Double-Stacked Bookshelves

Sometimes you need a little quiz action in your life :)  Courtesy of Amanda @ Amanda's Nose in a Book , but discovered through MizB @  Should Be Reading and Alicia @ Awesome Book Assessment , here's a little Book Blogger Quiz.  Participate in you feel so inclined! Top 3 Bookish Pet Peeves My biggest one...when I let people borrow books and they don't return them...or they treat them horribly! When I check out books from the library and there is stuff spilled between the pages causing them to stick together.  I don't know what that substance is!  Gross!! When books are not alphabetized at bookstores.  It makes it very difficult to find what I'm looking for.  However, it does add to the "hunting" aspect. Perfect Reading Spot I can read just about anywhere; a desk, couch, bed, stopped at a railroad crossing, an airplane, etc.  But my favorite spot to read would have to be a comfy chair in a coffeeshop.  I love that there is ...

Musing Mondays #4 Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading and is quite simple, really. It asks you to comment/muse each week on one of the following prompts: Describe one of your reading habits. Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s). What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! Tell us what you're reading right now--what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; why you are (or aren't) enjoying it. Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us! Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books--let's here it, then! Here's what I'm thinking about today... I'm currently reading Belle Cora by Philip Margulies.  I've had this book sitting on my dining room table for a while now (che...

Flashback Friday:  Max und Moritz Flashback Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies and it's a way to show a little love to those books that hold a special place in our hearts. There are no set rules aside from the fact that the book must be at least five years old. For today's flashback, I'm taking you back to high school (again) and talking about the very first book I ever really read in German.  When I started high school, I simultaneously enrolled in both Spanish and German because I wasn't sure which language I would like more; these were the only two offered at my high school unless you wanted to go to the other high school in town for one period to take French or Japanese.  After a year in both classes, I discovered that I really enjoyed learning German.  The language sounds angry and awesome and the culture is fascinating.  As a junior, after three years learning the language, we were assigned H.C. Wilhelm Busch's Max ...

Booking Through Thursday:  Anticipation Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Deb @ Booking Through Thursday . Every week she posts a book related prompt/question, you answer the prompt, and then link back to the original. Here's this week's: Question/Prompt:  Anticipation Do you still get excited about new books as you did when you were little?  In general?  New books in particular, like from a new author?  Or do you look at it all new, unread books with the same level of anticipation? I am a book junkie.  Books do not have to be brand spankin' new for me to get excited about them.  Honestly, I get excited when I pick up a 50 cent book from a garage sale or thrift store.  I just like the fact that it's new to me and I get the privilege of reading it soon.  One of my favorite things to do is peruse used bookstores; they offer the aspect of hunting for buried treasures.  Perhaps I'm a little sp...

Waiting On Wednesay is a weekly meme hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine that allows bloggers to highlight upcoming releases they are eagerly awaiting. Here's what I'm anticipating: Title:  Falling Into Place Author:  Amy Zhang Publication Date:  September 9, 2014 Page Count:  304 Summary via Goodreads On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road. Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High’s most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn’t understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn’t understand it now. How do we impact one another? ...

Cecelia Ahern's The Book of Tomorrow Logistics Title:  The Book of Tomorrow Author:  Cecelia Ahern Published:  January 1, 2009 Publishing Company:  Harper/Collins Page Count:  320 Summary via Goodreads Tamara Goodwin has everything she ever wanted and she never has to think about tomorrow. But suddenly her world is turned upside down and she has to leave her glamorous city life for a new one in the country. However, Tamara is soon lonely and longing to return home. Then a travelling library arrives in the village, bringing with it a mysterious leather-bound book locked with a gold clasp and padlock. What Tamara discovers within its pages takes her breath away and everything starts to change in the most unexpected of ways... My Thoughts This was, by far, my least favorite of Ahern's books.  Tamara is unlikable, spoiled, and a brat to boot.  The story is unbelievable (not because of the magical aspect, as is present in nearly all ...

Summer Library Challenge:  Summer Library Read-a-Thon Wrap Up Hosted by Kate and Kristen @ The Book Monsters , the Summer Library Challenge is a two month long event all about discovering what your library has to offer to its patrons.  Within that challenge, they host mini week-long challenges.  This last week (June 16-22) was the Summer Library Read-a-Thon in which you read as much as you can from books you've check out from the library (preferrably).  Here's how I did: Finished Heartless by Gail Carriger Nearly Finshed Timeless by Gail Carriger I had fewer than 100 pages to finish up in Timeless , but wasn't able to get it done on Sunday.  I did finish it yesterday though...a day late.  So there's that.  The Summer Library Challenge continues and I'm looking forward to seeing what's next on the agenda and finishing more books, naturally :)  Just started Belle Cora by Phillip Margulies. Happy reading!

Teaser Tuesday:  Belle Cora Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's this week's teaser: "Jenny was running down the street away from the intersection where the church had exploded.  Harriet screamed out her name, and her daughter turned and ran toward us, weeping with relief.  She thought that finding us meant she was safe."   --page 13           ----- Belle Cora by Phillip Margulies   I'm very excited to read this book :)   Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover!  This week's theme is:  Book Cover Trends I Like/Dislike .  I haven't really given much thought to this before, but there are definitely a few things that draw me in to a book.  If I don't like the cover art, I'm very hard pressed to pick up a book and read the synopsis.  Here are a few things I like: I gravitate toward darker covers that have pops of color (black, white, and red are really dynamic). I think steampunk covers are pretty awesome.  They're gritty and have Victorian aspects that immediately draw my eye. Clean, simple covers also do the trick.  Font is also important...if it looks too childish (hello, Comic Sans), I'm probably not going to grab that book.  I like clean fonts. If there are characters on the cover...

Nora Roberts' The Last Boyfriend Logistics Title:  The Last Boyfriend Author:  Nora Roberts Published:  May 1, 2012 Publishing Company:  Berkley Trade Page Count:  319 Summary via Goodreads Owen is the organizer of the Montgomery clan, running the family's construction business with an iron fist - and an even less flexible spreadsheet. And though his brothers bust on his compulsive list-making, the Inn BoonsBoro is about to open right on schedule. The only thing Owen didn't plan for was Avery McTavish... Avery's popular pizza place is right across the street from the inn, giving her a first-hand look at its amazing renovation - and a newfound appreciation for Owen. Since he was her first boyfriend when they were kids, Owen has never been far from Avery's thoughts. But the attraction she's feeling for him now is far from innocent. As Avery and Owen cautiously take their relationship to another level, the opening of the inn gives the whol...

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men Logistics Title:  Of Mice and Men Author:  John Steinbeck Published:  1937 Publishing Company:  Penguin Books Page Count:  103 Summary via Goodreads The tragic story of the complex bond between two migrant laborers in Central California. They are George Milton and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to Lennie, who is a very large, simple-minded man, calming him and helping to rein in his immense physical strength. My Thoughts I have to be honest...I did not love this book...or particularly like it all that much.  Yeah, it's good.  But kind of boring.  Don't get me wrong, I get why Steinbeck is considered one of the greatest American writers (and I'm not a huge fan of American writers), but this was such a letdown.  So many people have raved about this book and I just don't get it.  I did feel for the characters, ...

S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders Logistics Title:  The Outsiders Author:  S.E. Hinton Published:  1967 Publishing Company:  Speak Page Count:  192 Summary via Goodreads According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser. My Thoughts This is a really fantastic book.  The message and rivalries transcend time and place when it comes to The Outsiders and the inf...

Junot Diaz's The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao Logistics Title:  The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao Author:  Junot Diaz Published:  September 6, 2007 Publishing Company:  Riverhead Books Page Count:  335 Summary via Goodreads Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the fukú — the ancient curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still dreaming of his first kiss, is only its most recent victim - until the fateful summer that he decides to be its last. My Thoughts I absolutely loved this book to the moon and back!  I read this while vacationing in San Francisco two years ago and couldn't put it down.  Even thought it...

Cecelia Ahern's PS, I Love You Logistics Title:  P.S. I Love You Author:  Cecilia Ahern Published:  January 5, 2005 Publishing Company:  Hyperion Page Count:  470 Summary via Goodreads Holly couldn't live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other's sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed. My Thoughts I love just about everything Cecelia Ahern has written, aside from one book (more on that in an upcoming post), but I put off reading PS for ages for one simple reason...Hilary Swank.  Yes, the book came out prior to the film, but her casting in the ...

Musing Mondays #3 Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @  Should Be Reading  and is quite simple, really. It asks you to comment/muse each week on one of the following prompts: Describe one of your reading habits. Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s). What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! Tell us what you're reading right now--what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; why you are (or aren't) enjoying it. Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us! Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books--let's here it, then! Here's what I'm thinking about today... I'm lamenting the fact that I didn't get to read as much as I wanted to this weekend.  While I was able to get a good chunk r...

Flashback Friday:  Night Flashback Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Lisa @  Bookshelf Fantasies  and it's a way to show a little love to those books that hold a special place in our hearts. There are no set rules aside from the fact that the book must be at least five years old. This week I'm flashing back to tenth grade when I read Night by Elie Wiesel.  I remember being shocked and appalled by this book...and fascinated.  Published in 1958, the short book chronicles the harrowing experience of a Nazi Death March in which Wiesel was a victim.  His description is fluid, heartwrenching, and angering.  Perhaps one of the best known and most widely read works of Holocaust Literature, aside from The Diary of Anne Frank , Night bears witness to the atrocities inflicted on the various peoples victimized by the Nazi regime. The book opens with a horrifying scene that involves Nazis, rifles, and babies (I will spare you the details) and continues...

Booking Through Thursday:  Format Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Deb @ Booking Through Thursday . Every week she posts a book related prompt/question, you answer the prompt, and then link back to the original. Here's this week's: Question/Prompt:  Format All other things being equal, what is your favorite format for reading?  Hardcover?  Paperback?  New Book?  Old Book?  Leather-bound first edition?  E-book? For reading, I am old school.  I love a paperback book above all other mediums.  As an avid spine breaker, there isn't nearly the same satisfaction in reading other formats.  I know, shame on me for breaking the spines and ruining the structure/integrity of a book, but I want my books to look like they've been read.  No pristine books on my bookshelves!  While there are some instances where I like hardcovers, mainly in series form because t...

Waiting On Wednesay is a weekly meme hosted by Jill @  Breaking the Spine  that allows bloggers to highlight upcoming releases they are eagerly awaiting. Here's what I'm excited for: Title:  The Vanishing Season Author:  Jodi Lynn Anderson Publication Date:  July 1, 2014 Page Count:  256 Summary via Goodreads Girls started vanishing in the fall, and now winter's come to lay a white sheet over the horror. Door County, it seems, is swallowing the young, right into its very dirt. From beneath the house on Water Street, I've watched the danger swell. The residents know me as the noises in the house at night, the creaking on the stairs. I'm the reflection behind them in the glass, the feeling of fear in the cellar. I'm tied—it seems—to this house, this street, this town. I'm tied to Maggie and Pauline, though I don't know why. I think it's because death is coming for one of them, or both. All I know is that the present and the past ...

Teaser Tuesday:  Heartless Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's this week's teaser: "Alexia backed toward the open door, lifting up her parasol in a defensive position and pressing her thumb against the appropriate lotus petal in the handle, arming the tip with one of the numbing darts.  She wished she had not left Ethel behind; guns, by an large, were far more threatening than parasols"  --page 101    -- Heartless by Gail Carriger Nearly done with the Parasol Protectorate series!  One more to go.   Happy reading!  

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form.  The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! This week's theme is:  Books On My Summer TBR List .  Now, this is very similar to last week's post, Books That Will Be In My Beach Bag , so I'm going to change it up a tiny bit.  Instead of focusing on my Summer TBR pile, I'm going to expand it and lay out ten more books that I really want to get through in my TBR pile in addition to those I listed for the beach bag list :) Here goes: The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova I have had this on my bookshelf since the day it was published in 2010.  I absolutely loved The Historian and I couldn't wait to read this.  I'll finally get to it this year.  How the Scots Invented the World:  The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything In It b...

Summer Library Challenge:  Summer Library Read-a-Thon Today is the kick off to the Summer Library Read-a-Thon hosted by Kate and Kristen @ The Book Monsters .  It's in conjunction with the Summer Library Challenge, a two-month long event meant to show love to your local libraries.  Such an awesome idea!  Here are my goals for the week: To Finish * Heartless by Gail Carriger (currently on page 224 of 374) To Read * Timeless by Gail Carriger * Belle Cora by Phillip Margulies The two by Gail Carriger are the last I have to read in the Parasol Protectorate series, so that's exciting.  Once I finish these three books it will be time to pop over to the library and pick up some more!  I believe that I can finish these three this week...despite the continued awesomeness of the World Cup going on.  What are you reading today? Happy reading!

Musing Mondays #2 Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @  Should Be Reading  and is quite simple, really. It asks you to comment/muse each week on one of the following prompts: Describe one of your reading habits. Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s). What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! Tell us what you're reading right now--what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; why you are (or aren't) enjoying it. Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us! Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books--let's here it, then! Here's what I'm thinking about today: Yesterday was the last day of the Library Books Read-a-Thon hosted by Rachael @ Rachael Turns Pages .  While I didn't read near...

Flashback Friday:  The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle Flashback Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies and it's a way to show a little love to those books that hold a special place in our hearts.  There are no set rules aside from the fact that the book must be at least five years old. This week, I'm taking everyone back to my elementary school days again.  Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is probably one of my all-time favorite books.  It's the book I've read the most times throughout my life and it's the book I have bought the most copies of...because I lend it out and never get it back (this is why I keep track of who I lend my books to now).  The first time I read this book was in elementary school and I fell in love immediately.  Published in 1990, Confessions is the winner of multiple literary awards, including the Newbery Honor in 1991. The book follows thirteen-year-old Charlotte during her journe...

Booking Through Thursday:  R-Rated Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Deb @ Booking Through Thursday .  Every week she posts a book related prompt/question, you answer the prompt, and then link back to the original.  Here's this week's: Question/Prompt:  R-Rated Content How do you feel about explicit detail in your reading?  Whether language, sex, violence, situations, and so on...does it bother you?  Faze you at all?  Or do you just read everything without it bothering you? Honestly, I'm not very disturbed by r-rated content in my reading as long as it makes sense in the frame of the story.  I read just about anything under the sun, from YA to Romance and Adventure to Literary Fiction.  Sometimes, r-rated content is necessary to the storyline and other times it's simply gratuitous.  Even when it is excessive, I am not bothered by it.  I guess you could say I have a pretty open mind.  Naturally there ...

Tanya Egan Gibson's How to Buy a Love of Reading Logistics Title:  How to Buy a Love of Reading Author:  Tanya Egan Gibson Published:  May 14, 2009 Publishing Company:  Dutton Adult Page Count:  400 Summary via Goodreads To Carley Wells, words are the enemy. Her tutor's innumerable SAT flashcards. Her personal trainer's "fifty-seven pounds overweight" assessment. And the endless reading assignments from her English teacher, Mr. Nagel. When Nagel reports to her parents that she has answered "What is your favorite book" with "Never met one I liked," they decide to fix what he calls her "intellectual impoverishment." They will commission a book to be written just for her-one she'll have to love-that will impress her teacher and the whole town of Fox Glen with their family's devotion to the arts. They will be patrons- the Medicis of Long Island. They will buy their daughter The Love Of Reading. Impossible...

Waiting On Wednesay is a weekly meme hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine that allows bloggers to highlight upcoming releases they are eagerly awaiting. Here's what I can't wait to get my hands on! Title:  Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands Author:  Chris Bohjalian Publication date:  July 8, 2014 Page Count:  288  (fairly short for Bohjalian) Summary via Goodreads Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is the story of Emily Shepard, a homeless girl living in an igloo made of garbage bags in Burlington. Nearly a year ago, a power plant in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont had a meltdown, and both of Emily's parents were killed. Devastatingly, her father was in charge of the plant, and the meltdown may have been his fault—was he drunk when it happened? Thousands of people are forced to leave their homes in the Kingdom; rivers and forests are destroyed; and Emily feels certain that as the daughter of the most hated man in America, she is in danger. So instead of ...

Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns Logistics Title:  A Thousand Splendid Suns Author:  Kahled Hosseini Published:  May 22, 2007 Publishing Company:  Riverhead Hardcover Page Count:  372 Summary via Goodreads A moving story about two women set in Afghanistan. The book's story illustrates both the second class, serf-like treatment of two women and their subjection to physical and emotional brutality that was allowed, enabled and endorsed. We also get to see the bravery, kindness and self-resilience of these same two women. Despite the harsh reality of the story, the humanness and compassion shown by both women while trying to survive in such a brutal and oppressive environment is very uplifting. My Thoughts I absolutely loved this book!  Lent to me by a friend, I put off reading it for a bit.  But boy am I glad that I finally caved and read it.  It's a beautiful, heart-wrenching, tragic, and redeeming novel that deserv...

Library Books Read-a-Thon:  My Library Story It's day two of the Library Books Read-a-Thon and our illustrious host, Rachael @ Rachael Turns Pages , has prompted us to describe our library experience growing up.  An excellent request! Here's my story (I apologize for the length)... From the time I can remember, I have always had a fascination with reading and books.  My parents avidly read to my sister and I (my brother was too cool to participate) when we were small and before we learned to read on our own, normally as a calm-down before bed.  This was always one of my favorite times of the day.  When I entered grade school as a kindergartner and really learned to read on my own, a whole new world opened up to me; I could now check out books from our school's library.  I loved that library!  Though quite small, it had everything I could imagine.  Throughout grade school, I became a more-than frequent visitor to the library, checking...

Teaser Tuesday:  Blameless Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading .  Here are the rules:  grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! And here's this week's teaser: "The poisoned dart hissed slightly as it flew, struck one of the vampires dead center to the chest, and stuck there.  He looked down at it, up at Alexia with an expression of deep offense, and then crumpled limply to the floor like an overcooked noodle." --page 122  -- Blameless by Gail Carriger (Book 3 in the Parasol Protectorate series) Happy reading!

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish , the Top Ten meme is quite popular around the book blogging world.  Every Tuesday a new theme is introduced for the meme.  It's a great way to see what other people are reading/have read and to expand your ever-growing TBR pile! This week's Top Ten theme is: Books I've Read So Far This Year .  Without further ado, and in no particular order, here's my list: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn This is the only book I've read by Flynn and it was fantastically disturbing, well-written, engaging, and suspenseful.  A really great, quick read. Cress by Marissa Meyer I absolutely love The Lunar Chronicles series by Meyer and was stoked when the third installment was released.  It's such a great concept and completely worth the wait.  The final book comes out next year...ugh... The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne The first book I've ever read by Boyne and it's phenomenal.  Easily the best book I'...

Steig Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Logistics Title:  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Author:  Stieg Larsson Published:  May 25th, 2010 Publising Company:  Knopf Page Count:  563 Summary via Goodreads Lisbeth Salander — the heart of Larsson’s two previous novels — lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She’s fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she’ll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. And, on her own, she will plot revenge—against the man who tried to kill her, and the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life. Once upon a time, she...

Library Books Read-a-Thon Goals Today is the first day of the Library Books Read-a-Thon hosted by Rachael @ Rachael Turns Pages (as I mention in a previous post this morning).  For this week's challenge, I plan to complete the following: * Blameless by Gail Carriger (currently on page 111) * Heartless by Gail Carriger * Timeless by Gail Carriger * Belle Cora by Phillip Margulies These are the four that I currently have checked out from the two libraries I frequent.  When I return them, I will pick up some more to finish out this week and continue on with the Summer Library Challenge .  I also plan on signing up to partipate in the public library's reading challenge over the summer.  Happy reading!

Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played With Fire Logistics Title:  The Girl Who Play With Fire Author:  Stieg Larsson Published:  July 28, 2009 Publishing Company:  Alfred A Knopf Page Count:  503 Summary via Goodreads The girl with the dragon tattoo is back. Stieg Larsson's seething heroine, Lisbeth Salander, once again finds herself paired with journalist Mikael Blomkvist on the trail of a sinister criminal enterprise. Only this time, Lisbeth must return to the darkness of her own past (more specifically, an event coldly known as "All the Evil") if she is to stay one step ahead--and alive. The Girl Who Played with Fire is a break-out-in-a-cold-sweat thriller that crackles with stunning twists and dismisses any talk of a sophomore slump. Fans of Larsson's prior work will find even more to love here, and readers who do not find their hearts racing within the first five pages may want to confirm they still have a pulse. Expect healthy doses of...

The first week of the Summer Library Challenge , hosted by Kate and Kristen @ The Book Monsters , has wrapped up and I'm feeling pretty accomplished.  So far I have picked up a total of seven books between two libraries and finished three.  I have also discovered that the public library is doing its own reading challenge this month (sign-ups began on the 6th) for all age groups!  Prizes include gift certificates to local restaurants, coffeeshops, bookstores, etc.  Hot damn am I excited! Anywho...here's the rundown of how the first week went for the Summer Library Challenge reading-wise: Finished Reading * The Silent Wife by A.S.A Harrison * The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne * Changeless by Gail Carriger ( Parasol Protectorate #2 ) Currently Reading * Blameless by Gail Carriger ( Parasol Protectorate #3 ) I feel like I'm doing pretty well considering I work full-time and have other obligations aside from my vast reading addiciton :) Tod...