Sunday, July 28, 2013

It's Monday and it's been a very different week!


Hello boys and girls. How are things?

This week was very different from last week reading-wise. I flew through my books last week, but this week was very slow. I know that the issue was with the books I picked to read. The first is a very interesting look at how spelling evolved in English writing, but it's not exactly a page-turner. The second was a novel about a woman living under the oppression of China's One Child policy. It was horribly tragic and it's been a while since I've had to convince myself to keep reading a book. Both are good books, but you need to take them slowly so you can take in all the information in the first and truly experience the magnitude of the horror of the second. We will see how reading goes this week!

Read This Week:
Spell It Out: The Curious, Enthralling and Extraordinary Story of English Spelling
Spell It Out
By David Crystal

The Dark Road
The Dark Road
By Ma Jian

Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday
Wednesdays with David: Transformers
Reviews of A Guide To Being Born and The Other Typist


Reading Now:
The Shining Girls
The Shining Girls
By Lauren Beukes

Up Next:
The Illusion of Separateness
The Illusion of Separateness
By Simon Van Booy

What are you reading this week?

25 comments:

  1. The Dark Road is a book I'd like to try. I'm reading several Chinese authors at the moment.

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    1. I didn't realize at first that it was a book in translation. It's a very dark and powerful story.

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  2. The Shining Girls on my wishlist, hope you enjoy it. I understand those weeks when the books warrant a slower read to absorb it all. :)

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    1. The past two weeks have been polar opposites! We will see how things go this week. :)

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  3. I've got The Shinning Girls on audio. It is up next. I am sure The Dark Road is an intense read. Have a great week.

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    1. I look forward to seeing what you think! I'm excited to see if The Shining Girls is deserving of all the buzz.

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  4. You have some great looking books coming up next! I have both downloaded on my Nook and I heard Shining Girls pitched at BEA. The editor seems really proud of it and admiring of Beukes. I remember him saying it was a character driven story with a new take on the serial killer plot - so perhaps it'll dispel some of your burnout!
    Illusion of Separateness just sounds like it'll be poetic, and beautiful and absolutely perfect.

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    1. I'm really excited to read both books. I think I will like both of them, although they're very different.

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  5. You have some great looking books coming up next! I have both downloaded on my Nook and I heard Shining Girls pitched at BEA. The editor seems really proud of it and admiring of Beukes. I remember him saying it was a character driven story with a new take on the serial killer plot - so perhaps it'll dispel some of your burnout!
    Illusion of Separateness just sounds like it'll be poetic, and beautiful and absolutely perfect.

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    1. Read them both - they are great in very different ways. :)

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  6. Spell It Out sounds interesting. I wrote a paper about the evolution of American spelling in college, using all the different "theories" of spelling. It took a long time to write, and I never got it back from my professor! Glad to see there's a book out there that can fuel my interest in spelling.

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    1. That would drive me nuts! Did you at least get your grade??

      It's a really interesting book. It reminded me of how much I loved my linguistics class in college.

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    2. Thankfully, I did get my grade (and it was an A). Sounds like I'll add Spell It Out to my to-read list. I also loved my linguistics class!

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  7. Looks like a good week for you.

    Will be looking forward to your thoughts on The Shining Girls.

    ENJOY your week.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My It's Monday, What Are You Reading

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  8. Spell It Out sounds good but I know that it would be a book I bought but never read. That almost always happens with nonfiction for me. Come see my Monday wrap-up. Have a great reading week.

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    1. Nonfiction can certainly be tricky! I try to read at least one a month, but I find them very hit or miss.

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  9. My husband might like Spell It Out. He's always curious about how our spellings came about.

    Joy's Book Blog

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    1. This would be a perfect book for him! It's in depth, but I think it's accessible to people with no knowledge of linguistics.

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  10. Have you read Mao's Last Dancer? It is still a tale (nonfiction so maybe not a tale) under Chinese oppression so there are some tough parts, but it's beautifully written (and it's about a dancer who decides to become an American Citizen in a rather heart racing and dramatic situation) and definitely slow moving. I'm quite partial to Eastern/Middle Eastern novels or in those settings since I feel as an American I primarily know about Western Europe and America (and because I'm me Central and South America, but I feel that probably isn't normal) and the cultural values are SO different. They make really interesting reads.

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    1. I haven't read that one. It sounds very interesting, but I think I'm going to have to give my heart a little rest before jumping back into that particular kind of story. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  11. Ooh Simon van Booy... I keep meaning to get my hands on that book. I've loved everything he's written!

    One of my favourite Chinese writers is Xinran, I recently read her book Sky Burial and Good Women of China is a good one too.

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    1. I haven't read any anything by Simon van Booy yet! I am looking forward to reading this book - I've heard nothing but rave reviews.

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  12. Hope you have a better week of reading! I know how that goes sometimes though--there are books you want to read (and know you should read) but they just aren't as exciting as other things you could be reading. I'll be curious to see what you think of The Shining Girls--that one looks great!

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    1. Some books you just fly through and some take a bit more commitment. The Shining Girls was a great twist on the usual thriller.

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