2016 Books 7 & 8

I got a duplicate book for my birthday but my friend was smart enough to get a gift receipt. Since I left Sunday unscheduled, Boyfriend and I went to this delightful independent bookstore. He left me unsupervised. Considering all the books I looked at and thought about, only adding 2 wasn’t that bad.

Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution by Mona Eltahawy
I can’t get this at my local library (I checked) and it was right there.

The Feminist Utopia Project edited by Alexandra Blonsky & Rachel Kauder Nalebuff
An anthology of text and art about women’s different ideas of what a more feminist world would look like.

If you’re wondering, I did get another book which is why these 2 count.This brings my collection for the year to:

1. Illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
2. This Is Why You’re Single by Laura Lane & Angela Spera
3. Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken & Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
4. The Green Man by Ellen Datlow
5. Sisters of the Revolution edited by Ann VanderMeer
6. Sharkpunk edited by Jonathan Green
7. The Feminist Utopia Project edited by Alexandra Blonsky & Rachel Kauder Nalebuff
8. Headscarves and Hymens by Mona Eltahawy

Richer Reading Life Book 6

Poetry is brought to you by Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Hepperman is an anthology of fairy tale themed poetry and images geared toward teens. I like anything with a fairy tale motif so when I saw this at the library, it was game on.

I definitely felt a bit old for this but I appreciated the references. There are a lot of things I don’t miss and being a teenager is one of them. The eating disorder theme was very prevalent. A great deal of time is spent trying to be thinner, prettier, younger and it’s all just a media sponsored game that has us chasing our tails.

Rather than give spoilers, I’ll just say my favorites: Shape Magazine, Anorexic Eats a Salad, Vindictive Punctuation, First Semester Haiku, Ugly Stepsister, Boy Toy Villanelle, Nature Lesson, Love Red Handed, The Beast and Assassin. It’s short, sweet and fun. Definitely recommend. My only complaint is that they images lost something being printed on standard pages. 4/5 stars

Richer Reading Life Activity #6

I rarely do much of anything outside let alone read. I’m a firm believer that I’d like outside better if it had fewer bugs getting in my face. Despite that, I decided that 3 was the magic number of times I had to read outside before I could check it off my list. What was the experience like each time?

March 11

I’m enjoying the outdoor seating while I wait for Boyfriend to finish work and join me for dinner. This is a part of town that has plenty of restaurants, office buildings, parking garages, and very little nature. I can’t tell if I’m inhaling bus exhaust, car exhaust, metro fumes, or cigarette smoke.

March had just had it’s first big warm up and I’m in the midst of it’s first cool down. The temperature is either in the low 60s or high 50s which is perfect for me. I can hear people’s kids filter through the restaurant doors so I don’t mind the relative quiet of outside. I would rate this experience as middling.

April 6

I’d finished my second round at the eye doctor and the liquid nitrogen ice cream place wasn’t open for another 20 minutes. I decided to kill some time on a bench in a nice space across the street. It’s not exactly a park since it’s pretty well paved but there’s benches, a fountain, and a jungle gym in side a U of stores. I chilled on a bench while I worked toward the end of Patrick Ness’s More Than This.

It was a warm spring sun but with a cool blustery wind. Since it was the middle of a weekday, it was pretty quiet. Not too many mom’s with strollers, people with dogs, or anyone else. The only unpleasantness was a hobo who interrupted me to ask for money. She left after I told her I didn’t have anything (which, with a $45 copay, is not wholly inaccurate). It was a pleasant experience I’d have carried on for longer if I hadn’t had to get work done.

May 14

During a trip to the coast, I had several chances to read on a trip to the boardwalk. It was relaxing, sunny, gorgeous weather. Warm spring sun paired with cold front winds. Boyfriend would go off to check on something while I relaxed and read. Extremely pleasant experience. 10/10 would do again next year.

2016 Books #6

Yup. I done done it again. This time, it was inspired by something I’d previously Kickstarted. The editor sent an email with his previous publication information. There was a shark anthology.

In case you missed the leggings and tank I just bought, you may not have noticed I’ve got a bit of a thing for sharks. When I realized Sharkpunk edited by Jonathan Green was out of print but available new, for a price comparable to retail, I pounced. I want to see if they do sharks justice. While they are apex predators who are worthy of fear, they’re also living creatures who are worthy of respect. They play a critical role in the ecosystem and can be incredibly beautiful. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Richer Reading Life Book 5

My translation comes from a library haul earlier this week. Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera was translated from its original Spanish. There's a chapter at the end by the translator who goes into great detail about the importance of getting it right to capture the beauty of Herrera's prose.

A native of Mexico, Herrera's story is about a young woman who crosses the border to find her brother and give him a letter from their mother. We hear about her journey and the difficulty she has finding an illegal immigrant in a land where people like her are hated and discriminated against.

It was written in a style that reminded me of Cormac McCarthy. It lacked the common punctuation that made it easy to follow dialogue. You had to read carefully to not miss anything. I wonder if something was lost in translation that made it easier to follow in Spanish or if it was similar for that audience as well.

For a small tale it was very poetic and memorable. There is a part toward the end with a poem that was very powerful. I was very surprised at the ending. When all you want is to go home, life throws you a curve ball. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Genres I Typically Avoid: Christian Books

There are three big genres I avoid and since it’s coming up on time for me to address that category, I’m going to go over why I’m not a fan of those three genres. This week? Religion, more specifically, Christian books.

I’m agnostic/spiritual. While I think there’s an order to the universe, I don’t think any one religion got it exactly right. Almost all faiths have a grain of truth residing in their core belief systems that is worth finding and exploring. However, the politics of organized religion can readily obscure that.

**This post is a bit long so if you want the TL;DR, skip a bit**

My father wanted me to be Catholic like he was but it never stuck. He tried to take me to church but it was just a boring obligation where I couldn’t read and didn’t understand what was going on. I think he may have expected me to just inherently have the faith he did without having to do much of anything to explain it to me. Clearly, this plan did not work.

I wound up going to a Catholic high school because the public schools sucked and the nondenominational private schools were hella expensive. Obama sends his kids to one of them to paint you a picture. The only classes that were mandatory all 4 years were English, math, and religion. 10th grade was church history and Odin’s eye did that backfire on me. The crusades, the Borgias, the woman pope, and the fact that the Catholic church controlled most of Europe for the better part of 1,000 years soured me on the inherent divinity of that faith. Not long after this the priest sexual abuse scandal in Boston broke and all my respect for the Catholic faith was stone dead.

Between a Catholic high school and comparative mythology class in college, I noticed a lot of inconsistencies in the Bible. The two main narratives in Genesis don’t line up. Some of the ‘thou shalt nots’ contradict each other. Hell, the Old Testament and New Testament contradict how God behaves. Did he create Zoloft in between?

How about all the books that were left out by the massive editing committee of papal authority? Where they less true or divine or did they just not fit the correct political image necessary at the time? And can we please acknowledge, for once, ever, that someone, somewhere, may have fucked up a translation? It’s been a few thousand years so can we not rule that out?

What really sent me running from the faith and it’s literature wasn’t the history or politics but the people. Jesus was a nice guy who had a lot of important things to say. Some of the modern people might want to go back and reread them because something clearly got misinterpreted. Let’s modify What Would Jesus Do and replace the verb with Bomb, Torture, Rape, Kill, Shoot, Deport, Judge, or Hold a rally against?

**TL;DR start below**

Even on a smaller social scale, I have met so many Christians who are the most holier-than-thou, judgmental, and generally useless wastes of carbon. My mother worked with someone who would bog down everyone’s mail box with daily blessings full of bad gifs and clip art. The same woman wanted her house to be so Martha Stewart perfect her husband didn’t live there. She was so obsessed with her stuff that she had it written into her will that her kids can’t throw out any of her things until she’s be dead for a year.

A woman I used to work with would blast her gospel music all day, every day. If I asked her to turn it down, she ignored me and turned it up. It would have been less annoying if she didn’t constantly snap her fingers, tap her feet, and sing along. Did she care that it bothered me and distracted me from doing my job? Nope. Worshiping her god at work was more important than the comfort of others. She was just one of many catty ‘good Christian’ woman in that office who didn’t like me. One who stopped just short of openly hating me had a book about how to be a good Christian wife!

The only thing I did wrong to those woman was not tolerate their BS. The only reason they turned the other cheek was so they could gossip about other women who weren’t as devout/nice as they were. Other than church, gossip, and bad reality TV, I don’t think there was anything else that interested these women. I can think of several other examples but we’d be here all day.

I have known and currently socialize with several people of faith. It is a part of what makes them such high quality human beings. But no amount of awesome on their part can redeem the faith to the point where I’m jumping on board. I’ll respect it and be kind to those of faith who are kind to me but the sour taste runs deep.

I can’t get past all of the ugly history and horrible people tied to the Christian faith. I found a book that really spoke to me in Barnes & Noble once but seeing it labeled as Christian Fiction made me put it down. I eventually came back to it but I dragged my feet. Dear Mr. Knightley was a lovely book and it was mislabeled as Christian Fiction. Faith was only a small part of the story and by no means dominated.

Once again, I ask you, internet, if you know any Christian fiction that has plenty of story going on and doesn’t beat you over the head with Jesus?

Genres I Typically Avoid: Romance

There are three big genres I avoid and since it’s coming up on time for me to address that category, I’m going to go over why I’m not a fan of those three genres. This week? Romance novels.

I dislike romance novels because the characters and stories are very predictable. Two unlikely people meet, intense attraction occurs, they fight it, they give in, romance ensues, obstacle occurs, couple separated/splits, the obstacle is overcome, happily ever after. Mix and match stock characters and places as necessary.

It’s about big strong men wooing women in trouble or those men converting angry, if not bitter, women into someone likeable. Of course the woman has to soften. No self-respecting man could actually want to be with the Head Bitch in Charge as she is, right? All women are superhot and in desperate need of some good loving, right?

I have never seen the cover of a bodice ripper and thought “There’s a man who will respect her opinion” unless that’s a really creative euphemism. The man isn’t there to care about what the woman in the story thinks just as she isn’t there to do an abundance of thinking in the first place. Falling for the hot pirate/soldier of fortune/cowboy who kidnapped you isn’t love, it’s Stockholm syndrome.

Realistically, how many billionaires, tycoons, and royals think “I’d rather be with a plain teacher/librarian/secretary/student instead of a super model/lawyer/diplomat. It’s fun being with someone who doesn’t understand my life or obligations. There’s no way this is a walking PR disaster waiting to happen.”

I read most genre fiction I can get my hands on and I find a walking, talking tree and a raccoon with a gun fetish more believable than a lot of romance story lines. I like character development, depth, and a believable plot trajectory. More should be happening in the story than just the relationship between two characters. Life is more than getting laid, despite what cable TV says.

Since I’ve got to find a book that is from a genre I typically avoid, I need a good romance. I skimmed Harlequin’s latest titles and my rant appears to remain true so I turn to you, the internet, for help. I need to find a story about love and romance that won’t make me roll my eyes so hard they fall out of my head.

Previous love-centered stories I’ve enjoyed are My Name Is Memory and Water for Elephants. Any suggestions?

Genres I Typically Avoid: History

There are three big genres I avoid and since it’s coming up on time for me to address that category, I’m going to go over why I’m not a fan of those three genres. This week? Histories.

Fiction is my first love. I enjoy being told a story about what happens to someone as events play out and relationships change. I adore the fantastical element of genre fiction since it takes me out of this world and somewhere more interesting and diverse. I also enjoy memoirs because they have a similar narrative flow to fiction. There is a voice, a set of emotions, to engage me as a reader.

I’ve always found nonfiction histories to be very dry and unexciting. It’s a similar problem that I have to popular science books. It’s interesting and there’s something new to learn but the lack of narrative makes it more work for me to engage as a reader. The lack of narrative doesn’t captivate me as much.

Historical fiction? Definitely. Let’s begin this adventure. Actual history? It already happened and we know how it ended so the journey seems less exciting going in. My reasons here are simple in that I have just not enjoyed this genre of books. My reasons for the other genres are a bit more personal.

So internet, do you know any histories that have more excitement and narrative than your average tome?

Richer Reading Life Activity #5

On Friday, I talked books with someone I’d never talked books with before: my MRI tech. I had to have a scan done (nothing serious, I’m fine) but he asked about college and I told him I’d studied English. He asked what my favorite authors were and I said I favored genre writers like Neil Gaiman.

My tech was actually a fan of poetry. His favorites were Lewis Carroll and Edgar Alan Poe with his all time favorite being the Jabberwocky. He was impressed Carroll committed enough to make a lengthy poem about nonsense. I told him I adored Alice in Wonderland and that my favorite Poe poem was The Raven for how rhythmic it was but Masque of the Red Death was excellent as well.

After I was done I recommended Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series since it has dealings with Lewis Carroll and other classic literature. It’s relationship to Poe is very unique. He even let me in on a little secret. When I put my earplugs in wrong, he offered to do it for me since the machine is quite loud. Normally, he just leaves them but there was something about me he liked. It was a very pleasant experience, all things considered.

Richer Reading Life Book #4

For an LGBT author, I chose Patrick Ness’s More Than This. I discovered it at the National Book Festival while it was still on the National Mall. There were several copies but one had the door intact. This made it special so I took it home.

How I had to hold the book to read it eventually led to the door popping out on its own but I am so glad I acquired this book. The writing and the world is wonderful. It deals with death, family, loss, grief, love, connection, and the future of the world. Much like life, not all questions are answered and not all mysteries are solved but you are left satisfied. I think the greatest part about this book is that Ness leaves you with plenty of things to think on and ponder.

I can’t tell you too much because anything I reveal will be a spoiler. It starts with Seth, a teenage boy, drowning and dying. This is what happens after he wakes up. From there he finds more questions than answers and more mysteries that need solving. I found the ending curious but not objectionable. I highly recommend this work, especially if you have depression or feel alone because it reminds you that there is always more. 5 out of 5 stars.

Richer Reading Life Activity #4

I like doing trivia and learning new stuff. Like, did you know there were concerns about airing Bob the Builder in Japan because he's only got 4 fingers? Folks were concerned about yakuza associations since poorly behaved mobsters often lose fingers. I learned that from a book from mental_floss

Despite that fun tidbit, I have 6 books from them that I've had since 2009 and never read. While I'm sure the contents are great fun, I've had long enough to read them so I'm culling the books that have been in my TBR the longest. Finding a new home will be:

1. mental_floss Forbidden Knowledge
2. mental_floss Cocktail Party Cheat Sheet
3. mental_floss Scatterbrained
4. mental_floss What's the Difference?
5. mental_floss Genius Instruction Manual
6. mental_floss In the Beginning

Richer Reading Life Quarterly Update

Since we have finished the first 25% of the year, I thought it would be a good idea to see how I'm doing overall on having a richer reading life.

Reading

By a woman - The Bell Jar
By a POC - Bad Feminist
By a LGBT+ person
Deals with Mental Illness
Woman in Politics
Author over 65
Author from Africa
Takes place in Asia
Indie press - Pedal Zombies
Translation
Poetry
Published before 1850
Genre I typically avoid
Award Winner
Audiobook
Recommendation

I'm just shy of the 25% mark. While I could have counted The Bell Jar for Mental Illness, I didn't want to. There are other books about depression that I'm very interested to read. At the same time, finding a book by a woman on my shelves is not difficult. However, books in Asia, African authors, and authors over 65 are a bit sparse.

I've started on poetry but I've always viewed poetry as a small dose thing that has to be digested over time. You don't fully experience it if you binge. I've got a few things earmarked for some of the remaining categories but we'll just have to see what happens. I'll try to up my game in the next quarter.

Activities

Ask a local librarian 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 - Never Open Desert Diner quotes
Write in margins
Give away a book that's been in my TBR a long time
Cull 10 books from my collection and don't bring any home for a month
Attend a reading event near me - This Is Why You're Single sketch show and book tour
Read the book, watch the movie, debate which is better
Listen to an audio book of a physical book I DNF
Listen to a podcast about books - Dear Book Nerd and BookTube
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
Not ideal. All of my friends are readers so it's something we talk about with some frequency although there are a few I haven't talked books with before. We've got a road trip coming up in May so it's the perfect opportunity.

I plan on accomplishing the cull by not procuring any new books in the month of April. I cull well over 10 and don't need anymore in the immediate future. I've started on reading outside but I do it pretty rarely so I want to do it a few times before I finally cross it off. It's just starting to be the time of year where I can do it.

I'm waiting on some of the others like When a Monster Calls by Patrick Ness coming to theaters this fall. Failing that, there's always the last Hunger Games movie which I haven't seen yet.

Books

1. Illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
2. This Is Why You're Single by Laura Lane & Angela Spera
3. Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken & Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
4. The Green Man by Ellen Datlow
5. Sisters of the Revolution edited by Ann VanderMeer

I'm at about 30% of my final 16 for the year. Staying within that limit is not looking good but my money situation is helping keep my book purchases down. Hopefully my plan for a no-buy April will give me an edge since a lot of what I want to get comes out this summer.

2016 Books #5

Yes, I bought myself another book. I blame a combination of circumstance and personal weakness.

The Long Version

I signed up to be a regifter in reddit's Color git exchange. I had several things I wanted to order off amazon for my person. Sam (not his real name) offered to place an amazon order for me through his prime account with my credit card. I brought it up to him 3 times via technology but life happened in between face-to-face meetings and neither of us mentioned it, least of all him.

I finally give up on him acknowledging he ever made the damn offer, let alone me taking him up on it, and just order the stuff. This involved a lot of fancy footwork since Amazon raised the free shipping minimum, again (bastards). Hours later I got my match for the sci-fi exchange. Had I waited 4 hours, this might not have happened. Instead, I had to make 2 orders in the same day and do the cart dance of "I'm too stubborn to get prime" to get free shipping. With a $25 order of books to get free shipping, it wasn't that difficult.

The Short Version

I was buying a reddit gift, the price was good, I've been wanting it for a while, I wanted free shipping (which was only $25 for books), and I'm weak.

Either version ends with me getting a feminist speculative fiction anthology.

1. Illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
2. This Is Why You're Single by Laura Lane & Angela Spera
3. Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken & Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
4. The Green Man by Ellen Datlow
5. Sisters of the Revolution edited by Ann VanderMeer

Richer Reading Life Book #3

Checking off a book written by a person of color. I finally finished Bad Feminist. It took longer than I thought because of limited time, library books, and a lot of content.

Some of her personal stories made me laugh, like competing in competitive Scrabble tournaments or being Team Peeta. Some of her more analytical pieces struck my feminist chord like when she talks about eating disorders, sexual violence, and rape culture, or the still on-going battle to preserve our reproductive rights. I wanted to nod vigorously and shout "All the yes!" when I read her essays about Chris Brown, Robin Thicke and FSOG.

Gay also opened my eyes to the scarcity of black stories being told by black voices in modern media. It made me truly rethink my feelings about The Help and made me want to revisit with fresh eyes. I need to integrate more literature, both feminist and not, about people of color into my reading. It made me appreciate how insulated I've become since more to a more affluent suburb surrounded by white people and "good" minorities. I'll never be able to understand it but my world will be better for hearing about it. 4 out of 5 stars.

Putting a number on how many challenge books I've is making me appreciate how far little I've done. Several activities require reading books as well so it looks like I've got to step up my game and pick up the pace.

2016 Books #4 and Book Wish List

I was weak and getting a little twitchy. I was altering my Amazon lists after by birthday and saw this one book was out of print. I clicked on it and saw hardbacks were going pretty cheap used. I decided to look at what condition they were in. I now have a like new hardcover copy of The Green Man edited by Ellen Datlow coming my way.

I feel guilty since there were a lot of books I was excited about this year but it's also out of print. There is a finite about of copies in excellent condition floating around. I'm also consoling myself that I get to return a book and swap it for something else on my wish list for the year.

Books Purchased in 2016

1. Illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
2. This Is Why You're Single by Lauran Lane & Angela Spera
3. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson & The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
4. The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest edited by Ellen Datlow

For those of you wondering what's on my 2016 book wish list:

Book Wish List for 2016

1. Archie Vol 1 by Mark Waid (3/29/16)
2. Deadpool Vol 1 by Gerry Duggan (5/3/16)
3. Deadpool & Cable: Split Second (5/3/16)
4. Shrill by Lindy West (5/17/19)
5. Sex Object by Jessica Valenti (6/7/16)
6. Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley (6/14/16)
7. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (7/5/16)
8. Deadpool & the Mercs for Money (8/30/16)
9. Shades of Blue edited by Amy Ferris
10. Something New by Lucy Knisley
11. Here at Hogwarts by Lucy Knisley
12. Fables: Wolf Among Us Vol 2 (6/28/16)
13. Spiderman/Deadpool Vol 0 (5/24/16)
14. Spiderman/Deadpool Vol 1 (8/23/16)
15. Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars
16. Guardians Team Up 1
17. Guardians Team Up 2
18. Octavia's Brood edited by Walidah Imarisha
19. Sisters of the Revolution edited by Ann VanderMeer
20. Deadpool Firsts
21. Deadpool Flashbacks
22. Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon
23. Michael Muller: Sharks, face-to-face
24. Sandman Slipcase

Yes, I am aware I've only got 12 more books before I hit 16 and well above that on my list. Some will likely make it to my Christmas list while others I might just have to sit on until I either get gift cards or it's 2016. I'm going to make an honest effort to stick to 16 books but I'm starting to think I might not be able to pull it off after all.

First Quarterly Cull of 2016

Part of having a Richer Reading Life is doing quarterly culls. If I wasn't excited about it, won't be rereading it, couldn't remember why I bought it, or what it was about it, it was going.

I will absolutely keep things I’ve read and loved. I take a while to reread my favorites because I have a long memory but I’m fierce about the books I love. Armada went to a guy I saw in my building. The Fault in Our Stars, We’re Just Like You Only Prettier, and one other book went to my building’s lounge. Simon’s Cat, The Atrocity Archives, and one other title went to the little free library in the organic market behind our building. Everything else went to the library.

Books that found a new home were…

1. Friendship by Emily Gould
2. Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen
3. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
4. The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
5. Spent: Memoirs of a Shopping Addict by Avis Cardella
6. Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
7. The Body Book by Cameron Diaz
8. Blowback by Valerie Plame
9. Rat Catcher by Andy Diggle
10. Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
11. Radical Simplicty by Dan Price
12. Too Many Katherines by John Green
13. I Survived the Zombie Apocalypse and All I Got Was This Podcast by Andrew Magnum
14. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
15. Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin
16. Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin
17. CelebraTORI by Tori Spelling (it was a phase, don’t judge me)
18. Blood Lite edited by Kevin Anderson
19. Blood Lite 2 edited by Kevin Anderson
20. Naked City edited by Ellen Datlow
21. Agents of Treachery edited by Otto Penzler
22. More by Robert Engelman
23. Napoleon’s Private’s by Tony Perrottet
24. All By My Selves by Jeff Dunham
25. Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks by Ethan Gilsdorf
26. The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines
27. The Rejection Collection edited by Matthew Diffee
28. Spent: Memoirs of a Shopping Addicet by Avis Cardella
29. Four Kitchens by Lauren Shockey
30. Screaming Science Fiction by Brian Lumley
31. Walking Shadows by Neil Bousfield
32. Dirty Sexy Politics by Meghan McCain
33. Plenty by Alisa Smith
34. Simon’s Cat by Simon Tofield
35. The Power of Half by Kevin Salwen
36. The Pirate Handbook by Pat Croce
37. White People by Allen Gurganus
38. Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology edited by Althea Kontis
39. How’d You Get This Number by Sloane Crosley
40. Turning the Tables by Rita Rudner
41. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
42. Looking for Alaska by John Green
43. Going to See the Elephant by Rodes Fishburne
44. The Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard
45. Hot & Steamy edited by Jean Rabe & Martin Greenberg
46. To Fetch a Thief by Spencer Quinn
47. Suddenly Frugal by Leah Ingram
48. People of the Book edited by Rachel Swirsky & Sean Wallace
49. A User’s Guide to Neglectful Parenting by Guy Delisle
50. Zombie Tales: This Bites by Krizan
51. Zombie Apocalypse by Stephen Jones
52. The River of No Return by Bee Ridgeway
53. Monument 14: Sky on Fire by Emmy Laybourne
54. The Clockwork Man by William Jablonsky
55. Running of the Bride by Rachel Eddey
56. Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists edited by Courtney Martin
57. Howard’s End Is on the Landing by Susan Hill
58. Night of the Living Trekkies by Kevin David Anderson
59. Dark and Stormy Knights edited by P. N. Elrod
60. MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche
61. Dead Inside: Do Not Enter
62. No Cheating, No Dying by Elizabeth Weil
63. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Zombies by Matt Morg
64. A Guided Tour of the Museum of Communism by Slavenka Drakulić
65. Cowboys and Aliens by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg
66. The Unwritten Vol. 1 by Mike Carey
67. Armada by Ernest Cline
68. Marvel 1602: Fantastic Four by Peter David
69. The Blumhouse Book of Nightmares: The Haunted City edited by Jason Blum
70. We’re Just Like You, Only Prettier by Celia Rivenbark
71. Bless Your Heart Tramp by Celia Rivenbark
72. Belle Weather by Celia Rivenbark
73. You Can’t Drink All Day if You Don’t Start in the Morning by Celia Rivenbark
74. Never Suck a Dead Man’s Hand by Dana Killmann
75. It Sucked and then I Cried by Heather Armstrong

Richer Reading Life Activity #3

I am a huge bookmark user. I used to use the cute, fancy bookmarks from stores and what have you until  I was in a bind and had to use a ticket. A tradition was born. Most of my fancier bookmarks found new homes and tickets from different events I attended became my favored bookmarks.

The card stock they were printed on was durable but fit nicely within the page. I never had to worry about a tassel getting the ticket yanked out. Best of all, I got to remember the event where I got the ticket. I still use them to this day although my primary method has changed. I started getting $2 bills out in the world (as change mostly) and use those. The ink doesn't fade if my hand gets sweaty and each one has a story, much like the tickets.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I haven't dogeared a page since I devoured most of the Fear Street series in the 90s. I can be a bit precious about my books. I put them in B&N bags so they don't get beat up in my backpack. I write or underline in pencil. I want to brandish someone about the head if I see them fold a cover over on a paperback so the back and front meet.

I did dogear pages on The Never Open Desert Diner because my best reading time is my commute. I have no chores, cell service, or other distractions pulling at me. There were several quotes I wanted to remember and put on GoodReads so what did I do?

A really little dog ear on the bottom of quote pages. It doesn't mess up the book and I can still find what I was looking for. I can un-dogear it if I want the book back to normal. Everybody wins. I say this counts so my Richer Reading Life Activity #3 has been accomplished: Dogear a page.

2016 Book #3

In February I posted about partaking in the Reddit books gift exchange. My person got some great stuff and early next week I’ll be matched with someone who got stiffed. Fortunately, my person was very thoughtful.

I was debating on how best to count this for my 16 books for 2016. While it’s technically a gift, it was one I chose to participate in. I also opted to be someone’s backup Santa so I think that buys me karma points. Ergo, I decided to balance the scales with 1-2 books counting as 1 and anything beyond that counting as 2. How did I make out?

It came with my address in lovely script and closed with Hello Kitty duct tape. Each book was wrapped with yellow tissue paper like a present (also with Hello Kitty). I own several hundred books so I linked my GoodReads account to make life easier. My very thoughtful Santa used that to give me 2 books from my TBR list.

The Darkest Minds and Steelheart were books I found out about from BookTube and sounded fun. I’m impressed she got me a signed copy. She also included a bacon bookmark and thoughtful card. I get the sense she’s a bit younger but I’ve very happy with my haul.

My 2016 book acquisition totals are:

1. Illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
2. This Is Why You’re Single by Laura Lane and Angela Spera
3. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson & The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Richer Reading Life Book #2

Book #2 will be from the ultimate Indie Press. I had the chance to get in on the Kickstarter for Pedal Zombies but I didn't. It was published by Elly Blue Publishing, an imprint of Microcosm Publishing, that is fully managed by its namesake (and Pedal Zombie's editor) Elly Blue. An indie within an indie. Somewhere, a hipster is feeling a bit of pride about this.

I own Pedal Zombies for a couple of reasons. I didn't kickstart it when I had the chance then saw it in B&N. I bought it out of respect for how far it came. I also like owning it because of glorious irony. I don't know how to ride a bike. At least 3 hipsters feel off their fixies but aren't quite sure why.

I think that revelation means my glowing review means even more. This book is perfect for what it is. Usually the zombies are the undead as we've always known them but some are zombie cars or sentient bikes or bike riding zombies. The core themes of bikes, zombies, and strong women are strong and go in so many great directions.

These stories are short, sweet, and rife with possibility. There wasn't a story I disliked. They were all gems. You can feel the magic and size of these worlds despite the small number of pages. I'd love to see some of these explored more deeply. Overall, 5 out of 5 stars.

Why Ya Gotta Let Me Down?

Watching loads of BookTube has turned me on to the reality that stories can often disappoint us. Here are some books I found to be deeply disappointing.

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
I loved the movie when I was a teenager. It was interesting, magical, and about different forms of love. When I realized it was based on a book, I sought it out and was promptly let down. The book had no magic and no action.

Seven Wonders by Adam Christopher
This story had a fantastic premise. Superheroes we've never heard of, an average schmoe suddenly gets powers, can they defeat the big bad? The only reason I finished this was because I wanted to see how Christopher tried to tie the train wreck together. Spoiler alert: not well.

Friendship by Emily Gould
Self-absorbed millennials fuck up their lives and relationships. If I wanted that combined with a vague non-ending, I can just watch Girls.

Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl by Susan McCorkindale
I expected a fun fish-out-of-water story when a former Manhattan business woman moves to a working farm in Virginia. Instead it was a nonstop bitchfest that left me wondering if this woman actually liked her husband, kids, or life. Oscar the Grouch and Grumpy Cat are more uplifting than McCorkindale.

Armada by Ernest Cline
This book is OK but what depresses me about is that I can see the book it could have been. It's premise is marvelous but the execution is forgettable, unoriginal, and rampant with tropes. It just felt like a long piece of fanboy fanfic. You're better than this Cline. Ready Player One says so.

In the Woods by Tana French
We get two mysteries: the disappearance and probable murder of two local children and the sole survivor who remembers nothing and the little girl who turns up dead at an archaeological dig in the same woods many years later. One of the mysteries doesn't get solved. No. A thousand times no. Do not delve deep and leave me with nothing. I refuse to touch anything she's written to this day because of this. Just no.

Anything by Nicholas Sparks
I went through a phase where I read a lot of him in high school and I eventually realized the SOB just recycles the same story over and over again. Occasionally he allows a happy ending but more often than not, death and misery. I want some of those hours of my life back.