The Marvel Trumps Hate auction has started. I am offering the Infinity Gauntlet and Iron Gauntlet pictured below (auctioned separately) as well as a podfic.
There are also many other great items up for auction to support a wonderful group of organizations.
I didn't get as much reading done in 2018 as I'd like but I did a fair bit of crochet: a scarf, a shawl, a beanie shark, 3 juggling sharks, and one infinity gauntlet.
Wow. I only read 36 books this year. Probably due to reading more fanfic than usual and far more political commentary than I needed.
Lovecraft Country was the best of the fiction, although I was also quite fond of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. 1491 would probably have stood out even in a longer list of nonfiction.
I haven't been able to get to my bookmarks at delicious.com for several days. Does anyone know what is going on with them? Did they go under while I wasn't watching?
Another relatively short list this year. I have a smartphone now and I tend to read blogs or downloaded fanfic on it more than real ebooks. I should try to do something about that. I have been listening to a lot of short fiction via the Escape Pod podcase, which I recommed for daily commutes.
The poll is late this year because I spent the week between Christmas and new year working of my first (and likely only) fanvid. That also probably cost me a book or two for 2013, since I often try to finish up books-in-progress before the new year. My only real resolution this year is to get more and more regular sleep, but I'm going to try to read more, too.
For the past two years I've been hoping someone would make a Sherlock video to the song "Aha!" by The Backyardigans. This weekend I decided to try doing it myself. Here is the result:
In 2012 I read (or listened to) just over half as many books as in 2011. I attribute that to reading too much fan fiction and political commentary (it was an election year) and to switching mostly to podcasts in preference to audio books. escape pod has some very good short fiction, but I haven't been tracking what I've listened to.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen was my favorite book this year. I also particularly enjoyed The Scottish Prisoner and Captain Vorpatril's Alliance. I hope Bujold finds more stories in the Vorkosigan universe as I much prefer those to her fantasy works.
My favorite non-fiction was Ben Behind His Voices, which in addition to being a moving book, led me to the National Alliance on Mental Illness which proved to be an invaluable resource for someone with an affected family member.
Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.
I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese boards, cheese knives, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, healthy-grills, home smokers, tempura sets, tortilla presses, electric whisks, cherry stoners, sugar thermometers, food processors, bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards.
I don't have a lot that I don't use, although a few just barely make the once a year cutoff. I've gotten lazy and used bottled garlic for a while, but with what I have leftover from my CSA I may have to dig out the garlic press. It's possible I gave away the tortilla press. It was a gift I think I tried using just once.
Not on this list, but just used once a year, is our trifle dish. But that's because chocolate trifle at Christmas is a necessity!
This year I read 115 books. Only fifteen were nonfiction, fewer than the nineteen Doctor Who related works I read. The best fiction were The Kite Runner and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Zombies vs. Unicorns was a close runner up, but, much as I liked the stories, I found the intra-story fake-rivalry annoying.
Life After High School: A Guide for Students With Disabilities and Their Families was probably the best nonfiction I read. It will be handy in the next few years.
This year I read 70 books (15 nonfiction, 55 nonfiction) and listened to 29 Doctor who audios (lots of long walks and commutes). The most memorable works of fiction were My Most Excellent Year of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park and Julian Comstock. My favorite works of nonfiction were The King's Best Highway and Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years with honorable mentions to We've Got Issues and How I Killed Pluto and Why it had it Coming.
Below is the list of all the books I read in 2010, roughly in reverse order of reading and split by category. I also ask for recommendations from the list of books on my shelf and those I don't have but have tagged as interesting.
Following the example of invisible_lift I am putting up most of my Torchwood and John Barrowman related items on eBay with the proceeds to go Partners in Health which has been working in Haiti for 20 years.
The items listed include hardback copies of Anything Goes and I Am What I Am by John Barrowman and Carol E. Barrowman, The 2009 Torchwood Yearbook, and Torchwood novels Slow Decay, Into the Silence, Bay of the Dead, The House That Jack Built, Consequences and The Undertaker's Gift.
This year I read 72 books and listened to another 12. They comprised 65 fiction (including 35 sf, 10 historical, 8 fantasy), 18 nonfiction (including 5 parenting, 4 science, 3 memoirs), and 13 young adult.
Einstein's Telescope was probably the best of the nonfiction, though The Writer's Tale was the most fun. The City & The City was the best fiction, with Far North a close second.
This is the perfect Christmas fic. You should probably read the rest of the rabbit hole stories first, but they are wonderful, too, so that is no hardship.
I tried making cranberry orange relish for the first time, knowing that I'm probably the only one in my family who will eat it. The recipe made nearly a quart, so I decide to get inventive. And I was hungry.
Cranberry Relish Pancakes
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (regular wheat or white is ok)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/5 teaspoon baking soda
1T ground flaxseed (optional)
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
3/4 c cranberry orange relish
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
Mix dry ingredients. Mix egg, milk, and butter, then pour into dry ingredients. Add relish and nuts. Mix just enough to combine all ingredients. Cook on griddle.
Makes about 10 pancakes. Leftovers can be frozen if your kids don't like the pancakes any more than the plain relish.
I ate these plain, but I bet they'd be really good with orange syrup or orange marmalade.
I didn't do too well on resolutions this year. I only kept one - breaking up with Smallville. Pretty much failed on the less-junkfood and more sleep ones. I read 77 books this year, about 10 more than last year, so that's an improvement.
Gakked from fajrdrako "These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish." ( The listCollapse )
You are a Social Justice Crusader, also known as a rights activist. You believe in equality, fairness, and preventing neo-Confederate conservative troglodytes from rolling back fifty years of civil rights gains.
The Stage has a trailer for the upcoming BBC show Merlin, with Anthony Stewart Head as Uther. (And two pretty young things as Merlin and Arthur. Slash ahoy!)
There is also a link to an article about the show. They make comparisons to Smallville. This worries me.
The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read. 2) Italicize those you intend to read (as in the book is bought and sitting on my shelf). 3) Underline the books you LOVE. 4) Star those you've started and have not and will not finish.
Another reason to love Emma Thompson although I'm not sure if her presence in a new version of Brideshead Revisited is enough to make it preferable to the one with Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews.
Anyone ever read a book called something like "Morville the Magician"? I'm entering books I read a decade ago into Librarything and neither google nor amazon recognize the name I have in my notes. Google doesn't even give any useful spelling suggestions.
Last year I made a grand total of 37 posts, the first of which was about my resolutions for 2007:
1. Read more books, fewer blogs
2. Eat less junk
3. Make time to listen to my kids regularly
4. Get my youngest fully weaned, potty trained and into his own room by December 2007.
I mostly failed on #2, improved on #3, managed 2/3 of #4 (still working on the potty training) and nailed #1. I think I'm generally less grouchy for having dumped most of the political blogs from my regular reading and I nearly doubled the number of books I read.
Below the cut is list of the books I read in 2007, in the form of a poll.
4. More of a hope than a resolution: fully break up with Smallville. I know won't suddenly turn out shows of S1-S3 quality but I keep hoping for some glimmer of the quality it had in the past. Besides, I've started seeing someone else -- Torchwood (with a side of Doctor Who).
The folks at Hubblesite put together some great astronomical holiday cards that you can print yourselves. My favorite is which uses a picture of the Sagittarius Star Cloud to ornament the tree.
I'd always thought uber cool and nerd were mutually exclusive...
The Dumb/Dork/Awkward score is misleading. I suspect it was highly influenced by my answer that I spent my non-computer time with family and friends. With three kids, I don't really have the option of doing much else!
1. Hot chocolate or apple cider? Hot chocolate, unless I have a cold. Then it's hot spiced cider. I have mulling spice teabags that make it easy.
2. Turkey or Ham? Roast beast! Well, beef tenderloin.
3. Do you get a Fake or Real Christmas tree? Real. We go on a big expedition to a local tree farm. Next year, though, I'm going to have to put my foot down and insist we get one that doesn't take up 1/3 the room.
4. Decorations on the outside of your house? Lights, definitely. Otherwise it gets too depressing that it is dark so early. Also a wreath.
5. Snowball fights or sledding? Sledding! Last year I could only watch since I'd just had ankle surgery, but this year for sure.
6. Do you like hanging around the fireplace because it’s warm? Warm and to keep my 4yo from playing with the fire tools.
7. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping? Only if I have lots of time and nothing particular to get. Otherwise it's too stressful. I do most of my shopping online.
8. Favorite Christmas song? Don't really have a favorite.
9. How do you feel about Christmas movies? I like the classics.
10. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music? Before Thanksgiving.
11. Stockings before or after presents? After. When you've unwrapped all the presents, then realize there is still something left.
12. Carolers, do you or do you not listen to them? I go caroling with my chorus.
13. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you? It varies. I prefer to be at home.
14. Do you read the Christmas Story the night before Christmas? Not generally, but I will probably read it to my 4yo a lot during the next few weeks (if I can find it).
15. What do you do after presents? Collapse for a bit, then make breakfast.
16. What is your favorite holiday smell? Cookies baking
17. Ice skating or walking around the mall? Ice skating.
18. Favorite Christmas memory: My brother surreptitiously knocking on the wall to convince me Santa was coming so I'd go to bed.
19. Favorite Part about winter? Snow, the first few times. Fire in the fireplace.
20. Food you eat this time of year that you may not during the others seasons. Yorkshire puddings, chocolate trifle.
amused