Time to teeny tiny minithon!

Konnichiwa fellow readers!

I skipped the intro post this time around because I was joining everyone half way through and there was zero chance I was going to be organised enough to get a post written before hand.

Before I launch into talk of books and snacks THANK YOU to the ever wonderful Tika for organising this and hollering about it on twitter so I didn't forget.

I came into this 'thon with no actual plans. I didn't know what books I'd read and I had no mini snacks. I KNOW. I'M A TRAITOR TO THE CAUSE. But hear me out, we're going to lunch for Tom's grandpa's 90th this afternoon and it's a swanky place and I want to get my money's worth. So no tiny pies or sandwiches or popcorn for me this year, just an extra large cup of coffee and then a decent sized cup of tea when I realised I had no coffee left. But I did enjoy looking at what tiny treats everyone else indulged in. I think I need to get Tom to start baking me mini pies, because Alice's girlfriend has made me realise that I need that for my next minithon.

So this was my minithon.

Aforementioned cup of coffee, Zadie Smith's short story The Embassy of Cambodia (which is also tiny in stature) and Nora Ephron's book of essays I Feel Bad About My Neck. So much tiny in that selection. I didn't even have to stretch for reasons why they were mini this time around. I feel like that's an achievement in and of itself.

  I managed to finish Zadie Smith's short story (67 pages, but it's probably like 20 in a normal sized book) and read 139 pages or 8 of Ephron's essays. I think this might be the most I've ever read during one of these minithons. Probably because I wasn't distracted by tasty, tiny food.

An important post to let you know I still exist and stuff

You may have noticed it's been a little quiet around here. I've been so super busy and for whatever reason I decided to juggle like 18 books at once, so I am getting NO WHERE with my reviews. But I miss everyone and writing blog posts so I decided to do a bit of a what I'm doing right now post to make up for a lack of actual review posts going on around here. I'll be properly back soon I swear.

What I'm reading

This is a book blog after all, so books first! I'm currently reading Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi and loooving it. I raced through the first 150+ pages and have slowed down a little now, not because I've lost interest but I just don't have the time. Also, I've been trying to stop doing the whole love-this-book-so-much-keep-reading-oops-finished thing which ends up making me feel miserable that I've read it so quickly and suddenly have no more wonderful book to read. It's a really interesting book, fantastically written and with a brilliant concept so I'm quite excited to break it down in review for everyone.

 I'm also making my way through John Ajvide Lindqvist's Let The Old Dreams Die. I find I need to take short story collections slowly to stop from burning out on them, but this is a really different collection of horror shorts. If you've read anything by Ajvide Lindqvist you can probably guess the overall feel, it's almost a melancholy ache, using monsters and the supernatural as physical stand-ins for emotions. I can totally get the Stephen King comparisons people seems to love to give him, although I don't think he's even close to being as accomplished as S.K is at short stories just yet.

I'm also listening to The Goldfinch which was maybe a huuuuge mistake. It's 32 hours long and I wanted to listen to it to and from work, which only takes up about 2 hours a week. So I'm currently about 13 hours in, and have started to listen to it whenever I can find the time so that I'm not still listening to it in September. I am really liking it though. It's not at all the story I expected, but it's a really warm story and it works amazingly well as a audiobook (as slow as I may be progressing). It has almost a bed-time story feel, even if it isn't actually a fairytale or children's book and David Pittu is an amazing reader, he is so accomplished at all the different voices that if I didn't know better I would think he had an actual woman standing in and voicing Theo's mum.

What I'm Watching
Ugh, so much. Aside from keeping up on the new seasons of my favourite shows (Game of Thrones, Orphan Black etc etc) I've put some real time into catching up with Psych, the Sherlock Holmes show before Sherlock Holmes was cool again. It's actually just finished for good, but there are 7 seasons of delicious, silly and downright strange episodes. Basically (in case you haven't heard of it) Sean is the son of an ex-cop who was trained from a young age to pick up clues (deduce, one might say) so when a messy situation arises, he claims to be a psychic and starts to work for the Santa Barbara as a psychic consultant. What's really great about the show is the relationship between Sean and his Watson, Gus (played by Dule Hill from The West Wing). They're like Turk and J.D 2.0, so even if the cases get a little repetitive, they kept me entertained the whole time.

I also discovered the new series Broad City. Holy shit you guys, this show is AMAZING. It's like Girls on speed. It's produced by Amy Poehler (so you know it's good) and the two leads (who also created and write the show) are fucking brilliant. It's much more light-hearted than Girls but I actually kind feel like its's a better representation of life in your mid-20s. Maybe because it doesn't take itself so seriously? I dunno, but it's amazing and must be watched IMMEDIATELY.

Damn Dean, you just never get it.

I also watched the documentary Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father and OMG I have never cried so much in my life. You should go into this knowing as little about the case as possible* but a basic run down is that Andrew Bagby was murdered, and the woman believed to be responsible soon comes out claiming to be pregnant with his child. So the filmmaker travelled across the country collecting stories and memories from Andrew's friends and family to give to this child, so that they can grow up knowing their father - even if technically they can't. It's this crazy mix of heartbreaking and life-affirming. Andrew was clearly loved by everyone who met and spent time with him, which makes his untimely death all the more unsettling. Anyway, it's on Netflix so if you're in the mood for tears then check it out.

What I'm Doing
Outside of uni? Not much. I went wedding dress shopping with a friend last week and it was so much more stressful than I expected. A lot of the stores would give you these little tags and tell you to put them on the dresses you like, but after a couple of minutes every dress looks exactly the same - puffy, white, sparkly. My poor friend struggled to explain what she wanted to the assistants (lace top, not too formal/wedding-y, light basically) and she ended up trying on so many duds before finally finding the perfect store with the perfect selection. I am less excited about the whole wedding process now that I've seen it first hand. God it must be exhausting (you still hanging in there Alley?!)

Oh, I wear glasses now!

While I was in Japan I got word that my sister had her eyes tested and needed glasses which meant that my two sisters and one brother have all been prescribed glasses in the past year, so when I got back I went and got my eyes tested. It's so annoying, I was always told my vision was perfect yadayadayada and then all of a sudden, BLAM, glasses. I don't need to wear them all the time, but it doesn't hurt to (apparently) - so I'm slowly getting used to having frames on my face 24/7. I'm still not entirely out of that "whoops still wearing sunglasses, oh wait no they're glasses" phase, and I'm still not used to seeing my reflection wearing glasses. Also, is glasses shopping the worst or what? It is firmly up there with jeans and swimsuits as far as I'm concerned.

Hmmmmm. I'm redecorating my house? When I moved out of home I moved into a furnished house (worst move, SO not worth it) and then when I moved out of there my dad offered me all of his furniture which was in storage down in Sydney. So for the last 5 years I've mostly been using his furniture but replacing it ever-so-slowly each year. Now I just need to buy a couple of final big items (new couch and armchair) and I'm pretty much set up in a house that represents me and Tom, instead of the parental hand-me-downs. Which is nice, plus it means the house will be better for entertaining and having people over for movie nights, which our previous couch-situation did not accommodate. If anyone has any tips for online homeware stores, please share!

Okay so I'm going to stop prattling so that I can go and finish my final Japan post and hopefully finish up a book today and maybe get a review written (WHAT! I know right?) How has everyone been lately? I missssss chatting to everyone on twitter and commenting on blogs and stuff, WHAT IS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIVES RIGHT NOW, I MUST KNOW!

*I feel a little icky writing that, since this is real life not a movie. But the way the doco is shot, events unfold as the movie is being filmed, means that it actually is better to watch it this way. You learn things with the people, you feel the shock when they feel the shock etc. 

2013 Wrap Up Survey

I had planned to do an end-of-year survey but my holiday got in the way of doing it any earlier.

#HardLifeAmirite

But now that I'm home I am ready to share my reflections and recommendations from 2013. Most of my answers are probably pretty obvious if you've paid even the smallest amount of attention to this blog over the year, but maybe a couple of answers will surprise you (or they won't, but it's fun to read these things!)

Number of books read in 2013: 73, thanks largely to the crap-ton of books I read on my holiday.

Best Book You Read In 2013? I read so many good books and so many new authors who I am now obsessed with (Rainbow Rowsell anyone?) but I think my absolute favourite would have to be Horns by Joe Hill. It was just SO good, I read it addictively and got that wonderful-terrible book hangover afterwards.

Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn't? Hmmmm, probably Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Maybe if I'd never heard of it and discovered it on my own I'd have enjoyed it more, but I didn't feel like it lived up to its reputation at all and was actually pretty badly written at certain points.

Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013? The Circle by Dave Eggers. I was able to get a free copy off Netgalley otherwise I probably would have skipped over it. It was a fascinating and tense techno-drama and definitely in my top 5 reads of the year.

Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013? In the blog world it was probably Horns. If you read that book in 2013 I'm taking credit, even if you read it first. In the non-blog world it was probably Ready Player One by Earnest Cline. It was a good book to introduce to my pop-culture and game loving friends who don't read a whole lot.

Best series you discovered in 2013? I'm almost surprised to say this considering how long it took me to get into it but it'd definitely be the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. If you've read the first book in this series and finished it feeling on the fence about whether to continue, try to hang in their until the third book. If you still don't like it by the end of book 3, you probably won't change your mind.

Favorite new author you discovered in 2013? I read a lot of new-to-me authors this year but my favourite would absolutely have to be Rainbow Rowell. She is the most wonderful of wonderful things.

Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you? Ooooh tough one. It wasn't really outside of my comfort zone, but I enjoyed Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion far more than I expected. Whoulda thunk a romantic YA about zombies would be anything other than terrible?!

Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013? Horns, Attachments, The Circle, Ready Player One...I can't pick just one!

Book You Read In 2013 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? Any of Rainbow Rowell's books, but probably Attachments. I miss that book, I need it in my life again.

Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013? Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. It's so bright and poppy and just inseparable from the story.

Most memorable character in 2013? Eleanor and Park from Eleanor and Park. They are both the most wonderful and complicated and vibrant characters, if I can summon the strength I'm definitely going to revisit them soon.

Most beautifully written book read in 2013? I think that'd probably be The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, both in terms of writing style and the content of the story. That book made my heart swell.

Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read? It's ridiculous that it took me so long to continue into Stephen King's Dark Tower series with The Drawing of the Three. I don't really do New Year resolutions but I plan to get much further into this series this year.

Shortest and Longest Book You Read In 2013? According to Goodreads (I didn't count graphic novels fyi);
Shortest: In The Tall Grass by Joe Hill and Stephen King
Longest: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by JK Rowling

Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? SO MANY. But the one that comes to mind first is Where'd You Go, Bernadette. I was so conflicted with the character reveals and developments I had to know how everyone else felt about them too.

Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2013 (be it romantic, friendship, etc). So many good relationships this year, Eleanor and Park, Cath and Reagan (Fangirl), Art3mis and Parzival (Ready Player One) but none were as amazing as the friendship between Beth and Jennifer in Attachments. I could read their email correspondence for the rest of my life and I would be the happiest for it.

Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You've Read Previously. Does reading Allie Brosch's blog count as an author I've read before? Who cares, I'm answering Hyperbole and a Half anyway.

Best Book You Read In 2013 That You Read Based SOLELY on a Recommendation From Somebody Else. There were so many books I read this year that were completely off everyone's recommendation, but I'm going to answer Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters since I am sure I wouldn't have read it if it wasn't for Alice's big list of LGBT lit.

Genre You Read The Most From in 2013? I don't organise my reading by genre, but a quick look over the year's reads shows a lot of dark fantasy, stuff that's not quite horror and a little more realism based than straight fantasy.

Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013? Hmmmm, maybe Lincoln from Attachments or Levi from Fangirl? Rainbow Rowell writes the best fellas.

Best debut book you read? For sure Ready Player One.

Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013? Harry Potter, the answer for this will always be Harry Potter.

Book That Was the Most Fun To Read in 2013? I read a lot of fun books in 2013, but the two readalongs (HP and The Corrections) were my favourite reads of the year. Even if the quality of reads in one readalong was infinitely better than the other, the company for both was first class.

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2013? If it's possible to die from too-much-cryingitis then I came close when I read Eleanor and Park. That book tore my heart out of my chest and made me feel things, for reals guys.

Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year/Bookish Events on your blog in 2013? I didn't have any goal-goals, but I completely the one challenge I signed up for (eclectic reader -12 books from 12 genres) and took part and in 3 readalongs and 3 readathons.

One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2013 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2014? Tell the Wolves You're Home by Carol Rifka Brunt is at the top of my list. I borrowed it from the library late last year but I didn't manage to get to it before heading on my holiday.

Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2014 (non-debut)? I'm never really on top of new releases but I'll be first in line for Rainbow Rowell's new book when it comes out.

One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2014? This year is going to be crazy busy what with writing out my PhD and all, so my main plan is to keep keep working on this blog as a way to release some stress and not let it fall out of focus.

Wrapping up RIP VIII

I hadn't planned to do a wrapping up post for RIP VIII but when I saw them popping up all over the place I figured I might as well document how I went. I had a lot of fun with this challenge, it was nice and low key thanks to it being over two months instead of one. I was a little worried I'd get sick of reading horror/dark fiction constantly but I managed to include some non-RIP reading which I think was probably a good idea. I wasn't so great at the blog-hopping aspect. If I already follow you then I saw and read your posts, but I probably only visited a couple new-to-me blogs which is a little shameful, but oh well!

I ended up reading 6 books for RIP VIII and I liked them all, so woooo success! Of the books, Coraline was probably my favourite but I was also pleasantly surprised with how much I liked Warm Bodies. I don't think I'll bother with mini-reviews for these ones since I wrote full reviews for each, but if you want to see what I read and what I thought then follow the links.

The Pilo Family Circus - Will Elliott
Shadow and Bone - Leigh Bardugo
Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion
Coraline - Neil Gaiman
Skeleton Crew - Stephen King
Rape: A Love Story - Joyce Carol Oates

I guess maybe Skeleton Crew should be in this section since it's a book of short stories *shrugs* Anyway, I read way more short stories than I expected to, and it seems a little silly to pat myself on the back for reading short stories since their defining feature is that they're SHORT, but I really don't read too many of these guys so I'm going to pat myself on the back anyway. Anywho, my favourite was probably In the Tall Grass, but I liked all three. Sleepy Hollow wasn't really what I was expecting at all, way less horror than I anticipated but it's a really well written narrative. And UR was a lot of fun, although the Kindle stuff was a little blechh. Links and such below.

UR - Stephen King (short story)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (short story)
In the Tall Grass - Stephen King and Joe Hill (short story)

I didn't get around to writing any reviews for this part of the challenge, but I did watch 3 films that were mostly really good. It's a little too late for them to be Halloween watches now, but who says you can only watch horror on Halloween? I watched Sleepaway Camp, Poltergeist and Chernobyl Diaries and I'm going to write a little mini-review of each because that way I don't feel like I'm cheating by including them in the challenge.

Sleepaway Camp (1983). This film is ridic. It is the horror equivalent of The Room, it's poorly acted, poorly shot, poorly written and not at all scary. But it is HILARIOUS in how bad it is. From the clown-like mother figure, the Brechtian memory scenes, to the cropped shirts and tiny shorts (on hairy dudes) and absurd murders - this film will have you agape at how terribly awesome it is. It might sound terrible, but it's worth it for the ending. The ending is the most phenomenally insane thing I have ever seen and you need to watch the whole film to truly appreciate it. Definitely save this for a group movie night if you can, it's so much better with a lot of people. And it's on Youtube in its entirety, so you don't even have to worry about paying for this dreck!

Poltergeist (1982). Some movies are classics for a reason. This film is SO good. I am horrified that I had never seen it before, I've wasted so many good rewatch years! Some of the effects towards the end are a little hackey by modern standards, but the creative measures they used to try and depict and poltergeist-ridden house are really pretty fantastic and don't detract from the story at all. It's not a scary-scary film, but there's that perfect '80s mix of supernatural horror and comedy which makes up for the lack of pulse-raising spookery. Also, there's a clown doll. A CLOWN DOLL. That's 2 awful creepy things mixed together!

Chernobyl Diaries (2012). A friend bought this for Tom and I last Christmas, and we only just got around to watching it. It was fine, I mean it's nothing special, don't go and run out looking for it, but if it's on TV...maybe don't switch over right away. There are some really effective jump scares, but they don't happen until way too late in the film. Who wants to spend 40 minutes watching a bunch of 20 year old backpackers drink in the Ukraine and then sneak into Pripyat to check out the irradiated abandoned town? Not this lady, or at least, not this lady UNLESS they die gruesome deaths instantly. Oh oh oh, does everyone remember Jesse McCartney, the blonde singer from a decade ago who had like 3 songs? Yeah he's in this.

"His Body Was What She'd Wanted. It Was the Rest of Him That Was The Problem" The Correctioning Readalong Week 5

Guys.

GUYS.

It's over. It's finished. We never have to read about Caroline or Chip (hmmm both C names, I call Conspiracy) or Lithuanian scams or cheating partners or the miserable Lamberts ever again!

I've had a lot of fun paying this book out, but I didn't hate it. I didn't love it, and I'm not sure if I even liked it, but I definitely didn't hate it. And this section (save for that bullshit final couple of everything-is-perfect pages) was definitely decent.

So here we go. Can we talk about how much I hate Caroline? Like I really, really detest her. More than Chip. Which, I know guys, I know that's a big thing to say. But everyone knows how much of flake Chip is and no one (save Denise giving him $20,000) really trusts him with anything. Caroline on the other hand is the mother of 3 kids, her husband is so browbeaten (although not completely innocent in all of this) that he seems to just accept her bullshit as fact and she is just HORRIBLE. The fact that she was going to stay home with two of the kids and avoid Gary's family was bad enough, but when she  buys tickets to The Lion King to tempt Jonah into staying? THE KID IS 8 YEARS OLD. STOP USING HIM AS A PAWN IN YOUR POWER TRIPS.

Caroline made me so angry that I was just seething through the first part of this section. But then her lovely husband took that role because duuuuude, stop being such a dick. I mean, I can get where Gary's coming from. It must be frustrating to see your parents so ambivalent about their future and finances when you know the burden will fall on you in the future to keep them afloat. I can completely understand those feelings. Ok, brief detour. A few years ago my mum went home to Adelaide to care for my uncle and grandparents. My uncle had MS and my grandparents were his carers, but over the course of the week my nana had to have a stent placed in her heart and my papa needed a hip replacement. My mum went down to help them all out, because she's their kid and she loves them, but also because she's an occupational therapist so she knows how do this better than her other two brothers. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you this is because my mum would call me, frustrated, because my papa was putting on his shoes and bending down to lace them up, and after a hip replacement you aren't supposed to put that sort of pressure on it. But both my grandparents are super stubborn (sort of like Al, without the distance and assholery) and my mum was at her wits end, because she loved them and she didn't want them to cause themselves further pain down the road. So I can understand Gary's desperation at making his family sit down and discuss their future, because they're your parents and you want the best for them. BUT I don't think Gary actually gives a shit about them, I think the only thing he can think about is how much they're going to disservice him in the future. He takes a reasonable concern and blows it out of perspective. Like demanding his mum pay him the $5 for the screws. I mean FFS dude, it's $5. Family means occasionally letting $5 slide. And his blow up on Christmas breakfast was fucked up. I know everyone in this book is horrible, BUT DO NOT TREAT YOUR FAMILY LIKE THIS.

Another frustration was the reaction everyone had to whether or not Chip would make it to Christmas. I completely understand that he's a terrible person, and he never comes through on his promises, but you've just heard about massive civil unrest in Lithuania. Maybe show some concern for you brother. Oh the airports closed, see he won't be here after all! Never mind that that could mean that he's trapped or in an internment camp, or has been robbed and murdered for his stuff. Now I feel pretty weird standing up for Chip here, but it's not like he dashed to France. There is serious shit going down (sort of, Chip's section does sort of suggest that it's more talk than action) and your brother is in the thick of it. Pull your heads out of your asses!

The other thing I really wanted to talk about was the Al stuff. I really liked that we got to see this back story to Al, like him quitting his job to save Denise the spectacle of people finding out about her affair and calling out to Chip in the middle of the night. But I also had an issue with Franzen making it seem like "see he did love them, he just didn't like to show it, so all that abuse doesn't count!" Chip can rest easy now that he knows his dad loved him best, it doesn't matter that he was TERRIFIED of the man. It's like everything is erased because a sick old man occasionally thought about how much he loved his kids. Granted it seems he always treated Denise pretty well, and I did really love the sacrifice he made for her and how, in turn, that impacts current Denise. But while certain concessions can be made, at this point in time the damage is done.

I loved how the book suddenly "corrected" everyone, "we learnt some stuff about Al and Gary acted like petulant child and Chip lost his leather pants and didn't really talk about ANYTHING we'd been upset about, but suddenly we're all adjusted enough to start families with doctors and get new jobs as teachers and move to New York or to care for our dad". PUH-LEASE.

This is both me at this final section, and Al trying to escape the hospital.

They didn't sort out shit at Christmas, and all of their character flaws were based on their ridiculous childhood and that shit doesn't just heal overnight. Does Franzen think it does? Does he think psychological problems or ingrained character traits can just be fixed with a turkey dinner and a brief moment on a Lithuanian road? This family is fucked. They're all horrible people and they don't deserve a magical happy ever after. I would have been okay with Chip's magical transformation IF it stopped at his sacking up and taking responsibility and looking after his dad. And why do we get so much about Chip anyway? Why is it that all we get about Denise is that she moves to Brooklyn? And Gary comes back to visit his mother with Jonah? Ugh.

But that's it. That's all I want to discuss. I am done with the Lamberts. I am happy to leave them and I sure as hell am not going to say goodbye. But I am sad that the readalong is over, because even though this book had some poopy moments, everyone else's posts were golden and made me appreciate and enjoy the book way more than I would have otherwise. So thanks everyone for such hilarious posts and inspired gif choices and an extra big thank you to Alley because you're awesome and you hosted this SOB like a boss.

Book Review: Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2)

Written by: Jasper Fforde

Published: 2002

Synopsis: The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Jasper Fforde's magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of Jurisfiction, the police force inside books. She is apprenticed to the man-hating Miss Havisham from Dickens's Great Expectations, who grudgingly shows Thursday the ropes. And she gains just enough skill to get herself in a real mess entering the pages of Poe's "The Raven." What she really wants is to get Landen back. But this latest mission is not without further complications. Along with jumping into the works of Kafka and Austen, and even Beatrix Potter's The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth.

Since this a sequel don't get your panties in a twist if I reveal some plot details about the previous book. Also, why not read my review for the series' first book, The Eyre Affair? 
________________________________________________________________________________________________

'But this is preposterous!' Shouted Hopkins as he was dragged away. 'No,' replied the magistrate, 'this is Kafka'. 

Is this the most British series to ever be written? I think the only possible answer is a resounding YES. I could basically taste the tea and crumpets as I read Thursday's current adventure and I'm 90% sure the Queen waved at me on page 192. This is by no means a criticism, it's utterly delightful actually and maybe one of my favourite aspects of the book, but I don't think I've seen the words  "oh I say" "hear hear" and "pip pip" in greater quantity since The King's Speech. At its best it's like one long really great Monty Python sketch, filled with in-jokes and self-deprecation and adorable British stereotypes like bumbling men in tweed suits, bowler hats and monocles. And it's maybe possibly that a lot of that imagery is in my head only and not actually part of the book, but if that's the case I highly recommend you do things my way because it's BRILL (the most English word that ever did English-FACT).*

I was left feeling a little mixed after reading The Eyre Affair, I enjoyed most of the story without really being sure if I liked it enough to continue the rest of the series. I came across Lost in a Good Book on an especially disappointing library trip (everything I wanted was wait listed, how's that even possible?) and thought "why not". I still have a few issues with the series, but for the most part I think I am officially a Thursday Next convert. They're fun and bright books that manage to combine light literary references, humour and crime adventures in one delightful package. Thursday Next is a great protagonist, she's feisty, intelligent, funny and sarcastic. Her somewhat anti-authoritarian attitude (she must have been a nightmare in the army) is the root of most of her problems, but she takes responsibility for her role in this and that alone makes her a better protagonist than a lot of the other female protagonists featured in crime fiction - which is a pretty small batch to begin with.

But - and I feel a little overreacting-fun-hating feminist-y even bringing it up - I'm a little trouble by the relationship aspect of this story. In my review of The Eyre Affair I was a little dismayed at how much of the plot revolved around the angsty will-they-won't-they relationship junk with Landon, ending with the two of them marrying spontaneously. I don't have an issue with her being in a relationship or even with the characterisation of Landon (and both of these are depicted much more effectively this time around), but... how do I put this? Without Landon there is no Thursday. He is the motivator for the entire plot to go forward, and while she isn't lamenting the end of their past relationship in this book, he is the entire reason she does anything. She finds herself part of the Jurisfiction forces (more on this later) because she needs to find a way into The Raven to save him, she goes back in time because she needs to try and save him, and she won't consider going sideways in time because it would mean he's not part of her life for a year. And maybe it's just because I felt their relationship was forced in the first book, but at this stage it kind of feels like the author was like "what motivates women to be kickass awesome people? Oh their husbands, of course". And Thursday isn't the only woman depressed or forced into action because something happened to the man in her life, it's the same for at least 4 other women (who I won't mention for fear of spoilers) and it's just, really Mr Fforde? We couldn't have at least had one book where Landon sat home drinking tea while Thursday did her literatec duties? I don't know, I'm completely aware that I'm overreacting to a bit of a non-issue, especially since I honestly really like Thursday's character outside of this, but it just feels like a crutch, like "ok I will write a female protagonist but I need to have a guy within reach because writing women is hard".

So with that off my chest I can get back into praising the book, and I really did like it. Truly-ruly. In Lost in a Good Book the plot is a little all over the place (but in the best kind of way). It opens with Thursday suffering through a series of heavily censored interviews and televised events to (not really) discuss the changing of the Jane Eyre ending events from the previous book, enjoying marital bliss, finding out from her time-travelling dad that the world is going to end in a week, discovering a long lost Shakespearian play and being hounded by the Goliath Corporation to release Jack Schitt from Poe's poem The Raven. Get all that? It's a pretty heavily plotted book, but most begin as small threads that slowly build and expand before coming together pretty neatly towards the end, and they aren't nearly as erratic as I just described it.

Thursday's job as a literatec makes me giddy with excitement (a literary detective? UM YES PLEASE) but in this book we're introduced to jurisfiction which is just SO much better. Jurisfiction is mostly made up of fictional characters who police books. They keep an eye on bowdlerisers (terrorists intent on removing salacious content from books) and grammacites (monster-y creatures that literally eat parts of the text), they keep an eye on the unfinished and unpublished manuscripts and a number of other delightful literary tasks. And they do all of this by page jumping between books or stopping in at the library (that houses all books that are and ever will be) that is overseen by the Cheshire Cat. They have a footnote phone to communicate with characters in their texts, which is then used in this book and the whole thing is so bookish and meta and delightful. Oh and Thursday is apprenticed to Mrs Havisham. Can you even imagine? These books are basically porn for readers and book lovers, and it's for us alone. If you aren't a reader or a writer I can't imagine you liking the quirky little bookish references or bits of literary whimsy. You either wouldn't recognise the references, wouldn't appreciate the nerdy love for books that this series espouses so heavily or it might just seem a little silly. But you'd be wrong, and missing out on a great book.

What, you need proof? Fine, it just so happens I came to this review prepared.

On book jumping into Poe:

His books are not fixed; there is a certain oddness that goes with them. Most macabre Gothic fiction tends to be like that - Sade is the same, also Webster, Wheatley and King. They have a way of weaving you into the story and before you know it you're stuck there.

On being a literary character:

“I would so hate to be a first-person character! Always on your guard, always having people read your thoughts!”

On Wuthering Heights:

“I was on HPD--Heathcliff Protection Duty--in Wuthering Heights for two years, and believe me, the ProCaths tried everything. I personally saved him from assassination eight times.” 

And because I'm not sure how else to wind up this review, and I don't feel like I've fully impressed on you how fun and silly and great this book even outside of the literary-ness, I'm going to leave you with one final quote:

“How fishy on the fishiness scale? Ten is a stickleback and one is a whale shark."

"A whale isn't a fish, Thursday." 

"A whale shark is--sort of." 

"All right, it's as fishy as a crayfish." 

"A crayfish isn't a fish." 

"A starfish, then." 

"Still not a fish." 

"This is a very odd conversation, Thursday.”

See. Witty and wonderful, just like I told you.


*Did I just break the record for most superficial British/English stereotypes in a paragraph ever?

Bookish A-Z Survey

Because I'm hardly one to pass up the chance to remember those ridic chain letters from the 1990s in book blog form, here are my A-Z answers! Thanks to Alley and Sarah for posting this!

Authors you've read the most books from: I don't even need to go to my bookcase. I know it's going to be Stephen King, and it's always going to be Stephen King because for every book I read he publishes another 20.

Best sequel ever: Ummmmmm, shit. I'm going to say A Clash of Kings because I didn't think my love of Game of Thrones (which was heightened by the TV series) could be matched and ACoK trounced it.

Currently reading: Skeleton Key by Stephen King. I often find his short story collections a little hit and miss in quality but I also feel like they're the best look into how his mind forms ideas and plays with tropes so, yeah, awesome.

Drink of choice while reading: Whatever is in the fridge?

Ereader or physical book: Since I use my phone to read ebooks I'd probably have to say physical books because I find it hard to read anything for too long on my phone, but ebooks for travelling are where it's at.

Fictional character that you probably would have dated in high school: I feel like this is one of those questions which will haunt me when I'm in therapy in a few years. I'm going to say Charlie Weasley because OF COURSE Charlie Weasley. Although I've had crushes on the entire Weasley family at some in my life.

Glad you gave this book a chance: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I'm not the ultimate fangirl for this series yet, but after avoiding it on the bookstore shelves for years I'm glad I finally got over my aversion to popular books and gave it a shot. It's a really fun series.

Hidden gem book: Maybe Night Country by Bryce Courtenay. It's a teeny tiny, difficult to find book that's about a moment in his childhood which impacted his life and outlook.

Important moment in your reading life: I think that would have to be reading The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys by Christopher Fuhrman. That's the book that changed reading for me. I read it at 11 or 12 and it just switched something on in my brain. Reading it now is like visiting an old friend so I can't even tell you if it's a good book because to me it's perfect and I have zero objectivity.

Just finished: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell and I'm still feeling waaaay too much to say anything.

Kind of books you won't read: Anything with a Stephenie Meyer or EL James recommendation on the front? I don't know, I've read and liked books I wouldn't have imagined liking but I definitely stay away from that supernatural faux-erotica genre.

Longest book you read: I can't be bothered actually checking book lengths but it's gotta the The Stand by Stephen King. And I'm so grateful to the second hand bookseller in Tasmania who recommended it to me when I was hunting for a new King book to read and made sure to recommend the longer/full version of the book. High five dude.

Major book hangover because of: Attachments and Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. They're just so wonderful it's hard to move onto something else straight away.

Number of bookcases you own: 5. And I need more because the damn things are so over-stacked I can't find anything.

One book you've read multiple times: The Harry Potter series. I reread it just about every year and I don't think anything else even comes close.

Preferred place to read: Just vegged out on the couch at home. With snacks within easy reach preferably.

Quote that inspires you: I'm really bad with the whole favourite literary quotes thing which is why I'll never get a literary quote tattoo. But I'd probably say something from Lord of the Rings, they're overused for a reason.

Reading regret: I can't really think of one. It makes me sad to think I'll never get a chance to meet some of my favourite authors like Richard Matheson and Bryce Courtenay but that's hardly a regret. I watch a lot of TV which cuts into reading time but I don't really regret that either. Not being better at writing reviews?*shrugs*

Series you started and need to finish: I'm always a little hesitant starting new series because they're such a commitment, so at this point I think the only series I've started but haven't finished is Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. Which I definitely will get through. Eventually.

Three of your all-time favorite books: I DON'T KNOW! I'm going to go with Four Fires by Bryce Courtenay, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and The Stand by Stephen King, but don't hold me to that.

Unapologetic fangirl for: Rainbow Rowell and Warren Ellis. They are my jam.

Very excited for this release: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I'm pretty bad at keeping up to date with book releases, but this one I've been eyeing off for awhile.

Worst bookish habit: Reading the last page. I don't really know why I do this, I just tend to head back and read the final line or paragraph way before I should. Maybe I'm just impatient. *shrugs some more* But this is one reason ebooks are awesome, it's too much work to cycle through pages and back to where I was, so I just don't do it.

X marks the spot! start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book: Needful Things by Stephen King.

Your last bookish purchase: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. The cover art is gorgeous and I felt like reading some YA, so bam, purchased.

Zzz-snatcher. Which book kept you up way late?: I feel like I've answered Rainbow Rowell and E&P way too much during this but it's the only appropriate answer. Once I started E&P I didn't put it down until it was finished, and it was totally worth being exhausted the next day at work.

It's About Time I Signed Up for Bout of Books

So last weekend ended up being a really big and busy weekend for me, and I missed out on Tika's mini-readathon, which made me sad, and also meant that I didn't quench my thirst for readathoning. So here I am, signing up for Bout of Books which is probably the only readathon outside of Tika's that I'll ever take part in - because being in Australia SUCKS time-wise for all these northern hemisphere readathons, and since this is over an entire week it is perfect for little ol' southern hemisphere me!

"The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team"

So that's what I'll be doing, and I'm looking forward to reading a whole bunch and checking out everyone else involved and what they'll be reading and all that fun readathon stuff. Make sure you head over to the Bout of Books website if you want to sign up (and you should!).

Winter Reading

So since I don't have a review today (I'm tossing up whether or not to write a review about the Stephen King/Joe Hill short story I just read) I decided to do a filler post, because I know how desperately you all wait to read my iridescent prose *nudge nudge* riiiiiight?

And what better than a winter reading post? Everyone loves to know what I'm reading right? And what we weird Australians read in our non-summer months? Anyway, this is a mix of 'how is this still unread', 'this needs to go back to the library' and 'just saw the film, let's read the book' books. And you might notice how small and comforting they all are, I'm dangerously close to burning out people.

Anyway, here's the obligatory photo of said stack.

I've had Eleanor and Park since I finished Attachments, but I've been so scared to read it because then there will be no more Rainbow Rowell (until Fangirl comes out) and I don't know if I'm ready for that yet.  How have the rest of you survived? SERIOUSLY.

I bought Mother Tongue in January for a particular reason. A reason I no longer remember. But read it anyway I will.

N.P has been sitting sadly on my desk for months and I keep overlooking it but NO MORE! Yoshimoto is sooooo good, and I need goodness in my life. Also, since I might be in Japan this October I feel like I really should.

Look Laura! Caitlin Moran! Now I can get those references you make!

I began The Drawing of the Three a month ago and put it down to concentrate on Harry Potter so maybe it's cheating to put it in this list, but I am going to read it this winter so what list should I put it on huh?

Cloud Atlas... Ugh, I didn't particularly like the film and I'm starting to feel like I won't like the book. But I got it as a Christmas present and it's one of those books I feel like I should read. So maybe. It's probably at the bottom of my to do list.

And finally Skeleton Crew. I know I've already got a Stephen King on my list, but this is Stephen King short stories and I watched The Mist a few weeks ago (it was alright?) and it's in my shelves so onto the list it goes!

So yeah! Yay reading! And yay hopefully not burning out!

Armchair BEA (day 3) Literary Fiction

So I really hope my genre fiction post yesterday didn't give anyone the idea that I don't like literary fiction, or that I don't recognise the brilliance that can be found between the covers of a literary fiction novel. he broad definition of literary fiction is a book that's serious in tone and holds literary merit.  If you take that as fact it's pretty clear that the two genres are not mutually exclusive, there's a definite muddiness in the line between the two, it's just the critics who like to try and make it sharper from time to time.

Anyway.

2013 has not been much of a literary year for me. Aside from Room by Emma Donoghue my books have all been thoroughly genre fiction. With a PhD to work on I haven't really had the heart to explore dark and emotionally-wrought novels that will probably take me a month to finish. Or at least, the lighter more enjoyable books are just beckoning far louder on my bookshelves. But recommendations I do have, oh I have trucks full of them!

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiiguro was my favourite book of 2011, really powerful and interesting and hard to put down. A must read for sure. Anything by Margaret Atwood is a sure-fire winner, there's (almost) always a strong feminist or dystopian thread running through her books and they will take the wind out of you. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is like a historical fiction/literary fiction cross and if you like history (specifically English history in this case) then her sharp, accurate and illuminating prose will rock your socks off. The sequel Bring Up The Bodies came out last year and I still don't own it, which is a serious problem I hope to rectify soon. I read my first essay collection by David Sedaris this year, and for the most part I really enjoyed his brutally frank, self-deprecating story-telling although I don't know how many collections I could read without it feeling derivative. It's perhaps not strictly literary fiction, but Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader is a fantastic novella and Cormac McCarthy's distopian novel The Road is filled with some of the most beautiful prose I've ever come across.

Armchair BEA: Introductions and Classics Talk

Hello everyone, I am super excited to take part in Armchair BEA this year! I've seen the posts around the blogosphere the last couple of years but this is the first time I've been organised to actually take part, and I'm psyched to meet some new people.

So I guess I should introduce myself;

Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location.
I am in Brisbane, Australia and right now it is absolutely miserable. It's cold and wet but sitting on the couch with a cup of tea writing this post is life at its very best. I can't really think of anything too random or special right now, but we are blessed with pretty amazing weather here in Brisbane. We don't get the turbulent hot/cold/rain/snow/sun mess that Melbourne and Adelaide go through on a daily basis, but we're also southern enough that we don't get the epic tropical heat from the up north. As someone from the tippy top of Australia I can tell you with 100% clarity, tropical heat 70% of the year - it blows.

What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013?
I am currently juggling about 6 different books, but my two favourite reads for 2013 would definitely be Attachments by Rainbow Rowell and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Those books are amazing, if you haven't read them yet I highly encourage you to seek them out.

Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.
Hmmmm, I really love buying people presents, everything from the actual gift to the presentation of it. I love to make it personal and just right for that person. You won't catch me buying people socks or gift cards, no siree.

If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?
Ask me this in a week or a month and I'll probably have a completely different answer for you, but right now it'd have to be Beth and Jennifer from Attachments. They're just the lovliest ladies, I love how they care for each other, and how witty they are and how they bounce everything off each other. It would be hands down one of the most enjoyable experiences I could imagine.

What is your favorite part about the book blogging community?
Ugh, so much! The whole community/friend vibe that everyone sends out is pretty fabulous. Like, right now I'm taking part in a Harry Potter readalong hosted by the wonderful Alice of Reading Rambo and it's so great to see what everyone else is thinking as we go through the series, expressing emotions through epic amounts of gifs and having silly arguments and discussions about Sirius or Snape or the school's plumbing.
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Today, tell us all the reasons why you love classic literature. What are your favourite classics? If you could give a list of classics to someone who claims to hate them to make them change their mind, what would be on it? How would you convince them to give classics a try? And why do you keep coming back to those old favorites?

I love to read classics, they're such a fascinating view into how life used to be - which can also be quite confronting or alien at times. I tend to gravitate more towards contemporary classics, I loooove One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn, short stories by H.P Lovecraft, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles and, of course, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde and co. Recently my classics reading has been a little spotty, a couple of books here and there, but since I finished my literature degree I think perhaps I burnt myself out a little. Regardless I still love to read a classic every now and again and it irks me no end when someone says "nah, I don't really like classics".

The thing is, classics are just like contemporary fiction - just older (I wish I could articulate that better!) You can get classic horror, classic sci-fi, classic romance, classic literary fiction, classic...you get the idea. So when someone tells me they don't like classics, my first step is usually to try to direct them towards a classic in their genre of choice. My second step is to go for more of a contemporary classic, so rather than throw them in the deep end, I edge them into it, maybe with a book from the 1950s or 1920s. Once they've gotten into them I can show them books from the 1800s or maybe even earlier depending on how they're finding it. Typically when someone says they don't like classics it's that the classics scare them a little, or they had to read the super dry ones in high school which turned them off. Of course, some people won't like them full stop but it never hurts to try!

7 Ways to Keep Reading While Writing a PhD Thesis (or anything, really)

Because, Nawwww! (source)

As I'm sure you've noticed, things have been a little quiet around here. I've tried my best to post at least 1 review a week, but content is definitely a lot more sparse now that I'm 6 months into my PhD. This is mostly due to a simple lack of time and motivation. When you're at the university working from 9-5.30 and come how to cook dinner and probably get some more reading (research) done before bed (earlier than ever before because you really need your 8 hours now) it's really hard to do anything, let alone read a book.

Naively, I hadn't expected my PhD to take over so much of my life. I thought I'd be able to handle it like a full-time job just like they recommend at all the orientations. However, when you've got a milestone due and 20 pages to write about the methodology you're utilising it isn't easy to just get up and walk away from your computer at 5.30pm, even if you've been working solidly for 9 hours at that point. So it's been a real learning curve, and to begin with I really struggled to pick up any books that weren't related to my study but I'm slowly getting better. Here's a list of 7 ways to fit reading into a busy schedule...because while I'm writing this from the view of a PhD student, it's a problem I can imagine people face whether they're a full time worker, undergraduate student, mummy or whatever.
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1. Don't push it: When I started my research I was so overwhelmed with what I had to read for my project that I couldn't even look at another book, let alone read one. Anytime I picked up a book I would read a few lines and then put it down. I felt bad about this, especially since it meant I had nothing to contribute to my blog but I just let it go and avoided any new books for about 2 weeks. Then I was really craving a good book, and I was able to move past that exhaustion and enjoy the process of reading again.

2. Adjust your reading: I'm a pretty quick reader and I tend to devour books pretty heavily. Last year I was averaging around 2 or 3 books a week on top of studying full time and working part time. I won't lie, I was pretty disillusioned when I found myself taking two weeks to finish a book that would have taken 4 days last year. Once I realised that I simply couldn't consume books the way I did last year, I started to feel a lot better and now I happily take as long as I need to finish a book.In saying that, I really want to readAnna Karenina and Battle Royalethis year, but those books are so thick that I know they'd take me a good 2 months to read considering how little time I currently can spend reading my personal books. I can't even comprehend spending that much time on one book, so I'm going to focus on smaller, more realistic sized books to keep me motivated instead.

3. Start small: To get over my reading slump and motivate myself to get back into reading I started small. Like single issue comics small. An issue of a comic will take you about 10 minutes to get through...if you're going at a snails pace. I could read two or three in a sitting and not feel guilty of wasting time and they're text-light so it felt completely removed from my academic reading. I still try and read a comic when I'm feeling exhausted, which leads me to my next point...

4. Read everyday: I know that seems to contradict everything I said above about not feeling like I could read anything but once I got back into the rhythm of reading, I found that if I read something each day, whether that was a comic, magazine or a chapter in a book, I could keep that up longer. If I take a week off  and go back to TV shows and podcasts then I find myself right back at square one, because an episode of Parks and Recreation or an interview with Tina Fey on The Nerdist Podcast takes far less brain power and concentration than even the simplest book.

5. Buses/trains are a perfect time to read: When I finally was given my office space I started coming into the university regularly on the bus everyday. Depending on traffic, that gives me a good 40 minutes to read everyday, which is nothing to turn your nose up at! Sometimes it's a little hard if all the seats are taken and I'm stuck standing in the aisle, but I usually get lucky with seats so it's nice to sit down and ignore all the gross smells and heavy breathing while lost in a good book (OK my buses aren't usually that bad, but it sounded better!).

6. Take a lunch break: One thing I've come to realise after these first few months on study, is how important the lunch break is. My office is basically in a dungeon. It's down underground with no windows, so there have been plenty of days when I leave the office for the first time since arriving 8 hours earlier and am surprised to find myself in the dark or torrential rain. To avoid losing my sanity and to regroup before spending another 4 hours working, I like to leave the office completely to eat my lunch. This way I can leave my research behind (not that I can ever truly disconnect!), grab a little sunshine and unsquare my eyes after a morning looking at a computer screen. I know not everyone gets a chance to take this kind of lunch break, but if you have the chance, I highly recommend finding somewhere quiet outside to sit down near trees or grass and just read a few pages while you eat your lunch.

7. Embrace technology: Whether that means audiobooks or a Kindle, technology is your friend! I spend all day at my computer listening to podcasts because I need some sort of noise to concentrate properly (and surprisingly music is too distracting!) and recently I started to download audiobooks to see if they'd work as well. To be honest they're not perfect since I seem to miss entire chunks, but they make life on a busy bus easier because I don't have to juggle a book in one hand, a bag over my shoulder and a handle to hold for fast corners. Similarly, when I have a bag filled with 8 or 9 text books, having e-books on my mobile phone (thanks to the free kindle app) makes a huge difference.
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