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It has certainly been a reading day for me. I’ve been cooped up reading Feather Man by Rhyll McMaster, with a short break to devote some time to The Power Makers by Maury Klein. I finished Feather Man just a few minutes ago, and I’m already anxious to write a review of it, but more so to find out other people’s opinions. If you’ve read it, tell me what you think, or point me to your review! The book is, in a very basic sense, about the repercussions of an old man’s molestation of the main character, Sookie, when she was a child, and her struggle to in effect free herself from the men who have defined her life. I thought it was very good. A bit slow to start, especially considering the uncomfortable issue of child molestation, but afterwards it really took off and became a great book.
Other important book developments this week:
– I am hosting my first giveaway for a hardcover copy of Surviving Ben’s Suicide by C. Comfort Shields. Please do enter – the book is worth reading, especially if you have lost a loved one.
– I acquired 19 books in total this week. I am a bit in awe of my new book acquiring skills. Unfortunately, I have decided that since my Mt. TBR has topped 120, I really should not buy any more books until I get it down below 100 again. This does not preclude me from acquiring ARCs and I do have I think five books coming in the mail from other sources. *blushes*
– I have embarked on my Classics Challenge, and have completed my first book, My Antonia by Willa Cather. A review will be forthcoming there, but I felt a bit more lukewarm towards it than I had hoped. I suppose there was actually a reason it had been sitting on my TBR pile since high school. I liked the overall picture of life on a farm and then in the small towns of the Midwest, but it didn’t really strike a chord with me. Oh well. George Eliot never fails, and I believe she’s up next on my list.
What’s in store this week? Well, my fiance is coming for a visit in a week, as I’ve probably mentioned many times (I haven’t seen him in three months!), so I’m going to try and read all the ARCs and books sent to me for review before that time. I’ve got four left: The Power Makers to finish, and to read The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent, The Watercooler Effect by Nicholas diFonzio, and The Leper Compound by Paula Nangle. I probably won’t be reading much next week, so I’ll also be storing up some of these reviews to post next week. I feel a bit like I’m running a reading marathon! Not that I mind. =)
Hope everyone has a great week!
It’s been a busy reading week for me – I’ve read a book nearly every day. Partly this is in response to the fact that I think I’ll finally be employed next week and partly it is because my TBR pile is growing MASSIVE with ARCs and my discovery of a used bookstore nearby. I acquired 15 books this week, which is about what I’ve read this entire month, and on top of that I’ve got 4 coming from Amazon, one from a fellow LTer and blogger, and I hope some new ARCs turn up eventually as well.
Today I have been reading Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell, number three in the Saxon Chronicles. I reviewed The Pale Horseman just yesterday, and loved it so much that I had to start this one as soon as I got my hands on it. Going well so far, I’m about halfway through and Cornwell is keeping it varied, interesting, and full of little tidbits designed for those of us who are really reading the series for an immersion into a past world. I’m hoping to finish it today, but I have no idea what I’ll dive into next. Perhaps The Heartbreak Diet for something short and entertaining.
Two great books I’ve read recently but have not yet reviewed: Aberrations by Penelope Przekop and The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti. Neither of these are out yet, but they were both really sweet and touching, similar in their protagonists’ pursuit of family but different in every other imaginable way. I’ll be interviewing Penelop Przekop soon and will be posting that and the review on my blog – keep an eye out!
I guess that’s it for my Sunday, see you all next week!
My Sunday is nearly over and I haven’t had a chance to post until now, thanks to an internet outage today. Luckily, the internet has returned, and just in time! I’ve been reading two books today – The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale, a book I received from Bloomsbury on Friday, and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, which I’m reading because of the many raves about it on LibraryThing.
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is quite interesting, although so far doesn’t quite live up to the hype that the back cover presents me with. The mystery is “solved” within the first 100 pages by the detective, but the rest of the book seems to be taken up with how the public comes around to his viewpoint. It’s much more interesting as a cultural and social study than as a murder mystery, which I am enjoying more than I think I would have enjoyed it otherwise!
As for Outlander, I am not in love with it yet. This is not great as I’m 665 pages in and my edition is 850 pages long, and I’m sure everyone else who recommended it to me was hooked by now. It’s the sort of thing where I like it while I’m reading it, but I feel no real compulsion to return to it and read more. I’ve been having this issue with a lot of books I’ve been reading lately. I’ve finally started to feel that Jamie and Claire may actually love each other, but I think the book could easily have been trimmed of numerous unnecessary episodes and brought down to a more regular novel length. Also, something in particular occurred around the middle which makes it difficult for me to really connect with the characters – they seem to accept everything far too easily. The addition of Jamie’s family has helped a ton, though, as I find them quite enchanting. I will probably finish it tomorrow, and then we will see if I am compelled to acquire the next book in the series.
Actually, I will probably finish both of these books tomorrow, so expect proper reviews shortly! They’re not the most momentous book-related moment of my week, though – that had to be receiving five ARCs on Friday, and then yet another on Saturday. I have no idea why they all came together, but it was a wonderful day!
Happy Sunday everyone!
I missed last week because I was at the wedding of one of my closest friends, which was beautiful, but didn’t give me much time to read! This weekend has not been much quieter, what with today being Father’s Day, but I made my effort during the week, finishing off John Adams, The White Mary, and The Firemaster’s Mistress, the last of which has no review yet because I am still working on it. I liked it a surprising amount for a book that I purchased for £1. Reminds me that I should read all those books sitting on my TBR pile from that discount bookstore, which I hear has now sadly closed.
 Today I am reading A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury by Edith Pargeter. I am not too far in yet, but it’s interesting so far and not quite what I’d expected. I’ve never read anything by this author before (her more common pseudonym is Ellis Peters), so I’ve been looking forward to it. As ever, it is a LT recommendation, so I’m sure it will be excellent in the end. The prose feels a little stilted, but I’m really happy with the characterizations, so I’ll see how it goes and if I can “sink in” a bit more into it as time goes by! It so far heavily involves the Percy family, which I have done a lot of research on, and I’m always happy to see my favorite historical characters portrayed in fiction. You never quite know what an author is going to get up to with them. I’ve toyed with the idea of putting them in my own stories, but since I haven’t written one in years, that is an idea which is going nowhere. I’ll just read instead!
This week, I’m looking forward to reading The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly or Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, or maybe both! It’s going to be a rough week, so I think I’m going to need one of those long, historical, romantic sagas to escape. I also picked up Nefertiti by Michelle Moran, which I’ve been anxiously awaiting in paperback, so I’m sure I’ll be reading that soon as well.
Happy Sunday (and Father’s Day) everyone!
I haven’t been reading much today, unfortunately, but I have been reading plenty this week! At the moment I am reading ROMA by Steven Saylor and enjoying it. It’s similar to the works of Edward Rutherford – basically we follow the descendants of several families through history. This book seems different because larger segments are devoted to each time period and because it doesn’t extend up to the present like the few Rutherford works I’ve read. It somewhat obviously focuses on Rome. What I really like is that Saylor takes myths, which anyone can read in various Roman chronicles, and makes them believable by explaining what could have happened, instead of following the myths exactly. It’s a clever approach, and I’m sure historians try to do it, but a writer of fiction certainly doesn’t have to. I’ll have a review posted when I finish it in a few days, but right now it’s recommended.
A particularly good book I read this week was THE LAST KINGDOM by Bernard Cornwell. I’ve got a review coming soon for that one, but if you’ve got it lying around, don’t wait to read it, it’s excellent!
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