Top Ten(ish) Autumn-themed Books

Posted on October 10, 2017 by Thistle

I struggled hard with this topic. I don’t know if it’s just me – maybe I don’t read the right kind of books – or if publishers just don’t take advantage of autumn-themed palettes, but I couldn’t find many books at all with fall covers. Horror covers, yes. Halloween or scary or covers, yes. But just fall? Coffee and scarves and changing leaves and all that? Rare, at least in terms of books I know. I wanted to feature all autumn-themed book covers for this topic, but eventually I broke down and compromised. I’ve chosen to pull up my favorites of autumn-themed covers, scary/horror/spooky/Halloween-themed covers, and even some covers that only remind me of fall because of the internal contents. In no particular order, here are a dozen favorites:

So am I crazy? Why am I not seeing autumn-themed book covers out there? Am I looking in the wrong places? It seems that if they aren’t out there, there’s a great avenue for marketing. Many people love autumn themes!

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged | 8 Comments

Sunday Coffee – Serial

Posted on October 8, 2017 by Thistle

I have always struggled with reading in chunks. If I’m going to read through a whole book, I won’t take more than three weeks to do it.** Even the really long and/or tough ones, like Pale Fire or Don Quixote, hit a point for me where I have to push through them quick, because I can’t stand for them to linger more than three weeks. For this same reason, I’ve never been able to participate in read-alongs. I’ve tried a few times. I hosted a read-along for Bleak House by Charles Dickens, just a couple chapters per week. Even though I posted faithfully, I read the full book nearly two months before the actual read-along ended. Same thing when I co-hosted a read-along for Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. That particular group read only lasted six weeks, and still I was done with the book by the time three weeks were out. This is consistent regardless of whether I love the book or hate it.***

Recently, though, I’ve started to realize the value of serialized reading. My most anticipated book of 2017 – Oathbringer – is due out in mid-November. Starting in late August, Tor (the publisher) began posting three chapters per week of the novel. Since this is one of those giant fat 1000+ page books, the serializing will release about a quarter of the book before Oathbringer is officially published. Of course, the day that it comes out, I will devour the other three-quarters, after which I’ll reread via audio probably half a dozen times before I’m satisfied.**** In the meantime, though, I’m reading each snippet as they’re released.

Getting three chapters at a time draws out the excitement. I’ve been waiting for this book for SO LONG that it feels just a tiny bit closer each week. I’m noticing more details than I would get in a quick first read-through because I’m not trying to gulp down the entire book as fast as possible. Each week brings new thoughts and theories, and I’m just dying to discuss them with someone, if anyone else were reading along. And while on the one hand, I wish I could just have the whole book already, on the other, I’m rather enjoying the experience of (essentially) mini-teasers. For the first time ever, I kinda understand the joy of serialized reading, and read-alongs, and a place to discuss new developments with other eager readers. I’m not sure I have the patience to enforce serialization on myself, but I’m also really, really excited to have a chance to (ie be forced to) read this way.

**With the exception of audiobooks, which follow a different set of rules for me.
***Back in the day when I actually finished books that I wasn’t liking as I read.
****Yes, I know, I’m weird and I multi-read books.

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Words in Deep Blue, by Cath Crowley

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Thistle

After three years away, Rachel has lost touch with most of her friends from her home town. Those she didn’t drift away from, she cut from her life after her brother died. Grief has caused Rachel to withdraw, but she needs to get away from the place that holds all the memories surrounding Cal’s death, so she’s back in her home town again, facing people she’d rather not see again.

I prefer that synopsis to the one given on Goodreads, which makes this seem like a simple love story through letters in a bookstore. It’s not just about a love story through letters in a bookstore, though. It’s about Rachel’s depression and coping mechanisms. It’s about her ex-best-friend Henry and his obsession with a girl who comes back to him whenever she’s lonely or feeling vulnerable. It’s about a family that is falling apart, and a failing secondhand bookstore at the heart of that fallout.

This was (mostly) a very good book, thick and nuanced. With the exception of a few things toward the end (some things to do with Henry’s on-again-off-again girlfriend, who seemed a very undeveloped character), I enjoyed the story. I do wish that I hadn’t read it while I was sick, and that I hadn’t sped through it in a single afternoon. It’s the kind of book that’s easy to devour in a gulp and difficult to put down once you start, but at the same time it’s the sort of book that, for me, won’t stick long-term because of the way I read it.

And that’s unfortunate, because it’s a book that deserves to be remembered. The grief is very well-written, subtle and nuanced and just erratic enough to be believable. The love sections, too, were slow-growing and realistic. The addition of the letter-library and the various letters quoted throughout were a nice touch, and I love that not all the letters were romantic. Then there were the philosophical touches throughout, characters with backgrounds in poetry and science intermingling their plausible and not-so-plausible theories/beliefs in order to try to heal. It all meshed together so well, making a very rich experience that, again, I wish I hadn’t slammed my way through. Perhaps I will revisit one day for a longer-lasting impression.

Posted in 2017, Prose, Young Adult | 2 Comments

Wellness Wednesday – Arrogant Doctors

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Thistle

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I was planning to discuss the way I’ve been feeling about my body and my health/fitness journey lately today, but I had an experience Monday that got my blood boiling, and decided to put off my original plan til next week and write about this instead.

So I mentioned that I was seeing a neurologist soon. I wanted to talk to him about several things. First, there was the severe insomnia that has been ongoing for the last six years, an insomnia that is shared by several members of my family (siblings, so they don’t live with me) and which has taken the same patterns at the same age. Obviously a family history issue right? Second, there was the brain-fog that has been engulfing me over the last year, so that I’m worried something’s wrong. I want to know I don’t have some budding tumor or something! Third, I recently had a cousin with epilepsy describe the partial seizures she had growing up, the precursors to her full seizures. She described something that I experience quite often and always have, and that I know several of my siblings experience as well. I wanted to get an expert’s opinion on whether or not that’s coincidence or something more.

Unfortunately, my neurologist ended up being one of those arrogant cocky doctors who don’t listen at all to their patients – at least not to their middle-aged, obese female patients. He basically told me that for the sleep issues, I simply have to force myself not to sleep very much for two weeks, and then my body will adjust. Um…I basically did his little “strategy” for nine months when this first started. So F-you. Then he was skeptical that my cousin had epilepsy at all, and asked me who diagnosed her, because it didn’t sound like her seizures were actually epilepsy. Um, dude, my cousin has been seeing a neurologist who specialized in epilepsy for a decade and I think I trust that guy more than I trust your throw-off opinions. Well, okay, so he’ll order me a sleep study and some brain scans just in case, but they won’t find anything, because my problem is just that I don’t have enough willpower to go through the restricted sleep therapy. Yes. Literally he told me that my inability to cure my insomnia was due to lack of willpower.

I can’t tell you how belittled, helpless, hopeless, and angry I felt coming out of that appointment. Several hundred dollars wasted on a cocky bastard that was visibly restraining his eye-rolling when I explained exactly why restricted sleep therapy hasn’t and won’t work for me. Note that I didn’t even bother to tell him about the brain-fog issues – by the time he assumed that my cousin self-diagnosed her epilepsy and wasn’t really having seizures, I just wanted to get the hell out of there.

Now, I’m honestly not sure what to do. The neurology office is supposed to be setting up sleep studies and an EEG, and those are studies I need done, but I also never want to work with this doctor again. Tomorrow I see my primary care physician, a doctor who does actually listen to his patients and assumes they have a good idea how their own bodies are acting, and I’m going to get his opinion. I know there’s a neurologist in his practice that  might be a better person to talk to, but I don’t believe he does anything in sleep medicine, which is why I didn’t go to him in the first place. Still, it might be better to simply start over with someone who isn’t so arrogant and cocksure.

On a broader scale, I’m just sick of doctors that assume that you’re stupid and lazy if you’re fat. Years ago, I had a primary care doctor who was just like that. She assumed that everything I said was suspect, like making me redo genetic tests that I already had official results from to give her. It is so difficult to find doctors who treat you like a person when you’re overweight or obese. Coupled with being a woman – often considered stupid to certain doctors – and it just gets worse. The doctor on Monday treated me like I was just another complaining housewife, not worth the time he was spending on me. And I’m sick of that attitude. Being fat doesn’t make me unreliable, stupid, lazy, or inconvenient. Neither does being female. Yet all too often, that’s how I – we – get treated. It’s infuriating.

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Top Ten Book Boyfriends/Girlfriends

Posted on October 3, 2017 by Thistle

So technically today’s topic wants us to talk about which characters we as readers have crushes on. I don’t have very many of those, though, and instead I have a particular soft spot toward the rare functional couple in fiction. I like those couples that support each other and where both characters are good boyfriends/girlfriends, even when obstacles get in their way. In no particular order:

  1. Vin and Elend from the Mistborn trilogy (Brandon Sanderson)
  2. Zuzana and Mik from Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Laini Taylor)
  3. Mina and Peter from Crossed Wires (Rosy Thornton)
  4. Dalinar and Navani from the Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson)
  5. Nick and Nora from The Thin Man (Dashiell Hammitt)
  6. Jasper and Dorian from The Girl at Midnight (Melissa Grey)
  7. Celia and Marco from The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)
  8. Siri and Susebron from Warbreaker (Brandon Sanderson)
  9. Lazlo and Sarai from Strange the Dreamer (Laini Taylor)
  10. Adam and Ronan from the Raven Cycle (Maggie Stiefvater)

What are some of your favorite functional fictional couples?

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged | 7 Comments

Sunday Coffee – New Goals

Posted on October 1, 2017 by Thistle

This year has been a weird one. I made goals for myself back in December, only to immediately have a bunch of them thwarted when an MRI revealed that I had a broken foot and thus I couldn’t really exercise for six months. Then of course there was the sudden move, the sudden job loss, all the extra credit card debt from fixing up the house and moving across the country, the brain-dead state I’ve been in that the doctors are trying to figure out…etc. When I look back on the goals I made for myself, I know that they’re just impossible in such a changed state. Rather than dwelling on them or just giving up the rest of the year, I decided to create some new things to focus on, based on my current situation. (results in italics)

  • Aim to lose 10-15 lbs – nope…
  • Paper-track my food daily – did this through Dec 7th, at which point I changed my plans
  • Attempt to finish the C25K program – prevented by injury
  • Participate in three 5Ks – nope
  • Do at least 25 yoga sessions (I’ve gotten way too far out of the habit!) – complete!
  • Increase my average daily steps to at least 8500 – complete!
  • Take my last 2017 fitness test in October – complete!
  • Aim for 50% of nights with no sleep aids – nope
  • Attempt to do NaNoWriMo – decided against this
  • Meditate 750+ minutes (about 8-9 per day) – nope
  • Finish either my in-progress afghan or my in-progress bedspread (crochet) – finished the bedspread

Some of these are built on the already-existing 2017 goals, but others I’ve had to let go of. I won’t use up all my yarn this year, nor do I plan to get rid of it just because I can’t use it all. There’s no way we’ll get 100% out from under our credit card until we can sell our house in Wisconsin. My brain isn’t working well for writing, so I doubt I’ll get any of the major edits or rewrites done. I have to put off the tattoos I wanted to get until we have a bit more money. Etc. Writing up these new goals will help me to refocus rather than on trying to plow through things that simply won’t work right now.

As you can see, my focus these next three months will be on my health. I’ve been stationary and stagnant for too long. I’ll discuss this a bit more in an upcoming Wellness Wednesday post, but in the meantime, I’d like to see if any of my readers have some good nonfiction suggestions regarding running, body-positivity, or food science/history. I’d appreciate any suggestions below! 🙂

 

Posted in Personal, Wellness | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Now I Rise, by Kiersten White

Posted on September 29, 2017 by Thistle

After And I Darken, the paths taken by the three main characters have diverged. Lada (Vlad the Impaler) has gone back to Europe to try to claim the throne of Wallachia. Mehmed (sultan of the Ottoman Empire) plans to conquer Constantinople. Radu (Lada’s brother and Mehmed’s trusted advisor) is sent into Constantinople as a spy. This book is told in alternating chapters from Lada’s and Radu’s points of view.

I think I enjoyed this book even more than the first. More historical figures are introduced, including Constantine and a female version of Orban (an iron founder and designer of cutting-edge cannon technology) named Urbana. Lines between what is right and wrong grow even more blurred. Lada doubts herself constantly, and compensates by becoming more and more brutal. She is already starting to be recognizable as the famed Vlad the Impaler from history. Radu is living a double life and learning that war is ugly no matter which side you’re on. He doubts his faith in both people and god, and finds no comfort in the loves of his younger, more naive self. Both siblings go through major shifts in character, growing in ways that break them as they age. This is disillusionment at its worst, and it excites me that White is able to pull off these very strong personal stories while also recounting real historical events.

The only disappointing thing was the absence of Mehmed for most of the book. Honestly, I can’t remember if he had sections of the first book told through his eyes or if we just saw him constantly because the three characters were virtually inseparable at the time. Either way, I would have liked to view the situation from his point of view. He has links to Lada both in his adoration for her and in the way he is willing to sacrifice anyone – even those he loves – in order to conquer an area he believes he is destined to rule. Lada, of course, feels the exact same way about Wallachia as Mehmed does about Constantinople, and they both dismiss each other’s desires and justifications as pointless. It’s an interesting parallel that I’d like to see more from on both sides. Additionally, Mehmed is playing a role, a mask of frivolity to hide his real intents from the enemies within his court. Radu constantly despairs about his double identity and the way he’s losing his inner self over time because of this duplicity, and I would love to see if Mehmed is going through the same things. It feels like there are so many things that bind these characters together, beyond just their friendships and childhood history with each other.

I’m really looking forward to the third installment of the series, which I believe is supposed to come out sometime next year.

Posted in 2017, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Wellness Wednesday – Ode to Some of My Favorite Things

Posted on September 27, 2017 by Thistle

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Nothing special today. I’m in a good mood and just want to rhapsody about some of my favorite fitness-related things!

(one of the smoother hills at Comanche)

Comanche Lookout Park
I’ve mentioned my local hiking/running trails ad nauseum in the past. They’re accessed from the same parking lot as my local branch library, and the first time I explored the trails was back in 2006. Since then, I’ve gone on hundreds (if not thousands) of trips to the park. I’ve walked with friends. I’ve worked out novel ideas while I moved my body. I’ve played running games with my kids. I’ve used the exercise equipment dotted throughout. I was there when the equipment was put in. I learned how to run on those trails, and completed my first 5K there.

It’s been over three years since I’ve been able to use the park – the year back in TX between my moves, I was hampered by a sprained/broken ankle – and it’s like coming home. The same people walk/run there. There’s the couple with the disabled daughter, and the adult autistic men from the group home that go there with caretakers. There’s the super-skinny man who wears track shorts, parka, knit cap, and thick gloves no matter how hot it is. There’s the older short man who walks like a duck and always says “thank you ma’am” when I say good morning. Then there’s the very elderly man who walks extremely slowly around the trails with his very large, very well-behaved French pyrenee, stopping to chat with whoever wants to say hello. (Didn’t know if I’d see him again, given that he’s in his 90s. But I spotted him just two weeks ago. Him and his dog.)

Airrosti
I’ve also mentioned this particular type of physical therapy several times on the blog, but as a recap, this is manual manipulation of fascia combined with therapy exercises and icing. It’s like a fast-track to treating soft tissue injuries like sprains or plantar fasciitis. It’s extremely painful and extremely expensive and totally worth both the pain and the cost. Three visits, and my foot pain is nearly gone. Which means I can take long walks on my favorite trails again, and can start running just a teensy bit again.

(sneaking in a run last week)

Running
I miss running. I miss many of the things that came along with it. Not everything was great of course, but there were good things. I miss little local 5Ks with all the fun vibes. I miss the feeling I got over a particularly good run. I miss the excitement of improving my times, even if I was never even remotely fast. I felt so good in those days, and so crushed whenever an injury would set me back. Products like Garmin watches excited me. I looked forward to new running shoes. I kept a journal of every run, no matter how good or bad or spotty. Now, I’m not glorifying here – there were days I hated running, days I felt terrible and awkward and out of step. There were times when the heat or humidity was just too much for me. Sometimes I’d go weeks or even months without running by choice. I’ve grown to understand that I don’t like long-distance sports, and I’m totally okay with doing 5Ks instead of marathons. I’m also very well aware that my current size and fitness level aren’t ideal for running. That hasn’t stopped me from trying from time to time. And enjoying a rare moment of making it through a (slow, short, all-downhill) run.

Recovery
So…not all recovery is something I love. I really don’t like foam rolling or icing, though I know they’re necessary to heal and prevent injury. Some other parts of recovery are just wonderful, though. I can’t tell you just how amazing a post-workout breakfast tastes. Usually I put off stretching – I know, I know – but man when I actually follow through, it feels so good! I don’t know why I put it off, really. Other great recoveries include hot tubs or jacuzzi baths and (my favorite) massage. Speaking of which, it’s about time for a massage! I haven’t had one since my birthday!

(I miss cute clothes like these!)

Athletic Clothes
Back when I was much thinner, I had a few moments when – yes – I actually felt sexier in running shorts and a high-tech tank top than I did in anything fancy or pretty. One of the hardest things about gaining weight has been the difficulty of finding decent plus-size clothes at decent prices. This goes for both regular clothes (I miss being able to shop at the thrift store!) and athletic-wear. Even so, I do the best I can, and have a wide array of yoga pants/capris, basketball shorts (from the men’s section), running shorts, tank tops, and flowing yoga tops. Now if only I could find decent plus-size sports bras…

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Mrs. Fletcher, by Tom Perrotta

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Thistle

Eve Fletcher is a divorced single mom whose only son has just gone off to his freshman year of college. As she struggles with empty nest syndrome, she finds herself addicted to internet smut, while simultaneously taking a class in gender politics taught by a transgender woman. Her son, Brendan, is one of those bro-culture jock-jerks who thinks college is all about alcohol, sex, and parties. He’s quickly finding that his glory days of high school don’t work so well in his favor in the new environment.

So. Tom Perrotta. He writes wonderful books…but they always tend to also make me very, very uncomfortable. This is no exception. So much is tackled here, as you can tell from the description. It is all so very relevant to current society – from discussion of rape-culture and police brutality, to privilege and token attempts to act politically correct. There is so much packed in this one short book that it would be impossible to try to unpack it all here.

A couple things struck me in particular. Eve is older than me, but by less than a decade, and it was surprising to realize I was closer to her in age than some of the other characters. It seemed like I should connect with her more than anyone else, but I didn’t. Her story was one of personal and sexual awakening, hampered by a skewed perspective caused by her nightly internet forays, and I just couldn’t relate to any of it. I also found it particularly irksome the way she coddled her overly spoiled child and sacrificed herself to him as entirely as if he were a god. I’m all for making sacrifices for kids and nurturing them and all, but if it gets to the point where you can’t even ask them to stop doing Very Bad Things in your own house, something has gone wrong.

Brendan is only a year or two older than my oldest son, and because of his mother’s coddling, has no concept of respect, social conscience, or self-awareness. High school was his environment all the way, and he literally cannot understand when people don’t continue to worship him from all sides. He is bro-culture to the max – alcohol, drugs, video games, never studying, sex with whoever whenever – and bro-culture makes me uncomfortable. All the hangovers, all the jokes about sexual violence, all the casual usage of nasty names for women, all the teasing “Oh we can’t say that because body image” etc. It makes me particular uncomfortable because I can see some of these things in the anecdotes my boys bring home from school. Jason and I try to discuss why these things aren’t okay – unlike Eve, who just proclaims that boys will be boys and there’s nothing she can do – but even our discussions don’t go far. Bro-culture is sticky and messy and pervasive, and this book addresses it a lot. That gets quite uncomfortable at times.

But that’s the thing about Perrotta – so much of what he writes makes me uncomfortable, angry, depressed, and many other negative emotions, and yet his books are wonderful. They are addressing issues that need to be addressed. Yes, we need to change things like the culture of toxic masculinity prevalent in high schools and colleges (and beyond). Yes, we need to be honest about how internet-smut is changing people’s perspectives. Yes, we need to address passive parenting and transphobia and bullying and sexual harassment and privilege and all the rest. So I keep reading, push past my discomfort, and praise Perrotta’s books for what they accomplish so well. We should be uncomfortable with the things that are wrong in our society. Discomfort is the seed that leads to activism, and activism eventually leads to change.

Posted in 2017, Adult, Prose | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Sunday Coffee – Settling In (Again)

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Thistle

It’s taken me much longer than usual to get settled into this house (unpacked, furniture arranged, decorations up, etc). Usually that’s a three-to-five day job. It’s just such a relief to get everything out of boxes and to know where it’s all at! Turns out, it’s harder and takes longer when someone else packs and moves your stuff for you. (Not to mention, that was an incredibly awkward experience, standing around while other people did all the work. Nope, nope, nope. I never want to do that again.) But one way or another, a month after we moved into this house, everything is unpacked and put where it belongs (at least temporarily). The house is decorated for Halloween with our sadly-tiny-collection – flooding during the thaw in Boston a couple years ago ruined most of what we had, including Death – and I generally know where most things are. The rest is just tweaking.

Beyond the house, there isn’t much settling in to be done. We live very close to where we used to live before all the moves, so all the routes through the city are old ones. I’m back to the library branch that is like my second home, and I’m close to the hilly trails that I first learned to run on. I’ve got appointments set up with my old doctors and I’ve seen my old chiropractor. I’ve visited old familiar stores and new ones that have popped up since I was gone. I’m in the process of getting out to see friends and family. The boys are enjoying their schools and being back with friends, so that transition has gone really well.

This past Thursday, I hosted a gathering of writer-friends to talk about getting our weekly write-in together again. It struck me afterwards, just how good it feels to be in a community of people you care about and who care about you. I’m home. It’s not a perfect home of course – what home is? – but I’m home. And it’s such a relief to feel that way again. I haven’t felt that in way too long, and I want to do everything I can to keep ties to my community even when stress, depression, or other brain-stunts try to hamper me.

There is another really good thing to report in all this. The last couple years have felt like being in a pinball machine, as if someone hit a button, shot us off, and we just bounced and bounced until we finally landed safe again. This is apparently the safe. There is no jarring homesick for a home that is just out of reach. I haven’t cried about this house because it’s not the old house. I haven’t accidentally driven into my old neighborhood on the way home, and even when I’ve passed that neighborhood, it feels like the past rather than the current. This is the second time in my life that I’ve been in a pinball machine – the first being the era of three-pregnancies-in-four-years with almost no recovery time between them – and I have a definitely feeling of “settled” that I recognize. This is it, folks. Home for the long haul. Thank goodness.

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