Reading and 2024

 I forgot I had this blog. Again.

But it's been moot because I also haven't really been reading all that much. 

In 8 years? Well, yeah, but it's been a shite 8 years and there was a thing that changed how my brain works and thinking and focusing became kinda hard. Perhaps more on that later. So reading has been slow and few. I have found that audio books help, so there's that. But I want to read more again. I want to be that bookworm I used to be. 

And I know that for so many bookworms who were then diagnosed ADHD this is a common story. And maybe I'll fail. That's fine. I'm used to failing. And spend so much time failing even more than normal and a lot of the fear of it starts to fade away. 

So here are my reading goals and guidelines for 2024:

1. Read books in down-time rather than be on my phone or computer.

    Yeah, the screen time demon has got me. Muddle the brain and the dopamine machines can get a really nasty hook in to you. Add in that too much phone time gives me headaches, and I already spend the day on the computer, and I think I need more paper. This goal will become easier if I can find my paperwhite kindle. 

2. Read books I already own.

     Years back I decided to curb my book buying by limiting in-hand books to ones that won't work digitally or I'm getting author signed. It hasn't always stuck, but I can't tell my roommate that my books are ok to take up so much space if I don't read them. They're not a reader, but even they can see that holding on to things for no use is a bit much. This is also for my digital books and comics. 

3. Read my Comics.

    I also need to organize my print ones, but that's for another set of goals. I have these things, I want to make sure I'm reading them.

4. If I buy books, it's only from non-male authors unless I'm at a signing.

     I need to support the other folks more. Dude still run this shit.

5. Reading predominantly non-male authors.

     I want more femme voices in my life, in my head, in my stories. I just do. I want more queer stories. I want more - different points of view. I'm getting tired of the same old things, and this is just where I'm at. I know it won't be an 'only' thing as I tackle the home library and TBR, but some stories can wait or just not get read. 

6. Write or note about my reading more.

    This is part log and part taking time to be intentional about my reading and my thoughts. But I am allowing it to be trite if need be. But taking time to do things like this - writing and thinking about what I'm consuming, taking time for me, taking time to be still and calm and intentional - that's what I want to focus on. 

So here I am with a sort of resolution for the new year, dusting off ye olde blog, rebooting that old Goodreads account, whatever tools I have already to be more mindful and intentional about my reading and media. I will try and write more, I'll fail often, but hopefully I'll also get back up and try again.

Happy New Year!

Reading List

When I first started using Evernote, one of the first things I did was create a reading list.  When a book came up that I wanted to remember for later, I added it to the list.  They have little check boxes for me to check off when I'd read them.  Sometimes it was the name of a series, or an author, or just some notes I vaguely remembered. And when I remembered to, I'd go back to my list to help decide what to read next.
   Well, in a time when I wasn't reading much, it became where book titles went to die.  But now I'm adding these titles to my GoodReads "To Read" shelf.  Hopefully, despite the great length this shelf if getting to, they'll be more on my radar as I look for my next reading. Some I haven't located, but I'll find them. Books can't hide from me.  I'm a Library Wench. We find what we want and we READ IT.

By the way - if you are not up to joining Goodreads, the I highly recommend Evernote for your book and reading tracking. Or for keeping pages to read later. Or planning. Or ANYTHING.  Really, it's one of the best apps out there and is rated such by groups that track these things.  Use it on web and all your devices.  In fact, it was one of the only apps that I could really use on my old Blackberry Bold that was functional and easy and actually made for RIM.  And if you're on iOS, Penultimate is a buddy app.  Skritch is too, and is on Android and iOS.  I am not paid for these recommendations by Evernote - I'm just a happy user. ^_^

Book Review: The Hollow Sun by D.L. Wainright

I recently finished The Hollow Sun by D.L. Wainright.  It is the first installment in the Hollow Sun series, and Wainright's first novel.


TheHollowSun.com
Twitter: @thehollowsun
Facebook: The Hollow Sun Series
Goodreads

Disclaimer: The author is a friend of mine, and I have known about some aspects of the book over the years as they were writing it. However, my love and loyalty to my friends does not over-power my sheer book nerdiness, and therefore this revue is my honest opinion. Friends come and go, but stories are forever!!


Description from the back cover:
Lucy Kincade is used to darkness, having lost her father in an accident when she was a child. Nothing, however, has prepared her for just how dark her reality will become. The truth should be an illuminating thing; but for Lucy, the more she discovers the more the light is leeched from her world. There's the monster who smiles at her from behind a human face, the friends who had lied about what they truly are, and the allies who promise protection while hiding bloody knives behind their backs. Just when she thinks she knows what's real, she's only found another layer of secrets waiting to be unraveled.

A supernatural fantasy book that drags you in, gets you hooked, and may have you running to your library's research section.

The story is about Lucy, a goth teenager just trying to get through school and enjoy life with her friends. But things start to change and she learns that the world around her is not what is seems.  Not only do things like vampire and werewolves exist, but they are a lot closer to home than she could have imagined. As she is learning about all the supernaturals in the world, she is also learning about herself and the father she'd lost so many years ago.  And this lesson is taking her on one hell of an adventure.

Wainright's story about teen Lucy and her discovering the secrets of the people and the world around her is laced with mythology and folklore from around the world.  And unlike most popular supernatural YA fiction, this folklore isn't pulled from film, tv, or the author's own creations.  More than once I found myself looking up some of the creatures and stories referenced because I wanted to learn more about it.  And more than once I was wishing that there was a nerdy community out there to discuss ideas and theories floating in my head about Lucy and her world! Told from her perspective, the reader is taken on the same journey that Lucy is on, discovering the truth about who her friends are, her family, and who she can and cannot trust.  The characters thwart the usual teen novel character tropes, while at the same remain familiar. You may see your own friends and enemies within them. If your friends and enemies are werewolves and vampires, that is.

The book is a fairly quick read, though sometimes I found myself stopping and finding passages to re-read to clarify the details in my head.  But mostly in the same way I would in an Agatha Christie story.  It combines the usual supernatural teen fantasy elements with folklore and has the feel of a mystery novel at the same time.  Almost like the Harry Potter series, even the most banal tidbit may end up being important later on.

So, I guess it's clear that I really liked this book. Ok, more like LOVED it.  The one complaint is that the sequel isn't ready yet, and I'm pretty sure D.L. is never going to let me read any bits before it's done, knowing how I want MOAR.

I would recommend this book to: teens and young adults; anyone who likes supernatural fiction; anyone who watches Supernatural; lovers of YA novels;  parents who don't want their kids reading Twilight; people who read Twilight and want less sparkle with their vampires; people who generally want supernatural fiction YA stories with a strong female lead and fewer Hollywood tropes; anyone who has ever argued about the historical folklore behind the Dracula stories; mythology and folklore nerds (I know my people are out there!), historically accurate goths; the curious folks.

Please go read this book so that I can talk about it with people!!!! It's no fun when the only person you knows whose read it is the author!!

Also, my friend totally finished that book he's been researching and writing for a long time, and I am so excited! Mostly because it's good. It would suck if I didn't like it. But how great is it to get to fangirl your friend?

The Great Book Cataloging

So, I have begun in earnest to catalog my library.  I have tried this in the past, but I feel like now that my books are mine, and not my Mom's and sister's, that it's a better time to start this.  I am using the LibraryThing website and platform because I like the format and it's easy.  I can always download the data from the site to have a backup.  And I will be doing this periodically because I can't bear putting in all this work and then losing it all for some reason that the site dies.

This began from  talking with a friend about her impressive reading list on GoodReads (and the notebooks she's kept over the years), my desire to read more like the nerd I was in high school, and a massive influx of books from my local public library book sale.  And once you start cataloging something, you can't stop.  It drives you! The sense of organization amidst the chaos, the feeling of control over your collections.  And I like going through my titles and remembering what's there, adding some titles to my TO READ list so I get to them sooner rather than later.  Because in my head I do plan on reading all of these titles. Even the esoteric old history books I salvage from the discard piles at work.  They seem interesting.  I want to learn about that thing, event, people, topic, etc. I WANT TO READ ALL THE THINGS!!!!!

Ahem, sorry.  Back to the cataloging....

I am using this opportunity to also look at the books I have and decide if I want to keep them.  Some of this happened, on a smaller scale, when I moved out of my mother's house and when she subsequently moved away.  But you can't really ponder a title when you're moving - you need to make a snap decision and keep packing.  So I think it's a healthy pursuit I'm in.  Granted, the cull will not be many.  I know that already.  But I am thinking a little more about, "Will I really read this? Is this worth my shelf space?"
Part of this is due to the sources of my books over the years. I have my core collection that was acquired over years of book store, book sales, yard sales, etc.  I have SO MANY from my favorite used bookstore, which I have been patronizing for over twenty years.  I have all the "tribbles" from the sci-fi library I worked in in college (we kept two copies of titles - the triples seemed to multiply rapidly when we weren't looking - hence the name). And I worked in my college library for the gifts librarian, so I came home with a number from that gig.  Now, I work at a college library and often acquire books from the discard pile (often due to be recycled) or the shelf of donations that were rejected.  Sometimes these are the books I need to rethink the most.  I have a tendency to go for older books, and some are falling apart, or just not worth reading.  I just found one in German and can only assume that I picked it up because the print was really pretty.  I guess I planned on crafting with it?  I know that sounds like blasphemy to a book nerd, but it was slated to have the cover cut off and the paper recycled.  So, using it in art is still recycling it, in a way.  But I don't have time for that.  And since my used book shop won't take these old academic books that not even this book hoarder wants, I'll likely recycle some of them in the end.

Moments like that always make me remember Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.  I am a lover of books, of the physical objects of books.  But I am more a lover of knowledge, of story telling.  And it is always the content of books that matters.  So I am getting better at letting go of some of these physical items that are falling apart or useless to me because I know that the content lives on.  And if the content is outdated, then that book and it's knowledge has done it's part, and led to better information, and it's ok for it to rest in the paper pulper.

Of course, the down side of book cataloging is that I want to read them all right away.  So I am trying to utilize my GoodReads list for a more organized reading list.  And when I get through it a little more, I can add more of my other titles.  I know that I will never adhere to it strictly - I have ADD, and I will pick up something random and start reading it.  But it can help when I'm at a loss in the chaos of titles surrounding me.
/
If you are reading this and want to play along in the reading game, then come find me on GoodReads. Links to my reading list are on the sidebar, as are links to my ongoing catalog project at LibraryThing.
I'll write another night about these sites, and the communities that spring up in them.  It's an interesting little corner of the internet and worth exploring intellectually.

To Read

NYPL posted this Buzzfeed list on their FB page:

14 Novels about Muslim life that shouldn't be missed

Putting the link here so I remember to come back and add some to my reading list.  I actually just got a few books about Middle Eastern and Muslim life at my library book sale, which are not on this list.  Interested in comments from people who have read them.

Book Sale of D00m

My public library has an annual book sale.  I don't usually go, but this being the last one they're planning on having (the district is opening a book store at a new location), I decided it would be fun to give it a go.  And I went two days with a book-lover friend.  This was either a brilliant idea or the worst idea ever.  Because I got A LOT of books.  I can't help it.  All that info, all those stories, all that cool stuff to learn about!!  How am I supposed to pass that up?!

Discworld

Don't get mad, but I haven't read much Terry Pratchett in the past.  I've read two Discworld books, actually. Wyrd Sisters, which I acquired in college when dating a Discworld fanatic, and recently the Colour of Magic. And this isn't because I don't like Pratchett - I love him - it's just that my reading history often doesn't go in the same directions as most. I didn't grow up reading as much fantasy and I just...missed it.  But I am going to fix that. I plan on continuing to read Discworld books, though not right away, in a row.

What is interesting is the argument as to HOW to read these.  I assumed, like most, that you could read them in the order they were published.  But some, like my college ex, will jump around and scream a lot if you suggest this.  They think that the books should be read chronologically.  I've also seen them divided up by characters or groups.  What stands out the most for me is the fervor that this topic can insight in people.  It's scary. And often entertaining.  Of course, when someone re-arranged all the Discworld books in our college Sci-Fi library from being alphabetical to being in order they came out, it was neither.  This was aggravating and there followed much violence.

I have not decided on a best course of action for my reading.  I got The Colour of Magic on my kindle, but it's likely that going forward my reading will be more a 'as-I-acquire-them' sort of order. I have a used book store nearby that is my friend, but you have to take things as they come in.

Hey, if the Disc doesn't have to answer to your rules of science and order, then neither do I!