Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday meeeeeee, Happy Birthday to me!

I haven't had much of a chance to do any reading recently as I had a friend in town. It was great having the chance to spend some time with her; I hadn't seen her in two (maybe three) years. Still, having a guest and taking her out and around Seattle means very little time left over to read. Hopefully I can "catch up" this weekend.

I signed up for Carl's Once Upon A Time ll challenge last week and have been trying to decide what books I want to read. From March 21 to June 20, I need to read four books: one fantasy, one folklore, one fairy tale, and one mythology...and then, read Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. (I'm doing Quest Three, the "harder" one.)

The problem is, I don't know which books to read!

• I've got Kim Harrison's The Outlaw Demon Wails, Ilona Andrew's Magic Burns, Karen Chance's Embrace the Night, C.E. Murphy's Heart of Stone, In the Serpent's Coils, by Tiffany Trent, and Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop on the list...these six all seem to be urban fantasy (excluding Anne Bishop), although Heart of Stone and In the Serpent's Coils might have a mythological or fairy tale base.

• Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss sounds like it will do for the folklore one (the summary says that the novel follows the story of Kvothe, the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen). Wizard = King Arthur = folklore, right?

• I could reread books (War for the Oaks, anything by Steven Brust [and I'm already planning on rereading all of the Vlad series, which has magic, dragons, and telepathic jhregs], anything by Charles de Lint) but I don't particularly want to. Oh! Joanne Harris would count; both Runemarks (ah ha! fairy tales!) and the sequel to Chocolat (I'm blanking on the title, but I know it's about magic) could work for this challenge.

Hmm, maybe I should check out what other people are reading. Not only would I get a better understanding of what others are reading, but I could see how they're classifying their choices!

Catching up

(I wonder, if I counted, how many of my post titles would be "catching up.")

So, I finally have some free time and what happens? I catch one of the nasty infections that seem to be floating around and it knocks me down. One full weekend and a few odd days spent on the couch and do wonders to eat up your time. While I didn't get most of the things done that I wanted too, I did end up with a lot of free time on my hands, meaning that I was reading.

Oh, how I was reading. It's been just over a book a day, about 1.75 books/day, based on my notes. (Really, all that free reading time almost makes up for being sick.)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was a reread for me, although it had been long enough that I had forgotten most of the story. My RL book club picked it (our first YA!) and from what I heard, everyone loved it. (I was home, coughing, on my couch.)

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose, by Lauren Willig, was an entertaining read, although I think her first two novels in this series are my favorite. This series goes back and forth between now (featuring Eloise, the American grad student who is in London researching the Pink Carnation, Colin, the Pink Carnation's great-?? grandson, and a few other people) and England’s Napoleonic era, where the Pink Carnation and assorted others run around trying to stop the French spy known as the Black Tulip. In the Crimson Rose, we have Mary, elder sister to Letty (previous book), who finds herself at her wit's end after her sister marries the man Mary intended to. Faced with depending on her sister and new brother-in-law for financial support, Mary decides to take Lord Vaugh up on his offer: if she will spy for England, he'll pay for her next season.

The whole series is entertaining, but I recommend reading them relatively close together (if possible). It took me a while to remember who everyone was in the Crimson Rose; I even forgot who the Pink Carnation was!

Into the Dark Lands and Children of the Blood are two books in a series by Michelle Sagara West (she writes the Cast in Series I started reading earlier this year). Set in an alternate world, there are two sides: Bright Heart (the Light) and Dark Heart (the Dark). After an eternity of war, both the gods have left the mortal realm, leaving their war in the hands' of their followers, both blood and nonblood (human). The first book, after setting the backstory, introduces us to Erin, a healer by birth and warrior by choice, granddaughter to the Lady, Bright Heart's first servant. Captured after battle, she's taken prisoner/guest by Stefanos, first servant to the Dark Heart, who, though at first he intends to feed on her, keeps her alive as part amusement, part confusion, and part something else that he's not quite willing to admit.

Children of the Blood is set three hundred years later, opening with Stefanos and his army crushing the last of Bright Heart's followers. Everyone of the blood there is killed, except for Darin, a young boy who managed to survive by being where he shouldn't have been. Keeping the boy alive as a gift for Erin, Stefanos seeks to wake her from the sleep he cast her into three hundred years before. However, despite being the first servant, there is an entire church against him, seeing Erin as an abomination, and Stefanos is forced into fighting a battle for her that he can't win.

Weekend reading

Actually, I didn't read all that much over the weekend. Friday night I ended up going out, and Saturday my father was over so that took up most of my reading time. I did watch both Persuasion and Gosford Park; does that count for literary content?

Yesterday though, I read Bloom, by Elizabeth Scott and I have to say that I love it. It's about Lauren Smith, a seventeen-year-old high school student who has something of a perfect life. Sure, her mom left when Lauren was six and her dad is never around, but she's got decent grades, a semi-popular best friend, and she's dating the most popular (not to mention smart, kind, handsome, and decent) guy at her high school.

So why isn't she happier?

It takes running into Evan again, a boy she met as a child when her father started dating his mother, to make Lauren realize that what she has isn't making her happy. The only question is, does Lauren have the strength to go after what does?

This book felt very different from most of the other YA books that I've read; it doesn't have the always-shy-but-secretly-beautiful girl as the main character, just a normal girl, living a (mostly) normal life.

Over at Chasing Ray, Colleen posted about The Red Leather Diary and I have to say that it sounds like it will be what I wanted The Luxe to be. (Did that make sense? I was so disappointed by The Luxe.) Author Lily Koppel found a diary that was written in 1929 by a young girl named Florence. Koppel tracked down Florence (who was still alive, living in Westport, CT) and together they pieced together Florence's story, using what she had written down in her diary as a starting point. Full of details about Florence's life as a young girl (shopping trips, her family, her school, her relationships with both boys and girls), it sounds like it's going to be a fascinating story.

Twenty-one books read in twenty-nine days

...and I wonder why I don't get more accomplished!

All jokes aside, I really think this is a new record for me (although I have read six books so far in March, and today is only the 5th). Now, if only I could do a better job of posting!

To update my challenges, I've read several books that would qualify for the YA challenge, but I'm only going to write about three now: Code Talker, The Ruby in the Smoke, and Court Duel (Crown Duel). Of those three books (my version of Sherwood Smith's novel is one book, titled Court Duel), I have to say that Court Duel was my favorite, while The Ruby in the Smoke was the novel I was looking forward to the most.

Court Duel, by Sherwood Smith:

Mel and her older brother Bran have promised their dying father that they would start a revolution and dethrone the current king. Easier said then done. It seems that no one wants to help Mel and her brother, except the villagers, wage war against the king. It's only after Mel is taken prisoner by the other side that she begins to see that everything isn't as clear-cut as she believed it to be.

And this is only the first book! I first read Court Duel about two years ago and just recently decided that it was due for a reread. And once again, after reading it, I fell completely head over heels in love with Mel. She's adventurous and foolish, big-hearted and pig-headed, completely sure of what she's doing, but figuring out along the way that really, she doesn't know as much as she thought she did. If I had to sum it up in a sentence, it's: Pride & Prejudice - ten years (YA, remember?) + a world where magic exists. (Really, Mel is Elizabeth Bennett, minus those ten years, and the Marques is a very nice version of Darcy.)

Code Talker, by Joseph Bruchac, is a fictionalized version of how the Navajo language was used during WWII to create codes that the other side couldn't break. It starts by telling how as a young man, Ned Begay is sent to an Indian School where the first thing he and the other children are taught is that their language is worthless, their ways are worthless, and that English is the only language that will be spoken. You can imagine the irony when ten or so years later, Ned and other young men from his village are approached by recruiters from the United States Marine Corps (USMC). Signing up, Ned and the other men become code talkers; it's their job to send and receive messages during the war that are sent coded in the Navajo language. Bruchac does a good job of taking us to the places where the battles were fought in WWII, describing Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and Iwo Jima as the hells they were and what the soldiers there had to face each day while they attempted to stay alive.

I had originally picked this book up a few years ago, but had never gotten around to reading it until last month. It surprised me to learn about the Navajo code talkers; I honestly can't remember even a chapter about them from any of my high school history books.

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman is a book I picked up to read only because I saw the BBC version of it on Masterpiece Theatre. And because it was written by Philip Pullman. It features sixteen-year-old Sally Lockhart, recently orphaned after the death of her beloved father. She's not given much time to grieve though, not when mysterious notes start arriving, or when an innocently asked questions leads to a man dying at her feet. And when you combine that with a long-lost ruby and the opium trade, well Sally has a lot to figure out if she wants to live to see the next day.

Despite how much I wanted to like this novel, I was somewhat disappointed with The Ruby in the Smoke, but I think that's more because I saw the movie version before I had read the novel. There are two more books in the Sally Lockhart series and I'm hoping that I enjoy them more.

OK, more book reviews to come tomorrow.

Oh, I just can't stop myself

So, as I’m sure you know, bloggers, specifically book bloggers, love reading challenges. The more challenges you are a part of, the more books you get to read. Theoretically, anyway. Truthfully, the more challenges you are a part of, you end up with more books that you want to read, but less time. At least that has always been my experience with them.

It’s a sad, vicious cycle and one I like participating in. I’ve already joined two challenges this year and while I’m going to be good and not “join” any more, I’ve found a couple that look really interesting.

The first is the First in a Series Challenge. I don’t think I really have to describe to you what this challenge is about, since it’s spelled out in the title. Joy is the same blogger running the Sweet and Simple YA challenge that I joined . I like this challenge, because it will force me to seek out new authors and new series.

So far, I think I have three “first books” lined up. Michelle Sagara West and her Cast in series (I read Cast in Secret, the first book, a few weeks ago and loved it). There is Jerri Smith-Ready and her Aspect of Crow series (first book there is Eye of Crow). There is also Philip Pullman’s mystery series about Sally Lockhart (first book in this series is The Ruby in the Smoke).

And while I’m not sure this will count (except, I’m not actually doing the challenge, so I can make it count), I am also planning on rereading Steven Brust’s Vladimir Taltos series. My younger brother introduced me to this series (and this author), for which I’ll be eternally grateful. Not that I’ll ever tell him that.

The other challenge is Annie’s What’s in a Name Challenge. The rules are to choose one book from each of the following categories:

1. A book with a color in its title.
2. A book with an animal in its title.
3. A book with a first name in its title.
4. A book with a place in its title.
5. A book with a weather event in its title.
6. A book with a plant in its title.

Looking at my above list, I see that The Ruby in the Smoke and Eye of Crow will work for this challenge too. And it’s not cheating; Annie said we could share books across challenges. Hmm, while I’m thinking about it, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell will work for this challenge too.

I think it will be interesting to just keep track of how many books I read fall into one of the above six categories, I know I have some other books on hold at the library that will also work here.

Challenges

Despite the fact that I can't seem to meet the challenges I set for myself, I usually do fairly well with challenges that other people create.

So, in addition to the 50 Book Challenge, I'll be doing the Chunky isn't always Bad challenge (one "chunky" book per quarter), starting with Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Yeah, so I haven't actually gotten around to starting that yet. I've read three other books though that qualify). I'll also be doing the Sweet and Simple challenge (read twelve young adult novels, one per month). I actually think I've already read a young adult book (January, I think), so yay! I'm off to a great start.

ETA:

All right! I've read two young adult novels so far in 2008!

First was The Luxe, which I was sadly disappointed by. I wanted it to be more Gossip Girls-TV show, not boring characters who were stereotyped in the first chapter. You had the good-girl rich girl, the rebellious-rich girl, the scandalous-rich girl, the nice-guy rich guy, the bad-boy-with-heart rich boy, the poor boy, the poor girls, and the parents. I really, really thought this novel would be more fun, more engaging, but it wasn't. I see that there will be a sequel, but I'm going to pass.

Second was Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters, which was much more enjoyable. Cornelia is the only child of famous (and divorced) pianists, who spends her time either being ignored by her classmates, the pawn of her classmates' parents (who want to be introduced to her constantly touring mother), or alone in her room, reading her dictionaries. That all changes when Virginia Somerset moves in next door and proceeds to introduce Cornelia to the other Somerset sisters through Virginia's stories about their travels around the world. In the end, Cornelia doesn't only meet the world and the audacious Somerset sisters, but through Virginia's stories, she meets her mother, and finally, herself. This book was so much more engaging than The Luxe; I really got a sense of Cornelia's isolation from everyone and why she clung to words the way she does.

Third, well...I don't really have a list planned yet, but I think that I'll be reading The Ruby in the Smoke next. That's my tentative plan, anyway. Either way, March's book will be the first I'll link to and submit for the challenge.

Upcoming books I'm excited about

Mind the Gap: A Novel of the Hidden Cities by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon
This just sounds fascinating; I love the idea of hidden pockets and doorways that lead you somewhere you don't expect. And with ghosts and a setting in London, I don't think I can go wrong.

Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Hmm, more Charles and Anna. Can't wait.

Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
This sounds intersting, kind of like Jumper.

Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle

Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
I read the first book in this series and loved it, so I'm hopeful that this one will be as good.

The Host by Stephanie Meyer
I...yeah, I'll be honest. I'm reading this solely because I like the Twilight series so much.

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer
The conclusion to the Twilight series.

The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison
Hmm, more Rachel. Can't wait to find out what is going on in the demon world.

Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews.
I like Kate. I can't wait to see how much damage and trouble she can cause in this book.

Faefever by Karen Moning.
Oh, Mac. You try so hard to kick fae ass and not admit you're attracted to Barrons.

Embrace the Night by Karen Chance.
Heh, Cassie and Pritkin, on the run from the Circle, while trying to find a long lost book. If they both survive each other, it'll be a miracle.

oh, life

How you get away from me sometimes. Heh.

Right. So, after that absurdly long "hiatus" I just took, I'm back. Kinda. Sorta. Well, not to be coy, but there have been a lot of changes in my life this past year and blogging has fallen by the wayside. (I'll get to those later.) I'll do an actual post tonight, but I just wanted to get the ball rolling now.

...

So, I had goals for myself in 2007, and sadly, I don't think I met any of them. There was a list of twelve books I was going to read this past year, split fifty-fifty between non fiction and classics.

Still, looking over my notes from 2007, I did read five non fiction books, and if you add that to the one classical novel I read...hey! I read six books that weren't some form of fiction! (Yes, I know that classical novels can still be fiction, but work with me, ok?)

88 books, broken down as follows:

Non fiction: 5
Classical: 1
Short stories: 4
Science fiction: 2
Fiction: 32
Urban fantasy: 17
Young adult: 27

Sebastian Faulks is writing a new James Bond novel. I'm of mixed feelings about this, since on the one hand, I'm not really sure I like Faulks. "Charlotte Gray" left me so bored I didn't finish it, while "Birdsong" was something I picked up in Prague and enjoyed. One for two, not necessairly the best odds. There's also the fact that despite saying I would, I've yet to pick up any of the Bond novels and really I should read at least one or two of by Flemming first.

"Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows" is old news to me now, which is why I'm always surprised to find that a month later, people are still reading it for the first time. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just seems a bit strange to me. Like people who eat dessert slowly.

I bought "Eclipse" because a friend and I are going to the author talk she's doing on Wednesday (I've read the first two, but don't own either of them) and my boss called me on reading teen-age vampire chick lit. I told him he'd recognized it too quickly to play it off as if he remembered the cover from the NYT article three weeks ago and told him I was sure if we went to his house we'd find the series on his shelves.

"Territory" was excellent and a nice break from "Anazani Boys", which I'm slogging through despite my apathy towards it. A very good friend loved it and loaned me his copy; I'm only halfway through though and I have to give the book back Wednesday.

Carl has posted about this year's R.I.P. challenge and I'm seriously considering doing at least one, if not two of them this year. Time will be a factor, as I have my NaNo story from last year to finish in September, editorial classes start in October, and this year's NaNo story begins Novemember 1st...but since I'll be reading anyways, maybe I'd better put together a list.

Hmmm

So yeah, apparently I suck at blogging this year. In fact, I haven't read anyone's blog since roughly my last post. *waves*

Sorry.

Recaping ever so quickly....I haven't read any of the books I said I was going to, I have read Glass Castle and The Worst Storm Ever (I loved Worst Storm, although it's just completely depressing) and I'm planning on reading The Devil in the White City on the plane Friday. (I've read other books too, but none that I can remember off the top of my head.)

Let's see how I do this quarter, shall we?

Oh, did you think I was failing already?

Unforeseeable: incapable of being anticipated

Yes, last Friday (err, well, as I started this last week, it's now 2 Friday's ago) I had every intention of coming home and posting about the books I was reading, when something unforeseen happened and I ended up spending the next five days in a place where there was no internet. After, when I was home, I could have updated, except I had more unforeseen events happen, like my car going wonky and a huge pile of work to catch up on. Those last two combined to make me a rather irritable person, one who didn't feel like typing anymore, thank you very much.

However, I've had the past two days to sleep! and finally decompress a bit, so I'm posting away. (Except, it's been so long, that all of the good comments I had about things I've read are fading!)

(Yes, I wrote the above on Sunday...it's now Wednesday. Oh, me.)

I've been doing a bit of reading these past few weeks, even making the tiniest bit of progress in regards to my first self-challenge: I've read through chapter 2 of "Great Feuds in Mathematics". Yup. If I read one a day, I might actually finish the book before the end of the month. It's been interesting so far, but not in a fascinating, I can't wait to read the next part kind of way. This book is feeling to me like brief little snapshots of people who I may or may not have heard of in high school. I'm hoping that in later chapters, it'll become more interesting to me, as we'll be heading to the recent past feuds, as opposed to the ones that happened in the 1600s.

My real life book club just met last night to discuss "The City of Falling Angels", which I have to say I enjoyed much more than "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". I really loved Venice (and long to go back!), so reading about the city brought me back to when I went there several years ago. I didn't see all of the places that the author wrote about, but then, he was living there for several years while I was only there for a few days. The "main" story is about the fire that destroyed the Fenice (Opera House), and the years spent rebuilding it, while the side stories were about the investigation into who/what caused the fire, the Save Venice group, and a dozen different people the author met or became involved with while he was staying there. Still, his main theme was the Fenice, and how people saw it then/now, which I did see as his attempt to keep the story 'together'.

(Some of the people in the group didn't like the various side stories, especially the Olga/Ezra Pound detour, although I thought it was quite interesting. One of the members seemed to also love that section, as, "[T]hey were scandalous lovers people!".)

I picked up "The Rest Falls Away", which was recced by Carl a month or so ago. I have a huge thing for supernatural stories (and shows/movies), so I'll really read almost anything in the genre*, and more often then not, like it**. However, this story, it just didn't grab me, not really, which was a disappointment as I really wanted it to. I mean, Vampires! England! Slayers! I was set up to love this story, and I still can't figure out why I didn't. I'm sort of hoping that it was me (I was stressed, tired, and it was really late), rather than the characters. It wasn't a bad story, there was nothing "wrong"; a nice mix of characters and plots, with some interesting, ala Buffy, twists...I guess it just wasn't what I'd wanted it to be. Which again, could just be me. I'm planning on sending it to a friend who's tastes are pretty much identical to mine to see what she thinks.

(*Yes, I am still reading Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series, although I really can't give a good reason as to why. I'm not liking where most, if not all, of the characters are going, but I still love Anita (who she used to be/my idea of her, whatever.) I won't pay for another book of her's though.)

(**I picked up "Strange Candy", by LKH from the library right before I went out of town and found that I actually really liked a couple of the stories. "A Lust for Cupids" was my favorite; it didn't involve anyone from the Anitaverse, just fun, cuteness, with a nice bit of rage/determination/vengance that made me happy. "Here be Dragons" was also a nice surprise, as it involves psychics who can kill/torture you by invading your dreams, and what happens when they are the monsters they're supposed to be protecting you from. There were also a couple of stories set in the Anitaverse; "The Girl who was Infatuated with Death" I actually enjoyed, as it did feature Anita, Jean-Claude, and Malcolm, who I think is an interesting character.)

I picked up "The Fallen" on a whim; it's the first in a four book series about Lucas, the child of a woman and a fallen Angel. Interesting so far, although not anything really new, but I'm liking it none the less. It's got Angels who think they're on a mission from God and have to wipe out the Fallen angels, as well as the children like Lucas, Fallen angels who are either hiding, helping, or just trying to get back to Heaven, and Lucas, who really doesn't want anything to do with any of it.

I'm still reading Neil Gaiman's "Fragile Things". I find that I can't read too many of his stories at once, because then I don't get to appreciate them and mull over them they way I want to. He's got such a fascinating way of telling a story, of writing it, that I feel I need to take long minutes to read and think before moving on to the next one. He always puts an introduction to his stories in the front of the book, and I read each one of them after I read the story; I don't want to be spoiled. I think my favorite so far is "The Problem with Susan", which anyone who's read the "Narnia" books by C.S. Lewis will pick up on immediately. (Ohh, he's got a new book coming out, about one of the other short stories that's included in this book: "The Facts in the Case of the Departures of Miss Finch".)

Finally, I'm thinking I'm going to switch "The Awakening" and "Bleak House" around. They're going to reshow the Bleak House movies on PBS later this spring, and I want to read the novel before watching it.

Content, content, content

1. subject matter of a document, book, etc, 2. meaning or significance, as of an artistic work.

Well, 5 days into the new year and I've yet to start a book off either of my lists...except, that's not exactly true now, is it? I have "Crime & Punishment" listed, and since I did read another 5 pages (yes, 5 whole pages!) this morning, I guess this means I'm actually on track.

Who would have guessed?

However, as "Crime & Punishment" isn't actually either of the books that I truly think I should be reading, I plan on rectifying that this weekend. "Great Feuds in Mathematics: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever" is on it's way to my local library, so I can't start that, but I do have "A Midwife's Tale" here, along with "Awakening". I also picked up several new books at the library today, including Neil Gaiman's "Fragile Things" and "The City of Falling Angels" by John Berendt, which is the book my rl bookclub selected for this month.

I wasn't able to make that meeting (we read "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan", which I liked), so when I checked my email the next day and saw the selected book I had to laugh; I had just started "Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil", by the same author.

When I first bought this book, it was at a book sale, and I'm pretty sure that it was in the "literary fiction" section, which was why it took me by surprise to find out that this novel was actually non-fiction, or mostly so. (Also, wasn't there a movie by the same name, with John Cusack? Yes, yes there was. I might have to rent that now.)

"Midnight" is an account of the death of Danny Hansford by Jim Williams, his boss, friend, and apparent lover. This isn't just a 'one-side' account of a crime though, as Berendt seems to be more telling the story of the people of Savannah (those alive, those dead, the rich, the poor, the drag Queen Chablis, even the story of Mr. William Simon Glover, who every day walks Patrick, the invisible dog), rather than just William's story. Berendt had already moved to Savannah and begun the process of settling in, having become rather enamoured with the city after recent trips, when Williams shot Hansford one night.

Having just finished the novel, I'm kinda surprised to find that I don't think I liked it, not as a story anyway. As a collection of short stories that were merged together, maybe; or maybe an interesting guide to Savannah (I didn't realize that the town was really that cut off from the rest of the state). The problem (for me) wasn't that I didn't get drawn into this book, but more that I didn't get drawn into they story that we were supposed to get drawn into; this book really does revolve around the death of Danny Hansford, and those were the parts of the novel I didn't care for.

I thought that the "side characters" were great; I got a huge kick out of the Lady Chablis (lovely drag queen who calls Berendt her chauffeur and crashes the Black Debutant Ball, although I think that s/he'd drive me crazy in person) and Joe Odom (the town con-man, but he's so damn charming and like-able that even though you know he's screwing you over, you just don't care). Those were the people I enjoyed reading about, and I'm glad that they were featured quite a bit.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure this all counts as content...

Danielle wrote a post just today about a new challenge that's making the rounds (actually, one of like a dozen I've read about this past week!), the Reading Across Borders Challenge (which is actually Kate's) and for a brief moment (very very very brief), I was tempted. I know that the majority of the books I read are written by U.S. authors, with some British and Canadian ones thrown in for good measure,(Easily. Like 98.76% US.) and that I really should be expanding those horizons at least a little bit more.

I took a quick look around at the books I have and counted over 15 different novels that have all been translated into English. It's a sign, right? Clearly, I can do this challenge...and, half of the books would be classics, so right there are my 6 books. The rest of them are all in my to be read piles, which hello, always a good thing to read through them.

So, someone tell me why I'm NOT doing this challenge? Actually, don't, I know why. Really. I think I'm actually asking you to challenge me, but please, don't. Really. No matter how many challenges I mention here, please, don't encourage me. Last year I did way too many and didn't actually meet a single one, so I've decided that this year, I'm not doing any. (Except Carl's, should he do the R.I.P. Challenge again in October. I've already picked out my books.) Still, I'm going to try and follow along with this, just to get some hint about all the great authors I'm not reading and the fantastic novels I've never heard of before.

The Year in Review

I started this blog with the sole purpose of keeping track of my reading activities; the books I wanted to read, the books I was reading, and my thoughts about all of it. Looking back at my posts, I don't think that I did too badly. Granted, I've had several lapses here due to a variety of reasons (and yes, some of them could have been avoided), but I never stopped reading, so I'm going to say that overall, it's a win.

Now, last December, my first post, I posted several things that I was going to try and do this year, reading-wise. Out of the four of them, I have to say that only one of them was a success. I've posted 67 books in the sidebar, which means that I read 17 more than I "had" to. I only managed to read 5 classical books (I'd hoped for 21) and 5 to be read books (I'd hoped for 12)...hmm, I was almost halfway to meeting that second goal there, wasn't I? In any case, I'm still seeing them as wins, despite the fact that I didn't met my goals, because hey, in each case, I read 5 more in 2006 than I had in 2005. I also managed to read a few books that weren't fiction, although not as many as I would have liked; but a win is a win, yes?

So this year, I'm going to do the same things again: post reading resolutions.
I just have to come up with some first.

Resolution 1: Read more non-fiction.
I know, I always say this, and I always mean it...yet it never seems to happen. I've got dozens of books I want to read, on a variety of topics, but I never seem to even start them. In an effort to do so, I've put 6 of them on hold/reserve/what have you at the library; one for every other month.

1. Great Fueds in Mathematics: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever by Hal Hellman
2. Altered States by Catherine Fisher
3. Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century edited by Rory Dicker and Alison Piepmeier
4. Literature and the gods by Roberto Calasso
5. Before the Fallout: from Marie Curie to Hiroshima by Diana Preston.
(Okay, this one is kind of cheating, since I'd read almost 2/3rds of this work before I had to give it back. Still, I didn't get the chance to finish it, so it's going back on the list.)
6. A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Resolution 2: Read more classical novels
Well, seeing as how I managed to read 5 of these starting in the later half of the year, I think that making a goal of reading 6 should be no problem; yes, one for every other month.

1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
2. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
3. The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
4. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
5. The Vampyre by John Polidori
6. The Inferno by Dante
(7. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky)

Resolution 3: Post weekly, and with content.
Honestly, I think this one is going to be the hardest out of all of them, unsurprising, I'm sure.

And that's it, three goals. I'm not going to bother with the 50 books goal, or trying to read in an alphabetical list (although I might post one if I seem to be reading in that direction). No, instead I'm just going to concentrate on reading these 12 books this year (1 a month, could I have set myself easier goals?) and posting my thoughts.

Happy New Year!

Oh, snap

SNAP.

I really did not mean to let this happen again, but. Well. Good intentions vs the road to Hell. Welcome to my life.

Let's just gloss over that shall we, and get back to the books.

Oh, how I love my precious, precious books. (Also, I need more bookcases because the dear things are super crowded.)

When we left off, I had finished "The House of Mirth" and was starting "Crime and Punishment", with the sole purpose being to complete one challenge this year, dammit (and no, I didn't). I've only been able to read the first 'book' so far, since time, that precious commodity is seemingly so rare these days. I was getting to work early, so I could quickly read a chapter before going to the office, but with the way Seattle traffic has been lately, well, these days I'm starting to feel lucky that I'm making it to work, much less on time. Still, I will continue reading "C&P", since I really am enjoying it.

(Right now, he's just killed the old lady and her sister and is kinda sitting around going 'well huh, I guess I did it.')

I've also missed my last two book club meetings, not because I didn't read them, but I had plans (Baltimore and then the Rolling Stones Concert), so it kind of hit me on Monday that hey...you have a book club meeting coming up and wait, what's the book? ("The Glass Castle", by Jeannette Wells) Oh, right. So, when are you going to read it? Uh, yeah.

I bought it that night and was able to read it Tuesday, which is good as both yesterday and today are crammed full of things to do and places to be.

It was a really quick, and surprisingly entertaining read, for all that her stories about her life growing up were actually pretty damn sad. Her father was an alcoholic who had dreams of making it rich by finding gold and then building the glass castle for his family to live in; he might have been successful as he seemed highly intelligent and creative except he kept drinking away and and all money the family had. Her mother, an artist, really didn't want to be bothered by raising her children or dealing with her husband and so chose to mostly live for her work. Both parents would pretty much leave the kids to themselves, letting them learn and grow and experience for themselves, which sounds like *yay*, but really. It's not. They had rarely seemed to have food, clothes, money, or even a decent place to live. They'd move from town to town whenever the bills got to high and the creditors came looking, sponging off Jeannette's grandmother when they could.

Still, Jeannette has a way of writing these story that make them sound like fun times and not something horribly sad, which I suppose is the point. You know, the whole what doesn't kill you makes you stronger thing.

The House of Mirth

I just finished "The House of Mirth" and man, am I ever depressed now. I started off really not liking Lily Bart one bit, and then I was annoyed with her for being so naive about Trenor, etc, but at the end, oh, I felt for her, I really did.

I don't know that I liked this work, and it certainly took me long enough to read it, but I will say that Lily won me over in the end.

Now, off to "Crime and Punishment". Or, maybe Monday.

Interesting, interesting

This, R.I.P reading challenge looks rather interesting. I won't be joining it (not with only a month and a huge desire to finish "THoM"), but if I was, I think my books would be:


1. Fahrenheit 451
2. Vampyre
3. Bleak House
4. Coraline
5. Ghost Stories (by Edith Wharton)

Guidelines: pick out any 5 books that you want to read that you think meet the very open, broad criteria of being scary, eerie, moody, dripping with atmosphere, gothic, unsettling, etc.

October = Not sunny in Seattle

Well, now that the summer here in Seattle is over (hello rainy fall days), I think it's safe to say that I finally feel like reading again. I just could not get started, or finish, anything, despite picking up several different books. I'm never sure if it's the sudden heat, or the sunny days, or what, but picking up anything more than a comic or a magazine just doesn't happen. (That said, I read a lot of comics and gluten free cooking magazines over the past two months.)

Despite my lack of wanting to read (or post, or read blogs!), I did do some reading. I got my hands on a copy of "Danse Macabre" by Laurell K Hamilton and found it surprisingly decent, compared to the last few in the series. (You were right Colleen, this was pretty good, and much better than the last few). It's still got nothing on the first couple of books, but I'd like to take this as a positive sign.

I also read "The Birth House" by Ami McKay, which I thought was phenomenal. Very beautiful writing, the way she set the tone with a few lines really grabbed me. I did have particular things that I loved, but unfortunately, I was on a plane while reading this and getting access to my bag was impossible. I'll have to re-read it again sometime and try and remember the things that grabbed me. The second book I read while traveling was "Labyrinth" by Kate Mosse, which really didn't grab me at all. It wasn't the going back and forth Alise and Alice that bothered me (which I liked) but by the absolute predictability of it all. I got it because it looked interesting, but I only finished reading it because I was on a plane and had nothing else.

I completely "failed" the Summer Reading Challenge, and while that wasn't unexpected, I really thought I'd do "better" than I did. (I knew I wouldn't read all 14 of those books, but I thought I'd get through at least 8 of them.) That said, I'm still incredibly proud of myself for reading those 4 books; it's more than I'd read the previous summer (0). I'm still working on "The House of Mirth", and to keep myself motivated, I'm doing Sassymonkey's October reading challenge. I've made this one much easier on myself, at least I think so. All I have to do is finish "THoM" and then (re)read "Crime and Punishment". (I know, I know, but I haven't read that book since I was 18 and I since I really liked it, I'm thinking that this one I can do.)

I've been slowly catching up with people's blogs (some of you got quite a few comments from me today) and adding your recent reads to my library list. I've been doing pretty good about not putting too many books on hold all at once, although I think I have about 6 in transit to me now. Speaking of libraries, I'm down to just one now. The King County library system changed their rules/agreement with the SPL because of some sort of imbalance, so now, if you live in the Seattle area, you can't put things on hold at a KCLS library. (You can still check them out, but having two libraries to put things on hold at was the great thing.) And while the SPL is a great library system, I've always thought that KCLS had a much broader selection of books (seems odd, I know, but really, they do).

So I think that's it for now; I still have a few more blogs to (try and) get through today, and I'm toying with the idea of writing down a list of all the books I want to read for the remainder of 2006. Steven Brust has a new one out, but it's been years since I read his last one that I'm thinking a reread of the series is in order.

I know I know I know

Right, so I haven't been doing any reading lately. Not even an on line newspaper (although I have been reading the online version of TV Guide; does that count? Yeah, didn't think so).

I kinda feel bad about this, but at the same time, I just don't want to read. The urge isn't there, which is a problem.

I mean, not only am I completely failing the SRC (still on "The House of Mirth"), but I've got to have "Saturday" read before Tuesday's book club meeting.

However, I have received several new books from my boss-boss (a voracious reader, he decided to unload quite a few from his collections), including:

"The Professor and the Madman" by Simon Winchester. It's been on my list for a few years now, so I'm quite happy with this one.

"The Devil in White City" by Erik Larson. I already own this, so this one will go to my cousin for Christmas.

"Menace in Europe" by Claire Berlinksi...dunno. The title grabbed me.

"On History: and other essays" by Michael Oakeshott. I don't know if he wrote all of these, or collected them, but the name was familiar, so I stole it from my boss's hand.

"Europe: a history" by Norman Davis. I like history, and despite taking AP Euro History, remember very little. Except 1066 was when William conquered England and 1666 was the Great Fire of London.

and then...

"The Scarith of Scormello: a tale of Renaissance forgery" by Ingrid Rowland. Apparently based on facts from a case of forgery during the seventeen century.

"The Meaning of Treason" by Rebecca West. I grabbed this solely because I remember Pages Turned was reading her works.

"The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule" by Joanna Kavenna. Grabbed this because I remember Collene from chasing ray mentioned...well, something about Thule.

The last two, "Infamous Scribblers: the Founding Fathers and the rowdy beginnings of American Journalism" by Eric Burns and "Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker" by James McManus, I picked solely because of my unholy love of Rory Gilmore. (Yes, tv. Evil thing, I know.)

Her character is/will be/wants to be a journalist, hence the first book. During an ep, she was at a poker game where somebody mentioned "fifth street". That's been bugging me for two years.

So that's the new haul, haven't read any of them yet, and probably won't for a while. I'm going out of town this weekend, so I'm hoping that I'll at least START "Saturday".

(Also, my uncle is in the hospital and it is/was pretty serious so that was..well, distracting. Much better now.)

Man, I hope I can kick this summer slump soon.

Back on track

(I hope!)

Right, so I left off at finishing "1984". Immediately after reading that, I started "Animal Farm", which, looking back, was something of a mistake.

"Animal Farm" was an incredibly quick and easy read, but so similar to "1984" that it was all I could do to finish the book. Again, rather a depressing book about life and dictatorships and never getting ahead and being lied to, but at least it was written in an interesting way; I can see why this book is usually assigned in High School English classes.

After that, I started and finished "Tam Lin", by Pamela Dean. I think I heard about this over at ChickLit, but I can't be sure. I know they had a discussion about it though a while back. I skimmed through it because I was hoping that someone else had already compiled all the literary reference that Dean threw in (someone did). If you don't know, Dean rewrote this (Scottish) ballad, setting it during the 70's in a college in Michigan. I have to be honest, while I figured out who "Tam Lin" was, as well as the Fairy Queen, I had no idea about Nick and Robin. That one took me by surprise.

Now, I've started "The House of Mirth" by Edith Wharton, but I'm only 5 chapters in. While I'm enjoying it, especially Lily, I'm getting a bit antsy for the "story" to start...which I think is the wrong mindset. From the bit I've read about this story (and it wasn't much because I didn't want to be spoiled for the ending), the whole story is part and parcel and I just need to keep reading. For some reason though, it's a bit difficult this time around.

Taking stock, since starting the SRC (and I've yet to update since "Sense and Sensibility"; the very first book!), I've read 4 of my 14 books. It would have been 5, had I been able to slog my way through the last half of "The Beautiful and the Damned"...

I knew going in that the odds of me actually meeting my self-imposed challenge were slim, but I really thought I'd have gotten up to at least 8 books read. I know that there's still a bit of time (23 days, right?), but I don't know that I can read 4 classical books (The House of Mirth, Crime and Punishment, The Awakening, and Bleak House) in that length of time.

Still, I'm so going to try.

Where did the time go?

I can't believe I haven't posted in 2 weeks!

That will be rectified tonight!