I don’t usually watch book trailers but this one made me giggle and I had to share. I loved the book (if you’re interested you can read my review here) and this just made me like the book even more. I’m not usually swayed by things like this — if I like a book, I like a book — but for some reason I found this entertaining.
Booking Through Thursday
Booking Through Thursday asks — We’re moving in a couple weeks (the first time since I was 9 years old), and I’ve been going through my library of 3000+ books, choosing the books that I could bear to part with and NOT have to pack to move. Which made me wonder…
When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like a garden after a Spring rain?
Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all? (This would have described me for most of my life, by the way.)
And–when you DO weed out books from your collection (assuming that you do) …what do you do with them? Throw them away (gasp)? Donate them to a charity or used bookstore? SELL them to a used bookstore? Trade them on Paperback Book Swap or some other exchange program?
—–
I recently did a bit of weeding and got rid of 50 or so books. It’s not really a lot when I look at the shelves but it needed to be done. Just as a side note, the thought of throwing out a book is horrific!
When I have to weed, I usually pick books that I know family and friends will like and give the books to them. We also have a small library/community room in our building and I tend to donate a lot to the collection. I feel good about leaving the books there because I know if I want to I can always go back and get a book I was not quite ready to part with. 🙂
Weeding is a new phenomenon for me. Normally, I would just keep everything but the book shelves are becoming treacherous to walk by and I’m beginning to fear one of us might disappear under a pile of books and dust jackets. The weeding really is a necessity even though I hate doing it and put it off whenever I can. So far, I’ve gone through one shelf and only need to tackle three more…
How about you? Hate it, love it, don’t do it?
Excalibur
Excalibur
Excalibur
By Bernard Cornwell
St. Martin’s Press
ISBN: 0-312-18575-8
4.5 stars
The third book in the warlord trilogy, Excalibur follows Arthur to the end of his tale. Derfel, the narrator, is finishing the story for Queen Igraine of Powys, his patron, and reminiscing about a life lived and how the smallest things can change a life forever.
In Excalibur, we find Arthur at peace with the world. He has helped to install Mordred as king, and while his reign is anything but just, Arthur has kept his oath to see him placed on the throne. During this time of hesitant peace — Saxons are gathering and people are expecting another battle — Merlin believes it is time to bring the gods back to the land. Everyone is gathered, Pagan and Christian alike, to watch Merlin summon gods of the old world. He fails and the blame falls on Arthur who would not allow his son, Gwydre, to be sacrificed for the gods. Soon after, the Saxons invade.
The invasion is the largest yet and the Saxons have come not just to intimidate but to conquer. Past wars have been rather quick but this time Arthur guesses wrong about where the enemy will make its stand. He gets cut off from his forces and the Saxons mount an impressive siege, trapping Derfel and his men who were to meet with Arthur. Arthur does arrive with reinforcements and the ensuing battle is long and harsh. He prevails, driving the Saxons out once more. Mordred is left a king without powers but a king nonetheless. And against his wishes, Derfel is named to rule Dumnonia and Arthur, newly reunited with Guinevere, retreats to Siluria to live the quiet life he has always wanted. They all become content and this is when their enemies rise.
Arthur and Derfel wanted peace and quiet, time with their wives, children, and grandchildren. When news comes of Mordred’s approaching death after being wounded in battle far from home, they begin planning for Gwydre to become ruler of Dumnonia. Mordred, unfortunately, is far from death and returns with a warband intent on killing rivals and anyone who caused him pain in the past. He plans to take the power and rightful kingship he feels he was denied.
While reading, there were times when I needed to remind myself this wasn’t Derfel’s story but Arthur’s. Their lives, fortunes, and wars are so intertwined that you can almost see them as one story. Derfel, in his telling, reminds you that it is Arthur and intentionally leaves out information he isn’t comfortable speculating on which sometimes can be annoying. For instance, Queen Igraine wants to know how Arthur and Guinevere were reunited and what happened. He tells her only what he knows — that they spoke together after the battle of Mynydd Baddon where the Saxons were defeated. You want to know more too but he doesn’t add that information, telling only the story he knows. This is one of the reasons why I liked this series so much, the character of Derfel. He was honest, true, credible, and so very likable even if he didn’t tell you all you wanted to know. You trusted him to be true to the story and it made it all work in the end.
The ending is true to Arthurian standards and while I won’t disclose it here, it does feel satisfactory if a bit stunted but then again, that is how war and stories sometimes end.
Teaser Tuesday
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.
1.) Grab your current read
2.) Open to a random page
3.) Share two teaser sentences from that page
4.) Share the title and author so that other participants know what you’re reading.
Be careful not to include spoilers. You don’t want to ruin the book for others!
My Teaser this week:
“On Sunday morning the change was one day nearer. I was resolute about not thinking my three magic words and would not let them into my mind, but the air of change was so strong that there was no avoiding it; change lay over the stairs and the kitchen and the garden like fog.”
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, pg. 51.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
I haven’t started this yet so a teaser for me too.
Enemy of God
Enemy of God
Enemy of God
By Bernard Cornwell
St. Martin’s Press
ISBN: 0-312-15523-0
5 stars
Enemy of God is the second book in the Warlord series by Cornwell. It picks up where The Winter King left off with Derfel telling the story of Arthur to Queen Igraine of Powys, his patron.
In The Winter King, Arthur was working to protect the child Mordred, the eventual leader of Dumnonia, and to secure peace in the land he loves. In Enemy of God, that peace has been secured but there are still battles to be fought — some with the Saxons and many with Arthur’s own family and friends.
Derfel, who has an everlasting trust in Merlin, goes with him in search of Britain’s greatest treasure, the Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddyn, which Merlin believes will bring the gods back to the land. Derfel is reunited with his love, Ceinwyn, during this time and while it’s not always a happy or easy life for him, you can’t help but admire him and want to hear his story.
We also learn more about Arthur and Guinevere, their sad love story, and how it brings the ruin of what many people, but mostly Guinevere, referred to as Camelot. Oddly, you’ll also notice that the 10 years of peace that Arthur brings to the land are still rife with fighting, just smaller scale but it’s still there and Derfel doesn’t let the reader forget it was a rough life. The ending is full of betrayal and brings about a change in Arthur, less kind and more brutal but justified — the emergence of the warlord leader you have been waiting for. He is no longer protecting the land for Mordred who is now grown and assumed the thrown, but fighting in his own name for his own cause.
The rise of Christianity and the fall of the Pagan gods drives a good portion of the story. I found the small rituals that each character performs to ward off evil and ill-luck from the other religion fascinating. I don’t think I’ve read about so many people spitting, crossing themselves, and touching iron in any other book. The good part here, is that it’s part of who these characters are and adds to the story without distracting attention.
I’m working my way through this series for the Arthurian Challenge and I’m loving it. I’ve had the pleasure of being able to read all three book back to back which has kept the story going without interruption making it very easy to just open the book and get lost. If you’re looking for a good historical read, Cornwell delivers with this series. Even if you’re not an Arthur fan, it still works very well providing a picture of life that’s just brutal but so satisfying.
Library Loot – small bitty loot…
Only one book this week — We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. I’m looking forward to it and it promises to be a good read.
We Have Always Lives in the Castle
I still have 3 books on hold. In fact, these books have been on hold for a LONG time. I’ve been patiently waiting but now I keep adding books to my que just to see what will come through for me. I feel like I’m playing the lotto with the library right now.
Here’s what I am hoping to get, sometime in the next year I guess.
Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran
The Killing Way by Tony Hays
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Maybe next week…maybe next year…
Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!
Booking Through Thursday
Booking Through Thursday asks — I was wanting to try a certain author and wished I knew someone who had read her works so I could get a recommendation when it occurred to me that having a “YOU ask the question” Booking Through Thursday might be fun. Each participant could ask a question they’ve wanted to discuss with other readers. Perhaps, like me, you’d like a recommendation of a certain author’s best work, or perhaps you LOVE a certain genre or series but no one else you know does and you’d just like to discuss it with someone. Or perhaps you want to try a new genre and would like recommendations from seasoned readers.
Hmm…the possibilities are endless but I am going to limit myself to a single topic. And that topic is — vampires. I like vampire stories but I tend to stick with the classics and a few interesting new releases but I would like something off the beaten path. Halloween is approaching and a good vampire book would be the perfect read this month. I know a lot of people have read Charlaine Harris’s southern vampire mysteries but I don’t know much about the series so I haven’t picked any up, mostly because I don’t know where to start and there’s a ton of books. Even beyond that though, I’d like something different, dark, sinister, intriguing, and interesting. And PLEASE, do not mention Twilight. I have nothing against the books, I’ve read them, but I don’t really get it so anything but that. 🙂
If it helps, here’s what I’ve read:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange
Dracula the Undead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Her Fearful Symmetry
Her Fearful Symmetry
Her Fearful Symmetry
By Audrey Niffenegger
Scribner
ISBN: 978-1439165393
5 stars
In addition to this blog, I also do reviews for The Book Reporter website. Below is a short summary of my review of Her Fearful Symmetry which can be found on their website in full here.
Her Fearful Symmetry begins with a death. Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, leaving her London apartment to her estranged sister’s twin daughters, Julia and Valentina. Excited by the prospect of a new life life, the twins leave for London unaware of the dark secret which has kept their mother and aunt apart for decades.
This book is full of interesting characters who all seem to be waiting around for something in their lives — a wife to return, a secret to be revealed, a love to return, or a love to be found. Hovering over everyone is death and disappearance. In the end, you feel sad for all the characters, even the ones that manage to find themselves again but you may not get over the final last act that brings everything full circle.
Her Fearful Symmetry was eagerly awaited by fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife. I didn’t fall in love with these characters that way I did with Henry and Clair but, it was worth the wait and is one great read.
Just Book Reading 