Reading report for March 2008

In March I finished reading 10 books. Most I had started reading as far back as December of last year, so page-wise I am definitely below average.

One, Guards! Guards!, was a perennial reread (I am now reading the City Watch story arc within the Discworld series), and another, Metamorphosis, was a partial reread.

Metamorphosis was also my classic of the month. The Voyage of the Beagle will have to wait another couple of months for that honour, as I decided to read The Canterbury Tales in April and an Icelandic Saga in May – I haven’t decided which one, but possibly Laxdæla saga or a couple of the shorter ones.

I am working on some reviews and will post them when they are ready.

The books:
Eurydice: Satyricon U.S.A. (article collection): 2+
Tony Hillerman: Skinwalkers and Listening Woman (mysteries): 4 & 3+
Katie MacAlister: A Girl's Guide To Vampires (paranormal romance): 2+
John D. Macdonald: One Fearful Yellow Eye (mystery): 4
Harry G. Nickles: Foods of the World: The Cooking of the Middle-East (cuisine and cooking): 3
Ovid : Metamorphosis (classic, myths): 4+
Terry Pratchett: Guards! Guards! (fantasy mystery): 4+
Nora Roberts: Sanctuary (romantic thriller): 3+
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.: Cat's Cradle (satire): 4

Comments

Icelandic folk-tale: The Devil Takes a Wife

Stories of people who have made a deal with and then beaten the devil exist all over Christendom and even in literature. Here is a typical one: O nce upon a time there were a mother and daughter who lived together. They were rich and the daughter was considered a great catch and had many suitors, but she accepted no-one and it was the opinion of many that she intended to stay celebrate and serve God, being a very devout woman. The devil didn’t like this at all and took on the form of a young man and proposed to the girl, intending to seduce her over to his side little by little. He insinuated himself into her good graces and charmed her so thoroughly that she accepted his suit and they were betrothed and eventually married. But when the time came for him to enter the marriage bed the girl was so pure and innocent that he couldn’t go near her. He excused himself by saying that he couldn’t sleep and needed a bath in order to go to sleep. A bath was prepared for him and in he went...

Book 40: The Martian by Andy Weir, audiobook read by Wil Wheaton

Note : This will be a general scattershot discussion about my thoughts on the book and the movie, and not a cohesive review. When movies are based on books I am interested in reading but haven't yet read, I generally wait to read the book until I have seen the movie, but when a movie is made based on a book I have already read, I try to abstain from rereading the book until I have seen the movie. The reason is simple: I am one of those people who can be reduced to near-incoherent rage when a movie severely alters the perfectly good story line of a beloved book, changes the ending beyond recognition or adds unnecessarily to the story ( The Hobbit , anyone?) without any apparent reason. I don't mind omissions of unnecessary parts so much (I did not, for example, become enraged to find Tom Bombadil missing from The Lord of the Rings ), because one expects that - movies based on books would be TV-series long if they tried to include everything, so the material must be pared down ...

How to make a simple origami bookmark

Here are some instructions on how to make a simple origami (paper folding) bookmark: Take a square of paper. It can be patterned origami paper, gift paper or even office paper, just as long as it’s easy to fold. The square should not be much bigger than 10 cm/4 inches across, unless you intend to use the mark for a big book. The images show what the paper should look like after you follow each step of the instructions. The two sides of the paper are shown in different colours to make things easier, and the edges and fold lines are shown as black lines. Fold the paper in half diagonally (corner to corner), and then unfold. Repeat with the other two corners. This is to find the middle and to make the rest of the folding easier. If the paper is thick or stiff it can help to reverse the folds. Fold three of the corners in so that they meet in the middle. You now have a piece of paper resembling an open envelope. For the next two steps, ignore the flap. Fold the square diagonally in two. Yo...

Reading in Reykjavík

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