Tag: Libraries

Books

Book 540: The Library at the Edge of the World (Finfarran #1) – Felicity Hayes-McCoy

Geoff W

It has libraries, it has Europe and it has a protagonist crotchety before their allotted time, of course I was going to love it.

I have no idea where I came across this, I’m sure it was on a blog at some point, but I requested it from my local library for my Kindle (oh hey, Overdrive), and promptly forgot I requested it. So when I got the email notification that it was ready I at first panicked (I received two others at the same time) and then got excited because, well, see the first sentence of this response.

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Bookish Things

Bookish Things September 2017

Geoff W

Since I still haven’t sorted out what I want to do with Culture Corner, I’m sticking this here because it’s both cultural and bookish things. Last night they had a panel at the Boston Public Library titled “Beyond Mr. Darcy: New Markets in Romance” (BPL website).

The three authors Damon Suede, Farrah Rochan and Sarina Bowen were so personable and I just kept feeling like I want to be your friend. I think the best quote of the night was a quote Suede made about one of Bowen’s books he read recently:

“I wept quietly throughout the entire book while having a boner and laughing.”

The only truly disappointing thing about the talk was Suede not straying further from what he said on the podcast I discovered earlier this month: Authorized: Love and Romance. The host of the podcast, Faith Salie who I only know from Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me, interviews romance authors about writing sex scenes and romance novels in general.

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Books

Book 452: A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) – Deborah Harkness

Geoff W

I probably would have read this book closer to its release, but unfortunately it’s part of a trilogy (this followed by Shadow of Night and  The Book of Life) and I didn’t want to read the books as they came out so I waited to read it. I really wanted to read it a lot sooner because a lot of my blogger friends who really enjoyed it. That being said, I’m a little grumpy as I’ve just found out that Harkness will continue writing in this universe with the release of The Serpent’s Mirror next year. So bah.

If I had to break this down into a one sentence review it would be: Harry Potter meets Twilight for adults. That’s definitely a bit reductionist, but as I was reading that’s what I kept thinking. It wasn’t as much of a compulsive read as either of those series, but A Discovery of Witches definitely stands on its own.

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Books

Book 410: First Among Sequels (Thursday Next #5) – Jasper Fforde

Geoff W

This series has finally slowed down. This isn’t a detraction, just a statement. Picking up more than 14 years after the end of Something Rotten, First Among Sequels just didn’t feel quite the same. Don’t get me wrong, there was absurdity, Fforde’s genius pushes the boundaries and Thursday Next is still a great character, but it just wasn’t the same.

As I mentioned in my post about Something Rotten I found out after I’d started this novel that the last three of the published novels in the Thursday Next series are actually a second series and not the same. It’s a little misleading as websites like Goodreads and Amazon group them together. There’s even a compendium of the first five: A Thursday Next Digital Collection: Novels 1-5. If I would’ve known about the time gap and the “separate series” portion I would’ve paused after book four instead of five, but oh well.

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Books

Book 409: Something Rotten (Thursday Next #4) – Jasper Fforde

Geoff W

Just when you think it can’t get any stranger, Jasper Fforde makes sure to let you know it can and it will:

“The fate of all life on this beautiful planet decided on the swing of a croquet mallet.” (351)

I mean COME ON! Anyone who can turn croquet into a full-contact sport and make me want to watch it has to be a genius right?

I also can’t believe it took me until almost 12 hours later to finally connect the title to most of the story, as in hey this story has a lot about Hamlet in it and the quote “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” even appears! Thanks Fforde for reminding me I’m just another cog in the human machine. Epic fail on my part.

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