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Archive for March, 2015

Book 5 from the 2014 Booklist: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

Sunday, March 8th, 2015

Finished: February 6

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

This is book 2 in the series/trilogy I spoke about in this post .

The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.

Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan’s peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.

Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what’s ahead.

More Alek and Darren Sharp of course. ๐Ÿ™‚

I really do love the Perspicacious loris… which I think doesn’t really show up until this book a lot.

When looking for some of my favorite quotes, I couldn’t find them.. other than “barking spiders” and using the word “daft” lol.

Oh, and I love Doctor Barlow, she’s always good for a laugh, intentionally or otherwise. ๐Ÿ™‚

Thanks again to RO!

She’s always good at giving book suggestions! ๐Ÿ™‚

TaTa for now,
Amanda Ellen

Book 4 from the 2014 Booklist: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Saturday, March 7th, 2015

Finished: February 4

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
**Edit**
Sorry to say, that if you want this book, you’ll have to do a search on Audible as it seems the version I purchased is no longer available.
Sorry!
-Amanda Ellen
****

This book is a guilty pleasure of mine. If you recall, back a few years ago Twilight was a big deal… and well, I really, really, really liked the Twilight series.

So much so, that I made note of the book Bella made many references to, in her plight between Edward and Jacob.

That was, you guessed it, Wuthering Heights.

I had it on my mental list of books to read, but never got around to it… always finding something else I knew would be funner to read.

Well, I’m glad I read this… because I really enjoyed it. It’s a hard book to read, because one, it’s really old, and 2, you really have to pay attention to what’s going on to follow the story.

I will now proceed to bombard this post with my favorite quotes:
โ€œI wish you had sincerity enough to tell me whether Catherine would suffer greatly from his loss: the fear that she would restrains me. And there you see the distinction between our feelings: had he been in my place and I in his, though I hated him with a hatred that turned my life to gall, I never would have raised a hand against him. You may look incredulous, if you please! I never would have banished him from her society as long as she desired his. The moment her regard ceased, I could have torn his heart out, and drunk his blood! But, till then – if you don’t believe me, you don’t know me – till then, I would have died by inches before I touched a single hair of his head!โ€ -Heathcliff

โ€œYou loved me-then what right had you to leave me? What right-answer me-for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart- you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.” ~Heathcliffโ€

โ€œAnd I pray one prayer–I repeat it till my tongue stiffens–Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you–haunt me, then! The murdered DO haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts HAVE wandered on earth. Be with me always–take any form–drive me mad! only DO not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I CANNOT live without my life! I CANNOT live without my soul!” -Heathcliff

“โ€œIt’s a rough journey, and a sad heart to travel it; and we must pass by Gimmerton Kirk, to go that journey! We’ve braved its ghosts often together, and dared each other to stand among the graves and ask them to come. But Heathcliff, if I dare you now, will you venture? If you do, I’ll keep you. I’ll not lie there by myself; they may bury me twelve feet deep, and throw the church down over me, but I won’t rest till you are with me. I never will!”
She paused, and resumed with a strange smile, “He’s considering-he’d rather I’d come to him! Find a way, then! not through that Kirkyard. You are slow! Be content, you always followed me!โ€ Catherine

โ€œI was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung my out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I’ve no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn’t have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he’s handsome, but because he’s more myself than I am. What ever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire.’
Ere this speech ended, I became sensible of Heathcliff’s presence. Having noticed a slight movement, I turned my head, and saw him rise from the bench, and steal out noiselessly. He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him, and then he stayed to hear no further.โ€ -Nelly

This is a love story, but these characters are so bad, horrible people… but you still have to awe the love they had for each other, and the lengths in which they went to try to make it work.

If you have the time and can follow closely, I suggest this book, it’s a great classic.

TaTa for Now,
Amanda Ellen

Book 3 from the 2014 Booklist: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Saturday, March 7th, 2015

Finished: January 22, 2014
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

This was a book suggestion from our favorite book junkie, RO!!
It’s the first in a trilogy that I admit was better than I expected!

I was always intrigued with the phrases that RO would throw out randomly on her Twitter and Facebook.

“Barking Spiders” or “Stupid clankers.” Just to name a couple. ๐Ÿ™‚

When she even went as far as to change her name on Facebook once to Darren Sharp, that is when I had to ask what series or book had her so enthralled that she could be so influenced.

That would be this series, the Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld.
I had known for some time that Scott Westerfeld is like her most favorite author ever, but I never thought I would read any of his stuff since he’s a young adult writer, and I am always all about the dark, gloomy, and murder kinds of books. haha

But I gave it a shot because the first one showed up in another Audible sale.

Then Taylor and I were hooked, just like RO. Having to follow Darren Sharp, the Perspicacious loris, Alec and the rest of the crew.

The eggs always fascinated me, what could the Darwinists be hatching? What kind of machinery would the clankers come up with next?

And what about Constantinople, would that be the key to everything?

It’s a young adult story, but it’s a fun one… even for those of us who are old souls and a little bit of a curmudgeon.

Thanks RO!!

TaTa for Now,
Amanda Ellen

Book 2 from the 2014 Booklist: Don’t Scream by Wendy Corsi Staub

Saturday, March 7th, 2015

Finished: January 15, 2014
Don’t Scream by Wendy Corsi

Don’t Tell A Soul. . .

In a remote, heavily wooded area near the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Rachel Lorant died on her birthday. But she didn’t die alone. That night, her four sorority sisters make a solemn, trembling pledge. They will never reveal what has just happened in those woods – ever. Instead, they will take their terrible secret to their graves.

Don’t Think About The Past. . .

Now, ten years later, their secret is coming back to haunt them as each receives a card in the mail from Rachel: “Happy Birthday to Me. xoxo R.” It’s clear that someone knows what happened that night. Someone is stalking them and sending mysterious, chilling gifts that only they can understand – deadly warnings of what is to come. For the sins of the past have come back with a vengeance, and a killer will see that they all pay in blood.

And Whatever You Do – Don’t Scream. . .

Brynn Costello has never felt such pure fear. She didn’t want any part in what happened so long ago, but now, the mother of two will do anything to stay alive and protect her family – even if it means matching wits with a killer she can’t see…a twisted psychopath who is closer than she thinks and who is saving her death for last.

I admit, I took horrible notes on this book, and my memory fails me slightly on the ending…
but do I remember some of the important parts.

This was an Audible sale book, and I remember when I read the above description that it was kind of a “I know What You Did Last Summer” type of thing.
Which is of course why I bought it… I was hoping it would be good and be a slasher type as well.

It did not disappoint, I was very pleased with the twist and turns this author threw at me, and I even have it on my books I will reread… because some of the scenes… the birthday party.. oh my!

HAHA, I really suggest that you grab this book if you want a little mystery, a little betrayal, and a whole lot of messed up…

It was a very good book.

TaTa for Now,
Amanda Ellen

Book 1 from the 2014 Book list: Doctor Sleep: A Novel by Stephen King

Saturday, March 7th, 2015

Finished: January 8, 2014
Doctor Sleep: A Novel by Stephen King

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless – mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky 12-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival.

Wow, this book. I loved the Shining. I was over joyed when I found out there was another installment.

This was not what I was expecting, but I was not unpleasantly surprised. Little Danny is all grown up, and helping someone else with “The Shine”. ๐Ÿ™‚

The True are really weird, and seriously creepy… but a good antagonist for this King book. I really think the Shining was probably better, but that’s because the eeriness and the ambience of the book was totally different, almost darker.

Dr. Sleep was a little less dark, but no means light hearted, I mean this is Stephen King after all.

I think if you can stomach The Shining, then Dr. Sleep is a logical next step, and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

TaTa for Now,
Amanda Ellen