Booking Through Thursday and From the Review Pile

Hot day here in New England ~ Feels more like the South Texas weather I used to know. What I'd give to jump in a big pile of snow :) Thank all that is Holy that summers here are short!

Anyway, this week's BTT asks:

Do you have a favorite quote from a book?

My favorite quote of all time was said by Pablo Picasso ~ 

"Everything you can imagine is real."

I don't think it gets any better than that, but here are a few quotes from books that struck me in one way or another:

“Words are like physical objects around us that appear to be continuous and whole but are in fact composed of particles too small for for the eye to see, for the brain to imagine. Words oversimplify reality. Break open a word, and it's like breaking a mold. The contents seep free, become something new.” ~ Christina Meldrum, Madapple

“People hide their truest nature. I understood that; I even applauded it. What sort of world would it be if people bled all over the sidewalks, if they wept under trees, smacked whomever they despised, kissed strangers, revealed themselves?” ~ Alice Hoffman, The Ice Queen

“I'm not sure what I am. I just know there's something dark in me. I hide it. I certainly don't talk about it, but it's there always, this Dark Passenger. And when he's driving, I feel alive, half sick with the thrill of complete wrongness. I don't fight him, I don't want to. He's all I've got. Nothing else could love me, not even... especially not me. Or is that just a lie the Dark Passenger tells me? Because lately there are these moments when I feel connected to something else... someone. It's like the mask is slipping and things... people... who never mattered before are suddenly starting to matter. It scares the hell out of me.” ~ Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter

AND...



From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday. The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review. (or any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

This week, I'm spotlighting two books I received recently for review ~ *can't wait* to read 'em!! Embrace by Cherie Colyer and Willow Pond by Carol Tibaldi

How far would you go to save the people you love?

Madison is familiar enough with change, and she hates everything about it. Change took her long-term boyfriend away from her. It caused one of her friends to suddenly hate her. It’s responsible for the death of a local along with a host of other mysterious happenings. But when Madison meets a hot new guy, she thinks her luck is about to improve.

Madison is instantly drawn to the handsome and intriguing Isaac Addington. She quickly realizes he’s a guy harboring a secret, but she’s willing to risk the unknown to be with him.

Her world really spins out of control, however, when her best friend becomes delusional, seeing things that aren’t there and desperately trying to escape their evil. When the doctors can’t find the answers, Madison seeks her own.

Nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.
Dangerous, intoxicating, and darkly romantic, Embrace is a thriller that will leave you spellbound.

The Roaring Twenties crumble into the Great Depression, but Virginia Kingsley, New York's toughest and most successful speakeasy owner, is doing just fine. Now that the world is falling apart, bootlegging is a flourishing business, and she's queen of that castle.

Then her infant nephew is kidnapped. Her niece, Laura, and Laura's philandering movie star husband, are devastated. The police have few leads, and speculation and rumors abound in the media circus that follows the celebrity abduction.

Only one reporter, Erich Muller, seems to care enough about the child's welfare and the parents' feelings to report the case responsibly. Over the course of the investigation, Erich Muller and Laura fall in love, but their relationship is doomed to failure since he suspects her beloved aunt Virginia is behind the kidnapping. Laura, jaded when it comes to men, sides with Virginia.

But Virginia has figured out the truth, and she can't tell anyone for fear of losing her niece's affections and having the police ransack her life. So she pursues her own investigation, shaking down, threatening, and killing one petty crook after another during her search.

Little Todd's absence shapes everyone's lives. When he is finally found, the discovery will bring disaster for some and revelation for others.

Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely ~

Booking Through Thursday

Another rainy day here in Maine. I don't dread the rain; in fact, I embrace it. Mainers seem to think that complaining about the weather will change it, so they do a lot of moaning and sighing over it. I always tell them it can't be sunny every day :)

Anyway,

This week's question asks:

Do you consider yourself an extrovert or an introvert?

I am definitely, without a single doubt, an introvert. I need to be in the company of silence in order to recharge, and social situations wear me out. Most people say I'm too quiet or ask why I'm so shy, but the truth is that I'm not meek or shy at all ~ silence isn't awkward for me, and I just prefer not to fill every quiet moment with endless chatter. In a world created for extroverts, a lot of people I've met have a difficult time grasping the concept that there are other kinds of individuals besides the loud and outgoing who have a place in this world. I love extroverted people and the fact that everyone is different ~ the world would eventually be made of zombies if we were all the same.

Not really a book question, but I tend to find that those who are more introverted are those who enjoy reading the most. I guess that's a question for another day...

Happy Reading Everyone :)


~ Keely

Booking Through Thursday

This week's BTT asks two related questions:




Are there any fictional characters whom you have emulated (or tried to)? Who and why?

and

What fictional character do you feel is most like you personality-wise? 

I take a little bit away from all the characters about which I read. I don't try to emulate them per say, but sometimes they offer such wisdom or they say things that give me something to think about in regards to my own life that I can't help but be affected. 

Personality-wise... Recently I read Graceling (review here), and although I'm definitely not like Katsa in the kick-anybody's-ass sense, I could definitely relate to her predicaments. She didn't want to be owned by anyone ~ her desire to belong to herself surpassed any other desire of her heart, even the desire to live. She was controlled by a king she despised, something of which she felt she had no control. Sometimes I feel owned by a job for which I have no passion, which I'm sure everyone goes through at some point in their lives, but I feel stuck in a place I can't stand most of the time, and despite all my efforts, I can't seem to get out. One day, hopefully, I'll bust out a Katsa move and just say *enough* ~ when I have a backup plan to pay my bills ;). 

Also, Katsa won't give up herself for the sake of love. I used to be afraid of that too, until I met my husband who accepts me the way I am, stubbornness and all. I learned, just as she did, that love doesn't mean sacrificing a part of yourself or even your freedom. It means you share a part of yourself with someone who would never take it away from you, and you give each other strengths you never knew you had. 

Happy Reading Everyone :)

~ Keely ~