reading!

I'm doing the 48 Hour Book Challenge @ MotherReader

I'm going to get started now, and will be posting stuff about books for the next 48 hours!

I got my books today. Author's copies. I was a little scared to open the box. So amazing, though. So amazing.

Then, in the spirit of getting organized and finishing up the things I usually do at new year's, I went through my book journal. I read a shocking number of books last year. More than I read the year I was unemployed. No wonder I didn't get much (else) done last year.

Every year I make a list of my favorite books I read during the year. Here's the list for 2008. A bit late.

Love Walked In - Marisa de los Santos
Ballet Shoes / Circus Shoes - Noel Streatfeild
Life as We Knew It / The Dead & the Gone - Susan Beth Pfeffer
Josie & Jack - Kelly Braffett
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
Couch World - Cathy Yardley
Dramarama - E Lockhart
Sweethearts - Sara Zarr
Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
Ten Cents a Dance - Christine Fletcher
Perfect You - Elizabeth Scott
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone - S Kuehnert
Lock & Key - Sarah Dessen

I swear I did read books by men. And books that weren't YA and chicklit. But that is what I like, apparently.

this made my day

I got a good review for Life on the Move from Fallen Angel Reviews!

Perfect timing to cap off 2008.

Happy new year, everyone!

GoodReads

I joined Goodreads ages ago and then just gradually drifted away from using the site. Yesterday, somehow, I came across a group on there called "What's the Name of that Book???"

I have a not-so-secret love for forgotten book finder threads and boards. I love the odd, half-remembered descriptions. And I love solving other peoples' mysteries! There were two on Goodreads that I was sure of and able to answer.

Anyway. I'm going to go acquaint myself with all the new goodies the site has to offer. Here's my profile, and I applied to their authors' program (whee!) so I should be able to add an excerpt soon!

I contributed to this month's Samhellion, the Samhain newsletter. You can read my piece on the topic of "what I did over the summer" here:

http://www.thesamhellion.com/2008/september/

It's about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which I've made an annual summer tradition.

for the love of lists

I am a list maker.

I can't help it. It's just who I am. To-do lists, lists of books I've read and movies I've seen, lists of places I want to go... When I decorated my house, I painted a wall in my writing area with chalkboard paint. What do you think I write there? Lists.

So I like to play around on 43 Things and the List of Bests.

I have two big life goals that are centered around lists. One is to see all of Shakespeare's plays performed onstage. I'm about one-third done with that. The other is to visit all 50 states. I've been closing in on that one for years. Only 10 left!

And then there's movies. I love the classics and I'm addicted to Netflix. My first movie goal was one I set for myself when I was about 8 years old -- to see every movie ever referenced by TV private eye Remington Steele. I made a list when the show came out on DVD of the movies I hadn't seen yet and watched the ones that were available on DVD. It's really fun accomplishing childhood goals, however silly they might be. After that I watched all the Academy Award Best Pictures, and then the AFI 100 Movies. Now when I don't know what to watch I work on the other AFI lists and the Time magazine list. Which Netflix helpfully has on an "award winners" page.

I don't know what it is about lists. Maybe I like things organized, or maybe I feel better if I know what to do next or have a goal I'm working toward.

this is pretty awesome

It's a "Wordle" (visual representation of text) of my novel!