Thief of Time, Terry Pratchett
Dissolution, CJ Sansom (Book 1, Shardlake series)
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman (The author's preferred text etc.)
Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic, graphic novels, Terry Pratchett
01. 05. 2011. This page has (had) been temporarily suspended to remind the owner of this blog of deadlines looming like impending doom. Everything that may distract her will reappear in a span of three days when her term papers have been successfully written and submitted.
Or, in the words of Douglas Adams, 'We apologise for the inconvenience.'
(The owner of this blog is also quite the drama queen and loves referring to herself in third person.)
10.05.2011. Okay, so not so much reading done yet, for the month. Been doing all sorts of exciting things that don't involve sitting in one place. (Or if they do, the sitting has involved catching up on lost sleep.) The art on the graphic novels was very disappointing. The editing and graphic novel-ising was pretty sad too. I kept expecting to read the jokes I liked, and they just weren't there (like "Big Bang" for example.) Also, WHAT did he do to DEATH? Yuck. *Wipes image out of brain.*
Plan to start on Sansom tonight. Let's see how that goes. :D
23. 05.2011. Need. To. Find. Time. For. Self.
28.05.2011. Okay, I have to read at least one book fully by the end of this month. What the fuck!
April
Durable Disorder, Sanjib Baruah
Democracy and Development in India, Atul Kohli. (Okay, to be fair, I only read one section of the book. But I did! So there.)
Democracy in India, Niraja Gopal Jayal (ed.)
In the Belly of the River, Amita Baviskar
The Girl who Couldn't Come, Joey Comeau (Say it with me, weird and wonderful. :) )
Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault
Before They Are Hanged, Joe Abercrombie (Book 2, First Law Trilogy)
The Dream Hunters, Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie (Book 3, First Law Trilogy)
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
Gender and Caste, Anupama Rao (ed.)
Nocturnes, Kazuo Ishiguro
10. 04. 2011 - In retrospect, I wonder how I made that jump from obsessive Murakami to obsessive Pratchett to general fantasy. Hmmm.
13. 04. 2011 - Loved the Dream Hunters! It felt like reading an all new Sandman (which it was), with its intrigue and darkness and most beautiful storytelling. What's more, the art was absolutely stunning! I can't wait to get my hands on the original prose version, now.
17. 04. 2011 - Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say that he's a total wacko. He takes every single fantasy trope you can think of and turns it on its head. Who's the good guy, who's the bad guy? Who's the evil scheming bastard, who's the guy who wants to save the world? There aren't any prophesies, there aren't any rules, it's just a regular war with no good guys. You have to be realistic, after all. The first book was like the first season of the Wire - You don't make sense of the first half till you read the second half (Community reference alert). The second book was one long, maddening (and, might I add, brilliant and funny and absolutely riveting) tale at the climax of which you really, really understand the depths to which Abercrombie might take the turning-fantasy-on-its-head idea to. The third book, well, the third book builds on the *cough* climax of the second book to a whole new twist and finds a bastard in every character there is (some, literally too). On the whole, fun!
20. 04. 2011 - Just finished Ender's Game. I'm not sure what I think about it yet. It works like a video game, in so many ways. I think it's meant to, actually. With the levels, and the moving up, and the challenges at each level. It's written like a video game, about a game. There is a pattern to the story. He keeps going through the same thing. Minding-my-own-business ---> Put in confrontational, near-hostile situation --> Turn into some sort of mangy killer --> Wait, did he really die? --> Innocent saint. This happens in every episode and the book as a whole. I have much more to think about. And much that I'm very uncomfortable with. But good fiction - Like.
30. 04. 2011 - Loved Nocturnes. More later. This has been a crazy hectic and lazy month. Like a Sine curve. Don't ask how. So much writing, so much reading, so much fiction, so much Doctor Who, so much bumming at home, so many visits to Bahrisons and Full Circle, so few classes, so much TeeVee! Although you might think 12 books in a month is a bit much, I did have to write my research proposal and I'm currently writing one term paper and I have to write another one next week, so all things considered, it might be a bit less (also I've been reading some books for several months - Foucault for the past seven months, Kohli for two, Baruah for one and a half or so). On the whole, whattay April ya!
Democracy and Development in India, Atul Kohli. (Okay, to be fair, I only read one section of the book. But I did! So there.)
Democracy in India, Niraja Gopal Jayal (ed.)
In the Belly of the River, Amita Baviskar
The Girl who Couldn't Come, Joey Comeau (Say it with me, weird and wonderful. :) )
Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault
Before They Are Hanged, Joe Abercrombie (Book 2, First Law Trilogy)
The Dream Hunters, Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
Last Argument of Kings, Joe Abercrombie (Book 3, First Law Trilogy)
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
Gender and Caste, Anupama Rao (ed.)
Nocturnes, Kazuo Ishiguro
10. 04. 2011 - In retrospect, I wonder how I made that jump from obsessive Murakami to obsessive Pratchett to general fantasy. Hmmm.
13. 04. 2011 - Loved the Dream Hunters! It felt like reading an all new Sandman (which it was), with its intrigue and darkness and most beautiful storytelling. What's more, the art was absolutely stunning! I can't wait to get my hands on the original prose version, now.
17. 04. 2011 - Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say that he's a total wacko. He takes every single fantasy trope you can think of and turns it on its head. Who's the good guy, who's the bad guy? Who's the evil scheming bastard, who's the guy who wants to save the world? There aren't any prophesies, there aren't any rules, it's just a regular war with no good guys. You have to be realistic, after all. The first book was like the first season of the Wire - You don't make sense of the first half till you read the second half (Community reference alert). The second book was one long, maddening (and, might I add, brilliant and funny and absolutely riveting) tale at the climax of which you really, really understand the depths to which Abercrombie might take the turning-fantasy-on-its-head idea to. The third book, well, the third book builds on the *cough* climax of the second book to a whole new twist and finds a bastard in every character there is (some, literally too). On the whole, fun!
20. 04. 2011 - Just finished Ender's Game. I'm not sure what I think about it yet. It works like a video game, in so many ways. I think it's meant to, actually. With the levels, and the moving up, and the challenges at each level. It's written like a video game, about a game. There is a pattern to the story. He keeps going through the same thing. Minding-my-own-business ---> Put in confrontational, near-hostile situation --> Turn into some sort of mangy killer --> Wait, did he really die? --> Innocent saint. This happens in every episode and the book as a whole. I have much more to think about. And much that I'm very uncomfortable with. But good fiction - Like.
30. 04. 2011 - Loved Nocturnes. More later. This has been a crazy hectic and lazy month. Like a Sine curve. Don't ask how. So much writing, so much reading, so much fiction, so much Doctor Who, so much bumming at home, so many visits to Bahrisons and Full Circle, so few classes, so much TeeVee! Although you might think 12 books in a month is a bit much, I did have to write my research proposal and I'm currently writing one term paper and I have to write another one next week, so all things considered, it might be a bit less (also I've been reading some books for several months - Foucault for the past seven months, Kohli for two, Baruah for one and a half or so). On the whole, whattay April ya!
March
Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling
Romance of the State and the Fate of Dissent in the Tropics, Ashis Nandy
Subalterns and Sovereigns, Nandini Sundar
Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
March has been a thoroughly long, complicated, busy yet slow month. I'm pretty sure I don't like months like these. And clearly, I've been reading way more fiction than I've read for my proposal, so don't let me complain much about work not getting done, okay?
Also, one new and one old Murakami! He's getting slightly predictable and less quirky by the book, I feel. Wind-up just wasn't all that. And I definitely prefer Birnbaum to Rubin. With Graveyard Book, I think Gaiman's just getting old, and I-the-reader have to just accept this as a fact of life and not expect an American Gods to happen everytime I read one of his books. Bryson was enjoyable and quite a laugh, as usual. (Oh, also, what is with these new Pratchett covers? They're so boring and monotonous! What is that elephant doing on that cover. Psh.)
I loved Sundar's book, and seeing as it's full of post-it flags, have also made much use of it. And Nandy is tedious as usual. I felt like I was missing the point through most of the book, but I honestly wasn't even trying, except for towards the end.
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling
Romance of the State and the Fate of Dissent in the Tropics, Ashis Nandy
Subalterns and Sovereigns, Nandini Sundar
Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
March has been a thoroughly long, complicated, busy yet slow month. I'm pretty sure I don't like months like these. And clearly, I've been reading way more fiction than I've read for my proposal, so don't let me complain much about work not getting done, okay?
Also, one new and one old Murakami! He's getting slightly predictable and less quirky by the book, I feel. Wind-up just wasn't all that. And I definitely prefer Birnbaum to Rubin. With Graveyard Book, I think Gaiman's just getting old, and I-the-reader have to just accept this as a fact of life and not expect an American Gods to happen everytime I read one of his books. Bryson was enjoyable and quite a laugh, as usual. (Oh, also, what is with these new Pratchett covers? They're so boring and monotonous! What is that elephant doing on that cover. Psh.)
I loved Sundar's book, and seeing as it's full of post-it flags, have also made much use of it. And Nandy is tedious as usual. I felt like I was missing the point through most of the book, but I honestly wasn't even trying, except for towards the end.
February
Wild Sheep Chase, Haruki Murakami
Farewell Waltz, Milan Kundera
Simians, Cyborgs and Women, Donna Haraway
Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, Volume 1
Farewell Waltz, Milan Kundera
Simians, Cyborgs and Women, Donna Haraway
Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, Volume 1
January
Demons of Chitrakut, Ashok Banker
Orientalism, Edward Said
Fables, Volume 2, Bill Willingham
The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie
Because I Have a Voice, Gautam Bhan
Orientalism, Edward Said
Fables, Volume 2, Bill Willingham
The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie
Because I Have a Voice, Gautam Bhan
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