Patience

When it comes to bird watching, you have to have patience. You have to be able to move slowly in the shadows, to stand perfectly still, to hold your position for the longest of time. It is a test of wills. You against the silence of the woods. And sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you get to see a glimpse of the magic which birds of prey adds to the world. Moments like that will haunt you forever. A moment like that can be the beginning of the strangest of journeys, or simply change your life.

"They were above a stand of pines, right there. And then they were gone. One minute my pair of goshawks was describing lines from physics textbooks in the sky, and then nothing at all. I don't remember looking down, or away. Perhaps I blinked. Perhaps it was as simple as that. And in that tiny black gap which the brain disguises they'd dived into the wood."

"H is for Hawk" by Helen Macdonald, p. 9

This book is the story of how Helen Macdonald became the owner of a hawk. Of her struggle to train it. In between the pages you will find beautiful descriptions of the nature surrounding her, and she will enlighten you about falcons and hawks. Her words will make you long to get out there, to see the wildness for yourself and, perhaps, to be a part of it all.

Sticky toffee pudding and my book - loving quiet days at work.

Life, after all, is in the detail

"A year of doing good" by Judith O'Reilly

"A year of doing good" by Judith O'Reilly

...each one a small miracle...

365 good deeds. Can you even imagine it? It sounds so easy, just doing one good deed a day for a year, but after reading of O'Reilly's attempt (and success), I am in more doubt. Perhaps the odd good deed, without the pressure involved, is more suited for me. Or perhaps I am a chicken for not giving it a proper try. The world could very much need more people doing good - however small the act of kindness is. Even picking up litter on the ground can save a life - and that makes all the difference.

"A year of doing good" by Judith O'Reilly

The Fae Queen

Ever dreamt of the Fae? Ever seen or felt a vague glimpse of the Vale and the mysteries lying beyond? Sometimes some of the Fae leaves the Vale. Sometimes humans get entry. And sometimes, shadows are made.

"She dreams of two shooting stars, dancing across heaven. They spin, twirling and circling each other.
[...] Caderyn runs with her bare feet skimming the dewy grass, as she tries to keep up with the stars. With her face lifted to the heavens above, she smiles watching them as they break through." 

loc 150, "Fae Queen" by Lynn Landes

"Fae Queen" by Lynn Landes

Sora's Quest

When a young noble Lady finds a necklace after her mother, a journey begins.

A journey that all but erases all the earlier traces of nobility in the young girl, and instead leads her to discover a magical world where dangers and death hide around corners, love can be found in a cold stranger and the clue to survival is friendship.

Sora used to dream of adventures and travels - and now she is smack in the middle of it. This is the first book in the series about Sora and her friends, and I enjoyed it immensely. Even the covers of the books draw you in - the first one is simply stunning.

"Sora's Quest" by T. L. Shreffler

"She immediately reveled in the warmth that flooded her senses, and looked around the room in wonder. Cheery lanters graced the walls on either side of the shop. She had never seen anything quite like this, not even in Lord Fallcrest's library, which was one of her favorite places. The small circular room was jammed full of bookshelves, whch were crammed with all sorts of books. She could see the twinkle of a thousand stars through the large domed roof. Tables set up like a maze throughout the tiny shop were stacked with piles of dusty scrolls, yellowed books and wrinkled parchments. The air was heavy with the scent of paper. Sora had the sudden, intense urge to curl up in an armchair with an old book and maybe a nice cup of tea."

p. 160, "Sora's Quest" by T. L. Shreffler

The Star Thief

""Might as well make it look convincing," she said, picking it up and testing the weight in her hand.
  At least knocking herself out would stop the pounding in her head for a while."

p. 384, "The Star Thief" by Jamie Grey

"The Star Thief" by Jamie Grey

Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

Time for an e-book teaser! Last week I started on a book I downloaded for free some time ago. It looked interesting and sounded funny, so I figured I would give it a try. Honestly - who would not, given that title, right?

After reading out the first book in no more than a day or two (at work, mind), I decided I had to buy the rest of the series. I really enjoyed reading about Jolie and her world that was all normal one day and suddenly turning upside-down the next. Throw in some romance, otherwordly creatures and magic - and this was great fun! 

Obviously, the more Jolie learns about her new life, the messier it becomes... Phrased in her own words: "Life was so much easier when all you had to worry about was your cat."

Mind, I do not recommend this for younger readers as the story turns a bit erotic from time to time, and some of the war-descriptions are anything but sweet. 

Here is today's teaser:

"That is the beauty of fairy magic. We can be whoever you want us to be. You should take that as a lesson, child; you too can be whoever you want to be. As a witch, you can choose to be great or good. It is all up to you."

pp. 85

A series worth reading!

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A Peculiar teaser

Sometimes you see a book that has such a colourful and fantastic cover that you simply must have it. This is one of those books.

"The Peculiar", as it is called, is indeed a peculiar book, although the creature the title references to is so much more.

As a creature of two worlds, Bartholomew is hated by both. This story begins the day he got himself noticed - which, he knew, he ought not to be. The wise saying of the area he lives in clearly states:    

"Don't get yourself noticed and you won't get yourself hanged."

Now what? Next thing he knows he has to flee for his life - and gets himself tangled up in a sinister plot where he must gather all the courage he can to try to set things right... before it is all quite too late.

My teaser:

"You didn't simply go places. It was unwise to leave the house, dangerous to go into the street, but it was mind-bogglingly foolish to venture out of the faery slums. Bartholomew had not needed to be mind-bogglingly foolish until very recently."

pp. 268 

"The Peculiar" by Stefan Bachmann

I enjoyed the story, and I am eager to get home so I can start on the second and possibly last book, "The Whatnot". I might even treat myself to the short-story collection Bachmann has made in collaboration with a few other authors.


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An uncharacteristic teaser

So, I picked up this book a few months back. It was called "The Boy who could see Demons" - which I thought sounded vastly interesting. The blurb on the back reads:

"... I can also see demons. My best friend is one. He likes Mozart, table tennis and bread and butter pudding. My mum is sick. Ruen says he can help her. Only Ruen wants me to do something really bad. He wants me to kill someone."

It was an interesting book - only not for the reasons I thought it would be. I was in for a real surprise. I am not going to tell you much more, though, as I want you to keep an open mind if you decide to read this book.

My teaser:

"Michael leaned back in his chair, his gaze turned to a poster on the wall by my bookcase. 

          'Suspicion often creates what it suspects,' 

he said, reading the poster. There was a question in his tone."

The Boy who could see Demons, p. 25

However, I can tell you that I was not impressed in the beginning and was getting concerned that this would be a disappointment. It started out rather slow, and the story confused me as it was not what I expected it to be (the last part would be my fault, of course, as I thought I had already placed the book in its appropriate athmosphere - and clearly got it all wrong). The grammar and language were also barriers that threatened to throw me off the hook.

Luckily, these were all minor issues that could be ignored as the story unfolded. The book simply got better and better, and towards the end I was so anxious to see where it would end up I found it difficult to put it down at all!

It is a thought-provoking book. It also gave me some small insight in matters I had no knowledge about, and that alone was worth the read. I believe the story deserves to be read. If you decide to pick it up, I hope you enjoy it.

The Boy who could see Demons
by Carolyn Jess-Cooke

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This is what heaven must be like

"My heart is too full for words." from "Shalador's Lady" by Anne Bishop

Children of the Lamp - a tiny teaser

I was leafing through the first book of The Children of the Lamp-series, The Akhenaten Adventure, the other day. I wanted to share this quote/teaser with you as it truly is one of my favourites of all time.

Perhaps I might even get these words printed and put up on the wall back home one of these days... That is something worth considering, for sure.

"Welcome to my house," he said. "Enter freely of your own will and be sure to leave behind some of the happiness you bring to it."

by P. B. Kerr, p. 82

A little peek for you

The Akhenaten Adventure by P. B. Kerr

I hope you all had a great weekend!

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A New Year's Wish

                              ... for each and every one of you!

Source

I found this in a wonderful book called The Akhenaten Adventure many years ago. I remember falling in love with many a passage in the book, and here is one of my favourites:

"May you get all your wishes except one, so you'll still have something to strive for."

There is a next line in the wish, too, and I have already posted that in this blog post from a while back.

It is somewhat strange that we have once more turned a full circle - that we will, in a few hours, stand at the beginning of a new year. I have turned the last page in my diary, and so, tomorrow, I will start all over again from scratch. Many good things have happened this year. Many sad. Hundreds of memories have been made, and most of them shared with someone special. I try not to take things for granted. I am grateful for the past and still curious of the future. I am loved, too. A lucky girl, all things considered.

I wish you all  A Happy New Year.  I do hope you will experience the greatest year yet. I have faith in you finding happiness in a great many little things. Be well. Be loved ❤

An excerpt from The Akhenaten Adventure

A Discovery of Witches

Tonight I am reading a book that has been in my possession for a long time. I have planned to read it several times in the past, but somehow I never got around to do it. The fact that it is the first book in a trilogy where the third book is not due until the summer may have had something to do with it, though. I do have book two in my shelves, so if I read them both slowly I might even get around to book three! That would be really something.

That is me in a nut shell, you see...if the series have unpublished books, I have a tendency of neglecting to read the last volumes - not because I do not want to, but simply because I move on to books I have not yet read while I am waiting, and then I figure out, at some point, that I have to reread the first books in preparation for the last books - and, well, guess what? One thing leads to another and then I just cannot seem to find the time to reread those books I have already read as there are sooooo many new ones on my tbr-list that I am ever so curious about! I am impossible, I know.

Right. Back to the book.

It is called "A Discovery of Witches" and is, as you now know, the first book of a trilogy named "All Souls". Witchcraft, libraries, old forgotten manuscripts...what more can you desire? Oh, creatures, of course. You did not think there would only be witches, now did you? Of course not! There are four different types of creatures in this trilogy, and although our main character is a witch, the other ones come in to play as well. There might even be some love in the air, although I have not gotten that far into the story to be able to tell for sure. I do have a sneaking suspicion, however. Set in Oxford, with a magnificent library as a backdrop and wonderful alchemical texts as the center of attention, I have every hope of this being a great story.

Here is a teaser from the main characters childhood:

"Sarah didn't tell him about the voices, about my habit of picking up the phone a good minute before it rang, or that she had to enchant the doors and windows when there was a full moon to keep me from wandering into the woods in my sleep. Nor did she mention that when I was angry the chairs in the house rearranged themselves into a precarious pyramid before crashing to the floor once my mood lifted."

excerpt from A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, p. 9

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Have a great Sunday, everyone!


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The hundred-year-old man who...

...climbed out of the window and disappeared

By Jonas Jonasson

This book is originally written in Swedish. It is a quirky story about a man who does not want to celebrate his one hundreth birthday with a bunch of oldies and nurses on his nursing home, so he decides to carefully climb out the window into the flower beds - in his slippers, of course - and walk away from the whole celebration.

Now, this is the start of a story so complex and funny you have most likely never seen anything like it. Have you ever wondered what a person can achieve if said person lives to be a hundred years old, by any chance? A century, that is? Well, this guy has done it all...and more. He has played a part in a rather large number of scientific discoveries and historical events during his time. The result is a life so remarkable it is hard to even know where to begin telling about it. If I may, I will simply suggest you sit down with a couple of free hours and a cuppa or two and read it for yourself. Find the hidden geek in you - and enjoy the story!

Here is a teaser from the book:

"The problem now was that Allan, Julius, Benny and The Beauty had one thing in common: an almost total absence of relatives and friends. How were they going to find someone who would shelter a yellow bus with four people, a dog and an elephant?"

from p. 152

More teasers, anyone?
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Divergent - when not fitting in can make a difference

Divergent by Veronica Roth

I loved this book!

I sped through it during a couple of late nights - or should I say mornings? - and then practically ran to the bookstore to get the second book in the trilogy! I am sure I will devour that one as well as I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

The trilogy is set in a future where the citizens are divided into five factions, where each faction strives to uphold a specific virtue - a virtue that makes the foundation for the way of life in it. On Choosing Day every sixteen-year-old must choose one of the factions - Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful), Candor (the honest), Erudite (the intelligent) and Dauntless (the brave) - something that will determine the rest of their lives. Everything is divided into these factions - the place they live, what jobs they have, what they wear, even how they are supposed to conduct themselves or greet others.

On a given day, all the sixteen-year-olds are sent through an aptitude test that tells them which faction that will suit them best, and this is where things start to go wrong for Beatrice Prior, a girl born into the Abnegation factor. Because...what exactly happens when someone does not fit neatly into just one of the factions, but in three of them? What then?

"I look at the hole again. Goose bumps rise on my pale arms, and my stomach lurches. If I don't do it now, I won't be able to do it at all. I swallow hard. I don't think. I just bend my knees and jump."

Divergent by Veronica Roth, p. 58.

The dystopian genre is not one I normally read a lot of as I tend to think of it as a bit dark and depressing. I thought I would give this particular book a try, though, and oh my am I glad I did! It was really exciting! I am starting to think that the genre may have something to it - like a thought-provoking and perhaps message-bearing idea of futures that may come true one day. Who knows, right? One scary thought, that is! It makes me wonder what would happen if everyone read a dystopian book or two. Would people get inspired to do better?

More teasers, everyone?
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The Butterfly Ball

...and the Grasshopper's Feast

Alluring colours and shapes!

This is a children's book that is all about rhyme. It tells the story of different insects and critters with curious names that gathers for a ball. They are all quite dressed up in their finest - and whether it is elegant, pretty or scary, they all have a role to play.

This might come across as a girl's book, but rest assured - there are quite a few of these mysterious creatures that are just as fitting for a little boy. The rhymes are witty and rolls off the tongue with ease. You might even say they are marching away of their own accord!

You want an invitation?

Here you go!
"The pleasure of your company is requested"

The teaser I am giving you today comes from the first page:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"As night turns to dimness and draws back its curtain, 

Stars, those bright sequins, now all disappear,           

As dimness grows radiant, dawn makes it certain      

That butterfly weather, quite perfect, is here;"               

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Look at Mr. Grasshopper with his top hat and cane - dashing, indeed!

If you want to know the rest of the story - and how the party goes - run and get a copy for yourself. This book, written by Alan Aldridge and William Plomer, is a peculiar and most wonderful addition to your collection!


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Book haul Newcastle

I found this little secondhand bookstore in North Shields, England, where they had a magnificent copy of Alice in Wonderland that I just had to have. I also found Peter Pan and Wendy and The Borrowers there. I got Uncle Remus from a seller when we visited a market in Tynemouth - he hated to see that one go. I did well, I think - and my new treasures fit nicely into my collection!

My latest additions!

A drawing of Alice by Arthur Rackham

A signed copy of Uncle Remus

A close-up from Uncle Remus

Mr Toppit

I found this book interesting when I saw it in the store. The cover caught my eye, and the sentence on the front saying "Once upon a time a book broke a family" really got me curious. What was this book that broke a family? And how can a book break a family in the first place? Questions needed answers, so I brought it with me home.

Now, I have to say that it has taken me a small forever to read this book. Somehow it did not draw me in as well as I expected, although I quite like the writing and the story in themselves. It is simply a slow-paced book, I think. I have not read it through just yet, so I am very excited to see where it all ends. I can tell the story is building up for something revealing - it drops hints now and then, and more so lately.

Here is my teaser - albeit it is a little late (I did not quite make it for it being a Sunday teaser this time):

"After the first book, she needed me less and less. She had created the template and she spun Luke Hayseed off in a direction of her own, taking him away from me (taking me away from me) and creating the likeness of a boy who would stride manfully up the path to the Darkwood. He would always be eager to return to his quest to find Mr Toppit, to flush him out, even though - as Luke knew to his cost - Mr Toppit could be cruel and capricious, and never really did, despite the last sentence of the book, reveal himself, and even though the Darkwood, every leaf and branch and stone of which Mr T inhabited, was a dank, terrifying place. 

You wouldn't have caught me dead doing that."

Mr Toppit, p. 6

Mr Toppit by Charles Elton

I trust you all had a wonderful Sunday!



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E-book teaser today!

At the moment I am, amongst other books, reading an e-book called Dark Secrets by A. M. Hudson.

It is a YA book, with a teenage love story in focus. I downloaded it for free, and even though it has its cute moments I am not sure I would have bought it. 

That said, I find myself curious as to where this particular love story will end! It certainly seems to grow darker at an alarming speed - and there is a fine line between trust and death...

My teaser:

" A beauty, I fear -" he touched his chest, "- that is a perfection I do not deserve."

 Dark Secrets, loc 7527 of 13205, 58%

Not the same as a real book, but it works...!

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A teaser from The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

I absolutely love this book, and thought I would share a little bit with you today. I find it so happy, so comforting and adorable.

There is a short animation made of the book as well that I posted some time ago - you should check it out if you are curious!

This is so true, right? Sometimes I truly get lost in books ❤

Now, here is today's teaser

"Morris tried to keep the books in some sort of order, but they always mixed themselves up. The tragedies needed cheering up and would visit with the comedies. The encyclopedias, weary of facts, would relax with the comic books and fictions. All in all it was an agreeable jumble." 

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

What do you think? Have you read it before? If you have not I suggest you go find yourself a copy of your own - you will absolutely come to love it.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce

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