The thing about reading is that it is entirely subjective. Some people like certain books, some people like others. Sometimes a bunch of people like the same books, and sometimes only a few like them.
I guess my point is that we all have different tastes. If you're lucky, you find friends who like the same books you like and can make recommendations about new ones. Or you just poke around Goodreads or Amazon (or your local library) and see what you can find.
I've taken to writing reviews of the books I read, posting them on Goodreads and on Amazon.com. At Amazon, I sometimes get responses from people - readers of my reviews can click a button saying whether my review was helpful or not, and can also comment on my review.
So I left a fairly negative review of one book (Three Cups of Tea), and got an interesting comment in return saying, "What were you reading??? You missed the whole point of this book."
Did I? Did I really?
I suppose my point is that books rarely (if ever) appeal to every single person that reads them. Books can be worldwide bestsellers, and people still pick them up and go, "eh" or "ugh". What some people don't realize is that these are valid responses to books. There's a reason why there's a wide variety of books out in the world... it's because there's a wide variety of people.
I was more amused than offended at the shock and horror of the person who commented on my review. They are certainly entitled to their opinion regarding the book... but I'm also entitled to mine. While I posted a pretty calm response, my general attitude was: hey, calm down... it's not a competition, and I'm not denigrating your choice of books just because I didn't like it.
To revise a famous quote: Read and let read.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
And time passes...
So it's been two months this time since I posted. Whoops. I have the best of intentions and then it all just slips by the wayside, even after I lost the good excuses of finals, marriage and honeymoon. Ah well, it's been a somewhat busy summer.
I keep trying to pretend that I'm going to read ahead for fall, and while I may manage it yet, right now my focus is mostly on reading all those books for pleasure that I didn't get to read over the school year. As my Good Reads account shows, I've been plowing through a lot of books lately, and enjoying most of them. There's just something about summer that makes me want to read, and I've been happily obliging my craving. Lately it's been murder mysteries and young adult fiction, all of which are light enough reading to make me race through them.
I have been getting rid of a lot of books, though. I think the realization that Shannon and I will be moving every few years to a new parish has woken me to the fact that I really need to pare down my books to the essentials that I simply can't get rid of. The rest of them are being taken to Half-Price Books for a paltry profit. But at least it's something. At first it felt strange, to sell my books and not have them sitting on my shelves, but I picked books that I wouldn't miss, and sure enough, I don't even notice they're gone. I'm not only selling books that I don't want anymore, but also selling off some after I read them. Since I'm trying to work my way through all the books on my shelves that I haven't read, I've decided that if I don't love them and won't want to read them again and again, then I'm not going to keep them. I just don't have the time or energy to keep moving these books from place to place when I don't like them, or if I'm never going to bother to crack them open again.
Before anyone panics, though, let me assure you that there are still lots of books that I love and am holding onto, much to Shannon's wry dismay. But maybe I'll be ruthless enough that when we leave Kentucky after we graduate, I'll only have a few hundred books left to move...
I keep trying to pretend that I'm going to read ahead for fall, and while I may manage it yet, right now my focus is mostly on reading all those books for pleasure that I didn't get to read over the school year. As my Good Reads account shows, I've been plowing through a lot of books lately, and enjoying most of them. There's just something about summer that makes me want to read, and I've been happily obliging my craving. Lately it's been murder mysteries and young adult fiction, all of which are light enough reading to make me race through them.
I have been getting rid of a lot of books, though. I think the realization that Shannon and I will be moving every few years to a new parish has woken me to the fact that I really need to pare down my books to the essentials that I simply can't get rid of. The rest of them are being taken to Half-Price Books for a paltry profit. But at least it's something. At first it felt strange, to sell my books and not have them sitting on my shelves, but I picked books that I wouldn't miss, and sure enough, I don't even notice they're gone. I'm not only selling books that I don't want anymore, but also selling off some after I read them. Since I'm trying to work my way through all the books on my shelves that I haven't read, I've decided that if I don't love them and won't want to read them again and again, then I'm not going to keep them. I just don't have the time or energy to keep moving these books from place to place when I don't like them, or if I'm never going to bother to crack them open again.
Before anyone panics, though, let me assure you that there are still lots of books that I love and am holding onto, much to Shannon's wry dismay. But maybe I'll be ruthless enough that when we leave Kentucky after we graduate, I'll only have a few hundred books left to move...
Friday, January 30, 2009
Books in 2008
I started keeping track of the books I've read throughout the year in 2006 (this is completed books only, not books I'm still working through or books I've abandoned). This is 2008's list, including textbooks from the fall semester and rereads (those are at the end). I read 93 (mostly fiction) books for the first time, 10 textbooks, and 10 books that I'd already read (though I didn't really keep track of all my rereads) for a total of approximately 113 books read in 2008. Also, just because I finished a book doesn't necessarily mean that I liked it. Sometimes I simply endured it for the sake of finishing. :)
New Reads
1. Housekeeping – Marilynne Robinson
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel – Emmuska Orczy
3. The Corinthian – Georgette Heyer
4. Jenna Starborn – Sharon Shinn
5. The Princess Bride – William Goldstein
6. The Convenient Marriage – Georgette Heyer
7. Faro's Daughter – Georgette Heyer
8. The Man with a Load of Mischief – Martha Grimes
9. Eats, Shoots and Leaves – Lynne Truss
10. Tea with the Black Dragon – R.A. McAvoy
11. Homeland – R.A. Salvatore
12. Exile – R.A. Salvatore
13. Sojourn – R.A. Salvatore
14. The Crystal Sword – R.A. Salvatore
15. Streams of Silver – R.A. Salvatore
16. Charity Girl – Georgette Heyer
17. Powder and Patch – Georgette Heyer
18. Black Sheep – Georgette Heyer
19. Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer
20. Beauvallet – Georgette Heyer
21. April Lady – Georgette Heyer
22. Digital Photography – Michael Wright
23. The Halfling's Gem – R.A. Salvatore
24. The Legacy – R.A. Salvatore
25. Starless Night – R.A. Salvatore
26. The Naval Treaty – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
27. Siege of Darkness – R.A. Salvatore
28. Sabriel – Garth Nix
29. Lirael – Garth Nix
30. Abhorson – Garth Nix
31. The Seville Communion – Arturo Perez-Reverte
32. Eat Pray Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
33. The Fencing Master – Arturo Perez-Reverte
34. Across the Wall – Garth Nix
35. The Nautical Chart – Arturo Perez-Reverte
36. Captain Alatriste – Arturo Perez-Reverte
37. Purity of Blood – Arturo Perez-Reverte
38. Every Woman's Battle – Shannon Etheridge
39. The Sun over Breda – Arturo Perez-Reverte
40. Mood Called – Patricia Briggs
41. Blood Bound – Patricia Briggs
42. Iron Kissed – Patricia Briggs
43. The Queen of the South – Arturo Perez-Reverte
44. The Club Dumas – Arturo Perez-Reverte
45. Miss Julia Strikes Back – Ann B. Ross
46. Tithe – Holly Black
47. Time to Smell the Roses – Michael Hoeye
48. Steal the Dragon – Patricia Briggs
49. On the Prowl – Patricia Briggs
50. Dragon Bones – Patricia Briggs
51. Raven's Shadow – Patricia Briggs
52. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party – M.L. Anderson
53. Things I Learned from Knitting – Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
54. Raven's Strike – Patricia Briggs
55. The Hob's Bargain – Patricia Briggs
56. When Demons Walk – Patricia Briggs
57. Storm Front – Jim Butcher
58. Fool Moon – Jim Butcher
59. Grave Peril – Jim Butcher
60. Summer Knight – Jim Butcher
61. Death Masks – Jim Butcher
62. Blood Rites – Jim Butcher
63. Dead Beat – Jim Butcher
64. Proven Guilty – Jim Butcher
65. White Night – Jim Butcher
66. Small Favor – Jim Butcher
67. Dragon Blood – Patricia Briggs
68. Sunshine – Robin McKinley
69. Medicine Road – Charles de Lint
70. Blood Price – Tanya Huff
71. Blood Trail – Tanya Huff
72. Blood Lines – Tanya Huff
73. Blood Pact – Tanya Huff
74. The First Ladies of the United States of America – Margaret Brown Klapthor and Allida M. Black
75. War for the Oaks – Emma Bull
76. Kushiel's Dart – Jacqueline Carey
77. The Making of Pride and Prejudice – Sue Birtwhistle and Susie Conklin
78. The Secret History of Moscow – Ekaterina Sedia
79. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman – P.D. James
80. Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
81. The Vintner's Luck – Elizabeth Knox
82. Under the Lilacs – Louisa May Alcott
83. Jack and Jill – Louisa May Alcott
84. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
85. Of Empire – Essays by Francis Bacon
86. The Professor and the Madman – Simon Winchester
87. Shadows Return – Lynn Flewelling
88. The Railway Children – E. Nesbit
89. The Tales of Beedle the Bard – J.K. Rowling
90. Profiles in Audacity – Alan Axelrod
91. Mister Monday – Garth Nix
92. Blue Shoes and Happiness – Alexander McCall Smith
93. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies – Alexander McCall Smith
Textbooks
94. Christianity Rediscovered – Vincent J. Donovan
95. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral – Don Thorson
96. Theology as History and Hermeneutics – Laurence Wood
97. God and History – Laurence Wood
98. Who's Afraid of Postmodernism – James K.A. Smith
99. Colossians Remixed – Brian J. Walsh
100. Matthew – Jack Dean Kingsbury
101. The Drama of Scripture – Craig G. Bartholemew
102. Caught Between Truths – Barry L. Callen
103. Resident Aliens – Stanley Hauerwas
Rereads
104. Persuasion – Jane Austen
105. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
106. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club – Dorothy L. Sayers
107. Murder Must Advertise – Dorothy L. Sayers
108. Eight Cousins – Louisa May Alcott
109. Rose in Bloom – Louisa May Alcott
110. Unnatural Death – Dorothy L. Sayers
111. Clouds of Witness – Dorothy L. Sayers
112. The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien
113. The Inheritance – Louisa May Alcott
New Reads
1. Housekeeping – Marilynne Robinson
2. The Scarlet Pimpernel – Emmuska Orczy
3. The Corinthian – Georgette Heyer
4. Jenna Starborn – Sharon Shinn
5. The Princess Bride – William Goldstein
6. The Convenient Marriage – Georgette Heyer
7. Faro's Daughter – Georgette Heyer
8. The Man with a Load of Mischief – Martha Grimes
9. Eats, Shoots and Leaves – Lynne Truss
10. Tea with the Black Dragon – R.A. McAvoy
11. Homeland – R.A. Salvatore
12. Exile – R.A. Salvatore
13. Sojourn – R.A. Salvatore
14. The Crystal Sword – R.A. Salvatore
15. Streams of Silver – R.A. Salvatore
16. Charity Girl – Georgette Heyer
17. Powder and Patch – Georgette Heyer
18. Black Sheep – Georgette Heyer
19. Bath Tangle - Georgette Heyer
20. Beauvallet – Georgette Heyer
21. April Lady – Georgette Heyer
22. Digital Photography – Michael Wright
23. The Halfling's Gem – R.A. Salvatore
24. The Legacy – R.A. Salvatore
25. Starless Night – R.A. Salvatore
26. The Naval Treaty – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
27. Siege of Darkness – R.A. Salvatore
28. Sabriel – Garth Nix
29. Lirael – Garth Nix
30. Abhorson – Garth Nix
31. The Seville Communion – Arturo Perez-Reverte
32. Eat Pray Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
33. The Fencing Master – Arturo Perez-Reverte
34. Across the Wall – Garth Nix
35. The Nautical Chart – Arturo Perez-Reverte
36. Captain Alatriste – Arturo Perez-Reverte
37. Purity of Blood – Arturo Perez-Reverte
38. Every Woman's Battle – Shannon Etheridge
39. The Sun over Breda – Arturo Perez-Reverte
40. Mood Called – Patricia Briggs
41. Blood Bound – Patricia Briggs
42. Iron Kissed – Patricia Briggs
43. The Queen of the South – Arturo Perez-Reverte
44. The Club Dumas – Arturo Perez-Reverte
45. Miss Julia Strikes Back – Ann B. Ross
46. Tithe – Holly Black
47. Time to Smell the Roses – Michael Hoeye
48. Steal the Dragon – Patricia Briggs
49. On the Prowl – Patricia Briggs
50. Dragon Bones – Patricia Briggs
51. Raven's Shadow – Patricia Briggs
52. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party – M.L. Anderson
53. Things I Learned from Knitting – Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
54. Raven's Strike – Patricia Briggs
55. The Hob's Bargain – Patricia Briggs
56. When Demons Walk – Patricia Briggs
57. Storm Front – Jim Butcher
58. Fool Moon – Jim Butcher
59. Grave Peril – Jim Butcher
60. Summer Knight – Jim Butcher
61. Death Masks – Jim Butcher
62. Blood Rites – Jim Butcher
63. Dead Beat – Jim Butcher
64. Proven Guilty – Jim Butcher
65. White Night – Jim Butcher
66. Small Favor – Jim Butcher
67. Dragon Blood – Patricia Briggs
68. Sunshine – Robin McKinley
69. Medicine Road – Charles de Lint
70. Blood Price – Tanya Huff
71. Blood Trail – Tanya Huff
72. Blood Lines – Tanya Huff
73. Blood Pact – Tanya Huff
74. The First Ladies of the United States of America – Margaret Brown Klapthor and Allida M. Black
75. War for the Oaks – Emma Bull
76. Kushiel's Dart – Jacqueline Carey
77. The Making of Pride and Prejudice – Sue Birtwhistle and Susie Conklin
78. The Secret History of Moscow – Ekaterina Sedia
79. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman – P.D. James
80. Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
81. The Vintner's Luck – Elizabeth Knox
82. Under the Lilacs – Louisa May Alcott
83. Jack and Jill – Louisa May Alcott
84. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
85. Of Empire – Essays by Francis Bacon
86. The Professor and the Madman – Simon Winchester
87. Shadows Return – Lynn Flewelling
88. The Railway Children – E. Nesbit
89. The Tales of Beedle the Bard – J.K. Rowling
90. Profiles in Audacity – Alan Axelrod
91. Mister Monday – Garth Nix
92. Blue Shoes and Happiness – Alexander McCall Smith
93. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies – Alexander McCall Smith
Textbooks
94. Christianity Rediscovered – Vincent J. Donovan
95. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral – Don Thorson
96. Theology as History and Hermeneutics – Laurence Wood
97. God and History – Laurence Wood
98. Who's Afraid of Postmodernism – James K.A. Smith
99. Colossians Remixed – Brian J. Walsh
100. Matthew – Jack Dean Kingsbury
101. The Drama of Scripture – Craig G. Bartholemew
102. Caught Between Truths – Barry L. Callen
103. Resident Aliens – Stanley Hauerwas
Rereads
104. Persuasion – Jane Austen
105. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
106. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club – Dorothy L. Sayers
107. Murder Must Advertise – Dorothy L. Sayers
108. Eight Cousins – Louisa May Alcott
109. Rose in Bloom – Louisa May Alcott
110. Unnatural Death – Dorothy L. Sayers
111. Clouds of Witness – Dorothy L. Sayers
112. The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien
113. The Inheritance – Louisa May Alcott
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Things that have been happening (with pictures)...
This is my small group from KCW working on the community garden in downtown Lexington with Seedleaf.
And this is me harvesting... kale? Or something green and leafy that I probably don't eat.
My friend Julie had a baby boy, named Jesse Cole Stevenson. He was born three weeks early on October 17 by emergency c-section, but he's doing just fine...
And finally, in November, I got to see Brian Jacques, one of my favorite childhood authors, speak and had him sign the ragged old Redwall book I bought when I was much younger.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
And once again, I fail at updating.
It's been nearly a month since I've updated... sorry. So much for keeping people updated on what I've been doing. :) It's hard to believe the semester is heading for a close - I've got the rest of this week, then one more week before I get the whole week of Thanksgiving off, then one last week of classes and then finals week. By December 12, my first semester of school will be over. It's sort of crazy to think about, if I felt like I had time to think.
Though at the moment, things are somewhat quiet in preparation for finals. I have a huge final project for Hebrew that I need to be working on, in addition to what I have to do on a weekly basis. But I have to say that I've gotten used to my weekly assignments, and it doesn't feel as crazy now as the beginning of the semester was when I was just getting used to things. Next week is a little busier than this one, in that I have a test and several larger assignments and a group presentation, but in general it does feel like fairly smooth sailing to the end of the semester. It might not be this way in future semesters, as the classes I'm taking really aren't too hard. Not easy, but not as hard as a lot of the other classes.
I've signed up for classes for next year already - I'm taking a January term class, an inductive bible study of the book of Hebrews, which should be really good. It's taught by the same professor that is teaching my Matthew class, and I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm a little disappointed not to have the longer break between the fall and spring semesters, but I think it will be worth it. For spring, I'm definitely taking Vocation of Ministry and Hebrew II (language, not book of the Bible), but the rest of my schedule is a bit up in the air. The way everything worked out (or didn't work out), I really need to take Old Testament and New Testament online - but the students who do all their work online take precedence over people who could (theoretically, if their schedule worked out) take it on campus. So I'm on a waitlist and won't know for certain until February whether I'll get into those classes... if they fill up with online students, I'll take Church History I - but hopefully there will be enough room for me to take it online. It would make my life a lot easier to be able to take OT and NT in the spring.
Either way, I do think the spring semester is going to be a little tougher than this one. Hopefully I'll still manage some time for fun and a bit of relaxation, though. I have been able to do that some this semester - Friday nights are usually homework-free (this Friday will be a Bond night ;) and I've managed to sneak in some pleasure reading here and there - mostly young adult books, but it's something. I discovered Literature.org which has copies of non-copywrited books available for reading online. They have about 20 or so authors (though they don't always have all the books for each author), and it's easy to hop onto there to read a chapter when you want to take a quick break. I've read some L.M. Montgomery, E. Nesbit, L.M. Alcott there... and then also I've been reading Mister Monday by Garth Nix - just a bit here and there, but I managed to finish it this Saturday. My brain sometimes needs something else besides reading more homework, and the YA books fit my "I need light reading" requirements very well. :)
And now it's time to pack up and head out to class. I like getting there early so I can claim my seat and relax for a bit before class starts... :)
Though at the moment, things are somewhat quiet in preparation for finals. I have a huge final project for Hebrew that I need to be working on, in addition to what I have to do on a weekly basis. But I have to say that I've gotten used to my weekly assignments, and it doesn't feel as crazy now as the beginning of the semester was when I was just getting used to things. Next week is a little busier than this one, in that I have a test and several larger assignments and a group presentation, but in general it does feel like fairly smooth sailing to the end of the semester. It might not be this way in future semesters, as the classes I'm taking really aren't too hard. Not easy, but not as hard as a lot of the other classes.
I've signed up for classes for next year already - I'm taking a January term class, an inductive bible study of the book of Hebrews, which should be really good. It's taught by the same professor that is teaching my Matthew class, and I'm definitely looking forward to it. I'm a little disappointed not to have the longer break between the fall and spring semesters, but I think it will be worth it. For spring, I'm definitely taking Vocation of Ministry and Hebrew II (language, not book of the Bible), but the rest of my schedule is a bit up in the air. The way everything worked out (or didn't work out), I really need to take Old Testament and New Testament online - but the students who do all their work online take precedence over people who could (theoretically, if their schedule worked out) take it on campus. So I'm on a waitlist and won't know for certain until February whether I'll get into those classes... if they fill up with online students, I'll take Church History I - but hopefully there will be enough room for me to take it online. It would make my life a lot easier to be able to take OT and NT in the spring.
Either way, I do think the spring semester is going to be a little tougher than this one. Hopefully I'll still manage some time for fun and a bit of relaxation, though. I have been able to do that some this semester - Friday nights are usually homework-free (this Friday will be a Bond night ;) and I've managed to sneak in some pleasure reading here and there - mostly young adult books, but it's something. I discovered Literature.org which has copies of non-copywrited books available for reading online. They have about 20 or so authors (though they don't always have all the books for each author), and it's easy to hop onto there to read a chapter when you want to take a quick break. I've read some L.M. Montgomery, E. Nesbit, L.M. Alcott there... and then also I've been reading Mister Monday by Garth Nix - just a bit here and there, but I managed to finish it this Saturday. My brain sometimes needs something else besides reading more homework, and the YA books fit my "I need light reading" requirements very well. :)
And now it's time to pack up and head out to class. I like getting there early so I can claim my seat and relax for a bit before class starts... :)
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