Mailbox Monday and What Are You Reading?

Mailbox Monday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Books. I love the fact they switch hosts every month for this meme, it allows so many more people to take part, see different blogs etc. Great idea!
I received two books this week:


'Life Knocks' by Craig Stone

Life Knocks is about how Colossus Sosloss had nothing, then achieved more than most could dream, then lost everything and starts again. In 2004 Colossus quits his city job because he feels he is on the wrong path and as a consequence of following his thoughts he ends up falling in love, travelling through Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand and living on Kauai, the smallest of the habitable Hawaiian Islands. The story is told from two timelines; one in the present day and one in the past. Whilst we learn about Colossus then, we also see him now. Back at work again. Back doing a job that makes him miserable and with a senile old landlord that obsesses over him, lives in the same building and won’t leave him alone.
So what went right, what went wrong?

I really like the sound of this one and the first couple of pages have been great.

'A Dawn of Dragonfire' by Daniel Arenson

"Their wings thudded.  Their flames roared.  Thousands of dragons, warriors of Requiem, soared through wind and darkness. Their cries rose in the night: for war, for fire, and for glory." A Dawn of Dragonfire (Dragonlore, Book One) – a new, epic fantasy for fans of A Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings. The people of Requiem, an ancient kingdom, can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons.  Their hearts are noble, their wisdom great, their kingdom a land of beauty and peace. This peace will soon burn.  From the south, a fire rises.  Birds of flame take flight.  The phoenixes soar, beasts of heat and wrath, large as dragons and cruel as wildfire.  Their purpose is one:  destroy the land of dragons. Requiem's dragons have defeated countless enemies.  Their claws are sharp and their flames bright.  But how can they fight the phoenixes, creatures woven of sunfire itself?

I do have to say that I am loving these dragon covers, I think they're great. 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Journey.

Last week I read and reviewed:

• 'Wand of the Witch' by Daniel Arenson
• 'Across the Nightingale Floor' by Lian Hearn
• 'Perfume, the Story of a Murderer' by Patrick Suskind
• I also commented on John Carpenters' In The Mouth of Madness' and how it presents authors and readers
• and I fawned over 'Wuthering Heights' again for the Classics Club, for which I also posted by 100 Classics list
• I even posted some of my own writing: 'The Beckoning Bell' - Part 1

So much for last week. As I mentioned, I made a 100 Classics list for Classics Club. The rule is basically that you make a list of the Classics you want to read and promise to read them within a time span that cannot extend beyond 5 years. I gave myself three. I've decided to start on 2 books this week, next to the ones I will review (mentioned above).

‘If On a Winter’s Night a Traveller’ – Italo Calvino

This exhilarating interactive novel--in which the reader, lured into the text by the enticements of Italo Calvino's splendid intelligence, turns into the book's central character--was its author's triumphant response to the question of whether the art of fiction could survive the vast changes taking place in the communications technology of our world.

The first couple of pages are fascinating. Hop over here for some quotes I used in Friday's post.

‘Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town’ – Stephen Leacock

Affectionately combining both the idyllic and ironic, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is Stephen Leacock’s most beloved book. Set in fictional Mariposa, an Ontario town on the shore of Lake Wissanotti, these sketches present a remarkable range of characters: some irritating, some exasperating, some foolhardy, but all endearing. Painted with the skilful brushstrokes of a great comic artist, the delightful inhabitants of Mariposa represent the people of small towns everywhere. 

As fresh, funny, and insightful today as when it was first published in 1912, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is Stephen Leacock at his best – colourful, imaginative, and thoroughly entertaining.

This one sounded like a lot of fun and it's Canadian, which is always a great reason to spend some time on something, unless it's Justin Bieber!