An Echo in the Bone...

We had a surprise visitor into the shop today - Diana Gabaldon. She would be one of my favorite authors and I have followed her characters - Claire and Jamie - throughout their adventures over the last 17 years or so...

Cross Stitch was the first book in Diana's Outlander series, it was followed by Dragonfly In Amber, Voyager, The Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes and lastly - but I believe NOT the last - An Echo in the Bone...

From the first page in Cross Stitch I was transported into the lives of Claire and Jamie - theirs is an unlikely love story, set against a backdrop of Jacobite Scotland.

I remember standing in a bookshop around about 1992 reading these opening lines from Cross Stitch...

" People disappear all the time. Ask any policeman. Better yet, ask a journalist. Disappearances are bread and butter to journalists.
Young girls run away from home. Young children stray from their parents and are never seen again. Housewives reach the end of their tether and take the grocery money and a taxi to the station. International financiers change their names and vanish into the smoke of imported cigars.
Many of the lost will be found, eventually, dead or alive. Disapperances, after all have explanations.
Usually."

... and from that moment been hooked. Little did I know then that I would be reading the seventh book in 2009...

I must admit that I was excited at meeting the woman whose writing has kept me entertained all of those years. Diana was both charming and patient, posing for photos and signing copies of her series in the short time she was with us. And guess what? I have my own personally signed copy!!!!!!

Oh no... Not more books!!!!!!!

...yep, of course there is... What does a retail book seller do on their day off??? Go to the Oxfam second hand book sale of course... Met G there she was also looking to extend her library... Did I buy any? Of course I did...

But for once I bought less than P - he bought way more....

G..

...this one for you... *Back story* for those interested - about a month ago my great niece R who is a volunteer rescuer for a wild life organization was coming for dinner when she responded to a call for assistance. When she arrived at our house she had this tiny ring tail possum which had got separated from its Mum... In actual fact the woman who rang R said to her that it was found clinging to their cat who was looking very nonplussed about the whole thing... R took it to the vet to see if it was ok and once she got the all clear was to take it to a woman who rears orphans and then releases them back into the wild... However this night the woman couldn't help and asked R could she keep it overnight until other arrangements could be made... R looked forward to a night of broken sleep as the little one had to be kept warm and fed... This was taken just as R was about to feed it... The esimated age of the wee thing was about three weeks... E named her 'Flo'... Just as well R works as a vet assistant as she took 'Flo' to work with her next day...UPDATE (when last we heard) - Flo has thrived under care and will be released back to the wild when she is old enough..

It's all too much...

I saw this today in Lincraft - too, too b***dy soon... Daylight savings and Christmas paraphernalia - it's doing my head in...

My escape route...

has been through reading these books - The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. They are absorbing -not only my time - but capturing and exciting my imagination... They are the first books in a very long time which I feel passionate about... Working in a book store I tend to see books come and go - I am not suggesting for a minute that there are not piles and piles of wonderful books both classics and new - however my reading had waned a little and I kept thinking to myself that I wanted a book or series of books I could escape in - my thoughts were heard apparently and these are they... The first one - The Alchemyst - has been out for a couple of years it seems - the next one - The Magician - came out last year and then - The Sorceress - was released just recently... I have read the three of them in about three weeks - one night with my book light flickering in the darkness until about 2am... What do I like about them? Michael Scott - the author - has creatively used world events, characters created from people who lived, plus he has drawn on myths and legends to weave a age old story of good versus evil, a quest,a coming of age, a getting of wisdom, and perhaps even an love story...

People have asked me what I would liken it to - while it deals with some alchemy and magic - it isn't Harry Potter, and while there is a vampire or two - it is a very long way from the Twilight series... "Oh," you say "it is written for young people then." Yes it is but please don't let that deter you - it is well constructed, well written, action packed with the occasionally twist thrown in for good measure plus a host of wonderful characters - both good and bad... A good book - in my opinion - is like a good meal - delicious - and these books in my opinion are top of the 'menu'...

The only downside is that there is another three in the series each to be released in the next three years... I will probably re read the first three again in anticipation for the fourth book - The Necromancer- later in the year...

Go on I dare you - read The Alchemyst - I know you want to :) !!!!

** There is a suggestion on one of the sites that there is a film coming - not sure how I feel about that - I just hope they do it well...

Personal Year Nine

Today is the first day of my personal nine year... Looking back on past 'nine years' they have always been interesting... The Hermit in tarot is the card that reflects the passage of the nine year best...

Just to say...

.. I am going to take a break - between my back condition and the house been burgled late last week - blogging is the last thing on my mind...

Until my peace of mind returns...

Sharon xxx