I saw this trailer yesterday and it made me think that some books do make better movies. I read Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter last year and it was okay. My review is here if you’re interested. Oddly, this book was bought by my husband who may have been thrown off by Abraham Lincoln in the title because, as far as I know, he doesn’t read anything with vampires in it.
Here’s the trailer. Planning to see it? Have you read the book or are you planning to read the book because of the movie?
In the few years I’ve been a blogger, I’ve only participated in two or three read alongs. The reason for this — I like to read at my own pace and I usually only participate if it’s a book I really (really!) want to read. In most cases (for instance The Lord of the Rings and The Historian), the read alongs featured books I was planning to re-read anyway so I signed up. This year, two months into 2012, I’ve signed up for two. It’s like I can’t help myself.
Here’s how it went down.
Iris at Iris on Books said she was planning to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell this year and asked if anyone would be interested in joining her. Having already decided to re-read this one, and probably early in the year, I raised my hand, yep, I would join her. And so I did. More info here if you want to join.
Then The Little Read Reviewer goes and posts this about a Lies of Locke Lamora read along. I hesitated. Two read alongs? Yes, I would do it. And yes, I would buy this book.
Seriously, it’s like I can’t so no anymore.
So, I’m two for two on the joining this year. I’m a notoriously bad joiner. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m involuntarily pushing myself to join more this year as if it were some unknown resolution only my brain knows about and is keeping from me. Yeah, that doesn’t sound totally paranoid.
I should probably not write when tired.
Anyway, there you have it.
Happy Sunday.
At least once a year, or sometimes every few months, I clean off the shelves and the books are donated to the little library we have in our building. On the last go round, close to 100 books left the house. At the time, it was liberating. We had room for new books and the ones that made the cut were now better organized. I was pleased.
Now, we come to yesterday. I got up early to go swimming with a friend and per our routine, we swim a mile and then go for coffee and scones. Yes, I know the scones defeat the purpose of the swim but it’s what we do. Anyway, I ordered a large coffee and decided that since I had a lot planned for the afternoon, caffeine would be a good thing.
Here’s where my thinking went awry. Hyped up on caffeine, I thought “Oh, I need to find my copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell for the read along.” I begin looking and then begin panicking. I couldn’t find it. Poor husband gets drug out of another room to help me in my now frantic search. I explain in what I think is a rather calm state that I’m missing a book and I must have it. He looks at me and says, “How much coffee did you drink this morning?”
Obviously, he missed the point of my panic induced state.
“What’s so important about this book?” he asks.
“I need it,” I say.
“For class?”
“No, I just need it. Just find it! I didn’t give it away did I? I wouldn’t have done that would I?” I say in what I’m sure now was an increasingly loud, and probably shrill, voice.
“It’s a big book, greenish cover with a tree on it right?”
“Yes,” I say. And I should note that I was personally astounded he knew that because as far as I know, he’s never read this book.
“Ok, here ya go,” and he hands me the book. “Please don’t drink this much coffee ever again.”
I’m pretty sure I hugged the book and not my husband but he was the one that deserved the hug.
Happy Sunday! I have to go see if I can find a channel that doesn’t have pre-game coverage of the Superbowl. I feel the need to watch some TV in a nice comfy bed. Enjoy your reading today.
Last week, I went on the hunt for steampunk novels and here’s what I found. The list is a bit of a mixed bag as I basically went on a Google and Twitter search. Read anything on it? Know of anything I should add?
The Falling Machine: The Society of Steam: Book One by Andrew P. Mayer
Her Majesty’s Mysterious Conveyance by Nick Valentino, Sean Hayden, Elizabeth Valentino, and Jennifer Williams
The Unnaturalist by Tiffany Trent
The Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (series)
Mainspring by Jay Lake
The Glass Book of Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist
Soulless: The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger (series)
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
The Anubis Gates by Tom Powers
Infernal Devices by KW Jeter
Morlock Night by KW Jeter
The Prophecy Machine by Neal Barrett, Jr.
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
Cold Magic by Kate Elliot (series)
The Lies of Lock Lamora by Scott Lynch
The Alienist by Calab Carr
The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross
The Tinkerer’s Daughter by Jamie Sedgwick
The 19 Dragons by SM Reine
The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick
The Kingdom Beyond the Waves by Stephen Hunt
Whitechapel Gods by SM Peters
Ghost stories are wonderful things. I’ll clarify this — for the people that love them. I am one of those people. The tension, build up, agony of long held secrets finally revealed; I love it all. The promise of a ghost, or something akin to one, was the reason I read The Little Stranger. Unfortunately, for me, it was not to be a long lasting love.
Dr. Faraday once visited Hundreds Hall, a now crumbling mansion and estate, as a child. His mother, a former servant at the Hall, took him inside and he has always held on to this one shining memory. Now a country doctor, he passes by the Hall frequently on patient calls. One day he is called to the Hall to treat a sick maid and quickly becomes infatuated with the place and its owners, the Ayres. Roderick, wounded in the War, is struggling to keep Hundreds Hall afloat, his sister Caroline, a spinster proud of her current unmarried state, helps with the running of the estate but mostly entertains her mother, Mrs. Ayres. Faraday becomes obsessed not only with Hundreds Hall but with Caroline. When an incident occurs during a cocktail party and a young girl is injured, rumors about the old house and its owners start swirling. Faraday, deep in his obsession, is unable to walk away for the place or the people that inhabit it.
Creepy old house. Check. Eccentric people. Check. Unreliable narrator. Check again. All the elements were there. All the elements failed me. The malcontent that seeps from the pages was just that boring. When the events, creepy I suppose they were supposed to be, began, I didn’t look for other explanations. I sighed. It wasn’t there for me.
*Warning: this is spoilery.* I really want to talk about the narrator, Faraday. I said he was unreliable and I expect that in a ghost story. You want someone who is not quite sure what is going on. She/he doesn’t understand the history, the people, etc. That was true here too — while Faraday really wants to be one of the Ayres, he’s not — but he tries to sneak his way in. Usually I would be all right with this but he became the obsessed person content to diagnose everyone else as mentally unstable when I think he was the one to watch. Bait and switch is fine but I began to dislike Faraday intensely for what he was doing to this family. To me, he seemed to believe that his one trip there as a child qualified him to tell its owners and inhabitants what they should think and feel. One by one he sends them away. When his engagement to Caroline falls apart, he, who had been picturing himself as the new manager of Hundreds Hall, attempts to find a doctor and lawyer who will counteract him and say that Caroline is in fact not in her right mind. Really, he was just a bastard. By the end of the book I was disgusted for him and that he spent the rest of his sad days drowning in an alcohol induced sleep didn’t bother me one bit. This doesn’t happen by the way, I just wanted it to.
Now, I feel I’ve been harsh and I’m sure there are many of you out there that loved this book. Found it atmospheric. Found it a good read. I didn’t. Not that I need to state that now but my disappointment stems from the fact that I really wanted to enjoy this book and I didn’t. Unfortunately, I couldn’t accept it as anything other than a ghost story and I couldn’t appreciate the nuance.
As readers, we come across books that don’t stand up to our expectations. There was nothing wrong with this book other than my not enjoying it. It happens and it makes me wonder if I missed something in the reading but then I remind myself that I don’t need to, and will not, love every book I read. That was the case here.
Did you read it? What are your thoughts? I know there are many people out there that loved/enjoyed this book hence the adding it my list. I still plan to read Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith or maybe Affinity. I think she does decaying aristocracy well and I want to make sure I give a fair shot to her other works.
The Little Stranger
By Sarah Waters
Riverhead Books
ISBN: 9781594484469
2.75 stars
I usually stay away from controversial topics because I don’t want this to turn into a personal rant space where I complain about each and every thing that bothers me. Trust me, I can so easily go there, but I won’t. This week there were a few interesting posts that caught my eye about blogging, reviews, contracts, book hoarding, and it did bother me, more so than these things usually do and I thought well, why not give in this time.
The links that got me thinking:
Chris at Chrisbookorama – Surley It’s a Review…and Don’t Call Me Shirley*
Author Maggie Stiefvater’s blog The World According to Maggie – The Only Thing I’m Going to Say About Bloggers in 2012
Ana at Things Mean A lot – The Sunday Salon – On Writing About Books (she re-posted a link on Twitter this week and she’s such a wonderful writer I wanted to re-share)
April at Good Books and Good Wine – Legitimacy, Professionalism, and Book Blogging
Insane Hussein at Insane Hussein Reviews – O RLY: A “Contact” for Book Reviews?
First, I need to say something. I don’t get paid to do this — this is a true statement for most bloggers. I make no money at all by getting up early (some days) and posting here. I take time out of my days and nights and write about books I enjoyed (and sometimes not enjoyed) and share that information with others because I know there are others out there like me that truly enjoy a great story. I buy most — I’d say 99.5% — of the books I talk about here. I have stopped requesting books from publishers not because the books don’t look interesting but because I don’t have the time to read them and don’t like to accept books I can’t review. That is not a judgment of anyone; it’s a choice for me. I even put a note up on my blog in October of 2011 explaining this. Yet, a few books have arrived at my house I did not request. I’ll read these books, oddly one was a book I really wanted to read, scary how they knew that, but in the coming months I’ll continue to kindly explain that I’m not accepting books at this time.
I like the flexibility to read and review what I want, when I want. I’ve always felt that way and continue to believe that. This year I plan to read more classics and books I already own. Not accepting new books means I’ll be able to continue reading this way.
I’ll note I do reviews for the BookReporter website and will continue to do those reviews. I choose the books I review and I truly enjoy working with the people there. I am not paid for those reviews either but it does allow me to read books I’ve been looking forward to; which was the reason I started reviewing books for them. The publisher does send me those books at the request of the editors at the BookReporter. I note that in my reviews.
NOW, the point. There was a kerfuffle on some blogs over what constitutes an actual review and should bloggers use the term review. I use the term review on my blog and I’ll continue to do so. I have a system for my reviews and while not everyone may agree it’s the best way, it’s my way and it’s my blog so that makes it perfect. Okay. Some people believe a review needs to have a certain style, be more academic, have a certain structure, and that’s fine. Reviews of that nature are helpful. They can be incredibly insightful but they aren’t the type of reviews I write and I will not be changing my style to suit that. Not that anyone needs to know it but my style is this:
1 – Short intro if I’m feeling writer-ly that day
2 – Re-cap of the book
3 – What I liked/didn’t like
4 – Final thoughts
I write the type of reviews I like to read. I want information on the book but I also want to know why someone read the book, what they thought of it, what they liked, what they didn’t like. I don’t even mind spoilers (secretly I really love them though) but I try to stay from spoilery material because I know many don’t want to read it.
There has been a few arguments/disagreements/finger pointing (call it what you want as you can see I’m not feeling any specific term) about bloggers making personal attacks on authors and calling them reviews. I agree; these aren’t reviews. I don’t find them helpful and I don’t read them. But I do think it’s fair for a reader to talk about how a book made them feel. We all experience reading and writing in different ways and to take that away makes what we do in this community (talking about books we love, like, dislike) just boring. Sometimes a little snark is needed. I shouldn’t feel that because I didn’t like a book that I can’t and shouldn’t talk about it, especially if it was something I paid money for. I can do that in a fair and balanced way even if I didn’t care for it because I know there are others out there who did and can speak to its good points. And in each review, even for books I didn’t finish or like, I try to find something good. Writing is difficult and I don’t think a writer should be belittled because I didn’t care for one of his/her books. That does not mean that every review I write is going to be happy and full of rainbows just to suit someone’s feeling that because I’m not writing for an academic journal but on a blog that my thoughts are not valid/good enough/whatever.
It’s my space and I’ll do what I want with it which means when I write about a book, I will write about how I felt, what I liked, what I didn’t like, in the most fair way I can. When I don’t like a book, I will say that knowing that simply because I did not enjoy it that others out there did.
Here’s the thing, I’m buying these books with my own cash so I feel I can talk about them the way I want. I’m not out to hurt anyone’s feelings with what I publish here, I’m looking to discuss books. Something I enjoy.
Now, this, A “Contract” For Books Review?, is crazy. Like bat-shit crazy. A CONTRACT to review a book?! Who thinks of these things?! As I said, I’m not getting paid to do this. I’m buying these books (and thusly supporting these authors and publishing houses) with my own cash so why in the world would someone say to a person who would be willing (FOR FREE) to read an author’s book and give them all the rights to the review?
Weeks back, it may have been last year, I’m fuzzy on time lately (I blame lack of sleep) about publishers getting pissy with bloggers who weren’t publishing reviews in the timeframe that publishers thought they should and that they would stop sending people books for review. K, so let me think about this. No, I’m not going to think about this because it doesn’t deserve what little my brain currently has to offer. When I’m doing something to help you out, please don’t tell me how you want it done. It doesn’t make me want to help you. It makes me want to ignore you. If you want to ignore me, I’m OK with that. I write for myself and for those people out there who read me (I thank you, I really mean that, thank you for reading.) and I talk about what I want to talk about, not what someone else prefers. I will not change my style to accommodate someone with a different viewpoint than mine.
There’s a lot of talk about the book blogging community and what it should and should not be. I’ve been doing this for, let’s go with about three years so I’m still sort of new, and the reason I started was because it was a fun place to share ideas and learn about and discuss books. I still think that’s true but there seems to be pressure from outside trying to change what the community is. My plan is to ignore that and be what I am. I’m not trying to please everyone. I can’t and won’t even try. I’m just being myself.
So, that’s all. Carry on. I’m sure you’ve all got better things to do today. 🙂 And thanks for sticking with me till the end of my rambling, really long post today. I feel I should give you a prize for that. Gold stars for all!
PS – I just wanted to thank everyone that stopped by and left a comment. They were all very thoughtful and I agreed with everyone 100%. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to answer them personally but I appreciate your thoughts and I know others do as well.
I meant to schedule reviews for this week but it didn’t happen.
I wrote 3,000+ words of a fiction story for a class I’m taking and promptly decided to return to my original idea.
I wrote 2,000+ words based on my original idea and hope to write more after posting this snippet.
Why am I telling you all this? I didn’t want you to abandon me or think I abandoned you while I expand my horizons.
Now, back to homework and hopefully soon some regularly scheduled programming will magically re-appear.
Every year I always say something like, “I’m going to read the books on my shelf and not buy any for a while.”
Once again I failed, epically failed, if I’m honest. I’ve bought several books already, e and real, but I feel I’m helping the economy and authors in my own way so I’m letting myself off the hook on the buying aspect. The good news is that I have accomplished part of what I stated — I’ve been reading the books of my shelf. Out of the seven books I’ve read, six were books I bought in 2011 or books that I’ve owned for years. It’s not much right now, but I’m excited by those numbers, as small as they are. Of course, this morning after finishing Frankenstein, I decided to read a book I bought the other night, American Gods, so it’s pretty much blown to hell all over again.
Quick reading re-cap:
Lady Susan by Jane Austen — I don’t know what to say about this other than how much I enjoyed it. It was really funny, witty, and in some respects mean, but oh so good.
Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell — It did make me want to go to Hawaii to see everything she points out and it’s quite interesting on the history front as well. For all that Hawaii is a state, I know very little about its history.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley — This was a re-read and I was surprised by how much I didn’t remember. It was good and creepy and also very sad.
Today I’m starting American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Why it has taken me this long to get to this book I’ll never know.
This afternoon I’m attending a bridal expo with a friend and then at some point I need to find time to write 1,000 words for the class I’m taking and all before Downton Abbey starts tonight so that’s it for today. Happy Sunday.
Just Book Reading 