Sunday, December 26, 2010

OMG - already Monday! (and another lol cat!)

If possible, this Monday came around even faster than the other Mondays this year. sigh. SIGH!
Only one more week of Winter Break.
Oh well.
At least I was able to visit with family that I don't see often.
My brother and his partner came up from L.A.
My Dad and his lady came down from Sacramento and is staying with us for a few nights.
A friend of my boys came up from Fresno and stayed with us a few nights.
At one point we had the extra bedroom used, AND the couch in the living room as a bed. A full house.


Here is what's going on in my reading life....a whole lotta nothing....lol. Well, we've had company. I've been babysitting, so the parents - aka my children- could have a few hours of children free shopping. And I spent two days wrapping gifts. I didn't have two days worth of wrapping to do, rather it took me two days. It was wrap a bit. sit down. wrap some more. lay down. wrap some more....play farmville. wrap some more...go shopping. It all worked out in the end. The gifts were wrapped, people visited. My kids and grandkids made it all over for Christmas midmorning. Then we all converged on my sister and her family for X-mas fun and food. It was a nice day. Full, Loud and Busy.
Sheila at Book Journey hosts this meme, where we share what we've been reading and what we hope to read....







I finished reading Grave Witch Christmas Eve, in between wrapping presents (and playing farmville). It's a good book, interesting with some good characters. The world building reminded me a bit of early Kim Harrison novels, like Dead Witch Walking. I hope to read more and see how the series develops.


Kalayna Price, the author - has a sequel due in July 2011 (Grave Dance) and also has written another series about a shapeshifter who has been infected with vampirism. I'd like to read those, I've never read any about a shapeshifter who is also a vampire. Should be interesting. The two books are Once Bitten and Twice Dead. I hear they are only available online, so far. If you go to her website, you will also find samples of her art.






One of the many books that I've started reading is Sharp Shooter by Marianne Delacourt. I had to order this book from a British used bookstore. It's available to buy from Australia, but the price is unbelievable, so I tried a used bookstore from England called Abe Books. From there I ended up at a site called Ming Books. Because of the crazy weather England has been having, and the December mailing season, it took over three weeks to get to me, but it did finally get here. I've read into the third chapter, and the character's voice is pretty good. It's humorous. Interestingly, the author is also known as Marianne De Pierres, author of Nylon Angel (futuristic cyber punk) and Dark Space (Sci-Fi) which is another book I'm reading, but I left it at work, so I haven't been able to read it on my down time from work. I see that there is already a sequel to Sharp Shooter, called Sharp Turn. I'm going to try to get that one also. Basic blurb - Tara Sharp sees people's auras and ends up working with a shady lawyer, getting introduced to the underworld of town - the setting is Australia. If you click on the author link, look at all the other links on her page - this woman writes quite a variety of novels, cyber punk, young adult fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery. Amazing.




Last week I received Nocturne, a novel by Syrie James. The book is about a woman who is caught in an accident, during a snowstorm and is consequently snow bound with a stranger for days....the stranger has amazing strength, hidden powers....is dangerous.....recipe for an intense novel. It's going to be in bookstores January 4, 2011 (hardback) but you can read an excerpt now - just click on the cover image.
I've been reading this the past few days - in between visits and sleep, and babysitting...and so far it has kept me interested. It's not an urban fantasy, but more fiction about unusual circumstances and people... Syrie James is the author of Dracula, My Love and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen.


Going back to Christmas - I received gift cards from a few different people, for Borders, my favorite walk-in bookstore. I foresee a shopping trip soon! although I really should catch of on some of the books I still haven't read that I bought over the summer. Time goes by so very fast - one day I'm looking for books that have been released in September, the next day I'm realizing I haven't read them yet and it's been three months. I need to stay off the farmville! LOL

funny pictures - why yes,  I am full of holiday cheer

10 comments:

  1. Doesn't look as if the cat was filled with much cheer! Sounds like a great week both for reading and company. Hope this week is as good.

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  2. I love your post here - and the gift wrapping process... LOL

    I love it when the house is full and friends of the kids stop by. That is exactly what our Christmas was like and it makes my heart swell to think that these "kids" (not really...they are in their twenties now) find our home to still be a great place to come to eat, hang out, and sleep when they need to.

    I want to read Grave Witch, you are the second post I have seen about it today.

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  3. Love the LOL Cat!

    In reading your descriptions of who came up and who came down, and then "up from Fresno," I've decided you must live in or near Modesto! LOL

    Or not...

    Anyway, I've lived all over California, currently in Fresno; grew up near Modesto, then lived in SF and Sacramento. One of my sons lives in LA.

    Okay, enough geography!

    Love the cover on Nocturne...may just have to check it out.

    Here's my Monday:

    http://laurelrainsnow.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/monday-memes-mailbox-what-are-you-reading-dec-27/

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  4. Bookstore gift cards are great gifts!

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  5. Grave Witch sounds good as does Nocturne... Will check them out.

    Loving the LOL cat pic! :D

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  6. I collect books by a few authors, and bookstore gift cards are one of the sweetest gifts to receive! Looks like you did pretty good with your reads and you've got some interesting titles lined up!

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  7. It looks like you've got some interesting books!

    Love the LOL cat. :D

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  8. Happy Christmas!
    I'm still reading Hellfire... Doesn't usually take me this long to get through a good book but with my parents visiting I've tried to be social. Now I need to get caught up on my online socialness.

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  9. haha - Phoenix - it takes me over a week now to finish a book. of course farmville really gets in the way, and grandchildren (love'em though) and yeah - that whole Christmas thing where we had to socialize with people. :)

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  10. LOL - Laurel, I might be wrong on the up from Sacramento part. I always think of Sacramento as northeast of us, it might be more east, than north east. We're actually north of San Francisco - we used to be considered Northern California but now we're called North Bay....Guess now. :)

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