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books2010-09-02 11:59 am
sweet_sparrow) wrote in books2010-09-02 11:59 am
Reading Antics: What've you been reading?
But first, a quick question for everyone: should I find a way to remember asking this every month, would people rather I stop asking alltogether, or should I just continue on and make it a bi-monthly thing as it's been the past few months?
I can make it a poll if people prefer, but it'd detract from the main reason I'm posting.
Basic gist, as always: what've you been reading the past two months and would you recommend it to others? Have you made any reading plans for this September? (Course work reading, perhaps.)
I've had an extremely productive July. I read 21 (!) books. So you'll have to forgive me if I link what I actually read. (It's a long post. Be prepared to do a little scrolling.) Most of the books were books for my courses and most of them were also sorely disappointing, but the non-course literature I read was pretty amazing. My favourite reads from this month include Potiki by Patricia Grace and Voodoo Dreams by Jewell Parker Rhodes, both of which are gorgeously written.
My August reading dropped back to the average amount of books I read in a month, mostly because I'm almost through my course books and decided to take a break that turned out longer than it was supposed to. (I'm still on break. Bad Shanra. Uni starts next week.)
- Clementine by Cherie Priest
- Chocolat by Joanne Harris
- Dracula by Bram Stoker (reread)
- In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (dnf)
- The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones
- Idylls of the King by Lord Alfred Tennyson
- Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
- The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block
- Seven Men and Two Others by Max Beerbohm
- Perfume by Patrick Süskind (reread, dnf)
Of those, my favourite would have to be Clementine, I think. It was action-packed, it was fun, it was fast... I had a blast with it. It's not been a great reading month. I've enjoyed a fair few of the books I read, but fell head over heels for none of them.
Reading plans for September include finishing up Ancient Irish Tales by Tom Peete Cross and Clark Harris Slover, reading The Swan Maiden by Jules Watson, Graceling by Kristin Cashore and Oscar Wilde's short stories. Beyond that all's game. ^-^ I'm hoping to balance my genres a little better again too, though it probably doesn't seem it...
I can make it a poll if people prefer, but it'd detract from the main reason I'm posting.
Basic gist, as always: what've you been reading the past two months and would you recommend it to others? Have you made any reading plans for this September? (Course work reading, perhaps.)
I've had an extremely productive July. I read 21 (!) books. So you'll have to forgive me if I link what I actually read. (It's a long post. Be prepared to do a little scrolling.) Most of the books were books for my courses and most of them were also sorely disappointing, but the non-course literature I read was pretty amazing. My favourite reads from this month include Potiki by Patricia Grace and Voodoo Dreams by Jewell Parker Rhodes, both of which are gorgeously written.
My August reading dropped back to the average amount of books I read in a month, mostly because I'm almost through my course books and decided to take a break that turned out longer than it was supposed to. (I'm still on break. Bad Shanra. Uni starts next week.)
- Clementine by Cherie Priest
- Chocolat by Joanne Harris
- Dracula by Bram Stoker (reread)
- In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (dnf)
- The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones
- Idylls of the King by Lord Alfred Tennyson
- Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
- The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block
- Seven Men and Two Others by Max Beerbohm
- Perfume by Patrick Süskind (reread, dnf)
Of those, my favourite would have to be Clementine, I think. It was action-packed, it was fun, it was fast... I had a blast with it. It's not been a great reading month. I've enjoyed a fair few of the books I read, but fell head over heels for none of them.
Reading plans for September include finishing up Ancient Irish Tales by Tom Peete Cross and Clark Harris Slover, reading The Swan Maiden by Jules Watson, Graceling by Kristin Cashore and Oscar Wilde's short stories. Beyond that all's game. ^-^ I'm hoping to balance my genres a little better again too, though it probably doesn't seem it...
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This is a good idea - I'm nosy, I like seeing what other people are reading! And your 'books that entered' and 'books that left' lists are so interesting - I never know where all my books are, sadly, and I'm always getting more than I can read.
My favourites from the last couple of months were
- "The King's Head" by Susan Price (a medieval fantasy with stories within stories, spooky and funny and sad in turn)
- "The Bullet Trick" by Louise Welsh (down-on-his-luck magician gets mixed up in criminal underworld) and
- "The Children's Book" by AS Byatt (Victorian/Edwardian-era meta-ish literary soap opera!).
July - xxxHolic 7-8, The King's Head, Soulless, Daytripper #8, Fullmetal Alchemist 23, How to paint a dead man, Wild Adapter 6, A Bag of Moonshine.
August - Avoiding Mr Right, Terminator Salvation, The Children's Book, xxxHolic 9-15, Daytripper #9, Off The Menu, The Gutter and the Grave, The Bullet Trick, Cantarella 10, Bindis and Brides, Dutch Uncle, The Financial Lives of the Poets.
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I've started tracking the books I own and don't own a few years ago. I quite like being aware of exactly how much books I buy and somehow get rid of. It gives me something concrete to try and curb my book buying habits with because I can look back and see at a glance what I've done.
"The King's Head" by Susan Price (a medieval fantasy with stories within stories, spooky and funny and sad in turn)
Sold! That sounds awesome! I love stories within stories. ^-^ (Ignore my not-finishing the Valente up there. It is a Fluke and should be rectified when I reread it at a more appropriate time. *nods*)
A Bag of Moonshine sounds pretty interesting too. (I love retellings.)
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