On the Bookshelf

• 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!

I'm back. Hopefully for good this time. You'll notice that I am in the middle of updating the site so please forgive any broken links and odd images. Hopefully everything will be smoothed out shortly.

One exciting new development since my last post is that I bought new furniture for my bedroom.

So, I realise that this blog has gone pretty quiet the past few months and I wanted to give a brief update. 2010 was a bit of a rough year for me and my focus ended up shifting elsewhere for a time. My intention has never been to leave this blog behind and hopefully I will start getting reviews out again in the coming days.

I have high hopes for 2011. This year I want to be happy, healthy, and read a lot of new books!

I hope you all have had a fun and safe start to 2011. Happy new year, everyone!

Title: Alanna: The First Adventure
Series: The Song of the Lioness Quartet
Author: Tamora Pierce
Publisher: Atheneum
Release Date: September, 1983
Source: Library

Disguised as a boy, Alanna sets out to achieve her ultimate ambition: to become a knight. The struggle to prove she is as strong as the other young men demands all her determination but the need to cover her growing femininity is an entirely different challenge. And while the court magician may be her most dangerous enemy, the possibility of love may be her undoing...

My Thoughts:
 This one is a reread for me as part of a recent desire to revisit some childhood favourites. I think I first stumbled upon this gem around the age of ten or eleven. It was my first Tamora Pierce book and ever since this series has remained my favourite of hers.

As a ten year old I loved Alanna and her commitment to reaching her goals and the easy to read nature of the books. As a twenty-one year old I still enjoy Pierce's writing style, world building, and characters but wish that the books were longer.

Oh, sure, maybe I do now look at The Song of the Lioness Quartet with "rose coloured glasses" so to speak. Reading this first book in the series again was most certainly a nostalgic experience and I found myself thinking "I remember this bit!" and "oh, this scene used to be my favourite!" quite often. I believe that, more than anything, it goes to show how enjoyable a read it is for the target age group and that I do consider it to be one of the influential and memorable books that I was discovering at that time. I feel that many of the books, including this series, that I enjoyed at that age had great influence on the development of my taste in fiction right up to this day.

If you have never read any Tamora Pierce then start here! If you are looking for a good fantasy series for a preteen then start here! Yes, it has its flaws including clichés and definitely a need for more detail but I consider this to be one of my treasured childhood favourites and I just have to share it. I'm not entirely sure if this is really a review or really just biased raving in disguise.

Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Terra

Please be merciful.

Today I started my new full-time job, which I think started off well. I'll be spending the next six (6) months working in an university library so it's all very different, new, exciting, and occasionally confusing and exhausting. When I got home today I promptly collapsed in a heap on the couch and immersed myself in Battle for Middle-earth II for several hours.

As a result I have not written a word for NaNoWriMo and I have for you no witty post or insightful review planned for NaBloPoMo. November is always my favourite month for creativity but it just isn't going to happen today. In fact...

Dear November,

Would you mind maybe going away and coming back later?

Kindest, yet somewhat frazzled, regards,

Terra

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!

"I'm king here - more king than the man who sits atop the big hill. My people wouldn't give him a word in passing, but they follow my slightest wish."

From page 61 of Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce.

I've been revisiting some of my childhood favourites recently. I think I must have been maybe ten years old when I first read this book.

Terra