So many things happening (today/this week)!

For those of you who know me, it should come as no surprise that I am very very fond of these three things (among others): space (as it outer-, -race), libraries, and Canadian politics. So this week is a very good week for me. (that almost deserves an emoticon, it makes me so happy- 🙂 ok. I’ll give it one!)

First – today is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight. Man’s first steps off our planet caught the imagination and the inspiration to reach for the moon – and it only took 8 years to get there. If only we could harness that energy once again, and start reaching back out into space. Meanwhile, take a look at Google’s doodle for today. It’s awesome.

Second – it’s National Library Week (in the United States… I still take it as my own. I ❤ libraries too). There are, I am sure, a ton of events all around us to celebrate this. Even CNN is getting in on the act – this is a pretty cool articleabout how librarians are pretty cool in general. It’s really too bad that the author doesn’t mention Brandon Sanderson‘s book Alcatraz versus the evil Librarians. Any profession that can be the evil overlords of the universe has got to be pretty freakin’ awesome.

Finally – and the reason this post is short, and not the book review that I will be working on later – it’s DEBATE night. I watched both the English and French debates last election (and would have voted for Gilles Duceppe – I was in his riding – except that he wants to break up my country) and am planning on doing the same this time. And, while I don’t watch hockey, I’m glad that the French-language debate got moved – I’m busy on Thursday night, and wasn’t sure I would be able to watch it. Follow #elxn41, #db8 and #cdnpoli on Twitter if you want to see the feedback from Canadians in real time.

And so, going back to paying attention to the debate. It’s on!!

Book challenge update

Well, it seems that I’ve been collecting book recommendations for a while, not to mention the absurd number of books that I’ve been buying and then putting on shelves to read “later”. I’ve discovered multiple copies of some that I didn’t think I even owned! (Goes to show – maybe I should be reading from my own library instead of spending so much time at the Public one)

Anyhow, because of this, the list that I’m compiling has become so large that I am going to have to cull it before posting – it’s already got four times as many books on it as I read last year, and I have less time.

So, it’s going to take me a little longer to get it posted. When I do, I’ll put the full one up as a PDF so that you can get a look at the full list. And I’ll explain how I chose which books to keep on the challenge list and why the others got culled.

Meanwhile, until the list gets posted, I’m still looking for suggestions to make it more diverse!

Book challenge 2011-12

I’ve been looking at my reading habits lately. Last year, I kept minute track of every book I read, and I read a lot (that’s what happens when you’re partially unemployed – broke with lots of free time equals lots of reading). This year, while I’ve been trying to keep it up, I haven’t been as insistent about keeping it up.

Also, in the past, I’ve kept up a pretty robust list of holds at the public library (30 was not uncommon, though thankfully they never all showed up at the same time). But that is also winding down – I’ve only got 2 left. And this isn’t to say that I won’t read more like these as well 🙂

So, my new book challenge is to start in on the list of “good”* books that have been recommended to me over the years. I have a list in my head, and it roughly parallels most “Best Books” lists, and the high school curriculum (I took Business English over Literature, and haven’t read many of the books that most students read in high school – silly me!).

However, as I am not going to start this until I’ve finished the books that I currently have out from the library (some newer books, and some vacation guides), I’d like to get your input: what books do you think I should read?

I’m going to take the time over the next few days to actually compile that list, and then it will get posted here. Once it’s posted, I’m giving myself a year to read as many of them as I can, and write reviews to share here. And, I challenge anyone who is interested to join me in this endeavor. Create your own list, or work off the effort I’ve put into mine and use it. Let me know in the comments if you’re trying to keep up, and I’ll make sure to let you all know where I’m heading next, so you’re not surprised.

*”Good” being in quotation marks as it is a terribly subjective term, and can denote anything from “This was so good I couldn’t put it down, even though the editing is questionable and the writing is lackluster at best” to “This is a piece of quality literature that all people should be required to read”

Moon books and human space travel

All my life, I have been interested in outer space. Heck, I even stayed in at recess in elementary school to participate in science club and worked on a project about Mars.

When the 40th anniversary of the moon landing came about this past July, my interest was rekindled. I read Andrew Chaikin’s book A Man on the Moon : the voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, and watched the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon that is partially based on it.

I also put a couple of holds on other works as well, and one of them finally became available: Buzz Aldrin’s 2009 book Magnificent Desolation : the Long Journey Home from the Moon, which is mostly about his life after the moon landing, including the last few years, and the foundation of ShareSpace, the organization he founded with the goal of furthering space exploration.

The book was enlightening and thought-provoking. What is most interesting for me is the ideas he talks about for the future of space exploration- getting the private sector involved, and give the chance for space tourism to fund further exploration. It also lead me to attempt to look further into ShareSpace- after all, as a dedicated space-exploration enthusiast, the idea of being able to enter a lottery with a prize of actual space travel is hard to pass up. Even the idea that there is such a lottery is exciting. I was expecting a fairly complete website, with lots more information than could be included in what is mainly an autobiography.

What I got was this. It’s great that they’re collecting donations. It really is. But it is 2009, and any organization that has such a poor web presence can’t really be expecting to collect donations through their website, can they?? My momentary elation at the idea has subsided a little. I still think it’s a great idea, but the foundation needs a better and more informative web presence before I can really jump on the bandwagon.

As a little added bonus to my renewed space-fever, i was listening to the December podcasts from CBC’s The Spark, and this one from early in the month has a segment about space colonies.

Book glee!

So, that title of my next-to-last post before this one may have been a little misleading. Since the end of October, I have finished exactly TWO books- both in the last week. not up to my normal standard at all.

This, though, is not due to the paucity of reading material, but rather to my craze of hand-made gifts this year. Having more time than money, I have spent excessively of the first and thriftily of the last, and have spent the better part of the last two months with my hands and eyes busy- photos of what I actually did to come after Christmas, when possibilities of ruining surprises have disappeared.

But, as I’m mostly done, I got the chance to pick up two books that I have been looking forward to, and have devoured them with greater than usual zeal.

The first: Coraline by Neil Gaiman.
A while back, our local independent bookstore McNally Robinson (done good- now with 4 locations in 3 provinces!) hosted a Graveyard Book party, and one a contest that rewarded them with a visit by the author during the holiday season. Neil Gaiman was in Winnipeg on December 15th for a reading and signing. It was amazing. I am sure many of my readers have seen mosh pits, and seen book stores- but have you ever seen a mosh pit sized crowd in a bookstore?? The pictures I got (with my phone) don’t really do it justice.

Anyhow, when Coraline (the movie) came out, I insisted on reading the book first- which I didn’t get to do until when I was waiting in line to get it and my copy of Neverwhere signed.

On many counts: Neil Gaiman is awesome. I’ve loved everything of his that I’ve ever read, he speaks and he tells stories in a very similar way to his writing, he was gregarious and charming during the signing, and yet is still very down to earth. (Who else would start a blog to show people that he is in fact very normal? and have it work?)

Coraline specifically? It was engaging from the very first page. Gaiman’s writing style is very visual, and from the beginning, I could see how it would transfer very well to movie form while remaining true to the story and style. Definitely A+.

For more on the event at McNally Robinson’s Polo Park location, follow these links: Neil Gaiman in Winnipeg, Huge crowds for Neil Gaiman, Thank You!, Neil Gaiman reads from Odd and the Frost Giants.

The second: The Blythes are Quoted by L.M. Montgomery.

I have been a fan of Montgomery’s since the first time I picked up the book about the red-haired (!!) orphan whose family saga is supposedly continued in this, the last of Montgomery’s works- actually sent in to her publishers on the day of her death. The book is a collection of short stories and poetry, with vignettes of family life.

The stories are marginally related to the Blythes and their lives in and around Glen-St-Mary, much in the same way Montgomery’s Chronicles of Avonlea included characters that were mentioned in the earlier Anneworks, but for the most part not about Anne or the other main characters of that opus. I found the short stories to be very much in keeping with her other works, both in style and content.

The poetry is some of Montgomery’s own works, published in a variety of magazines during her lifetime, but in this work she attributes the majority to Anne Blythe, with a few attributed to Anne and Gilbert’s son, Walter, who was killed in action during the First World War. The vignettes feature the reactions of Anne, Gilbert, and their household to the poems.

The big poem that all of Montgomery’s fans will be expecting does, of course, grace the volume. The Piper by Walter Blythe is a poem mentioned frequently in the Rilla of Ingleside which chronicles the life of the Blythe family during WWI. Walter’s poem is a stand-in for “In Flanders’ Fields” in the book. I, however, was disappointed by the actual poem. It does not have the same feel of a rousing cry as it is depicted to have in Rilla. Perhaps this is because it was written shortly before Montgomery’s own death during WWII, when the previous assurances that WWI was “The War to End All Wars” have fallen by the wayside, and doubt crept into her writing.

I was also somewhat disappointed by the vignettes. The scenes seemed very stiff, and as if they all attempt to hold some kind of moral, or heaviness, or import, that is far too heavy. Montgomery was far more successful in giving scenes that kind of import in her earlier works (For example, the scene in Rainbow Valley where she sees the cross outlined in moonlight above Walter and Jem’s bed).

There has been much talk about this book being a departure in style and content from the author’s previous works. It deals with more of the unpleasantnesses of life (death, illegitimacy, marital problems, revenge, hatred, to name a few) than perhaps are completely evident in, especially, her full-length novels, but I don’t think this is in any way a departure. Think only of Anne, the unwanted orphan, the death of her first-born child, the horrors of war inflicted on her family, and the many other terrible things that happened to those close to her.

I think the reason these unpleasantnesses are more in evidence is due to the format of the works. Short stories have much less opportunity for showing the everyday follies and pleasantness that must, for the most part, be the major part of everyday life than do the novels.

All in all, however, I would still recommend this book to any Montgomery fans I know. The stories in and of themselves are worth it.

And, now that Christmas is almost here, I’m looking forward to returning to reading. After all, yesterday was “Do Nothing But Read Day”. And in honour of that, I plan to do little else in my free time for the remainder of the year.

Happy Holidays!!