Blog Tour 2006 - A Recap

Here are some of last years contributions to the Advent Calendar Blog Tour! They are just as wonderful to read this year as last. The only ones I could not easily locate were Mailyn's and Dance Chica's. If either of you read this, can you send me the URL and I will add it in? This is the best thing about blogs, just because this tour was last year does not mean it is not fun to read it this year!

Jennie's Contribution
Bookloggeds Contribution
Rosario's Contribution
Cindy's Contribution
Carla's Contribution
The Observer's Contribution
Elysabeth's Contribution
Bookwormom's Contribution
Susan's Contribution
Rachel's Contribution
Carl V's Contribution
Ag's Contribution

Blog Tour

Head on over to Ag's blog to see her contribution to the blog tour. I posted earlier this month on both the song and the book that her contribution is based on, so I enjoyed reading her post. Click here for a look.

Blog Tour Day 15

It is hard to believe, but there is just one more sleep until Christmas. And that is just here, other places it it Christmas all ready! For todays Advent Calendar, head on over to Dance Chica's Blog, as well as Carl V.'s to see their contributions. Many blogs are wishing Happy Holidays and things, but I am not going to list all of them. I am just making Tanabata an honourary participant in the Advent Calendar Challenge, because I enjoyed her post today. In case I do not get on tomorrow, I hope that everyone is having a very happy holidays, no matter which you celebrate!

Blog Tour Day 14

Only TWO days until Christmas. Is that not insane? I hope that everyone is ready for the holidays. To get you in a holiday mood, be sure to head over to Melrose Plant's blog to see her contribution to the Advent Calendar!

Blog Tour Day 13 (Guest Post)

Hello, all. This is Chris, the button guy, posting via Kailana's account.

Christmas has long been a very special holiday to me, even through this year, when I think, "if I see one more bag of presents, I'm going to hurt someone in the face." *ahem* Anyway, I juggled a few ideas for this post around back and forth before ultimately deciding on a gift that was given to me a couple years ago. That gift was a special edition DVD of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. You may laugh, but it was the first gift ever given to me by my best-friend and love-for-life, and the only actual gift I'd been given that year. Of course, the movie itself is amusing, but it holds special meaning to me for more than just the wacky British humor. Perhaps someday I'll even be able to coax her into watching it with me, snuggled across my lap on the couch. Mmmm, Merry Christmas to me.

Blog Tour Day 12 and a couple other things...

If you head over to our stop on the Advent Calendar Tour today, you will see a very interesting addition. Susan did a post about what would happen on Richard III's last Christmas. Richard III is one of my favourite historical figures to read about, so I found this great fun to read!

Today I am going to the city. My exchange student gave me a gift card for the bookstore, and I of course want more books than the gift card will allow me. I have decided to read all the Canadian Reads books, but I am getting three of them from Random House, so that narrows down the buying. Then, I really want Valiant by Holly Black and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke. I also saw Eragon in theatres and decided that I have no idea what happens in the book anymore, so I want to reread the book before FINALLY reading Eldest. I was supposed to own them, but I ordered them and never received them. I know there was something else I had in my hands at the bookstore the other day, but I cannot remember in the slightest anymore. Guess that is one less book to worry about today!

Also, do not forget that my friend is posting his blog tour post on my blog tomorrow!

Blog Tour Day 11

For today's edition of the Blog Tour, head on over to Bookwormom's Blog to see her contribution to the tour.

Blog Tour Day 10

Sorry, I am late! I had a busy day and then I got to see Eragon tonight at the theatres. It was too short, in my opinion, but well-done nonetheless. I saw The Holiday yesterday. It was cutesy. I enjoyed it, though. Been doing pretty good on seeing good movies. Next I want to see Charlotte's Web.

Anyways, head on over to Elysabeth's blog to see her part of the Advent Calendar.

Blog Tour Day 9

Today the Blog Tour visits The Observer. Be sure to head on over there! Another yummy sounding receipe. I really wish my cooking abilities were not so lacking... I might have to give some of these a try, though! Can everyone believe it is only a week until Christmas?

Also, anyone else out there that wants to join in the Advent Calendar now that it has been happening for a few days, you can still can! Just comment and we will add you in!

Blog Tour Day 8

It is Mailyn's turn to do a contribution to Advent Calendar. As of yet, there is nothing recent, but I think yesterdays post is a fitting one for the tour, so either works.

Blog Tour Day 7 and a couple other things...

Head on over to Carla's Blog to see the wonderful receipe she has up for us today.

Also, today was my last exam! Freedom! Bring on the holidays.

Plus, even though they do not read my blog, my best friend, Chris, is in Arkansas right now serving as best man for his cousins wedding. I could have gone, but alas, I had to do school stuff. Even if I could not imagine getting married at 19 (that's how old the bride is), I still wish them all the best. Actually, the wedding should be starting at any minute now. Really wish I was on a trip instead of looking forward (not) to working tonight, but it was not meant to be.

Blog Tour Day 6

For those of us that it is still Friday, head on over to Cindy's Blog for a recipe! Marg had me confused because, for her, she is into Saturday. So, I guess Carla's contribution is up as well, but I will link it tomorrow. Otherwise, I will have my days all messed up.

Also, thanks to everyone for the well wishes about the cat. I have not had enough time to add a picture, but I will!

Blog Tour Day 5

For today's blog tour, head on over to Rosario's Blog. She already has it up as I am posting it, and it is very interesting!

Blog Tour Day 4 and a Contest

Do not forget to take a gander over at Booklogged's Blog to see what treat she has for the Advent Calendar! For those of you that do not read her blog, the one where she talks about books can be viewed by clicking here. The one where she is doing her Advent Calendar is for everything else... I think.... (Have to be honest, did not know it existed until recently, so am still catching up.) I have turned into an advertiser, but I like both of her blogs, and the Advent Tour is really a chance to see new blogs. I know it is for me, anyways, because I do not read most of the participants blogs. Okay, that was a bit of a ramble. It's rather late in Canada right now. I should be asleep... Just pretend I make sense... I just have been slow and actually wanted to have this post up at a decent hour for a change.



It’s that time of year and you know what it means: gifts, gifts and lots of gifts! LOL. Well, your Twisted Kingdom hostesses caught the holiday spirit and have decided to give away 4 books to our lovely readers as a way to celebrate.

The four books are:

-Daughter of the Blood [Book One of the Black Jewels Trilogy] by Anne Bishop
-Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
-Archangel by Sharon Shinn
-Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

There are two ways to enter the contest:

1.You simply copy and paste this post, including our funky little banner, on your blog.

Or

2.Post just our contest banner with a link back to us.

Soon as you do this you then leave a comment on Twisted Kingdom so we can enter you in the drawing.

You have until Thursday December 21st so get to it and tell your friends!

Sincerely,
Dance Chica, Kailana, Mailyn and Nath...your Twisted Kingdom twisted hostesses who wish you a healthy and happy holiday season!

Blog Tour Day 3 and G.I.F.T.

Tune in to Jennie's blog to see what she has for today's contribution to the blog tour! I was just there, but for some reason it will not currently let me comment.

I have been rather slack in the book reviews lately, but I read a new Christmas book and decided to use it as one of the challenges for the G.I.F.T. Challenge. The book is THe Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere. My friend lent it to me, and I just took it. I have to admit I was not really paying attention to what the book was about. So, I was very excited to see it was a book based on the song that I already included as part of the G.I.F.T. Challenge. A very interesting idea, she took a song and made it a novel! (A very short one I might add, but still a worthwhile read.)

Book Description:

Robert is a successful attorney who has everything in life-and nothing at all.Focussed on professional achievement and material rewards, Robert is on the brink of losing his marriage.He has lost sight of his wife, Kate, their two daughters, and ultimately himself.Eight year old Nathan has a beloved mother, Maggie, whom he is losing to cancer.But Nathan and his family are building a simple yet full life, and struggling to hold onto every moment they have together.A chance meeting on Christmas Even brings Robert and Nathan together-he is shopping for a family he hardly knows and Nathan is shopping for a mother he is soon to lose.In this one encounter, their lives are forever altered as Robert learns an important lesson:sometimes the smallest things can make all the difference.The Christmas Shoes is a universal story of the deeper meaning of serendipity, a tale of our shared humanity, and of how a power greater than ourselves can shape, and even save, our lives.

I think that this book was a very charming Christmas story. It really captures the true meaning of Christmas. Knowing the song, I know what was going to happen, but it was nice to see a story with it.

I give this a 4/5. I think I will have to get my own copy.

Blog Tour Day #2

Today for the blog tour we have Marg, but while she has posted, she is going to add to it later, so be sure and check back! Click here.

I got the most interesting Christmas present yesterday. One of my closest online friends logs all the conversations he has with people, so he sent me all the old logs from the first year we knew each other. It's been fun rereading them. Great gift idea, though. I have had so many computers in the time that I have known him that I could never keep it straight, but now I can reread all those conversations that seemed so memorable back then and refresh my memory. It is also interesting to see how much I have changed during that period. Words that were so common in my vocabulary back then, I never would utter (or type) now. Plus, I have aged just a bit in the time, so I would like to think I am more experienced than I was back then... I was in my teens when we started talking and now I am in my 20's. So, it's been fun.

Here's the Blog Tour list in its entirety:
10 December - Kailana
11 December - Marg
12 December - Jennie
13 December - Booklogged
14 December - Rosario
15 December - Cindy
16 December - Carla
17 December - Mailyn
18 December - The Observer
19 December - Elysabeth
20 December - Bookwormom
21 December - Susan
22 December - Chris, the button guy, posting on my blog
23 December - Melrose Plant
24 December - Carl V./Dance Chica

Blog Tour Day #1

I really did not know what to post. I have been talking about Christmas for the G.I.F.T. challenge and I wanted this to be something different. So, I am going to give someone a present. You see, I did not have the best Christmas's growing up. My father was a drunk, and even today my sister and mother have a very low opinion of the holidays. The only two people that used to look forward to them were me and my brother, but even his interest has faded. As a result, we have no Christmas traditions and most of my memories are of my father drunk or hungover and us having to deal with it. So, I always wanted to have a Christmas tradition and my best friend was kind enough to start one this year. It is the simplest thing, really, but we are going to exchange a Christmas tree ornament (or ornaments) every year we know each other. Then, when we are older and are telling people about those ornaments on our tree, we can tell them the story of how this tradition came to be. I know, it might not be what people were expecting from this Advent Calendar, but to me, it is one of the best things that has ever happened as a result of Christmas.

*The friend I am talking about put together the Angel and the Devil, and I think they are cute, so I included*

Advent Calendar, Chunkster Challenge, and Mount TBR

First up, we need more people for the Advent Calendar that is starting on Sunday! I find my blog slowish, I did not think we would have such a problem finding enough people! To read more about it, click here, and be sure and leave a comment and join in the fun!

Over the weekend, I looked all the books in my tbr pile. It has reached new heights, and I started to look closer. There are many books that have sat on that pile for quite some time. With this in mind, I decided to come up with a good New Year's Resolution. I made little challenges for myself with all the books that were laying around. I am going to post about each challenge, one a day. As they are challenges, should anyone else relate to the challenge, feel free to join in! I would just like to get to the end of 2007 with some of the books that have sat for so long, gone. This is The Written World, and hopefully next year I can travel to new Written Worlds.
First up, though, Bookfool is hosting The Chunkster Challenge. The aim is to read a book a month for 6 months. I am hoping to read at least 6 books in a year. My list is below, as well as a button that someone made for me. It is not an official Chunkster Challenge button, they are not up yet, but it makes my post look prettier until I have something to replace it with.


1. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
2. The Silver Rose by Susan Carroll
3. Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
4. Map of Bones by James Rollins
5. The Eagle's Brood by Jack Whyte
6. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
7. Heir to the Shadows by Anne Bishop
8. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
9. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
10.Stolen by Kelley Armstrong
11.Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong
12.

I am really addicted to the pictures found here, as well as on the link that I included yesterday. And, once again a big thank you to Chris for my button.

A Book Review and a few other things...

To begin with, people should sign up for the Advent Calendar! It's the holiday season, why not take a day and give a gift your fellow bloggers! We still have a few days left to cover, so join in the fun. Marg is working on a more detailed follow up post, so I will say more about that later.

It is interesting, on the subject of Christmas traditions. The most depressing tradition seems to be happening at my house. Last year one of my cats, Maggie, was put down because it was discovered that she had cancer. This was Christmas Day that we discovered something was wrong when my sister picked her up and set her back down and her legs would not support her. Two days later, she was put to sleep. (I wonder, was "put to sleep" created to make people feel better about the whole enterprise?) Anyways, here we are a year later, 21 days before Christmas, and another cat is going to the vet, and likely will not be coming home. And, I am the unlucky person that has to go to the vet with it. It's my sisters' cat, but she refuses to do it, so my mother asked me to do it. I know why, every time something happens to an animal in this house, my mother is there when they put it down. I just think my sister should do it. I would want to be there if it was my cat, who is 12 and I can see joining the ranks soon. Then there is Sandy, who is 10. I hope that they don't all leave this earth during the Christmas holidays.

Anyways, off of the depressing note and on to other subject matters. I am going to post a review! Me and Marg, from Reading Adventures, have been reading J.D. Robb's In Death series and posting about it. She read Vengeance in Death last month, but I hardly read anything. So, I caught up today. I am just going to post her old post and add my part to it. And, everyone can just pretend I am not such a slacker... Marg will be the black text, I will be the blue.

He is an expert with the latest technology . . . a madman with the mind of a genius and the heart of a killer. He quietly stalks his prey. Then he haunts the police with cryptic riddles about the crimes he is about to commit - always solved moments too late to save the victims' lives.

Police lieutenant Eve Dallas found the first victim butchered in his own home. The second lost his life in a vacant luxury apartment. The two men had little in common. Both suffered unspeakable torture before their deaths. And both had ties to an ugly secret of ten years past - a secret shared by none other than Eve's new husband, Roarke.

Eve is looking forward to going home on time after having wrapped up a relatively straight forward case, when she is contacted personally and given a riddle to solve that leads her to find the badly mutilated body of a man in his luxury apartment. When another man is killed, this time in one of Rourke's empty rental properties, it soon becomes clear that whoever is killing these people is working his way towards Eve and Roarke himself, and along the way seems determined to make it appear as though Summerset might be involved in the deaths. As much as Eve dislikes Summerset, she finds it hard to believe that he would murder people, so as she deals with the killer, she has to find ways to either prove that her husband's close friend and butler is either guilty or not, as the case may be.

Just when you thought that maybe a case would not involve Roarke, it is back there once again. I find this particular In Death book really shows a side to the characters in the book that we have not really seen up to this point. As the case is related to Roarke and Summerset's past, we see a great deal of their history up close and personal. Summerset has always been included in the novels, but more as a minor character. In this novel, you get a very good taste of what Summerset came from and who he is now and was during his past life in Dublin. It gives him a more human feel and adds him better to the cast of characters. It talks about difficult subjects, but it makes both Summerset, and even Eve, all that more human.

I really liked in that book that Eve and Roarke went back to the mean streets of Dublin to meet some of the people from Roarke's past, reiterating that he is human (every now and again he seems to be almost too good to be true...just a little bit!). I enjoyed the scenes in Dublin as well. Roarke is a major character, but we often hear more about Eve's past than Roarke's. In these scenes we get a chance to know the person behind the perfect persona all that much better.

This book also sees the introduction of a new character that was given a lot of page time, so I presume he will be back. At the end of the last book, Captain Feeney was invited to take his family to Roarke's home in Mexico. When Eve needs technical assistance, she is assigned a newcomer by the name of McNab. I think we are going to see more of him, and I will be glad to. He seems to have a little chemistry going with Eve's offsider Peabody. Peabody is a very interesting character. I am glad that she stuck around and has became a major character. She tries and seem like this perfect cop, but during her undisciplined moments she adds the needed humour to off-set Eve's unflinching attitude. The two play off each other nicely, and adding NcNab to the mix makes things even more interesting. He plays off Peabody as well. It would be good if he became a bit more interesting of a character.

What amazes me with Nora Roberts in both her books written under the JD Robb and the Nora Roberts name is that she seems to have the ability to produce a lot of books, at a remarkably consistent quality. At the moment I am averaging one JD Robb book a month, and I am definitely enjoying the ride! What amazes me about JD Robb (I don't really read her as Roberts) is how the characters seem so real. There is the action showing Eve as a cop, but there are also all the background stories and her moments off work. It is not just about catching the criminal, the characters all have unique personalities and as the story progresses, the reader learns more and more about them.

Kailana's Rating: 3.5/5
Marg's Rating: 4/5

Challenges Galore

Yesterday I organized my books. I am continuing with it this morning, and I have a lot of posts saved in draft to entertain people with over the next few days... In actuality, I made up challenges for myself with all the themes that run through my books. This morning, though, I am posting a list for the Classics Challenge that booklogged is hosting. I am an unofficial participant, because you are supposed to read five classics during the months of January and February, but I am making mine a year long thing.

Anyways, just a reminder about the Advent Calendar Tour. Be sure and comment either on my blog or Marg's, and we will get everyone organized. I think it is fun, and that you might even be able to count your advent post as a G.I.F.T. post, depending on what you post about! Aim to comment before Sunday, but if we do not have enough participants and you decide to join in later, by all means.

Speaking of G.I.F.T., I thought that I would post a brief post about a story that I have heard since I was little. It is about the song, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas". I do not know if my story is necessarily the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but I have been told since I was little, so even if it is false it is a bit like a Christmas tradition, that this song was originally written in the town that I was born in. People would like say "so?" right around now. Well, if you saw where I came from, you would understand how cool it is that a Christmas carol that is popularly known was written in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. The reasoning that I tend to slightly believe that this is in fact true? The lines: "There's a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well,/The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow". There really is a Grand Hotel, they really do put up a very impressive tree, and there is a park right across the street called Frost Park. Is that the proof that I need? No. I believe in it because the story of the song is something that I have been hearing for years. Even if it is not true, it is a Christmas tradition. The lyrics to the song:

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Toys in ev'ry store,
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.

A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben;
Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk
Is the hope of Janice and Jen;
And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
There's a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well,
The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart.

1. The Three Muskateers by Alexandre Dumas
2. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
4. Tess of the D'Uberviles by Thomas Hardy
5. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
7. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
8. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
9. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
10.Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
11.The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
12.Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Bonus "Chunkster" Classics:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Middlemarch by George Eliot
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

I would also like to read some of my Lucy Maud Montgomery books:
1. Chronicles of Avonlea
2. A Tangled Wed
3. Emily's Quest
4. The Story Girl
5. Emily Climbs
6. Akin to Anne
7. Against the Odds
8. Among the Shadows
9. Jane of Lantern Hill

If I did that, then I can order the ones I do not own...

Then, I have all of Jane Austen's novels and have only read Pride and Prejudice. I would like to fix that... And I want to read C.S. Forester.

I am going to aim to read 5 in January and February, but if I do not, I hopefully will read some of the books off this list next year. I get classics at flea markets and yard sales, or at the UBS if there is one I really want to read. It is time to actually read some!