Friday Coffee Chat (7) - Special Edition

~Special Edition~ 

Girls Gone Reading Back In Action

Today is a special edition of Friday Coffee Chat. Less than two weeks ago, Jennifer from Girls Gone Reading sent me an e-mail saying that she had to take a break from blogging and our weekly Friday Coffee Chat to care for her husband who had just had a moderate heart attack. I completely understood (family ALWAYS comes first) and told her to take care of both her husband and herself--we would all be waiting for her when she got back to blogging. Earlier this week, Jennifer told me that her husband was doing much better and that she was thinking of doing a Friday Coffee Chat post about books that saved her life. I thought that was a fantastic idea given what she has gone through the past few weeks so I thought I'd let her have this week's Friday Coffee Chat post to share these books that have been such an inspiration in her life and have her ask the weekly question to all us readers. I'm so glad that her husband is ok and that she has been able to come back to blogging so soon!


Please stop by her blog and let her know what books saved you and made you feel like you weren't alone in the world.

Click HERE to read Jennifer's Friday Coffee Chat post

Update: This post inspired Rikki from The Bookkeeper to do a post on the books that saved and helped her through life's challenges. Click HERE to read her post.

Very inspiring ladies! Thanks for sharing these books with everyone!

Against a Dark Background - Iain M. Banks

Book: Against a Dark Background
Author: Iain M. Banks (click name to view author's website)
Publisher: Orbit
613 pages
My Rating: 3 of 5 stars



Lady Sharrow is a former antiquities thief and pilot that is being pursued by a religious sect called the Huhsz that believe that only with the death of Sharrow will their messiah be born. Sharrow decides to go on a journey to seek the eighth and final Lazy Gun which she believes will help her survive the Huhsz pursuit and end their vendetta against her. Sharrow was part of a team that disassembled the seventh Lazy Gun which caused a nuclear explosion of apocalyptic proportions and killed many residents of the city she was in. Now infamous for the event, Sharrow seems to only be loved by her small band of friends that pursues the Lazy Gun with her.

I wanted to like this book. The cover and binding were beautiful. I got sucked into the "judging a book by its cover" yet again with different results this time. While I didn't hate Against a Dark Background, the book fell short of its expectations for me. It's entirely possible that I shouldn't have chosen this book as my first Iain M. Banks read because his Culture series is his most famous and respected to date. I will be honest and say that the cover of this book popped out at me at the bookstore and this is why I chose it. I may also be unfairly judging the book because I remember trying to choose to read this book or Dan Simmons' Hyperion when it was my turn to select a book for my real life book club. I chose Hyperion, and it was fantastic which may have led to me having unrealistic expectations for this novel.

Let me say that I knew nothing about Banks' writing other than he is a respected science fiction author. This book was chosen for the July Book of the Month in my Fantasy/Science Fiction Book of the Month group on Shelfari. Without the discussion in the group I would likely have chosen to not review this book at all. It took me five weeks to read and when I finished I realized that large chunks of the plot had already disappeared from my memory.

There were things that were enjoyable in the book. Once I realized that the book had very British humor in it, I started to enjoy it much more. There was some wonderful banter between the characters which had me chuckling more than a few times--the dialogue was quite witty! Some of the situations were hysterical as well and were reminiscent of Firefly and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Most science fiction fans will look at my last sentence and say, "How was this book not fantastic when you mention that awesome TV show and book in the same sentence?!" For me, I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters except for the android Feril who I loved. There was an aloofness about most of the characters, and they all seemed to driven in very unemotional ways. I will say that their behavior lent to VERY good discussion in my Shelfari group. The two other people who were familiar with Banks' work said that he often writes characters like this. Their motivations don't necessarily give the reader any emotional connection to them or even emotional connections with each other. The theme is focused on individuality rather than collectively as a group. While talking about this with the other members of the group, I actually began to find the book more interesting and thought much more about it after learning this. It even fit in with the title of the book (which I will not spoil for you, but there is a subtle meaning in it which I missed but someone else in the group picked up on).

Did the discussion make it better for me? Absolutely. I thought the discussion was really meaningful so I definitely recommend this book for a book club. However, I wouldn't call it an enjoyable read. I think it challenges the reader in ways most books do not and will not. I think overall that is a good thing--we as readers sometimes need to challenge our thought process and philosophies while reading.

I would say that if given the chance to start over though, I would probably choose to read the Culture books first. I will give the first in that series, Consider Phlebas a try and see if I enjoy it more. If not, maybe Mr. Banks' work isn't for me. I do think there is an audience for his books though. His writing is fantastic and thoughtful, but I think for my personal tastes I have to be able to connect with the characters in a meaningful way. It doesn't matter whether I love them or hate them, I just have to care about them enough to have an emotional response which didn't really happen while I was reading this book. **Note: This is actually part of why I think the book is worthwhile to read. I think it was meant to evoke a lack of emotional response to the characters which is VERY challenging!

September Book Buying Ban!

I'm not gonna lie...I am the book buying police. Bella from A Girl Reads a Book confessed on Twitter a week or two ago that her TBR list was out of control. Not a virtual TBR list--these were actually books she owns. Want to know the number she gave us? 2,840!!!! That's right. She owns almost 3,000 unread books. So, in and effort to get her to read her own books before she buys even more, a group of us helped convince her (but really I think she made the decision on her own) that she should whittle her list down to a more manageable size. I mean, what kind of gems must she have in her library that she has yet to discover? 

Which brings this post to me. I am no saint. I own 101 paper books and 107 e-books (most of the e-books I got for free)! So even if I say that Bella has a book buying/hoarding/spendthrift behavior problem, I clearly cannot throw stones because I have the same problem. 

My proverbial cup runneths over! So what am I doing? I am joining Bella's September Book Buying Ban! Some of my poor, neglected books are going to finally be read.

Here are my rules:

• I am not allowed to purchase or borrow any books during the month of September except for the following:
• Shelfari Fantasy/Science Fiction BotM Group or 
• The Thrill Me! Book Club I meet up with every month
• No requesting any new review copies
• No entering giveaways or contests on blogs, Twitter, or otherwise
• My goal is to get down to 80 paper books before I buy any others (with the exception of my book club books)

Crazy you say? Maybe, but Bella is also setting up a bookish swap at the end of the ban so we will be able to swap books, bookmarks, book totes, or any other bookish thing with someone participating in the ban with us at the end of September. Oh, and we also get to mercilessly make fun of each other's terrible spendthriftiness on Twitter for the entire month!

If you have a problem, come and join us in the book buying ban! We're all in it together and we're going to have a great time giving love to our unread books!




**Update: I miscounted and found that I have 102 paper books not 101.

Friday Coffee Chat (6) - Are You a Book Abuser?

Are you a book abuser?

We are doing things a little different this week for Friday Coffee Chat. Jennifer from Girls Gone Reading is taking some time off of blogging because her husband had a moderate heart attack this week so she is taking time to take care of him and herself for a bit. If you would like to post well wishes, she has put up a short blog entry about taking a break from blogging to care for him. Click HERE to see the post. 

This week, Rikki from The Bookkeeper is co-blogging with me on this subject because we have had some hilarious bantering going on after she posted The Literary Lollipop's 55 Quirky Questions for Readers on her blog. 

Part I of Rikki's answers to Quirky Questions

Part II of Rikki's answers to Quirky Questions

Part III of Rikki's answers to Quirky Questions

Rikki's Take

Hi everybody, I am Rikki from The Bookkeeper. Carin invited me to guest blog this week about a topic that we feel very strongly about. Actually, no, not true, SHE feels very strongly about it and has actually disowned me for disagreeing with her. Last weekend I found some support from Wallace from Unputdownables who partly shares my opinion. The three of us decided to put the topic out there and create a little poll on top of it. 

The topic is: How do you treat your books?

It all started with 55 Quirky Questions, a quiz made up by The Literary Lollipop. I posted the first 20 questions and answered them on my blog and a few hours later didn't know what had hit me. I had owned up to not only creasing the spines of my books but also - now get this - dog earing them. Carin, and not only her, was shocked. My argument was not the book is sacred, but its content, and that I can treat my books any way I want, won't count with her. Thank God, Wallace came forward and admitted she creased the spines of her books as well. A book must look as if it had been read and not just been lying around on the coffee table. Which brings me to the next abuse method. Some of us *pointing to Carin now* eat while reading and some of us don't. After tweeting for awhile I came up with the theory that creasers and dogearers don't eat and vice versa, in fact, those two vices are mutually exclusive. Hence the poll. We want to prove or refute my theory.

Some of Rikki's books. Loved for their inner beauty (i.e., contents) and outer tastiness (she said a chinchilla is responsible for the damage). Rikki said these are the books in the worst shape in her home.

Wallace at Unputdownables.net's "loved" books. Wallace is Rikki's defender and champion in this debate! :)

So now the question:

How do you treat your books? Do you handle them with care or are they an everyday item that must be able to suffer a certain abuse?

And furthermore: If you crease and/or dogear them, do you also "leave your greasy paw prints" on them, or do you abhor food and coffee stains? Please answer our little poll...

Carin's Rebuttal

Carin's 55 Quirky Questions Answers

Yes, it's true....Rikki is a book abuser. She kills her books by cracking the spine--so much so that you probably can't even read the title of the book once she's done. Pages might even fall out because the binding is so horribly ruined by her antics. Just as bad, her poor books are beaten into submission by the pages being folded in to mark her place so that when someone else in her family goes to read it, the crease distracts from the words on the page. 

Sure, I might occasionally get a tiny drop of coffee on my books or a little bit of grease on the pages while eating some French fries (and by occasionally I mean maybe one out of every 10 books), but let's remember that those spine cracking, dog earing readers do this to EVERY book they own unless it's hardcover and the spine can't be cracked. 

Carin's bookshelf. A little wear and tear, but they look gently used. All of these have been read!

Books should be respected and cared for. When they sit on our bookshelves, our visitors should be able to look through our library and be able to read the spines of the books thereby identifying the book. More than that, I should be able to reread my books over and over again without the pages falling out or the pages becoming so creased that it becomes distracting to read the words on the page. I really like to try to keep my books looking as new as possible. I don't even like it when the corners of the book look "used". Does that lessen my enjoyment of it? Absolutely not! I still enjoy every word without having to worry about folding the page back to read the first few lines of the page or having the page...*gasp*...fall out! I can't even imagine having to tape a page back in my book. I think I might just faint if that were to happen!

My question for readers is:

What do all of you think? Are books meant to be used to the point where they are falling apart, or are books meant to be cared for like a fragile collector's item?

**Please note that Rikki and I are just engaging in good natured banter. We really do get along although I will put her in a corner to read her battered books if she comes to my house and I will smear my greasy lasagne fingers all over her books should I ever go to hers! Bwahahahaha!

Guest Post #2 - Book Read 'Round the World: Sandie Lee from Ontario, Canada shares her experience

The Enchanted April = Red Pin

Journeyed from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada to Groningen, The Netherlands

Distance Traveled = 3793 mi / 6104 km

Total Distance Traveled to Date = 7895 mi / 12705 km

Guest Post #2

Sandie lee from Ontario, Canada

I received word today that Iris at Iris on Books has received her package from Sandie lee at Imagination Cafe-Blog so I can now post Sandie lee's guest post about her Book Read 'Round the World Experience! After you finish reading, please check out both Iris and Sandie lee's awesome blogs!

Because Sandie lee edits a children's blog, her review for The Enchanted April is listed right before her guest post since the content would not be appropriate for her blog.

____________________________________________________________

Sandie lee's Review of The Enchanted April

Could getting away from your everyday life actually leave you a changed person?
Four very different women all answer the same advertisement in The Times... 
"... those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine…" are about to embark on more than a simple vacation to the Italian Riviera.
They're about to learn some very valuable lessons about themselves and the people around them.

San Salvatore, a medieval castle calls to Mrs. Wilkins, Mrs Arbuthnot, Mrs Fisher and Lady Caroline Dester, who are all in desperate need of something; but what?

Husbands, loneliness, depression and cynicism are all part of the baggage that lands these women in the midst of a beautiful, old, magical castle.  Can they heed it's calling and tugging at their hearts? Will they actually grab onto a new way of thinking and a new way of life? Find out in, The Enchanted April.

This book was a wonderful read, written is a style that's long been forgotten, Elizabeth Von Armin, not only weaves a clever story, she also reminds us of what writing is all about.

Check out, The Enchanted April on Amazon.com or wherever classic books are sold.

Rikki asked some questions on her blog post about The Enchanted April for Sandie lee:

1. Mrs. Arbuthnot is thinking the following early on in the book. Do you agree with her statement?

"To be missed, to be needed, from whatever motive, was, she thought, better than the complete loneliness of not being missed or needed at all."

To answer your questions, Rikki, I agree with Mrs. Arbuthnot, somewhat. Not sure I'd want to be missed just for the work I do, or meals I provide...


2. Do you think that a mere change of location, beautiful as it may be, can cause such a profound change in people that they come back home transformed in a way as in the book?

Also, I do believe a magical place with all the beauty of nature and solitude the castle provided, could indeed change ones look out of his/her life - it would give you time to reflect and ponder.

_____________________________________________________________

Guest Post

I’m the Blog Editor for Imagination-Café Blog (http://imaginationcafeblog.blogspot.com) – a cross-promotional blog for Imagination-café ezine – http://imagination-cafe.com 

This has been a wonderful experience for me.  I received from Rikki of Nuremberg, Germany, a beautiful book bag that says – lieber lesen (I’d rather be reading), several bookmarks, one being of the poem, ‘Loreley” by poet Heinrich Heine.  I also received a beautiful card explaining everything and a refrigerator magnet of the Nuremberg Imperial Castle.

Questions

I was asked these questions…

1)  Over here we always think Canada is mostly nature, lots of forest, few people (at least compared to Germany.  Is that so where you live?

Canada does offer a lot of untamed wilderness, however, we do have our large cities. My city is relatively small with only 75,000 people. We live surrounded by the Canadian Shield - Large rocks and forest - so we do indeed have lots of trees and small lakes/rivers. And of course the Saint Mary's River where the large freighter ships pass along.

2)  How is it to live in a bilingual country?  Does everyone have to speak both languages?  Can you get by with only one of them?  Do both groups of people (the ones who speak English or French originally) get along just fine or is there any tension?

Good questions! For the most part, there's really no noticeable difference. I don't speak French, as most people don't in my city and it's fine. However, our government did establish a law that all government office employees must be bilingual and also all the road signs. 

Not really a lot of tension between cultures in my city. We are kind of a melting pot of cultures here - French, Italian, Native Canadians, Asian etc. So we all mostly communicate in English and get along as a society.

I learned from my snippets that German folks normally do read books in the German language, however, some do read and speak in English.  In addition, I learned that Nuremburg has been rebuilt since it was destroyed in WWII, more beautifully and to visit the Church of St. Lawrence as well as the country inns for fabulous Franconian home cooking.

Shopping!

I absolutely fretted about my choice of gifts to send.  Rikki did such a beautiful job with her choices, I was totally second guessing mine, - I actually think it took me longer to buy the gifts than read the book.  I wanted the gifts to really show our Canadian culture and to be a wonderful surprise for the next recipient.

The Book Read ‘Round the World Event was wonderful, educational, and so much fun.  I looked forward to getting my package and reading the book as well as sending it off to the Netherlands.  I learned it isn’t easy to sum up ones city in a small package and it forced me to take a hard look at what I wanted to say about Canada and Ontario.

This experience has been so much fun, we’re thinking of implementing it on Imagination-Café magazine, for the kids – what better way to encourage reader and also foster goodwill with other countries? 

One Sentence Review

Four very different British women embark on a journey to a small, medieval castle in Italy.  Will they be willing and able to put aside their differences to co-habitat?  Will the “magical” powers of the castle change them forever?  Find out in. “The Enchanted April.”

Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews

Book: Magic Bites
Author: Ilona Andrews (click author's name to go to their website)
Publisher: Ace Fantasy
260 pages
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

Some time ago on Friday Coffee Chat, we discussed whether we judge a book by its cover. Well, I have to admit that I judged Magic Bites by its cover. When I received it, I wasn't interested in reading it at all, but after hearing some really good things about it I was more excited to give it a try. I was not disappointed. This book is fantastic!

Kate Daniels is a member of the Mercenary Guild. Mercenaries are called in to deal with situations involving magic that the police either can't or won't handle. When Kate's guardian, Greg is found dead, Kate sets off on a mission to find out what happened. She finds a case of strange killings Greg has been working on, and it leads her to the necromancers who control vampires and The Pack, a group of shapeshifters.

Urban fantasy can be hit or miss with me. Magic Bites was definitely a hit. The story was never boring and kept me entertained the entire time. It reads like a thriller with some magic, vampires, and shapeshifters thrown in. The necromancers and The Pack are both suspected in the killings Kate's guardian was investigating, and it is left up to her to figure out who is responsible before all hell breaks loose between the two groups. Some people might be burned out on vampires and werewolves, but I assure you...these are more your standard fare than those of the sparkling, buff teenage variety. They are menacing. I found myself thinking that Kate was in danger throughout most of the book and had that "edge of my seat" feeling throughout the entire read.

It only took the first few lines of the book for Kate Daniels to become one of my favorite female characters. The story opens with her drinking Boone's Hard Lemonade and watching television...and she drinks Boone's not because she's poor but by choice! Who does that?!! Only someone who is very secure with themselves and VERY cool. When I read those first few pages I immediately knew that this book would be more like reading The Dresden Files than reading a romance-y girlie urban fantasy book. Kate seems more down on her luck in the romance department and can definitely handle herself in a fight. I happen to love female protagonists that aren't all bosoms and eyelash batters. Call it the feminist in me, but I like it when writers make women capable of more than seducing a man. Kate Daniels fits that profile for me, and I want to read more of her story!

For those of you that like a little hint of romance, there's definitely some romantic tension, and the series seems to hint at that being a part of the story arc in the coming books (which I will most likely be picking up soon). My hope is that they continue to focus on Kate Daniels being a hardened merc with a little bit of a soft side.

The only thing that left me wanting in the book is that I wish there was a little more world building on the part of the neuromancers and The Pack. Since the books are relatively short, that might come later in the series. Overall I thought the book was fun and quick. If you're an urban fantasy fan, like women who can kick booty, or even want to delve into urban fantasy, I highly recommend Magic Bites. It's definitely a good way to spend a lazy Saturday!

*Notice of disclosure: I received this book for review from Penguin Books.

In My Mailbox (91)

In My Mailbox
(hosted by The Story Siren)


(Sadly, this awesome Old Salt mailbox is not my real mailbox. I found this on Flickr courtesy of Atelier Teee)

OK...my book buying ban is over! How did I celebrate you ask? Why I went to a bookstore of course! Don't worry, I didn't go crazy...I just bought two books. One of them happened to be a super awesome and special find that I didn't expect! This is going to be a long post folks so sit back, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and enjoy!

First up is not book related, but a contest I won through Dogster.com. Most of you have figured out that I am in fact one of those...you know...one of those crazy dog people. When I am old, my crazy dogs will trip me and break my hip thereby making me infirm, but I will still love them. I just recently signed up with Dogster to connect with a friend who is a cat lady (Hello Louby!). The first day I was on, I saw a contest for an Eco Drop Bed from WestPaw Design so I entered not thinking a whole lot about it. Well, last week I got an e-mail from Mary Paoli from Marketing Communications at WestPaw Design saying that I had won the Eco Drop Bed! Turbo and Max received the bed last week and Turbo has laid claim to the bed. Poor Max! He still has to sleep in the laundry basket (which he actually chose himself and still loves). The Eco Drop Bed is made from post-consumer recycled fiber fill--namely 144 plastic bottles! It is an absolutely fluffy and amazing bed with a really nice washable cover. We are probably going to purchase one for Max when he can learn that a bed is not a giant stuffed toy that he can destroy. Thank you West Paw Design! Turbo and Max are being super spoiled by your lovely gift!

(On a side note, Turbo got good use of it on Friday night after we got back from the emergency vet because he decided it would be awesome to run around the yard with my sock and then consume it whole. Yes, you got that right. My dog swallowed a sock whole! I now call him "Raisin Brain" because really, you have to have a brain the size of a raisin to eat a sock!)

 

Next up is another little contest I won through Twitter that {indie}pendent books did a few weeks ago. Melissa (@indiepride) asked a quiz question about her online bookstore and I was the first to answer correctly. She said the prize was a book of my choice off her online store! I chose Purge by Sofi Oksanen. It sounds like an amazing book, and I can't wait to read it. Melissa is fantastic. She made the win feel even more special by gift wrapping it which I wasn't expecting. She also put in a bookmark from her store and a business card. This made me absolutely think about where I purchase my books, and I have decided to attempt to support independent bookstores as much as humanly possible! The personal touch just convinced me that independent booksellers have a very unique place in the market. They know the books in their inventory well. They either have read them themselves or have employees who are very knowledgeable about the store's products. I've found this to be true at every independent bookshop that I been in. Please make sure you visit Melissa's wonderful online store--if you don't have an independent bookstore near you, you can order from her. She will even special order books for you that she does not have in stock! Please consider her store when you make your next purchase if you are interested in supporting independent booksellers.

Emily (@heynocupcake) from What Book is That? asked if anyone was interested in reading an ARC copy of Freaksville by Kitty Keswick and of course I responded! She was nice enough to ship it to me so I will try to get it read in the next few weeks and get a review up! Be sure to check out her blog and follow her on Twitter.

Last but not least, I went to Book People here in Austin to celebrate the end of my book buying ban. I really didn't intend to buy any books, but well...these were too good to pass up. I was mostly looking for a tote bag for Rikki at The Bookkeeper because we are going to do a tote bag swap (I'll post those pictures later this week). She was nice enough to offer a swap because I've been obsessed with the cool German totes that she took pictures of for the Book Read 'Round the World event. She even did a special blog post for me to show me not just the one she bought for the event, but all of the ones available. Which one do you think I should choose (if she hasn't already chosen one for me)? Anyway, I decided to look at The Passage by Justin Cronin because I noticed that after his book signing event at Book People last month they had a few copies for sale that were signed by him. This sadly was during my book buying ban so I had to pass it up (see how devoted I was to the ban?!!). I went into the store today thinking they were all gone, but I looked at a copy anyway. When I opened the cover....BAM...right there! Signed! Usually Book People labels their signed copies with a sticker on the cover so you know it's signed. This was a super find because it didn't have that sticker, and I also think I got the very last signed copy in the store. Can you say impulse buy?...I can too! Hehehe! I also talked to a very knowledgeable associate about some fantasy and science fiction books and came home with The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch which has been on my TBR list for about a year now. He also recommended some other books for me that I will definitely be going back for once I get my TBR pile down a little bit! All of this from another independent bookstore. Did I mention that I've fallen in love with independent bookstores?!! I think I have! 

Please note that all links in this post go to the stores that I bought/received these books from (except the ARC copy of Freaksville). If you are interested in these books, you can purchase them through the links or go to your own indie bookseller! They will absolutely love you for it.

Click HERE to search for independent booksellers through Indiebound.

What did you get in your mailbox this week? Leave a comment or a link to your post for me!