Friday Finds: 12 June 2009

Friday Finds is a weekly event hosted by mizb17 at Should Be Reading. Participants are asked to share with other bloggers about the new-to-you books found during the week – books you either want to add to your TBR (to be read) list, or that you just heard about that sounded interesting.

This week I have half a dozen new finds. They all look really interesting, and I imagine several of them will be going on my TBR list. Well, the ones I haven't already read, anyway.

The Condition, by Jennifer Haigh
The Shimmer, by David Morrell
Summer House, by Nancy Thayer
The Wildwater Walking Club, by Claire Cook
Duchess of Death, by Richard Hack
The Longshot, by Katie Kitamura

The first four are being featured in BookReporter.com's weekly "Beach Bag of Books" contests. I believe Summer House is in this week's batch; the others are all coming up in July or August. I discovered Duchess of Death, Richard Hack's new biography of Agatha Christie, while browsing the June selections in LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

Katie Kitamura's The Longshot was an ARC and something of a surprise when I received it. Didn't really look like anything I'd choose to read, but after the first page I was hooked and rapidly made my way through it in one sitting. Very unusual for me. I'll try to get a review up later today, but for right now I'll just say it was truly extraordinary.

Booking Through Thursday: Finding My Niche

This week BTT asks about the niche books we read. You know – special genres, or those esoteric works, or books that concentrate on one particular subject. And I have to admit this was a tough question for me. At first glance, I would have said I don't really read any "niche" books. I don't read how-to manuals or cookbooks. I do like to read books about books – bibliomysteries and the like; but that's really more of a sub-genre of fiction, not exactly what we're talking about here.

But then I started thinking about it. And I realized that while I may not actually do a lot niche book reading, I certainly do some niche book collecting.

I suppose the closest I've ever come to real "niche" reading would be the doll-collecting books I read back in the '90s when I was building my collection. But I don't really read those anymore, except for looking up an occasional fact or price or other reference-type article. I still read Doll Reader Magazine – does that count?

I have a few books on needlework and fabric crafts, but I don't actually read them. I did some needlepoint years ago, and keep thinking I'm going to get back into it one of these days, so I've collected a few books on the subject. But it's not really something I'm actively involved in.

I guess the biggest "niche" collection I have is theater- and acting-related. Many, many centuries ago, I started out intending to work in the professional theater world, and I have a huge collection of plays, scripts, playbills and programs, and books on theater and stagecraft. That's mostly all packed away in storage now, along with my youthful dreams. And so it goes.

Oh, and one more – home decorating and architecture. Although I don't really read them all – I do collect books on modern architecture and decor. I love everything Mid-century or Mod, and I have a pretty good collection of books on the subject. As I say, I can't claim to have read every word of every book, but I love, love, love looking at all those thoroughly modern interiors.

So I guess I am one of those niche readers after all.

Tuesday Thingers: Non-finishers

Tuesday Thingers is hosted by Wendi of Wendi's Book Corner. If you'd like to see more or participate yourself, head on over to her blog and leave a comment. And this week's topic is about all those books you just can't manage to wade through:

How often do you find yourself struggling through a book (if you HAD to estimate)? How far will you read before you stop and consider it a DNF (Did not finish)? Will you skim ahead and see if it gets any better? Once you put it down, do you still write a quick review? What do you do with the book when you are done?

Well, generally I try to find out as much about a book as I can before I start reading it, so most of the books I begin I also finish. However, once in a while I'll inevitably pick up something that turns out to be not what I was expecting or hoping. And in those cases, I think it's best just to move on to something new.

It usually only takes a chapter or two (occasionally, not even that much) for me to decide whether or not a book is for me. But sometimes, before completely abandoning a book, I do skim ahead to see if any of it is more to my liking, or to find out how the book ends (good to know, even if I don't like the way it gets there). And although I might mention that I tried a book and didn't care for it, I don't think I've ever written a full review of a book I haven't read in its entirety – that would be too much like cheating on an exam. Of course, that means that now and then I'll have to read something that doesn't appeal to me – a book I wouldn't ordinarily have finished. Unfortunately, that's happened to me twice lately – both of my most recent Early Reviewer books from Library Thing were books I probably wouldn't have finished if I hadn't felt obligated to review them. And in one case, I was glad I finished the book because it turned out to be better than I'd expected when I started it. So maybe there's something to be said for sticking it out, no matter what your literary taste buds may be signaling.

And as for what I do with the books I don't finish – well, that's a good (though embarrassing) question. I'd like to say I don't keep them; that I donate them or give them to friends who might find them more palatable. Or swap them for other books. But in reality I have to admit that when a book comes into my custody it's usually mine for life! Like it or not. One of these days, I'm definitely going to have to do something about that – before rescue workers have to break down the door to my apartment and dig through the piles of paperbacks that have toppled over and buried me alive!

Teaser Tuesdays: Don't Mess With Old Folk

This week, my teasers come from Silver on the Tree, by Susan Cooper. In this snippet, Will Stanton is trying to explain to his older brother Stephen about himself and his mission to save the world from the forces of the Dark:

"We are the Old Ones," Will said, strong and self-confident now. "There is a great circle of us, all over the world and beyond the world, from all places and all corners of time." [p. 13]

And he's not talking about us Baby Boomers!

I read the first four books in Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence last year, for the Once Upon a Time II Challenge, and really enjoyed them. So I'm very much looking forward to finishing up the series with this final book, which I'm reading for this year's OUT/III Challenge. As the publishers explain, the six main characters "fight fear and death in the darkly brooding Welsh hills, in a quest through time and space that touches the most ancient myths of the British Isles." And maybe it's because of my Welsh blood or something, but that sounds to me like the finest of tales.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB17 at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or participate yourself, head on over to her blog. And these are the rules: Grab your current read; Let the book fall open to a random page. Share with us two (2) "teaser" sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12. You also need to share the title of the book that you're getting your "teaser" from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given! Please avoid spoilers!

Tony Time

OK, I'm not going to try to blog the Tonys or anything. But I am watching. And Angela Lansbury just won the award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. I'm so happy about that. I was pulling for Angela Lansbury. And she won for playing Madame Arcati in "Blithe Spirit," which makes me happy, too. I always wanted to play that role. Came close in high school, but got beat out by a girl named Peggy Jacobs who was a grade ahead of me and much weirder than I was, so a natural for the part. I played Ruth, a thankless task. Had to paint my entire body blue for the ghost scenes. Ah, the roar of the greasepaint!

OK, that's enough of that.

Oh, Liza Minnelli just won for something! That makes me happy, too. For some inexplicable reason.

Anyway, back to the show.

Friday Finds: 5 June 2009

Friday Finds is a weekly event hosted by mizb17 at Should Be Reading. Participants are asked to share with other bloggers about the new-to-you books found during the week – books you either want to add to your TBR (to be read) list, or that you just heard about that sounded interesting.

Just two new finds this week. I think I may have first read about the Aldridge book in last week's New York Times Book Review. Not sure where I heard about the Waters.

The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes: The Art of Alan Aldridge. This one really takes me back. Alan Aldridge's book, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics was a favorite of mine back in the day. I remember spending hour upon hour just pouring over the artwork, picking out all the references. Great meditation material. Better than drugs.

The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters. A novel of psychological suspense. I've already got one of her other novels (Affinity) on my TBR list, and this one looks good, too.

Completed Challenge: Book Awards II

I've been putting off writing a wrap-up post for the Book Awards II Challenge, because I hadn't written reviews for all the books I read for the challenge. Well, I'm still working on that. But since the challenge ended June 1, I thought I should go ahead and say "that's that," even though I'll still be adding reviews over the next week or so.

I didn't have a set list when I began the challenge (see my original post); and I ended up reading several books that I hadn't thought about when I started out. Here's a list of what I read, with links to the reviews:

The Age of Innocence. Edith Wharton (Pulitzer Prize, 1921)
The Great Victorian Collection. Brian Moore (Governor General's Award, 1975)
Hotel du Lac. Anita Brookner (Man-Booker Prize, 1984)
The Master. Colm Tóibín (IMPAC Dublin Award, 2006)
The Way Through the Woods. Colin Dexter (Gold Dagger Award, 1992)
The Optimist's Daughter. Eudora Welty (Pulitzer Prize, 1973)
Ellen Foster. Kaye Gibbons (Sue Kaufman Prize, American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters, 1988)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Robert C. O'Brien (Newbery Medal, 1972)
To Dance with the White Dog. Terry Kay (Outstanding Author of the Year, Southeastern Library Association, 1991)
Moon Tiger. Penelope Lively (Man-Booker Prize, 1987)

I'm a little reluctant to pick a "best book" from those – I enjoyed all of them very much. But The Age of Innocence is a book I'd been intending to read for many years, and it's turned out to be one of my all-time favorites – one I know I'll return to in the future.

This was a fun challenge – and one of my favorites. I want to thank Michelle at 1 More Chapter for hosting, and the many other participants for all those inspiring reviews. Now I just have to decide if I've got the nerve to sign up for Book Awards III.