Alaska

Who wrote this book and when?
James Michener published this in 1988.

Has there been a film version?
No.

Who are the important characters?
Way too many to mention, the book spans thousands, if not millions, of years.

What’s it about?
The history of Alaska – how it was formed, the animals that lived there, how it was populated, “civilized”, came under Russian then American control, the natural disasters it has seen and its climb to value.

Why is this book a classic/bestseller?
Most of Michener’s books are bestsellers because he puts so much into them – they cover an insane amount of history.

Do I recommend you read this book?
If you like history a lot – yes, I very much recommend most of the Michener books I’ve read.

How did this book make my list?
I enjoy historical fiction and historical novels – Michener blends the two.

Has it won any awards?
Nope.

Favorite quotes:
Nope.

Anything else?
Sometimes I wish Michener would publish addendums to his books so that they’d get caught up to modern day history.

Personal thoughts:
Michener books just astound me in their detail. He takes an enormous chunk of history and makes it seem like it’s no big deal to cover in under 1000 pages. The book covers the formation of the landmass of Alaska to the late 1980’s. And he brings to life lovely characters, some who are real and some who are fictitious in order to further illustrate his story. You see how each touches the land in some way that alters it forever. Some of their stories are uplifting – the village of Athapascan women who must band together to kill a whale or die; and some are heartbreaking – the American sailor and his young Eskimo bride who are brutally slaughtered by greedy Russians. And yet, with the plethora of stories, none of them take away from the main character whose story is being told – the state of Alaska.

Michener shows us what an incredible journey the land of Alaska has been through. From it’s violent beginning, to its bloody civilization and the wars between Europeans, Americans, and the various Indian tribes – it has remained a hidden treasure. And even though the book is anywhere from 688 to 890 pages, depending on which edition you pick up, it never gets boring.

Feast #195

Appetizer

What is the weather like today where you live?

Ugh.  Stupidly hot with even more stupidly hot to come.  Okay…so it’s only 85 right now…but tomorrow it’s supposed to be something like 109.  Stupid.

Soup

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how career-minded are you?

Uh.  1?  I am not working and the thought of having a career stresses me out unless I am my own boss the entire time.  It’s a family thing, I think.

Salad

What type of window coverings do you have in your home? Blinds, curtains, shutters, etc.?

Blinds, since we just moved in a month ago and that’s what was here.  Someday I’d like to get some curtains for most of the windows in the house.  And I love shutters, but that so doesn’t work in our neck of the woods.

Main Course

Name something that instantly cheers you up.

Good jazz music.  Unfortunately for me, DH doesn’t like jazz all that much.  He tolerates it for me, I think.

Dessert

How many times do you hit the snooze button on a typical morning?

None.  I usually get to sleep in because I am spoiled rotten by my husband.

The True Darcy Spirit

Who wrote this book and when?
This book was published in 2006 by Elizabeth Aston.

Has there been a film version?
No.

Who are the important characters?
Cassandra Darcy – the daughter of the sickly Anne de Bourgh from “Pride and Prejudice”, an artistic young women with a good bit of the Darcy pride
Horatio Darcy – one of Casssandra’s distant relations, a lawyer in London who dreams of Parliament
Lord Usborne – a man of degraded morals who enjoys keeping mistresses and engaging in political intrigues
James Eyre – a military officer who catches Cassandra’s eye
Mrs. Nettleton – a woman who allows Cassandra to stay in her house for cheap rent
Petifer – Cassandra’s personal maid and loyal friend
Belle Darcy – one of Fitzwilliam Darcy’s daughters, a horrible flirt
Mr. Lisser – an artist from Germany with a shadowy past

What’s it about?
Cassandra Darcy hasn’t had it easy since her father died and was replaced with the slimy Mr. Partington. Her stepfather attempts to squash any creative tendencies Cassandra may have and is always inclined to think the worst of her. So when the brilliant painter, Henry Lisser, and Cassandra’s flirtatious cousin, Belle, both arrive at the same time – disaster is only moments away. Cassandra is sent from home to Bath to live with a crotchety aunt and within weeks finds herself categorized as a fallen woman. Determined to find a way to live on her own by the talents of her artwork, Cassandra will run into more than she bargains for in the streets and houses of London.

Why is this book a bestseller/classic?
I don’t believe it is either, but this novel is a popular one – although probably not considered best selling.

Do I recommend you read this book?
If you don’t like either of the first two in the series, then don’t bother with this one.

How did this book make my list?
I enjoy light reads like this to break up the huge bricks of books I sometimes take on.

Has it won any awards?
Nope.

Anything else?
I always enjoy reading the different takes people have on what happens to the vague, yet important character of Anne de Bourgh.

Personal thoughts:
I enjoy Aston’s books, I really do.  It’s always nice to escape just a bit back to the time and place where Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy make their homes.  And while with Aston, I can never really conjure up the Darcy family as she imagines it, I still enjoy the strong young female characters she includes.

This story is no different – in fact it’s nearly the story of Alethea Darcy redisplayed with a few twists to the packaging.  Cassandra loves painting while Alethea loves music; Cassandra is disowned while Alethea is just very poorly supervised.  So don’t expect anything spectacular in ways of creativity when it comes to the plot.  And Aston does fall back on her tendency to wrap things up in merely a chapter or two a little sloppily.  (Is that even a word?)  I’ll admit – I only pick these books up when I need a brain break.

Dresden Files #6: Blood Rites

Who wrote this book and when?
Jim Butcher published this in 2004.

Has there been a film version?
No – and this plotline wasn’t covered in the brief television series.

Who are the important characters?
Harry Dresden – a wizard for hire
Karrin Murphy – a detective/police officer for the Chicago PD, specializes in wierd cases
Thomas Raith – a vampire of the White court, hires Harry to help his friend
Ebenezer McCoy – Harry’s former teacher, a wizard on the Senior Council
Justine – Thomas’ partner and food supply
Lara Raith – Thomas’ older sister, a succubus and former adult film star
Mavra – the leader of a court of black vampires
Kincaid – a gun for hire who Harry…hires
Arturo Genosa – the adult film producer who Harry is hired to protect

What is it about?
Harry is already dealing with a Black court vampire queen who wants him very very dead, when the snarky Thomas Raith shows up to hire him. Not only to hire him, but hire him to protect an adult film producer. Harry is sure something more is going on than Thomas has told him, especially when he gets a whiff of the powerful entropy curse hanging around the adult film set which is killing off all the women close to the producer. By the time Harry has tackled Mavra the Black Queen, the entropy curse, and nearly the entire Raith family, his life will be changed forever.

Why is this book a bestseller/classic?
It’s part of a series which has been a best-selling series for almost ten years.

Do I recommend you read this book?
If you enjoyed the television series, or previous books in the series, yes. And if you haven’t started it yet and liked the TV show, definitely start it.

How did this book make my list?
See the previous two questions.

Has it won any awards?
No.

Favorite quotes:
“The future abruptly seemed like a fairly unpleasant place for professional wizards.” – p 80

Anything else?
Kudos to my brother-in-law for letting me borrow this and the next book in this series. Our library took their copy out to send to mending and it hasn’t come back. That was in February-ish.

Personal thoughts:
I love this series. Although each time I start another book in it, it takes me a few chapters to get going, I never regret picking it up. Harry is a character that you can’t help but relate to and love. Everyone has felt like an underdog at some point during their life and Harry’s constant position as underdog will garner sympathy with any reader, whether they enjoy the fantasy genre or not.

That being said, this book seems a bit meandering at times. With both the vampire plots going on, one with the Black Court and one with Thomas – things can get a bit bogged down. Especially when you throw in the stuff that happens with relationships in this story. There are moments when you aren’t sure which case Harry is pursuing and wish things were a bit more clear. That, however, is a personal preference of mine and in no way detracts from the entertainment value of this story.

Remedy

I have been a bit remiss in the actual personal writing aspect of this blog – mainly relying on memes and book reviews to keep it afloat.  Here’s an attempt at remedial blogging…

We just returned from a week away from the house and now I’m engaged in the tediousity that follows any vacation or vacation-esque trip;  mountains of laundry, attention-starved animals, piles of mail to sort through, lots of picking up of knocked over items as our cats expressed their dismay while we were gone, you get the idea.  Jason had a work training opportunity for a Microsoft program called Sharepoint (I think…keep in mind I don’t work there or know much about computers unless they’re macs).  We were put up in a four star hotel in downtown Seattle for five days and while he spent almost eight hours a day in class, I tried to entertain myself with no money and a strict instructions from one of my doctors not to strain my heart.  (More on that later).  May I remind you that downtown Seattle is one big hill.  Our hotel was at the top of that hill – no matter which direction you set out upon from our hotel, unless you walked into the freeway, you would have to walk uphill on your way back.

I spent the majority of the mornings sleeping in a bit, watching the television and surfing the internet searching for places to eat lunch and dinner.  After meeting Jason for lunch somewhere, I would camp out in the Union Square One building of the Seattle Convention Center and read or play DS and generally enjoy their variety of lounge areas.

We didn’t do much sight-seeing, only walking down to the pier once and visiting Pike’s Place Market briefly before they closed one evening.  But we did get well-acquainted with the area holding the very expensive clothing stores, such as Louis Vuitton and Brooks’ Brothers.  Window shopping is not as fun as you might think.

After four days, we met up with Jason’s mom and sister, as Amy was getting registered for the fall semester at SPU.  We hit up IKEA just in time for their twice-a-year sale, and it’s a good thing we only had two small cars or there would have been a lot more money spent when it should not have been.  We spent the weekend with Jason’s family, playing Guitar Hero 3, and going to see “Get Smart” (very funny).  After church yesterday, we drove the four hours home and crashed.

Now, I have told myself that some painting WILL get done this week…and decided I’m going to attempt to paint the office, since it is the smallest room we need to paint and the longer I sit in it without painting, the more guilty I feel.  This is also probably a doctor-approved activity, and after walking at least 20+ blocks, more than half uphill, everyday for a week – I am a bit restless.  Though exhausted.

For those of you in the dark, my recent cardiologists’ appointment didn’t go quite as well as I have become accustomed to.  There have been some rhythm problems lately, which I noticed, but chalked up to stress.  Apparently…they aren’t from that.  They are the same type of rhythm abnormalities that caused Tim Russert’s sudden death.  While obviously mine aren’t as pronounced as his, the words “sudden death” coming out of your cardiologist’s mouth when he’s talking about you is always a highly disconcerting thing.  So I’m having some tests done the third week of July, and possibly some more tests after that, and possibly some surgery after those tests, and possibly open-heart surgery sometime in the fall if things hit worst-case-scenario.  I was instructed to not strain my heart too much, but to get it going once a day.  Not hard in my case since I need only walk the two and a half blocks to get the mail when it’s 80+ degrees outside and my heart gets a little enraged at the extreme heat.

This among other things have been keeping me a bit preoccupied for the past few weeks.  Still unpacking a bit and settling into the new place is also a big part of it.  I can’t decide on a color scheme for our living/dining/kitchen room area, which is frustrating when you’re trying to paint and buy things at IKEA for your new place.  Not that it’s a life-or-death situation, but when you already have one or two of those on your hands, it’s a lot less stressful to focus on the things that aren’t that important.  I think they call it denial…or something.