2-in-1: Blog Hop & Top Ten Tuesday

It's been a long time since I've participated in any blogging memes, and today I've decided to make up for it by doing two in one post.

The Book Blogger Hop

hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For Books.

Usually a weekend thing, last week's Book Blogger Hop has been held back until today, when we are asked:

"Outside of books, what is your guilty pleasure?"

I have to confess that just lately I've been watching Glee. (I hang my head in shame.) I saw the first two episodes when it was first shown on UK TV but didn't get into it at all, but then when series 2 came on I got hooked! I usually end up shouting at the screen (usually at Rachel) and making snarky comments, but I keep coming back for another episode.



Top Ten Tuesday:

This is the first week I've taken part in the Top Ten Tuesday hosted by the girls at The Broke and the Bookish although I've been reading other people's posts regularly. I love lists.

The Top Ten Books I'd like to see made into Movies:

1. Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery. The last book in the Anne of Green Gables series, this is  about Anne's six grown-up children when the First World War strikes. After the wonderful TV adaptation of Green Gables by Kevin Sullivan, the book series and the films parted company so that the film version of Anne at the time of the First World War has nothing in common with the book. Rilla of Ingleside would work quite well as a stand-alone story, because the focus is on Anne's teenage daughter Rilla, rather than Anne herself.

2. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I suspect it is only a matter of time with this one, as it is the only book by Waters not to have been adapted into a TV drama (The Night Watch will be on our screens later this year.) Done well, it would make a creepy and atmospheric historical horror film.

3. Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. As its title suggests, this is a werewolf story, the tale of the only female werewolf in the world, Elena Michaels, who just wants to live a normal life but who is drawn back to the "pack" and the former lover who betrayed her. I heard rumours of an adaptation a few years back, but nothing seemed to come of it.

4. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. This is a bit of a cheat, as the story was a TV drama before it became a novel, and not a bad one for a BBC low-budget programme, but with modern special effects and a bigger budget, it could be even more amazing. But a film is nothing without its cast and I don't think anyone could replace Patterson Joseph as the Marquis de Carabas.

5. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Sky One made such a great job of Hogfather that I would love to see them make the "Watch" books into two-part dramas to the same standard. I put Guards! Guards! down here specifically, but I would expect it to be followed up by Men at Arms, Feet of Clay...

6. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Can you see a theme developing here? And the great thing is that this one is not wishful thinking, but being adapted for a four-part TV series. Neil talks about the project here.

7. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. The Thursday Next books are a literature nerd's treat, set in a parallel world where it is possible to hop in and out of books and - if you're not careful - change what happens within the pages. In The Eyre Affair, Literary Detective Thursday has to rescue Jane Eyre, who has been kidnapped by an evil mastermind. There could be some trouble with an adaptation, however, as there are some scenes that can work only with text, such as someone communicating through footnotes. Difficult.

8. Malory Towers by Enid Blyton. I don't think these books would work very well as a film series - too episodic and not eventful enough - but it could be a nice after-school series a la Tracy Beaker or the Blyton's Famous Five that was made into a CITV series when I was about ten.

9. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. This was the big young adult novel of last year, about a girl who is killed in a car accident, before waking up to find it being the morning of the same day. A cross between Groundhog Day, The Lovely Bones and Mean Girls, Before I Fall is a wonderful book that would look great on the silver screen and appeal to teenagers and adults alike.

10. What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge. Although old-fashioned, the Katy series is a girls' classic to be compared with Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, but I don't think that it's ever been adapted for the screen.

Book Blogger Hop and Trial By Jury/Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan

The Book Blogger Hop

It's Friday again and time for the Book Blogger Hop. The Hop is a quick and easy way to find out what other book blogs are out there, and to find out a little about the people behind them. The Hop is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books, and if you visit her site you'll find a question to answer and lots of clicky-links to all this week's Hoppers' blogs, all in one place. Simples!

"Do you ever wish you would have named your blog something different?"

Actually, yes I do. Katie's Book Blog may tell you what the blog is about, but it doesn't have much personality to it, and there are plenty of other Katies out there with book blogs. I wish I'd used a bit more imagination when I started blogging. I've also included reviews of film and TV, so it's only mostly about books. Perhaps a title with "Story" in it would be more appropriate. Still, at least I won't be able to look back in a couple of years and groan, "what was I thinking to come up with such a cheesy name?!" as I have done in the past.

Theatre: Trial by Jury/Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan

The last couple of months I haven't been able to read and write as much as I'd like as I've been in rehearsals for a double bill of Gilbert and Sullivan: Trial By Jury and Pirates of Penzance. As you can imagine, trying to fit rehearsals for two shows into the same space as the usual one has been a lot of hard work and quite stressful at times. Two weeks ago it seemed that these operettas would never be ready for an audience! But credit to all involved, each rehearsal was noticeably better than the last and at last on our dress rehearsal we were informed by our patient but pernickety Musical Director that it was going to be a "really good show."

We're setting Trial in the modern day, despite it being about a trial for Breach Of Promise Of Marriage. I've been cast as the Counsel for the Plaintiff, originally a man's part. I'm loving the part, as - for a change! - there is no giggling, swooning or screaming involved - I just get to power-dress and glower over a pair of glasses. I'm looking forward to seeing the DVD of the show as I miss much of what is going on, either because the character is studiously ignoring everyone else's disgraceful behaviour, or because the judge - a red-faced drunken buffoon - sits behind me.

Ruth and the Pirate King

Pirates is set more traditionally in the late 19th century - you really can't do anything else, with its particular finale - and that means (for the ladies) big, heavy dresses and sun-bonnets. It may look very pretty but get very hot and uncomfortable under the stage lights. The pirates are a fearsome crew of scoundrels with plenty of scars, swords and "arrrr!" - and Ruth, the "piratical maid-of-all-work" seems to take great pleasure in her make-up, with stick-on warts, blackened teeth, a mono-brow and Johnny Depp-style beads dangling from her bandanna. The woman's only supposed to be forty-seven years old. Evidently a life of piracy does not suit her. And she does not suit a life of piracy. Anyone who has read Swallows and Amazons knows that you just can't have a pirate named Ruth. Pirates should be ruthless. (Though, bless 'em, they do try to get rid of her with Frederic. And besides, they're pretty useless pirates. For one thing, they don't drink rum, but sherry!)

A policeman and
Ma-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay...bel
relax at the bar.

Pirates is probably the best-loved and most accessible of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas - probably because pirates make anything more interesting! It has some wonderful songs that everyone is familiar with, notably the Major-General's song, "A Policeman's Lot is Not A Happy One, and "With Cat-Like Tread" (The tune of the chorus, "Come, friends, who plough the sea..." is one I've known all my life without knowing what it was.) The heroine, Mabel, has some ridiculously over-the top "warbles" that I always thought marked her out as being a bit of a spoilt princess - thankfully the director agreed, and this is how she is being played.

This is my favourite part of the show, as performed with great energy by the Australian Opera.

Mabel and Frederic

We usually have a problem in our company finding enough men for the shows - notoriously, last year's The Sorcerer, which involves pairing off the chorus after a love potion is put into the teapot, ended with each man marrying two wives! If you know Trial by Jury, you'll know that this is Not Allowed - it is Burglary [sic]. This year, as well as having a big enough men's chorus for policemen AND pirates, AND to pair off with all the ladies at the end, we even had a young tenor to cast as Frederic, a rather important role to get right as the plot revolves around his twenty-first birthday. (Except it isn't - he was born on February 29th in a leap year, which means that he is a little boy of five!)



"Paulette" and "Michelle"

So far there have been two performances and aside from a few muddled words and missed entrances, it seems to have gone pretty well - certainly better than the pessimists were predicting a couple of weeks ago. Tuesday was the dress rehearsal, and that day we had the local paper's photographer in, so the actors who played the Pirate King and Major-General Stanley were in those costumes through Trial. Wednesday, opening night, I walked into the theatre clubroom to see their Trial costumes for the first time. There they were, in their wigs... skirts... handbags. How was I going to keep my Mrs Grumpy Face act up looking at that? Couldn't they have given me some warning? But when it came down to it, I barely noticed, being too busy watching the musical director. In fact I think I stayed in character throughout Trial, despite a coatstand crashing down on me as I made my entrance. I glared at it and let someone else pick it up. In actual fact I was thinking, "Oh help! I don't know how to make this work in the scene. Let's pretend that didn't happen."

Two more days to go, three more performances, and then I hope I'll be able to get back to posting regular book reviews. In the meantime I'll leave you with a clip from another Australian production of Pirates - they seem to do the best! This song is originally from Ruddigore but is sometimes included in Pirates. After all, "this particularly rapid unintelligible patter isn't generally heard, and if it is, it doesn't matter." Enjoy!

The Book Blogger Hop 4/2/11

First of all, I have to apologise for things being a bit slow over here the last week or two. I'm in rehearsals for a double bill of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance and Trial By Jury, which, along with work, doesn't leave much time or energy for reading and reviewing.

But I have just been paid, and yesterday I came home with a few more books to add to my ever-increasing to-read pile. From work: Dorothy Koomson's The Woman He Loved Before, which judging from the blurb sounds as though it could be a modern-day Rebecca. I also bought this week's Times recommendation - The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith, which I already owned, but which came with a free copy of the second Sunday Philosophy Club book, which I haven't read. Annoyed that Lauren Oliver's Delirium hadn't arrived instore, I went down to the other bookshop and bought it on a Buy One Get One Half Price with Maggie Stiefvater's Lament.

Plus three library books, four Richard and Judy Book Club recommendations and various books left over from previous splurges. I intend to make up for lost time in March.

Hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For Books 

"What are you reading now and why are you reading it?"

I have two books on the go at the moment: Middlemarch by George Eliot, which I have been reading, on and off, for several months now. I'd been meaning to read it since seeing the beginning of the BBC adaptation a few years ago, and am enjoying it, but have been quite daunted by such an enormous volume and reading only a bit at a time. This last week, though, I've sped through the second half and am nearly finished. It'll be strange when I've finally finished it.

I'm also reading Lauren Oliver's Delirium, which was released in the UK yesterday. Before I Fall was one of my favourite books of 2010, one I bought without any prior knowledge of after being drawn to it in the bookshop. There's been a lot of rave reviews from those lucky enough to get advanced copies, and a lot of excitement from book bloggers, and I wanted to read it now! Expect a review in the next couple of days.

Book Blogger Hop and Coming Soon, 7/1/11

The Book Blogger Hop:

hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books.

It's been a few weeks since I've taken part in the Book Blogger Hop, thanks to working overtime and then Jennifer quite rightly taking a two week holiday over Christmas and New Year.

This week's question:

"What book influenced or changed your life? How did it influence/change you?"

Wow, it's so difficult to narrow it down to just one. I think, at the risk of repeating myself, I will say Anne of Green Gables, because Anne Shirley was probably the most real heroine I had encountered in fiction at that point in my life. Imaginative, scatty and impulsive, she was a real "kindred spirit." I think that reading about her from a young age, learning from her mistakes and watching her mature, helped to shape my personality to make me the person I am now. At different points in my life I kept returning to the Anne books and every time a different part of her story spoke to me in my own situations: an outsider, a dreamer and later on as a student caught between calling two places "home."
 

Coming Soon

(Because I don't have a mailbox.)

 

I'm afraid I've gone rather overboard on my book-buying since Christmas.

 

It started off quite reasonably. Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey was the Times book of the week, so I got it for £2.99 with a paper. Then, on the New Year bank holiday, Waterstone's were open later than we were at W.H. Smith, and the two books I'd been looking at which weren't on special offer (then) with us, were on a 3 for 2 offer there. So I had to buy a third.

 

A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
South Riding - Winifred Holtby



And then... I felt I ought to sign up for the Support Your Local Library challenge, because the council recently announced that all but the two biggest libraries on the Island will be closing soon - a real tragedy. So I checked out three books, two of which I still have waiting to be read.

 

The Outlander - Gil Adamson
My Best Friend's Girl - Dorothy Koomson

And then! The Richard and Judy Book Club made a comeback, exclusive to W.H. Smith. I decided I would be failing in my duties as a bookseller if I didn't read at least some of the books that we're promoting, so I can recommend titles from personal experience. Besides, not only were the eight shortlisted titles and some other "If you enjoyed X, then you'll love Y" books on a Buy One Get One Free offer, (I bought four!) but Smith's employees were given a voucher for a free copy of the first review title: The Postmistress by Sarah Blake.

The Postmistress - Sarah Blake
This Perfect World - Suzanne Bugler
Hothouse Flower - Lucinda Riley
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson
Mr Rosenblum's List - Natasha Solomons

Look out for reviews of some of these titles over the next few weeks. Also to come, I have still some unread books left over from last year (and the years before that! Ahem.) and the first of my Back To The Classics selection will be reviewed soon. On that note, I ought to stop blogging and start reading before my to-read pile gets any bigger and topples over.

Book Blogger Hop, 3/12/10



Me and Roderick the Snowman.
I take no credit for Roderick, he's
Dad's creation. I merely named him.

 It's Friday again, and here on the Isle of Wight there is a pretty thick layer of snow everywhere, very unusual indeed, and especially at this time of year. The white Christmasses you imagine while reading A Christmas Carol just don't happen. I'm bundled up in two jumpers and have purchased one of those slightly ridiculous-looking bobble hats with ear flaps - but it keeps me warm, and that's the important thing.

I'm hoping that the snow doesn't stay too long, though, because I've got three new books on order and the postman hasn't been getting through:

Fixing Delilah - Sarah Ockler

Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood - Eileen Cook

Wintergirls - Laurie Halse Anderson

The Book Blogger Hop


Hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books

This week's Blog Hop question:

"What very popular and hyped book in the blogosphere did you NOT enjoy and how did you feel about posting your review?"

Anything with angels in it, but in particular Becca Fitzpatrick's Crescendo, sequel to Hush, Hush. In the first place I have a problem with the glib usage of Angels as The New Vampire, which bear no resemblance to angels as I understand them. Vampires, too, being The New Mr Darcy don't rememble vampires at all. Instead, you've got a kind of Interchangeable Dangerous Magical Boyfriend Creature. But on top of that I didn't care for the story much, or the character relationships. When I posted my review, I was apologetic that I couldn't give a positive review, mostly because I didn't want to upset the author if she stumbled on my post. But I had to be honest. A good review means nothing if you write nothing but good reviews.

Book Blogger Hop and Coming Soon, 26/11/10

Book Blogger Hop

Hello and happy Friday. For many of you I suspect that the weekend is already here, as yesterday was Thanksgiving in the USA, so I hope those who celebrated had an enjoyable and relaxing day. Over here it's business as usual, but I've taken the week off work to recharge my batteries before plunging back into the madness that is retail at Christmastime. But now it's time for the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For  Books.

"What is your favorite book cover?"

Regular readers of this blog will probably have noticed that I am a notorious cover-judger. There are so many books that call to me with beautiful designs, but the absolute favourite (at the moment, anyway) is the hardback of Cecelia Ahern's The Book of Tomorrow. Isn't it beautiful?

 

Coming Soon

Believe it or not, I've got near the bottom of my immediate to-read pile, with only three books left from my extravagant splurges at the beginning of the month. I do have other unread books, however, and aim to work a few of them into December's reading. I also get paid shortly, and then I'll allow myself to shop once more. I've promised myself a copy of Sarah Ockler's latest, Fixing Delilah and as it'll be December next week there are some books that just have to be re-read before Christmas, including A Christmas Carol, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Winter Holiday, as well as sundry other classic children's books with wintery settings. I intend to reread L.M. Montgomery's books and the Harry Potter series soon, and 2011 will bring the Back to the Classics challenge hosted at Sarah Reads Too Much.

What books do other bloggers consider required Christmas reading?

Book Blogger Hop 19/11/10

Hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books

"Since Thanksgiving is coming up next week, let's use this week's Hop to share what we are most thankful for and what our holiday traditions are!"

Being English and living in England I can’t answer the second part of the question as we don’t do Thanksgiving over here. That makes us sound miserable and ungrateful, doesn’t it? We don’t have a Thanksgiving holiday here, although in my first year at university some of the American students put on a Thanksgiving evening, which I seem to remember involved eating some kind of pumpkin and marshmallow concoction and watching a Peanuts cartoon.

I am thankful for some very good friends and a family who love me just the way I am without expecting me to be something else. For storytelling in all its forms, written or visual, which offers escape and exploration, as well as a way to understand the world and life.

Book Blogger Hop, 12/11/10

Last week, in addition to setting the Hop question, Jen challenged us to really follow the blogs we "follow," to visit at least one new blog regularly and comment on their posts. I also took the opportunity to put a bit more commitment into some of the blogs I already read, rather than just adding a huge list of sites that I will only skim-read. I was surprised to discover that following bloggers on Twitter helped me to follow the sites themselves, by getting to know another side to the reviewers and also highlighting when a new review was up.

It would have been impossible to read and comment on every post of every blog on my "follow" list, but below are just a few that are deserving of the extra attention. Please check them out if you haven't already.

New (to me)

Snowdrop Dreams of Books
Sam Still Reading

Blogs I already followed

Smash Attack Reads

GReads

I Read Banned Books

I Was A Teenage Book Geek

Inkcrush

Bree's Books

Anna reads

This week's question:

"If you find a book that looks interesting but is part of a series, do you always start with the first title?"

Yes, at least, usually. Crime novels are an exception, as because of their shape they are usually stand-alone novels connected by a set of characters. There may be continuing subplots with their personal lives, but you don't feel left out if you haven't read the previous books. Other series tend to be made up of volumes of the same story, rather than completely individual books. When I was younger I used to read books out of order, such as my Enid Blytons and Chalet School series. I found that the school stories would make reference to the events of a previous book, that when I got around to reading first-hand, I had imagined for myself how things had happened. I wasn't always satisfied with the author's account after that.

Coming Soon and the Book Blogger Hop, 5/11/10

The Book Blogger Hop

Hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For Books

"What are your feelings on losing followers? Have you ever stopped following a blog?"

I don't actually like the word "followers" as it makes me think of a cult; I prefer "readers."

I'll start with answering part two of the question. I follow a lot of blogs, and enjoy coming home from work and reading what people have to say about the latest books and their own favourites. With such a lot, though, it's inevitable that I will visit some more than others, and every so often I will prune the list so it doesn't get out of hand.

I don't like to see the number of followers go down, but it doesn't bother me, as I know I'm not the only one who thinks this way. It's flattering to see the number go up, but if they don't actually read the blog it's nothing but vanity. If everyone stopped following at once, though, I would wonder what I was doing wrong.


Coming Soon

Oops, as a certain Miss B. Spears sang a few years ago, I did it again.

I had to, though. I couldn't not.

You see, to start with, in the store where I work, ALL kids' books are on a 3-for-2 offer at the moment. And that includes teen/young adult books, which I am currently devouring and of which I have read many first books of trilogies.

And then, The Company decided to give us their annual token of appreciation and bump up the staff discount for two weeks.

And I had a coupon where I could save £5 if I spent £20 or more in one transaction.

Now, three books wouldn't cost so much, but six would.

In the end, I saved more than I spent and got six lovely books for just under £20, when the full price would be over £45. A job well done, I feel.

So, added to my collection are

Torment by Lauren Kate, sequel to Fallen.

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick, sequel to Hush, Hush.

Catching Fire and Mockingjay, books two and three in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, and

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, who I have concluded is the same Cassandra Claire responsible for the Very Secret Diaries, an amusing piece of Lord of the Rings fanfiction which kept my friends and me entertained in my sixth form years. (Killed by Orcs. Stupid Orcs.)

Left over from last week I still have Dawn French's A Tiny Bit Marvellous,

Diamond Star Halo by Tiffany Murray and the classic,

To Kill A Mockingbird.

I ought to impose a ban on myself now: no new books until the end of the month or until I've paid my credit card bill off in full. Money is running out fast and Christmas is coming. (Let's see how long I can last.)

Book Blogger Hop and Coming Soon 30/10/10

The Book Blogger Hop
Hosted by Jennifer of Crazy for Books



This week I have come late to the Book Blogger Hop, as I spent all of yesterday taking a day out from everyday life and the world of the internet, and made a day trip up to London. Luckily the Hop lasts all weekend, and so here I am, fashionably late, glamorous and gorgeous, with a contribution of wine and nibbles.

This week's question:

"What is the one bookish thing you would love to have, no matter the cost?"

That's not an easy question to answer, because other than books themselves, what else do I need? More shelves would be great, but I live in a smallish and rather cluttered house, so where would I put them? Anything else would be superfluous, really. But what I could do with is more time.

If only I could have two parallel existences at once: one in which I was living: working, travelling, doing my hobbies, spending time with friends, watching TV, etc. And one in which I need do nothing but read.

What I need is a time machine.

That way I can live each week twice, once for living, once for reading. Maybe that way I'd get through enough books to satisfy me.

What I really need is the TARDIS.

Not only does it travel in time, but it is bigger on the inside than the outside - so there would be plenty of space to store my books. And we know it has a library, because that is where the swimming pool is.

Coming Soon

After being very well-behaved last week, I overcompensated this week and splashed out on lots of lovely new books. I ordered a favourite book from my teens, True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff and its prequel, Make Lemonade, which I never actually read. And on my trip to London, I found myself in the amazing Foyle's bookshop on Charing Cross Road. I came home with Pink by Lili Wilkinson, Diamond Star Halo by Tiffany Murray and Malorie Blackman's newest: Boys Don't Cry. Finally, I have bought a copy of Dawn French's first novel: A Tiny Bit Marvellous, which I expect to have me crying with laughter.

I finished reading Hush, Hush on the train up to London, and read Pink on the train down, so expect reviews of these later.

Book Blogger Hop and Coming Soon, 22/10/10

The Book Blogger Hop
Hosted by Jennifer at CRAZY FOR BOOKS.



It's Friday again. Time to take a short break from reviewing to answer a little question about my reading, writing and blogging habits and to pass the question on to anyone else who is inclined to share their own thoughts on the subject.

"Where is your favourite place to read? Curled up on the sofa, in bed, in the garden?"

It seems simple enough, but this is not an easy question to answer as I will read at any given opportunity, wherever there is a book to be read. On the train, over coffee after a busy day shopping in Southampton or London, in the bath, up a tree... the list goes on. It doesn't really matter, as I cease to be there once the book has pulled me in. If we go by my most frequent reading location, I suppose I would have to choose my bed, which makes me sound horribly lazy.

Coming Soon

I am down to my final library book from the pile I rented out at the beginning of the month: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, although I haven't started it yet. Mostly my to-read list is a shorter version of last week's: Hush, Hush, The Hunger Games, I Shall Wear Midnight (when my sister has finished with it) and a re-read of To Kill a Mockingbird. I have been mostly good (read: skint) this week and resisted both 3-for-2 on all kids' books at work, and BOGOF at the rival bookstore down the road, but after reading yet more reviews about it, I ordered a copy of Thirteen Reasons Why from Amazon. I expect my pile to grow if the 3-for-2 continues until pay day, though.

New This Week

I have started a Twitter account for this blog, for up-to-the-minute thoughts on my current read. My profile is called KatieWhoCanRead, which was how I was known by my future teachers before I started primary school. I started to read at the age of three, and haven't stopped since.

Book Blogger Hop and Coming Soon, 15/10/10

The Book Blogger Hop



It's that time of the week again when book reviewers hop around each other's blogs like crazy frogs. I have to confess to being very greedy when it comes to following book blogs, I just can't read enough reviews by kindred spirits across the world. Alas, this means that my to-read list just keeps getting longer than I can hope to get through, thanks to all the recommendations.

"When you read a book that you just can't get into, do you stick it out and keep reading or move to your next title?"

I don't like to give up on a book, and nine times out of ten I will see it through to the end. If the book that I'm reading isn't enticing me, I'm more likely to put it aside in favour of something lighter or an old favourite - or many - but I try to get at least three chapters read between one more enjoyable book and the next. I can think of two books in the last couple of years that found themselves in a charity shop without my having read to the end, and one that went back to the library unfinished.

Coming Soon

I haven't had as much reading time in the last week as I would have liked, due to various inconveniences such as work and making up for lost sleep, but I have three days off which I intend to make the most of. Alas, my to-read list just gets longer and longer. I still have two library books, (which have now been renewed until 2nd November) a handful of bought books and an ever-growing wish list.

Twenty Boy Summer and The Hunger Games arrived on the doorstep on Tuesday, two books I've heard a lot about in the last month or two.

Today I'm reading Twenty Boy Summer, and aside from any thoughts on the story, I observed with interest that some paperback books imported from the USA have a different texture to UK editions. The cover feels either slightly fuzzy or smoother than smooth, bringing to mind the surface of a chalkboard, compared with the UK's matt or cheap shiny paper covers. Also, the book is slightly floppier. Perhaps American printers use lighter paper?

I bought Fallen by Lauren Kate and Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, which appear to have similar subject matter, were published around the same time, (as were their sequels,) and which have gorgeous covers. I finally bought my own copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the great classics and must-reads in the history of literature. Last on the list is my sister's copy of the latest Terry Pratchett book, I Shall Wear Midnight, about which she gave a couple of little hints that caused it to scream out, "READ ME!"

Book Blogger Hop and Coming Soon

The Book Blogger Hop



As I understand it, the Book Blogger Hop is an excuse to read lots of new blogs and book reviews. Suits me! The Hop is the brainchild of Jennifer at Crazy For Books, who has a lovely long list of sites to go and visit, and together we bloggers mingle and debate the great questions that have haunted writers and readers since time began. This week's question is:

What's your favorite beverage while reading or blogging, if any? Is it tea, coffee, water, a glass of wine, or something else?

Coffee, every time. Proper coffee, made in a cafetiere or french press, preferably from Whittard's of Chelsea, or some other place that will grind your coffee beans for your personal requirements. I use my blue Whittard's cappuccino cup and saucer that was a present from an ex-boyfriend, and team my coffee up with a couple of biscuits, my favourite being milk chocolate HobNobs.

Coming Soon

I am steadily working my way through my pile of teenage/YA library books, and have three more to go:

The Other Alice
Linger (sequel to Shiver)
Uglies

I'm currently reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book which was a birthday present from my sister Jenny - thanks Jen! I have also got onto Amazon and ordered a few titles which I have seen all over blogs lately.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Twenty Boy Summer - Sarah Ockler
This was another book targetted by the Scroggins for removal from Missouri high schools, in the article which caused outrage, launched the Speak Loudly campaign against censorship, and prompted me to start my Teen Fiction October challenge to myself.

Mistress Pat by L. M. Montgomery. I haven't reread the Anne of Green Gables series this year, and intend to call November L.M. Montgomery month.

I also have my eye on Cross Stitch (Outlander in the US) by Diana Gabaldon, of which I have seen many mentions recently, and which has piqued my curiosity.