Bring on The Summer Garden!

SPOILER ALERT:  Do NOT read unless you have finished Tatiana and Alexander.

I finished a few hours ago and literally can not function.  I am not even going to review tonight because I am so spent...but I will dig in first thing tomorrow.  Well make that second thing as I have to visit the genius bar due to the odd little squiggly lines on my MacBook Pro.  But it's not like this computer is important to me or anything.  (SOB!)

Let me say this:  I keep a quote book.  When I'm watching a film or reading a book, I must write down the quotes that stick with me.  But with The Bronze Horseman series, there are literally too many to count.  Paullina Simons just has a way with creating the most beautiful, almost melodic declarations.  The following is one of the most profound things I've ever read:

"Tatiana cried and cried out, stretched out on the rack of his famine".  

Did you not lose your mind when you saw that??  The rack of his famine?  My god - I can't even creatively say "I like ice cream" and she comes up with "the rack of his famine".  I am just awestruck.

OK...more tomorrow.

PS -  I finally got "My Tom" to read "Outlander" and afterward I'm going to have him read "The Bronze Horseman".  I'm sure Clay will agree that men love a well-researched book on war - especially one about WWII.

21 comments:

  1. So glad you finished! Can't wait to see what you say tomorrow. Is it June 21 yet? The waiting is killing me!!!
    :) michelle

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  2. Carol, you are right, I would definitely recommend TBH, but seems almost cruel to start that in teh middle of the Outlander series... but I think better after Outlander than after DIA. Looking forward to your comments. And looking forward to downloading The Summer Garden for my Nook on the 21st.

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  3. The first 120+ pages of the Summer Garden are posted on the publisher's website. I cried 3 times and laughed twice. June 21 can't come fast enough now!!

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  4. Oh man I can't wait until you get to a certain part in the next one!!!

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  5. I thought The Summer Garden was already out! So you mean you're all waiting along with me?!? WAIT - so I CAN'T download it to my Kindle at 3AM when I'm wide awake and missing Tania and Shura?!?

    Full on panic mode...

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  6. Yay! I didn't know you started a new blog!!! You're awesome!

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  7. I am going to send you a signed copy of the Summer Garden. Also The Bronze Horseman. And Tatiana and Alexander. And Tatiana's cookbook.
    Thank you, most profoundly,
    Paullina

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  8. I've said it before and will most likely say it again about a gazillion times:

    I'M NOT WORTHY! :) Thank you SO much. I can't WAIT to blog about The Summer Garden.

    And I had NO IDEA it wasn't out yet! I am half in withdrawl, half giddy with glee that I can do some serious Shura and Tania web crawling with wild abandon since I won't encounter any spoilers.

    And Tatiana's cookbook? SHUT. UP! That is AWESOME! I just made potato pancakes a few weeks ago for the first time and my husband almost plotzed. His grandmother used to make them and I scored huge points. I can't IMAGINE what's in Tatiana's cookbook! Fish soup anyone? :)

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  9. He might have to make you a potato shelf Carol...

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  10. Careful about those spoilers, Carol... The Summer Garden IS out, just not available on ereaders I guess? I have a hardback copy. And let me warn you - there is a MAJOR spoiler out there! Watch out, my little chickadee...

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  11. Clueless, party of me? That's what I THOUGHT! I knew I saw it on Amazon! Either way - I don't have to wait another YEAR or something (which would surely leave me in a straight jacket). Once I read it - I'll be a google maniac like I was after An Echo in the Bone.

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  12. I know it stinks but at least it's just a few days - if it were any longer, I know you'd have a hundred people ready to lend you a copy of the Summer Garden (myself included!).

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  13. Wow, Carol - I'm sooooo jealous! Paullina is sending you autographed books? Is that right? God, congrats if true. I went to buy the cookbook lastnight and it was an absolute fortune! USED even. Nothing new.

    Glad you love T&A as much as the rest of us. TSG is an amazing book. Looking forward to your blog on it.

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  14. Ditto on the envy!!!!!!! Uhhhhh, my library had a copy of TSG(thank heavens).......yellow, brown, funky smelling......and I had to read most of it UNDER the covers!(poor hubby is disturbed by my teeny-tiny book light....honestly!)

    You totally deserve it though!! Your blogs are sooooooo much fun!!

    DO NOT even open "TATIANA'S TABLE" until you are finished TSG. It has major spoilers!! It is an incredible book, unlike anything else you've ever read....I loooooove it..... but you NEED to read it LAST. OK??????

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  15. Yes, Carol, that's right, major spoilers in Tatiana's Table. Perhaps we'll wait until you finish TSG to send that one. :)
    Paullina

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  16. Amazon is telling me TSG isn't being released until 6/21. That must be in the US only. I know someone who already read it, but she ordered it from the UK.

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  17. I ordered TSG from the UK last year. You're so lucky that you only have to wait a couple of days! I managed to find it at a library after some major searching but needed
    my own copy. It's so good!

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  18. Paullina,
    Is this THE Paullina???????

    If so, would you like to elaborate on our discussion of Carol's Sat.June 11th blog post? Perhaps to put some of us out of our misery........(or deeper into). They were just playing checkers, right?

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  19. I bought my Summer Garden from eBay UK in January - I couldn't wait - it ended up being around $13 USD, which was great. I paid more for Tatiana's Table from Alibris (around $30 and change) but cookbooks can be pricey!

    That said, I would like to add that I too am available in case the one and only Paullina Simons has a spare set of signed TBH books lying around.... A girl can dream, right?

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  20. Sirena,
    I paid waaaaaaaaaaaay more than you from Abe Books. You really need a hard copy of this series (just like DG's) though.

    Ps.
    It's the only "cookbook" that should come with a box of kleenex. Or two. Really. It's soooooooooo much more than a cookbook.

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  21. Jennifer J, I saw some PRICES out there! That said, I don't have the book yet - it's schedule to arrive in early July. After re-reading TBH and T&A with this blog, I'm actually psyched to have the cookbook to look forward to! I already think it will be my favorite cookbook :-) I think it's a crime it's not widely available in the US!

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