quiet on the book blog doesn't mean life is quiet....

So here it is a Saturday at the end of January. I have been uncharacteristically silent on my blog, and I'm not sure why. I'm certainly reading! I think I haven't had lots to say because we have been distracted by the difficulties our five-year-old is experiencing. They are extremely stressful on all of us, and don't leave me much time to read, never mind to blog. We have reached the point of having to ask for outside help, because it has taken over our lives, and has for some time now. While we learn how best to help him, it doesn't leave me much extra time that I used to get. I think about blogging, often! And have several posts lined up in my head: 'Graphic novels and how extraordinary they are", "Why Mary Oliver is my Mentor", "Synchronicities in reading", "and How my reading has changed since I began blogging". As time permits......

What I wanted to write today (in between playing soccer games on the Playstation with the 5 year old and losing badly to him, and making dinner) was how you have affected my book buying recently. Yes, that's you, my dear Gentle Readers. You. Look at the books I recently bought in Chapters!!!
Let's see:
Full Dark House (#1) and The Water Room ( Bryant and May series) , recently recommended by Bookpusher, Cath at Read-Warbler,
Book By Book - Michael Dirda - Nymeth - she recommeneded Classics for Pleasure, but when I went to the store, I wanted to start with this one, which was about how he relates books he's reading to his life
The Company of Liars - Booksplease
Cry Wolf - Patricia Briggs - because Kailana says it's even better than the other series with Mercy Thompson (which I find hard to believe)
The Rough Collier - Pat MacIntosh - Geraniumcat (the only one of the series I could find so far, she's read the earlier ones)
Monkey Beach - Eden Robinson - Stephanie, Dewey
and, because I liked the look of them:
Urban Shaman by C. E. Murphy
Greywalker - Kat Richardson
Letters Written in Sweden, Norway and Denmark - Mary Wollstonecraft

And last of all, wonderfully arriving from Amazon.ca in the mail earlier this week, a copy of An Instance of the Fingerpost, because Ann at Table Talk recommended it as a mystery I must read. There is nothing like receiving a book in the mail, is there?
By the way, the Henning Mankell mystery, Before the Frost, in my photo, is the last Wallander and Wallander mystery Henning Mankell will write featuring Kurt Wallander and his new police-daughter Linda. The actress who played Linda in the recent English series (which starred Kenneth Branagh), killed herself last winter, she was a victim of the terrible tsunami in 2004 and never really got over it, and the author was too grief-stricken to carry on the series. So he is starting a new series featuring a judge, which has just come out. I am two books behind in the series, so I hope to catch up during this, my 50 + mystery book year, before starting the new series.

Chris over at Stuff As Dreams Are Made Of has a post similar to mine, and like me, he is featuring a song that is getting him through his time of relative blog silence. Like me, he has also posted about books we have convinced him to buy, so it's good to know that I am not the only one suffering from this period of quiet! And happily reading while we rest. Here is the song that I listen to almost every day. It's Asleep From a Day, by the Chemical Brothers featuring Hope Sandoval. It is haunting and ethereal and beautiful, and gives me a little window of beauty in my day:


Enjoy. With any luck, I'll be back tomorrow to do my first Sunday Salon post for this year. and thank you, dear readers, I have some excellent new books on my TBR mountain!!!

Sunday Salon : Talking About Books

I've missed talking about books. I've missed you, my dear Book bloggers. It's good to be back.

Yesterday I was writing about Flashforward, a book I wasn't quite done reading yet. I finished it this morning, and I have a few things to add about it, and science fiction writing in general.

Firstly, I need to say that there is some very, very good writing in science fiction. There always has been. If you're interested in the best science fiction has to offer, than start with the Hugo (this year's winner was Neil Gaiman for The Graveyard Book) and the Nebula (this year's winner was Ursula K LeGuin for Powers) awards reading lists. From there, check the Locus (link is on the sidebar) best novels of the year. I think I felt a little guilty last night when I couldn't come up with more writers who are excellent right away! Gosh, there are so many - Lois McMaster Bujold, Elizabeth Hand, Paul Park, Naomi Novik, Mary Gentle, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Orson Scott Card. There are classics that I think should more widely read just for the ideas and the future examined, as well as characters and plot. Urusula K. LeGuin, Larry Niven, Neal Stephenson. So many. So when I say Flashforward is an average read, I feel guilty on two fronts; one, Robert J Sawyer is Canadian and I desperately want most of our books to be really good! and two, I feel like I'm perpetuating the stereotype that science fiction is about tomorrow and science ideas first, and good writing second. It's not. The best science fiction transcends the genre and becomes a very good book about people in the future. And how cool is that, to be able to imagine what we could be and to, tomorrow?
Flashforward - Canadian Book Challenge 3 review
So, with that said, my final review of Flashforward is that it is a decent read. It ends better than I thought it would. There still isn't enough characterization to satisfy me, but then I read Middlemarch at the beginning of this year and so far many books I've read this year haven't come close to it yet. Which sometimes I think is unfair, but again, if the best book I read this year was written two centuries ago, doesn't that say something amazing about how literature survives past its immediate time? I don't think Flashforward will - although the idea it presents is so interesting - but some of the very best SF, oh yes, we'll be reading into the next 100 years. So, if you are watching the tv show and it's going too slowly for you, read this book - the tv series is different enough that I think you can do the two at the same time. If you are interested in Canadian science fiction and need a book for the Canadian Challenge, this is a fun one to read for it. And if you want to know what life could be like in 2023, as well as 2008, this is also enjoyable. And the characters are fun, but I can't take them seriously. Some of their motivations aren't explained, and how they react could be more explored, but he took a philosophical bent and that was interesting to think about too. I understand the Schrodinger's Cat physics theory better after reading this book! This book is about the science, but it is enjoyable to read also. 3/5

Talking about best books of the year, Bart at Bart's Book Reviews has a very good post up about choosing your favourite books of the year, since we are approaching that time of year again. He is interested in how readers go about choosing their favourite books. Please let him know, he wants to hear from anyone who goes through this process! How do you choose your favourite book read? I will be doing a post about this later, so all I'll say for now is, yes, there are certain criteria a book has to meet in order to make my list of best books of the year.

I have one last thing before I finish this post. This is for you, my lovely Bad Bloggers. I have a journal now that I keep my list of books I want to read because of YOUR REVIEWS. When I was compiling my list of books I want for Christmas, that was merely what I'd seen in one bookstore this week. I had an idea last night, and went into my bad blogger journal. Here are some books I'm adding to my Books I Want For Christmas List that I began yesterday, that are due entirely to YOUR REVIEWS (bad bloggers are highlighted)

SUSAN'S BAD BLOGGER'S CHRISTMAS BOOK LIST

- Book of Lost Things - John Connolly (Robin, A Fondness for Reading)
- Voodoo Season - Jewell Parker Rhodes (Chris, Stuff as Dreams are Made Of and Eva, A Striped Armchair- reviewed closely together, both equally guilty!)
- Monkey Beach - Eden Robinson (Stephanie, Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-Holic)
- Company of Liars - Karen Maitland (Margaret, Books Please)
- The True Story of Hansel and Gretel - Louise Murphy (Wendy, Musings of a Bookish Kitty)
- Looking For Alaska - John Green (Tanabata, In the Spring It is the Dawn)
- Leviathan or the Whale - Philip Hoare (Bride, Bride of the Book God)
- The Way the Crow Flies - Ann-Marie MacDonald (Ann, Table Talk)
- Sea of Trolls - Nancy Farmer (Book Pusher, The Genteel Arsenal)
- Rosemary and Rue - Seanan McGuire (Joanne, Book Zombie)
- An Instance of the Fingerpost - Iain Pears (Ann, Table Talk)
- Mortal Love - Elizabeth Hand (Nymeth, Things Mean Alot)
- The Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko (Memory, Stella Matutina)

*Eva at A Striped Armchair is also responsible for The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie review she did recently, which also brought to my attention that Alan Bradley is Canadian. So she gets another point even though I mentioned it yesterday.....

The best of all? Many of these books are books that you loved and posted about. Some you mentioned to me in comments, or in separate emails. All are books I made a note of, and then looking through my journal, thought, "yes! yes, I'm ready to read this now." So thank you, lovely bad creative book bloggers. That's 13 books easily added to my Christmas list. This does NOT include the books from the library I've been getting out and reading because of your blogs, although alas, I'm not doing very well at posting about the books I've read because of you this year.

******Oh! Added just now: just found this one on Genteel Arsenal and MUST find this book asap:
The Bog Child - Siobhan Dowd.

Yes, I'm back. Happy Sunday reading, every one!

Holidays - staycation! and Coraline the movie

Staycation!
So....if you've noticed, I've been able to blog much more frequently this week. I'm home on a week's holiday with the kids. This is good for relaxing, playing in the sun, taking day trips, and very very very bad for getting anything read. I like that somehow staying home because we are getting windows replaced makes me trendy: "I'm staycationing this year, you know. Staying around Ottawa," and it's cool. I can't remember when that was cool, ever! I'm not the only one: Charlotte at Charlotte's Web is also staying home, her staycationpost is here, and has a post here on her staycation reads. She's got books set aside for her holidays! Why didn't I think of that? How did I not plan to read anything? Maybe because I knew what would happen: I would spend my day doing things with the kids, evening would roll around, and I'd be dozing as soon as they fell asleep.

I am cheered that I feel like reading in the mornings, and after carrying The Shorter Pepys (the edited journals of Samuel Pepys) around on my shelves for almost 20 years, it's time to read it! So every morning before the kids are truly awake, I've been able to read a little. A' little' is the key word here. Here is a link to what the book is about, since it's been re-released with a new title. I've gotten to March of 1660. It is very interesting reading - I like how he talks about where he goes every day, what they eat, the people he meets with. He moved in fairly high circles - he meets the king on occasion, but mostly deals with his Lord (**Added later: Edward Mountagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich) who is his patron (** also added later: Pepys first works as his secretary in 1655) - and seems to be worried about money alot. Not so much has changed over almost 400 years! He also comments on the weather, like a true Brit. If I finish this book - which comes in over 1,000 pages (and these are his EDITED journals!) - by Christmas, I will be very very happy. I wish I'd joined the Chunkster Challenge now!

I'm trying to get through Peter Robinson's Friend of the Devil, but haven't got very far - I'm not sure why, maybe it's not the book for now. I don't really have anything 'to read' for the rest of this week, like Charlotte did. Maybe I should have my own personal read-a-thon day! I'd like that! I'm not sure my children will, or my husband, he will think I'm running from chores and looking after the kids, and he'd be right!

Staycation events so far
So far, we have gone to the library on Monday (only time for books for the kids, not a book time for Mommy!), played at a local outdoor pool and saw a reptile show there on Tuesday - no spiders, hurray! and I like reptiles, so the turtles and snakes were awesome! On Wednesday, yesterday, we had one of the children's friends over for some water play with the water guns and the sprinkler, after which we recovered by renting Coraline and binging on junk food for a movie afternoon. Today we went to the National Museum of Science and Technology, followed by a shopping trip to Toys R Us for flutterboards for both kids for the local pool, and a special toy each (Nascar cars for Graham, Littlest Pet Shop for Holly-Anne), followed by everyone falling asleep either on the bus ride home, or at home (that was me dozing on the sofa!) We have our first heat wave of the summer this week, which is lovely except we are getting hotter and hotter as the week goes on! Tomorrow the kids have voted for swimming at the local outdoor pool with their new flutterboards. I am secretly hoping I can bring a book with me......I can hear you all laughing at me! I know, I have no real hope of getting anything read there, but I live in hope that I can grab some time to read this holiday!!!

Coraline the movie
Coraline was fabulous. I am so surprised at how much I loved the movie. I really thought, because of the commercials both last fall and even before the movie started, that it would be too bright and lose the dark quality that I love so much about the book. I am so relieved and delighted to say that the movie is as good as the book. Yes, I actually wrote that! It might be the first time in history that I think a movie based on a book is as good as the book. It's safe to say we'll be adding this movie to our collection shortly. Everything about it, from the music, to the set design, to Coraline herself, and the cat and those lovely Scottie dogs, and the weird strange neighbors, the good parents and the bad parents - just lovely and perfect. They don't take away from my reading of the book and my private vision of it, which is so rare for me to experience. So I really send a thank you to all the producers and artists of the movie, for staying so true to the spirit as well as the telling of the story.

So if anyone out there has hesitated like I did - please, go rent it and see for yourself. It really is very very good. Thank you bloggers, for persisting in telling me I could see it! I also have a very good friend who kept telling me I should, too.

Bad Bloggers journal
I don't have a picture of it yet, but I thought I would share with you how reading blogs has changed my book-buying habits: I have had to use a special journal that is now 7 1/2 pages filled with titles, authors, and the blogger I got the book from. I started it around April, after I realized I just couldn't keep track of all the books I wanted to read that I'd found on blogs. So thank you, my book blogging friends. You have brought so many new books and authors to my attention, and I know my reading has expanded unexpectedly since I began blogging. Soon to come: more bad blogger points, now that I am keeping track of you all! Someone somewhere is going to win a prize from me at the end of the year, for posting about books that made me want to read them.

The house is hot and sticky and we are all cooling off as best we can. I think I'm going to try to sneak some reading in while everyone is occuppied. Happy reading, everyone!! Happy summer!

When the going gets tough, do you shop for books?

When the going gets tough, what do you shop for? Do you shop for books? I do. I shop for books when I'm happy, and when I'm sad, when I'm bored, when I'm celebrating something. Basically any excuse I can find, I celebrate with books and chocolate.

Yesterday my sister called with the alarming news that she is laid up with thrombophlebitis in her leg, a serious case. She's been to emergency once, and is going back in on Monday to see if the blood clot has moved or gotten smaller. The danger is, of course, that part of the clot will break off and travel to her lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. She's far away in New Brunswick so I can't just go on over to her house to help out and care for her family. I had a date with a friend so I continued on, and we were meeting in Chapters, Canada's version of Borders. This is what I bought while I wandered the shelves of fantasy, horror, mystery and science fiction, worrying over my sister and chatting to my friend, who has the only good news so far this year - she's getting married!



The Type 2 Diabetes book I bought a week ago Friday, when I went in for a blood glucose test and the nurse refused to give it to me because my sugar was too high. While I wait for confirmation that I am now diabetic, I ran out to the nearest bookstore (another Chapters location! ) that day, and bought that.

Did I say this month has been a challenge?

So while I wait for news that my sister's clot is dissolving (in the good way!), and wait for my final test result (another week to go), what I wondered as I stared at my pile of books last night and this morning, was if any of you, my Gentle Readers, also find yourselves celebrating - or coping - with life's many challenges and joys by heading to the bookstore? If so, what have you bought?

Much of the pile of books was bought with my birthday gifts, lovely book gift certificates to Chapters. I still have another wonderful gift certificate to Collected Works to use.

Now, I have some Bad Blogger points to hand out:
Not Flesh Nor Feathers by Cherie Priest: Chris
The New Space Opera ed by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan: Carl
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith: JS Peyton (Biblioaddict)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao- Junot Diaz: ? (why does Kim L come to mind? or perhaps Eva? Please let me know, any of my readers, if you reviewed this sometime in the past 6 months. Someone did and loved it, and it went onto my book list)
Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill : ? (again, as above, someone reviewed this last summer for or around Carl's RIP3 challenge, I didn't take the name down, but put the book on my list. Let me know if it was you, please! )
The Blue Sword by Robin Mckinley - Becky? Nymeth? Kailana? Chris? Someone very recently named this one of their favourite fantasies.......

The rest of the books were ones I was looking for myself. Oh, I'm so happy! New books to read!
Swan Song - Robert McCammon - I read this 20 + years ago, and time for a reread!! It was very very good when I first read it, even better than The Stand, which I also love.
Blood on the Strand by Susanna Gregory - Thomas Chaloner #2 in the series. Medieval London mystery series.
Hard Row by Margaret Maron - a Deborah Knott mystery. I love her and her huge family of brothers (she's the youngest of 12 and the only girl), and her bootleg swill-keeping tobacco father.
Brother Grimm - Craig Russell - recommended by my friend I was in the store with. She reads mostly horror and true crime, so if she says it's good, it'll be scary. And it involves fairy tales, the Brothers Grimm.
Declare - Tim Powers - a departure of sorts for him, this one blends fantasy with true-life history, the Kim Philby spy affair. I can hardly wait to read this. I like spy fiction, and I really like Tim Powers.
Last Rituals - Yrsa Sigurdardottir - I regard this as the find of the night. I had seen her recently written up on the Guardian Book site as another Icelandic author, to go along with Arnuldur Indridason.
Wizards - ed Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois - on sale! In Hardcover! A real find, and one I'd been waiting to get for a while now. Hmm, a whole three weeks left in Carls' OUaT challenge, for short stories, which I have sadly not done any of yet.....

Chris also gets two points for the John Scalzi books I bought earlier this month. Based on his fabulous review of Old Man's War earlier this year, I have bought these two (word of mouth is that Zoe's Tale is even better, though whether I got this from Locus magazine or somewhere else, I sadly can't tell now. I really must start keeping a journal of where I find books online!!!).

I haven't been able to do nearly as much reading this month as I'd hoped. Gardening finally got done earlier this week, and I have been concentrating on my health and reassuring my family I was fine by spending time with them. I did manage to read two books in the past two weeks: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, and The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. I will be reviewing them in my round-up of the month tomorrow. Looking back, I think I'm happy I was able to read anything. A very challenging month indeed, with a tornado, a trip to Picton, a possible diabetes diagnosis (no chocolate!!!), and my sister. When the going gets tough, I turn to books! Even if I only read 4 books, I bought 21 books, plus two book gifts for other people.

Happy Sunday reading, my Gentle Readers.

instead of reading......

Ever since I saw Eva and Marg's posts, I spend part of every evening on You Tube, watching North and South again. On my computer, the You tube screen measures about 9" by 6". Somehow, in spite of this tiny size, Richard Armitage still manages to sizzle and brood and has this most amazing deep voice. He, well, more than gives Colin Firth a run for his money. Possibly the best hero of a Victorian/BBC costume drama, ever. I've cried, I've laughed, I've urged her to 'look back' along with Thornton........

What will it be like when I can see it on our tv? which is much larger than 9X6! and view it continuously, whole, without 10 minute breaks? When will I find a DVD copy? when will I find a copy of the book to read? these are the questions haunting me through the day. At least I am thinking about a book!

Thanks, Marg and Eva!!!!

And I heard something about him being in Robin Hood, too.....I also made a boo-boo in my last post, about the role he played on The Vicar of Dibley. He didn't play Tristan, he played the one the Vicar marries, and I apologize, we've only seen the episode twice, and we haven't been able to get the DVD yet of the wedding, so I can't remember his name. James?. All I remember is he plays an accountant (and his voice) . And what happens to Geraldine on her wedding day....oh yes.

Here he is, discussing how he got the role. An interview with him on the DVD. Not that I have the DVD yet, of course. He's read the book. *sigh*

Courtesy of You Tube:

a lovely award and two very bad bloggers........

Zetor is a fairly new blogger from Northern England, who has some lovely photos sprinkled throughout her posts of the countryside around her home. She has awarded me the Tinkerbell award - an award giving because my blog shows caring, here. Well, this has me touched, and I'm very grateful. In a life full of challenges, it's the kindness we show to one another that's so important, that can make or break a day, or a soul. Zetor has a lovely photo of her sheep and the countryside that I've just spent some time gazing at, since she lives near York, my second home in this wide world, here . Thank you, Zetor!

In my turn, in order to not to offend the fairies (and as per yesterday's excerpt from The Blue Girl, in order to not draw their attention......), these are the rules for passing it on: 'The only requirement for this award is that you shared it with whomever you like, sharing the love is always a good thing. The blog has to show only one characteristic, caring. So, start sharing this enchanted award with five other bloggers. Let your bloggers know they have received this enchanted award. (Remember, fairies are fickle wee things, don't incur their displeasure by ignoring their gift). '
At this point I would like to add my own personal feelings about awards: I am always delighted and touched when I get one, because it means my blog has meant something to someone. My personal feeling is that every blogger deserves an award, and indeed, every award out there. I hate feeling like someone is left out. It's like those sides the team captains were forced to choose from the dwindling squad of not so talented people, at school; I was always second to last picked. While I was always glad I wasn't the last person, I also felt so badly that there was someone even more last than me. So while I am awarding Tinkerbell to the five people below, I'd also like to give this to every one of you, my Gentle Readers, because no one should be left out of having a little Tinkerbell fly across their blog. Just because we love books and the wonder of reading, we all deserve this award! Please take it and share it, because I really think being kind is a good way to be on this planet.

I am giving this award to
1. Molly at My Cosy Book Nook
2.Daphne at Somewhere I Have Never Travelled
3. Stephanie at Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic
4. Eva at A Striped Armchair, and
5. Marg at Reading Adventures.

Now, the last two are getting this award not only because they are charming and kind and helpful to everyone else, but because last night when I was finally able to come visiting blogs again, upon Eva's site I found this post Oh for a Recency Beau on a Victorian drama, a BBC production of North and South, based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel of the same name. The reason I am including the link is because she has gotten a You-Tube 2 min video of 'the proposal', which she said was equal to Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice. I dare you to go watch it and see if it does compare.
Marg is included because her blog was Eva's inspiration: this post, on Richard Armitage, who is the male star of North and South, and the dvd player that would only play North and South the dvd set.

Now, Richard Armitage was last seen by me on The Vicar of Dibley, as the incomparable BBC producer who the Vicar falls madly in love with, only to be shown up by a beautiful Irish girl. I have long wondered where 'Tristan" ended up, and it's here. And he's even better here than he was in The Vicar.

Eva and Marg are bad bloggers because once I saw 'the proposal', well then I had to see the beginning of the series, all on You Tube. Two and a half hours later, I had to pry myself away to go to bed. I still have another two hours to watch. And it's good. And Richard? Oh yes. He gives Colin Firth a run for his money. Intense, smouldering, passionate.

I know what one of my birthday presents will be: a dvd copy of North and South, so I can wind and rewind to my heart's content, on the large tv. Oh yes, they are two very bad bloggers indeed. If there were a blog award for most tempting post, they would get it!!!

I dare you, Gentle Reader, to go see "The Proposal" on Eva's site, and not want to watch more Armitage and North and South. Me? I'm going back to You Tube now. Armitage was about to bring the Irish workers over the strike line.......

Happy Friday!!

Reasons to be happy today:

- it's Friday. Fridays are generally good days. The end of the work week, and two full days of being home with my family lie ahead. Possibly sleeping in to 8 am if the little ones let us.

- it got above 0 c today (that's 32F). And not just about, it got to over 40F!!! We were standing at our window at work, waiting for the temperature to rise: "Is it warm yet?" "No, I can see the smoke {from the building across the street} blowing in the wind from the north still." "No, it's freezing rain, hear it hit the windows." We left work, it wasn't quite warm yet, but by the time we got across the river, I felt like singing. It was warm! and the sun was trying to break through. A lovely way to end the day. I even opened the windows a crack once home so the house could air out a little.

- I went book shopping. Aha! you say. I thought you went last week? At least, that's what my husband said. "You know I ordered those two books so I could finish the series with Nymeth and Kerry. Well, they came in." Slightly baffled look on my husband's face as he nods slowly. So off I went......and this is what I came home with:
- The Grey King, book #4 in Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series
- Silver on the Tree, #5 " " "
- Tithe - by Holly Black - see below. Someone did a book review, but I can't find it right now, nor remember who. I'm sorry! Because there is a Bad Blogger out there, and you deserve a point! Let me know if it's you!
- The Naming (Canadian title, on Mariel's blog it's The Gift - UK title book one in the Pellinor series) by Australian writer Alison Croggon *Mariel, here, reviewed the 4th book in the series, which got me interested. Someone else also mentioned her to me on their blog - I can't find it now. Please let me know if you reviewed her sometime in this past year!
and, finally, *drumroll*
- We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter Beagle. Yes, they had a copy!!!! So Nymeth gets point, for being the first to bring it to our attention, on last Sunday's Salon. Nymeth is racking up those points, and not just on my blog either......Now, when I saw this book, I paused, and wondered: do I buy it straight from the publisher? I checked my copy, and it's from the same publisher. So then I thought, "if I buy it from my independent bookstore, thus ensuring both the survival of it and that the money is going back to the right publisher/writer, I can help two things out I love very much." My bookseller said they had just got the book in. So I felt very happy, helping out with those first week sales that Nymeth mentions in her book review of The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, today's post.

I thought I would also let you know thatthis same bookstore, my favourite independent bookstore in Ottawa, is sold out of Drood by Dan Simmons! Hopefully first week sales for this are good! I might have treated myself to a hardcover, because I know there is no way I can wait for the soft-cover edition to come out. Next time....more are on order. Isnt' that a good thing to hear? "More books are on order."

So that's what my Friday was like. I'm just about to sit down to watch the 3rd to last ever Battlestar Galactica episode.....I'm happy that it's on tv tonight, though very very sad it's about to end.....

I hope wherever you are tonight, Gentle reader, you have a good book to read and reasons to enjoy the weekend ahead!

Sunday Salon: A post NOTabout fantasy (well, almost....)

I thought for a change that I wouldn't talk about science fiction and fantasy! though I went to bed last night thinking sleepily that I did want to say that every genre of books has the capability of being very very good - it's what makes it so good for the reader, that interests me. What does the writer capture in the book that makes it genre-making? It needs looking - going - deep within, to a place where the self meets the figures that that particular self is afraid of, and in bringing it to the light, allows all of us to access that figure. Whether we use myths and legends, fairy tales, or previous classic books in the genre, doesn't matter; what does matter is that the source material reached is meaningful. As one reader pointed out in comments to my last post, books like Gulliver's Travels and Alice in Wonderland could be thought of as classics in science fiction and/or fantasy, though I disagreed as their effect on subsequent fantastical writing isn't genre changing as Lord of the Rings is. What do you think, my Gentle Readers? It is very easy to write trilogies using the quest motif of LoTR, or any other book previously written. Those are copies, though, shadows of the original work, and bring nothing new to life. Darn, I wasn't going to write about fantasy today!! It's such an interesting topic, though, and points that Le Guin raises in The Language of the Night, are worth thinking about.

Book Lust: So, on to non-fantasy for the day: I am waiting for Carl's challenge to begin - it's almost Once Upon a Time 3! And I am stockpiling fantasy for the challenge. (Hmm. There's that word again!) I'm waiting for the final two books in Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series to come in, so I can read them with Nymeth and Kerry this month. (oops, that's more fantasy!) In the meantime, while I was at the bookstore, this is what I did buy:
- The Serpent's Tale - Ariana Franklin (book 2 in the Mistress of the Art of Death series) Having just read book one, which might be on my ten best books of 2009 already, I had to get book 2. Right away. Look, it's not a fantasy!
- Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons - for Nymeth's mini-challenge, I'm doing a graphic novel, and this is a classic I've been wanting to read for a while now. This also gets Nymeth a Bad Blogger point, since hers was the latest review that prompted to say, I must buy this now and read it! So it's fitting it's for her challenge! ooh, look, it's a fantasy....
- Territory by Emma Bull - Just because I've been reading her since she came out writing in the 1980's and was one of the leaders of the urban fantasy movement. Territory is set in Tombstone, Arizona in 1881, and yes, deals with the shoot-out at OK Corral - and yes, it's a fantasy!
-The Blue Girl - by Charles de Lint - for my Canadian Challenge 2 - yes, I've only read one book so far, but I am going to finish it This is one of his latest books and got rave reviews when it came out, and it's set in Newford, so I can hardly wait. Another fantasy.
- Wicked, Lovely - Melissa Marr - Kailana gave the latest review for this, which prompted me to move the book up from the 'soon' list to get it now! The question is, can I wait for Carl's Challenge to begin? well, that's 4 out of 6 books that are fantasy!!! *note to self: admit fantasy is what I read.
- New and Selected Poems - Mary Oliver. I haven't been able to find editions of her earlier books, and since I read Owls and Other Fantasies last year, she has become one of my favourite poets. This is Volume Two, and now I'm looking for Volume One. The back of the book says "she is recognized as an unparalled poet of the natural world," and I find myself thinking of her poems sometimes when I am out on my walks by the river. I love the natural world and her poetry illuminates some of what I feel when I encounter nature. (hey, not fantasy!)
- Shakespeare Wrote for Money - Nick Hornby. I'm halfway through his The Complete Pollysyllabic Spree, and I find myself laughing on the bus or wherever I am! He writes in a confidential manner like we all suffer from the same book lust (we do), buying books and not telling exactly all that he buys, and never reading it all the same month it's bought! Plus he dislikes pretentious books, and boring bios, and illuminates why he does like something. And, most important, he loves Arsenal too. I wonder what he thinks of Arsenal's current run of 4 straight goalless Premiership matches? We need Fabregas back!!! (hurray! it's even non-fiction!)

So that is two points to Bad Bloggers. Well done! but I don't know what to read today, and for once the housework is done before Sunday, and we have no obligations and a dinner to go to so I don't have to cook. What shall I read today?

While I choose what to read today, I want to send you to Nymeth's post for today, because she writes about a cause dear to all of our hearts: one of fantasy's best writers, Peter S Beagle, needs our help to get a bigger print run for his new book of short stories We Never Talk About My Brother. Now, I don't know about you, but I consider a chance to get a collection of his short stories as a real find, and I consider him to be one of fantasy's treasures, and I would love to pay an author for the privilege of him using his gift......Best of all, this publishing site offers a chance to buy a signed copy, as well as a personalized signed copy, at very reasonable prices (ie $30 and under). Hmm, if I get it soon enough, I can add it to Carl's OUaT3 challenge..... and show the world that fantasy is read.......and for those who don't know, I read Tamsin last year, link here, and I still find it floating in the back of my mind. The ghost, the Wild Hunt, the Judge, the characters - it was beautiful, and if you haven't read it yet, it's a very good ghost story. He is a powerful, amazing, beautiful fantasy writer. He has an ongoing fight he has with the companies over the The Last Unicorn animated DVD from over 20 years ago, and the animated Lord of the Rings, which he wrote the script for, the link here to why buying from Conlan Press both The Last Unicorn DVD ( the 25 th anniversary copy came out in 2007) and the short stories will help Mr Beagle both financially and show him our support directly. I didn't know where to get a copy of The Last Unicorn dvd, which my daughter (as well as me) loved when we rented it from our video store last fall. So thank you to Nymeth for writing about him and bringing him to our attention.

So, for a post not about fantasy, quite a lot has worked it's way in, hasn't it? I might as well give in and say fantasy claims a large part of my attention and interest!

And, for a change, here is one of my favourite, and my husband's favourite, picture from our trip to London at Christmas. I've been meaning to do a post about London and will do shortly. It deserves it's own post, I've just been deciding between doing a historical tour with my photos, and a landmark tour (almost the same thing!) I'd love to do a literary tour, but I didn't get to as many places as I wanted to.



What are you reading today? What's on your mind regarding books?

So there I was......

So there I was. Deslily had introduced me to Cath at Read-Warbler (and there are some great photos of an old house in Cornwall with a courtyard that she's just posted) and then looking at her blogroll, which I often do to see if there is someone new to meet, found myself at A Devoted Reader - who could resist a blog title like that??! - and there it was: a whole series of books currently being read by A Devoted reader, that I have been meaning to read like forever: Anthony Trollope's 6 books of The Barsetshire series. I had successfully gone to Cath's blog and not come away with anything to add to my TBR pile because I already have The Book Thief waiting patiently on the top of it. The fact that I had instant book lust for her other book, the Atlas of North American Exploration , is beside the point......maybe it is the point. I love going to all your blogs, my Gentle Readers, and finding new books I've never heard of, and being reminded of books I still haven't read, and discovering you love the same books I do.

I don't own any of Anthony Trollope's books, so a trip to the library - when we get our buses back!! - will be upcoming.

So, this introduces me to :

BAD BLOGGERS!
Started by Deslily, carried by Chris, I hereby join this blame game. It's easy. Read a book, recommend it, post about it, and ta-dah! my TBR pile is suddenly larger! And so......since I've only been blogging for a year, I can already blame several bloggers for increasing my TBR pile to dangerous proportions over that time. I hereby give 10 points to:
Chris at Stuff As Dreams Are Made of. I once joked that if he gave his list of books he was going to read, I'd go out and buy my own copies. Even if I'm not interested in the book, he makes it sound @#%* interesting! Witty, funny, wise, someone I'm coming to look toward for books to read - you BAD blogger, Chris! - I'm always thrilled when he has new post up even if means another book I need to look for!
- followed very closely by Nymeth at Things Mean Alot. As most of you know, she is a book reviewer without parallel in our universe. Kind, sweet, thoughtful, intelligent, her blog is a delight, and the one book we disagreed on last year - that's one! - was an ancient children's book by E. Nesbit. Ok, not so ancient, but to me it felt like it. And she made me feel I missed something because she loved it! She also made Freakonomics sound interesting. Based on that, she is awarded 10 points also.
There's Eva at A Stuffed Armchair, Deslily at Here, There and Everywhere, Stephanie (several Stephanies in fact)- So Many Books, Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic, Emily at Telecommuter Talk (when she talks about books!), Bybee at Naked Without Books, Rhinoa at Rhinoa's Ramblings, Geraniumcat at Geraniumcat's Bookshelf, Ann at Table Talk and Bride at Bride of the Book God: you each get 7 points, because you read books I either am going to read (thus moving them up my TBR pile) or read books I want to read, so suddenly my TBR pile grows by 10 books in one night.

I love you all, and in 6 months time, I will get my revenge by letting a randomly chosen winner pick from my 'read' pile a book that you want to read :-) This is open to all bloggers, so many of you will be awarded points as this year goes on, and you post about good books to read, but I wanted to start this little competition with a bang.

Of course, if I don't hurry up and get reading, that book on my 'read' pile will be Middlemarch!