Ex Libris Bitsy

I have not blogged at all in the months since the last read-a-thon. I also have barely read anything since January. I have managed to finish exactly one book in four months.

This read-a-thon I want to get re-energized about reading and writing and blogging again. I miss all of it a lot but just haven’t felt right about it. I don’t feel like I can talk about what’s been happening, it’s just too personal, but I hope I get swept up in the excitement of the rah-rah-read-a-thon. I really hope that happens. That would be great.

For my fellow read-a-thon participants I have put together some things that have helped in past read-a-thons.

• Instrumental Reading Music Stations
• Free Short Stories Available Online
• October Read-a-Thon Buttons & April Read-a-Thon Buttons

Now to start reading. I don’t really have a list, I’m just going to wing it and see what happens.

As you might already know from my read-a-thon post yesterday I am very ready, and very excited for this read-a-thon! I have a mix of short stories, graphic novels and fast paced fiction to get me through the day. I also have a pinterest board set up dedicated to my favorite reading music (including genre stations for science fiction, fantasy, romance, historical and post apocalyptic) and another one set up dedicated to my favorite short stories (including one fantastic pod cast reading of a bayou fairy tale and a full cast radio drama for my favorite geek post apocalyptic story “When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth”). Finally I also have all new buttons that I made for this read-a-thon. Not as good as the ones from eons back but they are pretty.

It’s that special time of year again. Time to drop everything and for 24 hours do nothing but read, read, read. What I want, whatever I want. I’m really looking forward to it! I’m also planning things out a lot more this year than I normally do. Here are my plans for the day:

For short stories I have Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse, which I hope to be able to finish tomorrow, with Kisses From Hell waiting in the wings. For graphic novels I plan to finish reading the sequel to Persepolis and then dive into the manga series Battle Angel Alita. For fiction I was recently turned on to the idea of The Knife of Never Letting Go thanks to Aarti from Booklust. I also have some short stories related to The Forest of Hands and Teeth I would love to read before diving into the sequel The Dead Tossed Waves. I’m planning on starting with a sort of rigid rotation, short story, graphic novel and then 50 or so pages of straight fiction but I give myself permission to break those rules wantonly if a book drags me under.

by Delia Sherman

Rating:

The great thing about new original fairy tales is the way they take old motifs, old themes and older tales and remix them in a new way to create a new story. “The Fiddler of Bayou Teche” by Delia Sherman combines several motifs of trickster tales along with myths and legends featuring musical instruments. The story that unfolds is a wonderful down to earth tale surrounding a trickster fiddler set in a deep south bayou.

The main character is a young albino girl named Cadence who lives in the swamp with the woman that adopted her, Tante Eulalie. Her mother serves the local loup-garou community as a medicine woman and plays the fiddle. Her mother cautions her against tricksters by sharing with her tales of warning. When her mother passes one winter Cadence ends up getting into trouble and being confronted by the very trickster her mother warned her against. Are the warnings and tales her mother armed her with enough to help protect her and allow her to survive?

There is a podcast of this fairy tale on the website Podcastle that features a fantastic reader, Elizabeth Green Musselman, and I really recommend hearing this fairy tale orally in this way almost more than reading it. It definitely adds to the experience.

Rating:

As if being dumped down into a completely fantastical and strange world that doesn’t speak her language or play by her rules wasn’t bad enough. Noriko faces bigger enemies in this volume and feels more powerless than ever. She can’t help her friends or fight the bad guys, all she can do is be herself. But will that prove to be enough?