Tag: teaser tuesday

The Grey Gentlemen by Michael Ende

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted at MizB’s Should Be Reading.

“The great cities of long ago lie in ruins, together with their temples and palaces. Wind and rain, heat and cold have worn away and eaten into the stonework. Ruins are all that remain of the amphitheaters too. Crickets now inhabit their crumbling walls, singing a monotonous song that sounds like the earth breathing in its sleep.”

Who doesn’t like a nice children’s book (though I wouldn’t classify this as only that) once in a while? The Grey Gentlemen (original: Momo) is a 1973 fantasy novel by German author Michael Ende. I have just started reading the book, but it already seems wonderful!

It is the story of a little girl named Momo, who lives alone in the ruins of an amphitheater. She is poor and alone, but special; she has the gift of listening. When the Men in Grey try to take over the city, it is up to Momo to stop them!

TT – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted at MizB’s Should Be Reading.

“Thus far I have gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas, the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?”

– Robert Walton (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)

Frankenstein’s one of those books that everyone has heard of. And, Frankenstein’s monster, like Dracula, is one of the most famous monsters in pop culture. Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley is my first in the list of always-wanted-to-read classics. I have just started reading it, but I’m already loving it!

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

The Book of Lost Things is a fantasy novel by John Connolly. The story is about David, a young boy, struggling to cope with his mother’s death. Soon his father remarries, and his family as he knew it falls apart. This is when David begins to hear his books whispering to him, and soon the walls between fantasy and reality begin to blur.

I am reading the book right now. Though the idea is far from new, I think I might enjoy this book just for the way it is written. Here’s my teaser, from right after David loses his mother:
“He sat up late into the night, squashed into a corner of the living room while the grown-ups exchanged stories of a mother he had never known, a strange creature with a history entirely separate from his own. (…) And when at last he fell asleep, David dreamed that he was part of these tales, a participant in every stage of his mother’s life. He was no longer a child hearing stories of another time. Instead, he was a witness to them all.”
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Grab your current book, open to a random page and share two teaser sentences!

The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Grab your current read, open to a random page and share two teaser sentences from that page!

  • “Reading a book, for me at least, is like traveling in someone else’s world. If it’s a good book, then you feel comfortable and yet anxious to see what’s going to happen to you there, what’ll be around the next corner.”
The Land of Laughs is a fantasy novel by Jonathan Carroll. It is about an aspiring writer who wants to write the biography of one of the most famous children’s writers ever. It’s about books and writing and fantastical worlds.

  • Rating: 3/5


    • Summary: Marshall France was a legend in the world of books – children’s fantasy stories to be exact, till one day he just stopped writing and disappeared. Thomas Abbey, an English teacher, is an aspiring writer and a Marshall France enthusiast. When Abbey happens to meet Saxony Gartener, a fellow Marshall France lover; they together decide to do something that Thomas has been dreaming of for ever – write France’s biography. After much effort, the two end up in Galen, Marshall France’s hometown – hoping to persuade his daughter, Anna, to let them write the book. Soon, they realize that the town has some dark secret. Meeting a talking dog is the final straw, before Abbey realizes that France’s fantasy world isn’t entirely fantastical.

    My thoughts: I liked three fourths of the book. It is a book-lover’s dream: the way they obsess over France’s books, his characters, his magical worlds. The characters are wonderfully written; Thomas Abbey, the English teacher who is the son of the most famous film-maker and has always lived under his shadow. Marshall France’s books have had a great influence on him as a child, and even now. Then there is Saxony Gardner, the woman who shares an equal passion for France’s books, so much that she encourages Abbey to go through with his plans of writing the biography, and decides to assist him herself. Along with Anna France, the town of Galen is like every small town you have ever read about, quiet and private but lovable. They are also the proud owners of Marshall France’s memories. Together, the stage is set beautifully for a magical story to unfold. Only, it doesn’t.

    Ever since Thomas discovers the town’s dark secret, things become entirely chaotic. The story takes a sudden turn and starts running in that direction. Before you have time to digest what you’ve read, more information is thrown upon you, and just when you place it together, the book reaches an abrupt end. The story is great, but it is too rushed. And the writing is great, but it doesn’t seem like one book. There is no continuity; it’s as if it is written by too different writers; at one point, the author takes time to describe a stranger’s nails, and at another point; he ends a life in five words.


    Like I said, I fell in love with three fourths of the book. The end ruined it for me. It is an eerily beautiful and unique story – but it could have been so much more.

    How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell

    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Grab your current read, open to a random page and share two teaser sentences from that page!

    How to Be a Pirate is the sequel to Cressida Cowell’s How to Train your Dragon. Here’s my teaser this week:

    • “Imagine if you had spent the whole first part of your life trying to walk on your hands. The clumsiness of it, always falling over, always stumbling, always the last at everything. Imagine the joy of discovering that in fact you could walk on your feet after all.”
    It is a simple, whimsical and crudely humourous book meant for children. Which, of course, is why I liked it.

    Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is an unnoticeable, average looking Viking. He is not quite up to the standard expected from someone who happens to be the heir of the Hooligan tribe. Not to mention, Hiccup has a very lazy and inefficient dragon, Toothless, who is about three times smaller than most dragons! As the tribe hunts for a hundred year old treasure, Hiccup turns out to be the most unlikely Hero of the story.

    I liked How to Be a Pirate; a quick fun read, full of silly jokes and goofy cartoons! I find parts of it very original; like the dragons have their very own language. For instance, “Pishyou na munch-munch di miaow-miaow” means “Please do not eat the cats.”

    I loved the movie How To Train Your Dragon – so I didn’t bother reading the book. As it turns out, the two are quite different; though I might just be partial to the movie just this once, if only because Toothless happens to be exceptionally cute.

    Teaser Tuesday #13

    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Grab your current read, open to a random page and share two teaser sentences from that page!

    Caves of Steel is a book by Isaac Asimov, the first book in the Robot series. The novel takes place three thousand years into the future, when humans have started living in space with their robot helpers. Basically, the Earthlings hate the Spacers, and vice versa. The main theme of the novel is a murder of a Spacer, which is investigated by a human detective, Elijah Bailey and his robot partner R. Daneel Oliver. Here is my teaser for this week, from the book:

    “Most Earthmen were Medievalists in one way or another. It was an easy thing to be when it meant looking back to a time when Earth was the world and not just one of fifty. The misfit one of fifty at that.”

    Teaser Tuesday #12

    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

    -Grab your current read
    -Open to a random page
    -Share two teaser sentences from that page!

    I took a pretty long (a week) break from books. I am halfway done with Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, but then I decided to read something else for now. So my teaser this week is from a fantasy novel called House of Many Ways, a sequel to Diana Wynne Jones‘s Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s a magical book!

    “The fat book she had in her hand was called The Book of Void and Nothingness. Not surprisingly, when she opened it, the pages were blank. But she could feel under her fingers each empty page sort of purring and writhing with hidden magics.”

    Teaser Tuesday #11 – The Thief of Always

    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Grab your current read, open to a random page and share two teaser sentences from that page!


    My teaser this week is from a book that I just finished reading. It’s like a children’s book, that is also for adults called The Thief of Always, written by Clive Barker. A little boy named Harvey is sitting at home, bored, with no idea what to do. The idea comes though, when a man named Rictus comes flying into his house through a window. He invites Harvey to spend some time at a wonderful place called Holiday House. Harvey gladly agrees. Soon though, Harvey realizes that Holiday House isn’t as magical as it seems.

    I loved the book right from the first line. So that’s what the teaser is:

    “The great gray beast February had eaten Harvey Swick alive. Here he was, buried in the belly of that smothering month, wondering if he would ever find his way out through the cold coils that lay between here and Easter.”

    Tuesday Memes



    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Grab your current read, open to a random page and share two teaser sentences from that page!

    My teaser this week is from a science fiction book called Strata by Terry Pratchett. It is one of his first novels, and is sort of a prequel to the Discworld. Kin Arad, who is more than a couple of centuries old, works for a Company that designs planets. She is recruited, along with others, on an expedition to a miraculously odd planet – a flat earth! Here’s my teaser:


    “We build worlds, we don’t just terraform planets. Robots could do that. We build places where the imagination of human beings can find an anchor.”

    __________________________________________________________

    Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there will be a new Top Ten list complete with one bloggers’ answers. This week’s topic:

    Top Ten Books That Should Be In A Beach Bag – Your perfect beach reads!

    Where I read isn’t really an issue. The only things I wouldn’t like to read on a beach are books about terrifying sea monsters and people stranded on islands. Here’s my top ten anyway:

    1. Any Harry Potter book – J.K Rowling: There is nowhere in the world I’d say no to reading this!

    2. Life of Pi – Yann Martel: It has the ocean, but not the scary monsters, so that’s ok!

    3. Marley and Me – John Grogan: Just the type of pure fun the beach calls for!

    4. Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman: Another book I could read anywhere!

    5. Three Men In A Boat – Jerome K. Jerome: I die laughing every time I read this – it has the perfect plot for a beach trip!!

    6. Papillon – Henry Charrière: It’s been a long time since I read this one, and I’d love to read it again!

    7. M is for Magic – Neil Gaiman: Awesome, funny short stories!!

    8. Discworld books starring Death – Terry Pratchett: Mort, Reaper Man, Hogfather, etc!

    9. Howl’s Moving Castle – Dianna Wynne Jones: One of the most fun books ever!!

    10. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafón: For after I get tired of laughing!

    Teaser Tuesday #9

    Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

    • This week, I have two teasers from two books from the Chronicles of Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones. I love the series!


    Witch Week by Dianna Wynne Jones:
    “She held the end of the broom handle in both hands and tried to point it at the town. But the broom had other ideas. It wanted to go around the edge of the town.
    Larwood House is a children’s boarding school. Many students are supposedly witch orphans, but no one knows who the witches are. In this alternate world, witchcraft is illegal and witches are burnt at stake. This story begins when someone in class 6B writes a note to one of the teachers: “Someone in this class is a witch.
    _______________________________________________________________________________

    Conrad’s Fate by Dianna Wynne Jones:
    “I hate Gregor,” I said while we were going down in the lift with the shoe basket. “You couldn’t do some magic to make him fall face first into the sandwiches at Tea, could you?”
    (…) “It’s tempting,” Christopher said.
    Conrad Tesdinic is told that he has bad karma, and sent to work at the Stallery Mansion to cure it. There, he befriends a certain Christopher Smith. Christopher has a secret – he is a powerful nine lived enchanter from another world, here in search of his friend Millie. Together, Conrad and Christopher find her, and while doing that expose a big fraud going on at the Mansion.