My Creatively Random Life

The last Friday of the month is time for The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a chance for bloggers to get together and discuss the best books they have read in the last month.  Hosted by  The Armchair Squid  it is a wonderful chance to gain new entries for your to be read list and of course make new friends. So grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and find out what I have been reading this month that I haven't all ready bored you with.  Which is Terry Goodkind's Chainfire, the ninth book in the Sword of Truth series which I have been reading amid all my other reading.  As I may have mention a time or two, Richard and Kahlan rank highly in my top fictional couples of all time so the fact that Chainfire starts of with Richard critically injured and Kahlan missing and wiped from the memories of all but Richard does not a happy Melissa make.  This book also puts Richard in mortal danger from a beast that the Emperor Jagang has had his Sister's of ...

The last Friday of the month is time for The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a chance for bloggers to get together and discuss the best books they have read in the last month.  Hosted by  The Armchair Squid  it is a wonderful chance to gain new entries for your to be read list and of course make new friends. This month I have read a few books I haven't gotten a chance to blog about yet but my favourite (and least favourite) among those has to be 'The Book Of Strange New Things' by Michel Faber.  This is a book I never would have picked up on my own but I won it from  Read It Forward  and I felt I ought to read it. Usually if I don't LOVE something right away, I don't really like it either and it takes FOREVER to read it but I was drawn into this book and unable to put it down.  Even though I really didn't like the main character, Peter, I was dying to know what happened to him and the people around him (because it felt like something ought to ...

The last Friday of the month is time for The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a chance for bloggers to get together and discuss the best books they have read in the last month.  Hosted by  The Armchair Squid  it is among my favourite of the blog hops I regularly participate in because I get to add books to my ever expanding to be read list. This month in the pile of books I consumed it was a reread of Fables Vol 1: Legends in Exile that stood out for me.  I got the first three volumes for Christmas a few years ago and it was love at first read.  The art, the storyline, there's nothing to not love about Fables.  Then I had trouble finding Volume Six and we have been at a stand still as far as progressing ever since. Then on a trip to  The Silver Snail  for an unrelated graphic novel (which I also could not find) I picked up Volumes Six and Seven so that prompted the start of a reread, because who wants to start in the middle? Reading this aga...

It's time for the always fun monthly meeting of book loving bloggers hosted by  The Armchair Squid .  The idea is to share a book that you have read this month and then head out and check out what everybody else read.  It's a great way to add to your To Be Read list with books you may not have come across otherwise. My favourite read this month comes from Canada's female literary legend, Margaret Atwood .  Having been a huge fan since the first time I read The Handmaid's Tale in high school I didn't think there was much she had written that I hadn't already devoured.  Apparently I was wrong.   Alias Grace is a work of historical fiction based around Grace Marks a Canadian maid who in 1843 was convicted in the murder of her employer Thomas Kinnear.  I read through the  trial  after in the Toronto Library collection and it was almost as fascinating as the book to me.  A big part of the draw to this story for me is that thi...

I am currently in the process of reading more than a few books this month but of the ones I finished this one was by far my favourite.  Kay never comes to mind when I speak of Canadian authors, which strikes me as being weird because I have never read anything of his that I didn't love.  A Song For Arbonne is no exception to that rule. Set in a matriarchal country enamored with troubadours it starts with a woman on her way to visit someone when she is "taken hostage" by someone who turns out to be her paramour.  Then the story jumps forward and changes characters and you her story bit by bit which is both slightly annoying and absolutely brilliant. Overall I would say it's a great read if you like historical fantasy type books.  If you want to check out what the other bloggers read this month head to  The Armchair Squid  where the list  lives.  Happy reading everybody!

So it is my new decision to not to sign up for this until I actually have the post written because every time I do something comes up that stops me from posting on time.  Blah! For the first time in a long time I actually did a lot of reading this month, and for the most part kept up with blogging about it.  (go me)  I did however sneak in a graphic novel that I rather loved and haven't told you guys about yet. Being that I am a massive Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I have had these sitting on my bookshelf forever.  I haven't read them for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because I wasn't ready yet.  I was still mourning the show that was.  That being said, I am glad I FINALLY started reading them. I am not super in love with the style of art work, but who am I to judge, I can barely draw stick people.  The story line did it's job and drew me back in though, right back to those good ole days with the gang from Sunnydale. I can't wait to re...

This month's book is 'Alice the Fairy' by David Shannon. Despite the fact that I am reading several different books, the only ones I have actually finished are the shorter ones I read to the kids at night before bed.  There are many of those that I really love but this one is new to our house so it get picked for me to talk about.  (also I love fairies) We spend a lot of time in book stores, usually before or after movies, and as we have kids and know kids we usually gravitate to the kids section.  Live in the GTA and see two occasionally well dressed adults reading each other books  and giggling in a bookstore that's probably us.  If these books are good they usually find their way into the collection of one of the many children in our lives.  If not our own then a niece or nephew, a friend's child or a birthday party gift. This one came home to Cat because I loved how fun it was.  I am a big fan of books that make kids want to read and be si...

Wow, my first month back and I am a day late posting, not a good start.  I would love to say I have a great excuse for it but the truth is I just got so caught up in my spring cleaning yesterday that I forgot.  Anyhow, my post today is a double post because the best book I read in April was also my book swap book from February. As you may have heard if you have been around here for a bit I belong to a lovely group called  The International Geek Girls Pen Pals Club .  Along with acquiring myself an awesome  pen pal  or two, I have joined some pretty awesome swaps.  Which of course feed my favorite addictions, stickers, postcards, and books.  Yay books! February was the first round and there was no theme.  My partner was the wonderful Doctor Cumber Moose and she sent me Muriel Barbery's 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' which I had not read.  It's really not the sort of book I would pick up on my own as I tend to stick to the Sci-Fi/Fan...