Checking In ～
It's time to check in and put down what I've been up to the last week.
Listing books under "want to read" on goodreads is really moving me along in the reading department. I feel motivated, or driven, to conquer LOL I really need to use lists more if they work this well on other stuff too.
Last week I finally got a digital copy of Tess of the D'Urbervilles that I could read. I first got one on Amazon Japan and found out that it was gibberish, like it was translated from Japanese to English with machine translation. I sent in a claim by chat, and got my money back. I didn't want to take the risk of getting another weird copy so I ordered it from Amazon US, which meant I couldn't read it on my smartphone for some reason - the app wouldn't register the purchase. So I read it on cloud reader on my computer, which kind of sucked because I could only read it in one place and not in transit when I usually like to read. Why a digital version? Well, maybe you're not even asking that because that's how you read everything, but in my case it's rather rare. I really like reading paper books better and one of the reasons is that I will always have that copy in my possession to read again, which is something I do not trust digital copies to be - even with a computer and a wifi connection. And the cost of the book is often just as expensive in the digital version as it is in paperback. But I have recently amended this rule in the case of of books I can purchase more cheaply in digital version, such as classics. If I want to keep the book in paper form, I can always buy it later and not feel like I wasted money. Tess is one of these books. The digital book was reasonable, and what if I don't like it? I don't want a tomb of a book I have to get rid of or let crowd my bookshelf.
The reason why I wanted to read it was that it was mentioned in 50 Shades of Grey, and I remembered that I had never actually read it along with Jane Austen or other Victorian authors. I knew from the start that it was a tragedy and that made me a reluctant reader, but as an English Major I felt I needed to at least be acquainted. It was. Tragic. What an awful ending! Most of the Victorian novels I've read most certainly have a happy ending, however trials the main character must overcome. But this one does not.[Spoiler (click to open)]I think Tess actually loses her mind... plus there is a murder, which is again unheard of! How shocking! And the sexual connotations/scenes I know would have been written in detail in the present day...I can see how there was a lot of criticism at the time. It was also chalk full of naturalism, paganism vs Christianity, historical background info and a goldmine for anyone studying it in school. Most importantly, I couldn't unglue my eyes from the computer, especially the last half of the book, and felt very annoyed even seeing family members coming into the room or walking around out of the corner of my eye! So I can't fault Thomas Hardy. It was definitely well written, whatever else it was. I also now totally see why Christian would have sent Ana this set of books - definitely a warning to stay away from him.
So, after I finished that, I went over to goodreads and wrote my review on it. I then thought I might as well go back in my posts here to find reviews of the other books I had read and paste them there as well. I also reread Outlander, because I felt like doing that after pasting reviews of the latter books of the series, and having recently also read Diana Gabaldon's "I Give You My Body . . .": How I Write Sex Scenes.
I had the paperback version of The Alchemist so I finished reading that yesterday. I am pretty sure I've read it before. It was a cute story and had a good message, I think, to always strive toward your purpose in life, to not make love your purpose but your strength, that one kind find important answers to everything not only through books and study but by watching nature, events, and people around you... And ultimately, the journey is just as or even more important than the treasure you find at the end. That's what I got out of it anyway.
While I was reading all my old reviews of books, I came across my review of American Gods, where I had written of plans for a TV show and how I was looking forward to a "color" version of the book. I checked a website I frequent and found that there were indeed at least 2 seasons already out. So I have been watching American Gods for the last couple of days as well. I was thinking the TV version would explain things a bit more, but I am finding that it is so far very close in feel to the books. It's very strange but I am enjoying it. I love Mr. Wednesday (Odin) trying to explain belief in the supernatural to Shadow while Shadow doubts his own sanity - either you are crazy, or the world around you is! LOL[Spoiler (click to open)]It is especially fun, knowing that Shadow is actually Odin's son.
Otherwise, we are continuing to get trials for our classes. Last Saturday I had a private choir practice at my classroom with the two other members of my choir group after all my classes. I have four classes in the morning and three classes in the afternoon, after which I am pooped, but there was no other time we could meet. Hubby really helped by preparing lunch for me because I have a short lunch break on Saturdays now, and he also went to COSTCO to buy us pizza and chicken for dinner. I was so grateful! (But then he got drunk and mean, and totally ruined it. I don't think he remembered it the next day.) I made some lemon jello to go with the cheese tart he got us. It turned out really good and a perfect combination.
I had normal choir practice on Sunday, where we sang to the teacher in the groups of 3 and the best group was given a prize. I thought we did pretty well, and the teacher did say it was a close call between groups, but we didn't get first place. After listening to the other group in a recording, I can see why they won. I am not sure the teacher's criticisms of our group was accurate *pouts*, but I'm trying to think of it as her way of making us work harder.
We (the choir) have decided to have our concert in December of this year and will be practicing hard toward that. On October 25, there is a workshop by Ko Matsushita (composer and my teacher's mentor) and other famous choir related people, and I think everyone from my group is going. Unfortunately, I cannot since I have a Halloween party for our school. That is quite depressing.
Speaking of Halloween, I have to think of party games that are properly "social distanced." No apple bobbing this year :(
That's about it, I guess. I can't believe it is already Thursday. One of my classes has been cancelled so I will be finishing early - YAY!
Listing books under "want to read" on goodreads is really moving me along in the reading department. I feel motivated, or driven, to conquer LOL I really need to use lists more if they work this well on other stuff too.
Last week I finally got a digital copy of Tess of the D'Urbervilles that I could read. I first got one on Amazon Japan and found out that it was gibberish, like it was translated from Japanese to English with machine translation. I sent in a claim by chat, and got my money back. I didn't want to take the risk of getting another weird copy so I ordered it from Amazon US, which meant I couldn't read it on my smartphone for some reason - the app wouldn't register the purchase. So I read it on cloud reader on my computer, which kind of sucked because I could only read it in one place and not in transit when I usually like to read. Why a digital version? Well, maybe you're not even asking that because that's how you read everything, but in my case it's rather rare. I really like reading paper books better and one of the reasons is that I will always have that copy in my possession to read again, which is something I do not trust digital copies to be - even with a computer and a wifi connection. And the cost of the book is often just as expensive in the digital version as it is in paperback. But I have recently amended this rule in the case of of books I can purchase more cheaply in digital version, such as classics. If I want to keep the book in paper form, I can always buy it later and not feel like I wasted money. Tess is one of these books. The digital book was reasonable, and what if I don't like it? I don't want a tomb of a book I have to get rid of or let crowd my bookshelf.
The reason why I wanted to read it was that it was mentioned in 50 Shades of Grey, and I remembered that I had never actually read it along with Jane Austen or other Victorian authors. I knew from the start that it was a tragedy and that made me a reluctant reader, but as an English Major I felt I needed to at least be acquainted. It was. Tragic. What an awful ending! Most of the Victorian novels I've read most certainly have a happy ending, however trials the main character must overcome. But this one does not.[Spoiler (click to open)]I think Tess actually loses her mind... plus there is a murder, which is again unheard of! How shocking! And the sexual connotations/scenes I know would have been written in detail in the present day...I can see how there was a lot of criticism at the time. It was also chalk full of naturalism, paganism vs Christianity, historical background info and a goldmine for anyone studying it in school. Most importantly, I couldn't unglue my eyes from the computer, especially the last half of the book, and felt very annoyed even seeing family members coming into the room or walking around out of the corner of my eye! So I can't fault Thomas Hardy. It was definitely well written, whatever else it was. I also now totally see why Christian would have sent Ana this set of books - definitely a warning to stay away from him.
So, after I finished that, I went over to goodreads and wrote my review on it. I then thought I might as well go back in my posts here to find reviews of the other books I had read and paste them there as well. I also reread Outlander, because I felt like doing that after pasting reviews of the latter books of the series, and having recently also read Diana Gabaldon's "I Give You My Body . . .": How I Write Sex Scenes.
I had the paperback version of The Alchemist so I finished reading that yesterday. I am pretty sure I've read it before. It was a cute story and had a good message, I think, to always strive toward your purpose in life, to not make love your purpose but your strength, that one kind find important answers to everything not only through books and study but by watching nature, events, and people around you... And ultimately, the journey is just as or even more important than the treasure you find at the end. That's what I got out of it anyway.
While I was reading all my old reviews of books, I came across my review of American Gods, where I had written of plans for a TV show and how I was looking forward to a "color" version of the book. I checked a website I frequent and found that there were indeed at least 2 seasons already out. So I have been watching American Gods for the last couple of days as well. I was thinking the TV version would explain things a bit more, but I am finding that it is so far very close in feel to the books. It's very strange but I am enjoying it. I love Mr. Wednesday (Odin) trying to explain belief in the supernatural to Shadow while Shadow doubts his own sanity - either you are crazy, or the world around you is! LOL[Spoiler (click to open)]It is especially fun, knowing that Shadow is actually Odin's son.
Otherwise, we are continuing to get trials for our classes. Last Saturday I had a private choir practice at my classroom with the two other members of my choir group after all my classes. I have four classes in the morning and three classes in the afternoon, after which I am pooped, but there was no other time we could meet. Hubby really helped by preparing lunch for me because I have a short lunch break on Saturdays now, and he also went to COSTCO to buy us pizza and chicken for dinner. I was so grateful! (But then he got drunk and mean, and totally ruined it. I don't think he remembered it the next day.) I made some lemon jello to go with the cheese tart he got us. It turned out really good and a perfect combination.
I had normal choir practice on Sunday, where we sang to the teacher in the groups of 3 and the best group was given a prize. I thought we did pretty well, and the teacher did say it was a close call between groups, but we didn't get first place. After listening to the other group in a recording, I can see why they won. I am not sure the teacher's criticisms of our group was accurate *pouts*, but I'm trying to think of it as her way of making us work harder.
We (the choir) have decided to have our concert in December of this year and will be practicing hard toward that. On October 25, there is a workshop by Ko Matsushita (composer and my teacher's mentor) and other famous choir related people, and I think everyone from my group is going. Unfortunately, I cannot since I have a Halloween party for our school. That is quite depressing.
Speaking of Halloween, I have to think of party games that are properly "social distanced." No apple bobbing this year :(
That's about it, I guess. I can't believe it is already Thursday. One of my classes has been cancelled so I will be finishing early - YAY!