Musing Mondays - Dec. 16, 2013 Edition

Here's today's Musing Monday's as posted by Should Be Reading's blog.

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying with it.

This week, I think I'll go with what book(s) I recently bought for myself and why I chose that/those book(s).

I actually recently purchased a bunch of books, including some from a Facebook group (where I got 5 hardcover books for $5), others from A Novel Idea bookstore, and then Laura Chapman's book, Hard Hats and Doormats, for my Nook.

So let's start with the easiest one for me to define why I bought it.  That would be Hard Hats and Doormats.  I bought it simply because I know Laura, I worked with her for several years and would like to see her earn something for her efforts.  I'm sure I will enjoy the book and look forward to getting to read it.

Next was the collection of 5 books I picked up for $5 from the LinConsign sale group on Facebook.  Those books were:

• Best Kept Secrets by Sandra Brown
• Lisey's Story by Stephen King
• Hey, Good Looking by Fern Michaels
• Origin in Death by Nora Roberts
• The Sexy Years by Suzanne Somers

Now, to be honest, these were purchased because I knew all but one of the authors and read books by each of the authors, so I figured these new books would be something good to read.  I haven't touched them yet, but I intend to.

And finally the books I picked up from A Novel Idea, which were: 

• Dark War by Glen Cook
• A Cruel Wind by Glen Cook

And these were because they were parts of series by Glen Cook I haven't read yet and want to.

If you haven't read the Black Company series by Glen Cook, I strongly encourage you to.

Thanks for joining me today on Musing Mondays.  Feel free to leave your answers to the meme here.

Musing Mondays - Lots and lots of reading

Here's today's Musing Monday's as posted by Should Be Reading's blog.

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying with it.

Today I'll discuss one of my reading habits.

Being sick this month left me with a lot of reading time as I would read before taking a nap or before going to bed early each night.  Though the reading challenge log won't show it because I re-read books multiple times while being sick, I read a lot.  A lot a lot.

I find reading helps relax me and get my mind set for bed - unless I'm taking cold medicines, then reading will just contribute to crazy ass dreams loosely linked to the book I was reading before I fell asleep. And it's the easy to read books which help more - because then I don't actually have to think about what I'm reading to actively understand what I'm reading which in turn activates my brain more which prevents sleep.

Of course, it's also the family tradition that reading makes us fall asleep.  True for my mom.  True for my dad.  And true for my son who's only 14 and often falls asleep face down in his books.

What's one of your regular reading habits?

Musing Mondays: Aug. 19, 2013 Edition

Here's today's Musing Monday's as posted by Should Be Reading's blog 

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying with it.

As I haven't done one of these since the last week in June, I figure it's okay to go with point 3 again.

I am currently reading through the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

This series was recommended to be by a number of my friends - all of whom also suggested I read the Anita Blake books which I haven't had a chance to read yet.

The series are written as a first-person narrative by Harry Blackstone Coppersfield Dresden, a wizard who is also a private investigator in Chicago.  His main contract is with the local police department Special Investigations unit.  Like most paranormal fiction I've read recently, people have just learned that magic and mystical creatures exist in their world and are coping with that revelation.  Dresden is one of the few wizards who openly practices his craft and is available for hire.

So far I've read the first two books in the series:

• Storm Front
• Fool Moon

I'm now reading Grave Peril.  I like the books so far, but I already feel that the author is too repetitive both within the individual books and within the series.  There's only so many times I need the same description of how he decorates his apartment or the style of clothes he wears or how and why the apartment has no electricity etc.

Beyond that little pet peeve, I'm enjoying the books thus far.

Musing Monday - June 24, 2013 Edition

Here's today's Musing Monday's as posted by Should Be Reading's blog 

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying with it.

Just like last week, for this week's musing, I'm going with point three and talking about what I'm reading right now.

I have finally made it back to reading the Queen's Blade Series by T.C. Southwell - Master of the Dance.  This book follows in the same line as the other ones, but the story is getting a bit repetitive.  There are only so many times the "hero" of the story can be captured, tortured, rescued, etc. before the pattern gets dull and boring and it is very close to being too repetitive for me now.  While the story is still good - and I'm 300 pages from the end of the novel - I'm waiting for something different.

It's almost like the author has a constant need to remind you that the character is a dick but there's something more to him, but keeps teasing that because he's too much of a bastard to show it.  Seriously, I got the point already - he's got redeeming qualities - let's just get past the BS and show it already.

Yeah - the book might be dragging on a bit now for me.   We'll see how I finish it and start the next one..

Musing Mondays - June 10, 2013 Edition

It's been a little while, okay a couple months, since I've done any of the daily writing themes for review sites.  So tonight I'm back with today's Musing Monday's as posted by Should Be Reading's blog 

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying with it.

For this week's musing, I'm going with point three and talking about what I'm reading right now.

I've started reading the Stormlord series by Glenda Larke.  I originally started with book three, on accident, but have finally purchased the first two books for my Nook.  The books in the trilogy are:

• The Last Stormlord
• Stormlord Rising
• Stormlord's Exile

I just finished The Last Stormlord last night and I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  A lot of time is condensed through a very short book (only 500 pages).  Unlike the last book (which I read first) it seemed very rushed.  I've only read it once so I'm not sure how I'll feel after I read book two then re-read the books.

Larke tells a good story and I think once I read all three books, it will all mesh together well, but for now, it's hard to say.

Check out more from me later this week as I talk about the books a bit more indepth on Wednesday.

Musing Mondays - Feb. 4, 2013

After missing a week (it was a long week last week) I'm back with today's Musing Monday's as posted by Should Be Reading's blog 

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

I think I'll be going with point 2 today and talking about books I recently purchased for myself.

After downloading and reading the free books The Queen's Blade - Book 1 of The Queen's Blade Series and Prophecy - Book 1 of The Slave Empire series I found that I wanted to continue reading the stories.  Both books leave you with cliffhangers and you quickly want to get the next book to continue reading.  This was definitely the case with The Queen's Blade and I purchased the next 3 books for my Nook Simple Touch and read them at every spare moment I could.

Now, I originally downloaded the free books because they seemed interesting by their synopsis - and they were.  If a book is good and there's more, I'll definitely buy more of the series.  Now that I have finished the next three in The Queen's Blade, I need to purchase the rest and then purchase the ones in The Slave Empire series.

What I really like about the books is the worlds she writes in are two different worlds.  One is a midieval/arabic style set world, the other is sci-fi.  Very unique.

Check out the books, which are still free for download on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Musing Mondays Returns: New Format

Looks like while I was busy not blogging, Should Be Reading's blog changed the format on Musing Mondays, which will actually make it easier to write for.  See below.

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

So for today's (which is a wee bit late, sorry) - I'll discuss one of my reading habits.

Normally, I like to read just before I go to sleep, unless I've taken something to help me sleep or I'm exhausted.  Reading helps to relax me and slow my brain down.

Unfortunately, not all books help with that.  The Hunger Games series was one of those that I just couldn't put down.  Each chapter end was suspenseful and I had to turn the next page.  My husband is finding it to be the same way.  Most of the time I can stop just about anywhere (though I prefer to wait till the end of the chapter) and pick up again the following day or when I have a chance.

I have also been reading more on my Nook Simple Touch than my paperbacks lately.

How bout you?  What are your reading habits?

Musing Mondays - Sept. 24, 2012 Edition

This week’s musing –courtesy ofhttp://carabosseslibrary.blogspot.com– asks…

Do you have any hobbies outside of reading?
Or do you collect anything?

I do!  I like to play video games, make jewelry and act like I can sew (yes, act...i can't complete a sewing project to save my life).  

I used to collect things - Magic: The Gathering cards, sports cards, etc.  Now I'm into collecting the various buttons you can get at PAX and other conventions.  Those are kinda cool.

What about you?

Musing Mondays - March 12, 2012 Edition

Today's Musing Monday's question, by Should Be Reading's blog, is "What book do you wish you were reading right now? Where would you take it to, if you could go anywhere to read for a while? "

That's  a hard on to answer as I really want to read two different books right now, though technically they're of the same genre.

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin is at the top of my list with the next season of the show about to start on HBO (let's be honest, the only reason I subscribed to HBO was to watch TrueBlood and Game of Thrones).

Then I want to read the second to last book in the Wheel of Time series, but the name of the book eludes me.  Of course, with that one, I was waiting for it to come out in paperback to read it which is why I don't have it yet.

If I could go anywhere to read for a while...hrmmmm.  Hard to say.  Probably a big cushy mamasan chair, a blanket and curling up in front of a fire to read with a cat curled up with me.  I love reading with my cats.

Musing Mondays - March 5, 2012 Edition

Today's Musing Monday's question, by Should Be Reading's blog, is "When you walk into a bookstore — any bookstore — what’s the first section you head toward (what draws you)?"


Well, if you asked my husband where I go to in a bookstore first, he'd prolly say the romance novel section - which is inaccurate.  I visit that second.  The first area I end up at is normally Sci-Fi/Fantasy sections where I can get my fill of fiction goodness.  This is where, as a young adult, I was introduced to Raymond E. Feist, Piers Anthony, J.R.R. Tolkein, Terry Goodkind among many others.  My love for fantastical-sci-fi worlds started at a young age.  After all, by the end of 8th grade I had read The Hobbit and the complete Lord of the Rings Trilogy and by high school I had started in on the Similarion (sp?).

My husband introduced me to works by other authors, including David and Leigh Eddings, Glen Cook and several others.

And while I do like romance novels because they are generally easy to read, I really do enjoy books set in a world of the authors creation that take you to a different time and place.

How about you?

Musing Mondays - Jan. 23, 2012 Edition

Today's Musing Monday's question, by Should Be Reading's blog, is "Why do you think that the Young Adult genre is so popular with even the adult readers? Do you read YA books, yourself?"
I have read a few YA books, including ones written by Sherrilyn Kenyon in her Chronicles of Nick series.

For me, I accidentally picked up the book, not realizing it was a YA book because I was going by author only.  However, unlike her paranormal romances set in the same world, it's tame and rated for teens, so there's no sex, just young teen romance that goes nowhere really.

I think the Young Adult genre is popular with adult readers because they are quick easy reads but still have story and meaning behind them.  Most of them are fun and can be read in a night or two.  They aren't complex, which can hold an appeal to a tired reader who doesn't want to be remembering every detail read before as they go towards the end of the book.

Musing Mondays: Jan. 2, 2012 Edition

Today's Musing Monday's, produced by Should Be Reading, is:

What is/are the first book(s) you’re reading for the new year?


That's a question I haven't really considered the answer to.  I really want to pick up a couple more of Sherrilyn Kenyon's books I haven't read yet.  Defiinitely top on my list of books to read is A Dance with Dragons and Rabbit in the Road (because I owe Oliver and promised I'd read it).

Beyond that, hard to say.  Maybe something will catch my eye in the book store.

Cheers!

Not Musing Monday Answer Today

Since today's topic is actually a topic I want to cover in a longer, more indepth discussion that's multifaceted, I'm not doing today's Musing Monday's produced by Should Be Reading.

Instead, later today I should be posting a review of No Mercy by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Quicksilver by Joy Spraycar.

If you're interested in answering the Musing Monday question in this post, feel free to. The question is:

I once knew a man who read about WWII. He read everything he could get his hands on on the subject. He had a whole wall of books that were all about WWII. It amazed me. How could he continue to find one subject that engrossing? My mother, on the other hand, loves to read best sellers. I’ve known other people who read science fiction to the exclusion of everything else; for others it was philosophy, self-help, or history. 

So, to the questions...

• What kind of books do you like to read? 

• Why? Provide specific examples.

Musing Mondays - Dec. 5, 2011 Edition

Part of the weekly blog meme hosted by Should Be Reading, I (and you) get to answer the following question:

How many books do you read in a week? Month? Year?

That's a hard question for me to answer.  It all depends on the size of the book and the author.  The Series of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin easily took me a week to read the first book, and a couple weeks to read each of the subsequent books.  I haven't touched a Dance with Dragons yet, mainly because I don't own it (and it's on my Christmas list), but I expect it to take a couple weeks to read through, especially with Christmas coming up.

Typically though, I can read 1 to 2 books a week.  If they're short books, like Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, I can read each of her books in 2 nights.  The bigger the book, the longer it takes me to read.  

Of course, it also depends on what I'm doing.  If I'm travelling and doing a lot of flying, I obviously will read through books quicker, especially if I grab a book that interests me at the airport.

So looking at it.  I guess it could be said that I read between 4-8 books a month, which would be between 60 and 90 books a year.  Wow.

That's a lot of reading.

What's your numbers look like?

Musing Mondays - Nov. 28, 2011 Edition

As an addition to my regular blog posts, I will be participating in the blog topics shared by Should Be Reading when I can.  Musing Mondays asks a question of blog owners and their readers to answer.

Today's question:  Will you be buying books for the holidays, this year? If so, for whom, and why?


My Answer: Yes.  Every year I purchase books for my son and often for myself.  Occasionally for my husband, but not so much as he's into reading e-books and I still like the solid paperback novels that I can wack a spider with.

This year, my son gave me an extensive list of books (as well as video games) that he wanted for Christmas.  They include:

• Halo the Flood
• The Janitors Son
• The Basket Counts
• Slam Dunk
• Shoot for the Hoop
• Tough to Tackle
• Origami Yoda
• Red Pyramid
• The Throne of Fire
• Lemonade War
• This Means War

I'm actually impressed that he submitted a list of books he wants to read (even if one seems to be instructional).  My son has a great love for reading and I will gladly encourage that as best I can however I can when he requests books as gifts.