Note from a long-absent blogger

Hi all!

As you may have noticed, my most recent review was just a little over three months ago, and it was a review of a book I’d read two months before that. So, obviously, I’m very behind. But now that I’m on Christmas break, I plan to catch up. So here’s where everything stands with the book challenge, and with my plans for the blog:

• I’ve read 93 books this year, working on the 94th. So while I was behind on reading the last time you heard from me—and for the better part of this year—I’m more or less back on track now.
• If you’re keeping track, the above figure puts me exactly FIFTY (!!) book reviews behind.
• To deal with the excess of reviews, I’m planning to do mega-posts of mini-reviews. I’ll be putting together a post of books 44-50, and then following that the rest of the reviews will come in tens (51-60, 61-70, 71-80, 81-90). The posts will likely include book summaries and maybe a paragraph of my thoughts on the book. From there, I hope to be able to give the last ten books the typical review treatment.
• I also have a saved post of Profs out of Context which I’m hoping to put out soon, but I don’t plan to do it until I’ve handled all the backlogged reviews.
• And of course, I’ll be putting up my Year in Review, hopefully on New Years Eve if I finish reading before then (I probably will).

The first set of reviews should be out sometime later today. So keep your eyes peeled for that!

– Kelsey

The State of the Union

As you may have noticed I haven’t posted a book review or general update of any kind since early June, so I wanted to write up a quick post to let everyone know what’s going on.

First, the good news! After reading it piecemeal since the beginning of February, I finally finished Anna Karenina yesterday on the train ride home (hence the picture). It’s the first “romantic lines in lit” book of 2013, and 12th overall out of the 38.

On the delayed book reviews: I’ve now read 34 books this year, and only reviewed  23. So I’ll be trying to catch up on those over the next few days. In case you’re curious, I’ll be writing about: The Black Ice by Michael Connelly; The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly; The Retreat by David Bergen; Stranglehold by Robert Rotenberg; The Black Box by Michael Connelly; Easy Money by Jens Lapidus; A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire; The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott; Spin by Catherine McKenzie; The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery; and of course Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Some of the reviews might be a little fuzzy, since I read some of the books over a month ago.

Have a great weekend!

– Kelsey

Some articles for you to read

Today has been kind of a bookish day for me. (Although, to be fair, what day isn’t a bookish day?) I took the ferry out to Ward Island, found a cool, shady place to sit, and got a head start on Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. It’s a fun book so far. A choice quote:

“WHO LET THAT CAT IN HERE? SINCE WHEN HAVE WE HAD A PALACE CAT? IS THAT THE CAT THAT SHAT IN MY HELMET? YOU KNOW I CAN’T STAND CATS. WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT SAVES ON MOUSETRAPS? DON’T TELL ME WHEN I CAN OR CANNOT USE MY REVOLVER INDOORS. STAND BACK OR YOU’LL CATCH A BULLET TOO” (de Bernieres 18).

Aside from that, I found two articles worth sharing. First, check out Natalie Ramm’s “In Defense of Romance Novels” on Thought Catalog, which is an infinitely more eloquent and clever defence of the romance genre than what I offered several months ago.

Secondly, look at Mark Medley’s op-ed in the National Post, entitled “How I put my library on a diet.” I pity the future roommate/boyfriend/husband who has to ask me to do the same. I can tell you now it won’t go well.

I guess I’ll see you again when I finish Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Given the size of the book I don’t think I’ll be done for another day or so.

– Kelsey

Vote in the Giller Prize Reader’s Choice Contest!

As I am primarily a book blogger, and a Canadian one at that, I thought it would make sense for me to let you all know about the Readers Choice Contest for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Look at the eligible books here, and then go here to vote for the one most deserving of being this year’s Reader’s Choice.

What surprised me was how many titles I recognized, without realizing that they were penned by Canadian authors. Guess who just added like 50 titles to her reading list?

(For the record…I voted for The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak. Linden MacIntyre’s Why Men Lie was a very close second choice.)

My next review is probably coming tomorrow-ish. I’m really enjoying The Narrows by Michael Connelly so I’m reading it pretty quickly.

– Kelsey

Admin Note: What is an appropriate comment?

Just a quick post regarding commenting on my blog. Because apparently some people don’t know how to leave an appropriate one.

Here’s the down-low: I love it when you comment. I love getting feedback. I’m like Tinkerbell; I need it to live, and when you drop me a line to let me know you appreciated my review (or politely disagree with it), I’m quite thrilled. And most everyone has mastered the art of conversation by now. But then occasionally I get comments like these:

From austin golden on Review: The Werewolf of Fever Swamp – R.L. Stine #[Pending]

Gayyyyy lol jkjk

I’m sorry, does my review have a sexual orientation? Did you mean my review was happy? Or, like I suspect, were you using gay as a synonym for stupid?

No. I will not be approving stupid comments like that.

Have a wonderful day!

(On a book note, I’ve just started One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell and after I finish all the things I have to do today, I’m going to try to finish it so I we can get back to talking about books.)

– Kelsey