Big Magic

A friend commented that she was reading   Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear . I had read Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia  and enjoyed it so I thought I'd give Big Magic a try.  I don't think of myself as a creative person and it doesn't bother me a bit.   I'm just not the tortured artist type.  Her approach to dealing with creativity as if it were a living being, to be welcomed, nurtured, and not forced into a relationship was refreshing.  I've urged almost my entire family to read it.   I thought it was a bit vulgar at times ( call me a Victorian if you will), and didn't like her martyr/trickster analogy at all

It's an easy read with short chapters and many subsections in each chapter.  I think reading it inspired me to finally start on this blog.   In short, you don't have to be a creative person to enjoy this book.  I'd rate it a defininte B+

The Hidden Oracle

I said I was starting this blog to talk about the books I read.  Since I haven't talked to many people about the them, it may take a few books to get my format figured out.

Ok, how many AARP eligible people read books for kids?  Childrens' librarians for sure.  Well, it's not my job and I do.  At least some.  I've read Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus Series, his Kane Chronicles, and have started the Magnus Kane series.  This book,   The Trials of Apollo, Book 1: The Hidden Oracle  is the start of a new series.     I enjoyed this book, it was a bit of a light refresher between some non fiction books I was reading.

This new book takes place within Riordan's Percy Jackson sphere.  In fact, Percy makes a brief appearance at the beginning and end of the book.  If you've enjoyed the other demi-god books, I think you'll like this one.  A brief summary - The Greek god Apollo is punished by Zeus and sent to Earth as a human teenager. A lot of the book does contain Apollo whining about being a human but the cast of characters is reasonably well developed and you come to be interested in what happens to them.

If you like to read mythology, have enjoyed other books by Riordan or have an Elementary school aged friend to read with, I recommend this latest edition.

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What that means is if you'd like to read the book and buy it too ( I get a lot of mine from my library), if you use the link to buy the book I get a few cents from Amazon.  

Why another blog

If you're reading this, you probably either know me or stumbled across my blog.  Thanks for staying long enough to read my first post.  I love to read but have eclectic tastes.  What does that mean?  Well, in this case it means that I usually have no one to discuss what marvellous or disappointing book I just read.  In 2015, I read 36 books - I'm on track to ready closer to 48 this year.   Some were quite short ( How Full is your Bucket  120 pages  by Tom Rath and Donald Clifton .  I recommend it!)  Others were long ( The Aeronaught's Windlass at 630 pages by Jim Butcher.  I haven't read a book by him I didn't like.)  Only the few I read with my book club at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church (Keep it Shut,  Strange Gods,  Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World,   Nine Words , and The Hiding Place  did I get to share and discuss with anyone.

This blog will be my place to talk about the books I've read.  Don't expect any New York Times best sellers, unless they are non-fiction.  It will be heavy in the fantasy genre, including Y books ( Rick Riordan is another favorite.   I also read a few mysteries but usually nothing too gruesome.  There is already too much terrible news in the world without trying to read about it for enjoyment.

Well, my first review will be coming soon.  Just a matter of deciding which book it will be.