Christmas Spirit Readathon

Hosted by Michelle @ The True Book Addict

Time to kick off the holiday season with style…reading style. If you’re joining us, remember these things:

• You do not have to read Christmas books (I’m not the Christmas enforcer–haha), but if you can squeeze one little one in… *wink*
• You do not have to have a blog. Join us from Twitter, Facebook or Goodreads
• Have fun!

If you’re on Twitter, stop by and chat with the hashtag #CSReadathon

WRAP-UP

Didn’t quite get as much read page-count-wise as I would have liked, but I pretty much finished the list of things I wanted to read: holiday goblins, Holmes, and the eighth Doctor celebrating Christmas. It was an appropriately wintery weekend (for low Arizona) and I’ve revved up my Christmas spirit.

Thanks for hosting, Michelle!

GOAL

Read! I’m pretty modest with my goals. 250 pages for the weekend?

LIST

Read!

Read!

Finished last 40%

Read a half dozen stories

The first two are children’s books, but I can’t resist getting goblins wrapped up in the holidays. I have one novella left in Sons of Moriarty. The last is just pure, guilty-pleasure indulgence.

Sunday, November 24

Pages Read Today: ~101
Pages Read Total: ~185
Reading Materials:

• Sons of Moriarty, ed. Loren D. Estleman, 70%-100%, ~65 pages.
• The Goblins’ Christmas by Elizabeth Anderson – “Ho! Kris!” they cried, “We’ll have some fun, / We’ll bind the old man down, / We’ll tie him up, and toss him o’er / Into our goblin-town.” And…then Kris Kringle turns them into toys. It’s a new one on me! ~5 pages.
• Doctor Who Short Trips: The History of Christmas, ed. Simon Guerrier. Pg. 179-195, 218-231. Stand out story from the ones I cherry-picked from this anthology: “The Long Midwinter” by Philip Purser Hallard.

Notes: Well, I came in a little short of my goal. 😉 Ended up doing some work Sunday night. That’s how it goes.

Saturday, November 23

Pages Read Today: ~29
Pages Read Total: ~84
Reading Materials:

• Sons of Moriarty, ed. Loren D. Estleman, 59%-70%, ~22 pages
• Doctor Who Short Trips: The History of Christmas, ed. Simon Guerrier. Pg. 90-96.

Notes: There was just too much Who…

Friday, November 22

Pages Read Today: ~55
Pages Read Total: ~55
Reading Materials:

• Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman – Lovely illustrations. Imp-like goblins. Cute story although the goblins are pretty dim. (Pun intended.) “Now, Hershel, do you know who I am?” “I know you’re not Queen Esther.”
• Stink Santa by Otto Fishblanket, illustrated by Gerald Hawksley – And now for something completely different. Easy rhymes, fun illustrations. Not much going on aside from general silliness. “Any similarity to any real Santa is purely coincidental.”
• Doctor Who Short Trips: A Christmas Treasury, ed. by Paul Cornell. Pg. 205-238. The standout story of the day was Stephen Cole’s “Evergreen”. Creepy, with basis in traditions and superstitions.

Review ~ The Eight Doctors

Doctor Who: The Eight Doctors by Terrance Dicks

Newly-regenerated and travelling through the universe in his TARDIS, the eighth Doctor is suddenly hit by a mind-shattering blast of malignant psychic energy – a final booby trap left by the Master. (via Goodreads)

My entire reading plan for the week went out the window when I decided to skew toward celebrating the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. After the surprise of “The Night of the Doctor” webisode last week, I again wanted more of the eighth Doctor. The Eight Doctors picks up where the 1996 TV movie leaves off and provides an adventure akin to the 20th anniversary The Five Doctors.

“Let’s just say I’m a Doctor…Clearly, I’m not the one you were expecting.”

The premise is simple. The eighth Doctor must meet his previous incarnations to regain his memories. Of course, the Doctor being the Doctor, there’s always trouble. Some of these visits work considerably better than others. Dicks’ writing shines when describing about Four’s adventures with vampires and the events of The Five Doctors; Raston Warrior Robot included. If there had been more Sontarans, so much the better. In contrast, the political intrigue portion was rather dull and the framing story set in 90s London was somewhat cringe-worthy.

Still, it was fun. Many of the iconic episodes referenced are ones I had just watched or read about in Who’s 50. It’s a nice bridge between big, multi-Doctor adventures, which this weekend’s “The Day of the Doctor” promises to be.

Genre: Sci-Fi
Why did I choose to read this book? Wanted some Doctor Who fun.
Did I finish this book? (If not, why?) Yes. It was a quick read.