Okbo Lover

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

* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* 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!)
* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser is from Infected by Scott Siegler (which is really damn good so far!)

“Each of the three slits opened, revealing the deep, black, shiny surfaces underneath. If there was any question as to what they were, it disappeared when all three sets of lids blinked in unison”

I’ll let you ponder that. It’s actually creepy.

I just thought of something. I was oozing with envy as I surfed through book blogs and how these lucky people got all sorts of goodies in their mailboxes from authors and publishers alike. *sighs* I know I’ll get some books soon so I’m going to keep positive! (feels like grabbing a microphone and yelling over the PA: HEY I WANT SOME BOOKS TOO) So I decided to go to the library to make myself feel better.

I found some of these goodies:

The Virgin’s Lover – Philippa Gregory (was on hold and I picked it up hence another excuse to go to the library)

The Meaning of Night – Michael Cox (Victorian thriller)

The Templar Legacy – Steve Berry (Part of my Suspense and Thriller Challenge)

The Dark Queen – Susan Carroll (Was on my Wishlist)

Creepers – David Morell (Part of my Take a Chance Challenge) (because The Ruby in Her Navel didn’t work out)

voila there’s my treasure! anybody else go to the library and found something good?

Teaser Tuesday is coming up soon!

Okay I just had a bloody brain fart. I posted a Musing Monday that’s super old. So let’s do this all over again and pretend I didn’t do the previous one okay? It’s monday, forgive my stupidity.

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about mid-year reading…

Now that we’ve come to the middle of the year, what do you think of your 2009 reading so far? Read anything interesting that you’d like to share? Any outstanding favourites?

- The most interesting book I’ve read so far? There’s two that come to mind. The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. The Road because it’s a good book, it’s fast and although bleak and depressing. It’s a bit of an eye opener. I say Mistborn because it’s a very different kind of fantasy that I read so far. No dragons in this one. It’s a unique kind of fantasy and definitely worth the read. As far as outstanding favorites, The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory would be it because I’m such a mush and the love story in it was so nice. I normally don’t like romance but, this kind of romance in the book was tasteful and not your average stupidity you find in Harlequin (I hate those bodice ripper kinds, they’re a waste of my time in my opinion)

Anyway! I would definitely recommend The Road since it’s going to be a movie released this fall

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about new authors…

What is your policy when it comes to new authors? Do you feel comfortable purchasing a book or do you prefer to borrow new authors from the library? How often do you ‘try out’ a new author?

- I love to try out new authors! it’s the only way to expand my reading library. I buy or borrow it depends what’s in the wallet. I prefer going to thrift stores to buy though, because sometimes you find the authors that you don’t find anywhere else. (Not to mention, it’s a cheaper price – books are expensive nowadays) To me, every time I go to the library or store I don’t often go to the best sellers or what’s “hot” it’s not my thing and sometimes I find those books are extremely over rated. (It depends I guess) I always go to the other shelves and just browse. You’ll never know what you might find. I guess that’s why I love going through libraries and bookstores. It’s like digging for hidden treasures

After my blahness with The Ruby in Her Navel, I set that one down in the “To be returned” pile and picked up Infected by Scott Siegler. Now this is a much more interesting read. There was a certain part where I just cringed with terror because of its’ graphic descriptions of pain. I just about saw stars when something was being pulled with tweezers. Perhaps I’ll use a passage from that particular part for Teaser Tuesdays so everybody can cringe with me

So far, this has been a great read. I’m going to read a lot more tonight as I didn’t have as much time as I wanted to during the day. Tomorrow, I’ll work on Red Seas Under Red Skies, or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Okay I just read a little more of The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth for my Take a Chance Challenge and for today’s Sunday Salon. It’s not working. The book isn’t catching my attention and after the first two chapters I’m finding it a dry and reading it is making it feel like a chore. I think I’m going to have to take another book out for the challenge. It just isn’t working out. I’ve learnt in the past, if you don’t like reading the book, get rid of it and read another. Don’t waste time. So I’m going to return this book and read Infected by Scott Siegler instead. It’s much more exciting.

Great and Terrible Beauty

What first attracted me to A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray was the cover, I have to admit. I’ve always loved corsets and like wearing them (albeit not so tight that I have to gasp for air!). The book takes place in Victorian England in the 1800′s however I sometimes have to double check because if you could just “hear” the way Gemma (protagonist) talks throughout the novel it doesn’t seem like it’s in 1800′s. She talks as if she’s from present day England. That’s just my view on it though. Gemma isn’t your average lily white elegant girl who’s all dainty and feminine. I’d say she’s a bit of a tomboy but more of someone who isn’t afraid to speak her mind and can defend herself when need be. Which is why I like her the most out of the group of girls she’s with. Naturally, like every novel with a group of schoolgirls each one of them has an issue to deal with in their lives: Gemma with issues with her mom, Pippa with her beauty and her rather nasty sounding fiance, Ann with her issues of self-harm and self esteem, and Felicity who’s got issues with her parents (and is rather power hungry). (It sort of reminds you of The Breakfast Club) (har har). There is the underlying theme though, of not wanting to be stuck within the mores of society where women are stuck being pretty things that aren’t meant to think out loud, or even to question things. Gemma especially, just isn’t cut out for that mold. You see Pippa struggling with that through the novel and what she ultimate chooses to be in the end.

Without delving too much into the plot (I hate doing that because I really don’t want to give too much away) I found the book not too bad. There’s a lot of questions to be answered. What I want to know most is about this “Order” I wish there was more background information on it so you have a general idea on what it really is. There’s also the issue with Miss Moore I’d really like to know what’s going to happen with her. I hope she comes back in the second part of this trilogy.

Overall, a good novel with a gothic theme. (7 out of 10)

I’m giggling with glee here. After so much persistence and stubborn never give up attitude, I am finally going to recieve my first ARC!!!! I seriously can’t wait!!!!

Anyone out there excited as I am when they got their first ARC??? *dances with glee*

Today’s Booking Through Thursday!!

Question:

Now that summer is here (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), what is the most “Summery” book you can think of? The one that captures the essence of summer for you?

(I’m not asking for you to list your ideal “beach reading,” you understand, but the book that you can read at any time of year but that evokes “summer.”)

Answer:

Uh..*draws a complete blank* this is a hard question. I would say the closest “summery” book I’ve read would be The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory. Although the one I’m reading now: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray does have a lot of summer landscape descriptions with a lot of sunshine, flowers and butterflies. I think I’ll go for A Great and Terrible Beauty as the most closest book I have that has summer in it. Especially the part where “Sweat drips uncomfortably in her corset” quote. You can’t go wrong with that if you’re talking about summer. Ew.

Today is Read Em Yet Wednesday! hosted by Veronika. First of all I have to say thanks for the info on Rosemary Sutcliff! I didn’t know anything about her until now. It was hard to choose which book I would be interested in reading first. Being such a historical fiction fan, I went with The Eagle of the Ninth.

Eagle of the Ninth

It was a hard choice to narrow down but I figure, it’s been a while since I’ve read a novel about ancient Rome. The last few months it was nothing but the Tudor era and the middle ages. I think I’m ready for something “more ancient” I suppose! Considering this is a Young Adult Fiction novel, I may replace it with another book that’s listed in my 2009 YA reading challenge. It seems like a good idea. That way I actually read the book and at the same time gives me a book to count towards the challenge. When I’ll read it, sometime before Dec 2009! as that’s the deadline for the challenge. Anyway thanks for letting us readers know about Rosemary Sutcliff! (and adding more to our “to be read” piles)