Welcome to My Nightmare

Book 28: A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton - 521 pages

My little synopsis: Princess Meredith NicEssus is on the run from her dangerous cousin Prince Cel and her sadistic Aunt Andais, Queen of the Unseelie Court. While working for the Grey Detective Agency, a series of events reveals who she is to her previously unsuspecting friends and suddenly Meredith's aunt is beckoning her back to Court and to her side as co-heir to the Unseelie throne...if only Meredith can produce a child before Cel.

Really, my synopsis above gives a PG-rated version of events in A Kiss of Shadows. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it. The characters are all engaging, all with their own strengths and neurouses and very well fleshed out. But flesh is definitely where a big part of this story lies. My God, the sex scenes are unbelievable! I have to admit I don't tend to read a lot of romance, as much as I love it, mostly because of this very reason. The sex scenes are so over the top sometimes it sickens me. I really think that most writers are very poor with sex scenes - they're either pornographic or so sickly romantic it makes me want to throw up (see: Harlequin romance novels). Whilst Hamilton leans more to the pornographic side, she does do a decent job. Though my own personal feelings question Meredith's approach to relationships I've come to accept it and just go with the fun of the story. Frankly, the sex I could overlook in comparison with the disgusting 'Hand of Flesh' ability that Meredith presents with some 150 pages in. Now, that was gross! And just when I thought I'd escaped it, it reared it ugly (dual, this time!) head again. I'm not looking forward to seeing it appear again in later books, but I was intrigued enough to chase down the second book from my local library. We'll see if reading them so close together will turn me against them. I actually picked up this series originally because of all the people that had reviewed Swallowing Darkness (book 7) on here when it came out last year, so thanks to everyone for introducing me to some pretty cool new material!

28 / 50 books. 56% done!

10575 / 15000 pages. 71% done!


Book 29: Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee - 220 pages

My little synopsis: David Lurie, a middle-aged university professor in Cape Town, South Africa, has an impulsive affair with a student and ends up losing his job and his name. Retiring to the Eastern Cape to stay with his daughter Lucy, he finds for a time that he is becoming used to his new life. But then he and Lucy are the victims of a savage attack in their own home, and suddenly the changes in the post-apartheid country are revealed in all their staggering and shattering reality to David.

Um, how do I describe this book? It was very clinical, very impersonal, in both its writing style and its characters. I realise it won the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Booker Prize, but I really didn't engage with it. You cannot feel for either David or Lucy, regardless of the circumstances of their situation, because neither lends themselves to sympathy. They are definitely father and daughter in the fact that they are both so alike in their stubborn disregard for advice. Perhaps I missed something, because on the facebook profile for this book, nearly all the reviews are stellar. But I read the book after my brother, who's studying literature in amongst a variety of other uni subjects, leant it to me after having to read it for his class and he got the same impression as me. I don't like it when I can't feel for the characters, I don't like a story for the sake of a story and whilst I understood the point about the change in power in SA after apartheid, I didn't quite understand Coetzee's point - is he trying to make me sympathise with David and Lucy or with the situation of the black population of SA or is he just trying to present both sides of the argument? I don't know. I just didn't feel that it did either side any justice. I've got friends from both sides of apartheid - I work with about 15 South Africans of varying heritage - and I just don't think David and Lucy and any of the other characters did these people justice as countrymen. Oh well, you can't love every book you read can you?

29 / 50 books. 58% done!

10795 / 15000 pages. 72% done!

Currently reading:
- From Modernism to Postmodernism: An Anthology edited by Lawrence Cahoone - 600 pages
- The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Volume 2: The One Tree by Stephen Donaldson - 472 pages
- The True Story of Butterfish by Nick Earls - 280 pages
- A Caress of Twilight by Laurell K. Hamilton - 326 pages

And coming up:
- The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory - 486 pages
- Next by Michael Crichton - 540 pages
- Angels and Demons by Dan Brown - 620 pages

Title: Meet the Austins
Author: Madeline L'Engle
Themes/Topics: Family, Religion, Joy, 1960s

This book was delightful and comforting: much like curling up into a favorite chair with a mug of cocoa. Although I hadn't read it before, it felt familiar. The family brought to life by L'Engle is charming and lovely and it is easy to forget the blahs of daily life and fall in to the peaceful comfort of the Austin family: makes one wish for simpler times. I can't wait to read the next one in this series.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Now you know why they call it Overlook Park. I was there on Sunday, October 25th. Remaining photos here.

last November pieces of autumn warmth...

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Book #84 -- William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, 87 pages.

Not exactly my favourite of Shakespeare's plays. In fact, I have to admit I find all the characters pretty pathetic. Does that make me a horrible English major?

Progress toward goals: 320/365 = 87.7%

Books: 84/100 = 84.0%

Pages: 21194/25000 = 84.8%

2009 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven

( Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins )

It finally has happened. Sophie and Mishka are playing. They were playing some last week, but it was still Sophie being all hissy. Now they are wrestling. lol I caught some of the action this morning while they were rolling around on the papasan chair. Enjoy.

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Title: The Bro Code
Author: Barney Stinson with Matt Kuhn
Themes/Topics: Humor, Bros

If you like the show How I Met Your Mother, you will find this book amusing. It contains the Bro Code, as written by Barney, complete with amendments. It is an extremely quick read, more anecdotal than anything, but a lot of fun. It also references the show often so this is a read for a true fan.

Title: Incantation
Author: Alice Hoffman
Themes/Topics: Religious Persecution, Family, Nature

Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors, but I didn't like this as much. Her young adult literature doesn't have the same feel as the rest of her writings, some of the nature imagery was there, but not enough for my liking.

The Forgotten Garden

Kate Morton

A foundling abandoned on a ship to Australia with no clue to her past but a small, white suitcase containing a book of fairytales, a children's author, a small cottage on a Cornwall estate, a hidden garden, and a garden maze - these were all shining elements in this incredible gothic tale of family secrets.

The Forgotten Garden is probably my favorite book of 2009! I absolutely loved it! It was just amazing!

I loved the gothic feel, and the fairytale aspect fit in just right, as did the homage to Frances Hodges Burnett's The Secret Garden, which was a fun aspect. Morton wove it all together to beautifully into one harmonius tale, told over several generations.

This is the perfect book for curling up with under the covers on a chilly winter night, or while sitting out on a garden bench in the shade of big tree during the summer. In other words, it's everything I look for in a book. It's magical!

64. Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld - 448 pages (9/10)

Scott Westerfeld already has one amazing world he created, the sci-fi world of his Uglies series, and now he's gone ahead and made a world that's even cooler. Not only is this an excellent alternate history or steampunk book, but it's filled with absolutely stunning illustrations by artist Keith Thompson. One of my favourites:


(it uploaded annoyingly tiny, but you get the idea. A jellyfish airship thing!)

Scott Westerfeld does an excellent, succinct job of summarizing his world in a short interview he did on John Scalzi's blog, Whatever. He states, "In the world of Leviathan, technology has split into two tribes: the Germanic Clankers, who are machine lovers, and the British-led Darwinists, who weave the life-threads of natural creatures into fabricated beasts. (To put it simply, in this world, Origins of Species was an instruction manual.)" In this book, there are tidbits of actual history, strange creatures, amazing technology, strong characters, and a truly original setting.

Alek is the son of the Austrian-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. His parents have been assassinated (though in a slightly different manner than actually happened in history.) His son, though he is unable to inherit his father's role because his mother was not of royal enough blood, is on the run for his life along with some bodyguards that I imagine look and sound like Arnold Schwarznegger. Deryn is a young Scottish girl who desperately wants to join the air force. She ends up joining and cross-dressing as a man to do so. I love me some crossdressing in novels, and this works really well.

Eventually, of course, Deryn and Alek end up meeting in a strange turn of events and begin to grow close despite being on opposite sides of a brewing war. They both must re-evaluate their prejudices about the other and have interesting debates about nature vs machines. I also enjoy that they both keep a secret - one is royalty and one is a girl. I won't go into too many plot points because I'm wary of spoilers, but is is definitely an excellent book by one of my favourite young adult authors. I appreciate it when those writing for a younger audience make it fun, but sneak in good life lessons and values. Westerfeld wrote an afterward clearing up was was history and what was fantasy for readers not familiar with WWI. This is one of my favourite reads of the year.


Booksforfood is my journal where I post reviews mainly of books, but also occasionally of gadgets, video games, films, and TV shows. I also sometimes post interesting news stories I come across, or blog about what it's like to be an ex-pat American in Scotland. If any of this sounds interesting, please feel free to friend me.

Here is book thirty-nine from my Book List 2009. The link leads to a more detailed review in my journal.

39. Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Pages: 374
Thoughts: Link
Review in five words or less: Intriguing puzzle; engrossing, fast-paced.
Personal Rating: «««« out of five.

The only thing Thomas can remember when he exits the lift is his name. He steps into a community filled with boys who have all been in his situation. One new boy arrives every month, and it has been that way for two years. The boys adhere to a strict schedule, so no one really has the time to tell Thomas much of anything at first. He must struggle to acclimatize himself and figure out what's going on from observation.

The boys live in a giant maze filled with traps and vicious creatures. They have been trying to solve the mystery of the maze for two years to find a way out. It is the responsibility of the Runners in the group to go out into the Maze and map out their assigned quadrants. It's a quite challenge because the walls of the Maze move regularly. Thomas immediately wants to join the Runners because it feels familiar to him—he just can't figure out why.

Then a mysterious girl shows up in the lift and things change rapidly and become more dire. They must work quickly to find a way out. They must work together to survive.

This was extremely fast-paced and I enjoyed it a lot. With each new chapter, the mystery of the Maze continued to grow, and it was interesting trying to figure out why the boys were there in the first place. My theories didn't match up with the end result, but I was completely satisfied with how it ended. The only thing I didn't really like was the girl. Her attitude was irritating and she seemed completely out of place in the story.

The book ended with a rather fascinating cliffhanger, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel. Highly recommended.

39 / 50 books. 78% done!

13,902 / 15000 pages. 93% done!

This is absolutely NOT the sort of book I would ever buy or pick up on my own as 1) I use a bare minimum of make-up 2) I find cosmetics rather intimidating, and I'm self-conscious about shopping for them. However, I won this in a gift pack earlier this year, and after a few days of feeling like I look bleh, I figured it was as good a time as any to read it.

Actually, I was pretty impressed with the book. It lives up to the title, emphasizing that THINKING positively will reflect in a person's face and empower them more than make-up alone ever could. True, that. Carmindy (who does make-up on the show What Not to Wear) also emphasizes focusing on good facial features rather than covering up the bad. The book has chapters on each part of the face - lips, eyes, skin, cheeks - and shows techniques on how to handle different shapes/textures/colors. I especially liked the examples of how to apply eye shadow for different shapes and times of day; it makes me feel like actually trying out eyeshadow for the first time in, oh, three years. There's a chapter on tools, explaining different sorts of little brushes and thingamajigs. The back of the book shows real women of all ages and ethnicities and how they look before and after. Carmindy is very good at her job.

That said, sometimes the positive-emphasis was a bit overdone. Almost ever paragraph had sentences like: Fabulous! Gorgeous! The book also isn't bound for friendly use in a bathroom. It's hardcover and oversized like a coffee table book. Pages don't stay open on their own. As far as functionality, it would have been more prudent to make it glossy and spiral-bound. Those are the only gripes, though. It's a nice book for gals like me who might want to dress up every now and then, but don't exactly know how. I actually went out and bought a lip liner and pencil eye liner today. Whoa.

Found, bought, and read a book today:

Osprey New Vanguard #140: Armored Trains

It dealt with a topic about which I knew little, and fleshed it out interestingly. Nice photos, as well.

(  + + + +  )

93. The Alchemist's Daughter- Katharine McMahon, 311 pages, 3/5
Historical romance about a sheltered country girl who finds herself introduced to the darker side of London society. I didn't really enjoy the story and I found the ending very unsatisfying.

94. Will- Christopher Rush, 496 pages, 4/5
William Shakespeare reminisces on his life from his deathbed as he drafts his will. This book was certainly colourful: sex, death and bodily functions on practically every page and lots of swearing. It quotes a lot of his plays too so if you're a fan it might be worth a read.

95. An Officer's Manual of the Western Front 1914-1918, 158 pages.
This densely packed little book contained reprints of some of the pamphlets available to British officers during WW1. Interesting information on trench design amongst others.

96. Vainglory- Ronald Fairbank, 200 pages, 1.5/5
Bits of this were amusing but for the most part I had no idea what was going on. Characters continually interrupted and talked over each other and in one chapter there was almost two pages of dialogue before the speakers were named. Far too confusing for me!

Books: 96 Pages: 25836

Jack Frost #1 by Jin Ho Ko
( Jack )</lj-cut

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

I've loved every one of Bujold's books so far and this one was no exception.

Set in the same universe as her Vorkosigan series, but rather earlier, it tells the story of engineer Leo Graf whose latest assignment is to train zero gravity welders at the Cay Habitat, orbiting the remote planet Rodeo.

But Leo's new students are no ordinary folk - they are "quaddies", genetically engineered humans with a second pair of arms instead of legs, and internal systems adapted ideally for life in freefall. More sinisterly, they are not legally people, so when new technology renders them obsolete before they've even begun working, Leo has some hard decisions to make....

Fruits Basket #23 by Natsuki Takaya
( Kyo )

The Lancelot Murders by J.M. C. Blair
( Merlin )