Archenemy!!

Oh my gosh, you guys! I can't believe that is New Year’s EVE!!! This year has gone by so fast!

Well, I know this baby seems pretty lonely right now, but I have some exciting news! Remember first (And only at the moment) feature of The Looking Glass Wars back in October? When the third and final book came out?

WELL I FINALLY GOT A COPY. So I’m going to start it soon, and then a review will follow!

I really haven’t had a lot of time to read lately, because I’ve been busy with so many projects, and new ones are still trying to pile up on me. (I like to stay occupied.) But I have a nice big stack of books that waiting for me now that the holidays are coming to a close, and believe I’m going to hit them hard! I have a writing class in January, but that hopefully won’t slow me down too much!

But I want you all to know that I have NOT forgotten this blog at all, it has NOT been abandoned, it is NOT on hiatus, and it WILL continue!

So I hope you all can bear with me while I get thing straightened, take the time to get reading, and slowly but surely keep updating!

Have a great new year!

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

 

Eyes Like Stars tells the story of orphaned Bertie Shakespeare Smith, who has lived the magical Theatre Illuminata as long as she can remember. The theatre Illuminata is where all of the characters in any play ever written perform their roles, their lives, endlessly. When Bertie’s escapades in the Theatre finally become the last straw for the Theatre Manager, she must prove herself in order to stay at the only home she’s ever known, and find out a little about herself in the process.

At the risk of soundly completely cliché, this is a very imaginative debut novel. I know I’ve never read anything like it. Lisa Mantchev really brings the characters to life, and creates a magnificent world and an incredible plot, tempered heavily with one of my favorite aspects: humor. Plenty of giggles, mostly brought by the fairies from the Bard’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Moth, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, and Mustardseed. I fell so totally in love with this book, that I couldn’t put it down. Literally, really. I’d make my nice big stack, and wound up reading more of this than anything. It’s even the book I celebrated with one night when I had finally earned reading time during NaNoWriMo. I was crazy for it!

As for some of the romance, there’s just enough fluff and triangle to make it interesting, but this book has so much more to offer! Which is one of its greatest points for me.

 

The Recommendation – I’d recommend this book to pretty much anyone, it’s such a great read! But if you’re a lover of fantasy and the stage, you’ll enjoy it all the more!

The Other Books – I MUST have the other books in the trilogy! (The second is titled Perchance to Dream, and that’s all I know right now.) We’re talking, top of the buy pile, please please daddy please, if I don’t get the next one I’ll scream. That’s how badly I want it. I will gladly pay the money for hardback.

The Vitals* – Eyes Like Stars is available in hardcover for $16.99, and will be available in paperback for $8.99 April 13, 2010.

The Links - The Theatre Illuminata's Website

 

* = All Prices from Borders.com, and are subject to change without notice. That change may not be reflected on this page.

December Update

Since NaNoWriMo is finally over (I DID IT!!!) I can get back to work on everything else, while still working on writing. I’ll start with some new reviews here (I have two), but I’m also going to review a few books a while ago, to keep you occupied while I continue my reading.

I’ll try to get to those reviews later today, I’ll post one today, and schedule the other to come a little later. I have a lot of stuff to get to around the house, as well as other work regarding my writing, so it might take me a while to make a dent in my reading stack. But I’ll keep updating with older reviews, and I’ll work on this months’ Feature.

Thanks for being to patient!

A Very Fairy Holiday!

Just taking a quick minute to let you know about Lisa Mantchev’s, author of Eyes Like Stars contest! Simply tell Lisa how you think Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, Moth and Cobweb would help you around the holidays, and you could win!

Full details here - A Very Fairy Holiday

 

And yes, my review of Eyes Like Stars is coming very soon!

A Quick little update

So, since I’m doing National Novel Writing Month this year, and it’s officially started, my blog is pretty much on hiatus until December.

I’ll still try to post every now and then, but the writing is taking up most of my time. I haven’t had a chance to read at all. I’ll probably cancel this month’s feature.

I realized I forgot to do all the cool stuff i had planned for last month’s feature, but I should do better next time.

I’ll try to take some time this weekend and at least post about this month’s author visits.

So wish me luck on NaNo, and know that' I’ll be back ASAP and things will be kicking again!

Win books from Cynthia Leitich Smith!!

Win books!!! from Author Cynthia Leitich Smith! She’s giving them away on her blog, and she’s got some good stuff on offer! Check it out!

Rather Be Reading and the Loch Ness Monster

I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and loving them. Now, you may or may not have previously heard about Little Women and Werewolves, but this third book in the 'literary mash up trend', as it appears to be called, is stirring up some controversy. Take the article below, for example.

‘Little Women and Werewolves’: a step too far? csmonitor.com
Posted using ShareThis

Now, I wouldn’t be so hard on this, and similar, novels. I, personally, am loving them, and I hope they don’t stop anytime soon. (I think it’s be great to remix some Dumas with some evil creatures.)

Okay, so, maybe the concept does have the propensity to get old. But as long as they keep things fresh and unique, it could stick around for a while. Ad if you think about it, it’s the adult equivalent to Children’s Illustrated Classics. The addition of crazy monsters makes the book more accessible to reluctant readers of classic literature, by adding concepts more appealing to them. Maybe after reading the parody, or mash up, or what have you, they’re more interested in reading the original, to compare?

I can see how some people could somehow be offended by this destruction or demeaning of a classic novel. (Which really doesn’t make that much sense, cause they didn’t write it.) It’s how the co-authors (which you notice they call themselves, as well as list their name second) pay tribute to these works. I think that if the original authors of these classic pieces of literature knew about, and understood the motives behind, these works, they would probably think it was hilarious, even appreciate that their novel was famous enough to deserve a parody.

I think this just bight be blown out of proportion a little bit. But, what do you think?

By the way, did I mention that Seth Grahame-Smith, co-author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, is currently working on a new title? Yep. It’s called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. And I can’t wait to read it.