Author: ekkarn

February Reading Update with Some Music, too!

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Cross-Posted from Book-Ed

As the month comes to an end it’s time for a reading recap and update. Yesterday I finished reading Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried which is the fourth book I’ve finished in February. Previously I finished The Promise of a Pencil, Throne of Glass and Revelation Space. The Things They Carried had been on my TBR pile so it counts toward my goal on the TBR Pile Challenge and since it is about the Vietnam War it counts toward the 2015 Historical Fiction Challenge. Here is a current update on my Reading Challenges…..

Reading Challenge From TBR Pile Buy/Library Total Goal % of Goal
2015 Nonfiction Reading Challenge 0 1 1 11 9%
2015 Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 3 1 4 23 17%
2015 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 1 0 1 5 20%
2015 Science Fiction/Fantasy Challenge 1 1 2 12 17%
Totals 5 3 8 51 16%

 

I am not doing too badly after the first two months of the year. I will try to write a review of The Things They Carried,, which by the way was really, really good Guess that’s why it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award!

Early this week I added to my new daily routine The Music and Reading Hour, of course, I did for it for the first to days of the week and then came babysitting Oliver and Zoe and work at Target and  two Reading Hours were all that happened. Next week I hope to do better. Anyway, what I did was I selected a genre  of music that goes well with reading, Monday it was jazz and the other day it was New Age and created a 60 minute playlist at Spotify. Then I gathered the four books that I am currently reading, set the timer for 15 minutes, and spent that time on each of the four books. It was a nice hour! The genre for the second Music and Reading Hour was New Age.Here are the artists and albums included and the album;’s position of the December 2014 Zone Music Reporter Chart.

No Album Artist
1 Spirits Erik Scott
5 Midnight Rhumba Johannes Linstead
8 Whispers in the Winter Snow* Dan Chadburn
10 Gymnosperm: Song of the Rose Jordan de la Sierra
* initially listened to Nocturnes

 

It was a nice way to read and also listen to some new music! I have even used the Jordan de la Sierra track for meditating and Midnight Rhumba has been in my music rotation and you’ll read more about that album soon!!

 

Oliver and Zoe – Our Yin and Yang

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A Fun Day with Yang Grandson Oliver

 

I am a strong believer in the duality of both nature and the human spirit, The yin and the yang, light and dark, male and female, Narcissus and Goldmund,, the active and the passive, Can you see where I’m going with this?? If you check, the post prior to this one is about our passive grandchild Zoe.Yesterday was spent babysitting  our more active grandchild Oliver. Included in the  description of yin and yang  at Wikipedia is:the following…..

…Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary (rather than opposing) forces that interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, (for instance shadow cannot exist without light). Either of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation. The yin yang shows a balance between two opposites with a little bit in each. Read More

While I am sure that both of our grandchildren have a little yin and yang in their spirit,, their yin and yang of Oliver and Zoe  have interacted to make our family a whole lot greater!! I know that the two of them have brought their brothers and their respective wives closer together, and the rest of us each want to be a part of their lives and consequently to their parents.

So what’s new with Oliver. I still marvel at his non-stop motor, and the way at eleven months, he flies around the house and bounces up and down when his music is playing. I also noticed that he has added the ability to crouch like his dad, who is a baseball catcher……

Oliver crouches for his booksOh and that book he is reaching for is about farm animals and their sounds. It also is a touch and feel book. I noticed yesterday, he was not picking at the sheep’s wool in an attempt to get a small piece that he could stick in his mouth,like he did last time!!

He also stares intently at the Speak and Say we gave him for Valentine’s Day. He spins the central pointer arrow, I guess, in an attempt to make it speak! Zack. their family cat, on the other hand attempts, to stop the spinner and eat it

Oliver also amazed me yesterday when it was nap time, well at least morning nap time, After he inhaled his bottle, he crawled off of me and laid down, well actually he kinda collapsed on the couch and went to sleep, for two hours!!  Of course that is why an afternoon nap didn’t happen!  Anyway, by the end of the day, while Oliver was still in let’s run around the house mode, Granddad wanted a little more passivity, so I tried to look for sitting things to do. One of the things that I tried was large plastic blocks, which usually goes Granddad builds the tower and GodzOliiver knocks it over, but to my surprise GodzOliver at least once or twice only took the top floor off of the tower. Several times though I held the bottom floors, but rather than try to knock them down he only took the top unsecured floor and then we slowly worked our way down the tower.

After all that block knocking down, it was exercise time! Now while Zoe exercised by herself. Mr Oliver used granddad for a mat!!

All in all, in was a great day with our little yang boy.. I can’t wait until next Wednesday when the yin girl will have me wrapped around her little finger, too!!

As for me, I have to continue exercising everyday because I don’t know what day next week, I may have to chase that little yang man around his dining room table!!!

 

 

Another Quiet Afternoon with the often Amazing Zoe!

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Yesterday, i spent the afternoon with the very quiet, now five month-old Zoe. That quiet part may change though over the next few  months as she becomes more mobile. Somehow though, I still think she will be somewhat calmer than Mr. Oliver.  Kinda’ like difference between Oliver;s father Andrew and Andrew’s sister Elizabeth, Guess which one loved to stand at the top of a wooden sliding board, when he still wasn’t walking and shake it back and forth!!

It is amazing though the way that as a grandparent, you  notice the  changes that occur every week, small things that go unnoticed when you are dealing with them 24/7!  One of those little things I noticed yesterday, was how well Zoe can  sit up, and then reach forward and pick up little things, like her pacifier…….

photo (25)

 

And while she can pick the pacifier up really well, and get it to her mouth, she still has some problems with the positioning……. she gets close though!!

 

photo (24)

 

Another thing that amazed me yesterday, well it has actually amazed me before , so maybe I should say amazed me again, is the way she goes to sleep. I have seen Peter and Melissa, just lay her down, wrap her inside a blanket and watch her go to sleep. Unbelievable! Anyway yesterday, when I got there Zoe was asleep, Melissa was going to put her upstairs in the crib. I asked Missy, how deaf granddad would hear Zoe, I know that they have a camera and an app for the iPhone (DropCam?),, Well, we didn’t know what to do so Missy brought Zoe back downstairs and laid her in a bassinet, upon laying down Miss Zoe’s eyes immediately opened. It was obviously all hope for that nap was gone! Missy left at 12:30 and said that Zoe would be ready to eat again at around 3. Luckily she played well by herself for a while and then we watched some videos, read Chicka Boom  Chicka Boom! and before I knew,  it was almost 2:45, only 15 minutes till a bottle and hopefully at nap!  Well, Zoe laid back on me,  then laid sideways with her head cradled in my arm and she went to sleep!! Wow! Four kids, two grandchildren and I think that’s the first time that has ever happened!! And she was right in a position so that I could lay her down!! She slept for about an hour, then had her bottle. We read and Zoe played some more and before we knew, Dad Peter was home!! Now, well rested, and feed Miss Zoe decided that it was time for some exercising…….

 

photo (23)A few pushes or a nice yoga plank will do it! Actually, Pete was enticing to crawl the little Yoda doll, ignoring Missy’s warning of the dire consequences of teaching her to crawl!!  All in all, it was another fine afternoon with Miss Zoe. If you excuse me now though, I need to go exercise, because I will need to be in shape for my workout tomorrow with Mister Oliver and I eagerly look forward to it!!!

The Music and Reading Hour……

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Music and Books Perfect Together

 

The other day I decided to get a little more organized in both my reading and music listening, I decided what I will  do is to try to set aside an hour a day to read and listen to music together. The music genres that I prefer to listen to if I am reading are: new age, jazz, classical or progressive rock.I figured I will create a 60 minute playlists containing a few tracks from several artists, that I am unfamiliar with,  in whatever genre I pick. My first music and reading hour was last Friday and the genre that I chose was jazz. To start, I reviewed the JazzWeek Charts and found five artists that I was unfamiliar with, which was not hard at all.  Then I went to Spotify, to create the playlist.

Here are the five artists and their albums with the position of the album on the JazzWeek Chart.

No Artist Album
1 Justin Kauflin Dedication
11 Joe Alterman Georgia Sunset
12 Charles McPherson The Journey
13 Sam Most New Jazz Standards
16 Dave Bass NYC Sessions

 

Music and Reading Hour Musicians..…

 

Justin Kauflin,

, Justin Kauflin is an Award-winning jazz pianist who began performing at the age of six,  in concerts, nursing homes and weddings, eventually becoming concertmaster for several orchestras.He then lost his eyesight due to a rare disease, but he never gave up.and…

…..In 2004, Justin graduated in the top 1% of Salem High School alongside his sighted peers, and valedictorian at the Governor’s School, receiving a Presidential scholarship to attend William Paterson University in New Jersey.  At WPU, he was taken under the wings of legendary trumpeter, Clark Terry and performed in the Clark Terry Ensemble.  He also had the tremendous privilege of learning from his hero, the late Mulgrew Miller, as well as Harold Mabern and the late James Williams. He graduated summa cum laude with an Honor’s degree in Music.

….Dedication is his second release and is now number 1 on the JazzWeek Charts….. more,

Joe Alterman from his website…..

In a recent feature on Joe Alterman in the Wall Street Journal, legendary writer Nat Hentoff wrote, “’Talk about the joy of jazz!…It’s a pleasure to hear this music’…You’ve got it!”

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Alterman moved to New York in the fall of 2007 to study music at New York University, where he earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Music. While there, he had the opportunity to study with greats including Don Friedman, Joe Lovano and John Scofield. More

Dave Bass’s story is also one of stick-to-it-ness…..

‘In the 70s and 80s Dave Bass

…. supported his growing family as a full time musician. Immersed in the vibrant San Francisco jazz and Latin music scene, he led his own group playing often with friends Bobby McFerrin, drummerBabatunde Lea, jazz vocalist Jackie Ryan and others at the legendary Keystone Kornerand other well known venues on the scene. In 1981…..

.In the mid-80s, after a random slip and fall on the way to a gig caused a seriously damaging wrist fracture, doctors did not offer a promising prognosis for him to ever play piano again. With his beloved music career no longer an option, and with a wife and young daughter to support, Dave enrolled at the University of California, Irvine, graduatingPhi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude. He moved on to UCLA School of Law becoming an Editor of the UCLA Law Review and began his legal career in 1992 with a prestigious commercial firm. Dave is now a California Deputy Attorney General in Civil Rights Enforcement, and was honored with the 2009 Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Achievement.

then……

….In 2005, after a twenty-year absence from the music scene, Dave’s long-forgotten dreams of playing and composing jazz were re-kindled when his own self-discovery coincided with an invitation to play some impromptu solo piano during a private party while the band took a break. The guests clamored for more and the band invited him to sit in for the rest of the night.

Dave continued on from there and since then has released to albums Gone and his current release NYC Sessions both have been very well received climbing high on the JazzWeek Charts.

Sam Most From Wikipedia.

Samuel “Sam” Most was an American jazz flautist and tenor saxophonist, based in Los Angeles. He was “probably the first great jazz flutist,” according to jazz historian Leonard Feather. Read More

Charles McPherson From Wikipedia

Charles McPherson is a jazz alto saxophonist born in Joplin, Missouri, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, most notable for his work from 1960 to 1972 with Charles Mingus…..

So I set the timer on my phone for 15 minutes and then read from these four books as I listened to the above musicians!!!

Music and Reading Hour Books

 

The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien

Crown of Midnight – Sharon J Maas

Hard Rain – Barry Eisler

Green-Eyed Lady – Chuck Greaves

It was a successful experiment and a very pleasant morning, soon to be followed by more playlists and music!!

 

 

A Trip to the Library-no books, except maybe an Alex Kava

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So I had to take books back to the library yesterday — mine and my daughter Elizabeth’s. On the way, I told myself: “You are not getting any books out of the library. You’re already reading four or five!”

My counter-argument: “Well… maybe if I find something by someone I really love. Like Alex Kava.” I figured I was safe because her books usually come out in the summer.

I browsed the new-release shelf — nothing that called out. I moved on to the regular stacks, but someone else was blocking the aisle, so I jumped ahead to the end of the alphabet. At S I found Locked In by John Scalzi.

“Hey, I like this guy… and I’ve been meaning to read this one.”

Maybe I’ll just get this one book… And so it begins.

Back to the start of the alphabet — A…B…C…D…E… maybe I escape with just the Scalzi?

Then I reached the Ks.

And there it was.

NO!!! YES!!!

Breaking Creed - Alex Kava

Breaking Creed — a new book from Alex Kava. Released in January? What’s with that? Maggie doesn’t usually show up until the summer! From Amazon:

New York Times– and internationally bestselling author Alex Kava’s thrilling new series introducing Ryder Creed, ex-marine turned K-9 search-and-rescue dog trainer, as he teams up with fan-favorite FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell.

Well, that did it. New series? I have to get it.

And since I already had two books in hand… I circled back to something I’d seen under G — Green-Eyed Lady by Chuck Greaves. I don’t know Greaves, but an author I do know and read, Douglas Preston, says this about the book:

“The wickedest read of the year: smart, real, vivid as hell. I loved this book.”

How do you walk away from that? Exactly — you don’t.

Luckily they’re all four-week loans, so now I just need to finish the four books I already started. OK, enough — I need to read before I head to work at Target!

Post Update (2025): Since I first wrote this library-adventure post, a few things have changed — and a few haven’t! While I’ve read several other John Scalzi books over the years, I still haven’t read Locked In. I did finish Green-Eyed Lady, but never continued the series, which only ended up with three books total. As for Alex Kava, I’ve kept up better there — I’m now up to Book 9 in the Ryder Creed series!

February 2015 Reading Update…..

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So it’s past the middle of February and time for a reading update. My reading for the year and my Reading Challenges has been going pretty well, I have already finished three of the five books that I have planned to read for Fenruary. The books that I have finished are

Revelation Space – Alastair Reynolds – Science Fiction and TBR Pile challenges

The Promise of a Pencil – Adam Braun – Non-Fiction Challenge

Throne of Glass –  Sarah J Maas – Fantasy – my own Sci-Fi Challenge

 

All three books are really good so check them out……..Now I had planned on reading two more books Good Omens from Terry Pratchett and Nil Gaimn. and The Templar from P.C. Doherty. I am still reading  Good Omens, but not The Templar, I read the first few pages and it didn’t really like it so I have set it aside. Here’s a reading update with a little about  the five books in my reading rotation:

 

Hard Rain

 Amazon

Hard Rain from Barry Eisler – Book 2 in the John Rain series. i’ read Rain Fall Book 1 several years ago, but my library didn’t have book 2 so I put off reading th series. Then I found Hard Rain and put it on my TBR shelf. I figure now is the time to read it!!  John Rain is an interesting character an assassin who specializes in death by “natural causes” set in Japan the  first book was really good and since the series is now at eight books, From Goodreads…

Half American, half Japanese, expert in both worlds but at home in neither, John Rain is the best killer money can buy. You tell him who. You tell him where. He doesn’t care about why..

The book is for both my Cloak & Dagger Challenge and the TBR Pile Challenge.

Things They Carried

 

 

Amazon

The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien. From Goodreads

They carried malaria tablets, love letters, 28-pound mine detectors, dope, illustrated bibles, each other. And if they made it home alive, they carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only beginning to absorb. Since its first publication, The Things They Carried has become an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic work of American literature, and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits, of the human heart and soul.. More

The Things They Carried won several awards and was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Award. This book replaces The Templar as a historical fiction read and a is a TBR Pile read!!

Th Presidents' War

Amazon

The Presidents’ War : Six American Presidents and the War that Dvivided Them – Chris DeRose – This book deals five presidents who proceeded the Lincoln presidency. They were divided on the war, as well as, Lincoln’s policies. The five former President’s who were still alive during the War were, John Tyler, Martin Van Buren, James Buchannan, Millard Filimore and  Franklin Pierce. So far I have found this boo to be very interesting since, outside of Lincoln, I never learned much about any of  the other five presidents

Nonfiction Reading Challenge Book

Crown of Midnight

 

Amazon

Crown of Midnight – Sharon J Maas – Book # 2 of the Throne of Glass series. The time is right to continue with the story of Celaena Sardothien!!

My Science Fiction and Fantasy Challenge

Good Omens

Amazon

Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen – I will continue reading this funny book!

My Science Fiction and Fantasy Challenge and TBR Plle Challenge

For a more detailed reading update visit my Reading Challenge Update Page. So far seven books finished and five in process!!

Feb1995 Reads- Novels from Bill Pronzini, Frank McConnell and Vince Kohler

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Originally posted Feb 2015 updated Nov 2025

 

Tonight I started thinking about books that I’ve read, and decided to look at my Goodreads Bookshelf to see what books I finished in February of 1995, 20 years ago,yeah right!  

Books Read in February 1995

  • February 4 – Liar’s Poker – Harry Garnish #4 – Frank McConnell
  • February 21 –  Banjo Boy Eldon Larkin #3 – Vince Kohler
  • February 25 I Shackles a Nameless Detective # Bill Pronzini.

Shackles – Nameless Detective #16 – Bill Pronzini

Of the three Shackles was my probably my favorite. While I don’t remember all of the details I do remember that it was a great read! In fact the book was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Novel (It lost to Thomas Harris; Silence of the Lambs, tough competition!

About Shackles from Goodreads…..

Who is the slightly overweight, Italian-American private investigator who never reveals his name? He is the “Nameless Detective”. This time the San Francisco Bay area’s hottest sleuth finds himself the victim of a ruthless, fiendish, and unknown enemy’s revenge.

That revenge involved shackling Nameless in a remote mountain cabin!! I just remember that it was a page turner that i finished in 4 days!

Bill Pronzini;s Nameless detective series was a staple of my reading in the 90s. Quicksilver, the 11th book in the series was the first Nameless Detective book I read. I read it in 1990, by the year 2000, I had read 11 more.books including:

Here are the Nameless Detective books I read through the ’90s and early 2000s. For the full series and more recent updates, visit my Bill Pronzini author page.

Deadfall (Nameless Detective, #15)
Jackpot (Nameless Detective, #17)
Hoodwink (Nameless Detective, #7)
Breakdown (Nameless Detective, #18)
Quarry (Nameless Detective, #19)
Epitaphs (Nameless Detective, #20)
Demons (Nameless Detective, #21)
Shackles (Nameless Detective, #16)
Sentinels (Nameless Detective, #23)
Boobytrap (Nameless Detective, #25)
Illusions (Nameless Detective, #24)

In the 2000s I read two more Nameless novels Crazybone (Nameless Detective, #26) and Nightcrawlers (Nameless Detective, #30). As I look over the Nameless Series at Goodreads, I see that June 23rd is the anticipated release date for book number 39 in the series Vixen!

Maybe I can get back into reading the series again by then…..I just found the book Mourners (the book that follows Nightcrawlers on my TBR bookshelf

  I guess I should start there, or maybe I should start with Book 1 The Snatch!! What do you think??

2025 Update: Since writing the original post, I did go back to the Nameless series. I finally read Mourners (#27), which follows Nightcrawlers, and just this month I finished Savages (#31). I’m working on a new post about Savages now — I’ll link it here once it’s live. But I still haven’t read Snatched!

Frank McConnell – Liar’s Poker – Harry Garnish #4

The  Frank McConnell book that I read Liar’s Poker was the 4th and final book in the Harry Garnish series. The series featured Sister Bridget O’Toole, a nun who inherited her father’s investigative agency, and Henry Garnish, her chain-smoking, hard-drinking, salty-mouthed assistant and they were great, really funny, as well as, exciting. I always wished that McConnell had written more, for years if I was at the library and was looking for a good book I’d remember these books, and go and look to see if there was anything new.. Just tonight I found out why there were no more books,. Mr McConnell died in 1999. You can read more about Frank McConnell here. Seems like he was a terrific teacher and writer!

Vince Kohler – Banjo Boy (Eldon Larkin #3)

Finally, Banjo Boy by Vince Kohler….Banjo Boy was the third book in Vince Kohler’s series featuring Eldon Larkin.

From Mystery File:

Vince Kohler wrote four books, Rainy North Woods (1990), Rising Dog (1992), Banjo Boy (1994), and Raven’s Widow (1997). All four featured journalist Eldon Larkin who worked as reporter/photographer for the South Coast Sun, the local newspaper for small town Port Jerome, Oregon. Educated, he reads French classic literature in the original language, but proving how useful his education is, Eldon is a loser when it comes to the important things in life — women, cars, and career. He left Berkeley California and an ex-wife behind, and now dreams of the big story that will get him a job with a big city newspaper. Continue Reading

I have read three out of the four Eldon Larkin books with Raven’s Widow being the one I missed, maybe I should go back and read it!! like the other two series I remember enjoying the series.

Anyway, if you pick up any of the books by Bill Pronzini, Frank McConnell or Vince Kohler, I don’t think you’d be disappointed!! So check them out!!

Revelation Space – Alastair Reynolds

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Alastair Reynolds  – Revelation Space (Book 7 of 2015)

Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds

 

So as I was coming to the end of Alastair Reynold’s Revelation Space when I thought to myself; which character am I rooting for?? I image that it’s supposed to be Dan Sylveste, who throughout the book has been obsessed with the Amarantin civilization. A civilization that was destroyed 900,000 years ago! Sylveste has spent a lifetime on Resurgam trying to uncover what happened to the Amarantin civilization. From what he has uncovered it appeared that The Event that destroyed their civilization occurred shortly after the civilization had achieved space flight!

I don’t think I should be rooting for  Ilia Volyova a member of the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity, who along with her crew are headed for Resurgam to capture Sylveste and his father Calvin to force them to help restore the Captain of their ship who is a victim of the melding plague and  is now no more than an amorphous being!!  And then there’s Khouri, an assassin who was recruited by the Mademoiselle to kill Sylveste. Why?

So after the first 300 or so pages, I felt like……

 

Wtf wasthat

 

But I continued on and I think that around page 500 plus…… I think I finally understood what was happening maybe and then again maybe not??

Yes there were times when I thought that things were just a tad too confusing, especially when things went back and forward in time over the first half of the book, but like Sylveste I plodded on because I wanted to find out what was happening. I

needed to know why the Sun Stealer wanted Sylveste to continue on and why Mademoiselle wanted him dead! Which side was the right side?

Should Slyveste  be stopped no matter what, what would happen if he did discover how the Amarantin civilization perished!

Bottom line: Revelation Space was a 3 out of 5 book for me. DId I like it, yes. Was the final resolution satisfying for the most part yes. Did it leave me thinking about the history of the universe. Yes?

Do I want to read more books in the series? yes.I think really the main aspect of the book that I didn’t like was that there really wasn’t any character that I cared about!

 Links for Further Exploration of the Works of Alastair Reynolds and Revelation Space

Website
Twitter
Goodreads
Amazon

Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas

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Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas – (Book 6 for 2014)

 

So the question is: Can a 63 year-old grandfather love a book that features an eighteen year-old kick-ass female protagonist? The answer is a resounding hell yes!! The book is Throne of Glass and the heroine is Celaena Sardothian the Adarlan Assassin who has been captured and sent to a slave labor camp. Celaena has amazingly survived 1 and 1/2 years in the Endovier Salt Mines, when the story begins. The novel opens when Crown Prince Dorian Havillliard of Adarlan visits and makes Celaena and offer she can’t refuse return with him to Rifchold and be his champion in a competition to be his father, the King’s Champion! If she wins and serves the King for four years, she will be set free. Soon Celaena is on her way to join a competition against twenty-three killers, thieves and warriors to become the King’s Champion and ultimately be set free.

Soon Celaena is in the competition of her life against not only the assembled competitors but against an evil that is lose in the Castle. An evil that is brutally slaying the competitors one by one. But Celaena is not in the fight alone, along the way she is helped by the spirit of the first Queen of Adarlan Elena, and from Princess Nehemia Ytger of Eyllwe, Celaena’s naive land. A land that has been subjugated by Adarlan forces. Celaena’s presence upsets the whole castle as Crown Prince Dorian sees her as more than just his champion in the competition and Chaol the Captain of the Guard must not only protect Celaena from danger, but also Dorian from the dangerous Celaena!!

I thought that the book was a well-written page turner with just the right mix of mysticism and suspense. I enjoyed all the main characters Celaena, Dorian, Chaol and Nehemia. I also thought that the attraction between Chaol and Celaena and Dorian and Celaena was handled just about right!

Here’s a quote from Kirkus Reviews that sums up my thoughts about Throne of Glass fairly well…..

“Woven in the vein of a Tolkien fantasy….This commingling of comedy, brutality and fantasy evokes a rich alternate universe with a spitfire young woman as its brightess star.”

Bottom line: Throne of Glass is a strong 4.5 out of 5 book. It was exciting and entertaining throughout the book. It was a great choice for my first exploration of the Young Adult genre and I look forward to checking out similar books! I already have the second book in the series checked out of the library. I don’t know if I can put off reading it long enough to finish some of the other books that I am reading or planned to read!! Oh, what the hell maybe I’ll just start it. What do you think??

Links for Further Explorations of Sarah J Maas and Throne of Glass

Sarah J Maas Website
Facebook: Throne of Glass
Twitter: Sarah J Maas
Amazon:Sarah J Maas

Stephane Grappelli – Grandfather of Jazz Violinists”

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Stephane Grappelli  – violin (January 26, 1908 -December 1, 1997)

Today is the birthday of the musician whom many people call “the grandfather of the jazz violinists”Stephane Grappelli. Grappelli was born in 1908 and passed away in  1997 at the age of 89! He had  performed  well into his 80s!  Basically, I know of Grappelli through the album Paris Encounter recorded with Gary Burton in 1969 I should now Stephane Grappelli  because he founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934! The group was one of the first all-string jazz bands!

Stephane Grappelli SkolThis morning I took a little time and listened to some of  Stephane Grappelli’s vast catalogue of music. The first album I listened to was Skol which he recorded with the great Oscar Peterson in 1979. Scott Yanow at AllMusic writes….

Pianist Oscar Peterson and violinist Stephane Grappelli meet up on this Scandinavian concert. The “backup” crew (guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Niels Pedersen and drummer Mickey Roker) is not too bad either. In addition to a closing blues (which is highlighted by tradeoffs from Peterson and Grappelli), the quintet performs five veteran standards with creativity and swing. This CD, a straight reissue of a Pablo LP, contains plenty of fine music. More at AllMusic

The second album of Stephane Grapelli‘s that I listened to several tracks from was, Stephane Grapelli and David Grisman Live – released in 1981. I only had a chance to listen to a few tracks on this album, but I loved what I heard and I really want to go back and listen to these two great musicians trade licks on this album!! Both of these guys are masters of their respective instruments!!

the best of the pickpocket ensembleLater in the day I was listening to Emergence from Lawrence Blatt and the violin of Lila Sklar. When I went to Spotify and put in Lila’s name the only thing that the search returned was that she appeared on The Best of the pickPocket Ensemble. So I put the album on, while I was doing some surfing on the Internet.  It seems that the pickPocket Ensemble is a fairly well-known group from northern California that has produced six albums of original music. Their gypsy-tinged acoustic music has been featured in several films and on NPR and public television. Eric Feber, The Virginian-Pilot writes:

“This ensemble has effectively picked the pocket of a score of musical styles from all over the world to create a melodic and cohesive work of originality, humor and melodic invention.”

The band’s byline on their website is “new music for the World Cafe.” While Lila Sklar is not listed as a member of the band, she is listed as a friend and collaborator! The violin duties for the band are handled by Chloe Allen, who has performed in a wide variety of styles including classical, folk, pop, rock, jazz, hip-hop, metal, circus, burlesque, punk, and Gypsy Swing!

So on a day that we honor the “grandfather of the jazz violin it was great to listen to a group of musicians, who are keeping the spirit of Stephane Grappelli alive. Happy Birthday, Stephane! I hope you and Django had a great day together!

Here is a playlist with some songs from each of the albums from above!!