In my last entry, I promised I’d post my 2003 book thoughts in the next entry. (I had intended to post the next day, but there ya go…) Anyhoo, here’s much of the text from an e-mail I sent over a year ago to the Fully_Booked mailing list at Yahoo Groups.

One thing I’ve noticed is that a majority of the books I read in that time span are kid’s books. I’ve been impressed with the quality of recent children’s books (Rowling,
Ardagh, etc) and will continue to seek out and read kiddie-lit books for as long as I find them entertaining. 🙂 Holes was good, but didn’t make it into my books of the year list mostly because I loved the movie far more than the book. Perhaps if I’d read the book first, I’d feel differently. (It does get points for being easy enough to read all in one go.)

I didn’t come up with a top 20 list – more like a top 13 list. Of the ones that didn’t make my list, the one that surprised me most was The Three Muskateers. I just didn’t think
that book was anything special. It could have been the translation that I read, but it seemed more like a Mary Sue than a proper adventure novel. The Prince and the Pauper, another classic, was entertaining, but I liked A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court better (except for the ending to that novel – bleh!) I finally read all of Pratchett’s Johnny books. They got better as the series wore on, but I must admit his recent children’s books (see below) are a vast improvement. I still have the rest of his little people books to read (wasn’t impressed with Truckers).

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time – Michael Haddon. While reading this book, I suggested it to one of the special education teachers at my school. I couldn’t even get the word “Curious” out of my mouth before she finished the sentence. She’d read it, loved it, and it really helped her out in understanding the two autistic students that we have at Newton. Neither of them are the math geniuses that young Christopher Boone is in this novel, but, like him, they see the world just a bit differently than we do. It’s interesting to note that my top two books are basically World Building books. But whereas Fforde builds a Swindon/England that is markedly different from ours, Haddon shows us how Swindon (coincidence? Probably…) looks in the eyes of someone completely different from most of the readers. Very fascinating. And easy to read.
2. The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fforde. I’ve decided that books like Curious and Eyre belong in a genre all of their own. I call them Mundane Fantasies. It’s not a fantasy in the sense that Terry Pratchett novels are – it takes place in the every day world, so to speak. But there’s a major sense of the fantastic going on as well. If you haven’t gotten the book yet, do so. (Although I’d rank these two as the best I’d read for 2003, the rest of the books are pretty much in order of when I read them.)
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – JK Rowling. If you’ve no idea what this book is, you probably live in a box. 🙂
4. The Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett. Continuing on from his earlier Discworld Children’s book, Terry proves that his kiddie-lit books are best when they come from the Discworld.
5. Blue Mars – Kim Stanley Robbinson. Finally done with the Red Mars Trilogy. Not as good as Green but better than Red – the characters are the important part of this trilogy and Green kept focusing on my favorite characters. I must admit, I ended up liking Maya a lot more by the end of this novel.
6. The Eddie Dickens Trilogy: Awful End (AKA The House at Awful End)
7. Dreadful Acts, and
8. Terrible Times – by Philip Ardagh. I’m trying to convince everyone I know how wonderful these stories are. Silly, funny, silly, informative, and damned silly. And they’re even better when read by Sylvester McCoy. It would be a crime if they make a movie about these books and don’t have Sylv playing Even Madder Aunt Maud. 🙂
9. Time and Relative – Kim Newman. This is a pre-Unearthly Child story with the First Doctor and Susan. It was gripping and evocative. So it goes in my list as well. (Citadel of Dreams is the only other novella that I have – it didn’t make the cut, even with the SylvDoc factor factored in.)
10. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents – Terry Pratchett. It was an Ardagh/Pratchett year, I guess, with both authors having 3 books in my top 13. 🙂 I probably do rank The Wee Free Men higher than Maurice – but I just have a thing for witches, I guess. Pratchett witches especially.
11. Coraline – Neil Gaiman. Terry’s not the only one who can write for kids and adults. Coraline was probably one of the spookiest kids books I’ve ever read.
12. The Nightwatch – Terry Pratchett. I’ve said enough about him, surely? Interesting time travel story…
13. Heritage – Paul Dale Smith. The Seventh Doctor and Ace in a Western, sort of. I loved the pacing of the novel. At first, it disconcerted me, but the I realized that was part & parcel with the novel. It moves slowly and deliberately. And it was nice to have a change from Tucker&Perry. (Loving the Alien – interesting idea, poor execution.)

In other news: Happy Birthday samantha2074! Hope you had a lovely day today!

Several years ago, in order to force myself to read more of the lovely books which I own, I made a pact to not buy any new books until I’d read 10 that I owned. So I started a list of books that I read and when I finished them. The pact was over before the first month (when one local bookstore went out of business and I bought 3 books, making me 30 books behind in reading!) But I kept the record up ever since. One thing that I do not put in my “Books I Have Read” list are books that I have reread. So all of the New Adventures of Doctor Who which I reread in the past few years didn’t make it on the list.

What’s really sad is that I used to be a bookaholic. When I was a kid, I’d have numerous books going and I’d have some in every room that I’d be working on. I tore through books the way some people tear through chocolate. But then, sadly, I discovered television. In particular, British television. (Damn that Roald Dahl – he made me into an Anglophile, and what better way to get your fix than to watch The Tomorrow People or Doctor Who?) My voracious reading became a mere pecking of the material. And I think my reading speed decreased too!

When the New Adventures came out, I started to tear through them the way I used to tear through all of my books. Unfortunately, they didn’t keep the flame going long enough for me to tear through my other books. But my book buying addiction has NEVER let up, even during the Lean Read years. *sigh* So my library has gotten bigger, but my books read list hasn’t. (Damn “read” and “read” being spelled the same and not meaning the same!)

I liked the idea behind my pact, but I lack the willpower to carry it out. However, keeping track of my read books has helped me concentrate on reading books which I’ve owned FOREVER but have never read. I used to buy books from the Troll Book Club and other school-sponsored book clubs. God, I miss those days! Books like Oliver Twist, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates have sat on my shelves for years. But I’m slowly getting through them. I finished The Old Man and the Sea (a gift from my father to coach me in writing shorter sentences – might have helped if I’d read it) last night. I’m going to tackle Washington Irving tonight. Perhaps I’ll sample Jules Verne next week.

Ahem, so many books, so much time putzed away on the computer writing this all up… So anyhoo, I thought I’d compile a list of, say the top 10 books that I read in 2004. And for those of you keeping score at home, I’ll include the top 13 books I read in 2003 (from an e-mail I sent to a mostly quiet book mailing list I’m on).

First off, however, my stats since I’ve been keeping score:

• From Jun of 2001 to Dec 31 of 2001, I read 27 books.
• For all of 2002, I read a mere 22 books (eep!)
• I managed to read 33 books in 2003.
• And now, for 2004, I managed 40 books. Woohoo!

(Two Three disclaimers – these books aren’t in order of most favorite to least, just in order of when I got ’em read. Secondly, 2004 marks the year when I truly discovered Philip Pullman, even though I’d read a few of his stories in 2003. Thirdly, I found 13 that I wanted to talk about instead of 10.)

1. Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett – every year since I discovered Pratchett, there has been at least 1 book in my top WHATEVER list of read books. His “adult” books in the Discworld, like this one, are still just as fresh, witty, and full of hilarious but surprisingly real characters. And I love his new batch of “children’s” books that take place in Discworld. See below.
2. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman – the book that convinced me to read more Pullman. I’d read two of his not-so-controversial books in 2003 (The Firecracker Maker’s Daughter and I Was a Rat) but they didn’t really grab me like this one. The trilogy is amazing, but after I finished it, I found another love (also by Pullman)…
3. Camera Obscura by Lloyd Rose – I love the New Adventures of Doctor Who. But I have found few BBC Doctor Who books to write home about. Lloyd Rose, OTOH, does a lovely job in writing for the 8th Doctor. (You will notice, however, that her 7th Doctor book didn’t make it into my top 13 list. I’m afraid it didn’t really work for me.)
4. Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde – So far, I have enjoyed every Thursday Next story. I’d already have bought and read Something Rotten if it were in paperback in the US. If you’re into Mundane Fantasy, this series is perfect for you. 🙂
5. Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson – thanks to michaellee, I heard about this book. Since my local bookstore keeps it in with the romance novels, I’d’ve never found it otherwise. It’s about a Minnesota woman with a foot fetish (hey, who hasn’t got one?) who gets turned into a vampire. And then has to figure out how to deal with being the New Vampire on the Street. This is made even more difficult when she discovers she might even be the fabled Queen of the Undead. It’s a real hoot to read, and the smut ain’t too overpowering.
6. Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett – this is one of those “children’s” books I mentioned earlier. Best of all, it deals with the witches in Discworld, some of my favorite characters. (It’s hard for me to have favorite characters since they’re all so cool, but Granny Weatherwax is certainly up there.) If you’ve read and enjoyed The Wee Free Men, you’ll probably love this sequel even more. (Well, I did, at least.)
7. Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman – remember when I wrote that I’d found another Pullman love? This was it. Forget His Dark Materials. The REAL trilogy by Pullman to read is the Sally Lockhart trilogy. OK, so book two (The Shadow in the North) is rather lame and forgettable, but books 1 and 3 are magnificent! And I love Sally Lockhart. You go gurl! (Come now, when you were a little girl growing up, surely you wanted to read books with Chinese tongs, opium, dirty London streets, and a cool independent young woman???! I know I did!)
8. Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman – book three of the Sally Lockhart Trilogy. Talk about going out with a BANG! Perhaps one of the scariest stories I’ve read, simply because what happened to Sally (identity theft) is such a real concern these days. But, damn, to have that happen in the Victorian era – eek! I figured out the villain near the very beginning, but that never once detracted from the story.
9. The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde – my question to you Brits who love Fforde: Did this book include the last chapter for Americans in your copies? I understood why he put it in for us Merkans, and I only wish it were true… (It deals with The Scarlet Letter, one of the most boring books I read in high school…) Funny stuff, and I will get Something Rotten one of these days!
10. Blood and Hope by Iain McLaughlin – and
11. The Dalek Factor by Simon Clark – two Telos Novellas for Doctor Who. Both are very tightly written stories. I love Iain’s story, told in letters and journal entries, about the Civil War. Lots of emotion in such a small book. I think he handled Peri very well. (It’s Doc5, Peri, and Erimem, who’s an audio character from Big Finish, and who’s black – in this story, at least.) Simon’s story has some Doctor (maybe 8?) dealing with a bunch of Thals in a world once inhabited by Daleks. Maybe even still inhabited by Daleks… I really loved the atmosphere and terror of this book. But dammit, I have NO idea what happened there at the end. Hate when the author goes off in one direction and I’ve lost his trail.
12. Pure Imagination by Mel Stuart – the making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory! WOOHOO! What a wonderful book, with gorgeous photos, and loads of inside information. Thanks, Mel, for finally writing about my most favorite movie in the whole wide world!
13. Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge – one of those Troll Book Order books from my elementary years. This is actually two books sewn together (badly, I’ll admit). The first is a touching story about poor Hans Brinker and his family dealing with poverty and a father who lost his senses years ago in a dike incident. (Get your minds out of the gutter, folks!) The second is a travelogue/history of Holland, told mostly by a group of boys skating along the canal. Separate out the two and you’ll have two interesting books. You can read it for yourself thanks to Project Gutenberg.

Also in 2004, I discovered that the Muppet’s Christmas Carol is actually a very good version of A Christmas Carol. That Ivanhoe has Robin Hood in it (and barely has Ivanhoe in it). That even Telos couldn’t get a good book out of Tucker & Perry (Companion Piece). And many other things.

Gah, I’ve taken too long as it is. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll post my top 13 books from 2003. Or maybe I’ll stay offline and just read. *snerk* Come on, who’s kidding whom, here?

(Gakked from heleneotroy.)

YOUR SENIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL

[What year was it?]
1989

[What were your three favorite bands?]
Beatles, Monkees, Pet Shop Boys

[What was your favorite outfit?]
Jeans & t-shirt or jeans & sweatshirt (same as today, funnily enough)

[What was up with your hair?]
It was the same as it is now. Except I got my senior photos taken with a Vavoom, which is a perm which gives a bit of a wave. I hated it, mom loved it.

[Who were your best friends?]
Amy (sister), Missy E, Erik P (even though he was long distance at the time)

[What did you do after school?]
Homework, watch TV, write

[Did you take the bus?]
Nope, dad drove Amy & me to school, or we walked.

[Who did you have a crush on?]
Eric Idle.

[Did you fight with your parents?]
Nope. Still don’t.

[Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on?]
Eric Idle.

[Did you smoke cigarettes?]
Bleh, no.

[Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker?]
Heck, not only did I not lug books around in HS, I didn’t lug them around at Uni. I actually picked my Uni classes so that I’d have time to return to the dorm to swap books. True story!

[Did you have a ‘clique’?]
I was a loner. The curse of being smart & a geek.

[Did you have “The Max” like Zach Kelly and Slater?]
I have *no* idea what this means.

[Admit it, were you popular?]
Nope. I was well known, however. Especially by teachers (many of whom are now my colleagues.)

[Who did you want to be just like?]
Elizabeth from the Tomorrow People.

[What did you want to be when you grew up?]
A teacher. English teacher or science teacher.

[Where did you think you’d be at the age you are now?]
Living in Pleasant Hill in my own house and teaching at Newton Local School. And you know what? That’s exactly what happened. Woot!

Last night at 10pm, I received the call that we had a two-hour delay for school today. So as I went to bed, I set my alarm for an hour later than usual. This morning, as I was pottering about getting ready, I received the second call – school was closed due to the snow. Woohoo! Still, I intended to go in and work a little, so I finished getting ready and was at the school by 9am.

Dad was working today, so the two of us chatted, planned, and plotted while we worked. I cleared up some questions that I had about the inventory and updated Clean Slate on a few machines. Plus I did my lesson plans for next week (here’s hoping we have an uninterrupted week next week!) and printed off the labs we’ll be doing. And then it was lunchtime, so dad and I walked home and I had leftover fried rice for lunch. Yum!

I spent the rest of the day watching Spaced season 1. 🙂 That was quite nice. I watched most of the extras as well. I then went off to BW3’s for a “staff meeting” (as Gary called it when he phoned today to invite me to it). I used Deanna’s gift certificate, so thanks for supper, Deanna! And now I’m just goofing off online, waiting for the next storm to hit.

Tomorrow, I think I’ll read all day. Yeah, that sounds nice. 🙂

The forecast for today was a little snow in the morning, probably tapering off by 9am. Less than an inch accumulation.

In reality, the snow started early this morning and kept going, and going, and going…

We don’t have the 20″ that occurred in December, but it’s sure been purty! We had about 2 1/2″ when I took out the trash. We’ll probably wind up with 4″ total. But it was slickery snow and they ended up letting the kids out early today and canceling all evening activities. I stayed the full time cuz I was going to walk home anyhoo. Got a bit of tech stuff done, which suited me just fine.

Tomorrow night’s when we’re supposed to get a proper snowstorm. With freezing rain and real accumulation. Makes me wonder what we’ll really get instead… 😉

PS: I made elsaf‘s mushroom soup recipe (which she got from Anthony Bourdain) tonight. Delicious! But I’m sleepy now! Let’s hear it for sherry in soup!

The lady who runs The Kitten’s Pyjamas blog has cast Leo in the role of Gigantopuss. Click here to see Leo take on the Freeway!

PS: Happy Birthday, drednort!

Thanks to Amy & Rachel, I have a variety of cheeses that I’ve been sampling these past few days. I’ve now tried them all but the Coombe Farm Cheddar, which I’ll probably open tomorrow. I have discovered two very important things.

1. I really don’t like blue Stilton. The flavor is too overpowering. I need a recipe for the blue stilton to go IN, and I think I’ll like it better.
2. Sage Derby is a happy cheese! I was trying to come up with the best description for it while my folks and I were trying it Sunday. And that’s the best way I can describe it. It’s happy!

Today, I tried the Saxonshires, and I like the combo of flavors as well as the individual cheeses. Unfortunately, I don’t know which cheese is which in the combo, but as I liked them individually, I know I’ll be safe getting the individual cheeses on their own some time.

The Dorset farmhouse cheddar is very good. It’s softer than US cheddars (and is white, like a cheddar should be) but not mushy like mozarella. It has a nice bite, but doesn’t overpower like blue Stilton.

I think my idea for soups & cheese&crackers is a good ‘un. I need to make a stirfry tomorrow to use up the last of the cabbage (which is a key ingredient in mom’s veggie soup), but I then intend to get back to making soups. Elsa’s mushroom soup and Amy&Rachel’s spicy lentil pot (AKA wedding soup) are next in line for manufacture. I bought a blender this weekend just for the purpose of making the pureed soups like those.

Check out this week’s Guest Cat spot at The Kitten’s Pyjamas. You’ll see a rather familiar sight – my Leo! Woohoo! They were looking for more cats to feature during the Guest Cat spot, so I submitted Leo. Thanks to moosifer_jones for mentioning that they were looking for cats. 🙂

Today was a good day. Firstly, there was snow! YAY! Secondly, dad preached at the UU. It was basically a sermon about science and literacy. Really well done – and I’m not just being biased cuz I’m a scientist, neither. 🙂 Then, mom showed me how to make her vegetable soup. While it cooked all day, I cleaned up the place some, and when it was supper time, the folks came over and we had veggie soup, cheese (cheddar and sage derby – both very yummy), crackers, and pineapple. For dessert, dad and I had fat free pudding and mom had sugar free Jell-O. We watched The Princess Diaries 2 while we ate (and after we were done eating).

So, definitely a good day. 🙂 Tomorrow I have a day off of school, and I don’t have anything planned, yet. Sounds like a good day to me!

Yay! It’s about time! The Madcow cluster (which my LJ is apparently on) has finally been fixed. The last to get done. And it was done before 10pm PST tonight (which is when they originally figured it).

Of course, I don’t have anything, really, to say right now. I did earlier, when LJ was down, but I forget what it was now. 🙂

Ah well, back to cleaning the house & watching Monk!

It was ages ago when gregmce mentioned DVD Profiler in an e-mail to a list we’re both on. Heck, could be over a year ago now. At the time, I installed the free program and tried a few of my DVDs. Apparently, I entered 3 of ’em, but IIRC, I had troubles with some of my R2 discs, so I sort of lost interest. Tonight, however, while looking around my computer for directories that I could delete, I found DVD Profiler, downloaded the latest version, and checked it out. And ended up inputting my entire DVD collection!

So what is DVD Profiler? It’s basically a database for your DVDs. It has hundreds of thousands of DVDs by UPC code (and many other bits of info). Type in the UPC code, and it’ll include a photo of the cover & back panel, the actors present, etc. So for 10-12 numbers typed in, you have everything you need to know about the DVD. It’s sweet – and what’s more, it found every DVD I owned but 2. The one, Jackanory: Alice in Wonderland, I wasn’t at all surprised about. But the other one was Daria: Is It College Yet? Since it had the other Daria DVD in its database, I was a bit surprised. I probably should have looked for it by title, but I just typed it in and moved on. Heck, it had The Airzone Solution and The Mumbo Jumbo in its database – and they’re pretty obscure!

Now, the most coolest aspect of DVD Profiler is that you can upload your DVD database for public consumption – woohoo! So I’ve done that, if anyone’s terribly interested in seeing it. Here’s my DVD Collection! I like the idea that I can double check while I’m off vacationing that I don’t already have a particular DVD. (Yes, I own so many DVDs that I’ve bought doubles on accident. Of course, I have a number of titles that I bought doubles on purpose.)

DVD Profiler has a free version to it, which is what I’m currently using. But for $30, you can get it ad free and get free upgrades. I’m seriously pondering this. I like ad free. 🙂

(You can’t imagine how much fun I’ve had doing this… Damn, I am SO Anal!)