I want to do a more robust reading update (like actually writing my thoughts) but this may be all I have the energy for right now. My last update was in June last year. Let’s see how many more countries I’ve covered since then! (New countries are marked with an (!))

(!) Canada*

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

China

• The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (5) by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou
• The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (6) by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

United Kingdom

• The Comfort of Strangers by Alan McEwan
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Japan

• The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
• The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
• Slow Boat by Hideo Furukawa

(!) Mauritania

The Actual True Story of Ahmed & Zarga by Mohamedou Ould Slahi

(!) Mauritius

Riambel by Priya Hein

(!) Norway

The Red Handler by Johan Harstad

USA

• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
• The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
• Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
• Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut
• Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx *(not a novel)
• Erasure by Percival Everett
• The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
• A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
• Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

*I technically had Canada before, but this is the first book I’ve read that’s from a single Canadian author (other one was co-written by a Canadian author and an American author). So I feel like this deserves a bit of its own fanfare. I’m still so surprised that I’ve read so little from Canadian authors!

…The United States still overwhelms every other country! This is now 13 countries, 14 if I count China. I haven’t been, just because it doesn’t feel right to include the webnovels I’ve been reading, even if they are traditionally published. There’s no actual rule I’ve been enforcing about what types of novels count and which don’t, but maybe I should include one about intellectual rigor. It just doesn’t seem right to let myself not read an actual novel from China, especially when there’s options out there. So, let’s say 13.

I wanted to do my informal yearly round-up of what books I read this year, and realized that I never did one for last year! So here’s a double header, 2023 and 2024. This year, I’m not including movies—I’ll hopefully put that together sometime soon. I watched an unusually large number of movies this year (I think…we’ll see if the numbers agree).

2023 Books

It’s interesting how relatively many books I read in the first three months of 2023, and how relatively few I read the rest of the year. I can attribute the stoppage at the end of March to a particular reason, but I wonder why I stopped for so long and so completely. I guess I was busy with moving and decluttering the second half of that year…maybe I was just unusually brain-busy. A lot was happening at work at the time as well. I read almost nothing for a whole calendar year—weird to think about in retrospect.

( Read more... )

2024 Books

I didn’t read a huge amount this year either, but it was a more normal year as far as that goes. This is also when I began my Sovereign State Novel Challenge, so I tried to read a bit more internationally.

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Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier

( Open me! )

The Evening of the Holiday by Shirley Hazzard

( Open me! )

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

( Open me! )

The Actual True Story of Ahmed & Zarga by Mohamedou Ould Slahi

( Open me! )

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

( Open me! )

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

( Open me! )

I have a bit of reading to catch up on posting about! (The earliest here is from mid-February so it’s been a minute.)

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

( Open me! )

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

( Open me! )

Demian by Hermann Hesse

( Open me! )

Ubik by Philip K Dick

( Open me! )

Woodcutters by Thomas Bernhard

( Open me! )

So my friends may know that I’m a dabbler in the “Booktube” community (Books + Youtube). One creator I watch often is named Jack Edwards. He reads mostly classics and literary fiction and I like his personality and the “click-baity” theme videos he does as well. He also makes a large effort to read fiction in translation.

This leads to a comment that was left on a video of his three months ago which read:

2024 challenge suggestion: reading one book from every country you haven't read a book from yet. You had a poll about video ideas I believe a year ago and I'd actually really love to see something like this. Only if you want to of course!

As a professional hater, I read this and was like “you’re not really thinking about how many countries there are…that would take so long” and scoffed at it. Then I thought about it for 30 seconds and thought that it sounded really fun so maybe I’d try it.

So the challenge as I’ve defined it myself is to read a novel from every sovereign state. This will have to be defined more as I continue, but I’m defining “from” to mean simply that the author is “from” that country (thinking that “born there” is not the best way to define this, but I also don’t think I want to include American expats living in Mauritius as Mauritian lit, for example). I also want the challenge to have as much work that’s in translation as possible. So far I’m operating off the “know it when I see it” rule and will sharpen my focus as I go.

So far I’m treating it like a completionism challenge, so the idea is to read from as many countries as possible. I’m not sure yet whether I’ll keep track of every book I read from each country as part of it (though I do write down every book I read so I could reverse engineer it after).

To start, I went through my reading list that I started back in February 2018 and marked off any country which I had read a book from. This ended up being only eight countries! I was surprised it was that low. This means that I have 197 sovereign states left to read from (assuming I’m able to find a novel from all of these, which will most likely not be the case); if I read one book a week, which is the fastest pace I’ve ever kept as an adult, and only read books from unique countries, it would take me four years to complete the challenge. Wow!

Well, that’s not going to happen, so we’ll see what number I’m at by the end of the year. I’m very excited to share more as I read :)

(During my research for this post, I learned that popular booktuber Emmie has been doing this challenge for a while now! It’s not totally clear to me how many countries she’s read from so far.)

Note: SORRY I never finished editing this!

I’m so excited to see what you create!

Music

Music DNWs: Taylor Swift

Other than my DNWs, I like all kinds of music in vids, so you can’t go wrong. I love pop, hip hop, country/honky tonk, and very rhythmic music in particular.

The Black Phone (2021) [SAFETY]

I went into this movie wanting to make fun of it (based on the trailer), but I ended up actually liking it quite a bit. This movie is based on a short story by Joe Hill, who is Stephen King’s son. I mention this because this book has a lot of King vibes. In one sentence, it’s kids swearing and fighting for their life against, in this case, a killer child abductor and using supernatural forces to do so. I loved the buildup and payoff was so sweet—-I watched this in the theater and screamed/gasped at the climactic scene. The kids’ performances are all good, and are much of the campiness that cuts through what is otherwise a fairly dark story.

This movie contains themes of alcoholism and child abuse.

Broad City

This show is the best example of female friendship on television. I love them, and a vid about any of the characters/relationships would be perfect.

Four Weddings (US TV)

I always have to nominate a reality TV show for Festivids, and this one is this year’s. The basic premise is that four brides who don’t know each other all attend each other’s weddings and judge them. Unsurprisingly, there is some cattiness, but I don’t think the show is actually all that negative (or at least, the stakes are low, because any negativity is not directed towards the bride herself, just to the camera). The show is very lighthearted and a majority of the brides are very sweet and funny. It has EXTREME 2010s vibes, which I absolutely love. It’s like a time capsule.

I think a comedic vid would be how I’d approach this source—-some sort of meta maybe.

Peep Show (UK TV)

I started watching this show after finishing Succession this year (the showrunner (?) is the same on both, vibes are totally different). Peep Show is about two men who are roommates and “failures” in their lives (through every fault of their own). The show is somewhat similar to The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm (cringey moments, no laugh track, a commitment to “realism” in the videography/style). The conceit with Peep Show is that every shot is from the viewpoint of an actual character in the scene, and we get the main character’s thoughts as voiceover as well.

There are lots of content warnings for Peep Show; I can’t reasonably list them here, but proceed with caution.

She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat [SAFETY] The story is about a woman who loves to cook, who makes friends with her butch neighbor who eats a lot. They form a fast friendship which quickly develops to a mutual crush. There are lots of cozy food vibes, and some sexuality discovery in a fun and I thought fresh way.

So…the last time I posted about a Tom Ford perfume, I ended by thoughts by saying that I really enjoyed the perfume but probably wouldn’t have more than one in my collection, due to the price. Well…I went back on that pretty quickly. I was gifted this perfume for Christmas of last year by my parents. I first tried it during a trip to Sephora with my friend silenthilltwo, where I tried a ton of different Tom Ford fragrances and other perfumes. The Neroli Portofino really stood out amongst all those as something memorable that I really enjoyed. The description from the Tom Ford website is:

VIBRANT. SPARKLING. TRANSPORTIVE. TO TOM FORD, THIS SCENT PERFECTLY CAPTURES THE COOL BREEZES, SPARKLING CLEAR WATER AND LUSH FOLIAGE OF THE ITALIAN RIVERA. HIS REINVENTION OF A CLASSIC EAU DE COLOGNE FEATURES CRISP CITRUS OILS, SURPRISING FLORAL NOTES AND AMBER UNDERTONES TO LEAVE A SPLASHY YET SUBSTANTIVE IMPRESSION.

This fragrance really reminds me of another fragrance I own, the Acqua di Parma Colonia. I didn’t even realize they were so similar until I smelled the Neroli Portofino at home (not in the context of perfume shopping)…then I realized that I definitely have a “type” haha. They’re both very fresh, citrus-forward smells that I find enjoyable and that sort of blend-into-the-background after the top notes have dissipated (in a good way; they’re still there but not overwhelmingly). This is an eau de parfum, unlike the Colonia which is an eau de cologne, so unsurprisingly this is stronger and lasts much longer.

Comparing to my other Tom Ford perfume, the Tobacco Vanille, this is very similar in how strong they feel. This is difficult for me to describe, but both TFs have this fullness in body that the other perfumes I own/have tried do not. They feel layered and complex in a strong sense. I think I like the Tobacco Vanille more as a rule, but I think that is mainly just because I enjoy those warm smells more than I enjoy the sharp citrus ones (which is funny, because I own two citrus perfumes and only one warm/woody one).

I really like the Neroli Portofino. I am not sure whether I’ll replace this bottle once I’m done with it. I like the Colonia a bit more overall, and they fit the exact same category (similar scents, would wear in the same kind of weather or to the same sort of event, etc.). The Neroli Portofino definitely wins out in terms of strength and it smells more “expensive” (maybe a better word for this is “quality”?), but I prefer the actual scent of the Colonia.

The cost for a 100 ml bottle is $390 (pictured is a 30 ml bottle).

Back in April I started a vermicomposting bin (worm composting). I’d been wanting to do it for a while and finally bit the bullet. Six months later, and I’ve been really enjoying it!

Since I moved in the fall of 2020 to a new city and finally started living on my own, I wanted to start composting. My city has street compost pick-up with the trash and recycling, but it was on hold during COVID, so I couldn’t use that. I don’t have any outdoor space here I could use for a normal outdoor bin either. I was curious about vermicomposting, since you’re supposed to be able to have one indoors/in an apartment setting.

I bought a bin (I felt kind of badly about this, since in the true spirit of low-waste living I should make my own), which comes with some starter stuff: coconut coir, which I believe is the outer shell of coconuts? It comes in a brick that you rehydrate. The only other time I’ve used it was in these amaryllis growing kits that my mom gives me for Christmas. They also sent shredded newspaper to mix in with the coco coir.

For a month or so leading up to starting, I weighed the amount of worm-digestible waste that I generated every day/week, since the amount of worms you should get depends on that. I ended up buying 1000 worms (which sounded like a huge number, but they’re pretty small). Most vermicompost setups use red wiggler worms, although I think some people use nightcrawlers…but maybe nightcrawlers don’t eat as much or something? Nightcrawlers are your typical American garden worms so I think most people are more familiar with them. I used red wigglers…they are super cute.

There was an initial learning period where I figured out what the worms liked best in terms of their environment, but really it was super easy all the way through. Basically you put a bunch of dirt (in this case coco coir) and shredded paper/cardboard in a bin, then dump the worms in and let them settle. Then every couple days (though I’m doing it more like once a week tbh) I dump in all the worm friendly scraps I’ve generated, plus a similar amount of shredded paper from my recycling. Then put the lid back on and that’s about it…I also give them pulverized eggshells which I believe they eat and put in their “stomach” to help digest food.

They basically eat any plant-based scraps. They don’t like spicy food (peppers, onions) or acidic things like citrus fruit. They won’t eat any animal matter either. They do eat coffee grounds—through this experience I learned that coffee grounds after brewing actually lose all their acidity—how interesting! I think they might use the coffee grounds as grit, like the ground eggshells. I put tea leaves in there…lint from the dryer…they don’t like oils or spices so I don’t put in any cooked food. Also, life tip, I keep all my food scraps in the freezer while not using it to stop bugs from getting into it. I don’t know how anyone lives without doing that. I was laughing at the vermicomposting Reddit because there were people who had a whole separate freezer only for their food scraps for their worms. See me doing that in about seven years.

After weeks of munching, they leave behind this super dense, dark compost that is (supposedly) really good for your plants. I don’t have a ton of plants, but I have been planting more herbs with the compost to see how it works. I think the main draw for me is more of a “hobbyist” perspective. It’s really fun to use the food scraps and paper scraps that I generate to feed this little ecosystem. Plus the worms are cute…and it’s fun to have something to take care of.

(Also, my city’s composting program is back so I can compost all those other fiddly things! Woo!)

Since about this time last year, I have been watching a webcam of a nest of Peregrine Falcons on the top of the campanile on UC Berkeley's campus. This time of year is breeding season, so I watched last year as eggs were incubated, hatched, and chicks were raised by the resident campanile pair, Annie and Grinnell. Here's their website, where you can find the webcams and other information about the falcons/links to their social media. And here's a direct Youtube link to the nest cam; there are also two other cameras aimed at other areas surrounding the nest box.

One thing I really enjoyed about watching as the chicks grew, raised by Annie and Grinnell, was a sort of existential reflection on life and "carrying on". Falcons are approaching as different and separate from humans as an animal can get (I would compare to a dog or a raccoon, for instance, where they're clearly not human in any sense, but we live more closely with them, and they resemble the way we look/live more, even just as fellow "four-legged" mammals.) With this in mind, as I watched Annie feed her three helpless babies, and I watched those babies grow, reaching for the chunks of pigeon meat that their parents dangled above their mouths, I felt a certain sense of the completeness and continuity of life. What compels these birds to nest and raise these broods? There is an intense attention and protection Annie and Grinnell display during this time, although I don't believe that this continues past the moment when the child birds leave the nest. It's almost business-like, since we "know" that these birds don't care for each other or for their children past an instinctual level. That aspect of it, though, is what made it so touching for me. Like, life continues--and there is an instinctual aspect to all this, to continuing on (not just as an individual, but the life on earth itself). In addition, falcons are carnivores, and they eat primarily other birds (the campanile birds eat a lot of pigeons), so there's that aspect too, of life and death, so closely tied together.

As I mentioned earlier, it's breeding season, so Annie had laid two eggs with Grinnell by the end of March, and we were expecting a third (I don't know that much, but I think three must be an average size for falcon broods. Last year there were four eggs, and three of them hatched). Then there was some tragic news; on March 31st, Grinnell was found dead in Berkeley. I have to admit I was hit pretty hard by this news--not devastated, or anything, but I did shed a few tears for Grinnell, and for the potential loss of the brood, since Annie wouldn't raise a brood by herself. Grinnell had been living atop the campanile for several years, and had raised several broods with Annie (they were mated, and I don't know the extent of what this means to falcons, but they were "living together" and raised several chicks together over a period of years). It was tragic news to the falcon cam watchers.

It's been ten days since then, and a "New Guy" has started wooing Annie (and she's laid another egg since Grinnell died, which is a good sign). From what I understand, another falcon coming in during breeding season and "adopting" the previous partner's eggs is uncommon but definitely not unheard of. At this point, I think we can be sure that Annie and New Guy will be incubating and hatching the eggs together--he's been incubating them, and been delivering prey to Annie (and she's been eating it). I'm so relieved by this personally--I loved watching the nest last year and was honestly really looking forward to it--and it's exciting to see New Guy get involved with the eggs and with Annie, since he has different behaviors than Grinnell did.

These birds continue to give me perspective as well as interest and entertainment, which is more than I can say for a lot of my past times. I'm sad and longing for Grinnell, but happy and hopeful for the future of the brood and for "New Guy" (who is supposed to get an official name sometime soon).

As a bonus, here's a tweet from today about a behavior called "loafing" and a falcon fact--male peregrine falcons are called "tiercel"s, which comes from the fact that they are about one third smaller than the females.

In your own space, talk about an idea you wish you had the time / talent / energy to do. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I thought this was a really interesting prompt. I took it only from a "talent" perspective in my response (only listed things that I don't feel I can pull off right now). I feel like this is something that we all think about but don't necessarily talk about (at least in a serious way). Taking this from a fanworks perspective only...

I have an idea for a Beatrice+Battler Umineko: When They Cry vid and a Shinada from Yakuza vid that probably have to be lyric videos with drawings (not enough or no video to edit a vid from), but I really don't feel like I have the skill or patience to make them. I wish I was a better draftsperson. I say this instead of "artist" because I can actually make "art" that I like or enjoy looking at (not that I'm really good or anything). But when I think about making fanworks that I'll want to share, like comics or lyric videos, it's hard for me to imagine being able to draw those in a way that's satisfying to me. So it's more about my ability to draw movement and characters in a way that makes me not cringe...I think I was a more skillful draftsperson in high school when I was like actively practicing all the time (in other words, drawing pictures of Karkat during Calculus class).

This is only partially related to fan stuff but I wish that I was able to learn music by ear/transcribe music. Specifically, one of my greatest life wishes is to transcribe and perform "Tetsuo's Theme" by the Geinoh Yamashirogumi from the Akira movie on handbells. (I am actually kind of trying to get better at this though...my current project is to transcribe the sad music from Spongebob LOL.)