I know, I know

...I said I wouldn't joing any more reading challenges. Okay, so I lied and I'm weak, what can I say? But I couldn't resist! It's a Time Travel Reading Challenge!

I absolutely *love* time travel books and have read quite a few on the list provided at the site above. I plan to read....let's say 12 more! Recommendations always welcome. I'm almost done my first book too.

1. Thirsty Nights With A Highland Husband - Melissa Mayhue

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Tuesday Teaser!

This weekly meme is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading! Its easy to play along with this.

1. Grab your current read


2. Open to a random page


3. 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!)


4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from Nora Roberts Born in Shame, the third installment in her Born in trilogy!

"I'd appreciate it if you two would stop blabbering on about bedding women. I'm suffering here"
"It's inconsiderate of us," Rogan agreed. "There's no need to talk of women at all. Did I hear your bay mare is breeding?"
"Hey." Gray held up a hand. "Mare, woman. Female."

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What're You Reading Monday

It's time again for What Are you Reading on Monday's hosted by J.Kaye. Let everybody know what book you are currently into right now!

Last Week & This Week:

So my reading last week slowed down. I finished Born in Ice by Nora Roberts and started The 5 Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly which is what I am currently reading. For those that haven't read any Reilly, he's similar to a Rollins type of action novel and he's big into diagrams in his books. I was pretty busy over the weekend so didn't get a lot of reading done!

Next Up:

I picked up a few books from the library last week:

- Kingmaking by Helen Hollick which is the first in her Pendragon's Banner Trilogy. I love books about King Arthur and this one looks good.

- Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier which a friend recommended to me as being very good.

- Oh, the other library book that came in for me is called Axis by Robert Charles Wilson which is a sequel to Spin

- I also managed to snag, in paperback, Born in Shame, the third in the Born In Trilogy by Nora Roberts. I might read this one next if only to finish the trilogy off. I had a gift card from Chapters and procured with it, Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband. I've been hearing a lot of good things about this series so thought I'd give it a shot. That and its got a time travel theme which I just love!

What are you reading on this fine, snowy, blowy Monday?

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My Library Rant

I love my little local library branch, St Vital Library. I visited it as a child growing up and its the same branch that I now take my kids too! My daughter loves it there and when we go to the library, she always chooses this one first over any other branch that is nearby. Its a comfort thing, I'm pretty sure. There is talk of closing this branch down as they have built newer and bigger libraries in the community and if that happens, both my daughter and I would be very sad to be sure. While there are other branches, we can walk to this one rather easily if we want too.

Having said all that, I have a problem with the Winnipeg Public Library in general. The complaint isn't coming for a novice library user either. Not only do I use the public library regularly and have since I was knee high to a grasshopper (well, okay, I still am knee high to a grasshopper, I'm just older) but I work in a library so I have some working knowledge of how things work in a library.

My problem? They don't catalogue their paperback books!! WTF?? Is that not totally stupid or is that just me? With the cost of books these days you would think they would *want* to know how many paperback copies of a title that they have so that if say the hardcover gets lost they can say "Oh, look, we have 3 paperback copies in the system, we don't really need to order a replacement" or "Gee, that patron has to wait a dog's age to get that book, she should place a hold on the paperback copy instead"....oh, that's right SHE CAN'T!!

Let me give you an example. The title The Arthurian Omen by G.G. Vandagriff. Do a search for it in the catalogue, I'll wait........(cue the Jeaopardy theme music........)

couldn't find it could ya? Yeah, neither could I. Now they *might* have it in paperback somewhere but I'll never know unless I stumble across it in a search through their paperback shelves. And...heaven forbid you take out a paperback and lose it...they can't tell you what book to look for, only the barcode because its not catalogued!!

Now I'm not expecting the library to have a copy of every book that I could possibly want as that's not a realistic expectation but I do think having paperbacks catalogued while it would prove to be time consuming (they are already talking about contracting out their cataloging or so I've heard), is not unrealistic at all. If sooner rather than later you're going to make me travel further and further to get to a library then make it worth my while and make it possible for me to find what I need so I can utilize your services the way they were meant to be used!

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What're You Reading? Monday!

This weekly feature is hosted by J. Kaye over on her blog. Check it out!

Last Week:

- Keepsake Crimes by Laura Childs. Its the first book in her Scrapbooking Mystery series. A light read which was entertaining.
- Ground Zero by F. Paul Wilson. This was the highly anticipated book in the Repairman Jack series and I ate it up. Its one of those books you are dying to read but you hate for it to end.

- Born in Fire by Nora Roberts. Nora generally never fails to entertain, especially when you need something fairly fluffy and light.
- The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. Just finished this one up tonight. I enjoyed it though maybe I expected a bit more from it.

Currently:

- Born in Ice by Nora Roberts. I'm starting this one tonight. After this, maybe the new James Rollins novel, I haven't decided yet.

If you need further info about any of these books, check my 100+ Reading Challenge post that has the amazon links attached to each.

So, what are you reading?

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Honey, I Have Something to Tell You...

...I've been having an affair with a man named Jack! I can't seem to keep my hands off him!

Of course I'm referring to Repairman Jack who is a fictional character in F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack and Adversary Cycle series.

When I stumbled across a reference to one of Wilson's books a little over a year and a half ago, I was intrigued. I sent an email to my friend and her interest was peaked also and she started on a search for the books. I didn some research, came across the Repairman Jack website and I was hooked, without ever reading a single line of his books!

Jack is not your typical repairman. He fixes things but its not appliances or plumbing problems that he fixes. He fixes situations and in doing that, he gets involved in some situations of his own. In the eyes of the government, Jack doesn't exist but he soon discovers that his existence is very important and he finds himself caught in a situation beyond his control, something bigger than just a scam or a missing person. He was born for this, whether he likes it or not. Its the classic "good vs evil" but its so, so much more than that.

Jack's a character I grew attached to almost immediately. He's honest and reliable and loyal to a fault and "The Man" as Wilson is often known as has created a real treasure with this series and while there are many times I think he needs a slap upside the head, he constantly amazes me at how he continually weaves the separate storylines together so that they intertwine and become one.

While I've mentioned the Repairman Jack series, there are really *2* separate series intertwined and to fully understand the one, you must read the other. While the Adversary Cycle is not Repairman Jack per se, Jack is a part of those stories too. I'm a huge proponet of reading series in order. It irks me to no end to find out I've read the wrong book first. Some people may not be bothered by that but I am so I've outlined below the reading order of the Adversary Cycle/RJ books. I did not read the books in the exact order listed below, I am ashamed to say. I read many of the Jack books first before reading Black Wind which I found to be an excellent story and when I came to read By The Sword, a lot of things became clear in my mind. The Man tied things together once again!

Reading Jack is a huge undertaking but one I would highly recommend. Not all of the items listed below are novels. The Man has written many short stories involving Jack and not all of the books have been published yet. I urge you to find a F. Paul Wilson book, preferably Black Wind and see what you think. I don't think you will be disappointed!

(novels listed in ALL CAPS)
(yet to be released novels in italics)
(* can be found in THE BARRENS AND OTHERS)

(**can be found in AFTERSHOCK & OTHERS)

The Past:

"Demonsong" (prehistory)

"Aryans & Absinthe" ** (1923-24)
BLACK WIND (1926-1945)
THE KEEP (1941)
REBORN (Feb-Mar 1968)
"Dat Tay Vao"*** (Mar 1968)
Jack: Secret Histories

Jack: Secret Circles (published Feb 2010)

Jack: Secret Vengeance (yet to be published)

Year Zero Minus Three:

SIBS (February)
"Faces"* (early summer)
THE TOMB (summer)
"The Barrens" *(ends in September)
"The Wringer"
"A Day in the Life"* (October)
"The Long Way Home"
LEGACIES (December)

Year Zero Minus Two:

"Interlude at Duane's" ** (April)
CONSPIRACIES (April) (includes "Home Repairs")
ALL THE RAGE (May) (includes "The Last Rakosh")
HOSTS (June)
THE HAUNTED AIR (August)
GATEWAYS (September)
CRISSCROSS (November)
INFERNAL (December)

Year Zero Minus One:
HARBINGERS (January)
BLOODLINE (April)
BY THE SWORD (May)
GROUND ZERO (July)

THE TOUCH (ends in August)

The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium (ends in September)
"Tenants"*

Repairman Jack #14 (Fatal Error is slated to be the title)

Year Zero:

"Pelts"
REPRISAL (ends in February)
the last Repairman Jack novel (ends in April)
NIGHTWORLD (starts in May)

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Last One, I Promise!

Since I'm always reading new series, it seems only natural I join this challenge. I know, I know, I'm joined so many already but I can't help it and besides, since I'm reading already, why not make it extra worthwhile?

If you're always reading new series, this challenge is for you! Its the Read the 1st in a New Series challenge hosted by the Royal Reviews.

The rules are fairly simply - you read the first book in a series, you can count it in the challenge and there are different levels too that you can aim for! I'm going with Addicted which means I need to read 12 1st in a series books. Easy peasy right? Well we'll see about that!

Who's gonna join me?

1. Keepsake Crimes - Laura Childs (1st in the Scrapbooking Mystery Series)

2. Thirty Nights with A Highland Husband - Melissa Mayhue (Daughters of the Glen Series)

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It's Monday!

What are you reading? This is a weekly feature over at J.Kaye's book blog. Check it out!

Last Week I Read:

A Good Woman by Danielle Steel

The Crystal Skull by Manda Scott

Currently:

Keepsake Crimes by Laura Childs

Next Up: (I sound like the guy from The Bachelor setting up the previews)

Ground Zero by F. Paul Wilson. The next Repairman Jack book and I can't *wait* to read it and I mean that sincerely. I will be doing a blog post about this series soon.

Altar of Eden by James Rollins and while its not a Sigma Force novel, I'm sure it will be good and in perusing that, I found this which I cannot wait for: Fever Dream by Preston & Child. Another great series.

Born in Fire by Nora Roberts

(not necessarily in this order except for GZ which I will be starting as soon as my current book is finished)

After that, who knows. We'll see what strikes my fancy.

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NaJuReMoNoMo

I'm joining late but I've got a good start so far! Its National Just Read More Novels month and there's a challenge for it. Check it out and join me!

1. City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare (Jan 1-3)
2. A Good Woman - Danielle Steel (Jan 3-4)
3. The Crystal Skull - Manda Scott (Jan 4-9)
4. Keepsake Crimes - Laura Childs (Jan 9-11)
5. Ground Zero - F. Paul Wilson (Jan 11-12)
6. Born in Fire - Nora Roberts (Jan 13 - 15)
7. The Woman in Black - Susan Hill (Jan 15-18)
8. Born in Ice - Nora Roberts (Jan 18-20)
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10.

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Another Challenge? Why Not!

Another Challenge from J.Kaye's book blog! Its the Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge. I use the library, how hard can this be? I'll aim low for The Mini which means I need to read 25 library books and I'm hoping to go beyond that! I've already read 1!! Join Me!!

Updated May 19, 2010
5. Axis - Robert Charles Wilson
6. A Wedding in December - Anita Shreve
7. The Last Song - Nicholas Sparks
8. Vision in White (The Bride Quartet, Book 1) - Nora Roberts
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1. A Good Woman - Danielle Steel
2. Born in Shame - Nora Roberts
3. Daughter of the Forest - Juliet Marillier
4. Black Hills - Nora Roberts

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It's Monday, whatcha reading?

So this meme is from J. Kaye's blog and it spotlights what you are reading this week, what you've read currently and what you might plan to read soon.

Recently Read : The first two Mortal Instruments novels by Cassandra Clare. Definitely enjoyable reads.

Currently: I needed to change gears after all the demons, werewolves and the like so I went light with a Danielle Steel novel (man, can that woman pump 'em out!) A Good Woman is my current book and I'm almost finished.

Up Next: Well I sure hope to be reading the next Repairman Jack book by the end of the week thanks to a good friend. Looking forward to Ground Zero by F. Paul Wilson and if you haven't read any of his novels, I highly recommend them. If you like James Rollins, you'll like Wilson. He writes some medical thrillers too but I've yet to read any of those.

I've some David Gibbins on my shelf that I might take a stab at after that. Not really sure yet, mood depending!

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