books, and things that are not books
Jan. 25th, 2012 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
faketalesI'd like to take some time to talk about BOOKS. I have been reading a lot recently (of the 75 books I read in 2011 25 of them were in the last two months of the year) mainly due to a job where I can sit and read for ten hours a week. But this sudden increase of reading time means I have been forced out of my book comfort zone a bit or else I will run out of books. Last year I read 39 young adult books, far and away the most I read of anything. I like YA because they tend to be quick reads, and even if I'm not 100% thrilled I can push myself to finish them in another hour. Plus, YA authors are more interconnected and their recommendations lead me to other YA books.
Things I like to read about (fiction and nonfiction): queer people, strong friendships, nontraditional families that are kind of fucked up but incredibly loyal to one another, awesome female characters, psychopaths, wars, musicians, funny people, epic fantasy, and anything that's confusing and frustrating but fantastic at the same time and then you only love it more on each subsequent reread.
Only two of those things are ever dealbreakers, though. I can read whole books that feature none of those things, but if they've got no women (or just poor ones) and no queer people then I'm probably going to give up. YA is usually pretty good about the strong women and slightly less so about the queerness, but that's where the quick read helps. It's harder to get pissed off about something that takes only three hours. (Except for John Green, who is on notice, because Tiny Cooper isn't enough, sir.) Conversely, a book that is otherwise not interesting to me might end up on my to-read list because I read that it features queer and/or awesome female characters.
Awesome things I have read recently: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Patricia Highsmith, Rebecca, and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.
Moral of the story: I currently have a dozen books on the floor next to my bed and it should occupy me for about two weeks but book recommendations are always welcome. Thank you!
Last night I was going to post about trying to write original fiction for the first time since NaNoWriMo and discovering that I can't do it because I suck, but I was too busy yelling at crushing on Carli Lloyd and yelling at Pia Sundhage to get Hope Solo off the pitch.
Things I like to read about (fiction and nonfiction): queer people, strong friendships, nontraditional families that are kind of fucked up but incredibly loyal to one another, awesome female characters, psychopaths, wars, musicians, funny people, epic fantasy, and anything that's confusing and frustrating but fantastic at the same time and then you only love it more on each subsequent reread.
Only two of those things are ever dealbreakers, though. I can read whole books that feature none of those things, but if they've got no women (or just poor ones) and no queer people then I'm probably going to give up. YA is usually pretty good about the strong women and slightly less so about the queerness, but that's where the quick read helps. It's harder to get pissed off about something that takes only three hours. (Except for John Green, who is on notice, because Tiny Cooper isn't enough, sir.) Conversely, a book that is otherwise not interesting to me might end up on my to-read list because I read that it features queer and/or awesome female characters.
Awesome things I have read recently: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Patricia Highsmith, Rebecca, and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.
Moral of the story: I currently have a dozen books on the floor next to my bed and it should occupy me for about two weeks but book recommendations are always welcome. Thank you!
Last night I was going to post about trying to write original fiction for the first time since NaNoWriMo and discovering that I can't do it because I suck, but I was too busy yelling at crushing on Carli Lloyd and yelling at Pia Sundhage to get Hope Solo off the pitch.
