Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books That Have Been On My Shelf For The Longest But I've Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week a theme for a list is suggested. This week is Top Ten Books That Have Been On My Shelf For The Longest But I've Never Read (shame on me). Although these not be the ones that have been the longest on my shelf (only recently did I start tracking when I got those). And I tried to not include gifts, because it's more likely that those don't fit my tastes, so I do tend to leave them to collect those.

• Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
  This one has been staring at me for so long. Really, really long, and even though I sometimes pick it up intending to read it next, I never do.

• The Compass Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin
  Another one by Ursula K. Le Guin, but this one, I actually gave it a try but abandoned it about 3 pages into it. To read later, I said. That was probably in 2005.

• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
  Another one that I started and then stopped, saving it for later (probably around 2000 or 2001). I think the problem was at that time, I didn't give up on books. I saved them for later. 

• The Children of Húrin by J. R. R. Tolkien
  This book came out in 2007, and I had to have it. So I bought it almost straight away. It's still collecting dust on the shelf.

• The Successor by Ismail Kadare
  Another that I bought sometime in 2007, intending to read as soon as I got it. Yep, also collecting dust.

• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
  Ahh, Moby Dick. I do intend to read this one. It's one of those books that I intend to read some time during my life. And as such I bought a copy of it about 7 or 8 years ago. Some time during my live I will read it.

• The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
  Maybe not that long in the shelves (I'll say about 3 years), but considering the amount of books that have come and been read since this one, it's a shame it's still there. Because I do intend to read it. Sometime.

• The Language of Stones by Robert Carter
  This one was a gift, but it sounds like something I might like - celtic historical fiction. Well, Arthurian, I later discovered during a first aborted try at this book. One day I'll pick it up again and see what was it that made me stop reading 6 or 7 years ago.

• Lizard Tails by Juan Marsé
  Another gift, this one when I was at the hospital in 2002. I liked the title and the cover, but for some reason, never actually read it.

• The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2006 by Brian Greene
  And the last in the list, because this one it's easy to know how long it has been on the shelf. Another gift, but since it's non-fiction, it might be a while before I actually pick it up.

October Ins and Outs

For once, the ins and outs post is not late. Lots of reading this month, but not that much change on the size of the pile of books that I have yet to read.


INS
Few books bought (and none from bookmooch), but November will probably bring a lot more (Bookdepository, what is taking so long?).

The Red Dog by Louis de Bernières
Bought this one on a book fair in a shopping centre, I had seen a review of it on Floresta de Livros, and it was already under consideration.

House of many ways by Diana Wynne Jones
The final on the Howl's series. Probably one of my next reads.

Magic steps by Tamora Pierce
I have been meaning to read Tamora Pierce for ages. I have Alanna requested on bookmooch, but this one was at a good price so here it is.

OUTS
In October I read some NetGalley titles, and also tried the Kindle app for Android and Chrome (Chromium on Linux, that's the one I use).

Physical books
A clash of kings by George R.R. Martin

[Review]

Rating: 4 out of 5





The body finder by Kimberly Derting

[Review]

Rating: 4 out of 5





Red Dog by Louis de Bernières
This is a rather light book (and really short one) about the Red Dog, a Australian Kelpie that belong to no-one and everyone, and travelled through Australia in search of excitement (and yes, based on a real dog, that did all that). It was fun reading, with some sad moments, and very episodic, so that if you are chuckling one chapter, you might be crying the next, only to return to laughing again in the following one.

Rating: 4 out of 5


Kushiel's avatar by Jacqueline Carey
This one was so looooooooong and boooooooring. I made it to the end, through some stubbornness on my part, and a small desire to see this part of the story come to an end. My biggest problem with Jacqueline Carey is the writing, and that was true for all the three books on this series, but on the first two books the plot was enticing. On this one, not so much.
It took 350 pages to get to a mildly exciting part - I thought about giving up a lot of time in those pages, but Imriel had not yet appeared, and since there are three books with him as hero after this one, I supposed he would be a compelling character. He is quite a good character, but not enough for me to keep on the series.
But my biggest problem with this one was the main character Phedre: 10 years have passed since the book 2 and in those year the character stayed the same. Exactly the same. And if there are some behaviours I might believe in a 18 year old girl, in a 28 year old it makes me raise my eyebrow and say "Seriously? Can't you control yourself a little better?".
So, this was not a book for me (except the 150 or so pages [out of 750] that were actually rather nice).

Rating: 2 out of 5


Contos Carnívoros by Bernard Quiriny [Carnivore Tales]
A collection of short-stories bordering the surreal and magic realism. It reminded me too much of Jorge Luís Borges, in style and plot, yet it never got quite to its level. It was more disappointing than good, although it was not that bad. It just wasn't Borges in quality if it was in everything else.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5




North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell     *Review to come*
A story that I already knew very well (thanks BBC and their amazing adaptation), and that I loved. And the novel did not disappoint. There are points where series deviated from the book, but it was never in a very significant way, and I could not tell which version does it best. But, most of all, I loved Gaskell's writing. Even if the characters showed in part the time that they lived in, the writing never seemed old fashioned to me.
And well, it suffices to say I loved it.


Rating: 5 out of 5



Ebooks
*NetGalley*
Orcs: Forged for War by Stan Nicholls and Joe Flood

[Review]

Rating: 2.5 out of 5





Sketch Monsters - Book 1 by Joshua Williamson and Vincente Navarrete

[Review]

Rating: 3.5 out of 5




Nursery Rhyme Comics edited by Leonard Marcus
This was quite a nice collection on Nursery Rhymes, done in a different way. Some I loved, some I liked. I do have one complaint, and it's not about the contents. The quality of the copy NetGalley provided was horrible. Please do make sure the comics can actually be read.

Rating: 4 out of 5


*FeedBooks*
Magic for beginners by Kelly Link
Couldn't finish this one. Maybe I was not in the right state of mind for something this weird, but I believe I will never be. Besides weird and disturbing the stories felt also very pointless. So, after skipping the ending of a couple of stories I decided to skip the book altogether.

Rating: 1 out of 5 (Did not finish)



*Kindle Store*
The moorland cottage by Elizabeth Gaskell
After reading North and South I was in the mood of something equally good. I tried Magic for Begginers and that didn't work out, and had an aborted attempt at Looking for Jake (also rather weird, I saved it for later). So I guessed I should stick with Gaskell and choose this novella.
It is a rather nice one, not as good as North and South. It features a positively horrid little boy (who grows up to be a positively horrid young man), and his sister that is such an angel. There is a lot to be said in parenting in this story.
Also, I have the feeling I have read this (or seen this) before. I can't find anywhere that there has been an adaptation, but I am certainly this story is not new to me.

Rating: 4 out of 5



TBR Variation: -3 (From 197 to 194) Yay!

September Ins and Outs

Late as usual, here are the books of September:


INS
Not many in this section, I'm finally cutting back on my acquisitions - I blame the lack of Bookmooch points and space on the shelves.

Bought
Stories edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio
I bought this one when I was facing a 3-hour train ride back home, with a book that was really boring me. This way I could have something else to read if I had the urge to slash my wrists from desperation.

Freebies
These were on offer with the newspaper, and my grandmother has passed them along to me.

Daisy Miller by Henry James
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (which I've read back in January, but on ebook)


OUTS
I had the feeling that the outs would be pretty empty as well, but I did read a lot in September. Only most of these I finished in the first weeks of the month.

Artemis Fowl: the opal deception by Eoin Colfer
Fourth on the Artemis Fowl series, it was a fun one to read (like all the others). At first I thought there was going to be pretty much like the first one, only with an older Artemis, but the changes he suffered in the previous books were not laid to waste even with his amnesia. I liked that it left an opening for a different kind of adventures, so I'll be looking forward to the next books.

Rating: 4 out of 5


A biblioteca mágica by Jostein Gaarder and Klaus Hagerup [The magical library]
This book intended to be perceived as if it was written by two 12 years olds. Well done, authors, mission accomplished. The writing was basic, and the plot not really good. Worse, the language sometimes was of a 12 years old kid, but the ideas weren't. And spending half the book portraying a book lover as a demented villain, well, that just made me want to slap the little brats. Yet there some mystery, and it was such a short book (besides, it has been a while since I ranted about a book).

Rating: 2 out of 5


A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

[Review]

Rating: 4 out of 5






The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

[Review]

Rating: 4 out of 5







Fables. 1, Legends in exile by Bill Willingham
The first volume of this Graphic Novel is a good introduction to the world of Fables, where the characters of Fairy Tales have gone into exile into our world, forming a secret society. Old feuds are put to rest, and life goes on. On this volume there is a crime, and the solving of the mystery of who killed Rose Red. It was kind of nice, but not outstanding. I loved the character of the Wolf (but then again, I almost always do), but the others didn't cause that much of an impression.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5


El derecho ambiental como instrumento de gestión del riesgo tecnológico by Paula Cerski Lavratti
I received this one through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program, so I had to read it and review it. I don't usually read non-fiction, I now I remember why - I don't really enjoy it - if it doesn't take me some new place, or makes me have an adventure, then it's not pleasure reading.




Stories by Neil Gaiman                           Review to come
A nice collection of short stories, although I was expecting more. Diana Wynne Jones and Joyce Carol Oates's stories were my favourites. One is Christmas-y and humorous, the other dark and poignant. There were quite a few nice stories, although I feel that some took too much inspiration from American Gods (Neil Gaiman's included, but he can be forgiven for that - it's his book). Most of the stories are actually quite dark, which surprised me, with such a cheery and cute cover.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5


TBR Variation: -5 (From 202 to 197) Yay!

August Ins and Outs

A little late this one, but I was trying to actually write some reviews of books read on August.
August was a good month for reading (not as good as July, thought), and with a few purchases as well. No Bookmooched books, though (I seem to have finally spent all my points)


INS
Bought
Null-A Three by A. E. Van Vogt
Found this at the supermarket at very low price, and I'm not the kind of girl to say no to a book bargain.







A clash of kings by George R.R. Martin
I was starting to wonder why it was taking so long for this book to arrive. When I finally got the package, there was a little sticker that explained everything: Missent to Australia











The king of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
I was avidly waiting for these two. You'll find one of them again below, and the reason it isn't the two, it is because A Conspiracy of Kings only arrived on the last day of August

Bought Used (and in this case, already read)

Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier
My copy! Finally! After bookdepository sent my first one to limbo!








OUTS
Fire study by Maria V. Snyder

[Review]

Rating: 2 out 5





Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

[Review]

Rating: 4 out 5






The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

[Review]

Rating: 3.5 out 5





Revelation by Carol Berg     Review to come
The sequel to Transformation. It wasn't what I expected, but that is neither good or bad. It had some good things, a lot of history and tradition of the Ezzarians, and even more about the demons they fight. And yes, there were quite a few revelations in there.
Bonus: A much better cover


Rating: 4 out 5




The king of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner    Review to come
The third in The Queen's Thief series (my new favourite series!). Not told by the POV of Gen, but he is there. It feels different from the other two, less danger I would say, but there are a lot of dangerous situations in there. Maybe more homely. But still very good.

Rating: 4.5 out 5



TBR Variation: -1 (From 203 to 202)

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying To Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week a theme for a list is suggested. This week is Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying To Read.









1 - El Mapa del Cielo by Félix J. Palma [The map of the sky]
When I read The Map of Time, I considered a finished book. In fact I loved that the ending was so final. A few months ago, I discovered there would be two more books in what is now called the Victorian Trilogy. I love Palma's writing, so I will read anything he writes next, but double so if it is anyway related to (or as good as) The Map of Time.



2 - House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
I read Howl's Moving Castle and loved it, and I read Castle in the Sky, and also liked it. So, I want to read the next one in the series.







3 - A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
Again, I loved the first one, now I'm continuing the series. This one is already on the list as one of the next books to pick up. It's right there on the shelf looking at me.








4 - Ironside by Holly Black
The last one on the Modern Tales of Faerie series, I have heard good things about it and I, of course, want to finish this series. The only reason I haven't bought this yet is because I'm trying to find a copy that matches the other two. Not just because it will look better that way, but because it's the cover I like the most.




5 - Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
Another one still in the process of being written. I want more! Especially if Katsa and Po reappear! More!


6 - The Scar by China Miéville
A sequel to Perdido Street Station. I want to read more stuff by China Miéville and I enjoyed Perdido Street Station and the world of Bas-Lag. More about it can only be good, right?








7 - Whatever I haven't read of Discworld by Terry Pratchett

Unfortunately is a far too big list to be put in here. Or to be proud of.








8 - What I haven't read of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Which are: The Lost Colony, The Time Paradox, and The Atlantis Complex.







And that's it. No 9 and 10 places, but let's face it, Discworld alone could make the entire list.

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