Follow Your Inner Moonlight

2006 || 2007 || 2008 || 2009 || 2010 || 2011





2012 Goal: 50 new (to me) books. (No page goal; re-reads don't count.)
[Note: I have a goal of 75 books in 2012 on GoodReads, but re-reads do count for that.]

( First-Time Books )

Book Count: 69/50


( Re-reads )

2006 || 2007 || 2008 || 2009


2010 Goal: 50 new (to me) books. (No page goal; re-reads don't count.)

( First-Time Books )

Book Count: 85/50


( Re-reads )

2006 || 2007 || 2008


2009 Goal: 50 books and/or 25,000 pages.

( Completed Books )


Book Count: 73/50
Page Count: 25,045/25,000

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

For this novel of French bourgeois life in all its inglorious banality, Flaubert invented a paradoxically original and wholly modern style. His heroine, Emma Bovary, a bored provincial housewife, abandons her husband to pursue the libertine Rodolphe in a desperate love affair. A succès de scandale in its day, Madame Bovary remains a powerful and arousing novel.

The beginning was boring. Then it got a little better. Then it became almost unbearable. Then it was okay for a while. But by the end I hated every character and was severely disappointed that more of them didn't die because they all should have. Every single one.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novella by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1886. London lawyer Utterson is driven to investigate Edward Hyde, the unlikely protégé of his friend Dr Henry Jekyll, suspecting the relationship to be founded on blackmail. The truth is worse than he could have imagined. Jekyll's ‘full statement of the case’, the final chapter of the book, explores the idea of dual personality that led him to his experiments, and his inexorable and finally fatal descent into evil.

Why had I never read this before now? It's so short and it's a story that I've loved since I was very little. I mean ... I'm all about two-in-one creatures. Complete sucker for 'duality of man' stories, and this is probably the most famous one. Anyway, I'd never actually sat down and read it, but I'm glad I did. I LOVED it. I even kept the audio book version of it so I can "read" it when I don't have time/energy to actually have the book in my hand.

When I posted about being happy because I'd listened to several Well Told Tales podcasts yesterday, phinnia made a point of thanking me for including a link because it sounded like a really interesting podcast. Well, it is! And so are a lot of the other podcasts I listen to, so here is a guide to some of my favorites. Hopefully, somebody gets something out of this. It took me forever to write. XD

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First of all, I am completely addicted to short story podcasts. I adore being read to. This is what I've been listening to lately.


Podcasts:

Drabblecast - "Strange Stories by Strange Authors for Strange Listeners." A 100-word drabble and a longer piece of flash fiction weekly. This one is especially well-produced.

Escape Pod - A sci-fi fiction podcast that posts a 2,000-6,000-word story weekly.

Horror Stories - Old radio broadcasts from programs like Witch's Tale, Lights Out, Inner Sanctum, Quiet Please, The Haunted Hour, etc.

New Yorker: Fiction - Once a month, a current fiction writer chooses a short story from The New Yorker's archives, reads the story, and then discusses it with the magazine's fiction editor.

News from Lake Wobegon - "Garrison Keillor's signature monologue, The News from Lake Wobegon, a staple of the live public radio program A Prairie Home Companion." Really, just dive right on in. It doesn't matter if you've never listened to it before. At first, it might be a little confusing because there are somewhat ongoing stories and you won't know the characters and places right away. But after a week or two, they start to become familiar and comfortable. And Garrison Keillor is really funny. ♥

PodCastle - A fantasy fiction podcast that posts a 2,000-6,000-word story weekly.

Pseudopod - A horror fiction podcast that posts a 2,000-6,000-word story weekly. I am madly in love with the host's voice.

Selected Shorts - An hour a week of short fiction read by stage and screen stars.

Tales of Horror - Basically the same as the Horror Stories podcast. A few broadcasts are even posted on both. But I don't mind, and neither should you! XD

Well Told Tales - "Well Told Tales brings you an original audio short story in the horror, sci-fi or crime/hardboiled genre every other Thursday."



Podiobooks:

Come, Let Me Whisper by Russell L. Burt - Of the fifteen stories in this collection (one is in four parts), I only wound up keeping seven. There's something very hit-or-miss about this guy's writing. I dunno. Sometimes it's good and sometimes I get the feeling he's writing just for shock value. Of course, sometimes I love stuff that's just for shock value. But I guess that's not what I was looking for when I was listening to this and deciding what to keep and what to toss. I do plan on eventually checking out more of his short stories at his website, though.

Revelations by Russell L. Burt - This is a fairly short psychological/supernatural horror/thriller that has, IMO, a great premise but ultimately falls a little short. The journey is a blast but the destination is kind of boring. I deleted it after I listened, but I still think it's worth a listen if you have the time.

In the Shadows by Basil Sands - I'm not sure what made me decide to download this book. I mean, I'm a big fan of short stories, especially when someone else is reading them to me, but these aren't the type that I usually go for. It's action stories, and a lot of them are war stories, and I'm usually so much more about characters. But I wound up keeping every single one of these because they are just so well-written.

Lessons From A Geek Fu Master by Mur Lafferty - I could listen to Mur Lafferty read all day long. Love her voice. And she's quite funny! I wound up keeping about half of these essays. It's great for anyone who is a geek or understands geeks. Especially gamer geeks.

Sonic Fiction by various authors - A bunch of stories by a bunch of authors from a bunch of genres, all collected into one podiobook and narrated by Jeffrey Kafer, who has a rather pleasant reading voice. There are fourteen stories (one is in two parts) and I only kept five but the others were still good enough to make me download the "sequel" podiobook.

More Sonic Fiction by various authors - The "sequel" to the above. There are eighteen stories in this one (including two two-parters and a three-parter) and I wound up keeping ten of them (including all three with multiple parts). There was only one that I actually disliked in the whole thing.

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Words:


APM: Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac - This is where my occasional poems and "happy birthday" tweets come from. I listen to it every morning before I lie down. Mmm, even just five minutes of Garrison Keillor's voice is great for relaxing.

Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing - Exactly what it says on the box. I like that different styles are discussed and the conclusion is often "There is no real right or wrong; just pick a style and be consistent."

podictionary - for word lovers - dictionary etymology, trivia & history - Very short, always interesting, often subtly funny, and I love Charles Hodgson's voice. It claims to be a daily podcast, but it isn't. It is very frequent, though.

The Word Nerds - Much longer word discussions. I love listening to people talk about language.

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Misc:


NPR: Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! - "NPR's weekly current events quiz. Have a laugh and test your news knowledge while figuring out what's real and what we've made up." So funny, guys. Seriously, very little gives me a jolt of squee like when a new episode pops up on my iTunes download queue.

Real Time with Bill Maher - I don't always agree with him, but I do a lot of the time, and he does make me laugh even when I don't. Since I don't have HBO anymore, this is how I get my Bill.

Stephen Fry's PODGRAMS - I could listen to this man talk forever. About anything. Language, Oscar Wilde, broken arms, dancing... Oh. Wait... XD

Stuff You Missed in History Class - I will admit, this one is not always all that informative for me. But I read a lot of weird crap, so it might be great for other people! And even when I don't actually learn anything, I still enjoy listening to it.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

During a business visit to Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, young English solicitor Jonathan Harker soon finds himself at the center of a series of horrifying incidents -- he is attacked by three phantom women, observes with horror the count's transformation from human to bat form, and is shocked to discover, on his own neck, puncture wounds that seem to have been made by teeth.

Managing to escape the count's grim fortress, Harker returns to England, where he learns from his fiancée of a strange malady afflicting her friend Lucy, whose sleepwalking, inexplicable blood loss, and mysterious throat wounds lead Harker and others on a frantic vampire hunt.

I'm not sure why I'd never read Dracula before now. I've owned a copy for as long as I can remember. I just never actually picked it up. It was the beginning of July when I first cracked it open and gave it a shot. Unfortunately, I'd just read a long stretch of contemporary fiction and couldn't automatically get into the way this was written. Also, I kept picturing Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker, and that made the little lolme in my head go, "lulz! stfu, tool!" which makes it very hard to take anything seriously. I kept trying for a few days but I couldn't get far enough into it in one sitting to become engaged and to get used to the writing style. I wound up setting it aside and reading a bunch of plays, a dozen or so Goosebumps books, some graphic novels, the Twilight series, and a few other things instead.

Then, after about three months, I listened to the first two chapters in audio book form. (Hooray for LibriVox.org!) That did the trick! I was used to the style of the novel and I was hearing a voice other than Keanu's! (I'd never realized exactly what horrible casting that was until actually reading the book. What the hell were they thinking?) I fell in love pretty much instantly, as I always suspected would happen. So much is glossed over in film versions (which I also love, in their own way). There weren't really characters that I didn't like, which is amazing. Most of the time, the characters that I dislike far outnumber the ones that I care for. Lucy was the only one here that I wanted to go away. And that was mostly because the story couldn't really move forward until she died but she kept freakin' holding on! I did rather dislike her before that, though. What a twit.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

An aging death-metal rock god, Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals...a used hangman's noose...a snuff film. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely as an item he learns is for sale on the Internet. For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by the deceased's restless spirit. Judas has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts -- of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed -- so what's one more?

But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, it's the real thing. And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere -- behind the bedroom door...seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang...staring out from his widescreen TV -- dangling a gleaming razor blade on a chain from one hand...

So. Stephen King's kid. He writes horror. This book was his first novel and it was ... not bad! I had some trouble with the pacing. I felt like it lagged in two or three places. And there was a reveal near the beginning that I didn't think would come until the end, which threw me off. But after I adjusted to that, I quite enjoyed it. I have to say, not caring for the first fifty pages of a 350-page book isn't terrible!

I've read that the film rights have been acquired and I'm actually a little hopeful about that. I really liked the characters and this story and I feel like some of the pacing problems would be smoothed out in a cinematic medium. I've got my fingers crossed that the project works out and gets finished.

I also plan on checking out Joe's first book, which was a short story collection called 20th Century Ghosts. Since my only issue was with the pacing, I think I'd probably really like his shorter works.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Here, in one volume: Marjane Satrapi's best-selling, internationally acclaimed memoir-in-comic-strips.

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trails of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.

Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom--Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.

This is one of those rare cases where I like a movie better than I like the book. However, I still completely adored the book and highly recommend it. My review of the movie went like this:

Oh, wow. When I review films, I like to have at least one positive or negative thing no matter how much I disliked or liked it. But I don't have a single nitpick about Persepolis. I loved the animation style. I want the soundtrack. The story was fascinating. And even though my personal struggles are triggered by small-scale things and Marjane's were triggered by world events, I identified with her hardc0re, which always makes things more interesting to watch. I cried no fewer than five times but I also did a fair amount of laughing. It was really pretty much a roller coaster emotionally. There were parts where I was disturbed and/or crying but also laughing at the same time, thanks to the writing. I think if I were to make a list of films that I think are perfect, this would be on it. I need the graphic novel and my own copy of the DVD, like ... yesterday.

And that, minus the part about the music (and if you replace "animation" with "artwork"), is pretty much how I feel about the book, as well. Marjane Satrapi is pretty freakin' amazing.

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

This epic work of the imagination has captured the hearts of millions of readers worldwide since it was first published more than a decade ago. Its special story within a story is an irresistible invitation for readers to become part of the book itself. And now this modern classic and bibliophile's dream is available in hardcover again.

The story begins with a lonely boy named Bastian and the strange book that draws him into the beautiful but doomed world of Fantastica. Only a human can save this enchanted place -- by giving its ruler, the Childlike Empress, a new name. But the journey to her tower leads through lands of dragons, giants, monsters, and magic -- and once Bastian begins his quest, he may never return. As he is drawn deeper into Fantastica, he must find the courage to face unspeakable foes and the mysteries of his own heart.

Readers, too, can travel to the wondrous, unforgettable world of Fantastica if they will just turn the page...

I am so sad to say that I really didn't care for this book. I think perhaps a childhood love of the movie ruined it for me. The movie is only the first half of the book, which I liked well enough. But then during Bastian's adventures in Fantastica -- the second half of the book -- he turns into such an annoying dick. I stopped caring what happened to him and lost interest in how the issues would be wrapped up. At first when I started reading, I joked that the title was false advertising. But by the time I was three quarters of the way through, it felt like the truth.