So, well. I wish I'd had more time to read during the week. But research has kept me busy every day and after spending 8+ hours in the library, looking through library catalogues, databases and other sources to figure out the literature for my exams I was way too tired to read. :(
But, here comes the weekend and I hope I can make up tonight, tomorrow and even on sunday during work (which will hopefully be zero busy and give me plenty of opportunity to hit the books - study books and a bit of pleasure reads as well).
So far basically all I've read this week were some pages from "Cat's Cradle", a good 4 hours of the audio version of "North and South" (which has been such a comfort!) and a super short short story ("The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. LeGuin).
And a few pages of required reading about Russian History.
Yep, that's it. So sad - and there's so many books at home that I desperately want to read...
But tomorrow! (Also, I'll hopefully be able to go to that booksale my hometown library is holding tomorrow... looking forward to that! More books!)
Friday, 16 May 2014
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
[Bout of Books] Highly anticipated books
Here are some books that I am really looking forward to reading come summer:
"The World of Yesterday" / "Die Welt von gestern" by Stefan Zweig: Joined a GR groups about Zweig, whom I loved forever, but read by far not enough. So this starts in June and I'll probably only be able to join in July, but I'm so looking forward to.
"Osmi povjerenik" by Renato Baretić: I'll be reading this in Croatian and German parallel in July, to study Croatian and to get a Croatian reading experience.
"Зеленый шатер" / "The Big Green Tent by Lyudmila Ulitskaya: I love Ulitskaya and am looking forward to some pleasure (because not study related) Russian reading.
"The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin: Again, I love Le Guin and want to read more by her. And more!
"The Campus Trilogy" by David Lodge: After graduating I'm thinking I might enjoy some campus lit again. ;-)
"Bleak House" by Charles Dickens: Dickens again! There is a wonderfully read librivox recording of this book and I'm very much looking forward to it.
"Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations": This looks so much like a history book that I would love so much. I tried starting it, but with all the school work I really couldn't focus on it.
"Michael Palin: Diaries": These must be amazing and I am so much looking forward to reading these!
"The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery": I read Vol.1 of the Selected Journals and when the Complete Journals came out I knew I must read them. I love everything LMM and these are such a wonderful and interesting and sad read.
"Fabian" by Erich Kästner: Somewhat forgotten and censured German classic, a satire that only this year will be published (or has been published by now) in its original uncut version. seriously looking forward to this one.
So: no new books here, just what has been on my TBR shelf for a while.
"The World of Yesterday" / "Die Welt von gestern" by Stefan Zweig: Joined a GR groups about Zweig, whom I loved forever, but read by far not enough. So this starts in June and I'll probably only be able to join in July, but I'm so looking forward to.
"Osmi povjerenik" by Renato Baretić: I'll be reading this in Croatian and German parallel in July, to study Croatian and to get a Croatian reading experience.
"Зеленый шатер" / "The Big Green Tent by Lyudmila Ulitskaya: I love Ulitskaya and am looking forward to some pleasure (because not study related) Russian reading.
"The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin: Again, I love Le Guin and want to read more by her. And more!
"The Campus Trilogy" by David Lodge: After graduating I'm thinking I might enjoy some campus lit again. ;-)
"Bleak House" by Charles Dickens: Dickens again! There is a wonderfully read librivox recording of this book and I'm very much looking forward to it.
"Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations": This looks so much like a history book that I would love so much. I tried starting it, but with all the school work I really couldn't focus on it.
"Michael Palin: Diaries": These must be amazing and I am so much looking forward to reading these!
"The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery": I read Vol.1 of the Selected Journals and when the Complete Journals came out I knew I must read them. I love everything LMM and these are such a wonderful and interesting and sad read.
"Fabian" by Erich Kästner: Somewhat forgotten and censured German classic, a satire that only this year will be published (or has been published by now) in its original uncut version. seriously looking forward to this one.
So: no new books here, just what has been on my TBR shelf for a while.
Monday, 12 May 2014
Currently Reading: North and South
How have I not mentioned this here? Oh, wait, it was in the MBRoM-post.
I listen to North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell as an audio book, read by the formidable Juliet Stevenson, whenever I'm in my car. And I love it! So much.
Aside from the incredibly great narration by Juliet Stevenson, listening to her voice ist just the most soothing thing ever, it is a wonderful book. (I keep sitting in my car in the garage after I've reached home just to listen on.)
I've read or audi-read this book several times and each time it seems to get better. Each time there is something else I find myself focussing on. This time it is definitely the way Elizabeth Gaskell sets the scene for each meeting (or rather clashing) of members of the Hale and Thornton families. She gives just the details of each persons inner life to make you see how they misunderstand or misinterpret each other and how these meetings can only go wrong etc.
It is a very complex book and has such rich characters.
I listen to North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell as an audio book, read by the formidable Juliet Stevenson, whenever I'm in my car. And I love it! So much.
Aside from the incredibly great narration by Juliet Stevenson, listening to her voice ist just the most soothing thing ever, it is a wonderful book. (I keep sitting in my car in the garage after I've reached home just to listen on.)
I've read or audi-read this book several times and each time it seems to get better. Each time there is something else I find myself focussing on. This time it is definitely the way Elizabeth Gaskell sets the scene for each meeting (or rather clashing) of members of the Hale and Thornton families. She gives just the details of each persons inner life to make you see how they misunderstand or misinterpret each other and how these meetings can only go wrong etc.
It is a very complex book and has such rich characters.
Bout of Books - here I come!
So, I'll totally be doing BoB! And in my timezone it starts about right now (or maybe it already started a few minutes ago).
I'm with everybody who can't make the usual readathons (I totally just typed "readaTHONG"... what?!), I couldn't so far, because, you know, work and school and the rest of life.
I will be including the stuff I read for school, too. Because that week I will hopefully be studying a whole lot (I won't say I will have to study a lot, even though that would be true, but I have not been known for doing what I have have to do most of the time) and reading several books for my exams in June.
So, what are my intentions with this readathon?
Firstly, to read more than I usually would.
Secondly to get to all the study books that I need to read for this week.
Also, to finish at least two of the non-study books.
Then... also to blog regularly about the reading I do get done. And write reviews if it's worth it.
That's about it and it should be enough.
A list of potential books to read for the week:
For Pleasure:
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - which I will continue to listen to as an audio book.
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
I finally want to read some Octavia Butler, either Dawn or Parable of the Sower.
Embassytown by China Mieville
Then maybe Nineteen Eighty-Four.
And I'll be continuing S., too.
ETA: As apparently May is Short Story Month (even though I think that makes about as much sense as Mother's Day... every month should be short story month...) I'll add that I want to read three short stories. And as such: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Ormalas" by Ursula k. Le Guin (because I want to read something by Le Guin again and because I've never read this famous story), one by John Cheever and another one that I don't know yet.
EagainTA: Other possible short stories are naturally by E.A.Poe and I'm also thinking about "The Lottery".
For History:
Catherine the Great by Isabel de Madariaga. (As it's for school I'll be reading the German version.)
A History of Yugoslavia by Marie-Janine Calic, that's a German book.
For Russian Lit:
The Double by Dostoevsky
Also some of Gogol's magical tales and some of Petrushevskayas short stories.
(And maybe I'll start a re-read of "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard" by Chekhov, probably while watching some taped performance of it.)
For Spanish Lit:
Some stories by Borges (have to pinpoint which ones exactly yet)
One or maybe two novels that have not been determined yet (I hope to have that fixed tomorrow.)
(There'll be four novels all together plus two I have to do a re-read of.)
And somewhere between Russian Lit, History and Pleasure I'll be going on reading Natasha's Dance by Orlando Figes.
If I should finish North and South as my audiobook I'll probably try do something of my study books as audiobooks. If that should not work out I'll go on listening to something by Charles Dickens via librivox.org.
Here's the Bout of Books 10 blurb:
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
And now... I'll be reading a bit!
I'm with everybody who can't make the usual readathons (I totally just typed "readaTHONG"... what?!), I couldn't so far, because, you know, work and school and the rest of life.
I will be including the stuff I read for school, too. Because that week I will hopefully be studying a whole lot (I won't say I will have to study a lot, even though that would be true, but I have not been known for doing what I have have to do most of the time) and reading several books for my exams in June.
So, what are my intentions with this readathon?
Firstly, to read more than I usually would.
Secondly to get to all the study books that I need to read for this week.
Also, to finish at least two of the non-study books.
Then... also to blog regularly about the reading I do get done. And write reviews if it's worth it.
That's about it and it should be enough.
A list of potential books to read for the week:
For Pleasure:
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - which I will continue to listen to as an audio book.
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
I finally want to read some Octavia Butler, either Dawn or Parable of the Sower.
Embassytown by China Mieville
Then maybe Nineteen Eighty-Four.
And I'll be continuing S., too.
ETA: As apparently May is Short Story Month (even though I think that makes about as much sense as Mother's Day... every month should be short story month...) I'll add that I want to read three short stories. And as such: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Ormalas" by Ursula k. Le Guin (because I want to read something by Le Guin again and because I've never read this famous story), one by John Cheever and another one that I don't know yet.
EagainTA: Other possible short stories are naturally by E.A.Poe and I'm also thinking about "The Lottery".
For History:
Catherine the Great by Isabel de Madariaga. (As it's for school I'll be reading the German version.)
A History of Yugoslavia by Marie-Janine Calic, that's a German book.
For Russian Lit:
The Double by Dostoevsky
Also some of Gogol's magical tales and some of Petrushevskayas short stories.
(And maybe I'll start a re-read of "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard" by Chekhov, probably while watching some taped performance of it.)
For Spanish Lit:
Some stories by Borges (have to pinpoint which ones exactly yet)
One or maybe two novels that have not been determined yet (I hope to have that fixed tomorrow.)
(There'll be four novels all together plus two I have to do a re-read of.)
And somewhere between Russian Lit, History and Pleasure I'll be going on reading Natasha's Dance by Orlando Figes.
If I should finish North and South as my audiobook I'll probably try do something of my study books as audiobooks. If that should not work out I'll go on listening to something by Charles Dickens via librivox.org.
Here's the Bout of Books 10 blurb:
The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team
And now... I'll be reading a bit!
Monday, 5 May 2014
Yay! More books!
More books arrived! I've been longing to read more Vonnegut for a while now... which one should I start with?
Friday, 2 May 2014
April Wrap Up and a kind of a May TBR (we'll call it MBRiM)
Okay, if I'm serious about book blogging then I should probably do an April Wrap Up. Especially because I feel like I finally got back into reading more during this April. I actually finished books (and yep, it's plural!) in April.
Actually when I think about it it may have been Oryx and Crake in March, when I was trying to finish that before going to a reading by Margaret Atwood, what got me back into the bookish spirit. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy (as I really, really liked this one and Atwood in general, who doesn't?!), but I'll wait till I can get this one trilogy edition that I want to have. (I bought Oryx and Crake as an audio book, so I have no book book copy of it.)
Well, but the Wrap Up. As in: books that I actually finished reading in April:
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. I'll post my review on that one tomorrow or so. I'm kind of torn on this one. Great ideas, but horrible reading experience for me...
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A re-re-re-re-read for me. And brilliant as always. Sticks with me, too.
The Love Artist by Jane Alison. Finally finished this one. I started it for a Coursera class. I loved the beginning, but over all I had some problems with it. I'll also post a review soon.
So, yeah, three books. Not much, but more than usual for me lately, so I'm happy.
Right now I'm reading Fahrenheit 451. And I also hope I'll finally get to watch the movie adaptation. (I started watching it some while back and loved the looks of it, but for some reason I don't have the DVD anymore...)
And now onto what May may bring.
I'm really hesitant to do an actual TBR. And I won't. Just because I know that I do not like to (and do not do) stick to plans where reading is concerned. (Also, for school I have a lot of stuff that certainly HAS to be read [yep, an "HTBR"], where it is not so much up to me to make decisions, so I like to roam freely the rest of the reading world.)So instead I'll make an "MBRiM" which naturally means: "Might be read in May".
I'll definitely be going on reading S., which I got last week and am in awe of. I read this very, very slowly and enjoy it immensely, the whole feeling and experience. So this may go on for months.
Other books that are just lying around here and might be picked up include:
Die neuen Frauen - Revolution im Kaiserreich (1900-1914) - this is a German book about German women who became politically and culturally active in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. It looks seriously interesting, but I don't know if I'll be much inclined to read non-fiction for pleasure with all the school work I have going on.
Aspects of the Novel by E.M.Forster - I love Forster. And this is my excuse to read something by him while at the same time maybe getting into the spirit of lit exams. (So it's semi-pleasure non-fiction, mark that as a new genre!)
I'm expecting some more books to arrive by mail during the coming days and maybe I'll just dive into one of them immediately. As I'm very much in a Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction kind of mood lately among these books are:
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Embassytown by China Mieville
The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov (these last two totally due to me watching too much of books and pieces wonderful youtube channel..)
As an audio book I just started North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. And I just love, love, love this book! So much in there. I am so looking forward to this re-read. (Also: This version is read by Juliet Stevenson. I love her, too.)
And about that whole stuff I have to read for university I might make another post... (Russian lit is always worth a blog post, I think...)
And now it's past 3 am and I am not willing to check for typos. Good Noght.
Actually when I think about it it may have been Oryx and Crake in March, when I was trying to finish that before going to a reading by Margaret Atwood, what got me back into the bookish spirit. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy (as I really, really liked this one and Atwood in general, who doesn't?!), but I'll wait till I can get this one trilogy edition that I want to have. (I bought Oryx and Crake as an audio book, so I have no book book copy of it.)
Well, but the Wrap Up. As in: books that I actually finished reading in April:
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. I'll post my review on that one tomorrow or so. I'm kind of torn on this one. Great ideas, but horrible reading experience for me...
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A re-re-re-re-read for me. And brilliant as always. Sticks with me, too.
The Love Artist by Jane Alison. Finally finished this one. I started it for a Coursera class. I loved the beginning, but over all I had some problems with it. I'll also post a review soon.
So, yeah, three books. Not much, but more than usual for me lately, so I'm happy.
Right now I'm reading Fahrenheit 451. And I also hope I'll finally get to watch the movie adaptation. (I started watching it some while back and loved the looks of it, but for some reason I don't have the DVD anymore...)
And now onto what May may bring.
I'm really hesitant to do an actual TBR. And I won't. Just because I know that I do not like to (and do not do) stick to plans where reading is concerned. (Also, for school I have a lot of stuff that certainly HAS to be read [yep, an "HTBR"], where it is not so much up to me to make decisions, so I like to roam freely the rest of the reading world.)So instead I'll make an "MBRiM" which naturally means: "Might be read in May".
I'll definitely be going on reading S., which I got last week and am in awe of. I read this very, very slowly and enjoy it immensely, the whole feeling and experience. So this may go on for months.
Other books that are just lying around here and might be picked up include:
Die neuen Frauen - Revolution im Kaiserreich (1900-1914) - this is a German book about German women who became politically and culturally active in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. It looks seriously interesting, but I don't know if I'll be much inclined to read non-fiction for pleasure with all the school work I have going on.
Aspects of the Novel by E.M.Forster - I love Forster. And this is my excuse to read something by him while at the same time maybe getting into the spirit of lit exams. (So it's semi-pleasure non-fiction, mark that as a new genre!)
I'm expecting some more books to arrive by mail during the coming days and maybe I'll just dive into one of them immediately. As I'm very much in a Science Fiction/Speculative Fiction kind of mood lately among these books are:
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Embassytown by China Mieville
The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov (these last two totally due to me watching too much of books and pieces wonderful youtube channel..)
As an audio book I just started North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. And I just love, love, love this book! So much in there. I am so looking forward to this re-read. (Also: This version is read by Juliet Stevenson. I love her, too.)
And about that whole stuff I have to read for university I might make another post... (Russian lit is always worth a blog post, I think...)
And now it's past 3 am and I am not willing to check for typos. Good Noght.
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