Kiwie's TBR-pile #6, July: The Nightmare almost came true!

June turned out to be the month were two piles became three, eeek, fortunately it was a temporary situation. I got 5 new books! I only needed one for pile number three to form, well, it wouldn't be a pile with only one book, but still. I made a video about the books I got, you can see it here. It's terrible. I just didn't speak too clearly.

I also read a whole bunch of books in June. Being unemployed I have massive amounts of time (half of it I spend having panic attacks about my life), and spend quite a bit of it with my nose in a book.

Books I read in June:

1. Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School #2) by Gail Carriger
2. Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (Nightside #6) by Simon R. Green
3. Blackbirds (Miriam Black #1) by Chuck Wendig
4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
5. Summer Knight (The Dresden Files #4) by Jim Butcher.

That's pretty good I think. I really liked these also.In May read along with Vaginal Fantasy , and I have done so again, but as I'm writing this I'm not done yet (but that's okay, the hangout isn't until next week anyway). I'm about halfway into The Lions of Al-Rassan now, and I must admit I've spent almost half the month on it, I like it, but I'm in a reading slump it seems. I just cannot get myself to pick it up, but when I do pick it up I read a hundred pages before realizing that time is something that happens and that maybe I should go to sleep.

Pile status:

Well, isn't that a miserable sight? I'm hoping to read at least 6 books in July, buy none and only borrow one from the library (if that), so that I get my piles back under (relative) control. Here's the four books I've picked beforehand:

As you can see I've included the book that I'm currently reading (I have not done so in the past, but there are 250 pages left of it, and well, that's book length). Then I've got two of my birthday books and then The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (and this I've technically read before, but I've deliberately left it in my pile to re-read, it's been a decade anyway). That latter was a TBR-jar pick, and I'm pretty happy about it.

I'm also doing Camp Nanowrimo in July (not going well I've had to start a second story because the one I wanted to write doesn't want to come out and it is the umpteenth time I've tried it. ONE DAY I WILL SUCCEED!).

Have a nice July everyone, we'll be back with a monthly read for August! We're taking a summer break (what with Nano + going on vacations and reading slumps and all).

Kiwie's TBR #5: June

I read a lot in May, but I also borrowed most of it from the library or bought them (shame on me). You can watch my haul on YouTube if you haven't seen it already (or just don't, I'm akward). I bought three books this month and then I got two books (they're not in the haul video).

Books I got (all links to goodreads):

1. Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton.
2. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
3. Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig
4. Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger
5. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

The last two are both #2 in their respective series (or trilogies or whatever they are), so no breaking of the rules with them(also I didn't pay for them myself, my father did, thanks dad!). The other three are totally breaking the rules though, but the pirate one was used and cheap, I do like Rainbow Rowell (and one could argue that it is a book by an author I love and so I'm allowed, but then one remembers that it isn't quite new...) and there is absolutely no excuse for Wendig's novel other than this: I FINISHED SCHOOL AND AM NOW A FULL TIME UNEMPLOYED PERSON (give me a job). 

Okay. So obviously my TBR pile grew a lot (and all progress was lost), in addition to that I've mostly just read library books. I did finish the four books I pulled out for my May TBR though, so that's good. I also read three more books. Two in the Nightside series (and have another checked out of the library), plus this month's Vaginal Fantasy read Hunter's Claim, because why not (it sucked, don't bother unless you want poorly edited alien abduction fantasies & follow the drinking game they came up with over at goodreads: Hunter's Claim: Drinking Game) . That's seven books for those who are counting (me). 

Okay so my TBR-piles-of-shame look like this now:

One more book and I would have three piles instead of two... 5 new books was all it took. I also have a library book that I'm planning to read, so one could say I'e started a third pile... If anyone is wondering, that Amanda Palmer art book is not part of any pile, it's just too big to fit anywhere else, nor is that book under Middlesex a part of it, I just don't know where to put it, same with the Lost Souls copy that is wedged between the piles, but that I want to re-read so you can count it if you want). 

Now, what will I read this month? What does June have in store for me?

Well, mostly the books I bought in May, with the exeption of Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth which is the sixth book in the Nightside series (which means I'll be halfway in the series when I've read it). If anyone is considering reading the Nightside series I think I reccomend getting the omnibuses, or at least the first one: Into the Nightside (bookdepository link) as the first book really isn't as good as the rest (which isn't very good, but entertaining and fun) and having the next book in the series in the same volume might encourage you to read it, or if you dislike the first one you can just try out the second immediately. Or just skip the first one completely. That is also an option. They're really short (around 230-50 pages mostly) too. Okay, I think I've pushed them enough now. 

What does your June reading landscape look like?

Dracula

In May we read Bram Stoker's Dracula. Dracula is a classic horror novel, and we're all familiar with the character if not the novel. Written in 1897 this novel is quite old (there's a whole century between us), but it is still a fairly easy read. This is a horror novel in the format of journals, diaries (what is the difference between those anyway?), news cuttings and letters. I found it quite entertaining that they talk about assembling these different sources and turning them into a manuscript as the story progresses, so meta. That said I'm not the biggest fan of epistolary story telling, as the structure can turn a story quite cringe worthy and/or boring depending on who it's handled. In this case it is a pretty effective way to have several characters seeing things from very different points of view and coming up with a multifaceted narrative that works very well at times. There are boring parts though, where things are repeated without adding new insights.

The first part of the novel is Jonathan Harker, travelling to Count Dracula in his castle in the middle of nowhere, Transylvania. I find Jonathan to be much less bright than the rest of the characters in this novel, and also quite annoying. He really is slow to understand that something isn't right with the count ( I get that he didn't know about vampires and was 100 years to early for Buffy, but it was pretty obvious that something was up with the count) and he's also very sedate about it until he screws up and then allows himself to panic (which incidentally is when he manages to do something about his situation). Both castle and count is well written and satisfyingly creepy though! Jonathan Harker has a knack for descriptions, if nothing else.

What I found when I started reading Dracula was that I knew the story much better than I thought I did. I have seen movies, and read an illustrated children's version of the novel, but I didn't quite realise how familiar I am with the story as a whole, specially the beginning, which is probably why I noticed the writing the most here, and there really are some great descriptions in this novel.

All the characters have good and bad traits, and they all ended up annoying me somewhat. Van Helsing and his stupid exclamations of friendship and adoration (honestly, you'd think he'd never met a person before), and Mina's heartfelt speeches that showed just how good and godly she was. Very boring. Also the fact that later in the novel when Mina is so tired no light goes on in anyone's brain. YOU'VE JUST BEEN THROUGH THIS! I felt like shaking them all so very badly.

The pacing of the story could also have been better. It starts off well with Jonathan's journal, then it jumps to Mina's (who explains that she is practicing shorthand for her future husband so she can be a good lawyers wife, and otherwise wouldn't be journaling) who is spending her time with her mysteriously ill friend Lucy, and this part felt like it was too long. I understand that it was a set up, and that Lucy was so dearly loved by everyone (three men, friends even, asked for her hand in marriage on the same day, she's also Mina's BFF) waists away and nobody knows how to stop it (at leat not until Dr. Van Helsing does some research). This waisting illness is of course Dracula, who in the shape of a bat (mostly) sucks at Lucy's neck. At one point Mina finds her on a bench with a crature with red glowing eyes bent over her. I'm sure you know the gist of the scene (it's eerie and quite good). I found Lucy's drainage period lasted too long, at least proportioned against the later hunting of Dracula, which was, in the end, very anticlimactic.

To sum up, I'd like the focus to have been a little different (and thus the pacing to have been a little different) and there was just not enough Dracula. I'd have loved to learn more of Dracula's thinking. I know Van Helsing describes his brain as a child-brain, but one that has developed for a long time and that Dracula was a very clever man when he was alive, and so he must be when he is dead, even if his brain isn't fully developed in his vampire state. What drives Dracula? Why does he have three female vampires running around his castle? Why does he go after Lucy? Then Mina (revenge I guess)? I'd have liked to see a little of his reasoning (this is what fanfiction is for I guess... And there is a lot of it).

There is a also the aspect of reading this in 2014 and the "themes" that stick out to me, the gender roles (or sexim as we call it today, ack, I wanted to punch someone, and Mina was really quite progressive at the start), the religious aspect (Dracula is referred to as a devil, while our heroes are strong in the faith of God etc.), science vs superstition, and the foreignness of Dracula and the primitiveness of the people in his lands (when Jonathan travels people become more and more superstitions and less and less "modern" as he journeys towards Dracula's castle).

The horror story itself is really creepy and really good though, so despite all my issues with it I did love it, and you know I do love a good vampire story, and this is one of the most famous (I'm going to tackle Carmilla soon!) ones and for good reason. Dracula is delicously evil, and fascinating in how he can transform into bats, rats and effing mists! He also controls the wind you know (in a small radious). He literally creates storms and eats entire ship's crews!

June reads!

In June we will be reading and hopefully enjoying Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, in addition we'll try to read  Freezer: The complete horror series by J. Joseph Wright. The latter we got for free as an ebook from amazon a while ago (via http://www.dailyfreebooks.com/), so we have no hopes or expectations of that being particularly good, but it is about a cursed freezer. Yes, you read that right, a cursed freezer. We hope that it is funny and stuff, also a bit of a contrast to the main read.

Fangirl is our main pick and the one we have to read. We've diverted from the type of book we normally choose because we wanted something light and summery, and this promises to be totally adorable and a fast read. The story is about Cath who is a major fangirl, she lives, eats and breathes fandom (her fandom is Simon Snow, which as I understand it, has a lot in common with a wizard boy we're probably all familiar with...) and she's close to her twin sister, but then college happens and change is inevitable. 

Freezer is a book both Katastrofekat and I got for free it they sounded funny (but we're not delusional, free books are often crap), it is not free right now so purchase at your own risk. It's a bit of an alternative pick, that should contrast a lot from our main book!

There you have it, we'll (hopefully) do a google hangout at the end of the month, chatting about the book(s)! You can also (as always) join us on goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/87004-the-cat-s-tale

Books I bought in May

I've made a video, and I can't speak properly.

Thanks for watching!

The Books (affiliate links):
Pirate Latitudes: http://www.bookdepository.com/Pirate-Latitudes-Michael-Crichton/9780061967702/?a_aid=catstale
Fangirl: http://www.bookdepository.com/Fangirl-Rainbow-Rowell/9781447263227/?a_aid=catstale
Blackbirds: http://www.bookdepository.com/Blackbirds-Chuck-Wendig/9780857662309/?a_aid=catstale

And finally a link to my TBR series-of-posts that you can find here somewhere. I post these the first friday of the month, so there'll be a new one the 6th of June if everything happens as it normally does: http://catstalebookclub.blogspot.no/search/label/Kiwie%27s%20TBR%20pile

Tipsy booktalk: Veronica Mars, Thousand dollar tan line

Hope you enjoy this video and let us know if this is something you would like to see us do again.

Kiwie's TBR #4: May

Hello, it's May already. April was endless, yet suddenly over. April was also a good reading month for me. I did NOT buy any physical books that needed to be put into any TBR pile. I did get that ebook humble bundle though (this month they've got comics), so I am actually 10 (!) books (or bookish documents) richer... Nevermind that though, because this is primarily about the physical TBR pile that got out of control and that I paid lots of money for (really, books are pricey in Norway and that pile is mostly the result of me just buying stuff when I was younger and had money).

I read a lot in April. I, of course, read The Thousand Dollar Tanline (we did film a video, it's coming sometime) as that was the book we read togheter here. The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin was everything I wanted it to be and more, I absolutely loved it. I listened to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files a lot, I heard both Fools Moon and Grave Peril. I like this series a lot, it's fun. I also went to the library and checked out another urban fantasy book Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green, read and liked it enough to go back and borrow the next two in the series (there are 12 in total). So I'm definitely on an urban fantasy binge, but that isn't all that I read. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld was also a book that I read. I liked it, but tought it was too long and the way the last pages were just made the whole thing in front a bit meh. It was a good book, and I really liked some parts, but other times I felt it was uninteresting. Maybe it was too long? Don't know. I've somehow misplaced the Norwegian contemporary I was reading (I took it to the cabin for easter, and I know I took it back down with me, but I don't know where I put it when I unpacked!) so that I didn't finish. I hope it turns up soon.

Last month's TBR to the left and this month's to the right:

I had already removed Dracula from the pile when I took the May photo (from the back pile, you can see it in the April photo, it's the blue one that is mid-pile), so the photo is a bit of a liar, but not that much. There is actually space above A Clash of Kings now, there wasn't before (well there isn't now either, but that's because the cover clearly has some size issues). So today I can happily declare progress. Huzzah!

Since I've taken to reading the Nightside series the pile probably won't shrink much in May (I also have an exam and am stressing madly about getting a job! HELP!). For my immediate TBR I am mostly finishing stuff I've already started, one of which I pulled from my minimalist hipster TBR-jar:

World War Z was actually a book we were supposed to read for the Cat's Tale last summer, but I never finished it and so when I made my jar I put it in there (along with a bunch of other books I just didn't finish for some reason or other). I have this as an audio book and I have listened to parts of it and I did like it, I just wasn't in the mood for audio last time, but I've been listening a lot this year so I think we'll be compatible this time around.

The rest of my TBR pile looks like this:

There's Dracula our monthly pick (which Kat gave to me as part of a gift once, because she's awesome) and Nightingale's Lament by Simon R. Green (book #3 of Nightside) and the thing on the bottom is my Kindle where I've started Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw, which was one of the ebooks from the Humble Bundle I bought.