Swoon Thursday

Well, it has been a while since I've been able to manage this meme.  Still trying to get back to normal after the past month and a half.  I think I'm making a good start.  I've started visiting some of my favorite blogs again, posted some reviews, finally managed a Stacking the Shelves post and now this, Swoon Thursday.

I love Swoon Thursday.  I'm such a sucker for romance.

Swoon Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by http://yabound.blogspot.com/

Here's how it works:
From the book you’re currently reading, or one you just finished, tell us what made you SWOON. What got your heart pounding, your skin tingling, and your stomach fluttering.

This week's Swoon for me is from Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone.  It's just a beautifully crafted story about falling in love out of time.

So without further ado, here is my swoon....

"The point is that I'm not supposed to be here, Anna. Not in Evanston. Not in 1995. I'm not supposed to know you, or Emma, or this Maggie. I'm not supposed to go to this school, or do this homework, or hang out in your coffeehouse." Then he takes my hands in his like he's about to take me somewhere, but we don't leave the room - we just move a lot closer to each other. "I don't stay...anywhere. I visit. I observe. I leave. I don't ever stay."

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with this information. Tell him to leave? Tell him to stay? But I don't have time to consider any other alternatives because he scoots in closer and brings his hands to my face, and I fall back into the bookcase as he kisses me with this intensity - like he wants to be here, and if he kisses me just long enough, deeply enough, none of what he just said will actually be true. And as much as I know it's all true and that it's incredibly stupid to feel this way about someone who doesn't belong here - who, when he leaves, will hardly be a plane ride away - my hands leave the Berber carpet, find his back, and pull him into me until I'm pinned against the shelves. Because he's here now. And because I'm pretty certain I don't want this to stop. Ever."

Let Them Eat Cake or Happy Un-Stacking the Shelves Day

Terri, because you asked for it, I am going to comply...for once. I have spent some time trying to compile my acquisitions since I got back from vacation and I think this just about does it...except for the books I got at The NYC Comic Con which will be a different post.

I am not going to upload the covers as there are too many, but I will say most of the Kindle books were under $3.00. I think American Gods was the most expensive and that was $3.99 on special. I'm not sure if it still is.  I ordered all the eBooks in one shot when I got back from Germany.  I think I was so starved for English text and needed the instant gratification of having the book in my hand, even if electronically.  And they were all a bargain so I could hardly afford not to.  Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So without further delay, here are the three weeks worth of books I added to my collection from the beginning of October through to Hurricane Sandy.

For Kindle:
Daimon: A Prequel to Half-blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Fall For You (The Jane Austen Academy Series Book 1) by Cecilia Gray
Twixt Firelight and Water: A Tale of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier
Leif (Existence) by Abbi Glines
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Ceaseless (Existence) by Abbi Glines
Goblin King by Shona Husk
Shadows (A Lux Novella) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Prude and Prejudice by Francene Carroll
Turn Here by Jackson Pearce
Surfacing by Shana Norris
Half-Blood (Covenant) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Predestined (Existence) by Abbi Glines

Ordered From Amazon:
As You Wish by Jackson Pearce
Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad by Evan Dorkin
Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia A. McKillip
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories by Maggie Steifvater
The Perfect Hero by Victoria Connelly
Finale by Becca Fitzpatrick
Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Manga Received From Righstuf.com:
Bleach Graphic Novel 48
Bleach Graphic Novel 49
Dawn of the Arcana Graphic Novel 6
Devil and Her Love Song Graphic Novel 5
Skip Beat! Graphic Novel 29
Stepping on Roses Graphic Novel 8
Story of Saiunkoku, The Graphic Novel 8
Bride of the Water God Graphic Novel 12

From Bookstore:
Onyx (A Lux Novel) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Whispers at Moonrise by C.C. Hunter
Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent

Gifted (From my awesome friend Terri):
Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Stacking the Shelves...Finally!!!!

I am appalled and dismayed at how long it has been since I've been able to do a STS post. The last post was September 9th. I haven't really gotten anything in the past couple of weeks, what with the hurricane, loss of power and all, but the beginning of October...Now that was spectacular. I got all kinds of loot I never got a chance to write about and, well, now it's just too late.

It's like when someone tries to get you a birthday cake weeks after the fact. I mean, sure, I love cake. Who doesn't? But a few weeks later and now it is no longer a birthday cake, so what's the point?

So that is why I'm not even going to mention my stash from earlier in the month. Suffice it to say I was in heaven. Now I'm going through a dry spell. Ah, well. Not every week can be a gem.

Since the postman is seeming to refuse to bring me my packages I know are out there, I had to settle for going to the local book store and bringing books home myself.

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews

This week, I purchased two books by Marni Bates, Awkward and Decked With Holly. I saw Decked With Holly in the book store last weekend, but picked up The Lost Prince instead. This weekend, I went to the bookstore Saturday, but they didn't have Decked With Holly, so I picked up Awkward.

As luck would have it, today, my hubby wanted to go to the other book store down the highway, which is larger. So, I was able to find Decked With Holly there. It's a Christmas themed book involving a rock star. Awkward is about a geek of a girl that is the subject of a You Tube video and she goes from being invisible to famous in no time at all. The video is not complimentary. It is probably like the equivalent of Lightsaber Boy.

So, I was okay with two books, but this evening I was looking at the Kindle deals and actually found Smart Girls Get What They Want by Sarah Strohmeyer for $2.99. I was excited as I had seen this in the book store, added it to my wish list and downloaded a sample. I figured for $2.99, I might as well take the plunge. How could I afford not to?

And there you have it. I hope you all have had a good week and have found lots of treasures.

Book Review: Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone

So, I have a time turner. It used to be in my car, but since I got my mini, there is no place to put a dangly bit. So I took it to work. It is there as a reminder to me that I wish I had 48 hours in a day. That way, I could have my day, you know, the working 8, 9, 10 hours, chores, bath, bed, whatever, but also have the same day for me, to do whatever I want.

That's the sad part. I feel for the most part, I can't just do whatever I want. There's work, there's overtime (sure I get paid for it, but), there's household chores, errands, being Egg's lap when he's cold (which is pretty much September to July). While I always somehow manage to have the time to do the things I need to take care of, I don't always feel like I have me time or the time to do the things I really want to do, like reading more, writing, gardening, working out, traveling, etc.

How great would it be to have the ability to travel in the blink of an eye? Just think of it. You could go anywhere in the world in a moments notice. Oh, I'm feeling a bit chilled at the moment. I think I'll put on some shorts and nip over to the Fiji Islands. How great would that be? I could see my family instantaneously wherever they may be living. I wouldn't have to worry about rush hour traffic. I could show up for BEA when the doors open and not have to worry about gas or paying for parking!!

And what if you had the ability to not only travel in the blink of an eye, but could also travel through time just as easily? How awesome would that be? I would have been able to make it to that Madness concert in Fountains Casino back in '82 when they were here. I could go back and see the Ramones when they came to my college or see Nirvana live. I could go back and spend more time with people I miss. I could go back in time and see things that are no longer around, like CBGB's.

What if you had the ability to go back in time and change the course of the future? Would you? If you could do anything over, would you risk it knowing that you could end up making things worse? Would I?

Book Description (From Amazon):
Release Date: October 9, 2012
Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett’s unique ability to travel through time and space brings him into Anna’s life, and with him, a new world of adventure and possibility. As their relationship deepens, they face the reality that time might knock Bennett back where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate—and what consequences they can bear in order to stay together.

My Review:
When you think about it, every day is made up of thousands of  tiny, little moments, one triggering another. How many times during the day could one of those moments, if done differently, change the course of the events in our lives? How could you identify what could become a defining moment, a crossroad, that if changed would take us left when we were meant to go right? How seductive would it be to know that if something didn't work to your advantage that you could just go back and change it?

The story opens with the narrator of the story going to a young boy who is skateboarding with his friends. She asks to speak privately to him and hands him a letter. She introduces herself as Anna and says, "It's too easy for me to say the wrong thing today, and if I do, we may never meet at all."

Anna thinks...
"What I just did could change everything, or it could change nothing. But I have to try. I've got nothing to lose. If my plan doesn't work, my life will remain the same: Safe. Comfortable. Perfectly average.
But that wasn't the life I originally chose."

I was hooked.

The story opens up with Anna out running, ending her run at the university track where she sees a boy in the bleachers watching her. She is a little creeped out by it as he seems to be watching her. When he notices her looking his way, he gives her a shy smile which she returns, but when she looks his way again, he is gone. Anna goes home and gets ready for school. When her best friend, Emma, picks her up, she is told there is a new kid starting at school that day. When she sees the new kid at school, she realizes it is the same boy she saw at the track, only he doesn't seem to recognize her. When he is confronted about being at the track, he tells her he wasn't there and that she must have been mistaken.

Bennett is a boy that has the ability to travel through time. Anna is a girl he should never have met and yet he does meet her in 1995. He took his older sister to a Pearl Jam concert, but it was before he was born and he lost her in time. He ended up being bounced back to when he was born and he stayed there, knowing his sister would show up eventually and then he could take them back to 2012.

Anna is drawn to Bennett, but he seems to want to be left alone. She sees him one night in the park when she is walking by and he seems to be in agony. She tries to help him by going to get him some water, but when she returns, she finds he has left already. He misses school for a few days, so she finds out where he lives and goes to see if he is alright, but he is down right rude to her.

Bennett shows up at her dad's book store where Anna works part time to apologize for his behavior at his house, which is actually his grandmother's house. He invites her for coffee and he walks her home and then says good night. She feels confused, because she thought that Bennett was going to kiss her and then when she sees him over the next several weeks, he is distant and aloof.

Anna is working at the book store by herself one night when I man walks in, locks the door behind him and holds Anna at knife point. He takes her into the back room where the safe is.  As he is attempting to open the safe, she sees movement out of the corner of her eye which she realizes is Bennett. He crouches down next to her, takes her hands in his and then she finds herself under a tree in the park with police sirens heading to the book store.

Bennett tells her part of his secret, that he can travel between places by just thinking about where he wants to go. He proves this to her by taking Anna to a little island of Thailand were they frolic on the beach. Once she learns of his ability, she wants to learn more about him and what the rest of his secret is.

He then confides in her that he can travel though time and he can do over events. As an example, when she was held at knife point, Bennett was actually in the shop with her, but he popped back a few minutes in time, which erases the previous event and replaces it, so that he could go back and call the police earlier. She would not remember the original event, though, only the do over.

There are rules to time travel though. He can only travel within his lifespan, so not before he was born or into his future. He also cannot change any events as that could have catastrophic repercussions. He is challenged to follow these rules when Emma is involved in a car accident that leaves her in critical condition. Anna realizes Bennett could go back and change the course of the day, but he refuses. He won't play God, but she refuses to understand if he has the power to change events why he won't use that ability to go back and stop the accident. They have a bit of a falling out, but she won't relent.

I understand her desperation out of grief for her friend, but she becomes so absorbed in her own feelings of loss that she can't see anything from Bennett's perspective. It's not that he doesn't want to help, but he knows that if he goes back and changes the events of that day, that he might be changing things for the worse. Anna refuses to see that and she just badgers him about it.

And that's the catch. Events transpire in one way. If the events were to be changed, even one brief moment changed, the original event is wiped out and replaced. If it is a worse situation, there is no cancelling out the do over. Could you risk it? I'm not sure I could or would.

Bennett does have more secrets, but they are not mine to tell.  I thought this was a captivating, thought provoking story that had me wondering up to the end just exactly how this was going to end up.  Does Bennett go back and change the course of events that prevent Emma from having the accident?  If Anna didn't have the life she chose, what did it end up being?  And how does Bennett fit into her present and her future.  Do we have the ability to alter the course of our lives and if so, how do we know the moment when we get there?

Book Review: Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

When I was a kid, I had a lot of anxieties I did not know how to deal with. Those anxieties would come out at night when I was sleeping and give me nightmares. The nightmares were frightening and vivid.

For instance, I had a talking doll when I was about 7. I don't remember her name, but before you ask, no, her name was not Tina, but it should have been. Creepy. Anyway, I used to have this recurring nightmare about my doll that she was about 200 feet tall and on display at the World's Fair. Me and my family were there for the exhibition, but she became animated and broke her bindings much like King Kong and took to stomping about the fair grounds. My family and I ran for the hills and holed ourselves up in a cave. But she was coming for us and I could her the boom, boom, boom of her steps as she headed towards us.

Many of the nightmares were recurring, by the way.

Anyway, another recurring nightmare I had was of alien invaders. They would come floating down to earth, slowly, on a beam of light. The aliens actually looked like they would in Scooby Doo. You all know the episode. The glowing alien in the space suit with the eerie background music and the maniacal laugh, skull looking face through the visor. That's what my aliens looked like, the alien from Scooby Doo.

If the aliens in my dream looked like Daemon Black, though, it would have been an entirely different kind of dream.

Book Description (From Amazon):
Publication Date: May 8, 2012 | Series: A Lux Novel (Book 1)
When seventeen-year-old Katy Swartz moved to West Virginia right before her senior year, she’d pretty much resigned herself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring, but then she spotted her hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up…until he opened his mouth. Daemon Black is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. It’s hate at first sight, but when a stranger attacks her and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something…unexpected happens. The hot guy next door? Well, he’s an alien. Turns out that Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities and Katy is caught in the crosshairs. Daemon’s touch has lit her up like the Vegas Strip and the only way she’s getting out of this alive is by sticking close to him until her alien mojo fades. That is if she doesn’t kill him first.

My Review:
One of the books I wanted to pick up from the BEA was Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout, which I was not able to obtain. It is on my wish list, though, but I figured before I pre-ordered the hard cover, I would read samples of some of her other books to see if I liked her writing style. So, I downloaded a sample of Obsidian to start. I was hooked.

Katy has moved to a new state because after her father died, her mother needed a fresh new start. And where else better to get a new start than the boondocks of West Virginia. John Denver wrote about West Virginia making it seem like the place to be on those country roads, but I'm fairly certain he was just driving through. I just can't figure out why, if her mother needed a new, fresh start, they didn't go somewhere slightly more populated, but that's just me I guess.

Anyway, the neighbors next door have kids her age and at her mother's urging, she goes over to introduce herself and ask directions to the nearest store for gardening supplies. She is greeted by a solid, well-defined chest and an attitude that could flay the fur off of kittens. Meet Daemon Black.

Daemon is a jerk most of the time, but he is also a walking contradiction. While he seems to truly dislike Katy, he is not always a complete and utter ass. Katy meets Daemon's sister Dee at the store and Dee comes over to help Katy with her gardening project. They become friends, which Daemon seems to find particularly offensive. Katy, not able to stand for Daemon's crap, gives it right back to him. Sparks fly and it seems like something is going to explode.

Dee has to leave town and she takes Daemon's car keys which she will return only if he will be nice to Katy in her absence. Only because he wants to get his car keys back, Daemon invites Katy to go swimming with him at the lake. She agrees only so he will leave her alone, but as they spend time together, she finds that he is not always so obnoxious. He can actually be nice at times and he completely dotes on his sister.

He runs hot and cold, though, which Katy just cannot deal with, so she tries to stay away from him, but it seems like she just can't get away. And not only that, things are starting to happen.

When she is attacked at night coming out of the library, it is Daemon who comes to her rescue, but who was her attacker and what did he want. He kept asking her where are they, but she had no idea what he was talking about. After that, even more strange things start to happen until Katy discovers why these occurrences seem to happen around Daemon and why he comes off like such a jerk.

While I really enjoyed the book, enough to have picked up and finished the sequel, Onyx, there was one thing that put me off a bit. Katy is a book blogger. That in itself is a cool concept and I really liked the idea, but when she was talking about her blog, I just found it annoying and distracting. Her attitude seemed a bit over the top.

Here are some examples:

"The day my Internet was hooked up was better than having a hot guy check out my butt and ask for my phone number. Since it was Wednesday, I'd typed up a quick "Waiting on Wednesday" post for my blog featuring this YA book about a hot boy with a killer touch - can't go wrong there - apologized for my extended absence, responded to comments, and stalked a few other blogs I loved. It was like coming home."

"Once I got home, though, and saw several packages on my front porch, all the crap from the day disappeared. A few had smiley faces on them. Squealing, I grabbed the boxes. Books were inside - new release books I'd preordered weeks ago.
I hurried upstairs and powered up my laptop. I checked on the review I'd posted last night. No comments. People sucked. But I did gain five new followers. People rocked. I closed out the page before I started redesigning everything."

"On the way home, I stopped at the post office. There was a ton of junk mail in our box, but also a few yellow envelopes, which brought a big ole smile to my face. Media Mail was stamped across them. Gathering my goodies, I headed home and piddled around the house."

Now, I love getting packages as much as the next gal or guy, but it seems to me that Katy is always going to the post office and always gets several packages at a time. I'm trying to figure out how she has time to read all the books she does get. Also, she makes several comments about a quick post. Well, I might have a tendency to run at the mouth...a lot...but I still can't see how a review can be quick. Even a short one for me takes a while to compose. All the comments she makes about blogging, while a great idea, are just a little forced seeming to me. It doesn't flow naturally and at times, it gets in the way of the story for me. Other than that, I absolutely loved the book. I am looking forward to the release of Opal in December and have the novella, Shadows, on my Kindle to read. I have also downloaded the first book, Half-Blood, and the prequel, Daimon, in her Covenant series and am now going to need to pick up Cursed. Looks like I found a new author to love.

If anyone out there has an opinion about Jennifer L. Armentrout's body of work, please share. I'd love to get your opinion.

Book Review: Sean Griswald's Head by Lindsey Leavitt

Ever notice how once you become aware of something, it is like you always see it or hear about it?

For instance, when we were in Germany, my hubby decided he needed to get a new winter jacket. There is a chain of stores over there called Jack Wolfskin that is like North Face. We went to the store and spent a great deal of time in there looking for the perfect coat. We had to try on numerous styles and re-try on coats. No seats in the store, by the way. Anyway, we finally got it down to three...you know, the amount of time it took him to pick out a jacket is irrelevant. Suffice it to say, five days later, he picked out a coat.

I had never seen the brand before, but let me tell you, I saw it a plenty after. It seemed to me like every one in the countries of Denmark and Germany own Jack Wolfskin jackets. I saw them every where.

That in itself isn't so odd a thing, but we were taking the ferry over to NYC for the Social Distortion show and someone on the ferry had a Jack Wolfskin jacket on. Had I not seen the store in Kiel, I never would have noticed the jacket on the ferry.  Now I will see them everywhere I go.

Book Description (From Amazon):
Release Date: September 4, 2012
Payton Gritas likes everything just so-she even color-codes the pages of her school planner. But her perfectly organized life falls apart when she learns that her father has MS-and that her parents have been keeping it a secret. Payton refuses to speak to her parents about the illness and lands herself in the school guidance office where she's encouraged to choose a personal focus exercise to help her deal with her feelings. It's a completely ridiculous exercise, but Payton decides to try it. For her focus object, she chooses Sean Griswold's head. Sean and Payton have been linked since kindergarten (Gritas/Griswold-it's an alphabetical order thing) but she's never really known him. The more Payton focuses on his head, the more Payton becomes intrigued with Sean Griswold. Sean is training for a bike race, shares Payton's Seinfeld obsession, and seems to have a secret or two of his own. As their relationship develops, Payton realizes that it actually helps to focus on something else for awhile-especially something like Sean Griswold. But focusing on Sean won't fix her battered relationship with her father. For that, Payton has to focus on herself.

My Review:
I have to admit. I wanted to pick up this book based on the title alone. When I read the blurb, I was completely sold and bought it on the spot, which is so unlike me. Generally, I write the title down, order a sample for my Kindle, read the sample and then decide if I want to buy it. Let's face it, I have so many books to read, I am trying to be a bit more choosy with new authors to me. I am really glad I picked this one up, though.

Payton Gritas is a girl with issues. She has just found out her dad has multiple sclerosis. That she could deal with, but on top of that, she found out her two brothers have known about it for some time, but no one saw fit to tell her. She feels betrayed by her family because they lied to her by not telling her about her dad's illness. Not able to deal with the situation any other way, she takes out her anger on her family and has decided to shut them out. She won't talk to them anymore and she has shut down. She was on the basketball team, but quit after she found out about her dad's illness. She won't hang out with her friends and she has closed herself off to everyone and everything around her except her one best friend.

The fact that she will not speak to her family has caused the school counselor to get involved in her situation. The counselor, Ms. Callahan gives her an exercise. She tells Payton to start a focus journal. Payton needs to pick something to focus on and write about her emotions and reactions to the object. It is supposed to help her be able to open up and address the deeper issues in her life.

During a video in class, she thinks about what to focus on, but draws a blank until the boy in front of her turns around and speaks to her. And it is like she has had an epiphany. She decides to write about his head, Sean Griswald's head.

At first, she just focuses on the physical aspects of his head, size, shape, etc. But as she focuses on his head, she starts to find out a lot of things about Sean as a person. The more she learns, the more she wants to know. So she orchestrates some chance encounters for the sake of research and learns that there is a lot more to Sean than just his noggin which at first seemed way to huge to her, but starts to seem just right.

How does this help her with her dad? The journal allows her to focus on something out side of herself, so she can start to see things from a different perspective. Sean also tries to help her deal with her anger towards her family and give her a positive way to deal with her anxiety rather than turning it against those she loves.

Payton is at first very self absorbed and can only see the Great Big Lie in terms of how it effects her. She at first does not even try to see what it could be doing to other members of her family or how her father is dealing with the illness. She just knows that her life was perfect one day and the next day, not.

Through the focus exercises and getting to know Sean, Payton learns that they are positive ways to deal with issues and she learns to see things from another person's perspective, not just her own. Which is good because I wanted to smack her upside the head, but now I don't.

So we all learned something.

The Road Goes Ever Onward or What Would You Do for a Magnum Bar?

Finally I can finish the tale of my literary journey...I hope.

When we last left off.....we were awoken by mad drunk Danes hell bent on Kulture and found ourselves at a viking shipyard in search of a ship.

The final stop was a city named Odense which is where Hans Christian Anderson was born. Not very far from Copenhagen, but on another island. In the movie, it seemed so far away, not the next island over, but as there were no bridges back then, I guess it would seem pretty far.

We found our way to city center and located the area where HC Anderson was born. As in all other things practically, the museum was also closed. We walked around a bit and found a hotel which proved to be too expensive. As our choice for the next day was either the Anderson walk or visiting a really cool castle with tree bridges further south, we opted for the castle instead. I figured my hubby would like it better. We made it to the town in not much time and drove straight to the castle. It was closed, naturally, but we just wanted to get a feel for it. We drove back to town to look for a hotel. You would figure a town sporting a major attraction that has pamphlets and everything would have a hotel or B&B. Turning south at the light, we went a couple blocks and ran out of town. Turning around, we headed north and also ran out of town in due time. This was not a big place. Don't even remember the name of the town, so I can't caution you to avoid it. Anyway, driving back to the one traffic light in town, we finally saw a billboard for a B&B which was actually at the crossroads where the one traffic light hung. The fact that we drove past it several times and didn't see it, didn't bode well. It was above the bar at the corner. We parked and decided to enquire. We walked into the bar and it was like a scene from a movie. All conversation stopped and every head turned. Vaguely reminiscent of Animal House when the boys take a road trip and end up in a bar where Otis is playing. We walked up to the bar and all eyes followed us. When we enquired, we were advised they didn't have any rooms. Now I don't know if that means they were full up, that they are no longer a B&B or they just don't have any rooms for the likes of us, but we decided to beat a hasty retreat before they beat it for us. Never have I felt so unwelcome in a place. The whole town was bordering on the creepy.

Well, we had two choices. We could either go further afield or just get out of Dodge. I suggested we head back to Odense and we were glad to be quit of what felt like East Deliverance. The concierge at the expensive hotel suggested we try a hotel called Cabinn by the train station, which we located easily enough. We ended up with the second largest room available. Let me illustrate for you. The smallest room was a single roughly the size of a match box. The next size up was a slightly larger room with bunk beds. If we had taken that room, we would have gotten so many activities done, but as the bunk beds did not actually save space since there was no space to begin with, we probably wouldn't have gotten those activities done anyway. The next size up was our room. The bed was in the corner. That's right. This was once instance when someone put baby in the corner. I sleep on the left. When I had the window open, I actually had to crawl across the bed to get under the covers since the window pane stretched out across half the bed. It was one of those pull open things not lift up things. The room was basically about the size of a closet or, more appropriately, a ship's cabin. Hence the name I believe. The door's to the rooms were not flat. There were on about a 45 degree angle from the wall in order to save room, cram more rooms on the floor, who knows? Same type of shower, drain in the middle of the bathroom floor with a hanging curtain. At least it wasn't right on top of the toilet.

The hotel was budget all right. There was no restaurant. The reception desk sold snacks like chips or crisps as some call them, candy, gum and beverages like wine, beer, water soda. If you wanted to make a purchase of the snacks or beverages you had to use a credit card. They would not take cash. The concierge did direct us to the center of town where we had a really nice steak dinner. When we got back to the hotel, I decided to get some water for the room. Unfortunately, a gentleman in his cups flanked by two girls got there first. He was purchasing some kind of snack but could not make up his mind. Settling on a bag of chips, I thought he would go away, but he decided that he also wanted a beer. As one of the girls was paying, she told the girl at reception to give him a soda. His response was to get shirty and cause a stink. Just my luck. After arguing for a few and his girlfriend telling him no beer, they finally headed to their room. I got my water and we headed for the elevators. I was so tired at that point that I didn't notice the two guys that got off the elevator heading to the reception desk to purchase snacks and such. My husband drew my attention to them. They were clad in naught but their tighty whities. No shirts, no pants other than under, no socks, no shoes. Just their underwear. Now that is something I don't see every day.

The next day, we got an early start, left the car parked where it was and headed off for the museum. The museum is actually in the home where HC Anderson was born, but it had been expanded. It was a really nicely done museum and every display was themed. The first room is full of news of the world during the time that he lived. It is interesting to see the timeline and get a perspective on what else was happening in the world. There was a display for his young life, his education, his travels, his later life, etc. There were lots of pictures, copies of letters and books and such to illustrate his life in such detail. It would take a good number of hours were we to read everything, so after we got about half way through, we had to start speeding things up.

He was a fascinating character. He was born to poverty in the slums of Odense. His mother was a washerwoman and his father was a cobbler. His father died at the age of 33 and his mother took solace in alcohol which was eventually the cause of her death. His grandfather was in the sanitarium. His maternal grandmother was married to a convict in the prison. At one point she was confined under the Town Hall on rations of bread and water for having three children out of wedlock. Family gatherings were at the prison which Anderson would avoid as he was not comfortable with the inmates waiting on him and his family at the gatherings. He was afraid of them. His young life seemed very tragic. He went to school part time at the workhouse and aspired to be an actor. At the age of 14, he left Odense for Copenhagen where he did get a job with the theater company, but was also dismissed. I get the impression he was not very good at it.

He was a bit paranoid in his later life. He always carried a rope with him everywhere he went because if he was at a hotel and it caught on fire, he could throw the rope out the window and climb to safety. The rope was on display in the museum as well as his top hat and his inkwell and quill. He was great with children, however, and was always telling stories and making them books. One of his hobbies was to make paper cut-outs, not of snowflakes, but of people, characters, designs, animals, etc. He was also an artist and would often sketch out scenes that he might employ in some capacity at a later date, like perhaps a story.

He travelled the world from 1833 to 1834, but he never had his own home. He just stayed at hotels, rented apartments or stayed with friends. Never seemed to settle down anywhere for long and he never married. He died in Copenhagen in Nyhaven. Not long before he passed away he was made an official citizen of Odense and given the key to the city. It was an uplifting tale that even though he came from such poverty, he raised himself above it and was widely recognized within his own lifetime.

 

There are paving stones throughout the city with his sun design that mark locations that were important in his life. We walked the path of his life and ended with the castle where he played as a boy with the crown prince when his mother was also a maid in the castle.  

 Around the museum, the streetlights have red and green Hans Christian Anderson shaped lights with top hat and all. There are paving stones throughout the city with his sun design that mark locations that were important in his life.

 

 

Our final stop was a reconstructed village that was contemporary during the life of HC Anderson.

The attraction was called Funen Village and was an interesting stop but really had nothing to do with Hans Christian Anderson.

Each of the buildings were taken from actual villages around the country and were put on display to illustrate what life might have been like. During the warmer months, it is a living museum, but as it was colder when we were there, there were no re-enacters walking around. 

It was a really interesting place and we were able to walk into all the buildings. There were farms, a priests home, a school, a prison, a windmill and other trade type buildings significant to a rural community back then.

All in all, I really liked Odense a lot. For those travelling with family, my suggestion would be to make the trip during the warmer months as there is a lot more going on at that time

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                Traveling back to Germany, I did have the opportunity to go to a German equivalent of a superstore. I was ecstatic when I found one whole bay dedicated to books in English!! It also appears that as Germans are ever in the forefront of any advances to further society, they have discovered a new genre...Romantasy. Awesome.

We went to a couple of gaming stores (yes, I mean like D & D, other role playing and table top miniatures gaming), which were awesome as they also had toys, books, manga, comics, puzzles and any other variety of geeky things one could think of. Not only did I buy a German Lord of the Rings calendar, I also bought a Jack Skellington bracelet, wallet and change purse. I also managed to score some swag. Each of the stores had manga samplers. They are in German, but I can translate. It may take me a while, but I'm up for the challenge. I just love getting freebies!

 So there you have it.  TTFN!!!