I have been reading faster than I can post

Since breaking my toe I have found myself reading more than I normally do and spending less time with the TV (which I didn't spend much time with to begin with) and the computer. Whereas I am not going out much because it's too bothersome to hobble everywhere, I am still not writing book reviews like I had hoped I would. When I do make it to the basement and sit at the computer, I check my email, my Facebook messages and a couple of other sites. Then I just hobble away and read.The last of the five books on my burner for the summer was read during my week off from work while my foot was elevated and my toe surrounded by ice. I had started it earlier, but didn't really think I liked it all that much. But by the end of the week I was desperate for things to read and Larklight was given a second chance. I have to say that it wasn't a particularly bad book, it just wasn't really my style. I'm not much of a fan of space and aliens and whatnot. I never liked Joss Whedon's Firefly and I never really got Star Trek. I'm just not a space girl. (This does not mean I am not spacey, because, hooo boy, can I be a space cadet at times!) The book is also set in the 1800s and I am not quite a fan of literature set in that time. Sure, I have read the Pink Carnation series, and the books by Libba Bray, but it takes a lot to hold my attention when people are wearing corsets and worried about the Ton. I just don't particularly care. Maybe because the thought of having to dress up like that EVERY day makes me cringe. Oh, how I love the inventor of denim and jeans. Oh, how I love the fact that women can wear pants and sneakers. But, um, I digress... I think Larklight would be a great book for boys to read. Especially if they like huge spiders. *shudder*Also read that week were two books that Monkey had lent me and though I was curious about one, I was certain that I didn't want to read the other. Both books were by Shannon Hale and they sat on my book shelf for a long time before I finally relented and picked one up. I knew that I wanted to read The Goose Girl at some point, though I just wasn't in the right mood to pick up a book I thought might take effort to read. I was in the mood for fluff in my reading and though Goose Girl looked as though it might promise some fantasy, I thought it would be slightly dull. I was wrong, of course. And I thoroughly enjoyed the entire story and characters. I was quite sad when the book was done because I had grown so fond of the story and was fully immersed the the world of Goose Girl and her fight to regain her crown. This was a charming tale of a young girl becoming a strong woman. The other book by Hale was taunting me and is a perfect example of why one should never, ever judge a book by its cover (or title, for that matter). I was certain that Princess Academy was one of those Princess Diary-type books, all about giggling little girls and the school they went to only for princesses. Or something. I really did not think it was going to be anything like it actually was. A small mountain village, whose sole export are the stones they mine from the quarry is chosen by the seers as the place the Crown Prince will find his Princess and so a Princess Academy is built and run by a miserable woman and all the girls between 12 and 17 are taken from the village to live at the Academy where they are trained for a year to learn the ways of a Princess. Or Princess hopeful, that is. I honestly don't think anything I write about the book will do it justice. The main character was just delightful and not to mention cunning and witty. I like me some witty characters in my books. The challenges the girls face and triumph through are entertaining. This book would be great for readers in the 9-12 range, whereas Goose Girl is just slightly older, I think.I did sheepishly write an email to Monkey and tell her she was right. I did love the books, just like she told me I would. I need to remember that I should trust her more on these things...I have also finished the entire Belgariad series by David Eddings, which of course I have read many times before. But since I was out of new books, I had to read something, and I have such a fondness for this series that I thought I would start over at the beginning.

I started reading Fantasy novels when my Father let me raid his bookshelves. He had the entire Piers Anthony Xanth series (up until then) and some other fun books that I fell in love with. However, he did NOT have this series and I only discovered it when I was in my early 20s and working at a bookstore myself. And did I discover it chronologically? Heck, no! The first book I found was Polgara the Sorceress and with my keen knack of judging a book by its cover I bought it, read it and fell in love with it. Only to be told by a customer that there was an entire series of books that came BEFORE this one. Oops. So that's when I finally came across what I think is my favourite series of all time.I had just finished the first book of the Malloreon series when my anxiously awaited Vicki Pettersson novel came in the mail, so I leaped from Eddings' world into the sinful world of Vegas and the Third Sign of the Zodiac (which I am currently reading). So hopefully I'll be able to keep up with my reading and reviewing now that my toe is getting better enough for me to ascend and descend stairs in a more comfortable manner.