Bone Dressing by Michelle I. Brooks

Bone Dressing by Michelle I. Brooks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Making my way through this novel, I found it was a decent story. I was a bit torn on how to rate it, as it did confuse me a bit, but it is definitely a book worth reading.

Seeing as how it is part of a series, I can understand why there would be items that confused me in the process of making my way through it. That being said, (and no I won't go into detail of what confused me. You will just have to read the book...) I would recommend the novel to just about anyone. Most of the characters are very well developed. There was only one or two that seemed to have been a bit vague (not by their description but their actions and personality) but I assume will build and grow throughout the series.

Brooks has a great imagination and it shows in her work. The imagery she spells out makes it easy to visualize the scenes in the book. Everything Syd sees is clear and vibrant and well thought out.  

The only thing that really drove me a bit batty throughout the reading was the fact that Syd (main character) uses so many metaphors that I wanted to bop her upside the head and tell her to grow up a bit. Of course, as the book progresses, this does seem to occur less often as she does grow as a character.

All-in-all, it is worth a read.

© Courtney Conant, 2010-13. All Rights Reserved.

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've always been a huge fan of Vonnegut, ever since reading Cat's Cradle in elementary school. Each time I read a book of his, it reaffirms my love for his style. This book flows so nicely and kept me curious as to how it would end, all the way until I reached it. I will be sad when the day comes when I've read all his novels and there are no more to follow...



© Courtney Conant, 2010-13. All Rights Reserved.

The Queen of Lazy...

So lately (for like a year or more) I've been feeling extremely lazy and unorganized. I haven't gotten any writing done, my home is a disaster and while my life has been going so wonderfully, I am feeling the need to try and get myself back on track. So here goes...

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home

I started this today and plan to push my way through it until the end of the month and see if I can get back into the swing of things.

I'm planning on pulling out BtKH and getting back to work on it. I know that there are some fans out there waiting patiently for it. Thanks for waiting and I hope that I can get it to you in the relatively near future!

© Courtney Conant, 2010-13. All Rights Reserved.

The Ultimate Sandwich

I know this doesn't fit with ANYTHING that I would normally post here but I received this 'recipe' this morning and felt it was too good not to share!! So without further ado... The Ultimate Sandwich!!

   "The Ultimate MAN Sandwich"

Here’s what you are going to need...     I used a loaf of hard crusted Italian bread, 3 rib eye steaks, 1 lb. mushrooms, an onion and some BACON.         Hollow-out the bread . . . Cook it ! Try to leave the steaks a little rare as they will carry over cook a little more in the sandwich         Shove one of the steaks in the bread... Sauce the steak I like to have to halves of the sandwich different so I use half thick worchschire sauce and half Dijon mustard and horse radish sauce.     Layer of BACON     Did I mention BACON?!?!     layer of Swiss cheese.     Stuff in as much of the mushroom and onion mixture you can.     Then the other steak along with the juices from the pan.     Just a little more sauce.     Top off with more Swiss.     Put the top of the loaf back on.         Wrap in butchers paper. Wrap in foil. Put a heavy cutting board on top to squish it down. Now weight and wait and wait. 140 lbs of weight and let it sit for 4 hours Take weight off. Cut, eat and enjoy . . .

And there you have it, folks, the ultimate sandwich! Now some of you may be asking yourselves, "What happens with the 3rd steak?" I had the same question until I came to the realization that the 3rd steak was meant to tide you over during that 4 hour period while you are waiting for the 'sandwich' to be done! Enjoy!! 

© Courtney Conant, 2010-12. All Rights Reserved.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a day to finish this novel, a novel so prized by Ray Bradbury himself... I was making my way through the audiobook, in which he was the narrator, when I discovered of his passing. Today is a sad day for the literary world, with the announcement of his long life coming to an end.

As a long-time Bradbury fan, I've read so many of his works, yet put this one off, since it seemed everyone and their dog had read it (but not a great deal of his other works). I'm still up in the air as to where to go with this review. The book intrigued me a great deal,, though it seemed to cover a realm of complete impossibility to me. I still enjoyed it, making my way through Montag's life with his unfeeling wife, his job dedicated to laying waste to the lives of those wanting more, to follow the destruction and slow beginnings of the resurrection of the creative mind.

I find myself curious, after getting this novel, to find the original short story (Bright Phoenix) and the following novella (The Fireman) that sparked the start of this novel in the first place. Knowing the basis for this futuristic tale was brought about by Hitler and his book burning phase,  I become more and more interested in Bradbury's past and how/why this affected him in such a manner to cause such a tale to be derived from it.



There are many great articles available, but this is one worth reading...
Ray Bradbury remembered for sci-fi classic 'Fahrenheit 451' and other literature

© Courtney Conant, 2010-12. All Rights Reserved.