So I have now finished a whopping TWO books so far this year! Of course, it helps that they were both not more than 200 pages, but still, that equals my total for last year!
I know, its shocking, I'm in a PBeM about a BOOK world, and I don't really read much... But I have to say, it was university that did it to me. I loved reading, until I had to do it all day every day and none of it was stuff I actually WANTED to read. Reading for pleasure became a bit of a chore after that...
But every once in a while I get a little spark of my romance with literature back, and so far, I have to say 2008 is a good year for me and books. I'm not only buying books but I am READING them as well! Shocker!
So I thought I'd check in with you guys and see how many books you've read so far in 2008, which books they were, and which book you have your book mark in now. Don't worry about making me look bad. I do a good enough job of that myself ;)
Ok, so here's mine:
1) NP - by Banana Yoshimoto (a rather disturbing book about incest and how funny some people find it - but kind of like a train wreck in that its rather hard not to watch)
2) No Longer Human - by Osamu Dazai (another rather disturbing, yet addicting book about a man addicted to alcohol and drugs who uses comedy to try to hide the fact that he had never felt as though he were a real human being and as a result he treats all the women who love him like crap.)
And now, to continue with my journey into Japanese literature, my bookmark is in:
The Heredity of Taste - by Soseki Natusme (a book which very well may turn out to be disturbing since its an anti-war story written just after the first Sino-Japanese war in 1905)
Seriously, I'm begining to suspect all Japanese authors just need a hug!
Let's see, so far for 2008 I've read:
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
Tangled Webs by Anne Bishop
Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Stalked by Kelley Armstrong (a short story)
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
and re-read:
The Elvenbane by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
Stolen by Kelley Armstrong
A Gift of Dragons by Anne McCaffrey
White Mare's Daughter by Judith Tarr
Of course, this list is just my pleasure-reading list. I've read many other great works of literature for my college classes: Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Blake, Melville, Gilman, Kafka, Arnold, Browning, Oates....and many more that I just can't remember at the moment :)
Right now, my bookmark is in:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
*g* I was the same as you, Eimi - University absolutely KILLED my reading-for-fun time, so I stopped reading. And then I graduated and it was all 'WOAH I can READ stuff!' again. Very exciting times.
This year I have read (in no particular order):
'Grave Surprise' by Charlaine Harris (3/5)
'Airborn' and 'Skybreaker' by Kenneth Oppel (4.5 and 3/5 respectively - great for boys 10-12!)
'Iron Council' by China Meville (3.5/5 - love author, not nearly enough characterization in this book)
'Iron Kissed' by Patricia Briggs (4/5)
'Murder on the Orient Express' by Agatha Christie (4/5)
'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card (4/5)
'Kitty and the Silver Bullet' by Carrie Vaugn (4/5)
'A Rare Interest in Corpses' by Ann Granger (3/5)
'The Privelege of the Sword' by Ellen Kushner (4/5)
Not terribly heavy, save for the Ms Christie novel, and even then it's a light read, even if it is a classic!
My to-read pile includes Willian Gibson, Cornelia Funke (OMG how much do I love that name?!), Libba Bray, Kathy Reichs, and more Orson Scott Card. I read a lot of teen lit - the stories are more wildly fantastic, and although they're sometimes not as dark as I think they should be, they're often damnably FUN. My bookmark is 2 chapters into 'Water for Elephants' by Sara Gruen, which is about Depression era circuses, which I adore. <3
Uh...I've lost count. About 10 or so? Something like that. I can't remember.
LOTS of children's books! :)
Hart, Carolyn G. ~ Death on Demand
Macdonald, Marianne ~ Death's Autograph
Hart, Carolyn G. ~ Dead Man's Island
Dams, Jeanne M. ~ Malice in Miniature
Henry, Sue ~ Murder on the Iditarod Trail
Dams, Jeanne M. ~ To Perish in Penzance
Dams, Jeanne M. ~ Winter of Discontent
Charles, Nora ~ Death with an Ocean View
Churchill, Jill ~ Quiche before Dying, A
Fluke, Joanne ~ Lemon Meringue Pie Murder
Churchill, Jill ~ Class Menagerie, The
Churchill, Jill ~ Knife to Remember, A
Bishop, Claudia ~ Case of the Roasted Onion, The
Kruger, Mary ~ Died in the Wool
Ferris, Monica ~ Knitting Bones
Dunn, Carola ~ Gunpowder Plot
Peters, Elizabeth ~ Crocodile on the Sandbank
Peters, Elizabeth ~ Curse of the Pharaohs, The
Allen, Conrad ~ Murder on the Lusitania
Donnelly, Deborah ~ Veiled Threats
Greenwood, Kerry ~ Earthly Delights
Saums, Mary ~ Thistle and Twigg
Atherton, Nancy ~ Aunt Dimity Goes West
Collins, Max Allan ~ War of the Worlds Murder, The
Peters, Elizabeth ~ Curse of the Pharaohs, The
Braun, Lilian Jackson ~ Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, The
Braun, Lilian Jackson ~ Cat Who Turned Off and On, The
Donnelly, Deborah ~ Died to Match
Donnelly, Deborah ~ May the Best Man Die
George, Anne ~ Murder Gets a Life
Damsgaard, Shirley ~ Witch Way to Murder
George, Anne ~ Murder Carries a Torch
George, Anne ~ Murder Shoots the Bull
Nearly all cosy mystery series - and I've left out the romance and children's books reading since they live on other databases.
I read while I walk the cat. :geek:
If I tried that, Jane, I'd run into things!
Everything I've read has been for school.
Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and The Tempest.
Also read Several Essays, the best one being Northrup Fryes "Argument of a Comedy"
Now with Matt taking his Shakespeare class, I have several more plays to read with him, and I'm going to try and start reading LOTR... again.
I enjoy Shakespeare.
One of the things I do with my children is read chapter books. This year we've read Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Pigs Might Fly, Charlotte's Web, and currently we're on Anne of Green Gables. I think next on the list might be The Jungle Book.
Dana - I LOVED the original Tarzan of the Apes. I actually read it at my grandmother's house when I was in jr. high. It was a first edition copy too! But I thrashed the binding.... ooops! But still, so good!
And Jane - Elizabeth Peters - Nice! My mom and I read all the Cadfael books aloud. We just loved them.
Oh, and Amanda - reading chapter books to the kids, you're on my hero list! My mother did that when we were kids too. She read us all the Narnia books and James Harriet :D
Oh yes, those are on my list to read. I also recently got an unabridged version of Tarzan. I refuse to read abridged books. I want the entire thing, not some watered down version!
Did you ever watch the "All Creatures Great And Small" Series? I loved it.
As for Elizabeth Peters, my mother got to meet her in real life once. She even signed a copy of a story I had written. It's been lost since. Oh well. :)
Quote from: "Jane"Braun, Lilian Jackson ~ Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, The
Braun, Lilian Jackson ~ Cat Who Turned Off and On, The
Oh yes, I forgot to say, I'm working my way through this series. I've kind of come to a standstill, but I'll get back into it soonish. :)
Quote from: "Amanda N"Quote from: "Jane"Braun, Lilian Jackson ~ Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, The
Braun, Lilian Jackson ~ Cat Who Turned Off and On, The
Oh yes, I forgot to say, I'm working my way through this series. I've kind of come to a standstill, but I'll get back into it soonish. :)
Yeah, I had a huge pile of them and normally I'm a stickler for not starting the series until I have the first one. In this case I was sure I wouldn't like them (I'm not a fan of other series with pets solving mysteries) so I happily started on the second one. No matter if I was going to hate them anyway, huh?
Darn. Really liked them. Now I have to stop and find a copy of #1.
I'm a big stickler about starting with the first one too. I HATE starting out of sequence. I got a copy of what I thought was the first and it wound up being the second. :-/ Oh well.
I eventually found the first one. :)
Despite the fact that Anne McCaffrey has a preferred order for her Pern series, I much prefer to read it in chronological order.
Quote from: "Amanda N"Despite the fact that Anne McCaffrey has a preferred order for her Pern series, I much prefer to read it in chronological order.
I much prefer to avoid reading most of what Anne wrote about Pern after 'The White Dragon'! :lachtot:
I've heard it's gone downhill. I read "All The Weyrs of Pern" and that was where I stopped. It was mainly because I went to college and that took over my life. I think I'd like to start over and reread all the ones I've read and read the newer ones. However, I think I'll probably borrow them from a library before I actually buy them. The newer ones anyway. I have a couple of the older books, but most of my collection has gotten destroyed.
When I was younger I loved all the Pern books, but when I got older they did not seem as good anymore. Dragonflight, however, will always be my favorite of all the three books. In the end, I think it went down hill after Moreta, and no I really did not like "All the Weyrs of Pern" because it began to remove the Pern that I always loved, and it got too out there for me. I mean come one, dragons moving a planet with the strength of engines? It's just not believable. And don't get me started on "The Skies of Pern" :p
I can't remember most of what I've read this year -- I've been alternating between Temeraire and Bartemaus series. I also caught up with Anne Bishop's Belladonna and Sebastian and Terry Pratchett's Going Postal. Aside from that, I've read several books for my job, lots of children's books, and have researched various topics for our curriculum themes.
Quote from: "Amanda N"Oh yes, those are on my list to read. I also recently got an unabridged version of Tarzan. I refuse to read abridged books. I want the entire thing, not some watered down version!
Did you ever watch the "All Creatures Great And Small" Series? I loved it.
Amanda, I won't read anything abridged either! And I love the "All Creatures Great and Small" series :love5: They make me so happy.
Quote from: "Eimi"Dana - I LOVED the original Tarzan of the Apes. I actually read it at my grandmother's house when I was in jr. high. It was a first edition copy too! But I thrashed the binding.... ooops! But still, so good!
And Jane - Elizabeth Peters - Nice! My mom and I read all the Cadfael books aloud. We just loved them.
Oh, and Amanda - reading chapter books to the kids, you're on my hero list! My mother did that when we were kids too. She read us all the Narnia books and James Harriet :D
Yeah, Eimi, Tarzan of the Apes was awesome :D There is something very charming about it....something fascinating.... I really enjoyed it! :love5:
My mom read chapter books to me when I was little too :) And picture books. "Where the Wild Things Are" was one of my favorites. And "Goodnight, Moon," "The Napping House," "Elbert's Bad Word," "Big Al," "Are You My Mother?," "Go Dog Go"....many of the Dr. Seuss books and others I can't recall at the moment :D I'll be reading to my kids too, when I have some :)
I've lost count but here some books I've read during the last three months: (most are finnish translations)
Harry Potter and the deadly hallows
Jules Verne: To the Centre of the Earth (can't remember the english name)
David Eddings: King of Murgos (re-read)
Terry Pratchet: Masquerade and Feet of Clay (but in Finn...I've read them before in english.)
Clive Cussler: Treasure of the Khan and Black Wind? (I like Dirk Pitt, althoug the later books aren't as good as the early ones.)
Murder in Via Appia (detective story in ancient Rome)
Currently reading: Oscar Wilde: the picture of Dorian Gray.
Quote from: "Dana"My mom read chapter books to me when I was little too :) And picture books. "Where the Wild Things Are" was one of my favorites. And "Goodnight, Moon," "The Napping House," "Elbert's Bad Word," "Big Al," "Are You My Mother?," "Go Dog Go"....many of the Dr. Seuss books and others I can't recall at the moment :D I'll be reading to my kids too, when I have some :)
Kurt recently found a compilation of stories that were animated and put on a DVD. "Where the Wild Things Are" was among them. Kat loves the book, so of course, she loves this DVD. It also has a couple of songs from "Really Rosie" if anyone remembers the Nutshell Kids.
And we have several other classics. :)
One of the things I'm doing is trying to gather up a collection of children's books that have a quilting theme. There are quite a few of them out there!
I need to read more. I recently finished C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. Prior to that I read Farewell My Lovely, by Raymond Chandler.
Most of my reading these days is blogs and the like. I suck. :angry7:
I love "The Great Divorce". I brought that one with me from America. CS Lewis is my favorite author.