http://www.straytalk.net books, books and maybe a little bit of tea Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:09:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I am kind of late with this. I blame internetlessness. I might not have time to post my list today (I'm blogging from work and I have limited time. Very limited). I will attempt to come in early tomorrow before work and post the rest then. 1. Did you discover a ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/08/15/july-book-blow-out-wrap-up/ My internet has broken down and I haven't had a chance to get it fixed yet, thus the lack of updates. I just thought you might want to know. Since I can't really do much else right now (I'm logging in, very briefly, from work to type this. Internetlessness has freed up ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/07/17/internetlessness/ Since I'm sick* and way behind on reviews, I've realised the only way to catch up is to make them speed reviews and post a whole batch at once. The Age of Napoleon; Alistair Horne, eng, 235 Interesting, but a little choppily written, and also the author assumes you know certain ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/07/07/speed-reviews-part-i/ Torchwood: Something in the Water by Trevor Baxendale English 255 pages BBC Books ISBN: 978-1-846-07437-0 First line: The Late Bob Strong. Back cover blurb: Dr Bob Strong's GP surgery has been treating a lot of coughs and colds recently, far more than is normal for the time of year. Bob thinks there's something up but he can't ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/07/05/torchwood-something-in-the-water-trevor-baxendale/ Hundår by Markus Zusak Original title: The Underdog For the A-Z reading challenge. Swedish 128 pages Richters ISBN: 91-7130-027-9 First line: Det var medan vi tittade på teve som vi bestämde oss för att råna tandläkaren. Back cover blurb: Cameron Wolfe är en ensamvarg och underdog som slår i underläge. Alltid i underläge! I Hundår berättar han om några månader ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/07/04/hundar-markus-zusak/ This morning, when I was on the Amazon.co.uk site to send a gift certificate to Banquo, I sort of strayed onto the other sections of the site. Y'know, where they sell actual books. And, um... now it appears that, oh, nine or so of them are heading this way. Then my ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/07/03/oh-dear-i-seem-to-have-done-it-again/ I am made of epic fail. This is a fact that most people know about me, but perhaps Kim L and Banquo know it more than most. See, back in April there was that quotation contest I held. Let me remind you---April. Do you think I sent out the prizes ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/07/03/epic-fail-and-epic-win/ Mrs S at Blue Archipelago is hosting a new reading challenge I just couldn't resist joining. It's called the July Book Blowout and the goal is to read as many books as you can during the month of July. Since I'm going to be working full-time this month, I ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/07/02/july-book-blowout-intro-mini-challenge-1/ It's the 30th of June and thus ends the Here Be Dragons challenge I've been hosting since January. I hope everyone who participated had fun and discovered new (and old!) dragon acquaintances. Tell me, did you finish the challenge? Which was your favourite book? My list: A Strong and Sudden Thaw; ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/30/here-be-dragons-challenge-wrap-up/ A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin For the Here Be Dragons and First in a Series reading challenges. English 837 pages Bantam Books ISBN: 987-0-553-57340-4 First line: "We should start back," Gared urged them as the woods began to grow dark around them. Back cover blurb: In a land where summer can last decades and winters ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/30/a-game-of-thrones-george-rr-martin/ The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett English 121 pages Faber and Faber ISBN: 978-1-84668-133-2 First line: At Windsor it was the evening of the state banquet and as the president of France took his place beside Her Majesty, the royal family formed up behind and the procession slowly moved off and through into the Waterloo ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/29/the-uncommon-reader-alan-bennett/ The Read-a-thon's over and I'm sitting here with pasta with blue cheese, a cup of tea and my little black book of books. I enjoyed the whole experience ever so much and next time I intend to participate again, only that time I hope to be able to do the ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/29/read-a-thon-wrap-up/ Title of book(s) read this hour: The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett Number of books read since you started: 8 (Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster, The Rose and the Ring - William Makepeace Thackeray, Drömponnyn - Pia Hagmar, Teena går til filmen - Ria Tofft, Sandman: The Kindly Ones ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/29/read-a-thon-hour-24/ Title of book(s) read this hour: Melka: The Story of an Arab Pony - Joan Penney Number of books read since you started: 8 (Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster, The Rose and the Ring - William Makepeace Thackeray, Drömponnyn - Pia Hagmar, Teena går til filmen - Ria Tofft, ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/29/read-a-thon-hour-23/ Title of book(s) read this hour: Good Luck to the Rider - Joan Phipson, Melka: the Story of an Arab Pony - Joan Penney Number of books read since you started: 7 (Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster, The Rose and the Ring - William Makepeace Thackeray, Drömponnyn - Pia ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/29/read-a-thon-hour-22/ Well, finally! I don't know why it happened, but it was certainly exceedingly ill-timed. At least the domain is back up now, after being down nearly six hours. Hour 21: Title of book(s) read this hour: Good Luck to the Rider - Joan Phipson Number of books read since you started: 6 (Travels ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/29/read-a-thon-hours-16-to-21/ Title of book(s) read this hour: Teena går til filmen - Ria Tofft Number of books read since you started: 4 (Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster, The Rose and the Ring - William Makepeace Thackeray, Drömponnyn - Pia Hagmar, Teena går til filmen - Ria Tofft) Pages read: 107 Running total ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/29/read-a-thon-hour-15/ Title of book(s) read this hour: Drömponnyn - Pia Hagmar, A Game of Thrones - George R R Martin Number of books read since you started: 3 (Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster, The Rose and the Ring - William Makepeace Thackeray, Drömponnyn - Pia Hagmar) Pages read: 144 Running total of ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/29/read-a-thon-hour-14/ Title of book(s) read this hour: Drömponnyn - Pia Hagmar Number of books read since you started: 2 (Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster, The Rose and the Ring - William Makepeace Thackeray) Pages read: 32 Running total of pages read since you started: 420 Amount of time spent reading: 8 mins Running ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/29/read-a-thon-hour-13/ Title of book(s) read this hour: The Rose and the Ring - William Makepeace Thackeray, A Game of Thrones - George R R Martin Number of books read since you started: 2 (Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster, The Rose and the Ring - William Makepeace Thackeray) Pages read: 49 Running ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/28/read-a-thon-hour-6/ Title of book(s) read this hour: The Rose and the Ring - William Makepeace Thackeray Number of books read since you started: 1 (Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster) Pages read: 149 Running total of pages read since you started: 339 Amount of time spent reading: 51 mins Running total of time spent reading ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/28/read-a-thon-hour-5/ I confused myself with the titles of the posts, so I'm going back in a sec and changing the ones on the other entries, and titling this after the hours that just were, not the hour that's coming up. Title of book(s) read this hour: Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/28/read-a-thon-hours-3-to-4/ Title of book(s) read this hour: Travels in the Scriptorium - Paul Auster Number of books read since you started: none finished yet Pages read: 22 Running total of pages read since you started: 82 Amount of time spent reading: 15 mins Running total of time spent reading since you started: 1 hr 11 mins Other ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/28/read-a-thon-hour-3/ Nymeth's mini-challenge for hour two is one where you take a break from reading books, to spend ten minutes on a webcomic (the link explains all, so click it!). Since I've been away for a while, I have some catching up to do on the blogs and webcomics I read daily, ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/28/read-a-thon-hour-2-mini-challenge/ I'm a little uncertain if I should title the posts after the hour that has just gone by, or the hour that has just begun. I'm going with the second option for now, though. ETA: I've changed my mind, because I got confused. All stats posts are now titled after ... http://www.straytalk.net/2008/06/28/read-a-thon-hour-2/