Category: General

Top Ten Tuesday

Posted September 23, 2014 by in General / 4 Comments

This week’s top ten list prompt from The Broke and The Bookish is “Top Ten Books On My Fall To-Be-Read list”. Which is a little difficult for me, because I don’t really sort my books into appropriate seasons or anything. I just have a perpetual, massive, glorious to read list. But here are some books I’m looking forward to getting round to…

Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal. This is actually a reread of a book I wasn’t wild about the first time round, but now I have this urge to reread it and read the rest of the series, and I suspect I’ll like it more this time around. We’ll see, but I’m hopeful.
Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. This is a reread, too. I know I’m going to love this one because I always have before, though I somewhat over-read it so that I could virtually quote it, and thus have given it a couple of years’ rest.
River of Stars, by Guy Gavriel Kay. I’ve had this since it came out, but it’s at the end of a long list of rereads of GGK’s work, so I can watch his craft developing. I started pretty well but stalled on A Song for Arbonne, which is funny, because I do like that book and it covers exactly the sort of historical period I’m very familiar with and have done work on. So hopefully I’ll get through them all and get onto this new one sometime this fall.
Friday’s Child, by Georgette Heyer. Because I haven’t read it yet, and it’s Heyer.
Blindsight, by Peter Watts. Because it’s been recommended to me a couple of times, I got a free copy, and it’s been mentioned quite a bit in one of my book groups.
Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. Because it’s about bloody time.
Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean. Ditto. And the opening, with starting at university and settling in and all of that, it seems a good time of year for that, even if I’m not a student this time.
Possession, by A.S. Byatt. Speaking of scholarship and stuff, I’ve been meaning to read this for a long time.
Little, Big, by John Crowley. I’ve had this book around far too long, and I’ve been meaning to read it. I just… never seem to have found the time. About time I fixed that.
Steelheart, by Brandon Sanderson. I generally enjoy Sanderson’s work, and this one includes superheroes. So very sold.

What about everyone else? Comment, link me, you know the drill.

Tags: Ann Leckie, books, Brandon Sanderson, Georgette Heyer, Guy Gavriel Kay, Mary Robinette Kowal, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Top Ten Tuesday

Reading Habits

Posted September 22, 2014 by in General / 1 Comment

I’m not sure where I picked this up from, but it seemed like fun, and touched on some stuff I’ve never thought to mention before. So, another meme!

(1) Do you have a certain place for reading at home?
Mostly, I flop down on my bed for it when I’m with my grandmother. I used to have all sorts of hidey-holes where I’d go to read, but I’m bigger now and can’t fit into them so well, or Grandma’s filled them with boxes or junk or something. When I’m at home, I generally read at my desk with my feet on something, or up in my bunk bed. If I’m feeling particularly bleh, I make myself a blanket fort by hanging blankets down the sides of my bunk bed and curling up on the sofa underneath.

(2) Do you use a bookmark or a random piece of paper?
Mostly bookmarks. A random piece of paper may happen if I can’t find one, but I don’t really have a good excuse for that since I have a pile of about fifty bookmarks. Wherever I go, I try and pick up some bookmarks if they’ve got any free or cheap ones. I have some very nice ones from the Bodleian library shop.

(3) Can you just stop reading or does it need to be at the end of a chapter or a certain number of pages?
I have rules about this shit. It always has to be at the end of a page or, if the paragraph goes onto the next page, the end of that paragraph. I much prefer to stop at paragraph breaks or, even better, the end of even-numbered chapters. I remember when I was a kid, I didn’t like finishing at even the end of a chapter if the last sentence was dialogue.

(4) Do you eat or drink while reading?
Yep. Snacks, water, pop — it sometimes depends, though. If I’m reading something by a writer who is really good with the sound of words, I don’t eat/drink while reading so that I can whisper the words along. I’m a synaesthete, so the words have a ‘taste’, and for writers like Tolkien, Le Guin or Richard Fortey, that’s a part of the experience I wouldn’t want to miss. I don’t eat at mealtimes; Dad trained me firmly out of that.

(5) Do you read one book at a time or several at once?
Many, many at once. I shouldn’t, in that I inevitably end up neglecting something, but I like to have different things on the go for different moods and situations. I don’t read stuff by the fine prose writers in public, because I’m embarrassed about the fact that I want to whisper them. But seriously, ‘swept’ and ‘stepped’ and ‘crept’, or pretty much anything Tolkien ever wrote, they have such a satisfying mouth-feel and taste: I don’t really get why other people find that concept so strange.

(6) Do you read out loud or silently in your head?
Oh, I didn’t notice this question in advance! Silently, mostly, but with fine prose, in a whisper. I don’t like reading aloud to someone else, though. That’s when I start stammering and tripping over the words, which is not fun for anyone involved.

(7) Do you ever read ahead or skip pages?
I don’t mind spoilers, so yes, sometimes I do. Especially in comics, I find. I flick through the book, stop at a pretty page, and end up reading quite a bit to try and figure out what’s going on. Whoops. Obviously, I don’t end up doing this with ebooks, because it’s much harder to skip ahead. And I would never, ever skip the section with Tom Bombadil, and I don’t care what everyone has to say about that.

(8) Breaking the spine or keeping it new?
Keeping it new. And therefore not lending it to my mother.

(9) Do you write in your books?
Neveeeer.

(10) What are you currently reading?
Oh, cripes. The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff, primarily. And also We Are Here by Michael Marshall Smith. And… and… it’s a long list, let’s just leave it at that.

Tagging:
As usual, whoever wants to!

Tags: books, Michael Marshall (Smith), reading meme, Tanya Huff

Creating more storage space on a Kobo

Posted September 21, 2014 by in General / 0 Comments

I don’t know about any other Kobo owners, but I’ve reached the limits of my Mini’s tolerance. It’s had enough, it won’t download any more books, it won’t let me put any more on via Calibre, it is so done with me. That’s part of the problem of having a small, casual type of ereader: I never came to the end of the space on my 3G Kindle Keyboard.

Fortunately, the internet provides. It turns out that the storage on a Kobo — any kind of Kobo, I think, not just a Mini like mine — is a micro SD card. That SD card has the operating system on there as well, so it’s not as simple as pulling that one out and sticking a new 32GB SD card in. According to my extensive research (read: I googled), it’s pretty simple, though. So here goes.

First thing to do is get the stuff you actually need. All in all, excluding a false start with a converter that didn’t work, my Kobo upgrade cost me £15.

Ingredients:
-Kobo.
-Replacement micro SD card, with 8GB, 16GB, whatever you think you can use up.
-A set of small screwdrivers. (These are mine.)
-A converter that allows you to access a micro SD from your computer. (One that looks like an SD card is a better bet than a USB one; I got mine from Maplin.)
–Flash Drive Image Creator. (It’s free.)
–Flash Drive Image Writer. (Ditto.)
-Partition software like this. (Also free.)

Step One: Make sure your Kobo is completely powered off. For the Mini, you can achieve this by sliding the power button over and holding it until it tells you it’s powered off on the screen.
Step Two: Remove the decorative back of the Kobo. I’ve found it’s useful to get the corner up, and then slide something flat down the side, like a library card — that pops it out of all the catches without risking your nails or your patience.
Step Three: Carefully unscrew the inner back of the Kobo. There are six screws. You can just loosen them and gently pry the back off, or take them out and put them aside safely, whatever you prefer. The notches on the sides of the inner back are a good place to insert a flat screwdriver and just lever up, but be gentle.
Step Four: Take out the micro SD card you can see inside the device. You need to put that into your converter and load up the Flash Drive Image Creator software. Select your micro SD card as the device, pick a destination for the file (I named it “Kobo backup”, but it doesn’t matter at all), and click to proceed. It may take some time as it is literally copying everything on your original card: software, books, stats, wifi preferences, empty space…
Step Five: Set aside the original micro SD card. You don’t need it now. Take the new micro SD and put it into the converter, and load up Flash Drive Image Writer. Select this micro SD as the destination, find the image you created in the previous step using “browse”, and then press “write image”. Wait.
Step Six: You’ve now got the bigger SD card, but the Kobo won’t use that space without this step, so don’t miss it out. Load up the partition software. You should see your new micro SD as one of the drives listed there. Right click on the “Kobo ereader” segment and choose the option to expand the partition. Use up all the unallocated space by pulling the slider all the way to the right, but don’t touch the rest!
Step Seven: Remove your micro SD from the converter and replace it in the Kobo. Screw the back of the Kobo back on, taking care to press the inner back carefully back into place. This may require more pressure than you think is sensible. I actually achieved it by putting the decorative back on too and clipping that into place, which may take a bit more effort but seems a bit more robust.
Step Eight: Enjoy!

TIP: Older Kobo Minis seem to have come with a 4GB micro SD, even though they only used 2GB of it. It’s worth checking before you buy a new SD card whether that’s the case, because if it is, you can skip the Flash Drive Image steps and just use the partition wizard straight away, gaining yourself 3x the original space available for books.

TIP #2: If you have a Kobo Mini and you’re pretty attached to it, you may not want to risk it. The plastic clips holding the back on are pretty fragile, and Kobo Minis have been discontinued by Kobo. I’ve only obtained my spare through nefarious means! (Read: Asda had one remaining brand new unit left in the country, and I seem to have obtained it by pure luck, which seems pretty nefarious to me, as I’m not usually lucky.) The same basic information applies to upgrading a Kobo Glo’s memory, though the mechanics of getting at the SD card are slightly different.

Tags: books, ebooks, ereaders, Kobo

Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 20, 2014 by in General / 18 Comments

I have lots of excuses for a big haul this week, I promise. Reacquiring books I want to reread but have given away, ARC requests being granted all at once, book vouchers, etc. I won’t bore you with the excuses, but I promise, I’m still actually 0/10 on my until-November acquisitions allowance, and even my partner agrees. I will probably ruin that tomorrow, going shopping with my sister. Ah well!

Library

Because hey, Georgette Heyer. I’ve actually read two of these already — The Wild Girl is the only one I haven’t touched yet.

ARCs/review copies

A very mixed batch, I know! Some of them I really didn’t expect to be approved for, like Lauren Beukes’ Broken Monsters. I still haven’t read The Shining Girls… ach. But yeah, some I’m very excited about here: Josh Lanyon always works as brain candy for me, though I need to pick up Fair Game first… Such a hardship, heh.

Reacquired to reread

I’ve enjoyed Trudi Canavan and Maria V. Snyder’s work as light reading whenever I’ve tried it, but I gave away all my copies a while ago. Now I have them on my Kobo! And Robin Hobb, well, I haven’t given away my copies of her books, but I haven’t got the heart to get my dad to drag them all down from where I grew up to where I live now, either. Besides, having copies on my Kobo is no bad thing. Ditto for Good Omens, plus, I was reading my paperback copy to bits.

And finally, what you were all waiting for…

New acquisitions

Yep, I finally gave into the hype. Sarah J. Maas and Stephanie Perkins better be as much fun as you guys tell me! Mind you, Throne of Glass was only 99p on the Kobo Store, so it’s not like it was a major investment, particularly for a book everyone seems to adore.

What’s everyone else been getting their hands on? Link me, chat to me, let me know what you’re thinking. (Aside from the bit about my blatant addiction to books. You don’t know the half of it, guys.)

Tags: books, Georgette Heyer, Karen Lord, Lauren Beukes, Maria V. Snyder, Neil Gaiman, Robin Hobb, Stacking the Shelves, Terry Pratchett, Trudi Canavan

Thursday Thoughts: Whens and Wheres

Posted September 18, 2014 by in General / 8 Comments

This week’s prompt from Ok, Let’s Read is about where you read:

Where do you spend the majority of your time reading? Are you the kind of person who can fall asleep reading in bed? Do you read in public? Why or why not? Where would be your fantasy reading location?

I’m not really the sort to pick a place and stick to it — I read too much for that. But there are trends, of course. I read propped up near the front desk when I’m on my clinic shift; I read on the bus on the fifth seat back if I’m not getting travel sick; when I’m at my parents, I read in my desk chair with my feet on the bin; in Cardiff, I mostly end up reading sprawled out on my bed. Sometimes, when I want to ignore my computer, phone, etc, I go into the spare room and flop across that bed.

In the winter, I can often be found reading while huddled up to my portable gas fire. Now that is lovely.

I don’t fall asleep reading in bed; I do find that I’m getting sleepy, of course, but I’ve never woken up ages later with the book on my face or anything. There’s always a point where I realise I have to sleep now, and then I put the book aside. It helps that I have to wear glasses even to read, I’m that short-sighted, so I have to remember to take my glasses off and put them away safely before I can sleep comfortably.

I do read in public, wherever I can. I usually have my ereader now, which probably puts a stop to potential conversations with random people about what I’m reading, but normally I resented the interruption anyway. I do like heading off into the woods nearby and finding myself a quiet spot: last summer it was a bench under some enormous conifers. That was public, if a curious raven counts as an audience. I haven’t had chance to go back this year, but there’s another spot I’m thinking of higher up the mountain, just a little off the path, which is in a nice patch of sun — probably better than the shady spot under the conifers now we’re getting into autumn.

One thing I would quite like is to be able to just take a book and go sit in a castle to read. Castell Coch isn’t that far away, but I’m not sure how they’d feel about me commandeering a window seat near one of the arrow slits and putting my feet on the stonework.

Tags: books, Thursday Thoughts

What are you reading Wednesday

Posted September 17, 2014 by in General / 2 Comments

What have you recently finished reading?
Georgette Heyer’s Beauvallet, which I still need to review. Fun, but definitely not my favourite of Heyer’s so far, and I don’t like Beauvallet and his grabby hands half as much as I think I’m meant to. Different times, different sensibilities, I know, but still. Before that, Peas & Queues by Sandi Toksvig, review upcoming — generally pretty fun.

What are you currently reading?
As usual, too much. There’s A Game of Thrones, of course, and various other things I’ve mentioned in previous weeks, plus Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn, which is about mindfulness meditation and is helpful so far, though I don’t know if I’d give it to a beginner, and I obviously don’t agree with everything/find everything useful.

What are you going to read next?
Nary the faintest idea, really. I’m actually feeling tempted to read the Harry Potter books and actually finish the series — I only ever got up to The Goblet of Fire — but I’m not sure if it’s been long enough since a) everyone wanted to force it on me and b) I studied it at college and university several years in a row. I’m pretty sure I’m never going to see the pure genius that other people see, but it would be good if I could just enjoy the books for what they are.

I’m also contemplating closing my eyes and pointing, and reading whatever book is in line with my pointy finger. Just for the sheer unpredictability of it.

Tags: books, George R.R. Martin, Georgette Heyer, reading meme

Stacking the Shelves

Posted September 13, 2014 by in General / 58 Comments

You know how I was talking about only three books, this week? Well, it’s a multiple of three? — Why are you looking at me like that? I just felt like an adventure, okay, and my adventures involve books (and awesome second-hand bookshops). And… you couldn’t expect me to leave a bookshop without buying anything, right? Right?

So yeah. Big haul; twenty-seven books in all, counting books from publishers, not counting comics, though Ms Marvel and Captain Marvel both came out in the last week (eee!).

Wait, I just redid the total. Twenty-eight? Man, I dunno. Just look at the pretties.

ARCs/review copies

I’ve heard good things about the middle two, particularly City of Stairs, and I’ve read some of Lukyanenko’s work before. Plus, with a title like The Genome, no one’s surprised my ears pricked up. I’ve read other work by Helen Castor and enjoyed the way she writes. And Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling are just… legendary editors and it’s high time I read their anthologies.

Freebie

I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Benjanun Sriduangkaew, so when I was alerted to this being a freebie, off I went at speed. And that’s the end of the modest sections: onto the rest of my acquisitions!

Dead tree

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was mentioned a lot in the neurobiology class I took on Coursera (a class I recommend if it comes round again, by the way). Lots of classics, otherwise; stuff from the 101 best SF novels list I’m reading; Steven Brust and Patricia McKillip are tried and true for me…

Ebooks

Most of these, though not all, are for the aforementioned 101 best list I’m reading my way through. I swear.

And finally…

Comics

That Captain Marvel cover had better make a lot more sense in context, because I am not a fan of Carol Danvers looking like a cringy heroine from a horror movie who is about to get eaten. The lady kicks ass, people. Steve Rogers is disapproving of you right now. Right now.

Anyway! Anyone been sticking to resolutions better than me?

Tags: book reviews, books, bookshops, Patricia A. McKillip, Stacking the Shelves, Steven Brust

Bookshop Review – Paramount Books

Posted September 12, 2014 by in General / 2 Comments

Earlier this week I had a hankering for books and a pressing need to get myself out of the house for once. Because really, self, that’s not healthy. I ended up deciding I’d take a random trip to Manchester, because I’ve exhausted the more local bookshops, and I found a few second-hand shops in Manchester by googling. Armed with google maps and GPS, I ventured out. I actually had to stop after just a couple of stores, and it was mostly the fault of Paramount Books (Shudehill, Manchester City Centre, 061-834 9509, open until 7pm most days). It’s super easy to find; not too far away from Manchester Piccadilly station, on a corner near Arndale Shopping Centre.

One problem is that it’s a tiny little place, with nowhere near enough room between the aisles to get in there with a wheelchair. There’s no ramp that I could see, and I’m not convinced the door would be wide enough anyway. There is enough room to get in there if you’re using a stick, I think, but I don’t have any experience with that beyond a few days on crutches once, so I couldn’t say for sure.

First impression on walking in was, “whoa, loud classical music”, which is probably my only other complaint. Which is likely because I was just about on top of one of the speakers where I was looking at the science fiction and fantasy section. Unlike some shops that have an SF/F section, this one wasn’t dominated by just George R.R. Martin and Tolkien: there was a good selection of stuff from across the genre. Lots of stuff that I didn’t know, some stuff that I’d been wanting, and probably something for just about everyone. Apparently there’s more in the back room, too, but it was busy when I got there — and probably safer for me in the long run.

It’s not just SF/F, of course. There’s a good selection of old comics, more general interest reading, and plenty of little corners to squirrel yourself away in with a book you’re interested in or a shelf you want to study. I saw one of the owner(?)’s young relatives doing exactly that, of which I fully approve. With the loud music and so on it’s not a library, but it’s no Waterstones either — there’s no corporate efficiency, it’s much more personal than that, and no one disturbed my browsing with questions about what I’m looking for (which always annoys me when I’m blatantly browsing rather than seeking something particular). I had a great conversation with the person who took my money, who wisely mentioned liking Wales, and it really made me smile when I was also told to pick some fruit from a big bowl on the desk before I left!

They also pay cash for CDs, cassettes, videos and LPs, and sell old/valuable books as well as the usual old Poul Anderson-style paperbacks.

Things to keep in mind: not a place to find the latest releases — rely on serendipity, cash payment only, take a big bag to carry your finds home in!

Tags: books, bookshops, review

TBR Tag

Posted September 12, 2014 by in General / 1 Comment

Spotted this meme on Reading is my Treasure and picked it up since it looks like fun!

How do you keep track of your TBR pile?

Never-ending lists, mostly. I have lists going back to 2011 of the books that I’ve acquired (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), though that doesn’t include ARCs or library books. At the moment I’m also using my Stacking the Shelves posts as a visual reminder: look at old StS posts, figure out what I’ve read and what I haven’t, feel guilty.

Is your TBR mostly print or e-book?
Probably ebook, but I’m not sure, because I do have a looooot of both. It’s easier to go on sprees with ebooks, though.

A Book That’s Been On Your TBR List The Longest

Ulysses by James Joyce, technically! It’s been on my list since a couple of months before my first year in university, anyway. Other than that, I think it’s my Diane Duane books.

A Book You Recently Added To Your TBR

Dangerous Girls, by Abigail Haas. I keep hearing so much about this!

A Book In Your TBR Strictly Because of Its Beautiful Cover

I don’t really pick based on covers, but there are some that partially appeal because of the pretty.

A Book On Your TBR That You Never Plan on Reading

Probably Ulysses… I just can’t find any appeal in it other than “you have two English Lit degrees, you are meant to read it”. Well, boo to that.

An Unpublished Book on Your TBR That You’re Excited For

Mmmmmm. Up to last week it’d have been Maplecroft by Cherie Priest, or maybe The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley. Right now, I guess it’s down to N.K. Jemisin’s next one…

A Book On Your TBR That Basically Everyone’s Read But You

Gotta go with Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, but there’s others too…

A Book On Your TBR That Everyone Recommends To You

One of the above, probably! But also these, particularly Ancillary Justice.

A Book On Your TBR That You’re Dying To Read

Oh, so many. I’d like to catch up on some of my comics, actually.

How many books are on your Goodreads TBR shelf?

None. I don’t like the way they use that shelf. I have a bunch of specific shelves, but really I’m not keeping up with it very well since I started this blog.

I tag:

Whoever would like to do it!

Tags: Ann Leckie, books, Mary Robinette Kowal, N.K. Jemisin, Rainbow Rowell, TBR

Thursday Thoughts: Covers

Posted September 11, 2014 by in General / 6 Comments

This week’s theme from Ok, Let’s Read is about covers:

Are you someone who likes your books to look very uniform or do you usually not care to much about that? How do you react when there’s a cover change in the middle of a series? What are your opinions on movie-tie-in covers with the actors from the movie adaptation? Which book covers are your favorites?

I’m not too bothered about covers. It does annoy me when I’ve been collecting a series for a long time and then the covers change — Robin Hobb, sorry, I’m looking at you. I had nine books and then the covers changed, what’s with that? Also, I quite liked my old set of Neil Gaiman books: I sometimes find the old editions still on sale, but there’s a lot more variation in the covers now. Probably because he’s written more children’s books, graphic stories like Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains, but still, rar! But it doesn’t bother me too much, especially when I’m collecting the series in ebook. I’m pretty resigned to it, I think: I can be quite obsessive about other things, and it’s not particularly good for me!

Movie tie-in covers… I’m not a big fan, because I usually think they’re not as nice as the original covers, and sometimes I am so not in favour of the casting, etc. Especially when it’s white-washed. I don’t know if they ever made tie-in covers for the Earthsea TV series where Ged was white, but I wouldn’t touch that with a barge pole.

My favourite book covers tend to be ones with really pretty fantasy art. Kinuko Craft and Thomas Canty do good stuff. Just pulling from the covers I already have loaded on here, here’s some Kinuko Craft and Thomas Canty…

Tags: books, Thursday Thoughts