I was at Borders...

...on Sunday, doing a little book browsing to cheer myself up. I picked up Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick as a Christmas present, it's hardback so I may have a little read before it gets wrapped up. Beautiful cover which is what made me pick it up and read the blurb.

I also picked up Covet by J.R.Ward. Now, I didn't plan on following this series but I felt like I deserved something as a treat (besides the vanilla and cinnamon candle I picked up near the checkout - my favourite scents) and as usual when I'm Borders the 80 books on my wishlist just vanish from my brain.

Tonight I decide to have a little flick through at the best bits - :) - as you do. Two words kept popping out at me 'As' (As he.., As she.., As they..,) and 'And'. There seem to be a disproportionately high number of them. It will probably be a while before I get round to reading this but I have the bad feeling that my internal editor is going to get a little hair trigger on this one.

Mind F*ck by Manna Francis - So Far

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There are no bad guys or good guys.
There are only better guys and worse guys

This will be the second time I've read this book, but the first where I'm reading it with an eye to writing a review.

This was just one of those books that I never thought I'd be able to write a review that would justify what a great book I think it is. (Did that make sense?) Anyway I'm going to give it a go.

Manna Francis has written an amazingly detailed story set in a future dystopia. With one of the most fascinating characters I've read about - Val Toreth, he being one of the 'worse guys' from the tagline.

I picked this book up again after it was mentioned on Wave's blog, so expect the review at some point this week. Anyone have any objections to me not asterisking out the 'u'? Only I think I'll probably slip up at some point anyway.

Bitten to Death by Jennifer Rardin

The fourth book in the Jaz Parks series follows our heroine to Greece. Where she, Vayl and her brother Dave, infiltrate a vampire Trust. Edward Samos (The Raptor) is trying to take over the Trust that Vayl used to belong to. Jaz is going to do her best to stop that and at the same time she's going to have to save Vayl from the new leader of The Trust who has her own plans for Vayl's future.

This is not my favourite of the series. I think the first two books set such a high standard and books three and four (for me) haven't quite measured up. However, that's not to say that they aren't great reads and I'd still read a Jaz Parks book over a lot of the other urban fantasy and vampire books out there.

Partly I don't think this book (plotwise) hangs together quite a well as previous books. It's quite possible that I haven't been able to concentrate as well as with previous books and I struggled somewhat picking up on the plot after putting the book down.

The other niggle I had with this book is that we have a lot more internal dialogue from Jaz - not a problem in itself as I love Jaz's snark. The problem I have is that different facets of her personality are now appearing as different characters inside her own head, arguing with each other. I think this works well if not overused, unfortunately I think it was. I wanted to get away from her overly analysed introspection and back to the action and character devlopment in the 'real' world.

Okay, niggles aside.

Quite a lot happens in this book. Despite saying he'd deal with it in the previous book, Vayl still hasn't come to terms with the loss of his sons. And it remains a weak point that his enemies are able to manipulate.

Jaz and Vayl still don't get together - how much longer can they stay apart?!!!

There are some genuinely creepy and disgusting scenes. The attack of the grall made me feel like I'd got lice crawling over my body.

"Check my back! My back!"

Possibly one of the most bizarre recommendations for a book you're ever going to read. :)

Despite my problems with the book. Jaz remains one of my favourite UF heroines. There aren't too many protagonists out there who could get away with this line.

"...I can't think with my underwear stuck up my crack. I know it's a weakness, but it's just one of those things."

She has such a lovely turn of phrase.

This book wraps up some plot points - Edward Samos is finally dealt with. But it also raises more questions. My biggest one being - Who was the Evie lookalike fighting in the Daemon Wars? And are Jaz and Vayl ever going to get together? It has to happen soon, right? I have the next book on order so will hopefully find out the answer to that one. This is one series I'm not ready to give up on.

19th Century Novels

So after taking the literature course this year (and enjoying it - almost surprisingly). I'm thinking of taking another lit. course next year. It's looking like a choice between the 19th Century novel and 20th Century lit. I'm kind of pulled towards the 19th century for a couple of reasons. 1) It's before the 20th (lol) so there may be some kind of progression reason for doing 20th century lit. second. 2) If I don't do it first I may decide to skip it and just do Shakespeare.

So in the spirit of getting ahead and knowing what doorsteps some of the 19th Century novels are, I'm trying to decide which texts to read first.

So if anyone has any opinions on the following novels - which to read first, which to get out of the way, which to put off as long as possible, let me know in the comments.

Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
Madame Bovary - G. Flaubert
Germinal - E. Zola
Dombey & Son - Charles Dickens
Jane Eyre - Bronte
The Awakening - Kate Chopin
Middlemarch - George Eliot
The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James
Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
Heart of Darkness - J. Conrad
Dracula - Bram Stoker

Apologies...

...for my unintended absence.

My mum is seriously ill and I've had other things on my mind. Not reading very much at the moment either, for the same reason.

However, I think I could do with the distraction that blogging provides, so I'm going to ease my way back into it.

Exam is Over

Hopefully things can now return to a semblance of normality following the chaos and stress of revision.

Well at least I can have a breather for a little while.

The Nines

I recorded The Nines last week and finally got round to watching it Sunday night. This is where I admit that I did chop off the first ten minutes so I hope there wasn't anything crucial mentioned there. Hopefully some of that time was the ad break.

Anyway, it was just one line (in the whole film) that really caught my interest, in a conversation between Margaret and Gary:-

Margaret: If God is a ten, a theoretical ultimate, that-which-no-greater-can-be-imagined, you're more of a nine.
Gary: So what are you?
Margaret: Humans are sevens. Monkeys are sixes.
Gary: What are the eights?
Margaret: Koalas. They're telepathic. Plus, they control the weather.

I just LOVE that. lol

From now on, everytime I see a koala on the tv, I just know that that line is going to pop into my head. (Plus you have to admit they look like they could be telepathic) :)

(Koala image from - http://www.australian-wildlife.com/Koalas-information.html )