So I wasn't quite as productive this month as I was last in terms of reading; however, I had some titles that required me to slow down and pay attention. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. As always, all reviews may be found at calico_reaction, and discussion is most welcome. :)

Finished Books: February

Breaking Dawn (2008)
Written by: Stephenie Meyer
Genre: YA/Paranormal Romance
Pages: 756 (Hardcover)
My Review: Worth the Cash

Kindred (1979)
Written by: Octavia E. Butler
Genre: Science Fiction/Historical Fiction
Pages: 287 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Worth the Cash

The God Engines (2009)
Written by: John Scalzi
Genre: Science Fantasy
Pages: 136 (Hardcover)
My Review: Buy the Paperback

Children of God (1998)
Written by: Mary Doria Russell
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 438 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Worth the Cash

Thirteen Reasons Why (2007)
Written by: Jay Asher
Genre: YA/Fiction
Pages: 288 (Hardcover)
My Review: Buy the Paperback

It's been FOREVER since I posted anything of substenance, and for that, I apologize. I just read, read, read all the time, so between the two blogs, it's calico_reaction that gets the attention, not devilwrites.

But let's talk tv, because that's the OTHER thing I do all of the time. Dramas first, because oddly, I watch fewer dramas than comedies (at least, that's what it feels like), and hopefully, I'll remember to post my comedies later. :)

What I'm going to do is my shows in order of favorites, from most to least, if that makes sense, and then talk about why. :)



Lost: Season 06

Okay, we're finally into Lost's final season and to be honest, I love this show so much I can't talk about it rationally, even to defend it from detractors. I will say this though: as much as I love this show, as much as I'm excited to see it end so that I can buy the complete series on BluRay and watch it all over again, I'm going to withhold any sort of verdict or praise for this show until it's over. Why? Because I vigorously defended Battlestar Galactica until halfway through its last season, and then the show bitterly disappointed me. Lost has the potential to do that, though I have every faith in the writers that it won't happen. They know their ending, unlike the writers of BSG who went on record saying they sat in the writer's room FOR HOURS trying to figure out how to write the finale. Sigh.

But yes. I love this show to pieces. I think it has the potential to be one of the greatest television shows of all time, if they end it right, and the way the show's progressed, I honestly think it could happen. :) This show is the only thing on my television schedule that I absolutely MUST WATCH LIVE, and that's saying something.

Fringe: Season 02:

This show is rapidly becoming a favorite, and it's all due to the cast and the way the cast relates to the mythology itself. Even when the stand-alone episodes ring a little too close to The X-Files, they always manage to focus on the cast in a way that makes you love them more. And honestly, Fringe is what would happen if The X-Files and Lost had a baby: fascinating overall mythology (but not as convoluted as Lost), with stand-alone episodes that are freaky, fun, and frightening. I hope to hell Fox renews this for a third season, because I'm going to NEED this sucker after Lost is over. YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

Or maybe you do: "Olivia, please don't tell him."

*dies*

Human Target: Season 01:

This show is just a lot of fun, with a self-aware kind of cheese that reminds me fondly of action shows from the eighties. Not QUITE as cheesy, and I like the production, but what I like best is the cast: Mark Valley (Fringe) as Chance, Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies, how I miss thee!) as Winston, and Jackie Earl Hayley (Watchmen) as Guerrero: these three are a lot of fun, and it's also entertaining to recognize the guest stars, like Kevin Weisman (Marshal from Alias) and Tricia Helfner (Six from Battlestar Galactica). At any rate, I'm enjoying the show, but if something happens and it gets canned, I'm not going to be broken-hearted.

FlashForward: Season 01:

The first half of the season took its dear sweet time in pulling me in, and I still stand by my earlier critique. However, the episodes started picking up, and while characters still did things to irritate the snot out of me, I'm interested to see where the story goes from here. The episode "Believe" was particularly engaging, and I'm just starting to get to the point where this show COULD become must-see tv for me. But this show, too, is one of those that won't break my heart if it doesn't get renewed. We'll see if I'm singing the same tune after the finale, though.

Caprica: Season 01:

The verdict is still out on this one. The prequel to Battlestar Galactica is certainly thought-provoking and I like the cast quite a bit: all of the roles feel lived in, like these people have been around forever, and I'm fascinated to see the mythology behind the cylon's rise to consciousness. Almost giddy. However, I feel very cautious about this show, simply because I don't trust the writers to fill in the blanks in a way that makes sense. More worrisome is my fear that they'll ignore the continuity set up in BSG and introduce certain characters in this series that should still be on Earth at this point in the timeline (or at least in space, flying in the right direction). You know who I mean. *cough*Final Five!*cough*

That said, I'm enjoying it. It's a slow-building show, with a sharp focus on characters and issues, and in spite of myself, I'm interested. But I don't trust it. I probably never will, and that's a shame. But Moore brought it upon himself with that BSG finale, so he's going to have to earn my trust back, and it won't be easily given.

V: Season 01:

This is fun in a pure, unapologetically SF way, but in some ways, it's almost too fast-paced, too simple. I keep wanting to complicate matters, but really, the story is what it seems on the surface. Not a bad thing, as the show is entertaining so far, but I'm not sure of it's chances for renewal. We'll see. The show returns the end of March, right after Lost, and it does have actors I enjoy watching (Elizabeth Mitchell from Lost and Morena Baccarin from Firefly/Serenity). It's another that if it gets canceled, I'm not going to be too upset (unless the show manages to hook me on an emotional level and combines that with a cliffhanger ending).

Stargate Universe: Season 01:

Stopped watching. I hated to admit defeat, but let's face it: I was DVR-ing every episode and letting them pile up, and there wasn't anyone I was truly attached to in the cast. Sure, there were some sympathetic characters, but no one whose story had be tuning in each week for everything morsel I could get. I got through six episodes, but just couldn't bring myself to continue. Maybe the show will get better in time (maybe it's already gotten better), but the format was too formulaic from week to week, and if I don't have a cast to latch on to and focus, I can't get past the formula. I was also tired of characters acting like assholes for no good reason, and I was tired of other characters getting shit on for no good reason. Oh well. :)

A surprisingly productive reading month, though two of these suckers didn't pass the "100 page rule" and were put aside, unfinished. Not that I mind much. My TBR pile is WAY too big to waste time on books that aren't catching my interest.

As always, reviews may be found at calico_reaction.

Finished Books: January

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005)
Written by: Stieg Larsson
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 107/590 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Couldn't Finish It

Eclipse (2007)
Written by: Stephenie Meyer
Genre: YA/Paranormal Romance
Pages: 629 (Hardcover)
My Review: Glad It Was Free

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (2009)
Written by: Kazuo Ishiguro
Genre: Short Fiction
Pages: 221 (Hardcover)
My Review: Wish I'd Borrowed It

Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog (2007)
Written by: Ysabeau S. Wilce
Genre: YA/Fantasy
Pages: 438 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Give it Away

Last Dragon (2008)
Written by: J.M. McDermott
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 390 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Must Have

Black Ships (2008)
Written by: Jo Graham
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 310 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Couldn't Finish It

Magic Strikes (2009)
Written by: Ilona Andrews
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 310 (Mass Market Paperback)
My Review: Worth the Cash

The Shadow of the Wind (2001)
Written by: Carlos Ruiz Zafrón
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 487 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Worth the Cash

Kitty's House of Horrors (2010)
Written by: Carrie Vaughn
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 292 (Mass Market Paperback)
My Review: Must Have

The Adoration of Jenna Fox (2008)
Written by: Mary E. Pearson
Genre: YA/Science Fiction
Pages: 265 (Hardcover)
My Review: Must Have

In the Woods (2007)
Written by: Tana French
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 429 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Worth the Cash

Kindred (1979)
Written by: Octavia E. Butler

I've had a handful of Octavia E. Butler's work, and I'm always thoroughly amazed at what she manages to pack and convey in her fiction. She's definitely an author you DON'T want to miss! :)

Anyone who'd like to participate, just read the book! I'll post my review on February 28th for you to comment, or at least, fill out a poll saying whether you participated or not.

If you're looking for links to buy the book or want more challenge details (and next month's theme!) just click here.

All right, here are the lists I promised all of you, as well as a head's up about the giveaway for those of you who don't read calico_reaction.

1) Top Ten Favorite Reads: 2009

2) Comic Book Review: 2009

And last but not least:

3) GIVEAWAY: 2009 Top Ten!

A note about the giveaway: the more people who enter means there will be more winners. Feel free to pimp the giveaway in your own webspace as well!

I've always been one of those people who refused to write more than one project at a time. While I was getting my Masters, that made a helluva lot of sense. I had SERIOUS deadlines that I had to fulfill, and a project to finish.

But those deadlines are gone. And yet, I've been holding on to the idea that I can't work on more than one project at a time. Why?

Fact: once I get immersed into a project mentally, I don't like thinking about another project at all, because it requires a gear-shit.

Fact: sometimes I have moments where my brain REFUSES TO THINK about the current project, and it leaps to something else I've got on the back burner.

So why not make use of that? It's not as if I have SERIOUS deadlines to follow (I do actually have deadlines, but those are such that I'm not required to turn in a specific project), so why not focus on which ever project strikes my fancy at the time?

I keep needing to find a way to fall in love with writing all over again. Maybe the first step is letting go and allowing myself to have more than one iron in the fire. If I feel like working on the SFR, I will. If I want to brainstorm the space opera, I will. Or entertain the thought of writing a YA? Why the hell not?

Of course, right now all of the irons I've got are in the planning stages. I'm unfortunate in that I can't do jack unless I've got my world-building mostly figured out, and the type of stuff I'm writing requires extensive world-building. This is also symptomatic of how my brain works: I'm the asshole who keeps poking holes in things and asking questions and tearing apart what appears to be a perfectly logical system, so unless I can come up with something that's foolproof for that part of my brain, I won't write, because I'll have to toss it anyway.

But the idea is this: once I reach the point where I can actually write one of these projects, and then another, perhaps the butt-in-chair sessions will start out with, "Which project do you feel like working on today?"

After all, what's stopping me? Well, there might be plenty in terms of how this brain works, but until I stumble upon such things, why not try?

And here's yet another annual tradition at devilwrites (and at calico_reaction, so apologies to those of you who see it twice), and that's the final list of books for the year. Here's the breakdown:

Total novels read: 102 (Not as impressive as last year's 123, but still impressive.)

Total novels started but not finished: 6 (One of them I will DEFINITELY finish, the others, not a chance.)

Total comic books read: 10 (Didn't read any completed series this year, so that number's based on the books I'm reading as they're released.)

I'm pretty happy with the totals, considering that earlier last spring I wasn't in any sort of reading mood AT ALL.

Finished Books: December

Magic Burns (2008)
Written by: Ilona Andrews
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 260 (Mass Market Paperback)
My Review: Worth the Cash

The Christmas List (2009)
Written by: Richard Paul Evans
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 353 (Hardcover)
My Review: Wish I'd Borrowed It

Liar (2009)
Written by: Justine Larbalestier
Genre: YA/Fiction
Pages: 371 (Hardcover)
My Review: Keeper Shelf

Skinned (2008)
Written by: Robin Wasserman
Genre: YA/Science Fiction
Pages: 361 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Must Have

Darker Angels: Book Two of the Black Sun's Daughter (2009)
Written by: M.L.N. Hanover
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 360 (Mass Market Paperback)
My Review: Worth the Cash

The Declaration (2007)
Written by: Gemma Malley
Genre: YA/Science Fiction
Pages: 301 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Give It Away

The Last Unicorn (1968)
Written by: Peter S. Beagle
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 288 (Hardcover)
My Review: Must Have

Singing the Dogstar Blues (1998)
Written by: Alison Goodman
Genre: YA/Science Fiction
Pages: 261 (Mass Market Paperback)
My Review: Worth the Cash

Skin Game (2009)
Written by: Ava Gray
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 307 (Mass Market Paperback)
My Review: Worth the Cash

Oryx and Crake (2003)
Written by: Margaret Atwood
Genre: Fiction/Literary SF
Pages: 376 (Trade Paperback)
My Review: Give It Away

( The Rest of the YearCollapse )

As always, the reviews may be found at calico_reaction. Coming soon will be the annual top-ten list and the mini-review of the comics. Oh, and of course, a giveaway.

I kind of wanted to do something for music, as I never really talk about it. Like movies, I don't want to devote an entry to every single thing I listen to, so I think I'm gonna try a year-end list, like I do with movies, and see what happens.

But music's a more fluid thing too. For the sake of this list, I want to let you know a few things:

1) I'm no including music I haven't bought. In other words, there are albums my husband bought that I've listened to and have on iTunes (Muse's latest, as well as Alice in Chains), but haven't really had the time to process in terms of a listing like this.

2) I'm not including soundtracks, scores, or instrumental albums. It's just not a fair comparison, but I will list them at the bottom of the review if anyone wants to ask about them.

3) These albums may not have necessarily been released in 2009. This list is of the stuff I bought this year, whether they were new releases or not. There's plenty of new releases on this list, but some of it isn't. Fair warning.

There will be four categories, like my movie breakdown: Great, Good, Average, and instead of Bad, I'm going to have "Not My Thing." For me to actually think an album is BAD would be really surprising, and I'm the kind of person that recognizes everyone's got their own "thing" when it comes to music, and what doesn't work for me might be someone else's favorite album ever.

Clear as mud? Let's try this:

( Music Mix: 2009 Purchase ReviewCollapse )

It's been a quiet year for movies, because Greg and I upgraded our DirecTV to the HD/DVR receiver, which allowed us to watch movies in HD on PPV, which was AWESOME. For the movies we weren't really sure about, or the movies that one of us wanted to see and the other didn't, it was a perfect solution, as the HD PPV version is essentially the cost of ONE movie ticket (a little less, actually), and we don't have to go anywhere.

So the list below is for theatrical releases. Below this list is the list of what I've seen on DVD/BluRay/PPV/DVR. Those don't get categories, but you're welcome to ask about any of them.

But for the theatrical releases, this is my yearly tradition: mini-reviews, short & sweet with no spoilers. Ready?

( 2009 Movies in ReviewCollapse )

The theatrical total is 14 movies, down just two from last year, which isn't bad. But the DVD/BluRay/PPV/DVR count? Comes out to a whopping 47, which is a great number, as any true Alias fan should know.

( 2009 DVD/BluRay/PPV/DVR ListCollapse )

And that's all, folks! :)

It doesn't feel like the end of the year. Not really. And I kind of dreaded writing this post, because as I think back over 2009, I can't think of anything worth mentioning that I accomplished. All the big stuff? Happened last year.

However, I did accomplish one major thing that I didn't intentionally set out to do, not in the resolution sense. Last year, I weighed around 172, which was my heaviest ever, and as of today, now I'm 136. That's 36 pounds lost, folks, and that, frankly, is quite an accomplishment. It doesn't seem real either, until I put on clothes that don't fit anymore because they're loose, or I look at pictures from pre-2009.

So in that sense, I think 2009 has been stellar. I also like to think I'm a little healthier than I was. I've curbed most of my junk-food cravings (she says as her husband is making brownies, hee hee!), and I've told caffeine I don't need it every day any more. This is all good. It could be better, because I still eat stuff that would make health nuts curl into a fetal ball and cry, but 2009's a good start.

Writing-wise, I've disappointed myself. The urban fantasy that I'd planned on working on started out all systems go, and after a few weeks fell so flat I couldn't save it. So I turned it into a space opera, that I tinkered with before realizing I really didn't want to come up with a new SF world-building universe (because I must have my rules in place before writing: I must!), which led me to the decision to really focus on the sequel(s) for my thesis, Entanglement. The thesis is currently getting a fresh set of eyes, and I keep thinking I'm gonna go back to that sucker and re-write it, maybe split it into two books. We'll see. Right now, I'm trying to plot out the rest of the trilogy/series in such a way that I can sit down and just write it.

Of course, that's the trick: sitting down and just writing. And frankly, I've lost the love. That's a hard thing to admit, especially after all the time and money spent (still spending, if you look at loans) on workshops and grad school. It's not to say those were a waste of time either: they weren't, and I'd defend those decisions until I'm blue in the face. It's just . . . bad timing. I need to fall in love again, and I'm not sure the best way to do it (the first person who says to just sit down and do it is going to get a virtual foot up their ass). I think that's one of the reasons my reading has become SO RABID. I finished the year off with 102 books, less than last year's 123. I think I'm trying to find that love, that spark, and the only way I can think to do that is to see how others are doing it.

Then again, I also look at how much I'm reading and realize I might be overloading myself. That might be part of the problem, spending so much time in other worlds that I can't fully immerse myself in my own.

We'll see. I won't make promises for 2010 (other than to try to read more books than I buy), but we'll see.

But when I step back from 2009 and look at the decade, I have to say, it's impressive. In 2000, I was just starting college. Since then, I've got a bachelors, a masters, my first "real" job, my first new car, and of course, I got married. I finished writing a book this decade (which is nothing compared to some of you, but damn, that was hard work for me), and I've learned a helluva lot about myself in the process.

The one dark spot marring those accomplishments is realizing that personally, I've grown more and more distant from life (insert "maybe that's because you spend too much time reading" snark here), and I know it started when I was in college. Undergrad was a transition for me, and I'm still finding my way out of that transition. It's been a very hard road.

So what I want, not just out of next year, but out of next DECADE, is to find myself emotionally back on my feet. To be able to say I've really and truly enjoyed the years that've gone by, that I've felt something on the whole, rather than say I've gotten hard and brittle. I hope that this time in ten years, I'm living somewhere that doesn't put me on the defensive any time I'm out in public. I hope in ten years, I can look at my accomplishments of this decade and say it's nothing. Or, if not nothing, then it was a nice little start.

We'll see. Promises for next year though? Don't have any. My writing goals failed spectacularly, so I won't make them this year. And the one thing I DIDN'T set out to do, which was to seriously lose weight (if that'd been a New Year's Resolution, I would've failed before January was over), I ended up doing with fantastic success. You guys, I can wear clothes again that I haven't worn since college. That's no small accomplishment.

Sorry for being a little introverted and gloomy for this post, but it's the end of the year, end of the decade, and I feel the need to be honest. It's time I stop hiding behind perky, fake promises, and start being honest with myself in all matters of life. That, too, may be a hard road, but it's one I'm willing to take. I don't think I'll be truly happy otherwise.

But in happier news, Greg and I just celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary on the 30th, which marks our 11th year together. Truly, that makes me happy. It's a good thing to celebrate at this time of year, and we had a lovely night.

Happy New Year to you all, and may 2010 bring you everything you could want and more. :)