anticipation

March 5, 2010 5 Comments

Lucky me (now that March is finally here!). Two books I really really want to read are coming out this month. At the  top of the list is the fourth installment of Megan Whalen Turner’s  Thief series deliciously titled A Conspiracy of Kings. Can we pause for a fangirl-ish moment?

SQUEE!  /fangirl-ish moment

Check out that gorgeous cover (in fact, all the covers of the current hardback editions are outstanding–or maybe I am just blinded by my love of the stories!). MWT is one writer who has always surprised and delighted (and sometimes horrified) me in the directions she takes her stories. I’m eager to get my grubby mitts on this book.

Also coming out this month is Lord Sunday by Garth Nix, the last in his Keys of the Kingdom series. I devoured the previous six in a book-reading orgy last winter. Book six ended on a cliffhanger so, yeah, I wanna know what happens next!

What about you? Are you looking forward to anything?

Filed Under: reading

I’ll be back

March 4, 2010 3 Comments

I’ve been feeling introverted lately, just wanting to hunker down and do my own thing. I haven’t been doing my usual cheery rounds of chat and forums and blogs and–oh my!–what is this thing called tel-e-phone? Nothing major has caused this withdrawal. I guess my brain just needed the time away. It’s been low-key here at home, too, but things are going to get crazy again next week so I’m glad I got the R&R I did.

I have a big book review post, and one continuing on the theme of titles. Also, a couple of smaller ones and probably a friday fun (though my brain insists it only wants to do a friday unfun, oy!).

I will be back.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

reading roundup

March 1, 2010 4 Comments

My laptop stayed off all day yesterday. Aside from using David’s computer to check email briefly, I spent a rare day of being unplugged from the ‘net. I went to church, cleaned (parts of) the house, had friends over for dinner, finished Fantasy in Death (just in time to count towards February’s reads) and turned in early (for me). Lovely!

Now I’m back to post my reading roundup for February. I managed to squeeze in six full books and two half-books. Not bad for a short month!

Here they are:

  • The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick (my review here)
  • Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics by Liping Ma (I’m a homeschooling mom. ‘Nuff said.)
  • The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett (This secondworld fantasy of manners combines elements of Jane Eyre and Pride & Prejudice. Good, though sometimes the pacing lagged, some of the characters were underdeveloped, and the antagonists were not well-defined. There’s a sequel coming out later this year, which I will check out, but I’m not on pins-and-needles for it, either).
  • Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown, with Christopher Vaughan (review forthcoming)
  • Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson (I read this book in bits and pieces since last November. This is fun stuff, appealing to both the chemistry geek and the history/worldbuilding buff in me. I appreciated the writers’ balanced views of some of the more controversial molecules (like CFCs and DDT) they covered. Now I feel nostalgic for my organic chemistry classes!)
  • Fantasy in Death by J. D. Robb (The speculative element of a futuristic New York appeals to me, especially since it’s not unremittingly dystopian and grim. I like how the mystery, and not the romantic relationship, is paramount in the books I’ve read so far in this series. These are fast, gripping reads.)

Two books made it to my BLITS list this month. Both were non-fiction and there wasn’t anything egregious about them. I just wasn’t as interested in the subject matter to keep going past the halfway mark. You just can’t please everyone. *grin*

Edited to fix typo in one of the titles.

Filed Under: reading, reviews
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