What I read in the 19 hours I lasted:Arsenic Soup for Lovers by Georgia Z. Post, short stories, 62 pgs.
Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese, short stories, 134 pgs. Sorry***** by Gail Jones, fiction, 232 pgs.
Guernica by David Boling, fiction, 162 pgs (unfinished)
The Duino Elegies***** by Rainer Maria Rilke, poetry, 33 pgs. (in German)
Pages read: 623
Books read: 3 1/2
Time spent reading: an 18 hour stretch with regular breaks for meals etc.
Reviews and giveaways of the short stories will be posted this week. I will continue reading Guernica today and review it in the future. And I will read the Book Review section of the Toronto Globe and Mail from tip to tail which I do every weekend. I also read Home***** by Marilynne Robinson during the week, which is another of her wonderful novels and I urge you not to miss it.
I got a little tired this past while of reading ARCs of dubious quality when I could be reading five star fiction I know is waiting for me in my library. So there have been no new reviews for a few days. I hope I'm over it because the books are still arriving from two months back and I stopped (almost)asking for any new ones more than two weeks ago.
I did parcipate in two mini challenges during the read-a-thon: Dewey the Library Cat, and reading for an hour in another language. And I visited a number of new blogs and a few old favourites. A good day.
I leave you with the opening lines of of Rilke's First Duino Elegy:
"Wer, wenn ich schriee, horte mich denn auf der Engel Ordnungen?
und gesetzt selbst, es nahme einer mich plotzlich ans Herz:
ich verginge von seinem starkeren Dasein..."
"Who, if I cried, would hear me among the angelic orders?
And even if one of them suddenly pressed me against his heart,
I should fade in the strength of his stronger existence.
For Beauty's nothing but the beginning of Terror we're still just able
to bear, and why we adore it so is because it serenely disdains
to destroy us. Each single angel is terrible.
And so I keep down my heart and swallow the call-note
of depth-dark sobbing...
go, go, go!! you are so great you are cool and you can read,so yay!
ReplyDeleteCan you see why I am a reader and not a cheerleader!?!?! hahahah...I feel the sillies coming on :)
I'm so impressed that you can read in another language.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I don't think I am going to request many ARC copies, I have too many things I know are good that I want to read. Plus, I feel weird reviewing books I got like that, like I can't be as honest as I want to be because I got the book for free.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Sunday Salon, also :)
Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness)
I think I'm going to be more selective in the ARCs I actually request. I've had a lot more luck finding good books at the library: ones that were recommended by people I trust. I agree with Kim's comment, it's hard to be as honest as you want when you've gotten the book for free and the expectation is that you'll like it.
ReplyDeleteYou're the winner of Bitter Sweets from Redlady's Reading Room. Congrats Sandra!
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed with all those who participated in the reading marathon!!! You guys are amazing!
I am with you on the ARC's. I am being more selective as well. It is a challenge when you don't care for a book and have to give an honest review. That's cool that you can read in German! I took German in High school and never learned to use it conversationally or in reading and my mother is German!