Musings of A Bookworm and Movie Lover

When You're Laid Up In Bed...It's A Great Time to Get Some Reading Done. Or so I found. It started with a sore throat and I ended up staying bed for practically a week. I think I had the flu. Finally I went to the doctor and he said I have iron deficiency anemia and maybe a cold. Okay. Anyway I finished reading about 18 books from 3/18-3/29. That's always cool because I love to read. Here is a list of my reading: To Wed A Scandalous Spy by Celeste Bradley A+ Wild At Heart by Patricia Gaffney A+ The Care and Feeding of Pirates by Jennifer Ashley A++ The Temptation by Claudia Dain A The Knave and The Maiden by Blythe Gifford A- Fallen by Emma Jensen B+ A Notorious Love by Sabrina Jeffries A The Reasons for Marriage (Short Story in Rogue's Reform) by Stephanie Laurens B+ The Forbidden Lord by Sabrina Jeffries A A Marriage Worth Waiting For by Susan Fox B+ The Ugly Duckling by Brenda Hiatt A Some Enchanted Evening by Christina Dodd A++ The Sun And The Moon by Patricia Ryan ...

Classic Horror Stories: Entry No. 1 This weekend I read a volume of short stories called Classic Ghost Stories published by Dover. It was interesting how diverse this particular genre could be. There were stories that were sad, funny, literary, and downright chilling. Probably the most terrifying story was “The Judge House” written by Bram Stoker, best known for the story Dracula, which spawned a whole genre by itself. There were actually moments in the same story where I laughed almost in the same breath as shuddering from the chill running down my spine. This is likely due to my joy at being scared by a good story. It is a sort of masochistic impulse, that desire to see how badly a story can scare me. I like stories that genuinely inspire fear in me. But it is equally entertaining to take the journey with the writer and to see exactly how they plot and plan their frights. Like “The Judge House”, Jerome K. Jerome definitely achieved that purpose with “A Ghost Story”. “...

Let's Talk The Men From Down Under For purposes of simplification, I will discuss both the Aussies and the Kiwis in this talk. They are the actors from Australia and New Zealand that made me realize that Great Britain is not the only place from which actors with accents that make me happy cometh. These guys are good-looking, great actors, and have a laid back vibe that is unique to them. The Aussies (Australians) 1.Hugh Jackman 2.Guy Pearce (born in England but grew up in OZ) 3.David Wenham 4.Simon Baker 5.Russell Crowe (he was born in NZ but grew up in Oz) 6.Trevor Goddard (God rest his soul) 7.Will Snow (he plays the fine Lord John Roxton on The Lost World on tv) 8.Heath Ledger 9.Eric Bana 10.Dominic Purcell (born in England but grew up in OZ) 11.Mel Gibson (born in NY, US but moved to Oz as a child) 12.Julian McMahon 13.Paul Mercutio 14.Noah Taylor 15.Hugo Weaving 16.Anthony LaPaglia 17.Jonathan LaPaglia 18.Costas Mandylor 19.Jesse...

Why Keanu? I remember the moment when I realized that I would always love Keanu Reeves. It was during the opening credits of Point Break. The rain was falling down and this beautiful soaking-wet, young man came out and started shooting these targets. There is this one scene where he looks over his shoulder: the epitome of male beauty. That's how it started. Before that I saw a few of his roles and I like him but Point Break was the starting point of my one-sided love affair. Ever since then, Keanu has held a special place in my heart. I've gritted my teeth when people have disparaged his acting, calling him "Ted", again and again. Saying that he sounds like a surfer dude. I've rolled my eyes at peoples' comments about him being untalented. I've tried to ignore peoples' mean-spirited innuendoes about him being gay. And still I've loved him. And I always will. Why do I love him? Let me try to tell you. 1.He is totally unique--w...

Black History Month This is the month dedicated to remembering all the accomplishments that Black people made in this country. Too bad it's just one month. I want to definitely take advantage of the opportunity this month and every month. Because of my Black forefathers and mothers I can vote, work, live, and be free in this country. And not just Black people benefitted from the actions of these courageous people, this whole country and every American did too. Did you know that Charles Drew came up with a way to store blood products as plasma? He was a Black man. He did this for all people, not just his own people. And the powers that be had the nerve to say that the blood had to be stored according to race because they didn't want Whites getting blood from Black people. Crazy but true. Did you know that the first person to reach the North Pole was a Black man? His name was Matthew Henson. Although he was denied credit by his colleague, he did reach the North...

My Favorite Movies It's very hard indeed to pin down a certifiable movie buff like myself to what are her favorite movies. But for you I will endeavor to elaborate on them. Keep in mind you will most likely see movies that are not on many peoples favorite list. But it's my blog, so who cares if others don't agree with me. So here they are, not particularly in order: 1.Armageddon 2.The Matrix 3.The Matrix Reloaded 4.Speed 5.A Walk In The Clouds 6.The Replacements 7.The Empire Strikes Back 8.The Incredibles 9.X-Men 10.X-2: X-Men United 11.Swordfish 12.Van Helsing 13.A Room With A View 14.The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 15.The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 16.The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 17.Lethal Weapon 18.Daredevil 19.Snatch 20.The Lady and The Tramp 21.Mulan 22.The Mummy 23.The Mummy Returns 24.Gone in 60 Seconds (Nicolas Cage) 25.Face/Off 26.National Treasure 27.Phantom of the Opera 28.Great Expectations (Ethan Hawke) 29.Elekt...

These are my all time favorite shows on the small screen. Some are old and defunct...Others went out in the a blaze of glory, some are new out of the gate, and a small few are still going strong. What makes a show my favorite? Great writing, excellent characters, an interesting premise. Lots of action or special effects. Great animation. A hint of the arcane. Deep entrenchment in the supernatural. Gut-bustingly funny, you name it. Here they are (not in particular order as usual): 1.The Simpsons 2.Buffy The Vampire Slayer 3.Angel 4.Alias 5.Hercules 6.Xena Warrior Princess 7.King of the Hill 8.Batman The Animated Series 9.Challenge of the Superfriends 10.Living Single 11.The X-Files 12.Just The Ten of Us 13.The Facts of Life 14.21 Jumpstreet 15.The Others 16.Miracles 17.The Magnificent Seven 18.Lost 19.House 20.ER (I outgrew it when Kerry Weaver became a major character) 21.Dynasty 22.Relic Hunter 23.The Lost World 24.Dark Angel 25.Firefly 26.Battlestar Galactica (New Version) 27....

Top 100 Historical Romances I love historical romance. I read my first one at 12 years of age. I was hooked ever since. The magic of them has soothed my savage breast many times. I retreat into the world of adventure, romance, and pagentry easily, and hunger for more. These books definitely make the top of my list for wonderful historical romance reads. Here they are: 1.Lord of Scoundrels-Loretta Chase 2.The Shadow and The Star-Laura Kinsale 3.Seize The Fire-Laura Kinsale 4.The Prince of Midnight-Laura Kinsale 5.A Heart So Wild-Johanna Lindsey 6.A Rose At Midnight-Anne Stuart 7.Lord of Danger-Anne Stuart 8.The Charm School-Susan Wiggs 9.The Horsemaster’s Daughter-Susan Wiggs 10.A Well-Pleasured Lady-Christina Dodd 11.Rules of Engagement-Christina Dodd 12.Rules of Surrender-Christina Dodd 13.Lost in Your Arms-Christina Dodd 14.All Through The Night-Connie Brockway 15.A Dangerous Man-Connie Brockway 16.Dreaming of You-Lisa Kleypas 17.Lady Sophia’s Lover-Lisa Kleypas 18.Then Came You-Lisa...

Top 100 Contemporary Romances These are the contemporary romances that I've read, enjoyed, added to my collection and found irrestible for various reasons. I would definitely want to take these if I had to flee the country or ended up stranded on a desert island. There are some tried and true authors, and some that I may have just read one book and enjoyed. But they made the top hundred because of the exceptionalness of the read. Without further ado... 1.The Mercenary-Cherry Adair (Harlequin Temptation) 2.Iguana Bay-Theresa Weir 3.Some Girls Do-Leanne Banks 4.Kiss And Tell-Cherry Adair 5.Cool Shade-Theresa Weir 6.Reckless Lover-Carly Bishop (Harlequin Intrigue) 7.Rafe’s Revenge-Anne Stuart (Harlequin American Romance) 8.Hide and Seek-Cherry Adair 9.In Too Deep-Cherry Adair 10.Gone Too Far-Suzanne Brockmann 11.Lone Rider-Lauren Bach 12.Lazarus Rising-Anne Stuart (Harlequin American Romance) 13.Rancho Diablo-Anne Stuart (Harlequin American Romance) 14.Ritual Sins-Ann...

The Importance of Romance Novels In My Life I read my first romance at the young age of twelve years. It was Fires of Winter by Johanna Lindsey. I was bored and my mom's box of books was right next to me. I browsed through and was attracted by the artwork on the cover. I was hooked by the first sentence.... And now I am thirty-five years of age (as of 2008). I have probably read thousands of books, most of them romances. I have been teased innumerable times for my tendency to read this "lascivious, unrealistic, sleazy, unredemable sex books" many times. But I am at the point in my life where I sing it out loud and proud: I LOVE ROMANCE NOVELS. If I were to elucidate why I love them, it would take quite a while. I could have a website dedicated to romance novels and their authors. That is my intention some day. If you have read through my blog, you know by now that it is one of my favorite subjects. But I will endeavor to deliver a brief discussion on one of my favorite su...

Interracial Romances List Let me tell you one thing about me. I love interracial romance. I guess it's because I was raised to be open-minded about those things. But also I have some ethnic diversity in my background: African, Irish, English, Scottish, Native American. I think love is not about color , it's about a soul-deep connection . And I love books that show this. So I have definitely pursued these stories. Here is a list of some that I have read and enjoyed. Fate by Pamela Leigh Starr--very old fashioned, sweet love story Renee' And Jay by J.J. Murray--hip but heartfelt Three Wishes by Seressia Glass--soulmates finding each other No Commitment Required by Seressia Glass Gone Too Far by Suzanne Brockmann I'll Be Your Shelter by Giselle Carmichael Something Real by J.J. Murray My Forever Love by B.A. Isachor At Last by Lisa G. Riley Against The Wind by Gwynne Forster Once Upon A Blue Moon by Dorriane Cole Passion's Journey by Wanda Y. Thomas A Twist...

When life gets wacky...turn to Buffy I've been rediscovering my love of the wonderful show Buffy The Vampire Slayer lately. My sister and I watched the sixth season the past month. Nothing better than watching television shows on DVD. The second time around I totally got the message. Life is the big bad!!!!! It's totally true. The hardest thing about life is living, as Dawn said. And life isn't bliss, life is just living, Spike sang eloquently. Well I can feel that big time. I can understand the isolation and desolation that Buffy felt because I feel it often. Getting up and going to work is like saving the world sometimes. And poor Buffy. She has to do both. Okay I don't have crazy hot sex with a fine, studly vampire or man for that matter, but I did lose my father like Willow lost her true love Tara. I have to struggle to pay bills like Buffy did too. I've dealt with the pain of letting go of something that feels good and comfortable but just isn't right ...

My British Actors If you know me long enough, you know that I am definitely in love with the British, i.e. anyone or thing from Great Britain or the British Isles. So whenever I find out that an actor that I see in a movie is British, I get a smile on my face. Man there is something about a guy with a British accent. Have Mercy!!! God Bless Them. Here are some of my British actors that I adore. I will list their country in parenthesis. And just to clarify, some of these actors may have varying ethnicities but they are British because of where they grew up, trained in acting, or maybe even just because they have the accent :) PS. For purposes of simplification I am including Ireland although only Northern Ireland is officially a part of Great Britain. Not in order of preference necessarily. 1.Christian Bale (Wales) 2.Gerard Butler (Scotland) 3.Stuart Townsend (Irish) 4.Ioan Gruffudd (Wales) 5.Jason Statham (England) 6.Adrian Paul (England) 7.Orlando Bloom (England) 8.Christien Anholt (E...

How About Those Bad Boys? There is one truth about women, we can’t resist bad boys. Be it rogues, antiheroes, scoundrels, or rakes, they manage to captivate a reader. They can even be on the right side of the law as cops, soldiers, or spies, but they have done their share of sketchy deeds in the service of ultimate good that has cast a pall over them and caused them to struggle with inner demons that make it hard for them to find love. Or maybe they just like the ladies a little too much, and since the ladies like them back, they do their best to cut a swathe through the female masses. Personally, I like the antiheroes who have a past full of dark deeds but are struggling down the path to redemption. Or the right woman comes along to lead them that way. There are some writers like Anne Stuart and Sherrilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregor who specialize in bad boys. Bad boys are just addictive because they call out to the inner desire in a woman to fix their problems. Without furthe...

Top 10 Heroines-I had to list mine as an exercise on one of my groups and I had to post them here. It was very hard to narrow down my favorites to the ten on this list. Here these amazing heroines are... 1. Jessica Trent-Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase 2. Bailee McKoy-The Texan’s Wager by Jodi Thomas 3. Cristabel Gaines-Lawless by Diana Palmer 4. Guinevere Mary Fairchild-A Well-Pleasured Lady by Christina Dodd 5. Lady Caroline-My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth 6. Anne Wilder-All Through The Night by Connie Brockway 7. Lady Lily-Then Came You by Lisa Kleypas 8. Hester-Indigo by Beverly Jenkins 9. Nora-Lady Gallant by Suzanne Robinson 10.Mary Potter-Mackenzie’s Mountain

I was thinking about those heroines who definitely go against the sweet, innocent type and absolutely captivate the reader. They might be very sexually experienced, just plain wild, or perhaps even have a violent or tortured past that has made them lose their emotional innocence. Perhaps they are pure in body but have impure motives. Or they are neither pure nor have pure motives. They are the women that could possibly be a villain in another book or have enough anti-hero in them to make them interesting. Which ones stand out in your mind? These are the ones that I like. Feel free to elaborate on why you added them to the list. 1.Madeleine Dumais-Winter Garden by Adele Ashworth 2.Ghislaine de Lorny-A Rose At Midnight by Anne Stuart 3.Lady Alyx-The Rake by Mary Jo Putney 4.Serena Riverton-Forbidden by Jo Beverley 5.Lily Lawson-Then Came You by Lisa Kleypas 6.Sophia Sydney-Lady Sophia's Lover 7.Anne Wilder-All Through The Night by Connie Brockway 8.Tippy-Lawless by...

I finally watched Kill Bill. I was great! Let me tell you, I am not a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino. But he made one heck of a movie. It was amazing. Uma Thurman did a great job. I can totally see why she got an Oscar nomination. You can see that QT is definitely a lover of movies. If there was a genre that he enjoys, he put in the movie, but it made a lovely collage that was definitely stronger for the sum of its parts. The blood was a bit over the top, and that was one of the reasons I hesitated watching it, but it could have been worse. The scene that would have been really bad was in black and white so that it wasn't too excessive. I loved the swordplay, because that's my thing. Put a samurai sword and a good swordsman/woman in a movie and I'm there. Uma was a natural with the action and swordplay. And my girl Lucy was splendid as always. There were some great characters in the movie. Some were almost over the top and some played to excellent precision l...

I watched Spiderman-2 yesterday and I was totally feeling Peter Parker. He is in a terrible place in this movie. He is feeling overwhelmed on all sides. He is feeling like the world is falling apart. He keeps getting fired from jobs because he's chronically late, he is not doing well in school because of missing class and not having time for homework. He can barely pay his rent, and his friends are angry at him. Mary Jane doesn't understand why he can't be there for her. Aunt May feels disconnected from him as well. The problem is that his mission has overtaken his life. I feel that because that's where I am. My life is overwhelmed by obligations. Demands of people at work and at home. But he can't tell them why he seems like an unreliable person. He's too busy out there fighting evil. Isn't that more important? Not to the people who think you let them down personally. Poor Peter. He had a great journey to undertake. One of self-discovery. I...

I have always liked to read older books, because of my love of history and days long past. I read Louisa May Alcott's books, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, Jack London's White Fang and Call of the Wild, All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and others, including those I read in class and enjoyed. However, I am endeavoring to read more classics. Part of the reason is because I want my period stories to be authentic in writing style. Also I think there are a lot of great classic stories out there that I haven't read. I am particularly interested in classic horror and adventure stories. Here is my list, not in alphabetical order: 1.Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott 2.Dracula by Bram Stoker 3.The Last of The Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper 4.The Invisible Man/The Time Machine by H.G. Wells 5.Selected Stories of O Henry 6.Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson 7.Kidnapped by Robert Louis...

My June Reads Great reading month although I hit a slump near the middle to end of the month. My highlight reads are starred. 1. Lady Defiant-Suzanne Robinson. (Historical Romance-Elizabethan) A+. Lovely story and characters who win your heart. (Roguish hero) 2. The Kissing Gate-Fiona Carr. (Historical Romance-Regency) A+. I really liked the writer’s style and it was enjoyably sensual. (Plump heroine) 3. The Perfect Wife-Jane Goodger (Historical Romance-Edwardian) A. Good book but I found some of the interactions between h/h annoying. (Ex-plump heroine) 4. Rightfully His-Tracy Grant (Historical Romance-Regency). A. Good read but a little slow at times. (Friends to lovers) 5. *Almost Like Being In Love-Christina Dodd (Contemporary Romance). A+. Another winner by a favorite author of mine-passionate, deep, compelling. Two characters that you want to end up together. (Tortured heroine) 6. *Lawless-Diana Palmer (Contemporary Romance). A++. Wonderful, excellent, en...