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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 30, 2010 17:55:18 GMT -6
I didn't put any books on my Christmas list ... and when I do, I don't usually get them. (No list, no present. Ba Humbug!) I have gotten books for Christmas in the past, but I've only read about one of them, they weren't books on my list, and if I'm gonna read a book it's usually one from my _HUGE_ TBR piles. --I say piles because I have them grouped: 1) Childrens/YA Fiction (Mixed Genre) [which I'm reading because I write for children/YA - and because they're good reads too], 2) Adult Fiction (Mixed Genres: Romance, Horror, ChickLit, etc.), & 3) NonFiction [books on writing, grammar, jewelry making, art, etc.].
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Post by Phalon on Dec 30, 2010 23:35:46 GMT -6
Sheesh, Joxie....just how many books do you have in those To Be Read piles?! It sounds like a lot.
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 30, 2010 23:45:33 GMT -6
It is way more than a lot. A lot is not that much compared to my TBR piles. It wouldn't really take much to dwindle them down though, if I'd just get in the reading mood. Depending on the size of the books, I can read 1 in a day or two. Some might take longer. I just gotta get motivated. I think MySpace & Twitter took over that time span ... although I seem to have lost interest in those of late. And the last two weeks I've been watching Roswell instead of spending a lot of time online. Maybe I'll continue that with reading. Or, instead of watching 4 to 8, or even 10 eps at once, I can watch a couple and then read.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 31, 2010 0:00:13 GMT -6
I've been wondering where you've been off to, (which is very poor grammar, I know, but it's late). Ten episodes at once though!!!! Oh-my-gosh, and I feel overload sometimes watching three episodes of Criminal Minds, (it comes on back-to-back-to-back on Ion television).
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 31, 2010 0:33:48 GMT -6
I needed to veg out. It took my mind off of stuff that was really getting me down. It was getting really dark, and so I lightened the mood by blasting myself with a Roswell marathon distraction. But when I got to the end of season 3 I still needed the distraction, so I decided to just start back at the beginning again. (Instead of watching something else.) I kind of daydreamed through most of season 3 by the time I got through it again, so I knew I was ready to lay off the marathon.
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Post by Phalon on Dec 31, 2010 7:25:04 GMT -6
Hey, whatever works, right?
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Post by Mini Mia on Dec 31, 2010 17:10:47 GMT -6
Yeppers. This ostrich loves a good marathon to help put blinders on all the outside depressing crap that drags it down.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 1, 2011 22:44:54 GMT -6
Avalon High by Meg Cabot
I've not seen the Disney movie yet.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 6, 2011 0:39:18 GMT -6
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
I got the book because I liked the movie. 664 pages of small type. I forced myself to read at least 100 pages per day to get it out of the way so I could read something else. Not a book I would have read had I not seen the movie. I guess I'm a genre reader. And I ain't ashamed of that fact either. I had no problem putting this book down.
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Post by Phalon on Jan 6, 2011 8:23:01 GMT -6
I've done that too - forced myself to read something I wasn't really interested in finishing, but had to finish just because I started. Sometimes it'll take me a while - months, even years, and a lot of other reading in-between - but if I start it, eventually I'll have to finish it.
The only book I can't remember sticking through to the end was "Dr. Zhivago"; I just couldn't muster the interest after just a few pages. I haven't seen the entire movie either; that I would be interested in sticking through from beginning to end, (though I've seen the ending).
I'm not quite sure that I'm understanding. You are a reader that likes only certain genres? Or is a "genre reader" a term in itself?
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 6, 2011 17:30:19 GMT -6
I made myself finish it for two reasons. 1) I paid for it. 2) I liked the movie and wanted to see if it followed the book, or took liberties.
As for 'genre' reader. There are people who only read 'literary' works and consider 'genre' beneath them. Me, I like a good read, no matter the 'genre,' but, as of this date, 'literary' works don't seem to appeal to me. I'm probably just reading the wrong 'literary' works. I'm sure there are good ones out there, I just haven't come across them yet.
Stephenie Meyer and her books get a lot of flack, but at least those books kept me reading ... not wanting to put them down to eat, sleep, etc. Not that I haven't read bad 'genre.' I have. I just seem to prefer it to 'literary.' So far, anyways. I haven't read 'East of Eden' yet. Or the 'North & South' trilogy either. I like the movies/mini-series' though, so I'm holding out hope. Maybe I'll bump them to the top. Think I'll read a couple of 'genre' books first though ... sandwich them inbetween somewhere.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 6, 2011 17:58:10 GMT -6
Oh. Wow. Okay. Just remembering some books I read for school:
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy was okay. Not something I'd have picked for myself though.
The Call of the Wild & White Fang by Jack London were really good.
My Ántonia by Willa Cather ... loved that book.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare ... can't recall if I read the whole thing, or just the scene I needed to convert to modern day language in high school. Then I had to sketch the scene on stage from front and overhead.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was pretty good. I can't recall if I read it for school though. I kinda think maybe I did.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott was good too. I remember checking it out of the library in grade school, but I don't remember having to read it for class.
I think I've read:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer & The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - not sure if for school, maybe just for myself.
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (Disney Book version, not his novel.)
Started but yet to finish:
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Okay. I guess there are 'literary' works that appealed to me. I'm sure I read others for school, I just don't remember them. They didn't leave a mark.
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Post by Phalon on Jan 8, 2011 9:39:55 GMT -6
I thought all literature fell into one or more genres, yes? For example, though you're categorizing "East of Eden" and "Sense and Sensibility" as literary works, they both fall into the "Romance" genre. " Literature" is defined as "written works of a language, period, or culture. Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value". " Literary works" has even a broader definition: "the work of a writer; anything expressed in letters of the alphabet (especially when considered from the point of view of style and effect)" " Genre" described as "a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content". So those readers who consider "genre" beneath them are in effect saying that they are above anything written. You, on the other hand, although you don't care for some types of writing, are still a reader of literary works. See? I had to drill, btw, just to see how many different genres are out there. As listed in "Wikipedia" (take it for what it is), there are way, way too many to post. Here's the link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_literary_genres
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 8, 2011 18:14:20 GMT -6
I think those who hold literary works over genre believe that literary works contain only factual things. Everyday life, as you will. If it isn't in real life, it's genre. Such as: Fairies, vampires, witches, superpowers, etc.
Me, I don't care where a story fits. I only care that it's a good read.
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Post by Phalon on Jan 8, 2011 20:40:57 GMT -6
I disagree. For one example, even if a person doesn't like the story, how can someone not consider Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" a literary work, for god's sake? <shrugs> Whatever.
Me too.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 8, 2011 21:09:18 GMT -6
Honestly, I don't get it. As my comments can attest. I'm not a genre snob. I just know that there are those who are. I thought maybe I might be a 'literary' snob, but this discussion has changed my opinion.
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Post by Mini Mia on Jan 29, 2011 19:14:13 GMT -6
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Read half of it at the hospital while Mom had surgery to insert a tube in her abdomen for at-home dialysis, and finished the rest of it while staying at her house overnight.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 11, 2011 5:17:50 GMT -6
I've been getting my short story fix lately with NPR's Three-Minute Fiction contest. Yes, I did submit a story to this last round, purposely not reading any of the stories from previous rounds because I didn't want the quality of writing to dissuade me from entering.....and it would have; these stories are wonderful!!! In the six rounds, there are about 75 stories posted. I allowed myself just to read a few each day, and darn it, I'm caught up! I want more! I do not like, however, a lot of the nick-pickiness that goes on in the comment section after each story. It seems - and has been admitted by some - that there's a whole lot of 'since my story hasn't been picked as a favorite, I'm going to trash those that have'. Pfft. I stopped reading the comments for that reason. Just read the stories and enjoy. Here's the link: www.npr.org/series/105660765/three-minute-fictionI've also been reading "Love and Pasta" by Joe Vergara, a (former?) editor at Harper & Row. The book that's been on Mom's bookshelf for as long as I can remember (it was published in 1968) - I remember it because of the strange jacket cover; small, dizzying black and white checks with an older-style yellow, pink, purple and orange shoe on the front. It's a very sweet, sweet (so far) story of a boy growing up in an Italian-American family. His father is an Italian immigrant, and to his dismay, his family tries to "Americanize" him; to their dismay, he refuses to budge his set Old World ways. I drilled to see what else the author wrote, and get some background on "Love and Pasta"; the book is out-of-print. Other than used copies sold on Amazon and the like, the only site I found it listed was on Book-Crossing. Sadder still, was that it only made it through four readers before it was trashed due to missing pages.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 11, 2011 17:53:29 GMT -6
There are 21 copies at Alibris.com. I've bought quite a bit of used books from there.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 15, 2011 5:50:52 GMT -6
I finished "Love and Pasta". I expected some tragedy to occur, like the once boisterous, but now aging father to die, but the story remained sweet through the end. Just delicious slices of life from the memory of a man growing up in the 1920s. I thoroughly enjoyed it; it made me smile and laugh throughout the entire book.
I wonder if such a sweet story would get published (not self-published) today? I was talking with a guy whose son is in college majoring in English. The son's internship is at a publishing house where he's learning to become an editor...and thus, the guy said, his son's love of writing is starting to wane. He says it's due to the editing "formulas" - every publishing prospect must follow a certain formula of already successful published books; essentially the same story told in a different way. These formulas or criteria seem to quell imagination, thinks the son.
Back to "Love and Pasta"....when was the last time you read a book that was just a wonderfully nice story? No sex, no violence, no swearing, no self-indulgence, self-depreciation, therapy, blame, death, destruction, or negativity of any sort?
I've got a stack of books still waiting to be read, and this one this one is going to be hard to follow. I don't want the mood it left me in to be broken.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 26, 2011 19:25:09 GMT -6
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
I like both the book and the movie. I saw the movie first, so I don't mind the changes that were made.
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Post by Phalon on Feb 28, 2011 7:55:36 GMT -6
I took a side-trip from my Finish What I've Got On the Shelf journey through my bookcase, and read a newly published book, "Alice in Corporateland" by Joan Wendland.
It's a funny, satirical view of working in just about any profession, as Alice, late for a job interview, follows a white rabbit in a pin-striped suit and falls down into a paper pit. She tries, unsuccessfully at first, to claw her way out, running into all kinds of strange characters along the way, like the sharp-clawed fanged-smile disappearing Human Resources Cat.
I was pretty surprised to find my name mentioned at the end of the book on the "Acknowledgments" page for "creative camaraderie, support and just plain fun" - everyone in our group was mentioned.
Yep, "Alice in Corporateland" was written by my friend, and I'm quite proud of her; it's her second book, actually, both self-published. The first she published about 15 years ago, when anything self-published wasn't considered to be 'good enough' to be a "real book". Her book though, caught the eye of a movie producer, and filming was to begin in 2009....then the bottom dropped out of the economy, and the project was shelved.
This time around, with 'Alice', she went through iUniverse - the book is available on Kindle, Nook (Barnes and Noble's e-reader), and other e-readers I'm not familiar with. It's also available in hard-cover and paperback at Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. She received iUniverse's Editor's Choice Rising Star award, and they are republishing her first book.
Mentioning this, Joxie, because iUniverse might be something you'd be interested in. My friend was impressed with their work every step along the way; they provide one-on-one work with editors, proof-readers, cover artists, and such, along with all the promotional work after publishing that I've read is nearly a full-time job if you self-publish. It sounds kind like of like self-publishing but with a lot of the benefits of traditional publishers too.
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Post by Mini Mia on Feb 28, 2011 17:39:14 GMT -6
Thanks, Phalon. I've heard of iUniverse, and I believe they are far better than similar type indie-publishing companies. I've pretty much, kinda/sorta, decided I'd use Lulu, CreateSpace, Kindle, Smashwords, LightSource if I ever did finally get past the fear and indie-published. I'm thinking of starting out with short stuff. Short Stories, short-shorts, flash, etc. I haven't decided if it would be cheaper to find my own editers, cover artists, etc. or go with a package of some sort.
None of my decisions/indecisions are written in stone, so maybe I will change my mind at some point and go with iUniverse. If they have picture book illustrators, that might just be the push I need.
I wasn't online last night for two reasons. 1) Thunderstorms: but there were quiet times inbetween where I could have gotten online. 2) I finished reading 'Darkest Mercy' by Melissa Marr.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 1, 2011 5:52:18 GMT -6
Whichever way you go....whenever you go, Ms. Procrastinator, good luck to you!
I was wondering about that - I'd heard about the storms, flooding, and tornadoes down that way, and hoping they missed you. Good to know you weren't in the thick of it.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 1, 2011 18:28:22 GMT -6
Yeppers, I be Ms. Procrastinator.
And yeah, my area got off a bit easier than those around us.
Oh, by the way, I created threads/posts with links to your friends website. Don't know how much traffic that will bring her, but it won't hurt.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 2, 2011 5:10:39 GMT -6
You know, Joxie, that I only called you that because I am your sister in procrastination.
Only I go by the aliases Ms. Use of Time and Ms. Direction, which of course, lead to my third alias - Missus Opportunities.
Thanks for posting the links to Joan's site; I'm sure she'd appreciate it.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 2, 2011 17:39:02 GMT -6
You're very welcome, for the sharing of Joan's website. And yeppers, I know of your procrastination too. I figured you were Mrs. Procrastinator. Since you be married, and I not be.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 3, 2011 7:23:10 GMT -6
In this case, I can't call myself Mrs. Procrastinator....because that would imply I was married to Mr. Procrastinator, and Hubs is anything but. My procrastination used to drive him nuts; now he just shakes his head and rolls his eyes.....kind of the same way I do at his non-procrastination. Mr. Punctuality and Ms. Procrastinator - we definitely make an interesting pair.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 9, 2011 8:05:47 GMT -6
I finished "Julie & Julia" a few nights ago.....but had to let it digest before posting. No, not really - that just sounds like something that one would say after reading a book about cooking. Ok, maybe not.
Anyway....
Unlike other books, I didn't find myself doing a whole lot of comparing it to the movie which I saw first. Granted I probably don't remember many details of the movie since I saw it when it first came out...what, like three years ago? (In fact, come to think of it, it was probably the last movie I actually saw in the theater.) There were a couple differences I felt, though.
The Julie character in the movie was neurotic, and funny. The real Julie Powell I saw as more neurotic, and funnier; more profane, spewing sarcasm and obscenities at every turn....and a whole lot more self-absorbed, and less likable in my opinion than the movie character. It didn't make the book less enjoyable, though.
The other main difference was the flashback scenes with Julia. Those were one of the main reasons I liked the movie so much - I thought Meryl Streep was absolutely wonderful in the role. While the book had some beautiful short scenes of Julia and her husband Paul (told from Paul's point of view), little, if anything, was mentioned about Julia's cooking (except that she enrolled in a cooking class in Paris), and nothing about "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" from Julia or Paul's viewpoint. The last scene in Julia's kitchen in America stands out as one of the most moving scenes for me in the movie, (I probably cried, though I don't remember). It was absent in the book.
Again, it didn't detract from the book at all. It just made me want to see the movie again.
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Post by Mini Mia on Apr 7, 2011 16:49:31 GMT -6
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris & Sunshine by Robin McKinley
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