2008 November » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Review: Sourcery by Terry Pratchett (1988)

Posted by Anastasia on November 30, 2008 No Responses »

Nov 302008

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett, read by Nigel Planer
Publication: ISIS Audio Books (Jul 2003) / ISBN 0753118335
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
Find @ Amazon.co.uk, ISIS Publishing

Quick summary from Amazon.co.uk:

There was an eighth son of an eighth son. He was, quite naturally, a wizard. And there it should have ended. However (for reasons we’d better not go into), he had seven sons. And then he had an eighth son…a wizard squared…a source of magic…a Sourcerer.

Sourcery sees the return of Rincewind and the luggage as the Discworld faces its greatest – and funniest – challenge yet.

I’ve read and own around seven Discworld books (from what I can count without actually getting up off my bed and walking the five feet to the bookcase, an impossible amount at 1 in the morning an on my vacation no less) and while I’d like to own all of them, it’s just not possible if I plan on buying anything else ever again. Even the used bookstores/trading websites seem to be slim on the Pratchett, and I’ve never found any at a library book sale.

Luckily I managed to get my hands on quite a few of the audiobooks, and for free no less! So I can satisfy my Pterry cravings that way. And what a way to do it: Nigel Planer is, quite frankly, one of the best readers I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. Reading the books on my own is one thing, but having Mr. Planer read them to me is another thing entirely– in fact, I think I nearly prefer it. Pterry + Pnigel = AWESOME.

At a mere 7-ish hours long, the Discworld audiobooks aren’t an impossible thing to devour in a day or so (maybe two days if you actually have things to do that require concentration). Plus, Sourcery is one of the better Discworld books, and though the ending wasn’t quite what I expected, it was satisfying. I’m looking forward to listening to all the other Nigel Planer-read books I have, and rereading all the physical books I own as well.

Tuesday Thingers: November 25

Posted by Anastasia on November 25, 2008 No Responses »

Nov 252008

Tuesday Thingers is hosted by Marie at Boston Bibliophile. Today’s question is:

Blog Widgets. Do you use them? Do you have them on your blog? Do you know what I’m talking about? A blog widget is that list of books “From my LibraryThing” and such, that you’ll sometimes see on someone’s sidebar. If you use it, do all of your books show up or do you have it set to only show certain books? Do you have a search widget, which would allow your blog readers to search your library? Have you ever made a photomosaic of your book covers?

I’d love to use widgets, except I can’t make them work with WordPress. I did figure out how to insert an RSS feed of my recently-added books to my sidebar, though. I like it because it’s a little hint on what I’ll be eventually reviewing. I’d love to have all the rest as well– if only it worked on WordPress!

[For more answers and to play yourself, visit Marie's Tuesday Thingers post!]

In other news, I’ve started four books but finished none, gotten no books in the mail or in the store, and am feeling very adrift re: what to read. I am about five hours into a Discworld audiobook, but I’m not sure if I’m going to review it. And I don’t know what to read afterwards– it’s like whatever I try I end up not feeling in the mood for it. I’ll have to dig through my TBR pile and see if there’s anything I want to read, but I might just end up going to the Borders sale tomorrow and pick something new up. (Now you know why my TBR pile is so large: so I have a lot of choices of reading material! Heh.) Is anyone else planning to go? They’re also having a really good deal on House season 1-3, which I’ve been dying to get. Hopefully they’ll have enough in stock, eh?

Review: Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones (1997)

Posted by Anastasia on November 21, 2008 3 Responses »

Nov 212008

Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones
Publication: Starscape (2002), Paperback, 384 pages / ISBN 0765342472
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Teen
Rating: 4.5/5
Find @ Amazon, swap sites

I am well familiar with Diana Wynne Jones’ books, and she’s firmly lodged at the top of my favorite authors list. So you can imagine how excited I was to find this at the bookstore when I hadn’t been able to find anything besides the Chrestomanci series and various Howl’s Moving Castle books.

Summary from Amazon (I’m still finding summaries harder to write than reviews. Darn!):

Rupert Venables is a Magid.

It’s a Magid’s job to oversee what goes on in the vast Multiverse. Actually, Rupert is really only a junior Magid. But he’s got a king-sized problem. Rupert’s territory includes Earth and the Empire of Korfyros. When his mentor dies Rupert must find a replacement. But there are hundreds of candidates. How is he supposed to choose? And interviewing each one could take forever.

Unless…

What if he could round them all up in one place?

Simple!

When I saw that Deep Secret was written in first person, I had some doubts on how much I would end up liking it. The other DWJ first-person narrative I read was Conrad’s Fate, which I disliked (though not necessarily hated– it has Christopher Chant in it, after all, and he’s my favorite DWJ character). The plot was slow-going, and while I don’t think every book has to get a running start I do prefer books that start to pick up after the first 100 pages. Anything more than that and I tend to feel frustrated and impatient. This one didn’t really until around 200-something, but I stuck with it anyway because it’s DWJ. (I’m happy I did!)

Challenge: Read Your Own Books 2009

Posted by Anastasia on November 20, 2008 No Responses »

Nov 202008

This one might be tricky to combine with the other challenges I’m doing next year, but when my TBR pile is over 200 books (holy crap), I’ll deal with it.

The RYOB 2009 challenge is being hosted by MizB at MizB Challenges You. Here’s the rules:

* set a goal for how many of your OWN books you’d like to read in 2009

* read from your own collection between January 1st and December 31st, 2009

I’ve decided to go for reading 25 books from my TBR pile, not including any new ones that I add to it in 2009. It does include books I bought the year before, though they might not have come until this year. Let’s see if I can knock a chunk out of that monster!

Wanna sign up yourself? Check out MizB’s post here.

Books read:
1. Triskellion – Will Peterson | Owned since December 2008.
2. The Princetta – Anne-Laure Bondoux | Owned since December 2008.
3. Crooked Little Vein – Warren Ellis | Owned since December 2008.
4. Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean – Justin Soomper | Owned since December 2008.
5. Midnighters #1: The Secret Hour – Scott Westerfeld | Owned since December 2008.
6. SilverFin – Charlie Higson | Owned since December 2008.
7. Witch’s Business – Diana Wynne Jones | Owned since December 2008.
8. Stopping For A Spell – Diana Wynne Jones | Owned since December 2008.
9. Cart and Cwidder – Diana Wynne Jones | Owned since December 2008.
10. Septimus Heap #2: Flyte – Angie Sage | Owned since December 2008.
11. Creepers – Keith Gray | Owned since December 2008.
12. Theater Shoes – Noel Streatfeild | Owned since November 2008.
13. The Vanishing Chip – Mark Delaney | Owned since November 2008.
14. Anastasia, Absolutely – Lois Lowry | Owned since November 2008.
15. Hexwood – Diana Wynne Jones | Owned since November 2008.
16. The Golden Compass – Philip Pullman | Owned since January 2008.
17. The Subtle Knife – Philip Pullman | Owned since January 2008.
18. Travel Light – Naomi Mitchison | Owned since January 2008.
19. Shopaholic & Sister – Sophie Kinsella | Owned since November 2008.
20. Shopaholic & Baby – Sophie Kinsella | Owned since November 2008.
21. Ptolemy’s Gate (Bartimaeus Trilogy #3) – Jonathan Stroud | Owned since January 2008.
22. Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice #1) – Joseph Delaney | Owned since December 2008.
23. The Dealer (CHERUB #2) – Robert Muchamore | Owned since November 2008.
24. The Princess Diaries (Princess Diaries #1) – Meg Cabot | Owned since September 2008.
25. Princess in the Spotlight (Princess Diaries #2) – Meg Cabot | Owned since September 2008.

Yay!

Meme: Wyn's Sunday Meme!

Posted by Anastasia on November 19, 2008 No Responses »

Nov 192008

Wendi at Wendi’s Book Corner tagged me to do Wyn’s Sunday meme! Yay! Here’s the details:

1. What book is on the left hand side of your computer or closest to the left hand side?
2. Are you reviewing it, is it your favourite, or is it there for some other reason and specify.
3. Go to page 38 and write down from the 2nd paragraph, the first 4 sentences.
4. Tag 4 friends and pass them this avatar.

I use a laptop, so this’ll be tricky. I decided to answer from my most-used location: on my bed.
1. Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones is closest. I bought this over the weekend and started reading it yesterday; it’s going a little slow but exciting things are starting to happen, thankfully. I’m about halfway through it.

2. I do plan on reviewing it, but I wasn’t specifically asked to or anything. I haven’t read it before, but Diana Wynne Jones is my favorite author so hopefully I’ll end up loving it. (I don’t think I’ve ever hated any of her books, though Conrad’s Fate came pretty close.)

“The Diabelli variations once more sank to a distant tinkling. Invitation hung in the air. It seemed pretty clear that Stan was bored. It had not occurred to me before that a disembodied person could be bored–by why not?”

4. Um. Hm. I think everyone I know has already done this. If you haven’t and would like me to tag you, just comment.

Tuesday Thingers: November 18

Posted by Anastasia on November 18, 2008 No Responses »

Nov 182008

Today’s question is:

Popular this month on LT: Do you look at this list? Do you get ideas on what to read from it?

Have you read any of the books on the list right now? Feel free to link to any reviews you’ve done as well.

For reference, the list for November is:
1. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
2. Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
3. Nation by Terry Pratchett
4. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
5. Anathem by Neal Stephenson
6. American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
7. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski
9. Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3) by Stephenie Meyer
10. Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland

And my answer: I do check out the list whenever I’m on my homepage (and the Hot Reviews), but it doesn’t affect my reading choices. I like it mostly because it helps me keep up with what new books authors have released, like Neil Gaiman (though I technically already knew about that) and Terry Pratchett. Generally most of the books on the top 10 list are ones I’m not interested in, with a few exceptions.

I haven’t read any of these books, though I am planning on reading The Graveyard Book. I want to buy the paperback when it comes out, but maybe my library has a copy of the hardcover I can borrow right now.

[Tuesday Thingers is hosted by Marie at Boston Bibliophile. Check out her TT post for more players and to do it yourself!]

That Darn CueCat

Posted by Anastasia on November 17, 2008 No Responses »

Nov 172008

Image borrowed from LibraryThing

My CueCat came in last Thursday, and a few people were wondering how I liked it. The short answer: it’s awesome.

The long answer: it’s pretty much useless if I only have one or two books to input, but I didn’t let that stop me. I added the few books I got over the weekend (and Feed) and I already feel more professional and mature (for some odd reason). I probably actually only shaved off around 30-45 seconds from manually inputting ISBNs, not including tagging, but I’m going to keep using the CueCat even for adding a small number of books because a) I bought it! I should use it, right? b) it prevents me from making stupid typos late at night when I can barely keep my eyes open, never mind typing in 9-digit numbers.

Oh! And also, I’ve forced my mom to get a LibraryThing account (well, she hasn’t signed up yet, but whenever she does…) and the Cat should help lots.

I suppose the real test of how much time I’ll save is next month when I bring back my library book sale haul. This month it took me around an hour to manually add ~50 books. I’ll let you all know if I fare better with the Cat.