sandragon's 2010 Reading Journal

Books I've read so far can be found here.

Books I've listened to so far can be found here.

Usually I have three books going, not including whatever I may be reading to the kids. I try to have a non-fiction to dip into, a fiction as my main read, and an audio book for walks.

I tend to only listen to fiction. Actually, I don't think I've ever completed a non-fiction audiobook. They take too much concentration and I'm constantly rewinding because I didn't catch some detail. Last one I tried was Bonk and I quit before the first hour was done.

My fiction book has become my dip into read and my non-fiction has become my main read.

Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women is giving me a overview of what being Muslim means to women in the Middle East. Brooks touches on the lives of friends, acquaintances and strangers, women who embrace Islam and women who seem confined by it. Being a Muslim affects each woman differently, depending on the country they're from, the communities, and the individuals themselves. I like how Brooks touches on an aspect of women's lives and then goes to the Koran and the hadith to see what they have to say on the subject, sources which are interpreted differently by different people. There's been so much negative press about Islam and the middle east lately that I wanted to read a book with positive things to say. This book shows the positive alongside the negative.

I'll get back to The Picture of Dorian Gray as soon as I finish Nine Parts.

I've been listening to Dead Until Dark, a Sookie Stackhouse book. I wanted to see what so many people were raving about. It's okay. Don't know if I'll listen to another. I'll wait 'till I finish and decide.

I own Bonk! It's another on my massive TBR. I try to limit my non-fic audios to books I have already read and want to revisit. Audio non-fic is a toughy. I did okay with Don't Know Much About Geography though.

If you think Dead Until Dark is okay, try the second. She didn't get really going until the second or third book. The first didn't impress me much, but the rest of the series gets better.

#5 - Is the rest of the series about having sex with vampires and such? I'm so tired of that. The first book really turned me off, but I found elements of it fun, such as Sookie, herself.

Should I be asking that here on your thread, sandragon? Will that be a spoiler for you? Morphy could private message me if you want her to.

There is some sex in each book, yes. But then, I read and love Laurell K. Hamilton's books which are basically vampire porn.

Glad to see you've joined in here, Sandragon! I think the book about Muslim women sounds very interesting. I hate adding another book to my wish list but then on the other hand....

I'll be interested in what you think when you are finished.

Thanks, Morphidae, I won't bother. :) I like my vampires evil and killable.

6 - No, I wouldn't consider that a spoiler MrsLee. Not a major plot element there :oD

8 - Hi maggie. I think you'd like Nine Parts. *enable, enable, enable*
Brooks doesn't seem to be for or against anything. I get the sense she's just trying to understand. And I find myself seeing more clearly the lives and the conflicts in the Middle East that used to be just a big muddle in my head.

Sometimes as a Western woman, I make the mistake of thinking the women under the more restrictive sects of Islam must hate their lives. But that isn't true. Most of them are as devoted to the restrictive practices as their husbands/fathers are. Very hard for me to understand. I know I would like this book.

Well, a bit off topic but there are such Christian sects as well. Like the Plymouth Brethren... who've caught some flak here in Sweden, to say the least, because they don't allow women to wear pants, for dictating the use of scarves for women (covering their ungodly hair), and for thinking women needn't go to school (that much). And like the zealous Muslims the justification they claim from the scriptures just aren't there if you don't particularly want to - it's much more of a customs and tradition thing than actual religion. IMHO.

gee, that sounds like most of the folks who live here.. One young gal I spoke with recently will not even date a guy who goes to a church other than hers. Not same sect, actual same church. Not allowed to wear pants, homeschooled, reads only 'Christian' books.

I don't think that's off topic Busifer. I think it's the same theme. No matter the religion there are so many ways the religious writings are being interpreted. I'm tired of seeing only the negative being highlighted in the media.

10 - I wrote Brooks doesn't seem to be for or against anything.

Except female genital mutilation. She's definitely against female genital mutilation. Which, I learned, was still being practiced by both Christians and Muslims in parts of the Middle East and Africa as recently as the mid 1990s (and maybe/probably still?).

But not here, apparently ;-)
The reason they got "famous" (i.e. nationally known) was the National Board of Education denied them a permit to run their own school. In Sweden the law dictates that all kids should be treated as equals, regardless of gender, colour, heritage or belief, and you have to follow the national curriculum (which is general but don't allow for Creationism and other "unscientific" beliefs to be taught). They failed on all accounts.

ETA - #14; female genital mutilation. Still practised in Somalia/West Africa (sometimes national borders and cultural boundaries aren't the same thing), regardless of religion (much like Honour Killings, in fact). We have a lot of Somali refugees in Sweden, so...

#14 - "Except female genital mutilation. "

This is one of the customs I was thinking about in my post. I was listening to the BBC radio news a week or two ago and they were reporting that although it is outlawed now in many countries of the Middle East, it is still practiced secretly and it is the WOMEN who are insisting it be done to their daughters.

I agree, Busifer, in many religions, the practices often reflect the customs more than the actual writings.

4 - Meant to say earlier, I do have The Zookeeper's Wife waiting to be listened to. It's the only non-fiction I've kept on my Zen. I've read several of Diane Ackerman's books and enjoyed her writing, can be very lyrical, and will give this one a try on audio. But I'm expecting it to read more like a story with less nitpicky details to keep track of. Has anyone here read it?

Finished Dead Until Dark. I was expecting more mystery investigation and less paranormal sex and romance. Not that I mind paranormal sex and romance. I've read several of Kelley Armstrong's books and listened to all of Sarah Addison Allen's and enjoyed both author's works. I just didn't find it convincing in this case. And whether it was because of the narrator or the way Charlaine Harris wrote her, I wasn't really getting along with Sookie. But the ending hinted at more serious investigating of mysteries to come so I'll give the next one a try.

But not right away. Next, I think I'll listen to Lady Friday by Garth Nix.

One of the biggest and longest lasting mysteries in the Sookie series is about her own background (the reason she can hear other people's thoughts).

The first four Sookie Stackhouse mysteries are pretty standalone I think, though they introduce a lot of the main characters, even only in passing. (Though you could argue the fourth book was a preamble for some of the bigger series spanning mysteries, such as Sookie's background). The fifth book was a hot mess and was everything I normally dislike about paranormal romance. However, I just look at that book as performing mop-up duty for the second part of the series, which seems to be a larger story arc (all the issues with the Queen of Louisiana and the other vampire monarchs).

I watched the first episode of BBC's Sherlock last night, A Study in Pink. It was awesome. Sherlock devastates so quickly and easily with just a few careless words. Love Martin Freeman's Watson as well. So I couldn't resist and picked up our Complete Sherlock Holmes to start A Study in Scarlet. I've been meaning to read Sherlock Holmes for ages. It also seems one of the Sherlock Holmes short story collections was banned in Russia for a short time in the Soviet Union in 1929 for being 'occultist'. So I'm using this to tie into Banned Book week as well.

Still reading:
Nine Parts of Desire (almost done)
Picture of Dorian Gray (would also be suitable for Banned Book week, but will get back to as as soon as Desire is finished)
Impossible Journeys (very intermittently)
Complete Grimms Fairy Tales (have been slowly working through these for over a year now with my youngest, many odd tales here)

Glad you liked the show. I love the idea of Sherlock being completely competent with modern technology. :)

We're enjoying Sherlock too. I'm glad it came out now when I'm more open to different interpretations of Holmes. When I was younger and more of a purist I know I wouldn't have liked it. But I find the intermingling of modern with the old (Mrs. Hudson saying "I'm not your housekeeper" all the while acting as a housekeeper, as a little example) and the very difference in some of the characters refreshing now. It's great fun.

Some of Grimms Tales are pretty grim aren't they sandragon? What does your youngest make of them?

We just watched the third episode of Sherlock - my husband and I LOVE that series. My husband has never read the books although I think he saw some of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series and liked them. I enjoy seeing how they've updated it - having Watson write a blog instead of for the newspapers, Mrs Hudson (as katylit says). The last episode substituted the pips from the Greenwich time signal for the orange pips of an original story. I don't think the stories matched up at all other than that, but it has inspired me to re-read the books too.

I've just downloaded The Complete Sherlock Holmes - I've actually never read any of the books although I feel like I should have. I'm really looking forward to diving in.

I've finished my first Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet. The switch in POV and location in part 2 was unexpected, just as we're about to find out how the deed was done! It was fun picking out the bits that they put into and changed for the BBC Sherlock. I'm sad that there were only 3 episodes, and such a cruel way to end the series!

Before the Robert Downey Jr version, and the BBC Sherlock, I'd only watched a couple of the Jeremy Brett movies. In those ones, Sherlock was so gloomy and sickly, so I thought they had changed him for the RDJ movie. But my husband insisted he was both, active and energetic AND gloomy and sickly, at different times in his career. I'm enjoying finding out for myself what Sherlock Holmes was really like. This will mean a different experience for me when I reread the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes books.

23 - katylit - The Grimms stories don't always make sense to J, they're so old, written for people with different sensibilities and sense of humour. We talk about how it was a silly story, or how it was a cruel or brave act, and would J act the same way or do something differently. There are some good stories in there, but we much prefer Robert Munch!

Finished listening to Lady Friday. It's part of a kids series, short and light and not too formulaic or predictable.

Started listening to The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani. It's about a girl in 17th century Persia whose father dies and leaves herself and her mother without means to survive. The narrator, Shohreh Aghdashloo, has a beautiful voice and accent that sucks me right into the time and place.

I'm glad I read Nine Parts of Desire. Brooks is not unbiased (hard not to be I think), but I've learned (and retained) a lot from her about Islam and women's lives in the middle east, more than with other books I've tried. Now starts the quest for more fiction and non-fiction centred around the middle east and by its authors. The Blood of Flowers is really good so far and I'm enjoying learning about rug making which makes up part of the story.

I loved Nine Parts of Desire so much, I nominated it to the 111 Brain Atrophies list.

I would definitely have voted for Nine Parts of Desire if I'd finished it soon enough. I understand her husband wrote a book about his time in the middle east as well. I'm thinking about hunting for it.

I'm giving up on The Picture of Dorian Gray. Too much witt and philosophizing for me. And the characters were so cynical and jaded and shallow. Didn't like any of them and didn't want to read any more about them. Blech.

I"ve picked up Deerskin instead. I've heard it can be a difficult read but so far I'm just letting myself be carried away by the rhythm of Mckinley's writing and enjoying it.

I got me a Kindle version of Nine Parts...looking forward to finding time to read it.

Deerskin was a wonderful book. I love McKinley's writing. There's a touch of the surreal and I always end up feeling sort of wistful when I read her books. But I'd put off reading Deerskin because it's about a woman recovering from rape and I tend to shy away from books with abuse in them. But Mckinley does not dwell on the brutal act and Lissar's relationship with her dog Ash is beautiful to read about. The dogs were wonderful characters in themselves and I loved reading about them, much like I love reading about the dragons and their riders in Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels.

Next up? I have started The Book of Human Skin, an ER book I've been sadly neglecting.

I don't usually enjoy books about rape either, but I loved Deerskin. But then, I too love McKinley's writing. *sigh* I've got to start reading faster!! So many books, too much time goes by. I'd love to re-read McKinley's books.

The Blood of Flowers was a great listen. It dragged on a little near the end when yet another disaster strikes the protagonist, but overall I really enjoyed the story and the narrator has a beautiful voice. It was about finding a husband because that is the goal of the protagonist, but not really what the book is about, and about the love of making carpets. It was also great armchair visit to 17th century Isfahan, Persia.

I've also finished listening to Superior Saturday by Garth Nix. I"m starting to lose interest in this series; for a couple of books now I've found myself tuning out the convoluted descriptions of the latest part of the myterious House/World Arthur finds himself in. But there's only one more book to go and I do want to find out how it all winds up so I started Lord Sunday last night.

I ended up being pretty happy with the final book in the Keys to the Kingdom series, Lord Sunday. All the loose ends were tied up, more action, less lengthy descriptions of yet another new location to learn about. And it took me until now to realize that there were 7 sins to go with the 7 days of the 7 books.

Mister Monday - sloth
Grim Tuesday - greed
Drowned Wednesday - gluttony
Sir Thursday - wrath
Lady Friday - lust
Superior Saturday - envy
Lord Sunday - pride

I'm about halfway through the 2nd Sooke Stackhouse audiobook, Living Dead in Dallas which I'm finding more fun than the first. Sookie isn't grating on me so much, there are less graphic sex scenes and we're learning more about the supernaturals. A friend is trying to get me to watch the TV series, True Blood, but I think I'll just stick with the books for now.

'This is going to be a little uncomfortable'

One of the first lines in The Book of Human Skin

Which is how I feel about the book. It's not that I don't like the book, but it's told from the POVs of 5 different characters, 3 of which took some getting used to. One is a fanatical nun, one is the cruel and sadistic older brother of the main character, and one is a rather sympathetic doctor with an obsession with skin diseases that he doesn't mind describing in vivid detail. Living inside their thoughts can be rather uncomfortable. It took me about 100 pages to really get into the story and I'm almost halfway through now, but I'm going to take a break to read some more Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of Four.

I also wasn't impressed with the first Sookie book but then thought they got better. She reached the peak during the fourth through seventh books then it started dropping again.

The Sign of the Four features yet another of Conan Doyle's longwinded expositions in the middle of it. He really writes much better short stories, only Hound of the Baskervilles is any good as a novel IMHO. It's weird how Sherlock gets all the praise but in many (most?) ofthe stories he does very little, and the villain or victim give these vastly long accounts of all the details. I quite enjoy the stories but I don't rate Sherlock that highly as a detective.

39 - I think I see what you mean. In the middle of A Study in Scarlet, Watson's narration just stops and suddenly we're reading about settlers in the US. At first I thought I was reading a completly unconnected story and was confused that Doyle didn't finish off Scarlet. I do enjoy it when Sherlock does show off his deductive powers, like when he explains how he knew Watson's brother had financial and alcohol problems by examining the brother's watch.

I finished listening to Living Dead in Dallas. Over the top, yet entertaining. I'll definitely continue listening to the series.

Not sure what to listen to now though. Leaning towards The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane which maggie1944 first recommended on another thread, and clamairy and PandorasRequiem have since seconded.

I never did get around to reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. I had a public speaking class/seminar that weekend, with a couple of presentations to prepare and do, and couldn't bare the thought of starting something new. So I ended up listening to more Sookie Stackhouses. I already knew the characters and their situations, so not too much thinking needed. Perfect. I listened to Club Dead and am now halfway through Dead to the World. I'll really have to go on to something else after though, so I don't OD.

I finished The Sign of Four which I ended up liking better than A Study in Scarlet. No jarring break in the middle.

But still haven't made much more headway in The Book of Human Skin. Will try to concentrate on this one now.

You have an interesting collection of books. We share 32, but I forgot some on my library I'm kind of getting lazy filling it up with, so we have more once I get that done.

Most books that people discuss here I would probably never read. Like those vampire books I'll probably never read. I used to like vampires a whole lot more, until they became cliche, but those books, no way. Not for me.

Also, what exactly are those grim books? I think I know they are a bunch of stories, but which ones?

DragonFreak, do you mean the collection of Grimm's fairy tales? These are some of the folk/fairy stories collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 1800s. They collected and published stories for the first time that had only been shared by word of mouth before. I think the stories were mostly German in origin. Some of the stories I'd heard before or some form of anyways. Some are new to me. Some are fun, some seem rather macabre or silly in a hairy eyeball kind of way (to my more modern sensibilities I suppose). But you probably know of a few: The Frog Prince, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Hansel and Gretel, The Shoemaker and the Elves (one of my favorites), Rapunzel...

So, I did finish another section of The Book of Human Skin, but then I let myself be distracted by Gifts by Ursula Le Guin. It's about being born with power and whether you have a responsibilty and duty to use that power, or can you withold it? Excellent read! I've started the 2nd in the series, Voices, rather than continue with TBoHS *hangs head in shame*

I've also started listening to This Body of Death by Elizabeth George. Her mysteries are rather long and involved, definitely not cozies, but I quite like them. I'm not a big fan of mysteries, but I always look for the next Inspector Lynley book.

> 43 Ohhhh, I get it. Thanks.

Yayyy! Finished The Book of Human Skin. Not my normal type of reading material, not sure if I'm made for gothic style books, but still glad I stuck with it. It was neat to read the same events from the various ponts of view and see how that changed things. As a side note, normally I'm not squeamish, medical and natural history information interests me, but the doctor's clinical descriptions of skin ailments made my own skin creep, probably because I'm prone to skin allergies and know what a bad rash can feel like.

Also finished Voices and I'm waiting for the last of the trilogy, Powers, to be shipped. In the meantime, I've decided to reread Lord of the Flies. I read it in junior high and it made a big impact on me. Wonder if it'll have the same effect some 20+ years later.

Lord of the Flies is good, I'm glad I'm finally rereading it. But my 9yo convinced me to try the first Bone yesterday, Out From Boneville and now I'm sucked in and I've already started the 4th one. These are quick, easy reads, and really good.

I finished the Bone books. There's a lot packed into this series. Friendship, love, compassion, anger, betrayal and silliness. I've remember someone else mentioning on LT that they get more out of each reread of this series, and my 9yo has read this 3 or 4 times since he got the series last Christmas. I can see why.

Since last I posted, I've finished up:

In paper form:
To Ride Hell's Chasm: Nice chewy read. I loved how the history and details of this world, and it's main character, were slowly revealed to the reader throughout the book, rather than dumping it on us all at once. Took me a month to finish, but that's because I was also reading a finance textbook (also chewy but not as much fun). Ending, when they're actually trying to get through Hell's Chasm, dragged a bit though. 4 stars

Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale
This is a graphic novel about Shepherd Book, which I was really excited about. Finally, we'd get to find out the Shepherd's secret history. But this ended up being too short and choppy, the glimpses into his life were too quick. 3 stars

On audio
This Body of Death by Elizabeth George. 4 stars
POSSIBLE SPOILER:
Sex and lust make up a part of the motive in a lot of George's novels, which is the one thing that bothers me about her murder mysteries. It's always there, somewhere. But this one was different. Nice change.
END SPOILER

The Altantis Complex by Eoin Colfer
Pirates! by Celia Rees
Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
The above were a little disappointing. Entertaining enough but if my mind wandered a bit I didn't worry too much about rewinding. It was almost like skimming, audio style. 3 stars all

Finally finished reading the book of Grimm's fairy tales to youngest son and I'm rather glad that's done. Then we decided on 'The Mouse and the Motorcycle' which was much more fun. I only ever read the Ramona books as a kid and didn't look twice at this one but I'm so glad to have a child to read books to so I can finally make up for these types of lapses.

Books I'm still reading at the end of the year:

The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson
This is rather flippant in places, but fun. I'm in the mood for fun non-fic, to counter the dry non-fic I have to read for my finance course.

I'm also going to continue with the occassional foray into my husband's Complete Sherlock Holmes, which I've also downloaded onto my ereader so I don't have to lug around the big tome.

On audio, I'm listening to Runemarks by Joanne Harris. I've only just started it but I love the reader's voice/accent (Sile Birmingham) and it seems like a fun fantasy, so far.

And my youngest and I are a couple of chapters into Runaway Ralph. He giggles every time I read 'Pbpbpbbbttbtt', which is what the mouse has to say to make his motorcycle go. (That's my own spelling. I'm too lazy to get the book to find the proper way to spell Pbpbpbbbttbtt)

Some quick 2010 stats:

48 paper books read (of which 4 were rereads)
39 audio books
14 graphic novels
8 books read to one or the other or both of my boys (not including the numerous picture books)
3 books I decided not to finish

Ohmygosh, I can hardly wait until Charlie's old enough for us to read the Ralph S. Mouse books together - they were some of my very favorite books in my munchkin years. Makes me happy to hear other mom/munchkin pairs enjoying it.

scaifea, I can't wait to start hearing about the books you and Charlie read together on your own thread.

I hadn't mentioned them here, because we read and reread them so often, but some of our favourite picturebook authors are Helen Cooper, Robert Munsch, Beatrix Potterand Julia Donaldson.

Charlie's room is decorated in a Peter Rabbit theme! So, of course, I'm partial to Beatrix Potter.

I don't usually record the Charlie-&-Mom rereads on my thread either (just when I first get him a book and read it); last night we read I Can Read with My Eyes Shut and we were both struck with an acute case of the giggles. My husband usually sits nearby working on his laptop, but I catch him listening in and glancing at the pictures most nights. He joined in on the laugh fest last night too!