(Wallpaper found here)
Though the temptation is great to wax poetic about the speed with which time is passing, I will save those comments for the Year in Review post near the end of the month. Suffice it to say that even as I type this I can visualize all of you nodding in agreement. The purpose of this post, and its somewhat tongue in cheek reference to the blues, is to make a simple request:
Please, oh pretty please, can this be a long December?!?!
And what, pray tell, would be my reason for wishing that this month would take an extra long time to pass? I have almost all of my Christmas shopping done and the gifts are wrapped and waiting in anticipation under the tree. The house is dressed in all its Christmas finery both inside and out. I am two weeks away from a two week vacation. I have lots of plans to spend holiday time with family and friends. So I don’t need more time to prepare for the festivities.
No, my request is much more selfish than that.
I have several books that I have started and by some miracle would love to have finished before the end of the year.
I know, not exactly a unique problem. The books that are doing their best Horshack hand-waving “Ooh-ooh-ooooh!” impression are, in no specific order:
This is one I should have known better than to even start, but I read Willingham’s first book, Peter and Max, around this time of year and I have heard so many good things about this book that I could no longer ignore it while it sat patiently on my shelf.
I loved Boneshaker and when this new book came out set in the same universe, I eagerly snatched it up and began reading. While I was enjoying it, the timing was just off for me. I was not in the mood for alternative history set in the Civil War period. As with Willingham, I first experienced Cherie Priest during this time of year and as I’ve recently purchased Ganymede, the third Clockwork Century book, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to wait to find out what happens to nurse Mercy Lynch on her journey across a war-torn United States of America. [Update: Completed 12/14/11]
I find myself wanting to plead the “timing” argument for this one as well. I have been on board with Jonathan Strahan’s Eclipse series of original anthologies from the very beginning and I did get half-way through this collection before setting it aside. As there are some good short stories I would like to discuss and there is hopefully an Eclipse Five coming out next year, I would like to finish this one up. I’ve enjoyed each of these offerings thus far. [Update: Completed Eclipse Four 12/10/11]
I couldn’t not start this one. Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce stories are among my favorite ongoing character novels and this one’s holiday theme meant that as soon as the Christmas lights were up and blazing I was checking in on the de Luce family.
There was a great deal of hype surrounding this book when it was released and I began it during the R.I.P. Challenge, but hosting and participating in a series of concurrent group reads took up much of my reading time and so, despite loving the first 50 pages or so, I did not finish this one. I have heard more good things from trusted friends and I would like to be able to discuss this book while it is fresh in the minds of all of the rest of you who have read it.
I checked out the audio version of this story from the library earlier this summer and was swept up in the story. A new library policy coupled with the demand for this meant that I got to the 3/4 mark and turned the audio back in. Thankfully there is no wait for it now and I will be picking it back up from the library this week. Of all that I want to accomplish by way of reading in December, this should be the easiest as I can listen to it during my daily commute. Even without finishing it I can safely say that if you are looking for a suspenseful audio experience with a great narrator, this is the book for you.
I actually started this a few years ago when Jeff got a copy for Christmas but neither of us stuck with it. This is the contemporary selection for December for the Classic Science Fiction Book Club and I started it again a few days prior to December in the hopes of being able to take part in the discussion of the book this month. I am enjoying it thus far.
Picked up a copy of this book after Andrea’s glowing review. The cover was just too cool and I have yet to read Andre Norton. I’m about 40 pages into this and am pleased with the Heinlein juvenile feel of it. I have already planned to set this one aside until January as one of my selections for the 2012 Sci Fi Experience and for the the Vintage SF Month (which Andrea is hosting).
And finally, my dear friend Pat got me this book for my birthday and its subject matter, a review of the history of the library, was so enticing that I started reading it the moment I brought it home. I want to be able to talk to her about it soon and loan it back to her so it is one I hope to finish this month as well.
This is far from an exhaustive list of the books sitting on my shelves that I have begun and not finished, but these 9 books have been foremost in my thoughts of late.
Perhaps if I can get my wish, and if I can manage to hold off on long visits to Skyrim over the next few weeks, I will be able to wrap up 2011 with reading success.
What about you, any books clamoring for your attention this month?
Oh. Down the Mysterly River has been on my radar for a while. I’ve been a fan of Fables for several years now, and it’s the only comic I currently read religiously. Once a month I trek over to the local comic shop and get my hands on Willingham & Buckingham’s latest story. After 110 issues, it’s still great.
That being said, I’ve had Peter & Max on my shelf yelling for a long time, clamoring for my love, but I’ve ne’er given it yet. Next year, I’m thinking. Possibly during the “Once Upon a Time” journey…
Good luck with the reading!
I’m a big fan of Fables as well, and you need to give Peter and Max a read. It is a finely crafted story. The intro, sort of a ‘get you up to speed’ isn’t the best, but once that is over the story really clips along.
I second the kudos for Peter and Max. It is the equal of the comic series. I would highly recommend adding it to your Holiday list this season.
I just read the newest Flavia book and I loved it. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
I had planned to start it over Thanksgiving but needed to get caught up with my group reading for The Return of the King and so just started it recently.
Skyrim seems to be eating up so many people’s time at the moment! Personally I can’t get near it as my husband is permanently parked in front of it. The Night Circus and Robopocalypse are both ones I’ve been meaning to get around to, I’ve heard fabulous things about both 🙂 If there were just a few more hours in the day…
I am fortunate in that my wife happily tolerates my gaming but is not interested herself. She hangs out in the room with me and reads while I play. It has been such a HUGE time suck since its release mid-November. In the amount of time I’ve played it I could have easily read all of these books in this post, I kid you not!
Best wishes in shoving your hubby aside soon. 🙂
That is quite the collection of clamou books. December is usually just long enough to finish what you want as long as you’re off work (two weeks sounds wonderful btw) so I’m sure you’ll pull off your reading plan.
I do plan on doing a lot of reading over the two weeks, that is for sure. I haven’t had two full weeks off in I don’t know how long, and I am beside myself with joy thinking about it.
eesh…I’ve got about 5 or 6 books laying around that i’ve started and gotten 3 or 4 chapters into and then laid them down and wandered off…I really need to finish them before I even “look” at any new ones. One of which is “The Night Circus”. And, after having the Andre Norton recommendation fest with you i’ve got several of my old favorites pulled out with intentions of re-reading. + this time of the year I always try to re-read Susan Cooper’s “The Dark is Rising”. 😀
too many books, too little time…
Isn’t that the truth?!?! Hopefully we’ll both manage to finish The Night Circus this month and then we can talk about it while we still remember what went on! 🙂
If Star Born continues the way it began, I suspect that I’ll get a big kick out of more of Norton’s books.
Too be perfectly honest with all that you have on your plate I would save The Night Circus until next year’s RIP challenge. I think it fits that time of the year more so than now myself but that’s just my two cents and you might enjoy it more then than trying to rush through it by the end of the year. Did you like my run on sentence? 🙂
Run Forest, run!
sheesh, I thought I had the monopoly on run-on sentences. I bow before your munificience!!! 😀
sgist I have to give you a virtual high five for re-reading The Dark is Rising. It’s one of my favorites and I’ve been wanting to go back for a third time.
on grey overcast snowy days like the one I woke up to this morning, ‘The Dark is Rising’ calls to me… 😀 I think that is possibly the MOST heavily re-read book in my house. Along with the Chronicles of Earthsea trilogy.
Yep, I have some. None of those you show. I read Down the Misterly River earlier this year and gave it a strong review, which I believe you saw. Others on my partial list, which I’ve been working hard to eliminate, include Leviathan Wakes, Starbridge by A.C. Crispin, the new Pogo collection (see my blog) and a Mike Shayne novel. Of course I have a HUGE stack of things on the “read next” stack that I have not started.
We have not gotten the Christmas stuff out, nor bought a tree. The Christmas lights go up in a couple of days, we’ll probably buy the tree tomorrow, and then I’ll carry the ornaments and house decorations to the main floor where Barbara will work her magic while I “supervise”. Uh, make that “direct the production”. Whatever. So by Friday it will be all Christmas-ey here. At least I got the cards sent last week before I went for the dental work. We did already open one present, our gift tot he house, a new mixer (see blog).
Yes, I remember you liking Down the Mysterly River. In fact I think yours was the first review I saw. I had high hopes because of the author’s previous work and your review pushed those expectations higher.
I just bought Leviathan Wakes and am surprised I hadn’t started in on that one too. It is on my list of books to read for next year.
My wife is in that “supervising” role at our house! Actually she and Tori help with the tree, but I do all the rest of the decorating in the house and outside.
You did great with the Christmas cards, yours was the first we received this season, thanks!
I was looking at a list of books today that I have on my own private wishlist and wondered if you recommended this one. It certainly made me think of you and I’m really curious about it:
The Expendable Man
Nope, not me. There have been a few Hughes books on Friday Forgotten Books over the last few months, if you peek in there.
Hmm. Wonder where I saw that at. At any rate, I’m intrigued.
By the way, FABLES vol. 16 is just out.
I still buy the single issue comic every month. I’m waaaayyyy behind on reading it, but I still pick it up every month.
song wonderfully enticing reads! I’m in a bit of a ‘meh’ mood having finished up the reads I was working on. just the same, I do want December to go as quickly as November did.
Okay, I’m confused. You “do” want December to go quickly or you “don’t” ? LOL
oops. don’t. lol
When I first arrived at this post, I thought I’d feel like a slouch of a reader by comparison. But you cheered me up instead, because you mentioned a book you started a few years ago, and that you are gaming at times instead of reading; I feel better now–thanks! (My latest addiction is Words with Friends which I play on my phone with friends–I love the thrill of the high scoring words!) But you know what, it is quality not quantity when it comes to reading, anyway, and what you garner/gain/learn/experience from your reading, not how many books you complete. That being said, though, I need to read more as well!
Quality not quanity. How true…How true… 🙂
This past Saturday I was out with a couple who were playing Words with Friends against each other while we were driving to a Christmas party. Hadn’t heard of it before that.
It is definitely quality, I agree. My number of books read this year will end up being half of what it was last year, which really surprised me.
I’m not so much wanting to complete them to add to my number so much as I would like to not have so many books going into next year that I’ve started and not finished.
Great post. I have my list of unfinished books as well but right now my focus is On Basilisk Station which I’m digging more this time around. I think the cold weather is helping with that desire to read space opera. This past week the cold kicked in and my desire to read Scifi kicked in with it. I even read some of it in my tent this past weekend on the Boy Scout camp out when the temperature was below freezing.
I want to get to Retribution Falls as well and some more Heinlein soon too.
I’m reading the Bill Willingham book with my son so it’s slow going right now but hopefully we will read more of it together soon.
I want to read some more Alan Bradley as well but I don’t think I’ll get to it by the end of the year.
Good luck on your reading goals.
Darn you Jeff!!! You keep making my list bigger. I knew there was a book I was forgetting and it is Retribution Falls! Doh!!!
I agree, today when I left for work it felt/smelled like there should be snow on the ground and I was definitely feeling that science fiction vibe.
First off, love the wallpaper. It sets a nice serene mood.
I second you about December not rushing by. I want to have time to savor these weeks of magic, amazement, and simply the whole special aspect. Also, like you, I have books that I would like to finish before end of month. I fear that will not happen – my reading time and concentration has plummeted. Also, I think timing for a book can be everything. Set those aside whose timing is off and then come back to them later. Read the books you are enjoying now…savor this month.
Merry Christmas to you Carl, and to your family.
And the same back to you all. I hope you all have a wonderful, slow-moving holiday season. I want to savor the month as well.
Timing really can be everything when it comes to reading, which is why I want to at least finish some of these while they are in my mind.
I found myself behind in writing reviews so my goal is to get caught up on them.
Among the books I have read but not reviewed are:
Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold
Quartet & Triptych by Matthew Hughes
Cloud Permutations by Lavie Tidhar
The Places Between by Terry Grimwood
Enterprise: Stardust by K. H. Scheer
and numerous graphic novels for my Comic Book Focus blog.
My current reading is “Buying Jupiter and Other Stories” by Isaac Asimov. It is my “warmup reading” for the various SF events in January.
I picked up Cryoburn last year at the start of the new year and still have not gotten to it. Maybe for the Sci Fi Experience.
I hope you do get caught up with your reviews, Jim, as I always enjoy them.
I’m hoping for a long December, too, although it is summer here. I love the long, long days of December. THere is ia street in my city famous for its Christmas lights, but you have to wait until 11pm to see them at their best.
My reading list is long and random. It includes,among others:
The Bards of Bone plain by Patricia McKillip
The Sunday Books by Mervyn Peake
Some Scottish history
Some New Zealand ditto
Snuff by Terry Pratchett
and the ones that are on their way from Amazon whose names I can’t remember.
Do persist with The Night Circus. I loved it.
I am so far behind on my McKillip reading. She is one of my favorites and yet for some reason I let her books pile up. I believe I have her last three still to read.
And I do hope to get to Pratchett some time this next year. I know without a doubt that I’ll enjoy his sense of humor.
No month is long when you are old! If you think the months go by fast now… just wait !
I am reading Daphne:a novel just now but waiting in the wings are two more Oscar Wilde murder mysteries. I have so many books I’d like to read “right now” it drives me nuts. The only book I set aside and know I will “one day go back to it” is Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell..I was 250 some odd pages into it when I stopped..a few years ago..heh.
I know, Pat, that is one of my dreads. If I think it is fast now…
I’m right with you on Jonathan Strange and I made it about as far as you did and was really enjoying it. I know for a fact that since I hadn’t read many, or maybe any, novels that long at the time that it was merely a desire to be getting more reading done that caused me to put that one aside.
that surely could have been it with me too…but now I am more used to reading chunky books lol.. not comment from the peanut gallery! (oh wait.. you are too young to remember “the peanut gallery” heh…. dang. lol
I have to learn to reread what I write before I post it!!! that would be “no comment from the peanut gallery” sheesh
Oh I certainly know “about” the peanut gallery. I’m not that much of a spring chicken. 🙂
I read the first of those Oscar Wilde mysteries a long time ago (or so it seems) and thought it just okay, as if the author had to work a little too hard to fit the plot into the character/time period.
Hahaha… I tried to play Skyrim, but it’s not the sort of game for me. I made it through the tutorial, walked into the first town, and some old lady lectured me and called me a hobo for searching through a barrel (as I was taught to do in the tutorial!). Of course, there was no other option but for me to go all Raskolnikov on her and break out the axe. After that, everyone in the town wanted to kill me, and I still haven’t managed to get my little elf to a place where she can quest… 😛
I’m curious to see what you’ll think of The Night Circus, as I’ve heard a lot about it but don’t want to buy another hardcover book quite yet.
I’m sorry to hear that. Skyrim is exactly the kind of game I love. The open ended aspect and the fact that you can play it forever. These games come out too few and far between, but I get my money’s worth out of them, for certain.
The open aspect is cool, and my boyfriend really enjoys it… I just like to be a bit evil when I play games, as it’s great stress relief. I’m looking forward to SWTOR at the end of the month because I can be Sith and playing evilly won’t count against me, lol.
Yes, the thing with games like Skyrim are that there are too many characters who have missions for you, so even if you kill them they just come back to life and then the whole town is after you. Of course once you get into the game a bit you find there are bandits and forsworn and evil mages and stuff at every castle, cave, etc. and there is plenty of killing to be done.
So this game is just about killing things? No thanks. Enough of that in the newspaper every day!
No, not at all. It is a role playing game so you can spend hours learning alchemy and searching the world for plants and other items in which to create potions, you can learn enchantments and give magical qualities to armor and weapons and such. You can spend hours learning offensive and defensive spells and perfecting them. You do various missions for characters with anything from finding a specific lost item to helping them harvest their crops to fighting off the undead or giant spiders in their mines and the list goes on and on.
Night Circus has had a few good reviews and a ton of bad ones. That’s the reason I’ve stayed away from it in spite of a few people here saying they liked it.
I’ve had a few people who know my tastes say they believe it is my kind of book so I’m pretty hopeful I’ll enjoy it.
It looks pretty good thus far. Maybe once the semester’s finally over I will track it down at the library. 😛
The book covers on all those are wonderful! Down the Mysterly River and The Night Circus have been on my radar for a while now. I had checked out The Night Circus but only got about 30 or so pages in before I had to return it (I wasn’t able to renew because there were others who had a hold on it). I’ll get back to it eventually.
I was participating in Nanowrimo so my reading took a hit. It took me a lot longer to finish reading Snuff then it normally would have. But I’m back to my normal reading schedule and I’ve got a full plate: Drama, An Actor’s Education by John Lithgow, a re-read of Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, The King’s Gold by Arturo Perez-Reverte and reading Redwall aloud to my daughter.
I’m crossing my fingers to squeeze in two more books before the end of December: The Map of Time and In Cold Blood. They’ve been looking at me with disappointment for waiting so long to read them.
I know those disappointing looks well!
Congrats on taking part in the November writing event, that is great! And I do see as how reading would plummet during that.
I wish you all the best with your December reading hopes.
Isn’t it wonderful to read aloud to someone? I am so glad that both my wife and my 19 year old daughter still love for me to do that.
I’m loving it and so is my daughter. It’s definitely encouraged her to read more on her own too. And it just made my heart soar when she picked Redwall as our next book. It’s a book I discovered when I was about 12/13 so it’s always had a special place in my heart and I love I can share it with her. And I hope she lets me continue reading to her for a long time. It is a lot of fun 🙂
oh, Captain Blood! that’s always a favorite 😀 I picked up a 50’s era library discard hardback that has a screenprinted cover of Errol Flynn on it. Couldn’t believe I snagged that puppy for a .25¢
also really like Baroness Orczy’s ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’. Liked the book much better than the movie tho in the old black & white Leslie Howard was divine as Percy Blakeney.
Good luck with all that reading, Carl! I haven’t been reading much at all, so I can relate to having many books I would love to get around to/finish.
We also really must decide what we are going to post about for Virtual Advent this year… (Did you see I got a kitten last week? There is a picture on my most recent blog post.)
I didn’t, but I’ll check it out. Congratulations!!!
I am jealous that you have almost everything done for the holidays. Usually I have all the shopping done by now, but this year I am way behind. And now the gifts have to travel further…oooops. Happy reading. Good luck with you squeezing every second out of December.
More than anything it is my anticipation and love of Christmas that gets me out shopping and decorating before most sane people do. LOl!
I just happened across a movie called “City of Embers.” It had this kid’s book/steampunk vibe. . . and then that made me remember Boneshaker. I must read that book. It looks fascinating.
I too have “The Night Circus” on my list. . . like everyone else.
I remember seeing the trailers for that one. I believe my wife read the book, but neither of us has seen the film. I should check it out.
Okay, I admit my first instinct was to stick my tongue out at you–I can’t believe your holiday preparations are in such a wonderful state of completeness. However, as I kept reading I found I was able to retract my tongue and empathize. I hope you find lots of cozy moments to curl up with each of these books and really end your year with a reading bang. 😀
Btw, I *love* the cover of Down by the Mysterly River! I can’t believe this is the first I’ve heard of that book. Well, yes I can…the whole living in a cave thing and all…
You can still stick out your tongue at me, I won’t mind. 🙂 I wish for the same coziness and Christmas season joy for you and your family too.
Isn’t it a great cover? Mark Buckingham does great interior illustrations in the book as well.
I’ve just finished The Night Circus and although it took me nearly 2 months to finish (nothing to to with the book, as I loved it, just been on a real reading slump).
I’ve also got Dreadnought sat on my shelves tempting me to read it. 🙂
Glad to hear it Darren. I’m getting consistent thumbs up from friends like you and so I am hopeful.
I haven’t been in a slump so much as I’ve been swept up in the Skyrim.