The Sunday Salon

The Sunday Salon – Sharing is Fun

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While browsing the internets this week, I came across a few things that made me want to share.  My mom is probably bursting with pride to know I’m using my sharing skills.  🙂

The first is an article that appeared in The Washington Post earlier this week – ‘Tolkien Professor’ Corey Olsen Brings Middle-Earth to iTunes Via Podcast.  His website, The Tolkien Professor, is even more interesting and I’ve already found a few books on Tolkien criticism that will be added to my list.  I haven’t downloaded any of the lectures from iTunes, only because I’m hopeless when it comes to that and somehow always mess something up that confuzzles my husband, so I’m holding off but it will happen at some point.

This I found on BBC News – Divided Attention Disorder? Log off and read a book.  I laughed while reading it (it’s written by a comedian so it was intended) because this is something I do.  Feel overwhelmed?  Read.  The part about googling the plot though is something I’ve done, but I won’t hang my head in shame.  I like to know the end.

I had a good week of reading too.  I finished Spook by Mary Roach, Autumn: The City by David Moody, and started A Conspiracy of Kings by Meghan Whalen Turner.  I even managed to sneak in the writing of a few reviews this week too so I’m feeling very accomplished on the book front.

I’m planning to make a four course meal tonight for Valentine’s Day.  We’re celebrating a day early thanks to crazy Monday schedules so I’m off to start cooking.  Happy Sunday.

The Sunday Salon – Long Books and Loot

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For the second week in a row, I’ve been in a one week, one book relationship.  The first was a non-fiction book that I was having some issues with (I wasn’t liking it so much and found some of it annoying so it took me longer, even longer than my normal slow pace associated with non-fiction books because there were times I thought about winging it far from my being.) and the second week was consumed by an almost 800 page historical fiction tome that, well, it just took me a long time to read.  I did enjoy it though so there are no complaints.  🙂

So what book was it?  The Forever Queen by Helen Hollick.  Last year, I read her Arthurian legend trilogy, Pendragon’s Banner, loved it so much I knew I needed to read more and when I saw this one, I bought it.  Lately my restraint tactics which I practiced all last year in regard to buying books have been tossed casually into a black hole from which they will never ever return.  Although, the new books are all ebooks so they aren’t taking up any physical space which is probably why I’ve kept at the buying the last few days with little regard for anything other than how much money is left on my gift cards.  The answer to that is not much.  I also picked up A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin (can’t wait for it!) and Un Lun Dun by China Mieville.  I read two of his books last year and he’s becoming a favorite.

To show there’s more to me than just hitting the download button, I also stopped by the library (thanks honey for double parking and deftly avoiding a ticket) and picked up two books that I’m looking forward to reading.  OK, one I already started…

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach.  Mary Roach writes the funniest and most entertaining non-fiction books I’ve ever read and this is going to be the perfect one to get me back on the non-fiction wagon which I jumped off of in January.  My second book is A Conspiracy of Kings by Meghan Whalen Turner.  I thought, really believed, that I had finished this series last year but I didn’t and well, that needed to be fixed and now I have the final book and all is well.

I’m off now.  My husband has informed me there is football stuff to be watched.  Happy Sunday everyone and enjoy the game!

The Sunday Salon – Non-Fiction

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I’ve been reading a non-fiction book all week.  In general, I find it takes me longer to read non-fiction than fiction I guess because I’m paying more attention to facts, forcing myself to slow down so as not to miss an important detail that will be critical to the master plan later on.  Not really sure but I think I have pinpointed one problem with reading non-fiction — I must not read about the same topic twice.  I should probably explain that rather broad statement.  Follow me if you will…

Last year I read a book about the Jamestown settlement.  The book focused on several people and a specific shipwreck that was being sent to provide provisions for the settlers, and due to the ship being wrecked and its passengers being stranded on Bermuda, when the ship’s crew and passengers finally arrived (on a different ship the first being wrecked; see what I mean about important details in non-fiction?) in Jamestown, they sort of saved the place.  Not entirely saved, Jamestown was a debacle but you don’t need me to tell you that.  Anyway, the current book, Savage Kingdom.  It’s more about everyone and everything involved with the Jamestown settlement.  So not only am I getting information about the settlement itself, the Native American tribes (very interesting and part of the reason I wanted to read a second book on said topic) already inhabiting the Chesapeake area, but also goings-on in England and Spain.  It’s a rather far-reaching and all encompassing book and though I’m finding it interesting, I feel as though I’ve already read great parts of this.

Also, I feel like I’m listening to a lecture and it’s a bit disjointed as if the professor keeps jumping around saying things like: “Oh, before we talk more about Captain John Smith and his dealings with Powhatan, let’s go back to England for a minute and talk about what was going on with James II and his negotiations with the Spanish who had already setup house in Florida and were a little peeved about the English double-talk about Jamestown.”  This is where I would normally say, quietly and to myself, “What?!  Did I miss something?” and start wondering how I could go about transferring to another class.  Also, in the picture in my head, this professor keeps running his hands through his hair and he starts to look as if he’s been electrified.  Also, he’s a man cuz the author of the book is and for no other reason and have no idea why I needed to point that out but I did.

Let’s say I’m not feeling it this time around.  Did I mention that already?  Felt I should again just in case you didn’t get that from the long, rambling above section punctuated with generalized boring class behavior.

A goal of mine in 2011 is to read more non-fiction, once a month if I can.  My next non-fiction book is called Spook and is about the afterlife.  It’s by Mary Roach who wrote Packing for Mars which I absolutely loved and you should read it.  No, really, I mean that.  You should totally read it but don’t read it while eating because there’s a lot of talk about bodily functions.  Fair warning, it’s all I have to offer.  She also wrote a book about cadavers and when I mentioned that to my husband he looked at me weird and I’m pretty sure he was having a silent conversation in his head that involved taking away my library card.  There’s also a book about Cleopatra roaming around that I want to read so maybe I should mention this to him so he doesn’t wonder anymore about my reading.

If you made it his far, thanks for sticking with me till the end of paragraph six today.  Happy Sunday fellow readers.

PS — Next time I promise not to be so disjointed in my Sunday Salon.  Feeling inspired this week I guess.

The Sunday Salon — Book Madness

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It was a quiet week for me blogging but I did get some reading in and came across something interesting on the LA Times book blog, Jacket Copy, that made me think about my own reading habits.  The article, The Morning News Announces Tournament of Books Contenders, is about a book tournament modeled on the men’s NCAA basketball tournament.  It starts with a pool of 16 books, one person judges two books and advances one narrowing the books down from 16 to eight to four to two, and finally one winner.   The champion book of the year is awarded The Rooster.  There’s more information on The Morning News site if you want to read the rules.

The books were chosen because they were hyped, celebrated, or someone lobbied passionately for them at some point.   What I found so interesting about the list was that I hadn’t read one of the books.  A few are on my list but I haven’t picked up one on the list, at least not yet anyway.  I have an almost obsessive compulsion not to read books on bestseller lists.  Is it because I don’t like being told what to read?  Or that I don’t like to read what everyone else is reading?  If I do read books off these lists is it akin to drinking the kool-aid?  Maybe.  Then maybe I’m thinking about it too much.

I do like recommendations, let’s face it, thanks to book bloggers my TBR has grown from something manageable into a monster that has taken on a life of its own.  It’s not that I don’t like to read popular books because I do read a lot of them but I tend to stay away from really popular books when they’re being hyped.  I don’t know the reason for this but it’s the way I am when it comes to reading.  If it’s on a bestseller list, I won’t touch it, even if I really want to read it, until it falls off the list or people forget about it.  It’s the reason you don’t see many big books reviewed by me.  It also got me thinking about being well-read.  Eva at A Striped Armchair has some interesting thoughts on the subject which is probably what brought me to the conclusion I came to about the Tournament of Books.  I usually don’t judge my reading against others simply because it’s not a fair comparison.  I read what I like, I always have, and will continue to do so.  It’s not a matter of worrying about how many books I read, I keep track but for no other reason than to drop some books off my TBR, and I don’t worry about hitting certain numbers.  I guess it got me wondering as to how and why I pick certain books.  I don’t have a system for picking books.  I finish one and look around at what’s available to me at any given point in time and make a choice.

After reading all of that you have to be wondering what my point is with all this.  I start out talking about a book tournament and end up talking about how I pick books.  I’m not sure I have a point today other than to wonder aloud at how I pick my books (the well-read part isn’t something I want to get into since it’s something I can only determine for myself but it’s an interesting topic anyway).

So my question is — how do you pick your books?  Do you use bestseller lists?  Prefer recommendations from books bloggers? Another system entirely?

The Sunday Salon: Resolution Reading/Slumps

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I’ve been reading a lot of posts this week about resolutions and it got me thinking of my own, which happen to be non-existent.  Personally, I like it that way.  It seems, and has been proven over and over again, that if I make resolutions no matter how general and open, I break them.  Not intentionally you understand it’s more a subconscious thing that happens and I manage to talk myself out of and around keeping any and all resolutions.  To break the annoying cycle, in short, I don’t make resolutions anymore.  But, in fact, I did this year.  I just didn’t write them down.  I think this is all an elaborate ruse to fool myself into keeping the very vague things that I’d like to do.

In terms of reading, I don’t have any other than wanting to read more of my own books and more non-fiction.  Those I think I can keep but since I’ve written them down, I’ve probably jinxed myself and even those won’t happen now.

Anyway, onto slumps.  I’ve been sort of in a reading funk this year.  Yes, even nine days in and I’m getting myself slumpy.  How can that be?  I have no answer so if you have one let me know.  Please.  Here’s what happened.  I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I knew it would be a tough book to follow so I picked a book I knew would be completely different — The Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner.  I’m reviewing the book for The BookReporter so I knew I had to finish it and since it was something all together different, I knew it would be a good place to start.  It was.  The book itself was fine and entertaining as the Tudors and their antics always are.  Then I spent a whole evening trying to figure out what to read next.  I scoured the shelves, checked the library to see if my holds were in, and finally opened the Nook.  That’s when I found The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  It was short and it entertained me.  Then came yesterday when I spent the entire day on the couch feeling under the weather and cranky and all I wanted was a book and couldn’t find one that fit.  Alas, after this very long paragraph, I’ve come to the slump problem.  I didn’t have any books I wanted to read.   I tried The Last Pendragon by Sarah Woodbury hoping that my enduring love of Arthurian legend would pull me through.  It didn’t entirely fail me but it did take me 134 pages to rescue me.

Part of the problem is that I have a book I really, really want to read — A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness — but I’m doing this one for review and it’s not due for several weeks and I promised myself that I would hold off since I have another book due in between.  I’m beginning to think that if I had just read the book instead of putting it on the side; I wouldn’t be in this stupid slump right now.  Ah, oh well.

I noticed that I have several reviews that I never posted thanks to holidays and breaks and me giving myself permission to sleep a little later on some days (which is why Thursday and Friday of last week were quiet here).  So, I’ll be setting up some posts today to catch-up on my backlog which has been patiently waiting for me to get butt in chair.  The next two weeks will be the weeks of reviews here at Just Book Reading.

Happy Sunday everyone.

TSS: Looking Back, Looking Forward

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Since this is my first post of the New Year, I thought it would be nice to take a look back at last year’s reading to see what I loved, didn’t love so much, and how many books I’ve actually read.  As it turns out, I read more than I thought I did.

103 total books

93 fiction

5 non-fiction

5 DNFs

63 of the books were written by women

37 by men

I started 10 series and finished 3; 6 are in progress.  Of the 6 in progress, 3 I probably won’t continue with.

When it came time to pick a favorite, I couldn’t.  Of course there are standouts but I can’t pick a single book so I’m picking several as my favorite reads.  The books are in no particular order, and if I’ve written a review, I’ve linked to it.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Kingmaking, Pendragon’s Banner, and Shadow of the King by Helen Hollick

Disquiet by Julia Leigh

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The House on the Strand by Daphne Du Maurier

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

Also, since I’m truly bad at making a best of list, the following get a mention too:

The Wife’s Tale by Lori Lansens

The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion

The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flaming

Kraken by China Mieville

I don’t have any plans for reading in 2011.  I’m not a resolution maker in general but I do make lists (rather lengthy ones; see above) of books I would like to read but those lists tend to get out of hand quickly.  (This also happens with resolutions which is why I no longer make any.)  I usually trash them and then start over with the hope of making things more manageable.  One thing I do know is that I will be joining fewer challenges this year and probably trying to read more of the books that are currently on my shelf and on my Nook.  That’s not to say I won’t be joining any challenges.  There are a few that I’m signing up for because I can’t resist and I’m sure that several will come along during the year that I’ll also join.

Today, I plan to curl up on my couch and finish reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I started the book on New Year’s Eve and between friends and football games, all fun so no complaints, I haven’t had the chance to finish but today I will see the end of my Harry Potter re-read.  I was hoping to finish the series before the end of the year but I’ll take two days in.

Overall, 2010 was a good year of reading for me.  And here’s to hoping that 2011 will dawn shiny and bright for everyone.

Happy New Year and happy Sunday.

The Sunday Salon – The Not So Much to Report Report

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Somehow, I came down with a cold last week.  I denied at first that I was sick at all.  Who wants to be sick before Christmas right?!  I spent several days sniffling and sucking cough drops as though they were the essence of life itself and then, toward the end of last week, I gave in.  I admitted defeat and succumbed to the cold germs that threatened to bring down my holiday if I didn’t rest.  Three days later and I’m still feeling the effects of the dreaded germs but in general, I am feeling much better.  My husband may argue that I’m still very ill and should be sitting on the couch numbing my brain with TV but I feel all together different on that point.  🙂

Being sick meant I didn’t get a lot of reading in this week which annoyed me because I’m reading A Game of Thrones and loving it so so much.  Cold medicine made my head fuzzy and took away any focus I managed to cobble together so I was only able to read about five pages at a time before I was forced to put the book down.  I’ve rebounded this weekend and am happy to say I’m loving this book even more now than when I started.  The world building is so awesome and I keep falling deeper and deeper into the court drama.  It’s leaving me at a loss for words — or is that the cold medicine — either way, I’m not sure what to say about it other than you should read it.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to come up with more than that when it comes to time to write a review…

This afternoon I’m heading out to the suburbs to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Imax.  I’m so excited.  🙂  I was beginning to feel as though everyone but me had seen it already.  I was foiled at Thanksgiving with sold out shows, had to hold off for our trip to Colorado, then it was my birthday, then I got sick, and then it snowed.  So today is the DAY!  Yes, today I get to see the movie.  It’s become a little tradition among our friends to trek out to the burbs to see it on the big-butt screen so I’m very excited all around.  A good movie and some time with friends before the holidays descend in full force and we all scatter to our respective home states.  Will you be seeing a post about it later this week?  Maybe.  Depends on whether I can get butt in chair before packing up the car and spending hours sitting in traffic pretending to be cheery listening to Bruce Springsteen belt out that Santa song for the hundredth time.  I digress.  Back to books.

December seems to have become my nemesis this year.  Not in a bad way.  Well, it did make me a year older but I’ve gotten over that.  No, it’s timing.  There’s so much going on that I haven’t had the chance to sit down and write reviews the last few weeks.  I would like to get some thoughts down for The Lost City of Z by David Grann and the same goes for Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.  So far, I have been less than successful.  My reading has also fallen behind a bit but that I’m all right with considering my reading slows down in December anyway.  Well, I’ll just have to see how this week goes.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Gushing on Colorado and a Book

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Hello everyone.  It’s good to be back! Over a week and I’ve missed my little part of the world here.  🙂

In the last week, I’ve enjoyed Denver, rented the biggest SUV I’ve ever driven (henceforth it will always be known as the Arctic Beast), admired the Rockies on the drive down 70W from Denver to Breckenridge, snowshoed up a hill, hyperventilated a little, skied in 10 inches of fresh powder (heaven), and loved every minute of it.  Colorado is one of the most beautiful places in the world.  I’d been there once before, over 15 years ago, and knew how wonderful a place it was but this trip solidified my love of the fantabulous state.  I’ll show a few pics below.  I wish I had more but I’ll admit that I’m not a good picture taking person.  Even though I remembered to pack the camera, I didn’t always remember to take it with me on out excursions.  So, once again a lack of photos from another vacation but it is what it is.  Be prepared for a lot of snow pics.  I heart snow so much and took many a photo of it.  🙂

A small creek we crossed while hiking a snow shoe trail. With snow shoes on!

View overlooking the town of Breckenridge, CO.

The mountains.

More snow from the hiking trip.

I haven’t read much in the last week.  I finished The Lost City of Z by David Grann, which I enjoyed, and only one other book.  The Lost City of Z was an interesting story that really felt like a long historic and scientific based article rather than a book about the Amazon but I still found it a good read.  I’ve yet to write a review and I’m not sure if I’m going to either, since with the holidays ramping up, I’m not sure where I’m going to find the time.  We’ll see how it plays out though.

One book I do plan to write a review of is Jane Eyre.  I’d never read it — I know, I know — it’s been on my shelf forever and this is the first time I’ve picked it up.  OK — dear readers, I hang my head in shame for my negligence.  Now, what did I think about it?  I loved it of course.  Oh, Ms. Bronte, how you drug me into this story and wouldn’t let me leave it.  Jane, you crave love so badly that it’s all you think about.  Yet, for all your neediness, you’re so lovely, so smart, and so grounded.  Dear Jane, you make the story so wonderful.  I kept reading slower and slower as the story went on because I wanted it to last.  I will get around to writing a review of this one very soon.  It’ll be more my thoughts than an actual review since I know, with the exception of me, probably everyone has read this book.

This afternoon we’ll be decorating our tree.  We’re a week behind because of the CO vacation and we ended up with a bigger than usual tree thanks to the fact that about 700 people beat us to the tree place before we got back and we had to go for the over eight foot variety.  It was supposed to be seven to eight feet but I think it was bigger than that.  We had it trimmed down but it still touched the ceiling which it pretty high.  There was a slight Griswold Christmas Vacation moment after bringing it in the house, getting it situated in the tree stand, and then realizing it was crunched up against the ceiling.  Out came the scissors and a ladder and off went the top.  It’s looking good and is ready for lights!  Maybe if I remember to pick up the camera, you’ll get before and after photos sometime this week too.

I hope to get back to a regular schedule this week and plan to have a few reviews posted too.  I had a chance to read a few pages of A Game of Thrones yesterday and may try to get a few more pages in by the glow of our tree later this evening.

Happy Sunday!