The Thief of Bagdad

The Thief of Bagdad is a 1924 silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks that’s full of action, adventure and exotic locales.  It’s loosely based on One Thousand and One Nights, also known as the Arabian Nights.  It’s about a thief, who falls in love with the Caliph of Bagdad’s daughter.  Using a stolen magic rope, the thief sneaks into the palace with thoughts of plunder on his mind but stops when he sees the princess for the first time.  The thief’s associate learns what happens and talks the thief into sneaking back into the palace to kidnap the princess he is in love with.  Three princes from far off lands arrive to win the princess’s hand in marriage.  The thief takes the opportunity to disguise himself as a prince in order to get into the palace and close to the princess to kidnap her.  But he has a change of heart and can’t go through with it when he finds out the princess was going to choose him as her husband.


What follows is an adventure to different lands, through treacherous volcanoes, undersea sets and a city in the clouds.  There’s a magic rope, a crystal ball, a flying carpet and horse, as well as a cloak of invisibility!  This reminded me so much of Disney’s Aladdin and the TV series Arabian Nights.  I only mention those two because they are the only things I’ve watched that have had anything to do with the stories they are based on, because obviously, this movie was made in 1924 waaaaaaaay before those two were even a twinkle in someone’s clever brain.


I loved every minute of The Thief of Bagdad.  I don’t watch enough silent films.  I've seen a handful and I really need to watch more.  This was the first silent film I've seen that starred Douglas Fairbanks and he is just so charismatic and light on his feet!  His stunts are wonderful!  Oh, and the sets and special effects are brilliant!  I grabbed some screenshots of some of my favorite scenes:

I probably shouldn't have started with this one because it was hard to really capture what is going on here.  This is an underwater scene, with kelp swaying back and forth as the thief swims to the bottom of the ocean.  I just loved the green lighting and movement of the kelp and the thief as he swims through them.

This is an underwater cavern where there are siren-like mermaids calling to the thief.  Look at this place!  Isn't it gorgeous?!  The green lighting and the glow of the crystal chandeliers hanging down is so pretty and everything here is so ethereal.

The castle in the clouds.  I should have gotten a better screenshot but you can just see the flying horse there.  This is where the magic box and the invisibility cloak were found.  Again, wonderfully lit and really serene and lovely.

The palace walls.  I love the glow coming from behind the wall and lighting up the guard on top.  And the design and texture on the wall is great!

This is my second favorite shot, after the underwater cavern.  I don’t know if that’s window or a screen but it’s beautiful!  Look at the lovely scroll work on it!  And the little twister to the left… you’ll have to watch to find out what that’s about!

I wanted to include a shot of just how epic this movie is with the crowd of people and the set design for the city of Bagdad.  I did a bit of research on Wikipedia and it said this movie cost two million dollars and was the most expensive film of the 1920s.  And to me, not a dime was wasted!

Another lovely shot.

So, I loved it.  Venessa watched some with me and really liked it.  And I think you will to.  It’s streaming on Netflix or you can watch here on Archive.org.  Give it a watch!  You won’t regret it.


P.S. Happy 8th Birthday, Venessa!

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

Adoulla Makhslood, ghul hunter, the last of his kind, is enjoying a relaxing morning with his tea, when he is approached by the dervish, Raseed, his apprentice and a young boy, Faisal, the nephew of an old flame of Adoulla’s. Faisal witnessed the death of his parents who were attacked by ghuls and Adoulla’s old flame, Miri, has asked for his help to track down the ghuls responsible. As Adoulla and Raseed leave the confines of the city of Dhamsawaat, they cross paths with Zamia, a tribeswoman who has the gift of taking on the shape of a lioness. She is after the same ghuls who have killed her father and her tribe. Together, along with the help of the alchemist Litaz and her husband Dawoud, they must find the person responsible for these heinous ghul attacks while avoiding a power struggle between the ruling Khalif and the hero-of-the-people thief known as the Falcon Prince.

I have to admit I didn’t really give this book my full attention as I should have. Lately I’ve been watching some Dark Shadows, and then I rewatched The Walking Dead to lead up to the season finale. Also, my husband has been watching Supernatural. Do you know how hard it is not to pay attention to that show while you’re trying to read?! It’s all yelling, shooting, scary music that you have to look to see what the heck is going on, then you cover your face with your book because it’s gross then you peek over the top to see what happens next! Anyways, even if I didn’t give this book the attention it deserved I really enjoyed it and I'd like to read more adventures. According to Goodreads, it’s #1 of The Crescent Moon Kingdoms and I’m hoping that means there will be more because there is great world building and characters in this book.

There’s political intrigue as we see people choosing to side with the Falcon Prince or the Khalif, even amongst Adoulla and his apprentice. There’s magic, both good and evil, with its limits and rules that are unique. The action is quick and exciting, which you get to see from different points of view that would seem like it would be repetitive but it's not. There is a hint of romance but it didn’t dominate the story and there are relationships that are not wrapped up neatly in the end. There’s also great dialogue and character interaction that feels natural. Adoulla and his friends Litaz and Dawould have known each other for years and you get a sense of that and it’s very believable. It also has young, headstrong characters balanced out with older and wiser characters. They have all made mistakes and learn from them, they are not perfect yet that’s what makes each of these characters very interesting.

This story is also full of descriptions of the sights and smells that fully immerse you into this world. You really get a sense of the Crescent Moon Kingdoms, without revealing too much. There’s a lot there to be explored. It definitely leaves the story open for more adventures to be told and I’m totally on board to read more.

The Once Upon a Time Challenge

It is time for another reading challenge! Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting another reading challenge that I believe will be my favorite and it’s called Once Upon a Time. This is the sixth outing and this will be my first time participating. It’s such an appropriate reading challenge for spring!

Also, I believe this is my challenge. This is where I succeed. Looking back at the kind of books I read, I think Fantasy is where I tend to be drawn to. Take a look at my woobie books. Except for the newly added Captain Blood, the rest are all fantasy. And when I look at the Goodreads recommendations based on the books I’ve read, a good number of them are fantasy.

Similar to the RIP Challenge I participated in last September and October, there are different levels you can commit to. I’ve decided on the Quest The First, which is to read 5 books that fit within the Once Upon a Time categories, which are Fairy Tale, Folklore, Fantasy and Mythology.

Now let’s get to the fun part. What I plan to read!

Planned Books to Read FOR REAL

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester (I started this with Venessa, then we paused to read Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies so we plan on finishing this for the Once Upon a Time challenge.)

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall

The Whisper of Glocken by Carol Kendall

The Firelings by Carol Kendall

My Backup List Includes

The Door to Far-Myst by Mike DiCerto (A book I won from Good Reads!)

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma (A book I received a while long ago and need to read.)

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #2)

Mort by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #4)

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #33)

Hatter by Daniel Coleman (Another book that’s been sitting around that needs to be read.)

Orlando by Virginia Woolf (Now, if this isn’t fantasy (a man turning into a woman) I don’t know what is! Plus it’s been sitting on my shelf for a while and it would be nice to read it too.)

The Once and Future King by T.H. White (Another book that’s been sitting around almost as long as Orlando!)

Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson (Yet again, another book that’s been sitting around and needs to be read. Plus, I’ve always been partial to the scene in Anne of Green Gables when Anne reenacts the Lady of Shalott with her friends and gets stuck under the bridge.)

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (One of my woobie books that I’ve already read twice but it’s been calling to me for a while and it would be nice to visit Will Stanton again.)

Along with the planned books I’ll be participating in a group read of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman in June. There will also be a group read of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson but I haven’t decided yet if I’ll participate. I hope to squeeze in a movie or two, such as Snow White and the Huntsman (June 1st) and a little ol' movie called the Avengers (MAY 4TH!!!!!!!).

Other than Throne of the Crescent Moon (a library book) and Neverwhere (a book I'll likely borrow from the library too), I'm going to stick with books that I already own. As you can see from the list above, I have plenty of options!

If you’d like to join in on the fun read more here and you can also visit other blogs to see what other bloggers are reading throughout the challenge at the review site here.

A peek under London’s skirts and my “thoughts” on the season finale of The Walking Dead

London Under by Peter Ackroyd is a fascinating book that takes you on a journey through the underground layers of London, a city that has been built and rebuilt over and over again over hundreds of years. There’s so much history only briefly touched upon in such a small book but it’s still enough to whet the appetite to want to read more and discover what lies under other cities as old as or even older than London.

This is a really pretty book too. It has a nice book jacket and I love the blue/green color of the book itself. It’s nice and compact with nice illustrations and pictures throughout. It looks really lovely sitting on the shelf!

The book is not that long and like I said it touches on the history without getting too involved. It tells its story in a light manner that’s engaging and keeps you interested.

This turned out to be a pretty short review. It was a short book after all. It was a good break between Second Foundation and Throne of the Crescent Moon (my current read). I almost didn’t post this, instead, thinking I’d write something about The Walking Dead and the season 2 finale but all that I could think to write about that was: OMG! IT WAS AWESOME! I LOVE THIS SHOW! I FORGIVE YOU FOR 7 EPISODES OF SEARCHING FOR ZOMBIE SOPHIA AND LOVE TRIANGLE DRAMA WITH THE 20 MIN. ZOMBIE ATTACK! ANDREA IS AWESOME! A RICK/DARYL BUDDING BROMANCE IS AWESOME! LORI BEGONE, PLEASE, OR JUST KEEP TRACK OF YOUR KID! OMG! I CAN’T WAIT FOR SEASON 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah. I'm still trying to recover from it.

I'll see most of you in Season 3! In the meantime, off to read the comic!

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

In Zone One by Colson Whitehead we spend three days in the life of Mark Spitz, as he and his team clear out Zone One, a.k.a. what used to be Manhattan. We’re in the cleanup phase of a zombie apocalypse and the only thing holding them back is a wall as the remaining military and volunteers try to establish a base to start civilization again.

Zone One was the final read of a trinity (HA!) of books I had a hard time choosing between a few months back. But unlike the other two that grabbed my attention right from the start, I came very close to giving up on this book. Here are some quotes that had me scratching my head and wrinkling my brow:

“Never in human history had so many delighted in removing a bit of kernel from between canines and biscupids.” – pg. 35

“A building like 135 Duane, with its panoply of enterprises, had its idiosyncrasies but nonetheless conformed to the prevailing narrative.” – pg. 33-34

“He scowled at the mail on the hall credenza, speculating anew over what misbegotten opt-in had birthed, among other bastards, his identification as a member of the opposite political party.” – pg. 69

If you’ve read the quotes above from Zone One, hopefully I wasn’t the only one who was thinking: Whaaatt??? I mean, was it that hard to write “removing a bit of kernel from between his teeth”? Are we trying to reach a word quota?

But after an encouraging tweet I pressed on. It did get better. I don’t know if I just got used to the writing or maybe the writing settled down. It felt like the first one hundred pages tried to cram a lot of information in at once. At the time it frustrated me. Especially when there was an interruption of a great zombie attack for a flash back! I was livid! Why would you interrupt a zombie attack! But I started to get used to the flashbacks and a flashforward scene.

After finishing, I thought back and could see how the book reflects the character’s journey; a life of constant fighting and moving from one place to another, never staying in one place for too long, always on the alert in order to survive. It would be confusing and frustrating like the first part of the book. Then it settles down, the character is rescued and volunteers to help rebuild, there’s a sense of stability; the second part, the part where the reading felt like it had settled down for me. Then the third part turns into a full blown zombie action event that’s intense and frightening. And this book just happens to be divided into three sections, events happening through the course of three days. Wow, can I analyze a book or what? (No, not really, I’m sure.)

I don’t read much literary stuff (and if you couldn’t tell already, my professional use of “stuff” should have given it away). My genre snobbishness getting over itself is probably what helped me to really enjoy this book. Those first 100 pages were the groan inducing pages for me but once I got past them I found myself addicted and surprisingly involved and actually caring about a character who had been described as mediocre; someone who had been incredibly lucky to survive the breakdown of society until what was left of the government began to pick up the pieces and rebuild. But someone able to survive the horrors described must be more than mediocre and when you realize that you begin to care what happens to Mark Spitz (a nickname that is revealed in the book).

So, slow start but it picks up when it needs to and you can’t put this book down. I recommend it.

New On The Shelf: Adventures in Book Collecting

Well,I've been trying to be good. I really have! But this collection of new books has built up slowly from the last post. Let's take a look at what I've collected:

Goodwill Book Store

Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Mort by Terry Pratchett

This was from a random stop. We were out and about one Saturday afternoon and we passed by so I insisted we make a stop. Mort is #4 of the Discworld books. After recently reading Snuff and liking it a lot, I was really excited to add another Discworld book to my collection.

Venessa really enjoyed The Tale of Despereaux movie and really really really likes Coraline (she went a week where that was all she watched recently), so I thought the book versions of both would be nice to have.

Library

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

This book was stalking me. I first saw the book here at the OF Blog. During a browsing excursion to Barnes and Noble (where I didn’t buy anything, thank you very much!) I saw it on the shelf. Then I read the reviews here and here. The last review and the comments convinced me this is a book to read. I tweeted this as my #FridayReads and got a response from the author, saying he hopes it doesn't ruin my weekend. I'm happy to report it didn't and I don't need to resort to this.

Goodwill, Destin, FL

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory of Film and Media

While on vacation in Destin, FL (which has beautiful beaches by the way!), the weather was poopy so we just took walks on the beach when we could and ate good food and had lots of drinks! We also did some shopping and that included exploring some of the local thrift stores. My husband found the film book for me because I had mentioned wanting to get one. I thought it’d be nice to have some knowledge on film techniques to help with my future film reviews. This book is older but for a couple bucks it looks like it’s a good start.

I read the Maltese Falcon years ago and I couldn’t pass up having my own copy. I remember so little of it and the movie! Time to correct that!

Fun fact #1: Once upon a time I was obsessed with the name Dashiell. Some of you ladies have probably done this as well, but I kept a list of names I wanted to name my kids. Dashiell was on the list and I also thought it’d make a great pen name.

I also found a copy of one of the Fuzzy books by H. Beam Piper. Fuzzy Nation, the book I reviewed recently, was a retelling of one of the stories. I really want to read H. Beam Piper’s but the copy I found wasn’t that great. I was disappointed and sad. It was only .75 but the book was in really bad shape.

Great beaches in Destin!

Loud Voice Books

Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche

Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories by Steven Millhauser

The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett (Dammit! I forgot to have it included in the pic!)

This was a two part trip. On some other weekend I felt the need to browse a bookstore so I went to Loud Voice Books. I didn’t have anything in mind and ended up with Dangerous Laughter and Shining at the Bottom of the Sea.

Then of course after such purchases I see Steven Millhauser’s name pop up on a blog where I find out he’s nominated for something and someone not at all happy with some other Stephen Marche book called How Shakespeare Changed Everything.

I believe The Company Man was a Kindle Daily Deal that popped up on my Facebook feed. It sounded really interesting as alternate histories go. I emailed Loud Voice and got a great deal on it. Much better than if I’d gone through Amazon!

From Mom-In-Law

Spy Killer by L. Ron Hubbard

Inside Straight (Wild Cards, #18) by George R.R. Martin and others

My mom-in-law, Laura, sent these two to me. Notice how George R. R. Martin's name is insanely huge compared to the title. It's the same on the front of the book. Reading through Goodreads this book has some pretty good reviews. And though it's part of a series, it sounds like you can jump in with this book and not be completely lost.

I enjoyed L. Ron Hubbard’s, Battlefield Earth (enough to have read it twice and yes, I saw the movie, which was NOT GOOD) so I’m really curious about this one. According to his Wikipedia page, he did a lot of writing before he invented Scientology.

Fun Fact #2: One of the reasons I read Battlefield Earth was 1) curiosity and 2) those Dianetics commercials. Does anyone remember those? It’s the only book commercial I ever remember seeing on TV and they were on ALL the time it seemed!

Fun Fact #3: In my days as a QA Analyst I used this program to find broken links: http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html Xenu is a "dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs". I swear I did not make this up. I copied it straight from wikipedia so it must be true!

Scientology just amuses me. Please, don't be afraid. I'm not trying to brainwash you! I'm curious to see what Spy Killer is like, if it will have traces of the beginnings of Scientology, where in Battlefield Earth, his beliefs were blatantly obvious.

So that's it! Anything look interesting to you? Has anyone read any of these? Let me know what you think if you have.

Storytime With Venessa: Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies

Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies by Andrea Beaty is about twins, Joules and Kevin, who have been sent to Camp Whatsitooya while their parents attend the annual SPAM convention. All is normal at camp until strange happenings begin to occur: missing candy, camp counselors acting strangely, large amounts of marshmallow fluff ordered and served to the campers. It’s up to Joules and Kevin, along with Nelson, a fellow camper, to figure out what is happening and try to save the other campers and the world from the Fluffs!

While I participated in the Science Fiction Experience, I thought it would be fun to find a book I could read to Venessa that fit in as well. Here is Venessa talking about how much she liked the book and I’ll follow with my opinion.

(Disclaimer: Things get a bit… out of hand. And we are in no way Detroit Tigers fans. Oakland A's all the way! (though we do not approve of the Manny Ramirez signing but anyways...) Venessa’s softball team is called the Tigers. This is her first year playing so she’s pretty excited.)

Alright, enough from me, here’s Venessa!

Additional thoughts about this book from a parent’s point of view: I purposely chose this book because 1) it was one of the few sci-fi books I was able to track down (not that my search was that intense) for children her age 2) the silly title seemed like something that would amuse Venessa and 3) the story included a female character.

A lot of the sci-fi children’s books I did find did not include any female characters in the summaries. I was very disappointed! I wanted my daughter to know that it’s not only the boys who can have all the fun adventures. I really like Joules in this book. She’s right there, on equal ground, ready to save the other campers, along with her brother, and was ready to fight the Fluffs!

This was a fun book to read aloud. There were some tongue tied moments but there’s some fun interaction in this book with short comic panels and charts. There are parts that really make you chuckle. It’s a book that’s best experienced with a young one where you can build up the suspense and use silly voices to entertain them as you read.

Second Foundation Group Read, Conclusion

This is it! The last of the group read for the Foundation trilogy. Once upon a time I felt very intimidated by Isaac Asimov. I have been cured of that after participating in these group reads during the Science Fiction Experience.

I really enjoyed these books a lot. They’ve introduced some very interesting ideas on government, control, free will and fate. There have also been some great discussions throughout January and February and I’m going to miss them.

As with the others, questions are in bold and my answers follow. There will be spoilers of course, and with that out of the way, let’s go!

1. Now that the trilogy is over, discuss your feelings on Asimov's portrayal of female characters?

In the end I did find I liked Asimov’s portrayal of female characters. More would have been nice but we got to see different personalities and ages, with motives both good and bad. And they were part of the story and not just there as eye candy.

2. After all the back and forth mind control of the first part of Second Foundation, what was your state of mind reading this second section of the book? Were you suspicious of everyone? Did you figure things out? Were you just going along for the ride?

Other than partly guessing correctly where the Second Foundation had been the whole time, I tried to keep an open mind and just go along for the ride, so certain revelations (which I'll mention later in Question #5) really surprised me. I was slightly suspicious of the old man and lady (sorry, don't have my library copy and I forgot their names!) that met Arkady on Kalgan and helped her get away to Trantor. I thought it a little convenient that they too were just happening to be on their way to Trantor and how easily they were able to get her off of Kalgan.

3. Throughout the three novels we were shown a couple of versions of Trantor. Which is more appealing to you? Which would you rather visit?

The version of Trantor Arkady got to see seems more appearling. It’s quiet, not so densely populated. That’s more my pace. But I would have liked to visit Trantor during Seldon’s time; just to see the hustle and bustle of an entire planet devoted to the administration of a galaxy wide empire.

4. How have your thoughts about Hari Seldon, his plan, and either or both Foundations changed, or not, during the course of these three novels?

I do think Seldon was doing something good to try and ease the troubles between the fall of the first Galactic Empire and the rise of the second. I thought he had a real grasp on people and their motives with his psychohistory. But when we discover in this book, that the Second Foundationers had the ability to affect people’s mind, then I began to doubt Seldon’s "all knowing-ness"; that it just came down, not to people acting on their own according to their nature, but because of Second Foundationers influencing them. From the way the book ended, it doesn't look like either Foundation changed. The First Foundationers think they've defeated the Second, but we know that is not the case so each Foundation will continue moving along as they always had.

5. What, if anything, surprised you in this last half of the book? How do you feel Second Foundation held up compared to the other two books in the trilogy?

The Pelleas and Arkady revelations surprised me! Second Foundation, the book, seemed more in line with the first, Foundation. A lot of talk and some tense situations. Not a whole lot of action like the second book.

6. Did any themes stand out for you in this series? What are you taking away from the experience of reading the Foundation trilogy?

Free will and what does that really mean? Is influencing people through mind control really the best course in order to establish this second Galactic Empire? (Sorry, for answering a question with more questions. It's a bad habit of mine. My husband hates it!)

Despite good intentions, the actions required to achieve them have not always been honorable. I wonder if it really will be for the good of the galaxy in the end. I hope so after all the turmoil.

I want to thank Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings for hosting the group read and everyone who read and commented. Below are links to all three group reads. These go to Stainless Steel Droppings site and below the post there are links posted by other bloggers who participated:

Foundation - Part 1/Conclusion

Foundation and Empire - Part 1/Conclusion

Second Foundation - Part 1/Conclusion

I think the second book, Foundation and Empire, is my favorite. It had a lot more excitement. There was the battle between the Foundation and the Galactic Empire, then later we have Bayta and Toran barely escaping just ahead of the Mule as he conquered each planet of the Foundation. And let’s not forget the revelation of the Mule and his powers!

As a whole it’s a great series of books I highly recommend. I had a great time and I hope everyone else did too.

Wrapping Up The 2012 Science Fiction Experience

Well, it’s the end of the Science Fiction Experience, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings, and let me say it has been quite an experience! A very good one of course!

I wrote that my sci-fi reading was really pathetic and I’m glad that I read some books I’ve always heard good things about. I posted a list of books as potential reads. Let’s review that list again:

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Earthbound by Joe Haldeman

Count to a Trillion by John C. Wright

Let’s see…

I did read Foundation (as part of a group read) and Starship Troopers. I didn’t get to The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, The Grand Design or Earthbound. I read Ender’s Game and I got about fifty pages into Count to a Trillion and had to set it aside. I was finding I was just not very interested with what was going on. I also had to abandon The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, for the same reason. Like Count to a Trillion it didn't draw me in and I guess it wasn't the right time for either book. I'll return to them again someday.

I did get to some other books I hadn’t planned on: Legacy by James H. Schmitz and Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi, two books I enjoyed immensely.

I also completed the Foundation trilogy when I participated in the group reads of Foundation and Empire, as well as Second Foundation. You may be wondering what happened to the conclusion of the Second Foundation group discussion. The questions were a bit late and I’ll have those up on Monday to take care of that.

I was also able to finish up Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies with Venessa on Tuesday. I’ll have a review for that next week. And yes, it will be a video review featuring the lovely V! There may be some readers who are new to the blog and haven't seem them before, but I try to read daily to my daughter and when we finish a book I'll post a review with her thoughts and mine. Click here if you'd like to see some of our past reviews.

I was very disappointed when I went searching for juvenile science fiction books that would be appropriate for her age. Most of the books Amazon and Good Reads suggested were mostly fantasy. I had to really dig and look elsewhere and that’s how I discovered Attack of the Fluffy Bunnies. THEN I went to Barnes and Noble one day and found this series: http://www.goodreads.com/series/68640-the-roar but I think AotFB was better suited for Venessa for now.

Oh! Let’s not forget about a certain show that took over my life in January!

Overall I had a really good time. I enjoyed all the books I read and the one TV series I watched (which, seriously, did took up all of January). After the two misses with Count to a Trillion and The Difference Engine, I was a little worried but everything I read after that was a lot of fun.

Now it’s time to look forward to another reading challenged hosted, once again, by Stainless Steel Droppings (these challenges are really a lot of fun!). This will be the Once Upon a Time Challenge and it will be a fantasy reading challenge and I’m really excited about this one. I’ve already got a good stack of books ready for it (my sister was kind enough to send me three of them) and I’ll probably start a bit early because I just got a book I want to read for it from the library. More details to come!

In the meantime, I’m cleansing my reading palate with a non-fiction book about the underworld of London that I am finding to be really fascinating! And if you’d like to see what others read during the Science Fiction Experience, head over to the review site: http://2012sfexperience.blogspot.com/ Lots of reviews and lots of intriguing books. Who knows, maybe you’ll find your woobie there!