Tag, Award, Random

The tag comes from Shaynie at The Book Blog! She tagged anyone who liked Sherlock Holmes. :)

1. Do you like Sherlock Holmes?

Yes!

2. Would you ever like to go overseas and work with a relief agency in a war-torn country?

It would depend on the type of relief work that I'd be doing. It would also depend on where I'd be doing the relief work . . .

3. Do you like foreign films?

I've never watched a foreign film. (Is this bad?)

4. Do you like writing?

No. I HATE writing! I loathe it! The beings who possess my mind and force me to write are cruel enough that they don't even make me like the awful chore!

*ends good-humored sarcasm* Yeah. I love it.

5. Will you be doing NaNoWriMo? What's your book about?

I'm not going to be doing NaNoWriMo, although I will try to write as much as I can next month.

As for what my book is about, it's . . . complicated. Not to mention it has CLASSIFIED written all over it, (even to my mom because I don't want to spoil the plot for her :D), but I can say that there are spaceships. And dictatorships.

6. What's your favorite animal?

I love lots of different animals, although I get the feeling you've already guessed I like birds of prey.

7. Have you ever been to a foreign country?

I was adopted from China, so yes, I HAVE been to a foreign country! Unfortunately, I don't remember a thing. I flew over Korea, (stopped in Seoul), Russia, and Canada. Plus Alaska.

8. Are your ears pierced?

Nope.

*****

The award comes from Rachel Morgan at Rachel Morgan Writes!


It is the Cherry On Top Award.

Thank you, Rachel! :)


I received this award a short time ago, and already answered the question, although it was phrased a little different than this: If I had the chance to go back and change one thing in my life, would I, and what would it be?


I'll answer it again anyways. No, I would not, because I've learned too much and done too much in my life to warrant going back and trying to change it. :)

*****

Now, for the random!


If you visited my blog yesterday, you may have noticed that I didn't appear to have published a post yesterday--when I DID. It was the book review of Krik? Krak! which I accidentally told Blogger to publish on the 17th. Darn. So, if you I slipped up on NaBloWriMo, I didn't!


Only an absolute bookworm would get hyper at the idea of traveling to two libraries in one day and getting out a million books at each, which I will presumably be doing tomorrow. They're both very good libraries, too. Plenty of YA, and MG, and Adult, and even DVDs. Utopia, people.


Which only makes me more frustrated when I learn that the District's representative wants to CUT THE LOCAL LIBRARY'S BOOK BUDGET DOWN TO ZERO. Otherwise known as nil. Zip. Nothing. They may have given the librarians a salary hike, but no new books if this budget thing continues!


They don't do interlibrary loans around here, either. Darn it!

*****

It's supposed to snow tomorrow. SNOW. It's only the end of October! Whew. But I don't mind--I actually like snow. :)


Have a great Thursday, everyone!


-----The Golden Eagle

In Which I Receive An Award and Deliver a Satisfied Rant on The Atlantis Complex

First, the award! Len at Conversations with Self awarded me the One Lovely Blog Award--thank you so much, Len!

The rules for this award are to thank the person who gave you this award, *thanks and hugs for Len* and pass it on to 15 other Lovely Bloggers.

15! There are too many lovely people out there for that to be any kind of decision! But okay. I'll bite the bullet and here are the 15 people I award in a random order:

Renae Mercado

Brave Chickens

Ishta Mercurio

Misha Gericke

N. R. Williams

Clarissa Draper

Cruella Collett

Tere Kirkland

Elena Solodow

Lisa Potts

Caroline

Icewolf

Peaceful Reader

Talei

Lola Sharp

Thank you once more, Len!

*****

Cover via Amazon

***Minor spoilers, but not much plot. Nothing big, but if you want to keep the book totally new and fresh for yourself, then don't read this. But it's not like I laid out the whole thing.***

I FINALLY managed to secure a copy of Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer from my library. (In case you've never heard of this book, it's the newest book in the Artemis Fowl series.) I didn't say "review" because I have trouble reviewing books that aren't the first in a series, or ones I haven't reviewed the other books in--it just seems awkward to me. So I'm going to rant on it a little instead.

I've been wanting to take this book out ever since it came out, and I finished The Atlantis Complex the evening I took it out. Artemis Fowl is one of my favorite series, (if not THE favorite) and it's even better than The Looking Glass Wars, Maximum Ride, and The Five Ancestors.

I didn't know what the make of The Atlantis Complex at first, because it's not the typical good-guy-beats-bad-guy plot that the other books are based on. Opal Koboi, much to my surprise, doesn't make a big entrance, and instead it's Turnball Root from The Artemis Fowl Files. (Thank goodness I managed to take that book out of a different library.)

Because I'm not trying to be totally exact or professional here as I am in reviews, I'm going to say this: Holly, dear elf, why. On Earth (and in Haven). Did you date. CAPTAIN TROUBLE KELP? Okay, it was only one date here, but STILL. Trouble KELP. That dude is . . . . . well, okay, I suppose Holly and Trouble might go well together. They're both LEPRecon and officers and all that.

This book was funny, as usual. Eoin Colfer has a distinctive humor/sarcasm that I love, and the characters are genuine in this series. Artemis Fowl wasn't himself for all of it of course, but, as always, he manages to pull through if without as much sanity as other times.

I'm going to say READ IT READ IT READ IT because this book is really, really good. I still think that The Arctic Incident and The Opal Deception are the best books out of this series, but The Atlantis Complex is well done.

*end rant*

*****

I have completed Day 2 of NaBloWriMo!


That is all for today.

Ciao. 再见. Adios.

(Don't ask me why, but "toodles" is beginning to get on my nerves.)

-----The Golden Eagle

300th Post

Fascinating . . .


Kidding. I'm not doing anything this time, just writing a normal post.

If normal is what my posts are.

I'm here to talk about . . . eh, well, I'm not exactly sure. I could mention my writing. Like the fact that I'm in the middle of editing Part Two and more editing in Part Three while I still need to edit Part Four and Part Five is sitting patiently (or impatiently) while I try to get caught up with it. (I usually edit my posts right after I write them, since I write my books in parts . . .) I've almost finished rewriting a chapter, and then I can move on to Part Three and give it my whole attention.

Or I could chat about the weather. Like the fact that it's getting colder, (although it was rather warm yesterday) and there are bare trees already. BARE TREES. C'mon, leaves, hold on to the those branches a little longer. Snow's not in the forecast quite yet. It's not even October.

Or I could yammer about the fact I like this orchard place maybe 40 minutes away where they sell fruit for a lot less than Wal-Mart. We (my mom and I) got half a bushel of apples there . . . which means there is a lot of apple to eat in the next few weeks. :) They also had some vegetable for a really good price, but we bypassed that because we already had a lot of produce.

Or I could mention the fact that NaBloWriMo is just around the corner and that I still have not written up and scheduled posts for the month. Darn it. I really need to get going on that or else I'll fail this challenge which would not be pleasant . . . for me, anyway. I planned some things and I could type out at least a few titles, but I need to do something else right now.

Or I could tell you that I have four books to read before the 1st, otherwise I'm not going to finish by TBR pile before it has to go back the library, and I DESPISE doing that because I usually read fast. But seeing as I have over 30 (40?) books out (mostly YA, some Adult) I suppose I have an excuse. I'm reading She Thief  by Daniel Finn right now. Good book so far.

Or I could say that I still have no idea what to post about. ;)

-----The Golden Eagle

Books, I Tell You

Hello everyone. I had an really, really good time at the library yesterday and found a lot of books that look EXCELLENT.

Not all expeditions to the library are this successful. :) You're probably wondering what's making me so enthusiastic, so here's a list:

Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov. (Don't ask me why there are so many books beyond the original trilogy. There's the Foundation Series and I read on Wikipedia that other people wrote six other books continuing it. I think I took out the right ones for the trilogy, though.)

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg. (It was nearby! I can't resist a good-looking book if it's nearby another good book. If that makes any sense . . . anyway, position on the shelf can play a part in what novels I take out.)

Stranger in a Strange Land and The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein. (More SF. Hey, I write it, so why not read it? It's sort of disappointing, but all of the SF books I took out of the library are from the Adult section. Not YA and not MG. I think I've only take out 1 YA SF book in my entire library history. And the two MG novels weren't books--they were anthologies, and more Fantasy at that. Also, I think with the sort of content that's in them they should have been in Adult. DOES NO ONE WRITE YA SCIENCE FICTION 'ROUND HERE?)

The Hitchhiker's Quartet by Douglas Adams. (They didn't have the books separate, so I had to take the whole enchilada. But I don't think that's a bad thing. It is, however, 600+ pages long. And kinda sorta falling apart.)

White Cat by Holly Black. (Love. Dat. Cover. Although, why is her name like HOLLY BLACK when White Cat is like White Cat? Too much text and not enough cover. But despite that--conmen! And cats. And the fact I've only read her short stories and never an actual book. I never touched the Spiderwick Chronicles; I think I thought it was part of The Edge Chronicles which it is NOT.)

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks. (I really like her work, especially the science fiction and Evil Genius series. And hey, a new spin on vampires that's totally different from The Twilight Saga? I'm there.)

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner. (I see this book EVERYWHERE. And I want to read it! I want to see if Eugenides really did deserve that triumph over Howl in the YA Fantasy Showdown. Oh, I know this is part of a series . . . but I've jumped into series' before. Then again, if I'm making some grave mistake, do tell me! I'll resist the temptation.)

The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell. (Yes, yes, superheroes and bad guys. But sometimes playing on stereotypes can have its advantages--I want to see what she does with it. Also, an evil genius? Wonderful.)

Paper Daughter by Jeanette Ingold. (Interesting summary, and I love that cover! And it even has an ASIAN ON IT. I am aware that some people don't like this--but at least this library doesn't seem to discriminate. Actually, they've got pretty much everything--books on LGBT, race, etc. Thank goodness for that.)

Pastworld by Ian Beck. (Interesting cover/summary. Plus, I remember reading a few positive reviews.)

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simmer. (I recognize the cover, but not the author.)

She Thief by Daniel Finn. (Dark, rough cover and the summary sounded intriguing. I'd never heard of this book before, and that was another draw. I like books that I haven't heard of before.)

Doppelganger by David Stahler. (Doppelganger says it all, I believe. It's MC is one. I haven't read that much about the Doppelganger, so I figured it would be a good idea to take it out.)

The Humming of Numbers by Joni Sensel. (I thought that idea of numbers humming was great. The cover's all right, but not terrific, so I wouldn't have picked it up if it hadn't been on the "NEW BOOKS" stand. There was another Heir book by Cinda Williams Chima on that NEW BOOKS stand, but I bypassed that. The Warrior Heir was just too flat.)

That is all I got at the library. Now the question is: Where the heck do I start?! And yes, I realize that there are 17 of them.

Well, I suppose I should get going and tell you which ones to read in reviews. I haven't reviewed a book in 8 days! I'm slipping.

-----The Golden Eagle