wg26: a stranger came ashore

It's a Weekly Geeks bloghopping activity . . .

Dewey's instruction:

1. Using the WeeklyGeeks category here in my blog, find 5 Weekly Geeks you don’t know. The easiest way is probably to look at the Mr Linkies in my weekly Saturday posts.

2. Visit each of your 5 new blogpals and snoop around their blogs to find at least one thing you have in common.

3. In your blog, write a post, linking to your 5 new blogpals, about what you have in common with them.

4. Come back and sign Mr Linky.

5. As you run across other Weekly Geek posts (or deliberately seek them out) if you see anyone mentioned who has something in common with you, pay them a visit.

Fortunately, since I'm just finding my inner geek, I can hit any number of new blogs.

1. Fathers Who Read by Book Dads. I must confess that this was going to be my natural first stop if for no other reason than, well, the anatomy involved. Completely sexist, I know, but there is a grand dearth of guys who regularly blog about books (authors excluded). Really, the only other two I've come across are Theric and ejwise. Even Guys Lit Wire is split between male and female contributors, with the bulk of the posts being contributed by the women. So I'm thrilled to find Book Dads. I like the diversity of titles they have in regards to fathering and fatherhood. I like their voice. (They're not cynical or antagonistic like other bloggers you may know.)
   
   
2. It's All About Books by Suey. This is likely cheating a bit, since I've been reading Suey for a couple weeks now after she first came to my blog. But I like her. And can you even say anything bad about somebody who loves John Green?
   
   
3. Bride of the Book God What I like here is that she has a tendency toward, well, darker titles. And had it not been for her, I might not have discovered Rape by Joyce Carol Oates. Because I really like Oates, even though she's gritty. As to whether or not I'll find myself in the right mind to approach this title is another story. But Bride peaks my interest in it.
   
   
4. Reading Room by Gautami Tripathy. I don't have much to say here. I like her blog because she keeps things simple. Really, her small snippets about books are far more intriguing than many long posts I regularly read. She also has a poetry blog, in case you might be interested.
   
   
5. Reading in Appalachia by Icedream. Again, this is a blogger who I started reading a few weeks ago. What caught my eye as I was scanning through her blog again today was a snippet about Tomorrow, When the War Began. But I really must refrain from adding more books to my list. Right now, anyway.

wg25: the gift

So. I'm a bit erratic in posting. I'd like to be a bit more consistent. I'd also like to connect a little more to the book blogosphere. So I've decided I'm going to start participating in Dewey's Weekly Geeks.

My objective is to post on Sundays, though we'll see how well that works. For example, you'll notice that today is Monday. But yesterday was spent editing a paper for a friend and then pushing the Boy through his remaining homework assignments.

Anyway, here's what's up this week:

1. Think about the books that you and people in your life love. It’s best to use more obscure books, because we’ve all heard plenty about the more popular ones.

2. Come up with categories, based on relationship, personality, or whatever else you like. I think this is easier to do once you have your books in mind; you can then just assign categories to those books.

3. Post your own gift giving guide! Add short blurbs about the books, just enough so that your readers can determine if it’d be a good gift for people on their list. Don’t forget to come back and sign Mr Linky.

4. Visit other Weekly Geeks, and if you like their guides, maybe add links to the bottom of your own.

I'm not sure of the categories I'd like to assign. Essentially, I look at this as an opportunity to peddle some of my favorite titles.

for English Major Types: The Eyre Affair
Okay. I know that not everyone digs this book. However, I love how it sets up an alternate history with time travel and book travel and all sorts of other fun stuffs. And through it all, books are Way Important. And people go to Shakespeare productions with the same manic furor reserved for athletic events and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I find the wit and voice to be charming. Sure, it takes me a little to get into each book, but it's always worth it in the end.

for Editor Types: The Well of Lost Plots
Because you will never look at the submissions pile the same way again.

for Greek Mythos Types: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Again, it's not everyone's cup o' tea, but I find it to be engaging. I like how Riordan has brought the Greek mythos to a contemporary American scene. Plus, I can never begrudge a series of books that has managed to convince the Boy that there are books out there worth reading that have nothing to do with dragons.

for More Mature Greek Mythos Types: Gods Behaving Badly
As I mentioned in my review, this book is Hi. Lar. I. Ous. Seriously. And I've even converted one soul already. Just remember that when I say more mature, I mean that the bawdiness will surely make some blush. But Hermes is worth it.

for Anglophiles: Larklight
I received this as a birthday gift, and I highly recommend everyone turn around and give it to others. Similar to Eyre Affair, this imagines an Anglocentric alternative history, this time with space travel and the Brits colonizing the entire galaxy. Art is funnier than snot, likely because he's a Victorian-era lad with a cheeky sense of humor. And there are illustrations.

for Potterphiles in Withdrawal: The Last Apprentice series
This series doesn't have the same type of magic as Harry Potter. However, the prose, story, and characterization is infinitesimally better. Tom is the seventh son of a seventh son and is therefore more attuned to the Dark than your average citizen. As such, he is apprenticed out to the local Spook, whose job it is to bind witches and bogarts and fight all sorts of evil. It's superbly done, and with five books out, I believe we're near the end of the series.

for Picture Book Aficionados: To Every Thing There Is a Season by Leo & Diane Dillon
This is only The Best Picture Book Ever. Seriously. The text is simply the verses from Ecclesiastes. But the illustrations are phenomenal. Each couplet is depicted in a different historical tradition. Oh! how it makes the art history major in me gush. But really. You should have this on your shelf. I mean it.

top ten

Though I read the Weekly Geek challenges, I seldom do them. However, I think this is one worth doing. Even though I'm doing it a week late.

Anyway, for Weekly Geek #19, the challenge is as follows:

1. Compile your list of favorites. Please be sure that books you choose actually were published in 2008, or at the very earliest in the winter holiday season of 2007. Sometimes books that come out then are left out.

2. Come back and sign Mr Linky with the url to your top books of 2008 post.

3. If you happen to see any non-WG bloggers making similar lists, please grab the url and come put it in Mr Linky for them. Let them know you’re doing that, please, in case they have some sort of objection; if they do, they can ask me to remove their link. I’ve already seen a couple favorites of 2008 posts, which is another reason I wanted to get started early.

4. Feel free to make changes to your list if you read something new in the next few weeks. After about October 25, I can’t guarantee your changes will be reflected in the master list. We’ll probably start compiling lists around then.

5. Please consider whether you’d like to help me compile lists.

That said, here is the list of books I've enjoyed so far that were published this year. Bear in mind that I fully anticipate this list changing as I'm just about to break open Inkdeath and I have on order Mothstorm and Paper Towns.

2008 Top Ten (thus far and not necessarily in order but likely close)

1. How They Met by David Levithan
   
2. The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
   
3. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
   
4. Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
   
5. Wrath of the Bloodeye by Joseph Delaney
   
6. My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
   
7. Suck It Up by Brian Meehl
   
8. Savvy by Ingrid Law
   
9. Vintage by Steve Berman
   
10. Attack of the Fiend by Joseph Delaney

Oh. And in case you're interested, Weekly Geek #20 is your opportunity to do the same thing. And you might even be able to get loot from it, if I'm reading the guidelines correctly.

1. Please post about the project in your blog, asking your readers to make their own lists. Please refer them to Weekly Geeks #19 for the details.

2. You can tell your readers that next week I’ll be giving away another box of 11 books from Hachette. ONLY bloggers who have made a top books of 2008 list will be eligible to enter. That means you, too, of course! By the way, I also have two other giveaways going on right now, one that’s open until the 6th and one that’s open until the 8th. Just in case you want to enter those.

3. Your readers who make lists should go back to Weekly Geeks #19 to leave their urls in the Mr Linky by October 11th. I’m not even going to put a Mr Linky in today’s post just because I don’t want the urls left in more than one place. That might confuse me and my wonderful helpers, Renay and Jackie. The url in the WG #19 post counts as an entry for the Hachette box of books, so if you already left your url there, you’re all set.

4. Every time one of your readers leaves a comment on the Weekly Geeks #19 post saying they heard about the top books of 2008 project from you, you get a bonus entry in the drawing.