English Title: The Adventures of Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan (LT)
Original Title: سيرة سيف بن ذي يزن (I think. Apologies if I’ve messed it up.)
Author: Anonymous (translated by Lena Jayyusi)
Series?: Nope.
Basic Reason for Beginning: Course book.
Basic Reason for Finishing: Course book. Also, highly entertaining.
Texture: Parts of it were quite tight, but most of it was very smooth? Like a tile.
Blurb: Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan is/was a Yemeni king. This is his ‘biography’ as it is recorded in folklore. (In shortened version.)
Book Rereadability: I… don’t know. Story-wise it’s highly entertaining.
Author Rereadability: It’s hard to reread an anonymous author, but I’d reread the translator if I found another translation.
Recommendation: If you’ve an interest in medieval literature, folktales, epic tales, or just generally Arabic literature without speaking Arabic. Also if you’re looking for something totally different from Western literary texts. (Lousy recommendations, I know. Sorry…)

Title: A Worthy Legacy (LT)
Author: Tomi Akinyanmi
Series?: Nope
Basic Reason for Beginning: Darlene from Peeking between the Pages reviewed this last year somewhere and it sounded like a very gentle and inspirational book.
Basic Reason for Finishing: It’s a short, fast read and also quite thought-provoking.
Blurb: Wherein are the life lessons and thoughts of a wise man are recorded.
Book Rereadability: It’s a good book to dip into every now and again to remind yourself of the passages that touched you most. Or to reread it entirely and see whether your reaction had changed. But it’s not one that lends itself to ‘rereading’ in the sense I mean it here.
Author Rereadability: Tomi Akinyanmi is, first and foremost, a poet. And I’m very picky about my poetry.
Recommendation: And… here you’ve got me. (Or that could be Miss Congeniality on tv.) I think a fair few of my friends would enjoy this, but I’ve no idea how to summarise why.

If you’re like me (and have thus been avoiding big things) you might want to read this. It’s a (relatively) later addition to author responses regarding the Amazon vs MacMillian issue. (Which basically translates to “Amazon is pulling all MacMillan books off its virtual shelves because MacMillan won’t play by Amazon’s rules for E-books”.) But it also covers most important points and has loads of links to the other posts and comments of interest.

Go forth and read and decide whether you agree with Amazon or MacMillan and whether you want to boycott Amazon until it sees sense or not.

Also, go see Scott Westerfeld’s post summary which is wonderfully clear. (Especially read the PS at the end.)

Title: Angelic (LT)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series?: Stand-alone novella in Women of the Otherworld.
Basic Reason for Beginning: I have this weird/odd idea in my head that “shorter and more expensive” makes books a good intro to the author’s work. I’ve no idea if that’s true, but thus is the logic of Shanra. Beyond that, the story sounded interesting and fun.
Basic Reason for Finishing: It’s short and, despite a slew of problems that have more to do with me than the story, quite fun.
Texture: Slightly sour, acidic… Er… lime. That’s the word I’m looking for. More a taste than a texture, but there you are.
Blurb: When the Fates revoke Eve’s vacation for another assignment, Eve has had enough. She decides to work out a plan to get fired. But things don’t always go according to that plan…
Book Rereadability: I doubt it. It was fun enough to read, but we never really clicked.
Author Rereadability: If it’s not a first person narrative and set within a wholly different world, sure.
Recommendation: I… don’t know. I think this is just about my first (actually successful) foray into the ‘urban fantasy/paranormal romance/supernatural female kicks butt’ genre, so it’s not like I have a whole lot of pedigree to base this on. If you can get it from the library, though, it’ll make a quick, fun read.

Title: Corvus: A Life with Birds (LT)
Author: Esther Woolfson
Series?: Nope.
Basic Reason for Beginning: Bought this on Woof’s recommendation and read it now as a birthday present for her, because otherwise I’ve no idea when I’d get to it. More focused on the book itself: birds! Which is a fascinating subject for all the little I know about it.
Basic Reason for Finishing: You can, if you want, copy the above section verbatim here.
Texture: Cardboardy? Not the nasty kind of cardboard you hope to never encounter again, but the slightly more pliant one that’s really nice to use. If that makes sense.
Blurb: I’m just going to give you my book’s back blurb: Sixteen years ago, Esther Woolfson’s daughter rescued a fledgling rook. That rook, named Chicken, quickly established herself as part of the family, and other birds, including an irascible cockatiel and a depressive parrot, soon followed. But it was the corvids – members of the crow family – who amazed Woolfson with their personality and their capacity for affection. This beguiling blend of memoir and natural history combines the author’s fascination with all things avian, from the mechanics of flight to the science of birdsong, with her funny, tender stories of life among the birds.
Book Rereadability: I… genuinely couldn’t say. It’s a fascinating book with loads of little tidbits (both scientific fact and anecdotal note) to go back to and mull over, but I don’t know if I’d reread it cover to cover again.
Author Rereadability: I think it’d depend on whether it came recommended or not.
Recommendation: Anyone with an interest in birds, however passable, should consider this book. Anyone with an interest in memoirs should too.

Nymeth (who is awesome) has brought this to my attention. It seems publishing houses are slow to learn.

Basic story: whilst the proganist of Magic Under Glass is dark-skinned, the model on the US cover is not. We’ve been through this with Liar last year.

You can read Nymeth excellent post here(, although I feel she might dispute the excellence of it).

-

I really, really like the US cover from an aesthetic viewpoint. It’s a pretty picture and I like the mystery and movement and the warmth/darkness contrast in it. But whitewashing is wrong. If you’re going for presenting (main) characters on your covers, you should do so truthfully. Out of respect for everyone and everything you could care to name.

Title: A Wizard of Earthsea (LT)
Author: Ursula Le Guin
Series?: First in/of the Earthsea Cycle.
Basic Reason for Beginning: My dad has been pestering me for about, oh, over 14 years to read this. I actually picked it up because it’s some gap-filling in the ‘fantasy history’ department.
Basic Reason for Finishing: Curiosity, mostly.
Texture: I picked up Parzival right after finishing the second half of this book (it was my breaktime between medieval literature), so I’m afraid I’ve forgotten.
Blurb: Stolen from Amazon: “This tale of wizards and dragons features the character of Sparrowhawk. Tempted by pride to try spells beyond his powers, Sparrowhawk lets loose an evil shadow-beast. Only he can destroy it and so he begins a quest which leads him to all corners of Earthsea. This is the first book in a quartet.”
Book Rereadability: I’m sure I’d pick up on several things more, but I’m not sure I will.
Author Rereadability: This isn’t my first book by Le Guin, and I know it won’t be my last. What I don’t know is whether I’ll finish the quartet.
Recommendation: Brain fritz. Obviously anyone who likes (high) fantasy and hasn’t read Le Guin yet. Beyond that, however, I’m sadly drawing blanks.

English Title: The Decameron (LT)
Original Title: Decameron
Author: Giovanni Boccaccio
Series?: Nope.
Basic Reason for Beginning: Course book.
Basic Reason for Finishing: Course book. Also, stubborn desire to read the whole thing and a lack of knowledge of the particular 100ish pages we were supposed to be reading.
Texture: Alternately like coarse itchy wool and scratchy wool.
Blurb: Wherein ten people flee Florence during the plague and tell each other (bawdy/) stories.
Book Rereadability: None. I don’t think medieval Italian literature and I get along.
Author Rereadability: None. See above.
Recommendation: Okay, to be honest? There are several stories in here that you’ll probably recognize as being adapted into English literature. It’s of interest to anyone studying the origin of English literature or how tales evolve over the telling. (Chaucer and Shakespeare both have roots in this book, for example.) It’s also, obviously, of interest to students of Italian and just people who want to have a general idea of 14th century Italian views on various matters.

((I am currently mired in The Decameron for my exam. 800 pages of text I can’t read fast because reading it fast hurts my head. So if you’re wondering why I’m not semi-around, this is why. *sad noise*))

I did, however, want to share the following videos with you.

This is the one I was introduced to first. You won’t be sorry you watched it, I promise. (Just, whatever you do, don’t read the comments.)

A speech from 1992. Severn Suzuki, speaking to the UN at 12 years of age.

(Also, have a link to Susan Boyle, because I can and it’s a gorgeous rendition and it’s been on my mind today.)