BTT: The Knights of the Round Table; and Fantasy Anyone?

The Knights of the Round Table (from Booking Through Thursday)

1. Do you enjoy reading the legends of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table?

2. How long ago did you read them?

3. Will you ever read more of them or re-read any that you've read before?

Surprisingly, I have never read them.  This is one of the instances where what I know about them is based on movies and references to the stories I've read elsewhere.  I'm not sure why the legends don't interest me.  I have read other historical fiction, other legends, and I have a Robin Hood retelling on my TBR.  I just have no interest in seeking them out.  *shrug*

Fantasy Anyone? (from Booking Through Thursday)

Roger Zelazny’s Amber series, J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, David Eddings’ Belgariad, and Stephen R. Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant trilogies, are all classic examples of fantasy. None of them are books either of my parents would ever consider reading. I’ve devoured them all… And more.

1. Do you like to read fantasy?

2. What’s your favorite (or least favorite if you don’t like the genre) thing about reading fantasy?

3. Do you prefer regular people placed in alternate realities, like the Thomas Covenant stories and the Amber books, or do you prefer the whole world to come from the author’s imagination? Or something else?

4. Do you have a favorite author or theme that you go back to again and again?

I used to read a lot of fantasy when I was a teenager but not so much anymore.  I choose my reading based on plot and themes more than genre now.

I like fantasy for the non-realistic aspects, the things you can't write about in general realistic fiction, like shapeshifters and magic.  I also find that fantasy has stronger characters, perhaps because of the journey/quest they must take on.

The Harry Potter series were set in an alternate reality and I loved the series very much.  Middle Earth of the Lord of the Rings series came from Tolkien's imagination and I enjoyed the series enough to read all three books.  I have no preference as to the setting.

I have enjoyed a lot of fantasy books that feature witchcraft as an acceptable aspect of normal life.  I like fantasy books with strong female characters and a little romance thrown in.

Fantasy series I have liked/loved:

*Parasol Proctectorate - Gail Carriger

*All Souls Trilogy - Deborah Harkness

*Jane Jameson - Molly Harper

*Jane True - Nicole Peeler

*Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences - Philippa Ballantine

*Rogue Angel - Alex Archer

*Witches of Eileanan - Kate Forsyth

*Cemetary of Lost Books - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

*Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling

*Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan

Read on,

Paula

BTT: Celebrate Freedom

Celebrate Freedom (from Booking Through Thursday):

I bought a sweatshirt for my husband some years ago that says, “Celebrate freedom. Read a banned book.” The shirt then goes on to list ten books that were currently banned somewhere in these United States. Here are a few examples: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, and Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

1. Have you ever knowingly read a banned book?
2. Have you read any of the books I listed above?
3. Knowing that the above books have been banned, would you read them now? Why?

I have knowingly read banned books.  Every year we have Freedom To Read week in our library.  Last year, I deliberately read "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee during Freedom To Read week...and loved it so much.

I have read "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger...and didn't like it.  Maybe because I was an adult when I read it, I just didn't get what the hype was all about.

I wouldn't read the other titles listed.  Not because they are banned but because they don't appeal to me.  I don't decide to read a book based on whether or not it is a banned book (with the exception of "To Kill A Mockingbird" last year).  Knowing that a book is banned or challenged doesn't make them more appealing to me.  I read what I want to read regardless of what other people think of it.  Although talking about books we've read is a social activity and one I enjoy, reading is a very personal and private activity.  What books you love or hate (or ban) will not necessarily be the same books I love or hate.  That is the reason why I don't believe in banning books.  Just because you find something offensive about a book doesn't mean I will.  I think people ban books because they are afraid that other people will emulate whatever it is that makes them uncomfortable about the book...which is silly.  Most people don't read fiction books as though they were instruction manuals.  For example, the Harry Potter series.  People banned that because of witchcraft.  Really?  If you ban it for that reason alone, you are proclaiming your belief that magic and witchcraft are real.  In our predominantly Christian-based Western society, I find that ironic.  I read and loved the series but that didn't make me want to become a Wiccan.  If reading the Harry Potter series made kids want to do magic and cast spells, in my non-magic-believing opinion I imagine that wouldn't last long when nothing happened.  And depending on the age of the kids who read it, they probably knew enough about the real world to be able to tell the difference between fiction and reality.  But in the end, I firmly believe that the people who ban books are the people who don't know how to do their job as parents*.  If you know how to talk to your child about what they read, then they can read anything because they will know they can talk to you about the stuff that confuses or upsets them and you can talk to them about the stuff that makes you uncomfortable.

Banned books I have read (from the ALA's 2000-2009 Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books list):
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
And Tango Makes Three - Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (assigned reading in high school)
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut (assigned reading in high school)
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume

*The ALA 1990-1999 Top 100 Banned/Challenged Book list has "What's Happening To My Body? Book For Girls: A Growing-Up Guide For Parents & Daughters" and "What's Happening To My Body? Book For Boys: A Growing-Up Guide For Parents & Sons", both by Lynda Madaras.  I could rant about that but I won't.

Read on,
Paula

BTT: Children's books

Children's books (from Booking Through Thursday)

1. As an adult, do you own children’s books?
2. If you do, do you still read them even when there are no children around?
3. What were your favorites as a child? Now?

Yes, I may be an adult but I do own children's books.  I own some from when I was a kid and some I have bought as an adult.  I think the best children's book writers are the ones that can write books that appeal to all ages.

Since I am a child-free woman, I read all of my children's books without children around...unless I am at the library where there are children in the vicinity.

As a child, one of my favourite stories was "The Five Chinese Brothers" by Claire Hutchet Bishop from the 10-book Collier's Junior Classics set.  I also loved a lot of the Golden Books series and the Barbapapa series.

Now, as an adult, I like the Scaredy Squirrel series by Melanie Watt.  I love Oliver Jeffers (especially "The Heart and the Bottle"), Nick Bland and Nicholas Oldland.  I loved the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling and enjoyed the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan.  And I've previously mentioned the Neil Flambé series by Kevin Sylvester.  I don't read a lot of children's books now unless the cover art or title strikes my fancy.  But working acquisitions and cataloguing in a public library means I have more exposure to them than some.

Read on,
Paula

"Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline

Synopsis:

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. 

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune--and remarkable power--to whoever can unlock them. 

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday's riddles are based in the pop culture he loved--that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday's icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes's oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig. 

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle. 

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt--among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life--and love--in the real world he's always been so desperate to escape. 

A world at stake. 

A quest for the ultimate prize. 

Are you ready?

My review:

I first heard about this book on The Readers podcast.  I listened to it again after having read the book and I firmly agree with all of the points Simon and Gav make.

Before I began reading the book, I was worried that I wouldn't get the pop culture references.  Although I belong to the demographic of children of the 80s, my family was poor and we lived in so small a town that it couldn't even be called a town.  I lived a rather sheltered and backwater childhood.  I think most of the references to 80s pop culture that I understand are mostly ones I know about from later in life.  Although we had a Commodore 64, that wasn't until the 90s.  I think our family and myself have been the opposite of early-adopters.  Even though we wanted those things when we were kids, we couldn't afford them and so I think we've just gotten used to having to wait until most of the hype has died down before we get it, if we do at all.  The time in one's life when most people tend to become gamers, I was too poor and never had the opportunity for that obsession to grow.  Although it is set in a gamer environment, it's not so over my head as to be inaccessible.  Most of the video game-related references were lost on me simply because I'm not a gamer.  And sadly, "Ghosts 'N Goblins" and "Frogger" were never mentioned.  So I just assumed that, aside from OASIS, all of the games, TV shows, and movies were real.  And, frankly, I just can't be bothered to actually check if that's true.  Whether they are or are not real is just irrelevant.  And aside from the video game-specific references, my fears about the book were allayed when I read the definitive reference to the movie "The Last Starfighter".

Getting sidetracked by rereading BBW romances for a few days, I feared that I would lose interest in "Ready Player One".  But luckily once I picked it up again, I was sucked back into it.

I was able to connect with Wade's character, mostly because of growing up poor, being good at school, and experiencing unrequited love.  And it was easy to root for him and keep reading just to see what would happen next.  There's a lot about the futuristic world and OASIS to be described but there is enough of the plot and character development interwoven with it that there's never too much of one aspect.  The quick pacing of the story was great even with the exposition.  The three main questions I had were "Will he or won't he win the contest?", "No matter who wins the contest, what will happen after?", and "Will Wade and Art3mis end up together or not?"  And I am happy with the way those questions were answered.

It was a great book that I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to anyone.  Because it is a quest novel, it is difficult for me to be interested in rereading it once I know how it ends.  I really liked the book a lot but I won't be keeping the copy that has been hovering on my bookshelves since I bought it.  But if you are a gamer and/or a geek, you should definitely add it to your own bookshelves.

Read on,

Paula

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