Tradition Post: New Year and Best of 2010

Poor little me, I started the new year with a cold, bleh. 

Ok so New Year's Eve:

Not that much tradition, fireworks and we grill some sausages and drink cider. But one thing we do have. We melt tin in fire, put it down in some water and then the form it takes will give you a insight in what the next year will bring.

Lol, oh you should have seen me, my tin exploded. Bf got a nice piece of melted tin, I got several pieces. What I saw, well that is a secret ;)

I finally took some pics of my own so gonna show them too:

Christmas Star, gotta have those, and the one next to it too. That one is more popular now.

Here we got the sausages, glögg, some cider, and julmust (coca-cola tried to win the xmas market, but nope, you drink must at Xmas and Easter. It has similarities.

Look ghosts! Yup tried to take a pic, but just got my own breath

And here is something for Chris :) I do love my cats.

Rhodri on top, Verdi telling me stop taking pics! And Morrigan looking fierce.

A picture filled post :)

BEST OF 2010

Come on, pick a few, oh I can’t! So I went crazy and still there were many books I wanted to also have on it.

Best book of the year: The curious incident of the dog in the night time by Mark Haddon

Best weird book: The Girl with glass feet by Ali Shaw

Best YA: The Knife of Never letting go by Patrick Ness


Best fantasy: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

Best fiction: The Calligrapher’s daughter by Eugenia Kim

Best contemporary romance: Straight up by Deirdre Martin

Best pride and prejudice variation: Emma and the vampires by Wayne Josephson

Best Paranormal romance: Demon from the dark by Kresley Cole

Best historical romance: A touch of scandal by Jennifer Haymore

Best historical: The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick
 Runner-up: For the King’s favor by Elizabeth Chadwick

Best book about Egypt: Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

Best follow-up book: Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Best cliffhanger: Changeless by Gail Carriger

Best urban fantasy: The Better part of Darkness by Kelly Gay

Best debut: Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

Best dark book. The Reapers are the angels by Alden Bell

Best translated book: The Solitude of prime numbers by Paolo Giardano


Best WTF you evil bastard!: The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

The Book that made me cry: Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

Best book published 2010: The Darkest edge of Dawn by Kelly Gay

Best cover of the year: Cinders by Michelle Davidson Argyle



Fav genre this year: Urban Fantasy
Books read: 187 (if I counted right, last time they were fewer, hm)
Graphic Novels: 6
Short stories: 4

edit: had to dsq a book, I read it in 2009, oh must have been the fever

Tradition Post: All Saint's Day

It is time for one of those posts again, it has been some time but they are just so few holidays during the fall. But now finally one, today is All Saint's Day. It seems we remember fallen saints, must have forgotten about that.. moving on. We also remember those that have passed away, loved ones, and that is what this holiday is about.

What we do is we visit the graveyard and light candles on the graves of those we miss. Last year I went and it was so beautiful, this cemetery with the forest all around it, old and new gravestones, and candles everywhere in the darkness. Almost magical.

There is also something else that my mum and dad have done this year. Visited the church and trust me, we are very non-religious in this country (even if almost everyone belongs to the church), the last time they went must have been when my brother got married several years ago. But since grandma passed away in December last year they went. The priest reads up the names of those that have passed during the year.

That was this tradition post, it's a very peaceful and silent holiday.

Forgot to mention, it's celebrated the first Saturday in November

Review: Dragon Haven - Robin Hobb + another tradition post

 The Rain Wilds Chronicles, book 2

Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 576
Published: March 2010

 The dragon keepers and the fledgling dragons are forging a passage up the treacherous Rain Wild River. They are in search of the mythical Elderling city of Kelsingra, and are accompanied by the liveship Tarman, its captain, Leftrin, and a group of hunters who must search the forests for game with which to keep the dragons fed. With them are Alise, who wants to continue her study of dragons, and  Bingtown dandy, Sedric. Rivalries and romances are already threatening to disrupt the band of explorers: but external forces may prove to be even more dangerous. Chalcedean merchants are keen to lay hands on dragon blood and organs to turn them to medicines and profit.. And then there are the Rain Wilds themselves: mysterious, unstable and ever perilous, its mighty river running with acid, its jungle impenetrable and its waterways uncharted. 

This one was, I don't know, I prefer her Fitz books more, I didn't care for the liveship books, the first Rain Wilds book was nice, but now this second one, it was just that not that much happened.

It starts where the first book ended. They continue their travels down the river. Alise has feelings for Leftrin, but what can she do when she is married to Hest? Sedric wants to steal dragon parts to be rich and run away with Hest. The dragons complain about the hard journey. The dragon keepers have internal conflicts. People are starting to wants partners even though it is forbidden for the heavy touched by the Rain Wilds to mate. Thymara has issues with loosing her independence just cos their "leader" says so. And the Rain Wilds are as dangerous as ever.

The book was ok and I read on, it's just that yes not that much happened. Sure a lot of personal problems, and some dangerous Rain Wilds things happening. But other than that it was more about the journey and the journey was just in this one place. My other problem with the book is the ending. Happy, nice, but abrupt and it left me with this big "and then what?" Nothing was resolved in a way. I did hear she was writing on another book about the Rain Wilds so perhaps we can get some questions there, I sure hope so at least.

The good things are that Hobb is a remarkable writer and her worlds are great. She is truly talented, even if I prefer Fitz ;) Also she sure loves to make her heroes or heroines suffer but here, not so much. Nothing made me sick to my stomach of worry or sadness.

Blodeuedd's Cover Corner: I do not like these covers

Reason for reading: From that awesome library, kind of makes me wish I lived there

Final thoughts: Perhaps not a Hobb series a newbie should start with. Cos things that happen here comes to play after events in her previous books.

End of Summer Tradition

This is something that only happens in a few places in Finland. And it's called different things, we call it "summarcottage conclusion" ok weird translation there. Anyway on the last Saturday of August the summer is finished. People go to their summerhomes to celebrate the summer one last time. This is the time when you also kind of clean up there to leave the place ready for winter. Cos sure you can go there in the winter too, but we never did.

Fireworks is the big and kind of only thing. So yesteryday I watched a nice display of fireworks coming from everywhere corner around the sky, and ate some yummy grilled sausages.

Midsummer

I have been away celebrating Midsummer this weekend, oh and most importantly bf's 30th birthday, congrats cutie!

Pics removed...

Since I did this thing for Easter I will make a post about Midsummer too. First there is Midsummer Eve (on a Friday) everything closed and it's a holiday. And then Midsummer Day on Saturday and the day after on Sunday.

We always put up small birch trees by the door (I had to choose this pic, look at it, freaky.) This to welcome people.

Many people have a summer home or know someone so they go out to the archipelago or a lake to celebrate there.

You eat, drink and have fun. One thing that is common to eat is the year's first potatoes.

This goes on for a while cos this is Midsummer, it is light outside all night here.

There are many traditions with love, and finding love. One is to go out at night, and pick 7 different flowers, speak to no one and put those flowers under your pillow. And that night you will dream about the man you are meant to be with. Depending on where you live there are different ways to do it, climb 7 fences too, pick 9 flowers, pick 5, put 7 stones in a ring etc.

Midsummer fires are popular, but that is more a Finnish thing. Just as the Maypole thing is a Swedish thing so we are caught in the middle, and here we had neither.

Truth be told this is the real Midsummer ;)

In Theory                                     In reality, lol