Holiday reading, part 1
Still back to Finncon: you can find links to a lot of con reports and some picture collections at Tero's Partial Recall. Also, it seems the Con Committee had a lot of fun with the gift Ben sent them after the con (bought on the way back from Jyväskylä :D).
After staying a few more friends with my friends, I went to my mother's on Friday last week and finally got back home yesterday. The first few days were sunny, so I rigged a string of extension cords across my mother's lawn in order to listen to my cds while reading a book and enjoying the sun.
It turned somewhat rainy later, so I couldn't spend that much time outside after the first few days. Still, I could always read and watch some dramas after my mother and youngest sister had gone to sleep :). One day I also offered myself a treat by getting a pedicure from a friend of my mother's who is a retired beautician.
On to my reading: I actually read the first two books in this list before going on holiday, but since I haven't posted about them yet, I'm going to include them in this post.
(109.) Georgette Heyer's Cousin Kate had a poor girl suddenly invited to visit some relatives of hers. Pretty soon she found out that her aunt didn't do it just out of her kindness, she had ulterior motives for her invitation. The story had some gothic elements, but was still pretty light reading.
The same goes for (110.) Christine Feehan's Dangerous Tides which is the latest book in her Drake sisters series about seven sisters who are also witches. This time the story centred on Libby Drake, who is a doctor and also has a healing gift. She has always been attracted to a brilliant scientist whom she's known for a long time, but he never showed any interest in her until he had a serious accident and Libby healed him from life-threatening injuries. Still, he's a sceptic and initially has a very hard time accepting Libby's gift.
(111.) Patricia Briggs's Blood Bound is the second book in the Mercedes Thompson series of urban fantasy novels. This time Mercy's vampire friend asks for her assistance and in the end Mercy and her friends and allies have to hunt down a vampire possessed by a demon. Not a good combination... I can't wait to read more books in this series!
(112.) Charlaine Harris's All Together Dead is another series book. This time Sookie Stackhouse, the telepath has to go to a vampire summit in the entourage of the Queen Louisiana who has to face charges over what happened in the previous book (avoiding spoilers here). Sookie's situation isn't helped at all by the fact that both Bill and Eric, her former vampire boyfriends and her current boyfriend, the were-tiger Quinn are present at the summit. This series is really fun, but this book felt a bit flat, but I get the feeling that there might be something big coming along in the next book in the series...
(113.) Carrie Vaughn's Kitty and the Midnight Hour's main protagonist is a werewolf who hosts a popular radio show. One night her secret is exposed to the public, and after that she has to handle people (werewolves and vampires) who don't want their existance to become public knowledge. Her situation isn't made any easier by the power struggles inside her pack.
I really liked the way she changes and grows during just this one book. I'll be interested to know what happens to her in the future. I already borrowed books 2 (Kitty Goes to Washington) and 3 (Kitty Takes a Holiday) as well from my friend, but haven't read them yet.
After that it was time for some manga: (114.) Ai Yazawa's Nana 6 and (115.-117.) Akimine Kamijyo's Samurai Deeper Kyo, books 15-17. In them, Kyo, Yuya and the rest are still trying to make their way through the mysterious Mibu clan's lands in order to save Yuya. I was really shocked at one point when ***SPOILER!***
it seemed that Sasuke died, but luckily it didn't happen. I also wonder what Yukimura is up to... Ah well, I guess I'll have to get a few more volumes of it asap :)....
After staying a few more friends with my friends, I went to my mother's on Friday last week and finally got back home yesterday. The first few days were sunny, so I rigged a string of extension cords across my mother's lawn in order to listen to my cds while reading a book and enjoying the sun.
It turned somewhat rainy later, so I couldn't spend that much time outside after the first few days. Still, I could always read and watch some dramas after my mother and youngest sister had gone to sleep :). One day I also offered myself a treat by getting a pedicure from a friend of my mother's who is a retired beautician.
On to my reading: I actually read the first two books in this list before going on holiday, but since I haven't posted about them yet, I'm going to include them in this post.
(109.) Georgette Heyer's Cousin Kate had a poor girl suddenly invited to visit some relatives of hers. Pretty soon she found out that her aunt didn't do it just out of her kindness, she had ulterior motives for her invitation. The story had some gothic elements, but was still pretty light reading.
The same goes for (110.) Christine Feehan's Dangerous Tides which is the latest book in her Drake sisters series about seven sisters who are also witches. This time the story centred on Libby Drake, who is a doctor and also has a healing gift. She has always been attracted to a brilliant scientist whom she's known for a long time, but he never showed any interest in her until he had a serious accident and Libby healed him from life-threatening injuries. Still, he's a sceptic and initially has a very hard time accepting Libby's gift.
(111.) Patricia Briggs's Blood Bound is the second book in the Mercedes Thompson series of urban fantasy novels. This time Mercy's vampire friend asks for her assistance and in the end Mercy and her friends and allies have to hunt down a vampire possessed by a demon. Not a good combination... I can't wait to read more books in this series!
(112.) Charlaine Harris's All Together Dead is another series book. This time Sookie Stackhouse, the telepath has to go to a vampire summit in the entourage of the Queen Louisiana who has to face charges over what happened in the previous book (avoiding spoilers here). Sookie's situation isn't helped at all by the fact that both Bill and Eric, her former vampire boyfriends and her current boyfriend, the were-tiger Quinn are present at the summit. This series is really fun, but this book felt a bit flat, but I get the feeling that there might be something big coming along in the next book in the series...
(113.) Carrie Vaughn's Kitty and the Midnight Hour's main protagonist is a werewolf who hosts a popular radio show. One night her secret is exposed to the public, and after that she has to handle people (werewolves and vampires) who don't want their existance to become public knowledge. Her situation isn't made any easier by the power struggles inside her pack.
I really liked the way she changes and grows during just this one book. I'll be interested to know what happens to her in the future. I already borrowed books 2 (Kitty Goes to Washington) and 3 (Kitty Takes a Holiday) as well from my friend, but haven't read them yet.
After that it was time for some manga: (114.) Ai Yazawa's Nana 6 and (115.-117.) Akimine Kamijyo's Samurai Deeper Kyo, books 15-17. In them, Kyo, Yuya and the rest are still trying to make their way through the mysterious Mibu clan's lands in order to save Yuya. I was really shocked at one point when ***SPOILER!***
it seemed that Sasuke died, but luckily it didn't happen. I also wonder what Yukimura is up to... Ah well, I guess I'll have to get a few more volumes of it asap :)....