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29 October 2010

Teaser Tuesday: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I am a bit late with this LOL I had a migraine on Tuesday, and work has kept me too busy to post.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers: 


Tommy thought it possible the guardians had, throughout all our years at Hailsham, timed very carefully and deliberately everything they told us, so that we were always just too young to understand properly the latest piece of informatuion. But of course we'd take it in at some level, so that before long all this stuff was there in out heads without use ever having examined it properly.
Page 81 of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Hey There Cthulhu


This is my new favourite song!



Apparently you can buy it {here} - I am quite tempted. I am now obsessed with this song! :D

25 October 2010

Manic Monday: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro & Caleb by Sarah McCarty


Each Monday (or the closest I can get to Monday) I will be posting a Past/Present/Future Reading Post called Manic Monday. Don't hate me if I post it on a Tuesday - it just indicates how "manic" my Monday really was! If you want to see more of what I have been reading, I try and update my Goodreads account with each book I am reading.


What I just finished reading
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
Stars: 4/5





Blurb from Goodreads:
As the carrier of a rare gene, Sirantha Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace—a talent which makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. Then a crash landing kills everyone on board, leaving Jax in a jail cell with no memory of the crash. But her fun's not over. A group of rogue fighters frees her…for a price: her help in overthrowing the established order.


Why I picked it up: Rosie lent  books to me, and out of the books she lent Grimspace had the prettiest cover.
Why I finished it: It was such a fascinating story. I think I became an Ann Aguirre fan! Both Rosie and Kat have been saying I should try her books, and I can see why. The story was unique, the writing was good, and the characters interesting.
I'd give it to: Fans of urban fantasy. I know it is a science fiction, but it reads like a Patricia Briggs/Devon Monk/Ilona Andrews style urban fantasy. I've already recommended it to Dan Dan who is a fan of those authors :)


What I am reading now


Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro



Blurb from Goodreads:
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.


Caleb by Sarah McCarty

Blurb from Goodreads:
Allie always desired mysterious, sexy rancher Caleb Johnson, but he never seemed to notice her. Until the night she's attacked by a vicious animal, and rescued by a shapeshifting vampire that she almost seems to recognize: the baritone growl, the mesmerizing eyes, the inexplicable animal attraction. That's because her savior is Caleb, and now he has no choice but to bring Allie into the shadows with him-to protect her from a rival werewolf pack, and to finally reveal his true feelings for the woman he's been afraid to love.

What I am reading next
The second Ann Aguirre book




BTT: Foreign




Booking Through Thursday asks:

Name a book from a country other than your own that you love. Or aren’t there any?

I read books regardless of the country they are written in. I love Australian authors, but I love a lot of authors who are not Australian. I pity anyone who only reads books written by their fellow country(wo)men because they are missing out on the richness and diversity that abounds in this big wide world of ours. If the last five books you have read were written in your own country, I recommend you pick the next one from another country, or even another continent. Each country has a different flavour to it's writing. This changes from author to author, but I have noticed that Australian authors have a different tone from New Zealand, English, American, Canadian, Chinese, Japanese or Lebanese authors. I will not list my favourite non-Australian authors here, there are too many. But I will mention some authors I recommend who aren't American or English that you may not have read and should give a chance:

  • Randolph Stowe - Australia
  • Isobelle Carmody - Australia
  • Charles de Lint - Canada
  • Nalini Singh - New Zealand
  • Angelica Gorodischer - Argentina

Can you recommend others?



19 October 2010

Teaser Tuesday: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers: 



All we could see really was a dark fringe of trees, but I certainly wasn't the only one of my age to feel their presence day and night. When it got bad, it was like they cast a shadow over the whole of Hailsham; all you had to do was turn your head or move towards a window and there they'd be, looming in the distance.
Page 49 of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

18 October 2010

Manic Monday: Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur, Grimspace by Ann Aguirre and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro


Each Monday (or the closest I can get to Monday) I will be posting a Past/Present/Future Reading Post called Manic Monday. Don't hate me if I post it on a Tuesday - it just indicates how "manic" my Monday really was! If you want to see more of what I have been reading, I try and update my Goodreads account with each book I am reading.


What I just finished reading
Genuine Lies by Nora Roberts
Stars: 4/5



Blurb from Goodreads:
When a renowned writer with a fierce drive to discover the truth agrees to pen the biography of a Hollywood film legend, she encounters resistance from the woman's stepson after she tries to dig into the woman's past. First time in hardcover.

Why I picked it up: I needed something to take with me on my travels yesterday.
Why I finished it: I got into the intrigue of the story and couldn't remember who the killer was.
I'd give it to: Nora Roberts fans.


What I am reading now

I am going to be reviewing for Love Books and the first one I am to review is Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur. I like her Riley series, so I don't see any hardship in having this review finished by Wednesday. I haven't been in a reading mood in the last couple of days, and have been watching dvds instead. I feel really bad about not reading but when I can't concentrate, it is best not to push myself! Wish me luck with this review LOL

Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur



Blurb from Goodreads:
In this exciting debut, author Keri Arthur explodes onto the supernatural scene with a sexy, sensuous tale of intrigue and suspense set in a world where legends walk and the shady paths of the underworld are far more sinister than anyone envisioned.

A rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, Riley Jenson and her twin brother, Rhoan, work for Melbourne’s Directorate of Other Races, an organization created to police the supernatural races–and protect humans from their depredations. While Rhoan is an exalted guardian, a.k.a. assassin, Riley is merely an office worker–until her brother goes missing on one of his missions. The timing couldn’t be worse. More werewolf than vampire, Riley is vulnerable to the moon heat, the weeklong period before the full moon, when her need to mate becomes all-consuming.…

Luckily Riley has two willing partners to satisfy her every need. But she will have to control her urges if she’s going to find her brother….Easier said than done as the city pulses with frenzied desire, and Riley is confronted with a very powerful–and delectably naked–vamp who raises her temperature like never before.

In matters carnal, Riley has met her match. But in matters criminal, she must follow her instincts not only to find her brother but to stop an unholy harvest. For someone is doing some shifty cloning in an attempt to produce the ultimate warrior–by tapping into the genome of nonhumans like Rhoan. Now Riley knows just how dangerous the world is for her kind–and just how much it needs her.


Grimspace by Ann Aguirre



Blurb from Goodreads:
As the carrier of a rare gene, Sirantha Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace—a talent which makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. Then a crash landing kills everyone on board, leaving Jax in a jail cell with no memory of the crash. But her fun's not over. A group of rogue fighters frees her…for a price: her help in overthrowing the established order.




Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro



Blurb from Goodreads:
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.


What I am reading next
Rosie (@Fangbooks on Twitter) lent me a big juicy bag of books! I am tossing up whether to read the second Ann Aguirre book straight away, or read about cowboy vampires... decisions decisions...




BTT: Meme of Reading Questions

I didn’t have an answer for Thursday’s Booking Through Thursday, so instead I responded to a previous week’s entry and completed this meme. You can find it here: http://btt2.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/meme-of-reading-questions


Favorite childhood book?
Anything by Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl.

What are you reading right now?
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and Grimspace by Ann Aguirre.

What books do you have on request at the library?
I don’t have any on request. I used to do that all the time, because libraries never have the whole series and rarely had the books I wanted to read. I now have a book store that specialises in speculative fiction and a full time job, so I can afford to buy books now instead of maxing out my library card.

Bad book habit?
Eating while I am reading and I sometimes forget that I am not meant to dog-ear.

What do you currently have checked out at the library?
It is on my mother’s card in Queensland, and it is Jim Butcher’s Storm Front.

Do you have an e-reader?
No, but I am planning to get a Sony Reader in the next few months.

Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I can’t read just one book at a time. I get bored!

Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
No. The only thing that is changed is that I now feel guilty about not writing reviews about books. Since I started reading book blogs my patterns have changed, but I also joined a paranormal romance book club and became more active on twitter so I think my reading choices aren’t due to blogging, but to networking. I had previously run forum for readers, and before that I was global moderator at another forum for nerds and geeks but they just perpetuated my reading patterns, not introduced me to new books, authors, genres or approaches. I think it is just that I have changed genres and chatting to so many bibliophobes about those genres on twitter that has changed my outlook on the book community.

Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Storm Front by Jim Butcher.

Favorite book you’ve read this year?
I don’t know. I have read a lot of books, discovered a lot of new authors and loved reading a lot of the books I read. They have all sort of blurred together by now. I would have to look at my read list to tell you, and that is scrawled through several notebooks at home. Yes, I know, I really need to update my 2010 list *sigh*

How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Not often. However, I joined a non-specific book club, and my friend’s sister suggested Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I do not choose to read Chick Lit (which I see separate to the romance genre) or contemporary fiction. If I could go and hide under a rock instead of reading that book I would! But she is reading my book (Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro) so I should read hers.

What is your reading comfort zone?
Speculative Fiction. I read urban and epic fantasy, paranormal romance, dark fantasy, science fiction and some dystopian fiction.

Can you read on the bus?
No, but I can read on a train :)

Favorite place to read?
In bed or in a park or at the beach.

What is your policy on book lending?
As long as I can trust them not to be ruined. I have had to curtail my lending to fellow bibliophiles as my books were being mutilated (who puts contact on someone else’s books?! And who scores the cover of a book then hands it back the day before the book was to be autographed?!?!?!?! Grrr!).

Do you ever dog-ear books?
I grew up dog-earring books and didn’t realise I shouldn’t. It was a learnt behaviour and very hard to get out of! I still forget sometimes and dog-ear but now I mostly use bookmarks.

Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Only my own text books and only in pencil.

Not even with text books?
Only with text books ;-p

What is your favorite language to read in?
English, but I love translating Old English. It is such a rich, poetic and beautiful language!

What makes you love a book?
Let me count the ways….

What will inspire you to recommend a book?
If a book is so good I can’t put it down, or think of anything else but that book until it is finished, I will proclaim my love to the world! If I read a book and think someone might like it, I will tell them so :)

Favorite genre?
At the moment it is Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance. I can’t always tell the difference and I think of them as one genre on a scale of hot or not ;)

Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Classics. I do read them, but I can’t concentrate too much at the moment as my brain cavity is full of a mushy liquid which isn’t conductive to critical reading. So I read trashy paperbacks instead LOL

Favorite biography?
I don’t read biographies.

Have you ever read a self-help book?
Well, that is a two part answer actually. I read some inspirational books in the past (I liked Aman Cara by John O'Donohue) and I read books about my health issues. They aren’t “self-help” and I wouldn’t choose to say I read self-help books. I think that genre is full of a lot of crackpots, scam artists and very few books that are actually going to help people in the long run.

Favorite cookbook?
I have an Australian Woman’s Weekly Cookbook from the Seventies. It has a lot of recipes, both traditional Australian and world cuisine. I cook a meal from it, and then I change it to suit me, my style and my food limitations. I first made Spaghetti Bolognese from this book when I was about 10. In the 15+ years since, I have changed it beyond recognition. However, I wouldn’t have my current SpagBol without that book!

Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
I am not sure, perhaps Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet?

Favorite reading snack?
Corn chips… It is a dirty little habit I picked up as a child. I don’t buy them much these days because I can eat a whole packet in a day when reading a good book.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Wuthering Heights.

How often do you agree with critics about a book?
I don’t pay attention to critics. I do read genre reviews for speculative fiction subgenres, but that is more to see if I will find the book interesting enough to purchase.

How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
It depends on the book. If the book is just mediochre, I will say so. If they book is blatantly sexist, racist, or other types of bigotry, if it is badly written or edited, I will explain my displeasure.

If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
Spanish, Latin or Greek. Or maybe French?

Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Intimidating? I have read those I wanted to read and concquered them, no longer finding them “intimidating”. I cannot think of any I have found intimidating. Maybe Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in Middle English or William Langland’s Piers Plowman. I didn’t find them intimidating, but they were in Middle English, so it wasn’t a matter of translating the entire book, but those words I didn’t know or guess. I didn’t find them hard to read, but it was definitely time consuming, as I had to find the meanings for a lot of the words. I wasn’t able to read them on public transport because I was constantly comparing words in my Middle English dictionary LOL

Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Tolstoy’s War and Peace. It is one of the books I will read in my life time but…

Favorite Poet?
Henry Kendall, William Blake and “Anonymous” in relation to Old English (Beowulf, The Dream of the Rood, The Battle of Maldon, etc.).

How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
I used to have my cards maxed out and I was a member of multiple libraries. Now I buy books and my local libraries are so tiny they don’t have anything interesting that I haven’t read.

How often have you returned book to the library unread?
Not often.

Favorite fictional character?
Just one? *whimpers*

Favorite fictional villain?
Any that are dastardly yet dashing! They usually have a misplaced vendetta theme. You can’t really hate them as they usually are working through their own issues. The other villain theme I love is the big bad! Think Mama Noir (LKH), Sauron (LOTR), the Sith lords (SW), etc. They tend to be seen as the antithesis of “good” and the heroes are against them, but their forms are hard to grasp, as are their morals, true motivations and their origins tend to be lost in the mists of time. They are just too big to fully comprehend.

Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
As many as possible! I normally bring one easy read (trashy paperback of any of my genres) and one not so easy read (classic, literature or a big doorstop of a book from one of my genres) and then any other books I can fit in my luggage.

The longest I’ve gone without reading.
During my university studies I banned fiction during the semester. The only fiction I let myself read was books related to the subjects I was studying, and volumes of short stories and poetry. If I had a light load, I would let myself read one novel during the study break (normally between week 10 and 11 of the 13 week semester). Some people may shrug and say 10-18 weeks isn’t long, but for me it was agony! Ever since I learnt to read I was a voracious reader, and even before that my Dad read to me every night. I have been surrounding myself with stories for all of my life, and to be separated from them was absolute agony. Then of course, between semesters I would glut on books. Luckily reading can’t give you indigestion!

Name a book that you could/would not finish.
I still haven’t finished Wuthering Heights although this is the second time I have attempted it. I am about half way through – which is where I stopped last time. I tell myself I will finish it this time, but it is my back up book. By that I mean I only read it when I haven’t anything else to read.

What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Nothing.

Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
Stardust.

Most disappointing film adaptation?
Troy. Where the hell were the gods? Everything in The Iliad happened because of the machinations of the gods! NOT IMPRESSED!

The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
$250+ for a text book. $50 for a copy of the Mabinogion which was illustrated by Alan Lee.

How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Never.

What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Boredom or abhorrent subject matter (normally bigotry of some description).

Do you like to keep your books organized?
Yes. I don’t organise by alphabetical order, but I do organise by genre, then book format (trade, mass market, hardcover), then by series/author in order. At the moment I am in despair as I have run out of space and all my books are shoved anywhere I can fit them. There is no order and it is driving me crazy!

Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
I keep all books! I did a big cleanout of my books when I was 16, and I have regretted it ever since! The full set of Enid Blyton – gone! Nancy Drew – gone! Hardy boys – gone! Roald Dahl – gone! John Marsden – gone! Louisa May Alcott – gone! Isobelle Carmody – gone! Well, you get the point! So I no longer get rid of my books. I have had one cull in the last ten years, but they were using Book Mooch, and I got books back in return. If I hate a book, I will give it to someone else who might enjoy it.

Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
Chick lit, contemporary fiction and Christian fiction mostly. My mother is always trying to pass Christian books off onto me. The current one is The Shack which uses allegories for Christianity. Mum really loves it, and keep raving about it during my visit home at the beginning of the month. She really wants me to read it *sigh*

Name a book that made you angry.
Any book that is racist, sexist or has sexual abuse scenarios where the perpetrator doesn’t die horribly.

A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.

A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
Storm Front by Jim Butcher.

Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Nora Roberts, Jane Austen, David Gemmell or Charles de Lint.


12 October 2010

Teaser Tuesday: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro


Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teasers: 


'Quiet' places were often the worst, because there was always someone likely to be passing within earshot. And as soon as you looked like you were trying to sneak off for a secret talk, the whole place seemed to sense it within minutes, and you'd have no chance.
Page 22 of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Manic Monday: Grimspace by Ann Aguirre & Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro


Each Monday (or the closest I can get to Monday) I will be posting a Past/Present/Future Reading Post called Manic Monday. Don't hate me if I post it on a Tuesday - it just indicates how "manic" my Monday really was! If you want to see more of what I have been reading, I try and update my Goodreads account with each book I am reading.


What I just finished reading
I can't remember the last real book I finished reading. I have been flicking back and forth... I am on a book ban, and it is driving me crazy! I read a bunch of my mumma's M&B when I was visiting her last week because I couldn't concentrate on my book for book club.

What I am reading now
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre



Blurb from Goodreads:
As the carrier of a rare gene, Sirantha Jax has the ability to jump ships through grimspace—a talent which makes her a highly prized navigator for the Corp. Then a crash landing kills everyone on board, leaving Jax in a jail cell with no memory of the crash. But her fun's not over. A group of rogue fighters frees her…for a price: her help in overthrowing the established order.

Grimspace was lent by Rosie, and I don't take borrowed books away from my room. When I am not at home I am reading:

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro



Blurb from Goodreads:
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.


What I am reading next
Rosie (@Fangbooks on Twitter) just lent me a big juicy bag of books! I am spoilt for choices!!! Isn't she lovely!!! :D




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