I barely read anything this year and that's terrible.

( Cut for list. )

Best books of the year:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Suzanne Clarke
I don't know why I never read this when it came out. I even BOUGHT it. It's a massive book, and it is simply amazing. The twists are twisty, the prose is excellent, and the footnotes add to the fun. It's an alternate history novel, an England during the Napoleonic Wars, where magic is a real thing that has come to be only studied in theory and not practiced. A man, Mr Norrell, becomes a "practical magician," and eventually takes on a pupil, Jonathan Strange, who seeks to understand the semi-mythical figure who presides over all English magic, the man known as the Raven King.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
This book is blurbed by DWJ herself, which is part of what attracted me to it. It takes place in Africa, where an albino girl named Sunny has learned she has magical abilities. It's a kind of merciless book, where children get into very real danger as they solve problems that only they can solve. I love the system of magic in the book.

Honorable mention:

Huntress by Malinda Lo
Expands on the world Lo created in Ash. It's actually a prequel to Ash. It's a pretty dark book, but very good.

Court Duel by Sherwood Smith
Sequel to Crown Duel. Lots of politics happening in this book, but it's super enganging.

The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisen
Sequel to The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Really it's just as good and amazing as the book it follows, but Jonathan Strange and Akata Witch were just a bit too good to make this the "best".

Books
Steel - Carrie Vaughn
The Prestige - Christopher Priest*
Kat, Incorrigible - Stephanie Burgis
A Masterpiece for Bess by Lara Bergen

*Audiobook

This is a SORRY LIST.

Steel wasn't all that great but was a fun read... about a girl who gets transported back in time and ends up on a pirate ship. The Prestige was REALLY GOOD and then BLARRRGHHHH on and off. The end was pretty stupid... I really was expecting more out of it, as the setup was pretty great. A couple of the reveals astounded me but most of them had me going "Really?" I've got the movie sitting around, and I hear it is actually better, but I don't know if I care enough to watch it. Kat, Incorrigible was super cute. I was expecting something a bit DWJ-like, and it wasn't really, but it was a lot of fun and I loved it bunches. What I really want is a sequel with an older Kat, honestly, after she's grown into her magic powers a bit. The other one was just some Disney Fairy book.

Manga/Graphic Novels
Trigun Maximum 6-14 by Yasuhiro Nightow
Time Stranger Kyoko 1-3 by Arina Tanemura
Natsume's Book of Friends 7 by Yuki Midorikawa
Kobato 4 by CLAMP
Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne 1-4 by Arina Tanemura
An Elegy for Amelia Johnson by Andrew Rostan/Dave Valenza & Kate Kasenow
Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan 2 by Nagaru Tanigawa/Puyo
Kamisama Kiss 3 by Julietta Suzuki
Sakura Hime 2 by Arina Tanemura
Zuko's Story by Dave Roman & Alison Wilgus/ Nina Matsumoto
The Story of Saiunkoku 4 by Sai Yukino/Kairi Yura
Otomen 11 by Aya Kanno
Oresama Teacher 2 by Izumi Tsubaki
Avatar: the Lost Adventures by various artists
Magic Knight Rayearth omnibus 1 by CLAMP

I feel like I don't rant enough about Natsume. Natsume is really one of the best manga I've ever read. It is... well, it's just good. I love Midorikawa's simple art and I especially love her characters. They all feel very real, and it's fun watching them grow and change. I also love the way she portrays the ayakashi in the series... They're just not human. Their motivations and feelings are so alien.

This is embarrassingly short!

Books
Snow - Tracy Lynn
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell*
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride
Red Glove - Holly Black
Sapphique - Catherine Fisher
Myka Finds Her Way - Gail Herman
Iridessa Lost at Sea - Lisa Papademetriou
Museum of Thieves - Lian Tanner
Vidia Meets Her Match - Kiki Thorpe
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke*
Court Duel - Sherwood Smith
Huntress - Malinda Lo
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien*

*audiobook

Snow was the last of the Fairy Tales series I read before I kind of gave up on them.
Black Beauty was excellent, and read by Simon Vance as an added bonus.
Hold Me Closer was pretty fun, I liked it.
Red Glove was excellent
Sapphique was a decent continuation to Incarceron but at times felt unnecessary to me.
Museum of Thieves was really great! It had kind of a darker DWJ feel to me, and I enjoyed it.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and I cannot believe it took me so long to read it. I know it is massively huge but everyone should read this book.
Court Duel was a very satisfying conclusion to the story in Crown Duel
Huntress was interesting... I think I liked Ash better, but I loved the end of Huntress
The Hobbit I will refrain from commenting on; if you read my Twitter you already know how I feel about it.


Manga/Graphic Novels
A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge - Josh Neufeld
Anya's Ghost - Vera Brosgol
Arisa 1-2 - Natsumi Ando
Black Butler 5 - Yana Toboso
Butterflies, Flowers 4 - Yuki Yoshihara
Calamity Jack - Shannon & Dean Hale/Nathan Hale
Chi's Sweet Home 6 - Konami Kanata
Cross Game 3 - Mitsuru Adachi
Genkaku Picasso 3 - Usumaru Furuya
Grand Guignol Orchestra 2 - Kaoru Mori
Happy Happy Clover 4-5 - Sayuri Tatsuyama
Kannagi 1 - Eri Takenashi
Kimi ni Todoke 8-9 - Karuho Shiina
Lychee Light Club - Usumaru Furuya
Maximum Ride 4 - NaRae Lee
Otomen 10 - Aya Kanno
La Quinta Camera - Natsume Ono
Replica 1 - Karakara Kemuri
Skip Beat 24 - Yoshiki Nakamura
The Story of Saiunkoku 3 - Sai Yukino/Kairi Yura
Trigun 1-2 - Yasuhiro Nightow
Trigun Maximum 1-5 - Yasuhiro Nightow
Vermonia 3-4 - YoYo
Wandering Son 1 - Takako Shimura


I am now up to 102 graphic novels and a miserable 44 books. I need to read more! Currently I'm reading Steel by, um, I forgot, and I am listening to The Prestige by Christopher Priest. Almost done with that one. Dunno what I'm going to listen to next.

I haven't done a movie or book log in an age, so here's the movie log (it is short).

April
Tangled (for the sixth time)
Source Code
Hanna
Arthur
The Money Pit
Love Actually

-Loved Tangled (obvs.), was very pleasantly surprised by Source Code, loved Hanna, Arthur was entertaining but meh, Money Pit was hmm, Love Actually (don't shoot me) I didn't like at all

May
Water for Elephants
Thor
Hachi
Creation
Hamlet 2
Push
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

-Water for Elephants was okay, loved Thor, Hachi was kind of nonsensical but made me cry, Creation was excellent, Hamlet 2 was pretty hilarious, Push was the dumbest shit, don't remember much of Pirates haha

June
The Last Unicorn (BD version!)
Super 8
X-Men First Class
Kung-Fu Panda 2

-Last Unicorn remains one of my favorite movies, Super 8 was excellent, X-Men was better than the last few, Kung-Fu Panda was way better than the first one (i.e. I actually liked it)

July
Enchanted
Fantasia 2000
Never Say Never
Winnie the Pooh
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows part 2
Cowboys & Aliens
Romper Stomper

-Enchanted & Fantasia 2000 are rewatches and I still love them, Never Say Never was surprisingly engaging, Winnie the Pooh was cute, Harry Potter was a good end to a series I had grown to dislike (only the movies!), Cowboys & Aliens was a lot of fun, I have no idea why I spent my birthday watching Romper Stomper

I never post any more and then I use my LJ for checklists as usual. Whatever.

Sitting room
-Remove plastic drawers
-Remove cardboard/recycle stuff
-Sort through remaining piles of things
-Fix bookshelves
-Vacuum

Bathroom
-Clean off sink area
-Clean/dust vanity
-Clean toilet
-Replace octorug :( sad forever
-Eliminate laundry pile
-Vacuum

Bedroom
-Clean off dresser top
-Sort mail
-Clean out Esmerelda's corner what is even back there
-Fix bookshelves
-Restore or put away knickknacks
-Dust all furniture
-Vacuum

There's other miscellaneous stuff to do in both rooms but okay!

I do not want to be a lump who never goes anywhere this summer, because next summer I will be moving away from all my friends and poor all of the time.

So this summer is the Summer of Things.

THINGS, guys, THINGS.

Here is my schedule so far. If you want to join me in things please say something to me like "I want to do this thing on this day with you!" You can also say "That thing sounds fun so I will go with my other friends instead of with you," but that will make me sad. Or you can say nothing at all and I will not hold it against you.

My plans are typically on Sunday because there are generally less other people I don't know doing things on Sundays. I am willing to do things on Saturdays if I have to I guess. I also like to do things in the morning mostly generally.

JUNE
10-12- A-kon haha why
26- Putt-Putt

JULY
2- Ice skating
10- Moody Gardens (aquarium and rainforest!)
17- Bolivar
31- Putt-Putt again THIS IS MY BIRTHDAY PARTY ALSO. May switch this to Saturday we'll see.

AUGUST
7- Zoo!
12-17- BARN TOUR 2011

SEPTEMBER (September is still summer)
2-5- AnimeFest!
11- Biking in Memorial Park
24-26?? PARTYING HARD (it is Teresa's birthday on the 26)

OCTOBER (this is still summer too)
2- Houston Arboretum and Nature Center (also: Skink Quest)

If any of these events get rained out you may join me in frolicking in the rain at my house.

I probably read some things this month.

Books:
Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi*
Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
Water Song by Suzanne Weyn
Queen Clarion's Secret by Kimberly Morris
Lily in Full Bloom by Laura Driscoll & Pamela Bobowicz
Rani and the Three Treasures by Kimberly Morris
Fish by Gregory Mone

*audiobook

Manga:
Qwaser of Stigmata 2 by Hiroyuki Yoshino/Kenetsu Sato
Butterflies, Flowers 3 by Yuki Yoshihara
Natsume's Book of Friends 6 by Yuki Midorikawa
Skip Beat 23 by Yoshiki Nakamura
Sakura Hime 1 by Arina Tanemura
Stepping on Roses 5 by Rinko Ueda

Wild Orchid is the Once Upon a Time series retelling of "The Ballad of Mulan," and it was quite good! I liked it a lot.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is about a girl who ends up involved in a mutiny after taking a journey overseas as the only passenger on a merchant ship. It's pretty exciting and was a good listen.

Rampant is about killer unicorns. I also liked it a lot, though I had some problem with the characterization at some points.

Water Song is the Once Upon a Time series retelling of "The Frog Prince" and was terrible, ugh.

Ignoring the next three (all Disney Fairies books), Fish was a cute book about a boy who accidentally joins the crew of a gang of treasure-hunting pirates. It was a lot of fun to read, though there wasn't much to it.

This post is going to be gigantic. There are a lot of images. If I had any sense I would break it up into several posts, but I figure anyone who is actually going t oread it will want the whole thing at once, plus I'm too lazy to post more than one post here (I'll break it up for my atelier blog).

Basically I am proud of how I currently have all of my crafting/sewing/crocheting stuff organized. I am so proud of it that I am going to show off my amazing organization instead of actually crafting/sewing/crocheting. I am all about using my time effectively.

( Part 1: Jewelry-making things )

( Part 2: Yarn! )

( Part 3: General crafting stuff )

( Part 4: Sewing room )

There you have it. Things. EVERYWHERE.

Not counting series I've collected all of, obviously, but I am counting those that have been on hiatus for years.

( List )

I wonder what's going to happen to these titles...

First things first: this is just my contemplating a few things. I hope I don't say anything terribly offensive, so please let me know if I do.

( On author responsibility, including dozens of unanswered questions )

To sum, as best I can, the point of all this: Should fantasy authors take into account interactions between real-world races when writing similar interactions between fantasy races, and should an author's success or failure in doing so be treated as a social commentary? Should fantasy race and gender politics correlate to real-world race and gender politics? And if an author chooses not to make such a correlation, is it their responsibility as an author to still make sure races are represented "authentically" even if they are fantasy races in a fantasy world?