The Sunday Salon: Here Comes the Sun.....

Hi everyone!

It is Spring here and spring has the weather of hope. I'm actually wanting to be outside and stuff and that is so unusual for me because it's usually too hot or something. But it's in the 70s and so perfect! So of course right around when we are having rare perfect weather I'll be heading out of town. I'm really looking forward to it, though, it's been awhile since I've gone anywhere and also since I've seen my siblings and nieces so it should be good times. I hope.

I think I might also bring along World War Z to finally read on the plane because I've been needing to read that book foreverrrr.

Anyway I think it's interesting that New Year's is the time when people make resolutions for a new and improved self, because it's really Spring that makes me feel like change is possible. And I need a good dose of it, so! Here's to a hopefully awesome spring.

Today I plan to get outside as much as possible and enjoy the weather, finish up this month's War and Peace reading in advance since I'll be out of town during our scheduled posting, write a few more blog posts so that this place stays active even while I'm away, and contemplate some other long overdue blogging changes. Oh and laundry and stuff, too, sigh. What are you guys up to?

TV Notes

I almost enjoyed this week's Scandal, but I've realized that President Fitz is one of my most hated characters ever and it's annoying to watch everyone scramble around him trying to please him. SO ANNOYING. Also, when the show takes its one emotional scene to be him calling Olivia and telling her he's glad she's ruined. So romantic y'all. But I did like that Abby got to tell Harrison that basically nothing will ever be the same between them again, that they are gladiators first and people second, because that storyline probably broke the show for me more than any other. I felt like there was no emotional truth to what happened in the aftermath and this is the first time I felt like there was. But whatever, I still hate most of the characters.

I still love The Americans, so much. I've never felt let down by an episode really and this week was no exception. I just love Phillip and Elizabeth and they are breaking my heart! But also I feel like the spy stuff is always interesting and smart. I want Nina to get away from Stan, omg. (Nina is probably the character I care most about after Phillip and Elizabeth and her storyline is killing me) But just watching these people, watching them try to figure out their lives and stay alive, etc. I don't know it's so compelling. There is a lot of sex in it, though, and there was some pretty gross violence this week (when the hitman was blown up). So...to be honest that's what I think the biggest flaw of the show is--it doesn't need all of this graphic stuff to convince me of how real it is. But let's be real the best part of this week's episode was the use of The Cure's "Siamese Twins" to close the show. You know usually when you hear The Cure it's "Lovesong" or "Just Like Heaven" not the older flawless stuff. Thanks for letting me have my moment. (haha a quick search on tumblr reveals other people were thrilled by this too) No seriously, The Americans and The Walking Dead are my favorite shows right now, so of course they are cable shows with shorter runs, sigh.

In case you missed it, this week I asked what we'll call zombies when the apocalypse happens, shared my thoughts on the fifth season of Six Feet Under and the series as a whole, shared a guest post from Jaclyn Moriarty with a giveaway that's still open, shared my thoughts on Andrea's arc so far this season on The Walking Dead, and talked about a few movies I enjoyed.

Hope you all have a great week!

The Sunday Salon: Chatter

Hi friends!

First of all, I can't wait for tonight's The Walking Dead!!! I can't remember the last time I was so excited for an episode of television! Yay!

Other than that my life has been very busy with nothing too exciting + the INSPYs which are an insane amount of work that I always forget about. Speaking of the INSPYs, we are now taking applications for judges! If you are a person of Christian faith and like to read good books and want to be part of a grassroots bloggers award for books than please apply! You can check out more details on the INSPYs site but we definitely need a good variety of judges. Please apply!!!

I've done some reading and hope to finally write some reviews soon. I can't review everything though because I'm also cramming my days with INSPYs reading so I won't be able to share details about those books until after the awards are over!!

We had the second check in for War and Peace...and I'm really surprised by how down everyone was about the section! I can't say it's my favorite thing I ever read but I actually found the section quite readable. The one hundred page sections work well for me, it really helps me to read classics with other people I think. So thanks again to everyone reading along!

TV has been a bit of a disappointment for me lately (except The Walking Dead of course!) but a few thoughts anyway:

Switched at Birth

I am kind of confused by the storyline with the school because at first I thought they didn't have enough money because of the hearing program and then suddenly it was like the hearing program will save everything! And then no it's getting closed down altogether. But whatever, I really like the stuff they've had going on this season so far with the hearing and deaf/hard of hearing storylines. I think they raise a lot of interesting situations--like Daphne getting robbed and how that makes her feel as an especially vulnerable target, and Regina losing the ability to sign, and Noah losing his hearing altogether. There isn't always the follow through that I'd like to see, for example I thought it was awful that Daphne's parents collectively decided to sell the food truck without talking to her and then that was just completely dropped. But it's interesting overall. I hated that Regina fell off the wagon, but I did think the show set up the circumstances really well. And I'm glad she isn't just magically better, because that's not real life. I do feel bad for Bay constantly landing in these awful situations with people she loves, though!

The relationships have also been kind of weird with Bay and Emmett sort of back on without really being back on and Bay and Noah being a thing when it's obvious Daphne and Noah should be a thing and all of the stuff about Daphne dating hearing guys and kissing Travis but not really being into him.

Nashville

Basically I watch this show for Juliette at this point. I can't help but love her, like I really feel for her in a way I have yet to feel for Rayna. So episodes like this week are frustrating because I don't care about Teddy at allll and his scheming against Lamar like wow does anyone who watches this show care about that? I thought the stuff about Gunnar and his brother was awkward and clunky and I don't ship Scarlett and Gunnar at all, so the ending was a huge turn-off. (the thing is I could have totally been into them but then they made Gunnar weird and a jerk and ugh. I think this show really blew a lot of its potential and this storyline is a prime example)

But Juliette....throwing the huge party for Deacon, wanting to sing for him, saying, "I'm glad to see so many people love Deacon the way I do", commenting on Scarlett's talent (I could have written that line myself, lol, I so knew it was coming), and giving Deacon the dog because he deserves unconditional love....aw Juliette. When she called Rayna the queen of country music and then Rayna shows up and wants to sing and Juliette puts her off, but ends up having to take her mother home because she fell off the wagon and they contrast Juliette putting her mother to bed with Rayna of course taking the stage and getting to sing her love song to Deacon or whatever...it just hurts me okay. And her hero worship of Deacon, the way she lavishes on him the love she so wants lavished on herself just killllls me.

Speaking of Deacon, I keep going back and forth on his character because I do like him and feel like his storyline is compelling but I wish he'd A) stop lecturing Juliette and B) Get over Rayna. But I thought it was kind of adorable that he watches Old Yeller every year on his birthday but then he didn't even want the dog. lol oh Deacon.

Anyway that's it from me for this week! I thought I had more to chat about, but I guess not! I do hope to have more posts this week, so hopefully I'll see you soon.

The Sunday Salon: Like Everything

Blogging

So at some point this week I sort of heard that there's been another case of a blogger plagiarising. You know this is just exhausting and this kind of behavior is ridiculous. There is no excuse for stealing what someone else wrote and pretending it's your own, if you have nothing of your own to say, don't write. And it made me think how despite all of this publishers still work with these bloggers and turn a blind eye and for some reason as I was doing some totally unrelated activity and thinking about this I just got really annoyed. It shows a total lack of respect on their part for what we do.

And someone pointed out to me that some of my posts had been stolen and reposted on some spam blog and it reminded me that a few weeks ago when I was googling spoilers for Borgen's third season (don't judge) I stumbled across something I wrote about the show attributed to someone else on what looked like it could also have been a spam blog. You know, the thing is that I don't want to have to deal with this. I feel like I can barely keep up with my blog as it is, I don't want to have to be thinking about people who are too lazy and too selfish to do work of their own stealing my writing and the negative repercussions that has for my blog. Why can't I just blog in peace? I want to be able to write about stuff and I want that stuff to be publicly accessible. I don't want to have to deal with all this crap. Basically I'M JUST REALLY GRUMPY about this topic. (Having said all of this, this is a fun post!)

Reading

I am progressing in War & Peace! I am on page 48 as of writing this but hope to finish up the first section this weekend. I'm finding it slightly more difficult than Anna Karenina in keep everybody straight, but so far so good. I'll save all my other thoughts for Thursday!

I also read Lenore's Level 2 and will share some thoughts soon. And I read Legend by Marie Lu and I'm also currently reading The Next Time You See Me by Holly Goddard Jones--so far so good! I definitely feel like I'm in a reading phase right now over a watching one...which is good news for the book blog.

Other Stuff

This is an old link now, but awhile back Paul Elie wrote about the lack of faith in fiction for the New York Times. It's an interesting question and discussion. I don't have a lot to say about it at the moment, but I have observed while working on the INSPYs that people seem to think that faith driven fiction=Christian fiction and so far I don't think we've really been able to change that perception. Anyway, I came across another response this week on BookFox.

This post at the Harvard University Press blog gives a good overview of the prosecutorial discretion in the case of Aaron Swartz and why that is a problem.

I'm getting excited for The Americans to premiere and I really hope I like it! This helped to get me excited and the bit about Keri Russell as a casting choice is fascinating.

Madden calls it "a show about trust. At a very personal level it's about how two people can trust each other, and at a very global level it's about whether two countries can trust each other."

I also appreciated this post at Out of Ur about the persistence of prejudice (aimed towards a Christian audience) and how adopting a child of another race has further enlightened them to how it is. The whole thing is worth a read.

Many white Westerners feel that the worst thing they could be called is a racist. We know deep down that we’re not supposed to make value distinctions between people of different ethnicities, as if it’s better to be white or black or whatever. Because we’re hesitant to make value distinctions—and rightfully so—we’re often slow to make any distinctions at all. Thus is goes without being said for many that to be truly equal, everyone must be the same. This is what we mean by being colorblind: the belief that ethnic differences don’t matter. Of course it would be fine if what we meant was that everyone should be treated with equal dignity or enjoy the same rights. But we suspect what is commonly meant is that everyone should be treated as if they were the same.

TV

Nashville--This episode was kind of strange to me. I mentioned last week I was really enjoying the dynamic between Liam and Rayna and in fact the way it ended seemed rushed and abrupt like they hadn't really thought how they wanted to finish up his arc. Even if I follow along their reasoning that Rayna was trying to reinvent herself and this was tied into her feelings about her marriage, it falls apart because Liam was being so secretive about the new imprint he'd get or whatever..it wasn't a matter of just realizing she was happy with what she had or that she wanted to do something new--she's still stuck. I also groaned when they actually had him SAY THE WORDS that being with her old label was like her marriage. I picked up on it on my own, thank you show! Rayna is still a little bit of a mess to me, I don't really understand how I should be feeling about her character. And I don't know, her marriage to Teddy is giving me Nate/Lisa PTSD flashbacks from Six Feet Under, it feels like the same sort of marriage and it's hard to watch.

This in comparison to how well Juliette and even Deacon are written is puzzling to me. I mean maybe it's just because I don't care that much about Rayna, but if anyone else loves her and can help me I'd appreciate it.

But let's get back to Juliette. In contrast to how...messy Rayna's storyline seemed in this episode, everything Juliette was A+. I loooooved her conversation with her mom, I loved Deacon calling her out about how she treats her mom in comparison to how she treats him (and she took his words to heart ♥), I loved how annoyed she was by Rayna being in the spotlight ("It was a thrill to see her contribute a bridge to the song", lol) I just love her.

I also still like Scarlett, but I was laughing about the lyrics she was singing when Avery drove by. It will be interesting to see exactly what ends up happening with Avery. Also Gunnar needs to stop getting angry over everything and taking it out on Scarlett! I really want to be able to go back to enjoying their friendship. At least he apologized!

Deacon's rage issues have a source! His confession that he got sober for Rayna and stayed sober in the hopes of something that would never happen explains how even though he is technically sober he still has a lot of unresolved baggage. I actually enjoy his relationship with Juliette now, but I hope it's never sexual again.

Have I mentioned I love Juliette?

Switched at Birth

I don't have much to say except that I was surprised by how mean Melody was to Regina when she told them about her problem. I like the Noah storyline because I think it contributes to the show's goal of exploring the lives of the deaf and hard of hearing and one aspect of that is losing your hearing later in life. Also he's just cute and likable. The ending scene between Bay and Emmett was tops, I thought her calling out after him was a nice touch.

Women Writing TV

I saw someone link to this piece on Jezebel about about women writers on TV. It deals a lot with comedy, but it's definitely an interesting thing to think about especially with the fail of the Man Booker judges on their gender imbalance. I would say that the piece doesn't do a good job of explaining why the are more enamored with Lena Dunham than anyone else...because there are other female showrunners. In fact, all three of the new shows I'm watching this year have female showrunners: Nashville, Beauty & the Beast, and The Carrie Diaries. (and they all could be cancelled next year, sob) But apart from that minor gripe, great read.

Have a great week everyone!

The Sunday Salon: The Book Review Factory and More

A couple of years ago, Thomas Nelson was the first publisher to start an organized system to deal with blogger reviews. They created a program where bloggers could request a book, post a review on their blog and a consumer site, and then post those reviews and get another book. Reviews were required to receive additional review copies. It didn't take me very long to realize, though, that what they really valued were the reviews on a consumer site. I don't think any traffic metrics had to be provided or anything, as I remember looking through their registered blogs when I was organizing a blog tour myself!

They changed the name of the program to Booksneeze (which is a terrible terrible name no matter the philosophy behind it) and tried selling their services to other publishers. A lot of other publishers started similar programs, most notably Waterbrook/Multonomah. I do not review for these publishers through these programs because they simply do not work for me. I can't work with deadlines like this and I don't already post my reviews to Amazon, so it kind of forces me to do something I wouldn't do all for the sake of a review copy. I think these sorts of programs are like book review factories--the publishers don't really have to know anything about the blogs all they care about is that they are getting reviews. And they can easily monitor if a blog is submitting a review on time.

I should mention my mom reviews for these programs and likes them. I do not.

Friday, I got an email from Booksneeze alerting me to some changes. The subject of the email was "Changes for Booksneeze!" which seemed promising, like something exciting was going to be announced. The content was kind of rage inducing for me. From now on, if bloggers want to stay active in the Booksneeze program, they have to review a book for them every 90 days. This doesn't really affect me since I don't review for them, but the concept of it made me really angry. Reviewers should not be made to feel obligated to review books they don't care about in order to stay active in their reviewing program. If 90 days pass and a reviewer doesn't see a book they want to review, that should be okay! I mean after all it could mean the publisher is simply not offering enough good choices. (Back when I did check out Booksneeze this was actually a frequent problem for me, there was always a lot of nonfiction on offer, but not much else) I don't see how it's helpful AT ALL for them to require a review every ninety days though, unless they are simply trying to manipulate reviewers into prioritizing their books. Perhaps that is not their reasoning behind it, but since this is the only explanation they offered "In order to reward our regular and devoted bloggers, we will be asking that our bloggers request a book every 90 days." I'm led to believe it must be. I don't see how suspending the accounts of people who don't request a book every 90 days awards their devoted bloggers at all. I found the email to be insulting and disingenuous. And it does bother me, because we all use the internet and programs like this are means of trying to flood review spaces with content.

Other News

I was really sad to learn of the apparent suicide of Aaron Swartz. I had no idea who he was until I read this New York Times piece. He helped create RSS! Do you know how often I use that? At age 14! Aargh, I've done nothing with my life. Anyway, the piece is really good and just made me so heavy hearted. It talks a bit about how he tried to change the problem of access to knowledge and justice being about the access to money.

The Oscar nominations this year are apparently not so based on books, but Omnivoracious has the breakdown. I don't have any particularly strong feelings on the Oscar nominations, do you?

Reading has once again been light for me this week, but I hope to get some done today.

Let me know how your 2013 is treating you so far!

The Sunday Salon: Stuff

Recently I learned that Goodreads actually has guidelines with their stars that completely changed the way I view their star system. I don't know why I never really looked at it before, but I realized that two stars means "it was okay" and like, to be honest, a loooot of books fall under that category. I've always felt a little bad giving two stars before, but not anymore! I also find that I enjoy revising my star ratings on there a bit after the fact. I do enjoy star ratings, but I don't hold fast and true to them. I know the whole concept is very controversial, though!

The weather here was GORGEOUS yesterday, I was actually getting warm running errands. So I guess our two weeks of winter are over? I don't really like the weather here a lot of the year, but I have to admit I am completely spoiled by this kind of winter weather now. And it's good because spring always makes me feel invigorated and like I want to get stuff done so yay for that.

I tried to read a nonfiction book for my first book of the year but then I wasn't actually reading so I succumbed to the allure of fiction. I'm reading The Death of Bees which is.... interesting. Jill already posted this quote from the book that made me lol and gives you an idea of what it's about. I also plan to start War and Peace, today, yay!

Also, TV is already coming back, The Good Wife is new tonight and Switched at Birth is new tomorrow! And Elementary was new this week. Speaking of, the real winner of Elementary to me is Sherlock, I just find him so endearing like how he wanted Joan to take notes as an apprentice ♥ I'm not a huge fan of the cases, and often forget about the show, but I do really like him. There are some new shows coming on this month as well, but I'm most excited for The Americans! I finished up season four of Six Feet Under and am currently writing all of my thoughts which probably none of you will read since the show has been over for years. And Borgen started it's third season in Denmark and I spoiled myself on some stuff and omggggg I wish it was showing here at the same time!

I guess that's it for this week! I think the world goes back to normal this week, right? I'm kind of ready for that. Have a good one friends!

The Sunday Salon: Just a Few Little Things

I don't have a lot for this week's salon. I started reading Lilith by George MacDonald and so far it's not as scary as I feared it might be. But the week has been kind of busy for me so I haven't had much time for reading, I'm behind on TV, etc.

I do want to point you to a few interesting links though, in the spirit of spreading the love for blogs I love:

Iris wrote a very thoughtful post on how blogging sometimes makes her hesitant to read things. I really love her post and the points she brings up because I certainly understand this kind of insecurity.

Ana reviewed All Quiet on the Western Front which I have never really wanted to read before, but her review made me reconsider my position.

Jenny wrote a very interesting post about Francine Prose's Blue Angel.

Poet Jack Gilbert passed away this week. I first heard of him when I read The Heart is Not a Size Beth Kephart's lovely book. She posted that excerpt this week. I've been craving a reread of that book because I've been feeling kind of sad lately and there are a few creators that make me feel hopeful and optimistic and she's one of them.

And not about books but Hannah posted some tips for learning knitting!

And...I always love it when my favorite television writer loves the shows I love. He's my favorite because I love the way he writes, but I don't always necessarily love the same shows. But...he loves a lot of what I love (Borgen, Switched at Birth, Lost and Damages back in the day) so it works out. And his recent piece asking why no one is watching Nashville made me really happy. I know that not everyone can love the same things I love, but it's always nice when someone gives voice to the way you feel about something.

Finally as a little tidbit, we are trying to get the INSPYs up and running for next year but we need help. If you feel you understand the vision of the INSPYs and have time to devote and would like to be a part of it, would you email me?

Have a great week everyone! I'll be here everyday with my NaBloPoMo posts (I'm already sort of counting down the days to December?)

The Sunday Salon: The Casual Vacancy Inspires Thoughts that Have Nothing to Do with the Book, Also Some TV Stuff (Nashville!!)

First things first, I sent out all the emails for the All Hallows Read Swap, so if you signed up you should have received your email! If you didn't get an email from me, you either didn't sign up or perhaps it went to spam? If you know for sure you signed up and did not get an email, let me know!

The ghastly 105 degree weather October ushered in seems to have calmed down a bit and it's actually going to maybe be in the low seventies this week! (I never trust the forecast they always seem to adjust it up by ten degrees later) So that is exciting! I might actually feel like drinking a pumpkin spice latte! The only problem is that gas has shot up 50 cents over the last couple of days, California be cursed. I don't want to go anywhere. It's 4.66 a gallon at the cheap place. Gas stations were shutting down over a fear of shortage and the apocalypse was nigh. They promise it's going to get better but I don't really believe them because the prices keep going up.

Okay friends I had the worst reading week in that I actually didn't read anything until Friday which...it's been a long time since that has happened. It's just been a strangely stressful week and all. Anyway, I finally dug into The Casual Vacancy and I'm not that far yet so...I still have time to make up my mind about this stuff, but so far it is a very run of the mill lit fic book to me. Which made me think about two things.

First of all, it was kind of puzzling to me all along that J.K. Rowling was both publishing this book under the same name that she used to publish Harry Potter and yet discouraging a heavy marketing campaign. It was like trying to have your cake and eat it too...wanting the selling power and automatic authority of the name, while also taking a step back and saying, "this is nothing like Harry Potter." The truth is, the book feels very ordinary to me right now and it is worth questioning if it would have sold very many copies without the power of her name. At the same point in time, isn't it worthy of being read because of who wrote it? I don't know, this is kind of a fascinating topic to me!

Also I should say it's a bit like reading Madeleine Wickham books after reading Sophie Kinsella books...the books written under the name Sophie Kinsella are light and good hearted and funny and charming and the books written under Madeleine Wickham are more serious and dare I say, dreary. (though I still really liked them, just not as much as Sophie Kinsella's books. It might be backwards to say, but the books that she wrote as Madeleine Wickham felt like books anyone could write so to say, while the voice of Sophie Kinsella is charming and unique and fun and takes a very special kind of skill)

The other thing I was thinking about was the difference between YA books and adult books and can't we learn something by what an author who writes both feels about it? The Casual Vacancy has a lot of adolescent characters. To be honest, I think it supports my theory that YA/children's stories take a more gentle and compassionate view of the world. The characters in Harry Potter are incredibly flawed but they are presented with such love by the author. Whereas this book...I don't even know.

Also, you have to wonder with passages like this:

A great apron of stomach fell so far down in front of his thighs that most people thought instantly of his penis when they first clapped eyes on him, wondering when he had last seen it, how he had washed it, how he managed to perform any of the acts for which a penis is designed.

Like....did she really want to write about that Professor Slughorn, I mean...

Anyway, I will hopefully finish the book soon, and have more to say!

Also TV this week!

I watched the Nashville pilot which is available online now, on Hulu, ABC, and iTunes. I liked it so much! For some reason I only had it in my head this was going to be about an aging country star and her younger competition and didn't realize it was going to be about Nashville. So the scope of the show actually seems much bigger than I originally thought. I like the characters, I think Connie Britton's character is fantastically interesting as an older country star with her own regrets and strained family relationships and Hayden Panettiere is great as the young spoiled younger star who uses her sexuality to get everything. But there are also other aspiring artists, and stuff going on, so...I don't know I was actually bummed when it ended because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. So I call that a win. They really got me invested in these characters quickly and interested in their back stories. Also, there's a Civil Wars song at the end that I really liked! So for me, ABC wins this season with the two new shows that I really like. (well so far anyway, they could both go bad quickly, I suppose)

Also as an update to last week, I thought the second episodes of both the Mindy Project and Ben and Kate were so much better than the first ones. But especially The Mindy Project. I liked the episode a lot, I think having a bookstore and referencing some of my favorite movies helped. :)

And...I watched everything else but have nothing to say. Still like Elementary, Scandal is working a nerve (though I really liked the paralleled speeches of Mellie and Olivia to wife and mistress of the pastor), The Good Wife got off to a solid start (minus the Kalinda stuff but more on that later) I'm behind on Switched at Birth, but...

I'm looking forward to The Vampire Diaries coming back and Arrow starting!

Hope you are all doing well and I welcome your thoughts on anything!

The Sunday Salon: Catching up on Stuff, Like Everything

You guys!

We made it through another BBAW! And this one was awesome if I do say so myself, like I didn't get a chance to read the closing posts on Friday so today when I settled down to read them, I became downright teary. They were just lovely. You guys are lovely and it's amazing to know BBAW still means something to the community. If BBAW was any good this year, it was because you guys are awesome. End of Story. (and you are, so)

In other news, I finally caught up to the rest of the world and read Gone Girl this past week! I do have thoughts on this book. I actually read another book I have thoughts on but expressing my thoughts on both of these books is going to require major spoilers. I don't feel as bad about it with Gone Girl but the other book hasn't been released quite yet. But I don't how to talk about what I think is most essential without spoilers so...if you see some reviews with big white spaces soon, that's why!

Also, I'm having another of those woe is me I'm mortal and will never be able to read all the books in the world life crises. I try to will myself into oblivion as often as possible on this front, but alas it always catches up to me.

Music

Thanks to the wonder of tumblr (that's the only time you'll ever hear me say that) I learned that the band that played in the first seven episodes of the second season of The L.A. Complex is The Rural Alberta Advantage. And oh my gosh, I love themmmm. I don't know it's just the right kind of music for me. But also, The L.A. Complex had a cool band on it, I mean WHY AREN'T YOU WATCHING? The show isn't perfect at all, but it is such a solid soap with interesting and...even groundbreaking storylines.

TV

Fall TV kicks into gear this week for real! I mean Bones is back tomorrow (not sure if I'll be able to watch this season tbh), and Parks and Recreation is back as well this week! (I'm still not caught up on S4 but not too worried). Revolution premieres tomorrow as well (watched the pilot and sigh. Despite the fact that I love Elizabeth Mitchell I already sat through V for her I don't think I can do another terrible show) This is exciting everyone! Oh and Downton Abbey starts in the UK. I have managed to muster up a little interest in that finally, let's hope Season 3 returns the show to a fun soap with a bit less Mr. Bates.

The L.A. Complex is still on, though! AND!

I don't think this show is a brilliant masterpiece of layers and themes or whatever but I do think I find more care in Connor's storyline. It could be because I tend to pay a bit more attention, but I thought there was a lot of ~symbolism in the episode where he convinced Eric to stay. And I realized as I was getting ready to write this that they foreshadowed what I suspect will be his upcoming story line about scientology in the season 2 premiere. I don't read episode blurbs or anything for story lines coming up and I don't even always watch the previews, but if they do indeed explore scientology in Connor's storyline, I think it's a really smart direction for the show to go, because it makes so much sense for Connor's character. It won't be coming in randomly, you know? All the character work has been laid.

Anyway do you remember how Connor and Raquel were taking that walk down Hollywood Blvd or whatever in the Season 2 premiere and that girl randomly stopped him and tried to sell him on Dianetics? Well as it turns out, dianetics was the precursor to scientology! In fact, on wikipedia, the world's most reliable source of information, it says that Scientologists practice dianetics. I think this was a particularly good piece of foreshadowing because it worked fully in the episode as its own incident, it revealed more of Connor's character (i.e. his desperation to find healing), and it gave us a glimmer of what's to come.

I thought the Nick storyline was so stupid. Like, first of all, can't they do a drug test or something? Also, how could Nick EVER think it was a good idea to take responsibility for that? Even so he made me laugh a lot this episode for some reason and Sabrina giving him a pep talk was adorable.

Ugh Raquel. WHY didn't she embrace the image of bitch? It's who she is, it would have made her whole life easier, and she would be working as a bartender. That guy in the restaurant was way too nice to her, but I actually think he was right that she belongs behind a bar, lol.

Beth, ew.

Kal inviting Abby to sing back-up vocals was..I don't know it was so sad. Like he wanted to do this thing for her, Tariq's friend, but he was in no position to do it. The end scene, the way it was silent, was great. And accepting her rage...I think Kal kind of wanted it.

I kind of disliked Switched at Birth this week. Partly because they showed that preview of the whole season so I felt like I was just waiting for that other stuff to happen. Partly because the resolution to the marriage storyline was pretty bad. If the problem is surprise inspections or whatever, I think they'd be able to tell Angelo is not living with Regina and Daphne. I don't know I feel like the story telling with Angelo has always been a bit poorly paced. I did like seeing Tania Raymonde show up, though, I really like her. I'm excited to see a Bay storyline that doesn't have to do with Emmett? And...Daphne's upcoming romance better have a point. I can sort of guess what they might attempt to do with it, but we'll see!

IMPORTANT STUFF

The Faith and Fiction roundtable discussion of Gilead will take place on September 29th. And our film club discussion of Japanese Story will take place on the 25th. I hope you will all join for both!

The Sunday Salon and TV Talk

I am sick of summer. I know that some people have it worse, but ugh, I hate the heat! I hate this time of year because the stores can't keep themselves cool, and anyplace that does manage to stay cool is FREEZING. My car feels like it is sitting in an oven at all times and I want to take multiple showers a day.

And I hear that other places are feeling like fall which just makes me jealous because we don't have fall. Pretty much summer stopped being fun when I graduated from high school...once I went to college I always preferred to be at school because my summers were full of working and then once you hit the workforce, summer is just the worst.

Enough of my complaining, though! This week on the reading front I finished the sixth Harry Potter. I can't believe the reread is almost at an end! I probably won't reread the books again for a long while so it's kind of sad, like saying goodbye all over again. I also started Cloud Atlas but so far I'm not sure what's happened because it's a bit of a difficult read. I'm reading that with a few friends as well (all much smarter than me) so you'll be hearing more about it. (once they explain it to me)

Some TV Stuff

I have a lot to say about my shows this week guys, apologies in advance. I already wrote about The Bridge, which was the best thing I did TV wise this past week, but I also have things to say about a couple of the other shows I watch.

Breaking Bad--I wish I liked this show more because whenever I do bother seeking out writing on it, I'm impressed with the kind of show it is. I'm pretty much a casual-to-the-extreme viewer, but this is the sort of show that rewards anyone who cares about it. I just...can't. But last week's episode did have kind of a shocking ending and I really enjoyed reading the reviews of it. I'm sort of surprised there are only three episodes left since I have no idea what the season is building towards. Does anyone else watch this? Do you think the series will end with Walt dying or being imprisoned? Also, Jesse ♥♥♥

The L.A. Complex--I saw someone say this week that none of the couples last very long on this show and it's so true, lol. The only couple I kind of shipped was Connor/Abby for like two seconds at the beginning of the series before they killed it fast. But I kind of like that the show isn't shippy...the relationships end up feeling a bit more real and they can tell stories about how these people have messed up relationships and ruin their lives. Which brings me to Raquel/Connor...like, holy cow. I think while watching the last two episodes I can actually say I think this is borders on being an abusive relationship, but a gender reversed one, I think Raquel is the abuser. And it makes sense...that Connor would be drawn to her because he both thinks he deserves it and it's what he's used to. Raquel is always the one in a position of power in the relationship, the only time she wasn't was at the very beginning of the show when he was kind of interested in Abby, and it wasn't like she cared that she was losing him, sigh. I also think it's why she flipped out when he was fake dating Jennifer, not because she really cared about seeing her boyfriend with someone else, but because she was no longer in control of the situation. She regularly cuts him down, and I don't know, I guess I see that as being equivalent to the way Connor hurts himself. She does it to release her own pain, self-loathing, etc. I just...never want them to get back together. I did like that Jennifer caught Connor with the teapot, though, I really want him to get help. And I like that she immediately stuck up for him with Raquel.

I also kind of enjoyed Kaldrick's story. I think he's willing to give his dad a second chance, because he needs a second chance himself? Like he knows how one's own personal issues can lead them to really hurt someone they love. I like that angle for the story, because...I don't know something about recognizing the monster within, like that moment when you stop being so self-righteous because you realize you are also capable of things you never thought you would be is something I wish we saw more of. Our world is so lacking in grace and it's so judgmental, I feel like we need to give more room for failure and mistakes and just..grace, sigh. So anyway, lol, I have no idea if that's what I was supposed to take from that story or if I'm just projecting, but there you go.

The threesome story is so goofy, I don't get why Abby is into Brandon, tbh. And Nick and Sabrina...I don't know I guess Sabrina just feels like a second choice so I don't know what I'm supposed to think. And Beth, omg, I don't think I could care any less about her story if I tried. I mean having her casually sleep with a married man is not the way to endear her to me, show.

Awkward (or I hate love triangles)--lol remember how a couple of weeks ago, I was all surprised and like, WHAT IS THIS SHOW DOING? I should have realized that was the moment the show broke. It's sad, too, because I thought last season the love triangle was really well written. I felt like Jenna and Matty each had genuine issues that were keeping them apart and I could see why Jenna found Jake appealing. But all of this season, I felt like she still really liked Matty and so having her decide she was in love with Jake was too much. I mean, okay:

*Jenna and Matty are both lying to Jake about the fact that they were in a relationship previously.
*Jenna really still likes Matty, every episode deals with Jenna's feelings, whatever she thinks she's convinced herself they are, for Matty
*Jake tells Jenna he loves her, and she decides she loves him, too, but waits for the perfect moment to tell him.
*Sadie tells Jake about Matty and Jenna at the exact same moment Jenna is leaving him a voice mail saying she loves him (stupid!)
*Jake doesn't bother to ask Jenna about what Sadie said, but just breaks up with her and doesn't tell her why
*that only happens so that Jenna thinks he broke up with her because she didn't say I love you fast enough. THAT IS THE ONLY REASON. It really doesn't make sense otherwise.
*Jenna goes home, Matty goes to comfort her, Jenna decides she never fell out of love with Matty. They start kissing.
*Meanwhile, Jake listens to the voicemail, regrets his actions, and goes to Jenna's and sees them kissing.

End result: I hate them all. I mean it's just so stupid and contrived, and to be honest a huge disappointment. Everything was just rushed through, I don't know. Maybe the season ends with Jenna dumping both these fools, but that never seems to actually happen, so I don't know. I'll probably finish out the season, I still like the side characters (I actually love Jenna's mom), and it's not like a huge time commitment, but I am officially turning off my brain when I watch.

The Closer Series Finale--a disappointment to be honest! What in the world was the weird camera work on all the fight scenes? ugh pulled me out of the scenes. I'm glad she finally caught Stroh, but all of her decisions felt rushed to me, or...IDK it felt like I could see everything they were doing but it lacked emotional resonance or something...but I did think the last scene was really sweet. I will miss her a lot , though, because...

Major Crimes--felt like just another procedural. I've read some fan reaction, and it's true they can't win in a way...they can't create another Brenda, but Sharon doesn't have the same spark (at least for me) so I don't know...I'll probably watch it for a bit, but I already missed Brenda! It feels weird to see the same place and the same characters and not have her around.

Other Stuff

Carrie and I hammered out the film club schedule for the next year and it is fun. We have chosen some excellent movies, you will thank us for bringing them into your life.

I also really want to thank you all for your comments on my post last week, BBAW will be happening, albeit on a much smaller scale, but we got the banner updated if you check out the site. I'll be making an official announcement this week! We'll see how this goes.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

The Sunday Salon: All the Media I've Been Consuming

It's hard to believe that August starts this week. Time is flying by at an uncomfortable rate!! Before we know it will be 2013! The fact that I'm actually thinking about things like Fall and Halloween and Christmas is downright scary.

I've done quite a bit of reading this week compared to recent times. I read the bulk of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as well as a small chunk of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I think overall it should count for like 4 normal sized books. The reread is really enjoyable to me, it's interesting to be revisiting these books right now. And hey it was fun to see J.K. Rowling and Voldemort during the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics! Even if many Mary Poppins scaring away the children's villains was kinda strange. Which reminds me! I never really thought about how Mary Poppins was a book until recently when I read something about how much the author hated the film and it made me kind of curious to read the book(s?). Have any of you read it/them?

I also read a couple of middle grade books this week, one which was really sweet and charming and the other which was terrible, hopefully I'll be able to write reviews this week!

The Dark Knight Rises

I went to see this midweek and...I thought it was okay. It certainly was engaging enough, but I felt like the tone of the film was too overbearing and also I seriously needed some closed captioning. I missed a fair bit of dialogue which was irritating. I have to agree with critics who said the climax was was pretty tired and cliche, (SPOILER) I saw that season 2 of 24 you know? (END SPOILER) Even so, I did enjoy it, I just didn't love it.

The Olympics!

I feel like I'm watching the Olympics a day after the rest of the world. I mean how annoying is NBC's coverage? I don't really want to watch on my computer, but being on the West Coast is even worse, like the next day's events were starting while we were still watching the Opening Ceremonies. From a business standpoint, I understand why they did it this way, the Opening Ceremonies were the most watched non-American Olympics (RME be more predictable US) and if they'd shown it during the day people could record it and FF commercials. Same with all the good events I guess, but ARGH. I hate that I can't watch in real time excitement. Next Summer Olympics are in Rio though, so that should be fixed!

Some of the stories that have already happened are pretty interesting, like that soccer game where they put up the South Korean flag for North Korea!!! Also yay US male gymnasts and Ryan Lochte! What are y'alls favorite sports to watch during the Olympics? Any competition you're looking forward to in particular?

Other TV This Week

Borgen

Continues to be the best show I've watched in ages, how much did I love that Kasper and Katrine actually working? Hanne talking sense into Katrine so she didn't use the info she stole from Kasper? Kasper convincing Katrine to drop the story to preserve the peace agreement? Torben telling Hanne he respects her work? The return of Amir on his terms for something he really believed in? These two episodes were full of so much goodness. Also, I just have to say that Magnus BROKE MY HEART. I mean yes I was concerned for Laura, but all that pressure he was under and you could tell how desperately he wanted to tell his mother that Laura had stopped taking her pills but felt so bullied by his sister not to, and that kid who plays him is just so so cute and gah. Anyway the title, "What Is Lost Inwardly Must Be Gained Outwardly" was a perfect way to describe a pair of episodes where Birgitte achieved her greatest political triumph while also facing her greatest crisis at home.

Speaking of Nordic Noir, the US version of The Killing has been cancelled, which is sad, but was to be expected. In happier news, I got the DVDs for the first season of the Danish version of The Killing, the original, and I'm super excited to watch them, except that it has THE NEW THE WIRE written all over it and well...that's a show I was never able to get into, so we'll see.

The Closer

I liked this week's episode quite a bit. I guess it's kind of interesting how they are building this big conflict between Pope and Brenda since he brought her in and now it's almost like he's forcing her out. Also, I loved that scene with Fritz where she was all, "Pope's a big jerk" and he tries to get her to see how she also puts her job first a lot and then she went and PUT HER JOB FIRST. They are still so adorable, I love them. The case was really sad and awful, too, I mean can you imagine thinking you're getting medicine when you're not?

The L.A. Complex

Good news! All the episodes are available on the CW website right now so if you're in the United States you can catch up!

I thought Abby wearing her bra to the first day of Saving Grace was overkill, and when the "siblings" first demanded she got out with them, I thought they were going to ask her for a threesome! But...not yet. The thing is that guy Brandon was so super flirty with her so it was surprising he was in love with Laura. I guess maybe it was just supposed to be misdirection, I don't know.

I was glad Sabrina and Nick made up but I thought the plot twist of only one of them being hired was stupid. Like...who would start work without a contract or agreement? I don't know, but I was back to liking Sabrina this week, I liked how she helped out Nick even though it came across as less than kind.

Beth and Simon are whatever to me.

Connor ♥♥♥ Being asked to be someone's boyfriend for show is the exact kind of thing that would strike at his deepest insecurities so that was perfect. I don't know how I feel about Raquel talking him into it, but we'll see.

Kaldrick's storyline was absolute perfection. You could just taste his desperation for help. He didn't want to leave the hospital, he wanted to be able to stay and work things out in his own time. How touching was it that he finally tells someone they call "The Abyss?" I think it's really interesting that Kaldrick's story is the one they've chosen to follow since he doesn't live in the complex and has no other connection to the other characters, but I totally get it because that's where the story is.

Other Stuff

I also finished Avatar: The Last Airbender this week. I liked it quite a lot, though I stalled out in a few different parts, mainly season 2. I may write about this more, going off some of the stuff Ana, Jodie, and Renay have said about it, but I don't know....

By the way Grimm starts back after the Olympics!!! So early, I don't know what's happening there.

I hope you all have fun stuff planned for the week, will you be watching the Olympics? Going on vacation? Reading something amazing?

The Sunday Salon: Warning: A Possibly Unpopular Opinion Awaits You

Hi everyone!

I hope you have all had wonderful weeks. It has been kind of an interesting week in the online bookish world, mostly related to stuff coming out of ALA. If you are not a book blogger, feel free to skip over this section, it's pure business, and likely to bore you.

I am not a librarian, as you may know, but I am sympathetic to the frustrations expressed this week, although the way in which those frustrations were expressed was often less than ideal. Every once in awhile that old fire of loyalty to book bloggers flares up in me, and this week was one of those occasions. I don't mind a discussion about whether or not book bloggers should be welcome to ALA, after all, that is not my area of expertise. I do mind when it veers into the territory of whether or not book bloggers have meaning/are useful/have importance. The conversation really shouldn't become about whether or not book bloggers "sell books" or how much traffic they have to their blog or any of that, if the initial question is whether or not they should even be welcome to the exhibit hall at ALA. After all those questions are irrelevant to determining that. I sometimes think the fight becomes about who matters the most to publishers, which may be a related argument, but only derails the real issues that should be addressed in this case. Which is ultimately what is the purpose of the exhibit pass to ALA and who should be allowed to purchase it, and since I am not a librarian or even a member of ALA, that is not something I can really comment on.

What I can say is this. I've been doing this book blogging thing for awhiiiile now and I've been in the position where I was fighting for book bloggers to be recognized as important to publishers and have access to ARCs, I was on a panel at BEA 2009, and I even helped organize the first Book Blogger Con! I started Book Blogger Appreciation Week in part to try to raise the profile of book bloggers and I've gone to BEA, ALA, and various book festivals. I helped create the INSPYs--a blogging award for books. With the help of Lenore, I organized one of the first book drives where we tried to sell a set number of books for an author online. I mean I have been in the trenches fighting this fight. And I've sort of come out on the other side of it. I do think book bloggers are important, and I think some book blogs do a great job of reviewing books straight out of the gate and being a great resource for readers and other professionals. But one size does not fit all when it comes to book blogs.

What I'm trying to say is this: it's true that some book blogs may be very important to the industry by providing coverage of new books and helping to create a sense of buzz. But I actually think that the really true and valuable work that a book blogger does is to sustain a culture of literacy. Lately, I've been amused to see bloggers read books that came out a few years ago, that I may have even read, and COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT. And let's be real, that's often what happens to these hot ARCs everyone wants to get their hands on--they are forgotten in months time. There is a persistent culture of consumerism in book blogging that is exhausting and draining and detrimental the greater work of nurturing and cultivating a love for reading. It doesn't matter if the books you talk about on your blog are the latest buzziest books...what matters is that you enjoy reading them.

Don't misunderstand, I sometimes get ARC envy, too. I wanted Level 2, and Carnival of Souls, and a few others from BEA. (I got Carnival of Souls at ALA, tho, yay!) I think there are some blogs that do a GREAT job of reviewing as a service for others--librarians, booksellers, etc. But I don't think every blog has to be that way, and I think what can make book blogs truly unique is that we can be about something a little more important, that is to say, keeping reading a relevant and social aspect of our lives.

I've said it here many times, but I will say it again--the blogs that have meant the most to me throughout the years have been the ones that personalize the reading experience. I don't often go rushing to the blogs that will show me the cover of a new book, or have a million giveaways (not saying these things are bad, I do them myself!)--I am instead drawn to the blogs where I can sense the genuine enthusiasm for reading in the reviews, where I can connect to the blogger as a person, or I am challenged to see things in a new and different way.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is this. Dear book bloggers, I love you so much, and I want you to know our worth is not determined by our access to ARCS, to whether or not ALA and BEA let us in their doors, to our recognition by the industry, or if our reviews appear as blurbs on books. Those are bright, shiny, fun, distracting things, it's true. But our worth, our real worth is found in the friendships we've made, in the connections to readers we've established, in the books we've been exposed to, in the ideas we've shared, in the enthusiastic love for a world of reading we've been lucky and privileged enough to participate in. It's so cheesy, but it's true, they can't take those things away from us.

So I mean while personally I hope bloggers will still have access to BEA and ALA in the years to come (they are great forums for bloggers to connect with others and see authors), I just think the question of worth and value that has been thrown about has been distracting and misleading, and quite frankly, insulting. There will always be books to talk about, we don't have to only be talking about the newest ones.

TV Stuff

As promised, I started The West Wing. after two episodes I was, admittedly, like WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE THIS? But I've watched a couple more and I like it better, it's growing on me. So maybe I'll finish the first season sometime this summer.

I also started the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I stalled out after what was clearly a filler episode. I'll get back to it, but since I've actually been blogging and reading and stuff this week, it's going slower than I thought!

Bunheads: Uuugh. I want to like this so much, but I still found the third episode, while an improvement over the second, difficult to watch. I don't exactly know how long I'll keep watching, we'll see.

Also, I read this interview with the creator of Awkward which makes me want to give the show another shot. I like that she denounces fan influence on storylines and love that she wants to portray normal people of faith!

And...TVD. I saw Julie Plec tweet that in their minds Tyler was complicit with Bonnie's plan for Klaus's body invasion. Which....IDK, makes me really confused. Because if Bonnie was willing to obtain Tyler's permission, why wouldn't they just tell everyone? There is absolutely no reason for them not to tell anyone ESPECIALLY CAROLINE that Klaus is still alive and in Tyler's body. So...this is a really huge plot hole to me and makes me doubtful about next season.

Anyway, I hope you all have great weeks planned! Those of you from the States, do you have anything planned for the 4th? It's kind of weird how it's on a Wednesday this year, I don't know. Also, is everyone keeping cool? Let me know how you are, and have a wonderful week!

The Sunday Salon: All Kinds of Stuff

Yesterday I went to ALA which is shorthand for the American Library Association's Annual Conference. I mostly went to socialize and still ended up with more books than I wanted. The key to me is going to be fast turnaround on them. I did get Melissa Marr's Carnival of Souls which I'm really excited about as well as The Drowning House by Elizabeth Black which I've been eager to read since reading about it in Publisher's Lunch.

The highlight was of course spending the day with Danielle and her husband Alan--they are always so much fun, and super lovely nice people. I got to meet a variety of other bloggers for the first time as well as authors. Apart from those things, though, the big bookish highlight for was meeting Eve Bunting.

Eve Bunting has written so many picture books and of course I haven't read them all, and it's not like I'm remembering them from my childhood. Her books became meaningful to me when I started working in adult literacy and I realized that her stories transcended age. Sure they were wrapped in a children's book package, but they were truly meaningful stories that spoke to universal human experience. And as I watched my students work through the books themselves, I saw how the stories touched or entertained them, sometimes bringing tears to their eyes. I don't know how to explain what that that meant to me, apart from saying that watching others enjoy and be moved by reading fiction for a first time in their lives helped me understand its importance and meaning in my own life all over again. And of course, I also love the books, I love them. So meeting her was a real thrill and highlight for me.

I had a great time, but it's okay with me if I can't go to a conference like this for awhile. I have a hard time saying no to the books and I really DO NOT need them.

TV Stuff

Jace Lacob wrote a great piece about the rising popularity of Nordic Noir which included Borgen. I really enjoyed the piece, but I took some issue with it and had to think through why. I think I'll save those thoughts for a post of its own, but definitely read the article and mourn with me how we'll never see this great TV in the US.

I watched The L.A. Complex and already wrote a lot about it, but...just pointing that out in case some of you missed it and would like to discuss with me! :)

Due to my friends Caitie, Ana, and Jodie, and everyone on tumblr who reblogs this stuff like crazy, I started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. Actually, I started watching it several months ago and while I found it to be cute, it didn't really compel me to keep watching. But Ana advised that it takes half of the first season to really feel invested and since she took my similar advice about Buffy, I took hers and I agree that I am utterly charmed by the show now, and feel far greater affection for the characters, and appreciation for the writing. It's also laugh out loud funny for me. My eyes still glaze over during some of the action scenes, but that is not unusual for me in any show/movie. Anyway...I'm almost finished with the first season and I look forward to watching the rest!

I also watched a few episodes of Awkward but I don't think this show is for me. It's kind of funny, and the lead girl is so cute and really appealing, but it's too caricaturish for my taste, so I don't think I'll be watching the rest of it.

And I really didn't like the second episode of Bunheads of all. It grated on my nerves big time, and my question for anyone who watches this and also watched The Gilmore Girls is this what I should expect? Because if so, I think I'll give it a miss. I just felt like the humor, dialogue, situation, etc was trying too hard to be fun and quirky and came off as really annoying. Also maybe some of the acting.

Random

I haven't seen Brave yet but I ran across this quote in a review on tumblr:

But wait, why can't Pixar's first head girl take a balloon adventure to Venezuela or go traveling to Sydney to find a lost loved one or cook beautiful food in a Parisian kitchen? She's just a girl who doesn't want to get married?

It reminded me of how Pixar's defense for never having told a story about a girl was that they never conceived a girl as the center of a story before. And it made me really sad because for this to be the first story they think of for a girl means they think in quite traditional terms--there can't be an interesting story to tell about girls that doesn't involve the way she reacts to her love life...either she's a love interest or a reluctant one. So while I'm grateful that Brave is a step in the right direction by acknowledging that girls exist, but still somewhat sad that we don't yet exist in fullness.

I hope everyone's having a great first weekend of summer!

The Sunday Salon: Seeking Your Assistance

June is halfway over and I still haven't started The Stand Lol, oh well.

I'm going through a major project of getting rid of books right now. I know I say that a lot, but this time it's like...MAJOR. I'm so tired of having so many books. I know that sounds terribly privileged, but it's true. And I think that it has become overwhelming to me in another way, I am almost incapable of reading anything because I have such an abundance of choice. I often feel quite agitated. I know, as well, that I'll almost always have an impulse to read new stuff so I really need to try to make room for that. And as ridiculous as it sounds, I think I'm finally realizing that owning a book doesn't mean I'll get any closer to reading it, so I really need to do a better job of utilizing a wish list.

Anyway, I've said all of this to say maybe you can help me a little bit! I'm going to list a few books I own and since you all know me pretty well, if you've read them, I'd love of you to tell me if you think I would like them. I've actually been looking up reviews and such to make decisions on some books. I'm really trying to cull my collection significantly. (there are actually quite a few factors that contribute to how hard it is to get rid of books including the guilt factor)

If this is successful, I might continue it on tumblr throughout the week. (I find I have to go through the books several times to make decisions, sigh)

Okay here goes!

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

The Deanna Raybourn series starting with Silent in the Grave

Dope by Sara Gran

Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine

Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn by Janis Hallowell

The Letters by Kazumi Yumoto

My Name is Sei Shonagon

Every Time a Rainbow Dies by Rita Williams-Garcia

I think that's enough to start! Please hit the comments and let me know. :)

In other bookish news, I finished The Great Gatsby, thus correcting that huge oversight in my education, and Code Name Verity which was just as great as everyone said.

TV Stuff

I've watched the first two episodes of the second season of Borgen and the show continues to be wonderful. I plan to write more in-depth about it later if I can, if only because there needs to be more written about it in English. It's so bizarre to be living out this love in solitude, to be honest. But thanks to those of you who at least gave it a try.

It has inspired me to try watching The West Wing since they are compared, but...the comparison pieces I've read lead me to believe I won't like it as much. We'll see!

Also, Bunheads premiered this week...did any of you watch it?

I came across something written about the show's complete lack of diversity this week that's well worth a read.

Just a reminder that I'll be at ALA this weekend coming up so please let me know if you'll be there!

That's it from me! I'd love to hear how your summers are going and get your advice on the books.

The Sunday Salon: Things Making Me Happy (ALSO YOU ALL MUST WATCH BORGEN)

Next week is BEA and I'm not going. Last year I was sort of numb or something about how my book blogging life has changed and I sincerely did not care, but this year I feel really sad to be missing all the fun of socializing. I don't need books, I don't really need to network for my blog, I just miss seeing everyone and the sort of nerdy bookish zeal that is one hundred percent permissable and alas even encouraged. Also,I have no fun trips planned for the year for the first time in ages. So I think it's just kind of a bummer to be missing out, although there is still Armchair BEA!

Rather than dwell on the sorry state of affairs that is my life, I decided to focus on what is making me happy in small ways. We often can't control the big events in our lives, but I have always thought that it's good to celebrate the little things. So while the sun is baking everything in existence, and now seemed like a good time to the powers that be to tear up the roads around where I live to make them wider thus leading to tons of traffic, I can be happy about stuff like how my story drought has broken!

I really loved Jellicoe Road which was sort of my reentry into reading. (yes I will be dramatic if I want) It was such a beautiful story that I jumped into more reading with zeal. I also read the third book in the Newsflesh series, Blackout by Mira Grant. It was good, although I think more than the story itself, I thought some of the potential ideas associated with the plot were interesting. I'm now reading Code Name Verity which is interesting and different.

For film club, we watched Whip It! which I loved so much. It was a really pleasant surprise and made me feel all warm and happy inside. I also saw Dark Shadows which was nothing if not pure summer movie fun.

Andrew Peterson's new single is out and it is, of course, full of wisdom and gentleness and hope.

Also, I got a late birthday present from a friend this week which was really nice.

Borgen
This gets its own subheading because...well it's important. I remember back when Jodie was like, how can I get my American friends to watch Borgen and Call the Midwife? And the part of that I really paid attention to was Call the Midwife because it was based on a book I love (good news! PBS is showing Call the Midwife in the fall so fellow Americans we can watch it legally!) and even though she found a legal streaming link for Borgen, it was like halfway through the series so I felt like I was too behind. Then, due to some good fortune of following a twitter link, I realized that Link TV (the channel that shows Borgen) had rerun series one over Memorial Day weekend and the episodes were available for streaming for two weeks again. So I started watching because Jodie raved about the show and when does she steer me wrong? And guys, like....

It's amazing. I was genuinely surprised how quickly I just got sucked into the show and after watching two episodes I could just not stop thinking about it. I've only watched four now (the episodes are almost exactly an hour long each, so every night I've stayed up late to watch) and like...aaargh there is so much good stuff I want to say about how well written and plotted this show is, how after just four episodes I feel like I know these characters. It has been so long, so so long since I've wanted to do nothing but devour a TV show like this and think about it and bring it up all the time in unrelated conversations because I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. I have six episodes left, yay, and season 2 premieres tomorrow.

But the reason I'm like all caps yelling at you in my subject line is because if you live in the United States you have just a very narrow window to view this legally and I don't want you to miss out because I really really really want friends to talk about this with. Look, I know that I'm always trying to get you to watch stuff like vampire shows, and female spies and shows with silly ridic titles like Switched at Birth but this time it's important okay?

The show is Danish (same producers as Forbrydelsen--the original The Killing) which means you have to read subtitles and it's a political show which probably turns you off, but like...it's so fascinating! I knew nothing about the Danish political system but it's not hard to understand within the context of the show. It also features a fictional female prime minister who is perfectly cast--she has so much charisma and is just immensely likable. And so far it's been about how she navigates the political system to hold on to her power without compromising her ideals. But there's also a female reporter who is equally as compelling. And gah I don't want to spoil anything but so far it's just been great.

So!! Now that I've (hopefully!) convinced you that you can't go another day without Borgen (literally translates as castle, but they call the show government in English) in your life, let me tell how you to watch it. Borgen is on Link TV which if you have DirecTV or Dish Network and maybe some other carriers I don't know, you should have. But in order to catch up with Series 1 you'll have to go to the Link TV website where they are available now for just about another week. So hopefully you'll have ten hours to devote to watching this! Please say you do. And then once Series 2 starts, you'll be able to view the episode on the website for two weeks.

And I don't mean to pile on the pressure but these aren't really available any other way legally, there are no DVDs for Region 1, and NBC is making an American adaptation which means there probably won't ever be. So this is your chance!!! We got a second chance guys!

The first three episodes are available until the 9th, the next three until the 10th, and the finale four until the 11th. So get on it!

Wow, whew. I haven't exerted that much evangelical zeal for anything on this blog in a long time, I hope it pays off! (yes that's a little manipulative, I knowww)

So tell me now...what little things are making you happy?

The Sunday Salon: This is not a post about plagiarism

No really it's not. But if that's what you want to be reading about, I recommend this post and this post for good words and updates.

Books
I'm currently reading The Selection which is a totally absurd book. The world makes no sense to me, but it's easy reading, I'll give it that. And from what I can tell so far, it's going to make a perfect CW show--love triangle, girl defined by her romantic prospects and interests, and also treated as property! I have some major issues with it, but even so there are some kind of interesting ideas in it that I'm curious to see if she fleshes out. Also, I know I said i wouldn't read this book because of how early it was optioned for television and yet here I am reading it anyway. I always change my mind, I am unreliable, etc.

List Making
I was reading this blog post by Roger Ebert about voting for the ten greatest films of all time and how he was adding The Tree of Life to his list for Sight & Sound magazine. The post is really interesting to me as he explains his thought process and discusses just how difficult it is to make such lists. Yes it is. It is always hard to make "best-of" lists but at the same time they are really useful. Also, I haven't seen many great films apparently. So it's also always frustrating for me to realize just how much my education is lacking. But besides that the comments are absolutely fascinating and reveal just why it's so hard to make lists. Everyone feels it's necessary to express how they disagree with the person and what their list is and why the list maker made the wrong choice. And they can also get pretty nasty. Everyone thinks their own opinion is the only right one of course. It was kind of interesting because someone pointed out that The Tree of Life wasn't even his top 2011 choice. And I thought about how that has kind of happened to me in the past, I give the books I read ratings and I've chosen at the end of the year to honor a lower rated book as a best of the year over a five star book. It's entirely possible for your feelings to change about something over time.

If you liked Tree of Life though the comments are a chore. It's amazing to me in a way that people call this film inaccessible to the general viewer, because I am an average viewer. I'm not a film student, I'm not particularly knowledgeable about great film, but I loved that movie. I do understand it's not for everyone, but I think this kind of talk is unnecessarily limiting. Having said that, I can see that it's probably never going to be the kind of film that has mass appeal. But I think there's a difference between saying something has mass appeal and it has no appeal for the general viewer.

How do you approach making best of lists? What would be your top ten films of all time?

The Sunday Salon -- Blue Like Jazz, LATFOB is coming, etc.

Hey everyone I hope you've been having a fabulous week! It's hard to believe that that we are at the midpoint of April and tax day is this week! Thankfully my taxes are done, hope yours are too.

Next weekend is the LA Times Festival of Books. I had to miss it last year, but I'm planning on going Saturday this year and really looking forward to it. I miss you Southern California book bloggers so much, if you're planning on being there please let me know! My plans at present are basically to see the panels with John Green and Patrick Ness and hang out with Danielle.

Reading

My reading has been so weird lately, but I did manage to finish Sarah Pekkanen's These Girls which was a really nice read. I read the first chapter of Cheryl Strayed's memoir, Wild and it was so brutal I haven't managed to read on, but I really want to. When I say brutal I mean she captures the raw ugly emotions of grief so well, I just...I don't know. I actually need to finish the Chaos Walking Trilogy so I might try to do that this week before seeing Patrick Ness at The Festival of Books!

Blue Like Jazz

The Blue Like Jazz film was the first project I ever helped to fund through Kickstarter, and it was actually the way I first heard about Kickstarter. (and then all these singer/songwriters I like started using it to fund their projects, so...)

It's based on Donald Miller's best-selling memoir and was turned into a story with an actual narrative. His later book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years talks about the process of telling a good story (through working on developing the Blue Like Jazz film) and is super inspirational if you ever get the chance to read it, it will make you want to do all sorts of different things with your life in order to tell a good story with it.

Anyway, I didn't think I'd be able to see the movie, but as luck would have it, it opened at a theater just 30 minutes away from me. I was inundated with emails from the BLJ people telling me how important it was to go opening weekend, so I went ahead and made plans to go Friday.

For the most part I really liked it. I mean there were times when I was sitting there feeling so many things. I guess part of it is that a story with a character who has a life I can sort of relate to. Not so much his family background, but being a part of a church that forms a lot of your identity. And then suddenly being thrust into an environment where all these people you think are smart and funny and cool and really lovely hate the very background you come from. I think the film is a little bit confusing in its resolution...what exactly was Don wrestling with? Was it being ashamed of God or actually wrestling with the ideas he'd been taught? But even so it was so nice to find so much relatable on screen. That feeling of trying to figure out a balance between believing in God and loving Him and also rejecting some of the ideas you've always been taught is somewhat present in the film. And it is a really confusing intense thing to go through and I think the movie shows some of that.

People aren't god, but that doesn't mean God doesn't exist is the idea I took away from the film. I really did like it so much--it's nice to find stories about your kind of people on screen. And it's rare! Really interesting stories and characters of faith barely exist in film or television. So for that reason alone, Blue Like Jazz is well worth seeing. Also the cast is really pretty good and for anyone that just likes that, "awww college" feeling, it's satisfying. ;)

TV

TVD comes back this week, yay! Still kind of hoping this season manages to redeem itself. I haven't hated it actually, it has just not been as good? And it has been hard to find a real direction. So hopefully these last episodes will move the story in a direction I want to follow.

Um..other than that I got nothing. I am kind of glad we're getting closer to May and news of what shows will be airing next season, but dreading things like Nikita being cancelled. Oh yeah Nikita comes back this week, too. Yay!

Don't forget to let me know if you'll be at LATFOB and I hope you all have a great week!

The Sunday Salon: Sharing Books We Love, Bad Movies, Russian Romances, and More

First of all, I want to thank everyone who commented on my post on Thursday about the desire to share the works of art we love with the people we love and why we might hesitate sometimes to do that. People brought up really great points that both helped me clarify my own thinking and also consider other things.

As I was responding to the idea of worrying too much about what others think, (which I will freely admit to doing, I DO care too much about what other people think, not all people, but some people) I realized in a clearer way that part of the hesitation isn't so much that if I say I love such and such a book, and it was this really deep and personal experience and they end up hating it that they will think less of me so much as it becomes this whole other thing that can't be shared. I mean yes I do want the people I love, like even, to think I have good taste, who doesn't? But more than good taste I want to have that shared experience of loving something. I mean, the rarity of that is why so many of us are online, I know, we seek out the people we know exist that share a love for the things we love. But also sometimes these books we love or this music we love speaks to us in a language all its own that only other people that love it get, and so it can feel lonely to have that rejected by someone we care about. I hope this makes sense.

Ana also brought up how book blogging specifically prevents her from sharing pure fannish love for something because she's so attuned to addressing potential issues with a work, and several people agreed on that front. I do think book blogging has made me more aware when I read of how I will talk about a book. I also think I will feel compelled to mention certain things, though I suspect it's different for Ana, whose readership probably expects a very certain kind of analysis from her. Anyway, if you originally read the post in a feed reader and didn't click through for comments, I highly recommend you do because it's been one of my favorite discussions on the blog in a long time.

Terrible Films I Watched (including 2 Film Club rejects)

Okay so the film that finally pushed me to start film club was Lars von Trier's Antichrist. You may notice it's not on the film club schedule. That's because Carrie actually read more about the film than I did and sent me increasingly alarmed emails. I finally read a bit about it on wikipedia and realized that there was no way I could suggest people watch this movie. Then, I thought I might not watch it either, but....it was on Amazon Prime and I heard that Melancholia was kind of related to it and some people I respect really liked Melancholia and so I decided to give it a go anyway. Oh my gosh, I wish I hadn't, I mean the film is VERY graphic and disturbing and now all those images are in my head forever and I wish they weren't. :( And I even quit well before the end!

Everything annoyed me about the movie though, from the get go, from the wildly graphic sex scene in the beginning while their toddler child calmly pushes a chair up to the window so he can eventually fall out and die, to the annoying way the husband tried to counsel and fix his wife. I mean every time he opened his mouth I wanted to slap him. And then they go to a cabin in the woods and everything gets really weird, and there's tons of sex and genital mutilation, and just...WHY DO MOVIES LIKE THIS EXIST? I cannot think of a single redeeming quality to this one at all.

So then I watched Melancholia which I can kind of appreciate more, like this idea of melancholia as something very personal that destroyed the character of Justine in the first part, and as the name of the planet that crashes into Earth in the end. And it was just a more palatable movie, but Charlotte Gainsbourg is in it, and she was the main female in Antichrist and so the instant she came on screen, I had horrific flashbacks that never really went away. Antichrist really scarred me y'all! The first half of the movie is all about Kirsten Dunst's character and she's getting married but also she's battling depression in a big way and she ends up doing all this stupid stuff and loses her husband straight away and her job etc.

The second part focuses on her sister Claire who is anxious about the impending crash of Melancholia the planet into Earth and follows her increasing anxiety as the world is coming to an end. Justine is fairly calm in the face of it, because Justine has already lost her battle to melancholia in the first half of the film. Also this is all filmed at some castle or something and the setting is really beautiful. And the really weird slow-motion prologue in the beginning
basically tells the whole story of the film. I didn't really like that the sex stuff in this movie, I thought it was really unnecessary, like there's this scene where Justine takes off all her clothes and lays out in the moon and I didn't get the point. But whatever. I looked up Lars von Trier's other movies, and the only other one I've seen is Dancer in the Dark which is also a movie that disturbed me deeply. I would actually like to watch it again sometime as it's been years, but clearly his story telling/film making has a way of getting under one's skin, though not necessarily in the best way to be honest.

The other film club reject I watched was The Skin I Live In I can't remember who suggested this, sorry. But the only reason I rejected it was because it wasn't out yet and I didn't know what the availability would be. When I saw it released and at Redbox I took a chance and OH MY GOSH. This movie is so disturbing and weird. Okay MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.

**SPOILERS**It opens with Antonio Banderas doing all these experiments on skin and trying to create a new kind of skin that doesn't burn because his wife was in a car accident and suffered from severe burns and died. And you see this woman he keeps locked up in a room that he experiments on with the skin and you don't who she really is, but she tries to commit suicide and it doesn't work, and she also suggests she and Antonio just live together. And then this guy comes to the house dressed up in a tiger costume and he breaks in and he thinks the woman is the dead wife who apparently he had an affair with and the he rapes her. Antonio (sorry I don't know his character's name!!) comes home and finds them and shoots the guy. And the housekeeper tells Vera a ton of history like how those two guys were actually brothers and the guy in the tiger costume had an affair with his wife and they were running away together when they got in the car accident and he left her behind to burn. Antonio found her in the car and saved her but she was all covered in burns and wanted to die. Until one day she heard her daughter singing on the lawn and she felt some life and she got up to go to the window and she accidentally catches her reflection in the window and jumps to her death right in front of her daughter.

And then Antonio Banderas years later takes his daughter to a party shortly after she's released from a psychiatric hospital and she's all sweet and sort of hopeful and happy and then her date tries to rape her, which sends her over the edge until she eventually commits suicide as well. So of course Antonio Banderas does the natural thing and kidnaps the attempted rapist and chains him up. AND THEN he starts experimenting on him. Do you see where this is going? He gives him a sex change, new skin, etc. etc. until he has completely remade him over into the image of his dead wife, and call her Vera. **SPOILERS**

So that's another weird movie that I wish I could forget. I sort of want to curl up with Little Women, Sense & Sensibility, and You've Got Mail to purify myself.

Have any of you seen any of these movies? Am I missing something crucial?

Reading and Books!

I read Beth Kephart's Small Damages this week and it's wonderful! I also read This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers and it was also wonderful!

Also I'm continuing with The Bronze Horseman. I was reading this with a couple of friends but they bailed on me and I want to finish so I figured I could chronicle my thoughts here instead since I know a lot of you have read it. Spoilers because this a reading journal--since I was planning on discussing I have a lot of saved up thoughts, lol.

I've now finished the first book (the book is divided into two books I think) and the first part was rough going for me because it focused on the romance which was a bunch of stuff I don't really like about romances all bundled up into one starting with:

love at first sight

reformed player changes his ways for true love

girl is virginal and innocent and that's a lot of her appeal to him

stupid contrived obstacles keeping them apart. It grated in this story because they could have been really good

In addition to that the character development is awful, in that I didn't have a strong feel for who the characters were. I think I'm supposed to think of Tatiana as being really good and kind and selfless, but that's all I got. The other characters felt pretty one dimensional. And the prose is pretty plain and simple.

But...despite that there are enough things I like about it to keep reading. As far as the romance goes, there was this one part where Tatiana is describing Alexander and how sure of himself hie is, and I really identified with that as being something that happens when you fall in love, how you start to marvel at the very sense of self that other person has. Alexander's back story is really interesting as well, I wonder if there were really people who renounced their US citizenship to live in the ideal communist society? But the book really started to get good for me when Leningrad was starving. I know that sounds terrible, but I thought this section was really well done, she really effectively described the slow way they starved, the greed of her cousin in stealing the food, the way that at first they were ravenous and then they could barely function, watching people die all around them, watching their rations turn into sawdust and cardboard bread, the family members dying, people dying on the street, people attacking them for food, and eventually eating the dead bodies out in the street. It was one of the better starvation accounts I've read really. I wanted to go buy the whole grocery store while reading. As I was reading it, I started thinking I had maybe read a book about the starving of Leningrad before and I have! It wasn't nearly as affecting though, since I barely remembered that was what it was about.

Also, I don't know somehow this section helped me forgive the love story between Alexander and Tatiana because I realized that during a war like that, during a life and death situation you want to have something to hold onto or believe in, something bigger and outside of the war. So even if the love felt impossible, they both needed it to keep going. And I also thought that the big lie they tell Dasha has the ultimate consequence which reinforces the idea that epic lovers often dehumanize the people around them in the name of their love.

Finally, one other little thing I appreciate is the way she weaves in these ideas of things they long for but don't have in their culture. Tatiana wants privacy but doesn't even know if a word for such a concept exists, she tries to articulate what she means and can't. And then later she longs for a prayer to say over the deceased but she doesn't know any prayers and if you know what I'm talking about, yes I cried a little during that part!

I've never been to Russia, but I did visit a friend who taught in Mongolia for awhile and there was a lot of lingering Soviet influence there. So I just imagined the apartment buildings I saw in Mongolia as the kind of place where Tatiana's family lived.

Other Tidbits

I hit 50,000 tweets this week. I meant to make sure my 50,000th was something special but it ended up being a retweet because I forgot. Oh well at least I share info!

Wordpress changed their comment policy this week and it's awful. But Teresa gives you the scoop on how to comment on wordpress blogs now.

Also enjoyed S.D. Smith's piece at The Rabbit Room about being afraid to let good books pass on.

And I just realized this is already REALLY long so I'll stop for now. I hope you all have fabulous weeks planned. I'm enjoying our rainy weekend! Let me know what you think about anything.....