29 August, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday #6

Increase Blog Followers

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This weeks Question: 

If you could only have ONE – one book – for the rest of your life. Don’t cheat…what would it be?

Ah, ah ah ah.... 

Marlfox by Brian Jacques. This is my favorite book of the entire Redwall series, and I could re-read it many, many times. 

22 August, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday #4

Increase Blog Followers

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!


This weeks Question:

Book Selfie! Take a pic with your current read.



I actually read 4 to 6 books at one shot due to an inability to focus solely on one book at a time. Therefore this is just one of the four I'm currently reading. It's The Rogue Crew, the last in the Redwall Series by Brian Jacques before his death in 2011. 

Daughter of Camelot (Empire of Shadows #1) by Glynis Cooney


Raised in the shadow of a fort dedicated to training Knights of the Round Table, Deirdre thirsts for adventure.  Instead, at 14, she is sent to court to learn the etiquette and talents of a young woman. Court life, however, is more fraught with danger than she expected, and Deirdre finds herself entangled in a deadly conspiracy that stretches deep into the very heart of Camelot.  All Deirdre thought she knew and believed in—loyalty, love, bravery—is challenged when she embarks on a quest to defy Fate and save the King.

My initial impression of Daughter of Camelot was one of interest. I have always been a lover of Arthurian tales, and often find myself entangled within the pages of novels that are a spin off of these tales. And in the terms of Arthurian time era, this book was one that particularly filled that thirst.

Generally, I enjoyed the plot of the book, though parts were awkward to read and sometimes a bit unbelievable. Deirdre, the lovely narrator of the tale, is on the verge of her fourteenth birthday when our story starts. Immediately, she points out that she is already an oddity due to being a twin, an ill omen in the time period. With the knowledge of being sent to court, she is both resentful and resistant to fitting into the mold the world has set for her. The story continues from court, sending her off on her own journey against fate and time to rescue her world that is quickly falling apart. While I like the fact that Deirdre is a strong female character, and she does undergo character development, there were sections of the book that she felt flat and almost boring in comparison to her companions, Lady Sioned and Dewey the Dwarf. 

The story is hindered further by a lack of editing on the author's part. Many times, the story shifts from the first person narrative into a third person observation. There were places that dialogue went unmarked, and some things, such as the religious practices of druids and the 'old' ways felt disjointed from the story. As Deirdre's story continues with her struggle to prove her worth in the world and defy fate by helping High King Arthur, she struggles with her love of a knight. The love, I felt, was slightly forced in places and more than a bit unrealistic in some of the interactions. Deirdre accepts an invitation from the knight that fancies her to visit his kingdom, despite the fact that she is on her way home in shame from court. Still, unsurprisingly, she accepts the offer and finds herself in a second court, trying to integrate into the court, and ultimately almost having the quest of her dreams dropped right into her lap. 


I won't spoil the ending for you, and if you enjoy stories set in the Arthurian era or are looking for a quick read, I would definitely recommend this book. Enjoy!

20 August, 2013

Teaser Tuesday #2

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My Teasers: 

The volemaid asked that question which all little ones ask. "Why?"

"We'll sleep all the day whilst the chaps drill away./Aye, we'll snore just like hogs down a hole,/firm comrades let's stay until our dyin' day,/in the ranks of the great Long Patrol!"

- The Rogue Crew by Brain Jacques 

16 August, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday #3

Increase Blog Followers

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs! 
This weeks Question:
Share something you’ve learned about book blogging or just blogging in general in the last month.

I've learned how to exactly run a book blog in the last month, and I'm still learning how it might help me professionally in the long run.

13 August, 2013

Teaser Tuesday

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers:

“My old grandmother always used to say, Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever.” 
 ~ George R.R. Martin, A Feast for Crows 

12 August, 2013

Some interesting definitions

In case anyone cares for a bit of trivia today, both my url and my blog title were chosen with the utmost care as to what they mean. Here's a small list of what each one means:

Bibliotaph - (noun) 1. One who hides away books, as in a tomb. 2. A hoarder of books.
Expatiate - (verb) 1. To speak or write at length. 2. To wander freely.
Miscellanarian - 1. Of or pertaining to miscellanies. 2. A Writer of Miscellaneous things.

Musing Mondays #1

 http://shouldbereading.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/musingmondays51.jpg

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

My Musing:

Recently, my duties at work have left me trying to find solutions to various things within our library including circulation of our bound periodicals selection and shifting our books along the shelves. Both problems have left me a bit stumped at solutions. I had student workers shift two of our problem sections with a few spare shelves I spotted here and there, but we're still looking for a long term solution.

My biggest dilemma is how to increase our periodical circulations. We keep, a rather ineffective, notebook of our current periodicals that student workers and librarians alike are supposed to mark down when someone returns the periodical to the reference desk. The problem is, people tend to simply reshelve the periodicals instead of following all of our little signs saying to return the magazine to our desk. Our bound periodicals don't even offer an incentive, and are barely used unless there is an assignment out of them. 

Well, that's my musings for the week. Have a good week everyone. 

09 August, 2013

Divergent (Divergent Series #1) by Veronica Roth

Divergent (Divergent, #1)
Cover Art found from Goodreads

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

I had heard good things about this series long before I ever picked it up to read, though sometimes I only take the things I hear about books with a grain of salt. At the time I first heard of the series, I was in graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh, and I could barely make it through the required readings for my classes without falling behind, much less actually picking up books for my own entertainment. So for a while, this series was set back on my 'To Read' list, and settled on the back burner without a second thought for a long while. 

 Recently, I found myself browsing the shelves of one of the major bookstores when I spotted this title again. Knowing I'd been meaning to read it to see whether or not the fuss about it was well deserved, I picked it up and spent the next half-hour standing in the aisle reading the first couple of chapters. It's a rare feeling of pleasure when a book can grab me as firmly in attention as Divergent did. While yes, it's part of the rapidly growing genre of dystopian novels, Roth provides a well researched and believable world. Her use of obscure words for the factions is an interesting detail, as well as providing a glimpse into the life of one of the fractions, with small frame shots inside other factions. 

The long and short of it is, Divergent definitely has lived up to the hype that has surrounded the series, and I have found myself eager to get my hands onto the second book as well the third.  This is definitely a book one should consider reading.

08 August, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday #2





Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. The point of the meme is to give blogs more exposure and followers, while helping us get to know each other!

 This week's question:

Back to School time! Create a reading list for the imaginary English Lit class you'll be teaching this semester. 

English Lit 101 War & Dystopian Novels

Reading List:
The Things They Carried
Warhorse
The Book Thief
Divergent
Matched
The Hunger Games

05 August, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday



Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  The point of the meme is to give blogs more exposure and followers, while helping us get to know each other!

This week's question:

How do you handle a book you don’t like? Do you DNF or do you power through?

When selecting books, I don't typically pick ones that I think I won't finish. I don't have a large amount of time. However, if I do find one that I don't like, I still power-through it. I don't like leaving books unfinished, and in the end, if I can't give some non-positive reviews, I will not be as creditable as I'd like.