I have just starting reading "The Selected Works of T S Spivet" by Rief Larsen. I first saw this novel in a bookshop and was attracted firstly by the colour and shape of the book and then the illustrations and side notations throughout the story. How interesting I thought, definitely worth further investigation.
So far, about 30 pages in, it is very engaging. T S Spivet, otherwise known as Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, is the narrator and protagonist. He is a 12 year old boy living on a ranch in Montant who is obsessed with cartography. He appears to be a gifted child and his narration is very funny. The only negative so far is that trying to follow the text of the side bar notes and read the numerous charts and drawing requires one to manoeuveur the book to odd angles which is not so easy when you are reading under the covers!
These are my initial thoughts and I will keep you posted on how the journey goes. As you know, if a novel starts to bore me I don't bother finishing it and should this prove to be the case, my next post may be a short one!!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Lovely Bones
Hey all,
Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is our next SBC meeting.
This month we are discussing Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, hopefully you all received your copy in time.
I have to admit it took me a several attempts to get into it, but once I did it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Looking forward to all your opinions tomorrow.
The newsletter was sent out by post yesterday, and emailed today to the ones who preferred the electronic copy so in theory everybody should get a copy of it today.
This month we have used the discussion questions that were created by the publisher, but we are hoping that for the next few books we could create our own as a group similar to the way Merrin & I did for Paul Carter's "Don't tell mum I work on the rigs..."
Can't wait to hear what you all thought about the book, Natalie
Just a quick reminder that tomorrow is our next SBC meeting.
This month we are discussing Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, hopefully you all received your copy in time.
I have to admit it took me a several attempts to get into it, but once I did it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Looking forward to all your opinions tomorrow.
The newsletter was sent out by post yesterday, and emailed today to the ones who preferred the electronic copy so in theory everybody should get a copy of it today.
This month we have used the discussion questions that were created by the publisher, but we are hoping that for the next few books we could create our own as a group similar to the way Merrin & I did for Paul Carter's "Don't tell mum I work on the rigs..."
Can't wait to hear what you all thought about the book, Natalie
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Tosca's bookshelf
Hola! Yes, it's that time again - to give you a sneak peek at my bookshelf this month. It's only just barely August and I'm once again up to my eyeballs in books *sigh* It's so good being me LOL
Before I show you the books I just wanted to let you all know that we have a new NextReads newsletter starting up this week. It's the Romance E-interview newsletter which is, much as the title suggests, interviews conducted by email with some of New Zealand and Australia's hottest romance authors. Our first issue features Nalini Singh - New York Times Bestselling paranormal romance author who resides in Auckland. All of this came about as an idea I'd been kicking over the a couple of months. Finally, after too much sugar, I flicked Nalini an email and floated the idea past her. She responded within a couple of hours (I'm very impressed by that) in the affirmative. All of that got me thinking...how many other authors might be interested in allowing some of our subscribers a glimpse at the person behind the stories. I hunted up some 17 authors, not expecting that anyone would want to - all the time wondering if this could be a regular side feature in our current Romance newsletter. Well, like Topsy the idea growed and growed and, before I knew it, every single author said yes, and so the newsletter needed its very own space! Which of course has me wondering of I can pull this off for our other genre...
Bonneville : the Fastest Place on Earth by "Landspeed" Louise Ann Noeth
Two reasons I'm reading this book: I'm about to watch the movie Bonneville with Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Joan Allen and I like cars. Fast cars, slow cars, pretty cars, beat up cars - I just like cars. When I was younger my dad was always restoring cars or motorbikes at any given time. If he wasn't driving one he was tinkering with one *rolls eyes* It's no surprise then that two of my sisters can take a car apart and put it back together without even breaking a sweat. Me, on the other hand, I much prefer to watch LOL While I can recognise most makes, models and years, I've got nothing on the 10 and 12 yr old nephews LOL
Blackmailed into a Fake Engagement by Leanne Banks
What kinda romance newsletter editor wouldn't be reading romances?! One or two things bother me about the cover - like the fact that he's leading her and not even paying attention to her, and she's looking at him with blind adoration. HOWEVER the story itself is quite funny and the characters aren't totally up themselves or all about money and sophistication. That said, he's a PR man for a big movie company that's family owned and she's an Oscar-winning retired actress-turned horse rescue rancher LOL Something about happy endings make me feel slightly less cynical and yes, even when they're cliche happy endings! This particular book is a part of the Hudsons of Beverly Hills series, and each book is written by a different author and some of them really do have quite distinct styles or voices. In fact, one of them in this series I read I didn't actually like the characters at all. Eek.
Who Writes This Crap by Joel Stickley and Luke Wright
Hilarious nonfiction book in which Stickley and Wright take all of the gaff we read in our normal day, and re-write it. In funny and satirical ways that keep you laughing from beginning to end. A lot of the stuff they've used is taken from emails, magazine advertising and packaging, text messages, junk mail. Here's an example: 'You don't have to be crazy to work here. But under EU law we will still consider your application.' Or how about: 'Warning! Any baggage left unattended will be removed and destroyed, no matter how unlikely it is that fanatical terrorists waging a holy war against Western civilisation would conceal an explosive device in a bright pink Miffy rucksack.' If you've read Is it just me or is everything shit : the encyclopedia of modern life by Steve Lowe then you've just got to try this gem.
That's it from me - I am reading much more but really, I'm trying not to bore you senseless! Feel free to comment, add your own bookshelf updates or even suggest a book for me to read. One thing I used to do a lot while working the front desk in our branches was actually read the books our customers suggested. I've read some of the strangest and best books that way :)
Before I show you the books I just wanted to let you all know that we have a new NextReads newsletter starting up this week. It's the Romance E-interview newsletter which is, much as the title suggests, interviews conducted by email with some of New Zealand and Australia's hottest romance authors. Our first issue features Nalini Singh - New York Times Bestselling paranormal romance author who resides in Auckland. All of this came about as an idea I'd been kicking over the a couple of months. Finally, after too much sugar, I flicked Nalini an email and floated the idea past her. She responded within a couple of hours (I'm very impressed by that) in the affirmative. All of that got me thinking...how many other authors might be interested in allowing some of our subscribers a glimpse at the person behind the stories. I hunted up some 17 authors, not expecting that anyone would want to - all the time wondering if this could be a regular side feature in our current Romance newsletter. Well, like Topsy the idea growed and growed and, before I knew it, every single author said yes, and so the newsletter needed its very own space! Which of course has me wondering of I can pull this off for our other genre...
Bonneville : the Fastest Place on Earth by "Landspeed" Louise Ann NoethTwo reasons I'm reading this book: I'm about to watch the movie Bonneville with Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Joan Allen and I like cars. Fast cars, slow cars, pretty cars, beat up cars - I just like cars. When I was younger my dad was always restoring cars or motorbikes at any given time. If he wasn't driving one he was tinkering with one *rolls eyes* It's no surprise then that two of my sisters can take a car apart and put it back together without even breaking a sweat. Me, on the other hand, I much prefer to watch LOL While I can recognise most makes, models and years, I've got nothing on the 10 and 12 yr old nephews LOL
Blackmailed into a Fake Engagement by Leanne BanksWhat kinda romance newsletter editor wouldn't be reading romances?! One or two things bother me about the cover - like the fact that he's leading her and not even paying attention to her, and she's looking at him with blind adoration. HOWEVER the story itself is quite funny and the characters aren't totally up themselves or all about money and sophistication. That said, he's a PR man for a big movie company that's family owned and she's an Oscar-winning retired actress-turned horse rescue rancher LOL Something about happy endings make me feel slightly less cynical and yes, even when they're cliche happy endings! This particular book is a part of the Hudsons of Beverly Hills series, and each book is written by a different author and some of them really do have quite distinct styles or voices. In fact, one of them in this series I read I didn't actually like the characters at all. Eek.
Who Writes This Crap by Joel Stickley and Luke WrightHilarious nonfiction book in which Stickley and Wright take all of the gaff we read in our normal day, and re-write it. In funny and satirical ways that keep you laughing from beginning to end. A lot of the stuff they've used is taken from emails, magazine advertising and packaging, text messages, junk mail. Here's an example: 'You don't have to be crazy to work here. But under EU law we will still consider your application.' Or how about: 'Warning! Any baggage left unattended will be removed and destroyed, no matter how unlikely it is that fanatical terrorists waging a holy war against Western civilisation would conceal an explosive device in a bright pink Miffy rucksack.' If you've read Is it just me or is everything shit : the encyclopedia of modern life by Steve Lowe then you've just got to try this gem.
That's it from me - I am reading much more but really, I'm trying not to bore you senseless! Feel free to comment, add your own bookshelf updates or even suggest a book for me to read. One thing I used to do a lot while working the front desk in our branches was actually read the books our customers suggested. I've read some of the strangest and best books that way :)
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