tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47644626201691511262024-02-08T05:19:13.971+00:00All the Pretty BooksMasanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.comBlogger187125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-39501733098196872492016-04-23T16:59:00.002+01:002016-04-24T17:34:43.162+01:00Dewey's 24-hour Readathon: April 2016<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; margin: 0px; position: relative;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">1. Which hour was most daunting for you?</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Hour 13. It was 3 am here and I was extremely sleepy. I was not feeling very well either, so I decided it was best to go to sleep for a while. I woke up at 9.30 and continued readathoning.</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Any kind of comic or graphic novel because they give you a fast sense of accomplishment. I really like <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/49478-locke-key" target="_blank">Locke & Key</a> and you can easily read the whole thing during a readathon. There are as many comics as readers, so it depends on what you like. I have a <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/102108-masanobu?shelf=comics" target="_blank">comics shelf on goodreads</a> and you can write or comment if you're interested in specific recs. </span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">I also like to read short, fast-paced books, or books that grab you and don't let you go until you're done: whodunnits (try Agatha Christie), YA (John Green's <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/12/paper-towns-john-green.html" target="_blank">Paper Towns</a>), fantasy (Maria V. Snyder's <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/07/poison-study-study-1-maria-v-snyder.html" target="_blank">Poison Study</a>), scifi (Ernest Cline's <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2013/05/ready-player-one-ernest-cline.html" target="_blank">Ready Player One</a>), or romance (Sarah MacLean's <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/book-review-rogue-by-any-other-name.html" target="_blank">A Rogue by Any Other Name</a>). </span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Keep in mind that audiobooks might become your best friends! I'm getting into the habit of listening to books I've already read and know quite well during the readathon, so I can get on with my chores and do social media updates at the same time I keep on reading. I use Librivox for this, but you can try your library or Audible! </span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next season?</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18.48px;">I'd actually like to see more official support to book bloggers on traditional blogging platforms. While I love the diversity of social media used by readathoners and appreciate the huge communities on Twitter and Goodreads, I kind of feel that straight-up bloggers were a bit left out this time. But maybe it was just my perception and not at all true! Also, I feel a bit of a jerk complaining without offering solutions, but I really don't know what could be done. </span></h4>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">4. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?</span></span></h4>
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<b><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5. </span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">How many books did you read?</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><i>1.</i> </span></span><i style="color: #666666; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22259494-avengers-epic-collection" target="_blank">Avengers Epic Collection: Earth's Mightiest Heroes</a></i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> - mainly Stan Lee & Jack Kirby - 2 stars</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><i>2. </i></span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21535271-the-slow-regard-of-silent-things" target="_blank">The Slow Regard of Silent Things</a> -</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> Patrick Rothfuss - 4 stars</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><i>3. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28097465-la-casa" target="_blank">La Casa</a> </i>- Paco Roca - 5 stars</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><i>4. Romeo and Juliet</i> - William Shakespeare - 3 stars to this audio edition</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><b>7. Which book did you enjoy most?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><i style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28097465-la-casa" target="_blank">La Casa</a> </i><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">by Paco Roca, an autobiographical comic by a Spanish author about losing your parents and coping with it. The art was excellent and the story was carefully told. The only problem I had is that it was very emotive and it left me on a state of book hangover not conducive to readathoning. I didn't want to start a new book after finishing it.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">8. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Which did you enjoy least?</span></span></b></div>
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<i style="color: #666666; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22259494-avengers-epic-collection" target="_blank">Avengers Epic Collection: Earth's Mightiest Heroes</a>.</i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> It's an omnibus of almost 500 pages that collects the first 20 stories of the Avengers, from 1963 to 1965. I really enjoy having read it, because I've learned quite a lot about the origins of the Marvel Universe and their superheroes and supervillains. On the other hand, most of the stories were boring (too simplistic and childish) and some were downright offensive. Sadly, some of these traits are still present in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (that is, the new Marvel superhero blockbusters that fill our screens and that I unabashedly enjoy in spite of their problems).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><b>9. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Unless life throws a curveball, 100% likely. I'll be a reader and a cheerleader, and I might help managing the GR group. I'm actually thinking of readathoning over there next time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Hours spent reading: 10</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Books finished: 3</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>1. </i></span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22259494-avengers-epic-collection" target="_blank">Avengers Epic Collection: Earth's Mightiest Heroes</a></i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> - mainly Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (comic, started before the readathon) - 2 stars</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><i>2. </i></span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21535271-the-slow-regard-of-silent-things" target="_blank">The Slow Regard of Silent Things</a> -</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> Patrick Rothfuss - 4 stars</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><i>3. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28097465-la-casa" target="_blank">La Casa</a> </i>- Paco Roca - 5 stars</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Currently reading: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>1. Romeo & Juliet</i> - William Shakespeare (on audio)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Fun fact: they're filming the movie adaptation of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16085488-still-star-crossed" target="_blank">Still Star-Crossed</a> on my city. I went to have a look at the filming locations yesterday and it's quite cool!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Eaten: Greek yoghurt with cinnamon apple jelly, a cup of caramel macchiato, ham & tomato on baguette</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I've been incubating an ugly cold. Whenever I fly, I get a sore throat and a headache, and I'm feeling a bit under the weather. But not so bad that I can't read! I've finished two books in two hours. The problem is that I don't know what to read now. <i>La Casa</i> is one of those books that leave you with a book hangover. Nothing I pick seems to work! Maybe nonfiction?</span></div>
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1. What are you reading right now? </h4>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18.48px;">I'm about to finish <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22259494-avengers-epic-collection" target="_blank">Avengers Epic Collection: Earth's Mightiest Heroes</a>. It is SO BAD you guys. But I'm learning a lot about the Avengers and their lore.</span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;">2. How many books have you read so far? </span></span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 13.2px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;">A grand total of... 0. But I'm reading three at the same time, so what can you expect.</span></span></h4>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><b>3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">I really, really want to finish <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21535271-the-slow-regard-of-silent-things" target="_blank">The Slow Regard of Silent Things</a>. I'm halfway through and I'm loving it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">My interruptions were all at the start of the readathon, so I just started later. But they were nice interruptions: I bumped into a friend I hadn't seen in months and decided to grab lunch with him, then went to visit the book fair, and then got a phone call from my grandma (she's the sweetest).</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><b>5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">The diversity of readathoners and ways to readathon. We truly make Dewey's Readathon ours! No rules is a great rule.</span></span></div>
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Hour 10 Challenge - Character Road Trip</h4>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">I'd travel with <b>Hermione</b> from Harry Potter, because she's a girl after my own heart and she has the best traveling tips, like carrying a bottomless bag.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">We'd start from Hogwarts, of course, which is near <b>Loch Ness</b>, our first stop. There, Hermione and I would share our knowledge about magical creatures and cryptozoology to compare notes about Nessy. Then, we'd continue to Edinburgh, where I'd take her to <b>The Elephant House</b> for a good capuccino with a dash of meta, and we'd tour the city because it's such a cool place. We'd finish in <b>Hay-On-Wye with its many bookshops</b>, where, as bookworms, we would buy books to our heart's content.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Hour 10 </span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Local time: 23:00</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Hours spent reading: 4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Books finished: 0</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Currently reading: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>1. Romeo & Juliet</i> - William Shakespeare (on audio)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>2. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21535271-the-slow-regard-of-silent-things" target="_blank">The Slow Regard of Silent Things</a> -</i> Patrick Rothfuss</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>3. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22259494-avengers-epic-collection" target="_blank">Avengers Epic Collection: Earth's Mightiest Heroes</a></i> - mainly Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (comic, started before the readathon)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Eaten: Indian English breakfast tea, artisanal fruit gums as a snack, grilled cheese and pesto sandwich and olives for lunch</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Hello everyone! This year I'm winging the readathon, which is very unlike me. I'm also starting 5 hours late. On my way to the Book Fair (happy Book Day to all of you, by the way!) I met a friend I hadn't seen in months and we grabbed lunch & coffee together. Unexpected but pleasant! And I got new books :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My opening meme:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Spain! Just arrived from France, which is one of the reasons I haven't planned at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For the first time ever I haven't planned a stack. I'll be reading what I find appealing, so I don't know yet. I'm gonna start with a <a href="https://librivox.org/romeo-and-juliet-version-4-by-william-shakespeare/" target="_blank">Romeo and Juliet audiobook</a> since I need to do laundry and unpack my luggage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Artisanal fruit gums. Not the healthiest, but yum.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>4) Tell us a little something about yourself!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm a 26-year-old PhD student just arrived from a quarter spent in France, love plants, reading, traveling and baking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm not sure if this is my 6th readathon maybe? Lost count. But this is my first unplanned and unprepared readathon. Let's see how it goes!</span>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-80770892502217177102016-04-05T19:26:00.000+01:002016-04-05T19:26:02.833+01:00Book Review: A Rogue by Any Other Name (The Rules of Scoundrels #1) - Sarah MacLean<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>A decade ago, the young Marquess of Bourne lost his fortune in a game of cards. Now, he ruthlessly runs London's most successful gaming hell, and will do whatever it takes to regain his land and his inheritance. Even marrying the boring Lady Penelope Marbury.</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEII0Yqskn2dBlaCCl0BA-lVEvvaKofVr4HKiTKXnUOO84T9tjnzim0_tuj-MehuRU_V1GEMJODoVd02K4J2QUpHJz-PSxZ8nTTfMnOQkBfhtQgTWekEHkI0_ZgJ_5zNSfoavpLD9wbsc/s1600/a+rogue+by+any+other+name.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEII0Yqskn2dBlaCCl0BA-lVEvvaKofVr4HKiTKXnUOO84T9tjnzim0_tuj-MehuRU_V1GEMJODoVd02K4J2QUpHJz-PSxZ8nTTfMnOQkBfhtQgTWekEHkI0_ZgJ_5zNSfoavpLD9wbsc/s320/a+rogue+by+any+other+name.jpg" width="198" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I read this
for <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/" target="_blank">Katie</a>’s <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/2016/01/18/announcing-reluctant-romantic-challenge/" target="_blank">Reluctant Romantic Challenge</a> that ran during February. While it
wasn’t my first romance novel, every romance story I had read until this was
very tame when it came to the bedroom scenes. Sex was usually of the fade-to-black
kind and the focus was solely on the emotional journey of the main characters. <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10428803-a-rogue-by-any-other-name?from_new_nav=true&ac=1&from_search=true" target="_blank">A Rogue by Any OtherName</a></i> is a completely different kind of novel – romantic, yes, but very
physical. What one would call steamy in the romance slang. And now that I’ve
encountered one of the aspects that raise more prejudice in “serious readers”,
I can safely say that my preconceptions have been smashed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;">It’s true that the aim of erotic
scenes in romance novels is to titillate, but as it is romance and not erotica,
they must serve to advance the plot and the relationship between the hero and
the heroine. So there is a huge
emotional component to these scenes, and it is tricky to build a rapport with the reader. It is obvious that writing successful romantic sex scenes requires skill.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -18pt;"> They are well written, and I can't stress how different from my expectations they are. I know I
shouldn’t sound surprised, but I’m still fighting against my literary
snobbishness. The sex was tasteful and the language was not at all ridiculous. And I have to admit that I didn't expect to understand and recognize the feelings of the characters so much.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; text-indent: -18pt;">I usually favor cerebral reads that make me think, that turn my worldview upside down and help me learn. However, romance is all about the feelings. Romance authors, or at least Sarah MacLean, can convey so much more than I thought possible just through words. <i>A Rogue by Any Other Name</i> made me feel what the characters were feeling! Aside from surprising me, it increased my empathy and my awareness of how different people experience love differently. It enabled me to analyze what I thought I knew about love. It was basically empowering, and it knocked my socks off, since I was expecting just mindless fun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">It was also
my first Regency romance, and I wasn’t prepared for the tropes. Apparently, there are some stations through which the characters must go to obtain their happy ending, and the hero and heroine must conform in some way or other to a certain set of stereotypes. Penelope
isn’t a damsel in distress nor goes by fainting in every corner, and I'd say that she
has much more agency than so-called kick-ass female characters. However, the dynamics between the hero and the heroine are problematic. There
is a power imbalance between Penelope and Bourne: he sequesters her and makes her spend the night with her
to sully her reputation, effectively making her ineliglible for a proper marriage, thus branding her as his. He doesn’t rape her, but exploits her
innocence and unworldliness. </span>This made me understandably angry, yet I couldn't bring myself to not root for them to end up together. Developing a believable romance in these circumstances is not easy, but
MacLean does it and does it well, and then she justifies it with a very compelling narrative (spoiler: he loved her all along, as the childhood letters point out). It's still problematic, but I have to admit that I enjoyed reading it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Verdict: 4/5. I just wish my next romance novel would let go of these tropes so that I don't have my conscience nagging me over how much I'm enjoying such a problematic relationship.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Disclaimer: </span><span style="text-indent: -24px;">since most romance seems to be about heterosexual couples, I've used heternormative designations. But please, recommend me diverse romance!</span></i></span></div>
Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-12271373162728199052016-04-03T15:54:00.000+01:002016-04-03T15:54:53.761+01:00March in Mini-Review<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">February and March flew by and my time here in France is coming to an end. By the end of April I'll be back home. I have mixed feelings about this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">I didn't intend to be silent for so long, but I spent a good deal of the time outside. I've travelled, been a tourist, met new people, and done things out of my comfort zone. I had quite a lot of fun, way more than I had expected when I first arrived here. In February I read a lot. In March, less so. I also went through a lot of shit for my PhD. Many things have happened over the last two months that have had me contemplating whether I wanted to quit. And I don't, because I truly love research, but I'm not happy where I am. Unfortunately, transferring doesn't seem to be an option. My next two years are going to require a lot of ploughing and resilience, but I hope that the next step in this career will be a happier one. This is not how I envisaged my PhD, but the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. And while I don't mean this as an excuse (I don't have to, since this blog is something that I do primarily for myself), I wanted to write about this, to process it and as an explanation of that silence. The kind of bullshit that has happened to me is the kind of problem that makes me read less, be less me. It leaves me exhausted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">Here's hoping that reflecting about this is going to help me come back to my reading self. In the meantime, here are some Elektra comics from the early 2000s with extremely awful soft-porn covers! Sorry for the covers, really. But some of the stories are even decent.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">12. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/105938.Elektra" target="_blank">Elektra: The Scorpio Key</a> - <span style="color: #e06666;">Brian Michael Bendis & Chuck Austen</span> (2002)</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsY7GpfiKW3fclyDn2WCLHhxuTeKX5-1PCNDPdcQv4gJmKvZPjjYjU1O_7znBzcdhYOOAxvqBHyqullj3VqTvxb_Cue5hiVIx9kgv8V0G_tOsM2Fwzg8MbTu5rpiobvJzk0wiW5UliIlRW/s1600/the+scorpio+key.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsY7GpfiKW3fclyDn2WCLHhxuTeKX5-1PCNDPdcQv4gJmKvZPjjYjU1O_7znBzcdhYOOAxvqBHyqullj3VqTvxb_Cue5hiVIx9kgv8V0G_tOsM2Fwzg8MbTu5rpiobvJzk0wiW5UliIlRW/s320/the+scorpio+key.jpg" width="210" /></a><b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">What is it about?</b><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> The Scorpio Key tells how Nick Fury hires Elektra to get the powerful McGuffin Key for him from the hands of awful poilitical leader/dictator of Iraq, Saddam. Um what.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Why did I read it?</b> Long story short: I used to read capes and tights comics way back when, fell out of the loop and found it too sprawling to re-enter. Now, armed with a Marvel Unlimited subscription and </span><a href="http://www.comicbookherald.com/the-complete-marvel-reading-order-guide/" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;" target="_blank">Comic Book Herald's Complete Marvel Reading Order Guide</a>,<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> I'm rediscovering the campy world that is Earth-616. Also, it's Elektra! My first love of Marvel women who kick ass, because I idealized Frank Miller's Elektra and made up stories for her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>What did I think?</b> </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">I found the story extremely distasteful, especially considering that it was written around the time when the actual war of the US against Iraq was being promoted by Bush as a necessity. This read as terrible propaganda. And misrepresented Iraqi people, separating them in victims in need of a white American savior, or brutal fundamentalists. </span><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">And then, as befits the Marvel Knights era, the treatment of Elektra is very sad. What could we do with a cool ninja assassin? Treat her as less because she is a woman. Let's tell the story from the POV of a male and let every male say how much ass she kicks. That will surely show how cool she is. And let's treat her characteristic outfit as a sexual tease, instead of an empowering outfit (albeit useless, in my opinion, but I guess Elektra has her reasons). To all of that, add insult to injury: Nick Fury manipulates Elektra by using a negotiator built upon the image of Matt Murdock, with whom she had a romantic relationship before her untimely death.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><b>What did I think of the art?</b> </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">I'm not a fan of Chuck Austen's art. The cel-shaded look of early 2000s is not good-looking, and definitely too static for an action comic, which is what this story tries to be. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Verdict:</b> 1/5. If you can get past the terrible art, awful agenda, and extreme racism, the story is still not good. The dialogue is stilted and boring, the development of the plot relies on action scenes that haven't been built up enough to justify them. It's hard to care what happens to the people fighting.</span><br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">13. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1063629.Elektra_Vol_1" target="_blank">Elektra, Vol.1: Introspect</a> - <span style="color: #e06666;">Greg Rucka & Carlo Pagulayan</span> (2002)</span></h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw2tffD6JxlKVQwInN0kTAgR1LU3iG8WXnA5O7g8GmylXp__PLYB93lVosh0spKH6439TVruAwtp58uQaRKdygfHjembrPr9RxeXYmU2kl5m3rHGaV4JikUe4lFwsdcuy72W2jzm-doOFW/s1600/introspect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw2tffD6JxlKVQwInN0kTAgR1LU3iG8WXnA5O7g8GmylXp__PLYB93lVosh0spKH6439TVruAwtp58uQaRKdygfHjembrPr9RxeXYmU2kl5m3rHGaV4JikUe4lFwsdcuy72W2jzm-doOFW/s320/introspect.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b></b></span><br />
<b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">What is it about?</b><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> Introspect explores what constitutes the identity of Elektra and what happens when someone takes away her assassin self.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Why did I read it? </b>Aside from being the following volume in Elektra during the Marvel Knights era, this is the kind of story that interests me in superhero comics, because the hero(ine) is thrown into situations where they can't resort to their usual easy way out. What will they do? What impact will it have on their personality and on their character? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>What did I think?</b> </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">I have two big problems with this. Elektra gets a lot of flak for being an assassin. She is a monster because she kills, or so Rucka says. But previous arcs have shown us that Elektra kills when she has to and tries to be as compassive as she can without risking her life while leading a successful career as an assassin for hire. She is not a murderer, she is a mercenary. And she only takes works when she believes in the outcome. Her life is fraught with morally dubious choices, but it isn't quite right to pin her down as a monster, because she is clearly not one. Presenting Elektra in this light is a complete misunderstanding of the character, and that bugs me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">And I can't quite keep out of my mind that she is getting this reformation arc because she is a woman. It seems that being an assassin is more reprehensible because she is female, and Marvel women can only be saints or whores. This feeling is reinforced because she is abducted by a white man who knows better, who wants to break her, enlighten her poor lost soul, and lead her to a new life of selflessness. A man whose fiancée had died to give him plausible motivation. A man who takes Elektra's agency because he is convinced he is morally superior and thus capable of saving Elketra. Deadpool would never get an arc like this one, for example. So let me say something: women can be as soulless as men, they can be evil, good, complex, selfish, selfless, whatever. Women have the whole range of personality traits because they are human. So can we please have a female assassin who is not shamed because she is a female assassin?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"><b>What did I think of the art?</b> I actually love Pagulayan's Elektra, and the action sequences make sense and are beautiful to look at.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Verdict:</b> 2/5. A Marvel comic to make one think, but with several problems that don't let me truly enjoy this to its fullest.</span><br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">14. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/110161.Elektra_Vol_2" target="_blank">Elektra, Vol.2: Everything Old is New Again</a> - <span style="color: #e06666;">Greg Rucka, Carlo Pagulayan & Carlos Meglia</span> (2003)</span></h3>
<b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">What is it about?</b><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> After being confronted with the choice to change or die, Elektra chooses to amend her murderous ways. But I say, what kind of choice is it, to change or die?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Why did I read it? </b>It's the continuation of Introspect. I just needed to know how this arc ended. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>What did I think?</b> </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">The story itself addressed the concerns I had about white men acting as saviors of Elektra and of 'lost women' at large. Some characters actually talk about this several times throughout the trade - this made me very happy, since Rucka is acknowledging that this arc might be problematic. The ending fits in nicely with this interpretation - let Elektra be herself. Yet it comes off as unbelievable, since Elektra has been a different person in every issue: cold-hearted, just, weak, strong, needy. Who is Elektra? After 22 issues I'm still not sure, but it would be great if someone wrote a good run for this fantastic assassin because she deserves it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"><b>What did I think of the art?</b> I really really like Carlo Pagulayan's Elektra: dynamic, not white, not sexualized, awesome hair. The switch to Carlos Meglia's style is jarring, but I do like his cartoonish style, which weirdly fits the middle issues of this story. It's a hit or miss, and it was a hit for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Verdict:</b> 3/5. The best Elektra story I've read. This is a bit sad, when one thinks of it, but it's an amzing conclusion to the arc Rucka started in Introspect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">15. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23620301-some-of-the-best-from-tor-com" target="_blank">Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2014</a> - <span style="color: #e06666;">VV.AA., edited by Ellen Datlow & Carl Engle-Laird</span> (2015)</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNsalqPLjmmG71ux04RwHY7sr6XU_lnqF2dnK2qMcYLBEEvDPp0uPn3x07xxRoSW8H_wgxWwm0-KCpsfaj1t8uiQrjtofPZdolPI9I1ZUpVUT8F7j8vQ56m4ZCBkH5hbZUrlE_9fcHSZWE/s1600/2014+best+tor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNsalqPLjmmG71ux04RwHY7sr6XU_lnqF2dnK2qMcYLBEEvDPp0uPn3x07xxRoSW8H_wgxWwm0-KCpsfaj1t8uiQrjtofPZdolPI9I1ZUpVUT8F7j8vQ56m4ZCBkH5hbZUrlE_9fcHSZWE/s320/2014+best+tor.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">What is it about?</b><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> A selection of the best short speculative fiction (sci-fi & fantasy) published in Tor.com during 2014.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Why did I read it? </b>I enjoy speculative fiction, but it can get same-y. Tor.com always publishes diverse and different fiction. Through them I've known some of my favorite current spec fic authors: Veronica Schanoes, Angela Slatter, Ken Liu. A free anthology by them? Sign me up!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>What did I think?</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1377001002?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">You can read all my detailed status updates and my favorite stories here.</a> My top three were: Veronica Schanoes' <a href="http://www.tor.com/2014/05/07/among-the-thorns-veronica-schanoes/" target="_blank">Among the Thorns</a>, Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen's <a href="http://www.tor.com/2014/11/19/where-the-trains-turn/" target="_blank">Where the Trains Turn</a>, and Ken Liu's <a href="http://www.tor.com/2014/01/29/reborn-ken-liu/" target="_blank">Reborn</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Verdict:</b> 4/5. This anthology, as any other short story collection out there, is a mixed bag. A 3-star rating would be just, since it includes stories I hated or disliked and stories I enjoyed and loved. However, there is a discrepancy between what would be the average rating and what I feel this collection deserves. I really, really liked this. It honestly felt like a 4-star book, which I guess means the good stories outweigh the bad ones: there is great fantasy and sci-fi here. It's diverse, imaginative, and represents a wide range of women and men and everything in between. And it has been terrible for the state of my TBR pile, which is always a good sign!</span>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-61843787411045755642016-02-17T20:03:00.000+00:002016-02-17T22:52:59.304+00:00BBAW: Book Bloggers Have the Best Recs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2jKEVHQsUtl0VU-0oIQFXhMt2eFUVAjRDto2ZkMJyYTRftTztAVqNd2d2QMBfFvFAwq72MADPH9g9-FRIAbAGIG6LlCE7f9Uu97GXEVvY17X1xpBg5WKnUc0QLMkiar75x-Yk3gpCTv7/s1600/BBAW+banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2jKEVHQsUtl0VU-0oIQFXhMt2eFUVAjRDto2ZkMJyYTRftTztAVqNd2d2QMBfFvFAwq72MADPH9g9-FRIAbAGIG6LlCE7f9Uu97GXEVvY17X1xpBg5WKnUc0QLMkiar75x-Yk3gpCTv7/s320/BBAW+banner.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is part of <a href="http://www.estellasociety.com/?p=1605" target="_blank">Book Blogger Appreciation Week</a> (#BBAW), which is an event created to acknowledge the hard work of book bloggers and their growing impact on book marketing and their essential contribution to book buzz in general. Think of it as a retreat for book bloggers and a chance for us to totally nerd out over books together. And of course, shower each other with love and appreciation.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Be it a good book or bad, bloggers recommend books every day of the year. Sometimes we take their advice and it’s great! Today, tell us all about the book or books you’ve read because of a book blogger and be sure to sure to spread the blame around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm quite slow when it comes to actually reading the books I buy or add to my wishlist. But my wishlist hasn't stopped growing ever since I started book blogging. It's awesome, although my bank account doesn't quite agree.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I'm also terrible at keeping track of whom has recommended a particular book. But I know for sure I have to blame:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Brona @ <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">Brona's Books</a>: Lauren Redniss' <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.fr/2016/02/radioactive-marie-and-pierre-curie-tale.html" target="_blank">Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie</a>, David Dyer's <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.fr/2016/02/the-midnight-watch-by-david-dyer.html" target="_blank">The Midnight Watch</a>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lianne @ Eclectic Tales: Julia Quinn's <a href="http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2016/02/03/so-you-want-to-read-julia-quinn/" target="_blank">The Duke and I</a>, everything <a href="http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2015/09/07/so-you-want-to-read-william-shakespeare" target="_blank">Shakespeare</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ana @ <a href="http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/" target="_blank">Things Mean A Lot</a>: Jeanne Theoharis' <a href="http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/2015/06/the-history-of-dissent-reading-list.html" target="_blank">The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks</a>, Frances Hardinge's <a href="http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/2014/05/cuckoo-song-by-frances-hardinge.html" target="_blank">Cuckoo Song</a>, Elizabeth Hand's <a href="http://www.thingsmeanalot.com/2015/08/wylding-hall-by-elizabeth-hand.html" target="_blank">Wylding Hall</a> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kim @ <a href="http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/" target="_blank">Sophisticated Dorkiness</a>: Matthew Goodman's <a href="http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/2015/06/11-true-stories-of-lady-adventurers/" target="_blank">Eighty Days</a>, Sari Wilson's <a href="http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/2016/01/novel-narratives-girl-through-glass-and-read-bottom-up/" target="_blank">Girl Through Glass</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Katie @ <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/" target="_blank">Doing Dewey</a>: Susan Carroll's <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213026.The_Dark_Queen" target="_blank">The Dark Queen Saga</a>, Matt Ridley's <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/2015/11/18/review-the-evolution-of-everything/" target="_blank">The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Maria Helena @ <a href="http://marelden.com/" target="_blank">Marelden</a>: Robyn Carr's <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/12/virgin-river-virgin-river-1-robyn-carr.html" target="_blank">Virgin River</a> - my gateway to romance!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rachel @ <a href="http://cuts-of-paper.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">Paper Cuts</a>: Intisar Khanani's <a href="http://cuts-of-paper.blogspot.fr/2016/01/review-thorn-by-intisar-khanani.html" target="_blank">Thorn</a> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Simon @ <a href="http://www.stuckinabook.com/" target="_blank">Stuck in a Book</a>: S.E. Lister's <a href="http://www.stuckinabook.com/the-immortals-by-s-e-lister/" target="_blank">The Immortals</a> and Hideous Creatures</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks to all of you for your fantastic recommendations. Even if I forgot to mention you here, your enthusiasm has changed my reading life.</span></div>
Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-23073658937598628542016-02-16T20:01:00.000+00:002016-02-17T22:03:11.101+00:00BBAW: Interview Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This is part of <a href="http://www.estellasociety.com/?p=1605" target="_blank">Book Blogger Appreciation Week</a> (#BBAW), which is an event created to acknowledge the hard work of book bloggers and their growing impact on book marketing and their essential contribution to book buzz in general. Think of it as a retreat for book bloggers and a chance for us to totally nerd out over books together. And of course, shower each other with love and appreciation.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Still one day behind: increased workload + different time zones is not a good combo. But that's okay because you still get to meet <a href="http://www.mindful-musings.com/" target="_blank">Amber</a>! She's one of the sweetest book bloggers I've ever met and I'm very happy that we got paired for BBAW. She wants to be a writer and is named after a book character. And we both studied in Salamanca! How cool is that? Small world indeed.</span><br />
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<center>
<a href="http://themindfulmusingsbookblog.blogspot.com/"><img alt="Mindful Musings" border="0" src="http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx149/MrsVanquish/Natalie/button.jpg" title="Mindful Musings" /></a></center>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Let Amber introduce herself...</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I taught middle school English for 2 years (that's what my degree is in), but now I work at a pregnancy help center as their Development Manager. I've always loved books. I would love to be a writer some day if I can get up the courage to do it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I live in Michigan, USA. I'm married to a microbiologist who is currently getting his PhD in virology. I plan on going back to school for a Masters in Written Communication this fall. And I wish I was smart enough to understand math and science.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Me: What are your favorite genres?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Amber: I love many genres, everything from Star Wars books to mythology to Jane Austen. I review mostly YA novels but like to throw in adult fiction every now and then. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Me: Why did you start blogging? How did you start your blogging partnership?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Amber: I started blogging for a couple reasons. My friend Natalie had been blogging at <a href="http://www.mindful-musings.com/" target="_blank">Mindful Musings</a> for quite awhile and I loved hearing her talk about it. It sounded like so much fun, and I thought it was so cool that she would get ARCs from authors (I didn't know much about the process at the time). When she went to get her PhD, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep up with school and the blog so she asked me if I was interested in taking it over (for the most part. She still posts every now and then). I was so honored and excited when she asked me! She is the one who showed me the ropes, got me connected, and let me become a part of this community. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The other reason I started was that my education was in teaching English. But when I got into the workforce, I had middle school students (13 and 14 year olds). I wasn't in a very good district, and the job just kind of ate me alive. I had to quit after two years because I couldn't handle it any more. But I loved books and missed talking about them and discussing them with friends. Natalie asked me to blog with her just a few months after I stopped teaching. It gave me a creative "Englishy" outlet while I tried to figure out what my new dream would be. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Me: How does your experience sharing a blog differ from solo book blogging?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Amber: I think the main difference between solo blogging and team blogging would be that I didn't have to create all of my contacts on my own. Natalie already had followers and a network of people that read her posts. I didn't have to start from scratch, which I think was a huge confidence booster at a time that I really really needed one. I manage the blog mostly on my own now just because Natalie doesn't have the time. But I think when she finishes her PhD, we might blog together more often. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Me: What got you fascinated with reading?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Amber: I was read to from a young age. I am actually named after a book character (Amberle from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/189783.The_Elfstones_of_Shannara?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">The Elfstones of Shannara</a> by Terry Brooks), and I've always loved diving into a story and living there for awhile. Books are a way to travel to places where anything is possible. As a kind with a big imagination, books were my place of creativity and escape. Characters came to life and were my friends and enemies. I guess I got this fascination from my parents, but by the time my brother came along, I was reading to him constantly whether he wanted it or not! </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Me: How many languages do you speak/read in?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sadly, English is pretty much it. I can speak/read enough Spanish to have a conversation and get by in a Spanish speaking country on my own, but I can't say I've ever done much "fun" reading in any other language than English. Hopefully someday I will learn enough to be able to enjoy books by Hispanic authors in their native language. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Me: What was your favorite book as a kid?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">That is a very difficult question (sorry to have sprung it on you first!). I loved kids books like <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/460548.Go_Dog_Go_?ac=1&from_search=1" target="_blank">Go, Dog Go!</a> and anything by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/61105.Dr_Seuss?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">Dr. Seuss</a>. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/883051.Tacky_the_Penguin?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">Tacky the Penguin</a> was my brother's favorite book and I read it to him so many times that I literally had it memorized as a kid... and could still probably recite a book portion of it! I was also a huge <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48811.Nancy_Drew?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">Nancy Drew</a> fan. My grandma had a ton of old Nancy Drew novels that she would send me, and I'm pretty sure that I read just about every Nancy Drew book at my public library growing up. I wanted to be a detective at that point in my life, and the thrill of crime drama and mysteries (on TV and in books) never left!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Me: What genre do you find yourself reading most recently?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Hmmm... I read a lot of YA fiction for the blog, mostly because I really like it and enjoy the imaginative side of YA lit. I've read a few <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/835348.Ann_Aguirre?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">Ann Aguirre</a> books (adult sci-fi and paranormal lit) recently and a few <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3780.James_Patterson?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">James Patterson</a> novels for fun. I just finished my ARC copy of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26154406-the-passenger" target="_blank">The Passenger</a> by Lisa Lutz and loved it! I guess I still read crime and mystery books! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Jv8wXK_A6T0X7zSsWf14fghmkezP0SWr3epVjD-1d9WuH09ODaMjN_BgNYO-LTwSPbBKcoLYA10GqfJoDaMtOZ3mebzEiZQ_-QM6l-fQNqJN-zK3TJCRaGQGr8GPdxLeAoHcJ0iMNPIw/s1600/Wine+About+Wednesday+Logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Jv8wXK_A6T0X7zSsWf14fghmkezP0SWr3epVjD-1d9WuH09ODaMjN_BgNYO-LTwSPbBKcoLYA10GqfJoDaMtOZ3mebzEiZQ_-QM6l-fQNqJN-zK3TJCRaGQGr8GPdxLeAoHcJ0iMNPIw/s1600/Wine+About+Wednesday+Logo.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As you can see, Amber is quite cool herself, so you can expect her blog to be the same! She has a unique feature called <a href="http://www.mindful-musings.com/2016/02/wine-about-wednesday-hell-fire.html" target="_blank">Wine about Wednesday</a> where she pairs the book she's currently reading with a beverage. Her reviews are in-depth and read as if a friend was telling you about the latest book she's read and loved. Read her review of <a href="http://www.mindful-musings.com/2016/02/review-of-echoes-by-laura-tisdall.html" target="_blank">Laura Tisdall's Echoes</a> to see what I mean!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So I suggest you go to <a href="http://www.mindful-musings.com/" target="_blank">her blog</a> and take this chance to get to know an awesome blogger. Or meet her on <a href="https://twitter.com/mindfulmusings" target="_blank">twitter</a>!</span>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-86006264515863009452016-02-15T19:55:00.000+00:002016-02-16T23:46:38.710+00:00BBAW: Introduce yourself<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjrO4jWxbPR8m59Vb7MydWdY7B23JgEf2uoexzQOHDRthQGpjsR7ZLjeGWWMUNtWMBQtCDv3tV6ua1XDjbcznCb_fgUSeRmai7mPjd_QhYyuVfxRdm3arjAoTbWZ4wCb66MsEFqayGF-z/s1600/BBAW+banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjrO4jWxbPR8m59Vb7MydWdY7B23JgEf2uoexzQOHDRthQGpjsR7ZLjeGWWMUNtWMBQtCDv3tV6ua1XDjbcznCb_fgUSeRmai7mPjd_QhYyuVfxRdm3arjAoTbWZ4wCb66MsEFqayGF-z/s320/BBAW+banner.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>This is part of <a href="http://www.estellasociety.com/?p=1605" target="_blank">Book Blogger Appreciation Week</a> (#BBAW), which is an event created to acknowledge the hard work of book bloggers and their growing impact on book marketing and their essential contribution to book buzz in general. Think of it as a retreat for book bloggers and a chance for us to totally nerd out over books together. And of course, shower each other with love and appreciation.</i><br />
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An unexpected surge of work has turned this week into a tough blogging week, but I just can't miss BBAW!<br />
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Better late than never, here go the five books that say the most about me. It was very difficult to choose, except for number one on my list:<br />
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1. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/44427-his-dark-materials" target="_blank">His Dark Materials</a> - Philip Pullman<br />
This was a case of reading the right book at the right time - the story of Lyra and Will weaves fantasy, mythology, folklore and religion in a tale of romance and adventure. It was one of the first books to make me cry. It opened my eyes to what life and literature could be, and changed me, plain and simple. It will always have a place in my heart. Years later I read it aloud to my partner, and that experience only increased the love I feel for this trilogy.<br />
Bonus: <i><a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-ocean-at-end-of-lane-neil-gaiman.html" target="_blank">The Ocean at the End of the Lane</a></i> recaptured this experience.<br />
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2. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10210.Jane_Eyre?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">Jane Eyre </a>- Charlotte Brontë<br />
One of my favorite classics. I enjoy reading classics and they constitute a good portion of my reading diet. But some times you have to read against the odds: difficult language, racial and social prejudices, or misogyny come to mind. <i>Jane Eyre</i> is the first book that showed me classics can be feminist, too, and Jane was one of my first heroines.<br />
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3. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1398726.Si_una_noche_de_invierno_un_viajero" target="_blank">If On A Winter's Night A Traveller</a> - Italo Calvino<br />
I'm one of the weird book nerds who can actually choose a favorite book. So I thought I'd include it here because at least it tells you something about me - I haven't read enough to really have it tough to choose just one. I should keep on reading! But really, I fell in love with Calvino's masterpiece because it's a love letter to reading and readers, and because he uses postmodern devices to great effect. I like books, and books that comment on literature and do it wittily make my knees weak.<br />
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4. <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2014/03/watchmen-alan-moore.html" target="_blank">Watchmen</a> - Alan Moore<br />
I read comics. Often. And not only the lauded graphic novels, memoirs and non-fiction, which I enjoy quite a lot, but also cape and tights, from Marvel no less. I've probably had more discussions about superheroes than about the Brontës. They do have their problems, and Alan Moore, being his intelligent and experienced self, uses a comic with superheroes to tell you about these problems and to make a critique of society in less than 500 pages.<br />
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5. <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2013/07/good-evening-mrs-craven-wartime-stories.html" target="_blank">Good Evening, Mrs. Craven</a> - Mollie Panter-Downes<br />
Short stories are bite-sized pieces of literature. I admire the craft to write a successful short story - it's more difficult than writing a novel. This collection is about the Home Front during World War 2, one of my favorite historical periods. In my free time, I explore the history and literature of the anglophone world, mostly the UK, and WW2 was a very interesting period indeed. And this was published by Persephone Books, and indie press charged with publishing forgotten literature usually written by overlooked women. This is my niche: women, literature and the price of war on the individual.<br />
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What books would make your list?Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-86945322192970841712016-02-13T17:21:00.000+00:002016-02-13T19:08:49.197+00:00Reluctant Romantic: It's Complicated<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVJsY7g6EDW5jnaHWvcueftiiL8xW9ByuwQMLJxyjkSppSoMD-sTdANyh4PIkMJ5j2VwgNYwDK0yFl6mXkyH0d_E5AULTbEQMa3cobjeEBUdsGjCE3HDgF75HF_nH1_cbvvmJJG4EfPrj/s1600/TheReluctantRomantic-300x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVJsY7g6EDW5jnaHWvcueftiiL8xW9ByuwQMLJxyjkSppSoMD-sTdANyh4PIkMJ5j2VwgNYwDK0yFl6mXkyH0d_E5AULTbEQMa3cobjeEBUdsGjCE3HDgF75HF_nH1_cbvvmJJG4EfPrj/s1600/TheReluctantRomantic-300x300.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"><b>Have you had a bad experience reading this genre before?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Last year I tried my first romance novels and it went quite well, but I'm still trying to find my footing in this genre. As in any other there are indeed flops, clichéd and badly written books. My problem is twofold: romance writers are very prolific, y'all, and I don't know how to separate the wheat from the chaff, as I'm not familiar with the writers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"><b>Do you have any negative perceptions of the genre you’re reading? If so, have you had any experiences so far this month that have challenges those perceptions?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'll be completely honest: I'm also kind of ashamed to be seen reading romance. People think all sorts of wrong things about romance readers and the covers don't help! I'm fighting hard against those prejudices, since what I've read doesn't really support what I though I'd find. While the love interests are all too good-looking to be believable (can't fat people fall in love?) and the writing is never going to land a Pulitzer, the novels are quite more than fluff. They explore the breadth of human feeling, and that's no easy task. We should give more credit to romance.</span><br />
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Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-54205252465539447702016-02-13T14:38:00.001+00:002016-02-13T14:38:08.676+00:00Reluctant Romantic Review: Deep in the Valley (Grace Valley Trilogy #1) - Robyn Carr<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVJsY7g6EDW5jnaHWvcueftiiL8xW9ByuwQMLJxyjkSppSoMD-sTdANyh4PIkMJ5j2VwgNYwDK0yFl6mXkyH0d_E5AULTbEQMa3cobjeEBUdsGjCE3HDgF75HF_nH1_cbvvmJJG4EfPrj/s1600/TheReluctantRomantic-300x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVJsY7g6EDW5jnaHWvcueftiiL8xW9ByuwQMLJxyjkSppSoMD-sTdANyh4PIkMJ5j2VwgNYwDK0yFl6mXkyH0d_E5AULTbEQMa3cobjeEBUdsGjCE3HDgF75HF_nH1_cbvvmJJG4EfPrj/s1600/TheReluctantRomantic-300x300.jpg" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">June Hudson grew up in Grace Valley, the daughter of the town doctor. Leaving only to get her medical training, she returned home and followed in her father's footsteps. Some might say she chose the easy, comfortable route... but June knows better. For June, her emergency room is wherever she's needed - or wherever a patient finds her. Always on call, her work is her life, these people her extended family. Which is a good thing, since this is a town where you should have picked your husband in the ninth grade. Grace Valley is not exactly the place to meet eligible men - until an undercover DEA agent suddenly starts appearing at all sorts of strange hours.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My first Reluctant Romantic read was Robyn Carr's <i>Deep in the Valley</i>. After reading <i><a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/12/virgin-river-virgin-river-1-robyn-carr.html" target="_blank">Virgin River</a></i> last year and rather enjoying it, I decided to start safely with an author I've already read. I decided to start with the original trilogy, Grace Valley, because I'm one of those persons who need to read everything in order or go nuts. In this case, it was a bad idea.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsMv2ZSfn3CYsHOfZvQjL7qQgaWAPWaEdA3Aj1P24YjUpeP9hKHCyx1riUNyYKlxEB6oeYGmJHJksmy9wPoBYhwPKy9_8opPQlzT8r_6OE1zu8yfa991PKBoU9n4Zh2ZiJlNII7dXGPf-/s1600/deep+in+the+valley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsMv2ZSfn3CYsHOfZvQjL7qQgaWAPWaEdA3Aj1P24YjUpeP9hKHCyx1riUNyYKlxEB6oeYGmJHJksmy9wPoBYhwPKy9_8opPQlzT8r_6OE1zu8yfa991PKBoU9n4Zh2ZiJlNII7dXGPf-/s320/deep+in+the+valley.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Deep in the Valley</i> is really light on romance. In fact, shelving it as romance is probably a mistake. It's more like a mashup of small town and medical novels, if those were genres at all. The undercover DEA agent who is going to be the hero? Doesn't appear until midway through the novel. And he interacts with the heroine a grand total of three times. He has no more than ten sentences on the whole book! It's not a relationship in which one can become invested, definitely. If I hadn't read <i>Virgin River</i> first, I couldn't care less about the budding romance between June Hudson and Jim Post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The rest of the novel is all over the place and unfocused. The first half drags and it's a bit boring. There are too many characters with similar names and similar voices, and it's difficult to keep track of everyone. Then things finally start happening: an adulterous pastor, a secret pregnancy, two cases of abuse, a DEA raid, a rough birth, the heroine possibly saved by an angel... It was enough to keep me entertained, but it's ultimately a forgettable novel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Where Carr really shines is in the short romance scenes. She's really good at conveying true emotion - it's easy to believe the characters are really falling for each other. However, as she gives the hero no room for characterization, he comes across as quite stalkerish. I mean, if someone I've just met twice before entered in my house while I'm gone and left flowers on my pillow, I would lock myself inside the house and install alarms asap. And he is 'an impatient lover', which is something June finds very attractive, but that together with his stalkerish stroke and his lack of sentences, makes him look a bit like a psycho.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There was nothing quite so sensual as impatience, nothing so titillating as a man with a weak grasp on self-control, as a lover just dying to posses.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That sentence has the honor of being the first in my newly created collection of awkward romance quotes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Verdict: I should have kept on reading the Virgin River series.</span></div>
Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-7125712072396088632016-02-10T17:26:00.000+00:002016-02-10T21:40:58.761+00:00Little Women RAL: Chapters 1-17<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Suey at </span><a href="http://sueysbooks.blogspot.fr/" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;" target="_blank">It's All About Books</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> is hosting the </span><a href="http://sueysbooks.blogspot.fr/2016/02/little-women-read-along-part-one.html" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;" target="_blank">first check-in</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> of the </span><a href="http://jennielyse.com/little-women-read-along-signup-and-schedule/" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;" target="_blank"><i>Little Women</i> Read-Along</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">! A bunch of us are reading </span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Little Women</i><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Good Wives</i><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> during February (you can still join and catch up for the second check-in, which will be on the 19th!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's not the first time I read <i>Little Women</i>. My first time was almost 20 years ago (please, no comments on that, ha!), but I remembered it as a shorter book. After searching around, it turns out my edition didn't include <i>Good Wives</i>, which is now considered #1.5 of the series and is a standard addition to modern editions of the classic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I loved this book when I first read it. It was one of the first to make me very angry, too. I won't be spoilery for the sake of all you who haven't read it, but there were two events that made me literally throw the book against a wall (against a pillow, really - I can't bring myself to damage books).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm enjoying this re-read, but not as much as the first time. The book has many flaws - it has a slow start, can be overly preachy and sappy, and is definitely manipulative. Yet I'm enjoying myself immensely. I guess my opinion could be colored by my childhood memories. One thing hasn't changed, though: Jo is still my favorite - she was one of the first bookworms I encountered in a book, and I can't help identifying with her. Yes, even with her quick temper!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One thing has positively surprised me - this is a very bookish book! Bookish references abound, and not only concerning Jo. Everyone reads and acts, and all of them write with varying degrees of accomplishment! I love when books point me to other books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Enough babbling! Suey has kindly thought of some questions to spark conversation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>1. What's your opinions so far about each of the girls? Do you identify more with one or the other of them? Do you like them, or do they get on your nerves in a way? Which one do you think would be your friend?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I think Meg is too vain and Amy is too spoiled, but I love Jo and Beth to pieces. As I don't have to behave as a lady any longer, they don't make me feel too bad - when I was a child I couldn't fathom how they all were so good. My temper was very much like Jo's, but it has taken me longer to conquer it. I think we would get on very well, and if Beth let me talk to her, we could be good friends too!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>2. What do you think of Mrs. March aka. Marmee? What's one of your favorite pieces of advice or lessons she's taught the girls so far?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I really like her, and I'm appreciating her more in this re-read. Although she is too good to be true. Let's say <i>Little Women</i> is presenting an idealized version of family life. Even with her many trials she seems unfazed!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My favorite piece of advice:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for."</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's unbelievable the number of people that don't grasp this concept at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>3. Do you think that the characterization of these girls and this family is realistic? Explain.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I have just answered this question! Of course not. Louisa May Alcott was basing the Marches on her own family and I refuse to believe any family can be so saintly. Even when they're at their worst, they're still darlings! That simply doesn't happen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>4. What's your favorite scene or incident so far? And why?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This one's tough. I really liked the theatre piece, but as Laurence wasn't included it hardly seems fair. The P.C. and P.O. is very sweet, but I'm torn between that little club and Camp Laurence. Or maybe when Beth interacts with old Mr. Laurence? There are just too many!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>5. If this is your second (or third etc.) time reading this story, what stands out to you this time?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The bookishness and the foreshadowing. The narrator is always giving clues of what's to come!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>6. How do you feel about Jo cutting off her hair? Was this incident surprising to you? Do you think it's symbolic of anything?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The first time I read this it was shocking, but now I understand it. It's not only her wish to help, which is her main motivation, but also her wish to be herself. To display herself as the man of the house - not by having short hair, but by taking decisions to benefit her whole family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>7. What's your feeling about the inclusion of poems, letters, stories, plays and etc. into the story? </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">They are quite gimmicky, but I like them nonetheless. In fact, one of my favorite chapters is The P.C. and P.O.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>8. Any thoughts in particular on the male characters in this story?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Except for the Laurences and Mr. Brooke, the rest seem to be kind of jerky. Specially the Moffats. Ugh.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">9. Are you liking this reading experience?</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Very much!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And now, under a cut to stop all of you for wanting to kill me after all my chattering, here is my </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">blow-by-blow review of this first part:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chapters 1-2: Playing Pilgrims & A Merry Christmas</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The book starts describing the sisters and establishing their personalities pretty well, so it's easy to see their virtues and flaws right from the start. I didn't remember that it was set during the US Civil War, but this doesn't have a prominent role except to give a purpose to the absence of Mr. March, who has a very tragic past I had also forgotten. Not being from the US and not having read John Bunyan's <i>Pilgrim's Progress</i>, I was a bit lost regarding their particular journey, and I'm afraid I'll miss some references, too.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chapter 3: The Laurence Boy</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Wondering what a Redowa is?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">These young ladies were all very fit! And I imagined dances as a very tame thing!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chapters 4-6: Burdens, Being Neighborly & Beth Finds the Palace Beautiful</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"It's so nice to have little suppers and bouquets, and go to parties, and drive home, and read and rest, and not work. [...] I shall have to toil and moil all my days, with only little bits of fun now and then, and get old and ugly and sour, because I'm poor and can't enjoy my life as other girls do."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I hear you, Meg.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But isn't it funny how poor can be a relative term? What Meg describes is what most of us do: we work five days a week and rest only on weekends. Coming from high society, as the Marches do, can give you another perspective on what is toil. Right now, we wouldn't consider poor a family who could have a maid or cook like Hannah.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And once more, Beth is the sweetest of the four sisters. In her interactions with Mr. Laurence she reminds me of <i>The Secret Garden</i>.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQfh8fWBDOT6CPV5KLYBrUs1vP6wm148zq5BH4HcOBGM-jvHkZTmbdFcdaG94VjYZTYq9kmJvIC_mVYB3BCuhSn8L77RK5cnzKSFc6zNR1f7kgWz4iVzgv-Y8Uw3hhNI863mHUu-YkwqH/s1600/cabinet+piano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiQfh8fWBDOT6CPV5KLYBrUs1vP6wm148zq5BH4HcOBGM-jvHkZTmbdFcdaG94VjYZTYq9kmJvIC_mVYB3BCuhSn8L77RK5cnzKSFc6zNR1f7kgWz4iVzgv-Y8Uw3hhNI863mHUu-YkwqH/s320/cabinet+piano.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Cabinet piano from 1843 [<a href="http://www.monartcollection.com/category/the-piano-collection/cabinet-pianos/" target="_blank">Source</a>]</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chapter 7: Amy's Valley of Humiliation</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Boys are trying enough to human patience, goodness knows, but girls are infinitely more so, especially to nervous gentlemen with tyrannical tempers and no more talent for teaching than Dr. Blimber. Mr. Davis knew any quantity of Greek, Latin, algebra, and oologies of all sorts so he was called a fine teacher, and manners, morals, feelings, and examples were not considered of any particular importance."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This is one of my favorite passages from the book. Dr. Blimber is a reference to a teacher who runs a school where one of the characters from Charles Dickens' <i>Dombey and Son</i> dies. Louisa May Alcott throws shadow like no other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Apparently pickled limes were a very common snack in American schools during the 19th century, but they were regarded as a vice as vile as chewing gum, and they were considered to not held any nutritional value. They were extremely cheap compared to fruit, so I'm guessing many of these New England kids were saved from a cold or worse by their intake of vitamin C in this way.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chapters 8-9: Jo Meets Apollyon & Meg Goes to Vanity Fair</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">These chapters bring out the worst of the sisters. While it's true that Jo does have quite a bad temper, her sister Amy is too spoiled. Burning the manuscript her sister had been writing for several years is going too far. And then Meg can be so vain! I understand her wish to look good, to enjoy dinner parties, and balls, but once she overhears how cruel and worldly the Moffat can be, I can't understand how she still looks up to them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for."</span></blockquote>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chapters 10-11: The P.C. and P.O. & Experiments</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I loved reading the newspaper, with its little bits of daily life and the reflection of each of the writers. The same can be said about the gardens. I would prefer Beth's - simple, beautiful, fragrant, and purposeful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And another reference to Dickens in Jo's toast: Sairy Gamp is a nurse from <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i> who is known to be dissolute, slopy and generally drunk.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chapter 12: Camp Laurence</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Have games till it's cooler. I brought Authors, and I dare say Miss Kate knows something new and nice."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Maybe Authors is a popular game in the States, but it's completely unkown in Spain. Wikipedia says that it's a card game consisting of eleven sets of four cards each representing the works of eleven famous authors, and the object of the game is to complete as many sets as possible. I bit like Families, but bookish. I'd love to play! Wikipedia also says that Louisa May Alcott was among the authors featured in the original deck, but this has to be a mistake of some sort, as Authors was invented in 1861 and mentioned here, in 1868, so the game was published before <i>Little Women</i>.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-ze1aA-5mc7pjOd_uSTzvAnxQ4gbFgzPAkrtua9JWXz2s-FCR2WEoChV3gENzEm98sFM1-n9c7WLpLZ0xkOV67SispBSc5aTS4hUh_-YHdRA7JQXTCN56tC7PC4WrlPe3Fyh1tbu9h-A/s1600/11013966354_98b9251128_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS-ze1aA-5mc7pjOd_uSTzvAnxQ4gbFgzPAkrtua9JWXz2s-FCR2WEoChV3gENzEm98sFM1-n9c7WLpLZ0xkOV67SispBSc5aTS4hUh_-YHdRA7JQXTCN56tC7PC4WrlPe3Fyh1tbu9h-A/s400/11013966354_98b9251128_z.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Authors, with Louisa May Alcott herself. [<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/toekneesan/11013966354" target="_blank">Source</a>]</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chapter 13-14: Castles in the Air & Secrets</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There is lot of foreshadowing in these two chapters. I won't comment on it just yet, but I can't understand how I couldn't see the development of the plot the first time I read this. Now it all seems pretty obvious, but maybe it's because I know the ending.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One thing I don't like is how Meg's beauty is constantly exalted - it seems a bit shallow. Better to be interesting like Jo, than beautiful like Meg!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Chapters 15-17: A Telegram, Letters & Little Faithful</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We end the first part of the read-along almost on a cliffhanger, after several misfortunes have befallen the March family. I dread the second part!</span></div>
Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-19843176876515919302016-02-06T17:20:00.000+00:002016-02-06T17:20:02.475+00:00Reluctant Romantic: Genre Speed Dating<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What genre are you getting to know this month? Why do you want to give it a chance?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I've decided to try <b>romance</b>. You can see the books I'm thinking about reading <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2016/02/reluctant-romantic-tentative-reading.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Once upon a time, I was a lit snob who only read classics and lit fic. I looked down on my teen loves, YA, fantasy, comics and scifi. I had lost the joy of living, clearly. And of course I scoffed at those who read romance or mystery, or worst of all, cozies! If it was fun and light, it wasn't real reading! It's as ridiculous as it sounds, I'm afraid. But I'm slowly recovering. Now my reading diet is more varied and it includes a healthy portion of genre literature.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Romance is a genre with a reputation and I think it's unfair. It's not better or worse than any other genre literature (I guess).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I hope the Challenge helps me decide my true opinion about romance so that I stop spewing prejudices as if they were universal truths.</span>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-33681030187710863332016-02-04T14:00:00.000+00:002016-02-04T14:00:15.720+00:00The Secret History - Donna Tartt<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and for ever.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>The Secret History</i> is one of those books that appears in every reading list ever. A modern classic. So of course, I've been wanting to read it for what feels like forever, but I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. It was better than I was expecting: grisly murders, paranoid college students, and luscious campus and country descriptions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>The Secret History</i> is very much like a fairy tale where Richard Papen, our (quite bland) protagonist, goes from rags to riches by virtue of a miracle - or a murder, in this case. He tries to escape the commonalities of Plano, California by joining a tight-knit, elitist group of Greek students and faking a tragic and romantic character. As in any fairy tale, he gets more than what he bargained for when he's admitted to the inner sanctum. The glamour leaves way to an ugly mess. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But in no way is this novel a mystery, as I thought I was. It's not even a whydunnit. From the start, the reader knows that Richard and his group of friends have killed Bunny Corcoran. The novel is not an explanation of why they did it, which becomes fairly obvious by the middle of the book, but of the transformations that occur within the characters to be able to commit a crime and to regard the murder as the natural and inevitable consequence of their actions. Each of the college students embodies a vice and the final death of Henry is only the fulfillment of fate. We are, in fact, reading a greek tragedy in the form of a contemporary novel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The story is deliberately written as atemporal, although drug use and the scarce pop culture references point to the late 80s or early 90s as a setting. This is what lends the story a universal feeling, a prerequisite for being labeled as classic. Although the setting is very particular, the story explores friendship, love, jealousy, atavic fear and specially the dichotomy of restraint vs. freedom - all of them universal themes. The supernatural tinges only enhance those themes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Verdict: 4/5. It's a manipulative narrative with a very satisfactory ending. </span><br />
<br />Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-65242477127793038342016-02-02T17:00:00.000+00:002016-02-02T17:00:08.503+00:00Reluctant Romantic: A Tentative Reading List<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVJsY7g6EDW5jnaHWvcueftiiL8xW9ByuwQMLJxyjkSppSoMD-sTdANyh4PIkMJ5j2VwgNYwDK0yFl6mXkyH0d_E5AULTbEQMa3cobjeEBUdsGjCE3HDgF75HF_nH1_cbvvmJJG4EfPrj/s1600/TheReluctantRomantic-300x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlVJsY7g6EDW5jnaHWvcueftiiL8xW9ByuwQMLJxyjkSppSoMD-sTdANyh4PIkMJ5j2VwgNYwDK0yFl6mXkyH0d_E5AULTbEQMa3cobjeEBUdsGjCE3HDgF75HF_nH1_cbvvmJJG4EfPrj/s1600/TheReluctantRomantic-300x300.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During February, Katie at <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/" target="_blank">Doing Dewey</a> is hosting <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/2016/01/18/announcing-reluctant-romantic-challenge/" target="_blank">The Reluctant Romantic</a>, a challenge to get you acquainted with a genre you've been meaning to read but never seem to make time for, or maybe with a genre that scares you without having tried it. It's an opportunity!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I've decided to try <b><span style="color: #e06666;">romance</span></b>. I've been amassing romance recommendations for a while, but <b>any rec is <i>very </i>welcome, specially if it's a standalone</b>! Without further ado, I leave you with my list:</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18839546-deep-in-the-valley" target="_blank">Deep in the Valley</a> (Grace Valley Trilogy #1) - Robyn Carr</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I've read <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/12/virgin-river-virgin-river-1-robyn-carr.html" target="_blank">Virgin River</a> and enjoyed it quite well. In it the main character meets some couples from Grace Valley and they make references to this trilogy. As I thought the couples were very endearing, it could be nice to read the Grace Valley Trilogy first.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">2. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213026.The_Dark_Queen" target="_blank">The Dark Queen</a> (The Dark Queen Saga #1) - Susan Carroll</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Katie, who is also trying romance during February, recommended me this one. The synopsis makes it sound like historical fiction, which is a genre I already like. And at the same time there seems to be some fantasy involved, too, which is another genre I enjoy. Genre mashups like this one make trying romance less scary.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">3. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10428803-a-rogue-by-any-other-name" target="_blank">A Rogue by Any Other Name</a> (The Rules of Scoundrels #1) - Sarah MacLean</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I've only heard good things about Sarah MacLean. In fact, her books have been reviewed by Book Riot roughly saying something along the lines of "Did you think romance was badly written and full of clichés? You have not read Sarah MacLean." And in fact I haven't read Sarah MacLean, so I guess I should remedy that.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">4. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18052985-romancing-the-duke" target="_blank">Romancing the Duke</a> (Castles Ever After #1) - Tessa Dare</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">More or less the same has been said about Tessa Dare, with the added bonus that this book involves storybooks in its plot.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">5. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11126571-sweet-enemy" target="_blank">Sweet Enemy</a> (Veiled Seduction #1) - Heather Snow</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ifi, a friend from GR, has recommended me this one specifically since the heroine is a scientist! In Regency England! I'm cautiously excited.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">6. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18775297-sweet-filthy-boy" target="_blank">Sweet Filthy Boy</a> (Wild Seasons #1) - Christina Lauren</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's more like new adult, so I think it will be very different from the rest of the books in this list. Again, a glowing Book Riot review made me add it to my wishlist.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">7. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23398817-asking-for-it" target="_blank">Asking for It</a> (Asking for It #1) - Lilah Pace</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Apparently, this is the BDSM romance/erotica book you have to read if you want controversy on your plate. It's right there in the title. Everyone says it's well written <i>and</i> thought-provoking. This book is so far from my comfort zone that I may as well have to take a plane to go and read it, but at the same time is the one I'm most curious about. If I get to this one, none of you will ever say that I didn't try!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Of course, I reserve the rights (1) not to finish a book if I'm not enjoying it, (2) not to finish the list, and (3) go on reading a series if I feel like it instead of starting a new one.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What do you say? Is this too bold for a newbie?</span></b>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-75099854830809941252016-02-01T14:49:00.000+00:002016-02-01T14:49:00.597+00:00January in Mini-Review<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When I said <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/12/regarding-blogging.html" target="_blank">back in December</a> that I wanted to blog differently, I meant it. One of the things that were stressing me were reviews. I enjoy writing little comments about what I read for my perusal. My memory is not good at all, and my reviews come to help when I want to recall what a book was about. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But sometimes I just don't have so much to say about a book, or a short paragraph is enough to convey my opinion. The solution came to mind this week: I can do <b>monthly mini-reviews</b>! And if I want to talk more about a book, I can always publish a more extensive review anyway. So here we go with a hound from hell, a teenage alien killing spree, a villain trying to escape a mental prison, and a voyage around the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8921.The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">The Hound of the Baskervilles</a> - <span style="color: #e06666;">Arthur Conan Doyle</span> (1902)</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEvxNmC1GnT58rBfruTImeDnOwabfyiFYlqJkyqt2QUoOBsaZElZnI_IpO9zcaA-q1T77v7lVh1OZd2yYRD7At2eF8fnUlGKmPNXhHpexee95RvTFTIeQeA1YU_ezjl13m4UkVN4J61sD/s1600/the+hound+of+the+baskervilles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTEvxNmC1GnT58rBfruTImeDnOwabfyiFYlqJkyqt2QUoOBsaZElZnI_IpO9zcaA-q1T77v7lVh1OZd2yYRD7At2eF8fnUlGKmPNXhHpexee95RvTFTIeQeA1YU_ezjl13m4UkVN4J61sD/s320/the+hound+of+the+baskervilles.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What is it about?</b> A hound from hell is haunting the Baskerville family mansion in the moors. After the recent death of Sir Charles Baskerville in mysterious circumstances, his only heir contacts Sherlock Holmes to banish the curse that has been troubling his family for centuries.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why did I read it?</b> On one of my many rewatches of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Sherlock</a>, that masterpiece of British television, I decided I wanted to reread every Sherlock Holmes book. I added them to my <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-classics-club-list.html" target="_blank">Classics Club list</a> and have currently finished #5 out of 9, putting me past the equator.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What did I think?</b> It's more entertaining than I remembered, specially compared to the other slow-going Sherlock novels (I think the short stories are superior in every aspect). The novel is very atmospheric, with ominous moors and a hint of the supernatural, and has a very gothic plot, full of secret wives, secret children and not one, but two murderers. It's a bit of a romp. The only downside is that it's narrated mostly through extracts from Dr. Watson's diaries and Sherlock doesn't appear as much as I would have liked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Verdict:</b> Solid 4/5. I really enjoyed. If you are a newbie to Sherlock, I recommend starting with <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/313421044" target="_blank">The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</a></i> and then following with this novel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10809463-marvel-boy" target="_blank">Marvel Boy</a> - <span style="color: #e06666;">Grant Morrison & J.G. Jones</span> (2000)</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV7ufmO-TLqYYxPsY_N4AxyXHVGD6LOv7E7UixLwrduuOq6mPv1Z8k4FIU08K_1gu9ok6NrSZSETlmxb2ag1O-JHGDGfO9hm_IG7tf2vcGYBFiYBLzr4XNEDHVkqI8yNlnCycdeqIiR9xX/s1600/marvel+boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV7ufmO-TLqYYxPsY_N4AxyXHVGD6LOv7E7UixLwrduuOq6mPv1Z8k4FIU08K_1gu9ok6NrSZSETlmxb2ag1O-JHGDGfO9hm_IG7tf2vcGYBFiYBLzr4XNEDHVkqI8yNlnCycdeqIiR9xX/s1600/marvel+boy.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What is it about?</b> I wish I could tell you! Ha. Okay, it's about Noh-Varr, aka Marvel Boy, a teenaged Kree alien from planet Hala who's seeking vengeance on the petty humans who have killed his family and friends just for profit and then tried to enslave him and experiment on him. The problem is that instead of focusing only on Dr. Midas, the madman behind this tragedy, he's decided to vent his wrath upon all humankind - or at least, New York.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why did I read it?</b> This is a question I'm still comtemplating, as this was so lame! When I was a young kid, I used to read old Marvel issues from when my dad was a teen and thought they were a blast. But I never bought new ones myself because I thought the world of superhero comics was too sprawling and complicated to know where to start. I was also a victim of being A Woman in a Comic Shop, which is something I hope none of you have to suffer. Enter the Internet! And the democratization of comics knowledge! I found <a href="http://www.comicbookherald.com/the-complete-marvel-reading-order-guide/" target="_blank">Comic Book Herald's Complete Marvel Reading Order Guide</a> and armed myself with a Marvel Unlimited subscription, ready to have fun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What did I think?</b> As you probably have guessed, I loathed it. <i>Marvel Boy</i> is what it says on the tin: the ultimate white male teenage power fantasy. I had been led to believe Grant Morrison could write comics. Specifically, controversial and culturally-relevant comics. Well, this is complete bullshit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Verdict:</b> negative stars. It's the second worst Marvel comic I've read to date.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3302813-doom" target="_blank">Doom</a> - <span style="color: #e06666;">Chuck Dixon & Leonardo Manco</span> (2002)</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZTRhuqRKg44ugFAZKAQyoPUURiCZmGh07fGmlw51uaFphQz-rGfAwp-co_k_UFVmFFdiZU-F5aaPLZfuNZDoeZ881TOQDTeL8aNxZIBk21d19u-iZnwAwUP-k4nLad9WJFLvIPGpjA9bN/s1600/doom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZTRhuqRKg44ugFAZKAQyoPUURiCZmGh07fGmlw51uaFphQz-rGfAwp-co_k_UFVmFFdiZU-F5aaPLZfuNZDoeZ881TOQDTeL8aNxZIBk21d19u-iZnwAwUP-k4nLad9WJFLvIPGpjA9bN/s1600/doom.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What is it about?</b> Franklin Richards, son of Reed Richards (aka Mister Fantastic from the Fantastic Four), has imprisoned Doctor Doom, their nemesis, on a realm of his prodigious mind. <i>Doom</i> tells the story of how Doctor Doom escaped.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why did I read it?</b> Next in the Marvel ROG. But I was dreading it. Why, you ask? Chuck Dixon has the honor of having written the worst Marvel comic I've read to date, <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1436517624?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">Marvel Knights</a></i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What did I think?</b> It's terrible. Badly written, full of plot holes, everyone is out of character. It was so bad it was unintendedly funny! If you want to see some panels to see what I'm talking about, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1502492638?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">click here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Verdict:</b> 1/5 stars. I disliked it, but not so intensely as I hated <i>Marvel Knights</i> or <i>Marvel Boy</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7064738-around-the-world-in-seventy-two-days" target="_blank">Around the World in Seventy-Two Days</a> - <span style="color: #e06666;">Nellie Bly</span> (1890)</span></h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfxySR0Ft8dcYRFG_KHWXjR6zOdLb6q8j-GPrcriQojZdvTea7USBOeKk3hp4FfGXtCo5sKkb-dcmAsVpt2dYy3Fr-IA_TfjQApuendgj8RkjBVXL3qfPW05p41yRsmV1FXoyNStQXhdZw/s1600/around+the+world+in+72+days.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfxySR0Ft8dcYRFG_KHWXjR6zOdLb6q8j-GPrcriQojZdvTea7USBOeKk3hp4FfGXtCo5sKkb-dcmAsVpt2dYy3Fr-IA_TfjQApuendgj8RkjBVXL3qfPW05p41yRsmV1FXoyNStQXhdZw/s320/around+the+world+in+72+days.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What is it about?</b> Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, better know by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist during the Victorian era who decided to beat the fictional record of Phileas Fogg of going around the world in less then eighty days. This is the account of her travels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why did I read it?</b> I am participating in <a href="https://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/category/womens-classic-literature-event-2016/" target="_blank">The Classics Club's Women's Classic Literature in 2016</a>, and my plan is to read a book a month. I am also very interested in kickass women from history, and am particularly attracted to explorers and adventurers. Nellie Bly fits the bill, so I decided to give this a try.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What did I think?</b> It was a fantastic read, better than I was expecting. Nellie Bly has an endearing journalistic voice and reading her exploits is very entertaining. She's also quite against the grain when it comes to what a lady should have been - she presents herself as not the most gracious woman out there, and indeed she has quite a foul mood when she enconters adversities in her travelling times. Her descriptions are luscious without ever incurring on self-indulgent blabbering, which I think it's because of the journalistic nature of her endeavor. Unfortunately, the book is not without problems. Nellie is subject to a colonialistic point of view which leads her to see POCs as inferior per nature, although in her defense I'll say that for being Victorian she fights her own prejudices quite well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After reading this, I want to know more about her, because she was quite a woman. I actually suspect she could have been queer, since she keeps rebuffing men throughout the book while her descriptions of women are well, of questionable innocence. No less than three times she longs to kiss or caress different women. She eventually married a man who was over 40 years her senior, and they never had kids. Of course this doesn't indicate one thing or the other, so I'm quite curious about what her biographers have to say about her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Verdict:</b> 4/5 stars. Her descriptions of 'coolies' and 'Chinamen' are off-putting, but historically coherent, so I thought I would warn you just in case.</span>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-11805607715760472522016-01-31T10:30:00.002+00:002016-01-31T18:31:07.588+00:00Currently | In France!<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I <strike>shamelessly stole</strike> got this idea from Kim, who blogs at <a href="http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/" target="_blank">Sophisticated Dorkiness</a>. She reviews the most amazing books, so go read her blog!</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The month of silence has been due to just one thing: I've temporarily relocated to France! I'll be living here this semester for my PhD. At first it was overwhelming, since I didn't know anyone here, and I acutely missed my family and friends. Fortunately, I'm in a great place and have already met a bunch of lovely persons.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Time</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: 11:30</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b>Place</b>: Desk in my temporal apartment</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>Eating & Drinking</b>: Mint tea with honey for a sore throat</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>Reading</b>: </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During the first two weeks of January I didn't read that much with the planning and preparation, but I've compensated it (prepare for a batch of mini-reviews!). </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I've recently finished Nellie Bly's </span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Around the World in Seventy-Two Days</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and loved it, and I'm about a quarter through Tor.com's annual short story collection... of 2014! It has been languishing in my TBR pile for almost a year. I want to finish it before they publish the new one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>Listening</b>: Lots of radio. Will I get used to French?</span><br />
<b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"><br /></b><b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Watching</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">: <i>Downton Abbey</i>. I abandoned it midway through but I got the Downton bug last week and watched three episodes in a row. It's as soapy as I remember it, but at the same time so good!</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Loving</b>: Tourism! I always like getting to know new places.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Promoting</b>: I'm going to be participating in two events during February:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://jennielyse.com/little-women-read-along-signup-and-schedule/" target="_blank">Little Women Read-Along</a> hosted by <a href="http://jennielyse.com/" target="_blank">Jenni Elyse</a>, <a href="http://kamislibrarythoughts.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">Kami</a> and <a href="http://sueysbooks.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">Suey</a>. I'm very excited about this, since it's been a really long time since I last read <i>Little Women</i>. It will also be my monthly classic for the <a href="https://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/category/womens-classic-literature-event-2016/" target="_blank">Women's Classic Literature Event</a> organized by <a href="https://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The Classics Club</a>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/2016/01/18/announcing-reluctant-romantic-challenge/" target="_blank">The Reluctant Romantic Challenge</a> hosted by <a href="http://doingdeweydecimal.com/" target="_blank">Katie</a>, which is about getting acquainted with a genre that you've always meant to read but never seem to get around to, or even with a genre you're scared of! I'll be doing <b>romance</b>. <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/12/virgin-river-virgin-river-1-robyn-carr.html" target="_blank">I read my first real romance novel last year</a>, but I'm still very new to the genre.</span></li>
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Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-14745415497955674652016-01-11T21:31:00.000+00:002016-01-11T21:31:23.542+00:00Life According to Literature: 2015<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I saw this at <a href="http://marelden.com/?p=5665" target="_blank">Marelden's</a> and thought it was a fun way of recording what I've read this year. The survey is originally <a href="http://blog.catherinepope.co.uk/2016/01/life-according-to-literature-2015/" target="_blank">Catherine Pope's</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Describe yourself:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1303384839?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">The Hedge Knight</a> (George R.R. Martin)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> [Since I've been traveling <i>so</i> much this year.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>How do you feel:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/738396177?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">Too Much Happiness</a> (Alice Munro)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Describe where you currently live:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21495416-ciudades-de-papel" target="_blank">Paper Towns</a> (John Green)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>If you could go anywhere, where would you go:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1167157347?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">Virgin River</a> (Robyn Carr)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Your favourite form of transportation:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1263224787?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">Daddy-Long-Legs</a> (Jean Webster) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> [I struggled with this question, so I chose this book because of the legs. Lame, I know.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Your best friend is:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1242008013?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">The Human Engineer</a> (Jessica Brody)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>You and your friends are:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25081170-amicae-aeternum" target="_blank">Amicae Aeternum</a> (Ellen Klages)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What's the weather like:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7816926-el-ladr-n-del-rayo" target="_blank">The Lightning Thief</a> (Rick Riordan)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>You fear:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1089490232?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">The Innocents Abroad: or, The New Pilgrims' Progress</a> (Mark Twain)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> [I'm traveling again in three days to spend a semester abroad, and it's scary.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What is the best advice you have to give:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13121501-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower" target="_blank">The Perks of Being a Wallflower</a> (Stephen Chbosky)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Thought for the day:</b> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1301177669?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">Blue is the Warmest Color</a> (Julie Maroh)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>How I would like to die:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25762770-el-ltimo-puerto" target="_blank">O Último Cais</a> (Helena Marques)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> [<i>O Último Cais</i> means The Last Harbor, that is, of old age.]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>My soul's present condition:</b> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1079315342?book_show_action=false" target="_blank">The Map of Chaos</a> (Félix J. Palma)</span></div>
Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-83234028384044992502015-12-26T19:29:00.000+00:002016-01-31T15:03:56.373+00:00Paper Towns - John Green<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">John Green is world-level famous, and has a giant number of fans, self called nerdfighters. I had encountered JG before in gifsets and quotes and thought he wasn't my cup of tea. So I let that hype train pass. I then found him on crash course and mental floss, and thought his videos were funny and highly informative, but I still wasn't convinced to read his books. Then I also watched part of <i>The Lizzie Bennet Diaries</i> because how could one not watch it and realized that Hank Green was his brother. So I went to see what vlogbrothers channel was all about, because the brothers Green seemed something special. And it was awkward and funny and great. And I thought that maybe John's quirky monologues would find their way into his books, so I, being a sucker for witty banter because I grew up on Gilmore Girls, couldn't pass up the opportunity to read witty dialogues. But I still wasn't convinced enough to buy his books, since I'm a bit of a snob at heart, and my library doesn't carry JG books. So John Green and me were at an impasse until I got <i>Paper Towns</i> as a Christmas gift. I waited until summer because this book looked like a summer book (and because a movie was happening).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And here we are, after having run out of excuses. The first thing I have to get out of my chest, being the little snob that I am, is that John Green doesn't write high literature. His prose is not something to contemplate, breathless. But the witty banter was there, the pace was quick and I was entertained. Even more, I was rewarded for watching those vlogbrothers vids, because they are an unexpected window into John Green's creative process. I played a game of spotting the references to his research or to real events of his own life in the pages of this novel. It was cool, like being an insider, and made the world of <i>Paper Towns</i> a lot more encompassing and real.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The characters in this book could be any group of real life teens. some were nerds and some were popular, most had sex on their minds. All of them were awkward. They were, in spite of what may seem, believable. One of the assets of John Green is that he accurately remembers how it was being a teen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What I wasn't expecting was the seriousness underlying the apparent banality. I was expecting a fun road trip with friends, not a study of expression and perception by others. Of depression. A deconstruction of the manic pixie dream girls, which is one of the most pervasive and hateful tropes ever written - I like this story (<i>500 days of summer</i> comes to mind) and like reading iterations of this story. Margo has the right to be selfish and even hateful because she is a real person. She isn't likeable, but I don't see why she should be. That's the point of the book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Isn't it also that on some fundamental level we find it difficult to understand that other people are human beings in the same way that we are? We idealize them as gods or dismiss them as animals.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It's true that the ending was anticlimatic, but it was the perfect ending for this book. More mature than I was expecting. John Green definitely gets teens. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Verdict, even though I guess everyone already knows how they feel about John Green: John Green seems to be polarizing, and readers expects too many different things from his books. I liked it way more than I was expecting. I will give my two cents: read his books as if they weren't written by anybody in particular.</span></div>
Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-39799312119083308102015-12-23T21:26:00.000+00:002016-01-31T15:08:29.395+00:00The Collected Short Stories of Conrad Aiken<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Disclosure: This book came free for review - thanks, <a href="http://www.openroadmedia.com/" target="_blank">Open Road Media</a>! However, this hasn't affected my review. My opinions, as always, are only mine.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1JLB-BSPuS56Ry_0JCXifOW4FI3g2QqLCCRzP1uP9QXabPB12BYWtpPRmxMalWZQOYPQuY5YxtonWjOKtZdax9laP7mNSh8RUxLlhfR6miTilm14xjIcM68izG0C8amKGPx9g46LYJL9G/s1600/the+collected+short+stories+of+conrad+aiken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1JLB-BSPuS56Ry_0JCXifOW4FI3g2QqLCCRzP1uP9QXabPB12BYWtpPRmxMalWZQOYPQuY5YxtonWjOKtZdax9laP7mNSh8RUxLlhfR6miTilm14xjIcM68izG0C8amKGPx9g46LYJL9G/s320/the+collected+short+stories+of+conrad+aiken.jpg" width="207" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As I've repeated quite a few times already, I'm a sucker for short stories. They tempt me - they are bite-sized novels. I can't resist. Open Road Media sure knew what they were doing when they send me a collection of short stories and by an author I'd never heard about before, no less. Well, it turns out he was a great poet, novelist, literary critic, and father of two great writers (Jane and Joan Aiken).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I liked the Collected Stories, but it was as uneven as any other collection out there, specially taking into account that this collects the whole literary production of Conrad Aiken in the field of short stories, from the 1920s to the 1960s. We can see how Conrad grew and matured through his writing. And many things happened in those forty years: a world war, civil rights, women liberation, the first instances of the technological revolution that would shape our century. This is all reflected in Aiken's worldview, and it's a delight to see that world change through his work. </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">However, whatever the theme or the subject is, there are two constants to his stories:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">1) </span><b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Great quality of prose</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. I mean, the man has a Pulitzer, so it's not like y'all needed me to point this out, but his writing is like poetry. It is precious in its simplicity. Honestly, it reads like a writer's writer if I ever saw one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">2) </span><b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">An autobiographical streak</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">. Because, see, Conrad Aiken didn't have an easy childhood. His father killed his mother one day and then committed suicide, leaving Conrad orphaned. This, of course, marked Aiken very deeply, who proceeded to explore different kinds of mental instability in his stories.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">He explores the human condition - the good and the bad. Mainly the bad. Infidelity, pettiness, betrayal. What takes to ditch social mores. What happens when one ditches them. Is a killer insane or just off the social path? How does one get off? Is it slowly or just all at once? In many cases, there is a Christian sensibility to his stories: often religion is not the answer, or at least the persons who practice this religion are flawed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Much as I liked his social/human stories, I couldn't help enjoying his horror stories even better. Which unfortunately were few and far between. The horror of Aiken is quiet and chilling, in a way that reminds me of Poe. In fact, his most anthologized short stories belong to this genre: </span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Mr. Arcularis</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> and </span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Silent Snow, Secret Snow</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">. He actually wrote a ghost story like no other, a story that is so good that is now in my top ten best short stories ever: </span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">State of Mind</i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">. It is so subtle, well-written, bone-chilling and reflective at the same time that it is a perfect story indeed.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">I have to recommend this, it was a great book. Conrad Aiken is unjustly forgotten. Let's hope this new edition will bring up a little bit of recognition to Aiken.</b>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-21086859115629388022015-12-21T20:54:00.000+00:002015-12-21T20:54:03.766+00:00Virgin River (Virgin River #1) - Robyn Carr<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFc-TY1acffdGR8ni1DfnNLz6jeD0_xl-bBfcqB7SHiBmPdf6SiyG3FwRLL_KjeBy2tHgft2L4Io-E4IyvTXU514ZVrqrPiIf2RhUkNS6YV85d7Ir_cvMN-xs5zixHx7_gn0GDC6GwbfnH/s1600/virgin+river.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFc-TY1acffdGR8ni1DfnNLz6jeD0_xl-bBfcqB7SHiBmPdf6SiyG3FwRLL_KjeBy2tHgft2L4Io-E4IyvTXU514ZVrqrPiIf2RhUkNS6YV85d7Ir_cvMN-xs5zixHx7_gn0GDC6GwbfnH/s320/virgin+river.jpg" width="202" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>"Wanted: Midwife/nurse practitioner in Virgin River, population six hundred. Make a difference against the backdrop of towering California redwoods and crystal-clear rivers. Rent-free cabin included." </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>When the recently widowed Melinda Monroe sees this ad she quickly decides that the remote mountain town of Virgin River might be the perfect place to escape her heartache, and to reenergize the nursing career she loves. But her high hopes are dashed within an hour of arriving: the cabin is a dump, the roads are treacherous and the local doctor wants nothing to do with her. Realizing she's made a huge mistake, Mel decides to leave town the following morning. But a tiny baby, abandoned on a front porch, changes her plans...and a former marine cements them into place.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This has been my first full romance novel ever. I promise to resist every lame virgin pun. Can we have a look to my <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1167157347" target="_blank">GR updates</a>?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1167157347" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisGUSSCqXEoIPaj0_jMOozToR8iKPhY9TEw-8aFLAbsKxmJ9s54DqXfwNN38-pKsMkjmgMvP1qmjbiU5tS54Z1lySLewKh1nI6DTCKgT_VQEeAcQZ9HosS5oCDquv3cl9jW0uXeiC1G7zZ/s400/virgin+river+updates.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was excited to be reading this! So many opinions.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I liked it. I know I sound surprised, and I shouldn't, because it so judgemental to think badly of romance novels without ever having read one. Hi, I'm Masanobu, a former book snob on the way to recovery. I asked for help, and happily </span><a href="http://marelden.com/" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">Maria Helena</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> pointed me to </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/107767.Robyn_Carr?from_search=true&search_version=service_impr" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">Robyn Carr</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> and her </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/41475-virgin-river" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">Virgin River</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> series, and here I am.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">I don't know whether I would have been drawn to the story on my own. It's true that I love medical shenanigans and stories set in small towns, but I'm not big on babies (I do like puppies and ice cream, for the record). And they are a big part of the plot. It's right there in the back of the book. But I gave it a try and, while </span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Virgin River</i><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> is not devoid of problems, I enjoyed reading it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">The story is very much a slice of life - it's very quiet. What moves the plot forward is the emotional journey of Melinda, who is trying to get over the death of her husband to be able to function in society again. With time, she forms a friendship with Jack, an ex-marine living in Virgin River, and they both develop feelings for each other. Mel harbors contradicting emotions of love for Jack and betrayal to her dead husband, which were very well portrayed, with much sensitivity. It was easy to feel empathy for her. The initial sexual tension and sex scenes were tastefully written - delicate, but powerful. They made you feel the love between both characters. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">The pace became a little uneven after Jack and Mel get together, though, and I lost a bit of interest on the story. Too much shirt yanking, too few meaningful interactions for my taste. I had my heart set on the wedding and birth, and on the resolution of some of the secondary characters' storylines, so coming to the end without my resolution made me a bit cranky. I guess it's because </span><i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Virgin River</i><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;"> is the first novel of a long saga, but it feels like a cheap trick to make me want to read more. I would have read the subsequent novels anyway - I want to know more about Doc, Liz and Ricky, Connie, Preacher and the couples in Grace Valley. The characters have grown on me. After a few days, I find myself wondering how they all are doing. I didn't expect to get attached to these people so easily.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">What I couldn't wrap my head around was Melinda's recklessness regardind unprotected sex. She is a midwife and an expert on women's health. Even if she thought she was infertile, she should have thought about STDs. That rattled me, and I knew that Mel would get pregnant. As I said, I'm not crazy about babies, so it was hard to identify with her yearning. But that I can get behind. My problem with this storyline is that it is a bit lazy. Pregnancy and overcoming infertility to signify emotional healing and/or growth is so old it's one of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;" target="_blank">Propp's fairy tales functions</a><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">. It's symbolic, yes, a new life substitutes the life lost, bonds characters and reminds them of their mortality and will to make the most of life. But I wish Mel could have healed before getting pregnant. On the other hand, babies are such a big part of who Mel is that this pregnancy definitely makes sense. By what I've gathered about romance, it seems to rely a lot on conventions. Quite like folk tales, everything is a bit mythic. Am I probably overthinking this? Yes, I am. I'm conflicted, what can you do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">I just have one question for all you who have read Robyn Carr: are there really towns in the US like this one? It felt so quintessentially American that it rang a bit false - shooting bears in the wild, Hummers, rifles, fishing. It amused me, but I couldn't fully get in the setting because of this. I was expecting something similar to Gilmore Girls' Stars Hollow, and I almost got Little House on the Prairie!</span></div>
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<i style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Any recs for a romance newbie?</i></div>
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Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-14903281311522613242015-12-20T20:57:00.002+00:002015-12-20T20:57:46.820+00:00Regarding blogging<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>This blog has been dead for quite a while. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I told myself it was because I have been travelling quite a lot for grad school. And because I had a load of work and a load of coursework. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">All of that is true, but I just have prioritized other things before the blog. I've been running my tumblr (almost) smoothly. I haven't stopped reading. I've been watching TV shows. I've playing board games and videogames. I've been baking, which I love and hadn't done for quite a while. While I don't enjoy luxurious chunks of spare time, it seems that I'm willing to make time for other things I enjoy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>So I've decided to face the real cause behind my blogging hiatus: I don't enjoy this format.</b> I dread reviews. Most books don't elicit in me that desire to write a long, thoughtful review about them. And let's be real, comments aren't flowing. My main impulse behind blogging was finding a community to talk about books, but I found it better on booklr. I can't seem to find a blogging community where I can fully fit. And I've realized it might be because I'm not blogging as I'd like - I was just following what other bloggers do. That has turned blogging into a chore, not something I enjoy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I was going to make the usual end-of-year recap about the blog and some New Year's resolutions about how I want to change the content and make my blog truly mine. But screw that - New Year's way too far away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>I'm starting right now.</b><i> I'm back to blogging!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(I will post past due reviews because I feel like owe these books a fair review, but when I get up to date with those, I will do as I please - mainly, I'll only write extensively about books that warrant it, and write mini-reviews for the rest on a regular basis)</span></div>
Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-84989334352507705512015-11-15T11:23:00.000+00:002015-11-15T11:23:09.345+00:00Currently | Reunited with my books<i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I <strike>shamelessly stole</strike> got this idea from Kim, who blogs at <a href="http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/" target="_blank">Sophisticated Dorkiness</a>. She reviews the most amazing books, so go read her blog!</span></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burgos Public Library<br />I quite like the contrast between the new library and the old church</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I've come back home after over a month and a half of living out of a tiny suitcase. October has been a great month for my PhD, but not so good for anything else. I haven't finished a single book in October! I couldn't participate in Dewey's Readathon, nor in Halloween events or the RIP challenge. I also blew Aarti's Diversiverse. I'm so happy to be home again! I have a backlog of books to read and reviews to write: All the Pretty Books is alive once more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Time</b>: 12:20</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b>Place</b>: Couch at home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>Eating & Drinking</b>: Greek yoghurt and panettone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>Reading</b>: Yesterday I finished <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70897.The_Secret_History" target="_blank">The Secret History</a></i>, which left me quite in awe. I also finished <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26001926-marvel-knights-1-15" target="_blank">Marvel Knights</a></i>, which is the most awful Marvel comic I've read to date. Next up is <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13121501-the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower" target="_blank">The Perks of Being a Wallflower</a></i>. I loved the movie, so I expect to enjoy the book. And after that I have several books I'm looking forward to, like <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6114921-fire-study" target="_blank">Fire Study</a></i>, <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17929633-chew-vol-7?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">Chew: Bad Apples</a></i>, or <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8921.The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles?from_search=true&search_version=service" target="_blank">The Hound of the Baskervilles</a></i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b>Playing</b>: I am almost finished with the point-and-click adventure <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Monkey_Island" target="_blank">The Curse of Monkey Island</a></i>. It's great fun, but I preferred the previous two. The story was better, and the puzzles were both harder to solve and more logical.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">Watching</b><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">: <i>Castle</i></span><span style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif;">. 8th season. I know it's just a procedural, but I enjoy it greatly because the literary references (of which there are few and far between lately) and because of the casting. They are good actors with great chemistry. The new season has started strongly, but I'm not convinced about the evolution of the characters, especially Kate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;"><b>Hating</b>: Deep cleaning and organizing. The apartment is kind of a mess. My suitcases lie half-unpacked, the laundry basket is scary and there's dust in every nook and cranny.</span>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-23236216455874170042015-09-13T12:56:00.001+01:002015-09-13T12:56:55.641+01:00Currently | Getting into the fall spirit<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I <strike>shamelessly stole</strike> got this idea from Kim, who blogs at <a href="http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/" target="_blank">Sophisticated Dorkiness</a>. She reviews the most amazing books, so go read her blog!</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i>The weather is chilling - mornings are particularly crisp. Leaves are turning to brown. Things at work are slowly going back to normal. Everyone is back from their summer holidays, but the stress levels are low for the time being. I have a couple of big business trips in the near future, though, so I'm having the laziest weekend I can because it's probably one of the last ones I get to spend at home until end of October / November. My SO is out of town, so I've been lounging and reading on the couch most of the time and it's been great.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i><b>Time</b>: 13:55</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b>Place</b>: Living room table at home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Eating & Drinking</b>: A homemade caramel macchiato. I'm really proud of how creamy and frothy it turned.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Reading</b>: Yesterday I finished <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6442769-paper-towns" target="_blank">Paper Towns</a></i>, which left me a bit shattered. I was expecting something completely different. Today I'm reading the <a href="https://archive.org/stream/householdstories00grimrich#page/n11/mode/2up" target="_blank">Lucy and Walter Crane edition of the Brothers Grimm tales</a> and <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46568.My_Sweet_orange_Tree" target="_blank">My Sweet Orange Tree</a></i>, a Brazilian children's classic that is sadly out of print in English. It is a very gloomy book, but one worth reading.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Playing</b>: I've gone back to playing <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/72850/" target="_blank">The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</a>. My favorite aspect of this game is the lore. You have to find out about it by exploring (as it's usual) and by reading books in game. What's not to love? Unfortunately, dungeons get repetitive after a while, so I end up playing for a few days, getting fed up, turning to other games, and finally coming back. At this rate, I'm gonna finish it in my deathbed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Writing</b>: Some reviews. I should also start writing a character sheet for an upcoming roleplaying game I've been invited to join.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b>Watching</b>: <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118298/" target="_blank">Daria</a>. </i>It was a show I loved to pieces when it was aired. I always identified a bit with Daria, even though she is kind of an ass some times. Also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers/videos?view=0&flow=grid&sort=da" target="_blank">vlogbrothers videos</a>, because of <i>Paper Towns</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Promoting</b>: I'm still doing the <a href="http://everyprettybook.tumblr.com/tagged/september-book-photo-challenge" target="_blank">September Book Photo Challenge</a> over on Tumblr</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Elsewhere</b>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><a href="https://suite.io/bailey-poland/6qwp2mv" target="_blank">Similarities between anti-suffragette posters and anti-feminist memes</a> @ <a href="https://suite.io/" target="_blank">Suite</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"One of the strategies often used by anti-feminists is to compare current-day feminism to the suffragette movement, claiming that “back then,” feminists worked for something important and worthwhile – but today, feminists are just shrill, dissatisfied harpies who want to dominate men and sleep around. What these anti-feminists fail to realize, however, is that the arguments they use against feminists now are nearly identical to the arguments used a century ago in protest against the women’s suffrage movement."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://bookriot.com/2015/09/07/power-library-needed/" target="_blank">The power of a library where it's needed the most</a> @ <a href="http://bookriot.com/" target="_blank">BookRiot</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"That humble library filled with books donated by adults and kids who believed that access to books was as important as access to clean water or fresh air or healthy food. That top floor of a South Bronx brownstone that gave these beautiful kids a world beyond the walls of a homeless shelter."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://bookriot.com/2015/09/10/6-novels-featuring-mental-illness-world-suicide-prevention-day/" target="_blank">6 Novels featuring mental illness for World Suicide Prevention Day</a> @ <a href="http://bookriot.com/" target="_blank">BookRiot</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"I chose these books because the stigma around mental illness often (though increasingly less often) muffles the conversations that can help us relate to each other. We need to relate, I think, and there are plenty of us out there who go through it, but it’s hard to know who you can trust to confide in sometimes. Reading a book can help facilitate that connection, though; I like reading about people who have depression and anxiety because I feel less alone. I’ll see something I can relate to and think, “oh thank God, it’s not just me.”"</span>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-62699893866184154012015-09-09T19:13:00.001+01:002015-09-09T19:13:12.561+01:00Bailén - Benito Pérez Galdós<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5Sp5fj3kKvVCNZgRg8K9nN9lbolOdWia9sTcd4e5IuVsO61XtyEmFGV9B6BO0j0XJTU7Ar1CjmFLUQm7lx1Hi2hfI6JHkzKbG3ivaHMo8WkHYBlVBxvP97GClgJ7mxoPvq9SMK4mBtzL/s1600/bail%25C3%25A9n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5Sp5fj3kKvVCNZgRg8K9nN9lbolOdWia9sTcd4e5IuVsO61XtyEmFGV9B6BO0j0XJTU7Ar1CjmFLUQm7lx1Hi2hfI6JHkzKbG3ivaHMo8WkHYBlVBxvP97GClgJ7mxoPvq9SMK4mBtzL/s1600/bail%25C3%25A9n.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here I am once again, blogging about my reading project: going through the 46 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Episodios_Nacionales" target="_blank">National Episodes</a> written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_P%C3%A9rez_Gald%C3%B3s" target="_blank">Benito Pérez Galdós</a>, which are an account of 19th-century Spanish history. In spite of their relevance in Spanish Literature and how riveting and well-written they are, they haven't been translated into English.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In <i>Bailén</i>, Gabriel de Araceli is miraculously recovering from the grave wounds received by the firing squad during the aftermath of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dos_de_Mayo_Uprising" target="_blank">Dos de Mayo Uprising</a>. Taken for dead, he has been parted from his dear Inés, who has flown to Andalusia and joined a convent. Gabriel, penniless and desperate, joins the insurgent Spanish Army of Andalusia led by Generals Francisco Castaños and Theodor von Reding. Once more, he finds himself part of a historic occasion: the first defeat of the Napoleonic Army in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bail%C3%A9n" target="_blank">Battle of Bailén</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm going to keep this review very short, because I don't have many things to say about this. It was a bit of a letdown. It is well written and fast paced, and ends up in a cliffhanger that had me wishing I had the next book near to start reading it immediately. But (you know a but was coming) it was a bit flat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Inés has been legitimized by her family, and her new social status forces her to marry someone from a noble house. As a result, Gabriel is no longer a proper suitor. This is the main crux of the story, and it makes for a quick read, but not a very interesting one. Gabriel has taken to heart his role as a white knight and is determined to become worthy of Inés. Unfortunately, Inés has been definitely relegated to object, so we don't get a glimpse of what she thinks of her newfound family or how she feels about the turmoil that her personal life has become. I do feel sorry for them, but I wish the characters were more real (and thus more easy to feel attached to them) since the story relies fully on them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At the same time, they are merely an excuse to show historical events. In the previous three books, Galdós shines at describing this. He shows why they happened and the consequences they had. He didn't shy away from showing the horrors of war. Yet in <i>Bailén </i>he faced a conundrum: he must show a battle in good light. Why was this independence from France better? Spaniards are portrayed as brutish and uneducated, but noble and with good heart. He has been showing why French enlightment would be good for Spain, but here shows that Frenchmen are also savages. So the violent Spanish insurgence is worthy of appraisal. As a result, the Battle of Bailén is just described, but not reflected upon. The images are as vivid as always, and I would swap any history textbooks for these novels, but the pithy thoughts from other novels are absent in this one. And so it fells flat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Previous Episodes:</span><br />
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<li><a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/trafalgar-benito-perez-galdos.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Trafalgar</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-court-of-charles-iv-benito-perez.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Court of Charles IV</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-19th-of-march-and-2nd-of-may-benito.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The 19th of March and the 2nd of May</span></a></li>
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Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-76087242292339738742015-09-07T18:30:00.000+01:002015-09-07T18:30:00.937+01:00RIP X | Movie: The Day of the Beast (1995)<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuzuY1uUvK68kVlFfoXB_4yKDu7i2B_F_akfBCpjRqICiuiuCmeMoTBRnDSJRwuD5yVRn1iMfJlMeZojnwzEGGkFjGW90p35EkU9LVY-65KprSol6ZXQVdk36CJfAHgzcNYAPjcpuoc3ak/s1600/the+day+of+the+beast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuzuY1uUvK68kVlFfoXB_4yKDu7i2B_F_akfBCpjRqICiuiuCmeMoTBRnDSJRwuD5yVRn1iMfJlMeZojnwzEGGkFjGW90p35EkU9LVY-65KprSol6ZXQVdk36CJfAHgzcNYAPjcpuoc3ak/s1600/the+day+of+the+beast.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Genre: Black comedy & Horror</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Director: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0407067/?ref_=tt_ov_dr" target="_blank">Álex de la Iglesia</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Release date: 1995</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Running time: 103 minutes</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Country: Spain</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A Basque priest (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0029962/?ref_=tt_cl_t1" target="_blank">Álex Angulo</a>) finds by means of a cabalistic study of the Bible that the Antichrist is going to be born on Christmas Day in Madrid. Assisted by a death metal salesman from Carabanchel (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0782213/?ref_=tt_cl_t3" target="_blank">Santiago Segura</a>) and the host of a TV show on the occult (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0211089/?ref_=tt_cl_t2" target="_blank">Armando de Razza</a>), he will try to summon the Devil to find and kill the baby.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112922/" target="_blank">The Day of the Beast</a> is a cult classic in Spain, and it was the film that launched the career of Álex de la Iglesia, a director who has been likened to Guillermo del Toro. Both directors specialize in dark movies with humorous undercurrents where the supernatural and the mundane mix seamlessly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was very eager to watch this film because of its premise and its acclaim. In theory, it had every element to appeal to me, but it left me a bit cold. The story is clunkily told and the pace doesn't always suit the general storyline. Considering this was only the second film Álex de la Iglesia directed, those flaws can be forgiven. There was also too much absurd gore and kitsch for my taste, though I realize that it was the intended aesthetics, but I would have liked it better if it didn't resemble a B movie so much. I'm not such a fan of B movies, after all. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My favorite aspect is the confusing ending, which makes you go back and realize that maybe the priest isn't such a reliable character after all. I don't want to give away too much, but the ends makes you question whether there were any paranormal shenanigans at all. The real horror has a very different source, and it ends up working better as a scathing social critique of Madrid in the 90s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Verdict: entertaining, but I was expecting something different.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGwuTM5DBCFhGOCkwMcjTcoRr9C5G1o50mNKCFcRRvCI8hbW4LywmE8-F5-9s1fx4rzCWHAMypyPtsReU683YRWxdc770L2GS0MKmHhFwPDt3pSd5yVYMiz1XVsyWjReLXO0IDH6_drrob/s1600/ripnineperilscreen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGwuTM5DBCFhGOCkwMcjTcoRr9C5G1o50mNKCFcRRvCI8hbW4LywmE8-F5-9s1fx4rzCWHAMypyPtsReU683YRWxdc770L2GS0MKmHhFwPDt3pSd5yVYMiz1XVsyWjReLXO0IDH6_drrob/s400/ripnineperilscreen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am participating in <a href="http://www.estellasociety.com/?p=1484" target="_blank">R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril X</a>, and this counts for Peril on the Screen, as it is both horror and supernatural.</span></div>
Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-71370943276409038912015-09-06T20:44:00.000+01:002015-09-06T20:44:32.251+01:00Currently | Enjoying the Late Summer<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I <strike>shamelessly stole</strike> got this idea from Kim, who blogs at <a href="http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/" target="_blank">Sophisticated Dorkiness</a>. She reviews the most amazing books, so go read her blog!</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7xGYxLgRQv-zwPEzIbhc7oqFZwF05emICIiwZ-54HYhmeKhghG0gmpA6vMHk2qcLf4HURm-tRcSyiYWfK7ZV2V3XRJlpYk-UjpFeEU8_I86I43Gz1UcYMzlpmLYgYQqfbTcWqNn5EgAmt/s1600/currently+150906+all+the+pretty+books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7xGYxLgRQv-zwPEzIbhc7oqFZwF05emICIiwZ-54HYhmeKhghG0gmpA6vMHk2qcLf4HURm-tRcSyiYWfK7ZV2V3XRJlpYk-UjpFeEU8_I86I43Gz1UcYMzlpmLYgYQqfbTcWqNn5EgAmt/s400/currently+150906+all+the+pretty+books.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New bookstore in town · A game of <i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2511/sherlock-holmes-consulting-detective" target="_blank">Sherlock: Consulting Detective</a></i><br /><a href="http://everyprettybook.tumblr.com/tagged/september-book-photo-challenge" target="_blank">September Book Photo Challenge</a> · Hydrangea with bumblebee</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems I'm getting over my stomach bug, whatever it was. Yay! I'm easing into routine - went back to work, started baking again and having more quiet evenings. I know this year I'm going to have to travel a lot, and I want to enjoy the time I have at home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time</b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: 21:42</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Place</b>: Living room table at home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Eating & Drinking</b>: Nothing yet, and I'm trying to decide what to have for dinner. I'm not really hungry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Reading</b>: Stretching <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25331052-the-collected-short-stories-of-conrad-aiken" target="_blank">The Collected Short Stories of Conrad Aiken</a></i>, but I'm about to finish it. I don't know what to read next.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Playing</b>: My bf and I are playing <i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2511/sherlock-holmes-consulting-detective" target="_blank">Sherlock: Consulting Detective</a></i>, which is the perfect board game for book nerds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Writing</b>: A review for <a href="http://www.estellasociety.com/?p=1484" target="_blank">RIP X</a>, a review for Conrad Aiken, and an abstract for work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Watching</b>: <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303461/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">Firefly</a></i>! I'm so in love with this show. Why was it cancelled? I'm also trying to watch movies that qualify for RIP, so that I start enjoying fall in all its gloriousness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Listening</b>: Back to <i><a href="http://www.commonplacebooks.com/" target="_blank">Welcome to Night Vale</a></i>. I missed this weird show. I'm trying to catch up before I read the novel. Next episode will be #59, <i>Antiques</i>, so I'm a bit behind, considering they just released episode #73.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Loving</b>: I'm baking again! I started with something easy, cinnamon & apple bread pudding. It was delicious, specially with pecan vanilla ice cream.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Hating</b>: I have to work tomorrow, and I don't want to go. I have to spend the morning in an event I'm not really interested in. I'd prefer to just run my samples like a normal working day. Ugh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Promoting</b>: I'm doing the <a href="http://everyprettybook.tumblr.com/tagged/september-book-photo-challenge" target="_blank">September Book Photo Challenge</a> over on Tumblr</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Elsewhere</b>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://panels.net/2015/09/02/secret-love-married-couples/" target="_blank">The Secret Love of Married Couples</a> @ <a href="http://panels.net/" target="_blank">Panels</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"In books, especially, it seems like all of our best or most popular stories are either about falling in love–first dates, first fights, first make-ups–or falling out of it–cheating husbands, catty ex-wives, brutal custody battles. Nobody seems interested in the stories about staying in love. Of choosing, every day, to be in that partnership, even when you feel insecure or awkward."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/2015/08/six-resources-for-finding-great-nonfiction/" target="_blank">Six Resources for Finding Great Nonfiction</a> @ <a href="http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/" target="_blank">Sophisticated Dorkiness</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Today I wanted to share some of the places I go to get ideas for my book lists as as well as where I look for recommendations for new, excellent nonfiction. None of these are foolproof, but they definitely can provide some ideas for books to look into further."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://bookriot.com/2015/09/02/making-maps-books-two-cartographers-tell-us-done/" target="_blank">Making Maps for Books</a> @ <a href="http://bookriot.com/" target="_blank">BookRiot</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"How exactly does one go about making a map of a make-believe place? </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To find out, I contacted some publishers, and they hooked us up with their mapmakers, who told us how they work with authors, how they draw maps, and what they’ve contributed to the fictional worlds they draw. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So sit back, and prepare to travel without moving, as cartographers Tim Paul and Rhys Davies take us through the process of making a map of a place that doesn’t exist."</span>Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764462620169151126.post-75465329199656689602015-09-01T22:37:00.000+01:002015-09-01T23:25:57.702+01:00August in Review<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>August </b>has passed in a blink, and it has been such a pleasant month. <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/july-in-review-collection-of-links.html" target="_blank">I've been to Madeira</a> - it was truly gorgeous!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4nD1XYUOSTkSN68GNuz8P24QJ-ApnSNRWV_XcXCFaH21gStpJmkhY51x5tesTL0365rPpqe5AzsQW1bep7hA6Or9deyRuX-wIXOMfxhX_1s96QxaXyZa4BvzKHt0l6B9OBLW0qBkaNOq/s1600/madeira+levada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4nD1XYUOSTkSN68GNuz8P24QJ-ApnSNRWV_XcXCFaH21gStpJmkhY51x5tesTL0365rPpqe5AzsQW1bep7hA6Or9deyRuX-wIXOMfxhX_1s96QxaXyZa4BvzKHt0l6B9OBLW0qBkaNOq/s320/madeira+levada.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rabaçal</td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What did I read?</b><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I started really reading again last month, and I'm still running with momentum. I'm so happy I can read again! Here's what I read this month:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9mN-Yc12CgzDgL66Ec-uIhZIgBAOQWSyn-Iih4I3XNepixznoOlruhFybE9R1NF51V9aVg-jDkRVOoVPkrKrwxye6iKafM27TnmbuqL1iu7yL29ulX7IYKV02ILJ_DIDTcWb4biQYs1e/s1600/August+in+Review+All+the+Pretty+Books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ9mN-Yc12CgzDgL66Ec-uIhZIgBAOQWSyn-Iih4I3XNepixznoOlruhFybE9R1NF51V9aVg-jDkRVOoVPkrKrwxye6iKafM27TnmbuqL1iu7yL29ulX7IYKV02ILJ_DIDTcWb4biQYs1e/s320/August+in+Review+All+the+Pretty+Books.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22092264-chew-vol-1" target="_blank">Chew: Taster's Choice</a> · <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2130623.Bail_n" target="_blank">Bailén</a> · <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/418107.Daredevil_Vol_1" target="_blank">Daredevil: Guardian Devil</a> · <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28187.The_Lightning_Thief" target="_blank">The Lightning Thief</a><br />
Not pictured: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11331767-o-ltimo-cais" target="_blank">O Último Cais</a> · <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7870457-chew-vol-2" target="_blank">Chew: International Flavor</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Lots of comics, and the three of them have been so great! I devoured (he) the two first volumes of Chew, which is crazy good. And for the fans of Kevin Smith (or Daredevil): you can't miss <i>The Guardian Devil</i>. It is a fantastic introduction to Daredevil which examines his troubled history with women and it's very honest and raw about it. It was a relief.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I also read my first Percy Jackson book! It was a very entertaining read, though I recognize it's written for a younger public.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But not everything was good reading-wise. Or, it was, I don't know. I finally got the courage to DNF <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9155294-the-innocents-abroad" target="_blank">The Innocents Abroad</a></i>, which was boring me to tears. It took me half the book to do so, and it's <u>not</u> a slim book.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">On the blog...</b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I reviewed two books: Alice Munro's <i><a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/too-much-happiness-alice-munro.html" target="_blank">Too Much Happiness</a></i> and Maria Snyder's <i><a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/magic-study-study-2-maria-v-snyder.html" target="_blank">Magic Study</a></i>. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I listed <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/top-ten-tuesdays-fairytale-retellings.html" target="_blank">my top ten favorite fairytale retellings</a>, and it was hard to choose just ten.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I took a break because I was going abroad and <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/currently-feeling-holiday-rush.html" target="_blank">I was very excited about it</a>!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When I came back, <a href="http://alltheprettybooks.blogspot.com/2015/08/what-i-learned-on-vacation.html" target="_blank">I reflected on what I learned while I was away</a>.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Goals for September</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I did quite well regarding my August goals: I read <i>O Último Cais</i>, set in Madeira, am 75% into </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25331052-the-collected-short-stories-of-conrad-aiken" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">The Collected Stories of Conrad Aiken</a>, and have started </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29044.The_Secret_History?from_search=true&search_version=service_impr" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank"><i>The Secret History</i></a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. Unfortunately, I got a serious stomach bug midway through August and resorted to reading comfort books. I didn't feel like making an effort with <i>The Secret History</i>, and I'm not proud (sorry Fariba!). While I'm still suffering that persistent stomach bug, I hope to finish reading it this month. So goals:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finish <i>The Secret History</i> and <i>The Collected Stories of Conrad Aiken</i>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Read something for <a href="http://www.estellasociety.com/?p=1484" target="_blank">RIP</a> X. Suggestions?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Read something <a href="http://www.aartichapati.com/2015/08/sign-up-post-diversiverse-is-coming.html" target="_blank">#Diversiverse</a>. Once again, suggestions?</span></li>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Elsewhere...</b><br />
<a name='more'></a><a href="http://jezebel.com/homme-de-plume-what-i-learned-sending-my-novel-out-und-1720637627" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">Homme de Plume: What I learned sending my novel under a male name</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> @ </span><a href="http://jezebel.com/" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">Jezebel</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wanted to know more of how the Georges of the world live, so I sent more. Total data: George sent out 50 queries, and had his manuscript requested 17 times. He is eight and a half times better than me at writing the same book. Fully a third of the agents who saw his query wanted to see more, where my numbers never did shift from one in 25.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/20/marvel-hip-hop-tribute-classic-albums" target="_blank">Marvel's hip-hop tribute embraces black metaphors but excludes black people</a> @ <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/" target="_blank">The Guardian</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An anonymous writer asked Brevoort “Can you explain why Marvel thinks that doing hip-hop variants is a good idea, when absolutely no announced writers or artists on the new Marvel titles, as of now, are black?” To which Brevoort responded blandly: “What does one have to do with the other, really?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://bibliogato.tumblr.com/post/125928615686/on-for-such-a-time-by-kate-breslin-and-writing-the" target="_blank">On For Such a Time by Kate Breslin and writing the Holocaust</a> @ <a href="http://bibliogato.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Bibliogato</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In short, the book is a retelling of the Book of Esther (a Jewish story about a strong Jewish woman, who saves her people, and keeps her faith, and is not a romance) in which a Nazi camp commander saves a Jewish woman from Dachau and takes her to Theresienstadt in then-Czechoslovakia. There, they fall in love, and through a magically appearing Bible, find Jesus, and save Jews. At the end, the woman converts to Christianity because that’s her redemption arc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.tor.com/2015/08/18/where-to-start-with-the-works-of-james-tiptree-jr/" target="_blank">Where to start with the works of James Tiptree, Jr.</a> @ <a href="http://www.tor.com/" target="_blank">Tor</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, where do you start if you want to start reading Tiptree—which is a very good idea, given their position as namesake of a genre award for fiction exploring ideas about gender and as an individual whose own complex gender identity threw the field of sf into an uproar when revealed?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.themarysue.com/its-not-okay-how-women-die-in-comic-book-movies/" target="_blank">"It's [Not] Okay": How women die in comic book movies</a> @ <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/" target="_blank">The Mary Sue</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">While in the context of these stories the individual deaths make sense, these adaptations exist in a larger cultural context. We live in a world where beating women “for their own good” happens every day, where the “stories” of our lives continually revolve around men, and representations of that being endorsed by our media is not helping to build a better society.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.aartichapati.com/2015/08/sign-up-post-diversiverse-is-coming.html" target="_blank">#Diversiverse is coming!</a> @ <a href="http://www.aartichapati.com/" target="_blank">Book Lust</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Reading diversely may require you to change your book-<u>finding</u> habits. It ABSOLUTELY does not require you to change your book <u>reading</u> habits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://bookriot.com/2015/08/27/cool-bookish-places-persephone-books-london/" target="_blank">Cool bookish places: Persephone Books in London</a> @ <a href="http://bookriot.com/" target="_blank">BookRiot</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Persephone publishes reprints of “neglected fiction and non-fiction by mid-century (mostly) women writers.” They were started in 1998 by Nicola Beauman and publish a few books a year – right now there are 112 available.</span><br />
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Masanobuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00128039987943942637noreply@blogger.com2