(no subject)

[trinityvixen]

I've started to keep a checklist of things I've read/watched/listened to for the first time this year. It's a useful little tool for me as I've absolutely no memory for these things otherwise (I'm realizing I can't keep track of half the Discworld books I've read already).

I was jotting down my entry for last night, in which I finished the last installment of Horatio Hornblower, and took a count of movies versus books. By a margin of 6-to-1, I've watched more movies than I've read books. If you count installments of miniseries, like Jeeves and Wooster or Horatio Hornblower separately, the margin is much larger (and I've not counted television shows on DVD, yet, so I'm not sure what to do about "The Pretender" discs I have on loan).

So, I decided to start requesting more books from the NYPL. There is a part of me that's just in it for the excitement of getting e-mails saying such-and-such a book I don't remember ordering is now waiting for me (I call this the "Netflix effect"). But I'd like to think there's good fun to be had in some of my selections. I'm fairly boring, I went to Amazon and looked at top critic's picks for 2005 to catch me up on some good reading. To that, I embellished the list with a selection of book titles garnered from Newsweek, one of which involves zombies, so should be fun. I also added a request for a soon-to-be-ordered biography of Lord Nelson, after many outraged f'listers couldn't believe I wasn't familiar with his exploits (there, now, you see? I soon will be).

Some of the titles are really promising-sounding. The March by EL Doctorow promises to be thrillingly horrific. It's about Sherman's March in the Civil War, which is easily one of the most awful things ever perpetrated by Americans on Americans, so let's hope it's a good read. There were some conservative-baiting, liberal-leaning books about religion and politics that I couldn't resist. I think I snuck in a short story collection called Twilight of the Superheroes, which I had to include after reading the Wilde-esque quote from one of the stories and seeing the cover with the sad Batman-wannabe fellow on the cover.

Any recommendations to be had would be welcome, I guess is what I'm getting at.

Comments

[anomilygrace.livejournal.com]

I wasn't outraged! ;) Hey, I have a friend who's about to get her MA in History. Which is great except that anything past 1500 (unless it has to do with Russia) she knows nothing about. I explained the whole Napoleonic War situation to her a few months ago. So, yeah, holes in historical knowledge? Totally understandable.

What books did you get? :-D

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Well, now you'll know more about Nelson than me. (Most of what I know was in my earlier post. :) )

I'm not keeping track of movies, although I haven't watched all that much. I did start keeping track of books I'm reading, though. I'm kind of curious to see how many I get through in a year. I'm up to 26 (although 9 of them are Jedi Apprentice crack from Ivy03), and I've got three I'm currently working on. (I tend to be reading multiple books at a time. I just leave them in different areas. One in my briefcase, one in the living room, and one on my dresser, right now.)

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

So far, the ones I mentioned above, and The World is Flat (which has a waiting list longer than I think I'll end up having patience for), a book about America before European invasion called 1491, God's Politics (about the religious right's use of theocracy to stymie the left), Guns, Germs and Steel and another by the authot of that one called Collapse that investigates the fall of socieities.

Whew.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

ADDICT!

For the record, I don't log the books I read (I figure that if I can't remember it, I might as well re-read it, and I don't read enough for pleasure to make it a trivia fact about myself), though I do keep a log of video games I play.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Video games! ::slaps forehead:: I should add that. Except, how would I classify? I mean, only new games in 2006? Only games I've not played before and have now played? Not enough of those. I rely too much on Gauntlet and Dynasty Warriors type standbys. Oh well.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

What's interesting to me, too, is how I watch movies. I've kept track of when I watched them, but also the medium I watched them on. Because of Netflix, most of the movies have been rentals. But there are a goodish number of DVDs (defined as those owned by/bought for me or loaned from friends), and a few movies I caught on paid channels at home.

What I find most fascinating is that I've yet to see a single movie in the theater. That would be unheard of for me a few years ago. January is dumping ground, though, and February wasn't any better. Maybe March? With the summer season starting earlier every year, there might be something in March worth my $12. Oh! Totoro! I'm seeing that in the theater. Keen.

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

If you end up liking 1491 (a book I own but keep putting off reading due to thinks coming up) you might want to check out Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. The will be a lot of pure bile and rage you'd have to filter out, but it's quite informative about the US governments interactions with the native population over much of the 20th Century. Though I'd recommend reading the review Benji Hughes wrote about it to gauge if you'd want to read the book.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I just came across 1491 at Amazon, and it seems to have a relatively short wait period, so I'll let you know if I want to keep reading in that direction. I'm a terrible book researcher, though. I tend to read one book on a subject and move onto another, so I dunno that I'll stick with indigenous American development and rights. I have a lot of other "issue" books that will be commandeering my time.

But I'll keep it in mind.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

I mostly use it for RPGs or obsessions. That is, so far this year I played through Suikoden, played through half of Suikoden II, played through Sword of Mana, and have almosted finished a play through of Final Fantasy 4 Advance. If I play one round of Dynasty Warriors, I don't log it, but if I unlock a lot of stuff and don't play anything else for that time, I do. I never log puzzle games or things that take half an hour to play through (Contra, for instance).

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that would take too long.

But you log all the items in DW? Crazy talk. It would drive me nuts. I have a compulsion to collect all the items as is!

[anomilygrace.livejournal.com]

Guns, Germs, and Steel is a fabulous book. I've not read Collapse, but it's on my long term list of books to read. As is The World is Flat (actually, that's on my short term list - whenever I have the cash for a hardcover book or I FINALLY get it from the library). And I can't wait to hear what you think about God's Politics. That's another one I've been eyeing though I tend to read books about older church history than current events.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

These were all grabbed off the editor's choice listing at Amazon, so I'm interested to see how they turn out, coming as they are (for me) out of the blue. These are more "issue books" than I've attempted since the 2004 elections. Should be enlightening.

I will definitely keep you informed.

[cbreakr.livejournal.com]

wait, Totoro is playing in theater?

[cbreakr.livejournal.com]

ooh, and the entire Studio Ghibli collection for only $68, no shipping...

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

There was a special showing Eugene linked to. I signed up for a ticket. I haven't seen it before, so why not in a theater?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Wow, that link looked shady. Chinese language track? Smells bootleggy.

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

We both have a complusion to collection all the items, apparently. Basically, I used the list as a track of my time-sinks, and when I'm bored and want to figure out what I haven't played in a while. I hadn't touched Suikoden since junior year of college, so when picking something to play, it jumped out.

It's also occasionally good for identifying an old save game before I delete it. "When was this one from? Oh, 1998, and I didn't even get all the characters. It can go."

[cbreakr.livejournal.com]

This is the reason why I'm incredibly tempted, but haven't pounced on it yet.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Wow. You make more sense than I do. If I start an RPG or other type game with saves old enough that I don't know what they were from, I tend just to delete them and start over. I think I deleted all but the very last set of FFX saves at this point, because I was at a place where I could go back and see all the pretty movies if I wanted, I'd thoroughly schooled Bliztball, and then only thing left was the boss to beat at the end.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're paying for a fansub or something like. I remember someone had an enviably cheap boxset of something and then I saw it and knew why...

[cbreakr.livejournal.com]

I got a bootleg box set of Trigun for 20 bucks. It was shitty (and there was one scene which had no subtitles at all), but it was worth it.

There was an option for Chinese dubbing, and it was the most disorienting experience.