On the morning of Halloween this year, I will be participating in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Washington, DC. I am walking in honor of my mother, my grandmother, and my aunt, all of whom survived breast cancer. I’ve never done one of these charity walks before, but I think it’ll be good.
If you would like to make a donation or learn more, please visit my participant page.
Silverstein and Me
Also posted on BookCrossing.
My Latest Grievance
Also posted on BookCrossing.
WG 2009-40 is about the tools of the trade (of book blogging, that is). What keeps me organized and inspired? To be perfectly honest, there isn’t a whole lot of organization involved in my reading life. When I finish my current book, provided I don’t have anything time sensitive on the agenda (such as an ARC to review or a bookring to pass along), I just look at the shelf and see what I feel like reading next. The finished book is either put back on the shelf (which is extremely rare), or placed in a canvas totebag for sharing at the next BC in DC meeting. If no one at the meet shows any interest, it ends up in a box in my car for wild release. That’s about it.
Oh wait, I take that back. I did recently get organized with respect to my literary listening habits. My audiobooks come (almost) exclusively from the library. Though the collection in the county-wide system is excellent, I’ve discovered that my local branch is pretty flighty when it comes to organizing their audio collection: the children’s and fiction audiobooks are shelved in their own separate sections, while the young adult and nonfiction audiobooks are shelved with the regular books. The books are routinely mis-shelved, and the catalog is the furthest from reality I’ve ever witnessed in a library. In addition, the last two books I returned were reshelved without being listed as returned in the system, meaning if I hadn’t noticed it I would have been charged late fees on books I’d already brought back.
Eventually I got sick of dealing with it and decided to abuse the hold system instead. I created a list of audiobooks I’d like to listen to and when I start a new one, I put the next one in the list on hold. No fruitless browsing, no irritation at trying to find a book that’s not there.
Inspiration is never a problem. I love to read, to the point where I feel naked if I don’t have at least one book on the go (usually two, if you count audiobooks). When I’m done, I post a review on my blog. I accept that sometimes I don’t have much to say.
As for keeping track of books I’ve read, I record them on Listography, Lists of Bests, and my BookCrossing bookshelf. My reviews, however, I keep stored at GoodReads because it’s reasonably easy to navigate. I’ve recently discovered that not all the books I’ve reviewed have ended up as blog posts, but I think that was before I discovered the joys of scheduled posting.
And that’s about it. I guess in the end I don’t really consider myself a book blogger. Book reviews just happen to comprise the vast majority of my blog posts. :)
Smoke and Mirrors
Also posted on BookCrossing.
So I’ve decided to start taking part, at least occasionally, in another weekly book-related meme, Booking Through Thursday. (And yes, I’m well aware that it’s not Thursday.) This week’s topic is on weeding your book collection. More specifically:
When’s the last time you weeded out your library? Do you regularly keep it pared down to your reading essentials? Or does it blossom into something out of control the minute you turn your back, like a garden after a Spring rain?
Or do you simply not get rid of books? At all?
The fact of the matter is that I don’t need to weed my books. I almost never reread books, and for a lot of years, most of the books I read went straight into my mother’s annual garage sale. These days they all get BookCrossed. The only time I’ve ever done any actual weeding was once when I pulled out all the Dan Brown, Dean Koontz, Robin Cook, and any other generic thrillers I knew it would be no problem to find again someday if I really wanted to read them. And in that case, it was just a matter of reclaiming some shelf space. BookCrossing may be about releasing books, but I’ve sure ended up with a whole lot more than I ever had before joining!
I keep the few favorites that I do like to read again from time to time, but otherwise my personal library consists mainly of to-be-read books. Which is part of the reason why I don’t understand judging someone by the books they own. Most of my books aren’t ones I’ve been able to form an opinion about yet.
My sister, upon hearing me (affectionately) describe the sound of Alice in Chains as an acid spill slowly eating through the floor, told me I should write more music reviews. The fact of the matter is that I don’t listen to much music these days. When I’m in the car alone I listen exclusively to audiobooks, and when there’s anyone else in the car we’re usually talking, which means I’m not really listening to the songs.
So since I’m pretty much completely out of touch with modern music, I figured the best way to dive into the music game was with a movie soundtrack. Mashable gave the heads up that the New Moon Soundtrack
Death Cab for Cutie – Meet Me on the Equinox: Gets stuck in my head a lot. Good but not spectacular.
Band of Skulls – Friends: A fun little ditty. Lame, but in a cute way.
Thom Yorke – Hearing Damage: Very reminiscent of the techno songs I enjoy listening to as background music. I really like it, but it’s not the sort of thing I’d expect from the frontman of Radiohead.
Lykke Li – Possibility: Pretty, but very boring. Something about her voice bugs me. I can’t put my finger on it.
The Killers – A White Demon Love Song: Pretty typical Killers. Not bad, but not something I’d go out of my way to listen to. Reminds me a little bit of The Beta Band.
Anya Marina – Satellite Heart: A sweet little song about unrequited love. Not a huge fan of her voice, but it’s an okay song.
Muse – I Belong to You: Sounds like it could be a fun tune, but only the first thirty seconds were available for streaming. So I got sneaky and found it on YouTube. And you know what? I like it. It’s catchy.
Bon Iver & St. Vincent – Roslyn: Mellow. Lovely acoustic guitars. Too bad the vocals are so obnoxious, but I think it could grow on me with repeated listens.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BMRC) – Done All Wrong: A good addition to this soundtrack, which is pretty much a breakup album anyway. I like the simplicity of this one.
Hurricane Bells – Monsters: Kinda fun. Makes me bob my head. Not bad, but pretty generic.
Sea Wolf – The Violet Hour: Reminds me a little bit of The Killers. I like this one. It’s interesting, catchy, something I wouldn’t mind hearing repeatedly on the radio. Probably my favorite on the entire album.
Ok Go – Shooting the Moon: I dig the weird electronic sounds and harmonies. A very sweet song; I like the dichotomy between the heavy bass drum and the quiet vocals, as well as the instrumental madness at the end. Man, I heart Ok Go; I can’t give an impartial review.
Grizzly Bear with Victoria Legrand – Slow Life: I like the chorus, but the verses are a little too stark. Makes me sleepy.
Editors – No Sound but the Wind: Very old-timey, like a lounge singer. A beautiful song on its own, but this rendition comes across as a little cheesy. The singer sounds like he’s wearing a toupee and a sparkly suit jacket, and I just can’t shake that mental picture. Which is a shame. It’s quite a lovely ballad.
Alexandre Desplat – New Moon (The Meadow): A little bit of the score, I assume. Gorgeous solo piano piece. A nice close to the album. Very quiet, peaceful, hopeful – as should be the aftermath of any breakup, once the tears and heartache have passed.
So there you have it. I guess it’s more of a “thoughts while listening to the songs” than an actual review. Overall, I kinda dig it. Sure, it’s likely that big names like Thom Yorke attached themselves to this soundtrack because of its guaranteed success, but I’m not complaining. Think of how many people will be hearing great bands they never would have otherwise discovered. Though not strong enough for me personally to purchase it, I can see this soundtrack having something to appeal to even the most die-hard of Twilight-haters. After all, none of the songs are bad. At worst they’re generic or kinda meh. Definitely worth a listen.
Well, it’s Blog Action Day once again. I’m struggling with this year’s topic, climate change, because I simply don’t have strong feelings about it. (I also feel this is kind of a repeat of 2007’s topic, and I didn’t have much to say then either.) Yes, the climate is changing. Is it caused by man? Even if it is, can we do anything about it? Would our resources be better spent fighting it or figuring out ways to deal with its effects? I dunno.
So instead of weighing in on the political aspects of climate change, I’m going to share some resources on the scientific aspects. For example, NASA has an excellent list of resources. And for all those concerned about global warming, check out the other side of the coin: mini ice ages. And lastly, perhaps we can learn from our past through environmentally-themed historic markers (or, perhaps more fittingly, markers about natural disasters). Hey, I’m a Markeroon – that’s what I do.
So yeah. Maybe next year the folks at BAD will pick a different topic, one about which I actually have something to say.
The Storyteller: Greek Myths: A short-lived series (only four episodes), telling the stories of Perseus & Medusa, Icarus & Daedalus, Theseus & the Minotaur, and Orpheus & Eurydice. We actually watched the episodes in reverse order, but it didn’t matter much: with the exception of actually seeing the Storyteller and his dog enter the Labyrinth, there wasn’t much plot outside the myths themselves anyway. It was a little weird to see Dumbledore as a scruffy, beardless Greek dude, but he made a good narrator. While the tales themselves were brilliant – good acting, beautiful costumes, amazing creatures, horrible wigs – this is not something I would necessarily recommend for small children. None of the stories end happily, which actually brings a refreshing honesty to the production. The myths were mostly tragedies; it’s nice to see an authentic retelling. I wish the Henson Company did more like this. Not just other Storyteller series (I haven’t seen the other one yet, but it’s in the Netflix queue), but other shows for adults. I love the Muppets, but I can never get enough of the gorgeous puppetry and effects of Farscape, Mirrormask, and The Dark Crystal.
The Stranger
Also posted on BookCrossing.
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