Saturday, December 24, 2011

Misfit

Misfit by Jon Skovron


So glad I finally got to finish this book. I received it as an e-book advanced readers copy on my Kindle. Three fourths of the way through the book, it messed up and would not let me advance, would not let me skip the messed up part - nothing. The publisher would not re-issue me another copy, so that was that. I was 3/4 through (I started reading in September) and could not finish. The other day, I picked up my Kindle, thought I'd give it another try and there it was, advanced beyond the messed up part and ready for me to pick up not far from where I had left off.  I was very happy to be able to finish it. It was a very good read and one I'd recommend to anyone who likes the genre. I look forward to reading more in this series or anything else by this author.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Breaking Dawn Part 1

"Breaking Dawn" was my least favorite of all the Twilight Books, but I was still unprepared for this truly bad, this utterly horrible, movie. I will go see the last movie for some sort of closure, but I refuse to buy a new curling iron. (Hair products? Seriously?)

Sunday, November 20, 2011

People of the Book


People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Unabridged audio on 12CDs, read by Edwina Wren

Most likely the best book I've read/listened to all year. The readers wasn't the best I've heard, but the story itself was worth every minute. A specialist in preservation and restoration of ancient books is called to Sarajevo to restore a recently discovered 15th century Jewish prayerbook. As she restores the book, the story goes backward in time to trace the history of the book and how it came to be in Sarajevo. Awesome, awesome story, expertly written.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Gossip Girl season 4

I've been watching Gossip Girl Season 4 on Netflixs. Are there really girls in this world as stupid as Serena?

Monday, October 10, 2011

Fast Food Drive-Thurs

McDonald has the best drink prices so I stop there most mornings and afternoons that I work. Best prices - most annoying drive-thru in the world. "Would you like to try our newwwww strawberry smoooooothie?" Hell no, I know what I want, quit asking me stupid questions and just take my order!

Grrrrrrrrr - I stopped at Jack-in-the-Box the other day and they have started doing the same thing.

Also - couldn't they put a cover over the place where you order so when it rains you won't get wet while you wait for them to ask you if you want something you don't want?

Friday, October 7, 2011

Autumn Castle


Autumn Castle by Kim Wilkins
Read by Richard Aspel
Unabridged, Audible Download

I loved the story, but the reader needs to take American English lessons. The foreign voices he did great, especially the little witch, but two of the main characters were American. The girls voice came out bland and the guy sounded whiney. He also put "r" on the end of all words ending in "a" - Australier, idear, Dianer, etc. I'm sorry, was hard to listen to at times. BUT, if you can get past that, it is a really good story and worth a listen.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Emerald Atlas


The Books of Beginning #1: The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
Unabridged on 10 CDs, read by Jim Dale

Awesome - one of the best I've listened to in a long time. Jim Dale is outstanding, though at times I had to remind myself I was not listening to Harry Potter.

Three children whose parents mysteriously disappear one Christmas, find an emerald green book that transports them though time where they race to save an entire village of children from an evil witch.

Hourglass


Hourglass by Myra McEntire

A very good read. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Emerson's brother restores old properties and Emerson sees the ghosts of those who once lived there. She has been in and out of hospitals, on and off drugs to dim her visions, but nothing has helped her. Nothing, that is until she meets Michael and finds out about Hourglass.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Gardener


The Gardener by SA Bodeen, read by Luke Daniels
Unabridged MP3 5 hours 42 minutes, 20 tracks

Awesome! For some reason I've been reading a string of great books, which is nice because for a while it was read 100 pages, put book down, or listen to 2 CDs and forget the rest of it.

Secrets surround Mason's whole life. A father who cannot be with him and his mother, money that comes every month to help supplement her job at the nursing home, her continual insistence that there is a college fund for him and that he should not have anything to do with the local lab where he wants to do a summer internship. Stranger things begin to surface when he searches though her file cabinet and finds more pieces to the puzzle. Then he visits his mother at the nursing home one night and meets a strange girl who insists that he must help her escape before the gardener comes back.

Great story and an interesting ending.

The Devil, The Lovers & Me


The Devil, The Lovers & Me by Kimberlee Auerbach

I don't know what I expect when I get a book with a tarot card theme. My mother bought me my first set of tarot cards when I was still in high school. I had read about tarot cards in a book and was interested in them and mom thought it was an interesting thing too. Which is odd, but one doesn't really know all the layers of our parents. I have read murder mystery books that have a tarot card reader in them, I have read books that have tarot cards on the front cover that had nothing to do with the story, all sorts of tarot card themed books. This one was truly different. This one, blended tarot cards with the story and came out with a winner. A non-fiction book that reads like fiction. Kimberlee Auerbach tells stories from her life as they relate to a tarot card reading. A very good, interesting story that held my attention all the way through.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Heat Wave


Heat Wave by Richard Castle
Unabridged MP3 20 tracks read by Johnny Heller

Thank goodness they have better writers for the TV series.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Briar King

Briar King by Greg Keyes

This was a slow starter for me, but once I really got into the story, I really enjoyed it. Problem is - it is the first of four novels. I have to admit, I am really, really tired of these long, fantasy sagas. Can't anyone tell a good story in just a stand along book? I liked it, but probably not four novels worth. I have too many other books waiting TBR before buying any new ones. I'll keep it in mind though because it really was a good story.

Luck of the Devil

Luck of the Devil by Patricia Eimer

Cute! Cute! Loved this book. It was funny and a great light read. What happens when the Daughter of Darkness falls in love with a Son of the Light and a brother who turns your roommate into a succubus. This is the first in a series, but does very well as a stand along book.

Friday, August 26, 2011

13th Hour


13th Hour by Richard Doetssch, read by Dennis Boutsikaris
Unabridged on 10 CDs

A very interesting and unusual concept for a book and a very good murder mystery. In the first hour, Nick Quinn's wife is murdered and he is arrested. A stranger gives him a watch and told he has 13 hours to discover his wife's murderer and to stop him. For the next 13 hours, Nick goes one hour forward and two hours back. I thought the story would be confusing, but it was awesome!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Harry Potter #8



I have to admit, I cried a little at the end of this movie. I know it had to come to an end, but I will miss this. It was sad for me when I read the last book, but this last movie really was the end of this awesome, magical adventure.

Ashes, Ashes



Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari

Unabridged audio, MP3 download




I hate downloads!!


That being said, I really enjoyed this book. The download was free from Sync Audiobook Community as part of a summer young adult and classic audiobook series. A plague has killed most of the population and Lucy is hiding out in Central Park, living on her own and getting by with a survival handbook and her father's old hunting knife. A pack of dogs drive her out hiding and she meets Aden who rescues her. The story also includes Aden's jealous girlfriend and a mad scientist who wants all of Lucy's blood. A good action packed YA sci-fi romance. It was worth the listen.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Impact




Impact by Douglas Preston, Unabridged audio 9CDs, read by Scott Sowers


Awesome! That is the only way to describe all of Douglas Preston's books. Doesn't matter if he writes singly or with Lincoln Child, the result is always the same, awesome! In Impact, Wyman Ford is back, this time investigating a mine full of radioactive gems and an alien weapon aimed at Earth. Great story!

Win Books

http://ash2nash.blogspot.com/2011/06/virtual-tour-win-books.html

Contest to win 7 autographed books!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Rantings

I read where Harper-Audio is no longer going to produce books on CDs. If the iPods or other players were up to the task, I'd say go for it, but they are not. 1 track ---- ONE track?? Come now. If I get distracted and want to go back over the last few minutes - no way, gotta listen to it from the start. If it gets to the stupid, supposedly hot sex scene that authors think they have to almost ruin an otherwise interesting book with and I find so terribly boring, you can't skip it. Burn your own CDs you say. Yep, exactly how I want to spend my Saturday. Tied to the computer while it takes 2 or 3 hours to burn a book onto CD. And you can't just leave it because it always takes multiple CDs. I am now hording AudioBooks on CD or MP3CD against the day when they no longer exist.

Another Rant:

The price of e-books. More than the hardback, more than the paperback. I love my e-readers. I have multiple brands, but now, I find it impossible to buy new books because I refuse REFUSE to pay more for a book that cost publishers a fraction of the cost to produce. I have been a devout reader my whole life and now the publishing industry wants me to give it up. I'm so frustrated right now. The whole publishing industry can just go.......jump in a lake. grrrrrrrrrr

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Dead Reckoning


Southern Vampire Series #11: Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris, unabridged, 9CDs, read by Joanna Parker


Awesome as usual! Sookie sdoes get herself into some fixes and it takes a wide array of paranormal creatures to get her out of them.




Fairy Day



June 24th was National Fairy Day! In honor of Fairy Day, Julie Kagawa has a contest on her blog: http://juliekagawa.blogspot.com/2011/06/happy-faery-day.html

One of the entries is your favorite fairy quote, so here is mine:
"I am that happy wanderer of the night"
Puck said that in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Match Me If You Can




Chicago Stars #6: Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, read by Anna Fields, Unabridged, 9 CDs




I've had this in my "to listen" box for a long time. I can't believe I had not pulled it out and listened to it before now. I love these books. They are the only "romance" novels I really, really like.






Sunday, June 12, 2011

The Murder of King Tut



The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson, read by Martin Dugard, unabridged on 5 CDs


I've hit a small string of very good books lately. In the more recent past, it has been read 100 pages and then forget it, there is nothing there for me, but the last couple of weeks I have read some interesting stuff!


Patterson combines fiction with fact in this interesting theory on who murdered the young Pharoh. The story takes place in Egypt during Tut's lifetime, Egypt during the life of Howard Carter, and present day in Patterson's office. The chapters switch back and forth between times, but each story is very easy to follow. I'm not sure I agree with Patterson's theory on who killed Tut, but I enjoyed the listen.

Goddess of Fried Okra

Goddess of Fried Okra by Jean Brashear

A little different from my usual read. Pea (short for Sweetpea, real name Eudora) is on the run, searching for the reincarnated soul of her dead sister. Along the way, she picks up a young, pregnant teenage girl, a cat, and a con man named Val. When her car breaks down in Jewel, she has to stop running and decide what is really important and who she has become.

Read on my Kindle.

Serpent's Tale


Mistress of Death #2: Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin read by Kate Reading, unabridged 10CDs

Another awesome book in this series. I can't wait to get more of these to listen to. Kate Reading is one of my favorite readers and her reading the book made it that much better. This book again was set in the time of the reign of Henry II. This time, his mistress, Rozamund, has been murdered and Adelia, the Mistress of Death, is called in to solve the crime.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Mistress in the Art of Death



Mistress of Death #1: Mistress in the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin read by Rosalyn Landor, unabridged 11CDs


I have to say I was very intrigued by the subject matter of this excellent audio. A serial killer of children during the time of Henry II of England. A doctor skilled in the art of reading a dead body to find clues of how the person died is called from the School of Medicine in Salerno as a favor to Henry II. But a Master of Death was asked for and it was a Mistress of Death they received. The book lived up to the interest it sparked in me when reading the synopsis, so much so that I am now listening to the second book in the series, The Serpent's Tale.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Girl with the Dragon Tatoo


Millennium Trilogy #1: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (read by Simon Vance)
Unabridged audio 13 CDs


I have add myself to the list of people who love this series. Three different stories, interwinded and all equally facinating. I thought I had it all figured out, and I did have part of it right, but not all. A serial killer, a missing heiress, and a libel case, all take center stage. I look forward to listening to the next book in the trilogy.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Best of 2010

Ok, for better or worse, my picks for the "Best of 2010". It was a disappointing year for me. I started and stopped more books than I finished, both in print and on audio. It was a year of 58 books and 47 audios. A couple of audios were series that I had previously read in print and wanted to enjoy again in audio. So in no particular order, here are my picks for "Best of 2010".

Books
Dark Gardian #1 Moonlight by Rachel Hawthorne
Wistril Compleat , Mister Trophy, Mallara & Burn on the Road by Frank Tuttle
Southern Vampire series #10: Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
Token of Darkness by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Dark Devine by Bree Despain
Love in a Time of Zombies by Paul Gude
World’s Wickedest Women by Margaret Nicholas
Blood Engines by TA Pratt
Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
Christopher Killer by Alane Ferguson
Ophelia & Abby series #7: The Seventh Witch by Shirley Damsgaard
House of Dead Maids by Claire B. Dunkle & Patrick Arrasmith

Audiobooks
A Year in the World by Frances Mayes (read by the author)
Open Season by Linda Howard
Wheel of Time series #6-13 includes the two newest books
The Gathering Storm & Towers of Midnight
by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson (read by Michael Kramer & Kate Reading)
The Hunger Game series: Hunger Games, Catching Fire, & The Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (read by Carolyn McCormick)
Fever Dream by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (read by Rene Auberjonois)
Life as We Knew It #2: The Dead & The Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (read by Dean Robertson)
The Southern Vampire series or the Sookie Stackhouse series or the True Blood series or Whatever-You-Want-to-Call-it series by Charlaine Harris (read by Johanna Parker)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Blasphemy


Blasphemy by Douglas Preston
Unabridged Audio, 11 CDs, read by Scott Sowers.

Another excellent book by Douglas Preston. The reader was okay, except for the main scientist's voice, it sounded too whiney. Also, I thought the main girl character in the book was stupid although it was necessary for what happens in the last few chapters.
The story revolves around a multibillion dollar science experiment that gets the religious fanatics whipped up. I always have enjoyed every book I've read by Douglas Preston be it solo or with Lincoln Childs. This was no exception, it was outstanding.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Just a Complaint

I've started and stopped so many books lately. The main females in most are so stupid. In the last one I tried to read, the couple had only been seeing each other a few days. The girl wants to know if he will leave her when she gets old. After assuring her he won't, he says something about their children. She got all mad because they had just met and he was talking about her having his baby?? Well, she had just talked about growing old together -- duh!

Most females in books, movies and TV series these days expect too much. They want to be the most important thing in their man's life. To heck with the fact he is in school trying to earn a degree so he can support her spending habits and needs time to study or that his mother is dying and he is the sole caregiver. They are so self centered and whiney. Love and marriage is give and take not take, take, take.

Most of the so called "strong" women in books aren't strong, they are bitchy. One can be strong without being mean or unattentive to other peoples feelings or needs.

Ok, done with my rant. I'll quietly go back to reading. Hopefully, a good book with a good plot and strong (but not bitchy) characters.