Burns Night: Random Scottish tidbits

Hello lassies. January 25th marks the special celebration of Robert Burns, "Scotland's national bard." Check out the official website for this amazing son of Scotland. 

Jen & Amy at Fictitious Delicious are holding a Get Your Scot On blog hop. Head on over to link up and Get Your Scot On! Jeri Smith-Ready has put a bunch of activities together for everyone. If you haven't read her amazing SHADE series, you are missing out! 

With the admin stuff straightened away, I now present to you a few random "tidbits".

Having been a music major for about a quarter of my life, it is only fitting that I commemorate today with musical tidbits about Robert Burns and Scotland.


If you live in America, you are exposed to Burns' work every year and you probably don't even know it. The popular song "Auld Land Syne" that we traditionally sing to ring in each New Year as the clock strikes midnight is actually an ancient Scottish melody. Robert Burns actually wrote the second & third verses and his friend George Thomson set them all to the melody of an old Lowland tune that was also used for the songs "I Fee'd (Hired) A Lad At Michaelmas," "The Miller's Wedding," and also "The Miller's Daughter." I found this information in a piano arrangement book that I've had since high school: "The American Song Treasury 100 Favorites" by Theodore Raph. (I'm too lazy to do an actual citation as it's almost midnight my time).

Auld Lang Syne 

Random humor tidbit but also musical... As a lass,  knowing how much music influenced my life, my mom and grandmother always used to find...unique...ways of encouraging my love and obsession. To my surprise, one year for a holiday (I cannot remember if it was a random Christmas or Birthday gift) I received a "Learn to Play the Bagpipes" kit. Oh yes, I did. Believe it. Pretty sure this is the one. It wasn't great quality but it is the thought that counts. I'm pretty sure I had an "OOoooook" look when I opened it. Maybe I should have tried to use it a bit more so I could have played for you in a video. Now THAT would have been something.  Tonight I celebrated Burns Night with some Walker Scottish Shortbread and a glass of milk.  Cheers to you and yours!

Wings of the Wicked Countdown

 

Hello everyone. I know it has been an incredibly long time since I have blogged but I just wanted to tell you how excited I am that "Wings of the Wicked" by Courtney Allison Moulton will be out on the 31st of this month! My friend Momo over at BooksOverBoys is doing a tribute to this amazing series leading up to the release next week. I promised her I would post about my fangirlish love of the Angelfire series.


A few months back I featured "Wings of the Wicked" in my Top 10 Sequels I'm dying to read. You can read that entry here but this is my brief blurb about the series:

Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton (Angelfire #2): Ellie & Will captivated me in Angelfire.  I love their relationship but at the same time they give me heartache.  Courtney is an awesome storyteller and I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us next.

I meant every word I said even though it was short and to the point. In general I do not read many "angel" based paranormal books because they mostly fall short for me. I can't put my finger on it, but there have been several books/series that were extremely popular but that I read and didn't fall in with the hype. 


"Angelfire" was not one of these. 

First there are nightmares. 
Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her. 

Then come the memories. 
When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream. 

Now she must hunt. 
Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the Fallen, she must also hunt for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember. (Goodreads)

It seriously blew me away. Made me laugh. Made me bawl my eyes out. In 2011 I read A LOT of books but something about this particular book resonated with me. Ms. Moulton's debut was just spot-on. It truly swept me off my feet. Ever read a book and at the end sat in stunned silence just drinking in what you just finished? Hugged the book afterward? Flipped it to the front to start over from page 1 to relive the entire book? "Angelfire" was one of those for me.


Ellie is so determined. Of course she has flaws but she was pretty much the epitome of the word heroine for me. If you look up the 'heroine' in the dictionary you could expect to find her picture as the entry. 


Will. Oh Will. Where do I begin? Crazy skilled at whatever he touches whether it be swords or guitars, this boy will knock you for a loop. He can charm your pants off but won't because he's a gentleman, but DANG the boy gave me shivers!

I'm at the age when if I am reading, I cannot be listening to music (unless it has no words) or the television because I cannot divide my attention so I don't have a personal soundtrack to share with you. However, I can say that Ms. Moulton's playlist she has posted on her website was absolutely spot on. The above piece, "Preliator" by Globus is indeed EPIC. I bought the CD because I just LOVE stuff like this. If you listen to this and don't feel EPIC or that there is a battle brewing, you must need to clean out your ears or have your head examined. I seriously got chills when I first listened to "Preliator".

Now - for the biggest geeky confession EVER... I am a closet Guitar Hero junky. I love creating band members. Add my love of music, literature, & Guitar Hero together and what do you get? Bands made up of book characters. I admit it. I made Will into a guitar playing avatar on one of my Guitar Hero bands. *facepalm* I'm truly a hot mess when it comes to this series.


If you haven't read "Angelfire" you should. On February 1st (Jan 31st for you state-siders), I will be on the seat of my couch, 1-click purchasing my "Wings of the Wicked". I probably won't even log onto Twitter that day because I will have my nose buried in my e-reader screen. /end fangirl rant


Angelfire & Wings of the Wicked: Just do it. You won't regret it.