Sherlock

I recently decided that American made TV shows (especially ones on HBO, Showtimes, Starz, and Cinemax) are tacky, violent, and glorify sex in a way I did not want to watch. Maybe I should clarify; I recently parched the show Camelot excited for a new telling of the legend of King Arthur. I will admit that I have enjoyed the writers take on how Arthur came to power, his knights, and Lady Guinevere; one thing that leaves me wondering is: Could they have told this story without all the nudity and sex? I guess this makes me a prude, but I would like to enjoy a show for its merits, not how often I see someone’s skin.

After coming to the aforementioned conclusion I decided to order some BBC shows online. I am waiting diligently for December 2012 for “The Hobbit”, and I think that was one of the main factors driving my decision to order Sherlock Season 1. I need to say that I've never really been a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I have seen the 2 Sherlock movies with Robert Downey Jr., and enjoyed how brilliant Sherlock Holmes is. With this knowledge it seemed Sherlock would be a good choice for a TV show to purchase.

Sherlock blew me away! This contemporary Sherlock is amazingly brilliant. Benedict Cumberbatch is what I imagine Sherlock Holmes to be, from the way he looks, to his voice, even down to how he dresses; he embodies what my limited knowledge of Sherlock Holmes. Martin Freeman (aka Bilbo) plays Dr. Watson a returning war veteran who needs a roommate, and ends up living with Sherlock, and helping him on his ‘dangerous’ cases.

This show is well written, well acted, and has that touch of class I’ve been missing in my TV shows. There were times that I had to pause or rewind my DVD because I was laughing-crying so hard I was missing what happened next. After seeing season 1 I cannot wait for season 2 (in the US), and more to come. It has left me wanting to go to my library and find the works of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle to learn more about the crazy brilliant Sherlock Holmes, and his friend Dr. Watson, and there adventures.

Game Night with Puck...

Julie Kagawa is holding a contest for us to win a signed ARC of The Iron Knight.

To win, you must answer this question: "If you had one day with Ash (or Puck), what would you do?"

Game night with Puck…

I would invite Puck over for game night with friends

Puck showed up late afternoon to ‘help’ me set up for game night. While I’m getting the snacks ready in the kitchen Puck offers to pick out the music to ‘set the mood’ for a fun game night. Hearing a few bangs I walk out to the living room to see what he’s up to, and find that he has put some kind of spell on my furniture and they are now stuck to the ceiling. When I ask him why he did this, he simply told me, “It has better feng shui this way.”

Frustrated that he is going to kill my party before anyone gets here, I drag him to the kitchen to help me get the food ready. I’m planning a simple menu of finger foods, egg rolls, potato skins, fruit, veggies, ect., and for desert we’ll have a mini cheese cakes. Figuring that Puck can’t mess up putting the cherries on my cheese cakes that is the task he is given.

Soon my guest start to arrive and as I guide them into my living room, Puck is sitting in one of my chairs, still hanging upside down, in its new more feng shui spot; flipping out of it he lands with the grace of an Olympic gymnast in front of my friend Amy as she walks in.

The evening continues with little incident as we play charades movie quotes, until my friend Tim gets the movie quote “You Shall Not Pass” from Lord of the Rings, and suddenly Tim is gone and I have Gandalf standing in my living room. Trying to calm it down I go to get my fancy desert, and in their place I find rat shaped cheese cakes with a big cherry nose.

As I stand in my kitchen contemplating if I can serve rat shaped cheese cake I hear dance club music pounding through my walls; thinking that the neighbor has turned up their music again I go to apologize to my guest. “I’m sorry-” is all I get out as I stand in horror. Puck has turned all my friends into their charades character, and my living room into a dance club. Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz is dancing with Gandalf as Toto growls and attacks his beard. Davy Jones is dancing with Minerva McGonagall, but instead of using his hand to hold her he is using his tentacles, and to top it off Hannibal Lector is stroking Elizabeth Bennett’s hair as they sway to the music.

Before I can react I hear someone speaking at my feet, “Human, those look delicious. May I?” It’s a gray cat. I don’t remember anyone pretending to be an animal I think as I offer it a cheese cake. “Who are you?” I ask.

“Oh, me. I’m Grimalkin. I like to attend parties Robin has been invited to, they are always so interesting.” I’m gaping at him open mouthed in shock. Licking his front paw he says, “That rat was divine, would you mind if I have another before they all get away?” I look at my tray to find that all my cheese cakes have turned into live rats that are now climbing on my arms, and faint dead away.

The next morning I wake up with a horrible headache, and the memory of a weird dream. Going to my living room I see my friends in various stages of awful. Then a gray cat curled up in the corner of the room catches my eye, lazily he lifts his head and says, “That’s what you get when you invite Robin Goodfellow to a party.”

For more information on Julie Kagawa or the Iron Fey series visit her blog:

http://juliekagawa.blogspot.com/2011/08/iron-knight-arc-contest-day-with-ash-or.html

The Power of Six

Living in the middle of nowhere isn’t very fun. I’m busy and don’t want to drive an hour to a bookstore, (well the closest bookstore just closed) so maybe an hour and a half one way to a book store. Because of this I have been ordering books online, but waiting for them to arrive is almost as bad as a three hour round trip to the bookstore.

I pre-ordered The Power of Six, and it didn’t arrive until Saturday afternoon, so of course I was excited to read it. I loved the story of I am Number Four, even if I did have some ‘problems’ with how it was written. I’m not an alien type of person, but I like the Lorien’s and am rooting for them to win their war.

This book has a few of the ‘old guys’ in it: John Smith, Sam, and Six (we learn her name this time around), but it also added new Lorien’s. We spend about have the book in Spain with Number 7, and meet a few others along the way.

Pittacus Lore does a nice job of helping us connect with his characters, but I still feel a little disconnected. At places I feel like Six is telling the story, and then in the same sentence it feels like John is talking. I had to reread these parts to understand whose voice was telling the story. I do feel it was an improvement over I am Number Four where it felt like a diary or journal.

In conclusion I really really enjoy the story/ plot of the Lorien Legacies, I just have to look past my ‘voice’ issues with the series and enjoy the story.

The Magnolia League

So this last weekend I read a few books. The first one was: The Magnolia League by Katie Crouch. It's about a girl (Alex) who grew up with her hippy mom on an organic farm in California. Tragedy strikes when her mother dies in a horrible car accident. Knowing nothing about her family she stays at the RC (organic farm) until one day a lawyer for her grandmother shows up to take her to Savannah, Georgia to live with her grandmother.

Savannah, Georgia is the equivalent of the other side of the world to Alex for all the differences between her world and her grandmother’s world. She dreams of ‘going home’, but when she gets there it’s not the same, and she strangely wants to go back to her new normal.

Slowly she starts to become part of her grandmother’s world of southern bells, and debutantes, but she knows something isn’t right. The more she finds out the weirder it becomes. Her grandmothers group the Magnolia League is using hoodoo to fulfill their deepest desires, and Alex it drawn to this mysterious power.

I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys modern day fairy tales, supernatural books, and magic. It has good twists, and a cute guy. Happy Reading -- Enjoy

Geography Lesson anyone???

Oh the agony of waiting for books ordered online. I ordered my books last Saturday, and now it’s Friday, and I feel like I will never receive my books. I know I live in a small state (Iowa) in the middle of nowhere; flyover country for most people. Looking at the tracking they gave me, I wonder if someone needs a few lessons in geography. By the looks of it my books are doing more traveling then I am this summer.

'Wildefire' by Karsten Knight

Wow, is all I have to say! I just finished 'Wlidefire' by Karsten Knight. It was one of those books I just couldn't put down. The book was good until I reached the last paragraph, and it turned from a good book into a GREAT book. I dropped my book as I finished it, because it took a turn I didn't expect- but probably should have seen coming.

'Wildefire' is about a girl named Ashline Wilde who is trying to get a fresh start by moving across the county to a small private boarding school. While she is there she learns that she and some of her new friends are gods reincarnated in to moral bodies. As she is learning to cope with this new twist in her life some of the demons of her past come back to hunt her and her new friends.

This YA novel has all the requirements of a great series:

1. A hot love interest
2. Bonds of friendship
3. Action
4. And of course the most important thing… A good plot.

If your a lover of the YA novels like I am then I recommend this book.

Happy Reading