Books of 2017

One of my resolutions last year was to read more. In an effort to increase the number of books I read, I documented what I read.

I was doing really good. REALLY GOOD, until about half way through the year. I made the mistake that the library had some sort of online record of the books I had checked out, but I was wrong. There's no "Order History" like Amazon, so I was digesting books and forgetting what they were called. Oops.

I'm starting this over again this year, but with a physical copy in my newly-acquired bullet journal. My new goal is quantity over quality. I want to read as many books as possible and feel no commitment to finish crappy books.

And clearly the books I read last year demonstrate that. There were some trash ones, but I enjoyed it, none the less.

• The Raven King (Finished 1/11/17): Fourth and final book of the 'Raven Cycle' series. It's probably my favorite book of the series for character development, but the ending is incredibly abrupt. It's fairly easy to assume most of the conclusions for the characters based on who they are, but there was one major (MAJOR) scene that had no resolution what-so-ever and, if there had been, it probably would have been the perfect book to me. 
• Silver Shadows (1/15/17): Book five of the six book 'Bloodlines' series (the spin-off from the 'Vampire Academy' series). This is the first strong book of the 'Bloodlines' series. Books 1-3 set up the world and the problems the characters would eventually have to deal with, but Book 4 felt like a complete placeholder to the story line of Book 5. The twists in this series can be seen a mile away, but it's still very enjoyable. 
• The Ruby Circle (1/29/17): Sixth and final book of the 'Bloodlines' series (the spin-off from the 'Vampire Academy' series). This book had to act as the conclusion for the first five books of the series and it would have had a lot of storylines to close. However, on top of that, it tried to wrap up storylines that didn't really need conclusions from the 'Vampire Academy' series and it was just too much. It's still a good read, but some conclusions are made too cleanly and simply to give time and space to other threads that could have just been left alone. 
• Fan Girl (2/5/17): Recommended and lent to me by my sister, it's a story of a college freshman who writes knock-off Harry Potter fanfiction. It was an interesting read and the structure had a twist that most young adult novels don't: about half-way through, almost all the plots that I thought would take the entire book to hash out, resolved. The second half of the story grew and focused on some of the smaller arcs from the first half. I found the fanfiction portion of it to be the least compelling part, but I did enjoy it. 
• The Gunslinger (3/2/17): Book 1 in the 'Dark Tower' series. I've heard a lot of good things about these books from my nerds friends so I thought I'd give it a shot. Here's where I'll get controversial: I did not enjoy this book. Maybe it's because I've been on a Young Adult kick, but I don't like stories where elements of the plot are left out to be 'mysterious'. I like stories with linear timelines (maybe the occasional flashback or forward) and where I'm given enough information to care about what's happening. I may try reading the next book in the series before riding it off completely, but it was not an enjoyable book for me. 
• The Color of Magic (3/19/17): This was my first Terry Pratchett novel and, for the most part, I enjoyed it. It was like reading a D & D session. I may try another one down the line, but I had two critiques. One, I never really bonded with the main character. He was always a bit 'eh' to me. Two, there were almost no female characters and the ones there were were not even two-dimensional. They were one-dimensional, if that. 
• Binti: Home (3/21/17): Book Two of the Binti trilogy. It was a great read and I love how short these books are. It's hard to describe, but the series is about an African girl going to space university. The biggest problem with it is that I had no idea it was a trilogy and the book ends with the largest cliffhanger I think I've ever come across. There was no attempt to soften the blow before just stopping. And I have no idea when the third book comes out. 
• Storm Front (3/26/17): Book One of the 'Dresden Files'. It's about a wizard who helps solve crimes in modern times. I've had several people rave about this series so I wanted to give it a try. It was pretty good and I'll give a series another shot, but man were the women poorly-written. It's from 2000, a time when women became 'empowered' by being hyper-sexualized, which in reality comes across as incredibly skeevy. I'm hoping the series evolves passed that feeling. 
• Carry On (4/2/17): The official fan-fiction referenced in 'Fan Girl' (see above). This is a weird sort of book because of what it pretends to be. It's pretending to be fan-fiction of the conclusion of a non-existent 'Harry Potter'-ish series. It has to pretend that you have the information of the previous six books when in fact the previous six books never existed. For the most part, it's well done, but it lacks the emotional weight the conclusion of a series should have. It's definitely a good read, but it missed the very tiny target it was aiming at. 
• Fool Moon (4/28/17): Book Two of the 'Dresden Files'. I'm enjoying the 'Dresden Files', but I can't say I'm happy with it yet. Book Two is much better than Book One. Dresden depends more on the team around him, but yet there's very little justification for the 'heroic' decisions he makes. They are called 'chivalrous', but most of the time it's just moronic. Dresden declares in this book to be more honest and forthcoming with his colleagues so maybe he'll stop being so 'heroic' in future books, which would make the series easier to stomach. I'll give it at least one more shot since I do enjoy the fast-paced speed of the plots.
• Prey (DNF 5/22/17) While I traditionally enjoy Michael Crichton novels, this one took forever to get going. This one was the story, I think, of nanobots that escaped a lab and evolved and were terrible. I don't know. I gave up about one third of the way through and read a synopsis later. Maybe I'll try again in the future, but I've got too many good books on my plate to force my way through something that's only OK. 
• American Gods (5/29/17) This book about the conflict between new Gods and old Gods in America had been on my Reserve list through the library since the beginning of the year. It took almost six months before it was in my hands. It was a great read and I'm excited for both the show and to read more Neil Gaiman in the future. 
• You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) (6/4/17) This is the memoir of Felicia Day. I'm definitely a big fan of hers. Because I have been following her for a while, it was incredibly interesting to find out all the behind-the-scenes stuff that happened along the way. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of hers or to anyone interested in turning something niche into a full-blown career. 
• Grave Peril (6/6/17) Third book in the Dresden Files series. Since my library only carries the E-Book versions of this series, I download them and read them on my afternoon walks away from my desk. I think I'm officially hooked on the series. The plot connections still aren't as strong as I'd like them to be, but the supporting cast is getting stronger and more complex, which is good since I'm not really a fan of Harry Dresden himself. 

After this point, I got into graphic novels and that's where things got very confusing. There were anthologies and single volumes and it was so confusing, especially since I forgot to write down the titles. 

There was some Avengers and Wonder Woman and Valerian and James Bond books and John Green books and all sorts of other things.

I'll try to do better next year.  

Goals for 2018

I've been MIA for the longest I've ever been from blogging. It's nothing personal, you guys. I haven't even read any blogs in months. My life shifted focus for a bit, that's all.

Let me go back for a minute and recap, for my own sanity. Where I last left off, we were about to get all the floors in our house redone [link]. It's a long story that I may someday decide to tell, but it ended up taking two weeks longer than expected (it was only to be a week long project) and the installers broke, damaged, or ruined many other things in our house. While the floors are beautiful, the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth that I chose not to dwell on by documenting it for the blog. Although it's almost four months later, we are still working to get our house back in order.

In addition to all the house stuff, I've taken up a new hobby. I won't go into any real details here, but I've taken up some design work for myself. I'll hopefully have an etsy shop up and running soon, but most of my creative energy shifted away from blogging and into this new outlet.

Because of these two things, this blog became dusty. I felt some guilt about it at first, but that faded pretty quickly. I no longer have the delusion that this blog will be anything other than a way for me to remember my own life. I won't become some sort of overnight internet celebrity and this space will generate income. I miss that boat. Oh well.

So, to get back on track, I am back. No promises as to how often or in what capacity, but I did want to come back to continue my tradition of analyzing my resolutions from last year and create some new ones for 2018. Resolutions didn't go according to plan, either, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a fail. I mean, I may give some 'F's, but that doesn't mean *I* am a failure.

Finally, successfully, learn how to drive stick shift. This 100% didn't happen. My new way of handling this is, when my husband starts talking about getting a new car (which he does ALL THE TIME), I ask, "Does that model come with Automatic?" Like, maybe I'll let him buy that fancy new Jeep if he gets it in Automatic. Eventually, I'll just phase out all his stick vehicles and I won't have this problem anymore, right? F

Write four blog posts a month. I did real good through August and then...zip. Nothing. So, like, that's not a complete failure, right? The flaw I found in forcing my self to write a certain number of posted is that I hoped it would motivate me to do more exciting things and then write about them. Instead, it just ends up being me writing about boring things in my life that I, nor anyone else, care to read about. D

Hang out with Dan more. This one really boils down to 'being more mindful of spending quality time together'. Rather than just sitting on our laptops next to each other, engaging in activities together. Having some spontaneous outings. Focusing on the 'friendship' portion of our relationship. And it was pretty good. I wasn't necessarily intentionally trying to achieve this goal, but it did end up happening throughout 2017 more than 2016. B

Read more. I definitely read a lot last year. A lot of great stuff. A lot of terrible stuff. One of the biggest revelations that came from this resolution is that you don't have to finish books. If you aren't enjoying a book and you already gave it 100 pages of effort, cut your losses and move on. This freed me up to try and read a bunch of stuff I wouldn't have before. I got weirdly into comic books. I have a whole other post planned about this that I'll post hopefully soon. but it was a weirdly successfully resolution. A

Find more ways to give back. This one was a cop out for me. I did give more this year, but it was mostly financially-based. I gave to charities and I gave big tips and bonuses to those around me at the holidays, but I failed to give back with my time or my energy. The opportunities didn't present themselves like they have in the past and I didn't go and seek them out. D

And now on to the new stuff!

Try a new recipe a month. This was one of my goals back in 2016 and it was great. It was quite a bit of pressure, so it fell off in 2017. I'm bringing it back and hopefully it will be easier this time because Dan is trying to be healthier. He can be a very picky eater, but it's been easier to deal with lately because if he is hesitant to try something new, I can play the 'it's healthy, just try it' card and it usually works.

Hide less from people. This is probably a 'me' specific problem, but I hate talking to people when I am out and about. Unless you are my best friend or my mom, I don't want to make small talk in Target. If you are a person I barely know, I will do the polite wave or head tilt across the grocery store, but I will go out of my way to avoid someone I knew in high school. It's starting to become a real problem for me and I need to train myself to bear the five minutes of awkward catch-up and move on.

Take a stab at bullet-journaling. In an effort to wrangle my scatter-braining, I've gotten myself a bullet-journal. It arrived on New Year's Eve and I've already started scribbling in it. I know I will never be as good at it as so many people on Pinterest and Youtube, but I just want all my notes in one place. No pressure, just doodles. Hopefully I'll eventually develop a system, but if I don't, no skin off my back.

Be more tidy. I am the type of person who takes her pants off and leaves them where they lie. Or who puts dishes in the sink even though the dishwasher is empty. In a pinch, I could make my house presentable in under 15 minutes. However, I'd like to not live in fear that the person ringing the doorbell will want to come inside. It doesn't save me any work in the long run by being sloppy so why not try to get it right the first time?

Reduce waste. I started this in 2017, but I want to go full 'hippie' this year. I've switched to canvas grocery bags. My sister got me a tumbler composter for Christmas. I've got reusable make-up wipes coming in the mail. I'm starting the year on the right foot, but I'd like to investigate more ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

So, that's my list. I've got more, but they are either too small to share here, too risky to believe I will actually complete them, or too personal. I'm trying not to overhype myself this year. Honestly, nothing changed between Sunday and Monday, other than the calendars, so why put all this sudden pressure on myself?

I believe this can be a good year and hope I am correct.