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NEW BLOG POST.................... SORT OF!

This is why this blog has been so sadly neglected!

http://thebackartroom.global2.vic.edu.au/

I have been so busy writing posts for this blog!

I mean I am still reading books - it would be like giving up breathing to give up reading - but I'm getting through fewer than I used to, and this last book in the Game of Thrones set is taking foreeeeeeeeever!

And, as much as I have loved this series I am hoping that this is the last book. Mine is very fat and tI think this Part 1 Dreams and Dust cover was done by the clever marketers after I bought my copy - well I hope so anyway

.SPOILER ALERT!

 Daenaerys is still missing at the spot I am up to and Barristan Selmy is stressing out over it all. I just wish she would hurry back so we could all get on with it!!!

BURNT OFFERINGS

Will the wonders of the Internet ever stop amazing me????

I did exactly what I said I would do in my last post and looked up Burnt Offerings on the local library catalogue and yes, they had a couple of copies of it, but none at the branch that is closest to my home. So that made me think that I would have to wait until Monday, today, to drive over to one of the other Library branches. No,that was too long to wait and nothing else on my bookshelf was calling me to pick it up and interrupt Anita Blake and her story so I innocently thought I'd google Chapter 1 of Burnt Offerings to see if anyone had put it online. Well, to my astonishment, I didn't just find Chapter 1 - I found the whole book! It took me all of about 10 seconds and I was off and reading Chapter 1 and I have finished the book just a few minutes ago.

Now I can be all moral and say this is terrible as I so quickly accessed a book online for free and have robbed Laurell K Hamilton of her royalties by doing this, but hey - I've already bought the book, it just hasn't arrived yet! So just for a little while I will smugly bask in my immoral behaviour and roll around a bit in the scent of the Lukoi pack and feed a few stray drops of blood to the ever hungry Vampires of the Circus of the Damned while I tell you that this book was even better than the last one!!!

I also think I was a little prejudiced when it comes to reading books online. I've seen the Kindles and other book readers in the stores and always thought to myself that for me they could never take the place of a real book in my hands. Well I didn't even have the luxury of a book reader to use and have sat at my PC to read Burnt Offerings and found it to be a very enjoyable experience. I made the text nice and large so I could sit right back comfortably and not be peering at the screen and once I got going I felt myself whipping through those lovely short chapters. Now if I could have snuggled up in bed with my PC that would have been the only thing to improve the situation so when I get my ipad in a few weeks time I think one of the first things I'll be doing will be buying some online books to read on it!

I wonder if Laurell K Hamilton started to churn these novels out in a quicker fashion as the whole world of Anita Blake is just moving so much faster. Problem, after catastrophe, after death threat, after police investigation seem to just tumble over each other now vying fro space on the page and I just want to live her exciting life for a day maybe and then take a couple of years to lay on the couch and recover from the exhilaration of it. No wonder she can't make up her mind about who she is in love or lust with! Phew!

And I think Anita's BFF Ronnie summed it up well when she yelled at her for making her relationships all too serious. She is right in stating that Anita just can't seem to let herself just have a good time - she has to see something deeper in everything. So is this a sign of her emotional immaturity or is she the mature one and everyone else is just acting like a hormonal teenager??? She is an adult after all, not a spotty teen like the shallow, gormless Bella Swan. (What Edward and Jacob saw in her that was so enticing I will never know!)

Please leave a comment. I'm off to throw myself into BLUE MOON now!

BLOODY BONES IS FINISHED!

Yes, Bloody Bones is finished and I am already almost finished The Killing Dance which is, of course, the next book in the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton. The two books have blurred  and merged in my mind as I have read them on top of one another but most of Bloody Bones was spent establishing and fleshing out the character of Larry, her apprentice zombie raiser, for want of a better description. We also got to see a bit more of Dolph, the police Officer in charge of the Preternatural Investigations Unit which Anita Blake is attached to and her boss whose name currently escapes me, at the Zombie Raising Agency, as well as the usual murder and mayhem, vampires, zombie raising and werewolves. Anita could never complain of her life being boring! And of course, she is still faffing about, to-ing asnd fro-ing with her feelings for Richard and Jean Claude.

And it is only today that I have stupidly realised that my Anita Blake novels collection is still missing a few titles! One being Burnt Offerings which is the book straight after The Killing Dance which, as I said, I have almost finished.I was so sure I already had this one on my bookshelf, and I have hunted and even tidied and dusted the bookshelf (WOW!) in he vain hope that Burnt Offerings would turn up but alas, I must have imagined(?) that I already had it! 

It will frustrate me terribly to have to wait for the next book as once I am in the swing of a series I really like to lose myself in it right until the very end. I have ordered Burnt Offerings today, and a couple of other titles I still haven't got from near the end of the series but as I intend to finish The Killing Dance when I toddle off to bed after editing this post tonight, ah, actually this morning now I look at the time, that is not going to help me much. Perhaps I'll look at the Local Library on line tomorrow and see if they have a copy so I won't have to wait until my copy arrives. Yes, good thinking 99! That's what I'll do. I have well and truly whipped through The Killing Dance in only a few days as it is school holiday time and I am finding every excuse to read, read, read while I've got the chance. But I also have found this to be so much more of a "pageturner" that the last book. I did enjoy Bloody Bones as much as the rest of the series but The Killing Dance just seems to have picked up the pace a bit and I am finding it much more difficult to put down when i have to!!! I hope the rest of the series is as engaging as this book has been.
I'd love it if you would leave a comment.
Thanks,
Shell

I just had to share!

Random House Books AU shared Booktopia's photo.

When in doubt, Darcy...

---

Shelley Menhennet shared Booktopia's photo.

HEY, Mr Darcy,
Anytime, any place, any where!!!!!

I just had to share this picture from facebook. A brilliant comment about reading by the delicious Colin Firth! And my facebook comment underneath. Somehow, knowing Colin Firth loves to read just makes sense, and makes him EVEN MORE attractive - if that is possible!

Shell :P

 

BLOODY BONES

I have finished The Lunatic Cafe (which is a great name for a cafe you must admit! Someone must have pinched it by now!) by Laurell K Hamilton and have moved onto BLOODY BONES. The Lunatic Cafe was just as gruesome as all the others but I did hear myself say yuck out loud a few times in the last third of the book as it seemed to be even a bit more icky than usual! I wish Anita would sort out becoming officially recognised by the Police Force as these confrontations between her and every branch of the Police that she encounters are becoming a bit predictable. They all seem to spend so much time chest bumping it's a wonder they ever solve any crimes! I found the tension between Jean Claude, Richard and Anita very entertaining and did not see the outcome of their argument/compromise coming.  ( I'm not giving away any details/sppoilers just in case you haven't read it yet) Laurell K Hamilton has created a lovely, sympathetic werewolf in Richard but Jean Claude the master Vampire is superb. He just cracks me up!

This is BLOODY BONES

 except my cover doesn't match the rest of my books and looks like this. Why do they make so many different covers???? Obviously to sell more books and make more money but it is so annoying!

Please leave a comment or become a follower. I would love to hear what you think!
Shell

Sad news about BRYCE COURTENAY

I just read this on facebook and went directly to the link. This is the sad statement that as been released by Bryce Courtenay today.
Shelley

It is with great sadness that I am writing to let you know that 'Jack of Diamonds' my new book due out in November this year shall be my last. It is the usual big, bulky Bryce Courtenay saga, and I do hope you enjoy reading it. I have been diagnosed with terminal gastric cancer and am expected to have only some months to share with my adorable wife Christine.  We have had the good fortune to have been together for seven wonderfully happy years, and so the remaining months are precious to us, and our family and friends.  You will be pleased to know that I am currently feeling well, and am keeping busy gardening, and writing a collection of short stories, as well as being with our beloved pets. May I thank you all for your tremendous loyalty over the past 21 books. I feel immense gratitude and am humbled by your support over so many years. Our greatest wish is that your lives also continue to blossom. Goodbye and God Bless from us both.

Bryce & Christine Courtenay
September 7th, 2012