Novel novels: April 2010

1. Muse and Reverie by Charles de Lint

• 3 stars

2. The Collected Stories of Colette

• 4 stars

3. Myst (trilogy) by Rand and Robyn Miller

• 2.5 stars

4. The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card

• 2.5 stars

5. Miss Manners' Guide to a Surprisingly Dignified Wedding by Judith Martin, Jacobina Martin

• 3 stars
• There's a special place in my heart for Miss Manners, who has managed to hit that special brand of diplomatic sarcasm thrice weekly for the past 33 years. Amazing.

6. Something to Declare, edited by Gillian Kendall

• 3.5 stars

7. All My Sins Remembered by Joe Haldeman

• 3 stars

8. How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford

• 4.5 stars
• One of my friends (who was a friend of the author) gives copies of this book out routinely to visitors. High-larious.

Scoring system is as follows:

1 star = hated

1.5 stars = didn't enjoy, but didn't hate

2 stars = didn't enjoy particularly

2.5 stars = enjoyed somewhat

3 stars = enjoyed, but might not read again

3.5 stars = would probably read again

4 stars = would like to own a copy

4.5 stars = would like to own a copy, and would probably read occasionally

5 stars = would like to own a copy, and would probably read often

Novel novels: March 2010

Note: I'm starting to write this series multiple months after I've finished reading the books, so in most cases I don't remember a whole lot. I'll include stuff I remember, including trigger warnings, but I'm not going to remember everything. I hope to rectify this when I catch up and am writing about stuff I just got done reading.

1. Storm Front by Jim Butcher

• 3 stars
• Amusing, most of all for the protagonist's resemblance to the friend who recommended this series to me

2. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

• 2.5 stars

3. Man Walks into a Room by Nicole Krauss

• 3 stars

4. Come Along With Me by Shirley Jackson

• 3 stars
• Worth reading for the classic short story "The Lottery"

5. The Belgariad by David Eddings

• 3 stars
• Five-book series. Fairly enjoyable at the start, but after a while I got kind of tired of the "lowly Hero finds out He's actually Really Important and also there's a Prophecy about him, gathers a motley band of Followers, becomes some sort of leader/general/king person and doesn't believe in the Prophecy at all but end up following/fulfilling it anyway" thing. I did like many of the characters. I also started reading The Mallorean, but quit partway through.

6. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

• 4 stars
• I liked the humour of this autobiographical graphic novel quite a bit. I usually don't enjoy graphic novels because I tend to just read the words and skip the pictures, but Bechdel's images managed to grab my attention well.

7. A Lifetime of Secrets by Frank Warren

• 3 stars
• A PostSecret book. Not much else to say.

8. Perfect by Natasha Friend

• 2.5 stars
• Basic adolescent-girl-struggling-with-eating-disorder book. Trigger warning, obviously.

9. The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer

• 3.5 stars
• I love Nancy Farmer's books and I love Norse mythology. So why did I not absolutely love this book? I really can't remember. It's probably because it wasn't as good as the first book of the series, The Sea of Trolls.

10. The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint

• 3.5 stars
• Charles de Lint is another favourite author and every so often I go on a de Lint kick and emerge three or four books later with a rather glazed expression and seeing fey folk everywhere. I prefer his short story collections, but this young adult book was enjoyable.

11. Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves

• 3 stars
• I liked the travelling-between-permutations-of-possible-worlds storyline. I think I was a bit disappointed by the speeding up of the plot at the end.

12. Behind the Mountains by Edwidge Danticat

• 2.5 stars

14. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

• 2.5 stars
• After finishing this, I think I finished with Butcher, unless I happen to start hankering for semi-juvenile fantasy dripping with machismo.

Scoring system is as follows:
1 star = hated
1.5 stars = didn't enjoy, but didn't hate
2 stars = didn't enjoy particularly
2.5 stars = enjoyed somewhat
3 stars = enjoyed, but might not read again
3.5 stars = would probably read again
4 stars = would like to own a copy
4.5 stars = would like to own a copy, and would probably read occasionally
5 stars = would like to own a copy, and would probably read often

(totally not related to new year's) resolutions

I'm not really much for new year's resolutions, mostly because I don't like setting myself up to feel guilty. I feel guilty about silly things enough of the time that I don't like setting myself up for more. I also think it's kind of silly (for me) to use one-and-only-one day per year to set goals.

However (*laughs*) I've spent most of my day making lists of goals. I keep stubbornly telling myself that it's totally not because it's new year's, it just happens to be new year's when I do this. I'm probably not fooling anyone, but I keep insisting.

I enjoy making lists, in general. Not for the 'pleasure of crossing things off the list,' as I've heard is the reason many people like to make lists. No, I like to make lists because I have an fairly useless memory when it comes to things I'd like to remember to do (mind like a steel sieve, we say).

The keys to this resolution list are specitivity (as opposed to my life goals or conceptual resolutions) and positivity. It's a lot easier for me to follow something like a "walk the dog at least once per day" resolution than it is to follow a "see my family more" or "don't eat fast food" goal.

Without further ado, and in no particular order:

1. read at least two non-fiction books per month

Five of the last nine books I've read have been young adult paranormal romance novels. This shit has got to stop.

2. read at least one book per month about a subject or in a genre I've never read before

One of my only goals of the past year was to read only books I'd never read before, which exposed me to many new authors, but I ended up reading a lot of science fiction, fantasy and young adult. I'd like to expand even more this year.

3. write at least one blog post per week

Not really for the purposes of sharing with the world, but because a blog is a convenient place to keep things I've written and be able to find them later.

4. write at least one paper letter per week

Covering the dual goals of doing a better job of keeping in touch with people and cultivating a sense of physical correspondence. I tried to do the 'keeping in touch with people through letters' thing before, but it never really got off the ground, sadly. And now people's addresses have probably changed since the last time they gave them to me.

5. write at least one philosophical essay-type blog post per month

To keep up my mad philosophising skills.

6. spend at least 15 minutes per day on metaphysical exercise

This will probably be mostly meditation at first.

7. spend at least 15 minutes per day on writing exercise

Poetry or fictional prose. This is the kind of thing I don't blog about or even really share with anyone (anymore) but is still a skill I'd like to (re-)cultivate.

8. spend at least one hour per week on academic-type study

Current plans include brushing up on Latin and maths.

9. at least three times per week, spend a half-hour doing physical exercise

The challenge here is going to be finding things to do when I'm limited by the weather and by my back thingie. I actually really, really enjoy going to the gym, but I can't afford a membership right now.

10. try at least one new recipe/food-making activity per week

Cheese! Yogurt! Kefir! Different Meads! Different breads! Not desserts!

11. spend at least one hour per week searching for a new job

Pretty self-explanatory.

(cross-posted)

Novel novels: February 2010

Note: I'm starting to write this series multiple months after I've finished reading the books, so in most cases I don't remember a whole lot. I'll include stuff I remember, including trigger warnings, but I'm not going to remember everything. I hope to rectify this when I catch up and am writing about stuff I just got done reading.

1. The Law of Nines by Terry Goodkind

• 2 stars
• If you've read Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, do yourself a favour and skip this book. I have read the Sword of Truth series in its entirety, and although I still list it among my favourites for nostalgia reasons, it's rife with problems from many standpoints, including feminist. This book is basically Wizard's First Rule, set in a modern world. *eye roll* I wouldn't be surprised if they got an intern to write it.

2. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

• 4 stars
• One of my first exposures to Gaiman's writing. Pretty nice.

3. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

• 3.5 stars
• Interesting, as a reader and a person interested in the specific history of an object, to read an account of the history of one particular copy of one particular book. Also enjoyable for the religious history aspect.

4. Life, Inc. by Douglas Rushkoff

• 4.5 stars
• Quietly inspiring. I liked learning about the history of the corporation, from this guy's POV.

5. take a chance on me by Annabelle Vestry

• 2.5 stars
• The Gossip Girl series is one of my guilty pleasures. Cotton candy for the brain. Don't judge.

6. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

• 4.5 stars
• Lovely prose, lovely plot.

7. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

• 3 stars
• Westerfeld is one of my favourite authors. I liked the juxtaposition of biopunk and steampunk, but the plot didn't grip me as much as I would have liked.

8. Fire by Kristin Cashore

• 3.5 stars
• Again, I liked the world, but felt the plot fell short. Fairly decent from a feminist perspective.

9. Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

• 2.5 stars
• Interesting plot, but the writing and character development didn't really do it for me.

10. Let the Hurricane Roar by Rose Wilder Lane

• 2.5 stars
• Recommended only if you're a Martha/Charlotte/Caroline/Laura/Rose buff, like me.

11. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

• 3.5 stars

12. Haweswater by Sarah Hall

• 2.5 stars

13. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

• 3 stars

1 star = hated

1.5 stars = didn't enjoy at all, but didn't hate

2 stars = didn't enjoy particularly

2.5 stars = enjoyed somewhat

3 stars = enjoyed, but might not read again

3.5 stars = would probably read again

4 stars = would like to own a copy

4.5 stars = would like to own a copy, and would probably read occasionally

5 stars = would like to own a copy, and would probably read often

Novel novels: January 2010

Note: I'm starting to write this series multiple months after I've finished reading the books, so in most cases I don't remember a whole lot. I'll include stuff I remember, including trigger warnings, but I'm not going to remember everything. I hope to rectify this when I catch up and am writing about stuff I just got done reading.

1. Dracula The Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker

• unfinished
• I couldn't even finish this piece of crap. If you had problems with the original Dracula being misogynistic, just wait for this. All of the stuff that Dracula does is Mina's fault, doncha know, but you can't really blame her because what can you expect from a woman. Ugh.

2. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano

• 4.5 stars
• The thing I remember taking away from this book is an adjustment to my idea of gender. Specifically, before I read this I had the opinion that gender is entirely a social construction, that it is not based at all on the body. The opposite of gender essentialism, basically, is what I held. Now I'm somewhere in between, and I think it changes from person to person. Some people's gender is more affected by the body or by socialisation, or both, than other people's is.

3. Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall

• 3.5 stars

4. The Women's Room by Marilyn French

• 3 stars

5. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

• 3.5 stars
• Liked the concept, liked the world/scenario, wish I had liked the actual writing better.

6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Barrows

• 3 stars

7. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

• 2.5 stars
• I picked up and started reading this book without reading the synopsis, as I was attracted by the title. I was expecting something perhaps quasi-zen, or like The Secret, but what I got was a woman who couldn't accept the horrible things happening in her life, so she convinced herself that they weren't happening. The book was okay, as far as it went, but I was expecting something much different.

8. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

• 3 stars
• Mildly amusing. Not as original as the reviews want you to think, I've definitely read Biblical rewrites I like better, but it's okay, as far as it goes.

9. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Nqozi Adichie

• 3.5 stars
• Trigger warning for child/parent conflict

10. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

• 4 stars
• Loved this story! Love the way you have to try to piece together what's going on before it's revealed. Love the quasi-Gothic setting.

11. The Accidental by Ali Smith

• 3.5 stars

12. The Book of Night with Moon by Diane Duane

• 4.5 stars
• Good for anyone who considers their cat to be a person in hir own right. This book is responsible for introducing words such as hauissh (The Game), ehhif (human) and ffheih (spayed/neutered cat) into my household's vernacular.

13. The Whole World Over by Julia Glass

• 4 stars
• Enjoyable, kind of like something Elizabeth Berg would write, but with a better plot and better writing. I remember liking the partially stereotype-defying characters.

14. White Teeth by Zadie Smith

• 3 stars
• Enjoyed parts, but it seemed to drag.

15. Liar by Justine Larbalesteier

• 3 stars
• Basic young adult supernatural fluff. The only way this book kept my attention was by employing several 180-degree plot twists.

Scoring system is as follows:

1 star = hated

1.5 stars = didn't enjoy, but didn't hate

2 stars = didn't enjoy particularly

2.5 stars = enjoyed somewhat

3 stars = enjoyed, but might not read again

3.5 stars = would probably read again

4 stars = would like to own a copy

4.5 stars = would like to own a copy, and would probably read occasionally

5 stars = would like to own a copy, and would probably read often

more stuff I didn't need

and no, this isn't a rant about the consumerism of the holiday season.

top things I was worried about 3 days ago

• getting all my holiday crap baked
• getting M's presents made
• going back to work on Sunday
• getting a new job because my job sucks
• cleaning my house

top things I am worried about right now

• going back to work tomorrow
• getting a new job
• being an emotional wreck for the rest of my life because I am too anxious to enjoy it
• being crap around children for the rest of my life because I have quasi-PTSD issues surrounding children

so, as you can see, my priorities have taken a turn for the ... exceedingly melodramatic. and also shitty.

wheee!

Novel novels project

For those of you who don't know (and since I'm mostly talking to myself here ... well, whatever) I like to read. A lot. Alotalotalotalotalotalotalotalotalotalot.

Quite a bit, is what I'm saying.

About one year ago, I was getting fed up with what I'm going to call the rapid re-read phenomenon.
The first time you read a book, you understand it one way, based on where you are in your life. Then, when you read it again, you understand it in a different way, based on where you are at that point. I've always thought the differences in understanding that you note can be almost important as the influence of the book itself, because it's a way to track the variations in your own worldview.

Here's where the rapid re-read phenomenon comes in. I noticed that if I re-read a book in rapid succession, with, say a four-month interim, I wasn't so much noting the — at that time, very minor — differences between the last time I read and the current time, I was moulding my current read to my last read, effectively making sure I wasn't getting anything new out of the current read.

Although wasting my time with the current read was annoying, that by itself probably wouldn't have spawned the novel novels project. What did it was what I noticed when I read a book for the third time in rapid succession. If four months had passed between the first and second reads, lets say 12 months passed between the second and third reads. Ordinarily, an interim period of this length would not be problematic, but because I had reinforced my first read by reading a second time in rapid succession, that first version of the read was in my mind more firmly than a single read, 12 months ago, would have been under other circumstances. My interpretation of the book, during the third read, would closely mirror those of the first and second reads.

I was afraid that if I kept reading a book with not enough time between readings, that I would lose the ability to understand the book in new ways, because I would be forever stuck in the rut of my first understanding — or whichever understanding had been reiterated.

And so, I decided to go one year without reading any books I'd read before: to read only novel novels, as it were. I do read more than just novels, but the name amused me, so I stuck with it. I started this project on January first, 2010. Sometime in June or July I decided to extend the project beyond just the year, until my 25th birthday, in July 2012.

My primary goal with this project was to avoid the rapid re-read phenomenon, but I am enjoying a major secondary effect: discovering new authors, and new books by previously read authors, to a lesser extent. I find myself having much more to read, many more books checked out from the library and many more requests into the library. Before I started the project, I would only seek out new books if I was bored and my weekly browse-around-the-library didn't get me much. Now, whenever I hear or read someone talking about a book, I will either do a little research to see if I might be interested or just skip that altogether and add it straight-away to my library request list. I am constantly on the lookout for new books, and so I see them all over the place.

I plan to post all the books I've read this year in the next few days, with my star rating and perhaps a few words about what I liked.