Eden

Readathon redux

2013-10-12T11:54:28Z

Good afternoon, all! It's nearly time for the readathon to start, so here is the post where I'll do all my updates, and here is the traditional opening picture of me... this time, with my hair just trimmed so it looks less like a bird's nest!

12:50: Might as well gear up by doing the usual questions...

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Rainy Yorkshire, in the UK. Most specifically, from my blanket fort safe inside.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? It's not in my original pile, but probably Thank You, Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse. I haven't read any Wodehouse before: this will be my pick-me-up book when I'm starting to flag.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? Keep reading all the way through, I hope -- I say, beginning to yawn already... I'll probably also make sure to take some short breaks and maybe do a couple of quests on LOTRO (at least it's related to books) when I'm flagging.

Anyway, I shall be starting with Michael White's biography of C.S. Lewis, which is probably the most srs bsns thing I will read today.

13:59: I'm about a third of the way through the biography, and enjoying it. Michael White writes engagingly, and Lewis' more unconventional aspects are interesting. Going to grab my peanut butter bagel now, and then I might do the mini-challenge for this hour before settling back down.

15:09: Now about two thirds of the way through the biography! Something lighter next, I do think... Right now, I need a nice cold drink.

16:07: Nearing the end of this biography, now. I'm not much interested in the mini challenges so far, having pummelled my brain for book spine poetry too many times before, haha.

16:51: Aaand finished. Review here. Now going to reply to comments -- so many cheerleaders this year! thank you all -- and then pick my next book. I definitely need something lighter...

17:43: Now reading Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, which is... not lighter, but at least very different!

18:33: Dinner time! Still reading The Dark Knight Returns, but I haven't got that much left.

19:30: Slight hiccup. Dinner disagreeing with my lack of gallbladder. Am likely to feel increasingly sick all evening. Gah. Still, just finished The Dark Knight Returns. Not a big fan of Batman. Review here.

20:45: Now reading Jane Alison's The Love Artist. Mixed feelings about it -- there's a lot of gorgeous, lush imagery. But somehow it doesn't fit with what I know about the historical period, which is kind of odd considering I'm reading it for a historical fiction course.

22:03: And finished that too, review here. Not sure what next... Looks like the next mini-challenge isn't up yet. None of them have really been tempting me so far.

23:06: I am now reading Terry Pratchett's Dodger, and pondering the joys of a hot bath.

23:25: Definitely bathtime. Bath product: Lush's Floating Island Bath Melt (sandalwood and lemon). Books: Terry Pratchett's Dodger, Katharine Beutner's Alcestis, Karen Lord's The Best of All Possible Worlds, and Laini Taylor's Dreamdark: Blackbringer. I shall report on which ones actually get read when I get out in a few hours...

02:22: Well, I haven't even finished Dodger yet -- and there's nothing that quite disrupts a leisurely bath and readathon like an email from one's professor telling one that there's an exam this week and an essay next week -- but I think once I have finished Dodger, I will actually go to bed. I think I'm getting old or something, but sitting up all night reading doesn't appeal. (Maybe because I'm rather expecting to do that once or twice in November, as while I'm away from Wales I nearly always have fits of insomnia.) Will glance at the latest mini-challenges, and then apply myself to Dodger!

02:39: Well, let's have the mid-event survey...

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? I'm not exactly sleepy, but my body is letting me know that sleep is the better part of valour and once I've finished this book, I'm inclined to.
2) What have you finished reading? Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, Jane Alison's The Love Artist, and Michael White's C.S. Lewis.
3) What is your favorite read so far? My current read, Terry Pratchett's Dodger.
4) What about your favorite snacks? My peanut butter bagel.
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! 'fraid not -- as far as that goes, I'm fairly insular during the 'thon itself, though I chat to people who come round here.

I like the hour thirteen challenge too, so here we go -- as many of these as I can think up easy answers to.

Best Romance Book of Your Reading Year: It'd have to be something by Georgette Heyer. Probably The Grand Sophy or The Talisman Ring.
Best YA Book of Your Reading Year: Perhaps the one that sticks in my mind most is Kate de Goldi's The 10pm Question.
Best Mystery Book of Your Reading Year: Probably one of C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake books.
Best Non-Fiction Book of Your Reading Year: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.
Best Sci-Fi Book of Your Reading Year: Ascension, by Jacqueline Koyanagi, perhaps.
Best Fantasy Book of Your Reading Year: John M. Ford's The Dragon Waiting probably deserves the title best. Karen Lord's Redemption in Indigo was quite high on the list, too.
Best Main Character of Your Reading Year: By so many measures, Steve Rogers.
Best Author of Your Reading Year: Hard to say, but Cherie Priest has gained my appreciation the most.
Best Setting of Your Reading Year: Possibly a cheat, as this was a reread, but it has to be Middle-earth.

...And blow it, I'm applying my athlete's foot treatment and going to bed without even finishing Dodger. I'll enjoy the rest of the readathon more with some sleep. I don't know if I'll ever do the full twenty-four hours again, but it always inspires me to get more reading done than usual anyway.

10:54: Later than planned, I'm back! And I just did the book jenga challenge...

12:04: Still reading Dodger, but I think I'll finish it before the end of the 'thon. For the previous hour's challenge, the book soundtrack, Suzanne Vega's Gypsy to go with Joanne Harris' Chocolat, and here's the final questions too:

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? 9am, when I was originally going to get up from my nap.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? I think that's really according to taste. I think Terry Pratchett's Dodger would do the trick, though.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Nope.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I think there were fewer US only prizes, which I appreciated.
5. How many books did you read? It'll have been four.
6. What were the names of the books you read? C.S. Lewis: The Boy Who Chronicled Narnia, Dodger, The Love Artist, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Probably Dodger.
8. Which did you enjoy least? The Dark Knight Returns.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? N/a.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? Very likely. I think I might read for the first chunk, do a bit of cheerleading, go to bed, and then read again from when I get up.

13:00: Dodger, finished and reviewed here, and just in time!

comments

Readathon!

2013-10-10T22:38:21Z

It's the readathon this weekend! I'm looking forward to it. I've stocked up on library books, charged up my ereaders, and tomorrow I'm nipping into town to see if there's anything else that takes my fancy. I have quite a few books I'm partway through that I'd like to finish, and some books I should read for courses and so on, so the list is a bit gargantuan.

( Readathon pile )

...Which isn't really an exhaustive list, as I may change my mind any minute.

comments

Readathon is here!

2013-04-27T12:19:56Z

Hooray, readathon time! I'm slightly late to post because I was seeing a friend for lunch and then my train was late, but I read on the train, so that's okay!

As is traditional for me, here's my beginning photo!

I think my blog's all prepared for cheerleaders etc. Fingers crossed! I'm running one of the mini-challenges this time round: look out for that in hour 23!

So! ( Here goes )

comments

Hour 23 Mini-challenge: Guess the Author Photo Challenge!

2013-04-24T21:03:59Z

Hi, Readathoners! Welcome to hour 23, and the accompanying mini-challenge. To give your brains a break from all the words (should you need it), my challenge is pretty simple: guess which author each photo/picture portrays. Some are more well-known than others; I've tried to pick a range of genres to give people a chance.

I'm sorry that this challenge is only really for sighted readers -- next time I'll try and come up with something a bit more universal.

Rules:
1. Guess the author identities for as many of the photos as you can and post your answer as a reply to this post, or give me a link to your own blog post where you've completed the challenge. Remember to leave a way for me to get in contact with you!
2. Anyone who gets all five authors in a category, or eight authors overall, will be entered into the draw. You get your name put in multiple times if you guess all the authors in multiple categories correctly.
3. When time is up, I'll pick someone from that group, or whoever got the most if I've made the game too difficult, and they can have one book (below £15/$20 in price!) by any of the authors mentioned in the challenge. I will send it via The Book Depository anywhere they ship to, on the 1st May.
4. ETA: I've had to put this up early 'cause I feel sick. Early participants will still be entered into my draw.

( Fantasy/sci-fi authors )

( Historical fiction authors )

( Authors of the classics )

( Detective/mystery authors )

As suggested by someone, I'm screening replies so people's correct answers can't be copied! Which means I will let you know how well you're doing.

comments

Readathon!

2013-04-23T19:02:51Z

In honour of World Book Night, I'm putting up my pre-readathon post now. I've amassed a pile of dead tree books to read, and there are many more on my ereader, also in the picture. Excited! And very much hoping I can do the whole thing this time.

Here's the photo!

Dead tree books in my pile:
-Katharine Beutner, Alcestis.
-Alan Bradley, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.
-Gillian Bradshaw, The Sun's Bride.
-June Rachuy Brindel, Phaedra and Ariadne.
-Jaine Fenn, Principles of Angels.
-N.K. Jemisin, The Shadowed Sun.
-Alun Lewis, The Green Tree.
-Karen Miller, The Innocent Mage.
-Elizabeth Norton, She-Wolves: The Notorious Queens of Medieval England.
-Rachel Vincent, Stray.

Ebooks I might get round to:
-Saladin Ahmed, Throne of the Crescent Moon.
-Kelley Armstrong, The Awakening.
-L-J Baker, Lady Knight.
-Marie Brennan, The Natural History of Dragons.
-Sarah Diemer, Twixt.
-M.C.A. Hogarth, The Worth of a Shell.
-Phyllis Ann Karr, The Gallows in the Greenwood.
-Margo Lanagan, The Brides of Rollrock Island.
-Philip Palmer, Red Claw.
-Robert Rankin, The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.
-Rosemary Sutcliff, The Shining Company.

...But there are many more, and I might finish any of the above books before Saturday, and I don't expect to read all or even most of those during the 'thon, but hey.

comments

Readathon!

2012-10-11T23:07:02Z

Time for my 24-hour-readathon post! Except, my much belated birthday party is Saturday night, so I'm planning to do some extra catching up time by reading from ten (or whenever I get back from getting the paper) till five tomorrow, and starting early on Saturday. Probably running late on Sunday, too, but it depends how much sleep happens at the belated-birthday sleepover.

Anyway, as usual, I have stacks and stacks of books I want to read. I've picked four from each category of books (in progress, rereads, library books, acquired-unread-2011, acquired-unread-2012) to narrow down my choices... Ideally I'll read a book from each category, but I'm not making any rules beyond sticking to books from this selection.

( Book pile! )

A lot of books, I know. Not sure what I'll be starting with, I suspect I'll pick in the morning at the last minute. All updates for tomorrow will be in here -- I might do another post for Saturday/Sunday.

10:53: Okay, later than I hoped. Anyway, starting with Dancing on the Edge of the World (Ursula Le Guin).

12:08: Just about halfway through the Le Guin. Whether I'm interested in the individual topic or not, I have to admire how this woman can write.

13:14: Just finished Dancing on the Edge of the World. Review here.

14:20: Decided on reading The Hunger Games now. It's actually a reread, but I bought it for my Kindle so I could reread it and get on (finally) to Catching Fire and Mockingjay. I'm already a fifth of the way through.

15:52: Curled up in bed with even a bit of sun coming through the window to warm me, I'm having fun here. Though I'm guessing I'll only finish The Hunger Games, and that barely, before I knock off at five. Might do a couple of hours later, too...

16:56: Finished The Hunger Games and written up my rambling review of it (here) just in time to finish up. I'm going to take a break, stretch my legs a bit, probably play some Dragon Age. Then I might read more!

19:19: I think I'm going to read till ten or so, now. Nine Coaches Waiting (Mary Stewart) appears to be my decision...

21:04: Slightly slower going than I expected, my concentration's a bit shot. I think I'll take a little break, but I want to finish Nine Coaches Waiting tonight.

22:20: Welp, I've painted my nails and been girly, now I'm gonna get back to reading.

23:11: I'm over halfway through Nine Coaches Waiting now, but I don't know about finishing it. We'll see!

00:17: Girlfriend's gone to bed, so I'm going to curl up and focus on the book. If I haven't finished it by half one, though, I must sleep. The romance is making me all fluttery...

01:18: Finished, with breathless excitement. There is a very girlish giggly part of me that Mary Stewart's mystery/romances really speak to. Anyway, here's the review, and I'm off to bed. I'm hoping to participate in a good chunk of the readathon proper, tomorrow, but we'll see.

12:52: Well, I got back from Sainsbury's about in time to start, but I do have to wash my hair... I'll only be around until about four, boo. But, anyway, here's the hour one meme:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? I'm in Cardiff, Wales.
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? You know, I really couldn't choose. They've all been on my to read list for so long.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Grandma's homemade Welsh cakes.
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I'm twenty-three, I should be writing my MA dissertation, I'm having my birthday party two months late today by a trick of epic bad timing.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? Sadly, I don't think I'm going to be around long enough reading to improve on anything that went wrong last time. Well, last time my main advice would've been "don't have a gallbladder", or at least "don't have gallstones", so I am actually okay on that point this time.

14:00: Settled down to read for a while now. Embassytown is my current pick.

15:48: Okay, out now. Hoping to be back later, though!

comments

Table

2012-08-14T13:24:36Z

My cottoncandy_bingo card. Must get round to it!

Northern / Southern Lights	Luxury	Dreams	Communication	Gardening
Marriage proposal (or equivalent)	Cramp (any kind)	Safe	Sleepover	Won't fall in love...oops In love
~~Towel~~	~~Kiss (not on lips / face)~~	~~WILD CARD~~	~~Couple's first time having sex with each other~~	~~Sunburn~~
Good luck charm	Desert	Permission	Back rub	Fruit
Partners	Watching someone	Internet / Social media	Lost / Hoarse Voice	Accident

comments

Readathon post #2

2012-04-21T16:37:43Z

17:35: Yep, I did just spend the last twenty minutes putting together an answer for this hour's challenge.

"The Fall of the Kings: Here Lies Arthur Under Heaven, Last Defender of Camelot; Nevermore The King Awakes".

Yes, I racked my brains for ages to come up with an Arthurian one. Titles that nearly got in: Whose Body?, King Arthur's Bones, The Final Reckoning.

18:28: Just went off to have dinner, apply copious amounts of Bonjela to my ulcer (owww), and take some anti-spasmodics lest the dinner cause gallbladder trouble (fucking stones). Now I am back and about to start reading again, after spending dinner regaling my family with tales from Howard Carter's excavation of Tutankhamen's tomb.

Aaand the mini-challenge for this hour, to imagine how you would entertain the author of one of the books you've been reading...

1. Title and author of the book: The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, Dorothy L. Sayers.
2. The menu: the food, the beverage: It'd have to involve some very good wine. I could copy out the menu Lord Peter designs for Ann Dorland near the end of the book, but that would probably be cheating, though it's a known fact that Sayers gave Wimsey the things she wanted. Anyway, some very good wine -- aged for a decent period of time -- and, hmm, probably oysters and such things. The wine is the most important part.

19:15: Still reading about Tutankhamen. Here's my mini-challenge response for the hour, a 'found poem' based on the book I'm currently reading:

'three thousand year old
linen; tombs with paint so bright
it still seems fresh now

a thumbprint in clay
overlaid by the living
thumb of a woman

reaching back to the
past; opening the tomb of
knowledge long hidden

"Tutankhamen: the
Life and Death of a Boy King" --
Christine El Mahdy.'

20:40: Still on the same book! Here's my response to the mini-challenge of the hour, set dressing for my current read...

21:54: First mini-challenge I'm not participating in -- I could, but I'm not interested in the prize. I'd rather someone who is get it. So anyway, still on the same book -- non-fiction always takes me longer. And I just got taken aside to have my eczema dressed with iodine to deal with some skin infections: three dressings on my arms and three on my face. I look ridiculous!

22:43: Just finished the book on Tutankhamen. Review here.

23:18: Looks like I won back in hour five! I shall have to look at TBD and decide on a prize next time I'm feeling sleepy and unmotivated. In the meantime, just took co-codamol for my wisdom teeth pain, ugh. Whatever shall I read next?

00:09: Just took part in this hour's challenge. I'm now reading The Broken Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin -- I hope I'll get round to reading The Kingdom of Gods, the sequel, before the readathon ends: I'm meant to be going home on Monday morning, and I don't want to have to drag it back with me again.

01:13: Mid-event survey...

1) How are you doing? Sleepy? Are your eyes tired? I'm not sleepy, though I might be if I wasn't in intense pain! Yay, gallstones. Fun for all the family.
2) What have you finished reading? The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Dorothy L. Sayers), Brook Street Rogues (Ava March), Sleeping Beauty, Indeed (ed. JoSelle Vanderhooft), Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Boy King (Christine El Mahdy). I'm in the middle of The Broken Kingdoms (N.K. Jemisin).
3) What is your favorite read so far? Hmmm, probably the Sayers: I always love Lord Peter.
4) What about your favorite snacks? I have nommed a Snickers bar or two, which has probably not helped with the aforementioned intense pain!
5) Have you found any new blogs through the readathon? If so, give them some love! I haven't really been looking at blogs; I tend to do that the day after. I've only wandered by the blogs belonging to the hosts of mini-challenges. They've all been very fun, though!

02:00: Bugger. I have to stop now, the pain is just ridiculous, and I had to take a painkiller that will knock me out. I'll rejoin if I wake up in time. Goodnight, all.

03:40: Can't sleep so I'm back to reading. Karen Maitland's Company of Liars.

05:23: Really enjoying this book, but taking advantage of an ebb in pain to try to sleep. Tempted to keep reading -- I don't think I'd have trouble staying up for the rest of the 'thon, but I do need sleep to get better...

12:50: I drifted in and out of consciousness for the rest of the night, but didn't get much more reading done. Here's the final meme.

1. Which hour was most daunting for you? Around 1am, BST. That's when the pain first hit.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year? N.K. Jemisin's books, definitely, and also Karen Maitland's Company of Liars -- that kept me engaged through the pain.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Fewer US-only prizes. Instead of using Amazon.com for prizes, use The Book Depository, that ships almost worldwide.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon? I really enjoyed the selection of mini challenges.
5. How many books did you read? I finished four, and dipped into another three.
6. What were the names of the books you read? The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Dorothy L. Sayers), Brook Street Rogues (Ava March), Sleeping Beauty, Indeed (ed. JoSelle Vanderhooft), Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Boy King (Christine El Mahdy). I'm in the middle of The Broken Kingdoms (N.K. Jemisin) and Company of Liars (Karen Maitland), and dipped in and out of the audiobook of Good Omens (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett).
7. Which book did you enjoy most? Hard to say -- I think I was most surprised by how much Company of Liars sucked me in.
8. Which did you enjoy least? I didn't read anything I really disliked, but the Christine El Mahdy was the hardest going.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders? I wasn't an official cheerleader, but I did drop some comments by. The best comments are ones that engage with what people are doing and reading: I had some lovely cheerleaders who tried to cheer me up when I was in pain, and some nice conversations about what I was reading. That works better than some kind of copy/paste "cheer".
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time? I will, and I'll be a reader. I may host a mini-challenge someday: it's a nice way to get involved and I like getting books out there to people who want them...

Now I'm going to settle down to a day of, well, reading.

comments

Readathon!

2012-04-21T11:46:09Z

It's nearly time for the readathon! Here I am all ready for it, after a good long sleep in (bless the fact that the readathon starts at 1pm here), still all cosy in my jammies and dressing gown. I have no idea what I'm going to start with, and I suppose I will only know when I pick up my Kindle and find out what book is open on it. I'll let you know... Updates will be on this post, as ever, until it gets ridiculously long.

13:03: 1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

This time, I'm reading from Yorkshire, England.

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I'm not sure, since I'm mainly planning to wing it. I know I'll enjoy most of the ones I've definitely planned to read!

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Mini Snickers bars. Om nom nom.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

I'm twenty-two, and I plan to make reading my career (in the shape of doing a PhD and then becoming a lecturer and researcher).

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

This time, I'll stay up all through! Last time I just couldn't stay up all night due to medication, but this time I think I can manage it.

14:02: First book finished! The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Oh, Lord Peter.

Hmm, here's this hour's challenge:

1. If you could read any book that’s been translated into English in its ORIGINAL language, what would it be?

Oh, hell, that's difficult, because I can read most of the stuff I'm interested in, with glosses. I suppose something in Old French or Middle High German -- Diu Crône, by Heinrich von dem Türlin, maybe.

2. Include the original book’s cover if possible; if you want, also post the English cover for comparison.
3. Optional imaginary bonus points: post a sentence from the book in its original language.

Unfortunately, a quick google does not reveal any photographs or reproductions of the original manuscript, and I haven't got a dual-language edition. But it's a perfectly fantastic grail story, in which Sir Gawain is the hero.

Here's my review of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, anyway.

15:11: Just finished reading an ARC from Netgalley -- Brook Street Rogues, by Ava March. And here's my mini-challenge response (although I can't win, as this one is US only)...

( Book puzzle )

I'll tell you what it is in the next hour, if no one has guessed.

16:04: I'm now reading Sleeping Beauty, Indeed (ed. JoSelle Vanderhooft), and I just did this hour's mini-challenge. The day is just speeding away from me -- how is it past four already? I might actually have to get dressed...

16:46: Review of Sleeping Beauty, Indeed. I've been finished for a while, but I've been attending to business, like actually getting dressed -- and pinning back the annoying little bits of my hair that kept tickling my face. Also, not sure what to read next. I might take the last fifteen minutes of this hour to flirt with a couple of different books before settling down again.

17:09: Not much flirting was required! Tutankhamen: The Life and Death of a Boy King, by Christine El Mahdy, arrived this morning, just in time, and I think I'll read that now.

comments

Readathon!

2012-04-20T16:54:28Z

It's nearly the readathon again! Tomorrow, to be precise. I only realised last night, and only just signed up.

I am pretty much planning to read whatever catches my eye, but here's a list of possibilities:

-N.K. Jemisin, The Broken Kingdoms.
-N.K. Jemisin, The Kingdom of Gods.
-Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana.
-June Rachuy Brindel, Ariadne.
-June Rachuy Brindel, Phaedra.
-Karen Maitland, Company Of Liars.
-David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower.
-Stuff from Netgalley.
-Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books.
-Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens audiobook. (If I need a break.)

I shall be reading dead tree books as well as reading on my Kindle and my tablet.

And now I'm going to poke at the library ebook lending service again to see if there's anything interestin' there.

comments

Readathon! First post

2011-10-22T10:04:59Z

I'm starting the readathon early, so I can still get in twenty-four hours, since I'm going to lunch with my grandmother, who just got out of hospital, on Sunday. So I'm starting, well, about now, 11am GMT.

Because I like to start with a photo, here is a photo of me with my first book, Garth Nix's The Fall. If I still look fluffy and bed-heady and pajama'd, that'd be because I am.

Check back here for updates -- there will be a new post when this starts getting long.

11:55: Finished the first book, Garth Nix's The Fall. Total reading time: forty-three minutes. It's so short, it felt like cheating. Not sure what I'll read next. Realised I forgot to link to my 'stack': here. Writing a review of The Fall now...

12:06: Review up here. Now reading Jeanette Winterson's Lighthousekeeping, I think. I wish they hadn't picked today to fix the giant hole they made in the pavement outside...

13:01: Half an hour left of Lighthousekeeping, which I'm enjoying very much. And the first hour's meme:

1)Where are you reading from today?
Cardiff, Wales. Mostly from my bed, at the moment.

2)Three random facts about me…
a) My desk chair is unbearably squeaky.
b) Unrelatedly, my father's affectionate petname for me is Squeak.
c) I am doing a module on Tolkien for my medieval lit Master's degree. Be jealous.

3)How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours?
About twenty-five. I've given myself lots of options!

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)?
Finish at least two of the books I've stalled with.

5)If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time?
Make sure you're comfortable. You might risk falling asleep that way, but sleep will be much less tempting if you're not aching all over by hour fourteen.

14:34: Finished Lighthousekeeping. Total reading time, fifty-nine minutes. Reviewing now. Took a picture for the hour two meme, character photos. It's my silver and Welsh rose gold Clogau necklace, because the protagonist of Lighthousekeeping is called Silver and because the narrative is warm like the rose-gold. Here is the photo.

Also showered and put the oven on to pre-heat. Mini Cornish pasties, here I come!

14:59: Review up, here, and tiny Cornish pasties in hand. Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle next, I think. Not taking part in this hour's meme.

16:21: Finished and reviewed Cat's Cradle. Review here. Not taking part in this hour's meme, either, since it's pretty limited. Not sure what to read next...

16:47: Finally decided to read Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak.

18:00: I'm only about 30% of the way through Speak. It's been a slow hour. I've been yawning a lot, but a comfortable sort of yawn, not a sleepy one... Not doing the memes for the past two hours.

18:58: Still working on Speak. It shouldn't take me too long to finish, now. Not doing this hour's meme either.

19:30: Finished Speak and put up a review, here. Not sure what I want to read now. I'm going to take a tiny break and play Glitch, then have a stretch and see about dinner. I've been readathoning for nearly nine hours, now...

20:51: Stalled for a while there by the need to put some more books on my Kindle and eat dinner. Now settling down with Diana Wynne Jones' The Dark Lord of Derkholm.

21:51: Still up, and still reading, but I've decided that for various reasons, I do actually need to sleep tonight. Plus, I've only just got back the urge to read after mental health issues, and I really don't want to burn myself out. So I'm sort of stopping participating now -- I'm still going to read if I feel like it after I've had a bit of a rest, but I might not check in here.

comments

Readathon!: The Reading Pile

2011-10-19T22:23:58Z

I've been in a rut with reading for a while. That's partly due to mental health issues, partly due to the fact that I've just started my master's degree and I'm getting into the swing of reading and research for that. (Just completed the best mini-project ever, research-wise: dragons!)

Anyway, the point is, the 24-hour readathon is coming up -- this Saturday, in fact. And I'm free weekends. In fact, I'm free most of the week, so I even get plenty of time to recover. So despite my general lack of get-up-and-go when it comes to reading, I'm hoping this event is going to help me catch up a bit and find my feet. I have a long, long list of books I may read, to provide me with something to direct my reading, without limiting my options too much. I've got a load of books I'm stranded halfway through, so I'm hoping to read those, and others I've got that I've been meaning to read for weeks or months. Others that just appealed.

Because I love lists, I've actually made lists of books for each group separately!

( Take a look-see )

Of course, even that I'm not taking as a limitation -- just a sense of direction. If something else appeals, hey, I'll go for it.

What should I start with? Something I'm already partway through, for an easy (or quicker, anyway) way to finish off a first book, or start with something fresh to get me turning pages?

comments

Burning down your personal library

2011-09-26T09:36:50Z

I have a confession to make.

I have, so far in my life, owned two dedicated ereaders and three other devices capable of reading electronic books.

( It really irks me that that feels like a confession. )

comments

Reviews - Ben Aaronovitch, Jo Walton

2011-08-14T08:47:14Z

Two batches of reviews for you, this fine morning.

( Rivers of London & Moon Over Soho, by Ben Aaronovitch: Aspiring wizard gets led around London by his dick, aka The Dresden Files In London )

( The King's Peace, The King's Name, & The Prize in the Game, by Jo Walton: Alternate history/fantasy Arthurian retelling, with elements from The Tain, and prominent gay characters )

comments

Reviews: Ariel Tachna, Michael Scott Rohan, Kate Mosse, Amanda Downum, Felix Gilman

2011-08-03T14:17:46Z

I'm always saving reviews up until I have a bundle to post -- and then the bundle gets too big. Oops. My reviews on goodreads always get posted as I finish the books in question, though, so follow me there if you want more regular (and more complete) updates on my reading material.

Oh, and starting this update, I'm going to try and put a little description by the cut, since I'm guessing it might help people find the reviews of mine that they're more interested in.

( The Inventor's Companion, by Ariel Tachna: Steampunk gay romance with examination of slavery/prostitution/caste systems )

( The Anvil of Ice, by Michael Scott Rohan: Relatively generic fantasy )

( The Winter Ghosts, by Kate Mosse: Predictable mystery with ghosts )

( The Drowning City & The Bone Palace, by Amanda Downum: Political fantasy with necromancy and trans characters )

( The Half-Made World, by Felix Gilman: A sea of moral ambiguity in the key of steampunk and Western )

comments

Reviews - Bob Burke, Philip Reeve, Poul Anderson, Sarah Rees Brennan

2011-07-21T16:16:56Z

( The Third Pig Detective Agency - Bob Burke )

( Here Lies Arthur - Philip Reeve )

( Hrolf Kraki's Saga - Poul Anderson )

( A Midsummer Tempest - Poul Anderson )

( The Demon's Lexicon - Sarah Rees Brennan )

comments

Reviews - Jacqueline Carey

2011-07-21T16:12:50Z

I don't think there are major spoilers in here, but just in case and since the third book came out very recently...

( Review of the Naamah trilogy: cut for potential spoilers )

comments

Reviews - Cindy Pon, Ursula Le Guin, Diana Wynne Jones, Poul Anderson, Marcus Sedgwick

2011-06-20T18:26:48Z

( Fury of the Phoenix, by Cindy Pon )

( The Wild Girls, by Ursula Le Guin )

( Hexwood, by Diana Wynne Jones )

( Two Poul Anderson reviews )

( The Book of Dead Days, by Marcus Sedgwick )

comments

Reviews - Ellen Kushner, Patricia A. McKillip, Janet McNoughton

2011-06-20T18:23:43Z

The theme of this post is Thomas the Rhymer/Tam Lin.

( Thomas the Rhymer, by Ellen Kushner )

( Winter Rose, by Patricia A. McKillip )

( An Earthly Knight )

comments

Reviews - Malinda Lo, Sarah Diemer, Juliet Marillier

2011-06-20T18:19:54Z

A couple of groups of reviews going up now in a minute, because I realised how big a backlog I have...

( Huntress, by Malinda Lo )

( The Dark Wife, by Sarah Diemer )

( Heart's Blood, by Juliet Marillier )

comments

Review - Evangeline Walton

2011-06-17T23:58:15Z

Prince of Annwn (Evangeline Walton)

Prince of Annwn is the first in a series of retellings of the Four Branches of the Mabinogion. Evangeline Walton wasn't Welsh, but nonetheless she made herself very familiar with the sources, and while she added to the story, there was nothing that I could see that wasn't in the spirit of it. She expanded and humanised the stories of the Mabinogion, giving Pwyll more of a journey and an arc of character growth, and adding a conflict between older faiths and new ones. At times there was a bit of endorsement of the 'Universal Spirit' idea: "In essence all Gods are the same, and one; but few mortals have glimpsed that Untellable Glory, and no human mind may hold it." Which, given that I'm a Unitarian Universalist, appeals to me.

Evangeline Walton's prose is clear and easy to read, and while at times there's a touch of the archaic about the phrasing and such, it doesn't get ridiculous or bogged down in it, and sometimes Pwyll's thoughts are refreshingly modern and direct. There are some beautiful passages, too. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the tetralogy.

The Children of Llyr (Evangeline Walton)

The second of Evangeline Walton's retellings of the Four Branches of the Mabinogion, The Children of Llyr is heartwrenching. The story of Pwyll, Prince of Annwn -- it's harrowing enough at times, fearing that he's messed everything up, that nothing will be good again... But the story of the children of Llyr is something else again, the destruction of two races, of a whole way of life.

It's better than the first book, to my mind: it got under my skin so much, so that I could hardly bear to keep reading, but I could hardly bear to stop. I fell in love with Manawydan, especially, and ached for Branwen, for Nissyen, and even at the end for Evnissyen. Evangeline Walton really brought the tales to life, here, and made them feel vibrant and urgent and pressing. She had to add less, I think, to make the story interesting, so it's also perhaps more true to the source.

My only complaint is the slight preachiness, near the end, where Bran the Blessed talks about governments and so on. It's an anachronism, which the text acknowledges, and it pulled me out of it.

There's such a sense of inevitability, of doom, of all the bright things going dull... I loved it. Much as I love the stories of the Mabinogion, my heritage, they weren't set on fire for me until reading this.

The Song of Rhiannon (Evangeline Walton)

The Song of Rhiannon, a retelling of the Third Branch of the Mabinogion, isn't as powerful as The Children of Llyr, which is a relief, in a way. There's a time of healing for the characters, as well as what they suffer during the action of the story, and there's a happy end for them as well. It continues to follow the characters of Manawydan, Rhiannon, Pryderi and Kigva. There are actually few other characters in the story, fleshed-out or not, but the character of the Bogey made me smile quite a bit, as did his interactions with Manawydan.

Once more, Evangeline Walton brings the characters to life. I can't remember anything in the Mabinogion about some of the elements she introduces, e.g. about Pryderi's father, but they all seem to belong quite naturally.

If I didn't already care about Pryderi, Rhiannon and Manawydan, though, I don't know how much I would have loved this book. The retelling of the Second Branch is the strongest so far, and can stand alone, but this can't, to my mind.

I have serious love for her version of Manawydan, in all his wisdom and dignity and his love for his land.

The Island of the Mighty (Evangeline Walton)

Island of the Mighty retells the last branch of the Mabinogion, the story of Gwydion, Arianrhod, Llew Llaw Gyffes, Blodeuwedd and Goronwy. It begins with a retelling of stealing the pigs belonging to Lord Pryderi. Gwydion uses this to provoke war, allowing his younger brother to rape the king's footholder. This also leads to the death of Pryderi, which doesn't endear Gwydion to the reader who has also read the retellings of the other three branches -- and also to the disgracing of Arianrhod and the birth of Llew Llaw Gyffes.

The themes Evangeline Walton explored in the other books come to fruition here, as power passes more and more from women to men, even power over birth and the rearing of children. Arianrhod is not very sympathetically dealt with, I have to say: often Walton's work suggests that the passing of women's power is a bad thing, but Arianrhod is capricious and unkind, considered by characters and text unnatural -- for the crime of not having wanted to bear a child! Blodeuwedd isn't treated with much sympathy here, and the other women are barely characters.

It's hard to sympathise with most of the characters here, particularly as they stir up war, steal, lie and trick each other. I still enjoyed it as a retelling and think Walton dealt well with the material, but I wish she'd been kinder to Arianrhod and Blodeuwedd, who were both unable to fit in the patriarchal society that wanted power over women's bodies, and expected them to abide by two conflicting sets of rules.

comments

Reviews - Rachel Swirsky

2011-06-09T12:04:32Z

A Memory of Wind (Rachel Swirsky)

When I saw a review of this book, and found out I could download it free from Tor.com (here), I was intrigued. I love stories about Greek myth -- actually, retellings of any myth -- and especially those which bring back the lost voices of women of these stories. So I downloaded it right away. It's a short story, really, so it doesn't take very long to read, and it drew me in from the first paragraphs: the way she describes Iphigenia going toward the sacrifice, losing everything she had before, is amazing.

There was one moment at the beginning which put me off, and that was the description of Odysseus as really wanting war. If I remember rightly, in the Iliad, he actually pretends to be mad to avoid going to war, and is only pulled into it when they prove he's sane by the fact that he won't run over his son with the plow he's using.

I liked the view of Clytemnestra this offered -- the moment in the cart when Iphigenia looks at her mother's hands, knotted by arthritis. That's a really powerfully real image, to me.

The writing is poetic, evocative. I really liked it, and especially the very last paragraph, which works so well.

The Monster's Million Faces (Rachel Swirsky)

This short story is available at Tor.com, here. I didn't like it as much as The Memory of Wind; Rachel Swirsky's writing is as effective, here -- more to the point, perhaps, sharper, somehow -- but it didn't sink its hooks into me. Perhaps because I didn't let it, because I've had therapy, and it is hard, and this situation just seemed... too easy. Even though it takes so many tries for him to get something that worked, it still seemed too easy. Perhaps if there had been more doubt, more emptiness at the end -- maybe if it had ended on the line, 'No reason at all,' where the reader is left to do that bit more work. If the story ended there, you're left to wonder if that scenario really did ever lay anything to rest, or whether the narrator was still left without any help. I guess because I believe that everyone is different, that no one thing works for everyone. I do believe there is a cure for everyone, but I don't believe in forcing everyone down the same path. I wouldn't even want my mind altered in this way.

Maybe the technology is possible, maybe it will be like that one day, but for now it felt like cheating. It didn't ring true.

Eros, Philia, Agape (Rachel Swirsky)

Eros, Philia, Agape is lovely. It's available, like the other short stories by Rachel Swirsky that I've been reading, on Tor.com, here. It's a lovely story, which reminds me a little of Isaac Asimov's The Positronic Man -- except more emotional, more evocative, more tender and more sad. Despite how short it is, it creates a world and characters I fully believe in, and the writing is lovely. My heart was in my throat while reading parts of it, just for the aching tenderness in it.

I think perhaps my favourite detail is that little Rose wants to be a robot like her father. Of course she does, it makes so much sense, and the way she insists on it is just -- ouch, my heart.

Oh, and I love that there's a gay couple in the background, matter of fact and loving.

(A warning, though: there are brief descriptions of childhood abuse and rape. They're very brief and not explicit.)

comments

Reviews - Allen Raine, Caradoc Evans, Lewis Jones

2011-05-14T22:25:03Z

A while ago I promised some Welsh Fiction in English reviews. Here goes... Organised by author, with a little preamble.

( Allen Raine )

( Caradoc Evans )

( Lewis Jones )

comments

Reviews - Joe Haldeman

2011-05-06T20:12:24Z

The Forever War (Joe Haldeman)

The Forever War is pretty pacy, easy to read. Sometimes the long descriptions of technology or warfare get a bit wearing, and there isn't enough of the human angle, but by about halfway through, I was starting to care without realising it, and by about seventy percent of the way through, I felt like I got a kick in the stomach when one of the few things that seemed like it was going to be a constant stopped.

I know very little about the Vietnam War, so I know very little about the climate this book came out of. The end, the moral of the story, reminds me a bit of Ender's Game, and something in the tone and so on reminds me of John Scalzi's Old Man's War. I definitely didn't like this as much, though.

At first glance, you might either see it as annoyingly homophobic (the main character is a homophobe, just a bit) or somewhat encouraging (whole societies become exclusively homosexual, with heterosexuality being deviant). I think it's a bit more complicated than that. There's the narrator's prejudice -- examples in this review -- and then there's the fact that he ends up being the only one, but the thing that clinches it is, for me, the end. For all that I'm emotionally engaged in the particular couple, it irritates the heck out of me that at the end, heteronormativity wins: the main character meets up with his female lover, and one of his surviving homosexual friends decides to get therapy to make him straight.

I don't know where Joe Haldeman stands when it comes to sexuality, now or back in the seventies, but I think The Forever War does come out on the side of heteronormativity, in the end.

Forever Free (Joe Haldeman)

I really enjoyed Forever Free, a direct sequel to The Forever War, with many of the same characters -- up to a point. I liked the set-up, although it was slow, because it rang true for the characters and promised more adventures to come. It was obvious that it was going to go wrong, of course, but that was going to be the interesting part.

And at first, it definitely was. I was intrigued by what scientific explanations Haldeman would come up with, and vaguely thought I remembered reading about the ruins of an older civilisation on some of the planets mentioned in The Forever War, and wondered if it was anything to do with that... There were hints from the Taurans about going into the unknown, okay, so maybe there is some clue somewhere as to what happened...

And then things went weird. Suddenly a new set of aliens showed up, but they had nothing really to do with it and were just an exposition device. And then -- pop! Another alien shows up, and shit gets philosophical.

It didn't hang together, for me.

Forever Peace (Joe Haldeman)

Forever Peace is an interesting book in itself, describing how the group mind from The Forever War/Forever Free could come about, but I didn't really engage with it very much emotionally. Partially because the main character, Julian, is self-destructive and emotionally off. It's self-defence, perhaps. It's not a headspace I want to spend much time in. At least it's reasonably well handled.

It isn't really connected to the other books very closely, either, which doesn't help, and the switching between first/third person is odd: sometimes it felt natural, and at other times, really jarred.

I enjoyed it, in parts, but it sort of leaves me shrugging a bit in ambivalence, too. I didn't have the same compulsive drive to read just a few more pages that I did with the other two books.

And a quick opinion poll: I've been reading a lot of Welsh literature, and have been posting the reviews only on goodreads. Would anyone like a selection of my reviews of Welsh lit (probably the ones of my favourites) to be posted here, or are you all as ambivalent as I thought you would be?

comments

Reviews - Josh Lanyon, Lois McMaster Bujold, Joanne Harris

2011-05-03T10:54:46Z

Reminder: I don't post all my reviews here, so add me on goodreads (here)if you want to see all of them.

Don't Look Back (Josh Lanyon)

Started reading this when I was awake with a stomach ache at five in the morning. It's very readable, and kept my attention, even in that state -- and I finished it in one go today. It's pretty standard fare for Josh Lanyon, in the sense that there were no surprises, but he always manages to make it readable, and I enjoyed the character growth these particular characters had to go through, particularly that surrounding Peter and his friend Cole.

The sex scenes were pretty numerous, given the dream sequences, but there was one in particular that was really effective. The others I could've taken or left, but there was one in the middle that I thought was really well done and revealed things about both characters and their relationship.

I also liked the background friendships with Roma and Jessica. It'd be nice if there'd been more of their involvement, rather than the rather expositiony way they were handled.

For lazy, quick reading, I really have to learn that there's none better than Josh Lanyon. I'd been a bit reading-blocked, if that's possible, just working away on The Decameron and course books, but hopefully this unstoppered it a bit.

Shards of Honour (Lois McMaster Bujold)

Normally I wait to post reviews here until I've read the whole series, but that'll be quite a while with Bujold, so I'll give her a tag of her own instead.

I've been meaning to read Bujold's books for a while. Everyone has sung her praises, it seems -- though there hasn't been a reliable consensus on which book to start with, Cordelia or Miles, so I finally plumped for doing things chronologically. I'm told the later books are higher quality, but I do like to begin at the beginning.

I didn't really understand the hype about this book, in any case. I did enjoy it, but it didn't blow me away: I've read plenty of speculative fiction which I found fresher and/or more profound. I did enjoy the characters, but I didn't live in their skins with them; it was reasonably well paced, but there were sections where it was far too easy to put the book down. I didn't get deeply absorbed in the political game being played, either: it was functional, certainly, but not riveting. I did get quite involved with the fate of Bothari, and there was horrible pathos in the situation with him and Elena. That aspect of the books isn't simple at all, and I did connect with that. The aftermath section really affected me, too.

Definitely looking forward to continuing with the series, but not deeply in love with it (yet?).

Blackberry Wine (Joanne Harris)

The first time I tried to read Blackberry Wine apparently wasn't the right time to try to read this book. This time, though, I read it practically all in one go -- with, yeah, a glass of wine. Joanne Harris' prose is always easy to read, really clear, and I can believe in the characters she creates at least enough to carry on to the very last page. Joe, in particular, rang true with me: a miner's son, a gardener, a Yorkshire lad... Jay, perhaps not as much, particularly not at the beginning, but yes, enough that I cared what happened to him.

I love the everyday magic that Joanne Harris' characters work. Just normal enough that you can believe it's true for a while. Just close enough to coincidence or wishful thinking that if you can't step over into fantasy, you don't have to.

I don't think I'm likely to reread any of Joanne Harris' books: I guess to me they're a bit like chocolate, or a bottle of wine. You can only have the experience once. But I do greatly enjoy them, and will be sad when there are no more that I can read.

comments