Tag: books

Dear Reader: book recommendations

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

So, one of my good friends (who is also a regular reader of my blog!) asked me for a book recommendation. His request was pretty general:

… what’s the best book you’ve read in the last 5-10 years that you think I should read?

I’ve been carefully considering what I should recommend, and, of course, like anything else, I am COMPLETELY overanalyzing this… I mean, it’s not every day you get asked a question like that. And that word… best… best could mean so many different things. Most entertaining? Made me think about the world differently? Changed my opinion about something? Had excellent writing? Kept me up all night reading? All of the above?

And then there’s the hardest part… How can I pick just one “best” book?

After further questioning, I’ve come to understand that this request is part of a larger scheme invented by my friend… he decided he would allow each of his friends to recommend one book for him to read — and he’d have to read that book. So many times I recommend books to people, or buy books for gifts, and I almost never know if they are even read, let alone enjoyed. But this time… this time he has to read what I recommend. That’s a bit heady…

Of course, the first thing that came to mind as I’ve been over-thinking this, is that I’m primarily a “genre” reader (I think he knows this… he does read my blog…). So, anything I pick as “best” is unlikely to be the type of book that would win some sort of Pulitzer or something. Maybe a Hugo or a Nebula, but it’s definitely not going to top any true literary critic’s “top five” list.

I could use this opportunity to make someone (anyone) finally read Sassinak…. Don’t think I haven’t considered it. I have. But I’m not sure my friend would love it as much as I do. Hell, even as much as I love that book, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s the best book I’ve read in the last five to ten years. It’s comfort food for me. And comfort food is always good, but it’s rarely where you take someone on a first date.

So, not Sassinak… what then? This is when I turn to my trusty book shelves on Goodreads. I’ve been tracking my reading in Goodreads since the beginning of 2008. I tracked my reading in notebooks before then, and I could go back and look at those for inspiration, but those are a little harder to search. I think seven years of reading is probably enough. It’s pretty much halfway between the five and ten year time horizon suggested in the question. It’s as good a place as any to start. So, let’s have a look at my “read” shelf on Goodreads and see which books I’ve rated as five stars since 2008…

In no particular order (and only including full-length books, but not including any re-reads) these are the books I’ve read in the last seven years and marked as five stars on Goodreads:

  • We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
  • Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase
  • Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
  • The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
  • Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds
  • Swim: Why We Love the Water by Lynn Sherr
  • Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
  • Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
  • Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith
  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
  • The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
  • Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
  • Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
  • Graceling and Fire (the first two books in the Graceling series) by Kirstin Cashore
  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (yes, I first read this book in 2009)
  • Momentum Is Your Friend: The Metal Cowboy and His Pint-Sized Posse Take on America by Joe Kurmaskie
  • Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning by George Monbiot
  • Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi
  • The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
  • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
  • Lock In by John Scalzi
  • The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
  • The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
  • The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Looking over this list, I’m sorely tempted to assign him a Jane Austen book to read (Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park would be my top three). I mean, it’s not that often that you can force a guy to read Jane Austen… and I’m pretty sure that once you’ve read Jane Austen, it’s pretty hard not to see what all the fuss is about (and no, the fuss is not about the romance, though that’s good, too).

Several of the others are young/new adult books (Moribito, Graceling, Fire, We Were Liars, Fangirl, Eleanor and Park, Suddenly Royal…). I read a lot of YA/NA books, and I think many are just as good, if not better than, many of the adult fiction books I read. But, not all adults think that way. If my friend were someone who would never ever read YA, I would use this as my one chance to introduce him to the genre. But, I am fairly certain that he’s not a literary snob. So, I am going to resist recommending these favorites.

Glaciers is a particularly “Portland” book, and could be a really good choice because my friend lives in Portland. But, it’s really short… And it’s not my absolute favorite out of this list of books.

Similarly, Where’d You Go Bernadette has a very “Seattle” feel. It’s hysterical and fun and I loved it. But, it’s probably not the right book to recommend to this friend.

The Night Circus is excellent, and one of my all-time favorites, but my husband (who has very similar tastes to my friend) just can’t get into it no matter how many times he’s tried. So, I’ll hold off on recommending that one this time.

Unless you love the water, you probably won’t be that into Swim. And unless (like me) you have a ridiculous soft spot for novels told in the form of letters exchanged between a pair of characters, you probably won’t be that into The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Momentum is Your Friend is a non-fiction, memoir-type book about a guy who rides his bike across the country with his two young boys, one on a tandem trike and the other in an attached bike trailer. I remember really loving this book when I read it, and it’s a book I think my friend would enjoy because he lives in Portland, likes to bike, and has two young boys. But, this is the kind of book I’d buy as a gift for someone like my friend… not something I’d recommend for him to read because it was the best book I’d read in the past five to ten years.

Several of the others (Left Hand of Darkness, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hr Bookstore, Lock In, The Bone Clocks, The White Tiger, Quiet, Heat…) are books he’s likely to have already read, or likely to pick up on his own without my pointing them out to him. I will say that The Left Hand of Darkness is probably the best book on that list, and I would be more tempted to recommend that one if I didn’t think he’s probably read it already.

This process of elimination narrows my list down to four contenders.

  • Blue Remembered Earth
  • Ready Player One
  • The Dog Stars
  • The Sparrow

I’ve narrowed it down to these four because they are all sci-fi / fantasy books that I’m not sure my friend would stumble upon on his own, and I know he likes sci-fi and fantasy novels.

And at this point, I’m torn…

I really want to pick Blue Remembered Earth, because it’s such a good book, and it’s the first in a series, and I’m pretty sure it’s a new author for him, and one that he’d enjoy. It’s a smart book with a solid grounding in hard science. If I had to pick one book to introduce him to that might set him off on a very productive reading binge, this would be it.

And yet…

Ready Player One is a really fun book, full of pop culture references that someone like my friend might really appreciate. This was one I read and passed on to my husband to read and he also loved it. Plus, they’re making it into a movie…

Then, there’s The Dog Stars, which is one my husband read first and passed on to me… it reminds me a little bit of a book that I know my friend likes called Earth Abides… except this one is better. I’m sure he would like it (if he hasn’t read it already). But my husband should really be the one to recommend this when it’s his turn… (even though he’ll probably recommend The Martian… I haven’t read that one yet, but based on what I know, I think it would definitely be the kind of book my friend would enjoy).

My friend already reads a lot of sci-fi, but for people who don’t really read a lot of sci-fi and want to try it… or for people who like to explore philosophical and moral issues, The Sparrow would be my strongest pick. It’s a good “intro to sci-fi” book because it’s an excellent “first contact” with aliens book, plus it’s somewhat more literary because it explores a lot of sticky moral and religious issues in addition to just being a good, creative, action-packed story. But, I feel like this is a cheater recommendation because one of our mutual friends actually gave me this series as a gift. She was the one who recommended it to me. So, it’s really her recommendation… not mine. Plus it was published well outside the five to ten year window, even if I only just read it a few years ago.

What do you think? Should I pick something he’d never pick up on his own (like a Jane Austen book) as my recommendation? Or should I go with the hard sci-fi book by an author he probably hasn’t read anything by, but might enjoy (like Blue Remembered Earth)? Or should I go with something that’s just crazy good pop-culture referencing, action-packed fun (like Ready Player One)?

I’m going to take another day or two to consider. Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts…

Reading inbox-outbox: Week of 11 May

~ EMM

It’s the birthday week edition of my reading inbox/outbox, in which I offer what is likely to be a somewhat unpopular opinion about the one book I finished this week, and where I admit to not being in love with a book I had pre-ordered and really hoped to love…

Inbox (books acquired)

  • Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves by James Nestor (Kindle) — I have been fascinated by free-diving since I first saw the movie The Big Blue in my high school French class. Since then, Luc Besson has become one of my favorite writer/directors (I’ve watched almost all his movies, and Léon (The Professional) is one of my all-time favorites). So, when I saw this book mentioned somewhere (excerpt in an article online, maybe?), I immediately put it on my someday/maybe list. I was planning on getting it from the library, but the ebook price dropped to $1.99 this week, so I bought it.

Outbox (books finished)

  • Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Kindle, library) — So… I liked this, but I didn’t like it as much as Half of a Yellow Sun. I loved the writing about modern-day race issues, and I think this would make a great jumping-off point for understanding / discussing race issues. But most (not all) of the main character’s reflections and observations were things I had heard before or knew already (only because I regularly go out of my way to make myself uncomfortable and try to understand this stuff). The primary new thing for me was specifically the main character’s experience being a non-American black person in America, and how that is a different experience from being an African American (sort of “duh” when you think about it, but how often do you think about it if you’re not black, huh?). The “blog posts” were great, but they sounded so much like the movie Dear White People (which I really enjoyed, btw), that it felt like they were lifted from the movie… I know this can’t be true because that movie just came out and this book is two years old, but because I’d seen that movie first, that’s how it read to me. I do think that this would have worked better for me as a series of non-fiction essays (like Bad Feminist), rather than what (to me) reads as a lightly fictionalized story about race and immigration sandwiched between a love story that almost exclusively takes place during the first few and last few chapters. I think if I’d read this when it came out two years ago, I would have loved it and given it five stars, no question. But current me (who has been fascinated and absorbed by inclusion essays and unconscious bias training for the past two years) was way more moved by Half of a Yellow Sun because that one showed me (without telling me) that as worldly as I think I am, there is still SO MUCH MORE that I don’t know. And the fact that I can be successful in the world without ever knowing anything about African history (or even being able to tell the countries apart on a map), somehow hits me harder (and moves me more) than all the hard truths in Americanah.

Queue (what I’m reading next)

  • I started A Court of Thorns and Roses … I knew when I pre-ordered that this was a sort-of re-telling of Beauty and the Beast featuring Fae mythology and a “high-Fae” in the “beast” role. Beauty and the Beast is not my favorite of the Disney Princess stories, and I’ve never been drawn to the whole “Fae” thing, but I liked what this author was doing in her Throne of Glass series, so I was still pretty excited about reading this book. Unfortunately, I’m less than thrilled with the beginning so far… but I’m withholding my opinion until I finish it.
  • After I finish ACoTaR, Station Eleven is next. Finally. I’ve been dragging my feet (due to the hype), and also holding off until a point where I can read and savor it (again, because of the hype). I have high expectations at this point, and that worries me…

I’m sticking to my May reading plan, even though there are several books on my TBR list that are calling to me — ones that I may actually enjoy more than what I’d planned to read in May. This may be ill-advised. We’ll see how next week goes, and if I end up having an unpopular opinion about Station Eleven as well… it may be time to throw out the rest of the May reading list and start over.

 

(Reminder: the format for my weekly inbox/outbox posts was adopted from Book Riot’s weekly column of the same name… for more like this, go check out those…)

Reading inbox-outbox: Week of 4 May

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

In the “baby lottery” I was lucky enough to “win” a pretty awesome (and bookish) mom. My mom has always been an avid reader. When my sister and I were kids she read to us, took us to the library, and taught us the importance of reading for fun from a very young age. She encouraged our reading habits and bought us whatever we circled in the Scholastic book catalog. My mom taught me everything I know about intricate plots and how to guess what’s going to happen next in any story. And she was the one who introduced me to Harry Potter. Thanks, Mom, for encouraging, sharing, and funding my love of books, in addition to all the other million amazing things you do!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled blog post… This week’s inbox/outbox is going to be brief… I was pretty busy with work and writing this week. So, I didn’t get much reading done.

Inbox (books acquired)

  • I didn’t buy any books this week, but I did add a bunch of the Locus Awards finalists to my wish list, and I spent some time figuring out which books on my wish list that I can get from Overdrive (ebook lending) at my local library. It turns out that at least 15 of the books on my to-read list are available, and many don’t even have a wait list! Even if the Overdrive UI sucks, I’m thrilled that I can borrow ebooks from my library.

Outbox (books finished)

  • X-Men: Psylocke by by Christopher Yost, Harvey Tolibao — I’m still not entirely sure if I’ve read this collection of comics before, or not. I’m fairly certain that I never read the series of Uncanny X-Men comics that are provided as backstory for this collection. The Psylocke / Jubilee / Wolverine connection is especially interesting to me after reading the new X-Men series where Psylocke and Jubilee are part of this all-lady X-Men team. I really like how Marvel keeps all these stories so linked together.

Queue (what I’m reading next)

  • I’m still working on Americanah… I’m finding it hard to read this for more than a few hours without having to put it down to think…
  • I thought I would start A Court of Thorns and Roses (new series by Sarah Maas, author of the Throne of Glass series) right away when it launched on Tuesday, but I found that I kind of want to finish Americanah first… and I want to have a nice long stretch where I can really get into it without getting interrupted, and that was definitely not this week. But I did read the first chapter…

 

And that’s it for this week…

 

(Reminder: the format for my weekly inbox/outbox posts was adopted from Book Riot’s weekly column of the same name… for more like this, go check out those…)

Reading inbox-outbox: Week of 27 April

~ EMM

It is now officially my birthday month! So, let the birthday books (and book related goodies) come rolling in! I’m sort-of kidding, but I did receive some birthday presents this week… As you’ll see below, my “inbox” books this week are courtesy of “the birthday fairy” (aka: Mom).

Inbox (books acquired)

  • X-Men Volume 3: Bloodline by by Brian Wood, Clay Mann, Matteo Buffagni (paperback) — Apparently the birthday fairy must be reading my blog and realized that I’ve finished the first two volumes and I’m ready for the next installment! I’m especially excited to continue with this series because I just figured out that the most recent batch of issues (which I think will make up volume 5, due out in July), are by the same author as the Ms. Marvel series: G. Willow Wilson!
  • Uncanny X-Force: The Complete Collection Volume 1 by by Rick Remender, Leonardo Manco, Jerome Opena, Rafael Albuquerque, et. al. (paperback) — I wanted this because 1) Psylocke is featured in it, and 2) it has to do with the Apocalypse story, which I want to know more about before the next X-Men movie comes out (X-Men: Apocalypse). I doubt the story will be at all the same because I think the cast of characters is slightly different. But I had added this to my wish list because this is the only Psylocke / Apocalypse story line I could find. And I’m very excited for the first X-Men movie to feature my favorite character!
  • Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy (hardcover box set) — I’ve already read the whole series, and I love it. But I only own (as my husband likes to remind me) “a perpetual license to read these books on a Kindle, or Kindle software on an electronic device…” Like many of my favorite books and series, I wanted to own a nice hardcover set of this series. So, I added this to my birthday wish list, and the birthday fairy granted my wish! Hooray!

Outbox (books finished)

  • Ms. Marvel Vol 1 by by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona — Well, hubby was right, this is really good. I loved the story and the characters and the artwork. It’s funny and heartwarming and does a great job of addressing some of those “not fitting in” and “trying to figure out who you are / want to be” feelings that teenagers and young adults have to deal with. I highly recommend this one.
  • Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on Their Decision Not To Have Kids edited by Meghan Daum (Kindle) — I really enjoyed reading this. None of the stories matched exactly to my thoughts on the topic, but it was refreshing and heartening to read others’ takes on the prospect of not having kids — especially since most of the authors were older, and many addressed the “regrets” topic in a refreshing way (basically: everyone has regrets about their life, you can’t avoid it, in order to have/do one thing you have to not have / not do something else, that’s life). I highlighted a TON of passages in this book, and I almost never highlight anything, so that’s saying something.
  • The First Star to Fall (For Darkness Shows the Stars, #1.5) by Diana Peterfreund — This is a prequel novella for Across a Star Swept Sea, which I haven’t read yet. I read For Darkness Shows the Stars, and the accompanying novella. This novella (and Across a Star Swept Sea) take place in the same world, but feature a different cast of characters. I loved For Darkness Shows the Stars, but found this novella to be just “okay.” I liked it, but I found some of the tech to be a little far-fetched and I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. But, I still want to read Across a Star Swept Sea, because these between-novels novellas that have become so popular recently always seem to be made from the cutting room floor out-takes of the main story. So, usually the novels are better. That’s why these scenes and back-story bits were cut out, to make the novel better.
  • The Duchess War (Brothers Sinister, #1) by Courtney Milan (Kindle) — I tore through this book. It’s a historical romance that takes place in Victorian (I think) England. What I found most cool about this book was that it 1) actually has a plot, and 2) has very well-written, complex, flawed characters. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat, and not just because you are waiting for the two main characters to hook up. Plus, it’s what I might dare to call “feminist romance.” The heroine is actually a heroine and not just some dippy damsel waiting to be swept off her feet. She’s smart and independent, she makes mistakes, she knows what she wants and goes after it (and not just in the story, but in the romance as well). I highly recommend this one. Plus, it’s FREE on Kindle right now. Seriously, just go download it.

Queue (what I’m reading next)

  • I haven’t started Americanah yet… and it’s long… I’ll be reading that next so I can get it back to the library on time.

And now, time to get a little writing in before Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley…

 

(Reminder: the format for my weekly inbox/outbox posts was adopted from Book Riot’s weekly column of the same name… for more like this, go check out those…)

April reading stats and the state of the TBR

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

April is over and I’m a little shocked at how many books I finished. Granted, a number of them were short (novellas, a play, volume collections of comics…), but it was over 1800 pages! That’s a lot of reading in one month. At least for me.

April Reading Stats:

I wasn’t planning on reading this much in April, but I’ve been really organized about my TBR pile this year, and I think some of the new habits I picked up during my 40 day social media fast might have stuck. (TBR = to be read…)

A lot of the blogs I follow seem to have all featured at least one post (or vlog) about TBR piles recently: managing them, ignoring them, organizing them, and/or not feeling guilty about them. These posts and booktube videos mostly got me thinking about how I manage the seemingly endless list of books I want to read, how I keep track of which ones I already own (since most of my unread books are ebooks), and how I know which I might want to buy.

I’m constantly hearing about books that sound amazing and that I really want to read. If I ever hope to read all the books I want to read, I need to stay organized. Luckily, modern technology has made that pretty easy. I’ve cobbled together a decent system that relies on a combination of Amazon wish lists and Goodreads shelves. I’ll explain more, but first, let’s get one thing straight…

Being organized about what you want to read, and keeping lists and planning out how you are going to work your way through those lists may sound like something that sucks all the fun out of reading. But, I’m a planner by nature. I also happen to be a “Program Manager” by profession (that’s just basically a souped up project manager). So planning and organizing are just what I do. It’s not by accident that I ended up in this career. Being naturally talented at “Getting Things Done” seems to run in my family. Both of my parents also have (had) these super-powers, and they passed them on to me and my sister. I’m not sure if we should chalk it up to nature or nurture. Either way, it’s a pretty safe bet that we got it from them.

To give you an idea of the scope of books I’m trying to wrangle on a regular basis, let me give you some data to illustrate my point…

  • As of today, I have 80 books on my (physical+virtual) TBR pile. These are books that I actually own in some form or another (ebook, paperback, and/or hardcover).
  • I have another 158 books on what I call my “someday/maybe Kindle wish list” on Amazon — this is a “private” wish list of books I don’t own (yet) but might want to buy (or borrow). It’s where I dump any book that I read about, or that someone recommends to me, that sounds like something I might want to read.
  • I also have another 12 books on a different “private” Amazon wish list that I am considering purchasing physical copies of (mostly comics) or that are not available on Kindle, so I’m either going to buy them at some point, or get them from the library.
  • And, I have 53 books on yet another “private” Amazon wish list that are just business / economics books that looked interesting and/or were recommended. I am a reluctant reader of business books, though. So, it’s highly unlikely that I will actually read most of these. But they’re there in case I get a crazy desire to geek out MBA-style.

(you may be wondering why I keep putting “private” in quotes… technically, I should be the only one that can see those lists. But as a general rule, I am highly skeptical that anything is “private” on the internet…)

As you can see, that’s a lot of books to keep track of. The Amazon wish lists are great for managing my lists of what I might want to buy, but they don’t help manage the list of what I have already and haven’t read yet. I mostly use Goodreads for that. I typically don’t add books to Goodreads until after I actually own them. But earlier this year, I started keeping track of some “best-of” lists on Goodreads, and my to-read list had gotten a bit overwhelming.

So, I decided to organize my Goodreads shelves to make sure that the only books on my main “to-read” list were ones that I already own. For everything else that I wanted to track on Goodreads but don’t own, I added to a new “to-buy-borrow” list. Now, instead of having the default three “exclusive” book shelves (to-read, read, currently-reading), I have five (I added “abandoned” for the ones I started but never finished, and now “to-buy-borrow”). This is going to help me keep track of what I own and haven’t read yet, and now I can quickly see what I might want to read next.

After that re-organization, I ended up with 80 books on my physical + virtual TBR. Next I assigned each of these “to-read” books to one of three new shelves I made so that I could divide them into groups. The first group I’ll call my “priority” TBR list. Those are the ones I paid at least half price for, and that I know that I want to read. The second group is what I’m calling my “guilt-list.” These are the ones that I still want to read, but I know I won’t get to right away for one reason or another. The third and last group is what I’m calling my “vacation” TBR list. These are the ones that I bought on sale (< $3), or were given to me as gifts, and are likely to be fun / fast reads that I am really looking forward to diving into.

That first group, the “priority” TBR currently represents 20 of the 80 books. This is what I’m considering to be my true TBR, and it’s the one that I’m going to focus on reading by the end of the year. These are all books I’m excited about reading, and now they’re all in one (virtual) place. So, I can quickly look through the list and see what I want to read next.

I also feel a lot better with my TBR after admitting to myself that there are books on that list that I’m just not that into right now and that I may not get to for a while. Putting them on the “guilt-list” gets them out of my main TBR list, but still keeps them corralled so I can keep track of what’s there. They’re all still books I want to read, and I might change my mind and decide that I really want to read one of them right away.

Now I have a new goal for 2015. In addition to my 2015 book project, my new goal for the rest of this year is to stick to my book buying rules (outlined below), and finish as many as possible of the 20 books on my “priority” TBR list.

In general, I want to try to read the books that I’ve already purchased before I buy new books. I’m making exceptions for:

  • diverse books for my diverse books reading project (that I can’t get from the library)
  • books that are on sale for a deep discount (<$3)
  • books that are part of a series by an author I love (where I’m willing to buy full price because I know I’m going to read it right away…)

 

And, after consulting my new Goodreads lists, this is what I’m planning to read in May:

I’m kind of curious how my TBR list and wish list numbers compare with other readers out there. So, if you are also geeky and organized about how you manage your TBR lists, let me know! How many books are on your list?

Reading inbox-outbox: Week of 20 April

~ EMM

Between work book club, Kindle deals, and library holds, my reading inbox sort of exploded this week. My TBR pile has officially reached out of control status. I could pretty much stop acquiring new books at this point and still have more than enough to read for the next year. But what fun would that be?

Inbox (books acquired)

  • Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch (Kindle) — This went on sale for $1.99 and I happened to have a couple of credits for declining my Prime 2-day shipping option. So, I grabbed it. I was going to just let it pass, but I re-read the description, and anything that is said to be a cross between Game of Thrones and Graceling immediately gets my attention, especially when it’s essentially free. I really want to drop everything and start reading this right away, but I have a couple of books I need to at least try to read first…
  • Uncle Vanya by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Kindle) — The work book club picked this for the next book to read. It’s actually a play, and it was free on Kindle because it’s in the public domain. So, I decided to download it and try to read it in time for the discussion next Friday…
  • The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain (Kindle) — This is another work book club pick, also free on Kindle, also relatively short. So, I downloaded it and I’m going to see if I can squeeze it into my busy reading schedule… I really like Mark Twain, so I’m going to really try to read this one before the discussion. I have at least a month, so I should be able to manage it.
  • Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Kindle, library) — I wasn’t really expecting to read this one so soon, especially after I just finished Half of a Yellow Sun. But, my hold just came up at the library. So, I guess I’m reading this as my “diverse read” for May…

Outbox (books finished)

  • X-Men Volume 2: Muertas by Brian Wood, Terry Dodson, Kris Anka (paperback) — What I enjoyed about how the plot of this new comic is developing is that it is now not only featuring an all-female X-Men team, but in this volume we have added an all-female sisterhood of “baddies.” This is starting to get good…
  • The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle Book 1) by Maggie Stiefvater (Kindle) — I really liked the characters in this, and the story featured a unique combination of plot elements (Welsh mythology, private school, southern culture, witchcraft, psychics, murder…). Overall, I enjoyed the story, and I’ll probably eventually get around to reading the others in the series, if for no other reason than I like the characters and I kind of want to see what’s next. But I didn’t instantly fall in book-love with this series. I didn’t really expect to, I don’t read many “witchy” books (what might otherwise be contemporary fiction where witches and psychics are a real part of the real world, as opposed to part of some secret magic world eg: Harry Potter). But if “witchy books” are your thing, and you haven’t read this series yet, you should definitely pick this up. (Kindle lending is actually enabled on this one. So, if I know you IRL and you want to borrow it, let me know and I’ll hook you up.)
  • Uncle Vanya by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Kindle) — So, I read it. I have no idea why I read it. It was a fast read because it’s 1) a play and 2) short. There is a somewhat surprising (for the time it was written in) environmental theme. But that’s pretty much a side conversation and barely a part of the plot. The main theme, as far as I can tell, is that life is miserable and pointless and then you die. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a harsh interpretation, but it’s not a very hopeful play.

Queue (what I’m reading next)

  • I want to finish Psylocke and the Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed essays before the end of the month…
  • And then I guess I need to get started on Americanah so I can get it back to the library before it’s due…

In a related note, this morning I was drinking my tea, enjoying the sunshine, and thinking I might start reading a little of Ms. Marvel Vol 1. I read the first page, laughed, showed it to my husband, expecting him to also laugh and then give it back. But then he just kept reading it. I ended up reading something else while Ilistened to him laugh and waited for him to finish it. Part way through he asked, “Is there more of this? Or is this it?” So, I’m thinking he likes it…


This just in: As I was typing this, he finished it and said, emphatically, “It’s really good.” Then handed it back to me and added, “And I just read the whole thing.” Yes. Yes you did.

 

(Reminder: the format for my weekly inbox/outbox posts was adopted from Book Riot’s weekly column of the same name… for more like this, go check out those…)

Reading inbox-outbox: Week of 13 April

~ EMM

The inbox is growing out of control… this was a big week for book acquiring, and a slow week for book finishing…

Inbox (books acquired)

  • Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller (signed, hardcover special edition) — My Indiespensible shipment arrived this week! This was the main book in this month’s shipment, and it’s a beautiful hardcover without a dust jacket (which is awesome because I hate dust jackets). I read the blurb for this when it was announced as this month’s pick, and got excited because this one (unlike the last few months) is squarely in my wheelhouse — it’s about a girl, drilled from a young age in the ways of survival by her father, a survivalist, and then taken into the woods and told that they are the only survivors of an apocalypse-type event. But, of course, there’s more to it than that… Also, it’s published by Tin House in Portland who also did Glaciers, which I really enjoyed. I’m pretty excited to read this one.
  • The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott (paperback, ARC) — This pre-release copy was also included in my Indiespensible shipment. It comes out in October. My husband needed something to read so I gave him this and he devoured it in two days. He liked it and is encouraging me to read it soon so we can pass it on to one of our friends who he thinks will also enjoy it. I don’t know much about what it’s about except that it takes place in the south and involves some human enhancement / modification experiment that goes awry.
  • Lumberjanes Vol. 1 by by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooke Allen, Shannon Watters — (paperback) — This is the comic I meant to buy last week when I accidentally bought X-Men Vol 2, instead. This volume includes the first several comics in this new series and is being raved about by the Book Riot people, who haven’t steered me wrong yet.
  • Boomerang by Noelle August (Kindle) — You may remember that I added this one to my watch list a few weeks ago. It dropped to $0.99. So, I grabbed it. But, I’m saving this one for when I really need an awesome ooey gooey romance.
  • The Duchess War by Courtney Milan (Kindle) — This one is also currently being raved about over at Book Riot and when I clicked on it to add it to my watch list, I noticed it was $0 on Kindle. Yep, FREE. So, I immediately downloaded it. It needs to get put into the queue, and I may not get to it for a while, but I couldn’t pass up free, especially after reading the glowing reviews from the Book Riot editors.

Outbox (books finished)

  • Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Kindle, library) — This is horribly overdue at this point, and I will probably end up with a decent library fine for keeping this book too long. Still, I’m glad I stuck with it and finished it. This is the first truly diverse book I read this year in that it is both set in Africa (Nigeria), and is written by a Nigerian novelist. I felt like I should have been reading this book with a map next to me, and I felt a little lost because this wasn’t something I remember learning about in world history. I am left with a sharper awareness of my privilege and my ignorance of so much of what happens and has happened in the world.

Queue (what I’m reading next)

  • After watching The Internet’s Own Boy, a documentary about Aaron Schwartz, this weekend, I remembered that I had a copy of Cory Doctorow’s Information Doesn’t Want to be Free about the state of copyright and digital rights. I bought it after watching his author talk when he came to Google, but now I’m even more interested in reading this…
  • I’ll probably also return to (and hopefully finish) The Raven Boys… and maybe dig into some of those comics that I’ve been buying but haven’t got around to reading yet…
  • I also found out this week that the third book in Poseidon’s children series by Alastair Reynolds is coming out in the UK this month. Amazon in the US has finally listed the paperback for pre-order, but still no sign of the Kindle version… but, the second book, On the Steel Breeze, has been buried in my TBR pile for a while now. I’m moving it up to the top so that I’m ready to read book three — plus, I’m overdue for some good space opera sci-fi.

There are so many good books that I want to read and there is never enough time for reading! Maybe now that I’m not going to swim meets every other weekend (because short course yards season is over), I can go back to reading without guilt during the week because I’ll have more time for writing on the weekends…

 

 

(Reminder: the format for my weekly inbox/outbox posts was adopted from Book Riot’s weekly column of the same name… for more like this, go check out those…)

The Book *heart* Tag

~ EMM ~ 1 Comment

I tried to “BookTube,” but I realized that I’m not really a video girl. I prefer to write. But I have a bunch of BookTube channels I follow. One of my favorites is “booksandquills” which is by Sanne, a young woman from the Netherlands who lives in London. One of her recent videos was on the topic of romance in books and featured a series of questions that folks could answer and reply, filing their videos (or, in my case, blog post) with the “Book tag.”

Below are the questions and my responses…

  1. Who is your favourite literary couple?
  2. What’s your Top 3 of fictional boyfriends/girlfriends?
  3. What’s a romantic trope you wish people would stop using?
    • The love triangle. I am so sick of the love triangle. Especially when it features female lead character trying to pick between two boys, usually a “good guy” and a “bad boy” type character.
  4. Which literary couple are terrible for each other?
    • The first pair that come to mind are Bella and Edward from the Twilight series…
  5. Best romance book to movie adaptation?
    • I am partial to the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice… I know, I will probably take some crap for that. But I really love that movie, and I really love the soundtrack.
  6. What is the best book to read to your boyfriend/girlfriend?
    • The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion — I say this because I actually did read this out loud with my husband and it was so much fun.
  7. Which book would you say is your favourite on a first date?
    • Dune by Frank Herbert — because it’s true, but also because there’s loads to talk about, assuming the person I’m with has also read it… Side note: the first time I went to my husband’s apartment when we were first dating, I noticed he had a hardcover copy of Dune on his bookshelf. I was thrilled until I figured out that he hadn’t actually read it. It took him about ten more years before he finally read it, and could finally agree with me that it’s a great book.
  8. Best book to read after a break up?
    • I’d either go with something that (to me) represents the perfect romance to remind myself what I want (something like Suddenly Royal or Outlander)… or I’d go the other extreme and go with an independent female main character who is out there making things happen to remind myself of my own awesomeness (something like Sassinak or Trading in Danger)
  9. What is your favourite same sex or queer couple in literature?
    • This question is reminding me that I haven’t read a lot of books that feature a same sex or queer couple… BUT… I will say that Ursula LeGuin’s book of short stories called The Birthday of the World features a TON of great examples and is probably my favorite book featuring same sex or queer couples…
  10. Which book would you give to someone as a symbol of your affection?

Okay… tag! You’re it! Your turn… what are your responses? Post on your blog and link in the comments, or post a comment either agreeing or providing alternative suggestions…

Reading inbox-outbox: Week of 6 April

~ EMM

I’ve been really busy with work this week and I’ve barely had any free time. Then I was competing at the Pacific Masters short-course yards championship swim meet on Saturday and Sunday. So, I’ve had to squeeze in my reading around the edges, and just managed to do enough to get some recharge time so I’m not biting people’s heads off… Still, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t enough. 🙂

Inbox (books acquired)

  • X-Men Volume 2: Muertas by Brian Wood, Terry Dodson, Kris Anka (paperback) — I didn’t actually mean to buy this yet, but it happened to be in my cart when I was buying something else from Amazon, so… I guess I’ll be reading this next volume of the all lady X-Men team featuring Storm, Psylocke, Jubilee, and friends.

Outbox (books finished)

  • Among the Nameless Stars by Diana Peterfreund (Kindle) — This is a novella prequel to For Darkness Shows the Stars, which I read back in November, and tells some of the story from Kai’s perspective. This takes place after he leaves, and explains more of how he ended up where he did. Reading this made me miss these characters and this world. I really enjoyed FDStS. Now I want to read the second book and the other companion novella, even though that one features a different story set in the same world. I think Elliot and Kai make an appearance, but the main cast is new.

Queue (what I’m reading next)

  • Half a Yellow Sun is due back to the library, and I need to finish it…
  • I had a random and sudden urge to read something slightly dark and with magic this week. Something “witchy.” Luckily, I had the first book in the “the Raven Cycle” series: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. Of course, just after I started it I remembered that Half a Yellow Sun was due back to the library soon and I should be reading that instead. So, I put it down, but I plan to get back into it this week.
  • I’m also still in the middle of Psylocke and that book of essays on not having kids. And Ms. Marvel is waiting, as well…

Happy reading!

Accomplished women

~ EMM

During a conversation this evening I was reminded of this scene from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice:

“All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?”

“Yes all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover screens, and net purses. I scarcely know anyone who cannot do all this, and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished.”

“Your list of the common extent of accomplishments,” said Darcy, “has too much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no otherwise than by netting a purse, or covering a screen. But I am very far from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I cannot boast of knowing more than half a dozen, in the whole range of my acquaintance, that are really accomplished.”

“Nor I, I am sure,” said Miss Bingley.

“Then,” observed Elizabeth, “you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished women.”

“Yes; I do comprehend a great deal in it.”

“Oh! certainly,” cried his faithful assistant, “no one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.”

“All this she must possess,” added Darcy, “and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.”

“I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.”

I am posting this here to remind me that sometimes I am way too hard on myself.