Category Archives: Basic Inane Bloggery

I might not fail.

Posted on by
Reply

About two weeks ago, I posted about my nostalgia for the whole summer reading thingie that libraries had for kids, and how my recent rejoining of the library cult made me wish there were one for adults. And how I found one at GoodReads, sorta. It’s more like ‘in a year’, and you set your own goal, which I did. At 100.

Because 100 makes the percentages easy to figure out, y’know? Also, it seemed like a totally reasonable number to attempt. If I had a few weeks left and wasn’t quite there, I could totally fake it by going back and re-reading everything Stephen King ever wrote.

BUT! I’ve read 57 out of 100. I’m 23 books ahead of schedule. And I’ve read most of those since announcing my intention to do this right here.

I read fast.

Continue reading →

2014 Reading Challenge.

Posted on by
Reply

Since I’ve only just started reading again, I decided to see if there was some simple, stupid, low-effort way of challenging myself. Like the old Summer Reading Thing libraries had for kids.

It has to be low effort, because, well, if I can’t post consistently to a blog I’ve had for years and years, I can’t be expected to actually, y’know, keep track of what I’ve read. Unless there’s something to do it for me.

But hey, I’ve got the GoodReads app on my phone! And they totally have a challenge.

So I set myself at 100 books in 2014. Totally reasonable and not at all expecting too much of myself, or setting myself up for failure, right? Of course.

I’ve got 8 out of 100 read, and the website says I’m 21 books behind. And I’m probably going to hit a few dead zones looking for stuff to read, because, holy shit, finding new stuff to read is HARD.

Upside? 20th Century Ghosts just came up available. So I get to read that, finally. Once I’m done with what I’m currently reading….

Also, I really need to remember to add things to GoodReads as I start them, and mark them ‘finished’ when I’m done.

I’ll just go ahead and announce my failure now.

Ghost Hunt 2: More Chilling Tales…and two of the worst Choose Your Own Adventures ever.

Posted on by
Reply

Sometime last year, I think, I rejoined a cult that I was a member of as a child–the Cult of the Public Library.

You should look into it, by the way. My chosen branch is the Arapahoe Library District. I’ll not mention the particular branch–where I choose to attend services–because it’s fairly near my house [though, weirdly enough, not near enough for me to be included in their district, so I’m just outside their service area, which limits some of my borrowing abilities].

My most recent…I’m running out of ways to make this sound churchian. Fuck. My most recent attendance was actually from home. From bed, even. The library has truly become a magical place. The benediction was a simple submission of my library card number, and a few words typed into a search form. So many books…and I could borrow twelve at once.

Twelve. In the old days, that could hold me for…a day or two, maybe a week if the books were long.

So, I wasted seven on the shittiest ‘nonfiction’ ghost books I could find. Well, five. The other two were Joe Hill books.

I won’t be talking about Joe Hill’s stuff, because one of them was just one story from a collection, and it did not suck.

I don’t like talking about things that don’t suck, because I can’t find words.

I want to talk about one of the ones that sucked. Ghost Hunt 2: MORE Chilling Tales of the Unknown.

Continue reading →