Teaser Tuesdays: A Fall of Moondust

This week my teaser lines come from a vintage sci-fi novel, Arthur C. Clarke's A Fall of Moondust. In the book, the Dust-cruiser Selene has malfunctioned and been buried deep beneath the the Moon's Sea of Thirst, trapping the crew and passengers under many feet of deadly dust. This snippet is from page 118:

It was then that Pat knew, without any further argument, that he was genuinely in love with Susan. For his first reaction was not fear for his own safety, but anger and grief that, after having endured so much, she would have to die within sight of rescue.

I don't usually expect romance from Clarke's books, but this one definitely has a romantic angle to it. And since this teaser comes from about midway through the story, I'm still hoping for a happy ending.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Well, once again, I only finished one book last week -- Liberty by Garrison Keillor. Hope to get a review up a little later today, but for now I'll just say it wasn't exactly what I was expecting.


This week, I'm reading some science fiction (inspired by Carl V's 2012 Science Fiction Experience): I've started A Fall of Moondust, by Arthur C. Clarke, and I'm thinking of reading another vintage sci-fi novel, Clifford D. Simak's Time and Again. I'm pretty sure I read that last one many, many years ago, but don't really remember much about it.

Also still plugging away at A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book and Kate Morton's The House At Riverton. So far, I'm enjoying both of those, but if I'm going to finish either of them I'm probably going to have to decide on one and stick with it to the end -- something I have trouble doing with these chunksters.



It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.

Reading Journal: 27 January 2012

Well, after abandoning the last book I started, I've returned to one I began reading back around the first of January. The Children's Book, by A.S. Byatt, has been on my TBR pile for a couple of years now (it came out in 2009). And as it's quite a chunkster (almost 700 pages in hard cover) I'm likely to be reading it most of the year! I do have a problem sticking with big books -- I tend to stop and start, so it usually takes me much longer than it should to get through them. And for some reason, I generally have trouble finishing anything by A.S. Byatt, short or long.


So far, though, I'm enjoying this one quite a lot. However, it's a very dense book -- the first section has an enormous amount of information that I'm sure will be important later in the story, and (as usual with Byatt) there's a cast of thousands to get to know. Very Dickensian -- and fun, but the list of personae can get a little confusing. I've even resorted to diagramming the family relationships, so I know who belongs where:


But that appeals to the genealogist in me -- and the list-maker, too.

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Oh, and here's a little bit of "On This Day in Literary History" sort of thing. Today, January 27th is Lewis Carroll's birthday (1832).


The Alice books are some of my all-time favorites, and probably the first "long" books (well, they seemed long at the time) that I read on my own. I still re-read them from time to time.

Booking Through Thursday: Writing or Riveting?

This week, BTT asks: " What’s more important: Good writing? Or a good story? (Of course, a book should have BOTH, but…) "

Well, at first I was tempted to say that if I can only choose one of those, give me good story every time. But then I got to thinking and realized it's very unlikely that just a good story is going to hold my attention very long, if that story isn't well-written. So I really don't think I could choose one over the other. I want both.

Too much to ask?

Reading Journal: First Abandoned Book of 2012

A Man of Parts. David Lodge.
Viking, 2011; 436 pages

Publisher's description:

H. G. Wells, author of The Time Machine and War of the Worlds, was one of the twentieth century's most prophetic and creative writers, a man who moved in the most important literary, intellectual, and political circles of his time. In his new novel, David Lodge has taken the compelling true story of Wells's life and transformed it into a witty and deeply moving narrative about a fascinating yet flawed man.

As the second war he has lived through moves into its final phase, the ailing Herbert George Wells looks back on a life crowded with incident, books and women....Once he was probably the most famous writer in the world, "the man who invented tomorrow"; now he feels like yesterday's man, deserted or disparaged by readers and depressed by the collapse of his utopian dreams for mankind.

I've read a couple of other books by David Lodge, and enjoyed them. This, however, is a very different kind of book. Not bad -- just didn't "grab" me. I'm always a little wary of fiction based on historical figures -- seems that it either takes too many liberties with the subject matter or it's too much like straightforward biography. And I'm afraid this one belongs in that latter category. H.G. Wells is a fascinating figure all right, but I was hoping for more story. After the first fifty pages or so, I felt as though I'd been reading an extended Wikipedia article on Wells -- too much info and not enough action. So this one goes in the DNF batch.

Teaser Tuesdays: Liberty

This week my teaser lines come from Garrison Keillor's novel, Liberty -- one of his Lake Wobegon tales. This snippet comes from page 184:

Irene didn't intend to kill Clint, just bring him to his senses. It was time he learned: You can't have everything. Take your choice. Make a life with me or get a bellyful of hot lead.

That sounds a little more violent than the usual Garrison Keillor offering, but I'm pretty sure Irene isn't going to do any real harm to ol' Clint. Well, almost pretty sure anyway.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Well, I slowed down a bit last week. After a pretty fast take-off earlier in January, last week I only managed to finish one book -- The Shakespeare Thefts, by Eric Rasmussen. I did read a portion of another (A Man of Parts, by David Lodge), but after the 50-page test, decided it's not for me. So -- one book finished and one book abandoned.


This week, I've got several books going (as usual). But the ones I'm concentrating on are Liberty by Garrison Keillor (one of his Lake Wobegon novels), and another nonfiction Early Reviewer book from Library Thing, Republic of Words: The Atlantic Monthly and Its Writers 1857-1925, by Susan Goodman. I'm about halfway through the Garrison Keillor book and enjoying it, though with reservations. Haven't actually started the Goodman book, so I can't say anything about it yet -- looks fairly scholarly, with over fifty pages of notes and index.



And I'm also still reading two chunksters -- Kate Morton's The House At Riverton, and A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book -- although I've put them on hold until I finish up the other two. So I've got plenty to keep me bookishly busy this week.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.

The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios

Written by Eric Rasmussen
Palgrave Macmillan, 2011; 222 pages

The book known as the First Folio, the first edition of the collected works of William Shakespeare, was put together by his fellow actors after Shakespeare's death. From the moment the original 750-copy print run left the press, it's been one of the most coveted books ever published -- treasured by kings, billionaires, and bibliophiles the world over.

The Shakespeare Thefts is the account of a renowned Shakespeare scholar's attempt to track down every existing copy of the book (232 are known), and to identify other copies that have been lost or stolen. Rasmussen and his team of literary detectives traveled the globe and spent more than a decade in their effort to "make the First Folio the most documented book of all time." A daunting task, to be sure; and one that certainly appeals to the lit-geek in me. Along the way, they encountered thieves, eccentric book collectors, reclusive librarians, as well as academics and historians, aristocrats and theater people -- all in some way mixed up in the story of one of the world's most sought-after books.

The Shakespeare Thefts was interesting enough, and a fast read; I enjoyed it, even though I was never exactly swept away by the narrative. An awful lot of detail to take in, for such a relatively short book -- occasionally I felt like I was slipping into info overload syndrome. Probably not a book for everyone, but if you're interested in Shakespeare scholarship or theater history or rare book collecting, this should be right up your street.

Note: I received my copy of this book free of charge from the publisher, through Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. No other compensation was provided, and no one attempted to influence my opinion of the book.

The Night Strangers

Written by Chris Bohjalian
Crown Publishers, 2011; 380 pages

After a horrific plane crash in which most of the passengers as well as his co-pilot are killed, airline pilot Chip Linton is devastated and in need of both physical and emotional healing. He's been cleared of any wrong-doing or neglect, but he's haunted by survivor's guilt and the possibility that if he'd acted differently or faster, more lives might have been saved. Worried about her husband and anxious to help the family return to some degree of normality, wife Emily Linton decides the best plan would be to move the family to a new town where they can get away from the disturbing memories, and get a fresh start. So the run-down but lovely Victorian house in a quiet town in northern New Hampshire seems the perfect choice.

Chip and Emily decide to buy the place and make a new home for themselves and their twin daughters Hallie and Garnet. They're so enchanted with their new surroundings that they're really not too alarmed when the real estate agent who helped them find the house dies suddenly on the day they're scheduled to close. And once they move in, life seems to be smoothing out again -- until Chip notices the mysterious door in the basement. Why didn't they notice it when they were looking at the house the first time around? What's behind the door, and why does it seem to lead nowhere? And why is it tightly sealed with thirty-nine 6-inch-long carriage bolts? Is it just a coincidence that thirty-nine is the exact number of people killed in the plane crash? Does the sealed door have anything to do with the tragic death of a member of the family who lived in the house before the Lintons arrived?

While Chip becomes obsessed with finding the answers to these questions and deals with all the other questions haunting him (some, quite literally), Emily is starting to wonder about the women she's met in the village. Calling themselves "herbalists," they seem completely caught up in their horticultural pursuits. Emily is sure the ladies are simply harmless hobbyists. But why do they seem so fascinated by the Lintons' twin daughters?

Lots of questions to be answered. Including the one I kept asking: "why don't they just pack up and move back to the city? "

I'd heard so much about this one: it sounded right down my street -- a haunted basement, spooky twins, shamans, witches, a town with a secret from the past. Now how could I resist something like that? Obviously I couldn't -- and when I found the book at the library, I had to bring it home. And managed to read the whole thing in one day; pretty unusual for me, especially since Bohjalian's novel is almost 400 pages long.

So I have to admit, it's definitely a page-turner. But the story itself left me a little cold (and not from terror). Maybe I've just read too many of these creepy tales, but this one seemed a little too derivative -- many other books kept coming to mind including Rosemary's Baby, Burnt Offerings and The Amityville Horror, as well as bits of Stephen King. And I had a lot of trouble believing that two intelligent people could be as gullible and unaware as Chip and Emily seem to be -- even if they are suffering from trauma and depression. Can't say much more or I'd give too much away -- it was all just a bit too predictable for my taste.

But, as I said, I did enjoy the writing. Overall, the book is pleasingly atmospheric, and at times genuinely spooky. So I don't think I'll let this one turn me off Chris Bohjalian. Several of his other works sound very interesting, too.

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Booking Through Thursday: Skipping

This week, BTT asks: "Do you skip ahead in a book? Do you feel badly about it when you do?"

Have to admit, I might occasionally skip around in a book. Sometimes I'll skip back and forth, and read different parts, out of order. Sometimes I "skim" sections, without reading every single word. And sometimes I simply leave portions completely unread. Not often -- but it's been known to happen.

Does this cause me shame or embarrassment? Nope. I suppose I might feel a bit uncomfortable if it's an ARC or a book I've promised to review. Then I do try to read every word. And that's one of the reasons I've cut way back on requesting or accepting advance copies.

I agree with Somerset Maugham, in the article mentioned. For me, reading is a diversion (unless the work being read is an instruction book or the like). These days, I read purely for pleasure -- so if I decide to skip a few lines or paragraphs or pages, I don't feel guilty about it at all.