Teaser Tuesday - Catseye, The Elvenbane, and A Long Way From Chicago

Well, it appears I'm good at playing along with this meme every other week. *grin* So, that's just what we'll do. This time last week, I was finishing up Black Trillium and starting Catseye, the third book in my A-Z Reading Challenge list. This week I'm on book five on the lsit - The Elvenbane. (Book four was skipped for now since I have it in electronic format.) I'm also going to be reading Richard Peck's A Long Way From Chicago, prepatory to starting it with the reading group at school. We're nearly done with Charolette's Web. There's also a Civil War book I want to read before our trip to Gettysburg, but I doubt I'll get to it before next week, at the earliest.

Okay, enough prattling. On with the book excerpts!

Catseye was first published in 1961 and has a very strong ecological vibe to it, as well as some underlying commentary on the mindless destructiveness of war. Having said that, the book really was a fun, easy read.

"Troy studied the animals. Although those blue eyes regarded him squarely, there was no other contact. Yet he was sure it had not been only his imagination that had stirred him earlier." (pg. 25)

The Elvenbane, by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey, was first published in 1991. I'm reading the 1993 paperback edition. Gotta love a story with elven overlords, human slaves, and dragons on the edge of it all! I found today's except while reading this afternoon.

"Fire and Rain! The creature wasn't even finished yet! She should just leave it here to die with its mother; it would be better that way. She didn't even know exactly what to do with it - she'd probably kill it by accident." (pg. 95)

A Long Way From Chicago, by Richard Peck, was published in 1998. My youngest daughter assures me that it is "a riot". Hopefully the advanced 4th grade readers will agree.

"It was as hot as Grandma's kitchen in the tent, so people fanned paper fans, compliments of Broshear's Funeral Home, each with the Broshear motto printed on it: WHEN YOU COME TO TEH END, YOU'LL FIND A FRIEND." (pg.70)

There ya go. That's it until, well, probably the week after next.

Teaser Tuesday: Black Tryllyam

Wow. It's been a week already? It felt so wierd working all of last week at my regular hours. We actually had school, with no delays, for the entire week, for the first time since before Winter Break! I've also been busy sorting, filing, and cleaning in preparation for a couple of pieces of furniture we'll be recieving soon. I'm taking it as a good sign that I really want to get back to writing and jewelry making, since I've gotten little of either done in the last few weeks. And I'll get to work in a much less cluttered environment. I'm really looking forward to it. (And I'll try to share some pics of it all when it's finished.)

I've also been reading. If I go too long without reading anything, even a magazine, I might just explode. *grin* I've been working on book two on my A-Z Reading Challenge List - Black Trillium, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May, and Andre Norton. I've read the book before,  but it was around 15 years ago and I've essentially forgotten everything that happens - at least so far.

"In the Eighth Hundred after those of Ruwenda came to rule over the swamp wilderness called the Mazy Mire (though not completely, for they never mastered the intractable Odlings), legend and history both awoke to record one of those great changes which now and then alter the very balance of the world." (From the Prologue)

If you don't know how Teaser Tuesday is played, check it out at Miz. B.'s blog by clicking on the badge to your right. And feel free to come play along!

Fragments

"And so he raised his hands to his face and screamed. And screamed. And screamed. There wasn't anything he could really do."

Doesn't that make you want to read more? Or at least find out why the guy is screaming? Me to. Welcome to my world at the moment. I'm currently sorting through old papers and files, preparing to get rid of one of our two filing cabinets. Coming across a hanging folder marked "Misc. Writing", in a folder labelled "Fragments", I found the above, along with bits and pieces from my freshman tutorial paper on nuclear power plants, some character sketches and I haven't discovered what else...yet. But really, at the moment I just want to know why the guy was screaming.

(Makes me wonder if he worked in the public schools...some days are like that...;)