Blackadder's Reading Adventures

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

2009-06-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

5/5*

To Say Nothing of the dog is the story of Ned Henry, a 21st century time traveller, who's mission it is is to recover the famous bishop's bird stump from the Coventry Cathedral before it's bombed in 1940. Henry's search leads him to Victorian England with a fellow time traveler, Verity Kindle, to fix the past.

I really enjoyed this book, it was fun, amusing and easy to read. Willis does a great job making time travel seem logical and even an everyday occurance in the 21st century.

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

2009-04-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

Sister Carrie is set in late 19th century cities of Chicago and New York. Sister Carrie comes to live with her sister and brother in law in Chicago. Attracted by the bright lights and high living she see all around her, she takes up with Douet and lives with him as his "wife." She soon is discontented with her life and runs off with Hurstwood, who unknown to Carrie, has stolen money from his employer. They soon make their way to New York, after several years of struggling, Carrie starts her acting career and soon leave Hurstwood.

A great read! I really enjoyed Sister Carrie. The plot was well written and the characters were likable. I thought this was a touching story about a young girl trying to better herself in the world. I felt for Carrie, but didn't truly like her and her ambitions. She didn't seem to have anything to show for it at the end, other then her unhappiness.

The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

2009-04-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

The Virgin Blue is the story of two Tournier woman living centuries apart. Ella moves to France with her husband Rick. While there, she is determined to find out about her family's French ancestry. She is distrubed by nightmares with the color blue and a prayer in French. In order to understand the dream she digs deeper into her family history and discovers a gruesome fact dealing with Isabella and Marie Tournier. Ella's story intertwine with Isabella throughout the book. Every discovery Ella makes is shadowed with Isabella's story.

I thought this was a wonderful and touching story. I thought this was even better then The Girl with a Pearl Earring and Falling Angels. One of Chevalier best books!

Pages for Pounds Challenge

2009-01-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

I belong to the Challenged Reader group at shelfari. This is our very first challenge!

Is your TBR overflowing off your shelves? Have you vowed not to buy any books until you read the ones you already own? Did you just receive a lot of books over the holidays? Or maybe, like me, you just have page after page after page of books on your shelfari "Plans to Read" list. If you consider your TBR pile or list to be "overweight" this challenge is for you!*

Pages for Pounds is a fairly basic challenge. It's quite simple:

1. Take the books on your TBR list
2. Read them
3. Weigh the book using a kitchen scale or go to amazon.com and check the shipping weight.
4. Twice a month report the amount of weight you've read
5. At the end of the challenge see how much weight you've taken off your TBR pile!

See? Fairly simple.

You don't need to sign up for this challenge. You may join at any time. Pages for Pounds officially starts on January 1, 2009 and will end on February 28, 2009. The official winner is the member of The Challenged Reader who has lost the most weight during the challenge. Even if you aren't declared the winner you're still a winner to have tackled some weight from your TBR!

Throughout the challenge there may be occasional opportunities to lose some extra weight. I won't tell you how just yet, but you'll find out when these opportunities arise.

There will be check-ins twice a month to report your progress and for the admins. to tally up the pounds. Only report the books that are finished. If you're still reading a book save it until the next check-in. All books count. There isn't any specific criteria just read what you want to read and what's already on your TBR (or any new books you can't possible refrain from adding to your TBR). Since you don't need to sign up for this challenge whenever you join just post your results at the next check-in.

Please report the weight of the actual edition you read. If you read a hardback you can report the weight of the hardpack. If it's a paperback, or mass market edition report the weight of those particular books. Audiobooks count as well. For audiobooks the weight is the weight of the audibook itself. You can weight the audiobook in the case or use amazon.com. During the check-ins post if it was a hardback, paperback, mass market, audiobook, or electronic reader edition.

If you would like to keep a log of the books you read during this challenge you may do so. Just create a discussion with the title "(Your Name or Username)'s Pages for Pounds Log). You do not have to keep a log if you do not want to. Since all books qualify for this challenge and there won't be additional bonuses for reading certain books that wouldn't count previously, you don't have to keep a log, but anyone who wants to is encouraged to post one. As members post their results at the weigh-ins you'll be able to see all the books that everyone has read.

There won't be any prizes given to the winner, but you will receive bragging rights and if you have a blog or a webpage a special graphic to show off your dedication to reducing your TBR.

Any questions? Feel free to let us know!

EDITED on 12/31/08:

If you do NOT finish a book that you start during this challenge you may receive credit for it. After you have officially given up on the book post it at the next check-in. You didn't finish the book, but you did knock it off your TBR so it still counts. Just be sure to let us know at the weigh-in that it was unread. This is another way to lose a lot of weight! It's a good time to clean up those shelves and chuck the books you realize you no longer want to read. Unfinished books won't receive the full weight amount, but the percentage of the weight that you did read. If you read a quarter of a book you'll receive a quarter of the weight. Hey, that's still weight knocked off your TBR!

* Even if you don't consider your shelf or list to be overweight and, unlike a lot of us, are able to refrain from buying books that consume all your space, you may still participate in all the fun. =P

Books & their Weight:

The Devil Who Tamed Her by Johanna Lindsey - 7oz
Beauty Pop Vol 2 by Kiyoko Arai - 7oz

Total: 14oz

The Devil Who Tamed Her by Johanna Lindsey

2009-01-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

5/5 Stars

I love a good Johanna Lindsey book! She does romance right, her plots and characters are believable and lovable. In The Devil Who Tamed Her, Ophelia Reid is one of the most beautiful debutantes of the season. She has men proposing left and right, but she wants someone to love her before proposing. She's already broken two engagements in the seasons.

Raphael Locke thinks that Ophelia needs a lesson in how to treat others nicely. Her rumormongering and her other faults are a challenge he can't resist. Can Ophelia change, can she find someone to love her, not just her looks?

Mystery Cats by Various

2009-01-01T15:52:00.000-08:00

4/5 Stars

I really enjoyed this anthology of cat mystery stories. Some of them were really good! There was a wide variety of mysteries with cats as a central figure. Some of my favorite stories were:

Susu and the 8:30 Ghost by Lillian Jackson Braun
I've always loved Braun's books, this short story was a mixture of ghost story and mystery. Susu, a siamese cat, forms a strong bond with one of her neighbors. The cat is central in solving the mystery in the story.

The Abominable House Guest by Theodore Sturgeon

In this story, the cat takes a dislike to his master and her houseguest. The results are murderous! I usually don't like story where the cat can talk, but it just added layers to it.

The Lady Wore Black by Hugh B. Cave

When a cat's mistress is murdered, the cat exacts revenge on her murderer. A really great suspenseful story told from the murderer's point of view.

The Theft of Mafia Cat by Edward D. Hoch

A thief is hired to steal a local Mafia don's very recognizable cat. His method is great! Very ingeunious how he gets the cat out of the house undected!

4th of July by James Patterson

2008-12-30T18:51:00.001-08:00

3/5 Stars

It's been awhile since I read 3rd Degree, the last book in the series before this one. I really didn't care for the plot and it kept me from reading this one for a long time. It didn't take long for me to get back into the series. I found this book to be very enjoyable but with a few minor plot flaws. Lt. Lindsey Boxer is haunted by a 10 year old unsolved murder of a John Doe. When similar murders start to happen she can't resist trying to solve them, even though its not in her juridistion. There is a second plot, and it felt totally unrelated, where Lindsey finds herself on trial after firing her weapon in the line of duty.

This book almost could have been two seperate books. The plots are almost totally seperate from each other. The trial is the reason she leaves town and gets involved in the other murder investigation. But that's all that ties the two of them together.

Even with the minor flaws, I thought this was a very good book. It kept my attention from the beginning and didn't let up until the end. I figured out two of the three murderers, but not the motive. I thought the ending was a little forced, especially the confession of one of the murderers. For the most part the these murders were almost unsolvable and the murderers are forced into confessing all by themselves.

Murder in the Hearse Degree by Tim Cockey

2008-12-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

I just love Hitchcock Sewell! If there was a male equivalent to Stephanie Plum, he would be it. Hitchcock is an undertaker by trade, but finds himself involved in figuring out murder mysteries. He's usually dragged in by his current love interest. In Murder in the Hearse Degree, it's a former love, Libby, that gets him invovled. Her nanny, Sophia is missing and later turns up dead. It seems she took a dive off a bridge. The mystery gets a little detail orientated. I had a difficult time figuring out who the murderer was, but saw it clearly at the end. A really great book in the series! I can't wait to read the next one.
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Out of Sight by Cherry Adair

2008-12-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

4/5 Stars

I really like Cherry Adair's books. They are always action packed and have a good plot and the romance doesn't get in the way. Out of Sight is the story of two T-Flac agents AJ Cooper and Kane Wright. This is one of the earlier books in the series. I thought the book was well written, action packed and the romance worked. I really hate books that the characters don't seem to belong together. This was definitely not one of those books!

Burning Bright By Tracy Chevalier

2008-12-20T10:02:00.000-08:00

4/5 Stars

Burning Bright is the story of Jem and Massie Kelloway. Their lives are never the same when their family moves from the country into London in the late 18th Century . Their father gets a job as a carpenter with the Astley's Circus and Jem and Massie are thrown into that world. Jem makes friends with a local girl Maggie and the Blakes.

I thought this was another enjoyable book from Tracy Chevalier. I really like how the book is setting around the Astley Circus and William Blake. Chevalier does a really great job blending fact with fiction and making it believeable. Although I enjoyed this book, I didn't think it was up to par with Girl with the Pearl Earring.

False Scent by Ngaio Marsh

2008-12-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

5/5 Stars

Ngaio Marsh was a contemporary of Agatha Christie, although overshadowed by Christie she just as a good mystery writer. Marsh has the same style of writing as Christie but does it with her own sense os style. I really enjoy her books.

In False Scent, a Dame of the Theatre, Miss Mary Bellamy has an unfortunte accident with a pesticide. She falls ill and dies during her 50th birthday party. The list of suspects are long, she has argued with many of her guest before the fatal dose. Can Inspector Roderick Alleyn solve this mystery?

A really great story, I had a feeling as to who but not the why of this mystery. The solution to the mystery is a stunner!

Murder Runs in the Family by Anne George

2008-12-18T07:29:00.000-08:00

5/5 Stars

Murder Runs in the Family is the third book in the Southern Sisters mystery series. Mouse and Sister, two retired sisters are at it again. Sister's only daughter Debbie is getting married That means out-of-town guests. Meg, a cousin of the groom, stays with sister. Meg is a profession genealogist, who seems to make enemies with her pedgrees, takes a dive out of a ten story window. Can Sister and Mouse find the killer and stay alive themselves?

I love this series, a lots of fun light moments and a really great mystery plot. I thought I had this mystery figured out halfway through the book, but I was wrong. I had a bit of it right and a lot wrong.

The Cat Who Went Bananas by Lilian Jackson Braun

2008-12-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

4/5 Stars

I just love the Cat Who series. It's been awhile since I picked up a book in the series. I really enjoyed getting in touch with old friends, Qwill, Koko and Yum Yum. Braun really has an enjoyable writting style that just draws you into the story. Even though I enjoyed this book, I thought it was lacking in the mystery department. There didn't seem to be a mystery. Just a couple of events that may or may not been criminal. Braun leaves everything up in the air with this book. Not much is resolved with the plot. It was a bit disappointing, but I was happy to read another in an enjoyable series and hope that the next one is better.

Murder is a Girl's Best Friend by Amanda Matetsky

2008-12-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

5/5*

I just love this series. Paige Turner is a yound working widow who lives in New York City, in the 1950's, and wants to become a writer. Paige finds herself investigating a murder when her late husband's best friend in the army asks for her help. His sister was murdered and the police are treating it as a random buglary, even after he finds diamonds hidden in her apartment. Paige is set on finding the murderer, along the way she escapes several close calls.

I love this series, Amanda Matetksy really captures the setting of New York in the 1950's. The clothes, slang, atmosphere, and the workplace treatment of women are all there. She's done her reserarch well and it comes through in her books. I can't wait to read the next book!

The Bishop Murder Case by S S Van Dine

2008-12-08T12:11:00.000-08:00

3/5 Stars

Philo Vance is called on by his friend, a New York district attorney, to consult on a murder case. The murders follow different Mother Goose rhymes, Cock Robin, Humpty Dumpty, Johnny Spring and Miss Moffett. The mystery has several twists and end at the end. Philo Vane reminded me of Agatha Christie's Poroit. Very little action to the storyline and lot of complex thought. The solution to the mystery involves chess, nursery rhymes, pyschology and advance math. I was totally lost as to how Vance really solved this mystery. I just didn't see a solution, even after it was revealed.

A little pet peeve of mine with this book was that I had to stop every so often and look up words in the dictionary. I couldn't figure other what they meant. I know the book was first published in the 1920's but come on! Speak plain english! I'm not sure I will be picking up any more books by this author.

American Civil War Reading Challenge

2008-12-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

I love the American Civil War, one of my favorite historical periods. So I can't wait to do this challenge.

Rules:

1. Read 12 books about the Civil War, either fiction or non-fiction

2. Read these books between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009

3. Overlaps with other challenges are allowed

4. Ebooks and audiobooks are okay as well

Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge

2008-12-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

I found another interesting challenge. This one runs from Jan to March 2009 and need to read three books for it. Sounds do-able and fun.

Rules:

Rule #1: The challenge runs from January 1 to March 31. (No cheating and starting before!)

Rule #2: You must read three books. After that, it's up to you how much you want to read.

Rule #3: The books must:

have a food name in the title
OR
be about cooking/eating
OR
have a place name in the title
OR
be about one (or more) person's travel experience
OR
be about a specific culture
OR
be by an author whose ethnicity is other than your own (see, I squeezed it in!)

I'll leave it up to you to choose how the three books you read fit the criteria.

Rule #4: They must be middle-grade on up, but can be either fiction or non-fiction.

The purpose, this winter, is to take yourself someplace out of the ordinary, to go on a literary trip, whether that be challenging your expectations, discovering a new place, or enjoying the experience of reading about good food, places, and people

My books:

1. Mangoes and Quinces by Carol Field
2. A Good Year for Plums by Bailey White
3.Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson

What's in a name-2 Challenge

2008-12-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

This challenge looks fun and something that I can read for throughout the year. I'm hoping that I'm not biting off more then I can chew with all these challenges but I just can't help myself!

1. A book with a "profession" in its title.

2. A book with a "time of day" in its title.

3. A book with a "relative" in its title.

4. A book with a "body part" in its title.

5. A book with a "building" in its title.

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title.

Naming Conventions Challenge

2008-12-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

Another challenge that I plan doing in 2009. I'm giving myself until Dec '09 to complete it.

Rules:

Instructions
1) Write down your first name (or whatever name you usually go by)
2) Do any or all of the following (i.e. do 2a and/or 2b and/or 2c):
2a) For each letter, pick an author whose last name starts with that letter.
2b) For each letter, pick an author whose first name starts with that letter.
2c) For each letter, pick a book that starts with that letter.
3) Books can be cross-overs from other challenges, but each book can only be used once in this challenge. Authors may be repeated though.
4) The challenge lasts one month per letter of your name
5) Sign up by commenting to this post.

The books can be read in any order and the list changed at any time during the challenge.

Last Name
B The Cat Who Went Bananas by Lilian Jackson Braun
L
A Out of Sight by Cherry Adair
C Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
K
A Beauty Pop Vol 2 by Kiyoko Arai
DSister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
D
E
R

First Name
B
L
A Murder is A Girl's Best Friend by Amanda Matetsky
C
K
A Murder Runs in the Family by Anne George
D
D
E
R

Title
B (The) Bishop Murder Case by S S Van Dine
L
A
C
K
A
D (The) Devil Who Tamed Her by Johanna Lindsey
D
E
R

What an Animal Reading Challenge

2008-12-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for a good reading Challenge and this seems do-able for me.

The rules are simple:

1. Read at least 6 books that have any of these requirements:a. an animal in the title of the bookb. an animal on the cover of the bookc. an animal that plays a major role in the bookd. a main character that is or turns into an animal (define that however you'd like ;>)).

2. The animal can be any type of animal (real or fictitious)--dog, cat, monkey, wolf, snake, insect, hedgehog, aardvark...dragons, mermaids, centaurs, fairies, vampires...you get the idea...

3. Challenge runs from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009. You can still sign up after July 1st as long as you can get 6 books read by June 30th ;>).

4. Books can be fiction or nonfiction.

5. You may make a list of books at the beginning of the challenge or just list them as you find them.

6. Books may be swapped out at anytime (assuming you made a list to begin with).

7. Crossover books with other challenges is permitted and encouraged.

8. You don't have to blog or write a review, but you can if you want to.9. Sign up with Mr. Linky below. Please sign up with the specific post announcing the challenge if you are a blogger. If you do not blog, sign up with your name and leave the URL field blank. Thanks!

10. Have fun!!

I plan on reading six books, the following list could change as time goes by.

1. Tales from Watership Down by Richard Adams

2. The Cat Who Went Bananas by Lillian Jackson Braun (12/14/08)

3. Mystery Cats by Various

4. To Catch a Cat by Marion Babson

5. Best in Show by Laurien Berenson

6. Swimming Without a Net by MaryJanice Davidson

The Girl Who Remembered Snow by Charles Mathes

2008-12-06T08:50:00.001-08:00

4/5 Stars

Emma Passant, a magician, finds herself invovled in a mystery surrounding her grandfather's murder. Strange things happen after his death, a model boat goes missing from his bedroom, a second Frenchman is found shot with the same gun. Emma travels from San Franciso to San Marcos Island, New York City and Paris to find answers to the mystery. There are several twists and turns to the plot. The resolution was a tear jerker, a rare thing for a mystery. I really loved this book! It was a bit slow in the beginning but when things started happen I just could put the book down.

Ghosts Among Us by Leslie Rule

2008-12-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

4 Stars

I recently read another book by Leslie Rule, Coast to Coast Ghosts. While it was enjoyable, I didn't think it was that great. I thought I would give Leslie Rule another try. I love ghost stories, and true ones are my favorite. I've had a few experiences that I can't explain away and like to read other's stories. Ghost Among Us was just great. I loved the stories, some personal experiences of the author and those submitted by her readers. There were a few places mentioned in the book that I would love to visit and possible stay at. I thought this was a better effort in the true ghost stories then Coast to Coast Ghosts. I'm glad I gave this author a second chance! I will definitely be picking up other books by Leslie Rule!

The Beginning

2008-12-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

I'm not much of a reviewer/writer but I'm an avid reader. I love to read other people reviews and find new authors and books. I'm hoping to able to post my thoughts and comments on books that I read. I read alot, so I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to keep up a blog. Never did this before, but it sounds fun.