How have you been?
Just when I thought I was going full speed in April (with 6 books looking to achieve more), I lost my reading mojo and haven’t been able to read properly nor catch-up on book reviews from the book blogging community, partly because…..
Well, because Google has decided that 2 months shy of shutting off the Google Reader, to wipe out all my subscriptions on my list and left my folders as a mockery and a painful reminder of what it used to be. I organised my folders as “Books”, “Anything” and “Food”…..
I haven’t establish a routine nor get used to any new news feeder apps. I thought Netvibes was easy to scroll through but I have no idea why they have included folders or feeds that I am not interested in and every time I opened up Netvibes again it doesn’t seem to have the intelligence to know that I have read some of the feeds and it still shows I haven’t read thousands of my subscribed blog posts! Netvibes is also slow to update new feeds. I know because I subscribe to my own blog to test out the layout and the speed of new feed. 😉
I don’t like Bloglovin’ as there is no preview to the posts and I have to click every single one of them if I want to read them.
I apologise if I haven’t been catching up on your posts. I hope I could find a reader that I can get used to, soon!!!!
So what is the progress for the Women’s Fiction Prize shortlist read? I have read 3 from the longlist. 2 from the shortlist, Life After Life and NW by Zadie Smith. I returned Flight Behaviour to the library, as it feels a little meandering. I am waiting for Where’d you go, Bernadette? from the library and I hope it comes through before the winner is announced this June. I will wrap up this year’s read of the Women’s Fiction Prize shortlist with Where’d you go, Bernadette?
The good thing is I have lost the appetite to borrow from the library and returning a few more back to the library, unread; while review and ARCs copies kept coming in!
It must be the time of the year for spring cleaning for many, because of the good samaritans who donate new books to charity shops, I bought a few great paperbacks for a steal. I also purchase some used books from the shelf of my local clinic. Some of them are NEW!
I am a great travel buff, so the hardback and paperback Idiot Abroad series for £1.45 were very appealing to me. Someone has decided to give away The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde of World Book Night 2013 very quickly, less than a month since the 23 April 2013, so I picked it up. I heard so much about Sacred Games and together with Linda Grant’s Still here going at 25p each, I just got to have them!
The Penguin classics are new copies. I bought The Suspicious of Mr. Whicher to replace a hardback copy that I gave away to a friend. I have The Dark Side of Love already but this copy is so new, so untouched that I’d rather read this one.
I often wanted to write a book review of some interesting books that my two sons are reading. I found some of those children books very very interesting. Yesterday they were dressing up and trying their hands on wearing a toga, which I thought was a great idea, except my son’s toga came with a wrap-around belt! lol 😀
While everywhere around the world is celebrating Mother’s Day this weekend, officially it is not Mother’s day weekend in the UK. In the UK it falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, usually in March. Nevertheless, to whet the appetite of my friends who celebrate Mother’s day this Sunday, coincidentally my other half has organised a hotplate dinner for the occasion.
With sizzling barbeque marinated beef, chicken, a pot of tom yam soup with a good Cabernet Sauvignon from Boudeaux, I think it is my idea of a good gastronomical satisfying weekend!
So that was my week. Some ups and downs, life is such but it is wonderful to end the week with a high.
What about you? I hope you are doing something interesting too!
JoV's Book Pyramid 
It is a bit hard to wrap your head around at first, but Feedly is working for me. The layout is not similar to Google Reader, the platform is more magazine-style, but does show all your feeds, and you can customize how you see them. Good luck finding a replacement! And good luck with your reading slump!
Posted by obsidiantears83 | May 13, 2013, 12:07 amHi Jacq,
Where have you been? 🙂 Thank you for the kind words.
I will give Feedly a go as people seems to say it is good!
Posted by JoV | May 13, 2013, 8:51 amI am so bummed about Google dumping the Reader! I have Feedly and have thought about Flipboard as well, but mostly I am in denial 🙂
Posted by Helen Murdoch | May 13, 2013, 3:50 amHelen,
I will try Feedly since everyone seems to warm to it. It is just getting used to a new “friend” I suppose! 🙂
Posted by JoV | May 13, 2013, 8:37 amI am also not sure what to do about RSS feeds. I tried (and liked Feedly), but now it only gives me an error message and I haven’t been able to add to it for weeks. So, for now I’m saving blogs (and posts I have commented on) in my browser favorites, but it’s not handy.
You had a great haul of books – it’s obvious that you scan the books on offer carefully, and don’t buy just anythings that takes your fancy. Wise! Have fun reading – I hope you’re reading slump is coming to an end.
Posted by Leeswammes | May 13, 2013, 6:54 amThank you very much for your kind words Judith. I will give Feedly a go. It is all such a hassle! 😦
p/s: I have to be careful, My shelves and my book stacks to the ceiling are running the risk of toppling over! lol
Posted by JoV | May 13, 2013, 8:42 amI don’t even want to think of Google Reader taking off… The thought of having to reorganise everything (and I haven’t even searched for a decent substitute) makes me shudder. I was just thinking about my own progress with Women’s Prize yesterday – I have read 2 from shortlist (Atkinson, Semple) and 3 from the longlist (Alif the Unseen, Gone Girl, The Innocents) – so numbers are exactly the same 🙂 I am currently reading Flight Behavior (nothing spectacular but I find it interesting in parts) and the next one up is NW.
And that is some nice books in those piles! My Eyre Affair should also arrive today or tomorrow, and I can’t wait to take a peek 🙂
Also, the food looks de-licious (good thing I just finished breakfast :D)
Posted by Riv @ Bookish Realm | May 13, 2013, 7:09 amRiv,
We are about the same number on the Long and Shortlist! I take it as a weak sign for the judges choice as most of the time I get people wanting to read the entire shortlist for the previous years.
I look forward to hear of what you think about The Eyre Affair. You are welcome anytime here to whet your appetite on looking at my food! 😀
Posted by JoV | May 13, 2013, 8:45 amlook forward to your thought on hhhh and to the end of the land I using feedly but still on google reader at moment myself ,all the best stu
Posted by winstonsdad | May 13, 2013, 3:36 pmStu,
The two books you mentioned are great books. I hope to read it one day. I tried Feedly, not as user friendly as I thought. Am I suppose to click every single line items to see the blog posts? Please advise. Thanks.
Posted by JoV | May 14, 2013, 8:26 amGreat haul of books JoV I really hope you get your reading mojo back on track with them. That dinner looks delicious too 😛
Posted by jessicabookworm | May 13, 2013, 7:48 pmJessica,
😀 Quite a lot of meat in there! Probably not a good option for vegetarian.
Posted by JoV | May 14, 2013, 8:27 amI switched over to Feedly after testing everything out. It’s the easiest and in my opinion, the best.
That food looks amazing. I could eat food like that every day.
Posted by Ti | May 13, 2013, 8:10 pmTi,
I tried Feedly, not as user friendly as I thought. Am I suppose to click every single line items to see the blog posts? Please advise. Thanks.
p/s: I bet you would love the hotplate. Let the guests or your family cook their own food! 🙂
Posted by JoV | May 14, 2013, 8:28 amGreat to see you have HHhH and The Dark Side of Love – two books I loved. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
I still haven’t found a good alternative to google reader – let me know if you come across anything.
Posted by Jackie (Farm Lane Books) | May 14, 2013, 11:48 amJackie,
I thought Netvibes gives you a Google Reader-like reading experience as it let you scroll down very quickly. Don’t mind the unwanted feed, just ignore them. For the same Google Reader feel for Feedly, I think you have to pay for Feedly Pro, the basic is not very user friendly. What I did is that I signed up to some of these suggested alternative feeders I posted few months ago:
https://bibliojunkie.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/google-reader-will-be-dead-what-is-the-alternative/
and try them until one of them stick! 😀
Posted by JoV | May 14, 2013, 7:11 pmI hope you enjoy HHhH, it was one of my favourites last year. And I am a big fan of the Jasper Fforde books. I am using bloglovin myself and find it pretty good but sorry to hear you’re not keen on it.
Posted by The Little Reader Library | May 14, 2013, 12:45 pmThanks for dropping by the blog Lindsay. So many endorsement for HHhH, I got to read it soon! 🙂
Posted by JoV | May 14, 2013, 7:24 pmYour husband can cook? That’s a wonderful gift 😉 I am not married yet but I am surrounded by men who can’t do any house chore let alone cooking.
I have Vikram Chandra on my shelf for almost a year now, I should read it soon…poor book left untouched.
Posted by Novroz | May 16, 2013, 4:33 amNovroz,
Perhaps we should read Chandra together? 😉
Posted by JoV | May 16, 2013, 12:44 pmperhaps we should 😉
But mine is different to yours. Mine is red earth and pouring Rain.
I have done double movie review…it would be fun to have double book review 😉
Posted by Novroz | May 16, 2013, 4:30 pmNovroz,
Ah! yours is different? Lets pick one book that we both have to read it then.
or I am happy to do double book review. Let me know. 🙂
Posted by JoV | May 17, 2013, 3:08 pmThat would be a bit difficult…maybe double review by the same author eith different book 😉
But if we really do this, I will slow you down because I am a very sliw reader
Posted by Novroz | May 17, 2013, 4:25 pmNovroz,
Don’t worry Novroz. I am not going that fast these days too! Anyone of us can finish sooner but you can schedule a deadline that you are comfortable with.
Don’t forget the Sacred Games which is what I want to read is about 900 pages long! 😉
Posted by JoV | May 18, 2013, 10:25 amOh…that’s really thick!
I am currently reading an over 800page book and then I have my eyes on Gaiman’s book…and then I can read Candra with you, how’s that sound?
I can’t skip Gaiman because when I have set my mind on something, it’s a bit difficult to change.
Posted by Novroz | May 18, 2013, 3:46 pmNovroz,
I think that is a good virtue Novroz. Still to something and finish it. Let me know when it is good for you. August sounds good as things could be more relax at work, you know summer holiday period. 😉
Posted by JoV | May 18, 2013, 8:48 pmWell..I am actually a quitter…but it’s Stephen King’s book, I always finish it 🙂
Okay, August then 🙂
Posted by Novroz | May 19, 2013, 12:57 amNovroz,
August it is! 😉
Posted by JoV | May 19, 2013, 9:30 am