The reading week

Monday is tricksie, yes? You get shot of one, and another one sneaks up on you. It's really not fair.

Anyway, it's time to ask the all-important reading question, posed here:

http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/

Uh ... I'm still reading Her Fearful Symmetry. Which is sneaking up on me with chills and suchlike. I had to release Let the Right One In back into the wild (it was overdue at the library) but I still have The White Tiger on the backburner.

Mostly I'm reading Her Fearful Symmetry.

Happy reading!

Another challenge

What? Oh shut up. Details are here:

http://www.stainlesssteeldroppings.com/?p=1132#more-1132

And I'm doing ... the easiest one. So Peril the Third. So one book from any of the sub-genres. And maybe the short story thing as well, because I have a book of Roald Dahl short stories somewhere ...

And THIS time I'm not making a list of books. I'm just going to let a suitable book fall into my hands. OR I'm going to re-read The Stand by Stephen King because I've been meaning to anyway.

Go forth, Readers and Imbibe some Peril ....

(Sorry. It's 1.30am here and I'm a little loopy - well, loopier than usual anyway).

BBAW Meme

1) What has been one of the highlights of blogging for you?
Definitely connecting with other bloggers. And adding to my gigantic piles of books. My bedroom looks like a bookstore :)

2) What blogger has helped you out with your blog by answering questions, linking to you, or inspiring you?
Uhm .... Nymeth of http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/ has been one of my most generous commenters :) And Dewey, of course. Without Dewey, no Weekly Geeks, without the Weekly Geeks, for me, no readathon, no BBAW ... well. You know. Everything's connected :)

3) What one question do you have about BBAW that someone who participated last year could answer?
I have no idea. I'm assuming I'm in for a lot of fun though :)

The reading week

This is a first. Well, it's not a first, but it's been a very long time. I am reading three books at once. Three. I don't remember the last time that happened. Oh. Meme as always is here:

http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/

So, I'm reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. The latter of which I shamelessly made off with from the review books cupboard at work.

Heh. I can pretty much guarantee I'll still be reading all three of those books next week too. I mean ... let's be honest ...

Happy reading!

Weekly Geeks

The theme, Geekers, is here as always:

http://www.weeklygeeks.com/

Oh. Sigh ... the 'mean to reads'. I have so many of them, that I've forgotten most of them.

Generally speaking, I'll say something like "Oh, I've been meaning to read that," and then totally forget what the book was.

I started this blog at the end of 2007 with the lofty intention of reading one (1) classic novel a month for a year - and many of those were mean-to-reads. I made it to seven, which wasn't bad.

This year ... I've read two. How do you say ... epic fail. Yeah. But all of the unread books on that list are on my mean-to list. My shiny optimistic post about that is here:

http://justaddbooks.blogspot.com/2008/12/post-about-challenges.html

The one book on that list I'd really like to read is A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth. I've had that book for years and I've never read it. The other 'mean to reads' I have on my mental list are some Graham Greene - I read three of his books back at uni - The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, and The Honorary Consul, all of which I really enjoyed. So I go past A Suitable Boy, and my Graham Greenes and I think "I really must read those ..." and then I spot the piles of books overflowing nearly every surface in my room. And really, most of them are 'mean-to-reads.'

As for why I haven't read them ... I don't know. Sigh.

I'll be under my bed, hiding from the judgemental books.

Happy Weekly Geeks!

Short reviews

I'm very, very bad at this blogging thing lately. I'm feebly stitching it together with memes, and while the memes are awesome, I am not.



So here are two short reviews, one of Guards! Guards! by Mr Sir Terry Pratchett (try it ... it rolls off the tongue) and Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney.





Guards! Guards! continues my travels in Discworld. It's the first time we meet the Night Watch ably (sort of) led by Sam Vimes. They're a motley crew at best, and when a dragon starts appearing over Ankh-Morpork, it doesn't take long for things to go from bad to very bad, to oh my God, could things get any worse? (The answer is yes. It's always yes. Never ask that question. Seriously.) Uhm. I actually read this a few weeks ago, so my memory is a little sketchy. But. The more Discworld I read, the funnier it gets, and I laughed out loud more than once reading Guards! Guards! Kudos, Mr Sir Terry Pratchett
10/10 Could not be improved on, even by angel dust and a basket of kittens

Memoirs of a Master Forger is a tricky little book. It says it's by William Heaney, but William Heaney is the protagonist. It's actually by Graham Joyce, an author that I had forgotten I enjoyed. In the US it's being released as How to Make Friends With Demons, by Graham Joyce.

Uhm ... William Heaney is a fairly ordinary man. He has a government job, an ex-wife, friends and he can see demons. They're just sort of - there. Hanging around various people. Oh. And yes, he's a master forger. But he only uses his forgery powers for good. He has an artist friend create masterpieces, which he sells for exhorbitant prices, then gives the money to a homeless shelter.

See? It's a tricky little book. It's mostly about William Heaney figuring things out, like life, and love and all that jazz, but it's so well-done. And then, of course, there's the demons. It's not-quite a horror novel, and it's not-quite general bloke-fiction either. But that's why I like it.
8/10 That movie that you've watched 100 times and you never get tired of

The reading week

It's Monday! What are you reading? Asked here:

http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/

finally finished Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney on Saturday. Twas very, very good. I'm anticipating a review, but I've been a bit lazy with those lately.

I celebrated by sorting out some books, and then starting two: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and Let the Right One In, by John Ajvide Lindqvist. I'm going global, I just realised. The White Tiger is set in Bangalore, and Let the Right One In is set in Sweden. How's that for expanding my horizons?

Speaking of horizons ... I have Galileo's Telescope by Kim Stanley Robinson on mine. And that is all I'm owning up to since my reading plans always go pear-shaped.

Happy reading!

Weekly Geeks

The question, Weekly Geeks is here as always: http://www.weeklygeeks.com/

Well, now, what a coincidence. Of sorts.

I was tweeting with http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/%20,%20andhttp://www.fizzythoughts.com/ and http://www.booksidoneread.blogspot.com/ about Margaret Atwood's new book The Year of the Flood that's due out next month, that we're all looking forward to (which may or may not be an understatement), and I mentioned that I had read The Blind Assassin twice, and actually liked it better the second time around. The first time I read it, I kind of went “huh?” and it's not an easy read, by any means.

However, after many, many months, I went back and read it again, thinking perhaps I had missed something, and found the story I was looking for in the first place. Which is sort of hard to explain, because The Blind Assassin is one of those story-within-a-story books, and you really do have to concentrate. However, it's worth persisting with. And then reading again, because there's always more to find. :)

Happy Weekly Geeks :)

The reading week

The meme, of course, is here:

http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/2009/08/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-august_10.html

Observant readers will notice the same photo, and the same cat as last week. And, also that once again, it's been a week since I blogged. Uh ... I fell down the rabbit hole.

Yes, I'm still reading Memoirs of a Master Forger BUT I'm nearly done. And it is so good. So very good.

I still have no idea what I'm going to read next.

Happy reading!

The Reading Week

I feel like Garfield. Every time I turn around, Monday is lying in wait to attack me.

The question, as always, asked here:

http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/2009/08/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-august.html

As for what I'm reading … finally I'm on to Memoirs of a Master Forger by William Heaney. The trick is that William Heaney is the main character, and the author of the novel is Graham Joyce. Who is eight kinds of brilliant. It was released in the States as How to Make Friends With Demons, by Graham Joyce.
This means that yes! I finally finished Guards! Guards! By Mr Sir Terry Pratchett. I'm not even going to say what might be up next. Clearly, I have no idea.
Happy reading!

Weekly Geeks

Topic here:

http://www.weeklygeeks.com/

Oh, and sorry. Couple of swears ahead...

Okay, songs never remind me of book titles, so I've done this a little differently, borrowing somewhat from http://eclectcentric.blogspot.com/2009/08/weekly-geeks-book-theme-song.html

However, what I did was this: I put my iTunes on shuffle, and stopped when a song made me think of a book. I'm aiming for 10. Let's see.

1) I Am the Highway by Audioslave (links only, sorry; I have no idea how to put YouTube videos on here):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrsXSiKpg_M&feature=related

Which made me think of American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. They're both ... road-trippy in a way.

2) Why Does Love do This To Me? by The Exponents, which was, like, my soundtrack when I was at university (or jam? What do the kids say these days? I'm going to stick with soundtrack):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9F8nh3MvTc

Hmmm ... not one specific book. Let me direct you to this post, though:

http://justaddbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/care-package.html

3) The Show Must Go On by Queen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRE0slFf4Zg&feature=related made me think of Slash's autobiography. Rock n Roll, right?

4) Bar-Ba-Sol by David Cook:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLYQz-NgArM

Two books tied for this song: Soldier in the Mist by Gene Wolfe, because both the book and the song are epic, and Breaking Dawn because IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN EPIC AND WASN'T

6) I Want to Come Over by Melissa Etheridge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjWpHgbXVs&feature=fvst

Made me think of The Passion, by Jeanette Winterson. And no, I haven't started on any of my Gilbert! books yet. Um. Moving on.

7) Whatever by The Butthole Surfers (there's Bad Language, but it's one of my favourite songs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ-gmvHk7sg

Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Freaking Gaiman. They're both weirdly .... dreamlike

8) You Belong to Me by Tori Amos. From the Mona Lisa soundtrack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KjjxouGDr0&feature=PlayList&p=8945EC1C0555906B&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4

Murder on the Nile by Agatha Christie. Cos :)

9) Set it Off by Audioslave (second appearnce, I know):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s56RlF_D6DE

The Stand by Stephen King. Because the line "Set this fucker off" fits the book. Heh.

10) Ring of Fire by Adam Lambert (What? Yes, I'm still a fangirl. Shut up.):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLGb7JArqHQ&feature=PlayList&p=AC71161754D81AAB&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran. Um. Yeah. It's late here.

But yay, look! Ten!

Happy Weekly Geeks everyone :)