amberfocus | Entries tagged with currently reading

Come on, Best Buy. How long does it take you to recover my documents, spreadsheets, music files, downloads, and photographs? I haven't written in weeks. I want my stories back. Especially the ones I was in mid-chapter on. *sighs* I hate Windows 8. Am ready to be having my Windows 7 back now, please, too. Of course they can't even send my Win 7 computer in to be fixed until they recover my stuff, which they said they could do. They accessed it right there in front of Chris when he took it in. I guess I should try to be more patient. It did sit there for 3 weeks before it even got to the store, but still. 4 days even on a holiday is a long time to recover what is not an extraordinary amount of material.

School starts tomorrow for R and Wednesday for T. R is a senior. T is homeschooling again for 8th grade.

With the computer down I've been reading a ton of novels.

The Host, which I actually really liked, despite the fact that I hated Twilight. Alien parasites have taken over the majority of humanity. Told from the point of view of a parasite whose host's mind does not go away when she is infected.

One Second After which covers the life of a small mountain town and private college for a year after an EMP takes out the electricity and technology. No easy outs and people die. Very realistic.

The Diary of Pelly D., a teenage war diary found in the ruins after a war on a future colony on another planet.

Maelstrom, the second in the Twins of Petaybee series. Always fun to revisit the sentient planet and her selkies.

Legend, a far future novel where the United States no longer exists (and one side claims it never did). The Republic is a harsh military regime purposely inflicting plagues on its population so it can one day take over what it calls The Colonies (the last of United States after flooding took out several portions of the east coast). One military brat and one street brat find their lives forever changed when they meet and figure out the reality of what is going on.

Glow. Two generation star ships headed towards a new planet. One has been unable to reproduce and so steals the girls off the other ship, killing many of their parents, and stranding the boys alone with no adults and a failing ship. The girls fight to get back to their own ship after the older ones have had their eggs stolen and a couple of them are shot. Very intense. Looking forward to the sequel.

And I'm currently in the middle of Divergent and starting Deluge (the 3rd in the Twins of Petaybee series and the 6th in the Petaybee series as a whole). Divergent is a fascinating read, though I don't really think society in a post-apocalyptic New York City would ever set itself up this way. People do not fit this easily into categories. Well, the main character certainly doesn't. In the real world, people would resist being pigeon-holed this way, or being told they could never see their families again if they chose a different personality path than their parents or siblings. But I still really like the book and am reading it voraciously.

...but I'm done. I processed 4 more pints and 1 more 12 ounce jar of strawberry jam today and I am finally out of berries. It is interesting how the same amount of ingredients do not always produce the same amount of jam. I've been at it for four days now, but it is totally worth it and my half a pantry shelf of gorgeous jam and jelly is beautifully jewel-toned, but did I mention that canning is hot, sweaty work? Because if I didn't it is hot. And sweaty. And work. But I should not have to make jam again for a week. One batch of raspberries is enough (most will be Christmas gifts) and if the chickens eat the rest, well, I won't tell anyone. And then after that no more jam until mid-August when the blackberries and blueberries are ripe. And then that shelf will be completely full of jam, jelly, and home-canned fruit. And maybe the next one, too.

( 100 mile Foodshed Ramblings )

...one batch of cornbread blueberry muffins, peanut butter cookies, hotdog and hamburger buns and two loaves of bread. I am a machine. I also put a full Sunday dinner on the table (beef chuck pot roast, corn on the cob, broccoli and cauliflower. Everything was organic except the corn, but at least it was from California.

I have been doing a lot of reading about sustainable farming this month and about the way the food industry works in America. Books I've read lately besides The Omnivore's Dilemma, are In Defense of Food, An Everlasting Meal, To Buy or Not to Buy Organic, The Cook's Illustrated Poultry Cookbook (which has a lot of non-cooking information in it, really), and I am about to start American Wasteland. We joined the local food co-op as well. I am having far more fun than a person should wandering the aisles there and reading labels. And grinding my own peanut butter was a blast. Yes, I am easily amused. But you have not lived until you've made peanut butter cookies with freshly ground peanut butter, a pasture-raised organic duck egg, and pure organic raw cane sugar. Superb!

I am starting to think about writing again. It's been almost a full month and it's been a good break. Not quite sure if I am totally ready to get back into it, but thinking about it without dread or apathy is kind of nice. Maybe I will take a shot at it soon. Not going to put pressure on myself though. It'll happen when it happens and the words decide it's time to flow again.

*sighs* I am still so exhausted. My left ear still will not pop. My nose may as well be a faucet stuck in the on position. My low grade fever comes and goes, but is sitting around 99, nowhere near last week's 101. My cough is better. It's way up in my throat now, not in the bronchials at all. I can cook things that don't just come out of a can again, though admittedly the tacos I made tonight for dinner were done in the microwave instead of on the stove top. But still...it wasn't chili from a can that I put in a tortilla and pretended was tacos, so go me.

I stepped on a construction staple tonight. Oh, I howled. It punctured my heel, but it did not really bleed. I mean, I can see where it is that it happened, but it is like this tiny red spot. I will call the doctor tomorrow to get in for a tetanus shot. It's been 12.5 years anyway, so I'm due a booster. Will ask him for more antibiotics because I have not beat this illness yet and I don't want a relapse.

I tried to write today, but really all I wanted to do was play Facebook and try to nap. I did not succeed at the latter and spent far too much time playing Cafe World on the former. I started reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. It doesn't really present any new information that I didn't already know and I am finding it awfully repetitive. It's more on the babyfood level when you're already used to eating steak. Or something.

I had to sit through tae kwon do tonight. I think that place is seriously damaging my hearing. They are so loud in there. And the benches are so hard I always feel like a stiff old lady when it's time to get up and leave.

I will try to write again tomorrow. Oh, I won challenge 96 at

then_theres_us for the fic Ten Seconds. I've never won a challenge there so I was squeeing a little bit when I found out. Of course I forgot to vote myself. I really want my brain back.

( In which I ramble )

Well, LoF ch. 29 is now up to 1500 words. Slowly but surely. It feels good to be writing again, even if I have to take lots of breaks. I am hoping to write at least 1000 more words today. Won't probably do anything on it tomorrow since I have to be a MOM and go with the family to the Pacific Science Center for the Harry Potter exhibit. It leaves soon and they really, really want to see it. The last tihng I want to do is travel to Seatlle, but sometimes you have to suck it up and do things for your kids. I told Chris he may end up having to wheel me around in a wheelchair the whole time. My leg is better, but my head is so full of gunk I can barely walk without weaving. He's agreed to do that if my cold isn't better enough by tomorrow.

Normally I'd write in the car, but I don't really want to leave my laptop in there unprotected while we're in the science center. It may be on it's last legs, but it's all I've got until I finish saving up for a new one and even though most of my files are backed up elsewhere, anything new I would write that day would not be. And I've tried to reconstruct chapters I've lost before and they never feel as good as the originals.

I'll probably just read Placebo Effect instead. It's an Eighth Doctor book

jeprdyfrndly loaned me. It took me a while to get into it since the character of the Doctor isn't even introduced until chapter three, but I am starting to now. Gary Russell writes a little shippy though with the Doctor and Sam. Or it seems like it. It's a little weird after reading the Ninth and Tenth Doctor books which have their shippy moments, but you never hear Rose confess in her head her feelings about the Doctor like Sam does. At least not in the ones I've read so far. It's kind of weird because they are going to a former companion's wedding and of course future canon says the Doctor doesn't do domestic, doesn't go back and visit people from his past, at least not until he's Ten with Sarah Jane. This pretty much contradicts that. Oh, well.

Yeah, so that new registration I got from the courthouse yesterday that I had to pay money for a new copy of and that is an official government document? Not good enough. Hello, people! How many freaking hoops do I have to jump through? It's one thing if it doesn't cost me money, it is another thing entirely if you make me waste money that I did not need to waste. Not that I didn't have it, but that is not the point. The reason I have it is because I don't waste it on unnecessary crap! *sighs*

So in the end, they wanted exactly what I tried to do the first day of all of this mess. A notarized affadavit from me and my mother stating that this is the legal residence for both kids. Of course by the time the day was done, the high school was closed. But the elementary school was still open and the principal was still there and T has been accepted as a student. So one kid down, one to go. First thing Monday morning I'll be down at the high school with the second affadavit. Freshman orientation is on Wednesday. If they screw this up for my daughter in any way, shape or form, I will be the parent they dread, because if you make me jump through 27 hoops and then still mess it all up you will find a very unhappy Lisa. Basically, like Dr. Banner says, "Don't make me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry." I'm pretty sure I won't turn green and bulk up, but it will still not be a pretty experience.

I wish Chris was home. He is so much better at putting up with official BS than I am. He won't come in until Wednesday and I have to drive down to SeaTac to get him since our local airport is closed for remodeling. I hate driving in Seattle traffic, but it'll be night traffic and not rush hour so it shouldn't be too bad. His plane gets in around 11 at night, and it's a straight shot down I-5 from my house. I'm bringing my MIL this first time because I'm nervous about driving the strip between Everet and SeaTac even though I have AAA. It should all be fine, but I'll be less anxious if someone who has driven the trip many times is in the car with me.

I'll be so glad when this week is over. Three of my nephews have been spending the week with us (technically Mom, but they are here in our space, too) and the youngest one (13) wakes up talking and does not shut up all day long. Worse yet, he talks over other conversations so you can't hear what other people are saying because he's just yakkity yak yakking away. And he's boring as all get out. Even if you tell him to shut up (nicely or not nicely) twenty seconds later he's talking again. He gives me a serious headache and I can't hear myself think. I'm just glad it's a big house.

I am so bored. Someone please write me some fluffy, romantic Doctor/Rose fic. Pretty please? I keep trying to write but my brain can't get quiet enough. Though I do have 1000 words on the smut-a-thon fic if I don't decide I hate it before the night is over. Oh, well, back to it, I suppose. Well, maybe after watching Burn Notice and reading a bit more of The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Talk about your post-apocalyptic fiction. It will probably get a proper review when I am done. It is pretty interesting and dark and thematic, but I am not quite halfway through yet. I stayed up reading it last night until my eyes were closing of their own accord which I think is a good thing in a novel, but not quite so much in the "I need to sleep at night" aspect of my life.

Why is LJ so dead?

As much as I am enjoying the book Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, the sequel to Shiver, I am now really annoyed with the POV shifting. In the first book she wrote in first person, with each chapter from the POV of one of two people, which was okay. I could set my mind to who was telling the story for that chapter and get on with it. Not my favorite thing, but it's worked in certain books I've read. In Linger she's shifting between the first person points of view of four people, but instead of doing it all within one chapter, it can shift viewpoints three or four times per chapter. If she was going to do that, she should have just written in third person. It is too easy to lose track of who is telling the story this way. I keep having to flip back a page or two to see the label of the section to recall who is telling the story at whichever point I'm at. It's frustrating and makes me lose story flow. Her editor should not have let her get away with this, previous best seller or not.

So I have two guilty pleasures when it comes to reading books. The first is epic military sci-fi novels with a strong female main character (think Herris Serano, Esmay Suiza, or Kylara Vatta from various Elizabeth Moon series) and my even guiltier pleasure of supernatural teenage romance novels. I think I have a teendom of reading Christopher Pike to thank for that. Anywho, I got waylaid at the library a couple of weeks ago when my daughter asked me to pick up some stuff she might find interesting. Since she's into vamps and werewolves I did a quick perusal of the young adult racks and came across the novel Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. There was an intriguing blurb that made me hand off The Forest of Hands and Teeth (the other book I found) to Rose and make me take Shiver to read first.

After a slow start, where I was constantly praying, "Please don't let this be like Twilight," (it's not) the plot takes off and gets nicely intricate for a teen book. It's a different take on the werewolf legend where the shift is caused by temperature change and not the phases of the moon, though it explains why people have thought through the ages that it is related to the full moon. No silver bullets or any of that stuff come into play either. So when winter comes they turn to wolves and when spring arrives they turn back. There's a bit of fluctuation for a few weeks as the seasons change. Chapters are told from alternating points of view, in first person, but each chapter is labelled with who is narrarating it as well as what temperature it is when the story takes place.

What I really like about this romance is that at no time do I ever see Grace let herself become a victim of the situation or circumstances. Her parents ignore her, and she doesn't like it, but she doesn't feel sorry for herself, she gets on with life. And if they didn't ignore her, she wouldn't have all this time to spend with a werewolf, so it works out. Sam, the werewolf of the story, doesn't get all emo or try to push her away from him. He doesn't make choices for her or try to make her stay away from him for her own good (Edward Cullen, anyone? The Doctor?). He wants to be with her and he tries desperately to hang on to his human form for as long as possible. This is seriously such a refreshing change. Stupidity isn't getting in their way, only fate, and they will fight fate for as long as they possibly can without giving up. Does Grace get sad at times? Yes. But she doesn't give up on her life.

I mean one of the things that irritates me most about Twilight is the feeling sorry for yourself with your lot in life that permeates it all and the boy treating the girl like crap and making her choices for her. It sets a very bad example to teenage girls when the female main character accepts this as okay behavior. (Bella, I'm looking at you). There are other reasons, mostly that the first book needed serious editing down and didn't get it, and lots of other small ones. This one I like because it avoids that whole sort of messiness.

It also has good secondary characters who had interesting personalities, though I would have liked to see them rounded out a bit more. The sequel, Linger, looks like it has a lot more development of one of these characters so I'm looking forward to that when I get my hands on it. There are 33 holds at my library for the sequel and only 8 books so I may give in and buy it from the local B&N along with Shiver, since I took so long reading it I had to turn it in before Rose could read it, too. It's 390 pages and normally I read faster than this. (I sort of got distracted reading wildwinterwitch's To Dream a Life, Sanctuary and all the oneshots before Silver Leaves and earlgreytea68's last Chaos epic at the same time).

Anyway, if you like supernatural teenage romances, I'd highly rec this one. And if you've got a teen, it's a good read. I don't remember any swearing. There is a very fade to black "first time," and they do share a bed rather chastely for many nights, if that's a concern to you as a parent. I'd say 13 and up would be fine.

Today was a busy day but I got more accomplished than I thought I would. First of all I made this entry: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/39060.html into my very first picspam. That would be the dialog with my characters and myself when they weren't behaving the other day, so do go back and let me know what you think of it. New artform and all. *grins*

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amberfocus

February 2023

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Page Summary

Slow Service and Lots of Reading
I Think I Have Jam Coming Out My Ears...
I Think I Have Jam Coming Out My Ears...
So Today I Made...
So Today I Made...
No Writing Today--General Life Update
No Writing Today--General Life Update
I Am So Sick
I Am So Sick
A Little More
A Little More
Still Growly
Still Growly
Book Stuff
Book Stuff
Book Rec: Shiver
Book Rec: Shiver
Busy, Busy and Story Updates
Busy, Busy and Story Updates

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Life Viewed Through an Amber Focus

Not Rose-Colored Glasses

Entries tagged with currently reading

Slow Service and Lots of Reading

I Think I Have Jam Coming Out My Ears...

I Think I Have Jam Coming Out My Ears...

So Today I Made...

So Today I Made...

No Writing Today--General Life Update

No Writing Today--General Life Update

I Am So Sick

I Am So Sick

A Little More

A Little More

Still Growly