Blog | Nose in a book

Merry Christmas everyone!

December 23, 2013

I’ve wrapped the presents, picked out my Christmas Day outfit and had too many Christmas drinks already. I thought I’d share a favourite Christmas tune with you to keep the blog ticking over while I’m busy with family. I do love a good Christmas song.

I have no idea if I’ll find time for reading (I have a new niece to play with and there’s a lot of enthusiasm for board games this year…) but I do (of course) have a stack of books lined up that I’m hoping to snatch a few hours with at some point in the next week and a half off work.

Happy holidays!

Kate Adie on women in World War I

December 11, 2013

A Topping & Co author event
Christ Church, Bath, 10 December

As I mentioned a while back, one of my heroes in life is Kate Adie, so when Topping Bookshop sent me its list of upcoming events I got very excited about this one. Adie is a proper serious broadcast journalist. She was a rare female face on TV news outside of the studio back in my childhood and when I aspired to be a journalist she was a natural role model. But my failure to become a journalist hasn’t stopped me from admiring her, so I willingly braved the cold, dark and steep hills of Bath last night to see her in the flesh.

Unlike the other author events I’ve been to this year, Adie wasn’t interviewed for the crowd, she simply stood at the front of the big old church and spoke to us. She was lively, engaging and full of enthusiasm for her subject. Essentially her talk was background to and highlights from her new book Fighting on the Home Front: the Legacy of Women in World War One.

Adie held forth knowledgeably about the legal status of women 100 years ago and how World War I changed everything. She consummately related the points she was making to Bath and Bristol, as well as dropping in some related anecdotes from her own life. But most of all she exuded passion for her subject and admiration for the women who stepped up, not only those who filled the gaps left behind by men who had gone to war, but also the women who went to war themselves and those women who had to fight hard for the right to fill those gaps, even as Britain was creaking desperately with need of them.

Adie also spoke a little about her own career, about how her school teacher was so eager to get at least one pupil into university that Adie found herself “shunted into university via the catflap”, and how a reporter has to have an ordinary life to go back to between assignments: “You have to live an ordinary life in order to understand disorder.” She also had a lot to say about the strength and resilience of human beings.

I enjoyed Adie’s autobiography The Kindness of Strangers back when it came out and greatly look forward to reading my autographed copy of her new book.

The 2014 Popular-Science Reading Challenge

December 8, 2013December 8, 2013 5 Comments

As I briefly mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I have set myself the goal of reading more popular science in 2014. It’s a genre I have enjoyed on the very few occasions I have dipped into it, so I’m not really sure what has been holding me back. To spur me on, I thought I’d make into a challenge, so here we go.

I think the aim will be to read one popular-science book per month (though I’ll still count it as a success if I manage to read 10 in a year). I’ve put together a list of titles recommended to me by people I trust (below), but this is just a starting point (and also a much longer list than I’ll get through in a year). Any popular science (including biographies or other forms of science history) will count.

I’ll create a page to keep track of how I’m doing in this challenge shortly. Does anyone fancy joining me? If so, feel free to use the button I have created (with huge thanks to Doublecompile for making the line drawing available through Creative Commons) and let me know how you get on!

Without further ado, here’s the list I’ll be starting from:

A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea: the Race to Kill the BP Oil Gusher by Joel Achenbach
The Edge of Physics: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Cosmology by Anil Ananthaswamy
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Why Does e=mc²? by Brian Cox
Smile or Die by Barbara Ehrenreich
Measure of the Earth: the Enlightenment Expedition that Reshaped the World by Laurie Ferreiro
How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser
The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality by Richard Panek
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
Stiff by Mary Roach
Fermat’s Enigma by Simon Singh
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Backroom Boys by Francis Spufford
The Double Helix by James Watson

I’ll add to this list any further recommendations that take my fancy. So who’s with me?

November reading round-up

November 30, 2013November 30, 2013 1 Comment

This month has felt full and busy yet I’m not sure I could tell you what I filled it with. I definitely seem to be over my reading hump, though I’ve still not finished that book of Orhan Pamuk essays I started back in September. I did finish the Little House series, which was surprisingly emotional for me. I certainly got sucked into that world by the end!

I also started thinking about my 2014 reading goals (it’s the Christmas planning that did for me, I think), which I’ll post more about soon. But mostly everything seems to be about Christmas already. There’s presents to buy, travel to arrange, outfits to plan and goodness knows what else I’ve forgotten. I was going to say I remember when Christmas was just about the one special day, but I don’t think that’s true. When I was little there was the school nativity play, the church nativity play, the Christingle service, the church carol service, the school carol service, Santa coming to switch on the lights in our town, Santa coming to switch on the lights in the next town over (where my Dad’s from), the day we put up the tree and other Christmas decorations, and last but not least Boxing Day at my grandparents’, which was like a second Christmas Day. So maybe these days I get off lightly!

But 2013 isn’t over yet. I have one month left to work on this year’s reading goals. Now I just need to figure which books to save for that week off work over Christmas…

Books read
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (review here)

A Handful of Sand by Marinko Koščec (review here)

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (review here)

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (review here)

Stone in a Landslide by Maria Barbal

The Most Remarkable Woman in England by John Carter Wood

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Short stories read
“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver (Selected Shorts podcast)

“Dating Jane Austen” by T C Boyle (Selected Shorts podcast)

“You were perfectly fine” by Dorothy Parker (Selected Shorts podcast)

“Unprotected” by Simon Rich (Selected Shorts podcast)

“The day the dam broke” by James Thurber (Selected Shorts podcast)

“Center of the universe” by Simon Rich (Selected Shorts podcast)

“The Tablecloth of Turin,” by Ron Carlson (Selected Shorts podcast)

“The lesson” by Emma Newman (available online here)

“Tourists” by Emma Newman (read by the author here)

“The letter” by Emma Newman (read by the author here)

“The verdigris set” by Emma Newman (read by the author here)

“Escapism” by Emma Newman (read by the author here)

“The business of art” by Emma Newman (read by the author here)

“Overdue” by Emma Newman (read by the author here)

How has your reading month been? Are you hastily trying to tick off your 2013 goals? Or are you done with all that now and enjoying some relaxing reading before the new resolutions kick in in January?

Sunday Salon: Reading plans for 2014

November 24, 2013 3 Comments

The Sunday Salon

It’s probably foolish to make any 2014 reading plans, considering I’ve not been great at the challenges I set myself this year and work is only getting busier. And yet, I keep having ideas for my 2014 reading that really excite me, so I thought I’d share them with you.

First, what did I set myself to do in 2013 and how, with five weeks of the year left, am I doing against those goals?

Well, this year I signed up to two challenges and a read-a-long, plus I set myself a challenge. The read-a-long of Crime and Punishment was run by Wallace of Unputdownables and was a great success. I (and many others) managed to get through a book I had previously given up on and I’m really glad that I did persevere. The 2013 Translation Challenge is run by Ellie of Curiosity Killed the Bookworm with the goal to read one translated book per month. I’ve actually not achieved that every month, but on the other hand in several months I’ve read more than one translated book. I think translated fiction has become a bigger part of what I read and I hope to continue that without needing a specific challenge.

The 2013 TBR Pile Challenge is run by Roof Beam Reader and it’s probably the goal I needed the most. I have so many books that have sat on my shelves unread for years. I have read eight and a half of the 14 I listed for myself, plus I tried and discarded one. I could have done better and I probably need to have a think about what’s putting me off picking up those books. Certainly it hasn’t helped reduce the size of my TBR, which is almost exactly the same number of books now as at the start of the year. I just love books too much to not buy new ones! But my biggest failure by far is the challenge I set myself – the Cookery Challenge. I said I would make more use of my many cookbooks and blog about them one by one. So far I have blogged about just two of my cookbooks. It’s a poor show.

So that’s 2013 so far. But what are these grand ideas I’ve had for 2014? Well, there are three and if anyone is running a challenge related to any of these I’d be interested to see it, so let me know!

Science fiction
As a teenager I read some classic science fiction along with everything else I could get my hands on to read. But as an adult I haven’t read that much of it. I tried a few years back to get better at this, with some guidance from Tim, whose reading is about 90% SF. But this year I notice I have been especially bad at including any SF in the mix, so I’m going to make it a specific goal for 2014. But what form should that goal take? One random SF book per month? Read my way through the Gollancz SF Masterworks series à la Gavin back in his Gav Reads days? I’d quite like to find some good SF by women, so if anyone has any suggestions I’m all ears.

Popular science
I don’t read a whole lot of non-fiction, but I do like a good essay and I like to learn things. As an English graduate who works with mostly science graduates, I am finding that the scientists tend to be open to and enjoy the arts but a lot of my arts friends shy away from science. There’s a lot of fear of science as something hard or “other”. I think science is fascinating and an important part of understanding the world around us and I’d like to know more, hence this goal. I asked a few people for recommendations of really good popular-science books and the plan is to create a list and read my way through it. I’ll publish the list in December and am open to further ideas on this.

Re-reads
I own thousands of books, the majority of which I have read and kept because I thought I’d like to read them again some day. But since university I have done very little re-reading and what little I have done has largely been provoked by book clubs choosing something I’d previously read, rather than my own overwhelming urge. Partly this is because I am aware of just how many great books are out there, more than I will ever be able to get to. And partly it’s a fear that a book I loved first time round won’t seem so great on a re-read. But there are so many books I have put down thinking how I would get even more from it on a second read. And so many I read 10 years ago that I have mostly forgotten but know I loved. I think it’s about time I stopped being scared and made time to re-read, even if it’s just four or five books per year. I’m not sure if this should be a challenge per se or just something to keep in the back of my mind.

Have you starting thinking about goals for 2014 yet, reading or otherwise? Do you like to be involved in lots of challenges and projects?

Literary Giveaway Blog Hop – the winner

November 14, 2013November 14, 2013

Literary Giveaway Blog Hop

And the winner is…

Ikkinlala

Congratulations Ikkinlala! I’ve dropped you an e-mail and a copy of The White Tiger will be on its way to you shortly.

I want to thank Judith again for hosting the blog hop. As always, she has done a stellar job organising us lot! And thank you to everyone who entered.

It’s here! The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop (9–13 November)

November 9, 2013November 14, 2013 33 Comments

**This giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced shortly.**

Hello and welcome!

I am offering up for grabs one copy of the very entertaining The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (which I reviewed here). Just leave a comment before the end of 13 November to enter.

I will select the winner on 14 November using Random.org. This competition is open to anyone anywhere that the post can reach you.

This blog hop is run by Judith of Leeswammes. To find out more check out the blog hop announcement. And do take some time to visit some of the other giveaway participants, listed below.

Linky list:

October reading round-up

October 31, 2013

Once again I am not too impressed with my reading this month. I am thoroughly behind on all my challenges. I spent a week reading a book that I gave up on and decided not to review, and I had (possibly am still having) a bit of a lupus flare, so I tried reading some classic kids’ books – the Little House series. It’s certainly proving educational and I like them, but I don’t think they’ve completely won me over. I’d still choose Roald Dahl any time! But it is the first time in years that I’ve binge-read a whole series at once, which is actually a lot of fun. I’m also halfway through a collection of essays by Orhan Pamuk, which I’m enjoying but find I can’t read multiple essays in a row, so it’s taking me a while to get through.

Earlier this month I went to see a stage adaptation of Great Expectations that was excellent and made me think that I really should revive the idea a friend of mine had of a book and film club (i.e. where we read the book and then watch the film adaptation together). I’m quite excited about that now!

Books read

The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter (review here)

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (review here)

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (review here)

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Short stories read

“The crime of our life” by Roger Angell (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

“Pedigree” by Walter Kirn (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

“After Black Rock” by Joyce Carol Oates (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

“Customer service at the Karaoke Don Quixote” by Juan Martinez (Selected Shorts podcast)

“Ziggurat” by Stephen O’Connor (Selected Shorts podcast)

“The tribal rite of the Strombergs” by Simon Rich (New Yorker, Aug 26, 2013)

“But the order of lives is apparent” by Sarah Manguso (Unfamiliar, Jan 15, 2005)

“The Soviet room” by Kenneth Koch (Unfamiliar, Jan 15, 2005)

“Women and men” by Judy Budnitz (Unfamiliar, Jan 15, 2005)

“The white room” by Michael Hitchins (Popshot Magazine, issue 9, 2013)

“Schrödinger’s wine” by Armel Dagorn (Popshot Magazine, issue 9, 2013)

“Getting away from it all” by Jess Little (Popshot Magazine, issue 9, 2013)

How was your reading month?

Coming soon: Literary Giveaway Blog Hop

October 29, 2013October 28, 2013

Two giveaways in one year? Well, if Judith will keep on doing such a stellar job organising them! The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop will take place on 9–13 November. Keep an eye out for more details when the time comes, and remember it won’t just me giving a book away – a whole long list of bloggers will be giving away literary goodies!

For more details or to sign up for your own giveaway, check out the announcement post on Leeswammes.

On owning an e-reader

October 26, 2013 3 Comments

So I’ve had the Kindle for a couple of months now. I didn’t really know how I’d take to it but figured it would be useful for travelling. Already I find that I am doing about half of my reading on it. But what’s it actually like?

I genuinely like reading on the Kindle. The e-ink screen is just as comfortable as paper on my eyes, it’s light and easy to hold in one hand, so it’s kind on my joints, and I like being able to highlight or annotate passages as I read without worrying about whether it counts as defacing a book!

So am I a complete convert? Well, not quite. I still have an emotional attachment to physical books. Now, whether that’s just because I like them as objects to own, or whether there’s more to it, I’m honestly not sure. I definitely love my library, filled with books I have read and loved, with little collections by favourite authors. I like to look at those shelves and remember reading each of those titles. I appreciate a well-made book – a hardback with designed endpapers, head and tail bands and cloth cover (such as anything made by the Folio Society) is a truly beautiful thing. But I also have many a cheap paperback that I hold dear.

On the negative side of ebooks, there’s the DRM/ownership issue. Strictly, you are long-term renting most digital products rather than buying permanent ownership. I figure once I’ve paid for a book I should have the right to lend it to my friends, leave it to my children or give it away to a library or charity shop. I know this is still being figured out and everyone seems to have just accepted the switch in music, but I’m just not convinced. I mean, when I meet my favourite authors what will I get them to sign?

And let’s not forget bookshops. I love going to physical bookshops, and while I don’t think Amazon is entirely evil, I would prefer not to be completely limited to buying from them. So maybe an e-reader other than a Kindle is the solution, as the whole epub versus mobi thing does mean with any other e-reader I could at least buy from other digital vendors, and apparently a growing number of US bookshops are selling ebooks in store (they upload the book to a cloud account) so hopefully UK bookshops will follow suit.

So for now I’m largely downloading free ebooks from Project Gutenberg and continuing to buy physical books. But I really do like reading on the Kindle, so maybe that will change in time.

Do you use an e-reader? Have you tried a few different ones? Let me know your thoughts!