Category: Ruminations

Friday Face-Off: That Man in the Shadows

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

FFO.jpg

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog.  The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is: Silhouette – an island, a person, anything you like

My brain is already in a Phantom place (because my book comes out in a week!) and when you hand me a prompt like “silhouette,” well…of course I’m going to think of a shadowy masked man.  Surprisingly, not that many cover artists think that way!  So I decided I’d bend the rules on this one a little, and feature a variety of books – but all versions of the Phantom of the Opera – with some shadowy silhouettes.

Not a person silhouette, but this is a city in silhouette, and actually kind of a cool cover.  I…can’t really recommend the book though…

Continue reading “Friday Face-Off: That Man in the Shadows” →

Blog Hop: Digital to Paper, or Back Again

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop3 Comments

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Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is:  If you own an ebook, would you also purchase a print copy as well?

So I guess the answer to this is…not applicable?  The thing of it is, I never buy an ebook first, because I still have pretty thoroughly resisted reading ebooks.  The very rare times have been when a paper version just doesn’t exist – that’s come up a few times with self-published books I wanted to read.

To look at this in a larger sense, I do occasionally buy more than one form of a book – though mostly print and audiobook.  I have bought audio editions of some books I already owned in paper because…I wanted to listen to the audio.  I have a few audiobooks I may eventually buy in paper.  I have to really like a book though – I’ve done a number of audiobooks from the library where I owned a paper copy, but I think I’ve really only purchased L. M. Montgomery books, a complete Sherlock Holmes, and a couple Jane Austen books for a book club I’m in.

I’ve bought one or two ebooks that I already had in print to make them more portable, on the theory that it would be nice to have some particularly beloved books on my phone that I could just dip into.  I don’t actually do that though, so that was more theory…

How about you?  Do you buy books in multiple formats?  Digital then paper, or the other way around?

Friday Face-Off: Surprisingly Pink

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

FFO.jpg

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog.  The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is: As pink as cotton candy – any cover that is pink

I went to hunt my bookshelves for this prompt, to see what pink covers I could turn up.  I was actually kind of surprised to realize that my Song of the Lioness quartet books actually have a lot of pink on them.  And when I started looking at covers online, this seemed to be a trend.  Considering I feel like they started the “woman as hero” genre of books, with the heroine disguising herself as a man, well…”pink” isn’t really what comes to mind.  Although Alanna does eventually come to discover that, while she definitely wants to be a knight and use a sword, sometimes she enjoys styling her hair and wearing a dress, so–bit of balance there.

Anyway, here are a few cover versions of the third book in the series, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, selecting for pink ones!

This is definitely the pinkest.  The war horse and the pink background is…interesting.

Continue reading “Friday Face-Off: Surprisingly Pink” →

Friday Face-Off: Fairy Tales, in Pictures

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

FFO.jpg

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog.  The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is: Graphic novel cover – “Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel”

I don’t read many graphic novels, so I had to really think about this one…and then I remembered that I did read quite a few of the Fables graphic novel series.  Characters from fairy tales (and sometimes nursery rhymes) are living in a secret community in modern day New York, exiles from their magical home.  Despite what this might sound like, they’re very adult-oriented graphic novels, with mature themes and sometimes more blood than I really needed!  Still a fun series though, and I probably read eight or ten volumes.  But I thought I’d look at covers for Volume One.

This seems to be the most common cover, and I think the one on the copy I read.  I actually don’t like it!  It looks too busy, and even studying it, it’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on, or what sense I’m supposed to get of the book.

Continue reading “Friday Face-Off: Fairy Tales, in Pictures” →

Blog Hop: Books for Low Days

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop1 Comment

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Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is:  What is a book that has helped you get through your lowest point in life?

I don’t know that I can point to any one book at any one moment in life helping me…but I do know that Terry Pratchett books are especially good if life is blue or stressful.  I also like rereading L. M. Montgomery’s journals.  I find biographies in general are often good for perspective, because they remind me how long and variable life actually is.  Right now, during rather a strange and anxious time in the world, I’m on my second Star Trek novel, because I appreciate a hopeful book at the moment.

I was fortunate to read When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner when I wasn’t going through a particularly bad time, but I think it would be a very good book for that kind of crisis.

What books have helped you in bad days?  Do you have go-to authors for difficult times?

2020 Reading Challenges – First-Quarter Update

On By cherylmahoneyIn Phantom Challenge, Ruminations2 Comments

Already into April, it’s time to check-in about how 2020 reading goals are going!  I hope you are all enjoying nice weather, staying safe in a weird time, and reading as much as you’d like to.

My overarching goal this year was to read more, with a number goal of 125 books.  I read a lot in January, starting me off well for the year.  I’m at a total of 32 books for the first three months of the year, though it has been dropping off.  Now that I’ve been following “stay at home” orders for a few weeks, my audiobook listening has reduced (very little driving!) and I don’t seem to be doing a lot of extra print reading…but I’m still going through some books, and wondering how long my last-minute stock-up pile from the library will last!

Here’s my monthly totals:
January: 14 books
February: 11 books
March: 7 books

Now onto the specific challenges…

The Phantom of the Opera Reading & Viewing Challenge
Host: Tales of the Marvelous
Goal: Lon Chaney Level

I already posted the check-in post for the Phantom challenge I’m hosting.  So far, I’ve reread the Gaston Leroux Phantom.  I have a modest goal for this one, so I’m currently on track.  I’m hoping to re-watch the 25th Anniversary Webber play next.  We’ll see!

Continue reading “2020 Reading Challenges – First-Quarter Update” →

Blog Hop: Visit My Bookshelves

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop1 Comment

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Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is:  Share a photo of one section of your bookshelf randomly selected or go ahead and share the entire bookshelf.

I’ve been wanting to share a video touring my L. M. Montgomery shelves (so, not that randomly selected), making this blog hop prompt perfect!  Please enjoy the visit to my shelves in the video below. 🙂