Flying Colours (part of the Admiral Hornblower Omnibus)
by CS Forester

For the End of Year Mini Challenge and the Seafaring Challenge.
English
155 pages
Penguin Books
ISBN: 0-14-011940-X (for the whole Omnibus)
First line: Captain Hornblower was walking up and down along the sector of the ramparts of Rosas, delimited by two sentries with loaded muskets, which the commandant had [...]

Posted on December 31st, 2007 by Love
Filed under: Adventure, B, Classics, English, Historical, Personal challenges, Seafaring Challenge | 2 Comments »

Not too many hours left of this year now—just over twenty-five here, actually.
I’ve looked over the challenges for next year and finally got around to joining two more I’ve been meaning to sign up for for a while. All lists are now set in stone (with the possible exception of the Decades challenge, which gives [...]

Posted on December 30th, 2007 by Love
Filed under: Back to History, General booktalk, Personal challenges, To Be Read | No Comments »

Lord John and the Hand of Devils
by Diana Gabaldon

For the End of Year Mini Challenge.
English
317 pages
Century
ISBN: 978-0-7126-8065-3
First line: Lord John Grey jerked his eyes away from the door.
Back cover blurb:
Diana Gabaldon, the New York Times bestselling author of A Breath of Snow and Ashes, delivers three tales of war, intrigue and espionage featuring the [...]

Posted on December 30th, 2007 by Love
Filed under: B, English, GLBT interest, Historical, Mystery, Personal challenges | No Comments »

A Son Called Gabriel
by Damian McNicholl

For the End of Year Mini Challenge.
English
346 pages
CDS Books
ISBN: 1-59315-231-0
First line: The choice was school or the big stick and seemed easy to make.
Back cover blurb:
Set in the hills of Northern Ireland in the 1960’s and 70’s, A Son Called Gabriel is a deeply felt and often funny coming-of-age [...]

Posted on December 30th, 2007 by Love
Filed under: C, English, Fiction, GLBT interest, Personal challenges | No Comments »

The Night Watch
by Sarah Waters

For the End of Year Mini Challenge.
English
506 pages
Virago Press
ISBN: 978-1-84408-241-4
First line: So this, said Kay to herself, is the sort of person you’ve become: a person whose clocks and wrist-watches have stopped, and who tells the time, instead, by the particular kind of cripple arriving at her landlord’s door.
Back cover [...]

Posted on December 29th, 2007 by Love
Filed under: D, English, GLBT interest, Historical, Personal challenges | No Comments »

What? Read 3-5 books featuring dragons.
When? 1st of January to 30th of June, 2008
Why? I realised that I had a few dragon-related books on my to read-list, decided to challenge myself to read them and figured maybe others would like to join in.
How? Comment on this post with your name and a link to [...]

Posted on December 25th, 2007 by Love
Filed under: Here Be Dragons | 32 Comments »

I’m visiting my parents for Christmas (I have four days off from work. Four! That’s the most I’ve had off in a row since June and it is bliss!) and I thought I’d dig around my old room here to see if I could find two books that have mysteriously gone missing. No luck so [...]

Posted on December 23rd, 2007 by Love
Filed under: First in a Series, General booktalk | 3 Comments »

Darcy’s Story
by Janet Aylmer

English
277 pages
Harper Collins
ISBN: 0-06-114870-9
First line: It is a consequence of possessing an income of ten thousand pounds a year that a man may order his life to his own liking, and chose his own society.
Back cover blurb:
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has long stood among the most beloved novels of all [...]

Posted on December 23rd, 2007 by Love
Filed under: C, English, Historical, Romance | 1 Comment »

Austenland
by Shannon Hale

English
197 pages
Bloomsbury
ISBN: 1-59691-285-5
First line: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a thirty-something woman in possession of a satisfying career and fabulous hairdo must be in want of very little, and Jane Hayes, pretty enough and clever enough, was certainly thought to have little to distress her.
Back cover blurb:
Jane Hayes is a [...]

Posted on December 22nd, 2007 by Love
Filed under: C, Chick lit, English | No Comments »

Ut ur skuggan
by Jessica Kolterjahn

Swedish
257 pages
Månpocket
ISBN: 978-91-7001-533-5
First line: Minne: Jag spelade piano.
Back cover blurb:
Jag fotograferar. Det är det enda som känns som om det är mitt eget. Allt annat är någon annans. Någon annans val.
Agnes växer upp i en rik överklassfamilj i Stockholm under 1920- och 30-talen. Hemmet är kyligt och kärlekslöst och Agnes [...]

Posted on December 18th, 2007 by Love
Filed under: B, C, GLBT interest, Historical, Swedish | No Comments »