Alas, the format for these Distraction posts is just too difficult to maintain, so I think that instead I'll just use it for updating you wonderful people who are still paying attention on my various activities and whatnot. I know, that sounds like the most interesting thing you can imagine.
I'll still give you one link, though: my friend Scott recently started a blog called I Smell Good (I almost typoed that as "I Smell God," which would've been hilarious and misleading at the very least). It is spectacular and it's about his hitchhiking travels as a non-dirty hippie, and also some other things. So far he also updates more frequently than I do and his content is a lot more exciting, so I won't be offended if you abandon my blog in favour of his.
Anyway I've had some upheaval this month, moving off of the construction site I was at and back into the office, and trying to remember what it's like to not have all of my meals cooked for me and dishes done and bed made and so on. (Having reasonably speedy internet access in the evenings doesn't help, let me tell you.) It's pretty tough, and being chained to a desk is pretty boring. In short, I really suck at being a responsible adult.
But I've been reading! I've finished and drafted a review for Brideshead Revisited that should be edited and ready for posting by the time the weekend rolls around. And I started reading another romnov, and I think in order to do these things justice, I'm going to have to post my comments on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Which means that I might be posting a lot more in the near future!
In Which We Finally Look Back Again
Hot damn, y'all/good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! I am alive!
I have been the worst blogger lately, I know. I'm going to try to do better, but it's really difficult! At the very least, you'd think I could keep up with my Current Distractions posts, but no.
I don't have a lot of time at the moment to, like, explain any of this, so here's a summary:
Top 100 So Far
Last time I did this, approximately eight million years ago, I promised charts, but unfortunately I'm lazy and I don't really know how OpenOffice works most of the time. Overall the books from 90 to 81 were better than those from 100 to 91 (with 40% of the former receiving a 3/3 rating compared to 30% of the latter). So the new overall percentages for The List, based on my ratings, are: 35% good, 20% bad, and 45% mediocre. Hopefully the percentage of good books keeps going up. Also, fun fact, from books 100 to 81, the average year published is 1950, which is where it should be. But there hasn't been a single book yet from the 20s, and, as I believe I've mentioned before, there are no books on The List from the 90s. Oh, and it took me roughly a year to get through these ten books. Yikes.
90. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - 3/3
89. Loving by Henry Green - 2/3
88. The Call of the Wild by Jack London - 3/3
87. The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett - 3/3
86. Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow - 2/3
85. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - 2/3
84. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen - 1/3
83. A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul - 1/3
82. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner - 3/3
81. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow - 2/3
Total Pages: 3954
Romnovs So Far
Still no sidebar for these, alas.
R11. The Black Cat by Robert Poe
R12. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
R13. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
R14. Earth's Children (series) by Jean M. Auel
R15. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
R16. NaNovel 2010 by M.R.
R17. Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thomson
R18. I Thee Bed... by Jule McBride
R19. Rules for a Lady by Katherine Greyle
R20. Camille by Alexandre Dumas (the younger)
Total Pages: 5759
Other Stuff I've Read
Between starting Midnight's Children on April 17, 2010 and finishing The Adventures of Augie March on April 30, 2011, I read a bunch of books that weren't exactly on either of my lists. I'll try to stick to them better in the future, so I can post slightly more often! But if I encounter another A Bend in the River, I can't say for sure what will happen.
The Secret History of Fantasy by Peter S. Beagle (ed.)
Machine of Death by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki (eds.)
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
The Never War by DJ MacHale
The Reality Bug by DJ MacHale
Black Water by DJ MacHale
The Rivers of Zadaa by DJ MacHale
The Quillan Games by DJ MacHale
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
The Evolution of God by Robert Wright
I've also read some other books between finishing Augie and starting on Brideshead Revisited (which I'm enjoying a fair bit so far), including a couple of excellent non-fiction books: Pink Brain Blue Brain by Lise Eliot and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I recommend both of them and any of the books above, too, to varying degrees.
I have been the worst blogger lately, I know. I'm going to try to do better, but it's really difficult! At the very least, you'd think I could keep up with my Current Distractions posts, but no.
I don't have a lot of time at the moment to, like, explain any of this, so here's a summary:
Top 100 So Far
Last time I did this, approximately eight million years ago, I promised charts, but unfortunately I'm lazy and I don't really know how OpenOffice works most of the time. Overall the books from 90 to 81 were better than those from 100 to 91 (with 40% of the former receiving a 3/3 rating compared to 30% of the latter). So the new overall percentages for The List, based on my ratings, are: 35% good, 20% bad, and 45% mediocre. Hopefully the percentage of good books keeps going up. Also, fun fact, from books 100 to 81, the average year published is 1950, which is where it should be. But there hasn't been a single book yet from the 20s, and, as I believe I've mentioned before, there are no books on The List from the 90s. Oh, and it took me roughly a year to get through these ten books. Yikes.
90. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - 3/3
89. Loving by Henry Green - 2/3
88. The Call of the Wild by Jack London - 3/3
87. The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett - 3/3
86. Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow - 2/3
85. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - 2/3
84. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen - 1/3
83. A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul - 1/3
82. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner - 3/3
81. The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow - 2/3
Total Pages: 3954
Romnovs So Far
Still no sidebar for these, alas.
R11. The Black Cat by Robert Poe
R12. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
R13. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
R14. Earth's Children (series) by Jean M. Auel
R15. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
R16. NaNovel 2010 by M.R.
R17. Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thomson
R18. I Thee Bed... by Jule McBride
R19. Rules for a Lady by Katherine Greyle
R20. Camille by Alexandre Dumas (the younger)
Total Pages: 5759
Other Stuff I've Read
Between starting Midnight's Children on April 17, 2010 and finishing The Adventures of Augie March on April 30, 2011, I read a bunch of books that weren't exactly on either of my lists. I'll try to stick to them better in the future, so I can post slightly more often! But if I encounter another A Bend in the River, I can't say for sure what will happen.
The Secret History of Fantasy by Peter S. Beagle (ed.)
Machine of Death by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki (eds.)
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
The Never War by DJ MacHale
The Reality Bug by DJ MacHale
Black Water by DJ MacHale
The Rivers of Zadaa by DJ MacHale
The Quillan Games by DJ MacHale
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
The Evolution of God by Robert Wright
I've also read some other books between finishing Augie and starting on Brideshead Revisited (which I'm enjoying a fair bit so far), including a couple of excellent non-fiction books: Pink Brain Blue Brain by Lise Eliot and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I recommend both of them and any of the books above, too, to varying degrees.
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