Booking Through Thursday: Trends

Have your book-tastes changed over the years? More fiction? Less? Books that are darker and more serious? Lighter and more frivolous? Challenging? Easy? How-to books over novels? Mysteries over Romance?

My taste has changed over the years as a teenager I read loads of horror and mysterys, then somehow worked my way into a bit of chicklit (the type my Mum reads). When I started my A Level English Lit course things started to change as I got introduced to more authors and genres, although the majority of my reading was still very light and modern.

My A Level course featured a lot of 20th century fiction so you can imagine my horror the first day of my English degree when one bloke stood up and quoted a Shakespeare sonnet and everyone was talking about having read Mill of the Floss etc. I had never planned to take an English degree and had got into the university by applying to study Sociology and Law, I changed my mind at the last minute. All the other people on my course had had an interview to study English and been sent home with a list of 100 books that it would be useful for them to have read - most people had read a good 30 books on this list, I had read one! So the first year at university I only read books from the list. It was a good experience in that it broarderned my reading habits but some of the books I read because I felt I had to rather than because I enjoyed them.

Since finishing my degree and MA I have been able to read books that I have choosen, I still stick predominatly to literature but it is generally contemporary, and I will go off and explore other genres and authors. Bookbrossing and blogspot have also helped me discover new favorites. And teaching has re-introduced me to Childrens and YA books

Graphic Novel Challenge

I'm going to give this a go, I have never read a graphic novel in my life and not sure if it'll be my thing but I like to try new stuff. Dewey is offering the chance for people to join this challenge half way through and only read half the books (just 3) which makes it less daunting.

I have ordered from my library:

Persepolis 1 and 2

Sandman by Neil Gaiman

As I had read a great review about the first 2 the other day (I can't remember who by) and I'm interested in reading more Gaiman.

Neil Gaiman: Various Short Stories

I saw a link to the Neil Gaiman Journal on Eva's page and during the last few days I've been reading his short stories which are avaliable to read on the site. I just thought I'd pop up a few quick thoughts about them on here.
How To Talk To Girls at Parties
A trifle of a story depicting two teenage boys descending upon a house thinking their luck is in. Unfortunately for them these aren't quite the type of girls they were looking for...
Cinnamon
A lovely story about a young Princess with pearls for eyes, who refuses to talk. The girl's aunt offers rewards for the person who can make her talk, all fail until a tiger arrives.
I loved the fairytale-esque style of this sory.
A Sudy in Emerald
I followed the links on his site to download this free of charge for Harper Collins and listened to it doing some housework then curled up in bed.
I thought this was an okay story, very Sherlock Holmes in style (which isn't my taste at all). It was made better by listening to Gaiman reading it. Hearing the intonation and the different character voices took me back to childhood, being read a bedtime story or listening to a teacher reading a story (well) to the class.
I Cthulhu
A strange little story, with a sci-fi feel, in which a "tentacle-faced thing" is reported to a human his journey to earth.
The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds
A parody of a murder mystery in which the murder victim is Humpty Dumpty and the murederer is...................................? This tale is full of different nurserytale characters.

Poem of the Week: Salome - Carol Ann Duffy

I picked this poem this week as it's one of my favorite poems to study with my class. I always lte them study a few of Duffy's angsty poems before getting to this, I love seeing the realisation on their faces that this isn't a poem about one night stands.

The voice rumbles on in a gossipy tone, bragging about the conquest of the night before, and the language works well to lead the reader into a false sense of security.

Duffy's collection The World's Wife is my all time favorite poetry book.

Salome
I’d done it before
(and doubtless I’ll do it again,
sooner or later)
woke up with a head on the pillow beside me – whose? –
what did it matter?

Good-looking, of course, dark hair, rather matted;
the reddish beard several shades lighter;
with very deep lines around the eyes,
from pain, I’d guess, maybe laughter;
and a beautiful crimson mouth that obviously knew
how to flatter…
which I kissed…
Colder than pewter.
Strange. What was his name? Peter?

Simon? Andrew? John? I knew I’d feel better
for tea, dry toast, no butter,
so rang for the maid.
And, indeed, her innocent clatter
of cups and plates,
her clearing of clutter,
her regional patter,
were just what I needed –
hungover and wrecked as I was from a night on the batter.

Never again!
I needed to clean up my act,
get fitter,
cut out the booze and the fags and the sex.
Yes. And as for the latter,
it was time to turf out the blighter,
the beater or biter,
who’d come like a lamb to the slaughter
to Salome’s bed.

In the mirror, I saw my eyes glitter.
I flung back the sticky red sheets,
and there, like I said – and ain’t life a bitch –
was his head on a platter.

For last weeks poem see here

Free Audiobooks

Maybe I'm way behind but I wasn't aware that you could download free audiobooks, I found some at librivox plus loads more on itunes. I've never listened to any books before so I'm going to give this a go over the next few weeks and see how I like it.

June Reading List (Proposed)

To finish Daughter of Fortune - Allende
The Plague - Camus (for Nobel project)
Elizabeth Costello - Coetzee (for Whats in a Name Challenge)
The Red Queen - Drabble (for What's in a Name Challenge and 1001 Books)
What I Loved -Hutverdt (for 1001 Books)
The Space Between Us (for Notable Books Challenge)
Mister Pip (For Booker and I Heard it Through the Grapevine)

Sunday Salon - a week in reading and plans for June

This week it was half term, a week reading out in the garden, lots of trips out etc was all planned. Unfortunatley British Weather decided to play it's ususal part and it rained nearly everyday, my friend who I was planning on going out with a lot got ill and the car last night decided to break down so not a great week.
The reading however did go well, I completed The Novella Challenge and I read some great books: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and The Orchard on Fire by Shena Mackay and two ok books: Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo and Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively. I also decided that I would try and rediscover poetry as I have abandoned it since I finished studying, I blogged my first Poem of the Week, which I'm hoping will keep me on track reading poems and maybe introduce new poems to people who come across my blog.

My June reading list (all going well):