My first real It’s Monday! post for the New Year! This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey; as she puts it: “This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!” Click on the image for today’s linky post.
First up, good news: I’ve signed up once again for the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop, organised by Judith (Leeswammes’ Blog).
From Saturday the 9th to Wednesday the 13th of February, you can hop from one blog to another and enter in lots of giveaways of books and online gift cards, many of which will be open internationally (usually through The Book Depository). So make sure you check back in on the 9th for my giveaway post!
I saw Life of Pi the other weekend, and let me tell you, if you get the chance to see it, DO! It’s one of my favourite books of all time, and the movie is a superb adaptation. Honestly this story has to have the most perfect ending of any book I’ve ever read, and sad too, and the movie did justice to it and the entire thing. It was pretty incredible really. And, the tiger looked so real! I’ve never seen CGI that didn’t look like CGI, until this movie. All the animals looked incredibly real. They’ve only released it in 3D, which I’m not a fan of, but it wasn’t the kind that makes you feel nauseous or like you need to duck (or close your eyes) constantly.
I also watched Cosmopolis, a David Cronenberg film based on Don DeLillo’s book of the same name, which is out now on DVD. I have the book to read, and I see now that I really need to read it, because I found the film – while really interesting, clever and well-filmed in a highly stylised way – very hard to follow. I mean not just the plot and the conversations, but also I found it hard to hear what they were saying. Sometimes I find American accents hard to hear – it just sounds like mumbling to me and I’m always pestering Adam as to what they were saying, until I just give up and pull out a book to read! I watched this through to the end, and it has some great elements, but I feel like until I read the book I won’t really understand it. (Though after watching the “behind the scenes on the set” extras, it’s clear that no one really “gets” it!)
My week in blogging has been really good, I managed to post something nearly every day, yay! Check out Hugh’s Library: the Christmas Haul and Other Good Books, the 2012 End of Year Book Survey, and my first Shelves Are Groaning post for the year.
I’m feeling like I’ve got off to a good start on my reading and blogging; I’ve already read books for my four challenges, which makes me feel like I’ve got things under control and that leaves more room to read whatever takes my fancy. So here’s the week in review:
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I READ:
Henry & the Incredibly Incorrigible, Inconveniently Intelligent Smart Human by LA Messina
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Charles E Reasoner
The Confidant by Hélène Grémillon
Forgotten by Catherine McKenzie
The Forsaken by Lisa M Stasse
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I REVIEWED:
How to Tell If Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You by Matthew Inman
The Precipice by Virginia Duigan
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C Moore
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Charles E Reasoner
Henry & the Incredibly Incorrigible, Inconveniently Intelligent Smart Human by LA Messina
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CURRENTLY READING:
The Emperor of Paris by CS Richardson
This historical fiction novel counts towards both the Around the World in 12 Books Challenge and the Canadian Book Challenge, since it’s set in France and it’s written by a Canadian! (And will make my 2nd book for the Around the World challenge this month.)
So far it’s a little, um, literary, in the sense that it’s not always clear what’s going on or even what character the scene is about. It’s a bit all-over-the-place in terms of time and characters, though the stories within it are interesting. I won’t be sure what I really think until I’ve finished.
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WHAT’S NEXT:
So much choice! I’m thinking I’ll want to read a romance next, probably The Man Plan by Elise K Ackers, which is a review copy from the publisher via Netgalley.
I also want to read The Bride Stripped Bare by Nikki Gemmel, which I’ve had for ages, and something YA, possibly paranormal. I have time before I need to start 419 by Will Ferguson for a new book club on my street, which is meeting on Friday 1st February.
Utter crap
It was okay
Liked it but ...
Really liked it
LOVED it!
How did you like the Confidant? It looks interesting but the reviews are all over the place..
Good luck with your reading this week.
Ciska @ Ciska’s Book Chest recently posted..It’s Monday the 14th of January 2013! What are you Reading?
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Shannon Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at 10:00 am
@Ciska @ Ciska’s Book Chest, I liked it, the story was good and it had one of those endings where the last couple of lines just caught me on the side of the head, like a blow out of nowhere y’know? Which is very cool. I’d got so caught up in the story from the past that I’d stopped thinking about the present and was taken completely by surprise! Fantastic. But the writing needed work.
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Ciska @ Ciska's Book Chest Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at 11:16 am
@Shannon, thanks added it to my TBR pile
Ciska @ Ciska’s Book Chest recently posted..Top Ten Tuesdays: Top Ten 2013 Debuts I’m Looking Forward To
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Thanks for your notes on seeing “The Life of Pi” after reading the book – i read the book a longer while ago and enjoyed it. and even after seeing the trailer i wasn’t sure how it would/could work as a movie, but now it sounds like they did a great job with the film adaption.
Will now go and browse your reviews for the Cat book and for the Henry book – this is like a different reading world (well, i am reading a graphic novel this week, “Nobody”, but that’s yeta another differnt world).
Have an awesome reading week!
Dorothee recently posted..reading: What book!? (or: a Paris-novel, a book-book, a what-book, and Nobody)
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Shannon Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at 10:07 am
@Dorothee, Same here – I read it in 2008 so it wasn’t fresh in my mind, which meant it didn’t intrude on the film in any way. The movie aligned with what I could remember and brought back everything else.
I’m always on the look-out for good graphic novels, so I’ll have to check out Nobody.
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I always enjoy dropping by your blog. I am really going to try to be better this year at visiting other blogs and reacquainting myself my with “old friends.”
Happy New Year. Happy Reading.
Anne @ My Head is Full of Books
Anne recently posted..It’s Monday, Jan. 14 and I’m reading…
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Shannon Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at 10:09 am
@Anne, Same here Anne, it’s something I need to do better at too. Happy New Year!
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No kidding so much choice! The way you go through books blows my mind.
419 is a good read, I thought. Not the kind of writing I’m used to, but I kept thinking about how important it was that the book be out there for others to be aware.
I really want to see Life of Pi, too, and of course The Hobbit. But I hate 3D (wearing glasses over top of my glasses is so annoying that I can’t pay full attention), and I’m also not a fan of the movie theatre. You find it hard to follow American accents (sometimes I do too if they mumble) but I find it very difficult to focus on any action. It all becomes a big blur, no matter where I’m sitting. I find the screen too big, the sound too loud, and I dislike being with all those people. Haha! I sound like a senior.
Anyway, I was talking to someone who really loves DeLillo and I think Cosmopolis is a book he recommended. I’ve been tempted to read one or two of his myself. Also, I’ve been wanting to read Richardson’s for a while but lately I’m in the mood for lighter reads. Light on content, style, mood.
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Shannon Reply:
January 15th, 2013 at 10:17 am
@Steph, I’ve heard mostly slightly-negative things about 419 so far, which keeps my expectations low, and I’ve read one of his earlier books so I have a bit of an idea of his writing style, but I love the premise and I’m hoping I’ll love the book.
I’ve never read The Hobbit but I would have gone to see the movie if it wasn’t in extreme 3D – they said on the radio that if you’re prone to motion sickness it’ll make you nauseous, which doesn’t sound like a fun movie-going experience to me! Something about double or triple the number of frames for 3D effect or something, I don’t really understand how it works. And I’m not sure it’s out in non-3D format either. I sometimes wear earplugs in the cinema – doesn’t make it hard to hear or anything like that but does protect your ears from the extra decibles! I enjoy the big-screen experience, if it’s a movie like Life of Pi where the cinematography is awesome, but I absolutely hate the fact that people bring hot food in. It’s banned in Australia, probably because of the extra mess and cleaning involved, but I’ve always been glad of it because hot food in a confined space like that, it’s just gross. I don’t go often to the cinema because it’s hard to find the time, plus Adam is really picky and hard to please and doesn’t often like the movies I like, and I don’t know many people here, still. And they’re always busy too! But I have been a few times now with friends, other mothers.
Adam did an essay once on a DeLillo book, something about the music industry – I looked at it and it was one of those books written in a “literary” style, which looked a bit pretentious and very “guy-book” to me. But it doesn’t look like Cosmopolis is written the same way.
I finished Richardson’s book last night and actually, if it helps, it’s surprisingly light. Has a kind of floaty, old style of prose that feels somehow very Parisian. It’s quite short too. I have mixed feelings about it though…
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