bookgazing (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bookgazing) wrote2009-05-12 11:02 am
bookgazing) wrote2009-05-12 11:02 am
Mailbox Monday and Bits and Bobs
I think my fingers have thawed out enough to type now. Last night when my dad and I left for a speedway match the sun was shining and we thought it would be ok to just wear sweatshirts and lighter winter coats. When we arrived the sun was going in and the wind was becoming vicious. By heat four it was like winter had come again and we spent the rest of the meeting dashing into the bar whenever they sent the tractors round to rework the track. Our team did win but the racing was not nearly eventful enough to justify standing in that kind of cold. Brr indeed.
While yesterday’s speedway lacked a little excitement yesterdays reading was packed with high class entertainment. I finished ‘I am Furniture’, which I’ll be reviewing later. For now let me just say it’s another positive review. I hope you’re not all sick of those, or think I’m cutting back on the honesty, it’s just that I’m following bloggy recommendations and trusting my instincts a bit more, which seems to be resulting in great reading experiences.
I also received my Waterstones order yesterday. Sadly Philip Reeve’s ‘Mortal Engines’ was no longer in stock (which makes me wonder why they advertised it along with his newest novel, in their quarterly magazine) but I did get 'An Equal Stillness' by Francesca Kay. It arrived on a Monday so that gives me the opportunity to take part in 'Mailbox Monday again, although yes I am late posting about it. I bought this book because it seemed like a great pick for the Art History challenge, as the main character is a woman passionate about art who tries to reignite a dull marriage with a move to the more colorful country of Spain.
It’s also part of Waterstone’s 2009 'New Voices' series which quite honestly I think is a bit of a bust promotionally. This year there was a whole booklet with a bit of blurb on each book and a special section for the group of authors Waterstones had picked, which is better than last year. But, so far I haven’t seen any big promotional drives in our local shops and the ‘New Voices’ button has been moved from the sidebar on the Waterstones website, making it a pain to find from within the site. When I think back to last years selection of authors the only one I remember clearly because of the Waterstone’s promotion is John Niven who wrote ‘Kill all your Friends’. Looking through a selection from the 2008 list (which is hard to find by the way) I can see that two books with big visibility were actually on the list (‘The Outcast’ by Sadie Jones and ‘The White Tiger’ by Aravind Adiga). Do you think the reason Jones and Adiga ended up on prize lists was because Waterstones had promoted them?
Today my lunchtime book has been ‘Girl Meets Boy’ by Ali Smith, part of the recent Canongate Myths series, which I’m rereading because this morning I was thinking about how non-religious people might reinvent the commitment ceremony in the future. ‘Girl Meets Boy’ has this wonderful ceremony near the end of the book, which is related in two ways: one is a fantastical imagining and one shows what really happens. I’m having fun remembering what I loved about the book the first time, as well as peeling back some of the layers during this second time of reading. I reviewed this book for ‘Estella’s Revenge’ a while ago and you can see the review here . Have any of you read it, what did you think?
While yesterday’s speedway lacked a little excitement yesterdays reading was packed with high class entertainment. I finished ‘I am Furniture’, which I’ll be reviewing later. For now let me just say it’s another positive review. I hope you’re not all sick of those, or think I’m cutting back on the honesty, it’s just that I’m following bloggy recommendations and trusting my instincts a bit more, which seems to be resulting in great reading experiences.
I also received my Waterstones order yesterday. Sadly Philip Reeve’s ‘Mortal Engines’ was no longer in stock (which makes me wonder why they advertised it along with his newest novel, in their quarterly magazine) but I did get 'An Equal Stillness' by Francesca Kay. It arrived on a Monday so that gives me the opportunity to take part in 'Mailbox Monday again, although yes I am late posting about it. I bought this book because it seemed like a great pick for the Art History challenge, as the main character is a woman passionate about art who tries to reignite a dull marriage with a move to the more colorful country of Spain.
It’s also part of Waterstone’s 2009 'New Voices' series which quite honestly I think is a bit of a bust promotionally. This year there was a whole booklet with a bit of blurb on each book and a special section for the group of authors Waterstones had picked, which is better than last year. But, so far I haven’t seen any big promotional drives in our local shops and the ‘New Voices’ button has been moved from the sidebar on the Waterstones website, making it a pain to find from within the site. When I think back to last years selection of authors the only one I remember clearly because of the Waterstone’s promotion is John Niven who wrote ‘Kill all your Friends’. Looking through a selection from the 2008 list (which is hard to find by the way) I can see that two books with big visibility were actually on the list (‘The Outcast’ by Sadie Jones and ‘The White Tiger’ by Aravind Adiga). Do you think the reason Jones and Adiga ended up on prize lists was because Waterstones had promoted them?
Today my lunchtime book has been ‘Girl Meets Boy’ by Ali Smith, part of the recent Canongate Myths series, which I’m rereading because this morning I was thinking about how non-religious people might reinvent the commitment ceremony in the future. ‘Girl Meets Boy’ has this wonderful ceremony near the end of the book, which is related in two ways: one is a fantastical imagining and one shows what really happens. I’m having fun remembering what I loved about the book the first time, as well as peeling back some of the layers during this second time of reading. I reviewed this book for ‘Estella’s Revenge’ a while ago and you can see the review here . Have any of you read it, what did you think?
