Awards!

Although I far from deserve such accolades, several kind bloggers have bestowed upon me some awards. Woohoo!



Cheryl at Wandering (and wondering) through YA Lit and Sarah at Loving Books have given me the Versatile Blogger Award.

The rules of this award are to share seven things about yourself and then to pass this award on to 15 blogs I've recently discovered.

1. Seven things are really hard to think of. This is because I am lazy. There: fact numero uno! Besides, I suppose it's time I face the harsh glare of reality so far as my laziness is concerned.

2. I have three furry children (all dogs) and I love them to pieces. Yes, I am one of THOSE people.

3. Plants vs Zombies never gets old. (See #1.)

4. I love to bake but hate to cook, even though my cooking skills are no longer sub-par.

5. I am extremely anti-social and would probably only leave the house to go to work, if it weren't for my wonderful husband.

6. I am very addicted to celebrity gossip. ONTD, Go Fug Yourself, Dlisted, and (although I hate to admit it) Perez Hilton are my favorite websites.

7. I love cheesy sci-fi / horror flicks, so long as they don't involve mutated insects, dragons, or giant piranhas. Please to zombies, axe-murderers (the Michael Myers kind, not the Saw/Hostel kind), natural disasters, general boogeymen, ghosts, and other creepy (but otherwise impossible) scenarios.

And now for the part in which I side-step out of tagging others, in part because I can't think of anyone who hasn't already received this award and also because I hate to exclude anyone and also because, well ... see #1.





This award comes from Miss Remmers over at Miss Remmers' Review. The rules for this one are pretty simple:

1. Put this on your blog, whether as an entirely new post or on your sidebar.
2. Choose other newly discovered bloggers that you love, and award them!
3. Send them a message/comment to let them know.

I'm going to give this award to the lovelies who have been so kind to me. If you haven't checked out their sites, get on it!

Miss Remmers at Miss Remmers' Review
Cheryl at Wandering (and wondering) through YA Lit
Sarah at Loving Books
Bookquoter at a Thousand Books with Quotes





And finally, Bookquoter at a Thousand Books with Quotes has given me the Prêmio Dardos award, an award to "to acknowledge the importance of bloggers committed with spreading cultural, ethical, literary and personal values, showing their thoughts are alive through their letters and words."

With that in mind, I pass this award on to

Marie at The Boston Bibliophile
Matt at A Guy's Moleskine Notebook
Florinda at 3 R's
Nymeth at things mean a lot



Congrats to ALL book bloggers!! Happy reading, everyone!

Remember you must die

Memento Mori
Muriel Spark

It's a curious thing to objectively view a novel when you hated nearly EVERY. SINGLE. character. I mean, some seriously AWFUL people inhabit the pages of Spark's Memento Mori that I could barely get past the fourth chapter. Lucky for me, I soldiered on: things much improved (even if their characters didn't), and I found myself -- dare I say it -- even enjoying the novel.

I must say I'm proud of myself for even reading another Spark, since my first encounter with La Spark left something to be desired. But I was intrigued by the premise of the novel: a group of senior citizens begin receiving anonymous phone calls reminding them that they must die.

This is not a group of warm, sweet old people -- far from it. These pensioners are catty, scheming, and forever gossiping. They have secrets, hidden pasts, and a bottomless well of greed, and they are not above blackmail and intimidation to meet their desires. (As I said, the lot of them were vile creatures, which the exception of one (for the most part) sweet little biddy named Charmian. Wait -- Charmian?)

Don't squeeze the Charmian!
(I know, I know: GROAN...don't judge me)

These disturbing calls, however, are not the heart of the novel. Instead, the calls merely bring to light issues that had long been buried. In exploring the twilight of these people's lives, Spark comments not only on their individual foibles but also on what it means to live and grow old in modern times. She confronts aging without becoming sentimental; the result is a deft little novel, and one full of sharp wit.

Needless to say: I was pleasantly surprised.

In a nutshell: An intriguing premise, a slow start, a dash of wickedly sly humor, and a host of awful human beings combine to make a pretty good book.

Bibliolatry Scale: 4.5 out of 6 stars

FTCBS: I'm sure you already know . . . personal copy here.

Do the hop!

My Google Reader is very angry at me right now. Why? It's the Book Blogger Hop, of course!

It's a great way to find fellow book lovers -- although, I warn you: if you're like me, you'll soon find yourself adding WAY too many books to your never-ending TBR list.


New to Bibliolatry?

If you've just arrived via the Hop: welcome! My name is Jenn, I've been hanging out here for over five years (five years!?), and I love to read.

I focus mainly on the classics and on contemporary/literary fiction, although sometimes something creepy (or quasi-creepy) slips in.

Got any recommendations for me? By all means -- let's hear em!

I ain't afraid of no ghosts

Ghost Story
Peter Straub

Ugh. I SO wanted to adore Ghost Story. It's scary, it has ghosts (sorta), and lots of people were quoted on the cover as saying "omg scariest book evvar!!1" or some such, so I thought it was right up my alley. And although it may have been "up my alley," it was a reallllly long alley, and not a particularly nice one, either. Oh, wait you say, the alley is supposed to be me? Whatever, you know what I mean. I mean this book bored the pants off me.

Ok, so: the novel concerns "the Chowder Society," a group of old men who meet together and tell scary stories (and presumably eat chowder, although that part isn't made abundantly clear). So they tell scary stories and THEN scary stuff starts happening to them. And then it's happening not only to them but also to their sleepy little hamlet, which is about to experience the worst winter in history. (Side note: do not read this book in May after a particulary snowy winter, since MORE SNOW is the LAST thing I want to imagine right now).

Also, the narrative jumps around a bit, so at one point it's the future, then it's the present, then it's the past, then it's the WAY past, then it's the present, which is fine, I'm no dummy, but some of it was a bit draggy.

Which leads me to Disappointment #1. Simply put, Ghost Story was a wee bit long for my tastes. This novel could have been pared down significantly without losing any momentum. By the end I was just like WILL THIS SHAPESHIFTER / MANITOU / CREEPY THING KILL EVERYONE ALREADY BECAUSE I'M GETTING VERY SLEEPY OVER HERE.

Which leads me to Disappointment #2. One should probably not be sleepy while reading a scary book. However, I fell asleep NUMEROUS times while reading Ghost Story, which leads me to conclude this scary book IS NOT SCARY. True, there were a few creepy moments, but lots of things are creepy without being scary. To wit:



Question: Would you be afraid of this dog?

Answer: Not if you had a brain in your head: this thing is clearly punt-able, syringe or not. And anyone who is afraid of an evil chihuahua deserves what's coming to him.

Which brings me to Disappointment #3. True, the Big Evil in Ghost Story is not an evil chihuahua, but sometimes it might as well be. Some parts were just plain silly, while other parts didn't make sense within the context of the novel. I'd elaborate, but doing so would involve some spoilers. Also, I don't feel like it. So there.

In a nutshell: Yawn. (But yay! for reading another resolution title! [Remember that?])

Bibliolatry Scale: 2 out of 6 stars

FTCBS: Personal copy (insert sad music here)

RR10: April

Another month down! Let's check my progress in my reading resolution.


BOOKS READ: APRIL 2010

Dumas, Alexandre. Black Tulip
Eagleman, David. Sum
Martel, Yann. Beatrice and Virgil
Ness, Patrick. The Knife of Never Letting Go
Russell, Mary Doria. The Sparrow
Simmons, Dan. Black Hills
Zola, Emile. Therese Raquin


RESOLUTION TITLES = 0 (still 8/80)

NON-RESOLUTION TITLES = 7

TOTAL READ IN MARCH 2010 = 7

TOTAL READ IN 2010 = 24