Contents of blog copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2023
I've been gone a while. I started reading fanfiction to escape and I got sucked in an abyss.

I have no idea if someone else is hosting similar challenges. I just grabbed some of what I have hosted before.

Here's to a happy year of great reading
Jan2023: Not much has changed. Writing a fanfiction now O_o as well as reading but I bought 7 new books in December and hope to get those read soon. Crossing fingers about adding challenges (late!)

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Waiting on Wednesday

Jill at Breaking the Spine hosts "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.


With Extreme Pleasure
Alison Kent

Kensington Brava
November 24, 2009
Trade Paperback
320 Pages
18+


Only Something This Dangerous…

After three weeks in Manhattan, Kingdom Trahan is ready to get back to bayous, crawfish boils, and afternoons fishing on the Gulf. But before he can pull out of the parking garage, he meets a curvy detour. King noticed Cady Kowalski on the photo shoot he just endured—sexy and confident, with a waifish look that belies the way she corralled him into submission using only a can of hairspray. Yet Cady isn’t confident now. She’s bruised, edgy, and desperate to get out of town…

Could Feel This Good…

For years, Cady has been looking over her shoulder, wondering when the gang of drug-running criminals who killed her brother would make their move on her. She’s grown used to having no one to turn to, no one to trust. But King isn’t walking away—not even when their lives are threatened, again and again. Drawing Cady’s pursuers out of hiding is the only way to end this, and it’s also the most reckless thing they can do…short of diving into a red-hot affair from which there’s no turning back…

Wishful Wednesdays

MizB at Should be Reading hosts this weekly event.
What books have you been wishing to buy/get lately?

I'm going to (mostly) use this to share what's on my wish list, most of which I have no idea where I found first.



Rampant

Diana Peterfreund

HarperTeen
August 25, 2009
416 pages
Hardcover
Young Adult

Product Description

Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns . . .

Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. Fortunately, they've been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.

Or not.

Astrid had always scoffed at her eccentric mother's stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend—thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to the prom—Astrid finds herself headed to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

However, at the cloisters all is not what it seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from the crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to—perhaps most dangerously of all—her growing attraction to a handsome art student . . . an attraction that could jeopardize everything.


It was a choice between this one and another one. I did not choose wisely.

available directly from the Publisher

A-Z Wednesday

A-Z Wednesday is a Weekly Event
hosted by Vicky at Reading at the Beach.


Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!!
To join, here's all you have to do:
Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
If you've already reviewed this book you can link the review also.
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment. (We all love comments, don't we?) Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.

This week's letter is "H"



Hide by Lisa Gardner

"You have good reason to be afraid. . . .

It was a case that haunts Bobby Dodge to this day—the case that nearly killed him and changed his life forever. Now, in an underground chamber on the grounds of an abandoned Massachusetts mental hospital, the gruesome discovery of six mummified corpses resurrects his worst nightmare: the return of a killer he thought dead and buried. There’s no place to run. . . . Bobby’s only lead is wrapped around a dead woman’s neck. Annabelle Granger has been in hiding for as long as she can remember. Her childhood was a blur of new cities and assumed identities. But what—or who—her family was running from, she never knew. Now a body is unearthed from a grave, wearing a necklace bearing Annabelle’s name, and the danger is too close to escape. This time, she’s not going to run. You know he will find you. . . .

The new threat could be the dead psychopath’s copycat, his protégé—or something far more terrifying. Dodge knows the only way to find him is to solve the mystery of Annabelle Granger, and to do that he must team up with his former lover, partner, and friend D. D. Warren from the Boston P.D. But the trail leads back to a woman from Bobby’s past who may be every bit as dangerous as the new killer—a beautiful survivor-turned-avenger with an eerie link to Annabelle. From its tense opening pages to its shocking climax, Hide is a thriller that delves into our deepest, darkest fears. Where there is no one to trust. Where there is no place left to hide."


Available from amazon.com as well as the publisher

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Winners!


The contests/giveaways are over. For now. My son, a niece and a cousin visiting from out of state helped pick the winners.


Alexa won Dirty Little Angels and will be receiving an attachment.

Everyone else will need to reply to my email before 11:59 p.m. on October 7 or I will choose an alternate winner.

April won Wait Until Twilight
Beth won the Lie & Playing House
Shawntele won The Sportcaster's Guide to Watching Football
Kimber won Pay it Forward
Amanda won The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
Stacie won Whiskey Gulf
Elaine8 won Twilight


Thank you to everyone who entered. There will be another giveaway coming up at the end of October.

Teaser Tuesday

MizB at Should Be Reading hosts this cool weekly event.

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

--Grab your current read
--Let the book open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
--You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

Her stomach clenched even tighter and she tried to keep his weapon, a hunting knife used for gutting game, in her sights. Razor sharp, it could slice through the ropes easily. Just as easily as it could pierce and cut her flesh.

pg 3, Left to Die by Lisa Jackson

Monday, September 28, 2009

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a Weekly Event hosted by
Marcia at The Printed Page
jump over to see what others have received this week.


Review books that have arrived this week:
The Art of Meaningful Living & an extra to give away

Purchased at:
Walmart:
A Harvest of Bones

used book/online:
A Familiar Dragon
DK Eyewitness Classics: Dracula


and the winner is....

What are you Reading?


What are you reading on Monday? is a weekly meme hosted by J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book blog where you post books completed last week and plans for upcoming books. Jump over to her blog and see who else is participating.


Monday, September 28
Finished this Week
Broken
The Dog Who Rescues Cats
and 7 short stories
plus 1 review posted



Still Reading/Started
Falling into the Sun
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

The House on Tradd Street
Benny & Shrimp
Knitting Bones
Laced with Magic
The Summer Kitchen -
Lisa Wingate
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker
Right Next Door
- 2in1 reissues from Debbie Macomber

Planning to Read/Start

Escape
Vampire Academy
Wake
Fade
Heck where the bad kids go


Library Books Now Available
The Midnight Twins
The Neighbor
No Time to Wave Good-bye
Woman in White
Intertwined



and Reviews needed to Complete
A Circle of Souls
Water Witch
The Right Side of the Tracks
True North
Dancing With Ana

plus any/all of the previous books read....



Sunday, September 27, 2009

Soft Spots


Soft Spots
A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Clint Van Winkle


Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: March 3, 2009
format: hardcover
pages: 224
Ages:
genre: memoir

from the publisher
A powerful, haunting, provocative memoir of a Marine in Iraq—and his struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in a system trying to hide the damage done.

Marine Sergeant Clint Van Winkle flew to war on Valentine’s Day 2003. His battalion was among the first wave of troops that crossed into Iraq, and his first combat experience was the battle of Nasiriyah, followed by patrols throughout the country, house to house searches, and operations in the dangerous Baghdad slums.

But after two tours of duty, certain images would not leave his memory—a fragmented mental movie of shooting a little girl; of scavenging parts from a destroyed, blood-spattered tank; of obliterating several Iraqi men hidden behind an ancient wall; and of mistakenly stepping on a “soft spot,” the remains of a Marine killed in combat. After his return home, Van Winkle sought help at a Veterans Administration facility, and so began a maddening journey through an indifferent system that promises to care for veterans, but in fact abandons many of them.

From riveting scenes of combat violence, to the gallows humor of soldiers fighting a war that seems to make no sense, to moments of tenderness in a civilian life ravaged by flashbacks, rage, and doubt, Soft Spots reveals the mind of a soldier like no other recent memoir of the war that has consumed America.


My thoughts
Clint Van Winkle has invited us into his life and into his nightmares. He'll be sitting in a bar sharing "normal" life with us but when the news comes on; the ghosts come out - and not just the dead ones.

The writing flows so smoothly between current events, nightmares and memories that it took awhile to get use to it. One minute we're sitting in the living room drinking a beer and the next paragraph we're sitting in Iraq. It happened that fast for him, it happens that fast for us.

This book taught me to be angry. If a minority of our Vets are treated this way, the whole system needs to be taken out and shot.
Even the Jade Clinic's waiting room seemed inhospitable and cold. The staff's apathy fit right in with the surroundings and they seemed as if they had been specifically handpicked to dole out subpar service. Disheartening isn't a strong enough word to describe what I felt as I watched my fellow veterans being ignored.*
He mentions some good people in the system but as a whole it leaves a lot to be desired.

This book also taught me appreciation. I've always thought of the military as a group, almost a single body where the feet are very important but still a single body. Now I know it is individuals. The military is made up of people that have the roughest job ever.

Is there a happy ending? Can there ever be a happy ending for a Marine with PTSD? I cried and I laughed and cried some more. Once the story sucked me in it was finished the next day.

Read it. Think about it. Tell your friends. Thank a Vet.

content warning very realistic war memories

*pg 86 of the Advance Readers' Edition

Buy link at amazon: Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder


Amazon.com Sales Rank, as of 9-15: #113,639 in Books

#22 in Books > Health, Mind & Body > Mental Health > Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Saturday, September 26, 2009

New Review Book Arrived this week


The Art of Meaningful Living
Christopher F. Brown and John Palmer


Publisher: Synergy Books
Release Date: September 2009
format: Hardcover
pages: 128
Ages:
genre/category: non-fiction/Self-help

from the publisher
Thousands of self-help books on the market promise the key to happiness through five steps, 10 tips or the power of positive thinking. But for many people today who have become satisfied with mediocrity, these words may speak to their rational mind, but not the soul. Living a meaningful life is an art form, and awakening the true passions that lie dormant within us all requires a more creative approach.

Psychotherapist Christopher F. Brown, LCSW, MBA, and artist John Palmer present The Art of Meaningful Living, a coffee-table book that offers a framework for navigating significant life change through a combination of psychologically-based techniques and provocative abstract artwork.

Brown shares psychological concepts that have worked for both himself and those he has treated in his private practice, while Palmer contributes 75 original pieces of breathtaking art directly inspired by the text. Because meaningful living is both an art and a science, the book acts as a bridge between psychology and art; between the readers’ rational and emotional sides.

“Meaningful living is choosing your passions over your fears,” Brown says. “It is accepting what you cannot control and focusing on what is in your power. With The Art of Meaningful Living, I provide tools that will help readers learn to manage their minds, cope with the world around them, define what is valuable to them and hopefully move toward the lives they truly want. Remember that change is a journey, not a single event.”

Quote it Sat

Quote it Sat is a Weekly Event
hosted by Leslie at That Chick that Reads.



The difference between a person who appreciates books, even loves them, and a collector is not only degrees of affection, I realized. For the former, the bookshelf is a kind of memoir: there are my childhood books, my college books, my favorite novels, my inexplicable choices. Many matchmaking and social networking websites offer a place for members to list what they're reading for just this reason: books can reveal a lot about a person. But for the collector, the bookshelf is a reflection not just of what he has read, but profoundly who he is: "Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they can come alive in him; it is he who comes alive in them," wrote cultural critic Walter Benjamin.



pg 64, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

Friday, September 25, 2009

Friday Finds

A Weekly Event hosted by mizb at Should be Reading
The idea is to share, every Friday, about books that you’ve recently discovered (never heard of before) that sound really good!

Every Friday, those who have blogs will write a post at their own blog, and then come back and leave others a link to follow on that week’s “Friday Finds” post here at Should Be Reading. For those who don’t blog, you can just tell us about your “Friday Finds” in a comment on that week’s post. )

Let’s try to keep this clean… that’s all I ask, okay?
Found while searching amazon for Donita K. Paul (she was quoted)....


Raising Dragons
Dragons in Our Midst, Book 1
Bryan Davis

Living Ink Press
June 25, 2004
400 Pages
6 x 9 inches
Trade Paperback
Young Adult

from the publisher:
Raising Dragons is a contemporary fantasy novel, the first of a series of books for pre-teens and young adults. Along with a unique blend of fantasy and real life, it delivers action, danger, and inspiration through the adventures of two young teens, Billy Bannister and Bonnie Silver.

The kids at school call Billy "Dragon Breath" for good reason. His breath is bad! It isn't the normal, morning-mouth bad; it's the hot-as-fire, "don't-you-dare-get-near-me" bad. And hearing "Dragon Breath" ringing in his ears, he constantly tries to cool his oral volcano. Trouble erupts when his hot breath sets off the fire sprinklers in the boys' restroom at school, and his parents learn that they've kept their secret for too long.

Billy finally discovers the secret. His father was once a dragon! Now that's a piece of news a guy doesn't deal with every day! Billy feels betrayed, alien, lost. When his father reverts to his dragon form, and they're both chased by dragon slayers, he learns to trust his father again, battling the slayers with weapons of steel and spirit.

Bonnie, an orphan, tries to find a home, someone to love her, even though she feels like a freak because of a body feature that she calls a deformity, her dragon wings, inherited from her now dead dragon mother. She discovers that her love for others and her faith in a Creator hold the answers she is looking for.

and three more!


warning? These are Christian Fantasy. Amazon's description says "...inspires young people to pursue faith, courage, and love, to dig deep within to find their God-given strengths..." I thought you'd want to know. I love fantasy and young adult and with Christian fantasy I know it'll be clean! ... I wonder how prayerful they'll be....wandering back to amazon to add them to my wish list.

AMG Publishers: Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel - God's Word to you is our highest calling.


All four books are available at ChristianBook.com as well as....



Thursday, September 24, 2009

Introducing....

Jay Kinney is co-author of Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions. For fifteen years, he served as publisher and editor-in-chief of Gnosis Magazine, the premiere journal covering esoteric traditions and spiritual paths. In addition, Kinney is a member of Mill Valley Lodge #356 and Mission Lodge #169, F&AM, in California. He’s also a member of the York Rite, and a 32° KCCH in the Scottish Rite. He has twice been a speaker at the California Masonic Symposium, and is a recipient of the Albert G. Mackey Award for Excellence in Masonic Research. He has extensive contacts within Freemasonry and, as Librarian and Director of Research for the San Francisco Scottish Rite, has access to many resources and Masonic records that have eluded most popular writers on this topic.

Thank you to
Anna Suknov of FSB Associates for sending me a copy of The Masonic Myth to review.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Wishful Wednesdays

MizB at Should be Reading hosts this weekly event.
What books have you been wishing to buy/get lately?

I'm going to (mostly) use this to share what's on my wish list, most of which I have no idea where I found first.



Snake in the Glass

A Glassblowing Mystery
Sarah Atwell

Berkley
September 1, 2009
304 pages
Mass Market Paperback

A nervous stranger begs to use Emmeline Dowell's kiln for an experimental gem treatment. It doesn't seem like something to be alarmed about-until a dead body found in the desert turns out to be a close friend of the stranger.


available directly from the Publisher

A-Z Wednesday

A-Z Wednesday is a Weekly Event
hosted by Vicky at Reading at the Beach.


Welcome to A-Z Wednesday!!
To join, here's all you have to do:
Go to your stack of books and find one whose title starts with the letter of the week.
Post:
1~ a photo of the book
2~ title and synopsis
3~ link(amazon, barnes and noble etc.)
4~ Come back here and leave your link in the comments
If you've already reviewed this book you can link the review also.
Be sure to visit other participants to see what book they have posted and leave them a comment. (We all love comments, don't we?) Who knows? You may find your next "favorite" book.

This week's letter is "G"



Green Rider by Kristen Britain

"Karigan G’ladheon, running away from school, is traveling through a deep forest when a galloping horse pounds up to her, its rider impaled by two black-shafted arrows. With his dying breath, he tells her he is a Green Rider, one of the magical messengers of the King. Before he dies, he makes Karigan swear to deliver the message he’s carrying, and gives her his green coat, with the symbolic brooch of his office. Pursued by unknown assassins, following a path only her horse seems to know, Karigan becomes a legendary Green Rider—for when given to the right person, a Rider’s brooch awakens the magic inside…."


Available from the publisher in Trade paperback as well as Mass Market and 3 eBook formats

Waiting on Wednesday

Jill at Breaking the Spine hosts "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



Blackwork

A Needlecraft Mystery
Monica Ferris

Berkley
October 6, 2009
256 pages
Hardcover
18+

It’s Halloween—and Betsy Devonshire, owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth, is haunted by murder…

In the town of Excelsior, Minnesota, Leona Cunningham, owner of a popular microbrewery, is a practitioner of Wicca, the nature-based religion often mistaken for black magic. But that doesn’t bother the thirsty crowds. Then, after one too many pints, a local blames Leona for the series of “accidents” that have happened throughout town. When he ends up dead without a mark on his body, Leona’s the main suspect. But Betsy’s on the case, and that spells trouble for the killer.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Teaser Tuesday

MizB at Should Be Reading hosts this cool weekly event.

Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

--Grab your current read
--Let the book open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
--You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from… that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

"Clint, don't hesitate," is the advice my dad gave me before I left for Iraq. "Come home. Figure it out later," he said.

pg 101, Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle

Monday, September 21, 2009

What are you Reading?


What are you reading on Monday? is a weekly meme hosted by J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book blog where you post books completed last week and plans for upcoming books. Jump over to her blog and see who else is participating.


Monday, September 21
Finished this Week
Soft Spots
The Wedding Planner
Casting Spells
and 1 short story
plus 1 review posted (Wait Until Twilight) & another one ready

~ Wow, BBAW has really cut into my reading time!~

Still Reading/Started
Gone with the Witch - giving up for a while
Always Looking Up -
set it aside & now I can't find it!
A Gift to Last - returned to library, unfinished
Falling into the Sun
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
Casting Spells
- finished 9-20
Whiphand
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

Planning to Read/Start
Soft Spots
and more of Only in New York, Darling!
Escape
Snow Angel returned to the library, unread
Bitten returned to the library, unread
just received THREE giveaway winner books and they all look good - must resist until another review book is competed
Vampire Academy
The House on Tradd Street
Wake
Fade
The Summer Kitchen
Laced with Magic

Library Books Now Available
Casting Spells - picked up Fri
Vampire Academy - picked up Fri
The House on Tradd Street - picked up Fri
Wake - picked up Fri
Fade - picked up Fri
Heck: where the bad kids go
The Summer Kitchen - picked up Fri
Laced with Magic - picked up Fri
Woman in White
Intertwined



and Reviews needed to Complete
A Circle of Souls
Water Witch
The Right Side of the Tracks
True North
Dancing With Ana

plus any/all of the previous books read....



Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a Weekly Event hosted by
Marcia at The Printed Page
jump over to see what others have received this week.


Review books that have arrived this week:
The Sportscaster's Guide to Watching Football & an extra to give away
Across the Endless River

Purchased at:
Costco:
The Lost Symbol - dang, have to wait for husband to finish it before I can start, I talk about my books as I read them!
Musicophilia
The Lace Reader
the grocery store:
Right Next Door


Friends of the Library:
The Scroll of Lucifer
Wait Until Midnight
- dang, I may have this one in hardcover
Impetuous

and the winner is....
Life in the Pit - (the Orchestra pit)
My Big Nose - both from Bree Despain
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker (Thank you to ???? forgot where! sent Thank you to author & got a reply!...)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Disney Literature

Sarah over at Sarah Miller Books is hosting a Disney Literature Challenge. The idea is to read the original stories! It's perpetual with no set number of books. I'm in!


First stop? 1958 and The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Then maybe the movie: The Sword In The Stone (1963)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.


edited 9-3-13: This is a great idea but the Sarah has made her blog private and I don't have an invite {shrug} it isn't like I was getting anywhere.

I think I need to come up with a "Every year I'm going to read. . ." kind of challenge.

PB&J Challenge

Peanut Butter and Jelly???? Picture Books & Juvenile Challenge! Becky loves reading these and so do I so I thought I'd jump in and join her. For sign-ups & more info go here

I created PB & J so I could 'challenge' myself to read more steadily in this genre. I would love some company!

Is it a traditional challenge? Yes and no. If you want to set a goal for yourself then yes it can be a traditional challenge. 12 picture books and 4 kids books (j fic) in three months or six months or whatever. But if you want to look at it as an ongoing, perpetual "challenge" then you may do that as well!

I'd love to set a goal of reading twelve picture books a month. I don't know that I can do it. But I'm hoping that if I make it a "challenge" I can.


I'm not going to set a number of books or a time frame. I'm going to read all the picture books in the house. Then make a list of all my juvenile books and start on them. I'm also going to cheat and start my list from January 2009.

This may take a while. Good thing there isn't a time frame.

1. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (PB, library) - Dec 31
2. 10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert (PB, library) - Jan 1
3. The Knight and the Dragon by Tomie DePaola (PB, library) - Jan 1

~missed books, go back and find them~
4. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede - Mar2011
5. Any Witch Way by Annastaysia Savage - Mar2011
6. If a Dog could Blog by Princess Lola LeDeaux, aka Killer - Apr2011

from my 2011 "Read to Me" and "Young Readers" challenges
1. Kekula
2. A Bad Case of Stripes
3. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
4. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
5. If a Dog Could Blog
6. The Bear Detectives
7. Red in the Flower Bed
8. Cookie's Week
9. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
10. The Fire Cat
11. Dinosaurs Before Dark
12. The Knight at Dawn

9-9-11: A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass (I cried!)

1-8-16: I keep forgetting about this link. I've been reading PB but not the ones in the house, I've been buying more!

~ 2015 ~
Dragon's Extraordinary Egg by Debi Gliori
My Yellow Balloon by Tiffany Papageorge
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
Dewey's Christmas at the Library by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter
Red by Michael Hall
The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
Your Daddy Loves You by Tom Choquette (little girl)
Too Smart for Bullies by Deputy Sheriff Robert Kahn and Sharon Chandler
Too Safe for Strangers by Deputy Sheriff Robert Kahn
Super Chew to the Rescue! by Ronda L. Terrell
The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt
The Prince Who Was Just Himself by Silke Schnee
Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry
Good Night, Little Dragons by Leigh Ann Tyson
The Christmas Owl by Angela Muse
The Twelve Cats of Christmas by Kevin Whitlark
A Special Kind of Love by Stephen Michael King
Merry Christmas, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff
Waiting by Kevin Henkes
The Night Before the Night Before Christmas by Natasha Wing
Ladybug Pink by Laura Yirak

~ 2016 ~
Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Beuhner

~ 2017 ~
The Enchanted Horse by Magdalen Nabb



copyright Book Dragon's Lair 2009-2016

Arthurian Challenge

I seem to be finding my challenges late but here's another one that has already started. At least it doesn't end in December!
Challenge hosted by Becky of Becky's Book Reviews, Sign-ups are here.

When: April 2009 through March 2010

Goal: To read books starring characters found in or inspired by Arthurian legends. (King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin, Lady of the Lake, etc.) There are no set amount of books. Read one or two. Or read a dozen. You set the amount that feels good to you!

No lists are necessary. You can change your mind on WHAT your reading or should that be WHO you’re reading at any time.

If at any time you dislike a book, then feel free to discard it and pick up another. Don’t feel obligated to push through a book you don’t like on my account!!!

What about movies? What about graphic novels? What about comics? What about audio books? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All of those things count. So though it says 6-12 books. It can be a variety of things–book, movie, tv show, comic book, graphic novel, etc.

Kids books. YA books. Adult books. All count.

What about series books? Or series books in all-in-one editions? I’m leaving it up to you.

What about short stories or poetry? Yes and yes. Anything really can go.

What about rereads? Sure why not!

There is this movie I'm been meaning to watch again.... how wonderful that I can take a reading break but still complete a challenge! And if I sign up for the Disney Challenge and read the original Sword in the Stone story... and maybe watch the movie.....

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Banned Books Challenge

It seemed really silly not to join a challenge that fit so well with another one I'm doing. The other is 50 books and is perpetual this one is as many as you can/want but only during the specified dates.
Sign-ups, rules and other info is here


When: September 26th through October 3rd

I plan to read one banned book during this week.

1.

Clear off Your Shelves!

This one is a little different and I'm not sure I'll be able to do it but I want to try so I'm signing up! I've condensed her rules, complete rules are here. Click over and check it out then join me.

OPEN TO: anyone

WHAT: Books you own. Non-review books or review copies that have been on your shelves for over six months. No library books.

WHEN: October 1 to November 30

WHERE: at S. Krishna’s Books! (see link above)

HOW: No list necessary to begin. Pick a percentage. The challenge is that out of the books you read during Oct and Nov, a percentage must fit this challenge. There is minimum percentage of 20%. Keep track of all the books read - mark challenge ones somehow.



Now, I've got A LOT of review books to read before the end of the year and that many again checked out of the library. Most of these don't count so I'm going with the minimum of 20%.

~OCTOBER~
1. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much - review
2. Wake - library book
3. Vampire Academy - library book
4. Fade - library book
5. Discovering Dani
6. Benny & Shrimp - review
7. Causing Havoc
8. Simon Says
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.


~NOVEMBER~
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

More challenges???

Banned Books Challenge YES
9-26-09 to 10-3-09
This is ALA's Banned Books week and I only need to read ONE book. I might as well join, it will overlap two other challenges.

Much Ado About Shakespeare Next year?
9-1-09 to 4-26-10
Read/watch six books/movies by or inspired by Shakespeare


Operation Actually Read the Bible
perpetual
It's been a while since I went all the through, time to do it again.


National Book Award Project sign up later
perpetual
there are five levels of participation but... I'm going to read one book (winner or finalist) from each year, from 1950 on.


iPoe Story Reading Challenge still thinking about this one
perpetual
there are 73 unique works by Poe - read them all


Naming Conventions Challenge sounds great but maybe late 2010?
challenge lasts as many months as letters in your name - starts when you sign up.
1) Write down your first name (or whatever name you usually go by)
2) Do any or all of the following (i.e. do 2a and/or 2b and/or 2c):
2a) For each letter, pick an author whose last name starts with that letter.
2b) For each letter, pick an author whose first name starts with that letter.
2c) For each letter, pick a book that starts with that letter.



Disney Literature YES
perpetual
"works based on feature length films that are completely or partially animated"
The idea is to read the original story


PB & J Challenge YES
"Is it a traditional challenge? Yes and no. If you want to set a goal for yourself then yes it can be a traditional challenge. 12 picture books and 4 kids books (j fic) in three months or six months or whatever. But if you want to look at it as an ongoing, perpetual "challenge" then you may do that as well!"

I'm going to consider this a perpetual challenge and combine it with another challenge to re-read all the picture books in my house.


Reading in Order
perpetual
you've got to check this one out - read all the books in your stacks in alphabetical order! Well, that 's one of the choices, check out the link for others.



The Shannara books by Terry Brooks later
perpetual


Popular Penguins Reading Challenge later
perpetual
Penguin Books has an imprint of popular books - read them all - there are 99 right now.



Book a Week Yahoo Group YES
open to new member year round. I think I do this, it will be neat finding out it I do.

"A-book-a-week is a personal challenge group where members are encouraged to try to read at least one book a week. We share any thoughts we have on what we are reading and support each other in the goal of reading a book a week."


DogEar Reading Challenge no, do next year
8/1/09 to 12/31/09

1. A book featuring an animal
2. An adult fantasy book
3. A YA or juvenile fiction book
4. A non-fiction book on an obscure topic (or something you don't usually read about)
5. A book about plants, gardening, or food



Sci-Fi Reading Challenge I'll need to do this one next year too
8/28/09 to 8/8/10
Read 3.14 or 8 books (or audio books) of the science-fiction genre


Read It Again
perpetual
re-read old favorites
Do I want to make this official?



The Nattie Chalenge
keep checking on this one to see what the new challenge is.


Book Awards 3
"Are you up for a third? The challenge for Book Awards 3 will be slightly different. First of all, it will only last for 5 months, from July 1 through December 1, 2009. That is because Book Awards 4 will be from February 1 through December 1, 2010."

watch out for FOUR!



Project Fill-in the Gaps
now to 12-31-14

1.list of 100 books "to fill in some of her reading gaps of classics and great contemporary fiction"
2. read 75 of them

This might fit in with a couple of other challenge and it will give me a solid list and a fixed time frame. Almost 20 books a year? Maybe not.



Arthurian Challenge YES
4-1-09 to 3-31-10
Goal: To read books starring characters found in or inspired by Arthurian legends.
yea! movies okay!


George Elliot
1-1-09 to 6-1-10, yes I'm late but it's only two books and one of them is already on my list of maybe books. Changed mind
* Adam Bede, 1859
* The Mill on the Floss, 1860
* Silas Marner, 1861
* Romola, 1863
* Felix Holt, the Radical, 1866
* Middlemarch, 1871-72
* Daniel Deronda, 1876



watch for the one next year!
A Colorful Reading Challenge
January 1 - December 31, 2009

1. Read 9 books with 9 different colors in the title.
2. Six colors are required, while the last 3 can be your choice.
3. Books may be overlapped with other challenges.
4. At least 6 of the books should be new to you (doesn't matter which 6).

The Required Colors are: Blue, Red, White, Black, Silver, Gold



I not willing to do this one this year but hope it comes up again in 2010
Fall '09 Challenge



Found another one, S. Krishna’s Books is having a Clear off your Shelves challenge YES
Oct & Nov only. Check out the site for rules

Chill Baby, Chill!

Chill Baby, Chill
December 21, 2009 to March 19, 2010

Yea, yea, yea, I know, it isn't even Fall yet. I wanted a winter challenge and I can't add another book to my list! This seemed like the perfect alternative.

Rules:
1. Comment here with a link to your POST about the challenge - I'll get a participant list going.
2. read at least six books
3. comment with links to your reviews (if you review)
4. Just relax - read whatever you'd like or use this time to catch up on challenge books.
5. Do a wrap-up post at the end of March
6. Comment back here with your wrap-up link

Saturday, September 19, 2009

New Review Book Arrived this week



Across the Endless River
Thad Carhart


Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: September 1, 2009
format: Hardcover
pages: 320
Ages:
genre/category: Fiction

from the publisher
From the acclaimed bestselling author of The Piano Shop on the Left Bank, a historical novel about Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea, and his intriguing sojourn as a young man in 1820s Paris.

Born in 1805 on the Lewis and Clark expedition, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau was the son of the expedition's translators, Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. Across the Endless River compellingly portrays this mixed-blood child's mysterious boyhood along the Missouri among the Mandan tribe and his youth as William Clark's ward in St. Louis. The novel becomes a haunting exploration of identity and passion as eighteen-year-old Baptiste is invited to cross the Atlantic in 1823 with young Duke Paul of Württemberg.

During their travels throughout Europe, Paul introduces Baptiste to a world he never imagined. Gradually, Baptiste senses the limitations of life as an outsider. His passionate affair with Paul's older cousin helps him understand the richness of his heritage and the need to fashion his own future. But it is Maura, the beautiful and independent daughter of a French-Irish wine merchant Baptiste meets in Paris, who most influences his ultimate decision to return to the frontier.

Rich in the details of life in both frontier America and the European court, Across the Endless River is a captivating novel about a man at the intersection of cultures, languages, and customs.

From the Hardcover edition.

Friday, September 18, 2009

What do you mean BBAW is over???

I haven't been to see everyone yet!

I guess it is time to do dishes... maybe go grocery shopping... and my back is sore from sitting here typing all night, every night... then there's this book I saw on a blog and WON - it arrived Thursday.... and ten books at the library...

There is still time to enter my BBAW contests so check out the link up top. This really isn't good-bye, just let me take a real life break so my family knows I'm still around :-) then back to my regularly scheduled blog life!

Monday: Mailbox Monday and What are you Reading?
Tuesday: Teaser Tuesday and sometimes Where are you?
Wednesday: "Waiting On" Wed., A-Z Wed., and Wishful Wed.
Thursday: Introducing... and sometimes Tuesday Thingers (on Thursday)
Friday: Friday Finds
Saturday: Quote it Sat

and somewhere in all that, reviews get posted!

Wow, it looks like a lot when it's all laid out like that.

I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Amy and all who helped, blogged, hosted a giveaway or donated items and just tore their hair out over my, ahem, stupid questions. And to the wonderful blogging community. It has been a wonderful week. Now that I know where you are, I'll stop by.

Thank you to all my followers, I hit 60 and am thinking about what can of party I can throw when I hit 100! I hope I always have something to say worth hearing.

back later, nap time ;-) - Happy Reading,
Gina

BBAW Goals

Hopefully this week you’ve been visiting a bunch of new book blogs and maybe noticing some things about them you’d like to try yourself. Or maybe you’ve just had some ideas for improvements to your blog you’d like to put into place or new ideas for content. But there’s also probably something you really love about your blog, too, something you’re really proud of. It’s time to show off! Tell us and this is really important, in 50 words or less what you love best about your blog! And then in 50 words or less where you want your blog to be by the next BBAW! Ready? GO!


I love my clean, simple lines and that I'm still evolving.

One year? I want more, more, more! More consistency. More reviews. More giveaways. More friends! Maybe fewer challenges *blush* I'd like to be blogging as much next year as I am now. Maybe some bling, a third column and a dedicated .com (bookdragonslair.com). More time to visit you!

Friday Finds

A Weekly Event hosted by mizb at Should be Reading
The idea is to share, every Friday, about books that you’ve recently discovered (never heard of before) that sound really good!

Every Friday, those who have blogs will write a post at their own blog, and then come back and leave others a link to follow on that week’s “Friday Finds” post here at Should Be Reading. For those who don’t blog, you can just tell us about your “Friday Finds” in a comment on that week’s post. )

Let’s try to keep this clean… that’s all I ask, okay?
found at Pickle Me This

The Incident Report
Martha Baillie


Pedlar Press
April 22, 2009
195 pages
paperback ( 8.4 x 5.8 inches)


The Incident Report, both mystery and love story, daringly explores the fragility of our individual identities. Strikingly original in its structure, comprised of 140 highly distilled, lyric reports, the novel depicts the tensions between private and public storytelling, the subtle dynamics of a socially exposed workplace. The Incident Report is a novel of gestures, one that invites the reader to be astonished by the circumstances its characters confront. Reports on bizarre public behaviour intertwine with reports on the private life of the novels narrator. Shifting constantly between harmony and dissonance, elegant in its restraint and excitingly contemporary, The Incident Report takes the pulse of our fragmented urban existence with detachment and wit, while a quiet tragedy unfolds.



Found on amazon after I went to check out a Friday Finds I found on Should be Reading

The Librarian's Book of Quotes
Compiled by Tatyana Eckstrand


American Library Association
May 30, 2009
paperback (6.3 x 5.4 inches)
117 pages


Celebrate librarianship and the love of libraries with this charming collection of quotes! Tatyana Eckstrand has compiled nearly three hundred of the most insightful, thought-provoking, and inspiring aphorisms about the library profession. Writers from Shakespeare to Ray Bradbury and librarians from John Cotton Dana to Nancy Pearl are gathered together to sing the praises of librarians' skills, values, and the amazing institutions they support. Citations are provided to the original source material, and a handy biographical dictionary provides background on individuals who may not be household names. With its broad selection of sayings that pay honor to their work and commitment, "The Librarian's Book of Quotes" is a perfect gift for information professionals and lovers of libraries.


found at Barnes & Noble - Author signing!

Fight Like a Girl...and Win
Lori Hartman Gervasi


St. Martin's Griffin
August 21, 2007
304 pages
paperback (8 x 5.6 inches)


It’s an unfortunate reality that women are susceptible to random acts of aggression, from sexual harassment and stalking to physical assaults, domestic violence, date rape and worse. But women can learn how to protect and defend themselves—with this groundbreaking guidebook. Let martial arts black belt and accomplished journalist Lori Hartman Gervasi walk you through easy-to-follow, everyday steps for taking charge of your personal safety, training your reflexes, and—if and when the time comes—using force. Her program consists of 26 potentially life-saving decisions that every woman must make…along with Defense Do’s And Don’ts, inspiring “Power Points,” and other survival tactics that can help you to be prepared, stay strong, and Fight Like a Girl...and Win.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Wait Until Twilight

The author sent me this book for review. Thank you!

Wait Until Twilight
Sang Pak


Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Release Date: August 4, 2009
format: Trade paperback
pages: 240
Ages: publisher says 18+
genre: Psychological Thriller

from the publisher

A hauntingly strange and powerfully affecting debut novel that heralds the arrival of a unique and captivating literary voice, Sang Pak's Wait Until Twilight is a coming-of-age story that explores the complex darkness infecting a damaged psyche in a small Southern town.

Not long after his own mother's death, sixteen-year-old Samuel discovers a set of deformed triplets hidden behind closed doors in his sleepy Georgia community. The babies—whose shut-in mother believes they were immaculately conceived and whose menacing brother is a constant threat—take control of Samuel's every waking and sleeping thought. His only escape, he realizes, will be to save the monster children. But to do so, he must rein in his darkest impulses as he undergoes a profound transformation from motherless boy to self-defined man—because sometimes the most terrible monsters are those that live inside us all.

My thoughts
It took me a while to get into this one and at one point I decided to give it one more chapter before throwing in the towel. I finished the book.

It wasn't the writing. It wasn't the characterization. It was the creep factor. Sang Pak brings us a bully in vivid full-color and the triplets? *shudder*

I liked the relationship with his mother (yes, I know she's dead), the Dad's project and enjoyed how it ended. I can't tell you much more then what the publishers did or it will spoil things for you. I feel that the author did what he set out to do. Creep me out.

I'll be adding Sang Pak to my author to watch list. It will be interesting to see what his fertile mind comes up with next.

content warning
psychotic bully


Buy link to amazon.com

Amazon.com Sales Rank, as of 9-17: #907,852 in Books

BBAW the tbr shelf

I saw this on Melissa's blog at The Betty and Boo Chronicles but haven't seen it at the BBAW's site. She did a fantastic job with this assignment, you should check it out.


Scorch and friends playing under the watchful eye of his Dad....

Not exactly my "shelf" because my books a scattered around but these are books I hope to read THIS YEAR as well as a couple for challenges that go into 2010. The center group are my review books. I've got to do one a week and so far, so good.

Upclose view. All except one were books I said yes too. One was sent with no note! I don't know if it was a thank you for a previous review or a please review me request. Watch for the reviews and maybe a giveaway or two. There is book jewelry on a couple that I've already started.


These are just close up shots of the rest in case you were interested. I don't know if you can read the titles or not. I wish I had noticed the gold dragon covers the cat on Homer's Odyssey.

I may not get them all read (I actually have 42 that must be read for challenges!) this year but I'll be happy if the review books are read/reviewed and enough others are read to complete a couple of challenges.

What does your shelf look like?

Happy Reading,
Gina
Disclaimer

In accordance to the FTC guidelines, I must state that I make no monetary gains from my reviews or endorsements here on Book Dragon's Lair. All books I review are either borrowed, purchased by me, given as a gift, won in some kind of contest, or received in exchange for an honest review.