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It’s Monday What Are You Reading?

book date its monday

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organise yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme has had various host over the years and I’ve loved checking in with their different blogs – the newest host is Kathryn and The Book Date. I’m looking forward to following her and participating in this meme again 😉

It’s kind of weird to think that we are already halfway through the first month of the year. Winter has finally decided to make a pseudo-appearance in the DC area – we had a little bit of snow yesterday (not enough for it to really stick) and its ass-biting cold, so i’m curled up on the couch with some blankets, one of the dogs curled at my feet (no idea where the other one is) and the new season of Hell’s Kitchen going on the TV (I love me some Gordon Ramsey). I have to say that this has probably been the slowest start to reading that I have ever had in a year – its the 18th of the month and I’ve only read 10 books (and that includes 2 audiobooks). I know that seems high for some people, but i’m normally rapidly approaching the 20 book mark by this point of the year. That being said, this past week has been a slight improvement over the first week in the year with several books finished (being sick has def. made it easier to relax and read, rather than doing a million other things in the evenings).

Last Week
My big success of the week (if you want to call it that) was that I finished my designated “first book of the year.” The book, Dangerous Women, is a short story collection from a bunch of popular authors, all with the theme of dangerous women. Overall, the stories were ok, there were a couple that I really enjoyed, like Diana Gabaldon’s story Virgins (about Jamie and Ian pre-Outlander); as well as Jim Butcher’s installment (part of the Dresden Files series) and Lev Grossman’s. And unfortunately, with any anthology there were ones i just didn’t enjoy, specifically for me, it was George R. R. Martin’s – I’m probably one of the few people who hasn’t read his Game of Thrones series (although I have the entire collection on my kindle), but based on my lack of enjoyment for his short story, I’m honestly in no rush to pick it up.

The theme of my reading with several books I finished this week was “left wanting more” – 2 of the books that I finished in the last couple of days (Shimmy for Me and Goodnight Tweetheart), I wanted them to be longer. The romances between the hero/heroine felt too short and not well developed; or in the other case, the story was progressing nicely and then it just ended and I was like WTH…so that was kind of frustrating for me. I know that at least one of the books is a popular book among my friends and for some a DIK (aka a Desert Island Keeper), but for me, it was a mere 3 stars – although it was 4 stars up until the very end when I felt the ending just killed the rest of the story.

But on the other side, I had a couple of strong/enjoyable reads this week, specifically, Before I Go and About a Dragon. Before I Go (Colleen Oakley) is the story of a woman in her late 20’s diagnosed with terminal cancer and her goal to find her husband, someone else before she died. I alternatly cried and laughed during her exploits. I’m looking forward to writing my review of it in the near future. About a Dragon is the second book in G.A. Aiken’s Dragon Kin series – this series is one where I had book 1 loitering on Mt TBR for several years before I actually read it at the end of last year and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

18Jan

Currently/Upcoming Reading
when it comes to reading this weekend, I’m like the little engine that could, just chugging along – I’ve been alternating reading, watching TV and the mandatory weekend errands (laundry, grocery shopping etc). But I’ve made good progress and am enjoying the books that I have going right now. I’ve gone back to an old favorite, who I haven’t read in a few years (Sandra Brown), as well as a couple of authors that I discovered in the past year (Pam Jenoff and Marina Adair). Here’s to a great reading week!

18Jan current

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Posted by Dee on January 18, 2016 in It's Monday! What are you reading?

Tags: Colleen Oakley, Dangerous Women, Diana Gabaldon, G.A. Aiken, George R.R. Martin, Goodnight Tweetheart, Jim Butcher, Lev Grossman

Wishlist Wednesday – 30 December 15

30 Dec

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Pen to Paper where we post about one book that has been hanging out on our wish list (either for a long time, or not so long)

Over the last few months, I’ve been really bad about staying in the loop on upcoming books that might be interesting to me. Its not for lack of interest, but rather lack of time, so a lot of my recommendations recently have been coming from fellow bloggers and this weeks is no different. I actually came across this weeks Wishlist Wednesday only yesterday, but I did something that I rarely do and pre-ordered it almost immediately (and by that, I mean, as soon as I could click over the Amazon and buy it).

Hanging Mary – Susan Higginbotham
Release Date: March 1, 2016

Description:
Meet Mary Surratt, the woman who could have saved Lincoln. Find out what stopped her in this vivid reimagining of Lincoln’s assassination

In 1864 Washington, one has to be careful with talk of secession. Better to speak only when in the company of the trustworthy, like Mrs. Surratt. A widow who runs a small boarding house, Mary Surratt isn’t half as committed to the cause as her son, Johnny. If he’s not escorting veiled spies, he’s inviting home men like John Wilkes Booth, the actor who is even more charming in person than he is on the stage. But when President Lincoln is killed, the question of what Mary knew becomes more important than anything else.

Why I can’t wait?
Having not grown up in the US, my knowledge of Lincoln’s assassination was pretty sparse – I mean, everyone knows basically what happened, but I didn’t know who all the other players in the conspiracy were until I went to a presentation at Ford Theatre a couple of years ago. Around the same time, I discovered that I actually lived only about 20 minutes from Samuel Mudd’s house (Mudd was the doctor who treated John Wilkes Booth and was sentenced to prison for it). So this is an area of history that I find interesting. So a story from the perspective of Mary Surratt, the first woman put to death by the US Federal Gov’t for being part of the plot, is right up my alley.

Unfortunately, I have to wait until March to read it…(pouty face)…

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Posted by Dee on December 30, 2015 in Wishlist Wednesday

Tags: March, Mary Surratt, Susan Higginbotham

It’s Monday – What are you reading?

28 Dec

book date its monday

As the end of 2015 rapidly approaches (am I the only one who finds it insane that 2016 is only 4 days away!), its time to look back at books read and listened. A time to re-evaluate reading and listening goals (2015 is actually the first time in about 6 years I probably won’t make my goal of 365 books and I’m not willing to short sell myself and read a bunch of novellas to get there). A time to think about any reading goals I might have for 2016 (I know reading more diverse fiction is probably going to be one of them). I also know it’s a time to look back at my blogging for the last year, which has been very patchy in places and come up with a plan (or an attempted plan) to try to cover down so that doesn’t happen again. As my mind continues to wander on things I need to think about for 2016, its time to look at what is on my plate for this last week of 2015 and what I read during Christmas week.

Last Week in Reading (and Listening):
With my new commute to work that can be anywhere from 2-4 hours round trip a day (although i’ve yet to see close to the 2hr mark, its been more like 3-4hrs), I have had a lot of time to listen to audiobooks (yay!). Last week, I finished listening to both Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I had enjoyed the previous Galbraith books and Career of Evil was no exception, but I also felt like everything was wrapped up too quickly in the end – almost like the author had reached her page count and just wanted to get it done (looking back, I had similar thoughts about the previous 2 books in the series) and holy cliff-hanger at the end – ugh! As for Slaughterhouse-Five – I felt like I was missing something, it was a classic that just didn’t click with me – not sure why, but on the bright side, its another book off my 50 classics in 5years challenge (that I have been seriously slacking on).

On the reading side of the house, I finished Angelfall by Susan Ee, Burning Bright – an anthology of Chanukah romances (see my review here , Call of the Highland Moon by Kendra Leigh Castle and finally, Prism by Faye Kellerman and her daughter, Aliza. I have to say overall, it was kind of a disappointing week of reading. None of the books got over 3.5 stars on my personal rating scale, and several were 2 star reads. Which was kind of a sucky way to tie up the Christmas reading break 😦 Here’s hoping this week will have some better ones!

Currently Reading (and Listening)
My current audiobook listen is AD 33 by Ted Dekker and if i finish that up, then my next one is, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. the Inheritance of Loss will likely become my first audiobook listen of 2015 as well (since I signed up to do a Polar Plunge on New Year’s Day…even though its still like 60 deg by me).

Reading wise, I’m hoping to finish out the year by reading some favorite authors – right now I’m reading Eve Langlais’ When an Alpha Purrs – if you haven’t read Eve she writes comedic erotic romance with a paranormal theme. I am also reading The better angels of our nature by Steven Pinker as my HTTB (hoity toity thinkin book 😉 ). And my on deck pile includes Rosalind James’ Just in Time; Penny Reid’s Scenes from the City and Jennifer Ashley’s A MacKenzie Clan Gathering

I hope everyone has a great reading week and don’t forget to stop by The Book Date and let all of us know what you are reading this week 😉

7 Comments

Posted by Dee on December 28, 2015 in It's Monday! What are you reading?

Tags: Eve Langlais, Faye Kellerman, Jennifer Ashley, Kendra Leigh Castle, Kiran Desai, Kurt Vonnegut, Penny Reid, Robert Galbraith, Steven Pinker, Susan Ee, Ted Dekker, the Book Date

Thursday Quotables – UnDivided

12 Nov

Thursday Quotables is a weekly feature hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. It is a weekly feature where readers highlight a quote or quotes from their current weeks reading. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written.

undivided

I wasn’t sure if I was going to do a Thursday Quotables for this week, but after finishing up UnDivided over the weekend, there were enough quotes in there that resonated with me (especially in this time of upcoming political elections) that it just seemed right. As a bit of background, UnDivided is the 4th book in the UnWind Dystology by Neal Shusterman. The premise of this dystopian series is that there was a war known as the Heartland’s War fought in the past, and as a consequence, teenagers started to run wild. So the government instituted a program called Unwinding – which was basically taking an teenager and surgically disembodying them, and the parts were then used for transplants or cosmetic desires. It is set in a time, when all body parts (including portions of the brain) could be easily divided and used. I came across this series a few years ago, when it was only one book (and hadn’t heard that there was going to be follow-on ones) and while horrified in places, also enjoyed the writing style and the questions that Shusterman posed.

“Tools are neither demonic nor divine. It’s all about who wields them.”

“…facts never prevent the ignorant from jerking their knees into the groin of science.”

“In a population of hundreds of millions, such a small number of people is a mere drop in the bucket… but enough drops can make any bucket overflow”

“We must always be careful of the actions we take, for there are always unintended consequences. Sometimes they are serendipitous, other times they are appalling, but those consequences are always there. We must tread lightly in this world…until we are sure of foot.”

1 Comment

Posted by Dee on November 12, 2015 in Thursday Quotables

Tags: dystopia, Neal Shusterman, UnDivided, Unwind Dystology, Young Adult

Thursday Quotables – The Dangers of Dating A Rebound Vampire

27 Aug

Sometimes it is probably a good thing that I do most of my driving/listening to audiobooks alone – especially when I am listening to Molly Harper – because I find that I laugh at the silliest things. She has a way with her writing style, that even what could be seen as a potentially dull advice handbook (such as the quotes that appear at the start of each chapter from The Office After Dark: A Guide to Maintaining a Safe, Productive Vampire Workplace) are actually rather smart and funny. It is always hard for me to narrow down my favorite quotes to one or two – but hopefully I can.

“women are terrifying creatures who sometimes expect the men around us to read our minds.”

I’m pretty sure most men would agree with the following quote – right? I mean, there have been many books sold about how to understand women (but really, are we THAT confusing…)

“Two hundred years of work experience was a human resources nightmare.”

This quote just made me laugh because it is so true – in my day job, I work in a Human Resources-ish kind of role, so i’ve done job application screening etc and seeing some of the applications where people have documented every single thing they did (sometimes, I think, down to what they ate on a certain) – makes for some really long resumes – i can only image what 200yrs of job history would look like…lol

Of course, as with any Molly Harper – there were lots of quotes that I just didn’t manage to write down and that I can only remember parts of – enough to make me laugh – kind of like the Cajun Land Shark, when talking about a guy who has the ability to project different creatures – why a shark would be in the middle of Kentucky is a whole other story; or Cal (the vampire hero from a previous book in the series) when he makes comments like, “I get to ogle, it was in the vows” (and yes, he was talking about his wife) and finally, my favorite (and dammit, I hate that i didn’t write it down) – the night of 3 toms – tom hiddleston, tom hardy and tom collins (yes, the drink)…which by the way, if this doesn’t exist, it should…

What about you – any funny quotes from your read (or listening) this week?

2 Comments

Posted by Dee on August 27, 2015 in Thursday Quotables

Tags: funny, Half-Moon Hollow, humor, Molly Harper

Wishlist Wednesday – 26 August 2015

26 Aug

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Pen to Paper where we post about one book that has been hanging out on our wish list (either for a long time, or not so long)

One of the things I love about this feature is the fact that many books that are featured by other bloggers, often end up on my to read list. i’m pretty sure that I came across my pick for this week from another blogger (I only wish I could remember who…) My pick this week is a new to me author (Louise O’Neill), but there is something about the description that caught my eye – as well as the barbie-doll-esque model on the cover and I’m typically a fan of realistic young-adult fiction

Description:
It’s the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O’Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful, happy, confident. One night, there’s a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma.

The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can’t remember what happened, she doesn’t know how she got there. She doesn’t know why she’s in pain. But everyone else does.

Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night. But sometimes people don’t want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the town’s heroes…

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Posted by Dee on August 26, 2015 in Wishlist Wednesday

Tags: Louise O'Neill, realistic fiction, Young Adult

Wishlist Wednesday – 12 August 2015

12 Aug

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Pen to Paper where we post about one book that has been hanging out on our wish list (either for a long time, or not so long)

Ok, I’ll admit that I did a happy dance when I saw this week’s Wishlist Wednesday book pop up in my coming soon recommendations from Amazon…Lisa Kleypas has been a historical romance favorite of mine for years (I think I’ve read every single one of her historicals, multiple times over the years), however, over the last few years, she has gone the contemporary romance/magical realism/paranormal-ish romance route and personally, I haven’t been a fan of those. So the fact that she has a new historical coming out in October is enough to make me jump with joy.

Description:
A twist of fate…
Devon Ravenel, London’s most wickedly charming rake, has just inherited an earldom. But his powerful new rank in society comes with unwanted responsibilities . . . and more than a few surprises. His estate is saddled with debt, and the late earl’s three innocent sisters are still occupying the house . . . along with Kathleen, Lady Trenear, a beautiful young widow whose sharp wit and determination are a match for Devon’s own.
A clash of wills…
Kathleen knows better than to trust a ruthless scoundrel like Devon. But the fiery attraction between them is impossible to deny—and from the first moment Devon holds her in his arms, he vows to do whatever it takes to possess her. As Kathleen finds herself yielding to his skillfully erotic seduction, only one question remains:

Can she keep from surrendering her heart to the most dangerous man she’s ever known?

Cold-Hearted Rake will be released by Avon Romance in October 2015

2 Comments

Posted by Dee on August 12, 2015 in Wishlist Wednesday

Tags: anticipated read, historical romance, Lisa klepyas, October 2015

Wishlist Wednesday – 29 July 15

29 Jul

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Pen to Paper where we post about one book that has been hanging out on our wish list (either for a long time, or not so long)

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes books I get excited about are random advertisements that I find and this weeks Wishlist Wednesday book was next exception. It popped up as an banner advertisement on Goodreads while I was browsing last week and there was something about it that just caught my eye. I’m a sucker for World War 2 fiction (I always used to make the comment if I did graduate work in history rather than psychology, it would probably be WW2 based) as well as stories based on families. So when I saw this book advertised, I added it (quite happily) to my not-yet-released shelf on Goodreads to track. It wasn’t until I started to prep for this post and did some deeper digging that i got even more excited to read it. The author (Marius Gabriel) actually wrote a bunch a romances using a female pseudonym (Madeleine Ker) in the 1980’s. I always find it interesting to read books by these male authors who wanted to write something unexpected and so wrote in a genre that is very female dominated. I don’t know if I ever read any of his books that were written as Madeleine Ker, but I’m intrigued to check them out.

Description:
As the devastating years of the Second World War march ever closer, the beautiful Redcliffe sisters must face their own struggles and navigate the perils of growing up—and growing apart.

Eldest sister Isobel—passionate, domineering, misguided—is infatuated with Fascism. But can she continue to justify her dangerous political beliefs when faced with the shocking realities of Nazi Germany?

Chiara, the bright and happy golden child, is more interested in the joyful whirl of the season than matters of faith or ideology. But even her breezy innocence cannot survive the harsh lessons of heartbreak and war.

Insecure and introverted Felicity, youngest of the three, is about to take her vows and enter the convent, against her sisters’ wishes. A chance meeting with an American soldier threatens the very foundations of her decision.

Each sister must follow her own path and, as they do so, their differences threaten to take them beyond the realms of forgiveness.

Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye will be re-released on August 4 from Lake Union publishing (was previously published as Weep No More)

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Posted by Dee on July 29, 2015 in Wishlist Wednesday

Tags: Historical Fiction, Madeleine Ker, Marius Gabriel, mystery, WW2

Wishlist Wednesday – 22 July 15

22 Jul

Wishlist Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Pen to Paper where we post about one book that has been hanging out on our wish list (either for a long time, or not so long)

For as avid a reader as I am, there are very few authors that I actually consider an auto-buy or pre-order. Over the years, I’ve come to realize that even if I do happen to pre-order their books, I rarely read on actual date of release (normally because I have like 20 other books going at the same time) – so I just stopped doing it. But then I’d randomly find out that an author I liked had a new book out and I’d missed it (or heard about it and forgotten it). So I started pre-ordering again…lol (yes, its a vicious cycle).

My Wishlist Wednesday book for this week is by one of those authors – Cherise Sinclair. I remember when I read my first book by her about 4 years ago (maybe), I was hooked it. It was before so many authors jumped on the BDSM bandwagon (and didn’t do any research to support their stories) and so I found hers to be a fresh breath of air – you could tell that she had done her research and yet the stories were still engaging/believable. The newest book in her Masters of the Shadowlands series (book 10) comes out next week and its the pairing of a couple that many of us die-hard fans have been waiting for – Mistress Anne and Ben. They have appeared in previous books in the series and I know that I have been begging Cherise on social media to write their book – thankfully her muses finally decided to listen 😉

25327554

Description:
A discharged Army Ranger, Ben considers his job as a BDSM club security guard to be an excellent hobby. He’s never been tempted to join in. But everything changes when the notorious Mistress Anne inadvertently reveals the caring heart concealed beneath her Domme armor.

Now, he’s set his sights on the beautiful Shadowlands Mistress. Maybe he’d considered himself vanilla, but she can put her stiletto on his chest any day, any time. He’ll trust her delicate hands to hold his heart. And if she wants to whip his ass on the way to an outstanding climax, he’s just fine with that too.

Sure, he knows she likes “pretty boy” slaves. And he’s older. Craggy and rough. And six-five. Minor hindrances. The mission is a go.

4 Comments

Posted by Dee on July 22, 2015 in Wishlist Wednesday

Tags: Cherise Sinclair, Masters of the Shadowlands

Thursday Quotables – The Invention of Wings

16 Jul

I just finished listening to the audiobook of An Invention of Wings (Sue Monk Kidd) on my commute this morning, so Thursday Quotables seemed like a perfect time to reflect on a few of the quotes that really caught my eye (or is it ears?).

The first one that really struck me, actually came from the authors note at the end of the book, where she was discussing the development of the book, why she took the different liberties that she did with various parts of history etc.

“History is not just facts and events. History is also a pain in the heart and we repeat history until we are able to make another’s pain in the heart our own.” – Professor Julius Lester

I think this quote caught my ear because it not only describes various parts of the book, but also fits well into the current climate in the US with the debate going on over the Confederate flag.

“To remain silent in the face of evil is itself a form of evil.”

I thought this quote would go well hand-in-hand with the one about all it takes for evil to succeed in that good men (or women) do nothing. Sarah Grimke could have been content to just let the status quo be when it came to slavery, but she knew in her heart (even from the age of 11) that it was wrong and it became her crusade to abolish it, in fact, this quote from early on in the book shows her abolitionist thoughts even then – “At the age of eleven, I owned a slave I couldn’t free.” I’d actually never heard of the Grimke sisters prior to listening to Invention of Wings but am intrigued and want to read more about them.

The last quote that really caught my interest was from Angelina Grimke, who became known as a foremost female orator in the mid-1800’s. This quote occurred when the Grimke sisters were accused of muddling the cause of abolish with the cause of women’s right’s and that they needed to cease pushing for women’s equality for the time.

“the time to assert one’s right is when it’s denied!”

I’m sure there were many more quotes in the book that I would have loved to have written down, but its really hard while listening to do that.

What about you – any quotes from your reading this week that you want to share?

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Posted by Dee on July 16, 2015 in Thursday Quotables

Tags: Grimke sisters, Historical Fiction, Sue Monk Kidd, The Invention of Wings

Dee's Book Blog

Category Archives: Meme

It’s Monday What Are You Reading?

Wishlist Wednesday – 30 December 15

It’s Monday – What are you reading?

Thursday Quotables – UnDivided

Thursday Quotables – The Dangers of Dating A Rebound Vampire

Wishlist Wednesday – 26 August 2015

Wishlist Wednesday – 12 August 2015

Wishlist Wednesday – 29 July 15

Wishlist Wednesday – 22 July 15

Thursday Quotables – The Invention of Wings

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