101: Some updates

There are a lot of items on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days that I can't do because of my temporary move. But there a few items that I worked on before leaving California and a few I can do here.

Here are some things I've done (some are partially finished):

- visit my family again (visited them in late spring)
- get a job that I like (I have an interesting job working at a German store in the area, I'm learning a lot of new things there and obviously enjoying the products as well).
- get all the junk out of the second bedroom (got all the fish tanks and supplies out before we left, there are only some items left in the closet)
- Read at least one of my books that are written in German (Goliaths Falle: Israelis und Palaestinenser im Wuergegriff)
- sell large fishtank (I was actually able to sell it, I'm so glad since it was basically new, just dusty from storage)
- sell and donate other things that I/we don't need (We sold and mostly donated many (many items went to the new thrift store of Lake Avenue Church), but there are still items left to sort through)
- sort LAC notes (throw those out I don't need anymore etc.) (threw out a lot of them, but not finished with the process)
- light a candle and enjoy (we just did that yesterday and today for Christmas)
- find out about old pen pals if they are still interested in corresponding (figured out that most of them wouldn't continue)
- organize my art and craft supplies (partially done)
- blog there regularly (even without doing a plan, I figured that I wanted to blog about the books I read this year, so I'm using this blog mostly for that purpose at the moment.)

Asking for Trouble

Indeed Sophy is asking for trouble with the way she lies so easily. She tells a lie to her mother to sooth her only for her to become upset later anyway. It's not the type of book I would usually read, but as one among many other books it was fun. The outcome with Josh was fun to read even though it was somewhat predictable. In order not to reveal the final plot of the book, I'll only say this, Sophy is asking for trouble again right at the end of the book by the way she behaves...


(book 48 for 50 books in 2010 challenge)

American Born Chinese

This graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang was another good recommendation. It's interesting to see how the stories of the Monkey King and Jin Wang come together. Some characters like Tze-Yo-Tzuh (who was and is and shall forever be) and Chin-Kee are described in a stereotypical way, but it fits into the story.

I'm glad I entered the drawing - A Beacon of Hope

A Beacon of Hope by Walter E. Mark

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I received this book as a First Reads lucky winner!

I'm glad that I entered the drawing and got to read the book. The people in the story live on a different planet, but their society is similar enough to ours that I could relate to it well, but different enough to make it really interesting. There are many technological advances that enhance their quality of life (I love the one where you can create the interior design of your room buy just pointing and selecting using a computer interface, I would like to have something like that.). And others threaten to destroy the world to leave it in chaos and misery. The Sixth World is different enough from our world to make the book really interesting. But on the other hand one can relate to the issues they are going through and draw one's own thoughts for our world.

I would like to find out how the story continues in the second volume.

View all my reviews on goodreads.com

(46th book of 2010)

Booo

I listened to "Pure Dead Magic" by Debi Gliori, an audio book on tape that I got at a used book sale at the library in the summer. I thought it was kind of fun how the author weaved elements of computers the Internet into the world of magic that usually deals with wands and such.

(45th book of 2010)

My First Inspirational Manga

So instead of continuing with a book I didn't enjoy, I tried out my first inspirational manga.

Serenity--New Bad Girl in Town by Realbuzz Studios

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My first inspirational Manga. Good believable story. The Christian students were not preachy or anything like that, but real and welcoming. I enjoyed the style of the graphics aw well.



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No Thirteenth Tale for me

I started reading "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield for one of my book clubs.

Actually, I made it to page 78 and I have decided that I don't want to continue reading the book. In the beginning, the premise seemed kind of interesting, but later the abuse, rape, self-mutilation and other evil things described was just too much for me.
I liked the scenes in the book shop and even the mysterious letter and the start of the visit were interesting.

There were a couple of last straws that made me stop reading, as I don't often do that, I finish almost all the books I read. This paragraph may contain spoilers. One was the accumulation of evil things described in the story as mentioned previously. The next one was that Isabelle returned to her abusive brother (and since she didn't know her father had died, to the father who had injured her so viciously just before she left). And she seemed to be very happy about it. I mean, I do know that abuse happens unfortunately, but she chose to go back instead of being happy to escape. That was just too much for me. Third, I have several books that I want to read that I don't want to waste my time with this one. I want to have fun reading a book (even if there are sad or upsetting parts in between) or know that I learned something really important, but this one just went downhill.

I tried...

Another graphic novel

This afternoon I read "Pitch Black" by Youme Landowne and Anthony Horton. A white young woman and a black young man meet in an underground station and he tells her about his life. I don't want to give away any details of the story, but it's quite unusual. Some of the drawings are detailed whereas others are more like sketches. The different amounts of detail and use of only black and white and some gray tones fits really well with the subject. This story is a lot shorter than the the one I read recently about New Orleans. It kept me wondering at the end if such a life would really happen in New York or just parts of it. Interesting for sure and worth the read.

(I'm counting graphic novels as books read, so this is number 43.)

Looking for Alaska

Just a couple of days ago, I finished reading "Looking for Alaska" by John Green (the Wikipedia article has a good synopsis). I got the book from the library and finished it just in time, one day before it was due, so that I could take some notes before returning it.

My first impression when reading the first few chapters was surprise at how much smoking and drinking was going on at the school. It didn't make sense to me why Pudge would start with it, it seemed to me his friends wouldn't have minded if he had said no thanks. There was no strong peer pressure and he seemed to know that it's not good for you. I was shocked at the prank in the beginning, I mean, he could have drowned. That was a severe case of bullying. Lots of things like that seemed to be going on at the school, drinking, smoking, dangerous pranks, etc., but the teachers didn't care much, they rarely "found out", even though there was so much evidence. And the parents didn't seem to care, either. I was really baffeled by that. Anyway, the main story was still interesting, the before part where Pudge gets to know Alaska and his other new friends at this school, and the after part where they're trying to figure out what was really going on that night with Alaska. The religion class was a nice way to weave in some philosophical questions into the story.

I read in the Wikipedia article about the book that the book has been challenged at a high school for content dealing with sexually explicit situations. That's pretty ridiculous considering all the other things that are going on in that story. Although I wasn't interested in such things at that age, the sexual thoughts and actions seemed the most comprehensible to me compared to the prevalence of drinking, the severeness of some of the "pranks" etc.

So I kind of enjoyed the book even though I might not have ordinarily chosen to read it. I read it for the BC in DC book club. I hope I'll make it to the meeting next week.

(50 books in 2010 cout: 42).

A.D. New Orleans after the Deluge

A.D. New Orleans after the Deluge by Josh Neufeld is a graphic novel based on real people and events.

Wired.com expresses it well: "A.D. is a sterling example of comics with a social consciousness, and is exactly the kind of thing we need to keep the human dimension of this unimaginable disaster and its ongoing aftermath in the public eye."

I haven't really read any graphic novels before and not many comics in a while and didn't know where to begin, so I asked for some recommendations and this was first on the list. I was so impressed, I didn't even know literature like this existed. It really shows the truth of "a picture is worth a thousand words" with the way it shows the storm, the flooded areas, etc. The graphics are expressive, but not too crowded, they have just enough detail. I love that we see the experience hurricane Katrina from different perspectives through different people. The only thing I would have liked more is if the stories would have come together somehow. It was great that the author found someone with a comic collection to base one of the sub-stories on, especially fitting for the medium. The two page spreads that are spread throughout the book are great as well. So I had a great experience with my first graphic novel.

(50 books in 2010 count: 41)