Books Read and Movies Watched in 2010!
I have intended to make this list for a while. I'm trying to keep these media in consecutive order, so books are in the order I read them. Likely I will forget one or two, and if I do I'll retroactively update.
Books
Biting the Sun, by Tanith Lee
---- composed of Don't Bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine
---- I was pleasantly surprised! it was good!
Bone Dance, Emma Bull
---- not as good as Bull's other works :<
* House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski
---- started; unfinished. Will read on a trip, as it's long and good.
Terrier, Tamora Pierce
---- started at the gym, unfinished. already read. didn't want to reread, but needed a gym book.
Childhood's End, Athur C Clarke
---- good ideas, but it was not written for the characters. no it was not.
Green Rider, Kristin Britain
---- see this post for details
Out of the Silent Planet, C S Lewis
---- 1/3. Beautiful!
Perelandra, CS Lewis
---- 2/3
---- didn't like nearly as much as Out of the Silent Planet. Less beauty, more theology.
Sandry's Book, Tamora Pierce
Tris' Book, Tamora Pierce
Daja's Book, Tamora Pierce
Briar's Book, Tamora Pierce
---- the Circle of Magic series
---- good fiction for tweens; good even at my age.
---- like the magic system a lot
---- despite occasional frustrations, yay Tamora Pierce :D
Uglies, Scott Westerfeld
---- recent, new, YA SF.
---- interesting, though predictable
---- I am a futuretech junkie hello
* Pretties, Scott Westerfeld
---- started, read 10 pages of, put down
---- I am not so much of a futuretech junkie that I want to read predictable all day
* Deep Secret, Diana Wynne Jones
---- reread
---- ♥
Bone, Fae Myenne Ng
---- for American Chinatowns class
---- still the only thing we've read in that class that I genuinely, unironically like
* The New Chinatown, Peter Kwong
---- for American Chinatowns class
---- skim-read; didn't finish
---- fatalistic and complainy
Crazy Melon and Chinese Apple, Frances Chung
---- for American Chinatowns class
---- I am getting the feeling that Taiwanese literature and Chinatown literature are not unalike
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:
Taming of the Shrew
Midsummer Night's Dream
---- reread
Merry Wives of Windsor
Merchant of Venice
Richard II
Henry IV, part I
* Henry IV, part II
---- only Act V scenes iii-v
Henry V
Henry VIII
---- currently reading
* The Tempest
---- reading for my own, but too busy now to finish it. will after graduation.
Magic Steps, Tamora Pierce
Street Magic, Tamora Pierce
Cold Fire, Tamora Pierce
Shatterglass, Tamora Pierce
---- the Circle Opens series
---- YA slightly older than CoM
---- still yay magic!
---- still yay Pierce!
---- although hot damn there's a great deal I disagree with in various ways in these books
* Works and Lives, Clifford Geertz
---- for American Chinatowns class
---- not as painful as Thick Description, but still pretty goddamn ergh
---- still not finished reading this shit.
Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave, Min Zhou
---- for American Chinatowns class, unless you couldn't tell
---- thank god this is the last sociological text I will have to read for, hopefully, ever.
---- not as bad as Geertz. not half as good as Bone.
---- review post
Blood Alone, Masayuki Takano
---- reread
---- the only vampire love story I will abide. cute drawing style, quiet story.
Deadman Wonderland, vol. 1, Jinsei Kataoka
---- read while standing in Borders
---- like the art style!
---- Takami Yo has Decius!hair. :D!
The Will of the Empress, Tamora Pierce
---- well, that was interesting.
---- Pierce should write more older-teenagers. Because while her ten-year-olds act like 15-year-olds, her 18-year-olds act like 18-year-olds, and that's better.
---- urge to reread some Tortall. Resisting.
---- review post
Motherlines, Suzy McKee Charnas
---- interesting. Not bad prose, just - okay, and second-wave feminist to the max, and so I read the below book to counterbalance it:
---- review post
Tarnsman of Gor, John Norman
---- hilariously enough, the way men acted in Motherlines (primal-urges, kill-y, excitable, horrid) was the exact same way men acted in Tarnsman. Norman, you are not doing your gender a favor.
---- review post
A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner
---- AMAZING
---- AMAZING
---- I WANT TO REREAD ALL HER STUFF NOW BUT ESPECIALLY KOA
---- AMAZING
* The Chinese Heritage, K. C. Wu
---- about the first three dynasties and the mythical time before them.
---- very interesting!
---- a slow read, as it's a nonfiction text with the purpose of information
---- you can tell Wu's first language is Chinese. His English is excellent,
but he uses turns of phrase and types of synax I've heard in
English-speaking Chinese folks. It's fascinating to see :D
---- review post
* Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
---- re-ish-read: I read it halfway when I was a kid, and am determined to finish it
---- a philosophical course/novel
---- reading with historicula, but she Does Not Approve of the philosophical part as it apparently goes into no great depth nor (etc)
---- I always liked the Sophie plot better than the lectures, but I guess I can use the lectures to learn from... ^^;
* The Secret History of Moscow, Ekaterina Sedia
---- beautiful cover!
---- not what I hoped: I was thinking more like Un Lun Dun, but Sedia's doing more of a histories.
---- review post
Movies
But I'm a Cheerleader
---- ~*~GAA~AY~*~
Fight Club
---- oh god, middle-american men with low self-esteem
---- this is what happens when guys think they're being rebels.
---- -____-
Transamerica
---- fantastically good!
The Shining
---- scariest moviesounds ever. the plot: generally creepy. the musicsounds? oh GOD. (shudder)
Lost in Translation
---- fun
Twilight
---- lol
BBC's Taming of the Shrew
---- hilarious!
Pan's Labyrinth
---- re-watch
---- ♥
Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula
---- hilarrible
Up
---- :D
District Nine
---- the best alien film I've seen
Birth of a Nation
---- film class
Now, Voyager
---- film class
---- really really really really good!
Flags of our Fathers
---- film class
Rear Window
---- film class
---- re-watch
---- good Hitchcock
(probably a film or two I don't remember somewhere in here)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
---- pretty okay, though slightly hokey
---- totally inconsistent, what with the magic and the tech and the everything
Volver
---- film class
---- re-watch
---- this is a fantastic film
Hot Fuzz
---- film class
---- I liked this a great deal :D
---- it was a parody of the kind I didn't hate
Gerry
---- film class
Dark City
---- film class
---- OMG RUFUS SEWELL
---- RUFUS
---- SEWELL
---- trufax: I spent half the movie admiring him and half the movie trying to figure out the science-fiction aspects.
---- I am a dork.
---- Rufus Sewell :D
Red Cliff, part I of II
---- this was fantastically good.
---- I am familiar enough with chinese cinema to understand it in that context, too
---- and chinese history!
Double Indemnity
---- film class
---- quite noir!
Princess and the Frog
---- ah, Disney formulae
---- cute and happy! visually stimulating and energetic! amusing and well-made, I think!
---- that said, really, Disney, really? she wants the restaurant. but all she needs is a man?!?!?!?! eeerrrrghgghghhhhh
---- on the other hand ... TIANA AND CHARLOTTE BFFFFFFFFFFFS 8D
Dark City
---- watched with historicula
---- AGAIN :D
---- :D RUFUS SEWELL
* Children of Dune
---- working through this with my father
---- lulzy
---- oh god my Accidental Twincest Radar is going off the charts
How to Train Your Dragon
---- watched with historicula
---- :DDDDDDDDDDDD
Dark City
---- AGAIN :D
---- :D RUFUS SEWELL
Books
Biting the Sun, by Tanith Lee
---- composed of Don't Bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine
---- I was pleasantly surprised! it was good!
Bone Dance, Emma Bull
---- not as good as Bull's other works :<
* House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski
---- started; unfinished. Will read on a trip, as it's long and good.
Terrier, Tamora Pierce
---- started at the gym, unfinished. already read. didn't want to reread, but needed a gym book.
Childhood's End, Athur C Clarke
---- good ideas, but it was not written for the characters. no it was not.
Green Rider, Kristin Britain
---- see this post for details
Out of the Silent Planet, C S Lewis
---- 1/3. Beautiful!
Perelandra, CS Lewis
---- 2/3
---- didn't like nearly as much as Out of the Silent Planet. Less beauty, more theology.
Sandry's Book, Tamora Pierce
Tris' Book, Tamora Pierce
Daja's Book, Tamora Pierce
Briar's Book, Tamora Pierce
---- the Circle of Magic series
---- good fiction for tweens; good even at my age.
---- like the magic system a lot
---- despite occasional frustrations, yay Tamora Pierce :D
Uglies, Scott Westerfeld
---- recent, new, YA SF.
---- interesting, though predictable
---- I am a futuretech junkie hello
* Pretties, Scott Westerfeld
---- started, read 10 pages of, put down
---- I am not so much of a futuretech junkie that I want to read predictable all day
* Deep Secret, Diana Wynne Jones
---- reread
---- ♥
Bone, Fae Myenne Ng
---- for American Chinatowns class
---- still the only thing we've read in that class that I genuinely, unironically like
* The New Chinatown, Peter Kwong
---- for American Chinatowns class
---- skim-read; didn't finish
---- fatalistic and complainy
Crazy Melon and Chinese Apple, Frances Chung
---- for American Chinatowns class
---- I am getting the feeling that Taiwanese literature and Chinatown literature are not unalike
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:
Taming of the Shrew
Midsummer Night's Dream
---- reread
Merry Wives of Windsor
Merchant of Venice
Richard II
Henry IV, part I
* Henry IV, part II
---- only Act V scenes iii-v
Henry V
Henry VIII
---- currently reading
* The Tempest
---- reading for my own, but too busy now to finish it. will after graduation.
Magic Steps, Tamora Pierce
Street Magic, Tamora Pierce
Cold Fire, Tamora Pierce
Shatterglass, Tamora Pierce
---- the Circle Opens series
---- YA slightly older than CoM
---- still yay magic!
---- still yay Pierce!
---- although hot damn there's a great deal I disagree with in various ways in these books
* Works and Lives, Clifford Geertz
---- for American Chinatowns class
---- not as painful as Thick Description, but still pretty goddamn ergh
---- still not finished reading this shit.
Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Urban Enclave, Min Zhou
---- for American Chinatowns class, unless you couldn't tell
---- thank god this is the last sociological text I will have to read for, hopefully, ever.
---- not as bad as Geertz. not half as good as Bone.
---- review post
Blood Alone, Masayuki Takano
---- reread
---- the only vampire love story I will abide. cute drawing style, quiet story.
Deadman Wonderland, vol. 1, Jinsei Kataoka
---- read while standing in Borders
---- like the art style!
---- Takami Yo has Decius!hair. :D!
The Will of the Empress, Tamora Pierce
---- well, that was interesting.
---- Pierce should write more older-teenagers. Because while her ten-year-olds act like 15-year-olds, her 18-year-olds act like 18-year-olds, and that's better.
---- urge to reread some Tortall. Resisting.
---- review post
Motherlines, Suzy McKee Charnas
---- interesting. Not bad prose, just - okay, and second-wave feminist to the max, and so I read the below book to counterbalance it:
---- review post
Tarnsman of Gor, John Norman
---- hilariously enough, the way men acted in Motherlines (primal-urges, kill-y, excitable, horrid) was the exact same way men acted in Tarnsman. Norman, you are not doing your gender a favor.
---- review post
A Conspiracy of Kings, Megan Whalen Turner
---- AMAZING
---- AMAZING
---- I WANT TO REREAD ALL HER STUFF NOW BUT ESPECIALLY KOA
---- AMAZING
* The Chinese Heritage, K. C. Wu
---- about the first three dynasties and the mythical time before them.
---- very interesting!
---- a slow read, as it's a nonfiction text with the purpose of information
---- you can tell Wu's first language is Chinese. His English is excellent,
but he uses turns of phrase and types of synax I've heard in
English-speaking Chinese folks. It's fascinating to see :D
---- review post
* Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
---- re-ish-read: I read it halfway when I was a kid, and am determined to finish it
---- a philosophical course/novel
---- reading with historicula, but she Does Not Approve of the philosophical part as it apparently goes into no great depth nor (etc)
---- I always liked the Sophie plot better than the lectures, but I guess I can use the lectures to learn from... ^^;
* The Secret History of Moscow, Ekaterina Sedia
---- beautiful cover!
---- not what I hoped: I was thinking more like Un Lun Dun, but Sedia's doing more of a histories.
---- review post
Movies
But I'm a Cheerleader
---- ~*~GAA~AY~*~
Fight Club
---- oh god, middle-american men with low self-esteem
---- this is what happens when guys think they're being rebels.
---- -____-
Transamerica
---- fantastically good!
The Shining
---- scariest moviesounds ever. the plot: generally creepy. the musicsounds? oh GOD. (shudder)
Lost in Translation
---- fun
Twilight
---- lol
BBC's Taming of the Shrew
---- hilarious!
Pan's Labyrinth
---- re-watch
---- ♥
Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula
---- hilarrible
Up
---- :D
District Nine
---- the best alien film I've seen
Birth of a Nation
---- film class
Now, Voyager
---- film class
---- really really really really good!
Flags of our Fathers
---- film class
Rear Window
---- film class
---- re-watch
---- good Hitchcock
(probably a film or two I don't remember somewhere in here)
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
---- pretty okay, though slightly hokey
---- totally inconsistent, what with the magic and the tech and the everything
Volver
---- film class
---- re-watch
---- this is a fantastic film
Hot Fuzz
---- film class
---- I liked this a great deal :D
---- it was a parody of the kind I didn't hate
Gerry
---- film class
Dark City
---- film class
---- OMG RUFUS SEWELL
---- RUFUS
---- SEWELL
---- trufax: I spent half the movie admiring him and half the movie trying to figure out the science-fiction aspects.
---- I am a dork.
---- Rufus Sewell :D
Red Cliff, part I of II
---- this was fantastically good.
---- I am familiar enough with chinese cinema to understand it in that context, too
---- and chinese history!
Double Indemnity
---- film class
---- quite noir!
Princess and the Frog
---- ah, Disney formulae
---- cute and happy! visually stimulating and energetic! amusing and well-made, I think!
---- that said, really, Disney, really? she wants the restaurant. but all she needs is a man?!?!?!?! eeerrrrghgghghhhhh
---- on the other hand ... TIANA AND CHARLOTTE BFFFFFFFFFFFS 8D
Dark City
---- watched with historicula
---- AGAIN :D
---- :D RUFUS SEWELL
* Children of Dune
---- working through this with my father
---- lulzy
---- oh god my Accidental Twincest Radar is going off the charts
How to Train Your Dragon
---- watched with historicula
---- :DDDDDDDDDDDD
Dark City
---- AGAIN :D
---- :D RUFUS SEWELL