Monday, July 17, 2023

Music Monday (248): FKA Twigs featuring Daniel Caesar

Rules:

  • Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 
Breana: Over the weekend, I revisited FKA Twigs' 2022 mixtap, Caprisongs. It's been a minute since I last listened to it in full, and, oh man, I forgot how good it was! And I really wanted to share another one of my favorite songs for today's Music Monday. Give a listen to Careless featuring Daniel Caesar!



What are you listening to this week?

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

Title: The Color of Magic
Series: Discworld #1
Author: Terry Pratchett
Source/Format: Purchased; Mass Market Paperback
More Details: Fantasy; Comedy
Publisher/Publication Date: First Published December 1, 1983

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads...
Imagine, if you will . . . a flat world sitting on the backs of four elephants who hurtle through space balanced on a giant turtle. In truth, the Discworld is not so different from our own. Yet, at the same time, very different . . . but not so much.

In this, the maiden voyage through Terry Pratchett's divinely and recognizably twisted alternate dimension, the well-meaning but remarkably inept wizard Rincewind encounters something hitherto unknown in the Discworld: a tourist! Twoflower has arrived, Luggage by his side, to take in the sights and, unfortunately, has cast his lot with a most inappropriate tour guide—a decision that could result in Twoflower's becoming not only Discworld's first visitor from elsewhere . . . but quite possibly, portentously, its very last. And, of course, he's brought Luggage along, which has a mind of its own. And teeth.

I have not read Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series in order. My first—and only—two forays into it was a pair of the Tiffany Aching books (Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight). But, for a while now, I’ve wanted to go all the way back to beginning, to read for myself how the series actually began.

The Color of Magic was humorous in all the right ways! It poked fun at a lot of classic fantasy tropes—like wizards, magic, dragons, and heroes—by showing them in the most absurd light. No matter how dangerous the situation, the narrative always provided ironic twists with the most convoluted (and often times hilarious) solutions.

And that was coupled with the other big aspect I enjoyed about The Color of Magic: its characters. Rincewind, Twoflower, and the Luggage (and yes, there were puns everywhere) worked well as a trio for this adventure.

To date, this series has one of my all-time favorite settings: Great A’Tuin, the giant turtle flying through space with four elephants on its back, who hold up the flat (disk shaped) world. And I don’t think I fully appreciated the setting as much I did with this book. Maybe it was the story, or how certain ridiculous areas were still adequate obstacles and a source of tension. I don’t know, but I was having a great time.

And that is the crux of it. I had so much fun reading this book, and I know that I’ll end up checking out more Discworld stories.
 

Monday, July 10, 2023

Music Monday (247): Wednesday Campanella

Rules:

  • Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 
Breana: This week, I wanted to mention another of my favorite Wednesday Campanella songs. This one is called Yeti.



What are you listening to this week?




Friday, July 7, 2023

The Friday 56 (237) & Book Beginnings: The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.


Synopsis from Goodreads...
Imagine, if you will . . . a flat world sitting on the backs of four elephants who hurtle through space balanced on a giant turtle. In truth, the Discworld is not so different from our own. Yet, at the same time, very different . . . but not so much.

In this, the maiden voyage through Terry Pratchett's divinely and recognizably twisted alternate dimension, the well-meaning but remarkably inept wizard Rincewind encounters something hitherto unknown in the Discworld: a tourist! Twoflower has arrived, Luggage by his side, to take in the sights and, unfortunately, has cast his lot with a most inappropriate tour guide—a decision that could result in Twoflower's becoming not only Discworld's first visitor from elsewhere . . . but quite possibly, portentously, its very last. And, of course, he's brought Luggage along, which has a mind of its own. And teeth.


Beginning: "In a distant and secondhand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part... See... Great A'Tuin the turtle comes, swimming slowly through the interstellar gulf, hydrogen frost on his ponderous limbs, his huge ancient shell pocked with meteor craters."

56: "The Luggage backed off slowly."


Comments: I have finally gone back and read the beginning of the Discworld series. This book was delightful and very funny. What are you reading this week?

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Quarterly Recap: April-June


Welcome! It’s July…already, and I feel like the year is flying by. It's already time for the second Quarterly Recap of 2023. This time, I’m covering blog posts that have appeared on the blog from April through June. As always, I’m starting with reviews…

April, May, and June Reviews...

**Note: Weekly memes (like Music Monday and The Friday 56 + Book Beginnings, can be searched with their labels: Music Monday, The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings)**

Other April, May, and June blog posts...
Looking ahead, I’m pretty excited for the ARCs I’m going to be reading in the next couple of months. I won’t say too much here, but some of them are much anticipated sequels or new books from some of my favorite authors.

In July, there’s a new book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia coming out, plus I’ve finally gone back and read the beginning of the Discworld series.

As far as games, I'm slowly working my way through the Subnautica games. But, mostly, I’m knee-deep in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. This game is massive, and I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of the story or the areas available to explore yet. But, I’m having so much fun.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...