Teaser Tuesday - August 30

Teaser Tuesday is a fun little meme hosted each week over at Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser sentences are:

I have never seen so many squirrels. They hang from the slender branches, they bounce through the limbs, they seem to come from the whole forest.

My Side Of The Mountain, page 94 by Jean Craighead George

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - August 29th

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted each week over at One Person's Journey Through A World Of Books. Thanks for keeping us all on track with our reading Sheila. It's been a good week for once last week.

I finished reading:

Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian. Fiction, paranormal romance. Book one of The Midnight Breed series. I've read the book before, and yet not reviewed it, so I guess I should admit that I'm not a hundred percent certain it'll get reviewed this time either. Hopefully so. It's a good read.


Bookstore Lore by Tom Lichtenberg. Non-fiction. One of the funniest books I've read in a long time. A short read, but a good one.


The Wizard of London by Mercedes Lackey. Fiction, fantasy. One of the Elemental Masters series. Again, it's a book I've read before and loved.

I'm currently reading:
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. Fiction, fantasy. Part three of The Lord of the Rings. To be honest, this one's slipping onto the back burner a bit. I love the book, I just happen to be distracted by plenty of other books right now.

My Side of the Mountain by Jean C. George. Fiction, children's. I've been reading other books on my break, although I want to go back to this one.

Peony In Love by Lisa See. Fiction. I found this one in one of the book boxes in my storage unit and thought it was time to give it another try. I'm really enjoying it this time. Not as much as Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but it's good.

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. Fiction, ARC. This one I've enjoyed as far into it as I got, but again, it seems to be slipping to the back burner.

I want to read:
Kiss of Crimson by Lara Adrian. The second book in the Midnight Breed series.

Bookstore Lore - Tom Lichtenberg

Bookstore Lore
Tom Lichtenberg
June 2010

This is a bit of a weird one for reviewing. On the Kobo Books website, it's a free e-book, but at the same time, the complete contents of the book are also available as a single post blog: bookstorelore.blogspot.com. Whichever way you opt to read it, this is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time.

Now, a good part of that might be because I work in a bookstore, so I've had similar questions asked of me many a time, but some of them are so far out there, it's almost unbelievable. On the other hand, given human nature....

There's questions like:

Do you have this book? It's about this big and the cover's red. 

Or, my perennial favourite:

Do you work here?

Even if you don't work in a bookstore, anyone who works retail might just get a giggle out of the read. And, it's short. E-book form in a medium font, the book came out at about 60 pages, including the introduction. If you liked Malled by Caitlin Kelly, you might really enjoy this little gem.

Stealing Fire - Jo Graham

Stealing Fire
Jo Graham
Orbit Books
Copyright: May 25, 2010
978-0316076395

The Amazon.com Synopsis:

Alexander the Great's soldier, Lydias of Miletus, has survived the final campaigns of the king's life. He now has to deal with the chaos surrounding his death. Lydias throws his lot in with Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals who has grabbed Egypt as his personal territory. Aided by the eunuch Bagoas, the Persian archer Artashir, and the Athenian courtesan Thais, Ptolemy and Lydias must take on all the contenders in a desperate adventure whose prize is the fate of a white city by the sea, and Alexander's legacy.

This is the third book that Jo Graham has written in this world - termed the Numinous World, although there's now also a book of short stories as well. It's a world where reincarnation does happen, so, although the characters in each book are different, they are also the same. They don't realize it, either (at least, not usually). As a result, the books all stand alone well, whether or not, you've read any of the other books.

Stealing Fire is the third book published in this world, but at the same time, in terms of the chronology, it's the second one, coming between Black Ships and Hand of Isis. This is the story of the founding of the city of Alexandria and the effect that the death of Alexander, the great conqueror and general had on his followers, all seen from the point of view of one of the ordinary soldiers - Lydias. Who, maybe, isn't so ordinary after all.

The chronology of the book is interesting - a lot of the background is told through flashbacks - Lydias' early life, his time as a soldier of Alexander and so much more. Just as intriguing are the flashes of other times and places.

Some of them, you can recognize if you've read the other books, but some of the flashes have yet to be revealed as to where and when they're set. It just keeps me hoping that there will be other Numinous World books published.

I'm highly interested in the ancient world - Roman, Greek and Egyptian so, for me that was one of the big draws of this series to date, the setting. And Jo Graham excels at that - it's so you can almost experience the book through your senses - the smells, tastes and feels of what she writes about are all there.

This is a world that's somewhere between historical fiction, and fantasy - the gods and goddesses do take an active role in the story, but there's no magic as there is in so many fantasy novels. It's what a lot of people term historical fantasy, and the description fits the book to a T.

The historical facts are all there - it's the nuances and what the characters are thinking, as seen through the eyes of a minor character that flesh out the story so well.

Stealing Fire is definitely worth the rating, and worth reading!

The Wizard of London - Mercedes Lackey

The Wizard of London
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Copyright: 2006
978-0756403638

The back cover description:

School of Magic

The letter that introduced twelve-year-old Sarah Jane Lyon-White to Isabelle Harton, who ran the Harton School in central London, seemed quite simple and straighforward. But it was what was not written in the letter that resonated to Isabelle's own finely tuned "extra" senses: "Sarah has gifts we cannot train," the letter whispered to her, "nor can anyone we know. Those we trust tell us that you can..."

And it was true, for the Harton School was far from ordinary. It was Isabelle's job to train children who possessed the odd types of magic that could not be trained by London's powerful Elemental Masters: clairvoyants, telepaths, those with the ability to sense hidden danger, the vision to see into the past, and even that rarest of all talents: the ability to see and communicate with the dead.

But Isabelle was uneasy, for though she knew that Sarah Jane had a touch of telepathy, there seemed to be something else about the girl - something that had not yet manifested.

And Isabelle was right to be worried, for as soon as Sarah's full talents became evident, there was an attempt made on her life. For Sarah was that rarest of magicians: a true medium, and for some reason, a powerful Elemental Master wanted her dead.

Isabelle knew that to protect her ward she would have to seek help from the Elemental Masters of the city. That meant she would also see Lord David Alderscroft, the man she had once loved, but who had inexplicably chilled towards her and broken her heart long ago - for he was the leader of the city's Elemental Masters, the man who was now called the Wizard of London.

The Wizard of London is a bit of an oddity in terms of the Elemental Masters series. According to Amazon.com, this is the fourth book in the series, and yet, it seems to me to almost be the first. Not in publishing order, of course, but in terms of where in the story it's set. I could have sworn that I'd seen references to David Alderscroft in some of the other Elemental Masters books, but now I can't find them at all. Only to Lord Peter Almsley, in The Serpent's Shadow. Of course, I don't have all of the books in this series. Then, there's the chronology of the story itself. In this one you've got Queen Victoria mentioned several times. However, Phoenix and Ashes, which Amazon.com says is book three, is set during and after World War I.

The other oddity of the book is that parts of it (I think three chapters) have appeared in the anthology Werehunter, and were previously published elsewhere. Of course, for Mercedes Lackey, that's not so much of an oddity. It's true of at least two other books of hers: Oathbound (In the Sword and Sorceress series of books) and also the story Stolen Silver, which is the introductory chapter to the first of the Alberich novels. However, because of that, I was really excited to see The Wizard of London when it came out. After reading those stories, I'd wanted to read more about Sarah and Grey, her parrot. And this book didn't disappoint. Between the stories of Sarah and of Nan, there was plenty of adventure and lots of moments to make you smile.

Children can get into lots of trouble, and children with gifts can get into even more, through no fault or intent of their own. There's plenty of that here, and not even always the two main characters are the ones at fault. Mercedes Lackey paints a very believable view of London in the time of Victoria, with the various experiences and dreams of childhood that resonate. I loved the bit where the girls were dreaming of a pony that was calm and that they could drive, but the boys wanted a pony for adventures. It just seemed so true even for today.

And the villains leave you wondering all throughout too. What is it they want, and even, are they really all that evil?

I love Mercedes Lackey's novels, and The Wizard of London is no exception.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - August 22nd

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted each week over at One Person's Journey Through A World Of Books. Thanks, Sheila for keeping us all on track with our reading. It's probably a difficult job to do, too. I know I'm constantly distracted away from finishing the books I"m currently reading by new ones.

Last week, I finished reading:
The Giver by Lois Lowry. Science Fiction for Teens. I'm guessing that those who liked The Hunger Games might well like this one too. It's the 1994 Newberry Award winner too.

I'm currently reading:
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. The third part of The Lord of the Rings. I love the book, but this time the read is going very slowly. As I said, I'm being distracted by other books.

My Side of the Mountain by Jean George. Children's, Fiction. This is one that's taking a bit of time for all that it's short. I'm reading it on my breaks at work.

The Wizard of London by Mercedes Lackey. One of the Elemental Masters series. What's kind of neat about this one is that sections of it were published as short stories in the book Werehunter.

Wheelock's Latin, 6th Edition, Revised by Frederic M. Wheelock. My primary Latin textbook from both my first and second year classes. I'm still only on the first chapter, doing the practise exercises in the back of the book.

I want to read:
Catalyst by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Anne Scarborough. Science Fiction. If I'm going to read this one, I need to renew it soon. The library loan period is nearly done with.

(My cats are "helping" me type this post, so it's going a bit slower)

The Giver - Lois Lowry

The Giver
Lois Lowry
Delacorte Books
Copyright: 2006
978-0385732550

The Amazon.com product description:

Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world.

When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does Jonas begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

Believe it or not, I'd never read this Newberry Award-winning book before, but I read it yesterday and quite enjoyed the experience. For all that The Giver is a very short book  - I think it took me maybe two hours overall to read, it was also a very thought-provoking one. I picked up the book on the recommendation of one of my co-workers and I'm glad I did.


As the story starts out, everything seems more or less normal, with a few changes - everyone uses bicycles to get around, for example and everything is done in a very disciplined manner. But, it's a society where everyone is generally happy, even though, as we discover, they have no real choice in how they live their lives. It's only as the story progresses that we learn how they came to that point by giving things up. There is one person in the community who remembers how things were before - the Giver. Jonas, the main character of the story is chosen to become the next Giver, and so the rest of the book is spent going through his training, by which he and we learn what everyone has given up: True family, love, even the ability to see colour or hear music. On the other hand, they've also given up real pain, violence and poverty.

At times, The Giver isn't the easiest book to read, being rather sad in places, but it's also extremely thought-provoking I found. Although, I'm still not completely certain about the ending to the story. It felt rather unresolved to me. On the other hand, something I only just found out while writing this review is that there are more books set in the same world: Gathering Blue and The Messenger. There's a good chance that they might resolve things, at least a bit.

I'm definitely going to have to read some more of Lois Lowry's books. She's an effective writer, who I can't believe I missed out on until now. This is one of those books that even though it's written for teens, I think that anyone will like. The Giver certainly swept me away into it's pages.

NPR's Top 100 SF/Fantasy Titles

NPR has come out with their list of the top 100 science fiction/fantasy titles in the last week or so. This isn't just a list that someone came up with out of nowhere either. As I understand it, the NPR list was compiled with public input, and people could certainly vote their top ten picks.

With this list, I was rather surprised at the number of the books that I've read, unlike some of the top books lists I've seen making the rounds as memes.On the other hand, I'm somewhat surprised at the inclusion of some of the books they have, such as the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

Going in reverse order (#100-#1), I've read:

• The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis
• The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
• The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
• The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi
• Journey To The Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
• The Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind
• The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny
• 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne
• Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
• Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan (Though, I don't know if I should include this or not as I've only read as far as Winter's Heart)
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• 1984 by George Orwell
• The Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbers (Again, I've only read a few of the books)
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Actually, looking at the list, I can't really call it the top 100 books. A lot of the entries are multi-book series.

Either way, it's a neat look at what people consider to be some of the best science fiction and fantasy out there.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? August 15th

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? has been hosted for about the past two years by Sheila of One Person's Journey Through A World Of  Books. Congratulations on reaching that 100th post for this meme. And, I've said it before, but thanks for keeping us all on track with our reading.

I'm a little delayed in getting my response up this morning - there was a power outage. Got lucky though, as they were forecasting that it would b a few more hours before we all got our power back.

Last week I got my usual one book read:
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. Fantasy, fiction. The second part of my all-time favourite book, The Lord of the Rings. Again, while I was reading The Two Towers, I kept hearing the voices from the BBC Radio Play version of it - especially the voice of Peter Woodthorpe, who spoke the part of Gollum, but also Ian Holm (Frodo) and several of the others. I've really got to listen to that one again (but not while I'm trying to read the book).

I'm currently reading:
Wheelock's Latin, 6th Edition, Revised by Frederic M. Wheelock. My primary Latin textbook from both my first and second year classes. I'm attempting to work my way through it again. Surprisingly (though it's only the first chapter so far), I'm remembering more of it than I thought I would.

The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Douglas A. Anderson. A truly spectacular edition of the book.

I intend to read:
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. The third part of The Lord of the Rings. This is definitely the next book I'm going to be reading.

Catalyst by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Anne Scarborough. Fiction, fantasy and a library book. I really need to get to this book in the near future.

The Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien

The Two Towers
J.R.R. Tolkien
Grafton (An Imprint of HarperCollins)
Copyright: 1991
978-0261102361

The Amazon.com product description:

THE GREATEST FANTASY EPIC OF OUR TIME
The Fellowship was scattered. Some were bracing hopelessly for war against the ancient evil of Sauron. Some were contending with the treachery of the wizard Saruman. Only Frodo and Sam were left to take the accursed Ring of Power to be destroyed in Mordor?the dark Kingdom where Sauron was supreme. Their guide was Gollum, deceitful and lust-filled, slave to the corruption of the Ring.

Thus continues the magnificent, bestselling tale of adventure begun in The Fellowship of the Ring, which reaches its soul-stirring climax in The Return of the King.

The Two Towers is the second part of my all-time favourite book: The Lord of the Rings. As I noted in my review of The Fellowship of the Ring, it's also a book I'm having a terrible time reviewing. I think I might just be too familiar with the story by now.

Anyway, the story picks up where the first book ended, with the Company of the Ring scattering in several directions - with the narrator following on the footsteps of Aragorn as he followed Frodo's tracks. For this book, there are three separate groupings that are followed, for lack of a better term: The first one is that of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, the second is that of Merry and Pippin, while the third is Frodo and Sam.

In many ways, although it might be said that the second half (referred to as a book) of The Two Towers, that focused on Frodo and Sam, is the most important, my favourite is the first book. There's just something about the tone of it that I like more. On the other hand, my two favourite descriptive passages are from the second half: firstly the description of the statue of the King at the Crossroads:

The brief glow fell upon a huge sitting figure, still and solemn as the great stone kings of Argonath.The years had gnawed it, and violent hands had maimed it. Its head was gone, and in its place was set in mockery a round rough-hewn stone, rudely painted by savage hands in the likeness of a grinning face with one large red eye in the midst of its forehead. Upon its knees and mighty chair, and all about the pedestal, were idle scrawls mixed with the foul symbols that the maggot-folk of Mordor used.
Suddenly. caught by the level beams, Frodo saw the old king's head: it had rolled away by the roadside. "Look Sam!" he cried, startled into speech. "Look! The king has got a crown again!"
The eyes were hollow and the carven beard was broken, but about the high stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold. A trailing plant with flowers like small white stars had bound itself across the brows as if in reverence for the fallen king, and in the crevasses of his stony hair yellow stonecrop gleamed.
"They cannot conquer forever!" said Frodo. And then suddenly the brief glimpse was gone. The Sun dipped and vanished, and as if at the shuttering of a lamp, black night fell. (The Two Towers. Journey To The Crossroads)

 The second quote is their first sight of the hosts of Mordor, led by the Witch-King. Both of them have such a punch to them. The first is just one of those things where as I read the words, I feel as though I can see what the two hobbits are. The second passage just ratchets up the tension so very effectively. I really wish the movies had used this passage just as it is described in the book. I like the air of silent menace that Tolkien has created here, much more so than the swooping Winged Beasts that Jackson used for the same passage. Unfortunately, this quote is almost too long to use in my review.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: J.R.R. Tolkien really is a master at both storytelling and description. The Lord of the Rings as a whole is one of those books I don't think I'll ever get tired of re-reading.

Guide to Old English & A Weird Experience

In this week's It's Monday! What Are You Reading? post, I had a whole lot of Old English books, and last night I had a bit of a weird experience with that. As I'd figured, I'd forgotten more or less everything I'd learned that semester, and to top it off, the book itself wasn't making a whole lot of sense to me. Perhaps that was because of the time though, as it was something like 11P.M.

Anyway, I went digging into some of my other books for help - namely a useful little book on Latin which one of the tutors recommended back when I was taking the class (for the second time, I might add): English Grammar For Students of Latin. Not that it was especially that much help with Old English, although the information I was looking for should have overlapped: namely details on the uses of the noun cases.

On the other hand, the book was clicking with me for once in terms of it's regular use purpose: Latin. Things started making sense, even though I haven't even pulled out the textbook for that which I still have. I actually dug out said textbook and found myself understanding it a bit more (and it's been several years since I looked at it). Perhaps I just remember the Latin classes a bit better, especially given that I had to take First Year Latin twice in order to progress to the second year level.

Either way, I'm rather curious to see if I can attempt to learn the language on my own as it were. I remember that even struggling as I was, I actually enjoyed piecing together the translation passages.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - August 8th

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila over at One Person's Journey Through A World Of Books each week. It's a great way to keep your reading on track (or not, as the case may be some weeks).

This past week was a good one for starting books, but only average for finishing them.

I finished reading:
Living Wild: The Ultimate Guide To Scouting And Fieldcraft by Bear Grylls. Non Fiction. A very interesting book on camping and useful outdoors techniques, including tying knots, building a camp fire, building camp furniture, cooking, navigation and so much more. I found a whole lot in there that I want to try out some day.

I'm currently reading (and this is where the list got long):
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. Fiction. The second part of the Lord of the Rings. I'm into Ithilien, so another good day or so's read should finish this one off.

The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Douglas A. Anderson. Fiction. An incredible edition of The Hobbit, illustrated, and with notes about the various editions, changes and tidbits of possible inspiration etc in the annotations. For any fan of Tolkien, this is a book to read.

A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse edited by Richard Hammer. Non Fiction. Facing page translations of Anglo-Saxon and Old English verses. I was inspired to take this one out by comments in the introduction to The Annotated Hobbit. Discovered that I can't remember a thing from the semester of Old English I took, which is why I dug out the next book.

A Guide To Old English, Seventh Edition by Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson. Non Fiction. The textbook from that aforementioned semester of Old English. I'm hoping to jog my memory from that semester, and maybe manage to teach myself a bit more of it. Not that it's likely to happen. I just have so much trouble with the grammar. Can you really call this reading a book?

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Fiction. To be honest, this book is slipping onto the back burner.

Books I want to read:
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. The third part of the Lord of the Rings.

Catalyst by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Anne Scarborough. Fiction, science fiction. I borrowed this one from the library, so it does have a time-limit on it. The description reminded me of some of Andre Norton's titles, such as the Solar Queen series.

Living Wild - Bear Grylls

Living Wild: The Ultimate Guide to Scouting and Fieldcraft
Bear Grylls
Channel 4 Books
Copyright: June 2010
978-1905026654

The amazon.com product description:

The complete guide to living in the wild from the ultimate survival expert.

In this essential guide to living wild, Bear Grylls reveals the secrets of his years of fieldcraft experience. This is the information you really need to know about living in the field from the man who has passed 21 SAS selection, climbed Everest and survived in some of the most inhospitable regions on Earth. In his inimitable style, Bear has thrown out everything that's boring about scouting and fieldcraft and concentrated only on what's exciting, inspirational and a little bit edgy.

It's all here, from mastering the art of making the perfect campfire and constructing the best camp, to navigating safely through all terrains in all weathers -- with or without a map. The only other thing you'll need is this book!

This was honestly a surprise to me in how much I enjoyed reading Living Wild. A book on survival - it seems to be the kind of book you'd read out of order as things interest you (or as needed - such as before you go camping, the sections on cooking and shelter, for example, or on fire-building), but I found it to be both an interesting and fun read from cover to cover. To be honest, I was inspired by watching Man Vs Wild on TV. And, a lot of the Bear Grylls style from the show has come through in his writing in the book. Including some of the humor.

I'll admit that I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to hiking/camping, especially the latter, so a lot of the material in Living Wild was new to me, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's stuff in here that's of interest to more experienced outdoors people too. Bear Grylls has included chapters on:

• Gear
• Tools (knives etc.)
• Campcraft
• Fires
• Cooking (and there's a recipe or two here that I'd like to try)
• Pathfinding
• First Aid
• And more

There's stuff in here I'd like to try next time I'm out camping, or even just out hiking (such as navigating by compass. I did a bit of that as a kid in the Girl Guides/Pathfinders, but I've completely forgotten everything about it). Not only the compass tricks, but building a fire properly so you don't need firestarting logs, and even how to make your own cords out of found materials. That I really want to try given that one of my hobbies is spinning, and the techniques seem to be somewhat similar. In each section, Bear also includes little tips and safety warnings too. Each chapter ends with a 'campfire tale', a real life anecdote all of which illustrate a point made in the chapter in question.

Living Wild is lavishly illustrated too, with either line drawings/diagrams (for things like how to make your own washstand or chair in the outdoors) or full colour photographs, all demonstrating the various techniques that Bear discusses within the book.

All of it adds up to a book that makes me want to get out there and do some more hiking and camping (although not getting lost) this summer and for the rest of the year too. Reading Living Wild, along with watching Man Vs Wild, has also made me a bit more safety conscious when I'm hiking too - probably a good thing, even on the shorter walks I've enjoyed doing.

Definitely a book I'll recommend to anyone who likes the outdoors.

Milestones

July and August are turning into months for milestones here at All Booked Up. In July the blog managed to finally break that 100 follower barrier, something I'd been looking forward to for a while now. Follower 100 is Alaiel Kreuz. Thanks for that.


August has it's own milestone to report and we're only three days into the month! My original review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See has gathered over a thousand pageviews. At this time, the number is 1,127 pageviews. Frankly, that just stuns me.


So, what's going to be the next major milestone?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - August 1st

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted each week over at One Person's Journey Through A World of Books. Thanks Sheila for keeping us all on track with our reading. I knew last week's list was definitely on the ambitious side, but almost none of it got done. On the other hand, that was mostly because I wasn't able to get to the libraries. I'm hoping to manage that little trip this week.

Last week I read:
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. One of my all time favourite books. I found it hard to review the book properly though.

I'm currently reading:
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. The second part of my favourite story - The Lord of the Rings.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Would you call this classic fiction or science fiction? I'm rather leaning towards the latter, but the bookstore has it under "fiction". I've read the book before, but I'm not entirely sure what I think of it this time (ten or so years later now).

Living Wild by Bear Grylls. A survival manual for those who like the outdoors, written by the guy who does Man Vs. Wild. To be honest, this read may take me a while as there are two of us reading the one copy of the book.

I (still) want to read books from this list:
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. The conclusion to The Lord of the Rings.

The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Annotated by Douglas A. Anderson. The story that started it all. Definitely time for a re-read of the story.

My Side of the Mountain by Jean George. A classic kids story I have the desire to re-read. Will require a trip to the library.

The Far Side of the Mountain by Jean George. The sequel to My Side of the Mountain.

Frightful's Mountain by Jean George. The third book in the series. This one I have never read, in fact I didn't even know it existed until just recently. As with the other two books, I'll have to go to the library.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. A book I read and reviewed last year, but kind of want to re-read.