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Uber User
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Location: UK | I'm planning to read no SF and no fantasy for the month of April. I'm still allowing horror, since that's not one of my staples, so I might make some very minor progress on my challenges, but I decided I wanted to catch up on my non-genre reading a bit, and this seemed like a sort of fun way to go about it.
Basically, I'm going to set off reading non-SF/F books at the start of April, and see how far I get before I need a bit of comfort-reading.
I'm also considering having a women-only month later in the year. That's a little trickier to combine with my attempt to read a short story a day - I don't seem to have many collections by women - but I think I could probably just about do it. I was thinking June, although that might conflict too much with the Hugo voting, if I decide to do that again this year. |
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| If you want non-genre women's short stories I recommend Alice Munro or Edith Pearlman both literary award winners. |
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Posts: 770
Location: SC, USA | DrN, I'd love to see your reading list for your cold turkey month.
I had planned to make sure that I read one historical fiction novel a month this year. They could be mysteries or straight historical. Then I got derailed in January because I had the opportunity to write an article about a historical mystery series. I read all 7 of them in Dec/Jan, which fouled up all sorts of plans
Rhonda |
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Uber User
Posts: 770
Location: SC, USA | And P. S.
Tor's free fiction might be a good place for you to find short stories by women if you decide to do an all-women month.
http://www.tor.com/stories/prose
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Uber User
Posts: 526
Location: UK | It's not set in stone, but I'm hoping to read some or all of:
The Tin Princess - Philip Pullman - The fourth Sally Lockhart book. It's a really long time since I read the first three.
Murder on the Orient Express
Wolf Hall
Gone Girl
The Bloody Ground - Bernard Cornwell
The Long Ships - Frans Bengtsson
A random Nevil Shute
The rest of my alphabetical crime challenge
Bad Pharma - Ben Goldacre
Into the Woods - John York
Seven Deadly Sins - David Walsh
Screenwriting 101 - Film Crit Hulk
Or I could probably just read Shogun for the whole month.
And for the daily shorts:
Ghost Stories of an Antiquary - MR James
His Last Bow - Arthur Conan Doyle
The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes - ed Mike Ashley |
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Uber User
Posts: 770
Location: SC, USA | I have Wolf Hall and its sequel on my TBR pile right now. I also have the first Sally Lockhart book on the pile as well. I'm excited that Masterpiece Theatre (here in the US) is presenting Wolf Hall, but I was hoping to have finished the books before I watched it. |
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Uber User
Posts: 526
Location: UK | We've already had the TV version here. I recorded it, and don't intend to watch it until I've read the book.
I feel kind of bad that I prefer to be ignorant of the actual historical events when I'm reading historical fiction. That way I feel like I'm learning something and I haven't had the books spoilered by reality. I do know a little bit about Wolf Hall, but only the major headlines, and I'm not that sure about some of those. I know very little about the US Civil War, covered by the Bernard Cornwell. |
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Uber User
Posts: 526
Location: UK | Almost at the halfway point, and I'm on the fourth book of my month of no SF/F. I'm a couple of days into Wolf Hall, and it's fairly slow going so far, so I'm not sure how many more books I'm going to fit into the month. I knew the Christie and Cornwell books would be quick reads, so I deliberately got them in before Wolf Hall.
So far:
The Four Last Things - Timothy Hallinan (Crime)
Battle Flag - Bernard Cornwell (Historical)
Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie (Crime)
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantell (Historical)
Almost all my daily short stories so far have come from the Mammoth Book of Locked Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes - all bar one standalone story, also crime - and there are still about ten to go.
Since I'm not bothering with the Hugos this year, I think I'll probably go ahead with women-only month in June. |
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| The Wolf Hall TV series is actually Wolf Hall and it's sequel Bring Up The Bodies. Both won the Man Booker prize. |
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Posts: 526
Location: UK | I do also have the sequel, but I didn't realise I'd need to read that as well before I can watch the adaptation. |
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| There is a stage version that is also both. It's due to open on Broadway soon (transferring from the West End). There is also a third book due which covers Cromwell's fall and execution. Why they didn't wait for the trilogy to be complete and how they are going to handle it when it is published is a mystery to me. |
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Uber User
Posts: 526
Location: UK | Nearing the end of my month of no SF&F. Wolf Hall was quite a long read, but I finished it on Saturday, and have started a bit of non-fiction, Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh. My main worry with this is that I'm reading it too fast, and will have to read another non-genre book if I finish it before the end of the month.
I also finished The Mammoth Book of Locked Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes on Friday, and have moved on to the Sherlock Holmes collection His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle, which should see out the month for me on my daily short story track.
There are still a lot of non-SF/F books I want to read, but it's nice to have caught up a bit, even if I did occasionally crave some comfort-reading. I don't even know what genre book I feel like reading when the month ends. |
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Posts: 526
Location: UK | Well, I timed it perfectly, and finished Seven Deadly Sins last night.
Back to SF today, probably with The Long Tomorrow for the 50s challenge. |
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Admin
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Location: Dallas, Texas | DrNefario - 2015-05-01 7:01 AM Well, I timed it perfectly, and finished Seven Deadly Sins last night. Back to SF today, probably with The Long Tomorrow for the 50s challenge. That's my next book for the 50s challenge too. Hope it's good. |
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