“…in which the lion’s share of our days is full of meaningless details: minutes spent waiting for traffic lights to change, minutes spent searching for lost papers or misplaced keys, minutes spent half-listening to uninteresting conversations.”
-from the textbook for my Children’s/YA Lit class (a content, not methods, class) Children’s Books in Children’s Hands.
Bought:
*Bookstore closing sale.
Dad picked all contemporary novels written by women and I picked all contemporary novels written by men. (Yes, we planned that.)
January: month off / I was finishing up some 2010 books!
February: “Faith Fox” by Jane Gardem
March: “Mother’s Milk” by Edward St. Aubyn
April: “36 Arguments for the Existence of God” by Rebecca Goldstein
May: “Carry Me Down” by MJ Hyland
June: ” The Children’s Book” by AS Byatt
July: “In a Strange Room” by Damon Galgut
Aout: “Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel
ETA: DUE TO MY LACK OF TIME FOR PERSONAL READING RIGHT NOW, WE HAVE POSTPONED THE LAST FOUR MONTHS ON THIS LIST, and instead we will read those books in Jan-Apr of 2012. So there you have it.
September: “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen
October: “The Air We Breathe” by Andrea Barrett
November: “Super Sad True Love Story” by Gary Shteyngart
December: “The Gate at the Stairs” by Lorrie Moore
A tiny excerpt from an overall great post you should go read on giving up the “list”. Whether it be officially a bucket list or just a “things I want to do before x” list. Or a “I won’t have done all the things I want to do if I don’t do these things” list. [SPOILER: WE WILL ALL DIE WITHOUT HAVING DONE ALL THE THINGS WE WANT TO DO! Srsly.]
Sure, some things you have to save for. “Travel to X in the next two years” may be a case of “reminder that I need to not throw $$ down the drain so I can afford this trip I’d like to take” [which in reality you’d like to take now, not then]. I’m not saying don’t have things you’d like to do. But the idea of this list that you need to accomplish by X time (or, in the bucket case, BEFORE DEATH), that setting up of a goal that you will most likely fail at leastpartially…and then be judged by yourself on?
I believe in the now. Do what you want to do. Do it as close to when you want to do it as you can. Don’t waste all your time planning for that mystery “one day” that will never arrive.
Live today.
Attempting: To study for tomorrow’s Chemistry final. It would be really hard for me NOT to get an A in the class at this point (technically I think I could even get a B based on points alone without taking the final, if the professor were to allow that), but I have this secret desire to get 100 and beat my score from exam 2 (98). It probably won’t happen as I always make at least one silly mistake, but we’ll see!
Making: Not much.
Reading: I have done almost no non-school reading (I mean, seriously) but I did JUST read “Divergent” by Veronica Roth and it was fantastic!
Watching: Oh, summer TV. Such a frustrating season, when I have the time to watch and yet nothing is on. I am liking Haven again this summer, tolerating The Glades and In Plain Sight*, and not really liking White Collar AT ALL right now (sigh. so sad! it’s one of my favorite shows normally!). But this summer’s [White Collar] plots have all felt super rushed and sloppy to me and I’m not thrilled with how they’ve handled almost anything! Boo. I guess I am also watching Burn Notice but it’s not really pulling me in this season either. 🙁
*I find I can watch mediocre shows with mediocre expectations and not get pissed unlike say The Killing for which there were SUPER HIGH expectations, some created by itself, and then it SUCKED so bad that it wasn’t even mediocre. And thus became unwatchable.
I HAVE seen a bunch of movies this summer though so I just threw up a post with quickie reviews. I mean, why are you here if you don’t want to know what I thought? 🙂 Heh.
Listening to: STILL obsessed with the new Bon Iver which I LOVELOVELOVE. (Especially after we went to Milwaukee to see him/them in concert the other weekend. Blew the roof off.) Not listening to much else, just an occasional spin through The Weeknd (that link lets you download their album, BTW). Oh and also the new Beyonce. I’ve been doing a lot of bus-commute iPod listening but mostly to super old playlists of my own (Airplane Alphabet Soup 2007 anyone?). Don’t know why but those are the songs I’ve been wanting lately.
Failing at: Losing weight.
As you may have noticed, I haven’t found a lot of time to post about anything I’ve been reading, listening to, or watching these days. I WANT to tell you things…but lying on the floor moaning about how hot and miserable I am usually takes precedence. Today is oddly un-volcanic in the apartment though, and I might want a study break, so are some super speedy thoughts on the movies I’ve seen of late!
Cowboys & Aliens – Fine for what it is (a ridiculous combination of Western + Alien movies. Just as the title says). Daniel Craig takes his shirt off.
Harry Potter 8 – Pretty good, but I guess I didn’t remember enough from the last flick as I found some of the beginning confusing. Also it went FAST. I mean the last film made me cry – this one did NOT, partially I think b/c all the deaths were passed by very quickly. Also we purposely saw it in 2D but somehow it was enough 3D-ish as to make me kinda queasy!
Super 8 – FANTASTIC. I can’t believe I waited as long as I did to see this one, I absolutely LOVED it. Super super super.
Buck – As expected, a complete tearjerker! BRING KLEENEX.
Beginners – Really good! Not nearly as twee as it looks! I am a big fan of the lead actress and I loved the mood. And the dog. Interesting dialogue.
Hanna – BAD! Incredibly bad plot. What a waste of Eric Bana’s hotness.
Midnight in Paris – SO so good! A LOT of fun! Especially for us literary types.
Tree of Life – I will try to post a real review of this one soon. I liked a LOT of it a LOT. I thought that middle 35 minutes was a) interminable and b) not necessary in anyway. Sure it’s all about the cosmos. WHATEVER, can we get back to people, and dialogue, and plot-like stuff now? (not that there’s a lot of plot.) I thought it was really great in a number of ways and I certainly think it’s THE movie to see this year, despite the things I could have done without. But seriously I’ll try to say more. Soon. Because this one just cannot be summed up in so few words. Obv.
Bought:
Read:
What? I only finished one book in July? That’s a many-year record right there. I just had So Much reading for school, I got to bits and pieces of other things but no other completions.
Bought:
Read:
Attempting: To drink only water. If you know how I feel about water, you know how horrifying this is.
Making: Lots and lots of quilt blocks. Would like to finish another quilt for ME ME ME and then two more baby cousins. Plus I have some other things percolating. Knitting has fallen off the radar for now.
Reading: I’m almost finished with One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick, which I am reading after reading Generation Kill by Evan Wright, after rewatching that HBO series (so fantastic). I am Oorahing around my apartment for every tiny accomplishment and berating myself for my lack of physical fitness. This is what reading about Marines will do to you.
Watching: I have rewatched a TON of stuff during vacation: all four seasons of BSG, the three (so far) seasons of SOA (Sons of Anarchy), the only one brilliant season of Standoff, Generation Kill, Life. I am really excited that White Collar returns on Tuesday because current TV offerings are definitely in the doldrums.
Listening to: The new Bon Iver which I LOVELOVELOVE. The new Death Cab which is good but pales in comparison to the Bon Iver. The new Submarines which is so! much! fun!
Failing at: Losing weight.
Our December challenge book. A re-read for me, new to Dad.
GirlReaction: I love this book sooo much it hurts. This is the fourth or fifth time I’ve read it. I just canNOT get enough. The base in historical fiction with all the politicial intrigue and finagling around the moving bits of Europe at the time. The love story told in so many tiny bits and pieces. The looks and moves that are more important than anything anyone actually says. The choices and the consequences. I just can’t…
DadReaction: He couldn’t read it. Hated the tone of the narration, hated that there were always secrets kept from the reader (mostly by Thorfinn, decisions that come out of nowhere b/c he’s so closed off). Gave up.
Funnily, this is the second of the books I super much love that Dad just could NOT stand. I guess we aren’t the same person after all. 🙂 Heh. I didn’t get through Moby Dick or Sabbath’s Theater but b/c of school and not able to focus in on them, rather than dislike.