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Book Loot: Week Ending December 5th, 2010

December 5, 2010 Book Loot
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New Books:

I’m a bit keen on the quiffed boy reporter lately. I’m going to save my Tintin series of posts until 2011, not too far away now scarily enough. The Tintin in the Congo edition is quite interesting, it came sealed and with a red band label on it warning that the content may be offensive to contemporary readers. I’m sure that I’ve read this one before though, so perhaps the label is a result of the recent attempt to censor the book? It is a minor annoyance, but one that fellow book obsessives surely understand, but this book only seems to be available in hardback, whereas all my other Tintins are in paperback.

Marginalia:

Another weekend, another weekend away. This time I was up on the Central Coast of New South Wales for my grandfather’s 80th birthday. It’s always good, though rare, for my farflung family to get together on a joyful occasion. I didn’t get to look in any bookstores – apart from the airport ones while waiting for flights – but I did spot a small secondhand bookstore that I would have liked to have a browse through, alas I ran out of time. I imagine that the book stock in a town where it is difficult to find somewhere to eat out at 7pm on a Friday night would be great! Spoken like a true city slicker, I’m sure.

Book Loot: Week Ending 28th November, 2010

November 28, 2010 Book Loot
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New books:

I thought all my Tintin books from an order a few weeks ago had arrived, so when this one turned up in the mailbox it was a very pleasant surprise!

As for my book blogging dilemma, well. I’ve decided that reading too much about what a blog should be, what should be done to be successful, how often you should post, has had rather a negative effect on my own experience of blogging. Strict posting schedules needlessly stresses me out, obsessing about stats is, frankly, a waste of my time. So, I’m done with it! From now on I’m considering Start Narrative Here an online extension of my offline reading journal, rather than the ubiquitous “book review blog”. What does this mean? Longer and more personal reviews/post-reading write ups, and complete submission to my reading whims and fancies.

(This mini-manifesto is, of course, also subject to these own whims and fancies and perhaps I’ll look back on this as nothing but the rebellious adolescent period of my blog. However, I think it’s an ongoing struggle to evolve, define and grow in my blogging and reading endeavours.)

Book Loot: Week Ending November 21st, 2010

November 21, 2010 Book Loot
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New Books:

Surprisingly restrained considering my afternoon(s) spent in Kinokuniya in Sydney.

Marginalia

I’ve had an amazing week. Words cannot even begin to express just how great it has been. I saw my favourite band the Manic Street Preachers for the first and second time, met them after both shows, and got a photo with Nicky Wire and James Dean Bradfield. This is a band that has shaped, influenced, changed, and inspired me for over twelve years, so this week was pretty damn important to me and they didn’t let me down. I was on the barrier for both shows, right up the front, screaming and singing my little lungs out. Amazing. And, to have the band be so gracious and attentive to their fans was just a bonus. Meeting fellow fans has also been an encouraging experience.

So, as it was, I didn’t exactly spend much time worrying about blogging. The only conclusion that I’ve managed to reach is that I want to continue writing about books and reading with enthusiasm and sincerity. Posting is going to continue being slightly irregular while I try and “figure things out.” Trust me, I am cringing as I write that. It sounds like the “it’s not you, it’s me” of book blogging.

Book Loot: Week Ending November 14th, 2010

November 14, 2010 Book Loot
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New books:

That’s right, I’m working on completing my Tintin library. And, to revisit my childhood and build anticipation for the feature film due out at the end of 2011, starting in December I will be reviewing and featuring one Tintin title a week, and maybe working on reading some of the peripheral Tintin material as well. This is by no means an official challenge, there are no “read 3 books, you’re a Calculus; read 10 books and down a bottle of whiskey for each, you’re a Haddock; read each book twice you’re a Thomson/Thompson” levels of participation, but if you’d care to join in rereading this classic series, please do!

Posted on Start Narrative Here this week:

  • Praise by Andrew McGahan – for me, this Australian grunge ‘classic’ of doomed love and unemployment in the 1990s didn’t quite live up to its reputation.

Marginalia

My reviews and posting has been haphazard recently, and I’m not exactly sure why. Breaking the first rule of blogging, I do apologize for the lack of regularity on Start Narrative Here lately. I am going to take a break from posting over the next week and take the time to reassess my approach to book blogging and what I want to get out of it. Nothing dramatic, just a very short break to rejuvenate the ol’ blogging mojo.

Normal posting will resume on Sunday 21st of November, with a sensible book haul from my trip to Sydney. Hint that this will not be so: I’ve blacked out the better part of a day for the sole purpose of browsing Kinokuniya.

Book Loot: Week Ending April 18th, 2010

April 18, 2010 Book Loot
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This Year's Summer ReadingI know! I said I wouldn’t be buying any books until Clunes, but as luck would have it I found myself in a secondhand bookstore this week. Thinking I wouldn’t find anything I would want to buy, just intending to have a browse around and waste some time – I’m really good at self deception, it would seem – but found a few books that begged to be bought home with me.

My Mum returned from the U.S.A. this week and she brought with her a bounty of gifts, including the Tintin and Capone books above. The Capone book looks really fascinating, stuffed with actual documents from the gangster’s time at Alcatraz. She also visited the set of Gilmore Girls at Warner Brothers Studio, which was exciting enough when she was telling me all about it, but then she pulled out a t-shirt with the logo for Luke’s Diner on it – I may have cried a little bit. As well as all this, she took a passing snapshot of the famous City Lights bookstore in San Francisco for me, what a champ!

It’s been a really strange week. Two bouts of sickness that hit me out of nowhere, and a major computer malfunction thanks to Microsoft which meant I had to completely reinstall Windows and reformat everything. Luckily nothing was lost, but it was still a bit of a pain. The week wasn’t all bad news though, I found out that I’m going to be getting more hours and new responsibilities at the bookstore from next week. Always good, and hopefully it means a big paycheck due just in time for Clunes.

[image credit: "This Year's Summer Reading" by flickr user ephemera assemblyman]

Book Loot: Week Ending December 27th, 2009

December 27, 2009 Book Loot
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The final loot of 2009!

The best Christmas gift of all is the hugely comfortable, Grimace coloured bean bag in which I plan to do much reading over the years. Or recovering from intense family dance offs on the Wii, I’m pretty sure we worked off more than what we ate for Christmas dinner! You ain’t seen nothing until you’ve seen me shake my ass to ‘Groove is in the Heart‘. Don’t worry, the youtube video is just the music video, I’m not trying to inflict my dance moves to an international audience.

Wait, Grimace is supposed to be an anthropomorphic tastebud? I always just assumed he was some sort of giant purple monster. Childhood under capitalism is so disturbing, no wonder so many of us are dysfunctional.

Inaki Escudero read 52 books in 52 weeks this year. It is that time of year where we should consider our reading goals and challenges. If you are so inclined, what goals are you thinking about setting for yourself for 2010?

Book Loot: Week Ending October 4th, 2009

October 4, 2009 Book Loot
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The books I bought this week are to clearly be labelled “childhood nostalgia.” Tintin was one of my first crushes (along with Commander Keen and Mouth from the Goonies – I’m sure we can psychoanalyze this a bit, something about a penchant for adventurous, daring, FICTIONAL, boys?) I think I need to start building a collection of the Tintin books, definitely something I’d be interested in reading over and over in the future.

  • Snowy – Michael Farr & Hergé
  • Tintin – Michael Farr & Hergé
Banned Books Week 2009

Banned Books Week 2009

Coming at you again with a handful of bookish links gathered during the week, here’s a gallery of the 10 best secondhand bookstores in Britain. Some of them look really gorgeous. I wish I had the time, patience, resources and willpower to compile a similar Melbourne based list. I liked this piece on “Lessons Learned From Banned Books“, as someone who is a little obsessive about copying/marking out favourite passages or phrases from books, I love the idea that that somehow contributes to the person I’ve become. (In case you missed in on every other book blog in the universe, Banned Books Week was this week.) This article about hybrid books just makes me think that we must suffer from an extreme form of attention deficit that we have to resort to adding videos and such to make reading a really engaging and involving experience. Or, I could just be an old-fashioned book snob. But, look! Here’s a heartwarming story about a librarian who put in the effort to change a young boy’s life – no multimedia hybrid necessary.