Sunday 31 August 2014

Sunday Summaries: Whoops, some books fell on my pile!

Well, here we are at the end of the month and the end (or is it the beginning?) of another week. And what a week it's been: all the jobs squeezed into one day, planned out and then disrupted when The Powers That Be launched a whole load of extra promotions on the very same day. On the last week of the school holidays. Great.

Perhaps because I'm so tired, but I've been not feeling so great about the world this week. Perhaps reading Joe Hill's Horns didn't help my mood. It was an interesting read, and perhaps one that could be used for in-depth philosophical and theological debate if you read it really closely, but I can't in all honesty say that I enjoyed it. When every character we met confesses to terrible, terrible secrets it left a very grim view of the human race, compounded by all the ugliness in the news and on the internet of late.



But enough of the grumbles: I have books! Many books. This week started with a traditionally rainy bank holiday (which seems like such a long time ago now) during which Judith and I made an excursion to the Ryde Bookshop. I'm sure I've talked about that shop before: a small section at the front full of new books, and then a door that leads to a three-story treasure trove of second-hand stock. I came away with three books: Cross Stitch (otherwise known as Outlander, a time-travel romance that has apparently just been turned into a TV series) Foundation,by Isaac Asimov, as I ought to read some more classic science fiction, and Poison Study, which I've been not-buying ever since possibly my first visit to Forbidden Planet in London a decade ago. (Ugh - was it really ten years since I started university? Apparently so.)


Bought new: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, the new novel by Haruki Murakami, whose short story collection The Elephant Vanishes I have just finished reading. And the long-awaited Sarah Waters: The Paying Guests. I cannot wait to get stuck into that one, but may leave it until next week, when I should have three days off together.


And from the library: the eighth volume of Sandman: Worlds' End, which was my favourite volume on my first read-through, This Is What Happy Looks Like (because a title like that's bound to cheer me up, no?) The Coldest Girl In Coldtown which Ellie reviewed quite recently and which I sent as a ninja book swap gift but haven't read myself yet, and a book I'd never heard of but which caught my eye: Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots. 9 books acquired in a week! Oh, well. In part thanks to last week's readathon, I've read a massive 14 books this month, even if three of them were comic books/graphic novels. I have a lot of reviews to write...

Readers Imbibing Peril IX



For the last few years I've been aware of Carl V. Anderson's RIP challenge, and have watched my fellow bloggers spook themselves with books through autumn, and this year I've decided to join in the fun. I'll be going straight in there with Peril the First: the challenge to read four books in the genres of mystery, suspense, thriller, dark fantasy, gothic, horror or other such spine-chilling stories in September and October. I've got several suitable books on my to-read pile, and have selected a shortlist of potential RIP reads (although these are subject to change.)

  • Full Dark, No Stars - Stephen King
  • The Ghost Hunters - Neil Spring
  • Weirdo - Cathy Unsworth
  • Dream London - Tony Ballantyne
  • The Passage - Justin Cronin
  • The Coldest Girl In Coldtown - Holly Black
  • The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters (a reread)
  • The Silkworm - "Robert Galbraith" 

12 comments:

  1. ooh, The Paying Guests!

    Glad you are joining RIP, it's great fun. My favorite kind of books.
    I loved Full Dark, No Stars, and am a big Stephen King fan. They are making a movie from one of the novellas in Full Dark: The Driver. My brother in law was involved in some of the shooting with his drone business.

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    1. Although I'd read a few Stephen King books before, it was only this year that I really realised how good a writer he is! I did not know they were filming one of the Full Dark novellas - what a surprise! And how cool that your brother-in-law is involved!

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  2. Wow! Lots of reads there! I LOOOOOOOOVE Poison Study! A most excellent read! Hope you enjoy all your new additions!

    Here's my STS

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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    1. Glad to hear it's a good read. I've been pondering about this one for years.

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  3. So happy to have you in this year, thank you so much. I hope you have many wonderful, deliciously creepy reading experiences through the next two months.

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    1. Thank you, and thanks for hosting it. I've been jealous of my blogging friends for the last few years and so am thrilled to take part this year.

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  4. The Passage is on my RIP list too! I've had it for ages but I've never really found the time to get into it so I think it's going to be one of my holiday reads - long haul flights are useful for some things, I suppose :| Otherwise, I'm going to join in on the read-along of The Haunting of Hill House and get thoroughly creeped out, I expect!

    Excellent acquisitions - Cross Stitch is really good and I read it far more quickly than I was expecting to. There are some bits that are tough to read though - it's not quite as fluffy as it sounds! I came across the next two books in the series in a charity shop a few weeks ago so I'm looking forward to carrying on with the series. Oh, and Poison Study is brilliant too!

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    1. I've been hearing about The Passage but it is a bit intimidating with size - same with Cross Stitch too, I suppose. I have a few reservations about it - I know the heroine is married and not to the hero, which automatically sets me against it, and I'm not much one for romance in the first place. But I've heard such good things about it (and about Jamie) so I'll give it a go. The library has several of the books, but I'd never seen this one and I've no idea which order they run in.

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  5. I LOVED The Passage! Not so much the sequel, but the first installment is fantastic. I hope you enjoy it!

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    1. Thank you. Is the sequel a separate story, or a continuation from where The Passage left off? (I guess I'll find out when I reach the end.)

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  6. I didn't really enjoy Horns as much as I expected to either. Like you, I think you could probably use it for some in-depth discussions, but if I had to be honest to myself, I'd admit that I was bored *waits for judgement*

    I have a signed copy of The Coldest Girl in Coldtown that I reeeaaally need to get to...

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    1. I didn't get bored, but I found it so deeply unpleasant I had to speed through it, did not want to linger on it. I certainly won't be going to see the film of it.

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