Monday 18 May 2015

Bout of Books | Reading Updates & Wrap Up 16/5 - 17/5


Saturday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 200
Total number of books I've finished: 3
Total pages read:
Books: The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid, No one belongs here more than you by Miranda July, Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming.
Daily challenge: Favourite Read Photo Challenge hosted by Once Upon a Book 


Saturday Challenge:

The challenge today is to post a photo of your favourite read of Bout of Books.  For me, it is Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming. I listened to this and it was also narrated by the author. This is a past/present memoir of his early life (about the abuse that his family suffered at the hands of his father) and his journey to discover what happened to his maternal grandfather after the Second World War.   




This was funny, moving, sad, insightful, brilliant. I'll stop throwing words at the page.  Needless to say, I thought this was well written and the sensitive subject matter was handled with respect. I'm fascinated by people's history and as luck would have it Alan's episode of Who do you think you are is coming up next weekend. I think watching it will add another layer to the story. 
  Sunday

Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: A lot :)
Total number of books I've finished: 4
Total pages read: 1170
Books: The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid, No one belongs here more than you by Miranda July, Not my Father's Son by Alan Cumming, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.  Not completed: T'was the night after Christmas by Sabrina Jeffries.
Daily challenge: No challenge.



Bout of Books 13.0 Wrap Up
 So I guess you can see, towards the end I got a little lax in keeping track of pages read, but I was having too much fun reading.  I ended up reading 1,170 pages all up.  Four books completed (almost five).  But more importantly, I had fun.

I managed to finish:

* The Skelton Road by Val McDermid; 140 pgs
* No one belongs you here more than you stories by Miranda July; 205 pgs
* Not my Father's Son by Alan Cumming; 288 pgs
* Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson; 337 pgs
* T'was the night after Christmas by Sabrina Jeffries (not completed). 200 pgs.

I knew I wouldn't be reading as much as in previous years, but I wanted to participate and if I read great, if something else came up, I wasn't going to stress.  I'm uploading a video to BookTube at the moment so I'll add that here once it's done cooking.

So how about you?  What did you read, what was your favourite book or did you read something you didn't like?  Let me know in the comments below. 

Until next time, happy reading :)

C.

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Bout of Books 13.0 | Reading Updates 11/5 - 15/5


So it has just hit the end of the first day of Bout of Books and I've completed one of my goals - finish my book club book.  Huzzah!!  Rather then having separate daily update posts I'm going to use this post for my each of my daily updates.  So lets get started:

Monday
Number of books I’ve read today: 1
Number of pages I’ve read today: 140
Total number of books I’ve finished: 1
Total pages read: 140
Books: The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid
Daily challenge: Bookish Survey hosted by Writing My Own Fairytale 



Tuesday Challenge: 


The Questions: 
1. How do you organize your shelves?
    ~ My main shelves are organised in Dewey order, I've also got them separated into Genres. I have a bookshelf with my 1001 books and another for uni texts. And don't get me started on all the boxes...
2. What is one of your favorite book that’s not in one of your favorite genres?
    ~ Strickly speaking it's not very sci-fi, but Foundling by Octavia Butler.  I don't read a lot of sci-fi, but I wanted to try reading more and I thought starting with vampires (which I do read a bit of), would be a good place to begin. I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to more of her work. 
3. What is the last 5 star book you read?
    ~ Tempest Tales by Walter Mosley. Absolutely brilliant. Read it!!
4. What book are you most excited to read during the read-a-thon?
    ~ There's two that I bought for my birthday last month - graphic novel, The Wicked + The Divine by Gillen, McKelvie, Wilson & Cowles and a poetry book by Langston Hughes.
5. What book do you recommend the most?
    ~ At work I often rec Year of Wonders & Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks or Secret River by Kate Grenville, YA I'd go for On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. 

Until tomorrow, happy reading :)

Tuesday
Number of books I've read today: 0
Number of pages I've read today: 20 and 2 hrs of audio
Total number of books I've finished: 1
Total pages read: 160
Books: The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid
Daily challenge: Character Face Off hosted by LuLo FanGirl


I started listening to two books on Tuesday, the first T'was the Night After Christmas by Sabrina Jeffries.  This is a regency romance in her Hellions of Halstead Hall series (Book 6).  The prologue was an absolute scream, picture two 8 year old boys facing off like 60 year old men!  I've only heard a disc so far, but I'm enjoying it so far.  The next book I started was Nobody Deserves to be here more than you by Miranda July.  This was not at all what I expected it to be.  For some reason I thought it was written by the lady who stars in Miranda, (who I've since realised is Miranda Hart).  To be honest, if I wasn't listening to this, I don't think I would keep reading.  It is a collection of short stories, some of which I do enjoy, others are really not my cup of tea.  And lastly, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, I'm only 20 pages in and loving it.  I like the format of novels in verse.  And how could I not enjoy a book that opens with one of my favourite Langston Hughes poems!

I didn't take part in the challenge today, by the time I got home I was ready to drop, so maybe I'll have more luck on Wednesday.

Until then, happy reading :)

Wednesday
Number of books I've read today: -
Number of pages I've read today: 3 hrs of audio
Total number of books I've finished: 1
Total pages read: 160 pgs and 5 hrs of audio
Books: The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid
Daily challenge: Book Haiku hosted by Kristina Horner


I'm continuing on with my audios, although I've requested the print version of T'was was the night after Christmas because while the narrator is making me laugh it's kind of for the wrong reason.  It's very distracting and I think it would be a more enjoyable experience to read the book.  As for No one belongs here more than you, I'm almost done, I've got maybe an hour left and I've got to say I kind of wish that I read this one as well or at least listened to a couple of stories at a time rather than all at once.  It all kinds of runs into one big stream of consciousness. I didn't even get a chance to pick up Brown Girl Dreaming, which is the one book that I really want to read, go figure!  And in something that is no surprise...no challenge today either.

Thursday
Number of books I've read today: 1
Number of pages I've read today: 2 hrs of audio (so far)
Total number of books I've finished: 2
Total pages read: 160 pgs and 5 hrs of audio
Books: The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid, No one belongs here more than you by Miranda July.
Daily challenge: Modern to Classic hosted by Ranty Runt of a Reader


Thursday Challenge:

The challenge for Thursday was to pick a book that you thought would become a classic and why.



My answer for this would be On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta.  This was published in 2006 in Australia and later as Jellicoe Road in the USA, where it won the 2009 Michael L. Printz award.  This tells the story of Taylor Markham, who was abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was 11.

I can't really put my finger on what it is about this story, but it is one of my favourites.  The first time I read this, I knew nothing about it and I just sank myself in the story.  It was amazing.  But I could honestly reread this over and over.  It is beautifully written, made my heart hurt. It's great for discussion and I think it would work well for the classroom, (Looking for Alibrandi,  an earlier book of Marchetta's  is read for English in Australian high schools).  I also think it is easy to relate to, it's about journeys and coming of age.

Friday
Number of books I've read today: 0 :(
Number of pages I've read today: 3 hr of audio, not sure what that amounts to in pages.
Total number of books I've finished: 2
Total pages read: 365 pgs and 7 hours of audio.  I finished another disc of T'was and listened to the first 16 chapters of 'Not my father's son' by Alan Cumming.
Books: The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid, No one belongs here more than you by Miranda July.
Daily challenge: Cover Colour Challenge hosted by Wishful Endings


Friday Challenge

So I picked red as the colour that I wanted to use for the challenge today.  I am so tempted by the Penguin Drop Caps, the typography on them is beautiful...maybe if I had a spare $500.00!!  Until then I'll just covet them from afar.  Pride & Prejudice is the only book I've read of these, although I own Dracula & An Abundance of Katherines.  I've heard lots of good things about Ruby Red, but can't seem to find it locally.

How about you - have you read any of these?  Have any other red covered recommendations, better yet, leave me a link to your Colour Cover Challenge so I can have a look at what you've picked :)



Until next time, happy reading :)

C.

Monday 11 May 2015

Book Review | Call of the Wild: My Escape to Alaska

Call of the Wild: My Escape to AlaskaCall of the Wild: My Escape to Alaska by Guy Grieve

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


At some point in our lives we all dream of packing it in and having a grand adventure.  I often think how I'd enjoy taking time off and traveling the world.  Gut Grieve made that dream a reality.  As the blurb says he was stuck in a job he hated, in dept and was unhappy with aspects of his life.  So rather than suffering it out how most of us do, he quit his job and took to the wilds of Alaska for a year.

I enjoyed reading this, Guy mentions that he wrote for The Scotsman while he was in Alaska and these articles were part of the basis for the book so it makes sense that this is easy to read.  I was happy to read a chapter at a time, although there were some points where I had to keep reading.  I wouldn't mind doing some digging and finding the original articles.

There were a number of photos of the camp and surrounds included in the book and this helped me picture his daily life, in the book there were also lists of what he took with him, which I found interesting.  I suppose you could use this book as a jumping off point if you were looking at doing something similar - but it goes without saying research would be key before attempting something like this.  I liked that it acknowledges the realities of living in the wild.  Guy had a huge amount of help setting up for his year in Alaska.  Both with extensive research before he left Scotland and once he arrived in Alaska. Guy mentions both Christopher McCandless and his death in Alaska (John Krakauer wrote Into the Wild based on McCandless' story) and Guy also mentions another man who was attempting to do the same thing as him but was found starving in his camp because he didn't prepare for the winter properly.

I would loved to have read more about the Native American family that helped him when he reached Alaska.  I can imagine they would have some amazing stories to tell and reading about the dog sled team was fascinating.  Those dogs are fantastic, that they can withstand the cold, the pressures of sledding and reading how they train them - amazing!

The only thing I didn't love about this was that Guy left his family behind and it's not even that, I guess it's more about how I felt about that.  For one, it frustrated me to no end.  How do you quit your job,  leave your wife and two small children to live alone in Alaska for a year.  It's all well and good to have a mid life crisis, but it works a little differently when you have family responsibilities.  But each to their own I guess.  I know if that was my husband, I would've gone with him!  But by the end of the book, I think I had a better understanding of why he did it.

I'm interested in reading his other book, Sea Legs, where he and his family sail from Venezuela to Scotland.  I like the 'off-road' sense that you get from Call of the Wild.  I like a swanky hotel as much as the next person, but I also love that idea of visiting a place as locals would.  I want to see a place as it should be seen, not through the windows of a kontiki bus and that is was this book inspires.



View all my reviews

Until next time, happy reading :)

C.

Saturday 9 May 2015

Bout of Books 13.0 | 11/5 - 17/5


The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organised by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal.  It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in whatever time zone you are in.  Bout of Books is low-pressure.  There are challenges, giveaways and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional.  For all Bout of Books 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog
- From the Bout of Books Team


For me it seems like such a long time since I participated in a read-a-thon, it's been at least a year I think.  Life as usual gets in the way.  But it is that time again and I'm going to run with it.  I'm participating, but I'll be going low key, I'm going to read what I can and participate in challenges and chats when I have time.  I've got an assignment due in two weeks, so I need to spend time on that and Library & Information Week is coming up at work, so I'm busy with that as well.  If anyone has spare minions lying around - I could use a couple!

I'm not quite sure what I'll be reading yet, I've got a couple of e-audio's on hold from the library, but I don't know if they'll come in on time and I've got a stack of graphic novels which I'll no doubt tuck into.  They are perfect for when you don't have a lot of time or need a quick pallet cleanser.  I also have a new volume of J.M. Coetzee's short stories, which I've been wanting to read since I got it at Christmas.  I'd also really like to finish the three books that I've been currently reading for what seems like forever.  Half Bad, Gone Girl and The Year of Living Biblically.  And lastly, the other definite is The Skeleton Road which is the Just a Lil' Bookclub pick for this month.

Are you participating?  Let me know if you are and I'll come cheer you on!

Until next time, happy reading :)

C.

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