Sunday Summary: 30 November 2014

Since it was Thanksgiving week, I had intended to spend time on the blog—instead I just goofed off. I did read quite a bit, but totally ignored the blog. I'm linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on the blog, showcase books and things received. Share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead.

Where I've been reading

Because it was Thanksgiving week, I was at home all week and had three full days off of work, giving me a five-day weekend! I had thought I'd use some of this time to get ahead with blog posts. Instead, I found other things to do. I did read—quite a bit since there was a read-a-thon going on over at BookObsessed. I also caught up on some recorded TV episodes, added a few rows to the sweater I'm knitting, and celebrated Thanksgiving with my kids. Once again, kid #1 hosted the family at his house. I roasted the turkey, my mother-in-law brought the pumpkin pie, and his wife and mother-in-law took care of everything else.

This was the last week that I'll be home until just before Christmas. I have trips planned for the next three weeks: Omaha, Louisville, and NYC. I will enjoy having the time in transit to read.

What I've been reading

Format: eBook
Source: purchased from Baen eBooks
Completed: 27 November

★★★☆☆

It took me just over a week to read A Rising Thunder It's the 13th book in David Weber's Honor Harrington military science fiction series. The story ended on a cliff-hanger, so I'm confident there will be another book. Sometime. Not soon. It doesn't appear to be on Baen's publication schedule for early 2015. I do have one more book in the Honorverse to read—Shadow of Freedom, from the Saganami Island series. And, there is one other Honorverse book available, this one in the Crown of Slaves series.

I really enjoyed reading A Rising Thunder and am feeling a little bit anxious about having to wait for the next book. Maybe I ought to find a nice long series that's complete so I don't wind up in suspense for the story to continue.

Format: eGalley
Source: review book from NetGalley
Completed: 30 November

★★★★☆

The Glass Magician picks up shortly after the events of The Paper Magician. Ceony Twill is continuing her studies with Magician Thane and seems to be on track to pass her certification exams as a Folder (a magician bound to paper) after two years of apprenticeship. While on a field trip with other magician apprentices, the paper factory they are visiting is bombed by a notorious Excisioner (a practitioner of blood magic). When it becomes evident that Ceony is the target of a pair of evil magicians, her teachers rally to protect her, but Ceony resents being left out of the plans to capture them. So, she charges out to solve things on her own.

I don't even know how to begin to tell you how much I enjoyed The Glass Magician. I guess the 4-star rating tells you something. I saw reviews which criticized the fact that Ceony makes bad decisions which put her at risk, but really, that's what the book is all about. A young woman taking matters into her own hands.

I'm still listening to Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I listened for almost three hours this week as I drove to and from my grandson's house and ran a few errands. I anticipate finishing the book next week since I'll be driving from airport to hotel to customer location to airport. I have about 2 hours and 20 minutes left in the book. I'm loving it and just now spent a credit at Audible to get the next in the series.

I started reading Jinx High by Mercedes Lackey. It's the last book in her Diana Tregarde paranormal investigator series. Lackey originally published these books in 1989-1991, and I think it is probably one of the very first “urban fantasy” series.

This Week on the Blog

'Twas a bleak week on the blog. As I said above, I had good intentions, but I simply got busy and didn't take the time to prepare any posts. I did upload a Stacking the Shelves post since I picked up a couple of books from the library.

1. Stacking the Shelves (13)

Stacking the Shelves (13)

After breaking down and purchasing books two weeks ago, I was very well-behaved last week and didn't acquire a single new book. But this week I did take advantage of lending libraries to pick up a couple of high-interest books.

From the Kindle Owner's Lending Library, I selected Scrapyard Ship by Mark Wayne McGinnis. I've enjoyed reading more Space Fiction this year, so I figured this was a good way to check out a new author.

And, from my local library's subscription to Freading, I selected Kris: The Legend Begins by J J Ruscella and Saint Peter's Fair by Ellis Peters.

So how did you do this week? Any new books? You're invited to tell us all about it by joining the fun at Stacking the Shelves. According to the reviewers at Tynga's Reviews who host the meme:

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Sunday Summary: 23 November 2014

This past week was pretty good in terms of reading. I completed three books, wrote and posted three reviews, and didn't buy a single book! As usual, I'm linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on the blog, showcase books and things received. Share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead.

Where I've been reading

I had another wonderful week at home. It's unusual for me to be at home for two weeks in a row, and with the holidays coming up this next week, I'll wind up at home for three full weeks. The weather in Texas was really cold—unseasonably cold—at the beginning of the week, but started warming up by Wednesday.

What I've been reading

Format: eGalley
Source: review book from NetGalley
Completed: 17 November

★★★☆☆

Tagged for Death is the beginning of a new cozy mystery series by Sherry Harris. Sarah Winston is recently divorced and struggling to decide what to do with herself. Torn from the familiar life on a US military base, she resorts to her usual source of comfort—checking out garage and tag sales in and around her New England community. There's a murder. Sarah's ex-husband is a suspect. As with all cozy mysteries, the non-professional (Sarah) inserts herself into the investigation and uncovers essential evidence.

Since the majority of the books I read each year are mysteries, I was interested in reading and reviewing this book. I finished it on the 17^th and posted my review a couple of days later. I did enjoy this book and would enjoy reading more in the series

Format: Kindle
Source: freebie from Amazon.com
Completed: 19 November

★★★☆☆

Hugh Howey set everything in motion with his Silo series: Wool, Shift, and Dust. It tells of 50 survival silos deep underground. Residents of each silo have been told that they are all that remains of the human race after a apocalyptic war. But that's not true. Silo 1 is overseeing everything that happens in all the other silos—not always to the benefit of the other silos and their population.

In Silo 49: Going Dark, the situation is rapidly deteriorating with virulent cancers and a reduced birth rate dropping the population numbers to a critical level. Fearful that Silo 1 is going to order the termination of Silo 49, the managers in charge decide to break all connections to Silo 1—“Going Dark”.

As an avid fan of Howey's Silo series, I'm tickled pink to see an an active fan fiction community springing up. Ann Christy is the author of a series of books set in Silo 49, and this first book—a long novella or very short novel—is offered for free at Amazon.com. I enjoyed the book and I am definitely interested in reading more books in this series. My only complaint is that the book needed editing. There were grammar errors and typos, which I've come to expect in every published book.

Format: eGalley
Source: review book from NetGalley
Completed: 22 November

★★★★☆

Ann Brashares, known primarily for her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, turns her considerable talent to science fiction with a premise that is timely and entirely believable. Prenna is a young teen immigrant to the US, living in a reclusive community of other immigrants. What sets these people apart is not the fact that they come from another country or culture, but that they come from the future. Living in the 2090s, they are faced with environmental collapse and deadly mosquito-borne plagues, and they escape into their past arriving in 2014. Although the reason they gave for attempting the time jump was that they would work to prevent the global warming which has crippled their own time, Prenna only sees her leaders hiding their origins.

Teens from the future are not immune to rebellious behavior and Prenna finds herself drawn to Ethan, a forbidden relationship. A homeless man tells her and Ethan that a murder in May 2014 is what sets in motion the sequence of events that results in the plagues of her own time, and sends them out to save the world.

When I accepted a review copy of this book, I saw that its publication was scheduled for the first of January, 2015. But it was actually published in April 2014 in the US. The January publication date is for the UK release. So, I can tell my friends in the US to go ahead and get a copy of this book—it's really good and they will enjoy it. For my UK friends, just hang in there. It will be available soon.

I've been reading these two books this week, but have not yet finished them. I spend most Saturdays with my grandson, so I get about two hours of audiobook listening each week as I drive to and from his house. This week I'm listening to Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I received this book as one of the free audio books during the SYNC 2014 give-away. And, the book I'm reading simply for pleasure is A Rising Thunder by David Weber. It's the 17^th and penultimate book in Weber's Honor Harrington military SciFi series. (Well, so far!)

This Week on the Blog

For the first week in a couple of months, I don't have a Stacking the Shelves post because I did not receive a single new book this week. This seems amazing to me since I tend to acquire books faster than I can read them. I set myself a book buying moratorium at the beginning of the year. Except for spending gift cards, I'm not buying any books. (Well, there have been a couple of exceptions such as the audio CDs of Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers I ordered from England in September.) And, lately, I've been trying to stay on top of the books that I've agreed to read and review, so I've not been asking for new books from NetGalley and I've avoided checking any books out from the library. But...there's a long holiday weekend coming up and I'm going to go all out with reading—and reading for pleasure instead of for review!

However, in the absence of the Stacking the Shelves post, I did prepare and post three reviews.

1. Review: The Oblate's Confession
2. Top Ten Tuesday: 18 November 2014
3. Review: Tagged for Death
4. Review: Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers

Review: Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers

Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers by Alexander McCall Smith
Published February 9, 2014 by Random House, LLC
Audio recording by Isis Publishing Ltd. UK
Source: purchased in September 2014

Alexander McCall Smith's wildly popular 44 Scotland Street series chronicles life in a corner of Edinburgh brimming with wit and humor.

It's not that poor Bertie Pollock is wishing his life away, but having anticipated his 7th birthday for so long he's now longing to be 18. But there's a lot of living to do and Bertie isn't alone amongst the residents of Scotland Street in trying to do just that - with mixed fortunes.

Newlywed painter and sometime somnambulist Angus Lordie might be sleepwalking his way into trouble with Animal Welfare when he lets his dog Cyril drink a bit too much lager at the local bar. The longsuffering Bertie, on the cusp of his seventh birthday party, has taken to dreaming about his eighteenth, a time when he will be able to avoid the indignity of unwanted girl attendees and the looming threat of a gender-neutral doll from his domineering mother Irene. Matthew and Elspeth struggle to care for their triplets, contending with Danish au pairs and dubious dukes to boot, while the narcissistic Bruce faces his greatest challenge yet in the form of an over-eager waxologist. As ever, when Alexander McCall Smith visits 44 Scotland Street, fun is sure to follow.

My Thoughts

Although it was published in 2013 in the UK, Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers has not yet been released in the US. But I didn't let that stop me. I waited until the audio edition became available in August 2014, then I ordered the CDs from England. I simply wasn't willing to wait any longer.

In this newest addition to McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series, Bertie's seventh birthday is finally here. But to his horror, his mother has totally spoiled it by giving him a gender-neutral “play figure”—which everyone except Irene recognizes as a doll—setting Bertie up for the to-be-expected torment by Olive. The rest of the cast is present: Matthew and Elspeth are barely coping with their triplets (and the au pair); Angus and Dominica are settling into domesticity; Bruce visits a waxologist; and we are introduced to a fascinating new character, Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna.

David Rintoul's excellent reading of Bertie's Guide to Life and Mothers brought all the characters to life. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and while it's not the very best in the series, it holds its own. And, since it ended with at least one thread dangling, I'm confident there'll be yet another episode in a year or so.

★★★☆☆

Review: Tagged for Death

Tagged for Death by Sherry Harris
Published December 2, 2014 by Kensington
Source: NetGalley

Starting your life over at age thirty-eight isn't easy, but that's what Sarah Winston finds herself facing when her husband CJ runs off with a 19-year-old temptress named Tiffany. Sarah's self-prescribed therapy happily involves hitting all the garage and tag sales in and around her small town of Ellington, Massachusetts. If only she could turn her love for bargain hunting into a full-time career.

One man's junk is another man's treasure

But after returning from a particularly successful day searching for yard sale treasures, Sarah finds a grisly surprise in one of her bags: a freshly bloodied shirt…that undoubtedly belongs to her ex, CJ, who now happens to be Ellington's chief of police. If that's not bad enough, it seems Tiffany has gone missing. Now it's up to Sarah to prove that her cold-hearted ex is not a cold-blooded killer…

But finding that treasure can be murder.

My Thoughts

My first thought to object to the official description—Sarah's husband doesn't run off with a 19-year-old, he has a one night stand. But that's enough to set the plot in motion.

Divorced from her philandering husband, Sarah is on her own for the first time in her life. In addition to living alone, she's no longer living on a military base with its built-in social life for the wives of officers. Fortunately, she's able to continue volunteering at the on-base thrift shop.

Sarah loves thrift shops and garage sales. After introducing her friend Carol to garage sales and driving her around to several of them on a Saturday morning, Carol asks her to organize a sale to clear out her overstuffed garage. Then a visitor to Carol's garage sale offers to pay Sarah to help her, and a new business is born.

But, while Sarah is running garage sales and volunteering at the thrift shop, there's something more serious she needs to do—prove that her ex-husband isn't a murderer. Turns out that the young woman CJ had an affair with has gone missing. A couple of weeks later, the unidentifiable body of a young woman is found behind the thrift shop and CJ's ID badge is nearby. Everyone assumes it's the missing Tiffany. Sarah pursues clue after clue, crossing paths with the local police and military investigators in her quest to prove CJ's innocence.

I enjoyed Tagged for Death by Sherry Harris. It's the first of a cozy series and I look forward to reading the sequels as they become available.

★★★☆☆

Note that I received a free copy of The Glass Magician from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Top Ten Tuesday: 18 November 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week this group of college aged and twenty somethings provide a prompt so that other book lovers can join in with their own top ten list.

This week's theme is “Top Ten Sequels I Can't Wait To Get”.

This Top Ten list is very close to my heart. I keep a list of all the series that I'm reading and those that I think I might want to read. The list serves several purposes, not the least of which is to help me read the series in the proper order. Because most long-running series have continual character development, I find it very annoying to pick up a book that comes later in a series without having read the earlier books. Not only do I keep having the feeling that I've missed something (which I have), but it then spoils the earlier books when I finally get around to reading them. I'm going to modify this slightly slightly—I've been stockpiling some book sequels in anticipation of some unconstrained reading time during the holidays. So rather than looking forward to getting, I'm going to list those I'm looking forward to reading:

1. Echo Burning by Lee Child; the 5th book in his Jack Reacher mystery/thriller series.

2. The Girl with Braided Hair by Margaret Coel; the 13th book in her Wind River Reservation mystery series.

3. State Fair by Earlene Fowler; the 14th book in her Benni Harper mystery series

4. A Play of Knaves by Margaret Frazer; 3rd in her Joliffe historical mysteries

5. Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon; the 4th in her Outlander series

6. The Dragon Men by Steven Harper; 3rd of the 4 books in his Clockwork Empire steampunk series

7. The Witch With No Name by Kim Harrison; the 13th and final book in her Hollows urban fantasy series

8. Dust by Hugh Howey; third book in his block-buster post-apocalyptic Silo trilogy.

9. Between Darkness and Light Lisanne Norman; 7th book in her Sholan Alliance science fiction series.

10. St. Peter's Fair by Ellis Peters; 4th book in her Brother Cadfael Medieval mysteries series.

Books mentioned in this post: (links lead to Amazon.com)

Review: The Oblate's Confession

The Oblate's Confession by William Peak
Published December 1, 2014 by Secant Publishing
Source: NetGalley

England, the 7th century. Petty Anglo-Saxon kingdoms make war upon one another and their Celtic neighbors. Christianity is a new force in the land, one whose hold remains tenuous at best. Power shifts back and forth uneasily between two forms of the new faith: a mystical Celtic Catholicism and a newer, more disciplined form of Catholicism emanating from Rome. Pagan rites as yet survive in the surrounding hills and mountains. Plague sweeps across the countryside unpredictably, its path marked by death and destruction.

In keeping with a practice common at the time, an Anglo-Saxon warrior donates his youngest child to the monastery of Redestone, in effect sentencing the boy to spend the rest of his life as a monk. This gift-child, called an oblate, will grow up in the abbey knowing little of his family or the expectations his natural father will someday place upon him, his existence haunted by vague memories of a former life and the questions those memories provoke.

Who is his father, the distant chieftain who sired him or the bishop he prays for daily? And to which father, natural or spiritual, will he owe allegiance when, at length, he is called upon to ally himself with one and destroy the other? These are the dilemmas the child faces. The answers will emerge from the years he spends in spiritual apprenticeship to a hermit who lives on the nearby mountain of Modra nect – and his choices will echo across a lifetime.

My Thoughts

The story in The Oblate's Confession is delivered in first person by Winwæd, an elderly monk, who says, “I write under obedience: Father Abbot has ordered me to give an account of the events that led up to my sin.” And thus his story begins with Winwæd's arrival at a small monastery in Northumbria. He's been delivered to the monastery as a gift from his parents. Such a gift child was referred to as an oblate, and shared the life of the monks.

William Peak has written an exquisitely crafted novel. Although set in a wild and remote area of northern Great Britain and a dark period in medieval history, it shines with the richness of detail in the seemingly unimportant daily activities in the monastery. The pace of the book is slow and thoughtful. So slow that at times I set it aside to read something else and then returned later. But as I got into the story more, I saw that the slowness was deceptive. Like a slow-moving river, there were depths to Winwæd's narrative that needed time to sink in.

The elderly oblate tells of his early years in the monastery, and eventually comes to the great sin which he committed. Along the way, we meet those who played such a prominent part in his life, especially Father Gwynedd, the hermit living on the mountain above the monastery. “Prayer and work, the monk’s simple call; but Gwynedd’s work is his prayer.” Winwæd becomes servant to Father Gwynedd, carrying supplies and prayer requests to the hermit once a week.

It is Father Gwynedd's lessons on contemplative prayer which touched me most. I kept highlighting passages that I wanted to return to later.

When you pray—when you pray as I am teaching you to pray—you must warm the wax of your mind, allow the heat to erase your thoughts, allow it to erase your thoughts one by one. And then you must wait. You must wait quietly, absently, while God writes what He will. And what He wills, of course, is Himself. What you will read, encounter, is God.

The Oblate's Confession was one of the first books which I received from NetGalley. I think one reason why it caught my eye was because I had recently discovered the Brother Cadfael Medieval mysteries and was enjoying reading about this period in English history. While totally different in tone and pace from Brother Cadfael, this book did not disappoint.

When I first finished reading The Oblate's Confession, I felt very confident that a rating of three stars was the right assessment. But as I had time to think more about the book and look back at some notes as I was writing this review, I realized that it was deserving of a stronger endorsement. I'm raising my rating to four stars.

★★★★☆

Note that I received a free copy of The Oblate's Confession from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Sunday Summary: 16 November 2014

This was a very good week—I found plenty of time to read and I did a lot of maintenance on the blog. As in past weeks, I'm linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on the blog, showcase books and things received. Share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead.

Where I've been reading

It was a wonderful week at home. It seems like it's been a long time since “Reading in Texas” was coming to you from Texas. Without travel, I struggled to make time to read. After all, I wasn't spending long periods in the car or on airplanes. And, since hubby and I were trying to eat more meals at home, I didn't get my usual extra reading time as he drove us to and from a restaurant. Instead, the meal prep time (which sometimes involved cooking and at other times was simply warming up left-overs, making a salad, or slicing fresh fruit) actually cut into my reading time. But I persevered. I finished three books, one of them an audio book that I started reading near the end of October.

What I've been reading

Format: eGalley
Source: review book from NetGalley
Completed: 11 November

★★★★☆

I kept wavering between 4 and 5 stars for As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust. I'm a real fan of Flavia de Luce, the young protagonist in Alan Bradley's series of mystery novels. The prior book was released on January 14, and I checked it out of the library the day it arrived. It only took me two days to read The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches. So I was thrilled when my request to receive a review copy of As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust was approved. It actually took me four days to read this book and I enjoyed every minute of it. As I have time to think about it, however, I don't think this was the very best of the series, so let's settle for 4 stars. (I think I need to change my scale to provide for ½ stars as well.)

So, what is As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust all about? Flavia has been bundled off to boarding school in Canada—the same school that her mother had attended as a girl. In her usual style, Flavia pretty much does her own thing rather than falling in line with the schedule of school and dormitory life. Of course there's a murder and Flavia is leading the charge to identify the dead woman and determine how she died. Expect a more thorough review closer to the publication date of January 6.

Format: Audio CD
Source: purchased September 2014
Completed: 15 November

★★★★☆

Another young protagonist that I truly adore is Bertie Pollock, who celebrates his seventh birthday in this latest episode of Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series. Bertie longs for the day he turns 18 and will be out from under his mother's control. Irene Pollock, on the other hand, long ago plunged whole-heartedly into “The Bertie Project”, applying her own approach to child-rearing which includes psychotherapy, Italian lessons, playing the saxophone, enrollment in a progressive school, and dressing Bertie in pink overalls. It's all delightful.

This book was published in the UK in 2013 and is scheduled to be released in the USA in early 2015. Since I prefer to listen to this series rather than read the text, I had to wait for the audio to become available in the UK. I then ordered it directly from ISIS Publishing. Being unsure that they'd ship to me in the USA, I had the CDs delivered to a pal in England. He was willing to take delivery of the CDs and then deliver them to me when we both attended a conference in October.

Format: eGalley
Source: review book from NetGalley
Completed: 15 November

★★★☆☆

The Oblate's Confession was one of the first books which I received from NetGalley. It caught my eye primarily because I had just started reading the Brother Cadfael Medieval mysteries and was enjoying reading about this period in English history.

The story is delivered in first person by the oblate himself. (During this time, “oblate” referred to a child who was given to a monastery by his or her parents.) The story proceeds very slowly with the elderly oblate telling of his early years in the monastery, and the great sin which he committed. It's a thoughtful recollection, but not without a bit of humor.

I'm giving this book a very solid three stars. Look for a proper review later in this coming week.

This Week on the Blog

1. Review: Nightmares!
2. Book Blogger Hop: 14-20 November
3. Stacking the Shelves (12)

Stacking the Shelves (12)

Oh my! After posting last week's Stacking the Shelves, I went crazy buying books. I received the monthly newsletter from Phoenix Pick telling me about this month's free book, The Mutant Season by Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber. Along with the freebie was the opportunity to purchase the entire Fire in Winter series at a discount. I took them up on the offer!

The four books of the Fire in Winter series aren't new. The books were released between 1989 and 1992, and have been difficult to find in print. I know that I read at least the first two books many years ago and then re-read The Mutant Season in the summer of 2010. I've had the rest of the books—The Mutant Prime, Mutant Star, and Mutant Legacy—on my wishlist, hoping they'd be released as eBooks. Finally, they were picked up by Phoenix Pick, an imprint of Arc Manor, which is re-printing many classic SF books.

I also took advantage of a couple of Read Now books at NetGalley. So, my queue of read-and-review books has grown a little bit longer. Both of the books I selected are by authors I'm already familiar with. First is The Here and Now by Ann Brashares. The story promises romance, pandemic illness, and time-traveling teens. The other book is The Root of All Evil, a new title in the Hope Street Church mystery series by Ellery Adams and Elizabeth Lockard. I read the first three books in November and December 2010. Now there's a new episode and the original books have been updated and re-released.

So how did you do this week? Any new books? You're invited to tell us all about it by joining the fun at Stacking the Shelves. According to the reviewers at Tynga's Reviews who host the meme:

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Book Blogger Hop: 14-20 November 2014

It's been ages and ages since I participated in a Book Blogger Hop. Over the twelve years that this blog has been in existence, this is actually one of the most pleasurable activities. Now it's time for me to rejoin the group of book bloggers in this weekly event.

Elizabeth at Silver's Reviews posed this week's question for Book Blogger Hop:

As you grow in your blogging experience, have you become more particular in terms of what you will post on your blog or what books you will read for review on your blog?

To be honest, I've had several false starts with this blog. I had great aspirations to be a cracker-jack book reviewer. I love to read. I love to talk about the books I'm reading. However, I found that writing reviews reminded me too much of school and the dreaded book report. So, the blog has languished from time to time. I mostly posted personal things about reading—the occasional list of books read, participation in various read-a-thons, and the sporadic posts spurred by reading memes like Teaser Tuesday.

A couple of months ago, I made another effort to revitalize the blog. I committed to weekly updates with Sunday Summary posts and I signed up at NetGalley to receive Advance Reader Copies. Now, I know that I could write reviews of the books I read as I read them, but I knew from past experience that it's too easy to just stop writing reviews. So, by signing up at NetGalley, there's a commitment to the authors and publishers who provide the ARCs of books. By accepting a free book, I promise to deliver an honest review. By adding the aspect of accountability, I think I won't be so likely to avoid the reviews.

Back to the question—since this blog is simply about books and reading, I haven't needed to restrict what I post. And, I'd love to be in the position where authors come to me asking me to read and review. But since I'm the one requesting books to review, I get to be particular up front. I simply don't ask for books that I'm not interested in. That means, it's highly unlikely you'll see reviews of romance or chick-lit novels, horror novels, short stories, or self-help books.

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.

Review: Nightmares!

Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
Published September 9th 2014
by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Library (via Overdrive)

Sleeping has never been so scary. And now waking up is even worse!

Charlie Laird has several problems.

1. His dad married a woman he is sure moonlights as a witch.
2. He had to move into her purple mansion, which is NOT a place you want to find yourself after dark.
3.He can’t remember the last time sleeping wasn’t a nightmarish prospect. Like even a nap.

What Charlie doesn’t know is that his problems are about to get a whole lot more real. Nightmares can ruin a good night’s sleep, but when they start slipping out of your dreams and into the waking world—that’s a line that should never be crossed.

And when your worst nightmares start to come true . . . well, that’s something only Charlie can face. And he’s going to need all the help he can get, or it might just be lights-out for Charlie Laird. For good.

My Thoughts

As I posted a week ago when I was about ½ way into it, I'm absolutely gobsmacked over Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. It's simply amazing. Although it's Segel's first novel, he's not a novice writer; he has written several screenplays. And, he partnered with Kirsten Miller, author of a number of bestselling books for young people. The combination worked and they've produced a masterful story—and the best part is that it's the first of a planned trilogy.

Charlie Laird starts having nightmares after his father remarries and they move into his stepmother's spooky purple mansion. His solution to nightmares is simply to avoid sleeping—which doesn't work. To make things worse, Charlie is sure his stepmother is a witch. When Charlie sees his younger brother carried through a portal into the world of nightmares, Charlie follows. There, through a series of encounters, he learns that nightmares are caused by a person's fears. When the fear is conquered, the nightmare stops. Charlie discovers that he's braver than he thought as he attempts to find his younger brother and set him free. Definitely a five star book

I became interested in this book when I saw an interview with Jason Segel on one of the morning news shows. I just happened to be checking the library's web site and looked at the new eBooks available from Overdrive and luckily was the first person to check it out.

★★★★★

Sunday Summary: 9 November 2014

In looking back at this week, I spent very little time reading except for the weekend. I'm linking up with The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Where I've been reading

I spent the work week in Georgia. I should have gotten a lot of reading done on the airplanes, but instead I slept. Then, I was accompanied to Georgia by a colleague from work. Eating our meals together cut into my usual reading time when I'm traveling for work. Once I was back home in Texas, I fell back into my usual pattern.

What I've been reading

Format: Kindle
Source: borrowed from Denton Public Library via Overdrive
Completed: 3 November

On the way to the airport Monday morning, I finished reading Nightmares!. It was an amazing book and I am anxiously waiting for the second in the series. Charlie Laird starts having nightmares after his father remarries and they move into her spooky purple mansion. His solution to nightmares is simply to avoid sleeping—which doesn't work. To make things worse, Charlie is sure his stepmother is a witch. When Charlie's younger brother is carried through a portal into the world of nightmares, Charlie follows. There, he discovers that fears cause nightmares. When you conquer a fear, the nightmare stops. Charlie discovers that he's braver than he thought as he attempts to find his younger brother and set him free. Definitely a five star book. ★★★★★

Format: Kindle
Source: freebie from Amazon
Completed: 8 November

I received this freebie from Amazon in August's Kindle First program. When Ceony Twill graduated first in her class at the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, she was sure she'd get her pick of disciplines. Instead, she's told her only option is to become a Folder, a magician of paper. Once she's bonded to paper, she'll never achieve her heart's desire of working with metal. A couple of weeks into her training with Magician Thane, she has discovered that paper is a much stronger medium that she had expected. And, when Thane is viciously attacked and left dying, Ceony sets out to track down an Excisioner, an evil magician of dark arts, to save his life. Also a five star book. ★★★★★

I'm continuing to read The Oblate's Confession by William Peak. I'm enjoying the book, but I find that I am not so captured by the story that I stick with it for a long time. Instead, I read for a while and then set the book aside and read another book that is much more interesting. I have planned to finish it this next week so that I can post a review before its publication date at the beginning of December. One of those books that I knew would be more interesting is As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, the seventh book in Alan Bradley's mystery series starring teenager Flavia de Luce. The series is a particular favorite of mine and I was thrilled that I received a review copy from the publisher. I started reading it on Saturday and should finish it very shortly.

This Week on the Blog

Although I didn't find a lot of time to read this week, I did post a couple of reviews before my week became so busy. I also wrote a Throwback Thursday post, looking at a favorite book from 2008.

1. Review: Murder Tightly Knit
2. Review: Entwined Realms
3. Throwback Thursday: October 2008
4. Stacking the Shelves (11)