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2013, in books and in life
Dec. 31st, 2013 14:57Well, as of today I have read 55 books in 2013. That number is the lowest since I started counting five years ago, and represents less than half of my 2010 total of 101 (my highest thus far is still 2009, with 139). I even went the whole month of October without reading anything, which sounds about right, if depressing.
Nineteen of those books were by chromatic authors, which represents slightly less than 35% of the total; that is a slight improvement on last year, when the numbers were 19/62 or a little less than 31% of the total. With these numbers and a 10% selection rate, I should be picking five or six books as the year's best.
* Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince
* Kristin Cashore, The Seven Kingdoms trilogy
* Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
* Frances Hardinge, Gullstruck Island
* Joan Slonczewski, Brain Plague
So, 2013!
Places traveled:
- Toronto in April, for a conference! I'd never been to Canada before, and it was lovely, and I got to meet/hang out with some cool people, and it was a good conference.
- Wiscon, Sirens, Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits. ♥
Shows seen:
- Janelle Monáe
- FUN.
- Fall Out Boy
- Vienna Teng
- CHVRCHES
- Dessa
- Night Vale Live
I think the best decision I made all year was to get my wisdom teeth out in June. It cost me nearly $1000 out of pocket, but not having wisdom teeth has really made me much happier on a day to day basis, so it was totally worth it. I was also able to restart wearing my top retainer, so I have now mostly saved my parents' investment in my braces, which is a definite bonus.
I'm still in grad school. I did a lot of work this year (see above re: not reading any books in October) and I expect that I will be working very hard through at least next June. Although I'm much more disillusioned with my department than I was this time last year, for the time being at least I'm still committed to staying the course. California continues to be a weird combination of the awesome and the annoying, but the many awesome friends I have there, and Berkeley Bowl, make it all worth it. ♥
I anticipate a lot of changes in 2014. My father is talking about trying to sell the house, my sister is spending the year abroad in Austria, and I will be moving my California possessions into a storage unit over the summer in preparation for six weeks in Europe and then a year to fifteen months in Asia, specifically Japan and then hopefully Taiwan. I may not be back until 2016. Everything is very up in the air, but I'm looking forward to it, for the most part.
Nineteen of those books were by chromatic authors, which represents slightly less than 35% of the total; that is a slight improvement on last year, when the numbers were 19/62 or a little less than 31% of the total. With these numbers and a 10% selection rate, I should be picking five or six books as the year's best.
* Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince
* Kristin Cashore, The Seven Kingdoms trilogy
* Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
* Frances Hardinge, Gullstruck Island
* Joan Slonczewski, Brain Plague
So, 2013!
Places traveled:
- Toronto in April, for a conference! I'd never been to Canada before, and it was lovely, and I got to meet/hang out with some cool people, and it was a good conference.
- Wiscon, Sirens, Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits. ♥
Shows seen:
- Janelle Monáe
- FUN.
- Fall Out Boy
- Vienna Teng
- CHVRCHES
- Dessa
- Night Vale Live
I think the best decision I made all year was to get my wisdom teeth out in June. It cost me nearly $1000 out of pocket, but not having wisdom teeth has really made me much happier on a day to day basis, so it was totally worth it. I was also able to restart wearing my top retainer, so I have now mostly saved my parents' investment in my braces, which is a definite bonus.
I'm still in grad school. I did a lot of work this year (see above re: not reading any books in October) and I expect that I will be working very hard through at least next June. Although I'm much more disillusioned with my department than I was this time last year, for the time being at least I'm still committed to staying the course. California continues to be a weird combination of the awesome and the annoying, but the many awesome friends I have there, and Berkeley Bowl, make it all worth it. ♥
I anticipate a lot of changes in 2014. My father is talking about trying to sell the house, my sister is spending the year abroad in Austria, and I will be moving my California possessions into a storage unit over the summer in preparation for six weeks in Europe and then a year to fifteen months in Asia, specifically Japan and then hopefully Taiwan. I may not be back until 2016. Everything is very up in the air, but I'm looking forward to it, for the most part.