Tag: Books

2014 Reading Challenges, End of the Year

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations4 Comments

Earlier this week I updated on the best (and worst) of my reading for the year, but today I’m looking particularly at how I did on my several reading challenges…

I’ve grayed-out books read in the first three-quarters of the year, to make it easier to see recent updates.

Fairy Tales RetoldFairy Tales Retold Challenge

My goal here was 7-9 books for the official challenge (which only counts YA and Middle Grade), and 12-15 as a personal challenge, to leave some open slots for grown-up retellings…and then I read almost all YA and MG anyway!  A push in November/December put me over the goal for this one.

  1. Frogged by Vivian Vande Velde (MG)
  2. Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley (YA)
  3. Enchanted by Alethea Kontis (YA)
  4. Hero by Alethea Kontis (YA)
  5. Half Upon a Time by James Riley (MG)
  6. Cress by Marissa Meyer (YA)
  7. Jack the Giant-Killer by Charles de Lint
  8. Princess of the Wild Swans by Diane Zahler (MG)
  9. The Castle Behind Thorns by Merrie Haskell (YA)
  10. Sleeping Beauty’s Daughters by Diane Zahler (MG)
  11. Curse of the Thirteenth Fey by Jane Yolen (MG)
  12. The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman (MG)
  13. Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen (YA) (review coming soon!)

Continue reading “2014 Reading Challenges, End of the Year” →

2014 Reading Round-up!

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations12 Comments

We’re ushering in a new year, and that makes it time for a review of the good, bad and unexpected among my reading for the past year.

I like the opportunity to step back, look over the titles for the last twelve months, and actually think about what I’ve been reading. One reason I write down every book I read is because it all blurs into a haze when I try to remember on my own. With the list in front of me, I could tell you something about every book on it—but take the list away, ask me to name the books I read, and I doubt I could give you more than a quarter of them. So it’s nice to stop, look back, and remember just what voyages of reading I went on this year!

1) Best Book  –  I had a particularly brilliant reading year in 2013, leading me to break this item up into subcategories. I’d thought I only had a pretty good 2014 of reading, so I was pleasantly surprised to look back and realize how many really excellent books I read after all! So…subcategories again this year. 🙂 Continue reading “2014 Reading Round-up!” →

Quotable Carl Sagan

On By cherylmahoneyIn Quotable4 Comments

“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.”
― Carl Sagan

Book Reviews: Wolfskin and Foxmask

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews1 Comment

I first read Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier in 2009–and even though it was excellent, it took me five years to finally get to the sequel.  Partially that’s because, in the intervening time, I also read Marillier’s six-book Sevenwaters series, and her Bridei Chronicles trilogy.  It wasn’t until I reread Wolfskin that I also realized another possible reason.  Marillier writes amazing, powerful, emotionally-intense books…and they’re kind of exhausting!  I highly recommend everything she writes, but I also highly recommend blocking off substantial time for reading–and you probably want to bring tissues.

On the other hand, after reading 13 of Marillier’s books, I can promise you that (so far) she always delivers a happy ending!  Even though, very often, it seems impossible…

Since I often review YA, I think I better note that, despite having young characters, these books are definitely for older readers, due to both specific content and “adult themes,” as they say.

Wolfskin begins in Norway around 1000 AD, or maybe earlier (I can’t find the time nailed down anywhere!)  Eyvind dreams of growing up to be a Wolfskin, powerful Viking warriors who care for nothing but the call of Thor leading them into battle.  Eyvind befriends Somerled, a solemn, scholarly boy who dreams of becoming king, and they make a vow of loyalty as blood brothers.  As adults, Eyvind becomes the warrior he wished to be–and his vow draws him with Somerled on an expedition to the Light Isles.  Here Eyvind (and the reader) meet Nessa, princess of the Folk and priestess of ancient mysteries.  Her people are threatened by these new arrivals, and Eyvind finds himself torn between loyalty and conscience.

Marillier brings us into a fascinating and very grim world of the Vikings, where honor and loyalty are powerful forces, and vowing allegiance to the death is not in the slightest bit metaphorical.  Continue reading “Book Reviews: Wolfskin and Foxmask” →

Blog Hop: Have Book, Will Travel

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop6 Comments

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question: Do you have a book with a location that you just HAD to visit after reading the book?

Oh, definitely!  Most of the trips I take end up being literary pilgrimages in one way or another.  🙂  But there are two places that I most wanted to visit (and they will probably not surprise regular readers!) Continue reading “Blog Hop: Have Book, Will Travel” →