Well, unless the fates are kind and my kids sleep this afternoon, I am not going to get Sun and Shadows by Ake Edwardson finished by midnight as we have our annual New Year's Party to go to. And I didn't get to finish Eat, Pray, Love, which had to go back to the library. And I haven't finished Rapture by Carol Duffy, nor Owls and Other Fantasies by Mary Oliver (both poetry), nor Walter Mosley's You Can Write a Book This Year. so I can't include them in my yearly totals, as I was planning to. Rats! The demands of the holidays (one birthday party, two Christmas meals, one party tonight) have meant reading time is gathered over meals or in spare moments here and there. To be fair, I have been catching up on movies - Love Actually, quickly becoming a Christmas tradition for us, the first two episodes of Dr Who Season One, my surprise gift (and best one) of the holidays, from my husband, and always, endless kids movies in the background as they watch theirs while the snow falls endlessly outside. We are getting out to play, but time to myself is rarer than the dodo bird this season! Which is why I was up to 3 am last night doing a retrospective of this year, and deciding it was the year of "What the f---?" So many unpleasant things happened or had to be done, things that emotionally I am still coming to terms with. Looking back at work also, it has been an enormously stressful year of staff changes that are already continuing into the New Year. And yet, it has not been a bad year for my immediate family's health- other than my bad asthma attack last Feb (which started the 'what the -?' sequence!) , it's been good for us. For other family members it is mixed- my mother finally had her knee operation, which has been completely successful; but Toby's mother has to have her knee operated on now, his grandmother fell and is still recuperating from breaking her leg, and my brother still does not know what caused the emergency surgery earlier this month. The main highlight this year for us was our holiday in Picton that we all talk about even now, 4 months later; and we are happy in our home (despite the toilet, front porch and wiring that desperately need fixing). I am settled for the first time in my adult life, and love the part of Ottawa we live in, and I have permanent work for the first time in 16 years! I suppose I could call it life continuing; and certainly things could have been worse. Holly-Anne could have been terribly hurt in the car accident in October, my son could have been stupider than he already has been this year and gotten caught by someone other than me, and my brother might have cancer. In the end, I'm just glad this year is over.
And yet, and yet - I finished the first draft of my novel, and that is what I am proudest of this year. It needs many rewrites etc! but it is an achievement in itself, and in spite of the continuing dramas in my life, I was able to find the quiet space to write in, that Doris Lessing in her Nobel Prize acceptance speech this year, said that writers needed to have in order to write. That space of my own, that solitude and quiet. In the midst of the chaos of life, I was able to create something more. I wouldn't trade my life for anything, now. I can hope for a quieter year, next year! And back to getting up at 5:30 a.m to write, since that is my quiet time of the day.
So as I look over my books read, and my accomplishments, victories, and defeats, I see it was a year in which I challenged myself - to write, to deepen my commitment to my spiritual beliefs, to find my way in love and trust it, and to begin to cut out the extraneous bits so I can live the life I dream of, where I have space to read, write, raise my children, love my family and friends, and create what is most meaningful to me. I wish the same for you, my Gentle Readers. Time this coming year to read, to make what is important to you a priority this year, to make your life reflect you. May you have a happy 2008 and find wondrous new books to read!
My year in books:
37 books read (wah! much less than I hoped for....)
Fiction - 33 Non-Fiction - 2
Mystery - 17
Fantasy - 12
Fiction - 3
Horror - 3
Oh well, not as many as I hoped for, but still, considering I work full-time and am raising 3 kids, not bad. Just have to read more and watch less tv! And considering I plan on doubling my books read for 2008......I have to confess, I can hardly wait until tomorrow! Jan 1, 2008, and I can begin reading all those lovely, wonderful new books on my shelves! Reading challenges, commence! Hurrah!
Monday, 31 December 2007
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
My Top 10 List
Ok, I was putting this off until later in the month, but it looks like I will only get Eat, Pray, Love finished by the end of the week, and then it's Christmas and not sure when I will get to read! So.....the funny thing is, reading over the books I have read this year, none really made it to my all-time list. Some years I read so many books that I instantly fall in love with. This year seemed to be the year when I read lots of continuing books in series, or read books I enjoyed, but not necessarily would give copies to other people to read.
The Naming of the Dead - Ian Rankin - my favourite mystery author. And this book was one of the best ones, with Rebus taking on Bush on a bicycle in Scotland, and the shocking slide of Siobhan Clarke to the dark side.
Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde - these two books are number 2 and 3 in the Thursday Next series. I love this series. I love the books that Thursday jumps into, the characters she meets - the scene of the therapist with the group from Wuthering Heights is hilarious, because she's right, who doesn't hate the insipid Catherine?? and Thursday going through her pregnancy without her husband who may not be recovered is unexpectedly moving. Ok, so I"ve found some books to recommend after all!
Well of Lost Plots - "
Twelve Sharp - Janet Evanovich - I love this one - I love the series, who couldn't love Morelli and Ranger vying for her attention???Yikes, who to choose! Yummy!!! and Stephanie is hilarious as is her family. This is one of my all-time favourite series, and this one was good, where we get to see a little bit more about Ranger (but no so much that he loses his mysterious/dangerous quality). I'm waiting for 13 to appear in paperback....hmm, should be due soon....
Magic or Madness - Justine Lardabelestier - a new fantasy series from an Australian writer, this is book one. It is exciting, with a new theory of magic in families, an Australian setting for some of the mystery, and believable characters, some of whom are threatening, some charming. Reason Cansino does not know what to believe from her mother, who has gone mad, and I found this breathed a new perspective into the theory that you must do magic or die; in this book if you do magic, you also die, as well as if you don't do it. Very interesting series.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling - what can I say? I was devastated after book 6 and Snape's revelation of working with Lord Voldemort. I confess that I cried all through the ending, partly for Harry's sacrifice, mostly because of Snape and how all his life he was misunderstood, and in the end what he did, he did out of love. I had never believed he was evil, and so I felt such a thrill of joy when he was revealed to be one of the heroes of the series! (I won't reveal any more for fear of ruining the future reading of some Gentle Reader in furthest regions of the world who have not read the books yet). I very much enjoyed this whole series, which I thought brought back the joy of reading, the fun and thrill of adventure stories for kids, which I devoured as a child. As soon as the youngest two are old enough, I will be reading the books in sequence to them.....
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert - currently reading this one, but since she writes about her trip both inner and outer in an engaging, friendly fashion - careful to show her character warts as well as exuberant joy in travelling - I have already thoroughly enjoyed the 1/5th I have read.
The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson - see earlier blog about this book, in October I think. As time has gone on, I have found that images or ideas from this book keep popping up in my head. Larson did a masterful job comparing the soaring heights of the dreams of the men who built the Chicago's World Fair in 1900, and of the man who dreamed large in a darker, deadlier fashion - the one thing the book was missing was an accurate count at the end of who was murdered, and a list of his suspected victims. As a morality tale about the current state of our cities, it should be must-reading for every young woman about to leave home and get her first job and apartment, no matter where she is. Highly recommended.
Strange Affair - Peter Robinson - Canadian mystery author who sets his mysteries in Yorkshire, England. I had read earlier books of his in this series some years ago, and enjoyed them, but lost touch until my mother brought this one up on her trip for my birthday in May this year. She had never read him before, and not knowing I had, brought me the book. Once i started reading it, I couldn't put it down! It was gripping! So I went out and bought the book before - Playing with Fire - and bought the next in line, Piece of My Heart, to go in my 888 Book Challenge for 2008 - that's how much I enjoyed it! We get to know more about Inspector Alan Bank's family, and see him begin to put the pieces of his life back together even as he loses a family member. Always a good mystery writer, and this one was set partly in London, my favourite city in the world. A thoroughly enjoyable read, and nail-biting at the end.
The Grand Tour or the Purloined Coronation Regalia- Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer - 2nd in the Sorcery and Cecelia series (for lack of a better group title, since there isn't one). Sorcery and Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot is the first book, and it is so delightful and wonderful, full of magic, mystery, and romance PLUS a chocolate pot, that when I saw there was a second book, I grabbed it right away. It was the first book I read this year. This one occurs in Europe, as the girls (Cecelia and her cousin Kate) are on a honeymoon tour with their husbands. More magic, more mystery, fashion from Paris, and love (as they are on their honeymoons!). It loses some of the excitement of the first book because they are happily married now, not falling in love - and I kept flipping to the front to remind myself which man was whose husband (James and Thomas), as their characters are not terribly different from eachother - cut in the same mold, because they are friends, and of high character. I find that I am looking for book 3 now, which is the highest recommendation I can give any series - that I want to continue reading it. I love in this book how Cecilia and Kate discover more about their magic, their husbands, their friendship, and of course their trip through Europe. I would recommend this to teens, especially, as well as anyone who enjoys fantasy and romance. Very enjoyable and sweet!
Well, they aren't selected in any order, and there they are. Let me know what your favourite books of the year are, Gentle Reader, if you like. And now that I've done the list, I see I did read some I did really like!
Happy Reading in the run-up to Christmas!!
The Naming of the Dead - Ian Rankin - my favourite mystery author. And this book was one of the best ones, with Rebus taking on Bush on a bicycle in Scotland, and the shocking slide of Siobhan Clarke to the dark side.
Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde - these two books are number 2 and 3 in the Thursday Next series. I love this series. I love the books that Thursday jumps into, the characters she meets - the scene of the therapist with the group from Wuthering Heights is hilarious, because she's right, who doesn't hate the insipid Catherine?? and Thursday going through her pregnancy without her husband who may not be recovered is unexpectedly moving. Ok, so I"ve found some books to recommend after all!
Well of Lost Plots - "
Twelve Sharp - Janet Evanovich - I love this one - I love the series, who couldn't love Morelli and Ranger vying for her attention???Yikes, who to choose! Yummy!!! and Stephanie is hilarious as is her family. This is one of my all-time favourite series, and this one was good, where we get to see a little bit more about Ranger (but no so much that he loses his mysterious/dangerous quality). I'm waiting for 13 to appear in paperback....hmm, should be due soon....
Magic or Madness - Justine Lardabelestier - a new fantasy series from an Australian writer, this is book one. It is exciting, with a new theory of magic in families, an Australian setting for some of the mystery, and believable characters, some of whom are threatening, some charming. Reason Cansino does not know what to believe from her mother, who has gone mad, and I found this breathed a new perspective into the theory that you must do magic or die; in this book if you do magic, you also die, as well as if you don't do it. Very interesting series.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling - what can I say? I was devastated after book 6 and Snape's revelation of working with Lord Voldemort. I confess that I cried all through the ending, partly for Harry's sacrifice, mostly because of Snape and how all his life he was misunderstood, and in the end what he did, he did out of love. I had never believed he was evil, and so I felt such a thrill of joy when he was revealed to be one of the heroes of the series! (I won't reveal any more for fear of ruining the future reading of some Gentle Reader in furthest regions of the world who have not read the books yet). I very much enjoyed this whole series, which I thought brought back the joy of reading, the fun and thrill of adventure stories for kids, which I devoured as a child. As soon as the youngest two are old enough, I will be reading the books in sequence to them.....
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert - currently reading this one, but since she writes about her trip both inner and outer in an engaging, friendly fashion - careful to show her character warts as well as exuberant joy in travelling - I have already thoroughly enjoyed the 1/5th I have read.
The Devil in the White City - Erik Larson - see earlier blog about this book, in October I think. As time has gone on, I have found that images or ideas from this book keep popping up in my head. Larson did a masterful job comparing the soaring heights of the dreams of the men who built the Chicago's World Fair in 1900, and of the man who dreamed large in a darker, deadlier fashion - the one thing the book was missing was an accurate count at the end of who was murdered, and a list of his suspected victims. As a morality tale about the current state of our cities, it should be must-reading for every young woman about to leave home and get her first job and apartment, no matter where she is. Highly recommended.
Strange Affair - Peter Robinson - Canadian mystery author who sets his mysteries in Yorkshire, England. I had read earlier books of his in this series some years ago, and enjoyed them, but lost touch until my mother brought this one up on her trip for my birthday in May this year. She had never read him before, and not knowing I had, brought me the book. Once i started reading it, I couldn't put it down! It was gripping! So I went out and bought the book before - Playing with Fire - and bought the next in line, Piece of My Heart, to go in my 888 Book Challenge for 2008 - that's how much I enjoyed it! We get to know more about Inspector Alan Bank's family, and see him begin to put the pieces of his life back together even as he loses a family member. Always a good mystery writer, and this one was set partly in London, my favourite city in the world. A thoroughly enjoyable read, and nail-biting at the end.
The Grand Tour or the Purloined Coronation Regalia- Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer - 2nd in the Sorcery and Cecelia series (for lack of a better group title, since there isn't one). Sorcery and Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot is the first book, and it is so delightful and wonderful, full of magic, mystery, and romance PLUS a chocolate pot, that when I saw there was a second book, I grabbed it right away. It was the first book I read this year. This one occurs in Europe, as the girls (Cecelia and her cousin Kate) are on a honeymoon tour with their husbands. More magic, more mystery, fashion from Paris, and love (as they are on their honeymoons!). It loses some of the excitement of the first book because they are happily married now, not falling in love - and I kept flipping to the front to remind myself which man was whose husband (James and Thomas), as their characters are not terribly different from eachother - cut in the same mold, because they are friends, and of high character. I find that I am looking for book 3 now, which is the highest recommendation I can give any series - that I want to continue reading it. I love in this book how Cecilia and Kate discover more about their magic, their husbands, their friendship, and of course their trip through Europe. I would recommend this to teens, especially, as well as anyone who enjoys fantasy and romance. Very enjoyable and sweet!
Well, they aren't selected in any order, and there they are. Let me know what your favourite books of the year are, Gentle Reader, if you like. And now that I've done the list, I see I did read some I did really like!
Happy Reading in the run-up to Christmas!!
Sunday, 16 December 2007
A Touch of Panic
So.....finally finished A Touch of Panic by L.R Wright, 2nd book in my Canadian Book Challenge list. It's nice to get another one done! it took me far longer to read than it should have, though, because life has intruded on my beautiful reading schedule: Christmas - no matter how I plan, I always have to shop for Christmas for several days in mid-December!; work - taken on a supervisory role - temporary - that is creating stress with other members in my group, that I didn't know was affecting me until this week; and then the news that my brother went into the hospital for emergency surgery earlier this week, for a tumor in his intestine, all very unexpected. He is making a recovery, but as we have a family that has broken down, he is not speaking with any of us so it's been hard, and much harder than expected to want to be able to support him but not be able to. It was hard to read these past two weeks, hard to concentrate on much when not working. While we wait for news on whether the tumor was cancerous, my brother is heading home tomorrow. Normally I can turn to books but with everything else going on in my life, and Christmas preparations, yiiyiiyii!!! My reading has dropped again.
We are just ending our second snowstorm in a week. At least 20 cm have fallen today, wild winds making it dangerous to go out......so I did get A Touch of Panic finished, in the brief moment that the kids let me read! I have to read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert as it is out from the library on 'express loan' and I've already renewed it the one time allowed! It's due back Thursday. So, A Touch of Panic is a good read, a solid mystery, with believable characters that continue from one book to the next. It's 4th in the RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg series, set in the wonderful Sunshine Coast of BC, in Sechelt. The ending has a twist that is rather interesting, and i might pick up the next one to see what happens. The one thing that was disappointing was the serial killer......there is no satisfactory conclusion regarding the number of women he may have killed, nor the discovery of the one hidden around the house (I don't want to give everything away for the Gentle Reader who does want to read this). However, the portrayal of his madness is creepy and effective, and his stalking of Cassandra (love interest and recent move-in girlfriend of Alberg) is realistic. The book ends with an unfinished feeling, because several storylines are continued (or should be), instead of being a complete book within a series. It feels like a linkage book. I can recommend it, as a light, enjoyable read that has the air of British Columbia's coastline about it, and for anyone who has been to Vancouver (the Sunshine Coast begins just north of Vancouver), the scenery will bring back memories.
Now, onto Eat, Pray, Love, which I have seen appearing on many TBR lists or books read this year, which is part of what prompted me to pick it up. As I love food, have been divorced, and often thought running away to Europe to soul search was a wonderful idea!! - I think I will enjoy this book. I hope so!
Having made chocolate chip cookies - homemade cookies soothe my soul, at least - I am now attending to the Christmas cards that have been waiting for my daughter's school pictures to arrive, which still aren't here. At least if I get the cards ready, I can pop them in the mail as soon as the photos do arrive. The school promises this week! So, I hope wherever you are, Gentle Reader, you are enjoying the preparations for Christmas or whatever you may celebrate, and remember - or find time! - to hold close and spend time with those you love. Merry last week before Christmas!!!
We are just ending our second snowstorm in a week. At least 20 cm have fallen today, wild winds making it dangerous to go out......so I did get A Touch of Panic finished, in the brief moment that the kids let me read! I have to read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert as it is out from the library on 'express loan' and I've already renewed it the one time allowed! It's due back Thursday. So, A Touch of Panic is a good read, a solid mystery, with believable characters that continue from one book to the next. It's 4th in the RCMP Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg series, set in the wonderful Sunshine Coast of BC, in Sechelt. The ending has a twist that is rather interesting, and i might pick up the next one to see what happens. The one thing that was disappointing was the serial killer......there is no satisfactory conclusion regarding the number of women he may have killed, nor the discovery of the one hidden around the house (I don't want to give everything away for the Gentle Reader who does want to read this). However, the portrayal of his madness is creepy and effective, and his stalking of Cassandra (love interest and recent move-in girlfriend of Alberg) is realistic. The book ends with an unfinished feeling, because several storylines are continued (or should be), instead of being a complete book within a series. It feels like a linkage book. I can recommend it, as a light, enjoyable read that has the air of British Columbia's coastline about it, and for anyone who has been to Vancouver (the Sunshine Coast begins just north of Vancouver), the scenery will bring back memories.
Now, onto Eat, Pray, Love, which I have seen appearing on many TBR lists or books read this year, which is part of what prompted me to pick it up. As I love food, have been divorced, and often thought running away to Europe to soul search was a wonderful idea!! - I think I will enjoy this book. I hope so!
Having made chocolate chip cookies - homemade cookies soothe my soul, at least - I am now attending to the Christmas cards that have been waiting for my daughter's school pictures to arrive, which still aren't here. At least if I get the cards ready, I can pop them in the mail as soon as the photos do arrive. The school promises this week! So, I hope wherever you are, Gentle Reader, you are enjoying the preparations for Christmas or whatever you may celebrate, and remember - or find time! - to hold close and spend time with those you love. Merry last week before Christmas!!!
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
What do you think is cool?
It must be nearing the end of the year, all these lists (memes) are coming out....Stephanie over at http://stephaniesbooks.blogspot.com/2007/11/stephen-king-is-cool.html Stephanie's books had a blog in mid-November that I missed, but just caught up on: Stephen King is cool. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20159025,00.html His Cool and the Gang article in EW inspired Stephanie to write about what she thought was cool, and so I am passing on the question to you, Dear Reader, as we dig out from our snowstorm (25 cm of snow!) of yesterday: what do you think is cool?
Well, for me, it's books. Reading is cool. Carrying a book and reading on the bus, waiting for the bus, at lunch, waiting in line, while eating.......I think a button should be made saying this: Reading is cool.
But, going to libraries is not. I love libraries, but it's not cool to be there, though it is cool to run into people and the love of your life there!
What else is cool? Neil Gaiman is cool. Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiassen, Janet Evanovich - yikes, those two guys fighting over her are so gorgeous! Even if she destroys a car in almost every book, she's so not cool that the books are cool! Thursday Next is cool. I agree with Stephen, Battlestar Galactica was cool.....still waiting for the new season to start for it. Pushing Daisies almost has it. And the new Dr Who, cool for sci-fiction..... and And I refuse to watch the Sopranos on principle since it glorified crime and killing as a way of life - not cool (I don't care if the gangster began to feel guilty! that's lame!) but the Godfather movies one and two are ALWAYS cool........Leonardo di Caprio is among the coolest of the younger actors. And Buffy the Vampire Slayer!! that was one show that had it, in spades.
I'm the first to admit I have never been a 'cool' person, so I won't bother with cool things I own...but I have to say I think Nick Drake (musician) is cool. So was REM in their heyday. Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, for making cooking fresh, oh so good and sexy, are cool. Or rather, so hot they are cool!
In keeping with the season, I think white lights on trees outside are cool (for Christmas), and freshly-fallen snow is so beautiful it is cool, and the seasons changing is cool. And I think Stephen King is right, Obama has cool and Hillary Clinton does not. Saying "I love you" is cool, and so is "Merry Christmas"! - since we are not allowed to say Merry Christmas any more in case anyone gets offended here in Canada, I make a point of saying it because not saying it is so stupid and meaningless! Christmas is cool (despite the shopping frenzy), gathering and celebrating is food for the heart and soul, and is eternally 'cool'.
Happy being cool reading!!!
Well, for me, it's books. Reading is cool. Carrying a book and reading on the bus, waiting for the bus, at lunch, waiting in line, while eating.......I think a button should be made saying this: Reading is cool.
But, going to libraries is not. I love libraries, but it's not cool to be there, though it is cool to run into people and the love of your life there!
What else is cool? Neil Gaiman is cool. Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiassen, Janet Evanovich - yikes, those two guys fighting over her are so gorgeous! Even if she destroys a car in almost every book, she's so not cool that the books are cool! Thursday Next is cool. I agree with Stephen, Battlestar Galactica was cool.....still waiting for the new season to start for it. Pushing Daisies almost has it. And the new Dr Who, cool for sci-fiction..... and And I refuse to watch the Sopranos on principle since it glorified crime and killing as a way of life - not cool (I don't care if the gangster began to feel guilty! that's lame!) but the Godfather movies one and two are ALWAYS cool........Leonardo di Caprio is among the coolest of the younger actors. And Buffy the Vampire Slayer!! that was one show that had it, in spades.
I'm the first to admit I have never been a 'cool' person, so I won't bother with cool things I own...but I have to say I think Nick Drake (musician) is cool. So was REM in their heyday. Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, for making cooking fresh, oh so good and sexy, are cool. Or rather, so hot they are cool!
In keeping with the season, I think white lights on trees outside are cool (for Christmas), and freshly-fallen snow is so beautiful it is cool, and the seasons changing is cool. And I think Stephen King is right, Obama has cool and Hillary Clinton does not. Saying "I love you" is cool, and so is "Merry Christmas"! - since we are not allowed to say Merry Christmas any more in case anyone gets offended here in Canada, I make a point of saying it because not saying it is so stupid and meaningless! Christmas is cool (despite the shopping frenzy), gathering and celebrating is food for the heart and soul, and is eternally 'cool'.
Happy being cool reading!!!
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Life of Pi
Hurray! I just finished it! And it took my breath away. Not just for its writing, for the story, for how he conjures up life on a lifeboat on the Pacific Ocean, and the incredible animals that initially survive; he also brought back memories for me that I don't often recall with such vividity. You see, Gentle Reader, I lived on a sailboat for two years with my family when I was a teenager, and we spent most of those two years on the Pacific Coast of Central America. So reading Life of Pi became layered with my own memories of the ocean, of the salt on my face, the different sounds the wind and waves make depending on time of day, whether we were in dock or out at sea, whether we were sailing or motoring, and most of all, our rubber dinghy. My sister and I rowed our parents (mother and stepfather) everywhere, as we didn't have a motor for the dinghy. We had to pump it up with air when we were launching the dinghy after arriving at a port; we rowed to shore, and rowed back, for everything. In rough water the dinghy rode up and down, and in hot sun the rubber got hot too. So reading Life of Pi became remembering for me what the sea was like, and I can tell you, Gentle reader, that the author Yann Martel got all the details right. Except perhaps for the floating island of algae, but then as the scientist in Jurassic Park says, "Life will find a way," so it is in the realm of possibility, and this story is about possibility. It is a joyous, gripping, heart-wrenching, faith-filled adventure story. I highly recommend it. I am so glad I read it. And I have to admit that I avoided reading it so long because I thought it was a fable with talking animals, which I did NOT want to read, at all! Not when it comes to being marooned on the ocean, which was something we always had to be prepared for, living on the boat. Even now, I can't make a joke out of it. And I can vouch that flying fish DO land on the boat, do jump out of the water, because we had it happen many times once we were near the equator. They would land on our decks, and in the morning we would find them and toss the tiny corpses back into the water. And the tiger.....I will never look at Bengal Tigers quite the same, I will remember Richard Parker for a very long time. What a fascinating story.
So if you haven't read it yet, it is a treat for you, and if you have, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm glad it won the Booker......I suppose this means I'd better start checking out some of the other Booker Prize winners now! And thanks to my mother for giving me the book
So what is next? H-m-m, it has been very cold here today; -14c was our high, and tomorrow snow is arriving with the possibility that again we won't leave the house. What beckons in these first days of December to read? What would I like to read this year, to end this year?
So if you haven't read it yet, it is a treat for you, and if you have, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm glad it won the Booker......I suppose this means I'd better start checking out some of the other Booker Prize winners now! And thanks to my mother for giving me the book
So what is next? H-m-m, it has been very cold here today; -14c was our high, and tomorrow snow is arriving with the possibility that again we won't leave the house. What beckons in these first days of December to read? What would I like to read this year, to end this year?
Thirteen Books I haven't read this year......
I just found this meme on Dorothy's site at www.booksandbikes.wordpress.com and I think it fits right in with all the challenges I've been preparing for next year - it's good to look back and see what I haven't managed to read - again - this year!
1. Quicksilver - Neal Stephenson. I guess because it comes in three volumes, and they split the second two volumes into two each, so that's five books to read this series!! has been a slight drawback as my time to read is not so large right now.....
2.Wicked - Gregory Maguire - I don't know why I haven't read this book yet!! Very annoying, so maybe I'll be so annoyed I'll pick it up and read it! Before January!
3.Mars Eclipsed - Karen Irving. 3rd in a Canadian mystery series set here in Ottawa. I actually like the series, i just haven't gotten around to this one. Maybe I can switch it onto my Canadian Book Challenge for next year....
4.1610 A Sundial in A Grave - Mary Gentle. I loved Ash, I loved Of Rats and Gargoyles, so I think it's because it's in trade paperback, which means I need a long weekend to read it....and it's too heavy to carry around with me......
5The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke. I haven't read any of this author yet! And I really want to read Inkheart (which I haven't got yet)! Another annoying miss that may find itself being read next year....
6.London - The Biography - Peter Ackroyd. I've been meaning to read this since I gave to it my husband several years ago! We both love London and I am fascinated by it's history......so why not read? I don't think I'm saving it for anything special! I think I want more regular time to read, that's all, before tackling this one. And it might make me miss England too much to read now.
7.War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy. Forever, I've been meaning to read this book!!! And I still haven't done it!!! Why not? For years, I thought of it as a summer read for the beach, where I could read in uninterrupted bliss. But once summer holidays came (and I left home early, so that was my only holiday time of the year since I worked in retail then) I found I didn't want to read a 500 + page book. So, it languishes on my shelf. Maybe I'm afraid to read it because it is rated so highly, one of the best novels ever written? Nah. I want to read it for that reason! Ok, maybe year after next....
8. 1700 - Scenes from London Life, Maureen Waller. See above about London, it applies here too......and I love reading about daily life in earlier times, so this is one that I just haven't found time for.....so many books, so little time! If this hadn't already been taken for someone else's blog name, it was going to be mine!
9.Elizath - David Starkey. I've been meaning to read this book for 6 years now!!! I even went to see the author give a talk in Borders bookstore in York, England, in 2001, on this book, and it was interesting and enjoyable!!! but I am just not in the mood......maybe after I see the movie (which will probably be on DVD at the rate I am getting out to movies this year!)
10) A Gentlewoman in Uppper Canada, the Journals of Anne Langton. For innumerable years it has sat on my shelves, and I keep pulling it down, leafing through it, but i've never read it through. Again one that I put on and pulled off of my Canadian Book Challenge. And I am fascinated by Canadian Pioneer history. One of my favourite things to do as a tourist is to imagine what life was like back 'then', however far back in time it is. And Anne travelled to parts of Ontario in the 1860's when my family lived there at that time. So it's more again, picking and choosing books and this one didn't make it, but now that I'm writing about it I feel really guilty so maybe I can squeeze it into the Canadian Book Challenge too!
11). A Small Sound of the Trumpet - Margaret Lebarge. Very popular book on medieval woman and I enjoy medieval history, but this has sat languishing on my shelves for many years now. Maybe I prefer to experience history rather than read about it? Or maybe I have to be in the right mood for history, and young children in the house isn't conducive to quiet reading!
12) Life in a Medieval City - Joseph and Frances Gies. H-m-m, quite a few of my unread books are non-fiction, arent' they? I keep this for history reference too, for my writing. Guess I haven't needed to read it through yet, but I know I have referred to it.
13)The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell. I did try reading this a few years ago, but got bogged down with it. I still want to read it, hence it has remained on my shelves for years. This book is on my TBR list for next year, so I am intending to finally read the whole thing. It's like the White Goddess by Robert Graves, I can only read a little at a time even though i find it fascinating. I'm not sure why, I'll have to think on it.
1. Quicksilver - Neal Stephenson. I guess because it comes in three volumes, and they split the second two volumes into two each, so that's five books to read this series!! has been a slight drawback as my time to read is not so large right now.....
2.Wicked - Gregory Maguire - I don't know why I haven't read this book yet!! Very annoying, so maybe I'll be so annoyed I'll pick it up and read it! Before January!
3.Mars Eclipsed - Karen Irving. 3rd in a Canadian mystery series set here in Ottawa. I actually like the series, i just haven't gotten around to this one. Maybe I can switch it onto my Canadian Book Challenge for next year....
4.1610 A Sundial in A Grave - Mary Gentle. I loved Ash, I loved Of Rats and Gargoyles, so I think it's because it's in trade paperback, which means I need a long weekend to read it....and it's too heavy to carry around with me......
5The Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke. I haven't read any of this author yet! And I really want to read Inkheart (which I haven't got yet)! Another annoying miss that may find itself being read next year....
6.London - The Biography - Peter Ackroyd. I've been meaning to read this since I gave to it my husband several years ago! We both love London and I am fascinated by it's history......so why not read? I don't think I'm saving it for anything special! I think I want more regular time to read, that's all, before tackling this one. And it might make me miss England too much to read now.
7.War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy. Forever, I've been meaning to read this book!!! And I still haven't done it!!! Why not? For years, I thought of it as a summer read for the beach, where I could read in uninterrupted bliss. But once summer holidays came (and I left home early, so that was my only holiday time of the year since I worked in retail then) I found I didn't want to read a 500 + page book. So, it languishes on my shelf. Maybe I'm afraid to read it because it is rated so highly, one of the best novels ever written? Nah. I want to read it for that reason! Ok, maybe year after next....
8. 1700 - Scenes from London Life, Maureen Waller. See above about London, it applies here too......and I love reading about daily life in earlier times, so this is one that I just haven't found time for.....so many books, so little time! If this hadn't already been taken for someone else's blog name, it was going to be mine!
9.Elizath - David Starkey. I've been meaning to read this book for 6 years now!!! I even went to see the author give a talk in Borders bookstore in York, England, in 2001, on this book, and it was interesting and enjoyable!!! but I am just not in the mood......maybe after I see the movie (which will probably be on DVD at the rate I am getting out to movies this year!)
10) A Gentlewoman in Uppper Canada, the Journals of Anne Langton. For innumerable years it has sat on my shelves, and I keep pulling it down, leafing through it, but i've never read it through. Again one that I put on and pulled off of my Canadian Book Challenge. And I am fascinated by Canadian Pioneer history. One of my favourite things to do as a tourist is to imagine what life was like back 'then', however far back in time it is. And Anne travelled to parts of Ontario in the 1860's when my family lived there at that time. So it's more again, picking and choosing books and this one didn't make it, but now that I'm writing about it I feel really guilty so maybe I can squeeze it into the Canadian Book Challenge too!
11). A Small Sound of the Trumpet - Margaret Lebarge. Very popular book on medieval woman and I enjoy medieval history, but this has sat languishing on my shelves for many years now. Maybe I prefer to experience history rather than read about it? Or maybe I have to be in the right mood for history, and young children in the house isn't conducive to quiet reading!
12) Life in a Medieval City - Joseph and Frances Gies. H-m-m, quite a few of my unread books are non-fiction, arent' they? I keep this for history reference too, for my writing. Guess I haven't needed to read it through yet, but I know I have referred to it.
13)The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell. I did try reading this a few years ago, but got bogged down with it. I still want to read it, hence it has remained on my shelves for years. This book is on my TBR list for next year, so I am intending to finally read the whole thing. It's like the White Goddess by Robert Graves, I can only read a little at a time even though i find it fascinating. I'm not sure why, I'll have to think on it.
Monday, 26 November 2007
Book Meme
Gotten from So Many Books blog. somanybooksblog.com/ and www.ofbooksandbikes.wordpress.com If you are interested, please do this meme on your blog and connect me to your site so I can see your answers! Good luck, and it is fun.
2. What do you find most challenging to read? Anything dry. Psychology, statistics (without a context, that is), math, books on economics, religious books.
3. What are your library habits? I love the library! Although I don't go as much now, it's because I want to own books now. So I go rarely - having two young kids also means I don't get to read as much, so while I borrow to the maximum, I rarely end up reading them all! and borrowing doesn't make sense since I don't always want to read what I have borrowed, right away. I used to do alot of borrowing and reading at the library. It is a good source for books that are out of print, and for trying authors that I am not sure about yet.
4. Have your library habits changed since you were younger? Oh yes. See above answer. For many years I read far more books borrowed from the library, than bought. And I go rarely now, due to time constraints and wanting to own my own books now.
5. How has blogging changed your reading life? Yes! even though I am new at this, already I have books to be read for next year that I might not have gotten around to reading, thanks to book blogs and reading challenges. I find out about other authors and books through what other people write. It's like having an online friend who I meet for tea and discuss books - not a book club, more an indepth (or not!) review of books with a book friend. And I greatly miss this in my life because I love books and so few people around me do. I love them anyway, and blogging has made me feel a larger part of the book-reading public.
6. What percentage of your books do you get from new book stores, second hand book stores, the library, online exchange sites, online retailers, other? 70% at new bookstores, the rest second hand.
7. How often do you read a book and not review it on your blog? What are your reasons for not blogging about a book?
Since I have just started my blog this fall, I have reviewed every book I have read since the beginning of Sept. Even if it's a few lines only.
8. What are your pet peeves about the way people treat books? Bending the corners, writing in them unless the book is going to be treasured and kept forever, and the idea of a book burning sends shivers down me.
9. Do you ever read for pleasure at work? yes! During my lunches, fairly often now. Not as much as I used to, because I go for my walks during lunch,if the weather permits. But I read if I can't go out, and sometimes if I take a short walk I can still fit reading in while I eat. Reading at lunch is something I have done for years, ever since school!
10. When you give people books as gifts, how do you decide what to give them?
I try to think of what kinds of books they like, and if I have read the book myself or can recommend the author. I hate giving books that won't be read, so I try to be careful and only give books to those who enjoy reading. People who don't read (and I know some!) get other gifts instead. Every year I have a favourite or two that I give to my mother and friends who read.
There, a bit more about me and my reading Habits.
1. Do you remember learning to read? How old were you? I don't remember learning how to read. I only remember knowing how to read. When I was 7, I received a cookbook (My First Cookbook, by Hamlyn Books) and a hardcover fairytale book - The Bluebird, for Christmas 1970. I adored both books, and began cooking recipes from the book shortly after (with varying degrees of success!) and still have The Bluebird, although it is missing the jacket. I do remember, as a very young child - say about 7? - sitting on floor with a book my mother had had as a child, filled with nursery rhymes, and reading the book, fascinated by the old pictures. It was from the 1930's or 1940's.
2. What do you find most challenging to read? Anything dry. Psychology, statistics (without a context, that is), math, books on economics, religious books.
3. What are your library habits? I love the library! Although I don't go as much now, it's because I want to own books now. So I go rarely - having two young kids also means I don't get to read as much, so while I borrow to the maximum, I rarely end up reading them all! and borrowing doesn't make sense since I don't always want to read what I have borrowed, right away. I used to do alot of borrowing and reading at the library. It is a good source for books that are out of print, and for trying authors that I am not sure about yet.
4. Have your library habits changed since you were younger? Oh yes. See above answer. For many years I read far more books borrowed from the library, than bought. And I go rarely now, due to time constraints and wanting to own my own books now.
5. How has blogging changed your reading life? Yes! even though I am new at this, already I have books to be read for next year that I might not have gotten around to reading, thanks to book blogs and reading challenges. I find out about other authors and books through what other people write. It's like having an online friend who I meet for tea and discuss books - not a book club, more an indepth (or not!) review of books with a book friend. And I greatly miss this in my life because I love books and so few people around me do. I love them anyway, and blogging has made me feel a larger part of the book-reading public.
6. What percentage of your books do you get from new book stores, second hand book stores, the library, online exchange sites, online retailers, other? 70% at new bookstores, the rest second hand.
7. How often do you read a book and not review it on your blog? What are your reasons for not blogging about a book?
Since I have just started my blog this fall, I have reviewed every book I have read since the beginning of Sept. Even if it's a few lines only.
8. What are your pet peeves about the way people treat books? Bending the corners, writing in them unless the book is going to be treasured and kept forever, and the idea of a book burning sends shivers down me.
9. Do you ever read for pleasure at work? yes! During my lunches, fairly often now. Not as much as I used to, because I go for my walks during lunch,if the weather permits. But I read if I can't go out, and sometimes if I take a short walk I can still fit reading in while I eat. Reading at lunch is something I have done for years, ever since school!
10. When you give people books as gifts, how do you decide what to give them?
I try to think of what kinds of books they like, and if I have read the book myself or can recommend the author. I hate giving books that won't be read, so I try to be careful and only give books to those who enjoy reading. People who don't read (and I know some!) get other gifts instead. Every year I have a favourite or two that I give to my mother and friends who read.
There, a bit more about me and my reading Habits.
Sunday, 25 November 2007
Cadillac Jukebox - Done!
Hurray! It took only two weeks, but Cadillac Jukebox is done. I did end up really enjoying it, and although I complained in another blog about the evil people, by the end, the book was about the depths to which people will go to survive, and to get revenge. It's a reminder, in these days of glorifying gangsters and drugs, that there are people who kill for the sadistic joy of it, but in this book, the sadistic killer is not brought down by Our Hero, but by the only one who could, the one out for revenge. This book makes the swampy heat of Louisiana come to life, and made me really want to try eating a shrimp po'boy! A good read, entertaining, and gritty.
Then I read 'The Safe-Keeper's Secret' by Sharon Shinn. This is a new series of books that I just discovered by Sharon Shinn, whose detective sci-fi/goddess mystery 'Wrapt in Crystal' is the book I best remember her for......I had no idea she was writing young teens books, until I saw the 4th in her Mystic and Rider series (forget the actual title of the series) reviewed in Locus (go to www.locusmag.com - a very good science fiction and fantasy review/book publishing mag that has been out for many many years). So at Collected Works two weeks ago I picked up The Safe-Keeper's Secret, and read it in two days! It is a delightful fantasy for teen readers, and the magic world - medieval setting - where some people are truth-tellers, some are secret-keepers and some are dream-makers, as well as normal things like farmers and kings and herbalists and innkeepers - is well-thought out. Highly recommended for an enjoyable read with fun characters.
So now i am working on Life of Pi. I was having difficulty getting into the story until this morning, when I told myself to think of it as a fable - which, duh! it is! A literary fable with humans and animals. So now I am enjoying it more, but I need a stretch of time to read it in, and getting one or two hours to read a day is difficult these days. It's the time between Hallowe'en, birthdays, and the stretch to Christmas......but I will try to read and finish it this week, so I can move on to one of my other 'Stack' titles.
Though, I keep making lists of books to get. As I get through making piles for the upcoming reading challenges starting in January, I see that my shelves have less and less books I haven't read on them, and I start to panic - what will I read next? Oh no, must have stacks of books to choose through!!! So I spent this morning going through the book recommendations on www.endicott-studio.com which is run by Terri Windling of Annual Fantasy and Horror Collections fame (among others things, like her own book The Wood Wife). This is a fascinating site for people who read fairy tales, study fairy tales, write fairy tales or paint them. As a source for new books in the fantasy world (with reviews accompanying most) it is among the best on the internet. So there I was, making my lists (third list in a month! My LSS is trying not to panic!) and drooling, so much to read! So much to handle, open, read, buy.....some are books I've seen in passing but didn't know much about (and needing to buy the latest ones from my favourite authors, which I have done now, so my heart is a bit calmer.....I have new books to read over the holidays, which I WILL do no matter how hectic the kids make it!).....books to get now include Delia Sherman's The Changeling, Elizabeth Knox's Dreamhunter and Dreamquake, Catherine Valente's The Orphan's Tales Vol 2, In the Night Garden, Sarah Monette's A Companion to Wolves (and I still have to finish her Virtu series which I am really enjoying), Michael Scott's The Alchemist, O.R. Melling's The Lightbearer's Daughter, Kate Thompson's The New Policeman. Oh, and Book three of Stevermer and Wrede's series, The Mislaid Magician. And then Neil Gaiman just wrote about Ellen Kushner's sequel to Swordspoint, called The Privilege of the Sword, which Locus did review a while ago (both positively)............no, no shortage of more new books to buy and read!! So I felt calmer, then, and have started carrying my lists with me just in case I pop into a bookstore ("Look dear, the door was open so I went in and look what I found! And don't worry, we still have money for food and Christmas....") Just need some way to open a time portal so I can go somewhere and read, read, read, then when I'm ready, open the portal and slip back into this world. In this fantasy of mine, no time has elapsed so no one knows that I went anywhere, and I get to read all the books I want to!!! I wonder if I would age in that portal/book reading world???
I wonder if I should add to my books read list every year, all the cookbooks I go through? One day I will write about my favourite cookbooks and chefs.....meantime suffice to say Nigella Lawson and Nigel Slater, plus Sarah Leah Chase and James Barber, reign supreme in this household!! Which reminds me, Holly-Anne has already come to ask me what's for dinner, so I'd better go and start cooking......Life of Pi (and this blog) will have to wait......
Then I read 'The Safe-Keeper's Secret' by Sharon Shinn. This is a new series of books that I just discovered by Sharon Shinn, whose detective sci-fi/goddess mystery 'Wrapt in Crystal' is the book I best remember her for......I had no idea she was writing young teens books, until I saw the 4th in her Mystic and Rider series (forget the actual title of the series) reviewed in Locus (go to www.locusmag.com - a very good science fiction and fantasy review/book publishing mag that has been out for many many years). So at Collected Works two weeks ago I picked up The Safe-Keeper's Secret, and read it in two days! It is a delightful fantasy for teen readers, and the magic world - medieval setting - where some people are truth-tellers, some are secret-keepers and some are dream-makers, as well as normal things like farmers and kings and herbalists and innkeepers - is well-thought out. Highly recommended for an enjoyable read with fun characters.
So now i am working on Life of Pi. I was having difficulty getting into the story until this morning, when I told myself to think of it as a fable - which, duh! it is! A literary fable with humans and animals. So now I am enjoying it more, but I need a stretch of time to read it in, and getting one or two hours to read a day is difficult these days. It's the time between Hallowe'en, birthdays, and the stretch to Christmas......but I will try to read and finish it this week, so I can move on to one of my other 'Stack' titles.
Though, I keep making lists of books to get. As I get through making piles for the upcoming reading challenges starting in January, I see that my shelves have less and less books I haven't read on them, and I start to panic - what will I read next? Oh no, must have stacks of books to choose through!!! So I spent this morning going through the book recommendations on www.endicott-studio.com which is run by Terri Windling of Annual Fantasy and Horror Collections fame (among others things, like her own book The Wood Wife). This is a fascinating site for people who read fairy tales, study fairy tales, write fairy tales or paint them. As a source for new books in the fantasy world (with reviews accompanying most) it is among the best on the internet. So there I was, making my lists (third list in a month! My LSS is trying not to panic!) and drooling, so much to read! So much to handle, open, read, buy.....some are books I've seen in passing but didn't know much about (and needing to buy the latest ones from my favourite authors, which I have done now, so my heart is a bit calmer.....I have new books to read over the holidays, which I WILL do no matter how hectic the kids make it!).....books to get now include Delia Sherman's The Changeling, Elizabeth Knox's Dreamhunter and Dreamquake, Catherine Valente's The Orphan's Tales Vol 2, In the Night Garden, Sarah Monette's A Companion to Wolves (and I still have to finish her Virtu series which I am really enjoying), Michael Scott's The Alchemist, O.R. Melling's The Lightbearer's Daughter, Kate Thompson's The New Policeman. Oh, and Book three of Stevermer and Wrede's series, The Mislaid Magician. And then Neil Gaiman just wrote about Ellen Kushner's sequel to Swordspoint, called The Privilege of the Sword, which Locus did review a while ago (both positively)............no, no shortage of more new books to buy and read!! So I felt calmer, then, and have started carrying my lists with me just in case I pop into a bookstore ("Look dear, the door was open so I went in and look what I found! And don't worry, we still have money for food and Christmas....") Just need some way to open a time portal so I can go somewhere and read, read, read, then when I'm ready, open the portal and slip back into this world. In this fantasy of mine, no time has elapsed so no one knows that I went anywhere, and I get to read all the books I want to!!! I wonder if I would age in that portal/book reading world???
I wonder if I should add to my books read list every year, all the cookbooks I go through? One day I will write about my favourite cookbooks and chefs.....meantime suffice to say Nigella Lawson and Nigel Slater, plus Sarah Leah Chase and James Barber, reign supreme in this household!! Which reminds me, Holly-Anne has already come to ask me what's for dinner, so I'd better go and start cooking......Life of Pi (and this blog) will have to wait......
Sunday, 18 November 2007
Why Write?
In Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke writes: "Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: Must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple "I must," then build your life in accordance with this necessity..." (First letter, Vintage edition, translated by Stephen Mitchell).
I was perusing some blogs last night, and came across one http://bookworld.typepad.com/book_world/
in which the writer is talking about Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way". I too have done morning pages for many years, up until I moved back to Canada in 2001. With various break from writing them in those years, but at that time I always returned to them. For those who have not encountered her books, Julia writes about creativity, and how to free yourself from what holds you back so you can be as fully creative as you want to be. I found the Artist's Way (as I wrote in a comment to the above blogger) that I found "The Artist's Way" very useful for uncovering my hidden wounds regarding my creativity, and what was holding me back in my writing. I am still uncovering the latter, as I struggle to finish my first full-length novel, the one I've been writing for over 10 years now. Writing the morning pages helped me to see I had plenty to say, and I had no problems writing 3 pages a day! But I couldn't write about writing, I had to write about my day and my complaints, (according to her guidelines) and I found eventually that I could either write in my pages, or later in my regular journal, OR I could write my book each day, but I couldn't do both at once. Julia must have found that the stresses in her life were interfering with her writing. It has taken me until this year to finally realize that if I don't write creatively, I start to feel at odds with my life. I have to write. If I write, I feel a deeper peace with myself and the world, I am content. If I don't write, I start getting short-tempered, and it grows until I am unbearable to be near, until I finally write again. So I have had to decided that it doesn't matter if what I write is crappy, or banal, or boring (though I hope it is not!) - my usual reasons for stopping what I am working on - I have to write. And not in my journal, but creatively. So, in the deep dark of my night, my answer to Rainer Rilke's question do you have to write? is yes, I do.
So my current writing mentor is Walter Mosley's "This Year You Write Your Novel." This book has aided me immensely in getting over the mental blocks I put up to writing, which have to do with expressing myself creatively. Which I discovered doing Julia Cameron's morning pages! The only way through the block is go through it. So after a 4 week halt in writing my novel, on Thursday I set the alarm clock early enough and started writing again. I keep "This Year You Write Your Novel" on my bedside table, and I dip into it every night before I go to sleep. So I start my day with writing, and I end my day with thinking about writing. In between, as he says, becuase I am writing every day, the book - chapter - scene I am working on, or story I am telling (depending where I am with the story) sit with me, and through the day pops into my head. Both he and Stephen King in "On Writing" say that the most important thing to do is write everyday. Even on weekends, during holidays - even Christmas morning, even on holidays - write every day. I still struggle to write on the weekends, and am coming up to Christmas, so we'll see how I do then! In the meantime, I am three-quarters of the
way through my book, I estimate, of the first draft. I've been working on this draft since last May, writing about 1 page a day. As I wrote earlier, I have worked on many drafts of this book, never getting this far, although one year I cam close. I have never been happy with how it progressed, never happy with how I was writing it or where I ended up because it seemed I got side-tracked the further I got into my book. Part of the problem is I don't have an outline, but I have never been able to keep to an outline. Even in university when writing papers I could never write from an outline. I preferred to have an idea, make notes and find quotes, and then write it. I have scenes in my head for my book and I know roughly where I will end up, and what happens to the characters. Though I find I am still too restricted in my thinking/characters, and all the others want a say, too! so my first draft will be a first draft, my building block, and from there I can expand. This feels so good to be able to say at last, about my writing! I am writing!Now if I can turn the dratted tv off more often so I can get more read......still working on "Cadillac Jukebox" by James Lee Burke, it is more interesting now but it seems to be taking a long time to read. I have so many books to read by Christmas - my From the Stacks list, plus two I just picked up, "The Night Country" by Stewart O'Nan and "The Safe-Keeper's Secret" by Sharon Shinn. Yes, I know the From the Stacks Challenge was supposed to keep me from buying more books! But I figure reading books from my bookshelves helps me feel virtuous because I am reading what I have, and I have to add more so my pile doesn't get too empty. Another blogger I read last night, http://geraniumcatsbookshelf.blogspot.com/ - see her blog on From the Stacks, - as the butterflies she describes on not having anything to read - ie the TBR pile is getting smaller when we read from it - describes perfectly well why I went out and bought two more books after picking five from the TBR pile!! Now to read them all! And hurry up January - hurry up Christmas - there are so many new books from favourite authors waiting upstairs! I've given them to my LSS to wrap up so I can't peek at them any more! so I will finish James lee Burke today so I can get started onto one of my books on From the Stacks Challenge. All the housework is done - we had my friend and her new boyfriend over for dinner last night, so yesterday was housecleaning and so today is FREE to read!!! When the kids let me, that is.....this blog has been interrupted countless times already and my LSS asked my I was writing it this early in the day (I normally do it after they are in bed). I said it was nice to work on this when I am awake, for once! I only have to take my walk today - there is leftovers for lunch, and dinner is trying out the new Indian curries from President's Choice line, so I don't even have to take a break to make meals! Hurrah!!! It's Susan's reading day!! may you all find time to read today too, Gentle Readers!
Monday, 12 November 2007
writing and new challenge From the Stacks - Winter Reading
In writing my earlier blog, I forgot to say why I wouldn't save my writing in case of a fire. I've been thinking alot about it, and I think it's because for my novels, I have the fantasy that I am working on, and if I had to, I could rewrite it again. It would be annoying, but I can definitely redo it. My poetry, on the other hand, is all on the computer. It didn't occur to me to save the computer, which I guess says alot about me and technology! The poems would be pretty much gone as we don't have a cd writer program yet for the computer, so I can't save them. But in a fire, I think my answers would pretty much stay the same. I love my writing, but I can redo the work. If we were allowed to save 10 items, then the computer would come!
And i've joined another book challenge -this is a short one, 5 books to read between now and Jan 30 2008. My list is on the side bar. I'm pretty excited now, I get to start my Canadian Reading Challenge, and read books I already own! This will please my LSS greatly, as I already have a stack of books I bought when Mom was here, for Christmas. And these 5 books are books I owned and have been meaning to read, it will be great to get them read!!
And i've joined another book challenge -this is a short one, 5 books to read between now and Jan 30 2008. My list is on the side bar. I'm pretty excited now, I get to start my Canadian Reading Challenge, and read books I already own! This will please my LSS greatly, as I already have a stack of books I bought when Mom was here, for Christmas. And these 5 books are books I owned and have been meaning to read, it will be great to get them read!!
Sunday, 11 November 2007
If I could Save Five Things......
At the Hallowe'en party at Patricia and Victor's on Oct 27, all the dinner guests were asked a question: what would you save if a fire was approaching your house, and you had two hours to pack your car and could take five things? Spouses and children were automatically understood to be included. I came up with:
1 - my Goddess statue (and other items on my altar)
2 - my cat Bandit
3 - my tarot cards
4 - my photo albums (most are still in a box since coming from England 6 years ago)
5 - fill a box with books
Afterwards, I was very surprised that I didn't say my writing, or my computer, or my jewellry, but on the whole, the items are picked are irreplaceable. And books, well, I've learned that whatever I give away or lend, unless I hated the book, I usually end up wanting it again sometime later. Almost everything else in the house can be replaced, except for my collection of teapots, of which one is very old and already survived coming from England. But again, while I love them, I can live without them. I can't live without the things on my list. So there you have it, Patricia said it was a quick way to get to know someone - now what would you save, Gentle Reader? And does your answer surprise you?
Oh, and I never said how BIG the box was I was going to fill!!!! VERY large!!!
i finished Have Mercy on Us All last week by Fred Vargas, and I very much enjoyed it. I like the characters, I like how the detective is set up - Detective Commissaire Adamsberg is intuitive, which annoys his immediate underling Danglard who is often frustrated by this kind of thinking, but has been with his boss long enough to give him space (if he can), trusting by now his boss's gaps in thinking that produce miracle connections - but Adamsberg can't remember names and faces of his new staff, 25 officers, so he has a memory book! The crimes are chilling, and the mystery is a mystery - not easily solved - all in all, very entertaining and a good read.
I am currently reading James Lee Burke's Cadillac Jukebox, which was one of the three books Burke names as his favourites with Dave Robicheaux. I had read quite a few of the early books in the series, and then stopped reading him in the last decade. I thought I'd try this one, and I'm finding it slow going. I can't figure out why - I like the character, I love the southern setting, I think i find the evil people - and there are truly evil people in this book - too nasty - there are good people to balance them out, but I think I am annoyed that Robicheaux is taking on a case that isn't a case, for a man who may not have done a crime but no one wants solved by him. I will stick with it for another 100 pages or so, as I still hate to give up on a book, so we'll see. I hope it improves as I just picked up one of his latest, Pegases Descending, for Christmas.....
For my American readers, in the book business up here there has been quite a controversy since our dollar is worth more than your dollar (temporary, I'm sure!). We still pay the Canadian price, which is more than the American price, even though we should be paying what you pay! Now I've worked in bookstores in the past, and I know our price difference is not just because of the dollar - in fact, that has little to do with it. It has much more to do with shipping costs, publishing costs, market size, etc. One of my favourite independent bookstores, Collected Works, is offering books at par with US prices. I am proud to say that I continue to pay the Canadian price. The owner still has to make up the difference on his bills, and I'd rather support my independent book seller any day, than get a book cheaper(unless our Canadian dollar stays high and the publisher's prices become equal......hmmm, I can dream!) For all their size, our Chapters and Indigo stores do not carry the amount of midlist and backlist stock that they should. If you want book 2 in a series, or often book 1, you still have to order it! I go in to scout what books are new (because they can carry a bigger quantity of new releases), and then go to Collected Works and order the books if they don't have them in. Normally they do, and for a small store, Collected Works packs more than enough selection and variety that they often carry books Chapters doesn't! I love the idea of having a bookstore be the size of a library - but if Borders (US and UK) and Chapters can't carry a multitude of titles to match their space size, then it's not likely to happen soon. Which is a shame, and I've always thought that Chapters/Indigo (now owned by Heather Reisman so same company really) missed the chance to be one of the most amazing book companies in the world. But, that lets Collected Works exist, and Prime Crime, and Folio's in England, and all the independent bookstores that you and I treasure, Gentle Reader. Anyway, this was meant to be about the dollar difference and how it is affecting books in Ottawa (and most likely the rest of Canada), and supporting my local bookstore! My friend Patricia (same one who gave the very fun Hallowe'en party mentioned above) works at Coles, which is part of the same chain as Chapters- owned by Heather Reisman - and she has been regalling us with horror stories the past month, of customers coming in and throwing books at her and the other staff because they can't get it for the US amount. It's been really awful, and it's not Patricia's or any other bookstores' staff's fault. Chapters and Coles have begun offering bigger discounts - 30% off the top twenty bestseller list, etc - which takes the price below the American price -but that is not on all the books in the store, though. I suppose the key thing is the range of mark-ups in books is very low - the price is on the book when it's sent by the publisher, so it's not like in other retail stores where the price is inflated for a profit (clothing retail stores are among the worst for this) far beyond what it takes to produce the clothing. Head office can set the price to whatever they like. In books, the price is right there; there is some margin for profit or there would be no bookstores! But the profitability has never been great enough to make a fortune at it. Almost everyone who works in books does it out of love. And though I no longer work in books (the aforementioned low wages!), I can certainly support my local bookstore by buying there and paying the Canadian price!
Ok, my LSS is waiting to start watching Frost on TV......someday I have to read the books I have, that the series are based on.......RD Wingfield is the author.....but now it's relaxing time on this Sunday evening. It's Remembrance Day, and as Patricia said to me earlier today, let's pray for peace today, even as we remember and honour the heroes and the wars and the dead. As always, come home, our soldiers, safe and sound.
1 - my Goddess statue (and other items on my altar)
2 - my cat Bandit
3 - my tarot cards
4 - my photo albums (most are still in a box since coming from England 6 years ago)
5 - fill a box with books
Afterwards, I was very surprised that I didn't say my writing, or my computer, or my jewellry, but on the whole, the items are picked are irreplaceable. And books, well, I've learned that whatever I give away or lend, unless I hated the book, I usually end up wanting it again sometime later. Almost everything else in the house can be replaced, except for my collection of teapots, of which one is very old and already survived coming from England. But again, while I love them, I can live without them. I can't live without the things on my list. So there you have it, Patricia said it was a quick way to get to know someone - now what would you save, Gentle Reader? And does your answer surprise you?
Oh, and I never said how BIG the box was I was going to fill!!!! VERY large!!!
i finished Have Mercy on Us All last week by Fred Vargas, and I very much enjoyed it. I like the characters, I like how the detective is set up - Detective Commissaire Adamsberg is intuitive, which annoys his immediate underling Danglard who is often frustrated by this kind of thinking, but has been with his boss long enough to give him space (if he can), trusting by now his boss's gaps in thinking that produce miracle connections - but Adamsberg can't remember names and faces of his new staff, 25 officers, so he has a memory book! The crimes are chilling, and the mystery is a mystery - not easily solved - all in all, very entertaining and a good read.
I am currently reading James Lee Burke's Cadillac Jukebox, which was one of the three books Burke names as his favourites with Dave Robicheaux. I had read quite a few of the early books in the series, and then stopped reading him in the last decade. I thought I'd try this one, and I'm finding it slow going. I can't figure out why - I like the character, I love the southern setting, I think i find the evil people - and there are truly evil people in this book - too nasty - there are good people to balance them out, but I think I am annoyed that Robicheaux is taking on a case that isn't a case, for a man who may not have done a crime but no one wants solved by him. I will stick with it for another 100 pages or so, as I still hate to give up on a book, so we'll see. I hope it improves as I just picked up one of his latest, Pegases Descending, for Christmas.....
For my American readers, in the book business up here there has been quite a controversy since our dollar is worth more than your dollar (temporary, I'm sure!). We still pay the Canadian price, which is more than the American price, even though we should be paying what you pay! Now I've worked in bookstores in the past, and I know our price difference is not just because of the dollar - in fact, that has little to do with it. It has much more to do with shipping costs, publishing costs, market size, etc. One of my favourite independent bookstores, Collected Works, is offering books at par with US prices. I am proud to say that I continue to pay the Canadian price. The owner still has to make up the difference on his bills, and I'd rather support my independent book seller any day, than get a book cheaper(unless our Canadian dollar stays high and the publisher's prices become equal......hmmm, I can dream!) For all their size, our Chapters and Indigo stores do not carry the amount of midlist and backlist stock that they should. If you want book 2 in a series, or often book 1, you still have to order it! I go in to scout what books are new (because they can carry a bigger quantity of new releases), and then go to Collected Works and order the books if they don't have them in. Normally they do, and for a small store, Collected Works packs more than enough selection and variety that they often carry books Chapters doesn't! I love the idea of having a bookstore be the size of a library - but if Borders (US and UK) and Chapters can't carry a multitude of titles to match their space size, then it's not likely to happen soon. Which is a shame, and I've always thought that Chapters/Indigo (now owned by Heather Reisman so same company really) missed the chance to be one of the most amazing book companies in the world. But, that lets Collected Works exist, and Prime Crime, and Folio's in England, and all the independent bookstores that you and I treasure, Gentle Reader. Anyway, this was meant to be about the dollar difference and how it is affecting books in Ottawa (and most likely the rest of Canada), and supporting my local bookstore! My friend Patricia (same one who gave the very fun Hallowe'en party mentioned above) works at Coles, which is part of the same chain as Chapters- owned by Heather Reisman - and she has been regalling us with horror stories the past month, of customers coming in and throwing books at her and the other staff because they can't get it for the US amount. It's been really awful, and it's not Patricia's or any other bookstores' staff's fault. Chapters and Coles have begun offering bigger discounts - 30% off the top twenty bestseller list, etc - which takes the price below the American price -but that is not on all the books in the store, though. I suppose the key thing is the range of mark-ups in books is very low - the price is on the book when it's sent by the publisher, so it's not like in other retail stores where the price is inflated for a profit (clothing retail stores are among the worst for this) far beyond what it takes to produce the clothing. Head office can set the price to whatever they like. In books, the price is right there; there is some margin for profit or there would be no bookstores! But the profitability has never been great enough to make a fortune at it. Almost everyone who works in books does it out of love. And though I no longer work in books (the aforementioned low wages!), I can certainly support my local bookstore by buying there and paying the Canadian price!
Ok, my LSS is waiting to start watching Frost on TV......someday I have to read the books I have, that the series are based on.......RD Wingfield is the author.....but now it's relaxing time on this Sunday evening. It's Remembrance Day, and as Patricia said to me earlier today, let's pray for peace today, even as we remember and honour the heroes and the wars and the dead. As always, come home, our soldiers, safe and sound.
Sunday, 4 November 2007
2 cases head lice, 1 trip to the hospital, 2 birthdays, 1 small car accident, 1 Hallowe'en later......
Well, where to begin? As the header suggests, October did not go out quietly in our household! It began on the 22 with Holly-Anne throwing up on the school bus. Then the call from daycare next day that the youngest Graham had a suspected case of head lice. Although both kids were checked that night, the next day (Wed the 24) Holly-Anne's daycare called to say she had seen something........five treatments later (Graham got the shampoo twice because I did it wrong the first time), hours every day fighting with Holly-Anne who hates getting her hair more than lightly brushed, Tuesday night rolled around.....Oct 30, Hallowe'en eve. The kids had their last lice treatment, and finally at 10:30 I sat down to carve the pumpkins.....One hour and a bad gash on my hand later, I was at the emergency ward, where i waited with our dear family friend Victor for 5 hours to be seen and stitched up. I devised Susan's rules of Pumpkin Carving:
1. Do not carve after 10 pm.
2. Do not go from scooping pulp from one pumpin, to cutting the top of the next pumpkin, without washing hands first!
3. Do not, while carving one pumpkin, be mentally planning the carving of the next two pumpkins in an ambitious plan to carve 4 pumpkins in two hours because of delays because of head lice (see above).
4. Always pay attention when handling sharp knives!!!
I was so embarrassed. In 20 years of carving pumpkins, I had never done more than knick a finger.......and here I was with a large enough gash that I needed 6 stitches to close it. And it was my left hand, so I couldn't do much - no typing, no writing, no going to work........
so Hallowe'en was done handicapped and in some pain, AND it was Duncan's 19th birthday so I wasn't going to be baking any cakes or brownies as I usually do. One birthday and Hallowe'en trick or treating later, I was finally able to get some sleep!
After Hallowe'en my mother arrived on Thursday night. Friday was Graham's third birthday, so off we went to do errands, our book shopping (we always go to Prime Crime Books on Bank St and load up on mysteries for Christmas), and get snowsuits for Holly-Anne and Graham, Mom's loving and very generous birthday gift for each of them each year. At Bayshore as we arrived at a parking spot, a van was about to drive in. In one of those horrible miscommunications, he motioned for us to get out , but I wanted to make sure he was in before taking Holly-Anne out (he was coming in on her side of the car) and so I waved him in. Suddenly we heard a crunch and knew the car had been hit. Holly-Anne had opened the car door, having gotten out of her car seat despite instructions to stay put until I got to her. Luckily the door had a small buckle and was able to be shut, the van had a broken head and signal light, and even more luckily, extremely luckily, Holly-Anne was completely unhurt. She had dropped her sucker on the car floor and bent down to get it, instead of hopping out of the car. I shudder to think what would have happened if she'd had her leg or arm or head out when the van hit.
Then it was on to shopping, car repairs and Graham's birthday party that night! I think it was yesterday afternoon when I finally found myself taking deep breaths, and I realized that I hadn't really calmed down since I'd cut my hand, that I hadn't had time to catch my breath. Needless, to say, this is the longest I've been able to type on the computer, as the gash is between my thumb and forefinger and the stitches pull when I use my fingers alot. It is healing very nicely, but I think I will be doing some more reading than writing for the next week, until the stitches come out on Friday.
On the plus side, the boys had good birthdays, I did get two pumpkins carved (even if not 4......), it was the warmest Hallowe'en night any of us could remember for the 20 years I've lived in Ottawa, we had a fun visit with my mother (despite her car's new dent, which will be repaired shortly.....), and I did point out that earlier that day she'd said they'd had no problems with the car for 8 years, so she cursed it!! We're paying the repair costs, so fingers crossed we will have enough for at least Holly-Anne's birthday (the day before Christmas)......and I'm very glad we went book shopping BEFORE the accident so I could buy the books guilt-free!
I did manage to read a book before and after the head lice (which thankfully I think we got it all!), and although I finished it Nov 1, after the Hallowe'en deadline, I'm going to count it: Night Relics, by James P. Blaylock.
NIGHT RELICS - James P. Blaylock
written in the early 1990s, a ghost story that is strange and ends bizarrely. It doesn't have as many chills as I like spooky stories to have, and some of the actions of the presences in the forest don't quite fit with the story - some threads are left hanging - but on the whole, it was very enjoyable, and I did pick it up, after all the lice/Hallowe'en events were over, to finish it. It's not a classic ghost story, but it's closer than many books written these days, so I'm glad I read it.
So that is it for my Hallowe'en reading. I started Edgar Allan Poe, but read the introduction and then put the book down. I wasn't in the mood for anything I had already read, which is why I didn't finish Interview with a Vampire. I've read it several times over the years, and thought I wanted to again, but not yet. So not bad for my first book challenge 6 out of the 8 books read! And I started late with it! Of all the books I read for this challenge, Devil in the White City is the book that comes back to me most often. Very definitely a book worth seeking out.
So now it's on to my Canadian books and mysteries that I want to read before the 888 Challenge begins in 8 weeks! I have tinkered with the 888 list again, as I have to add more mysteries; since they and fantasy are the books I read most often every year, in and out, it makes no sense to leave them off. And there are so many books I want to read!!!
I am reading a mystery I bought on Friday from Prime Crime, by Fred Vargas. They were out of Wash This Blood from My Hands, which I have been looking for, but they had another one by the author so I thought I'd try it: Have Mercy on Us All. Fred Vargas is a French writer, a historian in her real job, and has written several mysteries starring Detective Commissaire Adamsberg. I've read 50 pages so far and am quite enjoying it. I like mysteries translated from other languages. It is fascinating to see how they view the world from a different perspective than North American. I do notice when the idioms are wrong, but that is part of the charm for me. I try to think of what a better phrase would be, and maybe what it might have been in the original language. I can get a sense of right and wrong in Sweden or Germany or from wherever, and the feel for the country, the land, the weather, the politics (since many of the best mysteries the world over deal with what is troubling the world, in one context or another). I love Smilla's Sense of Snow, and have read one Arnaldur Irnalddson (I'm pretty sure is spelled wrong, but I borrowed the book from the library, I don't own a copy to spell check the name!) and want to read the others now, have read most of Henning Mankell, and am trying some new Scandinavian mysteries when I can get back to Prime Crime before Christmas (If Mom's car door doesn't cost to-o-o-o much to repair). Wash This Blood from My Hands might be coming out in a smaller softcover version which is what the store computer suggested. I'll let you know, Gentle Reader, how Have Mercy On Us All turns out.
The kids are playing with all of Graham's new toys (many Cars - from the movie CARS -, many trucks and cars and Thomas from Thomas the Tank Engine series) and if they'll let me, I might sneak in a few minutes of reading before they get restless and start asking to go outside to play. Housework needs to done, cookies baked, and tidying up from birthdays and the rest of the Hallowe'en decorations to come down. I hope you all had a much calmer Hallowe'en than we did!!! Time to catch our breath before the Christmas season begins! Happy reading!
1. Do not carve after 10 pm.
2. Do not go from scooping pulp from one pumpin, to cutting the top of the next pumpkin, without washing hands first!
3. Do not, while carving one pumpkin, be mentally planning the carving of the next two pumpkins in an ambitious plan to carve 4 pumpkins in two hours because of delays because of head lice (see above).
4. Always pay attention when handling sharp knives!!!
I was so embarrassed. In 20 years of carving pumpkins, I had never done more than knick a finger.......and here I was with a large enough gash that I needed 6 stitches to close it. And it was my left hand, so I couldn't do much - no typing, no writing, no going to work........
so Hallowe'en was done handicapped and in some pain, AND it was Duncan's 19th birthday so I wasn't going to be baking any cakes or brownies as I usually do. One birthday and Hallowe'en trick or treating later, I was finally able to get some sleep!
After Hallowe'en my mother arrived on Thursday night. Friday was Graham's third birthday, so off we went to do errands, our book shopping (we always go to Prime Crime Books on Bank St and load up on mysteries for Christmas), and get snowsuits for Holly-Anne and Graham, Mom's loving and very generous birthday gift for each of them each year. At Bayshore as we arrived at a parking spot, a van was about to drive in. In one of those horrible miscommunications, he motioned for us to get out , but I wanted to make sure he was in before taking Holly-Anne out (he was coming in on her side of the car) and so I waved him in. Suddenly we heard a crunch and knew the car had been hit. Holly-Anne had opened the car door, having gotten out of her car seat despite instructions to stay put until I got to her. Luckily the door had a small buckle and was able to be shut, the van had a broken head and signal light, and even more luckily, extremely luckily, Holly-Anne was completely unhurt. She had dropped her sucker on the car floor and bent down to get it, instead of hopping out of the car. I shudder to think what would have happened if she'd had her leg or arm or head out when the van hit.
Then it was on to shopping, car repairs and Graham's birthday party that night! I think it was yesterday afternoon when I finally found myself taking deep breaths, and I realized that I hadn't really calmed down since I'd cut my hand, that I hadn't had time to catch my breath. Needless, to say, this is the longest I've been able to type on the computer, as the gash is between my thumb and forefinger and the stitches pull when I use my fingers alot. It is healing very nicely, but I think I will be doing some more reading than writing for the next week, until the stitches come out on Friday.
On the plus side, the boys had good birthdays, I did get two pumpkins carved (even if not 4......), it was the warmest Hallowe'en night any of us could remember for the 20 years I've lived in Ottawa, we had a fun visit with my mother (despite her car's new dent, which will be repaired shortly.....), and I did point out that earlier that day she'd said they'd had no problems with the car for 8 years, so she cursed it!! We're paying the repair costs, so fingers crossed we will have enough for at least Holly-Anne's birthday (the day before Christmas)......and I'm very glad we went book shopping BEFORE the accident so I could buy the books guilt-free!
I did manage to read a book before and after the head lice (which thankfully I think we got it all!), and although I finished it Nov 1, after the Hallowe'en deadline, I'm going to count it: Night Relics, by James P. Blaylock.
NIGHT RELICS - James P. Blaylock
written in the early 1990s, a ghost story that is strange and ends bizarrely. It doesn't have as many chills as I like spooky stories to have, and some of the actions of the presences in the forest don't quite fit with the story - some threads are left hanging - but on the whole, it was very enjoyable, and I did pick it up, after all the lice/Hallowe'en events were over, to finish it. It's not a classic ghost story, but it's closer than many books written these days, so I'm glad I read it.
So that is it for my Hallowe'en reading. I started Edgar Allan Poe, but read the introduction and then put the book down. I wasn't in the mood for anything I had already read, which is why I didn't finish Interview with a Vampire. I've read it several times over the years, and thought I wanted to again, but not yet. So not bad for my first book challenge 6 out of the 8 books read! And I started late with it! Of all the books I read for this challenge, Devil in the White City is the book that comes back to me most often. Very definitely a book worth seeking out.
So now it's on to my Canadian books and mysteries that I want to read before the 888 Challenge begins in 8 weeks! I have tinkered with the 888 list again, as I have to add more mysteries; since they and fantasy are the books I read most often every year, in and out, it makes no sense to leave them off. And there are so many books I want to read!!!
I am reading a mystery I bought on Friday from Prime Crime, by Fred Vargas. They were out of Wash This Blood from My Hands, which I have been looking for, but they had another one by the author so I thought I'd try it: Have Mercy on Us All. Fred Vargas is a French writer, a historian in her real job, and has written several mysteries starring Detective Commissaire Adamsberg. I've read 50 pages so far and am quite enjoying it. I like mysteries translated from other languages. It is fascinating to see how they view the world from a different perspective than North American. I do notice when the idioms are wrong, but that is part of the charm for me. I try to think of what a better phrase would be, and maybe what it might have been in the original language. I can get a sense of right and wrong in Sweden or Germany or from wherever, and the feel for the country, the land, the weather, the politics (since many of the best mysteries the world over deal with what is troubling the world, in one context or another). I love Smilla's Sense of Snow, and have read one Arnaldur Irnalddson (I'm pretty sure is spelled wrong, but I borrowed the book from the library, I don't own a copy to spell check the name!) and want to read the others now, have read most of Henning Mankell, and am trying some new Scandinavian mysteries when I can get back to Prime Crime before Christmas (If Mom's car door doesn't cost to-o-o-o much to repair). Wash This Blood from My Hands might be coming out in a smaller softcover version which is what the store computer suggested. I'll let you know, Gentle Reader, how Have Mercy On Us All turns out.
The kids are playing with all of Graham's new toys (many Cars - from the movie CARS -, many trucks and cars and Thomas from Thomas the Tank Engine series) and if they'll let me, I might sneak in a few minutes of reading before they get restless and start asking to go outside to play. Housework needs to done, cookies baked, and tidying up from birthdays and the rest of the Hallowe'en decorations to come down. I hope you all had a much calmer Hallowe'en than we did!!! Time to catch our breath before the Christmas season begins! Happy reading!
Saturday, 20 October 2007
Updated 888 Book List
Well, when Mercury goes retrograde (astrologically speaking), which Mercury did last week on the 11th, snarls and confusion sometimes occur, and also revision. Well, I've ended up revising my 888 Challenge list because I realized I had left off mysteries and fantasy, which are the types of books I read most frequently. I had one pile of each sorted for the First in a Series Challenge (one ran this year which I was much too late to join, so I'm starting my own challenge for 2008!), and I knew I was going to read them anyway.......so I went back to my first edition and realized some were books I wanted to read, or thought I should make a category of! and revised everything. Now it's a list of books I can hardly wait to get to (but it means snow is coming, so Jan 1 2008 doesn't have to hurry too quickly!). Here is the new updated today 888 challenge book list:
888 CHALLENGE – 8 BOOKS IN 8 CATEGORIES IN 2008
i) Short Story Collections
- Northern Frights 2 – ed Don Hutchison*
- Everything's Eventual – Stephen King
- Year's Best Fantasy and Horror – 6th Annual Collection, Datlow and Windling
- Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang
- Kissing the Witch – Emma Donoghue *
- The Door in the Hedge – Robin McKinley*
- Harrowing the Dragon – Patricia McKillip
- Fragile Things – Neil Gaiman
ii) Latest Books by Favourite Authors
- Territory – Emma Bull
- Widdershins – Charles de Lint *
- Exit Music – Ian Rankin
- Ysabel – Guy Gavriel Kay
- Dragonhaven – Robin McKinley
- Piece of My Heart – Peter Robinson *
- The Fabric of Sin – Phil Rickman
- Something Rotten – Jasper Fforde
iii) Classic Literature
- Ulysses – James Joyce
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte *
- Persuasion – Jane Austen *
- O Pioneers – Willa Cather
- Beowulf
- Middlemarch – George Eliot
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte *
- The Iliad - Homer
iv) Fairy Tales (original and re-written, short story collections and novels)
- Enchantment – Orson Scott Card
- Fitcher's Brides – Gregory Frost
- Kissing the Witch – Emma Donoghue *
- The Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter
- Black Heart, Ivory Bones – eds Datlow and Windling
- The Door in the Hedge – Robin McKinley *
- The Classic Fairy Tales – Iona and Peter Opie
- Beauty and the Beast – Mary Jo Napoli
v) Non-Fiction
- Canadian Settler's Guide – Catherine Parr Traill *
- Life of Charlotte Bronte – Mrs Gaskell
- 1599 A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare – James Shapiro
- Journal of a Solitude – May Sarton *
- Tarot for Yourself – Mary K. Greer
- The Psychic Pathway – Sonia Choquette
- Crossing to Avalon – Jean Shinoda Bolen
- Goddess Initiation – Francesca De Grandis
vi)Mysteries ( all are also First in a Series Challenge books)
-Louisiana Hotshot – JulieSmith
-Blind-Sighted – Karin Slaughter
- Murder in Grub Street – Bruce Alexander
- Death & the Oxford Box – Veronica Stallwood
- The Shape of Water – Andrea Camilleri
- Turnstone – Graham Hurley
- Death in the Off-Season – Francine Mathews
- Every Dead Thing – John Connolly
vii)Popular Books I've Been Meaning to Read....
- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke
- Obsidian Butterfly – Laurell K. Hamilton
- A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby
- White Teeth – Zadie Smith
- She's Come Undone – Wally Lamb
- The Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver
- Sixpence House – Paul Collins
- The end of Elsewhere – Taras Grescoe *
*alternate, Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
viii) Fantasy – (all are in 1st in a Series Challenge)
- Shaman's Crossing – Robin Hobb
- The Weirdstone of Brisingamen – Alan Garner
- The Sharing Knife – Lois McMaster Bujold
- A Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula K. LeGuin
- Over Sea, Under Stone – Susan Cooper
- Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
- Moon Called – Patricia Briggs
- Knight Errant – R. Garcia Y Robertson
Stars mean the book is linked to another book challenge. Bold books are cross-listed here - sadly I only have two now. I could have cheated and put less other books to be read in other categories, but I WANT to read them and intend to! so I might as well get credit for it! And it makes it a real book challenge, 62 books to read in 2008, plus the Can Book Challenge - 13 books (minus whatever I read between now and Jan 1 2008). so at least the fantasy and mystery categories now count for the First in A Series Book Challenge!!!
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Bear dream
I had one of my bear dreams last night. For those of you who don't know, bear is my medicine helper. I'm not going into my spiritual beliefs right now, but any time a bear shows up is important for me. So I dreamt last night that I was at a house by a marsh, and a man was going out with a gun to hunt a grizzly bear. He had met her long ago as a child and survived (the bear never attacked him) and now he was going out to hunt her. He had a rifle, and as he set out to the marsh where the bear was, the scene changed to show Charles de Lint at a bookstore signing books, and I was there to interview him. There was a small shelf of 20 books below the counter, and I was supposed to ask him about one of them. I saw Stanislaw Lem, and others, pulling out eventually Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things. I woke up then.
I have added Neil Gaiman's blog under writing blogs on the sidebar, because his site is fun, interesting, and gives a close-up look at the writing life - he writes very frequently on it, almost daily. When I checked today his site (because of the dream) I saw he had written yesterday about 'why write?' go check it out, if you are interested in writing, or in how books are written. I haven't experienced that flow of writing often enough yet, but with the book I am working on now, I have sometimes - it is an absolute thrill when suddenly the writing and everything in the story I've put makes sense.
I'll write more later, but for now The Tudors is on CBC! I think my dream is about writing, so I will get back to it - also the coincidence of adding Fragile Things last minute to my 888 challenge, and dream of it a night later?? H-m-m-m.....
I have added Neil Gaiman's blog under writing blogs on the sidebar, because his site is fun, interesting, and gives a close-up look at the writing life - he writes very frequently on it, almost daily. When I checked today his site (because of the dream) I saw he had written yesterday about 'why write?' go check it out, if you are interested in writing, or in how books are written. I haven't experienced that flow of writing often enough yet, but with the book I am working on now, I have sometimes - it is an absolute thrill when suddenly the writing and everything in the story I've put makes sense.
I'll write more later, but for now The Tudors is on CBC! I think my dream is about writing, so I will get back to it - also the coincidence of adding Fragile Things last minute to my 888 challenge, and dream of it a night later?? H-m-m-m.....
Monday, 15 October 2007
* what the stars mean....
It means I have crossed linked the books in the challenge with another challenge that the book is in. Amazingly enough, in the 888 challenge, I only have 3 that are cross-linked within that challenge! but a few of my Can Challenge books are linked to the 888 Challenge, and both of those challenges are linked to my own challenge, which is to re-read some favourites this year. Thus, Jane Austen (I love all of her books), Emily of New Moon - the other series by L MM Montgmery that I loved as a girl - Jane Eyre - Wuthering Heights - Journal of a Solitude (one of my favourite books on the writing life):
I hate that question 'what book would you bring on a desert island?' because I could never ever decide on just one book.
Favourites Reread Challenge - 2008
- Persuasion – Jane Austen *
- Bridget Jone's Diary – Helen Fielding
- Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte*
- Dune – Frank Herbert
- Beauty – Robin McKinley
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte *
- Emily of New Moon – L.M. Montgomery *
- The Door in the Hedge – Robin McKinley *
- A Life of One's Own – Joanna Field *
- Journal of a Solitude – May Sarton *
- Notes From a Small Island – Bill Bryson *
And sad to say, I have another challenge for myself: a poetry reading challenge. More to be announced later, but I've decided I have to read more poetry, and while I have begun buying more books and reading them, I want to make it a regular habit. And, I've wanted to read Birthday Letter by Ted Hughes for so long now, having had a big Sylvia Plath period in my life!
Maybe, because I am in my 40s and pausing after getting to this point in my life, looking forward and seeing where I want to go into (and bring with me) into the second part of my life, I am looking back and seeing what is worth experiencing again, what I want to re-read again. Not because I want to relive anything, but it's kind of like a spiral. Life turns and turns, and I experience things on a deeper level as the same themes come around again. So I find myself drawn to some of the same books I read in my early 20's, in my 30's, in my childhood. I want to visit them again and enjoy the pleasure in their company, like old friends that I don't need to explain myself to. I want to reread them now and see how I experience them now, what I take away from the books now, and how they move me now, and bring them forward with me into my future. Besides, books that are my favourites throughout my lifetime, are part of my soul now. When I love a book, it becomes a part of me, and I carry it with me wherever I go. Actually, any book, like any experience, becomes a part of me.
One of the pleasures of being an adult is that I can do what I want to, so I give myself permission to read as much as I desire. The thing is, I don't read as much as I want to or used to - life, etc, kids - so part of joining these challenges is to prod myself away from the tv (which does suck your brain out, I've decided) and give more time to books and reading time. I think I just grew lazy - I have always read, just not more than I watch tv, and now I want to reverse it so I read far more than I watch tv.
I hate that question 'what book would you bring on a desert island?' because I could never ever decide on just one book.
Ok, time to go read my next Hallowe'en book, A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons. I've just started it,and it already looks deliciously creepy and scary. I'll keep you, gentle reader, posted.
Canadian Book challenge list posted
I did it! I got 13 books chosen for the Canadian Book Challenge, running from now until July 1 2008.
CANADIAN BOOK CHALLENGE Oct 2007 – July 1 2008 (13 books)
- the Penelopiad – Margaret Atwood
- Widdershins – Charles de Lint *
- A Touch of Panic – L.R. Wright
- Emily of New Moon – L.M. Montgomery*
- The Canadian Settler's Guide – Catherine Parr Traill *
- The Writing Life – ed Constance Rooke
- Northern Frights 2 – ed Don Hutchison *
- Bitten – Kelley Armstrong
- Life of Pi – Yann Martel
- A History of Reading – Alberto Manguel
- Still Life – Louise Penny *
- Piece of My Heart – Peter Robinson *
- The End of Elsewhere – Taras Grescoe *
I've been really good, only one book is a reread - Emily of New Moon - the rest are new books to read! I'm actually excited about this list, and with Canadian books it can be hit or miss. Much of Canlit I don't like - my mother read Miriam Toews 'An Complicated Kindness" which she said 'finished like a typical Canadian book'. I have yet to read it, and would have put it on my list but my sister-in-law Kim currently has the book. Most of the authors I have here I love - Charles de Lint is one of my favourited fantasy writers, Margaret Atwood was my adolescent introduction to adult Canadian fiction when I read 'The Edible Woman' while on summer vacation at a cottage, but I don't like all her writing. I love LMM Montgomery and would have put Anne of Green Gables on the list only i discovered I don't own it!!!! Yikes, one of my all-time favourite children's book growing up......I have the other two - Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island - in the original covers that I discovered the series in, so I want Anne of GG in that series, and I guess I haven't found a good enough copy yet. It is a good feeling to know that I had to leave some books off the list! Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay, and his Sailing to Sarantium series (I read book one, haven't read book 2 yet).
Of the ones I've chosen, Louise Penny is getting good reviews for her mystery series, of which Still Life is the first one.
I forgot Giles Blount!!!! My mother is buying the latest one for me for Christmas!!! Uh oh, there may be some tinkering with this list, and the 888 challenge, then, since I love Giles Blount! If you haven't read 40 Words for Sorrow (the first one in the series), then I highly, highly recommend it. Wonderful series set in a fictional town in northwestern Ontario.
Dragon Charmer by Jan Siegel.......the Benny Cooperman mysteries.......there were lots more that I would have liked to put on my list. No Logo by Naomie Klein, which I really want to read, but don't own yet, and until my LSS gets a new contract, I can't add too many books I have to buy. There's always the library, but I confess I like to own books. It's one of my few vices, but as my sister Patricia can say, you can get me into a bookstore, but you can't get me out of one!!!! My eldest son used to cry as soon as we crossed the threshold of one, when he was a baby.
So, as dinner calls - our two year old - wants ketchup with his spaghetti! yecch! - I hope you find some new Canadian authors to read from my list. Happy reading!!
Sunday, 14 October 2007
Triple 8 Challenge Book List done!
Well, it's done, I was all excited until I lost the posting - so much for saving it automatically.....so here goes again.......I just saw that I missed the publish post part - it is midnight! I'm tired! Here is my list, I will comment on it tomorrow.....
888 CHALLENGE – 8 BOOKS IN 8 CATEGORIES IN 2008
i) Short Story Collections
- Northern Frights 2 – ed Don Hutchison*
- Everything's Eventual – Stephen King
- Year's Best Fantasy and Horror – 6th Annual Collection, Datlow and Windling
- Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang
- Kissing the Witch – Emma Donoghue *
- The Door in the Hedge – Robin McKinley*
- Harrowing the Dragon – Patricia McKillip
- Fragile Things – Neil Gaiman
ii) Latest Books by Favourite Authors
- Territory – Emma Bull
- Widdershins – Charles de Lint *
- Exit Music – Ian Rankin
- Ysabel – Guy Gavriel Kay
- Dragonhaven – Robin McKinley
- Piece of My Heart – Peter Robinson *
- The Fabric of Sin – Phil Rickman
- Something Rotten – Jasper Fforde
iii) Classic Literature
- Ulysses – James Joyce
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte *
- Persuasion – Jane Austen *
- O Pioneers – Willa Cather
- Beowulf
- Middlemarch – George Eliot
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte *
- The Iliad - Homer
iv) Fairy Tales (original and re-written, short story collections and novels)
- Enchantment – Orson Scott Card
- Fitcher's Brides – Gregory Frost
- Kissing the Witch – Emma Donoghue *
- The Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter
- Black Heart, Ivory Bones – eds Datlow and Windling
- The Door in the Hedge – Robin McKinley *
- The Classic Fairy Tales – Iona and Peter Opie
- Beauty and the Beast – Mary Jo Napoli
v) Biography/Autobiography
- Canadian Settler's Guide – Catherine Parr Traill *
- Life of Charlotte Bronte – Mrs Gaskell
- Bad Blood – Lorna Sage
- Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire – Amanda Foreman
- 1599 A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare – James Shapiro *
- Donne: The Reformed Soul – John Stubbs *
- A Life of One's Own – Joanna Field *
- Journal of a Solitude – May Sarton *
vi) Esoteric (Astrology, Tarot, Magic)
- Tarot for Yourself – Mary K. Greer
- The Psychic Pathway – Sonia Choquette
- The Elements of Ritual – Deborah Lipp
- Intuitive Astrology – Elizabeth Rose Campbell
- Everyday Magic – Vivianne Crowley
- Crossing to Avalon – Jean Shinoda Bolen
- Goddess Initiation – Francesca De Grandis
- Chiron – Martin Lass
vii)Popular Books I've Been Meaning to Read....
- Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell – Susanna Clarke
- Obsidian Butterfly – Laurell K. Hamilton
- A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby
- White Teeth – Zadie Smith
- She's Come Undone – Wally Lamb
- The Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver
- The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
- Wicked – the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West – Gregory Maguire
viii) Travel, Armchair
- Sixpence House – Paul Collins
- London: the Biography – Peter Ackroyd
- Notes from a Small Island – Bill Bryson *
- Falling Off the Map – Pico Iyer
- The end of Elsewhere – Taras Grescoe *
- A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle
- The History of York, Yorkshire – ed Patrick Huttgens
- (to be determined)
There, let's see if I can get this one posted! Happy reading, happy book challenge! Let me know your comments, and if you would like to join, please do! It's fun to share in reading and talking about books! Like I said, it's too late tonight to comment on why I picked what I did, and the categories, so I will add more tomorrow. It was fun doing, and amazing how many came off my shelves - I only need about 20 (I see my Christmas list now......) Hurry up 2008! Though, I must add, all the books that didn't make it onto my list, are waiting to be read before 2008, now!!!
The Lamplighter by Anthony O'Neill
Done! and a strange book, in the end. It started off a bit creepy, very atmospheric, and then about three-quarters of the way through it took a very strange turn and ended up not being a horror/ghost story at all. I originally bought the book because some reviewer liked it, though now I can't remember who to go blame. Because, in the end, I was disappointed.
The book is set in Edinburgh, in 1886. I don't want to give the plot away here in case any of my gentle readers want to go get the book themselves - I hate reading book reviews that tell the entire plot. That's like the movie previews, that after a minute I feel like, why bother go see the movie? I've just seen it encapsulated on the screen! Book reviews that give the plot away are kind of like that.
It is set as a murder mystery, but ends up with quite a bit of theology mixed in and while the murders are explained, there is no resolution in a satisfactory sense. It is unbelievable to me that the main character Evelyn could survive everything that happened to her as a child and function as an adult. It is not a happy mystery, none of the characters are happy or even content, but they are all (esp the main ones) likeable and interesting. Some of the characters are funny, like Inspector Groves. But the story is an odd mix of philosophy - do we exist? do we exist only in another's mind? How do we know? - and ancient evil with roots in religion, which in this book are odd together. I think, though, the book is worth reading to see what the author was struggling to do, and to judge if he succeeded or not. At least we writers can learn from the author's mistakes!
Some of it is implausible, and I think this is what bothers me the most - bothers me about most anything in books or on tv. I want the events to be realistic. Even in fantasy, when reading about unicorns or dragons, I want there to be an inherent logic to the story so that the actions are believable. Especially near the end of the Lamplighter, the actions become very strange. There are religious overtones - hence the theology, so if you have anything against Scottish religious views, don't read this book! We aren't fully shown how the evil is resolved, or even if it is, and what happens to two of the main characters is confusing and could be debated for a long time by readers of the book.
In the end, it was an enjoyable read, and I do love the setting in Edinburgh. The city came alive for me again while reading the book.
3 out of 5 stars.
Note: I first published this blog with the title The Devil in the White City.....if you've read both books, you'll know why! plus I'm very tired....
The book is set in Edinburgh, in 1886. I don't want to give the plot away here in case any of my gentle readers want to go get the book themselves - I hate reading book reviews that tell the entire plot. That's like the movie previews, that after a minute I feel like, why bother go see the movie? I've just seen it encapsulated on the screen! Book reviews that give the plot away are kind of like that.
It is set as a murder mystery, but ends up with quite a bit of theology mixed in and while the murders are explained, there is no resolution in a satisfactory sense. It is unbelievable to me that the main character Evelyn could survive everything that happened to her as a child and function as an adult. It is not a happy mystery, none of the characters are happy or even content, but they are all (esp the main ones) likeable and interesting. Some of the characters are funny, like Inspector Groves. But the story is an odd mix of philosophy - do we exist? do we exist only in another's mind? How do we know? - and ancient evil with roots in religion, which in this book are odd together. I think, though, the book is worth reading to see what the author was struggling to do, and to judge if he succeeded or not. At least we writers can learn from the author's mistakes!
Some of it is implausible, and I think this is what bothers me the most - bothers me about most anything in books or on tv. I want the events to be realistic. Even in fantasy, when reading about unicorns or dragons, I want there to be an inherent logic to the story so that the actions are believable. Especially near the end of the Lamplighter, the actions become very strange. There are religious overtones - hence the theology, so if you have anything against Scottish religious views, don't read this book! We aren't fully shown how the evil is resolved, or even if it is, and what happens to two of the main characters is confusing and could be debated for a long time by readers of the book.
In the end, it was an enjoyable read, and I do love the setting in Edinburgh. The city came alive for me again while reading the book.
3 out of 5 stars.
Note: I first published this blog with the title The Devil in the White City.....if you've read both books, you'll know why! plus I'm very tired....
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