Off the Shelf Reading Challenge

Bookish Ardour is challenging us to read some of the books we already own. I’m choosing the “Trying” level and aiming low at 15 books. Visit the site to sign up. (Here’s my owned-to-read shelf on GoodReads if you’re curious.) This challenge runs from January 1 – December 31, 2011.  I’ll track my progress here. […]

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Review Policy Change

I have been mulling this over for a while and, much as part of me hates to do it, I have decided not to accept any more books for review. At least for a while. I am too moody a reader to do well with deadlines, and if I don’t give myself a deadline, I […]

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The Classics by Caroline Taggart: Book Review

Do you ever find yourself reading along, and when you come to a reference to ancient Greece or Rome, you start scratching your head? With sort of a, “I think I heard something about that somewhere, but I don’t remember much about it” kind of thought? The Classics:  All You Need to Know, from Zeus’s […]

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The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes: Book Review

The Somnambulist features Edward Moon, a conjurer most easily compared to Sherlock Holmes, but with a freakish twist. His Watson is an 8-foot-tall mute man named–can you guess?–The Somnambulist. The pair are asked to investigate a bizarre murder in the seamier part of London at the beginning of the novel. Within pages, they have solved […]

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Stoyan: Character Connection

Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) […]

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: Book Review

Everyone who knows pleasant Dr. Jekyll is surprised that he has taken the brutish Mr. Hyde under his wing. Hyde is a horrible person, and everyone who meets him claims to be immediately repulsed by him. It’s obvious that there’s more to the relationship than meets the eye, but no one guesses exactly how twisted […]

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Dracula by Bram Stoker: Book Review

I have somehow never seen “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” or any of the other movie incarnations of this book. In fact, I was surprised to read the back cover of this book and find out that the book is about Dracula moving to Enland to set up shop. So, I had no expectations going into it. […]

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