Out for Christmas

Hi Everyone! 

Just wanted to let you know that I'm out of here until the new year. I'll actually have a couple of pre-scheduled posts going up for my read-alongs, but that's it. And for the most part, I won't be reading/commenting much.

So, everyone have a safe and wonderful holiday season! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :D

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Friday Funnies: Christmas Humor

Welcome to Friday Funnies! Because everyone needs a good laugh on Friday.


I'll probably be offline this time next week, so I thought I'd put some Christmas funnies up for this week. These are hilarious (and some are vaguely creepy :D). Enjoy!

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Thoughts for Thursday: Christmas

Thoughts for Thursday is a feature hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

This week's theme is the Holidays. Check out my other blog for more quotes.

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens

Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year — and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority. ~W.J. Cameron

Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves. ~Eric Sevareid

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home! ~Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.  ~Washington Irving

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

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Book Review: Gone Girl

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I finally read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Took me long enough, right? This was the most-reviewed book on Goodreads.com in 2013 (I think). I mean, we're talking something like 28,000 reviews. (Holy crap!) And recently a film version came out, which I have not seen. I might watch it eventually, but I'm not in any big hurry to.

Plot: This is your basic wife-disappears, husband-becomes-prime-suspect story. Been done a thousand times, right? But the reason it was such a successful novel is that there's a major twist on it. It's hard to tell whether the husband, Nick, did something to his wife, Amy. Even when we get chapters from his POV, it's unclear. He's definitely hiding things from the cops, and also the reader, so you feel compelled to keep reading to find out what he's hiding, and whether he really hurt Amy.

POV: The point of view oscillates between Nick's first person narrative and diary entries from Amy, leading up to when she disappeared. As it's a diary, they are also in the first person. I'm not usually a huge fan of doing multiple first-person narratives, but in this case it was so well-done, it didn't bother me. Diary entries can also be tricky to write, but Flynn is a master at her craft and it truly didn't feel any different than any other well-written narrative would. 

Characters: Neither of these characters--husband or wife--was particularly likable. They were both majorly flawed, and obviously their marriage suffered for it. That made them both believable and compelling, but I reiterate: unlikable. I had really mixed feelings about the characters. They were both incredibly frustrating at times. I had a really hard time getting behind either one of them. Villainous characters don't need to be likable, but I'm a firm believer that main characters should be. I was obviously compelled enough to finish the book, but I would never say that I loved it, or that I loved the characters because, yeah I didn't.

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Psychological Aspects: Okay, here's the crux of my problem with the book, which happens to coincide with why it's become such a phenomenon. The psychological aspects (read: psycho) are what makes the book so intriguing. We get these really flawed character studies, see these mind games that were played within the marriage, and then as the readers, we have to try and translate that into whether or not Nick did something violent to his wife. I totally understand why this book has been so talked about.

That said, I really didn't like it much. First of all, it was very negative. And I don't just mean the subject matter. Both characters were very pessimistic. Like, they would work hard to find the worst side of everything. Now don't get me wrong, it was very well-written. Kudos to the author. But I would be reading and just think, Wow. No wonder you're so miserable! Just once can you try to look on the bright side of things, or at least not go out of your way to be so cynical? It was actually really annoying. Like I said earlier, just really unlikable characters. No redeeming qualities at all. And I get it: that was the point. But it doesn't make for a very inspiring story.

It also is about the worst, darkest, most terrible picture of a marriage you'll ever come across. The worst kinds of abuse (and not just physical), the worst kinds of name calls two people can call one another, the worst, most un-loving, un-intimate sex you can imagine in a marriage. Etc., etc. 

Content Warning: And while we're on the subject, I'll add that this was a very R-rated book. These two called one another every swear word in the English language, both out loud and in their heads. There was a lot of sexual content and also some mild violence. I definitely wouldn't recommend it for kids, or even teens.

Ending: This definitely doesn't have a "happy" ending. And please understand, that is not a spoiler. I don't mean it's unhappy like, someone dies or, it's oh-so-tragic. Rather, it just really doesn't have a closed ending. Nothing really gets resolved. And where normally the reader would feel betrayed because we stuck with the story so long and then were denied closure, I didn't even feel that way about it. I think, because the story itself was about a messed-up situation, complete with mind games, she wanted the ending to be the same way. And honestly, the ending kind of fit. But for me, I just kind of went, Huh. And moved on. Was kind of relieved to be done, actually.

Overall: As I said earlier, I didn't not like it. I'm glad I read it. But it's not the kind of book you can describe as having "liked." It just wasn't that kind of book. If you like the dark, psychological types of stories (again I'm going to stress the no redeeming qualities angle) then you'll probably enjoy it. It's not the type of book I would recommend to...just about anyone, though. I prefer my stories to have at least some hope and enlightenment, and that was largely missing from this one. 

Has anyone read Gone Girl? Seen the film? What did you think of it?

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Books I Read in 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top 10 Books I Read in 2014 (All covers courtesy of Goodreads.com unless otherwise linked)

I had lots of re-reads this year, and of the ones that were totally new to me, there were several I didn't like, so I didn't have much to chose from. But, these were the things I liked the most. 

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History Tidbit: Delaware Christmas Crossing

Okay, I'm totally re-posting this, but this is one of my all-time favorite historical Christmas stories. Definitely worth a re-telling. Enjoy. :D

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Did you know...?

What our founding fathers were doing Christmas Day, 1776?

On the night of December 25-26, George Washington decided it was high time this American Revolution was won. He took all his troops and ferried them across the Delaware River. This was a very dangerous maneuver. Logistically it was difficult and time-consuming, made more complicated by the below-freezing temperatures of both the air and the water, and the jagged ice chunks floating down a swift, swollen river.

What they hoped would only take a couple of hours took more than four, and things didn't go according to plan. At all.

Why were they doing this, you ask? Well, as I said, our primo presidente thought it was high time the war was won. His men were starving and wanted to return to their homes and families. It was Christmas, and they were stuck in a freezing, starving, mud-caked war camp.

Meanwhile, across the river in Trenton, New Jersey, a camp of Hessians (German mercenaries hired by England) were holding the American insurrection at bay. Washington guessed that the Hessians would have spent Christmas day eating, drinking, and celebrating. He figured if he could take them unawares, while they were still sleeping off their mead-hangovers, he could take Trenton.

He meant to ferry his men over quickly and stealthily march into the Hessian camp under cover of darkness. Well, as stated above, things didn't go so well. By the time Washington's army reached the Hessian camp, the sun was rising.

But Washington had guessed right about the state of the mercenaries. They had partied and drank all night, and most were still a-snooze when the American troops stormed their camp.

Despite everything that went wrong, the revolutionaries took the Hessian camp without a single American casualty. It was a Christmas miracle. Only days later, on January 2nd and 3rd, they defeated British reinforcements under General Cornwallis. It was a turning point in the American Revolutionary War.

dcgiftshop.com

This Christmas season, let's be sure to give thanks for those who came before us, spending Christmas without their families so we could spend ours with our families in a free land.

Let's give thanks for our loved ones, especially our children who are safe in our homes and in our arms at a time when twenty families in Connecticut can't say the same thing.

Let's remember the significance of Christmases 2000 years past, look forward to a New Year (of writing and publishing perhaps?) and live in the moment. Because the moments we have this Christmas will never come again.

And remember, knowledge of our past is our inheritance. What we do with that knowledge will shape our destinies...

Do you have a favorite historical Christmas story you like to tell every year?

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Friday Funnies: Best Friends and Dating

Welcome to Friday Funnies! Because everyone needs a good laugh on Friday.


The theme today is mostly friends and dating. Sort of. :D (All images courtesy of pinterest.com.)

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Thoughts for Thursday: Telling the Truth

Thoughts for Thursday is a feature hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

This week's theme is Telling the Truth. Check out my other blog for more quotes.

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Crime Tidbit: The Carbon Copy Murders at Erdington

Mary Ashford killed 1817  (Source)

Have you heard...of the Carbon Copy Murders of Erdington? They're downright stupefying.
So...there are two victims in this case, and their stories are eerily similar.

20-year-old Mary Ashford was murdered in May of 1817. Her body was found in a flooded sandpit 5 miles outside of Birmingham, England, in a small village called Erdington. She'd been raped and strangled.

Then there was Barbara Forrest, also 20 years old. Her body was found in the long grass, roughly 300 yards from where Mary's body was discovered. She, too, had been raped and strangled.

Mary Ashford was a well-liked local girl who delivered dairy products. The day before her murder, May 26th, was Whit Monday, a local English holiday. Mary had made plans to celebrate it and attend a dance with friends.

Barbara Forrest also died on the eve of Whit Monday, though it fell on May 27th that year. She, too, attended festivities.

On the day of her murder, Mary Ashford visited her best friend, Hannah Cox, to change from her day clothes into a dress. They then attended the dance together, where they spent the evening with two local boys.

Barbara Forrest also visited a friend's house to change for the festivities, and then spent the evening at the Whit Monday dance.

Both women were killed around the same time of night and dumped in the same place.

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fter Mary Ashford's body was discovered, the boy she'd spent the evening at the dance with, Abraham Thornton, was arrested for her murder. He admitted he and Mary had had sexual intercourse before he took her home, but he pled his innocence on the subject of her death. He was tried, more than once, actually, due to the laws of the time, but ultimately acquitted.

A local man by the name of Michael Thornton was arrested in the case of Barbara Forest. He, too, was tried vigorously, but ultimately acquitted.

Neither case has ever been solved. The two women even have similar physical features.

These cases are obviously very similar. Does it sound like they're related? Perhaps a serial killer or copy cat at work? Well, normally, that would probably be the theory. There's just one problem: these cases happened 157 years apart, to the day. Barbara Forest was killed in 1975.

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Killed 1975 (Source)

he similarities are downright chilling.

And just one more similarity: A week before her death, Mary Ashford told Hannah Cox's mother that she had "bad feelings about the week to come" though she couldn't say why she felt that way, or about what specifically.

Ten days before Barbara Forrest died, she told a colleague, "This is going to be my unlucky month. I just know it. Don't ask me why."

Was it coincidence? Related somehow? An evil spirit setting these things up? What do you think?

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Top Ten Tuesdays: New-To-Me Authors of 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list  that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Top 10 New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2014 (All covers and author pics courtesy of Goodreads.com unless otherwise linked)

I don't have many of these. I did a lot of re-reading and reading authors I already know and love this year. I guess I need to make a goal to read more new authors next year. LOL.

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Historical Tidbit: The Origin of Common Figures of Speech

Did you know... that most of our weird figures of speech actually do have their origin in historical truth? It's true!

Let me start with a disclaimer. I didn't write this. At all. One of my best friends posted it on Facebook and I knew I had to share it. But I posted the entire thing as is. Here's where it was originally posted so you can try and trace it back to the original source if you want. I didn't bother. 

This is pretty much a list of common idioms and their origins. Who knew figures of speech could be so historically fascinating?

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Thanksgiving Funnies!

Hey Everyone, 

I'm taking this week off to focus on Thanksgiving. Wish I could post more, but I just started a new job and I've got a lot of cooking to fit into my schedule. I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy, and safe holiday! Here are some fun holiday images for you. Hope they make you smile. I'll be back next week. (All pics courtesy of Pinterest.com unless otherwise linked.)

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Funny Friday: Grumpy Cat

Welcome to Friday Funnies! Because everyone needs a good laugh on Friday.



I love grumpy cat. He's just so sour I can't help but laugh. Hope these make you smile (and that you're a bit more optimistic than he is). All pictures courtesy of pinterest.com. **Disclaimer: there are a couple of curse words in them. Sorry. You've been warned.** 

There are plenty more where these came from, but they're my faves. Hope they gave you a laugh. Have a great weekend! :D

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Thoughts for Thursday: Belief

Thoughts for Thursday is a feature hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill.  In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!

Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!

This week's theme is Belief. Check out my other blog for more quotes.

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If God does not exist, everything is permitted. --Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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Historical Tidbit: Romeo and Juliet of the Bronze Age

Excavation in Russia (Source)

Did you know...that a Romeo and Juliet of the Bronze Age was excavated in Russia in 2008?

It's true. While trying to start construction for a hotel at "the crossroads of Postovaia and Sedin Streets of Krasnodar," (Source) builders came across the burial site. A vertical shaft, closed off with a damper plate, leads to a sepulchral  chamber. 

Inside, they found a man lying on his back and a woman beside him, holding him lovingly. The couple--both around sixty when they died--were dubbed "Romeo and Juliet of the Bronze Age. 

Dolmen (Source)

The tribes who inhabited the area at the time are almost completely unknown to modern archaeologists. From the looks of things, they had the cult of fire, which just means they used it as purification, perhaps even worshipped it. It was a big part of their lives. They also may have been the people who built the dolmens--"...single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright stones supporting a large flat horizontal capstone." Source

The woman's wrists are adorned with bracelets of bronze beads, which is very atypical for what they do know of tribes in the area.

Who the couple was and why they were buried that way is a complete mystery, one which may never be completely transparent to us in modern times. But it would make for a great historical story.

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Would you be interested in a story like this? Would it make a great ending? Beginning? What do you think?

I'll be signing copies of Citadels of Fire at the Layton Barnes and Noble on December 11 from 7-10 pm. Check out the synopsis below (there's a reason this Russian-set excavation mystery caught my eye) and if you'll be in the area, come and see me. Books always make great Christmas gifts. :D

In a world where danger hides in plain sight and no one aspires to more than what they were born to, Inga must find the courage to break the oppressive chains she’s been bound with since birth.

As a maid in the infamous Kremlin, life in 16th-century Russia is bleak and treacherous. That is, until Taras arrives. Convinced that his mother’s death when he was a boy was no mere accident, he returned from England to discover what really happened. While there, he gains favor from the Tsar later known as Ivan the Terrible, the most brutal and notorious ruler ever to sit upon the throne of Russia. Ivan allows him to take a servant, and to save Inga from a brutal boyar intent on raping her, Taras requests Inga to stay in his chambers.

Up against the social confines of the time, the shadowy conspiracies that cloak their history, and the sexual politics of the Russian Imperial court, Inga and Taras must discover their past, plan for their future, and survive the brutality that permeates life within the four walls that tower over them all, or they may end up like so many citizens of ancient Russia: nothing but flesh and bone mortar for the stones of the Kremlin wall.

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Teaser Tuesday: Towers of Midnight

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week's teasers come from Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. We just started it, which means our read-along is nearly finished! We've been at it for nearly two years now!

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Perrin looked down at Aram's body. "I should have taken that fool sword from him the moment he picked it up. I should have sent him back to his family." 

Does not a cub deserve his fangs? Hopper asked, genuinely confused. Why would you pull them? 

"It is a thing of men," Perrin said. 

Things of two-legs, of men. Always, it is a thing of men to you. What of things of wolves?

"I am not a wolf."

What are you reading this week?

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Crime Tidbit: the Death of Michael C. Rockefeller

Michael Rockefeller, not long before he disappeared.
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Did you know...that the heir to the Rockefeller fortune may have been killed by cannibals?

It's true, Michael C. Rockefeller, the fifth child of Nelson Rockefeller graduated cum laude from Harvard with degrees in history and economics. He joined a film crew to film a documentary in New Guinea in 1961. 

Now, this may not be exactly a crime tidbit. It's more of an unsolved mystery, but it's still interesting. 

On November 1, he and anthropologist Renee Wassig were trying to study the Asmat tribe of Southern New Guinea when they're double pontoon boat was swamped and overturned. After drifting for some time, Rockefeller decided to swim for shore. It is estimated that he was nine miles from shore. Wassig was later rescued, but Rockefeller was never seen again. 

Nelson Rockefeller (in the white shorts) and Michael's
twin sister Mary looking around the area where he
disappeared. (Source)

Most people, including the Rockefeller family, believed he had either drowned or been the victim of a shark or salt-water crocodile.

However, at the time there was a great deal of unrest in New Guinea, and many of the tribes in the area he would have come ashore around were practicing cannibalism.

Several leaders of Otsjanep village, where Rockefeller likely would have arrived had he made it to shore, were killed by a Dutch patrol in 1958, and thus would have some rationale for revenge against someone from the "white tribe." Neither cannibalism nor headhunting in Asmat was indiscriminate, but rather were part of a tit-for-tat revenge cycle, and so it is possible that Rockefeller found himself the inadvertent victim of such a cycle started by the Dutch patrol. (Source)

Though the family has never said they believed the cause of death was anything but drowning, Mrs. Rockefeller did pay a great deal of money to a private detective who went to New Guinea to investigate the death, and returned with 3 skulls he'd obtained from the natives, one of which he believed to Rockefeller's. 

Several books and documentaries have been done about the disappearance, which made news world wide when it happened. Just recently in 2014, "Carl Hoffman published the book Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art where he discusses researching Rockefeller's mysterious disappearance and presumed death." (Source) Also see this website, which has quite a few gruesome details. 

What do you think? Was Rockefeller murdered by cannibals or did he simply drown? Will we ever know?

If you're interested in unsolved mysteries and crime drama, check out Dark Remnants, book 1 of Street Games. The e-book is currently $3.99 on Amazon.

In the most dangerous city in the country, one controlled by a sadistic gang called the Sons of Ares, Kyra Roberts is searching the deep places for someone…

Kyra has come to Abstreuse city to find someone she’s lost, but walking the underbelly—a dark alley system residents call the Slip Mire—even in disguise, is rife with dangers. Kyra must stay on her toes if she intends to live. After crossing paths several times with the same detective, she wonders if his work and hers might be connected.

Gabe Nichols has worked homicide in Abstreuse for three years. Dead prostitutes and gang violence are part of the night shift. When a woman who looks like a street junkie but acts like an intellectual saves his life, he’s intrigued. Another woman shows up at his crime scene, and Gabe’s instincts kick into high gear when she clams up. Two cases involving strange women who won’t tell what they know are too coincidental.

If Gabe and Kyra can’t find a way to collaborate, they may not live to see the sunrise. Doomed, like so many others, to become gray, unmarked graves in a forgotten fracture of the Slip Mire.

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