2010 April » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

I will never have enough books

Posted by Anastasia on April 30, 2010 No Responses »

Apr 302010

One of the biggest worries that has occupied my mind in the past few weeks is how I’m going to cope with my reading habit when I’m abroad. I can read upwards of five books a week, and while I expect that’ll slow down as I spend time sightseeing, there’s no way I can carry enough books around with me to last longer than a month. Also, I’m worried about how easy it’ll be for me to find more books to replace the ones I read.

I know that most hostels have bookshelves that people can take books from (and leave others), and I plan on using those as much as possible, but I’ve also heard that the books on those shelves tend to be, uh, not brilliant. I don’t want to stuff myself full of fluff just because that’s the only thing available, y’know?

So I’m thinking that along with some paper books (to trade at hostels) I’m also going to take my Sony Reader. I know! I’m already taking a ton of other electronics (netbook, camera, phone, iPod, tiny Polaroid photo printer) and adding another one is making me antsy, but I really do think I need to bring it. I can’t go without reading for more than a week, even when I’m traveling, and if I run out of books I don’t know what I’ll do. Go mad, probably. Just thinking of running out of books is making me almost hyperventilate!

Has anyone else traveled around with an ebook reader? I know someone who traveled with a Nintendo DS, mostly because they were addicted to video games (like I’m addicted to books), but I haven’t heard of people traveling with ebook readers. It’d be nice to know what the other bookaholics do when they travel!

This post was originally published at Masticating with Anastasia.

Thursday Tea (April 29): Noel and Cole: The Sophisticates

Posted by Anastasia on April 29, 2010 No Responses »

Apr 292010

Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by yours truly. To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the answers to these questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.

The book: I’m currently reading Noel and Cole: The Sophisticates, which a dual biography about Noel Coward and Cole Porter. I really like Cole Porter’s songs, and I’m slightly familiar with Noel Coward’s, so I thought this would be a good thing to read for some more background info than what I saw in De-Lovely. And I am enjoying it…sort of.

It’s a good biography in that it starts at the beginning of their lives and goes onward, and that it’s engaging and lively. But the author has issues with not speculating about things that didn’t need speculating. Such as the question of why Noel and Cole were gay– because of their genes, is what I’d say, but Stephen Citron seems to think that it’s because they were obsessed with their mothers and that somehow “perverted” them. Which, uh. What? It’s not like he disapproves of them being gay or something, but it’s just weird that he sticks it in the book like it’s fact. It’s not.

Mr Citron also keeps talking about his opinions on whether certain songs are good or not, which is irritating. But he also doesn’t hold back from saying when Noel or Cole were acting like snobs, which seems to be most of the time, and he does seem to genuinely like them. But I’m just annoyed at his personal intrusions into what should have been a neutral narrative.

The ~~tea~~ coffee: Coffee coffee coffee. It’s nearing finals and I need coffee. I do feel kind of bad for my teas, because I honestly haven’t been giving them a proper chance. I’ll have to try and fix that after the semester ends.

Do they go together? Coffee doesn’t mislead my like Mr Citron is trying to do, but it’s also not as vibrant as Noel and Cole’s lives were. I’d really need something that is named one thing, like “Morning Sunrise on a Dewey Plain,” and then it tastes like English breakfast with cinnamon. Maybe.

What are you drinking/reading this Thursday?

Things I am going to do this summer (aka my summer reading list)

Posted by Anastasia on April 26, 2010 17 Responses »

Apr 262010

Finals are coming up in the next month and I’ve got to stop obsessing over them else I’ll go insane. I’m so looking forward to the summer, not only because my summer class won’t start until July (meaning I have at least a month free) but also because I’m going camping with my family for a few days in June. Going on vacation = very happy Anastasia!

I’m expecting to get a lot of reading done this summer simply because I’ll have a ton of free time (except in July, I guess). So, to keep me focused a bit more than I was in previous summers, I’ve come up with a reading list!

This summer I’m looking forward to reading:

Ulysses by James Joyce. I’ve been meaning to finish this ever since I took that winter class on Joyce three years ago. *cough*
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Again, meant to finish this ever since that class. I have a copy of this, too, so it’ll count as a Mount TBR book.
Some other Virginia Woolf novel besides the ones I’ve read for class. I’m not sure what, yet. Suggestions?
At least five books from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list (I’m using this one), which I started out using for recommendations on classics/literary fiction and then somehow got sucked into trying to read all of them. (I’ve read about 12 already.)
At least one big hardback I’ve been hoarding on the bottom shelves of my bookshelves. I tend to go for the paperbacks before the hardbacks, and these books have been sitting on my Mount TBR for YEARS. Since I don’t have to carry anything around this summer except for myself: I’ll read a hardback. Maybe The Stones of Summer, which is freakin’ huge.
The South America handbook I bought last month. So I’ll have an idea of what the hell I’ll be doing once I get there next year.

Do you have a reading list for the summer? Do you tend to read different sorts of books during the summer than you do the rest of the year? I’m still in school, so during the semester I tend to read lighter books to ease my brain from all the learnin’ I’m doin’, but in the summer I want something slightly more difficult for some reason (along with chick lit, normally).

Daily Stuff (5)

Posted by Anastasia on April 22, 2010 No Responses »

Apr 222010

I’ve sort of been hoarding these links for a few days, so I’m just going to very quickly list them:

The ladies at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books ask whether you should contact an author about their crappy website or not, because of typos or missing information or whatnot.

Nymeth has frequently asked questions a fantasy reader gets bombarded with, most of which are rude and the majority of which are stupid. Also, I have totally been asked some of those things myself, and it is super hard to defend your reading choices when the person you’re arguing with dismisses all your reasons because they think you’re too stupid to come up with good reasons at all! BALDERDASH, I say. Read whatever the hell you want, okay? And then leave me alone.

Gosh.

Suey has this poll regarding how you, personally, read and blog and y’all should totally fill it out, okay.

Here is a thing about teenage book bloggers and why they’re awesome, including a list of some of their blogs, from Chicklish! How I wish I had started my blog when I was in high school. I’m sure I’d be a much better writer today, if I had.

Eva posted this super inspiring book blogging manifesto a few days ago. I’ve been inspired to come up with my own! (I’ll post about it later.)

And that is my stuff for today! I’ve gotta write a buttload of essays for next week, and then it’s finals, so I may be a little absent from my blog for the next few weeks. Just FYI.

Thursday Tea (April 22): The Corrections

Posted by Anastasia on April 22, 2010 No Responses »

Apr 222010

The book: I’m currently reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, and I’m really enjoying it! The first twenty pages were iffy; the writing was pretty dense and the whole thing smelt like a novel written in grad school to impress a creative writing professor. But it picked up soon enough, and the writing got much easier to read, and now that I’m 200+ pages into it I can barely tear myself away. Everyone is fucked up but there’s enough humor to keep me from being depressed about that, and they’re fucked up in a way that’s believable. And they’re not just fucked up; they’ve got good points to them, too.

Anyway, I like it.

The tea: My allergies are horrible today so I’ve stolen this packet of allergy tea from the common table in my office and hopefully it’ll help. It’s sort of disgusting, but maybe adding milk will hide the taste.

Do they go together? Nobody drinks tea in The Corrections (just alcohol, it seems like), but! The badness of my tea when it should really be delicious sort of fits in with the fact that a family should be happy and this family really isn’t. Also, like I love how the tea is making me feel better but hate how it tastes, so do does this family love each other– but they hate each other, too.

How’s that for an analysis!

What are you drinking/reading this Thursday?

Review: The Secret of the Mansion (Trixie Belden #1) by Julie Campbell

Posted by Anastasia on April 22, 2010 No Responses »

Apr 222010

64. The Secret of the Mansion (Trixie Belden #1) by Julie Campbell
Publication: Random House Books for Young Readers (June 24, 2003) originally published 1948, Hardcover, 272pp / ISBN 037582412X
Genre: Children’s, Mystery
Rating:
Read: ?-March 13, 2010
Source: Bought
Summary from Amazon:

Trixie’s summer is going to be sooo boring with her two older brothers away at camp. But then a millionaire’s daughter moves into the next-door mansion, an old miser hides a fortune in his decrepit house, and a runaway kid starts hiding out in Sleepyside!

Review

I’ve been trying to write this review for something like two weeks now, because I can’t seem to figure out a way to explain why I like this book when I don’t like the writing and 1950′s kid detectives annoy the crap outta me. By all accounts, I should hate this book, right? And, in truth, I went through massive emotional fluctuations while reading The Secret of the Mansion.

I started out hating it, but unable to stop reading it for some reason. The I grudgingly enjoyed Trixie and Honey’s antics. Then Jim showed up and I was suddenly sucked into the story in a way I never expected to be! And then I hated it again, because Ms Campbell was trying to sneak in 1950′s family values and I hate 1950′s family values (at least in books). But by the end I had swung around to the “love” side of things and now I find myself a big fan of Trixie Belden.

Just like it has its low points (the writing, the sappy 1950′s values and so on), it has its high points. Trixie is, I think, a better sort of Nancy Drew. She’s more of a tomboy, willing to get her knees dirty and her hair cut short, and how many heroines like that do you find in kids books from the 1950′s? Not many, at least not in the US, and I appreciated that.

I also thought it was really interesting that Ms Campbell was so against cities– for kids, I mean. Honey grew up in a city with a rich, neglegant family, and she’s miserable until she moves to the country and meets Trixie. It sort of reminded me of A Secret Garden, when the moors and whatnot help Mary become happier. The farmlands Honey moves to (and Trixie, a farm kid) helps her become happier. And healthier! And I’m so glad she became less of a drip, because for a while I was really hating Honey and her fainting spells.

I think you have to go into these sorts of books in the right frame of mind. You have to be willing to read slightly sappy, slightly ridiculous stories about kids who don’t really act like kids but are lovable anyway. And you have to be willing to give it a chance as well, I think. Although if you’re a kid you might be able to bypass all of that and enjoy it straight away, because I think kids would really enjoy the Trixie Belden books (if they’re the sort of kids who read books like the Little House on the Prairie series, anyway. Not sure if Hanna Montana sorts of kids would like Trixie Belden, but that’s just speculation).

And

Get your own copy @ Amazon or IndieBound and support Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog!

Other reviews: Bobbi’s Book Nook | Tiny Little Reading Room

Review: A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss

Posted by Anastasia on April 21, 2010 No Responses »

Apr 212010

99. A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss
Publication: Ballantine Books (January 30, 2001), Paperback, 480pp / ISBN 0804119120
Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction
Rating:
Read: April 13-15, 2010
Source: Library
Summary from Amazon:

Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in eighteenth-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. The son of a wealthy stock trader, he lives estranged from his family–until he is asked to investigate his father’s sudden death. Thus Weaver descends into the deceptive world of the English stock jobbers, gliding between coffee houses and gaming houses, drawing rooms and bordellos. The more Weaver uncovers, the darker the truth becomes, until he realizes that he is following too closely in his father’s footsteps–and they just might lead him to his own grave. An enthralling historical thriller, A Conspiracy of Paper will leave readers wondering just how much has changed in the stock market in the last three hundred years…

Review

I find a lot of good books wandering aimlessly around the library, and this one’s one of them! I had no idea who David Liss was or even really what this book was about– I only read the first sentence of the summary, and went from there. I think I’m only going to read the first sentence of every summary from now on, because I can’t help but think that I enjoy books a little bit more when I don’t know anything about them except maybe the genre and the title. Like, I’m not expecting things, you know? Ha.

Anyway, though A Conspiracy of Paper wasn’t as exciting as I’d thought it’d be, it was, indeed, very enthralling, and I pretty much zoomed through the better part of it before I realized just how unexciting it was. But is unexciting all that bad? There are some fights in it, after all, though they aren’t the focus of the story. And I actually kind of like that Benjamin didn’t resort to violence as much as he could have– he didn’t fall into the stereotype of a “man who talks with his fists.” Plus, however unexciting the book is, I don’t think anyone could dispute that the last fifty pages are pretty freakin’ exciting, what with all the running around, and the sword fights, and the fist fights, and the TWISTS. Yeah.

So despite being for the most part unexciting A Conspiracy of Paper was still very fun to read, and though I didn’t entirely understand the bit about how stocks worked (I tended to skim over the explanations) I really like Benjamin, both as just a regular person and as an early sort of detective. There are at least two other books by David Liss starring Benjamin and I definitely want to read them, even if 18th century England makes me want to simultaneously run away and tear my hair out. The horrible conditions in the jails alone made me want to cry– though I should mention that while Mr Liss’ descriptions of gruesome things are straightforward they aren’t over-the-top disgusting, like, I don’t know, some of Clive Barker’s books are.

Anyway, in conclusion: excellent book, totally deserves the Edgar Award it got for best first book, can’t wait to read the others, check it out if you like historical fiction and/or detective stories.