Double-Stacked Bookshelves

Teaser Tuesday:  The Gift Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . 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 today's teaser: "Ready now, he raises his arms above his head, pulls back, and with all his strength pushes forward and releases the object in his hands.  Then he stands back to watch with bitter joy as a fifteen-pound frozen turkey smashes through the window of the living room of number twenty-four." --pages 3-4           The Gift by Cecelia Ahern I am a big fan of Ahern's writing and am working my way back through some of her novels I've missed.  This is one of them and I'm quite enjoying a crisp holiday read during the heat wave we've been having. Happy reading!

Teaser Tuesday:  Shadowgirl Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . 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 today's teaser: "Anger rolled up inside her and heat pulsed from her hands to her feet.  She tried to calm down, tried to break its hold, but the image of fire flashed in front of her eyes and all at once, it exploded out of her." --page 54           Shadowgirl by Kate Ristau I'm really enjoying this little nugget of awesome from a PNW author.  I'm normally not very into fey stories or the like, but this one's pretty good! Happy reading!

Teaser Tuesdays:  Shadow Spell 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 today's teaser: "She needed to set it aside for one bloody night, she told herself.  Connor, Cabhan, her mother, the whole of her family.  One quiet night, she decided, in her pajamas--with a thick layer of one of Branna's creams on her face.  Add a beer, some crips or whatever junky food she had about, and the telly. She'd opt for no more than that. Opting for the beer to begin--it wouldn't be the first time she'd taken a cold beer into a hot shower to wash away the day--she started toward the kitchen, and someone pounded on the door" --page 135            ----- Shadow Spell by Nora Roberts Happy reading!  

Teaser Tuesday:  Greetings from Somewhere Else 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... "She decided to do what she always did when she was feeling overwhelmed.  Make a list.  She sat at the dining-room table and grabbed a notepad from the pile in the center.  Top of the list?  That was easy.  PANIC." --page 29           ----- Greetings from Somewhere Else by Monica McInerney Happy reading!  

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 ...

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 ...

I always swore that I would never, Never, NEVER read Cecilia Ahern's novel PS, I Love You .  Why so adamant, you might ask.  Well, let me tell you in two simple words:  Hilary Swank.  I haven't picked this book up because of the movie (which I've yet to see) because I can't stand Hilary Swank for some odd reason.  It's strange.  I don't mind her in Freedom Writers or even in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the original), but for some inexplicable reason there is something about her that grates on my nerves.  It's the same way my friend Margaret feels about Julia Roberts, whom I like a lot.  And another aspect of the film that grates...she's NOT American!!!  Ugh.  Screw you, Hollywood! Anyway...while wandering through a bookstore in Portland, I came across a copy of PS that was not a movie promotion copy (I prefer the non-movie cover ones) and it was only two dollars.  And, being me, I caved and bought the damn thing.  I've loved...

Leda and the Swan   (1928) A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. How can those terrified vague fingers push The feathered glory from her loosening thights? And how can body, laid in that white rush, But feel the strange heart beating where it lies? A shudder in the loins engenders there The broken wall, the burning roof and tower And Agamemnon dead.                                  Being caught up, So mastered by the brute blood of the air, Did she put on his knowledge with is power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop? When I first read this poem as an undergrad in college, I was shocked and in awe of how brilliant William Butler Yeats was....

I quickly plowed through Suzanne Supplee's When Irish Guys are Smiling yesterday around midnight (finishing after getting back from an evening of drinks with a couple friends) and have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  Having picked this book up at, of all places, the Dollar Tree (I found twelve such dollar gems there recently), I'm rather proud of my investment.  Even if it had sucked I would have only been out a dollar.  Nothing to break the bank!  Thankfully, it didn't suck. The book is technically a young reader (sometimes you need mindless, easy reads) and I was attracted to many aspects of the novel:  1) the cover art is attractive in a cartoon-y way.  2) the title reminds me of my first trip to Ireland with my good friend, Lindsey, in 2008.  3) it makes me reminisce over my time spent living in the UK (sigh...).  And 4)  I pretty much love anything set in Ireland or Scotland. Irish Guys is part of an ongoing series called S...