Amazing Library Photo

Check out this picture of the Strahov Monastery in Prague. This is completely amazing! You can zoom in and read the titles on the spines of the books!

Review: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

Another re-read on my quest to reach the newest book in this series, Voyager is even better than I remembered it. At the beginning of the book, Claire is back in Scotland with her grown daughter Brianna and friend of the family Roger Wakefield, researching what became of the Scots she knew after the battle of Culloden. (This part picks up where the end of Dragonfly in Amber leaves off.) Claire then has a decision to make: now that she knows Jamie didn't perish at Culloden, should she track him down and attempt to return to him, or should she stay firmly in the present with their daughter?

******SPOILER ALERT********

Honestly, I don't think it's giving TOO much away to say that Claire does decide to go back through the standing stones to her husband. After all, it wouldn't be much of a series if she stayed in the present as a doctor.

Anyhoo, she goes back, finds Jamie, living as a printer under the name Alexander Malcolm, and they begin to have adventures again, right from the get-go. As in, someone burns down Jamie's print shop, they are on the lam from the law YET AGAIN, and we get to follow them from Edinburgh to Lallybroch to the West Indies. I have to say, the portion in the West Indies was quite interesting to me. As much as I love reading about 18th century Scotland, I really enjoyed the new setting, too. They meet some strange new friends (like Mr. Willoughby, a small Chinese man with a foot fetish) and come across some old ones...you'll have to read the book to find out who THAT is.

While I found Dragonfly in Amber to drag a little bit, due to the extensive political intrigue/war portions, Voyager was back to a true adventure story. Five out of five Whatevers. If you were somewhat turned off by the last book, read on! This one returns to the adventure and excitement of the first book!

ETA: I think I must have bought this book used...it was definitely read before I owned it.

2011-6

Read-a-Thon Wrap-Up Post

I had such a good time doing the Read-a-Thon! (I always do.) It was nice to have my husband participate with me. I wish I hadn't gotten sick part-way through, but I rallied and managed to finish strong, even getting up early this morning to get another couple of hours of reading in! I think I read longer than last time, but didn't get as many pages in (of course, last time I was reading a fairly large-type copy of Little Women, and this time I was reading a trade paperback). I broke the cardinal rule of most Read-a-Thon-ers and read one large book throughout the whole Read-a-Thon. But, as it was a Diana Gabaldon, I was never bored. I won a random participant prize, too!!! I haven't won any prizes for the last couple of Read-a-Thons, so that was nice. I'm already looking forward to October's RAT. Thanks to everyone who organized the Read-a-Thon, and thank you so much to the cheerleaders and friends who stopped by to let me know they're rooting me on!

RAT: Hour Twenty-Four...THE END

I'm going to get back in bed for a little while. I managed another two hours of reading. Here are the final stats:

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 75
Running total of pages read since you started: 488
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 116 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 823 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge; Oldies but Goodies; In Other Words; Mid-Event Survey; Reading Habits
Other participants you’ve visited: Christina at Reading Thru the Night; Book Snob Wannabe; Charlie at Bitsy Bling Books; Helen at Helen's Book Blog; Kim at Page After Page; Sylvia McAllister on Facebook; Buffy at Situations Where You May Need It; Erica at Elephant Shoes; Nissy at MusicaLiterary Adventures; The Brain Lair; Jessica at The Firefly Book Loft; Megan at Reading Away the Days; Marq at Love to Read for Fun; Book Gazing; Elizabeth W; Elle at BookCrush; Ms. Tiptress at Passion Reads; Darcie at Reading Derby; Lynn at Stuff and Nonsense
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water; some root beer and pretzels to calm my stomach; some frozen pizza; another bottle of water; a few pickle slices (I love them!); a couple of Jolly Ranchers; a handful of peanuts; more chips and queso; another Diet Mt. Dew (I'm a dreadful eater when I read!); Chef Boyardee; a bottle of water; chewed some gum (to keep myself from eating anything else); another root beer, and more pretzels. A Diet Mt. Dew this morning.

RAT: Back in the Saddle!

Well, I slept for about five and a half hours. And now I'm awake again, not by design, but I thought I'd take advantage of it anyway. Ricky's snoring in the bedroom, so I wouldn't get much more sleep anyway. I'm going to read for the last two hours of the Read-a-Thon and see how much further I can get. No more blog-hopping, just straight reading for two hours.

RAT: Throwing in the Towel

Well, we're into Hour Sixteen and I've pretty much run out of steam. I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. I guess I shouldn't call this the end, though. If I get up early enough tomorrow, I'll read for a little while longer, before the clock reaches 8 am.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 34
Running total of pages read since you started: 413
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 57 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 707 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge; Oldies but Goodies; In Other Words; Mid-Event Survey; Reading Habits
Other participants you’ve visited: Christina at Reading Thru the Night; Book Snob Wannabe; Charlie at Bitsy Bling Books; Helen at Helen's Book Blog; Kim at Page After Page; Sylvia McAllister on Facebook; Buffy at Situations Where You May Need It; Erica at Elephant Shoes; Nissy at MusicaLiterary Adventures; The Brain Lair; Jessica at The Firefly Book Loft; Megan at Reading Away the Days; Marq at Love to Read for Fun; Book Gazing; Elizabeth W; Elle at BookCrush; Ms. Tiptress at Passion Reads; Darcie at Reading Derby; Lynn at Stuff and Nonsense
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water; some root beer and pretzels to calm my stomach; some frozen pizza; another bottle of water; a few pickle slices (I love them!); a couple of Jolly Ranchers; a handful of peanuts; more chips and queso; another Diet Mt. Dew (I'm a dreadful eater when I read!); Chef Boyardee; a bottle of water; chewed some gum (to keep myself from eating anything else); another root beer, and more pretzels.

RAT: Inside Hour Fourteen

Is it really Hour Fourteen? I think this is around the time I called it quits last Read-a-Thon. If I remember correctly, I was falling asleep while reading around 10:30. It's almost that time, but I still feel like I have a couple more hours (at LEAST) of reading in me. I've eaten some more dinner and done some dishes since my last update. Here's my progress:

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 62
Running total of pages read since you started: 379
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 85 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 650 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge; Oldies but Goodies; In Other Words; Mid-Event Survey; Reading Habits
Other participants you’ve visited: Christina at Reading Thru the Night; Book Snob Wannabe; Charlie at Bitsy Bling Books; Helen at Helen's Book Blog; Kim at Page After Page; Sylvia McAllister on Facebook; Buffy at Situations Where You May Need It; Erica at Elephant Shoes; Nissy at MusicaLiterary Adventures; The Brain Lair; Jessica at The Firefly Book Loft; Megan at Reading Away the Days; Marq at Love to Read for Fun; Book Gazing; Elizabeth W; Elle at BookCrush
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water; some root beer and pretzels to calm my stomach; some frozen pizza; another bottle of water; a few pickle slices (I love them!); a couple of Jolly Ranchers; a handful of peanuts; more chips and queso; another Diet Mt. Dew (I'm a dreadful eater when I read!); Chef Boyardee; a bottle of water; chewed some gum (to keep myself from eating anything else)

RAT: Inside Hour Twelve

HALFWAAAAAY POOOIIINT! Wow, we've been reading and blogging for twelve hours! I can't believe it! I'm not even terribly tired, although I think fatigue will overtake me in a few hours. I think I only made it about fourteen hours last year, though, and I think I can beat that this year. We'll see!

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 56
Running total of pages read since you started: 317
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 91 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 565 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge; Oldies but Goodies; In Other Words; Mid-Event Survey
Other participants you’ve visited: Christina at Reading Thru the Night; Book Snob Wannabe; Charlie at Bitsy Bling Books; Helen at Helen's Book Blog; Kim at Page After Page; Sylvia McAllister on Facebook; Buffy at Situations Where You May Need It; Erica at Elephant Shoes; Nissy at MusicaLiterary Adventures; The Brain Lair; Jessica at The Firefly Book Loft; Megan at Reading Away the Days
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water; some root beer and pretzels to calm my stomach; some frozen pizza; another bottle of water; a few pickle slices (I love them!); a couple of Jolly Ranchers; a handful of peanuts; more chips and queso; another Diet Mt. Dew (I'm a dreadful eater when I read!)

Mid-Event Survey

1. What are you reading right now?

Still reading Voyager

2. How many books have you read so far?

Part of one.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?

Probably Voyager. :)

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?

Well, I wasn't scheduled to work this weekend, but I did turn down a girls' night last night so I could get plenty of sleep for the Read-a-Thon!

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?

Just a Jehovah's Witness inviting me to something next weekend. I shooed him away as soon as I politely could.

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?

That I'm not more tired than I am.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?

Actually, a couple of Read-a-Thons ago, they posted a link to a list with all the Read-a-Thoners on it, which made it really easy to refer to when you wanted to visit/cheer. Could you guys do that again?

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?

I'd get some different snacks.

9. Are you getting tired yet?

A little, but not too bad.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?

Nope. Just keep going!

RAT: Inside Hour Ten

I had a whole post written up and Blogger ate it. Grr. Well, here are my stats:

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 53
Running total of pages read since you started: 261
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 91 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 474 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge; Oldies but Goodies; In Other Words
Other participants you’ve visited: Christina at Reading Thru the Night; Book Snob Wannabe; Charlie at Bitsy Bling Books; Helen at Helen's Book Blog; Kim at Page After Page; Sylvia McAllister on Facebook; Buffy at Situations Where You May Need It; Erica at Elephant Shoes
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water; some root beer and pretzels to calm my stomach; some frozen pizza; another bottle of water; a few pickle slices (I love them!); a couple of Jolly Ranchers

RAT: Inside Hour Eight

Wow! Almost eight hours of reading gone by already! I'm feeling good, much better than I was a couple of hours ago. My tummy is hungry again so I'm eating a frozen pizza for an early dinner. Ricky finished his book, but I'm still plugging along in mine...over a thousand pages to it, so no surprise there.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 43
Running total of pages read since you started: 208
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 92 minutes (not all of this was reading...I did lie down and close my eyes for a while)
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 383 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge; Oldies but Goodies
Other participants you’ve visited: Christina at Reading Thru the Night; Book Snob Wannabe; Charlie at Bitsy Bling Books; Helen at Helen's Book Blog; Kim at Page After Page
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water; some root beer and pretzels to calm my stomach; some frozen pizza

RAT: Inside Hour Six

Well, I had a slight setback during the last two hours...my lunch made me sick to my stomach. HOWEVER! I have persevered, I'm feeling a lot better, and I actually still managed to get a great deal of reading done.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 34
Running total of pages read since you started: 165
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 96 minutes (not all of this was reading...I did lie down and close my eyes for a while)
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 291 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge; Oldies but Goodies
Other participants you’ve visited: Christina at Reading Thru the Night; Book Snob Wannabe; Charlie at Bitsy Bling Books
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water; some root beer and pretzels to calm my stomach

RAT: Inside Hour Four

Well, we've been reading now for almost four hours. It's going well. The air conditioning is on now, the cats have fallen asleep in the puddles of sunlight coming in through the slider, and Ricky and I are deep into our respective reads.

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 59
Running total of pages read since you started: 131
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 90 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 195 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme; Where in the World Are You Reading From?; Collaborative Fiction Mini-Challenge
Other participants you’ve visited: None, yet
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans, frozen Stouffer's Philly Cheesesteak Toasted Sub, more jellybeans, a bottle of water

Hour Three Now

Okay, now I'm inside Hour Three. We're going to have to turn on the air here, as it's getting muggy! The blog is giving me some shit and I'm starting to get irritated, but here's my progress so far...

Title of book(s) read since last update: Voyager
Number of books read since you started: part of one
Pages read since last update: 72
Running total of pages read since you started: 72
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 105 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 105 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Introduction meme, Where in the World Are You Reading From?
Other participants you’ve visited: None, yet
What I've eaten/drunk: a Diet Mt. Diew, chips and queso (for breakfast!), Jelly Belly jellybeans

RAT: Hour One Meme

1)Where are you reading from today? South Florida - in my living room and bedroom. 2)Three random facts about me… a) I'm married. b) I've lived in my house for about a year and a half. c) I love to eat. 3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? I have the book I'm currently reading, two magazines, and about six other books. I doubt I'll even finish my current read, but you never know! 4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)? I'd like to read more pages than I did last time (732, I believe) and stay up longer too. 5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time? Take liberal breaks. Read shorter things in between the longer things (I like magazines and short stories) to break it up.

T Minus 30 Minutes and Counting

Ricky and I are up and at it. I'm drinking a Diet Mt. Dew, as usual, and he is making coffee. It's a nice morning here in South Florida, and we have the slider open, but I'm pretty sure we'll have to turn on the air before long. It's supposed to get into the mid-80's here today. My current read is Diana Gabaldon's Voyager, which is a re-read for me. For anyone who hasn't been following my blog, I'm re-reading all the books in the series to bring myself back up to speed for the newest published volume, An Echo in the Bone. Ricky will be reading some memoirs of famous folks with MS (his reading has been very MS-centric lately), but I'm sure he has some fiction set aside, too, for when the memoirs get too heavy.

So. We're ready and set to go. Everyone have a great morning and enjoy your reading!

Read-a-Thon Starts Tomorrow

Sooo excited for the Read-a-Thon tomorrow! This event is my favorite in Blogland and I have participated in all of the RAT's that have been held since I started blogging. I have my snacks laid in and books picked out (well, really only one book...my current read is a chunkster, but I'm looking forward to it and hope to finish it tomorrow). The hubby is also participating this time, which has never happened before...check out his blog, too! We'll be reading together all day long, just us and the cats...no interruptions, no TV (hopefully), no responsibilities...YAY! If you're reading for the Read-a-Thon, too, have fun and I hope to see you around the blogosphere tomorrow!

Review: Inglorious by Joanna Kavenna

Joanna Kavenna won the Orange Prize for New Writing for this book. I have to be honest: I didn't care for it at all. It's about Rosa Lane, a 35-year-old journalist who, after the death of her mother, quits her job, gets dumped by her boyfriend, and overdrafts her bank account, all in the name of a mid-life crisis. Rosa is pathetic. She finds herself inert, unable to take action, mindlessly writing the same to-do list over and over. I just wanted her to DO something, to quit procrastinating, quit thinking about it. And her descent into madness is frightening and depressing to watch.

The book isn't very long, but it took me almost a month to finish it, because when I put it down, I found myself dreading picking it back up. It was just too sad for me. And, really, Rosa was too frustrating to me, as I am a person of action. I prefer to tackle problems head-on and find a solution, rather than sitting around, moping about it. However, it may also be that her situation hit a little too close to home. When my husband was diagnosed with MS last year, I suffered through my own depression for several months, in which I found myself unable to even open the mail on a daily basis. Worry about our finances, now that he wasn't working and the medical bills were piling up, seemed to be all I could think about. Now, unlike Rosa, I did eventually take action...I got a second job, began working extra hours at my current job, did whatever I could do to keep the finances stable. And maybe that is my frustration with Rosa: even during the worst period of my life, when I wondered some days if I could even get out of bed, I still took control of the situation, instead of letting it take control of me. And I wanted Rosa to do that: to grow a backbone, let go of Liam (her ex), talk to someone about her mother's death, find a job, find a place to stay, pay down her debt...and she just didn't.

Overall, two out of five Whatevers. I wish I could rate it higher, because the writing was lovely, but I just. didn't. like it. Perhaps it was simply the wrong time for me to read it. Recommended for those who like glimpses of insanity, and literary, philosophical reads.

Edited to add: I bought this book.

2011-5