Friday, July 30, 2010 20 comments By: Suzanne

Friday 56: Carnival


Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I read a review of Carnival by Elizabeth Bear recently and it sounded so good that I immediately went out to Paperback Swap and ordered it. It came in and is still sitting on my desk while I read other things! hehe. I'm such an impulse buyer.

"A planet like this," Michelangelo said, "and they're wearing nonrenewables and doing who-knows-what to the ecosystem. Haven't seen forests like that--"
--outside of old 2-D movies and documentaries about pre-Change, pre-Diaspora Old Earth. 

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 0 comments By: Suzanne

Pump Six and Other Stories: Audio


Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi is a collection of short stories all with a type of social consciousness wrapped into the fantastical stories. While I enjoy a heavy story with a message from time to time, this collection was simply too much for me all at once. I should maybe have read one here and one there in between other books and stories. Every single story in this book is depressing and makes you fear for the state of the world.

The first story, "Pocket Full of Dharma" is a fascinating story about a boy in futuristic China who comes across the Dalai Lama in a most unusual way.

"The Fluted Girl" is a tale about our obsession with perfect bodies and celebrity set in a world at once futuristic (in it's upper class and medical procedures) yet also medieval (in it's serf system).

These are easily the best stories in the book. When I got to ... I had to skip it. The soldiers in the story who are able to regenerate body parts and are simply fascinated by a stray dog who can't turned my stomach. Maybe it has a happy ending, I'll never know.

Maybe one day I'll revisit some of these stories individually and see if they strike me differently. Right now, I guess I'm simply not in the right frame of mind for them.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 0 comments By: Suzanne

Widdershins: Audio


Widdershins by Charles de Lint is a type of sequel to The Onion Girl. It's a sequel in that it continues Jilly Coppercorn's story a few years after her accident. Where The Onion Girl tells us what Jilly and her sister's childhood was like, Widdershins has Jilly dealing with the emotional scars she still has but thought she had already dealt with. Of course, this is all done in classic Charles de Lint fashion so there are lots of fairies and animal people and everything in between. For fans of de Lint's Newford stories, many of the loved characters make an appearance: The Crow Girls, Joe Crazy Dog, Geordie Riddel and others. Besides Jilly's personal struggle, a war between America's native spirits and the faery that came from the old world is close to erupting. Joe has to make a terrible choice between finding Jilly and stopping a terrible war that would have devastating consequences.

While I loved this story as I have almost all of de Lint's books, I felt there were simply too many story lines happening. It reminds me slightly of The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb in that way. He tried to cram so many ideas into one book that some of the individual story lines suffered a little. It's possible the book wouldn't have been as good if the two main stories were separated but, other than Lizzie, the two stories don't really have any connection. Lizzie's story almost feels like an afterthought, which is odd since she is the character that opens the book. Lizzie's encounter with boguns (a mean, childish faery) brings Jilly and Geordie into the story but, even though she remains through most of the book, she's simply not important to the progression of the story. If the possible war had been separate, it could have been so much more.

However, I did enjoy the book and especially enjoyed Kate Reading's voice in the audio. She also narrated The Onion Girl and I came to associate her voice with Jilly in my head. It was nice to have that consistency. Plus, she's amazingly talented. She's able to give every character a different voice without sounding like a 5th grade teacher reading about scary monsters. Every voice is believable. That's a rare talent when sometimes the first person is a man, sometimes a woman, and (in this story) women in the bodies of children.
Thursday, July 22, 2010 22 comments By: Suzanne

The Friday 56: Tarot


Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Well, this week's is another "interesting" one just by chance. I have had a set of Fairy Tarot cards for a long time that I love. The artist is Brian Froud, one of the big reasons I bought the cards in the first place. He's the artist from Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. These cards are just beautiful. A couple examples:

and the backs all look like this: You can see some of the creatures from Labyrinth in this.


So I've had these awhile but I've never tried to use traditional tarot cards. This week I ordered some and started looking through the book. Interesting. Page 56 is 3/4 full but there are only 4 sentences. hmmmm, this is going to be difficult reading. So here's the 4th sentence:

They may have existed for centuries, but this period would be early enough, if they were only intended for people to try their luck at gambling or their luck at seeing the future; on the other hand, if they contain the deep intimations of Secret Doctrine, then the 14th century is again early enough, or at least in this respect we are getting as much as we can. 

Yeah, it's all like that. 


Wednesday, July 21, 2010 5 comments By: Suzanne

Another funny for you...

A couple more funny clips for you today.



I just love Nathon Fillion and I imagine this picture would not be nearly as funny with some no name geek in the picture but Nathon Fillion being a geek is wonderful! Here's a clip of him on Jimmy Kimmel explaining how big of a geek he really is.


Banned Ads?

I came across this site of 25 Vintage Ads That Would Be Banned Today and I wanted to share with everyone. You'll have to go to the page to get the full experience but I will share the best ones with you here. I just can't bring myself to share the very most offensive, though, you HAVE to go see them.


Yeah, I'm thinking more like Valium.




















I bet these people had tooth aches EVERYDAY!












I'm not really sure what to make of this. Are they saying the shoe will keep her at home naked or she belongs in the shoe? 




















Seriously? I hope this is disgusting to everyone, not just us vegetarians!



















Oh yeah, babies NEED 7-up! At least it's caffeine free...

























































I made this one larger so you could read the fine print about fitting in. Somehow I think this might be before the truth in advertising law.



I not only laughed right out but even snorted.




















And last but certainly not least (because there are some crazies you've got to see)


Saturday, July 17, 2010 4 comments By: Suzanne

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Audio

Yes, I know I am late to the game in reviewing this book, but that's never stopped me before! hehehe

When I first started listening to the audio of this book, I was so intrigued by the story that I did what I promised myself I wouldn't do, I went out and read other reviews of it before finishing. Let's just say that when I discovered the original name was Men Who Hate Women and I saw this in the NYTimes review, "Except for Blomkvist, nearly every man in the book under age 70 is a violent misogynist," I quickly thought I was going to hate this book. Good thing I had already downloaded it and was listening to it, because if I had read that prior to buying it, I never would have. I loved this book. I think the NYTimes review of it is greatly exaggerated. I swear, the book reviewers they have there hate everything. Are they paid by how well they can trash a book?

I found the "mystery" to be slightly predictable but the writing so compelling I couldn't stop listening. I put in on my ipod and listened to on my walks with the dogs, as I was cleaning house, and even while I was in the shower! Shame on you Alex Barenson. Did you even finish this book? You say, "Even after 460 pages, it’s not clear whether Blomkvist cares, whether he’s troubled by his lack of intimacy or simply resigned to it. Is he stoic or merely Swedish? Either way, he seems more a stock character than a real person." But that's how all mystery characters are. Since when do mystery writers spend time examining the intricate details of the investigator's life? The reader would be bored. The mystery is the important part and Larsson does this well. I will definitely be reading the other books with Blomkvist and Lisbeth, who is undoubtedly the most interesting character in the book and well deserving of the American title. 
Friday, July 16, 2010 19 comments By: Suzanne

The Friday 56: The Darkness that Comes Before


Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

HAPPY FRIDAY!


Wooooo! We've got some eager beavers this week! A couple people posted yesterday and one today so take a look back at last week's post to see their 56s too.

Well, I know last week I said I was going to start on Revelation Space as soon as I finished the Jesus Mystery but I was in a fantasy mood still, not sci-fi and I just didn't feel like going on to Knife of Dreams just yet. Now that I'm coming to the end of the WOT re-read and getting ready to read the new ones, I'm oddly reluctant. Maybe it's that "I don't want it to end" thing. Well, I've had this other book sitting on my shelves waiting to be read for almost a year now. I'm diving in! It's a little hard to get started because there's a lot of new concepts right from the very first page (ones that are peculiar to this book's reality) and he doesn't ease you into it. I'm on page 31. hehehe


So here's this week's selection from The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker (just a side note, do you pronounce that with a long A or short a? It's driving me nuts).

Annoyed by their scrutiny, Achamian suppressed the urge to ask if they wanted, like any scrupulous slaver, to check his teeth.

Thursday, July 15, 2010 0 comments By: Suzanne

Dallas Zoo

I heard this wonderful story about the Dallas zoo on our local show, Think, on NPR. It's a great show. I feel really lucky to be living in an area that can support a large NPR station that will bring us really great national and local shows. Ok, that was my crazy NPR addict plug. hehehe.

Anyway, the guests went on and on about this new Savannah exhibit at the Dallas Zoo. I had never been to the Dallas Zoo because I had heard that the animals were kept in little cages and that just makes me sad. I grew up going to places like Busch Gardens where the animals roam on these large open habitats. So if I want to go to a zoo and view animals I can only see in videos, I go to the Ft Worth Zoo. It's not a good as Busch Gardens but at least the animals have some space to get away from the gawking humans. But the new Savannah exhibit they were talking about sounded wonderful! I had to see it for myself. So off my mom and I go to the Dallas Zoo. That's her in the pic above and here's a close up of that same shot:
hehehe, she's gonna love that shot!

Right in the front entrance are two beautiful macaws just sitting there.

I had talked it up so much that we went straight to the Savannah exhibit.
And close up:
You only have to scroll up to see where I get it from.

To the Savannah! Or so we thought. What we went to was the the tram ride around what we thought was the Savannah exhibit. Because that's the way it is at Busch Gardens. In order to see the animals up close, you have to get on the tram. We were early for the next ride so we went to look at some of the animals close by. We saw this wonderfully odd and beautiful creature.
It looks like it could be cousin to a zebra, huh? But apparently it's most closely related to a giraffe! It's hard to believe but when I saw it flick it's tongue, I believed it. It looked very much like a giraffe in the face when it did that.
And just opposite the Okapi were these beautiful birds.
The vulture is difficult to see because she blends with the gray mesh between me and her but I just had to have a picture of her. I have a thing for vultures. Well, all birds really. If I have a spirit animal, I'm sure it's a type of bird. And it's possibly a vulture. I have a strange attraction to them.

We also got to see the meerkats while waiting. Cute little creatures! (that pic is for Andrea)
And then we went on the tram! YAYYYY! ummmm, wait. This is not what I was expecting. We saw some wonderfully beautiful animals but they were in little bitty habitats. Not in cages, thank goodness, but still. There was so little space, I couldn't believe this is what I came to see! The only really cool part was when I got this giant bird (don't remember what kind, though it looks related to the pelican) sitting on it's nest.
So we traveled the tram and saw the beautiful animals in their little spaces and felt a little disappointed. Then as we're getting off the tram we hear the driver making announcements and she says, "And don't forget to visit our new Savannah exhibit." hehehe, well, ok. Where is it then? We make our way there with great anticipation and....let down. Yeah, it's bigger than anything else they have there but it's not this great expanse where the animals can be viewed in "their natural surroundings and studied as if in the wild" like they said. I'm not sure why there are scientists out there studying. You can see the stands they sit in to study the animals in this picture.
I've seen better habitats. I'm very confused by this and wonder exactly WHAT they're getting out of this. However, I did get to watch an elephant spraying herself with water. That was very cool! I missed the big show but was able to a little video of her doing it again the second time. (video for Sage though I found better on youtube).



We were also able to feed the giraffes! I have to say this far and away was the best part of the visit. Seriously, who gets to feed giraffes? Of course, they made us pay $5 for 3 leafs of lettuce but I think $5 is definitely worth the experience of feeding a giraffe. I was able to get pics of mom with the giraffe she fed, but not knowing my camera, she couldn't get me.
We went to eat lunch right after because it POURED rain. But then the sun came out again and we saw the rest of the zoo.

At one point we're just walking along and this bird crosses my path.  I give my camera to my mom and walk slowly up to him. Not sure if he's supposed to be free or not but it was still fairly cool. We just stared at each other for a minute. There was a sign posted about feeding birds at certain times but I think it was canceled due to the rain.  He might be one of those and is just not afraid of people at all.

He followed us for a few minutes after this but I guess we were boring.

We soon were passing these wonderful turtle sculptures.

And then one moved to reach the grass on the other side of the fence. You know, the grass is always greener...Seriously, I never would have known they were real if it didn't move! They were so still!

I will now end my story and leave you with a beautiful harpy vulture.



Wednesday, July 14, 2010 3 comments By: Suzanne

The Jesus Mystery

In her book The Jesus Mystery: Astounding Clues to the True Identities of Jesus and Paul, Lena Einhorn makes several truly astounding hypotheses. She does this in a very compelling manner, using both the New Testament and historical writings from the same time period to back up her claims. One of the problems for many believers trying to place Jesus in history is that there is little to none historical evidence of him. Aside from two mentions of him in Josephus' works (which have been disputed to be legitimate), he is non-existent in historical documents (leaving out the gospel, which were written long after he supposedly died). If such a man was causing riots (as the gospels allude to if read carefully) then there should be other written sources for this. One of the claims Einhorn makes (and makes well I should say) is that if you place these same events 15-20 years later in history, then there is an enormous amount of evidence and the names that have been associated with Jesus in Talmud show up in not only Josephus' works but other historical writers of the time. This would also mean that the gospel writers were not writing of events long past, but of those that they might have witnessed themselves.

I discovered something interesting from this book, which if I had studied Christian history would be obvious to me. However, since I haven't I never realized that Paul's writings are dated much earlier than the gospels that come before him in the Bible. In fact:

Paul started to write his letters about two decades before the destruction of Jerusalem! Thus, while the gospel writers wrote down their stories more than 30 years after the crucifixion of Jesus, Paul, according to the commonly accepted chronology, waited only 15 to 20 years...Paul is probably much closer to the center of events than the gospel writers. And whatever the situation, these gospel writers seem to have been inspired by Paul to write their stories. Not the other way around.

If then, it is true that Jesus' story might be dated 15-20 years later than commonly believed, Paul started writing IMMEDIATELY AFTER the crucifixion.

Why then would the gospel writers want to place these events in the past? Why not simply tell it as it happened? A good question and Einhorn gives compelling reasons for this to, which eventually lead to her most shocking hypothesis. The gospel writers WANTED to put a veil on the true identity of Jesus. They had good reasons for hiding who he truly was. All in all, I believe thinking Christians can find this book not so hard to digest, as it doesn't call into question their faith in anyway. Einhorn uses the Bible as well as the Apocryphal books and historical writings from the same time period to form her theories. At no point does she say anything that would diminish the faith of Christians, though she makes shocking claims that could be upsetting to traditionally held views (views that were put forth by leaders of the church, not the Bible itself). However, I will not spoil the end for you. This is too good to give away. :) I will however leave you with some wonderful quotes from the book that might lead you too in the right direction.

What is remarkable is that there is so much in the stories of the crucifixion and the burial to indicate that something uncommon has taken place. There is so much that is atypical - without, perhaps, intending to be. It is as if the gospel writers wanted to convey the story as it really happened. Why, otherwise, did they not describe him hanging on the cross for three days, and dying in the same way that other crucified men died? Why, in their writing, did they let him give a signal that he wanted a drink, and when he got this drink let him expire? Why point out that those who were crucified beside him had their legs broken, while Jesus did not? And why describe that he was wrapped in 75 pounds of medications - medications that were used to treat wounds? 

Paul is oddly unwilling to travel to Jerusalem...The explanations that are given for why Paul avoids Jerusalem vary...In fact, one never really understands why Paul, especially, would be permanently risking his life if he came to Jerusalem - when the other apostles continue to work there undisturbed, and build congregations...It is obvious that Paul is afraid of something. But none of the above can explain to us why the Romans keep him prisoner for two years.

Afterward: It was pointed out to me that I made it sound as if the author backs up everything in the Bible as if it is fact and proven by other documents. I realize this may come off this way but that's not actually what she's doing. What she's done is show that the author's of the different books in the Bible may have been leaving clues in the stories that there is a very different outcome than we have always believed. 
Friday, July 9, 2010 8 comments By: Suzanne

The Friday 56: Revelation Space


Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

SORRY EVERYONE! I had my sister and nephew over today and completely forgot about the F56! This week's is from Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. Haven't read it yet but it looks REALLY good.
From the back:
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him. Because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason - and if that reason is uncovered, the universe (and reality itself) could be irrevocably altered...

F56:

"You did well," Tarachi said, no pain showing in his voice. He reached out with one hand to steady himself against the wall. 

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 2 comments By: Suzanne

Crossroads of Twilight - Reread

I just don't know what to say at this point in my re-read. I know I planned on writing about all the books as I re-read them but that just plain didn't happen for any number of reasons. Now here I am on book 10 and I'm wavering. Not in my commitment to finish the series. I mean, common, if I felt committed enough to read all 11 books again before I read number 12 in hopes of being ready for number 13 when it is released later this year then reading them all again is NOT going to make me waver in that! It's only going to make me more committed to the series. No, what I'm wavering on is my die-hard stance that everything after Path of Daggers sucks, and to be honest the only really exciting part was in the beginning before they use the Bowl of Winds, so really everything after the beginning of the Path of Daggers sucks. Or so I thought before.

Yeah, I'm still a little irritated at all the sitting around and staring sideways at everyone that everyone does. I'm still bored to tears with the endless descriptions of what everyone's wearing and what their roles are. If I have to hear again about what a great horse thief Vanin is and how he would be upset to hear anyone call him that even though that's truly what he is, (and the same sort of repeated, ridiculous descriptions of EVERYONE) then I'm going to puke. But then, after the puking, I will remember that I am really enjoying the books again and will get on with it.

I really didn't remember much about this book from before and some of what I "remember" must be from Knife of Dreams because it hasn't happened yet! hahaha! I'm not sure why I don't remember much from these two books (ALL I remember from the next one is the thing I thought was gonna happen in this one!), especially since I remember so much from the other books. The only explanation I can come up with is that I was pissed off and purposely forgot. Really, not much happens until the last few pages. Written well, this book could have been one chapter. There are a lot of things that simply should have been left out. Jordan was beginning to ramble like an old man telling stories from his youth. But I ate it up this time. Maybe it's because everything else is so fresh in my mind, it didn't all feel like a colossal waste of time. What the characters were going through in their inner lives was interesting this time. No, there wasn't much action and the story didn't really progress. In fact, most of the story happens at the same time as the last few chapters of the previous book. That's something else I forgot. We got a chance to see everyone's reactions to Rand cleansing saidin and the many interpretations of what might be happening since they don't have the 6 pm news. It's really too bad, because that would have saved a lot of heartache and stupid speculation. In spite of the fact that I purposely forgot much of this book, this time I liked it. However, the things I do remember are really the only important thing: Mat is stuck in Luca's show with that haughty-bi***  and he's still there in the end, only it's slightly worse (maybe), Egwene is sitting outside the tower with her army (doing nothing - WTF happened to Gawyn? and for that matter where is Galad?), Perrin is still trying to rescue Faile (seriously though, if this had happened in earlier books you think she'd still be there?), Elayne is pregnant (we get loads of boring details about that) and Rand did absolutely nothing. It's weird that I liked this book on the re-read. Really my first impression of the book was right, but this time I'm enjoying it!

There's one thing that is bothering me. Usually the details are pretty well seen to. I haven't caught any glaring mistakes, until now. Elayne is thinking that her position will be easier once one of her brothers gets there. She is hoping for Gawyn, but spends just a moment reflecting on Galad and how she actually misses him too. Then she "remembers" how Galad once had a thing for Nynaeve. WHAT??!! WHEN??!! That never happened. He had a thing for Egwene and kept quiet about it because he knew Gawyn did too. It was a fairly big deal through the first few books. How could this one little sentence creep in there like that and NO ONE CATCH IT? I found a thread on this very thing. They speculated that because Galad helps her and Elayne out in Amadicia, he did it because he had a thing for Nynaeve, but I remember this clearly and he did it because of Elayne and Egwene, even though she isn't even there! Nynaeve even mentions that she feels ignored by Galad and doesn't like it. Oh well, it's mistake but I'm truly surprised it wasn't caught before being printed.

But just now out of curiosity I did a google search and found an interesting WOT site that has all the errors listed (not typos but actual errors). Hmmmmm, interesting.

So now I move on the last book I've read before, Knife of Dreams. I don't remember what happens to Egwene so I'm anxiously seeking that. All I remember from this book is Faile's story. Does anyone remember if anything actually happens in this book? 
Sunday, July 4, 2010 1 comments By: Suzanne

Short Story Challenge - June Recap

 


If you missed signing up for the Short Story Challenge, it's not too late.  Each month I will post a recap to discuss what everyone has read for the challenge. Everyone who still wants to sign up, go back to original post (to which I will leave a link in every current post). Then leave comments in the current post.

Not too much reading going on here. Well, actually, lots of reading but it's all been the WOT re-read. I did get a little short story reading in though, through audio. I listened to A Galaxy Triology, Vol 2. Even though I greatly enjoy sci-fi short stories, I find it amusing to read ones from 50 years ago or more. This collection is of classic sci-fi and it's interesting to read how technology was imagined to be years in the future. The first story, Aliens from Space by David Osborne, was published originally in 1958. The story takes place sometime in the mid 90s. The technology is both more advance and less advanced than it actually was in the 90s. For example, humans have already progressed in space flight far enough to have a vehicle that will take us to Jupiter in just a few days, yet in order for the White House to communicate important news to everyone, they still send mimeograph reports to the news agencies that break in with "This important news just in!" That's just one example. I really enjoyed this story and think it would make for a wonderful update if anyone ever decided to take it on. Two advance aliens races fighting over the "just average" Earthlings. What I didn't like that it was much longer than I would normally think a short story should be. It was over 3 1/2 hours long in audio. I would classify this more as a novella, however since it's part of a collection then I guess it still fits in my own guidelines! This volume was also published this year, so it would fit with the rules for Gold but I already messed that up when I read the Irish collection and the collection of De Lint stories. Oh well. 

I got an ipod, finally! Now I don't have to cart around cds of audiobooks to listen to! I'm so excited. I've been listening to stories while I walk the dogs or clean the house. I know I could have done that before (the cleaning part anyway), but it's difficult to move around the house and still catch everything. This is much more convenient. And I don't have to worry about losing my place when I move the cds from the car to the house. I've been having so much fun with this thing. Now I know why everyone has one!

I don't have anything lined up yet for next month's collection but I'm sure I'll be on Audible.com soon downloading something for my toy!
Thursday, July 1, 2010 14 comments By: Suzanne

The Friday 56: Crossroads


Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
*Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Well, my plan to get back to blogging faltered when I had multiple migraine days (or whatever those headaches were that NOTHING would cure). It's been a couple weeks of nothing but the F56 here on Storytime, but I plan on getting back to blogging soon. I have some wonderful pictures to share with everyone!

This week's F56 comes from Crossroads of Twilight, the 10th installment of WOT. My plan was to finish book 12 just in time for 13 to come out, and it seems I'm right on track! I'll blog a little about how the re-read is going this weekend. Until then, enjoy this excerpt:

Afoot in the snow, she could not have made the trip from Tar Valon in less than two or three days, and evem Aes Sedai felt the cold eventually.

Followers