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 Have you ever been put off an author’s books after reading a biography of them? Or the reverse – a biography has made you love an author more?
Actually, no to both. I don’t normally read biographies of authors, for one thing. I suppose I would if I was interested in reading more non-fiction, but at the moment I’m getting plenty of that. I do find their lives interesting, but in general I’m not a huge fan of history after the 15th century, which is before the development of the novel (and before a comprehensive biography of almost any author could be composed anyway). So that puts me off right to start. Secondly, I commented on this at Maw Books Blog a while ago, and I firmly believe we should separate the art from the artist. Just because an author has horrible beliefs or has done horrible things doesn’t make his/her work bad, and it goes the other way around too, because you can be a fabulous person but incapable of writing valuable works. I’m sure a number of authors had opinions we’d all be firmly against now because it was commonplace then. So we’d have to eliminate whole swathes of literature. Honestly, just think about what Chaucer must have believed; many of us have discovered that the medieval period was a whole different world, but that doesn’t make The Canterbury Tales less valuable.
So, learning that an author has horrible beliefs would definitely put me off the person and I wouldn’t want to meet them, but if they kept that belief out of their work and it was still interesting and entertaining, I would read it. Normally, I won’t even know, so this is not a big issue for me. I can’t ever recall a time when I liked an author’s work more for knowing something about them.
This meme has been going around the blog world for a bit, so I decided to jump in when I saw Alyce’s post at At Home With Books. Somewhat unluckily for me, her randomizer gave me ‘Y’. I’m up for a challenge though! I decided to go for it. When I got stuck, my programmer husband-to-be used his crazy skills to give me a list of words that started with ‘y’. It’s like cheating. Except not because, well, Y is a hard letter and I came up with most of them on my own. Anyway, on with the list.
- Yellow – this one was easy! Yellow has been my favorite color for as long as I can remember. I like bright, sunny yellow or pastel yellow, nothing dark or greenish.
- York – Well, I’m currently living here, I’m not sure much else needs to be said! They say this is the best preserved medieval city in England and I love walking through history each and every day.
- Yankees – I’d be a little remiss if I didn’t mention my family’s favorite baseball team. I’m not a fan of baseball myself but if I was I’d be a Yankees fan.
- Yorkists – You know which side I’d be on if I was fighting in the Wars of the Roses. Historians shouldn’t be biased like this, but I’m taking a year off so I’m allowed for now!
- Yoda – I love Star Wars. In recent years I’ve come to realize that the original trilogy consists of my favorite movies of all time; I never get tired of them. I have a quote from Yoda on my bedroom wall at my parents’ house about how size doesn’t matter. I always thought it was relevant as I’m a rather tiny 5 feet and slender on top of that.
- Yarn -I enjoy crocheting and recently I’ve been thinking about taking up knitting as well. Looking at the yarn selection and picking just what I’m going to use to make my next project is one of my favorite parts of crafting.
- Yogurt – A great healthy snack and even better with fruit mixed in.
- Yeast – Okay, this is stretching it, but I love bread and bread products in general and they’re all made with yeast, so I think it works! Also, I bake and am looking forward to the day I can afford a breadmaker.
- Yule – I’m aware this isn’t technically Christmas, but for my purposes it’s close enough! As much as I hate Christmas music and mushy Christmas stories, I do like the season and picking gifts out for people (as long as I can afford them) and I’ll always remember being an excited child on Christmas morning.
- Yeoman warders – I’m getting a little desperate with this last one, but you have to admit the guys and girls at the Tower of London are very cool. I think it would be pretty cool to be one, but I wouldn’t like to stay in the Tower of London overnight. I don’t think I’d fancy meeting headless Anne Boleyn at 2 am, but maybe that’s just me!
Well, there’s my 10. Whew! I’m just glad I didn’t get x. Even my fiance’s super word finding tool doesn’t have much there. I thought about cheating a little and using Yorkshire, given that it’s gorgeous and historic on its own, but I decided to try a little harder than words that just start with “York”.
If you want to play along, leave me a comment and I’ll give you a letter!
 In the seventh Harry Potter book, Hermione receives this book and one of the fairy tales serves as an essential plot point in it. So, what better idea than to write out all the fairy tales and sell them, too? Clearly, good idea. Each of these fairy tales is different and has its own little objective. There are five of them and at the end, Dumbledore comments on each, with some footnotes added by Hermione Granger. I won’t go into what each of them are, because I think we’ve seen a lot of reviews and it’s actually been a while since I read the book. I did want to put out a short review, though, just because I like to review everything I read.
My favorite story was the one featured in the actual Harry Potter books, incidentally. I liked the message about cheating death, and I liked that it reminded me of the Harry Potter series. Otherwise, I found these to be short, whimsical reads that fit in reasonably well with the universe but don’t really add all that much to it. Nice for completionists, and nice that a donation is made, but otherwise, nothing special, and not at all compared to the series itself.
Buy The Tales of Beedle the Bard on Amazon.
 Today’s question: Do you post links to your reviews? Here on Library Thing, or anywhere else? How else do you like to promote your site?
I do cross-post links to my blog on my LT reviews. I post the reviews on Amazon if they’re ARCs or if I think they need my review, but I don’t stick in reference to my site. I don’t really do much promoting otherwise! I can’t afford to fund giveaways on a regular basis these days, so I’m not intent on promoting those either. I mostly just visit other blogs and leave comments. I know that I should promote my blog a bit more, but really I’m just here because I like to talk about books. I’m not aiming to be the most popular blogger around, I just like to have a few people reading my words and provide some posts of interest to everyone on a regular basis. Perhaps my ambitions for it will grow at some point, but right now I have too much to do for the rest of my life to really put the time and energy needed to make it awesome and get it out there. Maybe someday though.
January was a great start to my reading goal of 200 books this year. I read 21 books in total, which is more than the roughly 17 books I have to read each month to get there. I’ll admit that most of this reading was accomplished during the two weeks I was still mostly on holiday from grad school, but that’s how it goes, isn’t it?
1. Blindspot – Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore
2. Juror No. 7 – Mallory Kane
3. The Lost Duke of Wyndham – Julia Quinn
4. Nox Dormienda – Kelli Stanley
5. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose – Lauren Willig
6. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine – Lauren Willig
7. Cam’s Quest – Dian Curtis Regan
8. The Piano Teacher – Janice Y. K. Lee
9. Mr. Cavendish, I Presume – Julia Quinn
10. The Tales of Beedle the Bard – J.K. Rowling
11. The Vampire Who Loved Me – Teresa Medeiros
12. The Ruins of Gorlan – John Flanagan
13. The Burning Bridge – John Flanagan
14. Twilight – Stephenie Meyer
15. A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro
16. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – Jamie Ford
17. A Thousand Veils – D.J. Murphy
18. Something Like Beautiful – asha bandele
19. Deerskin – Robin McKinley
20. The Help – Kathryn Stockett
21. Our Longest Days – Sandra Koa Wing
As you can see, I have a ton of reviews to post! Most of these are actually written and waiting for their appropriate day. I don’t normally like to post more than once a day, especially not with reviews. I have a feeling that people want to stop by once and then that’s enough, although I could be wrong. Regardless, I have myself well covered for any future busy periods when I either have no time to read or just can’t be bothered to write reviews (probably when I start working on my essays again!). It’s nice to have a safety net for when I don’t feel like spending much time on the computer.
I read quite a few books that I genuinely didn’t like or which disappointed me this month. Most of these were review copies and I have renewed my determination to only choose ones which really interest me for the future. I think most of those up next month and in March are definitely more to my liking – I must have gotten pickier at some point! I also read a lot of easier reads, the romance and the YA in particular, but even those didn’t provide much of what I really wanted. When it comes down to it, the best I can say is that my TBR pile took a hit and actually went down some!
So in summary, I wasn’t up for thinking in January, but I guess I can pick two favorites: The Help and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. They were both rewarding and ultimately stunning reads that I’d recommend to everyone.
So, that leads us to what’s ahead for February! Not only will you get reviews of all the non-linked books above, I’m also participating in 3 blog tours and have a ton of review copies for release in February. The first of these is The Help, which you can see I’ve already read. The rest:
- Cry of Justice by Jason Pratt
- The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
- Drood by Dan Simmons
- The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick
- The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson
- American Rust by Phillipp Meyer
A few others I’d love to get to just for fun:
- Rebel by Bernard Cornwell
- The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick
- New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
- Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
- On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Other than that, we’ll see how much time I have and what sort of mood I’m in! Thanks for stopping by in January (and in the first few days of February)!
I have been sadly neglecting posting about the awards I’ve received recently! First, from the awesome Amy at Passages to the Past, to whom I sincerely apologize for waiting so long to post this award:
Next up, from S. Krishna, whose blog is always worth watching:
And finally, from Teddy Rose, whose blog is new to me but that I’m really enjoying:
“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”
I’m only going to tag for this last one, because I have seen the first two awards practically everywhere.
1. Kathy at Bermudaonion’s Weblog
2. Beth at Beth Fish Reads
3. Katherine at A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore …
4. Amy at Passages to the Past
5. Shana at Literarily
6. Jennifer at The Literate Housewife
7. S. Krishna at S. Krishna’s Books
8. Alea at Pop Culture Junkie
And there are so many more that I almost decided to not list anyone! I figured I should share the love a little bit, though.
Thank you so much!
 As these books are essentially two halves of the same story, I thought it would make the most sense if I reviewed them together. Thomas, duke of Wyndham, has been raised to power and privilege, knowing from birth what it was to be, essentially, Wyndham. He’s been engaged to Lady Amelia since they were babies. His grandmother, however, is a stodgy old dowager determined to make everyone’s life miserable, particularly that of her companion, Grace Eversleigh, a girl whose parents were country nobility but on their death found nothing for herself but this position. Into this established little picture comes Jack Audley, a former soldier turned highwayman with a disturbing resemblance to Thomas’s dead uncle – his father’s older brother. If Jack is proven legitimate, their whole world will be turned upside down.
In the first book, the central characters are Jack and Grace, and everything is seen through their point of view. In the second, we see things through the eyes of Thomas and Amelia. These books get a lot of criticism for being mostly the same story, but I think when you know that going in – as you should if you’ve read any summary or even heard of the books – you can’t really complain, because why did you bother reading the second one in the first place if you didn’t want to hear the same story told a bit differently? That’s my main gripe with most of the reviews I’ve read. I found the second book intriguing enough even with the same plot, because the characters are different and that’s really why I was interested in it. The search for legitimacy and what it means to each person is explored through all four of them and I think it’s a different way of looking at romance. I particularly like that the first one focuses on the lower class (although none of them are low class, they’re all of gentle birth) who are about to experience a lift in status, while the second explores the issues of identity that Thomas has, realizing he’s not the duke after all and how much of his identity rests on that – and how much doesn’t. Amelia has these issues to a much lesser extent given that she seems to have less attachment to her future as duchess and instead wants to marry a man she actually likes.
Now, I did feel like these didn’t quite live up to the first few I read by Julia Quinn, I must admit. I didn’t feel qu ite that same spark with the characters – they just weren’t as lively, there wasn’t as much chemistry, and I didn’t have that smile on my face at their interactions. She still does deal with a real life issue here though – identity crisis and how we define ourselves – and there’s also Jack, who reflects, in a small way, our terrible habit of letting those who fight for our countries languish and struggle because once their duty is done we’re not interested. So I wouldn’t say Quinn has lost it, because I still enjoyed these books. I think they’re great for romance. I just don’t think they’re quite up to her standard, and I think that before you read them, you should know that they consist of the same basic plot told through the eyes of two different couples.
Whew! That was a lengthy review for me. If you’re interested in these books, check out The Lost Duke of Wyndham and Mr. Cavendish, I Presume on Amazon.
 And so the time has come for me to discuss Twilight. I’m posting this during the Sunday Salon because I want to hear what others think. I’ve read about this book everywhere, but I’d like one spot for you to give me your opinion. So please, do so here, or link me to your review so I can get a more complete view of the range of opinions. If not, well, I want to rant a little bit too.
Allow me to skip plot summary here, I’m sure we’ve all heard it before: Bella moves to rainy Forks, Bella meets perfect vampire boy Edward, love ensues. Allow me also to state that I fully, reluctantly intended to love this book. I like romance, I like fantasy type settings in general, I was a silly teenager that fell in love with every boy who ever smiled at me, and I really was in the mood for young adult books at the time.
So the surprise was that I didn’t love Twilight. I liked it. It did bring back those silly teenage years that I normally try to shove away into the corner of my brain marked “recycle bin”. Like I said, I was boy-crazy in the worst way. I think I missed something essential, here, because even that bit of me still ecstatic over cute boys did not like Edward Cullen. I don’t understand why every girl who has read this adores him – even intelligent, grown women that should probably know better. He is a stalker. He watches Bella while she sleeps! He always shows up when she’s in trouble and he gets her in danger. He doesn’t want her hanging around with the friends she made before him. He drives too fast even when it makes Bella nervous. He reacts violently when they kiss and makes her feel like she’s crazy. At first, he is utterly cruel to her. Okay, he is attractive and sparkly, but I do not see the meant-to-be going on in this book. I don’t see why he’s perfect except when Stephenie Meyer explicitly says that he is perfect. Maybe it’s because I never liked the dangerous guys, but I don’t get it even when I channel teenage Meghan.
I did find the book to be a fairly entertaining story, but I guess having one of the two central characters fall flat damaged it for me. I also didn’t particularly like the writing and hope it gets better as I go on in the series. Every detail of Bella’s life is delineated, like what she eats for breakfast and when she throws on some clothes. I don’t like the prose, either. I’m not a perfect writer, but I can’t stand seeing ellipses and dashes used incorrectly in professionally published work. I do it myself here but whenever I am writing for a professional audience I take all that out and correct it when I read other people’s writing.
Before you ask, yes, I got the next two. Like I said, I was convinced I’d like this even if I didn’t want to. Now I’m going to read them eventually and maybe I’ll understand why people love it by the end. I’ve got Breaking Dawn on my hold list at the library. I’m not shelling out money for that one, unless I find it for $1 like I did with the others.
Lastly, I want to stick out my opinion on comparisons of this to Harry Potter. Simply put, they have nothing in common except popularity and age group. I think of Harry Potter as more of a fantastical, wholesome kids’ series that promotes good stuff like family love, sacrifice, and loyalty. J.K. Rowling is perhaps not the best writer, but she is a terrific storyteller, and I love the HP books. When you get relationships, they are the awkward ones when you don’t know how kisses go but you think they might be nice, and for the most part they are built on solid foundations of friendship. This one? Well, Bella ditches and disobeys her father pretty quickly, she ignores her mother’s emails if she doesn’t feel like answering them, and she is happy to ignore all of the friends who welcomed her in favor of the creepy vampire family. Her relationship with Edward is similarly creepy and I think borderline abusive. I know that if I had a kid, I’d be thrilled that she/he read Harry Potter and would be happy to discuss it, but we’d have to have a long talk about Twilight because I think there are some issues there.
Do you love Twilight? Want to set me in my place about how wrong I am? Please, do so! If you’ve heard it all before, please feel free to ignore this post and read some of my other posts.
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