Zombie Kittens as an appetiser to Giving Me the Creeps October, on Feline Fridays!!

It is almost here.... a month of scary, creepy, crawly, shocking reviews, giveaways annnnndddd costumed kitties!  Giving me the Creeps October starts tomorrow, but today I present to you,

 ZOMBIE KITTENS!

Is it wrong how much I now want some zombie kittens all of my own?  And can I just say it's unbelievable how many images you get when you search zombie kittens??! Really! Of course some of it's porn, which is weird, but there are a lot of actual kittens.

Now make sure to come back tomorrow for the first review of the month, Dust and Decay!! And keep checking in all month as every Thursday to Sunday I'll have some creepy giveaways and all week long I'll have crawly reviews galore.

HAPPY OCTOBER!!

Lock and Key, by Sarah Dessen- Review

When my grandma went into the hospital I dropped everything and hopped a flight across the country in under 24 hours.  I was pretty sure I wouldn't be there more than a week, so I packed four books, not wanting to wildly over pack my small bag.  Of course one week quickly turned into two, and eight hour days of bed side vigilance ate through my books faster than expected.  Thank god for Indigo!  Five days after I arrived they had a quick two day sale where you could buy 4 books for the price of 3, the timing couldn't have been better if it was planned!

So my mom and I stopped on our way home one night, and hit up the teen area looking for 4 lightish reads (IE-nothing super depressing or dark, since we had that in droves).  Although there were oodles of hardcover new books I wanted, I aimed for paperbacks, since I already had 4 other books to take home with me as well.  I walked out with Dust and Decay (which I absolutely had to have ASAP), Wither, The DUFF, and Lock and Key.  After Dust and Decay Sarah was my first pick, I loved Along for the Ride last summer and had been meaning to get to What about Goodbye, but I knew she had a great selection of older paperbacks that would all be awesome as well. And, lets face it, cheaper and lighter too.

Ruby never expected to see her estranged sister Cora again, and certainly not after being abandoned by her mother and caught trying to look after herself by family services.  Being thrown into Cora's ritzy lifestyle, with a beautiful house, money to spare and a charming husband who's the brains behind one of the biggest networking websites out there, is not the picnic you'd think it would be.  Suddenly everyone wants her to be part of a family, part of a school, part of a carpool, and all Ruby wants to do is go back to the yellow house and fend for herself. 

There is such a positive vibe to Sarah's books, which is funny when she often deals with negative things, but something about how she writes is so uplifting.  I always feel really good after reading her books, like there must be so many wonderful things waiting out there for me.  I'm not sure any other author has left me with that feeling, and so it seems really unique to her.  Sure Bill Waterson makes me laugh and puts me in a good mood no matter what, and sure J.K. Rowling makes me feel like I've been on a fantastic journey with friends but nobody makes me feel like today is the day all the good stuff happens, and maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

Besides being so sunny, her stories are filled with compelling characters you're happy to cheer on.  I'm not sure if it's the contemporary YA genre (I read so little of it outside of Dessen) or if it's just her particular touch, but I always feel like I really know her characters.  They're familiar and down to earth and very very approachable, just like all the other elements of her stories.  Not to mention her dialogue is unquestionably dead-on, always an impressive feat.
All in all Lock and Key was just another fabulous Sarah Dessen read, engaging, uplifting and with a upbeat happy ending I can 100% recommend to you any time of year, no matter what your circumstance at the time.  But especially if you're having a bad day, or worse yet, a bad week.

Lock and Key, by Sarah Dessen
Published by Speak, May 2009 (paperback reprint)
Check out Sarah's website
Take a sneak peek at the story
Buy Lock and Key on Amazon

Sarah Dessen Signing

So.

 Sarah was at the BEA, but so was Laini Taylor, at the same time and I had to pick.  Since Laini Taylor's time slot involved a little more face time (and I'd read more of her books at that moment in time then Sarah's), Laini won.

   

Also, I am in love with Laini's daughter Clementine via the Internet, which is cruel as I will likely never meet her cuteness in person.

Mean, mean Internet!   

this is only the tail end of the line!

Sarah also has a daughter, who's second name is Clementine, but I've seen very little of her so far, presumably she is a little young for twitter but alas, I've been wrong about the "too young for twitter" thing before, so who knows, maybe she is a young twitter prodigy and can fly on over here and give me a couple of lessons.

But I digress monumentally! Apparently it was fate I didn't see Sarah or the What Happened to Goodbye Whoopie cake truck at the BEA, because Sarah kindly came to me instead!  Though without whoopie cakes, boo.

this is Sarah Demonstrating the coffee high



It was a beautiful Toronto day for everything but flying, and poor Sarah almost didn't make it in.  Because she's a twitter-addict, Air Canada got a lot of really angry tweets from her fans over the course of the day.  Which was vastly amusing to me because, in my humble opinion, all airlines are deserving of some backlash on occasion.  Lets face it, they're very expensive, very unreliable transit.  You really get so much less than you pay for!  




this is me making having a look the huge line

 Anywho, she was only a teeny weeny ten minutes late, and was ever so apologetic for being a "hot mess" (which she wasn't!), and the crowd was so glad to see her they gave her a hearty welcome all the same.

  

There were oodles of folks, I'd expected it would be busy but it was way more so than I'd thought even.  Apparently I wasn't the only one, as Sarah went on to say she felt like a bit of a rock star with the crowd and the cheering and that she really wasn't.  How most days found her a "total mess" and late for dropping her daughter off at pre-school, and all the put together moms look at her sympathetically and ask if she works.  Sarah tells them she's self employed and works from home, and theoretically nobody has any idea she has legions of fans.



ah wine!



Crazy mom's, don't they go to bookstores?

Sarah was a delight in person, she hadn't eaten and I joked that there should have been requisite Starbucks in exchange for her signature and she laughed and said there had been offers, but she was really bad with caffeine late at night and got really hyper.  I had a look at the still huge line behind me and suggested maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing.  We laughed and she said she'd reward herself with a nice big glass of wine after, and I said that sounded like a good exchange to me.  She signed, and I moved on, but with a nice little glow about how she's just as nice as I could have hoped for.

I suppose I should have let her know that her books were what I turned to when my grandma was in the hospital earlier this month as I knew they would be the perfect escape for my mom and I while we sat at her bedside, and later as we planned the funeral.  Maybe next time, I will definitely make sure to see her again.



Broken Bones, A Peggy Henderson Adventure, By Gina McMurchy-Barber- Review

When Broken Bones first came to my attention I noticed two things about it right away.  It takes place in Golden B.C., and its about archeology. 

Now when I was thirteen my dad started dating a woman who lived on a communal acreage up in the kootenays (just outside of Silverton in fact); and the eclectic community up there, coupled with the breath taking scenery left me with enough strange tales to write my own book.  Bathtubs on back porches, outhouses with no doors, picnic brunches at 7am where we ate pancakes with chop sticks, and did I mention the nudy beaches and the pie pot luck at the outdoor kitchen?  It was certainly a learning experience for a prairie city girl like myself.  However, outside of the endless array of non-traditional toilets, I loved it and still do (on the very rare occasion that I still get out there).  The idea that this story was going to throw a 12 year old girl into Golden without warning seemed almost to good to be true.

I had not read the previous Peggy Henderson Adventure, Reading the Bones, so I was new to Peggy.  Thus I have to say, some of my initial impressions of her might not be the same if I had read the series as it was intended.
From Dundurn Press:

A vandalized burial in an abandoned pioneer cemetery brings 12-year-old Peggy Henderson and her elderly archaeologist friend Eddy to Golden, British Columbia, to excavate. The town dates back to the 1880s when most of the citizens were tough and rowdy miners and railway workers who rarely died of old age. Since the wooden burial markers disintegrated long ago, Peggy and Eddy have no way of knowing the dead man’s identity. But when Eddy discovers the vertebrae at the base of the skull are crushed, a sure sign the cause of death was hanging, they have their first clue. Peggy’s tendency to make quick judgments about others leads her to the conclusion that only bad people are hanged, so the man in the burial must have gotten what he deserved. Hoping to learn more about him that proves her beliefs, she is soon digging through dusty old newspapers at the small-town museum. It’s there that Peggy learns that sometimes good people do bad things.

The story is fast paced, and it gets off the ground really quite quickly, however my initial impression of Peggy was that her voice didn't seem 12 to me, it felt a lot younger.  I have to admit it's been awhile since I've hung out with a twelve year old, but when you compare her voice to say Harry Potter (in book two) or Percy Jackson (also in the second book), I felt like her voice seemed more around 9 then 12.  Twelve is that tricky tween period, and I could be wrong, but I don't feel like she would be saying things like:

I was beginning to think she'd split her beam... or cracked her noggin... or flipped her lid 

So for the first part of the book her voice didn't seem believable to me. 

I really enjoyed the cross over of the story from William Maguire in the past and Peggy and Eddy's excavation.  The use of the newspaper articles and then the story from William's perspective was a nice combination.  It also really nicely illustrated a little know bit of Canadian history talking about the mining and the mining towns in the mountains which were notoriously dangerous.

Since I was just a year older than Peggy the first time I went out there and was also very interested in history and archeology at the time I felt like I could really relate to the story in some ways.  Her impressions of the town, it's strangeness to her and the discovery of some of Canada's mining history were very familiar,  the ghost town of Sandon left a huge impression on me, so I could see how her graveyard would be fascinating for her.  However I feel like a major opportunity was missed.  My experiences out in the Kootenay region at that age were sooo colourful and crazy that Peggy's adventure out there seemed staid in comparison.

By the end of the book I was on board with the story and enjoying it's strange little twists and turns, but I have to say it wasn't as unusual or as Canadian in flavour as I had been expecting when I picked it up so I was somewhat disappointed in it.  So if you haven't had a colourful Kootenay stay and gloried in the eclectic arts/hippies/loggers community for any length of time, then chances are you may enjoy this story a bit more than me.  But just as an aside, what are you waiting for already? Make your next vacation a Kootenay one, you will not regret it!

Broken Bones, by Gina McMurchy-Barber
Published by Dundurn Press, June 2011
Buy Broken Bones on Amazon
or Buy Reading the Bones (the first book) on Amazon

Sunday Link Salad

Pull up a steaming cup of morning buzz because do I ever have loads of stuff for you to check out today!

-First up, in various cities across Canada, today is Word on the Street, a huge book festival. At the Toronto one I'm hoping to get to see Kenneth Oppel talk about This Dark Endeavour at 12-12:30 and hopefully catch Kelly Armstrongs big bash later in the day.  Check out the Toronto itinerary for more info.

- Cassandra Clare is setting the record straight about confusion over her bonus content for certain editions of A Clockwork Prince.  The good news is that no matter what edition you buy, she'll eventually have the bonus content up on her site, so bonus content for all!

-If like me, you're a fan of Jackie Morse Kesslers books Rage and Hunger then head on over to The Hate-Mongering Tart for a guest post from Jackie herself.  She talks about Banned books, the brou-ha-ha about that now famed Wall Street Journal article (she was one of the specific authors called out), and about her latest horseman book- Loss.  The best part? You also get a chance to win yourself an ARC of Loss, well in advance of it's March 2012 release date.

-Lisel and Po is hitting shelves in 9 days, and if you just can't wait that long then head on over to their website which is now live and full of goodies.  And if  the trailer and interviews and buttons galore aren't enough for you, well you can now have a peek inside as well!

- Laini Taylor linked to this very interesting article in the Boston Phoneix the other day.  It talks about the rise of YA as a genre and some of the stigma of an "easy read" book. 

The Atlantic reported that, since 1997, the number of Young Adult titles released annually has increased tenfold, from 3000 to over 30,000. YA books now comprise a quarter of the book market, and YA sales figures increase every year.

Check out the article for more, its a very thought provoking read.

-Finally, Harper Teen is giving you a sneak peek at the highly anticipated Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon.  Yup this was the one whose brief apperance at the BEA caused an enormous line that got cut off 3 people in front of me, which to be honest was a bit of a relief because it meant my day was done!

Happy Sunday!

The Banned Book Giveaway Hop!

It's Banned Book Week! Now few people like a book ban, however, many people like the books that are banned, so in honour of this week against censorship I give to you The Banned Books Week Hop!

In honor of the week I'll be giving away one copy of And Tango Makes Three, an illustrated children's story about the penguins in central park.  A banned book for several years now, And Tango Makes Three is the true story about *gasp* same sex penguins who raise a baby together, can you imagine??

This is open to wherever the Book Depository Ships, all you have to do is enter the form to win (no following required, though I'll give a bonus entry for any of the ways to follow me)

Feline Fridays meet Jack the Station Cat

At long last, things have settled down to an almost a scheduled sort of pace.  So I'm thrilled to bring back the much missed Feline Fridays absent for so much of September (otherwise known as so not my month).  Even better yet I have a very fun find for this weeks Feline Friday, meet Jack the Station Cat!

A sweet black and white cat, Jack belonged to The Rev. Alan Cliff and family and inspired a series of fun children's books about Jack the Station Cat, who works at the Tails End Station in Wales.

He has many published adventures with various friends like his Aunty Buzz (retired station cat), the twins, kittens Myfanwy and Marmalade, Randolph the Rabbit, Gareth the Snail, the secret service cat 008, and my fav- Harri P. Otter.  The books are fun little reads with coloured illustrations and a couple of pages of games in the back to continue the fun.  But the best part about Jack the Station Cat is his charity.  50% of royalties go to various children's charities, a different one for each book.  He also spends time fundraising for organizations and has a cat rescue pen named after him at the Colwyn branch of Cats' Protection.

On October 1st Jack the Station Cat will be sponsoring the Train of Hope.  The train will be hauled by Scots Guardsman from Crewe to Carlisle and all proceeds will be given to the CLIC Sargent a children's cancer charity.

Spread the love by ordering copies today, and if you order them from Rev. Alan Cliff you can even have them signed!

Follow Jack the Station Cat on Facebook to keep track of his adventures or on his website.

Wednesday link Salad

Alright, so it's mid-day and I have many things to impart during this brief spell of no reading/reviewing for my mad friday deadline. So pull up a chair and dig in!

-This evening the incomparable Sarah Dessen is signing her latest, What Happened to Goodbye at the Eaton Centre in Toronto.  7pm at Indigo I'll be lined up with all the other Sarah fans to make up for missing her at the BEA.  And if tonight isn't convenient for you then the good news is there's a second signing tomorrow night!  7pm again but this time at the North York Central Library, which likely means you can bring your dogeared copy!

- Speaking of signings, get your first look at the finished Son of Neptune on Rick Riordans blog prior to his small tour starting in just a week.  If you're going to be at the Toronto stop for his tour make sure to say hi as I'll definitely be there with bells on! 7pm October 6th at the Yorkdale mall Indigo.

-Also on Ricks blog are  his latest reads, amongst them the wonderful Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children.  There's a great mix of books and I've already found something I'll have to pick up!

-Veronica Roths sequel to Divergent, Insurgent has a cover!  Stop by her blog post where she answers a few of your burning questions about book two.

- Carrie Ryan has announced her latest book deal.  She's doing an Anthology called Foretold, all stories about prophecies and predictions.  This sounded cool, but then I saw Laini Taylor on the list of contributors, and well... I was sold.

-Lauren Oliver has given a sneak peek at the hardcover for Lisel and Po.  It's pretty wicked looking, I'm a little sad my Arc isn't quite as pretty!

Finally make sure to stop by Friday when the Banned Books Giveaway Hop starts up!  I have a great banned book up for grabs!

Hope to see you tonight if you're in the T.O. area!

Manly Mondays- Mini Reviews by the Hubby

Down the Mysterly River, by Bill Willingham

From Goodreads:

Max “the Wolf” is a top notch Boy Scout, an expert at orienteering and a master of being prepared. So it is a little odd that he suddenly finds himself, with no recollection of his immediate past, lost in an unfamiliar wood. Even odder still, he encounters a badger named Banderbrock, a black bear named Walden, and McTavish the Monster (who might also be an old barn cat)—all of whom talk—and who are as clueless as Max.

Before long, Max and his friends are on the run from a relentless group of hunters and their deadly hounds. Armed with powerful blue swords and known as the Blue Cutters, these hunters capture and change the very essence of their prey. For what purpose, Max can’t guess. But unless he can solve the mystery of the strange forested world he’s landed in, Max may find himself and his friends changed beyond recognition, lost in a lost world… 

Down the Mysterly River reads like a long lost story from your childhood.  A truly instant classic.  Though it's a middle grade book, there's enough substance here to engage a reader of any age

Down the Mysterly River, by Bill Willingham

Published by Starscape, September 2011

Copy acquired at the BEA

Buy Down the Mysterly River on Amazon

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, by Erik Larson

From Goodreads:

The often startling story of William E. Dodd, the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany, and his family. History professor Dodd was an unlikely choice to represent the United States in Hitler's Berlin; indeed, he was FDR's fifth choice for the post. His on-the-job education in the barbarities of the "New Germany" sometimes contrasted with that of his romantic, impressionable, party-loving daughter Martha. Larson places these very personal stories within the context of the ever-worsening events.

In the Garden of Beasts was more intense then anything I've read in fiction as of late.  This book would have blown my mind even if it wasn't based on actual events.  The fact that this actually happened makes anything else pale in comparison

In the Garden of Beasts, By Erik Larson

Published by Crown, May 2011

Copy acquired at the BEA

Buy In the Garden of Beasts on Amazon

Damned, by Chuck Palahniuk

From Goodreads:

The newest Palahniuk novel concerns Madison, an eleven year old girl who finds herself in Hell, unsure of why she will be there for all eternity, but tries to make the best of it. 

The author described the novel as "if The Shawshank Redemption had a baby by The Lovely Bones and it was raised by Judy Blume." And "it's kind of like The Breakfast Club set in Hell."

I've read most Chuck Palahniuk books and I think Damned might be my favourite.  Unlike any of his other books, Damned will have a sequel, which is both annoying (because I don't want to wait) and awesome (because I want more).

Damned by Chuck Palahiuk

Published by Doubleday, October 2011

Copy acquired at the BEA

Buy Damned on Amazon

The Last Child, By John Hart

From Goodreads:

Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: a warm home and loving parents; a twin sister, Alyssa, with whom he shared an irreplaceable bond. He knew nothing of loss, until the day Alyssa vanished from the side of a lonely street. Now, a year later, Johnny finds himself isolated and alone, failed by the people he’d been taught since birth to trust. No one else believes that Alyssa is still alive, but Johnny is certain that she is---confident in a way that he can never fully explain.

Determined to find his sister, Johnny risks everything to explore the dark side of his hometown. It is a desperate, terrifying search, but Johnny is not as alone as he might think. Detective Clyde Hunt has never stopped looking for Alyssa either, and he has a soft spot for Johnny. He watches over the boy and tries to keep him safe, but when Johnny uncovers a dangerous lead and vows to follow it, Hunt has no choice but to intervene.

Then a second child goes missing . . . 

The Last Child exceeded my expectations after having first read and loved John Harts newest book, Iron House.  My only complaint is the cover.  Boo!

This doesn't come even remotely close to conveying the tone of this twisted, dark book.

The Last Child, by John Hart

Published by Minotaur Books, March 2010

Buy The Last Child on Amazon

Read-a-thon update, day the third part deux

oh god it's bad. 10:55 and I'm only, technically, 11 pages into The Age of Persuasion, How Marketing Ate our Culture.  I'm also, already wildly resentful that somehow the first 17 pages aren't part of the page count for this book.  I mean I read them!!! I should be at 28 pages despite the actual numbering of the pages of this book.  So that's the stat I'm listing.

I can't stop yawning suddenly, and my attention is distracted every couple of lines.  Boy my tea sure is steamy tonight.  Wow, look how far up the steam seems to go?!

Good lord, I sure hope I don't have to somehow finish this book.

Read-a-thon update, day the third

I have been Ukrainianised and made a little more Polish as well.  There have been two street fairs and much yummy street fair food.

My good friend Hasina came over today to do the Bloor Street West Ukrainian festival with me.  We split homemade lemonade, chicken peanut skewers, a beef empanada, perogies, and some kind of spectacular polish sausage with pickled peppers and fancy onions. Yum!

Then I came home and got to work. Thus I can now proudly say I've finished book two of four for friday!! Through the Glass by Shannon Moroney made me very weepy, lots more soggy kleenex, however it was super thought provoking and has only increased my interest in a book Amy from Amy Reads reviewed a short while ago about the penitentiary system.  Must remember to ask her what it was called! (mental note to self, Shannon's book is having a release party October 11 at the Gladstone.  This would be a cool excursion)

Now I'm going to have super belated bachelorette super (eggs and bacon, rah rah!!), then get to work on the book I've been dreading.  The Age of Persuasion, How Marketing Ate our Culture.  See? I think I may have dozed off just saying the title, ugh.  Alas I must give it the old college try.

Wish me luck!!

Read-a-thon update, day the second part two

I have been, I have eaten the pickle and I have returned to blankets, kitties, tea and a shocking story.

Pages read so far- 185, pages remaining- 156, likelihood I'll finish tonight- slim to none.

Tissues used while reading Shannon's heart wrenching story? 3 very wet ones.

On the agenda for midnight? Clean the litter, feed the kitties, get ready for bed, turn off the radio (which, by the by, plays a retarded amount of beastie boys after 10pm on Saturday), and take this book to bed for maybe another half hour of reading or whenever I manage to put it down (its super engrossing).

Books remaining to review prior to Friday deadline for edits? 2.5

Time remaining until hubbies return, and therefore when I need to start cleaning dishes and picking up random socks laying about the apartment? 48 hour exactly (not that I'm counting or anything)

Street fairs left to visit this weekend? 1- Bloor West Village Ukrainian festival (did polish today).

Read-a-thon update, day the second

Well what can I say.  I'm a little too old for staying up that late.  I didn't drag my sorry butt out of bed until 11 this morning, then got ready for some street festival eating.

Me and my good friend Mel from The Streets I Know, hit Roncesvalles in search of yummy, cheap food and good times.  All of which we found, including fire jugglers, a 9-12 year old Green Day cover band, competitive polish dancing, samosas and murtabaks.  Did I mention we're going back shortly for dinner?? And likely desert too.

In the interim I started my next read, Through the Glass by Shannon Moroney, a biography of a woman who's husband committed violent sexual assault and kidnapping one month into their marriage.
Happy happy reading times!  Not my usual read by a long shot, I'm not a true crime kind of girl, however it was top of my editors list so I'm currently 91 pages committed to it.  It's good, though adequately disturbing and horrifying.  Lets just say I'm glad I'm able to temper it with buskers and street food.

But I hear the siren song of deep fried pickles and funnel cakes, so it's time to call Mel up for round two (ie-dinner), the remaining 251 pages will just have to wait for my stuffed self to roll back here for more reading.

Read-a-thon update

Blogged, tweeted, heated up more tea, medicated Thurman (after a year of being an indiscriminate eater he's developed a delicate tummy.  Really Thurmy, stop licking the floor!), and then treated all to wet food delicacies and got back to reading.

Finished the pot of tea, all kitties except Dilly have given up on me and are spread eagle all over the bed sleeping, and at 2:20 am finally finished book one of four!

268 pages read, The Paris Correspondent finished!

Sleep beckons, then a bit of street festivaling tomorrow, finished with an evening of reading.  What should I pick up next? The Age of Persuasion How Marketing Ate our Culture, by Terry O'Reilly and Mike Tennant, Through the Glass by Shannon Moroney or a Good Man by Guy Vanderhague?

The OH MY GOD, HOW MAY BOOKS DO I HAVE TO READ???? Mini read-at-thon

I have been a terrible hostess.  I know, I know.  Last weekend I promised my return and then what did I do?! Go completely silent again!  
In my defence I have to say, very early sunday morning we had more bad news.  Two days after I returned and was settling back in from my Grandmothers funeral, we got a call that the hubbies Grandfather (also in Saskatchewan) had passed away.  Needless to say September is not panning out to be the productive month I had planned!


Anywho, I am currently almost finished my first day of 4, home alone, and I have a massive undertaking I'm trying to work my way through.  I have 4 books to read and review by a week today. Yup.  So apparently my quiet week off that was supposed to be part catch up, part sleeping and part lazy canning and baking has been re-dedicated to maniac reading (and a hair cut for a possible contributor photo, blurg!) all for an exciting new project where, if all goes to plan, readers will soon be able to peruse my reviews in hard print.


So hell, I'm home alone, why not power through right??  But I keep dozing off so I thought I'd throw some excitement into this home alone with dozy kitties and make this a web experience with live updates, snacks and staying up late (dude I'm so not an all nighter chick).


So these are my stats.  I thought I'd start easy and go with the thinnest book. 
Massive fail.
Thinnest book turns out to have the densest prose (hence dozing off).

As of 11:01pm Toronto time, I'm 157 pages into The Paris Correspondent by Alan S. Cowell.  It's only 268 pages so this should have been done by now.  I did, after all, read all 280 pages of the Duff in one day while away for the funeral.  However The Duff did not abound with sentences like this : 
When you met up with him, it was as if he was beckoning you to join him on the far side of some Alice in Wonderland portal that led to a world where everything changed gear, changed perspective; as if he was luring you to enter Narnia or Oz and not be too surprised about what you might encounter.  You could almost feel yourself decoupling from your familiar coordinates, drifting free.


So the first part of my reading journey involved dozing off for at least an hour in the middle of a similar prose stuffed sentence that went nowhere, only to be saved by a call from my mom. Thank god for mom!  She talked to me until I woke up enough to make some caffeinated tea and try try again.  Luckily the story part has actually finally kicked in so between the radio, the caffeine, and the snacks I am still wide eyed and busy tailed! Hell I might even finish this book!  

Thurman is totally planning a play at the chocolate.

I just finished some crackers with cheese, and the chocolate bars are still readily available.  The cats look tired and unimpressed, however they are enjoying the cooler temperatures and the snuggle-ability of the long reading hours with a blanket.

Wish me luck! Talk to you soon!

The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern- Review

How I came by my copy of the The Night Circus is a testimony to what an incredibly wise move it was to bring the hubby to the BEA this year.  Despite the already large hype, I was completely unaware of what The Night Circus was or that it was primed to be one of the biggest releases of 2011.  However, in his wanderings of the floor, the hubby came upon a monstrous line up and thought- Hmm, this must be good, and got into it. So some time later, when he came by the autograph line I'd been sitting in forever, he handed me a copy of The Night Circus, signed by Erin herself, to the swoons and dismay of all those in line around me.  Sadly they did not have fab BEA hubbies getting them books while they waited in lines.

Unfortunately it sat gathering dust until a couple of weeks ago when I realized it was coming out right away and I should get down to business and read it already.  Ahh, how I regret sitting on it!

Two children, raised to be magical opponents in a mysterious night circus.  One fantastical circus which appears without warning and leaves the same way, only open between dusk and dawn and filled with the most awe inspiring things.  A plethora of players in the Circus as well as dedicated enthusiasts who are not only pawns in the competition but also the answer to its survival.  One boy who loves it so truly he alone might be able to save it when all else is lost.  One fierce battle that threatens to overwhelm everyone, willing participants or not. 
It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, will you join the enamoured group of Rêveurs?

The short answer, of course, is that I have.
I'm not sure what I expected, something more like Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell I suppose, but this was far more exotic and fairy tale-ish.  Erin Morgenstern uses a very etheral 3rd person narrative to her advantage in The Night Circus, lending an already mysterious story that little bit of je ne sais quoi and elevating it from just another piece of fantasy fiction to something more akin to a tale whispered to you by a beloved grandparent at bedtime.  It comes across as a classic, like rumplestiltskin or the twelve dancing princesses, dark, magical and completely addictive.  This is not a disneyfied fairy tale with sunshine, butterflies and happy endings for all.

One of the higlights of this story, to me, was how vividly she paints everything.  Her characters are never at a dinner, they are at a dinner that begins at midnight in an amazing house, with the most whimsical details, eating spectacular food that is described in full.  The Night Circus is not just a circus, it is a circus where everything is black and white (including the stripes of the tents), where the alleyways smell of carmel popcorn and each and everything you see is a carefully crafted piece of art.  Her descriptions throughout are absoloutly mouth watering, and it makes the Night Circus into way more than just a venue for the story, it's a character in itself.
 
The actual story is told in a series of clips, each dated and marked for location, sometimes jumping years ahead, and sometimes returning to a year or two before again, all while following different people from her large ensemble cast.  The pieces come together in this teasing way, creating a puzzle to the story which was totally unexpected, and adding yet another layer to this masterful wedding cake of a book.
 
And did I mention the performing kittens? Well obviously I was sold the instant there were performing circus kittens (ahum, Ms Morgenstern, where do I get such wonderful things??!).
 
A really vivid, diffrent and engrossing book, well worth the hype.  Make sure to pick it up when it goes on sale tomorrow.  You won't be sorry!
 
The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
Buy The Night Circus on Amazon
Check out Erin's blog and website
Come on out to the IFOA in Toronto and see her talk about her debut novel

Unlinkable Saturday Link Salad, and Hop winners!

Ta Da! I'm Back!

I know, I know. My staleness has bored you these past two weeks.  I apologize profusely.  Alas, family and life and the loss of it both has eaten up my days lately.  But I flew back to T.O. late thursday night, spent yesterday catching up on organizing, volunteering and groceries and today is dedicated to yard maintenance and the start of blog and email catchup. 

Oh god the horrors!  

So far it's been one cup of coffee and the perusal of 148 junk emails and the deletion thereof.  I'm not sure if the weeds in my yard or the 78 emails still awaiting me to look at them, are scarier. 

Needless to say I am wayyyy behind on my website reading and although I had a largess of links, they are either outdated or lost to me at the moment.  However, I do have a handful of things to share!

-First up I have some winners to announce!  Congratulations to Manda, Angela Clark and Alison.  Each of you will be receiving an email from author Nuayma Jeggel shortly, to arrange for your copy of her ebook, Raven!  Thanks to all who entered the Back to the Books Hop and I hope you will be sticking around if you're one of my new followers.

-I'm happy to, belatedly, announce the return of the ever fun Giving Me the Creeps October! Starting October 1st and running all month, I'll once again be dedicating my reading and reviews entirely to the creepies.  Be it Zombies, Vampires, Monsters or horror, if it has the potential to give me the willies, I'm in! I have a fab button so you can pass along the fun if you're also creepily inclined, it should be up and running in just a few hours on my side bar.  

-Also, I'm joining forces with I'm a Reader not a Writer to bring you the Spooktacular Hop from October 24th to 31st.  Make sure to sign up and join the fun!

Expect something special and hopefully signed for my giveaway!

-Finally, the September teaser for City of Lost Souls is up.  It's fun because it's Magnus and Izzy, so make sure to check it out.

We'll talk soon, I promise. Now go forth and have a happy Saturday!