Saturday, November 5, 2011

Quote it Saturday 11/5/11

Quote it Saturday is hosted by Freda at Freda's voice. Just pick a quote and link back to Freda's post.

Anonymous quotes welcome.

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.
Abraham Lincoln

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.
Oscar Wilde

It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Monday, October 31, 2011

Thank Goodness October is Almost Over

Wow, it feels good to be back on here. I missed you all so much! This October was crazy for me school wise. It felt like I didn't even have a second to breathe and relax but now that it is almost November, I am hoping that  the mid-semester homework dump is over so that I can come back and be a presence in the blogosphere again.

November starts NaNoWriMo and I plan on participating so I will be writing a LOT but I will post what I have done so that I have some accountability. I promise I will get some more reviews up as soon as possible. I have read a ton of really great books that I want to share with you, I just have to type up the reviews. Also, I want to update my 31(or 13) days of Halloween post with all the Halloween books I have read.

So, I hope your Octobers were less stressful and more productive than mine was and here's a sigh of relief that October is almost over. Happy Halloween!! See you next month!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Quote It 10/15/11


Quote it Saturday is Hosted by Freda at Freda's Voice

Add as many quotes as you wish, from whom ever you wish. It can even be lyrics to a song.
Just tell us who it is. Anonymous quotes are welcome too.
And please leave your link.
I was feeling fairly witchy today so my quote is from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Macbeth Act 1 Scene 1
All Witches
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1    
First Witch
Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
Second Witch
Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.
Third Witch
Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.
First Witch
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Third Witch
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Monday, October 10, 2011

White Witch Pond Blog Tour


Blog Tour and Review: White Witch Pond by Jody Kihara
White Witch Pond

Check out Jody Kihara’s facebook page because she is going to be giving away 5 copies of White Witch Pond. Go and enter for a copy of your own. Good Luck!  

Title: White Witch Pond
Author: Jody Kihara (website: http://www.jodykihara.com/)
Pages: 119
Rating: ****
Review Source: The author, Jody Kihara for Lightning Book Promotions

Back of Book Synopsis (from goodreads.com):

Shaya Solen’s walk home from school takes her past an eerie pond, where one day she finds an old bracelet made of raven feathers. Soon, strange events begin to unfold: a shadowy figure glimpsed across the water, ominous nightmares haunting Shaya, and rumors of a witch who once drowned in the pond. With the discovery of a strange family connection to the witch, Shaya is drawn into a mystery that must be solved before the approaching Halloween, which is the thirteenth anniversary of the witch’s death – and Shaya’s birthday.

You can purchase a copy of White Witch Pond at Amazon.

My Thoughts:

I absolutely loved this book. It was creepy and sweet all at the same time.
Jody Kihara’s writing style is so beautiful and it evokes such great imagery. Just in this little passage we get so much information and already there is a feeling of dread creeping into the story: “It was October, and the days were short. The light was already fading by the time school let out – only a quarter to four, and already the edges of the park were blurring away into a fuzzy half-light, as if a paintbrush with too much water had drawn their outlines. The air had a sharp, biting feel to it, making Shaya shove her hands in her pockets and bounce up and down on her heels.” (p.4) You just know that something spooky is about to happen.

Shaya is such a wonderful fully developed character. We see her antagonistic relationship with her older brother, Dev, but we also see her love for him as well. When the sibblings are walking home, they discover the bracelet of a witch that died in the pond. Shaya has the sense to throw it back but her brother picks it up and brings it home. Once it gets there, strange things begin happening, and Shaya has to beat the clock to save her brother and make things right.

Shaya makes such a great heroine. Despite the fact that she is young, she takes her destiny into her own hands and works to save her brother’s life. She is constantly yelled at by her mom and her brother does not want her help, but she does not stop and she shows great courage in some pretty spooky situations.

Overall this is a really good story. Very well written and wonderfully spooky. A perfect read of October. I give it **** out of five.

The other White Witch Pond Blog Tour Stops:

October 9th – Alexis @ Reflections of a Bookaholic
October 10th – Lexi @ The Novel Student
October 10th – Jessica @ Book Sake
October 11th – Liz @ Cleverly Inked 
October 12th – Jennifer @ My Life With Books
October 13th – Jessica @ A Book Lover’s Diary
October 14th – Rebecca @ Everything To Do With Books
October 14th – Velvet @ vvb32 Reads
October 15th – Heidi @ Pages of Gold
October 16th – Shannon @ Write-To-Read
October 17th – Yara @ Once Upon A Twilight
October 18th – Jennifer @ Can’t Put It Down
October 19th – Cassandra @ Book & Movie Dimension
October 20th – Kristin @ Kristin Can Read
October 20th – Rachel @ Rachel’s Book Reviews
October 21st – Beckie @ Bittersweet Enchantment
October 22nd – Natalie @ Purple Jelly Bean Chair Reviews

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Quote it! Saturday 10/8/11


Welcome to Quote It! Quote it! is hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice

Add as many quotes as you wish, from whom ever you wish. It can even be lyrics to a song.
Just tell us who it is. Anonymous quotes are welcome too.
And please leave your link on Freda’s post.


My quotes (Theme: Fairy tales)
“There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart’s Desire.”
― Neil GaimanStardust

“Once upon a time – for that is how all stories should begin – there was a boy who lost his mother.”
― John ConnollyThe Book of Lost Things

“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
― G.K. Chesterton

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
― Albert Einstein

“If I’m honest I have to tell you I still read fairy-tales and I like them best of all.”
― Audrey Hepburn

“Fear isn't so difficult to understand. After all, weren't we all frightened as children? Nothing has changed since Little Red Riding Hood faced the big bad wolf. What frightens us today is exactly the same sort of thing that frightened us yesterday. It's just a different wolf. This fright complex is rooted in every individual.”
― Alfred Hitchcock

“Deeper meaning resides in the fairy tales told to me in my childhood than in the truth that is taught by life.”
― Friedrich von Schiller

“Every fairy tale had a bloody lining. Every one had teeth and claws.”
― Alice Hoffman

“Classic fairy tales do not deny the existence of heartache and sorrow, but they do deny universal defeat.”
― Greenhaven Press

“In a utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that fairy tales should be respected.”
― Charles Dickens

Ok, so I went a little overboard with quotes this week, because I am a little obsessed with fairy tales (as you can probably tell) 

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Teaser Tuesday 10/4/11

The Graveyard Book

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
5. Post the link to your post in the comments section of MizB’s post

My Teaser:
"'Are you the oldest?' asked Bod.
'The Oldest in the graveyard? I am.'
'So you were the first to be buried here?'
A hesitation. 'Almost the first,' said Caius Pompeius."

From The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Monday, October 3, 2011

Reviews for 31 (or 13) Days of Halloween

I am going to be posting the reviews for the 31 (or 13) Days of Halloween here; so, here is the link for the list of possibilities.

Book #1: Playing with Fire Review: ****


Playing with Fire (Anthology of Horror)This is a great collection of horror stories. Perfect for October and reading in anticipation for Halloween. I totally felt myself getting shivers even snuggled in the warmth of my bed. 

I did not like the layout much though, it was hard to tell where one story started and another ended. I would have wanted to see a title page for each new story. I also did not like the fact that excerpts were included because after reading them I wanted to read the whole story. But, these are really the only negative thing I have to say about it. 

This anthology had a really good mix of different types of horror stories from ghost stories to zombies to dystopian end of the world type stories. I really enjoyed all of the stories but I am only going to talk about the complete works and not the excerpts. (I’m kind of boycotting those because they left me feeling unsatisfied -- now I have "I can't get no Satisfaction..." stuck in my head)

Best Served: Anna's character is fairly complicated, because you feel for her because her friend was killed but she is kind of unsympathetic in the fact that she went out with the intention of killing the murder. But you understand her emotions and the reason she wants to get revenge, but the act itself makes her just as bad as the murderers.

Widows of the Night: Warning: If you have arachnophobia, this story is  not for you! I really enjoyed this one, it is probably my favorite in this anthology because of the heightened emotions that the story evokes as well as the creepy, skin crawly way it ends.

Bitten: is about a man who gets revenge on his cruel wife after he is bitten by the family dog and becomes a Zombie. 
What makes this story interesting is that it comes from the husband (zombie's) perspective. I have not read any books or stories where it comes from the Zombie's point of view. I think it added some humanity to a usually shock/gore value type of story. I also think that Knight does a good job of giving us a mindless zombie but also giving him enough of a consciousness to make the character even more creepy than a normal zombie. Knowing that he had enough reason to not kill his wife but decided to any way just adds to the creepy factor.

Playing with Fire: is about a boy, Kalen, who discovers the monster that is lurking beneath the surface in himself. First of all I feel like I have been reading the name Kalen a lot lately or maybe I am just going crazy because I can't think of any examples. 

This story is interesting because of the revelations that are made about Kalen and his past. I don't think I have read a story quite like this. It had a Frankenstein feel but the monsters were more creative. They are a kind of cross between demons, vampires and gargoyles. Very cool. I totally felt sorry for Kalen and hated his father. Why would someone do that to their child?

Devil of a Ghost Tour: is about a couple, Lynn and Lee Holt, who go on a ghost tour only to have Lee become possessed by a demon called up out of hell by a man seeking fortune in 1885.

I really liked the fact that despite the fact that this is a short story, Coral Russell was able to show us two time periods without me feeling like the story was rushed. I thought the relationship between Lynn and Lee was very cute and the concept of a ghost tour was really neat. I have been on several ghost tours but  nothing nearly as eventful as what happened in the story happened to me (thank God!)

Key to a Haunting: again deals with a haunted house but the romance and family history added a new and unique quality. I liked the way Russell was able to take true historical events (if moved to a new location- I'm not sure if one such fire actually happened in El Passo) with the fire of a factory where factory girls perished because of bosses locking doors so employees could not leave until the end of the work day. I also liked the fact that the ghost hunters were carried over from the previous story.

Flawed: is a story about a house that brings out the worst in the people who live there. I think that this story was very creepy and suspenseful. It had a Stephen King sort of feel to it mixed with a Charlotte Perkins Gillman (The Yellow Wallpaper) feel where the house drives people crazy. The first sentence of the second paragraph is really great " At the moment I am barricaded inside my niece's bedroom while my eldest brother prowls the outside corridor like a modern day Cain, ready to strike me down."

I thought it was especially creepy because of the fact that these traits were already present in the people but the house just magnified them. And I liked the fact that it looks like this is just going to keep happening with every new tenant   

The Stuff Dreams aren't Made of: Despite the kind of clunky title, this is a really great story. Very shiver worthy. The world has become a place where sin and greed have taken over. The cities were abandoned because of the corruption but soon, the refugee shanty towns have become just as bad as the cities. Those fleeing the cities have brought the same sickness and corruption with them. The main character is a man who is willing to lose everything for a small moment of escape. He trades his blood or his life essence for someone else's happy memories. 

I find the whole concept very freaky because of the nature of escapism that is in  our culture with movies, books and video games catering to it. I could actually see someone giving up their life for an escape from reality. Very thought provoking.

This Dark Magic: is about a journalist who discovers that black magic is being used against him and other people in the city. I really liked that it sounded like a black and white detective movie it was very well written and suspenseful.

Book #2: Pride Predjudice and Zombies Review ****
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
I have to admit that I was not too excited to read this one. I was afraid that Seth Grahame-Smith had just added scenes of Zombies into the Pride and Prejudice story but I was pleasantly surprised to see that he was able to add them realistically into all aspects of the story. From the actual encounters with zombies to the songs they sing and the games they play. I did not really like Elizabeth's character in the original story (*gasp*, I know) but I really liked her as a Warrior and Zombie slayer. When she told Jane to slay Miss Bingley because she did not want Jane to marry her brother, made me laugh so hard. Also, there are ninjas, ninjas!! Need I say more?








Book #3: The Graveyard Book Review: *****
The Graveyard Book


I love Neil Gaiman's books. All of the ones I have read so far, and this one does not dissapoint. It was magical and immaginative and full of adventure, suspense and danger. It was absolutely perfect for a Halloween book. I loved that all of the dead characters were the ones I related to and loved and the living characters were the source of danger and suspense. I really want to know how Neil Gaiman comes up with his story ideas because I have not read any other books like his. I really did not want The Graveyard Book to end!










Book #4 White Witch Pond review can be found here ****
White Witch Pond