Book Sketches, anyone?

Did you like the Pemberley Ball sketches?

How about the Alice Week sketches at The Book on the Hill?

And sketches for various book reviews on The Book on the Hill?
above pic is for...
LET IT SNOW : Three Holiday Romances
THE JUBILEE EXPRESS by John Green
A CHEERSTATIC CHRISTMAS MIRACLE by Maureen Johnson
THE PATRON SAINT OF PIGS by Lauren Myracle

Well, here's your chance to find out more about the person behind-the-sketches at The Book on the Hill.

While you are there, you can enter a contest and win:

Five Personalized Book Sketches, drawn by The Illustrator, to illustrate five future reviews of yours.

How sweet is that!

*offer ends: January 15, 2010

Mrs Darcy vs The Aliens
by Jonathan Pinnock

Description from Mrs Darcy vs Aliens site:
Mrs Darcy vs The Aliens is a slightly demented sequel to Pride and Prejudice, although it has been described more accurately as "not so much Pride and Prejudice's sequel as its bastard offspring following a drunken one-night stand with the X-Files."


Excerpt:
Elizabeth Darcy stirred in her sleep and felt the soft breeze on the back of her neck. She was awake in an instant. The curtains were wafting backwards and forwards in an elegant moonlit dance. How long had the window been open? She sat up in bed, her heart beating a furious tattoo, and her eyes scanned the gloomy room to see if there was anything out of place. Once she had established that there appeared to be no intruder compromising the security of her chamber, her breathing began to settle down to a more regular pace, and she swung her legs out of bed. Lighting a candle, she stood up, and it was at that point that she noticed the letter.
read more here - go!

gotta love the mashups!

Blood Ninja dress

If books were dresses...

(a weekly post where I create fashionable wear with book cover art)

Blood Ninja
By Nick Lake

Release date: December 2009

-tween action
-ninjas and samurai warriors are fascinating
-i'm interested in sumo wrestlers too

Description from publisher's site (read a chapter excerpt at here):
A sword hilt was sticking out of his stomach, like a grotesque growth. Taro stared down at it. Blood was soaking through his cloak, and dripping down his trousers to pool in the crevices of his toes.

"What–," he began.

And then the pain hit.

He doubled over, gasping, unable to breathe, feeling the burning metal that had pierced his organs and – he knew without checking – burst out through his back. At that moment his knees gave way, and it struck him with a horror that crawled on his skin that his spine might have been severed.

But I can't just die, he thought. I was going to be a samurai . . .


on my want list ;-D

*source for silhouette

Jane's Birthday Day

Jane Austen
(1775 - 1817)
created by British painter Ozias Humphry
only known oil painting of Jane
at about age 14
Did you know that:

T.C. Boyle "...Dated Jane Austen"


Description from the Lakeside Musing:
I Dated Jane Austen by T.C. Boyle was written in 1977 which is part of the T.C. Boyle Stories.

It tells of Boyle's date with our beloved Jane. He arrives at the Austen residence (dressed in 70's attire), and is shown into a parlor to meet Reverend Austen.





I'm looking forward to this latest YA Jane book:

I was Jane Austen's Best Friend
by Cora Harrison

Release date: March 2010 (U.K.)

Description from the amazon:
When shy Jenny Cooper goes to stay with her cousin Jane Austen she knows nothing of the world of beautiful dresses, dances, secrets, gossip and romance that Jane inhabits.

But Jane is already a sharp observer of the customs of courtship, and when Jenny falls utterly in love with the dashing Captain Thomas Williams, who better than Jane to help her win the heart of this most eligible of men?

*spotted this as Reading Teenage Fiction's WoW

*** Austen alert ***

It's been announced and in the news lately that Natalie Portman will be Elizabeth Bennet in the upcoming movie version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I can't wait to be dazzled by her martial arts abilities as she slays unmentionables.

But true fans want to know, who's going to be MR DARCY ???

I'd like to see a lesser known or new actor become Darcy-fied.

How about you?

*currently reading Mansfield Park

*for a Week of Austen books and giveaways visit:
Chick with Books
Risky Regencies

Dead Like Me: Life After Death (2009)

Dead Like Me:
Life After Death (2009)

movie based on tv series: Dead Like Me
Director: Stephen Herek
Writers: Stephen Godchaux and John Masius
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Rating: 4

Description from imdb:
After the departure of Rube Sofer, a new head reaper named Cameron Kane takes over. He's a slick businessman who couldn't care less about helping the newly dead. Chaos ensues and brings out the worst in Daisy and Mason who begin drinking anew. George and Reggie re-connect for the first time when George reaps a new friend of Reggie's.

Description of tv series from wikipedia:
Dead Like Me is an American television comedy-drama starring Ellen Muth and Mandy Patinkin as grim reapers who "live" and work in Seattle, Washington.

The show explores the "lives" and experiences of a small team of such Reapers, as well as the post-mortem changes in George and her family as they deal with George's death.

Grim Reapers:
In the world of Dead Like Me, Grim reapers do not wear black cloaks or carry scythes (cloaks and scythes are only featured during the opening credits, for humorous effect), but their role remains traditional: they remove the souls of the living shortly before death and escort them into their afterlife.

Death has a list of who is scheduled to die and when. This list is delivered to the head of each group by a shadowy figure (when the delivery is made to Rube's apartment, it is shown that the delivery is made by an actual shadow, with only the list of names becoming corporeal when it is delivered). The head of each group then gives each Reaper a non-transferable assignment to collect a particular soul or souls.

My two bits:
In-a-word: graveling

The tv series ended after two seasons in 2004. This movie was released in February and because I enjoyed the show, I was compelled to watch this latest creation.

It starts off with a recap of the tv series in comic book form. I always think it's so cool when movies incorporate animation or comics in the storytelling.

The movie was just as entertaining as the tv series and answered more questions in regards to the Reaper life. However, there are still more things that need explaining and a continuation of the show or another movie would be grand.

Loved getting in touch with the characters again, although the Daisy actress changed which was okay :-(

Treat to see:
Henry Ian Cusick starring as Cameron
--aka Desmond in LOST

Any other watchers of this show out there?


p.s.
Watch out for the upcoming YA paranormal story with another kind of dead-related theme:






Hollyweird
by E. Van Lowe

A series about a 15 1/2 year old, bi-racial necromancer who lives in Hollywood California. Kris Golden has a relationship with all things dead. She can raise the dead, spot the dead walking among us, but her main goal in life is to help lay the risen dead back to rest.