In My Mailbox [10] & Reading Itinerary

Only 1 book this week, and it came from Borders

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

I think I'm going to start this one today. Has anyone read this book?






Up next...
Wildwood Dancing, Juliet Marillier

DID YOU KNOW?!

Bet you didn't know that...

Cervantes:

• Was captured by pirates and spent 5 years as their prisoner
• Had a lifelong stutter

Shakespeare:

• Shakespeare went prematurely bald, and this gave him a distinguished stage appearance; it is believed that he starred as the Ghost of Hamlet's Father in one particular performance of Hamlet
  
• Shakespeare was said to "never blot a line," meaning that he rarely made revisions once he had something down on paper (Mozart did this, too)
  
• His theater group was first known as the Chamberlain's Men, then it became known as the King's Men
  

Jane Austen

• Austen liked Pride and Prejudice better than any of her other novels. Of the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, she said, "I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." Very modest, obviously
• When discussing the titular character Emma, Austen said she was a "heroine whom no one but myself will much like." Obviously, that has not proved true.
• The Prince of Wales was such a fan of Austen's that he had her dedicate Emma to him.

Hans Christian Andersen

• You can't pick your family. Hans' family history included crime, illiteracy, insanity, and alcoholism.
• At age eleven, Andersen was sent to work at a tobacco factory. He promptly ran away to Copenhagen, but imparted a good quote to his mother before he left: "First one has to endure terrible adversity, then you become famous." Out of the mouths of babes, eh?
  
• Hans was terribly afraid of death, and especially feared being buried alive. He had a note fastened to his bed that said "I AM NOT REALLY DEAD."
• He was a nature-lover all his life, and he was known to hug trees. For real.
  

Edgar Allan Poe

• When he was 27, Poe married his cousin, Virginia Clemm, age 13. Eww.
• Poe wrote particularly nasty literary reviews, and used words like "sickening" and "worthless" to describe nearly every writer of the day. The only famous author not lambasted by Poe was Charles Dickens.

To be continued...

weekly summary, plus RIDDLE!

Books Read
Anxious Hearts (Tucker Shaw)
Eyes Like Stars (Lisa Mantchev)

Books Reviewed
The Hourglass Door (Lisa Mangum)
Anxious Hearts

My Posts
Teaser Tuesday: Anxious Hearts
Suggestion Box: Standalone / Dystopian
Cover Wars [10]: The Seven Kingdoms books
Through a Lense: Juju ((wow, Juju, you're really popular! That post in particular got a lot of feedback))
WIYW 3: Acadia

And summer is off with a bang! Are all the other college bloggers free at last? High school bloggers, are you almost there? Summer's calling!

In other news, no one answered the Book Riddle that I posted last week. Want another go at it?
I'll tweak it just a little to hopefully make it easier to figure out:

What do Cupid (from mythology), Percy Jackson, Edward Cullen, Jacob Black, Taran from the Chronicles of Prydain, Tamwyn from the Great Tree of Avalon, Tom Ward from The Wardstone Chronicles, Peeta from The Hunger Games, Razo from River Secrets, Bridei from The Bridei Chronicles, and Marius from Les Miserables have in common?

(think about Marius and Edward and Bridei - if you've read Juliet Marillier's Bridei Chronicles - in particular...)

- Jace is definitely a "no." So is Patch from Hush Hush, Damen from The Immortals, Dimitri from Vampire Academy

and I was afraid it would be too obvious!

Have a great week, everyone. Happy reading.

Where in Your World [3]: "Acadia"

Where in Your World is a feature I run semi-occasionally, when I come across that special book that really is just visually stunning. The purpose of the feature is to try and match real-life pictures and places with the setting of a particular story. Anyone can do it!

This past week I read Tucker Shaw's Anxious Hearts, a novel that expands on Longfellow's famous poem "Evangeline." Both subjects deal with the expulsion of French settlers in Acadia (corresponding to modern Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the US state of Maine, mostly) during the Great Upheaval of the French and Indian War. Now, history isn't really that important in the story, but for a history major like me, an author need only mention one or two historic events and I'm drooling.

The modern state of Maine became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1625, well over 100 years before the Great Upheaval, so while the characters of Gabe and Eva of the present story definitely belong in Maine (where the story puts them), Gabriel and Evangeline probably lived more northward, in New Brunswick...

Okay that's enough geeky stuff - now on to the pictures!

It starts with a town like this...
(the setting is fictional Franktown, so these images came from Bangor, ME)


I imagine Eva living in a house like this...
...with a backyard that leads to the forest...

and if the two went exploring, they might find a scene like this...

(this is from the Bay of Fundy, a location referenced in the book, and an awesome place to visit if you go to Maine or New Brunswick!)

Through a Lense II: Juju

This week on Through a Lense we're looking at Juju from Tales of Whimsy

Do you have character crushes?
Tons! Here is just a few: Jacob from the Twilight series, Peeta from The Hunger Games series, Tamani from Wings series, Ian from The Host, Ten from Meridian, and Silas from The Husband Tree

If you could be any book character, who would you be?
Hermione = she is brilliant and gets the guy

If you could live in a fictional world, where would you live?
The magical town of Sugar Maple in Barbara Bretton's book Casting Spells and Laced with Magic

If you were organizing an exhibit of book covers, which ones would you show?
Wow good question. Got an hour? I would love to do categories of book covers (whimsical, sexy, edgy, romantic, water, etc) but I will name just a few of my favorite covers from books I have read:


Ever been scared/freaked out by a book villain?
All the time. I am a super dooper major chicken. *squawk*

Is there a book/series that everyone seems to have read but you?
Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris; I'm on a vampire diet right now so I'm sure I will try it some day.

What book makes you cry?
There is this one scene in The Red Umbrella that made me weep the other day.

What book makes you laugh?
The way dogs were handled in Elsewhere still makes me laugh when I think about it.

Have you ever been unable to finish a book?
All the time. Life is too short to read bad books so if I really can't get into something I move on.

What books did you like when you were a kid?
Sweet Valley High and The Chronicles of Narnia oooo and I used to love the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series

When is your favorite time to read? Favorite place?
Time? When I first get home. Place? In bed.

Any cool/funny reading habits or quirks?
Only that I have to have silence. I envy people who can read on planes.

If you could hang out with any author for a day, it would be...
Stephenie Meyer. I love her work and she seems so cool and down to earth. Plus I need to learn more about the possible Host trilogy.

If you could adapt a book/series into a movie, it would be
hands down The Dark Divine. But I want to be casting director, k?

What is your favorite word?
Serendipity = it is pretty, whimsical, and full of hope.

One word answers for...
Bestsellers? Congratulations
Book blogs? Love
Vampires? Diet
Science fiction? Sometimes
Classics? Occasionally
Harry Potter? Scar

If you could recommend one book to everyone what would it be?
The Giver by Lois Lowry

Thanks, Juju! I'd probably pick Stephenie, too - she does seem so nice and normal. And nice picks on the cover exhibit - every time I see Sea Change I always think that's Rob Pattinson on the cover :P


If you'd like to be featured on THROUGH A LENSE just drop a comment or send me an email!

[Late] Book Blogger Hop!

Wow, everyone. We had a CRAZY thunderstorm last night that knocked out all our power... and so I've just gotten the internet working again. Anyway, sorry for the delay :D

The Book Blogger Hop is weekly BOOK PARTY, hosted by Crazy For Books, where book bloggers and readers can connect to find new blogs to read, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed! Just stop by, add your link and visit some blogs!

If you've found me through the blog please leave a comment to say hi, so that I can return the greeting!

what to read next? need input!

Okay, so I'm trying to decide between...



I kind of wanted to wait closer till July to read Shiver, but does anybody have any suggestions?