2012 - Books.
Jan. 28th, 2013 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dodger_sisterI read 7 books last year - (I almost forgot the Buffy book!). Well, okay, 7 if you count the comic set The Nephew loaned me, which I do because I walked away with a killer headache afterwards, so I'm counting it! Now I remember why I stopped reading comics so heavily.
I think I talked about all of these while I was reading them actually.
Catching Fire and MockingJay - The crazy thing about this series is that for almost a year before I read The Hunger Games, The BFF was telling me about this book that I had to read, that was right up my alley - about a bunch of kids who get thrust into an arena and forced to fight to the death for entertainment - and I was a little, “Huh, what does that say about me that this is right up my alley?” But it totally was, not the least of which is because I connect with Katniss so well. Yes, she can be whiney and self-centered, but she’s a teenager and they do that. Personally I just really connect with the whole ‘growing up to fast’ and having to take care of her family, not to mention the kind of tomboy feel she had to her. But then we get into the other two books and it become so much more than it started out as. I LOVE a good revolution story. Plus, many of my favorite characters enter during this phase, in particular Finnick and Johanna…and Mags and Beetee and Boggs, (okay, yes, everyone is my favorite). I will say I cried a lot reading this whole series, and when it was over, after I finished the third book, I had been holding it all in for a good 70 pages, so I just set the book aside, laid down, curled up and cried hysterically for a good 15 minutes. I think I actually love it more for how much it made me cry.
F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century - I could have done with about 1/3 less of the science talk about weather, but the history of how we got the whole Fujita ratings and better warning systems was actually pretty interesting. But I really liked the accounts of that day from the survivors - I am still quite stunned that anyone actually survived it, considering it was before we had good warnings and people didn’t seem to take tornados all that seriously anyways and well, an F4 and an F5 hit the town in the course of 24 hours. Unreal. It was very well written in that it was both informative and captivating at the same time. Just mind-blowing stories of survival and heroism and families. The story of the man running around trying to find all of his children just fucking killed me. Here is an excerpt…Frank’s father, too, returned to the house from the porch. He was pale and spoke in a whisper. “What are we going to do?” he asked. The sight of her father’s face terrified Marilyn. She realized: He thinks we are going to die.
The Unauthorized Biography Of The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer - My sister picked it up at a free-swap at work as a joke for me but I read the whole thing! It was like reading a Teen Beat magazine! Nicky’s story stuck with me the most - how he was working towards a career in baseball throughout high school but then had a serious injury that ended his dreams. For awhile it sounds like he was kind of lost and not sure what to do with himself. Until he, thankfully, found acting. The book includes a bunch of pictures too! It’s quality literature! Okay, no, but it was fun to read.
Marvel Adventures: Spiderman (don’t ask me the issue number) - It had three or four comics in one. The Nephew loaned it to me with specific instructions of, “Read it and then call me so we can talk about it.” It had one comic where the owl who is Peter’s girlfriend’s sidekick gets killed - (or maybe seriously hurt? I can’t remember) - so we had to have a big talk about how sad that was and how dangerous being a superhero can be. But my favorite of the series was the one where Wolverine is in it. He thinks he is being stalked by someone, so Peter helps him, and it turns out that someone was looking into having Wolverine be the spokesman for their new ‘rebel’ hair gel for men. AWESOME.
The Hobbit - I hadn’t read this in about five years, so I figured it was time for a reread. I had forgotten what an ass Gandalf is for a lot of it. Idk, it just felt like he snapped at people a lot. Maybe he needs to smoke some more Old Toby! I also rediscovered my love for the friendship of Balin and Bilbo and I had forgotten how much I liked Beorn. I just love Bilbo’s journey, from the grumbling at all the dwarves invading his home, to the moment his Tookish side awakens, to his steadfast determination to stand by the Dwarves when they are captured, to his act of boldness during the stand-off - it’s quite the tale.
50 Shades of Grey - Still so offended that this is what people think fanfic is all about. Or that this is what a good BDSM lifestyle is all about - (I don’t have to be in one to know this is not how it goes!). Or that this writing is best-selling novel material. Well, I suppose it is, since it was a best selling novel, but that just makes me sad. And yet, I do have a vague curiosity to know how they could ever possibly get back together in book two - like, how does that happen? And whether they actually discuss whatever abusive things happened to Christian as a child and if it cops out or not. Like, by fandom kink standards, this bdsm completely pussies out, so I am just curious if the big reveal of his childhood trauma meets the kind of messed up fanfic standards that people used to do to Frodo, or say, people like to do to Jensen - (Idk why, but we all do!) - or if it too pussies out. Curious, yes, but enough to read the other two books, NO.
Next I think I will check out Warm Bodies and then maybe I’ll get around to reading Cell by Stephen King.
I think I talked about all of these while I was reading them actually.
Catching Fire and MockingJay - The crazy thing about this series is that for almost a year before I read The Hunger Games, The BFF was telling me about this book that I had to read, that was right up my alley - about a bunch of kids who get thrust into an arena and forced to fight to the death for entertainment - and I was a little, “Huh, what does that say about me that this is right up my alley?” But it totally was, not the least of which is because I connect with Katniss so well. Yes, she can be whiney and self-centered, but she’s a teenager and they do that. Personally I just really connect with the whole ‘growing up to fast’ and having to take care of her family, not to mention the kind of tomboy feel she had to her. But then we get into the other two books and it become so much more than it started out as. I LOVE a good revolution story. Plus, many of my favorite characters enter during this phase, in particular Finnick and Johanna…and Mags and Beetee and Boggs, (okay, yes, everyone is my favorite). I will say I cried a lot reading this whole series, and when it was over, after I finished the third book, I had been holding it all in for a good 70 pages, so I just set the book aside, laid down, curled up and cried hysterically for a good 15 minutes. I think I actually love it more for how much it made me cry.
F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century - I could have done with about 1/3 less of the science talk about weather, but the history of how we got the whole Fujita ratings and better warning systems was actually pretty interesting. But I really liked the accounts of that day from the survivors - I am still quite stunned that anyone actually survived it, considering it was before we had good warnings and people didn’t seem to take tornados all that seriously anyways and well, an F4 and an F5 hit the town in the course of 24 hours. Unreal. It was very well written in that it was both informative and captivating at the same time. Just mind-blowing stories of survival and heroism and families. The story of the man running around trying to find all of his children just fucking killed me. Here is an excerpt…Frank’s father, too, returned to the house from the porch. He was pale and spoke in a whisper. “What are we going to do?” he asked. The sight of her father’s face terrified Marilyn. She realized: He thinks we are going to die.
The Unauthorized Biography Of The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer - My sister picked it up at a free-swap at work as a joke for me but I read the whole thing! It was like reading a Teen Beat magazine! Nicky’s story stuck with me the most - how he was working towards a career in baseball throughout high school but then had a serious injury that ended his dreams. For awhile it sounds like he was kind of lost and not sure what to do with himself. Until he, thankfully, found acting. The book includes a bunch of pictures too! It’s quality literature! Okay, no, but it was fun to read.
Marvel Adventures: Spiderman (don’t ask me the issue number) - It had three or four comics in one. The Nephew loaned it to me with specific instructions of, “Read it and then call me so we can talk about it.” It had one comic where the owl who is Peter’s girlfriend’s sidekick gets killed - (or maybe seriously hurt? I can’t remember) - so we had to have a big talk about how sad that was and how dangerous being a superhero can be. But my favorite of the series was the one where Wolverine is in it. He thinks he is being stalked by someone, so Peter helps him, and it turns out that someone was looking into having Wolverine be the spokesman for their new ‘rebel’ hair gel for men. AWESOME.
The Hobbit - I hadn’t read this in about five years, so I figured it was time for a reread. I had forgotten what an ass Gandalf is for a lot of it. Idk, it just felt like he snapped at people a lot. Maybe he needs to smoke some more Old Toby! I also rediscovered my love for the friendship of Balin and Bilbo and I had forgotten how much I liked Beorn. I just love Bilbo’s journey, from the grumbling at all the dwarves invading his home, to the moment his Tookish side awakens, to his steadfast determination to stand by the Dwarves when they are captured, to his act of boldness during the stand-off - it’s quite the tale.
50 Shades of Grey - Still so offended that this is what people think fanfic is all about. Or that this is what a good BDSM lifestyle is all about - (I don’t have to be in one to know this is not how it goes!). Or that this writing is best-selling novel material. Well, I suppose it is, since it was a best selling novel, but that just makes me sad. And yet, I do have a vague curiosity to know how they could ever possibly get back together in book two - like, how does that happen? And whether they actually discuss whatever abusive things happened to Christian as a child and if it cops out or not. Like, by fandom kink standards, this bdsm completely pussies out, so I am just curious if the big reveal of his childhood trauma meets the kind of messed up fanfic standards that people used to do to Frodo, or say, people like to do to Jensen - (Idk why, but we all do!) - or if it too pussies out. Curious, yes, but enough to read the other two books, NO.
Next I think I will check out Warm Bodies and then maybe I’ll get around to reading Cell by Stephen King.
Tags:
- books ah books,
- buffy - i love the scoobies,
- comics were always for cool people,
- district 12,
- fan-fic gets it right,
- finnick odair's beautiful pain,
- logan the wolverine is feral,
- punk-rock-girl,
- spiderman is my comic book boyfriend,
- stupid things that make me cry,
- the hobbit - unexpected adventures,
- the nephew,
- weather or not,
- wtfedyfff
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no subject
Date: 2013-01-29 03:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-31 12:56 am (UTC)Maybe it'd be different if I downloaded something from Kindle - maybe that would reformat the words when I enlarge the screen - but as for reading fic on the internet, I can't find a comfortable way to do it.
However, I have discovered that your journal is formatted very well to read on the IPad. When I zoom/enlarge, I can just readjust so the part that 'hangs off the screen' is just your tag and links tab along the side, which I don't need to see anyways. So the other night I started reading your Teen!Spike/Dawn fic in bed! I think I'll probably finish it tonight!
no subject
Date: 2013-01-31 01:05 am (UTC)Turn the iPad sideways, I guess? I seem to remember, though, that the Kindle itself lets you adjust the text size permanently, so maybe the app would let you do the same, and make it possible to avoid the pinching and left to right slide.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-29 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-31 01:09 am (UTC)No, see I get that! I always think people will be like, "Only 7 books a year?" but actually that was a lot for me- I usually average about 2 a year. Idk why, because once I pick one up I am usually enthralled, it's just getting me to stop and pick one up that is the problem. Although, I read 7 books last year but a hell of a lot less fic than usual.
but I just have to comment on how freaking awesome your icon is. Law & Order (even SVU) for life!
Isn't it? It's by
Law & Order for life!! SVU is my L&O, mostly because Det. Munch is my man. The icon is a good example of why - I am pretty sure it is the episode where he reads to a little girl in the hospital in a coma. My heart. :)