The Zen Leaf

Sunday Coffee – Seeking Comfort

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Thistle

Moving across the country without any outside help from family/friends = stressful. Last year, this was slightly easier. We stayed at my dad’s house while we packed the last of our old house into a storage shed. We had beds to sleep in, and time to clean the empty house before passing it to the next occupants. We had dozens of people to help us load the moving truck on the morning we left.

Here, there is none of that. We have to pack all our stuff while still living on that stuff. We have to clean the house while still living in it. It’s a coordination dance, with supplies thinning, and on Friday morning, we will be loading the truck alone. Very different, and very stressful, on top of the stress one would normally expect for this kind of move.

(packing, packing, packing…)

So yes. I’m in definite need of comfort right now. All my books are packed – actually, I kept a few out to read, and have already gone through them all…sigh. So I’m left with audiobooks, because I don’t want to grab anything new from the library and have to add an extra trip back in the next week. And in audiobooks…well, I want comfort, and that means rereads. I started Blue Lily Lily Blue this week. I have Howl’s Moving Castle queued up, as well as The Host, and Good Omens, and Return of the Native. Comfort-audio to get me through the trip southward, and the days leading up to said trip.

Repeat to self: I will get through this. I will get through this. I will get through this.

Posted in Book Talk, Personal | Tagged Sunday Coffee | 14 Comments

Wildalone, by Krassi Zourkova (audio)

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Thistle

Thea leaves her parents and home in Bulgaria to attend Princeton. In a new world that is both foreign and exciting, she uncovers family secrets, crazy-wild-legends, brothers-of-love (*coughlustcough*), and a whole pile of creepy.

Sooooo…I think this is my first official experience with what has now become known as “new adult.” While once the phrase meant an age group between YA and adult, it now means college-aged sexytime books, and this was definitely a college-aged sexytime book with lots-o-paranormal-creep-factor. Other peoples’ descriptions compare it to Jane Eyre (I can’t figure out why), Twilight (paranormal lust-at-first-sight stuff), A Discovery of Witches (same rape-culture vibe), and The Secret History (no comment, as I’ve never read it). Does that sound snarky? It probably does.

Here’s the thing. I picked this audiobook up on a whim. It looked interesting, but I was full-well prepared to abandon it if it didn’t prove to be so. Then I started it, and it started out very interesting as well. Awesome! I liked the Bulgarian folktales. I liked the descriptions of Princeton, especially since the author grew up in Bulgaria and then went to college at Princeton. I didn’t even mind the whole “love at first sight” stuff at the original piano recital. I was interested in the family mystery, and the mysterious Silen, and the balance of study vs practice vs partying. All that jazz.

What didn’t interest me was this, and this is probably a spoiler, to warn you: Rhys. Jake. Rhys as Jake. Jake as Rhys. Brothers. Love triangle via brothers. Actually, it wasn’t so much the love triangle with brothers that bothered me. I actually loved the way that started, with the mix-up of identity. What bothered me was that Thea completely lost her voice around the brothers. She had definite preferences, but let the boys make all the decisions for her. She wished and washed and hemmed and hawed and pretty much just let each of them do whatever to her they wanted. Including some pretty scuzzy things that were very, very rape-fantasy-tastic. Bleagh. That, I didn’t like.

So what could have been a really fantastic-for-me kind of book ended up falling apart, despite me racing through the audiobook all the way through the end. I doubt I’ll read the sequel.

Performance: I also didn’t particularly like the audio version of the book, read by Barrie Kreinik. Accents in audiobooks tend to bother me, unless they are the native accent of the performer. While I could tell that the narrator was well-trained, I still struggled with the accents, especially of minor characters who seemed to change – or, in fact, acquire – accents partway through the book.

Posted in 2015, Adult, Prose | Tagged audio, RIP-worthy, speculative | 3 Comments

Top Ten Books On My 2015 Summer TBR

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Thistle

Just like I said with my 2015 Spring TBR Possibilities List, I would rather not be too heavy-handed in my choices for summer. I never really know what I’ll read in advance, as my mood will change as the months pass. The ten I’ve listed below seem like good summer choices now, but in a month? Who knows what I’ll feel like! I mean, looking back at the TBR Possibilities lists I’ve made in the last year, I read four off my fall 2014 list, four off my winter 2014/2015 list, and three off my spring 2015 list. That’s not a very good completion rate…

In any case, here’s my very tentative list of possibles for this summer:

1. Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen – On the fence with this one. I enjoyed the first book mostly, but I’ve heard mixed reviews…

2. The Secrets She Keeps by Deb Caletti – newest release by a favorite modern author

3. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – This one still scares me, but I’d determined to try. Eventually. I have the audio to check out now…

4. Ten Things We Did by Sarah Mlynowski – lighthearted summer read

5. Dawn by Octavia Butler – because it sounds fascinating

6. Prudence by Gail Carriger – not sure, might wait until fall, but I have in on audio just in case

7. The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida – cultural thriller that I want to investigate

8. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan – one of those “probably should read” books that I now have an actual recommendation for, from a trusted reader-friend

9. Middlemarch by George Eliot – still scares me, but again, determined to try, and the audio narrator is one of my favorites

10. Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther – cultural women’s fiction to investigate

What’s on your list? Are any of these books ones you’d recommend?

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

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged lists | 10 Comments

Sunday Coffee – The Whirlwind Begins

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Thistle

Actually probably technically, the whirlwind began some time ago. However, it’s beginning in earnest this week. Tomorrow, we close on our new house. Two weeks after that, we begin our cross-country move. Yesterday, we gave away our couch. The apartment is completely dismantled at the moment. All the carpenter ants have come out to play (sigh). Everything’s a mess. StressStressStressStressStress.

I already said it once, but this time I mean it even more strongly: I doubt I will be around much over the next month. I’m getting further behind on my feed-reader and will likely put it to bed completely soon. Sorry about all the wonderful posts I’m missing! I’ll try to keep up as long as I can. Then there are the books. I’ve barely read a thing. I managed one audiobook in the first half of June and I imagine there will only be one or two more books left this month. I have some Top Ten posts lined up for the next few weeks, but otherwise, I’m running on fumes.

That, and I keep injuring myself. Seriously stupid injuries. This week I managed to 1) scald my lower lip with boiling water while testing if pasta was cooked through, 2) overfill my coffee pour-over to burn myself, and 3) knock my clumsy hand into my coffee mug this morning to spill everywhere on my desk, plus all over my hand and thigh. Jason says the universe is telling me that to stop drinking coffee. I think the universe is telling me to either get more sleep (unlikely these days!) or go out to buy iced coffee! 😀

So I have no mooring in this maelstrom right now, but I’m floating by. Trying not to worry too much about things like studying, writing, eating the right foods, blogging, reading, etc. Trying not to fill up my plate with unrealistic expectations. Planning for fun-stuff in San Antonio, including some housewarming parties for friends and family. Yay!

Do I seem scattered? Hrm. That’s likely to get worse. Just to warn you, friends. I promise I haven’t disappeared. I’m still keeping up with all of you as best I can. But, you know, whirlwind, and all that jazz.

Posted in Personal | Tagged Sunday Coffee | 4 Comments

Alif the Unseen, by G. Willow Wilson

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Thistle

Hiding under the handle of Alif, a young man fights back against the government censorship and violence via computer in an unnamed Middle Eastern city. When his lover leaves him to enter into the marriage her family has arranged for her, Alif is thrown into chaos. Suddenly, the government has found him, and he’s on the run with his neighbor and childhood friend, Dina, and an ancient book that leads them both into the world of the unseen jinn.

Islam, Middle Eastern mythology, terrorism, censorship, computer hacking, love, and multiculturalism all collide in this book. On the one hand, it’s something that I’ve read a lot of over the last few years, in terms of it being a contemporary fantasy. On the other hand, it’s like nothing I’ve ever read before, incorporating two very disparate elements (ancient mythology and ultra-modern computer technology) in a mind-boggling way. On top of that, the book worked in all different timbres of religious fervor, class comparisons, racial discrimination, the downward spiral that follows an uprising, and more. Wilson took the story in ways that I didn’t even come close to expecting, and I was riveted throughout the entire book.

At the same time, there were things that I didn’t like. These basically boiled down to two things. First, some of the computer technology seemed stretched. Perhaps this is just because my husband is a software developer and I’ve heard/learned a lot of computer stuff over the years, but it was difficult to suspend my disbelief in some places. Not about the jinn, no, just about the computers. Which is kinda ironic, now that I think about it. The second thing was a little more important: I didn’t really like Alif very much. Now, to be fair, I don’t think he’s supposed to be an entirely sympathetic character. He does a lot of really nasty and/or stupid things, and he does grow as a person throughout the book. I was never able to get fully on board with him, though, and that lessened my enjoyment a bit, since he’s the narrator.

Still, both of those things were relatively minor, and I’d recommend the book in spite of them. There are so few books like this out there, featuring positive Muslim characters and non-Western mythologies and three-dimensional characters from a part of the world that Americans, at least, tend to vilify. I’m happy to have come across it.

Posted in 2015, Adult, Prose | Tagged atmospheric, divinity, Middle East, POC, speculative | 2 Comments

Top Seven Rest-of-2015 Releases

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Thistle

Well…I’ll be honest. I barely had ten releases I was looking forward to for all of 2015, much less the second half. And my most anticipated 2015 release (The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater) has been pushed back until February (cries!), so that’s one less to include. I don’t have much on this list. Definitely not ten! But here you go, the few remaining books that I’m looking forward to for the rest of 2015.

1. Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen (today!)
2. The Secrets She Keeps by Deb Caletti (7/7)
3. Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson (9/22)
4. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (9/29)
5. Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (10/16)
6. Winter by Marissa Meyer (11/1)
7. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (unknown, but supposedly in 2015)

I keep hoping the next Dublin Murder Squad novel by Tana French will be announced…

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

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged lists | 10 Comments

Sunday Coffee – Wrapping up May

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Thistle

May was an interesting month, both in life (very fun last-northern-vacation!) and in books. Because in books, the month was anything but typical for me.

I finished six books in May, two on audio and four in print. None of them were typical Manda-fare, and yet all of them (mostly) worked for me. Which is awesome. The books consisted of:

a nonfiction graphic novel story collection (all three of which are not normally me-things)
a memoir (rarely ever read these days)
a short story collection (again, rare for me)
an interactive adventure novel (huh??)
women’s fiction (a two-or-three-times-per-year genre for me)
and a semi-religious techno-fantasy (yeah…).

At the same time, each of them had something about them that made them excellent choices for me, despite not being my typical kinds of books.

I can tell I’m heading into the summer months, though, because around this time every year, my reading starts to go scatterbrained. Sometimes this results in a lot of good reads, and sometimes in the worst kind of reading rut. Usually my mood and brain get their acts together about late July or early August, and then ram full-steam ahead into the RIP months. Considering I’m going to spend the rest of this month packing/moving, and most of July unpacking and organizing a new household, I don’t expect this year to be much different. (Though it will probably consist of mostly audiobooks!) Hopefully, this will be a good-read scatterbrain-summer, instead of a slump-summer. If May is any indication, I’m in for a treat!

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged Sunday Coffee | 5 Comments

Orange is the New Black, by Piper Kerman (audio)

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Thistle

Subtitled: My Year in a Women’s Prison

I’m sure most people have heard of the TV show version of this, at least, so I won’t spend a lot of time recapping. Piper Kerman spent roughly a year in a federal women’s prison for a ten-year-old drug offense. This is her memoir of that year and a social commentary on the prison system.

Let me start by saying that I’ve never seen the TV show version of Kerman’s book, nor did I really know much about it beyond it involving a women’s prison. I didn’t even know it was based on a book, or that the book was nonfiction. When Ceri came to visit me in January, she talked a little about this one, and it got me interested. Here I am, several months later, finally listening to the audiobook.

Honestly, I don’t have much to say about the book. It was a fascinating read, and I certainly learned a lot. There was a little class bias, which I think is to be expected, but not nearly as much as I would have predicted. Kerman was respectful about most of her fellow prisoners, and told their stories in ways that made nearly everyone sympathetic. I especially enjoyed learning about the inner workings of this particular minimum security federal women’s prison/camp. Kerman held nothing back. She was completely upfront about the bad things (racism, homophobia, abuse of power, etc) and the good things (makeshift families, little generosities, creativity, etc).

As for qualms, I only had a little one, and that was that several stories seemed to start from random segues. Maybe this would have been better in the print version, but on audio, it threw me off a few times. Which leads me to:

Performance: This audiobook was read by Cassandra Campbell. It’s my second experience with her, and both times, I had the same reaction – I really, really don’t like all the accents. I know it’s meant to enhance the narration, but these felt awkwardly stereotyped, and at odds with the respect of the words themselves. I was worried about that going in, because of my former experience with this narrator. Still, it wasn’t so bad that I quit and moved to the print version, so that says something. Still, not my favorite.

TV Show: Because I don’t want to end on such a negative note, I want to talk for a second about the TV version of Orange is the New Black. I still haven’t watched it, and I’m wondering how they made a show out of this book without turning the prisoners into entertainment fodder. That doesn’t seem very respectful, so I can’t imagine that’s what the show is doing. Maybe I’m just naive. But I wanted to ask: Have you seen it? Is it worth watching? Is it respectful of the prisoners’ situations?

Posted in 2015, Adult, Prose | Tagged audio, gender studies, LGBTQIA, nonfiction, POC, psychology | 6 Comments

Top Ten TV-or-Movie Books

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Thistle

Fun stuff today! The topic is “books I’d love to see as movies or TV shows.” There are books I’d love to see as movies, and books I’d love to see as TV shows, so I’m splitting into the two categories, with five in each.

TV Shows:
1. the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling – These are already movies, yes, but MAN can’t you see this being a seven-year weekly show, going into a thousand times more details than the original movies??

2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark – This is kind of a cheater-pants answer since it already is being turned into a TV show. Nonetheless, I can’t wait to see it!

3. the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson – These could be movies, but they’d be so much better as longterm TV show material, for the same reasons as Harry Potter above. And Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive? Would be great for a TV series like Game of Thrones (except much better quality – not a fan of the GoT show!!).

4. the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French – This is just waiting to happen. Someone snatch it up!

5. either the Thursday Next series or Nursery Crimes series by Jasper Fforde – Because Fforde has fascinating worlds that would be great for a many-season TV show. Brilliant imagination!

Movies:
6. the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater – One movie per book. Please someone do this? Please?

7. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – I know there’s a possibility already of this existing. It definitely needs to exist.

8. City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte – I could actually see this one as TV or movie, but I think movie would be best. I’d love to see a narrator like Sarah as the main lead of a movie!

9. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett – Pure gold. Gotta happen. Although this could be a TV show, as well…

10. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris – While it would be more difficult to turn this into a movie, due to the particular twist, I would love to see what a creative director could do with it. It could be an amazing film.

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

Posted in Book Talk | Tagged lists | 8 Comments

The Zen Leaf

Top Five Top-Ten Posts

Sunday Coffee – Seeking Comfort

Wildalone, by Krassi Zourkova (audio)

Top Ten Books On My 2015 Summer TBR

Sunday Coffee – The Whirlwind Begins

Alif the Unseen, by G. Willow Wilson

Top Seven Rest-of-2015 Releases

Sunday Coffee – Wrapping up May

Orange is the New Black, by Piper Kerman (audio)

Top Ten TV-or-Movie Books

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