So LOL Seollal Update: The End

My So LOL Seollal Reading Adventure ended with a whimper.  Not even a full-throated whimper.  A wimpy whimper.  I had trouble reading.  I want to blame it on the cold weather.  My brain felt crumbly, like the topping on apple crumble.  Oooh, apple crumble.  That sounds nice, right about now, served up with a nice hot cup of coffee.

Anyway...

On the last day of Seollal, I managed to read less than 50 pages of Shutting Out The Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation by Michael Zielenziger.  Published in 2006, this book examines hikikomori, the young people who feel burnt out by the pressures of Japanese society.  Their way of coping is not to cope.  They drop out of everything and retreat to their bedrooms.   The author wrote in the introduction that later on in the book, Japan will be compared with its closest neighbor, South Korea.  I'm very much looking forward to that part, if I can ever get my brain out of PARK.

Teri, on the other hand, ended her So LOL Seollal not just with a bang, but a whole fleet of fireworks.  No apple crumble brain for her!  She finished The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen, breezed through The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving and in the waning hours of the challenge, started Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson.  She didn't seem keen on finishing it though ("The dog's name is Yorkie-Poo") and moved on to Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

Thanks, Teri!  Let's do this again, same time next year.  Or why wait?  Let's cook up another challenge!

Last thoughts:  If I'd really been thinking about this, I would have included a book about a dragon, perhaps a reread of The Paper Bag Princess.  Better luck next year.  I guess I have a while to figure out what's next on the Chinese calendar.

So LOL Seollal Update: Getting All Canadian

Maybe it was the snow, but I woke up feeling all North NORTH American today, and before the little bit of white stuff had melted off good and proper, I had finished these two Canadian books:

The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood.  Atwood has got dystopia down flat.  Readers who enjoyed 2003's Oryx and Crake had to wait several years for this companion novel, but it was worth the wait.  After the "Waterless Flood" (brought on by a mad scientist type in the first novel), two women, Ren and Toby, are in seclusion.  Ren has been locked into her workplace, a sex establishment called Scales n' Tails.  Toby, who has been hiding from her former rapist/kidnapper, is holed up in a beauty spa called ANooYoo.  While dealing with their current problems (imminent starvation, brutal escapees from Painball, genetically altered pigs with human brains) both of them flash back to their days in God's Gardeners, an eco-cult whose members dress in hemp and under the guidance of Adam One, tries to blend religion and science evenly.  They are portrayed both humorously and sympathetically.  This is the second book in a trilogy.  I hope we don't have to wait several years for the third book.

Something Good - Robert Munsch.  Tyya goes shopping with her father (who looks a lot like Mr. Munsch) and she tries to improve on her father's healthy (and boring) food choices.  Chaos ensues when the father tells Tyya to stand still and not move.  Tyya is mistaken as a doll and marked with a $29.95 price tag.  Judging by the dialogue, I have a feeling that Munsch wrote this book shortly after a viewing of Frankenstein (1931).  There's a fun version on YouTube with Munsch himself doing the hono(u)rs.

Page count for So LOL Seollal:  120

I'm not sure what's up with Teri.  She gave me a book today that I reallyreally want to read, (but can't until April *sob*) then she disappeared again.  She must be deep in the pages.

Edited to add:


Teri sez: 
 I finished Against All Odds (a thriller type of novel) and am 69% through Apothecary's Daughter.  That's a good read.  Enough for tonight!  I'm "Read out" for today. :)  Page count on Sunday: 261.  Monday: 361.

Teri and Susan's So LOL Seollal Reading Adventure

Time goes fast here.  It's Seollal again, which is how the Koreans refer to Chinese New Year.  The country will devote itself to this holiday for 3 days:  Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.   Transportation of all kinds will be nightmarishly crowded.  It's a great time to stay home and turn pages.

 With no conveniently nearby ancestors to worship, no beautiful hanbok to wear and no plump red envelopes coming our way, my mean reading machine friend Teri and I have decided that this is the perfect time for our first joint reading challenge:

So LOL Seollal  

Over the next 3 days, we will periodically count up books and pages read.  We've decided not to skip sleep (although pajamas seem to be emerging as the preferred dress code) and generally aim for having fun.  If  you're in Korea, or just in your pajamas, you're welcome to join us.

Books On The Move

Oh, come on, I know you've got more books than that!

After seven years in Korea, I'm finally going to move from a studio apartment to a one-bedroom apartment.  This highly desired piece of real estate is just across the parking lot in the same complex, so my move won't be the big production it was back in 2009.  Still, it will be somewhat of an undertaking because of the approximately 550-600 books that must move with me.  (It was around 300 in 2009.) Unless I can assemble a team, it's going to be like eating the elephant.

Upon hearing about the move, my son compared me to Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872),  the famous book hoarder, and frankly, a guy after my own heart.  In his lifetime, he amassed thousands of books and manuscripts. Much of the latter was on vellum.  Phillipps moved house only once.  His family's possessions took a couple of days to move.  His library took eight months with a team of strong men working from dawn to dusk.  Is vellum heavy?  Just curious.  Luckily, that's not one of my challenges.

For a hilarious account of Phillipps' obsession, check out this book, which is where I saw the above anecdote.  The chapter devoted to him is titled "Crazy About Books".   Many of Sir Thomas's questionable antics with books have my WTF? light blinking rapidly, but I also sheepishly harbor some admiration for him because he went overboard and with such gusto.

I'm going out to look for some sturdy boxes now.

Talking About A Resolution

My friend Val from Faraway Hammer suggests that we "make promises not resolutions" for the upcoming year.  It's a nice idea, but a little too sweet and gentle for my sensibilities.  Also, it seems a little convoluted.  The promise should be written so that it's all soft and cuddly on the outside, but the kernel of the desired change should shine through.  Too easy to get tangled up in the dual skeins of syntax and semantics, so no promises for me.

Although I don't do a spectacular job of keeping them, I like the idea of resolutions, and I admire the other forms of the word:  Resolve, resolute.  It's thrilling to start the blank page that is January 1 and seriously, even frowningly think about what I want to accomplish.  There's a sternness that invigorates me.  I must have gotten it from some Puritan ancestor.  Of course, I'm also in favor of Lent lasting longer than 40 days.

First, I must examine my resolute state at this time last year and see how it held up:

1. Read for charity. I'll go a penny a page again. 
Almost $300 for someone.  Probably Cambodia.

2. Read for challenges:

100+ Challenge 
Yay, 112!

The Pulitzer Challenge 
I didn't neglect it, but not exactly balls to the wall, either.

The Newbery Challenge 
Ditto.

The Canadian Challenge - 4 down, 9 to go before July 1.
 Still pulling my toque down to hide my ashamed face.

The Support Your Local Library Challenge - I'll try for 20 this year.  
Only 9.

Mad Men Challenge - books from the late 50s and early 60s. 
A modest showing.  Enough to warrant an extra olive in my martini.

The TBR Dare   
LOL.  Lasted a mere 24 days before getting dazzled by the shelf of another.


Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge 
Only 5.  I wanted to do more.  Really, I did.

The Western Challenge - starts in May. 
Willa Cather and I galloped over the prairie together.  I discovered Buddies in the Saddle.  Not a bad year for this cowgirl; I'll have another helping of beans and cornbread.

3. Read internationally. 
It seems as though my passport gathered some dust on this one.

4. Participate in both the April and October 24-hour Readathons. 
Yes and Yes!!!

5. Read more books written before 1900.  
A mere 4 books. My snobbish inner bookworm is fanning herself while studiously ignoring me.

6. Read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The unsanitized version. 
I done it, as Huck would say.

7. Curtail book spending - this is going to hurt.
  I tried, but after I got the e-readers my resolve crumbled like a package of stale crackers.

8. Don't hesitate to DNF. Give it till page 49 then Zzzzzt! The Russian front! 
I still hesitated  to cast a book aside, but when I did, I was more upfront about my struggle.

PURPOSEFUL, STEELY-EYED RESOLUTIONS FOR 2012

1. Only TBR books until April 1.
2. Read 113 books in 2012
3. Read more Chunky Monkeys (500+ pages) and fewer Skinny Minnies (-100 pages)
4. Reduce the amount of books in my studio apartment (recent count: 500-600)
5. Read more internationally.  Not just English and Canadian books.  Get some exoticism going.
6. Find a new name for this blog.*
7. Participate in both Readathons.
8. Read for charity -- a penny a page.
9. More book/movie comparison/contrast posts **
10. Olden is golden (more books before 1900)

*I'm taking suggestions
** I'll get my moviehound son to hold me to this resolution.  It'll be fun.

TBR Double Dare: Pieces of April

So far, so good.  I'm nearly through week 1 and I've only read things that have been mouldering on my to-be-read shelf.  There's a richness nearly beyond compare stacked up on that 7-foot wooden structure.

 There are hundreds of choices, but of course this contrary bookworm wants what she doesn't have and can't read until after April 1 if the TBR Double Dare is to be successfully completed.

Friday found me poking through a box of book giveaways at the office.  I came home with:

Dust To Dust - Timothy Findlay.  Canadian author!
Salads (recipe book).  Maybe this book will turn my eating habits around forever.  Nah.
The Black Monk - Anton Chekov.  I can never resist those cute little palm-sized Penguin 60s.
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse.  I tried to read Hesse in high school because he was so "meaningful", but quickly lost interest.  I'll go back and see if my lost interest was justified or just the mark of an immature reader.

A day before that, my friend Teri gifted me a Kindle copy of The Gathering by Anne Enright.  I heard that this Man Booker winner is grim and depressing -- everything I love in a novel.

Last night, I went wild on Amazon, in search of Taylor Caldwell books.  I ordered two:  Wicked Angel (1965) and Captains and the Kings (1972).  I also wanted a nice hardcover first edition copy of A Prologue to Love, but the bookseller wouldn't deliver to South Korea.

"All of this is off limits till April 2."
 Repeat as necessary.

I've got pieces of April...it's a morning in January.

The Books of 2011

• 
  
• 
  
• [December]
• 112. The Adventures of Tintin: The Broken Ear - Herge
• 111. Just Kids - Patti Smith
• 110. A Prologue to Love - Taylor Caldwell (re-read)
• 109. The Misanthrope's Guide to Life (Go Away!) - Meghan Rowland and Chris Turner-Neal
• 108. The Mist - Stephen King
• 107. Darkness Visible - William Styron
• 106. Three Men on the Bummel - Jerome K. Jerome
• 105. I'm Not the New Me - Wendy McClure
• 104. Last Exit Before Toll - Neal Shaffer
• 103. An Old-Fashioned Girl - Louisa May Alcott
• 
  
• [November]
• 102. Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father - John Matteson
• 101. Please Look After Mom - Kyung-Sook Shin
• 100. Rosemary's Baby - Ira Levin
• 99. Everyday Foods in War Time - Mary Swartz Rose (Foodies' Reading Challenge)
• 98. Joe - Larry Brown
• 97. The Sisters Brothers - Patrick deWitt (Canadian Book Challenge 5)
• 96. The Blue Sweater - Jacqueline Novogratz
• 95. Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea - Barbara Demick (Bookleaves Book Group)
• 
  
• [October]
• 94. U and I - Nicholson Baker
• 93. Understood Betsy - Dorothy Canfield Fisher
• 92. The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti - Rick Geary
• 91. The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans - Rick Geary
• 90. The Onion Field - Joseph Wambaugh
• 89. Untitled Thesis - Valerie Hamer
• 88. Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood (Canadian Book Challenge 5)
• 87. Shock for the Secret Seven - Enid Blyton
• 86. Wilderness Tips - Margaret Atwood (Canadian Book Challenge 5)
• 85. Joshua Then and Now - Mordecai Richler (Canadian Book Challenge 5)
• 
  
• [September]
• 84. Please Don't Shoot My Dog - Jackie Cooper
• 83. The Jump-Off Creek - Molly Gloss
• 82. Are You Really Going To Eat That? - Robb Walsh (Foodies' Reading Challenge)
• 81. Before I Go To Sleep - S.J. Watson
• 80. Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay (Bookleaves Book Group)
• 79. Dance on the Earth - Margaret Laurence (Canadian Book Challenge 5)
• 78. Puzzle for the Secret Seven - Enid Blyton (Cracked Spinz Book Group)
• 77. My Thoughts Be Bloody - Nora Titone
• 76. Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
• 
  
• [August]
• 75. Becoming Jane Eyre - Sheila Kohler
• 74. Get Out of Bed! - Robert Munsch (Canadian Book Challenge 5, Support Your Local Library Challenge)
• 73. Andrew's Loose Tooth - Robert Munsch (Canadian Book Challenge 5, Support Your Local Library Challenge)
• 72. Show and Tell - Robert Munsch (Canadian Book Challenge 5, Support Your Local Library Challenge)
• 71. Thomas' Snowsuit - Robert Munsch (Canadian Book Challenge 5, Support Your Local Library Challenge)
• 70. I Have To Go! - Robert Munsch (Canadian Book Challenge 5, Support Your Local Library Challenge)
• 69. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
• 68. Nashville Chrome - Rick Bass
• 67. Maria's Wedding - Nunzio De Filippis, Christina Weir and Jose Garibaldi
• 66. American Bee - James Maguire
• 65. Shit My Dad Says - Justin Halpern
• 64. Moral Disorder - Margaret Atwood (Canadian Book Challenge 5)
• 63. The Boxcar Children - Gertrude Chandler Warner
• 
  
• [July]
• 62. Here If You Need Me - Kate Braestrup
• 61. Sorry to be so Cheerful - Hildegarde Dolson
• 60. A Stolen Life - Jaycee Dugard
• 59. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
• 58. Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter - Simone de Beauvoir (Paris in July Challenge)
• 57. Rhett Butler's People - Donald McCaig
• 56. The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
• 55. The Wilder Life - Wendy McClure
• 54. Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
• 
  
• [June]
• 53. 127 Hours - Aron Ralston
• 52. A Hell of a Woman - Jim Thompson
• 51. The Road Past Altamont - Gabrielle Roy (Canadian Book Challenge 4)
• 50. 50 Below Zero - Robert Munsch (Canadian Book Challenge 4, re-read)
• 49. In a Lonely Place - Dorothy B. Hughes
• 48. Go The F**k To Sleep (audiobook) - Adam Mansbach, Samuel L. Jackson
• 47. A Visit from the Good Squad - Jennifer Egan (The Pulitzer Project)
• 46. Bound for Glory - Woody Guthrie
• 45. Spoken from the Heart - Laura Bush
• 44. John Barleycorn - Jack London (Support Your Local Library Challenge)
• 43. The Help - Kathryn Stockett (Bookleaves Book Group)
• 
  
• [May]
• 42. A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway (re-read)
• 41. Room - Emma Donoghue (Canadian Book Challenge 4)
• 40. My Antonia - Willa Cather (The Western Read-Along Challenge)
• 39. Martin Eden - Jack London (Support Your Local Library Challenge)
• 38. Hardboiled Hollywood - Max Decharne
• 37. The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery (Bookleaves Book Group)
• 
  
• [April]
• 36. Scott O'Dell (Who Wrote That? Series) - Hal Marcovitz
• 35. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White (re-read, The Newbery Project)
• 34. Island of the Blue Dolphins - Scott O'Dell (Bookleaves Book Group, The Newbery Project, Reading Madly Challenge)
• 33. The Grifters - Jim Thompson
• 32. Cake Wrecks - Jen Yates (Foodies' Reading Challenge)
• 31. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? - Horace McCoy
• 30. Happy Birthday Or Whatever - Annie Choi
• 29. The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney (Canadian Book Challenge 4)
• 
  
• [March]
• 28. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (Cracked Spinz Book Group)
• 27. 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
• 26. Lucky - Wes Tooke
• 25. Another Bullshit Night In Suck City - Nick Flynn
• 24. True Grit - Charles Portis (Bookleaves Book Club, re-read, Page-to-Screen Challenge)
• 23. The Cariboo Horses - Alfred Purdy (Canadian Book Challenge 4)
• 
  
• [February]
• 22. Me Write Book: It Bigfoot Memoir - Graham Roumieu (Canadian Book Challenge 4)
• 21. Carrie - Stephen King (re-read)
• 20. The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton Readalong, The Pulitzer Project, Page-to-Screen Challenge)
• 19. Adventures with the Buddha - Jeffrey Paine (Support Your Local Library Challenge)
• 18. Your Right To Be Beautiful - Tonya Zavasta
• 17. Freedom - Jonathan Franzen (Bookleaves Book Club)
• 16. To Paris Never Again - Al Purdy (Canadian Book Challenge 4)
• 15. The Custom of the Country - Edith Wharton
• 14. Book Lust To Go - Nancy Pearl
• 13. Mother Love, Deadly Love - Anne McDonald Maier
• 
  
• [January]
• 12. Parched - Heather King
• 11. The Piano Tuner - Daniel Mason (Bookleaves Book Club)
• 10. Winter's Bone - Daniel Woodrell (Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge)
• 9. White Noise - Don DeLillo (Bookleaves Book Club)
• 8. Veronica - Mary Gaitskill
• 7. Loving Frank - Nancy Horan
• 6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth - Jeff Kinney (TBR Challenge)
• 5. Hitch-22 - Christopher Hitchens (TBR Challenge)
• 4. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (TBR Challenge)
• 3. A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain - Robert Olen Butler (The Pulitzer Project, TBR Challenge)
• 2. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (Bookleaves Book Club, TBR Challenge)
• 1. The Best of Everything - Rona Jaffe (Reading Madly Challenge, TBR Challenge)