At the beginning of 2015, I set some reading goals. So how did I do?

• First, I wanted to read at least 75 books. Go figure, by setting that goal lower, I actually ended up reading more. According to Goodreads, my total was 106, including rereads of the first six Toby Daye books. (There were some picture books, too, and plenty of single issue comic books, but I generally don't count those.)


• I did a much better job determining what books I was or was not interested in. There were plenty that I read 20-50 pages and abandoned. There were a few exceptions where I soldiered on, mostly for a reading challenge at work.


• I read Do Muslim Women Need Saving by anthropologist Lila Abu-Lughod and The Butterfly Mosque by journalist and comic writer G. Willow Wilson. The former is more academic and provides many examples of how the lives of Muslim women are more complex than they are portrayed in Western Media. The latter is a memoir of Wilson's years living in Egypt, where she met and married her husband, after she graduated from college and converted to Islam. (I also have continued reading Wilson's Ms. Marvel comics.)


• Heather and I read lots of the same stuff. Is anyone surprised?

At work, our manager also designed a reading challenge for the staff with a different genre or category for each month of the year, e.g. a romance novel, a young adult book, a non-fiction book, a Newbery winner. There were a few duds in that bunch, but also some great books I probably would not have otherwise read.

Overall, it was a good year for books. I stayed on top of the YA releases I wanted to read, and I also read significantly more non-fiction than previous years, with excellent results.

This entry was originally posted at http://alexiscartwheel.dreamwidth.org/161431.html.

It's not Friday, but whatever. This is hardly a regular weekly feature, and anyway, I run this show.

Hamilton. I reluctantly accept the fact that I'm very unlikely to actually see the show on Broadway, so I'll just have to pray that they really do film a performance sometime. On the other hand, I can listen to the cast album as often as I want, which right now is ALWAYS, because it really is THAT GONE. Catchy, funny, earnest, heartbreaking. There are so many parts of it that are ZOMG MY FAVORITE. Right this moment it's "don't modulate the key and not debate with me!" If only real life presented me with an opportunity to throw that at someone XD

Carry On. Rainbow Rowell wrote a whole book about Simon and Baz from the fake Simon Snow series in Fangirl, and it's excellent. I posted a full review on Goodreads, which I rarely do, so I'll link to that instead of re-stating the same thing. What I didn't mention there is how well Rowell addresses many fan concerns about the Harry Potter series, like the lack of diversity in the Wizarding World and lack of strong character arcs for Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy. (For the record, I was never a big Draco fan, or a Draco/Harry shipper, but getting being Harry's paranoia about him could've been interesting. On the other hand, I love Ginny Weasley, and was disappointed that she ended up on the sidelines in Deathly Hallows.) Anyway, you should read it.

Lumberjanes. I just caught up on the series through Issue #17. I feel like the book keeps getting better, and has so many examples of how indie comics are innovating in ways that DC and Marvel aren't keeping up with. And since we're talking Lumberjanes, I don't mean that it's dark or gritty. I mean that good storytelling goes hand-in-hand with supportive friendships and positivity about differences in gender, sexuality, and race. I know Noelle Stevenson is moving on to other projects, so I hope the quality stays so high with the new team.
This entry was originally posted at http://alexiscartwheel.dreamwidth.org/161043.html.

Dear Gmail,
Please to be not eating my LJ notifications, okay? I like to actually know when people comment.
Love,
Me

I've seen several posts floating around Tumblr in the last week lamenting the demise of old-school LJ fandom, which prompted me log on and check my old f-list, which came with the pleasant surprise that some old friends have been posting recently! (I mirror all my posts at LJ, but because my f-list seldom shows much besides posts from communities I've honestly lost interest in, I'm guilty of abandoning it for long stretches of time.)

The combination of these events has me thinking about what I personally miss about LJ-style fandom. 

I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that LJ fandom was a lot more personal. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Tumblr a lot, but mostly I know the people I follow there by what they are interested in, not who they are. Part of that is definitely down to a lack of critical conversation. I found friends on LJ (and before that, in forums) not just based on shared interest, but from the ability to have interesting conversations about those shared interests.

One of the phrases that baffled me when I was just starting out on Tumblr was "don't tag your hate." My primary fandom, to my ongoing shame, for the past few years, is Teen Wolf. The source material is, putting it kindly, not very good. But on Tumblr, if I want to be critical of the show at all, fandom tells me that I shouldn't dare tag my post #teen wolf. I have to react positively to everything in fandom, or be banished to some weird, untagged corner where no one else can accidentally hear my opinion? It's weird.

(And don't even let the librarian side of me get started on how, from a metadata standpoint, "don't tag your hate" is a terrible, nonsensical idea.)

Lately I've mostly used my journal as a dumping ground for all the personal stuff that doesn't fit on Tumblr--and that I'm honestly not comfortable sharing that openly anyway--but I think it's time to open it back up and start writing about the fannish side of things here too. We'll see how long that lasts ;) This entry was originally posted at http://alexiscartwheel.dreamwidth.org/160526.html.

So researching what types of piano music Lady Mary could conceivably have learned how to play has led me to reserving and checking-out piano music (that is quite possibly too difficult for me to play) from work. But I don't own a piano, so then it led to me researching digital pianos, which though less expensive than there acoustic counterparts, which I was also looking at for shits and giggles, still cost more money than I have to spare right now.

I guess I could go over to my mom's house and play there? This was not a very well thought-out plan.

This entry was originally posted at http://alexiscartwheel.dreamwidth.org/160404.html.

 Out of the blue I just remembered the time at last year's Dragon Con where we found an free almost full 12 pack of Diet Coke in our hotel hallway. Did I gleefully stash it in our room while Patty and Karen summoned the elevator? Yes, I did.

This entry was originally posted at http://alexiscartwheel.dreamwidth.org/159960.html.

Okay so last year I failed miserably at reviewing all the books I read here. I think I left off around August? Sometime after that I did start trying to post more reviews on Goodreads to sort of make up for it.  Though I didn't deliver on my goal to read and review 100 books, I did meet a big goal set when I got my new job in March: reading more children's novels, graphic novels, and picture books. (Actually, had I included picture books I would have been well over 100 XD)

This year I'm going for more realistic goals (which do not include reviewing every single book I read).

• Read at least 75 books. (A lower and I think easily achievable goal. This should give me more flexibility to branch out into some new genres.)
• Continue mission to select books that I truly want to read, not books I think I should read. If I'm bored with a book, don't like it, or find it makes me VERY ANGRY, I'm allowed to just quit.
• Read a couple books about Islam, both in America and globally, and including something about women in Islam. Columbus has growing Muslim immigrant and refugee communities, and in edition to being personally interested in religions, I think it's important to understand the traditions and beliefs of a marginalized group that is becoming an important part of the local community. 
• Bully Heather into reading everything I love. (jk) (Or not really.)

That seems like a good place to start, yes? This entry was originally posted at http://alexiscartwheel.dreamwidth.org/157767.html.

Last year I divided the list into Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Graphic Novels thinking that would make me actually read more non-fiction. That... failed spectacularly. In general, I just didn't finish as many books as I would've liked last year, but it's not fair comparing to 2012, since that was when I got into Marvel and read a ton of trades. Still unaccounted for were (and are) single issue comics and the massive amount of fic I've been reading.

I did do a pretty good job writing reviews for everything, so I'm going to at least try to keep that going.

( CLICK FOR THE LIST. OR ELSE?Collapse )
This entry was originally posted at http://alexiscartwheel.dreamwidth.org/155753.html.

I applied for a promotion. Ahhhhhhhh.

CAPTAIN MARVEL MOVIE. Eeeeeeeeeee.

This entry was originally posted at http://alexiscartwheel.dreamwidth.org/157397.html.

Once again at the request of ceitfianna: Teen Wolf-how did you get into it? When did you first fall for Stiles? Sterek, what fanfic should I read? Anything you can think of.

I'm not 100% sure Fi realizes how potentially dangerous it is asking me to write about "anything I can think about" about Teen Wolf, because it's a bit of an obsession these days, but I'll try not to go too crazy.

( The ShowCollapse )
( The FicCollapse )

Got another topic suggestion? Go here to suggest something! (In the absence of which I will continue rambling about looking for jobs.)
This entry was originally posted at http://alexiscartwheel.dreamwidth.org/155964.html.