Thursday, December 16, 2010

Catch up

I just noticed that my last post was about 10 days ago, and at the rate I'm going, I might only get 3 blogs in this month. However, I have been reading quite a bit despite my lack of blogging and the insanity that surrounds the holiday months, but what I'm reading just hasn't inspired me to write about it. I'm not sure why this is, since I have been enjoying the stories, but none the less, here is a little bit to get the 3 of you that read this blog caught up.

Dennis Lehane's Prayers for Rain and Moonlight Mile -I enjoyed both of these as a nice conclusion to the Kinzie and Gennaro series. I'm very glad Lehane wrote Moonlight Mile as a final ending and didn't leave things as they were in Prayers for Rain and I enjoyed the leap to the future that Moonlight Mile provided. My one gripe about the story is that little Gabriella has the reasoning of a much older person...I've yet to meet a four year old that can understand that throwing a temper tantrum in public is embarrassing. However, I find that a common issue in books, so I digress. On the whole however, I did enjoy both books.

Iris Johansen's Lion's Bride and The Treasure - Historical Romance is one of my guilty pleasures, and I do enjoy Johansen's version. Lion's Bride starts off the two story series with the story of Thea's escape from a house of Woman and her rescue by Lord Ware in a time when women were little more then a means of relief for whatever man might feel the need to use them. Thea however, has bigger dreams of opening her own embroidery shop and will do anything necessary to make those dreams happen. The Treasure continues the story by telling of Thea's little sister, Selene, and the ex-assassin, Kadar, and their journey to escape the hands of the power hungry and obdurate Nasim who wants Kadar to steal what he believes to be the famous Holy Grail in exchange for his life, and that of Selene's. I suppose both books are exactly what you would expect of a stereo typical Historical Romance, but they were very nice for a few hours of escape from this stressful time of year.

Next on my reading list, I'm going to attempt to read two books at once, which is something I've never successfully accomplished. I plan to attempt to read Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities on my Kindle while I'm out and about, and Brian Mcgilloway's Boarderlands while at home. We'll see how it goes.

8 comments:

seana graham said...

I often find with this blogging world that a lot more time has slipped away since the last post than I thought.

Are you reading Tale of Two Cities along with the Oprah book club, or is that a coincidence?

I'm not really a romance reader but I'm not against it. It sounds like the perfect thing to do at this time of year for escape.

I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about that jump to the future in Moonlight Mile. There was something about the early books that were a little out of reality, like their office in the bell tower or whatever it was. For them to settle down and be quite so conventional didn't altogether fit with the early ones for me. However, I seem to be alone in that opinion as it has hit the indie bestseller list and I hear nothing but praise.

Sean Patrick Reardon said...

Why you darn slacker, good to know you are still out there. I'm a fan of Dickens, althouh never read TOTC. I do most of my blogging early AM, or late PM, okay, maybe wee bit at work too, ssshhhh!

Glenna said...

Sean, rats, I wish you'd read it just so you could tell me if I was missing something. So far I'm finding it wordy and boring. Three chapters in and all I've got is a messenger meeting a stagecoach and unintentionally making everyone nervous by doing so.

Glenna said...

Seana, it's strictly a coincidence. I had no idea they were reading it. I'm not much of an Oprah fan. Honestly, I'm not sure how far I'll make it through A Tale of Two Cities...it isn't going well. I'm trying to give it a fair chance though.

As for Moonlight Mile, I know what you mean I think. It did seem odd to me to see them so normal, and I have a hard time seeing that being maintained. On the other hand though, I was happy to see them have a happy ending.

seana graham said...

No, I'm not much of an Oprah fan at all, but we do keep up with the book club because we have to have stock for it, and I did watch this last time because I wanted to see the Jonathan Franzen exchange.

The funny thing is that everyone on the show not only got the Dickens book, but they each got a Kindle as well, so that they could read it on that too.

As always with Oprah, there is a bit of overkill.

Glenna said...

It seems Oprah is good for something. I watch her show for a free Kindle...except I already have one.

seana graham said...

For some unknown reason, I have been with my cousin, who does watch Oprah, twice on the big giveaway day, which apparently happens every year. On these shows, the studio audience, which is selected by some Oprah criteria of worthiness is inundated with one fabulous gift after another. It is mindboggling bordering on obscene. I mean, I don't really mind her sharing her largesse and that of corporate America, but spread it around a little why don't you, gal?

Glenna said...

I'd be curious as to what the criteria is, I'm thinking drawing names out of a hat would be fun, but I doubt it's that simple. I've seen parts of the big giveaway show she does and it is insane.