The photos: go live on Instagram as I take 'em and appear here in digest form on Sundays.
Murchie became camera shy again during the week I spent with THE UNCROWNED KING by Michelle West, so I had to corner him nice and early to get this picture. He uses my duvet to make himself a blanket cave every morning of his life. It's frickin' adorable.
Alas, the book itself--THE DOOR IN THE MOUNTAIN by Caitlin Sweet--didn't quite grab me. After I'd spent somewhat more than two days with the first six chapters, I decided to put it aside. It's by no means a bad book, but I suspect I read it at the wrong time. Bookish withdrawal can be a bitch, even when you know you aren't physically or emotionally ready to dive back in.
Which is to say, I desperately needed to read some short, quick books after my week with THE UNCROWNED KING--except I was also desperate to read more Michelle West. These two conflicting desperations ensured I didn't read much of anything last week.
Sigh.
In fact, the only non-comics, non-audio thing I finished last week was A FANTASY MEDLEY, an anthology edited by Yanni Kuznia. It's 130 pages long and it took me more than two days to read it.
Argh.
I know some of y'all are big on reading slowly, but I hate it. I feel like I'm stagnating if I don't get a good dose of story down me in a timely fashion. The comics helped, but comics offer a different experience than prose fiction. It's the prose fiction experience I'm craving right now, except I can't seem to focus on the printed word well enough to actually drink it in. Talk about frustrating.
Case in point: PROSPERITY by Alexis Hall. It's great. The writing is dense, allusive, and a ton of fun, while the plot is strongly reminiscent of your standard nineteenth century serial--if your standard nineteenth century serial featured queer folks, airships, and lawless towns suspended miles above the ground.
I started it on Thursday. As of Saturday afternoon, I'm ninety pages in.
That thunking sound? Was my forehead connecting with my desk.
To make matters worse, I could not get Murchie to do anything interesting while the book was near him. He insisted on moping.
Next Week: assuming I ever finish PROSPERITY (and I will finish it; as I said, it's great), I'll read a highly anticipated library book and another volume of the Wheel of Time, at the very least. I'll have a new audiobook to show y'all, too; for real this time! I should be in a position to start some new nonfiction, too.
Awwwwwww. What a cute puppy! He's still cute when he's moping. If anything, cuter!
ReplyDeleteI call him Puddledog because he reminds me of Puddleglum; which is to say, his moping is adorable. It makes me want to cuddle his face (though to be fair, I always want to cuddle his face).
DeleteUgh, I feel you on the reading at a slug's pace! I'm floating between not reading at all and reading SUPER SLOW (I'm three days into The Headless Cupid and it's less than 200 pages wtf) and I hate ittttttt.
ReplyDeleteThat's me exactly. Part of me is like, "Well, I'm reading a chunkster, so of course it's going to take longer." Except I don't seem to be able to read short books any more quickly. :( I've even slowed down on the comics front.
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