It's Monday.... and....yeah, it's another Monday

I've missed a Monday post, and I've missed posting some reviews, and I just haven't been very active in the last few weeks.  I've been having a hard time at one of my jobs (I have three that make up a work day) and the trouble in one of the jobs is spilling over to one of the other jobs, because there are people who work both jobs...it's a mess.  It's gotten so bad, that I'm actually looking for other work.  I don't get paid enough to put up with the crap some have been pulling on me.  

Now for me to look for other work, is a big thing.  I have so many physical limitations that I've put off looking for new work, because if I were an employer, I wouldn't want to hire a 50 something woman who has trouble with her breathing, trouble walking sometimes and can't use her arms or shoulders much - it limits me.

Hopefully, there's an end in sight.  I hope so, because 

I really want to quit my job right now - even if it feels like I'm running away from a problem;thing is, it's just not worth the stress.  I don't get paid enough for it.  Unfortunately rent must be paid, and my paycheck is required for rent.  So tired of being responsible.

Okay - enough of the whining ...

The last time I did this, there was no Mr Linky to link to.  Then last week, I missed posting.  And this week, I only finished reading one book anyway.  That would be one book in about two weeks.  Not good.

Business - It's Monday is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey.

So far, I don't see a Mr. Linky or Monday post at her site for this week....maybe later.

The one novel I finished:

Pariah 

by Bob Fingerman

Post apoplyptical - or post zombie

A small group of people are barely surviving, stuck in an apartment building, eating the last of their food.

Things aren't looking very good.

Just when things are looking bleakest, along comes a young girl, walking amongst the zombies and the zombies are actually repulsed by her.

So the tenants end up with access to someone who can get them food and supplies.

Once they're not starving, other problems pop up...

and that was it.  The only novel finished in two weeks.

Reading now - and having a hard time focusing on ---

Keeping It Real

Quantum Gravity #1

by Justina Robson

There has been a quantum bomb - set in the future (not too distant), there are now dimensions that have been torn apart, and magic is real, faerie is real along with demons.

Lila Black is a cyborg - human with metal parts, and AI assisting her.

She's on a job - protecting a rockstar elf, who doesn't really want protection...

This is a good book, I'm just having  a hard time staying in the mood to read it.

We'll just have to see.  Sometimes I start one book and end up reading a completely different novel, eventually finishing up the first novel.

It's Monday......again....

LOL - this is pretty much how I spent my weekend - napping.  

Well, the second week of work/school is over.  It was actually the first full week of work, the first week was only a two day week.  I like starting off with only two days, it's not such a shock to the system.

My grandson, who spends the weekends with us since his daddy lives with us - told me last Saturday:   "oh no, Gramma!  I forgot to go to school today!".

I explained how school goes from Monday to Friday, and that he and his teacher gets two days off every week.  Boy was he relieved.  ;)

My granddaughter now - my son in law said that one day my daughter came home with a very worried look on her face.  Apparently Liliana had told her that first grade was very hard.  So of course, my daughter started worrying that Liliana was having a hard time with the classwork.  When her daddy talked to her, he asked her what was so hard about it.  "It's very hard to find time to play with all my friends.  They all want me to play with them at the same time, but they don't all want to play with each other."

That's tough - and at the same time it was a relief that it wasn't the school work that was hard, but the social juggling.

Be glad you have friend, little one - be glad.

It's Book Time...

Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey, this is the meme where we get together and see what everyone has been reading - and where we tend to add to our wish lists....

Anyway - here's the thing...I didn't get a whole lot of reading done.  Work, grandkids, tired, the dog, you name it.  It all came first....and then of course the stupid farmville 2, which I've become obsessed with.  Used to be Castleville, but now whenever I try to play it, the game crashes - every three minutes.  So Farmville 2.

The one novel I managed to finish reading was...

Life on the Preservation 

by Jack Skillingstead

A very strange and interesting SciFi novel.

Inside this dome, people are reliving October 5, 2013 over and over.....or are they?

Outside the dome, people are dying a slow death by disease.  Sounds like a depressing novel, doesn't it?  But it isn't as depressing as it sounds, it was interesting and different.

I am still reading

Velva Jean Learns to Drive

by Jennifer Niven

about a young girl growing up in the mountains in the 1930 and 1940's.  It's interesting, and told in first person from the pov of first the young girl, and then the young woman as she grows.

I have so many other books that I've started through out the year, that when I finish Velva Jean, I'm going to try to focus on one of them.  It's just that sometimes you're in the mood for a specific writing style, and sometimes you're not.  My mind cannot seem to settle on anything lately - I blame it on my age, or aging....or that period of peri-menopause.  sometimes I just want to close my eyes and listen to music, only I don't have a good music system in my house....  I need some speakers.  Some good ones,   some that make my ears bleed and my chest pound!  Know what I mean?  I want to FEEL the music.  :)

Hmmm - What Did I Read in June?

I happen to be a part-time OCD list maker...or maybe it's selective compulsive disorder (which I think I might have just made up - hope it's not official anyway).  SCD is when people like me are too lazy or exhausted to be compulsive at all times, though we are definitely feeling the urges, we're too damned tired (or at times just too lazy) to actually ACT on these compulsive urges.  Which can lead to a high frustration level, as you can imagine.... (or Compulsive Interruptus)

I used to make lists much more frequently - lists about what I was going to buy, what I recently bought, what I'm going to read, and what I've read....  that's not the only thing I'm selectively compulsive about.  Other things are doing dishes - I stay away from doing dishes because it turns into this extreme event of SORTING before anything actually gets either washed or into the dishwasher.

1. first you have to clean off a counter
2. then you have to find all the plates, which then must be sorted from glass plates to plastic plates along with being stacked by size (see what I mean?)
3. Then it's the bowls - biggest on the bottom - separate stacks for plastic vs glass
4. then the glasses and mugs.  yup.  The plastic stackables are stacked together, of course by size...then the glass mugs in one section, drinking glasses in another and again by size...
5. the silverware....spoons have to separated and sorted (by size and which pattern is my favorite) butter knives are next, and then come forks, and then sharp knives.  large serving utensils and knives are also sorted in their respective places.
6. and then of course come the pots and pans...
7. by this time, of course, I'm exhausted and it's taken me twice as long to accomplish anything as your average normal dish washer.

That's just sorting before I wash them.  Imagine me loading a dishwasher.  Oh yes - things must be loaded a certain way, and if someone else happens to load a dishwasher, I have to stop myself from re-arranging things......which leads to putting away the dishes.... omg, life is just one big mass of compulsive urges....

I used to be like this with laundry, but I now just wash everything together - except for those towels....

I also get weird with the closet and my dressers.  shirts are hung separate from pants, separate from dresses.  Of course, things are also separated by short and long sleeve, and then by color.  It's exhausting and when I became too weak to hang my own laundry I had to bite my tongue and let helpers (like my sons or their girlfriends) hang things as they see fit....

I have a hard time with germs and microbes also - I am far from the cleanest neat freak around, but certain things....toilets must be clean.  Sinks and faucets have to be clean.  Doorknobs in my bathroom have to be cleaned, because I do not like to touch a doorknob - especially if you're not sure who's touched it lately and if they've bothered washing their hands lately.  I have to use a tissue to touch the flushing lever, open a door knob.  Which leads to my hesitation in touching a remote, a keyboard that's been used by someone else....I washed my keyboard so often, that I rubbed a lot of the letters off.  within a year of having a keyboard.

As you can see, I can rarely even post a simple post without explanations and anecdotes ....

So I indulge myself with the Monday posts and I've been having fun trying to keep my reading list updated with not only the day I finish a book, but a link to my review when I finally review a book...and now I've added a monthly recap of books I've finished.  Luckily for my fingers, I rarely read more than six books a month.  :)

June 2013 - another month where I finished reading six books.  Unless I forgot one - I do tend to forget a book here and there - forget when I've read it of that I've read it until I see the title somewhere.

Hexed
by Kevin Hearne
6/06/13

The sequel to Hounded, this is part of the Iron Druid series.  In this novel, our hero - Atticus - is under attack by yet another set of witches, these ones are some really wicked ones who spread sexual chaos and death throughout.  Not only that, but his two goddesses still manage to make life way too interesting, his lawyer is pressuring him to kill Thor, though he would rather not, and some "monster" hunters seem to be after him as well.  I enjoyed the second novel as much as the third.

Review pending (meaning I haven't reviewed it yet)

Once a Hero 

by Elizabeth Moon

6/19/13

The story of Esme Suiza, who apparently had a small part in a previous Serrano Legacy novel, and how she survives a court-martial, survives finding out the truth about a childhood illness, survives reassignment to a Deep Space Repair Ship, and then becomes one of the most important people on this huge ship full of experienced officers and admirals, as well as other long term crew members.  something to do with her amazing brain and the career track she should have been on - it just bursts forth from her very humble brain....I know that sounded very facetious - and really - I did enjoy this story, though the events were just a bit far-fetched.  However, the fact that this is after all - a science fiction novel eases my acceptance of these special circumstances. LOL - still sounds facetious, and I really didn't mean it too.  It's a fun, easy read with some harsh events described, though not graphically.  Very little info dumping, except for a certain series of therapy sessions.  Oh, My.

Reviewed

Deadlocked
by Charlaine Harris
6/12/13

**second to final, {or would this be final-eve} of the series**

Sookie helps Eric deal with a district supervisor who has been giving them all kinds of problems, deals with their blood bond, has to rethink her relationship with him, the bar is bombed while she and Sam are working one night; her cousins are acting strangely.  She discovers a secret stash of papers her granma left along with a fairy relic, and finds out that she's been in more danger than she thought from a variety of directions.
This book was much more interesting than the previous novel, though the pace is slow n easy - a build up of events and tension until by the end things are hopping.

Review Pending

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
by Douglas Adams (r.i.p.)
6/23/13

At times long winded, this is a mostly engaging read about a strange case that involves a mysterious professor, an electric monk and his horse, a former student of Cambridge, another former student of Cambridge, a weird poem, and beings from another planet.  Oh, yes - add in a ghost or two.  A story with some twists and turns, and many, many explanations...  
Dirk Gently is a character in at least two - possibly three of Douglass Adams' books.  I just found out, that Dirk Gently was also made into a BBC series.  I would have liked to see a few of them- why can't they put that on BBC America?  for that matter, why can't Comcast feature some REAL BBC channels for Americans who would like to see some series on BBC that aren't three to five years old? Except for Doctor Who's latest few seasons, I haven't been able to watch much actually produced in 2013 (unless I want to watch Top Gear...hell, this could turn into a whole other post - so I'm dropping the rant subject, now)

Review Pending


The Android's Dream
by John Scalzi {Who has just one an award}
6/26/13

Rebel Conspiracies, Government conspiracies, inter-government conspiracies, spying and inter-governmental spying, space aliens, computer geniuses, rituals of ascension, sheep, DNA, gene splicing, murder, excellent fighting, battles, etc.  It's all packaged in a book with some of the best dialogue and banter that I've read, hell, even the informational dumps were interestingly presented, almost like you're listening to the most charismatic professor or teacher telling you about fights, politics, spy gadgets, history, computer tech and software in almost laymen's language.  That is simple genius.  Brilliant.  

Reviewed

The Dead of Winter
by Lee Collins
6/27/13

A husband and wife team, Cora and Ben, travel from town to town, to sparsely populated areas hunting and destroying monsters - supernatural monsters.  They're back in Leadville, a small mining town, because they've heard about an odd monster.  What they find is something they've never come across before.

Review Pending

I remembered that there were a few books from previous years (not to mention this year, lol) that I still haven't reviewed, so I tried to get through a couple of them week before last.  I still need to review for 2009, two novels:

Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn

Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Then it's on to catch up for 2010.

All of the LOL Catz used here are from ICanHazCheeseburgers. 

It's Monday....and we're in the middle of a heat wave....."I'm mellllttttiiiiinnnnnggggg...."

It's been soooo hot.  We had one of the mildest springs - days of cool to cold mornings and nights and either mildly warm afternoons, or semi-cool afternoons.  Last week we even had a few days of rain - which was hard on the old bones, but still fun to listen to.  It's really nice to be able to listen to the rain when you've got time to just lounge about on your bed, reading and catnapping, covered up with your little dog next to you.... or cat.  I guess one day, my husband's dog climbed up and was laying against my legs, my little dog was behind my knees (his favorite spot to sleep) and my son's huge boxer mix climbed up and was stretched along my back....this apparently resulted in me being just about pinned into place, while the three dogs had most of the king-sized bed that we own.  Those guys - hogging the bed.

So we went from a wonderfully mild spring to a horrid heat wave over the last few days.  It was so hot, that we ended up breaking down and buying a small window a/c unit for our bedroom.  We have a slightly bigger one in our living room that I bought about 7 years ago - but it only kept the front of the house cool.

This new unit is quiet and just enough to keep the bedroom bearable in the extreme heat we've been having.  I'm thankful that we live 30 miles from the coast  -because tonight I swear I can feel a bit of the cool flog coming in.  It's nice to be able to feel a bit of coastal air instead of being stuck inland and not having the benefit of the fog coming in. I'm ever grateful to be living where I live.

Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey,  we visit each other's blogs and discover new things to read.  It's fun.

This week I read two novels, started another two and read one children's book to my grandson.  Actually - read more than one, but I can only remember one - because we've read it over and over and over throughout the last two years.

Novels Finished:

The Dead of Winter 

by Lee Collins

The Android's Dream

by John Scalzi

Picture Book:

Monster Mama 

by Liz Rosenberg

Books Started:

She Returns From War (#2)

by Lee Collins

Sleeping in Eden

by Nicole Baart

Master Chef 2013 - Auditions....what fun.

I love this shoe - although I don't always understand the chefs' criteria for judging.  It's not always consistent.  Sometime they talk about people putting themselves into the dish, other times they seem to put in the weirdest people - almost as if it's simply for the sake of drama on the set.  Out of the blue one of the most "stern" judges escorts a participant outside the room to announce to waiting family members that the guy gets an apron (advances in the competition).

popcorn, cashews, lobster and caramel  - lobster crackerjacks - one of the dishes.  Was this a ploy?  the nuttiest sounding dish to stand out? Not a good sounding mix.  Oddly enough, the judges didn't ridicule this as much as I would have expected.  John's dish actually wins him a spot in the competition...  (ewww)

This week was one of the first of the actual cooking challenges - and Ramsey starts the night out with a real lamb, scaring the participants into thinking they're going to cook the wee lamb  (ahhh- tricked you didn't he, competitors?  That Ramsey - such a rogue.)  Then he lets out about a million lambs to mill amongst the competitors.  Pissing and shitting and baahing...(one lady baaaahed back).  It's all showmanship.  He's TALKING to them, about the competition and kitchens WHILE the sheep are bleating and pissing all around them....then suddenly, they cut back to the people and the lambs are ALL gone!  Where did they go so suddenly?  (how about some sequencing in the editing, people!)

The Lamb Thing

They have 60 minutes to shop from a variety of lamb cuts and other foods and create a lamb dish.  

I like how the chefs visit the cooks, instilling a lack of confidence with their questions.  "Why are you choosing this dish?"

"Really, you're sure you want to use that spice?"

and then talk smack about the cooks while they're cooking.

Intense.

They're also pointing out a few of the good cooks.

And then they start eliminating cooks during the first cooking challenge.  Before the competitors have even finished their dishes....Some of them are eliminated for technical mistakes...I wish they would detail the mistakes.

The remaining chefs are separated into two groups.  One entire group is sent home - about 20 people sent home in one swoop.

Eight people weren't put in any group - and their dishes are brought forward for tasting since the judges were undecided about them.

Eight are left to decide on, they taste their dishes two at a time and one advances...  but then...

the last two - a surprise!

both go through.

Oh Ramsey - you're so tricky! 

:)

Monday, Monday (baaa daaaa, daaadadada) So good to me...(daaadaaaadadadada) All I hoped it would be.....yeah, right.

Unless you're a total music aficionado - if you're younger than 40 {and that might be pushing it} you won't know the lyrical references to this song - or the words in the post title;  or the tune...But for those of us born around 1960 or before, maybe a little after, you'll remember the tune, you might remember the lyrics and you will have heard of the Mamas and the Papas. For an oldie, it's a happy little song.  Not my usual sort, but the chorus is catchy.

I'm not really looking forward to a wonderful Monday - after all it's the beginning of another long work week.  However, it's also going to be my first physical therapy appt for my neck - which has been torturing me the last three or four weeks.  Hopefully, it will do some good - I AM looking forward to some neck relief - since the neck stiffness has added another dimension to my chronic pain, along with daily headaches...  So maybe they'll help me, though the pain is caused by bone spurs.  So not sure how p.t. is supposed to work with that.  I'm holding on to some hope anyway.  No Matter What!  So THERE, Monday! {yup - still not a fan of the Monday}

Monday also means time for It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey....

The grandson pictured in my button above just turned five.  This picture is from when he was three, I believe.  He has a busy weekend - his dad took him to our town's Rose Parade.  Then his uncle and I took him for a day of shopping.  He had $45 dollars from his B-day to spend, and I had to do a little bit of shopping.  His shopping was way more fun than mine.  LOL.  He bought himself two pairs of b-ball style shorts, and at the third store we stopped at, finally picked out some toys.  He'd been so good about shopping, behaving and being all 'round pleasant during it all, that I chipped in the five bucks he was short. I figured he would have had it if he hadn't been responsible and spent his money on CLOTHES.  What five year old buys CLOTHES?  Good buys all around.  Then we watched a movie together.  Which was precious - he usually likes to spend his time with grandpa, dad or uncle - not gramma.  So the fact that he felt like laying on the couch with me and watching a movie was even more precious.

I didn't get a whole lot of reading done this week.  Between the pain, the headaches, new t.v. shows (So you think you can dance and Family Tools) and season finales, I had a hard time concentrating on reading.

I think I only finished one novel, and that one wasn't even a novel I was reading for myself.  it was a children's novel I was reading to a class and then couldn't stop reading it when library classes were over for the year....

What Came From The Stars
by Gary Schmidt
middle grade level 
Even though this is supposed to be for middle grade - the main character is in 6th grade, with a younger sister.  I was reading it to a group of third graders and they were enjoying it a lot - though some chapters were very difficult to understand, especially since it was peppered with words that seem to be completely MADE UP - it was another planet, after all.  But the chapters featuring Tommy and friends were captivating my audience.  And here we were at the end of a school year, no more library classes, and we hadn't been able to get through the book.  I've had this happen to me before, where we haven't been able to finish reading a book, but this is the first time I've felt compelled to take the book home and finish reading it on my own.  This was a very good book, with some suspenseful moments, some intense.
Book basics - on a planet far, far away, in a galaxy far, far away there is a race of people being over=run and destroyed by another race.  This planet has two sons, and their art is also their magic.  As a last ditch act of defiance, one last council man puts ALL the art of the people into a chain, a special chain and sends it through time, space, galaxies  - far away where it falls through the atmosphere and then the sky of earth into.....  Tommy Pepper's Ace Robotroid Adventure lunch box - a lunch box that is a little too young for him, but that his grandmother sent to him, so his father makes him use it...and thus begins a dangerous adventure where Tommy experiences the memories and talents of a people far away.  Tommy is also now in danger...

Other books I'm currently reading include:

Charlaine Harris' Dead Reckoning 

and a story by J.A. Campbell titled Brown Vs. the Martians featured in Science Fiction Trails.

I just received a copy of Science Fiction Trails, and started Brown's latest adventure.  Almost finished reading, and enjoying very much.  What isn't to love about "Canadians" and their blue blood?  

***None of the animal pics I used today were captioned by me - but they're funny as hell!***

It's Monday, and Mommy's day is now over...

Mommies are everywhere, raising little ones, hopefully to be good elders.  It was a nice day yesterday.  My mom flew in from Panama (the one in Central America; the country, not the city) Was treated to a sandwich from a place called Ike's Place.  Ike's Place has a store in San Francisco, and was infamous long lines - as well as their bomb-ass (my son's term) sandwiches.  The place in my city (where they've expanded to) is a beautiful bright almost cobalt blue, with red trim.  

isn't that beautiful?  I LOVE  bright buildings.  I personally think that more businesses and/or homes should be brightly painted.  Celebrate life, celebrate your home....celebrate with color...but I'm getting away from subject.  Ike's place  - we went in to order.  And the young man at the counter hesitantly asked if I was Lil Larry's mother.  I kind of laughed (wondering if he had offended a few women asking this), smiled and said yes.  He then said that when someone brings their mom in to buy a sandwich, Ike's pays for the sandwich.  And - the not only did this, but the guy applied the free sandwich to the most expensive sandwich - not the cheapest, as most places would do.  How nice is this? They have some expensive sandwiches,  so I was impressed.  And it takes a lot to impress an old broad like me.  ;)

We went home, watched the tail end of Raising Arizona (the ONE movie where Nicolas Cage actually sounded normal during his acting, or rather, actually was a good actor!) while we ate our sandwiches.  One Ike's Place sandwich is enough to feed two people - so we actually both ate half of our sandwiches, while watching one of the few movies where Nicolas Cage sounded like a good actor.  Fun Times.  Then we went to...

My brother's house where my mom was visiting from Panama.  When I walked in, music was already on, Liliana was in the kitchen with my brother and they were dancing.  We had toasts, and then the music was jammin' louder, and we were in the kitchen dancing again!  Which is what we did last weekend.  We had a combo memorial, b-day celebration (my husband is born on Cinco De Mayo) and Coach-winnin-trophy night.  Which translated to Tequila shots, margaritas and lots of dancing!  Great times!  Nothing like a party with hispanic people - the dancing kicks ass!

So we partied a bit - yet made sure this week that we wound it down a bit earlier than last week.  Last monday was a little hard on me.  Tonight I'll make sure I get more sleep, plus we kept to champagne.  :)

I hope everyone had a nice day - My day was pretty awesome.

Okay - back to bookish items...

Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey, it's time for It's Monday, What Are You Reading? I'm pretty sure that most book bloggers already know about this, but in case....  We visit each other's blogs and see what we've been reading, what we've finished reading and in some cases what we're planning to read.  With me, the planning to read never, ever works out, so I usually skip that part.  Hell, even the current read usually end up changing...

Last week, or week before - when I didn't post.  I finished Nothing.  At all.  I started a book - decided to read something completely different and was happy to find a book I haven't read in a long, long time.  And I ended up very disappointed.  I loved it the first time I read it.  This time....I think I'm too old, or have been through to much to enjoy it much.  Didn't finish it.  Put it aside.  I want to impress on others, that the writing isn't what got to me.  Rather it was the whole young girl romance thing, and the young hardened but hurting knight who couldn't trust the young bride, because of a traumatic happening...etc.  The writing is good, the narration was good.  The dialogue totally fit the characters.  AND I remember reading one of Kurland's recent novels written a few years ago, and enjoying the hell out of it.  So I think it's just that this particular character was way too young and innocent for my current self to enjoy.  I'm still game for trying one of Kurland's more recent novels.

 Wow - according to my records, I haven't finished anything at all in May.... Until this past week.

Last week I finished a young adult novel written by a woman I never heard of before.  When I finished the book, I looked up the name of the author and found out she's written quite a few books - one of them I had noticed before. One of them is a children's picture book called - ready? - Troll Teacher.  Wow, the name itself makes me want to read it.  I read the excerpt and...Now I want to buy it for my grandchildren.  One who is close to the end of her first ever year of school (kindergarden) and the other who is in preschool and will start kindergarden next year.  

The one novel finished was Deadly Pink by Vivian Vande Velde.  A young girl is called upon to enter a virtual reality game.  Her sister works for the Rassmussen Corp, developer of this game, and her sister has suddenly lost her grip and decided to stay in the reality game. Of course, no one can get her out, she's messed with the protocols, and there's a real possibility of her dying if she stays in the game.  So little sister is called upon to save bigger sister - the sister who's always been there for her, who's the one every one looks up to, the sister who is so smart.

I did read a children's book that I also quickly reviewed.  Part of a series of books, Bella and Harry are a pair of chihuahua puppies who visit cities around the world with their family.  The book I read was Bella and Harry Let's Visit Instanbul by Lisa Manzione.  Cute way to teach a little of culture, food, and geography.  The book was fun.  The website also had lots to offer. 

That's it.  Only one novel, and one picture book was finished this week.  I've started a couple of other novels, but haven't gotten very far, and I keep jumping back and forth.

What I've been working on reading (ugh - reading shouldn't be WORK, let's rephrase this)  What I've been reading:

I started Roil by Trent Jamieson - started to really get into it, and now I can't FIND it.  :(  Was really enjoying it also - very different from what I've been reading...

So I started The Dead of Winter by Lee Collins.  This is the first of a series.  I had recently accidentally picked up the second in the series, and was a bit irritated - but found the first.  Started it...and was feeling a bit...down, so because of the rather dark subject matter, I picked up another book.  But still have my eyes on this one, still pick it up here and there....

Next is Dead Reckoning (Sookie #11) by Charlaine Harris.  I almost gave up on this series, but after reading how everyone enjoyed this novel, I decided to give it a try.  So far so good.  There was a wonderful fight between Pam and Eric.  Good fight - so I have hopes for this novel.  And there's only a couple more books in the series.  The last novel has already been released. (I think) Or soon will be.  Weird to think the series is coming to an end...but it's good to end a series while everyone is still enjoying the series.

Last, but not least, is the first of the Rain Wilds Chronicles, The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb.  I've read her Live Ship Traders trilogy - excellent novels with amazing world building.  These seem to be related, told from the people living up the Rain Wilds river....the people who have special abilities...and from what I was able to read so far, this novel is going to be just as good as the other series I read.  Unfortunately.....I also misplaced this novel. Soooo...I hope I find it soon.  because lately, it's been hard for me to find a book that I'm interested in or can focus on.  

It's possible that I might have to put aside ALL the novels and concentrate on some of the e-books that have been piling up in my Kindle Fire!  That'll be fun, and then...arhive.  

Well, it's now very late.  My neck is bothering me, headache is forming and I have visit the bedroom - try to get some sleep!  And work tomorrow....ugh - shudders!

Buenas Noches, Todos