Dusty Reads (5)

~This is a weekly meme created by Xpressoreads that showcases books that have been sitting on your shelf for a while and is a little dusty...~

This week, I'll be showcasing Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer. I've had this on my shelf for...well...a really long time. I bought it a while back at Goodwill. It was not only really cheap, but it was half off too, so it was pretty much nearly free. For some reason I keep dodging this book and avoiding it. Perhaps it's because people either like it or hate it. I'm in love with Ancient Egypt, but I'm very, VERY picky on my reads (and movies) that are set in this time. Have any of you read this? Or even heard about it?

"Ancient Evenings, a dazzlingly rich, deeply evocative novel, recreates the long-lost civilisation of Ancient Egypt. Mailer breathes life into the figures of that era; the eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh Rameses and his wife, Queen Nefertiti; Menenhetet, their creature, lover and victim; and the gods and mortals that surround them in intimate and telepathic communion. His hero, three times reincarnated during the novel, moves in the bright sunlight of white temples, in the exquisite gardens of the royal harem, along the majestic flow of the Nile and in the terrifying clash of battle. An outstanding work of creative imagination, Ancient Evenings displays Mailer's obsession with magic, violence and eroticism and lives on in the mind long after the last page has been turned."

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<3CaroleRae

Dusty Reads (5)

~This is a weekly meme created by Xpressoreads that showcases books that have been sitting on your shelf for a while and is a little dusty...~

Tuesday is once again upon us! Ahhhh! That means I have class today. =( Oh well. I skipped my first class of the day. I know. I know. I'm in the teacher program and I skip a class? Yes, I'm a bad coconut sometimes. Anyways, the book I'm dusting off today is...Queen of Subtleties by Suzannah Duhn.

 "Anne Boleyn and Lucy Cornwallis: queen and

confectioner, fatefully linked in a court
rife with intrigue and treachery

She was the dark-eyed English beauty who captivated King Henry VIII, only to die at his behest three years after they were married. She was both manipulator and pawn, a complex, misunderstood melange of subtlety and fire. Her name was Anne Boleyn.

"In The Queen of Subtleties," Suzannah Dunn reimagines the rise and fall of the tragic queen through two alternating voices: that of Anne herself, who is penning a letter to her young daughter on the eve of her execution, and Lucy Cornwallis, the king's confectioner. An employee of the highest status, Lucy is responsible for creating the sculpted sugar centerpieces that adorn each of the feasts marking Anne's ascent in the king's favor. They also share another link of which neither woman is aware: the lovely Mark Smeaton, wunderkind musician--the innocent on whom, ultimately, Anne's downfall hinges."

This wouldn't be my first Suzannah Duhn book or my first book about Queen Anne. I'm a fan Ms. Duhn and I simple adore Queen Anne (as many of you know). However, this has been sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now. I think the reason why I'm so anti-reading this is because I've heard a lot of negative reviews about this. Usually, I like to test the negative reviews and see for myself, but they have been holding me back from reading this...

What do you guys think? How many of you read this? Did you like it? Hate it? Think it was okay? 

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<3CaroleRae

Dusty Reads (4)

~This is a weekly meme created by Xpressoreads that showcases books that have been sitting on your shelf for a while and is a little dusty...~

Happy Tuesday. Today I'll be participating in Dusty Reads, which gives a little light to those dusty books sitting on your shelf that you haven't read yet. For this week, I'm going to be showcasing a classical novel that I've been avoiding for years now...Northanger Abbey by the all-so talented Jane Austen.

"The story’s unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry’s mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art."

Have any of you read this? Did you like it?

I simply adore Jane Austen, but I just haven't want to read this. I keep avoiding it. For heaven's sake I read Emma and Sense and Sensibility before this one (for those that don't know, I'm not a huge fan of these two books because of the main characters).

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<3CaroleRae

Dusty Reads (3)

~This is a weekly meme created by Xpressoreads that showcases books that have been sitting on your shelf for a while and is a little dusty...~

Hey everyone! Guess what today is? Today is the first day of the winter semester for this little college kid! Yayy! -.- As you can probably tell, I'm not looking forward to it...oh well.


Anyways...this week the book I'm dusting off is Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn. 

"A.D. 69. Nero is dead. 

The Roman Empire is up for the taking. With bloodshed spilling out of the palace and into the streets of Rome, chaos has become the status quo. The Year of Four Emperors will change everything—especially the lives of two sisters with a very personal stake in the outcome…. 

Elegant and ambitious, Cornelia embodies the essence of the perfect Roman wife. She lives to one day see her loyal husband as Emperor. Her sister, Marcella, is more withdrawn, content to witness history rather than make it. Even so, Marcella has her share of distinguished suitors, from a cutthroat contender for the throne to a politician’s son who swears that someday he will be Emperor. 

But when a bloody coup turns their world upside down, Cornelia and Marcella—along with their cousins, one a collector of husbands and lovers, the other a horse-mad beauty with no interest in romance—must maneuver carefully just to stay alive. As Cornelia tries to pick up the pieces of her shattered dreams, Marcella discovers a hidden talent for influencing the most powerful men in Rome. In the end, though, there can only be one Emperor … and one Empress."

It's been sitting on my shelf for a few months now and so far I've read just the first five pages. As you all may or may not know, I simply adored Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn and I even announced it as my Book of the Year. With this fact, a question arises; why haven't I jumped into the next book yet? I don't have an answer. Well, have any of you read this and did you like it or not? Or am I right by ignoring this one for now? 

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<3CaroleRae

My Dusty Reads (2)

~This is a weekly meme created by Xpressoreads that showcases books that have been sitting on your shelf for a while and is a little dusty...~

Happy Tuesday everyone! How is everyone doing? I'm doing pretty good. I'm super tired, because last night I had to cover a midnight shift *sighs*. My first one in a LONG time. I have two more to cover for this week. Gah! Oh well, its for a good cause, I guess.

Anyways...my dusty book I feel deserves to see the sunlight is A Match for Mary Bennet by Eucharista Ward. I bought this a couple days after Christmas in 2009. So it's been sitting on my shelf for *calculates*...two years now. Wow *blushes*. I don't know why I've neglected this book for so long. Okay...this book WILL be read before 2012 is over! If I don't read it, you guys can throw stones at me. Okay...maybe imaginary stones. Please and thank you. =)


Have any of you read this? Or do any of you need to dust this book off? 
















PS- One more day until my birthday! WOOT WOOT!
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<3CaroleRae

Dusty Reads (1)

~This is a weekly meme created by Xpressoreads that showcases books that have been sitting on your shelf for a while and is a little dusty...~

I thought this was a cute idea and I have a few dusty books that I should really read, but I've been lacking the ambition to actually begin. I know I usually do the 'Top Ten Tuesday' posts on Tuesdays, but I thought this would be a cute alternative to when I feel like skipping out on the other the TTT (which I have been skipping the last couple of weeks, my apologizes). 

To start off this new weekly meme (well, new for me) is Spring Moon by Bette Bao Lord: 

"At a time of mystery and cruelty ... in an ancient land of breathtaking beauty and exotic surprise ... a courageous woman triumphs over her world's ultimate tragedy.

Behind the garden walls of the House of Chang, pampered daughter Spring Moon is born into luxury and privilege. But the tempests of change sweep her into a new world — one of hardship, turmoil, and heartbreak, one that threatens to destroy her husband, her family, and her darkest secret love. Through a tumultuous lifetime, Spring Moon must cling to her honor, to the memory of a time gone by, and to a destiny, foretold at her birth, that has yet to be fulfilled."

Okay. This has been sitting on my shelf for about one year, almost two. Just reading the summary makes me excited to read this, but every time I near my shelf, I pick up something else. Have any of you read this? What do you think?


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<3CaroleRae