This can only end badly

Jill over at https://somewhereinabook.wordpress.com/ is hosting a Pet Semetary readalong.

Details are here:
 https://somewhereinabook.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/are-you-ready-to-rumble/

I saw the chatter on twitter in passing and thought "hmmmm another readalong. I'm already behind on Harry Potter. I started Pet Semetary once before and didn't finish it .... LET'S DO IT."

This despite the fact that I nope'd out of watching Penny Dreadful when one of the characters snapped a cat's neck to feed a vampire. I mean, I know it wasn't REAL but. Still. I have my limits.

I'm hoping that Pet Semetary is more .... zombie animals rising up and less .... animal torture. Plus, I do love Stephen King. And I DO own the book ... these are terrible reasons but they're also MY reasons so.

I'm, er, I'm in.

BOBalong!

I failed out of Trish's Drood readalong pretty hard, but I promised myself I'd be back for this one, so here I am - ready for some Stephen King.

I just finished Revival, which I liked a lot and I'm eyeing the Dark Tower series for January maybe, so I'm definitely in a King place.

I read Bag of Bones many years ago and remember enjoying it very much, so this is a very timely readalong because I have been meaning to re-read it for some time.

If you want in on the fun, the link is here: http://www.lovelaughterinsanity.com/2014/12/bag-of-bones-readalong.html

It's Monday

Your meme is hosted by Sheila here: http://bookjourney.net/

I had to stop and think for a minute - what AM I reading?

I finished The Enchanted, by Rene Denfeld, a short but very powerful novel, narrated by an inmate on death row. It's infused with a lot of magic realism, I think, and it's also very hard to describe. It's well worth a read, though.

Stephen King's new book, Revival, came out last week, so I have that on the go as well.

My lunchtime reading is a novel for $2 that I found on iBooks called UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn.  It's not the best book ever, but it's readable and nice and easy for workday lunches.

I did start Bloodlines by Richelle Mead, which I was liking a lot but I realised it's a spinoff from The Vampire Academy novels, so I want to go back to the start on those.

And, of course, up next is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for Sheila's readalong.

I've decided, I think, not to do a post for every book, but to do a wrap-up post at the end. I'll see how I go.

What are you reading?

The Sparrow review

I barged in on the readalong for this which was held by Trish at http://www.lovelaughterinsanity.com/

We're Drood-ing this month, with Drood by Dan Simmons aka the book that is bigger than one of my cats: http://www.lovelaughterinsanity.com/2014/10/drood-readalong-beginning.html I actually ended up buying it on iBooks because holy crap. You could take out an orc with that thing.

Anyway. The Sparrow. 

In 2060, Father Emilio Sandoz has returned from a disastrous mission to the planet of Rakhat.

The planet had been discovered some 40 years before, and the Jesuits had hastily pulled together a disparate group of people - including Father Sandoz - to travel to the planet.

The mission doesn’t go how anyone envisioned it.

Forty years on, Father Sandoz is back as the only survivor of the mission, nearly broken in body, mind and spirit.

The Sparrow goes back and forth in time, from 2060 back to 2019, where it explores the background of Emilio and the other people drawn in for the mission to Rakhat.

It’s clear from the start that the mission ended in tragedy and chaos, and it’s up to Father Sandoz’s Jesuit order to try and piece together exactly what happened.

This is my second reading of The Sparrow and somehow I’d forgotten what an emotional whumpage of a book it is.

I remember loving it, but somehow forgot the bit where it tore my heart out and ate it in front of me.

It tackles some very, very big themes - the nature and existence of God, faith, love, life … all filtered through the eyes of Father Sandoz, the crew who first travel to Rakhat, and the Jesuits charged with Father Sandoz’s care after he’s brought back to earth.

It’s like. This book broke my heart and then stomped on the fragile fragments, grinding them to dust.

Here, read it.

American Gods - how's it going

I'm a terrible, terrible readalong host, and have a feeling I should never do this again - lol.

So. We're what, about ... two to three weeks into it, right?

How's it going?

How far along are you? Are you enjoying it? Have you inhaled it already? Are you finding it a struggle? What do you think of the basic concept of the story?

Of Shadow? Of Gaiman's narrative voice?

I'm something like ... 200 pages in. But I have read American Gods before, and I love it. It's such a beautifully simple idea - that when people immigrate to America, they bring their gods with them. I haven't had a chance to do what I really want to do - sit down with it for a few hours and really get stuck in - for me, American Gods isn't really a pick-up-put-down kind of book: it demands time, and attention. Hopefully this weekend I can take American Gods on a date.

So - how are you going? Thoughts? Either discuss in the comments, or leave a link to your blog post and I'll drop by.

Er. Probably. I'm a little forgetful.

American Gods readalong

Okay. This is how this will work, and it's going to be very, very loose around the edges - lol.

Starting July 10 - which is a month from today - I'll be hosting a readalong of Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

I know there was the One Book One Twitter readalong of it in May, which I missed. :(

I love American Gods, and I've been meaning to re-read it for a while.

The 'plan' such as it is, would be to read it over the course of about four to six weeks - whatever people who decide to play along think is best.

For discussions - I'll throw that open to the floor - one post at the end of the readalong? Or periodic updates?

Sign up/let me know what you think in the comments. :)

Hashtag if you're on twitter: #agodsreadalong