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I am still not quite back in the blogging swing as you might have noticed.
I should mention that the reason I hadn’t been commenting or reading at many blogs until yesterday was because I was in the process of deciding whether to move from the saved version of bloglines to ‘I exported my feeds to Googlereader a month ago so some are missing’. In the end Googlereader won, I’ve started creating folders to help me tidy up and I’ve decided to move everyone I read regularly from my favourites tab to a reader. That means old, regularly read friends go in the feedreader, along with author blogs, a couple of fashion blogs, new book blogs I hadn’t migrated to the reader and at least one blog about how to be a responsible, informed charity giver (I link to that one because I think it is so practically useful in a world where it can be very difficult to work out if your charity contributions make a difference).
Anyway I am in the process of sorting it out and I am returned to blog reading. Not reading certain blogs has actually left me feeling a little off kilter. I've been reading some blogs regularly for four, or five years and it's weird not to have those voices around and really it's no weirder not to be listening to voices I feel I've connected with in the past two years. It has felt odd you lot and it's reminded me that even when I'm not reviewing at my blog I always want to be reading whatever you've got at your blogs. Tv overload just does not compare to hearing you all express yourself.
I have some book posts written up and I also have a post about bad gals and guys mostly written, but a.) it is about tv and b.) it is a lot of lusting and I think I should do a ‘proper’ post before shoving my screen crushes on you. Instead I thought I’d pop up a post about what I’m reading/will be reading this month, while I go off an fill in the quotes on my posts actually about book content. January is a busy reading month for me, although hopefully I haven’t overcommitted to projects. Since I am involved in some monthly reading groups this year I might do a regular update at the beginning of the month saying which of the groups I’m taking part in that month, so other people involved can come by and discuss the books as we read them. January’s post follows:
This month I’m working as part of the reading panel for the GLBTQ category of the Indie Literary Awards. Here’s the shortlist I’ll be reading through this month:
'Annabel' - Kathleen Winter
'Jumpstart the World'- Catherine Ryan Hyde
'Krakow Melt' - Daniel Allen Cox
'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' - David Levithan and John Green
'Scars' - Cheryl Rainfield
I’ve finished Jumpstart the World, which I’ll talk about a bit later in the month (I hope that makes me seem like a mysterious judge, playing my cards close to my chest, not a lazy one). I think ‘Will Grayson, Will Grayson’ will be the next book I read (I have a fondness for collaborative projects featuring David Levithan), followed by Annabel (which is huge it turns out).
I’m currently reading ‘The Summer Book’ by Tove Janson for The Slaves of Golconda January read. I’m about fifty pages from the end and it is lovely. I anticipate lots of fun discussion and some happiness over this book at the end of the month.
I plan to read ‘Dust’ by Elizabeth Bear for the Women of Sci-fi reading group (this is coming as a birthday present – yes everyone, my birthday is tomorrow and in my continuing tradition of having multiple celebrations I will be taking the day off to celebrate with my mum, going for a meal this weekend with both my parents and enjoying a celebration with two other birthday girls and friends the weekend after at my favourite cocktail bar, hurray for birthdays).
I’m also hoping to read ‘Riders of the Purple Sage’, even though I’m late for Amanda’s informal online extension of her offline classics book club but I’m unsure whether I will be able to fit that in. Eight books in a month is a pretty big total for me, but I hope I will as I’ve only made plans to join that group for three books, one of which is a reread and I would like to read all of them.
As to other books I’ve been reading, my first book of the year was a piece of translated fiction called ‘Journey by Moonlight’. That’s two pieces of translated fiction so far in 2011 – 2010 can suck it. While it’s a book I found easy to admire, I didn’t have a great reading experience with it. I hadn’t read much all over the Christmas holidays and I started trying to make myself read when really I should have just been popping in the second film of the afternoon. Then I put it down for a long time and by the end of it I was having trouble following its ideas and remembering character names because I wasn’t concentrating.
I guess I was in a mini book slump and sometimes it’s best not to try and read yourself out of those because you just end up feeling a bit antagonistic to the book when you’re not reading it. I remember having a similar experience trying to read ‘Daniel Deronda’ in January (except that I genuinely hated that book, while I feel pretty fond of this one and its characters). Maybe I’ll write about it, but use the comments from the translator at the back as a frame to keep me on track and not attempt to write about the big ideas of the text. I do think some of you would like it (taking a punt I’d say Jeanne, because it’s quite wry) but I personally should have read it faster, going with the flowing rhythm of the scenes which beg for the book to be read in big chunks to keep my interest (and my comprehension) up.
Hope to be around more from now on! Speak soon.
I should mention that the reason I hadn’t been commenting or reading at many blogs until yesterday was because I was in the process of deciding whether to move from the saved version of bloglines to ‘I exported my feeds to Googlereader a month ago so some are missing’. In the end Googlereader won, I’ve started creating folders to help me tidy up and I’ve decided to move everyone I read regularly from my favourites tab to a reader. That means old, regularly read friends go in the feedreader, along with author blogs, a couple of fashion blogs, new book blogs I hadn’t migrated to the reader and at least one blog about how to be a responsible, informed charity giver (I link to that one because I think it is so practically useful in a world where it can be very difficult to work out if your charity contributions make a difference).
Anyway I am in the process of sorting it out and I am returned to blog reading. Not reading certain blogs has actually left me feeling a little off kilter. I've been reading some blogs regularly for four, or five years and it's weird not to have those voices around and really it's no weirder not to be listening to voices I feel I've connected with in the past two years. It has felt odd you lot and it's reminded me that even when I'm not reviewing at my blog I always want to be reading whatever you've got at your blogs. Tv overload just does not compare to hearing you all express yourself.
I have some book posts written up and I also have a post about bad gals and guys mostly written, but a.) it is about tv and b.) it is a lot of lusting and I think I should do a ‘proper’ post before shoving my screen crushes on you. Instead I thought I’d pop up a post about what I’m reading/will be reading this month, while I go off an fill in the quotes on my posts actually about book content. January is a busy reading month for me, although hopefully I haven’t overcommitted to projects. Since I am involved in some monthly reading groups this year I might do a regular update at the beginning of the month saying which of the groups I’m taking part in that month, so other people involved can come by and discuss the books as we read them. January’s post follows:
This month I’m working as part of the reading panel for the GLBTQ category of the Indie Literary Awards. Here’s the shortlist I’ll be reading through this month:
'Annabel' - Kathleen Winter
'Jumpstart the World'- Catherine Ryan Hyde
'Krakow Melt' - Daniel Allen Cox
'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' - David Levithan and John Green
'Scars' - Cheryl Rainfield
I’ve finished Jumpstart the World, which I’ll talk about a bit later in the month (I hope that makes me seem like a mysterious judge, playing my cards close to my chest, not a lazy one). I think ‘Will Grayson, Will Grayson’ will be the next book I read (I have a fondness for collaborative projects featuring David Levithan), followed by Annabel (which is huge it turns out).
I’m currently reading ‘The Summer Book’ by Tove Janson for The Slaves of Golconda January read. I’m about fifty pages from the end and it is lovely. I anticipate lots of fun discussion and some happiness over this book at the end of the month.
I plan to read ‘Dust’ by Elizabeth Bear for the Women of Sci-fi reading group (this is coming as a birthday present – yes everyone, my birthday is tomorrow and in my continuing tradition of having multiple celebrations I will be taking the day off to celebrate with my mum, going for a meal this weekend with both my parents and enjoying a celebration with two other birthday girls and friends the weekend after at my favourite cocktail bar, hurray for birthdays).
I’m also hoping to read ‘Riders of the Purple Sage’, even though I’m late for Amanda’s informal online extension of her offline classics book club but I’m unsure whether I will be able to fit that in. Eight books in a month is a pretty big total for me, but I hope I will as I’ve only made plans to join that group for three books, one of which is a reread and I would like to read all of them.
As to other books I’ve been reading, my first book of the year was a piece of translated fiction called ‘Journey by Moonlight’. That’s two pieces of translated fiction so far in 2011 – 2010 can suck it. While it’s a book I found easy to admire, I didn’t have a great reading experience with it. I hadn’t read much all over the Christmas holidays and I started trying to make myself read when really I should have just been popping in the second film of the afternoon. Then I put it down for a long time and by the end of it I was having trouble following its ideas and remembering character names because I wasn’t concentrating.
I guess I was in a mini book slump and sometimes it’s best not to try and read yourself out of those because you just end up feeling a bit antagonistic to the book when you’re not reading it. I remember having a similar experience trying to read ‘Daniel Deronda’ in January (except that I genuinely hated that book, while I feel pretty fond of this one and its characters). Maybe I’ll write about it, but use the comments from the translator at the back as a frame to keep me on track and not attempt to write about the big ideas of the text. I do think some of you would like it (taking a punt I’d say Jeanne, because it’s quite wry) but I personally should have read it faster, going with the flowing rhythm of the scenes which beg for the book to be read in big chunks to keep my interest (and my comprehension) up.
Hope to be around more from now on! Speak soon.