More more more

Although I think I've forgotten some movies because I've been posting so infrequently, I've probably finished another 20 books since August. Although now that I'm starting a new job next week I'll be going back to a more normal reading pace. I certainly expect to finish before Thanksgiving though. I really liked Safety Not Guaranteed and Beasts of the Southern Wild, and really hated Snow White and the Huntsman. Big surprise.

I figured it might go this way...

Done reading! Haha, not really.

So I'm done with my 50 books. This is what happens when it is summer; I figured I usually read about 50 books per year, but had never counted before, and here it is, August 26, and I'm about 25 pages from the end of book #50. Which is really really long (800-ish pages) and the most different and difficult book that I have read in a really long time. And because I haven't been keeping perfect track of movies (thank Kindle and my bedside table for the book reference space) I'm sure I've actually seen a few more than I've listed, but can't remember them.

Oh well. Going to see the new Spiderman today and looking forward to Beasts of the Southern Wild when it comes to town. Woot!

Summer, Time

Managing to bust out some serious reading over the summer while planning my wedding, having my wedding, looking for jobs, taking students to Malawi, etc. has been much easier than I'd expected. I love summer. Some highlights include the Dresden Files, thanks to Sarah Marhevsky for the recommendation. I really In Time, which was recommended by a student, and is an interesting twist on a dystopian future. Onward to 50 we go.

Keeping Pace

So it is June 11. I have read 26 books so far, and watched 26 movies. I have been working (until this week), while doing so. I'm getting married in 3 weeks, then going to Malawi with a bunch of high school students for another 2 weeks instead of a honeymoon (for now), so I'm glad that I've been keeping pace even if I am probably about to fall behind. But since I've also been fired, I will have plenty of time in the late summer and all next fall to catch up. Bright side... go for 75 of each?

Anyways, I want to give a shout-out to my fellow readers who have been good about writing reviews. Several of the books on my list have come from them (especially jonyangorg) and when I get a little more disciplined this summer I hope that I can major in recommendations. Or minor, or whatever. This has certainly been a more haphazard process than I'd expected it to be, but that's been fun.


Keep reading peeps.

Reading but not Writing

So despite the fact that I consider myself both a good writer and a good communicator, I have come to the conclusion that I am not a good blogger. I don't care enough about what I'm doing to anonymously share it with the wider world in this format. That said, I've talked to tons of people about the movies and books I've consumed in this process, and that has bee fun, and this is at least going to remain the place where I keep track of what I've accomplished for 2012. Recent books have been ok... recently I haven't watched many movies. It's been a difficult and busy spring.

Michael Chabon is Awesome.

I just breezed through The Final Solution, by Michael Chabon. He is a wonderful writer... sometimes succinct and humorous, sometimes wordy but beautifully descriptive, always evocative. It was about an elderly detective (retired) and his investigation of a theft of a parrot and a murder, which were connected. The parrot was the friend and companion of a young mute Jewish German boy and had a connection to the British WWII intelligence effort... the "final solution" refers to the deportation and murder of jews throughout Europe, and although it inspired the title of the book it was tangential to the plot of the story. That is something I love about Chabon though -- his ability to connect tangents in a wonderful web. I have another of his novels on my bedside table and I'm going to hit that next; he doesn't disappoint.

Hawaii is beautiful

Tonight I went out to see The Descendents, with George Clooney. It started out by showing a montage of scenes from around the islands in Hawaii, with the voice over explaining that it wasn't paradise for the people who lived there -- it was just a place where life happened. Off to a good start, I thought.

I'd heard good things but was afraid it would be sappy. It was certainly sad, and I had to borrow a kleenex (well, not really borrow because you'd never try to give it back later) from a friend of a friend because I was actually crying at one point, as opposed to the tearing-up I'd been doing earlier. It saved itself from being sappy by being realistic; the teenagers were kind of jerks and the 10 year old was kind of weird and the adults were all complex, so that you liked them in some ways and despised or pitied them in others (except the Brian Greer character -- he was a douchebag through and through). I would definitely recommend this film; it was very well done.