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Happy Literary Friday, y'all!  This week I read the first book in a brand new series by Rachel Caine (of Morganville Vampire fame).  Entitled Ink and Bone, it introduces the reader to The Great Library series and a very dark world where knowledge is controlled by librarians.  They rule the world.

Imagine a world where the Great Library at Alexandria was never sacked.  It has thrived, and it has sister libraries throughout the world including the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.  Imagine a world where individual book ownership is forbidden: People are allowed to read texts via an alchemical process instantly, but the text disappears once read.  Imagine a world at war, where the rebels, or burners, attempt to overthrow the library and its power.  Can you even begin to imagine such a world? Frighteningly scary, just in time for Halloween!

Jess Brightwell values knowledge and books. His affluent London family has made its fortune in the book and manuscript black market.  Jess is sent to Alexandria as a postulant to train to be a librarian and his family's spy.  Soon he and his classmates are sent on a dangerous quest to war-torn Oxford, England to save the rarest books from the Bodleian.  But Jess and his fellow postulants are constantly threatened by the Welsh Army, burners, and high-level library scholars.  When one of Jess's friends designs and builds a machine that could possibly change the world, Jess learns first-hand the ruthlessness and power of the Library.

This series will be a hit.  I love how Caine has included ancient concepts and history like alchemy, automata, and Greek fire in the book.   I also learned from her website that the Great Library of Alexandria often confiscated original materials from private owners and merchants.  You can read all about the Great Library and other historical inspirations here.




Ink and Bone book trailer








What did YOU read this week?  This is a linky!









Until next time...

Happy reading!
Ricki Jill

Literary Friday: Ink and Bone

Friday, October 30, 2015

Hello, My Lovelies!  Happy Random Tuesday!

We're busy getting ready for Halloween around here.  What about you?  Do you get lots of Trick or Treaters?



Candy corn is about as scary as it gets around here!



I enjoyed participating in Vanessa's Witches Tea Party @ A Fanciful Twist.  You can visit my party here.  If I haven't visited your blog during the past several days, it's because you didn't host a party *sadface*  I still have several more blogs to visit.  They have been fun!









Book Club last Friday was fun!  We read Psycho, and here are the cupcakes Traci served:





Our friend the Nana Diana is one of the sweetest bloggers *ever*.  She is a prayer warrior, and she's constantly sharing prayer requests with her readers.

Plus she's funny.  She's actually wicked.  Last week she shared her son's latest hobby/side business, and I think they're fun.  He and a friend are making signs and selling them on Etsy, and their shop is called 79 North.  The posts are fun to read, too...they are witty.  There's a mean witty gene in that family I tell ya!  Check out their Facebook page here.

Check these out:







Aren't they great!


Diana is hosting a giveaway for one of these signs until Halloween.  Here is the link to her post.



Finally, Shelley received THE acceptance letter to college...to the college of her dreams, Judson College in Marion, Alabama.  I'm happy she'll be close to home, and I'm happy she's (soon to be ) a Judson Girl!


Jewett Hall on Judson's campus


Please come back Friday for my Literary Friday post!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Random October Awesomeness!

Tuesday, October 27, 2015




Please listen to the following video to enhance your party experience.  ;P






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Come on in, y'all!





Double, double, toil and trouble;




Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.




Double, double toil and trouble;




Something wicked this way comes!




Fillet of a fenny snake,








In the cauldron boil and bake;




Eye of newt and toe of frog,








Wool of bat and tongue of dog,








Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,








Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,




For a charm of powerful trouble,












Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.




Double, double, toil and trouble;




Fire burn and cauldron bubble...



SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES!



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Next semester we'll study "The Scottish Play" by Shakespeare, so I thought the the Three Witches' Chant would be appropriate for our after school party.  Don't you just love the taunting way Shakespeare switches from his usual iambic pentameter to trochaic tetrameter in this scene?








Please join Vanessa @ A Fanciful Twist





Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill

Witches Tea Party

Saturday, October 24, 2015



This week I read Psycho by Robert Bloch.  This is the book that inspired the movie by the same title directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh.  It is our Book Club's selection for October.

from Goodreads:

It was a dark and stormy night when Mary Crane glimpsed the unlit neon sign announcing the vacancy at the Bates motel. Exhausted, lost, and at the end of her rope, she was eager for a hot shower and a bed for the night. Her room was musty but clean and the plumbing worked. Norman Bates, the manager, seemed nice, if a little odd.

Oh, yes, he's odd!  Did you know that Psycho was based on a real life sick freak named Ed Gein?  If you really want to have nightmares, please read about this twisted criminal.  

This book is very well-written.  Although Anthony Perkins was way too good-looking to play the Norman Bates in the book, I believe that Hitchcock did a very good job with the film's adaptation of the book.  Since most of you are familiar with the story, I won't spend much time rehashing the plot. Bloch's fast-paced book makes for a quick read, plus it's only around 200 pages, so you can read it in an afternoon.  He truly writes a complex character study of Norman Bates, and his revelations about Norman's illness is slowly peeled away in layers like an onion to reveal the root of his neuroses.  

Have you read any scary books for Halloween?  I'm done.  I don't like scary, truly I don't.  I'm off to read about fluffy bunnies, rainbows, and unicorns.  






Today after school and book club, Shelley and I will be working hard to prepare for tomorrow's party.
We hope y'all will come join in on the fun!






Until next time...

Happy reading!
Ricki Jill



Literary Friday: Psycho

Friday, October 23, 2015

Happy Random Tuesday, My Lovelies!!!  We've had a wonderful week of autumn fun.


1.   We visited the Mt. Laurel Fall Festival.  Here are a few of the scarecrows on display:







Lucky Dog Grooming sponsored this scarecrow.




This one if from Mr. Harry's Chickin De-Lux.  No, this is not a typo!



2.   Finlay loved the dog park!



Shelley and Finlay enjoying one of our gorgeous October days



3.   We visited a model home at Mt. Laurel.  I loved the master bathroom and kids' study best!  This year Mt. Laurel will host the Southern Living Magazine's idea house.  They will break ground on it soon!












Got to *love* the tilework








Reclaimed wood on the walls...



3.   Have any of you heard about the new NOOK readouts?  Check it out!  I'm enjoying reading the blurbs.






4.   Happy 23rd Birthday to my #1 daughter, Shanley Belle!  I am so proud of the woman you've become.



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Shanley Belle reading to Shelley.  She was helping Shelley with her SLP (speech language pathology).  Now, Shanley is in a graduate program for communicative disorders, and is working on a dissertation that will enable her to earn her PhD.




5.   Shelley and I are preparing for the Witches' Tea Party @ A Fanciful Twist, so this is the last post until Literary Friday.  Saturday we'll be busy visiting everyone's party.  It should be fun!






Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki JIll

Random Tuesday: Fun-Filled Week!

Tuesday, October 20, 2015


Hello!

I'm Ricki Jill. Welcome! I'm honored that you're reading my blog. I enjoy sharing my creative lifestyle @ The Bookish Dilettante. For more information about my blog, please read the Start Here page. Thank-you for stopping by, and I hope you'll consider following me via email.

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