Thank you to everyone who posted a message of support or advice on my Crisis post. Hearing that a lot of you were going through the same things or had experienced those issues in the past really helped me to put things in perspective. This week I've taken some time to think about my blogging and reading and basically get my head together about a way forward. Thank you all for helping me with this!
I think I've realised that on the blogging side of things, I'm happy with my blog content. I still intend to do my three meme style posts-Weekend, TTT, CWW, along with my regular posts Around the Blogs and Game of Thrones gossip each week. I'll keep doing things like Chuckles Goes Sampling, Prepping With Chuckles and Chuckles Chat but as they are more complex and time consuming, I'll fit them in as time allows rather than to a set schedule. If I have time each week I'll do them, if not they can wait until I can slot them in! I'll do reviews on books and films as they occur with no set pattern. I do still intend to keep following everyone as normal and will visit as often as I can during the week. The one change is that I will be taking Saturday off each week to relax and moving my weekend post to Fridays instead. So not much will change but I'll be more chilled about doing it! I do intend to improve my time management all round to make things a bit easier. Ironing is at the bottom of said list...
The reading side of things was a different story as this was where the real stress was so I had to do some thinking about it. I didn't come up with anything earth shattering just learning through your experiences that stressing over TBR numbers is silly and counter-productive and that I'm the only person putting the pressure on myself. And that IS silly!
This week I deliberatly lounged about at night watching Coronation Street re-runs and Masterchef's new series, not even thinking about books. I actually enjoyed my TV time for a change instead of stressing about 'I should be reading!' And you know what? Yesterday when I got up in the morning, I picked up a non fiction book at random and started reading for the best part of two hours and the same this morning. It kind of feels like a major breakthrough! I didn't have to read but I wanted to. I CAN do everything in one day when I'm not stressing myself over it! I think I've just been too tired at night to read which added to the stress but doing nothing in front of the TV felt more relaxing. I'm also more alert in the morning so maybe that's a better time to read, though I'm not setting that in stone.
Excuse the wording but I need to tell the TBR to bugger itself! This is the biggest form of stress that I have. I've been kidding myself over the true number of books I have on the TBR anyway by about a hundred more books so I'm going to add them on over the next week or two and then bloody well ignore it. No more whinging on your blogs about the numbers, no more shame update on my weekly roundup about it to remind me I'm failing in some way, no more obsessing over it. It's there and it ain't going down anytime soon so get used to it. I'm a book collector so lets call it what it is and deal with it. *sticks two fingers up to the TBR and waggles them enthusiastically*
No book bans either-there's no point! I never stick to them! I do want to focus more on samples to naturally reduce what I buy on the hoof as a money saving exercise but I'll still buy the ones I really want. Like you guys say, it's not a habit that is harming anyone. I'm already feeling a bit more positive that I can move on from this stressed out stupidity and get to the most important thing-enjoying my leisure time whatever I'm doing with it.
Thank you all for helping me do that!
*hugs*
Welcome to Chuckles Chat where great
blogging minds unite to discuss the topics of the day mainly in the book
and blogging world. I'll be sharing my thoughts on a topic and then
inviting you all to share your thoughts. It's ok to disagree but PLEASE
be respectful of each other's views! All of the comments on my blog are
moderated and offensive posts ie racist, bigoted will not be published!
NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by
Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave
comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my
profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account.
This week I'm talking about Book Awards.
I honestly don't know how many book awards and bestseller lists there are out there. A lot, anyway! But how important are they in our decisions as to what we are going to read? These are books generally with critical acclaim and popular authors who sell well but does it make you want to read them personally?
I admit that I generally wouldn't know a book award or bestseller list if I fell over it. I'm more likely to stumble over a pile of books in my room than know anything about these things. I just don't pay any attention to them. I don't honestly care if the book I'm reading won an award, sold millions of copies or topped some list or another. If I like the sound of a book I'll pick it up and try it, if I don't I won't. I'm never influenced by critics or sales figures or stuff like that. I just don't find it personally important in my reading life. I'm actually more interested in what my reading peers are saying about the books so I'll look at reviews on blogs, Goodreads and sometimes on Amazon if I'm considering buying something. Goodreads and blogs are my main source of information though.
Yes of course I have heard of some lists and awards. I know about things like the New York Times Bestseller List for example but the genres I tend to read are more about Indie authors and genres such as horror, apocalypse and zombies so a lot of my reads are never going to make that kind of list. I guess that makes it less relevant for me to check these lists. But to be honest, even if a lot of my books did feature on these lists, I still doubt I would go near them! It's just not something I have ever had a great interest in. An example is that I know about that Bram Stoker horror award but I never look it up. I prefer to just browse horror books that I come across at random on blogs or sites like Amazon and Goodreads.
It works the same for me with book reviews in national newspapers or entertainment magazines. I just never look at them at all. I follow such a wide range of blogs that I see reviews on all genres and I find that more useful than paid critics.
Which awards or bestseller lists do you look at? Is it important to you in your reading life? Do you use these lists and things to pick out books you want to read? Do you not care about what appears on them?Do you prefer looking at reader reviews than critics?
Welcome to my Game of Thrones Gossip,
where us fanatics get the chance to discuss everything we love
about this amazing TV series. I
decided to do a whole series of these discussion posts that let us say
everything we want and enjoy every second of it! Please feel free to comment fully and without restriction!
I have to warn you that it is important
that you have seen all six seasons before reading any of these posts because these posts and blogger
comments will be exploding spoilers all over the place. If
you haven't watched the series and plan to, be warned that it's a bad
idea to be here right now! I take no responsibility if you read on and
things are spoiled for you.
Now I'm looking at the main characters introduced in
season three, what our season two characters were doing and
looking at all the bests bits. Enjoy the season three posts!
Bran, Rickon, Osha and Hodor along with their wolves, have started the journey north to find Jon Snow at Castle Black. Bran still has strange dreams about The Three Eyed Raven but now he is dreaming about a boy not much older than him as well, who seems to be communicating with him in the dreams as if they are sharing the same one.
The boy in the dream is Jojen Reed and he has psychic gifts given like Bran by the Three Eyed Raven. He has used his gifts to connect in their dreams and along with his sister Meera has come looking for Bran to take him to the Three Eyed Raven himself. Jojen knows the way and Bran decides to trust him. Osha does not trust them especially when Jojen explains that Bran is a warg who can enter into the mind of animals, which explains all the wolf dreams that Bran has been having. Osha and Meera have different ideas on everything and tension between them keeps increasing, something Bran has to keep dealing with.
Jojen tells the group that they must go beyond The Wall to find the Three Eyed Raven as that is where Bran needs to go to learn what he needs. Osha refuses point blank to go past Castle Black, remembering how the man she loved was turned into a wight and tried to kill her, causing her to kill and burn him. Having escaped the north to flee these horrors, she has no intention of going back.
They take shelter in a windmill to shelter from a coming storm which is badly upsetting Hodor. That is where the old man fleeing the wildlings goes, pursued by Jon and his wildling group. As the wildlings decide who will kill the man, Hodor starts making too much noise and a desperate Bran enters his head to quieten him, a move that shocks even Jojen as nobody can do that. Bran, through Summer witnesses Jon fighting the wildlings and uses his warg power on both wolves to assist in his escape. With Jon safely on his way to Castle Black, and the wildlings gone, Bran's group move on. Despite his sadness at leaving Jon behind, Bran is on a new mission but decides that Osha and Rickon should seek safety with Stark allies, the Umbers. It will be the final goodbye for the brothers.
Bran finally reaches The Wall and enters the Nightfort, where they settle down for the night. They are surprised by the appearance of Sam and Gilly who are coming from the north. Seeing Hodor, Bran and Summer, Sam identifies himself as a friend and colleague of Jon and he tries to urge Bran to come to the safety of Castle Black with him. Bran refuses and the company go their seperate ways. Bran, Jojen, Meera, Hodor and Summer go beyong The Wall.
***Warning! This blurb contains a massive plot spoiler from the book A Storm of Swords part 2 on the second line! Don't read the blurb or review if you haven't read the book or seen Game of Thrones season 4!!!***
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, new threats are emerging from every direction.
Tyrion
Lannister, having killed his father, and wrongfully accused of killing
his nephew, King Joffrey, has escaped from King’s Landing with a price
on his head.
To the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone – a
structure only as strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark's bastard
son Jon Snow has been elected 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.
But Jon has enemies both inside and beyond the Wall. And in the east
Daenerys Targaryen struggles to hold a city built on dreams and dust.
My Review:
This book contains the POV of Tyrion, Dany, Jon, Bran, Davos, Theon, Asha, Melisandre, and Hotah. It also features Quentyn, Griff, Frog and Reek.
It was good to get back to seeing what was happening with Jon, Dany, Davos, Tyrion and Bran but I also missed the chapters from Samwell, Jaime and Cersei this time. It was good to see Melisandre added into this one, and an update on Theon.
Tyrion survives the journey to Pentos and is quite happy to drink himself to death at the home of Illyrio Mopatis, who tells him that he should meet Dany. Tyrion joins the group of sellsword Griff, but soon realises the hidden royal identity of one of their number, just as they are attacked by the deadly Stone Men. The Golden Company meet the new pretender to the Iron Throne and pledge their swords to him when he decides not to grovel to Dany but invade Westeros to take his Throne.
Quentyn Martell is having similar doubts about his plotted marriage to Dany. The Sons of the Harpy are determined to get Dany out of their city and kill one of her Unsullied soldiers. She ponders whether to open the fighting pits and has to decide how to bring peace to the city. Xaro offers her ships for the journey to Westeros and is furious when she decides she has unfinished business in Slaver's Bay. Dany realises that she has to endure a political marriage for the good of the city when it is Daario that she really wants. Jorah has taken a prisoner that he hopes to use to get back into favour with Dany.
Stannis is greatly annoyed that Jon refuses to give the Castles of the Wall to southern Lords and Melisandre warns the Lord Commander about her vision of betrayal and daggers in the dark. He decides to place his trust in Jon's plan to take Deepwood Motte back from the Ironborn instead of attacking the Dreadfort. Jon decides that it is time he stamped his authority on the Night's Watch and sends Sam and Gilly away from Castle Black with Maester Aemon-and Manse's baby. He is tired of Janos Slynt and his attitude and decides it is time to deal with him. He is also forced to watch Mance Rayder being burned and the wildlings facing a difficult choice over bending the knee. Melisandre reveals her trickery to Jon and that she has sent people to rescue Arya from Ramsay Bolton.
Davos picks up the latest news about Robb's betrayal, Tywin's death and the Boltons taking charge of the North, things that may well doom the chances of Stannis gaining any allies on this mission, and endanger his own life. An unlikely alliance brings him the chance to track down a missing Stark boy to win an alliance for Stannis that he badly needs. Bran realises that Coldhands is actually more dead than alive but decides they have no option but to trust him if they want to get to their destination. In Dorne, Prince
Doran has uncovered a plot by Cersei to kill his son en route to King's Landing and blame the
murder on Tyrion. He asks the Sand Snakes if they are ready to get
revenge on the Lannisters, plotting to have them in place ready for his
orders.
Ramsay tells Theon that 'Reek' must serve him at his wedding to Arya but Theon is quick to realise that the girl at the wedding is not the real Arya Stark. He also has to the face the prospect of betraying his people at Moat Cailin to please Ramsay, and being asked by both father and son to spy for them. He is unable to agree to help Ramsay's terrified bride in fear of his own life. With Euron taking charge, Asha has to decide on her next move but before she can do anything, Deepwood Motte comes under attack and her people have to flee.
Lots of things happening in this book. I actually liked the Dorne story in this book with Doran showing that he is a lot smarter than he was given credit for. His plots to outwit his enemies while looking like a gutless coward really changed my opinion of him and I found this more interesting than any of the previous Dorne stuff. If there had been more of this plot and less on Arianne's love life in A Feast For Crows, I think a lot more people would find Dorne interesting. I very much enjoyed Jon taking real command and dealing with the likes of Slynt and Thorne, showing that not only is he strong enough to be Lord Commander, he has a good mind for tactics. I like his interaction with Stannis. Stannis as always is great to read about and I liked seeing him battling to win over the North by driving out the Iron Born and taking on the Boltons. I liked seeing Theon and Asha's continued struggles too.
I'm not greatly interested in the Quentyn Martell and Aegon plotlines to be honest. There are enough good characters like Cersei, Stannis, Dany and the Tyrells fighting for influence and control of the Iron Throne without throwing in a couple more recent contenders to confuse matters. I think it might be these extra threads that are now causing so many ulcers for GRRM in completing his last two books as it is more resolution to be found that the plot really didn't need. That said, I'm not being critical of him for it but I can see why HBO writers pulled the plug on these extras to focus on the established characters trying to win the Iron Throne. GRRM obviously wanted all of his lands brought to life so there had to be the Dorne side of things but such a pity that Oberyn had to die as I loved his character!
These books are just so wonderfully complex and rich in character development and exciting plot. I admire any writer who can produce something on this level and just keep up the standards the way he does. I can imagine every part of the world he describes and I love so many of the characters and even manage to enjoy the bad guys. I have the second part of this book to read now and then it will be the agony of waiting for The Winds of Winter!
Read January 2018
5 stars
Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at http://www.wishfulendings.com/ to spotlight and discuss books we're excited about but haven't read, which may not even be released yet.
NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by
Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave
comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my
profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account.
A pleasure cruise in Paradise leads to a group of friends to a shark-infested Hell...
When
Alex Simmons is invited to a college reunion in the Hawaiian Islands
aboard the private yacht of his old pal Harry Curtis, he is not sure
what to expect. The two men had a falling-out years ago over the suicide
of one of their friends. Could this be Harry's way of making amends? Or
is something more sinister in store?
The crew sets sail and
arrives at Orchid Atoll, the site of a deserted former Coast Guard
station. But they are far from alone. Out here, three hundred miles from
civilization, Alex and his friends are about to encounter two very
different brands of evil--one human, the other with fins--unlike
anything they could have possibly imagined. They have entered a place
where there's no law, no mercy... and no way out.
Ooh YES to this one! I loved Shark Island so I was excited to find out about this summer release. It feels AGES away though!
