Katrina's Reads

If love was a disease, would you take the cure?

2011-05-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

This was the question glaring up at me when Delirium by Lauren Oliver arrived from UK Book Tours. Would I? At first I thought...maybe.... yes, after all think of the problems - mental, physical, psychological, political and social caused by love. But then I read the book.

17 year old Lena is just a few months away from receiving the cure delivered to all 18 year olds on their birthday, she desparetly wants that cure - an escape from the fear of the disease, a disease that run wild in her mother, a disease which killed her mother and haunts her days. Then of course she meets and boy.

I won't go any further as we all know where this scenario will take us, and although I could make a vague guess at the ending before I even picked up this book it was a good read. The dystopian world is well created, the idea of love being a disease if presented in a negative light was plausible, and the argument for arranged marriages always has a strong point to make. The not being able to love your own children I hadn't forseen, then my views changed drastically.

I would give this book 4 stars as I loved the idea for the story, really liked Lena, Alex, Hana and little Gracie, the setting was vivid and certainly created a picture in my mind, and the ending wasn't actually as I imagined. My only fault was that I just didn't feel the intensity of their love, it was their at times but when I read Twilight, The Chaos Walking Trilogy (amongst others) I've been drawn back to that rememberance of that hungry, all consumming first love, here I think she just missed it.
A good read if you love dystopian YA, but there are better out there.

Fatherland by Robert Harris

2011-04-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

Now its very rare that I write negative thoughts on a book, but this is one of those posts, if you don't like reading that type of post then please take warning.

Fatherland is our school bookgroups next read - we're not a successful bookgroup at the moment being on our third book and never having had a meeting to discuss a book as yet. As soon as this book was decided on I was wary, the novel is an imagining of what the world would be like if Hitler had won the war. I read a book on exactly the same topic a few years ago and loved it (The Children's War by J.N Stroyar, you should check it out if this type of story line interests you in anyway), so I was already wary knowing this had a high level to live up to; secondly this is a detective novel and I don't do to well at those (I recently read The Maltease Falcon and was full of scorn for the type of story and inherent sexism). Yet I have heard great things of Robert Harris, knowing several people who love his stuff and it was a bookgroup choice so I duly brought my copy (thankfully secondhand for less than £3).

In Fatherland Detective March, a divorced, work obssessed rebel (who just happens to be against that Party line) is called one night - when he shouldn't be working - to the discovery of the body of a prominent figure in the Party's death. Rather than just accept the story that the man had drowned whilst swimming March digs away at a story that clearly isn't meant to be told. Through a series of chance encounters (a young, sexy American journalist who is also a rebel and sees Berlin through America's less clouded eyes) and secret meetings, favours cashed in and sly operations March is soon in the thick of it, despite several warnings to leave well alone. He is on a mission to find out what happened to the Jewish and who knows about what.

My problem with this book was the shambles of the place and the stereotypes: the absurd amount of clues just left laying around; the fact he was told to leave the case well alone yet managed to run around Berlin, board a plane to Switzerland, get in and out of government agency buildings all without being caught; the fact that Nazi Europe is never really described and created beyond a few uniformed SS Guards; him, March, he never seemed to overly care enough about much to give all this effort and finally the poor construction of Charlie, the sexy American (to be fair nearly all characters were like cardboard cutouts of your traditional stereotypes but she wound me up more because she was meant to be intellectual). Charlie, a wealthy American survives in Berlin working for a low budget, low selling newspaper after screwing up her university placement and a job at The Times by screwing the boss - clever girl! She seemingly survives on whisky, has gorgeous men in love with her, falls in love with the potato-faced 40 odd year old March (she has a thing for older men!) and is contacted with underground news through a public payphone outside of her apartment.
I think I could have handled all the coincidences, afterall it is fiction, if Germany and the characters had been better drawn. Afterall I'm happy to suspend my disbelief, in fact I love living in other worlds through books, but I need the author to create the bones and flesh of the world a bare outline just isn't enough.

I will say in its defence, of the four of us who have read this book for this group read and finished it so far its an even mix, two of us couldn't stand it whilst the other two loved it. I'm now off to read Proust, what a juxtaposition!

Blood River by Tim Butcher

2011-04-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

I'm not a huge non-fiction fan, but I've been trying to read 50 pages of non fiction a day for the last two weeks, and managed to read 2 great books, I'm hoping that I can make this a habit and get lots more non-fiction read.

Blood River is Tim Butcher, a British journalist who specialises in reporting from war torn countries, account of his attempt to follow H.M Stanley's journey through the Congo.
Butcher researched and spent years trying to find the right time to enter the Congo, to pass through all the red tape and the problems involved in taking such a journey. Once there he faces yet more red tape and problems. He starts off his journey trying to bike up through a region and ends up having to rely on people from various charities and organisations as there simply is no form of public transport or transport for sale. Transport he finds is the biggest problem, with petrol being scarce and his luggage tied to the bikes with old inner tubes. As Butcher moves on we watch him continously tackle this traffic problem which only seems to get worse when he wants to travel down the river.
Butcher also introduces us to a range of characters, some the shifty locals we hear horror stories of when we go on holiday - trying all the tricks of the trade to rip off the closest foreigner. But others are more honest and hard working, from locals to old expats who moved to the Congo when Belgium ruled the land, charity workers to priests come to deliver their message; all of whom played a vital role in keeping his journey going.
Butcher intersperses his journey with the history of the area, focussing on Stanley and Livingstone and the Belgium rule, as well as local moments of civil war and politics. At the start I found that the history far out-weighed his journey but as the book went on a reversal happened.
I enjoyed this read and it certainly gave me something to think about, as the Congo is somewhere which isn't really reported on that widely, or the centre of charity and awareness campaigns like some of its near neighbours.

Buddha Da by Anne Donovan

2011-04-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of a non-fiction and Les Miserables, so thought my daytime read should be something a bit lighter, so I picked up this one which has been sat on my shelves since 2007!
Buddha Da, is set in Scotland and told through the voices of the three central characters in a broad Scottish brogue - which I know some people struggle with but I've read Scottish books before and found this just as easy as reading in Standard English.
The story starts out with the traditional Scottish father-type discovering meditation and then gradually Buddhism. The family all have to try and deal with this change in the man whom they have always known to be a bit of a joker. Anne Marie the daughter seems not to have any real issues with it, but feels that she cannot ask him any questions. Whereas his wife, Liz feels lost and angry; the man she has loved since she was 14 has disappeared and someone knew has taken his place.
We watch as the family change and also have to deal with other issues such as death, growing up and pregnancy.
I enjoyed reading this, it was a gentle book with lots of nice characters who each are exploring and changing their lives. This is a typical holiday read, where you can almost see the end from the start, something I probably will have forgotten in under a week, but enjoyed at the time.

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

2011-04-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

This book is another one, like A Tree Grows in Broklyn, which I always wanted to read because of its name, and like A Tree Grows in Broklyn I had an old copy with an ugly cover, but I loved them both!

A Town Like Alice tells the tale of Jean, a young girl who grew up being able to speak Malayan as her father had worked there. Before the war starts she wanted an adventure so went to work as a typist in Malay. But the war changed everything. When the British families in the area were gathered up to be put into prisoner of war camps by the Japanese the men where separated from the women and led of to Singapore. The group of women and children were left behind in search of a camp to put them in. As no one wanted them they were led walking from place-to-place with just a few Japanese guards to protect them. Jean becomes a central figure in the group as she is able to communicate with the local people, and even translate for their Japanese guards. During this journey she learns to live in a different way, has to accept deaths and illness and find ways to keep the rest of this group alive. The group meet an Australian who helps them for just a few days with food and medicine.
When she returns to England after the war she simply wants to put the past behind her, yet when she comes into an inheritance life has a few drastic changes in store.

When I first started reading this book I thought of abandoning it as the opening pages were really slow, but then when Jean's story abouy Malay started I was hooked. The details, her fight for survival and the way that the women were treated are described in a cool distanced way as the tale is being retold by someone who has listened to the tale. When the love story kicks in and her trip to Australia the tale certainly has the feel of a romance novel, but one with class and more to it that soppiness. The setting of Malay and the Australian outback are created before your eyes and I had a lovely picture of each in my head as I was reading this.
Certainly a book which I would recommend others to read.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith

2011-04-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

Francie is born into a life of poverty, with a drunken but loving father who fails to hold a steady job and a hard mother who works several jobs for every penny she can get life is no joy ride. She and her brother, Neely, collect scraps of rubbish, are sent to buy the last ends of stale bread and made to live in cold rooms all in order to survive. Francie is a reader and a dreamer, determined to get an education she reads a book a day and walks 48 blocks to school.
We watch her grow up, battle through poverty, always feeling second best and never having friends. We see her through deaths and births, highs and lows.
Smith's writing creates a perfect picture of this determined little girl battling to escape the circle of life of those who live on these poverty stricken streets.

A Human Being Died that Night: Forgiving Apartheid's Chief Killer by Pumla Gobodo Madikizela

2011-04-14T01:06:00.000-07:00

This book was an amazing read and I'm probably about to butcher it with this review, so I would suggest Eva's review here which made me go out and but it in the first place.
Black clinical pyschologist Madikizela is taken through the Truth and Reconciliation Commitee to interview Eugene de Kock, a man commonly refered to as 'Prime Evil' who has come to symbolise the violence and aggression of the apartheid government.
Madikizela seeks to find answers with this man, including why some of his victims families have forgiven him and feel a sense of empathy for this notorious man. She finds de Kock to be a thoughtful and sensitive man; fighting with the things he has done, with his own reasons and explanations for having committed such crimes and with the abandonment of the apartheid government who had sanctioned his crimes.
This book becomes about more than de Kock's answers, but Madikizela's fight with her empathy for him and about the question of evil: can one be both evil and caring? Can we forgive? Should we forgive?
For me the book was five stars from page one, but the final meeting between de Kock and Madikizela had my heart in my mouth:

"Have I ever killed any of your friends or family?"
The words bounced around the large room like an echo in a cave. I actually turned and looked around, expecting perhaps to see someone else in the room other than the guards at the door. Yes, I had heard de Kock's voice. I was sure that was what I'd heard...but had I just imagined it? Standing there stunned, in conversation with a broken man who had been an angel of death, I felt as if I were in a mist of a collision of scattered meanings within these prison walls that had enclosed our conversations. De Kock's words hovered in the room; I was struggling to understand them before I could take them in.

The tension created by this moment and then her subsequent answer made my heart pound, what if he had killed someone she loved, how would she cope with being so close to him and how would he cope, this man who started to seem so fragile.

For someone who rarely reads non-fiction I sped through this, and I'm sending it on a small journey through bookcrossing to a few other readers before it returns to me when I'm sure to read it again. I recommend you to beg, borrow or steal a copy. And I've already picked my next non-fiction read 'Blood River' about the Congo.

Les Miserables - Part Two: Cosette (SPOILERS)

2011-04-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

As with my discussion of Part One this post will undoubtebly contain SPOILERS as I can't discuss it without revealing the fate of the characters in part one. As I discussed in the earlier post, I'm reviewing this book in sections as I don't know how I'd be able to review this monster as a whole.

Summary: This section starts off with a long description of the Battle of Waterloo, thanks to CJ James for the heads up, I skimmed over it and read a synopsis of it on the internet - cheating, but these classic authors do need a good editor! After that things picked up, Valjean a prisoner on board ship rescues a falling sailor and uses this moment as a way to escape. Months later a mysterious man (to dense readers) shows up and befriends Cosette, whose pitiful life we witness at the hands of the Thenardiers. He quickly makes off with her, when Hugo finally reveals his identity as Valjean, for the not so sharp readers.
From then the pair live in seclusion, before Javert comes hunting for them. A night on the run and a few timely coincidences leave them happily living in a Convent safe, for now, from the hands of Javert.

I loved this section and have spent this evening reading it, gulping down page after page. This section reminded me of The Count of Monte Cristo; the escapes, the moments of safety and the knowledge that danger still lays ahead. Valjean is quickly becoming one of my favourite characters in literature, he's rich but lives a poor mans life, he dotes on Cosette and his spiderman-like ways as he climbed that wall! Yes, its full of coincidences, and much like The Count of Monte Cristo we get the sense that our hero will survive and out witt anyone, yet that's all part of its charm.
My only gripe is Hugo's unnecessary detail in places - him and Tolstoy clearly had the same problem - the Waterloo scene and the vast description of the Convent (chapters and chapters of it) add nothing to the book, nor does his need to lecture and explain.

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

2011-04-13T05:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the double post today!
Tomorrow, When the War Began has sat on my shelf for a good year now and I never quite got around to it. This week I saw Darren from Bart's Bookshelf and Vivienne from Serendipity both mention the book along with a post about it on bookcrossing so I thought I'd grab it and see what it was like.
The novel starts off very 'teeny' to the point where I almost gave up - a bunch of teenagers go off on a camping trip, all fairly young, mixed gender, driving illegally and off to somewhere dangerous, as you do! A few days in they spot a large number of planes flying over head, make a few jokes about war and then forget it.
When they return home to dicover what has happened my interest rose, the book started to feel dystopian and more exciting. They return to find the streets of their homes abandoned, animals (they are farmers) left to die and all the powercut. The only one source of light in the town is the park ground which is heavily guarded by armed soldiers. From then on its a battle to survive.
I really enjoyed the pace of this (after the first 20 pages), the construction of the town,the dystopian feel and also the knowledge that there is more to come and they are all in print so I don't have to wait. My criticism would be the love triangle - can someone write a YA book without a love triangle and the ending, which certainly relies on you reading the next book as there is so much left to happen.
I'll definitely get the next one, although randomly my library only has books 1,3 and 4! so I'll be waiting for my next amazon order.

Library Loot

2011-04-13T05:03:00.000-07:00

I haven't written a library loot post for ages, but then I haven't had many books from the library in ages - I seem to have gone a little mad this week, forgetting my resolution to read my own books! Luckily I'm off work for two weeks and we have several bank holidays coming up so I should be able to read a lot more than normal.

Wicked Lovely,Melissa Marr I've seen this one talked about a lot and thought I may give it a try for the Once Upon a Time Challenge.
Swann's Way, Marcel Proust for a group read-a-long which starts on May 1st over on goodreads.com, I'm going to have to start early as this is already reserved for another reader.
Weight, Jeanette Winterson this is the myth of Atlas and Hercules retold, another read for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. I've read and loved a few of her books so I'm looking forward to this.
Death at Intervals, Jose Saramago this novel is for a library thing group where they read a particular author for a few months, I read Baltasar and Blimunda for this author earlier this year and loved it so I thought I'd try another before they move on to the next author.
Baba Yaga Laid an Egg, Duvrakva Ugresic is another mythological read for the OUaT challenge, I read a few stories about Baba Yaga when I read a bunch of Russian Fairy Tales so thought a longer retelling would be good.
The Provencal Tales, Michael de Larrabeiti is a collection of Shepherd's tales from rural france for the folk tales section of the OUaT challenge.
The Open Road, Pico Iyer you know how when one person mentions something then so does someone else well this happened with this book. One of the teachers at school was talking about reading a book by the Dalai Lama and how much it influenced her, then Eva from A Striped Armchair mentioned Pico Iyer having written a great book about the Dalai Lama, then there was a mention of him on the radio so I thought I'd get the book and discover a little about him.
Whatever You Love, Louise Doughty I'm noy really sure how this ended up on my reservations list, I must ahve seen it somewhere, it doesn't look like my normal type of read, but we'll see if I get to it.

Les Miserables: Part One - Fantine (with spoilers)

2011-04-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

When I read War and Peace I really didn't know how to review it at the end and ended up saying no more than a paragraph, I don't want that to happen with Les Miserables so I thought I'd write up something for each part of the novel. This will contain SPOILERS as I would not be able to write about later parts of the novel without giving away bits of the plot.

A Brief Summary of Events: Les Miserables starts with the introduction to Myriel, a saint of a man. He is a Bishop who believes deeply in God and lives every part of his life in a way he can help others - whether this is visiting the sick, economising to the point of poverty so he can give his money to those in need, or opening his door to anyone. One day along comes ValJean a convict who has finally been released from prison after many escape attempts. Turned away at every door he is welcomed into the Bishop's house. But, true to character cannot help but steal the Bishop's last valuable item. The Bishop, saint that he is, lies to the police and ValJean is shown the value of trust and respect and appears to have become a good man.
Alongside this, we see Fantine, a naive girl who falls for the wrong man who then abandons her in her pregnancy. Both Fantine and ValJean head to a new place, for a new life, with a new identity - Fantine leaving her child with a family she comes across and ValJean renaming himself and becoming the local owner of a Jet Factory and eventually the Mayor. Their lives follow different destinies, while ValJean is becoming richer, more powerful and yet a better person Fantine's life is in tatters. She is unemployed, being tricked into paying more and more for her daughter Cosette, and finally ends up a prostitute.
ValJean and Fantine are thrown together when Javert - the towns local policeman, arrests Fantine. ValJean, under his guise as town mayor comes to rescue her and they quickly become friends, he intending to discover her child for her while she lays on her sickbed. Finally, whilst this is happening ValJean hears of another man being tried for his crime, he goes and gives himself up. In the final scene his identity is revealed and Fantine dies.
(Not brief at all then!)
My thoughts on the characters:
I loved the priest, although I can never believe that anyone is so good. However, his trust in ValJean certainly had positive effects and completely changed this mans destiny.
ValJean in his final scene, where he escapes from the police cell, looks like he may be back to his old tricks - I'm hoping he is still good and with go and rescue Cosette.
As for Fantine, she was naive and stupid, I can't understand why she couldn't have passed herself off as a widow and kept her child. Her actions are all intended for the best of the child but only seem to harm her more.
What I liked and disliked:
I loved nearly all of this so far. Hugo's way of drawing the characters, and creating the situations has been well done. I did find some of the coincidences a little contrite, but then this is fiction after all.
What I'm excited to discover next:
I'm looking forward to seeing if ValJean fulfills his promise and rescues Cosette, or if Javert will get there first just to persecute him a little more.

Finishing the Read-a-thon

2011-04-10T05:06:00.000-07:00

Hour: Finished
Time Reading: 13 hours 50 minutes
Books Read: House of the Sleeping Beauties, Rituals by Cees Nooteboom, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Toast
Books currently reading: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (audio), The Court of the Air,
Currently Feeling: Time to get dressed, and perhaps read some more.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Hour 10, when I gave in to my headache and went to bed - should really go to the opticians and get some new glasses!

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
This year I didn't end up reading my usual mix of YA which I don't think helped. I didn't read any books I would rate above 3 stars.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Not really. I didn't get as many comments as normal, I'm not sure if this was because of the way the cheerleading was organised or because the people I normally follow weren't participating this time.

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The up-dates were good as usual. All in all I think it worked really well.

5. How many books did you read?
4 (listed above) plus part of an audio book and half of a book.

6. What were the names of the books you read?
See above

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Toast by Nigel Slater (a British Chef)

8. Which did you enjoy least?
Rituals by Cees Nooteboom

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I didn't try to get to everybody in my section just went every 5th person. I think personal messages work best so I liked being able to read people's posts rather than trying to greet everyone with the same message.

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I've been a cheerleader the last few times and think maybe next time I will just be a reader. I still go and visit people's posts throughout the whole thing and that way I could spend more time reading. Also I noticed some people onle have one post for the whole 24 hours which I think I may try next time.

Thanks to the hosts and those that came and visited. Until next time!

Read-a-thon Update 4

2011-04-10T02:21:00.000-07:00

Hour: 22?
Time Reading: 11 hours 40 minutes
Books Read: House of the Sleeping Beauties, Rituals by Cees Nooteboom, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Toast
Books currently reading: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (audio), The Court of the Air,
Currently Feeling: Wide awake and can't stop eating!

I finished another bookcrossing book, so that is 4 now that I can release to other readers and free from my stacks. And a non-fiction to boot! I'm now going to spend some time looking at some other read-a-thoners and then get back to reading The Court of the Air so I can get a big chunl of it finished, although it won't be completed during the read-a-thon.

Read-a-thon update 3

2011-04-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hour: 18
Time Reading: 8 hours 30 minutes
Books Read: House of the Sleeping Beauties, Rituals by Cees Nooteboom, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Books currently reading: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (audio), The Court of the Air, Toast
Currently Feeling: Much more awake. Breakfast has been eaten.

Picking a short book and turning off the computer certainly helped me to focus. I read and completed the novella Miss Jean Brodie since my last post knocking off my third bookcrossing book this read-a-thon - notice that they are all teeny books.
I'm going to check my googlereader and then start Nigel Slater's Toast.

I'm Back

2011-04-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hour: 16
Time Reading: 6 hours 40 minutes
Books Read: House of the Sleeping Beauties, Rituals by Cees Nooteboom.
Books currently reading: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (audio), The Court of the Air
Currently Feeling: Not as refreshed as I'd like.

I ended up going to bed at quarter to ten (end of hour 9) as my eyes were so tired I could barely keep them open. I had woken up Friday night from a horrid dream and I couldn't get back to sleep so was tired anyway. Then tonight the same thing happened, so I'm no where near as awake as I'd like and have images of a giant fish flapping around dieing in my bath to contend with!
After my last update I read 100 pages of The Court in The Air a 500+ page fantasy, and listened to some more of the audio. I'm going to get back to reading and drinking tea but I'm going to grab The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie for a quick read.

Hope you're all still doing well, I'll come say hi later on.

Back to reading

2011-04-09T12:04:00.001-07:00

Me and my reading companion spent the last 45minutes cheerleading and are now off to read some more, must go and pick a book now!

Read-a-thon Update 2

2011-04-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

Hour: 7
Time Reading: 5 hours 5 minutes
Books Read: House of the Sleeping Beauties, Rituals by Cees Nooteboom.
Books currently reading: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (audio) Currently Feeling: Headachey. Not sure if it was the bad book or just my eyes getting tired.

I just finished my second book, Rituals by Cees Nooteboom one which I really didn't enjoy but persevered with as it was short, I could tick it off my 1001 list and it could be used for a read from Holand.
I'm now going to spend some time cheerleading and drinking Licorice tea. Hopefully in that time I will have decided which book I want to read next and the headache will have disappeared.
How are you all doing?

Read-a-thon Update 1

2011-04-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

(Taken on my phone in glaring sunlight, so noy great quality - this is where I sat reading for a few hours, being passed by canal and motor boats, cannoists, dog walkers, runners and families - bliss)

Hour: 4
Time Reading: 3 hours 15 minutes
Books Read: House of the Sleeping Beauties
Books currently reading: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (audio) and Rituals by Cees Nooteboom.
Currently Feeling: Relaxed and the time is rushing past, bring on the next book!!!

It's now the fourth hour of the read-a-thon and time is flying past. I went for a long stroll with the lovely Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in my ears. Then stopped and read all of House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories by Yasunari Kawabata. In typical Japanese fiction style this was a very strange collection of 3 stories, which I will talk about when the read-a-thon is finished.

I hope everyone is coping well with the first couple of hours, I've had about a half an hour break so I'll be checking my google reader and then getting on to the next book which is Rituals by Cees Nooteboom.

Read-a-thon Begins

2011-04-09T05:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not out as expected, although I'm off to sample some of the sunshine in a moment as my frontroom is cold and outside is lovely and warm.
A quick answer to this Meme first

1)Where are you reading from today?
To start the read-a-thon I'm actually wandering down to the river for a wander through the meadow, under the trees, past the horses and to the canal boats, audio book in ear. I will stop for a while a read if I can find somewhere comfy which isn't occupied.
2)Three random facts about me…
a. I have a house bunny called Alba
b. I'm currently trying to learn sign language, cookery, all about fairytales and photography.
c. The kids at school nickname me smiler (and probably a few horrid things I'm best off not knowing.

3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
I've not made a pile this year, so will have the choice of 400 odd books to pick from.

4)Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
I'm aiming for 18 hours reading, a few hours cheerleading and some sleep. I'm hoping to tackle 6 books, 4 of them bookcrossing books so that I can get a few books moving again.

5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
I have done this 4 times, I do allow about 4 hours sleep so that I'm not horrid all of next week and that tends to be fine. Audiobooks are great for when you want to move around. I'll go for a couple of walks, especially one before it gets dark so I don't get restless. Keep the books short/light and have some short stories or graphic novels on hand.

Read-a-thon Preparation

2011-04-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

I'm Excited that today the read-a-thon starts. I thought I would pop a quick post up now as I may not be around at the beginning. The weather here is stunning so I'm planning on spending the first hours of the read-a-thon down by the river and meadows near my house, with a few sandwiches an audio book and a book. It means I'll be able to have a good walk and get some sunshine which will hopefully mean I'm less restless later.
Now normally this is where I would post a picture with a pile of books. However this week I haven't been at all in the mood for reading (very worrying given I'm now hoping to read for 18 hours!)so I'm avoiding making a pile, as it will just be whatever interests me there and then. I've also been reading 30 pages and deciding the book just isn't for me, hopefully I'll be more consistent today.
So rather than specific reads my goal is to finish 6 books and four of those should be bookcrossing books registared by other members that I need to send off on their book travels again.
I'll be cheerleading for 3 hours, which will be dispersed between hours 6-12, I always like going visiting other blogs and seeing what other people are doing to celebrate.
As for food I'm on a diet, and after a curry and McDonald's yesterday (last day of school celebrations) I will be having to behave. I'm off to grab and cut up fresh pineapple and mango, yogurts, rice cakes and ingredients for dinner soon.
I wish you all luck, its always nice to have comments but more important during the read-a-thon so please say hello.

Short Story Quest: Revisiting, Revising and Revamping Sleeping Beauty

2011-04-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

Photocredit
The Once Upon a Time Challenge has certainly broken my no book buying rule, I have a selection of retold fairy-tales and a few non-fiction books about fairy-tales winging their way to me via amazon at the moment.
I have spent today reading versions of Sleeping Beauty. From what is believed to be the inspiration for the Grimms version Basile's 'Sun, Moon and Talia' and Perrault's 'Sleeping Beauty in the Woods' to versions of the tale set in our modern world with a Sci-Fi twist to them.

Giambattista Basile's 'Sun, Moon and Talia' tells of a young girl who falls into a deep sleep after having a piece of flax from a spindle wedged under her fingernail. Locked in a castle in a deep sleep she is visited by a king, and eventually two children who suck at her fingers dislodging the flax and thus waking her. From this their entreats a tale of jealousy and violence. Perrault's version 'Sleeping Beauty in the Woods' is far closer to the well known version with the fairies warning that a spindle will cause her harm and the whole castle being laid to sleep with her and awoken when her prince arrives.
For the Grimm's version of the tale I went to Maria Tatar's 'The Anotated Classic Fairy Tales' this version is the disney version we all grew up with, finishing with Sleeping Beauty (or Brair Rose as she is called in this version) awakening. Unlike the two previously mentioned stories their is no jealousy and violence, and no canibalism and rescue at the hands of older women. Tatar's version is accompanied by notes about various versions, as well as selections of art which has been used to depict the tale over the years.

I then went onto read two retellings from the collection 'Black Swan, White Raven' and one from 'My Mother she Killed Me, My Father he Ate Me'. The first 'The Black Fairy's Curse' by Karen Joy Fowler I think I will need to read again. It was very short and started with a woman escaping into the woods on horse back, the fast pace has her escaping up a tree and then she is suddenly with a man by a river. These seem a dream-like imagining, which later has her waking up with a man above her who she fears. I really enjoyed the pace and the way each iamge was created, but need more time to think over what was happening.
'Snow in Dirt'by Micheal Blumlein had a very different feel to it, and certainly had my favourite opening:

It can happen. Once a lifetime it should. I found the girl of my dreams in the garden. She was covered by dirt. I was digging a hole [....] She was hidden in soil, tucked between roots, still as a statue, beautiful.

Discovering this secret beauty, loner Martin takes her into his home. Gradually after days of wondering he takes her to the hospital to run tests - she is a conundrum they can't understand. When one day she suddenly wakes up he marries her, and then begins their life. Unlike a fairy tale, all is not happiness, but then it isn't all bad either.
The final version I read 'A Kiss to Wake the Sleeper' by Rabih Alameddine, features a first person narrator who is a watcher of all the happens. The girl is sent to the forest, to be treated by the sleeping beauty in an attempt to free the girl from a world trapped inside a protective bubble. The story led to a sexual encounter - fairly vividly described, which I wasn't expecting in the slightest. A clear tale of sexual awakening with violent overtones.

Mini Reviews

2011-03-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

Last week my computer wasn't working, so surprise-surprise I got tons read! It's shocking how much of a time-suck the Internet is. I'm just posting mini-reviews about these books otherwise I'll never get around to them, and to be perfectly honest I'm not sure how I could write full length posts about some of them *War and Peace*.

Baltasar and Blimunda by Jose Saramago read for my around the world journey (the countries have to touch and I aim if possible to read at least 2 books from each country).
This book has a Gabriel Garcia Marquez feel to it, which was great for me as I love him. In the foreground of the story was the love between Baltasar and the seer Blimunda - she has the ability to see 'inside' people if she hasn't eaten in the morning. Their love exists through the Inquisition and the creation of a flying bird capable of transporting humans.
No matter what happens it is their love for each other which wins over the whole story, and it isn't a mushy type of love, although one which is all consuming.
I loved this and would happily recommend it to other readers of magical realism.

War and Peace by Tolstoy I've been reading this as part of a read-a-long on goodreads since new years day, and although I got lost in the middle when I went on holiday I finally managed to catch up and get it finished.
I was shocked at how much the 'Peace' sections read like a soap opera. I was expecting a huge cast of characters but these sections focused primarily on three families and their interwoven love lives, tangles and disputes. You saw families grow, change and develop with the war creeping up in the background.
The 'War' sections I found a little harder at the start, as their seemed to be tons of characters in these bits and I couldn't figure out who was who. These sections became more manageable and enjoyable as I got to know characters and as the war seemed to be more localised so I had a firmer idea of how things were progressing. The pace also picked up.
I gave this read 4 stars as I really enjoyed it, but thought that Tolstoy should lecture and make less direct social comments, and I was disappointed in the second epilogue. We read the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation which I really liked, I had started with a different translation before and gave up after 5 pages! Next up for the group read-a-long is Les Mis, which I started yesterday.

Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Oe this book was sent to me as part of my reading through the 1001 list/s (in fact all 4 of these reads were 1001 list books) and I'm sad to say I really didn't enjoy it.
A group of delinquent children are evacuated out to Japanese villages to escape the impeding war. Once their rumour of a plague spreads and the villagers abandon them so they are left to fend for themselves - similar to Lord of the Flies.
This book got great reviews from other people but for me it didn't hold together, it seemed that the author tried to hard to write as a teenage boy - they were obsessed with genitalia, which I know teenage boys are, I teach enough of them, but not to this extent. And some of the language just seemed to modern and the pace plodding.

Last but by no means least The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid my favourite read of the week. Most people have already read and raved about it so a very quick summary: the book is spoken as if it is part of a conversation, but you only hear from one speaker. He tells is from Pakistan but tells of his time in America and all that it offered to him. And all that changed after 9/11.
His voice and syntax perfectly create the voice in your head; his relationships, successes and views create him as a 3 dimensional character in a way that I haven't read in ages. And your uncertainity about a few areas of the text and style create a book you'll be thinking about long after.
This is one of those books I'll probably end up recommending to everyone and buying people as gifts.

The Sunday Salon: Short Story Quest

2011-03-26T23:30:00.000-07:00

As part of the Once Upon a Time V challenge I'll be posting reviews of short stories at the weekend set in a fairytale, mythical, fantastical or folkloric world. Recommendations are always much appreciated, as are comments.

photo credit
Ardour by Jonathon Keats
I read this interpretation of the Russian snow maiden Snegurochka whilst I was reading a bunch of Russian fairy tales this week, see this post I wrote yesterday, this had to be my favourite so I thought it deserved its own post.
Each winter the peasants tell the same story of the sightings of the beautiful girl in the woods, a girl covered in just a light dusting of snow who quickly disappears from sight. Each man craves to seduce her, for not only does she offer perfection and mystery she also is the release from the harsh winter into spring. Any man able to find and seduce her, and thus allow the fields to be harvested and the snows to melt, is rewarded by the king with a year off of work.
Yet one year Ardour goes from the desired to the hunted. For, suddenly one year she turns on the men and allows no one to seduce her. The winter draws on season after season, bringing with it hunger, death and disease, she has become a vengeful monster out to wreak havoc.
The king offers rewards of a life time escape from work, but no man is able to tame her until an unlikely Prince comes along.
This story’s telling was beautifully woven, and reminded me of the early African folk tales when stories were told to explain the things that man did not understand such as the passing of the seasons. This is certainly a story I’ll be coming back to read time and again, as with all good fairy tales.
The story can be found in the collection My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me’, ed. Kate Bernheimer.

In my search for the Snegurochka I found this cool website where they write and publish free retellings of fairytales. Go check it out.

Once Upon a Time Challenge: Russian Fairy Tales

2011-03-26T03:33:00.000-07:00

I've been missing for the past week or so as my laptop needed fixing, but I'm back now! Having a laptop meant I read a lot more (I finished 4 books in a week!), so I'll post in a few days my thoughts on what I read. But more importantly, being laptop free didn't stop me signing up for a challenge.
The Once Upon a Time challenge has to by my favourite in the blog-o-sphere. I have participated in 3 (I think), and it certainly has influenced my reading habits and tastes.
Now, I've gone a little mad a signed up for Challenge the Third, to read one book from each category: Fantasy, Myth, Folklore and Fairytale. As well as Short Story Quest(see below) and to Quest the Fourth to read two non-fiction books.
I now have two stacks beside my bed, spanning way more than the amount of books I need to read, and I'm eager to get started.

photo credit (great illustrations here to check out)
Russian Fairy Tales:
As an eager ex-university student I find myself embroiled in little mini studious tasks from time to time, the Once Upon a Time Challenge seems to have provoked a few of these this year. One is the desire to learn about some of the traditional myths, as well as myths from around the world. The second, which is what I am focused on at the moment, is to look at fairy tales from specific countries.
So this week I found myself focusing on Russian fairy tales and retellings. As with all good fairy tales I found a good mix of wicked step-mothers, violence (‘Good Girl’s and Where it Gets Them’ (1) was an incredible mix of horrific violence and jealousy) and wit as well as a few recurring figures. Baba-Yaga appeared in several of the fairy tales that I read; this witch-like character is feared by all. In ‘The Baba-Yaga’ (1), our heroine is sent by her step-mother to her aunt’s house, knowing that her aunt is a baba-yaga she seeks advice and manages to escape being turned into a tasty meal. Likewise, in ‘Vasilissa the Fair’ (1) she is also sent by her step-mother and sisters to the baba-yaga, this time in search of light. She to seeks advice, this time from a doll, and is helped by the spirits to beat the baba-yaga’s trick and escape home into the arms of the tsar.
This beautiful Vasilissa character also turned up in another story, so I’m wondering if she is a common Russian fairy tale character. In ‘Vasilisa, the Priest’s Daughter’ she is beautiful, but not your average young maiden. She hunts, rides horses like a man and drinks Vodka and so is given the male nickname Vasily. Meeting the King one day on his travels he is perplexed over whether she could really be a female and so invites her to his house for various trials to test her femininity. As in all good stories, wit and female cunning prevails over male desperation.
This story is a modern interpretations of Russian fairy-tales, in the first ‘Baba Iaga and the Pelican Child’ (2), the pelican child lives deep in the woods with Baba Iaga, a cat and a dog. Kept hidden away they are told never to open the door while Baba Iaga goes to work. Yet it is she who unknowingly lets evil through the door in the guise of a painter of birds. This story had such a sad ending, but thankfully in true fairy tale style, bad endings are replaced with happiness and knowledge.
I have one more Russian fairy tale to share but I’m saving that for tomorrow’s Short Story Sunday. In the next few weeks I’m on the look out for German, Nordic, South American and African fairy tales, if you know of any good ones which are online, please let me know below.
Have you got any favourite fairy tales?
(1) Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales, Angela Carter.
(2) My Mother she Killed Me, My Father he Ate Me, ed, Kate Bernheimer

I pledge....

2011-03-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

to try and read for 24 hours on April 9th 2011. That's right, I'm signing up for the Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon again this year. The last one I missed as my laptop had died on me, but in previous attempts I've read for about 17 hours, as well as blogging and joining in with the bits and pieces happening on line.
Why do I participate? I love the knowledge that we are all doing the same thing across the world no matter where we are, as well as the contact with other bloggers and discovering new blogs.
What do I read? I normally take the opportunity to read some of my shorter books, plus some YA and graphic novels. I have managed to tackle 6 books before, and that will be my aim again this time. Worringly, I have already been looking at books on the tbr pile and thinking that'd be good for the read-a-thon.

Two Quick Reviews

2011-03-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

After my reading drought I seem to be suddenly racing through books, having finished two since Sunday evening - and its not even the holidays!

Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun is a book which has sat on the tbr pile for a good year and a half, I was sent it from a Korean bookcrosser along with Korean sweets and socks back at christmas 2009.
The novel is based on the life of a young Korean street girl who has abandoned her abusive father and destructive mother for a life of uncertainty, poverty and danger on the streets of New York.
With a fast paced style, a young voice and a cast of teenage street kids this reads like a YA novel. The friendships with Knowledge, a non-using drus dealer, Benny; the boyfriend who takes everything he can get and Tati the dramatic friend we meet a whole host of characters showing the various ways an abusive/unloved childhood can shape a persons view. A novel I'd recommend to those who like the YA style and are looking for a break from vampires for a while.

Pereira Maintains by Javier Cercas was another quick read but completely different to the one above. Set in 1930's Portugal, Pereira has escaped from political reporting to the cultural page of a small less read newspaper. Despite being a journalist we quickly see that his head is buried in the sand, and the political disruption and upset of Portugal passes him by, whilst his head is stuck in books and art.
Despite his attempts to keep out of the way of the censors, corrupt police and political underground he manages to step on peoples toes through his choice of literature, his friendship with a young radical journalist and his meetings with frinds.
This book was a really easy read which I enjoyed, however I think it would have had much more impact had I known any thing about Portugese history. It was nice to read a 1001 book which I enjoyed after my recent run of poor choices.

The Sunday Salon: Reading is beating me

2011-03-13T01:36:00.000-08:00

Very quickly, today is the last day to enter my draw for a copy of The Blind Assassin over here.

I'm really struggling with my reading at the moment, I'm either in a grump so just not enjoying great books, its either that or I'm not picking great books off my tbr pile.
I started mid week reading Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I was hoping that I'd enjoy this as everyone raves about him (although I didn't really enjoy The Great Gatsby which everyone else seems to love).
The book is meant to be partly autobiographical and charts his relationship with his wife - which bizarrely started off with her having a breakdown and he was a pyschologist used to flirt with her through letters to bring her out of herself. He moves on to detail the affair he had and his struggle with this affair.
I didn't get on with the narration of this book, or his clear lack of love for the women he had an affair with. The whole thing felt like he was trying to explain his behaviour.

After this I moved onto Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas, another 1001 read which has been on the TBR pile for many years. The 4 star rating on amazon, the synopsis and the gorgeous cover all had my hopes up high. But this was another book which floundered for me - it was a 'true tale' which the author spent a large percentage of the book describing how he discovered the story and the events after publishing this story.

Both these books I believed would be novels and both turned out to be based on true stories and had fairly dry narration. I've read a few pages of my next read, thankfully it looks like a real novel this time.

This afternoon I'm off to Colchester, one of the oldest towns in England. I'm taking my camera to get a few snaps of the cobbled streets and then meeting some local bookcrossers to chat and swap books. The pub we are meeting in is an OBCZ (official bookcrossing zone), so hopefully will have a set of shelves with free books that I can browse and leave some of my own books on.

Giveaway

2011-03-09T11:13:00.000-08:00

Just a few more days to apply for my giveaway.

The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G Wells

2011-03-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

This month I'm trying to focus all my reading time on 1001 books in the attempt to reach my target of 40 for the year. I started with The Island of Dr. Moreau as it is a bookring which I need to get moving to the next reader.

THE STORY:
Prendick accounts his time on an island of nightmares. He finds himself turfed out of the boat he is travelling after the captain is scared off by the other passengers on board. These passengers help Moreau to an island which they inhabit.
Trying to be secretive about the happenings on the island they attempt to keep the truth from Prendick, but he begins to notice small anomalies, like the hairy pointed ears of one of the servants and the howling of animals.
Exploring, Prendick discovers animals who can talk, walk like men and obey the orders of the man who brought him to there.

MY THOUGHTS:
I'm not a sci-fi fan, but having read and enjoyed Wells at university I was expecting to enjoy this - and in places I did. However there were many times when I was tempted to give up, if it had been a longer book I doubt I would have read to the end. I was often confused as to what was happening, and didn't really get along with the dry narrative voice of the tale, which never managed to strike in me the horror of these animals.

World Book Night Giveaway

2011-03-05T00:50:00.000-08:00

It's World Book Night tonight, and as a way to encourage reading 1,000,000 books are being given away. 25 titles have been picked and volunteers have been given 48 copies of the title they selected to give away.
I was lucky to be selected and picked up 48 copies of Margaret Atwood's fantastic 'The Blind Assassin' to give away. I'm offering mine to some of the more able readers at school, the teachers and a few bookcrossers. I will also be wildrealeasing some of these novels and handing some out over the next few days.

PLUS I have 2 to give away through my blog. One to a UK blogger and one to an International blogger. For a chance to win just leave a comment below with your email address.

Top Ten Books I just had to buy....which are still sitting on my shelf unread.

2011-03-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

1. Love by Toni Morrison, I read one of her books and just has to have a few more..a good 5 years ago.
2. The Peacock Throne, Loved the cover and couldn't resist buying it but have had no compulsion to read it since.
3. The Mad Woman in the Attic, Gilbert and Gubar because I wanted to feel like a university student again.
4. A Human Being Died that Night, Eva wrote a great review so I ordered it straight away.
5. Affinity, Sarah Waters once I read one of her novels I had to read them all. I've since read 2 of her books which she has published since this purchase.
6. Don Quixote a desire to be more 'well read'.
7. Peter Pan, J.M Barrie because I just 'had to' have this edition.
8. The Bible, because I was told literature students would need one, never used in the 12 years since then.
9. Yellow Dog, Martin Amis because I thought he was an author I should read.
10. The Brothers Karamzov because I thought as a literature student I should read Dostoevsky.

This meme can be found over at The Broke and the Bookish

Room by Emma Donoghue

2011-02-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

This book has been all over the blogsphere, booksites and bookshop windows for ages I am starting to wonder if there are many people left who haven't read it!

For those handful of you who haven't, the novel is narrated by 5 year old Jack. His whole life has been spent in one single locked Room. His world is created by Wardrobe, the place to sleep, TV where his bestfriends live, Rug where he does his PE lessons, and his mother who works hard to create as normal life for him as she possibly can. Kidnapped, his mother is determined that her son will not know that he is missing out on life outside Room. So much so, that she doesn't tell him about the world outside.
Yet one day he discovers the truth. From then on we see how he processes the information and deals with the reality of his life.

I loved many elements of this novel, the 5 year old narration and view point, the mother-son bond and the little shell of a world in which they exist. In a few places the story is dubious - his language skills are just too far advanced, and in one or two places the narration stutters and an anonymous narrator seems to slip through for just the breifest of moments.

As much as I enjoyed the book I'm surprised that it got so far in the Man Booker prize as I read it as a light read (my plane read) and wouldn't consider it literature. I also can't see it hanging around for a long time, and would class it with Jodi Picoult style novels.
What did you think about it's Booker nomination? Did you think it deserved its place?

Trash by Andy Mulligan

2011-02-26T02:43:00.000-08:00

I got sent this book as my first read for UK BookTours a site which allows those in the UK to read YA ARCs.

THE STORY: Set in a slum the children and adults on the site make a poor living sifting through moutains of rubbish in search of plastic to feed themselves, and the hope of finding some new clothes. Each has a dream of one day discovering treasure which will save them from this life of misery. One day Rapheal does. Yet the discovery doesn't lead him down the yellow brick road but rather leads to a chase to discovery against the will of the police.

MY THOUGHTS: I would aim this book at children aged 10-12 and think for them this would be great, its like a modern day Famous Five but without the glitz and sugar coating. The book opens us up to a world we rarely see. I enjoyed the read, their journey and the mystery of what was going on. You have to accept that these boys are some how educated and pretty quick witted despite their lack of education and knowledge of the world.

1001 BTRBYD Month

2011-02-25T10:49:00.000-08:00

I'm back from my holiday and now really in need of tackling all the little challenges that I set myself. I'm going to be restarting the TBR Dare - I had a target of reading 25 books to read before I could read anything which was on my shelf before 01.01.11 (with the exception of bookrings and preview copies), things went wrong when I took all kinds of books on holiday with me. I do really want to make a substantial dent in this mound of books so I'm going to get myself back on track.

One of the targets which I set myself was to read 40 books from the 1001 btrbyd list, so far I've only read 3. I'm only reading books from that list from the 26th Feb - March 26th and aiming to knock off another 7 (minimum from that list). This is a personal challenge to try and keep me on track.

I'll be back with reviews of the books I read on holiday and some of the sites I saw once the jet lag has gone.

Rules are just meant to be broken....

2011-02-17T12:12:00.000-08:00

I leave for New York on Saturday, and as I'm in a different country I'm deviating from all my normal rules and breaking the tbr dare! (I can hear you all muttering in disgust! lol). I have a review book, plus a couple of novels which people think I should really read and have given me to read on the plane. I feel guilty not taking them, and even more guilty knowing that if I don't break the rules I will have to keep them waiting for their books back until I have read another 15 more.
However I will be returning and starting the dare again when I return to British soil, as I really do need to tackle to TBR shelves.
So what am I taking?
An Idiot Abroad, Karl Pilkington - I watched a couple of episodes of the show last year (this is actually my own book so I'm not breaking all the rules).
Room, Emma Donohue (my mum's donation)
One of the Charlaine Harris True Blood novels, I can't remember the title, a friend has given it to me and insisted I give it a go as he loves them, not normally my thing, but I should try.
Trash, Andy Mulligan - a review copy.
I also have The True Diary of a Part Time Indian and Speak on my iPod.

And I'm feeling like I should take something else, or maybe 2 more....I'm only gone for 6 days and am taking 43 15 year olds with me so I know that taking 4 books is ludicrous but I may get stuck with rubbish movies on the plane, a child may be sick and I may have to stay in the hotel with them, we may get stuck in an airport due to show, volcano ash or air strikes!!!1 Yes, ridiculous but I can't bare to be sat not reading thinkin of what I could read.

Mean Time by Carol Ann Duffy

2011-02-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

I'm rubbish at writing about poetry collections unless I'm writing an essay and have a specific question to answer, so this will be short and sweet. I'm going to use the interview style as I'm hoping it'll prompt more from my head.

Why this author and this collection? I've read and loved three previous collections by Duffy (The World's Wife, Rapture and Feminine Gospels) plus we use Duffy's poetry in school a lot. I always love the way she expresses herself, her raw emotions and recurring themes. I'm hoping to read a lot more poetry this year and thought adding a Duffy book to my Christmas list might spur me on. This one was simply the first collection I hadn't read of hers on the amazon page.

How would you describe the poems in 'Mean Time'?The poems in this collection seem to centre largely around the teenage period in her life. They are often about school, especially early on in the collection. Moving through the collection she grows up and reflects on love affairs and relationships. Having said that, some of them don't seem to fit, for example the poem 'Havisham' which I've taught for years and always assumed come from The World's Wife.

Any favourite poems or lines?
I think my favourite poems were 'Brothers', 'Before you Were Mine' (which I love to teach), 'First Love' and 'Small Female Skull'.
This collection also features the poem 'Valentine' the antithesis to today and all the heart shape cookies and teddies. I love the opening:
'Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper,
It promises light
Like the careful undressing of love.'
Click on the link above to read the rest.

Will this become a favourite collection?
I don't think that this will replace The World's Wife which I love but there are certainly poems in the collection I will return to again and again. The collection will sit on the shelves and be pulled out and browsed through many times.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet

2011-02-11T15:38:00.000-08:00

My first non tbr read of the year, this one was allowed as it was a bookgroup read however I fear that my journey to and from New York is going to be my downfall as I've been sent and given books that look like ideal plane ride books.

The Maltese Falcon is a detective novel from 1929. The book follows Sam Spade, who starts an investigation to discover a missing sister, which soon involves the death of his partner, him being stitched up for murder and the search for the Maltese Falcon, a prized ornament.
Spade is a typical detenctive, women falling for him all over the place and a criminal himself with many dodgy police helping his cause. I can't tell you anymore of the story without giving away too much.

I raced through the first 100 pages, the style was easy to read and there was plenty happening, then I really slowed down and stretched the next 100 pages over 4 nights. I lost interest as more and more people became involved, and there was so many people double crossing one another. Also, I disliked the way the women fawned over Spade; he was clearly sleeping with his secutary even though she knew he was also with many other women, yet she bowed to his every request. I suppose it's a product of its time yet it still bothered me.

In My Mailbox

2011-02-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

I don't normally participate in IMM as I rarely have many books arriving to the house each week, but last week was a week of deliveries ahoy! So I thought I'd show you my new editions to the house.

First up were these beautiful ATC (artist trading cards), I participated in a group swap were we had to send a card to each member of the group, there were 13 members in total so I should be recieving more of these in the coming weeks. We each had to create a card (credit card size) which used just one colour. My favourite is the yellow butterfly design. When these have all arrived I'll create a little book of them or find some way to display them in the house.

This picture is kind of a lie. I actually recieved a box with 19 books in it, I then had to select those I wanted to read and replace them with the same number of books I removed (not too bad for the tbr stacks). This box contained only books from the 1001 bookcrossing library - books that are in the 1001 books to read before you die list. The other 11 books were those I'd read previously. These bookboxes seem expensive to post, this will cost me about £10, but then I'm getting 8 books and a book averages at £7 if brought new, so its good in its way.
I took out:
Angus Wilson, No Laughing Matter
Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor
E.M Forster, A Room With a View
Jack London, The Call of the Wild and White Fang
Dorothy L. Sayers, The Nine Tailors
Dashiell Hammett, The Thin Man
Murial Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

With the exception of Forster these are all new to me authors so I may find a new fav.

This pile are the other books which arrived in the post.
Anthony Powell, At Lady Molly's
Cees Nooteboom, Rituals
Antonio Tabucchi, Pereria Maintains
All from bookcrossings 1001 virtual bookbox (the same idea as before but the 'box' is sent via email to save postage.
Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (my bookgroup read for the month - allowed as one of my exceptions to the TBR Dare)

Not pictured:
H.G Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau (a bookring - another exception to the TBR Dare)
Gray's Anatomy: Season One (I love this show so much and have been hiring the DVDs through a postal service. I'm on season 4 now and have to say my crush on Dr Sheppard just grows, but I'm also starting to find George attractive!)

Did you get anything good through the post this week?

TSS: Bleak House by Charles Dickens

2011-02-06T10:14:00.000-08:00

It looks like I'm getting good at read-a-longs, another one finished :D
I started reading Bleak House back in November, we read a section each Sunday following the sections that Dickens had them published originally in the perodicals.

A quick summary: Bleak House focuses on the main heroine Esther, she starts her life as a orphan, with a childhood of misery. When her aunt dies she finds that she is taken by a new guardian along with two other teenagers to live in Bleak House. The three all share a link in a long legal debate over a will, which has been being debated longer than the three have lived.
Esther's a kind hearted a generous central character, formaing relationships with many along the way, from orphaned children to the aristocracy. The novel explores the power of greed, the unravelling of secrets and friendships.

Dickens is one of those authors who I'm never 100% sure of, I have loved some of his works (Great Expectations in particular) and really disliked others (Nicholas Nickelby). This novel held me unsure of my feelings for it over a number of months. Split into two narratives, Esther's and a unknown narrators, we view all manner of peoples lives, many who are only barely linked to Esther's story. And while I loved her narrative, which focused on just the few people she met, I dislike the other narrative which introduced too many characters and was hard to follow.
I think that as a read-a-long we should have read more each week, the sections were about 30 pages in length and varied in enjoyment. Sometimes you finished a Sunday reading glad to have spent 30minutes with Esther and other weeks the reading left me bored and wondering what was happening to Esther.
The BBC adaptation of this is supposed to be brilliant, I'm hoping to hire this and watch it in the coming weeks.

Jezebel by Irene Nemirovsky

2011-02-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

I finally finished another book! My reading time seems to be being zapped at the moment, school work is filling up my spare hours, plus I've discovered some new TV shows and DVD boxsets so my spare time is being eaten into.

Jezebel starts with the court case of an older woman accused of killing her much younger lover. The court watches in awe and fascination, not because the death of a 21 year old man, but because of the beauty and poise of the accused.
From then on the novel recounts moments from her life, showing her growth, relationships and leading to the murder.

For me this novel just didn't work, which is frustrating because the idea behind it really sounds like it should be a good read. The main character was simply hideous, one of those obnoxious girls at school who I would have simply hated. Other characters flit in and out so that we never get to form an attachment to them.

I think if the book had been much longer than its 190 pages, of fairly big font, I would have given it up and started something new.

Island Madness by Tim Binding

2011-01-25T12:37:00.000-08:00

Island Madness is set on the tiny island of Guernsey, a British Island that is actually right off the tip of France. This book is set during the German occupation of the island during WWII. Used as a vantage point for the Germans, as well as a prime smuggling location the locals and the occupiers live side-by-side with the enemy.

As the book started I thought that this novel was going to be about the changes to the society caused by the occupation; the French prostitues brought over to service the men, with lines of men running up the street, the young local women whose parents turn a blind-eye to their daughters affairs with the enemy, knowing that this will keep their daughters well fed, the local men and women breaking the law just for real butter or BirdsEye Custard Powder. But soon a local girl is murdered and a who-done-it unravels.

The pace of the book, the twists and turns and tangled relationships kept me well entertained for the day, but I was never enthralled by the novel. It was of overly long paragraphs and a setting and people I just couldn't picture. This is the dark side of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

I'm carrying on with the TBR Dare I'm now up to book 7 of the 25 that I pledged to read. I have to say that it is making me look at my TBR pile in a new light. One of my friends - with a much much smaller pile than me - has put hers in order of the date they were written, she takes one from the top of the pile then the next one from the bottom, ensuring that some of the others get read. I'm still trying to work out how to tackle mine, I'm trying a world tour idea at the moment but I'm not sure how successful this will be. Having said that you may see a few French books popping up in the next few weeks!
Have you a way to tackle your tbr pile? Or do you just read as you please?

The Sunday Salon: If I wasn't being a good girl...

2011-01-23T03:38:00.000-08:00

I'd have brought the following books this week.

The Idiot by Dostoevsky. I'm reading two Russian books at the moment, and quite fancy a Russian theme running through the year but only have one on the tbr stacks. This one caught my eye not just as its one of those that if you're doing the Russians (sorry for the bad English, I've been watching and reading Educating Rita at school), you should have tackled; but also because it's translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky whose translation of W&P I'm loving.

The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy. As above, because I'm loving W&P and want to read the Russians. But also because of the Oh-so-pretty cover. The Penguin Great Loves series all have lush covers.

And finally,

Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie, because I want a good YA to take with me for the flight to New York (4 weeks today I'll be there!!!), I have many on my shelves already so I should read those, and rely on the Alexie audiobook that I have on my trusty old iPod.

Youth by J.M Coetzee

2011-01-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

Only my second 1001 book of the year (with an aim of 40 I should be aiming for one every second or third read not leaving 5 books in between).
Coetzee is one of those authors I have a mixed relationship with, I hated Disgrace and disliked Amsterdamn but then really enjoyed Waiting for the Barbarians, and Elizabeth Costello I think I've read but I'm not 100% sure, so I went into Youth with some trepidation.
Youth is actually the second in a semi-autobiographical trilogy, but I didn't know that till I was half way through. However, I didn't feel like I was missing out too much as a rough sketch of his childhood was provided as I read through.

Youth follows John, a mathmatics student with more interest in poetry and saving up enough money to escape South Africa. When he finally escapes to England life is not what he imagines, the long hours, cold people and cold weather lead him to a life of seclusion. As well as his life in England and his love of poetry, we learn much about his desire for a woman. He seems to pick up along the way a number of unsuitable women (who all drop their pants immediately), he barely gets them back to his room before he and they have decided that it's all a bad idea, but it continues.

The novel had a really mellow feel to it, despite dramas, upsets and loneliness he accepts the world and the tension never builds. And, this creates a nice easy read, but one that is likely to leave me not remembering much, if any of the novel in a months time.

The Sunday Salon

2011-01-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

At the moment I'm participating in two read-a-longs both of which have Sunday reading goals, so my Sunday's have changed and are no longer wallowing in laziness with one novel but trying to have read the right amount of pages and make some type of constructive comment.
This morning - after marking and housework - I finished off the section of War and Peace I needed to get read and later on I'll be reading the next 3 chapters of Bleak House.
I'm enjoying both books, and really enjoy the discussion that entails - especially in the War and Peace group as people pick up on funny things (Tolstoy's obssession with female lip hair!) but also discuss the historical and social context.
Do you participte in read-a-longs? Know of any good read-a-longs coming up?

I'm not a New Years Resolution kinda girl, mainly because I'm always setting myself resolutions throughout the year, and secondly because January is a bad time of year for starting stuff - the weather is rubbish, and I don't want to eat healthy/excercise/learn new things - I just want to hibernate.
However I did set myself a goal of 15 books that I wanted off my TBR mountain before the end of 2011. 10 fiction and 5 non-fiction.
Fiction:
1. Court on the Air (a book I requested through bookcrossing ages ago and still haven't read).
2. Tender is the Night
3. The Sound and the Fury
4. Arthur and George
5. The Tapestries
6. Les Miserables (All five have been on mount tbr for over 3 years)
7. Tsotsi (the kids study it at school yet I still haven't read it).
8. David Copperfield (a non-reading ex read this while travelling and made me promise to read it asap - that was a year ago)
9. Jude the Obscure
10. Don Quixote (both books I feel as a lit graduate I should have read, and both have lingered for 3+ years on the pile).

Non-fiction:
1. Wild Swans (a bookcrossing book I've had since 20070
2. Wall and Piece (I love Banksy and should do more than just look at the pretty pictures)
3. An Age of Wonder (brought not this christmas but the one before, it looks good, so should have been read ages ago).
4. A Human Being Died That Night (I loved Eva's review and keep saying I should read more non-fitcion, plus it's real skinny).
5. The Shory History of Nearly Everything (because my knowledge of pretty much everything is teeny or non-existant, and the only way I'm going to understand the Big Bang Theory - plus others - is if Bill Bryson explains it nice and simple).

Hopefully in the next year these will be ticked off the pile, reviewed and some sent to other readers.

The Duppy by Anthony C. Winkler

2011-01-15T13:47:00.001-08:00

My first read for the Caribbean Reads Challenge was The Duppy. This novel set in Jamaica tells the tale of Baps a character who dies in the first line of the novel. This starts off well with a funny episode where he watches his housemaid and gardener stealling his money from his body while he watches (he was a harsh boss and starts getting really miffed when they take Christmas, Easter, New Years etc bonuses, bonuses he would never have paid in his lifetime) then the maid props her sticky feet upon his head while she waits for the doctor to arrive.
After this he travels to a Jamaican heaven, with no fluffy clouds and laziness but plenty of sex, food and gossip. Gradually he becomes friends with God.
This book is meant to be a tongue in cheek look at heaven, Jamaican men and their opinions, and started off well, in fact I enjoyed a good 120 pages of the book. Then, I'd just had enough; the joke had gone on too long and I started feeling that it was just simply silly. I scanned the last 50 pages just to get it finished. Having said that on goodreads this book is rated four stars, where I would only give it one.
For a positive review of this book please see here

Anything But Ordinary: The Nine Lives of Cecile by Cecile Dorward

2011-01-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

I started this book way back in December, then it managed to get left at home over the Christmas break and has been sadly waiting to be picked up all this time.
Cecile Dorward is an ecentric old lady who spent her later years (60+) travelling the world in her Land Rover.
The book is separated into her 'nine lives', starting with her childhood living in that limbo of 'people with money' who actually have very little money when you look past the grand house and the society they keep. We then follow her through her first job as one of a company of famale decorators, early marriage and then on to har travels. The travels start at first in a canal boat exploring the bywaters of England. But as she gets older the journeys get more adventurous, taking her across the world, including driving overland from Australia to the UK.
When I first picked up this book I loved it and quickly read the first two-thirds. She was ecentric, daring and an original. Although she has a strange obssession with her lack of sex. I'm not sure if the fact I hadn't picked up the book in a good three weeks had an effect, but the last part detailing her journeys around the world alone seemed to suddenly lack excitement. It annoyed me that the last 20 years of her life, and the most adventurous years were crammed into such a small space, and we wasn't given a huge amount of description of the places she travelled and the people she met (apart from the overly amourous men!), it suddenly felt like she had lost interest in telling her story. Still I am glad that I read it, and would give it a strong 3 stars.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

2011-01-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

I've been saying to myself for the last few years that I should really reread more, but then I always get distracted by those new unread books sitting on the shelf. So this year I'm going to try some rereading, especially of books that I read in uni and didn't really get the time to appreciate.
I thought I'd start off with a real classic which I first read whan I was 16, Pride and Prejudice was probably my first 'classic' and it was a great introduction to the canon.

A quick plot summary for anyone who has managed to miss this: The Bennets are 5 sisters living in Regency England all in search of a husband. The two sensible sisters, Elizabeth and Jane are hindered by their silly younger siblings, inadequate parents and relative who are just mere lawyers and not aristocracy! At a ball Elizabeth meets the rude obnoxious Mr Darcy and Jane the lovely Bingley. After this the novel is about the way these two relationships play out and a whole bunch of wonderful other stuff.

This is my third or fourth reading of the novel and I've seen a few filmed versions so the story is pretty much already set in my mind. What I loved about this rereading was looking at the way that Austen unraveled the relationships, the twists and turns that they took. And also the knowledge of the comments that Elizabeth makes when we know her future. Along with this is the whole Regency feel; the balls and dinners, the country walks and endless journeys, the dresses and letters - all things pretty much lost in the modern art of finding a man.

Elizabeth's family in itself produce an interesting study, although you do wonder how Elizabth's sensibility, Jane's niceness and Mary's intellect developed with such a silly mother and disinterested father.

I'm now tempted to dig out the BBC boxset and indulge over the next week or so, plus Mr Darcy coming out the river is a great way of banishing the blues caused by our miserable weather!

Short Story Sunday and a Novella

2011-01-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

Last year I barely read any short stories, like poetry and plays short stories are something I love but they tend to get abandoned in the crush of big old novels.
I'm aiming to read more, and hopefully post each Sunday about one. There did use to be a Short Story Sunday feature but I can't find anything up to date so I'll just keep myself company.

'The Daughters of the Late Colonel' by Katherine Mansfield
The death of their dictatorial father leaves Josephine and Constatine lost and bewildered. Not from sadness, but from merely knowing what to do. Every adecision they need to make, every action they take is laboured with fear of the father. Would he approve? Will he hate them?
Motherless and unmarried the girls have been ruled by a tyrannical father and maid, friendless and unworldly the young women are orphaned in a world which they barely know.

I really enjoyed this short story, I wanted to shake the girls and give them some bravery and strength.

'Anthem' by Ayn RandLast night I managed to knock a novella off the tbr pile, and one perfect for the dystopia challenge.

Anthem is set in a world in which children are brought up in a centre rather than with their families, taught only the basics at school and then assigned a work placement for life. The main characters in this novella discover an unknown place, a place linked to the time before. They sneak to this place as often as possible, discovering not just the thrill of doing what is not allowed but also the thrill of knowledge and discovery. For the first time they are able to think for themselves - just so long as no one finds out.
Written in first person in a series of reflective journal entries we gradually see the constraints of the society, as well as the things that are gradually being learnt, things we take for granted.

Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

2011-01-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

First up Happy New Year, hopefully this one will bring love, happiness and laughter for everyone. Having gone to bed at 10.30 last night (damn cough was just too annoying!) I had a clear head and plenty of time to read today.

Surfacing kicks off my attempt to tackle more of the 1001 list this year. Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' is one of two books that sent me to university to study literature, I've since then read and loved about 6 of her books. This one I've been avoiding as I'd heard it had bad reviews, but it was sent to me so I thought I should really give it ago.

The main character (who I think remains nameless - I sure can't remember her name and have scanned and can't find it), travels with her new boyfriend and two new friends back to northern Quebec, in search of her missing father. She grew up on a tiny island inhabited by just her family, now on the island she must search for clues of her father.
The novel sounds like it'll be full of clues and answers but in reality the trip home is for her a way to find herself. Her friends are shallow and the boyfriend quiet, all they add to the trip is a mode of transport and people to be amused.

For me I never felt like I could connect to any of the characters, the main character is pretty emotionless through most of the novel, she never seems interested in finding her father, and the novel is more of a description of the things they do to fill the day. Then all of a sudden there is this bizarre ending, which just left me wondering what was going on.

July's People by Nadine Gordimer

2010-12-31T03:40:00.000-08:00

My last 1001 book for the year! I was aiming for 30 this year and I just managed it.

July's People is set in South Africa at the time of the black uprising, white families houses were being destroyed, parts of the cities were bombed and many were killed. This novel tells the tale of the servant July's plight to save the white family he has worked for. He transports them to his home village were they take up residence in one of the mud huts. The focus of the story is on how this family, both parents and young children cope living in a traditional village, living without the conveiniences of a fridge, television and society life.

I enjoyed looking at this glimpse of a white family in a different setting - often novels focus on the servants reaction to the big city. However, I would have prefered to see more of the African's ways of life, they form a background rather than a character, even July of the title only comes and goes. My biggest gripe, and something many books annoy me with, is the writing of the children. Their speach and actions were way too old for the ages they were meant to be. A baby asking eloquently whether he can go to the ciniema, a three year old who communicates in full sentences and can be suspected of having stolen a car!

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson

2010-12-29T12:56:00.000-08:00

Years ago I read Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and loved it and did something that I used to do which was go by a selection of books by that author. I think I brought four books I now on the third - its no wonder mount tbr is so big!

Sexing the Cherry is a fantastical novel. It starts with the discovery of a child, Jordan, abandoned in the Thames in the 17th century, he is discovered by and brought up by a giant of a woman. Early in his life he sees the first banana brought to the shores of Britain, from then on he journeys the real world and the unreal worlds of him mind.

This novel is a complete work of fantasy, times and worlds change, weightless dancing girls, worlds which don't understand gravity and meetings with the king. I loved it this time around but when I attempted to read it a few years back I quickly gave up, certainly the type of book you have to be in the right frame of mind for.

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

2010-12-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

A good 6 months ago my Mum handed me this book and told me that I would love it, it duly sat in my tbr pile waiting for me to get to it, and as I was home for Christmas I thoght I'd give it a shot.
The book tells the tale of two Mormon wives both trapped in polygamous marriages but split across a 100 year time divide. The earlier wife's tale is told through a story and extracts from her biography, letters and diary entries of the time and someones Masters thesis. She was the first wife to go public to the rest of America and reveal how the lives of these women were ruled.
The story set in modern times is actually told through looking at her gay son who has been rejected from the faith and by her many years before. She is suddenly arrested for the murder of her husband and he goes back to his old home to try and discover the truth.

My mum loved this, I thought it was okay. The story of the earlier wife was more credible, but because of the various sources I felt it would have woked better on its own as a single novel. While the second story would belong more to the trashy novel type of book - the story was okay, but a little to easy for him to solve, and way too many coincidences.

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

2010-12-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

8 years ago I was meant to do a university module on post-colonial literature focusing on immigration/emigration, this was on the reading list, I got put in a post-colonial literature class but not the one I'd applies for. This book has stayed on my mental tbr list for all that time and today I finally got to it.

The Lonely Londoners focuses on a group of immigrants from Trinidad, who arrive in dank foggy London just after the war (why is London always foggy in books? I've been there loads of times and never recall it being foggy). Mainly young men, this novel looks at the lives that they create for themselves, in a country that once wanted them but quickly turned its back on them.

The writing is vernacular, which I know some people struggle with, but I quickly found a nice voice in my head so it didn't hinder the speed I read in. Focusing on a small group of men the story focused a lot on their white girlfriends and the way that the men all swindle each other and others around them for money. The strangest part featured a 4 page, no punctuation account of these black men being paid to sleep with white prostitues so white men could watch - this seemed very out of place in style, and I just wanted them to get angry, rather than see it as a free 'treat'.
The style of the novel shows a way of life, but never goes beneath the surface and really shows you how the characters felt about their treatment. Having said that I enjoyed it, but thought that 120 odd pages was enough - no story, character stood out to keep the novel moving for much longer.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

2010-12-20T14:17:00.001-08:00

I think I've found a new favourite author. After I had read We Have Always Lived at the Castle I knew that I wanted to read more of this author who I previously hadn't heard of. This was the next book that the library had available.

The Haunting of House Hill follows four people brought together to stay in a haunted house. Previous residents have all fled after just a few days declaring business elsewhere that has made them abandon the house, but never declaring that they were scared. The main character Eleanor, a lonely woman who had previously spent all her life nursing her sick mother feels the full force of the haunting.

The book grabbed me from its very beginning, the oddly angled house, the odd way that the characters interact with one another and the mystery of what it is that possesses the house ring out from the pages. It is scary, but I never was scared when reading it. I found it strange rather than scary, perplexing. Apparently this book is the basis for two films both called The Haunting, neither of which I've seen I'd like to know how they portray the characters when much of the book is pschological fear.

Chelmsford Cathedral

2010-12-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

As I walked past the cathedral today I snapped a few pictures on my phone - new camera for Christmas, I can't wait! I will go back with a decent camera to photograph some of the detail. My favourite is the tree.

TSS: Green Angel by Alice Hoffman

2010-12-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

I've been hibernating and generally wasting the day today - damn my lack of motivation! However I did manage to read this wonderful novella. Way back Darren from Bart's Bookshelf reviewed this book and straight away I reserved it in the library, and it finally came in!

The novella starts:

I once believed that life was a gift. I thought whatever I wanted I would someday possess. Is that greed, or only youth? Is it hope or stupidity?

What a beautiful way to start the story. Green is a timid teenager living with her family at the edge of the wood. She is left one day when they go off to the city and never come back after a big fire - we are told very little of this fire, the few bits we do get sound a little like 9/11 but the setting and time is wrong.
Left along with her grief Green stops caring about her looks, shrouds herself with thorns and nails and black tattoos to cover herself.

I can't tell you much more without ruining the story except you should go read this book. The language and imagery is beautiful with a fairytale feel. The book is marketed as YA, but I would say its for anyone who appreciates beautiful language.
I wanted to buy a copy for my sisters birthday but can only find second hand copies available, although I may buy one anyway and explain why. There is a follow up to this novella which was released this year and its already been added to my wishlit.

More than just a wonderful story the presentation is gorgeous, as well as the gorgeous cover abover, the chapter openings are a gorgeous shade of moss green and illustrated. Page breaks have three teeny delicate leaves.

Even the publishing details are laid out like a stem.

Exodus by Julie Bertagna

2010-12-18T12:35:00.000-08:00

Day one of the holidays and book one down! I'm trying to finish all my library books before the TBR Dare starts. England is bitterly cold and once more covered in beautiful white snow which fell very quickly - bot sure my brother would agree though is he is stuck in his car on the way home from shopping, typical England!
Back to the book...

Once upon a time there was a world...
... a world full of miracles. From the whirl of the tiniest particles to its spinning orbit in the unthinkable vastness of space, this world danced with miraculous life. Ur, the first people called their beautiful world, and the sound of that early name would carry down all the years, until aeons of time and tongues ripened Ur into Earth.
The people feasted upon their ripe world. Endlessly they harvested its lands and seas. They grew greedy, ravaging the planets bounty of miracles. Their waste and destruction spread like a plague until a day came when this plague struck at the very heart of the miraculous dance. And the people saw too late, their savage desolation of the world.

As you can see above this novel starts off full of beautiful language and images, well crafted, but also a warning to us all. Exodus is a novel about Mara a young girl who lives on the island of Wing. As the polar ice caps have slowly melted the world has been taken over by the sea. Unsure whether they are the last island on earth the inhabitants of Wing battle for survival against the elements.
Playing a computer game Mara meets an unexpected person amongst the ghosts on the internet and discovers that a New World exists, a city built above the sea, anchored to fend off the elements.
Mara convinces the inhabitants of her island to set off in search of this new land, in search of a new life.

This book started off really well for me, but then 10 pages in I nearly gave up when the computer game suddenly appeared. Luckily it lasted only a few pages and the novel was back on track, although it still took a good 50 pages for it to grab my interest again. I'm glad I continued as I loved some of the characters and the various communities that we meet in this novel.
I thought that the book may be preachy, but the message was far more about fighting for change in the new world, rather than the faults of the past. If you enjoyed The Pretties, The Knife of Never Letting Go (and who couldn't, that was an amazing trilogy) and The Giver this is a novel you should definitely check out.
I saw this novel in an In My Mailbox post over at Fluttering Butterfly, and I'm glad that I noted it down and checked it out of the library.

Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates

2010-12-17T12:13:00.000-08:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted as I've been busy tackling this book, traffic and work.

“There came Death hurtling along the Boulevard in waning sepia light.
There came Death flying as in a children’s cartoon on a heavy unadorned messenger’s bicycle.
There came Death unerring. Death not to be dissuaded. Death-in-a-hurry. Death furiously peddling. Death carrying a package marked *Special Delivery Handle with Care* in a sturdy wire basket behind his seat.
There came Death expertly threading his graceless bicycle through traffic at the intersection of Wiltshire and La Brea where, because of street repair, two westbound Wiltshire lanes were funnelled into one.
Death so swift!

How can you resist a book with a start like this? Blonde is the fictionalised story of Marilyn Monroe's life, from birth to death. Oates stipulates very clearly at the beginning of the book that several areas haven't been written about whilst others have been moulded to fit her version of events, but its certainly left me wanting to read a biography of the star now.
As a child Marilyn is abandoned by her busy mother and left to be cared for by older relatives, it soon becomes clear that the mother's behaviour shows signs of mental instability. Soon Norma Jeane (her real name) is left to live with her mother in a small apartment. She has to deal with her mothers drinking which several times nearly led to the bed they shared being burnt down. Alongside many other issues, such as men, obsessions, neglect etc until her mother finally tries to burn her in a scolding bath. Her mother is sent to a hospital whilst Norma Jeane enters an orphanage.
We then watch Norma Jeane pass through school, foster parents, an early marriage, modelling, divorce and finally becoming Marilyn. And so continues with the rest of her life, the high profile marriages and relationships, the battle with drugs, stage fright and the need to be loved.
The varied narrative styles all form to create the picture of Marilyn as a lost soul, a shy child desperate to be loved who relies heavily on her body in an attempt to gain the love and affection she so desperately wants. Oates weaves a fantastic but dense tale, never creating a Marilyn who is easy to pigeon hole, feel sorry for or love. Her version is a woman that doesn't know herself, so we are left with the numerous versions that she plays out.

The 1001 Books to Read Before You Die Challenge

2010-12-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

Now, although this is a new challenge and I'm signing up I'm not counting it in my alloted challenges because each year I try to read 30 books of the 1001 list, and participate with a group of readers over at bookcrossing who do something similar (in fact some of them aim for 50 or 100 books from the list a year!) But I saw that the 1001 challenge was being hosted at Pub Writes and signed up as I'm hoping other readers reviews will push me towards some of the books on the list I'm not aware of.
The challenge over on this blog is to have read between 5-16 books, I'm aiming for 40 as that is a doable amount, and making it harder I'm trying to spread my reading across the centuries. Here is a list I'd like to work through, those in bold I own.
21st century
1. The Red Queen, Margaret Drabble
2. Youth, J.M Coetzee
3. Adjunct: An Undigest, Peter Manson
4. Soldiers of Salamis, Javier Cercas
5. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery
20th Century
6. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
7. Great Apes, Will Self
8. Cocaine Nights, JG Ballard
9. Written on the Body, Jenette Winterson
10. Jazz, Toni Morrison
11. Wild Swans, Jung Chang
12. Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord, Louis de Bernieres
13. A Disaffection, James Kelman
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
15. The Swimming Pool Diary, Alan Hollinghurst
16. Nervous Conditions, Tsisti Dangarmbga
17. Shindlers Ark, Thomas Keanally
18. The Sea, The Sea, Iris Murdoch
19. Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
20. Do Androids Dream of Sheep, Phillip K. Dick
21. The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
22. Arrow of God, Chinua Achebe
23. The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa
24. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
25. A Kingdom of this World, Alejo Carpentier
26. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
27. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
28. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
29. Orlando, Virginia Woolf
30. Amerika, Franz Kafka
31. The Forsythe Saga, John Galsworthy
32. Gabriella, Clove, Cinnamon, Jorge Amado
19th Century
33. Hunger, Knat Hamsum
34. The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky
35. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
35. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
36. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
18th Century +
37. Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe
38. Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
39. Don Quixote, Migel da Cervantes Saavedra
40. Metamorphoses, Ovid
41, Aesop's Fables, Aesopus
42. The Tale of Genjii, Mueraski Shikibu
43. The Thousand and One Nights
44. Ooronoko, Aphra Behn

As you can see it is an ambiyios list but if managed I would lighten up a good few book shelves, as most of these books would be sent out through book crossing to find other readers.

The TBR Dare

2010-12-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

C.B James has come up with a great idea, not a challenge but a dare to only read those books from mount tbr for a fixed duration of time. Here's what he says:

This is not a reading challenge. It's a dare.

I dare you to pledge you will read only the books in your TBR (To Be Read) stack for as long as you dare starting January 1, 2011.

One hour, one day, one book, one week, one month, or until the dare ends on April 1. (I never make open-ended New Year's Resolutions. Every goal should have a end date.)

There is a blog here with fuller details.

I reckon I could be strong enough to last out till April 1st if I can include bookrings that I'm already signed up to, as they are on my tbr pile just currently living at someones house. The hardest thing for me will be not reading library books, rather than not buying books.
But rather than setting a date I'm going to pledge to read 25 books from mount tbr, as this gives me a nice aim. Some of the books I'd like to tackle are listed below, I'm not writing a definitive list as I have Christmas and a *horrible* bithday arriving before the end of the year.
Recommendations from this list are welcome.
1. Greene, The Human Factor
2. Pamuk, My Name is Red
3. Coupland, Girlfriend in a Coma
4. Gaskell, North and South
5. Elliot, Adam Bede
6. Murakami, Wild Sheep Chase
7. Kafka, The Trial
8. Do Androids Dream of Sheep
9. Rynd, Anthem
10. Tomorrow: When the War Began
11. All Quiet on the Westen Front
12. Gilead
13. 39 Steps
14. Howards End
15. Driving Over Lemons
16. Krakatoa
17. Allende,Zorro
18. Murakami, Hard Boiled Wonderland
19. Faulks, Heart Song
20. Maidenhome

5 reasons why I .....BookCross

2010-12-05T06:26:00.000-08:00

As you can see from yesterdays post I won't be finishing a book for a while so I thought I'd go for a different type of post.

I joined Bookcrossing in 2007 and have loved and participated in it ever since religiously. I thought I'd give a quick 5 reasons why I bookcross for anyone who has ever considered participating.

1. I'm a romantic - I love the idea of my books travelling person to person across the globe.
2. Bookrings - a bookring is when when one book gets passed from person to person, each person makes a jounal entry about their thoughts on the book. These allow me to here other readers views, and to try books very cheaply (I sent two bookrings onto the next person yesterday, costing me less than the price of my Burger King meal).
3. Chelmsford Bookcrossing Meet-Up - I've meet fellow book readers in the local area who I would never have met, although these women are vastly different from me in age - I'm the youngest by a good 15 years - its great to meet up with people who have a similar reading taste to you, and also just to have a chat with a different bunch of people once a month.
4. RABCKs/Random Acts of Bookcrossing Kindness - these are books that people send to you without expecting anything in return. Sometimes you've been offered a book off of your wishlist, requested a book or just arrive home to find a mysterious parcel with a book a fellow bookcrosser thinks you'll enjoy - either way getting a parcel is lovely, and opens up a new world of books.
5. Wildreleasing - wild releasing is when you leave books in public places for strangers to find. I've left many books that I've never heard back from - yes they may now be in a dustbin, but I hope they are in someones home. Some of the books I have left have been found read and then wild released. The strange thing is hearing where the person found the book as its often no where near where you left it. My most random discovery was a book left in London, found about 5 miles away on top of one of those short lamp posts, the lady then went and left it in Spain.

Yes its not for everyone, and actually many people choose not to use bookrings ect because of their personal preferences - I personally prefer to bookring or RABCK my book as I know they'll be going to a reader - but this is a great way to recycle books, keep your bookshelves lighter, and share your favourite reads.

On a female kick

2010-12-04T08:44:00.000-08:00

I keep starting new books, one book leading me to the next, before having finished anything! I went looking for a book for a Celebrating the Female Bookswop which I orgainised over at bookcrossing, but rather than just finding one to read and then post on I've managed to start three, and two of them non-fiction.
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates a fictionalisation of Marilyn Monroe's life, I'm about 50 pages in and really enjoying it, though my edition is off putting - the book is super bending and super shiney and as large as a paperback so not all that easy to keep hold of, especially as my hands are all achey at the mo. Having to prop the book up with a cushion on my lap.
The Duchess by Amanda Foreman This is a biography of the Duchess of Devonshire, whose story was palyed out in a film by Kira Knightly a few years ago. I enjoyed the film and I'm enjoying the book, which at the moment is largely centred around her involvement in British politics and the medias damnation of her (nice to know the English press has always been so awful!)
And finally Anything but ordinary: The Nine Lives of Cecile by Cecile Dorward and Ron Davidson an autobiography that I am loving. I'm about 100 pages in, at the moment I'm reading about her marriage, but know that when her husband died she set off travelling the world despite being 60+, I'm really looking forward to those sections.

Other than reading I'm staying indoors hiding from the weather (a trip to the postoffice and library took 4 hours earlier, should have taken 2 as I was walking but the paths were slippy as could be), which is thawing out, and thus horrid and slushy. Cooking sausage caserole and having mulled fruit pie and custard with a friend, whilst we act as if we are way older than we are and stay in watching Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor - no wonder we're both single!

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

2010-12-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

Being cooped up all day and feeling a bit restless I knew that if I was going to read it needed to be something light, and immediate. No lingering descriptions, social comments etc, so a YA book it was.
Shiver was sent to me last year by a fellow bookcrosser, I'd been looking out for the book at the time, but then I read lots of mixed reviews and its position on the tbr pile lowered. I'm glad that I finally got around to it.
Shiver, in the same vain as Twilight, has an ordinary, if slightly (apparently) shy and isolated teenage girl as a lead character, and a mythical (in this case a werewolf) love interest. As in Twilight the boyfriend should be a killer, a threat to the humans, yet he hates harm to humans and killing anything bigger than a rabbit distresses him. The couple have had a fascination with each other for years as the girl watches the wolf who once saved her from an attack, then they finally meet and their lives become entangled.
Yes, the story has that same intense teenage love to it that Twilight has, it has its sequels and you can kind of guess the outcome of the end of the novel way ahead of time, but it hit the right spots. The alternating narration, the inclusion of beautiful poetry by Rilke and the gorgeous coverwork all work in its favour, as does a plotline than moves along at a nice pace.
I will seek out the next book in the series, although not for a while yet. Was good to read some YA fiction, its been a while.

Snow Day Reading

2010-12-02T02:15:00.000-08:00

I'm now on my third day off of school due to the snow, and as it is still snowing fairly hard I think I may be off again tomorrow! TYpical England! I'm liking being on and loving the snow but wish it would brighten up a little so I could get some decent pictures, the light is poor so the few picures I took turned out boring.
I've used my time to create a scrapbooking page - something I haven't done in ages, waste tons of time on the net and two read two books.

The Celestial Omnibus by E.M Forster which I thought was a novella, but then discovered was a collection of short stories, so not applicable for the novella challenge. I dipped in and out of the collection this morning and have to say that out of the 6 stories I loved four of them, gave up on one and skimmed through the last.
The stories all feature mystical worlds or happenings, with a heavenly feel to them. 'The Other Side of the Hedge' is a lovely little story about the race that life is and its end. My other favourite was 'The Celestial Omnibus' about a young boy with horrid parents who travels on a magiacal omnibus up to a world filled with authors and characters from novels, poems and mythology.

I also sat down and read 'The Magician's Nephew' by C.S Lewis which will be able to count for the November (I'm a few days late) Novella Challenge. I have the Chronicles of Narnia in one big book, and I'm hoping to tackle one story a week, and then move on to other children's classics that I somehow missed.
I have read this before and enjoyed it just as much this time. I love the idea of the yellow and green rings, the world of Narnia and when the animals plant the Uncle thinking he is a tree.

I've been told I'm expected to complete work at home today, so I should really tackle the stack of homework sat on the stairs. I'm also planing on reading Shiver by Maggie Stievater a book that I saw reviewed on lots of blogs last year, the wintery weather certainly feels like the perfect time for a wolf novel.

My resolve is weakening...

2010-11-30T23:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, last month I said that I would only join in in three challenges at a time but then I saw the Caribbean Writers Challenge here and my resolution went out of the window.
I read several Caribbean books last year and loved them, so this is a chance to discover some new authors. And, making myself feel better, in my 11 in 11 challenge there is a Carribean section so I would be reading books from these islands a day - this challenge is simply broadening my reading habits.

The Goal: To read either 1 Caribbean book a month (totaling 12) or 1 Caribbean novel every other month (totaling 6) between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. There is a mix of novels and fiction as well as collections of short stories and poetry so if you are not particularly enthused about any of these I would suggest the 6 books, that way you can read all the novels.

The Books:
January: The Duppy – Anthony C. Winkler (Novel) READ
February: The Journey to Le Repentir – Mark McWatt (Collection of poems that follow a story)
March: The Dragon Can’t Dance – Earl Lovelace (Novel)
April: Tiepolo’s Hound – Derek Walcott (Poems)
May: A Morning at the Office – Edgar Mittelholzer (Novel)
June: Limestone: An Epic Poem of Barbados – Anthony Kellman (Series of poems)
July: He Drown She in the Sea – Shani Mootoo (Novel)
August: The Mimic Men – V.S.Naipaul (Poetry)
September: Tide Running – Oonya Kempadoo (Novel)
October: The Polished Hoe – Austin Clarke (Novel)
November: Suspended Sentences – Mark McWatt (Short stories that make up a novel, this is up for debate)
December: Still choosing but open to suggestions! (Will be poetry of some kind)

I'm only signing up to read 6 at the moment, one because I'm trying not to buy many books so this will rely on whats available in the library or how cheap I can get them on amazon.
The Challenge has changed slightly and we can now read any Carribean lit that we are interested in, I will be using the above list as a guide but also relying on what I have to hand or available in the public library.

Madame Bovary

2010-11-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

I woke us this morning to a world covered in gorgeous white snow, and being a teacher and living in a country where snow causes massive panic as it happens rarely we were given the day off, and as it's snowed all day we also get tomorrow off :) I finished Madame Bovary and went to see Harry Potter, now just waiting for my legs and butt to thaw out after a 2 mile walk home from town.

Madame Bovary is a reread, something I do rarely, as I'm reading it as part of a book group that may or may not meet Thursday, weather permitting. I read this many years ago, I think way back when I was in university and had little memory of it so it was like reading a new book.
For those of you who haven't read it Madame Bovary is Emma, a young, fairly poor but beautiful girl who jumps at the chance to marry an older, unattractive doctor. Whilst he adores her as a possession, she merely puts up with him for the position he offers her in society. Over the course of the book she falls in 'love' with a series of men. These men vary in social position, from a prince regent, to a trainee lawyer to a rich local man. The men form for her an obsession, a way to escape from the monotony of every day life and the desire to feel wanted. Just as she is a possession for her husband, these men are a possession for her, something to cling to, look forward to and satisfy a small part of an unsatifying life.
Alongside her various relationships she also accumulates vast debts through her desire to have the latest clothes, objects and furniture, like the men she thinks these goods will make her happy.
Emma is a character that you are meant to dislike, we watch her downfall, gradually watching her sink further and further into her own problems, the main attraction is just how and if she can get herself from her self made problems. I'm not sure if we are meant to feel sympathy for her or her husband, I found them both shallow and dislikeable.
I'm sure the book will spark many discussion points

Three Reviews

2010-11-28T03:58:00.000-08:00

I have a new laptop and internet connection! Yay! I can now keep up with blogging, bloggers and all the other stuff that we rely on on the web.
Now a quick confession - I won't be able to finish the November Novella challenge on time, I have a couple more books to read, but won't have time to finish them this week as I have a bookgroup read that I have to finish as its the first book we're reading in a new group. However I hope to be finished the novellas by next week.

Now, I've finished three books in the last week so I'm going to do a quick round up of all three here then I'll be up-to-date with my blogging.

The Return of the Water Spirit by Pepetela

This teeny book (100 pages) from the African Writers series is rich in political, social and spiritual comment.Carmina and Jaoa live a spiritless life, shunned by his parents for their lack of religion she strives for power and money in the world of politics and trading. While he stays home playing Civilization on his computer. Around them the world is falling down, buildings collapse one-by-one, despite housing so many people the buildings drift to the ground, the people in them unharmed. A local girl, living close to a lagoon which has formed in the area, hears a deep music which gains in happiness and momentum as more buildings fall.
A good little read, although the symbols and infered meaning are very obvious and not skillfully placed.

A Man Without a Country - Kurt Vonnegut
For the 11 in 11 challenge over at library thing one of my sections to select books from is about reading more of authors that you have enjoyed previously and need to rediscover. I saw this memoir in the library and grabbed it as my first read from this section, I will probably read another Vonnegut fiction in the next year, but it was good to read something from the author.
Written in 2004 Vonnegut gives us his views on the world around him in a series of short commentaries. He writes about eveything from the First and Second World Wars to modern technology to George W Bush. He mangagrs to make many good, serious points whilst still keeping a light and readable tone.
My favourite part was when he explained why life should be enjoyed by 'farting about', taking long trips to buy a single envelope and then a single stamp for the pleasure of the trip and the conversations around you.

The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud
Inspired by Vivienne's post I grabbed this from the library, and then wallowed in it all of last Sunday, when I curled up with it and a blanket.
Charlie at 15 caused the death of his brother Sam, in his final moments he promised his brother that he wouldn't leave him and never has. Meeting every evening, the pair play catch and live in the moment before their lives were taken away.
Everything changes when one day the beautiful Tess arrives in the graveyard and Charlie has to decide between living in the past or moving on.
Yes, it's corny. Yes, you've read books like it before. And, yes you can guess the ending just from what I've written above. But it's like a blanket, something to snuggle up with on a lazy, grey Sunday afternoon.
This also counts as an 11 in 11 challenge book as one of my categories is reads inspied by others.

A post of possibilities

2010-11-21T04:45:00.000-08:00

Having had a rather bad reading week I was wondering what to post this week. Yesterday I finished Hannah Tinti's The Good Thief, which was full of potential but never grabbed me in the slightest and forced myself to read The Castle of Otranto -afterall it is just 115 pages long (and a book I said I'd read for the November Novella Challenge) - I struggled through the stupidly long (3 pages) paragraphs and chance happenings in despair. Thankfully this morning things are looking up: I started and feasted on the first 100 pages of The Life and Death of Charlie St. Cloud and I saw all the new challenges posted over at A Novel Challenge.
Now my rule for next year was no more than three challenges at a time, and many of these look so tempting! I have already signed up for The Dysopian Challenge, and the 11 in 11 challenge over on Librarything, so I'm going to pick one and just keep a note here of all the ones which seem appealing and which I could manage within my tbr stacks. This way I have a place to refer back to when I've ticked a challenge off the list.

Challenges I'm interested in:
Quirky Brown Reading Challenge
South Asian Author Challenge
Victorian Challenge
YA Historical Fiction
Read a Myth
Nordic Challenge
Person of Colour Reading Challenge
Eastern European Reading ChallengeShared/Suggested/Read-a-long reads (I may participate or just use these as potential finds):
The 2011 Wolves Reading Event Who are reading from this schedule:
January (EL Fay): The Bread Givers, by Anzia Yezierska
February (Emily): Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben
March (Richard): Conversation in the Cathedral, by Mario Vargas Llosa
April (Sarah): The Dodecahedron, or Frames for a Frame, by Paul Glennon
May (Frances): What Ever Happened to Modernism?, by Gabriel Josipovici
June (Claire): The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz
July (EL Fay): Snow, by Orhan Pamuk
August (Frances): The End of the Story, by Lydia Davis
September (Richard): The Memoirs of Hadrian, by Marguerite Yourcenar
October (Sarah): House of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski
November (Emily): The Planetarium, by Nathalie Sarraute
December (Claire): Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather, by Xingjian Gao

A year of Feminist Classics Reading Project who will be reading:
January: A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollestonecraft - Amy
February: The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill - Ana
March: A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen - Emily
April: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Iris
May: A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf - Ana
June: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan OR The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer – Amy
July: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir - Iris
August: The Women’s Room by Marilyn French - Emily
September: The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf - Amy
October: Ain’t I a Woman? by bell hooks - Iris
November: Gender Trouble by Judith Butler - Ana
December: Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde - Emily

The Challenge I'm starting the year with:
Back to the classics, I choose this one because as soon as I saw that you had to read one book for each of the following:
A Banned Book
A Book with a Wartime Setting (can be any war)
A Pulitzer Prize (Fiction) Winner or Runner Up: a list can be found here
A Children's/Young Adult Classic
19th Century Classic
20th Century Classic
A Book you think should be considered a 21st Century Classic
Re-Read a book from your High School/College Classes

My mind raced to think of the books I have on the tbr pile that could be used to complete this challenge.

I'm sure that these lists will grow and grow as they usually do in the lead up to the end of the year. I like the idea of joining in with one of the lower levels of participation 3-4 books and having a themed month of reading but also being able to weed those books out of the bookstacks that wouldn't have got a look in otherwise.

Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates

2010-11-16T04:47:00.000-08:00

I had see and quite enjoyed this movie a couple of years ago so when I was offered the book I thought ‘why not’. For those who haven’t seen the film he story is set in 1950s Connecticut amongst the new pastel box houses and pastel box cars. Frank and April Wheeler, the ideal American family on the surface live, look down on this cereal box style society. Beneath their idealism lies deceit, past regrets, emotional imbalance, unfaithfulness, hate, hurt and love.
Sounds like a fairly typical read but Yates style struck me almost like that of a voice over on a nature show. There was a stylised distance so that you felt like you watching this couple from both afar and at an intimate level.
Neither character is appealing, in fact every character –even the kids – are unappealing, annoying and stereotypes. He spends too long focused on how others see him, trying to appear laidback and like he’s just passing time till something better comes along. She, an emotional childish wreck, taken to telling her husband that she hates him, blames everything on her childhood. I’m looking forward to reading more of Yates.
Have any of you read his works? Do you like reading novels of films you have seen?

Novella Challenge Reads

2010-11-16T04:32:00.000-08:00

I managed to tick off three of my novella reads last week, here are all three reviews in one post to save numeous posts.

The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Epics)
The third millennium BC story was found carved into stone and is believed to be one of the oldest surviving epic poems.
Written in prose style it tells the story of Gilgamesh a man born so strong his town sought out a companion for him to equal him in strength. When Uruk is discovered the battle against the threats to the town, including a mighty dragon, are undertaken.
At Uruk’s death Gilgamesh becomes afraid of death and goes in search of everlasting life. His journey into death is beautifully told employing the repetition of the ballad form. A good way to spend an hour’s reading time.

The Last Will and Testament if Senhor da Silva Araujo – Germano Almeida
Last year I was trying to focus on reading my way around the world (I didn’t get far) and went in search of a book from Cape Verde as I wanted to read about parts of Africa I knew little of. This was the only novel that I could find that had been translated into English.
Araujo leaves behind a 384 page will which reveals that he isn’t the quiet retiring man that everyone thought he was. With an illegitimate child, numerous love affairs and his transgression from poverty to wealth his life is gradually revealed. This was an interesting way to tell the story of a man’s life. You get his accounts, left only to be read once he is dead, and the accounts of those that experienced these events with him – remembering the story from a completely different perspective.

Do you have any recommendations for the smaller or less translated African states?

We Always Lived at the Castle
This read was inspired by Chris' post here, and I loved this book just as I've enjoyed many of the books he's reviewed.
Merricat and Constance are the gossip of the village after their parents and young brother are poisoned at home with arsenic in the sugar. Costance, in charge of the cooking was tried and aquited for murder. Since they returned to their old house they have been shunned, gossiped about and watched by those who used to look up to this wealthy family.
The tale is mainly based in the castle and shows the sisters loving relationship, the tasks they do to keep the home and Merricat's the younger sisters adventures. Life changes when Cousin Charles, a man with ulterior motives, comes to stay. He plays nice to Constance but picks out the rebellious younger sister.
It soon becomes clear who the murderer was and that Charles stay at the house is not welcome.
I really enjoyed this book and will certainly be looking out for my own copy and more of Shirley Jackson's work. A big recommendation for anyone completing the novella challenge

2666 - Roberto Bolano

2010-11-14T05:39:00.000-08:00

Roberto Bolano died before the publication of this book, his last wish was that this book waaas published as 5 separate books, hopefully providing money for his children - his publishers decided that it was best to publis this all as one volume.
I'm going to talk about each section separately as in some cases their is little link between the sections.
The Part About the Critics
Four critics from different parts of Europe separately stumble upon the work of a little known author Archimaboldi, three of them work to translate his works into thier own language , and set out writing about his works. Their attention moves this little known author into a recongnisable laterary name.
This section is about their relationship with each other (three men and one woman = an inevitable literary love triangle); their search for the author who seems invisible and their interest in the painter Elliot Johns who chopped off his own hand in the name of art.
The short sections (2/3 of a page) give us glimpses of events over the years culminating in a trip to Chile on a tip off that the author is there.

The Part about Amalfitano
This teeny section is only 60 pages in length and focuses on the life of the Latin American professor that the four critics o0f the earlier section met on their trip to Chile.
His life is shown to us through snapshot moments, interspersed with accounts of letters from his wife that she sent to him after she left (she fell in love with a poet she'd never met and went in search of him). We also have Amilfatino's explaanation of why he has a work of geometry hanging from his washing line.
These sections, especially thouse accounting his wife's travels and explorations are longer but start to feature some of the magic realism Latin American fiction is famous for.

The Part about Fate
Oscar Fate is a New York reporter having aa bad week, first his mother dies then he is sent to interview a boxer-turned writer-turned preacher. Then off to Mexica to report on a boxing match which ends up with him mixed up in the Mexican underworld. This section features the daughter of the professor from the previous section. The focus has moved from literature to philosophy and now to crime.

The Part about the Crimes.
A huge section focused on a police investigation (lack of investigation) into the numerous murders and serial killing of women in a town in Mexico.
A large number of female killings are dealt with - after about the 50th grisly and graphic descriptions I ended up skipping these. The rest of the section is focused on some of the police, criminals, and a psychic lady who believes she can see the murders.
This section was far too long and tedious. Thankfully the next section saved the book.

The Part about Archimbaldi
This section starts with a young boy desparate to live at the bottom of the sea and follows him through his many jobs, life in the army, his love for a mad girl abd finally his transformation into Benno von Archibaldi - the author searched for in the first section. We learn why he is an enigma.

As a whole I enjoyed this book although this fourth section really let it down. Each section had some link to a previous section, but like other books like this I really wanted to go back and discover the rest of the srtory of some of the characters - a mamouth feast.

Buenas Noches, Buenos Aires - Gilbert ADAIR

2010-11-06T04:24:00.000-07:00

This is my first read for the Novella Challenge, and was a nice break from reading the monsterous 2666.
With a pink flower, and pair of succulent lips on the front cover I certainly ended up with a story I wasn't expecting (I brought this for about 20p when Borders shut down - probably never reading the synopsis).
Gideon moves from Britain to France seeking a place to be free and find himself. An awkward soul , his homosexuality is hard to accept and experiment with. He begins work in a language school where he gets to know lots of gay men and is introduced into the gay community, but his desires seem only that until the Aids epedemic breaks out.
This novella would have been great for the GLBT challenge. Gideon's feelings, reactions and desires spill out of the page in this memoir style novel, leaving the reader unsure how to take his final claim. Certainly not a book for everyone, but a brave book to have written.

Challenges

2010-10-25T04:18:00.000-07:00

I've been away for a long long time, my home computer died and life got complicated. I'm still computerless at home but can use the internet at work or in the public library. I'm really missing some aspects of blogging and the blogging world so trying to come back into it, even if only on a limited basis. I'm whittling down my googlereader to just a handful of blogs, and joining a few challenges.

I'm trying to spend the next year attacking the TBR pile - which is my biggest challenge as there are 450 unread books on it (I know as I counted and listed them all to shame myself). I'm going to limit myself to 2 challenges at a time, and the majority of the books I read for that challenge must come from the TBR pile or be books that I've always meant to read. This also means that I will have more time to comment and visit other bloggers following the same challenge. Any old challenges that I was signed up for I have abandoned, as all my lists were saved on the computer, which I couldn't access.

Challenges I'm participating in
The Novella Challenge (Nov 1st - Nov 30th)

This challenge will be a great way to tackle the TBR stacks, I've chosen level 3 which is to read 8 novellas. These are all from my TBR pile:
A Wilshire Diary
The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araujo
The Epic of Gigamesh
Buenas Noches, Buenos Aires
Iron, Nickel, Potasium
The Celestial Omnibus
The Castle of Otranto
Tirra Lirra by the River

Dystopia Challenge (Jan - Dec 2011)
I love this genre and have enjoyed many dystopian novels in the past, particularly YA fiction, which seems to fit this genre really well. I'm joining at the Asocial level (5 books), I've listed 6 which my reads will come from this gives me space to abandon one if I hate it.

The Trial, Kafka
Do Androids Dream of Sheep
Anthem
Tomorrow: When the War Began
Brave New World
Farenheit 451

1001 Books to Read Before You Die + If on a winter's night a traveller

2010-05-03T01:26:00.000-07:00

Last night I finished another 1001 book from the list, this leaves me having read 210 books from the list of what has now become over 1300 books (they update,add in and take away books every two years). Do I plan to read them all? No.
So why use the list I hear you ask. I love the list for one reason, and that is recommendations. I know there are books on there I will never pick up, like Ian Fleming's Casino Royale; books which even if I did pick up I'd never be able to complete like James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake and lots of books I've started, given up and never plan to go back to. But the list acts as a reminder of all those books I've always meant to read, of those authors I've read, loved and meant to go and discover more of, and also introduces books and authors I would never have discovered before.
In the last year I've read the fantastic Movern Callar by Alan Warner, Amok by Stefan Zweig, Tales from Firozsha Baag by Rohinton Mistry all of which I had never heard of and would probably never have came into contact with if it hadn't been for the list. And I've read books off the TBR pile which had been sat there through numerous years and house moves.
Do you use the 1001 Books to read before you die list? Why?

Last night I finished my 11th book this year from the list, If on a winter's night a traveller, I seem to be accuring strange books from the list at the moment (Movern Callar was my last and Blood and Guts in High School is coming up).
As with Movern Callar I have no real idea how to review this book, to try and make it comprehensible I'm going to do it as a question and answer review.

What is the general plot line of this book?
'The Reader' goes into a shop and buys a book called 'If on a winter's night a traveler', when he returns home he settles in to read the first and after loving the first chapter he discovers the book has been misprinted and it simply repeats the first chapter over and over.
On returning the book to the shop, he meets 'The Other Reader' who had had the same problem. They then procure numerous books and manuscripts each one promising to be a different book.
What is the style of the book?
The book is written in alernate chapters, every odd chapter is about 'The Reader' and 'The Other Reader' quest to find a complete book to settle down with. These chapter are written in second person. At the beginning this seemed to describe how I would analyse a book, relax to read etc as it should but as the story moved on 'The Reader' became a definite character.
The even chapters are all the first chapters that the Readers are given along the way, these are in different styles and genres. This part of the book is apparently the inspiration for David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas
What did you like/love about the book?
The first chapter I absolutely fell in love with, writter in second person he describes the process of going to buy a book:

"In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricades of Books You Haven't Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you. But you know you must never allow yourself to be awed, that among them there extend for acres and acres the Books You Needn't Read, the Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To That Category Of Books Read Before Being Written."

and also the process of sitting down and finding a comfortable place to start a new book. I would say that every avid reader, even if they don't plan to read the whole book (and it cerainly isn't to everyone's taste) should read this first chapter.
What did you dislike/hate about the book?
I certainly didn't hate anything about the book, but I found that after a while the different openings of books started to annoy me. I wanted to discover more about The Reader and The Other Reader, rather than the beginnning of another strange story - especially the ones that I'd have liked to know what happened next!
Would you recommend this to a friend?
I can't think of many of my real life friends who would like this disjointed style, but for readers who enjoy postmodern fiction, who are happy to not follow a trail of a story, and can appreciate a book for its style this is for them.

My Thoughts: Morvern Callar by Alan Warner

2010-04-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start this with an apology, this post will be a shambles as I have no idea how to review this book!
Morvern Callar is a 21 year old, stuck in a dead end job, in a dead end town, with a dead boyfriend on her hands. After discovering the suicide of her boyfriend rather than reporting the incident to the police Morvern parties the nights away. Eventually hiding her boyfriends body in the attic she sneaks into his bank account using his cash for a 18-30s holiday for her and a friend and then also gets his novel published in her name.
It doesn't sound great and certainly didn't sound like my type of book but I loved it. Morvern was a strange creature, but alluring all the same. You somehow seep into her world, while wanting to be as distant from its bleakness as you possibly can be.

All I can say is read it! Thats my 10th 1001 book so far this year - probably about the only reading challenge I'm managing to keep up with!

The Sunday Salon: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

2010-04-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

I've avoided Sherlock Holmes my whole life, the books seemed like something I wouldn't enjoy. Then during my teacher training a rather boring teacher who I had to shadow (he wouldn't let me teach his classes like I was supposed to) read to the kids some of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and boy did he kill them! Earlier in the year I went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie and loved it, so braved picking up one of the books.

The Hound of the Baskervilles starts with a mysterious 'death' on Dartmoor; a gorgeously barren piece of wilderness, with wild ponies, sheeps and fog that can descend and leave you lost in a matter of hours. With a heavy inheritance up for grab and a mythical hound in the families history Shelock Holmes picks up the scent of foul play and sends Watson off to investigate.

I enjoyed the story, it was an easy comfort read, and I'll be checking out some of the other novels in the near future.

My Thoughts: Inner Circle by T.C Boyle

2010-04-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

Inner Circle was a strange read, with a strange subject. John Milk, a 'sex researcher' sits down on the day of Professor Kinsley's, the founder of the Sex Institute, funeral and starts writing about the time that he knew him. Milk covers everything from the first lecture that he attended of the Professor, to their research, personal life and sex life, and it is all so finely intwinned its like a trap.
Milk was an typically innocent student on the day he first saw the professor lecture on the subjet of sex and offered himself up for an interview about his sex life (fairly minimal, as a student in the 1930s). Soon after the professor offers him a job and he soon finds himself living his life through the research he does. The researchers want to bring to the public knowlegde and statistics about sex in order to make it a less taboo subject. They interview, study and watch people and believe that sex in simply a chemical reaction. They believe this so strongly that Milk is soon sleeping with both the professor and his wife, and when he gets married his wife is quickly expected to accept and participate in an open relationship.
This novel was a strange one, at times I wanted to scream at John Milk as he was manipulated by the professor he adored, as was everyone else around him. The story was good, the scenarios strange and in one or two places not to my liking.

The Sunday Salon: Carry a poem

2010-04-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

Way up in Edinburgh, Scotland they have been given the title 'City of Literature', a recognition of the literature which is created from this base. They hold many events over the year to celebrate, spread and encourage the love of literature.
Carry a poem is a campaign to get people reading poetry. They have given away a free booklet packed with people's stories about the poems that they carry around with them and their reasons for it. Some of these poems are memorised, some tucked away on a piece of paper in their wallet, some tatooed onto them and some listened to on an ipod.
I recieved this book as a bookring (it will travel from reader to reader), and it was a great little read. I didn't like all the poems - to much Robert Burns for me! But there were several which were touching and a few that I will jot down before this leaves me. Each member of the bookring also sends along a few lines of their favourite poem with the book so the little collection grows. I chose to copy out one of my favourite poems 'In a Station of the Metro' by Ezra Pound.

What poem would you chose to include?

Recieving this book in the post reminds me that I'm supposed to be reading poetry for the Clover, Bee and Reverie challenge, I'm not sure why I find poetry so difficult to make into a reading habit. Both poetry and non-fiction I enjoy as I'm reading but a novel will always get picked up before a poem. I'm going to dig out a few poetry books and try and get back into the swing of things again - one day it may become a natural impulse.

Do you read poetry? If not why not?

And I'll just leave you with a reading by Simon Armitage one of the poets who I have only a year left of teaching. His poems always resonate with the kids as their often (in our selection) about the struggle between the parent child relationship, and they sit fantastically next to Carol Ann Duffy.
Kid

At the back of this book are some links poetry lovers might like to discover, The Scottish Poetry Library, and The Reading Rooms it has poems, podcasts and much more to discover. Also the Poetry Foundation website looks fab and jam packed.

My Thoughts: Flight by Sherman Alexie

2010-04-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the doouble post today, I won't be around tomorrow and already know what I want to write about Saturday and Sunday.

Last year I listened to The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian and loved it, I've seen lots of people on the blogosphere reading Alexie recently which reminded me that I had meant to check out more of his stuff. So off I went to the library catelogue and managed to grab an audiobook and a collection of short stories (hopefully I'll get to read those next week).
Flight was a great audiobook, as it was only 4 hours long so could be listened to easily in the space of a week. The story of Flight is so different from anything I've read before. Zits is an orphaned part-Indian-part-Irish teenager. Since his father aandoned him at birth and his mother died of breast cancer he has been in and out of foster homes and sheltered accomodation. Having been abused, neglected and ignored he gives up on life never giving any home he is placed in a chance. An alchoholic and drug taker at just 15 years old he is in constant trouble with the police.
It is at the point of an arrest that his life changes. Meeting Justice, a fellow teen, in a police cell Zits finally feels that he has a friend and belongs somewhere. Justice, clever with words and packed full of knowledge, convinces him to hold up a bank. As Zits walks into the bank and holds up the gun he suddenly spins out of this world, he time travels through various points in the past changing his view of himself and others.
This was a great YA read, a search for identity and a home, but it is filled with bad (and I mean bad) language which makes me wonder what age it would be aimed at. In one sense I could see my 13 year olds at school reading it, but then I'm not sure how many parents would approve of the language. Saying that many of them listen to rap and watch 18 movies so maybe I'm just showing y teacherly side :)

My Thoughts: Ash by Malinda Lo

2010-04-15T04:55:00.000-07:00

My final review of my 24 hour read-a-thon. Ash was the final read of the read-a-thon and it was perfect for this, as it was fast paced, a light read and had a nice clear big text.

Ash is a retelling of the Cinderella story, with a fairy twist. The novel starts with Ash at the burial of her mother: a lover of fairy tales, a follower of mythical beings and rituals. Living here she is surrounded by people with mythical beliefs, rituals and spells, yet she is quickly moved away from this world when her sceptical father marries a new woman.
As with the fairytale, as soon as her father dies Ash becomes the servant of the family. She escapes one night finding a magical path which leads her to her mothers grave, she begs a magical man to take her to her mother, he refuses and takes her back home. Night after night she escapes into the coutryside around her meeting other mythical creatures but always returning home to a life of drudgery.
The twist in the fairytale comes when Ash meets the Kings hunter, a fiesty woman who steals her days to teach her how to ride and hunt. The story then follows the normal lines of the fairytale but with a deviation from the traditional ending.

I love the English cover shown above, but think the US cover is absolutely gorgeous (below).

My Thoughts: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

2010-04-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

There is one thing you need to understand about this book early on, the title is a deception. Gertrude Stein used this book to write an autobioraphy of herself as seen through someone elses eye. Strange, huh?
This autobiography is principly based in France, where the American Stein spent most of her adult life. She mingles with artists, writers, poets and other people of importance and nearly every page has 3 or 4 name drops. For the most part she hangs around in Picasso's artelier where other artists visit in the evening, exchanging news, gossip and work. She also buys up a lot of art and talks about the books she has written.
I found this book a strange one to get into, it often seemed like a list of events and meetings, with very few feelings or descriptions thrown into the mix. Once we arrived at the war period in the book things had picked up and it was a it more exciting but in general I found I was indiffernt to much of what she had written.
Having wrote my dissertation on T.S Eliot's 'The Wasteland' and cubism/futurism and the way that they mirrored the collapsing society of the time (Industrialism, the death of God, Darwinism, the move away from the extended family, tinned food, the media, photography etc) I was familiar with the names of a lot of the lesser known artists and could picture some of the art that she brought or viewed. If this hadn't been the case I think I would have struggled more. I was put off her even more (I disliked her from the moment she declared that she and Picasso where two of the only geniuses/genui(sp?) of the period) when she slated T.S Eliot and the fell out with Ezra Pound, two of my favourite poets of that time.
I'm including this for the Women Unbound challenge, because although I disliked her her strength of character, her sense of equality and power as a woman in her circles makes her a feminist of her time.

My Thoughts: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2010-04-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

I've been reading about this book for ages in the blogging world, and finally got aroung to reading it during the 24 hour read-a-thon (I came across 4 other bloggers reading this for the read-a-thon as well).

The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian world consisting of 13 states, a long time in the past the states all went to war and misery and destruction fled through the area. The states all now exist seperately, each one varying in wealth, living conditions and the field of work. Once a year the states are joined when the Hunger Games start. The Hunger Games selects 2 teenagers from each state to battle it out - till only one is left alive - for glory. In the richer states the teenagers are trained and glamourised in their pursuit of being in the Games, whereas in the poorer areas being selected for the Games is seen as a path to death.

Our heroine is of course from the poorer regions, so we're fighting for the under-dog, something us English love. She, and her male partner should fight against each other, after all only one can survive, but as with any novel of this type their lives are entwined.

The ending shone out to me as soon as the selections for the Games had been completed, but like many books and films it is the getting to the end that is the exciting bit. I enjoyed this book a lot, the pace was good, the characters interesting and the Games kept throwing in the unexpected. It wasn't brilliantly written, but like Twilight great writing wasn't what was needed as the plot took over. I've reserved the next book in the triology from the library as I'm only allowed to buy one book between now and my Cambodian trip (Monster's of Men by Patrick Ness). I'm going to have to start taking the book buying ban seriously as I not only have the whole holiday to Cambodia and Vietnam to pay for but also spending money for school trips to New York and China early next year, plus whatever next years 5 week holiday is (poss Australia or Sri Lanka).

My Thoughts: Tales from Firozsha Baag by Rohinton Mistry

2010-04-13T01:25:00.000-07:00

This is my third Rohinton Mistry read and I loved them all so far, yes they're certainly not cheery but they're are so well written and constructed that you can appreciate the beauty of the situations.
This is a much shorter output than some of his other work. Tales from Firozsha Baag is actually a collection of short stories all based on the lives of people livng in an apartment block. Unlike with most short story collections I read this one straight through as their was so many links that the stories blended together in a good way.
The stories, based in India, feature many elements you find in lots of Indian stories - families struggling together, neighbourly jealousy, the story tellers, parents aspirations for their children and children migrating and forgetting their families. But he does it really well. Despite being short stories based on different families each character and situation quickly came to life.
A great read, especially if you want an introduction to this fantastic author.

My Thoughts: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

2010-04-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

I first discovered Margaret Atwood when I was 17. I had to read A Handmaid's Tale for my A Levels along with 4 other pieces of protest literature (The Colour Purple, 1984, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest), it was this course which changed my degree choice from Law (I wanted to be a Legal Secretary specialising in family law) to English Literature, I can't imagine how my like would have turned out! As soon as read The Handmaid's Tale I went out and brought a stack of Margaret Atwood books which I've gradually read over the (12 -ouch!) years, I still have The Robber Bride to go.

Alias Grace is a fictionalised novel based on a real murderess Grace Marks, she was widely famous in Canada in the early 19th century being charged with 2 counts of murder at just 16. Alias Grace is a mismatch of narratives and writing regarding this women and those she came into contact with. The main proportion of the story are Grace's story to her Doctor, Dr Jordan. Claiming to be unable to recount the murders she details her life from him, from the journey from Canada to England, the methods of bleaching clothes and the details of her acquintances downfalls - she is certainly an unreliable narrator. Being shown her wondering what to tell Dr Jordan and how to phrase her story allows us to feel, but also know, that we are in the same position as he is, we are being fed a story - which elements are true or not we shall not discover.

The novel is also interspersed with Dr Jordan's complicated life, his desires for every woman he see's, his correspondence with his pushy mother, his friends and work collegues. As well as newspaper cuttings, quotations from Grace Marks' biographer, pshycoanalysists and poets who wrote about her.

Threaded throughout the story are refernced to patchwork quilts and their various patterns, especially those ones which turned one way show one image but looked at from a different viewpoint show a whole new picture. That is what this story is like, as a reader we sometimes feel she is guilty as sin, sometimes we believe her spiritual version of the murders and at other points her coyness leads us to believe she is just an innocent caught up in a crime. Well worth a read.

Read-a-thon Hour 24 and I'm finished

2010-04-11T04:01:00.000-07:00

Time spent reading: 14 hour and 25 mins
Pages Read: 1174
Books Completed: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (I had started this previous to the read-a-thon), Tales from Firozsha Bagg by Rohinton Mistry, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Ash by Malinda Lo.

As the final hour of the read-a-thon begins I have finished my final book, Ash, a retelling of the Cinderella story. Rather than start a new book I've decided to go and cheer on some of the other readers. I'll be back at some point this evening with a Sunday Salon. Each of the books I finished was great and each will be getting its own review which I'll be writing up in the days to come.

The End of Event Meme:
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Randomly the first couple of hours when I was feeling really restless.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Ash by Malinda Lo and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Both great reads, nice sized font and well paced, exactly what's required for a long reading spell.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
It didn't seem to be advertised as much this year, I din't see the buzz surrounding it that I have on previous years - although that maybe because I don't use twitter, I get the feeling from the blogs I visited that that was the place to be.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
As of the other years that I have participated the updates on the blogs are always great as they keep you linked to the rest of the community.
5. How many books did you read?
I read 3 full books and finished another one.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
See the top of my post.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
Probably The Hunger Games, which was great as I brought it ages ago and kept putting it off so I could read it for the read-a-thon
8. Which did you enjoy least?
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? Not a cheerleader this year, I did this last time and had problems opening some of the blogs, this may just be my computer it is old and well used.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I'm very likely to participate again, I think again I would just be a reader but this time I will check out more bloggers who are participating and add them to my google reader. A lot of the blogs I read who have participated in the past weren't involved this year so I didn't have many posts to comment on.
I'm looking forward to getting outside for a while as today is another beautifully warm and sunny day.

Read-a-thon Hour 20: Another Book Read

2010-04-11T00:03:00.000-07:00

Time spent reading: 11 hour and 15 mins
Pages Read: 883
Books Completed: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (I had started this previous to the read-a-thon), Tales from Firozsha Bagg by Rohinton Mistry, The Hunger Games
Current Book: Not sure what to go for next '~'?

With hour 20 about to begin I'm off for a bath so I can feel more alive. Just finished The Hunger Games, an amazing read certainly one I'll be recommending in the future. I now want the second one, but may have to wait for a copy from the library as I'm on a book buying ban - I have a 5 week holiday to save for!

It seems awfully quiet around here, the people I follow on Google Reader who normally participate aren't joining in this time and there haven't been any cheerleading visits in ages in this part of town :(

Read-a-thon: Back and playing

2010-04-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

It's twenty past five in the morning here, my alarm went off at half four but as I hadn't managed to fall into more than a slumber it took a while for me to get out of bed. I've read for the last 20mins while my computer has messed around with random messages and had to be rebooted - every read-a-thon it goes strange!
I'll quickly be checking Google Reader, sending a few messages then I'm back reading again.

Read-a-thon Hour 12: Off to bed

2010-04-10T16:12:00.000-07:00

Time spent reading: 8 hour and 40 mins
Pages Read: 630
Books Completed: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (I had started this previous to the read-a-thon), Tales from Firozsha Bagg by Rohinton Mistry
Current Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 251 pages in and loving it

This year I decided to try a different method, rather than stay up till I'm completely shattered I'm going to bed now as I'm tired and its about the time I'd normally go to sleep. I'm setting my alarm for half four, giving me four hours sleep. Hopefully I'll then be able to read to the end.
Just hoping I'm not going to dream that I'm part of The Hunger Games!
Night x

Read-a-thon Hour 8

2010-04-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

Time spent reading: 5 hour and 35 mins
Pages Read: 379
Books Completed: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (I had started this previous to the read-a-thon), Tales from Firozsha Bagg by Rohinton Mistry

Current Book: About to start The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Listening to: Starsailor and Toykyo Police Club

Another 1001 book ticked off of the list - Tales from Firozsha Baag, a mix of intertwined stories from the lives of people all living in one appartment block. As I'm reading easily at the moment I'm rushing straight back into it, and delving into The Hunger Games which I've been savouring for this read-a-thon.

Read-a-thon Hour 6 and I have my mojo back

2010-04-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

Time spent reading: 3 hour and 17 mins
Pages Read: 217
Books Completed: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (I had started this previous to the read-a-thon)
Current Book: Tales from Firozsha Bagg by Rohinton Mistry
Listening to: Nothing at the moment

Escaping to my bedroom certainly hepled, I can't believe how few hours I have managed so far when these should be the early hours!
Anyway I'm now back on track and loving my current read. I had an early dinner - tuna pasta salad, Yum :):) And I now ready to get stuck back into the rest of this book, hopefully it'll be finished in the next few hours.

Anyone else have any blips?

Read-a-thon Hour 4 (I'm already restless)

2010-04-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

Pages read since last post: 28!

Arrgghhh... restlessness has set in, I'm always like this when I finish a book and start a new one immediately.
This is a quick post to enter Bart's minichallenge then the computer is going to get ignored for a while and I'm off up o my bedroom away from distractions to get started on my new book: Tales from Firozsha Baag.

Walking on Glass, The Water Babies, Legends of the Fall.

Read-a-long Hour 3: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

2010-04-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

Time spent reading: 1 hour and 45 mins
Pages Read: 104
Books Completed: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (I had started this previous to the read-a-thon)
Listening to: Thunder, Lightning, Strkie by The Go Team

Having preiously started Alias Grace I knew that I wanted it fiished efore I started any new books for the read-a-long. I loved this book which reminded me that I should read more of the Margaret Atwoods on my bookshelf. I'll be reviewing this properly in the next couple of days. Another 1001 book knocked off the list.

And my quick, off the top of my head answers for Bobby's mini challenge
Favorite Female Character in a book: Jane Eyre every time
Favorite Male Character in a book: Henry, from The Time Travellers Wife - I'd marry him in a flash.
Favorite Side Kick in a book: Hmmmm.....can I have sidekicks? Hermione and Ron
Favorite Couple in a Book: Henry and Clare (TTW)
Favorite Book Series: Harry Potter
Favorite Author: Neil Gaiman, Sarah Waters, Margaret Atwood...the list goes on
Favorite Book Cover: The Red Tree by Shaun Tan
Favorite Book of 2009: The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer, both by Patrick Ness

Read-a-thon: Hour 1 Meme

2010-04-10T05:06:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say that I'm off and started, a queue in the supermarket and the fact that we started an hour earlier than I thought meant i was sitting down just in time to start.
Over at read-a-thon head quarters they have put up their first meme of the day, here are my answers:
Where are you reading from today?
My couch at the moment, I may go up and lie on my bed to get the last few hours of the sushine - my front room is always dark and chilly as its overlooked by trees.

3 facts about me …
an avid reader, wannabe scrapbooker and people watcher.

How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
7 plus one to get finished, they are all listed on my earlier post.

Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)?
Not in particular, to read for as long as possible. I'm not cheerleading this time, but have picked a handful of bloggers to cheer along instead, this way the updates are on my google reader and take less of my reading time up.

If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, Any advice for people doing this for the first time?
This is my third time so not really a vetran, the main thing is to enjoy yourself, have good backround music and a good selection of shortish books. Oh, and even if your someone who never gives up on a book, if you're not feeling a book today set it down and pick up another, even if its not from your alloted pile.
Good luck everyone xxx

24 Hour Read-a-Thon: The all important pile

2010-04-10T03:56:00.000-07:00

I meant to have a nice lie in this morning, I didn't go to bed till late so it shouldn't have been hard but I was wide awake at 7 and ready to go. Unfortunately the read-a-thon doesn't start till 2 here. I just have to pop to the supermarket - a 5 minute walk - and then I'll be pretty much ready to go and good hour and a half early. I think I'll probably just get started a bit early as I never make the full 24hours (a good 4 hour sleep is needed) and because Alias Grace is screaming out to be finished.
Other than Alias Grace* (less than a 100 pages to go) I'll have this pile to tackle:
Tales from Firozsha Baag, Rohinto Mistry*
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heavan, Sherman Alexie
Coraline and Other Stories, Neil Gaiman (its the other stories that I'm interested in as I've read Coraline a few times).
An Illiad, Allessandro Baricco
Ash, Malinda Lo
Black Juice, Margo Lanagan
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins*

The ones with the stars beside them are the ones I particularly would like to get read and finished. The others would be a bonus, as they are all books which are from the library, are part of a bookring or a book I'm giving away on bookcrossing.

Starting a reading journal.....will it last?

2010-04-09T01:12:00.000-07:00

In a random act of madness last week I purchased Postcards from Penguin: 100 book covers in one box, quite what I was planning on doing with it I don't know. It finally arrived Wednesday, I had a quick look through and then wondered why I had bought them. Don't get me wrong they are interesting to look through, but the type of thing which sits on a shelf and gets dusty, never getting looked at again.
As I'm never going to post them out to people - that would ruin the set! I've decided to use them to make a reading journal. I've always loved the idea of a reading journal, something that in later years I can go back to and browse through, but never quite known where to start. The postcard format limits me to a small size, and I'll be able to test out my journalling writing that I need to perfect for scrap booking.
I'm starting tomorrow with the 24 hour read-a-thon, I'll post a picture of what I wrote when the whole thing is finished.

Do you have a seperate reading journal, or a place to jot down your reading other than your blog?

It's Tuesday...Where are you?

2010-04-06T04:11:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday...Where are you? is held each week here by Raidergirl3.

Physically this week I'm at my Mum's house in Suffolk. Offically here to surport my sister for the week through her pregnancy problems - mainly male related! But also to get looked after whilst I tackle the stacks of coursework marking which I need to tackle. I'm taking a break at the moment to create a rivision booklet (I'll always opt for the more creative element of teaching over the boring marking side of it).
My sister is coming up in a few hours and if her back pains have subsided we're all of to sob at Blind Side (I cried at the trailer so not sure how I'll cope!).

In my reading I'm both in France and Canada. In France I am trailing around after Gertrude Stein and her brother at the moment. They are busy buying up bits of art - mainly Cezanne and Matisse at the moment. We have been to Pablo Picasso's atillier, joined Matisse and his wife for dinner and trailed around many famous Cubist paintings with our friends the artists of these paintings. (Gertrude Steins, The Autobiography of Alice B. Tolkas)
So far I'm getting on okay with this book, which is a disguised autobiography of Gertrude Stein, although it does grate on me everytime she declares herself a genius - she's obviously not intelligent in ways of getting the reader to like and admire a character.

I'm also in Canada in the 18th century. Accused murderess Grace Marks flits between playing maid to the wife of the owner of the prison; she sews and knits for the lady whilst being an object of fascination, to being exaimined by our other main character. Dr Jordan is a psychologist seeking a new method of understanding prisoners in the hope of opening his own establishment. His story is told through a third person narrative and also a series of letters between him and his family and friends. I'm waiting to find out if Grace Marks is guilty of the crime or an innocent bystander (I'm going for all out guilty and the perpetrator - she seems capable).

Where are you in your reading travels?
Have you read either of these books? Do you have any questions for me about them?

1% Well Read Challenge

2010-04-05T02:49:00.000-07:00

The 1001 list (which has very quickly broardened to the 1294 list - they add and take away books every couple of years) has been a personal challenge for the last few years. No, I don't expect to complete it. And no, I don't think every book on it is great. But its a good way to think about what I've read, what I mean to read, and to discover books and authors I have never heard of.
So far of the 1294 books, I've read 205 (15.99%), I own a further 8.35% of the books and I have 0.55% of the books coming to me soon in the form of a bookring, (I'm not normally a geek but with this list I am).
The 1% Well Read challenge requires me to have read 13 of the books of this mamouth list by this time next year - I'll probably be trying to triple that at least. So this challenge is more about reading other people's reviews to get ideas of which books to select next - from my TBR pile or the library.
Below is a potential pool, although it is widely subject to change at any moment:
Movern Callar by Alan Warner (READ)
The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Alias Grace, Atwood (READ)
The Autobiography of Alice B.Toklas, Stein (READ)
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller, Calvino (READ)
The Lord of the Rings, Tolkein (Current Read)
Blonde, Oates
Small Island, Levy
Great Apes, Self
Wild Swans, Chang
Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord, de Bernieres
The Leopard, Lampedusa
A Town Like Alice, Shute
All Quiet on the Western Front, Marque
The Radeztky March, Roth

The Sunday Salon: Le Dossier: How to Survive the English by Sarah Long

2010-04-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

A lazy Easter weekend, I've recamped to my Mum's for this first week of half term, so so far I've watched more TV in the last 24 hours than I've seen in the 2 weeks previously, I've scoffed biscuits, pizza and chocolate. That doesn't even mention that Sunday lunch which I had at the pub my sister manages (which was gorgeous).
The rest of the day will be spent lazing around the house, with Alias Grace and The Autobiography of Alice B. Tolks. As of tomorrow I'm on a 5 hour a day marking schedule until the mountain of coursework is marked.

I finished yesterday Le Dossier: How to Survive the English. This book was a small independently published book at first, but soon was translated to English with comic effect. Hortense de Monplaisir is a Parisian housewife brought over to live in London by her husbands career. She criticises and views every aspect of the English life, from our eating habits, body shapes to our manners. The book revealed some truths - we love cheap clothes shops so we can look like the celebrities and still afford to change our looks as often as them, we spend far more money and time on our homes than anything else, and treat children and pets with equal priviledge. But the book also shows up a sharp contrast with our European neighbours - she can't understand that we queue politely and uncomplainingly, that stop at traffic lights and follow speed limits and that we say sorry if someone bumps into us. This was a funny read, something light and comic. If your Englsih and don't mind being criticised this is worth a read.

My Thoughts: Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

2010-03-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

Angela Carter has always been this scary author for me who sat on the shelf waiting to be read. I'm not sure what it was about her that kept putting me off. I was expecting a difficult read, full of feminist angst and gothic settings. Not that these things put me off in other authors. After all I have an English degree and MA and will quite happily tackle Salman Rushdie, moderninsm, post modernism and magical realism over lunch.
I picked up Nights at the Circus with trepidation, although excited by the synopsis. Fevvers is a 6 foot plus, 14 stone woman as large as life. Big blonde hair, big breasted and hardly delicate. Yet this woman is an aerialiste, flying through the air in graceful archs above the circus audience. What this woman has that other aerilistes don't is huge wings.
Abandoned as a baby, she is adopted by an ex-prostitute turned cleaner of a brothel. She grows up in a house of prostitutes, with a small humped back. Yet as a teenager out of her back spurts a magnificent pair of wings. As she grows up she spends time at the 'freaks circus' then moves on to a regular travelling circus ending up travelling through Russia.
The story changes narrative at various points. It starts with Fevvers being interviewed by an American journalist, determined to discover whether she is the real thing or a Hoax. He is in awe of her and follows her into the circus as a clown in the hope of securing a story, the truth and the girl herself.
There's far too much in the story to even try to describe, it bursts at the seems with adventures, magical characters and moments. A great start to the Once Upon a Time IV challenge for me.

Once Upon a Time IV: Short Story Weekends

2010-03-28T05:06:00.000-07:00

For this weeks Short Story I went back and visited a site which I love but haven't looked at in ages, The Endocott Studio. The site features lots of mythical and fantastical short stories, poems, images and articles and is well worth checking out.

I only have time to read one story today, so chose 'The Boy Who Was Born Wrapped in Barbed Wire' by Christopher Barzak.
The young boy is born not only surrounded by barbed wire but with the wire actually growing out from his skin. As a result of his birth his mother dies and he is left alone with just his solitary beekeeping father. The father is a distant man, never able to touch his son for fear of getting hurt. The boy becomes an outcast until their is a revival at the local church and the local woman all decide that his sould needs saving.