Bodie and Brock Thoene- "The Twilight of Courage"

I have a big issue with zoning out while reading. Which is why I normally limit my books to around 400 pages. With Twilight of Courage, I am over that limit by a good 200 pages. Which,  in the story it needs to be,  or else it would be rushed.

This is a historical fiction taking place in WWII right before Germany invades France. It tells the story of a wide selection of different people all being affected by the same events and finding themselves running into one another from time to time.

I liked this book even though it is oober long. It has taken me a week to read it, not because it takes a lot to concentrate on it, but because it has made me want to look up the events on the internet for further information. I am a huge history buff and this book has been a really good read. The only problem is around the 450th page I hit a reading wall and it took me forever to finish the book. It wouldn't have worked any other way because of the fact that there are so many different characters and each story is so complex. Considering that it is an intimidating read length wise, but it is totally worth it.

Fall Reading Challenge

I found this in a blog I found on good reads. It is a list of books to read by the end of the summer. I just happen to find it when summer is ending so I am going to alter it for fall. Here is the list:

1. One Book Recommended By A Friend. ( World War Z by Max Brooks)
2. One Book That Has Been Sitting On Your Shelf For Over A Year. (Coma by Robin Cook)
3. One Book You Read A Long Time Ago And Don't Remember. (The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Weisenthal)
4. One Book From Your To Be Read List. (11/22/63 by Stephen King)
5. One Book You've Never Heard Of. (The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle)
6. One Classic. (Othello by William Shakespeare) 
7. One Book You Started But Never Finished. ( Phantoms by Dean Koontz)
8. One New Release. ( The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman)
9. One Book That Is Outside of Your Typical Genre. (Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide For Him by Richard Miniter) 
10. One Chunkster (A Book That Is Over 400 Pages). ( The Twilight of Courage by Bodie and Brock Thoene)

I am really excited for this challenge. I will cross them off as I go. Here is the blog where I found the challenge on. I am going to make my deadline be October the 20th which is my boyfriend, Ethan, and my 2 year anniversary. Woo hoo! 

My Hamlet Adventure

I have found myself regretting my choices in high school lately. I took easy classes and never paid attention in the ones that were stimulating. I feel like I have been missing out on so many awesome things. One of these is Shakespeare. I'm just now at age 24, and have gotten around to reading Hamlet. Now, in order to really understand the actual plot I had to read a modern day translation. I have a tendency to zone out, so I cheated, and cheated well...

"To be or not to be..say hey to ya mothah for me."

One of the first things I found myself doing is matching the characters with actors. Hamlet was being played as Mark Wahlberg. I find that his accent made Hamlet extremely kick ass. Judi Dench played Gertrude. I found that because of these actors that my mind picked out I was able to read the play at lightning speed. Also because I cheated and read the modern day translation.

I am hesitant to really give my opinion on the play as a whole because of the fact that I didn't read the original text and because the play is really complex in meaning. I honestly think it will take me several times in reading it to provide a real opinion. As of right now, two things have popped in my mind.

One: Why is Hamlet so casual about seeing a ghost walk the Earth? Has he gone through life seeing ghosts all the time? The fact that he calmly holds a conversation with the ghost about purgatory and seeking revenge just tells me that he has balls of titanium.

"Hey ghost, let's have tea. Say hey to ya mothah for me."

Two: Is Hamlet acting mad or is he just a little bit bat-shit insane for real? The only time I found myself asking this question is when he was talking to the ghost of his father and his mother could not see the ghost herself. I was unaware that ghosts had the power of selective invisibility. Normally, when I hear about a ghost in a room with more than one person, everyone in the room sees the ghost. Having said that, I am not a paranormal ghost adventurer. Who am I to say what ghosts can and cannot do?

I will write a more detailed review on Hamlet later when I can comprehend it better. Maybe when I am better at not zoning out when I read. For now, those two points will have to do.

Michael Palmer- "Critical Judgment"

I am a bad hypochondriac. I check my pulse everyday and I freak out when I get a headache thinking it is a brain tumor. Having said that, I still manage to be able to read medical thrillers. I love them, too. Robin Cook really freaks me out, and yet I still can't help but read his books. This is the first Michael Palmer book I have read, and it definitely will not be the last.

I hate hospitals.

Dr. Abby Dolan is a newbie at the hospital in Patience, California while her boyfriend works at a battery plant nearby. As time goes on, she finds more and more curious cases of symptoms that can't be diagnosed as anything. Soon she begins to find more strange happenings that lead her into a dangerous investigation as to what exactly is going on at the battery plant.

I loved this book so much. It was fast-paced and exciting. It gave me yet another excuse to not go to the hospital. I have like, a billion excuses. There was a lot of times where I found myself skipping paragraphs due to all the medical stuff, but it's a medical thriller so what the hell else is it going to have in it? The ending was great as well. Definitely nothing I predicted. Dr. Abby was a kick ass protagonist and a damned good doctor. I wish I could be that cool, but alas, I have to worry about my pulse instead.

Moo Moo's blubber loss

I used feed Marley Mighty Dog twice a day. Half a can in the morning and the other half at night with a scoop of Kibbles n' Bits. She gained 3 pounds in a matter of days. I could see her blubber stacked on top of blubber. She waddled. Her feet were slightly raised above the ground when she was laying on her belly. Okay, I am exaggerating a bit, but she was a fat ass. I decided to cut down on her food to just half a can and a scoop of her dry food at night and she is back down to 20 pounds.

"So do I  get a treat or something?"

It amazes me how fatty dog foods are. I think it is all a conspiracy to pay higher for the "diet dog food". Anyway here she is when I told her she lost 3 pounds.

Lindy Lieban- "Unanswered Lives"

I love this picture. I envy her hair.

I love my family. There are so many people in it and everyone has an interesting talent that I can brag about. One of them is my Aunt Lindy. She paints beautiful paintings and writes funny articles for her newspaper. She has a cute little dog who I want to steal, but Moo Moo wouldn't appreciate that. She has esp and is glaring at me now for even thinking about it. One of the coolest things about my aunt is that she had the courage to write a book. I have an idea for a story, but I am too chicken to actually be serious about it and write it out.

In Unanswered Lives, a family becomes victim of a violent hate crime and tries to work out their past mistakes and future lives in the aftermath. The thing I love about this book is the fact that the characters have flaws that no right person would ever be able to forgive, but at the same time you love them for wanting to change and be better people. This was one of the best books I have read and it was challenging to put down. Yet again I found myself sacrificing functionality for the day just so I could read about this flawed family.

This book is also really rough and accurately portrays people who have to live their lives with hate and prejudice being targeted at them. It's a good book, but definitely not a light hearted read. It's one where you take something away from the story and it makes you stop and think about how you treat others. I am proud of my aunt for writing such a powerful book that I will brag about for years and years.

Carol Ericson- "Intuition"

This was one of many Harlequin Intrigues that my Nanny got in the mail. They come in a medium sized package that is too small for the mailbox and yet the mailman finds a way to shove it in there and I end up pissed off. I always find these books to be "piddley" and easy to read. If they are really bad, it's not really maddening because they don't take up a lot of time to read.

Let me throw you down the stairs!

In this Intrigue, a psychic named Kylie Grant returns to her hometown to find out what happened to a girl who disappeared three years earlier. When she gets there, she finds a high school crush named Matt Conner investigating the same disappearance. Together they try and track down what happened to the girl.

I found this book to be one of the alright books of the Intrigue collection. It follows all of the same Harlequin guidelines, but still manages to be somewhat enjoyable. The supernatural psychic aspect is refreshing and Kylie and Matt are likable characters. All in all this book is cute, but still not anything that shakes the ground in modern day literature, but who the hell expects that in an Intrigue anyway?