NaBloPoMo Wrap-up

It's the last day of November, and time for a little reflection on my personal NaBloPoMo experiment:

1. I wrote 23 out of 30 days. Not too bad; a few of the non-writing days were because of out-of-town guests, a couple of the others were simply because I needed to separate myself and process everything that was going on in the world. I am really happy with my totals, though, because it was more than I ever thought I would/could write, and it pushed me.

2. Given the world/national events, most of my posts were of a decidedly political bent, which is ok, because I'm tired of being quiet on things. I have a format where I can share my thoughts with lots of people, and it would be a waste to not speak my mind. I'm still not sure if I'm going to split the content into two blogs--one more bookish--but for now, I'm going to stick with the one.

3. That being said, I do want to write more bookish content, if only for my own sanity. I've read some amazing books this year, and other than updates and wrap-ups, I haven't talked much about them. I've started doing some book tags (ideas originated on BookTube), and while I like doing those, I'd like to do some more original content as well.

4. I'm going to be working on the quality of posts I put up as well. Most of them are spur-of-the-moment bursts, rather than well-planned out ones, and while those have their place, I am capable of higher-quality writing.

5. I probably won't keep up this pace for the next month; December is always crazy with family and friends and travel and gift-buying. . . I'm still going to try to post two a week at least.

Thanks for taking this journey with me!

Rabbit Hole #27: Top 10 (+2) Most Owned Authors

Once again, stealing an idea from the wonderful Jen Campbell, these are my top 10 most owned authors. Those of you who know me well will not be surprised by the top 3 at all.

Honorable Mention with 7 books each: (Interestingly, these are the only two men on this list.)

C. S. Lewis: Lewis is a bit of a cheat, since all 7 of his are the Chronicles of Narnia series, but since they are separate books...

F. Scott Fitzgerald: I love Fitzgerald and wish he had lived long enough to continue writing. I think the only thing I don't own right now is The Last Tycoon, which was the book he was working on when he died.

Tied with 8 books each (#10-8)
J. K. Rowling: Again, a bit of a cheat since seven are the Harry Potter books, but I also have her first adult novel The Casual Vacancy, which was okay, but not up to the level of the Potter books.

Margaret Atwood: I am just scratching the surface with Atwood. I love her dystopian novels,   especially The Handmaid's Tale and the MADDADDAM series, but I'm anxious to dive into her poetry and short stories soon.

Louise Erdrich: Her stories about life on the reservation in North Dakota and the interweaving narratives throughout her novels have kept me hooked since I first read Love Medicine. She has a new novel coming out in May, which I am very excited for. Like Atwood, she has poetry and short fiction out that I need to read, as well as children's fiction.

#7 with 9 books
Barbara Kingsolver: The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all-time favorite books. I also really love her nonfiction as well; her background in biology and ecology is fascinating.

#6 with 10 books
Toni Morrison: It's Toni Morrison. She's the godmother of modern literature. Enough said.

#5 with 12 books
A. S. Byatt: I fell in love with Byatt's writing when I read Possession. She blends historical fiction with literature with myth with a bit of magical realism...well, you get the point.

#4 with 13 books
Charlaine Harris: Once again, this is all one series. I loved the HBO series True Blood, and decided to read the Sookie Stackhouse books it was based on. These were fun and quick reads, good for getting out of reading slumps or days where you didn't want to have to think to hard about what you were reading.

#3 with 17 books
Virginia Woolf: I haven't read Woolf in a while, to be honest. I think I'm still on a bit of a hangover after writing my master's thesis on her. Her writing is frank, experimental, forward-thinking, and thought-provoking, and I've read almost everything she's written except her diaries, which is where I might head next.

#2 with 22 books
Alice Walker: I absolutely adore Alice Walker. It started, naturally, with The Color Purple, but I've devoured almost everything she's written--novels, poetry, essays, memoirs--the only thing I haven't read are her children's books. You are always forced to look at the world around you and your own beliefs when reading her books.

And, of course...

#1 with 29 books
Anne Rice: I fell in love with Rice in high school, and haven't looked back. For me, her knowledge of history weaving in and out of tales of witches, vampires, ghosts, and werewolves is the most intriguing part of her tales. I also love her two non-paranormal historical novels as well: Cry to Heaven and The Feast of All Saints.  


So there you have it, my top 10 (+2) most owned authors! (Hey, if the Big Ten can have 14 schools in it, I can have 12 in my top 10 list!)

Rabbit Hole #26: Read Harder Challenge 2015 Update--November

I have finished the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2015, but I'm going to keep adding to it for the next two months, just to see where I end up. 

Here's my list so far:  
(This month's reads are in blue.)

1. A book written by someone when they were under 25: 

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala

2. A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65: 

God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
Lucrezia Borgia by Sarah Bradford

3. A collection of short stories:

Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat

4. A book published by an indie press: 

The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson (Open Roads Media Sci-Fi and Fantasy)
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine (Grey Wolf Press)

On Immunity by Eula Biss (Grey Wolf Press)

5. A book by or about someone who identifies as LGBTQIA: 

We Are the Animals by Justin Torres
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin
Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa by Rigoberto Gonzalez

6. A book by someone of a different gender than you: 

Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, and the Rebirth of the British Monarchy 

by Paul Thomas Murphy 
Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel José Older
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

7. A book that takes place in Asia: 

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

8. A book by an author from Africa:

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
Zarah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma

9. A book by or about someone from an indigenous culture: 

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

10. A microhistory: 

Desire and Disaster in New Orleans: Tourism, Race and Historical Memory by Lynnell L. Thomas
Liar, Temptress, Soldier Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

 Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity and the Women Who Made America Modern 
by Joshua Zeitz

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II 
by Denise Kiernan
Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants 
by Robert Sullivan
The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case: Race, Law, and Justice in the Reconstruction Era
 by Michael A. Ross

11. A YA novel: 

Paper Towns by John Green
The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Page
Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older
Scarlet and Cress by Marissa Meyer 
Chanda's Secret by Allan Stratton
Coraline by Neil Gaiman

12. A sci-fi novel: 

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Neuromancer by William Gibson
MADDADDAM by Margaret Atwood
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

13. A romance novel: 

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice

The Queen's Lover by Francine Du Plessix Gray

14. A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer from the last decade: 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Pulitzer)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Man Booker)
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodsen (National Book Award for Young People's Lit)
Head Off and Split by Nikky Finney (National Book Award--Poetry)

15. A book that is a retelling of a classic story: 

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi (retelling of Snow White)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (The Jungle Book)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Cinderella)
ODY-C Vol. 1: Off to Far Ithicaa by Matt Fraction (The Odyssey)
Poison by Sarah Pinborough (Snow White)
The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold by Francesca Lia Block (various)

16. An audiobook: 

Voices and Poetry of Ireland (a collection)

17. A collection of poetry: 

Once by Alice Walker
Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful by Alice Walker
The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes
Thrall by Natasha Tretheway
Selected Poems by Gwendolyn Brooks

18. A book that someone else recommended to you: 

Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint by Nadia Bolz-Weber

19. A book originally published in another language:

Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann (French)
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Spanish)
Buddha's Little Finger by Victor Pelevin (Russian)
An Illiad by Alessandro Baricco (Italian)

20. A graphic novel, memoir or collection of comics: 

Captain Marvel, Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue Deconnick

Sandman, Vols. 1 and 2 by Neil Gaiman

Batgirl, Vol. 1 by Gail Simone

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore

Nevermore: A Graphic Novel Anthology of Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal, Vol. 2: Generation Why and Vol. 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson
Thor: Goddess of Thunder, Vol. 1; Who Holds the Hammer, Vol. 2 by Jason Aaron
Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
Just So Happens by Fumio Obata
Griffin and Sabine: Book 1 and Sabine's Notebook: Book 2 by Nick Bantock
March: Books 1-2 by Rep. John Lewis
Dominique Laveau, Voodoo Child: Requiem by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol. 1 by Ryan North
Fables, Vol 1: Legends in Exile and Vol. 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham
Wicked and the Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act and Vol. 2: Fandemonium by Kieron Gillen
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosch
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks

21. A guilty pleasure: 

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert 

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

22. A book published before 1850: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup (actually 1853, but close)

23. A book published this year: 

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Jan. release date)

 Find Me by Laura van den Berg (Feb.)
The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan (May)
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (July)

24. A self-improvement book: 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport

I also read: The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez, Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid

Rabbit Hole #25: The Author A-Z Tag

Felt the need to do something bookish...

As with the Be a Good Human Tag, the Author A-Z Tag was created by Jen Campbell on BookTube. The premise is simple: go through your shelves, choosing an author's surname for each letter of the alphabet and highlight one book. If you don't have an author for a letter, choose one from your to be read pile.

There are a few I haven't read, but I highly recommend all of these. For brevity's sake, I'm just going to list titles/authors.

A: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

B: Possession by A. S. Byatt

C: The Hours by Michael Cunningham

D: Krik? Krak? by Edwidge Danticat

E: The Master Butcher's Singing Club by Louise Erdrich

F: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

G: Banana Rose by Natalie Goldberg

H: The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez

I: The Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinman Iweala

J: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

K: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

L: The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

M: The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

N: Abundance by Sarah Naslund

O: Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older

P: Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker

Q: Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

R: Pandora by Anne Rice

S: White Teeth by Zadie Smith

T: The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri Tepper

U: Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea (on my to-be-read list)

V: The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

W: The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker

X: The Last Lover by Can Xue (on my to-be-read list)

Y: Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique (on my to-be-read list)

Z: The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak

Thankful

Just a short, sappy note today as we head out to our Thanksgiving dinner:

To my readers--thank you for taking a few minutes to read my brain droppings every so often! It isn't easy sharing thoughts in such a public forum, and I really appreciate it.

To our friends and family back in Nebraska: Even though some of you weren't particularly happy with us moving to New Orleans, you understood why we had to do it, and that means the world. I miss you all, and if I could just move every one of you down here, things would be perfect.

To our new Louisiana "family"--I can't say enough about all of you amazing people who opened your homes and hearts to us and have made us feel loved. You made this move so easy, and I will forever be grateful to you.

Most of all, I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, who knew I needed adventure and a change, and was willing to do whatever necessary to make my dream of being a Southern girl a reality. I can never thank you enough--I love you.


I hope all of you are safe and surrounded by loved ones today, and spare some time for those who aren't as fortunate.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Why "Terrorism" Doesn't Scare Me

Yesterday, 16 people were shot at a playground here after a second line parade.

Since yesterday morning (Nov. 22, 2015), 13 people in the United States have been shot and killed in gun-related violence. 54 people in that same time period, including yesterday's 16, were injured by guns.

Three women are killed by their partners every day.

In the last decade, over 320, 000 Americans have been killed by gun violence in the United States.

There have been just over 300 Americans killed in what we call terror attacks in the last decade.


I am not worried about Syrian refugees coming to this country, trying to escape the terror and violence in their homeland. Refugees who, under the current law, have to wait 18 months before they can enter this country because of all the background checks and interviews they have to undergo.

We're a bigger danger to ourselves than they are.

I'm much more worried about white males with delusions of white supremacy shooting up movie theaters, or schools, or churches, or blowing up federal buildings.

Not women and children.

You can call me naive, or a bleeding heart, or unAmerican. I don't think it's naive to believe the best in people, and it's VERY American to help those in need.

We have to stop the culture of fear and hate in this country and realize who the true enemies are.

Sometimes, that means looking in the mirror.

Celebrate the Little Things

(I thought I posted this yesterday, but apparently not.)

One of the (many) things that I love about living in New Orleans is the fact that there is always something to do here: whether it's taking in one of the amazing art museums or galleries, walking in Audubon or City Park, strolling through the French Quarter on a beautiful afternoon, listening to music on the streets or in the clubs or in the concert venues...the list goes on and on.

And the festivals. There is literally a festival every single weekend here. There is even a special festival calendar so that people can keep track of them all, and they have actually started denying permits to hold new ones because there just isn't any more room. Most of the festivals are free (minus food/drink, of course), so anyone can go spend a few hours looking at art, listening to amazing local music, bumping in to friends old and new.

Of course, everyone has heard of Jazz Fest and Carnival season. But down here we also have:

Oak St. Po'Boy Fest (where we hung out today)
French Quarter Fest
Louisiana Cajun and Zydeco Fest
White and Dirty Linen Nights
Crescent City Blues and BBQ Fest
Tremé Creole Gumbo Fest (last weekend--amazing!)
Tales of the Cocktail
New Orleans Seafood Festival
Tennessee Williams Festival
New Orleans Film Festival
Running of the Bulls
Bastille Day
Essence Fest
Satchmo SummerFest
Bayou Boogaloo

The list goes on and on and on and...well, you get the picture.

This town celebrates life. The little things. The big things. The things that seem insignificant (Creole tomatoes and mirlitons, anyone?).

With everything that goes on in our lives, in the world, we tend to forget what we have. Life isn't perfect, of course, and everything has a dark side. But this town reminds us that every day has something worth celebrating.

Satchmo SummerFest

Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival

Southern Decadence

Running of the Bulls

Oak St. Po'Boy Fest
(All photo credits are mine.)