Top Ten Tuesday

Woohoo. you all know how I love me a Top Ten Tuesday list! This week, though, I'm rebelling against our lovely hosts The Broke and the Bookish, in protest for the fact that I am not going on holiday this year, and so I'm going dark right here, and instead of the top ten books that should be in a beach bag, I'm going for...

Top Ten Books That shouldn't be in your beach bag

1. The Green Mile by Stephen King- Unless you want to start crying in the middle of the beach and to start feeling like there can never be anything good in the world ever again, I would advise against reading this on your holiday. I can still remember my English teacher describing reading The Green Mile on holiday, and saying 'Everyone around me was having fun and playing around, while I was sitting there and wanting to die.' Don't make the same mistake she did!

2. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy- I know that a lot of people are apprehensive about reading this because of its depressiveness anyway, let alone on holiday. If you take this away, stop about halfway through, pretend it's the end, and you'll think you've just read a nice story about an unfortunate girl and her rightful redemption. Go any further, and you will want to scream at the injustice of what Hardy does to his heroine. So it's probably best to not even go there.

3. Atonement by Ian McEwan- I actually did read this book on holiday, and for a whole evening it really did bum me out a fair bit! There really isn't anything very positive about this book at all, so I would really advise that you just leave it at home/throw it away at the airport and get something else. It's really just not worth it!

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling- Captivating, yes. But as you get to the end of the Deathly Hallows, you (or at least I) end up wanting to die just a little bit at the absolute horror that's coming up. If you want my advice on this, take the first four or maybe five books with you, and save the others for when you get home. Unless you want to lapse into a depression for the remainder of your holiday.

5. 1984 by George Orwell- I don't know about you, but the idea of a despotic dictator controlling and brainwashing an entire population is not exactly my idea of light and easy reading. Probably best to leave for a rainy day when such things seem like they could actually be possible, although I suppose that setting could inspire actual despair...

6. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood- If you are female and you want your time on the beach to be overshadowed by the constant threat of being picked up by the evil man establishment in this book, then I'd say go for it. Otherwise, I'd probably stick to something a little less intense and terrifying- like being chased by lions, for example.

7. The Dark Tower, Book 7 by Stephen King- I can't even get into how traumatic I found this book, but let's just say that the story ends with me sobbing in a bath, and yet unable to stop reading and get out to do something comforting. If you want to avoid the same fate on a beach, I'd steer clear of this book (even though it is clearly amazing).

8. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck- Much as I love and adore this book, reading about people in intense poverty whilst on a holiday that you've probably spent a fair bit of money on is possibly not the best idea. It's likely to turn you into a self-loathing depressed person, and not a little bit resentful towards the great Steinbeck. If you simply must take a Steinbeck book to the beach, I'd recommend Cannery Row, which is a lot lighter and pretty fun! Just... Stay away from The Grapes of Wrath, ok?!

9. Room by Emma Donoghue- I think we're all aware just how much I utterly loved this book (you can read my review of it here) but light and easy reading it is not. You're also liable to read it in literally a day, which may make you completely unsociable to whoever you're on holiday with, and you may make them totally hate you when you cry at them about the complete and utter hopelessness of the world. Definitely one to avoid, though I hate to say it!

10. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath- Another book that I LOVE, but which shouldn't really be anywhere near a beach. Ever. Unless, of course, you enjoy feeling like you might be going a little bit crazy whilst in an idyllic location, in which case, knock yourself out! But you probably shouldn't...

Just to be clear- I massively think you should read these all these books, because they are all really excellent, but just leave them at home rather than putting yourself into a funk when you're meant to be all happy because you're on holiday! I'm so excited to read all your lists of what I should read on the beach though, just in case I get someone to take me to a beach at some point this summer!

In My Mailbox/Mailbox Monday

Ohhh yes, I haven't done one of these for a while, and didn't think I'd have the opportunity to take part this week, but a trip into a charity shop on a whim on Friday led to the purchase of two books. My mother was also there, and she wasn't too impressed, but I definitely was! Weirdly enough, these two books were literally the only ones in the shop I wanted to buy, and they were right next to each other on the shelf! Strange, huh? But that's the way it goes, I suppose!

Firstly I spotted The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, and I immediately had to pick it up because, although I've never read anything by Carter, I really really must, because I know already that I'm going to like her. As well as that, though, my wonderful friend Frances wrote her dissertation on Carter, and having heard about it for at least a year, I feel like I should actually read some of the stuff she was talking about and obviously try and be as clever as her! (She might dispute this, but she is clearly cleverer than me because she did an English dissertation, whereas let's just say I did not. Bloody Philosophy!)

And, directly next to The Bloody Chamber was Kingdom of Fear by Hunter S Thompson. I'm going to be completely honest here and tell you that, while I own two Hunter S Thompson books, my only actual experience of him is the movie of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which, to be fair, was completely fucking brilliant. If I'm actually going to be brutally honest, I also thought this was the book about the Hells Angels, and I'm a little bit obsessed with hairy men, and that's why I bought it. On further investigation, though, there is something in it about Thompson trying to kill Jack Nicholson (who I utterly love) which sounds hilarious, and, even though it's not about hairy men, could be its saving grace!

So these are the new additions to my book family this week, how about you? Do let me know all about your new books, and make me utterly jealous!

IMM is hosted by The Story Siren, every Sunday.
Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. It is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. You can view the touring blog list at the Mailbox Monday blog for the upcoming months.

Devouring Stephen King (as Richard Bachman): The Long Walk

Possibly the best thing I can say about The Long Walk is that it was shorter than The Stand, and that's not something to be taken lightly. Other than that, I'm not sure how many nice things I can actually say about a book that sort of underwhelmed me, after seeming to have so much potential at the beginning.

The story begins awfully intriguingly, with a group of boys embarking on a walk that seems to have something sinister about it, although at first it is not exactly clear what this is. After the absolutely horrifying secret of the walk is revealed (if you drop below 4mph, you die- and I don't consider this a spoiler because it was on the blurb of my copy) things get slightly less interesting, and ever so repetitive. I didn't exactly hate the book, but I did get slightly bored by the constant pattern that the story follows- walking, walking is difficult, someone gets shot, repeat. There is slightly more to it than this (a mapping out of Maine, for example) but this is essentially the formula the story follows, and frankly, there is a lot more he could have done with it.

What could he have done? Well, for a start, there are quite a few hints throughout the book of its setting in a dystopian society, which I think could really have been expanded upon in a broader way, rather than the long walk, which is a form of entertainment for the people in this society, being the only real way that this is shown. There is also some talk of the main character, Garraty's, father, a political dissenter, and I really felt that his story could have been fleshed out too. There are some practical reasons why this was not necessarily the case, one of the main ones being that these are teenage boys, who aren't necessarily the best at elaborating on stories, especially, I suppose, when they are walking for their lives. King chooses instead to focus entirely on the long walk itself, something which, I don't really think is enough to give us a fully rounded story, and this one really leaves us wanting to know more about a society that would consider the ritual murder of teenage boys entertainment.

There are, of course, some redeeming features of the novel, it's length being only one of them (seriously- a novel that has, I think, less than 300 pages after The Stand is such a huge relief!). Garraty is a fully formed, living breathing character, which makes the thought of his death all the more horrifying, and the dehumanising actions of the crowd all the more horrifying. It also makes one think of our own society, and how, taken to the ultimate extreme, our voyeuristic nature (anyone like watching boxing?) could lead to an event as horrible as the long walk. This is perhaps what is most interesting about King writing as Bachman- while he is not actually writing horror stories, he does get to the heart of humanity, and finds only scary things there. But I still want to know more about that dystopian society!

So, The Long Walk. Not a long book, but it's increased length could have been a complete advantage to it. It's worth reading if you want a relatively predictable ending, and a lot of description about walking a really really long way. But, to be completely honest, I could have done without it.

Devouring Stephen King: The Stand

It's finally happened. After what seems like actual years complaining on Twitter, putting it aside to do other things and (I'm pretty sure) getting employed in the process, I have finally finished The Stand. 1421 pages of a whole lot of characters, a whole lot of events, and a whole lot of disappointment.

I'm going to qualify this straight away. I did enjoy The Stand, because if I hadn't then I wouldn't have bothered finishing it (something that looked like it might happen at certain points, eg when I hadn't read it for about a month), but there is a vital error, I think, in the way King has structured this novel, and the things he chooses to pay the most attention to. He spends an unholy amount of time paying attention to what would need to be done to rebuild society on a small scale after a disaster where 99% of the population has been wiped out, and it is clear from the attention he gives to this issue that this is something that he finds interesting, and has thought a lot about. To be fair, it is interesting, and King could probably write a whole book on the issue, but it feels like the amount of time spent on this means that there is an ending that feels completely rushed, and a little out of touch with the rest of the book. Case in point: 4 very important characters leave at the end of part 2, and don't show up again for about 150 pages, and really aren't treated with the kind of respect that they deserve in consideration of the rest of the novel. There is also a really really irritating death of a major character, which doesn't annoy me in itself, but just in principle in terms of King building him up to be majorly important and then just killing him without actually doing anything with him. Annoying.

The Stand does have some amazing characters though, both good and bad. I love the way King sets up an ultimate good and then an ultimate bad character, and then allows there to be a mass gathering of people around each of them, depending on whether there is more good than bad in them. Apart from the two 'ultimate good' and 'ultimate evil' characters, I feel like this displays a really realistic view of humanity, in that everyone has the ability to be good or bad, and this depends on so many different factors that it is hard to predict which way anyone will choose to go. Among these realistic characters, there are some that turn out to be so wonderful that you're almost sad that they don't actually exist so that you can't be their friend- Stu, the quiet East Texan who finds the self that he never knew he could be because of the superflu is probably my favourite, but Nick, Larry and Fran are all also wonderful, fully rounded characters. And, as King is wont to do, the bad characters are just as well sketched and dissected- Harold is probably one of the most conflicted characters in King's work, and he presents a fascinating psychological study to us- he has the option to change himself and really be something, instead of just being petty and hateful his entire life, and watching him struggle with this is sort of amazing.

I just realised that, in the last paragraph, I brought up the superflu without ever mentioning it before, and in a way that is part of the problem with the book- you sort of forget that the premise of the story, and the reason everyone gathers in Colorado is because of this virus that wiped out most of the population. Case in point: One character goes to another farm to get a chicken to kill, and laments that she can't call up a taxi to go there, and I sort of thought 'well, why doesn't she call up a taxi?' and then realised why and felt mildly embarrassed for myself. Part of this was definitely to do with reading it over such a long period of time, but also just the complete separateness that each part of the book really does have.

In terms of scariness, The Stand is scary in as far as it is a situation that could really happen (at least at the beginning)- I'm almost positive that military agencies around the world are creating viral warfare right now, and if just one person escaped while infected with a disease... let's just say it wouldn't be good. There are also some really horrifying images that come out of the book (walking through a pitch black Lincoln Tunnel filled with dead bodies, for example) that you really wouldn't want to have to deal with. As for the bulk of the horror, though, the setting up of the struggle between good and evil, and 'the dark man', I really didn't feel the true horror of that- in the end, I think Flagg was not really that formidable an example of evil, and never really does anything to warrant the amount of fear associated with him. It's probably fair to say that I enjoyed the first part of the book, the spreading of the superflu, far more than what followed from it, even though I did really care about what happened to those fortunate/unfortunate immune characters.

I know I've moaned about it a lot, but The Stand is really worth a read, if only for the complete and utter epic scale it's on- it's also worth remembering that mine was a re-read of it, and so I did feel at some points that reading it at all was redundant since I had already gotten through it once (even though I didn't actually remember it...) The characters alone, however, are enough to make you stick with it, and once you've seen them survive the unsurvivable, you'll definitely want to know what happens to them afterwards, and before you know it, you'll have read 1400 pages of a story and wonder what the hell just happened. But you'll feel damn proud of yourself afterwards!

Armchair BEA: Blogging about Blogging

I absolutely love blogging because it gives me something to do in the hours between reading and all that other reading that I do. In this, I treat it more as a hobby than as a business/something to make myself feel good because everyone loves me. This is what I tell myself anyway. But, I have to be honest, and tell you that every new follower, every new comment, and every new blogger friend on twitter makes me feel really amazing, and awed that anyone wants to read about my opinions on anything at all. I would never presume to tell anyone how to run their book blog, and I would never set out guidelines on how to review/write, because everyone's different. If you love what you're doing and how you're writing then that's the most important thing- having followers is great, but if you're not enjoying yourself then there's no point in having them.

I also don't have any rules about the blogs that I follow. I'm going to be entirely honest here, and let you know that, for every comment I get, and for every new follower, I always always check out their blog, and if I don't really like what they review, or the way they review, I don't follow back. I'm not sure if this is the right protocol or etiquette to have in blog following, but there really is nothing personal in my decision to do this- I just don't want to follow a blog that I don't really really love, just out of a sense of obligation, and I wouldn't want anyone to follow me just out of obligation either.

So, apparently blogging is all about love! And really, isn't it? Would there be any point in any of us putting our precious thoughts out there into the harsh, cruel coldness of the internet, spending time that we could be doing anything else with, if we didn't really love it? I think, probably not. Blogging started out for me as a way to fill endless days of boredom and unemployment, but for me it has evolved into something so much more than that, as something that I really look forward to doing, and something that affects how I think about reading- when reading a really good, or even a really bad book, I'm thinking in the back of my mind 'I can't wait to blog about this'. And so I do.

Literary Blog Hop May 26-29

I missed the last Literary Blog Hop so I'm excited to take part in it this week, and it's a really really awesome awesome question too. So wooo!

Talk about one author that you love and why his or her writing is unique. Please be specific.

I  basically have two authors that I adore, one of which is Stephen King, who I do go on about here all the time; and the other is John Steinbeck, who seems like a more appropriate author to talk about here since it is a literary blog hop, and, much as I would like him to be considered so, Stephen King is not exactly literary.

So why do I love Steinbeck so very much? It's kind of hard to explain, I guess, but I've just never really read another author like him. He seems to have this ability to fit so much meaning and symbolism into his novels, but also to combine this with amazing characters that you feel you could know, all while using language that is effortless and understandable, without in the least dumbing down. My love for him may also be fairly attributed to the time I started reading his novels, but I remember him as being the first 'classic' author that I could really understand and connect too, having struggled through some Austen and Bronte when I was really too young to have a full apprecitation for them.

Apart from that, there are just the stories. Based in a California that is so perfectly idyllic, against the background of human nature that can be so bitterly cruel, Steinbeck just nails people down to a fine art- his characters are complex enough to contain within them all a certain amount of good and evil, and it is this more than anything that sets him apart from a lot of other authors- an acceptance that characters, like people, must contain within them just the right balance of good and bad, in order to be plausible. In his fiction, just as in life, there are times when the bad overtakes the good, and it is this that creates just the right amount of drama and intensity in his writing, but more often than not the good wins out, and one feels the integral goodness and joy that there is in the world- in Cannery Row, for example, when Mack does something wrong, he instantly knows it and wants to make it up to Doc, and in his actions you see so much goodness coming out that you can't help but love him. Steinbeck really just puts the entirety of the world under a microscope, and comes out with the conclusion that everyone is really very similar- mostly striving to do the right thing, but sometimes getting lost on the way, sometimes irretrievably, but mostly in a way that they can be saved from.

Steinbeck can also be hilarious, but more than anything he puts out a sense of hope into the world. Even in The Grapes of Wrath, possibly the most hopeless story ever written, the ending is still so symbolic of hopefulness and the promise of a better future that I couldn't love it any more than I do, and I couldn't love him any more either.

Armchair BEA: Blogging Relationships

Ahh,  relationships. Infinitely easier to carry out online than in real life, because you can read tweets and emails and comments at your leisure, and not have someones words and thoughts thrust upon you when you're not in the frame of mind to actually listen. Or maybe that's just me...
But anyway. I'm meant to describe to you one relationship that I have with another blogger, and I am going to, whilst also combining that with my favourite bloggers- to be honest, there is a fair amount of overlap between the bloggers I have the best relationships with and my favourite blogs, because I basically stalk my favourite bloggers on twitter until they follow/talk to me back! That's not creepy at all, right? So, here is a breakdown of my relationships with other bloggers (clearly love you all guys!)

First of all, and quite obviously, there's my blogging bff Jenn of Booksessed, with whom I have the best relationship out of all the blogging land. I think the moral behind our friendship is always comment on blogs, and/or add the lovely commenter on twitter and say things to each other! I'm so glad that I did this with Jenn, since we now email regularly, and I feel like I can tell her literally anything, and hopefully she feels the same about me! In a more cynical sense, this relationship I think is also great in terms of promoting each others blogs, because we just generally like each other so much that we end up going "Jenn recommended this to me, go see her blog!" and vice versa. A friend and blog promotion all in one? Awesome stuff!

Then, there is the wonderful Christina of Reading Thru The Night. Even though (and I don't think I've ever told her this!) I don't approve of her spelling of through (love you Christina!) I do love her blog and her general amazingness. Our relationship went a little something like this- I stalked her on twitter (this is going to sound so familiar in a little bit), we shared a mutual admiration of Tim Gunn one time, and then I answered her pleas for a guest post, because, you know, I needed something to do! This was actually a really good move I think, getting my followers (of which I probably had about 10!) to Christina's blog, and her followers to mine. Also, I love and adore her and want to move to Florida and hang out with her lots! That's cool, right (I want Jenn to be there too, I just don't really want to move to Maine because it seems to snow all the time there!)

Then there's Jennifer of Literary Endeavours. Our relationship is not as close as mine with Jenn or Christina, but I have a special place in my heart for her because I remember her being one of my very first blog followers and commenters, which completely heartened me and convinced me it would be a good idea to carry on blogging and getting little boosts of self esteem from people saying lovely things to me. I also joined Shelfari just so that I could get involved in a discussion of Tess of the D'Urbervilles that she was hosting. Little known and very weird fact: we started our blogs on the very same day. If that's not some kind of fate, then I don't know what is!

My absolute favourite female blogger has to be Alley of What Red Read, who almost always writes about books that I love, or want to read (or, alternatively, makes me not want to read them depending on her opinion of them). I honestly comment on her blog more than any other, and she probably thinks I'm a little bit of a stalker, which obviously I am! I like to think that we have a good mutual blogging relationship though- more often than not I see her commenting on my blog, and we have some very nice twitter conversations too that convince me that we're probably quite similar... and that means I'm totally awesome too, right? (Nobody say no!)

My favourite male blogger, and I assume that he knows this because I do go on about it all the time, is Adam of Roof Beam Reader. He's so unbelievably smart and funny, and his reviews just make me sort of go '...woah!' in their amaingly writtenness. His blog is also one of the ones that actually inspired the creation of my own (as well as the massive urge to take part in The Broke and the Bookish's Top Ten Tuesdays!) and, as such, I've built up a sort of celebrity level of love for him in my brain so that, whenever he replies to a tweet of mine I feel all excited and happy because 'Omg, Adam just like spoke to me!!' It's definitely pretty sad, but hey, that's how I roll.

So, there you go, a bit about blogging relationships, a bit about blogs that I love. Since my blog is basically just a fun thing for me (much as I would love it to be my job, since I could do it at home in my pyjamas!), I'm not really looking to network anyway, but just to meet some awesome people with whom I can discuss books. And I've got those kinds of relationships all sorted, so I'm good!