Spin the wheel of fortune, or learn to navigate

[venta]

Right. I asked, you lot provided, thank you very much. I now have a list of books with which to enliven my 2013. (I think I've caught all the suggestions made in the poll, in the comments or in person - if I've missed yours off, let me know.)

I was wondering how to order them - a surname beginning with W has given me a lifelong dislike of alphabetical orderings. But then I realised: it's kind of irrelevant, since I will doubtless go through them in the order they come into the library, or I fall over them in second-hand shops, or impatient suggesters thrust them into my grubby little paws.


Rivers of London by Ben Aaronavich (lanfykins)
The Passage by Justin Cronin (valkyriekaren)
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (ringbark)
The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien (hirez)
The Atrocity Archive by Charles Stross (maviscruet)
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart (bateleur)
Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold (lathany)
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (lnr)
Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (snow_leopard)
The Last Policeman by Ben H Winters (triskellian)
Sabriel by Garth Nix (kauket)
The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (al_fruitbat)
Sunshine by Robin McKinley (waistcoatmark)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (pm215)
Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (dr_bob)
Always Coming Home by Ursula le Guin (sammason)
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (shui_long)
Unless by Carol Shields (Joan)
Persuasion by Jane Austen (Tony)
Farthing by Jo Walton (ceb)
Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea (beckyl)
A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin (tigerfort)
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa (undyingking)
Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford (huskyteer)
The Happy Return by C.S. Forester (damerell)

So... I think that there's only one on that list which I've read. I didn't realise at first, but I'm reasonably certain I read Hounds of the Morrigan some years ago. However, since I can't remember anything that happens in it, it probably deserves another go.

There's a few authors on there where I've read other works and really enjoyed them (David Mitchell (no, not that one), Neal Stephenson, Nick Hornby) and a whole lot more authors I either don't know or haven't even heard of.

There are - at least, if the comments in the poll are to be believed - several books involving vampires. Typecast again :) I do persistently feel that vampire fiction could be done well, but largely isn't - my last attempt in that direction was slightly accidental (I thought it was just about witches). Discovery of Witches sounded like a really good idea, but basically turned out to be a rather better-written Twilight for post-adolescents. It's not a bad book. If you want brooding vampires and relationship angst, it's probably brilliant. I just, er, didn't.

Anyway, I shall make a start on this list, and attempt to post something about each of the books on it as I reach them.


Last year I didn't make any new year resolutions (or, if I did, I didn't post them here, which means I forgot them). I have a general wish to, you know, be better but can't help feeling that unless I codify that a bit it's not going to happen.

Making a huge bundle of resolutions to improve in all directions is just demoralising, so I'll confine myself to a couple.

1. Get more sleep.

Tedious, I know. I learned in the last few months of last year that a series of early nights left me full of energy and ready to take on the world. Disappointingly.

I don't want to be the boring early-night person, and I resent bitterly the time I waste sleeping. I don't want to miss the fun stuff that I might otherwise be doing if I hadn't gone to bed. But neither do I want to be a droopy, yawny bore that can't get its shit together.

2. Writing

Yeah, it's a hardy perennial this one, isn't it? It's been appearing in various guises for at least a decade. Assorted "write more" resolutions have resulted in me writing more, but not necessarily in me achieving much. And yet when I spotted an interesting competition in (I think) the Grauniad, I churned out and entered a 2000-word piece in one evening.

Accordingly, a new format: this year, I will submit some form of written thing to some form of thing (competition, or whatever) once a month. I'm aiming for fiction, but if other opportunities present themselves, brilliant.

Also, I shall remember that opportunities rarely present themselves. If you want 'em, you have to go hunting for 'em.

Two resolutions might not seem much for someone who was claiming they wanted all sorts of nebulous improvements. To be honest, I'm hoping a lot of stuff might follow from getting 1 right.

If I've had enough sleep, I get up when my alarm goes off. That means I get to work earlier, leave work earlier, and get home in time to have slightly more evening than cook-dinner-eat-dinner-bed. I may even do useful things in the evenings. I'm hoping tasks will seem less daunting, and will get done instead of getting put off til tomorrow.

If I'm reasonably efficient about making my lunch, then I even have some spare time of a morning before I set off for work. I could usefully use this doing the twenty-minute ice-pack thing the nice physio lady says I should do to my knee every morning. Or I could spend ten minutes tidying up, and slowly stop the flat descending into chaos. Or, you know, conquer Asia or something before getting on the train to Reading.

Comments

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

I thought Discovery of Witches was quite a good read, though I certainly wouldn't disagree with your summary. I found the second book (can't even remember the title) disappointing.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Shadow of Night. I liked both but the first is certainly a better read.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I believe it is (or is intended to be) a trilogy, so presumably there's another. Or another seven if you're Robert Jordan :)

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Yes, the third is being written now. I believe her when she says she'll stick to three, for a number of reasons (not least that I know her academic record!).

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's a decent read. I think I was mostly disappointed with it because it turned out not to be what I'd hoped it would be.