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Caleb's 2012 Reading Challenges
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Caleb
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Feb 29, 2012 11:33AM
Yeah I read that review a while back. Luckily for me the sex scenes in Verdant Skies didn't involve pubic feathers, but I did get the feeling that the sex/love-interest scenes somehow had to be in the story by formula rather than because the plot demanded them.
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Caleb wrote: "Yeah I read that review a while back. Luckily for me the sex scenes in Verdant Skies didn't involve pubic feathers, but I did get the feeling that the sex/love-interest scenes somehow had to be in ..."I can understand that. It's kinda what my friend said, too. He later said that he felt that if the book was edited and re-released, it would be great. *shrug*
Just added Only Ever Always. This is a great YA book which is quite beautiful in the telling. It reminds me a bit of Labyrinth in a way.
Caleb wrote: "Just added Only Ever Always. This is a great YA book which is quite beautiful in the telling. It reminds me a bit of Labyrinth in a way."It does sounds interesting.
OK - back from a long weekend away camping and I've updated my list with the latest - Work Of Art.For those who would like to read the review on my site, here's a direct link. http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/03/12/work-of-art-by-john-black/
I like the review. Sad to see the story was so badly edited. It might be worth it to ask if some MR editors to advertise on your site...
I do have all my notes I made while reading. If I can get time, I'll compile them into a list and send to the author. If he can correct all of those, then there should only be what I've missed.
Started finally slotting books to genres in my genre challenge. Looks like I have 75% of the challenge covered already which isn't too bad.
Caleb wrote: "Started finally slotting books to genres in my genre challenge. Looks like I have 75% of the challenge covered already which isn't too bad."But where's the book bonfire (my favourite one of your challenge titles) challenge status?
I'm jealous of your ability to stick to lists.
Homeinmyshoes wrote: "Caleb wrote: "Started finally slotting books to genres in my genre challenge. Looks like I have 75% of the challenge covered already which isn't too bad."But where's the book bonfire (my favour..."
Book bonfire is an idea for a challenge next year. :)
I just noted it down so that I'd remember it.
You know although I don't really buy paperbacks anymore, I still have shelves of books I haven't read yet. So I was thinking that the Backlog challenge wasn't specific enough. I need to finish reading my paperbacks.
MrsJoseph wrote: "I'm jealous of your ability to stick to lists."Yeah - I'm pretty relentless. However, some of it's quite easy. I think some of you guys made much harder lists to stick to.
Caleb wrote: "MrsJoseph wrote: "I'm jealous of your ability to stick to lists."Yeah - I'm pretty relentless. However, some of it's quite easy. I think some of you guys made much harder lists to stick to."
Maybe. Or maybe you just have more willpower than I, lol.
I thought my lists were pretty varied, lol.
I have to say I have some pretty nice reading coming up. I've got most of my reading planned until June.I've got Wool Omnibus Edition coming up at the end of this month which I'm really excited about.
In April, I have Pulchritude, How Gods Bleed, Fahrenheit 451 and The Final Solution. All of these I'm looking forward to.
In May, there's The Gods Themselves about which I've read many good things and I finally get to read Kraken from my favourite author.
And those are only what I would consider my feature books. I've also got other stuff scheduled which may also knock my socks off.
And I can say this about independent authors. It's true that you can get poorly edited works. I've suffered from this a few times. However, I am having no problem finding authors and novels that leave me impressed.
SPeaking of self-pubs......I've been putting my foot in it lately, lol. I'm so used to being able to be honest with my exclusive kindle author contracts at MR without being hated by my kindle reading friends...
...I forgot I wasn't at MR and made some serious conversation about amazon.
I should stop that. Most of the people I associate with here do not give a rat's ass about the differences in ereaders, DRM or anything else. *face palm* silly me.
Another book complete. This time an indie effort by John A A Logan: The Survival of Thomas Ford.I've posted my review for any who want to have a read: http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/03/18/the-survival-of-thomas-ford-by-john-a-a-logan/
I'm glad you gave it a 4 because I'm getting ready to read that one soon. :-)
Oooh - I've very interested to read what you think about it when you're done.
Crap on a stick, my indie read/review slots are booked up until the end of June at this stage.I'm bouncing between requests that are coming in and those which I've found myself or have been recommended to me.
Caleb wrote: "Crap on a stick, my indie read/review slots are booked up until the end of June at this stage.I'm bouncing between requests that are coming in and those which I've found myself or have been recom..."
But, if they are all good reads (ha ha! goodreads) then you'll have a great time. :-D
Well some I am quite eager to get into which is a good sign.I was anxious for a month to get to Wool Omnibus Edition and I'm relishing it now. I'm only halfway through and the only thing I could think to criticise is a couple of very small errors (missing words etc..) and I'm only talking about maybe 3 or 4 that I've noticed so far.
I see that you've flagged this as a to-read MrsJ. You realise that this is dystopian/post-apocalyptic? Are we going to successfully rewire you? :)
Caleb wrote: "I see that you've flagged this as a to-read MrsJ. You realise that this is dystopian/post-apocalyptic? Are we going to successfully rewire you? :) "Ummmm....probably not, lol. You said so many great things about it, I was thinking of giving it a try. If it's too dark though...
Just finished The Remains of the Day. What an extraordinary book. I don't often give 5 stars, but that one definitely deserves it.
I've posted my review of Wool Omnibus Edition at my site here: http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/03/30/wool-omnibus-edition-by-hugh-howey/.First 5 star review on my site - so it's a bit of an occasion.
OK - I've posted a review of The Kult on my review site.http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/04/02/the-kult-by-shaun-jeffrey/
For those who would like to have a look.
Caleb wrote: "I've posted my review of Wool Omnibus Edition at my site here: http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/03....First 5 star review on my site - so it'..."
Congrats!
I'm curious but at the same time...not sure if I;ll ever read it...
MrsJoseph wrote: I'm curious but at the same time...not sure if I;ll ever read it... Slacker! :P
I'm a wussy, thank you very much. :-P
Just finished reading Ana Mardoll's Pulchritude. It was quite a fascinating retelling of Beauty and the Beast.I've reviewed it on my site: http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/04/06/pulchritude-by-ana-mardoll/
Caleb wrote: "Just finished reading Ana Mardoll's Pulchritude. It was quite a fascinating retelling of Beauty and the Beast.I've reviewed it on my site: http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/04/06..."
Oooh! Great review! I've wanted to read this but not wanted to find out that its not cup of tea.
Thanks MrsJ.It was fun and very quick to read. I feel that I should have composed my review before reading Ana's end notes though as I couldn't help but be influenced by her intentions when writing.
So - another book complete. This time it was Ray Bradbury's Sci-Fi classic Fahrenheit 451. Great book by the way!My challenges are going much better than I expected them to by this stage of the year. If I keep my momentum up I might even finish all of them. I'm even almost on target with the page count challenge.
OK - I changed my indie review schedule. I had this book scheduled that I'd read about and it seemed really interesting. Then I read a couple of pages of the first chapter and changed my mind. It starts like this:Sight was more dominant than sound for the hallway was dark and offered no clue as to what lurked within
I was immediately on my guard. What a terrible sentence. What does it even mean?
But it was not his height that made even the darkness weary (supposed to be wary) of him, it was his features.
Then he goes on to say his face is very old (in a terribly clumsy way - using words like 'elderliness') but doesn't actually describe any actual facial features. No mention of eyes, mouth, teeth etc..
We then read about a bunch of people shuffling towards this creature with constant reference to a fifth man - except always written as 5th - argh.
Then this:
The silence that followed was horrid, worse even than many other awful sounds. Time became irrelevant for the horrid silence was terrifyingly powerful. The sound that finally broke the noiselessness was just as haunting.
I put the book down and the bird said, "Nevermore."
Maybe it gets better. I don't know - but I've got too many good books to read for the moment.
Ouch! That really is awful, Caleb.
The thing is - what can you tell someone who is writing like that? Grammar and spelling problems I can at least send a correction for. But this...this is unfixable.
I'm now reading Cthulhu in Wonderland which is challenging for an entirely different reason. Imagine the gibberish of Lewis Carroll using words and concepts from the Cthulhu mythos. It's a funny experiment and I'll read it to the end, but it makes what was already a painful reading experience (yes L.C. I'm talking about you) even more painful.
Loosheesh wrote: "Oy ... I feel your pain but that last excerpt has me laughing so hard!"^This!
What in the world!
I'm doing something simular...reviewing a book that I need to leave alone.Here's a sample:
It didn’t take too long for a simple one-sentence reply
It simply read, “those are my plans, please speak no more of it.”
“Ah,” the old white dragon nodded in approval.
“Pendragon? What are you doing?”
He looked behind him and saw his smallest hatchling limping towards him
She was a pretty black-and-red striped dragonling with a fractured and bandaged leg
She constantly nibbled at her wing, it was an uncontrollable impulse
Pendragon rushed to her, whispering, “return to your nest, my sweet, and sleep as deep as you can. Things are about to change very soon.”
She brightened up, her wings flapping in excitement, “are we going to Earth?”
He started to hesitate, hoping not to dampen her happy mood again.
“…yes, my sweet. We are going to Earth very soon.”
She started prancing in place, gleefully “laughing.” Her laugh wasn’t normal, it was sounding shrill and perky. He returned to the control panel as she left, and he sent the order and coordinates of Earth to Sector 23.
Some parts of him hated this, but the other part of him was overjoyed to see the Dragons rise up.
No longer would they suffer under the might of man
And it wouldn’t be the other way around"
That's ghastly MrsJ! I felt like I was lost in a Mulligrubs episode and there was no escape.
Caleb wrote: "That's ghastly MrsJ! I felt like I was lost in a Mulligrubs episode and there was no escape."Yeah.
It's pretty much all like that. And random poems. And an unstructured timeline. And a lack of consistency. And a decided dislike of complete paragraphs.
Loosheesh wrote: "Oh boo, you guys are just not creative souls :-P":-P
OK - finished The Gods Themselves. Great book. I recommend it.Not sure whether to call it a classic to add to my classics challenge though. With sci-fi in particular I get caught up with the categorisation.
No matter though - great book whichever way it should be classified.
I think I'm approaching a slump. I can feel myself not opting to read at times when I would usually be devouring pages.I hope it's not Scott Nicholson's fault. Reading one of his at the moment. It isn't bad or anything so maybe he's just collateral damage.
Caleb wrote: "I think I'm approaching a slump. I can feel myself not opting to read at times when I would usually be devouring pages.I hope it's not Scott Nicholson's fault. Reading one of his at the moment...."
Ooooh. I hate that. I've gone through a couple of those this year already. Usually I try to either read a stinker (Thanks Homeinmyshoes) or I go for a new/different genre or just something that I really like.
I wanted to ask you something. Have you access to a book names The Madness of Hallen? I've wanted to get a copy but he is an AUS author and the shipping alone is $22. O_O Plus the paperback is $35. What are prices like over there?
I think Scott's book is catching my interest now so it may be OK. Actually reading the sample of a review request and I'm liking that as well. Think I might be putting that on my list for review later this year.
I can access it in Amazon - but only in ebook. Not available for you over there?If it's geographical restrictions I don't think I could even gift you a copy. Of course if you're looking for paperback - doesn't seem to be anywhere.
I don't seem to be able to order it at Angus & Robertson, Dymocks, Borders, Booktopia or Fishpond. I also can't find it on Book Depository (UK or US store).
http://www.thekhaladastone.com/#!storeIt seems that the problem is that the author is selling alone with only Amazon as the ebook. ANd I don't own a kindle and don't want to d/l K4PC to my computer. So I would think I could just get a paper copy but the book doesn't get purchased for $50+ US when I don't own a leather-bound gold-leafed copy of any of my favorites currently.
Curses. I just added it to my wish list because it sounded so interesting. I'm surprised I didn't push the 'Buy now with 1-Click' button.
MrsJoseph wrote: "I wanted to ask you something. Have you access to a book names The Madness of Hallen? I've wanted to get a copy but he is an AUS author and the shipping alone is $22. O_O Plus the paperback is $..."My usual solution to high shipping costs is to buy more and spread the ugly cost across several items.
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