Reading off the rails - updated

You might remember at the start of the year I set myself a reading challenge. I only had to get through 24 books in a year, which isn't too much of a problem for me, except I was derailed by the sad death of Terry Pratchett. He was, of course, no stranger to Death. The skeleton everyone loves to read about is a regular character in (almost) every Pratchett book ever published. HE TALKS IN CAPITALS. You can't miss him. And I've been spending time with him since I heard the news of Pratchett's passing. Not as much as Pratchett has, of course, but enough. I read Mort first, the story of how Death takes on an apprentice. I followed that with Johnny and the Dead, the tale of Johnny Maxwell, an ordinary boy who has extraordinary experiences. In this case he finds he can see dead people who 'live' in a cemetery that's about to be demolished to make way for a new development.

I'll get back on track with the challenge soon, but I'm not promising I'll fulfill all the requirements. But then, who cares if I don't? 

Update:   There is a section in the reading challenge that says: "A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realise that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over) "
So I'm claiming Terry Pratchett as my guilty pleasure. I've loved his books since I first found him and I tend to go back to him when I can't think what else to read.  So I've done another one!

Reading, more reading and stuff

After I posted the review yesterday I realised that I used to be much more prolific on this blog. To be fair, I used to be more prolific on all my blogs (I have a few) so I guess it's not out of the ordinary. It's just that, I used to find time to do much more reading than I currently do. I also used to write more often. Poems, short stories, doggerel, whatever. I am being creative in the 'art' sense, but I seem to have abandoned my wordcraft at the moment.
5 out of 10. Must try harder.

aBook

I'm a convert to eBooks but I couldn't resist this.

Copyright belongs to this man. 

World Book Night - a retrospective

As you know I picked up a book on World Book Night, and I've been looking into what the scheme is all about and how it works ever since. As a result of the find I not only read the book itself, but I also tried another of the titles (one I've been meaning to read for a while). So, I thought I'd have a look at the other books on the list and consider whether or not I'd have enjoyed them.

It was interesting that the UK and US lists were different - although they shared one book, which is now on my planned reading list.

KEY
Read it
Read it because of Book Night
Want to read it
Maybe not

Here's the lists:
UK
Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice
Read this at school. I can't say it made me want to read any more of her work. I was always much more of a Bronte girl.

Iain M Banks The Player of Games
I quite enjoyed this when I read it but I much prefer Ian Banks (who is the same person, of course).
Mark Billingham Sleepyhead
Looks like a nicely creepy crime novel.
Bill Bryson Notes from a Small Island
Read it. Hated him.
Paulo Coelho The Alchemist
I like the looks of this one.
Martina Cole The Take
I've tried a couple of her novels and don't really get on with them.
Bernard Cornwell Harlequin
Not really my kind of thing but I'm not ruling it out.
Roald Dahl Someone Like You
Not sure what colour to make this. Mostly blue. I've read a lot of Dahl's short stories but not this complete collection. They're good.
Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities
Another one from my schooldays - but I quite like Dickens, and Two Cities is one of the better ones.
Emma Donoghue Room
Never heard of it before. Looks good.
Daphne du Maurier Rebecca
What can you say about poor Mrs DeWinter? Wonderful, atmospheric, recommended read.
Kazuo Ishiguro The Remains of the Day
Tried it once. I just couldn't get into it.
Stephen King Misery
I don't do Stephen King. Too gory.
Sophie Kinsella The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopoholic
I have read some of her books but they didn't grab me enough to read any more.
Andrea Levy Small Island
Looks very interesting. Post war Britain. Socio-political novel.
John Ajvide Lindqvist Let the Right One In
12-year-old boy and a vampire. Maybe not.
Cormac McCarthy The Road
Its own blurb calls it 'bleak'. Life's too short to read bleak novels.
Audrey Niffenegger The Time Traveller’s Wife
Oh but this was one of the nicest books I've read in a long time and it made me cry at the end.
Maggie O’Farrell The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
I've got a 'non-existent' family member and it's too late for me to ask questions now. I think I might enjoy this one.
David Pearce The Damned Utd
It's football. Maybe not.
Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman Good Omens
The first thing by either of these gents that I ever read. If you haven't read it, go find it now. Even if it's only for their explanation of the purpose of the M25!

Meg Rosoff How I Live Now

Not really sure but I'm not ruling this out.
Joe Simpson Touching the Void
I'm not sure I'll enjoy some of the detail in this. But I've wanted to read it for a while.
Dodie Smith I Capture the Castle
Another I'm not sure about. But I think I SHOULD have read it by now.

Markus Zusak The Book Thief

The shared book. Now on my want list.

US

Sherman Alexie The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Coming of age book. Not sure it’s high on my list.
Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls
Seems to be about teenage girls and anorexia.
Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I have at least heard of this. I might try to track it down.
H G Bissinger Friday Night Lights
American Football. Maybe not.
Octavia Butler Kindred
Now this looks like a good book. I really must track that down

Orson Scott Card Enders Game

It's science fiction and I'm not a huge fan.

Chris Cleave Little Bee

I'm fascinated by the reviews of this, which seem to be determined to tell you nothing about it.

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

The movie trailers have put me off this.

Michael Connelly Blood Work

I don't read Michael Connelly - too blood thirsty.

Junot Diaz The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

I'm not sure why I want to read this. But the blurb is interesting.

Kate DiCamillo Because of Winn Dixie

I loved the Tale of Despereaux so I think I'd like this too.

Dave Eggers Zeitoun

I've tried Dave Eggers before but not enjoyed his writing style.

Leif Enger Peace Like a River

Definitely fancy this one.

Robert Goolrick A Reliable Wife

Sounds good

Sue Grafton Q is for Quarry

I'm fond of a bit of crime fiction.

Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner

Has a good reputation but I just don't fancy it somehow. I'm prepared to be persuaded.
John Irving A Prayer for Owen Meany
One of my all time favourite books. I love it.

Stephen King The Stand

I don't like Stephen King. Too scary.

Barbara Kingsolver The Poisonwood Bible

I've got this on my 'to read' list

Nicole Krauss The History of Love

I like the look of this one.

Jhumpa Lahiri The Namesake

It hasn't grabbed me from the blurb.

Tim O’Brien The Things they Carried

Vietnam wasn't my war but the stories behind it are probably still relevant.

Ann Patchett Bel Canto

Interesting idea. Love among the terrorists.

Jodi Picoult My Sister’s Keeper

They need to change the cover on this because I wouldn't pick it up in a bookshop. But the subject matter is something that I care about.

Marilynne Robinson Housekeeping

The blurb gives this a sort of John Irving feel so I might enjoy it.

Alice Sebold The Lovely Bones

I'ne seen the movie. It might have spoiled it for me.

Rebecca Skloot The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Definitely a subject that's close to my heart.

Patti Smith Just Kids

To read biography I have to care about the subject. And I don't.

Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle

'A memoir'. That phrase deters me.

Markus Zusak The Book Thief

See above.

High days and holidays: a chance to read

Hello all. I've not been posting much on here lately, and the absence of the G-Man (Get well soon Galen!) means I'm not even forcing myself to write my 55 words for a Friday.  (Though I'm doing my best to keep going with the Thursday extracts.) On the other hand, it means I'm catching up on my reading, and somehow I seem to have found a run of pretty good tales to absorb me.

The recent holiday helped, which coincided with World Book Day and my sad encounter with Bill Bryson. I had time and opportunity to read because I didn't have to go to work, and the fact that the book was free gave me a motive.  I'd taken a few novels with me on my e-reader (I always do take several books on holiday) so I had plenty of supply too.

And I spent Bank Holiday Monday morning in bed, completing the final hundred or so pages of my latest choice.

So you'll be reading my reviews over the next few days, because I'm now forcing myself to write them.  My own works of fiction might take a little longer. Or then again, they might not. I'll have a word with the muse.

A weekend read

I finished reading Arnaldur Indriðason's Tainted Blood  this weekend. If you want to know what I thought, checkout the Just Read page.

Pages

Everything I want to write about today is on my pages and not in the main posts of the blog. No-one gets updates when I change pages, only when I put in a new post. So I'm posting some links here. They aren't all about my blog(s).

What I am reading/have just read
My entries for the July River of Stones project
Someone you should meet
Someone you might like
Useful information

1001 books to read before I .......what?



A couple of those are actually on the list!


Thanks to Jarmara I have encountered the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die*. It's been an interesting experience, not least because of the whole concept of reading 1001 books.

You do the sums. Assume that you read a book a month. (Yeah, yeah, I know, you read a lot more than that don't you, but bear with me.) 1001 months is a little over 83 years. So assume you read the first one when you're seven. The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery) is on the list and so is The Hobbit so it's not unreasonable to start then. Though you probably wouldn't go straight from that to War and Peace. That will make you 90 when you finish. The average age-at-death in my family is somewhere around 73. Are you telling me that if I start reading the rest of the list I will somehow live long enough to read them?

Because even at one a week it's still going to take nearly 20 years. Actually, I've already read 100 of them (I can't believe that it came out at exactly 100 either!) so that would still need 17 years and 17 weeks to finish the list. Scarily, that would make me just about the right age to die in line with my family.......

So if it's all the same to you, I'm going to read what I want, when I want and not bother with any silly lists!

*********

* That link will take you to someone's blog because the original list is in a book that you first have to BUY! It's got an introduction by Peter Akroyd, which might explain why several of his titles are included.

Reading the classics

Some time ago I made a pledge to read more classics this year. I've not been reading as much of anything as I'd like to but I have managed to get a few things onto my list. I've just finished The Great Gatsby, which is something I've intended to read for a while. Interesting storyline and the setting on Long Island was fascinating because I'd just finished reading a modern book called Murder Most Frothy (Cleo Coyle), which is set in almost the same place.

I have also chalked up a Dickens short book called A Message from the Sea, which was interesting, if only for the odd dialect that took a bit of translating. It came with my e-reader.

The orignal idea was to get through 12 classics this year, but I can't see that happening unless I try harder. I've got lots of other things I want to get through as well! I'm currently reading Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey, which is shaping up very well.

Step away from the computer......

It's official - too much computer use damages kids' ability to read.

OK so the research concentrated on 9-10 year olds and they found the link in Sweden and the US but couldn't confirm it in similar studies in Hungary and Italy, but it's still pretty scary.

"Our study shows that the entry of computers into the home has contributed to changing children's habits in such a manner that their reading does not develop to the same extent as previously. By comparing countries over time we can see a negative correlation between change in reading achievement and change in spare time computer habits which indicates that reading ability falls as leisure use of computers increases," says lead researcher Monica Rosén.

A report of the study can be found here if you'd like to know more.

Or maybe you should switch off your computer and go read a book! 

Lonely? Read a book.

According to a new study by American psychologists, when we read books we actually relate so closely to the characters that we temporarily become part of their social group.

The team from the University of Buffalo have shown that reading satisfies a deep-seated human need for companionship and connection with others.

In an article published in the journal Psychological Science, researchers Shira Gabriel and Ariana Young say that the sense of belonging gained from a book is just as beneficial as one we would gain in the 'real' world.

The books they used in the study were well known vampire and magic stories, which they gave to undergraduates students to read, then monitored the readers' behaviour.

Dr Gabriel said: "This study suggests that books give us more than an opportunity to tune out and submerge ourselves in a fantasy world.

"They give us a chance to feel like we belong to something bigger than us and to reap the benefits that result from being a part of that larger realm without having a 'real' social encounter.

"When we enter the narrative  we don't 'become' Harry or Edward, of course, but we do become a member of their world. That feels really good and it changes us."

You can find out more about it if you click here.

Learning to read

There are lots of reasons why I loved my dad (and why I still miss him desperately) but perhaps one of the most important (significant, meaningful, useful....) was the way he instilled a love of books and reading into me. And how he ensured that I always remember what I have read. I borrowed the memory to use in The Wise Child.
Here's an excerpt:

Each day featured the same conversation when I would face the same questions, which I was always eager to answer. He would call me to him and lift me up onto his knee, settle me down and say: “What are you reading? Who is it by? What is it about?” I was expected to tell him the story in my own words, describe the characters and explain the plot. If it was a long book it would be told in instalments over several days. Often Dad would ask for finer details or more information and most times I could supply it. Once in a while though I was hazy on some points and tried to avoid his interrogation. Then he would suggest, kindly, that I should read the chapter again because I had missed parts of it. That way I learned to read carefully and to remember what I had read, two skills that were to prove very useful to me later. Best of all was when I had finished a book and I faced a different set of questions. “Did you enjoy it? Why?” And after that he would want to know if I thought he would enjoy it too and we would compare what we liked in books and what made us want to give up reading them. That was when I could truly talk freely to my father about the world, books, fiction, reality and everything that was important to me as a child. And he would listen.