2016 Reading Challenge, Part 5

One would think that being without internet for about a quarter of the time since my last book post would have been conducive to getting lots of reading done. One would be right to think so, but most of the reading that I did was fan fiction :) However, I did finish off an awesome trilogy, revisit a short story collection that was part of my initial introduction to science fiction as a kid, read a couple books about books, and one very interesting look at a dystopian future. I'm a little behind schedule for the challenge, as I still have twenty-seven books to go, but I think I'll make it.

21. A trilogy (book three)
     Morning Star, by Pierce Brown

"All deeds that last are painted in blood." These words echoed in my head over and over as I read, through every impossible decision and every bloody battle and every tragic loss. This book was intense. At one point, I had to put it down and walk away until I could regain my composure enough to continue reading. It was definitely harder on my emotions than the first two books, which was partly due to the events in the story, and partly due to how much I'd come to care about the characters. It wasn't perfect, but it brought the story to a good conclusion. I'm always hesitant to recommend a trilogy before I've read all the books, but now that I've read them all I will certainly be recommending them to my friends.   My rating: 8/10

22. A book of short stories
     The Counterfeit Man, by Alan E. Nourse

I've read this collection several times, and I enjoy the variety in the stories. The Counterfeit Man and The Dark Door are probably my two favorites, as they feature two things I rather like - evil that can hide in plain sight, and a blurred line between truth and insanity. The Link is also a favorite, as it really resonates with me for some reason. I tend to read one story at a time from books like this, so that I can take a bit of time to ponder what I just read before moving on to the next tale, and this collection is good for provoking thought on a lot of different fronts.   My rating: 8/10

23. A book with a number in the title
     Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

A good portion of the time, the descriptive language perfectly set the scene or conveyed the mood, but then there were those times where it seemed excessive and detracted from the flow of the story. This was especially true in the beginning, and I almost quit reading, but I remembered liking this book in high school, so I stuck it out. I'd say this book gets progressively better as the story goes on, and there were a couple scenes that will definitely stick with me. Conclusion: mostly good, thought-provoking, and worth reading.   My rating: 8/10

24. A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit
     The Little Paris Bookshop, by Nina George

I wasn't sure at first what I thought about this book, but once Perdu and Max started traveling, I decided I liked it. It moved at a slow pace a lot of the time, but it was an easy read, and an enjoyable one for the most part. There were some aspects to the story that bothered me, but I could ignore those for a good portion of the book, so that wasn't too much of an issue (for those who care, my main issue was that the woman Perdu loved and lost was with him while in a relationship, albeit an open one, with another man). When it comes to books about booksellers learning to live and love again, I liked The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry better, but that doesn't mean this book didn't have its moments.   My rating: 7/10

25. A book with a one word title
     Feed, by M.T. Anderson

I'm really not sure how to rate this book... As far as world-building goes, it was fantastic. The future presented here was a terrifyingly believable one, and little details sprinkled throughout the book gave it a depth that went beyond what the main characters saw and said and did. That being said, the characters themselves lacked depth, and I don't just mean that they were shallow people (although that's partially true). I think some of that was probably intentional, as you're seeing everything through Titus's eyes, and he's the product of a culture that never looks beyond the surface. However, for the second half of this book to work, you need to care about the characters, and that's hard to do when they generally feel more like caricatures than real people (this is true even of Violet, who really should have more depth than the other friends). The writing style also put me off at first (I know using "like" every third word is a real-world thing, but it drives me nuts in the real world too), but after a while, I realized that the style itself was part of the storytelling - a way of showing how culture had deteriorated, that everyone was so careless with their words. Once I figured that out, it bothered me much less.   My rating: 7/10

Summer adventures, Take #1

My summer started off with sending Trevor off to Alabama for five weeks of Squadron Officer School. While he was away, I had loads of fun. First up was a trip to Colorado to vacation with my in-laws. My sister-in-law Hannah is working as a rafting guide up there this summer, so we all congregated in Colorado to hike, raft, and hang out. I got to meet more relatives from that side of the family, and generally had an awesome time.

After a long drive by myself, it was nice to get out and hike the next day, even if it was rather warm. The trail was called Tunnel Drive, and went along the river, and through several tunnels along the way. We also checked out a old dig site where lots of dinosaur skeletons have been found over the years (no, we didn't see any), and stopped for ice cream on the way home - a lovely way to wrap up a day in the sun.

The next day we were off to the Arkansas River, and spent the whole day rafting down it. We had a big enough group that we split up into two rafts, and Hannah was our guide. She did an awesome job, we had lots of fun, and we all got very wet, especially Yan and Ian up front.

The last day in Colorado we drove down to Bishop's Castle, and if rafting wasn't enough to satisfy anyone's desire to get their adrenaline pumping, climbing all over this place certainly did the trick. I made it all the way to the highest point (a little steeple on top of the highest turret that is 160ft in the air), but I was definitely clinging tightly to the framework up there! In the afternoon, we strolled around a little tourist town, and ended up stopping for ice cream again - the perfect answer to the heat.

I didn't come straight home from Colorado, but instead meandered my way through New Mexico (stopping at an old dormant volcano) and then into Texas to visit Rachel, Jacob, their pets, and their cattle. They very graciously made space for me in the trailer that's serving as their temporary abode, and I got a tour of their land, and spent lots of time catching up with Rachel, which was lovely.

Looking across the rim of the crater at Capulin Volcano National Monument

Back home again, I had the less exciting task of getting everything ready for the movers to come, but I also got to celebrate the 4th of July with folks from the Enid and Stillwater RP churches. The fireworks were lovely, as always, though it was a bittersweet evening due to the fact that I would be leaving those people and that place behind in two short weeks. Still, I'm grateful for four lovely Independence Day celebrations in Enid with people who went from strangers to acquaintances to friends in that time.

After a few frantic days of finishing sorting everything in the house, I flew out to DC to hang out with old friends and go to a wedding. The first day, Vir, Karen, Becca and I toured the monuments and memorials on the Mall, then hit up the Newseum and the American Art Museum in the afternoon. The Newseum was very cool, with the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph exhibit being my favorite. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time there, as we only had the afternoon and you could easily spend a whole day there, so that's on my list of places to go back to.

World War II Memorial

Newspaper headlines from around the world after 9/11

The next day, we met up with more old friends, wandered around the Natural History Museum and the Air and Space Museum, learned about hypnotizing chickens, ate delicious deer burgers, and generally had a lot of fun both catching up and reminiscing. Then, on Sunday, we went to Kelly and Phill's wedding! The ceremony was short and sweet, the reception was lovely, and I'm very happy for both of them :)

Some of my favorite people :)

I came home from DC to find all my worldly belongings in boxes, navigated the maze that was my house until the boxes got loaded onto the truck, then had a chance to appreciate just how wonderful my husband is as we scrubbed and vacuumed the house. I'm pretty sure we left it cleaner than we found it. We also managed to fit in a couple of last hurrahs - eating good food, hanging out with all our wonderful Oklahoma friends, and fitting in one last game night. Then we were on the road, and were thankfully blessed with a safe drive, and two not-too-traumatized animals. As of today, we have our house, but the moving truck hasn't arrived yet and the internet is proving problematic, so I'm finishing up this entry from one of the local libraries, where I have both a chair and access to the interwebs :) And that about wraps it up for the first half of my rather busy, exciting, and never-boring summer!