The final countdown

So, here it is.  The last post of MotherReader's 48-Hour Book Challenge.  I've been a little slackerish on the posts, I know, but when I come home from dancing, I wanted to read more than write, so there it is.  Our first performance went well enough, but there was enough technical difficulties to hope that today's will be better.  At least I didn't fall flat on my face (except when I was supposed to have).  All my friends came yesterday, so there should hopefully be less stress today.  Phew!

But, back to reading!

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

When I was in Europe, I took an overnight train from Nice to Paris.  In my cabin was a girl name Christine who was traveling alone.  I was with my friend Sarah.  We departed each other in Paris and never expected to see each other again.  Not 24 hours later, we ran into each other again at Notre Dame Cathedral.  Isn't that strange to meet a girl twice in one day (and she was going to St Andrews at the time so got to meet Prince William, how smashing!)  In The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, two people meet at an airport and spend a magical day together.  Magical?  Okay, maybe not.  One is going to a wedding for her father and her new stepmother whom she has never met.  The other is going where?  Well, I won't tell because that would be kind of spoilerish.

Pages: 236

Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik

The newest of the Temeraire series.  A book of alternate early 19th century with dragons.  My friends are all aflame about this series (they have a strong love of Patrick O'Brian, one which I don't quite share with them).  But, sometimes, it is easier to drink the kool-aid in order to understand what they are all talking about.  My friend loaned me her copy of the newest book and I figured this was as good of a time to read it as any.  This time Temeraire and his captain Laurence are reinstated into the British Air Corps (the last book they were transported to Australia for not following orders) and are ordered to Brazil in hopes to negotiate a treaty there.  Unfortunately, as things do, the ship they are using to transport themselves, their crew, and two other dragons sinks due to an unfortunate carousing event thanks to less then awesome sailors, grog, and a fire.  Whoops!  They are left in the middle of the ocean with nothing to do but fly.  And, the distance is too great.  So when they finally spy a ship and land on it, they become French captives.  Yay!  And, the series of misfortunes just grows from there.  Kind of a long, depressing read, really.  Maybe not the best choice for the read-a-thon.

Pages: 323

Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman

I saw a really fabulous play this spring in a tiny, tiny theatre (Constellation Theatre in Washington, DC).  The action takes place in a pool of water as the characters reenact some of Ovid's myths.  Seriously, it turned out to be a thing of beauty and I just knew I had to get my hands on a script to recreate in my head some of the scenes.  Because some of the stories made me want to cry.  I guess I'm finally turning into that sappy love-sick teenager that I am so not.  But, the story of Ceyx and Alcyone, check.  Orpheus and Eurydice (told by both Ovid and Rilke), check.  Eros and Psyche, check.  And then the conclusion, "Let me die the moment my love dies.  Let me not outlive my own capacity to love.  Let me die still loving, and so, never die."  More engaging on stage, yes, but still a worthwhile read.  Now I need to go and explore Ovid's Metamorphoses in depth.

Pages: 86

And, still reading...

Perception by Kim Harrington

I was a fan of Harrington's Clarity so of course I had to read the sequel when it came out.  Which I am currently doing.  But, I'm not that far enough in it to give it a fair review, so I'm just going to mention that so far I'm enjoying it and eagerly anticipating really getting into the mystery soon.

Pages: 52

Thus, I come to the conclusion of my reading challenge.  I need to spruce up these reviews a bit better (especially add some pictures), but this will do for now.  I hope.

Pages read: 1625
Hours reading: 23 hours 45 minutes
Blogging/socializing: 1 hour 45 minutes
Total: 25 hours 30 minutes
Donating to RIF: $25

I am well pleased, looking at my total.  I was shooting for 20 hours and passed that.  Hurrah!


 

::Yawn:: And I didn't even stay up all night!

Well, good morning, sunshine!  I feel quite like I've been through a war, and really ought not to be up at all.  Yet, I have been.  Up and reading for the last hour.  And after going to bed at three in the morning.  Partially because my rehearsal went until just about 2 o'clock and also because I was just determined to finish my book.  Success!

But, going back to yesterday...

The Haunted Schoolhouse by Sally Watson

The story was one that the author apparently first wrote this novel when she was in college, but it was only published (independently) a few years ago.  This one doesn't seem to follow any ancestors of her other books, and is set in northern California in the late 19th century.  It was based on a story of a haunted schoolhouse the author heard while in college.  And features four ginger Scottish lads with accents to boot.  She had me at ginger.  The main character, Emily, was recently orphaned and so was brought to Alderpoint, California to live with her aunt and uncle.  And as she is the only age appropriate educated woman around, she is told that she will be the new teacher.  Unfortunately for her, she not only has the second sight, but the school knows this and shortly after starting her teaching career, a presence is made known at the school.  It starts off as being friendly, though with the appearance of Dawn, a new student, the activity grows more frightening with each passing day.  Of course, the ghost only performs for the students and not the adults who come to witness the spectacle.  This was a fun, if slight read.  I did easily guess the truth about Dawn from the beginning of her appearance at the schoolhouse.  And of course, I grew to love Ian and Robbie the most.  The only thing that got a bit confusing was there was a lack of editing at some points (like when Dawn was referred to as Lark).

Pages: 85

Illuminated by Erica Orloff

Wait?.  This one has ghosts too?  Um, yes.  Or at least ghostly dreams.  Heloise and Abelard, two names from history that have come to symbolize love, much like Romeo and Juliet.  And also equally doomed.  When Callie's uncle Harry discovers that a Book of Hours recently brought to his auction house is actually a palimpsest which is basically a manuscript that had been written on and then cleaned off to be written on again.  Under a certain light, the words from the previous book could be read and soon Callie and hottie August are on the trail to discover the history of the manuscript and who the author of the journal might have been.  This propels them as far as France.  Callie and August's love burns as brightly as Heloise and Abelard.  Can the two find out the truth of the manuscript and reach a happier conclusion in their own relationship then that of the epic lovers?  This was a slight, but enjoyable book.  A lot of time these books tend to jump back and forth between the present and the past, so it was a nice change to be in the present (except for those few dream sequences when H&A were attempting to "tell" them something).  And, I always like history and books.

Pages: 244

Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley

Rich girl turned recessionista Corinne had great plans of attending a private boarding school and hooking up with a hot upperclassman she met during her visit.  Instead, her father lost his job and she is being shuttled off to Texas to live with her mother's grandparents.  Grandparents she has only met a few times and never in Texas.  At the beginning of the story, Corinne promises us that we will most likely hate her, but that maybe with patience and time will will grow to like her.  And, that was a promise kept.  I have to admit, that I can never understand the rich.  They do do things differently.  When we meet Corinne, she is on one of her many shopping sprees, which she does with alarming frequency and with quite the spendy budget.  That all changes and by the end of the book, she can appreciate that $24.99 dress and drug store make-up can be just as fashionable and that is more about the girl wearing these items than the items themselves.  And, even while you are disliking Corinne for the way she is hating on Texas at large and Broken Spoke in particular, you see that some of the town's residents are also not as perfect in their thinking.  Even Corinne's new friend Kitsy admits that she was only interested in being friends with Corinne at the beginning because she was from NYC, a place that Kitsy dreams about.  I am left with only one question at the end, what is Bubby's full name?  Was it there and I somehow skimmed right over it?  Or do we never learn it?  Still, he was so obviously a better choice over Rider who was clearly using her (though I, for some reason, thought that was also going to use her model-like brother in that cornflower photo shoot he took of him-maybe an album cover? but, that never transpired).

I'm leaving you with this quote from the beginning.  Because, like Candide, I favor optimism and believe that even when things look seemingly bad, generally something good can come of it.

And just think, somewhere right now a butterfly might be flapping its wings and altering your future in some peculiar, yet beautiful way.

Pages: 291

Deadly Cool by Gemma Halliday

Hartley is having the worst day of her life.  First she finds out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her with the queen of chastity (who is not sounding so pure here) and when she goes to confront him (by sneaking into his house through his window), she discovers the dead body of said queen (Courtney Cline) stuffed inside his closet.  Josh, her boyfriend, sneaks into her room the night of the murder and pleads with her to help him out.  Hartley doesn't believe her now ex-boyfriend Josh did it, though the police are doing their best to track him down to arrest him.  She agrees to help him out by discovering the truth.  The novel follows the misadventures of one girl turned sleuth as she attempts to discover who the murderer is, before she herself is killed in the process.  She is aided by her best friend, Sam, and "bad boy" Chase (who is also the editor of the school paper who is willing to help out if only to get an exclusive).  There is a little tension between the two, but it isn't explored all that much.  After a bit of prodding, another girl turns up dead, this one a "princess" of chastity and one of the best friends of Courtney.  As Hartley closes in on the killer, will she be the next victim?  This was a fun read, and so I will be hunting down her next adventure (there was a brief preview of it in my copy of the book-well, rather the library's book).  My one big complaint?  So many of the girl characters had boy-type names, well, I admit in my tiredness, I was getting a bit confused!

Pages: 308

Okay, it has taken me like an hour to write this up.  That is just sad.  I am going to take a break from writing and go back to my reading.

Total pages: 928
Hours reading: 12 hours 30 minutes
Hours blogging 1 hour 15 minutes

Checking in, the abridged version.

I'm late, late, late!  I was supposed to have been to the theatre between 2 and 3, but got so involved in my last book that I didn't want to leave until I was done.  So, I'm sorry to say, there will be no reviews at the moment, but I will let you in on what I've read so far.

Over the course of six hours reading time, I have gotten through:

The Haunted Schoolhouse by Sally Watson - she always wins me over with ginger boys with Scottish accents.
Illuminated by Erica Orloff
Where I Belong by Gwendolyn Heasley - which, in some way, reminded me of the "So Charmed" novels by Jenny B. Jones.

But, more on those after I get home, whenever that will be.  My only saving grace at the moment is that I don't believe my first rehearsal time is until 4, when the baby crocs take the stage.  The show is Peter Pan and I am playing Smee, a mermaid, and fairy dust.  I finally have a named role!  This is a big deal.

More later.

So, six hours reading.  15 minutes blogging.  15 minutes of attempting to find all of my costume pieces.  And, I'm off!

I am so good in this scene.

Have you ever read a book and have some glaring instance of "that isn't right!" happen? Now you know I'm a big theatre geek, and a big fan of shows like Les Miserables (really, if people die, I'm happy). So imagine my surprise when I come across this little bit in Alex Flinn's Diva. I really like Alex Flinn's books, especially her fairy tale ones, and this really was a tiny thing that had nothing to do with the main character at all, but, reading it just annoyed me, though I'm sure that other people wouldn't have picked up on it at all. The book is about a teenage girl, Caitlin, who sings opera and, at the beginning of the book, has been accepted into the Miami High School for the Performing Arts.

When one of the other characters (who becomes a friend of Caitlin) introduces herself to her Performing Arts classmates, she makes the statement that she performed as Young Eponine on Broadway in Les Miserables. Now, if you have ever seen Les Miserables, you would know that the role of Young Eponine is a bit role. She does not say anything, nor does she sing at all. It is Young Cosette that has the lines and sings "Castle on a Cloud". I can only assume that the author got the two confused because it is Eponine who has a song in the second act (and has millons of teenage fans).

Secondly, the roles of Young Eponine/Young Cosette is typically shared by either two or three girls depending on the production (though I do believe some of the regional productions might have assigned girls to either Young Eponine or Young Cosette). But, you would either be not in a performance or in the performance as either Young Eponine or Young Cosette depending on the rotation used. A young actress on Broadway in Les Miserables would not be cast as Young Eponine. She would be cast as both roles. Though, if you were announcing to your class you performed on Broadway in Les Miserables, it would make more sense to claim you were Young Cosette rather than Young Eponine.

Yes, I have thought way too much about this. Have you ever run into something that just sticks out as wrong to you?

Next up... Ruined by Paula Morris


And, a bit more personal. I've been pondering the need for new pointe shoes. The ones I am currently wearing (because I have three pairs I rotate) are from 1997. I really have no idea if they are the kind of shoe I should even be wearing anymore, as obviously a lot can happen in 13 years. Perhaps what I find more frightening is that one of my fellow dancers is 13-years-old. Yes, my pointe shoes are the same age as her. That makes me practically ancient in ballet terms! But, really, I fell yesterday doing a pirouette en pointe. How embarrassing, right? Maybe I'm just getting too old for this type of thing.

A long time ago (we used to be friends)

I'm so neglectful! Actually, that isn't totally true. I've been meaning to post for ages (at least a month, right?), but have been so consumed with other things that I haven't. Some days its hard enough to post on my own personal blog that to do anything other than cut and paste is painful. That's not to say that I haven't been doing interesting things, no, rather I've been busy with reading, trips to NYC/DC, and, wait for it, taking up ballet again!

If there is anytime you need to feel old, take a ballet class filled with eleven-year-olds. Because, as I had to explain to one of them after they asked my age, the reason why I am good is because I have been dancing for longer than they have been alive. Sad, isn't it?

But not all is lost. In honor of banned book week, I have read a Gossip Girl book (by Cecily Von Ziegesar. It was Because I'm Worth It. Not exactly my sort of book, but that's probably because there is very little in the characters that I can identify with. It was somewhat the same with The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants in that I couldn't identify with Bridget because our personalities are not at all alike. So, about halfway through my GG book, I did want to put it aside because, to me, it seemed quite pointless. However, I am glad that I read at least one from the series for the experience and now I know what they are like should an unsuspecting parent of a ten-year-old ask me about them. Next on the list is Patiently Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

In the unchallened book arena (or at least it didn't make the top ten list at ALA) is Stephanie Meyer's Twilight. I know, I know. Everyone and there mother has already read this book, and isn't it about time that I discovered vampire love? Perhaps not. I took this book with me over the weekend to my brother's house and I attempted to use it as a shield to stop my cousin from talking to me (because he talks for hours straight). It didn't work and I'm not sure if it was because of him, or the very fact of the very wordiness of the book, but by page 12, I wanted to toss it across the room. Don't worry, I did get into it, and enjoyed it by the end.

Perhaps I shouldn't go on about wordiness considering how wordy I tend to be! Then again, I have no editor and do not write books.

Through work, I attended the WebSearch University in DC a couple weeks ago and learned much about internet searching (and came away wanting to erase all traces of me online, a.k.a.: facebook/myspace-go away scary stalker people!). I also just received my professional librarian certificate finally. It only took about a year.

I was on a smoewhat fantasy kick this past week when I did my ILL shopping, so, in brief, I read: Poison Study and Magic Study by Maria Snyder. The first one I liked quite a lot, the second one was not nearly exciting so was sort of "meh". Decoy Princess and Princess at Sea by Dawn Cook. I would not recommend reading the second one before the first because of something big that happens in the end of the second that changes ones opinion of a certain character. And, lastly, Mystic and Rider, The Thirteen House, and Dark Moon Defender by Sharon Shinn. And, ok, there were other books in between those, like Ophelia by Lisa M. Klein, which I really loved, but now I can't remember them all!

This month's trend seems more for YA/historical fiction. It's amazing how these things go in circles!

When she danced she was just this happy ballerina.

I was, for many years, a ballerina. My co-workers would attest to this by the simple fact that I can not just walk across the library from the reference desk to the circ desk to answer a patron's question (or a co-worker's question), but instead I must, well, you fill in the blank, to get there. Glide, leap, prance, hop, skip. They probably all fit. If only I can be so peppy in 50 years time when I'm wacking around the pages with my cane and muttering about the "good old days".

Therefore, I was shocked to read BiblioFile's blog to find out that there was a series of ballerina books that I had never read. I admit, I wasn't a girly girl. Give me something pink, and I scorned it. Frankly, the only reason I ever got a doll was because I turned up for pictures as a "Party Girl" in The Nutcracker and discovered to my horror that everyone else there had brought a doll and I had none. I had to borrow another girl's doll for my picture. Needless to say, that although I was given many ballet-themed items (and scorned most of them), ballet books pretty much weren't among them. At a library book sale, I found an old copy of Noel Streatfeild's book Dancing Shoes, and it was a tradition for me to read it over summer break. Perhaps it was my own way of getting my mind into the game for Nutcracker auditions.

Back to the new series. The Drina books by Jean Estoril. Unfortunately, this books rate the same as Sally Watson books. Which are near impossible to get. No, I have to take that back. Sally Watson books have been republished in softcover by Image Cascade Publishers. They specialize in republishing vintage books. So, maybe there is hope for Jean Estoril books! But finding original Sally Watson books is like the Holy Grail in book sales. I will fight you for it!

Happily, I was able to ILL two of Jean Estoril's books. Drina Dances in Italy and We Danced in Bloomsbury. I just love the title of the last one. Some titles I just find so attractive and I'm drawn to them. Yeah, maybe I'm weird. In the Drina book, she's just come back from a year dancing in the country to return to her former dance school. They like to point out throughout the entire book that she dance the name role in The Changeling (I guess it's an important fact that we shouldn't forget). But, her Italian grandmother finally gets her way, and Drina is off to Italy for a visit for the second part of the book (the first half is her getting back into the rhythm of London/worried about Italy). Of course, dreams are realized in Italy and new friendships are formed. I only wish I could get ahold of the other books in the series!

After reading this book on Saturday, I sniffed back a tear and went to find my ballet bag which I was finally reunited with after several years earlier this month. I preceded to walk around my apartment with my pointe shoes on, thinking that I should really get back to ballet. I can't be too old and funless for it yet. I just need to find a place to attend! Though doubtful anyone would want me seeing how out of practice I've been since college.

We Danced in Bloomsbury Square follows the fortunes of the Darke twins, Dorrie and Debbie. It's told from the point of view of Dorrie, who feels the lesser of the twins, being "Darke in name and dark in nature" as her teacher called her. They both audition for a scholarship spot at a dance school in London. While both are accepted, only Debbie is given the scholarship, and they can't afford to pay to send Dorrie. Of course, doors are open, but before then, Debbie says some very hurtful things about Dorrie to her face, and causes a major rift between the twins. The book follows Dorrie as she begins to believe in herself, as an individual and as a dancer.

They were both very satisfying little reads that reminded me of how much I loved being a dancer. Though, perhaps, my feet are thinking of something different!

Picture time! Here's me as a snowflake from the "Snow Scene" in The Nutcracker.


I would say, "pretty hot, eh?". But, it should rather be ice cold, I should think. I was, I think, in 10th grade when that one was taken.