Current Read: Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow
Current Listen: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Hey Internet! A quick update for you. I've read three books in the past few days that were all pretty quick reads. I chose to take a little bit of my fall break on some relaxing reads that did not take a whole lot of brain power but were nevertheless quite enjoyable.
First, I read the first two books in the Veronica Mars series, The Thousand Dollar Tan Line and Mr. Kiss and Tell. These were written by the same man who wrote the show and movie, Rob Thomas, with the help of Jennifer Graham. I am a HUGE fan of the show, which is not super well known. It has a cult following big enough that they were able to crowdfund a movie, though. The series and he books center around Veronica Mars, a young woman working as a private investigator in Neptune, California. Both books were very true to the narrative style of the show and the characters. They were easy reads, and not particularly deep--though the mysteries were not too cheesy and unfolded well--so they were very nice for the car trip I took on Saturday. Not a lot of effort involved.
Then, the other day my friend Susie recommended I try Monster by Walter Dean Myers. I have of course heard of Myers, and I did hear that he passed away last year, but I somehow missed his books when I was younger while I was devouring middle readers and YA. Monster is narrated by a 16-year-old boy named Steve Harmon who is in jail after having been implicated in a robbery that resulted in a murder. To help deal with the experience, he decides to write everything down as a movie script, complete with descriptions of camera angles and movement directions. I whipped through this thing during an 80 minute stint on a stationary bike, It would definitely be a great read for late middle school/early high school, and I think a lot of kids in urban schools especially would be able to relate. It definitely was a good use of an afternoon.
With the Veronica Mars books, I only have four books left in the reading challenge! Just started Mr. Sammler's Planet, and then the only things left are Far From the Madding Crowd, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and Let It Snow! So excited that I'm actually doing it! Also, last time I checked I have read 67/55 books for my Goodreads reading challenge. Need to up the goal a little bit next year since the blogging business is making me more motivated to read.
As always, thanks for reading, and that's all she read!
Monday, October 19, 2015
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Musicophilia and The Martian
Current Read: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham
Current Listen: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Hello, Internet! First, a quick update. I made a second Youtube video! I made a video based on @booksandquills "On My Shelf" series, where she gets numbers from her followers for a shelf and a book and then just shows you five random books from her shelves! It was a fun and EASY video to make, and I just saw that she RETWEETED my tweet to her about the video, which is just amazing. She has 20k twitter follows and almost 140k Youtube subscribers, NO BIG. Also discovered this morning that she put the video up on a playlist of other responses to her series. (Insert small freak out here.) You can check out her original video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M07pGnd-ZFQ
You can find MY video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fbcYU-934g
If you want to give me a quick like and subscribe, I would really appreciate it! My goal for that video was 30 views (haha starting small), and I'm there already! It was amazing if I could get 100 views.
Now, on to what I've been reading. It is the first week of my fall break, so I've been reading and listening quite a bit. First, I finished Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. That fulfilled the book I started but never finished category on my reading challenge. It was just an exceptional book. I took it slow to start, trying to read about a 20 page chapter a night. Oliver Sacks, who died earlier this year, wrote books that could be described almost as medical anthropology. His most famous book is probably The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, which I want to read some day. Each chapter is devoted to a different condition or phenomenon, and each chapter is full of both anecdotes based on his experience with his patients and a TON of research.
I learned a lot while reading this book, particularly about music and neuroscience, but it was so easy to read because each chapter is rooted in stories rather than just in the science. A few topics that really stood out:
-Amusia, when people cannot perceive music, often due to brain injuries or strokes
-Musical hallucinations, which are more or less "musical imagery" (songs in your head) that is completely uncontrollable and interferes with your life--several patients could not sleep because they always heard very clear music that sounded like it was being played in the next room
-Musician's dystonia, when musicians lose control over certain small muscles that impact their playing--violinists or pianists with a few fingers, and even a horn player with his embouchure
-Williams Syndrome, a condition characterized by low IQ, hypersocial behavior and a profound love of music--he described it as almost exactly the opposite of autism. This was my favorite chapter.
The whole book was just craziness. I DEFINITELY recommend it for musicians and lovers of music.
Also, I finished The Martian about a half hour ago. I've been doing a lot of cooking and listening this fall break. This book was about the perfect sci-fi adventure. I'm sure the movie (which I'm seeing tomorrow) will be EPIC. From what I see on IMDB, the casting was pretty phenomenal. Mark Watney is a pretty awesome character, so even though I'm not a HUGE Matt Damon fan, I'm sure it'll be okay.
The book itself can only be described as a love letter to science. The entire book is filled with pretty good, understandable explanations of very complicated, actual rocket science. Mark Watney, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, is abandoned on Mars when his crew leaves amidst a dangerous dust storm. Since Mars is VERY far away, he has to figure out how to survive several years with the limited supplies given to his crew for their 30 day mission. Meanwhile, back on Earth, NASA has to figure out if there is a way to keep him alive until rescue is possible. It was so fun to listen to them think outside the box and problem solve their way to solutions, and I'm sure the movie will be a fan favorite at the Oscars this year.
Finally, a reading challenge update. I've changed one book that I'll be reading. Though I am OBVIOUSLY still going to read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel at some point, I've decided on a shorter book for the category of "a book that is based on or that was turned into a TV show." A few weeks ago, Kristina Horner, another booktuber, was talking about the two novels that have been written based on the show Veronica Mars, which is one of my favorite shows ever. I got them both from the library and forgot until today that that was a category. They are much shorter and less dense, so I thought I would give myself a break. I might actually finish that Veronica Mars book today, because just like the show, it is so far quite addictive and fun. Audible-wise, next up is Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, which has been downloaded for months now. That's all she read!
Current Listen: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Hello, Internet! First, a quick update. I made a second Youtube video! I made a video based on @booksandquills "On My Shelf" series, where she gets numbers from her followers for a shelf and a book and then just shows you five random books from her shelves! It was a fun and EASY video to make, and I just saw that she RETWEETED my tweet to her about the video, which is just amazing. She has 20k twitter follows and almost 140k Youtube subscribers, NO BIG. Also discovered this morning that she put the video up on a playlist of other responses to her series. (Insert small freak out here.) You can check out her original video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M07pGnd-ZFQ
You can find MY video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fbcYU-934g
If you want to give me a quick like and subscribe, I would really appreciate it! My goal for that video was 30 views (haha starting small), and I'm there already! It was amazing if I could get 100 views.
Now, on to what I've been reading. It is the first week of my fall break, so I've been reading and listening quite a bit. First, I finished Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. That fulfilled the book I started but never finished category on my reading challenge. It was just an exceptional book. I took it slow to start, trying to read about a 20 page chapter a night. Oliver Sacks, who died earlier this year, wrote books that could be described almost as medical anthropology. His most famous book is probably The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, which I want to read some day. Each chapter is devoted to a different condition or phenomenon, and each chapter is full of both anecdotes based on his experience with his patients and a TON of research.
I learned a lot while reading this book, particularly about music and neuroscience, but it was so easy to read because each chapter is rooted in stories rather than just in the science. A few topics that really stood out:
-Amusia, when people cannot perceive music, often due to brain injuries or strokes
-Musical hallucinations, which are more or less "musical imagery" (songs in your head) that is completely uncontrollable and interferes with your life--several patients could not sleep because they always heard very clear music that sounded like it was being played in the next room
-Musician's dystonia, when musicians lose control over certain small muscles that impact their playing--violinists or pianists with a few fingers, and even a horn player with his embouchure
-Williams Syndrome, a condition characterized by low IQ, hypersocial behavior and a profound love of music--he described it as almost exactly the opposite of autism. This was my favorite chapter.
The whole book was just craziness. I DEFINITELY recommend it for musicians and lovers of music.
Also, I finished The Martian about a half hour ago. I've been doing a lot of cooking and listening this fall break. This book was about the perfect sci-fi adventure. I'm sure the movie (which I'm seeing tomorrow) will be EPIC. From what I see on IMDB, the casting was pretty phenomenal. Mark Watney is a pretty awesome character, so even though I'm not a HUGE Matt Damon fan, I'm sure it'll be okay.
The book itself can only be described as a love letter to science. The entire book is filled with pretty good, understandable explanations of very complicated, actual rocket science. Mark Watney, due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, is abandoned on Mars when his crew leaves amidst a dangerous dust storm. Since Mars is VERY far away, he has to figure out how to survive several years with the limited supplies given to his crew for their 30 day mission. Meanwhile, back on Earth, NASA has to figure out if there is a way to keep him alive until rescue is possible. It was so fun to listen to them think outside the box and problem solve their way to solutions, and I'm sure the movie will be a fan favorite at the Oscars this year.
Finally, a reading challenge update. I've changed one book that I'll be reading. Though I am OBVIOUSLY still going to read Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel at some point, I've decided on a shorter book for the category of "a book that is based on or that was turned into a TV show." A few weeks ago, Kristina Horner, another booktuber, was talking about the two novels that have been written based on the show Veronica Mars, which is one of my favorite shows ever. I got them both from the library and forgot until today that that was a category. They are much shorter and less dense, so I thought I would give myself a break. I might actually finish that Veronica Mars book today, because just like the show, it is so far quite addictive and fun. Audible-wise, next up is Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, which has been downloaded for months now. That's all she read!
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Falling Off the Wagon
Current Read: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
Current Listen: Mostly Hamilton the musical...but I did start The Martian by Andy Weir
Whoo. Got a doozy of a post for you tonight. I've been reading and listening a ton, and I also bought some books. OOPS.
First, I finished Go Set a Watchmen by Harper Lee. I purposefully tried really hard not to read any reviews of this book before reading it myself. I pleasantly drifted through the first half, very much enjoying the vignettes about events later in her childhood (I particularly enjoyed the one about what happens when the church musical director tries to change the tempo of Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow) and the strong voice of Jean Louise. The stuff that everyone got upset about isn't until about half way through. I understand why they are upset, and I was sure for awhile that it would all turn out to be a big misunderstanding. I understood the point of it, and I think it's very interesting that Jean Louise must accept the same thing as we as readers have had to accept when it comes to Atticus: He is not a god. We shouldn't idolize him, I was a little let down by how everything turned out, and I don't think that it was meant to be published but I don't regret reading it at all.
I also just finished Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, which is another one to cross off the reading challenge! This was my book that came out the year I was born. It was quite enjoyable. There were a few characters that I did not like AT ALL and thought were super annoying (the granddaughter, Lex, in particular, was way whinier than any child I've ever met), but that didn't impact my enjoyment of the suspense or the story. It was fast-paced and QUITE scary in places, much more so than the movie, which I also obviously love. No spoilers, but there is one scary dinosaur scene that scared me during the movie but was even more intense in the book. Oh, man. It was quite effective as an audiobook, as well.
Alright. Now for the confession. I had a pretty substantial book buying relapse this week. It was multi-faceted as well. First, on Monday I was browsing Audible because I get my credit for a new book on the 6th of every month. I generally use Audible when I want to read any lengthy nonfiction. I'm a huge nerd and love books that teach me things, but sometimes physically reading a nonfiction or biographical tome takes me AGES. I thought it might be fun to read Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, since it is the basis for Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, with which I AM COMPLETELY OBSESSED. I CAN'T STOP, GUYS. Since I couldn't decide between the Chernow and The Martian by Andy Weir, I decided to get both. I'm very excited to read the Weir (hopefully before I see the movie, but we'll see). I also picked up M.T. Anderson's Symphony for the City of the Dead, which is about Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony and the siege of Leningrad during World War II. Excited about all three of those.
Then later in the week I was feeling a little burned out and just generally MEH, and when I was going for a soothing, meditative walk I somehow ended up at the Half Price Books across the street from my apartment. OOPS. Picked up a few things there. I found two HarperPerennial Olive editions, which are really streamlined and PRETTY. Since I already have a copy of Everything is Illuminated by Johnathan Safran Foer (one of my favorites ever) in that edition, I thought I would pick them up. Those were State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, which I haven't read, and The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, which I have.
They were cheap, I promise. And then further down the shelf was a book that I didn't recognize that had NICK HORNBY in big letters on the side, so obviously I had to at least look. It's called Speaking With the Angel, and it's a short story collection that Hornby contributed to and edited. It was produced to benefit The Treehouse Trust, an organization that advocates for education for children with autism. There's a Colin Firth story in it! Other author highlights include Zadie Smith, Dave Eggers, and Helen Fielding. Plus, there was no price anywhere on it so the guy rang it up for two bucks. I'll take it, I say! And then finally I picked up The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone, another one of those fun history buff books. It's a novelization of the life of Michaelangelo that I've heard is fun.
Seven books. Serious lapse. I have been doing very well overall, though! I have a pile with at least that many to give away. As for currently reading, Musicophilia is awesome, and I'm sure I'll ramble about it here in the new future. There are people in the world with "amusia" that literally cannot perceive music. And people have musical hallucinations. It's just so interesting, as I knew it would be. Alrighty, folks. That's all she read.
Current Listen: Mostly Hamilton the musical...but I did start The Martian by Andy Weir
Whoo. Got a doozy of a post for you tonight. I've been reading and listening a ton, and I also bought some books. OOPS.
First, I finished Go Set a Watchmen by Harper Lee. I purposefully tried really hard not to read any reviews of this book before reading it myself. I pleasantly drifted through the first half, very much enjoying the vignettes about events later in her childhood (I particularly enjoyed the one about what happens when the church musical director tries to change the tempo of Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow) and the strong voice of Jean Louise. The stuff that everyone got upset about isn't until about half way through. I understand why they are upset, and I was sure for awhile that it would all turn out to be a big misunderstanding. I understood the point of it, and I think it's very interesting that Jean Louise must accept the same thing as we as readers have had to accept when it comes to Atticus: He is not a god. We shouldn't idolize him, I was a little let down by how everything turned out, and I don't think that it was meant to be published but I don't regret reading it at all.
I also just finished Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, which is another one to cross off the reading challenge! This was my book that came out the year I was born. It was quite enjoyable. There were a few characters that I did not like AT ALL and thought were super annoying (the granddaughter, Lex, in particular, was way whinier than any child I've ever met), but that didn't impact my enjoyment of the suspense or the story. It was fast-paced and QUITE scary in places, much more so than the movie, which I also obviously love. No spoilers, but there is one scary dinosaur scene that scared me during the movie but was even more intense in the book. Oh, man. It was quite effective as an audiobook, as well.
Alright. Now for the confession. I had a pretty substantial book buying relapse this week. It was multi-faceted as well. First, on Monday I was browsing Audible because I get my credit for a new book on the 6th of every month. I generally use Audible when I want to read any lengthy nonfiction. I'm a huge nerd and love books that teach me things, but sometimes physically reading a nonfiction or biographical tome takes me AGES. I thought it might be fun to read Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, since it is the basis for Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, with which I AM COMPLETELY OBSESSED. I CAN'T STOP, GUYS. Since I couldn't decide between the Chernow and The Martian by Andy Weir, I decided to get both. I'm very excited to read the Weir (hopefully before I see the movie, but we'll see). I also picked up M.T. Anderson's Symphony for the City of the Dead, which is about Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony and the siege of Leningrad during World War II. Excited about all three of those.
Then later in the week I was feeling a little burned out and just generally MEH, and when I was going for a soothing, meditative walk I somehow ended up at the Half Price Books across the street from my apartment. OOPS. Picked up a few things there. I found two HarperPerennial Olive editions, which are really streamlined and PRETTY. Since I already have a copy of Everything is Illuminated by Johnathan Safran Foer (one of my favorites ever) in that edition, I thought I would pick them up. Those were State of Wonder by Ann Patchett, which I haven't read, and The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, which I have.
They were cheap, I promise. And then further down the shelf was a book that I didn't recognize that had NICK HORNBY in big letters on the side, so obviously I had to at least look. It's called Speaking With the Angel, and it's a short story collection that Hornby contributed to and edited. It was produced to benefit The Treehouse Trust, an organization that advocates for education for children with autism. There's a Colin Firth story in it! Other author highlights include Zadie Smith, Dave Eggers, and Helen Fielding. Plus, there was no price anywhere on it so the guy rang it up for two bucks. I'll take it, I say! And then finally I picked up The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone, another one of those fun history buff books. It's a novelization of the life of Michaelangelo that I've heard is fun.
Seven books. Serious lapse. I have been doing very well overall, though! I have a pile with at least that many to give away. As for currently reading, Musicophilia is awesome, and I'm sure I'll ramble about it here in the new future. There are people in the world with "amusia" that literally cannot perceive music. And people have musical hallucinations. It's just so interesting, as I knew it would be. Alrighty, folks. That's all she read.
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