Alas boys and girls, the NFL season has come to an end. And what a bitter disappointing choke job for the New England Patriots. They have looked really flat and worn out over the past few games and so this certainly didn’t come as a complete surprise. I only wished I had bet the farm on the Giants! Congrats to the NY Giants, by the way, who certainly earned the trophy with gutsy play over the last half of the season, including the playoffs. I am glad the fourth quarter ended up being exciting, with Eli Manning earning the MVP award and the victory. The ads were fun. Not as great as a few years ago, but there were certainly some enjoyable ones out there. Feel free to chat about which ones you enjoyed or hated.
And Thank You Adriana Lima for softening the blow that football is at and end and for reminded men, and women, that there is another full contact sport out there that we can engage in year round. 😉 (did I say that out loud, sorry)
And now, my January Round Up:
The Sci Fi Experience has been in full swing this month and pretty much all of my reading (with the exception of The Bleeding Dusk–tune in tomorrow for the review on release day) has been science fiction related. We have almost 40 reviews up on the Sci Fi Experience Review Site and I have enjoyed reading about everyone else’s science fiction reads. We have one more month to go, officially, so feel free to join us in more science fiction reading!
One of my reading goals for this year was to sample heartily from both classic science fiction (including award winning sci fi) and more current science fiction. By sampling more current works I hope to at least be more familiar with the authors, if not their books, that will be nominated for future awards. I think I’m off to a great start as far as both aspects of that goal. I have completed 10 books this January (only one of which I have yet to share with you). Of those 10 books:
6 were Hugo winners (counting each Foundation book as a Hugo winner since it won for the series).
1 was a Nebula winner.
Two books were published late in 2007 and one in 2008.
In addition I am partially through a couple anthologies and am half way through 2 other science fiction books. All in all I accomplished more than my average reading in a month’s time.
Along the way I discovered some incredible classics and some books that should be destined to be classics, or at least well loved, in the future. Amazingly enough there was not a dud in the bunch. Even the strange story The Big Time was one that had a character or two that I really enjoyed and the story has stuck with me throughout the month.
I have had the warm glow from the satisfaction of good fiction, good science fiction, all month long and that has continued with my reading here in early February.
I know some of you have had rough starts to the year and I can only hope that the rest of your year (and mine) will be as filled with satisfaction as my January has been. 2008 is off to a great start, literature-wise, and I look for that trend to continue.
Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for a non-spoiler review of The Bleeding Dusk and a reminder about the contest which also begins tomorrow. Feel free to join in on month two of The Sci Fi Experience and keep your eyes open for fantasy/fairy tale titles you may want to read because March 21st begins Once Upon a Time II.
And if you missed it over the weekend, check out my review for Juno in the post below this one. It is a wonderful film.
Welcome to February, everyone!
Update: I neglected to include a couple of important facts. Number one, I actually read 3 books checked out from the library this month (and am over half way through my fourth), so my goal of using the library more this year is in full swing.
Less successful has been my goal to decrease book purchases. (Keep in mind that several of these came from gift card usage). I added 17 books to my collection in the month of January. 3 of those were used. The rest new. Of these 17 acquired books, I have read 3 and half of a fourth.
Hmmm….
It’s wonderful to read about your January reading experience…sounds like quite a glorious, fulfilling month, for sure!
Though I’m not a Giants fan, I have to say that may have been my favorite game of the season. (Being a Dolphins fan hasn’t been particularly easy this year, but last night certainly helped!)
Wasn’t really too blown away by any of the commercials. Not terrible, just not fantastic. Did enjoy the Coke one where Charlie Brown came away with the prize. And the Coke one with Carville and Frist…that one definitely made me smile anyway.
Skelly expressed my feelings about the game perfectly…
Sounds like a good month of reading!
I love that Red Meat comic! Too funny.
March 21st for Once Upon a Time II? I am officially SO excited. And actually, I have something for you for that already.
Hard to believe January is gone already isn’t it?!! But then again, “time” for us elderly flies by so fast it’s downright scary!
Though I am not reading “sci fi” books I always enjoy reading your (and others) reviews! One never knows if one day something will strike me lol..
March 21st for the next Fantasy read eh?! I hope I have some books left by then! lol One good thing is that when you have that particular challenge I always manage to find some new books to get! I can’t wait! It will be here before we realize it.
Having always been a Giant fan, it sure was a good game for me!!
Yes, parting is such sweet sorrow, but a commercial like that towards the end made it not so bad, eh?
Congrats on all the great reading you got done in January! You added craploads to my TBR pile and even forced me to break my resolution as I ended up buying 2 or 3 of the books that you reviewed :p
And OUaT is so close I can taste it! Yay!
Blaming me for you breaking your resolution? For shame Chris, for shame. 😉
And thank you for acknowledging that there is a picture of an attractive woman at the start of this post. Folks are avoiding that opening like the plague!
OUaT is close…hard to believe that it will be starting soon and a quarter of 2008 will be over with!
Well I can’t take full blame for it! Ok…maybe I can..I’m weak dammit, weak!
I’ve been waiting for some humorous comments on the opening lines of your post, but they’ve yet to come….*nods head*…at least we still have a nice picture to look at!
I am almost positive I heard the collective head-shaking of the blogosphere earlier.
And hey, I love your idea of us all blaming each other for our book buying (incidently, I picked up a copy of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep today when I got the Juno soundtrack). I think it is fantastic. Where is the fun in taking all the blame on oneself?
Carl, I was wondering if you had Adriana’s email address. That poor young lady needs
some instruction on how to handle a ” football ” properly. I’ve always made it a rule to
help supermodels in need.
Now back to book talk. 🙂
You balzed through a ton of great books this month. I also got of to great reading start
this January as well. I read 8 Scifi books this month ( 3 of which were audiobook reads ).
I also squeezed in 2 Scifi short stories out of two anthologies.
I didn’t pick up as many new books as you. Only 9 or 10 purchases I remember. I also
picked checked out all 3 of the audiobooks from the local library plus another SciFi book
I plan to read this February.
Gee, Carl. You must be feeling completely recovered from your previously mentioned surgery. 😉
I was thrilled to actually read two of my Sci-Fi choices in January. I hope to get to at least another two this month. Probably Time and Again and A Canticle for Leibowitz. Thanks again for the motivation!
17 books?
17 books??
I’m trying to buy fewer because I don’t read quite as much for some reason *cough*netflix*cough*, but now I feel shamed into buying more!
I was actually happy to see the Giants win. Not a huge Eli fan, but it will be good to see him get out from Peyton’s shadow!! (that Victoria’s Secret model is my husband’s favorite too!)
January was a horrible reading month for me, but I think I’ll do better in Feb. I’m reading some Sci-Fi right now…..James Blish’s Cities in Flight. Classic stuff. Glad to see you had a good reading month. I CAN NOT WAIT to read The Bleeding Dusk!!
Stephanie: your husband has good taste! Of course you already knew that when he picked you, I assume. 😉
Look forward to your review of the Blish story. Not sure I’ve read any of his work.
Anne: Netflix is a distraction…a good one though…my queue is at least 400 movies long if not more.
Les: Much better. 😉
Love Time and Again and the Canticle book is one of those must-reads I have come across in my search through classic sci fi and I hope to read it sometime soon as well.
Jeff: I was going to correct your spelling, but then I figured you might have been alluding to my recent procedure with your “balzed” comment… 🙂
i must say, it is so considerate of that brazilian lady to be providing support and consolation to you nfl-bereft men.
and i’m glad you guys enjoyed your nfl season!
i’m so glad to see how you’re steeming ahead with you science fiction reading! you’re reading and discovering such cool things! i’ve already seen one or two reviews that i’ll have to take a look at when i have a moment!
(btw, love that philip k. dick joke! 😉 )
JP, I must admit that I appreciate the sacrifices Adriana Lima, and the folks at Victoria’s Secret, made to ease the suffering of our NFL withdrawal.
Glad to see you back. Reading so far this year has been such a joy. I’ve been so thrilled with the choices laid out before me and I am nigh giddy with all the great reading I’ve done and will do.
And yes, that PKD joke is fantastic.