Penguin Teen Social 2019 - Recap (May 23, 2019)

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Right before going to NYC for BEA/BookCon, I got to be at Penguin Teen Social event at Penguin Random House Canada HQ - effectively, kicking off my bookish 2 weeks. I was trying to write and upload this post before I left, but there was just too much happening!

I love going to book events in Canada as I get to see lots of bookish friends and bloggers! Not to mention get my hands on the newest releases. And this event was not an exception.

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#SHReads18 - In Which Order to Read Sherlock Holmes Stories?

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When I started thinking of writing this post, I didn’t even suspect that there might be different ways of reading Sherlock Holmes stories. Naturally, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was rather prolific, in spite of his developed frustration with the character that brought him fame, but it never occured to me that somebody could read the stores not in the publicated order - because it was the way I read them as a child.

I don’t remember how I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes stories. They seem, just like The Three Musketeers (although with that book I do remember the first time I read it), to always have been in my life. I think that it might have been my grandfather who introduced me to Sherlock Holmes. Or perhaps, I watched the tv show first. I honestly can not recall.

However, I do remember always reading the stories by starting with A Study in Scarlet.

Here is the list of all stories in chronological order by the publication date (taken from Baker Street Wiki):

  • 1887: A Study in Scarlet
  • 1890: The Sign of the Four
  • July 1891 to December 1892: Stories that would make up The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes published in The Strand magazine
  • December 1892 to November 1893: Stories that would make up The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes published in The Strand
  • 1901-2 (serial): The Hound of the Baskervilles
  • October 1903 to January 1905: Stories that would make up The Return of Sherlock Holmes published in The Strand
  • 1908–1913, 1917: Stories that would make up His Last Bow (short stories) published.
  • 1914-15: The Valley of Fear
  • 1921–1927: Stories that would become The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes published.

After looking into some forums and discussions and thinking about it, I was surprised to see that many people suggest skipping A Study in Scarlet, as it is the first story written by Doyle and therefore not as polished and a bit too long, and just dive into The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and then The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

Well, personally, I would not skip A Study in Scarlet, no matter how boring it is, as it introduces the main characters to us and just like the first episode of many Sherlock Holmes adaptations - you don’t want to miss that.

So, in honour of January being a Sherlock Holmes reading month and the read-a-long #SHReads18, I decided to introduce you to my favourite reading order of all Sherlock Holmes stories. I am participating in this January event, however, I have a bigger goal in mind. One of my reading challenges for 2018 is to re-read all of Sherlock Holmes stories and for that I am listening to them as audiobooks - the complete collection of stories read by Stephen Fry (one of my most favourite narrators)! The complete collection is an exclusive production by Audible and was released last year.

As I am writing this, I have already listened to A Study in Scarlet and started on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Follow me on GoodReads, if you want to follow me on my epic re-read :)

There is no right or wrong way to read the stories - besides Doyle himself sometimes messed up facts and dates. However, The Final Problem and The Empty House have to be read together as they are tied in plot. Save The Hound of the Baskervilles for the last, as it is pretty good.

Here is my reading order, in which I will be doing this:

I. A Study in Scarlet (novel, 1887)
II. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
  • The Red-headed League, 1891
  • A Case of Identity, 1891
  • The Boscombe Valley Mystery, 1891
  • The Five Orange Pips, 1891
  • The Man with the Twisted Lip, 1891
  • The Blue Carbuncle, 1892
  • The Speckled Band, 1892
  • The Engineer's Thumb, 1892
  • The Noble Bachelor, 1892
  • The Beryl Coronet, 1892
  • The Copper Beeches, 1892
  • A Scandal in Bohemia, 1891 (I plan to read this story the last in the book)
III. The Sign of the Four (novel, 1890)

IV. The Valley of Fear (novel, 1914-15)

(or read this novel between the stories from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, but before The Final Problem)

V. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
  • Silver Blaze, 1892
  • The Yellow Face, 1893
  • The Stock-broker's Clerk, 1893
  • The 'Gloria Scott', 1893
  • The Musgrave Ritual, 1893
  • The Reigate Squires, 1893
  • The Crooked Man, 1893
  • The Resident Patient, 1893
  • The Greek Interpreter, 1893
  • The Naval Treaty, 1893
  • The Final Problem, 1893
VI. The Return of Sherlock Holmes
  • The Empty House, 1903
  • The Norwood Builder, 1903
  • The Dancing Men, 1903
  • The Solitary Cyclist, 1903
  • The Priory School, 1904
  • Black Peter, 1904
  • Charles Augustus Milverton, 1904
  • The Six Napoleons, 1904
  • The Three Students, 1904
  • The Golden Pince-Nez, 1904
  • The Missing Three-Quarter, 1904
  • The Abbey Grange, 1904
  • The Second Stain, 1904
VII. The Hound of the Baskervilles (novel, 1901-02)
VIII. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
  • The Illustrious Client, 1924
  • The Blanched Soldier, 1926
  • The Mazarin Stone, 1921
  • The Three Gables, 1926
  • The Sussex Vampire, 1924
  • The Three Garridebs, 1924
  • Thor Bridge, 1922
  • The Creeping Man, 1923
  • The Lion's Mane, 1926
  • The Veiled Lodger, 1927
  • Shoscombe Old Place, 1927
  • The Retired Colourman, 1926
 IX. His Last Bow
  • Wisteria Lodge, 1908
  • The Cardboard Box, 1893
  • The Red Circle, 1911
  • The Bruce-Partington Plans, 1908
  • The Dying Detective, 1913
  • Lady Frances Carfax, 1911
  • The Devil's Foot, 1910
  • His Last Bow, 1917

It is not, by any means, a strict reading order. I might mix things as I go, but if you are new to Sherlock Holmes stories or haven’t had a chance to read them all - I hope you find my little guide handy.

My book reviews

Sources:

Book Review: Of Beast and Beauty by Jay Stacey

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“Of Beast and Beauty” was the book that I randomly picked from the library after having it recommended to me by BookOutlet based on my browsing and purchases. I knew nothing of this book and had never heard of the author, so I went into it with fairly low expectations. I did pick it up shortly after watching the new movie “Beauty and the Beast”, so I was rather in the mood for this type of retelling.

 

“Of Beast and Beauty” is a young adult fantasy novel, it is a stand alone, and quite overlooked in my opinion. The setting is a cross between sci-fi/dystopian and fantasy world, and found it very peculiar that there allusions to the times when people came to this world in spaceships.

 

The main protagonist, Princess Isra, lives in isolation in a tower, protected and hidden from the world due to her blindness and ugliness. Her city, Yuan, is covered by the dome, which has to be protected and reinforced by certain sacrifice to the magic of the city. Outside Yuan there is only desert, in which outcast and beastly people, the Monstrous, live. A group of monstrous finds their way inside Yuan in the hopes of stealing one of the red roses from the garden as their magic was prophesied to save their people from starvation. Gem, one of the monstrous, is captured and becomes Isra’s prisoner. Unexpectedly, Gem and Isra discover that not all things that they both believed in are true.

 

I suggest that if you want to read this book, stay away from reading the summary either on the flap or GoodReads as it happens to give away quite a bit of book’s events (no idea why). I went into this book completely blind and I think that is why I enjoyed it so much.

 

It is a rather interesting story, a very easy read. Nothing is too overly complicated, however, the world is rather interestingly constructed and it is not as easy to pinpoint who of either characters is supposed to be Belle and who is The Beast. Both Isra and Gem go through character development, which is great. The book is told from three different points of view, which I rather enjoyed as it showed that none of the characters were flawless or black and white.

 

Could I predict the book ending? Well, yes, as it is a retelling after all.

 

Did I know how the things were going to play out? Nope. I found twists and turns quite interesting and there were quite a few things that I didn’t see coming.

 

It was not the perfectly written book. It had flaws, especially in some of the character’s actions. However, I did like the characters, and all of my favourite moments were to do with the roses and garden. I swear, I was completely hooked by the story the moment when the roses turned out to be magical (it is not really a spoiler). Will probably never be able to view them as harmless flowers.

Personal rating: 3.5 stars

Décembre 3: 24e Salon du Livre de Toronto

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My last class of French for this semester took place in public library. Pretty books and crepes afterwords - can MY every French class be like that?Here are some photos of picture books at the fair.

I did buy a couple of kids novels in the hopes of studying French on my own during the break (which is just my excuse for buying books).

Bon journée. 

September Read-A-Thons

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I should have titled this post something like "September Read-A-Thons or How to Make Myself Even More Stressed During Vacation", because I will, hopefully, be away on vacation in September for about 3 weeks. Naturally, I do plan to take books with me (and I will post my TBR online) but participating in readathons while meeting with family and friends and traveling around? Ugh, madness. Anyway. I was catching up with YT today and saw 2 announcements that immediately made me want to participate. One is Banned Books Read-A-Thon "Banned Book-A-Thon" (announcement) and another one is Slow Read-A-Thon (announcement). I am posting these links mostly for my sake, as I know I will be scrambling later, trying to find them.

Slow Read-A-Thon

Slow Read-A-Thon (and I just love tags #slowathon and #booksnals) runs September 12 and September 18. There are some prompts/challenges, but it is not required to complete them all.

The prompts: 1) Read a book and mark it up! (Tabs, notes, underlining, etc.) 2) Create something inspired by the book you're reading! (Examples: write a poem, a song, do a sketch, a dance routine, a painting...) 3) Do a buddy read (with booktube or real life freinds) and discuss the book! 4) Read a book out loud (to someone or just to yourself.) 5) Read a book that intimidates you! 6) Reread a book and compare your reading experiences. 7) Read a book and review it on your platform of choice during the readathon week. 8) Read a book, then read secondary literature on it. Or a retelling/variation of the first book.

Banned Book-A-Thon

Banned Book-A-Thon starts at midnight Sunday, 25 September, and runs till midnight Saturday, 1 October. The theme for this year is "diversity." More info about Banned Books Week: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Somehow in my brain I decided that participating in readathons during my vacation is exactly what I need on top of everything else. Hmmm... Nevertheless, I am excited about the prospect of picking books to fit some challenges. Of course, I don't plan to participate in all of them or reading a lot, but I can aim for 2-3 books, right?

Tell me, I am not crazy XD

I have done it again (disappeared and came back)

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Managing this blog turned out a bit more difficult than I expected. I have no problems with posting photos here or videos but actually writing blog posts? Here is where I have a problem. So, here is my attempt at a comeback number umpteenth.

Anyhow, I was browsing books online today (simultaneously on BookOutlet, AbeBooks, Indigo and Amazon - no, I am not joking) and came to a conclusion that I seem to be resolving to buying books that I should probably be getting from the library. But. But. But. My library holds are maxed out, that is I have 100 books on hold. And some of those have been on hold disgustingly long.

See an example.

 

OutstandingHolds

I have been waiting for "We were liars" for almost 12 months AND I am still far from being at the top of the queue, as the library obviously does not have that many copies on hand.

So, I got so annoyed to the point that I went and ordered this book at BookOutlet. This book was consistently popping up in my recommendations and I want to read it but I didn't want to own it. Alas, there is a limit I can wait for a book.

Same thing for some other books. I purchased some of them on AbeBooks and cancelled more of my requests where I was not in the top 10-15 people as the wait was getting ridiculous.

I realized that I have been adding books on hold at the library as the way to remember to read them (I am bad with titles) and therefore I keep maxing out. Which is annoying. I even have a separate wish list on Amazon that I titled "get these books from the library", so that I don't accidentally buy them.

I am a horrible shopaholic when it comes to books. I spent a ridiculous amount of money in June. It feels like July might be no better.

Do I have that much money to spend?

No.

Do I have shelf space for all those books?

Nope.

Why do I keep buying books?

Because it makes me happy! Besides I am not buying expensive tech gear or clothes. I am buying books. Mostly discounted, on sales or in second hand stores. So, I am not THAT bad.

But I am bad, and I admit it.

I also found that checking out a whole bunch of books from the library (as well as having 100 books on hold) is very overwhelming. I am trying to figure out how to get rid (meaning, read) from all of those books I have right now, so I can go on reading what I want to read right now. (This is why I do really bad with TBRs in general.)

Today is the last day of BookTube-A-Thon is which I am participating. And not doing too well. I am not bad, but I still find it hard to adhere to a set tbr.

Here are my ranty post.

Cheers.