Lists

Shirley Jackson Awards 2017 Wrap-Up

Done! I challenged myself to read all five nominees for best novel in the Shirley Jackson Awards 2017 within a month and I officially finished them. Here are the links and names of the five novels I read for this challenge:

I enjoyed all these works very much and I’m glad I took on this little project for a few weeks. Looking at some numbers and stats, my instinct says the winner will be The Changeling by Victor LaValle. My personal favourite was The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge. The Bone Mother sent me on an adventure looking at really cool Romanian photographs from a hundred years ago. The Hole was the first Korean book I’ve read in translation, so that was something new for me. Ill Will tested my ability to solve a mystery and interact with text presented in a new and interesting way, and forced me to learn about Satanic cults in the United States. Each one of these books brought something very different to this challenge. Of course, I have been wrong many times before, and all I can say is that I’m very excited to see who they will select as this year’s winner. There’s nothing as pleasant as making wrong predictions on the internet! All I can say is that whoever they choose there is no wrong choice here. The 2017 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented on Sunday, July 15, 2018, at Readercon 29, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Quincy, Massachusetts. If you have been following this with me, or reading my reviews for this challenge thank you very much for sticking with me and for your time!

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The Shirley Jackson Awards | 2017

I know a lot of people on Booktube, Bookstagram, and reading blogs keep up with several literary prizes. The Women’s Prize, International Man Booker, CBC Canada Reads, Bram Stoker, and Pulitzer among the most popular. I decided this year to try to keep up with at least one prize: The Shirley Jackson Awards. This award was created in recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. My favourite kind!

I am only going to read the novels nominated as I know I won’t be able to find the rest in time (most of the short fiction is found under publications that require subscription). I placed holds on the five novels which have been nominated for this prize at my local library. They will announce the winner by July 15, so I have about a month to get through these five novels, which should be achievable. I may end up reading 2-3 of the novellas but that is where I will stop. Here are the five novels nominated:

The full list of other categories can be found here. I will try to put a review for each of the five within the next month and see how I’d rank them.

Just an update, right now I’m also reading a lot of children’s stories and children’s literature. It’s a “fantastical” kind of mood I’ve been having. I wanted to take on this project because it’s nice to have an ongoing challenge that has a definitive end (July 15). Anything that would be stretched out over a longer period of time…well… I’m afraid I’d fail or lose interest. If you also want to keep up, feel free to join in! The public library should have all these, and you can join in the conversation as I review these. If you already wrote about any of them in the past, or will in the future on your own review blog and would like to share it with me, just put a link below, I’d love to read your thoughts on these. I will start with The Bone Mother by David Demchuck.

2018 Reading Resolutions and Goals

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Okay so I’ve given my ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ a lot of thought. Every year before this one I would set a few completely unrealistic life goals that required me to change my entire lifestyle. As I’ve grown wiser (which just means knowing myself better), I know that doing a complete 180 on who I am, and the things I do…is just not feasible. One activity has remained constant in my life and that is: reading. However, the deeper I get into reading, the more I branch out for the purpose of reading contemporary things, keeping updated, and staying ‘relevant.’ See my rant below “End of the Year Wrap-Up | Reflection.” I think the best ways to make reading goals and resolutions this time is to figure out WHAT makes me happy in the first place; then just stay true to the list. It was such a revelation when I figured it out, but now it seems so obvious. So here are my reading goals in 2018, things that make me happy, and a few personal goals:

(Reading) things that make me genuinely happy

  1. Gothic themes and Gothic literature (all genres and formats)
  2. Victorian Literature and Russian Literature
  3. Sci-Fi and Fantasy
  4. Medieval Studies as topic (lifestyle and hagiographies)
  5. Everything around Shakespeare
  6. Nature books, nature memoirs, herbalism books
  7. Poetry of: Plath, Frost, Dickinson, and Rilke
  8. Children’s Classics (including fairy tale collections)
  9. Cozy Mysteries
  10. Nonfiction (usually about topics 1-9)

Reading Goals 2018

  1. Review only 1-2 ARCs per month and choose them carefully.
  2. Use the library more: both through audio-books (from Overdrive) and physical books
  3. Read Responsibly – by this I mean, ensure that the reading material I’ve chosen is not because of peer pressure, nor because I must ‘get through’ something, but because I genuinely enjoy it. I want my critique and analysis to reflect careful consideration. New rule: if I don’t like a book, I will not finish it.
  4. Participate in the SFF Babbles, Victober, and Nonfic November (makes me feel like I’m part of a community).
  5. Learn more about Sci-fi and Fantasy, and explore the genre of “Western.” I recently watched a few episodes of Godless, and realized that ‘the western’ had been such a huge influence before with its problematic themes and heists—I’d like to at least learn about it as a genre, and explore some of its main ‘classics’ I know nothing about it. Also learn more about “cyberpunk” and “steampunk.” Let’s say #5 is an exploratory “learn more about” kind of section into a genre that I have never been near.
  6. Read as many books as possible that fit into the list of “Things that make me genuinely happy” rather than things I think I should read because everyone else is reading it. I’ve wasted TOO MANY days that way this year.
  7. Read 1-3 books on skill building that are career-focused– which could also be library history, reference related, or librarianship (one every four months)

Personal Goals

  1. Move towards a zero-waste lifestyle (I know zero won’t be doable for me, but maybe 30%)
  2. Build a better wardrobe. Stay away from fast fashion, invest in good quality clothing that is professional and comfortable
  3. Try to watch classic Hollywood films and recommended good films from this movie list
  4. Live authentically – I know this is a vague statement, similar to the ‘read responsibly’ but I want to do things because they genuinely interest me, rather than being dragged into things because other people want me to do them
  5. Try to eat better—healthier—learn to cook a variety of things, take many walks, and try to move toward more physical movement in the way that’s not radical, excessive, or to which I would build-up a mental resistance
  6. Paint and draw more
  7. Take one trip somewhere meaningful (to me) — avoid hyper-touristic areas, a trip that speaks to me and doesn’t reflect Instagram accounts or what other friends have been doing.

These are my goals for the new year. They are guidelines with a lot of wiggle room, but having written out the things that make me happy before-hand is now just making me feel very excited about the reading I will complete in the year to come. I think that not naming book titles (concrete TBR), or country names to visit, or specific things that are 100% black or white will allow me to respect my mood changes throughout the year while still accomplishing my goals. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and that your reading goals will make you very excited about 2018 as well. Happy Reading!

Nonfiction November

In the bookish community online, November is known as “Nonfiction Month.” Or, at least the month in which readers attempt to read at least ONE Nonfiction text. In order for you to participate you just have to read one nonfiction work. I think that’s doable!

Olive set the ‘challenges’ for this year’s NonFic November. Here’s a link to her channel.

The challenges are as follows (and left open ended for everyone’s interpretation): Home, Substance, Love, and Scholarship

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These are my choices:

  1. Home: I will be reading House of Fiction: From Pemberley to Brideshead, Great British Houses in Literature and Life by Phyllis Richardson. I interpreted this in the literal sense as in: about houses. Others have interpreted this as a book about a small home (family), or a home for seniors, or children. Others read books with the setting in the country where they come from, or the city they were raised in…their personal memories of ‘home.’ It’s up to you.
  2. Substance: for this I will be reading the history of my favourite substance. I’ve always wanted to know more about the history of coffee. So I will be reading Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed the World by Mark Pendergrast
  3. Love: as you can guess some people read the story of a romance in history or a topic that they specifically love. I love the latter because it opens the topic widely. I love animals, and I found this book called Being a Beast by Charles Foster by accident. I read that the author explores the behaviours of animals by pretending to be them for a while. I love this topic and this method.
  4. Scholarship: this is my favourite topic! For this I’ve selected the book I look forward to most: The Vampyre Family: The Curse of Byron by Andrew McConnell Stott. This book explores the biographies and relationships (as well as writing) of Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, and Percy Shelley.

Victober Announcement and TBR

October is less than two weeks away and in the bookish community “Victober” planning is upon us. Victober is hosted this year by Kate Howe, Katie from Books and Things, Ange from Beyond the Pages, and Lucy the Reader. Each one of their links will lead you to their video introductions for Victober. In short, Victober is a series of challenges or guidelines to follow as we read Victorian literature for the month of October.

General Guidelines

  • Victorian literature as a label is generally attached to any book published from 1837-1901 in Great Britain under the reign of Queen Victoria. Some choose to be slightly looser with the term. For instance Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was published in 1818 and wouldn’t technically fit under the ‘Victorian’ label but some people still choose it for Victober, and that’s fine. Depends on how specific you want to get with this challenge.
  • There are a total of five ‘challenges,’ however you can mix and match challenges if one book fits in more categories, so long as you read at least 3.

2017 Challenges

  1. Read a book that was recommended to you
  2. Read a book by a Scottish, Welsh, or Irish author
  3. Read a book containing supernatural elements
  4. Read a lesser known Victorian book with less than 2000 Goodreads reviews
  5. Read a book written by a Victorian woman author

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My TBR for Victober

  1. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy – book recommended to me by a close friend who took a Victorian Lit course and enjoyed the book immensely.
  2. Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson—Scottish writer
  3. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins contains supernatural elements. There is a group on Goodreads moderated by Kate Howe, who kindly invited me to the group after finding out I am also reading it for Victober. If you want to choose this book for your selection you are welcome to join the group. Link to it HERE. (you can count it as my recommendation to you if you want to count it for #1 instead of #3)

I combined challenges 4 and 5 into:

  1. Bronte: Poems (the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets) edition. Most of the poems are written by Emily Bronte (a woman writer—challenge 5) and the collection has only 169 Reviews on Goodreads which is way below the 2000 limit.

 

So if you are interested in participating, please do! Perhaps you want to try Victorian Lit for the fist time, or return to some books you read in the past. Either way, it’s a great little community of book lovers, and this activity is a lot of fun. You have some time to plan your reading list, and well…happy reading!

 

 

Wanderlust Reading List

Wonderlust

Summer is here! Not only is the weather just right for traveling and having adventures of your own, but it’s also a great time to read books that inspire wanderlust. The list contains several books I read and thoroughly enjoyed along with some that fellow librarians, family, and friends have recommended. Hopefully there will be at least one title in the list that is right for you.

For full list downloadable and printable PDF click HERE <–

For other recommendations based on reader preferences check out this Goodreads LIST

I also highly recommend Tristan Gooley’s books The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, and How to Read Nature as a tool when taking nature walks or longer nature trips. His works are very helpful.

The titles below are clickable and it will link you to The Book Depository if you would like to purchase a copy. The public library should also have at least one copy of each one of these books.  You can also access the Online eBook for free using your library card using OverDrive.

2No Baggage by Clara Bensen  1

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

In a Sunburn Country by Bill Bryson

The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost by Rachel Friedman

A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

The Longest Way Home by Andrew McCarthy

Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

Walking the Amazon by Ed Stafford

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Honeymoon with My Brother by Franz Wisner

 

 

 

I would also like to share with you another great resource if you like adventure and that is “World Travelers United” blog. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram. Just looking at the photos inspires wanderlust! Hope you enjoy the reading list and if you would like to recommend others please comment below!
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