Books

2011 Book Clubs

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With the last quarter of 2010 nearly upon us, I’m starting to think ahead to 2011 and my various goals for that year. One of the goals I have every year is to read an x number of books. For next year, though, I thought I would expand that, and not just set a number goal, but also a content goal. So for that reason I’ve decided to participate in two online book clubs next year, where we read a book each month. Both clubs are thematic, but related so I figured they would work nicely together. They are The Women of Fantasy, and The Women of Science-Fiction.

Women of Fantasy Reading List:

  1. January: N.K. Jemisin – The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
  2. February: Freda Warrington – Elfland
  3. March: L. Jagi Lamplighter – Prospero Lost
  4. April: Cherie Priest – Four and Twenty Blackbirds
  5. May: Emma Bull – War for the Oaks
  6. June: Juliet Marillier – Dark Mirror
  7. July: Elizabeth Bear – All the Windwracked Stars
  8. August: A.M. Dellamonics – Indigo Springs
  9. September: Mercedes Lackey – Firebird
  10. October: Jo Walton – Tooth and Claw
  11. November: Karin Lowachee – The Gaslight Dogs
  12. December:  Reader’s Choice, to be determined later

I don’t have any of these books yet, but I have heard of some of these books or authors (N.K. Jemisin (+book), Cherie Priest (+book), Emma Bull (+book), Bear (I <3 Dust) and Mercedes Lackey). Haven’t looked the list up yet to see what they’re about. I think I’m gonna go in blind with both book club lists.

Women of Science Fiction Reading List:

  1. January: Elizabeth Bear – Dust
  2. February: Ursula K. LeGuin – The Dispossessed
  3. March: Sarah Hoyt – Darkship Thieves
  4. April: Connie Willis – Doomsday
  5. May: Justina Robson – Mappa Mundi
  6. June: Octavia Butler – Lillith’s Brood
  7. July: Lois McMaster Bujold – Cordelia’s Honor
  8. August: Maureen McHugh – China Mountain Zhang
  9. September: Elizabeth Moon – Remnant
  10. October: Jo Walton – Farthing
  11. November: Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
  12. December: Karen Traviss – City of Pearl

I have one of these (Dust), and have heard of a few others, either book or author (Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, Lois McMaster Bujold, The Handmaid’s Tale) but never read any of their work. I’m really looking forward to reading so many things that are new to me.

Almost 26

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Me sleeping, at maybe two weeks old or so, in October 1984

As I type this it’s 22 minutes to midnight, 22 minutes until my birthday. And if you really wanna fuck ants* to use a Dutchism, it’ll be another bunch of hours and minutes until the actual moment I age, as I wasn’t born until 17:54 or 17:56, I keep forgetting. I think it’s 17:54.

I celebrated this upcoming occasion past weekend, on Saturday with friends, and on Sunday with family. I tend to split them up as I live in a tiny house that can hold my friends, but not my family. I have a lot of them. 😀

Ingrid was the first to arrive on Saturday, and after chatting and having a drink (and Caek!) we went to play board games. Starting out with some trivial pursuit she brought. It was a topical edition about popular music, so I expected to loose. Ingrid’s a walking pop encyclopedia… However, luck and factoids were with me, and by the time Nienke barged in, I was well ahead. Yay!

Koehandel

With addition of Nienke, we were with enough to play Koehandel (Cow Trading), a game I bought quite a while ago, but never played yet as it needs a minimum of 3 people, and I normally can’t get Nienke to play along. This time I forced her, proclaiming that, since it was my birthday, she had no choice 😀

(If you’re not interested in games you might wanna speed through the next bit as I review the games we played.)

The game was fun, but not one of my favourites. The point is to get as many sets of animals. It starts with an auction each round, with one player being the auctioneer and the other two bidding. The winner then pays the auctioneer and gets the animal. The auctioneer can choose to excercise his right of sale by paying the highest bidder the amount they bid.

After a while, there will be people who have the same animal, and at that point they can barter for it. The one who wants to barter makes a blind offer, and the other chooses to accept or counter-offer. The addition of bluff cards (with a zero value) makes this a strategic part as you never really know what the offer is. If the other counter-offers, he too makes a blind offer and both players give their offer to the other. The one who then paid most gets the animal of the other. Nienke won this game.

Therapy

Then we went on with Therapy. We don’t play this often as it’s best with five or six and it gets out of hand, time-wise, very quickly. The game part of it is a bit long winded, but the conversations this leads to are awesome.

For the game you move around a board with psychiatric sofas trying to be the first one to get the six coloured pins in it. This would make the bed a bed of nails, so I don’t know if it would be very comfortable for a therapy session though…

To move you roll two dice, and then go forward, the square you land on tells you what to do next. This can be a question, and a right answer gets you a pin. Or it can be a question/wait square where you pick whether you want a question or stop your turn. Careful with picking the question here though, if you answer wrong you end up with a psychosis.

Other options are fantasy, where you have to answer a question about a Rörschach test kinda picture, or therapy. Depending on the number of players, this is group therapy or single therapy. If you land on a square in the same colour as one of the player sofas, you go into therapy with that player. If it is an unused colour, you go into therapy with all the other players. The therapist then asks a question (all questions are about the player) from the therapy cards, and the player writes down their answer. The therapist then says what he thinks the player answered, with reasoning. In Group therapy, all the therapists declare what they think the player answered and then come to a mutual answer. If the therapist was right, he wins a pin.

The therapy is the part I love most about the game, it leads to very interesting conversations about how you see each other, how others see themselves and what everyone would and wouldn’t do.

(Reviewy bit is over 😀)

This is what we did for the rest of the evening really, interspersed with more general chatting and eating and drinking and some picture taking.I got awesome presents as well. Ingrid gave me the Boyzone CD Brother. I was a major fan of them in my teens, and even though it has mellowed, I still like their music. They’re special to me because they were quite important to me then, so I do always want the physical CDs they release instead of just downloading it.

Mellien gave me a children’s book I wanted, a favourite I read many times as a kid. Eva gave me something from her and Juut together, a set of iron cutlery, made by Juut himself! It’s totally awesome! It’ll come in handy when we go re-enacting again 🙂 Pictures of this, and other birthday stuff to come along later, btw.

Ingrid stayed over and after Nienke had gone home too we got to talking about (among other things) Warcraft, so I showed her some things about the game, and explained stuff. She ended up with a better idea of what I do when I play and what I like about it. It was nice to share something that I like a lot, with one of my friends who’s not normally into that kind of thing.

Sunday morning I got up ridiculously early at 8:30 (not smart when you go to bed around 02:00…) cause I told my dad to pick me up around 9:00. This so there’d be more than enough time, once we got to the parents’ place, to prep for the family coming that afternoon and evening. I was gonna make a cake (hmmmm cheesecake), but decided against it as mom had an extra cake and we would’ve had too much. This meant I had extra time, and I could’ve (really should’ve) gone to bed for an hour or two longer. But I didn’t. I left Ingrid at Nienke’s for a cuppa while me and all my crap headed over to Parentville.

Had some time in the morning and early afternoon to play some WoW and mess with the Blog (I played with the layout and contents of the 101 list at the top) before the first people showed up. After that it was mostly very busy, very gezellig and very fun.I got two book gift cards, some money, very pretty and lovely scented shower gel and a drawing and a written piece by my two young second cousins 🙂

From my parents I got a book, in two parts, about the excavations in Midlaren, where I was working the second half of 2004. During the summer with the actual excavation, and from August to December with the washing, drawing and cataloging of the finds.

After the last ones left, I basically rolled into bed exhausted. All my energy was gone (that’s what lots of people for a prolonged period does to me, I’m a major introvert). It’s not back yet either. It didn’t help very much I had to work today, which, by necessity, has more people too 😀

Bought some candy to treat my teammates at work with, and made it through the day without too much trouble. Although I did start to notice, half way through the day, that the cold I’ve been seeing at the horizon for a few days has hit home. My nose is stuffed and my energy regeneration is down to half strength 🙁

Scheduled for a full work day tomorrow, but gonna see if I can get off early. Need to sleep some more, and a half day off tomorrow along with Wednesdays usual freedom it should see me through the worst of it.

It’s 00:42 now, it’s my birthday 😀 Got the first congratulatory text message, from Gert, at 00:04, nice timing 😀

And with that I will say goodbye, and good night.

*Mierenneuken as we say means fucking ants, literally. It can also be said as mierenneuker which is to a person, as it means antfucker. It’s English counterpart would be nitpicking.

Books 2010 // Update

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Updated booklist!
A facebook convo reminded me I hadn’t posted one of these in quite a while so here goes 😀

2010 (so far)
1. Sarah Monette – Mélusine
2. Naomi Novik – Throne of Jade
3. Naomi Novik – Black Powder War
4. Kat Richardson – Greywalker

5. John Scalzi – The Android’s Dream
6. Paulien Cornelisse – Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding {Language is, like, my thing} [Dutch]
7. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Betrayed
8. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Chosen
9. Naomi Novik – Empire of Ivory
10. Joris Luyendijk – Het zijn net mensen {They’re just like people} [Dutch]
11. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Untamed

12. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Hunted
13. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Tempted
14: Louisa May Alcott – Little Women

15: Louisa May Alcott – Little Men
16: Louisa May Alcott – Jo’s Boys
17. Brent Weeks – The Way of Shadows

18. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Resistance (J.M. Dillard)
19. Brent Weeks – Shadows’s Edge

20. Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza – Looking For Group Volume 1
21. Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza – Looking For Group Volume 2
22. Brent Weeks – Beyond the Shadows
23. Preeta Samarasan – Evening is the Whole Day
24. Jeff Lindsay – Dearly Devoted Dexter

25. Terry Pratchett – Unseen Academicals
26. Bert Benson – Euro 5 antwoordt niet {Euro 5. Not answering} <A sci-fi series from my childhood, I recently stumbled across a second hand store that had almost the entire series. I only read maybe two or three of them back then, so am really enjoying the newness of most of these>
27. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Dreiging van de H-Mannen {Euro 5. Threat of the H-men}
28. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Duivels van de diepzee {Euro 5. Demons of the Deep Sea}
29. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Slaven uit de ruimte {Euro 5. Slaves from Space}
30. Bert Benson – Euro 5. De Monsters van Dr. Einling {Euro 5. The Monsters of Dr. Einling}
31. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Op drift in de tijd {Euro 5. Adrift in Time}
32. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Machten uit het heelal {Euro 5. Powers from the Universe}
33. Karen Chance – Touch the Dark [reread, in preparation for reading parts 2-4 which I borrowed from a friend]

Called quits on Deathwish (see previous bookpost). It was getting too damn obvious this wasn’t part one and the continuous half-assed referencing was driving me nuts. Plus, the story didn’t really pull me in. I haven’t touched Perdido Street Station anymore either. I’m giving it till September before I declare it a lost cause. Haven’t started A Thousand Splendid Suns yet, but it has made it to the nightstand 😀

Of the ones I read since last update, Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals was a bit dissapointing. I’m a devoted Discworldian but this one seemed a bit… stretching it, like he wanted to pull too much from everywhere together. The football as topic bothered me only slightly (I’m not a football fan so I expected worse) but the story didn’t seem to pay off the way the other books did.

The Euro 5 books feel like a warm bath. And I’m realising they’re actually pretty well written too, has something to offer to both kids and adults. It could do with some more female personnel, but for 80s books the author is doing very well with his one female character so far. She’s strong, not afraid to do things herself and, as the books get on, gets a fair share of the action too when she’s around (she’s not part of the regular crew of the Euro 5 spaceship so she’s not always there).

Weekly Four: week 29

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I’m grateful for books, for they make everything better.

I’m happy it’s almost Castlefest, I am soooo looking forward to going!

I’ve been annoyed with myself this week. Looking ahead is all good and well, but I tend to look too far ahead, and stay there with my head, instead of coming back to focus on the here and now. And sometimes the here and now suffers because of it.

I learned (sorry Ingrid! 😀 ) that Ingrid’s bed and my back/hips don’t get along very well.

Weekly Four: week 25

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I’m grateful for friends, for they are awesome 🙂

I’m happy that I found a second hand store that has additional volumes of a childhood SF series I used to read and for cheap too.

No sad/angry this time 😀

I learned that when you put a friend’s phone in her bag, you should tell her so. ‘Cause when you don’t, the friend might accidentally pick up your phone, thinking it is hers, and put that in her bag when she leaves…

So yeah, Eva has my phone 😀 She came over Friday and we’d been sitting outside for most of the evening. Then when we moved inside, I put her phone in her bag. Later, when she went to leave, she grabbed my phone, which was on the table, thinking it was hers. I didn’t notice until even later, when I wanted to show Nienke a movie I’d made with my phone. We tried calling it but heard nothing. After a try or two, Eva picked up and the mystery got solved 😀 She was supposed to drop it by yesterday but forgot so she’ll be here later tonight to drop it off.

Books 2010 // Night Angel Trilogy & Evening is the Whole Day

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The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks (The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge & Beyond the Shadows)

I loved these books. I’m a sucker for epic fantasy, and especially when the world is so detailed as Brent Weeks makes his, I’m sold. He manages to turn the world of his books into a living, breathing thing with history, good politics and economy and a nice variety in cultures. I like how the magic in the book comes in a few different types, and offers nice mechanisms (in the way the Talent and the vir work) I’ve not come across before. Bonus points for limiting this magic by giving it a price/requirement so it’s not the catch-all solution. Finally, the ka’kari and how it works was very well done. I like how it is both an entity as well as an object, plus the cost of the immortality is a killer.

Then, on to the story. It starts with a young thief in a guild in the poorest district of the city of Cenaria. Azoth tries his best to steal enough to pay his guild dues, protect his friends and in general, make it through his miserable little life. When he sees the greatest wetboy (assassins with magical Talent) of this time deal with a threat, he decides he wants to be his apprentice. Convinced this will get him out of his sucky life, he trails Durzo Blint. Durzo finally caves and orders Azoth to kill his guild leader Roth (who is a bastard). Azoth has trouble with this, but after Roth severely mutilates his friend Elene, Azoth succeeds in killing him.

Azoth trains with Durzo and becomes Kylar Stern, supposedly son of a distant baronet, now living with Count Drake and his family. Through this persona, he also befriends Logan Gyre. When Kylar has grown up and is working as wetboy, Logan is set out to marry one of Count Drake’s daughters. However, with a twist, after the assasination of the King’s son, Logan ends up being married to the King’s daughter and  is proclaimed heir to the throne. After the festivities, as Logan and Jenine head upstairs to consummate the marriage, as ordered by her (rather crazy) father, Cenaria is invaded by Khalidor.

Much murder and mayhem ensues and many characters, both flat and fleshed out ones, end up dead. Through another twist, Kylar ends up with an old magical artifact which bonds with him, a so-called ka’kari. Before, while he had two of the three internal things needed for the Talent, the third was missing and he could never use it. With the ka’kari, he can. The longer he has the ka’kari though, the more he learns of what it is, and what it can do. It effectively renders him immortal, after every death he is brought back to life but at a cost, which takes him ages to figure out what it is. Kylar struggles with what the ka’kari is, what it does to him, and what it all means for him for the rest of the book. He displays a very well written growth in this process and it was something I really enjoyed.

From that moment on, Kylar works tirelessly to free, and restore, Cenaria. Not always willingly, and not always very well thought out, but he does it. He finds out Logan is not dead and rescues him and together with him and other friends and accomplices they manage to free Cenaria. But then it’s still not over…

I must say I really enjoyed the direction the book took after Khalidor got repelled. I was expecting, when the invasion happened, that it would take them all three books just to get rid of them. But getting rid of Khalidor in Cenaria was just the start. Pulling on all the history and cultural differences Weeks showed and told throughout the story he pulls the different peoples together for a climactic battle that’s not just about restoring Cenaria, but about saving the entire world.

I for one would love it if Weeks were to write more books in this world. Not necessarily even about Kylar but just in this setting. It has such depth he can easily craft more stories. I’d love to read more about the Chantry for example or Sho’Cendi.

Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan

This is literary fiction and it shows. The book is floating on themes and flowery descriptions without a whole lot happening. The story, insofar as you can call it that, is that Chellam, the servant of the main family in the book gets thrown out because she supposedly did something really bad. Then, through flashbacks it is told how she was hired and life in the family went until the bad thing (which it turns out she didn’t even do) happens. Mixed with that are flashbacks to the 1950s and 60s that give background to the father and mother of the family. How they became the people they are. The other flashbacks serve the same purpose but then for the two daughters of the family.

All in all I liked the setting (Malaysia) since I’d never read a book before that took place there. The continuous descriptions of everything started to get on my nerves though. The book really gets bogged down by it, nothing moves, it becomes this sluggish thing in which nothing really happens. This is part of the overall theme (nothing really changes) but I like a bit more action in my plots. In the end, I wouldn’t really recommend this book to anyone unless they are definite literary fiction readers and/or have an interest in Malaysia (she does very nicely show us crucial, and interesting, parts of Malaysian history and culture)

2010 (so far)
1. Sarah Monette – Mélusine
2. Naomi Novik – Throne of Jade
3. Naomi Novik – Black Powder War
4. Kat Richardson – Greywalker

5. John Scalzi – The Android’s Dream
6. Paulien Cornelisse – Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding
7. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Betrayed
8. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Chosen
9. Naomi Novik – Empire of Ivory
10. Joris Luyendijk – Het zijn net mensen {They’re just like people} [Dutch]
11. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Untamed

12. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Hunted
<Audio Book> Neil Gaiman – Harlequin Valentine
<Audio Book> Neil Gaiman – A Study in Emerald
13. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Tempted
<Audio Book> Lilian Jackson Braun – The Cat Who Played Brahms
<Audio Book> Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Emissary
<Audio Book> Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Fallen Heroes
14: Louisa May Alcott – Little Women

15: Louisa May Alcott – Little Men
16: Louisa May Alcott – Jo’s Boys
17. Brent Weeks – The Way of Shadows

18. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Resistance (J.M. Dillard)
19. Brent Weeks – Shadows’s Edge

20. Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza – Looking For Group Volume 1
21. Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza – Looking For Group Volume 2
22. Brent Weeks – Beyond the Shadows
23. Preeta Samarasan – Evening is the Whole Day

I’m now also listing audio books, but still keeping them separate from the rest. This because I have a much harder time remembering them later on, which is not a problem I have with regular books. By now I cannot remember what the ones I’ve listened to back in March were about. I’ll have to go and read them for it to stick. This is probably because I can’t do just sitting and listening very well, I must do something with my hands. When reading, I hold the book and this enables me to fully concentrate on the reading and get lost in it. When listening, my hands are free so I end up doing something else beside it and thus I get distracted and don’t process the audio fully. I have the same with watching TV.

I’m also rather behind on my reading. My goal for this year is once again 60, so I should be at 30 books around now. Currently reading Dearly Devoted Dexter. Also still plowing my way through Deathwish (although I might call it quits on that one, it’s getting frustrating that this is obviously not the first part, I feel I’m missing too much) and just picked up A Thousand Splendid Suns to start for my read-owned-but-unread-books effort. Perdido Street Station also seems to be a lost cause. I’ve been trying for three months or so now and still not getting anywhere. Somehow it’s really not pulling me in. And I’ve so wanted to like it 🙁 The one I have officially called it quits on is Emma. I’ve come to the conclusion I actively hate this book.

So, with that said, here’s to the second half of the year with new chances to still make the goal 😀

Bits and Pieces

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I can tell it’s spring, I’m all over my house doing things. The increase in light always has a good influence on me, both physical as well as mental and emotional. I’m happier and more content with life in general now than in the winter, even though the financial woes are still there (it’s quiet at work so I can’t make as many hours as I’d like, and as a result I get less money coming in, so far it all still works out but it can’t go much lower).

And in light of said financial woes, I spent money recently 😀 Not that much though, some flea market bargains mostly. The only indulgence was a new garden table for 40 euros. At the flea market I bought a ‘new’ comfy chair for the living room as the old one wasn’t that comfy anymore. It’s nice to sit in, soft yet supportive, and a very pretty purple-greyish colour. There was another one and I was so tempted to take that one too (they were 5 euros a piece) but I just don’t have room for it and there’s no way I can get it up in the attic to use there. I also got a red wooden herb rack for the kitchen for 50 cents and two easy read paperbacks, also for 50 ct.

At another flea market on Liberation Day (May 5) I bought two children’s books, a set of book ends with old globes on them and a hanging, made of netting, IKEA storage thing, all for 1 euro 😀

Thursday’s the big yearly market here in town, not a flea market, but I’ll see if I can find a bargain or two. I definitely need a few more plants/flowers. I have this cute flowerpot that is screaming for some desert type plants. Which reminds me, I shall have to go look around see if I can get some tiles for cheap or nothing somewhere. I want to tile a part of my front yard to turn into a small terrace. And, in combination with that, I’m gonna need some rocks and stuff, to turn the edge of the front yard, where it lies against the neighbours area, into a small proper garden bit (instead of grass). I plan to put some flowers and such there, but also to use aforementioned rocks to create a tower of sorts to play with different levels in that bit. ‘Cause eventually, when money’s less tight, I want a smallish privacy fence between me and the neighbour and that will then be the ‘back wall’ for the proper garden bit.

Spring makes me plan things and also execute those plans. Or at least big parts of it. I’m also working on my attic. I’ve already had part of it converted into a room, but it was used for junk storage mostly the last year. I’m now going to turn it back into a usable space by making it my craft & game room. Game room mostly because I’m gonna store my board games up there since there’s hardly anyone around me who likes playing games 🙁
Crafts to be done there will mostly be bigger stuff like making things for Castlefest and other renaissance faire like things. Although I will probably move most of my other craft stuff upstairs as well to create more space in my bedroom where I store it now. Attic will have a table to work at and cabinetry to hold the various things.
Getting the place into shape goes pretty slow though. I’ve cleaned out most of the room there and, after another vacuuming turn, it’ll be ready to put stuff in there. However, one of the cabinets to be used there is still in use in the bedroom. And I can’t move it from the bedroom until I get two Billy’s from IKEA to replace it (need to put all those books somewhere, no? 😀 ). And getting the Billy’s will have to wait until either holiday bonus or my tax returns come in, whichever comes first. I’m betting on the holiday bonus which should be end of this month. Tax probably not until end of June 🙁 At least both these things should be a significant help with the financial woes 🙂

Right, I mentioned Castlefest. I haven’t gone there in a while, but this year I WILL go, even if I have to crawl there. And I’ll be going as Bluebeard. For that I have an idea of the costume I want, something mostly generic fantasy with some fancy overtones. I’m of the opinion that Bluebeard, outside of his murderous tendencies, was really a charming man, otherwise how’d he ever get that many women to marry him 😀
I’ll obviously need a blue beard to get the message across of who I am, so a trip to the party store is in the works to see what they have in fake beards. I want something that looks as realistic as possible, and is dye-able, since a semi-realistic beard is not gonna be blue by itself.

We’ve Talked the Whole Night Through

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Have been in a Classics mode for the last day or so. It started when I hooked up my regular monitor to my new laptop to experiment with a dual monitor setup. First I just had my music player/library on the screen. Then I figured I try playing movies as background. For some reason I ended up with the 1933 version of Little Women.

I’m a huge Little Women lover. Going way back to when I first read my mother’s copy when I was a kid. I’ve read my own copy multiple times and have seen  a number of versions of Little Women movies. The 1933 one, with Katherine Hepburn as Jo, was new for me though. Took a bit of getting used to the black and white-ness (I love to see the colours of the pretty dresses), but I think this version is my new favourite. I followed it, for good measure, with the 1994 version which has Winona Ryder as Jo and Susan Sarandon as Marmee. It was fun to see the differences in interpretation. And there were some things in the 1994 that weren’t in the 1933. And now I can’t remember exactly what was in the book in the first place, so I just pulled that from my shelves for yet another re-read 😀

After this foray into the 19th century, I figured I try some more classics. I’m not sure what it is that attracts me about it, but I  find I really love old American movies. Especially those really early ones where there’s a lot of singing and dancing. So I followed Little Women with Meet Me in St. Louis with Judy Garland. This one was completely new for me and it was much fun 😀 Some things are really weird when seen from the perspective of a 21st century person. Like the fixation on getting married and throwing away school and everything for it. At the end of the movie, both Judy Garland’s character, Esther, and her one year older sister are engaged and want to be married as soon as possible. At that time, Esther is 16ish (the mother mention at some point that she will be a senior in high school next year) and her sister 17ish (of which mother says she will graduate next year). A conversation between Esther and her fiance reveals that he is a high school graduate but much rather not go to college but work if that means they can get married sooner.

I didn’t like that ending very much because of this, but the rest of the story was very funny and the songs were nice. I ended today with Singin’ in the Rain which I hadn’t seen fully before. The story was fun, but sometimes confusing when I, most likely because I didn’t pay attention well enough, couldn’t quite figure out if a big number was taking place within the movie-movie (the movie they’re shooting in the movie) or outside the movie-movie.

So, now I’m in bed with my laptop (which is all Shiny! and New! and which I love 🙂 ) and my dear Monkey who’s obsessing about his own cleanliness. I suppose, taking the saying into account, he must really be divine 😀 That aside, I’ve been thinking about a lot of stuff lately. It’s all different things though and not always connected so kinda hard to really write down and get to the point with it. It’s part wishes and future dreams, part current things, both what I want to change and what I like, as well as past things, some regrets but mostly fond memories and some amusement at my own path of thought at times.

For the future, the thing that keeps coming back is how much I want that bookstore Nienke and I have been dreaming about for a few years now. It’s to be a sci-fi / fantasy related business with space for workshops and / or author talks and our private little heaven: a coffee corner WITH muffins 😀
Besides that, I keep thinking about my house. I live in a tiny house, and have lived here for about four years now. I also own rather a lot of stuff. And I keep thinking of wanting a house that’s a bit bigger, with just a tad more space. Unfortunately, both these things require more money than I currently have so it will have to wait. And financial tightness plus big dreams don’t always play nice together.

For the present, I’m starting to realise I kinda like my job. Which I hadn’t expected. And which I haven’t mentioned on here yet I think. I got hired by a major telecom/isp in early January as a customer service agent. So once again call centre work, but to my surprise I find I like it. The people are nice, the subject matter (the fibre glass department) is interesting enough, and I really like the location (right next to the train station). I’ve made it out the training floor and on to the proper work floor by now, got a supervisor and just this week had my first one-on-one with him to discuss my ambitions and what I will be focusing on this year and all such things. And I find I actually have ambitions for this job instead of just doing it. Which is not something I was expecting.

I’m also realising I really want a driver’s license, and a car. It’s getting more and more annoying that everything has to be done by public transport, especially taking my hip problem into account. Walking long distances just doesn’t work for me, and it really is a hindrance in going places. I’m well aware of the fact that loosing a good amount of weight would help a lot, and while I’m (slowly) working on that, it won’t magically improve right away. It’s mostly annoying in visiting friends. Visiting family works since I mostly do that together with my parents so we take their car. Visiting friends in the city goes better now too since I put my bicycle back in city-storage. Which leaves a particular friend out in the cold really. I haven’t been to see her at her place in over a year I think. And it is really bugging me, but she lives not too close to the train station. And while it may be a ten minute walk for most people, it’s a 20 minute one for me, and I can’t really do that.

But what I also can’t do very well is ask for help. Like coming out and saying I can’t walk that well enough, can you pick me up. I’m sure it’s some sort of pride issue since it’s a recurring thing. I don’t like to draw attention to the fact I can’t walk very well. I’m more the “not say anything and suffer in silence” kinda type, as evidenced by the Denmark school trip a few years ago. I got scolded by the tutors accompanying us for not having told them about the hip until we were half way through the trip and on the walk back to our hostel from a museum or landmark. And then they only found out because it was the end of a long day and I kept falling behind, attracting their attention which caused them to ask what was wrong. Same thing when I was studying in the UK and we went on a field trip up on a hill. And not a small one either. And I didn’t mention it until we were up on top… So yeah, I suck. And I’m aware of this but still I can’t seem to really change it. Although it’s a victory in itself that I’m writing this down now.

Finally, to close this off, as for the past, let’s just keep it at reminiscing is fun 😀 Even when thinking about moments that were hard, or harder than usual.

Night, night all )

Booklist: 2009

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The final book list of 2009. Didn’t quite make the goal of 60 that I set at the beginning of the year, but at 53 I did beat my previous years by a good number. For 2010, the goal is once again set at 60. And, just like last year,  I’m making good progress 😀 Let’s keep it up.

My favourites of this year, going from top to bottom:

– Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear – A Companion to Wolves
– Star Trek: DS9 – Relaunch 1-5 – Twist of Faith (S.D. Perry, David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang, Keith R.A. DeCandido)
– Robert J. Sawyer – Hominids
– Suzanne Wood – Stargate SG-1: The Barque of Heaven
– Terry Pratchett – Nation
– Naomi Novik – His Majesty’s Dragon

The ones I liked least:

– Esther Verhoef – Alles te Verliezen {Everything to Loose}
– Atte Jongstra – De Avonturen van Henry II Fix {The Adventures of Henry II Fix}
– a couple of the Charmed books although I’m not sure if that’s actually caused by the books or if the translation’s bugging me

2009
01. Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear – A Companion to Wolves
02. P. Nowee – Arendsoog. Vogelvrij {Eagle-Eye Outlaw} [Dutch]
03. Maggie Tallerman – Understanding Syntax (translated into Dutch and edited for Dutch students by Jan-Wouter Zwart) [Dutch] [school]
04. Hanneke Houtkoop & Tom Koole – Taal in Actie. Hoe Mensen Communiceren met Taal {Language in Action. How People Communicate with Language} [Dutch] [school]
05. Erica van Boven & Gillis Dorleijn – Literair Mechaniek. Inleiding tot de Analyse van Verhalen en Gedichten. {Literary Mechanics. Introduction to the Analysis of Stories and Poetry.} [Dutch] [school]

06. Star Trek: DS9 – Relaunch 1-5 – Twist of Faith (S.D. Perry, David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang, Keith R.A. DeCandido)
07. Esther Verhoef – Alles te Verliezen {Everything to Loose} [Dutch] [school]
08. Orson Scott Card – Ender’s Game [re-read, it’s been years 🙂]
09. Robert J. Sawyer – Hominids
10. Neil Gaiman – Neverwhere
11. Justin Richards – Doctor Who: The Clockwise Man [Dutch]
12. Star Trek: DS9 – Prophecy & Change (short story collection)

13. Keith R.A. DeCandido – Supernatural: Bone Key
14. Paul Ruditis – Charmed: As Puck Would Have It [Dutch]
15. Laura J. Burns – Charmed: Sweet Talkin’ Demon [Dutch]
16. Atte Jongstra – De Avonturen van Henry II Fix {The Adventures of Henry II Fix} [Dutch] [school]
17. Martin Caidin – Indiana Jones and the White Witch) [Dutch] [re-read]
18. Bobbi J.G. Weiss & Jacklyn Wilson – Charmed: Between Worlds [Dutch]
19. Martha Wells – Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary
20. Cameron Dokey – Charmed: Truth & Consequences [Dutch]
21. Sabine C. Bauer – Stargate Atlantis: Mirror, Mirror

22. Scott Ciencin – Charmed: Luck be a Lady [Dutch]
23. Laura J. Burns – Charmed: Inherit the Witch [Dutch]
24. Doeschka Meijsing – Over de Liefde {About Love} [Dutch] [school]
25. Emma Harrison – Charmed: A Tale of Two Pipers [Dutch]
26. Debbie Viguié – Charmed: Pied Piper [Dutch]

27. L. Frank Baum – The Wizard of Oz
28. Eliza Willard – Charmed: The Power of Three [Dutch]
29. Cameron Dokey & F. Goldsborough – Charmed: The Crimson Spell [Dutch]

30. Suzanne Wood – Stargate SG-1: The Barque of Heaven
31. David Brin – Kiln People
32. A.A. Milne & E.H. Shepard – The World of Pooh (The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner)
33. Christopher Golden – Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Lost Slayer (4-in-1)
34. Terry Pratchett – The Bromeliad (Truckers, Diggers, Wings)

35. P.C. Dohery – Murder Imperial
36. Thomas Greanias – Atlantis herrezen (Raising Atlantis)
37. Karen Miller – The Innocent Mage
38. Karen Miller – The Awakened Mage

39. K.E Mills – Accidental Sorcerer
40. K.E. Mills – Wiches Incorporated
41. Terry Pratchett – The Dark Side of the Sun

42. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Marked
43. Amber Benson – Death’s Daughter
44. Jeff Lindsay – Darkly Dreaming Dexter

45. The Medieval Murderers – House of Shadows
46. Bernard Knight – The Grim Reaper

47. Christopher Moore – You Suck
48. Terry Pratchett – Carpet People

49. Jeffrey Lang – String Theory, Book 1: Cohesion
50. Kirsten Beyer – String Theory, Book 2: Fusion
51. Terry Pratchett – Nation
52. Heather Jarman – String Theory, Book 3: Evolution
53. Naomi Novik – His Majesty’s Dragon

Books 2010 // A Start

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I might as well post the beginning of the 2010 list, seeing as we’re already in the third month of the year. Some comments/notes on some of these books:

Mélusine: I loved this one, and am majorly bummed out that the 2nd book is out of print. I’ve been looking for it in second hand places but no luck as of yet 🙁

Naomi Novik: I’m in love with the dragon Temeraire, he is such an awesome character and I can’t wait until I get my hands on the fifth book in the series 😀

P.C. & Kristin Cast: These are the books in the House of Night series. They’re fun, easy to read YA novels about a vampire, eh vampyre finishing school. A bit over the top in places but a very nice mix of standard vampire mythology mixed with wiccan and Cherokee bits to make their brand of vampyres and their culture fresh. Plus, I find their teenagers to be actually acting like teenagers most of the time, which is nice 😀
The only thing that gets on my nerves is that they feel the need to very specifically introduce the gay couple in every book and then make a point of it not being anything special or weird.  The book is a first person narrative as told by the main character and she then says things like: “Oh, Jack and Damien are a couple. Which means they’re gay teenagers. Hello. It happens. More often than you’d expect. Wait, scratch that. It happens more often than parents expect.” (Hunted (bk 5, which I’m reading now), page 10).
And then the next page over she has Jack and Damien have a very cute moment where they kiss, which drives the point home much better. I would’ve preferred that by now, since this introducing happens in every book of the series, they stop telling it like this, it feels stilted and too politically correct.

Het zijn net mensen: This is an awesome book! It’s a non-fiction written by a Dutch journalist who worked as foreign correspondent in the Middle East for a good number of years. The book is about how the media (and then specifically television) portrays that region and how the usual way of making (TV)news in the Western world doesn’t work over there. So what we see here is never what it actually is, not because the networks don’t want us to know, but because TV by it’s nature can’t do it. Not in the Middle East, where most countries have some form of dictatorship as government. TV generally evokes a more visceral reaction, but that doesn’t work if you just put a voice over with pretty pictures. You need an actual person on screen to tell his or her story and in the Middle East, people will gladly tell their story, but often not on TV where they can be identified and become targets of police and government security services and all that crap. So you can tell a story there, but you’ll need writing a lot more, and that just doesn’t get the same attention and reaction as TV does.
This should be required reading for anyone working in media. Hell, even for everyone else.

2010 (so far)
1. Sarah Monette – Mélusine
2. Naomi Novik – Throne of Jade
3. Naomi Novik – Black Powder War
4. Kat Richardson – Greywalker

5. John Scalzi – The Android’s Dream
6. Paulien Cornelisse – Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding
7. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Betrayed
8. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Chosen
9. Naomi Novik – Empire of Ivory
10. Joris Luyendijk – Het zijn net mensen {They’re just like people} [Dutch]
11. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Untamed