Bout of Books 8.0 Sign-up and Goals

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I decided to sign-up almost at the last minute. I've participated in all Bout of Books so far, although the last two have been a (not)reading disaster for me, as has been my reading this year in general. But there is always a chance of improvement and 8 is one of my favourite numbers, so why not give it a try?

 

Here are MY GOALS:

Considering my reading this year is crappy, reading every day will suffice as a goal.

Books to read/finish:

• Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
• Eighty Days Yellow by Vina Jackson
• Love and Intrigue by Friedrich von Schiller

Other goals (aka trying not to be a hermit and to reconnect with blogging community):

• participate in at least one challenge
• participate in one twitter chat
• visit at least one 'new' blog each day and comment
• and visit at least two 'old' blogs each day and comment

Of course, I might have a bad week, as is the norm lately, and fail miserably, but maybe not.

What are your goals?

Come and See My New Blog Design

It took me quite a while, but I did it – a whole new image. I still use blogger template, of course, but I changed my layout to one sidebar a while ago and cleaned away various gadgets.

And now I finally managed to make a new header and a matching button, twitter header and Google+ header.

Yay, I have a header that doesn't mess with my love for changing backgrounds.

Yes, I've given in to Google's monopolising pressure and upgraded to Google+. I guess it will have its advantages.

A quick guide to my rearranged sidebar: At the top you'll first find a search box and a little bit about me.

Next, there are subscription/follow options, I recommend e-mail or rss (feedburner) subscription, but you can also add me to feedly, follow on twitter, goodreads, google+. If you're curious about my TV/film and other obsessions, feel free to check out my tumblr and if you need to contact me, you're welcome to do so via email.

Next, you'll see my current reads and my goodreads challenge progress (which is terrible this year), followed by blog archive.

Feel free to grab my button or check out my labels. 

At the bottom, you can find our old friend GFC device, which (I think) will sooner or later become history with Google pushing Google+, that's why I moved it down (and the numbers were counter productive on me). I think I'll eventually remove it completely.

And that's it.

What do you think of my new design?

Does the header appropriately express the 'Beyond Strange New Words' idea - all kinds or worlds flying from books?

Oh, and one other change: I implemented AddThis sharing buttons for easier sharing.

Now that I have a brand new look and everything, I only need to get back into reading and posting more regularly. Maybe these changes will be an incentive for me in that aspect as well.

ETA:

So, five minutes after I posted this I decided I am still not happy with it. I went back to tweaking and two hours later I have what you're seeing right now.

And now I'm happy.

Whoa. *wipes sweat of her forehead*.

Tell me what you think?

LOTR Reread Highlights: The Fellowship of the Ring

Note: SPOILERS ahead for those who haven't read the book and/or seen the movie.

Apparently I CAN read a 500+ pages book in under two weeks time. It just has to be the right book, I suppose. Well, I can't miss with LOTR, and despite the fact that I've reread it for I-don'-know-which time, it kept me motivated to keep reading, which has been hard for me this year. So, yay for that.

A few things I take away from this reread:

• Recalling back some of my original vision of the characters, especially Frodo. I last reread LOTR two years ago, but I've watched the movies a few times since, and the film presentation basically took over my own.
• Remembering that Frodo wasn't in fact chased to the Buckleberry Ferry by the Nazgûl. That was a stupid film thing.
• Also, in the books Boromir doesn't make his stupid plea to Aragorn to give the company time to grieve right on the doorstep of Moria. Everyone in the book knows they have to get out of there ASAP, in spite of grieving.

Oh, look, this post has turned into the-book-is-better-than-the-movies rant.

But then, I think I've said it before, I love the movies, they are generally very well-made, considering the extent of Tolkien's world, but I have geeky problems with details.

Anyway, I enjoyed rereading The Fellowship of the Ring again, for the story and the characters, remembering the little details I'd forgotten, and of course beautiful language. I read it in Slovene translation this time and in LOTR's case, it is a great translation, save some typos.

So, I can't wait to move on to The Two Towers. I'll post a similar recap/reaction post after I'm done with that.

And yay, I'm reading again, and not so slow, and enjoying it!

Changing My Profile Name

It's a huge step, I know. But I've been thinking about it for a long, long time, and I finally decided to go through with it.

Why am I'm doing this?

When I ventured into blogging, I didn't give it much thought because I just wanted to try it out. I chose Pepca as it is my nickname, an old-fashioned version of my name, and I started a blog in my mother tongue, so I wanted something familiar without using my real name. I later carried that profile over to book blogging in English.

However, I soon became aware that might not have been the best decision.

I do not want to use my real name, for two reasons: a) it's a mouthful for non-native-speakers of Slavic languages, and b) I come from a small country where everyone knows everyone and I'd rather keep some things private from certain people. (And yes, I know if one makes some effort anything can be found online anyway, but at least I'm trying to make it less easy).

However, Pepca is a tricky name, as well, as far as pronunciation is concerned and probably also its meaning.

Next, I'm lately trying to consolidate my online presence, using as few different profile names as I can.

My main goal behind changing my blogger and related profile names (Twitter, Goodreads) to something closer to my real name is to appear more serious and professional, while English-friendly.

I've given it a lot of thought and made plenty of research on should-I and how-to, wavered whether to do it or not, weighed pros and cons of such a big step and I've finally come to a decision to go with it.

I think now is a good time for it, too, as my blog is basically hibernating, I think, hopeful those who are still sticking with despite my lack of posting me won't run away. And I am going to do some other minor things, such as update pages and clean up the sidebar a little. So that when I get back into reading and posting more frequently, I can have everything neat and ready the way I want and I'll be able to focus on the content.

Now, the not-so-big reveal (but still, drumroll, please):

as my name is a Slovene version of Josephine, I'll be, from now on,

Jo K.

I know it's a very common name, but this is good as it gives me privacy, and it fulfils my aim at simplicity.

I'll be doing the changes over the next few days.

So, you see, I made quite a mess back when I started engaging in blogging and being active online elsewhere. If any future bloggers/online participants in anything are reading this, take my advice: think well before you create any profiles, etc, google your ideas, check their availability everywhere you think you might use them. It's nothing new, but I could have used such an advice at my blogging start.

What I've Been up to

Hi, everyone!

I think it's time to let you know I'm still alive and apologize for my lack of posting.

My non-blogging is closely related to my non-reading. Yes, I STILL seem to be in a reading rut. I think this is my longest reading rut since uni (I only read required material for about two years then).

I AM reading, though, just very slowly. And it's not that I don't enjoy reading, I just enjoy it very slowly and in small amounts. So I have nothing to review.

However, I started rereading LOTR last weekend and it's actually going well, so maybe that will help me pull out of this ridiculous reading slump.

Nevertheless, while not being able to read, I had time for other things:

• I've been self-teaching myself a lot about making/editing graphics (I'm far from an expert still, of course, but seriously dabbling into it made me appreciate graphic designers much more than I used to – I used to think it's easy for them as they have the right software etc., but now I see how much hard work and time it takes. So hats off to them/you if any of you is reading this).
• I've been reading more about writing to expand my skills there. (I don't count this as 'the reading', as it's mostly online articles.)
• I've been writing a little, trying to get myself into writing very day (I have to work on that still) because practice makes perfect. Right?
• I've been doing some freelance copy-editing, although I'm still looking for a full-time job.

I've also been thinking about some changes to my blog – but more about it in a few days, hopefully.

I've been lately checking my favourite blogs and easing myself back into book blogging sphere because I miss it and I hope to gradually get back. (But life has been messing with me for quite some time, so I can't really say when and to what extent that will happen).

Anyway, I just wanted to give some sign of life and thank you for still bearing with me.

Oh, and Her Majesty the Cat is as majestic as ever, ruling the household to her satisfaction, and is right now overseeing my typing from the windowsill.

Bout of Books 7.0 – Goals & Updates

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 7.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

MY GOALS

Considering my reading this year is crappy, reading every day will suffice as a goal.

What I 'll be reading: Angelology by Danielle Trussoni. One book will be more than enough. I started it a week or so ago and only managed to read on chapter. It was/is interesting and I want to read it but I just somehow can't manage to work the reading into my schedule (my reading this year is completely off, but BoB is usually a good motivation). I'm more than optimistic if I say I hope I might get halfway through it this week.

UPDATES

I’ll also update on Twitter @StrangeNewWords, and you can find me on Goodreads.

Monday, May 13:
Number of pages I've read today: 20
Total number of pages I've read: 20

Tuesday, May 14:
Number of pages I've read today: 19
Total number of pages I've read: 39

Wednesday, May 15:
Number of pages I've read today: 31
Total number of pages I've read: 70

Thursday, May 16:
Number of pages I've read today: 6
Total number of pages I've read: 76

Friday, May 17:
Number of pages I've read today: 0
Total number of pages I've read: 76

Saturday, May 18:
Number of pages I've read today: 0
Total number of pages I've read: 76

Sunday, May 19:
Number of pages I've read today: 0
Total number of pages I've read: 76

WRAP UP:

Total number of pages I've read: 76

I think I reached a new low as far as my Bout of Books are concerned. It was going well until Wednesday, but then things just piled up and I found myself falling in bed each evening without having read anything.

Well, at least I read something in the first half of the week – probably more than I would have without Bout of Books, so that's something. And it got me really interested in the book, so here's to hoping I manage to read more of it this week.

How did your Bout of Books go?

 

Safe Haven (2013)

DIRECTOR: Lasse Hallström; CAST: Julianne Hough, David Lyons, Josh Dushamel…

SUMMARY (from IMDB): A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.

MY OPINION:

I picked up Safe Haven a few years ago and although I had liked a few of Nicholas Sparks’ books, for example, Message in a Bottle, The Notebook, The Rescue, I couldn’t get past the first twenty pages or so of Safe Haven. I haven’t picked up a Sparks’ book since. Therefore, I wasn’t particularly interested in the film based on it. Basically, the only reason I watched Safe Haven was David Lyons.

My biggest problem with Safe Haven was that it didn’t make me invested into the main protagonists’ storyline. There are films (and books) when starting in medias res works great. Safe Haven is not one of them. Katie’s backstory is only shown in vague few seconds-long flashbacks and we learn what actually happened only about three quarters into the film, which made me feel disconnected from Katie. I just couldn’t care about her or root for her. For all we can glimpse in the flashbacks – some struggling and her scared face and bloody hands, she could have just as well been a murderess (albeit accidental) and/or a cheater. I think if the film started with showing her being abused, I would immediately sympathise with her and be more interested in her story.

Next, Katie’s romance with Alex follows the same path. We are not shown how they fall in love – there’s some misunderstanding, some flirting, and suddenly they sleep together, and only later – again three quarters in the film – Alex learns about Katie’s past and in the end they suddenly love each other.

Alex’s backstory would be interesting had it been presented less superficially. However, we are more or less only told rather than shown that he is struggling with the loss of his wife (I mean, he doesn’t hesitate at making his moves on Katie, so…). The same goes for how his kids deal with it. I think the whole matter was best portrayed by Alex’s little son. That says it all.

As I have said, the reason I even watched Safe Haven was David Lyons, who plays Katie’s abusive alcoholic husband. I am seriously partial to David Lyons, but still, his character is in my opinion the best developed and portrayed in the film. I know we are supposed to hate him, but I couldn’t quite.

Yes, mentally and physically abusing one’s spouse is a horrible thing and ‘but he/she loved her/him’ is never an acceptable excuse. However, I couldn’t but feel for Kevin, because he did love her and he was torn between knowing what he was doing was horrible and being sorry about it and on the other hand being unable to stop doing that. So, I couldn’t just simply hate him but I was wondering what has gone wrong. Kevin’s abuse and alcoholism were obviously old problems and it made me question what caused them and if anyone tried to do something about it and help him or not and if not, why? Did Katie try to talk to him and maybe get them into therapy, before things escalated? What about his job? Maybe something (or just regular stress) work-related triggered his alcoholism and abusiveness? How come his superiors didn’t notice anything earlier and made him get some counselling? You see what I’m getting at? Kevin is such a complex villain and so well-presented by David Lyons I can’t just simply hate him. If they meant me to do that, they should have opened the film with him cold-heartedly abusing Katie. I think that would have made an entirely different movie.

Another thing that bothered me in Safe Haven was the inclusion of ‘mystery’. Yes, in quotation marks. I started being suspicious about it after Katie’s dream and I wasn’t surprised at the revelation. What bothered me was how this topic was just put there as something on the side, because I usually like those kind of mysteries when they are properly dealt with. Thus, it just seemed like a cheap trick (and perhaps copying, I’m not sure which book was written first, Safe Haven or P.S. I Love You, but the latter was what this whole matter immediately reminded me of, except that it was far from being anywhere near to being as good).

Overall, I think Safe Haven’s main issue is trying to deal with too many topics, and while domestic abuse, loss of a spouse and a parent and dealing with it and letting a new person into one’s life, and afterlife are intriguing topics more than worth delving into, Safe Haven just  brushes past them and thus trivializes them.

Some films and books can make dealing with numerous themes work out great. Safe Haven is not one of those. A part of the problem is that Hallström (and Sparks) seemed unable to decide between making this a drama or a romance, and so they made a tasteless mix of both. Instead of exploring the themes and making the viewers think about them, Safe Haven makes the viewers do all the work and speculate about practically everything.  

 RECOMMENDATION: I can’t really recommend Safe Haven. Unless you are just looking for something to kill time with or for certain actor/actress. The main romance just didn’t interest me. I would have stopped watching after the first fifteen or twenty minutes if it wasn’t for David Lyons.

 

Wood Angel by Erin Bow

SUMMARY (from Goodreads): Plain Kate lives in a world of superstitions and curses, where a song can heal a wound and a shadow can work deep magic. As the wood-carver’s daughter, Kate held a carving knife before a spoon, and her wooden talismans are so fine that some even call her “witch-blade”: a dangerous nickname in a country where witches are hunted and burned in the square. A mysterious fog ruins crops and spreads hunger and sickness. The townspeople blame Kate.

The stranger Linay will exchange her shadow for escape and her heart’s wish. It’s a chance for her to start over, to find a home, a family, a place to belong. But Kate soon realizes she can’t live shadowless forever — and that Linay’s anger and grief (like the bereaved author) can "level a city".

MY OPINION:

What I liked:

• Kate. She is a wonderful character. Definitely flawed, and with heaps of misfortune, but she is persistent to survive, to learn to better herself and her life. I loved her passion for carving, which is not a simple occupation for her, but a vocation, a gift she uses to serve and help other people.
• The way magic is explained and treated: a mix of traditional and unique concepts, especially the notion of magic being an exchange of gifts.
• The way the rusalka legend is presented.
• Taggle. I don't know how to describe him without spoiling anything. He is one of the best cats I have ever read about. Fierce, clever, loyal little thing. I loved him.

What I didn't like:

• Stereotypical portrayal (especially of the Roma people) in spots.
• Indecisiveness whether to make it a YA or adult (meaning as for older readers) novel:
  Let me explain. The main character is a 14-year-old girl and on the first impression this quite a short novel tells a story of adventure, magic and fantasy, but on the other hand the novel deals with topics that may be too mature for many a young adult, such as cruelty and neglect to both animals and people/children; poverty; discrimination against women, the poor, and the Roma people; witch-hunting; and moral aspects of using (black) magic. At times Bow uses some clichés in regard to these topics, although I generally liked the way they were dealt with.

Wood Angel managed to keep my attention and I read it quite fast, considering my recent reading manner, so this is a big compliment to the book. It made me frown and laugh a few times, and cry in the end, all of which is also a compliment. Generally, I enjoyed Wood Angel. It is a dark story, but a suspenseful and intriguing one..

RECOMMENDATION: I would recommend Wood Angel to mature teens and older due to the topics it deals with. If you like a darker fantasy and adventure, I think you might enjoy Wood Angel.