|
|
I saw this on Vasilly’s blog the other day and decided today was the day to participate!
1. I was the first reader in my kindergarten classes, so I got to read to everyone quite frequently. I think I liked this, considering I continued reading to the years under me as I got older, but I don’t remember.
2. In second grade, I tried to read Little Women, but I found it too difficult. For some reason my second grade teacher thought I’d completed it and bragged about it to all the other kids. I tried to tell her I hadn’t actually finished it but eventually I got too embarrassed to say anything! I think my parents might even think I read it, so this might be news to them. I did read it in third grade and many times thereafter.
3. I discovered adult fantasy in high school when a friend of mine recommended The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. Thank you, Tom, thank you, Robert Jordan; I fell in love with that series and only fell out of love when The Crossroads of Twilight came out and nothing happened in the entire book. (I later realized that almost all of my favorite YA books were either fantasy or historical fiction, something I should have thought about when I was looking for stuff to read.)
4. In fourth grade I read over 100 books in the school year. My teacher, however, stopped counting at 100 because the chart only fit that many. My mom was not too pleased that the teacher continued to reward other kids for their reading when she wasn’t even recording mine.
5. If I like the first book in a series, I will probably try to acquire all of them before I read another one. I like to bomb through series books one after another. I have actually tried not to do that in the past year or so because I realized I didn’t want to be left hanging for years and would rather wait a little longer between volumes. (George R.R. Martin, I’m looking at you for this one – understand but hating the wait!) I still buy them all though.
6. I have always been frustrated that no one in my family reads as quickly as I do/is willing to devote that much time to reading, nor do they really like the same kind of books. I always want to share what I read with everyone I know, but it’s hard when no one is interested.
7. This brings me to my last point, which is that I have a horrible but strange memory. It’s horrible because I can barely ever remember what I read a month ago, let alone a year ago. This is why I started reviewing as well as #6. Keith sometimes reads the fantasy chunksters that I like, but he’s so busy that by the time he finishes the book, I’ve forgotten anything beyond the basic outline of the book. I blame this partly on the fact that I’m a natural re-reader and haven’t been able to indulge my tendencies since my TBR pile got out of control. As a kid I never had to retain what I read because I knew I’d just read it over in a couple of months if I liked it. I didn’t get new books too often and when I did, they were YA books so I could read several in a day if I felt like it. My imposing TBR mountain range has made this very difficult. My memory is strange because I can remember every book I own and I never buy duplicates. I couldn’t recite them, but if I see a book in a store I will know whether I own it or have read it even if I remember nothing about what actually happened in the book.
Feel free to play along!
 Since I’m buried in work (and writing this post well in advance), I thought that rather than post about what I don’t have time to read today, I’d post a question! I’ve noticed lately that Keith and I prefer different book covers. He almost always prefers the British cover and I almost always prefer the American cover. Obviously, this isn’t always the case, but the trend is quite marked. It’s had me wondering whether it’s a result of years of one style resulting in a aesthetic preference or whether it’s just coincidence. So, since they released both covers for the absolutely fabulous Michelle Moran‘s next book, Cleopatra’s Daughter, (which I saw on Historical Tapestry, many thanks to those lovely ladies, and about which I am very excited), I thought I’d see which one you prefer.
I find both covers appealing, but one sticks out to me as more so. Which appeals more to you?
 My husband is not an avid reader, and he used to get very frustrated in college when teachers would insist discussing symbolism in a literary work when there didn’t seem to him to be any. He felt that writers often just wrote the story for the story’s sake and other people read symbolism into it.
It does seem like modern fiction just “tells the story” without much symbolism. Is symbolism an older literary device, like excessive description, that is not used much any more? Do you think there was as much symbolism as English teachers seemed to think? What are some examples of symbolism from your reading?
When I was in college, everyone asked me this question. Symbolism is alive and well in modern literary fiction and the authors aren’t subtle about it either. I got symbolism out of Stephen King in high school and my teacher complimented me on seeing stuff that no one else saw. I used It and Carrie and all I remember is that it had something to do with circles. The Remains of the Day is practically dripping with symbolism, right down to the title of the book. The great thing about studying literature is that you can find things that the author didn’t intend that imbues the work with meaning for you and for other people. It can have a wider meaning that the author never saw, or maybe one they intended only specific people to see. It’s a little like how everyone’s experience of a book is different. The author puts the book out, but everyone comes to it with different life experiences and interprets it in ways relevant to themselves. Obviously, we’re going to pick it apart in ways the author didn’t intend.
Let’s take an example of this. I’m sure the author of Firefly Lane didn’t intend for me to develop a burning hatred towards it because one of the characters got cancer and it hit a little too close to home for me (yes, other things bugged me about it, but I was very unhappy with the author’s plot development). On the other hand, she probably did intend for women who are older than me to relate to Tully and Kate as they grew up over the decades, and from the reviews, they did. Women who could relate tended to love the book. The author just wanted to tell a story, but how we feel about it is always going to be our own experience. Similarly, the way we interpret literature in an academic sense is always going to be more than the author intended, unless it’s one of those ultra-literary books that you practically need a class in to dig out all of the meaning.
Or we could go with Twilight. There are all sorts of alarming messages screaming out from the relationships in that book, but women still love Edward. Did Stephenie Meyer intend for us to interpret the relationship between Bella and Edward as harmful and abusive? Probably not, especially given how often she describes Edward as “perfect”.
See my point? The author’s intentions don’t carry as much weight as you might think. As a result, I’m not sure we can say that because the author didn’t intend it, an interpretation isn’t valid. In fact, I outright don’t think we can. I love to know what an author intended and I think it’s very important, but I still feel the way I feel.
In fact, I know a few authors out there who read this blog, so if you’re reading, what do you think?
What about readers? Am I wrong, is the author all-important and my opinion falls to the wayside once I know theirs? Or is every interpretation (with supporting evidence of course) valid?
| Number of Books |
6 |
|
Books Read |
Old Man’s War |
| Pages Read |
1792 |
|
|
Dead Until Dark |
| Time Spent Reading |
12:31 |
|
|
The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever |
| Time Spent Blogging |
3:27 |
|
|
Living Dead in Dallas |
|
|
|
|
Oakleaf Bearers |
That puts my participation at roughly 16 hours. I was sleeping for 7. I’m not sure how I lost an hour there! I did start And Only to Deceive and let me tell you, I am loving it. This is a fantastic book. Despite the fact that I read for 12 1/2 hours out of the last 24, I’m definitely going to finish it today.
The Read-a-Thon was a LOT of fun. I’m really sorry that I didn’t manage to stay up later. I actually think I would have done better if I’d been at home in the US, because I think I would have stayed up later and read for longer if my start time was at 8 am rather than at 1 pm. I wake up around then anyway, and I know I can stay up until 3 or so if I try, so I’d have only lost 5 hours rather than 7.
Anyway, on to the end survey:
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Definitely the last one at night, from 2-3 am. I always find it really difficult to get past 3 am. My best guess is that I made it to 3:15 before falling asleep with my book still in my hands.
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Old Man’s War, the Sookie Stackhouse series, Oakleaf Bearers, and finally And Only to Deceive were all fabulous choices. They were all fast-moving, interesting reads that kept me going even if I was tired. I’d recommend any of them.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
I liked it! I had trouble participating in the mini-challenges because I thought they would take up too much time, though, I’ll be honest about that. I liked the surveys we could post during our own updates the best. I think that someone who was more interested in taking breaks and had trouble reading for longer would appreciate them more than me, though. I just wanted to get back to my book after a few minutes.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
To be honest, I thought everything worked really well. It seemed very well-run. I’m impressed by you three!
5. How many books did you read?
5 1/2 in total. Well, 216/310 of And Only to Deceive, which is more than halfway.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris, The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn, Oakleaf Bearers by John Flanagan, and And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
This is an impossible question. It’s between Old Man’s War, the Sookie books, and And Only to Deceive. Don’t make me choose!
8. Which did you enjoy least?
The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever. Normally I love Julia Quinn. I think she writes believable, funny romance that also elucidates genuine human failings and emotions, which is something romance can do really well. This one I wanted to throw against the wall and I disliked the main characters by the end. Never happened before with a Quinn. I decided not to read any more straight romance because I didn’t want to deal with that happening again while I was reading.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I wasn’t a cheerleader!
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Oh, extremely likely. Barring some unavoidable event next time, you’ll find me right here, reading once again. Well, I won’t be living here, but you will find me on this blog. I loved it!
I would once again like to thank everyone who dropped by and commented while I was reading and everyone who was extremely encouraging on twitter. It would have been much less fun without you!
Yesterday, April 15th, was Tax Day here in the U.S., which means lots of lucky people will get refunds of over-paid taxes.
Whether you’re one of them or not, what would you spend an unexpected windfall on? Say … $50? How about $500?
(And, this is a reading meme, so by rights the answer should be book-related, but hey, feel free to go wild and splurge on anything you like.)
Oh, I am not one of them. I owed on taxes this year despite the fact that I am in massive amounts of education debt. If I did get that extra bit of money, though, I’d either save it because I’m ridiculously frugal or I would buy some books. It would depend on my employment status.
I might also buy some DVDs. I really wouldn’t protest if someone dropped Season 2 of LOST in my mailbox. =)
Now, if I got a huge windfall, I’d go on holiday. I’m really close to tons of places that I’d love to go. There are many, many sites of interest in Scotland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and parts of eastern Europe that I’d visit, and I’ve always wanted to go to Russia. I’d do the cheap student thing and go around in hostels, but since I’m going to be living here for a while and hopefully making money, Keith and I plan on proper vacations to all my places of interest. It isn’t too expensive from this jumping-off point. Just have to get through all the visas first.
 Questions: Have you explored the different styles? Have you customized any of the styles? If so, what are your favorite customized items (isbn, Dewey Decimal, Reviews, Book-Swap, etc)?
I use the style B with some modification, but in a strange way that suits probably only me. I chose it because I like to see my book covers. The rest of the style is purely for my own needs. I like to use LT to keep track of recent reads and I normally sort my books by their entry date into LT. This is because I read books that I’ve entered recently more frequently than books that are a couple of years old, so with my massive TBR tag, it’s easier to find what I’m looking for and browse what I probably have with me. So I have columns for the picture, author, title, tags, entry date, read date, and social info. I use my read date column for when I add reviews. It’s easy to sort my latest “read 2009″ tag by date read to add in my latest reviews because usually they’re in some sort of order. It also makes my yearly reading list accessible for when I’m not with my computer.
I modified a few of the other styles, but I almost never switch to them, so this one really suits me best!
To all of you who celebrate, Happy Easter! When I was little, Easter was my favorite holiday. According to my mom, I wouldn’t leave the mall until I’d seen the Easter bunny – every time! I’m used to Easters away from my family, though, because my undergrad university, Brandeis, had vacations mainly for Jewish holidays, so I always had Passover off, but spent Easter weekend at school since we rarely had more than Good Friday off. This year is no different; instead I’m spending the day with my fiance and a library copy of Tournaments in England from 1100-1400 by Juliet Barker. Exciting stuff, isn’t it? =)
Actually, what I’m really excited about is next weekend’s 24 hour Read-a-Thon. I never got involved while Dewey was alive and I regret that, so I’m throwing myself into this one with quite a bit of excitement. I’ve always been good at marathon reading – I used to pride myself on the numbers of books I could read when home sick – and I’m hoping I can both knock a few titles off my TBR pile and have a lot of fun. I’ll have quite a bit of work to do this week to free up those 24 hours, but I bet it will be worth it! My fiance has made me a spreadsheet so I can keep track of my time, books and pages read without much effort and I’ve got a neat little stack of books waiting. I’ll probably only add to it as this week goes on just to give myself more choices, though. At the moment, I have:
- Ender’s Shadow, Orson Scott Card
- It Happened One Autumn, Lisa Kleypas
- Oakleaf Bearers, John Flanagan
- The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Julia Quinn
- Old Man’s War, John Scalzi
- Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris
- And Only to Deceive, Tasha Alexander
- Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
- The Well of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
So far, I’ve attempted to pick books that aren’t serious and aren’t too deep or that I’m very, very excited about reading, with lots of choices in case one doesn’t grab me. I’d have more YA, but don’t have much with me, so I think a trip to the library may be in order before Saturday. I haven’t included any review copies since I think they require more attention than I’ll be able to give them while sleep-deprived and with several books going around in my brain at once.
Are you taking part in the Read-a-Thon? Any exciting books on your list or advice for a first-timer?
Here’s the question:
Some people read one book at a time. Some people have a number of them on the go at any given time, perhaps a reading in bed book, a breakfast table book, a bathroom book, and so on, which leads me to…
- Are you currently reading more than one book?
- If so, how many books are you currently reading?
- Is this normal for you?
- Where do you keep your current reads?
Yes, I actually am, but I’m really not. My fiance really wants me to read House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, so I started that maybe three weeks ago, but I haven’t gotten past the halfway mark yet. I really don’t like it, but I feel like I should continue since he wants me to so much. I’m really reading The Traitor’s Wife by Susan Higginbotham.
I’m generally a one-book kind of person. I start two, but I choose one and the one I like less gets consigned to the “currently reading” tag on LT until I persuade myself to finish it or decide to give it up, whichever happens first. It often says I’m reading more than one, but I’m almost always actually reading one and should be reading the others instead. Sometimes if I’m away from my current read I’ll start a new one, but it doesn’t happen all that often.
I keep my books wherever is handy at the time, I don’t really have a specific spot. I’ll bring it wherever I am.
—
Also worth noting, my university has decided to cut off certain aspects of the internet this weekend and I’ve noticed that the admin section of my blog is running painfully slowly. I also can’t use VoIP which means I can’t even talk to my parents, and we’re really irritated about that, but it’s Easter weekend so not much I can do. I’m not sure what else will stop working, so if I’m a little less present than normal, I do apologize.
Questions: Do you have a LT widget on your blog? If so, what is your favorite thing about it? Have you had a chance to go see the all new widget building page, and if so, have you built a new widget? If so, what do you like about it?
I did build a new widget. You can see it over on my right sidebar. I keep up with the LT blog, so I went to play with it almost immediately. This widget is much nicer in many respects. I like the addition of my Amazon Associates code. I like the changing covers, although I’ve noticed it only cycles through three different “pages” of covers. That’s still better than just a static widget, though, and who really stares at it long enough for the same books to come up (except me)? I even like that the loading image can be a book turning pages. It seems much more customizable though I haven’t changed the basics much.
I also think it just looks prettier, don’t you?
I saw that National Library week is coming up in April, and that led to some questions. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?
A year ago, I would have told you that I never visit the library and never really have. We went for a few months when I was little, but that was mostly to get movies. When we forgot the due dates for our videos more than once and our mother had to pay the fines, she decided that we wouldn’t go any more. I don’t really remember minding, strangely enough. When I learned how to drive, I started going again because the lure of free books was strong, but I got my license in the summer and when school started again, I had a lot less time for reading, so I stuck with my own books. I’ve since gone sporadically when a new hardcover comes out and I don’t have the money to buy it.
The library in the town where my parents live is small and doesn’t have a great selection. They’ll have several books out of a series I want to read, but they will be out of order and I’m not going to buy a random book in the middle of a series. I also discovered my worst affliction, which is that I always want to own the books I borrow if I like them. I didn’t really end up saving any money, so I stopped going.
This all changed in the fall. First, I got stressed out, so I decided I wanted to read lighter fare like I hadn’t in years. I already know I’m not going to reread any of those books, so I decided for once to start using the public library. The York Library system is great. They have numerous branches and I can borrow from any of them, so I don’t have to worry about not completing a series. I don’t have an income right now, so I can’t really afford to buy unless someone else foots the bill, and the library is a wonderful solution to my problems. I have a mountain range of TBRs, but if I’m looking for something experimental, I have somewhere to go besides the bookstore.
I don’t really think the bookstore has replaced the library. They’ve tried to make it so, but it doesn’t work for me. I’d feel guilty about sitting in there reading a new book that I know I should buy. Most bookstores are more comfortable than my public library in York, though. Too many people use the library for internet and after 2 hours the library charges patrons, so they have computers and thus people everywhere. I obviously love that the library has such a source of income, but it’s much too busy in there to sit and read, and the chairs aren’t even that comfortable. I usually get my books and run.
So, pleasant memories, not really, but I’m very glad I re-discovered the library.
|
|
Recent Comments