La La > Recent Status Updates

He "goes", I "go", she "goes", and they "go"... like a merry-"go"-round of "goes"; like "go" gnats swarming around my head. She has already degraded hippies, and she totally misunderstands the true Punk scene of the late '70s early '80s if she thinks people with freckles and pimples would be made fun of. And the guy saying a Punk bass player didn't have "good technique"; it's PUNK! The author doesn't get it.

I think I am going to make it to the end with enough time to read a play and a music book! If I'm not wrong then I will have read at least one book in each of my personal challenge categories for this year. ☺

Post JFK assassination quote: "For civilization to survive it must remain civilized. And if there is to be any hope for our children and theirs—we must never again allow violence to offer itself as an excuse for our own insecurities, our weaknesses and our own fears. This is not an arguable doctrine for simply a better life. It is a condition for our continued existence." — Rod Serling

“I happen to think the singular evil of our time is prejudice. It is from this evil that all other evils grow and multiply. In almost everything I’ve written, there is a thread of this: man’s seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself.” — Rod Serling 1967 It's sad this quote still has strong relevance today.

This author in all of her "indigenous author" glory thinks patchouli is an "indian" (Native American) scented oil/incense when it is Indian as in the country India. Good grief.

I checked Edelweiss and this book was published as Magical Realism, not Science Fiction. The only weak association it has with Sci-Fi is its post-apocalyptic setting. The apocalypse was catalyzed by paranormal/mythical elements, so either the recommending blogger never read the book or they think a post-apocalyptic story doesn't need Sci-Fi elements to be SF. I am angry that I wasted a Hoopla borrow on this book.

At 30% I thought the Science Fiction element was finally unfolding, but no... it's more paranormal-like activity. I'm going to go to the publisher's page on Edelweiss to see what genre it was published as. It's also written like a paperback Romance without any romance. It gets cheesy at times.

This author is not tribally affiliated. She says she has "indigenous ancestors"... well, so do a lot of people, but if you do not have sanctioned nation enrollment you cannot call yourself an "indigenous author", and have no right to be writing about tribal culture as if you are. The book has also been boring so far. :/

I am looking at tremendous amount of catch up reading in December in order to finish by New Year's Eve. Ha!

This story becomes absolutely glorious when Part Two begins around twenty-nine percent!

"... several sprays of beech leaves. These, he explained, were thrown in with her purchase. Laura took them into her arms. The great fans of orange tracery seemed to her even more beautiful than the chrysanthemums, for they had been given to her, they were a surprise. She sniffed. They smelt of woods, of dark rustling woods..."

"Midday twilight", there is no such thing. The sun has to be below the horizon for twilight. This story has also turned paranormal, now, at almost 50% with no foreshadowing, to make the plot come together. I wonder if he started out writing with this intention, or if it was out of desperation to make the story work? His writing can be beautiful, but there is also a lot of dry boring content.

Around 40% it jumped back to the dog, dogs in general, and cats and continues to wildly jump around in a disconnected manner with pivots on dog feces, men with sexual thoughts about dogs, and bizarre ideas about dog ownership in general. The author is one of those unhinged "all men" Feminists. She says all men have been with a prostitute at least once in their lives and if they tell you differently, they are lying.

HUGE CONTENT WARNING! This story includes: child abuse, child molestation, sex trafficking, and suicide. I think it is irresponsible that the Goodreads summary doesn't mention them. Up until now there has been a lot more about these topics than about the dog and her relationship with the dog.

I made it to 32%, but at this point I should be past 50%, ha ha. I will get there... I promise.

Oh chapter 43 how I love thee! I wish the previous chapters had been this divine. This is the writing style I love from Jane Eyre.

One of the main characters in this story has face blindness, or prosopagnosia: the inability to recognize faces, even familiar ones. It's just been introduced, so I am curious how the author will handle it. This was a Kindle freebie from a few years back and it's been pretty good so far. It's supposed to be LGBTQ, so I thought I would read it for Pride Month.

"... saying you don’t see race disregards my identity. I’m Asian. I’m proud of it. If you don’t see race, then you’re ignoring that part of me.” “Oh, okay . . .” “And if you don’t see race, then you’re turning a blind eye on racial injustices."

Again, have a musician read your draft if you're not one because Blues are most certainly played on acoustic guitar. Blues music was being played before electric guitars existed. Oh! Darling by The Beatles is not Blues anyway. The only Fender Starcaster you might get for $20, even in 2015, is a broken one. Authors owe it to their readers to make Realistic Contemporary factual. At least Google for goodness sake.

If you are going to have guitar lessons and a music teacher in your story, you might want to have a music teacher read those parts of the book. You don't have to learn "all guitar chords" before you start learning songs, and it doesn't take "years" to learn a Beatles song. Why would a public school music teacher say this when band students have a winter concert after less than four months of playing? Good grief.

I'm disappointed in this book. I made sure it was published as MG (7-12) before complaining. Twelve year olds telling others to "suck it". Boys wanting to take girls "into the woods" to make out. Saying you have to have a date for the dance because friend groups are for losers. All this sexual tension, that doesn't belong in MG, adds nothing to what the theme of the story is supposed to be. Stop sexualizing preteens!

I only need to read a tiny bit faster to finish by the end of the year.

I am going to set this anthology aside. After seven great stories, at about 25% there were two weak ones and the next one I started seems to be the same. I will probably pick it back up for Witchtember in September.

Zanele Muholi's photography is astounding!

"... one of the highlights of the decade or so since I last edited a book of witch stories has been the increasing chance to hear from more diverse voices... for the past decade the field has been, perhaps too slowly, opening itself to more perspectives. Writers from Africa, South Asia, and elsewhere are making inroads. The Book of Witches is a conscious effort to reflect that,..." ~ editor's introduction

I'm only at six percent and already I have gotten a big helping of Black cultural food history, presented in modern day context. It's been a wonderful reading experience so far. I had a difficult time putting it down.

I just finished reading a very informative section on ocean pollution, and the need for ocean conservation and ocean justice from a Black cultural perspective.

I just finished reading a section about Afro-agriculture, cultural seed preservation and their histories. As a passionate supporter of urban farms, community gardens and backyard vegetable gardens, I was excited about having more insight on these subjects, which also included generational composting practices and culturally significant foods.

Hanging people upside from their ankles until they died from dehydration or exposure was not done in Colonial America. It was a Chinese form of punishment for criminals. It was used in Europe during the Middle Ages, but not until death. It was used as a precursor to other forms of torture. Again, no research. The Native American misrepresentation has continued and is even worse now. This book is trash.

The author characterizes the Native Americans as lazy and stupid, and even has them calling each other lazy and stupid. He says the nature spirits hated the Native Americans. When it came to "explaining" who/what one of the spirit characters was, the author combined Native American beliefs and European Christian beliefs to explain his existence. This is blatant misappropriation. How did readers like this book?