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Showing posts from June, 2015

The Whispering Muse by Sjon

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Summary from Goodreads :  The year is 1949 and Valdimar Haraldsson, an eccentric Icelander with elevated ideas about the influence of fish consumption on Nordic civilization, has had the singular good fortune to be invited to join a Danish merchant ship on its way to the Black Sea. Among the crew is the mythical hero Caeneus, disguised as the second mate. Every evening after dinner he entrances his fellow travelers with the tale of how he sailed with the fabled vessel, the Argo, on the Argonauts' quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Iceland, I remember from an episode of Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmern, as this idyllic land with an abundance of natural wonders (and extremely bizarre foods). Hot springs, geysers, volcanoes, glaciers. They even gave it the name, the land of fire and ice (which is very appropriate because guess where they shoot parts of Game of Thrones?) So this land, I mistakenly assumed, would be populated by ice fishermen, or puffin hunters, or Lady Sif a

Giveaway Winner!

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First off, thank you for those who joined my first ever giveaway! It was great playing Dementor! (No, a gentleman dementor: Sir/Madame, may you please be so kind as to give me a happy memory? Haha. -> The Remains of the Day hangover.) I read all of your answers, nomnomnomnom. And the stuff that made you happy, made me happy! Yiiiiiii! :)  But Randomizer has spoken and the winner is.............. Congratulations Lynai! Send me your mailing address with full name and contact number!  And thanks again to everyone who joined!

Rabbitin turns 4!

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It's customary during anniversaries to look back on the year that was. Nothing of particular import happened in terms of my blogging life. Same old, same old. I pretty much stuck to everything I used to do the year before. I do feel my blog is getting a little stale and stagnant, layout wise. I did attempt to tweak it, but the results were disastrous. I am not quite so adept at html and css things, that I had difficulty customizing the theme. I actually wasn't able to bring the blog back to it's original state. An item went missing, and a few got jumbled up. Nothing too noticeable though. I think. Anyway, enough rambling about boring stuff. If there is one thing, that's constant, that I am really thankful for, it's the readers. They aren't numerous, but really, they are all the readers I need. And I am glad that you stuck with me for yet another year. Thank you! I am also grateful for the handful of fellow book bloggers and TFG members who take time to write m

June 2015: Required Reading

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May 2015 Required Reading Report: 1.  Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz - (4/5 Stars)  A quiet coming of age story that speaks volumes on identity and sexuality, done in beautiful prose. 2.  Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri - (5/5 Stars) The stories have a clear eyed grace about them. Simple and eloquent but deeply affecting.  3. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell - (3/5 Stars)  I enjoy Rowell's writing, it is snappy and engaging and funny and she clearly knows her pop culture. But I had a hard time believing in Eleanor and Park, as real teens. 4. Sandman Vol 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman - (5/5 Stars) So good! Haunting and detailed artwork, engaging story. This might just now be my number one favorite graphic novel.  5. This is How by Augusten Burroughs - Unfinished at 26% . I am fine with Burroughs' humor. I think he does, in a way, lend something new to the self-help genre with this book. But I st