Books Read - January

I've been recording my books as I read them this last month. I thought it would be fun to actually have an  idea of how many books I've read, what they were, and what types of books. So here's the results for this month:

Just for the heck of it I made a pie chart. Why? Cuz I'm just that weird. Some books cross over into more than on category, like "How to speak Dragonese" is both Juvenile (JV) Fiction and Fantasy :)

I haven't figured out how to add the labels yet :P So the big purple section is fantasy - big surprise right? 14 books fall into that categories. The rose color is JV Fiction at 6. Scifi and YA are orange and light blue and they are both 2 books. The remaining 3 categories (Romance, Adventure, Dark Fantasy) account for the smallest sections at 1 book each.

And letting go of my type A personality now to go and craft LOL

June was Bleak

I didn't get much writing done this month :( But the good news is that I seem to be getting better again, finally, and we think we have a good idea what's going on this time! I'll do more updating on that later :) Here's what did get published this last month:

Daily Life:

My Life - The Grand Adventure

Hooray!

Writing:

Writing ADD #18

Writing ADD #19

Writing ADD #20

Striking Thoughts - Part 1

Books:

Tapping the Dream Tree by Charles de Lint

Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey

The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Shadow Gate by Kate Elliot

Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand By Gail Carson Levine

Only 11 posts last month :( But I think I'm on the upswing and I'll get a bunch more done this next month - the last week is a good indicator that I will!

Geeks Like Me

This is entirely my elf sisters fault. Seriously. You can blame her. See - it's even on her blog!

Pick 20 movies/books/video games and put their summaries from Better than it Sounds and, WITHOUT CHEATING, have your friends guess.

I'll give you a hint though ;)

Tv Shows:

1. A DHS agent, a mad scientist, and a high-school dropout solve mysteries with dubious scientific techniques. (Fringe - La)

2. A super-strong cheerleader, a Jewish computer nerd witch, a goofy slacker, and the school librarian fight undead (mostly) monsters of the week while their personal lives turn into a soap opera. Beloved people die with depressing regularity. (Buffy - Cecily)

3. A spy who can't fire a gun helps people by using everyday items in unconventional ways. (Macguyver - Cecily)

4. A gorgeous but socially clueless genius anthropologist solves murders involving really icky decomposition with a street-smart and equally gorgeous wisecracking FBI agent. UST ensues. They are helped by a socially retarded supergenius, a conspiracy-theorist slime expert, and a good-hearted, free-spirited artist. (Bones - Meri & Cecily)

5. Three men and four hundred extras travel through space in their futuristic living room/model UN club. (Star Trek TOS - Cecily)

Movies:

1. A commercial for granola bars causes a schizophrenic ninety pound girl and a Shell Shocked Senior to topple a government. (Serenity - Meri & Cecily)

2. Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles. It doesn't sound too bad. (Princess Bride - Meri & Cecily)

3. A neurotic ballet dancer takes singing lessons from a serial killer who lives behind her dressing-room mirror. (Phantom of the Opera - Meri & Cecily)

4. Smartass kid neglects his education, shamelessly manipulates the sympathy of his parents and those around him and, for his own self-gratification, triggers a series of events that results in the destruction of his best friend's father's priceless car. Without remorse. Despite this, everyone loves him. (Ferris Bheulers Day Off - Cecily)

5. An anti-social teenager sees visions of an anthropomorphic rabbit, has a jet engine crash into his room, and has one month to prevent the end of the world... which he is the cause of. (Donnie Darko - Cecily)

Books (some may be movies as well):

1. Opinionated young woman meets snob and doesn't like him, until it turns out that she does. (Pride and Prejudice - Cecily)

2. Girl finds an alternate universe in a closet. Jesus is shaved. (The Lion, The Witch, and Wardrobe - Meri & Cecily)

3. A drunken cynic, a middle-aged fat guy, a kleptomaniac midget, and the world's tallest dwarf save their hometown from a dragon. (Guards! Guards! - Meri)

4. Four sisters with very different personalities grow up next door to a boy who plays the piano. One of them dies. (Little Women - Meri & Cecily)

5. Obsessive control-freak stalker and self-confessed cannibal breaks into the house of a hybristophiliac girl with age and appearance issues and low self-esteem, watches her sleep, goes through her dirty laundry, attempts to intimidate her with displays of his physical prowess and rare dermatological disorder, and reminds her at every opportunity that he wants to kill and eat her. It's a love story. (Really NOT better than it sounds.) (Twilight Saga - Cecily)

6. Three kids use The Power Of Love to help save the universe from a disembodied brain who's really big on conformity. (A Wrinkle in Time - Teri)

7. A young man travels into a magical kingdom to find a meteor to give his girlfriend, except the meteor is another woman. (Stardust - Cecily)

8. Ten-year-old girl with gender identity issues decides to become a professional crossdresser. (Allanna - the First Adventure - Meri & Cecily)

9. Girl pursues a lagomorph into a land ruled by playing cards, bad logic, and nursery rhymes. (Alice in Wonderland - Meri & Cecily)

10. Teenager teams up with a dragon and an old guy to get revenge on some strangers and rescue an elf. (Eragon - La)

Have fun scratching your head :)

Meet Jessica!

I'm going to do something a little different today - I want to introduce you to a blogger that I've had a lot of fun getting to know! So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy getting to know Jessica :) And sorry if it feels a little like joining a conversation in progress...

JM: What do your user names mean? I know your blog is "Nayu's Reading Realm" and then your user name when you leave comments shows up as "Yunaleska." I've always been curious!

Jessica: User names - oh these always have people guessing. Someone once thought it was Swedish/Scandinavian.Yunaleska is the main character in Square Enix's (formerly Squaresoft) Playstation 2 game Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. I'm a huge FF fan, and I tend to use names of the heroines as usernames. I figured that Yunaleska might be under copyright laws, so I swapped it around to create Nayuleska (as I'm known on twitter). All credit to Square Enix for such a fab internet name. And for such brilliant games! (Me, advertising? Yes. I'm FF obsessed).

JM: You've told me you live in England but you miss the States - where are you actually from? Where did you live in the States? What part of England do you live in? Why do you live in England?

Jessica: Oh I ought to explain - I'm English born and bred. I visited Florida when I was little (Mickey Mouse played a part) and I loved the atmosphere, how friendly everyone was - it was all genuine. I went twice, and loved it both times. This year I got to visit Annapolis in Maryland. Definitely a different state to Floriday (duh!) but the friendliness was there. It's hard to explain exactly what it is about America that I love, but I like the culture. I adore the choice of food in the supermarkets. I find it funny the different terms with have for the same item

• Eggplant = aubergine
• cilantro = corriander
• oatmeal = porridge

I love the space in the towns, I love the huge houses, I love oreos and I'm a huge fan of Hershey's (secretly wishes Hershey's would send me chocolate to review!). America happens to get anime dvds before Europe...which annoys me a little. Plus I love the weather (although I don't think I would enjoy hurricanes). I love Starbucks, which is over here in England.

I live in the South of England. We don't get the heavy snow in winter, but we get a bit. Enough that I got snowed in and couldn't get to work - yes, I did get extra reading in then. Although I moan about the weather (rain, rain, and lots of cloud), we are fortunate not to have too much flooding or natural disasters. I like tea - I prefer jasmine and green tea to 'normal' English tea. I love strawberries, I sometimes prefer the English book covers to the American ones. I love our icecream (although American icecream is also yummy). I live in England because I was born here. Maybe one day I'll emigrate. Or, failing that, spend more time in America! (places I want to visit: Hawaii, Alaska. And Maryland again.)

JM: Well if you ever visit the great North West let me know :)

I had no idea that cilantro and corriander were the same thing! That's funny :P I love cilantro!

What got you started blogging?

Jessica: Believe me I was completely stumped whenever a recipe said 'cilantro'.

What started me blogging - it was actually the desire to spread the word about books. I loved the idea of being a book reviewer. I have few friends who share the same taste in books as me, so I have a limited outlet when I want to rave about books. I've always admired my fellow blog book reviewers. I feel they are articulate and give a good analysis of books. One of them said I ought to try book reviewing. So I set up my blog. They said it might be time before publishers send me books for review, but I didn't mind that. I was all set to review books solely from my library and my small collection. But then slowly more publishers said yes they'll send me books, and the blogging went from there.

I also have a writing blog, which is where I can relax. I can yell about how useful (or not) my Muse is being, groan about revisions, and just generally update on how I'm doing.

I aim to put a book review up each day, but lately life hasn't let me do that. I always try and read a book a day (it is possible...most of the time). I'm in catch up mode, and should be back on track soon. I'm thankful that people are understanding of life's curve balls!

I hope you've had a lot of fun getting to know Jessica! Check out her reviews at Nayu's Reading Corner!

6 Things That Make Me Happy

I've been tagged! Now I don't pass tags on that often (too much else to write about!) but this one is just perfect! Why? Because this is basically the topic I was going to post on today anyway! How cool is that? It's a slightly different approach, but hey, that just meant I had to reorganize my brain :P Probably good for me I'm guessing right? 

First I would like to say a huge THANKS to my dear friend Kayla over at the Eclectic Element for tagging me. She's a constant source of sunshine in my life and today is no exception :) 

6 Things That Make Me

HAPPY!!!!!

Sunshine and Dragonfly's

Seriously - I love the sun! And I live in the great Northwest where it rains all the time. 

Go figure eh?

Ps. Click on the picture to go to it's listing!

Books and the Library

I love books! They are my escape, my passion, my pleasure. I also love living close to a well stocked library! I mean, every once in awhile they disappoint me, but I'm able to find so many books! With out the local library this poor girl would be in dire straights indeed.

Wonderful and Crazy Artist Friends

Seriously - you guys keep me going! When I'm having a bad day I know I'll be able to come on-line, find one of you, and you'll cheer me up! Even if I don't tell you I'm having a bad day :P I also love all the crazy and awesome things you come up with. Like this sock monkey by my friend Amy. Isn't he cute? His name is James :) Click on the picture to go to it's listing!

Fresh Fruit!

Ok, so the picture below is for a candle (how cool is that? click on the pic to go to the listing) but I LOVE fresh fruit! I love this time of year for that reason :) Fresh berries, fruit salads, PINEAPPLE! Ah...life is good :)

Jewelry

Not so much the owning, but the creation of it. I love coming up with new designs and I love that it's something I can do to feel my days when I feel utterly rotten. And yes, you guessed it, clicking on the picture will take you to the listing ;)

Hulu.com

If you've never been to hulu.com - your missing out! Hulu hosts a variety of tv shows and movies for FREE. Can you guess what I'm often doing while bead weaving? That's right, catching up on my favorite shows on hulu :) Which is extra nice because we don't get tv reception in my apartment! I'd go crazy (erm, crazier?) without hulu!

Now I'm not much for passing these on - so if you feel like doing it go ahead!

Taking a Lazy Day

Ok, so I do often take Sundays a little slower than the rest of the week, but this week my body isn't giving me much choice. I had a really bad asthma attack on Thursday and I've had several follow up attacks after it. So I've been pretty tired. Now my lovely head decided it wants to chime in because of the stress of the attacks - and I can't find my migraine medicine! Grrrr...

Fortunately as the day has gone on it's gotten a little bit better bit by bit. I spent half the morning in bed trying to block out the entire world. Eventually, when my eyes decided to refocus, I was able to read. Ever wonder how I read so many books? Blame the asthma and migraines! I finished one fantasy book this morning, read a children's book, and started on a new fantasy! Yes, I also read pretty fast :P

Am I weird that my day doesn't feel normal if I don't get to blog? I remember taking one of those random quizzes once, and it told me that I'm NOT completely addicted to blogging, I beg to differ. It's a relief when the pounding in my head goes down enough that I can look through half-lidded eyes as my fingers pound away at the keyboard! 

Looking back at March

Well it's that time again - time to review what I've accomplished this last month! It's been a busy month, and I've been getting healthier and stronger! That's both very exciting, and it means that I'm getting my blogging done more consistently.

Do you remember how I set out at the beginning of the year to do a set of 3 month goals? I'll be reviewing those in the upcoming days and setting new ones. I'll be sharing the process with you as well :) Why? Because talking about it helps me feel like I'm accountable in a sense, and it helps me to solidify what's in my mind when I write it down.

This month saw the publishing of three new chapters in Aria's Quest. I missed a week because, well I had a bad week! And this weeks was late so it ended up being an April publish instead of a March publish. Oh well - here's this month's offerings!

Saying Good-bye

Traveling

Robyn

This month saw quite a few book reviews published! I'm having a lot of fun doing these, and you guys seem to be enjoying them, so this will continue to be a regular part of my blog :)

Dhampir

The Titan's Curse
The Amulet of Samarkand
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
A Spell for Chameleon
For Love of Evil
Thief of Lives
The Golem's Eye

I've continued to work on taking more photos of my life. There were a few dry spells, but, I did get quite a few taken this month! Want to see my photostream on Flickr? Go here!

Adventures in Getting Stronger

A few weeks ago I started going on walks in the morning. My migraines are finally at least semi-under control, and my asthma is getting better again as well since that stress is decreasing, so it was time to start trying to get into shape! It's been a long year battling with my health, and as a result I'm very out of shape and overweight. I figured walks were the best way to start. Low impact and all that :)

I was doing really good, walking almost every day, and then a cold and our trip to Pheonix set me back. I was determined not to give up though! As soon as I could I pushed myself to work on things around the house, and then once I was recovered enough, to start walking again. I've been able to go walking the last few days, and it feels great!

Today I made it to my goal of walking 1/2 hr :) Woohoo! Plus, I walked down to Winco, so I was able to pick up a couple grocery's w/out spending any gas :) That made me pretty happy too! The doctor told me he wants me walking 1/2hr a day, so I've reached that goal!

So what's next? On days that I still have even a small amount of stamina left in the evenings I'm going to start working in a few simple stretches and aerobic exercises. I started last night, and it was daunting how much harder they were than they used to be, but I'm just going to start small and work up!

The other thing I'm working really hard on improving is my diet. I was already doing "ok" with it, or at least a LOT better than in the past! But with the news that my kidney's are going south slowly, the doctor has told me that I need to start eating like I'm a diabetic. I found this information really overwhelming...but I've got a plan and I'm working through it slowly.

Being a cheap-skate (ok, broke) I ordered some books on eating with Diabetes from the Library. I'm starting by going through "Diabetes Cookbook for Dummies." I love the "for Dummies" books! Not trying to comment on my intelligence, but I've found that in general they make things easy to understand, and there's enough humor to help relieve my tension.


I've worked through the first two chapters so far and I'm learning a lot! It's still a little overwhelming, but I'm taking it slow and absorbing it bit by bit. I'm also writing down what I eat in a food journal. I'm not going to worry too much about specific caloric goals until I have a better grasp on what I should be doing, but this will give me something to look at when I'm ready for that, and help me have a realistic view of what I'm actually eating.

Oh! And I took my weight and all my measurements. No, I won't tell you :P I WILL tell you if I lose inches or weight though :)

Looking back at February

This month was frustrating for me on many levels, with the migraines and all, but I did accomplish some things! For instance, this month saw the opening of my first ever serial story! Woohoo! If you missed any of it - here are some links to go back and check it out :)

Aria's Quest - Running Late

Aria's Quest - The Counsel's Decision
Aria's Quest - The Gem

And if your anxiously awaiting the next segment - don't worry! I was too out of it to work on it this weekend, but I've spent some time on the story today and plan to publish it tomorrow :)

One of the things I've tried to work on, especially the second half of the month, was improving the quality of my book reviews. I still have a long ways to go, but hopefully you agree there's been some improvement! One thing that made me feel all warm and tingly inside this month was to hear that one of my readers went out and bought one of the books I reviewed! Yippee! Here's the reviews for this month:

Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony
Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint
Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind
The Little Country by Charles de Lint
The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

The only good thing about all the migraines this last month is that it's given me tons of time to read! I actually have several reviews written and waiting to be posted, and a stack of books I need to write reviews on! It's a nice problem to have. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but then again he hates writing while I love it!

Oh and did I mention I also have a pile of books waiting for me to read? What could make a girl happier?

Last thing to wrap up this month - I'd like to say a big thank you to all my entrecard droppers - here's the list of the top droppers for the month!

Stroll Through Story Land
Rocket Scientist
Rants, Thoughts, and Other Things
Spicybugz World
BeadedTail
Rose Works Jewelry Blog
The Way I See It
wallpaper
Spotted Cow Soaps
Cheese and Chocolate

And yes, for those of you awesome people who read both my blogs, my other blog did make my top dropper list for this blog! Silly yet fun huh?

I seem to be getting some better migraine-wise, I'll update you guys in a few days when I've figured out if this really is a solution, or if I'm just having a fluke couple of good days :P

Pure Bliss

One of the hardest things about living in a small college town was only having access to a small library. It was torture! So little selection. Since coming back to my home town I've been ordering books on-line from the library, but I still hadn't had an opportunity to go down and visit the main library in town. Well - I finally made it down there today and it was pure bliss! Look forward to many book reviews coming up :) Especially if I can actually pull myself away from my beading...

Check out this fine art photograph I found on etsy awhile ago - I love it!
Perfect for today's library loving :)

Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber

I was enthralled when I first stumbled Diana Gabaldon's book "Outlander" earlier this year.  Her style of writing is intensely captivating, and the story is a combination of two genre's I like to read, historical fiction and fantasy. In "Outlander" we have the story of Claire, a woman who finds herself traveling back to the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie, and has to make her place in this strange world.

I could hardly put "Outlander" down, the story was fast paced, the descriptions vivid, and I couldn't wait to find out what happened next! Towards the end of the book the story did take a disturbingly dark turn, but I was still eagerly looking forward to reading the rest of the series. That's where I hit an impasse.  At the time I was living in a small town, and the library there was rather inadequate for someone who reads as voraciously as I do! I couldn't get a hold of the next book. So I filed it away in my brain to read when I had an opportunity to put my hands on it.

I'm now living in a fair sized city again, and I again have access to the library system that missed so badly while living in a small town! Gabaldon's books were one of the first things I looked up. I placed a hold on "Dragonfly in Amber," requested they mail it to me, and soon received a nice and fat book to read!

At first I read "Dragonfly in Amber" with the same captivation that I had when reading "Outlander." It is written with the same intensity of description, and the story is well crafted. I didn't finish the book.

The sticking point on this book for me was that Gabaldon chose to include a constant element of sex throughout her story. I knew that she liked to include it in her story, Claire does get married in the first book, but it didn't seem to be quite as overwhelming level in the first book.    

Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind having some sex scenes in a book, I'm used to it. You can't read the science fiction and fantasy genre's without finding them peppered through out the books your reading. That's not why I read books though, if it was I'd be picking up those dime store novels that are little more than soft porn. I read because I love a good story, I'm fascinated by the development of the characters, and because I love to be entertained. So when the author feels it's necessary to include a sex scene every chapter...  Well, that's when I move on to the next book. So that's what I did, returned the book to the library, and moved on.

Twilight Makes it Big

© Summit Entertainment

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart

I wasn't surprised to see an article on msn.com today that stated Twilight took in $70.6 million it's opening weekend. What did surprise me was that they were so surprised at how well it did! Any fan of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer knows that the series has developed a HUGE following!

I haven't seen the movie yet. I know, bad fan, but it was a busy week and I have to be really careful to manage my energy because of my health problems. So the plan is to see it on Tuesday with some of my close friends. Since my hubby has to work on the night of my birthday - I figured a chick flick was a good alternate option! I'll do my own review on the movie after I see it.

Back to the fans of Twilight; the girls who love the series are seriously addicted to it. I've talked to girls/women who rave over the books as much as they would their favorite movie star or musician. Which, as you know, isn't quite as common of an occurrence.

I tend to take a more balanced view of the book series. Did I really enjoy them? Yes! Not a question. I squealed and jumped up and down when I got an e-mail telling me that one of my best friends had pre-ordered that last book in the series for me! However, I'll also be the first to admit that it's not the best book I've ever read.

Now put that in perspective - I've read thousands and thousands of books - and I own 400+. So I've got a LOT to compare them too! They are, however, on my list of favorites :) I do think they were really well written and I really liked her different "take" on vampires and werewolves. And, yes, I read each of the books in one sitting per book. Pretty high recommendation from me!

Look for my movie review later this week :)

*UPDATE* Movie night was put off until later this week - so you'll have to wait for my review!

Revisiting Oz

Pendant by ItsAllAboutThePrint :)

I've always loved the classic Wizard of Oz movie with it's bright colors, witches, and flying monkeys! Somewhere along the way I realized that I had never read the books, and so I read through most (I think all) of the series awhile ago.  I don't remember how long ago, but it's been long enough that I don't remember them very clearly anymore, so I decided that it's time to re-read them! Starting, of course, at the beginning.

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum is full of fanciful images, sweet childhood, and great illustrations by W.W. Denslow!  It was fun to reread this book and remember all the differences from the movie, and yet all the similarities as well.  The copy I got from the Library had an introduction by Robert A Baum, the great-grandson of L. Frank Baum.  He said that:

"L. Frank felt that the old European fairy tales were dated and full of 'stereotyped genies, dwarfs and fairies,' not to mention 'horrible and blood curdling incidents devised to point out a fearsome moral in each tale.' He felt it was time for a new generation of 'modernized' fairy tales to be written just to entertain."

I think he did an excellent job - and if you've never read the book I highly recommend you go out and pick up a copy - revisit your childhood!

Widdershins

I love to read! So one of the things I'm going to do in this blog is share with you the books I'm reading.  I read a wide variety of books, so if this one isn't your style, check back, the next one might be!

Charles de Lint is one of my favorite fantasy authors. I first stumbled on his work a year ago when a friend of mine, who I called Grizzly Bear, loaned me one of de Lints collections of short stories.  I've read many of his books since then, and I honestly don't remember right now which one I read first!

De Lint writes his fantasy in a modern New England setting, but in towns that he's created.  I love how he blends traditional fantasy elements and twists them into his own stories!

"Widdershins" simply means "to walk counterclockwise or backwards around something.  It's a classic pathway into the fairy realm." (Taken from the book jacket)

In this book De Lint combines elements of Old World fairy traditions with Native American traditions, and he does so beautifully! If you've read his work before you'll recognize many of the characters as he develops the stories of Jilly Coppercorn and Geordie Riddell.  But don't worry, if you've never read a single word of his, you'll still be swept up in the story and you won't get lost!  He does a good job of telling enough of the backstory that that new readers don't get lost, and those who've read his other works don't get bored.

One thing I admire about Charles De Lint's work is that he's more than willing to tackle tough issues in his writting.  He recognizes that this can be a dark, dark world, and he faces it head on.  Yet, you never find yourself with out hope at the end of the story.  De Lint finds a way to bring hope, cheer, and a reason to go on, no matter how dark the story gets.

If your interested in checking out this book (or others!) click on the picture at the top of the post to be redirected to Amazon.com.