Happy Sunday! Sip along with your sweet tea or flavored fake coffee, click the pics to visit other virtual reading rooms.. tell us..what are you reading this week??
This week I tried and tried and tried to get into the reissue of The Brothers of Gwynedd by Edith Pargeter. I am not giving up. I am putting it aside, which is book one of this quartet. I cannot stand it. But okay whatever we'll see what happens when book two has to be read. This is the pitfall when you agree to review a book for a publisher. You cannot just throw it against the wall and use it for kindling. You must compose a cohesive thought, go over pros and cons of the writing and the plot, and get into the nitty gritty of the subject matter.
Normally that's not a big deal. Millions of book bloggers do it every day. I am not sure if I can do it though, ever again. I will try, because I have invested a year in this book blog to make it something I am proud of. But what would make me ecstatic is to say I am going on hiatus, because my brain cannot handle one more written word.
But I made a promise when I accepted the backlog of twenty books that are impatiently waiting on my shelf for me to read and review. So I have to try. The Blogger Burn Out that I have mentioned before is still clouding my psyche. Obviously. I just have much much much more pressing things going on in my real life that have accumulated into one big tornado that is hanging over my head instead of going away. And it doesn't just include the fact that I have a full time job, I am part of a family of four, and summer is coming.
Why am I torturing myself with piles of books that scream silently? Because I honor my word, and I love my book blogging buddies. I do like to read books, but I am getting tired of the whole process where everything is scheduled according everyone else's schedule. What about my schedule? When did the book review process become a review robot process? Wasn't this supposed to be fun?
So I set aside The Brothers of Gwynedd and started Jane Feather's newest release, All the Queen's Players. This will fit in with the Tudor Mania Challenge that is underway right now. (got a Tudor read this summer? Add your link!!) The book is so-so, sort of fluffy, and contains really insipid lines that grate on one's nerves but at least it doesn't take me three hours to get through two pages like The Brothers of Gwynedd.
For the Tudor Mania Challenge, there has been confusion. Please enter the LINK TO YOUR REVIEW in the Linky tool. Enter the name of the book then the name of your blog in parentheses. Such as: Secrets of the Tudor Court (The Burton Review)
This linky tool is how I am determining the winner of the challenge. I will have to delete all entries that are not linked to a review. The linky tool is for the competition, the comments are for comments such as if you would like to join us. A comment is not required to enter the competition, a link to the challenge is not required, all that is required is a link to your Tudor Themed Book Review that has been posted between May, June and July. The reviewer with the most Tudor Themed Reviews linked up via Linky tool will win a book of their choice from the Book Depository of a $15 value. More details are on the post page. So far, Arleigh and I are tied for first place with one book review each! =)
This week I posted a review of Mitchell James Kaplan's debut novel, By Fire, By Water. A wonderfully insightful read that really portrays a vivid characterization of The Spanish Inquisition via its main protagonists. I will welcome the author to The Burton Review with an author supplied guest post when it comes closer to its release date of May 18.
And this is after the main May event of the Historical Fiction Bloggers Round Table featuring a blogger favorite, C.W. Gortner. Gortner's previous release The Last Queen was touted by all and was a virtual wild fire of praise. His newest novel, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici is going to garner even more praise as history lovers embrace the story of an evil queen made likable.
The event begins NOW and runs for the upcoming week. My review will post tomorrow. Scheduled posts for the event include the normal guest posts, interview and creative posts authored by the very talented bloggers who are members of the round table. You guessed it, I will just have the review as part of the event, as my brain simply cannot handle one more thing at this time. But you need to stay tuned to the main site for the Round Table and see what fabulous giveaways we have in store for you courtesy of the generosity of C.W. Gortner!! You will not be disappointed.
And last but not least, I sent Lizzy at Historically Obsessed my ARC of Jean Kwok's book, Girl in Translation, for a book signing event at Powell's on Friday night. This was a great book and I cannot wait to hear what fun times Lizzy had! I ran a giveaway for the book and using Random.org, the winner is....ICEDREAM!! Email has been sent. The book was fantastic and you all need to read it. This was one that I read in a single day, I could NOT put it down. It was a fabulous break from all the historicals that I have been focused on lately. (review) Goodreads shows it already has 79 ratings and a 4.25 average rating.
Happy Mother's Day to all! May you be blessed with hugs and kisses and perhaps.. fine jewelry.
.JPG)