Reading, fuelled by tea

Moving home... again...

(photo credit)

 

I've moved house - come and hang out with me at my new home, (including party hats):

 

http://readingfuelledbytea.wordpress.com

 

Basically, I've tired of Typepad's fee-charging for anything resembling a sensible theme, and Wordpress has a good reputation among bloggers whom I actually know in real life (a very small population, admittedly). So I've moved over there.

Apologies for the hassle, but just pop the new address in your Google Reader (there are RSS links in the top-right on the new page and everything) and then you're all set!

Giveaway Winner

Last week I offered up my review copy of Luis Sepulveda's The Shadow of What We Were. There were only 2 entrants so individual odds were high!

 

The winner is (determined by a coin toss!):

ikkinlala

So drop me an email via the "Email Me" function up there in the sidebar with your postal details!

Booking Through Thursday - Serial?

This week's Booking Through Thursday: 

Series? Or stand-alone books?

 

I don't really mind either way. I'm very happy to read stand-alone books (most of the reviews on this blog are of stand-alone books), but I also love a good series - see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (book 2, book 3), I'm a big fan of Sue Grafton's "A is for..." series and I'm getting into Clive Cussler's collections.

Two problems with series:

1. I want to read them in order. But I refuse to buy new books (second-hand is fine). Therefore I have to either connive to get them out of the library in the right order, or I have to collect the whole set before I can read them. I've read the first few Grafton novels about ten times because I keep starting the series and then not being able to proceed (I get stuck around F most of the time).

2. Back-detailing/spoilers. Some of the time you need to know what has happened in a previous book to put this book's content in context; for example, the start of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest makes no sense if you haven't read The Girl Who Played With Fire. Really it should have been written as one enormous volume.

But if you're just not ready to let go of a great cast of characters or some fantastic writing, knowing that there are more waiting to be read is a great solace.

Strike Back - Chris Ryan - First 200 pages

This is pretty much exactly what it looks like: we open with a covert rescue operation by the SAS which goes a bit wrong. Well, disastrously wrong. John Porter, scarred (literally and mentally) by the fiasco, takes to the bottle and the London streets. When a television darling is kidnapped in Beirut 20 years later, he finds an opportunity to get back into SAS life.

What I particularly enjoyed about Ryan's writing (and from that cover, would you guess that Chris Ryan is a woman?) when I churned through The Kremlin Device and The Watchman back in November is the no-nonsense style, mixed with a dark British sense of humour. There is plenty of weapons and fighting chat, but not so much that it becomes tedious. Daring rescues go wrong. The clichéd sexual encounter between the gnarled hero in less than perfect physical shape and the lissome blonde (a nurse, this time) is amusingly shown to be staged. The hero tries hard to turn his life around on the spot, but is really struggling with his need for booze.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I get a chance to sit down and finish this off!

 

Cool book-related stuff

Because it's Tuesday and that makes it a day on which I can only cope with pictures:

From For Books' Sake - combining two of the things Husband thinks I have too many of, books and high heeled shoes:

Also from For Books' Sake... bookshelf-resembling wallpaper:

 

Pretty.