PolymathicMonkey's 13 in 13!

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PolymathicMonkey's 13 in 13!

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1.Monkey.
Modifié : Déc 23, 2013, 5:43 am

Yay lucky 13! ;) I'm excited for my first year-long LT thread & goal! lol. My behind-the-scenes goal is to try a knock out a bunch of books from my shelves, reading as much from them to fit the categories as I can.
I based my categories around some of my most favorite authors, and series, from when I was a child (shhhh, I totally didn't figure out what I wanted to do and then pick from among my favorites to match, really! hahaha). :P
They would be:
Authors-
5/5 1. Shel Silverstein -- Poetry; Prize winners; Banned Books.
5/5 2. Tomie dePaola -- Fairy tales; Mythology/Legends; Native American; Religion.
Tomie is most well-known for his Strega Nona series, but he has also done books on Native American legends, fairy tales, bible stories, etc.
5/5 3. Maurice Sendak -- Holocaust/WWII; Jewish; Atheist.
He did several Jewish/Holocaust books, and was an atheist.
10/10 4. Ezra Jack Keats -- Graphic novels/Comics.
5/5 5. Dr Seuss -- Fantasy/sci-fi; Moralistic tales.
5/5 6. Edgar Allan Poe -- 1001 Books to Read Before You Die; Horror.
I first read The Raven real young, and just instantly loved it. Poe has works on the 1001 list, and for horror/thriller, well, duh. lol.
5/5 7. Roald Dahl -- Biographies/memoirs; YA.
He wrote his multi-part autobiography, along with tons of YA, of course.
Series-
5/5 8. Eloise (Kay Thompson) -- The Works of Vladimir Nabokov; Russia
Specifically taking into account Eloise in Moscow. :)
5/5 9. Bunnicula (Deborah Howe) -- Gothic fiction; Satire
Dracula-esque bunny, you get the idea. ;)
5/5 10. Madeline (Ludwig Bemelmans) -- Translated from French.
I think these were actually written in English, but they take place in France, so I'm going with it! lol. I was originally going to do a "translated to English" thing but in looking at my shelves I noticed most of what I own unread are from France, so I figured I'd make something of that. :)
10/10 11. Boxcar Children (Gertrude Chandler Warner) -- Mystery, thriller, suspense.
5/5 12. Curious George (H.A. Rey) -- Africa; Reading around the world.
I'm interested in reading from all around the world; Africa is what I want to focus on right now (and obviously, George came from Africa!).
10/10 13. Little Critter (Mercer Mayer) -- Series; ER Books; Group reads; Overflow.
There are a zillion Little Critter books, there is one for pretty much *everything* so I figured that made the perfect fit for -all the rest-. ;)

Each category will have at least 5 reads, shooting for 100 for the year.

(The numbers in front of books listed are direct links to their reviews in the thread.)

Year to date list of books read+ratings.
Year to date list of CAT reading.



Didn't make my book goals, but did manage (with a little finagling) to finish the category challenge, woo!

2.Monkey.
Modifié : Nov 24, 2013, 10:56 am


1. Shel Silverstein -- Poetry; Prize winners; Banned Books.

1. Slaughterhouse-Five 28-29 Jan banned book
2. Alias Grace 1-3 May prize winner (Giller)
3. From Hell 18-23 June prize winner (Eisner)
4. Blonde 20-30 Sept prize winner (Pulitzer finalist)
5. Cat's Cradle 27-28 Oct banned book

3.Monkey.
Modifié : Nov 26, 2013, 5:24 pm


2. Tomie dePaola -- Fairy tales; Mythology/Legends; Native American; Religion.

1. Black Elk Speaks 3-11 Feb Native American
2. Adventures of Robin Hood 26-28 Feb mythology/legends
3. Creation 2-8 Oct religion
4. Diary of Adam and Eve & other Adamic stories 28 Jun-3 Jul religion
5. Ragnarok: The End of the Gods 26 Nov mythology/legends

4.Monkey.
Modifié : Déc 5, 2013, 11:24 am


3. Maurice Sendak -- Holocaust/WWII; Jewish; Atheist.

1. The Gates of the Forest 3-5 Mar Holocaust/WWII
2. My Promised Land 15 Jul-30 Aug Jewish
3. Schindler's Ark 18-25 Oct Holocaust/WWII
4. Almost a Childhood 9-10 Nov WWII
5. Where Eagles Dare 3-5 Dec WWII (this wasn't exaaaactly what I had in mind for the category but I'm taking it!)

Plans/Potentials:
Salvaged Pages
Women of the Third Reich
The God Delusion

5.Monkey.
Modifié : Oct 27, 2013, 6:03 am


4. Ezra Jack Keats -- Graphic novels/Comics.

1. DMZ vol 8 5 Jan
2. DMZ vol 9 9 Jan
3. Fables vol 14 13 Jan
4. DMZ vol 10 27 Jan graphic novel
5. Hellboy (library edition) vol 1 30 Jan graphic novel
6. Fables vol 15 6 Feb graphic novel
7. Global Frequency vol 2 14 Feb graphic novel
8. Hellboy (library edition) vol 2 1 Mar graphic novel
9. The Dark Horse Book of Monsters 12 Mar graphic novel
10. Y: The Last Man Vol 3 23 Mar graphic novel

6.Monkey.
Modifié : Nov 13, 2013, 1:37 pm


5. Dr Seuss -- Fantasy/sci-fi; Moralistic tales.

1. Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 16-23 Jan sci-fi-fantasy
2. Aesop's Fables 16-17 Mar moralistic tales
3. Minority Report 5-8 Sept sci-fi
4. Life Expectancy 2-4 Nov sci-fi (Okay this is stretching it a bit, but there was prophecies, and stuff! lol)
5. A Wrinkle in Time 12-13 Nov sci-fi

7.Monkey.
Modifié : Nov 24, 2013, 11:00 am


6. Edgar Allan Poe -- 1001 Books to Read Before You Die; Horror.

1. Brave New World 17-18 Feb 1001 Books
2. The Quiet American 6-9 Mar 1001 Books
3. Kafka on the Shore 24-25 Apr 1001 Books
4. Outer Dark 9-10 Sep horror
5. The Sorrow of Belgium 14 Oct-7 Nov 1001 Books

8.Monkey.
Modifié : Nov 25, 2013, 11:02 am


7. Roald Dahl -- Biographies/memoirs; YA.

1. Malcolm X: As They Knew Him 6-10 Jan bio
2. Gold Coast Madam 15 Jan memoir
3. Education of a Felon 29 Jan-2 Feb autobio
4. Watership Down 11-15 Feb YA
5. Castro's Secrets 14-25 Nov bio (slightly pushing it as a bio, but it does detail a lot about Castro)

9.Monkey.
Modifié : Déc 10, 2013, 8:38 am


8. Eloise (Kay Thompson) -- The Works of Vladimir Nabokov; Russia.

1. Gorky Park 1-6 Jan Russia
2. Bend Sinister 16-22 Mar Nabokov
3. Master of Petersburg 27 Jul-17 Aug Russia
4. Doctor Zhivago 14 Nov Russia
5. Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited 26 Nov-4 Dec Nabokov

10.Monkey.
Modifié : Déc 9, 2013, 2:58 pm


9. Bunnicula (Deborah Howe) -- Gothic fiction - early, European development, romantic, Victorian, parody, and pulp.

1. Oxford Book of Gothic Tales 18-25 Feb Gothic
2. Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde / The Merry Men 24 Mar-28 Apr 1001 Books
3. The Evolution Man, or, How I ate my father 13-23 Apr satire
4. Castle of Otranto, Vathek, and Nightmare Abbey 6 May-27 Oct Gothic
5. The Monk 27 Nov-9 Dec Gothic

Plans/Potentials:
The Italian
Uncle Silas
In a Glass Darkly
Frankenstein
A Long Fatal Love Chase
Wuthering Heights
Northanger Abbey
The Complete H.P. Lovecraft

11.Monkey.
Modifié : Déc 21, 2013, 12:18 pm

12.Monkey.
Modifié : Nov 24, 2013, 10:34 am


11. Boxcar Children (Gertrude Chandler Warner) -- Mystery, thriller, suspense.

1. The Alienist 10-12 Jan
2. Mysterious Affair at Styles 15 Jan series
3. The Gun Seller 25-27 Jan
4. Ice Station Zebra 9-10 Feb
5. Manchurian Candidate 31 May
6. Velocity 3-4 Jun
7. Pitch Black 1 Oct
8. Temple 10-11 Oct
9. Sleeping Doll 13-14 Oct
10. Wages of Sin 22-23 Nov

13.Monkey.
Modifié : Nov 24, 2013, 11:08 am


12. Curious George (H.A. Rey) -- Africa; Reading around the world.

1. Anil's Ghost 13-14 Jan around the world (Sri Lanka)
2. African Mythology 23-27 Jan Africa
3. An Air War With Cuba 12 Jun-15 Jul around the world (Cuba)
4. The Business 9-10 Oct around the world (Scotland, Himalayas)
5. The Kite Runner 11-12 Oct around the world (Afghanistan)

14.Monkey.
Modifié : Nov 25, 2013, 6:28 pm


13. Little Critter (Mercer Mayer) -- Series; ER Books; Group reads; Overflow.

1. Forever Odd 3 Feb series
2. Hannibal 15-16 Feb series
3. Brother Odd 25-26 Feb series
4. Odd Hours 14-15 Mar series
5. Sultan of Monte Cristo 13 Apr LTER book
6. The Boy Who Played With Dark Matter 1 Jun LTER book
7. Hannibal Rising 24-26 June series
8. Odd Apocalypse 27 June series
9. The Good Lord Bird 31 Aug-4 Sep LTER book
10. Cry for the Strangers 18-20 Nov overflow

15.Monkey.
Modifié : Juin 5, 2013, 4:06 am

List of everything read in 2013, with ratings:

January:
01. Gorky Park - Martin Cruz Smith
02. *DMZ vol 8 - Brian Wood
03. Malcolm X: As They Knew Him - David Gallen
04. *DMZ vol 9 - Brian Wood
05. The Alienist - Caleb Carr
06. *Fables vol 14 - Bill Willingham
07. Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje
08. Gold Coast Madam - Rose Laws
09. Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie
10. Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
11. African Mythology - Geoffrey Parrinder
12. *DMZ vol 10 - Brian Wood
13. The Gun Seller - Hugh Laurie
14. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
15. *Hellboy (library edition) vol 1- Mike Mignola
February:
16. Education of a Felon - Edward Bunker
17. Forever Odd - Dean Koontz
18. *Fables vol 15 - Bill Willingham
19. Ice Station Zebra - Alistair MacLean
20. Black Elk Speaks - Black Elk as told to John Neihardt
21. *Global Frequency vol 2 - Warren Ellis
22. Watership Down - Richard Adams
23. Hannibal - Thomas Harris
24. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
25. Oxford Book of Gothic Tales - (E.) Chris Baldick
26. Brother Odd - Dean Koontz
27. Adventures of Robin Hood - Roger Lancelyn Green
March:
28. *Hellboy (library) Vol 2 - Mike Mignola
29. The Gates of the Forest - Elie Wiesel
30. The Quiet American - Graham Greene
31. *The Dark Horse Book of Monsters - Mike Mignola
32. Odd Hours - Dean Koontz
33. Aesop's Fables - Aesop
34. Bend Sinister - Vladimir Nabokov
35. *Y Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step - Brian K Vaughan
--. *Y Last Man Vol 4: Safeword - Brian K Vaughan
April:
--. *Hellboy (library) Vol 3 - Mike Mignola
36. Sultan of Monte Cristo - HGW
37. Evolution Man, or, How I ate my father - Roy Lewis
38. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
39. Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde / The Merry Men - RL Stevenson
May:
40. Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
--. *Abe Sapien Vol 1: The Drowning - Mike Mignola
--. *Daytripper - Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá
--. *League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol 1 - Moore, O'Neill, Dimagmaliw, Oakley
41. Manchurian Candidate - Richard Condon
June:
42. The Boy Who Played With Dark Matter - HGW
--. *Abe Sapien Vol 2: The Devil Does Not Jest and Other Stories - Mike Mignola
--. *BPRD Vol 1: Hollow Earth & Other Stories - Mike Mignola
--. *BPRD Vol 2: The Soul of Venice & Other Stories - Mike Mignola
43. Velocity - Dean Koontz
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:

16.Monkey.
Modifié : Déc 10, 2013, 7:45 am

CAT Reading:
January:
AlphaCAT A/M

Gorky Park - Martin Cruz Smith
Malcolm X: As They Knew Him - David Gallen
The Alienist - Caleb Carr
Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje
Gold Coast Madam - Rose Laws
Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie
Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
African Mythology - Geoffrey Parrinder
RandomCAT New-to-me author
Gorky Park - Martin Cruz Smith
Malcolm X: As They Knew Him - David Gallen
The Alienist - Caleb Carr
Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje
Gold Coast Madam - Rose Laws
Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
African Mythology - Geoffrey Parrinder
The Gun Seller - Hugh Laurie
February:
AlphaCAT B/N

Education of a Felon - Edward Bunker
Black Elk Speaks - Black Elk/John Neihardt
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Oxford Book of Gothic Tales - (E.) Chris Baldick
Brother Odd - Dean Koontz
RandomCAT Feb. weather
Ice Station Zebra - Alistair MacLean
March:
AlphaCAT C/O

Odd Hours - Dean Koontz
April:
AlphaCAT D/P

Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde / The Merry Men - RL Stevenson
May:
AlphaCAT E/R

Manchurian Candidate - Richard Condon
July:
AlphaCAT G/T

Diary of Adam and Eve & other Adamic stories - Mark Twain
October:
AlphaCAT J/W

Sleeping Doll - Jeffery Deaver
The Castle of Otranto w/ Vathek & Nightmare Abbey - Horace Walpole, William Beckford, Thomas Love Peacock
November:
AlphaCAT K/Y

Life Expectancy - Dean Koontz
December:
AlphaCAT L/Z

The Monk - Matthew Lewis
Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales - Alison Lurie
BONUS:
AlphaCAT Q/X

The Quiet American - Graham Greene
Malcolm X: As They Knew Him - David Gallen

17psutto
Nov 22, 2012, 4:46 am

welcome to the challenge - I like the signatures!

18.Monkey.
Nov 22, 2012, 4:49 am

Thanks! I wasn't sure what I was going to use, but knew I needed something, so I went to wikimedia commons, threw in one of the first names, saw the sig, and was like, Oh hey I like that! haha. So I used it for the ones where I could find one that fit in :)

19PawsforThought
Nov 22, 2012, 5:03 am

I like the signatures too. Great idea. I have a few favourite categories here, especially Madeleine L'Engle. I loved A Wrinkle in Time SO MUCH, I really need to read the rest of the series.

20.Monkey.
Nov 22, 2012, 5:11 am

>19 by PawsforThought, Me too!! It was my first ever real favorite book. I recently got the special 50th anniv ed, plus my mom got me the newly released bound collection of all 5 for my birthday, so I'm planning on reading that once I have it out here! :D I think I somehow never wound up reading the 5th one, so I'm rather impatient to have it already, hahaha.

21hailelib
Nov 22, 2012, 6:35 am

Neat categories!

22lkernagh
Nov 22, 2012, 10:53 am

Welcome to the challenge! I also love the signatures as your category images. You will be reading genres that I enjoy reading so I am looking forward to following your reading!

23Tanglewood
Nov 22, 2012, 11:01 am

I like the signatures, as well. Can't wait to see your reads!

24katrinasreads
Nov 22, 2012, 2:32 pm

Great categories

25clfisha
Nov 22, 2012, 4:19 pm

Echoing the signature love, kinda fascinating. I admit to only read Roald Dahl out of that while list! Still nice categories & good luck!

26mamzel
Nov 22, 2012, 10:49 pm

Cute idea. Eloise was my heroine when I was young.

27.Monkey.
Nov 23, 2012, 4:13 am

>25 by clfisha, For shame! They are all wonderful!! Get reading! :P

>26 by mamzel, She was quite fun, I adored her and thought she was a riot. ;D

Thanks & hello to everyone! :)

28DeltaQueen50
Nov 23, 2012, 1:36 pm

Welcome to the challenge. I also have based my challenge on various authors and I'm looking forward to seeing how you fill your categories.

29kiwiflowa
Nov 23, 2012, 3:34 pm

Hi It's nice to see you here too! Great categories planned for next year every single one of them has made me curious. starred :)

30.Monkey.
Nov 23, 2012, 5:30 pm

I think I will call that a win! hahaha. ;D

31-Eva-
Nov 23, 2012, 10:35 pm

Great categories - and I too love the pictures!

32thornton37814
Nov 26, 2012, 12:00 pm

Fun categories!

33.Monkey.
Nov 26, 2012, 12:03 pm

:)

34sandragon
Modifié : Déc 3, 2012, 9:01 am

Your category authors bring back great memories, of books I'd read as a girl and then read again recently with my own kids. Maurice Sendak, Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein; these are some of the authors whose books I love to buy as gifts as well for kids. I look forward to reading your thoughts on the books you choose for your challenge.

Edited for spelling

35.Monkey.
Déc 3, 2012, 3:28 am

Yep, thinking about them brings back all the old memories. :) I can't wait till I have kids of my own and can share these fabulous people with them! :))

36PawsforThought
Déc 3, 2012, 1:24 pm

My mum gave me Where the Wild Things Are for Christmas a few years ago (when the movie was due out) after we discovered that we never actually owned a copy of it. It's one of my favourite presents ever.

37.Monkey.
Déc 3, 2012, 2:05 pm

I'm actually not sure if I ever owned it myself. I actually tended to prefer Mercer Mayer's Little Monster series of books and had several of those - they were cute and silly, unlike the more serious non-cutesy type ones Sendak created. But I definitely enjoyed Sendak's as well. And I only more recently realized some others I did own were his also, like Chicken Soup with Rice. :)

38SqueakyChu
Modifié : Déc 7, 2012, 8:36 am

Hi Mel!

I love your categories. One suggestion! If you're doing gothic novels, read (and follow on Liz's tutored thread) The Castle of Otranto. That is considered to be the first gothic novel. Liz does a terrific job of introducing the reader (me, in that case!) to the world of gothic novels.

I never really knew exactly what a gothic novel was. I always thought it was just a novel that was dark, dreary, and mysterious. That's not all there is to it. Learning about all the details of the gothic novel was half the fun. Opt for a tutored read yourself or follow one already in existence.

I see that you have Northanger Abbey on queue for this year. There's also an existing tutored read thread for that.

I love your categories (Madeline, in particular because it's my name!). They make me nostalgic for the days that my kids were young enough to read aloud to them. Oh, well. I have a grandchild due in June so maybe my read-aloud days are not over. :)

ETA: Two other soft spots we have in common.

1. I love the kids' works of Ezra Jack Keats, especially The Snowy Day.

2. The Raven is one of my favorite poems - along with Edgar Allen Poe's "Annabelle Lee". Both need to be read (or heard) aloud to be fully appreciated.

39.Monkey.
Déc 7, 2012, 8:57 am

>38 by SqueakyChu, Yep, I was looking at Gothic fic on wiki, not sure exactly how it came about lol, but I decided I'd read practically none and that needed to change, especially since I love horror & classics!! So I read over the page, and picked out bunch of the titles it mentioned that I could find for nice low prices, and voilà! :D

Yep, I have always loved The Snowy Day, it just really resonated with me and has always stuck as one of my favorites. I think probably because what kid doesn't love playing in the snow?? combined with the very unique art style, it just pulled me in. :) Somehow though I don't think I owned much else of his, and only read them a bit later on!

I've loved The Raven for aaaages. I know I was quite young when I first encountered it, and it immediately captivated me. I memorized the first three verses of it years ago. Do you enjoy movies? Ever watch the old Vincent Price spin off it? They only used it as a basis to begin the movie, but still, Price reading Poe is pretty much as amazing as it gets (so thrilled he made all those old Poe films!), and it's just so kooky that you can't help but love it! Or so I think, at least. :P

40SqueakyChu
Déc 7, 2012, 9:24 am

* sigh*

I'm hard of hearing and don't do movies any more except for foreign films which are closed captioned.

I did have the pleasure of once (in my better hearing days) of seeing/hearing a stage recitation of "The Raven". It was just one person speaking and no props. He did an amazing job. It was lovely (if you can call the recitation of a spooky poem lovely!). :D

41.Monkey.
Déc 7, 2012, 10:48 am

Ooh that sounds lovely! hm, yes I doubt there's captioning for that old thing, but the special effects employed just crack me up!

42PawsforThought
Déc 7, 2012, 1:27 pm

SqueakyChu, have you looked at foreign editions of movies? A lot of non-English speaking countries have English subtitles as a choice on DVDs. I know my copies of The Lord of the Rings have them and most big budget movies of that kind do.
Amazon.co.uk has tons of movies and TV show DVD boxes with English subtitles.

Though there could be an issue with regions, if you don't have a region free player.

43.Monkey.
Déc 7, 2012, 1:36 pm

Plenty of English speaking ones do too, just not older ones, usually. And unfortunately the movie in question here is indeed old. But for general purpose watching, yeah, lots of newer ones have captions available. I think in the US it's typical to have English, French, and Spanish, and occasionally one or two others depending on the type of movie/backgrounds of those involved. It's really dumb that they don't just put all the larger languages on all of them everywhere, since it's not like they take up much space at all, and it's stupid that they'll sell them in various countries, each with like 2-5 languages on it. You'd think they'd prefer the simpler route of one disc made that can be sold wherever! meh. The other thing you could try, is downloading captioning and watching them on the computer. That's available for tons of movies.

44PawsforThought
Déc 7, 2012, 1:41 pm

I think I was a bit unclear. I meant foreign as in non-American, but just wanted to point out that even countries where people don't generally speak English there are still English subtitles available quite often.

And I think this is the movie you were talking about (The Raven with Vincent Price, wasn't it?): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raven-DVD-Vincent-Price/dp/B0000C24HX/ref=sr_1_3?s=dvd&a...
It has English subtitles (but it is region 2 (Europe) so will need a region free player).

45SqueakyChu
Modifié : Déc 7, 2012, 1:51 pm

> 42

Actually, most DVDs now produced do have closed caption. It's just that I take them out of the library and don't always have time to return them. That's what I love about book swaps. I finish my books, give them away, and get to keep the books I read in return.

Another issue is that I'm rarely in the mood to sit in front of the computer for two uninterrupted hours just to view a film. I do it sometimes, but rarely.

I'll look for "The Raven" in my library, though. It's not as if I don't know the entire poem by heart almost! :D

One issue here at home is that my husband will not let me use closed captioning on TV without him grumbling about it the whole time. It's easier just to read books or play on my computer. Plus, there are no commercials when I do this!

46.Monkey.
Déc 7, 2012, 1:51 pm

>44 by PawsforThought, My copies (I have it on either 2 or 3) are older and have no subtitles. Interesting, though, that someone went and created them for older less popular stuff as well.

>45 by SqueakyChu, I don't do movies from the library 'cause they're not free here, so annoying. haha. I'm kind of a movie fiend, though, so I never mind sitting & watching. :P

47SqueakyChu
Déc 7, 2012, 1:55 pm

I didn't mind when I could hear well. I think that now that I can't enjoy the sound tracks and the spoken innuendos and have to read straight through for two hours, the enjoyment of watching movies at home is different.

I do, however, enjoy going out to see foreign films. Being in a movie theater is a totally different kind of experience and one that I thoroughly enjoy (as long as I know what's going on).

Some films are in foreign language with English subtitles, but then...if there's a brief part of the film in English, THAT part is NOT captioned, so I'm missing those parts of the movies that are in English. I can't win.

*sigh*

Such is the life of a person with a hearing disability.

48PawsforThought
Déc 7, 2012, 1:56 pm

I suppose that's one of the great things about "the global marketplace" - there is always someone willing to buy so there's an incense to making it.

I usually don't borrow movies from the library. They do cost but that's not why I skip it. I borrow them from the movie rental instead (yes, we have one of those; remember them?) since I want them to make enough money to remain open. This is a small town and we've lost a lot of good shops and other places I like and I don't want to lose any more.

49.Monkey.
Déc 7, 2012, 2:07 pm

>47 by SqueakyChu, I've always loved going to theaters, but it got soooo expensive that I've probably not seen more than half a dozen in the last decade. And I don't know that I've ever seen any with more than a couple random subtitles in the theater. I do enjoy foreign films, though, and own handful on DVD myself. :)

>48 by PawsforThought, Libraries in the States, or at least in IL I guess, don't charge, for rentals or for cards. Over here the card is an annual fee, and movies and I think CDs? also cost. So I don't bother. That's a good reason for making sure to patronize places, though. And actually there's a few DVD rental places here, in my big city :P Though, "the 'Flix" hasn't made it here, and the supposedly comparative company I've heard of is presumably much less stocked, and probably a more costly as well, nor do I know of "On Demand" kind of stuff either (though I imagine PPV is available), so it makes sense there's still a demand for physical rental stores.

50PawsforThought
Déc 7, 2012, 3:08 pm

Libraries over here don't charge any fee whatsoever for the library card but are allowed to charge a small fee for movies (in my town they charge about 3 US dollars).

The movie rental here is part of a chain that besides renting also sells a lot of DVDs and tons of pick'n'mix, other snacks and soft drinks, which I think is where they make most of their money.

51.Monkey.
Déc 7, 2012, 3:45 pm

Yeah I think most movie places have a selection of munchies food :)

Huh, I swear in the library there are signs saying they cost to check out, but I just looked in the little booklet from when we got my card, and it claims free for 3wks (no renewal, €.20/day/item after). I wonder if it's outdated, or they made an error in the English ones, or something? I could swear they're never free! I will have to look in that corner next time! lol. The card is €9.50 annual subscription for adults, though. Not huge, but a lot more than the -free- I'm used to! heh

52SouthernKiwi
Déc 8, 2012, 4:20 am

Great categories. I have to admit to reading very few of your listed possibilities, so I'll lurk around for some new ideas :-)

53.Monkey.
Déc 8, 2012, 4:47 am

Always happy to have anyone hanging around :D

54cammykitty
Déc 18, 2012, 12:00 am

Yeah! I found your thread. Isn't Tomie de Paola great!!! LOL - Bunnicula=Gothic Fiction!!! If you read Black Elk Speaks, I'd love to hear what you think about it. I've been eyeing it for awhile. One of the social studies teachers I work with has a copy in his room and I keep picking it up and putting it back on his shelf. It looks really interesting.

55.Monkey.
Déc 18, 2012, 4:58 am

Tomie is fabulous. :)) I've had Black Elk Speaks on my shelves for so many years, I am most certainly reading it now! I haven't purposely avoided it or anything, but for a long while I was reading mostly tons of crime/thriller and horror, and then when I started being better about spreading my reading around more (because I certainly do enjoy almost all sorts of books), I've just somehow kept picking up others instead. So yeah, it will most certainly be done this year! I made most of these categories specifically aimed at books on my shelves that for no real reason I've not been picking up, so now I "have" to. ;)

56cammykitty
Déc 18, 2012, 4:04 pm

Isn't it amazing how long a book can languish on the shelves for no other reason than other books got in the way. ;)

57majkia
Déc 18, 2012, 5:00 pm

#56 -and often I kick myself. how could I have let that fabulous read languish!

58.Monkey.
Déc 19, 2012, 5:14 am

hahaha, yes indeed. I did that with Roots. I got it sometime in the late-ish '90s, and didn't read it until last year. heh. Black Elk Speaks is "newer" than that one, but probably not by very much. Its turn has come!! haha.

59cammykitty
Déc 22, 2012, 2:57 am

Ah, you mean "newer" to your library. I just looked up the publication date of Black Elk Speaks. 1939 - far older than Roots! I had no idea it had been around enough to fit in my "Vintage and Classic" category.

60.Monkey.
Déc 22, 2012, 4:34 am

Whoa I didn't realize it was that old either. But yeah, I got it in the late 90s I believe. :)

61Bjace
Jan 1, 2013, 10:03 am

Happy New Year! I'll be hanging around as well. Love children's book categories.

62.Monkey.
Modifié : Jan 29, 2013, 4:44 am

Book 1: Gorky Park - Martin Cruz Smith, Arkady Renko series #1, c1981, 559p, crime-thriller mystery.
1-6 Jan
RandomCAT, AlphaCAT; cat. 11: mystery; ROOT book
Chief Investigator Arkady Renko has to figure out how & why three dead bodies wound up frozen under the snow in Gorky Park, Moscow. Trying to solve their murders seems to lead him from one heap of trouble to the next. I didn't get into this quite as quick as I had expected, but once things started heating up I had trouble putting it down. I enjoyed it for the most part. I tried to keep from being irritated by the prejudices in it, and the antisemitism, giving Smith the benefit of the doubt that he was merely attempting to reflect a prevalent Russian attitude of the time; it was a bit much, though, and I hope that's toned down more in the rest of the books. Aside of that, I was pleased with the book. Once the ball was rolling everything unfolded nicely, kept interest high, good twists, realistic characters, good stuff.


GN 1: DMZ vol 8 - Brian Wood, c2010, 192p, dystopia.
5 Jan
cat. 5: graphic novel
Matty is finding more ways to get himself into trouble, and I'm not really enjoying him right now. It's easy to see how he ended up where he's at, so even though I'm not liking where things are right now it's still very "real," so still getting high marks. For now, at least. Here's hoping he can turn things around.

63-Eva-
Jan 6, 2013, 6:26 pm

Gorky Park is on my Mt. TBR, so I'm happy to hear it's a page-turner - I thought maybe the social context and commentary might make it a bit heavy-handed, but that seems to not be the case.

64.Monkey.
Jan 7, 2013, 3:43 am

>63 -Eva-: Nah it's not like that at all. Just personally I thought it started out a little bit slow; it wasn't at all bad, just didn't really suck me in until I'd made a little progress. There's a whole handful of "main" characters and so it just took a little bit to get familiar with who everyone was and what exactly the situation was and such. And in a 560pg book, it makes sense you need a little bit to introduce it all, and you can't exactly expect every single page to be gripping ;) haha, so I didn't really consider it a big deal or anything. :)

65-Eva-
Jan 7, 2013, 5:22 pm

I'll keep a notepad nearly for the characters, then. :) Good to be warned I need to have a little patience before the story gets going - thanks!

66.Monkey.
Jan 7, 2013, 5:48 pm

No problem :)

67.Monkey.
Modifié : Jan 13, 2013, 9:02 am

Book 2: Malcolm X: As They Knew Him - David Gallen + like 10 others, c1992, 279p, non-fic biographical.
6-10 Jan
RandomCAT, AlphaCAT; cat. 4: African American; ROOT book
This book is divided into 3 sections. The first is various "oral remembrances" from those who knew him in some capacity. I liked this, it was nice to hear others' accounts of the man behind the angry media persona, nice to hear how much of a family man he was and how quiet-spoken and polite he was outside the public media presentation. The second section is a selection of interviews he did spread over the years. I imagine this is to give a bit of substance to what people are talking about that he stood for, and how his perceptions shifted over time as he experienced more of the world. However, I read the Autobiography years ago and so already knew what he stood for and how his eyes opened, so I found reading the interviews a bit tedious. In the third section six people speak about the man they knew versus the myth the world saw, the mission he was on, reactions to his death, and the theories around the killers. This section was also good, though some was a little dry. Overall, I give it 4 stars. It was nice to "hear from" the people who actually knew him and were close with him, and see their fond feelings for him expressed. But parts of the text were a little dry, I just wasn't feeling certain bits so much.


GN 2: DMZ vol 9 - Brian Wood, c2011, 127p, dystopia.
9 Jan
cat. 5: graphic novel
This volume is back up to par, back up to what made this series such an important piece in the first place. It makes up for the last one being so-so, and makes up for the behavior in it. Really pleased with this one!

68.Monkey.
Modifié : Jan 29, 2013, 4:44 am

Book 3: The Alienist - Caleb Carr, c1994, 496p, detective mystery-thriller/historical fic.
10-12 Jan
RandomCAT, AlphaCAT; cat. 11: mystery
I adored this story. Fast-paced (I read over 320pgs in one morning/afternoon), keeping you on your toes the whole way through, all the characters completely loveable, and fabulous historical fic angles! I just loved it all.
It's a Laszlo Kreizler series book, but our actual narrator is John Moore, a crime reporter. A somewhat unlikely group of folks comes together to combine their various knowledge of the city & its seedy underworld, and psychology & investigation, in order to solve some nasty murders taking place around the city. With all the extensive high-tech forensics we practically take for granted these days, it was quite interesting to "experience" a story taking place over a century ago, where some of our most "basic" methods of the present were just coming into play and were not accepted science yet. Thoroughly enjoyable story, all-around.


GN 3: Fables vol 14 - Bill Willingham, c2010, 184p, fairy tales.
13 Jan
cat. 5: graphic novel
Finally, a volume that I really enjoyed reading, post-war! It wasn't as great as the earlier ones, but there were a handful of things that made me laugh out loud, which there hadn't really been any of recently, and I was completely interested. The other post-war volumes have left me wanting. I hope it continues in this vein. Seems like Willingham can only handle things when there's a large objective they're striving for - when there's not, the story simply flounders. He seems to have found his various goals now, and found his mojo once more. Here's hoping that continues!

69majkia
Jan 13, 2013, 9:18 am

I really really enjoyed The Alienist. So atmospheric.

70Tanglewood
Jan 13, 2013, 9:49 am

I really enjoy his Fables series, but my favorites stories are nearly always set in the Homelands. I wait for the Deluxe Editions though, so I'm always a bit behind the series. I loved the artwork in the last two volumes, especially Charles Vess'.

71.Monkey.
Jan 13, 2013, 10:53 am

I read them from the library, so I read the first two Deluxe volumes, the rest regular volumes. I like it, but since the war ended it's been really floundering around and I haven't really cared for those past few volumes. This one was mostly back up to a good level though. But I prefer when Bigby is a main player, he's my favorite, along with Blue and Bufkin, lol. I do enjoy the witches, the whole -evil but working for good now- thing they have going on, haha, so that also probably helped keep this volume afloat.

72mamzel
Jan 13, 2013, 5:22 pm

I have the first Fables book from the library. I'll be getting to it soon. I've heard so many good things about this series.

73-Eva-
Jan 13, 2013, 5:38 pm

I'm another one who enjoyed The Alienist - so interesting to read about the first tentative steps of psychological profiling.

I was wondering what Willingham would come up with after the Adversary's "defeat," but Mr. Dark turns out to be quite intriguing.

74.Monkey.
Jan 13, 2013, 6:02 pm

>72 mamzel: They're (mostly) pretty good stuff! :D

>73 -Eva-: I'm not keen on him, not yet at least. It's just, immediately after the war, then this new superhuge big bad comes along ready to squash them all... just too much too soon, it irritated me! And he just seems so over the top. But I'm looking forward to seeing what the witches et al come whip up, anyway. :)

75-Eva-
Jan 13, 2013, 6:08 pm

He did show up a little soon after the war, agreed, but I think you'll enjoy how that storyline _________. (left blank to avoid spoiling) :)

76lkernagh
Jan 13, 2013, 11:17 pm

Nice batch of reading! I am looking forward to diving into Willingham's Fables series.... and The Alienist, considering I have that one sitting on my TBR bookcase.

77.Monkey.
Jan 14, 2013, 3:55 am

>76 lkernagh: It's funny, I'd never even heard of it before coming upon the sequel for it's nice reduced price 2nd-hand, and then after discovering there was another I had to read first, suddenly I know people reading it and then it's something tons of people here have read/are reading/plan to read, hahaha.

>75 -Eva-: Well, if they continue at the same sort of level as v14, I should be alright. :P

78.Monkey.
Jan 14, 2013, 2:12 pm

Book 4: Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje, c2000, 300p, war/human rights/historical fic.
13-14 Jan
RandomCAT, AlphaCAT; cat. 12: around the world
Overall I'd say I enjoyed this. The way he writes kept me interested; I read it very fast (essentially three periods of sitting reading 100 pgs each), and was anxious to se where things wound up. However, I wasn't fond of how it jumped around. Flashbacks/memories randomly creeping in without idea of when they were taking place, where they fit in... the first time it completely confused me and I had no idea how she'd gone from one scenario to a completely different one. There's too much jumping around in time and from character to character's perspective. I don't care for that style at all, not in short little hops back and forth like this, and I don't think it worked well here. But I did enjoy the story told, and thought he did a good job with the emotional impact - making it clear just how much all these murders touched everyone. Definitely not a cheerful read, but worthwhile nonetheless.

79clfisha
Jan 15, 2013, 4:06 am

Nice review of The Alienist, I loved the historical aspect and I keep meaning to seek out the sequel.

80.Monkey.
Modifié : Jan 15, 2013, 12:26 pm

Book 5: Gold Coast Madam - Rose Laws, c2012, 203p, autobio/prostitution.
15 Jan
RandomCAT; cat. 13: LTER book.
Rose Laws has led one heck of a life! She's famous for being a "madam," but frankly I think a book devoted to her childhood would be far more interesting to read. The first part of the book dedicated to her early life with her large family in rural Tennessee on a farm with no electricity and no running water or outhouse even, was surely one of the most interesting childhoods I've ever had the joy of reading about. The rest of the book was still interesting; fairly fast-paced easy reading and definitely a side of life I have zero experience with, so it was intriguing to read about. However, it's clear either that Harris is quite unexperienced as an author, and/or that their agreement for her writing the story out came to not much more than transcription from the tapes Rose gave her. The voice of the text seems pretty verbatim of Rose simply talking about her past, complete with frequent exclamation marks, lists of addresses of former living and working arrangements, and in some parts it simply feels like a gloating list of all the men she was able to get favors from. There's a lot of good material here but it could definitely benefit from an experienced writer giving it a proper voice.

81.Monkey.
Jan 16, 2013, 4:13 am

Book 6: Mysterious Affair at Styles - Agatha Christie, c1920, 187p, whodunnit.
15 Jan
AlphaCAT; cat. 13: series. ROOT book.
Christie's first Poirot, and first novel at all. Fabulous as a first novel. There were layers and layers of clues, and "Poirot" does an impeccable job of steering the reader, through Hastings, exactly where he wants us to go. I saw through some of the layers, but definitely not all of them, and wound my way through the several twists Christie/Poirot lead us around, to find myself in surprise at the end.

I've read several Christie before (though this was my first Poirot), and I'm not crazy about how short her novels are and how little character development or plot there is—everything is simply all about the mystery and clues—or really her writing style at all, but the twists and turns you stumble through in her whodunnits are nearly unmatchable, and her books are incredibly fast reads, so I still enjoy them quite a bit.

82christina_reads
Jan 17, 2013, 12:42 pm

@ 81 -- Nice review, PM! I had a very long and happy Agatha Christie phase in my early teens, and she remains one of my favorite authors. But you're right; her characters tend to be types rather than fully fleshed-out human beings. I guess I'll forgive a lot for a good mystery plot!

83LittleTaiko
Jan 21, 2013, 12:11 pm

I'm currently rereading all of her books in order - I have a soft spot for Styles since it's the first one. Glad you enjoyed it!

84.Monkey.
Modifié : Jan 29, 2013, 4:45 am

Book 7: Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams, c1979-92, 815p, sci-fi-fantasy comedy.
16-23 Jan
AlphaCAT, RandomCAT; cat. 6: sci-fi-fantasy. ROOT book.
I enjoyed these stories, or well, most of most of them, but it was too much at once. I made it through about 3.5 before I starting thinking to myself "isn't this over yet?!" and wanting to move on to other things.

It was really just the last one that I wanted very much to be over with already. It didn't help matters that I ended up not caring so much for it, either! The story had its moments (like they all did) but there were definitely fewer of them, and maybe because it came so much further down the road, or maybe he intended on it truly being the end for the series, or who knows, but, it just had a much different atmosphere, was more of a downer through a lot of it. It was still clearly the same intelligent hand that wrote the others but, they all had that light-hearted deal behind the deep thoughts, that whole carefree -let's not make a big fuss about things but simply forge on ahead to what comes along next!- attitude, while the last one just sort of feels like, they've resigned, turned submissive, stopped trying to seek real enjoyment and adventure. Except for Ford, of course, because you know, he's Ford, after all. His parts were as great as always, but he was a much more minor character in it.

And, I didn't really like how it ended. I mean there was of course that certain bit of flair to it, but... eh. I would have been happier had it just stopped at number 4. Books 1-3 I enjoyed quite a bit. Book 4 was alright. Book 5 I'd almost rather not have read.

On a positive note, there are lots of very amusing, as well as thought-provoking, moments in these stories, and overall I enjoyed them quite a bit. Adams was clearly quite an intelligent man and I'm certainly curious about his other works, especially those focused more directly on his thoughts.

85.Monkey.
Modifié : Jan 27, 2013, 10:20 am

Book 8: African Mythology - Geoffrey Parrinder, c1967, 139p, mythology/history.
23-27 Jan
AlphaCAT, RandomCAT; cat. 12: Africa. ROOT book #6.
This was interesting, and gave me a bit of insight about some African history. However, it was a bit too brief, I don't feel like I took enough away from it; also it was organized by loose topic, so all the different peoples and areas are jumbled together in each, which makes it hard for me to retain which groups were associated with which tales. I understand that it was organized in this manner to show similarities between various myths and peoples and how they differ at other times, and to sort it out by larger ideas, but personally I think it would have been more helpful to sort by region and people, and then make small mentions of the others who share the same notions.

Overall, though, it was intriguing and I'm now curious to read more in-depth histories.


GN 4: DMZ vol 10 - Brian Wood, c2011, 124p, dystopia.
27 Jan
cat. 5: graphic novel
Things are clearly coming to a close. The war is ending. Here we have another of those volumes with bunch of short glimpses from various characters, most known, one random. The last time, it felt a bit disjointed and I didn't care much for it. This time they were all more directly tied together, and poignant. This was a great volume.

86RidgewayGirl
Jan 27, 2013, 10:34 am

I didn't know there was a fifth book to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy.

87.Monkey.
Jan 27, 2013, 10:42 am

>86 RidgewayGirl: Yep, written in 1992. He'd also been working on a 6th, but it was unfinished and the book seems generally more highly regarded for all of the random essays and personal material collected into it, based on reviews.

88PawsforThought
Jan 27, 2013, 11:25 am

86. There was a sixth book written and published - with the seal of approval from the Adams estate - recently by Eoin Colfer. Not sure if he used any of Adams's notes or if it was "freestyle".

89JDHomrighausen
Jan 27, 2013, 12:26 pm

> 85

The African Mythology book sounds so interesting! African religions is one of those subjects I want to learn about but haven't found the time.

90.Monkey.
Jan 27, 2013, 2:35 pm

>89 JDHomrighausen: It was indeed interesting, and it's got 24 full-page color images and b&w images on almost every page, which were all really great to see. Some of the stuff is so detailed it's astonishing, and others are just mind-blowing for other reasons—like the fact that a Yoruba person dancing in a festival might carry on their head a fabulously carved dance mask that is over 4ft tall! I cannot even imagine what that would be like, but I think it would be extraordinary to see. African culture is just totally captivating.

91.Monkey.
Modifié : Jan 29, 2013, 4:45 am

Book 9: The Gun Seller - Hugh Laurie, c1996, 339p, thriller-mystery.
25-27 Jan
RandomCAT; cat. 11: mystery.
This book was amazing. I mean, okay, the writing was not award-winning prose, but it's not trying to be! I couldn't begin to count the number of times I laughed out loud or a huge grin spread itself over my face. It was just a riot. And it was a riot on top of a gripping suspense-thriller. I have to give this 5 stars. I maybe shouldn't, because the book itself is technically not that stunning, but I had such a fun time reading this, and I thought it started out fabulously and the end was perfect, so I just have to give it full stars!

92sandragon
Jan 29, 2013, 10:50 am

The Gun Seller has been on my wishlist for a while but I keep hearing contradictory opinions of it that I passed it by when I saw it at a used book store. Now I'm thinking I should have grabbed it when I had the chance.

93.Monkey.
Jan 29, 2013, 10:53 am

>92 sandragon: I've mostly heard good things, with a few "I didn't like the humor" comments. Personally I think sarcastic wit is one of the best things in the world, lmao, and this book is chock full of it, while also doing quite well at being a suspense-thriller with some nice little twists. I'd most certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoys good solid wit! :D

94sandragon
Jan 29, 2013, 11:03 am

I'll definitely get it the next time I see it and just make up my own mind. I do like Laurie's comedy on TV, but in small doses. Depends how silly it (he) gets.

95.Monkey.
Jan 29, 2013, 11:10 am

I'm not a huge fan of some of his stuff, I don't like the over-the-top ridiculous stuff, like Blackadder (and Monty Python, I know, blasphemy, everyone must love it! but I don't. At all. lol). I just love the sarcastic wit type, like he was on House. I pretty much pictured the character as a version of House, really, hahaha.

96sandragon
Jan 29, 2013, 11:34 am

I'm not very fond of Black Adder or Monty Python either. Wooster and Jeeves are the ones I can handle in small doses. I haven't watched any House yet but I've been considering giving it a go. I really liked Laurie as Mr Palmer in Sense and Sensibility and am hoping House is a similar character type.

97rabbitprincess
Jan 29, 2013, 5:33 pm

>96 sandragon:: Mr Palmer is totally like House! At least in my opinion :)
The best parts of House are his conversations with his friend and colleague Wilson. They have a great rapport.

>91 .Monkey.:: Glad you liked The Gun Seller! I greatly enjoyed it as well.

98.Monkey.
Jan 29, 2013, 6:03 pm

>97 rabbitprincess: Oh yes, it was much fun! I'm sad to discover he wrote another that was supposed to be published a while back but then never showed up :( I want to read it!! hrmph!

>96 sandragon: I haven't seen that one so I can't say, but I can say House, and the book, are nothing like those others, so don't worry on that account!

99-Eva-
Jan 29, 2013, 10:31 pm

I've been wary of The Gun Seller since I too like Laurie as an actor, but I think I'll go ahead and add it to the list after all - worst case scenario is I laughed less than I thought I would. :)

100.Monkey.
Jan 30, 2013, 4:05 am

Exactly! lol. Honestly the story was very well done. The text itself was more "simple" but my interest was kept up from start to finish with how engaging it was and the various twists it took. :)

101sandragon
Jan 30, 2013, 9:38 am

97, 98 - Awesome! The Gun Seller and House are now both on my wishlist, LOL.

102LittleTaiko
Jan 30, 2013, 9:05 pm

Loved Laurie as house! This is a must for my wishlist.

103.Monkey.
Jan 31, 2013, 4:18 am

I did too! House is one of my most favorite TV characters ever! :D

104.Monkey.
Modifié : Fév 6, 2013, 5:14 am

Book 10: Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut, c1969, 157p, classic.
28-29 Jan
cat. 6: 1001 books. ROOT book #7.
I'm not really sure what to say about this. It was...unique. I gave it 4 ★s; it was a quick and essentially enjoyable read, about a difficult subject. It's just hard to really sum up thoughts about it though. So, yeah, I'll just leave it at that.


GN 5: Hellboy (library edition) vol 1 - Mike Mignola, c1994/1997, 327p, sci-fi-fantasy.
30 Jan
cat. 5: graphic novel.
I've seen the Hellboy movies and loved them, but mostly because Ron Perlman is just fabulous (and I also think Guillermo del Toro does amazing work). So it took me a while to decide to pick up the GNs. Not that I thought it'd be bad, but I knew the movie would obviously be at least a bit different, and because it's already been out so long, so many issues waiting, and it's got tons of hype over the years. All that stuff, I tend to shy away from. But I figured, Mignola is pretty good, and now there's these various other Hellboy offshoots and I "can't" read them until I actually read Hellboy, so... it's about time. lol.

I enjoyed it. I actually had picked up the first regular volume a month or two ago and liked it, so I thought I might as well go for the massive library editions with their extra content and all. It's fun looking through the old sketches Mignola had before the concepts were fully fleshed out. Anyhow, I like Hellboy and Abe, probably because they're such original characters; quirky, witty, solid, good guys! So far I'm not big on Liz or anyone else, but no one else has really been in focus much so I suppose we'll see. I love the bits of history and mythology that are tossed in, added level of interest! :)

105.Monkey.
Modifié : Fév 6, 2013, 5:14 am

Book 11: Education of a Felon - Edward Bunker, c2000, 304p, autobiography crime.
29 Jan-2 Feb
AlphaCAT; cat. 7: (auto)biography. ROOT book #8.
This was a fabulous book about a fabulous man. He was quite literally a genius and way above his years in mentality as a child, hence his super rebelious nature. As he puts it, he was dealt a bad hand, and the rest of his life he simply tried to make the best of it.

The book is a scathing look at the US penal (and judicial) system from someone who lived it a huge portion of his life. It also demonstrates just how much the system fails for those formerly convicted, who have done their time and paid the price, but then are disallowed from going back into society. You can't get a job with a record, you just can't. Minimum wage crap jobs is all that's open, and even those aren't always! It's a wretched situation.

Anyhow, aside of providing a look at the dismal situation of an American convict, we also, obviously, get a very good look the man writing about it all. And he's someone I wish I could have known. Incredibly intelligent, witty, bold, a bit rash, lots of fun... heh. I'd, sadly, not heard of him before. But after learning all about him, and seeing how well he wrote while doing it, I am quite anxious now to go read his novels.

106electrice
Fév 8, 2013, 7:53 am

Hi, I like the idea of your categories based on Author or Series even though I'm ashamed to confess that I know only 3 of the authors and none of the series :(

Love the reviews

Arkady Renko and Laszlo Kreizler are going respectively in crime fiction and historical mystery as potential categories for next year.

I'm reading the first of Douglas Adams this year so I should be safe ;)

Looking particularly forward the Eloise and Madeline categories.

107.Monkey.
Fév 8, 2013, 9:11 am

I'm working on the first of "Madeline" right now, but it'll be a little while, since it's so insanely huge, hahaha. That, of course, being Les Mis. I have no idea when I'll be getting to the "Eloise" ones, but there's a lot here on my shelves, I'm a Russophile lol, so there will be plenty for that one before the year is up! :D

Which authors do you know? You should totally check out the series, and the other authors, they're all amazing!! ;D

108electrice
Fév 8, 2013, 2:58 pm

I read I think an abridged version of Les Misérables when I was young but I don't remember much, I will maybe read it next year, I'm really interested by what you think about it. I remember with fond memories reading 20 milles lieux sous les mers and Les Trois Mousquetaires.

I read Anna Karénine for the group challenge, I absolutely loved it. Ten years ago, I read La Mort d'Ivan Illitch then the first volume of Crime et Chatiments by Dostoievsky, loved it too but never read the second volume, sigh ...

I am really waiting patiently (or not) but well it can't be helped I would really like to start to dive next year in russian literature, I can start thanks to you to make a reading list :) Docteur Jivago is a serious contender, I hope ?

I know by name only Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl and of course Edgar Allan Poe. For this one, I am ashamed to say that I have never read anything but I buy a few months ago The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. I intend to read it as it was mentioned I think in Le Capitaine Hatteras.

I will catch all the other later on with pleasure !

109PawsforThought
Fév 8, 2013, 3:40 pm

electrice - Maurice Sendak is one of the great geniuses of our time. Where the Wild Things Are is still - over 20 years since I had it read to me - one of my absolute favourite books. I re-read it regularly - it's so great at expressing (and being accepting) of how kids think and feel and how their minds work.

Also - you should totally read some Poe. We read The Tell-Tale Heart at school and it was one of the defining moments of my literary life. So great.

You don't know the Reys? I thought everyone in the world had read Curious George. Love him.

110.Monkey.
Fév 9, 2013, 9:44 am

>108 electrice: Indeed, Zhivago is one of the ones I included on my TBR Challenge. I'm pretty much aiming to read all the ones I listed for Russia/Russian, except Annotated Lolita since I just read Lolita several mos ago, not really caring to reread it so soon; I'd really only listed/considered it since it was a group read, but I made a few comments there w/o having reread it anyhow, heh.

I read a (slightly) abridged Count of Monte Cristo a bunch of years ago, not being aware of the abridgement since it was so long (I knew it was a very large book, so I made sure that it was a good high page count when I bought it!! But alas I discovered some fine print later on saying it was not complete, urgh!!), so since then I take care to make extra sure nothing is abridged! haha. I will be reviewing it when I finish, and potentially doing several in-progress reviews since it'll take me a while to read, heh. I haven't read any Tolstoy yet, though I do have War and Peace on my shelves. I read Crime and Punishment a couple years ago, and then Brothers Karamazov a bit after. Love Dostoevsky! :D What do you mean about 2nd volume, though? It was originally published serialized, and is in 6 parts, but it's just one book...? If you haven't finished it though, you totally should! :D

I agree with 109, The Tell-Tale Heart is a great selection of Poe's, but then most of his famous stories are. The poem The Raven is my favorite piece of his, though. It's just fabulous. But you have to read it aloud, or find some recording of it somewhere! It has to be heard, with the rhyming and alliteration, it just brings it to life to hear it!

And also that Sendak & Where the Wild Things Are are fabulous (though I do prefer Mercer Mayer's Little Monster books, as they're more cute & sweet). And I also thought everyone knew Curious George! lol.

111electrice
Modifié : Fév 9, 2013, 10:49 am

>110 .Monkey.: I read the first part of Le comte de Monte-Cristo, in the collection 'Folio Classique' by Gallimard, it was edited in two parts, I never read the second part sigh. But I reading the whole thing this year during the group read of March, yeah me ;)

The version that I read of Crime et Chatiments was published by 'Le Livre de Poche' in two parts. I intend to read it again and to finish it maybe next year if I do a Russian Authors category.

Yeah I hate it too when an abridged version is not clearly identified !

>109 PawsforThought: I am taking note of all these great books and I intend sooner or later to read them :)

112PawsforThought
Fév 9, 2013, 10:50 am

110. The Raven is fantastic, but I didn't come to than one until later. And I agree with reading it aloud - I automatically did that when I read it, it really calls for it. The same goes for William Blake's The Tyger - can't be read quietly in your head, it must be read aloud (and with accelerating speed).

I like my monsters monsterous, not cute. I think that's part of the point of the Wild Things, that they ARE scary.

113electrice
Fév 9, 2013, 10:58 am

>112 PawsforThought: I love my monster scary too. That's why I never could accept the premise of the Twilight series, glowing vampires, who are you kidding lady ? I mean really !?

114PawsforThought
Fév 9, 2013, 11:52 am

113. I don't like vampire fiction at all, but the glittering variety has to be one of the worst inventions in "literature". Also - the books are incredibly poorly written and the main character is more one-dimentional than a line on a piece of paper.

115electrice
Fév 9, 2013, 4:06 pm

>114 PawsforThought: Absolutely, I don't like it either. I did it for my little cousin who wanted to talk about it with me, sigh. What I do for the family :) Worst idea ever.

116.Monkey.
Fév 9, 2013, 4:22 pm

lol the books I'm talking about are made for young children though. They're not scary monsters, the whole point is that they're sweet & friendly and kids shouldn't worry about monsters in the closet or under the bed or all that, 'cause if they do find one there (har har) they're just big silly friendly things. Obviously if it was for adults and it was "monsters" I wouldn't think "oh they should be cute & sweet!" lol.

I read all the Twilight I needed by reading the reasoningwithvampires Tumblr account, where this super awesome girl plucks out bits of it and dissects all the issues with the writing & content, it's amazing. LOL.

117Zozette
Modifié : Fév 9, 2013, 4:36 pm

I am another person who hates vampire fiction. Unfortunately it is about all my best friend (who will turn 50 this year) reads.

She isn't on the internet so she gets me to buy books online for her. It wasn't too bad when I was buying paperback from the Book Depository but I bought her an e-reader for Christmas and I have to use my account to download books for her. Unless I remember to mark her orders as "do not use for recommendations' I get dozen of vampire book recommendations. All her books show up on my cloud which really annoys me. I should have opened a second account at Amzon for her.

118cammykitty
Fév 9, 2013, 5:08 pm

Dr. Zhivago is on my mount TBR too. I'm tempted to say we should do a tandem read, but I'm not planning on getting to it soon - maybe the end of the year. I've got to read The Count of Monte Cristo first before I agree to tackle another chunkster!

119PawsforThought
Fév 9, 2013, 5:09 pm

116. I loved scary monsters and scary things when I was a kid - even if they gave me nightmares (though they usually didn't). The whole point of something being a monster is that they're scary - otherwise they're not monsters, just weird-looking creatures.

As for Twilight, I had decided to neither watch nor read but one of my best friends thought I was being "elitist and prejudiced" so I promised I'd watch the movies and try to read the first book. I got about three pages into the books before the urge to throw it into the wall overwhelmed me. I have watched all but the last movie and wish there was a way I could get those hours back.

120.Monkey.
Fév 9, 2013, 5:45 pm

>117 Zozette: I quite enjoy vampire novels, but then I have been for the past 20something odd years, and certainly not poorly written drivel about sparkly ones!

>118 cammykitty: I have no timeline for it aside of "2013," haha, so I'll consider it one for later on, and then if you decide later you don't think you'll get to it this year, no worries. :)

>119 PawsforThought: I've loved "scary" things for my whole life, really. But these are picture books, aimed at like 3-5yr olds, with one short sentence of text per page, you know? They're meant to be sweet fun stories. I don't see how that's wrong to use "monsters" for. It's just like Scooby Doo, showing kids that monsters were not actually real or to be feared. Only rather than bad guys in disguise, it's that they are misunderstood.

I have the urge to throw that book against the wall just from reading the snippets on the Tumblr lol, fortunately I have no book at hand, so I'm left to simply laugh at the sheer absurdity on my screen. :P You'd have to strap me down and tape my eyes open to ever get me to watch those movies! hahahaha

121PawsforThought
Fév 9, 2013, 6:04 pm

120. I think in the case of Where the Wild Things Are, the point is that the monsters in the books are really Max's "bad sides" (i.e. negative emotions and bad behaviour) and the book is telling the kids that it's okay to have those feelings - to get angry and frustrated and whatnot - and that those feeling ARE scary. If the monsters hadn't been scary the book would have been rather pointless, in my view.

Have you all read The Oatmeal's take on Twilight? It's pretty accurate, imho. http://theoatmeal.com/story/twilight
It's my favourite Oatmeal-piece after the one on Nikola Tesla.

122.Monkey.
Fév 9, 2013, 6:19 pm

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Where the Wild Things Are, not at all, like I said, it's a great book, hence Sendak being one of my chosen authors! :D I just liked the silly cute fun ones better. They're a different kind of book is all, and they were cute and goofy. I like cute and goofy. And I usually like it better than boys being immature and bratty, which Max totally is, hahaha. Again, nothing wrong with that, it wasn't glorifying his tantrum and it was, as you say, showing emotions and imagination and everything. Just, as a little girl, who was quite well-behaved (for the most part ;)), cute goofy monsters won out over the mean little boy. ;P

I have, I love him, his stuff is hilarious. I love his pieces on language (as I suspect many LTers would, haha), priceless snark railing against super-ignorance of English! bahaha.

123PawsforThought
Fév 9, 2013, 6:30 pm

122. As another usually well-behaved little girl - who occationally had tantrums and found it difficult to express things - the non-cute, non-goofy monsters won every time. I liked cute and cuddly things but not when it came to monsters.
I was always drawn to the characters with bad tempers or bad behaviours (Max, Mary from The Secret Garden, Harriet from Harriet the Spy, etc.) and to gruesome stories like that of the Brothers Grimm (the non-Disneyfied versions) and folk tales.

124.Monkey.
Fév 10, 2013, 3:29 am

I loved Harriet, but I certainly didn't consider her someone with a bad temper. I loved her spying, her cleverness, her independence. I know I enjoyed Secret Garden but I don't recall the details all these years later, but it doesn't stand out as a tantrum/behavior issue book to my mind. My 4 year old self had no idea what "gruesome" meant, nor any attraction to it; that would be a very odd thing for someone so very young. I certainly wasn't reading long chapter books at the same time I was reading picture books with 6 words to a page. And for the record, aside from the gathering of Gothic titles and vast amounts of horror & thriller on my shelves (which have been accumulating since I was around 10), there sits Complete Andersen and Grimm volumes.

125PawsforThought
Fév 10, 2013, 5:29 am

124. I didn't read WtWTA myself, I had it read to me. And the books I mentioned were just the ones I could think of off the top of my head, there are more but my memory isn't great and those were the ones that stayed with me the most.

I would definitely count Harriet as someone who had bad behaviour (I mentioned that as well as temper), she was pretty nasty to people around her. And Mary was incredibly spoilt and threw tantrums all around when she first arrived in England - much like Colin did and I loved them both.

Knowing or not knowing the meaning of a particular word is beside the point. It's a matter of whether or not your drawn to particular characters or themes, and you can most certainly be drawn to "gruesome" things even at that young an age - I fail to see how that would be strange just because it's a small child.

126.Monkey.
Mar 16, 2013, 8:53 am

I'm still playing, I haven't run away! I've just been really crappy about posting reviews/updates. But I did just go through and add in the titles to their appropriate categories! :D

127AHS-Wolfy
Mar 16, 2013, 5:24 pm

Glad you enjoyed The Quiet American. That one was my first exposure to Graham Greene and thought it was fantastic. Also happy to see continuing love for later editions in the Fables series as I've not reached that point yet.

128.Monkey.
Modifié : Mar 16, 2013, 5:49 pm

>127 AHS-Wolfy: I did enjoy it, the twists and the end surprised me. :) I wasn't so enthused by Fables after the war, so 11-13 were kinda eh. I felt like it was floundering a bit, he was trying too hard to do all kinds of things and go all sorts of directions and had no anchor anymore w/o that arc. But 14 finally came back and 15 continued it. :) Unfortunately I think that's as far as my library's currently got, urgh. lol.

edited to fix the typo!

129.Monkey.
Avr 18, 2013, 8:26 am

Finally adding a new review here! I had to write it, haha, for LTER!
Book #26 of the year, Sultan of Monte Cristo, in cat 13-ER reads, read on 13 Apr.

Fair warning, this review is longer, and scathing! heh.

I love books, I love to read, so many things; so I really hate when I have to write reviews like the the one that's about to come.

So, I will begin with the "positive." The "HWG" had some decent ideas. There are things here that, were they actually fleshed out, could possibly be turned into an interesting book. The main adventure parts of the story could prove to be quite interesting in the right hands.

But the "HWG's" hands are not by a long-shot the right ones. First of all, let's start with "HWG." "Holy Ghost Writer." Now, I don't have a problem with anonymity when a person writes things that are a bit daring/risqué, or someone famous wants to be a "nobody" and see how a book does, etc. You know, reasons. What I will not agree is a valid reason to make up some absurd "name" which is purely for attention, is to use anonymity as a gimmick, and to then reveal the author later on in some goofy contest. I also think releasing 10 mini-"books" (and please take that word with a very large grain of salt, I'd never call 60 pages a book, it's not even a novella!) rather than one or maybe two actual full-length novels is just trying to scream "look at me!" in a really pathetic manner.

Then there's the fact that not once but twice in the pages of this "book" he claims people have called him the "successor to Dumas." Now, I don't know if whoever said this had never read a book in their life, or if they were high, but aside of being disgustingly self-congratulatory, it's also clear that he has zero respect for the man whom he's using to try to make some money. I am appalled on behalf of Dumas. If this had been an amazing book, it would still be a ridiculously self-congratulatory untrue thing to say, but to actually stick those words on this little short story devoid of any detail written by someone who seems to just want to stick some debauchery into text without having to create their own character development or anything but simply use that which is already out there, and to choose something loved by millions in order to get attention... I just have no words for it.

So I will move on, to the work itself.
For one thing, there was serious need of an editor. The sheer volume of mistakes in such a small number of pages is horrendous. Typos, wrong words used, quotation marks in completely wrong places, everything you could think of able to be wrong, it happened.

As for the content, well like I said, the adventure bits could prove interesting ...if they were actually written, and not merely as if mentioned in passing. In 60 pages Edmond is on multiple continents plus a stint in the ocean. And the most details we get are about him being seduced by four different women and about drugs. Really?? If someone were to flesh out the ocean and Middle-East adventures, they could have some merit. In a whopping four pages (which have other rambling nonsense amongst the event) there is the encounter and resolution. The last 24 pages seemed somewhat more promising, there was more actual story going on and this was near completely of "HGW's" own creation. It would have been better if there wasn't so overwhelmingly many lines devoted to Raymee's oh-so-incredible eyes, and without the hyper-sexualized tone.

Overall, this is an incredibly short piece of amateurish tripe and I'm quite sorry I wasted not one but two (I saw the next time there was the next part of this, before I'd received it, and chose that as one of my picks) of my LTER potentials on it (especially when the second one never even arrived!). I would never recommend this to anyone.

130.Monkey.
Modifié : Mai 1, 2013, 5:13 am

Now then, since that's out of the way. In the interests of getting back to posting reviews, I will just list everything I've read since the last one, and if anyone is curious for a review of any title listed, speak up, and I'll review it! :)

Books:
13) 218p Ice Station Zebra - Alistair MacLean (9-10 Feb)
14) 307p Black Elk Speaks - John Neihardt (told to by Black Elk) (3-11 Feb)
15) 466p Watership Down - Richard Adams (11-15 Feb)
17) 270p Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (17-18 Feb)
21) 226p The Gates of the Forest - Elie Wiesel (3-5 Mar)
22) 183p The Quiet American - Graham Greene (6-9 Mar)
24) 266p Aesop's Fables - Aesop (16-17 Mar)
25) 250p Bend Sinister - Vladimir Nabokov (16-22 Mar)

Graphic novels/comics:
06) 255p Fables Vol 15: Rose Red - Bill Willingham (6 Feb)
07) 140p Global Frequency Vol 2: Detonation Radio - Warren Ellis (14 Feb)
08) 327p Hellboy (library) Vol 2: Chained Coffin / Right Hand of Doom - Mike Mignola (1 Mar)
09) 090p The Dark Horse Book of Monsters - Mike Mignola (12 Mar)
10) 167p Y Last Man Vol 3: One Small Step - Brian K Vaughan (23 Mar)
11) 142p Y Last Man Vol 4: Safeword - Brian K Vaughan (24 Mar)
12) 327p Hellboy (library) Vol 3: Conqueror Worm / Strange Places (3 Apr)

And from now on I will try to get my mojo back and properly review as I read!

131Bjace
Avr 18, 2013, 9:35 am

Did you like Bend sinister? I picked up a copy at the library book sale and was wondering whether to read it or pass it on.

132.Monkey.
Avr 18, 2013, 10:17 am

>131 Bjace: I did, but holy cow Nabokov's vocabulary, and even word-creation! His writing skill & intellect are above my league when it came to that one. But, after the first several pgs I kind of gave up on looking for literal meaning behind his obscure words, and just let things wash over me more (and also didn't give very much attention to the few pages devoted to an odd discussion about Hamlet (in an odd way) because that didn't make very much sense for me). I found the story itself to be worth the "argh what is this word?!" and "ack what does he mean by this?!" moments, hahaha. It's definitely not a simple read, but I'd suggest giving it a go, and just pushing past anything confusing. The end was was worth the trouble, I thought. :)

133lkernagh
Avr 18, 2013, 9:29 pm

Good review of Sultan of Monte Cristo. Given the ratings posted on LT that one must be a polarizing read - either readers love it or hate it.

What did you think of the Oxford Gothic Tales? I seem to be on a Gothic kick right now and that title caught my eye in your list.

134.Monkey.
Avr 19, 2013, 4:42 am

>133 lkernagh: Those are actually fake reviews, either socks by the author or his friends/family. Seriously, the work is rife with errors and poor writing, it's literally impossible for those reviews to be legit. Jeremy has already deleted a few that were very obvious socks, but some of them aren't quite as obvious so he needs to try and find more proof before he can delete (though he does believe they're fakes). Which is all the more reason to avoid this guy, completely gaming the system!

I'm in the process of writing that one up, someone in one of my other threads asked about that too! ;P Will be posting later today!

135RidgewayGirl
Avr 19, 2013, 7:02 am

Well, that is deeply uncool. He'll learn quickly enough that that sort of behavior will backfire.

136.Monkey.
Modifié : Avr 19, 2013, 3:30 pm

>133 lkernagh: lkernagh, it has been written up!
I will be straight with you, I dislike short stories; they're too short, you can't get into them before they're over, their brevity can't provide proper fleshed-out details, and they very often have fairly depressing resolutions—it seems somehow to be in their very nature. However, shortcomings aside, they make for good introductions into distinctive types of literature that one hasn't properly explored before. A good collection of short stories gives a glimpse into the style and characteristic features commonly found, and generally give someone at least a few ideas of authors to look further into. Hence, I will occasionally read some collections (also those of authors I especially enjoy, but I hate when they write them and make me read them! :P). And since I've read very little Gothic fiction but am very interested in it, especially the earlier prominent works, I figured I would brave the evils of the short story and utilize this as a first real introduction.

I especially appreciated the introduction to this anthology; Baldick provided a nice detailed explanation of what makes Gothic literature, its origins, and background. This is rather complex and there's lots of details people disagree about (does it need to have X or Y, etc), but he does a nice job of laying out the fundamentals and giving readers a clear idea of what Gothic means. As for the stories, well, I'm sure Baldick had his reasons for choosing the stories he did, but a handful of them I just did not see the value of. I imagine this is partially due to my natural distaste of short stories, but a few of them just didn't go anywhere at all. That said, there were definitely some good stories in this collection. One that sticks out especially much in my mind is The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson. I don't know that she actually meant any of it to be humorous, but some of her descriptions of what was going on had me laughing out loud. It was not a light-hearted tale, to be sure, but her wit in the text clearly shines. And while I don't enjoy all of Stevenson's tales, I found his Olalla to be quite interesting. These were not the only stories I enjoyed, of course, but they're the two that have really stuck with me the most. There were a bunch more I am glad to have read, though.

So. In the end, in spite of my general lack of favor, I gave this collection four stars. Since I don't care for short stories, my view on them often tends to be rather skewed to the negative; so I rounded up a bit for balance. Maybe that's silly, but I know I judge short stories more harshly than is really warranted plenty of the time.

For fans of Gothic fiction, and/or short stories, I'd suggest giving this collection a shot.

137lkernagh
Avr 19, 2013, 7:15 pm

> 134 - See, I never would have know about the sock puppet reviews/ratings!

> 136 - Great review. Thumb!..... and happy to report that it is also a Hot Review!

138.Monkey.
Avr 20, 2013, 3:00 am

Ooh how fun! I've never had that before! :D

139mathgirl40
Avr 20, 2013, 3:33 pm

Great review of The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales! You've summarized very well exactly what I like and dislike about short-story collections. I'm trying to read more of them this year and devoted a category to them. I'll keep this collection in mind.

140.Monkey.
Avr 20, 2013, 5:06 pm

Thanks! :) Are you reading any particular types? I also read The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories last year and found it to be a really great collection.

141mathgirl40
Avr 20, 2013, 5:59 pm

I have a bunch of sci-fi/fantasy collections on hand, but I'd like to read some mystery collections as well. Actually, I'm open to anything this year, so whatever I stumble across can be a candidate. The Caribbean short stories sounds interesting. One of my closest friends is from Jamaica, and we were recently talking about literature from that area.

142.Monkey.
Modifié : Avr 20, 2013, 6:08 pm

The definition of "Caribbean" used was a little loose, I thought, but there's a lot of great writing in it, I'd definitely recommend it. I did read their (Oxford) Sci-fi one also, it wasn't bad. I felt the Caribbean was their best one I've read, though. :)

143luvamystery65
Avr 21, 2013, 11:55 am

Popping in to say hello! I love your categories. You have had lots of good reads this year. I loved The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I read The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness several years ago. Both were enjoyable. I wish he would write another mystery with those characters.

144.Monkey.
Avr 21, 2013, 5:26 pm

>143 luvamystery65: Others have said the same about Carr, I have no doubt I'll agree, too! lol. I've only read Alienist so far, since I'd picked up Angel of Darkness used for cheap w/o knowing it was a sequel, so then I got Alienist from the library, but still haven't read Angel yet! haha. I'll get there eventually! :P

145cammykitty
Avr 21, 2013, 5:39 pm

#129 OMG! Did the person even read the original? Do they think they know about Edmund because they read a cheap graphic novel version? That isn't even in keeping with his character! He certainly wasn't terribly seducible (to invent a word) in the original. Haydee obviously had great difficulties getting his attention. I'm sure Dumas would get revenge on Holy Ghost Writer if he were still alive.

146.Monkey.
Avr 21, 2013, 5:49 pm

>145 cammykitty: LOL, That'd be awfully amusing to see. Yeah, he gets a whole harem of women in this absurd little tale, and lots of drugs (because Dumas mentioned the word "hemp" once, apparently, like, are you serious?!). He's accused of being a vampire, so this one vain woman wants him to make her one, so he sucks on her neck until she passes out, giving her a hickey, and she thinks he's marked her and she's turned. The whole thing is pretty much one giant facepalm.

147cammykitty
Avr 21, 2013, 9:14 pm

Yikes!!! Looks like he did a word search of the original found "harem" "vampire" and a reference to that little green paste and then went on his own route. Geeze!

& the revenge? Perhaps it would start by Dumas employing a personal secretary to "assist" HGW in the rapid deployment of a new e-book series, and a publicist to set up some daytime tv spots so everyone would know exactly what HGW looks like...

148.Monkey.
Avr 23, 2013, 12:27 pm

Finished one I was reading 10 days ago on the train, been lazy lately!
Book 27: The Evolution Man, or, How I ate my father - Roy Lewis c1960, 214p, prehistoric humor
13-23 Apr
Cat. 13: overflow
The first chunk of this book had me chortling on the train, it starts out with a definite bang. I think after that the tone changes ever-so-slightly, less wildly amusing into a somewhat more dramatized tale, but it's still plenty amusing and overall light-hearted, and a very quick read.

Underneath the silly humor, I think Lewis has some truly thought-provoking ideas about our history and evolution. Obviously these things occurred on a much smaller scale, in a much less blatant manner, than he describes; but the notions behind the irreverent and playful dialog of the ape-men seem quite relevant and true to life, and they're presented in such a fun entertaining style that he gets you thinking about it without being philosophical or scholarly. I think it takes a lot of talent to write such a cheerful fast-paced comic, and yet insightful, work about such a huge weighted topic. Well done!

149.Monkey.
Avr 26, 2013, 9:33 am

Book 28: Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami c2002, 505p, magical realism
24-25 Apr
Cat. 6: 1001 list
I'm a bit conflicted. I definitely enjoyed reading this, I read nearly 400pgs of it in one day. It certainly grabs your interest, and keeps you on your toes. I really loved Nakata and the cats, and Hoshino once he got involved, made for some great light comedic moments. There was a lot of intriguing things going on that kept up my interest very much and I certainly wanted to see where things would lead.

However, as another reviewer said: "I was disappointed at the ending. Too many loose ties." The ending itself was alright, I mean, the big stuff was wrapped up. But after I finished, I sat there and started thinking about what I had just read, and I realized just how much was left completely hanging from earlier parts. All sorts of things that were made a fuss over at some point in the book, big key things, never went anywhere or got any explanation.

Slight possible spoilerish questions:
What happened to the children? What in the world went on with the teacher? Who the hell is Crow? Who the hell is Johnnie Walker/Colonel Sanders? Are they the same? Related? Completely separate manipulative entities?? What was going on with Crow in the forest at the end? What was the deal with the blood on Kafka's shirt? Why could Nakata make it rain random crap, and why did he make it rain fish?? What was up with his father's "prophecy"?
/spoilerish

All these questions and more. Plus he makes it seem like there's all sorts of potential future stuff that would go on with the characters, but then at the same time everything at the end seems so damn final, I don't get it. Plus the whole Colonel Sanders bit was just irritating.

So, I'd give the writing/plot 4.5★s but the ending & all the dangling unexplained bits get 2.5★s, for a 3.5 overall.

150-Eva-
Avr 28, 2013, 6:52 pm

I haven't gotten to Kafka on the Shore yet, so I had to just skim your review, but did have to laugh at "all the dangling unexplained bits" - I think those are standard in Murakami. :)

151.Monkey.
Avr 29, 2013, 5:00 am

lol it really irritated me. These things weren't just tiny little side-bits, but huge meaningful bits of the plot, that then never did anything! Like, what?! Urgh. I won't be rushing to pick up any more Murakami, I can tell you that! haha. Eventually I'll probably read another one or two, because the writing was good and kept interest, but argh. :P

152.Monkey.
Modifié : Avr 29, 2013, 10:46 am

Book 29: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde / The Merry Men - RL Stevenson c1886-7, 244p, Gothic/horror
24 Mar-28 Apr
AlphaCAT, Cat. 6: 1001 list. ROOT book #18.
This book contains Jekyll & Hyde along with the short story collection The Merry Men and Other Tales, which in turn contains the title story, Will O' the Mill, Markheim, Thrawn Janet, Olalla, and The Treasure of Franchard.

Jekyll & Hyde is, of course, a great story. Dark Gothic tale, moral quandaries, all sorts of fun to be had. Most everyone knows the basic premise, so I won't bore you. But if you haven't read it, you should. Even knowing what we all already know about it, in this case, doesn't dispel the suspense that Stevenson creates.

As for The Merry Men. Well, the (incredibly short & sparse and rather pointless) introduction to this collection claims that the stories are of "varying quality. The title story has real merit, but Will o'the Mill and The Treasure of Franchard reveal themselves as early works, written before Stevenson had mastered the short story form." And Thrawn Janet "is a masterpiece. There is a feeling of stark terror in it that is matched only by [...] Sheridan Le Fanu." Unfortunately there is no one named as having written this, so there is no one I can direct my anger at for their pretentious lunacy. Because clearly they haven't the slightest clue what they are talking about.

The Merry Men started out decent enough, but the last third of it turned rather odd and I didn't think much of the ending. Also, two of the characters speak in Scottish brogue and are quite a chore to try and make out, and I missed a good deal of the text for lack of understanding the words.
Will o' the Mill, contrary to dear old Intro Writer, was quite interesting and enjoyable. You really didn't know where it was going or how it would get there, but it was a rather good place to be when it did.
Markheim was short and to the point, a tale of guilt and conscience.
Thrawn Janet, again quite contrary to dear old Intro Writer, was miserable. Written entirely in Scottish brogue (except for the first page (of only nine), which is an introductory bit to what the story is about to tell, and really has nothing to do with anything; so the only legible part of the story is pointless), it is unreadable, racist, and just plain stupid—from what I could make out, that is. And the end was absurd. Seriously I am quite aghast that anyone would dare call such a travesty a "masterpiece." They need their head examined!
Olalla I had read just a short bit ago in the Oxford Gothic collection, so I skipped rereading it here. But it was one of my favorite stories in that collection. The atmosphere is perfect, and is drawn out to that perfect suspenseful point, where things are a bit off but nothing is really wrong yet and you're just aching to know what in the world is going to happen! Very nice.
And last, The Treasure of Franchard, where again, the intro could not be more wrong. Along with Olalla, this was my favorite of the Merry Men stories. It had depth, and though the main character makes you want to throttle him, it was a great story with a fabulous end, and the perfect end to the book.

153.Monkey.
Avr 29, 2013, 10:45 am

Book 20: The Adventures of Robin Hood - Roger Lancelyn Green c1956, 256p, classic, medieval folklore/legend
26-28 Feb
Cat. 2: Legends/Mythology
Initially, I wasn't too sure what to make of this. There's a lot of action going on, as everyone knows of Robin Hood, but the writing doesn't really have that sort of tone. And, because he collected the stories from the various places that they're found and put them essentially in order, to try to make a fairly chronological account come together to make a novel, some of it is a little repetetive and a little disjointed. But, I started to get a lot more into it more around halfway in, and found it more engaging. Plus I had no idea that the "real" Marion was so amazing!! All the movies stick her in the trite old damsel in distress role (ugh!), but as it turns out, she's every bit as badass as Robin, and probably even more clever. I was astonished, and thrilled! Also, Green put pieces from the old text/songs at the start of each "adventure," which I thought was interesting and clever.

This wasn't one of my top favorite reads, but I'm really glad that I picked it up, and I'd encourage others to do the same!

154rabbitprincess
Avr 29, 2013, 5:46 pm

Glad that the RLG version of Robin Hood turned out all right for you! It was one of my favourite childhood reads, as its highly dog-eared cover and creased spine can attest. Have you read any other collections/retellings of Robin Hood?

155.Monkey.
Avr 29, 2013, 5:53 pm

>154 rabbitprincess: I have not, though I know he's at least somewhat related to Ivanhoe? which I'm reading now. No idea how big his role in it is, but I suppose I will find out! :P Have you read others, then? And if so are there any you'd recommend?

156rabbitprincess
Avr 29, 2013, 6:07 pm

I think the RLG version is the only one I've read, unless you count the super-abridged children's version released in conjunction with the TV show "Wishbone": http://www.librarything.com/work/760094 Will have to hunt up another one. And reread Ivanhoe!

157.Monkey.
Avr 30, 2013, 3:20 am

hah that looks cute :) In one of my other threads someone mentioned Howard Pyle's book, but from the reviews it looks to be pretty similar to what Green did, and one says Marian is only barely mentioned, so, I think I'll not look into that one. But now I want to know what others to look into! And there's a million books with Robin Hood titles! ack. hahaha

158.Monkey.
Avr 30, 2013, 12:13 pm

Book 12: Forever Odd (Odd Thomas #2) - Dean Koontz c2005, 419p, supernatural thriller.
3 Feb
AlphaCAT; cat. 13: series. ROOT #9
Superduper loved this book. It was every bit as fantastic as the first Odd book. More ghosts and bodachs, of course, and more crazy folk. And, we can't forget about Elvis. Or about the nonstop dry wit we've come to know & love Odd for already, which makes these books so much more than they would otherwise be. I always have trouble finding words when I'm so enamored with a book, so I'll just leave it at that—it's awesome!


Book 19: Brother Odd (Odd Thomas #3) - Dean Koontz c2006, 364p, supernatural sci-fi thriller.
25-26 Feb
AlphaCAT; cat. 13: series
Just can't get enough Odd! This one went a bit beyond the first two with the non-realism, but it was still explainable, in a sense, so I forgive that. I like the new characters a lot, and the rapport Odd has with one in particular (which makes up for the lack of being back in Pico Mundo where he'd have semi-similar back & forths with the Chief) was in itself worth reading the book for. Full of laugh-out-loud moments, and also quite touching moments, as we've come to expect with Odd, and a couple surprises here and there. Great read.


Book 23: Odd Hours (Odd Thomas #4) - Dean Koontz c2008, 352p, fantasy thriller.
14-15 Mar
AlphaCAT; cat. 13: series
I was pretty disappointed with this book. I still laughed a handful, and still think Koontz has come a long way from those books in the 90s that I read several of, but, I definitely did not feel so strongly about this one. I love Odd, his humor and wit, and the light supernatural elements; the first two books in the series I simply could not put down, and the third, while a little different, was still pretty great. But this one ...Koontz just took it too far over the top, plus, his repeating stuff from the previous ones so absurdly much is starting to get really grating. It's a series, and technically they can stand alone but they really lose a lot that way. Just deal with it, most people who read them will be "devoted" readers and we DO NOT WANT TO REREAD THE SAME THING OVER & OVER, damn you! It's just a waste of space and it completely rips me out of the book when I'm faced with NOOO NOT AGAAAAIINNNNNN! *groan* Completely kills the mood.

And really, I think he was doing a pretty nice job keeping the supernatural aspect fairly low; there are bad guys, there are ghosts, Odd does good things, things are good. This one... too much. Just too much! It's no longer even the least bit believable at this point (whether you believe in ghosts or not, things were pretty balanced previously, nothing utterly outrageous), we have slipped entirely into the fantasy realm, and even Odd is continually going "I'm seeing all sorts of things that bend the rules I've always known" or whatever. Why change the game four books in?! No. And not just all this new unexplainable junk, but (spoiler for previous book) we've lost Elvis, and now there's none of the normal ghosts & bodachs that the whole Odd line is built on.

I'll still keep reading, but only from the library; I'd be reluctant to pay for book 5 or 6 without knowing first if 5 continues like this one—which it almost certainly does because this one left on a huge cliffhanger. Unfortunately Odd has lost quite a bit of favor with me now after everything went topsy-turvy here.

159.Monkey.
Mai 1, 2013, 5:10 am

Book 16: Hannibal (Hannibal Lecter #3) - Thomas Harris c1999, 480p, horror-thriller.
15-16 Feb
Cat. 13: series
I'm realizing that I really dislike Harris the more I read him and read of him. This was most certainly the worst thing of his that I read. And, shockingly, I actually prefer a lot of the movie changes over the book.

Harris made a pretty big blunder fairly early on. The section chief of Behavioral Science asked Starling if Hannibal "liked her." Um, he's a sociopath, through & through. Sociopaths don't like people, sociopaths don't feel emotions the way the rest of us do. I sincerely hope that the chief of this department would be quite aware of this fact. Otherwise, wow, how did he ever get his job?? And then, this same issue recurs in the end, in another form. While I enjoy the series (it's rare for crime novels to focus so intently on a genius sociopath monster, and to even make him into a character you actually kind of like, and respect (albeit keeping a wary distance); it's different and intriguing), it just gets worse over time. I'm a little worried about reading Hannibal Rising, but since it's supposed to be a prequel, I guess I don't have to worry about Harris stretching trying to make the relationship between Clarice and Hannibal work somehow.

I found a lot of fault with him reading this one, which may be slightly colored by having read Monster of Florence and getting an idea of his personality (which was none too pleasing in the eyes of the Italians he offended), but it's more than that. There was a lot of things, such as his trying to use "fancy" words all the time, rather than how humans actually speak. And I don't mean Lecter, it was the narration doing it. For example Clarice (I believe) passed by a medicine cabinet and it was noted that there was lots of "unguents" instead of just saying salves, I mean come on, no one is impressed by having to find a dictionary for something that does not remotely need a special word! And then there's the fact that, while still ruthless, Lecter is completely not himself about Clarice. And the end, ack, the movie definitely had the right end; the end was so not remotely true to the characters and so frustrating.

I'd really only suggest the serious Lecter fan may want to read this, to finish the story line. But even then, you may just want to stick with the movie.

160luvamystery65
Mai 1, 2013, 5:02 pm

Odd Apocalypse really stank! I wish Odd would go back to Pico Mundo. That was half the charm of the books. The unbelievable nonsense is in high gear in this one.

161.Monkey.
Mai 1, 2013, 5:16 pm

>160 luvamystery65: Totally agreed. I want to read the rest just because I love Odd so much, and his humor/wit is still there being thoroughly amusing, but... >_<

162mathgirl40
Mai 6, 2013, 10:20 pm

I'm reading Howard Pyle's The Story of King Arthur and His Knights right now and the Robin Hood discussion here makes me want to try his version and the RLG version too.

163cammykitty
Mai 6, 2013, 11:45 pm

Okay, you've convinced me I must get my courage up and watch Silence of the Lambs, but I think I'll skip the books.

164.Monkey.
Mai 7, 2013, 5:04 am

>163 cammykitty: haha, well Red Dragon and Silence were both great books, and Silence was a fabulous movie, definitely watch! Manhunter and Red Dragon were both pretty good movies, and Hannibal was decent. Hannibal the book I'd suggest skipping. :P

>162 mathgirl40: I haven't read any Arthur yet, like Robin Hood it's something I've only seen various movies of. It's another one I want to read up on! :)

165majkia
Modifié : Mai 7, 2013, 8:00 am

#163 by cammykitty> I thought Manhunter a far better movie than Silence of the Lambs. But then it's me saying that and I'm a bit weird. ;)

166.Monkey.
Mai 7, 2013, 8:12 am

>165 majkia: Ah but Manhunter didn't have Anthony Hopkins! He simply is Hannibal, and Hannibal is far more interesting than the "Tooth Fairy." (Not that Brian Cox was bad, mind.) I agree that the movie itself may be slightly "better," William Petersen did a fabulous job; but that one is more about him and trying to find the killer, while the rest revolve around Hannibal and his cruel genius. So while I'd concede Manhunter as a "better movie," I believe Silence/Anthony Hopkins is far more gripping and I would (and have) watch that one repeatedly, while the other I don't care to watch again.

167TinaV95
Mai 10, 2013, 10:59 pm

I agree with your take on Hannibal. It has been years since I read it, but I remember being sorely disappointed in it after the others in the series. I also remember thinking how odd it was that I actually enjoyed the movie version better than the novel!

168RidgewayGirl
Mai 11, 2013, 5:03 pm

Manhunter has the single most suspenseful scene of any movie I've ever scene - and it's the opening of the movie. There's no gore or even any violence, but I defy anyone to watch that without being terrified. It also has a very young William Peterson (CSI) being very earnest. Yeah, I also think it surpasses Silence of the Lambs, which is a very good movie.

169christina_reads
Mai 13, 2013, 9:20 pm

Oh no, I've missed the Robin Hood discussion! I just wanted to plug Robin McKinley's The Outlaws of Sherwood, which was one of my favorite books as a child and still holds up. Definitely the best adaptation of Robin Hood I have ever read!

170.Monkey.
Mai 14, 2013, 4:36 am

>169 christina_reads: haha no worries being late to the party! ;) Have you read Roger Lancelyn Green's? Looking at the reviews on that work page, it sounds fairly similar, Marian being equally adept, him looking out for people, etc. :) I'll keep McKinley's in mind for the future.

171christina_reads
Mai 16, 2013, 8:14 am

Nope, haven't read Roger Lancelyn Green's version, but it sounds like I probably should! :)

172.Monkey.
Oct 27, 2013, 6:57 am

Kind of took a bit of an extended break, but I've updated the lists in the categories above with the additional titles. I think I'm missing one (or a couple), but who knows. I've been slacking at reading until like a month ago and even worse with keeping up my lists anywhere!

In any case, I highly doubt I will finish my challenge but a few of the categories are finished and I should be able to manage at least a few more of them. I'm ~20pgs from finishing one book right now (a Gothic one I'd started many months ago and set aside because the last story was a bit ...different and I wasn't feeling it so much, though I was near the end of the book), in the midst of another (which will complete cat. 12 when I've finished), and am plotting which titles from amongst those in my shelves will help to finish off those that are close to completion. :)

173.Monkey.
Modifié : Nov 10, 2013, 11:28 am

Next up: Almost a Childhood This book is the (fictional) memoir of a little boy whose father was in the very high upper ranks, a boy who met "uncle" Josef [Goebbels] and "uncle" Hermann [Göring] and "uncle" Ernst [Kaltenbrunner, head of SS security & Gestapo], etc. It's all about his childhood, with his rather abusive, cold mother, absent father, and really rich grandparents (who were not in favor of Nazis). Sadly, having Nazis as parents does not make for a very happy childhood, and The Boy has trouble fitting in with anyone at all, both at home and outside of it.

This is a very different side than we usually read about in WWII accounts. Not the side we usually see. You feel really bad for all the stuff this poor kid went through, being so young and having no idea what was really going on or why all this stuff was happening to him, and of course having no choice in his parents. It certainly wasn't the nightmare of the camps, but he had no easy time of it, and it's a bit eye-opening to see how destructive things could be on that side of it all, also.

174-Eva-
Nov 12, 2013, 12:33 am

I remember watching a documentary about the children of concentration camp workers and it was truly heartbreaking to hear how much guilt they lived with although they were all too small to understand or to do something about what happened at the time.

175.Monkey.
Nov 12, 2013, 5:07 am

Oh I'm sure, I imagine anyone either too young or who just got swept along before realizing what was going on/going to happen and then it was just too late, unless you wanted to risk sacrificing yourself, I'm sure they all lived with so much guilt afterwards, you can never be rid of that. It was actually just a thing in the recent NCIS episode, Gibbs' father was a pilot and got lost & confused, and a German pilot saved him, directed him where to go and flew along with him until he got close enough, and now he was dying and he wrote a letter saying how he just felt so guilty over all the people he killed in the war. It was very emotional and well done.

Anyway heh, this boy was too young and too removed from the situation to feel any of that. His parents were Nazis but he really didn't even know his father, and the mother was just a jerk regardless. It showed how those who had been "brown" really had to live in fear of everyone once things started going badly. All the regular citizens hated them and tormented them however they could (including looting/burning their houses if they ran), the Russians would attack them once they had arrived, Americans/Brits would lock up the collaborators to await their judgment, they had no safety. And that included their children, who had no say in anything. Children would be tormented by both other children and the adults. People were really messed up by that point and just blaming anyone they could.

176-Eva-
Nov 12, 2013, 10:58 am

I figured out which film it was: http://www.hitlerschildren.com/

Highly recommended!!

177.Monkey.
Nov 12, 2013, 11:08 am

Ah yes, that's the one we watched a while back. Höss's grandson in particular made me want to give him a huge hug, he was so horribly ashamed of his heritage. And those silly children at the camp, acting as though he should be blamed for anything and making him cry more about it! As though he could choose who created him and what they did! He is just as much a victim of their evil as anyone else, he's not accountable for what they did! I get the anger, but direct it where it's due! hrmph.

178-Eva-
Nov 12, 2013, 11:53 am

I can see their reaction to him though - they want answers and he might be the closest they can get to getting some. I think it was probably cathartic for him too - if you feel guilty about something someone else has done, standing up and listening to the victims should give some sense of closure/redemption/atonement as well as giving him a connection with them, victims all as they are. Very interesting film.

179RidgewayGirl
Nov 12, 2013, 1:45 pm

There was an interesting documentary on German television in which a woman who had found freedom in the Hitler Youth was ashamed. She explained that beforehand girls were expected to stay home doing chores, but with the movement girls could go to movies and take part in fun activities and she felt emancipated as a result. And then horrified when she saw the other side of that.

180.Monkey.
Nov 12, 2013, 4:03 pm

>178 -Eva-: They weren't really looking for answers though, not answers anyone could actually provide. They, the one in particular at least, was just being very accusing and nasty to him as though he were responsible for his grandfather and had some say in anything at all. He was there trying to understand, just like them, it was so rude and close-minded!

>179 RidgewayGirl: That is definitely understandable. Many people joined those movements for all sorts of reasons, most of them not at all related to bigotry. I bet it was a small minority who signed up for those purposes. The rest just got swept along like much of the country. Not that I think it excuses anything, really, not once they found out the extent of things. But that sort of "mob mentality" is hard to break out of.

181-Eva-
Nov 12, 2013, 4:25 pm

It was a while since I saw it, so I don't recall details, only that many of them were extremely angry and he got to listen to their anger. I just noticed it's on Netflix, so I might have a rewatch.

182.Monkey.
Nov 12, 2013, 5:19 pm

Yeah, there was one in particular who got really pissy at him and accusatory and all like, what are you even doing here, and stuff. It ticked me off. Clearly. :P

183.Monkey.
Nov 14, 2013, 5:40 am

Doctor Zhivago I'm not remotely a fan of "love stories," let alone the "greatest love stories ever told," but I am a big fan of Russian literature, and this didn't disappoint. This is one instance where the coincidences didn't seem absurdly contrived but natural, and the story and background were very interesting. It's not one I think I'd ever feel the desire to read again (unlike, say, Dostoevsky), but it was plenty enjoyable.

184mathgirl40
Nov 14, 2013, 10:46 pm

I have to agree with you about Doctor Zhivago. I really enjoyed the novel too, and I love the film as well, having watched it several times. In my part of the world, it's one of those movies that's always shown on TV around Christmas time.

185.Monkey.
Nov 15, 2013, 4:57 am

I can see that, all the snowy settings and such, heh. I don't think I'd care to watch it. It would have the same sort of feel to it, I don't think.

186aliciamay
Nov 18, 2013, 4:32 pm

I have a really long road trip planned in December and since the library has Doctor Zhivago on CD I was toying with taking that along. Now you and mathgirl have made up my mind.

187.Monkey.
Nov 18, 2013, 4:49 pm

That sounds like a perfect setting for it! :D

188mamzel
Nov 19, 2013, 12:44 pm

You can try to imagine your car is a horse drawn sleigh!

189.Monkey.
Nov 24, 2013, 11:15 am

Realized I'd left a couple titles off when I came here to add the latest, with a little shuffling around of what can go where, I now only have 10 left to read to finish up! I still have a shot! haha

190rabbitprincess
Nov 24, 2013, 11:27 am

Nice! Good luck with those last few titles :)

191.Monkey.
Déc 5, 2013, 11:26 am

Well I haven't been at all good about leaving my comments on the reads, but I just finished book #5 for the 3rd to last category, and I'm in the middle of book #5 for the 2nd to last, and then I'm supposed to read 4 translated from French. Not sure how I'll do on that but, I'll be coming close, at least!

192PawsforThought
Déc 5, 2013, 12:00 pm

You should be proud no matter what. I'm nowhere close to what I wanted to read this year (I'm at around the half-way mark) but I'm pleased anyway. It could have been a lot worse and I'm ending the year on a high.

193.Monkey.
Déc 5, 2013, 12:13 pm

Oh I totally failed my bigger goals lol, I cut back from wanting to get 10 books in more of them plus I'd been shooting for 100 books and I'm only at 75 (including 10 GNs (I read a lot more than 10 but those are all I will count towards it!)), and I'd wanted 30000pgs but haven't hit 22700 yet >_<, both of which I could have done had I not slacked off for a while. So I'm fairly annoyed at myself, but I'm glad I will either finish my amended & stretched version of this or at least come close, anyway. And I've got just 10 to go for my ROOT challenge, which includes the one I'm working on now, so I still have a shot at that, too. :)

194.Monkey.
Déc 9, 2013, 3:00 pm

And The Monk, and with it the Gothic category, are done. Woo! Sadly I do not think I will be finishing 4 originally French novels within the next 22 days, but I will have come close to finishing, anyway. I think I might read some Verne now :)

195christina_reads
Déc 10, 2013, 12:01 pm

@ 194 -- French children's books? It could still happen! But regardless, congrats on doing so well with your challenge! :)

196PawsforThought
Déc 10, 2013, 1:56 pm

195. Yeah, I'd say go with children's books. Le petit prince, Le petit Nicolas or Belle et Sébastien?
And there's always Tintin, Asterix, Babar and so on. (I read all the Tintin stories in less than a week a couple of years ago so you could definitely squeeze in a few of those - plus, they're great fun!)

197.Monkey.
Déc 10, 2013, 2:10 pm

heh, I don't count those as real books for my challenges (I only count them specifically under comics/GNs and only allowed 10 of them to count for the total book count of the year). No English Asterix or Babar here, anyhow (unless I wanted to buy copies, which I don't have the budget for, sadly!), just Tintin. I started Five Weeks in a Balloon this morning, we'll see how quickly I can read Verne. If it goes well, I'll have 6 more on the table :P

198PawsforThought
Déc 10, 2013, 2:17 pm

Verne is great. I love him. I think I read three of his books last year. They're really quick reads and very adventure-filled (and fun). I hadn't heard of Five Weeks in a Balloon before, though.

199.Monkey.
Déc 10, 2013, 2:44 pm

It's the first in the loosely-tied "Les voyages extraordinaires" series, of which 20,000 Leagues is #6. I got the BN leatherbounds edition of his Seven Novels, which has 1, 3, 4, 7, 6, 11, and 12, in that order. (That would be Five Weeks in a Balloon, Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, Around The Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days, and The Mysterious Island)

200PawsforThought
Déc 10, 2013, 3:38 pm

I didn't know the were a series of sorts.

201.Monkey.
Déc 10, 2013, 3:46 pm

Yup, there's 54 of them, some fiction, some non-fiction, I think almost entirely tied together just by being adventurous travel stories of all sorts of places. :)

202PawsforThought
Déc 10, 2013, 3:49 pm

AH, that's great to know.

I really liked 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea; it was loads of fun. :)

203.Monkey.
Déc 10, 2013, 4:07 pm

I was aiming for that one this year, until I realized the whole "series" thing, so it didn't managed to be finished from my TBR Challenge, soooo for 2014 I'll be replacing it with whichever one I end up on (i.e. if I read just the one, I'll replace it with #2 in the book, etc). I'm hoping maybe I can read a few by Jan 1 though, and then maybe be able to just keep that one on, and knock it off! :P We'll see! haha

204rabbitprincess
Déc 10, 2013, 5:00 pm

Will be interested to hear your thoughts on Five Weeks in a Balloon. I have it on the pile to read next year (in French, which is always my hardest category to fill).

205.Monkey.
Déc 10, 2013, 5:36 pm

I will report back! :))

206PawsforThought
Déc 10, 2013, 6:00 pm

204. I'm jealous. I wish a could read a book that long in French but I couldn't even make it through Le petit prince. :,(

207.Monkey.
Déc 10, 2013, 6:10 pm

Yeah, same here. I'd love to be able to speak lots of languages. I really want to teach myself Russian and have made a tiny start but then the whole Dutch spouse came into being so I'm supposed to learn Dutch which means I've had to set aside the Russian except my heart really isn't in the Dutch, especially because there are a number of sounds I will never be able to make and I hate not being able to do things well, if I can't do it well I don't want to do it! And as such I am completely stalled on both, and utterly monolingual :(

208PawsforThought
Déc 10, 2013, 6:14 pm

I love Dutch. Partly because I can understand most of it without even technically speaking the language.
I wish I'd learned German at school (beside the French). And I'll always envy friends of mine who learnt Latin. Oh, how I wish I knew Latin.

Have you tried Duolingo? It's great fun and my French is really picking up again after being neglected for years and years.

209.Monkey.
Déc 10, 2013, 6:18 pm

I think I may have heard of that one but I'm not positive. Looking at it, though, they seem to be fairly limited, only having "Spanish English French German Portuguese Italian"
I used Livemocha for a little bit a long while back, but you have to do the speaking exercises to progress and I had no working mic then.

210PawsforThought
Déc 10, 2013, 6:30 pm

Yeah, they don't have that many at the moment, but they're developing a lot of new stuff so could be worth keeping an eye on. And it's free!

211.Monkey.
Déc 10, 2013, 6:39 pm

:)

212RidgewayGirl
Déc 11, 2013, 2:01 am

I understand that, PM. I spent my school years learning French, spent a year in Paris and so married a guy who spoke German and who would move me to Germany. I'd rather be brushing up on my French, now that native speakers are easy to find, but will be taking German classes and reading more in German instead. I really hate being the person who is identified as English-speaking right away! One person admitted it was my accent, another that it was my mistakes in assigning gender to inanimate objects.

Dutch would be an awesome language to speak. Unlike German-French-Spanish you can be pretty sure that outside of the Netherlands, no one will understand what you're saying.

213PawsforThought
Déc 11, 2013, 3:27 am

212. Except people in Belgium and South Africa who speak Flemish and Afrikaans and understand most if not all of it. And the odd Scandinavian and German who can make educated guesses aboutat least some of it ;)

214.Monkey.
Déc 11, 2013, 5:15 am

hahaha yup. But yeah even still, it's very much a minority language.

It's not that I don't want to be able to speak Dutch, it's just that it's not what I really have an interest in, combined with the inability to do it correctly (Dutch G? Never ever happen. Rolling/trilling Rs? Can't do it. W/V difference? Can't hear it. etc), makes it a near-impossible chore. *sigh*

215PawsforThought
Déc 11, 2013, 3:05 pm

I've tried speaking Dutch and it's bloody impossible. I can barely make rolling Rs when speaking French - combining it with the asch-sound? Forget it! I sound like an angry kitten at best.

I get how you feel about having an interest. I picked up Spanish at school and it just wasn't me. I was so happy once I decided to go back to French.

216.Monkey.
Déc 11, 2013, 3:11 pm

LOL @ angry kitten, that's hilarious!

217.Monkey.
Déc 15, 2013, 3:22 pm

Well I finished the first of the Verne collection! It wasn't the best thing I ever read, but it wasn't bad. Sometimes his descriptions of the courses that previous explorers had taken and of geographic features, got a little tedious to me; then of course there was the racist attitudes towards the savage brute natives (Africa), but I tried not to hold it against him too much since it was the prevailing attitude of the time, and it wasn't done in an intentionally judgmental way but -the tribes in this area here are savages who eat raw flesh, we'd best not alight in this area- and the like. It gets a little worse, but he was merely repeating what explorers back then had reported about the tribes. So, while it was irritating, it's hard to hold him accountable in the way one would had it been written more recently. Otherwise it was pretty enjoyable. The title explains the gist, five weeks tour of Africa by balloon, various mishaps of a sort occurring, keeping things active and interesting. If you enjoy that sort of historical exploration story, it's definitely not a bad read.

218.Monkey.
Déc 19, 2013, 6:03 pm

Finished the next Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was much more entertaining and compelling to read, hence my having read it 2 or 3x as fast as the other. But the scientific absurdities that made it age rather...unwell, were a little irritating. Still, it was fun.

219PawsforThought
Déc 20, 2013, 4:55 am

I love Journey to the Centre of the Earth! It's full of scientific hooey but it's great fun.

220.Monkey.
Déc 20, 2013, 6:05 am

Agreed. It was just frustrating that he really thought that stuff. Massive oceans, ride on some pieces of wood over lava, walk along next to lava, etc. I just wanted to shake him going ARE YOU MAD?! Do you not know how hot lava is?!? hahaha. It was an amusing romp otherwise, though. :P

221rabbitprincess
Déc 20, 2013, 4:47 pm

And the Wishbone retelling of Journey to the Centre of the Earth is fun, too! ;)

222.Monkey.
Déc 21, 2013, 12:19 pm

Next Verne is done, except he totally didn't finish the story! It's in the next book, agh! So now I have to read Round the Moon before I can move on to 20000 Leagues. Starting that one now!

223PawsforThought
Déc 21, 2013, 3:10 pm

Ooh, I had no idea he did that.

20000 Leagues is good. Very exciting.

224.Monkey.
Déc 21, 2013, 3:16 pm

Yup. He even takes up the first couple pages as "Preliminary Chapter" subheading "Recapitulating the First Part of This Work, and Serving as a Preface to the Second" lol. I haven't a clue why he didn't simply publish it as one. They were all serialized initially, weren't they? Silly. Oh well.

225.Monkey.
Déc 21, 2013, 4:51 pm

I'm having more issues with the incredibly off-base science in Round the Moon, driving me nuts (yes, there must be atmosphere on the moon, at least down low, enough for just a couple of folks, so we'll just go and see, no harm done!, yes, let's just open the door of the pod to throw stuff out, it won't suck up all our air or anything else utterly damaging! etc). But at least this time I can try harder to judge it less, since it was truly in the realm of the fantastical at that time, and much of his work about the initial part of the project was actually quite well done. But it's just so hard not to think of them being morons thinking they can just go stroll around, and whatnot! It's hard to rectify the lack of info then to the abundance of it that even little children understand (to a degree) now.

226PawsforThought
Déc 21, 2013, 6:19 pm

Well, to be fair to old Jules he did live and write way before anyone had ever been anywhere near the moon so him not knowing there isn't any atmosphere up there isn't too big of a deal.

I fear my knowledge of science history isn't quite what it should be to be able to critique Verne properly.

227.Monkey.
Déc 21, 2013, 6:32 pm

I know, I said as much. But it's quite hard to throw everything that has been common knowledge since childhood out the window, especially when the stories focus on the science, that's what he was really writing, the stories are just the background to allow for writing it in a "fun" way that people would read. I just want to facepalm incessantly while reading it! Heh.

228PawsforThought
Déc 21, 2013, 7:01 pm

Yeah, I can see that.

229.Monkey.
Déc 23, 2013, 5:42 am

Round the Moon, and challenge, complete! It was kind of a chore to get through the first 2/3rds, but the last 15 or so pages of the hundred were full of "excitement" and very quickly read, and mostly made up for the large lack of activity through most of the book.

230rabbitprincess
Déc 23, 2013, 8:21 am

Challenge complete? Hurray! Congratulations!

231.Monkey.
Déc 23, 2013, 8:55 am

Hehe thanks!

232mathgirl40
Déc 23, 2013, 9:03 am

Congratulations on finishing your challenge!

233PawsforThought
Déc 23, 2013, 10:02 am

Congratulations! Well done on finishing.

234AHS-Wolfy
Déc 23, 2013, 6:11 pm

Congrats on completing your challenge!

235.Monkey.
Déc 23, 2013, 6:19 pm

Thanks guys :)

236DeltaQueen50
Déc 24, 2013, 4:54 pm

Congratulations on completing your challenge and a wish for a very Merry Christmas!

237.Monkey.
Déc 24, 2013, 6:28 pm

My holiday is over, but thank you for the thought :)

238paruline
Déc 26, 2013, 9:43 am

Congratulations!

239lkernagh
Déc 26, 2013, 8:51 pm

Huzzah on completing your challenge!

240.Monkey.
Déc 30, 2013, 5:53 am

Nat Turner: A Slave Rebellion in History and Memory
So many feelings about this work. Each of the essays was well-written, intelligent, thoughtful, researched, and so forth. However, due to the fact that they are all covering the same very narrow subject, many of them had a lot of overlap, where it felt like I was reading the exact same pages in a slightly different hand. This made for slower reading than I would have liked.

That said, there are essays that cover multiple different angles on the subject (of Nat Turner and his history and impact on history and black memory), plus a couple of interviews with some key figures, and as mentioned, they are well researched and insightful. This collection provides what is probably the most comprehensive definitive look at Nat Turner that can ever be produced. I am certain that I could not read anything else and wind up with any clearer, more accurate image of Nat Turner than this collection of essays has provided. His personal narrative (as much as is possible) is recreated here, alongside his, and the few other slave rebellion leaders who are known, impact on history. It is well worth a read.

Also worthy of note, I am appalled that William Styron won the Pulitzer for his racist demeaning white man's portrayal of a weak, indecisive, emasculated "Nat Turner" who comes solely from his own imagination and not history. I'd like to acquire a used copy of it (Styron certainly will get not a penny from me!) along with Ten Black Writers Respond, which will sit nicely next to each other on my shelves. I think it's very sad that he refuses to understand or accept the racist view that he portrayed is his own and not at all connected to Nat Turner, instead simply viewing his detractors as militants and communists.