Book a Day Meme

Who doesn't love a good meme, and a good list?

I nabbed this idea from the lovely Mrs Fennell, and thought I'd bring out my own list... Originally a #bookaday Twitter meme from Borough Press, a division of Harper Collins in June, I'm not active on Twitter, so starting tomorrow I'll be doing this throughout September.

Where in the Literary Universe are you?

My name is Kvothe, and I am telling my life story in three parts, the first day of a three-day story. By my side is a friend, student and prince of the Fae, and a Chronicler who is recording my story. We are sat in my inn, The Waystone, which is in a country known only as The Four Corners of Civilisation, and I have led quite a life. At this point in my tale I am 15 years old, I have been a travelling Actor, musician, apprentice, genius, and found my parents and friends slaughtered, with their murderers laughing around a fire. I have lived homeless for three years and have just talked my way into entry to the University where I plan to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to wreak my revenge on the creatures who killed my parents. Oh, and learn The Name of the Wind.

Back to me, the blogger. I love this book! I can hardly stand to put it down, and when I have to, I can't stop thinking about it, and wait with eager anticipation for the next moment I can pick it up. I nearly missed my bus stop I was so drawn into it.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

A Mr B's Emporium spa recommendation.

Monster Reads

If you’ve been reading my (not so) recent posts, you’ll know that I’ve been going through a fair old time of it lately, but I’m back on track again, and hopefully back to the blogosphere.

The one good thing about my recent move is that I’ve started some of those ‘monster’ books I’ve been putting off. I don’t mean Grrr type monsters, but the huge tomes that you think you’ll never have time for.

I moved 90 miles from Hampshire to Cambridge, and that has meant some long car journeys. Even though I have 700 or so songs on my little iPod you soon get tired of them, so I decided to try an Audiobook. I don’t normally get on with them, partly because I never used to have that many long journeys, and a long story in short 10-20 minute bursts just wasn’t worth it. So my first foray into Audiobooks is The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It’s much more pleasant than radio travel updates about M25 jams I’m already stuck in!

When not stuck in traffic jams listening to The Goldfinch (which is really good by the way), I’m reading on the bus. It’s between 40 minutes and an hour each way, so plenty of time to get stuck into a long book. The selected tome for this is a not so slim 734 page Stephen King novel called 11.22.63, which is also turning out to be really good. In fact this morning I was disappointed as I had to drive to work and couldn’t read some more.

At night I’ve been reading my kindle books, as my new paperwhite kindle doesn’t require the use of a lamp. I just finished The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. Another excellent read, and I’m having trouble finding another story on my kindle that grabs me as much as that one did.

Bookish Sacrifices

Sorry for the long absence, new job, new city, new home etc etc… all take their toll and blogging has had to take a back seat for a long old time.

Things are beginning to settle down now, I started my new job a few weeks ago, and I have now completed my relocation to Cambridge and moved into my new home. I forgot how many books I have, and will need to have a serious clear out as the new flat is a fair bit smaller than the house I was in before. When you have to sacrifice some of your precious books how do you dispose of them? I’m considering various options (it will be almost completely paperback fiction)…

1. Donate to the local library
2. Donate to a charity shop
3. Sell online (ebay? Gumtree? Green Metropolis?)
4. Give to friends?
5. Any other options, please add suggestions below...

Option 4 above would be lovely, but I've moved 90+ miles from most of my friends, and I have no local friends here yet.

Confessions of a returning blogger.

I'm back online, back in the UK, back to blogging (I hope), and back to reading.

You can blame this new post on a goodreads reviewer who mentioned reading aloud...

Confessions of a reader:

When alone I sometimes like to read aloud.  There, I said it.

When I do read aloud, I try to speak in the accent of the character.  So when reading The Color Purple I tried a southern american accent.  It's easier with some than others.  The Color Purple for example is particularly easy as it's written as it would be spoken.

I have no delusions about my vocal ability, or that I get all the nuances between Celie in The Color Purple and Sookie Stackhouse in the Southern Vampire series for example, but I kind of enjoy it, and find it sometimes helps me immerse myself in the story or character.

Sometimes I sound dreadful, and then I stop, as that's no help at all.  For instance I know my Irish accent it awful, and my Scottish drifts into Scouse after a little while.

Anyway there you have it.  Do you do it too?