Happy Thanksgiving!

To all my Little Reading Addicts, I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving!!!

And if by some chance you live somewhere that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, then in that case, Happy Thursday!!  Make it the best!!

RIP Anne McCaffrey

I was very much saddened when I saw this this news today.  Anne McCaffrey was an amazing and prolific writer, and one of my first exposures to the sf / fantasy.  She will be greatly missed by many.

For more information, see:
Whatever
GalleyCat
Locus Online
Del Ray / Spectra
MSNBC News

Teaser Tuesday - A Discovery of Witches

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

----------

Can I just pause for a moment and say how MUCH I'm enjoying this book?!  It is seriously, amazingly good, and I'm so glad I finally decided to listen to the person who recommended it to me.  Good stuff!!

In this scene, Ysabeau, Matthew's mother, tries to drive home the point that vampires are not always the romantic and noble creatures that humans sometimes imagine.


The Tease:

 "Ysabeau grabbed my horse's reins.  There were tiny drops of blood on her cream shirt. 
"Do you think vampires are beautiful now?  Do you still think it would be easy to live with my son, knowing that he must kill to survive?" 
It was difficult for me to put "Matthew" and "killing" in the same sentence.  Were I to kiss him one day, when he was just returned from hunting, there might still be the taste of blood on his lips. 
And days like the one I was now spending with Ysabeau would be regular occurrences."

 -A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

What's your Tease?

Book Review - Smokin' Seventeen

Stephanie Plum Series, by Janet Evanovich
1. One for the Money      10/18/2007
2. Two for the Dough       11/19/2007
3. Three to get Ready      11/24/2007
4. Four to Score              11/25/2007
5. High Five                    11/26/2007
6. Hot Six                        12/6/2007
7. Seven Up                    3/10/2008
8. Hard Eight                   3/11/2008
9. To the Nines                3/16/2008
10. Visions of Sugar Plums    3/14/2008
11. Ten Big Ones             3/17/2008
12. Eleven on Top              5/2/2008
13. Twelve Sharp             5/12/2008
14. Lean Mean Thirteen   5/13/2008
15. Plum Lovin’               5/14/2008
16. Plum Lucky               5/15/2008
17. Fearles Fourteen       8/18/2008
18. Plum Spooky            TBR
19. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen  9/25/2009
20. Sizzling Sixteen            11/4/2011 * * *
21. Smokin' Seventeen    11/11/2011 * * *

From Goodreads: 
Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.

Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list.

Short on time to find evidence proving the killer’s identity, Stephanie faces further complications when her family and friends decide that it’s time for her to choose between her longtime off-again-on-again boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert Ranger. Stephanie’s mom is encouraging Stephanie to dump them both and choose a former high school football star who’s just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, is encouraging Stephanie to have a red-hot boudoir “bake-off.” And Grandma Bella, Morelli’s old-world grandmother, is encouraging Stephanie to move to a new state when she puts “the eye” on Stephanie.

With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men, and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in smoke.

My Thoughts:
Smokin' Seventeen was marginally better than Sizzling Sixteen, I felt, but not by much.  I pretty much have the same issues with both novels, and I enjoyed the same things about them.  However, Smokin' Seventeen just "felt" better, slightly more exciting, and a little funnier than the previous book in the series.  The main mystery in this book was just about as obvious as it could possibly be, but the side stories were fun enough that I didn't mind.

I'm giving it 3 stars, same as Sizzing Sixteen, and for the same reasons - it's a fun, light-hearted, easy, breezy read.  Sometimes that's just a good thing!

What're your thoughts?

Book Review - Sizzling Sixteen

Stephanie Plum Series, by Janet Evanovich
1. One for the Money      10/18/2007
2. Two for the Dough       11/19/2007
3. Three to get Ready      11/24/2007
4. Four to Score              11/25/2007
5. High Five                    11/26/2007
6. Hot Six                        12/6/2007
7. Seven Up                    3/10/2008
8. Hard Eight                   3/11/2008
9. To the Nines                3/16/2008
10. Visions of Sugar Plums    3/14/2008
11. Ten Big Ones             3/17/2008
12. Eleven on Top              5/2/2008
13. Twelve Sharp             5/12/2008
14. Lean Mean Thirteen   5/13/2008
15. Plum Lovin’               5/14/2008
16. Plum Lucky               5/15/2008
17. Fearles Fourteen       8/18/2008
18. Plum Spooky            TBR
19. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen  9/25/2009
20. Sizzling Sixteen            11/4/2011
21. Smokin' Seventeen    11/11/2011

From Goodreads:

Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a “lucky” bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn’t specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck. . . .
BAD LUCK:
Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, has run up a gambling debt of $786,000 with mobster Bobby Sunflower and is being held until the cash can be produced. Nobody else will pay to get Vinnie back, leaving it up to Stephanie, office manager Connie, and file clerk Lula to raise the money if they want to save their jobs.
GOOD LUCK:
Being in the business of tracking down people, Stephanie, Lula, and Connie have an advantage in finding Vinnie. If they can rescue him, it will buy them some time to raise the cash.
BAD LUCK:

Finding a safe place to hide Vinnie turns out to be harder than raising $786,000. Vinnie’s messing up Mooner’s vibe, running up pay-per-view porn charges in Stephanie's apartment, and making Stephanie question genetics.
GOOD LUCK:
Between a bonds office yard sale that has the entire Burg turning out, Mooner’s Hobbit-Con charity event, and Uncle Pip’s lucky bottle, they just might raise enough money to save the business, and Vinnie, from ruin.
BAD LUCK:

Saving Vincent Plum Bail Bonds means Stephanie can keep being a bounty hunter. In Trenton, this involves hunting down a man wanted for polygamy, a turnpike toilet paper bandit, and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles.
GOOD LUCK:

The job of bounty hunter comes with perks in the guise of Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, and the dark and dangerous security expert, Ranger. With any luck at all, Uncle Pip’s lucky bottle will have Stephanie getting lucky---the only question is . . . with whom?

Sizzling Sixteen . . . so hot, the pages might spontaneously combust!

My Thoughts:
Turns out I don't have as many thoughts about this novel as I thought I did...Hmmm.

I have been thoroughly enjoying the adventures of Stephanie Plum ever since I was first introduced to One for the Money back in 2007.  And I thoroughly enjoyed this one as well, although in all honesty I think the charm is starting to wear a bit thin.  The characters are still great, Grandma Mazur is still a hoot and a half, and Stephanie's inability to keep a car in one piece for more than half a novel is still funny...But somehow it all felt a little muted in this book.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fun read, light and airy, which is exactly what it is supposed to be.  I liked it.  I just didn't LOVE it, like I did some of the earlier novels.  And somewhere in the back of my brain is the nagging desire for Stephanie to pick a boyfriend already!  At some point she's just going to have to make a choice between Ranger and Morelli, because the sexual tension just isn't as tense anymore.

Still I give it a solid 3 stars for the fun factor.  And I'm still VERY excited for the movie version of One for the Money, coming in January 2012.

Review - Movie Catch-up - In Time

In Time * * * *
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Matt Bomer

There's been a lot of controversy surrounding this movie over the last few months, and a lot of critics and reviews didn't particularly care for the movie.  I went into the theater already expecting to like In Time, but the movie was actually better and more enjoyable than I expected.

I'm sure most of you know the basic plot of the movie by now - Sometime in the future, each person ages normally until the exact moment they turn 25, and at that moment the the body's aging genes turn off and the clock embedded in their arm begins to count down, giving them exactly one year to live.

But time isn't just time - it also doubles as currency.  A cup of coffee costs four minutes, a bus ride 2 hours.  People work to earn more time to extend their lives and pay for food and lodging, most barely getting by from day to day, while not too far away the elite enjoy the benefits of hundreds of years of extra time - time to live, and time to spend on the luxuries of life.

Through a series of odd events one young man is given 100 years, and he uses that through gambling to earn even more, in the process getting noticed by the Timekeepers, who police the flow of time through the economy, and learns the secret to how the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

Overall it's a great movie, full of both funny and sad moments.  Someone spent a lot of time thinking about how the time-as-currency dynamic would affect society in general, and it showed in the fashion of both the rich and poor sectors, and even the way people moved through their day.  The people in the poor sectors run everywhere they go, eating and moving and living as fast as they can, to cram as much into the time they have left.  The ultra-rich on the other hand, eat and move slowly, never run, and never engage in any activity that might cause harm to themselves.

There's also plenty of action in the movie, and while some of the scenes were loads of fun, there were plenty of horrifying moments as well.  The pacing of the film felt a little slow in some places, and there were a few plot holes, but I really didn't mind.  I give In Time four stars in spite of the problems, because there were also many things that it did really well.

Have you seen In Time yet?  What did you think?  Share your thoughts below - I'd love to hear them!

Teaser Tuesday - A Discovery of Witches

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

----------

Wow, once again, a Teaser from a brand new book - That's three weeks in a row, folks!  I'm only on chapter three of this one, but so far I'm quite enjoying it.  In this Teaser, Matthew the Vampire sneaks into the witch's apartment to see if she's hiding this ancient manuscript.  I don't know why he wants it yet, but he certainly seems to think she must have it!


The Tease:

 "Matthew had to know if Ashmole 782 was still in Bishop's possession.  He hadn't been able to search her desk at the library, but a quick glance had suggested that it wasn't among the manuscripts she'd been consulting today.  Still, there was no chance that a witch - a Bishop - would have let the volume slip through her fingers."

 -A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

What's your Tease?

Teaser Tuesday - Smokin' Seventeen

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

----------

Whew!  I whizzed through Sizzling Sixteen, and have moved on to Smokin' Seventeen.  Our heroine has just survived a food fight in a hot dog deli, and is about to hit the road again to look for more bad guys...


The Tease:

 "By the time I left my apartment it was mid-afternoon. 
My hair was clean and smelled only faintly of sauerkraut."

 -Smokin' Seventeen, by Janet Evanovich

What's your Tease?

James Bond Returns

Fifty years ago today it was first announced that Sean Connery would play the role of Ian Fleming's James Bond on the big screen.

Today, producer Barbara Broccoli & Producer Michael G Wilson announced that the 23rd film in the 007 franchise begins shooting this week, and will be released in November of 2012, in the fiftieth anniversary year of the first film, "Dr. No(1962)."  The title of the new film will be Skyfall, which the producers claim will have an "emotional resonance" once people see the film.

Daniel Craig will return as 007.  Other stars of Skyfall include Judi Dench (as M), Albert Finney, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, French actress Berenice Marlohe, & Ralph Fiennes.

Not much information was given about the plot of the film, only that "In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost."  They also hinted that "Skyfall" will not connect directly to the previous two films, "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace."

You can read more about the announcement and the details of the movie at:
BBC News
Tor
Reuters

I'm a huge James Bond fan, and I can't even begin to explain how excited I am!!  November 2012 can't come soon enough!!  The title of the film isn't a traditional 007 title, so it will be interesting to see what this "emotional resonance" will be.  Also exciting is the prospect of learning about M's past!  I can't wait!!