Thursday’s Tale: The Suitors of the Princess Fire-Fly

by Carol3 Comments
Today, I thought we'd look at another tale Baroness Orczy retold in Old Hungarian Fairy Tales, "The Suitors of the Princess Fire-Fly." A long time ago, there lived a King Fire-fly who lived in a lovely lotus palace. He had a lovely daughter he kept safe inside the palace, but she became lovelier and lovelier and her fame spread throughout the land. All the moths, beetles and flies of neighboring kingdoms pulled out their finery in order to woo her, but she stated she would only marry the one who would perform a perilous task for her, bring back a spark of fire. Many fairy flies, and beetles, and moths, and all types of insects fly off on the quest. The problem is that bugs and fire don't get along well. Many get burned, some find phosphorescent mosses but they go out when daylight comes. The "Red Admiral" finds a ring of fire, a diamond, but a boy picks it up before he can...
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Teaser Tuesday

by Carol10 Comments
Holmes wandered about the snow-clad summit in fascination, trying to ignore the breathless, lightheaded sensation caused by altitude, while Skye went inside the visitors' center and got coffee and doughnuts. They found a sheltered spot out of the wind, but with an excellent view, and tucked away the food. Holmes was in voluble agreement that the pastries were the best he had ever eaten, and privately noted it made a more than suitable, and quite unique, afternoon tea. -from The Case of the Displaced Detective: The Arrival by Stephanie Osborn Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading....
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Audiobook Review: Inferno by Dan Brown

by Carol9 Comments
  Title: Inferno (Robert Langdon #4) Author: Dan Brown Reader: Paul Michael Category: Mystery/Thriller Audio published: May 14, 2013 by Random House Audio Rating: 3 out of 5 stars Add: Goodreads Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno. Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered. I talked a little the other day about my experience listening to Inferno. I'm not going to repeat myself here, because repetition is annoying, as I learned listening to this one. So, go back and read that my post from last Wednesday if you want to know why I think reading...
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Thursday’s Tale: The Wishing Skin

by Carol4 Comments
"The Wishing Skin" told by Baroness Orczy in Old Hungarian Fairy Tales starts in typical fairy tale fashion. We have a childless couple, a woodcutter and his wife, who humbly but contentedly in a nice cottage with a garden in front. One day a peddler stops at the cottage and when he leaves, drops a book of tales on the road that the husband, Jack, picks up. That night he reads the stories to his wife while she sews, stories full of fairies and magicians. That night he has trouble sleeping, wishing a fairy godmother would come and grant him all his wishes. The next day, while working, a rabbit comes up to him and starts talking, telling him that although he is obviously not a fairy godmother, he does know where there is a wishing skin, made by fairies. Anyone wearing the skin, which I picture as a kind of coat, can wish for anything and the wish will be...
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Reading versus Listening

by Carol13 Comments
I'm an audiobook addict. I love listening while I'm working around the house, walking the dog, running, doing cross-stitch. I hate to admit that sometimes I get annoyed when my family wants me to actually listen and respond to what they're saying rather than just leaving me in whatever audiobook world I'm in. The only place I don't listen to them is in my car and only because it doesn't have one of those little jacks to plug my player into, unlike my husband's car. Right now I'm listening to Inferno by Dan Brown. I enjoy the Langdon series for what it is. They're fun, action-packed with a bit of a religious/historical bent, and I like how they tend to take us on tours of Washington or Florence or whatever city they're set in. I'm not expecting fabulous writing, I want a quick-moving plot, a "follow the clues" hunt. Inferno fits my expectations, but this is the first in the series I've listened to rather than read...
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Top Ten Books I’d Love to See as a Movie or TV Show

by Carol6 Comments
There are some books I would love to see as movies or tv shows, assuming that they do it it right and don't ruin the story or cast totally inappropriate people. Then there are some books that might actually work better as movies than they did as books. Now if some of these have already been made into movies or shows, I haven't seen them - and they were probably disappointing anyway. Top Ten Books I'd Love to See as a Movie or TV Show The Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny - Awesome characters and good plots. Actually, I think they're working on the first one. Missing Barbados by Willem Pain - with the tropical location and all the explosions/crashes, it seems like it might make a better action movie than it did book. 1222 by Anne Holt - the setting is rather small, a hotel, and the time a matter of days, but I think the atmosphere, being trapped with a killer might work well. How...
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