Sunday, December 1, 2013

Closing the lid of November, Sunday Snippets #14


Season's greetings from a grumpy Robert.
 
Somehow I managed to read 10 books in November... it must have been the new Kindle, because it definitely made me read more overall. 3 out of those 10 I read on e-reader.
 
* A Trick of the Light, Lois Metzger (3/5)
* Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde (3/5)
* The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt (4/5)
* The Turn of the Screw, Henry James (CC) (1/5)
* Escape from Camp 14, Blaine Harden (5/5)
* Roverandom, J.R.R. Tolkien (5/5)
* The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins (CC) (4/5)
* UFO in Her Eyes, Xiaolu Guo (4/5)
* Parasite, Mira Grant (3/5)
 
 
A quick look back to this Top Ten Tuesday, where I set 10 books that I want to read this autumn. The result is 6/10 and I am happy with it; I am just a bit disappointed I didn't read neither of the two, The Poisonwood Bible nor NW.
 
There are a few books I want to read/finish in December:
 
* the Classics Club Spin book Cranford;
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - what other time for this than December?
* I want to finish Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, at last;
* I want to finish Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief;
* I would like to start (and finish!) The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.
 
I didn't even realise how this cover of Cranford matches with my Christmas PJs.
 
We'll see how it goes, there will probably be other books distracting me from those as well (I've had some serious non-fiction appetite lately). The two-month sci-fi reading event starts today as well, so I better put together an initial reading list for this.
 
I'm thinking of taking on a project for the month of December to tame the pile of To Be Reviewed books... The ratio between the books I read and the books I review is really getting out of control. Right now I've got *checking the notebook* 12 books to review, and a part of me wants to be done with all the 2013 books before the end of 2013, so if I review one book in two days, this should be doable. Some of these reviews will not be long, I am willing to give myself some maneuvering space there, because I know that taking on a task too demanding can end in a failure.
 
Watching:
 
I am not sure what is wrong with me, but ever since we went to see Gravity in movie theater earlier this month, I've been loving all things space-y (my Kindle is full of samples of non-fiction on space exploration...) Especially when it comes to watching something, it's been impossible to steer away from the space drama. I don't remember when we started watching Babylon 5 - I think it might have been this month, and we are already in Season 3. Yeah....... We also saw Space Cowboys, which wasn't anything life-changing, but it was entertaining in several ways. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was such a disappointment. Given that it has one of the highest scores out of all the HP movies on IMDB, I am not sure what went wrong. The story in the film felt completely disjointed, at least coming from having read the book fairly recently. I enjoyed the first two movies, but this one just made me fall asleep over and over again.
 
I wish everyone a happy holiday month. I am sorting my Christmas decorations today and maybe we will put up the star on the window - it would already be done if there was a spare light bulb in the household.

12 comments:

  1. !!! Robert is beautiful! It is a shame he isn't in the festive spirit yet...Looks like you had a good month - some great titles on that list, I particularly enjoyed The Sisters Brothers.

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    1. Haha thanks Marie :) He's a sweetheart. I think it's the huge eyes that make him so adorable.

      The Sisters Brothers was such a great surprise, I wasn't planning to read it at all, but there was a Kindle deal of 2 dollars or so, I couldn't look past that :)

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  2. They screwed up so many things in the 3rd Harry Potter movie -- every time we went to see one of them as a new release, my husband would list all the things they changed or got wrong, and that movie had a long list! When they first came out, I even refused to watch them at all because I was convinced they would massacre the book -- I eventually gave in, but I still love the books SO much more than the movies.

    P.S. 10 books in one month is awesome! I don't know if I have ever done that :)

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    1. I agree, the films are not as enjoyable as books. I've tried to keep them separate - you know, thinking that it's a film and it doesn't need to be (and it cannot be) exactly the same as the book, but this third one was just plainly a bad movie.

      I am surprised myself! 10 books is record for me this year.

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  3. You kicked ass in November!

    I HATE the third HP movie. It's the worst of the entire movie series, which is sad because it's such a great book. Whoever directed it just tried to take it in a completely different direction and it's just so bad. Also, WORST CGI WEREWOLF EVER. Ohmygod, it looked like a starving, rabid dog. It's really sad when Twilight beats HP at something, but they totally win when it comes to werewolves.

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    1. Phew, I'm glad I'm not the weirdo here when it comes that HP movie. And exactly, the book was the best so far, so what happened...

      I cannot comment on the werewolves though, I have zero experience on them on screen. But the one in the movie looked a bit... off? I don't know, it didn't give out much the werewolf vibe for me personally at all. It was more like just a (random) monster.

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  4. Congrats, that's an awesome amount of reading for November!
    And do you want to read A Christmas Carol together, a bit nearer to Christmas? I've only ever read an abridged copy and I'd love to dive into the real thing this year.

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    1. Oh, it would be awesome to read A Christmas Carol together! And yes, some time closer to the actual holidays is a good idea - it's not overly long in any case. Did you have a specific date in mind?

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    2. Would love to join you ladies in reading the Christmas Carol, as I've been planning on re-reading it this month for the holidays (and Classics Club) if you don't mind another participant :)

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    3. I'm so sorry it has taken me ages to reply comments! You are welcome to join! We will be reading a week before Christmas (that should be next week) and posting the weekend before Christmas, or around those dates anyway :) Let's keep in touch via Twitter if you are still thinking about that.

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  5. I had the same thing happen when I bought my Kindle last year. Got A LOT of reading done, I'm sure in large part because it was just so convenient to bring it with me everywhere.

    We need to give Babyon 5 a try. We never watched it when it was on but have friends who swear we would love it. Also need to get back and finish the final couple of seasons of Farscape.

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    1. Ah, so it is the Kindle. Yes, having e-reader is so convenient!

      My fiancé loves Babylon 5 (I think it's a re-watch for him), he has the whole collectors box of discs (including films and what not). So I was fairly confident giving it a go. Some of the characters in the series are the best ever. I highly recommend!

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Leave a comment if you feel like it - it warms my little bookish heart. :)