First Quarter Update

I hate to say that I'm a very busy woman and have not been able to take the time to write a blog entry about the books I have read, but the sad truth is that I have barely been able to read books in the first place.  Balancing teaching, work, school, wedding planning, friends and family has become a daunting task and I am surprised when I find myself with spare time at all.  Nevertheless, I am sitting at home with a cold right now, and if you know me well, you know that I have found time to sneak in reading despite my schedule.  So, drumroll please, I will now list the books I have read this year... all 12 of them... how sad... (not including the bodice ripping smut I read out of sheer boredom.)

January 2010

Soulless by Gail Carriger - A   Bawdy, clever steampunk fun.  I can't wait to read Changeless, which comes out on Tuesday.  What awaits the new Lady Maccon?

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon  - A very surprising A-   I bought this book to tease Ai Ling, but I actually am really looking forward to the sequel!

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa - A+   Beautiful stuff.  It made me cry at work.

Magic Study by Maria Snyder - B   YA foolishness.  Not as good as the first one.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld - A   Awesome re-imagined WWI.  Clankers VS Darwinists, who will win?

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo - B+  

Fire Study by Maria Snyder - B-  I only read this to finish the series... honestly not that great.  It only gets a B because it finished the story I wanted to read.

February 2010

The Mark by Jean Nadol - B  Kinda surprised where the end of the book went.  Interesting, but not that special.

Going Bovine by Libba Bray - A+  Seriously, I was surprised by how much I liked this book.  It was amazingly sad and I honestly loved it.  I recommend it to anyone who can stand a bizarre tale of mad cow disease, Schroedinger's cat, a garden gnome who thinks he is a Norse God, a death obsessed dwarf and a punk angel.

March 2010

The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1) by Jasper Fforde - A+  A book for bibliophiles.  Thank you Michelle, for getting me into this series.  I am now obsessed, if you cannot tell by the next two books I have read.  I want to be a Special Ops Literatec.

Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2) by Jasper Fforde - A  Nevermind, I want to work for Jurisfiction!

The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next #3) by Jasper Fforde  - A  I still want to work for Jurisfiction!

So there we have it.  Only a measly 12 books read so far this year.  I am in the middle of deciding if I want to keep reading the Thursday Next series (there are 2 more) or read something else to break it up... I'm leaning towards breaking it up...  And, what makes it harder is that in the next two weeks, four books I have been waiting for come out.  Four!  I am dying to run and out buy them, but have no time for them.  I hate to see unread books on my shelf!!!  

Sigh, I will now bid adieu before I give myself another coughing fit.  

What is the most interesting book you have read this year, dear reader?

Untying One's Cravat

As you can guess, the title is a bit of a joke... I lent my friend a book and we are counting the times the word "cravat" was used.  (Multiple times, apparently.) Anyways, surprisingly I have not read as much as I would have liked since school ended.  I am having a hard time finding a book that provides the type of escape I am looking for.  So I have decided to start the perilous work of writing the books I would like to read.  But don't ask about my startling protagonists or I shall bite you. Writing is tedious work and is worth little unless someone else reads and enjoys it.  So wish me luck instead!  I'm starting off by filling a character sheet to build up my characters' personalities.  I will post one up when I am finished.

In the meantime, here is a rundown of the books I have read:
Poison Study by Maria Snyder - A- I really enjoyed this one and am looking forward to reading the sequels!  It was YA fantasy (dare I say, slightly trashy?) but very interesting.

Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede - A I want the next one to come out! I was hooked on it from the start. I really think the whole controversy about leaving out the Native Americans was rather stupid; allow her to finish the series people!

Fire and Hemlock by Dianna Wynne Jones - B The ending made no sense.  I cannot stand it when endings do not make sense! I liked the rest of the story however.  Not my favorite by Ms. Jones.

Ehehe

I bought three more books today.  Only one week of school left.  The countdown begins... haha.


1. Leviathan by Scott Westerfield
2. Soulless by Gail Carriger
3. Her Awful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenger


How I wish it were Friday of next week!

Bookish Delights

Oh, I am so lucky to have been given so many bookish delights for my birthday... I got a bibliophile tattoo from my fiance, a Murakami book from Trish and Brian, and almost $150 in bookstore gift cards... Sigh... How I long to just have some time to read!  Well anyway, after I finished my hellish second TPA last night, I decided it was time to buy some books, even if I can't read them yet.  To make a long story short, I ended up buying 8 books last night (and still have gift card to spare!), and now I have quite a few novels to read this winter break. They are, in no particular order:
Going Bovine - Weird plot, but I like her work, so I'll give it a try.
The Fairy's Return - Totally a kid's book and I don't care.
Our Dumb World by the Onion (I'm already working on this one, LOL!)
Through a Glass Darkly - French courtier life.  Sounds juicy.
Thirteenth Child - Pretty controversial as she apparently made Native Americans disappear out of history, but sounds interesting.
The Grand Sophy - I just like Regency-era stories...
Poison Study - Juicy YA novel about a food taster, haha.
What I'm Talking About When I Talk About Running - My dearest Murakami! Thanks Trish and Brian!
The Lost Symbol - I read the first two, got to do the third, despite his dramatic writing style.
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Sounds good, but we'll see. I wasn't too impressed with the beginning.
Eve, Novel of the First Woman - Not sure why I picked this one, but I think it will be interesting to say the least. Let's just get this straight - it is fiction, and not inspirational fiction either. I believe quite a few Christians were unhappy with this book.
Fire and Hemlock - Love Ms. Jones, her books just take me away!
Picking Bones from Ash - Sad Japanese mother/daughter story... the kind of book I like to read to make myself miserable.
The Girl from Junchow - sequel to the Russian Concubine.  Wanna know what happens to the characters, even if it is slightly trashy.
The Children's Book - Curiouser and curiouser.
The Lightening Thief - I want to read this before the movie comes out and ruins everything!
The Concubine's Daughter - Sad Chinese book... I just like reading them... don't know why.


I also am trying to finish The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which still turns me off with its nasty language and Spindle's End which I began and have not been able to pick up.


Whew. Not bad. I also picked up "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith because I loved it so and had to have a copy.  


Time, I order you to pass quickly!

What makes a book unreadable?

I'm currently reading "the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz, and this question came to mind.  The book, a Pulitzer prize winner, is about a Sci-Fi/fantasy geek; a fat, Dominican, ghetto-nerd and his love-seeking adventures.  I picked up the book after seeing it many times, and was really looking forward to enjoying the story... And so far I'm not really into it. Why? Because of the language.  I'm not a linguistic prude by any means; I curse like a sailor on a regular basis.  But, I am having a hard time getting past the words. The book is in third person, not narrated by Oscar himself, and I believe there is a big disconnect between how I feel he would speak and how the narrator talks.  And it just disturbs me! A ghetto-nerd sounds so innocent, and his language is downright filthy.  Needless to say, I have not really gotten that far in the book, which is disappointing, because the story is good.  In the end, I think I'll plod through, for the story's sake, but I got to thinking, "What makes a book unreadable?"  Here are the reasons I have stopped reading a book:

1. Writing Style

A lot of time when I read, the author's writing style affects my mind.  I mean, I read their writing and I begin to think in that way.  If the writing style really doesn't jive with my thought processes, I can't continue reading.  I especially cannot stand authors who seem to be using big words just for the sake of using big words.  You don't need to show me that you can use a thesaurus.

2. Redundancy 

I cannot stand hearing authors repeat themselves over and over again.  I remember what you said the first time!  I almost dropped "The Sugar Queen" for this reason. I think that being repetitive shows a lack of writing skill as well as poor editing. Inexcusable. 

3. Disgusting Content

Again, I am not a prude.  I can read about revolting things, but I have to draw the line sometimes.  For example, I can read about killing cats, like in a certain Murakami book, but I couldn't finish the third story in the novella "Raise the Red Lantern" after the author started discussing the collection of bodily fluids in jars.  Ewwww.

4. Weak Main Character

If I don't like the main character, I don't like the book.  It just doesn't work. I hate when a main character is whiny and annoying through 2/3 of a book and then suddenly becomes strong.  Try again, author, try again. Example: Bella Swan from Twilight. Oh, Stephenie Meyer, you are so lucky we like Edward, or your books would not have been read.

There are probably many other reasons I end up not finishing books, but I feel that these are the most obvious examples I have found so far. I think that reflecting on this is good for me as a reader but also as a writer.  I'll keep it in mind. :)

What makes a book unreadable to you, dear reader?

Oops, I did it again.

I finished "Forest Born"... Sigh.

Illicit Books...

Yes, I have broken the rules.  I have been buying books even though I'm supposed to be packing them.  I have been reading books that are not textbooks and then complaining my homework is not done. 
I am hopeless...ly addicted to buying books. Sigh, I hope my grandma decides to give me a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday... simply for the excuse. 
On a less guilty note: I finished reading River Secrets (Books of Bayern #3) by Shannon Hale.  So good! I love her writing so much, I don't care if her books are for kids. I had to run out to buy Forest Born (Books of Bayern #4) as soon as I was done... oh, no, feeling guilty again... no wait, I'm not guilty! I donated a book to a needy child while I was there! I donated "Blubber" by Judy Blume, one of my favorites as a child and according to the American Library Association, a frequently challenged book! That balances everything out quite nicely if I do say so myself. So from then on, I pledged I will not buy another book until I have gotten settled in my new bedroom at G's mom's house and surveyed my bookshelf situation.
And then I checked my email yesterday morning and found a coupon for an extra 25% + my bn discount off any one book this weekend... Sometimes I think the world may be conspiring against me. 
- Catrina