So cute

I just think this is really cute. I love the turtle. Marcus has a soft toy turtle (although his is pink) so I may be biased. I am not, however, bored. I just love the picture.

Reading posts for October

It’s taken me several hours, but I have finally got all my reading posts for the year sorted out and up to date. I was trying to reuse the layout of an earlier month in Live Writer when I updated and I’ve finally worked out that doing it that way meant I actually overwrote the earlier post. I now know that I need to start a new post and copy and paste instead.

Then I had where my reading challenge lists and my monthly lists didn’t match up. Now they do. I realise this doesn’t bother anyone on the entire planet except me, but since this is my blog, I needed to get it all fixed.

So finally, here’s my measly reading stats for October.

October 2009 Reading

1. Harrowing the Dragon – Patricia A. McKillip
   Fantasy; eBook; 7/10
2. To Ride Hell’s Chasm – Janny Wurts
   Fantasy; Library Book; 6/10
3. Harmony’s Way – Lora Leigh
   Breeds, Book 8; Erotic Romance; eBook; 7/10
4. The Changeover – Margaret Mahy
   YA; Paranormal; Library Book; DNF
5. Angels’ Judgement in Must Love Hellhounds – Charlaine Harris et al. 
   Guild Hunters, Book 1.5; Urban Fantasy; 8/10

Best book of the month = Harrowing the Dragon
Biggest disappointment of the month = To Ride Hell’s Chasm

October Reading:
Books read this month = 4
DNFs this month = 1
10/10 reads this month = 0
New reads this month = 4
Rereads this month = 0
paper books : eBooks = 2 : 2 = 50% : 50%

October Challenges Progress:
100+ Reading Challenge = 3
Support Your Local Library Challenge = 1 (Stage 1 Completed 3-04-09)
Romance Reading Challenge = 1 (Challenge Completed 25-02-09)
YA Reading Challenge = 0
eBook Reading Challenge = 2 (Challenge Completed 24-02-09)
Patricia A. McKillip Reading Challenge = 1 (Challenge Completed 5-10-09)

October Non-Challenges Progress:
SF/Fantasy books read = 4
Audiobooks listened to = 0

Cumulative Totals – October 2009

2009 Reading:
Books read for 2009 = 81
DNFs for 2009 = 10
10/10 for 2009 = 9
New reads for 2009 = 67
Rereads for 2009 = 8
paper books : eBooks = 39 : 36 = 52% : 48%

2009 Challenges Progress:
100+ Reading Challenge = 76
Support Your Local Library Challenge = 21 (Stage 1 Completed 3-04-09)
Romance Reading Challenge = 17 (Challenge Completed 25-02-09)
YA Reading Challenge = 8
eBook Reading Challenge = 35 (Challenge Completed 24-02-09)

2009 Non-Challenges Progress:
SF/Fantasy books read = 49
Audiobooks listened to = 6

Completed 2009 Challenges
Once Upon a Time III Challenge = 7 (Books Component Completed 22-04-09; Challenge Ended 20-6-09 with A Midsummer Night’s Dream unwatched. Result = Failed, but only just)
Patricia A. McKillip Reading Challenge = 3 (Challenge Completed 5-10-09)

September 2009 Reading

Okay, after messing up posting the August reading list, can I get September right? Maybe if I wait until November to post it.

1. Memory and Dream – Charles de Lint
   Newford, Book 5; Urban Fantasy; eBook; 8/10
2. Does Anything Eat Wasps – New Scientist
   Non-Fiction; Library Book; 8/10
3. Seeing Eye in Strange Brew – Patricia Briggs et al
   Paranormal Romance; Library Book; 8/10
4. Silent on the Moor – Deanna Raybourn
   Lady Julia Grey, Book 3; Mystery; Library Book; 7/10
5. Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze – New Scientist
   Non-Fiction; Library Book; 7/10
6. The Shadow Queen – Anne Bishop
   Black Jewels, Book 7; Fantasy; 10/10
7. The Long Run – Daniel Keys Moran
   The Continuing Time, Book 2; SF; eBook; 7/10
8. Hunting Ground – Patricia Briggs
   Alpha and Omega, Book 2; Urban Fantasy; 8/10
9. To Say Nothing of the Dog – Connie Willis
   SF; 7/10
10. The Little White Horse – Elizabeth Goudge
    Children; Audiobook; Reread; DNF
11. The Mummy Case – Elizabeth Peters
    Amelia Peabody, Book 3; Mystery; eBook; 7/10

Best book of the month = The Shadow Queen 
(love this series, love this book, love the world and love the characters)
Worst book of the month = 
(nothing bad enough to call “worst”)
Biggest disappointment of the month = The Long Run or To Say Nothing of the Dog
(both were still good reads, but expected to like them more than I did)

September Reading:
Books read this month = 10
DNFs this month = 1
10/10 reads this month = 1
New reads this month = 10
Rereads this month = 0
% paper books : % eBooks = 70 : 30

May Challenges Progress:
100+ Reading Challenge = 9
Support Your Local Library Challenge = 3 (Stage 1 Completed 3-04-09)
Romance Reading Challenge = 0 (Challenge Completed 25-02-09)
YA Reading Challenge = 0
eBook Reading Challenge = 3 (Challenge Completed 24-02-09)
Patricia A. McKillip Reading Challenge = 0

May Non-Challenges Progress:
SF/Fantasy books read = 6
Audiobooks listened to = 0

Geographical Restrictions

I am so TIRED of not being able to buy the books I want because of geographical ebook restrictions. I used to get angry about it, but now I’m just tired.

In the last two days, there have been four books I wanted to buy and couldn’t because of where I live. Two I wanted enough to order from my local specialty store that imports books, but that was only because their catalogue arrived the same day and those two were in there. Otherwise I just wouldn’t have bothered. As it is, there go two lost sales. And it easily might have been four.

I’m sick and I’m always tired, lately close to exhausted. My eyes are getting older and more tired. Paper books are just getting harder and harder for me to read. I can lie down on my bed and read on my iPhone and I can adjust the text size, the text colours and it’s small and it’s light. Even then, sometimes it’s too much effort to hold it up and I give up and put on a podcast or some music.

Reading is HARD for me these days. I’m a life-long avid reader, but now it’s HARD. Why do publishers have to make it harder?

It’s an effort for me to get organised enough to go out to the bookstore or the library. And then I have to find the energy to do it. And then I have to cope with the paper books anyway. If publishers keep making it harder and harder for me to get their books (and more expensive, because with the exchange rate and import costs to consider, paper books are much more expensive than ebooks here) I’ll just give up. They won’t be selling me their books.

And I can see myself, a life-long reader, gradually stopping reading.

Now that’s just SAD.

I finished a challenge!

Wow, I did it! I actually completed a challenge. The other day I finished reading Patricia A. McKillip’s Harrowing the Dragon, a collection of short stories. In doing so, I read my third book of hers for the year and completed Lennth’s challenge. My updated challenge post is here.

I have to admit this was far from my favourite on McKillip’s works. I think she’s better at full length novels than short stories.

I usually love McKillip, but a lot of these stories failed to completely satisfy. I think a lot of the problem is that the endings tended to feel weak to me; the stories built beautifully, the writing was lovely and then they just kind of ended. My favourites were "The Stranger" and "The Lion and the Lark" and I think part of that is because the endings were stronger. But I'm left with the feeling that McKillip writes better at the longer length than the shorter one.

All the same, I enjoyed the experience. I’m not really one for anthologies full of stories by different authors, but reading this collection by McKillip and Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint earlier this year I’ve discovered that I’m more likely to enjoy a collection by a favourite author where I know I already enjoy their world(s) and writing style.

Harrowing the Dragon
Patricia A. McKillip
7/10

Qualifies for: 100+ Reading Challenge, Patricia A. McKillip Challenge, eBook Reading Challenge

I’ve actually managed a few book comments over on my GoodReads entries lately, so I shall endeavour to add this to the blog over the next few weeks. It’s school holidays here and having Marcus at home for two weeks solid (well 1½ so far) has really knocked me over.

August 2009 Reading

Edited yet again: I think I see where I've messed up. I suspect I just overwrote the July reading post with the August reading post. It is already past my bedtime, so I'm going to leave the mess as it is for now an try to fix it all up tomorrow. Sorry everyone.

Better late than never when it comes to posting this. At least it isn’t quite the end of September yet.

ETA: I didn't realise I'd already posted this (I think, I'm quite confused about the whole thing now), but I've added a few small comments and the month's one DNF to the list, so I'll post it again as a new post anyway.

Another slow month for me, but I am reading, which is the most important thing.

1. Angels’ Blood – Nalini Singh
   Guild Hunters, Book 1; Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy; 10/10
2. The Invisible Ring – Anne Bishop
   Black Jewels, Book 4; Fantasy; eBook; Reread; 10/10
3. The Stars Blue Yonder – Sandra McDonald
   Seven Sisters, Book 3; SF; Library Book; 9/10
4. Diamond Star – Catherine AsaroSkolian Saga, Book 13; SF; 10/10
   Review here
5. Scales of Gold – Dorothy Dunnett
   House of Niccolo, Book 4; Historical Fiction; DNF
   I still want to read this, but it just isn't what I can manage at the moment, so I'm marking it as a DNF and I'll go back to it some other time.
6. Glory in Death – J. D. Robb
   Eve and Roarke, Book 2; Futuristic Mystery; Reread; 8/10
7. Swan for the Money – Donna Andrews
   Meg Langslow, Book 11; Cozy Mystery; Library Book; 7/10
8. Break No Bones – Kathy Reichs
   Temperance Brennan, Book 9; Mystery; eBook; 7/10
9. Silent in the Sanctuary– Deanna Raybourn
   Lady Julia Grey, Book 2; Historical Mystery; eBook; 6/10
   ** spoiler alert ** I find myself vaguely unstaisfied by the ending, as one character seems to have "gotten away with it". While kind of realistic, it doesn't feel right. I wonder if this will ever be mentioned again or just let drop. I hope it gets resolved.

August Reading:
Books read this month = 8
DNFs this month = 1
10/10 reads this month = 3
New reads this month = 6
Rereads this month = 2
% paper books : % eBooks = 5 : 3

May Challenges Progress:
100+ Reading Challenge = 8
Support Your Local Library Challenge = 2 (Stage 1 Completed 3-04-09)
Romance Reading Challenge = 0 (Challenge Completed 25-02-09)
YA Reading Challenge = 0
eBook Reading Challenge = 3 (Challenge Completed 24-02-09)
Patricia A. McKillip Reading Challenge = 0

May Non-Challenges Progress:
SF/Fantasy books read = 4
Audiobooks listened to = 0

How to spend a rainy school holidays day

Marcus and I decided that, since it is raining on and off and he’s pretty tired, the best way to spend the first “real” day of the school holidays is to have a snuggly day at home. He’s tucked up in a chair with a blanket and cushion and seems very happy just to lie there. Since he’s usually such a bundle of energy, if he wants to rest, I’m going to let him do so.

Blah

I'm not sure that it feels like it, but my health has made some progress. I had the most awful anxiety as a side-effect of the anti-depressants. After I tried to tough it out until it went away, the doctor and I eventually agreed I needed some anti-anxiety medication to get me through it. Now I have a mild, annoying but not incapacitating anxiety sitting at the bottom of my stomach.

The only possible upside to the anxiety was that since I couldn't relax, I was keeping up with keeping the house tidy and various jobs around the place. Now the anxiety is reduced, I've calmed down a lot and now I'm just tired and flat and blah from the depression. Sadly, that means the laundry pile has got bigger and Marcus' mess is starting to accumulate. I guess there are positives and negatives to everything.

I'm not stitching at all. I've been putting the odd stitch into The Bookshelf from Little House Needleworks but it doesn't really count of stitching at all in my book. I've altered some of the authors' names to ones that are more familiar to me than in the original and I'm going to change one of the book titles. I have never been able to read Wuthering Heights and after some comments I've heard about it, I don't think I ever will. So the scene of a house beside a wild sea will be changed to something else. I know what, I just have figured out how I'm going to do the wording (feel free to guess, but no prize for a correct answer I'm afraid).

Speaking of Little House Needleworks, I see the designer has started up a blog and is revealing snippets of her new release to be called The Library. I'm being suitably teased and have just added her to my feed reader so I don't miss out of anything. It's here for anyone wanting to take a look.

I am doing some reading, although not with as much enthusiasm as I would like. Back in March, a friend gave me the book Do Polar Bears Get Lonely? for my birthday. It's a compilation of answers to questions posed in New Scientist's Last Word column where readers ask strange and/or interesting questions and other readers answer them. I thoroughly enjoyed the book - even if I didn't understand all of it and probably forgot most of it. Dave picked up the other two from the library, Does Anything Eat Wasps? and Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? and I am enjoying those, having already finished the first one and started on the second. (For the record: No, polar bears don't get lonely being solitary animals and all sorts of things eat wasps including fish, frogs, many types of birds and other wasps.)

I have also stared Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn. I wasn't blowled over by the first two in the series, but I did enjoy reading them, so I shall give it a go.

Sticking with books, I updated two of the widgets on my sidebar today, to use the provided GoodReads versions for "Current Books" and "Recently Read". Using GoodReads means I don't have to manually update either. Especially, I don't have to constantly find and upload book covers of my current reads. GoodReads does it for me and that makes my life a lot easier.

I've been in a Doctor Who phase as I work through the anxiety, and have been listening to a lot of podcasts (I'm especially enjoying Cadmium2's story by story casts from the beginning, although I'm only up to The Space Museum, while they are about thirteen episodes ahead of me). I've also listened to a few Big Finish audio plays, mostly from the Eight Doctor range, as Paul McGann remains my favourite doctor, despite his very short time in the role.

I've been very slowly watching Torchwood: Children of Earth over about the last 10 days. I watched episode four today and I hope to finish it tomorrow, although that will depend on just how my day goes. I had been warned about the bad thing that happens in episode four, so at least I wasn't shocked and could just appreciate the way they played it all out. I thought it was a lovely ending in a very-sad-lovely kind of way. Now just one more hour to watch.

So all in all, I'm no longer terribly anxious, but remain flat and blah with a general feeling of not-rightness. Still the specialist told me it took me 14 months to stabalise last time, so I just hope it doesn't take that long this time, as it's only been a bit over four.

Okay, time for me to head for bed. Early nights and the best sleep possible are my friends right now.

Trip Down Memory Lane

On Friday, Marcus brought this book home from school for weekend reading. I’m pretty sure I remember reading books like this when I was at school and learning to read.

I checked the copyright date and it was 1968. I started school in 1974, so that would be about right.

While I’m not sure that I remember this particular book, I was reading the titles on the back cover and I definitely remember reading The Hungry Lambs and I think The Stars in the Sky. They were big, fat hardcover books with a whole lot of stories in them and I can almost see them in my mind’s eye all these years later. The other titles sound familiar too.

At least they were new when I read them. Not so much now. But the stories were still perfectly fine for reading practise. I did have to explain what “Primers” were (first year at school now has the original title of “Year 1”) and also what a penny was as we don’t even have one cent coins any more (our smallest coin here in NZ is 10 cents), but everything else was fine. Okay, so the pictures were a little dated, but that’s okay.

Does this count as recycling?

Diamond Star by Catherine Asaro

Wow, I’m actually trying to write a book review. I haven’t done that in months and months, but we’ll see how it goes.

Catherine Asaro is my favourite author and her Skolian series, of which Diamond Star is the latest chapter, is my favourite series. However, I often get incredibly anxious about reading her books, sometimes putting it off for months, and I’m never been completely sure about why. I am coming to the conclusion that it is a combination of the fact that I really connect with these books, meaning I tend to have a very intense reaction to them, and the fact I find her bad guys particularly nasty, so that the more they feature in a book, the more anxious I feel about reading it. But I love the books. The characters speak to me and I really respond to them. I care about them all and want to know what happens to them. If I was a writer (which I’m not, and certainly wouldn’t ever be one of Catherine’s talent) and I was trying to “write what you love and want to read”, these are they books I’d want to write. They just hit all my buttons, even if they terrify me a little bit as well.

Borrowing the blurb from www.fantasticfiction.co.uk:

Del was a rock singer. He was also the renegade son of the Ruby Dynasty, which made his career choice less than respectable, and gave him more to worry about than getting gigs and not getting cheated by recording companies, club owners, or his agent. For one thing, the Ruby Dynasty ruled the Skolian Imperialate, an interstellar Empire, which had recently had a war with another empire, the Eubian Concord. For another, Del was singing on Earth, which was part of a third interstellar civilization, and one which had an uneasy relationship with the Imperialate. Del undeniably had talent, and was rapidly rising from an unknown fringe artist to stardom. But, with his life entangled in the politics of three interstellar civilizations, whether he wanted that or not, talent might not be enough. And that factor might have much more effect than his music on the lives of trillions of people on the thousands of inhabited worlds across the galaxy.

As I read the book, I really wasn’t always sure if I liked Del or not. I certainly didn’t dislike him, but he could be an incredibly frustrating character at times. He could be pretty immature and needs to do some growing up. Most of her other characters have been much more mature and this is something new. It's done well, but I wanted to slap him occasionally. I think this is completely intentional, but he's still sometimes frustrating. Not annoying, because he's totally in character all the time, but frustrating because he has so much potential he isn't living up to yet.

Of course, that’s part of the power of the character. For a lot of complicated reasons I don’t want to spoil, he’s missed out of a childhood really and he’s a grown man who is still finding his way out of adolescence with all of an adult’s weight on his shoulders. I found it particularly poignant that, for him, all that his family has suffered (and we readers have suffered it with them through the earlier books) has happened all in one brief, crushing moment, where in reality it has been spread out over 40 years. For them, there has been time to come to some sort of terms with it all and move on, even if only to the next crisis. For Del, it’s all happened to him at once and I doubt he’s had time to work through any of it. That’s why he takes the action he does at the end of the book, full of anger and also confusion I think, and it works perfectly. It’s probably also the beginning of some healing of all the pain, so it will good to see where his character goes in the aftermath of that.

Apparently, Catherine’s next Skolian book is to be called Carnelians. “It's another stand-lone, like Diamond Star. However, it fits in with Diamond Star and another book called The Ruby Dice, because all three [sic] involve the same characters and universe.” (Catherine Asaro on Paraoddity)

Firstly, I’m not sure what the third book mentioned here is as Catherine has only named two, but I’m not sure that I care. More Del, more Kelric, more Jai. Yay, I’m going to be happy (even if that whole anxiety thing happens again). But my real point is that I can see Del needing another book. His story doesn’t feel finished here. This chapter of it is, but he’s still got growing up and healing to do, probably quite a lot of both, and his character arc has plenty more places to go. But now that I have finished the book, I find that I do like him. I’m well established in his corner and I want to see him do that growing and become the man he can be. He’s made mistakes, but he learns from them and I want to see that keep happening. (Although a bit from Kelric’s point of view, to see his real feelings for Del, not his always stoic reactions as interpreted by Del in his frustration and anger, would be good too.)

One other small comment – it was nice to have an aspect of the family tree that has always been confusing finally explained. Maybe in the next book we could have an update of the family tree and the timeline (with the “location” of the newer books added to it ).

This is a slightly jointed review – I apologise. I started with a bang, then rather ran out of steam. Rather than leaving the draft sitting around for months, I decided to post what I had, so here you are. I hope it was interesting and/or useful.

Diamond Star
Catherine Asaro
Skolian Saga, Book 13 (in publication order)
10/10

Qualifies for: 100+ Reading Challenge

Skolian Saga (in publication order):

1. Primary Inversion
2. Catch the Lightning
3. The Last Hawk
4. The Radiant Seas
5. Ascendant Sun
6. The Quantum Rose
7. Spherical Harmonic
8. The Moon’s Shadow
9. Skyfall
10. Schism
11. The Final Key
12. The Ruby Dice
13. Diamond Star
14. Carnelians (forthcoming from Baen in 2010)

Skolian hints

Not only has Catherine Asaro given a great interview over at Paraoddity (with another to come on Friday apparently), in the comments she’s dropped a whole bunch of hints about her plans for the future of the Skolian series. Do go over and read it all.

Catherine has kindly given me permission to repost those hints here as well.

Great question, too. Yes, I do plan to finish it. The fifty years in the future just happens to coincide with, um ... the events in Catch the Lightning. Althor, the hero in that book, is the son that Dehya and Eldrin have after the events of Spherical Harmonic. The big series finale is the book that follows Catch the Lightning in the chronology.

I also plan to visit what's going on with Soz and everyone on Prism in other books, too. In fact, I may even show some of that in the next book, Carnelians.

And also:

I do hope to do more with Rohka's story. She's one of my favorite characters of the "new" generation of Ruby Dynasty members. But Soz is definitely coming back. Big time. :-)

Jaibriol will find answers, but with so much for him to deal with, it will happen over the course of several books. In each one, he becomes more aware of the history that separates his people from the Skolians.

Don't worry about the ending of The Ruby Dice. It was actually rather triumphant. They finally got a peace treaty. Putting their ideas into action won't be easy, but don't worry, I'm not one for dark endings! Carnelians, the next book, looks at how they do that, and how they deal with the opposition.

Yay, more Soz. She is totally my favourite character in the series. Yay, Jai finding his answers – if slowly; how will I wait patiently? Yay, there will be an ending and it won’t be a dark one. This is series I both want to reach a conclusion and never to end. I can’t wait.

I’m also working on a review of Diamond Star that I hope will show up in a few days. I’m having a Catherine Asaro fangirl good time at the moment.

Edited to add this one:

I've definitely decided that Jai and Tarquine will have kids. Exactly how that is going to work, I'm not sure. I have some ideas, but I don't want to give away too many plot points. Tarquine is one of my favorite characters to write, along with Soz.

Follow up on “Grumble, Grumble”

Just a quick not to say I picked up the library system’s second copy of The Stars Blue Yonder and I was very happy to see that it included the pages the other one was missing.

I finished the book last night and highly recommend the entire series.

Now, I’m aiming to go back and finish Diamond Star by Catherine Asaro.