Oh Flavia! How I have missed you so!

This new Flavia de Luce mystery just came out on Tuesday. I have had it pre-ordered for months. Months I tell you. UPS and Amazon delivered it on time Tuesday evening and it has been tempting me all week. I was still finishing up Les Miserables and made myself wait until that was out of the way until I started this. I snuggled up last night to start it and finished it this afternoon. There is no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

If only the Flavia novels could last as long as Les Mis. The stories just go by way too fast. Flavia is lightning quick to solve the mysteries, put the local police inspector in his place, and still keep an eye on her family. This time around, as I get to know Flavia and her family more and more, it is their story that keeps me riveted more than what ever grisly crime has been committed in Bishop's Lacey. Dogger is right there with Flavia all the way, more of a father to her than her father is. His words of wisdom and tidbits of information are so well placed and played, that I know for a fact Flavia would be lost without him.

The crime this time was good. Not too overwhelming at all. That's what makes the mysteries so good. No one really important dies, just people who were passing through town but had connections to some of the long-standing local community. In the first few novels I was a little overwhelmed by the chemistry and Flavia's fascination with it (chemistry is not my thing), but now I expect it from her and learn from her. Without her vast knowledge of chemistry she would not be able to solve these crimes. It is such an amazing skill for an eleven year old to have.

In this fifth book I think there was a softer side of Flavia revealed. She was concerned about not only Feely and Daffy, but also Dogger. There were some very emotional scenes between them all which was new. They are all facing an unknown future and it brought them together. I'm worried about the family and desperately hope that they will be able to save their house in the next installment. That is what was surprisingly new in this book.... there was not just one, but two cliffhangers at the end, something we have not seen in the previous books.

What will happen to the De Luce family? I can hardly stand the wait.

Read it! Go back and read the previous books and fall in love with Flavia.

My Greater Jouney

So I was reading my favorite book related website - Book Riot - when I came across a Post titled "Do you want to Write for Book Riot?"  Well of course I do!

They wanted samples of writing and if you write a blog they wanted a link so as to prove that you could write consistently on topics and with moderate deadlines.

This is an opportunity that I am not prepared for. Nothing is more frustrating than an inopportune opportunity.

I want to write, but I am not committed to it. I need to be if I want to take advantage of opportunities.

I am always torn between the time I want to spend writing and all the things I want to read. There are piles everywhere and I don't want to neglect my reading with time spent writing, but I need to.

Currently my piles of books focus on Paris. I just finished Les Miserables, and now have moved on to David McCullough's The Greater Journey. I've read all the travel guides in preparation for my trip to Europe in May, but now I'm getting in even deeper to the history of Paris, not just the architecture and the politics, but the people too. It's fascinating. Since I am a reader and a planner I have to be prepared fully in order to take full advantage of the few days I have in Paris.

Besides Paris I will also be spending a few days in Bath, UK, another literary mecca. I am beyond excited as will be evidenced in the months ahead as I talk about nothing else in posts on both of my blogs.

Justin Cronin

So while I was gone I did do a little reading.... okay so maybe like 1500 pages of Justin Cronin. I really didn't mean too read the whole thing. Both whole things. 

They was really good. I was amazed. I don't usually like post-apocolyptic stuff, but this was mesmerizing. It did get a little heavy in The Twelve with all the shooting and tanks and guns and stuff, but it was tempered with some other stuff too. The Passage was really the better of the two books. There seemed to be more emotion and description and feeling. There was also more mystery. I was still wondering what Amy was going to do... what her purpose was. I liked imagining how things would be "after" people. I learned a lot about what might be needed to survive a vampire virus: guns, food, a basement, and lights. 

The premise sounds pretty lame, but it worked here. A crazy virus spreads quickly across the US making everyone either dead, or a vampire. These are not just regular vampires, but more animal like beasts with no control over their appetite. There are pockets of people that survive, which is described in The Passage, and then in The Twelve, those different pockets of survivors combine and then fight against the twelve original vampires.

I will definitely read the third in the series The City of Mirrors when it comes out in May 2014.

On a different note... I'm done with school and I can now read what ever I want for hours on end without having to do homework. I am also going to spend more time writing. Finally!

I Like Big......

Did you think I was going to say butts?

Ha!  It says 'big books'!!
Can I get a t-shirt with this on it?

A Couple of Weeks Off

I hate to say it, but I have to take a break from reading. I've got too much on my plate. I graduate in 4 weeks and I've got 2 papers and 1 group project, Thanksgiving, and bookfair. There just isn't enough time. I am crazy anxious and reading is not going well anyway. I'm too worked up to sit still and read. All the books don't seem like they can hold my attention because I am so worried about other stuff.

That is no way to read.

I love reading and if I try to hard to squeeze in reading, it makes it unenjoyable.

So until then, I might be a little quiet so that I can focus and get my shit done.

I will be back by December 7th at the latest, the day my last assignment is due.

Please excuse me while I cogitate copiously.

Scholastic Book Fair

My book fair starts Tuesday!!

I got it all set up today at school and so totally should have taken a picture. It is gorgeous. I'll take one Tues. am before the kids come in and wreck it.

There's been a lot of discussion in my school district about whose job it is to run the book fair. Some of the older and lazier librarians refuse to put on the fair since it is not in their job description. It requires extra time, lost of heavy lifting and usually the closing of the library for a week.

I'm totally cool with it and you want to know why? Because it freaking makes the kids happy.

Scholastic also gives us half the profit in new Scholastic books. Who could say no to that? Definitely not me.

The most exciting part of the book fair is that the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Third Wheel comes out on Tuesday. Easiest way to start a riot in an elementary school library is to start displaying the new Wimpy Kid book. My trusty UPS man will deliver boxes full of the new book first thing Tues. am.

Do you have goosebumps? I do.

Bram Stoker's Birthday

It seems as if every book website and blog is saying something about Bram Stoker's 165th birthday, so I thought I'd chime in as well.

To start my story you have to remember way back to 1992 and this movie.

It was a really big deal when Bram Stoker's Dracula was turned into a movie starring Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, and Gary Oldman. It was HUGE. I was a junior in high school and everyone went to see it.
I can't remember what I thought of the movie when I saw it the first time except that it made me want to  read the book. It was the very first time I read a gothic Victorian novel and I've been in love ever since.
Yes it was confusing, but it was also mesmerizing. The diary format made it easier to read for a first time gothic novel reader. I have read almost every other gothic novel since. So while the movie has faded in my memory the book never will.
I recently stumbled across this book, The Forgotten Writings of Bram Stoker, which will be released on Christmas Eve this year. The link will take you to the table of contents and a sample.
It's already in my shopping cart.

Happy Birthday Mr. Stoker.