Distracted ...

I've been a bit distracted from my reading lately as we've booked a holiday .... for Easter 2012! Long time to wait (325 days if you must know, not that I'm counting!) but I've had a mad planning week looking at things we need to do on this visit to Orlando, and when I start I get completely immersed in the whole Disney thing ... it is quite alarming! Anyway the initial excitement has worn off a bit now, and I managed to finish The Weight of Silence this weekend.

I really enjoyed this book. A touching, sad tale of Calli, a selective mute, and her best friend Petra who go missing in the woods near where they live. Each chapter is told from a different person's perspective, and I felt this worked well with the story. It did not become disjointed as this type of book sometimes does, but continued to flow nicely throughout. I'm rating this a 4* star - as I've read elsewhere, a similar writer to Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain.

Next up, I have to put the Kindle down and read The Gallow's Curse by Karen Maitlaind which I reserved at the library and collected yesterday.

Ugh ...

Hmmm ... I seem to be choosing the wrong books lately! Another 1* read came in the form of The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas.

I'm finding it difficult to think of anything nice to say about this one! What a horrible bunch of characters. I think I'll just leave it there!

What made it even more disappointing was that it was my first read on my brand sparkling new KINDLE!!! Oh my, I never expected to love this gadget as much as I do! I'm sure I won't ever give up "tree" books completely, but I can definitely see me using the Kindle more than I thought I would! I do miss seeing the nice pretty book covers, but I think I can live without them ...

30 Day Challenge

Day 8 - the book you can quote the best

Hmmm, I would have to say Hamlet for this, purely because we studied it for finals at school and it was drummed into me. I do love Hamlet, my favourite of all Shakesepeare's works (well, those I've read - I'm not pretending to have read them all!).

After only several days of dropping major hints, my hubby came home from a trip to buy tropical fish with a Kindle for me! Woohoo! So excited about this :) I've downloaded a few free books, and a couple of books from the Spring Spectacular on Amazon ... now I need to get reading :)

Also, please excuse the mess ... I'm trying to make a new blog header to match my new colour scheme ....

Book Blogger Hop!

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs to read!



This week's question comes from Christina who blogs at The Paperback Princesses. She asks:

"If you find a book you love, do you hunt down other books by the same author?"

Yes, yes, yes! I do tend to become a bit author-obsessed if I find one I love! I certainly try and read all their books, but not necessarily one after another as even the most amazing authors can become a bit samey after a while. It does happen that I fall out of love with an author as their writing progresses and changes though - Patricia Cornwell is a perfect example here. I read her early books obsessively, paying out for hardbacks as soon as they were published, but her last 4 or 5 books have not grabbed me in the same way.

I think my newest discovery/obsession will be Mo Hayder. I have just finished reading Birdman (thanks Ellie!) and am now hunting down the next in the series!

30 Day Challenge ...

I'm not doing very well keeping up with this, am I?!

Day 6 - a book you either couldn't finish or struggled to:

The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns - I'm not sure why, but I just did not click with this book.

Day 7 - A book that reminds you of somewhere

An Act of Terror by Andre Brink - a powerful story that immediately transports me back to South Africa where I grew up.

(to read more about the books, just click on the title - links to Amazon)

30 Day Book Challenge

Day 4 - a book you lent out once, never got back and miss

Hmmm, this is a tough one! Either I have trustworthy friends or I don't lend out my books enough! I did lend Twilight to a friend who took ages to read it, then my daughter wanted to read it so I bought another copy for ... and then of course the friend returned the first copy!

Day 5 - a book you've read the most times.

This would be the entire Harry Potter series, but specifically I suppose the first one has been read the most, because it's the first and I had to re-read them all in order every time a new one was published!

30 Day Challenge - Day 3

What is your favourite book to recommend to friends?

This changes regularly, but at the moment, it is The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland. It's a weighty tome, but a fast paced read, absolutely absorbing and interesting!