Reading Update

Out of Harm's way, Crisp

Written by a lady who was one of the first people to go to disaster sites and help the pets that had been left behind. She helped in the Bay Area, in the aftermath of hurricanes, and the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. The stories were fascinating. 

 

Divining the Leaves, Thakrar

I dunno, this one didn't catch me. I think the characters were too bland. It was one of those "enemies to friends" stories, but it didn't feel like they earned that friendship. Just because someone helps save someone else doesn't mean that they'll be friends. Especially considering how awful he had been to her. 

 

The Narrow Road Between Desires, Rothfuss

This is about a character from the Name of the Wind. A shorter version of this story is in the book Rogues. It's less to my taste than The Slow Regard of Silent Things, which is possibly my favorite book. But the writing is still amazing. 

 

One Italian Summer, Serle

The idea was like When Marnie was There, or The Boy and the Heron. Time twists to allow a character to meet a family member when they were young. I wish the plot had more substance though. Most of it was the lady going around Italy, eating and drinking. 

Indigenous Continent, Hamalainen

A thorough history of how American Indians responded to the European takeover of their land. 

Mistborn Secret History, Sanderson

It's cool that the writer had this book in mind when he was writing Mistborn. But the whole spirit-world thing just doesn't seem to fit snugly with the rest of the series. But the Wax and Wayne series makes a lot more sense now. 

The Magical Imperfect, Baron

I think this is the first book I've read that's in verse. It was really nice. 

The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself

I read this one because we visited her convent when we went to Spain. It was rather strange, because most of the book is her talking about how bad she's been. 

Case Files of the Tracker, Brown Jr. 

Another amazing book. This shares some of his most intense tracking experiences. 

The Morning Sun, Nelson

A memoir that my dad's friend wrote. There's some really good stuff in it. I think it's self published though, because it has a lot of typos. I kept wishing I'd proof-read it for him! 

Spice Road, Ibrahim

The very beginning was interesting, with an alliance formed with a supposedly dangerous monster. But after the first couple chapters, this book drove me crazy. All of the characters were so frustrating. The protagonist fell for everyone's lies every single time. She never learned. Your sister just went were she wasn't allowed to? Well, of course you should believe her promise that she won't follow you. And this guy who treats you like trash whenever anyone is watching? Oh, he's a nice guy deep down. Except then he tries to kill you. What a surprise. 

A Natural History of Dragons, by Brennan

This was a cool book. There were a lot fewer dragons in it than I expected, but it was well written. It's written as though it's a memoir. I want to read more in the series. 

The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt, by Iversen

Parts of this book really stressed me out. Maybe because my friend recently got divorced because of an abusive husband. I was almost afraid to read on at a couple points. And then I was surprised at how low-key the last several chapters were. I did guess that the plant magic came from her, not just the garden. Anyway, the book was pretty good. But the pacing was odd. Like I said, with the long, gentle wind-down. 

The Dark Side of Survival TV

In middle school, we read Hatchet. That book is what first got me fascinated with survival skills. I think Survivor was the first survival show I ran across, and I was fascinated by it. But then, I think at the end of the first season, one of the contestants delivered this horrible speech about how she wished that another contestants would die a gruesome death. From then on, I never cared to watch survival shows. I found other ways to study the skills. 

Then I met someone who was on one of those shows, and he knew other people who had done it. I 'd thought that the episodes were total fakes. But they do indeed throw people into the wilderness. They only help in emergencies, and not always effectively. Like when one woman was badly burned, the nurses weren't prepared to treat burns. Despite the importance of fire in a survival situation. 

The company that filmed one show treated the contestants as total garbage. For example, one location looked like a great place, with plenty of resources and food to hunt. It wasn't until the contestant flew to Europe to film that they told him the location was a nature reserve. He couldn't hunt anything except for frogs and fish. Neither could he harvest and trees, except for an invasive species which wasn't a great building material. So most opportunities for food and shelter were gone. 

Another guy said that the show didn't buy them any hunting permits. There was plenty of food, yet once again they couldn't get any of it. That season was not good for fish, so everyone out there was slowly starving. 

Some of these shows don't even pay the contestants unless they make it all the way through? These poor people go through starvation and potential injury, and may not get anything for it. While the film crew and everyone else stays comfortable, and gets paid normally. 

These crews can be condescending and disgusted about the contestants that are out there suffering for a television show. And episodes are edited to deliberately make some contestants look incompetent. They don't show their full shelter, or their fishing successes. But they'll show someone crying because of personal problems. 

It's sick that companies make money watching people suffer and starve. Even people skilled at survival can't hope to stay healthy in these restricted situations. So I'm glad I don't follow those shows. 

But the contestants also said that it was a great opportunity to practice survival, with an emergency net if anything went wrong. And they talked with fondness about how beautiful some of their locations were. 

Stretch it Out

I need to make Evva's story a bit longer. Which is hard to imagine because editing is largely about cutting things out. But I think if I focus more on culture, plants, and crafts, it should help fill things out. They're things that Evva is learning a lot about anyway. And of course, I could always add more character interactions. 

I just have to do it in a way that feels natural and interesting. 

Battle Music

Music during battle scenes is often intense, overbearing, and even grating. 

But I like it when the battle music is epic. Something I'd like to listen to on its own. I understand why not all music should sound nice, and I often don't notice it in the context of the movie. But I also enjoy listening to soundtracks, and I skip the songs that are unpleasant to listen to. 

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has a powerful battle song. Star Wars and Studio Ghibli have some great ones too. 

Plus some video games have awesome battle songs. 

Pokopia

I've been playing Pokopia, which is fun and addictive. It's like a mix between Minecraft and Animal Crossing (at least as far as I've witnessed those games). 

But why is the story so freaking depressing? (Spoilers). Natural disasters are so bad that humans fled the planet? And they put all Pokémon into storage somehow? Why didn't they just do the Mystery Dungeon thing, and have it take place on a different planet? That would make way more sense in the Pokémon timeline. Instead of direct references to places and characters from other games and shows. So you have to think about Misty and Brock leaving Earth on a space ship... Leaving all of their Pokémon behind. 

Fictional Fiction

John Green just posted a video, with a quote that perfectly fits a topic I posted about recently. I've been working on the books that Maya reads in her story.  But it's more complicated than expected, because a couple of those books are historical novels, which also means I have to figure out some history. 

Anyway, here's what John Green said: "I love a book within a book, or a movie within a book. I love fictions that don't exist. They're so much better than fictions that do exist. They can be infinitely great." 

Which is true. If characters are reading a book, they can think it's the greatest thing ever. But we'll never read that book to find any flaws in it ourselves. 

And I've read classic literature that I didn't enjoy at all. 

That being said, some of the ideas I have for Maya's books are things that I may actually write someday. If these are supposed to be great classics in her world, then people would probably object to however I end up writing them. Heh. 

The time that is given to us

A couple weeks ago, I had a dream about Lord of the Rings. It wasn't super elaborate. We were walking through the Mines of Moria, except in the dream it was just a really long tunnel. I was talking to Gandalf as we walked, and he was imparting his words of wisdom. I was thinking how cool it was to talk to him. 

So I watched Lord of the Rings again. There's one scene I always loved. Which, coincidentally enough, is in the Mines of Moria. 

Frodo: I wish none of this had happened. 

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." 

That line just struck home so strongly, with all the dystopian things happening with the government. So I guess my dream was right. Listen to Gandalf. It's a good reminder - do what we can with what we have.