Happy new year and all that

Goodness, it's 2015. That's come around rather quickly, hasn't it?

I didn't do very much to ring in the New Year - just beetled on with my annual LOTR re-watch and a new cross-stitch project, which is always my very own end of the old year/start of the new year ritual.

Of course, I start thinking about all of the things I could do in the new year, all of the possibilites ... it does feel like turning to a fresh page, doesn't it? There's nothing on there yet, but by the end of the year it will be packed with memories - photos and movie tickets, memorable quotes, lists of books and films and TV shows and Stuff that Spawn Says. Well, mine will be. Also, cats. Always cats.

The photo today is of my optimistic TBR bookcase. There are 85 books on it, and of course I won't get to them all this year, but I'm hoping to make a reasonable dent at least. I'm also going to try and not buy books if I can. Well - not NEW books anyway because they are so very expensive. Bargain, secondhand and withdrawn library books are fair game, however.

My goodreads goal for 2014 year was 75 books. I managed 62 - https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/1100497 - which isn't a bad effort. I did fall behind but I'm not losing sleep over it. So I'm going to aim for 75 books again, with a hopeful tilt at reading more diversely.

Which means I'll be going in for the More Diverse Universe challenge later in the year, assuming it's all go again - I hope so. :-)

Other than that I'm not signing up for anything right now. That's part of the trouble with the new year - you feel all earnest and energised and like your cape/hair are blowing gently in the breeze but then you remember things like Real Life and distractions and you kind of go, wait, hang on, I have some VERY IMPORTANT nothing to do right now and .. uh, anyway.

Later on I'll likely sign up for Carl's OUAT and RIP because I always do that and then I forget I've done that and  fail anyway, but I love the IDEA of the challenges so much, so there's that.

And I'm in for another readalong with Trish's readalong gang, although I've consistently failed out of the last two but never mind. Also next up is Goblet of Fire, for Sheila's Harry Potter readalong. Goblet of Fire is my favourite of the Harry Potter books, so I'm looking forward to that.

I am going to try, if I can manage it, to make 2015 The Year of the Series. I'm terrible with series - I'll read one book and then not pick up the next one for months and years and wonder what on earth is going on. THIS year, all going to plan, I'm going to read Stephen King's The Wasteland and also Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. I'm also going to search for two series by writers of colour, to balance out the white dude-ness.

My plan, such as it is, is to read one series book, another book, second series book, another book .... you get the idea.

So for 2015, I'm hoping to read more widely and diversely, actually make my goodreads goal, FINISH at least, say, four? series, read more graphic novels and uh...

Oh. Non-reading. I want to finish two cross-stitch projects. One for myself that I've been working on on and off for about 10 years, and one for a friend, that I started this week.

And, I don't know, save a puppy from a burning building maybe

What do you want your 2015 to look like?

An anniversary, sort of

I realised last week that on Friday, I would have been blogging here for seven years. I meant to do a post on Friday, but sunk into post-Christmas laziness instead. Yesterday I went out into the real world (went to a friend's), and so here I am, hastily writing a post before I forget.

My modest goal, at the time, was to have somewhere to record an also modest goal of reading one classic novel a month, and maybe a space to write some reviews.

Over the years, of course, my focus has shifted slightly. Some years I've hardly blogged at all. This year, I made more of an effort because I do like my little corner, but I've ... I can't really say expanded. I don't really post many reviews, but that's fine. I half-decided to try this new thing instead, where I talk about life and books and cats and spawn and general things.

It's sort of working.

Seven years ago, I poked my nose over the book-blogging fence. There wasn't anyone at first I could say "hi" to, but I went out in search of other bloggers, and memes, and put myself out there as it were.

This tiny space has never, and will never be a place people visit for deep and insightful reviews, or posts. But I hope in my ramblings about books, cats, spawn and life in general, people find something to smile at, and something they recognise.

Onward, yes?

Yes.

Connections

I realised  - not all that recently - that most of the friends I have at this stage of my life are online.

That's fine. I'm 42, I'm old enough and ugly enough to not care if people are going to judge me for that. I have two people that I count as some of my closest friends and I've only met one of them in person.

The other lives in Canada.

I live most of my social life online - on twitter, generally, in fandoms, and a little bit on tumblr.

And, once again, that's fine with me. I'm content. I have a healthy family, a good job where I work with good people, and I have hobbies that more than enrich my own inner life.

Oh, and cats. I have cats.

A few years ago, a real life friend of mine mentioned she hadn't seen BBC's Sherlock, and I happened to have just bought series 1 on DVD. We decided to have a watching-night and so regular Saturday night stitching-and-watching dates were born.

We do them at her place - she's not fond of cats and she's the caregiver for her mother who has Alzheimer's. We buy ice creams, we watch TV and we stitch and talk.

And, as absolutely fine as I am with most of my life lived online, balance is also a good thing. Meaning that it's good for me to be forced to leave my house once a week for something other than work, and to interact with someone I'm neither related to nor work with face-to-face.

We don't do much. We watch things like The Amazing Race and Survivor, and we stitch and talk, and drink tea.

But in this oh-so-fragmented modern world - that as I say I have no problem with, it's  where I live most of the time - a real-life, real-time friend connection is beyond important.

A thing

I came across this post on tumblr from Joe Hill the other day:

http://joehillsthrills.tumblr.com/post/75308129258/freebird

and it started me musing.

I spend a lot of time online. And by "online" I mean on social media - mostly twitter. And generally speaking, there's nothing wrong with that. I love twitter. I love talking to people about the things that I love, and I love seeing what they're up to.

But. It's a trap. Here be dragons, etc.

Because, for me, twitter is something that can feel productive when it's not.

Discussions are great, and even silly chats with friends on twitter are great. But I catch myself scrolling through my feeds (I have two - my normal everyday justaddbooks one, and a fandom one where I am one hundred per cent more annoying) just ... to scroll through my feeds.

It's the least productive thing there is but I can look around on a Saturday afternoon and realise that I've spent hours doing just that. And well.

That brings me to Mr Joe Hill and his exercise in self-discipline.

I've been on holiday for the past four weeks or so, which means that my time has largely been my own.

However, going back to work on Monday has made me realise it wouldn't be a bad idea to set some parameters of my own.

So this is what I've come up with.

Outside of work, and taking care of Patrick, and of Very Important TV Watching, and Very Important Film Watching, I have three things that I really enjoy doing, but that I never seem to have the "time" for, which is, of course, a filthy lie. If I can find time to mainline all of the first season of Orphan Black, play endless games of plants v zombies and scroll mindlessly through tumblr, then I certainly have time to, you know, pick up a book once in a while.

I digress.

The Three Things are reading, writing and cross stitch. And I tell myself that I don't have enough time, but as I said, I do. I can cross stitch while I marvel at Tatiana Maslaney's ability to imbue seven different characters with distinctly individual personalities. I can switch everything off for half an hour and commit to 500 words. I can easily (I hope) power down and read 50 pages.

At least, for now, that's the plan. I've kept my own goals super-modest, because I do still have a 9-5 job, and I still have real-life responsibilities (and I still want to hang out on twitter, and play plants v zombies and busily reblog pictures on tumblr) but in an ordinary day I can do this:

Write 500 words
Read 50 pages
Stitch for 30 minutes.

Modest? Yes. Achievable? I'm doing my best, and most days, I'm getting there. And if I miss a day - well, there's always the next day, isn't there? And of course, sometimes real life likes to throw you a curve ball in the shape of a six year old with a stomach bug, but these things - while unpleasant - pass.

And I've noticed, when I do manage to achieve all three of my very modest goals in a day, I feel better in myself, and my brain feels  a bit less fuzzed by useless information and a little bit more perky and able to process the world around me.

Balance. It's a work in progress.

A post

How's it hanging interwebz? How's every little thing? How FAST has 2013 gone? You know what, let's not talk about that.

Recently I started going back through my blog archives and looking at how much I used to blog in a year compared to now. I am an intermittent blogger at best. I have decided to try and change that.

One of the things I noticed from previous years was I had structure to hang posts on - things like the Weekly Geeks (Dewey

To be honest, I don't think I'm going to start doing reviews again. There are so many clever and insightful reviewers out there and I sit in my little corner playing with the laser dot and going OMG THIS WAS AWESOMEEEEEEE which isn't really helpful - lol.

I'm still going to be talking about books, and what I'm reading but not writing reviews. Probably. If that even makes sense.

Anyway, we were talking about structure and how I need to have something to hang blog posts upon.

So the plan is to hang them on the It's Monday What are You Reading meme hosted here:  http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/ and to pick up on a few (a very few, I've met myself) reading challenges and post about those, say, once a week.

So, posting twice a week talking about books and reading, with a framework.

Hopefully, that way, I can get back into the swing of things.

Plagues and things

You know how you get absolutely hooked on things? And you love them so much that you want everyone you’ve ever met to get hooked on them too? But when you try and explain your deep and abiding love, they look at you and you can see the ellipses?

…

I’m having a moment like that with a game I downloaded called Plague, Inc. Here is the trailer. I’ll wait over there for the ellipses.

Look, it’s awesome okay? You develop your disease and you have to try and spread it against the cure. The cure is working against you the whole time, and you use DNA points to try and slow it down. And you know … uhm. Destroy humanity.

Which I guess is where the ellipses come in.

But. It’s awesome because it’s strategy. I’ve hooked one friend on it, who hates me on principal but everyone else gives me the …  …

I’m … not sure what my point was there. It got away on me just a little bit. Hrm.

Awkward.

Anyway. I’m off work this week. Which will be nice. It’s the school holidays so I’m going to hang out with Patrick and try and destroy the world er, play some games. It’ll be fun.

Er, I’m hoping to get some reading done as well. Maybe catch up on some IT, since I’ll be home during the day.

Possibly I’ll even go to a movie or something. I went to Looper last Thursday and it was awesome. Before that, the last movie I saw that I truly loved, was The Dark Knight Rises. Since then, it’s been a bit hit-and-miss, but Looper is fantastic. Seriously, so very, very good.

This week, if they start here on Thursday, I’m eying either Dredd or Pitch Perfect. I can’t go to both, so I’m going to have to toss a coin or something.

:D

What I'm Working On

So I was trying to think of something to blog about because it’s been a while and you know, I want to try and do this on a semi-regular basis.

So here’s a (mostly) non-book related post in which I’m going to ramble on a bit about one of my other hobbies that I’ve  mentioned here before – cross stitching.

I’m no kind of artist at all and I can’t do any kind of fancypants embroidery. I can, however, make little x’s with different-coloured threads and make them into a picture.

What can I tell you, I find it soothing – lol.

At the moment I’m working on the one pictured – Circe, which is designed by Jill Oxton after a painting by pre-Raphaelite John Waterhouse.

I’ve been working on it since … 2006 – lol. I’m easily distracted and my house is littered with the ghosts of WIPs past. Last year I decided to try and be a bit organised or somesuch, instead of pretending that all of these half-started projects are magically going to finish themselves.

I’m probably never going to finish them all, I have to be realistic, but I do need to give the ones I have half a shot of finishing a fair go.

H’anyways, the upshot of that ramble is that I instituted a kind of rotation, which is basically choosing a few projects, setting a time limit for working on each, and then moving on to the next … here’s a handy definition guide I found on the interwebz: http://crossstitch.about.com/od/glossa2/g/rotationdefinit.htm

I’ve met myself, so my best bet is to keep it simple. I have three projects in my rotation, including one focus piece. I work on each piece for about 10 hours before switching out, working on the focus piece every second go-round. I hope that makes sense – lol.

So Circe is my focus piece at the moment, and my other two projects are an Impressionist-inspired London at sunset scene, and this really awesome kitchen alphabet. I’ve had them all languishing for years – lol.

I don’t stitch every night – some nights I’m too tired after work/wrangling kid/cooking dinner, etc and some nights I’m far too busy playing bejewelled and plague inc to haul it all out. But I’m trying to make an effort at least a few nights a week because even half an hour can make a difference.

There you have it. Maree’s non-reading hobby #1 J

My fails ...

*Sigh*

At the moment there’s just one fail, but I feel awful about it. I’ve basically bailed on the 1Q84 readalong with Care.

I tried. I mean, I only got to page 150 in the book but I kind of felt like I was reading in Groundhog Day every time I picked it up and now I’ve quietly shelved it. I feel  pretty awful about it, I hate bailing on readalongs because they’re fun and involving and engaging and Care is awesome.

Urgh.

Anyway, now I’m reading 11-22-63 by Stephen King and – not surprisingly I guess – that’s going much better.

I’m trying to think what else I’ve been doing lately that’s not failing to read … hrm. Work, obviously. Last week was The Week from Pants but that’s all we’ll say about that.

Oh! I’m thinking of getting an eReader. I’ve been wittering on it for ages but I was thinking today that it might be …. Nice. I mean, in the same way having an iPod is nice, if that makes sense. Something I can cart around with me and read on the bus and in the car and things.

So I’m considering getting a Sony. What I really want is a red one but I don’t seem to be able to get one here.

I also went on a school visit last Friday – to my old primary school, actually; for Patrick. He’ll be five in May and no matter how deeply in denial I am and how much I procrastinate, he’s still going to start school this year.

I had one other visit a couple of weeks ago but I like the feel of this one much better, and not just because it’s where I went to school when the dinosaurs roamed. It’s small – the roll is about 90 kids – and it’s relatively close to my work; about a 10 minute walk, which is also a selling-point. Plus I liked the feel of the place. So once I have the enrolment details sorted out, Patrick will start having school visits.

Please excuse me while I go and breathe into a paper  bag in the corner – lol.

What else, what else while I’m word-vomiting … oh!

Hairy Maclary! The stitching project. I gave up on it because I really hated the fabric and the way the pattern was laid out. My friend was so horrified that she’s finishing it for me – and getting through it a lot faster than I’d be able to.

So now I’m stitching Patrick this steam train (to your left) 

I’m a little further on than that, but haven’t taken a pic for a while. Plus I’m using Anchor rather than DMC  and so I don’t have all the cottons I need for it yet.

I’m also working on a picture for a present for a friend, so my rotation has temporarily expanded to five projects rather  than three, but it doesn’t feel like it’s out of hand or too much.

Uhm … also ALL OF THE PROGRAMMES on TV came back at once. I have A LOT of watching to do - lol

Reading and things

I'm sure some people remember this from ... the start of last year. And possibly this: http://justaddbooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/its-january-do-you-know-where-your.html (NB: he looks like this now >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>)

Anyway. I was possibly the slowest read-along-er ever but I finally finished Return of the King today, loaded up with a cold, and a four year old who was alternately excited about his new telescope and howling because he knocked his noggin on the coffee table.

In between the natural chaos that a four year old brings, I travelled to Mount Doom with Frodo and Sam, and to Gondor and to Rivendell and the Shire ...

There's something about LOTR that makes me ... nostalgic? every time I read it. Partly because I first read it at 14 and partly because the trilogy itself is nostalgic - so many references to the glory days of Middle Earth, which makes that teeny tiny space inside that you never, ever acknowledge ache just a little bit.

ROTK is my favourite of the series, with the last line from Sam "Well, I'm back," summing up so very very much. And. Just. Still love it.

I'm also reading The Emerald Atlas, Book 1 of The Books of Beginning. Should hopefully finish that this weekend too. I'm enjoying it - a lot - but the tagline "Be the first to read the book that will define a generation!" (it's a review copy I got through work) is a little bit ... ... desperate?

Everyone everywhere will be looking for the new Harry Potter now that all the books and all the movies are done, but ... don't do that. Let your book stand on its own and be its own awesome self. It's better that way. :-)

Didn't go to the movies this week; there wasn't really anything on I wanted to see; plus I have a cold. Well, mostly I have the blocked nose from hell which is making me tired and thirsty all the time.

So no vlog this week - the last thing people need is to watch me sniffing for 10 minutes. Maybe vlog next week ...

A post about nothing

Have some penguins. I have no idea where that pictures is from, by the way. I just like it. :-)

I was mentally going over my week, but nothing outstanding or extraordinary happened. I went to work, I came home. Went to see Crazy Stupid Love on Thursday, which was a bit 'eh' for me. Too much Steve Carrell and not enough Emma Stone. Also Ryan Gosling is kind of funny-looking.

Other than that, it was business as usual. Except I seem to have caught Patrick's cold, which is fun times.

I finished a book this week, which I always celebrate as a major achievement - lol. Anyway, I read The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino - a thriller set in Japan. It was an interesting read, but I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending - whether I liked it or not.

So now I'm in that strange gray area, where I don't know what I want to read next ...

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Your meme is here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I had hoped to finish A Game of Thrones by today, but I have about 100 pages to go. I'm still loving it but I don't think I"ll plunge right into A Clash of Kings just yet. It makes me want to lie down in a dark room with lavendar to bathe my temples - lol.

Next up, I think, might be The Poisonwood Bible. I'm not sure. We went to the library on Saturday and yes, I know, ban, but I promised Patrick we'd take him to the children's library and Jeremy said he didn't need to get any books, so what's a girl to do?

Exactly.

I've  had The Poisonwood Bible for a while, and it's from my TBR so I shall try and be good. :-)

Happy reading.

Dad's chair

The chair in the photo belonged to my Dad. It was his office chair years ago when he worked for the Railways. I think he brought it home with him when he retired.

Mum kept it after she moved to her flat, and we used to prop Patrick in there to feed him when we'd visit Mum at lunchtime. It doesn't look it from that photo but it's actually pretty good for feeding a baby. (Not a newborn, obviously, but a baby able to sit propped up).

Hilites used to sleep on that chair, and as you can see, it's been well appropriated by our other cats (Piper and Misty in this photo). We ended up with the chair because no one else seemed to want it and I have memories tied to it. And, okay, it's kind of ugly but I couldn't stand the thought of it going into the garage sale.

So here it is - the Chair. With bonus extra cats.

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I finally finished Order of the Phoenix. I struggle with that one because it's not my favourite Harry Potter and it's just so damn long! I just bought them all in Bloomsbury's lovely new imprint, so I've been treating myself to a re-read.

I like to take a break between Harrys, so I'm deciding right now what to read next.

I'm having a self-imposed library amnesty for the month of August, which is designed to make me read from my own bookshelves for a while. So far I've taken all my books back and haven't got any new ones out.

It also helped that I was mired in finishing OotP - lol.

Anyway. I've pulled three books from the bookshelf, and they're hanging out on my nightstand, along with Return of the King, which I've been meaning to re-read since ... last year. Erm.

The other books are Game of Thrones by George R R Martin, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and The Children's Book by A S Byatt. So ...  one of those.

Oh! And my at-work breaktime read this week is Finder's Shore by Anna Mackenzie - book three in the Sea  Wreck Stranger trilogy, and a Kiwi YA novel ... my poor challenge D: http://kiwiyachallenge.blogspot.com/ (I need to work on that).

Happy reading!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

It's been a week or four since I did this - I had about nine or 10 days where I didn't pick up a book at all but I'm back into the reading swing of things again now.

Your meme is here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

On the pile, as it were, this week are The Demi-monde: Winter by Ron Rees, Tender Morsels by Margot Langan and The Larnachs by Owen Marshall.

I have all three started, and The Larnachs is my 'at-work' read during break times, so it's just a matter of finding time for the other two - lol.

Happy reading! :-)

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I've had a productive week, for me. I finished True Grit by Charles Portis and August by Bernard Beckett. Now I'm reading The Scarecrow by Ronald Hugh Morrieson. The latter two books are by Kiwi authors but don't count for the Kiwi YA challenge as they're not YA novels.

The Scarecrow is a bit of a classic, though I've never read it before, and opens with the famous (in New Zealand anyway) line "The same week our fowls were stolen, Daphne Moran had her throat cut." I'm only 30 or so pages in, but so far so good.

The other book I'm eyeing this week is Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn. Reading The Raven's Heart last week put me in the mood for some royal historical non-fiction. It's a bit of a doorstop, though, so we'll see how I go.

What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Your meme is here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

At the moment I'm making fairly quick work of Dreamquake, by Elizabeth Knox, the sequel to Dreamhunter - both for my own challenge: http://kiwiyachallenge.blogspot.com/

I loved Dreamhunter and Dreamquake is also excellent.

I finished, over the weekend, My Life in France, by Julia Child, and Murder at the Laurels by Lesley Cookman, a rather odd little murder mystery novel.

I'm not sure what I'm going to read after Dreamquake; possibly True Grit, as I'm going to the movie tomorrow night.

Happy reading!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I'm still picking away at Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay but I suspect it might have to go back to the library largely unread. I'm enjoying it but it's a large, dense book that demands rather more time than I have at the moment, I fear.

I picked up My Life in Paris by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme and it's far more my speed right now. It's basically a collection of reminiscinces (ouch spelling) by Child about her years in France and it's a lovely, light read.

What are YOU reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Monday seems to come around faster and faster, doesn't it?

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I hope everyone had a happy Christmas, and that there was much reading done :-)

For myself, I finished Guardian of the West by David Eddings, and Hercule Poirot's Christmas, by Agatha Christie. Both re-reads, but both very enjoyable.

On the slate this week we have Fierce September, by Fleur Beale. It's the sequel to Juno of Taris and I'm reading it now because it's due back at the library on January 1. Good stuff so far.

Also King of the Murgos, book 2 of the Mallorean; The Mists of Avalon, which is  my half-assed online book club's read for December/January; Quillblade by Ben Chandler; The Two Towers (I'm getting bloody-minded about finishing LOTR again - lol) and The Fall, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, which is my break time at work read. :-)

Obviously this will take longer than a week, but that's what my night stand looks like. How's yours this week?

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Meme here:  http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

Well, my holiday is nearly over, and as always, I haven't read half as much as I would like to have. However, I have been in the presence of a superhero, an astronaut, a frog and a robot, so I think that's a fair trade. :)

Anyway. I'm about halfway through In Cold Blood, but ... you know that feeling, when you're reading a book and you suddenly feel like you're slogging through it rather than reading? Yeah. I kind of hit that wall.

I'm not sure why, because the book itself is interesting, and very descriptive, but something just suddenly clanged for me on Saturday, so I've shelved it for now, and started The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope, which will be reviewed here on uh ... *checks email for date* December 14 for http://classics.rebeccareid.com/

I'm only 50 pages in, but so far, so good ...

I also started By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham today. :-)


Happy reading!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Your meme is hosted here: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/

I'm still reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's interesting and smart, and I'm enjoying it a lot, but it's one of those books that you need to sit down with for an extended period and I haven't seemed to be able to find that lately - lol.

Otherwise my nightstand to-read pile is the same as last week: http://justaddbooks.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-monday-what-are-you-reading.html and up next is In Cold Blood, which I need to finish before December so I can read The Way We Live Now for the Classics Circuit book tour.