Book #2 Soulless by Gail Carriger

Soulless is set in an alternate history version of Victorian England where werewolves and vampires are accepted as functioning members of society. Alexia Tarabotti is a woman with several critical problems: at the scandalous age of 26 she is still searching for a husband, that her late father was Italian complicates her social standing in a rigid class system, and she has no soul. The fact that she is "soulless" leaves her unaffected by the powers of supernatural beings which only further complicates her life when she accidentally kills a vampire that had attacked her. Queen Victoria sends an investigator,the brash Lord Maccon, who is himself the alpha werewolf. As disappearances in the vampire population of London's high society increase, Alexia and Lord Maccon work to solve the mystery. Alexa detests him upon meeting and struggles to maintain proper decorum and a delicate social balance while attempting to understand some new and aggrivating stirrings that appear whenever a certain Lord is present.

Publishers Weekly called this debut novel brilliant “with a blend of Victorian romance, screwball comedy of manners and alternate history.” It was the combination of the words screwball and Victorian that captured my interest. This was my first steampunk novel, paranormal or otherwise.

Alexia Tarabotti is an independent, stubborn 26-year-old who is considered to be unmarriable, and socially hindered due her late father’s Italian heritage and her large nose and darker Italian complexion. While the Victorian era characters may not appreciate her, I thoroughly enjoyed Alexia’s ability and insistence at embracing her non-conformist status. She is different from her superficial social status-addicted sisters and while made to feel the outsider in most social situations, thrives in being a learned, inquisitive, strong-minded woman.

Carringer describes this version of Victorian England and its players quite well. I was able to easily fall into this world where fasionista vampires and werewolves who fight to be comfortable in their civilized personas co-exist with normals. The world of steampunk was well introduced to me in the pages of Soulless and the sheer delight of the verbal sparring between the main characters has me looking for the sequels.

Book #1: Love Overboard by Janet Evanovich

What? Yes, yes, it is Chick-lit. Sue me. I had fun reading it. Isn’t that the point of reading? Oh, I see. You are one of those. The intellectual readers. Yes, there was a tone. I have many tones. Most are sarcastic. While I ignore you ‘lectual types, let me tell the others why I liked it.


First, it’s by Evanovich. There is nothing like one of her books to bring laughter and lightness to a stressful day. She won me over when I realized that I laugh out loud every time I read her books. If laughing truly does extend the years of your life, then Janet Evanovich has cancelled out several heart-attack burgers and years of over-indulgence in macaroons and truffles. Godiva can stay in business.


Secondly, I like the flaws of her female characters. They may be pretty and smart and sassy, but you never think that they are anyone you couldn’t pass on the street or sit next to at your condo meeting. They are not geniuses, nor models, nor Alberta Schwitzers. Like so many of her other lead characters, Stephanie is capable, clumsy, self-aware and imperfect. She falls down hills, serves burnt biscuits, has bodies dropping from her roof and can tangle verbally with the annoyingly hot looking pirate/captain.


The mary-jane possibilities are almost endless…hey, I can fall down a hill; I burn dinner regularly; once I had a dead bird on my roof and it fell off during a wind storm…okay it rolled off after the cat climbed out the window. AND, I would definitely be tangled, tongue-wise, when faced with an annoyingly hot looking yummy pirate dude. Don’t judge! I said it had been a stressful day. And pirate hot-pants was the perfect cure. It didn’t hurt that in my mind he looked a lot like Captain Tightpants either!

YUM!

BOOKS ALIVE!!!!

After an insanely log absence (really, were you that surprised) I have returned. Glancing at the books sitting too long on my to-read bookcases, I sigh. Ah my lovelies, I have missed you.

Such an absence cannot go unanswered. So it shan’t. And really, how often does one get to use the word shan’t? My punishment? Read 52 books in a single year. Minimum. And only 17 of those can be work-related preteen novels. Picture books don’t count at all, because let’s face it. I’d reach my goal by the end of the day!



So many books! So short the weekend is! Here is my list, ever being updated.



1. Love Overboard by Janet Evanovich
2. Soulless by Gail Carriger
3. Nikki Heat by Richard Castle
4. Circle 9 by Anne Heltzel
5. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
6. Fearless by Tim Lott

This is not the end...

It is only the end of the beginning!

Betty Blogger summer school taught me many things, the most important of which is that I may actually be a closet-blogger. I don't mean that I want to blog about my closet, or any closet - NOT that there is anything wrong with that should someone else want to blog about their closet - It's just that I don't. My closet is shy. And not very interesting. And may be hiding a monster that is very shy. But we don't talk about that. Or blog about it. ever. except now.

...um..

right! The most challenging part of the Betty Blogger summer school was my inability to control the stream-of-consciousness style writing. Like now. Stop that! STOP! or it could be my tyops, tpoys.... typos. The actual assignments and web-plorations were easy! (see what I did there...made a word up using "web" as in World Wide Web and "explorations" as in what we did in this course. Not a typo. It's a made up word and that IS how it's spelt. Did I mention the stream-of-consciousness thing? No? Maybe?

The style of the course was great. "Self-directed" was easy to accomodate into both my schedule and in my tendancy towards procrastination. This was somewhat surprising given my poor sense of direction. Still, even I can find my way to the computer. I totally knew that I placed the laptop in the laundry basket. And eventually I even found the laundry basket. Hey! That's it. I'm not a procrasonator, I'm .........{The Absent Librarian will get back to this sentence later, we think}

I would happily recommend this course to a friend. Even a non-friend. It was fun, enlightening and non-stressful (I like that part too!)

I learned a lot! I found out that I knew more than I thought I did. And that is always a welcome, if seldom felt, surprise!

Thing one...Thing two........Thing 97 thousand 4 hundred and &$% I LOST COUNT!

Thank goodness for Library Thing!

I really like LIBRARY THING. Of course I am already using something similar on Facebook. Adding a title is like getting a badge or credit for doing what I love to do..read. It is really helpful when I can't remember which book by one of my favorite 47 authors I have already picked up from my trusted holds shelf at my local branch.

I may eventually switch to Library Thing...but the thought of reentering all those titles...ACK! I could of course see about using the import feature...but I'd rather read. Like my recipe book...one day I will get to it. For now the titles will be shoved in a file on Facebook, kinda like my recipes are shoved in a binder..um, somewhere. Pizza anyone? I'm dialing-- cooking. I meant cooking.

FEED ME...you and the RSS feed

o What RSS feeds have you subscribed to?
I subscribed to some feeds concerning authors Marian Keyes, Jane Green and Janet Evanovich. (yes, I live the fluffy stuff...got a problem with that?!?!) I also decided to add the Burlington Public library feed and Canadian actor David Hewlitt's page http://dgeek.typepad.com/ because he makes me laugh all the time.

o Did you find Google Reader easy to use?
The search function was easy enough...BUT...wading through the sites is a bit daunting. Finding just the right feed was a bit of a muddle.

o Will you continue to use the aggregator, Google Reader?
Probably not. But you never know...perhaps one day.

Wiki - ticki - teeki - tack...Wiki's on the right track

o What dish will you be bringing to our family meal?
I will bring some spicy veggie and meat samosas...mmmmm

o How was your PBWiki experience? Was it easy to use?
I like it. Using the Wiki was simple and stress-free. It was very easy to use. me likey that.

o Do you have any need for your own wiki?
No, not right now, but it is good to know about in case I do for the future.