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 I have been very lazy with my Library Loot (hosted by Eva and Marg) posts lately. The reason is because I’ve been using my husband’s computer. It’s more powerful than my laptop and our flat is so small that I don’t need the portability, plus typing at the desk is better for my wrists. My camera, however, uses an SD card that I can just plug into my laptop and get the pictures from, so I’ve long lost my camera cord, and that means I can’t get pictures onto this computer directly from it. This computer does not have the slot for the SD card. I’m generally too lazy to wait the ten minutes it takes to start up my laptop, upload the pictures, and then turn the thing off again right away. So, I’m just using some cover pictures from Amazon today. I hope no one minds! This post covers a couple of trips. Links on the pictures go to LibraryThing, in text go to Amazon through my Amazon Associates account.
From the big library:
   
- Nocturnes, Kazuo Ishiguro – I already finished all the stories in this and am in the process of writing my review. Ishiguro is one of my favorite authors and now I’ve read all of his books but The Unconsoled, which I have on my TBR pile. This collection was not as good as the novels, but I’ll leave the rest for my post.
- My Invented Country, Isabel Allende – This is for the Women Unbound challenge. I loved one of Allende’s later memoirs, so I’m looking forward to this.
- The Tale of Murasaki, Liza Dalby – Same as above! This is historical fiction, which I’m a little tired of, but hopefully medieval Japan will be different enough to captivate me.
- The Borgia Bride, Jeanne Kalogridis – I got this out a couple weeks ago, before I realized I was tired of historical fiction, and it’s pretty big. I may need to renew it.
And the smaller library:
  
- The Dark Rose, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles – I waited for this second volume in the Morland Dynasty series for months in York and never got it. Just found it on the shelf here, and was thrilled!
- Wild Swans, Jung Chang – Another for the Women Unbound Challenge.
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley – I’ve been wanting to read this for years.
Have you taken anything interesting out of the library lately?
 Yesterday, I said I was starting my participation in NaNoWriMo today. And I have officially begun. I wrote 2000 words this morning, so I’m off to a good start. If anyone would like to add me as a buddy over there, please do – my username is medievalbookworm. I’m writing a historical romance novel for two reasons; I always thought I could, and I know how it will end, which has always stymied me in the past when writing longer works of fiction. If I know the ending, surely I will be able to somehow get the novel there. I just want to see how it goes and that involves choosing the easiest genre (for me) to write. Although to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if mine was the tamest romance ever – I prefer the ones without explicit scenes, believe it or not. I don’t particularly want anyone to read it, but I’m happy that it’s moving along nicely and I found it fairly easy to write. In fact, I might even write more later, as the feeling is surprisingly exhilarating.
In other bookish news, I have plenty to read these days. I have a library loot post coming up this week with several weeks’ worth of loot, but my most exciting find was Kazuo Ishiguro’s new short story collection, Nocturnes. How can I resist Ishiguro? He’s one of my favorite authors and I had a moment of absolute glee when I saw it in the new book section. I don’t think these stories are going to stay unread for very long. I also finished Ash by Malinda Lo last night and I unexpectedly adored it, so I’m for once looking forward to writing a review. I was feeling frustrated with my reading last week, but I think all I needed was a change of pace, reading what I want to read rather than what I need to review. I think if I intersperse reading that I choose with the review copies, things will go much more smoothly. In all honesty I don’t have very many books for review – I’ve stopped requesting at all and only accept if I think a book will be very good – so this should not be a challenge. So, today I’m going to be reading Nocturnes and Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier, and after I’m finished with them I will try and go back to read a review copy.
I’m not sure which books will be ahead this week; I’m just going to see how I feel. What are you planning on reading this week?
 Here’s how I did – I’m assuming that I’m going to spend the next few minutes on this blog post, so it’s updated from 1 pm yesterday to 12 pm today:
| Number of Books |
6 |
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Books Read |
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| Pages Read |
1870 |
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Hunting Ground |
The Queen of Attolia |
| Time Spent Reading |
14:03 |
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The Lightning Thief |
Me Talk Pretty One Day |
| Time Spent Blogging |
3:19 |
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Dead as a Doornail |
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The Thief |
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Keith got up shortly after my last post and played a couple of levels in the second Tomb Raider, but then he realized he couldn’t finish another in the time remaining and stopped.
And the end of event survey!
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
The one in which I fell asleep! I think it was somewhere between 12 and 14. I finally went to bed around the second 2 am (we put the clocks back), which I think would be hour 14, but I had really been zoning and sleeping on the couch for a while. I got up a little after 7 and have been fine since.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I think all the books I read were surprisingly great choices. I didn’t have trouble focusing on any of them and there were no duds at all.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope! I think the whole thing is great.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I really liked how many people were involved in the Read-a-Thon and I think the organization has been fantastic. I also liked the way the cheerleading was split – I felt I was getting a lot of comments and not only from people who’d visited my blog before.
5. How many books did you read?
Six!
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, The Thief and The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, and Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
It’s hard to say – I enjoyed them all in their own way. I think the two by Megan Whalen Turner would have to win.
8. Which did you enjoy least?
The Lightning Thief. It’s definitely written for a younger audience and usually I don’t notice that in YA, but I did here. It was still funny and I plan on reading the rest of the series, though. More details when I write a review, sometime. LOL.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
Wasn’t one!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I’m extremely likely to participate as long as I can keep the weekend open. I’m thinking next time I’d like a greater variety of roles. I would like to spend more time visiting other blogs and cheering the participants on even if not as an official cheerleader, although I might give that a try if I can commit to only a few hours like I think we could this time.
And now I am showering (at noon, hah!) and going out. For some crazy reason, Keith thinks we should go out and do things after sitting/lying for 24 hours. What an idea! I’ll probably be reading more later – I’m a glutton for punishment and have to finish The Queen’s Mistake by Diane Haeger, which I put off in favor of lighter books – and trying to write all of the reviews I suddenly have to do. Thank you for commenting here, congrats to everyone on all the reading and cheering, and I look forward to the next Read-a-Thon in the spring!
Well, I haven’t been reading at all, but thought I would thank everyone for their congratulations and show just one of the pictures; we mostly left the pictures to the photographer, but we don’t get those for a while, so here’s one of our own, even if my bangs are in my face:
The day was just perfect. Everything was on time and exactly how I wanted; we are still astonished! We’ve been extremely busy since my parents arrived on Thursday and expect to be until Tuesday when they go home; I have a few reviews left, but will be working hard to catch up afterwards. I haven’t read a word in a few days, but I’m sure I’ll be back to it soon and then my blog will resume its bookish nature. I hope everyone has a great week!
 When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like a garden after a Spring rain?
Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all? (This would have described me for most of my life, by the way.)
And–when you DO weed out books from your collection (assuming that you do) …what do you do with them? Throw them away (gasp)? Donate them to a charity or used bookstore? SELL them to a used bookstore? Trade them on Paperback Book Swap or some other exchange program?
I have only just started with attempts to weed out my library. On reflection, if I don’t think I’m going to reread it, I am not sure I want it any more. I have so many books I want to read and so many that I want to read again. Why keep the ones that aren’t calling to me? I do have trouble giving up books that I paid for, though, especially full price. If I got it from a used bookstore or charity shop and it was very cheap, I generally don’t mind turning around and giving it back if I didn’t like it. I plan on doing more giveaways for this once I’m employed, especially with ARCs and review copies. There is also the ever-important issue of space and the fact that I don’t have all my books with me ever. They’re spread in two locations for now. While I’d like to bring all my books together, it’s not going to happen for a good few years. I’m sure that when it does I will have a lot to reconsider.
I waited to do my loot (hosted by Eva and Marg) until I’d been to both my libraries. I’m hoping that the libraries help stave off my intense desire to buy books. It’s only been two weeks; right now we’re quite poor so that’s helping, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to resist once I do have money of my own. I’m starting to apply for jobs, so we’ll see what happens. I know it could be months but I’m foolishly optimistic.
Anyway, at the moment I’m using Keith’s cards so I can get my own under my married name without hassle in a week and a half (!) so we go on the weekend when he’s around. I have two piles to share with you today. In theory, I have two public library systems. They both charge for loans from other libraries, though, so I’m limited to what’s inside. The first is from the bigger city library:
- The White Mare, Jules Watson – This is historical fiction about the Roman conquest of Britain. I’d never heard of it before but it looked pretty enough on the shelf, so I decided to give it a try. It’s the start of a series.
- The Warden, Anthony Trollope – I have been craving classics lately. Since I have Barchester Towers, I thought I’d start at the beginning, even if this one is not as good.
- The Iron Tree, Cecilia Dart-Thornton – I saw the middle one of this series in my old York library but don’t think I actually managed to check any of them out. I saw it and decided to read it now!
- Cotillion, Georgette Heyer – The library had maybe five Heyers and it was hard choosing! I remembered some positive reviews for this, though, so I took it first.
- The Painted Man, Peter V. Brett – Another fantasy that I had out of the York library but didn’t get a chance to read.
And my second, smaller library. This one is literally three minutes walk away, so I got more, figuring I can pretty much always get there when the books are due.
- The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga – Last year’s Booker winner. Booker winners tend to be hit or miss for me, but I’m still optimistic about reading a lot of them.
- Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood – I have The Year of the Flood over here to review, but I haven’t read it yet because I didn’t want to spoil what happens in this book. I’m hoping to start this today or tomorrow.
- Wolfskin, Juliet Marillier – I love Marillier’s work! I think I’ve won her latest book, but I took this out to tide me over.
- Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates – I don’t really have a reason for reading this. I haven’t seen the film or anything, but it’s supposed to be good, and it’s a quick read so I have to get to it before Saturday. The quick reads, which are non-renewable and due in a week, are hopefully going to help me read new releases without keeping them for months on end until someone else requests them.
- Very Valentine, Adriana Trigiani – This author has had lots of positive reviews around the blogosphere and this book of hers was cover out, so I thought why not?
- London: The Biography, Peter Ackroyd – I’m really excited about this! I love London and huge sweeping histories are totally my thing. It is gigantic, though, so I’m glad I have a few weeks to read it.
- Emma, Jane Austen – This one’s not pictured because I forgot it was elsewhere – sorry! Anyway, as I mentioned on Sunday, I got this to coincide with the BBC miniseries. I’ve finished and loved it now, the review will be up in a few weeks.
So that’s my loot! Read any of these books before? Let me know what you thought!
(And in case you’re curious, those are indeed my own books alongside and behind the library books.)
At some point, after I started reading more books than I ever expected I could, it seemed like I was falling in love with fewer books. They rarely grab me from the first page and usually I have to get at least 50 pages in before I feel compelled to keep reading. I like almost everything I read, but I rarely truly love a book. That said, I am now reading three amazing books, and am hard pressed to decide which one to continue at any given point!
 The first is The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer, a book I’m reviewing for The Book Bag. This non-fiction book is essentially billed as a handbook for people traveling to the 14th century (as it is basically a foreign country), but really provides an entertaining overview of every detail of medieval life. So far he’s explained what I might encounter in a town, a city, or the countryside, levels of society, and even gone into detail about coinage and dates and medieval attire. I know some of this information, but the little details like how the invention of the button changed men’s and women’s clothing? Or the slight differences in behavior? I had no idea, and it’s utterly fascinating. It’s also very funny in a dry sort of way, which makes even the facts I know enjoyable to learn again. I won’t be reviewing this book here for a while, but I am just loving it.
 The next is Emma by Jane Austen. It’s no secret that I really enjoy Austen’s work, but Emma has been the last on my list of unread Austens for years. I have two versions of it but I have never managed to get into it. I was in high school and I found it boring, and later I wanted to save one because I know there aren’t any others. I’m inspired today by the BBC’s new miniseries, which begins tonight at 9 pm. There was no way I wanted to spoil my last Austen with a miniseries and not with the book! And of course I don’t want to miss the mini-series because I love the BBC’s adaptations. I am even making Keith watch with me. So I started reading it, even though I was already reading two other books, and I’m adoring it this time through. I just love Austen’s sly humor, her deft touch with characterization, her turn of phrase, and that’s not to mention the snottiness of Emma and the fascinating world she lives in. I want to know where this story is going next! I know who the hero is and I can already see the light touches that are slowly developing that angle even as Emma goes about in ignorance. This book makes me want to reread every last Jane Austen novel, so I’m already planning on starting with Pride and Prejudice, the only one I actually have here. (Emma is a library copy since my two versions are in the US).
 The last is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I have progressed the least in this because I started it before I realized I had to read Emma. There is so much blogger buzz about this book that I couldn’t resist starting it alongside the non-fiction, although I normally don’t read more than one book at a time (hah!). This was one of my last bought books before my ban started, as neither of my libraries have it, although both of them have the sequel. No idea why libraries do that. I’m only 100 pages in, but it is very good so far. I wasn’t convinced at first, but it’s growing on me. I plan on zipping through the whole thing tomorrow when I’m on my own again, as men, mine in particular, are extremely distracting, and I hope I fall in love with it like so many others have!
What was the last book you fell in love with?
I mentioned on twitter while I was finishing my dissertation that I really missed reading classics while doing my MA, especially while on the dissertation. This was the first year of my reading life in which I wasn’t required by school to read actual literature. We read bits and pieces of medieval literature, but I don’t actually like most of that, although I do find it interesting. I actually miss my English major; not really the bit that required me to write papers, but the six to ten books of thought-provoking literature assigned for every class and the space in which to discuss them. As expected, I am back to it, now that I have nothing better to do. I’m working my way through Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, a surprisingly easy and pleasant read, I checked The Warden by Anthony Trollope out from the library, and I’m thinking about reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence since this is Banned Books Week. I signed up for the challenge a while ago, but the library didn’t have either of the two on my mental list (Brave New World and A Clockwork Orange) so I suppose I will have to resort to the one I own!
This has also been review book catch-up week. I have been neglecting a whole lot of review copies, mostly because they seemed like they were going to be slow and/or heavy and I didn’t think my mind would be up to it. As a result, I’m reading them all now, so expect to see a deluge of requested reviews popping up over the next couple of weeks. I’m attempting to try to finish and review all the ones I have before my parents get here on the 15th with my next batch! Right now I’m reading The Fire, which I got from LibraryThing last summer. I know, a VERY long time ago, but since I really disliked The Eight, I haven’t felt like reading it. Now that I know it’s basically a bunch of confusing puzzles, it’s flowing better because I don’t try to figure anything out and let the characters do it for me. I’m also reading a novella every day from the anthology On The Prowl. I won Hunting Ground a week or two ago and while it hasn’t come yet, I want to be up to date with Anna and Charles from Patricia Briggs’ Alpha and Omega series before it does, so I’ve read the story here and will be reading Cry Wolf sometime this week. So far the rest of the anthology is hit and miss, but since I bought it, I’m going to read all of it.
I’m afraid I don’t have anything more interesting to report! I meant to go see the Staffordshire Hoard today, but when we got to Birmingham the line was so long we weren’t sure we’d get in before the museum closed. Keith marvelled that so many people were interested in seeing Anglo-Saxon gold; I was thrilled even if it meant I couldn’t go yet. We’re going to get out earlier next weekend. So, expect a recounting of the treasure, with pictures if I’m allowed to take them, sometime in the next couple of weeks. I also went to one of my new libraries and am going to the other one tomorrow, so a Library Loot post will be coming soon!
What are you reading today?
First, this week I finished my dissertation! It’s bound and all set to go tomorrow. Tomorrow I am also moving and taking a trip to Birmingham to get all the legal stuff surrounding our wedding wrapped up, so it’s going to be a busy day. Keith and I have been in a long distance relationship for so long – for our entire relationship barring a few fantastic summer months – that it’s hard to believe it’s over. Admittedly, it’s not totally guaranteed over until I have a visa saying I’m allowed to stay, but we have everything we need and we meet all the requirements (either comfortably so or barely depending on how the law is interpreted, but they are met), so I’m feeling optimistic about it. I won’t be completely relaxed until then, but we are getting there.
This week was also Book Blogger Appreciation Week. I had a fantastic time and I think it was an amazing week. I feel like everyone really came together and celebrated reading, books, and blogging, which is exactly the goal. It felt like the controversy over the awards just disappeared and we instead strengthened our community, celebrating both the shortlisted blogs, the winning blogs, and everyone else. I have discovered SO many new blogs, I can’t even tell you. I haven’t commented on all of them yet, but I’m really going to try. Amy deserves immense amounts of credit for all the time and love and creativity she’s put into this week. Thank you, Amy! And thanks to everyone else who dedicated even a little part of themselves to making this week awesome. You all did an amazing job.
Now, the bandwagon. Lately it seems that everyone has been announcing a TBR ban. Well, now it’s my turn. As of this posting, I have 369 unread books and six more on the way, my little gift to myself for having completed my MA. As I am now entering that nebulous state of unemployment which could last longer than I’d like in this economy, and I have a boatload of student debt to start paying back in April so I can’t really spend the money that I have, I am officially banning myself from buying more books until I have a job. Besides that, I don’t really need to have more than a year and a half of reading stowed away. So I want to work on getting the pile down some.
What am I not banning? I’m not banning review copies, library books, or gifts. My birthday is just after Christmas and so December and January are my main book acquisition time, I’m not passing up on that! I’m not going to stop myself from entering contests either. And the truth is that I don’t mind having so many unread books. Maybe that’s crazy because really, everywhere I go they’ve taken over, but I like having such a huge selection and knowing that I am totally spoiled for choice. If I had the money, I’d keep on buying. But I don’t, so I might as well try to make my fiance and my floor happier by reading the books I do have. At least then I can give away the stinkers, which I’ve started doing with some frequency. Anyway, my general rule is now that if the book is free, I can have it. If the book costs money, I can’t. I figure that if I still receive a few books, it will prevent me from pining over books I can’t have.
Do you mind having a huge TBR pile? Is there such thing as too many books?
For those who have started a ban, any advice for me?
I have had a great weekend for several reasons. The foremost and best reason is that my Certificate of Approval from the British government has arrived, meaning that my American self can now marry my British fiance with no trouble whatsoever. All I have left to do is make us an appointment on Monday, send off a cheque, and show up to the wedding. Oh, and buy wedding rings, but that is the fun part of the process! My parents can buy their plane tickets and book their hotel, so everything will be all set by next weekend. After almost six weeks of worrying when this little bit of paper is going to show up, or whether it even would be approved, I can finally breathe, relax, and look forward to October 17th!
Secondly, my dissertation draft is in to my supervisor and I don’t have to touch it until after our meeting tomorrow. I’m guessing that he will have a lot of revision suggestions, but on the bright side, I have less than two weeks left of working time on it. It is not going to be perfect and probably won’t get me a first, but at this stage I have worked very hard on it and it is ready to be completed. I can see how much I’ve improved since my BA thesis was completed and that in itself makes me very happy regardless of what result I end up with. This is the first weekend I’ve had since this whole thing started without it hanging over my head to some extent. I have taken weekends off, but I always knew that I shouldn’t have. Now I am guilt-free!
Lastly, this thing called guiltless free time, plus the fact that I have to be on my own in York to finish up, means that I have been reading a ton of books this weekend. It’s almost like my own mini read-a-thon, except I let myself sleep and take more breaks than I would have otherwise done. I’ve finished four books since Friday night and I’m reading a fifth. Two books came yesterday but I still feel like I’m making a little dent in my TBR pile. This will be nice to remember over the next two weeks. I’m also trying to write all of my outstanding reviews – I have eight to go! – before tomorrow, but I’m not sure that is going to happen.
Oh, I should also mention that I hit 200 books this week! I have now upped my yearlong goal to 250, which I think will be doable between the time when I finish school and when I can apply for jobs after the wedding.
Today, I’m reading Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris, book four in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I’m glad that the Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge, hosted by Beth Fish Reads, is pushing me to continue this series because I’m really enjoying it. I’ve gone for a total change of pace after Catching Fire, which I read yesterday, because I don’t want anything that could be compared. It would suffer too much! I think urban fantasy fits the bill, though. I think next up will be The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers by Angie Fox and then It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas. Can you tell that I don’t want to think much right now?
What are you reading this weekend?
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