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So you know I haven't forgotten you...

Currently reading: Eldest - Christopher Paolini Love Rules - Freya North The Call of Cthulhu - H.P Lovecraft Thinking of starting: The Harry Potter series. AGAIN. 1Q84 book three - Haruki Murakami Recently read: The Twilight Quadrilogy. AGAIN. 1Q84 book one&two - Haruki Murakami It's really quite ridiculous. Plus I'm working at Waterstone's in Worthing for the month, 40% discount ahoy D: We won't have room for anything else at this rate. The worst news in the world hit me a couple of weeks ago; the death of Anne McCaffrey. R.I.P you amazing, crazy old woman. We had a dragon evening of mourning, James drew the first picture he'd done in 10 years, and I did a Sharra/Jaxom and Ruth "mourning" drawing... Might post it when it's finished/we get a scanner. Sorry for the short, convoluted post, but I must dash.

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Because I knew what I loved. I loved to read; I loved to listen to music; and I love cats. Those three things. So, even though I was an only kid, I could be happy because I knew what I loved. Those three things haven’t changed from my childhood. I know what I love, still, now. That’s a confidence. If you don’t know what you love, you are lost.

Haruki Murakami, interviewed in The Guardian. (via fabula)

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A Catholic school student who identifies herself by the avatar name “Nekochan” started an unofficial library of banned books that she runs out of her locker at school. She began to lend books to her classmates when her school banned a long list of classic titles, including The Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost and Animal Farm.

Concerned about getting in trouble for violating school rules, Nekochan wrote a letter to an online advice column to ask if it was “ok to run an illegal library” from her locker.

Nekochan wrote about the recent book ban: “I was absolutely appalled, because a huge number of the books were classics and others that are my favorites. One of my personal favorites, The Catcher in the Rye, was on the list, so I decided to bring it to school to see if I would really get in trouble. Well… I did but not too much. Then (surprise!) a boy in my English class asked if he could borrow the book because he heard it was very good AND it was banned! This happened a lot and my locker got to overflowing with banned books, so I decided to put the unoccupied locker next to me to a good use. I now have 62 books in that locker, about half of what was on the list.”

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sivalesbeneest:

 ”You need a special kind of mind to rule a city like Ankh-Morpork, and Lord Vetinari had it. But then, he was a special kind of person.

    It was said that he would tolerate absolutely anything apart from anything that threatened the city.*

     [* And mime artists. It was a strange aversion, but there you are. Anyone in baggy trousers and a white face who tried to ply their art anywhere within Ankh’s crumbling walls would very quickly find themselves in a scorpion pit, on one wall of which was painted the advice: Learn The Words.]”

    (From “Guards! Guards!” by Terry Pratchett)

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Discworld Meme

Favourite book: Hogfather, Guards! Guards!

Favourite character: Angua, Susan or Death

Favourite Witches book: Lords and Ladies, Equal Rites

Favourite Wizards book: Hogfather

Favourite Death book: Mort

Favourite Susan book: Hogfather!

Favourite stand-alone book: The Fifth Elephant

Favourite member of the City Watch: Corporal Carrot

Favourite Wizard: THE MOTHERFUCKING BURSAR. <- Cannot agree more.

Favourite Witch: Nanny Ogg. 

Favourite Dwarf: Cherry Littlebottom

Favourite Troll: Detritus or Mr Shine

Favourite Werewolf: Angua von Uberwald

Favourite Vampire: Lady Margolotta

Favourite Golem: Pump 19

Favourite member of the Silver Hoarde: Cohen the Barbarian

Favourite God: Anoia, the minor goddess of Things That Stick In Drawers (also responsible for Things Down The Backs of Sofas)

Favourite place on the Disc: The Patricians Palace gardens.

Favourite Guild: Beggars Guild

Favourite Species: Gargoyles

Favourite romantic coupling: Angua von Uberwald and Carrot Ironfoundersson

Favourite double act: Gaspode and Foul Ol' Ron

Favourite pet: Gaspode

Favourite song: All The Little Angels

Favourite profession: Watchman

Favourite invention of Bloody Stupid Johnson: The Palace gardens :')

Favourite assistant to Death: The Death of Rats

Favourite Villain: Mister Teatime

Favourite little ‘un: Child Nobby

Favourite Rincewind escape: Couldn't say!

Favourite cover illustration: Guards! Guards!. Josh Kirby is the man.

PS. I just want to put a little note in for Hex and The Luggage. And the Bursar should probably have his dose of dried frog pills now. PPS. "That awkward moment when" you decide a meme is the way to go, only to discover that the previous meme-r answered most questions exactly the same as you would.

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Never do anything on a whim.

"Ooh, cheap Stephen King books. Just how it should be." "We can go in if you like, it's only little and we've got a bit of time to kill" -Queue 10 minutes on the phone trying to direct my brother to the McCaffrey section on my bookshelves back home- "Why are you letting me pick things up? You're meant to control my spree- okay, okay, I'm just getting these three, look I'm going to the till..." -Puts books on counter, glances to bookshelves on right- "OOOH James Herbert...oh, why not The Rats? It's always everything but The Rats...nevermind...I'll take these too..." That's my birthday money gone. Todays aquisitions are as follows; ~ Anne McCaffrey's The Dinosaur Planet Omnibus (never heard of it, but you can't top her writing.) ~ Dragondrums, also by McCaffrey. I just can't get enough of her at the moment. ~ Robin Jarvis' The Fatal Strand - I'm getting chills just thinking about it. I need to get hold of The Raven's Knot to complete the set, I believe. ~ James Herbert's Domain and Lair. Because you just can't beat books about gigantic mutant flesh eating rats. (I originally read The Rats a good 4/5 years back, and am still nervous when a train stops in a tunnel on the underground.) Rest assured that jumpy, un-informative "reviews" will follow. Keep 'em peeled!

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Pellar, and C'tov was surprised by the warmth of his dragon's tone when referring to the mute harper, says that Halla is his voice; that he is her song; and only together can they make music. The dragon paused for a moment. The music they make is compassion, and their song is for all Pern.

Sereth to C'tov - Dragon's Fire Epilogue.

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teachingliteracy:

reading nook.

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thegirlandherbooks:

This is my childhood, right here.

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Just thought I'd pop in and say that I've loved James Barclay's writing since I picked up Dawnthief so long ago. ^___________^

Ace! I honestly rank The Chronicles/Legends of the Raven in my top 5 series :) have you read The Ascendants?

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prettybooks:

A wearable stack of books by Aroha Silhouettes.

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Bookaholic's Anonymous.

My name is Charis Dalgleish, and I have an addiction. I've been living with my other half in his cupboard-sized studio flat for just over a month now. I have very little of my own possessions here, as there's simply no room. I have bookshelf withdrawal. We went for a viewing on a house today (first ever!) and I walked back through town alone. Couldn't help myself - I joined the library and took out Anne McCaffrey's Dragon's Fire and The Chronicles of Pern; First Fall, and James Barclay's Shadowheart. Then I spotted a Waterstone's employee, which spurred me into taking a detour to the shop. Bearing in mind that there's nothing but lonely moths in my purse at the moment, I walked in and, just so I'd have a valid reason to be there, pre-ordered Murakami's 1Q84. I'm seriously looking forward to the release, but I'll have to scrimp and save to actually purchase the trilogy. On top of this, I've borrowed The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas from my mother, AND I'm in the midst of co-writing a Heroes-based roleplay with fellow Green-Flamers (voice-acting, film making, forum based geekery), and while this doesn't take space it definitely takes time. On one hand, I'm proud of my literature habit. On the other hand I'm a little worried about how I'm going to store my collection, even after the move, seeing as my library has hit 1000 by now and I have a lot of incomplete series to gather. The first step to conquering an addiction is admitting you have a problem.

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Completion ~ 05.09.2011

Finished Smoke and Mirrors last week. I love short story collections, especially when there's a running theme. Gaiman has a few notes in the back, in which he states he didn't actually plan the theme as such, it was really just a collection of unpublished stories and a few he wanted re-publishing, and it was only afterwards it clicked that there was a whole lot of magic floating around this particular collection of prose.

My favourite stories are the two set around the spooky towns of Innsmouth (one in England, one in the USA). The first - Shuggoth's Old Peculiar - is based around conversations Gaiman had with a friend in which they jokingly acted out a bit of Lovecraftian prose in a west country setting. So wierd. Completely brilliant. Another absolutely fantastic tale is Snow, Glass, Apples. A truly twisted take on the Snow White fairytale. Honestly, it didn't even click until the necrophiliac prince turned up... This book has everything. It's wierd, a little scary at times, it makes you think, laugh and occasionally cry. Gaiman is one of the best writers I've ever encountered.

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smallrooms:

❥❥ 

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Be bold, I whisper once, before I die. But not too bold...

The White Road ~ Neil Gaiman (Smoke and Mirrors)

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“What would happen if the printed book had just been invented in a high-tech world in which people had never done their reading from anything but computer screens? The unquestionable advantages of the computer would not be threatened by this new product but the people, who so love to compare apples with pears, would be quite bowled over by this ultra-modern invention: after years spent chained to the screen they would suddenly have something they could open like a window or a door – a machine you can physically enter! For the first time knowledge would be combined with a sense of touch and gravity – this new invention allows you to experience the most incredible sensations, reading becomes a physical experience. And after experiencing knowledge only as a bundle of connections, as a system of interacting networks, suddenly here is individuality: every book is an independent personality, which cannot be taken apart or added to at will. And how relaxing these new reading appliances are, their operating systems never needs updating – the only thing that changes over the course of time is the message that they contain, which is always open to new interpretations.”

Juan Villoro, in an article in last month’s adn CULTURA (an Argentinian culture magazine) about the “future of books.”

via Photography Prison + Darius Himes (via mxmlsm) (via hybridliteracy)

(via teachingliteracy)

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Pursuing Literary Enlightenment.

In the form of dreams and nightmares (mostly the latter) I find myself inundated with wierd and wonderful stories. They're all stored in my head; I find it hard to forget the heart-rending visions that torment my sleep. That sounds a little melodramatic, but honestly; I don't have good dreams as a general rule, and I have been suffering with nightmares since innocent childhood. Basically, any proper sleep I get will undoubtedly be broken by surreal insanity. I've always considered writing them down. As a way of keeping track, as a way of trying to make some sense out of them. Possibly even to try and get them published once the dreams have become nothing more than harmless imaginings. I'm reading Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman at the moment; I haven't got onto the stories themselves yet, I'm interested by the introduction - a play-by-play account of what brought all these strange musings about. He mentions dreams as an influence, and it's an odd comfort to know I'm not alone. Of course, I'm well aware that it's physically impossible, that I'd be the only person on earth to be plagued by nightmares and have had the idea of keeping them recorded, sprucing them up into fully fledged short stories when the timing's right. But you understand. So basically I began today. My "Dream Sequence". The first; a very short, simple experience that repeated again and again during early childhood. Seeing as I have so much time on my hands at the moment I'll be working on this sporadically over the coming...well, however long. But I've had an idea (while writing this entry actually, it's strange how these things happen)...if there's anybody out there with a mind that truly comes alive in dreams...write them down. Let me know. I want to see a fantastic, horrific world through other peoples subconscious. I'm not here to judge (at least, not for the unpublished!), this is mere curiousity. In return, when I feel my own entries are something more than unpolished yammerings, I shall post them here. So, dreamers; what have you got for me?