Thursday’s Tale: The Elves and Their Antics

Thursday’s Tale: The Elves and Their Antics

by Carol7 Comments
Photo credit: Mythological Beasties and Co E is, of course, for elves. What else could it be for on the day my posts center on fairy tales and the like? Today's story comes from Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks by William Elliott Griffis, published 1919. The elves in his story are bright, beautiful, happy creatures who love the moonlight and are full of fun. "They loved to vex cross people and to please those who were bonnie and blithe. They hated misers, but they loved the kind and generous." One of the oldest of the elves, Styf, was also one of the best pranksters. He liked to mix up everyone's wooden shoes that were left outside doors at parties. He would lead people trying to save money on candles deep into swamps, and once he bought tulips from an old miser with silver made by the Moss Maidens, and the coins crumbled in the man's hands when he went to count them the next...
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D is for Dog

D is for Dog

by Carol18 Comments
Yes, I obviously staged the photo, Scrappy doesn't actually take naps hugging my books, but it's still cute. Besides, in addition to dog, D is for delivered, a good way to list the books that were delivered to my house or Kindle last month. And they all look good, I can't wait to read them. Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore (from William Morrow) Parents Need to Eat Too by Debbie Koenig (Won from Jen at Devourer of Books. Thanks!) The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri (Purchased) Winged Obsession by Jessica Speart (from William Morrow) The Thirteen by Susie Maloney (from William Morrow) I, Iago by Nicole Galland (from William Morrow) Blue Eyes by Jerome Charyn (From Tribute Books for blog tour) Sidney Sheldon's Angel of the Dark by Tilly Bagshaw (from William Morrow) Nevermore by William Hjortsberg (From Open Road Media) The Godwulf Manuscript by Rober B. Parker (Purchased) The A-Z Challenge is hosted at its own blog. Mailbox Monday, even though I'm a little late, is hosted this month by...
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C is for Castle

C is for Castle

by Carol9 Comments
Not so far away, just on the near side of another river, was the loveliest castle anyone could have wanted to live happily ever after in. It was just a castle, not a palace; there was nothing ostentatious about it, and it was all of stone except for the drawbridge. Yet there the hand of the invisible designer had placed his signature. The castle was clearly the kingdom's centerpiece, its masterful work of art. And what the castle seemed to proclaim with every line and in every detail was that in this kingdom, this was where power and intelligence and beauty had finally come together to form a perfect bond. (The Kingdom on the Edge of Reality, pg. 92) I've never actually wanted to live in medieval times. It sounds like a lot of hard work and dirt and not much fun. I'm pretty sure that if Jack Darcey, down-on-his luck former actor, had ever thought about it, he would have agreed, but...
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B is for Borneo

B is for Borneo

by Carol8 Comments
Photo credit: Destination360 B is for Borneo, the third largest island in the world, located south and east of the Malay Peninsula and southwest of the Philippine Islands. The island is divided among three countries: Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, and is home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world. It's a beautiful land, full of flowers, trees, birds, and mammals, like orangutans and Asian elephants. In Borneo Tom- In Story and Sketch: Love, Travela and Jungle Family in Tropical Asia, Tom McLaughlin does what most of us can only dream of. He drops it all and moves to paradise, taking us along on his adventures. Boreno Tom is not exactly a memoir and it's not exactly a travel book. It's a collection of essays, covering everything from the Festival of the Hungry Ghost in Kuching to experiencing an earthquake in Indonesia. He snorkels with jellyfish, meets orangutans and treks to see a corpse flower. Each story is told with humor...
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A is for A-Z April

A is for A-Z April

by Carol12 Comments
Photo credit (Looking at this photo, all I can imagine is how much it would hurt to step on theose little pieces in the middle of the night.) A is for A-Z April. That's right, the challenge for this month is an alphabet theme. Each day, except Sundays, will focus on a letter of the alphabet. Tomorrow, for example, will be B is for Borneo Tom. It should be a fun month. I've got a couple of things planned, a giveaway or two, some reviews, my standard Thusday's Tales, but they'll still go along with the letter of the day. Some letters I have no idea for yet, though. April's just a lovely month overall. spring is officially here. The flowers are blooming, and I think we can start planting in the gardens. Easter's next weekend, with and my husband's birthday is the following. And I can't forget the 24- hour Readathon. Luckily, S is for Stay Awake....
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March Mystery Madness: Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

March Mystery Madness: Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers

by Carol4 Comments
So, I finally got around to listening to the first of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, Whose Body? As a lover of vintage mysteries, it's really a shame that it's taken me so long to read anything by Sayers, one of the original "Queens of Crime." I think I need to read a couple more, though, to really appreciate the series; this first novel, while enjoyable, wasn't outstanding to me. While this is the first in the series, it's not Wimsey's first case. By the time this one opens, his interest in mysteries is well-known, so it's quite reasonable for Wimsey’s mother, the Dowager Duchess, to call him on behalf of a Mr. Thipps, as there is a dead body in Mr. Thipps’ bathtub. Lord Peter has a look around and realizes the official police force is on the completely wrong track, as an incompetent Inspector Sugg suspects Mr. Thipps or the housemaid and her boyfriend in spite of the evidence. Meanwhile, Wimsey’s...
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