Today I am going to write ten minutes with a opening sentence already choosen for me.
Here Goes:
Author: sokorra
A thirty-something Graphic Designer and writer who likes to blog about books, movies and History.
Bookit Review: The Tower and The Hive
Title: The Tower & The Hive
Author: Anne McCaffrey
Publication date: 2000
My Grade: B-
My Review:
Mary Queen of Scots & Reign
So I’ve been reading those “Today in HIstory” pages again, and one of the events of today was the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Which reminded me of Reign.
For those of you unaware, Reign is a CW teenish drama about the Queen’s life. It’s not historically accurate, so I call it history crack. It’s sometimes fun to watch just to see how they deal with the real history in there their attempts to make a period drama fit for their intended audience of young adults. It doesn’t always go successfully.
One of the major historical issues was that they aged everyone up. Mary is 16 at the time of the show’s opener, brought to France to marry Prince Francis, the Dauphin of France. Now that she marries the Prince is accurate, but they were much younger in real life.
Also Frances on the show has a older half-brother named Sebastian. He’s not a real person, at least not that anyone is aware of. His parents are real, but he isn’t. The real life Equivalent of Bash’s mother had only daughters with the King.
The real reason to watch this show is Meghan Fellows. She plays Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France. She spends the first season trying to get rid of Mary, who she suspects will be the death of her son, and then the second season working with Mary to prevent the death of her son. (historically, her son dies early as King, and is succeeded by another one of her sons. Which I think she actually outlives as well.)
This show is still on the air, although it seems to have finally dealt with the big major plot issue, and that was the fact that alot of these characters died early deaths.
So if you don’t mind historical inaccuracy, but love costume design, Meghan Fellows, and soapish dramas, you should watch this show.
Bookit Review: Damia
Title: Damia
Author: Anne McCaffery
Publication date: 1991
My Grade: B
My Review:
Bookit Review: Stone Cold Fox
Title: Stone Cold Fox
Author: Hailey Edwards
Publication date: 2015
My Grade: B
My Review:
This short novel, or novella, is an adventure for Mai, Thierry’s best friend from The Black Dog series. It starts off with Mai attending a fandom convention in Texas dressed up as Jareth from her favorite movie Labyrinth. She is kidnapped by her childhood best friend and his brother, who want her to remember things that happened when she was younger, but she can’t. She’s forced to re-evaluate her memories, and how much trust she puts in her friends, and her family.
Although it seemed almost too easy of a solution in the end, I did find this an enjoyable quick read. I could definitely go for some more Kitsune books.
Hailey Edwards is going on my list for authors I am pre-disposed to read when new books come out.
This Day In History
I looked up what important things happened today in history (other then it being my cousin’s birthday) and some pretty interesting things came up on the Google Search. I took most of this information from History.com and the New York Times “On This Day” feature.
Washington
On February 4, 1789 George Washington was unanimously elected by the electoral College. He’s the only president to do so.
Also, on this day 6 years earlier Britain formally acknowledged they were done with the Revolutionary War.
Confederate Congress
In 1861, The Confederate Congress (a provisional one anyway) opened for business, thus starting
Snow White
One of Disney’s most known films (probably because its one of the firsts) is released on this day in 1938
Yalta Conference
(1945)Basically this is the photo op picture we always see when talking about the end of WWII and they show us that picture of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin sitting out on the Lawn as if they are talking about the latest football game rather then what to do in the last months of the war. It did however start to show that the Alliance was not as strong as it could have been, and the cracks that caused the ‘Cold War’ formed.
Palestine
Yasir Arafat helps found the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1969.
Patty Hearst
I don’t really know much about what happened here, but Patty Hearst may be one of the most famous kidnapped women in American history. Today’s the anniversary of her kidnapping in 1974, so 41 years ago. She eventually served a prison sentence for her involvement with the Symbionese LIberation Army’s activities. She was pardoned in 2001 by President Clinton.
Yugoslavia
Its no more as of February 4, 2003. Its now several different countries.
For more events, try this page.
In Memoriam: The Columbia STS-107
On February 1, 2003 (13 years ago Monday), the space shuttle Columbia mission STS-107, disintegrated in the atmosphere over Texas and Lousiana. Seven people died, and it caused a two year downtime for the Shuttle program while ships were reassessed and refitted to be safer; similar to what happened after the fire on Apollo 1.
Bookit Review: New Dog, Old Tricks
Title: New Dog, Old Tricks
Author: Hailey Edwards
Publication date: 2015
My Grade: B
My Review:
I enjoyed this book. It finishes the over all arc, in interesting ways. I still felt a little lost among the background information, but Its less noticable this way. We finally meet the Morrigan in person, and I can’t help but imagine Katie McGrath as the actress for the role should they ever make this into movies.
We get a little more backstory on Mac, Theirry’s father, and have Theirry coming to terms with both her family and her love for Shaw. Mai and Shaw take a backseat for awhile. This book is primarily Theirry in Faerie, so most of her Earth friends are not in it much.
There are more spin off novellas & Novels. I’m not reading the new series staring Gemini, at least now now. I did read Mai’s spin off novella Stone Cold Fox, which will be the next book.
What I do love about this book is how the end result comes to be. I won’t spoil it, but it was an inventive way to end things.
Bookit Review: Lie Down With Dogs
Title: Lie Down With Dogs
Author: Hailey Edwards
Publication date: 2015
My Grade: B
My Review:
This book, the third in the Black Dog series by Hailey Edwards, is the best so far. The story actually seems complete, the minor plot arcs are finished and not left to wonder. Characters are actually developed, and information about Thierry’s past and her family is given.
There is actually a mystery for Thierry to solve in this one. She’s kidnapped again, but not till towards the end, and it happens because she’s investigating something, not because some prince decides he wants an advantage in the royal competition.
The one thing I keep noticing is that she keeps saying that Thierry isn’t her name, but everyone including her parents calls her that. I can only guess in the next book we will learn it or it was a one-time plot plan that never panned out yet never was completely irradiated.
This book sets up the final book (which I am currently reading) quite nicely as well.
January is the Month of…
I wondered what many things January was the month of. There are all kinds of unoffical (and some official) holidays during the year that we don’t recognize on the average calender.
According to National Day Calender, January is the month of:
National Bath Safety Month
National Black Diamond Month
National Blood Donor Month
National Braille Literacy Month
National Hobby Month
National Hot Tea Month
National Mentoring Month
National Oatmeal Month
National Slow Cooking Month
National Soup Month
National Sunday Supper Month
Interesting amount of things that share the same month. Now some of these are just fun things to celebrate, like National Soup Month, or Oatmeal Month. But some of these things are things we should take a closer look at.
National Blood Donor Month
National Blood Donor Month is a way of celebrating people who take the time to donate their blood to the blood banks. Giving Blood is a good way to help out your community in time of trouble. Blood is a perishable item, so banks are often in need of pretty much any blood type. Not only could you be helping someone else, but in the tragic event something happens to you and you need blood, the more people who donate mean more likely a chance that your blood type will be on stock and be able to be given immediately.
For more information see the Red Cross’ page on NBDM
National Braille Literacy Month
Braille is a language of raised dots that allow someone to feel their way through writing. I knew quite a few of my classmates in college were taking a course on reading and writing in braille. Braille is named after Louis Braille, a blind man who developed the system. He was born in January, so there is a good reason for this month to be about Braille.
For more information, see the Carroll Center for the Blind’s page on NBLM
National Mentoring Month
I actually was part of a mentoring program during my senior year at college. It didn’t turn out well for me, mostly because I have social anxiety issues and my mentee wasn’t in need of all that mentoring.
However, I found that I would have enjoyed having someone to help me out when I first got there. Learning how to navigate campus, learning where to go to get information I needed for signing up for classes, or IT help etc.
National Mentoring Month covers more then just helping a freshmen being able to find the food court. Check out the National Mentoring Month webpage for more information about mentoring.
Sokorra Lewis 