Thursday, September 30, 2010

Changes are coming!

Changes are coming soon to JDP NEWS! Okay, so the changes will only be superficial. (Although I know I need to clean up my sidebars. I'll get to that eventually!) I've decided that this bookshelf template is more appropriate to my medieval research with joyce blog, since my research preference (with occasional exceptions) continues to be for books over the internet. In fact, I've just posted a blog on this subject: Google Isn't the Answer to Everything! if you'd like to read it.

So, I'll be playing with various new templates over the next few days or weeks for JDP NEWS. If this site temporarily begins to look like a horse of many colors, that's why!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post of teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's my first teaser from These Old Shades:

"My dear Hugh, if you imagine that the lust for vengeance has been my dominating emotion for twenty years, permit me to correct the illusion."

"Has it not grown cold?" Hugh asked, disregarding.

"Very cold, my dear, but none the less dangerous."

From These Old Shades, by Georgette Heyer, p 27

If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading, too.

Monday, September 27, 2010

What Am I Reading for My 2010 New/Old Reading Challenge?

I finished Georgette Heyer's The Black Moth last night, and in spite of my new/old book challenge, chose to immediately dive into another "old" GH title: These Old Shades, while I had all the characters from The Black Moth still fresh in my mind. (I promise I'll make up for it with two "new" reads next!) Although the names are changed between The Black Moth and These Old Shades and a few relationships are altered (the brothers in The Black Moth are no longer related in These Old Shades), it is nevertheless clear, upon reading these books together, that These Old Shades was intended as a sequel to The Black Moth.

I have not read The Black Moth often, and admit it is not one of my favorite Georgette Heyer titles. I compared the copyright dates this time round, and it appears that The Black Moth was published after These Old Shades (1929 vs 1926). And yet, as I read The Black Moth this time, and wondered at  the lack of depth and cohesion that so many of Ms Heyer's titles have, I found myself wondering if, perhaps, The Black Moth might have been written first, perhaps before Ms Heyer had fully developed the rich and splendid storytelling abilities so evident in the majority of her Regencies. It had the feeling to me of an "early work", lacking the maturity of the books that followed. I have no way of knowing if this is so. I merely share with you the thought that passed through my mind while reading it.

Now on to one of my all-time favorite Georgette Heyer titles, These Old Shades! Here is the back cover blurb:

The gentleman in question is Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, known by friends and enemies alike as Satanas--the devil. On this particular evening, the dangerous rake crosses paths with Léon, a red-headed youth of low birth who is fleeing a certain beating at his brutal brother's hands. On a whim, Avon buys the boy and makes him his page. It soon becomes clear, however, that Léon is not what he seems, and that Avon has an ulterior motive for bringing him into his household. Set in pre-Revolutionary France, These Old Shades follows a twisting course as young Léon (or is it Léonie?) is swept up in a dangerous mystery: how to account for the page's amazing resemblance to the sinister Comte de Saint Vire, for example; and why will this man go to any lengths to get the youth in his power?


I will share a Tuesday Teaser from These Old Shades on Tuesday.


If you'd like to join my 2010 New/Old Reading Challenge, it's not too late! Click here and here for more information. And remember, there are prizes involved if you join us!


Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post of teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's my second teaser from The Black Moth:

"No, no--of course not! I was only surprised. But I am thankfully glad he did not ask you for all that!"

"Glad? How can you be so cruel?"

"My dear girl, you could not possibly marry a--a--"

"Common felon!" sobbed Diana. "I can--I can!"

From The Black Moth, by Georgette Heyer, p 152

If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading, too.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Guest Blogging at LDS Writers Blogck

I was a guest blogger today over at LDS Writers Blogck. Click here to read my reflections on the relationship between writing and faith.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Winners of my Giveaway Game!

Congratulations to Colleen Conklin and Carla Parsons! Colleen and Carla have each won a $5 Amazon gift certificate for playing my JDP NEWS Giveaway Game!


Happy reading, ladies!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post of teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's my first teaser from The Black Moth:

"I fail to understand. You informed me that the Earl left all to Richard?"

"He changed his will, Tracy!"

"He--changed--his--will! Then, my dear, must you have played your cards very badly!"

From The Black Moth, by Georgette Heyer, p 49

If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading, too.