December book haul!

GUYS. This was a BUSY month. By my estimates I got 12 new books, and that doesn't count the new books I purchased for next semester. Only two of these were gifts, however - the rest were all either "found" (read: stolen from my boyfriend's fraternity's attic) or bought by me.

The books above are the ones that I bought/was given this past month. Bite Me! and Why Nations Fail were my only Christmas books. Between Gears I swiped as a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal, The Smartest Guys in the Room and The Stranger were picked up from the Chicago O'Hare airport, and North and South and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd were picked up while Christmas shopping. I'm pretty pleased with this group, to be honest.

THESE books I took from the attic of my boyfriend's fraternity. He asked me if I wanted to "go shopping" (of course I did), and lo! I found an ex-English major's stash (To the Lighthouse, The Sound and the Fury, and The Vintage Book), as well as the Class Matters books and Women Without Class. I'm interested in reading the class books, since it's a topic I've been more interested in learning about. Women Without Class especially, since in its introduction the author mentioned the book Reviving Ophelia (which I poached from my mom), and how issues of feminism, confidence, etc., were only examined in women of "higher class" (upper middle/upper class), and neglected to discuss the needs and issues of women in lower classes. 

I don't want to totally lose my marbles here, but look! I've wanted these two books for a while. I've been a fan of Bite Me! for years, and recently got into Between Gears earlier this semester. (And by "got into," I mean, "read about five to six times during the semester while I definitely should have been doing my homework.") I'm really excited to have them, and hope that by buying them I was able to support them a little bit!

So there it is! My last post of 2013. I've posted a bit today (slash, last night), but I'm trying to tie up some loose ends before the end of the year. Now, if I could be this careful in running my errands, cleaning my room.... Well, there's still time. :) Also, I'm super sorry for the shit quality of the photos - I can't seem to find my camera. :|

2014. (also, Happy Birthday blog!)

I'm going to make 2014 my year in all the ways that 2013 sucked.

I'm going to make new friends, get more involved, and look for ways to discuss feminism and books more frequently in both real life and on this blog. I'm going to create more personal art, and draw more. I'm going to bust my ass in ways I haven't before to get to where I want to both professionally and academically. I'm going to try to make smarter decisions, and be more aware about my personal self-care, and to ensure that my self-care doesn't eclipse another person's needs. I am going to work on being less jealous/envious/"competitive," and focus more on celebrating my friends.

While I'm still ironing out my "personal" 2014 resolutions, my reading resolutions are as follows:

1. I will read 30 books.
2. I will read the books I own; if I buy any new books, it's because I see them as an "investment piece" (i.e., I'll read them over again). 
3. I will utilize the library more.
4. I will continue to post reviews, and establish a firmer grading scale for books. (one star vs. three stars, etc.)
5. Out of the books I want to read for the next year, I will prioritize books given to me as gifts, or those that relate to my area of study. 

I'm looking over all the books I've read this past year, and I'm actually kind of pleased. I read more memoirs than I ever have before, as well as a little sci fi/fantasy, and two huge books (And the Band Played On and East of Eden - both clocking in at over 600 pages each.). This time last year, I hadn't read much over the year, and I was reading even less during the school year. I feel like that's changed, and I now know that it's possible to read for pleasure while trying not to drown under my homework. 

As for my favorite books that I've read this year, here they are:

 
 

 

 

This entry also marks the one year since I've started blogging here. While I wasn't very consistent at first (and I'm probably still not very consistent), I've written a lot about what I've been reading and what I thought about it - more than if I hadn't had this blog, I'm sure. It's fun looking at past entries and reading my reactions to new books.

This upcoming year I want to continue to improve the content of this blog, through features as well as design. That means continuing Midwest Mondays (although maybe planning them out in advance), as well as working on a banner for the blog and expanding the "I love..." feature.

I hope y'all are doing well, and are looking forward to the new year. I feel like a lot of great things are on the horizon. I'm ready to get started.

The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion

Last book review of 2013! Hoo boy.

I should have been doing my homework instead of reading this. #whateva

Genre: Memoir

Rating: ★★★

Published: December 13, 2007

Publisher: Vintage International

Pages: 227

Before reading The Year of Magical Thinking, the only other work I had read by Joan Didion was her essay, "On Self-Respect," during my senior year English class. I decided that I liked her voice, thought she was funny, etc... but totally forgot about it once I exited the classroom. This year, I've been trying to expand my reading horizons and search for new authors in the big, wide, world of "adult" fiction. Joan Didion seemed to be a good person to look for, since I'd seen some interviews with her featured on websites that I liked. I picked up The Year of Magical Thinking because I had seen it around, and had decided that it was a good place to start. (Also, the school library copy of Slouching Towards Bethlehem looked like it was about to fall apart.)

The Year of Magical Thinking, is (according to the back of the book) "a portrait of a marriage." Hm. Okay. Yes, it is. But I feel like that description is somewhat misleading, because The Year of Magical Thinking is primarily about grief, grieving, and death. It illustrates the year after Joan Didion's husband died, as well as her different trains of thought/personal vortexes that lead her to reflect upon her grief and their marriage.

I really liked Didion's style of writing; I found it to be humorous, wry, and insightful. I feel like I have a good grasp on her person voice as a result of reading this book. That said, I rated it three stars. Not because I disliked any parts, but because - while I felt that it was quite powerful - it did not have its full intended effect on me because I have not experienced the loss of a spouse. I was, despite that, able to connect to a fair amount of what she said about revisiting death, as well as the nature of grief:

“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it...We might expect if the death is sudden to feel shock. We do not expect this shock to be obliterative, dislocating to both body and mind. We might expect that we will be prostrate, inconsolable, crazy with loss. We do not expect to be literally crazy, cool customers who believe their husband is about to return and need his shoes.”

(I already returned the book to the library, so here's an excerpt via Goodreads. Plz work with me.)

If pressed, I'd probably rate this book higher; as it is, I'm just glad to have this review done with now. I'd recommend it to others, but I would prefer to warn people that the focus of this book is on death and grief, just in case that's something that someone is trying to avoid completely.

Hopefully my next review won't be so long overdue; I need to work on drafting some of my reviews faster!

End of November book haul

(Belated, but whatever.)

So, I've decided to start doing "book haul" posts at the end of each month now, since I feel like they've reached "filler" status on my blog, and honestly it's a little shameful sometimes to keep posting pictures of new books. (Idk, is it...? Am I being crazy?) This is also my way of putting a spending freeze on myself; if I look at them all at once, then I can see how much money I'm spending, right? (....Right?)

Anyways, here's the lot, snagged from Goodwill. The children's books were $0.49 each, and the adult books were $0.99. Although it was under $6.00. (How could I resist??)

Two books, Timeline and Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code are ones that I've previously read; Timeline in eighth grade (for a class), and Artemis Fowl younger than that. A few years ago, I loaned all of my Artemis Fowl books to one of my friends and never got them back. (I think she might also have some of my comics... Grrrrr.) Since The Eternity Code is my favorite of the Artemis Fowl universe, I was really excited to find it and knew I had to have it.

I got Anne of Green Gables because I've never read it, and despite having a copy on my iPhone, I've never read it before. (It's a free iPhone copy - I don't really have the incentive to read it.) It was also kind of fun to see an "Apple Classics" book, since my elementary school had lots of those editions lying around, and seeing it made me feel cozy inside.

As for the other two, The Rape of Nanking and Thunderstruck, I got those at the behest of my friend, N. (It evens out - I made her get some Stephen King.) If I'm being honest, though, it didn't take much to win me over.

I'm entering finals season now, so I might not get to update this week's Midwest Monday until I'm out of it - but who knows. My procrastination abilities are legendary, and I do feel really bad about not having it up this week. (Oh, well - it gives me a reason to sit down and write and learn, and those are good things.)

Outside of books/reading/etc., I've been busy trying to get things going for me "in the real world" - that means working on papers and reading about politics and trying to make plans for this summer and actually making living plans for next semester and travel abroad plans. (When those are finalized, I'll post about them here. Until then, I don't wanna count my chickens before they hatch.)

Trying to keep my head above water, I'm trying to remind myself of the good things that I'm doing, and the ways that I'm being responsible and basically being a productive human being. No one is going to do these things for me; I have to hustle for what I want.

Keep safe and happy, guys!
xx

Midwest Monday: Jeffrey Eugenides

Jeffrey Eugenides is an author familiar to many on the blogosphere as a result of the success of his 1993 novel, The Virgin Suicides.  I haven't read it, but earlier this year I was able to read The Marriage Plot. While I didn't fall in love with it, I do think that his writing style was really interesting, and I've thought about the book a few times since reading it (reflected upon it...?) and have been thinking about reading it again maybe next year or something.

Despite my complete ignorance about Eugenides's work, one thing that I did notice during my initial Eugenides research (conducted while reading The Marriage Plot via Wikipedia) was that each of his novels involved - in one way or another - the Detroit area. And while The Marriage Plot's connection to Detroit is relatively weak, Eugenides did take the time to reflect on the city's slow decline. As Eugenides noted in an interview with The Paris Review, "My entire childhood coincided with the demise of Detroit.... It imbued my sense of the world with a strong elegiac quality - a direct experience of the fragility and evanescence of the material world."

In examining the decay of Detroit, Eugenides also examined the effects of the white flight from the city, and the creation of the surrounding suburbs. Acutely aware of class distinctions, he considered himself to be a person with connections to society while not necessarily being part of it himself. This sentiment was portrayed most recently by Mitchell in The Marriage Plot; Mitchell, in love with the novel's protagonist Madeleine, is at odds with her wealthy WASP background. Also a descendant of Greek immigrants, Mitchell spends time post-graduation working as a taxi driver in Detroit and working in a Greek restaurant. During this time, he observes the disconnect between himself and his heritage as well as the decay of the city and the fact that he "doesn't belong" in Madeleine's world.

Of course, it is impossible to mention Eugenides and Detroit without mentioning his famous novel Middlesex; its Detroit setting reflects both class and urban decay, and the Detroit riots results in a cold parallel between the world of the protagonist, Cal, and that of his family, in Smyrna.

While I'm still pretty unfamiliar with Eugenides's work (I don't count reading one of his novels and one interview as "familiar"), I am more interested in reading his novels as a result of doing this research. Before writing about him, I didn't think that I would be interested in his connection to the Midwest, but now that I am aware, I think that I could attain a richer understanding of his work. I look forward to reading more of his novels in the future!

 

I take selfies, but not because I want to

This past week has been long and stressful, but I've been trying to remind myself throughout all of it that it's going to get better, and some really awesome things have already happened and will keep happening if I just keep working hard and doing better than my best. I need to hustle to get where I want to go, and I need to hustle to go beyond with my personal and academic work. It's hard, because I constantly feel like there's no way to do all of the things I want to socially and academically, and I feel like - compared to my friends and other awesome people around me - I should be doing Better Things, or just more things. 

Last night I went out with some friends to a party, and it was really fun and I had a really great time just talking to people I feel like I haven't seen in forever. Sometimes conversations ended up a bust (I'm talking to you, boy I should stop crushing on), but sometimes they were great and made me feel better about the choices I'm making and the people I want to surround myself with. I guess, on that note, these are some images I've been looking at lately, to work on focusing myself (or at least to encourage myself to stay positive and maintain a HBIC attitude, if nothing else.). 

 

So, yeah, I hope you guys are doing well and taking care of yourselves and finding time for things that make you happy. If you're stressed and busy, don't give up! You can do it!

The Moon and More, by Sarah Dessen

Via.

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Rating: ★★★

Published: June 4, 2013

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

Pages: 435

Emaline has grown up in the small beach town of Colby, and is more than familiar with the mechanics of summer vacation. Living in a vacation town, she is a permanent fixture, working at her family's beach resort company and interacting with tourists. The summer before she leaves for college, Emaline is left wondering about the "summer vacation" myth - summer romances especially. It's during this summer that Emaline experiences her first summer romance in the form of the energetic, ambitious New York film student Theo. Theo and his boss, Ivy, have come to Colby in order to make a documentary about a reclusive local artist. The contrast between insiders and outsiders comes into play frequently during the course of the novel. Dessen explores Emaline's small town mentality, although not in a negative way. 

I've been reading Sarah Dessen's books since probably middle school, and for the most part I've really liked them. Just Listen is probably my favorite, but I have absolutely no problem with re-reading This Lullaby, Keeping the Moon, whatever. I love finding the Easter eggs she sprinkles throughout her books, making connections between characters and stories. I think she portrays female friendships really well, and I like how her characters are flawed, funny, motivated people. Which is why I guess I was a little disappointed by her latest book, The Moon and More. 

I liked that Dessen kind of flipped around her usual formula. You know - girl meets boy, boy is funny and smart and different and shows the girl a whole new world/side to her and girl starts living her life or something and there are reflections on friendship and family. (That sounds kind of mean, but trust me - I really do adore Sarah Dessen's books.) However, I feel like The Moon and More had less of a clear direction than her other works. I didn't connect very well to Emaline, which I think is due to the fact that I could never figure out her characterization very well. I understood her main conflict to be that of the Colby/not-Colby world, but where romance and family matters came in, things were more unclear. I felt like it took a really long time to get to the actual plot of the story - or maybe I couldn't figure out what the plot was, which is equally as bad. I liked some of the side characters - Benji and Morris especially - but I felt like others were kind of flat (Daisy, Ivy), or lacked any personal progress (Theo, Ivy).  

If you're interested in reading Sarah Dessen's books, I would recommend you start with something else (Just Listen, This Lullaby, etc.). I feel like the reason I kept on reading the book was because every so often I caught a glimmer of her usual charm. I think this book was really interesting based off of the fact that - like I said above - it was different than her usual shebang. But I don't know if I'll be re-reading this any time soon.  

Midwest Monday: Ernest Hemingway

Via.

The first thing I ever read by Ernest Hemingway was one of his short stories, titled "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." My sophomore English teacher handed it to me, and given my total and absolute dislike of the man (my English teacher), I barely glanced over the story. I didn't even know that Hemingway had written it until two years later.

My senior year of English, we read For Whom the Bell Tolls, and although I wasn't totally sold on it, I thought that Hemingway was a pretty interesting guy; I mean, he had survived two plane crashes, was married four times, and had a home with six-toed cats. Also, he wrote for The Kansas City Star. Which, to be honest, was a pretty unexpected thing to hear. (I am from KC. I love The Star, but it is not the New York Times by any stretch of the imagination.)

Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). His family owned a summer home in Michigan, where his passion for the outdoors and wild/rustic lifestyles began. When he graduated from high school, he moved to Kansas City, MO, where he worked as a cub reporter for The Star.

Hemingway wasn't on the staff of The Star long, but while there he used The Star's style guide as the foundation for his writing. Below are quotes pulled from the Star stylebook that Hemingway once referred to as, "the best rules I ever learned for the business of writing."

• "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative."
• "Never use old slang." (Well, I'm f*cked.)
• "Eliminate every superfluous word."

Hemingway's ties to Kansas City were further alluded to in his first novel, The Sun Also Rises. The protagonist of the novel, Jake Barnes, is a reporter from Kansas City. While this background is just that - background - I feel like there was some sort of acknowledgement on Hemingway's behalf that Kansas City (and the Midwest in general) served as the foundation for his person and his writing.   

If you're interested in reading more, The Kansas City Star has a portion of its website dedicated to Hemingway's time at the Star and his other connections to Kansas City. It's by no means an exhaustive list on Hemingway's connections to the Midwest, but I feel like it's an interesting place to start. 

 (I feel like this was kind of a bare-bones approach to Hemingway, but I don't think there's much more I could have said about him that hasn't been said already.)

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

Genre: Literature & Fiction

Rating: ★★★★★

Published: June 18, 2003

Publisher: Penguin Books

Pages: 602

Disclaimer: this review is going to be really hard for me to write partially because I finished reading it maybe half an hour and ago and also because I just have a lot of feelings right now. 

East of Eden is a book that's been sitting on my shelf for a long time, and I never really thought that I was ever going to get around to it. I finally decided to take it off my shelf because I had an assignment for my Botany class, which was to read a book that could be related to something botanical and to write a review. (This will not be that review.) I chose this book because it had a garden in the title, and I knew that Steinbeck wrote a lot about agriculture and America in his novels.

I'm... just really, really happy that I read this book. I really feel like East of Eden was a great book, and the reason I say that is because I feel like I am a different person because of this book. 

East of Eden is an epic family saga, spanning multiple generations, with a rich cast of characters. It's a modern retelling of the story of Cain and Abel, and the philosophies represented and expanded upon totally pulled me into the story. I'm not really familiar with the Book of Genesis, but I did enjoy reading the characters' discussions about human nature and destiny. While reading this book, I often felt like my brain was being stirred around and rearranged and mashed together. When I finished the book, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me, my mind blank and reeling from the experience. 

This book came to me at The Right Time in my life, and I know that it will stay with me as one of my favorites. I know that for sure that I will be re-reading it some time in the future, and that I will enjoy turning it over and over in my mind for the years to come. I recommend this book completely.

GUESS WHO MET HER READING GOAL??

(hint: THIS KID.)

BAM.

I FINISHED MY READING CHALLENGE!

Guys. I am so excited that I managed to finish this that it's a little sad. I'm a lifelong reader/bookworm, but since high school I've had a hard time reading books consistently. I gave the challenge a shot last year, but didn't manage to meet even 50% of my goal, due to being overwhelmed with school and stuff. This is the same number/goal as last year, but there are a few key differences:

1. I took an English class. Basically, I had to make time for myself to read, despite my other homework and despite the fact that I thought it would take too long, or that I could catch up. OK, here's the thing: Page goals exist for a REASON. I missed two reading assignments of Jane Eyre and found myself like 200 pages behind the class. So I learned to divide books up. Not only does it make the book less intimidating, but it also ensures that you're always making some sort of progress. (I'm using this system for a fiction book I'm reading for my Botany class, but that's another post.)

2. I read during the summer. I know, that sounds like a serious no-brainer, but this summer I got off the internet and read. 

3. I brought my reading book EVERYWHERE with me, and read in small, ten minute intervals between activities or at lunch. This relates to what I said above, but I made time. And because I made time, I read a book over 600 pages in the span of a month with all of my other activities flying around.*

I'm kind of pleased with what I was able to read this year; And the Band Played On had been on my "to read" list since I had failed to finish it my senior year. Also Jane Eyre, which had been nagging me forever.

I also re-read Wide Sargasso Sea as well as The Sun Also Rises (for my English class), and they both held up really well. I'd still like to write about Sun sometime on this blog, but I worry that that would be too much with little context or guarantee that people had read it before. Y'know? (OK, I had also read The Secret Life of Bees before, but since I didn't take any particular liking to it, I wasn't as excited to re-read it.)

To keep myself from going into a book-by-book replay of this past year (this can't be the end of the year already. Haha, nope, I refuse.), I'm going to leave it at that and just say that, if you want a better version of the graphic above, it's on my goodreads profile. Basically, I'm just really, stupidly happy that I was able to read 25 books in a year because reading takes time, you guys, and when I read book blogs I'm always flabbergasted at how there are new reviews popping up right and left.  IN THE MEAN TIME, I'm going to try to at least finish three more books before the end of the 2013 calendar year.  

A more serious review (pfft, yeah right) should pop up sometime tomorrow.

* I'm sorry. I sound SO smug right now. But I guess I'm trying to get a point across? Anyways, I'm surprised you didn't see me as insufferable before.  

INTRODUCING MIDWEST MONDAY!

*throws confetti in air, blows horn*

This is going to be a new feature on Ye Olde Blog where I write about the "literary Midwest" - authors from the region, books... you get the idea. Since I'm from the region (Born in KC, lived a year in Chicago suburbs, currently attending college in Wisconsin), I'm familiar with the trope of the Midwest being some sort of culturally ignorant black hole, where people sit around in wheat/corn fields and chew cud. Well, screw that; I've been doing some research, and the Midwest has famous authors and novels coming out of the f*cking wazoo. 

This feature is meant to showcase writers from the Midwest, their novels, as well as other books set in the region (although that last one might be a bit of a stretch). I want this feature to be as inclusive as possible in terms of writers and their work; to be honest, I'm a little worried that this is a big thing to tackle all at once, but I feel like I have more than enough material to get myself started. (Which is good...?)

Via.

To provide some parameters for this project, here's the Midwestern region that I'll be drawing from (above, in blue). To limit/eliminate argument, I am using a map from the CDC; the Midwest's borders, as seen above, are defined by the U.S. Census, and in my mind "official." I am also using this specific image because I think it highlights an important cultural divide between the "East North Central" and the "West North Central" (aka the "East" and "West" Midwest - never mind "North" and "South"). Being from Kansas City, I'm pretty familiar with how dramatically a culture can change over the distance of a single state (*waves* Hi, STL).

Expect the first Midwest Monday update to show up next Monday (after I've done some marginal research, obvi), the 18th. If y'all have any suggestions of authors I should write about, or novels I should discuss, please comment below! I don't want to miss anything. :)

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Via.

I have the unfortunate habit of buying books whenever possible. While this is not a unique problem, it's become harder to justify since - as time goes on and my buying goes up but my reading stays the same -  the number of books I have on my "to read" shelves has gotten a little out of control (current count is around 130). DESPITE THAT, whenever I go home or fly (anywhere), I stop at airport bookstores and take a look around. I know they're hideous money traps, but to me it's really exciting to get a new book at the start of a trip, no matter how short. I can always remember books on my shelf that I've traveled with, where I was going, and so on.

Unsurprisingly, I usually buy something when I go to airport bookstores. This time, it was Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. I'd seen the trailer for the movie that came out a few years ago but, for whatever reason, had never seen it. I was so sure that I would never get around to watching it, in fact, that I read the movie summary on Wikipedia, so that I would be sure I would get whatever Never Let Me Go references came my way. (Spoiler: there weren't any.)

Considering all the schoolwork I had to do over break, it was a pretty terrible time to pick up and find a book that I really liked. (I blame this book on being the reason why I didn't end up writing my study abroad application essays until half an hour before a meeting with my advisor.)

Never Let Me Go is the first book that I've read by Kazuo Ishiguro, and it certainly won't be the last. I really enjoyed how the reader's perspective of events shifted over the course of the story; what started out as an innocent schooldays story turned darker, more emotional until I was racing towards the end of the novel, trying to piece together the real story. Ishiguro did an excellent job of never giving the reader too many details and never showing all of his cards at once.

Some reviews that I've read for Never Let Me Go have called the novel "Gothic," and I'm inclined to agree. While I am not really "versed" (let's say) in Gothic literature, I can definitely draw parallels between Cathy's story in Never Let Me Go and Jane's in Jane Eyre. I'm also not one for "nostalgia" per se (I don't really see the attraction of the the hazy vibe that seems to be going around on the internet), but I do think that this novel gave me a new appreciation for nostalgic tones in novels. I think a lot of that appreciation had to do with the way that Cathy told her story; the way she layered details on top of each other, casually referring to them or "stopping" the story to give some backstory. I think that Cathy (the character, not the narrator) matured as she discovered more and more about the circumstances she had been born into. And as she matured, so did the reader.

I also really liked how the conflicts within the book concerning both the characters and the Never Let Me Go-world drew me in and made me think about why an action or ideology made me feel uncomfortable. It made me question my beliefs, and I think that that's an important quality in any book. It is for that reason that I loaned it out immediately to one of my friends once I got back from school, and look forward to re-reading it in the future. While I'd specifically recommend Never Let Me Go to people who aren't "into" science fiction, I'd say that anyone interested should definitely pick up a copy at their leisure. 

I am here for you

Happy November! 

This past Saturday, due to some feelings of cabin fever and anxiety I decided to drive up to Madison for a day trip. It was such a good choice! I ate some awesome streetcar food, went to some bookshops, and one of my favorite little Madison stores, Anthology. I'm annoyed that I didn't think to take any pictures while I was up there, street food and bookstores considered.

I need to do a separate post on my favorite Madison bookstores, but UNTIL THEN I guess you'll have to survive on this book haul post. This visit, I went to my favorite bookstore - A Room of One's Own - as well as the UW bookstore, because why the fuck not? As expected, it was really really big and made me feel totally inadequate about my own college's bookstore. *Pats Beloit College turtle on the head*

Anyways, here's what I got:

I got the Middle Eastern books and On Beauty at Room, and the Vonnegut and Fun Home at the UW. I was actually really excited to see Fun Home there, since I had looked for it at room in the graphic novels section and only found Are You My Mother? There were a few other books I was interested in, but I am unfortunately not made of money.

I'm really excited to read On Beauty, since I got a preview for my Kindle and loved it. I've been hearing a lot about Zadie Smith recently, and am trying to choose my books more conscientiously; that is, read more female/women of color/LGBTQIA authors.

Another little Madison story - when I was walking down State Street, I noticed that a lot of little stores on one block were closed. The Afghani restaurant I like to go to - Kabul - only moved to a new location, but everywhere else was closed, which was a huge bummer, since I really liked those restaurants. Hopefully more cool places will move in there, instead of a massive Anthropologie or something? (Nothing against Anthropologie - just trying to think of a chain college students like that isn't Urban Outfitters or Salvation Army.)

I still have a few posts in progress - Never Let Me Go review, and others. Hopefully they won't sit by the wayside for too long. Also, happy NaNoWriMo to all of you who are participating! I haven't in years past, but maybe during winter break I can make my own or give myself the kick that I needed to work on my LWD fic.

(~~You may say I'm a dreamer.....~~)

Hope you all are doing well and taking care of yourselves. If any of y'all are from Madison, do you have any favorite local stores? Let me know!

Bury your head in the sand

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This post is a (super short) collection of things floating around my mind having to do with the spoopy-skary festivities. It's short, but whatever. (I should really be writing an essay by now. Ugh.)

The idea of a 1940s! teen witch coven is about 1000% more attractive to me than American Horror Story right now. I want this to be on TV. Please...? Via. 

Project idea. Via. 

 Via.

 Halloween project idea, Night Vale themed. Sadly, couldn't find a good enough white shirt. :/ Via.

More "Welcome to Night Vale" costume inspiration. Via. 

Via. 

Another project idea. Credit to Jose Ignacio Romussi Murphy. Via. 

I'm sad Halloween is over, but GOOD RIDDANCE to October! Seriously, this has been a way stressful and busy month, and if I can make it to Thanksgiving break, then I can make it to winter break. That's all I'm gunning for, at this point. Class schedules have been released for next semester, and so I'm super torn between wanting to take a class on animation vs. one about fascism and (my personal favorite) COLONIALISM. Because of course limits, I'll probably try to get into animation, tbh, since next year I wanna go abroad, and I don't know when I might be able to take another animation course.

(...#boringtalk)

Anyways, I have a few posts in the works, and I'm working on a few new features for the blog. I'll be busy fleshing the details out (I want to launch some of them next year), but until then I'll keep posting sporadically.

Tag: Book Collection

In an effort to eke a few more updates on this here blog before October ends, I thought I would do this fun book tag! Book blogging is the main reason I started this blog, and while I've kind of gotten off topic, I still want to return to reading every now and then. The tag was created by booksforeverafter.

1. How many books do you own?
Err.... I don't know. Since I'm at school, I can't count my collection at home, but the number of unread books I have is 128. I have 11 non-school books I have with me at college, not counting my Kindle. 

2. How long has it taken to accumulate your collection?
I'd say since fourth grade or so? That seems to be the age of my oldest book (not counting Harry Potter). I've purged a lot over the years due to moves and stuff.

3. How often do you buy books?
I try not to buy so many right now, since (1) I'm at school and can't take them home easily and (2) I don't have a disposable income right now. When I usually buy books, it's either at the airport going home, at the Half Price books by my house, and at independent books stores when I visit Madison. (I love love love A Room Of One's Own).

4. What is the first book you remember buying?
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning and Meet Josefina (An American Girl) are what's coming to me now, so let's go with that.

5. How do you arrange your books?
I always seem to rearrange them when I go home. But right now, it's this:

I stack all nonfiction books next to my bookshelf, since they don't fit and I have a smaller number of them. My fiction books are arranged thusly: 

• Top shelf: books read for/during high school and nerd camp, and college. Family books, and books read over this past summer. Graphic novels.
• Second - fourth shelves: Books I haven't read yet, arranged alphabetically. 
• Fifth shelf: Books I've read and books I've held onto over the years: Sarah Dessen, Agatha Christie, John Green, Garth Nix, Terry Pratchett, Howl's Moving Castle Series, etc. These are the books usually most precious to my heart, as I've gone out and bought copies of them after wear/tear and checking them out from the library over and over and over.
• Sixth shelf: Books I've read. Art books, fantasy, series books. Animation books, Tintin, David Bowie Is, Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, Harry Potter, the first three Chronicles of Narnia. 

6. What was the last book you purchased?

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro.

7. What is the longest book you own? 

The Tale of Genji: 1,182 pages.

8. What is the shortest book you own? 

The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories: 70 pages.

When I go home for Thanksgiving, I'll try to take a picture of my books for its own little tour. But until then, I've got to buckle down and work.

On fandom(s)

Via.

Last night I was out walking around my college campus, killing time until I had to be at rehearsal, when I scrolled down to an old playlist on my iPod labelled "Dasey."

"Dasey," for those of you who don't know, is the shipping name for Derek Venturi and Casey McDonald, the main characters in the Canadian TV series Life with Derek. Throughout elementary,  middle, and later high school I was a huge fan of the show (I still am, but my input into the LWD fandom has decreased significantly in past years.). I don't know if it's really important to tell you guys that, but when I pressed "shuffle" on that playlist, it was kind of like a time capsule, and Past!Maddie was talking to me and communicating with me the importance of these characters, this show, this relationship. And when one sone came on, I nearly started crying because I simultaneously felt like I was coming home, like I was crawling into a warm bed... and like I was never going to be able to go back to that point in time, that I had changed too much.

I've been thinking about this kind of nostalgia for old fandoms today, and so I want to take a stab at talking about it before I forget or lose my nerve or both. This is my blog, after all, so I can say what I want.

I am a firm believer in the power of fandoms/"fandom."

I believe that fandom (general fandom, fandom-at-large) can create a tremendous feeling of community and security - both creatively and personally. I believe that fandom empowers people, fans, what have you, into taking the show/book/series in question into their own hands and making it their own. Fanart, fanfiction... both are excellent at conducting these kinds of feelings, and with blogging that community is amplified with blog posts and discussions. It creates a kind of social network, and while that can be incredibly rewarding for some people, others are not so lucky.

Because sometimes fantoms - while starting off on good intentions - can leave others feeling like victims. I'm not going to lie, some real nasty shit goes down sometimes in fandoms, and while debate and criticism is good within a community, it can "other" a group of people who have a set of legitimate concerns and critique for not going with the status quo. You see this a lot in discussing LGBTQIA+ issues in Harry Potter and Heroes of Olympus, or quest baiting/queer coding in Supernatural and Sherlock, and sexism in Doctor Who and racism/representation all around. So, yeah, I feel like in creating really wonderful communities fans sometimes/usually have the tendency of stepping on people's toes within the fandom... Or, you know, acting absolutely atrocious because The Honor of the fandom is at stake, and God Forbid any critique of the fandom go Too Far, because that would be Too Much.

Via.

I'm lucky in the regards that I haven't had any real negative experiences in the fandoms I've been super involved and invested in. While I'd like to say it's because I pick my communities well, it's more likely because I don't engage in serious discussion about shows or things that I like enough to encounter that sort of criticism. (Either that, or the show/series's incompetency was widely known throughout the fandom. I remember a "WTF" rating for Life with Derek show recaps) So I guess this post is kinda nostalgic about the things I used to do, I think it's also an example of why I need to push myself to be mindful of the communities I take part in and fandoms I join because complacency =/= fandom perfection.

I'm going to keep this post as-is for now, and hopefully in the future I'll be able to blog some more about this subject. (As a fangirl, I feel like this is an area I can actually discuss with any minor authority.)

What do you guys think? Do you feel the same way about fandom, or do you have a different opinion?

Less Clicking, More Inking - Inktober Has Begun!

It's Inktober! I'm trying to join in on the festivities this year in an attempt to do more art things. UNFORTUNATELY I'm two days behind, but that's fine with me. I'm coming up on a weekend and can use the time to catch up.

A babe I found online. Messed around with her pose/hair.

Unfortunately these scans came out kinda awful, so I might just go back to photographing my work, since I didn't exactly buy my printer for the rad scanner... (Hey, it gets the job done. ...Usually.)

I'll be updating with my progress in Inktober - stay tuned!

-M

I loved you so way back when

(First let me mention Fiona Apple's version of "Pure Imagination?" It's spooky in the best way, but also sad and has basically left me in a stupid, emotional mess for most of the evening.)

Since today was a beautiful day, I decided to take a walk around campus and take some photos. (Well, OK - I also had to take some for a Botany project.)

The baby hills that you see in these pictures are some of Beloit's infamous Indian mounds.  

Because winter lasts for fucking ever, I always forget how green it gets.  

In true school fashion, the year so far has been rushing by at a pace that seems really underwhelming in the day-by-day scheme of things, but a little...panic-inducing when I think about how long I've been at school so far. Like, fuck, it's practically October.

My school books. *Crying* (Also: I don't understand why this photo came out so crappy. )

Whenever I'm overwhelmed, I have the unfortunate habit of pushing away everything I should be doing and do fun projects or watch TV instead. Like, instead of studying for my first Botany test this past week, I finished up watching Malcolm in the Middle, which is one of my favorite shows. My mom, brother, and I used to eat dinner and watch it together. What does it say about us, that it's our favorite show?

As far as classes go this semester, I'm kinda pleased; while there is some tomfoolery/fuckery going on with my Arabic class (mostly the fact that my school doesn't offer the next level, ugh...), my poli sci classes are awesome and Botany is cool I guess. I mostly like taking plants apart and thinking how they and their environments work, rather than any cellular info or anything. Below are some pictures I took today of the area around the science center; most of the flowers are dead, and these were all that remained. I'm not too disappointed, though, since I got to stand by these and watch bees buzz around pollinating. I have such a soft spot for bees, it's so weird. But I really like how these pictures showcase the different shades of purple of the asters.

 Would you believe me if I told you I didn't use a filter for this one...?

Some succulents in the greenhouse that our class is growing.

My plants are the three in the lower right hand corner; the baby sprouts are (hopefully) going to be black and brown-eyed susans.

I'm also starting the study abroad application process; because there is a limited number of third-party programs that my school can pay for, it looks like I may be ditching the first semester in Washington (like I planned), and shooting for Morocco, instead (strangely, it's cheaper) with the second semester in Jordan (which is the program I want to get into more than anything). This is, of course, assuming I am still at my school next year. My mom refuses to acknowledge that I might go that far away for an entire year, but she'll eventually come around.

I feel kind of bad that I don't have anything else to say... I'm not doing much independent reading, lately, and so I don't have any book reviews, and since I'm usually holed up in my room working, I don't see my friends around too much. I feel like getting out of town for just a day or so, but I can't this weekend. (Isn't that always the case?) I have a paper to write this weekend, but I have another post in the works already, and I'm thinking of putting up some more art... I'd like to have fanart to post, but whatever; I only have so many hours in a day. I'm listening to Night Vale and the new Arctic Monkeys album, and reading more fanfic than I should. Good news, I'm at least making my bed and cleaning my room more often. (My dishes are another case, however...)

I hope you lovelies are doing well,

-M