Richer Reading Life in 2016

Part of my desire to give up on a challenge was so I could relax and enjoy reading without the stress and pressure of a challenge. But I want to have a richer reading life which both about what you read and how you read.

This challenge was also inspired by two articles from BOOKRIOT: Read Harder Challenge 2015 and 2016 and tips for a richer reading life. Since this is for 2016, I have 16 in each category. 16 books to read, 16 activities to do. Each of these should be fun, so help me gods.

Things to Read
-By a woman
-By a POC
-By a LGBT person
-Deals with mental illness
-Woman in politics
-Author over 65
-Author from Africa
-Takes place in Asia
-Indie Press
-Translation
-Poetry
-Published before 1850
-Genre I typically avoid
-Award winner
-Audiobook
-Recommendation

Things to Do
-Ask a librarian at my local library for a recommendation
-Ask someone I respect for a recommendation and read it right away
-Read outside
-Read a book that looks like it will make you uncomfortable
-Read out loud to someone I love
-Dog ear a page
-Write in margins
-Give away a book that's been in my TBR pile for a long time
-Cull 10 books from my collection and don't bring any new ones home for a month
-Attend a reading event near me
-Read the book, watch the movie, debate which is better
-Listen to an audiobook of a physical book I DNF
-Listen to a podcast about books
-Memorize a poem
-Read one page of a holy book of faith I was not raised with
-Have a conversation about books with someone you've never talked books with before

It's unrealistic to say I won't buy any more books but I'm running out of space and I need to save more money. I can only bring 16 new books for 2016 outside of conventions. I can only purchase at conventions if I can get them signed. Gifts purchased to be given to others or given to me as gifts don't count.

This is it for 2016. It should be an interesting year.

PopSugar Reading Challenge Final Review

I knew from the outset I might not finish it. Toward the end of the summer, I knew it would be dicey but not impossible. By the end of the fall, I knew it wasn't happening and decided to just read what I wanted and hoped it fit a category on the list.

There were only so many hours in the day and many of them involved bar trivia, various gatherings, different cons and events, hockey games (mostly televised), laundry, family time, and a variety of other tasks. I was still reading but not as often and not as much as I'd hoped. 

Make I'll fix that next year, maybe not. I do know I'll keep reading but not berate myself for falling short of goals only I'm measuring. Reading is not a contest. It's a way of life.

Of the categories I didn't finish, I had books in mind for many of them. Here's what I had hoped to read but didn't pull off this year. I was 16 short in total.

A Classic Romance
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

A Book that Came Out the Year You Were Born
Aces High (Wild Card #2) edited by George R. R. Martin

A Book Set in the Future
Metatropolis by John Scalzi et al

A Book that Made You Cry
The Book Thief
* - I've never read it but the movie broke my heart so I figured the book would do the same.

A Popular Author's First Book
Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi

A Book from an Author You Love that You Haven't Read Yet
Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman

A Pulitzer Prize Winning Book
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

A Book Written by an Author With Your Initials
The Executor by Jon Evans

A Book You Were Supposed to Read in School but Didn't
Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger Jr.

Here's the final list. I did good. Not great but OK.

PopSugar Reading Challenge Book 35 or I Dare You

For a book that takes place during Christmas, I read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. I have loved everything I've read by Levithan and this book came recommended.

It was a fun and easy read switching back and forth between Dash and Lily's POV as they traded a red notebook back and forth. I loved seeing the adventures they'd come up with for the other and hear the inner monologue of such radically different characters. They were funny and poignant in different ways. I loved the wit infused with Dash (courtesy of Levithan) and the sweetness that was Lily (courtesy of Cohn).

It took a few meandering turns in the final third and moved in ways I didn't totally expect. While those moves slowed the story down, it was also truer to life for it. I'd give it 4 stars out of 5. Not perfect but definitely a pleasant read. It was a good book to end my challenge on since I don't think I'm going to check off any more categories before January.

The Fandom Awakens

I saw the latest installment of Star Wars on Friday. I had grown to loathe this movie by viewing time because of the inescapable hype. I then made a snarky comment on reddit that blew up enough to make the front page. I knew which character died within an hour. 

This didn't help since I'm highly critical of this franchise. The writing on the first 6 films sucks. While there are some funny moments, most of it makes on the smallest amount of sense necessary to keep the series afloat.  The character development is nonexistent. Leia's planet is blown up and we hear no more about it. Luke's entire family is flambeed but when he goes into battle, he wishes Ben/Boo Radley was there instead of the people who raised him. Anakin and Padme have no chemistry. When she said "I love you," I thought, "Are you sure?" Padme loses the will to live after seeing her babies born? That is the stupidest, most indefensible shit I've ever heard in my life and I've seen Trump at the Republican debates.

I went in prepared to hate this movie. I left with a new appreciation for the franchise. Contrary to what the previous paragraph would have you believe, I don't hate the franchise. I respect what it has done for popular culture but I saw it as an adult when you can't unsee plot holes and bad acting. The Force Awakens fixed most of the issues I had with Star Wars. It even passed the Bechdel Test!

The cast was diverse and talented. The story was interesting, made total sense, and ended in a way that had resolution and left room for the other 2 films we know are coming. The characters had motivations and desires that worked and they grew and changed as the story progressed. It was a good movie. I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.

Why didn't I rate it higher? I want to give it a 7 but I have 2 major problems with this film and explaining those requires SPOILERS. You have been warned.

1) Cheap CGI

The new cantina scene was great. Maz (Lupita Nyong'o) was an excellent use of motion capture. However the junk dealer on Jakku? He looked ridiculous. I've seen enough episodes of Face Off to recognize the fat suit, foam, and paint that went into this character. It was very half-assed and again, took me out of the moment.

The worst offender was Kylo Ren's mentor. If you can nail Star Wars FaceTime in the prequels, Space Gollum should look better in here. For a big bad, he looked like the forgettable villain in a fairy tale cartoon for little kids. I don't care if he's 20 feet tall (you should call tech support about that BTW). If the Sith leader can look creepy and menacing on video conference, so can Space Gollum. 

2) Derp Vader

Someone kill the casting director. They nailed every character except Kylo Ren. Why did every other character work so well? Because they were either  already established in the universe or the new kids were played by unknowns except Derp Vader. He's played by Adam Driver, better known as Hannah Horvath's boyfriend on Girls.

The second I saw him without the mask, I couldn't take him seriously as a villain. Driver has gotten to much exposure as this weird idiot on an insanely popular show. FFS, one of the Obama kids interned on it! People associate him with this role. I couldn't unsee it and it took me out of the moment. Even his rage tantrums felt like Derp Boyfriend instead of Unstable Bad Guy.

While I'm on the rant, why does he have such nice hair under a freaking helmet? It's like he's out of a damn shampoo ad. Can you at least pretend to make him look different than Derp Boyfriend? Give him a military cut? Anything? How about a vague attempt to make him look like his parents? Derp Vader is a walking joke about the milkman. 

Did Driver do a good job? Yes. Had I never seen him before this, I'd think he was OK. A milkman joke but good. But I have seen him and it's like watching Rob Schneider as the bad guy.

Those two issues are going to be mostly my issues. Unless you've seen Girls, Kylo Ren hasn't been tainted for you. If you love, like, or merely tolerate Star Wars, go see this movie. It's the best in the franchise. The nerds were truly blessed this holiday season.

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge Book 34 or LBD Revisited

For a book I own but haven't read, I chose The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick. I was a big fan of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I was able to join in on the fun while it was still happening live. I saw the infamous website. I contributed to the Kickstarter to get the DVDs. I'm a bit of a fan. That's why it's a bit of a surprise I didn't read this sooner.

Maybe I thought it would be a rehashing of old events or it just didn't feel necessary but I had been away from the series for a while. This was a fun way to revisit it. So fun I've busted out my DVDs and have been re-watching the show. The diary added to the story and included transcripts of our favorite parts. It showed us scenes that were kept out of the videos like Lizzie telling her dad about the videos or a side of Jane's relationship we never knew about.

If you're a fan of the series, this is a must read! It did nothing but add to this great series. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel of Lydia's adventures.

Challenging Reading

The Pop Sugar Reading Challenge totals 52 books for the year. I've got less than 3 weeks to read 18 books. Even if I made half of them graphic novels and binge read, I don't think I'd get it done in time.

I'm fine with that. I figured out months ago this was a distinct possibility. I haven't had as much time to read lately and some of what I was reading was taking me longer than I anticipated. It is what it is.

Now I'm debating what I should do for a reading challenge next year. I've done them for several years now. It's almost a routine of some sort. December comes and I figure out my next reading challenge. While fun, I'm seriously considering not doing one next year.

I'll still read a bunch. Let's not talk crazy here. But what if I didn't restrict myself in what I read or when I read it. No schedules, no lists, just pure enjoyment. At the same time, I like the idea of challenging my reading habits. Read more books by women, people of color, people of different orientations, genders, nationalities, etc.

One thing is for certain, I need to spending less money. Keeping a running, safe car in a new state has cost over $1,100 in 2 months. While some of that cost is shared, that's still a good chunk of change out of my pocket. I own over 700 things to read and have a to-borrow list from the library that's over 200 books long. Whatever I decide to do next year will involve another attempt at not bringing new books into the house or severely limiting the amount.

Enough Is Enough

I read this article on Cracked about why we really hate the Kardashians. He’s pretty spot on with a lot of his points but I don’t 100% agree with everything.

I didn’t rage about finding out about Lamar Odom’s big crisis. Khloe is the least annoying Kardashian and she was still legally his wife. When she put the divorce on hold to handle this crisis, I thought, “That makes sense,” and went about my life.

I spend no time deliberately thinking about that fame-whore family but our media makes it near impossible to avoid them. Recommended links on CNN or Facebook, rants on other social media just perpetuate their hold over our culture. Brown says it best:

“All those blogs and magazines and news sites don't talk about Kim Kardashian because they care about her, they do it because you care about her, and the frustrated comments you leave and the links you anger-share on your Facebook page do nothing to make that less true.”

Most people love to hate them because we all love a common enemy. Why do you think Speidi was a thing 10 years ago? I saw an article about Kim complaining how fat she was this late in her pregnancy. I saw red but knew posting anything would just perpetuate their status in our culture so I just resumed my regular life.

I think they’re vapid, materialistic, and useless. What good thing have any of them done with their fame and fortune? Before you say the domestic violence PSAs, they didn’t consent to those. That was an artist and photoshop.

That’s what makes the history of genocide and persecution their ancestors escaped that much sadder. They fled to survive and many of their descendants haven’t actually done any good in the world. Robert Kardashian helped a murderer go free. All of the women help perpetuate a shallow, image conscious ideal on young girls.

I will grant these fools their ability to capitalize on this medium and monetize their fame. That doesn’t make them smart. That makes them one step down from a savant. They’re not intelligent and they’re not worth our time. 

PopSugar Reading Challenge Book 33 or The New Weird

For a place I've always wanted to visit, I read the Welcome to Night Vale book. Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor have been telling us about this weirdly magical place since 2012 and I've always wondered what this place would look like. The closest I came to visiting was to see the live show earlier this year with the voice actors surrounded by a community of fans.

Fink and Cranor write a spectacular podcast. I adore Welcome to Night Vale. However, I don’t think Night Vale’s weirdness translated especially well into print format this time.

I found it hard to engage in the book as much as I expected. I adored this town and these characters. Why isn’t this speaking to me more? I’m willing to bet that if I’d done the audio book, it would have totally altered my experience.

I don’t think the book was bad but it was as amazing as I expected it to be. It was good and tied up a very curious story that’s been running around the podcast for ages. It’s a bit rare that Night Vale’s weirdness gets explained so that was pretty fun.

I’d love to see another Night Vale book in the future. Maybe short stories about various pieces of weirdness with people around town or another novel that ties up a loose end. BF enjoys Night Vale but doesn’t have a ton of reading downtime so I’m thinking about getting the audiobook off bandcamp as a surprise for him. We’ll see if that changes my mind about the book a bit.

Unpopular Opinion: Sweet People Need to STFU Sometimes

This was partially inspired by a reddit thread and a few actual events. Most people who know me don’t read this but just in case, I apologize in advance if I offend any of you.

I think the world needs kind people with sweet, sensitive souls. Life is hard and ugly and sometimes we need a reminder of its sweeter side. I especially respect these people if life has been hard on them and they are still this way. It’s remarkable.

That said, I have a hard time taking life advice from people to whom life has been kind. If nothing major has ever gone wrong for you or nobody has died on you, keep your life advice to yourself.

Both of your parents are alive, well, and happily married. Mazel tov. We spent the Christmas I was 13 trying to figure out my father’s funeral.

Your grandparents are alive? That’s beautiful to have so many generations around to spread love and celebrate. One of them has hints of dementia? That’s terrible.

I spent most of my twenties helping my mother deal with my grandfather’s immobility, dementia, nursing homes that stole his cookies, his total disconnect with reality, and failing health. I got a lovely preview of coming attraction for when it eventually happens to her. Did you know people with dementia can be very ugly and spiteful? I do!

I’m really glad your extended family can come together, stays in touch, and just straight up loves each other.

My mom’s sister was 12 sorts of useless when it came to caring for my grandfather. She didn’t speak to my mother for several years while we got to deal with the fun times. Did you know my grandfather’s wife slowly stole money from him and wrote all his grandchildren out of his will? Or that the son she stole said money for didn’t do a goddamn thing when his mother was dying? That fell to my mom. And by golly was he horrible to my mom.

Your secure career with excellent pay and benefits is stressful. Please tell me more.

I’ve never had one of those so I don’t know what it’s like. It’s actually quite fun to guess if you’re going to have enough money for bills when they come due. Who doesn’t love going on interviews and not hearing back? How about that delightful moment when you realize how much cheaper your life would be if you had benefits like transit subsidy, healthcare, and the extra income you’re not making as a temp?

Of course I want to hear about the problems in your romantic life. I’m very single so I get to live vicariously through you.

We all want to find someone to love us but it’s really fucking hard, for some of us. Hey, it’s not like I’m the ugly friend and most guys only acknowledge me to get to you. Oh, wait… It’s really reassuring to hear you tell me I’m pretty. No one else seems to think so but I’ll keep being in denial about popular opinion and hope that doesn’t eventually seep in and destroy my confidence.

You think depression is like being sad and don’t want to deal with the negativity? That’s cute.

I’m going to be in the corner hoping my crippling despair subsides enough for me to do laundry. Hey, who doesn’t enjoy routinely contemplating the pointlessness of their existence? I would love to ‘choose happiness’ but my brain will not allow that to happen. It’s really great when nobody around you understands and doesn’t particularly want to know you’ve got these problems. Maybe I can make it through the weekend without acting on the urge to kill myself. We’ll find out.

Now I’m not in the ugly depressed place right now but that has been my reality before and may very well be my reality again. I’m also not single anymore but if I was out with my friends, I was the grenade the guy had to jump on to get to the hot chick. Forever alone folks, your pain is not alien to me. A lot of this is in my past but it has toughened me up.

When life has been a bitch to you, getting life advice from someone who hasn’t been there but thinks they know what they’re talking about is remarkably condescending. People with kids don’t want to hear advice to someone without them. Dog people don’t want to hear suggestions from people who have never owned dogs. Tourists don’t give directions.

I don’t want to offend the softies out there but I’m not the only one thinking this. If you want to be supportive, by all means do it. People in hard situations need all the support we can get. Just keep your audience in mind before you talk and respect that you don’t know their experience.