reading

Reading bliss

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I FINALLY bought a Kindle Paperwhite, and I got the BEST case for it, and I am VERY happy.  My poor Samsung tablet was dying and couldn’t make the long plane trips anymore, and every time I got unlucky and got a seat without an outlet (like on 7 out of the last 8 flights I’ve taken), it died on me midflight.  I was packing backup physical books in my carry-on to make sure I wouldn’t be left without reading material, and you know?  That stuff gets heavy.

Now I have a Paperwhite (so does John), and I’m a happy camper.

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Winning the book lottery

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I’ve been on a roll lately, book-wise.  I have liked every book I’ve read in the past three weeks (ever since giving up on The Lake House).  Some of that was planned: two of the seven books were sequels, so it was pretty much a given that I would like them.  One (Word Puppets) is a collection of short stories by an author I’ve heard a lot about but had never tried.  Her short stories were really good (yay!), so I’ll be reading more of her.  The next book (Serpentine) was recommended by a couple of the authors I follow on Twitter – young adult, fantasy/Chinese mythology – very good.  I found the other three just browsing in Powell’s.  It’s riskier than going on recommendations, but one of those turned out to be pretty good (The Girl With All The Gifts), and the other two are why I’m writing this post because they were SO FREAKIN’ GOOD.

Illuminae is told through documentation found by a researcher trying to piece together what actually happened out in space after a planet was attacked, so the format is all letters, emails, chats, transcripts of videos, interviews, etc.  It was funny and it totally captured my imagination.  I didn’t want to put it down, and when I had to, I was thinking about it.

Then I read His Majesty’s Dragon, and – THANK EVERYTHING – it is the first in a nine-book series.  It’s set in pseudo-1800s Britain, with the British Navy and a war with Napoleon and DRAGONS.  The dragons and their riders (!) make up the air force, basically, and it’s like a mash-up of the Patrick O’Brien novels and the Pern novels (!!), and it makes me very happy.  Like, the-world-is-a-better-place-with-these-books-in-it kind of happy.

I started the second book in the series last night.  I’m so happy.

I brought it on myself

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As you know, I loved The Silvered, and I was worried about my next book because of it.  So either I was right to be worried about that, or I talked myself right into not enjoying my next TWO books.  First, I picked up The Scorch Trials, which is the sequel to The Maze Runner.  The first book was fine, but this one had no real plot, which drives me crazy.  I got about halfway, told John I was going to put it down, and then finished it two hours later.  It was a quick read, but not especially enjoyable.  I might watch the movies.

Then I picked up The Lake House.  I had my doubts before I started it because her other four books are all very similar.  The structure is basically identical, although the details are different.  I’ve enjoyed all four, to a certain extent, but when I picked up this fifth one, I felt tired.  Oh, look, there’s a mystery in the past.  Oh, look, there’s a person in the present having problems.  Oh, look, this person in the present is going to mixed up in figuring out what happened in the past and somehow solve that mystery AND their own problems.  I gave up on it pretty quickly.  I’m sorry, Kate Morton.  I thought The Secret Keeper was really good, and I’m happy the book club chose to read it while I was a member.  That’s as far as I can go.

Thankfully, it only took two books to get me out of that very unpleasant hole.  I started a collection of short stories by Mary Robinette Kowal, and those have been really good so far.

I’ve decided it was the books, not me.  I chose badly twice in a row.  It’s still my fault (I chose the books), but it’s less obnoxious than blaming it on my mood.

Some books should never end

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I have already declared my love of Tanya Huff (space marines!) in this space, but I think I need to say it again.  I just finished a stand-alone fantasy novel that I really really really enjoyed.  Like, I didn’t want it to be over.  I want more of it.  I want it to be a series, Ms. Tanya Huff, please ma’am.  It reminded me of Sherwood Smith’s Inda books, a fantasy series (ahem) I also liked a ton.  The Inda books take place in a world I don’t want to leave when the books end.  The characters stay with me, and now I’m feeling the same way about The Silvered.  It’s about mages and a version of werewolves, and yes, Mom and Margaret have both just lost interest, but I couldn’t put it down even as I wished I could slow down and never finish it.

Now, sadly, it’s over (I stayed up late last night to get to the end), and I’m putting off starting another book because I’m not ready.  My next book is going to be a disappointment, through no fault of its own (I hope), and that’s not fair to it.

I can’t believe I actually want it to rain

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I checked the weather on Friday and saw that Sunday was supposed to be a rainy day, so we arranged our weekend in such a way that we could take advantage and stay inside and cozy all day.  A rainy day, especially a rainy fall day after such a dry sunny summer, is the perfect justification to have pancakes for breakfast while watching lots of TV and then to curl up and read under a blanket for the rest of the day.  The pancakes and TV watching went as planned, and then it was time for the reading and blanketing.  It was still raining, so I headed for the papasan chair, but by the time I got there the rain had lessened. Like, it’s barely sprinkling and the sun is trying to peek out.  I need it to keep raining!  Yes, I like the sun, and yes, I’ll miss it terribly if it disappears for the next six months like I keep hearing it will, but when the sun is shining I feel compelled to go outside and enjoy it because it’s going to go away and that’s not how I was planning to spend my day.  If the sun is out, I have to go to the grocery store.  So please, sun, go back behind the clouds and let the rain come.  Just this once.

I’m going to regret that plea.

The right kind of Saturday

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Rough outline of today:

  • Slept in all the way until 9!  Of course, it was 2am when we went to bed.
  • Rode our bikes about 4 miles to a good bagel place.
  • Spent 2-3 hours sitting outside said bagel place with bagels and coffee, reading our books.
  • Rode 4 miles back home.
  • John worked on fun computer things, and I ran (outside again!).
  • Heading out to drink and play video games at an arcade and local bars for Will’s birthday.

We’re walking over to meet everyone (it’s about a mile and a half away, and we don’t want to have to drive home), so we have to get moving, but I plan to have time to write tomorrow.  I hope everyone else’s Saturday has been as pleasant as ours!

Vacation reading plan

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Yes, I have a vacation reading plan.  I finished my last library book Sunday night, so Monday I picked my tablet up again (Kindle app) for the first time in months.  I’ve got my tablet with me for most of my reading needs (plane, nighttime, plane again), and I picked up a couple of used paperbacks before we left as backups for poolside reading and in case my tablet’s battery dies on the plane (which is entirely possible – I will be looking for an actual Kindle soon).

This is all assuming I’ll be doing a lot of reading, which is actually less likely than normal.  Yes on the plane and in the airports during our multiple layovers, but will we spend much time at the pool when we have Universal and Disney to explore (and wedding stuff to do)?  Probably not. Will we be exhausted when we get back to hotel room at night?  Probably.  BUT.  I like to be prepared.  I can think of few things worse than having downtime and no book to read.  Hence the plan.

Inspiration, or lack of it

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Some days I have ideas, some days I don’t.  Today I had something half-baked about feeling inspired by Neil deGrasse Tyson to read The Martian and Saturn Run, both realistic science in space stories, and something even less than half-baked about not caring much about Spiderman because I couldn’t think of the name of the editor who’s always demanding pictures of Spiderman.

None of that is really anything, and that probably means I should just keep quiet for a day, but hey – I have to live inside my head.  I might as well share some of it with you, even if it is less than thrilling.  Heh.  As if anything I write is thrilling.

John liked The Martian, I’m enjoying it right now, and Saturn Run was really good (thanks, Erik!).  And….that’s all I got.

I did it!

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Goal met!  Two books finished as of 6pm today.  I can never complain about that kind of weekend, not that I complain about weekends much anyway.  I’m more likely to whine about having to work tomorrow, but lucky for you, I’ve already done my whining about that for the evening.  Instead, we’re finally ready to start the Peter Capaldi seasons of Doctor Who.  The first episode with a new Doctor is always jarring.  I’m bracing myself for change.

Conflicting interests

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We went to the library yesterday, and I came home with five books.  My plan for the weekend was/is to get through two of them before work Monday morning.  I’m 80% of the way through the first one, and if we weren’t heading to Cottage Grove tonight for games with Will and Christina, I’d probably get 20% through the second one before bed.  Damn fun times with friends trying to sabotage my reading goals!

Sunday reading

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I spent about four hours in a coffee shop five blocks from our house just reading.  I could have done that at home, but it was nice to be around people.  Then I came home and kept reading.  Then we watched three episodes of Happy Valley and got all disturbed, but then I went back to my book.  I cannot complain about today.  Or this weekend, in fact.  All of my weekends should go like this, although maybe with less disturbing TV.

Cozy

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Today was a reading day.  I got up, made my (decaf) coffee, and sat in a chair for nearly two hours reading.  We went out, ran a couple of errands, and when we came back, I tucked myself back into my chair for another few hours to read.

It was wonderful.

John spent most of the day doing computer-y things.  Pleasant, very quiet, and it was raining for the first half of the day and overcast for the rest, so really, the perfect day to stay in and read.  Would have been nicer if our gas fireplace put out any heat, but I guess you can’t have everything.  (Honestly, I didn’t even remember we had one until just now, so I didn’t miss it.)

Maybe I’ll get to do it again tomorrow.

Scaredy-cat

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I started a book the other day that I am too scared to read at night.  It’s good.  During the day, I enjoy it.  At night, I get creeped out.  The worst part is that I can’t remember how I found it or WHY I picked it out.  I don’t read a lot of scary stuff.  When I put a book on my private Amazon wish list so I can buy it later, I add a note so I know where I found it or who recommended it.  I can view books I’ve purchased FROM my wish list, and I can see those comments.  But that’s not how I got this book.  I mean, yes, I ordered it from Amazon, but it was an impulse buy (where impulse means it was only $1.99).  It was never on my wish list.  Somewhere online, probably on the day I bought it, I saw this book and was inspired to buy it.  Probably on Twitter.  But that doesn’t solve WHO I heard it from or WHY I thought this scary book would be a good idea.  I mean, it is a good idea.  Just not at night.

I’m home!!!

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My time in Virginia this week did not go like I thought it would.  The work days were crazy, but I probably should have assumed they would be.  It’s the evenings, the hotel stay, that were so different from my expectations.  My vision of those evenings included lots of quiet time to myself, time to read, go to bed early, sleep well – miss John, certainly, but enjoy my alone time anyway.  That is decidedly NOT how those two nights went.  I did it to myself, of course.

Tuesday night, I went straight from work to happy hour with some coworkers (as I mentioned the other day, in a post fueled by wine and cookies), and I stayed out much later than I had planned.  It’s fine – I was having a good time – but it was 9:30 when I got in, after 10:30 before I got out of the bathtub, and around 11 when I went to bed, with an alarm set for 5:30 so I could get up and exercise.  I read a little (tub time!), but not much, and I slept terribly.  Not a relaxing night.

Wednesday, I worked late and went directly to a restaurant to have dinner with Susan (from boxing) and Molly.  Back in the hotel by 9:30 again, but this time with Molly, who was staying with me so she could avoid the commute from DC the next morning (and, presumably, to hang out with me).  We stayed up until midnight (slumber party!) and woke up at 6am.  She got up to exercise.  I had another terrible night’s sleep (nightmares about packing suitcases in a hotel room with a wasp, a puppy, and about a dozen people hanging around), so I stayed in bed until about 6:45.

So now I’m home, and we have a weekend without plans.  I think.  I hope.  I would like to read.

Presidents Day, Annapolis Edition

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What have I done today?  A lot and not much, both of which are fine with me.  Made banana nut bread for breakfast, which also became lunch, watched a never-ending episode of Arrow (John is working today, so we kept pausing the episode for extended periods of time.  The show is not that good, so it didn’t really matter that we came back to it with little memory of the preceding dialogue.), and then I made my way through a handful of graphic novels.  Re-read volume 1 of Chew (which has a very interesting, totally disgusting premise), read volume 2 (which I enjoyed even more), re-read volume 1 of The Wicked + The Divine (still really good), and started volume 1 of the Federal Bureau of Physics.  After that, I only have two more new ones to check out, and then I can go all digital, all the time, plus library books, with a clear conscience.

The snow has stopped for the moment, but the sleet and the rain are supposed to be moving in.  I have no intention of leaving the apartment today.  We’re considering extending the breakfast theme into dinner and having eggs and toast instead of spaghetti.

We’ve had a really good weekend being out and about, but it’s nice to be able to stay inside, be anti-social, and not talk to anyone for the day.  Decompress.  This coming week will be both stressful and relaxing, possibly at the same time.  Today is necessary.

Slow down, you move too fast

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I’ve finished the books on my shelf, so I’m reading the graphic novels now, and I’m trying to read them slowly.  They have words AND art, and the art is important to the story.  I have this tendency to just read the words and move on, and if I do that, I’m devouring the books, but not getting the full effect.  I picked up a few Vol 2s of Vol 1s I read a while ago, so I’m re-reading the Vol 1s and trying to slow down.  Take my time.  Weirdly, it means I’m taking longer to read one normal size graphic novel than some of the books from my shelf, but that’s okay.

Right?

Right.

That’s okay.

Hallelujah and whoop-de-doo

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Friends, the day I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.  I have read (or tried to read and abandoned, which totally counts) all of the physical books on my bookshelf.  I have a bunch of graphic novels to read, which a) won’t take long, and b) will be fun, and then I am free free free free free free free free free free free free free to move on the LONG list of books I’ve put on my to-read list or, in some cases, already downloaded to my Kindle app.  I’ll probably start with those.

I have to tell you, though – I may have a problem.  My eyes just wandered over John’s bookshelf.  There are a couple of books there that I plan to re-read before I pick up their sequels.  Maaaaaaaaayyyybe I’ll re-read those now, since I will be free free free free free free free free free free free free free free to go find those sequels in e-book format or at the library and not feel guilty about not reading the books on MY shelf. Because I have FINISHED all of the books on my shelf!

I should stop agonizing over not liking a book

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I’ve had a physical copy of one of John Hodgman’s books for quite some time (More Information Than You Require).  It’s one of the books I saved out of the original donation pile with the intention of reading it before we move across the country.  I like John Hodgman.  I think he’s funny.  We both like him enough that we bought tickets to see his show at The Birchmere a few years back.  We didn’t go at the last minute, for depressing reasons (still absolutely the right decision), but I’m sure we would have enjoyed the show.

I had every expectation of enjoying his book.  And then I tried to read it (this was yesterday).  I’ve been talking a lot about the books on my bookshelf and how I feel about reading them.  Some of them are really just not for me (Gormenghast, some of the Kate Atkinson novels), some of them I have REALLY liked, and some I might just not be in the mood for.  I think I’m just not in the mood for John Hodgman.  There are a lot of made-up facts, there’s a lot of ALL CAPS EMPHASIS going on, a lot of absurdity – these are all things I think are funny.  Just not this week, I guess. Or maybe for me, Hodgman’s humor doesn’t translate to the page.  Or maybe I’m just not in the right mood.

I put the book in the donation pile.  I might try again before we actually donate the books.  I might not.  It won’t be hard to get if I change my mind later.

I feel bad about this (hence the hedging and rationalizing).

Not that bad, though.  I picked up Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare book last night and was immediately more interested. I’m much happier when I’m reading something for fun and not because I feel like I have to.

I’m sorry, John Hodgman, that apparently I feel like your book is something I have to read.

Too many anthologies

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It seems I’ve been reading a lot of short story collections lately (over the last year), and I’ve noticed a common thread – I put a lot of them down without finishing all the stories. It happens more with collections from different authors – just when I find a story I like, it’s over, and I have to shift gears for a new voice and a new story. When I read an anthology by the same author, I don’t have this problem. Same voice, I guess? Maybe the next time I pick up a collection, I should space the stories out. Read a story, switch to a novel, read another story, read another novel. That’s an actual plan that I will follow. Good idea, me!