The Blue Sword | 
And that makes #BookSpinBingo number 5 for May! I think I‘m moving on from this month‘s list now and starting to work on the library summer reading challenge, with June‘s list appearing in the next day or so.
pickThis felt very different than The Hero and the Crown, but both are excellent. Harry (don‘t call her Angharad) is taken from everything she knows and has never been comfortable in and finds her destiny with a legendary blue sword. Her adventure is tough and demanding - but so is she. A hint of romance rounds this out without overwhelming.
pickShort, engaging, lively world-building and a fine female heroine.
pickA childhood favorite- this book is in my bones. I love that Harry‘s strength is not the annoying, headstrong and usually stupid sort that so many heroines today are praised for. What a treat it was to reread this book!
pickA fun Newbery-Honor fantasy.
Book 6 of #24b4Monday + #SummersEndReadathon ✔️
Time: 22h25m
#bfcr3 #smallsteppers
Celebrating a successful 16-mile run with a delicious “You Pick Two” and the ragged book on audio.
Time: 19h57m
#24b4monday #summersendreadathon #bfcr3 #smallsteppers
pg 9: ‘She had always suffered from a vague restlessness, a longing for adventure that she told herself severely was the result of reading too many novels when she was a small child.‘
I empathise.
pg 20: ‘Its twisted shadows had always been welcome to her; when she grew older she liked the feeling of great age that the forest gave her, of age and of a vast complicated life that had nothing to do with her and that she need not try to decipher.‘
so-soDefinitely a different experience, with the use of first person omniscient point of view jumping from Harry to Corlath's thoughts in the middle of a paragraph. On the whole I enjoyed Harry as a hero who is driven by fate, but doesn't let it overrule who she is. And even the romance felt more organic than forced.
PopSugar Reading Challenge 2018: a book with your favorite color in the title
pickThis is a #YourChoice pick for the #SFFTBRChallenge It fits a couple of categories for the challenge, but I already have books for them.
Harry Crewe comes to live in Damar after her father dies. For reasons she can‘t explain, she feels at home in the desert country. After Corlath, the Hillfolk King, pays a visit to her village, he kidnaps her and that‘s when her story truly begins. This is a wonderful story about finding one‘s self.
@DuckOfDoom
This month's book group book! Little harder to get hold of than usual (I think it might be OOP), but well worth it! Harry is just what we were looking for when we searched for 'fantasy books with kick-ass female leads'. @pattiepoetry
bailedI think it‘s a no from me. Fantasy isn‘t typically my genre anyway and I just...wasn‘t feeling this at all.
Hoping this one picks up...any advice?
pickI usually try to pick a new read for my monthly #BestOf, but #TheBlueSword is one of my all time favorites!
@RealLifeReading #AndItsAugust #BestOfAugust
This month's stats:
18 Books Read
1 Bailed (but only delayed really, I just wasn't feeling it yet!)
4 Current Reads
It's been a pretty good month for reading! But my Hunny has me on a book buying ban for the next month! 😭Let's see if I can do it! I'm already feeling weak! Wish me luck! 😅
“She had always suffered from a vague restlessness, a longing for adventure that she told herself severely was the result of reading too many novels when she was a small child.”
There is no such thing as reading too many novels!
"She had always suffered from a vague restlessness, a longing for adventure that she told herself severely was the result of reading too many novels when she was a small child."
I think we can all relate to this.??
#bookandcoffee #fantasy #Kindle
One of my all-time favorite YA fantasy books is just 1.99usd on Kindle!
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sword-Robin-McKinley-ebook/dp/B01CY2XFDK/
#fantasy #Kindledeals
pickA truly lovely fantasy novel, with all that is great about the genre: an engaging story, well-crafted and well-told, rich, with a world so well and effortlessly built that you feel you could walk into it and wander around. It has an old-world feel, but the characters are warm and relatable. As this won the Newbery Award, one must believe it was written for children, but it never talks down, nor does it reign in its wonderfully lush language.
"It is that I cannot see what I am doing or why, and it is unsettling always to live in the moment as it passes. Oh, I know -- one never sees ahead or behind. But I see even less. It is like being blindfolded when everyone else in the room is not. No one can see outside the room -- but everyone else can see the room. I would like to take my blindfold off."
"[She] had always suffered from a vague restlessness, a longing for adventure that she told herself severely was the result of reading too many novels when she was a small child."
1. Ohio
2. Too many! Today: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
3. I'm not big on series but I do ❤️ Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews and this year found the Tortall books by Tamara Pierce
4. 10 Things I Hate About You
5. Pretty much anything HGTV or The First 48 (I don't watch a lot)
6. Right now Daya, Alessia Cara, Sia
7. Green
8. Teen contemporary and fantasy, contemporary romance
9. Library Branch Manager
10. Three cats and two little humans.
Today's #FunFridayPhoto is one of my #comfortreads. Tattered around the edges from repeated readings since I was thirteen! Hari is the best ❤❤❤
It's been years and years since I read this book but the vibe left in my memory is of desert, sand, heat. I adored this book as a teenager and I should really consider a reread. #dreamingofawarmerclimate #readjanuary
Note: I'm in California's Central Valley so I'm kind of already in a warmer climate. 😝 This weekend we're supposed to have a crazy rainstorm with rising rivers & potential flooding, though. Yikes! Good weekend to stay in and read.
2016 @bookriot #ReadHarder Challenge complete. (Spending #NYE on the couch reading? Bookworm status confirmed!)
Do I think of this line every time I drink orange juice? Yes. Yes I do.
pickI left a trail of half-finished books in my wake last week. The books themselves weren't bad, they just didn't suit my mood. It was time to return to an old favorite. The Blue Sword and Deerskin by Robin McKinley never disappoint! If you haven't tried them yet, you are in for a treat.
I had to work both jobs today and I'm just now getting home! So, it's a bit late, but here's my #BookPyramid!
@RealLifeReading #PhotoADayNov16
Three fictional characters...better late than never! Milo Thatch, Harry Crewe, and Keladry of Mindelan seem to cover it pretty well. 😊
These #WomenWriters helped shape my childhood with their strong leading ladies who live their lives on their own terms! 💪🏼👩🏻 #SeptPhotoChallenge
pickI thought this book was fabulous. Fantasy with a capable and strong female heroine. Perfect for young girls who want to read about girls getting things done! Also, The Hero and The Crown.
pickI thought this book was fabulous. Fantasy with a capable and strong female heroine. Perfect for young girls who want to read about girls getting things done! Also, The Hero and The Crown.
I'm currently reading a quirky little fantasy from the early 80s and it brought to mind another 1980s fantasy for #recommendsday. It has been less than 10 years since I first read The Blue Sword but it changed me forever. Before it I would have sworn to you I didn't like high fantasy but I love this book with all my heart and after it I went looking for more high fantasy. Strong, butt-kicking, independent heroine finds her place in the world.
pickI read this book in fourth grade. It opened my eyes to a world where women could wield swords and kick ass. It started my voyage into the genres of fantasy and science fiction. #tbt
