There was one night I was pondering over books on audible.com,I was looking for something to scare the bejeezus out of myself on a Saturday night and this book cover looked like it could fit the bill.
14 is a book that is best read with little knowledge about it. I knew practically nothing. I listened to the sample on line and one or two reviews, but that was it. No one who read it was giving up the goodies on what it was about. Now that I have read it I know why.
Perhaps if I had known what it was about I may have not continued to listen to it. It mixes alot of genre's into one spectacular book that slaps you in the chops and leaves you wanting more. I would advise that if you have any housework, meals to cook, cats to wash, gardens to mow that you do all this before starting to listen to this book. In fact, here is the best piece of advice anyone is going to give you,. park yourself in your favourite reading place , bed, bath or whatever rocks your boat and have enough supplies of beverages and snack food ( if you can get food delivered then all the better).
Then after hitting the play button immerse yourself in the happenings in the Kavach building in LA.
Nate, our main character is looking for a place to live ,after meeting an old friend he is advised that this building may be what he could be looking for. Cheap rent and all utilities into the bargain.
Too good to be true???? ..... well maybe...
So Nate does move in and here he meets some of the other residents:Mandy,Xela,Veek, and Tim. There more characters but these are the main group you will be meeting in this book.
Ray Porter is the narrator in this book, and what ever he got paid was not enough!!!!...mannnnn he did a good job!!!! I forgot after a while that it was a man doing all the female voices..now that takes skill folks!!!!!
So anyway, Nate has moved in and is meeting the neighbours , and is beginning to notice that things are not as normal as they first seemed. Things look a tiny bit ...off.
For a start the layout of each apartment is very different,temperatures are a little odd in some apartments,odd coloured cockroaches etc.
When Nate does begin to nosy around about the building he gets the other residents interested too much to Oscar's dissaproval.( Oscar looks after the building)
So Nate and his new buddies set up a little group that they often compare to the Scooby Doo group.Each member ironically matching up quite well :0)
They find out that the history of the building is very dubious. Quite an alarming number of past residents committed suicide and a lot of people did not stay very long despite the low rent.It looked like alot of people found the building to be as strange as Nate and his friends.
So the story is building tension right from the first few minutes and it really does carry it on through to the very end. We begin to learn more and more about the building and then they start to hardcore search it for some explanation for the oddities that are occurring there.More and more things begin to happen and as more and more things are beginning to occur it is really hard to leave the book esp at this stage to get a bowl of frosted flakes ....or sleep...
So.. here we go, the mid to end parts of the book were phenomenon. You are going to meet things that you could never have dreamed possible ..things that would chill you to your core and make your imagination spark with the visual your brain will be trying to conjure as Ray Porter introduces you to the Squales..... ha ha ha....oh the Squales.!!!.. I am not going to explain these to you.. No .. you must learn about them in the same way I did with the blood chilling voice of Mr Porter making me want to cover my ears and hide behind the nearest fluffy pillow.
I am not going to tell you if it ended well,nor if Nate stayed..These are all things you must read to find out..I can say that at least in my opinion you wont regret buying this book. If you can, get it in audible version, if not then in any format you can lay your hands on. Then have the comfy chair and snacks ready as you are in for one hell of a ride.
So...after finishing this..I took a step back and went ...phew!!!!!!
That was one hell of a bookish ride..
I want a book 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why, you may ask..... because lovely book reading people..It was that great...
Friday, August 17, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
An Insomniac's hobby
Do you have trouble sleeping?
Is the only thing going bump in the night in your house your slipper clad feet as they bang into the corner of the bed as you try and perhaps walk quietly,( as a cosy Ugg wearing mouse)in the dark, out of your bedroom while trying not to wake your partner, boyfriend, husband, cat or dog?
You are not alone....
I too am a bad sleeper.. always was..
As a child I was a smart kiddo, I always had a good book handy and a drawer full of batteries for my torch , it was the size of a brick and likely to cause arm strain unless it was rested on something which luckily it usually was. One of my teddy bears was called Ted... no I did not name him... He was blue and white and when I think back he was as ugly as sin but nevertheless he did his job well. He had a nice plump belly which was perfect for torch balancing.
Many a night myself and Ted spent with a good book when it was after bedtime. Enid Blyton was a favourite back then with me, and as I entered my teenage years the Point Horror books were my new addiction. Ohhh those books were great.. The Babysitter 1,2,3 etc and The Boyfriend... I could just go on and on..
There was a huge range of these books which were a fair enough price for what they were.
I spent most of my summer holidays when I was not working in the bog and helping on hay making days, mowing my mother's garden in exchange for pocket money to buy books. Each week my mum and I would go to the garden centre and get some plants and then grocery shopping and I would walk down to the newsagents where there was a small area selling books.Here I sat on the floor looking through all the books while seeing how many I could manage to get with my money this week while hoping the rest would still be here the following week when I would be back again.
These books would sometimes be cracked open on the sun lounger while in my swimsuit with a glass of ice cold coke if we got a nice sunny day.These days were pretty rare because if there was a nice day then there was work to be done but I did cherish those days. Reading outside with the sun beaming down as I heard mum prepare salad from the open door leading into the kitchen.It was lovely.
These days I have been sitting out at my pond reading. The noise from the waterfall and the fish jumping in the water make it a very relaxing experience. It reminds me of those days when I was kid and the joy books brought me ,they still do. The excitement is still there.
So if at night now I cannot get to sleep, I take myself,blanket and book and wander off to my library where no torch is needed( nor Ted) where if I should fall asleep with my book in my hand, and a half drank cup of tea by my side it won't be the worst thing in the world. Maybe being an insomniac is not so bad after all.
Is the only thing going bump in the night in your house your slipper clad feet as they bang into the corner of the bed as you try and perhaps walk quietly,( as a cosy Ugg wearing mouse)in the dark, out of your bedroom while trying not to wake your partner, boyfriend, husband, cat or dog?
You are not alone....
I too am a bad sleeper.. always was..
As a child I was a smart kiddo, I always had a good book handy and a drawer full of batteries for my torch , it was the size of a brick and likely to cause arm strain unless it was rested on something which luckily it usually was. One of my teddy bears was called Ted... no I did not name him... He was blue and white and when I think back he was as ugly as sin but nevertheless he did his job well. He had a nice plump belly which was perfect for torch balancing.
Many a night myself and Ted spent with a good book when it was after bedtime. Enid Blyton was a favourite back then with me, and as I entered my teenage years the Point Horror books were my new addiction. Ohhh those books were great.. The Babysitter 1,2,3 etc and The Boyfriend... I could just go on and on..
There was a huge range of these books which were a fair enough price for what they were.
I spent most of my summer holidays when I was not working in the bog and helping on hay making days, mowing my mother's garden in exchange for pocket money to buy books. Each week my mum and I would go to the garden centre and get some plants and then grocery shopping and I would walk down to the newsagents where there was a small area selling books.Here I sat on the floor looking through all the books while seeing how many I could manage to get with my money this week while hoping the rest would still be here the following week when I would be back again.
These books would sometimes be cracked open on the sun lounger while in my swimsuit with a glass of ice cold coke if we got a nice sunny day.These days were pretty rare because if there was a nice day then there was work to be done but I did cherish those days. Reading outside with the sun beaming down as I heard mum prepare salad from the open door leading into the kitchen.It was lovely.
These days I have been sitting out at my pond reading. The noise from the waterfall and the fish jumping in the water make it a very relaxing experience. It reminds me of those days when I was kid and the joy books brought me ,they still do. The excitement is still there.
So if at night now I cannot get to sleep, I take myself,blanket and book and wander off to my library where no torch is needed( nor Ted) where if I should fall asleep with my book in my hand, and a half drank cup of tea by my side it won't be the worst thing in the world. Maybe being an insomniac is not so bad after all.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Summer Reading Outside
Did you ever as a child lie in the grass in the summer time, and look up into the sky watching the clouds up above?
Has it been perhaps a long while since you did that?
If the answer to the above question was yes then I urge you to get your self a picnic blanket and on a sunny day put it outside somewhere quiet and lie down.
I have a pond and I put by blanket out there beside it this week and I lay down. I loved lying down outside doing this as a child ,making pictures out of the white fluffy clouds overhead.. It was calming and peaceful then, and I was glad to see that it still is.
After a little while I pulled out a book out of my bag( zipped closed to stop spiders from creeping in).
I rolled up my trousers, put on my sunnies and settled on my blanket, I just felt great. The sun was warm on my skin and it was hard to believe there were still joys like this that cost nothing at all. There was butterflies and bumblebees flying around, and thankfully they left me in peace .
So I lay there reading my book for a few hours before doing chores but I remember thinking later that night before I went to sleep how glad I was that I had done it and that I definitely should not leave it so long to do it again.
I am hoping to do this as often as I can while the sun lasts ,and take some time just sitting outside quietly reading, and enjoying all that nature has to offer me.
Has it been perhaps a long while since you did that?
If the answer to the above question was yes then I urge you to get your self a picnic blanket and on a sunny day put it outside somewhere quiet and lie down.
I have a pond and I put by blanket out there beside it this week and I lay down. I loved lying down outside doing this as a child ,making pictures out of the white fluffy clouds overhead.. It was calming and peaceful then, and I was glad to see that it still is.
After a little while I pulled out a book out of my bag( zipped closed to stop spiders from creeping in).
I rolled up my trousers, put on my sunnies and settled on my blanket, I just felt great. The sun was warm on my skin and it was hard to believe there were still joys like this that cost nothing at all. There was butterflies and bumblebees flying around, and thankfully they left me in peace .
So I lay there reading my book for a few hours before doing chores but I remember thinking later that night before I went to sleep how glad I was that I had done it and that I definitely should not leave it so long to do it again.
I am hoping to do this as often as I can while the sun lasts ,and take some time just sitting outside quietly reading, and enjoying all that nature has to offer me.
Book Buying / Olympic Event
So, as any card carrying book addict will know book shopping is hard work.. It could even be regarded as a cardiovascular workout. You don't think so???
Well look at this way- think about all the walking up the aisle's, the pulling down of books from the shelf's and returning the books, multiply this numerous times,esp in your favourite section in the book shop. Then perhaps you may have already picked up an arm full of books to buy and your biceps are working overtime... you are really feeling the burn now.... then you see it.... The Sale Section!!!!!!!!... here I come doing the 20 foot sprint , my eyes are on the prize, I can already see the first peek of a colourful cover that has my book beak ( the unique nose of a book addict that can sniff out a bookshop within 100 yards) interested.
So after doing the quick sprint to the sale section before any other person can get there and ruin any chance of getting a book I wanted I try and maneuver all books already in my arms to one arm so I have the other arm free to hoke around the sales.. it is hard work and will require changing arms every few minutes to stop the dead feeling in my arm... well that, and the red marks that the heavy books always leave on my arms from carrying them, esp the hardbacks.. they are a killer.
Now if a day of book buying has been set aside and planned and looked forward to then repeat the above exercises and then park yourself into the nearest coffee shop/restaurant.. This is essential for this type of day. You sit down and get a chance to relax as you take a look at the books you bought. After consuming enough coffee and cookies in your system to fuel a nuclear power plant for a month you are now all set for the rest of the afternoon. This is when you go around all the rest of the shops you missed the first time round and go back into the shops where you saw a book and changed your mind about it.. but then changed your mind about it again and now want it.... phew... exhausting fun.
So after all this I get home.. tired and happy.. I won!!!!
All the books on my list were bought and I survived with the minimum of bruises and exhaustion.
Beside my bed is a stack of new books that I can browse through before I go to sleep.
A hot bath and a good book are all that is needed now, and perhaps a hot chocolate to end the day well.
Book shopping days are just the best!!!!!
Friday, August 10, 2012
Books And Summer Daydreaming
The sun is shining in my part of the world, It feels great. We were beginning to think that we were all to remain a pasty colour ,but there is a chance after all that our milk bottle coloured Irish bodies will get a hint of brown .This will save me having to get the St Tropez out, the only thing I will be slathering on my skin is a good SPF. Bliss !!!!
So, when the good weather is here I like to read holiday ,exotic location type books. Here are the ones I am going to be trying to read this week while the sun lasts.
Do you enjoy a summer themed book while the sun is out?
I think I am a seasonal reader.. are you??
So, when the good weather is here I like to read holiday ,exotic location type books. Here are the ones I am going to be trying to read this week while the sun lasts.
Do you enjoy a summer themed book while the sun is out?
I think I am a seasonal reader.. are you??
Book Haul....
While shopping this week I was fortunate enough to come across numerous book sales. I was happier then a pig in p**p!!
As I do read so many different books from so many genres I can usually find something that interests me when I am out and about. Thankfully this one particular day I found a good few.Yay!!!!
The first shop I stopped of at was Easons. The Irish bookshop chain.Here I picked up these two:
Looks like perfect summer reading!!!
The next one was at the used bookstore, here I made out like a bandit..Every book 1 euro each.. yay Bargains all round... check out these beauties..
Yet another Little Women look for my library.. I must have about 6 different editions.
Again another summer themed book.. Can you tell the weather has got better here.
My hardback edition of my favourite book arrived too. 84 Charring Cross Road.
I really enjoy the picture of the bookshop on Charring Cross Road on the back fly leaf. I only wish I had got to visit this place while it was a bookshop .
As I do read so many different books from so many genres I can usually find something that interests me when I am out and about. Thankfully this one particular day I found a good few.Yay!!!!
The first shop I stopped of at was Easons. The Irish bookshop chain.Here I picked up these two:
Sweetly- A retelling of Hansel and Gretel
The next one was at the used bookstore, here I made out like a bandit..Every book 1 euro each.. yay Bargains all round... check out these beauties..
I have never read anything by Lawrence before but the blurb at the back of the book really interested me.
These two I may save for the autumn/winter
I have read this before but did not have my own copy of it. Now I do, Yay!!!
I saw this series recommended alot by one of the lovely ladies over at getbookish on youtube. We have similar book tastes so I thought I would give it a go. The entire box set of books 5 euro . Can you say bargain!!!!
The blurb on the back looked great and I don't think P.D James could write a bad book so I got this one.
Again another summer themed book.. Can you tell the weather has got better here.
Yep more summer reading!!!!
Next was a closing down bookshop sale- Here I picked up these.I was so fortunate this month.
The same writer who wrote The House Of Silk, this booked aimed for a younger audience.
How could I resist this book above.
All these stickers that bookshops put on their books drive me mad. Why do this to the books !!!!!!!!!!
It is always near impossible to remove them without damaging the books in some way.
My hardback edition of my favourite book arrived too. 84 Charring Cross Road.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Blabbering And Blundering Along
So.. there I was, taking a wander down Diagon Alley to pick up a few bits before heading to the leaky cauldron for a few ice cold butter beers....well no not quite...
I was wandering from the kitchen after making rice crispy treats and a pot of soup . What is it with this weather.. summer my arse!!! I do believe I may have hallucinated sunshine last week.. it only lasted a few mins and it was very hazy so there is a good chance the fumes from lighting the gas cooker caused the sudden appearance of the imaginary sunshine..
All this non sunshine weather ( now known by me as second winter) is leading me to hobbies and food type things normally reserved for autumn/ winter.
I have found myself on more then one occasion wanting to light the open fire, put on a pot of soup and either watch Christmas movies or read wintry themed books. I did pretty much all of this except lighting the fire as the humidity is yackkk here right now and I would likely be admitted to hospital with a temperature rocking the early hundreds if I did that.
Have you felt the same my friends??
So what to read when the weather is both bad and hot...
We could go for a bustier ripping novel with some ravishing man on a horse/motorbike/really fast car but the chances are it would only raise our expectations and leave us a little hot under the collar and in need of a facial Spritz ( Caudalie do a good one (beauty elixir) )
Anyways.. to get back to what I was saying.. we could also go for something light and suitably seasonal.. A nice beach read.. You know the type.. There is tropical locations, cocktails, sexy Spanish waiters and jugs of sangria but lets face it, it can get a bit much when you are at home , pale as an anemic ghost while trying to get your legs tanned while sitting on your back door step, trying to avoid the bees from nose diving your can of coke.
So are we destined to have nothing to read while our weather is on the dismal side??.. Fear not lovely people in blog land .. I have the answer..
Well actually no I don't .. Everyone I know is complaining of book slumps.. No doctor can prescribe a cure for this malady , the best I can suggest is drink plenty and ride out the storm..
It is a curse .. you know "The Slumps" ..it sneaks up on you, is a divil to get rid of and the darn thing can come back at any time.
It may be of some use to you to read over old favourites but as my friend Sabrina over at
http://www.abouthappybooks.com knows, book slumps can last longer then any book lover would like. The one and only good thing about book slumps is that eventually they do end and when they do it is a momentous occasion where our hope in books is restored again reminding us why we loved books in the first place.
I was wandering from the kitchen after making rice crispy treats and a pot of soup . What is it with this weather.. summer my arse!!! I do believe I may have hallucinated sunshine last week.. it only lasted a few mins and it was very hazy so there is a good chance the fumes from lighting the gas cooker caused the sudden appearance of the imaginary sunshine..
All this non sunshine weather ( now known by me as second winter) is leading me to hobbies and food type things normally reserved for autumn/ winter.
I have found myself on more then one occasion wanting to light the open fire, put on a pot of soup and either watch Christmas movies or read wintry themed books. I did pretty much all of this except lighting the fire as the humidity is yackkk here right now and I would likely be admitted to hospital with a temperature rocking the early hundreds if I did that.
Have you felt the same my friends??
So what to read when the weather is both bad and hot...
We could go for a bustier ripping novel with some ravishing man on a horse/motorbike/really fast car but the chances are it would only raise our expectations and leave us a little hot under the collar and in need of a facial Spritz ( Caudalie do a good one (beauty elixir) )
Anyways.. to get back to what I was saying.. we could also go for something light and suitably seasonal.. A nice beach read.. You know the type.. There is tropical locations, cocktails, sexy Spanish waiters and jugs of sangria but lets face it, it can get a bit much when you are at home , pale as an anemic ghost while trying to get your legs tanned while sitting on your back door step, trying to avoid the bees from nose diving your can of coke.
So are we destined to have nothing to read while our weather is on the dismal side??.. Fear not lovely people in blog land .. I have the answer..
Well actually no I don't .. Everyone I know is complaining of book slumps.. No doctor can prescribe a cure for this malady , the best I can suggest is drink plenty and ride out the storm..
It is a curse .. you know "The Slumps" ..it sneaks up on you, is a divil to get rid of and the darn thing can come back at any time.
It may be of some use to you to read over old favourites but as my friend Sabrina over at
http://www.abouthappybooks.com knows, book slumps can last longer then any book lover would like. The one and only good thing about book slumps is that eventually they do end and when they do it is a momentous occasion where our hope in books is restored again reminding us why we loved books in the first place.
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