books | Reading Antics: What've you been reading?

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...

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Seeing as new people are coming from LJ, you should probably do it every month just to see if people are going to comment. :)

I'm currently reading Chocolat. I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm also reading two other books, just not as much: How to be Hepburn in a Hilton World and How to be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life. How to be Hepburn in a Hilton World is very funny, but it's getting a little tiring. The author pokes fun at 'stupid girls' way too often. And How to be Lovely is just a sweet little book with pictures and quotes from Audrey Hepburn.

I need to learn to be better at remembering to do things...

Ooooh, that first sounds like a very sweet book indeed. Even the title is endearing! Who couldn't like a book called How to Be Lovely? ^-^ *makes note to look into it more*

I kind of wish I'd waited a few days on reading Chocolat. It was very sweet and heartening and it would've been a great book to end the month on. ^-^ I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of cotton candy (or candy floss or what you want to called it) rather than chocolate, though. ^-~

How to be Lovely is just that: lovely! ♥

I started Chocolat a couple of days ago, and since I'm not finished, it's sort of nice to read just in the beginning of the fall months. ^_^ I consider it a fallish book for some reason.

Oh! Do you have a Goodreads?

I've been doing a read-210-books-in-2010 thing so I've been keeping track of all the books I've read this year. It's been quite enlightening, actually, it's brought to light some patterns in my reading habits that I didn't know existed.

http://quackaquacka.dreamwidth.org/1019.html

Ooooh, that's actually a really good time to read it in, I agree! ^-^ I first encoutered/saw the movie somewhere in November. It was in a bus. And we had no chocolate aboard. Loads of other candy since we were going on a several hour drive to France, but no chocolate. T-T

I do! I have a link er... Somewhere... Hang on. *ferrets around* Found it! Here. I don't really know how to use GR effectively, though, be warned. ^-^;; And I've had some problems with serial adders, so I've turned on the friend-question thing and consequently scared myself out of adding more people than I have myself. ^-^;

(Errands, yes. I know. I shall return!)

Oh, the movie was beautiful! And since you were going to France, I bet it was even better; sad that there was no chocolate aboard.

I've just added you on GR! I love the site. I've been a memeber since late 2008, but I deleted my old account in favor of a new one.

(Errands, yes. I know. I shall return!)

See you later! :D

Hello from a lurker. :D

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.

Ooooh, what an awesome list! I am seriously envious of your reading skills and speed. O_O

I hope the reading habits you've discovered are ones you're glad to have! ^-^

I got to watch the movie again very shortly after having read the book, which was a real treat. The bus trip was torture. All those shots of chocolate and having none...
It took me forever to find out that there was a book of it. I read it as a birthday present this August, which was a lot of fun. ^-^

Yay! It's all set up if I just add you, right? Unlike here where we both have to do the adding? I don't really understand how the comment system there works. ^-^;

I read it as a birthday present this August, which was a lot of fun. ^-^

Oh, cool! When is your birthday? I'm August,22nd. :D

Yay! It's all set up if I just add you, right? Unlike here where we both have to do the adding? I don't really understand how the comment system there works. ^-^;

Yes, to be on each other's friends lists on GR, you have to add each other. The commenting thing is a little hard to get used to. At the bottom of each user page, there are comment boxes, to say 'hi' or whatever. And when you make an update of some kind, you can comment on those or other people's, and people can reply to your comments too. :D Hope this helped!

*waves* Hello! ^-^

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.)

Oooh, belated happy birthday wishes! I hope you've had a wonderful time!

September 10th. *ruffles hair* Aah... It's something I'm trying this year, really. Read a book that I own and that a friend really liked as a birthday present to them. So far it's been a lot of fun to do, but I haven't yet run into any books I've loathed yet either, so I don't want to pin myself on making it a habit just yet.

It does, thank you! ^-^ Is it possible to see the whole conversation? I've seen people leave comments, but stupidly can't seem to find that. (I feel utterly hopeless. I'm usually pretty good at figuring things out on my own. :/ Ah, well. ^-^ Live and learn. ^-^)

Hello, new here and would like to see a monthly question, just to prompt me to participate.

I've been blogging on wordpress, cafeshree there, so all my links are there, just starting to post here, wanted more of a conversation, but in August, I've read a couple of mysteries, some non-fiction, some graphic novels, probably my favorite of the month was Gimme Something Better by Tudor a history of Bay area punk music.

I love retellings and nested stories too, so naturally I also want to read Valente! I just haven't managed to track down a copy yet. Look forward to seeing what you think of it when you get a chance to finish it off. :D

I did have a good birthday! :D

Oh, that's a cool idea! I can see where you want to just test it out before you commit.

I think there is a 'see more' or 'read more link on the comments. :)

I've been in a reading slump, but I did read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and I enjoyed it.

*waves* Hi! ^-^

I hope you'll be able to find that conversation! ^-^ (And I'd be happy to try and offer it when I can. ^-^) Ooh, you're reading Matthew Lewis' The Monk at the moment? What's it like? (It's on one of my course lists. Well, I'm probably going to have to drop the course for practicality reasons, but I'm going to try and read what was on the list anyway. ^-^ Except that that one scares me...)

I'm sorry to hear you've been in a slump! Are things looking up for you at least?

One day, I must read North and South too, if only because it keeps popping up everywhere and I haven't. ^-^

Yay! ^-^

I'm afraid I can't take credit for it. It was a friend's, so her birthday is the one I started the idea with. I read Corvus because she loves corvids and loved that book. ^-^ It was beautiful. Graceling is going to be my third gift-read, actually. ^-^

Oooh, I see. I should be able to figure that out then. ^-^ *hopes so*

Ah... *ruffles hair* I can give you the preliminary verdict, if you'd like. I've given up on it for the time being. Not because it's badly written or anything. It isn't, very far from it. I just tried to read it at the wrong time, so I put it aside for the time being and hope to restart it later when I can give it the time and attention I couldn't in August. ^-^

I just got a kindle (yay! Finally!) last week, so I've been downloading free classics and excerpts of books I want to read but haven't bought or checked out yet. I'm still re-reading the Temeraire series. I did buy Tongues of Serpents and I'm loving it. I'm also reading Emma, which I forgot was such a delight. I also read Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. I know Shakespeare is wonderful, but I never read it because all I have is a ginormous book which is difficult (to say the least) to read comfortably. But my kindle only weighs a few pounds, so I'm looking forward to re-reading Shakespeare.

I downloaded excerpts of Hunger Games and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but haven't read them yet. I'm afraid I'll have to buy them immediately after I read the free excerpt. I also read a chapter from The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, but have only added that to my "to read" list. But if you get your hands on a copy, give it a try.

Sadly I haven't read as much as I wanted. School just started and I've been busy getting the department ready for the students. I've also had rl explode all over the place the last two months, so have been too stressed to read much. :(

I'm mostly doing that "dipping in and stealing what I need" thing in terms of reading non-fiction right now, although I was absolutely delighted with Signs of Resistance by Susan Burch, which is about the history of Deaf culture in the US from 1900 - WWII. I highly recommend it!

Fiction-wise, I have just been grabbing old favourites and giving them quick re-reads to decide if I want to keep them or sell them for a fundraiser. My reading likes have really changed over the past few years, I'm afraid to say. (Well, sad for me, but good for Feed Nova Scotia.)

I've read
Havemercy and its sequel Shadowmagic by Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett, a series I highly recommend if you like Steampunk, (mechanical dragons), and extremely well done character-driven 1st-person fiction, in July
and started August with
Sex at Dawn, a non-fiction book by Christopher Ryan & Cacilda Jethá about the prehistoric origins of modern (human) sexuality, written in a delightful tongue-in-cheek language that nevertheless is clear, precise and to the point with enough source material and standard texts referenced to allow a deeper look into the topics addressed if one is inclined to do so. I highly recommend this book, even if you don't agree with all of its conclusions, because it was one of the most entertaining reads I've had this year (including fictional texts).
I progressed August with
Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning, which is not a bad book, given that it is urban fantasy with seelie and unseelie fae and a female lead, which turns from everyday girlie to kickass heroine over the course of the series, but it's not as captivating as the plot promised. It's more a "if you have time to spend (and nothing more thrilling at hand)" kind of book for me.
The same goes for Fey Born by R. Garland Gray, which I tried next (mostly because it kept cluttering up my "harmless afternoon" reading pile. Same verdict as for Darkfever, though.

Reading plans include a reread of the Sturmwelten (rough translation from German would be "Storm worlds") trilogy by Christoph Hardebusch, which plays in a fascinating world composed of parts taken from Caribbean pirates, dark magic, dragons, and a good dose of Horatio Hornblower and Captain Bligh navy yarn. I've yet to read the three books in one go, and I'll see where I go from there. :-)

Oooh, I hope you're enjoying the Kindle! ^-^ It sounds like you're having fun with the excerpt downloading at the very, very least! Ereaders seem like the perfect way to read Shakespeare, I concur. I have a collection of all of the plays where the books are about the size of my hand, but they have extremely tiny print and aren't comfortable to read either. It seems either you have something like that, a brick, or quite expensive single volumes for everything. Can't win. Ereaders sound ideal.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been so stressed, though! I hope things are settling down for you now (school starting notwithstanding) at least, though. *sends good thoughts*

Swedish-language books I've read:

- Loranga, Massarin och Dartanjang by Barbro Lindgren, which is a classic Swedish children's book and amazingly surreal. I really enjoyed it, but enjoyment hinges entirely on being able to appreciate its particular brand of humour.

- Agnes Cecelia by Maria Grippe, which I think I was beginning last time you posted. It's a very good YA ghost story.

- Trollkarlens hatt by Tove Jansson, published in English as Finn Family Moomintroll. I've read this before, but in English. It's wonderful and I recommend it highly, though I like the later moomin books even better.

- Resa med lätt bagage by Tove Jansson, which is a book of short stories and includes some real gems. It's also just been published in English as Travelling Light (possibly only in the UK, not sure). Tove's writing is brilliant in a simple-and-powerful kind of way.

- Kent: texter om sveriges största rockband, which is an unofficial book collecting interviews, reviews and articles to do with Kent, a rock band who are famous in Sweden (& the other nordic countries) but not known much elsewhere. Really enjoyed reading this, but strictly interesting to people who're definite fans!

In English:

- Inseparable: desire between women in literature by Emma Donoghue, which was excellent and entertaining. Does what the title says!

- The diary of Virginia Woolf: volume 1, which is basically an extension of my continuing Virginia Woolf obsession...

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Reading Antics: What've you been reading?

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