2013-07-31

Things I didn't like, things I sort of liked, some navelgazing—
—a term, incidentally, I do not like

.

082) Gone Fishing: A novel in verse by Tamera Will Wissinger, finished July 31

Same opinion as last time.
in the afternoon



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081) Making Money by Terry Pratchett, finished July 30

First, I must say Stephen Briggs is a wonderful reader. We only started this book because Large S really really liked the sound of a novel called Making Money (suggesting a different future for him than the one his parents have followed). Lady Steed and I had checked out it along with two others for ourselves during a series of long drives. One we fit in, one we sadly returned untouched, and one was Making Money.

Pratchett was the only one of the two remaining we expected to be childsafe so we gave it a go. And even though they had a hard time following the story, Briggs's reading was so enrapturing that it hardly mattered. Frankly, the grownups in our family have a hard time following audiobooks, but Pratchett's enough fun that moments of fuzziness hardly seem to matter.

This was our first Moist von Lipwig novel and he was quite endearing. I shall finally have to read more than the preview of his novel of first appearance.

Anyway, a terrific thing for the car. And the kids were unable to catch the innuendos Pratchett employed when the characters uncover a dead man's sex dungeon. So that was good.
has it been a month yet?



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080) F-Stop by Antony Johnston and Matthew Loux , finished July 29

What a load of crap. Now, I like Loux's visual style as much as ever, but it works much better on boyish exuberance in a fantastic setting than it does in world-weary fashion. But the real problem is Johnston's script. It's loaded with cliches, and skips over the difficult spots of character development forcing us to accept changes on faith. The skinny: untalented photographer's lack of skill misinterpreted as genius, making him hugely successful and model-dating until his ego starts believing what he's been told. But don't worry: there's a wise old man who shows up in order to be insulted by our young ingenue only to later teach how to really shoot.

It's that sort of book.
a week



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079) Almina by Nephi Anderson, finished July 29

This bitty novella for reason took me almost three months to read. I think largely because I read it on my Nook and reading things on an edevice is simply less compelling to me. I can forget about something because there's no distinct physical reminder.

Anyway, Almina plays with tropes Anderson pioneered and have been with Mormon lit ever since. Scott Hales spoke about these in the most recent issue of Irreantum, specifically the single Mormon woman who has to choose between the nice Mormon boy and the more exciting but likely dangerous nonMormon boy. Almina is the girl and thus she must choose.

The novella is both more and less moralizing than I expected. It's early Anderson so I expected it to be clearly didactic. It was, but not always as directly as I'd expected. It's also a nonshortstory of Anderson's and so I expected more nuance. And there was, but with a sharper edge than I expected.

Upsettingly, I have no idea how to download/extract my comments and highlights from the Nook onto my computer, so that's about as specific as I'm going to get. Sorry.
almost three months



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078) Creature Feature 2 by TW Brown, finished July 28

I don't know what to say about this. If I'm totally honest with my thoughts, I'll come off like a total bastard.

Here's the [bastard] thing: I'm kind of sick of being in anthologies where my contribution is, unquestionably, either the best or one of the best. This particular story still has an ending I'm unsatisfied with! But I suppose when I looked at the proof and noted to the editor that he'd spelled FOREWARD wrong---and that correction did not make the print edition---that I should not have been surprised to see many rough-draft-style errors in the book's stories. Even those that had brilliant moments or concepts were flawed in ways that simple rewriting/editing could have repaired.

Here are the stories worth reading: "Palmetto" by Suzi M and "Billy" by Michael James McFarland.

Prepare for more bastardly navelgazing.

I'm ready to see my work in higher tiers of publication. I want to read an anthology I'm in and, seeing the other stories, be amazed that they let me in too. Of course, that means I need to stop submitting elsewhere. And tell fewer stories about lycanthropy. . . .
a couplish months





Previously in 2013 . . . . :


Books 73 - 77
077) Salt Water Taffy: A Climb Up Mt. Barnabas by Matthew Loux, finished July 25
076) Doing Time by Kazuichi Hanawa, finished July 24
075) Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut, finished July 23
074) Treasure Fever! by Andy Griffiths, finished July 22
073) Salt Water Taffy: The Legend of Old Salty by Matthew Loux, finished July 19

Books 72
072) Diary of a Single Mormon Female by Aleesa Sutton, finished July 17

Books 67 - 71
071) Gone Fishing: A novel in verse by Tamera Will Wissinger, finished July 12
070) Salt Water Taffy: A Climb Up Mt. Barnabas by Matthew Loux, finished July 12
069) The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket, finished June 29
068) Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg, finished June 28
067) And Now We Shall Do Manly Things by Craig J. Heimbuch, finished June 27

Books 62 - 66
066) Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, finished June 20
065) World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, finished June 20
064) The Little Friend by Donna Tartt, finished June 20
063) Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues by Donald Sobol, finished June 19
062) Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary, finished June 19

Book 61
061) The Backslider by Levi Peterson, finished June 14

Books 54 - 60
060) The City: A Vision in Woodcuts by Frans Masereel, finished June 13
059) Gods' Man by Lynn Ward, finished June 12
058) Mad Man's Drum by Lynn Ward, finished June 11?
057) Destiny: A Novel in Pictures by Otto Nückel, finished July 8
056) Passionate Journey by Frans Masereel, finished June 7
055) The Sugar Bean Sisters by Nathan Sanders, finished June 3
054) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, finished May 28

Books 47 - 53
053) Farm 54 by Galit Seliktar and Gilad Seliktar, finished May 20
052) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, volume seven by Hayao Miyazaki, finished May 18
051) Dark Day in the Deep Sea by Mary Pope Osborne, finished May 15
050) The Big Skinny: How I Changed My Fattitude by Carol Lay, finished May 14
049) Moonlight on the Magic Flute by Mary Pope Osborne, finished May 12
048) This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz, finished May 6
047) Blizzard of the Blue Moon by Mary Pope Osborne, finished approximately May 4

Books 41 - 46
046) The Red Diary / The Re[a]d Diary by Teddy Kristiansen / Steven T. Seagle, finished April 28
045) The Five Books of Jesus by James Goldberg, finished April 22
044) The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, finished April 20
043) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Volume 6 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished April 18
042) Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game by John Sexton with Thomas Oliphant and Peter J. Schwartz, finished April 15
041) The Hand of Glory by Stephen Carter, finished April 13

Books 35 - 40
040) Leprechaun in Late Winter by Mary Pope Osborne, finished April 8
039) You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon, finished April 7
038) Illiterature: Story Minutes, Vol. I by Carol Lay, finished April 2
037) "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" by Lemony Snicket, finished March 29
036) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 5 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 29
035) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 4 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 28

Books 26 - 34
034) The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons, finished March 24
033) What Shat That? by Matt Pagett, finished March 24
032) Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stones, finished March 22
031) Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger, finished March 22
030) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, vol 3 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 13
029) The Princess Bride: Shooting Draft by William Goldman, finished March 11
028) The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother by Lucy Mack Smith, finished March 5
027) Scott Pilgrim vs the World by Edgar Wright & Michael Bacall, finished March 5
026) Screenplay by Syd Field, finished March 3

Books 22 - 25
025) Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande, finished March 2
024) The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo, finished March 1
023) Moby Dick by Herman Melville, finished February 28
022) Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou & Alecos Papadatos & Annie Di Donna, finished February 22

Books 20 - 21
021) The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 22
020) The Princess Bride by William Goldman, finished February 20

Books 14 - 19
019) Magic Tree House #10: Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne, finished February 17
018) The Report Card by Andrew Clements, finished February 17
017) Justice (volume one) by AUTHOR, finished February 16
016) The Green Mile by Stephen King, finished February 15
015) Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl, finished February 12
014) The Silver Cord: Book One ~ Nephilim by Kevin Kelly et al., finished February 7

Books 8 - 13
013) Teen Titans: The Prime of Life by JT Krul and Nicola Scott, finished February 2
012) Batman: Vampire by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones and John Beatty and Malcolm Jone III, finished February second
011) Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor by Isaac Asimov, finished January 26
010) Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, Perfect Collection 1 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished January 22
009) The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 by Charles M. Schulz, finished January 21
008) My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson, finished January 21

Books 1 - 7
007) Spacecave One by Jake Parker, finished January 19
006) The Antler Boy and Other Stories by Jake Parker, finished January 19
005) The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished January 14
004) The Crab with the Golden Claws by Hergé, finished January 14
003) The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure by Hergé, finished January 11
002) Using the Common Core State Standards... edited by some Ed.D., finished January 10
001) Jellaby by Kean Soo, finished January 8

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