Reading
Remember reading? I used to read. Before all of this craziness with the mittens started, before I became a glove making fiend, before the holidays came and put a whirlwind through my house.
In the push to get things done before Christmas, I had to put aside my reading in favor of knitting my fingers off. This was especially unfortunate as I get most of my reading from the Library, which means all of my reading has a due date. Just like being back in school. So of course now would be the time that several books I had been waiting for finally came to me, and have sat next to my bed and collected dust for weeks.
Now that Christmas is past (though I do still have a glove to knit, more on that later) I am able to pick up some of those books. Fortunately some of them are e-books, and can be read while knitting, since I don't need my hands to keep them open. Here's everything I have, and how long I have to read it:
Summer Knight: 5 Days.
This is the fourth book in the Dresden Chronicles, which I started by watching the tv show on hulu, then heard the audiobooks were narrated by James Marsters (sexy vampire Spike from Buffy, sexy time traveler from Torchwood), and then found I could obtain by e-book. They're a little bit noir, a little bit fantasy, and if you can put up with a little bit of sexism on the main character's part, you get some great mystery as well as some really cool female characters. I have two hundred pages left.
Neverwhere: 18 days (sort of)
This is part of the ongoing Neil Gaiman read I mentioned a couple of months ago. I got this on an audiobook from the library which could go on my iPod. But I got the e-book to speed things along. It is apparently based on a tv show, also by Neil Gaiman, about the strange and terrible fantasy world which exists beneath the city of London. Enjoying it so far, not least because Neil Gaiman himself reads the audiobook. I have about a hundred and fifty pages left.
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Titan's Curse 12 Days
Have not even started this one. It is the third in the Percy Jackson series, which I started after seeing the movie and hearing about the series and feeling intrigued like a good little classicist. And I am so far...impressed. As a classicist I am outraged on behalf of the gods Dionysus and Hades for their very Disney-like portrayal in the books. Dionysus of the books is basically a sobered up version of Bacchus from Fantasia, always cranky, and nothing like the beautiful but darkly powerful pretty young man of Greek mythology. And Hades made for a nice version of the devil for the first book, despite that being a very Judeo-Christian concept. But! The mythology is solid, and it's a great introduction to the mythology which is so prevalent in our culture and literature, especially if you're the kid who doesn't have the patience for something as dry as Edith Head.
The Clockwork Prince: 8 Days
This is the second in the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare, author of the Mortal Instruments series,. It is teen supernatural romance, and I have been waiting for this book for about a month. I love Cassandra Clare's characters, their lovely snark, the quotable lines, the intense teenage emotions, and that there are heroines who may fall stupidly in love, but aren't totally brainless because of it (*cough* Twilight! *cough*). I have 550 pages to read, but I'm not worried. I have read a hundred pages a day of Cassandra Clare before, and I'm sure this one will suck me in like the rest.
So now, if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to do.
In the push to get things done before Christmas, I had to put aside my reading in favor of knitting my fingers off. This was especially unfortunate as I get most of my reading from the Library, which means all of my reading has a due date. Just like being back in school. So of course now would be the time that several books I had been waiting for finally came to me, and have sat next to my bed and collected dust for weeks.
Now that Christmas is past (though I do still have a glove to knit, more on that later) I am able to pick up some of those books. Fortunately some of them are e-books, and can be read while knitting, since I don't need my hands to keep them open. Here's everything I have, and how long I have to read it:
Summer Knight: 5 Days.
This is the fourth book in the Dresden Chronicles, which I started by watching the tv show on hulu, then heard the audiobooks were narrated by James Marsters (sexy vampire Spike from Buffy, sexy time traveler from Torchwood), and then found I could obtain by e-book. They're a little bit noir, a little bit fantasy, and if you can put up with a little bit of sexism on the main character's part, you get some great mystery as well as some really cool female characters. I have two hundred pages left.
Neverwhere: 18 days (sort of)
This is part of the ongoing Neil Gaiman read I mentioned a couple of months ago. I got this on an audiobook from the library which could go on my iPod. But I got the e-book to speed things along. It is apparently based on a tv show, also by Neil Gaiman, about the strange and terrible fantasy world which exists beneath the city of London. Enjoying it so far, not least because Neil Gaiman himself reads the audiobook. I have about a hundred and fifty pages left.
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Titan's Curse 12 Days
Have not even started this one. It is the third in the Percy Jackson series, which I started after seeing the movie and hearing about the series and feeling intrigued like a good little classicist. And I am so far...impressed. As a classicist I am outraged on behalf of the gods Dionysus and Hades for their very Disney-like portrayal in the books. Dionysus of the books is basically a sobered up version of Bacchus from Fantasia, always cranky, and nothing like the beautiful but darkly powerful pretty young man of Greek mythology. And Hades made for a nice version of the devil for the first book, despite that being a very Judeo-Christian concept. But! The mythology is solid, and it's a great introduction to the mythology which is so prevalent in our culture and literature, especially if you're the kid who doesn't have the patience for something as dry as Edith Head.
The Clockwork Prince: 8 Days
This is the second in the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare, author of the Mortal Instruments series,. It is teen supernatural romance, and I have been waiting for this book for about a month. I love Cassandra Clare's characters, their lovely snark, the quotable lines, the intense teenage emotions, and that there are heroines who may fall stupidly in love, but aren't totally brainless because of it (*cough* Twilight! *cough*). I have 550 pages to read, but I'm not worried. I have read a hundred pages a day of Cassandra Clare before, and I'm sure this one will suck me in like the rest.
So now, if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to do.
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