The Book Stacks

I was going to say, “If I Had More of the Green Stuff” but money here in Australia is like monopoly money. Colours! A bunch of wonderful colours! The first thing that gets close to green is a ten - and that’s still primarily blue. A 100 is green, but I have only ever seen one.

Enough about that. Everyone needs a wish list. It keeps us working hard so we can buy our occasional indulgences. At least, that’s what I tell myself…

1. The Second Post Secret Book
2. Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
3. Blindsided by a Diaper: Over 30 Men and Women Reveal How Parenthood Changes a Relationship
4. Families and How to Survive Them by Robin Skynner and John Cleese
5. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
6. The Tamarack Tree by Patricia Clapp
7. Story by Robert McKee
8. Green Rider by Kristen Britain
9. First Rider’s Call by Kristen Britain
10. The High King’s Tomb by Kristen Britain
11. World Building (Science Fiction Writing) by Stephen Gillett and Ben Bova
12. Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth by Carol Rose
13. 1000 Journals Project by Someguy (Author), Kevin Kelly (Foreword)

What books would YOU get?

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

1. Mr. No-Kleenex - Mr. No-Kleenex sniffles away, often very loudly, oblivious to his noisy nose in the bookstore quiet.
2. The Genre Snubber - This bookstore person has a set idea of what genres are acceptable and which aren’t. Go into the unacceptable genre sections and be prepared for dirty/snooty looks.
3. Overeager Book Store Worker - “Can I help you?” has gone from a question to a mantra for this person. This person doesn’t understand the beauty of wandering around in a bookstore. Alone.
4. The Genre Fanatic - Somewhat the opposite of the genre snubber, the genre fanatic loves his/her chosen genre…and won’t hesitate to tell you how much…at length.
5. The Space Invader - Initially viewed as harmless, the space invader will slowly move into your section, then your territory, and then your personal space. It is not yet known why this species behaves this way.
6. The Snobby Cashier - Cousin to the genre snubber, the snobby cashier makes to effort to hide just exactly what s/he thinks of your selections.
7. Finger Lickers - This strange species insists on licking their fingers before turning pages in books they don’t own…
8. The Super Browser - This person will work his/her way through the store once, twice, and probably a third time. Don’t be surprised to run into this person (sometimes literally) several times during your own browsing.
9. Just-Here-To-Get-Paid Worker - Apparently never having read a book in his/her life, this species doesn’t seem to belong in a bookstore. And yet they exist…
10. Oblivious Parent - The baby may be crying or the children causing a mess, but oblivious parent will continue browsing despite the disturbance to everyone else.
11. Mobile Phone People - I don’t think anyone needs a description for this one.
12. Bubble Gum Worker - Cousin to just-here-to-get-paid, bubble gum worker doesn’t know about books, doesn’t know where anything is, and doesn’t know how the coffee machine works.
13. Fanboys/girls - Sibling to the genre fanatic, this species (usually traveling in packs) hones in one one book or series and will often try to engage you in conversations about the glory of said book or series.

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

**This Thursday Thirteen went up a bit late two weeks ago, so I’m going to pull a “Thursday Thirteen Repeat” and put this up again. Plus, I do think they’re funny enough to put up twice anyway.**

So I’m in the mood for a chuckle. Something a bit different from my usual Thursday Thirteen that should bring you some enjoyment.

This post contains a lot of images, so I am putting most of them behind the ‘more’ tag. Please do check it out. They’re definitely worth the extra click. I hope you enjoy.

All images in this post are from Longmire does Romance Novels. Please visit the site and say hello. These are just a few selections from the much bigger collection there, so heading over there is also definitely worth the extra click.

1.
2.
3.
(more…)

Every now and then we have a crap sort of day or week that leaves us grumpy and depressed. I’ve had that sort of few days and it’s left me feeling drained and in need of a but of humour…

So I’m in the mood for a chuckle. Something a bit different from my usual Thursday Thirteen that should bring you some enjoyment.

This post contains a lot of images, so I am putting most of them behind the ‘more’ tag. Please do check it out. They’re definitely worth the extra click. I hope you enjoy.

All images in this post are from Longmire does Romance Novels. Please visit the site and say hello. These are just a few selections from the much bigger collection there, so heading over there is also definitely worth the extra click.

1.
2.
3.
(more…)

This is a book blog, so it isn’t exactly a giant leap that we are here because we love books. And if we love books, it’s also no great leap that we all love reading.

Today I thought I’d share some reasons I love reading. Please let me know your reasons you love reading as well.

Happy Thursday Thirteen!

1. Escaping into new worlds
2. I have been doing it since I was a child… Call it an addiction
3. Falling in love with characters
4. There’s nothing like curling up on the couch or enjoying a hot bath with a book
5. Viewing the world from a different perspective
6. I love words and reading the different ways people use them
7. I like learning new things
8. Experiencing, even in third person, things and sights I can never experience first hand
9. Comfort and relaxation
10. I like supporting fellow writers
11. Especially in science fiction, I like to see what views authors have for the future
12. Learning about living and dead people I would have never learned about otherwise
13. I love seeing the races and worlds people create purely from their imaginations and the world we know

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

Happy Thursday Thirteen!

You didn’t think I had only thirteen reasons I love the library, did you?

Here’s more reasons to love your library with a bit hat tip to Elisa, the woman who ran this site before I did.

1. They have black and white as well as colour photocopiers
2. They have black and white as well as colour printers
3. Missed an edition of a newspaper? They probably have it.
4. The same goes for magazines.
5. Computerized catalogues for easy perusal of what’s in stock in libraries across the state
6. Ten minute internet computers for people who just need to jump on for a couple minutes
7. Not quite ‘beyond’ the books, but regular book sales!
8. They have a special kids area. I sit in the opposite corner of the building
9. I have never been to a library that didn’t have a community events bulletin board somewhere in or around it
10. The interesting people who wander in
11. The funny and interesting things you see people get away with eating (I’ve seen chips and salsa, soup, ice cream, candies of various kinds…)
12. The funny looks of embarrassment people get when they realize they didn’t turn their mobile phone to silent
13. The comfy lounge chairs

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

Sometimes I can’t help but think that libraries (and librarians) are a bit…unappreciated. They’re almost always great places to go filled with people who want to be there.

That’s why my thirteen list this week was created in a library out of love for my local library. I hope you enjoy.

1. Quiet, quiet, quiet
2. Most people (all, so far where I am) respect that you are supposed to be quiet in a library
3. If you owe five or ten cents and don’t have change, sometimes they’ll knock off your late fee
4. So many books in one place!
5. Large type books
6. Awesome reference sections
7. Almost always, sections are clearly labeled…so you can see it from the other side of the library
8. (In my library, at least…) Posters in each genre section that say, “If you like these authors, you might like…� and lists two separate columns
9. Helpful librarians
10. The most recent editions of the Writer’s Marketplace
11. You can stay all day reading and they done mind
12. Dictionaries, thesauruses, atlases, encyclopedias… The reference section deserves another mention
13. Plug-ins for my laptop so I can work without needing to rent the books I need to use

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

1. Schedule reading time and stick to it.
2. Read while doing other things. If you have a lot of vacuuming to do, can you hold a book in one hand?
3. Read in the loo. Take a little longer on the potty and get a chapter read.
4. Go to bed a little earlier.
5. Read during your lunch break at work.
6. Read while on the computer. Ebooks are available all over.
7. Read while on the computer (take two). When I had dial up, instead of growling while the pages loaded, I read.
8. Read during commercial breaks. This isn’t the best thing to do, but do what you can, I suppose. Or…
9. …consider trimming down your television time.
10. Read while waiting for public transport.
11. Read while riding public transport.
12. Read to someone else. It gets you reading and bonding at the same time.
13. Take a book with you everywhere. You never know when opportunities will come.

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

Happy Thursday Thirteen!

Last week I listed off some of the books I have enjoyed enough on the first read to read them again. (And again and again in some cases.) Since becoming a reviewer, I don’t have a lot of time to go back and read things again. However, that doesn’t stop me from reading them again eventually.

So here is my list of…

1. A Piece of Normal - Sandi Kahn Shelton
2. The Dowry Bride - Shobahn Bantwal
3. The Artist’s Way - Julia Cameron
4. Writing Down the Bones - Natalie Goldberg
5. Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
6. On Writing - Stephen King
7. South Beach Chicas Catch Their Man - Caridad Pineiro
8. Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card
9. The Death Wizard Chronicles: The Pit - Jim Melvin
10. Lady of the Roses - Sandra Worth
11. The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley
12. Abarat - Clive Barker
13. Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

Be it to remember what happened in the first book when the second book comes out or simply out of pure enjoyment of the book, many of us have read one or more books more than once. I certainly have.

That’s where the inspiration for my thirteen list comes from this week.

1. The Immortals Quartet - Tamora Pierce
2. Writing Down the Bones - Natalie Goldberg
3. Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
4. The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley
5. The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein
6. The Bone Books - Jeff Smith
7. The Wayfarer Redemption - Sara Douglass
8. Green Rider - Kristen Britain
9. The Lorax - Dr. Suess
10. The Bride Series - Catherine Coulter
11. Animorphs book seven - KA Applegate
12. The Pern Books - Anne McCaffrey
13.The Hero and the Crown - Robin McKinley

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

Ah, VDay. Strap on your helmets and be careful of the drunken fallout from the singles bars, right? Either that or, “Oh, lovely, lovely day where lovely I can be lovely to my lovely other who is in my lovely life.”

Forgive me, but it’s a holiday. Not one you get off from school or work for, but something nice if you choose to celebrate it. If you don’t choose to celebrate it, don’t whine. I don’t hear the Mormons going on and on about what a horribly commercial and soulless day Christmas is. (Okay, somewhere a Mormon might do that, but I’ve never heard it.)

So, if you are in love with me and desperately want to get me something, then here is a list of books:
(/rant)

1. The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein
2. Writing Down the Bones - Natalie Goldberg
3. Without You - Anthony Rapp
4. A Piece of Normal - Sandi Kahn Shelton
5. The Dowry Bride - Shobhan Bantwal
6. Sex and the South Beach Chicas - Caridad Pineiro
7. The Bride books - Catherine Coulter
8. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Enhancing Sexual Desire - Rachel Greene Baldino and Judy Ford
9. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Massage - Joan Budilovsky
10. Illustrated Kama Sutra - Richard, Sir Burton and Vatsyayana
11. Families and How To Survive Them - Robin Skynner and John Cleese
12. Howl’s Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones
13. Green Rider - Kristen Britain

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

Happy Thursday Thirteen!

Today I have a guest helping me out with this week’s list. My beloved friend of many years, Hawke, has been lovely enough to share her thirteen favourite (not in any particular order) books with us.

I believe my reading spectrum is somewhat limited, so I love bringing in other people’s favourite books lists. If you would like to contribute your list of your thirteen favourites, feel free to contact me using the ‘contact me’ button under the site description.

1. King of the Wind - Marguerite Henry
2. The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare (The Compete Works)
3. Hellfire - John Saul
4. The Long Walk - Richard Bachman
5. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
6. Nathaniel - John Saul
7. Shoeless Joe - W.P. Kinsella
8. Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer
9. LOTR Trilogy - J.R.R. Tolkien
10. Storm of the Century - Stephen King (script form)
11. Thinner - Richard Bachman
12. The Bridge - Christopher K. Miller
13. The Inevitable Roundness of Everything - Christopher K. Miller (collection of short stories)

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

Yesterday I asked whether you finish what you start in regards to books or if you’re willing to drop a book the moment it no longer satisfies. With that theme in mind, I’d like to ask…

1. What is the first book you didn’t finish reading?
2. Why did you stop reading it?
3. What is the most recent book you didn’t finish reading?
4. Why did you stop reading it?
5. Have you ever had a friend recommend a book that you couldn’t finish?
6. If yes, what book was it?
7. What is the absolute worst book you didn’t finish?
8. Are there any books you didn’t finish that were later turned into movies?
9. Are there any trends in what books you don’t finish? (Usually novels, usually mysteries, usually recommendations from…)
10. Are there any books you didn’t finish that you would consider giving another go?
11. Do you ever get ‘talked to’ by hard core ‘finish your books’ readers?
12. Are there any books you finished that you wish you would have just stopped reading earlier?
13. If so, which ones?

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

Woo-hoo! It’s Thursday once more which means it’s Friday tomorrow. And as we all know, Friday is a very good thing. Friday brings hope, anticipation…

Okay. I’ll stop now.

This week I was going to take a break from the Q&A type of Thursday Thirteen, but I have one more set of questions to ask you that I am genuinely curious about. So, like last time, answer any or all of the questions here in the comments section or use your answers for your Thursday Thirteen this week.

If you do the latter, be sure to let me know and leave a link!

As for the questions…

1. Who is your favourite book character?
2. Who is your least favourite book character?
3. What makes a great character?
4. What is one characteristic that makes a great protagonist?
5. What is one characteristic that makes a great antagonist?
6. If you’ve written any stories, who is your favourite character from those you have created?
7. Who is the book character you would most like to see in a movie (a book that hasn’t been made into a movie)?
8. If your favourite book was made into a movie (or even if it has been) what actor would you pick to play your favourite character?
9. When you read a book, what do you like to know about characters and what would you rather imagine? (Is knowing hair/eye colour important to you, or would you rather imagine physical appearances?)
10. If you have written fan fiction about a character, who did you write about?
11. What is your favourite characteristic about your favourite character?
12. If you could be any character from any book, who would you be?
13. What character, from any book, would you most wish to meet in reality?

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships

Despite the cricket sounds surrounding last week’s Thursday Thirteen book questions, I want to continue on this week with asking you, the readers, questions. This week I’m talking about fantasy novels.

Like last week, you can answer one or more of the questions in the comments section or use your answers as your Thursday Thirteen. If you do the latter, be sure to leave a link to your answers.

On to the questions!

1. What was the first fantasy book you ever read?
2. What was the last fantasy book you read? When? Did you enjoy it?
3. What is your favourite fantasy book?
4. What type of fantasy do you prefer? (Sword and sorcery, modern magic, adult fantasy, dark fantasy…)
5. If you wrote a fantasy book, what type of fantasy would it be?
6. If you wrote a fantasy book, what would the title be?
7. When you think ‘fantasy’, who are the first three authors who come to your mind?
8. What is your favourite thing about fantasy?
9. What is your least favourite thing about fantasy?
10. If you could be any fantasy character from any fantasy book (please name the book and author) who would you be?
11. Who is your favourite fantasy author?
12. If you could talk to any fantasy author, who would it be?
13. And, just for fun, if you could have one power, what would it be?

Check out my other Thursday Thirteens on Write Anyway, Fiction Scribe, and Long Relationships