"Fiddle-de-dee's not English." http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net (no, really, this is a book blog) Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:43:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 my bags are packed, and I’m ready to go http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/06/14/my-bags-are-packed-and-im-ready-to-go/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/06/14/my-bags-are-packed-and-im-ready-to-go/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:41:14 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=520 Hi everyone,

This is an announcement saying that I’m going to post all book-related stuff to Dreamwidth now, where the rest of my journal resides. I am [info] - personalyati there; here’s the full URL: http://yati.dreamwidth.org/. If you decide to follow that journal, it’ll be a mix of posts about other things as well and not just books, though entry about books are tagged as “books“.

I like this site, and I like WordPress and being able to maintain a separate blog for books, but I’ve discovered that it’s taking up too much of my time.

(Here is where everyone frowns and wonders how just posting could take too much of my time.)

I have this bad habit of wanting to know everything, you see. While it doesn’t seem like I spend too much time posting about books, I do spend ridiculous amounts of time figuring out how things work — I keep poking the code and polishing the layout and taking it apart and putting it back together, and at one point I almost decided to write plugin because I couldn’t find something that worked the way I wanted it to, but I backed out at the last minute because it needed research and figuring things out and debugging, all of which needed time.

I do the same at Dreamwidth — I poke around and play with the code there as well, and I like doing it there more than I like messing with code elsewhere. Of course, there are other reasons why I like being on Dreamwidth, and I’ve also decided that I shouldn’t be trying to do so many things at one time. It’s not just this blog; I’m cutting off some other things I’ve been meddling with as well, because I think I’m losing focus on what I actually want to do.

I know some of you guys don’t like LiveJournal or sites that run on the same code as LJ does (which is what Dreamwidth is: the code is forked from LJ and improved on), but OpenID works there if you want to comment, and you don’t need an account just to read posts, so I think there’s really no harm in moving. :) This week’s Weekly Geeks entry on catching up on reviews in already posted there.

Hope to see you guys around.

Cheers
Yati

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/06/14/my-bags-are-packed-and-im-ready-to-go/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 24 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-24-2/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-24-2/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 11:58:30 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=511 And here’s the end of the event meme!

1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Hour 7, I think. That was around 2 am here.

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Go for YA titles — Diana Wynne Jones’s books are fun and quick to read. Manga/comics would be fun too, I think.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
No, not really — this one was pretty perfect!

4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Twitter! Maybe a bit too well — I think a lot of us were glued to the Twitter feed instead of our books. ;)

5. How many books did you read?
I read five books. I finished three.

6. What were the names of the books you read?
– Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett; I started this before the read-a-thon, still haven’t finished it
– Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray, a picture book
– The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
– The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
– Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann; still not finished
(Wait. There’s a pattern here. Scorpion, bird, goose, sheep. Is a prince an animal?)

7. Which book did you enjoy most?
The Goose Girl — looking forward to other books by Shannon Hale

8. Which did you enjoy least?
Moonbird — pretty pictures, but the story could’ve been a lot better

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
Not a Cheerleader, but they did such a good job!

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Very likely! (I wanted to say “Imminent” but alas, scheduling constraints.) A Reader again, though maybe I can try cheerleading on the side!

- - -

And that’s the whole 24 hours! I can’t believe I’m still up. I’m off for a shower (no, I won’t drown XD) and then dinner and then bed. A wrap-up summary type of thing will only be up after I come back from work tomorrow, so don’t wait up for me. ;)

——

Final tally:

Last book read: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
Pages read: pp 110 to 126 (not finished yet)

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (118 pages)

Total page count: 699

Books on hold: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-24-2/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 23 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-23-2/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-23-2/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:59:11 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=507 Three Bags Full: Sheep still trying to make sense of evidence. I just realised that this book was translated from German.

-

One hour to go!

. . . I tried to write something about Dewey, but I just kept deleting what I wrote.

We miss you, Dewey.

I think she’d be really proud of this read-a-thon.

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
Pages read: pp 79 to 109

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (118 pages)

Total page count: 672

Books on hold: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-23-2/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 22 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-22/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-22/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 09:49:13 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=502 A response to mini-challenge for hour 22:

There was a girl who chose to tempt fate
By trying to stay up thirty-six hours straight
        She fell asleep in the shower
        And missed the last hour
And got to work the next morning late!

-

(Well, hopefully she won’t fall asleep in the shower, but there’s still two hours left yet. I have to be at work 12 hours after the Read-a-thon ends. XD)

-

Three Bags Full: I concur with Blodeuedd — sheep are always fun! And dear cheerleaders, all of you, thank you for still being around, even when I feel my posts are getting increasingly incoherent!

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
Pages read: pp 79 to 84

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (118 pages)

Total page count: 646 (lol, the increment keeps getting smaller at every update)

Books on hold: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-22/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 21 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-21/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-21/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 08:59:00 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=497 Three Bags Full: Aaaaand. Sheep still interesting. I, however, can’t think of anything interesting to write about.

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
Pages read: pp 65 to 78

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (118 pages)

Total page count: 655

Books on hold: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-21/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 20 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-20-2/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-20-2/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:56:03 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=494 Three Bags Full: Nothing much to update. Still reading this and getting really amused as the sheep ponder (and get wrong) concepts like God and Satan.

(You can tell I’m just posting this for the sake of not missing the hour. XD)

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
Pages read: pp 42 to 64

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (118 pages)

Total page count: 641

Books on hold: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-20-2/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 19 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-19-2/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-19-2/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:58:43 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=491 Three Bags Full: Sheep detectives! Their shepherd has been murdered and the sheep want to find out who did it.

Who’s seen Shaun the Sheep? It’s a very cute and funny stop-motion animated series about a very smart sheep called Shaun and his herd and his shepherd and the sheep dog. I keep imagining the sheep in the book would look like the sheep in the show. XD

- - -

Going down for a late lunch of leftover pasta.

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
Pages read: pp 1 to 41

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (118 pages)

Total page count: 618

Books on hold: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-19-2/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 18 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-18/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-18/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:59:14 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=487 The Little Prince: Care was pointing out in the last post that there’s a lot of critical analysis on this one (the book’s introduction itself had some of that) but I’m just not inclined to check it out, I guess.

Alas. The whole big allegory escapes me this time.

Uh. The illustrations were cute!

Three Bags Full: Just starting this one. There are funny pictures of sheep at the bottom of the pages!

- - -

Hey ho. Still plodding along. Nothing much else to do. Besides, who’d be able to sleep in this heat anyway? Weather report says it’s 32 °C with a humidity of 66%.

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann
Pages read: just starting it!

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (118 pages)

Total page count: 577

Books on hold: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-18/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 17 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-17/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-17/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:59:38 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=484 The Little Prince: It’s still strange. Is it an . . . an allegory to something?

Finished the story, actually, but there’s a section “Letter to a Hostage” at the end I haven’t read, and I skipped all the introductory pages at the beginning.

- - -

I fell asleep for a bit. At first I thought I missed an hour, but apparently I was only asleep for a few minutes?

——

Updates:

Currently reading: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Pages read: pp 44 to 103

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)

Total page count: 562

Books on hold: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-17/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 16 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-16-2/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-16-2/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:55:38 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=481 The Little Prince: Baobabs? And . . . kings?
Whimsical and strange. Am I missing something?

——

Updates:

Currently reading: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Pages read: pp 1 to 43

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)

Total page count: 502

Books on hold: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-16-2/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 15 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-15/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-15/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:57:11 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=478 Race of Scorpions: Sometimes some of the lines seem so ludicrous I have to pause and think and then after a bit I start giggling. I quote you one:

“The lady Marietta of Patras had several noses: some of wax and some, of various shapes, in painted wood.”

This charming lady is also known as Cropnose.

- - -

It’s hot, and I think I drifted off. I lost 15 minutes and my place on the page.

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett
Pages read: pp 303 to 310

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)

Total page count: 459

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-15/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 14 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-14/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-14/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:57:24 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=476 Race of Scorpions: Um. Nicholas. Still confined to bed. A lot of plotting. I’m not certain about what. Monopoly of sugar? This dude is involved. Why do I jump into these things with no background.

It’s only 10 am and it’s already too warm.

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett
Pages read: pp 297 to 302 (Which is not even one chapter. ^^;)

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)

Total page count: 451

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-14/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 13 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-13/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-13/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:57:57 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=473 The mid-event survey!

1. What are you reading right now?
Surprisingly, I’m back to Dorothy Dunnett’s Race of Scorpions.

2. How many books have you read so far?
Two and a few chapters — I was already halfway through Dunnett’s book when the read-a-thon started.

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
I didn’t have any books planned; I’m just picking whatever looks interesting on the shelf!

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day?
Nope. I only signed up on Saturday afternoon (we started at 8 pm local time), so I didn’t really have any time to plan anything.

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
Not really! I did all my chores yesterday, since we started at night. (One good thing about being at +8 GMT!)

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
How popular Twitter is! It’s totally addictive too — I try to be as far away from my computer as possible.

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
No, not really.

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year?
Take a nap in the afternoon before the read-a-thon.

9. Are you getting tired yet?
Yes, actually. I’ve been up since this time yesterday. (That’s one of the more terrible things about being at +8 GMT.) I don’t think I can sleep though — it’s morning and, well, it’s morning and there’s light outside and I’m just not used to sleeping/napping during the daytime.

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered?
– Don’t force yourself? (Says the girl who’s been up for 24 hours. Uh.)
– Short updates are fun! Also it forces me to stop reading for a few minutes each hour and have fun reeding the tweets and the blogs and participate in mini challenges.

– - — - –

Race of Scorpions: Uh. I ended up reading this anyway. Apparently my brain still can parse political intrigue. Also interesting things happen when Nicholas is in a sickbed — “interesting” being more like “disasterific”.

Wah. My consistent update plan was almost spoiled by the man who came to mow the lawn!

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett
Pages read: pp 289 to 296 (Which is actually one chapter. The font is tiny!)

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)

Total page count: 445

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-13/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 12 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-12-2/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-12-2/#comments Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:58:54 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=470 The Goose Girl: Yay happy endings!

Good morning! It’s a slightly cloudy Sunday morning here. Finished Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl; looking at the TBR shelf feeling slightly bewildered. Everything looks either too massive or would knock me out. (I’ve been up 24 hours! Will I survive another 12 hours? TIME WILL TELL.)

Probably will start Yoko Ogawa’s The Housekeeper and the Professor, or maybe continue Paul Torday’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. I went back to Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett — first sentence of the chapter I was about to read goes “‘So you fell on your axe?’ Tobie said.” which I found hilarious but I doubt I’ll be able to understand Nicholas and his motives when I’m sleep deprived. And a bit hyper. Oh well.

Breakfast now! Half-boiled eggs and bread, and tea. Still can’t decide what I should read while eating. Hmmm.

——

Updates:

Currently reading: Nothing!

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (383 pages)

Total page count: 437

Books on hold:
Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-12-2/feed/ 24-hour Read-a-thon: Hour 11 http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-11-2/ http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-11-2/#comments Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:57:43 +0000 Yati http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/?p=468 The Goose Girl: Woah more sword fights. Didn’t expect it to be this bloody. I should be finishing this book by the next hour.

Kinda proud of myself for being able to post every hour. Though I still feel vaguely apologetic for spamming. XD (But then again, it’s only 24+ posts, and then I’ll be the void that never updates once again, yes?)

——

Updates:

Currently reading: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Pages read: pp 313 to 363

Books finished:
Moonbird by Joyce Dunbar and Jane Ray (32 pages)

Total page count: 416

Books on hold:
Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett

]]> http://fiddlededee.distantskies.net/2009/04/19/24-hour-read-a-thon-hour-11-2/feed/