Tuesday, January 13, 2009

You think I'm hearty, right??

Because the only positive thing I can think of when spending January in Minnesota, are the bragging rights. You know, where the temperature is given this time of year as degrees above or below zero? Where this morning it was the coldest it has been since January of 2004 - that would be -18. Where we have to keep the water dripping in our upstairs bathroom or it will freeze. Where if I traveled further north, it'd be -40. This is temperature folks, not windchill. I haven't seen a temperature above 30 in weeks. Man, that would be balmy. Ahhh.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I have received not one, but two Butterfly Awards for having a cool blog!

I don't know how cool my blog is, but I sure live in a 'cool' place. Haha, I couldn't resist! Many thanks to Bonnie from Redlady's Reading Room and Rhapsody in Books. I give this right back to both of you, and to everyone else whom I read and correspond with in this great bloggy world. You're all cool!


I finished my first book of 2009 - Susan Hill's The Pure in Heart which is the second novel in the Simon Serrailler crime series. You might remember that I read the first book in this series, The Various Haunts of Men just last month and really liked it, despite it being not a traditional crime novel. The Pure in Heart is a bit more of a traditional crime novel but it many ways is really a novel with a mystery at its heart. There is much more about Simon in this book and while it was good to get to know him, I missed some of the voices from the first novel. What I liked about this book was learning more about the various characters. What I didn't like or should I say, what I found unsatisfying, is that the main storyline is not really wrapped up. I knew this going in from reading the Amazon reviews, but I didn't expect it to bother me so much. I also didn't expect to be bothered so much by the boy that goes missing in this book. His mother's grief and anguish were quite upsetting. I understand from the reviews that this storyline is wrapped up in the third book in the series. Because of this, and because I'm just drawn to this town and its people, I ordered the next two books in the series from Britain, as they don't seem readily available here. I'll be interested to see how I feel about these. I think I must be pretty drawn to Hill's writing to continue with the series after being a little bit let down with this installment.

P.S. Nuts! It seems in trying to change a few things on my blogroll, I've deleted the entire thing!! I'm really bad at keeping this current, so it's going to take me a while to build it again. So please don't take it personally if you're not there for while!!

14 comments:

Sandra said...

Stick with the Susan Hills. I read them all and their worth it. They sometimes shocked me or broke my heart (maybe I'm just sensitive), but her character development goes further than most mysteries I've ever read. I hope the cost of getting them from the UK wasn't too bad. We get a lot of UK books here in Canada as easily as we get the US ones. Congratulations on the awards and I empathize about the cold. We're snowed in again.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your award, and oh, by the way, you can keep your cold weather.

Anonymous said...

Brrrrrr. Meanwhile, winter seems to have disappeared from California. We're having a heat wave. While I don't want to be where you are, I would like it to be a little cooler here!

Carrie K said...

Is Susan Hill's whole series available? They sound quite good, if hearbreaking.

Brrr! My region in California is having a little heat wave the last couple of days too, it's been in the 80's. While I'm happy to not have your weather, a little cooler would be nice! And some rain.

LisaMM said...

Tara, your blog is cool, but your weather is downright frigid!! As mentioned by Carrie and Jill, we're having a heatwave. It's 91 today where I'm at!

Ooo I have a foodie book to recommend to you- The School of Essential Ingredients. It's really good so far!

Ti said...

It's 90 degrees in Southern California today. I know. Please don't hit me :)

Congrats on the award. You deserve it!

Staci said...

After reading your air temps, I decided that I'm not gonna cry because it's going to get down to -10 tonight!! Hang tough!! and remember spring is around the corner. That's what I keep telling myself anyway :)

Andi said...

Sheesh! EVer since I returned a Susan Hill book to the library unread recently her work is everywhere!!! Synchronicity methinks. :)

Nan said...

We went down 30 degrees in 6 hours! I think we live in the same place, with just a different name. :<) By the way, you are famous for a day on my blog. (with my great thanks!!)

Tara said...

Sandra, Hi, and thanks for your comment! I appreciate the affirmation of reading the Susan Hill books - I really want to stick with them and think Hill must have a plan! The cost is not bad at all - I order from The Book Depository - they have free shipping anywhere in the world and good prices too.

Bermudaonion, thanks!

softdrink, Keep rubbing it in!

Carrie K, the first 2 are out here in paperback, it looks like the third is coming out in hardcover son. My heart is really breaking over your weather! ;-)

LisaMM, what is with all you Californians rubbing in your summer weather?? I've read The School of Essential Ingredients and I liked it - I just need to get around to reviewing it.

Ti, Poor you. ;-) Thanks!

Staci, Brrr! Finally, someone to commiserate with! Yes, just around the corner...and that corner...and the other corner...

Andi, isn't it funny how things keep popping up in that way!

Tara said...

Nan, eek! I think we must. Well, I must come straight over and check out your post!

Iliana said...

Congrats on the award, Tara!

I read two of those books and while there were some things I really liked - mainly how she builds up a whole community in the books - I was just really annoyed with the main character. I couldn't go on with the series. I hope you'll like it though and I look forward to your thoughts... who knows, I may pick it back up again just out of curiosity :)

J.L. Danger said...

Congrats! And it's ok- you earned those bragging rights!

Bookfool said...

I'd take you cold weather over our hot weather, any day. Congrats on the award!