Posted on December 14, 2008 in Books
This week, I finished book one of Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire series and I am about to start book two. I only really need to read it and book three and then I will write a review of the eight books so far. I think I’ve been on the same scene in Hamlet for two weeks, but I did buy JKR’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard last week at Hatchards. I’ve read the first story out of five. It can be easily read in one or two sittings, and I must find the time. I may do it right after this entry actually.
Today, I went for a long walk by the Thames, mostly on the south side from Southwark Bridge to Westminister (and then back to London Bridge). Underneath Waterloo Bridge, there are tables piled with used books by a few booksellers.
I must admit that I have a severe addiction to buying books, especially used books. I can not resist them especially when I find books I’ve loved or books I really want to read:
I am aware that all of these books are by British authors and that two of them are war novels. Three novels for £10.25, not as cheap as back home, but I do really want to read Atonement and Birdsong. Though finding the time for them is another thing. I have accepted that I probably will not get a library card, and that is not a guarantee of getting to read the books I want to read. I am glad I bought these. I never regret book purchases even if it is a vicious addiction. These aren’t the last books I will buy either; I can feel that my book acquirement lust is insatiable. I really will need to ship all my things back when I move out of the country.
I was so cold after I stood for at least 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour browsing books under a bridge that I popped in Foyles afterwards to browse which did not help the addiction. I am glad I went out, but now I must look away from all those tables when I do that walk again.
This week, I will finish Beedle Bard, read more Hamlet, start A Christmas Carol, start a Penguin Ian Flemming anthology that has Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, and Moonraker. That’s enough, but I have own so many books now! I still have a lot to do for school even if classes are over. I am leaving for Wales a week from Tuesday, and I will be bringing a couple of the aforementioned and maybe one of the sad war novels. Nothing like a romantic war novel for Christmas/Boxing Day.
Have a festive week.
Literary Links:
Austenbook – Working off of Hamlet on Facebook, this is wonderful.
Daily Routines – A really interesting blog that features routines of writers, artists and other people of import.
If you have an iPhone, you should read books on it.
15 Dazzling Modern Library Designs.
Not exactly literary, but Wikipedia has a List of Misconceptions.
And some more free online book resources: Book Bot, Bibliomania, and Page by Page.
Posted on November 30, 2008 in Books
Well, this has proved to a fruitful reading weekend. Since Friday night, I’ve read books four to eight of the Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampire) Series by Charlaine Harris. I have not read the first three (and was spoiled by a friend) yet, but I will get back to rereading the series. They are quick reads, and I, like many others were attracted to the series by the HBO TV adaptation of it “True Blood”. The series is addictive (hence the reading four novels in less than 48 hours). I can not help compare it to the Stephenie Meyer Twilight series, and the Souhern Vampire series is advantaged in its older themes, but it is a better series all around, no doubt about it. The characterisation is well thought, the plots intriguing, the tone both humorous and dark. I can not wait until the book nine comes out in May.
As I said last week, I have begun rereading Hamlet slowly. I’m still in Act One, taking my merry time on bus rides and whenever I find myself free. This is probably my second rereading of the play. I do like Shakespeare (especially the sonnets); I like being able to read it aloud and hearing the iambic pentameter. I have read more tragedies than comedies though, but I do think Hamlet ranks highly among the ones I’ve read because it has some beautiful soliloquies. I dislike or am indifferent to all the characters except Horatio (only because he seems to be the most decent guy of the bunch). I do like the construction of the play, the use of the Mousetrap and the meta play within the play. Reading has made me more excited that I will be seeing it in a month on stage, and it will be a serious performance by the RSC. Of course, this was why I bought the book in the first place. More observations of the play as I continue to reread it. In the mean time, I bought my a few more books this week.
I did indeed buy A Christmas Carol and other Christmas stories by Charles Dickens. I really need to read up on some Dickens especially considering how English his works are. It’s debatable if I will actually read all these books. Little Dorrit was just adapted on BBC. I bought The Old Curiosity Shop simply because I actually pass buy it weekly when I’m in Holborn; the building looks the same more or less. I much prefer Penguin, Oxford or Everyman classics to Wordsworth, but each of these was only £1.75 eac at Lovejoys on Charring Cross Road. As much as I wanted to go for the 3 for 2 fiction deal at Borders, my frugality won out in the end. But with prices like that, I can get a few more classics there and save up for contemporary books later.
Next week, I will have reread more of Hamlet and maybe go past the first page of Year of Wonders. I want to start A Christmas Carol soon, but I’m starting to think I can wait a few more weeks before starting to. I want to read a lot of it on Christmas Eve to get in the real mood.
Have a good week!
Literary Links
FictionalCities – Recs of books set in Florence, Venice, Berlin, and London.
The New York Times 100 Most Notable Books of 2008 is out.
Schmoop is a new literature student guide. I read the Pride & Prejudice guide, and I liked the informal style of describing the books themes and characters. It made me really want to reread P&P (not that it is difficult to want to reread P&P).
Posted on November 23, 2008 in Books, Photography
Last Sunday, my internet was down and I could not do any work so I read and finished Sense and Sensibility, but was unable to post a Salon entry. Today, I am reading for school (of course), but I am going to try and squeeze in the first chapter or so of Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.
Been very busy the last two weeks, but on Friday, I finally managed to take a long bus ride to Marylebone and headed to Daunt Books. Lovely, bookstore with a galleria of books by geographical location.
Today, I also took a walk between the rainy periods to go to the Globe Theatre to buy a very tiny copy of Hamlet.
Yes, my hand is small. It is bound in leather, unabridged, and only £4. I have a normal paperback sized copy back home in Canada, but this is a nice souvenir. It’s so small that I will have to take it with me everywhere. I’ve already read a couple of the first ickle pages, and it will offer some companionship in boring lectures perhaps.
The holidays are fast approaching which means more time to read again, and I think I will be buying copies of JKR’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard and A Christmas Carol. I have always wanted to read more Dickens, and being in England now, I think it’s essential he’s at the top of the TBR pile. Too bad, I left Bleakhouse back in Canada, but I will scour Charring Cross Road and Hatchard’s for some cheap Dickens in the coming months.
Have a good week.
Literary Links:
The Europeana site, Europe’s digital library, had to be shut down after its release this week, but will be coming back mid-December. I’m anticipating it.
Based on the Book – a listing of all books, plays, poes that have been adapted. The site also has some other good booklists.
BBC News had a piece for World Philosophy Day. While not very literary, still very interesting.
A page of other literary links.
Posted on November 9, 2008 in Books
As I have expected, my move and my pursuit of my postgraduate degree has hampered my reading. I have read more of Sense and Sensibility since two weeks ago, but I am still not yet half way after a month. In the meantime, I roam around London and this week, I finally made a tour of some of the major bookstores in this town.
I love bookstores. What bibliophile doesn’t? Like libraries, I get a tingle or warm, fuzzy feelings when I enter them. They bring me memories and give possibilities. I love the smell of new books. One does not judge a book by its cover, but I like to admire book jackets, especially of classic books. I enjoy browsing big and small bookstores, new and used. I brought five new books with me to London, and I am unsure if I will be able read all of them in a year. Still, when I enter a bookstore, there is always more than one thing I want to take home with me. I must use my self-control.
With that said, I do intend to buy a copy of Hamlet in the coming week. While I have a copy at home, I would like to own one here and reread it because this past week, I also scored tickets to the London showing of the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet (albeit bad seating). My bookstore journeys this week all offered more or less the same selection of Oxford and Penguin Classics from the new book stores.
The most notable bookstore street is Charing Cross Road which was popularised by 84, Charing Cross Road. It features many specialist and second hand book stores, I went in to a few like Any Amount, Quinto, Henry Porbes, and a couple of others. There is a small side street called Cecil Court which has more small specialty book stores devoted to rare books, motor books or general vintage books. Charing Cross Road also has Borders, Blackwells, and the famous Foyles. I like the Foyes actually. It’s big compared to the other shops, but not too large. It’s rather well lit, and I liked the selection. I definitely need to go back sometime to check out the used books section and inevitably, spend money.
The next day, I went a few streets west to Piccadilly to check out the largest bookstore in Europe Waterstones and Hatchards (its sister company). To be honest, I found Waterstone’s too large. One does not get a sense of closeness with books. I got it from Foyles and Hatchards (the oldest bookshop in the UK founded in 1797). The latter of which is down the street from Waterstones. It also has several levels, but the books are all packed closely together on distinctive black shelves. It’s much more intimate as a result. It is also right beside the luxurious food hall Fortnum & Mason. Neither is good for the wallet.
The only bookshop I want to go, but have not is Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street. I’ll make it there soon. If I don’t find anything too special or good in second hand stores, I’m going to get Hamlet at Foyles. They actually had the a very good Shakespeare collection.
At some point this month, I will finish S&S. By that time, I may have a library card. Have a good week everyone!
Literary Links
Posted on October 19, 2008 in Books
My first Sunday Salon in almost a month! Sadly, I think there will be fewer in the future. Last week, I made my big move to London, and while I have some things settled, I am still getting accustomed to my new lifestyle which involves less of my hobbies such as reading.
Currently, my ongoing book is Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. I started it at the airport, and I have hardly touched it since. It was one of the books that I took with me. In the end, I decided on these others as well: Don Quixote by Cervantes (the big work to take), Plays by Anton Chekhov (needed a smaller book in addition to the others), The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (popular on the poll), Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (popular on the poll and about London). I also took my copy of Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik as I want to reread it before going to Paris at some point. I obviously regret not taking more, but my luggage had to hauled by me alone. I doubt I’ll even find much time to read in the year that I am here. The most popular books on the poll, Lord of the Rings and Possession were both read by me before I left during my delay. The latter’s review will be up tomorrow.
Later this week, I will start posting about London a bit more with photos. I’ve been to a couple places this week, and today, I am visiting a classmate in her home in Hollan Park, near Notting Hill.
Before I do that, I’m going to catch up on school reading and maybe a chapter or two of S&S. I’ve seen the movie twice and the new adaptation too; I feel as if I know the plot thoroughly. It’s also nice to read Austen. I feel her prose is like a conversation between her and you, very subtle, soft, but wry and shrewd too. I’ve owned the book for 8 years and have not started it until now. I have a horrible habit of getting new books and not reading them for years. The library has a priority, but I do not have a London library card yet (will probably get one next month) so I will stick to the books I have brought over.
Next week, I hope to have read more of S&S. I really do not know when I will be finished it. I will try to make time for relaxation again. Have a good everyone!
Literary Links:
Inspired Reading – Book recs from graphic designers.
NPR has a list of the Best Foreign Books You’ve Never Heard Of.
The 10 Most Disturbing Novels – These do sound disturbing, but I am intrigued by some.
30 Simple Ways to Get Your Child Ready to Read – I am not a parent, but these are really smart tips for early literacy.
Criggo – A blog that actually features bad grammar, writing style, and syntax from real newspapers.
BBC News has an on who is the new Nobel Prize for Literature Laureate JMZ Le Clezio.
Posted on September 21, 2008 in Books
Busy that I am, I have not been reading very much the last couple of weeks. I will definitely read today. I will finish The Two Towers and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (thus completing the whole Holmes canon). I will also read a graphic novel a friend recommended to me called The Wizard’s Tale.
The poll is still up on the right side of the page, and while I have decided most of what to take, I am still watching the results eagerly for any “dark horses” to take the lead. Sadly, a lot of the books are heavy and a couple of the top ones will be sacrificed for the sake of me dragging my luggage around the first day. I will be taking a lot of things as it is. This is why I have decided to just read LOTR before going now so I do not have to take the books.
Speaking of Lord of the Rings, it will be easy to finish The Two Towers today because my bookmark indicates that I read more than 1/3 of it six years ago. Yes, it has been on hold that long. That happens rarely, but I start a book and can not complete it due to time, boredom or my own schedule. A couple years ago, I started Little, Big and now own the book, but yet again, I do not know when I will pick it up. Same for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell which I started this spring. Strange, a lot of the books that I seem to be put on hold are fantasy books.
By the way, there will probably not be a Sunday Salon next week because I am moving overseas next weekend. Likewise, from here on it, there will be fewer SS posts (and maybe posts in general) as I start graduate school. More on that later in the week. I do enjoy the Salon and will miss posting and reading fellow Salonists.
Have a good end of September everyone.
Literary Link:
75 Books Every Woman Should Read – A response list to Esquire’s 75 Books Every Man Should Read. Actually, the list only has 20 books and suggestions are in the comments.
Posted on September 14, 2008 in Books
This week, I read and finished Last Orders, The Good Earth, and His Last Bow (review coming soon). Today, I am reading The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien. LOTR was winning by far in the poll from last week so I’ve decided to just read it now before my move because I rather carry the even heavier Don Quixote and Possession with me.
If you have not taken the poll from last week about which books I should take and read from my TBR pile, please do so here or in the column to the right of the screen.
I’ll leave with a meme/survey I found last week among one of the Salonists.
On your nightstand now: I actually do not put books by the nightstand, but current books on the top of the TBR pile include The Tower Towers, The Return of the King, Cannery Row, and also numerous others.
Book you’ve “faked” reading: Actually, when I had English classes in school, I generally read all the books through so I did not fake much. In a rare case or two, I have said I read a book, but really, I skimmed most of it. This happened with Cold Mountain for some reason.
Book you’ve bought for the cover: This happened once, and it was not even that the cover was pretty, but it was good quality. It’s a book I never heard of from an author I’ve never heard of: William – An Englishman by Cecily Hamilton.
Favorite book when you were a child: Peter Pan, Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Pydrain (I read so many of Alexander’s books before the age of 13 and then stopped for some reason), The Arthurian Legends, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Road Dahl’s books.
Book that changed your life: In my childhood Peter Pan, in my teens, Anna Karenina. I think Tolstoy has been a big part of my life.
Favorite line from a book: Going through some of my collection quotations:
Dreaming is not merely an act of communication (or coded communication if you like); it is also an aesthetic activity, a game of the imagination, a game that is a value in itself. Our dreams prove that to imagine–to dream about things that have not happened–is among mankind’s deepest needs. Hereinlies the danger. If dreams were not beautiful, they would quickly be forgotten.
— Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Top five favorite authors: To be rebellious, I am going to name ten since I can never really pick top favourites: Leo Tolstoy, William Shakespeare, Nick Hornby, Neil Gaiman, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Steinbeck, E. M. Forster, Philip Pullman, Edith Wharton, and Jane Austen.
Books you recommend as regeneration when people say, “I’m bored by almost all contemporary American writers.”: Oh well, I’m wary of giving book recommendations unless I know the person well and has a high likihood of liking the books. Some American contemporary authors I like are Jeffrey Eugenides, Audrey Niffenegger, Marilynne Robinson, Anthony Bourdain (for travel and food), Bill Bryson (travel and nonfiction), Madeleine L’Engle, and Adam Gopnik. I read a lot more from British authors and their oeuvres.
Book you can’t believe that everyone has not read and loved: Going along the lines of why I’m not big on giving recommendations as whole, I do believe there are books people else loves and others don’t.
Book you are an “evangelist” for: From my reading list, I seem to like my classic books. It’s hard to say really.
Book you most want to read again for the first time: Anna Karenina, Howards End, Pride and Prejudice and on it goes.
Books you wanted to begin again immediately after finishing them: Strangely enough, War and Peace, but I know it’ll be a few more years before I try that again. The rare chicklit book such as when I read Bridget Jones’s Diary (P&P and Persuasion too) for the first time.
Have a good Sunday!
Posted on September 7, 2008 in Books
This week, I have been reading Last Orders by Graham Swift and listening to His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have not had very much reading time this week so I will spend today doing that. First though, I have a little request for you Salonists.
At the end of this month, I am going to be moving overseas for at least a year. I have been deciding about which books to take and subsequently to read when I move. Since I will not return for awhile, it’s difficult choosing which to take with me and read in my time abroad. While I will be moving to an English speaking and may buy a couple of books and frequent the library, I want to take some books that I own with me, probably around five. Help me out, by choosing the books you think I should take and have not read. I own all the books below and have not read any of them in full. Most of them are paperback. If anything, the poll would serve as the type of books people who visit the blog like. Thank you!
[poll id=”2″]
Have a good week!
Literary Links:
Times Online has Philip Pullman’s Reading List.
7 Writing Habits of Amazing Writers
Planet ebook – Yet another ebook site; this one uses PDF.
Posted on August 24, 2008 in Books
This past week, I finished reading Hardy’s Far From the Maddening Crowd and continued reading more Holmes by finishing The Return of Sherlock Holmes and starting The Valley of Fear. After this novel, there will be two more short story collections and then I will be finished the Holmes canon on audiobook. I spent all of yesterday listening to Holmes, and it has been a long experience. I enjoy it for the most part, and though I have not ever been a shipper for slash pairings, Holmes and Watson are made for one another and I totally ship them.
Today and this week, I want to start Wharton’s Summer, Graham Swift’s Last Orders, or The Book of Lost Things. It’s hard to determine at the moment since I have so many books; they are going to consume me. I am going to miss having so many books around me like this in a month’s time. During the school year, I get antsy if I haven’t read a book for fun in more than three weeks. It is such a relaxing release for me to read a book for fun, and I miss it if I don’t do it regularly such as spending most a day reading and finishing a book.
Off to do some errands and then back for some intense reading. Have a good week!
Literary Links:
Just a couple of book lists this week: 50 Amazing and Essential Novels to Enrich Your Novel and 30 Books Everyone Should Read Before their 30th Birthday
Posted on August 10, 2008 in Books
It was a really productive reading week. I finished five books this week: The Name of the Rose, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Petite Anglaise, The Memoirs for Sherlock Holmes (review will be combined with The Hound of the Baskervilles), and Breaking Dawn (I do not plan to write a review).
I am rather pleased with myself because a couple of the books were due two days before I read them, and I did not think I would make it. If I had set aside whole days to reading (pure bliss) which is what I did tuesday, I can deftly finish and start books. I am constantly amazed and pleased how my reading speed has quickened since I was a teenager. While I do not calculate how long it takes me exactly to finish a book then and now (it does depend on the book), I definitely do see differences between myself now and ten or five years ago. How about you?
Today, I am reading Alain de Botton’s Essays in Love (On Love) and listening to The Hound of Baskervilles. Later this week, I plan to start Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd and one of the many books I have from the library. I got a slew of Booker prize winners lately.
It’s going to be more overwhelming as the month ends and September begins. My hobbies are even overwhelming me. In the good way though.
Have a good week.
Literary Links:
The Times has a list of 50 outstanding literary translations of the last 50 years.
Posted on August 3, 2008 in Books
Presently, it is past 3AM and I am having a rare case of summer insomnia. I decided that I may as well send a few emails and write the Sunday Salon for today.
This week, I read only a tiny bit of The Name of the Rose. I like it, but I have been severely sidetracked by work and other things this week. I plan to read the book today (after I sleep that is), and start another one for variety, probably one of the nonfiction memoirs that is due this week from the library.
My library TBR pile is out of control again. As I mentioned last week, I have been going through a lot of guidebooks with reference to an imminent move I will make in the near future. Guidebooks do not necessarily need to be read from cover to cover, but I now have several novels set in this place (not excluding the couple that I own personally). While novels are not the best travel guides, I like the idea of preparing myself on a journey by reading fictional stories of people who live in this town as I will. Have you ever done this? Does it make it even more worthwhile for a trip or move?
I will end this insomniac edition of Sunday Salon with a quotation:
Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us with the insights and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and from all of our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species. Public libraries depend on voluntary contributions. I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.” — Carl Sagan, Cosmos.
Here is to some sleep and lots of reading for the rest of Sunday. Have a good week, everyone.
Posted on July 27, 2008 in Books
This week, I finished reading the Promethea series and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (review up tomorrow). I have been reading The Name of the Rose rather sparsely and will devote some time to it today as well as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. As for the rest of the week, I expect I will finish TNotR, more Holmes, and probably start Alain de Botton’s Essays in Love.
Yesterday, I went through several guidebooks for this trip I am going to be taking. While I did not read the books cover to cover (and thus not included in my official reading list), it took up most of my day reading bits here and there. It was quite time consuming, and I still have other books to go through next week. I find that I read quite a bit, but sometimes it goes unrecorded because I really do not consider books read if I have not read, say 95-98% of it at least. When I read for school, I often did not consider the textbook read unless I read most of it. I do not think I have considered a school book read since high school since most academia is journal articles. Though I did quite a bit of it.
The Guardian has an article on reader’s block: readers and their unfinished books which quotes Francis Bacon:
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.”
The article discusses how many people in Britain (and probably in general) try to read more challenging books (classics) and end up not finishing them. The novels least likely to be finished by Britons can be found here (amusingly, I have read and finished five of them and own six of them). Some parts of this article are rather sad. I mean how can one not know how to turn pages? In the end, it is as I and the article have said, just read something you like. If the book makes you enjoy reading, then all the better. I must admit that even I get reader’s block with my TBR piles because I often do not have time to read if it isn’t summer or a holiday nor do I am I always in the mood for classics. The reader’s block pandemic seems to be wholly human and our propensity for short attention spans at times.
On a related note, The Times has an article called “Stoooopid …. why the Google generation isn’t as smart as it thinks” about how the current young generation is being stupified by the digitalization resulting in many people not having a long enough attention span to a book. The article has a rather dismal outlook for the young people right now, and I am of this bracket. Objectively, a lot of it has truth. All this information does not make us smarter necessarily, and Facebook and Myspace are creating odd little social relationships and interactions. On the other hand, I am rather optimistic of my own personal future because I do read lots of long books by dead guys and enjoy it. I do not live off “peer attention”, and I am someone who likes older things from books to movies to letter writing. I also am on the internet quite a bit, and while I do skim or glaze over certain sections of books, it does not mean I would not be able to read War and Peace. I think for long books, a little bit of skimming is alright and wholly human, not part of the internet age. We have short attention spans even without the internet, and we foster that by being addicted to things in the digital age.
That concludes this week’s Sunday Salon. Have a good last week of July.
Literary Link: