Covers Around the World: The Amulet of Samarkand

This week we're going to look at The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. This was an interesting book definitely. I'd never read anything like it at the time.

The first few are English language covers.

This ^ is the cover on my copy

This next one is the Italian cover

The German cover

The Portuguese cover

The French cover

The Russian cover

So there you go. I think the Russian one is my favorite out of all of them. How about you? What's your favorite?

In My Mailbox #19

IMM is hosted every week by Kristi The Story Siren.

I didn't receive any new books in the mail this week.

But I got something almost better.

I found a ton of OLD books! Books that I'd been missing for years and had counted as lost completely.

I found all of my Harry Potter books that I'd been missing (and I now have 3 copies of The Sorcerer's Stone) so now I don't have to rebuy them! I found all the of the books in the original Bartimaeus Trilogy (although now I understand there's a 4th book) by Jonathan Stroud. I found my copies of Eragon and Eldest, by Christopher Paolini, to go on the bookshelf with my copy of Brisingr. I found Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I found Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. And more that I can't remember.

Follow Friday #22

Follow Friday is hosted every week by Parajunkee.

This week's question:

Q. What superhero is your alter-ego?

A. I don't know. Hehe. I'm not really a superhero type of person. Ummm.... I just don't know. I searched and searched for a female superhero that I would consider someone I'd choose as an alter ego and I just don't see any. Kate Beckinsale in Underworld kicks butt, but she's not a superhero. She's a vampire. This is a tough question. And I know you're probably wondering why I even bothered doing this weeks FF. I really thought I'd be able to find one. Hmmm... disappointing.

Review - The Regime by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

The Regime: Evil Advances by Tim LaHaye

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I loved the Left Behind series. So I was excited when I heard about the Before They Were Left Behind series. It's been years since I read the first book in the series, The Rise. No matter where I looked I could not find this book. Anywhere. Let's hear it for my good old library for having a copy.



That being said, there were a LOT of parts of this book that I skimmed over or skipped altogether. It switched between sections detailing Rayford Steele, Cameron "Buck" Williams, Irene Steele, Abdullah (a.k.a Smitty), and Nicolae Carpathia (a.k.a The AntiChrist). About halfway through the book a lot of the Nicolae Carpathia and Buck Williams and even a few of the Rayford Steele sections just got to be a little boring. I didn't feel they added anything to the story they were just there as fillers. I don't feel like I missed anything by not reading them.



It was a great book though. It shows Nicolae's rise to power and the things he did to get where he was. It showed the personalities of the people behind the power. Which was kind of interesting because in the Left Behind series you don't really get to see much about them. Rayford was definitely a piece of work. I was really irritated with him for the entire book. Which I suppose was the point. He was pompous and just... well... I'll leave it at that. He turned his daughter into a miniature female version of himself. Irene though, it was a good job making the reader feel sympathy for her. And Buck, I always loved Buck. I thought he was a great character but you definitely see some of his flaws.



Fast read. It was one of those I couldn't put down when I was able to pick it up. So it resulted in a few nights of not enough sleep. I would recommend it to anyone who's read the previous series, or even just the first book in this one. I don't think you'll be sorry you did.

(This review was copied and pasted from Goodreads, I don't usually star my reviews on this blog)

Covers Around the World - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Time for another Covers Around the World! And today's is going to be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One of my old favorites. Definitely one of my favorite movies (the Johnny Depp version). And hopefully will be one of my girls' favorites too.

Unfortunately, all of our covers today are English language covers (not that there's anything wrong with that, but I loved some of the other language copies!). Blogger though doesn't seem to want to upload ANY of the foreign edition cover pictures. Which makes me sad. BUT... these are all still great!

Fashioned after the movie. I <3 Johnny Depp and Tim Burton.

I think this may be the cover that was on the first copy I ever read.

Willy Wonka looks a tad bit funny in this one. But I love it!

I love this one. More mysterious than the others. Not a fan of the font though.

This one is strange. Haha. But interesting.

This one's a little small, but I love how the title is done.

This is a little bit dark, but I love how the candy is everywhere!

There you go! Hopefully next time I won't have the same issue with other language editions!

In My Mailbox #18

IMM is hosted every week by Kristi, The Story Siren.

This week was a library week again. I'm about halfway through The Regime by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. It's book 2 in the Before They Were Left Behind series. I read the first 1, The Rising, many years ago and this was the first time since the initial release date that I've seen book 2. I've also read the entire Left Behind series and I definitely recommend all books.

I also picked up Eragon by Christopher Paolini on audio CD to listen to in the car. I'm anxiously awaiting Inheritance so I figured I'd give myself a refresher and listen to/read books 1-3. I love listening to Gerard Doyle narrate the books. I've listened to them before.

For the girls I got Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl on audio CD as well. It was relatively short so it wasn't too hard for them to listen to and it kept their attention for the most part. I must say, I wouldn't have picked Eric Idle as a narrator, his voice is just a little harsh at times, but it was fun to listen to.

Follow Friday #21

Follow Friday is hosted every week by Parajunkee. Go check out her page for details and such!

This weeks question:

Q: If you could have characters from a book meet and form an epic storyline with characters from a TV series, which characters would you choose and why?


A. Part of me wants to say Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory and the characters from Harry Potter. Because I love Sheldon and I just think it would be hilarious. Another part of me says Jax from Sons of Anarchy and Katniss from The Hunger Games. Or better yet, Katsa from Graceling. Because Jax is just kick @$$ enough to get business taken care of, but caring enough to be swoon worthy. ::sigh:: I <3 Jax.
 
What characters would you pick?

In My Mailbox #17

Thanks to Kristi The Story Siren for hosting In My Mailbox every week.

I did better this week than the last 4 combined. Hehe.

So I have to thank my dad for:
 Alanna by Tamora Pierce
 In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce
Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce
...and...
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling

He's moving in a little over a week and had these books sitting around and told me that I could have them. I love you Dad!

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce I bought at Walmart today! I've seen Sweetly several times but since I haven't read the first book, I didn't want to pick up the second. I know they're retellings of old fairy tales, but I still wanted to read the first retelling before moving on. So I was wicked stoked when I saw this and couldn't pass it up!

Can't wait to see what you all got!

Cover Reveal - Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

It has a cover! I don't know if I'm just late on the uptake but I just saw Kristin Cashore's blog with info on the 3rd novel in the The Seven Kingdoms series!!!!!!

Drumroll please...

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I love it! It's gorgeous! 

Bitterblue wraps up the series I believe. She's 16 in this one and we get to see Katsa and Po again!

Release date is scheduled for May 1, 2012.

Have I ever mentioned how impatient I am?

But I'm still wicked excited. How sweet is that cover? And who else is excited about reading this one?

How Blogging Changed My Life

The very first "book blog" that I ever read was Reviews by Jess... now known as The Cozy Reader. I discovered several books that I'd never heard of and read them based on the reviews that she gave. I'd never had anyone to recommend me books before and so it was great to just be able to open up her page and find a lot that interested me.

I don't have a lot of friends who read the way I do. Well, let's be honest. I just don't have a lot of friends. Haha. I do have one or two on a different site who would tell me the books they liked. But blogging has opened up a whole world of people like me. I've read books I never would have picked up before simply because they covers didn't appeal to me (The Hungers Games). I've learned that it's ok to throw a book across the room and never pick it up again because it was horrible (Tower of Change).

It's brought authors down to human level for me. I read Maggie Stiefvater's blog on a regular basis and I think she is just hilarious. I bring up Jackson Pearce's youtube every couple of days to check for a new video and they're great to watch. Before, authors were unattainable to me. They were intimidating and unreachable and (this is going to sound wicked judgemental) haughty. But book blogging has shown me that they're just trying to make a living just like everyone else. And they LIKE their fans. They TALK to their fans.

It's given me something to talk about. Something that I LOVE. People who don't read books don't understand why I love the Hunger Games parody of Britney Spears's I Wanna Go. They don't understand why I fall in love with Mr. Darcy every time I hear his name. They don't understand why I wish I had a Jacob Black in my life. They don't know what WizRock is. They don't get why I get so excited if I win a give away or an author emails me about a review I've written about their book. They don't get why I'll read a book more than once and THEN listen to the audio version as well. Or why I can't throw or give any of my books away.

How has book blogging changed your life? Leave your link over at Parajunkee's site so I can check out your answer!

Covers Around the World: Alanna

Time for another Covers Around the World post! Piggybacking on my Teaser Tuesday post we're gonna look at Alanna by Tamora Pierce.

This is the original cover that I actually own.

And these next few covers don't tell me what edition they are, but I'm assuming they're still English language copies.

Ok. Here we go with the "around the world" part. :-P


German


French

Spanish


Japanese

Which one's your favorite?

Teaser Tuesday #22

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•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!

Todays teaser comes from Alanna by Tamora Pierce. Funny because I just talked about this book on Friday. A refresher, I read this book originally because Alanna is my daughter's name. :-P But I ended up loving it so much I flew through the other 3 books in the series. It was awesome.

"Alanna watched and gathered her strength. If the Dark God wanted Jonathan's life, he had better be ready to fight for it." p 120

And here is the summary from Goodreads:

Alan of Trebond, the best warrior in the palace, is harboring a big secret: he is really a she - Alanna. But when her prince is felled by an illness, Alanna has no choice but to use her healing magic - even if it means ruining her career.

In My Mailbox #16

Thanks to Kristi The Story Siren for hosting In My Mailbox every week!

It's been a while since I've done one of these posts but I have a couple of books to show you guys (and I got them a while ago, I just haven't been up for doing an IMM post, and... as you can tell... I haven't gotten any new books since these 2)!

And lemme tell you, I love me some cowboys. I won these books in a giveaway from Sara, The Brazen Bookworm.

Without further ado....

Going Cowboy Crazy: Deep in the Heart of Texas #1

Make Mine a Bad Boy: Deep in the Heart of Texas #2

Both by Katie Lane. And I have to say a big fat THANK YOU to whoever chose the covers for these. :-P Can't wait to read them!!