Pakistan to the Middle East and back to the United States.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">The Mother-in-Law Cure wasn't a book I deliberately sought out, I received it as part of the Goodreads First Reads programme, where you can request any of the books listed by authors/editors/publishers and a predetermined number of people will be selected to receive a copy of the book. I've found the books received through this programme to be a little hit and miss so I've largely stopped requesting them. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Out of all the books I did request The Mother-in-Law Cure was far and away the best. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">It's an interesting cycle and I suspect in some ways an interesting look into a culture many in the west, myself included, have never experienced and don't really understand. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">We begin with a young unmarried orphan, and we progressed through her life and through her marriage. With an oppressive mother in law she plots to fix it and eventually moves with her family to the states. The cycle continues on until she herself becomes the oppressive mother in law. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Moving into the realms of the daughter in law we see a mirror of the same helpless situations. The same decisions to be made. We see the true difference between mother and daughter in law and how that first young girl has allowed that original oppression to poison her life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">If nothing else this book makes you think. Aside from that I think it's well written. It's been plotted out well and the tension is definitely there to keep you on the edge of your seat. </span></span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-11996486296676360522016-09-30T05:49:00.000+01:002016-09-30T05:50:45.244+01:00Sinner - Maggie Steifvater<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18406862-sinner" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span id="freeText8486087448807264583" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><strong>found.</strong><br />Cole St. Clair has come to California for one reason: to get Isabel Culpeper back. She fled from his damaged, drained life, and damaged and drained it even more. He doesn't just want her. He needs her.<br /><br /><strong>lost.</strong><br />Isabel is trying to build herself a life in Los Angeles. It's not really working. She can play the game as well as all the other fakes...but what's the point? What is there to win?<br /><br /><strong>sinner.</strong><br />Cole and Isabel share a past that never seemed to have a future. They have the power to save each other and the power to tear each other apart. The only thing for certain is that they cannot let go.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I read Shiver, Linger and Forever a while ago after purchasing them on impulse from my place of work. They were thoroughly enjoyable with a fairly unusual plot and a definitely interesting take on the whole werewolf thing. While the tension between Grace and Sam was what made the story the secondary characters had some good hooks in them too. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I was never quite satisfied with how things ended between Isabel and Cole.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">It was too Sterile.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">This book in a nutshell resolves that. It takes all their loose ends and neatly wraps them up. The whole thing builds in a crescendo before reaching some sort of equilibrium.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">This book in many ways is less about the wolves and more about the people behind the wolves.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">There's very little of Grace and Sam in this story, but I think you're given fair warning of that just from the blurb. If you're looking for their continuation you're out of luck. If you just want to return to that world this is everything you're looking for. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Me. I think I'll read just about anything Maggie Stiefvater puts out in this universe!</span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-34994843378650011412016-03-12T09:00:00.000+00:002016-03-12T09:00:06.476+00:00The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1SunfAFYBLGDG60lkqMgDe7sG0JKv17S65I1KXq9INLP7zHiFlJ2dlR9vnjOTO5EQdEADQdc9wqRcLZAaxbFo8ezB3VEJb422uNmJtdY6TKhAOOVVutXJcge-A0C4fj9jkcXYuUVD9I/s1600/407813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU1SunfAFYBLGDG60lkqMgDe7sG0JKv17S65I1KXq9INLP7zHiFlJ2dlR9vnjOTO5EQdEADQdc9wqRcLZAaxbFo8ezB3VEJb422uNmJtdY6TKhAOOVVutXJcge-A0C4fj9jkcXYuUVD9I/s320/407813.jpg" width="189" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/407813.The_Blue_Sword" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men. Does she have the courage to accept her true fate?</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">It's taken me longer to write this review than I would have liked. I read this book as the second book in my firsts series of the year, the second book in the first series selected for the Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge. It was a good book. I realised after I'd read them that the challenge, and Goodreads, actually lists them the wrong way round. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">I think I lost something by reading the books in the order I did. The Hero and the Crown is about Aerin, who is a long lost hero from The Blue Sword, and by reading that first it was almost as though I knew too much about her. The Blue Sword relies quite heavily on the concept of Aerin and the discovery of Harry's similarity to her, I think you can tell this from early on and so you start to look for the book to fit the pattern which spoils it a bit. I can see why the author gets quite vocal in her defensive of the order she wrote the books.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">If you can ignore the similarities between the books you get a good read. Written in the 1980s it fits well with the style of fantasy books widely published at that time. Harry's quest is interesting enough to captivate. I do feel that she fell too easily into the sway of her captor, it's a relatively minor niggle. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">My other niggle is that the characters didn't really feel in true danger at any point. Someone always comes sweeping in and just manages to save the day. In The Hero and the Crown, the danger to Aerin, and indeed to Tor, felt more genuine, more appropriate and as such more exciting.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">At the end of the book all the loose ends are nicely tied up, which is good if you like that sort of thing. It's neater than you would generally get in a book published more recently and it doesn't leave room for sequels in my opinion. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">This review may leave you thinking I didn't enjoy the book, I did, however I can't help comparing it. </span></span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-75524376486052186402016-03-10T09:00:00.000+00:002016-03-11T05:55:37.917+00:00Divergent - Veronica Roth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13335037-divergent?ac=1&from_search=1" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.</span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">What's it possible to say about Divergent that hasn't already been said? To be honest probably very little, this book is popular and with good reason. It's been nearly two years since I read Divergent and when I read it I did so in a single day. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">My good friend, and blushing bridesmaid, gave this to me for my birthday in the middle of my final exam season at uni. I'd been planning to buy it for a while, and in some ways her timing was perfect, I needed a break, it was my 21st and I had an exam, two more in the following week and was moving out of my student accommodation for the final time to boot. In some ways her timing was terrible, because after that first exam instead of studying I picked up the book and read it from cover to cover. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Veronica Roth in Divergent has managed to explore humanity at both its best and its worst. In Tris she has created a powerful heroine, someone with willpower and determination, but also morals. At the opposite end she has explored what highly tense situations can do to people. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The pace in this book is very fast, the whole events take place over a period of around a month, but the book feels faster. And yet within the story there are places to pause, gather your thoughts and your breath and get to know the characters. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I can't recommend Divergent enough. I've even seen the film and can say that they didn't do too bad a job. </span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-27852741882552445862016-03-03T09:00:00.000+00:002016-03-03T09:00:16.048+00:00The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6043848-the-knife-of-never-letting-go" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?</strong></i><br />
<i><strong style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></strong></i>
The first book in this trilogy The Knife of Never Letting Go is unique. The concept of a world where you can hear the thoughts of men but not of women is genius. The way in which Todd's town is bound together in secrecy in what is such an open world is the perfect catalyst for this story.<br />
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When Todd and Manchee run for their lives the obstacles they face feel very real. With the world and background which Patrick Ness has created you can empathise with the people who oppose Todd, but also with the genuine fear Todd feels.<br />
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The Knife of Never Letting Go is a fantastic book for the teen audience because it raises the questions of acceptance and diversity in a way that provokes the reader into putting themselves into every pair of shoes. Our willingness to accept those who are different from ourselves is a very real issue these days with our huge ability to move from place to place, but this book puts that out there without actually cramming it down your throat.<br />
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Patrick Ness has a very easy writing style, even taking account of the intrusion of random thoughts. For me this was a brilliant page turner.</div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-48201741612192281582016-02-26T09:00:00.000+00:002016-02-27T17:55:29.527+00:00Pyramids - Terry Pratchett<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4zwefY5-mcEvIU6lNdfy8sTERIIOHjsYQDA-QWCQUFlN82yldx83QoJG2717NNWPDt0KYxWZNaeEP8V1lUQ65uGITFm0UMQS3GVu0aLQAqyjiCVwMiLXhuaCVFX3HJ2Um4PLkCjMRe4/s1600/64217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4zwefY5-mcEvIU6lNdfy8sTERIIOHjsYQDA-QWCQUFlN82yldx83QoJG2717NNWPDt0KYxWZNaeEP8V1lUQ65uGITFm0UMQS3GVu0aLQAqyjiCVwMiLXhuaCVFX3HJ2Um4PLkCjMRe4/s320/64217.jpg" width="194" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64217.Pyramids?ac=1&from_search=1" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span id="freeText4257935926346489158" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">It's bad enough being new on the job, but Teppic hasn't a clue as to what a pharaoh is supposed to do. After all, he's been trained at Ankh-Morpork's famed assassins' school, across the sea from the Kingdom of the Sun. First, there's the monumental task of building a suitable resting place for Dad -- a pyramid to end all pyramids. Then there are the myriad administrative duties, such as dealing with mad priests, sacred crocodiles, and marching mummies. And to top it all off, the adolescent pharaoh discovers deceit, betrayal - not to mention a headstrong handmaidlen - at the heart of his realm.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">I've found Terry Pratchett's Discworld books for adults to be a little hit and miss so far. I know a number of people who love them, the mum of one friend springs to mind, she's content to get any other book from the library but owns the entire Discworld series. On the other hand I have my Dad who has tried to read a couple of different books from the series and given up. I myself enjoyed the Discworld books for younger readers when I was younger. The trouble I've often heard is that it took a while for Terry Pratchett to hit his stride.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Reading the series in order Pyramids is the first book that has really hit the spot. The storyline was intriguing, what would happen when the biggest pyramid ever was built, I have to say I didn't see the ending coming.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">I found the writing amusing, there were jokes in the book that I actually found funny, this has been missing from the Discworld books thus far. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">The character clicked with me. I could understand where he was coming from. I felt empathy. He amused me. I was positively behind his drive to stop the evil regent. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Thus far Pyramids is a winner for me.</span></span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-5595106987809304512016-02-25T09:00:00.000+00:002016-02-27T17:45:14.610+00:00The Maze Runner - James Dashner<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifC7kUOEbspzdSaP0NzGbnZbaKOVZSiEXBiL7MORH_s7EBRezXUpdD2pInMDc00nS9_Mv38Pqs4ZEPS7oddHEIyiSZLCyDLr77dqZdLFjZsdJ9E-ueBl_cPXtM5jdq6N7iMEAai43o84w/s1600/20957276.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifC7kUOEbspzdSaP0NzGbnZbaKOVZSiEXBiL7MORH_s7EBRezXUpdD2pInMDc00nS9_Mv38Pqs4ZEPS7oddHEIyiSZLCyDLr77dqZdLFjZsdJ9E-ueBl_cPXtM5jdq6N7iMEAai43o84w/s320/20957276.jpg" width="208" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20957276-the-maze-runner" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Remember. Survive. Run.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">There was a lot of hype about the Maze Runner, I picked up the books because the film trailer intrigued me. Frankly I didn't enjoy the books, I know people who have and will acknowledge that perhaps this is a matter of personal preference. The concept of the Maze, as it was presented in this book, is still one which intrigues me. I think more could have been done with the plot, compared to what seemed like an endless series of arguments. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">In terms of the writing style it felt like there was a lot of tell and not much show going on, it wasn't really what I would have chosen.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">As a character Thomas annoyed me. He had come in last, and while the other boys had no idea what was happening somehow he just knew. That didn't even take into account the weird stuff going on with Teresa.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">It could be that I just wasn't the target audience for this story. Those I know who've enjoyed it fit more firmly into the category of teenager. Whatever the case this wasn't the book for me.</span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-40847216183241993432016-02-18T09:00:00.000+00:002016-02-18T09:00:12.661+00:00The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0tgGNw19jZjKALiM-JgWepoEI5LDXkWl-q75mg-P7zEav8BIFIbrlUaxWxIsX6Gi5vk688wkuLUjYuP_RlE0KG03zaOhFkLMpaonxq5zpKvLq9wZUvLaOxqBn2v_6Q82aKamX-k9h7ZY/s1600/6547258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0tgGNw19jZjKALiM-JgWepoEI5LDXkWl-q75mg-P7zEav8BIFIbrlUaxWxIsX6Gi5vk688wkuLUjYuP_RlE0KG03zaOhFkLMpaonxq5zpKvLq9wZUvLaOxqBn2v_6Q82aKamX-k9h7ZY/s320/6547258.jpg" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6547258-the-final-empire" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></span></td></tr>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;">In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with colour once more?</span></i><br />
<i><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: merriweather, georgia, serif; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;">In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage - Allomancy, a magic of the metals.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;">The Final Empire is the first book in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy and a book I'd been toying with picking up for a while. When I needed a new audio book to listen to on the approximately 12 hour car journey to our French holiday destination last summer I took the plunge and downloaded The Final Empire. I actually didn't start listening to The Final Empire until halfway through our holiday, the point in time at which severe storms kept the whole family shut in the Gite we'd rented for 2-3 days. Once I did there was no going back and on our return home the story ended just before we crossed the channel, and just before my battery died.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;">The Final Empire takes a slightly different stance to both a lot of classic fantasy novels and a lot of recently written fantasy novels in its introduction managing to combine the two approaches. Classic fantasy novels have a habit of starting with some kind of quote from a myth or legend or text. Modern fantasy novels have a habit of jumping right in to show the central character in action. The Final Empire starts by showing Kelsier, mentor to the central character Vin, in action, Kelsier who just so happens to be a living legend. It really worked, I was caught completely by the end of the first scene, so much so I questioned what had happened when the plot moved on to Vin!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; line-height: 21px;">There is a wide cast of characters used in the Mistborn books, not all of them are fully fleshed out in The Final Empire, although a number of them have amazing depth for so early in a trilogy. Fore amongst these are Kelsier and Vin. There is so much detail in their backgrounds. So much that you can tell Sanderson knows but isn't sharing. </span><br />
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In comparison to his characters I would argue that the world developed in this book is weak. That's not to say that it's weak compared to wider works, just that his characters dwarf it. The world developed is intriguing, it has a lot of interesting ideas, a lot of fears that you wouldn't see in our world but which assist Sanderson nicely in driving the story, chief among these the Mist and the burning of metals. My problem with the world building was that it felt in some ways too much like a facade, like his characters the parts of the World we see are amazingly developed. Unlike his characters the world we don't see is a dim grey haze. We saw a very brief glimpse of the outskirts of the Empire in the prologue, beyond that we can barely glimpse what's outside Luthadel, we have no scope of the might of the Final Empire before it's overthrown. The later books do address that to some extent, but I would have liked to have seen more of the Empire in all its glory.<br />
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As this is an audio adaptation I have my mandatory comment on the narrator to make. This was my first interaction with Michael Kramer and initially he jarred on me and it was the only thing which made me question if the audio adaptation was a mistake. I think the main reason for this is twofold. Firstly I grew up in England and don't know any Americans while I watch American tv quite happily the audio narrator I grew up listening to was Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter, Stephen Fry who couldn't get any more British if he tried. After Stephen Fry an American narrator didn't sit naturally in my ear. Secondly I found Michael Kramer's pacing took a little while to get used to. He tends to read some sections really fast and others at quite an even pace, again I'm going to compare it to the Harry Potter audio I grew up with, and say Stephen Fry worked his way through the books at a consistent pace and implied drama through inflection rather than pace. Neither method is wrong, but adjusting took me a little while. Once I got used to Michael Kramer reading I loved listening to him, his voice for me doesn't hold the same natural beauty of Stephen Fry's voice, but he is a master narrator and really brought the characters to life. </div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-41419902934206313972016-02-14T14:38:00.000+00:002016-02-14T14:38:12.048+00:00Sunday recap:14th February 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's been a few weeks since I last participated in the Sunday Post so I have a few things to recap. Don't forget to head over to the Caffeinated Book Reviewer to <a href="http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2016/02/sunday-post-200-the-two-hundredth-edition-of-the-sunday-post.html" target="_blank">Sign up</a>.</div>
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<b>What I've been reading:</b></div>
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The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde</div>
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<li>An interesting concept, but a book I struggled to get my teeth into. </li>
<li> This will count towards the following challenges; <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/2016-12-months-classics-challenge.html" target="_blank">12 Months Classics Challenge</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a> and <a href="http://g/" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a>.</li>
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The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan<br />
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan<br />
The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan<br />
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<li>This is turning out to be a great series and I'm really enjoying my walks to work. </li>
<li>These books count towards the following challenges; <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/flights-of-fantasy-reading-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a> and <a href="http://g/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a>.</li>
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The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley</div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>This completed my read of my first series of the year, albeit back to front...</li>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">This book counts towards the following challenges; </span><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" style="color: #888888; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/flights-of-fantasy-reading-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">2016 Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge</a></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/2016-series-month.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">2016 Series a Month Challenge</a>, </span><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and </span><a href="http://g/" style="color: #888888; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></b></li>
</ul>
<div>
Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>I'm finally making progress on my goal to finish this series this year! </li>
</ul>
<div>
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The first book in my second series of the year Call the Midwife is just as good as the tv series it inspired. Now just to see if I can read the rest of the series this month!</li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<div>
<b>What I've Posted:</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/prince-of-fools-mark-lawrence.html" target="_blank">Prince of Fools - Mark Lawrence</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-girl-on-train-paula-hawkins.html" target="_blank">The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/equal-rites-terry-pratchett.html" target="_blank">Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-spellsong-war-l-e-modesitt-jr.html" target="_blank">The Spellsong War - L. E. Modesitt Jr</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-hero-and-crown-robin-mckinley.html" target="_blank">The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/anne-of-green-gables-l-m-montgomery.html" target="_blank">Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/emperor-of-thorns-mark-lawrence.html" target="_blank">Emperor of Thorns - Mark Lawrence</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mort-terry-pratchett.html" target="_blank">Mort - Terry Pratchett</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<b>My Bookish Resolutions</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Reading Challenges:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>I have read 9/41 Discworld books</li>
<li>I have read 9/100 books in 2016 so far</li>
</ul>
<div>
Blogging Challenges:<br />
<br />
I've been making reasonable progress with my blogging challenges. I'm working my way through reviews of books I've read over the last few years and have been writing, if not posting, reviews of more recent reads.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
Personal Challenges:<br />
<br />
My personal challenges could be going better. I'm at a neutral weight to my last loss, so not exactly on target. My swimming has been getting better and I'm up to quarter mile sets (when I was younger I used to do half mile warm ups). I've also done my first tumble turns for years in the last couple of weeks. </div>
</div>
</div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-54506672347426191032016-02-12T09:00:00.000+00:002016-02-14T07:29:50.004+00:00Mort - Terry Pratchett<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMDEPWQYoBbIsIv962wWx0-f80deEqYqcaRjtIwwceVAeUdX1WmiXK4Ii4lpsP9yl4bzfuDvD1rR6fLbKKvzPZkNz6Vu5XErqSC9kHJe2S0gaRDCSPk_I2y0x6MTaywCGKo8_NF7aBxiA/s1600/386372.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMDEPWQYoBbIsIv962wWx0-f80deEqYqcaRjtIwwceVAeUdX1WmiXK4Ii4lpsP9yl4bzfuDvD1rR6fLbKKvzPZkNz6Vu5XErqSC9kHJe2S0gaRDCSPk_I2y0x6MTaywCGKo8_NF7aBxiA/s320/386372.jpg" width="193" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/386372.Mort?ac=1&from_search=1" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span id="freeText14758853556608621182" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">In this Discworld installment, Death comes to Mort with an offer he can't refuse -- especially since being, well, dead isn't compulsory. As Death's apprentice, he'll have free board and lodging, use of the company horse, and he won't need time off for family funerals. The position is everything Mort thought he'd ever wanted, until he discovers that this perfect job can be a killer on his love life.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Mort for me was a strange book. I was expecting to love it, I've loved all of the glimpses of death I've ever seen in the Discworld books or screen adaptations. I loved death in this book. I didn't love this book though, because I was expecting it to focus on death. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Mort didn't focus on death it focused on Mort, death's assistant. When I first picked the book up Mort annoyed me, he was kind of whiny, a bit too unsure what to do with his life. He grew on me. I think he started to grow on me about the time he became more assertive, about the time he started to show some of the traits I enjoyed in death.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Come the close of the book I think I'm glad we'll get to ser more of Mort in other books. I'm also glad this wasn't a long book. </span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-8931751883515234602016-02-11T09:00:00.000+00:002016-02-11T09:00:03.119+00:00Emperor of Thorns - Mark Lawrence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS1-4wdKeoFkobTeeM-BK4XsLa3s9B84quP5rlcpOMfjKXvyGmKF6x96tPhzxI1SL4g-I7bQZT7Lf8xDlWJL9q4z3kB41s-0aJILY_l1Lltccft_wFI5gYfo1MjMs9C9k-FxYXzfBBIqc/s1600/18281168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS1-4wdKeoFkobTeeM-BK4XsLa3s9B84quP5rlcpOMfjKXvyGmKF6x96tPhzxI1SL4g-I7bQZT7Lf8xDlWJL9q4z3kB41s-0aJILY_l1Lltccft_wFI5gYfo1MjMs9C9k-FxYXzfBBIqc/s320/18281168.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18281168-emperor-of-thorns" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span id="freeText503813337318815483" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">King Jorg Ancrath is twenty now—and king of seven nations. His goal—revenge against his father—has not yet been realized, and the demons that haunt him have only grown stronger. Yet no matter how tortured his path, he intends to take the next step in his upward climb.<br /><br />Jorg would be emperor. It is a position not to be gained by the sword but rather by vote. And never in living memory has anyone secured a majority of the vote, leaving the Broken Empire long without a leader. Jorg plans to change that. He’s uncovered the lost technology of the land, and he won’t hesitate to use it.<br /><br />But he soon finds an adversary standing in his way, a necromancer unlike any he has ever faced—a figure hated and feared even more than himself: the Dead King.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Emperor of Thorns was a really fitting conclusion to the Broken Empire trilogy. I felt like it did a really good job of tying up loose ends. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 23.2888px;">We saw massive changes in Jorg in this book, he was perhaps less selfish than he was in the first book, or even the first two books. While he went about trying to save the world he did so in a manner that I felt was very Jorg. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24.4332px;">There were some interesting developments in Builder technologies discovered and I really enjoyed seeing Jorg get to grips with what appears to be hologram technology. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24.4332px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24.4332px;">It's been nearly two years since I read this book, and yet it's stuck with me. Or maybe it hasn't stuck with me. Maybe that was just Jorg. He's a favourite character. He has nothing to recommend him, and yet you can't help loving him.</span></span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-39718095031561099772016-02-09T09:00:00.000+00:002016-02-09T09:00:19.055+00:00Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzVzwBDYHsiwZgOCWO_blQhL9RljbyICfiMCOQhlToCYXUwieRs5wELS10mB8u7AKSTjPgrTvFoSFP6JBKGp7Azmkxcz0JLK2B0TF0YFHJeuPhFLrwqn-blDNJ23QVx7DEd6b6WTcFwGg/s1600/814041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzVzwBDYHsiwZgOCWO_blQhL9RljbyICfiMCOQhlToCYXUwieRs5wELS10mB8u7AKSTjPgrTvFoSFP6JBKGp7Azmkxcz0JLK2B0TF0YFHJeuPhFLrwqn-blDNJ23QVx7DEd6b6WTcFwGg/s320/814041.jpg" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/814041.Anne_of_Green_Gables" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Orphan Anne has always dreamed of being part of a proper family. So when she’s chosen to go and live with the Cuthberts, life looks grand. But the Cuthberts wanted a little boy to help them on Green Gables farm, not a girl. They cannot keep her. . . .</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Meet the girl who soon wins a place in </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">everyone’s</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> heart!</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I read Anne of Green Gables as my January book for the <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/2016-12-months-classics-challenge.html" target="_blank">12 Months Classics Challenge</a> 's book you've always wanted to read', strictly speaking I haven't always wanted to read it, I have however heard it mentioned in a number of places over the last few years which has built a desire to read it. My particular motivator was when Andrew used it to win Imogen in Neighbours last year. I'm counting that as good enough. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">When looking into this book I saw a number of people had placed it above the Little Women books in their estimation, while others defended Little Women. I have to say that I fall on the Little Women side of the wall. I liked the exploits of the four girls, which involved less sheer stupidity, better than the exploits of the one girl.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Anne of Green Gables is not a bad book, if somewhat a product of its time in terms of rampant sexism. It is a series of three chapter arcs for most of its length and tells the story of Anne growing up and finding a home reasonably well. You can definitely relate to some of the feelings she displays, her isolation and gratitude when she first arrives at Green Gables, through to her anger and humiliation when someone makes fun of her hair. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">At times Anne's flowery language irritated me. I'm not sure it was necessary to name every place more poetically, although it did do a good job of shoving Anne's characteristics in your face. Anne herself grew on me through the book, halfway through I would have said I wouldn't pick up Anne of Avonlea, having finished the book I can no longer say I'm so sure. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The final thing I feel I have to mention, as it has perhaps coloured my review, is that I didn't realise this was a children's book until I picked it up. It very probably is perfect for its intended audience.</span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-29644143113629321642016-02-09T07:47:00.000+00:002016-02-09T07:47:12.239+00:00The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGjXFigCODe9sDOH-IBlg3bKVJ4fDjgDGsVWx7XpkLkGqnUpEcmyk0bX46iVM9vDbF8b1YRUXdqRSmNmZhnLdZ58QAk2RqSm1DtJflJPWaMCCL8yvSy2TizwnqF2Ws9QM9XjHHmaHN9QY/s1600/77366.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGjXFigCODe9sDOH-IBlg3bKVJ4fDjgDGsVWx7XpkLkGqnUpEcmyk0bX46iVM9vDbF8b1YRUXdqRSmNmZhnLdZ58QAk2RqSm1DtJflJPWaMCCL8yvSy2TizwnqF2Ws9QM9XjHHmaHN9QY/s320/77366.jpg" width="195" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77366.The_Hero_and_the_Crown" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span id="freeText1846928167558933803" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Aerin could not remember a time when she had not known the story; she had grown up knowing it.<br />It was the story of her mother, the witchwoman who enspelled the king into marrying her, to get an heir that would rule Damar; and it was told that she turned her face to the wall and died of despair when she found she had borne a daughter instead of a son.<br />Aerin was that daughter.<br />But there was more of the story yet to be told; Aerin's destiny was greater than even she had dreamed--for she was to be the true hero who wouldn't wield the power of the Blue Sword...</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> </span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 23.2888px;">I read this book because it was the first book in the first series nominated for the <a href="http://www.alexalovesbooks.com/2015/12/flights-of-fantasy-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">Flights of Fantasy Book Club</a> hosted by Alexa Loves Reading. I'm not sure that I would necessarily have given this book a chance otherwise since the cover doesn't really appeal to me. To be honest that would have been a shame because it is a really good book. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24.4332px;">I liked the fairly unique take on dragons, there have been a lot of books recently where dragons in general have been either good or neutral. I don't think I've ever read a book where they're considered vermin and the profession of Dragon-hunting is considered shameful. It made the section with the red Dragon seem significantly more dangerous.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24.4332px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24.4332px;">In terms of characters I felt that Aerin and Tor we're well rounded individuals, Galanna seemed to be all spite, Arlbeth was all benevolence although with something deeper there and Luthe made next to no impression at all. I do wonder whether that was due to me reading The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword in the wrong order. As an immortal Luthe is the only character likely to appear in The Blue Sword.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This book is definitely worth reading and I'll definitely be reading The Blue Sword, I'm not sure that this will prompt me to seek out Robin McKinley's other works though.</span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-78780499030721644622016-02-04T09:00:00.000+00:002016-02-04T09:00:10.620+00:00The Spellsong War - L. E. Modesitt Jr<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOVTmQ39jv5utT-OILquXmPepqVVn6SvN2zttINATQkg8YiypHvXnsvDjwckSGR3X-tKA2Z8qdxlo88taAkw5ZIcXHQHdhyphenhyphenTGL0YTcuryE3Ukg2MLRWU75AXQ-Y9YPXXSxgh4aR0HCxw/s1600/363909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOVTmQ39jv5utT-OILquXmPepqVVn6SvN2zttINATQkg8YiypHvXnsvDjwckSGR3X-tKA2Z8qdxlo88taAkw5ZIcXHQHdhyphenhyphenTGL0YTcuryE3Ukg2MLRWU75AXQ-Y9YPXXSxgh4aR0HCxw/s320/363909.jpg" width="204" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/463327.The_Spellsong_War?ac=1&from_search=1" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">With </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The Soprano Sorceress</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> L.E. Modesitt started The Spellsong Cycle, an innovative and compelling new fantasy series that won Modesitt tons of new readers. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The Spellsong War</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> will enthrall its readers and continue to build Modesitt's increasingly loyal following.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Anna Marshal is regent of the kingdom of Defalk only a few months after a sorcerer pulled her from her boring life as a music instructor in Ames, Iowa to the world of Erde. With her ability and her integrity she saved Defalk from invasion and became it's regent, now she must defend it against the greedy rulers of neighboring kingdoms who see a weakened state and a possible opportunity.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The Spellsong War was ok. I have to say it was my least favourite L. E. Modesitt book of all the ones I've read to date. I've read only a fraction of the books he's written but it still covers a significant number of books. I thought I'd read enough to say that I'd like pretty much any book he wrote, but this book has revised that opinion.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The main trouble I found with this book was the main character. Anna, who in <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-soprano-sorceress-l-e-modesitt-jr.html" target="_blank">The Soprano Sorceress</a> is a slightly uncertain woman with a reasonably strong moral compass has become a character with such strong moral views that she wants to force them onto other people and is willing to kill in order to do so. I'm not sure if this is a set up of some description for the rest of the series, maybe we'll see her knocked down a peg in a later book, but I'm not sure. She's too willing and eager to justify her actions, and what we're seeing is a dictatorship in the formation.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">This book does have plenty to recommend it. The magic system in use is still an interesting concept, although I'm still struggling to get my head around the fact that she's losing weight by singing no matter how much magic it channels. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Some of the other characters are interesting to see. I particularly like the child characters, they seem well developed for essentially tertiary characters. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I'm not saying this book isn't worth picking up, but there are other books, and especially other Modesitt books that I would pick up first. When I read the Soprano Sorceress I was immediately reaching for The Spellsong War. On reading The Spellsong War I didn't feel that same drive.</span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-91303585491839566442016-01-29T09:00:00.000+00:002016-01-29T09:00:09.796+00:00Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34507.Equal_Rites?ac=1&from_search=1" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>On Discworld, a dying wizard tries to pass on his powers to an eighth son of an eighth son, who is just at that moment being born. The fact that the son is actually a daughter is discovered just a little too late. The town witch insists on turning the baby into a perfectly normal witch, thus mending the magical damage of the wizard's mistake. But now the young girl will be forced to penetrate the inner sanctum of the Unseen University--and attempt to save the world with one well-placed kick in some enchanted shins! Reissue.</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i><br /></i></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you’re working your way through the Discworld this will
be the third book you come to. It’s the first book featuring the witches of the
Disc and as with many of Terry Pratchett’s books it’s an interesting social
commentary. Equal Rites as you may have guessed is about Equal Rights. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It focuses on Esk the eighth son of an eighth son who
actually turned out to be a daughter. She inherits a staff, some bad stuff
happens and she sets off with Granny Weatherwax for Ankh Morpork. Esk is a
determined character and when she arrives at the unseen University and is told
that she cannot be a wizard because wizardry is only for men she causes some
trouble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While she does prove that women are as good at wizardry as
men, she didn’t feel solid as a character. I think the intention was probably
to make her appear headstrong and as though she felt she knew more than she
actually did, but in actuality she felt as if she did actually know all of this
stuff. As a cub leader I have a lot of experience with eight year olds and I
ask you what eight year old actually does know everything, whatever they
believe?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did enjoy meeting Granny Weatherwax. Ostensibly for the
first time, although since I’d read the first two Tiffany Aching books as a
child this was more like my third encounter with her. In this book she didn’t
come across as all-powerful as she had been in the Tiffany Aching stories, but
she also didn’t seem as old. I don’t
know if this is my relative age or an intention of the stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would hesitantly say that I enjoyed this book more than
either the Colour of Magic or The Light Fantastic, however not as much as the
Childrens books Pratchett had written. I’m not sure whether this is down to my
introduction to him as a child, his comparative writing style for adults and
children, or the fact that this book was written relatively early in his
career. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Whichever way you look at it this book is worth
picking up for any fantasy fan.</span></span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-88413559698554486322016-01-28T09:00:00.000+00:002016-01-28T09:00:00.826+00:00The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5eHpYFWacNl4K4-kDEwggdl7aqsYMT9Eg0ePEaI1tR8WQPboNFIMv5NCpo2_-lh5hNELNculFNL5sgB5xrVc-kIDZyzmY841ct8-6WLuRANRaRi32zXt_LbmIWrv4K5UEHQ_6et8F2dg/s1600/22557272.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5eHpYFWacNl4K4-kDEwggdl7aqsYMT9Eg0ePEaI1tR8WQPboNFIMv5NCpo2_-lh5hNELNculFNL5sgB5xrVc-kIDZyzmY841ct8-6WLuRANRaRi32zXt_LbmIWrv4K5UEHQ_6et8F2dg/s320/22557272.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22557272-the-girl-on-the-train?ac=1&from_search=1" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">The Girl on the Train was the free book I received when I first signed up to Audible, so it should come as no surprise that I listened to it as an audio book. If you look on audible you will find mixed reviews for the story but next to no mention of the women who read it. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Firstly the story. This story is a mystery of sorts. It tells the intertwined lives of three women who have little to do with each other. Each woman tells her own story from its own perspective and it gives a good idea how perspective can to an extent change events. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">The main character in the story is Rachel. The alcoholic ex-wife of Tom who becomes obsessed with 'Jess and Jason's a couple she has never met but whose lives she has built up in her mind to be perfection. Rachel comes across as an interesting woman who allowed the dissolution of her marriage to destroy her life, although perhaps it was the dissolution of her life which destroyed her marriage.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Secondly we have Anna. The second wife of Tom whose affair with him ended Rachel's marriage. Frankly to me she always came across as unlikeable, this may have been because we are first invited to put ourselves into Rachel's shoes. It may have been because the tone of her chapters was cold. I did warm to her as the story went on and we saw more of her own problems appear and I could understand how Rachel would have appeared to her.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Finally we have Megan, Rachel's Jess, she was my favourite of the three women and as her own story and background unfolded my heart went out to her. She is in some ways the centre of the story, as the woman who has gone missing, but I feel like the story was in many ways more about Rachel and Anna's personal development. Nonetheless without the Megan perspective I think I may have been tempted to give up long before the end. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">Overall the story wasn't too complicated, you could figure out where Megan went early on, despite red herrings. There was a twist at the end but while I didn't necessarily expect it I found it didn't surprise me. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.1902px; line-height: 23.2888px;">In terms of the narrator's I have to say I wasn't keen on any of them. The Rachel narrator was the one I leaned towards, she was the most matter of fact but also was able to distinguish different characters. The Megan narrator wasn't too bad, if a touch langorous and insipid. The Anna narrator, much like the character, really annoyed me. I found her to be whiny, having said this I've not heard anything else she has read and she could have been doing a perfect characterisation of Anna. </span></span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-79387044820699348442016-01-27T09:00:00.000+00:002016-01-27T09:00:02.558+00:00Prince of Fools - Mark Lawrence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqnu7B1hPoFyDbrby5pXBlbsR6YWAdWu8G3bNSGifhg0Nl_u84HYv0GpDweLMGF1lfFf3TmYOnDwpsE8_ex4WZV98BwVR8zxAmOxwdgSLGAbgWxvL8NA_QPBTJqKfnthC94V8OIOKcXg/s1600/25262299.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLqnu7B1hPoFyDbrby5pXBlbsR6YWAdWu8G3bNSGifhg0Nl_u84HYv0GpDweLMGF1lfFf3TmYOnDwpsE8_ex4WZV98BwVR8zxAmOxwdgSLGAbgWxvL8NA_QPBTJqKfnthC94V8OIOKcXg/s320/25262299.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25262299-prince-of-fools" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I’m a liar and a cheat and a coward, but I will never, ever, let a friend down. Unless of course not letting them down requires honesty, fair play or bravery.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The Red Queen is dreaded by the kings of the Broken Empire as they dread no other.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Her grandson Jalan Kendeth – womaniser, gambler and all-out cad – is tenth in line to the throne. While his grandmother shapes the destiny of millions, Prince Jalan pursues his debauched pleasures.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Until, that is, he gets entangled with Snorri ver Snagason, a huge Norse axeman and dragged against his will to the icy north…</span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Review of The Prince of Fools on Goodreads consisted of a
single line ‘ A bit like loving Jorg all over again, except a Character so
different from Jorg at the Same time!’. Suffice it to say I loved it and was
beyond exited when Mark Lawrence liked my review. I could leave it at that but
I won’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prince of Fools has every bit of excitement the Broken
Empire has to offer, it’s a thrilling look at the dead things lurking, and we
see them much earlier and with a much more honest opinion than with Jorg. These
are terrifying monsters that leave you gripping the edge of your seat. Months
after reading the story I can still see them clawing their way towards Jalan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While Jorg wanted to appear brave, and I think often more so
than he was, Jalan wants to appear cowardly, usually more so than he was. In
the blurb he claims to be a liar and a cheat and a coward, and to an extent he
is all three. But from a different perspective I think he is perhaps too harsh
on himself, throughout the story we find hidden depths to him, and if there is
some dishonesty and cowardice in his actions so too is there bravery and
caring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m not saying this story will be for everyone,
Mark Lawrence’s stories offer up people’s flaws in a way that is not always
appealing. I however loved it and will definitely be reading the second
instalment once it comes out in paperback</span></span></div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-62201230962730770322016-01-24T19:05:00.000+00:002016-01-24T19:05:22.257+00:00Sunday recap: 24th January 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDg_l_q4uv-oP21uAzTl3hOXqAetwKWL85HDeyazZw9LnJxvyQcQQuz1zYWnDlSWZSljD1UQ7vo2z9DWeaW1zTXKyQowGgD74TyJelbWdzj3Qbk39hyphenhypheniY9cCfiTijZVEl1yZQ-HCXabqE/s1600/0abf9b9e-b7ac-4d59-b451-7eb7c64ea1b9_zps47hi5hue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDg_l_q4uv-oP21uAzTl3hOXqAetwKWL85HDeyazZw9LnJxvyQcQQuz1zYWnDlSWZSljD1UQ7vo2z9DWeaW1zTXKyQowGgD74TyJelbWdzj3Qbk39hyphenhypheniY9cCfiTijZVEl1yZQ-HCXabqE/s320/0abf9b9e-b7ac-4d59-b451-7eb7c64ea1b9_zps47hi5hue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I've not managed so well this week. I felt a little under the weather and it kind of put thoughts of healthy eating, reading and swimming out of my mind. I have managed to listen to most of a 30 hour audio book however.</div>
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Don't forget to head over to the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and <a href="http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2016/01/sunday-post-197.html" target="_blank">sign up</a>.</div>
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<b>What I've been reading:</b></div>
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Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery</div>
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<li>An interesting book, but perhaps not entirely to my taste while being every bit the page turner.</li>
<li> This will count towards the following challenges; <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/2016-12-months-classics-challenge.html" target="_blank">12 Months Classics Challenge</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a> and <a href="http://g/" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a>.</li>
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The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley</div>
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<li>This book is very different than it's prequel/sequel. I'm not quite sure I've read them in the right order. </li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">This book counts towards the following challenges; </span><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" style="color: #888888; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/flights-of-fantasy-reading-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">2016 Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge</a></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/2016-series-month.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">2016 Series a Month Challenge</a>, </span><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and </span><a href="http://g/" style="color: #888888; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></b></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">This book is also the second of the first series nominated for the <a href="http://www.alexalovesbooks.com/2015/12/flights-of-fantasy-reading-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Flights of Fantasy Book Club</a> hosted by Alexa Loves Books.</li>
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The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan</div>
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<li>This book is just as good as the first in the series and I've barely been able to stop listening to it. It equates to nearly 30 hours of listening however I have very few hours of it left.</li>
<li>This book counts towards the following challenges; <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/flights-of-fantasy-reading-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a> and <a href="http://g/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a>.</li>
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<b>What I've Posted This Week:</b></div>
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I've only managed one post this week</div>
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<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-eye-of-world-robert-jordan.html" target="_blank">The Eye of The World - Robert Jordan</a></li>
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<b>My Bookish Resolutions</b></div>
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Reading Challenges:</div>
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<ul>
<li>I have read 9/41 Discworld books</li>
<li>I have read 3/100 books in 2016 so far</li>
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Blogging Challenges:</div>
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<li>I feel like a blogging routine is something that is evading me.</li>
<li>I have made progress towards cataloguing my 'library', <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/p/reviews.html" target="_blank">here.</a> </li>
<li>So far I have managed to review all of the books I've finished so far this year! Huzzah, one New Years Resolution going well.</li>
<li>I've set up the basics for some reviews I'm planning to write.</li>
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Personal Challenges:</div>
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<ul>
<li>I managed to maintain a neutral weight this week.</li>
<li>I only went swimming once this week and only managed 42 lengths.</li>
<li>I had 2 fizzy drinks this week. A step backwards.</li>
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<b>A Couple of Interesting Articles I've seen this week</b></div>
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<li><a href="http://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2016/01/20/the-number-line-a-journey/" target="_blank">This post</a> from Math With Bad Drawings which draws together two of my greatest loves; Maths and Storytelling. It's a relatively intense look at life from the perspective of some of the most prominent numbers we can be taught.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.iflscience.org/meme-about-using-lottery-money-to-solve-poverty-is-just-hard-to-understand-for-americans/" target="_blank">This post</a> about the semantics of translating from maths into other languages. In school we were taught the two different definitions of a Billion, on the basis that financially we as a nation now use the short-scale version and that historically we have used the long scale version. As a maths graduate and computer programmer I do wish they'd tidied up the code they inserted into the article however as I feel there are a couple of steps which can only cause confusion.</li>
<li>And finally <a href="http://deadline.com/2016/01/dirty-dancing-abc-remake-debra-messing-cast-green-light-1201683225/" target="_blank">this post</a> which says that Dirty Dancing is to be remade. I have mixed feelings on the subject. On the one hand I love the film and am a bit concerned a remake could ruin the charm of the original. On the other I always wanted to know what happened after the summer ended and a part of me hopes this may open up avenues for that to be explored. </li>
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<b>A quote from the bible for the week</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #001320; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Purer were her Nazarites than snow, Whiter than milk, ruddier of body than rubies, Of sapphire their form. - Lamentations 4:7</span></i></span></div>
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Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-49605617966519392142016-01-21T21:51:00.002+00:002016-01-21T21:51:12.941+00:00The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228665.The_Eye_of_the_World" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><i>The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.</i></span><br />
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Robert Jordan has long been hailed as one of the world's fantasy greats and central to that is his Wheel of Time Series. It's a firm favourite with many fantasy fans and has been recommended to me many times over, I can see why.<br />
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The book for the most part flows smoothly, however I found myself jolted slightly moving from the prologue to the first chapter. When I tried to read this in paperback that transition put me off, however when I listened to it with audible it didn't seem sand.<br />
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I think part of the reason this story feels so good is the exceptional world building. Rand and his friends travel through a number of places over the course of the novel and each one has numerous stories to create a history. There are similarities between places throughout the story with a heavy focus on attitudes to the dark one, but no two places are the same and there is a shift in attitude or focus as they move closer to the Netherlands.<br />
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I like the fact that despite the wonderful world building that has gone into this novel none of the characters are totally defined by where they came from, and that's including the minor ones.<br />
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My favourite thread of the story was definitely Perrin's and when the story switched back to the other characters I would find myself anxiously waiting to see whether he had accepted himself. I really can't wait to see how his gift progresses in later books.<br />
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As I listened to this book rather than reading it as such I feel I need to mention the narration. This book is narrated by both Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. I read quite a few reviews on audible which described Michael Kramer's voice as tedious, I think it could be a bit in the style of marmite because I actually quite like it. I found that he could convince me of a range of characters and perhaps I'm biased because of the mistborn books.<br />
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The first time Kate Reading spoke it jarred me. There's nothing wrong with her narration, although I prefer Kramer, but it came as a shock. Somehow I missed that it was read by more than one person and you're approximately halfway through before she first speaks. All in all the narration works well in this balance and it does draw some distinction between the male and female viewpoints.</div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-89790371475876035922016-01-18T22:20:00.000+00:002016-01-18T22:20:19.200+00:00Sunday recap: 17th January 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDg_l_q4uv-oP21uAzTl3hOXqAetwKWL85HDeyazZw9LnJxvyQcQQuz1zYWnDlSWZSljD1UQ7vo2z9DWeaW1zTXKyQowGgD74TyJelbWdzj3Qbk39hyphenhypheniY9cCfiTijZVEl1yZQ-HCXabqE/s1600/0abf9b9e-b7ac-4d59-b451-7eb7c64ea1b9_zps47hi5hue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDg_l_q4uv-oP21uAzTl3hOXqAetwKWL85HDeyazZw9LnJxvyQcQQuz1zYWnDlSWZSljD1UQ7vo2z9DWeaW1zTXKyQowGgD74TyJelbWdzj3Qbk39hyphenhypheniY9cCfiTijZVEl1yZQ-HCXabqE/s320/0abf9b9e-b7ac-4d59-b451-7eb7c64ea1b9_zps47hi5hue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The second full week of 2016 and it's been hectic, Cubs started back but thanks to some last minute meeting cancellation I wasn't quite ready and we had a games night.</div>
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I actually managed to get quite a lot of reading done this week. I finished two books and am well on my way to finishing a third. </div>
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In other news my county had it's first snow of 2016 on Thursday evening, which saw me walking home to a numb head and then heading out to my in-laws down some twisty lanes while the snow flurried. My father in laws birthday being something I can't miss even if that stretch of road makes me nervous at the best of times following some ice last winter. </div>
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Head over to the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and <a href="http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2016/01/sunday-post-196-saying-goodbye.html" target="_blank">link up</a>.</div>
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<b>What I've been reading:</b></div>
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Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery</div>
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<li>An interesting book, but perhaps not entirely to my taste which is taking me a little while to edge my way through.</li>
<li> This will count towards the following challenges; <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/2016-12-months-classics-challenge.html" target="_blank">12 Months Classics Challenge</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a> and <a href="http://g/" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a>.</li>
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The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan<br />
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<li>An exceptional fantasy story which I listened to with audible. So good in fact that I used all of my spare time over the first couple of days this week to listen to it and finished it off all in a hurry.</li>
<li>This book counts towards the following challenges; <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/flights-of-fantasy-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a> and <a href="http://g/" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a>.</li>
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Worth the lies by Mara Jacobs</div>
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<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">I love Mara Jacobs Worth series, unlike a lot of romance authors with on going stories she puts time into her characters. They get a real story and real backgrounds and don't feel like the same character every time juste wearing different clothes!</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">This book counts towards the following challenges; </span><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">,</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and </span><a href="http://g/" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></b></li>
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The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley<br />
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<li>I have to say that when I received this book I was a little put off by the cover. It looked kind of trashy, I'm loving it though.</li>
<li><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">This book counts towards the following challenges; </span><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/flights-of-fantasy-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">2016 Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge</a></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/2016-series-month.html" target="_blank">2016 Series a Month Challenge</a>, </span><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> and </span><a href="http://g/" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></b></li>
<li>This book is also the first book of the first series nominated for the <a href="http://www.alexalovesbooks.com/2015/12/flights-of-fantasy-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">Flights of Fantasy Book Club</a> hosted by Alexa Loves Books.</li>
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<b>What I've Posted This Week:</b></div>
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<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/millie-marottas-tropical-wonderland_12.html" target="_blank">Millie Marrotta's Tropical Wonderland Bird Nest</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-foster-husband-by-pippa-wright.html" target="_blank">The Foster Husband by Pippa Wright</a></li>
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<b>My Bookish Resolutions</b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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Reading Challenges:</div>
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<ul>
<li>I have read 9/41 Discworld books</li>
<li>I have read 2/100 books in 2016 so far</li>
</ul>
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Blogging Challenges:</div>
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<li>I still don't feel as though I've made progress towards a blogging routine, although I managed to pattern a couple of posts from last week I still feel as though I'm getting into the swing of normal life.</li>
<li>I have made no further progress towards cataloguing my 'library', <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/p/reviews.html" target="_blank">here.</a> </li>
<li>So far I have written a couple of reviews of recently read books. </li>
<li>I've written a bit for some backlist books I wanted to review.</li>
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Personal Challenges:</div>
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<li>This week I lost another 2lbs. I was a little stricter with myself in terms of snacking. </li>
<li>I went swimming twice this week. On Tuesday I swam 64 lengths and on Friday I swam 40 lengths, meaning I've officially managed to swim my first mile of the year, if not twice in one week!</li>
<li>I had no fizzy drinks this week! </li>
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Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-3021818670425478362016-01-15T22:27:00.003+00:002016-01-15T22:27:44.615+00:00The Foster Husband by Pippa Wright<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17567353-the-foster-husband?ac=1&from_search=1" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Kate left her seaside home town of Lyme Regis for the bright lights of London when she was eighteen, and never looked back. Why would she? She had it all: the glamorous media career, the gorgeous husband. Until her marriage failed and she found herself with nowhere else to go.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Now she's unemployed, separated, and holed up in her dead granny's bungalow while she works out what to do with the rest of her life. Worse, she's forced to share her new home with Ben, the clueless and domestically challenged fiance of her bossy sister Prue.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Ben is a man in need of simple instruction. And Kate is a woman in need of a project. Her own marriage may be beyond saving, but perhaps she can stop her sister's husband-to-be from making all of the mistakes that doomed her own relationship. Kate decides that she will secretly train Ben, her foster husband, as a selfless pre-wedding gift to her sister.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">But Kate may be about to learn a few lessons of her own about what makes a good marriage.</span></i><br />
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The foster husband is a book I picked up at the works to make up a set of books to take away on holiday. Reading the blurb it sounded slightly hilarious and a bit of a recipe for disaster.<br />
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I have to say that I started reading this story with fairly low expectations. It surprised me. <br />
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It was funny. The story was compelling, and I felt compassion for the main character even when she didn't seem to deserve it. It has a twist which I didn't see coming until I was a long way in.<br />
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Of the books I took with me on my summer holiday last year I think this is the one I raced through the fastest. </div>
Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-70064765963895541622016-01-12T20:21:00.002+00:002016-01-12T20:21:18.573+00:00Millie Marotta's Tropical Wonderland Bird Nest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
You'll remember that not so long ago I finished colouring the butterfly in Millie Marotta's Tropical Wonderland book. Well it would seem I've well and truly jumped on that bandwagon because I've also finished colouring the picture of a bird in its nest.<br />
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I found this easier to colour in some ways as I didn't feel like I needed to keep choosing new colouring techniques and patterns. With the butterfly I wanted to keep within a purple colour family as much as possible. With the birds nest I used a number of distinct colours for different aspects of it.<br />
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I think part of the reason I've spent so much time colouring recently is that I've found it a really good way to listen to audiobooks. It's so refreshing to be able to just let go and listen.<br />
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Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2655044077798860203.post-50131474300008956722016-01-10T11:32:00.000+00:002016-01-10T11:32:32.989+00:00Sunday recap: 10th January 2016<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>The Sunday Post is hosted by the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and you can sign up <a href="http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2016/01/sunday-post-195-back-to-normalcy.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</i></div>
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This is the first time I've ever posted any kind of recap post, and for the most part there doesn't seem to be an awful lot to recap this week. </div>
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As part of my <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/2016-bookish-resolutions.html" target="_blank">Bookish Resolutions</a> I decided to try and organise some kind of blogging routine. As yet this year I seem to have little routine, however this seems like a good place to start! I plan to use these posts to keep track of my progress with various challenges as well as my Bookish Resolutions. </div>
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So for the first time ever here goes!</div>
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<b>What I've been reading:</b></div>
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Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery</div>
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<li>An interesting book, but perhaps not entirely to my taste while being every bit the page Turner.</li>
<li> This will count towards the following challenges; <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/2016-12-months-classics-challenge.html" target="_blank">12 Months Classics Challenge</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a> and <a href="http://g/" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a></li>
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The Eye of The World by Robert Jordan </div>
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<li>I've actually been listening to this on audible. It's surprisingly therapeutic to listen and colour, or cook, or clean. I've had whole new realms of reading time opened up to me!</li>
<li>The audiobook has set chapters out differently than the paper book, but I have about 9 Audio chapters to go with this book and so far I'm loving it.</li>
<li>This will count towards the following challenges: <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/alphabet-soup-2016-sign-up-post.html" target="_blank">Alphabet Soup</a>, <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a> and <a href="http://g/" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books Challenge</a></li>
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<b>What I've Posted This Week:</b></div>
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I've actually extended it this week to include everything I've posted after 1st January.</div>
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<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/2016-12-months-classics-challenge.html" target="_blank">2016 12 Months Classics Challenge</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/goodreads-award-challenge.html" target="_blank">Goodreads Awards Challenge</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/100-book-challenge.html" target="_blank">100+ Books Challenge</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/you-read-how-many-books-2016.html" target="_blank">You Read How Many Books? Challenge</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/millie-marottas-tropical-wonderland.html" target="_blank">Millie Marrotta's Tropical Wonderland Butterfly</a></li>
<li><a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-soprano-sorceress-l-e-modesitt-jr.html" target="_blank">The Soprano Sorceress - L. E. Modesitt Jr</a></li>
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<b>My Bookish Resolutions</b></div>
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Reading Challenges:</div>
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<li>I have read 9/41 Discworld books</li>
<li>I have read 1/100 books in 2016 so far</li>
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Blogging Challenges:</div>
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<li>I haven't really established a blogging routine yet, but as this is week 1 and I spent some of it signing up for challenges I feel this is justified!</li>
<li>I have made progress towards cataloguing my 'library', <a href="http://conprimo.blogspot.co.uk/p/reviews.html" target="_blank">here.</a> In some ways this feels like a lot of progress, however since I married the flat I've been sharing with my husband can only hold a small portion of my books, the bulk are at my parents so I can't see myself listing them all until at least mid year. At present the list consists of those in the flat and those I easily remember. I'd also like to amend the list so it is possible to see what I've read and not just what I've reviewed.</li>
<li>So far I have not written any reviews of recently read books. </li>
<li>I've written a bit for some backlist books I wanted to review. You'll see some of these coming soon.</li>
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Personal Challenges:</div>
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<li>I lost 1 pound this week and am aiming to lose 6 pounds this month. So I need to try harder next week!</li>
<li>I went swimming twice this week. On Tuesday I swam 40 lengths and on Thursday I swam 56 lengths. So not quite a mile either time, but roughly a mile and a half over the two. This could have been better but it came down to timings!</li>
<li>I had 6 fizzy drinks this week. An appalling failure!</li>
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<b>A Couple of Interesting Articles I've seen this week</b></div>
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<li><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-flooding-how-a-yorkshire-flood-blackspot-worked-with-nature-to-stay-dry-a6794286.html" target="_blank">This</a> interesting article from the Independent on Natural Flood defences in the UK. It appealed to me on a basic human interest level, but also on from a scientific point of view. It's interesting I feel how restoring natural habitats can have impacts on flood waters both good and bad.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.slj.com/2016/01/industry-news/whats-trending-what-is-what-was-whats-soon-to-be-in-kid-lit/#_" target="_blank">This</a> article about the trends of publishing in Children's books in 2015 and predictions for 2016. It highlighted some interesting statistics about book diversity that I saw in an article towards the end of last year. </li>
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<b>A quote from the bible for the week</b><br />
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<i>'Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the Upholder of my life.'</i></blockquote>
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Psalms 54:4</div>
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Rowenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07577444088626363219noreply@blogger.com2