Two New Books Coming My Way

Last night I won a Twitter contest held by Lance Reynald, which got me a free copy of his new book Pop Salvation, which will be released June 23 (Tuesday!). I was hoping to see Reynald on his book tour as well, but it looks like he only has two stops, so winning his book was a good consolation prize. If you haven’t heard of Pop Salvation, here’s a little blurb about it from the HarperCollins website:

Caleb Watson is not like the other children at his Washington, D.C., private school. Having skipped a grade—and being younger and smaller than the rest of the boys—he finds that his Southern accent and sensitive, reserved nature set him even further apart. Caleb simply does not belong.

But on a field trip to the art museum, Caleb discovers his hero—his icon—when he is exposed to the art of Andy Warhol. In the beauty of the things that don’t fit, in the art and philosophy of Pop plus the glorious camp of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and its creatures of the night, Caleb will find sanctuary, transforming himself and the eccentric friends he meets along the way into his own little version of Warhol’s Factory.

I love the idea of finding yourself through art. I can’t wait to read it.

Also, I have been given the opportunity to receive an advanced copy of Greg Olear‘s book, Totally Killer, which will be coming out on October 1. The only descriptions of the book I have to offer are this quote from Jonathan Evison, author of All About Lulu: “Olear has created a veritable almanac of the ’90s. TOTALLY KILLER is, well, totally killer. You’ll laugh. You’ll cringe. You’ll weep. You may even find yourself humming Whitney Houston.” And this one-sentence description from GoodReads: “Conspiracy theory and pop culture collide in 1991 New York in this dazzling and dark debut from Greg Olear.”

Olear is one funny guy though so I expect that his book will rock my socks (and hopefully yours!). I’ll be sure to post more information when the book arrives. And, of course, a review will be coming. I plan to take Totally Killer with me on the road to Istanbul and share it with you all closer to the release date, along with an interview with Mr. Olear. Super exciting.

I’m really excited to be getting more debut novels to review. I really want to start reading more books by lesser-known authors. I guess I feel like the biggies get enough attention from the “real” media. I don’t know, what do you think?

Just In: The Godfather

I’m so super excited because one of my friends gave me his copy of The Godfather last night. I’ve been wanting to read this book ever since Raych reviewed it over at Books I Done Read. And, here, I have to admit that I’ve never actually seen The Godfather movies. Those, along with Shawshank Redemption, and Gone With the Wind, and Goonies, and just about every other classic film that everyone is supposed to have seen by age 28. Never seen them.

I never was very interested in The Godfather even, to be honest. But that was before I found out it was originally a BOOK! What?! Yeah, it was written by Mario Puzo (awesome name, yes?!). So anyway, I’m totally stoked. I’ve got to finish up Banned for Life first (which rocks, by the way – but watch out if you’re the profanity police), but then I’m starting directly on The Godfather. I cannot wait!

Just In: The Godfather

I’m so super excited because one of my friends gave me his copy of The Godfather last night. I’ve been wanting to read this book ever since Raych reviewed it over at Books I Done Read. And, here, I have to admit that I’ve never actually seen The Godfather movies. Those, along with Shawshank Redemption, and Gone With the Wind, and Goonies, and just about every other classic film that everyone is supposed to have seen by age 28. Never seen them.

I never was very interested in The Godfather even, to be honest. But that was before I found out it was originally a BOOK! What?! Yeah, it was written by Mario Puzo (awesome name, yes?!). So anyway, I’m totally stoked. I’ve got to finish up Banned for Life first (which rocks, by the way – but watch out if you’re the profanity police), but then I’m starting directly on The Godfather. I cannot wait!

Feeling better

My boyfriend finally moved out last week and finished getting his things out on Sunday. I was really sad to see him go, but am already feeling better now that he’s actually gone and I can start to heal my heart a bit. I also switched rooms with my roommate to give myself a new perspective as well. The room is smaller, but there are no memories of Tony here. Plus, now I have my bookcase in my bedroom, which is not only comforting, but will hopefully give me motivation to start reading that full shelf of TBR books. Thanks to all of you for your kind words. It really is wonderful to have a community full of people who can offer advice and love when it’s needed.

I start a new job in the morning and school starts next week, so I’ll be busy, but it will hopefully help take my mind off things enough that I’ll want a good book to help me escape.

Best,

Becca

How do you stay motivated to read?

I’m super excited because one of my best friends just loaned me her copy of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I’ve already read this book, but I loved it to pieces and need something to read right now that I know I’m going to enjoy. Funny thing is that I almost never re-read books. The last book that I read more than once was Matilda. I read that thing over and over and over when I was in grade school. Roald Dahl was my most favorite author in the world at that time.

Anyway, I still haven’t finished Audacity of Hope, nor have I begun any interesting or fun books. My live-in boyfriend of three years broke up with me between my birthday (Dec. 21) and Christmas Eve and is in the process of moving out right now. I know there are much worse things that can happen, but I can’t help being depressed about it. Hopefully once all of his things are out of the house I’ll be feeling more like myself and be interested in reading/blogging again. I’m sorry I’ve been so flakey lately on here, but I hope you’ll understand and still stop by once I’m up and running again.

Maybe some of you have suggestions of some good books that I could read right now? Or some suggestions on how to stay motivated to get through my TBR pile while I’m stressed/depressed? Do any of you ever just NOT feel like reading? This is the first time this has happened to me. I’d love to hear some of your thoughts and suggestions.

Where I’ve been

I know it’s been quiet around here lately and I apologize. I didn’t realize how hectic the holiday season was going to be for me and I haven’t had much time to read lately, which explains why there haven’t been many blogs as of late. I also haven’t been able to keep up with any other blogs like I normally would, but this week is finals week at school, so I’ll be finished up for a couple of weeks, which will hopefully get me back on track and back to blogging. I’ll try to get some books read and some reviews posted during my five week break from school. It’ll be such a relief to finally get some leisure reading in.

I hope you all are doing well and have a happy holiday season!

Drowning in a sea of jargon

I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since my last post! Grad school has completely taken over all of my reading time. I’m reading super boring books about learning/teaching methods and how to write research papers. There are only two books that I’m actually somewhat enjoying. One is about linguistics and the other is about teaching grammar. The biggest problem with all of these books is that they’re so jargony. I don’t understand half the words in them and end up running to my dictionary every five seconds – and even then I don’t get it. This is why, today I invested in the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Now, instead of the generic definition of the words, I’ll get the English Language Professional’s definition. Hopefully it will help. Otherwise I’m going to spend this whole semester with my mind boggled.

A sampling of the stuff I’ll be looking up constantly this semester:

Subsumption theory, equilibration, syntax, allophone, phoneme, copular verb, interlanguage, metalanguage…the list goes on.

Also, I’m pretty sure these linguist types have made up many a-word, like systematicity. Really?

No wonder it’s so difficult to learn English. I’ve been speaking it my whole life and I feel like I’m in a foreign country now that I’m studying the language itself.

Drowning in a sea of jargon

I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since my last post! Grad school has completely taken over all of my reading time. I’m reading super boring books about learning/teaching methods and how to write research papers. There are only two books that I’m actually somewhat enjoying. One is about linguistics and the other is about teaching grammar. The biggest problem with all of these books is that they’re so jargony. I don’t understand half the words in them and end up running to my dictionary every five seconds – and even then I don’t get it. This is why, today I invested in the Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Now, instead of the generic definition of the words, I’ll get the English Language Professional’s definition. Hopefully it will help. Otherwise I’m going to spend this whole semester with my mind boggled.

A sampling of the stuff I’ll be looking up constantly this semester:

Subsumption theory, equilibration, syntax, allophone, phoneme, copular verb, interlanguage, metalanguage…the list goes on.

Also, I’m pretty sure these linguist types have made up many a-word, like systematicity. Really?

No wonder it’s so difficult to learn English. I’ve been speaking it my whole life and I feel like I’m in a foreign country now that I’m studying the language itself.

Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi

There have been countless times where I’ve read a book and commented that the ending ruined the book for me. I seldom finish a book and say that the ending made the book, but that was the case with Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Chicken with Plums.

This book is about her uncle, Nasser Ali Khan, a well known tar (a Persian instrument similar to a guitar) player whose tar is broken by his constantly nagging and belittling wife. He sets out in search of a new tar, but finds that he can no longer play. Without his music he decides to just lie down and wait to die, which takes eight days to happen. We then follow him through the last eight days of his life and in doing so we learn about the life he had before his final moments.

The book was a bit slow moving and as I was reading it I kept asking myself what was really going on. I didn’t understand why he was giving up on life instead of going out to look for another tar. And I kept asking myself why this was worthy of a book, but when I got to the end I finally understood. I actually had one of those “Aha” moments when I got to the last few pages of the book and I was glad I had stuck it through. This is a sad little story, but it’s fairly quick to read and gives more insight into Persian culture. If you’re looking for more by Marjane Satrapi, I’d recommend it.

Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi

There have been countless times where I’ve read a book and commented that the ending ruined the book for me. I seldom finish a book and say that the ending made the book, but that was the case with Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Chicken with Plums.

This book is about her uncle, Nasser Ali Khan, a well known tar (a Persian instrument similar to a guitar) player whose tar is broken by his constantly nagging and belittling wife. He sets out in search of a new tar, but finds that he can no longer play. Without his music he decides to just lie down and wait to die, which takes eight days to happen. We then follow him through the last eight days of his life and in doing so we learn about the life he had before his final moments.

The book was a bit slow moving and as I was reading it I kept asking myself what was really going on. I didn’t understand why he was giving up on life instead of going out to look for another tar. And I kept asking myself why this was worthy of a book, but when I got to the end I finally understood. I actually had one of those “Aha” moments when I got to the last few pages of the book and I was glad I had stuck it through. This is a sad little story, but it’s fairly quick to read and gives more insight into Persian culture. If you’re looking for more by Marjane Satrapi, I’d recommend it.