The Curse of the Pharaohs

The second book in the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters is just as good as the first. For some reason the first book has a very special place in my heart, even though it is not the first book of this series I read, so even though I really love this one as well it can not top it. Because of the start of the school year it took me entirely too long to finish this book, but luckily because I have read this book before I had knew what was going on. I loved all the new characters that Elizabeth Peters created, my favorite being the journalist Mr. O'Connell who reappears in later novels. I had a soft spot for him ever since the beginning, I don't know if it was because of his happy go lucky attitude or the fact that I rather like Irishmen and redheads, but I could help but love him. 

In this novel we start in cold and dreary England and learn through the wonderful narration of Mrs. Amelia Peabody Emerson that after the birth of their son Ramses, which is a nickname due to his resemblance to the pharaoh is looks and attitude, she has not been back to Egypt. However events that are happening in Luxor, namely the death of quite a few members of a tomb evacuation, makes a former acquaintance of Emerson's to come and ask him to head the excavation. Soon more deaths, work of the curse of the pharaoh, happen at the tomb and Amelia must work to save her husband from an unknown murder. Among the list of suspects is a horrid woman who believes she was a lover of Emerson's in a past life, an American who has sites on the widow of Lord Baskersville and his tomb, a villainous Egyptian who murder his daughter, and many other interesting characters.     

One thing that I admire as an amateur writer is the characterization that Elizabeth Peters achieves with every character she introduces. Whether it is a main character or someone only in that narrative for a few paragraphs it is not hard to picture the person. I was especially impressed with Lady Berengeria in this novel because you couldn't help but cringe at the pictures Peters creates. You can't help but dislike her and when a writer can get that type of response from a writer she is doing something right. Also as a parallel she makes Lady Berengeria's daughter so likable that you can understand how they are related. 

Now this series combines everything I love (Victorian times, Egyptology, adventure, romance, mystery, and humor) and is by far my favorite series. Even if you don't care about the archaeology part of the novels you can still get wrapped up in the mystery of the events unfolding around the Emerson family as well as fall in love with them. If nothing out writing style is entertaining enough to keep someone reading because it is done as if it was a personal journal. I give this book a 5 out 5 and recommend not only it but the entire series.

The Shadow Lines

I have finished yet another book for World Literature in English "The Shadow Lines". I enjoyed this book a lot more then I did "The Untouchables" even though the writing style was a bit confusing. The narrator doesn't tell the story in chronological order, which I enjoyed, but he jumped both time and place multiple times within a page if not a paragraph without breaks or warnings.

The narrator relates almost his entire life, and some before his life, mostly focusing on the partition in India as well as the differences in English and Indian culture. We also learn a lot about him life and why he has such a wonderful imagination because of his Uncle Tridib. As the book progresses and we also become introduced to the Price Family,  family friends who live in England, we see just how much two families miles apart can be intertwined. 

The reason I liked this story was because it was written in a more entertaining fashion was well as also having to deal with events that I knew something about, WWII for instance, that it was a lot easier for me to ground myself in what time period it was. I don't really know what else to write about it because if the round about writing style. It was entertaining and I would have never picked it up on my own, but I also don't think I will read it again. I rate it about a 4.5 out of 5.

Dragon*Con 2011

I know this is extremely late, but with catching up on school work and then becoming sick I haven't had the time or energy to write this out. Because it is so late I know I am going to forget something, but here is a rather quick rundown of my weekend.

*Photo taken by a line buddy that I made waiting for this panel, Caren*

I had no idea there was even going to be a Boondock Saints panel until I was flipping through the program guide Thursday night. It was really the only thing that I wanted to go see on Friday (if I couldn't get in to see Tom Felton) so I decided to go just for the hell of it. I made some really awesome friends in line (all the pictured featured are from one of them) It was really one of the most fun and down to earth panels I have ever been to. Both Norm and Sean where fun and I think if they could they would have gotten off the stage and come down to hang out with us. A man in the audience gave both of them as well as the moderator Jameson. It was just a lot of fun and then I went back to the dealers room to earn my registration.

*picture taken by a extremely nice person I met in line with a much better camera then I do, Caren*

On Saturday I went to see Misha Collins. After a much of line aggravation I got in to see him and I am so glad that I waited. Misha Collins is extremely hilarious and I kind of want him to be my best friend. His panel was so entertaining and he was really a very down to earth guy. At one point during the panel the fire alarm went off and none of us really moved. Misha made sure everything was alright and we could stay before assuring us that since he was god we were all going to heaven if we did burn to death in a fire. I have started following him on twitter haven't regretted it for a minute. I can not imagine what it would be like to be on set with him, Jensen, and Jared. I would probably not be able to work with them because I would laugh during every scene. Misha is also extremely good looking and has a very nice voice. I really want to go to a Supernatural Con now just to get to see Jensen and Jared as well.

I also went to a puppet slam on Saturday night, which was fun, but not exactly what I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be much more offensive and more audience interaction, but it was still well done. It was also the first year that one was put on so maybe in the following years it will be better.

*this one was taken by me, see the difference XD*

Sunday morning I woke up early to go wait in line for quite some time to see the lovely Tom Felton. The people I was in line for were nice to talk with and made the time go by rather fast, we were discussing Doctor Who, so it wasn't all that bad. He is one of the sweetest people I have ever heard speak. It is so obvious that being in Harry Potter, or any other movie, has in no way has gone to his head. I never really thought about him before, but after hearing him talk and interact with his fans he quickly climbed far up in my esteem (not that my esteem counts for much) and I also follow him on twitter. He greeted everyone who came up to ask him a question and after each question was answered he said "Thank you lovely". I am not a hardcore Harry Potter fan so I didn't know if I deserved to go, but I am so glad I did.

Those were just the panels and other events I went to. I also went to the parade on Saturday morning as well as went to look at costumes on a few of the nights. I bought three Supernatural necklaces (one of which I have lost) a Supernatural poster and Usa-chan from Ouran High School Host Club. We also ate at the same restaurant every night and the one waiter was super attractive. I spent an obnoxious amount of time in the airport on the way home (5:30 until 8:40) then flew back to Pittsburgh and went to my last two classes of the day. As always it was the most amazing weekend and totally worth missing a few days of classes.

Sherlock - The Blind Banker

Alright so I seem to have caught up enough in my class work to take an hour and a half off to watch another episode of Sherlock. After the first episode I have very high expectations for this one and it very much fulfilled them. With in the first five minutes I knew I was not going to be disappointed. The whole scene with Sherlock fighting the man with the sword while John was out doing the shopping was wonderful. I also loved that shift in the "crime element" that Sherlock and John were hunting down. Also with only having three episodes in a series I think they did a wonderful job of developing the characters.

My love for the adorable awkwardness that is Sherlock in this series was magnified quite a lot in this episode. When he is bouncing around the bank office like a little child while all the workers watched was rather adorable.  Then when he pretending to be the neighbor downstairs I wanted to tackle him it was so cute. I will try to keep my Sherlock fangirling to a minimum, but at times he is really too much cute to handle. Stepping away from that Sherlock was a lot more angry and short in this episode then in the last one. He was also a good deal more manipulating, but dear god did he make that all black outfit look good. We also see that Sherlock isn't just the brains, but he is more then able to handle himself in a fight, which is sometimes forgotten in adaptations. We also get a little more into his back story, just a bit, when Sebastian talks about them at university.

John was also changed just enough in this episode. He has gotten over how brilliant Sherlock is and is starting to get a little fed up with him. Especially when John gets in trouble with the spray paint we can see and when Sherlock doesn't let him into the apartments, that his patience with Sherlock is wearing a bit thin. The fact that neither of them have jobs is also addressed in this episode, it bothering John more then it is bother Sherlock, which gives me high hopes that it is going to be on for a long time. I also love John and Sarah's interaction as well, it really showed that unlike Sherlock he wants romantic interaction and a somewhat normal life.

As for the actual case, if you haven't watched it yet skip this paragraph, was extremely interesting to me. It focused a lot more on Sherlock's brain power, but also that even he needs a little help to solve his cases. It was also a far more reaching case then the Cabbie Killer in the first series to a complete organization. Also working with the new Detective Inspector made Sherlock assert himself, which caused him to be more harsh then usual. From taking detective fiction I know that the little cases, the murders, are locked room cases. These were a favorite of Sir Arthur Conan Dole so I was glad that they were featured so early in the series. A weird thing I noticed was that John is always the only one who eats when him and John are out.

Overall I loved this episode. It had a lot more danger, I felt, then the first one. Also even though we know who the culprit was quite a bit before the end of the episode I didn't feel at all disappointed. I really did enjoy the part with the tea pots and the museum as well as the cipher. Everything was well done and I can't wait to have a bit of time to watch the last episode.  

World Literature In English

I could tell from the very beginning of the first day that this was going to be one of "those" classes. You know the ones that are frustrating to no end, yet you feel as if  you are learning nothing. Then it comes time to write a paper and you are looking at the blank document completely lost about what you are supposed to write about. Yeah it is totally one of those. The professor seems nice enough, but she is scatter brained as well as unorganized and I feel as if she spends half the class repeating herself, yet not making it so we can understand. She has a strict absent policy so it isn't even like I can save myself the headache some days and not go. Sometimes I do get some great information about the book, but most of the time it is the Professor talking in circles. There is no or little eye candy either so it really is a depressing prospect to go to that class everyday. Good thing it is a requirement for General Studies or I would really think about dropping it. I also spent way too much money on books to drop the dumb course.

Intermediate Ficition

Once again I am trying my hand at the art of writing. I walked into class and soon almost my entire Introduction to Fiction class came in after me (minus the very cute boy who I really liked get figure). The Professor (or lecturer since she isn't actually a professor) is rather pregnant, but not due until after this semester. She is a lot more outgoing and easy to talk to then my previous professor, but she is also a little intimidating. As always I am really nervous to share my work with others, usually I just write for myself or friends, but if I want to so anything on a larger scale I am going to have to get use to this as well as rejection when they don't understand my works of genius. Either way it is going to be a fun, difficult, interesting class that hopefully I get a good grade in since I want to major in Fiction English Writing.

Untouchable

I know I still have a bunch of posts to catch up on, but keeping in the theme of reviewing a book right after I finish it I am going to do things a little out of order. I promise I will make a post about Dragon*Con as well as first day reactions to my other two classes very soon.

This story follows the life if a sweeper-boy, Bakha, through a day in his life. It is set in India during British occupation and the influence of the British has a strong influence on Bakha who has adapted their clothing. As a sweeper Bakha cleans the latrines and the streets of excrement that the upper-caste members leave. However this job makes him seen as unclean by the other members of the Hindu religion and he is no allowed in their homes, to touch them, and a number of other actions without the member interacted with being purified. This of course leads to a lot of conflict and shame in Bakha's life. The story ends with words from a Christian missoriany, Ganhdi, and a poet who all have different ideas about how the Untouchables can raise above their fate. 

I personally found the story interesting in subject matter, but boring in the way it is written. I know little to nothing about India besides that it was a colony of the British Empire for quite some time so it was interesting to get a look into the culture. However following one character mostly for just one day was rather boring and after a while I found myself uninteresting in what was going on. I also felt that the entire meaning of the story was crammed into the last ten pages or so. I would have much rather we start or have a small  lead up to the three ways to escape untouchable status and then see what Bakha does with this knowledge. The style was rather slow and even the action sequences were not all that exciting to read. 

If you are interested in Indian culture and way of life I recommend you read this, it is a little dated obviously since there is no toilets in the town where Bakha lives, but still an interesting incite into the culture. If you aren't interested in that sort of thing, well, it would be a good idea to leave this book alone. Maybe it is just me, but if I didn't have to read this for World Literature in English I would have felt like I wasted my time reading the 156 or so pages. I found the preface more interesting then the actual book. It gets a 1.5 out of 5.