Penguin Blog a Book

[slemslempike]

white_hart posted that Penguin Books are doing Blog a Book again.

This time I've been allocated Say a Little Mantra for Me by Yvonne Burgess. I'm excited about this - I've never even heard of this before, and the blurbs I'm seeing look like it might be rather good.

Let me know what you get if you sign up!


Maguire got knocked out of the snooker last night. He did very well though (well, winning would have been actually doing well, but 12-13 is creditable). Fortunately Jen made me this rather broody icon with which I can illustrate this post.

Comments

[cellardor.livejournal.com]

Er, I decided to give it another go and have been given Chronicles Of The Canongate, so I'm off to google that now...hope it's better than my last one.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Hmm, looks like a three in one collection of stories by Walter Scott. I have never read any, but Nicola Marlow has, so it can't be that bad.

[cellardor.livejournal.com]

I did do a little inward groan when I saw it, but will try and keep an open mind. At least it's not Chekhov again.

[alltheleaves.livejournal.com]

Oh bollocks, I got Fourteen Byzantine Rulers: The Chronographia of Michael Psellus (Michael Psellus was apparently a Byzantine Monk). It's not going to be as easy a read as James Bond, that's for sure!

But I have lots of travelling coming up for work so if they can send it to me by next Wednesday I can have it to read to and from Glasgow and the rest.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Oh. Gosh. I suppose it's definitely getting you to read something new! And you'll be able to drop it into conversation if people are being arsey.

Last time they took absolutely ages to send my book to me.

[edithmatilda.livejournal.com]

Mediaeval historians all predate sensibleness, so it'll be Crazy Fun, honest. (I read it for historyness though, out of actual choice, so my opinion that it's oddly fun is probably thus rendered redundant.)

[alltheleaves.livejournal.com]

Cool! If all else fails, I'll pass it on to my brother who is good at reading stuff like this or to my best friend who knows this stuff really well. And I am very curious about the Byzantine era. I like their Venetian architecture.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for the heads-up!

Just checked my email and I will be receiving Shakespeare's Sonnets. Hmm...I was hoping for something more exotic, but at least it'll be readable.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

jekesta has been informed that she will be receiving "Selected Poems", but not the author of these poems. Shakespeare's Sonnets might be good if they've got good notes.

I like the icon!

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Here's another book one :)

[peeeeeeet.livejournal.com]

I think I should give that a miss since I only got about thirty pages into the "classic" they sent me last time.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Aw, I'd thought that your book sounded interesting. Not so?

[lsugaralmond.livejournal.com]

Bugger. I just signed up and I got The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Flipping Shakespeare.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. Maybe you could just watch the play being performed to get the gist and then only read the notes? Or, make people come round to yours and then force them to perform the play FOR you!

[lsugaralmond.livejournal.com]

Heee! I have seen the play before, and quite liked it, but that's the thing - plays just aren't very readable are they? I had thought my days of reading Shakespeare plays were over. Alas.
At least it's not as bad as what alltheleaves got.

[edithmatilda.livejournal.com]

The Voyage of the Beagle. Hmm. Probably good in that I doubt I'd ever have read it otherwise. I anticipate Fun Animals and Rocks. Hurrah.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

That sounds quite interesting, actually. I'd be interested to know what it's like!

[edithmatilda.livejournal.com]

"Much to my disappointment, this book turns out not to be about an endearing journey undertaken by a floppy-eared dog, but instead to chronicle the experiences of the Father of Lies, Charles Darwin. After consultation with my faith leader I concluded that it was probably safe to read as long as I paused for prayer at intervals, and am thus able to expose its vileness in the following review, which will doubtless be mocked by the followers of so-called 'rationality'."

And so on.

[anglaisepaon.livejournal.com]

Stupid Penguin US doesn't have this program. They're all, "oh, but we have lovely reading guides and companion websites." To which I say phooey! What is the good of a lovely reading guide if they're not sending you the book to read first??

Ahem. Sorry, rant over.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry - but you have my book now so you can hopefully write about that instead!