The Sunday Salon: Rock Star Book Events

What Caught My Fancy This Week

So I was lurking on twitter this week and caught a conversation about meeting people at book events. I’ll admit I’ve never met anyone that I have formed a long lasting relationship with but I’ve had a lot of fun.

Once upon a time I was slightly addicted to the Harry Potter books and I ended up queuing for both Order of the Phoenix and The Deathly Hallows. Queuing for The Deathly Hallows was the most fun. My story about why I queued for the Order of the Phoenix is that I was on my way home from the pub and it seemed like the thing to do (that is my story and I am sticking to it).

When The Deathly Hallows was released some friends and I organized a Harry Potter trip. Yep, I’m one of those people :D. The trip had actually been planned before the book release was announced but some quick changing around and we were able to make it coincide with the release. We spent a couple of days in London, then up to Fort William and Inverness and finally to Edinburgh for the book release. During the trip we took pictures of a Penguin named Gred (HP fans will understand the Gred)(who belongs to my friend J and I need to send him back now that I have found her again, thank you facebook). I thought I would share some of the Gred pictures with you.

Gred on the London Eye

Gred at Wicked

Gred at the Tower of London. “Off with his head!”

Gred with Rita Skeeter queuing for the book

Gred with the book (or should that be books

I had a great time on that trip and queuing for hours for the book was great fun too. People were so nice they didn’t mind if you swapped people queuing so my friends and I took turns so we could go eat. And no I wasn’t first (but very close to first) in line :D

Reviewed

Only one book reviewed this week: Ceremony in Death by J.D. Robb. It is a solid book in the In Death series but just that. It does cover some interesting aspects of religion.

Reading

Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton. I am really enjoying this book (although I wish I was reading it in English, long story). It is interesting to see where the Secretary of State came from and how she formed her ideas. I am currently up to the first Presidential campaign.

The Namesake  by Jhumpa Lahiri not really listened to this this week, BUT enough snow has finally melted around here that I can resume my daily walks, which will be great for my audio book listening as well as my general health.

 

Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb. Next instalment in the In Death Series. I will probably take a break from In Death after this one, not that I don’t like them but I need to read something else too. I started this one because I have a doctors appointment this week and I need something I can keep in my handbag for the waiting room :D. Plus I need something that doesn’t require my full brain this week with all the thesising I’ll be doing. This one fits the bill.

Read in…March

Because I am incredibly busy with my thesis right now I am not doing a separate monthly round up post but I will just use this salon post for my monthly round up as well. This might very well be the case for April and May as well as I don’t think I will be any less busy those months, but we shall see.

March was another pretty good reading month for me, I managed to read 9 books.

Disgrace by J.M Coetzee. This was a book I read for school. I really didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t like the view of women and men it presented. Don’t really recommend it.

The Commitments by Roddy Doyle. Another book for school. Another book I didn’t particularly like. It was the writing style more than anything. I never got a hold of the characters. Didn’t feel for them, plus I find reading a book almost completely in dialect difficult at best.

Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery. Read for the Childhood Favourites Challenge and the Flashback Challenge, and boy did I like it. It has been years since I read this book and I had forgotten large chunks of it. Because of this it was like meeting Anne and her friends for the first time once again. I really did love it!

Tracks by Louise Erdrich. The final book for my lit theory class and yet again not one I will be putting in my favourites of the year. I found it weird. When I thought about it and we discussed it in class I understood it more but not enough to like it. Once again I didn’t feel for the characters.

Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb. The newest instalment in the In Death series and probably one of my favourites. It was a great mixture of fun and mystery and seriousness. Chapter 5 had me in absolute stitches (it also had both of my parents in stitches when they read it). A great addition to the series.

The Distance Between Us by Masha Hamilton. I read this for the Spotlight Series and I really think it is a book that will stay with me. It shows the problems in the Middle East in a balanced and thoughtful way. It is a quite book but one that says a lot.

Beginning Theory by Peter Barry. Now I don’t normally review text books but I think this one is one that would be of use for many a bookworm in understanding the different types of theory out there and thus perhaps understand what the authors are trying to do. It is a very accessible book on a somewhat complicated topic.

Mias Systrar (Mias Sisters) by Maria Eriksson and Kerstin Weigl. This non-fiction book tells of the problems that abused women face even after they have left their abuser. How he continues to torment the women and sometimes leave them dead. Powerful and important book and a very important topic.

I have one more book that I read this month that I have yet to review, look for that book later this week.

Copyright ©2010 Zee from Notes from the North.This post was originally posted by Zee from Notes from the North. It should not be reproduced without express written permission.