Challenge completed: Seafaring Challenge II

 Posted by Anastasia on October 25, 2009  No Responses »
Oct 252009
 
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seafaringii_lg2I have completed another reading challenge! This time it’s the Seafaring Challenge II, hosted by Anesthezea.

The challenge was to read ten nautical-themed books, and as it turned out this was pretty easy for me to accomplish, even without finishing my Hornblower omnibus like I planned to. As you can see, the Swallows and Amazons series dominates my reading list, and luckily I love that series a lot or I wouldn’t have finished nearly so quickly.

The final reading list:
1. Throne of Jade – Naomi Novik
2. East Coast Rising Vol. 1 – Becky Cloonan
3. Swallows and Amazons (S&A #1) – Arthur Ransome
4. Swallowdale (S&A #2) – Arthur Ransome
5. Peter Duck (S&A #3) – Arthur Ransome
6. Coot Club (S&A #5) – Arthur Ransome
7. We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea (S&A #7) – Arthur Ransome
8. Secret Water (S&A #8) – Arthur Ransome
9. Syren (Septimus Heap #5) – Angie Sage
10. The Big Six (S&A #9) – Arthur Ransome

Probably my favorite book of the list is Swallows and Amazons, because it started me off on a great series and it’s just overall wonderful.

I’m going to continue reading nautical-themed books, of course, because I do enjoy them a lot– I still definitely want to read the Hornblower omnibus I have, plus another anthology of sea stories I picked up from Paperback Swap about, er, three years ago. But what else should I read? Any classic seafaring novels I’m missing out on? Are the Master and Commander books any good? (I never saw the movie, btw.) Here are some of my own recommendations, written back in March.

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 2009, Events

APFOL: October 18-24

 Posted by Anastasia on October 25, 2009  No Responses »
Oct 252009
 
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Interesting posts and other things that have caught my eye this week. It isn’t actually everything, since I didn’t want to kill myself copy-pasting, so for the entire link collection check out my Delicious page.

And now, I present to you, my readers: Awesome Post Full of Links #8: October 18-24!

Books in General

  • Why Adult Literacy Matters To Us All
    “Before I worked with adults who struggle with their reading skills, I never really thought about being an adult and not being able to read. Not only not being able to read, but not being able to read well. And I can only imagine that there are many others who don’t think about this either.”
  • Frankfurt Book Fair» Blog Archive » The fog begins to lift…
    “We are not just in transition from one state or model to another state or model, we’re in transition to a state of permanent accelerated transition where the model is continuous rapid reinvention. Publishing will never be stable again.”
  • Tor.com / The Revolution Will Not be Telegraphed: The Sociopolitical side of Steampunk
    “I mean, sure I love airships, and submarines, and time machines as much as the next Steampunk fan. But I want more out of my Steampunk than dressing up like an Airship Pirate and pretending I live in the 19th century.”

Authors & Publishers

  • Bookselling Heads to the Espresso Age – 10/5/2009 – Publishers Weekly
    “In the next two months, seven independent bookstores in the U.S. will add Espresso Book Machines from On Demand Books capable of brewing a 300-page perfect-bound book in five to seven minutes. According to On Demand cofounder and CEO Dane Neller, the company will have 40 machines in bookstores and libraries in North America, the U.K., Australia and Egypt by the end of the first quarter of 2010 and will soon launch a venture in Africa.” I want one!!
  • Richard Nash: Founder, Cursor | Utne
    “Cursor, scheduled to launch in early 2010, is Nash’s vision for making social networking and crowd sourcing integral to book publishing. Online platforms will support social publishing communities for readers and writers; Red Lemonade, for example, will harbor the pop-lit-alt-cult inclined, while charmQuark will cater to science-fiction lovers. Among other things, members of these communities can give feedback on each other’s work, participate in writing groups, and access editing tools. Each group will also have its own imprint and the potential to earn money from digital downloads, print editions, and artisanal runs.”

(Book) Blogging

And

Meta: Delicious | Google Reader

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