Shelf Monkey: Update

Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts

Jan 2, 2010

Critical Monkey! Update the half-year gone! Can you handle six more months? How much torture can one person withstand?

Half-way through. Whoooo! Wheeet! Whaat!

Seriously, I am proud of all of you, you have taken up the challenge and run with it. It's not easy confronting one's demons, but there is a certain cleansing that goes along with the experience (of the bowels, if not the soul). And we still have six months to go, and there are two more possible contestants currently girding up their innards with extra fibre to have a go at it. They've got some catching up to do, but if there is one thing I have learned so far from this exercise in masochism, it's that the human mind can take a lot of pain.

So, let's take a look at the big board!

Acceptance (seven reviews)

Depression (six reviews)

Anger (five reviews)

Lori L
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Roses of Glory by Mary Pershall
Spock's World by Diane Duane
A Texan's Honor by Leigh Greenwood
Star Wars: Rebel Dawn by A.C. Crispin

Guilt (four reviews)

Corey Redekop
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
The Justice Riders by Chuck Norris
Jake and the Kid by W.O. Mitchell
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins

Steve Zipp
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
The Whiteoaks of Jalna by Mazo de la Roche

Bargaining (three reviews)

Jeanne
Empire of Lies by Andrew Klaven
A Merry Heart by Wanda E. Brunsetter
A Washington, D.C. by Robert J. Hensler

Denial (two reviews)

Betty
Generation Dead/Generation Dead: Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters
A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks

gypsysmom
Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Shock (one review)

Alison
On the Road by Jack Kerouac

As you can plainly see, we have a good, solid mix of highbrow art fare that everyone claims to read and love (Jane Austen and Stephen Hawking), and lowdown dirty bile that we should all be ashamed to have checked out of the library (Andrew Klaven, Chuck Norris(!)). What, you think I liked anyone knowing I was reading Left Behind? I'd much rather sit in a coffee shop perusing the latest issue of Sex Cauldron than have people think I'd willingly read LaHaye.

And now, as promised, a drawing to reward you for all your hard work. This month's prize? A signed copy of Canadian author (and Canada Also Reads longlist candidate) Mark A. Rayner's enjoyably strange sci-fi opus The Amadeus Net.

And the winner is:

Steve Zipp! And Steve is also a longlist contender for his novel Yellowknife! Oh, his cup runneth all over the place!

Steve, I will contact you about your mailing info, and get Mark to send you out a copy post-haste. As for the others? Well, I've got an ARC of Jasper Fforde's new novel Shades of Grey just begging for a home. Next month, all new reviews get entered for the draw.

As for myself, I believe that I am still suffering from post-rapture fatigue, so I'm going in a different direction from the usual punishing fare. Instead, I've tracked down a copy of a novel I've always wanted to read since I was an overly-impressionable teen. The Stainless Steel Rat awaits!

See you in a month!

Dec 2, 2009

Critical Monkey! Update the fifth! Seven contestants, no waiting!

Man, five months down, seven to go. Seems like an eternity, doesn't it?

And now, the stats! Survey says:

Acceptance (seven reviews)

Depression (six reviews)

Anger (five reviews)

Guilt (four reviews)

Corey Redekop

Lori L

Steve Zipp

Bargaining (three reviews)

Denial (two reviews)

gypsysmom

Jeanne

Shock (one review)

Alison

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Betty

Generation Dead/Generation Dead: Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters

So we've got three people at the Guilt stage (comin' up on Anger), a few new reviews, and one spankin' new entrant (welcome, Alison!). Looks like a good group. With strong stomachs.

But we've still got seven months to go. Remember, all new reviews between the last update and next months' put you in the running to win a signed copy of Canadian author Mark Rayner's oddball sci-fi epic The Amadeus Net.

So okay ramblers, let's get rambing. Nut up, buttercup, times a'wastin'.

Nov 1, 2009

Critical Monkey - update the fourth! One-third done!

Wow, has it been a third of a year already? Four months of challenging yourselves to be the best your can be? Well, cowboy up, buttercup, because you gots eight months to go! You think this is a challenge for sissies? You gotta have serious literary cojones to compete here!

Sorry, that came off a little harsh. I'm fighting something as I write this, something internal. No, not swine flu; good guess, but this feels different, more watery. Call it fish rabies.

Anyways, to the stats:

Acceptance (seven reviews)

Depression (six reviews)

Anger (five reviews)

Guilt (four reviews)

Bargaining (three reviews)

Corey Redekop

Lori L

Steve Zipp

Denial (two reviews)

gypsysmom

Jeanne

Shock (one review)

Betty

Generation Dead/Generation Dead: Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters

We've got some real movement here on some fronts, and some stagnation on others. I know its not easy, people, but its of vital importance that you see this through. Remember, you don't necessarily have to choose a novel you think you'll hate, just one that you feel you've ignored. I never would have read W.O. Mitchell otherwise, and I'm sure Lori L though she'd never read a Star Trek novel.

But, since it isn't easy, here's the first giveaway I promised to all contestants, a copy of Douglas Coupland's Generation A, which, by means of a random number selector, is hereby is awarded to:

Betty!

Congratulations, Betty. Write to me with your postal info at shelf.monkey@hotmail.com, and Coupland's latest (and a secret second novel) will be winging off to you as fast as Canada Post can fly it over (general delivery).

And as a reminder, at the halfway point I will be drawing one name to win a signed copy of Canadian author Mark Rayner's absurdist epic The Amadeus Net. For this one, I think a little more participation is in order (let's gird those loins, people!), and only those contestants who publish a new review between now and January 2, 2010 will be eligible for this particular prize. And this goes for anyone new to the game; there's still plenty of time for newcomers, and the more is definitely the merrier in this case.

So tell your friends!

For me, I am loading up on carbs and vitamins to properly tackle my next choice. This one will be a personal Everest for me; one of only two novels I can remember not finishing because it was so damned terrible. (The other novel? The Ninja by Eric Van Lustbader.) I fear this is going to be a bad one, my friends, the Hurricane Katrina of crap. The one that's going to taunt me mercilessly all the way with its unmitigated awfulness.

I refer, of course, to the Kirk Cameron-approved, fundamentalist dogma-infused, rapture-tastic epic Left Behind.

Wish me luck. I already feel nauseous. But that could be the rabies.

Oct 2, 2009

Critical Monkey! Update the 3rd

I was lazy this month. That, and terrified of another Meyer/Norris combo. There's only so much one man can take!

Check here for the rules if you're intrigued. And now, the third wave:

Acceptance (seven reviews)

Depression (six reviews)

Anger (five reviews)

Guilt (four reviews)

Bargaining (three reviews)

Steve Zipp

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

Sketches of a Small Town by Stephen Leacock

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Denial (two reviews)

Corey Redekop

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

The Justice Riders by Chuck Norris et al.

gypsysmom

Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Jeanne

Empire of Lies by Andrew Klaven

A Merry Heart by Wanda E. Brunsetter

Lori L

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

Roses of Glory by Mary Pershall

Shock (one review)

Betty

Generation Dead/Generation Dead: Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters

So, that's where we're at, one quarter of the way through this experiment in madness. My hats off to the survivors. Steve, I notice, is going full out on the highbrow. I don't think I've ever known someone to finish Stephen Hawking's book.

But I feel we need a little incentive, a little push, to thank you for all your hard work. So, for the next update, I will be offering to one lucky member of this hard-working team a copy of Douglas Coupland's newest novel Generation A. And maybe a second novel, we'll see.

So, as we enter into the second quarter, all I can advise is to persevere. You'll be the better person for withstanding the torment.