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Friday 29 June 2012

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is here again.

The rules are very simple:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Then hop over to Should Be Reading to add your link and find other teasers.

So my teaser for the week is:

"Scott took a pair of polyethylene gloves from his pocket, pulled them on, and then carefully lifted one corner of the sheet to expose words that were stenciled in faded blue ink. STATE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION AT ROCKVIEW."


Page 54, Dead Of Night: A Zombie Novel by Jonathan Maberry


And this book counts towards not one. Not two. But three of the reading challenges I'm taking part in.

The Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenge 2012 hosted by Book Chick City.


The Zombie Challenge 2012 hosted by Book Chick City.

The New Author Challenge 2012 hosted by Literary Escapism.


Monday 25 June 2012

Random Quote #89

 The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.

James Branch Cabell

Friday 22 June 2012

Where Is The Love?

This question has been answered - the love has been caught on camera! This video is great; it's spreading across YouTube fast but I just had to share. :)

The bit at around 1.03 made me go 'WHOA!'


So that's where the love got to!


Tuesday 19 June 2012

Teaser Tuesday


I'm still on the same book as last week... but it is over 400 pages long.

The rules of Teaser Tuesday are simple:


Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Then skedaddle on over to Should Be Reading to add your link. 


Here's my teaser for the week:


"The rooftops of Little Italy were a village unto themselves, a few stories off the ground, but so close, the children could easily hop from one building to another. Most rooftops were decorated simply; some had tomato plants and herb gardens, others flowerpots and small grills for cooking."


Page 207, The Shoemaker's Daughter by Adriana Trigiani

Monday 18 June 2012

Random Quote #88

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.

E. L. Doctorow

Friday 15 June 2012

Why Didn't They...?


Source. From L-R: Susan, Lynette, Gaby, Bree
I watched almost every episode of Desperate Housewives. I lost interest with it about half way through the final series.

But one thing about one of the major story lines keeps bugging me.

When Gaby’s abusive stepfather Alejandro, who was supposed to be dead, showed up at her house and was hit on the head and accidentally killed by her husband Carlos, why didn’t they call the police?

If you want to see the scene without dialogue click here - this was the only clip I could find of it so it only has the music.

I don’t see the reason given as being good enough – that Carlos would go to prison – why should he have done? Yeah he’s been to prison before but that was under different circumstances.

Gaby herself said just after her friends walked in and saw the body that Carlos was just protecting her – so why should they try and cover it up?

It’s not like Carlos tied him up and then went at him with a chainsaw. Or tied him to a tree and used him as target practice. Or… well the list could go on forever.

What he did was he saw his wife in the house with a strange man. He could clearly see that she was terrified. He went in, picked up the first object he found (which did look a little on the heavy side) and hit his wife’s attacker on the head with it. It’s not his fault that the guy died.

Carlos said that he killed an unarmed man – neither Gaby nor Carlos knew that the guy was unarmed at the time.

Did I miss something?

Source
If it had ended up in Court and I’d have been the Judge I’d have let Carlos off. Just like I would have let Nicholas Cage go free in Con Air. So what if he used a manoeuvre he learnt in the army to kill that guy? He was protecting himself, his wife and his unborn child from the unwanted attentions of an authority-hating, knife-wielding d*ckhead.

If the guy didn’t want to die he shouldn’t have started anything, should he? Con Air would be a very different story if I had been the Judge (but it is still a good film – ‘put the bunny back in the box’).

I reckon I'd have made a great Judge.

Prosecution: But your Honour my client was shot by the owner of the house he was burgling.

Judge Chippy: Well tough. He shouldn’t have been breaking the law, by breaking and entering, in the first place. Case dismissed, next please.

And one last thing before I end this post; on Desperate Housewives did anyone ever question why Gaby’s supposedly dead stepfather wasn’t actually dead to start with? Did he fake his own death or what? And why did the police have a missing person report on him if he was supposed to be dead already? Or was this all explained after I stopped watching?

Here endeth the rant!

Tuesday 12 June 2012

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is once again upon us.

To take part all you have to do is:


• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 Then head over to Should Be Reading to leave your link and read other teasers.
So my teasers for the week are:

"Ciro carried himself like a general in full regalia, when in fact he wore secondhand clothes from the donation bin. He found a pair of melton pants and a chambray work shirt that fit, but shoes were always a problem."

Page 32, The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Monday 11 June 2012

Random Quote #87

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Steve Jobs

Friday 8 June 2012

Those Random Moments

In my immediate family we have the habit of quoting random sources at random times. The smallest thing will have us quoting endless TV shows, films, adverts etc. And they don't necessarily have to have a link to the current conversation.

At the moment I have two that I say randomly on a fairly regular basis, one is from a TV show and one from an advert.

First up we have 'Skills!' which me and my sister got from Morgana Robinson's 'impersonation' of Fearne Cotton. She says it quite early in to the video.




And the other is from a BT advert which brings us 'Rocking from an early age'. It is said right near the end of the advert... but it only lasts 41 seconds.



Skills!

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Teaser Tuesday - Back With A New Book

Finally after what seemed like FOREVER I have started a new book.

So I can give you a new teaser. The rules for Teaser Tuesday are very simple:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 


Then head over to Should be Reading to add your link.


So here is my teaser:


"Her heart tripped because his voice had gone softer. Not sweet so much as silky."


Page 62, Not Wicked Enough by Carolyn Jewel


This book counts towards the New Author Challenge 2012 hosted by Literary Escapism.



Monday 4 June 2012

Random Quote #86

Imagination is the golden-eyed monster that never sleeps. It must be fed; it cannot be ignored.

Patricia A. McKillip

Friday 1 June 2012

A Tale Of One Tortoise


Before I share this tale let me tell you that tortoises aren’t as slow as everyone thinks. Once they warm up and get going they can move at some speed (OK so the hare would probably still win as long as it didn't take a nap). One minute they are there the next… GONE!!!

So anyway…

We have a pet tortoise who goes by the name of Lily (I’ve no idea why her name is that). 

Lily the Tortoise
 When she gets quite warm and active she starts trying to claw her way out of her tank. So we let her out for a walk around the house.

Lily seems to have a fondness for hide and seek as she will wander off and hide in a corner, often pushing things out of the way to get to them (she’s quite strong for her size).

And then we spend ages looking for her under and behind various pieces of furniture, under the curtains, those kinds of places.

With the recent warm weather we have been letting her have a jaunt around the back garden (she likes dandelions) but only if there is someone out there to keep an eye on her.

The other day it was my Dad… who seemed to have forgotten the speed at which tortoises can move at once they get going (especially in the sun – she must be solar powered).

So one minute our house was peaceful the next my Dad is bellowing the war cry that he had lost the tortoise – last seen heading for around the back of the shed.

So I started looking for her, then my brother and Mum were enrolled by my Dad for tortoise hunting duty.

While my Dad grumbled about it not being funny and the rest of us telling him that he was supposed to be watching her I noticed through the chain link fence (and whatever the plants are growing in front of it) that our next door neighbour was acting strangely. He put a box upside down on the floor at the end of his garden.

After a few more minutes of searching the neighbour seemed to notice us… given that we were all stood behind the shed under a tree and asked us if we had lost a tortoise.

Lily had only found a hole in the chain link fence!

Who knows where she would have ended up if the neighbour hadn’t spotted her?
Well it took us slightly longer to get her back as the neighbour, having never come across a real life tortoise before, was reluctant to pick her up.

alligator snapping turtle
giant tortoise
We assured him that she didn’t bite and she wasn’t that heavy… after all she’s not an alligator snapping turtle nor is she a giant tortoise (if she was a giant tortoise she’d have probably taken the fence with her!).

So until we can get some sort of run made for her Lily has been grounded!