The surprise of the weekend is that I've completed my 2015 reading challenge with three weeks until the end of the year!
I started this post almost a month ago and well, you can all see what a great job I've done of finishing it. I meant to use the last three weeks to tell you about the books I've been reading and to mention some highlights of the year.
For all of my anti-series posturing, I've broken that rule so many times in 2015 that I don't think it should be a rule any more. I stumbled upon an Irish miniseries called Jack Taylor. When the series was over (far too quickly, for my taste) I pulled the name from the credits and found out that there were books. Lots of books. I've read eight so far and they still aren't over. They are terribly depressing and the writing is so different from anything I've read before. And I just can't seem to put them down.
I caught up with the rest of Liane Moriarty's work this year. I can't tell you what to read, but I would stick with her more recent stuff. She has grown as a writer and the world is a better place for it.
Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda was an excellent surprise. I got it by recommendation of Rachel, so of course it had to be good. But truly. It was one of those books I was happy to be surprised by.
I had four re-reads this year (Fangirl, Love Virtually, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets & Prisoner of Azkaban) so I count that as improvement.
I had high expectation for Audrey and Bill, the story of how Audrey Hepburn and William Holden fell in love. They were, however, dashed in the depression of the entire affair. The golden age of Hollywood had some terribly dark corners to it. I also learned that sometimes I expect a lot from biographical/autobiographical books. Part of me expects to learn every twist and turn about the subject/author, so deep that I could say I know them. However, they write only what they want you to know and what they are comfortable sharing. And even though it makes me kinda cranky, isn't that their right? Don't they deserve some privacy? Maybe they shouldn't have decided to become famous, you say. Okay maybe. But since when did being famous divorce you from your right to privacy? I think we've let celebrity become too high an altar.
Ahem.
I read more than my goal this year and my total read count grew closer to sixty, I started to get nervous. I never though I could read 60 books in a year; how am I going to top this for 2016? What if I fail?
I started setting goals for book reading because it gives me something to do. If I don't set a goal, I won't read. That's not quite right, no. I will read, but I will read aimlessly. I will read like a hobby. I will read like I knit (or sadly, write): during a certain season and only during that season. I love books and I love reading.
Matt Chandler said something like when love runs into the soul, it creates discipline. He meant it for more than books and reading, but for many years I have been trying to figure out what that meant. As I'm typing this, furiously before midnight and before my laptop dies, I think I maybe finally understand what he means. It's not "Ugh, I HAVE to read so let me set a stupid number." It is so much more than that. It's more like, "I love this thing, reading, and I want to do more of it. I want to learn more, love more, meet more characters, understand what makes a story great and what makes a story okay. I want to get lost in language and understand enough to know when the spark of story and brilliance is there and when it isn't."
So yes, I set my goal. I set it for 61 books in 2016. Thanks to my inability to actually and seriously stop reading, I've already got one book down. Ron Chernow's "Alexander Hamilton" is sitting on my bedside table, mocking me as I fall asleep each night. It will be a miracle if I can finish all 800 pages of it this year. Thank heavens I have a 40 page head start.
Showing posts with label Love Virtually. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love Virtually. Show all posts
03 January 2016
26 October 2013
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Inkheart has been on my reading list since November 2011. Now that I am once again working in a library, I have the magic of InterLibrary Loan at my disposal to use and abuse to no end. (Since, ya know, I don't quite have enough books in my own library that I want to read...)
I will perfectly honest with you: I almost didn't finish this book. I even received permission from Rachel to not finish this book. I had only gotten about 60 pages into this 500 odd page book and I didn't care. I didn't care about 12 year old Meggie and her father, Mortimer. Actually, I was more interested in Mortimer's day job: repairing and binding books. I wish we could have seen him work a little more.
The story is about Meggie and Mortimer (or Mo as he is affectionately known by, well, just about everyone. Except Capricorn and his men.) and their special relationship with books. We learn that they both love to read and read a lot. Mo had been known to spend more money on books than food or clothes and to buy more books than he really had room for. So far, I am feeling right at home with this guy.
One night, Mo receives a visitor. Dustfinger. It is all hush hush and hid from Meggie; however, as any good precocious 12 year old protagonist, she makes sure that the secret doesn't stay secret for long. And the real secret is this: Mo can read characters out of their books. Nine years before our story takes place, we learn that while Mo was reading to his wife and young daughter, he read Capricorn and his villainous men right into their living room. After a terrifying sword fight that left Mo with scars, he discovered a bigger problem. Not only had he read characters out of the book (this book is also called Inkheart), but in the process, he accidentally read his wife into the book.
Well okay. Maybe he didn't exactly read her into the book. It turns out that when Mo reads out loud and things from the book start to come out, things in Mo's world sometimes go missing.
It was a translation from the German, and as Rachel was also quick to point out, it could have been a bad translation. I'm glad she reminded me of this. I got lucky with the last two books I read that were translated (Love Virtually & Every Seventh Wave) and I think I just assumed everything would be perfect in this one. Well. You know what they say about assuming.
Just because I didn't like this book, doesn't mean you won't like it. But if you would like a book that covers fantasy, magical folk and magical lands I strongly recommend Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I love Stardust and how effortlessly Gaiman weaves the fantasy of the magical world of Stormhold into the every day lives of the citizens of Wall.
I love all of Gaiman's work and recommend it without reserve. Well, most of it. Except that one...but that must have been a fluke thing. I try not to think about it.
I will perfectly honest with you: I almost didn't finish this book. I even received permission from Rachel to not finish this book. I had only gotten about 60 pages into this 500 odd page book and I didn't care. I didn't care about 12 year old Meggie and her father, Mortimer. Actually, I was more interested in Mortimer's day job: repairing and binding books. I wish we could have seen him work a little more.
The story is about Meggie and Mortimer (or Mo as he is affectionately known by, well, just about everyone. Except Capricorn and his men.) and their special relationship with books. We learn that they both love to read and read a lot. Mo had been known to spend more money on books than food or clothes and to buy more books than he really had room for. So far, I am feeling right at home with this guy.
One night, Mo receives a visitor. Dustfinger. It is all hush hush and hid from Meggie; however, as any good precocious 12 year old protagonist, she makes sure that the secret doesn't stay secret for long. And the real secret is this: Mo can read characters out of their books. Nine years before our story takes place, we learn that while Mo was reading to his wife and young daughter, he read Capricorn and his villainous men right into their living room. After a terrifying sword fight that left Mo with scars, he discovered a bigger problem. Not only had he read characters out of the book (this book is also called Inkheart), but in the process, he accidentally read his wife into the book.
Well okay. Maybe he didn't exactly read her into the book. It turns out that when Mo reads out loud and things from the book start to come out, things in Mo's world sometimes go missing.
It was a translation from the German, and as Rachel was also quick to point out, it could have been a bad translation. I'm glad she reminded me of this. I got lucky with the last two books I read that were translated (Love Virtually & Every Seventh Wave) and I think I just assumed everything would be perfect in this one. Well. You know what they say about assuming.
Just because I didn't like this book, doesn't mean you won't like it. But if you would like a book that covers fantasy, magical folk and magical lands I strongly recommend Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I love Stardust and how effortlessly Gaiman weaves the fantasy of the magical world of Stormhold into the every day lives of the citizens of Wall.
I love all of Gaiman's work and recommend it without reserve. Well, most of it. Except that one...but that must have been a fluke thing. I try not to think about it.
17 February 2013
A Virtual Love Story in Two Parts
On one of the British news type blogs I follow, I saw that David Tennant would be lending his voice to a radio drama based on the books by Daniel Glattauer. (Okay so fine, it was probably that David Tennant fan site www.david-tennant.com. Whatever. Judge all you want.) I'll take a book recommendation anywhere, man.
I did some research and bribed the interlibrary loan library assistant to get me both Love Virtually and its sequel Every Seventh Wave by German author Daniel Glattauer.
One day in January,Emmi Rothner attempts to email a magazine to cancel her subscription. After she doesn't receive a reply, she sends another email. And after that, another. Finally, Leo Leike responds informing her that she has emailed a personal address and not the magazine, but wishes her all the best in cancelling the subscription. Some slight embarrassment ensues and the matter is dropped. Emmi sends a mass-email to her contacts list...which somehow now includes Leo Leike. And so, their email relationship begins.
They start with just exchanging niceties, and then that slowly progresses to personal things: life, love and everything in between.
I had a bit of trouble with the format at first. The emails (in the book at least) are not dated, and sometimes they don't sign their names. Once the characters got to know each other a bit more, the emails became easier to read.
I really thought that the book(s) would be a bit tiresome. To the reader, it is all taking place in front of a computer screen. It would be like You've Got Mail, except it would be filmed in split screen: Tom on one side, Brinkley at his feet, Meg on the other, as Frank roams around the apartment. And that is all the action. However, it wasn't as boring as all that. In fact, it was very interesting to see how a story can evolve with so little location change and physical action. All of the action that happens is emotional. An email is either ignored or answered. One character sends multiple emails without reply until finally the shortest answer comes through. There are weeks in between emails; passive aggressive behavior at its best.
But of course, my thought at the end of all of this was, "Gee, two people met online, hardly ever saw each other and yet...they seem perfect together. How does that even happen?"
What is love? How do we find it? How do we know it when we find it? What is the main factor in deciding love? In these books, it most certainly isn't looks but intellect and words. Words can hurt, but certain words, put together with the utmost of care can...I don't know. I wanted to say "create" but now I'm wondering if that is what I mean or if I'm just being pretentious about the whole thing. I think when it all comes down, Emmi and Leo's relationship is almost 100% about communication. They email all the time. No phone. No "let's grab coffee." No running into each other at the grocery, church or mall. Just email. And though some relationships can be online or through letters and phone calls, we often omit things. Heck, we often omit things when we are sitting across from the person we are talking with! In these books, Glauttauer doesn't let his characters get away with that. There is a lot of "if you don't mind me saying, I think you are going about this the wrong way" and "what were you thinking? That probably wasn't the best choice, was it?". They call each other out on attitudes, choices, and just life in general. That alone makes this book different, at least in my book it makes it different.
I have been doing this "thing" where I'll read book one in a series but promise myself that I don't have to finish the series if I don't want to. This was the first book I broke that resolve for. Granted, there are only two books, but I had to find out what happened. For that reason alone, I would recommend these books. Also, reading Leo's emails in David's voice? A total win.
I did some research and bribed the interlibrary loan library assistant to get me both Love Virtually and its sequel Every Seventh Wave by German author Daniel Glattauer.
One day in January,Emmi Rothner attempts to email a magazine to cancel her subscription. After she doesn't receive a reply, she sends another email. And after that, another. Finally, Leo Leike responds informing her that she has emailed a personal address and not the magazine, but wishes her all the best in cancelling the subscription. Some slight embarrassment ensues and the matter is dropped. Emmi sends a mass-email to her contacts list...which somehow now includes Leo Leike. And so, their email relationship begins.
They start with just exchanging niceties, and then that slowly progresses to personal things: life, love and everything in between.
I had a bit of trouble with the format at first. The emails (in the book at least) are not dated, and sometimes they don't sign their names. Once the characters got to know each other a bit more, the emails became easier to read.
I really thought that the book(s) would be a bit tiresome. To the reader, it is all taking place in front of a computer screen. It would be like You've Got Mail, except it would be filmed in split screen: Tom on one side, Brinkley at his feet, Meg on the other, as Frank roams around the apartment. And that is all the action. However, it wasn't as boring as all that. In fact, it was very interesting to see how a story can evolve with so little location change and physical action. All of the action that happens is emotional. An email is either ignored or answered. One character sends multiple emails without reply until finally the shortest answer comes through. There are weeks in between emails; passive aggressive behavior at its best.
But of course, my thought at the end of all of this was, "Gee, two people met online, hardly ever saw each other and yet...they seem perfect together. How does that even happen?"
What is love? How do we find it? How do we know it when we find it? What is the main factor in deciding love? In these books, it most certainly isn't looks but intellect and words. Words can hurt, but certain words, put together with the utmost of care can...I don't know. I wanted to say "create" but now I'm wondering if that is what I mean or if I'm just being pretentious about the whole thing. I think when it all comes down, Emmi and Leo's relationship is almost 100% about communication. They email all the time. No phone. No "let's grab coffee." No running into each other at the grocery, church or mall. Just email. And though some relationships can be online or through letters and phone calls, we often omit things. Heck, we often omit things when we are sitting across from the person we are talking with! In these books, Glauttauer doesn't let his characters get away with that. There is a lot of "if you don't mind me saying, I think you are going about this the wrong way" and "what were you thinking? That probably wasn't the best choice, was it?". They call each other out on attitudes, choices, and just life in general. That alone makes this book different, at least in my book it makes it different.
I have been doing this "thing" where I'll read book one in a series but promise myself that I don't have to finish the series if I don't want to. This was the first book I broke that resolve for. Granted, there are only two books, but I had to find out what happened. For that reason alone, I would recommend these books. Also, reading Leo's emails in David's voice? A total win.
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