A to Z ~ Earthsea Quartet, the

This year my A to Z theme harks back to 2012's theme, in which I listed an A-to-Z of books from my GoodReads "TBR" shelf. This year I want to revisit that list and report on which ones I've read, and what rating I gave them. Where the book hasn't been read, I'll mention other books starting with that letter I have read since 2012. ;)

"E" ... THE EARTHSEA QUARTET
Status: Read

Brief Review:

• Book #1 - It was good to see a main character who was very far from perfect. I found myself immersed in the world Ged lived in, and fascinated by it. Great world building.
• Book #2 - I loved the idea that the High Priestess of the Tombs (Tenar) got "eaten". I was glad when Ged turned up, tying book #1 in with book #2. This book was pretty slow-paced compared to the others.
• Book #3 - This book took us to yet more far reaches of the realm of Earthsea. I loved the "raft people" scenes. For me, book #3 was the most gripping and fast-paced book so far.
• Book #4 was quite slow as well, but I was still gripped. I was intrigued by Therru, a.k.a. Tehanu, wondering what her story would be. And I loved seeing Therru's point of view of Ged and Tenar: "Her parents had been taken ..." >> Full review

Some other "E" books still on my TBR:

East of Eden - John Steinbeck.
Eleven (Brandon Fisher, #1) - Carolyn Arnold.
Ender's Game (Ender Quintet, #1) - Orson Scott Card.
Entwined - Heather Dixon.
Escapement (Neumarian Chronicles, #1) - Ciara Knight.
The Execution (Amnar, #1) - Joely Black.
Existence - David Brin.

What am I reading? (2014 so far)

Later this week I'll be picking my favourite read of March, but for now I wanted to look back on what I've read so far this year (only 10 books, but sort of 13 if you count the Earthsea quartet as separate novels). These are not in the order that I read them:

Currently I'm reading:

And next I will be reading:

Aaand after that I want to start reading Alex Cavanaugh's CASSA series, but I also have a book by Cherie Reich to read for a review, so maybe I'll read that first. ;) In other words ... SO MANY BOOKS, so little time.

What are you reading?

Cephalopod Coffeehouse & Do You Have Goals? [Feb.]

It's the end of the month, and so time to post for the Do You Have Goals? hop (hosted by Misha Gericke & Beth Fred) as well as the Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Club (hosted by the Armchair Squid).

This month I read two books, or rather two volumes. One was The Earthsea Quartet, books 1-4 in Ursula le Guin's Earthsea series. I first mentioned this book in my "Letter E" post for 2012's A to Z challenge, when I was featuring books from my GoodReads TBR list. Only now can I say I've finally read the book. It took most of February, but on the upside, it sort of counts as 4 books, right? :)

I found parts of this "book" sort of slow to get moving, for instance the beginning of The Tombs of Atuan, but overall I really loved the read, and found Le Guin's world-building really intriguing. It's a world I'd love to revisit sometime in future (and not just when I read book #5 which I do now own). The stories were quite different, with the last feeling like a definite departure from the norm. But I really liked the last one. One of my favourite sections of any of the books was when Ged and Arren were with the raft people.

In other news, currently I'm reading The Catcher in the Rye for the first time ever (no, really). Loving it so far.

A month ago I didn't have anything fun to say, and was feeling quite flat. Next came the Winter Olympics, which consumed a lot of my attention. Probably because I hoped the TV would reach out and suck me into a wintery vortex out of this revolting swampy summer heat we're having (88 days without a drop of rain!! I feel that I am slowly drying into a desiccated husk. Help! And tomorrow is going to be 38c). Anyway, the Olympics ended and I got my life back. Except I still hate the weather.

This week I've made some progress with my revision. To recap, I first tried to start editing DAPHNE II, but after merely opening the file and staring at the first paragraph, I gave up. I hate that chapter. So I moved on to SQUEAKY, and revised up to page 37 or something before realising I wasn't really doing it right. So I went back to the beginning to edit more thoroughly, one chapter at a time. So far I've edited chapter 1 three times and will probably do so again before I'm almost happy with it. Ironic to think it was the chapter I was most happy with before. Closer examination apparently revealed the happiness to be a symptom of me kidding myself. ;)

Tomorrow is the start of March, and therefore NaNoEdMo!! I don't know if I should keep going with SQUEAKY or move onto what I planned to do (which I still haven't really decided on). I think the answer is probably obvious - stick with SQUEAKY. Wouldn't want to switch projects and stall again.

To summarise, I guess I'm inching very slowly in the right direction when it comes to my DYHG? goal.

IWSG #3 ~ Vocab intimidation

It's IWSG time again. For anyone who doesn't know, here's what it's all about:

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! 

Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. The hop, founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh, is this month co-hosted by Sheena-kay Graham, Julie Musil, Jamie Ayres and Mike Swift.

This month I'm going to talk about vocab intimidation.

Generally, I think my vocab skills aren't too shabby. This love of words and playing around with them has got to be genetic (thanks Mum!). But while I read widely, and write a crapload as well, I wouldn't say I tend to learn a huge number of new words. I love words, and I love finding out what some of the wackier-looking ones mean, but I seem to stumble across new words by accident rather than actively seeking them out.

Sometimes when I'm reading an awesome book, blog post, or heck, even a Facebook status, I can experience a flicker (or a flashfire, occasionally) of self-doubt. I read those words and think to myself, Dude, why didn't I think of that? or Ummm, what does that word even mean!?

In particular when reading an awesome book where the language sparkles, where images and scenes stand out in vivid colour in my mind, I might start to feel a little bit small (I'm reading Earthsea right now, and definitely have had some of these "small feeling" moments!).

I guess you could say I wish I knew every single word in the world. Naturally that's an unrealistic goal, but I'd like to at least try to learn one new word a day. The problem will be remembering to do so. ;)

Write ... Edit ... Publish ~ NEW BEGINNINGS (Jan.)

It's time yet again for WEP, the monthly hop hosted by Denise at L'Aussie writing. You can check out January's blog list here. And now here is a bit of info about this month's theme:

It's time for the sign-up for our first challenge of 2014 - NEW BEGINNINGS. Whatever comes to mind that expresses NEW BEGINNINGS - you may want to share a true story, a fictional story, post photos that typify NEW BEGINNINGS...whatever you want, it's your choice!

So, with that out of the way, I thought I'd just put up a little list of new beginnings I'm anticipating experiencing this year (and I must admit that I haven't really done much editing of this list, but now that I've written it I'm going to publish it here on my blog):

• I will begin to be completely student loan free sometime around the middle of this year!
• I will begin a new travelling phase when I order a new passport at some point, since both of mine have long since expired (I have a British and Australian passport)
• I will begin to very much enjoy my built-in bookshelves at home - once they've been built in, anyway
• I will begin yoga again, at some point this year
• I will begin to drink from a brand new bottle of Bailey's, at some point (I haven't had my beloved Bailey's in quite a while now)
• I will begin a new life wherein I no longer have the Brothers' Grimm fairytales on my GoodReads "currently reading" list, and,
• I will begin to read Ursula le Guin's Earthsea series at long last!

I think that will do for now.

P.S. Achieved my first goal from my list - rewriting LOST, MISSING, GONE. Neeeext!

P.P.S. Just finished reading Mina Lobo's THAT FATAL KISS, and loved it.

A-Z ... THE EARTHSEA QUARTET

For the A-Z challenge of 2012, I'm posting an A-Z list of books I haven't yet read but want to (titles taken from my TBR shelf at GoodReads). For my "E" book (no pun intended) I've chosen...

---

E

The Earthsea Quartet - Ursula le Guin

A superb four-part fantasy, comparable with the work of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, the "Earthsea" books follow the fortunes of the wizard Ged from his childhood to an age where magic is giving way to evil. As a young dragonlord, Ged, whose use-name is Sparrowhawk, is sent to the island of Roke to learn the true way of magic. A natural magician, Ged becomes an Archmage and helps the High Priestess Tenar escape from the labyrinth of darkness. But as the years pass, true magic and ancient ways are forced to submit to the powers of evil and death.

Why do I want to read it? Honestly, I've never heard much about Ursula le Guin or her stories, except I always (thought I) knew that if you love fantasy stuff you're meant to read these (and I do love fantasy). Then I saw them mentioned on that movie about the Jane Austen book club, and my decision to add them to my TBR list was final.