Thursday’s Tale: The North Wind and the Sun

by Carol2 Comments
The summer solstice was earlier this week, which sent me on a search for a sun story for today. "The North Wind and the Sun" is one of Aesop's fables. It's not really a summer story, though. The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveler coming down the road, and the Sun said: "I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveler to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin." So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveler. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveler wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveler, who soon found it too hot to walk with his...
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Readers’ Workouts – 6/21

by Carol4 Comments
Here are my steps for the week. My average was above my goal of 9,000 steps a day, so I'm happy with that. If you're on fitbit, you can find me here.   My current plan is to do cardio on Tuesday (60 mins), upper body on Wednesday, cardio on Thursday (60 mins), a total body workout on Friday, cardio on Saturday (60+ mins), and a core workout on Monday. I'm also doing a 10 minute-ish Pilates workout each day. I did not do so well this week, but hopefully I'll get back on track. I was out of town Wednesday through Friday and didn't get any exercise in. We went to a board game convention though, so I did a fair amount of walking. Friday - Saturday was Relay for Life. I walked a total of 7 miles. Our team has raised $7,714 to date, but there's still time to donate. If you'd like to donate to our team, click on the image below....
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Day of the Dragonking by Edward Irving

by CarolNo Comments
Day of the Dragonking may be the oddest book I've read recently. I think that's a good thing, but it's hard to write a review of it. If you read the blurb, you'll know that a Change has come, that normal people are becoming magical, and magical people are losing their powers. We've got Tarot cards personified and deities from various cultures coming to life. Not actually coming to life - people are being transformed into them. Ghosts are visible and the main character, Steve, has a cell phone that is somehow haunted by an Asian teenager. It's a funny and violent at times. The author plays with the Washington stereotypes well. It's got great action and a few really well-developed characters. It's a wild ride and I'm not quite sure it follows its own rules, but that's okay, just fasten your seat belt and enjoy the trip. It's definitely a funny book too. There were several laugh out loud moments and a...
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Thursday’s Tale: King Garnet Stories

by Carol3 Comments
The King Garnet Stories by Marianne Parry are not traditional fairy tales, but they have that same feel - kings and queens, a touch of magic, a lesson to learn. The King Garnet Stories are fun. The first is my favorite. The King's legs grow way to long and everyone is worried. He is under a spell, but who is casting the spell made it a funny little story. In the second story, King Garnet comes up with a plan to stop his wife from being so bossy. He decides not to talk anymore. He lets his daughters, the doctors, and the witches in on the secret. In the end, the Queen goes back to the nice woman she used to be. It's a cute story even if the portrayal of the Queen is a little sexist. The last story ends with a light-hearted, almost Renaissance fair type battle. Everyone enjoys the day and the decide to make it an annual event. The illustration at the...
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Readers’ Workouts – 6/14

by Carol3 Comments
Here are my steps for the week. I upped my goal to 9,000 steps for June, and didn't do so well this week. I need to get into some kind of summer routine. If you're on fitbit, you can find me here. My current plan is to do cardio on Tuesday (60 mins), upper body on Wednesday, cardio on Thursday (60 mins), a total body workout on Friday, cardio on Saturday (60+ mins), and a core workout on Monday. I'm also doing a 10 minute-ish Pilates workout each day. I failed this week. I forget what I did Tuesday thru Friday. Usually I keep pretty decent track, but not this week. Saturday - Walk with the dog. Sunday - Walk with the dog. Monday - Walk with the dog. I usually listen to a book while I'm walking, jogging, whatever. This week I'm listening to The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North. This coming Friday thru Saturday I'm participating in our local Relay for Life, hopefully walking a lot and...
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The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

by Carol2 Comments
First off, the obvious question - why did I read The Man in the High Castle. I don't WW2 books or, in general, sci-fi. A friend made me borrow it and he never suggests books, so I felt like I ought to read it. And then Michelle came up with her Sci-Fi Summer read-a-thon, so it was the prefect excuse. After all, according to the blurb, this is the book that established "Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction." On a side note, I never realized alternative history is a sub-genre of sci-fi. I tend to think of it more as fantasy. Wikipedia says, "since the 1950s, this type of fiction has, to a large extent, merged with science fiction tropes involving time travel between alternate histories, psychic awareness of the existence of one universe by the people in another, or time travel that results in history splitting into two or more timelines. Cross-time, time-splitting, and alternate history themes...
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