Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for silver] 

Michael Märcher, a museum inspector and coin expert with the National Museum of Denmark, was impressed by the many coins. In total, they weighed  two kilos.

”We are talking about silver coins that were the international hard currency of the 1600s,” Märcher told Ekstra Bladet tabloid. ”The coins date from 1593-1650, and about one third of the coins come from the Netherlands.”

”The treasure resembles many of the silver treasures that were hidden away in Jutland and west Funen during the Dano-Swedish Wars of the late 1650s.”

Field of dreams

It's not the first time that a treasure has been found on the same field in Orenæs. In the 1940s, two silver knife scabbards and two silver belt loops that were worn by well-to-do women of the Renaissance period were also discovered. They are on display at the National Museum of Denmark.

The new find will be on display at the Museet Falsters Minder museum in Nykøbing Falster from March 28.

Author: Christian Wenande | Source: The Copenhagen Post [March 17, 2015]

That's what happened to University at Buffalo faculty member Philip Kiernan, who heard a rumor from a UB alumnus in 2010 that the UB Libraries housed the rare coins. Three years later, Kiernan, an assistant professor of classics, channeled his inner Indiana Jones and journeyed to the depths of the UB archives to find them.

The collection, he was shocked to learn, was real: 40 silver Greek coins, three gold Greek coins and a dozen gold Roman coins -- one from each era of the first 12 Roman emperors, from Julius Caesar to Domitian. They range in date from the fifth century B.C. to the late first century A.D.

Not your usual find.

"I must have been the first person to touch them in almost 40 years," says Kiernan, who brought in two experts to verify the coins' authenticity last semester and is now developing a graduate course to examine the items' history.

It's the first time the coins will be extensively studied, and Kiernan and his class will publish their findings.

Within the collection is a "remarkably rare" coin of Roman emperor Otho, who reigned for a mere three months. The Greek coins were struck by some of the most powerful city-states and rulers of the ancient world, such as Athens, Corinth and Alexander the Great.

The coins were donated in 1935 to the UB Libraries Special Collections by Thomas B. Lockwood as part of a larger collection of rare books. However, it wasn't until Kiernan examined them out of curiosity that the currency's rarity and value were realized.

Kiernan focuses much of his research on ancient currency and antiquities, and the experts he brought in to examine the coins were numismatists -- people who collect or study currency.

The coins are one of the many treasures stored in the UB Libraries, which also hold original works by James Joyce, Dylan Thomas and William Shakespeare.

"Libraries are becoming museums," says Michael Basinski, curator of the UB Libraries Special Collections. "Everything is going digital, but we remain tied to the physical objects."

Lockwood's collection includes more than 3,000 books, medallions and additional coins from early America and England. Other notable items include a medallion of Napoleon Bonaparte and 36 British gold coins, including one of Queen Elizabeth I.

Lockwood, an avid reader and collector of rare and special books, purchased the items to supplement his personal collection. Accruing relics and art was common practice among affluent men in the early 20th century.

"For book collectors, owning such extraordinary objects connects them to the history that's recorded in their books," says Kiernan. "They could read about the Emperor Augustus and then examine a coin with his image."

Most of the coins are in excellent condition, despite remaining in their original 80-plus-year-old casing. A few of the silver coins require conservation treatment. The collection's casing also will be improved.

The UB Libraries will open the collection of coins to members of the campus and local communities pursuing relevant research.

Author: Marcene Robinson | Source: University at Buffalo [March 11, 2015]

At first glance, the site looks like an empty hill on the city's east side -- a bald spot surrounded by a slum, a new university and a shopping mall scheduled to open soon.

But then, a low structure becomes visible -- Puruchuco, an Incan palace with a 16th-century burial ground, and untold numbers of priceless artifacts buried within.

Just 10 percent of the 75-hectare (190-acre) complex has been explored, but that small slice held more than 2,000 mummies and some 100 artifacts in gold, silver and copper.

"The entire Puruchuco hill has monuments, cemeteries, pre-Hispanic mausoleums that have never been explored because of a lack of funding," said archaeologist Clide Valladolid, the director of a small museum at the site.

The problem is that as the Peruvian economy has boomed in recent years -- registering average annual GDP growth of 6.4 percent in the decade to 2013 -- Lima, a city of more than nine million people, has expanded voraciously, with rich and poor alike snapping up real estate.

Puruchuco sits right in the growing capital's path.

Authorities want to extend Javier Prado Avenue, one of the city's main arteries, to link it up with Carretera Central, the highway to the Andean region and the main route to the capital for food and other products from the country's interior.

Originally, the idea was to split Puruchuco in two and build the road straight through it -- a plan that initially got a green light from authorities.

But then the culture ministry intervened, asking for construction to be halted.

With a little creative engineering, planners came up with a system of two three-lane tunnels, each 45 meters (150 feet) long, that will pass through the narrowest part of the hill.

Work on the $8.9 million project began last August using non-disruptive digging techniques and no explosives, and is due to be completed in June.

"It was the engineering equivalent of heart surgery to avoid one of the cemeteries on the upper part of the hill," said engineer Onerio Robles, who designed the project.

"When we had defined the route and begun excavating, we found a mummy a meter away from the tunnel's path and had to recalculate everything."

An archaeologist at the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos had warned in 2010 that there was a pre-Inca palace hidden in that part of the hill.

Puruchuco means "feather helmet" in the Quechua language.

The complex is named for a headpiece on display at the site museum. Crowned with brightly colored feathers, it was worn by the curaca, or ruler, who lived in the palace.

More than five centuries ago, Puruchuco was an important administrative and religious center where the curaca led rituals.

Today, the palace has been painstakingly reconstructed and is open for visits.

Authorities have promised to expand the site museum, opening the largest collection of mummies in the country and a laboratory to study them.

Valladolid, the museum's director, wants to bring back 2,000 mummies that were discovered at Puruchuco in 2000 during a separate construction project -- a road through a slum that had sprung up atop the largest burial ground.

Some of the mummies' bones had been broken with sharp swords in combat -- apparently an early battle with the Spanish conquistadors, who descended on the area in 1532 and made Lima the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

One of the mummies' skulls was pierced by a musket ball -- it is believed to be the first person killed by gunfire in the Americas.

Many more discoveries are likely lurking in the hill, said Valladolid.

"In the lower part of Puruchuco, called Huaquerones, there are three pyramids with ramps and cemeteries. We need to fence them off to stop squatters from moving in," she said.

Author: Roberto Cortijo | Source: AFP [March 21, 2015]

An estimated 5.5 million tons of copper, one of the biggest deposits in the world, could provide a major export for a war-ravaged country desperately in need of jobs and cash. But the hoped-for bonanza also could endanger rare artifacts that survived the rule of the Taliban and offer a window into Afghanistan's rich pre-Islamic history.

"The copper mine and its extraction are very important. But more important is our national culture," said Abdul Qadir Timor, director of archaeology at Afghanistan's Culture Ministry. "Copper is a temporary source of income. Afghanistan might benefit for five or six years after mining begins, and then the resource comes to an end."

The government is determined to develop Afghanistan's estimated $3 trillion worth of minerals and petroleum, an untapped source of revenue that could transform the country. The withdrawal of U.S.-led combat forces at the end of 2014 and a parallel drop in foreign aid have left the government strapped for cash. It hopes to attract global firms to exploit oil, natural gas and minerals, ranging from gold and silver to the blue lapis lazuli for which the country has been known since ancient times.

Beijing's state-run China Metallurgical Group struck a $3 billion deal in 2008 to develop a mining town at Mes Aynak with power generators, road and rail links, and smelting facilities. Workers built a residential compound, but were pulled out two years ago because of security concerns. Nazifullah Salarzai, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, said the government is determined to finish that project.

Archaeologists are scrambling to uncover a trove of artifacts at the site dating back nearly 2,000 years which shed light on a Buddhist civilization that stretched across India and China, reaching all the way to Japan.

"The more we look, the more we find," archaeologist Aziz Wafa said as he scanned hilltops pock-marked with bowl-shaped hollows where copper powder once was melted down and painted onto ceramics. Excavators have found silver platters, gold jewelry and a human skeleton as they have uncovered the contours of a long-lost town that once hosted elaborate homes, monasteries, workshops and smelters.

Behind Wafa is a cave in which three Buddhas are seated around a dome-shaped shrine known as a stupa. Two are headless; one was decapitated by looters who entered through a tunnel. The other head was removed by archaeologists and placed in storage along with thousands of other items.

Movable objects, including sculptures, coins and ceramics, are stored at the National Museum in Kabul. Larger objects, including stupas measuring eight meters (26 feet) across and statues of robed monks 7 meters (23 feet) tall remain at the sprawling site, which is closed off and protected by a special security force. The roads are lined with armed guards and the archaeologists have no telephone or Internet access.

Experts believe that proselytizing Buddhist monks from India settled here in the 2nd Century A.D. Like today's miners, they were enticed by the copper, which they fashioned into jewelry and other products to trade on the Silk Road linking China to Europe.

The site was discovered in 1942 and first explored in 1963, but the excavations ground to a halt for two decades during the Soviet invasion, the civil war and the brutal rule of the Taliban in the late 1990s. Osama bin Laden ran a training camp at Mes Aynak in the years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the subsequent U.S.-led invasion.

Until the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan were dynamited by the Taliban in 2001, few knew that Afghanistan was once a wealthy, powerful Buddhist empire. It still does not feature on the local education curriculum, which ignores the country's pre-Islamic past. But at Mes Aynak the eroded remains of enormous feet testify to the colossal Buddhas that once towered over the valley.

Low world copper prices and a slowing Chinese economy have bought time for the archaeologists to uncover more artifacts, while the government seeks to find a way to unearth the copper without ruining relics.

The government has asked the U.N. cultural agency to survey mining sites and draw up plans to protect and preserve cultural heritage, said Masanori Nagaoka, UNESCO's head of cultural affairs in Afghanistan.

The request is rooted in hope for better days, when tourists might replace the tense guards scanning the valley.

The archaeological value of the site "will outlast the life cycle of the Aynak mine," an anti-corruption group called Integrity Watch Afghanistan said in a report. "The relics found could be a perpetual tourist attraction and would provide a new symbol of the historical foundation of the region and people."

Author: Lynne O'Donnell | Source: Associated Press [February 06, 2015]

The areas are: the Jomon Archaeological Sites in Hokkaido, northern Tohoku, and other regions (Aomori, Akita and Iwate prefectures); the Sado Gold and Silver Mine in Niigata Prefecture; the Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun Ancient Tumulus Clusters in Osaka Prefecture; and Okinoshima island and related sites in the Munakata region of Fukuoka Prefecture.

The submission of the draft recommendations marked the first step toward applying for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage status in 2017, the agency said March 27.

The Council for Cultural Affairs, an advisory body to the agency, will review the suggestions and select one to be submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Source: The Asahi Shimbun [March 28, 2015]

This kind of crept up on me but today is a day I have been looking forward to for awhile. Today Fiona Robyn will begin posting her novel, Thaw, on her blog. The book is a diary, so it's really a great way to check it out! I'm doing this today in place of a review, I hope you all give the first entry a try. Here is the first page:

These hands are ninety-three years old. They belong to Charlotte Marie Bradley Miller. She was so frail that her grand-daughter had to carry her onto the set to take this photo. It’s a close-up. Her emaciated arms emerge from the top corners of the photo and the background is black, maybe velvet, as if we’re being protected from seeing the strings. One wrist rests on the other, and her fingers hang loose, close together, a pair of folded wings. And you can see her insides.

The bones of her knuckles bulge out of the skin, which sags like plastic that has melted in the sun and is dripping off her, wrinkling and folding. Her veins look as though they’re stuck to the outside of her hands. They’re a colour that’s difficult to describe: blue, but also silver, green; her blood runs through them, close to the surface. The book says she died shortly after they took this picture. Did she even get to see it? Maybe it was the last beautiful thing she left in the world.

I’m trying to decide whether or not I want to carry on living. I’m giving myself three months of this journal to decide. You might think that sounds melodramatic, but I don’t think I’m alone in wondering whether it’s all worth it. I’ve seen the look in people’s eyes. Stiff suits travelling to work, morning after morning, on the cramped and humid tube. Tarted-up girls and gangs of boys reeking of aftershave, reeling on the pavements on a Friday night, trying to mop up the dreariness of their week with one desperate, fake-happy night. I’ve heard the weary grief in my dad’s voice.

So where do I start with all this? What do you want to know about me? I’m Ruth White, thirty-two years old, going on a hundred. I live alone with no boyfriend and no cat in a tiny flat in central London. In fact, I had a non-relationship with a man at work, Dan, for seven years. I’m sitting in my bedroom-cum-living room right now, looking up every so often at the thin rain slanting across a flat grey sky. I work in a city hospital lab as a microbiologist. My dad is an accountant and lives with his sensible second wife Julie, in a sensible second home. Mother finished dying when I was fourteen, three years after her first diagnosis. What else? What else is there?

Charlotte Marie Bradley Miller. I looked at her hands for twelve minutes. It was odd describing what I was seeing in words. Usually the picture just sits inside my head and I swish it around like tasting wine. I have huge books all over my flat — books you have to take in both hands to lift. I’ve had the photo habit for years. Mother bought me my first book, black and white landscapes by Ansel Adams. When she got really ill, I used to take it to bed with me and look at it for hours, concentrating on the huge trees, the still water, the never-ending skies. I suppose it helped me think about something other than what was happening. I learned to focus on one photo at a time rather than flicking from scene to scene in search of something to hold me. If I concentrate, then everything stands still. Although I use them to escape the world, I also think they bring me closer to it. I’ve still got that book. When I take it out, I handle the pages as though they might flake into dust.

Mother used to write a journal. When I was small, I sat by her bed in the early mornings on a hard chair and looked at her face as her pen spat out sentences in short bursts. I imagined what she might have been writing about — princesses dressed in star-patterned silk, talking horses, adventures with pirates. More likely she was writing about what she was going to cook for dinner and how irritating Dad’s snoring was.

I’ve always wanted to write my own journal, and this is my chance. Maybe my last chance. The idea is that every night for three months, I’ll take one of these heavy sheets of pure white paper, rough under my fingertips, and fill it up on both sides. If my suicide note is nearly a hundred pages long, then no-one can accuse me of not thinking it through. No-one can say, ‘It makes no sense; she was a polite, cheerful girl, had everything to live for,’ before adding that I did keep myself to myself. It’ll all be here. I’m using a silver fountain pen with purple ink. A bit flamboyant for me, I know. I need these idiosyncratic rituals; they hold things in place. Like the way I make tea, squeezing the tea-bag three times, the exact amount of milk, seven stirs. My writing is small and neat; I’m striping the paper. I’m near the bottom of the page now. Only ninety-one more days to go before I’m allowed to make my decision. That’s it for today. It’s begun.

An informed source at the Center of International Legal Affairs in Iran’s Presidential Office said on Tuesday that an appellate court in Belgium’s eastern city of Liège, situated nearly 90 kilometers (55 miles) southeast of the capital, Brussels, has passed the final verdict in favor of the restitution of the Iranian heritage, IRNA reported.

The source, whose name was not revealed, praised efforts made by Iranian legal experts and officials at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handcraft and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) for following up on the case.

The contents of the nine boxes were looted over the past years from a 3000-year-old ancient site near the village of Khorvin, situated 80 kilometers (49 miles) northeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Following Iran's demand, the Brussels court ordered the seizure of the pieces and their preservation at the Museum of Brussels University, pending a final verdict.

Since the boxes contained metal items that might have oxidized over time, Iranian officials asked Belgian officials to open the boxes in the presence of ICHTO representatives. The boxes were resealed after experts examined the contents.

The ancient pin was stolen in December 2002 from the European tour of “7000 Years of Persian Art” during its run at St. Peter's Abbey in Ghent.

Iranian officials have filed several other lawsuits in courts in Britain, France, Turkey, and Pakistan for the return of smuggled artifacts over the past years.

Source: Press TV [December 24, 2014]

One Christmas while growing up, my parents gave my older sister a set of books for Christmas. She had them, which meant that I wanted them. But they weren't mine. (I'm still surprised at the number of times over the years that they have given a gift to one of us that would have been better suited for the other. Like the sewing machine... Seriously...) Anyway. I digress. So, I had to wait for the sister to either finish reading all nine books, or wait for her to get tired of them. I don't think she made it past the first few books before losing interest and then grudgingly allowed me to borrow them. (I'm pretty sure the parents were involved in pushing that...)

And let me tell you... I devoured those books. Seriously inhaled them. The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder was insanely loved by me. I cannot tell you how much I loved these books. There are nine of them, and I was reading them when I was probably about 7 or 8. Nine books. Big books too (at least for a kid that age) But I read them. And I loved them. I loved them so much that I thought they were the greatest books ever. I wanted to be Laura. For real... I begged my mom until she made me a bonnet and then I would run around outside, letting my bonnet flop off my head and stream behind me like Laura's did. (And really people, Laura was right! Bonnets are seriously annoying.)

I remember so many games played by myself that involved me being Laura in some way or another. I loved all of the books, but my very most favorite was These Happy Golden Years because that's when Almanzo proposes to Laura. It's been years since I've read these books, but I've never forgotten that scene. I even looked it up a while ago to make sure I was right, and I totally was. 'That would depend in the ring.' Sigh. It gave me butterflies. I don't even think I was 10 yet when reading this book but I remember thinking how amazing and romantic that scene was.

But then... Book the ninth. I remember starting it, so happy and eager to read about them after they had finally gotten married. But as I started reading, nothing felt right. The writing was different and even as a young kid, the narrative voice felt... off. Somehow awkward and stilted. I remember forcing myself to finish the book, because it was the end to this deeply beloved series but being incredibly disappointed in the final book. It wasn't until later that I learned that Laura had died before writing this book and her daughter (I think...) had compiled the notes she had left behind and written the final book for Laura. Made me feel pretty good that I'd picked up on the differences as a 9 year old.:)

I really want to go back and reread these books because of how much I loved them growing up, but at the same time, I'm very afraid to. I'm afraid that they won't live up to the pedestal I've placed them on in my memories. Maybe I'll wait until I have kids of my own and then try and read them together. I'd love to go back and see how many of the scenes I vividly remember from these books are the same as I remember them, or if they are even in these books (like Laura running through the rain so fast she managed to dodge the raindrops. Do you have any idea how many times I tried that?! I lived near Seattle, WA. We were no stranger to rain and I used to try, so hard to run fast enough to dodge the rain. But alas. I never managed it.)

Any of you have memories of reading about the many adventures of Laura on the prairie?

Complete List of the books:

Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Priarie
Farmer Boy
On the Banks of Plum Creek
By the Shores of Silver Lake
The Long Winter
Little Town on the Prairie
These Happy Golden Years
The First Four Years

(Also, I hate the cover art with the real people on it... I loved the Garth Williams illustrated covers, even as a kid. They just fit the books so much better)

July 8-11

Those that know me are aware of my obsession with thriller and horror fiction. Thrillfest is like my dream come true; the opportunity, according to Jon Land, Vice President of Marketing for ITW, to "mix and mingle with some of the biggest names in the business." But, alas, since I took time off to attend BEA in May, I can't take off any additional work time without experiencing intense feelings of guilt.

One of the highlights of the event is the coveted ThrillerMaster Award, recognizing outstanding contribution to the thriller genre. This year’s winner is noted author David Morrell, widely considered the “father” of the contemporary action novel with his 1974 debut First Blood (which introduced the character of Rambo to the world). The award celebrates Morrell’s amazing career, spanning 37 years and 28 novels published in dozens of languages across the globe.

The prestigious Silver Bullet Award, recognizing outstanding achievement in the encouragement of literacy and the love of reading, will be presented to the #1 New York Times bestselling suspense novelist Brad Meltzer (The Book of Fate).

Additional bestselling spotlight guests that will attend are last year’s ThrillerMaster award recipient Sandra Brown as well as Robin Cook, Katherine Neville, and David Baldacci.

The four-day event includes numerous author signings, a complete bookstore on premises, a cocktail party and reception for readers, a roasting of Clive Cussler, and a breakfast featuring first-time authors. The highlight is the annual ThrillerFest Awards Banquet, which this year will take place at Cipriani, one of New York City’s most spectacular event venues.

Some of the biggest names in the genre will be holding court with interactive panel sessions, including Kathleen Antrim, Steve Berry, Peter Rubie, William Bernhardt, James Rollins, Barry Eisler, Andrew Gross, David Hewson, Jon Land, Eric Van Lustbader, Gayle Lynds, Steve Martini, Donald Maass, Joan Johnston and many more.

2009 Thriller Award Nominees:

Best Thriller of the Year

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery DeaverT
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

Best First Novel

Calumet City by Charlie Newton
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Criminal Paradise by Steven Thomas
Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton
The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd

Best Short Story

Between the Dark and the Daylight by Tom Piccirilli (Ellery Queen Magazine)
Last Island South by John C. Boland (Ellery Queen Magazine)
The Edge of Seventeen by Alexandra Sokoloff (The Darker Mask)
The Point Guard by Jason Pinter (Killer Year Anthology)
Time of the Green by Ken Bruen (Killer Year Anthology)

So, if you are able to attend Thrillerfest, do so! I plan on attending next year. For more information, and to register, visit The International Thriller Writers Web Site.

In book four of the werewolf DJ series, Kitty’s book, “Underneath the Skin” is about to be released. When she hears that her mother has breast cancer and must be operated on, she and Ben rush home to Denver. She knows that making this move will appear to be an act of aggression in the eyes of Carl and Meg, the alpha wolves in her former pack. A turf war is taking place between the Denver vampires and lycanthropes. Rick, Denver’s Vampire Master, asks Kitty to step in on this turf war. Kitty is forced to become the alpha wolf she has thus far avoided. Kitty must step up, grow a backbone, and help save the lives of those closest to her, and all the while, her mom is going through the scariest time of her life. This has to be my favorite of all the Kitty books thus far. Kitty’s character has grown and developed into a strong and powerful woman/wolf. The action keeps you begging for more. Be prepared to devote some time to reading this book—because once you start it, you won’t be able to stop. Another great book by Vaughn!

A court in the capital Skopje convicted another six people Friday, including two more former museum officials, over the theft of 160 artefacts that was reported in November 2013.

At the time, police had said that the antiquities, which date from the 4th century AD and include gold and silver jewelry, were believed to have been sold abroad by an organized crime ring. The artefacts have not been located.

The theft from the 'Museum of Macedonia' in central Skopje occurred between November 2011 and October 2013.

All seven defendants denied wrongdoing, and appealed their convictions.

Source: The Associated Press [March 20, 2015]

A not so funny thing happened on the way to this blog. My husband fell seriously ill.

I had planned to write about passion, about how it adds richness and meaning and beauty to life, but faced with losing my partner of almost thirty years I couldn’t summon up enough passion to write about passion. I felt bereft. I looked it up to be sure that was the correct word.

Bereft: deprived of something; lacking something needed or expected.

Yes, bereft is correct.

But I made a commitment to this blog tour so I opened my computer and started to string sentences together. Of course, being bereft, I wrote about watching my smart, sweet, beautifully educated husband asking, “What’s happening to me?” over and over. He could not answer questions like, “What year is this? How many children do you have? How old are you?” His body was there, but he was gone.

Bereft.

Yet, as I wrote I began to feel slightly less bereft. My passion is writing and doing it made me feel less hollow and less frightened. That’s when I decided to go back to my original idea and write about passion. Passion doesn’t only enrich the good times; passion can get us through the bad ones.

Pablo Neruda described a writer’s passion more beautifully than I ever could. He said:

“… I love words so much: the unexpected ones, the ones I wait for greedily are stalked until, suddenly, they drop. Vowels I love, they glitter like colored stones, they leap like silver fish. They are foam, thread, metal, dew. I run after certain words… I catch them in mid flight as they buzz past. I trap them, clean them, peel them. I set myself in front of a dish; they have a crystalline texture to me; vibrant, ivory, vegetable, oily, like fruit, like algae, like agate, like olive. And then I stir them, I shake them, I drink them, I gulp them down, I garnish them…like stalactites, like slivers of polished wood, like coal, pickings from a shipwreck, gifts from the waves. Everything exists in the word.”

That’s the passion that kept me writing through thirty years of rejection.
In 2008, Simon & Schuster published my novel, The Book of Unholy Mischief, and I was elated. But the giddy moment passed, and I understood that fleeting success did not measure up to the profound pleasure of creating something original.

Thirty years of writing yielded new and various rewards on a daily basis, one of which has been sharing my passion with my grandchildren. My grandkids know that a day out with Grandma means going to the bookstore, and they love it. We each choose a new book, and then we sit down to lunch and pour over our treasure. It gave me a deep, tickling satisfaction to hear that when my daughter found the Italian edition of my book in Venice, her five-year old ran through the store yelling, “We found Grandma’s book!” Hearing that was a wonderful moment born of passion.

My husband has had his passions too. He climbed mountains, flew glider planes, kayaked, and practiced medicine. After we married we shared a passion for travel and visited dozens of countries on six continents. We lived abroad and our shared love of exploration gave our lives scope and dimension. Now that his future is uncertain our history of shared passion is a comfort. Passion is our consolation for mortality.

Thank you, all who read this, for helping me indulge my passion and soften a hard moment. May you all find a passion, and indulge the hell out of it.

Thank you, Ellen, for stopping by Jenn's Bookshelf. You and your husband are in my thoughts during this incredibly difficult time.

Enna from Squeaky Books has returned this year to offer up another awesome Fairy Tale Fortnight post! Seriously folks, Enna is one of my favorite blogging people, and her posts always pretty much rock my face!:)

Hello fellow fairy-tale enthusiasts! My name is Enna Isilee from Squeaky Books and I'm SO excited to be back with FTF this year! Last year I posted about how fairy tales changed my life, and my top 14 fairy tale retellings. This year I'm back to talk to you about the 10 fairy tales that I haven't read and I just can't WAIT to get my hands on! Many of these have already been featured in Misty's "From the Vault" and "Coming Attraction" posts, but I'm going to put my spin on them AND give you a chance to win your choice of any of these books!

Let's start with some classics and then move into newer releases, shall we?

East
by Edith Pattou Release Date: 9/1/2003
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:I know, I know! How can I call myself a fairy-tale fan when I haven’t read East ? I ADORE Sarah Beth Durst’s Ice and I guess I have some kind of deep seated fear that one won’t be able to measure up to the other. I do plan to read this sometime soon, though. I need to get my hands on a copy for my library at least.

The Looking Glass Wars
by Frank Beddor Release Date: 9/26/2006
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:So Alice in Wonderland isn’t your typical fairy tale, but I’m still including it because I’ve heard this series is AWESOME (also, Once Upon a Time included Alice in Wonderland, so it totally counts). I got this book for Christmas, and hope to get around to reading it this summer.

A Curse Dark as Gold
by Elizabeth Bunce Release Date: 3/1/2008
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:I started reading this a few years ago, but wasn’t in the right mindset. The world and prose is really deep, and it’s certainly not a book you can read with half a brain. I’m afraid during the school year I have barely a quarter of a brain.

Sisters Red
by Jackson Pearce Release Date: 6/7/2010
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:For some reason I managed to check this out from the library, and forget about it until it was nearly due. I managed to read 20 pages and would have kept it past the due date (naughty me!) but my mother returned it! Since then I have purchased my own copy, but haven’t yet delved into it. I can’t wait! It’s about time that fairy tale heroines started kicking some werewolf.

A Long, Long Sleep
by Anna Sheehan Release Date: 8/9/2011
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:This one hasn’t been getting very positive reviews from what I’ve seen, but I still really want to read it. I mean, fairy tales IN SPACE?! Need I say more?

Cinder
by Marissa Meyer Release Date: 1/3/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:Technically I’ve already read this book. BUT I’m still including it in this list because I LOVED it and I can’t wait for the next three books in the series. Scarlet (2013) features Little Red Riding Hood in France, Cress (2014) features Rapunzel on the Moon, and Winter (2015) features Snow White in the Sahara Desert! Awesome!

Princess of the Wild Swans
by Diane Zahler Release Date: 1/31/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:What is it that makes swans so fitting for Fairy Tales? I just recently got my hands on this guy, and it seems like a short, sweet read. Perfect for a rainy day (I hope!).

Kill Me Softly
by Sarah Cross Release Date: 4/10/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:I have just been LUSTING over this book for MONTHS. I’m on a very strict book-buying-ban right now, or else I would have this guy in my hot little hands instead of waiting for my library to finish “processing” it. We’ve heard of Urban-fantasy and Urban-paranormal books, but this is urban-fairy tales. I’m so there.

Shadows on the Moon
by Zoe Marriott Release Date: 4/24/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:Also another book I’ve “technically” read, but I read the UK version. According to the author, the US version has some new haiku and things changed for authenticity! I have the audiobook for this one and I’m dying to dive in!

Princess of the Silver Woods
by Jessica Day George Release Date: 11/13/2012
Goodreads |Amazon
My Thoughts:Jessica Day George is a standard go-to for fairy tales. I loved the first book in this series (Princess of the Midnight Ball) and I’ve heard the others don’t disappoint! I’ve also heard you can read them out of order, but I could be mistaken. We’ve got a while to wait for this one, hopefully long enough for me to read Princess of Glass.

Giveaway time!
Since this giveaway is hosted by me, it'll be through rafflecopter and not the usual FTF form. Hope y'all don't mind! It just makes my life a little easier! Just follow the instructions below and enter to win! This giveaway is open INTERNATIONAL!

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All review content © Enna Isilee, Squeaky Books 2007-2012

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Okay I have recently received a lot of awards, and unfortunately have not been on top of award posts. This means that I have gotten a few awards that I am not quite sure where they came from. Also, since I have gotten so many awards at once I'm not going to be passing them onto 30 gagillion blogs because that would mean I would have to go out and find blogs I don't actually read, and then give them awards. Since I don't want to do that I will just pass on these awards to blogs I truly love and feel deserve them. So the list...

I received the Silver Lining Award from my good friend Jade at Chasing Empty Pavements. As I understand from her post, this award means that I always try to look at the upside of things. It's pretty amazing I got this award, because I was known as the resident debbie downer at my high school when I was about 15. But hey, what can you expect from a 15 year old? I have five more years of wisdom now! Thanks for this award!

I am now going to pass this award on to Displaced English Major, Southern City Mysteries, Helen Loves Books, and Confessions and Ramblings of a Muse in the Fog.

The next award I received was from a blog I truly respect (not that I don't respect the others), A Guy's Moleskine Notebook. This reading journal is a daily go to for me and I know I can always depend on it for honest reviews and musings that have a lot of heart.

I am going to give this award to Dyxie Land: Gay/Straight Take on Nothing, Books and Movies, and Laura's Reviews. I realize some of you have probably gotten this award before, it circulates quite a bit (this is my second time) so sorry about that. But I wanted to give you all something!

Laura at Reading and Rooibos gave me the Kreativ Blogger award. I only recently discovered her blog but it has quickly become a favorite of mine. For this award I am supposed to list seven things about myself... but more on that later. Thanks Laura!

I am giving this award to A Guy's Moleskine Notebook, The Book Whisperer, Bookmarked!, and A Bookish Way of Life.

And last but not least, I received the Sugar Doll award from Michele at Southern City Mysteries. Hers is a wonderful writer's blog that I urge you to check out. She also has a new weekly meme called Writing Prompt Wednesdays, be sure to join in on that! This award requires to me say ten things about myself...

And I am giving this award to Stuck in a Book, Boarding in My Forties and Chasing Empty Pavements.

So what I'm going to do is tell you fifteen things about myself. I think that's fair. I think I should get some kind of theme going though. So maybe I will tell you fifteen things about since college.

1. I only applied to one school, the University of Iowa. I knew I would get in, I knew it was where I wanted to go, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on application fees when I knew I was only going to consider Iowa.
2. When I first came to Iowa I was a Journalism and English double major. At the end of first semester my freshman year I quit Journalism, even though that is what I thought I really wanted to do. My roommate and I had a very lengthy discussion the night I decided to quit Journalism. She was a Journalism major too.
3. Since quitting Journalism I have considered French, Communication Studies, Linguistics, American Studies, and History as possible second major or minors. Right now I am interested in History and Museum Studies. That seems to be where life is taking me.
4. My freshman year my boyfriend and I were attending different schools. He was at Kansas State and I was obviously at Iowa. He decided to transfer to Iowa this year and it has made a world of difference in both of our lives, but I am thankful we had that time apart because it makes us appreciate each day together even more.
5. A couple other people joined me at Iowa this year. My best friend from high school, Katharyne, and my other good friend from high school Benjamin. Having both of them with me makes school quite the trip!
6. I asked for a coffee pot my senior year so I could have coffee in my dorm room. I rarely make coffee now, just like my family told me I wouldn't. I just don't have time.
7. Last semester I took all English classes. A hint for everyone else: Never, ever do that.
8. Going on a year and a half now I have worked at the lovely Currier-Stanley Residence Halls Front Desk. I steal pens (But don't tell Barb!)
9. The first English class I took at Iowa was a class on Virginia and Leonard Woolf taught by the lovely Lara Trubowitz. It was a fascinating class and sparked my interest in Victorian literature, mostly because Virginia hated those Victorians so much.
10. In my Victorian Lit class last semester there were two males. And about thirty students. It was an interesting class, and my prof brought Christmas cookies to our final!
11. I have started four (I think?) blogs since I came to college. This is the only one that has stuck. Why that is I do not know. I think I had a different attitude with this one, and an actual purpose.
12. I had season tickets to Iowa football games my freshman year. Yeah, that was a waste of my parents' money. I rarely went to football games in high school.
13. My class was supposed to be the last class to graduate from out old high school, but they didn't get the new high school finished in time so we were the second to last class to graduate from our old high school. I will lie to my children about this because second to last sounds stupid.
14. Last year I saw Ben Folds twice. I also saw Jack's Mannequin twice. I geek out for pianos.
15. Since coming to college I have found out that I love to read literary criticism. So sue me.

Thanks everyone who gave me an award! Sorry this was such a sloppy post, it'll teach to be more on top of this in future!

Conservationists have reintroduced the gibbons as part of an ambitious project for the "re-wilding" of Angkor Wat, a vast "temple city" that was once surrounded by forests teeming with deer, monkeys, birds and big cats before the arrival of commercial hunters with guns, traps and an appetite for money.

The re-wilding is being led by Nick Marx, a conservationist who believes the project could become a model for other parts of Southeast Asia hit by the trade in endangered wildlife.

Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument on earth, was made a World Heritage Site to protect its sprawling network of temples. Now conservationists want to restore the surrounding forests of Angkor Archaeological Park to their former glory, Marx said.

"The area of forest is beautiful and mature. It's a unique site but it's devoid of wildlife now," he said. "We want to introduce different species that would be appropriate, such as a cross-selection of small carnivores, herbivores, primates and deer, to try to get a build-up of wildlife populations with sufficient genetic diversity."

Cambodia, like many countries in southeast Asia, has suffered from the illegal trade in wildlife. Large numbers of animals have been shot, trapped, butchered and skinned, or sold alive in one of the many Cambodian food markets.

Spiralling demand for traditional Chinese "medicine" has driven the trade to new heights.

"China has done a pretty good job of decimating its own wildlife and now it is moving into other countries," he said. "There is a certain amount of consumption within Cambodia, but most of the valuable items that can bring a high price such as pangolins and cat skins would be going out either to Vietnam or to China," he said. "With the opening of borders and trade, things are getting worse globally. That means we have to work harder to stop it."

Marx is director of a wildlife rescue service funded by Wildlife Alliance, a New York-based non-governmental organisation that specialises in protecting forests and wildlife. He runs Cambodia's Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team which tackles animal trafficking with undercover operations, armed raids on restaurants and markets, and a network of paid informants willing to provide tip-offs on illegal shipments of live animals and body parts.

"We are known throughout Cambodia. We are feared by wildlife traders. It would be foolish to say there is no risk. We're pissing people off and we are rescuing things like cobras, which often have their mouths stitched up and we have to unstitch them," he said.

Why cobras? "They cut their throats to drink their blood with wine and then eat the flesh. People eat everything, from spiders and grasshoppers up."

Many recovered animals are alive and the aim is to return them to the wild if possible.

"Almost everything we confiscate, about 90 per cent of it - provided it is in recent captivity and is fit and healthy, and of an age it can look after itself - is released back into a safe habitat," Marx said. "If they cannot take care of themselves, we look after them at a rescue centre."

Having established Cambodia's official task force to tackle wildlife crime, Marx said it was time to think about reintroducing species to areas where they once thrived such as Angkor Wat. "We were given permission to release animals back into Angkor last year and we released the first pair of pileated gibbons into this forest last December. This has gone really well. The pair had a baby in September. We've taken up another pair of gibbons and a trio of silver langurs, which are a kind of leaf-eating monkey, which we hope to release later."

Author: Steve Connor | Source: Independent via The New Zealand Herald [December 29, 2014]

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading.

I am reading my last book for my 19 Going on 20 Challenge this week. It is Sorcery & Cecelia, Or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. Here is my teaser:

"The investiture itself is a brief and simple ceremony, a matter of presenting the honored newcomers to the college with a blue sash, a silver medallion, and a daub of scented oil between the eyebrows. That, repeated twelve times in rapid succession, would hardly provide entertainment enough for an entire afternoon, so the college expanded the ceremony with a choir of boys from the abbey school and a detachment of Royal Guardsmen to arch their sabers over the wizards as they approached the dais for investiture." (20).

Is it just me, or does it seem like most historical YA books have some element of magic in them?

In each of our interviews this Fortnight, Misty and I have been asking the authors a series of fun and silly questions. Then, we asked you the same questions in one of our giveaway (enter! enter!)
We thought it would be a great to ask each other the same questions. So now you get to experience the inner (possibly twisted) workings of mine and Misty's minds. Misty's answers are here, and you can hear what I had to say on Misty's blog.

So Misty, as you know, I got crazy excited when you announced Fairy Tale Fortnight. So now, I'd like to know why. ~Why fairy tales?

I could go on and on with this answer. I don't think it was until I started going through things for this event that I even realized the extent of my fairy tale obsession. I mean, I knew; I've always known. In my Adv. Comp. class in college, when we had to pick something to do a huge research project on, and were told to pick something we wouldn't get sick of, when everyone else around me was choosing a topic that would impress the teacher, I chose fairy tales. I've hoarded my fairy tale books from my childhood, and read essays and research on fairy tales for fun. They hold my fascination like nothing else.

But why?

I'm going to say there are many reasons, and I couldn't begin to touch on them all. But for me, the biggest reason is that they are communal and ingrained in our pysches as a result. Fairy tales are interactive. Yes, now you can read them all alone, curled up in bed. But for centuries (and beyond, if you expand "fairy tale" to include all original oral mythology), they were told in groups around campfires, or between parent and child at night before bed. They connect people, and they provide these common tropes for the rest of our lives. You say glass slippers and everyone knows: nothing more need be said. That's powerful.

Beyond that, I love the contradiction of them. They are thought of mostly as kids stories, but they can be incredibly dark. They show us people at their weakest and meekest, becoming something great. Nothing is ever what it seems, and yet you know just what it will be. I love the magic of that.

I love that your research project was on fairy tales! That's so awesome!

~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?

I haven't the foggiest. That's the thing about naming — we have no control over it. So I'm going to go with the name I almost had (in real life. Don't ask me how this was even a possibility): Blue. Forgive me... All I can think of is Little Boy Blue. (Come blow your horn...)

~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale:

Blue sat tucked away as always in the tiny little garret room; she knew her wicked stepmother was looking for her, and that the longer she dallied, the worse it would be — so for now, Blue was content to stay curled up with one of her favorite books, her rat Faustus on her shoulder, both of them dreaming of a different world.

Aww. Poor little Blue. You should send the rat and his buddies into step-mother's bed at night... Teach her what it's like to be on the short end of things.: P

~Best fairy tale villain and why?

Tough one. I like the villains. (Or, I like to dislike them.) I like to try to figure out their motivations. I'd say Rumplestiltskin. He's just so bizarre and hard to understand, and that's always creepy. I always wanted to know why he wanted the baby? (???) And then, anyone who tears themselves in half when they're angry = serious cray cray. Close second would be Snow White's stepmom, who wants to cut out her heart and eat it.

I almost picked Rumpelstiltskin too! He's so creepy! But, cursing babies to die and eating the heart of young girls won out over dancing baby snatcher. (although, putting it light that, maybe not. Ugh.)

~Favorite tale from childhood? Favorite tale as an adult? Least favorites?

As a child I was obsessed with The Elves and the Shoemaker and the 12 Dancing Princesses (and occasionally, Puss in Boots). I can't say why I loved the Elves so. I just wanted them, I think. And I wanted to make them tiny little clothes. The 12 Dancing Princesses is easier to say why: I had an absolutely beautiful
copy of it (still do!), and I just wanted to dress up in those gowns and see that underground world with the silver-leafed trees and the 12 princes and their boats. (And Puss in Boots had a kitty.)

As an adult, I tend to like the darker stuff. I have a fascination with Little Red Riding Hood (did as a kid too), but I really find myself drawn to the lesser known or seriously distrubing tales, like Donkeyskin or The Rose Elf (which I rewrote in poem form for a creative writing class. I think it's probably too long to repost for you guys, but it was fun. I'd love to do an actual story with it some day.)

Least favorites... I always had questions about some. Jack and the Beanstalk made me indignant. I mean, he's basically a thief. That is not his hen, and he had no business climbing that beanstalk anyway! Plus, what the hell was he doing with the magic beans? Who trades their cow, their only source of income, for beans? I always wanted to shake him.

Jack always did strike me as a bit of a skeeze.

~If you could be any fairy tale character, or live through any fairy tale "happening," who/what would it be?

I would be one of the 12 Dancing Princesses — I really want to see that underground world with the trees made of silver and gold and jewels. That was such a stunning image to me when I was a kid, so awe-inspiring, that I've been a little obsessed with it ever since. I'm not much of a dancer, though... (see answer to last question)

Misty, do you realize — if we are both among the 12 Dancing Princesses... We must be, sisters! Hello to my sister in fairy tales! Let us flee from the creepy Evil Queen together!

~Would you rather:
- — live under a bridge with a troll, or all alone in a high tower?

I bet that trolls got stories to tell...

I bet that troll really smells...

- — ride everywhere in a pumpkin carriage (messy) or walk everywhere in glass shoes (uncomfortable)?

Pumpkin carriage. Glass shoes freak me out. Unless they were the ones from Ever After, and then I'd have to reconsider.

Oooh. Ever After!

- — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming?

Um... the prince, I guess. I find the godmothers a little dubious...

- — eat magic beans or golden eggs?

Eggs! I don't even want to know what eating magic beans would do to a person... O_O

I'm definitely with you on that one! And, you know how I feel about golden eggs... Makes the outside match the insides, if you know what I mean.;) (still humble...)

- — style 50ft long hair or polish 100 pairs of glass slippers?

I bet you could do some pretty awesome couture things with 50ft of hair. I wouldn't want to wear said hair, but style it?

Sure.

- — be forced to spin straw into gold for hours on end, or dance every night until your shoes are worn through?

Spinning and weaving fascinate me, and spinning straw what certainly be an interesting skill — and one hell of a party trick. Alchemy, anyone? And though I'm sure it'd be pretty mindless after awhile, I could listen to audiobooks or something while I did it. I'm not really much of a dancer (sober, anyway), so I think I'd have to go with spinning. Couldn't be much worse than most jobs, right?

Until creepy Rumpelstiltskin pops up, asking if you need help!! Uber creepy villain, remember? Are you going to offer him your first born?! Come to the enchanted ballroom with me Misty. I'll teach you to dance. (or ply you with liquor until you can't tell the difference!)

*Misty reconsiders*

I want to take a second to say thank you to Misty. I saw her post about Fairy Tale Fortnight, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of it, knew I wanted to do as much with it as I could. So, when she asked me to co-host with her, I gave a very, very enthusiastic YES! I have had so much fun preparing for this event with Misty. We've had some awesome email exchanges, and some very definite Twilight Zone moments. I don't think there has ever been a time when we weren't on the same page about things, and our ideas for certain elements of the Fortnight were eerily similar.

It's been such a blast working with you Misty! You've been amazing! It's a little bit sad to see the Fortnight end, but this just means we get to start planning for next year! I can't wait!

In general I'm a big fan of The Best American Series and the new one's for 2010 just came out. I bought The Best American Essays

and The Best American Travel Writing

since they are my two favorite collections. I flipped through the table of contents, skimming for essayists I know and love, and new ones I'm interested to read, when I saw that The Best American Travel Writing and The Best American Essays both have an essay by David Sedaris in them. It's the same essay! Guy Walks into a Bar Car, which originally appeared in The New Yorker and can be read online. David Sedaris is known for being funny, so if you're looking for some giggles this is a great essay.

I wasn't vastly impressed by this piece but I think it's worth mentioning since it was chosen by Bill Buford and Christopher Hitchens this year. The essay is about Sedaris' trip on a train. In the bar car he meets a man who he is possibly attracted to, and he gets to talking and drinking with him. The guy is a total wreck, an alcoholic, screwed up family, and unemployed. Later in the essay he talks about a Lebanese man he met on a train some years before (he was 24), he felt an instant connection with this man, and the man invites him to come stay at his college with him, but Sedaris refuses. He later regrets this decision because, well, I think we've all been in that situation before. The essay looks at the train and travel as a kind of hopeful, romantic, new beginning, but then acknowledges that this is often not the case. And even when it is the case, we are often afraid of being truly romantic.

I love the way the essays starts: "In the golden age of American travel, the platforms of train stations were knee-deep in what looked like fog. You see it all the time in black-and-white movies, these low-lying eddies of silver. I always thought it was steams from the engines, but now I wonder if it didn't from cigarettes." This is a great set up for the rest of the essay. Sedaris gives us a well known image, beautiful, foggy, romantic train platforms that are full of mystery and elegance, but then he turns around and says something he has always though as beautiful and enticing might actually just be something gross or unimportant. And this is something I think happens a lot in travel. You dream up a place to be exactly what you want, but once you arrive it isn't anything like you expected. I experienced this when I went to Rome. I thought it would be this beautiful, romantic place, and I ended up thinking it was kind of disgusting.

He further ties this into age. He meets the Lebanese man at 24, but he meets the drunk more recently as an older man. "When you're young, it's easy to believe that such an opportunity will come again, maybe even a better one. Instead of a Lebanese guy in Italy, it might be a Nigerian one in Belgium, or maybe a Pole in Turkey. You tell yourself that if you traveled alone to Europe this summer you could surely do the same thing next year and the year after that. Of course, you don't, though, and the next thing you know you're an aging, unemployed elf, so desperate for love that you spend your evening mooning over a straight alcoholic." So in some ways life is a lot like travel. We enter with expectations, but as time goes on we realize they might not be exactly what we thought.

You can read this essay at The New Yorker, and if you do please come back to tell me what you thought of it!

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Banned Books Week is coming up soon, and I decided that it would be fun/awesome to have some Memory Monday posts about banned books that I remember reading and loving as a kid.

When I was younger (early elementary school) my older sister (2 1/2 years older) belonged to a book club at her school. That was the most grown up think I could think of at the time (other than real grown up stuff, like jobs and houses and all that stuff) and I was in awe. This also meant that I stole the books she brought home behind her back, because she hated that I would steal borrow them. (I only wanted to be like her...)

Anyway, one of the books she brought home was Annette Curtis Klause's Blood and Chocolate. Now, I'm not sure if any of you have read it. And what you think of it is largely going to depend on personal preferences, age you read it etc. But I love that book. Like, a lot. I don't even really like paranormal (partly because it all feels incredibly the same to me) but this was my very first werewolf story. Ever. And wow. Was it different from what I had previously read.
I've always been an advanced reader. Always. English and language comprehension have always been my highest standardized test scores and I'm really good at contextually figuring out what is happening when I need to. So I understood everything that was going on in this book. And honestly, looking back I'm not sure if that's really a good thing... But that's a whole 'nother story.
As a whole, this book has nothing terribly inappropriate in it for a teenager. But — I read Blood and Chocolate when I was 10, maybe 11. And the content is a little mature for an 11 year old. It's an book geared toward older teens, but I didn't care, because I felt so grown up reading it. I was a little bit scandalized by the many innuendos I came across, especially the few that I was old/mature enough to know were supposed to be, but still too young/inexperienced to fully grasp what they meant.
I've reread this book more than once since then, and I still kind of love it. The story of Vivian is one that can really resonate with a lot of teens, because although none of us are werewolves falling in love with human boys, most teenagers feel like they don't belong in their own skins, in their own lives and that's hard. Vivian simply had a specific and physical difference that she had to live with, so it's easier to see.

I do understand why parents might have a hard time with this one — There are a lot of sexual references (some more on the inappropriate side) as well as quite a bit of swearing, teenage dropouts, crass dialogue etc. But, it's also the story of a bunch of teenage werewolves who sometimes, believe they are better than/above normal humans because they are stronger. But it's also a book that teaches us a lot about what it means to be human and how important personal choices are (both themes that are explored in her vampire novel, The Silver Kiss, which I also love probably even more than this one). It's not a book that's going to be for everyone, but it's definitely one that I'm glad I read, even if I should have waited on it until I was a little older.

It's Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event created by J.Kaye to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finished this week.

Books Completed from Last Week:

Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn
Kitty and the Silver Bullet by Carrie Vaughn
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn
Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn (review to be written)
This One is Mine by Maria Semple (review to be written)

I had the week off of work last week and got a great deal of reading done. I made a small dent in my list for last week, but the majority have moved on to my reading list this week.

This Week's Reading List

Laura Rider's Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton (reading now)
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah-book club pick (reading now)

Afraid by Jack Kilborn
Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean
Laura Rider's Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton
The Cradle by Patrick Somerville

Audiobook: currently listening to

Long Stone's Throw by Alphie McCourt

So, what are you reading this week?