Category: Ruminations

A Literary Tour

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations3 Comments

I didn’t read as many books in September as I normally do, in part because I spent the first half of the month traveling.  Definitely worth it–but it leaves me a little short on books to review now!  So I thought for something different, I’d share a few photos from my recent travels.  There are even book connections–as the friend I went with and I like to say, it was something of a literary tour.

p1030494-copyThe Opera Garnier in Paris, besides being quite stunning in its own right, is also the home of the Phantom of the Opera.  And therefore very interesting to me!  If you’re ever there, take a tour, and see the famous chandelier.

p1030560-copyNot far away stands Notre Dame Cathedral, home to Quasimodo the Hunchback.  This was particularly fun to see as my friend and I saw a play version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame just a week before we were at the real Notre Dame!

p1030692And speaking of plays and the Phantom, one of the trip’s highest highlights was seeing The Go-Between, starring Michael Crawford.  30 years after originating the role of the Phantom, he still has a singing voice that should make any right-thinking Christine swoon!

There’s another literary connection too, as the play is based on the book of the same name.  The book is relatively obscure, but you may recognize the opening line: “The past is a foreign country.  They do things differently there.”

p1030708My favorite London literary connection is in Kensington Gardens, one-time favorite haunt and book setting of J. M. Barrie, currently home to the statue of his most famous character, Peter Pan.  And if you believe Barrie, home to the fairies as well.

p1040064I may have arranged a few photos with Barrie’s fairies in mind…  I worked on a short story involving fairies in Kensington Gardens while I was traveling.  Perhaps eventually I’ll post it here and tell you more about these two.

p1030907

Meanwhile in another part of the city, there lived a very famous detective–at least according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  I highly recommend the museum–it’s not large and the ticket price is slightly exorbitant, but it’s worth it.

One more stop meant heading out to Stonehenge–but I have LOTS of pictures there, so I’ll save it for another day and its own post!  Have you ever been to the setting of a favorite story?  Where would you like to go?

2016 Reading Challenges – Three-Quarters Update

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations3 Comments

I was on vacation half of September, and this three-quarters update snuck up on me slightly!  Fortunately, I’ve been doing a lot of challenge reading anyway…

Newbery Medal WinnersPicture
Goal: 15 Newbery Medal Winners, to bring myself to half of the total list
Host: Smiling Shelves

I continue to do better with the Newberys than I did in the first quarter, in terms of enjoying the books.  I’m also racking up large numbers of these.  It helps that they’re relatively easy reads, and also that they tend to be brilliant for audiobooks.  I try not to do anything too intense or complicated on audio (driving, you know) so children-friendly Newberys have gone well that way.

Just for fun, this quarter I thought I’d note the year of the Newberys I’ve read.  I need to work on the earliest ones still.  Maybe next quarter!

  1. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (1990)
  2. The Grey King by Susan Cooper (1976)
  3. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (2013)
  4. The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (1950)
  5. Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt (1967)
  6. A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (2001)
  7. Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo (2014)
  8. The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (1962)
  9. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (1991)
  10. A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos (1980)
  11. Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (2012)
  12. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (1992)
  13. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (2002)
  14. Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (2000)

Parallel Universes
Goal: 12 books

I’m on track right now to exceed this goal, with so many really interesting parallel universe stories.  I’m fascinated by how different these books can be, while all being within what I thought was a fairly narrow criteria!

  1. Pivot Point by Kasie West
  2. A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray
  3. Parallel by Lauren Miller
  4. Here, There and Everywhere by Chris Roberson
  5. Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  6. The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
  7. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
  8. Sidewise in Time by Murray Leinster
  9. The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood
  10. A Crack in the Line by Michael Lawrence

Diversity On the Shelf
Host: The Englishist
Goal: 18 books

I did not do as well on this challenge this quarter.  But I’m still on track, and I managed a few double-challenge books by reading Newberys with minority leads.  I’m actually a little sad to be on track, though…I was hoping 18 books was a low bar, and I’m coming to the conclusion it wasn’t!

  1. Otherbound by Corrinne Duyvis (Hispanic)
  2. Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley (African-American)
  3. Stars Above by Marissa Meyer (Unspecified Asian)
  4. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (Indian)
  5. Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed (Pakistani)
  6. Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere by Julie T. Lamana (African-American)
  7. Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu (Indian)
  8. Scarlett Undercover by Jennifer Latham (African-American Muslim)
  9. Bridge of Time by Lewis Buzbee (Chinese)
  10. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (Native American)
  11. Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen (Vietnamese)
  12. Join by Steve Toutonghi (various)
  13. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (Korean)
  14. Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (African-American)

The Bardathon: Shakespeare Plays
shakespeare400Host: Samantha Lin
Goal: 5 plays read or seen (but ideally, read 5 comedies, read 5 tragedies, and watch 5 movies)

Sadly, not much Shakespeare this quarter, although while on vacation I went to see a live play at the Globe theatre…that counts double, right?  😉  I’ve exceeded my low goal, not feeling strong about my stretch goal, but will hopefully get a bit more of the Bard in before year’s end.

  1. Much Ado About Nothing (Joss Whedon production)
  2. Comedy of Errors (read)
  3. Comedy of Errors (BBC production)
  4. Measure for Measure (read)
  5. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1996 production)
  6. Coriolanus (Gerard Butler production)
  7. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (live performance at the Globe)

Carl’s Seasonal “Challenges”: Readers Imbibing Peril somehow began three weeks ago when I wasn’t paying attention…  Focused on horror, this one never fit my reading interests as well as the others, and I’m sitting it out this fall.  Back onto these with the Sci Fi challenge in a few months!

With just a few months left in the year and lots of non-reading things planned for that time (NaNoWriMo, anyone?) I’m still feeling pretty good about my reading goals.  A few more reads at the end of the year and goals are looking pretty attainable.  And after ten parallel universe novels, I’m still really looking forward to reading more… 😉

How has your reading been going for 2016? Are you pursuing challenges?  How are they going?

Blog Hop: Writing to Read

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop1 Comment

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question: Have you ever wanted to write a book? If so, what genre would you choose? And…have you been successful in writing a book?

Hopefully all regular readers know that my answer to this question is an emphatic YES. 🙂  I have written and published three novels, with my fourth to come out in October.  Check out my Novel News page for the details!

The three (soon to be four) novels I’ve published are all Young Adult Fantasy, inspired by fairy tales.  I’ve also written historical fiction and science fiction–both some old drafts that will probably never be published, and some recent writing that I hope to put out over the next few years.  As in my reading, I love visiting worlds unlike the one I live in.

Writing is more work than reading, but (when it’s going well) it’s more fun too.  I get to create the characters and stories I want to read about.  Characters I write live in my head in a way that even the best-drawn character I merely read about doesn’t.

I know at least a few of my readers are writers too…did reading draw you to writing?

Blog Hop: Setting Goals

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop2 Comments

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question: When you set a yearly reading goal, do you set it high to force yourself to meet that goal or do you keep it low and normally go over that goal any way?

When I tell people about my reading goals, especially if I’m saying all this out loud, I’m sure it sounds like I set very high goals.  And I do set something that I have to put some effort into reaching…but I always set goals I feel are very attainable.  If it gets stressful, that just defeats the whole point of reading.  My intention in setting a reading goal is always to encourage myself to read books I really do want to read, I just don’t think about.  If I said I vaguely wanted to read more parallel universe books, it might happen (but probably not); if I set a goal to read twelve in 2016, I have to pay attention but it’s pretty easy to do!

Blog Hop: Shelves or Stacks?

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop2 Comments

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question: Do you have books stacked in every room of your house or are you strictly a believer that books belong on bookshelves?

I had to think about this to decide just what my beliefs around book storage are.  Books that are not currently “active” belong on bookshelves, and that’s where all of mine are.  Except for my overflow L. M. Montgomery books that are stacked next to my (small!) L. M. Montgomery bookshelf.

The “active” ones are in stacks—books currently out from the library (or my own that I plan to read shortly) are in one stack.  Books that are currently being read are in a stack by my bed (not a very tall stack, but there are generally at least two).  Books that have just been read and need to be entered into my book journal wind up stacked on the corner of my coffee table.  And books that are due to be donated are in a stack in one corner of the living room.

But in terms of permanent placement, bookshelves.  I’d worry about tripping over stacks and breaking something—myself or the books!