Category Archives: Friday Chat

Stuck Between a Book and a …nother book

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I have a lot of books I was really excited to read not too long ago, but now I can’t concentrate on any of them. Dissolution by CJ Sansom, The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Gideon’s Corpse by Preston & Child, River of Doubt by Candice Millard, Death Star by Steve Perry and Michael Reaves, and Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines sit patiently on my TBR table. I feel like my brain is too tired to fully appreciate them right now, even though they all sound wonderful. Thank puppies for Mary Janice Davidson! Betsy and Sinclair are just the zany company I need.
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Who are your favorite authors that you can just read and enjoy, when your brain is full? (You know, books that are like infomercials or old movies, where you just curl up and indulge. The paperback equivalent of your favorite ice cream. A unicorn chaser, if you will.)
-Katermelon

P.S. Undead and Unworthy is a book I never, ever would have read on my own without a friend’s recommendation. :-) I’m so glad I listened to her.

The End

Don’t you check the end of the book to make sure she lives? To find out how the romance turns out? To see if you’re signing up for a cliffhanger ending?

I think I’m in the minority here, but I read all through the book, in a very non-linear fashion. I inspect the ending, check for a glossary, read about the author, search for maps and other images, and so forth. I’m also forever flipping the cover over to review the art as the story progresses.

What about you? Are you a cover-to-cover linear reader, or are you a dump-out-all-the-contents-to-see-what-you-got reader?

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Ninjas vs Zombies

Hoo boy is it summer, eh? Those poor ninjas in their black outfits–Stay hydrated, secret dudes! And those zombies are really starting to smell in this heat.

This week has been an interesting one on DorkCargo, starting with a bitter blood feud and culminating in a reminder of how awesome it is that the Karmic Wheel didn’t toss me off in Afghanistan. I thought I’d add one more for the week, another one of these Zombie vs Ninja questions for which there is no right answer.

Local vs Organic.

I know, I know. 1) what does this have to do with books; 2) why does it have to be one or the other; and 3) haven’t we all gone round and round this a million times in our own lives?

At the house of DC we have been radically changing the way we eat: what we eat, how much of it we eat, and where it comes from. It takes for bloody ever now do do the damn shopping, but it actually costs less because we’re eating less. The three points of the food decision decision triangle for me are: organic, local and cost. (photos below are from Whole Paycheck Foods. the first is of non-organic but local, the other is of organic but very not local, the peppers are from holland.)

What I want to know from y’all is your story. Have you made such a change? Why? What are the food shopping and consumption rules you have made for yourself and your family? Any luck getting the Spousal Unit on board with this whole “let’s change the way we eat” plan? Do your kids care?

Diet and nutrition are intensely personal journeys. What and why of my diet choices won’t work for you, and your nutty food ideas won’t necessarily fly round here. But I know that a lot of you do shop at your local farmer markets, have changed the way you eat, or have gone off and started your own farm.

Here’s how this relates to books.

It occurred to me that even though my thoughts and values were in the right place, my actions and food consumption were not. I realized this, like one of those shafts of sunlight parting the clouds in religious iconography, when shopping for food for our roommate at ConCarolinas: committing to a lifestyle change means changing all of my life, all the time, not just picking and choosing when to occasionally commit to some arbitrary values.

I believe that we get a lot of encouragement and gentle reminders and inspiration from our peers. (“If he can do this, I can do this.”) Take a moment to tell us your “what and why”, leave some encouragement for someone else, and take some away for yourself.

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Your Reading History

“I grew up being read to. I learned to read sitting on my grandfather’s lap, following his finger across the page as he read poetry, stories, all of that, more. The words came to life… PopPop was a fan of the Philadelphia Athletics’ baseball team and of Edgar Allen Poe. I heard a lot of Poe…

“When I was old enough, I began peeking into Algernon Blackwood, Bram Stoker, M. R. James. From Lovecraft to Bradbury, the road is long and the voyaging upon it a rich experience.

“I believe in the importance … to know where things come from, to get a look back and see where the ideas, the images, the tropes that we’re using today originated.”
–Larry Santoro, from episode 24 of Tales to Terrify audio magazine.

How did you come to be a reader? Do you have early memories of learning to read?

What are your favorite authors reading?

My typically discombobulated post several days ago (Organic Reading) caused some confusion.

One of the revelations I had that prompted me to put that list together is that I’m simply overwhelmed with the amount of reading material that’s available to me.

It’s certainly more than I can ever or ever will read, regardless of how short the material is or what format it is in.

How do we filter through this tsunami of stuff?

One way I found is to look at what my favorite authors are reading.

I really like reading Mike Allen’s material, and so I started looking at the authors that he seems to respect–likes well enough to include in his Clockwork Phoenix Anthologies. That plan has worked out well for me so far.

Do you know what reading tastes some of your favorite authors have?

Organic Reading Material

so. Ahem. I have this sort of book blog, you know, but …er, I have finished exactly three books since January 2012. That’s three books in six months.

hum.
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I have started more than 40 books. I have completed about the first 1/3 of all of these books and I fully intend to go back and finish them. I do! I will go back and finish these books because they’re well written and I like the characters and I want to know what hap…*yawn*…pens.

Is it me? Is it my concentration issues flaring up again? Is it my cynical intolerance for the same old shit over and over again that’s preventing me from completing a novel? Am I just a snotty asshole? Am I losing interest in reading altogether?

Like Sherlock, shooting holes in the wall: I’m bored.

I’ll tell you what I am reading. I am reading the short stories collected in Mike Allen’s Clockwork Phoenix anthologies. I am going out and seeking the books/stories/poems/art/podcasts/whatevers that these writers have gone on to publish since these anthologies were published. It’s tough to list these finds on my list of books that I’ve read (adding to that number “three” up there, I mean) because much of this material isn’t a book.

These are (note that I’m adding these links here with the intention that you will follow them and thus be able to help me figure out what I’ve found):

I’m working out why these stories and writers are so intriguing. I’m trying to put quantifications on how these writers are pushing boundaries. I don’t think I have the literature and vocabulary skills to be able to do that, but I do know that the beta-reading project I’m doing for Mike Allen is clogging up my brains and getting in the way of every other novel I’ve tried to read since starting that project in January.

I am devouring this new wave of story-telling-whatever-this-meta-trans-media-multi-genre-stuff. Not all of these are novels, or even written word, but they’re all new ways to tell a story. I’m excited to see how this develops as we shed the need for mass-market paperbacks. To make the food metaphor: just because it’s organic doesn’t make it appetizing.

Maybe I’m not book bored. Maybe I just have new appetites?

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Social What-Ifs

One of the cool things about science fiction and fantasy is the speculation part, the social experimentation possibilities.

What happens to a bunch of strangers trapped in a tin can on an interstellar journey? Do they kill each other before they get there?

Let’s imagine a Midaeval-style feudal system but let women and men have equal gender roles. How would that work?

Know what I mean? The what ifs don’t only apply to technology.

Have you read any books that do this particularly well, that made you think about the experiment?

Any that were especially short-sighted or missed the point of Speculative Fiction?

What are you reading now?

I love seeing people read in public, out and about with their nose in a book, and I always want to stop and ask them –Hey! Whaddya reading?

I love reading a paperback while walking hither and yon and stumbling into the car stopped at the light, look up, and see the driver smiling and chuckling at me–she’s been there, done that, and I know she wants to know what’s got me so riveted.

My bud reads at the factory’s quality lab cafeteria lunch room. Every day. The incessant chatter and lunchtime bitch and moan sessions do not bother her in the least. Gosh! What is she reading that she can tune all that out?

I’ve seen women Of A Certain Age accompany their husbands to the movies. But while he’s watching it, eyes aglow, she’s got her nose in a book–she’s blind as a bat but she can see those words in the ultra-dim theater. Rlly? What is she reading that is more exciting than the moving picture?

The hubs and I decided we were OK for a second date, when, on the first, we both secretively tried to read under the table–and we were both reading William Gibson. (no, really!) *love!* What are you reading?

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Ok- the floor is open to discussion for Friday Chat: What are you reading now?

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The Zombie Shuffle

I can make it down to the gas station!

Not fast, and not gracefully, but it is sort of a jog that gets me there.

Taking my inspiration from Dresden, my Zombie Plan is to Run Away! To be honest, I’m a little intimidated by all the Real runners and marathoners that are in this town. My “run” is really not much more than a Zombie-Shuffle. But that’s Ok. When I stopped running with the intention to lose weight and started running for the sake of running it became a lot more bearable.

But even so, it’s more fun (less awful?) to exercise to a story, be it audiobook, paper book, or television or movie show.

I found it very helpful when I had access to a park to run, er… shuffle… to audio books, and The Dresden Files were the best.

(Now my goal is to not get smashed in the road via oncoming traffic, so not having my ears plugged helps in that endeavour.)

If you are starting on a Zombie Plan involving better eating and exercise, this is a lame encouragement to say “Keep Going!”

Why is this on Friday Chat? Do you exercise to audio books or TV? Are you one of those awesome people who can actually read while on a stationary bike without getting sick or falling off?

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