Suddenly Sunday

 Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

Tis' the Season to be busy! I have had a whole lot going on this week!  I posted 3 reviews:

• The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose
• Brigid of Kildare by Heather Terrell (at Royal Reviews)
• Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

I was interviewed by Jenny @ her blog It's All in the Details.  Thank you Jenny!  It was fun :)

I signed up for my first challenge of 2012: The 2012 TBR Pile Challenge hosted by Adam @ Roof Beam Reader.  Not sure how many more I'll sign up for but I'm trying to make 2012 my "minimal obligations" year so probably not too many more.... Also been working on the best of 2011 list and wrap up for the Historical Deeds Challenge.

In case you missed it, the giveaway for The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose (open to US/CAN) ends at midnight tonight so be sure to enter if you haven't.

Also Royal Reviews (where I moonlight as my alter ego Baroness of the Bygone) is hosting the Twelve Days of a Tudor Giveaway for Christmas which starts today and ends on the 22nd.  Stop over there and check it out!

Coming up this week:

My review of The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. It will be just this one review this week because I have to do the Christmas shopping.  (Haven't even STARTED yet.  I'm a slacker, I know....) Also coming is one MASSIVE mailbox to share on Monday.  Now off to make a toasty beverage and do some laundry...and read of course!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

Well, it has been an interesting two weeks with not a lot going on here because of unexpected health concerns (nothing serious but definitely annoying and painful).  Because of this I missed my 2nd blogoversary which was on the 5th of November.  I am hoping to get back in the swing of things this week.  Also on the 10th my Boy turned the big 0-7 so we spent this weekend partying like rock stars at Chuck E. Cheese and watching Puss in Boots. 

This coming week will be my review on The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough and a review of The Maid by Kimberly Cutter over at Royal Reviews on the 17th. 

I am chugging along through Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky but I have sitting next to me Out of Oz by Gregory MaGuire. It's the final book in the Wicked Years which I have been waiting for forever.  It keeps whispering Read ME!  Read ME! but I can't because I have reading challenge books to finish and I am running out of time.  So tempting though. Perhaps I should save up my willpower for Turkey Day and just give in.....

Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday.  Today is a lazy day of reading for me and catching up on my fave blogs since I've been away.

Suddenly Sunday + these are a few of my favorite things

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

Have you ever been physically exhausted from being so mind numbingly bored?  That was me this week at work.  After an entire week of being without my computer where I control the universe handle all the needs of our assigned personnel, I got the computer back.  It worked for about 4 hours and then it pooped out again.  I spent the entire week trying to get the thing to work and then finally had to take it to the pros on Friday to get it some TLC.  Thankfully it is working now but that was an entire week of staring at the wall with nothing to do.  I think it must not have been my week technology wise.  My darling boy decided to slam the ceramic heart he made me last year down into the middle of the keyboard on my laptop, annihilating the R key which is making for very interesting times typing reviews until I can get it fixed.  I certainly have a way with computers!

Reviews posted this past week:

• The Women of the Cousins War by Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin and Michael Jones
• The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

Coming up this week:

• The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory
• Claude & Camille: A Novel of Monet by Stephanie Cowell
• The Magician King by Lev Grossman

 And now for some randomness before I run off to do fun things like laundry and giving the cat a bath, in no particular order the Top 5 things I'm loving this week:

1. This blog which is completely devoted to period movies!  I have no idea why I haven't run across this before but classic movies and period movies are my faves and this blog is all kinds of awesome!  Someone posted about it on a Papebackswap forum and I am so glad they did!

2. This Guy who has hilariously reviewed Jean Auel's Earth's Children series and is now tackling Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books.  Best video reviews EVER.

3. This shop on Etsy.  Every time I start browsing Etsy I end up losing about 2 hours looking at all the gorgeous period gowns they have on there (and being extremely jealous of the talent people on there have-I can't sew to save my life!)

4. This drink from Starbucks.  I am a Starbucks addict. I lovingly refer to my morning cup of java as my anti-homicidal medicine. This is loaded with sugar and calories but it is magically delicious!

5.  This stamp.  First thought on seeing this stamp: "I so NEED this for work!"  Second thought: "Would I ever have the balls to use it?"  Third thought: "I don't care!  I want it anyway!"  Also as if that stamp wasn't enough to make me love Think Geek forever they have the best pizza cutter in the history of man.  I'm going to proudly fly my nerd flag here for a minute.  Yes I love Star Trek and have since middle school.  Captain Kirk would definitely approve of the purchase of this $30 pizza cutter even if my husband doesn't.

And now I am off to make Gilbert's fur luxurious and hopefully get some reading done at some point today.  Hope everyone has a happy Sunday!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

It's been a whole week and not one bit of activity here on this blog which is rare for me.  Last weekend I decided that there has just been so much going on that I would take a week to decompress and just focus on reading and chilling out.  In real life I work as a contracted employee for the US Army.  The current contract is supposed to be up at the end of this month.  Normally it is a smooth transition from the end of one contract to the beginning of the next (they last for 5 years each).  Not so this time.  The government is strapped for cash and because of this they have not come to an agreement on a new contract yet.  The only sure thing we've been told is that no matter who the new contract ends up with, they are going to have to cut my hours.  In addition to the stress of not knowing the outcome for my job, my husband was rushed to the ER this week (kidney stone-he's fine now) and school is getting ready to start here for my Boy shortly. So yeah,  I kind of needed a week of "me" time.

During this week I did manage to finish some books and will have reviews up for them this week.  Here is the schedule:

TUES: Review of The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
THU: Review of The Books of Rachel by Joel Gross
FRI: Review of Arabella by Georgette Heyer @ Royal Reviews
SAT: Review of March by Geraldine Brooks

Also just wanted to mention that Summer of ARCs/Galleys giveaway for August ends midnight Wednesday.  I know it is getting close to the end of the month but I am still planning on adding a few more books to the pool before the end of the month hits so be sure to enter for your chance to win if you haven't!

I think I'll be spending the rest of my Sunday hanging out with the Boy and catching up on my old movies I DVRed.  I have about eight of them on there that I haven't watched yet.  I did manage to watch Singin' in the Rain (fantastic!), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1920's version w/Lon Chaney-interesting), It Happened One Night (loved  it!), To Have and Have Not (pretty good), and The Misfits (eh, it was alright).  Hope everyone else has a wonderful Sunday and also hoping all the east coasters aren't getting battered too badly by Irene.  Praying everyone makes it through safely. 

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

Wow what a busy week!  I posted 4 reviews:

• To Die For by Sandra Byrd
• The Magicians by Lev Grossman
• Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman

and there are four more coming this week!  This is what's on the schedule:

MON: Mailbox time!
TUES: Review of Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey
WED: Review of Adam & Eve by Sena Jeter Naslund
THU: Review of Eromenos by Melanie McDonald
SAT: Review of I am the Chosen King by Helen Hollick

I have two giveaways going right now so be sure to enter if you haven't.  The first is for a copy of To Die For by Sandra Byrd.  That one is open til Midnight on Friday.

The second is my Summer of ARCs/Galleys giveaway.  I have added my ARC's of Becoming Marie Antoinette and Adam & Eve to this and I will be adding AT LEAST two more titles to choose from before the month is up.  That one is open til midnight on the 31st.

I think this is the best summer I've had for reading ever.  Normally its slower going this time of year but for some reason I've been blazing through books (went from 6% behind on the Goodreads Challenge to 4% ahead!).  If I'm not mistaken school has already started up again in the South.  Up here it doesn't start til 6 September so I get to take the Boy shopping for clothes next week.  He grows out of them so fast now and like a typical boy he rips holes in the knees of his pants within about 2 weeks of me buying them.  I think we went through 20 pairs of jeans last year.  Today I get to look at smaller, cuter clothes as I am off to a baby shower for a friend.  Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

This past week was kind of quiet for me.  I only posted one review (for City of Promise) even though I have four more books read that I need to write reviews on.  For some reason I've just felt more like reading than writing but I'm planning on remedying that later today.


Coming this week:
Tuesday: Review of To Die For by Sandra Byrd
Wednesday: Review of The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Friday: Review of Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Saturday: Review of The Princess Bride by William Goldman

My review of To Die For is part of a book tour hosted by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours.  I am hosting a giveaway for this one too so check back on Tuesday for that.

 I am also participating in the book tour for Eromenos by Melanie McDonald.  My review for that one will be up next week Thursday.

  

Usually I am asking for book recommendations but I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations for must see movies from the 30's, 40's 50's and 60's?  I decided this week that I'm finally going to get around to watching all those awesome older movies that I've never bothered with before. I've DVRed Casablanca, Singin' in the Rain, the Misfits, It Happened One Night, and the Private Life of Henry VIII.  Just wondering if anyone else had some good ones to add to my list?

Ok, off to write some reviews now.  Happy Sunday everyone!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

Another lazy Sunday in store for me!  For the last couple of weeks I have been reading along at a blistering pace (for me anyway) and then all of a sudden around Wednesday of last week I lost my reading mojo and have only been able to read about 20 pages a day.  I really need to pick it back up since the high summer read-a-thon starts at 1 am (my time) on Monday and if I continue at that pace I doubt I'll even get 1 book done by the end of it.

This week I reviewed 3 books:

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• In a Treacherous Court by Michelle Diener
• The Tudor Throne by Brandy Purdy

This coming week:
Monday-Mailbox time!
Tuesday-Review of King and Goddess by Judith Tarr at Royal Reviews
Wednesday- Review of Josefina's Sin by Claudia H. Long
Friday-Review of The Twelfth Enchantment by David Liss

The Summer of ARCs and Galleys Giveaway is still open if you haven't entered to win a book for July.  I just added my signed copy of The Tudor Throne in there and will be adding ARC of The Twelfth Enchantment in there before the month is over.

Despite my current mini-slump I think July is my best reading month of the year so far.  I think part of it is the heat.  Normally I'm outside doing stuff but we've seen temperatures in the 90's here and it rarely gets that hot in Michigan so I've had more time indoors in front of the air conditioning reading.  Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

It has been a busy reading week for me!  I am in the habit of always carrying the current book I'm reading with me wherever I go because you never know when you may be stuck somewhere and may be able to squeeze in a chapter or two.  Well, lucky me one of my bosses no longer has a computer so every time he needs to borrow mine its been reading time.  Yay!

This past week I posted reviews on:

• Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
• Bound by Sally Gunning
• Honolulu by Alan Brennert

This coming week will be reviews on:

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• In a Treacherous Court by Michelle Diener

Today I am interrupting my regularly scheduling reading program to go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with my son. Can't wait!  He is participating in the Summer Reading Program at the local library so I've been taking him to check out some books every Saturday.  He gets a stamp for every 20 minutes of reading and when he fills up an entry form with six stamps he gets to put it in a drawing for one of the prize packages.  He is kicking butt!  In addition to reading on his own, we've been reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster together.  I had forgotten how many big words were in that book and was worried that at six he wouldn't get it but he seems to be really liking it.  That makes me happy because it's one of my favorites from when I was younger. Okay, enough of my rambling.  Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

Good Morning everyone!  As you are reading this I am in my rental car on my way back to the airport in Oklahoma City to fly home.  Why am I here?  This story begins nearly 25 years ago at Edgewood Elementary in Muskegon Heights, MI.  I was a quiet shy little girl who had just completed my first week of preschool.  Dad came to pick me up in his van as usual.  As we were pulling out of the parking lot, we saw a mom and a little girl from my class standing on the sidewalk.  The little girl was crying and it was obvious she had peed her pants.  My dad stopped the van and offered her and her mom a ride home.  That little girl's name is Stephanie.  She has been my best friend since that day.  We've been chased around the neighborhood by her brother Derek with all sorts of gross findings.  We've played Barbies together, rode bikes together, and had countless slumber parties.  We've fought over boys and been the shoulder to cry on for each other because of boys.  Then we joined the Army-me first and then her a year later.  I went to Korea, Fort Campbell, KY and Iraq.  She went to Fort Lewis, WA and Iraq (twice!).  Fast forward an entire decade.  We've kept in touch but not actually seen each other for 10 years.  Friday that all ended.  That little girl that peed her pants 25 years ago and became my best friend married the love of her life on Saturday and the promise that was made back when we were playing dress up and watching Jem to be there for each other's weddings fulfilled (partially anyway-I got married 9 years ago in the county clerks office of Clarksville, TN).  I don't know when I'll see her again.  Hopefully its not another 10 years from now and even though it was 107 degrees down here and I thought I was going to spontaneously combust, I am glad I made the trip.

Now, coming up this week since the plane ride and down time in the hotel has given me plenty of reading time:
Monday: Review of Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
Tuesday: Review of Bound by Sally Gunning
Thursday: Review of Honolulu by Alan Brennert
Friday: Second update for the Chivalrous Deeds Challenge

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at Muse in the Fog Book Review.

Yesterday I had quite an achievement. There was a friends of the library sale right down the road from my house and I didn't go! Usually I cannot resist the lure of a good book sale. Last weekend I spent about 8 hours reorganizing my shelf by era (it may seem a bit obsessive/anal but it makes sense since 95% of my books are historical fiction) and ended up with 6 stacks of books that I didn't have shelf space for so for now I am trying to resist acquiring more until I read enough to fit them all back on the shelves.

Besides my book shelf overhaul I posted 2 reviews this week:

• The Borgia Betrayal by Sara Poole
  
• The Lady's Slipper by Deborah Swift

Coming up this week:

Monday: another Monday, another mailbox
Wednesday: Review of Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith
Thursday: Review of Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
Friday: Review of The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn

Also my ARC Giveaway is still open for entrants :)

I am planning on making today as lazy as possible (except for doing some laundry). Hubby and the Boy are going to Craig's Cruisers which is one of those local deals with arcades, mini golf, and a go-kart track. I finished all the books I had pre-scheduled for reviews and it has been so long since I haven't had my reading list planned out I stood in front of my shelves for an hour trying to decide what to read the other day (hence the McCaffrey book). Ah the freedom, but oh, the indecision! While I am busy playing the pick it up and put it back game in front of my shelves again today, I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday :)

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog book Review

It has been a pretty relaxing weekend here so far. Yesterday I attended the wedding reception of my friend Jenn whom I've known since fourth grade. I have a wedding to go to next month in Oklahoma for my best friend since preschool. I love weddings and it kind of bums me out I never had one of my own. I got married in the county clerk's office of Clarksville, TN. Today I spent reading and napping. The napping was entirely unintentional but the cat looked so comfortable sleeping next to me he kind of talked me into it :)

This past week I managed to do one review:

• Corrag by Susan Fletcher

I also kicked off my Summer of ARC's and Galleys giveaway which will run all summer. Check out the details here if you missed it.

This coming week:

Monday: The latest and greatest to hit my mailbox
Tuesday: Review of The Borgia Betrayal by Sara Poole
Friday: Review of the Lady's Slipper by Deborah Swift

Coming later this month:

Review of Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith on June 15th
Review of The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn on June 17th

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather. I just got back from taking my son out for ice cream. Got to enjoy it while it's here. Summer only lasts about 3 months in Michigan. This is perfect weather to be lazy and read so that is what I am off to do :)

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at Confessions and Ramblings of a Muse in the Fog.

There hasn't been a whole lot of activity here at Bippity Boppity Book this past week and that is for four reasons:

1. The weather is warmer and that means its a great time to clean and get the yard looking not so jungle like
2. Many unexpected changes at my workplace that have caused things to go into a wee bit of an uproar
3. I have been taking care of our dog Sparky who was hit by a car two weeks ago and broke his back leg in five places. It had to be surgically repaired and he is doing well but taking care of an injured animal is like taking care of an infant (and he keeps accidentally beating the crap out of my legs with his ridiculous looking cone he has to wear).
   
4. I have been reading my butt off!

With all that going on I managed to post 1 review this past week: In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson.

This coming week will be a little bit better.

Monday-the weekly reveal of my acquisitions :)

Tuesday I'll be posting my review of Cleopatra Confesses, the YA historical by Carolyn Meyer that is coming out on June 7th.

Thursday my review of my current read, Daughter of Satan by Jean Plaidy will be posted over at Royal Reviews.

Friday I'll be posting my review of Dreams of Joy by Lisa See which is being released on the 31st.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend and I hope all my fellow bloggers who are able to attend have a blast at BEA and the Blogger Con. Wish I could be there but couldn't make it happen this year so I will have to live vicariously through other bloggers posts about their experiences.

Suddenly Sunday + giveaway winner

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at Confessions and Ramblings of a Muse in the Fog.

Wow what a busy week! It has been pretty grueling at work so I love when the weekend rolls around and I can just relax and read. I am thinking about taking the Boy out to a movie later today just to get out of the house and do something.

I posted two reviews this week-one here and one over at Royal Reviews:

• The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig
• Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

I will be posting two this week:

• The Linen Queen by Patricia Falvey
• The King's Daughter by Christie Dickason

One thing coming up soon that am very excited about: Pump Up Your Book Promotion's Blog Tour for Elizabeth I by Margaret George! I am reading this now and my review for the tour will be posting on May 10th.


The Tour starts tomorrow. Here is a listing of all the tour dates.

Finally, before I get back to my reading today I need to announce the winner of To Be Queen by Christy English.

And the winner is......

Terry!

Congrats! Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at A Muse in the Fog.

Hope everyone has had a fabulous weekend. It is still frigid here in Michigan so once again I stayed indoors all weekend. Unfortunately, due to some work related turmoil, I didn't get any reviews posted for this week. I did get some reading done though so coming up this week are reviews for:

• Here be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman

and

• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

I am about 1/3 of the way through City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling and liking it so far.

This weekend I took the time to reorganize and weed through my bookshelves. That took me the better part of yesterday evening. I also hit the sale section of the library, the used bookstore in another library and 1 Goodwill and had some fantastic finds. I have come to realize I love the thrill of the "hunt" as much as I like the reading.

Also wanted to mention that there are a ton of great giveaways going on around the blogosphere. Here are a the ones I've seen in case anyone is interested:

Giveaway of a Dear America Diary Set @ The Maidens Court (ends 2/9)
Follower Giveaway of The Loves of Charles II by Jean Plaidy @ Passages to the Past (ends 2/9)
Giveway of the Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner @ Passages to the Past (ends 2/5)
Giveaway of To Serve a King by Donna Russo Morin @ Passages to the Past (ends 2/5)
Giveaway of By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan @ All Things Historical Fiction (ends 2/5)
Giveaway of The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry @ All Things Historical Fiction (ends 2/10)
Giveway of The Princess of Nowhere by Prince Lorenzo Borghese @ Muse in the Fog (ends 2/20)

Up for Grabs at Goodreads:
Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson (ends 2/9)
Elizabeth I by Margaret George (ends 2/25)
All the Queen's Players by Jane Feather (ends 2/28)
Crestmont by Holly Weiss (ends 2/22)
Bloodroot by Amy Greene (ends 1/31)
Parrot & Olivier in America by Peter Carey (ends 1/31)
The Second Duchess by Elizabeth Loupas (end 2/20)
The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel (ends 1/31)

So many great books... so little time!

Suddenly Sunday

Sunday Sunday is hosted by Svea at A Muse in the Fog. I am kind of bummed the weekend is going by so fast but I am looking forward to a nice lazy Sunday. I can think of nothing better to do as we have at least 18 inches of snow outside and icicles that reach from my roof to a foot shy of the ground. No way am I going out in that!

This week I posted 4 Reviews:

• Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
• The Long Song by Andrea Levy
• The Memoirs of Helen of Troy by Amanda Elyot
• Alexander & Alestria by Shan Sa

The first 4 entries for the Chivalrous Deeds Challenge have been entered. I've already went to B&N and grabbed one of these because it sounded so good. Check them out here.

Earlier this week I started The White Mare by Jules Watson but I could not get into it right away because I've read so many recently in the same time period. I am taking a break from that to travel to 13th c Wales with Sharon Kay Penman's Here be Dragons. Hopefully I will finish and post reviews on both of those this week.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Sunday!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at Confessions and Ramblings of a Muse in the Fog.

My household is in a state of chaos as we try to get everything done before we roll out of here on Tuesday night. Destination: Albany, NY area to spend Christmas with the husband's family and we're driving. It's six days before Christmas and we still have 6 family members to shop for, the boy, and we haven't bought each other anything yet. I've been busy making my trail mix to hand out to the family here before we go and trying to get the house clean so we don't come back to a mess.

I have had a pretty productive weekend despite all that. I spent Friday night and part of yesterday going through all my books in my "library" and making sure I was tracking them on Goodreads. Then I did the same thing with my wish list and reminder list on Paperbackswap. Now I am ready to start the new year all organized (well, book-wise anyway).

I did manage to review Cate of the Lost Colony this past week. As for reading, I am STILL working on Aztec Autumn which is surprising because it never takes me this long to read a book that is less than 400 pages. Its not that I'm not enjoying the book. It just seems I'm reading at a snails pace. I am going to try and finish it and have a review up before we leave for NY.

Coming up this week: my list of bests for year and my rundown of challenges for 2011.

Off to deliver more goodies and finish that shopping. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas holiday!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at A Muse in the Fog.

Hello all! So, I wasn't around much the past week and that is because last Thursday the boy and I jetted down to Texas to see my lovely sister who lives in Houston. It was quite an adventure getting there (we missed our connecting flight in Chicago and had to fly out the next day) but we had a great time. This trip was a lot of firsts for me and my son.

Friday we mowed down some yummy greek food at Niko Nikos. Saturday we mowed down yummy mexican food at La Mexicana. We took the boy to see a Winnie the Pooh play in the morning and in the afternoon we decided to drive an hour north to Plantersville, TX to check out the Texas Renaissance Faire. None of us had ever been to one and it was one of the coolest things I've ever been to. It was like Disneyland for history nerds. Everyone was in beautiful costume and they had over 600 booths there. I was in heaven. Hubby was not happy when I called to tell him I was running away to join the Ren Faire and would now spend my days dressed as a noble woman from 1550's scarfing giant turkey legs with Henry VIII. Calling it a renaissance Faire was kind of misleading because people were dressed from all different time periods (there was even a wolf man and someone dressed as Harry Potter).

Here is a pic of my son with this jolly warrior fellow we ran across:



And here is one of him as a knight on his trusty steed:



Seriously I could have lived the rest of my life in that place and died a happy woman :) Just when I thought the trip couldn't get any better the next day my sis, my niece and I had a a beauty day. My sis brought me to a salon and I had my hair highlighted for the first time. While I was in the salon they took boy ice skating for the first time. Then we went and got manicures and pedicures. My niece took my son home with her and my sis and I headed downtown to see:
My first musical-Loved it!

Monday I went to half price books because we are not lucky enough to have one here in Michigan. I brought home about 50 lbs of books (check out my mailbox tomorrow to see what I got). We arrived home just before midnight on Monday and I have been trying to get back in the swing of things since then.

I did manage to get a little reading done. I posted a review of Silent on the Moor yesterday and have reviews of I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde and Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn coming up this week.

And now off to do a little reading. I have put Les Miserables aside for now and started The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom last night. Its pretty good so far. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Sunday!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea of A Muse in the Fog.

Hello all! Hope you are having a gorgeous Sunday. I will most likely spend the majority of the day reading and doing laundry and enjoying the fact that I have tomorrow off as well. This week will be pretty hectic for me as the boy and I are flying down to beautiful Houston TX on Thursday to see my sister for a few days and Wednesday is parent teacher conferences. The Texas trip I think will be kind of bittersweet for me because the boy and I went down there for a week long vacation with my dad and he passed away a little over a month after we got back so I'm sure lots of things will remind me of him while I'm there. Despite the gloomy thoughts, I am determined to enjoy myself while I'm there. I love Houston and as a book nerd I love that I will be able to visit Twice Told Tales-the wonderful used bookstore I found the last visit and half price books which doesn't exist up here.

This week I reviewed Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery.
Despite the busy week ahead I a pretty big mailbox to share tomorrow and reviews on:

• Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn
• Guenevere: Queen of the Summer Country by Rosalind Miles
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

all of which will be posted this coming week. Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday. Now off to wash what we need for the Texas trip and read some more of Les Miserables. I think I'll bring it as my airplane read. Given its size, if we have anyone try any funny business on the plane I can use it as a weapon....

Suddenly Sunday!

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by A Muse in the Fog.

This weekend seems like it's flying by. I can't believe Sunday is here already! I planned on getting so much reading done this weekend but I've spent most of my time on the computer instead and I'm still reading the same book I've been reading since last monday. Ah, well.
This week I posted several reviews. In case anyone missed them here are the links to:

• To Dance with Kings by Rosalind Laker
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• 9 Dragons by Michael Connelly
• Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
• The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
• Michal by Jill Eileen Smith

This weekend was also Blogfest hosted by A Journey of Books. Basically this is a blog hop where every blog that signs up hosts a giveaway and then each blog connects to the next blog participating so you can visit many blogs, enter many giveaways and maybe find a few more blogs to follow. Curiosity made me visit the first 20 or so blogs (there were 255 participating). Then I noticed that most of the blogs participating were either in the paranormal/romance genre, neither of which I read. I wondered if I would discover any new historical fiction blogs in there so....I visited all 255! What did I find? Two sites were hosting giveaways for HF books but they weren't HF blogs which left the historical fiction community vastly under represented at Blogfest. Still I love the idea of Blogfest (they had giveaways for books, gift cards, jewelry, t-shirts, candles, tote bags....you name it and it was probably being given away on someones blog).

So I thought wouldn't it be great if an event like this was put together for people that primarily blog about historical fiction? Most likely an event like that would be a bit smaller than Blogfest since it would focus on just HF but I still think it would be awesome. It would be a win-win for everyone: bloggers who want to get their site out there, authors who want to get their books out there, and potential readers because everyone loves giveaways. I promised myself I would mention this idea here because 9 times out of 10 I'll come up with an idea and then before I tell anyone about it I end up convincing myself its lame and talking myself out of it. So just curious to those that read this blog and have an limitless love of historical fiction-would anyone else like to see an event like this happen? Is there one out there that I don't know about? If so please point me there!

In other news, I do like my paintings by the french artistes but I think I am ready for a change of scenery here at Bippity Boppity Book so in the next few weeks or so I'll be doing some blog beautifying and changing to a new design. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Sunday. Back to Green Gables for me.....

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by A Muse in the Fog.

I think summer has slowed things down a bit for everyone myself included. I see less posts from the blogs I follow in the summer time, the number of books coming from PBS slows down and I had to have started and put down at least 10 books in the past week alone because I can't decide what I'm in the mood for so I've been giving up the search and obsessively playing Dr. Mario on Nintendo of all things.

Still I have managed to read a few. I reviewed Catching Fire (Hunger Games Bk 2) by Suzanne Collins and my review of The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell posted over at Royal Reviews on Friday.



Yesterday also marks the end of the Tudor Mania Challenge hosted by Marie at the Burton Review. I have A LOT of Tudor related fiction and non-fiction on my shelf and was able to read some good ones, although not as many as I thought (probably since I was reading books for other challenges as well).

My grand total came to 5:

• The Tudor Rose by Margaret Campbell Barnes
• The King's Fool by Margaret Campbell Barnes
• Roanoke by Margaret Lawrence
• The Lady in the Tower: the Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir
• I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles

I would have to say it was a toss up between King's Fool and I, Elizabeth for favorite read of the challenge. I had great fun with this challenge and with reading the reviews of the other ladies who participated.

Not sure what is coming up for this week (as I said, I can't make up my mind what to read) but hopefully I'll stumble across something utterly fantastic or get motivated to finish one of the books I've already started by never got around to finishing. I will patiently awaiting the release of The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory about Margaret Beaufort and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, 3rd in the Hunger Games Trilogy.

One final note: Please check out the giveaway of your choice of a signed Sandra Worth title over at Royal Reviews.

Happy reading all!