Posted: 2018/12/10 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: audio book, Book Reviews, BookLust I, Fiction | Tags: 2018, audio book, book lust i, book review, childrens book, december, fantasy, Philip Pullman, series |
Pullman, Philip. The Subtle Knife. Scholastic UK, 2007.
Pullman, Philip. The Subtle Knife. New York: Listening Library, 2000.
Reason read: to continue the series started in November in honor of National Writing Month.
In The Golden Compass Pullman introduced his readers to the possibility of more than one universe. He hinted there were actually three – the one we were in currently, a completely different universe and a third being a combination of the two. In The Subtle Knife we experience those different worlds first hand as Lyra and her new friend, Will Parry, move between them to escape their enemies. In The Golden Compass readers were also introduced to daemons. Now, we learn that people without daemons are without free will. They lack fear and imagination so they make perfect soldiers for the evil Mrs. Coulter. In addition to Mrs. Coulter, the otherworld of Cittagazze hides other enemies. Soul-eating Specters haunt the streets while children run wild without daemons or parents and rule Lord-of-the-Flies style.
As Lyra and Will travel from world to world they discover the Subtle Knife, a blade that can cut through anything. It’s power has yet to be fully understood.
Author fact: Pullman helped perform the audio version of The Subtle Knife.
Book Audio trivia: The Subtle Knife won an Audie Award in 2000.
Nancy said: The Subtle Knife is an “epic battle btween good and evil” (Book Lust p 209).
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Romans-Fleuves” (p 209).
Posted: 2018/11/01 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: Fiction | Tags: audio book, books, childrens book, Confessional, Dorothy Dunnett, e-books, fantasy, Fiction, historical, homosexuality, humor, insane moments, Isabel Miller, lesbian, Leslie Silko, lists, Martha Beck, Michael Malone, Morocco, motherhood, native american, new york, NonFiction, Philip Pullman, reading, real estate, series, Steven Millhauser, Tahir Shah |
What do you do when the most inappropriate sentiment unexpectedly comes out of someone’s mouth? A confession that should never have left the lips of the confessor? Instead of thinking of the actions I should take I chose to take none. I do nothing. Distance makes it easy to ignore and deny. When I can’t avoid I read. Here are the books started for November:
Fiction:
- Foolscap, or, the Stages of Love by Michael Malone – Malone was born in the month of November; reading in his honor.
- Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko – in honor of November being Native American Heritage month.
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman – November is National Writing month. Choosing fantasy for this round.
- Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller – Routsong’s birth month was in November. Reading in her honor.
- Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser – reading in honor of Millhauser’s birth place, New York City.
Nonfiction:
- Expecting Adam: a True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic by Martha Beck – in honor of my mother’s birth month.
- The Caliph’s House by Tahir Shah – in honor of Morocco’s independence was gained in November.
Series continuation:
- Scales of Gold by Dorothy Dunnett – to continue the series started in honor of Dunnett’s birth month in August.
Fun: nothing decided yet.
Early Review: I have been chosen to receive an early review but I will refrain from naming it in case it doesn’t arrive.
Posted: 2018/09/05 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: BookLust I, BookLust II, E-Books, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: africa, Arnaldur Indridason, audio book, books, Bryce Courtenay, chick lit, china, civil war, colorado, crime, Donna Jo Napoli, Dorothy Dunnett, e-books, Early Review, Ed McBain, fairy tale, greece, historical, Iceland, india, Isabella Bird, Kerstin Ekman, Kirsty Needham, librarything, lists, mystery, NonFiction, Nora Roberts, Peter Bridgford, romance, Rona Jaffe, series, Sofka Zinovieff, sweden, Tarquin Hall, travel, women |
So. I’ve done a few short runs here and there. Nothing crazy, but at least I’m back in it somewhat. Spent more time with the books. Speaking of which, here they are:
Fiction:
- Under the Snow by Kerstin Ekman (EB/print)
- The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
- The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall (AB)
- Crazy Jack by Donna Jo Napoli (EB)
- Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (EB)
- Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett (EB/print)
- Daring to Dream by Nora Roberts (EB)
Nonfiction:
- A Season in Red: My Great Leap Forward into the New China by Kirsty Needham
- A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella L. Bird
- Eurydice Street by Sofka Zinovieff
Series continuation:
- Arctic Chill by Arnuldur Indridason (EB/print) – which I forgot to mention when I was plotting the month. It’s the last book of the series -that I’m reading. (There are others.)
- Big Bad City by Ed McBain
LibraryThing Early Review:
- Where Eagles Dare Not Perch by Peter Bridgford (EB) – which came after I plotted the month of reading so it wasn’t mentioned before.
Posted: 2018/08/01 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: audio book, E-Books, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: Athens, audio book, books, Bryce Courtenay, chick lit, china, colorado, crime, Donna Jo Napoli, Ed McBain, fairytale, Fiction, greece, india, Isabella Bird, Kerstin Ekman, Kirsty Needham, list, memoir, mystery, NonFiction, Nora Roberts, romance, Rona Jaffe, series, Sofka Zinovieff, sweden, Tarquin Hall, travel |
Since the Run for Nancy was only a few days ago I am still on a high from not only running four miles, but running four miles without pain. No pain whatsoever. The pain is so gone it’s as if I imagined the whole thing. Weird. Weird. Weird. As for books, since I don’t have any other running plans in the near future:
Fiction:
- The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe – in honor of August being Chick Lit month.
- The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay – in honor of Courtenay’s birth month being in August.
- Daring to Dream by Nora Roberts – in honor of August being Dream Month (hey, I read it somewhere).
- Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnett – in honor of Dunnett’s birth month being in August.
- The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall – in honor of Rajir Ratna Gandhi’s birth in August.
Nonfiction:
- A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Bird – in honor of Colorado becoming a state in August.
- Eurydice Street: a Place in Athens by Sofka Zinovieff – in honor of the Dormition of the Holy Virgin.
- A Season in Red by Kirsty Needham – in honor of the Double Seven festival in China.
Series continuations:
- The Big Bad City by Ed McBain – to continue the series started in July.
If there is time:
Fiction:
- Under the Snow by Kerstin Ekman – in honor of Ekman’s birth month.
- Crazy Jack by Donna Jo Napoli – in honor of Fairy Tale Month.
Posted: 2018/06/19 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: Book Reviews, Fiction, Lust To Go | Tags: 2018, Arnaldur Indridason, audio book, book lust iii, book review, Fiction, Iceland, june, murder, mystery |
Indridason, Arnaldur. Jar City. Read by George Guidall. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2011.
Reason read: Icelandic National Day is in June.
Arnaldur Indridason doesn’t sugarcoat his protagonists with sweet personalities. They aren’t perfect people with mundane lives. Inspector Erlender is a divorced father with a drug addicted daughter living on the fringe of society. She occasionally scrounges Erlender’s flat for money or a meal. And like any parent who loves his child to the brink of insanity, Erlender takes whatever attention he can get from her. In the meantime, he has a murder to solve. An elderly man has been bashed in the head with an ashtray. It wasn’t a robbery so who would want to kill a frail and quiet man in his 70s? As Erlender digs into the victim’s past he uncovers horrible truths about the dead man. An unsolved cold case suddenly heats up and Erlender discovers just how complicated blood ties can be.
Author fact: Arnaldur won the Glass Key award in 2002.
Narrator fact: Guidall also narrated A Widow For One Year by John Irving. I knew his voice sounded familiar.
Book trivia: Jar City is not the first in a series of Reykjavik thrillers. Sons of Dust is the first to feature Erlender.
Nancy said: “The mysteries of Arnaldur Indridason are fine examples of police procedurals” (Book Lust To Go p 99). She also mentioned reading them in order which I really appreciated since she doesn’t often do that.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called simply “Iceland” (p 99).
Posted: 2018/06/18 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: Book Reviews, BookLust I, NonFiction | Tags: 2018, audio book, book lust i, book review, jon kabat zinn, june, meditation, NonFiction, self help |
Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Mindfulness Meditation: Cultivating the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind. Read by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 1995
Reason read: Jon Kabat-Zinn was born in the month of June. Read in his honor.
Maybe this doesn’t come out when reading Jon Kabat-Zinn’s work. Maybe one needs to listen to his books on audio because before now I never realized Jon Kabat-Zinn is really funny. Everything he talks about in Mindfulness Meditation makes perfect sense but it’s laced with humor I hadn’t noticed before. The other benefit to listening to Mindfulness Meditation is being able to hear the bells he rings during the practice.
Mindfulness Meditation is all about playing attention to world around you in minute detail. His prime example is to focus on eating just one raisin but don’t just throw it into your mouth. Really look at it. Get all five senses involved in looking at it, feeling it, smelling it, and even putting it in your ear to hear it crackle (I kid you not). Finally, when you put it in your mouth to taste it you savor it slowly, again paying attention to how it feels while you chew. Kabat-Zinn goes beyond the raisin and explains that meditation is not about emptying your mind to alleviate stress. It’s all about focusing the mind to transform the way you think and deal with life.
So, time for some truth. I listened to this in the car on the way up to Maine. It is only two cds long so it took me no time at all.
Author fact: Maybe I have already mentioned this, but JKZ is associated with the University of Massachusetts.
Nancy said: Nancy includes Kabat-Zinn because “he advocates the techniques of Vipnassana meditation to help lower stress, reduce anxiety, and deal less frantically with the everyday world” (Book Lust p 110).
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Help Yourself” (p 109).
Posted: 2018/06/01 | Author: gr4c5 | Filed under: audio book, E-Books, Fiction, NonFiction | Tags: africa, Alice Adams, Arnaldur Andridason, audio book, autobiography, books, Dan White, e-books, Elizabeth Lowell, Fiction, hiking, homosexuality, humor, Iceland, Janet Frame, jon kabat zinn, Kuki Gallman, lists, meditation, memoir, Michael Oren, middle east, mystery, New Zealand, Nicholas Drayson, NonFiction, Paul Monette, romance, self help, series, short stories, war |
June is going to go by lightning fast. For starters, there is a concert in Bangor, Maine that I cannot wait for! Then, a concert at home. After that, a week later, an art show reception for my talented sister’s work. Then, a vacation with my best friend (Maine for the third weekend in a row). I will have many opportunities to read. Hence, the huge list:
Fiction:
- Confessing a Murder by Nicholas Drayson – in honor of the first month of boating weather (EB & print).
- Stories of Alice Adams by Alice Adams – June is short story month (EB & print).
- Afterlife by Paul Monette – in honor of gay and lesbian pride month (EB & print).
- Jar City by Arnaldur Andridason – National Icelandic Day is in June (AB).
Nonfiction:
- Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Middle East by Michael B. Oren – the Six Day War started in June.
- Cactus Eaters: How I Lost My Mind and Almost Found Myself by Dan White – June is national hiking month.
- I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallman – in honor of Gallman’s birth month.
- Mindfulness Meditation by Jon Kabat-Zinn – in honor of Zinn’s birth month.
Series continuations:
- Pearl Cove by Elizabeth Lowell – to continue the series started in April in honor of Lowell’s birth month.
- Envoy From Mirror City by Janet Frame – to finish the series started in April in honor of New Zealand’s Anzac Day.
