The Media-Consumed List Of 2014!
PICO'S GREAT BIG GRANDE MEDIA CONSUMED IN 2014 LIST
~:~booksbooksbooks~:~
Jan1 - Feb6
Rocannon's World, Ursula Le Guin
---- decent but early-writing, and not so inspiring and beloved as I usually find Le Guin. Gotta start somewhere?
The Chaos, Nalo Hopkinson
---- WOW. Fantastic!
*Johnathon Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
---- I keep starting this, getting an indeterminate butusually double-digit number of pages in, and then putting it aside. Oh well.
Sabriel, Garth Nix
Lirael, Garth Nix
Abhorsen, Garth Nix
---- re(rere)reads
---- still brilliant.
*If on a winter's night a traveler, Italo Calvino
---- ongoing
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
---- reread (HS)
---- still excellent.
*Röde Orm, Franck G Bengtsson
---- lättläst version
---- swede-reading :D
---- ongoing
*Niccolò Rising, Dorothy Dunnett
---- my dad's rec. so much description! it took too many words for everything to happen, and I was continually confused by the choreography. I felt like I was reading a Russian novel.
Shamer's Daughter, Lene Kaaberbol
---- with a conceit like that, it coulda been a contender. instead, weak prose, mediocre dialogue, unclear choreography, uncertain time period, and badly-fitted worldbuilding all gave it a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
The Raging Quiet, Sherryl Jordan
---- reread (HS)
Feed, M T Anderson
---- reread (HS)
---- The dangers of using outdated slang and making up more outdated slang are that your writing ends up sounding unintentionally hy-larious. I remember being interested with the idea but unimpressed and irritated at the result in high school. I am glad to see my fourteen-year-old-self's taste being vindicated.
feb - may 7
The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner
The Queen of Attolia, MWT
The King of Attolia, MWT
A Conspiracy of Kings, MWT
---- all rereads, all brilliant ♥
* Sandman Vol II, Neil Gaiman
---- I tried to reread this. But then I realized it was so incessantly dark and I hated the art style. So I stopped a couple chapters in.
Fairest, Gail Carson Levine
Dave at Night, Gail Carson Levine
---- reread
---- holds up well. GCL is a writer I would advise to kids, definitely.
Alif the Unseen, G Willow Wilson
---- excellent book, after a slow start. I was frustrated, though, that we had the main character we did - Alif was a little brat most of the book, and a lot of the folks around him were a ton more engaging and charismatic.
Kampung Boy, LAT
---- lil comic about a boy growing up in a kampung. Good stuff :D
My Side of the Mountain, Elizabeth George Speare
---- reread
---- a childhood book of mine - orig school reading, but it was what got me onto a string of survive-in-the-wild books. loved it/them, and upon reread: still enjoy, although things are so impossibly easy for the MC. No diarrhea, colds, illnesses, accidents, or, really, danger at all.
King's Man and Thief, Christie Golden
---- reread
---- good friggin god, this was so painful that I was eyerolling half the book and eyebrowing the other half. Too much Western/English influence on everyone even though it's not supposed to be so; everyone who's good is obvious and everyone who's bad is stupid. lulzy.
* The Whispering Mountain, Joan Aiken
---- started to reread, then put aside because vacation.
may 7 - jun 8
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N K Jemisin
---- reread
The Broken Kingdoms, N K Jemisin
---- a brilliant series. The more I reread/read her, the more I love her writing. The first book was never gut-level close for me - things happened, but everything felt removed, despite it being good. But the second book - guh. Just wow. Very, very vivid and real, and I loved it even better than the first.
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
---- skimread this. Irritated me immensely: it was a pop book that used the shock value of a taboo subject (OMGINTERSEX) to tell a sappy, insipid coming-of-age story. Far too much way-back-in-history, far far too much stilted writing, and the MC's transition was far, far, waaaay too easy: you don't absorb the quirks, mythology, and social habits of another gender over the course of a couple weeks! One hundred irritations here.
Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson
---- see Whenever Pico Makes An Entry About This (because I have some serious thoughts on this, you guys.
The Last Legends of Earth, A A Attanasio
---- surprisingly much better than I thought, and I went into it thinking it'd be good! superb handling of a huge subject, multifaceted & multicultural humans, and a time-loop story I didn't hate? Sign me right up for more Attanasio!
jun 8 - jun 26
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
---- reread
The Girl who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
* The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, Stieg Larsson
---- unfinished
First Test, TPierce
---- re(rere)read
Page, TPierce
---- re(rere)read
~:~comisscomicscomics~:~
Jan1 - Feb6
(none yet)
feb - may 7
King of Masks
---- rewatch
---- oh, ♥!
Casablanca
---- rewatch
On the Waterfront
---- rewatch
Frozen
may 7 - jun 26
Wadjda
---- plane movie. fantastic.
~:~moviesmoviesmovies~:~
Jan1 - Feb6
Smiles of a Summer Night
---- This was a wonderful, delightful little movie and I loved it :D
*Arjun
---- didn't finish. Got 30min in, and the art style was just too off-putting.
~:~showsshowsshows~:~
Jan1 - Feb6
Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged
---- some rewatch, some new
---- eps 1-20
Dexter
---- rewatch
---- S1, eps 1-5
Welcome To Nightvale, link
---- eps 1-22
Game Of Thrones
---- rewatch
---- eps 1-7
---- got for my dad for Christmas. He is loving it :D
feb 6 - may 7
Kurt Wallander, 2005
---- eps 1-4
Game of Thrones
---- up to ep S3 E4
may 7 - jun 26
Kurt Wallander, 2005
---- ep 5
Game of Thrones
---- eps S3 E4-S3 E6
Korra
---- S3 eps 1, 2, 3
---- ALL THE HEARTMARKS
~:~booksbooksbooks~:~
Jan1 - Feb6
Rocannon's World, Ursula Le Guin
---- decent but early-writing, and not so inspiring and beloved as I usually find Le Guin. Gotta start somewhere?
The Chaos, Nalo Hopkinson
---- WOW. Fantastic!
*Johnathon Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
---- I keep starting this, getting an indeterminate butusually double-digit number of pages in, and then putting it aside. Oh well.
Sabriel, Garth Nix
Lirael, Garth Nix
Abhorsen, Garth Nix
---- re(rere)reads
---- still brilliant.
*If on a winter's night a traveler, Italo Calvino
---- ongoing
American Gods, Neil Gaiman
---- reread (HS)
---- still excellent.
*Röde Orm, Franck G Bengtsson
---- lättläst version
---- swede-reading :D
---- ongoing
*Niccolò Rising, Dorothy Dunnett
---- my dad's rec. so much description! it took too many words for everything to happen, and I was continually confused by the choreography. I felt like I was reading a Russian novel.
Shamer's Daughter, Lene Kaaberbol
---- with a conceit like that, it coulda been a contender. instead, weak prose, mediocre dialogue, unclear choreography, uncertain time period, and badly-fitted worldbuilding all gave it a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
The Raging Quiet, Sherryl Jordan
---- reread (HS)
Feed, M T Anderson
---- reread (HS)
---- The dangers of using outdated slang and making up more outdated slang are that your writing ends up sounding unintentionally hy-larious. I remember being interested with the idea but unimpressed and irritated at the result in high school. I am glad to see my fourteen-year-old-self's taste being vindicated.
feb - may 7
The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner
The Queen of Attolia, MWT
The King of Attolia, MWT
A Conspiracy of Kings, MWT
---- all rereads, all brilliant ♥
* Sandman Vol II, Neil Gaiman
---- I tried to reread this. But then I realized it was so incessantly dark and I hated the art style. So I stopped a couple chapters in.
Fairest, Gail Carson Levine
Dave at Night, Gail Carson Levine
---- reread
---- holds up well. GCL is a writer I would advise to kids, definitely.
Alif the Unseen, G Willow Wilson
---- excellent book, after a slow start. I was frustrated, though, that we had the main character we did - Alif was a little brat most of the book, and a lot of the folks around him were a ton more engaging and charismatic.
Kampung Boy, LAT
---- lil comic about a boy growing up in a kampung. Good stuff :D
My Side of the Mountain, Elizabeth George Speare
---- reread
---- a childhood book of mine - orig school reading, but it was what got me onto a string of survive-in-the-wild books. loved it/them, and upon reread: still enjoy, although things are so impossibly easy for the MC. No diarrhea, colds, illnesses, accidents, or, really, danger at all.
King's Man and Thief, Christie Golden
---- reread
---- good friggin god, this was so painful that I was eyerolling half the book and eyebrowing the other half. Too much Western/English influence on everyone even though it's not supposed to be so; everyone who's good is obvious and everyone who's bad is stupid. lulzy.
* The Whispering Mountain, Joan Aiken
---- started to reread, then put aside because vacation.
may 7 - jun 8
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N K Jemisin
---- reread
The Broken Kingdoms, N K Jemisin
---- a brilliant series. The more I reread/read her, the more I love her writing. The first book was never gut-level close for me - things happened, but everything felt removed, despite it being good. But the second book - guh. Just wow. Very, very vivid and real, and I loved it even better than the first.
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
---- skimread this. Irritated me immensely: it was a pop book that used the shock value of a taboo subject (OMGINTERSEX) to tell a sappy, insipid coming-of-age story. Far too much way-back-in-history, far far too much stilted writing, and the MC's transition was far, far, waaaay too easy: you don't absorb the quirks, mythology, and social habits of another gender over the course of a couple weeks! One hundred irritations here.
Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson
---- see Whenever Pico Makes An Entry About This (because I have some serious thoughts on this, you guys.
The Last Legends of Earth, A A Attanasio
---- surprisingly much better than I thought, and I went into it thinking it'd be good! superb handling of a huge subject, multifaceted & multicultural humans, and a time-loop story I didn't hate? Sign me right up for more Attanasio!
jun 8 - jun 26
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
---- reread
The Girl who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson
* The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, Stieg Larsson
---- unfinished
First Test, TPierce
---- re(rere)read
Page, TPierce
---- re(rere)read
~:~comisscomicscomics~:~
Jan1 - Feb6
(none yet)
feb - may 7
King of Masks
---- rewatch
---- oh, ♥!
Casablanca
---- rewatch
On the Waterfront
---- rewatch
Frozen
may 7 - jun 26
Wadjda
---- plane movie. fantastic.
~:~moviesmoviesmovies~:~
Jan1 - Feb6
Smiles of a Summer Night
---- This was a wonderful, delightful little movie and I loved it :D
*Arjun
---- didn't finish. Got 30min in, and the art style was just too off-putting.
~:~showsshowsshows~:~
Jan1 - Feb6
Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged
---- some rewatch, some new
---- eps 1-20
Dexter
---- rewatch
---- S1, eps 1-5
Welcome To Nightvale, link
---- eps 1-22
Game Of Thrones
---- rewatch
---- eps 1-7
---- got for my dad for Christmas. He is loving it :D
feb 6 - may 7
Kurt Wallander, 2005
---- eps 1-4
Game of Thrones
---- up to ep S3 E4
may 7 - jun 26
Kurt Wallander, 2005
---- ep 5
Game of Thrones
---- eps S3 E4-S3 E6
Korra
---- S3 eps 1, 2, 3
---- ALL THE HEARTMARKS