Monthly-ish update
I need inspiration of a large sort to get through all the story-books(*) I own... I can't buy any new books until they are finished, but some of the books are just a drag to slog through. But I *must* finish them. I finished Deathly Hallows in five and a half hours in one sitting, it shouldn't take me two weeks to make my way through a book a third of the size. But it has. Recommendations on how to inspire myself to ge through my other reading?
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (607 pages) - reread
What can I say about it? A reread in preparationg for Deathly Hallows. My second favourite book of the series, beat only by Order of the Phoenix.
10. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (343 pages)
Quite an interesting book, I loved getting a glimpse into the world of revolutionary Iran. It would have been better if I had read all of the books that they were talking about, but I'll get to doing that after I've read my collection of books and am allowed to start acquiring new ones again. What struck me most here was how life in totalitarian regimes, regardless of what the totalitarian ideology is, is still very similart. Ordinary people are commiting "crimes" every day just by living their lives the way they choose to. Even the smallest act can be an act of resistance.
11. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling (607 pages)
Well, this one has been reviewed to death, but I'll just mention a few points - I loved the story as a whole, I thought some parts were too rushed, some were too drawn out, and I was quite miffed when several of my favourite characters were killed (and some even without the dignity of a death scene). Some things happened that I predicted, others were completely out of left field. But it was a good conclusion to the story, I think.
12. A Map to the Door of No Return by Dionne Brand (224 pages)
Not so much a story per se as a meandering through thoughts in a quasi-story format, but without a linear plot. Didn't bother me though, because I can relate to a lot of what she writes. Even though she is writing about the Black Diaspora, and I am not Black, the stories that she tells hold true for any group of people forced from their homes through little to no choice of their own and sent out into the rest of the world, and the generations that grow up in that exile. Quite poignant.
1. Question Quest by Piers Anthony (338 pages)
2. Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (943 pages)
3. Lost in Moscow: A Brat in the USSR by Kirsten Koza (300 pages)
4. Romanitas by Sophia McDougall (442 pages)
5. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (351 pages)
6. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (288 pages)
7. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (465 pages)
8. 8 Minutes Idle by Matt Thorne (474 pages)
Page total as of July 7, 2007: 5382
Around the World in 100 Books - I am basing this on place of author's birth, regardless of where they lived otherwise.
1. Canada - Kirsten Koza (Lost in Moscow: A Brat in the USSR)
2. Great Britain - Matt Thorne (8 Minutes Idle)
3. United States - Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Scion)
4. Iran - Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran)
5. Trinidad and Tobago - Dionne Brand (A Map to the Door of No Return)
Next up: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Paradise Lost by John Milton.
(*) I couldn't figure out a good way to name this category - I'd say "fiction", but some of the books are non-fiction. I'd say "novel", but some of these books are plays or epic poems. So I've settled for "story", which encompasses anything written in a non-formal manner (formal being things such as scholarly writing or non-fiction meant for popular consumption).
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (607 pages) - reread
What can I say about it? A reread in preparationg for Deathly Hallows. My second favourite book of the series, beat only by Order of the Phoenix.
10. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (343 pages)
Quite an interesting book, I loved getting a glimpse into the world of revolutionary Iran. It would have been better if I had read all of the books that they were talking about, but I'll get to doing that after I've read my collection of books and am allowed to start acquiring new ones again. What struck me most here was how life in totalitarian regimes, regardless of what the totalitarian ideology is, is still very similart. Ordinary people are commiting "crimes" every day just by living their lives the way they choose to. Even the smallest act can be an act of resistance.
11. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling (607 pages)
Well, this one has been reviewed to death, but I'll just mention a few points - I loved the story as a whole, I thought some parts were too rushed, some were too drawn out, and I was quite miffed when several of my favourite characters were killed (and some even without the dignity of a death scene). Some things happened that I predicted, others were completely out of left field. But it was a good conclusion to the story, I think.
12. A Map to the Door of No Return by Dionne Brand (224 pages)
Not so much a story per se as a meandering through thoughts in a quasi-story format, but without a linear plot. Didn't bother me though, because I can relate to a lot of what she writes. Even though she is writing about the Black Diaspora, and I am not Black, the stories that she tells hold true for any group of people forced from their homes through little to no choice of their own and sent out into the rest of the world, and the generations that grow up in that exile. Quite poignant.
1. Question Quest by Piers Anthony (338 pages)
2. Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (943 pages)
3. Lost in Moscow: A Brat in the USSR by Kirsten Koza (300 pages)
4. Romanitas by Sophia McDougall (442 pages)
5. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (351 pages)
6. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (288 pages)
7. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (465 pages)
8. 8 Minutes Idle by Matt Thorne (474 pages)
Page total as of July 7, 2007: 5382
Around the World in 100 Books - I am basing this on place of author's birth, regardless of where they lived otherwise.
1. Canada - Kirsten Koza (Lost in Moscow: A Brat in the USSR)
2. Great Britain - Matt Thorne (8 Minutes Idle)
3. United States - Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Scion)
4. Iran - Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran)
5. Trinidad and Tobago - Dionne Brand (A Map to the Door of No Return)
Next up: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Paradise Lost by John Milton.
(*) I couldn't figure out a good way to name this category - I'd say "fiction", but some of the books are non-fiction. I'd say "novel", but some of these books are plays or epic poems. So I've settled for "story", which encompasses anything written in a non-formal manner (formal being things such as scholarly writing or non-fiction meant for popular consumption).