Still unemployed, so still going strong on reading... well, except for the last week of course. Darn you, Scott! Here's what we've got:
Days spent reading: 20
Books read: 9
...in fiction: 7
...in non-fiction: 2
...in science fiction: 2
...in popular science: 2
...in fantasy: 3
...in young adult: 1
Series reads: Codex Alera
Favorite book: Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson (Review) 9.5/10
Challenges
Countdown Challenge: +4 books for 32/45
Chunkster Challenge: +2 books for 3/6
The Baker Street Challenge: +0 books for 0/3
My Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge: +0 for 0/12
Support Your Local Library Challenge: +8 for 18/50
28 February 2009
Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson (21 February — 28 February)
Hmm. I read this book because Scott read it last summer on his trip to China and he said it was pretty good. But. I started reading it and it was not. He claimed that it got better (insert Monty Python joke here), so I buckled down and kept going. It certainly did get better... after the first 300 pages. Of 571. And then some of those remaining pages were also bad. But not all of them.
The story itself is a long-winded affair about the colonization of Mars, at first by a small group of Russians, Americans, and various other nationalities, and then by the rest of Earth. At the very beginning you read about one of the first hundred killing another, and you're like, "Whoa! Crazy! Why did that happen?" and Robinson tells you IN EXCRUCIATING DETAIL, starting with the selection of the colonists several years earlier. There are also a lot of weird tangents about areology (the study of Mars) and psychology that are interesting to a point, but a) have nothing to do with the plot and b) read more like a journal article than a novel.
When the action picks up and the story goes back to the whole someone-getting-killed thing it's fairly well done, but other than that it's a snooze.
Rating: 4/10
(Chunkster Challenge)
The story itself is a long-winded affair about the colonization of Mars, at first by a small group of Russians, Americans, and various other nationalities, and then by the rest of Earth. At the very beginning you read about one of the first hundred killing another, and you're like, "Whoa! Crazy! Why did that happen?" and Robinson tells you IN EXCRUCIATING DETAIL, starting with the selection of the colonists several years earlier. There are also a lot of weird tangents about areology (the study of Mars) and psychology that are interesting to a point, but a) have nothing to do with the plot and b) read more like a journal article than a novel.
When the action picks up and the story goes back to the whole someone-getting-killed thing it's fairly well done, but other than that it's a snooze.
Rating: 4/10
(Chunkster Challenge)
26 February 2009
Booking Through Thursday (26 February)
Still working on Red Mars... slowly.... If it doesn't get better soon, Scott is going to have a lot to answer for!
But! For your reading pleasure: Booking Through Thursday this week asks about what kind of books you collect.
• Hardcover? Or paperback?
• Illustrations? Or just text?
• First editions? Or you don’t care?
• Signed by the author? Or not?
I'm not much of a book collector, myself. I used to buy books all the time, as my recent discovery proves, but poor college-me was much more a fan of the library and that's stuck pretty hard. These days I only want to own books that I've already read and loved, but I still don't really want to pay for them, so it's mostly paperbacks that I get. I also like the fact that paperbacks are less bulky. However, I certainly appreciate the hardcovers that I receive, since they'll likely last longer and do look more imposing on my shelf. :)
But! For your reading pleasure: Booking Through Thursday this week asks about what kind of books you collect.
• Hardcover? Or paperback?
• Illustrations? Or just text?
• First editions? Or you don’t care?
• Signed by the author? Or not?
I'm not much of a book collector, myself. I used to buy books all the time, as my recent discovery proves, but poor college-me was much more a fan of the library and that's stuck pretty hard. These days I only want to own books that I've already read and loved, but I still don't really want to pay for them, so it's mostly paperbacks that I get. I also like the fact that paperbacks are less bulky. However, I certainly appreciate the hardcovers that I receive, since they'll likely last longer and do look more imposing on my shelf. :)
23 February 2009
Orbis Terrarum Challenge
I'm adding on another challenge for the year because it has an awesome name: Orbis Terrarum. The idea behind this one is to read ten books by ten authors from ten different countries. I have a few of these foreign books on my reading list already, so why not use this as an excuse to read them, right? :)
Ideas:
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (Australia)
Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand)
The Angel's Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spain)
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
The Story of the Cannibal Woman, by Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe)
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco (Italy)
One More Year, by Sana Krasikov (Ukraine)
Let Me In, by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Sweden)
The Fourth Bear, by Jasper Fforde (Wales)
If you have suggestions, send them my way! I'm trying to stay away from American authors because I certainly read enough of those, but other than that I'm pretty much open to anything.
Books read:
1. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (Australia). (Review)
2. Christine Falls, by Benjamin Black (Ireland). (Review)
3. The Fourth Bear, by Jasper Fforde (Wales). (Review)
4. La Bête Humaine, by Émile Zola (France). (Review)
5. The Book of Murder, by Guillermo Martínez (Argentina). (Review)
6. Who Slashed Celanire's Throat?, by Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe). (Review)
7. Woman With Birthmark, by Håkan Nesser (Sweden). (Review)
8. The Angel's Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spain). (Review)
9. The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa (Japan). (Review)
10. The Case of the Missing Books, by Ian Sansom (Northern Ireland). (Review)
Ideas:
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (Australia)
Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand)
The Angel's Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spain)
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
The Story of the Cannibal Woman, by Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe)
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco (Italy)
One More Year, by Sana Krasikov (Ukraine)
Let Me In, by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Sweden)
The Fourth Bear, by Jasper Fforde (Wales)
If you have suggestions, send them my way! I'm trying to stay away from American authors because I certainly read enough of those, but other than that I'm pretty much open to anything.
Books read:
1. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (Australia). (Review)
2. Christine Falls, by Benjamin Black (Ireland). (Review)
3. The Fourth Bear, by Jasper Fforde (Wales). (Review)
4. La Bête Humaine, by Émile Zola (France). (Review)
5. The Book of Murder, by Guillermo Martínez (Argentina). (Review)
6. Who Slashed Celanire's Throat?, by Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe). (Review)
7. Woman With Birthmark, by Håkan Nesser (Sweden). (Review)
8. The Angel's Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spain). (Review)
9. The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa (Japan). (Review)
10. The Case of the Missing Books, by Ian Sansom (Northern Ireland). (Review)
Musing Mondays (23 February)
I'm currently reading a chunkster of a book that is taking a long time to get going... Scott promises me that the ending is well worth it, but I keep getting distracted away from it by movies and the mindlessness of watching him play Fable II. Since I foresee a post on that book taking a while, I will entertain you in the meantime with this meme.
The Musing Mondays question this week is:
"How often do you visit the library? Do you have a scheduled library day/time, or do you go whenever? Do you go alone, or take people with you?"
I have been pretty constantly at the library since becoming unemployed (and, with luck, will find employment at a library in the near future!), checking out piles of books and DVDs. I'm lucky because my library system is ginormous, so I can get pretty much any book or movie or TV show I can think of as long as I'm willing to wait for it to arrive from the far reaches. The branch library I usually go to also has three-week checkout periods with four online renewals allowed, so I don't feel bad about stocking up on books!
Most things end up coming from holds I've placed (the library is like free Netflix!), so I end up going to the library at least once a week, usually twice, to pick them up and return everything I'm done with. I also usually browse the new releases and mystery sections before I get out of the library. If I bring Scott with me, we also end up looking through the movies, though the library's own selection is pretty limited.
The Musing Mondays question this week is:
"How often do you visit the library? Do you have a scheduled library day/time, or do you go whenever? Do you go alone, or take people with you?"
I have been pretty constantly at the library since becoming unemployed (and, with luck, will find employment at a library in the near future!), checking out piles of books and DVDs. I'm lucky because my library system is ginormous, so I can get pretty much any book or movie or TV show I can think of as long as I'm willing to wait for it to arrive from the far reaches. The branch library I usually go to also has three-week checkout periods with four online renewals allowed, so I don't feel bad about stocking up on books!
Most things end up coming from holds I've placed (the library is like free Netflix!), so I end up going to the library at least once a week, usually twice, to pick them up and return everything I'm done with. I also usually browse the new releases and mystery sections before I get out of the library. If I bring Scott with me, we also end up looking through the movies, though the library's own selection is pretty limited.
20 February 2009
Books galore!
Last night, I ended up at my parents' house to wait out a storm that kept me from going to band practice (snow + nearly bald tires = screw driving!). When I realized that the roads weren't going to be clear before this morning, I decided to venture into the attic and rescue the books that I had left behind when I went to college. My brother had boxed them up sometime during my first semester and I hadn't seen them since!
So I smushed myself into the crawlspace (I can just sit up in there without getting a nail in the head) and dug through the piles of boxes until I came to one labelled BOOKS. Also, another one labelled BOOKS. Oh my. I haven't counted them, but I'd estimate that I increased my book collection by about 50 books overnight!
Of course, there are quite a few that I find myself embarrassed to own (Sweep series, I'm looking at you!), so I'll be able to drop those at the library, perhaps. But I'd say that most of them are in the keep pile, and as I mentioned yesterday, my haphazardly organized shelves are pretty much full. This could get interesting.
Relatedly, the one book that I'd been looking for was the one I did not find. Did I perhaps lend you Life of Pi sometime in the last six years? If so, could you give it back? Thanks!
So I smushed myself into the crawlspace (I can just sit up in there without getting a nail in the head) and dug through the piles of boxes until I came to one labelled BOOKS. Also, another one labelled BOOKS. Oh my. I haven't counted them, but I'd estimate that I increased my book collection by about 50 books overnight!
Of course, there are quite a few that I find myself embarrassed to own (Sweep series, I'm looking at you!), so I'll be able to drop those at the library, perhaps. But I'd say that most of them are in the keep pile, and as I mentioned yesterday, my haphazardly organized shelves are pretty much full. This could get interesting.
Relatedly, the one book that I'd been looking for was the one I did not find. Did I perhaps lend you Life of Pi sometime in the last six years? If so, could you give it back? Thanks!
19 February 2009
The Pluto Files, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson (18 February)
Yes, yes, I saw this guy on the Daily Show and wanted to read his book. Depressing, but true. Good work, Stewart!
The book is subtitled "The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet," which is pretty apt. I mean, I am in a Facebook group called "When I was your age, Pluto was a planet."
And it's interesting... I didn't know much about how Pluto obtained planet-hood, and I wasn't sure what caused the recent demotion, so it was nice to learn about that. And I mostly liked the fact that Tyson wrote about his personal fight against the Pluto proponents who felt he was slighting that poor ice ball. He includes e-mails from scientists and letters from children telling him how mean he's being to Pluto and why he should bring it back. It's a good time.
But I almost didn't finish it because of the first few chapters, where Tyson attempts to make a case that people like Pluto because it shares its name with Mickey Mouse's dog. Maybe, but he doesn't back up that opinion with very much fact at all, and it comes off sounding kind of childish. So does the fact that he takes credit for the mnemonic "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas." And the fact that he name-drops hanging out with Bill Nye the Science Guy (R) at a New Horizons launch party. Totally unnecessary.
Luckily, the rest of the book is well-reasoned and full of citations. It also includes a kid's drawing of Pluto, and that's just cute. :)
Rating: 6/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2009, Support Your Local Library Challenge)
The book is subtitled "The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet," which is pretty apt. I mean, I am in a Facebook group called "When I was your age, Pluto was a planet."
And it's interesting... I didn't know much about how Pluto obtained planet-hood, and I wasn't sure what caused the recent demotion, so it was nice to learn about that. And I mostly liked the fact that Tyson wrote about his personal fight against the Pluto proponents who felt he was slighting that poor ice ball. He includes e-mails from scientists and letters from children telling him how mean he's being to Pluto and why he should bring it back. It's a good time.
But I almost didn't finish it because of the first few chapters, where Tyson attempts to make a case that people like Pluto because it shares its name with Mickey Mouse's dog. Maybe, but he doesn't back up that opinion with very much fact at all, and it comes off sounding kind of childish. So does the fact that he takes credit for the mnemonic "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas." And the fact that he name-drops hanging out with Bill Nye the Science Guy (R) at a New Horizons launch party. Totally unnecessary.
Luckily, the rest of the book is well-reasoned and full of citations. It also includes a kid's drawing of Pluto, and that's just cute. :)
Rating: 6/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2009, Support Your Local Library Challenge)
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