Friday 56: On Night's Shore

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!

This week's selection comes from On Night's Shore by Randall Silvis. It is a murder mystery told through the eyes of a 10 year old and in which Poe is one of the central characters. I'm enjoying it so far. Of course, it might just be the time away from Rand and his friends that I'm enjoying most!

"What's the line from Macbeth?" Virginia asked. " 'The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance.'"

Ironically I just finished a short story in Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles that deals with a number of Poe's stories. I'm having a very Poe day.

Friday 56: A Magick Life

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 bought A Magick Life: A Biography of Aleister Crowley by Martin Booth awhile ago. In fact, I believe I might have used it a long time ago for the F56 but I guess it doesn't matter. I'm finally reading it. I'm making myself read only non-fiction at night when I crawl into bed. This way I can still read before I go to sleep, but I'm not up till 3 am wondering what happens in the next chapter...and the next. I am terrible about reading non-fiction because I simply can't get into it but I figure if anyone had an interesting life, it was Crowley! Wooo, I am not wrong. It's a wonder he turned out as well as he did. We all think he was the crazy one. You should hear about his family.

Although he avoided chapel services in college and remained a fierce critic of established Christianity, be it Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism or the Plymouth Brethren (with which his family was associated), Crowley did not give up all thought of religion.

A Crown Of Swords

Well, I just finished book 7 in the Wheel of Time Series. I didn't make it a formal challenge to re-read all of the WOT books in order to be back up to "date" on the next book but it has felt like a formal challenge trying to read them all again one right after another. I started this back in January and between that and my new relationship, I haven't hardly had time to read anything else so blogging has kind of taken a back seat. I am generally a fast reader but to have only read 7 books (besides the short story collections) in 3 1/2 months feels like I'm suddenly reading very, very slow. Then I look at the length of these books and remember that each book is the length of 2 other books and don't feel so bad!

The downside to this is I'm suddenly very tired of Jordan's writing style. I feel the need to read something completely different RIGHT NOW. And so, I picked up Gossip Girl. Yep, I sure did. Mull that over for awhile! I did set myself to do the Young Adult challenge too, but I figured I would still be reading fantasy when I did that. Nope, I need something completely different, so Gossip Girl it is. I figure I'll have it done tonight an be blogging about it tomorrow. Big type and 199 pages. No Problem.

The upside to reading all the WOT books one right after the other is that I don't feel pissed off at Jordan anymore. I remember getting really upset with him by book 5 or 6 because it was 500 pages of nothing and 100 pages of action. It seemed nothing important was happening until the very end of the book and I couldn't figure out why his editor didn't do some good editing. Now I don't feel that way. Yeah, the books could still use a little editing but I've rediscovered the story and I LIKE IT again. I don't feel the sitting around discussing things is wasteful words. There is action in the words and all the characters are important to me again. The minor ones, in the past, were a waste of time to me. Now I don't feel that way.

To compensate for both feelings I'm going to continue my personal challenge of re-reading the books, however, I'm going to read something completely different in between each one. I think otherwise I may throw The Path of Daggers out the car window on my way to work!

Short Story Challenge - March and April Recap

 

Ok, I am a loser! hahahaha Sorry, everyone, for not putting up March's Recap. I'm a terrible host right now because I'm simply not at my computer enough to keep up with my blog lately. Blame it on the joys of new love. 3 1/2 months now. Maybe the glow will wear off enough for me to get back to blogging again!

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.

Well, I slipped on my own challenge. Yep, didn't I just say I was loser? Now you have proof. I read some short story collections I already but had never read. So, I did read short stories these two months but I didn't read anything published in 2010 like I planned. Oh well, aren't these challenges meant to be broken? hehehe

First up is Emerald Magic: Great Tales Of Irish Fantasy edited by Andrew M. Greenley. A very entertaining collection of leprechaun's, wraiths, and other Irish creatures. Two of my favorite authors are a part of this collection, Ray Bradbury and Charles de Lint, but last time I checked neither were Irish. Interesting. This is not the first story set in Ireland by either of them I've read. They both seem to enchanted by Ireland. Of course, what fantasy lover isn't? It's got to be the richest source of fantasy of any other country. That's why bought the book in the first place!

Speaking of Charles de Lint, the other collection is The Ivory and The Horn, a collection of de Lint's short stories. A few of the stories use characters that readers of de Lint's work will recognize, such as Jilly and the other residents of Newford. It's a nice way to catch up with beloved characters but not feel tied to a whole book.

Hope to read about everyone else's tales soon!