BOOK TOUR - Hellfire & Damnation II - BOOK REVIEW

Welcome to the first stop on the Hellfire & Damnation II Virtual Book Tour! Hosted  by 

 Today I kick off with a review of the book, but come back tomorrow for an author interview! Don't forget to comment on this or any other post on my blog for a chance to win a digital copy of the book. Competition is open internationally and closes on the last day of the tour - October 31.

Click on the tour link on the right hand side to see the rest of the tour dates and places.

Title: Hellfire & Damnation II 
 Author: Connie Corcoran Wilson
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Kindle - kindly given to me by the author.

From Goodreads: Hellfire & Damnation II by Connie (Corcoran) Wilson is another tour of the 9 Circles of Hell described in Dante's Inferno. It picks up where the first collection of short stories left off, using the framing device of the sins punished at each of the 9 Circles of Hell in Dante's "Inferno."
Winner of the (IWPA) Silver Feather award, sequel to the E-Lit Gold Medal award winner Hellfire & Damnation, Hellfire & Damnation II as a tour of Dante's Inferno doesn't require that you have read the first collection of short stories, which also illustrated the sins punished at each of the 9 Circles of Hell. There are no recurring characters, but there are 11 short stories, accompanying illustrations and a "From the Author" section explaining the inspiration or each story.
If you enjoy scary short stories that will linger long after you've finished reading them, this is the book for you.

What I thought: I love scary books. Among the first adult books I ever read were Stephen King and Dean Koontz. However, these days I find it hard to find good scary books - ones that don't make me feel like I've read this before...and then I was asked to read Hellfire & Damnation II.
Corcoran takes us by the hand and leads us through the 9 Circles of Hell, whispering to us the tales of those we find there and the events that have lead them to this nightmarish place. From the first story set in Limbo Cold Corpse Carnival (giving me yet another reason to not wanting to be buried!), to the final circle of The Treacherous and The Bureau the reader will be checking behind doors, under the bed and sleeping with the light on!


Come back tomorrow to read my interview with the author of Hellfire & Damnation II - Connie Corcoran Wilson!

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT IN ORDER TO WIN AN EBOOK COPY OF CONNIE CORCORAN WILSON'S HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION II!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Is a meme hosted by Shelia over at Book Journey. A weekly check in to see what you are currently reading and what is coming up. Head over to Shelia's blog to see what others are reading this week.

What am I reading now.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K Rowling

I loved Harry Potter and was very eager to get my hands on this. I'm enjoying it - not quite as gripping as Harry, but then again, I do think that was a once in a life time thing!

What I've  Read In The Last Week.

 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson (this was actually on last weeks list, but there was no review)
Close Range: Wyoming Stories - Annie Proulx

What Else is Happening?

Well after a very long break, I've finally started blogging over on my sewing blog again! Feel free to head over there and check out what I've been sewing!

Also don't forget to comment on this (or any other post) to go in the draw for the chance to win a digital copy of Hellfire and Damnation II.

What's next?

Most probably A Private Life by Michael Kirby -it's our next book group read and I'm hosting so I really should read the book!

So what are you reading? Leave me a link, I'd love to know!

My favourite place to read

  Sitting looking at this

Is my current favourite place to read. Luckily it's only a 5 minute walk from home. My kids have reached that wonderful age where I don't need to watch them all the time, just stick my head up every now and then and make sure I know where they are. They're happy to spend a few hours down the beach, swimming, kayaking, jumping off the jetty and playing with each other or their friends. I don't think it gets any better!

Where's your favourite place to read at the moment?

 

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT IN ORDER TO WIN AN EBOOK COPY OF CONNIE CORCORAN WILSON'S HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION II!

Kids and Reading

"It's easy to be blasé about reading and books – easy to take them for granted. Yet when I think about it, reading to me is the key to so much. The key to a wider reach of information, a path to learning, the joy of entertainment and the exciting of the imagination. It's just so much fun." - William McInnes, Australian actor and author and patron of the National Year of Reading.

My kids are readers. You have no idea how proud that makes me to say that. My kids love to read - with me, with my husband, with their grandparents, with their cousins, with random strangers, but, most importantly by themselves.

My daughter camping this year

My son, same camping ground, 18 months earlier

Now it would be fair to say that my kids have been showered with books from an early age. Both my husband and I are readers and as a teacher I knew the importance of reading. We read to our kids all the time and now they read to us. Both read above grade level, but what is most important to me is that they choose to spend a part of their day with their noses in a book!

10 year old boy book shelves

The Princess' book shelf

2012 is the National Year of Reading in Australia. It scares me that in a country as rich and prosperous as Australia in 2006,  almost 50% of adults "cannot confidently read newspapers, follow a recipe, make sense of timetables, or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle." - Source Australian Bureau of Statistics

That is a scary statistic. Almost 50%! How does that happen??

I'm a true believer that reading starts at home. It is so simple - a child who is read to, who sees their same sex parent reading is more likely to read themselves. 10 minutes a day, that's all it takes. 10 minutes of sitting with your child and sharing a book. One hour every week or two to take them to a library. These two simple things open the world to a child in extraordinary ways.

To finish, some of my favourite quotes about books and reading - a way to open many, many doors.

No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.

^{- Confucius}

The connection between reading speed and comprehension; a film is made up of still images flashed in rapid succession to simulate movement. Slow down the film, and the movement and meaning slows and the film's impact is diminished. Viewers won't learn as much about the film as if it were shown at normal speed. With reading the same thing can happen. When a person reads word by word, like frame by frame, they are not reading on the level of ideas. You need to read on some level that's more conversational and allows things to coalesce into ideas themselves.

^{- Doug Evans, Institute of Reading Development}

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy.

^{- Edward P. Morgan}

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.

^{- Emilie Buchwald}

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.

^{- Frederick Douglass}

<sup>(all quotes came from here)

Now, go read to your kids!</sup>

Close Range: Wyoming Stories

Title: Close Range: Wyoming Stories  
Author: Annie Proulx
Genre: Fiction - Short stories
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - lent by a friend

From Goodreads: From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of The Shipping News and Accordion Crimes comes one of the most celebrated short-story collections of our time.
Annie Proulx's masterful language and fierce love of Wyoming are evident in these breathtaking tales of loneliness, quick violence, and the wrong kinds of love. Each of the stunning portraits in Close Range reveals characters fiercely wrought with precision and grace.
These are stories of desperation and unlikely elation, set in a landscape both stark and magnificent -- by an author writing at the peak of her craft.


What I thought: OK so really? A book about Wyoming? Cowboys and such? Hmmm, ok, I'll give it a go. Oh my goodness, riveting! I have been in such a reading slump recently with so so books I'd forgotten how amazing a truly good book can be.
Annie Proulx writing is so polished it gleans, but it isn't pretentious. You don't feel like you are reading high literature by an author who is desperate to show you how vast her word bank is. It is effortless, provides crystal clear images of what the character is seeing and feeling at the time. So beautiful it flows and the only re-reading you have to do is because a passage is so perfectly written you have to experience it again.

He pressed his face into the fabric and breathed in slowly through his mouth and nose, hoping for the faintest smoke and mountain sage and salty sweet stink of Jack but there was no real scent, only the memory of it, the imagined power of Brokeback Mountain of which nothing was left but what he held in his hands. 

The collection does include Brokeback Mountain which of course was made into a movie and for me is the pick of the stories, although they are all able to hold their own. Annie Proulx is being added to my list of authors I want to read.

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT IN ORDER TO WIN AN EBOOK COPY OF CONNIE CORCORAN WILSON'S HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION II!

Today tell me an author you want to read all of.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

Title: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Author: Stieg Larsson
Series: Millennium Trilogy - Book 2
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Kindle

From Goodreads: Lisbeth Salander—the heart of Larsson’s two previous novels—lies in critical condition, a bullet wound to her head, in the intensive care unit of a Swedish city hospital. She’s fighting for her life in more ways than one: if and when she recovers, she’ll be taken back to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, she will not only have to prove her innocence, but also identify and denounce those in authority who have allowed the vulnerable, like herself, to suffer abuse and violence. And, on her own, she will plot revenge—against the man who tried to kill her, and the corrupt government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life.
Once upon a time, she was a victim. Now Salander is fighting back.
What I thought: So having sorted the whole Kindle issue, I dived into this as soon as I could. My honest opinion - I think Larsson just got better with each book. It was a bit hard keeping all the players straight, but repeated references to who they worked for (The Section, SIS, Sapo, Milton, Millennium) helped keep me on track. And as with any book translated from another language, the names took a bit of getting use to, especially when a couple of them were similar.

If I have any beef with these books it's the suspension of disbelief you need to employ if you have any knowledge of IT security. (and I do, it's a field my husband works in). I know Lisbeth Salander is suppose to be an absolute genius at this stuff, but the ease with which she gets in, navigates and never gets caught - kinda hard to swallow - and the sole reason I will not recommend these books to my husband - he'd drive me crazy explaining why she couldn't do what she does! Apart from that - great reads and I will be watching the movies!

Challenges: What's in A Name

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT IN ORDER TO WIN AN EBOOK COPY OF CONNIE CORCORAN WILSON'S HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION II!

Today tell me a series which gets better with each book.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Is a meme hosted by Shelia over at Book Journey. A weekly check in to see what you are currently reading and what is coming up. Head over to Shelia's blog to see what others are reading this week.

Long, long time since I did a It's Monday! What are you Reading post. I lost my blogging mojo there for awhile, but am trying to get it back, especially as I am taking part in a book tour and giveaway soon - but more about that later!

What am I reading now.

Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx

At least, I think this is what I am reading now. I finished a book this morning (refused to get out of bed until I did - I love holidays!) and this was recommended by a friend, so I think I will give it a go.

What I've  Read Since I Was Last Here!

Bit of a list!

The Complete Peanuts: 1967 - 1968 - Charles Schulz
Disrupting Grace - Kristen Richburg
Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
Precious and the Monkeys - Alexander McCall Smith
Alex and Me - Irene M Pepperberg
Eric - Terry Pratchett
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection - Alexander McCall Smith
Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
The House at Salvation Creek - Susan Duncan
Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett
The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson
The Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko
The Day Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson (review to come)

I've also read 

Hellfire & Damnation II by Connie Corcoran Wilson

I'll be taking part in a book tour for it in October, with a review and an author interview. I've also been given a digital copy to give away! Head over to the "book tour" link to check out how to enter.

What's next?

Who knows! Our next book group book is A Private Life by Michael Kirby - I'm really looking forward to that. I also just bought The Casual Vacancy by J.K Rowling - interested to see what life after Potter is like. And of course, there is always more Pratchett!

So what are you reading? Leave me a link, I'd love to know!