BTT: Come Again?

Come Again? (from Booking Through Thursday)

1. What author that you remember having read does the best character development?

2. What book/series do you think is that author's shining work with regards to character development?

3. What was (were) your favorite character(s) in that book or series?

4. Do you ever find yourself really liking a character in a book that you're certain you would never be friends with in real life?

5. Do you ever re-read a book to visit a character because you miss him/her?

I have a hard time answering question #1 without it intermingling with question #2.  To me, picking an author who does the best character development is based on the book or series in which their best character development appears.  So my answer to question #1 is Kerry Greenwood and question #2 is her Corinna Chapman series.  Each of the main characters in this series are vivid people and that is an aspect of the reason why I love the series.

My favourite characters in the series are Corinna Chapman, her lover Daniel Cohen, and her cats.  Yes, even her cats are characters.  Although I do not have any cats to compare (damn allergies), Kerry Greenwood is very good at capturing cat behaviour and attitude in her writing.

In this series, I like the character of Jason Wallace, Corinna's ex-junkie apprentice.  I'm not sure of his age but he comes across as a late-teens, early-twenties young man.  I find him fascinating.  And we would never be friends in real life because I would probably lose my patience with him.

My answer to question #5 is an absolute YES!  In fact, I am eagerly awaiting the next installment in the Corinna Chapman series (due out any day, if her website is anything to go by) and I will probably re-read the six books in the series before I get my copy of the newest one.  I have also re-read L.M. Montgomery's "The Blue Castle" and Markus Zusak's "I Am The Messenger" because I missed the characters.

Read on,
Paula

Reading revival

I'm not sure what stole most of my love of reading earlier this year...but thankfully it was only temporary.  I would like to thank the prettybooks website and the literary podcasts The Readers, Adventures With Words, and Book Riot for reviving my biblioholism.

I'm doing very poorly on my GoodReads challenge of reading 150 books.  It is November and I've only read 84 books so far.  Although I know I won't make it to my goal, I am okay with that.  Despite my book slump, I've still managed to read a fair number of books.  I currently have a few on the go at the same time.  And I am re-excited about a few I meant to read earlier in the year but didn't get around to.

My other goal for 2013 was to read more books from my own collection.  So far that goal has practically fizzled and died.  However, I finished Judging A Book By Its Lover by Lauren Leto earlier this month and it is from my collection.  So I plan to revive this goal.  I've decided that if I read more of my own collection and don't like the book, I will give it a new life by donating it somewhere and therefore making more room on my bookshelves for books I truly want to have there.  Although I love looking at pictures of large book collections and wish for my own collection to grow, I am aiming to have more of the ones I've read and loved and fewer of the ones from my TBR.  Since I started out 2013 with similarly lofty goals, we'll see how this goal works out.

Read on,
Paula

My reading is evolving

I have not been reading nearly as much this year as I had intended.  I'm also planning to purge my personal library because my reading tastes are changing and some of the books I own no longer interest me.

This is the first year that I've had any reading goals (1. Read from my home library and 2. Read 150 books) and neither one is going well.  I have not been reading as much as I usually do and so what seemed like an attainable goal is floundering.  And because of my shifting tastes, I have not been reading much from my personal library either.

Reading has always been a major part of my life and will continue to be.  However, considering the changes I'm making in my personal life (new hobbies!), I have made the decision to stop focusing on the number of books I read in a year.  I will continue to keep track of the books I do read, I just won't let myself get caught up in the competitive nature of reading goals.  Although Good Reads will allow me to change my goal (even though we're eight months along), I would rather not do that.  I know I will fail to reach the full 150 but I have managed to make it halfway so far.  And the year isn't over yet.

As for purging my home library, I haven't set a date to do it yet and I have other home projects (refinishing an end table) that will take priority.  And purging my home library will also have the benefit of making room on my literally overflowing bookshelves.  I will be giving the purged books to book-loving friends or donating them to either of the two libraries I work at...so at least I'll know they are going to find a good home.  And a recent episode of Books on the Nightstand talked about readers being or not being collectors.  I am just choosing to be a far pickier collector.  I will continue to buy the books I absolutely love.  I just won't buy many books without reading them first.  My post-purge home library will contain mostly just the books I adore and a few that I'm really eager to read.  Personal libraries reflect the person to whom they belong; as I am evolving, so must my personal library.

Read on,
Paula

Creating an inspirational library

I have read four inspiring, life-changing books so far this year.  Three within the last two months.  They have been so inspiring that I want to create a separate collection within my home library specifically for these books and any I read in the future.  As you will see from my list, inspiring books do not always have to be non-fiction.  I would include these titles in my inspirational library:

*"Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead" by Brené Brown
=I was deeply moved by both of her TED Talks, which motivated me to read this book.  I am now contemplating reading her other books as well.  A lot of the concepts she talks about in "Daring Greatly" really struck home for me and I will endeavour to build my shame resilience skills.  I also plan to reread it right away so I can absorb it even more the second time around.

*"Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn
=It is nearly impossible to feel bad about myself when I am so unbelievable lucky compared to other women in the world.  Comparing my life to others in my own country means that I am living just barely above the poverty line; comparing my life to others in the world means that I am living a lavish and lucky life full of privilege and abundance.

*"Calling In 'The One': 7 Weeks to Attract the Love of Your Life" by Katherine Woodward Thomas
=Although this is technically a "Law of Attraction" relationship book, I have made the most psychological progress from reading this book.  I have dealt with issues I never even knew I had.  Essentially, you are supposed to do that in order to prepare yourself for the love of your life.  For me, regardless of whether or not I ever find the love of my life, I will forever be grateful for the positive changes I am making in my life for myself.

*"The Heart and the Bottle" by Oliver Jeffers
=This may be a picture book but I bawled my eyes out in the bookstore when I read it.  It's one of those books that may seem like it's written for children but it speaks deeply to me as an adult and about re-learning to have a sense of wonder about the world.  Also, this is not the first book I've read by Oliver Jeffers because I love his illustrations.

*You can read my review of "The Blue Castle" by L.M. Montgomery, which I read in 2012.

*"I Am The Messenger" by Markus Zusak (read in 2005)
=A young adult novel about connection and not having to be great to do good.  The first truly inspiring book I ever read!

BTT: Detective qualities; and Coffee table books

Detective qualities (from Booking Through Thursday)

1. Do you enjoy reading mysteries?
2. What's your favourite kind of mystery?
3. Do you like plenty of blood and guts, or do you prefer the details to be left to the reader's imagination?
4. Do you prefer mystery stories based in the author's time or in previous centuries?
5. Do you prefer mysteries based in your own country, or in distant lands?
6. Do you like to figure out the solution, or do you allow yourself to be carried away with the story?

I am very, VERY picky about what mystery books I read.  As I've mentioned before (and will continue to do so until I take my last breath), I LOVE the Corinna Chapman series by Kerry Greenwood (btw, new book expected in October...still awaiting news).  I like what I call 'intellectual mysteries' like Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series and Kerry Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series where the focus is mostly on solving the mystery and is adventurous but there isn't a lot of blood and gore.  I loved the National Treasure movies so I have the books (Gates Family mysteries by Catherine Hapka) on my TBR.  I have read some of the book-themed 'cozy mysteries' but I find them too fluffy for my tastes.

I have no preferences as to time period or locations.  I read "Blind Justice" by Bruce Alexander, which is the first in the Sir John Fielding mysteries, set in 18th-century London and the age of the Bow Street Runners.  I also have "Crocodile on the Sandbank" by Elizabeth Peters (first in the Amelia Peabody series) on my TBR and I've heard that that series is set predominantly in Egypt.  The Corinna Chapman series is set in Australia.  As long as the book is well-written, I'm usually capable of getting into it no matter what time period or location it is set in.

To the best of my knowledge, I have never solved the mystery before the end of the book.  I do try sometimes but I don't put too much effort into it, generally just enjoying the story.  I do like being surprised by an ending, but I hope for all the various plot threads to come together in the end.


Coffee Table Books (from Booking Through Thursday) 
1. Do you have any coffee table books?
2. Do you have one or two, or would you say you have a collection of them?
3. Do you keep them on your coffee table?  If not, where?
4. What are they about?
5. Have you read them?  All of them?  None?  Why?

I live in too small of an apartment to have a coffee table but if I did have one, I would have coffee table books.  It is because of the size of coffee table books that I don't buy them...yet.  If I have enough time when browsing in a physical bookstore, I eventually get to browse the coffee table book section.  I would like to buy coffee table books about astronomy, nature photography, travel photography, and tattoos.  I would love to have "The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World" by Jacques Bosser.  I would read them but in small snippets at a time.  But I think that the main appeal of coffee table books is the illustrations and photographs.

Read on,
Paula

Terry Fallis visit

Terry Fallis came to do an author talk at our library on July 4, 2013.  Having read "Up and Down" as a nominee for this year's Evergreen Award, I was so excited to meet him.  I was equally excited to get him to sign my copy of the book, which he did shortly before this photo was taken.

I found "Up and Down" to be very humorous.  I now know that that is because Terry Fallis is a humorous kind of guy.  Very witty.

He talked about the intricate engineering-oriented way he writes his novels, how he was inspired as a child watching the moon landing in 1969.  He talked about the plot of "Up and Down" and how he met with Marc Garneau (Canada's first astronaut and current Liberal Party politician) to make sure his story was accurate.

When talking about how he got his first novel published, he said that he posted it as a free podcast.  And he has continued to do so with his subsequent novels.  When I got home, I rushed to my computer and downloaded all of his books.  I briefly listened to the first track and discovered that his voice sounds much deeper in the audio than it does in person.  Listening to Mr. Fallis read part of "Up and Down" at the author talk reconfirmed my firm belief that authors are the best people to read their work aloud.  They know the work and characters far better than anyone else and can give the reading an inflection that no one else can.

Politics in general do not interest me, especially in my reading.  Having read the synopses of Fallis' first two books, "The Best Laid Plans" and "The High Road", I wasn't interested in reading political fiction no matter how humorous it might be.  However, hearing how other audience members had enjoyed the first two books and how much my friend laughed when she read "The Best Laid Plans", I now plan to read/listen to them.

I recorded the author talk on my BlackBerry and I was impressed with how effective it was.  My phone, sitting on a chair ten feet from the author, picked up not only his talk but also the questions and comments from the audience members as well.  I forgot to ask Mr. Fallis for permission to post the audio and so regretfully will not being doing so.

I greatly enjoyed Terry Fallis' author talk.  I loved the behind-the-scenes trivia about his life, his writing, and the book.  He was very entertaining and informative.  During our personal meeting, I found out that Mr. Fallis will be attending this year's The Word on the Street festival in Toronto, and has done so for many years.  I have attended for the last three years but have not met him before.  I intend to seek him out when I'm there this year and I look forward to seeing him again.

Read on,
Paula

BTT: Series

Series (from Booking Through Thursday)

1. Do you read books that are part of a series?
2. Do you collect all the books in the series before starting?
3. What if the series is brand new, and the only book that's been published so far is Book 1?
4. As subsequent books in the series are published, do you go back and re-read the preceding books?

The answer to the first question is a definitive 'yes'.  I particularly love reading series because you get a more in-depth view of the characters and their world.  I have repeatedly mentioned my love and adoration for Kerry Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series.  I am waiting with bated breath for the latest one to be announced; her website says it should be published this coming October.  I am also eagerly awaiting the third in Deborah Harkness' All  Souls Trilogy.  I just read the last book in Nicole Peeler's Jane True series.  I have read all three series by Robert J. Sawyer (Quintaglio Ascension; Neanderthal Parallax; and WWW).  I loved J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series.

I am generally a picky reader so I will get only one or two books in the series to read before I judge whether I like it or not.  I've read five of the nineteen books in Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series.  They are cozy reads and I intend to read the rest eventually but I find the series formulaic and not nearly as good as her Corinna Chapman series.  I liked the first in the Rogue Angel series by Alex Archer [pseudonym] and intend to read more.

I have no qualms about reading a brand new series, even if only the first book has been published.  That's how I fell in love with Deborah Harkness' All Souls Trilogy.  The waiting/anticipation for the next books is good because it amps up your excitement but this can also have the disadvantage of amping it so high that the book doesn't meet your expectations.

I generally do not reread the preceding books in a series unless it has been so long that I vaguely remember what happened in the last one.  I reread Kerry Greenwood's Corinna Chapman series at least once a year, if not more.  I might reread "Cooking The Books" before the next one comes out.

The fourth in Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series, "Inferno" just came out in May.  I haven't read it yet but it's on my TBR.  Although the Robert Langdon books are a series, I have found that they are also standalones; you can read them out of order.

I've also read books in series by:
*Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
*V.C. Andrews (Landry, Casteel and Cutler series)
*Nick Bantock (Griffin & Sabine)
*Jack Canfield (Chicken soup for the soul)
*Laura Childs (Scrapbooking mysteries)
*John Dunning (Cliff Janeway)
*Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones...and I just discovered #3 comes out in October!!!)
*Molly Harper (Jane Jameson)
*Lucy and Stephen Hawking (George)
*Sable Hunter (Hell Yeah!)
*E.L. James (Fifty Shades)
*Susan Kaye (Frederick Wentworth, Captain)
*Sophie Kinsella (Shopaholic)
*Lissa Matthews (Simple Need)
*James McGee (Matthew Hawkwood)
*Stephenie Meyer (Twilight)
*Beth Pattillo (Jane Austen)
*Lincoln Peirce (Big Nate)
*Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians)
*Nora Roberts (Key Trilogy)
*Alexander McCall Smith (44 Scotland Street)
*Jeff Smith (Bone graphic novels)
*Kevin Sylvester (Neil Flambé)
*J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings)
*Angela Verdenius (Big Girls Lovin' Trilogy and its spin-offs)
*Mélanie Watt (Scaredy Squirrel...and I just discovered the next one comes out in August!!!)
*Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Cemetery of Forgotten Books)
*Sevens series by seven different authors

Read on,
Paula

BTT: How many?

How many? (from Booking Through Thursday)

1. How many books do you read in a week? Month? Year?

2. What's the best book or series you've read so far this year?

3. What's the worst book you read this year? Did you finish it?

How many books I read fluctuates based on the length of the book I'm reading, how much I like it, and how much free time I have.  So far, last year was a record-breaking year for me.  According to Goodreads, I read 242 books last year.  Granted, last year I was reading a lot of ebooks, which tend to be more novellas and short stories than full-length novels and non-fiction books.  This year, I'm not reading as many ebooks and am trying to read from my own library.  So far, the latter is not working out well, unless you count reading books I've newly bought.  Goodreads has a reading challenge where you set your own goal for the year.  This year my goal is 150...not as high as last year but reasonably attainable (I read 124 in 2011).  It's fun to see the little gauge on the challenge creep closer to the end.  Whether I'm successful or not, I know that I won't do it again.  I find it too stressful, especially because Goodreads tells you if you are ahead or behind schedule.  I'm currently behind schedule even though I was ahead of schedule for most of the year.  Now I'm getting anxious.  And now that I'm working more hours at work, I have less free time than last year for reading.

I have a tie for the best (fiction) book I've read so far this year.  "Dust and Shadow" by Lyndsay Faye versus "Up and Down" by Terry Fallis.  I just can't make up my mind yet.  Both have their strong qualities that make it hard for me to pick just one.  But the best (non-fiction) book I've read this year is "The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide To Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts" by Hanne Blank.  I highly recommend it to anyone who is overweight, no matter how fit you already are.  (Yes,  you can be both fat and fit!)

I would have to say that "The Boy in the Dress" by David Walliams is the worst book I've read this year.  I did finish it but I was intensely disappointed.  You can read the un-review I wrote about it.  Basically, it was nothing like what I expected.

Read on,
Paula

"Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders" by Kevin Sylvester

Synopsis: Neil Flambé may be fourteen years old, but he’s also a world-renowned chef. Patrons pay top dollar and wait months for reservations at his tiny boutique restaurant. But Neil is more than a fantastic cook—he solves crime too. Ever since he used his kitchen know-how and keen sense of smell to acquit a man of murder, he’s been helping Police Inspector Sean Nakamura crack case after case.
But when some of the best chefs in town turn up dead, the crime scenes turn culinary. Police are stumped, and the only clues are the scents of mysterious spices and a journal that may have belonged to…Marco Polo? Neil must find a way to connect the past with the present and solve the murders—or he could end up as the prime suspect!

My review:
It was the illustrations and the 14-year-old chef main character that appealed to me.  Being a redhead, I enjoyed reading about a redhead, even if he is a pompous and arrogant teenager.  The only thing I didn't like about "Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders" is that I kept wondering if this were the first book in the series or not.  It is, but I kept doubting it.  The reason for this is that there were vague references to events that happened in the past as if this were not the first book in the series.  Eventually I clued in that the vague references would be fleshed out later in the book with more detail.
I like the historical aspects about Marco Polo, his journeys in Asia, and Kublai Kahn.  I don't know how much of it is fact or fiction but I enjoyed it anyway.  That might entice readers to seek out more information about the explorer and his travels.  This book was a quick read and I look forward to seeing how the series develops.  So far there are four books in the series and the third one (Neil Flambé and the Crusader's Curse) was nominated for this year's Forest of Reading Silver Birch Award.  That's how I found out about the series.

Read on,
Paula

"The Roots of Desire" by Marion Roach

Synopsis: Part history, part cultural commentary, part memoir, The Roots of Desire is a witty and entertaining investigation into what it means to be a redhead. 
A redhead rarely goes unnoticed in a crowded room. From Judas Iscariot to Botticelli's Venus to Julianne Moore, redheads have been worshipped, idealized, fetishized, feared, and condemned, leaving their mark on us and our culture. Such is the power of what is actually a genetic mutation, and in The Roots of Desire, Marion Roach takes a fascinating look at the science behind hair color and the roles redheads have played over time. She discovers that in Greek mythology, redheads become vampires after they die; Hitler banned intermarriage with redheads for fear of producing "deviant offspring"; women with red hair were burned as witches during the Inquisition; in Hollywood, female redheads are considered sexy while male redheads are considered a hard sell; and in the nineteenth century, it was popular belief that redheads were the strongest scented of all women, smelling of amber and violets. Redheads have been stereotyped, marginalized, sought after, and made to function as everything from a political statement to a symbol of human carnality. A redhead herself, Roach brings candor and brilliant insight to the complicated and revealing history of redheads, making this a stand-out narrative and an essential tool in understanding the mechanics and phenomenon of red hair.

My review:
As a natural redhead, I was drawn to a book about this rare trait.  Approximately 4% of the world's population are natural redheads.  I enjoyed learning about the cultural and historical ways that redhead has been viewed.  One of the interesting things I learned from this book is that there are a lot more historically prominent redheads like Cleopatra and Henry VIII.  And yet the media do not portray them as such.  The iconic image of Cleopatra is Elizabeth Taylor and her long black hair.  The modern version of King Henry VIII is Jonathan Rhys Meyers and his brown hair.

I also enjoyed reading the genetics of red hair so that I now understand how my two dark-haired parents had two red-haired children.  Growing up, people had a love-hate relationship with the colour of my hair: the adults loved it and the kids hated it.  Having been picked on in school because of my red hair (there were three of us out of 300 students), I knew why Anne of Green Gables would try to dye her hair.  This being my first encounter with the idea of changing my hair colour, I was just as traumatized when hers turned green.  Although I wanted to change my hair colour to fit in, I never tried because I was afraid it would turn green.  But now, red hair is so acceptable that it's the top colour of hair dye sold in North America.  As an adult, I love my hair colour and no longer want to dye it.

If you are a redhead or know and love a redhead, I would recommend this book.

And I'm adding "attend Redhead Day" to my bucket list.

Read on,
Paula