Free book in return for writing a review you probably would have written anyway

[strange_complex]

Like practically everyone else on LJ today, I have just signed up for Blog a Penguin Classic, and will shortly be receiving a copy of The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne to review.

I'm actually really pleased about this, because I absolutely love The Marble Faun, and have long thought I should try another of Hawthorne's oeuvres. Plus, I am blogging every book I read this year anyway, so fulfilling Penguin's requirement that I write a review within 6 weeks shouldn't be too hard. What are they going to do if I don't, anyway - send round angry Emperor Penguins to peck my door down?

Comments

[felinebird.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting. I just signed up and they're sending me 'Egil's saga', an old Icelandic adventure. I just hope it's not horribly long if I have to review it in six weeks as I only ever snatch the chance to read in small doses at a time.

[maviscruet.livejournal.com]

Drat. I'd of liked yours. I got "on art and life" (or on art and lif as it is called). Well - the point was to read something I'd not otherwise have read.....

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Well, Penguin would never know if you guys swapped, and then sent each other your reviews to post up!

[felinebird.livejournal.com]

Well, if it's a free book I'm happy to pass it on when I've finished with it. Just email a postal address to felinebird@yahoo.co.uk and assuming it ever turns up with me, I can send it on about 7 weeks later.

[felinebird.livejournal.com]

or... as purple pen suggests, we could just swap. 'On Art and Life' sounds far more up my street.

[maviscruet.livejournal.com]

Swap? Heck no - if you play book roulette you've got to live with the consquences..... It will make me read something I never would otherwise. No bad thing.

[felinebird.livejournal.com]

Cool, well I shall give icelandic epics my best shot too. The offer's still there if you want my copy at the end of this though. I have no more room to be hoarding books in this flat ;)

[ashavah]

Icelandic epics are really a lot more fun than they sound. :-D

[jholloway.livejournal.com]

Egil's Saga is great, and not really that long.

[mrkgnao.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...is that the one that contains the immortal flyte: "at least I haven't been bummed by a troll?" Oh wait, that's Grettir's Saga I think...

[jholloway.livejournal.com]

Also Njal's Saga. The implication that someone was getting teh buttsecks from a troll was actually a standard form of Icelandic insult, apparently.

[gillywoo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that! I've just signed up as well and will be reading "the portable beat reader". Which is going to be interesting as I struggled to read "on the Road" and eventually gave up!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I did manage On The Road some years ago, but I must say it wasn't as I'd expected. I was assuming it would be something more like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, but it was much greyer and more depressing.

[gillywoo.livejournal.com]

i found it really hard work, and it's very unusual for me to give up on a book. Maybe this penguin book will inspire me to start "On the road" again and actually finish it.

[the-alchemist.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads-up! I've got "On Government", which I'm vaguely disappointed about, though I'm not really sure why...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

By whom? I can think of quite a few Classical works whose titles could be translated thus, not to mention post-Classical ones I haven't heard of. Hopefully it'll turn out to be more fun than you think - but at least you're at liberty to say it was boring and sucked if you find that it does!

[the-alchemist.livejournal.com]

Googling suggested it's *probably* 'De re publica' by Cicero in an anthology with some of his other writing, including 'Against Verres', which like many people who learn Latin as adults I've already read quite a bit of in my first year course (I confess it was quite fun though, and involved more pirates than I would have expected anything by Cicero to).

I'll have read little bits of the other stuff when I wrote about Milton's politics as an undergrad. I suspect Milton kind of thought he was Cicero, only better.

I was prepared for something I hadn't heard of, something I liked or something I hated, but not really something I vaguely knew and could see was important, but not particularly interesting to me right now.

The idea's growing on me now though!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Ah! Sounds pretty good, actually. I was hoping to get something Classical myself, but I suppose the real attraction of the random allocation is that we're likely to be exposed to something we ordinarily wouldn't be. As it is, mine touches on my existing interests while still expanding them - which I think is just right.

[mrkgnao.livejournal.com]

I was ... uh ... less lucky. I have The Conquest of New Spain.

Still I'm sure it'll be educational...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

'Course, they have cleverly set it up so that you can't see what you're going to get until you're already committed... Well, have fun with it!

[mrkgnao.livejournal.com]

That's part of the fun, surely. I fully expected to get something I would never in a million years read by choice and, lo, I did indeed. I love that kind of thing, despite my grousing.

[jholloway.livejournal.com]

No, you were lucky. Once you skip the dull bits at the beginning, The Conquest of New Spain is actually very good. I mean, obviously, it's terribly sad, but also fascinating. At least, I thought so.

[mrkgnao.livejournal.com]

Bejesus, you're well read! I'm actually quite looking forward to it, despite the whinging (whinging seems de rigeur for these sort of things - "I signed up to get a free random book to read and it isn't something I expected, boo!). I'm hoping it'll expand my horizons a bit.

Did you go for it?

[jholloway.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got Kenilworth. Hopefully some buckles will be swashed.

[kantti.livejournal.com]

Beowulf. Which I wouldn't have read anyway, but probably should. Yay internet.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Wow - in the original, or a modern translation?

[kantti.livejournal.com]

If it's the original my review might be rather more brief than otherwise! The email's a bit short on details, so I don't know, but I assume a translation.

[nigelmouse.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I've still got books from over a year ago that I want to read and I've just not managed to get round to it. A review in six weeks would be unimaginable for me at the moment.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm off on a canal-boating holiday in a fortnight, so will need something to while away the watery hours...

[white_hart]

I swear my entire FL appears to be boating this year! Where are you going?

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Llangollen in north Wales, is the answer. I'm going with my family in celebration of my Mum's 60th birthday, which is on August 26th. It should be lots of fun - at least if the weather's nice!

[white_hart]

Oh, lovely. The Llangollen is supposed to be beautiful, and the aqueduct must be quite spectacular!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Apparently, it is pretty scary to go over, because all you can see from the boat is yawning nothingness either side of you...

[ashavah]

Oh, wow! If only I lived in the UK or Ireland! But I passed on the link to my friendslist so they can have the fun!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Ah, yeah - sorry about that! Still, you will at least get to read all the reviews people write, which should be fun in itself.

[ashavah]

Heh, it's okay. I still have a whole heap of Penguin Classics I haven't read just sitting on my bookshelf. I'm kind of in love with Penguin Classics. ;-) I collect books faster than I read them a lot of the time.