48 Hour Book Challenge: Update Five

Time spent reading: 27 hours
Books read: 6-ish
Under the Tuscan Sun (only had a few chapters to go when I started the challenge)
ttfn
l8r, g8r
V for Vendetta
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels
MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel (My one audiobook - and it turns out I had only downloaded part of it. Oh, well!)
The Sandman: The Doll's House (so close to being finished!)

I only have two chapters left in The Doll's House, but Mom just called to remind that it's Sunday, which is our family dinner night. Also that she needed me to stop by the store and pick up some groceries for her on my way over. We're making Italian, so at least I'll have good food in my belly when I get back to reading.

48 Hour Book Challenge: Update Four

Time spent reading: 24 hours
Books read: 5
Under the Tuscan Sun (only had a few chapters to go when I started the challenge)
ttfn
l8r, g8r
V for Vendetta
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels

I haven't been reading blogs much, but I have been twittering a lot more than normal. Up next: a shower (while listening to a random James Patterson novel I somehow downloaded onto iTunes), and then another graphic novel, I think.

Mini-Review: Thursday Next: First Among Sequels

Jasper Fforde's novels are what I like to refer to as "English major porn." First Among Sequels carries on in this tradition, but it also has plenty of meta-humor, time-travel conundrums, and just plan fun. Thursday has a job working as the celebrity spokeswoman/installer for a carpet and flooring company, which is really a cover for the disbanded-but-still-going-strong SpecOps, which is yet another cover for her clandestined Book World jaunts. She's busy dealing with a national Stupidity Surplus (leading to a decline in reading and an increase in crappy reality shows), an apathetic 16-year-old son who SHOULD be rocketing up the career ladder as a ChronoGuard, and two other versions of herself: the fictionalized Thursday1-4 (from the first four sex- and violence-heavy Thursday Next book series) and a hippie-dippy Thursday5 (from the universally panned The Great Samuel Pepys Fiasco). Sound confusing? It is, a bit. It's also quite enjoyable. Fforde clearly has a love of language and literature. He character name-drops quite a bit: Harry Potter is rumored to make an appearance at a Book World meeting, and Tempe Brennan shows up, asking Thursday for advice on a real attempted murder within her own book. Plus there's appearances by the Hades family (Thursday's long-time nemises), the Goliath corporation (ditto), Pickwick, Uncle Mycroft, and others. It's a fun read set in a complex, interesting alternate universe. There are several different story lines, but they all come together in the end. There's even a bit of a cliffhanger, making me eager for the next book in the series.

48 Hour Book Challenge: Update Three

Time spent reading: 13 hours
Books read: 4
Under the Tuscan Sun (only had a few chapters to go when I started the challenge)
ttfn
l8r, g8r
V for Vendetta
Currently reading: Thursday Next: First Among Sequels

I feel asleep last night around 1 am, book in hand. I'm up now and trying to read while eating a healthy breakfast of sugary cereal. Yum! Later I plan on following Leila's lead by listening to an audiobook as I shower and get dressed. Probably something Austen as well, because that's what I have on iTunes already.

48 Hour Book Challenge: Update Two

Time spent reading: 9 hours
Books read: 4
Under the Tuscan Sun (only had a few chapters to go when I started the challenge)
ttfn
l8r, g8r
V for Vendetta

After reading V and experiencing (slight) technical difficulties, I've decided to go with a lighter book for my next read: Thursday Next: First Among Sequels. It's been a while since I read the previous Thursday Next books; I hope I haven't forgotten anything too important.

Review: V for Vendetta

Title: V for Vendetta
Author: Alan Moore
Illustrator: David Lloyd
Genre: Graphic Novel, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Dystopia
Published: 1989
Pages: 288
Rating: 9 / 10
Challenges: Graphic Novels Challenge, A to Z Reading Challenge, 48 Hour Book Challenge

Synopsis (from the back cover):

A frightening and powerful story of the loss of freedom and identity in a totalitarian world. V for Vendetta is everything comics weren't supposed to be.

England Prevails.

My review: That last line is a quote from the book; it's a motto for the government figures. V is amazing book. I've had it sitting on my shelf for ages (I bought it shortly after meeting David Lloyd at Dragon*Con two years ago) and I can't believe I waited so long to actually sit down with it. Thank you, 48 hour book challenge!

The setting of V is an AU late-1990's London, in which the people are constantly monitored and recorded by the "Eyes" and "Ears" of their controlling government. They are also completely dependent on the "Voice" of the government, an hourly broadcast designed to keep the masses ignorant of what's really happening. It's very 1984, but darker. The character known only as "V" is a man with a troubled past who takes it upon himself to establish a new world order - anarchy and chaos, but with an opportunity for the people to think and choose for themselves. He is joined in his quest by Evey Hammond, a 16-year-old prostitute he saves from a police gang-rape her first night on the job. See? Dark.

The story feels incredibly topical (especially given recent events), so much so that's it's a bit scary. It's not all gloom and doom, though. There's a message of hope and independence, mainly due to the great character that is V. My favorite line of his: "Did you think to kill me? There's no flesh or blood within this cloak to kill. There's only an idea. Ideas are bulletproof." And it's very true: the idea of V and what he represents are what endures. He's an anti-hero, but an intriguing one, and his story makes for excellent reading.

Cross-posted to the Graphic Novels Challenge blog.

If you've reviewed this book as well, leave a message in the comments and I'll link to your review.

48 Hour Book Challenge: Update One

Time spent reading: 5.5 hours
Books read: 3
Under the Tuscan Sun (only had a few chapters to go when I started the challenge)
ttfn
l8r, g8r

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm not getting any blog reading done right now (my G-Reader is full to bursting!), but I may try to review the books I've finished later. Right now I'm about to start some graphic novels.

Happy reading! :)

48 Hour Book Challenge: Hour One?

Well, I just got home from my fun run ("run" is used loosely - I walked the mile with a friend of mine, and I'm not even going to write our time because it was embarrassing) and I'll have to leave to talk to my Realtor about putting an offer in on a house (hooray!), but I'm finally able to start my 48 hours of reading. Two and a half hours late. Oh, well. Right now, I'm finishing up Under the Tuscan Sun, which is an amazing book. Hopefully I'll have a more informative post later. To the other participants: happy reading!

48 Hour Book Challenge

Mother Reader is hosting the 4th annual 48 Hour Book Challenge this weekend, June 5-7. I missed out on the 24-Hour Read-a-thon this past time, so I'm looking forward to this one. The rules:

1. The weekend is June 5–7, 2009. Read and blog for any 48-hour period within the Friday-to-Monday-morning window. Start no sooner than 7:00 a.m. on Friday the fifth and end no later than 7:00 a.m. Monday. So, go from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday... or maybe 7:00 a.m. Saturday to 7:00 a.m. Monday works better for you. But the 48 hours do need to be in a row. Edited to add: But during that 48-hour period you may still have gaps of time in which you can’t read, and that’s fine. In the middle of the three different challenge weekends I’ve had to go to work, attend a ballet recital, and drive for a Girl Scout event. You can certainly work around the other events in your weekend.

2. The books should be about fifth-grade level and up. Adult books are fine, especially if any adult book bloggers want to play. If you are generally a picture book blogger, consider this a good time to get caught up on all those wonderful books you’ve been hearing about. Two graphic novels can be included in the reading. I’m not trying to discriminate, I’m just trying to make sure that the number of books and page counts mean the same thing to everyone.

3. It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it. If you want to skip sleep and showers to do this, go for it. If you want to be a bit more laid back, fine. But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge.

4. The length of the reviews are not an issue. You can write a sentence, paragraph, or a full-length review. The time spend reviewing counts in your total time.

5. On your blog, state when you are starting the challenge with a specific entry on that day. This makes it easier to track the participants. Write your final summary on Monday, and for one day, we’ll all be on the same page, so to speak.

6. Your final summary needs to clearly include the number of books read, the approximate hours you spent reading/reviewing, and any other comments you want to make on the experience. It needs to be posted no later than noon on Monday, June 8th.

7. Sign up in today’s comments. You’re more than welcome to post the challenge on your site. Point them to today’s post to sign up. On Friday, June 5, I’ll have a starting-line post where you can sign in to say you’re officially starting the challenge.

I have a huge stack of books to read, and an even bigger stack to review. Maybe next month I should host a 48-hour review-a-thon...

Music Munday: JoCo and Paul and Storm

Sorry this one's going up a bit late; I'm on vacation and I was out on the beach all day. :P I had planned on writing about my obsession with a Cappella music for this week's Music Munday, but then I went to a Jonathan Coulton and Paul and Storm concert Saturday night. It was one of the best concerts I've been to in years, and since it was a tech-geek-heavy crowd, there's footage of it on YouTube!

Before my BFF Fran invited me to the show, my only exposure to JoCo was the song "Code Monkey" (which my ex-boyfriend loved and played for me a few times) and this Warcraftian video for "First of May" that a friend of a friend made me watch a few months ago (NSFW - the f-word is used liberally and the video features animated creatures...um, acting out said word). I wasn't at all familiar with Paul and Storm, which gives me some measure of shame to admit now that I've seen them. Both musical acts are fairly simple: acoustic guitar + geeky lyrics = success!

To be perfectly honest, I actually preferred Paul and Storm, the opening band, over JoCo. But they were both awesome. P&S were just a bit more upbeat. They also gave away "FABULOUS PRIZES" during their set, usually to people who cracked funny jokes. I have to say, that crowd was one of the quietest I've ever heard; while the songs were being performed, everyone was listening attentively (and laughing appreciatively). But during the silences in between songs, well, there was some pretty funny heckling. Paul and Storm got us a bit riled up: when Jonathan Coulton came on, he jokingly complained about the vivacity of the audience (I blame "The Captain's Wife's Lament" - see below).

Now, on to the videos! Since these were recorded on digital cameras, the quality isn't the best, but I think you get a pretty good idea of what it was like. First up, Paul and Storm's first song, "Opening Band." This video is not actually from the Atlanta show, but it was such a funny song I wanted to include it.



It's pretty similar to what I saw Saturday, except during the lyric "No panties have been thrown," a bunch of people at the front of the stage threw panties of varying colors and sizes (including a pair of Batman Underoos) and one frying pan. We were rechristened "Pant-lanta," but it apparently happens every time. At least I know for the next show...

This is the last Paul and Storm song, "The Captain's Wife's Lament," which got us all pirate-y:



This was Jonathan trying to get us to stop "Arr"-ing:



Following this clip, he requested, "Don't put that $h!t on YouTube." As one audience member so eloquently put it, "Too late!"

This interesting little instrument is called a zendrum. The song, "Mr. Fancypants," was one of my favorites of the night:



That's right, we got Rick Roll'd.

And, last but not least, Jonathan Coulton AND Paul and Storm singing "Creepy Doll":



If you liked these songs, I highly recommend you check out the websites. They also sing about zombies and fighting nuns and stuff, too. Both acts have Twitters, too: @jonathancoulton and @paulandstorm.

Thanks to Chris for hosting Music Mundays. You can learn more about them here.