25 posts tagged “books”
Since I have time on my hands, here's a brief update on life.
- I've been playing tennis with Lizzy almost every evening, now that the weather is so nice and we have 'our own' tennis courts where we live. Last night was the first time anyone else was actually on the courts besides us!
- I've read a tonne over books over the summer. (I always list them in my Vox library, if anyone cares. I do it for my own reference so I can see what I've read, because I read so much and forget so quickly.) I only have a few more to go and then I'll be 'done' until next summer, most likely.
- The 'Twilight' series (Stephenie Meyer) was really good and definitely sucked me in. 'The Host' did not suck me in, and yet when all was said and done... it might even be better than Twilight. Maybe. :) I've found out it's going to be a series, too!
- Still no power in many places in Louisville, though they're reporting now that only 108,000 or so are left without power. Only.
- Louisville (UofL) might not be as terrible at football this year as I'd feared. Maybe. I guess it depends which Cantwell shows up, and if Anderson (176 yards, 3 TDs against Kansas State) can keep it up. The Big East is really weak this year, aside from South Florida. There haven't been any conference games yet, though.
- Looking forward to Ubuntu 8.10 on 30 October
- Looking even more forward to (hopefully) my new phone on 19 October
- Which reminds me, I'm now a Sprint Premier customer, a VIP. I get special perks because I've been with Sprint for 10 years now. This VIP thing has only been around since the end of last year.
- Exactly five weeks until my birthday. Wow, I didn't even know it fell on a Friday this year!
- I did know, however, that Christmas falls on a Thursday this year. I've already asked off for that Wednesday and Friday, to give me a five-day weekend.
- Now's a good time to plug the Envail Wishlist.
- And a good time to offer up the services of EnvailMail again.
- The new Weezer album is pretty good. The new Staind album is even better. Neither are great.
Books read so far this summer: 4
Books on-hold at the library to be picked up tomorrow: 4
Plus an additional book at the library for which I'm #8 on the waiting list.
Where do you get recommendations for new books to read?
Borders e-mails, my friends, and... just my own research online and looking for books that sound good. I have a good track record and this summer has been incredibly prosperous in terms of books.
Yeah, I'm on page 160 of the new Harry Potter book now. It's true: All I had to do was get past the first few pages and I was into it.
Harry Potter, that is, not Hewlett Packard (as one might expect from a computer nerd such as myself).
I'm supposed to be reading book seven. I mean, I am reading it. Or rather, I'm ... I don't know. Stalling. I finished the Koontz book, and Eva Moves the Furniture (both excellent, 'Eva' more so), and now... I've read the first page of the Harry Potter book a couple of times.
And I just can't get into it.
I know, it's only the first page. I know! But shouldn't I be devouring this book like all the other Potter/Rowling fans?
It's because it's the last book. Not because I have some sense of dread (I'm fairly certain I know who dies, and I don't care anyway; I love books that aren't afraid to kill off some main characters), but because it makes the book seem... forced. And I haven't even read it yet! I just feel as though it's going to be forced. Forced to a conclusion. Forced to be heavy and dark. Forced to be something it's not.
I'm dreading the final book of the Sword of Truth series for the same reason.
My favourite Harry Potter book is still the first one, when it was all still new and exciting and fresh and light.
This has been the Summer of Reading(tm) for me, and almost every book I've read (if not all of them) has been great.
I'm on my last one, though. I do have two more on reserve at the library (the latest Koontz book, and, of course, the new Harry Potter), but then... nothing.
I've read so many amazing books that I've raised my own expectations quite high. It's a bit daunting.
I'm looking for book suggestions. Any genre (preferably fiction but open to anything), any subject. I can't guarantee I will read it, but I do guarantee that I'll consider it quite seriously. :)
So, please, make suggestions!
An adult fairy tale-cum-ghost-story, 'The Thirteenth Tale' is quite possibly the best book I've read all summer. I've heard books referred to before as a 'tapestry' and I do believe that this book fully qualifies. Setterfield deftly weaves multiple stories simultaneously, flipping from the past and present, but never in a confusing manner.
The character development is phenomenal, the descriptive writing is absolutely incredible, and this wholly unbelievable tale becomes utterly believable. The book never slows down for an instant, even at the end, where it storms to its startling conclusion where little is as it seemed, and your only wish is that there were a 'fourteenth tale' -- or that this one didn't have to end.
9/10
Whilst this book doesn't exactly jive with my Christian/Catholic beliefs, it doesn't exactly go against them, either. Rather, it's left open enough that it could encompass just about anyone's beliefs -- so long as you believe that something happens after we die.
The basic concept of the book is that when people die, they enter another life -- living in the city of the dead. They stay there until they mysteriously disappear. The most common theory amongst the dead there is that they stay there as long as someone on Earth remembers them. Once they are forgotten, they disappear -- to Heaven, Hell, non-existence, or otherwise, no one knows. Then, a massive plague kills off most of humanity, and the city of the dead is simultaneously flooded with all the newly-dead, as well as emptied out by all those forgotten (due to the fact that there are so few people left alive on Earth).
The book blends humour and drama well, making you laugh aloud at times, and feel sorrow and distress at others. The books ending -- an open-ended, no-conclusions-drawn-for-you cliffhanger -- may annoy or bother some people, and although it's human nature to want a 'proper' conclusion, I found the ending thought-provoking. It wasn't the usual let's-leave-an-opening-for-a-sequel, either, as the book undoubtedly concludes, just ambiguously.
An excellent book and well worth the read.
8/10
What will you remember most about this summer?
Hey, summer isn't over yet. Hopefully by the time it is, I will remember most the fact that we actually started construction on our house. Aside from that, the camping trip(s?) and our honeymooniversary in Tennessee and Georgia. And reading some great books. :)
