Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014 - Finished

Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014 hosted by Michelle @ the true book addict.

As I predicted in the midweek update I did not reach 5 books for this challenge. I read 3 books and that is still okay. I finished: Death on the Aegean Queen by Maria Hudgins (mystery), Boneland by Alan Garner and The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman  (horror)

I knew I wasn't going to read much over the weekend as I had to go to Copenhagen to see off some friends.

Lars and Suzi with their 2 children Tiuri (7 years old) and Liva (5 years old) are going to sail from Copenhagen in Denmark to Istanbul in Turkey in two Hobie kayaks. They have set aside 14 months for the project as they can't sail that far every day if the children have to enjoy the trip too.
Follow their trip on their website: Life is GOOD follow us. and also on Facebook.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac - as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly's wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark - from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman.
It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond this world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.
His only defence is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang. From Goodreads.





I enjoyed this. It was scary. I really like this kind of fantasy where the creatures and other things from beyond this world mixes with this world and catches people unaware. Of course there is, as there should be, the good "creatures", the three women who help the boy.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Literary Exploration Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Crazy Challenge Connection Chinese New Year Challenge
Nothing but Reading Challenges - April Showers
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014 
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (O- dragonfly)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014

Boneland by Alan Garner

A major novel from one of the country’s greatest writers, and the crowning achievement of an astonishing career, BONELAND is also the long-awaited conclusion to the story of Colin and Susan – a story that began over fifty years ago in THE WEIRDSTONE OF BRISINGAMEN…
Extract from book:
A woman was reading a book to a child on her knee.
“‘So the little boy went into the wood, and he met a witch. And the witch said, “You come home with me and I’ll give you a good dinner.”’ Now you wouldn’t go home with a witch, would you?”
Colin stood. “Young man. Do not go into the witch’s house. Do not. And whatever you do, do not go upstairs. You must not go upstairs. Do not go! You are not to go!”
Professor Colin Whisterfield spends his days at Jodrell Bank, using the radio telescope to look for his lost sister in the Pleiades. At night, he is on Alderley Edge, watching.
At the same time, and in another time, the Watcher cuts the rock and blows bulls on the stone with his blood, and dances, to keep the sky above the earth and the stars flying.
Colin can’t remember; and he remembers too much. Before the age of thirteen is a blank. After that he recalls everything: where he was, what he was doing, in every minute of every hour of every day. Everything he has read and seen.
And then, finally, a new force enters his life, a therapist who might be able to unlock what happened to him when he was twelve, what happened to his sister.
But Colin will have to remember quickly, to find his sister. And the Watcher will have to find the Woman. Otherwise the skies will fall, and there will be only winter, wanderers and moon… From Goodreads.

I was really disappointed in this book and wish I hadn't read it. In my opinion it belittles The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath. The dark fantasy is gone and instead we have a grown up Colin that is a brilliant scientist but also a psychiatric patient. He is crazy because of what happened in the first two books which he has now kind of forgotten but not completely which is why it haunts him.
What I did enjoy was the description of  Jodrell Bank and the whispering discs as I visited there just last summer.
I can recommend reading The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath but don't read this book.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Audio Book Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014

Death on the Aegean Queen By Maria Hudgins

George Gaskill, a car salesman from Indiana, goes missing from the stern deck of the Aegean Queen leaving only a pool of blood and a strange note behind. Ollie Osgood, the husband of Dotsy Lamb's best friend Lettie, is the last person to have seen him and one of three men who lost a bundle to George in a Texas Hold'em Poker game. Then the ship's photographer turns up murdered on the beautiful island of Mykonos.
Dotsy wants only to unwind and to renew her promising relationship with Marco Quattrocchi, the Carabinieri captain she met in Italy three years ago, but since Ollie is the prime suspect in George's disappearance and Marco is embroiled in the photographer's murder, she can't.
The Aegean Queen is a ship with a theme--archaeology. Dotsy strikes up a friendship with the ship's guest lecturer, famous archaeologist, Dr. Luc Girard, and introduces him to the ship's klutziest dancer, Sophie Antonakos. With the help of Lettie Osgood's amazing powers of observation, Dotsy, Sophie, and Luc discover antiquities in the ship's display cases that have been looted from museums or smuggled from their homelands.
The trails of murder and theft converge on the island of Crete where Dotsy finds herself dodging bullets from the gun of a man she doesn't even know. From Goodreads.

This was a mystery and there was quite a lot going on but it was easy to follow. I like Dotsy's friend Lettie who remembers everything she has seen. It was a cosy, easy read. This was the third book in the series and I have not read the two first ones but it wasn't a problem.

This book qualifies for:
2014 Ebook challenge
2014 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge
2014 Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge
2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
What’s In A Name 2014
2014 Read Your Freebies! Reading Challenge
You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge 2014
Romance Readers Reading Challenges: Yahtzee Challenge
Sequel Spring Reading Challenge
Goodreads Reading Challenge 2014
Nothing but Reading Challenges - Spell it Out - Animal Alphabet (L-eagle)
Crazy Challenge Connection Bard of Avon
Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014

Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014 - Update

Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014 hosted by Michelle @ the true book addict.

Well, it is not going to be much of an update. I had great plans for my reading Monday morning but the sad fact is that I haven't read anything. I have listened to 1½ hour of Boneland by Alan Garner today and that is it.

Hopefully I will get round to reading just a wee bit before the end of the week but I most likely won't reach 5 books read.

Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014 Start

Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014 hosted by Michelle @ the true book addict.

It is time to start reading. My goal this time will be to read 5 books, how many scary ones I don't know yet. As usual I have a long list of books that I might not read.

My list of books:

1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman  (horror)
2. Eye of the Storm by Jack Higgins (thriller)
3. Dracula by Bram Stoker (Gothic)
4. Death on the Aegean Queen by Maria Hudgins (mystery)
5. First Frost by Liz DeJesus
6. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
7. Run by Patti Larsen
8. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
9. A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison
10. Moon Spell by Samantha Young

Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014 Sign Up

Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon 2014 hosted by Michelle @ the true book addict.

The Spring into Horror Read-a-Thon is almost here! It's coming to put some scare in your Spring on Monday, April 28 at 12:00am CST through Sunday, May 4 at 11:59pm CST (adjust times according to your time zone). Now don't let the word 'horror' scare you away. You only have to read one scary book during the duration of the read-a-thon. However, that book can be horror, paranormal, thriller, mystery, etc. The rest of the read-a-thon, you can read whatever you want. More horror/scary stuff or just your regular reading repertoire. As always, this is a week long read-a-thon, but you can join in and read whenever it's convenient for you. It's all about being laid back and getting some reading done...with a little bit of scary thrown in.
As with all of my read-a-thons, I will not be hosting any mini-challenges. We like to focus on the reading here. However, if anyone else would like to host a mini-challenge, you are more than welcome...just let me know. If you know someone who would like to donate a prize, or authors, if you would like to promote your book through the read-a-thon, please contact me via the contact form in the menu above. We will also have some scheduled Twitter chats. I will announce the times in the starting line post. Our Twitter hashtag is #SpringHorrorRAT

I am looking forward to take part in this challenge for the third time in a row. I enjoy participating in Michelle's Read-a-Thons and I will keep doing it as much as I can. I will decide on a list of books and how many books I want to read in the Start up post for the challenge.