Dust and Spores

Hours 15-16 Update (10:00 p.m. to 12 m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:04:00 +0000

I am so sleepy right now. I'm not sure what's come over me, but I'm starting to drift a couple of times per page. It wasn't supposed to happen so early. Regardless, I'm going to keep at it, and if I need a little catnap, so be it.

Titles of book read in this span:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, v. 4 -- p. 266-368 (finished)
Persuasion / Jane Austen -- p. 82-104

Pages read in this span: 126, mostly graphic novel again

Running total of pages read since started: 1,146

Books finished since the start:

The Trouble with Chickens / Doreen Cronin
Fray / Joss Whedon
Stone of Farewell / Tad Williams
AM/PM / Amelia Gray
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, v. 4

Thoughts on current read: Persuasion is my first Jane Austen. It's good, but I think I'm a little to sleepy for it. I lost track of some of the characters since I last opened it a week ago, and it'll take a sharper mind to really get back in.

Memes and Mini-Challenges completed:

Introduction meme
Where in the World Are YOU?
Oldies but Goodies
Book Club Recommendations

Other activities this span:

The starting to drift off to sleep much earlier than expected.

Hours 13-14 Update (8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:01:00 +0000

Titles of book read in this span:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, v. 4 -- p. 165-266

Pages read in this span: 102, a smaller part of a graphic novel

Running total of pages read since started: 1,020

Books finished since the start:

The Trouble with Chickens / Doreen Cronin
Fray / Joss Whedon
Stone of Farewell / Tad Williams
AM/PM / Amelia Gray

Thoughts on current read: I love the old Buffy comics. These are new to me... around Season 3 of the TV show chronology. Silly but entertaining.

Memes and Mini-Challenges completed:

Introduction meme
Where in the World Are YOU?
Oldies but Goodies
Book Club Recommendations

Other activities this span:

The eating of sushi.
The watching of Sarah Silverman over dinner because my bf wanted entertainment.

Mid-Event Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 00:13:00 +0000

1. What are you reading right now? A Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic collection. It's nice and light.... though also a little heavy. My hand hurts a bit.
2. How many books have you read so far? 5, though one of those I was 2/3 of the way through already and the others are pretty quick.
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Probably Mockingjay, the third Hunger Games book. That's in the pile.
4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Not really.
5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Yeah, the arrival of my guyfriend, who is staying the night with me while his plumbing is out. He's agreed to read with me, but I still feel guilty about not being more attentive.
6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Nothing really this time around. It's going exactly as I planned. I am pleased to know it's gotten out to Facebook and Twitter, though.
7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? Only personal stuff that I can do on my end.
8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? Buy a new couch. This one's a little too cushy, and it makes me sleepy. Also, I'm thinking of doing a charity run next time around.
9. Are you getting tired yet? Nah, I'm like a machine. A reading machine.
10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? Don't read about philosophy. Also don't feel guilty about taking 20 minutes to read a Sak's Men's Catalogue. Those have words too.

Hours 11-12 Update (6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 00:04:00 +0000

Titles of book read in this span:

AM/PM / Amelia Gray -- p. 81-120 (finished)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, v. 4 -- p. 1-165

Pages read in this span: 205, a big part of a graphic novel that is

Running total of pages read since started: 918

Books finished since the start:

The Trouble with Chickens / Doreen Cronin
Fray / Joss Whedon
Stone of Farewell / Tad Williams
AM/PM / Amelia Gray

Thoughts on current read: I love the old Buffy comics. These are new to me... around Season 3 of the TV show chronology. Silly but entertaining.

Memes and Mini-Challenges completed:

Introduction meme
Where in the World Are YOU?
Oldies but Goodies
Book Club Recommendations

Other activities this span:

The fulfillment of a Starbucks run.
The arrival of my bf for the night so I can feel guilty about ignoring him even though I told him I was doing this..

Hours 9-10 Update (4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 22:04:00 +0000

Titles of book read in this span:

Stone of Farewell / Tad Williams -- p. 676-727 (finished)
AM/PM / Amelia Gray -- p. 1-80 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 132

Running total of pages read since started: 713

Books finished since the start:

The Trouble with Chickens / Doreen Cronin
Fray / Joss Whedon
Stone of Farewell / Tad Williams

Thoughts on current read: AM/PM is a collection of... microfiction, I guess. Some of them are very effective, others not as. Definitely affecting in places, and I few of them I read 4 or 5 times in a row because they spoke to me strongly. So it's a good one.

Memes and Mini-Challenges completed:

Introduction meme
Where in the World Are YOU?
Oldies but Goodies
Book Club Recommendations

Other activities this span:

The taking of the Second Bathroom Break.
The contemplation of a Starbucks run.

Hours 7-8 Update (2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 20:05:00 +0000

Titles of book read in this span:

The Bradbury Chronicles / ed. William F. Nolan -- p. 44-78 (set aside)
Stone of Farewell / Tad Williams -- p. 627-675 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 84

Running total of pages read since started: 581

Books finished since the start:

The Trouble with Chickens / Doreen Cronin
Fray / Joss Whedon

Thoughts on current read: Stone of Farewell is almost done. As usually happens with these epic fantasies, I get over them around page 500 and just want to get to the end. It's not bad.... I just want a conclusion already. Luckily, I'm down to 50 pages left.

Memes and Mini-Challenges completed:

Introduction meme
Where in the World Are YOU?
Oldies but Goodies
Book Club Recommendations

Other activities this span:

The doing of nothing else. This part was just about reading.

Hours 5-6 Update (12:00 n. to 2:00 p.m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 18:07:00 +0000

Titles of book read in this span:

Stone of Farewell / Tad Williams -- p. 576-626 (set aside)
The Bradbury Chronicles / ed. William F. Nolan -- p. 8-43 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 87

Running total of pages read since started: 497

Books finished since the start:

The Trouble with Chickens / Doreen Cronin
Fray / Joss Whedon

Thoughts on current read: The Bradbury Chronicles is a book I have on loan from a friend. It's a collection of short stories in honor of Ray Bradbury, many of which are based on his work. The two I've read so far have been really lovely: one based on a character from Dandelion Wine, which I've never read, and another that's a follow up to "The Dwarf", which I have also never read. Good stuff. Highly recommended so far.

Memes and Mini-Challenges completed:

Introduction meme
Where in the World Are YOU?
Oldies but Goodies

Other activities this span:

The ordering of lunch.
The eating of lunch.
The catching up on a couple Words with Friends games. (Don't worry, it was quick.)

Hours 3-4 Update (10:00 a.m. to 12:00 n.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 16:06:00 +0000

Titles of book read in this span:

Stone of Farewell / Tad Williams -- p. 566-575 (set aside)
Fray / Joss Whedon -- p. 1-216 (finished)

Pages read in this span: 226, mostly graphic novel pages.

Running total of pages read since started: 410

Books finished since the start:

The Trouble with Chickens / Doreen Cronin
Fray / Joss Whedon

Thoughts on current read: Fray is an excellent graphic novel, but I'm a Buffy geek, so it has less work to do to impress me. I read it 4 years ago, and I just reread it for a book club meeting I have next week. It always makes me cry in the middle. Always.

Memes and Mini-Challenges completed:

Introduction meme
Where in the World Are YOU?

Other activities this span:

The scanning of some reader blogs.
The first of the Bathroom Breaks.

Hours 1-2 Update (8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:09:00 +0000

Titles of book read in this span:

The Trouble with Chickens / Doreen Cronin -- p. 1-119 (finished)
Stone of Farewell / Tad Williams -- p. 501-565

Pages read in this span: 184, though most of these were in a kids' book.

Running total of pages read since started: 184

Books finished since the start:

The Trouble with Chickens / Doreen Cronin

Thoughts on current read: I've been reading this book for a couple weeks. It's a silly epic fantasy novel, nothing to write home about. I just needed a break from some heavy stuff.

Memes and Mini-Challenges completed:

Introduction meme
Where in the World Are YOU?

Other activities this span:

The drinking of morning coffee.
The eating of a breakfast sandwich.

Read-a-Thon: Hour 1 Kickoff

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 12:11:00 +0000

Hi! I'll make this quick because I've already started reading a book, and it's adorable.

Here's a bit about myself:

Where are you reading from today? New York, NY
Three random facts about me… I'm a librarian, I'm really excited to be old and grumpy, and I only go to book expos for the free tote bags.
How many books do you have in your TBR pile for the next 24 hours? 21. It's a lot, but I'm finicky and never know what I'll be in the mood for, so it's best to have a variety than to have to go searching through my collection.
Do you have any goals for the read-a-thon (i.e. number of books, number of pages, number of hours, or number of comments on blogs)? Not really. I just want to make it through, which is something I wasn't able to do last time.
If you’re a veteran read-a-thoner, any advice for people doing this for the first time? Eat light meals throughout the day, and stay away from meat. Also the moderate caffeine you get from light tea is better than tons of coffee or 5-Hour-Energy because those things will cause to to crash eventually. Also, try to read short things occasionally. The sense of momentum you get from finishing something can be refreshing.

Alright, happy reading everyone!

Read-a-Thon Kickoff WHEEEEE!

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 10:44:00 +0000

So, as usual, I have been terrible about updating this blog. I've read a few books in the past month of so, but I've not wanted to talk about any of them. I'm not sure why, since they were good.

But today's the Read-a-Thon (1.5 hours and counting), and beyond just participating for the fun of it, I'm using the event to get back in touch with "writing about reading." The forced terseness of bihourly updates should help since part of my problem is "But I don't WANNA update, it's too HARD!" I'm hoping to remind myself: a) I'm happier when I'm creating content (even if it's just internet content nobody reads) and b) sometimes you guys find me amusing.

So I've already got an ambitious pile of books next to my couch... though, hmm, I just realized I should add something spooky to the pile... I bet a spooky book will help me keep awake later. ANYWAY, I'm gonna go shower. And then I'm gonna to get some coffee and a Naked juice. And then I'm gonna start. And that's my grand plan.

So good luck to everyone participating! Have a fabulous time, and may you not crash until 25 and a half hours from now. I certainly can't; I've got brunch plans in the morning, and if I sleep through them, I will be chastised by my Snarky Friend.

Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:16:00 +0000

Dr. Horrible and Other Horrible Stories / Zach Whedon.
New York : Dark Horse, 2010
Art by Joelle Jones, Jim Rugg, Farel Dalrymple, Eric Canete.
80 p.

I have extremely ambivalent feelings about this book. On the one hand, more Dr. Horrible is always (100% of the time) better than not more Dr. Horrible. On the other... I mean it's cute and funny, but there's not a lot to it. What I always appreciated about the Whedonverse is that behind all of the humor and strangeness, there's a depth of feeling that sneaks out and stabs you. While the Dr. Horrible web series was no Buffy or Firefly, it still captured that spirit. But for a collection of preludes and backstories, I don't feel like this book illuminated any of the characters. It just provided an amusing diversion.

...which isn't to say that discredits it entirely. What it does do it does right. It's quirky and colorful and very funny. So if you like Dr. Horrible and want to pass an amusing quarter of an hour, definitely give this a read. But if you don't know the characters, this won't give you much to go on.

Night at the Opera

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:22:00 +0000

I've decided to set myself a goal this year. I'm an avid opera-fan, but I've never done a good job at investigating the source material for the librettos of some of my favorite pieces. I want to change that. I decided to read 5 novels that were turned into operas I like.

So I started looking around for books upon which operas have been based. Turns out, most of the pieces I know come from source material are actually from mythology or plays. So I expanded, and now it's a big goal: 5 novels, 5 plays, and 5 mythological sources (plays or poems). I think it's a good project.

Here's what I'm looking at:

Novels

Bride of the Lammermoors / Walter Scott (Lucia di Lammermoor / Donizetti)
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District / Nikolai Leskov (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District / Shostakovich)
Manon Lescaut / Abbé Prévost (Manon / Massenet)
Eugene Onegin / Alexander Pushkin (Eugene Onegin / Tchaikovsky)
Le Mariage de Loti / Pierre Loti (Lakmé / Delibes)

Plays

Othello / William Shakespeare (Otello / Verdi)
Les mamelles de Tirésias / Apollinaire (Les mamelles de Tirésias / Poulenc)
Le Viol de Lucrèce / André Obey (The Rape of Lucretia / Britten)
The Figaro Trilogy / Pierre Beaumarchais (The Barber of Seville / Rossini ; The Marriage of Figaro / Mozart ; La Mère Coupable / Milhaud ; The Ghosts of Versailles / Corigliano)
The Merry Wives of Windsor / William Shakespeare (Falstaff / Verdi)

Mythology

Daphnis and Chloe / Longus (Daphnis et Chloé / Offenbach)
Iphigenia in Tauris / Euripedes (Iphigénie en Tauride / Gluck)
Oedipus Rex / Sophocles (Oedipus Rex / Stravinsky)
Metamorphoses / Ovid (a ton of stuff)
Electra / Sophocles (Elektra / Strauss)

Since this exploded, I'm not looking at an end date or anything.... but hopefully I'll make a big dent in it this year. And then I can make a new list! Whee.

Xenocide

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:16:00 +0000

Xenocide / Orson Scott Card
New York : Tor, 1992
538 p.
Orig. published: 1991

Haha so followers of my blog (all zero of you) will notice that I haven't written in 5 months. Know why? Because that's how long it took me to read this book! I wish I were kidding, but this is the only thing I have read from October when my boyfriend told me to (I have a boyfriend now) until last night when I finally trudged through the last 10 pages.

he novel takes place in two locations: the Chinese world of Path and Lusitania where Ender and his stilted plot line live. It became obvious early on that the Path novel held Card's strongest concept, and the Ender stuff was there because -- I dunno -- he knew he could monetize it?

Every character in Ender's world has one personality trait that dictates their arc, and nothing they do seems human at all. Every believable moment is smothered by the zealous application of LIFE QUESTIONS! People with staunch opinions for hundreds of pages have their minds changed in one paragraph. The same happens with scientific breakthroughs. You can bookmark all the turning points in this novel because it divides it into discrete sections: "Here's the part where they figure out the soul." "This is where they magically solve a millennium-old problem and talk about it for 50 pages."

If Card had kept this story as a 250-page novel on Path, it would have worked, but he crammed so much in here that he splintered his vision, lost control, and could only rein it in with a novel where the blocking and outline are too obvious. It damaged both his Path story, filled with potential, and the Ender saga that was off to such a great start.

I'm A Quitter

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:15:00 +0000

Man, I can't find anything decent to read! I've given up on like 3 books this month and can't get through anything!

It started with The Stand, which officially ended my increasingly arduous goal of reading Stephen King's complete works. I got 400 pages in. Even though that's not even halfway, I've decided that is a FAIR amount with which to determine that I was bored and didn't care about any of the characters. At all.

A friend of mine said: "You have to get to the scene in the Lincoln Tunnel. It's so creepy, and that's when it really starts getting good." Well... it's not, and it's not. Sorry, friend, and sorry, Stephen King! I'll keep reading The Gunslinger at some point and then be done.

I also quit reading a book called Black Sea by Neal Ascherson. That wasn't bad or boring at all. Quite the opposite, actually. The problem is I lack a certain basic historical knowledge that would help it make a lot more sense. I couldn't focus on all the names and peoples that were being thrown around from all these different points in history, so I ended up going "AAAAH I CANNOT DO THIS WHERE ARE MY VAMPIRE DIARIES DVDS!?!"

So I'm a quitter. It was a month before I finished a book, but last night I got to the end of Predictably Irrational, and I'm halfway through Veronika Decides to Die, so things are back on track.

The Gunslinger

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:18:00 +0000

The Gunslinger / Stephen King
New York : Signet, 2003
xxviii, 300 p.
Originally published: 1982
The Dark Tower, v. 1

This heroic fantasy is set in a world of ominous landscape and macabre menace that is a dark mirror of our own. A spellbinding tale of good versus evil, it features one of Stephen King's most powerful creations -- the gunslinger, a haunting figure who embodies the qualitites of the lone hero through the ages, from ancient myth to frontier Western legend.

This has been a pretty Stephen King-heavy blog, and I'm afraid that's not going to end anytime soon, which is strange considering how average I've found some of the things I've read. Icon status goes a long way for me.

The Gunslinger fits in the high-average category, but when I say that you have to imagine a HUGE asterisk next to it leading to a footnote that reads "I realize it is rather unfair to judge this book at all since it is only volume one of what is essentially one long novel." I could wait and evaluate The Dark Tower as a whole, but honestly, if you're going to publish an epic story over numerous decades, each potion needs to stand up to criticism. That's how I rationalize it.

So as a book, The Gunslinger is high-average, but as the first part of a giant series it is full of promise. Being basically an introduction, it is high on mystery and low on explanation and revelation. This is to be expected, but I wouldn't hate a more concrete idea on what exactly is going on.

The setting is ambiguous, which starts the reader on an unbalanced footing. It was a good move. King throws you into the world with a character who knows a lot, tells you very little, and expects you to catch up. It's interesting at first, but the constant stumbling gets frustrating, and I found myself wanting one or two key concepts spelled out so I could summarize the book beyond "there's this guy chasing this other guy and this kid comes." What is appealing about this is the feeling of drifting in a world where there is so much possibility. Almost anything can happen because we have no idea what can't.

I'm willing to bet it also invites rereads of the series once a person has the whole of it under his belt. In fact, if I were to reread this book right now after just finishing it, it might work very well.

The backstory of the main character is presented in extended flashback sequences, which were some of the best parts of the book, partially because the parameters of the world were more firmly-established. It's not always clear when King skips about in time, which added to my general bewilderment, but eventually you'll pick up on the rhythm of it.

At the beginning King exhibits an unpleasant and gratuitous obsession with sexuality. Most of it was needless references to balls and stuff, and it felt like the book was written by a 14-year-old. It goes away early on, though, so just bear with it.

But basically The Gunslinger does in a whole book what most fantasy books do in the first 4 chapters. It gets you started, throws a lot of ideas at you, and says "We'll work this out eventually; just put it all in your head." And it does this well. To justify it as a standalone novel, King has a basic plot arc including a dramatic turn, but it was too early in the overall story to carry much weight. If you're willing to take the time to read a multi-book epic (i.e. you've ever touched anything by Robert Jordan), then... well... good for you. I'm not recommending anything yet.

The Shining

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:18:00 +0000

The Shining / Stephen King
New York : Pocket Books, 2001
xviii, 683 p.
Originally published: 1977

The Overlook Hotel is more than just a home-away-from-home for the Torrance family. For Jack, Wendy, and their young son, Danny, it is a place where past horrors come to life. And where those gifted with the shining do battle with the darkest evils..

Just finished this one a few minutes ago on the train, and it was pretty engrossing, though after reading it I can unequivocally say that it's definitely not 1977 anymore.

The problem with setting the standard in a genre is that your ideas become tropes. Then the tropes become clichés. Suddenly your book doesn't fare the same in a contemporary reading.

When you approach The Shining, you have to keep two things in mind:

You already know what's going to happen. Even though the movie is drastically different from the book, the basic elements are all there: hotel, hinterlands, "Here's Johnny!"
Even if you don't know what's going to happen, you will a third of the way through the book. This is because of what I said before. This story has been told 1,000 times since.

That said, The Shining is pretty much not that great anymore. Now I've only read Stephen King's older works so far, but from what I know, though he's a good storyteller, he wasn't a great writer in his early years. There are awkward moments in this novel where the writing does something so ridiculous it takes away from the tension. One example that stands out is when Wendy (the mom) was creeping down (or possibly up) the stairs terrified. I don't remember why; who cares? Anyway, King was counting steps: "ten steps, a dozen, a baker's dozen..." ...really? A baker's dozen? You portray the chillingly slow passage of time and suspense with a cutesy phrase like that?

That's symptomatic of the main problem I had with this novel. Oh, this is the **SPOLER ALERT** paragraph. I never liked the Kubrick movie, so I was excited when I read that in this book King was trying to move on from the naked evil of his previous novels to a sort of psychological horror that comes from more fleshed-out characters, particularly Jack. But then Jack's problems were all "father issues" this and "alcoholic" that, and it wasn't a particularly stirring portrayal of alcoholism at that. So King had moved from one form of unsophistication to another. And this was all made moot at the end when it's not even Jack's complex past that pushes him over the edge. They may have set him up for it, but it was the evil hotel's fault.

The Overlook Hotel as a character suffers from a similar contradiction. Years of history and memories have accumulated in this place, and like with Jack, the reader is never sure whether the place's evil history has built up into this manifestation or whether the manifestation was there all along and caused the evil history. This would have been a great question to play with, but at the end it's basically clear that the hotel was evil all along and collecting people through insanity and murder. So much for complexity.

I criticize because I care, though. Were this book not so universally (and if I may say uncritically) praised, I wouldn't have to much to say. This is by no means a bad book. But some amateurish moves, poorly-chosen imagery, and thirty-five years of horror media make it not that great either. To its credit, it did prove to me how miserable that movie adaptation was.

Anyway, I've probably pissed enough people off. Until next time!

Oh, P.S. I'd like to request that none of you ever bring up those asinine hedge animals ever again.

Cockroach

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:43:00 +0000

Cockroach / Marion Copeland
London : Reaktion Books, 2003
200 p.
Animal Series

Cockroaches are horrible. I'm pretty sure I've got legitimate katsaridaphobia, your word of the day, which means "fear of cockroaches." It's probably common, but a few weeks ago I saw a giant one in my otherwise pristine bathroom, and I stood there paralyzed for almost 20 minutes sweating before I was able to back up and get my spray. The spray is awesome because it has an incredible range, so I hit it from all the way across the room and the thing went NUTSO and started COMING AT ME, so I ran backwards and kept the spray drowning it, and it was twitching and going nuts but still running until finally it gave in and died. Ugh, it still freaks me out just thinking about it!

Anyway, I had this book Cockroach on my shelf because it's part of this neat animal series. It's basically a survey of the cockroach in the human experience, starting with science and taking a look at psychology, human relations, art, and literature and how perceptions of the cockroach have shaped and been shaped by different cultures over the years.

It's interesting, if not entirely coherent. Copeland doesn't seem to be leading to any particular thesis, instead just riffing for 200 pages on mankind's most loved and loathed insect. It's good.

The author lingers on the literary more than anything else, so I wasn't surprised when I looked her up and saw that her background is in literature. This isn't a criticism, though I did approach the book hoping for more on cockroach iconography.

Although the book was good, I do have one criticism: IT DIDN'T WORK! I thought it would help me see the beauty and life in these infesting abominations, but I had another one in my house yesterday and I was still terrified and killed by dumping poison on it. Sorry, dudes. Just stay out of my house.

Oh hai!

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:43:00 +0000

Here I am! Don't ask. I've been sick and then away, but I'm better and back now.

I've barely been reading. I got through 4 novels and have read half of a bunch of others, but nothing could keep my interest for very long. Nothing I read in its entirety has even impressed me that much with the exception of The Fellowship of the Ring, which managed to surprise me. I'd tried reading that three times in my life previously, and each time I got bored and fizzled out. This time, I couldn't put it down. Now I'm midway through The Two Towers and loving it as well.

So since I've been so ambivalent about most of what I've read, I'm not going to talk about any of it or play any catch-up at all. Books you will not get to hear about include The Stranger by Camus, Rusalka by C. J. Cherryh, and especially The Human Stain by Philip Roth because it turns out I have no patience for that author.

Oh, I just remembered I read Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. That was quite good, so maybe I'll do a thing on that.

Ok bye! Pretend I never left and it'll be like I never left!

Magic's Promise

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:29:00 +0000

Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey
New York : DAW Books, 1990
320 p.
The Last Herald-Mage, bk. 2

The wild magic is taking its toll on the land. Many Heralds and Herald-Mages have died fighting to preserve the peace. Even Vanyel, the most powerful of the Herald-Mages is almost at the end of his strangth, in need of a respite from the dual threats of war and dark magic.

I'm going to keep this brief because I don't have much to say. I read this last week during the read-a-thon, and it ended up being a good choice for that because I found it engrossing. It's a strong narrative and a compelling story, and if you've read Magic's Pawn, the first novel in the trilogy, I'm going to suggest you try to ignore how angsty and whiny it is and try this one out because it's far better.

Vanyel, our protagonist, still has some unresolved feelings about the events of the first book, which occured 10 years before the second, but he doesn't obsess on them so much as last time. The first significant portion of this novel (more than half) is very domestic. Vanyel returns to his childhood home (castle) and deals with family issues, and it is these things that make the book strong. Lackey has a knack for character interaction and day-to-day living stuff. Reading it, I almost forgot I was supposed to be expecting some sort of huge tale of might and magic.

She does get there, though, but even this aspect of the novel has to do with the destruction of a family, a lost boy, mentorship, and identity. It's a creative, fantasy-style conflict that also ties into the themes of the first half, making Magic's Promise a tight, well-crafted work. If you've read the first and are iffy, give this one a shot. If you haven't read the first, maybe skip and and give this a shot anyway.

The Lost Books of the Odyssey

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:27:00 +0000

The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010
vii, 228 p.
Orig. published in slightly different form in 2008

Zachary Mason's brilliant and beguiling debut novel, The Lost Books of the Odyssey, reimagines Homer's classic story of the hero Odysseus and his long journey home after the fall of Troy. With brilliant prose, terrific imagination, and dazzling literary skill, Mason creates alternative episodes, fragments, and revisions of Homer's original that taken together open up this classic Greek myth to endless reverberating interpretations.

The Lost Books of the Odyssey is punctuated with great wit, beauty, and playfulness; it is a daring literary page-turner that marks the emergence of an extraordinary new talent.

So, I haven't read the Odyssey yet, but being in my Greek Stuff mode and making (very slow) progress on the Iliad, I thought this would be a nice quick book to read in the spirit of all that. And it really was worth it.

The book is basically a series of vignettes that add scenes to the saga of the Odyssey and retell (or recontextualize) some that you may be familiar with. They're all very different, and it's important to know going into it that they're independent of one another. They don't provide a continuous narrative, and oftentimes the plot and character development between two sections is contradictory.

This is inspired writing. Some of the parts are epic like one would expect from the old Greek tales. Others are more intimate and modern. But all of them vivify Homer's tale and the characters therein. I approached this with a fairly strong knowledge of the Homeric heroes and the tales of both the Trojan War and Odysseus' journey, and I suggest anyone who reads this do the same. This book depends on the Iliad and Odyssey, a background in which will greatly enhance the experience. Happily, I believe this will work the other way around. Mason's work will color the way you approach Homer's timeless epics.

Hours 19-19.75 (2:00 a.m. to 3:45 a.m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:45:00 +0000

Y'know what? I hate to do this so close to the home stretch but I am SO TIRED that I'm dozing off 3 times a page at this point. Air, water, tea, pacing, none of it is enough to keep me up. I'm afraid I have to call it quits. Almost 20 hours I made it... and y'know, I feel good about that. I've had fun. I've read 3 great books and parts of a couple more. I made it a lot longer than I thought I would, and I'll have a brand new goal of "All the way" for this fall's read-a-thon. So thank you hosts and hostesses, cheertators and cheertatrixes, he-readers and she-readers, and everyone in between. It's been lovely.

Titles of books read in this span:

Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 260-320 (finished)

Pages read in this span: 61

Running total of pages read since started: 779

Books finished since the start:

The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
The Stranger / Albert Camus
Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey

Mini-challenges completed:

Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
Where In the World Have You Read? Mini-Challenge
Mid-Event Meme

Other activities this span:

The drifting off
The saying of goodnight

Hours 17-18 (12:00 m. to 2:00 a.m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 06:02:00 +0000

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh.... I'm getting sleepy, but my book's getting good. There's a good chance this is the last you'll hear of me until morning, but hey, maybe I'll surprise us.

Titles of books read in this span:

Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 190-259 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 70

Running total of pages read since started: 718

Books finished since the start:

The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
The Stranger / Albert Camus

Thoughts on current read: Unnnnh.... brains....

Mini-challenges completed:

Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
Where In the World Have You Read? Mini-Challenge
Mid-Event Meme

Other activities this span:

The running out of lattes
The inserting of many eye drops

Hours 15-16 (10:00 p.m. to 12:00 m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 04:04:00 +0000

Ding ding, it is officially one hour past my bedtime, lectors and lectrices, at least on days when I'm up at 7 like I was today. I got into my pajamas, which was probably a bad idea, but it couldn't be helped. I will not retire to my bed, but my couch is very comfortable and sometimes I spend the night on it for no reason other than whim. But I will persevere!

Titles of books read in this span:

Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 142-189 (in progress)
A History of Philosophy, vol. 1: Greece and Rome / Frederick Copleston -- p. 127-132 (set aside... might have to give up on this one for the night)

Pages read in this span: 54

Running total of pages read since started: 648

Books finished since the start:

The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
The Stranger / Albert Camus

Thoughts on current read: Magic's Promise... uh still good. Even moreso? Yeah I like it even more.

Mini-challenges completed:

Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
Where In the World Have You Read? Mini-Challenge
Mid-Event Meme

Other activities this span:

The buying of one last latte to be consumed slowly over the next few hours
The taking of a long, luxurious bath
The changing into pajamas
The writing of a very important e-mail I was supposed to have done 12 hours ago

Hours 13-14 (8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.)

noreply@blogger.com (Scottula) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:02:00 +0000

Ok, cue low-grade tiredness. Maybe it's digestion, but I think maybe it's time for some tea. Was one-track this time 'round, just read my silly fantasy novel for a while. It got good after all!

Titles of books read in this span:

Magic's Promise / Mercedes Lackey -- p. 77-141 (in progress)

Pages read in this span: 65

Running total of pages read since started: 594

Books finished since the start:

The Lost Books of the Odyssey / Zachary Mason
The Stranger / Albert Camus

Thoughts on current read: Magic's Promise did indeed improve. I'm halfway through now, and it's surprisingly domestic, all about the main character's visit home after a long time. He's basically dealing with personal problems, but Lackey has a good sense of character in this one, and the whispers of trouble on the horizon keep me expecting it'll take off. Quite good.

Mini-challenges completed:

Hour 1 Mini-Challenge
Where In the World Have You Read? Mini-Challenge
Mid-Event Meme

Other activities this span:

The eating of delicious sushi
The having of yet ANOTHER wazz (stupid lattes)