Haruki

Haruki Murakami is safe :)

Hmmm

I really don't have a ton to say today. On top of all the weird stress I have been feeling lately, this awful stuff in Japan has just kind of stopped my motivation to blog. It seems kind of pointless, doesn't it? It is surreal to know what all those people are going through... and here I am in my comfy house, with the people I love and my dogs all safe. Just sitting here drinking some diet pop and blogging. It makes one realize just how incredibly fast life can change. So send good vibes to Japan. When you start to bitch about lame crap happening in your life, think of the people over there.

If you can, please, donate to the Red Cross by clicking here.

Here is some news that is making me worry that is coming out of Japan: Haruki Murakami has not been heard from since the earthquake and tsunami. A lot of people who are close to him have been trying to reach him with no success. This may not seem like a big deal when you compare it to the scope of what is actually going on there, but to me it is. Murakami introduced me to the Japan that I love. He has motivated me. He has entertained me and relaxed me. I know I am not the only one who feels this way about him, so the second something is heard of him, I will post it. Hopefully he is okay :/

Now to the book reviews (short ones today):


Jaws by Peter Benchley- I liked it better than the movie. If you have never seen the movie you probably will enjoy this even more. I thought some parts were a bit draggy and some parts were strangely graphic. All in all it was pretty good. I don't know that I would ever recommend it though.
Rating: 6/10


Neighborhood Watch by Cammie McGovern- This novel sucked. I have been waiting months to read this because the plot sounded great. However, the characters were terrible. They were underdeveloped and had no motivation for most of their actions. The main character drones on and on about her miscarriages for absolutely no reason. I don't understand how this was published without editors fixing these problems. I almost just stopped reading it half way through. It is that bad.
Rating: 1/10

Now I am reading Help! A Bear is Eating Me by Mykle Hansen. I really don't know what I think so far. I am about half way done with it. Some bits are hilarious, others are just so-so. I need a good book :( I am getting into a stupid old rut.

I hope you all have a good day. Please, don't forget to think about what you are thankful for. What you have that you take for granted. The chances you have that others don't. The fact that you are alive.


"If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem.  Everything else is inconvenience."  -Robert Fulghum

Bummed Out

Life is stressful right now.
I have read:
Jaws by Peter Benchley
&
Neighborhood Watch by Cammie McGovern
Reviews soon!

In the mean time, please vote for my dog Sonic in this smile contest :)
Here is the link!

My Custom Van

The other night I finished My Custom Van by Michael Ian Black. It is a bunch of short essays and stories and it was hilarious. Michael Ian Black is one of my favorite comedians. I love Stella and I have seen him do stand-up in person twice. So...I might be a little biased. My only complaint is that if you have seen his stand-up in the past few years, a few of his essays in this book are from that. Which makes them less exciting and surprising. Still funny though :)
Rating: 6/10

Now I am reading Jaws by Peter Benchley. So far it's better than the movie. This does not seem to be the popular opinion based on other reviews I read, but I didn't like the movie very much. Hopefully it doesn't get lame. I don't want to read any stupid books for a long time.
 

Psycho & Big Fish

I finished Psycho. I thought it was well done. The novel is much more cohesive than the movie, although they are very similar. I liked this novel for the same reason I like Dashiell Hammet's novels and others written around this time in similar genres- they get to the point and keep the ball rolling. The characters never develop into 'real' people, but they develop enough to keep the story going. It's a nice piece of light reading.

Rating:8/10

Just this afternoon I finished Big Fish by Daniel Wallace. At first I wasn't so sure whether I liked it or not, but after about 30 pages I was hooked. This is a marvelous little novel. It is more charming than it should be and so optimistic. I really enjoyed it. So far this year I have read 16 novels and this is definitely one of the very best so far.I hope it has staying power. I think everyone should read this! It is such a fun read. Much better than the movie, which I never really cared for.

Rating:10/10

I'm not too sure what I am going to read next. I was thinking In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami, but I don't think so... Something more whimsical sounds about right. I will have to figure it out :)

Have a good night everyone!

Do not forget little kindnesses and do not remember small faults.

-Chinese Proverb

 

Sunday!

I just got a bunch of new books! I have been wanting funny stuff to read and because Christopher Moore doesn't have anything new coming out, I needed to branch out. Here are some of the new funny novels I got:

• A Practical Guide to Racism by C.H. Dalton
• Help! A Bear Is Eating Me! By Mykle Hansen
• Apathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan
• Nerd Do Well by Simon Pegg

I am very excited :) I also got some new books that aren't funny. Some of them are:

• Big Fish by Daniel Wallace
• The Boys in the Trees by Mary Swan
• Wise Children by Angela Carter
• Hotel World by Ali Smith

Some dog tracks on my deck

I'm really hoping they are all great. I don't think I can handle a bunch of bad novels. I already feel like I'm in a little slump and that would just make it so much worse.

Sonic and Chew

We were supposed to get a huge snow storm in MN today, but nothing happened. Not in my part anyways. It has been snowing, but nothing major. Maybe we will wake up to a surprise. I was kind of looking forward to having some snow around here! 

 This is a funny link 

This is a lovely link 

Preparing for the Snow

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.  You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"  -J.B. Priestley

Tomorrow Minnesota is supposed to get a blizzard. Specifically the part of MN where I live. So that's awesome...kind of. I am getting kind anxious for summer. I want to start running and going for walks! And I'm pretty sure my dogs feel the same way. I love the snow, but I also love being outside in nice weather.

I finished I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. It was really good, but very bittersweet. I think the length of this book was just right. Any longer and it would have gotten draggy.
Rating:6/10

I also started reading The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole, got about 3/4 way done with it and had to stop. It was so boring and nothing was developing. I usually do this a couple times per year. I just can't handle boring books. So that was a bummer. I really wanted to like it.
For what I did read of it, I give it 2/10

Now I am reading Psycho by Robert Bloch. I just got to the shower scene, which in the novel turned out to not be much of a scene at all. So far it is almost identical to the original movie. I am enjoying it, but I think I might like the movie better. We'll see :) This is also the first paper book I have read in months. Probably close to a year. It feels weird. I prefer my Kindle :)

It seems like maybe I am in a little book funk right now. I haven't loved the past couple and I just feel really busy with life. It happens. The next few books I'm reading are paper books because they aren't made in e-book format yet. They are all by new authors and stuff (new to me).

I just ate some Liz Lovely gluten-free coconut & lemon cookies. They were AMAZING. If you want to try a gluten free/vegan cookie, I recommended these. Yum! Yum! Yum!

Happy Valentines Day :D

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

-Mother Teresa

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
-Lao Tzu

"Who, being loved, is poor?"
-Oscar Wilde

Sonic is Four

Today is Sonic's (one of my wiener dogs) fourth birthday. These things always make me sad when it comes to pets. It's a reminder that it is one year closer to them not being around and I don't like that. It's always a more blue time for me. And I try to not have favorites between my three dogs, but Sonic pretty much is my best little guy. He is awesome. So I am not having the worlds best day. Certainly not the worst either, though.

Sonic with his birthday presents

I finished The Five People You Meet In Heaven and I liked it. I was expecting it to be as good as Have a Little Faith, which it wasn't. I enjoyed it though and would recommend it for a bit of light reading. I don't have too much to say about it. It's a unique story, but the writing is a little run-of-the-mill.
Rating: 6/10

I also read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami. It was spectacular. First of all, Murakami is an amazing writer, so the writing alone is nice to read. Secondly, the story is highly inspirational and motivational. And third on the list is that you get to know Murakami as a person a little more. The third item may only be interesting to his fans, which I am. It is a memoir that is mainly about his running and how that specifically has changed and shaped his life. It's pretty incredible. I think anyone could take something memorable from this little book. I know that I did. Eventually I may even consider this as a favorite.
Rating: 10/10

Currently I am reading I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali. I will be finishing it sometime today. It is really interesting. Here is a link about her story.
Basically, she is a 10 year old girl from Yemen who is sold to be some guys wife and she fights to get a divorce. It is a true story that took place not long ago. It is a sad insight into the culture of that area. I'm sure my review of it will be short, seeing as I am about 75% done with it already. I am just blown away by the way women are treated in parts of the Middle East. From a western standpoint, it seems insane. I wish I could better understand how this happens and continues to happen. It's wild. In the worst possible way.

I am proud of myself, because so far this year I have read more nonfiction than I read in the past 5 years combined. And I have been really enjoying it too. I am trying to expand my world in a lot of different ways, mostly in little ways, but already I feel like I am growing :)

This is a link about food.

Kiiiind of interesting. And gross.

I hope everyone has a nice Valentines Day tomorrow. 

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."
-A. A. Milne

Caution: Everyone's Sick

Hey everyone. Guess what? I'm still sick. Hence not blogging for a week. I have been going through roughly one box of Kleenex per day and had to miss another day of work last week. I finally feel like I am getting better, but man has this lasted a long time!!! Turns out a ton of people are dealing with pretty much the same thing. A horrible cold that is lasting 2+ weeks. It is the worst. Feel better everyone. And for gods sake, take a couple days off of work so it stops being spread around. If I get sick again I'm going to throw a fit!

I finished Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut. It was fine. I had a good time reading it, but I had much higher expectations for it. When I read Vonnegut I never know exactly what to expect, but this one was sort of flat. Maybe it wasn't as funny as I wanted it to be. It certainly had less of a story than his other novels I have read.

Rating: 5/10

Last night I read The Painted Darkness by Brian James Freeman. It is around 200 pages and it is super captivating. It is about a man who had something traumatize him as a child that he suppressed. Now as an adult he 'paints the darkness away'. Basically, he is a man with serious issues and this is a horror/creepy book. I was very into it the whole time and couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen...and then it ended... WHAT? Yeah. It just ended. With no ending or anything. My thought on this was the author planned on it being a much longer novel and then he didn't know how to wrap it up so he just stopped writing. It was that abrupt. So I have really mixed feelings about it as a whole. Go ahead and read it, but expect the 'ending' to be super disappointing.

Rating: 7/10

Now I am reading The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. My mom says it is really good and the past few books she has recommended have been really good. I'm just a few pages into it. Hopefully I will read a bunch tonight. I thought I would be reading this afternoon, but sick-brain is just making me watch T.V. and sit. Like a zombie.

Here are some good links about dreams/sleep:

Amazing Dream Facts

Sleep Facts

(I literally sat and read about sleep and dreams for two hours the other evening. Totally dazing out while on cold medicine. These were two of the most interesting articles. I also read about serial killers for a couple hours, but this stuff is more happy :))

To everyone who is sick: Take time to rest and feel better.

To everyone who is not sick: Be nice to the sick people!

Have a good day people :)