Book Thoughts: Pegasus by Robin McKinley

Nope. Got to ebook page 103 and had to quit. What drove me crazy here was the interruptions in a conversation or thought. A conversation would start and then tangent off into this long back-history of a person, place or thing. By the time you got back to the conversation you forgot what was being said or what was supposed to happen in the present.

There was too much back-history explained in the first 100 pages. It would have been much better to have two books. One book that takes place in the past setting up the world and getting to know the historically significant characters. In fact the origination of this society would have made a great book in my opinion and a lot more exciting than the present.

The cover is awesome, but it is not included in the ebook. That really annoys me. I pay for it, give it to me!

Book Thoughts: Flying Colours by C.S. Forester

Flying Colours by C.S. Forester
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the third book (in order written) of the Horatio Hornblower series. The series is a beautifully designed Easton Press edtion (not shown). It is an 11 books series that can be read in chronological order or in order written. I have chosen the latter.

This book is much more about what's going on in Hornblower's mind than it is in action. Forester has a excellent way of writing about this and you get to know Hornblower even more and the struggles he faces in his current situation and contemplating his future and that of his two companions.

Book Thoughts: The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was my first Christie book and also the first book in the Miss Marple series (1930). Miss Marple really played a small role in this book which surprised me. Of course, she did figure out who-dun-it and that was what I found strange and rather unbelievable. When she put the pieces of the puzzle together, to me anyway, it was difficult to determine how she came to that conclusion by the explanation given.

I will continue with the Miss Marple series and am hoping that the stories get better with her more involved.

Book Thoughts: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I ended up enjoying this book very much. Not for the blood, gore and other elements of horror which I will not divulge, but for the writing and the characters. There is an element of the mysterious here and a flavor of Sherlock Holmes. Read this book, but with a warning that it is not for the faint of heart.

I now have the dilemma of deciding on whether to continue the series. The writing and characters compel me, but the subject matter disfavors it. That decision does not need to come now.

Taking down bookshelves?

I am in the process of taking down 2 bookshelves. What? OK, I have a good reason. I bought a piano! I learned on a small Kimball console back in the 1970s. As I got older and moved out of my parents home, I sold it. That was a very bad decision. In 2001 or so, I wanted to start playing again and purchased an 88 key digital piano. Needless to say they are certainly not like an acoustic piano. I have been thinking about getting one recently and decided to just go ahead and do it.

I have a very small home, so this piano will look very large but I really don't care. I am very excited to get it. So I now have stacks of books sitting on the floor and at this point not a real good idea on what to do about them. I am hoping that once the piano is set up there may be room to put one of the shelves back up. I really hate to box them up.

I will take pictures of the piano when it arrives. Should be by the weekend of Feb. 4th.

... Buried in books.

The J.K. Rowling Story

For New Year's day I decided to watch a DVD I got recently: Magic Beyond Words, The J.K. Rowling Story - an original Lifetime movie. This movie goes over Ms. Rowlings early years and up to the publishing of the first Harry Potter book. It is an interesting movie and I enjoyed it.
Note: It is an unauthorized biography.

It is available from Lifetime, Amazon and other places.

2012 Book Challenges

I have finally decided on the challenges that I am going to participate in for 2012.

50 Books Challenge

For 2011 I should finish out at 36 and for 2012 I really wanted to do 75, but I must be realistic. I will be joining the Goodreads challenge group. I will be under the Personal Challenge: 1-50 folder. I will be duplicating at the LibraryThing 50 books group.

Off The Shelf Challenge

I have many books in my library that I need to get to. I am going to set a goal of 30 books that are currently on my shelves or in my eReader library. These books must be acquired by Dec 31,2011. I will be at this LibraryThing group

2012 Big Book Challenge

This idea was from Debs at YouTube's DebrasBookCafe and I set it up for her. It is simply keeping track (or setting a goal if you want) of books you have read that are over 400 pages. The group is here: Goodreads 2012 Big Book Challenge. Come join us!

A + P Book Reading Challenge 2012

This is challenge created by two YouTubers - pbookbuddy and amirasbookreviews. It has 12 categories and you only need to read 1 book from each group. Below is a links to videos explaining things.
(pbookbuddy) A + P Book Reading Challenge 2012
(amirasbookreviews) A + P Book Reading Challenge 2012