My 2016 Reading Stats

2016 has been a worse reading year than 2015, but I can blame that on uni - you read a lot more for uni than you do for school, and this ruins a) your time for reading for pleasure and b) your enthusiasm for reading. I've read 18 books total! (But two of these were over 1,100 pages long...) That's 6,633 pages.

But while this hasn't been a good reading year, I have been reading more in the past few months, especially this November. So that's something to be happy about. (Reading makes me happy, and I've noticed I've been happier since I've been reading more these past few months.)

My reading so far this year comprises:

• 8 Adult books 
• 8 YA books
• 2 poetry books (both were related to Sappho)
• 4 contemporary/fiction books 
• 6 fantasy or sci-fi books  
• 8 historical or history-related books
• 7 books with any LGBTQ characters (excluding the poetry)
• 0 books published this year (2016)
• 9 books published 2010-2015
• 6 books published 2000-2009
• 3 books published before 2000

I've written 7 reviews (only 7? It feels like more!) and given:

• 6 three-star ratings
• 9 four-star ratings
• 3 five-star ratings 

That's no one- or two-star ratings! So while I haven't reach much, what I've read has, on average, been very enjoyable. I've DNFed 3 books that just weren't for me, so most of my reading has been worthwhile.

I've also added 57 books to my TBR list, which sounds like a lot! But I've also culled the list a couple of times this year, so even though the number sounds bad it's not as terrible as you'd think (although I still feel the need for a reader's retreat). Most of the culling was of YA - I'm just not as interested in it as I used to be, which you might've noticed from my blog over the past year or two.

So overall, I haven't read much in 2016, but it's not all bad because I found a new favourite book (War and Peace) and finally read Sappho and Sarah Waters for the first time!

As for next year, I don't expect the number of books I read per year to increase until I've got my degree, but we'll see how the next 2 years go. Anything could happen!

How's your reading year been? Good, bad, interesting, surprising?

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Top Ten LGBTQ-Related Films

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is movie freebie, so here are ten films that feature LGBTQ characters and themes.

Links go to IMDb pages.

1. The Perfume of Memory (2016)

 2. But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)

3. Heavenly Creatures (1994)

4. Camp Belvidere (2014)

5. Bound (1996)

6. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

7. V for Vendetta (2005)

8. The Imitation Game (2014)

9. Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

10. The World Unseen (2007)

What are your favourite LGBTQ movies? What's on your to-watch list? (I still have to see Carol and The Handmaiden...)

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Review: Pompeii by Robert Harris

The punny quotes on the outside and inside covers killed me.

Summary

A sweltering week in late August. Where better to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples? But even as Rome's richest citizens relax in their villas around Pompeii and Herculaneum, there are ominous warnings that something is going wrong. Wells and springs are failing, a man has disappeared, and now the greatest aqueduct in the world - the mighty Aqua Augusta - has suddenly ceased to flow. Through the eyes of four characters - a young engineer, an adolescent girl, a corrupt millionaire and an elderly scientist - Robert Harris brilliantly recreates a luxurious world on the brink of destruction.

This is the second book I've read this year about the Vesuvius eruption in 79 CE. The two were very different - the first was YA and centred on a romance, while this one was adult fiction and took place over 4 days. I rated both 3 stars, so neither was particularly special.

As mentioned, Pompeii takes place over 4 days - the 2 days before the eruption, and the 2 days during. Because of this, it's fairly fast-paced, making it easier and more fun to read. Before the eruption, the plot centres on the maintenance of the Aqua Augusta, the huge aqueduct that supplied water to the Bay of Neapolis, where the book is set (there’s a map of the area at the start of the book, if you were wondering). Then, of course, it's Vesuvius's time to shine, in great detail.

Pompeii promises four POVs, so I went into it expecting to be drawn into the lives of four different characters, however character - Attilius, the engineer - is the focus and the others' perspectives are minimal. This disappointed me, I have to say. As well as this, none of the characters are particularly interesting, developed, or otherwise special. It's hard to care about characters who don't interest you.

The protagonist, however, is something of an antihero, so that made a nice change from the archetypal guy who has to save the people (maybe it's to do with him being Roman...). I love flawed characters, antiheroes especially.

Sadly, this book fails the Bechdel Test. The one "main" female character, Corelia, has a mother, but they don't seem to speak to each other, even though they're not estranged or anything. You'd think a young woman in a Roman society would want to talk to other women - her mother, her maid, even girls her own age - but nope, doesn't happen, even though seeing how Corelia interacts with her own gender would add some much-needed depth to her character.

On the plus side, there’s no romance! The book takes place over 4 days, so that shouldn’t be a surprise, but it was such a relief. There’s a bit of saving a damsel in distress, but they barely know each other so I’ll happily ignore any romantic connotations that might entail.

Something I enjoyed in Pompeii was the scattering of historical details. I did wonder a lot about what was fact and what was fiction (eg. which characters are real?) but the author did plenty of research. I loved coming across little details such as mentions of the erotic Pompeiian frescos, of Spartacus, of Augustus and Livia, of throwing slaves to the eels. Call me a Classics nerd, but it doesn't take much to make me happy. It's the little things.

To conclude, I don't know why this was a bestseller, as the characters are flat and the writing is nothing special. But I'm so desperate for books about Greece & Rome that I'll take what I can get.

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The good, the bad, and the ugly: The Red Queen (The Obernewtyn Chronicles #7) by Isobelle Carmody

Exciting ending makes up for slow rest of novel.

The good

• Elspeth (protagonist) isn't hung up on her missing love interest, and Gets Shit Done.
• The whole Habitat plot at the start was interesting, although it could (probably should) have been a separate book in its own right.
• More worldbuilding - we get to see more of the physical and cultural world Elspeth lives in.
• I guessed one of the plot twists 50 pages before it was revealed - I love it when I'm right!
• Exciting last 250-300 pages
• Cute ending
• Overall, the story is a good conclusion to the series, however...

The bad

• Too many characters, and after so long I couldn't remember who they all were.
• Too much dystopia, not enough fantasy in a time when every other YA book is dystopian (however, it's interesting to get a combination of the two).
• The dialogue is too formal even between characters who are close - realistically, people use contractions. 
• I can't remember any LGBTQ representation in the book or the whole series. If there's any, it's not made explicit or positive. It's a long series with lots of characters, and The Red Queen was published recently in 2015, so there's no excuse.

The ugly

• Needs significant editing and proofreading (Isobelle Carmody asked fans to let her "hone and polish and conclude this last book at my own pace" but it seems she didn't succeed, as it's riddled with typos as if it's a first draft - which it might be).
• Twice as long as any book needs to be
• Slow-paced for the majority (eg. there's no running until 250 pages in)

The summary

After years spent struggling to balance her desires with her responsibilities, Elspeth Gordie has fully embraced her role as the Seeker. Battle-scarred and lovelorn, haunted by memories of her beloved Rushton, Elspeth is not prepared for what she finds at the end of the black road she travels: the Compound, a lost community with a startling secret. As Elspeth strives against her captors, she learns that Rushton and her friends have fallen into the hands of the deadly slavemasters that rule the Red Land. And worst of all, as Elspeth stumbles, the Destroyer creeps ever closer to his goal: awakening the cataclysmically destructive weaponmachines that Elspeth has been charged with stopping. Has all her sacrifice been in vain?

Full of romance, action, and suspense, The Red Queen is a worthy finale to such a breathtakingly elaborate series.

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A New Favourite: Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace

Jane Austen meets JRR Tolkien

I watched the 2016 BBC mini-series a few months ago, which made me want to read the book. In case you don't know, the book is a monster, and it took me exactly 2 months to read. I read the ebook, not the physical book pictured, for this reason.

War and Peace takes place in Russia during the wars with Napoleon (1805-1813, although the epilogue happens in 1820). It was first published in 1865, making it historical fiction. The book's mostly about four aristocratic families during this time. I loved it. I'll try to avoid very specific spoilers, but if you don't realise that characters are going to die, go back and read the first sentence of this paragraph.

The good

• An epic story of people fighting for their world and what or who they love (hence the similarity to Tolkien)
• A rich, engaging setting (just like Tolkien...)
• Philosophically rich (also like Tolkien) which is interesting when explored through the characters
• Interesting, complex, developed characters (I found them much more complex and developed than those in Austen or Tolkien - Tolstoy just seems to know people incredibly well)
• Interesting, complex, developed female characters (although women in this setting know their place, the women of War and Peace include some fascinating characters. However, there was one sentence about a woman who "slew hundred of the French", so they weren't all sitting at home. Awesomely, this woman actually existed.) 
• It made me laugh (one character doesn't pronounce his Rs, a bear gets tied to a policeman and thrown in the river, several characters are (unintentionally) very very gay to a young 21st Century reader...)
• It made me sad (lesson learnt: don't get attached to emo Russian princes)
• Heaps of drama (similar to Jane Austen - particularly the family and relationship dramas)
• Heaps of angst (between Pierre, Andrei, and Marya, there is a lot of melancholy)
• Foreshadowing. Two characters' deaths (which I knew about because of the mini-series) were foreshadowed in one chapter, and it broke my heart.
• Tolstoy's similes, metaphors, and analogies are entertaining. Sometimes, they help you to better understand a situation. Sometimes, they're less simile and more description of what's actually happening.

The bad

• Russian characters all have a bazillion names (thanks, Russian naming customs) which is very confusing. When you add in the fact that this translation Anglicises certain names, well...
• Polish characters' names aren't even pronounceable  
• Rumoured incest (however, I don't think they actually have an affair, unlike in the mini-series) 
• Certain characters disappear for no reason and there's no word on what happens to them (one family lost two of their grown-up children, but we don't know anything about their reaction. Another minor character I grew attached to, due to her being so mysterious, disappeared after the last chapter - there was no mention of her in the epilogue, even though she'd been in the background the whole book. What?)
• Structure - similar to Tolkien, sometimes when there's a change of POV, the book goes back in time a bit, which is confusing.

The ugly

• It's ~1300 pages long! No book has the right to be that long.
• The scenes about war strategy and philosophy, and about history, are incredibly boring and I didn't follow. It's okay when they relate to certain characters, but sometimes they're just essays that don't specifically relate to the book.
• The epilogues. That's right, epilogues. Plural. The first epilogue was set about 7 years after the end of the book, and it didn't give me warm fuzzy feeling about the characters' fates, although some of them were described as being happy. The second epilogue was about 40 pages of Tolstoy philosophising about history, and may as well have been published separately. I've seen people say to skip the epilogues, and I agree: the last 100 pages can be skipped without losing anything.

The conclusion

• I've found a new favourite book! How exciting! 
• I know I recently talked about not judging intelligence by the books you read, but I feel smarter after reading this. 
• Strongly recommend to fans of historical fiction and classic literature.
• Will I read it again in my lifetime? Not sure. Maybe when I'm 50 I'll think about it. 

The summary

Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives. Balls and soirees alternate with councils of war and the machinations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpassed.

The prodigious cast of characters, seem to act and move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will, fate, and providence. Yet Tolstoy's portrayal of marital relations and scenes of domesticity is as truthful and poignant as the grand themes that underlie them.

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October: a busy month

Winter's out, summer's in!

Life

I was hardly active on this blog last month. If you missed me, here are the possible reasons why:

• University ended, so I had all sorts of assignments due! (Now I only have one exam next week, on the 7th (which is also my birthday...) and then I've completed my first year of uni!
• I was sick during almost the whole last week of uni, which is also when I had two assignments due, so I didn't have the energy to blog. 
• I was participating in my second Femslash Exchange! This is a yearly gift exchange when you create F/F stories (mostly fanfiction, but original work is a category too) or art, and receive one in return. I wrote three things this year, which was really fun.
• I was binge watching a British sit-com. 
• I was reading War and Peace, one of the longest novels published. I'm hoping to finish it today, so stand by for a long review!

Posts

Top Ten Villains on TV

Top Ten Characters I'd Name a Cat After

Read

Just this and nothing else. Well, except for stuff I had to read for uni. And fanfiction.

Posts around the blogosphere 

Aentee at Read At Midnight hosted #CritYourFaves, which I sadly found out about too late to participate in.

Berls at Fantasy Is More Fun asked what unimportant elements draw you to a book.

Jordon at Simply Adrift discussed what makes you WANT to read a book blog. I fail miserably.

Reg at She Latitude posted about the 'Not to Read' Pile. I found this very relevant as I'm forever adding to and culling my TBR list.

How was your October? Productive? Busy? Fun??

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Top Ten Characters I'd Name a Cat After

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is Ten Characters I'd Name A Child/Dog/Cat/Car etc After. I'll be using characters from a combination of books, films, and TV shows this week (some of the books have screen adaptations, so that's the version I've taken the images from). I don't want kids, I'm not a dog person, and I would forget to name my car, so I'm going with cats.

 

1. Kili (The Hobbit)
 

2. Galadriel (Lord of the Rings)

3. Gandalf (Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit)

4. Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess)

5. Hector (The Iliad)
 

6. Inara Serra (Firefly)

7. Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock)

8. Saxa (Spartacus)
 

9. Napoleon Bonaparte (War and Peace)

10. Toshiko Sato (Torchwood)
 

What do you think of these characters? Who would you name a cat after? What characters would you name a car, a child, or a dog after?

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Top Ten Villains on TV

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's theme is All About the Villains. I decided to do my ten favourite villains on TV, since I don't tend to like villains in books, but I sometimes do on television.

1.

Lucretia (Spartacus)

She has a great character arc and is truly the best villain ever, because she's a good villain who is written and portrayed excellently.

2.

Ilithyia (Spartacus)

She's a very funny villain, without meaning to be. She just speaks her mind without knowing she's being rude. Ilithyia is a bitch.

3.

 

Crassus (Spartacus)

He's just as smart as our protagonist Spartacus, and respects his enemy.

4.

Caesar (Spartacus)

Damn you, you sneaky, smart, strong good-looking bastard.

5.

Callisto (Xena)

Undefeatable crazy evil blonde bitch with a weird obsession with Xena.

6.

Alti (Xena)

Undefeatable crazy evil brunette bitch with a weird obsession with Xena. Only even more undefeatable.

7.

 Moriarty (Sherlock)

Evil genius. I shivered/shuddered just finding a picture.

8.

 "Captain John Hart" (Torchwood)

He's a bad person... But he's got some good qualities... Never mind, no he doesn't... Hang on, maybe he does...
Tbh it's the jacket I like the most.

9.

Missy (Doctor Who)

The funniest serious villain to ever... villain. Missy is very very Weird.

10.

Bonnie (Doctor Who)

There's something sexy and scary about her at the same time. It's disconcerting.

Who are your favourite TV villains? Do you agree with this list? Who would you put at #1?

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Stacking the Shelves

 

 Stacking The Shelves is a meme created by Tynga’s Reviews. This is my first time participating, but I got some new books today and haven't posted in a while, so here we go! Links go to Goodreads.

This afternoon, my mum and I went into a second-hand bookshop we like but haven't been to for a very long time, and she bought these for me! The first I picked up because I have two other books by the author on my TBR list and it sounded very interesting, the third was on my TBR list, and the second my mum picked up because she has the same name as the title and enjoyed one of the author's other books.

Despite The Falling Snow  by Shamim Sarif

The enthralling narrative of Shamim Sarif's powerful second novel moves between present day Boston and 1950s Moscow. After an early career amongst the political elite of Cold War Russia, Alexander Ivanov has built a successful business in the States. For forty years, he has buried the tragic memories surrounding his charismatic late wife, Katya - or so he believes. For into his life come two women - one who will open up the heart he has protected for so long; another who is determined to uncover what really happened to Katya so long ago. The novel's journey back to the snowbound streets of post-Stalinist Moscow reveals a world of secrets and treachery. Shamim Sarif's elegant writing delicately evokes the intensity of passionate love and tragic violence.

Helen  by Maria Edgeworth

Newly orphaned Helen Stanley is urged to share the home of her childhood friend Lady Cecilia. This charming socialite, however, is withholding secrets and soon Helen is drawn into a web of ‘white lies’ and evasions that threaten not only her hopes for marriage but her very place in society. 

A fascinating panorama of Britain’s political and intellectual elite in the early 1800s and a gripping romantic drama. Helen was the inspiration for Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters.

  Tipping the Velvet  by Sarah Waters

 

This delicious, steamy debut novel chronicles the adventures of Nan King, who begins life as an oyster girl in the provincial seaside town of Whitstable and whose fortunes are forever changed when she falls in love with a cross-dressing music-hall singer named Miss Kitty Butler.

When Kitty is called up to London for an engagement on "Grease Paint Avenue", Nan follows as her dresser and secret lover, and, soon after, dons trousers herself and joins the act. In time, Kitty breaks her heart, and Nan assumes the guise of butch roue to commence her own thrilling and varied sexual education - a sort of Moll Flanders in drag - finally finding friendship and true love in the most unexpected places.

All of these are set in the past, but are quite diverse - there are 20th Century Russians*, Georgians, and Victorians. Being the history nerd that I am (who loves these 3 eras) I am very excited to read these 3 novels! (Unfortunately my bookshelf is already overflowing, so I have no idea where I'll put them.)

*I seem to be going through an unintentional 19th and 20th Century Russia phase. Stay tuned for my review of War and Peace whenever I finish it (I'm still not even halfway, though I'm making good progress!).

Have you read any of these? What have you added to your bookshelf lately? Or have you been good?

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Lying about reading a book

I've read and watched a lot of things in which characters lied about having read a specific book (and eventually having it backfire). I've also come across people on the internet who say they've lied about reading a certain book. The books people lie about reading are usually classic literature and popular fiction.

I want to know why this happens. Why lie about reading a book? Do these people honestly think we care that much about what they read? That if someone says, "No, I haven't read Jane Eyre or Hamlet," we'll think they're unintelligent? 

Because we won't. One of the best things in the world is when you can talk about your favourite book with someone who has also read it. But that doesn't make you both more intelligent. Reading a particular book does not make you smarter than someone who hasn't read it. (Unless it's a textbook, which is designed to make you smarter.)

I have no problem telling people that I've never read and never want to read Harry Potter or 50 Shades of Grey. That I read all of Jane Austen's works by age 16. That I will probably never read The Silmarillion or Charles Dickens. Or that I'm currently reading War and Peace, one of the longest novels ever written, and am loving it.

Not every book is interesting to everyone. Not every book is accessible to everyone. It's okay to have your own taste in books. It's okay to not read at all. Just be honest. People will dislike you more for lying about it than for just admitting to not having read it.

Talk to me...

Have you ever lied about reading a book? Has someone ever lied to you about reading a book? How did it make you feel?

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