Katelisim's 2014

Hiya! I am finally permitting myself to start the thread with the finishing of a book. Last year, my reading fell off a bit due to the pesky real world and associated responsibilities. And it will probably stay in a similar state this year. But I love the 75 group too much to leave (you can't make me! lol). Anywho, down to business.

Links
2013 Thread
My out-of-date blog (which I fully intend on resurrecting soon)
My local book club

Completed
1. Glitch by Heather Anastasiu
2. Catbug
3. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
4. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
5. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
6. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
7. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
8. Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver
9. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
10. Cain's Blood by Geoffrey Girard
11. Storm Thief by Chris Wooding
12. Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne
13. Blood Child by Octavia Butler
14. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
15. Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Schwartz/Gammell
16. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
17. The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero
18. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
19. Angelfall by Susan Ee
20. World After by Susan Ee

Yay! Glad to see you back!

Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

This was read as part of my book club (meeting in 6 days).

Zoe lives in a post-apocalyptic world where people had to move underground to survive the fallout. The corporation (that transformed to government?) offered people a brain chip to eliminate emotion, creating a society of peaceful drones concerned only about order and doing their duty to the community. One day Zoe glitches and starts feeling emotion and experiencing unregulated senses -- a situation rectified by reprogramming or deactivation. Oh, and it's totally a "Big Brother" situation with cameras, Regulators, and citizens conditioned to tattle everywhere. Let's see if she can survive!

Overall, this is a piece of brain candy. If I think about it too much, some of it doesn't hold up--mostly because the focus is on the characters instead of any strong development of the world or technology. And even so, the characters don't particularly pop for me. There were also a few things that bothered me and took me out of the story -- our main character easily slides into casual language even though she was raised using only rigid and technical vocabulary, AND most bothersome of all, one character seems to have temporarily grown a third arm in order to subdue someone (hands on knife, mouth, and arm).

Glitch has a great concept; I just don't think it was executed very well -_-;;

While I wouldn't specifically recommend it, I'm also not opposed to reading the sequel to see if it gets better. So make of that what you will, I guess.

Hi Stasia!

Happy new thread!

Yay! Looking forward to seeing what else you read. :)

Welcome back!

Got you starred! :)

Welcome back! Glitch sounds interesting, but not enough to seek out if there are problems. If you enjoy the sequel, I might be persuaded to change my mind!

Pleased to see you finally have a thread, Katie. :)

Hello everyone!

#9> Honestly, I just think I'm getting pickier with my book choices / writing quality. If I had read this, oh, say 3+ years ago, I probably would have loved it (barring that 3 arm thing, lol).

So we had our book club for Glitch last night and it seems we were all in a generally similar opinion.

1. We suspect that it was her first novel, and that many of the writing issues probably stemmed from that
2. We dislike Max's character and didn't really find him all that necessary
3. Neat idea with the dystopian's premise, but it wasn't utilized -- minimal world development
4. Liked the side stories
5. Liked the antagonist
6. Reminded us of Uglies, but not quite at the same level
7. Enjoyed that it was super quick and a fluffy read

From those at the meeting, 1 member finished the trilogy, 1 member read through book 2, and 2 members only read the first (and no one minded spoilers being discussed). It gets a bit ridiculous by the end of the trilogy. So I probably won't be reading further in the series (though there is always the slight possibility that curiosity will lurch forward when I'm feeling bored).

>12 katelisim: Is there a particular theme your book club reads around, Katie? Or just whichever books your members pick?

No particular theme. We cycle through who picks the book. And we are planning to pick a "classic" or noteworthy book at the end of each cycle. We have fairly broad tastes and have read Shades of Grey by Fforde (my pick), Second Glance by Picoult, Anonymous Rex by Garcia, Lamb: Or the Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore (the only one I haven't read so far--wasn't making the meeting, and was busy), and then Glitch.

Quite the mix then. Sounds like fun. :)

I survived the big gaming event! . . . . that hasn't been mentioned on this thread, but on last year's. . . .

Oi, I was tuckered out and sick, slept most of yesterday -- BUT started reading The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater. Not too far in yet, but I have high hopes for this one as its prequel was fantastic.

Looks like our next book club read will be a non-fic, probably autobiography from the sounds of it. Looks like it's been narrowed to Michael J Fox and Mindy Kaling. We'll see which one is decided!

Glad to see you're still alive! Either of those memoirs sound good. I have a lot of love for Michael J. Fox, mostly because of Back to the Future and a little bit just because he's Canadian.

The decision has been made: our next book club read will be Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling. That is slated for the 3rd week of March.

Still only about 120 pages into Dream Thieves, and I like it so far, just much less urgent than the previous novel so far--so I've been putzing a bit.

I've heard good things about your book club book, I look forward to your thoughts. :)

Oh, I really enjoyed the Mindy Kaling book (I listened to her own audio version) - I hope you enjoy it, too!

Oh, good! I'm glad it's something people are liking. So far the only autobiographies I've highly enjoyed have been written by comedians, so I had hoped! I look forward to it :)

(driveby wave) Hiya! :)

*waves*

Wow, I have made like no process on Dream Thieves. . . . mostly due to a busy schedule and being off/on sick to the point where I just want to tv.

I did however finally pick up that Mindy Kaling book to read for book club this week. Thankfully it's short so I should breeze through it in time :)

The game club also picked up a Wii U and I've been greatly enjoying the Rayman game during our Lounge. Platformers are totally my jam and I keep forgetting how much I truly enjoy them when I go on bouts of other genres.

I really like platformers too, and it sucks that there are so few of them right now! Which Rayman game is it? There were 2 recently (Rayman Legends and Rayman Origins) and both are really fantastic.

Rayman Legends, I believe. I'm totally digging the mix of traditionally controller usage and the touch screen mechanics.

I'm really hoping to see the return of platformers soon. They were pretty popular like 8-10 yrs ago but have kinda vanished, or at least have had minimal marketing/exposure. BUT Kingdom Hearts 3! Whenever that happens for the PS4 I'm gonna be all over it :D

Started Kaling's book, about 1/3 through. So far it's bouncing between quite amusing anecdotes, meh stories, and hilarious one-liners.

Also finished. . . .



2014 Catbug Special

Which is a super cute comic book focused on the most adorable cartoon critter ever, Catbug, from the Bravest Warriors animated series on Youtube. Which if you haven't seen, I highly recommend. It's by the same guy that created Adventure Time, but this one is in space and uses sci-fi/superhero tropes (rather than fantasy).

Seriously, Catbug is like my favorite ever.

Ah, Rayman Origins is the one I played, so I can vouch for that one, it's also fantastic!

Playstation and Nintendo have some good platformers, but I can't seem to think of any that are on the Xbox. I'm playing Puppeteer right now and it's pretty fantastic. It's a sidescrolling platformer, but the game mechanics are incredibly unique.

Also, LittleBigPlanet is pretty much totally amazing.

Also also, Catbug is super cute.

Ooooh, I saw a trailer for Puppeteer and was very intrigued.

The only platformers for Xbox that I can think of were also on other systems, i.e. Psychonauts (one of my faves!).

Though, I do get a bit confused on which games now days will -actually- fall under "platformer" status, as I see a muddling of it with action, adventure, and some puzzle games (dat Portal action). Not that I mind the mixing of genres, it just gets incredibly difficult to talk about them.

Must. Watch. Catbug. MUST WATCH!!!

>26 Ape:: I got to play the Puppeteer demo at PAX Prime last year, and it was fantastic. I asked for it for Christmas and my birthday, to no avail. One of these days I'll get my hands on it...!!!

Katie: I would generally consider any game that has you jumping from platform to platform to avoid perilous spikes/lava/enormous fish/goop/rabid squirrels to be a platformer, but there are a lot of games that take elements of the platformer and mix it with other genres.

It's the same with the RPG. Pretty much every game can have RPG elements now, heck, even racing games have leveling systems with unlockable abilities, but it's hard to say if they really count as RPGs. I'd sooner call them racing gameswith RPG elements, or action games with platforming sections. :P

By the way, I didn't realize, but this whole time I meant to specify that I miss 2-D platformers. Like Rayman, LittleBigPlanet, and Puppeteeer. :P

Faith: Oh, it's so good! Obviously we need some more holidays for you to ask for it on. :)

Faith: You MUST watch Catbug! It's the most adorable.

Ape: I guess my difficulty in differentiating mostly stems from no one I knew distinguishing between action and platformer when I was younger. I don't think I knew about 'platformers' until late high school. I just played them and never really gave much thought about genres back then. But of course, at that point, genres were already mixing, lol. So it's been an uphill battle figuring out where those lines are.

3. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Overall, I found this to be entertaining but not particularly captivating. Many of the stories and anecdotes I felt would be more dynamic in conversation with Kaling's tones and expressions enhancing it. Often I asked myself why certain stories were needed for the book. Other times I thought they were quite poignant. She also didn't shy away from unflattering material (i.e. at one point she basically has a tantrum).

I didn't feel like this was a particularly good use of my reading time, but at just over 200 pages (with pictures), I didn't feel like I really wasted much either.

However, my book club ladies loved it. Sooooooooo *shrug

Yay for a successful book club read!

Indeed! Our next read has been decided: Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. I'm super stoked about it. And one of the local HPBs has it, so just waiting for it to be transferred to the closer location :)

Last night I read about half of the Hyperbole and a Half book, based on the popular blog by the same name. Allie Brosh mixes bits of writing with delightfully child-like illustrations (reminiscent of MS Paint--maybe she does use that tho?) to tell hilarious stories about her life and observations. I was laughing so hard. One of her comics online also discusses her interpretation of "a lot" vs "alot". . . .

Good luck with Ocean at the End of the Lane. :) I'm still reading it from last year, but that's just because I've been super lazy, not because it sucks. And I'm still waiting for my hold on Hyperbole and a Half to come in. (fingers crossed) Love the Alot pic!

>33 katelisim: The Alot article was my introduction to Hyperbole and a Half, and it does spring to mind every time I see someone online talking about having "alot of" something! ETA: I think she does use MS Paint for her illustrations.

Sara: You're gonna love the book. I have run into a few more stories I've read from the site. Right now I'm wondering if they've all been previously posted (since I didn't find it til there was at least a 1-2 yr backlog of posts) or if there is a mix.

Foggi: Same! It's good fun and definitely takes away some of the grammar tension when I see it elsewhere, lol.

I know I will. :) I flipped through it awhile back, but it was on hold for someone else, so no time to get too far into it. (checking my account) I'm #36 in line for it. Yeesh, I've got a few weeks to go. As for if it's new or old stuff, I honestly don't know. I haven't visited the site yet.

>31 katelisim: I really quite liked the Kaling book, but then again, I listened to it while doing other things, so it wasn't so much a time commitment, I guess. Plus, she read it herself, and that made it much more enjoyable/personable, I think.

Allie Brosh definitely does use Microsoft Paint for her illustrations. One of her blog posts mentions that at some point.

I can't draw a circle on MS Paint. Or a square, for that matter.

38> Yeah, I probably would've like that better, lol

39> Good to know! I've actually never tried Paint before, but I used to do an online pictionary game that I presume had similar functionality -- and it wasn't easy at all.

I'm almost done with Hyperbole, and it's been very enjoyable :)

And I just found out it's Watchathon week on my cable's OnDemand. . . . . Helloooooooo Game of Thrones binge. If I have time after that, I might see if DaVinci's Demons and Black Flag are any good. If anyone has watched those, thoughts?

4. Hyperbole and a Half
Absolutely loved it! But I had no doubts as it's one of my fave blogs. I also highly appreciate the quality of paper used--thick, heavy, and perfect for images.

About 2/3rds of the way through Dream Thieves.

Caught up through season 3 of Game of Thrones. Now my mother can't threaten spoilers :D

#42: Yay for finishing Hyperbole and a Half! :) I'm still waiting for my hold....

How're you liking Dream Thieves? I have Shiver by her, but I haven't started it yet. I want to, but my TBR pile is daunting!

I like it quite a bit. It's not quite as addicting/gotta-read-it-all-now as the first book, Raven Boys, but it's still very good. I started it quite a while ago, but lost the mood for it. Not the books fault. When I picked it back up I became quite interested again :)

Honestly, I think I'm just burning out on some of the YA stuff. This one is still different enough from a lot of them I've read/have now, so I think that's why I'm still going good on it. I think I'll be switching over to some denser material soon. I've been eyeing my copies of Name of the Wind and Black Prism for a while now. Also Erewhon and a dual language copy of Faust in English and German. Just haven't had much time/energy to devote to them lately, but with the end of the semester rolling in, I should get some time :D

I know how that goes--liking a book off the bat, then losing my reading momentum and forgetting about it for awhile, then picking it back up and falling for it again. :) Hope you're able to finish it soon! And wow, a bilingual version Faust? Impressive! My German's not as good as it was when I was in high school. I flip through the children's German books we have at work and have trouble with even those. Anyway, yay for semester for almost being over, so you'll be able to get through the books you want. :)

My German's never been good, lol. I took a weird learning path on it in school and basically crammed in bits and pieces of levels 1-4 in 3 semesters during my senior year of high school. And about 4yrs later took one kind of refresher class in college. I just happen to listen to a lot of German music and know some folks who do have good German, so the knowledge stuck around okay. I have one other dual language book of classic German poetry. They're fun refreshers. And I learn a bunch of new words, or as is sometimes the case, other translations for words I already knew.

Sounds like you found the perfect way to learn it. :) And listening to people speak it on a regular basis definitely helps. Good luck with your other classic poetry book, if you read it this year. :)

Oh, I already read the poetry one. I would just read a few here and there in between other books. I think it took me like 2-3yrs to read that way, lol.

Oh, gotcha. I've done the same thing. :) Some books have taken me years to read. Sometimes because they are that dull or just really big (like anthologies/short story collections).

Yeah, I almost never read anthologies or collections all the way through. I actually didn't even The Planets by Dava Sobel through. They're nice breaks in between other things, especially when I had tons of assigned reading and minimal free time -- it just worked so perfectly to read 2-10 pages at a time, and still get something complete, rather than a chapter or two and forgetting everything by the time I got back to it :)

Was The Planets for school or just one you wanted to read? Science isn't my best subject, so I'm guessing maybe Stephen might like that one. :)

I love sneaking shorter books in, too, like children's picture books and graphic novels. I haven't been college in forever, so I guess I don't have to worry about assigned reading, though I do get tons of recommended reads from patrons and coworkers, which, honestly, I'll probably never read.

The Planets was just for fun. It's filled with a lot of anecdotes from her life as well, so it's a very relatable science book. Each chapter is based on a different planet, moon, space-type-thing (a very scientific term, no? I want to use something like 'astral body' but it just makes me think of astral projection, soooo. . . . ) So they're more like short stories that fit a theme.

lol @ space-type-thing. Yeah, it's very STP-ish ("Sex Type Thing" song; yeesh, I'm showing my age again). Actually, I do like anecdotal books (I can't recall any I've read recently), so I could see how that one would be perfect to read in between textbooks and such.

Lol, I totes grew up with STP (and was even alive when that hit the airwaves)

5. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
I liked this quite a bit. The beginning isn't as captivating as the first novel, The Raven Boys, but it picked up with a ton of interesting stuff later. My one complaint is the same as the first book -- the epilogue just had to include a last minute cliffhanger. I feel if TRB cliffhanger had been at the beginning of this novel, it wouldn't have felt slow. I'm hoping that's not the case for the third book as well (which comes out this October).

Oh, and when the heck did World After (Penryn and the End of Days) come out? I loved Angelfall, joined Susan Ee's newsletter to get news of the sequel when announced. . . . but nooooooo, I have to find out when I randomly walk down the book aisle at Walmart yesterday. I might need to read the first one before I start this. . . . after my book club read. . . . I think I can muster another round of YA paranormal dystopia, maybe *crosses fingers for more time

#54: Me too. I love the song, but unfortunately every time I hear it, it reminds me of an ex-boyfriend whose idea of romantic songs was to play that one. (eye roll)

#55: Beautiful cover, as always! I'm glad you liked it. :)

#56: That sucks about not being updated about World After's release, but at least now you know. I hope you're able to fit that one. :)

We'll see. I am excited to read it at some point tho :)

Aaaaaaaaand, book club's been moved up to this Sunday for various reasons. Aaaaaaaand I haven't started The Ocean at the End of the Lane yet, so thank bejeeeezus it's short, lol.

This Sunday? Do you have to read all of it or just some of it? Either way, like you said, it's short! :)

yep, meeting in like 3 days. And all of it. Sadly, it's been a really busy week too. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to finish it, but I'll try!

Oh, yikes! Best thing you can do if you don't finish it: just smile and nod to what everyone says. ;) But I'm sure you'll make a dent in it. It's fairly fast paced.

6. The Ocean at the End of the Lane
I loved it! (of course, I didn't have doubts that I would) This story beautifully walks the line of fantasy and magical realism and employs a slightly unreliable narrator (he's remembering what happened when he was 7--memory isn't always reliable, especially when dealing with the fantastic). It's a short, quick read at just under 180 pages, but it's the perfect length for the story.

My book club ladies all seemed to enjoy it, however one who is unaccustomed to magical realism had difficulty accepting that this is the sort of novel where you're supposed to question what is and isn't real (she wanted more grounding). Another likened the novel to an adult version of Coraline. Over all, I felt this was one of our best and most engaging discussions.

As for story, a death on the edge of the Hempstock's property triggers it all. The Hempstocks, 3 women who find the ordinary droll, have a farm where the pond is an ocean and the woods contain more than just owls and foxes. When a boarder from the boy's (never named) home dies near those woods, it awakens things that make their way into the ordinary world. Our main character is left traversing the dark, mysterious, and difficult events that follow.

A word of caution though -- since our main character is in his 40's+ and remembering events that happened at the age of 7, not all clues and tidbits are neatly tied up. An air of mystery remains at the end, especially around the Hempstock family. I find it fitting to the story and the characters, however, I know that it can be an issue for some folks. But I still suggest you give it a try -- it's a beautiful adult fairy tale :)

>62 katelisim: I'm so glad you liked it, Katie.

Hooray! You finished it. :)

I did! I got enough done on Friday that I could just binge through in on Saturday.

We're voting on our next read, a "classic or noteworthy" title, using the 1001 books to read before you die as inspiration. We've narrowed it down to 3 titles: House of Leaves by Danielewski (one of my faves, definitely rooting for this one), Lolita by Nabokov, and A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. In any case, an interesting mix of options, lol.

A Tale of Two Cities is one my favourite Dickens novels so I'll root for it as I haven't read the rest.

Those three are vastly different. :) I'll root for House of Leaves for you, too, with Lolita as a second choice (well, I guess my second choice; I've always wanted to read that one, since I've seen the movie adaptations so far). (Sorry, Micky! :)

House of Leaves it is! :D

Oh, cool! I hope it's a good read. :)

One of my faves too!

Sara: Oh it definitely is! We should get some really interesting conversation with this one

Jim: :D

And, oh my goodness, I actually got around to reviewing Hyperbole and a Half on ze blog. First post in quite a while, lol.

Good job! :) I seriously need to read that one soon (whenever my hold comes in).

AHHHHHH! I saw X-Men Days of Futures Past and am now reeeeeeeaaalllllyyyyy excited for the sequel in 2016. These are pretty much the X-Men movies I've been hoping for from the beginning :D

Anyone else seen it yet?

I am very interested in seeing it! Trying to get in to see it tomorrow but not sure if I'll be able to fit it in. :)

Nope. :( I'm too poor to go to the theater. But I'm glad it rocks! :)

>73 katelisim: I was very, very happy.

Melissa: I hope you got to see it!

Sara: :( Well, try to get to the top of the library request list when it's in the system? Or Redbox maybe? They're pretty cheap as far as rentals go.

Micky: Yay!

I just rewatched the DoFP episodes from the 90s cartoon. It got me thinking that I should prolly reread the comics too (haven't since I was a kid) and maybe do a little comparison of the major story elements on ze blog (i.e. main characters, time travel, etc) There's surprisingly quite a few differences that I've conveniently hid from myself, lol.

I must admit, I only watch comic book films and have never read any of the comics. So that means I had no clue what the Easter egg was about. Can you explain it to me?

Micky: Are you talking about the post-credits scene? If so, it teases the villain Apocalypse and his generals, the Four Horsemen. Apocalypse is a villain that has shown up in a couple different X-Men timelines and is immensely powerful. The horsemen rotate characters, as in anyone can occupy the role because Apocalypse bestows the associated powers (death, famine, war, pestilence). Throughout the series (and timelines--incl. comics, tv series) some popular characters that have been horsemen are Gambit, Wolverine, and Angel. There are very little details out right now. . . . so it could go a few different ways. But all very promising!

Very helpful. Thanks, Katie! (Also, I now understand the subtitle for the next movie :)).

#77: I will definitely do that. Library holds are much cheaper. :)

Finished The Phantom Tollbooth and found out that it was not about a haunted tollbooth . . . . however still enjoyed it immensely. Full review should be up sometime on a blog :)

Yeah, I found that out, too, when I read it a few years ago. I was kind of bummed there weren't any ghosts or anything. ;) Still, I liked it. Can't wait to see what you thought.

I adored Phantom Tollbooth when I read it as a kid but I cannot for the life of me remember a single detail of the plot now.

Not a good sign. :D But I'm with you, Micky. I don't remember much of it either.

I've been meaning to read The Phantom Tollbooth for a while now, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I don't think I read it as a child.

I definitely didn't read it as a kid -- basically went from 50ish page elementary age chapter books (i.e. Freckle Juice) to adult books, with only a handful of middle grade and ya mixed in, and those were because they were gifts from unfamiliar relatives or required reading. I'm convinced this is one of the reasons I've been so into ya for the past few years.

As for plot. . . . Milo goes on a quest to bring Princesses Rhyme and Reason back to the Kingdom of Wisdom and has adventures with an assortment of pun-named characters along the way.

Oh, looky here -- review of The Phantom Tollbooth is up :)

Also about 2/3rds of the way through Liesl and Po and about 1/5th of the way through House of Leaves, both as book club reads.

Finished Liesl & Po a little while ago (as an upcoming book club read). I had some mixed thoughts on it, even though I enjoyed it. Full review here.

Good review! I might give it a try. Thanks! :)

I finished House of Leaves for book club. Here are some of the general stats and responses:

Of those present:
- 3 finished (including myself)
- 1 didn't finish, but intends to
- 2 didn't finish and don't intend to (both stopped around page 40)

Group view positives:
- Johnny Truant's character building
- The oddity of the House
- Some of the creative formatting, mostly when exploring the House
- The author took a risk, much respect

Group view negatives
- Long lists of names; 'academic' footnotes
- Intermingling of the stories: interrupted flow/suspense/etc, was confusing, forgot what was happening in story lines by the time they got back to it
- Took too long for group members to care or be intrigued (around page 150 seemed to be the threshold)
- Too much of a demand on the reader; he wrote this for himself (which is not a bad thing, but it has consequences, including exhausting readers to a DNF)

Most of the group wanted a more divided way of storytelling, i.e. 1-3 chapters of a single story line or each story as its own section so they could connect with the characters.

I on the other hand, as mentioned in a previous post, hold this as one of my favorite novels. I find new details each time through. While I agree that it could get to the more personable side of the Navidson story sooner, I've never been too bothered by the slow start. I also agree that certain types of suspense are interrupted, but I feel it's replaced by a different sort of suspense.

We came to the conclusion that how one thinks matters in who enjoys this novel, at least in context of our group. The linear thinkers had a really hard time. A very non-linear thinker who uses media/stories as a 'grounding' also had difficulty. Those who found the most enjoyment are non-linear, puzzle thinkers who enjoy bouncing around different ideas and hyper-focusing on certain things (i.e. the hidden messages and academic styling in the novel or doing puzzles in RL). We wonder if this is true of the general population as well.

Next read for that book club is Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne -- a nice switch up from HoL.

On Saturday, I'll be at a different book club to discuss Liesl & Po, as well as Cain's Blood by Geoffrey Girard (as last month's meeting was postponed, and double upped here) which I just picked up today.

10. Cain's Blood by Geoffrey Girard
Science has cloned the most notorious serial killers in the search for the gene that controls violence. The now teenage clones get loose in the world and the bodies start piling up. Castillo, former military man, is hired to find them, but he uncovers a lot of unsavory details in the process. When he finds an undocumented clone of Jeffrey Dahmer who may have inside information, he brings him along, and is forced to see the politics and genetics on a personal level. Is this kid a Dahmer-in-waiting just biding his time? Or is he just a scared kid who wants to live peacefully?

I was intrigued and entertained by the concept. However it did leave something to be desired. The science in the beginning was quite detailed and made it believable (though I know very little about cloning/genetics, so I cannot verify accuracy), but later developments didn't receive the same treatment which made me question their viability. There were plenty of characters with a lot of potential, but there was a distance that made it hard to connect. Though there is a companion novel, Project Cain, that may let us see Jeff better--but the preview didn't really grab my attention. Conceptually, I think it would've been more effective to have a companion novel from someone who isn't as prevalent in Cain's Blood, i.e. one of the other clones, or even a book of short stories from different clones, victims, scientists, and/or witnesses perspectives.

Note: Cain's Blood is pretty graphic. Not for the squeamish.

Updates:

Upcoming book club reads: Storm Thief by Chris Wooding and Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

I've been skimming through The Internet is a Playground by David Thorne (based on a blog that I've enjoyed). Very fun and easy to break up by web posts.

GISHWHES, a crazy scavenger hunt run by Misha Collins of the show Supernatural, is 4 days in. It's super fun and has taken over this week completely. Definitely won't be doing any reading til it's done ;)

*Scurries off to complete more entries*

Haven't been here in over a month! Oops!

I finished up Storm Thief by Chris Wooding quite a while ago. I remember enjoying it. . . . but not a ton of details. Not really an overall good sign, but good while it lasted *shrug. Definitely liked The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray a lot better.

Just wrapped up Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne. Despite a rocky beginning, I ended up liking it quite a bit and am looking forward to the sequel :)

Started Blood Child by Octavia Butler, a collection of short stories. Interesting so far.

All of the above for book clubs with meetings over the next week.

I also FINISHED two video games! As a serial non-finisher, this is actually quite big news. Granted, they both were under 4hrs to complete the story mode, but still, accomplishments were had. Those were 'Gone Home,' a point-and-click story game, and 'The Typing of the Dead,' which is a zombie game where you kill by typing words instead of shooting. Both were highly enjoyable, but I wished they were longer!

Life happens. I'm glad you're still on LT. :) Cool reads, too!

Welcome back!

Thanks guys!

Book Club on Sunday was very meh towards Monument 14. Most folks enjoyed it as some fast brain-candy, but would not really recommend it. They all made fair points about it (and I did have a rough time in the beginning) -- a couple indicated they'd continue the series. A couple were very against the book--but even they appreciated that it was fast and very action-filled to break up their longer/more serious reads.

Our next read is Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah for November. It's definitely not something I'd pick up on my own, so we'll see how it goes!

I'm about 2/3rds through Eleanor & Park, and I must say it is adorable. I'm a bit nervous to finish, though, cause I can feel something terrible approaching. . . . BUT it has put me in the mood for some wonderful 80s music with all these name drops. Started making a 'mix tape' playlist for myself :D

Totally awesome! ;) I think there are even some sites devoted to the music from that book. Good luck with your book soundtrack. :)

Thanks! Still haven't had the time to finish the book, but here's a link to the work-in-progress playlist on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/user/1251325142/playlist/3XNlttAm0h9jQr2uDSIPGm
Fun fact: All songs on the list were released in 1986 or earlier, so would've been available (or at least in existence) for the characters to listen to :)

Went to the Epic reads book signing today. I got my ARC of Asylum by Madeleine Roux signed (still need to read) and picked up Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios. Highly debated snagging a copy of The Jewel by Amy Ewing, but money :/

>101 katelisim: I don't have an account to Spotify. :( Maybe I'll sign up later.

Congrats on getting a signed copy of Asylum! :) That one looks awesome. I feel ya on the money thing. Not enough of it, and too many books to buy.

Sara -- I just put a post up on the blog with the playlist embedded. I think you should be able to listen to it without an account right on the web page.

Thanks! :) It did require me to sign up (which I did), but now I get to listen to the playlist. Awesome! Thanks again!!

No prob! And good to know! I signed up when it still required a damn beta key and was highly restricted in the US. Oh, how times have changed, lol. Since expanding, I haven't really figure out all those minor details.

I have a couple other playlists up on ze blog too. You should check them out when you get bored of the E&P one. I'll probably be posting my Halloween mix soon too :)

It was restricted in the US? Weird laws.

I'll definitely check out your other playlists. And I especially can't wait for your Halloween mix! :) I love Halloween anything.

Hey guys! Just stopping in to let you all know that I'm participating in a 24hr video game charity marathon today benefiting the Gillette Children's Hospital! We're at 11hrs right now 0_0; So there's --only-- 13 left. If anyone would like to support these brave kids, you can help by sharing this link: bitly.com/1tyQqUz or donating there if you can :)

I know donating is a big decision--it's tax deductible and all funds go to the hospital. If anyone has any questions about the fundraiser, or general progress/updates, I'd be more than happy to answer them!

Thanks everyone!

(PS: I'm going directly to work after this, then the scariest haunted house in the state. . . . I should be good and paranoid by that point and ready to be freaked out, lol ;)

*waving* at Katie

Hi Stasia!
*lots of waves*

>108 katelisim: I totally would help out if I had extra money, but I don't. I'm sorry. But best of luck! And awesome about the haunted house!! When are you going to have time to sleep? :D

Sara -- I'm not, lol. I will be awake for all of it. . . I think I'll be hitting around 40hrs awake. If I'm lucky, I might get out of work early and have time for a nap, but I might not trust myself to wake back up in time. I don't work Monday though, so I'll plenty of time to sleep it off :)

O.M.G. I'll sleep an extra 12 hours or so for you. How's that? ;) I don't know how you'll do it, but you go, girl! Have fun! :)

Haha! I don't sleep much in general and have pulled all-nighters in the past when needed (and sometimes when not needed due to insomnia). It's always the 4am - 6am time frame that's the most difficult. Once past that, I'm pretty solid until the next acceptable bed time, lol.

I am in awe of your brain, how it can function on so little sleep. How'd it go btw? Or are you in a sleep coma right now? ;)

I did hit a lull around 4:3am, but I started playing AudioSurf, a very bright and loud music-ish game, and got my second wind. Also, the team down the hall started exuberantly playing Rock Band (read: shouting lyrics) just prior to then.

Work was interesting. We were busy, so I didn't really have a chance to feel sleepy. Just go! go! go!

And the haunted basement was fun, and they did some really neat stuff (i.e. non-linear, everyone had to wear masks, ambiance), but not as terrifying as I hoped. I did get duct taped up, so there's that. There were some people that were freaking out big time (and I may have unintentionally spooked some people while we were there).

ETA: Hit coma stage around 10pm last night, lol. So total count: 40hrs awake. Caffeine count: 3 mochas, 3 cans of soda. Games finished: 2.

Sounds like you had a blast! :) Hooray for caffeine! Only 6 mochas/soda to do 40 hours awake?? I am in awe. It would take me about 12 Rockstars to do that. And then, well, I'd be dead. ;) Sorry the haunted house wasn't as terrifying, but still, it sounded like fun. Nothing's better than freaking a few people out. 'Tis the season for that. >:) Oh, and congrats on finishing 2 games!

Thanks! They were very fun, short, silly games. The first was Octodad: The Dadliest Catch, in which you play an octopus posing as a human and trying to navigate everyday human family life--all with those flimsy tentacles that make walking a straight line damn near impossible, lol. Took 3-4 hours to play through.

The second game I finished is called Contrast, which is a bit trickier to explain. You play as a girl's invisible friend. Her dad left the family and her mom is a vaudeville singer. Everyone besides you and the girl are shadows, however your character can jump between the corporeal world and the shadow world--so say you need to get to the top of a building w/out stairs; well, she turns into a shadow and can run up a different shadow then pop right back out. The shadow puzzles reminded me a bit of Portal. The story was much deeper and more interesting than expected. This one took around 5-6 hours to beat.

I would highly recommend both :)

Finished up Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones. After I brought it up over on Ape's thread, I needed to revisit the spooky drawings--still super creepy. The stories weren't as good as I remember; they were very sparse and vague, which is good imagination fuel for kids, but not as effective now. Those drawings definitely do the heavy lifting.

Picked up my book club read from the library: Winter Garden. It's definitely not my normal fair, so I'm feeling quite hesitant at beginning this one. And instead. . . .

. . . . started slooooowly reading a few pages of Finnegan's Wake at a time. Literally no clue what is going in this book. It's like reading/listening to a language you only have the basics of, recognizing some words or phrases here and there. BUT the stuff I've gotten is hilarious or weird, and the stuff I haven't is super nonsensical. Almost feels like I'm a drunk Irishman who fell into one of Lewis Carroll's worlds.

>118 katelisim: I've never heard of either game, but the latter one sounds like fun. And your 5-6 hours to beat would probably equate 5-6 days--or weeks!--for me. ;)

>119 katelisim: Agreed: the drawings in Scary Stories 3 (and, well, all the other books in that series, imho) do the "heavy lifting" of scaring the reader.

Best of luck with Winter Garden and Finnegan's Wake! I haven't read either, but the latter would be great to read right before bed. It'd give you some nice, trippy dreams (hopefully).

If I hadn't been doing the marathon, the 5-6 hours would definitely have been spread over several days. While I like my sprawling game spaces, I'm starting to really enjoy being able to complete a story in under 2 weeks.

I've definitely been reading my FW pages before bed. My dreams are already pretty strange to start with, but I would never turn down weirder dreams. They're just too dang fun :)

So how're the book-induced dreams going? ;) Any new games, books, etc? Or just having a life? :D

Sadly, no super weird dreams lately. I've been having trouble in the sleep department lately (not really a new thing in general)--basically the few hours I get feels like I'm a dead rock.

I plan on starting Winter Garden before bed. I don't anticipate getting too far into it tonight, but I really need to start it. Book club is next Sunday and I'm going to 2 concerts this week on top of my work schedule. . . .

As for games, we played Five Nights at Freddy's on Halloween, and it's pretty creepy. You're a security guard at a Chucky Cheese-esque establishment where the animatronic characters come to life and *may* accidentally murder humans by stuffing them into the animatronic suits (cause they think your naked, duh). Also, you can't move. You're in the security room and can only look at the cameras and shut doors--which drains your limited power supply.

Last Wednesday we had an event where we played a bunch of Beautiful Katamari. It's an oldie, but super goodie--you build planets by rolling a 'adhesive' ball around a house/garden/world/etc., which collects things and gets bigger and bigger and bigger. You can roll up people and they continue flailing. Super cute and weird Japanese game.

Sorry to hear about the lack of weird dreams and trouble sleeping. :( That super sucks!

And good luck with Winter Garden. I've never read anything by her, but she seems pretty popular. Maybe you'll find one or two things you like in the book--characters, scenes, the last page. ;)

Gah! As if Chuck E. Cheese's weren't creepy enough! o_o I think I'll pass on that game.

I've never heard of Beautiful Katamari, and you're right, that does sound weird. Do you get to push the people down hills or stairs? >:)

There was a bit of a weird one last night -- something about missing hands? I don't remember much, but it just reminds me of the llamas w/hats episode where Carl ate hands.

You don't push people in Katamari. . . . you accumulate them, lol. Here's a Beautiful Katamari trailer. I think it gets the idea across nicely.

I shouldn't--no, I really shouldn't, but...LMAO! "Ca-rl!" Are you sure you didn't watch that llama segment before you went to bed? Because I'm pretty sure it would give anyone a weird night thought or two. Thanks for sharing, though! That was funny stuff. :)

Oh! (smacks forehead) You mean not an actual physical game like dodgeball, but a videogame. Boy, do I feel stupid now. I gotcha. Thanks for the trailer. That definitely makes more sense than pushing and gluing people together. Or even worse, "accumulating" people into a human centipede-like creature. o_0

My sister and I love the Katamari games. I even managed to get the platinum trophy on Katamari Forever, one of my rarest platinums. :)

>Sara: I didn't! I haven't watched it for months/years at this point. The weirdest thing though, since I had that dream. . . lots of handless things. Watched Castle--hand cut off to get briefcase. Watched Constantine--one of those cursed hand thingys. Reading Winter Garden--poachers cut hands and heads off gorillas. . . . . sooooo strange.

>Stephen: Wow! I can barely finish games, let alone get all the achievements. There's so much to unlock with these too. *impressed*

Yeah, getting the entire collection was probably the hardest thing, because the requirements for getting some of them are nightmarish. I'm not sure if it was on the original game that you played, but there is a level where you finish it by collecting a bear or a cow. You can literally roll forward at the beginning, collect a tiny cow or bear toy, and finish the level in a couple seconds, but the challenge is rolling NON-bears/NON-cows until you get really big, and then roll up the biggest cow or bear you can find. There is something called a Bearcow (or was it a cowbear?) that is a giant, and you had to roll through the entire level not collecting any cows or bears to get big enough roll it up, and it too, SOOOO many tries. It was ridiculous. o.o

Yeah, severed hands tend to be everywhere. ;) Dreams, TV, food...



(Aaww, poor gorillas. *tear*)

>Stephen: Nah, I only played Beautiful Katamari on my 360. Wanted Damacy on the PS2, but could never find it back then (before I did any internet shopping).

>Sara: Someone really didn't wanna leggo of their Eggo

LOL! Why didn't I think of that? ;)

I posted on Stephen's thread, too, but would you be interested in some free-of-charge PC Gamer magazines? My coworker donated them, and I wanted to let you guys get first dibs if you were interested. Or anyone else who's interested. :)

>Sara: Oh cool! Do you know what magazines they are? I just got a free online subscription to Game Informer, so wouldn't need doubles of that, lol. Feel free to PM info to me :)

Game Informer is pretty cool, I had a subscription for awhile, which comes free if you become a Pro member at Gamestop, but I didn't renew my card a few months ago because I really don't shop there very much.

>134 katelisim: I believe they're all PC Gamer with one miscellaneous role-playing magazine. I left them at work, because I wasn't sure if anyone wanted them or not. I'll be at work again tomorrow afternoon, so I can give you more info then. :) I believe, most, if not all of them, are in good condition. She may still have her mailing address on the front, but that's about all. I'll let you know tomorrow, ok? :)

>135 Ape: *ahem* Would you like some Game Informer magazines? 0:)

Only if you can deliver them personally. :P

Sure, if you pay for my ticket out to OH. :P Hmm, cheaper still, I might be able to seal myself in a box....

>134 katelisim: So far I have approximately 46* PC Gamer magazines (some dating back to 2006), 1 Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine (Nov/Dec 2008), 1 Medieval Warfare magazine (Vol. II, Issue 3), 1 Tattoo magazine (April 2012), 1 Inked magazine (March 2012), 1 Tattoo Art (May 2012), 1 Skin & Ink (June/July 2012), and 1 Psychology Today (August 2013).

*I may have counted too fast, but it's roughly 46.

Let me know which ones you'd like or not like. Do you want only recent PC Gamer issues, like 2010+? It's your call. Just let me know, and I'll try and get it shipped to you asap. :) (And, yes, it's free to you. Consider it my early Xmas gift to you. :)

Are you sure it's not 47!?

(recounts) Hmm... nope, 46 1/2. :P

I think you counted one twice!

Gah! You're turning me OCD. Must recount magazines!

>Sara: Awww, thanks! I'd be interested in the tattoo (I've totes been wanting another recently) ones, Medieval Warfare, and some of the recent-ish PC Gamer mags--no more than 10 PC, lol--just whatever works out nice for you shipping-wise :)

You're so welcome! :) I'm at work now, but I'll get it wrapped up tonight and hopefully send it on its way tomorrow. Enjoy! :)

Just a little update:

Finished Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (WOAH now, that brings me to 16 books this year. Sigh) I missed the book club meeting for this one cause I got stuck at work for waaaaay too long. Book was okay. Writing and story were solid, just not my cuppa tea.

Started The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero and am just under halfway through. I like it so far. It's a slow-burn spooky story, with ghostly stuff, secret societies, mysterious deaths, and a big ol' house in the middle of nowhere. All told through letters, video footage descriptions, audio recording transcripts, and other documents.

Next book club reads: The Coldest Girl in Cold Town by Holly Black (no tag?) and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

I admire that you finished Winter Garden! That's why I don't join book clubs, because I'd be forced to read something I'd hate, and it'd be school all over again.

Ooh. The Supernatural Enhancements looks very good. Onto the wishlist it goes.

I think Cold Town is one word. I had trouble looking for the book, too, when I separated the words. Anyway, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown looks like another winner by her. Btw, Holly Black is headed to our library...sometime. I'll have to go check the date. So maybe, unless I'm working, I can get some pics of the event. :) And I can't believe it, but I've never read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Good luck with your upcoming book club reads. They look good this time!

ETA: Seriously weird! I just checked in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, so I'm going to give it a flip-through. Thanks for the rec! :)

Yeah, Holly Black and Cassandra Clare came to a local bookshop recently and they're wonderful folks.

I've never read ATGiB either, but it def is one of those big names that I feel should be given a chance, though I wouldn't normally pick it up on my own. That's why I like book club, even if there are some that just aren't great to me. It's a broadening thing.

You got to meet both of them? Awesome! :) We had Darren Shan here awhile back, but I was too shy to go in and listen to him talk. *shrugs* The same thing will probably happen when Holly Black shows up--panic!

I think I would normally give ATGiB a try, because I like coming of age books, but I have my own prejudices: when something's tagged "classic," I automatically think bo-ring. But Charlotte's Web is a classic, and I still love that one. Same with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Anyway, you're right: it does broaden your reading world. :) Good thinking!

I think both of you will like Coldest Girl in Coldtown. I know I did. :)

>150 MickyFine: Cool, you read it already? :) I hate to say it, but after I checked it out, I put in my work locker and forgot about it. Oops.

>151 saraslibrary: Yup, beginning of the year, I think.

17. The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero
I feel like this story descends from spooky, victorian epistolaries and the Paranormal Activity films. It uses a mix of letters, audio transcriptions, and film descriptions to tell the bulk of the story. Only in the epilogue does it deviate (which I'll mention later). TSE starts with A. inheriting a huge house and fortune from his previously unknown about 2nd cousin twice removed in America who jumped out the 3rd story window. So he, along with his mute Irish friend, head over to live the rich, good life. They soon find out that the house has a lot more going on than just a suicide, including a ghost girl, ciphered messages, masonic rituals, and quite the amount of mystery to fill their abundance of time.

Overall, I really liked it. A couple spots bothered me. Like when, after struggling on a cipher for a long time, quickly pieces it together. Or at the stories climax, when the author rushes through, and I'm kind of piecing things together, but not quite. A couple times I was caught off guard by an nonlinear scene (dates are listed, but I'm wasn't mapping those too closely). And epilogue, why do you have to bring a million more questions, huh?

But the most frustrating was the Irish girl's name is Niamh, which we are taught how to pronounce as "neeve" on page 288. . . of 350-something. I was reading it wrong the whole time -_-;;

How do they get Neeve from Niamh?? Niamh looks like, well, Name to me. Weird Irish, plain and simple. ;) Cool-looking book though!

I was reading it as nee-ahm the whole time. But yes, Irish from the old pronunciation. I guess, similarly, how Siobhan is pronounced something like shuh-vahn.

In Winter Garden there was a location called "Belye Nochi." I was reading as 'bell-yeh no-key' NOPE! 'bell-ih-ye no-tchee'

2 in a row got me.

I think they do that on purpose, just to mock the rest of us. :D I knew a lot of "Si" names sounded like "Sh," but I don't remember the rest of Irish/Gaelic spelling. Like with Belye Nochi? Lol, holy crap.

The goofy part is I know someone who knows a bit of Irish and Russian and could quasi explain these to me. I generally ask folks who speak the language I think it's in. . . but sometimes they don't reply soon enough (or in the case of Belye Nochi, my iMessenger was misbehaving quite a bit and not sending/receiving most messages) and I end up reading too far in to not cause myself confusion lol.

Bad iMessenger! ;) You would think with all these iphones & smartphones, they'd have some app that would pronounce "foreign" names properly. (Would Irish be foreign? Hmm, I guess it is.) Does Irish and Russian sound alike? I know if you know one language, like German, it's a bit easier to understand other languages, like Dutch, etc.

Well, just tried the Google translate app I already had on my phone. It indeed pronounced Niamh correctly. However, Belye Nochi didn't seem correct.

Irish and Russian do not sound alike (friend is a linguist who has jabbered in both at me, as well as a bunch of others. Fun fact: I used to be able to tell the difference between Persian and Arabic phrases. Been too long now, but, used to!). I've taken German, Spanish, and a bit of Mandarin -- so between them I can sometimes piece together basic stuff in others like French, Afrikaans, Italian, etc.

I forgot about Google translation! I'm glad you had the app on your phone. :)

Oh, I'm hopeless at differentiating between languages anymore. :D But that is so cool you can tell the difference between Persian and Arabic phrases. I had a patron who tried to get me to learn a few Arabic words, which I tried. I thought I was pronouncing them horrendously, but he said I did very good. (I think he was just being nice. ;)

I took German in middle and high school, and tried to teach myself Chinese via library talking books, but there wasn't a use for it, so I never continued with any of it. *shrugs* That's awesome you can piece together other languages. That takes a very good ear. :)

It's more in reading that I can pick out words or the gist of a phrase. But my secret weapon. . . . foreign music, lol. Listen to enough random songs in random languages and you start to be able to pick out a language. Or at least region.

Yeah, I prefer seeing words written out than speaking them. Foreign music, huh? Good "secret weapon." ;) But I suppose it helps if the singers articulate the words. Like with Rammstein, I barely understand anything they say. :) What bands/artists/series would you recommend?

Any specific language?

For German, I like Die Fantastischen Vier, Wir Sind Helden (some are kinda fast, but lyrics can be found online), Etwas, Faun (they mix languages quite a bit on other albums), Die Ärzte, Oomph!. . . . I could go on and on, lol.

Though I am spacing on the dark electro stuff right now.

If you have Spotify, I have a non-English playlist that has a pretty good spread.

German's good for now, since I understand it a little better than most. That is an awesome list. Thank you!! :) I'll see if we have some at work; and if not, I'll just check them out online. Nope, I don't have Spotify. :( I don't think I do, but let me check....

Thanks again! :)

Um, here's the blog post with the Spotify embeded. I think you should be able to look at the playlist without having an account.

Other German that I'm digging up links for: Fettes Brot, Subway to Sally, Saltatio Mortis, Qntal has a bit but also mixes languages, LaFee, Moabeat, Die Prinzen, Nena, Falco (80's double whammy, lol!), Silbermond, Hanzel und Gretyl, Nachtmahr, X-RX, Blutengel. . .

I think we've had this Spotify convo before. :D And I do have to have an account to listen to it, which thankfully I do have now. Thanks for the list! :) I'm listening to it now. Love it. Am following it, too.

I'll look for those artists as well. I love Hanzel und Gretyl, though I think they're Americans just speaking German? Doesn't matter, I guess. :) LOL @ Falco. I think I have a Falco CD somewhere. And, of course, I remember Nena! Major 80's flashback. :)

On the topic of German bands, Stahlhammer has a song called "Jeanny," and I loved the main chorus for days after hearing the song. Then I read the lyrics and realized they were in english. As a guy who doesn't have much problem understanding indecipherable death metal vocals, I'm surprised I didn't realize that. -.-

ETA: Oh, that's so funny!! I didn't realize Jeanny was a cover until I saw that youtube link in my Google search. It's a cover of a band called Falco...which you just mentioned! D'oh.

ETA: Oh, and, apparently they're from Austria...

I forgot what the original "Jeanny" sounds like, but I really like Stahlhammer's version. I thumbed it on YouTube. That's hilarious that they did a cover of a Falco song, though. I love it when really hard bands cover old-old songs or genres that aren't even close to their own, kind of like Rob Zombie's version of "I'm Your Boogie Man." I'm sure there are tons others; I'm just kind of brain dead right now.... *googles* Oh! Marilyn Manson's version of "Sweet Dreams," Ministry's version of "Lay, Lady, Lay" (oh so much better than the original!), KMFDM's version of "These Boots Are Made For Walking," Limp Bizkit's version of "Faith," or Doll Factory's version of "Baby One More Time." Sorry, Stephen, some of this pop/nu-metal is probably making you nauseous. ;)

Austria...German...whatever. ;) Kind of like Canada...US...whatever. *shrugs*

Haha, that's okay, I can't watch the videos anyway. But you can add Cradle of Filth's version of "Temptation" to that mix. :P I think they even made a ridiculous video for it.

Not bad, thanks! :) I don't think I ever heard the original version.

Me either. :P

Well, conveniently, I also have a playlist of all cover songs. . .

Cool, thank you! :)

I forgot Megadeth did "These Boots," but it was on one of their earliest records and the production was crap.

Happy Holidays, Katie!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays all!

I definitely decided on no computer / internet for a few days and it was wonderful. That, coupled with extended family cancellations, gave me plenty of time to read :D

18. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
Started this on Monday night at 1:30am. . . . finished on Tuesday night at 1:30am. That mad me oddly happy. I also had to work and finish Xmas shopping in that time frame, so it was quite enthralling :)

19. Angelfall by Susan Ee
Needed to reread this so I could read. . . .

20. World After by Susan Ee
While I like the first better, this is also quite solid. I really wanted that last fight scene to be more fleshed out though. Excited for the third which comes out in May.

And with that, I hit 20! Yay! I was seriously beginning to doubt I would get there. There's a chance I might squeeze one more in (or a couple if comics), but not sure if my workload will let me.

No computer/internet days are nice when you plan them. :) I'm glad you had time to catch up on your reading. Your list is awesome! The number doesn't matter; just as long as you enjoyed what you read. Happy New Year! :)

Oh, I know :)

I somehow managed to avoid terrible books this year. There were a couple meh/not my style books, but nothing dreadful. Which is actually pretty amazing.

Now it's time for the yearly book meme / quiz thingy, where you answer with book titles read this past year. These actually worked out rather well for how few titles I had to choose from.

Describe yourself: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Describe how you feel: Glitch

Describe where you currently live: House of Leaves

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: World After

Your favorite form of transportation: The Phantom Tollbooth

Your best friend is: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

You and your friends are: Dream Thieves

What’s the weather like: Winter Garden

You fear: Blood Child

What is the best advice you have to give: Hyperbole and a Half

Thought for the day: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

How I would like to die: Supernatural Enhancements

My soul’s present condition: Angelfall

>181 katelisim: "Supernatural Enhancements" -- I chuckled at that one.

>180 katelisim: You're so lucky to only read good books! :) I read/saw/listened to a few "Ugh! Really??" books/movies/CDs.

>181 katelisim: I love your answers. Awesome titles! :)

>Sara: I wouldn't say they were all good. The stories I didn't like were well written. The ones that were poorly written had intriguing stories a/o characters. So it was mostly pretty good and up reads, with a small, well balanced "meh" section.

Also,

>184 katelisim: At least you were able to finish them. There's nothing worse than bad writing or annoying character to make you throw a book across the room. :)

>185 katelisim: Happy New Year! :) I hope you had a good New Year's Eve (if you did anything). Btw, do you have a new thread? Or have I obliviously already visited your 2015 thread?

Went to a friend's annual birthday / New Year's Eve party. It was a blast!

I haven't started a thread yet. I generally don't start one until I finish a book. Next book club is in a little over 2 weeks, so hoping I get A Tree Grows in Brooklyn done by then. It's a lot longer than I was expecting!

I'm glad you had a good New Year's Eve. :) I spent mine with my mom at the Y working out for a few hours. Woo hoo. Party, huh? ;) Actually, it was fun. I like weights especially. And free cable on the bikes!

I'll look for you when you start your thread! :)