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binge reading |
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a real thirst for a good story |
5.14.2003
i gave up reading books and comics for lent.
mostly it was to discipline myself into working on my online comic strip. it didn't work. i still didn't work on my comic. 8^(P i gave up books quite well, but comics were another matter. Scott McCloud was right to state in one of his books, either Understanding Comics or Reinventing Comics, that it's hard to see a comic and not read it. don't believe me? you try giving up reading comics and then leaf through your local newspaper. i would not be surprised if you caught yourself reading a comic or an editorial cartoon before you realized what you were doing. here's what i read before lent, that i can remember anyway... Enchantmentby Orson Scott Card Living Dead in Dallas as by Charlaine Harris Covenant with the Vampire by Jeanne Kalogridis i got them from the local library, and then i forgot to take them backby the due date. i had them in the house all through lent, but since i had already read them, they posed no threat. i did have to pay a $3 late fee though when i returned them. i'm sure the crowley's ridge library is less than happy with me, but i don't plan on visiting until i cannot afford a book at the store and i am tired of re-reading my collection of books so far. a creative take on russian folk tales and the sleeping beauty tale from mr. card. i don't think i've stumbled across a book of his that i haven't liked. 8^) kinda appropriate since i just finished that Joseph Campbell book today! 8^) the vampire books were mostly to confirm to myself that i am on the right track with the vampires in Blue Canary. and, here are some of the books i've read since easter. up until last week, i had not been keeping track of when i started and completed a book. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin and here's when i started to keep track again: *Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett-started 5-7-03. i'm staking my time on this one, consider it leisurely reading. The Shadow Sorceress, part of the Spellsong Cycle by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.-started 5-8-03; finished 5-9-03. Shadowsinger, part of the Spellsong Cycle by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.-started 5-12-03; finished 5-13-03. Ghost of the White Nights by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.-started 5-13-03; 5-14-03, around 12:22 am. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell-finished 5-14-03. i've been working on the Joseph Campbell book on and off for awhile now. read a few chapters, then put it up for awhile. Still, it is a good read. 8^) very good if you like mythology. i would be surprised if it was not required reading material for most university mythology classes. Good Omens is always a fun read, and even though i've read it like 5 or six times before, i still enjoy it. i usually start it when i'm either too poor to go to the bookstore or i'm wanting a good laugh. someone, can't remember the name off the top of my head, recommended the Earthsea books of Ms. LeGuinn to me, along with the works of Tanith Lee. i have not been able to find much of Ms. Lee's work, beyond Black Unicorn, at my local bookstore. However, since the end of lent, i am discovering that the Earthsea books are out in new paperback editions. 8^) i am enjoying the adventures of the wizard, Ged, very much. i've read the first 3 books to L. E. Modesitt's Spellsong Cycle, but just hadn't had the chance to pick up the last two books, until now. I read them very quickly, which usually means that i enjoyed it. 8^) i have tried to get into his Saga of Recluse, but after a few books i found myself a little dissatisfied. perhaps if i try to pick up the stories again at a much later date. i have also read two of his other works, Of Tangible Ghosts and Ghost of the Revelator. Ghost of the White Nights is the last in the triology. i love the alternate timeline story in which ghosts are real, there are no computers, but difference engines and the austro-hungarian empire never lost their power and has conquered most of europe in fear, nuclear weapons and other hideous tatics. look for famous names in the stories. for example, the austrian ambassodor to columbia is none other than Schikelgruber, a.k.a, Adolf Hitler. It's only to fitting for him to be the ambassador to the tyrancial Emperor Ferdinand of the Hapsburg Empire. the stories are a bit errie, at times. so much is the same, and yet so different. i had lent Passage by Connie Willis to Jo sometime ago. this week she finally started it, i'd say about...monday or tuesday, jo? she got up early for work that morning and found a little extra time on her hands around 6:45am. she read about 145 pages and looked up to see that it was 8:40am and she was 40 minutes late for work. poor girl. but i understand what it's like to get caught up in a book. i'm glad she enjoyed is so much and that she didn't get into too much trouble at work. 6^) that is another book that makes you think, all about near-death experiences. i do recommend it. this morning, i awoke to her trying to find the other two Spellsong Cycle books in my room, so she could read them. lol i've created a monster. this week has seen me at the bookstore, twice. the two books still waiting at home to be read are Orson Scott Card's Xenocide and Ursula K. Le Guin's Tehanu. i'm traveling to dallas with my mom to help her move some things back home. i hope to have a chance to stop at my favorite used bookstore and perhaps get rid of some old books and get some new ones. 8^) we'll see. i'm saving those two books i just mentioned for reading material for the trip. more later. |
currently reading:. #Creative Mythology: The Masks of God, Book 4 by Joseph Campbell #Across the Wall by Garth Nix to read:. *Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (thanks for this one, c!) The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats, a Journey into the Feline Heart by Jefferey Moussaieff Masson Eygptian Magic by E. A. Wallis Budge The Library of Alexandria, Centre of Learning in the Ancient World edited by Roy MacLeod Alexandria Rediscovered by Jean-Yves Empereur, translated by Margaret Maehler Ghosts: Appearances of the Dead and Cultural Transformation by by R.C. Finucane Libraries of the Ancient World by Lionel Casson *Red Land, Black Land by Barbara Mertz * denotes books that have been reread. # denotes a series of books or a trilogy. ‡ denotes an electronic book recommended reading:. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin Sabriel by Garth Nix fav authors:. Terry Pratchett Neil Gaiman William Gibson Guy Gavriel Kay Charles de Lint Ursula K. LeGuin more to come! links:. avanced book exchange | oxbow books | tbib | logology | project gutenberg my life by design | linkiedinks | blue canary | scribbles & sketches | recommend a book layout by greencapsule thanks to blogskins and comments by yaccs powered by blogger |