1. I am really enjoying a new book that I am reading thanks to my sweet husband and son. Evan had his school book fair a week or two ago, and he and daddy went and picked out some new books for him and his brother. They also surprised me with a book that I had forgotten that I really wanted to read. You may know that I am a huge Jane Austen fan, but you may not know that I have also always loved a good mystery. I also really love Sherlock Holmes so this book appeals to me on so many levels as a continuation of the beloved Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice expertly combined with a Sherlock Holmes style murder mystery. P.D. James, the author, is an English crime writer who also took considerable care in keeping Jane's work of art in tact and remained very faithful to the original story plot and writing style. So if you are looking for a great novel to read and, like me, always wondered what happened after our beloved Elizabeth married Mr. Darcy and settled at Pemberly, you may just enjoy this book.
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| {Death Comes to Pemberly} |
2. On a related note, imagine my happy surprise when searching for a picture and link for this post that I also discovered that this book will be made into a miniseries! And after the success of Downton Abbey, we all know how much we love our British historical fiction miniseries!
3. Although I am definitely not a big football fan, I was definitely happy to hear that our beloved Carolina Panthers defeated the New England Patriots last night in their Monday Night Football appearance right here in C-town! Go Panthers! Despite a head scratching flag penalty recall at the end of the game, I can't help but feel slightly vindicated for our loss in the 2008 Super Bowl to the Patriots on a poor call that did not go in our favor. Some say this game FINALLY puts the Panthers and Charlotte on the map which actually baffles me because I have always thought Charlotte and the Panthers should get more recognition from the media than they do. As I have stated many times, Charlotte is a very large city with many things that should make it well-known in our country, and as we have become a southern city filled with many transplants from the "frozen north," I think Charlotte is definitely a city to watch in the future for its growth and diversity. And my boys sure would like to see their Panthers take us to the playoffs and the Super Bowl again. This season is looking promising after six straight wins with our bright new quarterback star, Cam Newton!
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| {Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy taking down NE quarterback Tom Brady does make me smile!} |
4. I also wanted to share another great book that I have recently enjoyed reading because this new up and coming novelist definitely deserves recognition. I am a fiction reader although I like my fiction with a good dose of history, mystery, and real art, science, and places. That's why I like Dan Brown's books (Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code author) despite the fact that his later books have become a little predictable and less exciting in their plots. Earlier this year, Amazon recommended that I read a new book called The Atlantis Gene, which is the first novel of indie novelist, A.G. Riddle. I knew nothing about this writer when I read this book, but after reading it, I needed to find out more. Imagine my surprise when I read that he was actually from my state and lived in the Durham, NC area. His website now says he lives in Florida though. He is an indie writer, and he "published" this first novel on his own without a publisher or editor utilizing the services of Amazon to upload as an e-book. He put a great deal of research into this first novel which will be the first in a series. It has mystery and science fiction elements, but it is a great and fast-paced adventure that was exactly what I needed this summer. Since I wasn't currently reading anything else and just wanted a good book that would remove me from the other stresses in my life, it was perfect. Since he kind of leaves you hanging at the end for the sequel, I was delighted to get an e-mail recently that the sequel The Atlantis Plague is now available! It is still only available as an e-book for kindle, but it is only $3.99 which is definitely a steal! If we all help support this new author, we can help insure that he can keep using his talent and that he will be able to publish his works in hard copy. I would love hard copy versions of these two books!
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| Go here to purchase. |
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| {Catching Fire the movie} |
6. Another movie that is scheduled to be released by the end of the year is the second installment of The Hobbit. Evan is definitely looking forward to this one!
7. Besides these books that I am reading or want to read and these upcoming movies I want to watch, I have tons of shows on the ol' DVR that I desperately need time to watch. There are so many good shows this season...and none of them are reality shows because I do not like any of that junk. I like being transported into fantasy and fiction in my TV watching as well as my reading and movie watching so I am loving new seasons of Grimm, Bones, and Revolution as well as brand new shows like The Blacklist, Dracula, Once Upon A Time in Wonderland (the one my husband affectionately dubbed "Alice in Wonderland Meets Aladdin"), and Sleepy Hollow. I realize there are tons more new shows on, but that is all I can handle...and I don't handle those all that well. I look forward to catching up during the network breaks over the holidays and in January. I really love that they are turning some of my favorite classic stories into television series now.
So I hope you can enjoy some of these treats this season. Does this post make me look like a movie watching TV junkie or what? Haha!
I think that I might be the only person who hasn't watched Downtown Abbey. I need to change that. =) But like you, I'm a little limited on time with what I have time to watch. Jason will be excited about the new Hobbit movie too. =)
ReplyDeleteI'm not the biggest football fan either, but Evan was so excited that the Panthers won last night. He was really hoping that they'd win, even though he's a big Packers fan.
Oh, Tracy, please join the Downton Abbey club. It is soooo good. We are at the beginning of season 3 right now, but I haven't watched an episode in a while because of everything else we have to watch. I try to pace myself with Downton so I won't be going through withdrawals when I don't have any new episodes to watch. If I could recommend any show that I've discussed here, it would definitely be that one. :-)
DeleteTracy, we just jumped on the Downton Abbey bandwagon a few weeks ago. Dave watched the first one with me, although he was skeptical about it and he got even more sucked in than I did. It is totally worth the hype :)
DeleteHi! Found you after some clicks on a blog through Kelly's Korner. All three of your children are precious. Looking forward to following you (I hope you don't mind). :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Jennifer! Are you joining me from the bloggers in your area link up? Are you from NC? Do you have a blog? Thank you for following along!
DeleteIf you are a movie buff, you might like the www.imdb.com website...it is the Internet Movie Database, and it has lots of movie descriptions and trailers. It also has a search feature so you can look up almost any movie.
ReplyDeleteI read the Hunger Games trilogy, but I'm too scared to watch the movies. : )
Kelly, I actually used some links to that site for the movies. :-) You absolutely need to see the Hunger Games movie...it really brings it to life and is actually quite comical with all the fantastically weird fashion of the capital. :-)
DeleteI love lists like this! I always find something that grabs my attention that is new to me.
ReplyDeleteOK. Confession time. Pride and Prejudice is the only book that I was ever assigned to read that I didn't read. And I didn't read it because I couldn't stand it. Maybe it would be different as an adult, but I loathed it at 17. I read the 1st and last chapters, read the CliffsNotes and watched the movie and I got an A on the paper. Sneaky.
Confession #2- I bought the Hunger Game trilogy ages ago and still haven't read it. And I refuse to see the movies until I read the books. Maybe I will start this weekend so we can see this one in the theatre.
On a non-confession note- we are loving almost all of those shows too. I want to get caught up on Sleepy Hollow so I can start watching that regularly. My brother loves it and I've read tons of good stuff about it.
You should totally try it again. Oh the things we don't want to do at 17 when we think we know it all! ;-) Most of my reading wasn't done because I "had" to. I read all of Jane Austen's novels later in life and love them. I take that back...I read Persuasion for a college English class and that's probably my least favorite of her novels. "Emma" may actually be my favorite, but Pride and Prejudice is definitely a close second. If you want to watch a movie that actually portrays the story a little more faithfully, I'd watch the BBC version and not the newer American version. Yes, you definitely need to get on the board the Hunger Games train...before it is over. Aren't all these new shows based on old classic stories with new twists just so awesome?
DeleteI so want to read about Elizabeth and Mr.Darcy... Oh Mr. Darcy :) Never heard of that book.
ReplyDeleteLauren, you should definitely read this book! :-)
DeleteYou should check out Jasper Fforde. He is a hilarious British author. I would start with The Eyre Affair and go from there. I have Death Come To Pemberley on my "pick up the library list." It sounds good.
ReplyDeleteI am super-excited about the Canadian Football Championship this Sunday because not only is my team playing in it, but they are hosting it. It will be AWESOME!!!
And I really hope I get to see Catching Fire in theatres. We had to settle for watching The Hunger Games on our laptop and it just didn't do it justice.
I will definitely have to check out that author. The Eyre Affair...does that have to do with Jane Eyre, by chance? Let me know when you read "Death Comes to Pemberly" and we can discuss our thoughts. And yay for your team winning the Championship! That is truly awesome and sounds like a great game to watch! Now, you can cheer for our Panthers to make it to the Super Bowl. :-)
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