housekeeping

[fahye]

Wait, wait...the BSG S3 DVDs aren't out in the States? Really? They're certainly out here, because we got the box set for my brother for Xmas. That's bizarre.

Any resolutions I may have for the new year are vague and wafty entities, concerning exercise and French and keeping my head above water in my medical degree. And maybe drinking more sangria and going dancing more often, because both of those featured heavily in my NYE celebrations, and I enjoyed them both immensely. One thing I am doing is a fairly heavy flist cut, which I expect will be followed by another at the beginning of February: I am going to have very little free time this year, and even though I have a small flist by most standards, I'd rather be able to keep up with a few people than skimread everyone. I hardly ever post under friendslock unless it's personal photos, so you won't really miss much if you keep reading my journal, but you should feel absolutely free to defriend me in return.

(And for the record, I detest the way LJ uses 'friend' in this context. It's a reading list. It is in no way an indication of how I feel about you as a person.)

I don't really feel like any retrospective memes: I survived, I graduated, and I spent my twenty-first consecutive year without falling in love or starting a relationship. This was not a special year.

A fic roundup will come later, but for now I'll do this one, even though the amount of books on the lists of other people always makes me feel like I've been wasting my life:

Books read in 2007

(* denotes a rereading)

Achebe, Chinua -- Things Fall Apart
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi -- Half of a Yellow Sun
Atkins, Peter -- Morningstar
Bass, Bill & Jefferson, Jon -- Death's Acre
Chabon, Michael -- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Close, William T. -- Ebola
Crosby, Molly Caldwell -- The American Plague
Dawkins, Richard -- The God Delusion
Duane, Diane -- High Wizardry
Duncan, Glen -- I, Lucifer
Earls, Nick -- Bachelor Kisses
Firth, Charles -- American Hoax
Forster, E.M. -- A Passage to India
Forster, E.M. -- A Room with a View
Forster, E.M. -- Howards End
Forster, E.M. -- Maurice
Gibson, William -- Pattern Recognition
Goldman, William -- The Princess Bride
Grass, Günter -- The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham -- The End of the Affair
Harris, Thomas -- Hannibal
Harris, Thomas -- The Silence of the Lambs
Herbert, Frank -- Dune*
Herbert, Frank -- Dune Messiah
Høeg, Peter -- The History of Danish Dreams
Høeg, Peter -- The Woman and the Ape
Jinks, Catherine -- Pagan's Vows*
Jinks, Catherine -- Pagan's Daughter
Kay, Guy Gavriel -- The Summer Tree*
Kay, Guy Gavriel -- The Wandering Fire*
Kay, Guy Gavriel -- The Darkest Road*
Khadra, Mohamed -- Making the Cut
King, Stephen -- The Dark Tower
Knox, Elizabeth -- Black Oxen*
Landy, Derek -- Skulduggery Pleasant
Lindsay, Jeff -- Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Locke Elliot, Sumner -- Fairyland
Mantel, Hilary -- An Experiment in Love
Mantel, Hilary -- A Change of Climate
Mantel, Hilary -- Beyond Black
McDermid, Val -- The Last Temptation
McEwan, Ian -- First Love, Last Rites
Moore, Alan & Campbell, Eddie -- From Hell
Moore, Alan & Lloyd, David -- V For Vendetta
Murakami, Haruki -- Sputnik Sweetheart
Novik, Naoimi -- Temeraire: Throne of Jade
Ondaatje, Michael -- Running in the Family
Ondaatje, Michael -- The English Patient*
Palahniuk, Chuck -- Fight Club*
Palahniuk, Chuck -- Lullaby
Palahniuk, Chuck -- Invisible Monsters
Plath, Sylvia -- The Bell Jar
Pratchett, Terry -- Making Money
Pullman, Philip -- Northern Lights*
Pullman, Philip -- The Subtle Knife
Pullman, Philip -- The Amber Spyglass
Reeve, Philip -- Larklight*
Reeve, Philip -- Starcross
Robbins, Tom -- Half Asleep in Frog Pyjamas
Robbins, Tom -- Jitterbug Perfume
Rowling, J.K. -- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*
Rowling, J.K. -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Rygg, Pernille -- The Butterfly Effect
Safran Foer, Jonathan -- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Sayers, Dorothy -- Murder Must Advertise
Sebold, Alice -- The Lovely Bones
Shakespeare, William -- The Tempest*
Shakespeare, William -- The Merchant of Venice*
Shakespeare, William -- Macbeth*
Shakespeare, William -- Romeo and Juliet*
Shakespeare, William -- Julius Caesar*
Shakespeare, William -- As You Like It
Shakespeare, William -- Titus Andronicus
Shem, Samuel -- The House of God*
Stoppard, Tom -- Arcadia
Süskind, Patrick -- Perfume
Tartt, Donna -- The Secret History
Thomas, Dylan -- Under Milk Wood
Thomas, Scarlett -- The End of Mr Y
Townsend, Sue -- Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years
Winterson, Jeanette -- The PowerBook
Winterson, Jeanette -- Written on the Body*

Top five

Forster, E.M. -- Howards End
Gibson, William -- Pattern Recognition
Tartt, Donna -- The Secret History
Thomas, Scarlett -- The End of Mr Y
Stoppard, Tom -- Arcadia

Disappointments

Lindsay, Jeff -- Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Khadra, Mohamed -- Making the Cut
McEwan, Ian -- First Love, Last Rites
Townsend, Sue -- Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years

~

There are all sorts of things I could add to this -- for example, The Lovely Bones almost made it to the 'disappointments' list -- but I didn't really fancy spending time adding notes about all of these books. However if you want to ask my opinion or discuss any of them with me, go ahead!

Comments

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you held out this long on reading The Secret History. That's like required reading!

[fahye.livejournal.com]

Nobody told me that! This is what happens when you do nothing but science from the age of sixteen onwards :D

[tellitslant]

Yeah, BSG s3 is out in the UK too, but nowhere in North America. Bastards.

I still haven't read The Secret History It should go on the list?

[fahye.livejournal.com]

Yes! It should, it's a fantastic book.

BOOKS! \o/

[littledust.livejournal.com]

1) I love As You Like It. This may have something to do with writing a paper on it, however.

2) HIS DARK MATERIALS. What did you think?

3) What was disappointing about The Lovely Bones? (Though I have only read it once, so... *goes to Wikipedia for a refresher*)

I am really wishing I had kept a list of everything I read in 2007. Woe!

Re: BOOKS! \o/

[fahye.livejournal.com]

1) I am only moderately fond of it compared to some others, but I do really like some aspects of it. And Rosalind. A lot :D

2) I loved them! And I saw the film of the first one yesterday, and now I want to reread them, but my to-read pile is SO HUGE. Alas.

3) Um...it wasn't really a problem with the book per se so much as a personal reaction problem. Because it's so heavily built around emotions that I found parts of it tedious and other parts unbearably sentimantal in an over-done way, but that's just me. I liked the premise, and I can objectively see the merits of it, I just...didn't really enjoy it as a book. I don't think I'll read anything else by Alice Sebold.

Re: BOOKS! \o/

[littledust.livejournal.com]

1) Everyone loves Rosalind! It's a rule.

2) I want to reread them as well! Mostly because HDM always gets such lovely fic for yuletide. (I totally guessed which one you wrote, btw. *wins at... something*)

3) Ah, I see. I liked it well enough when I read it, but I have no overwhelming desire to reread it. The ending made sense emotionally but was still kind of weird.

[proggrrl.livejournal.com]

Great reading list. I don't read enough. Ever.

RE BSG DVDs in the states - the US release has been held this long most likely because 1) TPTB want to time the DVD release with start of S4; 2) there is a 25-minute-longer cut of "Unfinished Business," and apparently 15 hours of extras, and that probably took a while to prepare.

*happy dance again, for the hundreth time, about the UB cut!*

[fahye.livejournal.com]

I don't think *I* read enough, either, but that's just because I think I acquire books faster than I can read them *grins*

!!! I expect we don't have the UB cut. Though I didn't look, because I never watch DVD extras.