Being sick means that there’s little to do but curl up and feel sorry for oneself while alternating between Netflix and the TBR.
In addition to an awful summer cold, the Wheel of Time has brought around
Just in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share a few sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*
*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.
This week I’m reading The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, The Power Behind Five English Thrones by Thomas Asbridge.
The Truly Random Number Generator sends us to page 357:
Earl William now had to find a way to force entry
into Lincoln. The royalists had not come equipped
with heavy siege machinery; nor could the afford to
settle in for a prolonged investment of the town
walls, as the resultant delay might allow Prince
Louis time to march north and bolster the
English-French position.
In Retrospect
Since it’s been a while since I posted any reviews [due to time or scheduling], I guess it’s about time to rectify my negligence.
I looked forward to reading J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy with a kind of curiosity. How would the writing compare to that of Harry Potter? Could she write a novel aimed directly at adults? I almost said “a novel for adults,” but quite a few adults enjoy and identify with Harry Potter.
Yes. Yes she can. Delving into small-town politics and prejudices, The Casual Vacancy is anything but casual. However riveting it may be, I found a few things a bit far-fetched, especially at the conclusion. It left me wondering if Rowling understands how small towns work or if small-town America is that vastly different from small-town England.
Favorite Line:
Choice was dangerous: you had to forgo all other possibilities when you chose.
Rating: 4 stars
Bingo Square: Longer Than 500 Pages
Full Disclosure: I won an autographed copy of this novel from the author’s blog.
That said, Last Will isn’t my typical reading fare in that it’s a romance. However, it’s more a study in human psychology than anything else. It is not a bodice-ripper in any way, shape or form.
The plot was well thought out, but I found the structure a bit lacking. I’m not adverse to shifting perspective, but shifting perspective in the middle of a conversation can be of-putting at times.
Thankfully, most of these shifts were indicated by page breaks denoting who, exactly, was speaking.
Favorite Line:
nothing stood out; but I’m sure I’d find a few in a second reading
Rating: 4 stars
Bingo Square: Author’s Debut Novel
The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett was a delight to read. The “Discworld Fable” brought back many favorite characters and gave Cohen and the Silver Horde a fitting send-off.
Illustrated by the incomparable Paul Kidby, Last Hero is truly a work of art and the imagination. I was delighted to find many of the characters remarkable similar to the way I’d envisioned them in my head.
Favorite Lines:
Some people are confident because they are fools. Leonard had the look of someone who was confident because, so far, he’d never found reason not to be.
Rating: 5 stars
Bingo Square: A Protagonist over the age of 50
A Blink of the Screen – also by Terry Pratchett – was my first introduction to his short stories. They did not disappoint.
My favorite non-Discworld selection was “Mind the Monoliths” as it appealed to the historian and social studies teacher in me.
My favorite Discworld selection would be “The Sea and Little Fishes” as it contained Mistress Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg.
I shall have to seek out any other collections of Pratchett’s shorter works.
Favorite Line:
AND YOU ARE AWARE OF THE THEORY THAT THE STATE OF SOME TINY PARTICLES IS INDETERMINATE UNTIL THE MOMENT THEY ARE OBSERVED? A CAT IN A BOX IS OFTEN MENTIONED.
Rating: 5 stars
Bingo Square: A Collection of Essays
Now, before you start accusing me of cheating, I checked on the definition of essay:
Essays are generally scholarly pieces of writing giving the author’s own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of an article, a pamphlet and a short story.
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Running In My Head 