Blue Skies & Yelling Birds

April is fast approaching, and the days between the present moment and end of term are once again running by at an inconvenient pace. Oh, to be in possession of a time-turner!

In place of a real post, have some random photos taken with the smartphone I finally deigned to begin using.

Book Review: Women & Ghosts by Alison Lurie

Women & Ghosts by Alison Lurie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A little gem of a collection, Women & Ghosts held me enthralled with its tales. Ten women come face to face with something not quite of this world and find themselves wondering if they have in fact gone mad. We cannot be sure, and that's part of the charm.

I have lately come to appreciate the supernatural genre, so when I found the little paperback in a box of our late professor's books that had been donated to my student guild, I decided to pick it up and see whether it was a good read. Now I'm glad I did, and will probably try to get my hands on Lurie's other work.

While I did indeed like this book, it's an unfortunate fact that I have way too many in my possession already. Thus it shall be freed.

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Book Review: Catch of the Season by Barbara Benedict

Catch of the Season by Barbara Benedict
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So here's the thing. About a decade ago, romance novels were a sort of guilty pleasure of mine. Barbara Cartland was my favourite, although I did read some Danielle Steel as well. That phase of my bookwormdom was rather short-lived (only a year or two at most), but it remained with me. It was a fact. I had read romances and liked them.

A couple of days ago, I decided to stop pretending that it wasn't a thing I still wanted to do every now and then. I picked up a free-to-grab book at uni and proceeded to find out whether the genre was still something I could stomach.

The answer is, perhaps a little to my chagrin, yes.

Catch of the Season is a bite-sized novel that goes by quite fast. It made no great impact, but it was entertaining enough and well-written enough to keep my interest. I have no intention of keeping it; despite being a sweet, cheesy little morsel that I did enjoy, the novel has no place on my bookshelf. There will be others like it. Instead, the story shall be released once more unto the world to find someone else who sometimes likes to indulge in a bit of syrup.

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Deathigner

Possibly even more adorable than Death of Rats, and that's saying something.

Book Review: Brain by Robin Cook

Brain by Robin Cook
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Let me begin by stating that I did enjoy this book significantly. I for some reason had a preconceived notion that the story would be much trashier than it turned out to be, which might have influenced my opinion in a positive way; I was pleasantly surprised, ergo inclined toward a kinder review. My grievances are, in the end, minor ones, even though they did affect my reading experience negatively.

'Tis My Second Vlog (Finally)

Sunset Variations

Most of these photos look nothing like they did in their raw form. Truth be told, I couldn't get them to resemble the originals while fiddling in UFRaw, so I started experimenting with colour settings instead. I kind of like the results; especially the blue one is rather... magical.