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Giulia's I'll-Be-a-Better-Reader Quest 2010


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Paola Boni, L'Evocatore (La Saga di Amon 1) [0/360]

Steven Brust, The Phoenix Guards [5/332]

Charles de Lint, The Blue Girl (Newford) [75/368] - MAIN

David Lozano, Il Viaggiatore (La Porta Oscura 1) [23/692]

Lisa Mantchev, Eyes Like Stars (Theatre Illuminata: Act I) [212/356]

Daniel Waters, Kiss of Life (Generation Dead 2) [6/410]



Books Read in 2010

 

Dan Rhodes, Anthropology and 100 Other Stories (1/5)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (5/5)

 

Books Read in 2009

 

Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair (5/5)

Jasper Fforde, Lost in a Good Book (5/5)

Jonathan Lethem, As She Climbed Across the Table (3+/5)

Helene Hanff, 84 Charing Cross Road & The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (5/5)

Tom Raabe, Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction (3/5)

Daniel Waters, Generation Dead (3+/5)

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Giulia's Merciless Mount TBR

 

Books on Hold

John Connolly, The Gates

Jasper Fforde, Shades of Grey

Jasper Fforde, The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next 3)

Patricia A. McKillip, Alphabet of Thorn

Walter Moers, The City of Dreaming Books (Zamonia 3)

Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals (Discworld 37)

 

Books to be Begun

 

Fantasy

 

Series

 

Elizabeth Bear, Ink and Steel (A Novel of the Promethean Age: Stratford Man 1)

Elizabeth Bear, Hell and Earth (A Novel of the Promethean Age: Stratford Man 2)

Jasper Fforde, Something Rotten (Thursday Next 4)

Jasper Fforde, First Among Sequels (Thursday Next 5)

Jasper Fforde, The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime 1)

Jasper Fforde, The Fourth Bear (Nursery Crime 2)

Robert Holdstock, Mythago Wood (Mythago Cycle 1)

Charles de Lint, Dreams Underfoot (Newford)

Charles de Lint, Spirits in the Wires (Newford)

Philip Pullman, Northern Lights (His Dark Materials 1)

Jan Siegel, Prospero's Children (Fern Capel 1)

Steph Swainston, The Year of Our War (The Castle 1)

Steph Swainston, No Present like Time (The Caste 2)

 

Standalones

 

Steven Brust, To Reign in Hell

Neil Gaiman, American Gods

Ursula K. Le Guin, Lavinia

Rafe Martin, Birdwing

Science Fiction

Eoin Colfer, And Another Thing (official 6th installment of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Horror/Gothic

Brom, The Child Thief

John Connolly, Nocturnes

Stephen King, Pet Sematary

Martin Millar, Lonely Werewolf Girl

Laurie Sheck, A Monster's Notes

Dacre Stoker, Dracula the Undead

Daniel Waters, Passing Strange (Generation Dead 3)

 

Random Fiction

Linda Gillard, Star Gazing

Rief Larsen, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

Philip Pullman, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

Metabooks: Fiction

Peter Ackroyd, The Lambs of London

Elizabeth Garner, The Ingenious Edgar Jones

Andrew Motion, The Invention of Dr. Cake

Metabooks: Non-Fiction

Christopher Booker, The Seven Basic Plots

Neil Gaiman et al., Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

A. C. Petty, Dragons of Fantasy: The Scaly Villains and Heroes of Tolkien, Rowling, McCaffrey, Pratchett and Other Fantasy Greats

Metabooks: Writing

 

Ray Bradbury, Bradbury Speaks: Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far from the Stars

Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

Richard Ford (ed.), Writer's Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction

Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled

Ted Hughes, Poetry in the Making

Stephen King, On Writing

Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader and the Imagination

C. E. Montague, A Writer's Notes on His Trade

Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Dale Salwak, Living with a Writer

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Giulia's Reading Challenges I: The Complete Discworld

Red: Read

Blue: Partially Read

Purple: TBR

Black: Wishlist

 

1. The Colour of Magic

2. The Light Fantastic

3. Equal Rights

4. Mort

5. Sourcery

6. Wyrd Sisters

7. Pyramids

8. Guards! Guards!

9. Eric

10. Moving Pictures

11. Reaper Man

12. Witches Abroad

13. Small Gods

14. Lords and Ladies

15. Men at Arms

16. Soul Music

17. Interesting Times

18. Maskerade

19. Feet of Clay

20. Hogfather

21. Jingo

22. The Last Continent

23. Carpe Jugulum

24. The Fifth Elephant

25. The Truth

26. Thief of Time

27. The Last Hero

28. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (YA)

29. Night Watch

30. The Wee Free Men (YA)

31. Monstrous Regiment

32. A Hat Full of Sky (YA)

33. Going Postal

34. Thud!

35. Wintersmith (YA)

36. Making Money

37. Unseen Academicals

38. I Shall Wear Midnight (YA)

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Oh, you've got some excellent books to look forward to there!

 

Reaper Man was actually the first Discworld book I ever read and it spawned my total addiciton to the series. I also loved the Nursery Crime books by Jasper Fforde (I actually prefer them to the TN series, although I like those too).

 

I also rather enjoyed Dracula The Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker (although I know opinions are pretty divided over that one).

 

Happy reading in 2010! :D

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I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on Dracula The Un-Dead (which I have on my own list) as well as The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (which I've been tempted to buy, twice, but am still uncertain of whether I'd enjoy it or not). :D

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@ Kell - I love Death so I look forward to reading Reaper Man; the only reason I haven't already is that it's the Unseen Library edn. and collector's editions stay at home i.e. will never be put in my handbag for weeks on end. I also can't wait to go on a nice Jasper binge; just, he's the kind of writer to require 100% concentration and I seem to be lacking it at the moment :D.

 

@ Scarlette: I'm feeling mixed omens about both of the books you mention also (although they are slightly less mixed in Ackroyd's case, as the man's academic nature counts in his favour in my ivory-towered worldview); we shall see how it goes :roll:!

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Merciless Mount TBR has been adjourned with the following (which don't count as breaking rule n. 1, since they are the result of a gifted voucher and therefore not my fault :D):

 

- Laurie Sheck, A Monster's Notes

- Patricia A. McKillip, Alphabeth of Thorn

- Steven Brust, To Reign in Hell

- Meredith Ann Pierce, The Darkangel (The Darkangel Trilogy 1)

- Meredith Ann Pierce, A Gathering of Gargoyles (The Darkangel Trilogy 2)

- Meredith Ann Pierce, The Pearl of the Soul of the World (The Darkangel Trilogy 3)

- Daniel Waters, The Kiss of Life (Generation Dead 2)

- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (January Reading Circle)

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Question: is it silly for me to be considering taking the books from this list whose condition irks me to Oxfam, to be re-bought new at a richer time? The two sides of the question are as follows...

 

On one hand, I won't be rich anytime soon, and when I am it would make sense to invest on entirely new books.

 

On the other hand, a book's condition affects my enjoyment of it quite directly; also, I'm prone to forming emotional attachments to the copies I read first which makes it difficult for me to buy substitutes further down the line.

 

Ideas, anyone?

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Question: is it silly for me to be considering taking the books from this list whose condition irks me to Oxfam, to be re-bought new at a richer time? The two sides of the question are as follows...

 

On one hand, I won't be rich anytime soon, and when I am it would make sense to invest on entirely new books.

 

On the other hand, a book's condition affects my enjoyment of it quite directly; also, I'm prone to forming emotional attachments to the copies I read first which makes it difficult for me to buy substitutes further down the line.

 

Ideas, anyone?

 

It's not silly at all! I would suggest waiting. Your list is long enough that even if you don't get the books for a while I'm sure you will find another on there to fill the void. Out of curiosity, which books are you refering to? Are there a lot or only a few?

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They would be:

 

Definites

 

Julian May, The Many-Coloured Land (Saga of The Exiles Book 1)

N.E. Bode, The Anybodies

Cornelia Funke, Inkheart (Inkheart 1)

Robin Jarvis, The Oaken Throne (The Deptford Histories Book 2)

Robin Jarvis, Thomas (The Deptford Histories Book 3)

John Ajvide Lindqvist, Handling the Undead

Clive Barker, Cabal

Alan Bennet, The Uncommon Reader

Maybes

 

Karen Russell, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

Alan Campbell, Scar Night (Deepgate Codex Book 1)

Peter Dickinson, Tears of the Salamander

Michael Hoeye, Time Stops For No Mouse (A Hermoux Tantamoq Adventure Book 1)

Michael Hoeye, The Sands of Time (A Hermoux Tantamouq Adventure Book 1)

Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, Sorcery and Cecilia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot… (Cecilia and Kate 1)

Sophie Masson, The Tempestuous Voyage of Hopewell Shakespeare

Sophie Masson, Malvolio’s Revenge

Peter Ackroyd, Chatterton

Peter Ackroyd, The Plato Papers

 

Plus a batch of poetry and non-fiction.

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That's a pretty decent sized list!

 

Maybe it would be best to just move them all to the end of the line and focus on the the others on your list. Maybe you will find some great bargins on some of these later in the year, who knows :D

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The trouble is they're irking me right now, sitting there on the shelf, looking all crumpled :D! My shelf-space is what it isn't so carting them off to Oxfam would be beneficial in the space-gaining sense, if not in that of finances... decisions, decisions.

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If they're irking you that much then you need to remove them from your shelves and either put them in a box or donate them immediately - you know you'l feel much better afterwards. Or you could book cross them - go to BookCrossing.com, register them and release them into the wild or drop them off at a BC point. That way others can read them for free and if others register when they've picked them up, you get to see where your books end up (I've had one pop up all over the world after people have left them in hotel rooms or airports).

 

You've taken note of which books they are so you can replace them at a later time when you're feeling flush. :D

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I think you're right, I will feel better for it - OH thinks I'm daft, that a book's a book so the niggling doubt creeps re: whether I'm mad or not but the point is, it's my books and if I'm not going to enjoy them to their full potential, there is no point :blush:.

 

I'll have a big sort-out after lunch, them inspecting every single corner and dividing things into nice neat piles...!

 

I'm currently translating my rather ridiculous Amazon wishlist into Word so I'll add them onto there and then copy/paste everything into here for safekeeping.

 

Thank you :D for telling me that which, deep down, I already knew.

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Good for you! I'm the same about book condition. If it's a book I'm keeping, I like it to at least look brand new. I've been known to get a 2nd hand book, enjoy it so much I want to keep it, but get a new copy for on my shelf - LOL!

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I'm rather peculiar, in that careful as I am when handling books (collector's editions don't leave the house, for instance) I don't mind bumps and creases in my paperbacks nearly as much if they were caused my me taking them everywhere with me and loving them to bits; I can't however bear to read a book that gets to me damaged... :D.

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I don't mind bumps and creases in my paperbacks nearly as much if they were caused my me taking them everywhere with me and loving them to bits; I can't however bear to read a book that gets to me damaged... :D.

I'm the same to some extent. When I know I'll be keeping the book (Pratchett, Armstrong, Brookmyre, Macbride, Scarrow, etc) I get them in hardback (where available - sometimes they only release them in paperback and that screws up my shelves dammit!!!) and I like them to be in perfect condition. Others that I'm not sure about I get in paperback, often 2nd hand, but I like them to look as new as possible too (I usually go for the "as new" option on Green Metropolis). And I absolutely cannot stand it when a book that was supposed to be "as new" arrives in a condition that is not as stated!

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Ditto all that :D collectormania is strong in these ones!

 

I recently got rid of an armful of crumbling Pratchetts to make space, slowly but surely, for the Unseen Library leatherbound editions of the Discworld books 1-18; I have Reaper Man and Maskerade at the moment, they're so purdy... except Maskerade has a rip in the paper medallion insert on the front cover and the Ebay seller I got it from refused to take responsibility for mis-describing it :blush: I need to meet Mr. Terry and get it autograped at some point, then I won't mind as much...!

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I'm slightly different - if I buy a book in fair condition and really like it, I'm happy to replace it with a shiny pretty version I'll never touch, which will therefore stay in great condition. If not, I don't mind it being worn, and if I get a shiny book, I won't allow it crease or anything whether or not I like it :) I'm so pedantic :smile2:

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So. I've had a big clear-out and mutilated my TBR accordingly :).

 

I've also (because I'm nutty like that) alphabetised it and added my two-part wishlist, also alphabetised. Why yes, it did take me all afternoon :D.

 

I'd feel all accomplished now, were it not that I was silly enough not to preemptively reserve a gazillion posts - for, my actual wishlist would not fit into the beginning of the thread, resulting in the pruning of my wished for non-fiction and reference :).

 

One thing I notice: for someone who claims not to like series, I seem to have an inordinate amount thereof in Part one of my wishlist. I blame you guys :smile2:!!!

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