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!)

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Read-a-Fest

Just a quick post so I can sign up.....J. Kay's Book Blog is hosting a Lisa Jackson Read-a-Fest

Not a challenge, but rather a, well, she explains it so much better....

I'm not sure how many books I can read before June 30th, I wish I knew where my Lisa Jackson books were! I may need to overlap with my "Support Your Local Library" challenge with this one.

People of the Book

People of the Book
Geraldine Brooks

Penguin
December 2008
400 pages
fiction > literary
(finished reading: Jan. 20)

from the back cover: "Hanna Heath, an Australian rare book expert, has been offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding-an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair-she begins to unlock the book's mysteries, ushering in its exquisite and atmospheric past, from its salvation back to its creation through centuries of exile and war."

It says it's inspired by a true story but I enjoyed the book as wonderful fiction without the need to find the true story to compare.


This book is actually two stories. One is the book itself. One is Hanna's life of family & friends, love & betrayal. We have the conservation of the book and finding the fragments and each artifact gives us double stories, her search today of the why of it's placement and the then why of it's placement. I'm sure the "then" why of it's placement part is what makes this fiction ;)

We also have Hanna. Why was she chosen when she is not the top of the field? The relationships she has with family and friends. This story also has betrayal & more betrayal. And redemption.

This story sucked me in and wouldn't let me go. I loved the detail we got on the process of conservation without it being too heavy. Hanna's experiences in the now and what she was willing to do to find the story. But the "then" part of the book was my favorite. Hanna would find an insect wing and then we would get to read how it got there, way back when. It was fabulous!

This was a new author for me and I felt such satisfaction when I finished, I wanted to go out and purchase all of her books. I haven't done that yet, wondering if the others will live up to this one.

5+ stars: I'm keeping this one but want EVERYONE to read it!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Books Read in March

Total titles/bindings: 43
Total pages read: 7,229
average read per day: 233


I’m reading less because I’ve picked up a crochet hook. My profile has another blog where I’ll post pictures once I get them taken! I may be reading less but it was still 42 titles! I’ve almost given up reviewing all of them!

New-to-me (print) fiction: If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, A Single Thread, Counting Stars, Killed By Clutter, The Matchmakers, Dogs and Goddesses


New non-fiction: The Fit Factor (not counting recipe pages)


Re-reads:
Key of Valor, There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon, Heartmate, The Dragonling, A Dragon in the Family, The Duke & I, Brighter than the Sun, Hide, The Viscount Who Loved Me, An Offer From a Gentleman

Books/Pages Read information for March

Total titles/bindings: 43 (some were very, very, short but still a single binding)
Total pages read: 7,229
average read per day: 233

Pages Title

352 Key of Valor
_32 If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
_32 There’s No Such Thing as a Dragon
288 A Single Thread
388 Counting Stars
352 Heartmate
_60 The Dragonling
_60 A Dragon in the Family
337 Killed By Clutter
186 The Matchmakers
388 Dogs and Goddesses
371 The Duke & I
384 Brighter than the Sun
480 Hide
352 The Viscount Who Loved Me
358 An Offer From a Gentleman
163 The Fit Factor (not including recipe pages)
161 The One That Got Away
_34 Second Chances
_32 How it Should Be
__8 Room to Run
_13 Santa’s Little Helper
_14 Initiating Kyle
_60 Journey’s End
__9 Just Like in the Movies
126 A Helping Hand
_63 Object of His Desire
_94 Falling in Controlled Circumstances
_34 Reunion
_14 Valentine’s Day Surprise
_27 The Pet Promise
207 Polar Reaction
246 A Promise Kept
_73 A Ghost of a Chance
276 Drawn Together
_55 An Inconvenient Hankering
301 A Note in the Margin
_12 Heat.Seeking.Missile
_36 Affair in Paradise
190 Perfect Formation
256 Broken Boundaries
_19 Behind the Lens
286 By Degrees
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.