Christmas reads

It has become December, and thus my holiday reading list begins again. There are a few books I re-read every single holiday season, and with good reason. And indeed, it is quite nice to be able to read stories which I know and love during this season of warmth and joy.

1. A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.
     Kind of an obvious choice, I suppose. This is one of the greatest Christmas stories ever written, and everyone ought to read it at least once. There are many fantastic film adaptations, as well.

2. The Legend of Holly Claus, by Brittany Ryan.
     A very feel-good tale of the daughter of Santa Claus and her intense love for humanity and how love conquers all. There's nothing specifically Christian about this book, which may give some readers pause, but I encourage you to read it. I penned a short review of it here.

3. The Chimes, by Charles Dickens.
     Basically, any Christmas story written by Dickens should be required reading at Christmas.

4. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis.
     I consider this a Christmas book because of the Narnian winter and the visit of Father Christmas.

5. The story of Jesus' birth in Luke 2.
     Because of course. His birth is the center of the Holy Day, and it wouldn't do to forget that.

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I also try to re-read a classic or two during this season. This year I have chosen Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I have not read Little Women in years, and it is definitely time to revisit it.

Do you have any must reads for the holiday season?

The Greater Good: a fan-made Harry Potter short film

One finds the coolest things on the internets. I'm serious, it'd be all too easy to spend your entire life reading and watching stuff. (Don't, though. The world has a lot to offer. Of course, with the threat of Ebola, maybe no contact with the outside world is a good idea...) Anyway, one of the things I found today is this awesome Harry Potter short film, The Greater Good, made by Broad Strokes Productions. I came across it on Pinterest and immediately watched it. It takes place about one hundred years before the events of the novels and details the fight between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. I don't watch much fan-made stuff, but if any of it is on the level of this film, I'll have to start. It's seventeen minutes long, and well-worth your time. If the video here doesn't work, it's on their website and also on YouTube.

Mid-October Updates

Mid-October and I'm barely twenty pages into The Mysteries of Udolpho. I blame Supernatural and not without reason...I've been watching somewhere between three and six episodes a day playing catch up. I was doing so well with my reading and then I got myself hooked on this dang show. I'm in season seven so there's not too much more before I'll be able to watch season ten which is airing now. And then I'll get back to reading more. I can't help it, though. Supernatural is well-written and it's almost eclipsed Doctor Who in my list of favorite shows. (Sorry, Doctor!) It's weird to think that I love an American television show that much, but I digress.

I haven't blogged as much because I haven't been reading much, obviously. So we shall see what happens with the rest of the month. Even though I planned on reading Udolpho for RIP IX, I will definitely read it and aim to finish by the end of the year, along with all the other books on my reading list. Otherwise, I'm reading Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz, which also perfectly fits the spooky Halloween feel.

So even though the book I chose for RIP IX isn't receiving the attention it ought to, I've been watching Supernatural and reading another spooky book, so I guess I'm still working with the theme and feel of the month. Oh, and cooking with lots and lots of pumpkins and apples. :D

Top Ten Tuesday: books that were hard to read for various reasons

The Broke and the Bookish

It's time for the weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! Today's meme is ten books that you found hard to read, and not simply because of truly difficult subject matter, but perhaps because of the writing or the characters, or you just weren't that interested. I don't have ten books, but here is a list.

1. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
     I hated this book so much because the writing was appalling, and that made the difficult subject matter that much harder to read about because it felt like the author didn't know how to write a good story about anything. I don't like hating on books, especially one with a serious subject like this one, but don't read it, okay? It's horrible. In every way.

2. Go Ask Alice
     Seems silly to put this on my list, but as someone who never had any exposure to the life that was described in this book (real or not), it was difficult.

3. The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling
     I haven't even finished this yet, so maybe it doesn't count but oh well; my bookmark remains solidly in the center of the book and I just kind of forgot about it because it's just not my type of book. I wanted to read it because obviously Rowling, but I was bored and kind of turned off by the language. I'm sure I'll give it another go at some point, but eh.

4. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
     Well-written, but so hard to read...suicide is never simple or beautiful, but somehow Jay Asher managed to write a beautiful story. It's not even very long but it was emotionally draining.

5. Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys
     I loved this book so much, but reading about Lina and what she and her family went through while captive in Siberia...that makes it personal in a way that a history textbook cannot.

6. A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin
     Here I go again, writing about how much I hate Martin's books and his need to throw in all the sex and all the violence and all the language. I read the first two in the series and then realized it was pointless because these are not epic fantasy like I thought they would be. So disillusioned. And I could continue the series, but what the heck for? Totally not wasting my time with that mislabeled drivel.

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You know what? I don't read much contemporary fiction, and from the other lists I've looked at, that's the kind of book they listed. Most of what I read isn't difficult for any of the normal reasons. And before someone tells me I need to expand my horizons or whatever, this list makes it clear that I have tried and there are a few books that I loved but apparently most I have hated because I couldn't even remember enough to make a full list of ten books. We all have our choices in books, and quite frankly I don't go out and purchase a book just because everybody's reading it...like Gone Girl, which I know is already a movie. It's not my type of book so I'm not necessarily going to pick it up. And there's nothing wrong with that. Go out of your comfort zone, yes, but not so much that you start hating what you read, you know?

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm hooked. This is a good series. I still don't like it as much as Artemis Fowl, and it doesn't even come close to Harry Potter, but it is good. I'm suddenly very invested in the characters and what's happening to them. And have I mentioned how good Riordan is with Greek mythology? Yeah. And as the characters become more developed and the story careens towards doom, I'm seriously hooked. And I have a different reading list for fall. Sigh. Oh well. I'll be finishing this series no matter what.

Amazon.com

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The Titan's Curse opens with Mrs. Jackson driving Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia to a boarding school. Sounds normal enough, but they aren't really there to attend the place. Actually, Grover, their satyr friend, has found two more half-bloods, Bianca and Nico de Angelo, and the trio is there to make sure they all get to Camp Half-blood safely. Of course, one of the teachers is a manticore in disguise so that complicates matters. A battle ensues while the de Angelo siblings watch in utter confusion. Artemis shows up with her Hunters and suddenly Annabeth is lost, going down over the cliff into the sea with the manticore.

Amidst the aftermath of that battle, Bianca joins the Hunters, Nico asks Percy a lot of annoying questions, and Artemis decides she is going off on a hunt alone, a hunt for the monster that will destroy Olympus, which the manticore spoke about before falling off the cliff with Annabeth still attached to him. So the rest of the group heads for Camp Half-blood, the Hunters grumbling about how they hate boys/men (particularly Zoe Nightshade, who took Bianca under her wing) and don't want to travel with them.

At camp, lots of stuff happens, but the biggest thing is that the Oracle gives a prophecy of her own accord. Like, she actually comes down out of the attic of the big house and recites a prophecy, before sitting back down and becoming pretty much dead again. The prophecy reads as follows:

Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand.

After much fighting it is decided who the members of the quest to rescue Artemis and Annabeth will be, and Percy is not among them. Of course he takes matters into his own hands, especially after Nico pleads with him to go watch over his older sister, Bianca. Then Phoebe, a Hunter chosen to go on the quest, falls ill in a cruel prank. Percy still isn't chosen, but he follows the quest group secretly for a time. In D.C. after a lovely battle with the Nemean lion, Zoe and Thalia grudgingly agree that he is the fifth member of the quest, and they move on.

They travel across the U.S. with various battles, a death, and a little bit of godly help along the way. Eventually they arrive in San Francisco, but what happens there is not quite what they expect.

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Annnnnd, as per my rules for no serious spoilers, I'll stop right there. I realize that seems to cut my reviews off short, but rules are rules, and I don't really like giving spoilers.

So this book gets four stars, and I'm going to admit I shed a few tears at the end. Still not the biggest fan of how Riordan writes, but that doesn't matter much to me at this point. I loved this book. Sea of Monsters is my favourite of the three I've read so far, but this one kept up the pace and feel of the other two.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Fall to-read list

The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by one of my favourite book blogs, The Broke and the Bookish. I haven't participated in ages, so here I am, jumping back in with both feet. This week's meme is the top ten books on your fall to-read list. Honestly, I didn't really have a specific fall reading list, so I'm going to admit most of these were pulled off dusty shelves and I'm forcing myself to finally read them. I'm also now coughing from the aforementioned dust. And I apologize in advance for most of the links being to the Kindle editions...

1. The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Ann Radcliffe
     I'm reading this as part of RIP, R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril, and I'm glad I chose it because it's perfect for the cooler weather and I've been wanting to read it for years.

2. Cod, by Mark Kurlansky
     It's not often that I willingly read non-fiction (slowly working on that), but I've discovered that books about food are a clear favourite. I simply gobble them up, pardon the pun. I read Kurlansky's book Salt last year, so I'm giving a chance to his book about my favourite fish to eat.

3. Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and Oliver David Relin
     Look, another non-fiction book! This one has been on my radar for awhile now, and I'm finally forcing myself to give it a try.

4. Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, by Amanda Grange
    Seems like a perfectly delicious read for October.

5. Me and Mr. Darcy, by Alexandra Potter
     Why not?

6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon
     Been sitting on my headboard shelf for far too long so it's time to read it.

7.  Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, edited by Robert L. Mack
     I think I have a slight theme to my fall reads here...spooky and scary. Anyway, Sweeney Todd is one of my favourite musicals of all time and I've got this book that I really, really should read.

8. The Last Dickens, by Matthew Pearl
     I adored The Dante Club, and this book promises to be just as intense.

9. The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History, by Jason Vuic
     I'm including this one as a nod to my husband, who has been literally shoving this book in my face at least once every couple of months for the last two years and telling me I need to read it. The excerpts he has read to me are downright hilarious, and I do love cars. It's just the whole "I don't read non-fiction" monster rearing its ugly head again.

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So there you have it, my top ten books on my fall to-read list. I have a small stack of other books from the library, which will get read, but I didn't really consider them to be top ten. What books do you have on your fall reading list?

Music Monday: the Lord of the Rings soundtracks

Mondays are generally a slow day for me as far as writing and blogging go. Often I have not had time to read much over the weekend, and once Monday morning arrives, I feel like there is not much for me to talk about. That's part of the reason why I have blogged heavily for a week or so in the past and then suddenly stopped. Weekends around here are utterly unpredictable, and when we have a chance to do something, we do it. Nothing wrong with that, it's just difficult to keep to a schedule.

Anyway, I've decided that if I post on Mondays, maybe I'll write about something that helps me with writing, specifically music. I don't need much prompting to write about music, honestly. I'm quite passionate about my music and what I like and dislike. As far as writing goes, I will pick my listening inspiration based on what I'm trying to write about. Usually, anyway. On occasion I will listen to some good ol punk rock, such as My Chemical Romance, because they are the best, but most likely the music you will hear leaking from my headphones will be orchestral film soundtracks.

Film soundtracks have always been an obsession of mine. A particular favourite film series is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the music is no different. The emotion and energy contained within Howard Shore's score is enough to sustain me through a whole day of writing. And come on, how do you not find Lord of the Rings inspiring, especially when you're an aspiring fantasy writer like me?

Full soundtrack on YouTube. (Seriously, it's one long three hour and forty minute video. This makes me so happy because though I do have the soundtracks on cd and in my iTunes, I can use this just as easily.)


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Of course, I have another reason for featuring Lord of the Rings today; it's Hobbit Day! On this day both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins were born in the Shire, so of course we celebrate! So break out the ale and have yourself a hearty extra meal (or four!)