Randomness

My annual list of books I read in the past year. In 2016 I read 97 books. I started something new this year, and some of the books were read out loud to my mom. My favorite books read this year "The Martian" and my re-reads of the Street Cat Bob books: "A Street Cat Named Bob," "The World According to Bob," and "A Gift from Bob." The story of James and Bob is beautiful. It's a true story that's still ongoing. James and Bob are still around.

As before the list of books I read (divided by genre) is under the cut. Books marked with a * were books I thought were particularly good. Books with (2) are re-reads, and books with (M) are books I read out loud to mom.

( 2016 Books )

I don't know if anyone still reads my journal. I know I don't post in it much. I feel I need to post about this though. My father passed away September 13th. Even though he had health issues, this was extremely unexpected. We'd been talking about possibly returning to Disney World in November of 2016. He died the night my aunt and uncle arrived from California, and he'd really been looking forward to their visit. My mom and I were very luck that Aunt Denise and Uncle Sal were here. They were a huge help. The morning it happened I screamed and cried a lot. The first week I was fairly sick. That's how my body reacts to high levels of stress. I was able to pull myself together for the funeral on the 19th. I'm very grateful that he didn't die on my birthday and that the funeral also wasn't on my birthday, which is the 21st. It was not a great birthday this year.

Now it's been just over three weeks. I've stopped thinking it's him every time the phone rings, but I still dream about him at night sometimes. Mom and I miss him, and we're sad, but we're coping. We're going out to California for Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with mom's family. We will get through this, but it will take time, and I know I'll always miss him. I love you dad.


Dad and Mom in 2006


Dad and Me in 2006

I just finished the book in the subject, and I have to say, it was not interesting. The characters all started off as teenagers with lives they weren't really happy with. They went through adult life into middle age, still living lives they weren't really happy with. I don't need every book to have a happy ending, but I wanted at least some of the characters here to be content. They author might as well have ended the book by saying, "And they all lived in mediocrity ever after. Except for the one guy who died from cancer." Below is a list of the main characters, and my impressions of them (in their own voices). Mainly because I feel like venting.

Julie Jacobson: I change my name from "Julie" to "Jules" near the very beginning of the book. I do it because I was invited to hang out with the cool kids, and the name "Julie" wasn't cool enough. I stay friends with the cool people, and I think that should magically make my life awesome. Except I'm not really happy with my job, my husband is depressed, and we hardly have any money. Even when I do take my dream job I decide it wasn't my dream after all, and I go back to my old life.

Ash Wolf: I think my family is more important than anything. You might think this is a noble feeling, but I take it to the extreme. My brother was accused of rape, and he ran away before the trial. Of course he didn't do it (because he's my brother and he says he didn't), and I hide the fact that I'm still in contact with him from my husband. I also send him money even though he spends most of it on drugs. I spend the rest of the time writing feminist plays. They're not terrible, but they're not great either. They mostly get noticed because my husband is famous.

Goodman Wolf: Yeah, I was accused of raping that girl, but I didn't do it. I swear! And even though I didn't do it, I ran away all the way to Iceland before the trial. My mom and dad sent me money, and then Ash sent some. Sure, I used most of it to buy drugs, but my life was ruined by a rape accusation. Why not have some fun?

Ethan Figman: I'm Ash's husband. I'm the one you want to root for. I was a geeky, nerdy kid, but I grew up to become rich and famous for creating a hit cartoon show for adults. After I marry Ash you stop wanting to root for me because we have a kid who ends up being on the autism spectrum. I can't handle this, and I don't even go with my wife when she gets the diagnosis. I also tell a friend I'm not sure I love my kid anymore. Oh, and by the way, about Goodman? I think he did rape that girl.

Jonah Bay: My mom was a famous folk singer, and I grew up playing guitar. I thought I was going to be a musician. But when I was a kid a man I thought of as a father figure gave me drugs, and stole songs I wrote while under the influence. But I'm not going to tell anyone about that. I'm going to brood and sulk. Also I can never play music again.

Basically those are my impressions on the main characters. They *do* have some redeeming qualities, and those were mentioned in the book, but these were my main thoughts.

I think this account of books I read over the past year is going to become a yearly tradition. I read 133 books in 2013! Part of the reason for that number is that there are number of shorter books on the list. By "short" I mean books I could breeze through in only 2-3 (or in some cases 1!) days. Another part of it is that I've always been a fast reader. Under the cut is a full list. I've grouped them by genre. Some of the books fit more than one genre, but I've put them in what I consider to the main one. Books with * next to them means I particularly liked that book or it really moved me. Books with (2) next to them means it was a re-read.

( 2013 Books )

I'm doing Nanowrimo again this year. My word count after day 1 is 2052. Before I started my story yesterday I had a small outline written. When I began writing I obviously started with the first scene I had laid out. Initially it was a small scene; I thought it would be maybe 500 or 1000 words. 2052 words later my first scene was finished. This always happens when I write. I get general ideas in my head, and as I write the ideas get fleshed out. I try to make the ideas more detailed in my outlines, but often the details don't come to me until I'm actually in the process of writing. It's not necessarily a bad thing, and I'm not complaining, but I'm curious. Does this happen to anyone else? I sometimes hear about writers saying their characters change things in the story (alter the plot, a minor characters becomes major, etc.), and while that's happened to me too, it's not quite the same as what I described with the outlines. So, other writers on my friends list, does this happen to you too?

I'm working on finishing my story I started for National Novel Writing Month last November. I fell off of writing it for a while, but I've picked it back up in recent months. I'm up to just over 61k words. I really want to finish the story. I'm curious about how it will end. That may sound odd since I'm the author, but I mean it. That often happens when I write. I refer to it as "stories writing themselves". A lot of the time I'll have a broad, overarching idea of what I want to happen in m story. Say, a character will start at point A, go to point B, and finally end up at point C. But how exactly does the character get from A to B and B to C? Those are the things I don't plan out. Here's an example from the the story I'm writing. I knew my main character was going to travel from her small village to the capital city to take music lessons. But how was she going to get there? Walk? Ride? Was she going to meet anyone along the way? Will she got straight to the capital or stop somewhere? Will she get lost? And what about when she arrives? How's she going to go about finding music lessons? So, while I know where I ultimately want my character to end up and what will ultimately happen I don't know all the details about exactly how it will happen.

These might seem like crucial points in the story, and it might seem odd that I don't plan them out. That's how I've always written though. I just write details as I go along. Often when I'm writing an idea will come up that just seems to fit the situation or the character. The story itself can also add more details. They'll come to me while I'm writing. Last evening I was working on my story. I knew the very next thing I wanted me character to do was go down to the kitchen to eat dinner. I wrote a little over 1000 words last night, and my character had just set out for the kitchen. Despite what I had planned details came to my mind when I started writing. I know other people who write and plan out all sorts of details about their stories in advance, but I just don't think that would work for me.

Another thing I've decided now that I'm working on my story again is that I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't work on it enough or even at all for a little bit. Sometimes I feel guilty because I don't write much one day or even at all. A questions finally hit me: why? Seriously, why? I'm not on a deadline for anyone. I don't have anyone waiting for me to finish so they can read my story. This doesn't mean I can just ignore my story for days and weeks on end. If I did that I'd never finish. However if I write little or nothing for a few days? No big deal. Things happen.

Maybe it's because I'm having a bad day, but the more I think about the season finale for Doctor Who that will air on Saturday, the more depressed I get. There's one main reason for that, and her name is River Song. I really, really don't like her. She's rubbed me the wrong way since she showed up in the library in season 4. She's so smug, and the way she says "spoilers" really irks me. I refuse to accept that she married the Doctor since it wasn't actually him, but a robot (or whatever it was) that looked like him. I just don't like her. I was going along fine, enjoying the second half of season 7. I didn't like as much as earlier seasons (1-4), but I was enjoying it. Amy was finally gone, and I'd forgotten River even existed. Then she popped in the preview for the finale. Sigh. I'm probably getting way too invested in a TV show, but I love Doctor Who! And I used to love it even more.

I haven't been as into the show since the end of season 4. A bit of background: I didn't get into Doctor Who until 2010. I also didn't get BBCAmerica where I was living at the time. I borrowed seasons 1- 4 on DVD from a friend and another friend burned season 5 for me. I watched them all. I liked Christopher Eccleston fine, but I fell into love with David Tennant and Ten. I was heartbroken when he regenerated. It took some time, but I like Matt Smith. (However David Tennant will always be my Doctor.) The people I was never able to warm up to were Amy and River. With Amy I was pretty much indifferent. I didn't hate her, but I didn't like her either. She did nothing for me. With River it's clear hate. I don't like her at all.

So, on to the current run. I wasn't a big fan of seasons 5, 6, or the first half of 7. Of all of those, I liked season 5 the best. (I loved "The Lodger" and "Vincent and the Doctor".) I always assumed my major problems with those seasons were Amy and especially River's arc. I was very hopeful that once Clara showed up my interest in the show would go way up (back to the levels of excitement I had in seasons 1-4) since neither River nor Amy would be present. That... hasn't happened. I've enjoyed the episodes with Clara, but I haven't been really grabbed by any of them except "Nightmare in Silver", and even that wasn't as good as it could have been. I can remember episodes during the earlier seasons (Blink, The Shakespeare Code, and Turn Left immediately come to mind) that I absolutely adored. Unfortunately I haven't had any that I've loved like that lately. Maybe another episode later will grab me. Or maybe the 50th anniversary will change things. I am beyond excited that David Tennant is coming back! However I really think we need to get rid of Steven Moffat and probably most or all of the writers. I just want to be in love with the show again like I was before. I'm not giving up any time soon, but my expectations have been lowered in recent seasons. A lot.

Now maybe (against all expectations) I'll love the season finale. Maybe it will be the episode I've been waiting for that I'll fall in love with that will have me on the edge of my seat. After all, I AM interested in solving the mystery of Clara. And provided they don't come right out and say the Doctor's name, I'm curious about that too. But the way the rest of the season has gone coupled with the fact that River will be back, I'm not optimistic. I'm certainly not going to give up on the show. Not right before the 50th anniversary, and David Tennant's return! I still hold out hope that there will be more episodes in the future that will cause me to fall in love with it like I was at the beginning on the new series. Here's hoping! *fingers crossed*

I just finished re-reading "11/22/63". For those not familiar with it, the premise is this: a man finds a portal (he calls it a "rabbit hole") to early September 1958. At first he goes back and forth using it to buy cheap beef for his diner. Later he decides to do something important - stay in the past for five years until 1963 and save JFK from getting shot. Unfortunately he comes down with lung cancer and dies, but not before passing on the secret of the "rabbit hole" and the task of saving JFK to the main character of the book. I love time travel and alternate/speculative history, so I thought this book was great! The first time I read it (last year) I didn't think much past the plot. Does he succeed in saving JFK? Do things change in the future? How much? Is anyone in the past going to find out he's really from 2011? I am not going to answer those questions to avoid spoiling the book for anyone. If you want to know, go read it!

This time I gave more thought to some of the national background events that happened over the course of the book. Bay of Pigs is mentioned in passing, and the Cuban Missile Crisis is mentioned a lot more. Of course JFK getting shot is central to the plot. I'm aware of all these things. I learned about them in various history classes. But that's all they are to me: things I read about in history just like ancient Rome and the pharaohs of Egypt. Of course intellectually I know the events in "11/22/63" are a heck of a lot more recent than ancient Rome or Egypt. It's still all in the past though. I think what really made me realize that were the discussion questions at the end of the book. The first one was, "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" Well... mom and dad weren't even going to meet for over ten years. Mom was in high school and remembers being in Spanish class. The French teacher came and told the Spanish teacher what had happened. So I was nowhere. But mom and dad were around for all of this. To them it isn't history, it's their lives.

I started asking them questions. According to the book people were very divided over JFK. Some people seemed to see him as the second coming of Jesus, and other people seemed to think he was a communist who was going to kill them all. Mom said that seemed fairly accurate. I had not been aware of that fact. I thought most people loved him. I also asked mom and dad if they were worried about nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dad said he wasn't too worried. At the time he hadn't realized how precarious things were, and he was more shaken by what *could* have happened after the fact when he learned details. Mom said she wasn't educated enough at the time to be really scared, but she did know some people who were stock piling things they thought might become scarce should the worst happen. Mom also wrote a report about it as a current even in Spanish class. She still remembers the title.

In addition to being around for the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, and JFK assassination mom and dad were also around for the all the slang, music, dances, and cultural things that were happening at the time. They were about the same age as some of the high schoolers in the book. Again, these things are things I've read about but not things I actually lived through. So what's the point of me writing about all these things and whether I lived through them or not you ask? It makes me wonder if someone who lived through all this would have a different reaction to the book than I do. It also makes me wonder if I'm not getting all I could out of it because I wasn't around for any of the events. I could also be giving this way too much thought, but I can't help but wonder.

The final count for the books I read in 2012 was 107: 67 fantasy, 9 mysteries, 7 general fiction, 7 science fiction, 13 historical fiction, and 4 nonfiction. Anyone who knows me should not be at all surprised that I read the most fantasy. Below the cute, for anyone interested, is a comprehensive list of what I read this year. I might give my thoughts about some of them, but no spoilers!

( 2012 Book List )

I made it to 50,150 words today. The deadline to finish isn't until tomorrow, but I'll be busy most of tomorrow, so I wanted to finish today. I'll be taking a short break from writing, or at least writing with a deadline, but my story isn't finished yet. Actually, it's not even really close to being finished. I do plan to finish my story sometime though. Then again, I'm also still telling myself I'll finish my stories from 2009 and 2010. (And I will! I really will! Someday.) Hopefully this year I'll do better about finishing my story in a timely manner. I'm just glad I managed to win again this year. There were a few days in there when I wasn't sure it was going to happen.
Nanowrimo always gets me re-interested in writing. Now I just need to hold onto that interest through the year! I've made a start. I have a sequel idea for my story, which will hopefully push me to finish it. I also wrote an 810 word intro to another story this morning. I wanted to capture the idea before it got away. And of course there's always finishing my stories from 2009 and 2010. I am making a (pre-New Year's) resolution to write more the rest of this year and next. Whether I keep that resolution remains to be seen.