A Song of Snow
My son set off later than usual for work today. Traffic was light and the cars that went before us had cleared the roads. Then I came home and my car got stuck on the driveway.
Snow's dripping from trees as it melts then freezing to ice on the white ground. Pink branches laden with blossom form glorious barriers on footpaths and lanes, but they're broken and it's sad to know they'll die. I'll watch the blossoms freeze to gray and slowly fade away. It's snowing. It's spring.
Meanwhile the heating roars its dragon breath and I sit at the computer, thoughts drifting like snow from the stories I've read back into the real world I live in. And drinking coffee... So here's some book reviews.
Descent, by Melanie S. Pronia, is a novel I picked up when it was free, and what a find! The story ought to be thoroughly miserable and depressing--a mother, convinced she's not worthy of her family, setting out to die--but instead it's deeply involving, honest, and somehow despite itself hopeful. I couldn't stop reading, and I'm really glad I couldn't. Drink some 5-star dark intense coffee, and give yourself time to finish.
On a completely different level, Neverdark, by C.S. Enfield is a wonderful children's novel that begs to be read aloud. Bed-time reading for a week, a month or more, it's not short, but the language is consistently smooth, the characters fun from fairy to squirrel to ant, the lessons wise but never overstated, and the world of an Old Oak tree (with its pleasing surprise of Neverdark) beautifully imagined. Drink some 3-star well-balanced coffee and read to your child or grandchild, or inner child.
Another children's book is Three Dreams Deep, by D.F. Lamont. Like the movie Inception for beginners, it's intriguing, entertaining, scary and fun as young Willis learns about gravity, logic, and imaginary friends. Enjoy this one with a 2-star lively cup of coffee, or give it to your kids.
Back to the adult books now, and Tundra 37, by Aubrie Dionne, tells another story in her New Dawn series, totally independent from Paradise 21, but written in the same world. Genne's job on the spaceship Expedition is to make sure the gene-pool remains vibrant and varied as generations pass, but perhaps there are other things determining health and direction, and a meteor storm sends the ship and Genne's life off course into danger and discover. A pleasing mix of action, adventure, science fiction and romance, this one should go well with a 3-star well-balanced coffee.
And then there were puzzles, perfect for snow-days waiting for the 2-hour school delay. 20 Easter Puzzles from Grabarchuk offer pleasing seasonal entertainment to kindle users, and 303 puzzles, a compilation of 3 earlier kindle books, should keep you enjoying kindle's version of freecell for almost a year. Enjoy with 1-star light crisp coffee and keep your brain in gear.
Finally, if you were hoping for a good historical novel in this list, you might want to visit Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/Vengeanc
Northumberland, 1640. Arabella 'Bel' Horden is a mischievous, pugnacious
thirteen-year-old. The youngest daughter of a Northumbrian squire and
magistrate, she is wracked by guilt after a careless haystack fire leads
to the wrongful hanging of an English army deserter. Sent to boarding
school in Yorkshire after another unbecoming act of disobedience, Bel
blossoms into a beautiful and quick-witted young woman. Nathaniel 'Nat'
Wilson is ill with fever when his twin brother, Daniel, is falsely
accused and hung for the fire started by Bel. Accursed by his mother for
the tragedy, he is reluctantly sworn to vengeance against the Horden
family. A peace-loving boy, Nat temporarily escapes his mother's
maddened demands through pursuit of his studies in Cambridge. Years
after the violence that first juxtaposed their lives, Bel and Nat's
paths finally cross when Nat arrives in Northumberland to discover what
he can of the Horden family and their role in his brother's unfortunate
death. As a second Scots invasion sends the land into chaos, will love
triumph as vengeance is thwarted?
Snow's dripping from trees as it melts then freezing to ice on the white ground. Pink branches laden with blossom form glorious barriers on footpaths and lanes, but they're broken and it's sad to know they'll die. I'll watch the blossoms freeze to gray and slowly fade away. It's snowing. It's spring.
Meanwhile the heating roars its dragon breath and I sit at the computer, thoughts drifting like snow from the stories I've read back into the real world I live in. And drinking coffee... So here's some book reviews.
Descent, by Melanie S. Pronia, is a novel I picked up when it was free, and what a find! The story ought to be thoroughly miserable and depressing--a mother, convinced she's not worthy of her family, setting out to die--but instead it's deeply involving, honest, and somehow despite itself hopeful. I couldn't stop reading, and I'm really glad I couldn't. Drink some 5-star dark intense coffee, and give yourself time to finish.
On a completely different level, Neverdark, by C.S. Enfield is a wonderful children's novel that begs to be read aloud. Bed-time reading for a week, a month or more, it's not short, but the language is consistently smooth, the characters fun from fairy to squirrel to ant, the lessons wise but never overstated, and the world of an Old Oak tree (with its pleasing surprise of Neverdark) beautifully imagined. Drink some 3-star well-balanced coffee and read to your child or grandchild, or inner child.
Another children's book is Three Dreams Deep, by D.F. Lamont. Like the movie Inception for beginners, it's intriguing, entertaining, scary and fun as young Willis learns about gravity, logic, and imaginary friends. Enjoy this one with a 2-star lively cup of coffee, or give it to your kids.
Back to the adult books now, and Tundra 37, by Aubrie Dionne, tells another story in her New Dawn series, totally independent from Paradise 21, but written in the same world. Genne's job on the spaceship Expedition is to make sure the gene-pool remains vibrant and varied as generations pass, but perhaps there are other things determining health and direction, and a meteor storm sends the ship and Genne's life off course into danger and discover. A pleasing mix of action, adventure, science fiction and romance, this one should go well with a 3-star well-balanced coffee.
And then there were puzzles, perfect for snow-days waiting for the 2-hour school delay. 20 Easter Puzzles from Grabarchuk offer pleasing seasonal entertainment to kindle users, and 303 puzzles, a compilation of 3 earlier kindle books, should keep you enjoying kindle's version of freecell for almost a year. Enjoy with 1-star light crisp coffee and keep your brain in gear.
Finally, if you were hoping for a good historical novel in this list, you might want to visit Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/Vengeanc
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