Speaking of books, we finally have an ereader! We were still cabin-feverish today, and so headed into the city again. First stop, Second Cup. Why are their iced espressos so incredibly addictive? I like them even better than Tim Horton's Iced Capps, which is saying a lot. Second stop, Chapters, where I immediately found five books I wanted upon walking in the door. It doesn't help that they have their table with Book Club suggestions right up front... I get stalled there. I was good though, wrote them all down to be taken out of the library. Reading this many books in a year is dangerous business if you consider buying even some of them.We did, however, go home with a Kobo reader. With the Overdrive system available at our library, I stopped buying audiobooks about a year ago (I was previously a member of Audible.com for many years). I was curious about the ebook collection, though, since it is so much larger than the audiobook collection, and with poking around a little we both found stuff we want to read in the available books. Being able to download the ebooks for free makes it a valuable investment, especially for Richard as he travels for work, as he always likes to have a book with him if he's alone, and lugging the enormous hardcover fantasy novels he's fond of into restaurants and the like can be a little awkward.
And as to my 111 books challenge:
26. Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the worst Buddhist in the World Pipher, Mary
27. Lost Boy Jeffs, Brent
28. In The Woods French, Tana
29. Baby, we were meant for each other : in praise of adoption Simon, Scott
30. Hull zero three Bear, Greg
Three out of five non-fiction - that`s unusual for me, it`s usually only about 10% of what I read, but these three were all exceptional, particularly Lost Boy. I`ve become interested in the subjects of polygamy and fundamentalist Mormon sects after becoming addicted to the TV drama Big Love, now in it`s last season. I read maybe three or four fictional books set in various fictional sects last year, including The 19th Wife which is spectacular, if anyone is interested in the same area. Reading about the real life difficulties of a boy - a relative of the infamous Warren Jeffs no less - growing up in fundamentalist Mormonism was shocking, though. I`ve always thought about the plight of the girls and women, but never much about the boys. Many of the difficulties that boys face are chronicled, including losing most of the girls their age to relationships with much older men and, for those that do marry, having to figure out a way to support a large family on what is likely a low income because of a lack of education. This was definitely fascinating and I highly recommend it.
In the Woods was another book I positively loved. If you like Irish books and/or mysteries, this should be high on your to-read list. I found it through my friend Sarah on Facebook, who recently wrote how much she liked the sequel to In the Woods, which I'll be requesting next... probably shortly after I finish writing this entry, actually. It was another book about missing children and forested areas next to their home, a familiar subject after just reading The Weight of Silence, but entirely different from that novel, both from the POV of narration and the writing style, as well as of course the setting and the plot. Both are worth a read, in my opinion, but this one might edge out the previous one a hint because of my genealogical connections to Ireland.
In the Woods was another book I positively loved. If you like Irish books and/or mysteries, this should be high on your to-read list. I found it through my friend Sarah on Facebook, who recently wrote how much she liked the sequel to In the Woods, which I'll be requesting next... probably shortly after I finish writing this entry, actually. It was another book about missing children and forested areas next to their home, a familiar subject after just reading The Weight of Silence, but entirely different from that novel, both from the POV of narration and the writing style, as well as of course the setting and the plot. Both are worth a read, in my opinion, but this one might edge out the previous one a hint because of my genealogical connections to Ireland.
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading your blog. It's a treat to hear about your knitting escapades, your endeavours as a writer, and my mouth truly waters when I read all about the baking/cooking that you do!
I admire you for being you, and for letting me into your life <3
I have three questions for you:
1) Does the title of your blog "Write Here, Write Now" have anything to do with the song by Jesus Jones "Right Here, Right Now"?
2) Grammatically speaking, what are your thoughts regarding the use of a comma with respect to the word "and"? Example:
I ate cookies, paper, and spaghetti.
OR
I ate cookies, paper and spaghetti.
I recently took a course through Athabasca University (English Comp.) and did well, but I found that my prof asked me to use a comma before "and", which is contrary to what I've been taught throughout elementary school!
3) Do you naturally use the American spelling of words like "neighbor", still? Or is it more natural for you to use "neighbour"?
Tammy, you are so incredibly sweet. You made my heart go all warm and squishy. I'm the lucky one to have someone like you as a friend!
ReplyDeleteNow to your questions!
1. Absolutely! Just a little twist on it to reflect what I do. I wondered if anyone would recognize it! You're the first that has, or at least the first that's told me so.
2. Ah the serial comma. I had various teachers and professors in school who used different style guides, but the most common one is the AP Style Guide. It's what pretty much every publication I've ever worked for, including the online content agencies, has used as their grammar bible. According to AP rules, the serial comma is not used before and, so the second example would be correct. It's one of those little things that can change from guide to guide though, and occasionally someone will use one that is off of everyone else. There are all kinds of rules in style guides, from what numbers appear as words or numbers (AP says you type out one through ten and use numerals for 11 and up), whether you say Native American or Aboriginal Peoples and things of that nature.
3. This actually has a kind of funny background for me. When I was in high school I spent a year abroad in Costa Rica. While there, I sat in on an English class being taught by a British girl doing a "teaching abroad" program. Her course material was all from Great Britain and so used entirely UK spelling. I loved it, because at the time I thought of it as "original" English and more "authentic and refined" somehow. I copied the course materials and started using UK spelling everywhere. My teachers back home hated it - oh my god how they railed on me. But when they tried to mark it incorrect, my dad actually told them to stuff it, because it was correct in plenty of places in the world.
I eventually grew out of that phase in college, because working on newspapers and literary magazines, it just wasn't acceptable to do. But it sure made it easy for me to convert back when I moved to Canada ten years ago!! I was happy, because I find the spelling more lyrical and pretty in many ways. Now, of course, the places I write for online use American English and I have to really concentrate to make sure I don't slip up, I had to change my spell-checker on my word processor to American English to pick stuff like that up for me!