The Times They Are A-Changin’

Tags

peter paul & mary; donovan, Smothers Brothers

I love those old folk songs and Peter Paul and Mary have always topped my list of favorites and I was thrilled to find so many of their older appearances up at YouTube. Shut the doors and windows, crank up the speakers and sing along.

Oh yes, those times were a’changing. Still are.

Let’s not forget the perennial favorite of the young and young at heart Puff the Magic Dragon,

And don’t miss this battle of the folk singers from The Smothers Brothers show (warning, Tom never was one for being PC…)

So who wants Donovan’s feathered cap?

Mary, you were the best – we mis you, RIP.

A box ‘o’ kittehs

Things are a little quiet on the book front as I wade through two huge chunksters, I am the Chosen King by Helen Hollick and Land of the Painted Caves by Jean Auel. In the meantime I found the most adorable video on YouTube with my favorite subject, kittens! Enjoy.

Aren’t they the cutest? Oh, and speaking of the long awaited *finish* to Auel’s Earth’s Children series, don’t bother rereading the entire thing again for a refresher. Auel does it for you. Over and over and over again 😦

Now there’s a review offer that was hard to turn down

And darn clever too. So last night this lands in my in-box:

The Unfinished Song: Initiate (Kindle Edition)
by Tara Maya

From: Tara Maya

Message:
I’d love if you’d be willing to review my debut fantasy novel, Initiate, first in the series The Unfinished Song. If it’s not your cup of tea, feel free to redeem the gift for something else. tara@taramayastales.com

 

Fantasy is not a genre I normally read, but that was clever enough to tempt me – although I am still living among the dinosaurs and do not own a kindle. The library gets everything, why should I buy? 😉

So, a big big thanks to Tara and sorry I have to pass on your book but I’m wishing you the best and if I ever spot it at the library or available as a *real* book I’d love to try it. Best of luck to you. Now I must decide what to do with my converted gift certificate…

YouTube – THE DIGITAL STORY OF THE NATIVITY

Historical Fiction Challenge 2011

I’ve never been one for challenges as every new book discovery can send me reading in a whole new direction, but I’m fairly certain I can manage this one with no problem. Formerly hosted at Royal Reviews the ladies at Historical Tapestry are now taking this one on. My goal, Severe Bookaholism: 20 books.  I think I might easily polish that off by March at the latest 😉

A Tsar for all Seasons?

Say it *ain’t* so! As much time as YouTube can suck, there are some gems to be found, and that most definitely includes the old Smother Brothers Show. This skit is just too good not to share (monitor warning!!),

Oh I just love those boys, and they even brought the “mother loves you best” into this. I have another coming soon, just think dueling folks singers 🙂

Any guesses as to who is playing Rasputin? Martin Landau? I’m stumped.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. I’ve been whittling away at my TBR pile and haven’t been looting too much, but I did put in two purchase requests that have just landed.

Anne Neville, daughter of the powerful Earl of Warwick, grows up during the War of the Roses, a time when kings and queens are made and destroyed in an on-going battle for the ultimate prize: the throne of England. As a child Anne falls in love with the ambitious, proud Richard of Gloucester, third son of the House of York. But when her father is branded a traitor, her family must flee to exile in France. As Anne matures into a beautiful, poised woman, skillfully navigating the treacherous royal court of Margaret of Anjou, she secretly longs for Richard, who has become a great man under his brother’s rule. But as their families scheme for power, Anne must protect her heart from betrayals on both sides-and from the man she has always loved, and cannot bring herself to trust.

I’ve heard mixed opinions on this one (as I understand it O’Brien previous books are historical romances), but I just had to see for myself.

A powerful literary debut inspired by a true story.  In 1898, Alaska is an untamed wilderness with an unforgiving climate. At the tail end of a world-wide depression, thousands of destitute people are drawn north by rumors of easy wealth coming out of the remote claims of the Gold Rush. Many of the pilgrims are unprepared for the hardships that await them and find nothing but a desolate landscape already pillaged of its riches by those who came before.

Hannah Nelson, a beautiful young Englishwoman, is one of the late arrivals. After following her husband to a glacier-wracked fjord in the company of three equally desperate men, she discovers that gold is only one of the desires that can consume a person’s soul…

Thanks to Tara at Book Babe for pointing this one out to me, I might have missed it otherwise.

Last bit of loot and not a bookish thing (don’t forget there are more than books  to be found at the library), I picked up DVD #2 of the old Dark Shadows series.  I’m afraid the discovery of this old series is going to seriously cut into my reading time until I’ve watched them all…

Yes, I was one of those young girls who had to rush home from school everyday to watch the latest installment of Barnabas the vampire.

Must. Get. Off. Youtube.

One thing just really leads to another. I started with this after spotting the mention on Smart Bitches, although you will have to watch it here since I can’t embed it. Oh well.

I really could listen to them all day. So I clicked further and got this,

Which lead me to this awesome rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody,

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page, but is on tour and this month is being hosted by Knitting and Sundries.

In the mail From Paperbackswap:

I was the recipient of an Amazon gift card and since 99% of the books on my WL I can get from the library I found some OOP’s that qualified for Super Saver shipping (woohoo!). A mixed bag of historicals, from old California, Yukon territory, Washington State timber barons, Hawaii, 19C New York and US Civil War.

A couple of wins from Goodreads and LibraryThing,

From Amazon Vine:

 

Take me Home is set in late 19C Wyoming. Gentleman Captain in Restoration England, with a naval focus.  Whew! Things are officially out of control.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. There was a mention of author Emma Drummond over at Historical Fiction Online and as I love stories of the British Raj and the East I went perusing the library’s catalog. As usual, King County is near perfect and there were several to choose from. I’m starting with these two:

Because of a scandal back in England, Captain Rowan DeMayne, son of an earl, was forced to join the 43rd Light Dragoons, whose seven years in India were mainly spent parading in splendid uniforms on matched chestnut horses. Meanwhile, 18-year-old Mary, widowed twice, is determined to improve her lot, and will eventually become lady’s maid to Rowan’s “beautiful shell” of a wife. Then at last–the 43rd is going to war! Rowan joyfully announces this on horseback to a stunned ballroom. While the over 600 men and 750 fine horses journey through exotic and dangerous terrain to relieve the decimated troops in the Crimea, there’ll be a cholera epidemic and sandstorms, deaths and one pathetic desertion, and Rowan will battle storms within: marital disillusion; nightmare guilt about his (honorable) refusal to prevent the torture death of a bandit’s girl; doubts about the glory of war; and his inexplicable attraction to the lowly Mary.

Set in India at the time of the Raj, Beyond All Frontiers is a mesmerizing historical novel that seems to sum up an entire era through the lives of its characters. The story of a resourceful, courageous woman, Charlotte Scott, it is also the story of Britain’s first war with Afghanistan, which ended with a brutal massacre in the Khyber Pass. And it is a novel about the Empire: how the British gained it – and why they would lose it at last.

A love story of extraordinary depth and power, Beyond All Frontiers is a masterful combination of history, courage, surprise, and passion – a novel that makes us hope desperately to see the hero and heroine learn to care for each other as much as we care for them.

That last one sounds rather similar to The Far Pavilions although I suspect there’s not going to be an Ash and Juli in this one.  What are you checking out this week?