Katherine Nabity's Blog, page 158
November 14, 2016
#NonFicNov ~ Book Pairings
Hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey, Lory at Emerald City Book Review,
Sarah at Sarah’s Book Shelves, Rachel at Hibernator’s Library, and Julz at Julz Reads
It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story.
A fictional wizard war and the biography of a magician who performs completely as someone else. Even if you’ve only seen the movie The Prestige and not read Christopher Priest’s novel, Jim Steinmeyer’s The Glorious Deception is a great companion piece.
Years before Erik Larson became a favorite of mine with his tale of H. H. Holmes as The Devil in the White City, Robert Block used the setting and the serial killer as inspiration for G. Gordan Gregg in American Gothic. When I read the novel I thought the “murder castle” was an out-there idea. Little did I know…
November 13, 2016
What Else, Week 45
Writing
Still anxious and lacking motivation. I’m pretty much through the rewrites. What’s left will probably lead to a lot of new words. I’m still going to shoot for 10K words for the month, but that means I need to actually buckle down and do some work this week. Eric (who is working on rewrites and edits of earlier books in the PHYSIC series) joked that we are putting the NO in NaNoWriMo.
Reading
I read a grand total of 181 pages last week, mostly finishing up Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith. The Man Who Knew Too Much by David Leavitt wasn’t working out for me so I moved on to Judas by Peter Standford. For Deal Me In this week, I’ll be reading “A Day in the Life of Comrade Lenin” by Carole Bugee. Intriguing considering that it’s in Masterpieces of Terror and the Unknown.
Blogging
Not much has been going on blog-wise either. I’m in a bit of a review slump. So I decided to change my theme and revive What Else as a weekly post. Last week:
Why I Read the Nonfiction that I Read
Review of The Escapist and Barnum! graphic novels
Fitness
Fall League 2016 – ChewBlockYa on HalloweenFall League finals were yesterday, so I played ultimate frisbee three times last week (Tues, Weds, Sat). I think Eric and I managed sprints a couple times as well (Sun, Thurs). I checked my workout log and realized that I hadn’t filled in anything for last week. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Women’s League is going to happen. Eric and I intend to keep up with sprints, but I’m going to need to do something on days he has Men’s League.
Classes
The low-motivation has extended to my Econ reading as well. It’s been nearly two weeks since I read anything.
Other Life Stuff
Obviously, the elephant in the room this week (no pun intended) is the election. Emotions are high on every side, to an extent that for my own well-being I’m not going to engage for a while. But, I do think it’s good to remember that there are valid reasons why someone might have voted for Trump. I can’t do that better than these two articles written before the election:
Chris Arnade wrote a piece at Medium back in May: Why Trump voters are not “complete idiots”
David Wong wrote a more acerbic top 6 at Cracked in October: How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind. Scroll down to #3 and #2 if you don’t want to wade through the whole thing.
November 9, 2016
Mini Reviews ~ Two Graphic Novels
My recent impulse checkouts from the library included two graphic novels:
The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist: Volume 1 by Michael Chabon, Glen David Gold, Bill Sienkiewicz (Artist), Howard Chaykin (Artist), Gene Colan (Artist), Steve Lieber (Artist), Eric Wight (Artist), Kevin McCarthy (Author)
The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist presents the fictional history of the Escapist, the creation of Kavelier and Clay, the main characters of Michael Chabon’s novel. Yes, this is sort of meta. Chabon provides an introduction as a fan, treating The Escapist as one of those venerable comics that dates back to the 1940s. The stories in this volume represent a survey of issues from throughout that history. As such, there are some very representative of themes and art and writing styles that pull from the broader history of comics in general.
My favorites “issues” in this collection deal with Luna Moth, Kavalier and Clay’s female superhero. The art in all three of Luna’s stories is distinctive and beautiful. Jim Starlin’s “Reckonings” is a lovely story about Luna making a deal with death on behalf of someone else. Also included is “The Lady or the Tiger” penned by Glen David Gold, the author of Carter Beats the Devil—the spiritual brother of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
Barnum!: In Secret Service to the USA by Howard Chaykin, David Tischman, Niko Henrichon (Illustrator)
I was intrigued by this title. An alt-world history where Barnum, travelling with his circus, is an agent for the government? Sounded interesting. Niko Henrichon’s art is fabulously detailed and full of movement. Unfortunately, I didn’t get beyond chapter two. The main villain is Nikola Telsa and his paramour, Ada Lovelace. That’s just a level of alt-history that I’m not going to jump to. Plus, there was sort of an anti-science vibe that I didn’t care for. You can’t win them all.
November 7, 2016
#NonFicNov ~ Why I Read the Nonfiction that I Read
Hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey, Lory at Emerald City Book Review,
Sarah at Sarah’s Book Shelves, Rachel at Hibernator’s Library, and Julz at Julz Reads
Welcome to the second week of Nonfiction November! This week’s topic is:
What are you looking for when you pick up a nonfiction book? Do you have a particular topic you’re attracted to? Do you have a particular writing style that works best? When you look at a nonfiction book, does the title or cover influence you? If so, share a title or cover which you find striking.
Roughly, what nonfiction books I choose fall into two categories, one fairly specific and one very broad. The two books I have on my stack for November are fairly illustrative.
Authors: The Specific Category. As with fiction choices, there are certain nonfiction authors that I keep an eye out for. Erik Larson, Mary Roach, Jim Steinmeyer, Tom Standage, Michael Lewis, and probably a few others I can’t remember are all on this list. So is Peter Stanford. I’ve never given Judas much thought, but I will. They all write knowledgeably about their subjects. That, over tone, is probably what I value most from them.
Subjects: The Big, Vague Category. There are just certain subjects I want to know more about. Statistics, economics, and death have had periodic appearances in my reading stacks. The history of magic and spiritualism is a big subject for me. Technologies, innovations, and the people behind them is another. While I’ve read a bit of David Leavitt’s fiction, Alan Turing is the reason I chose The Man Who Knew Too Much. Why these subject? Pft. I don’t know. I find a weird selection of things fascinating.
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November 6, 2016
#ROW80 ~ Sunday Update, 11/6
Add 3125 words per week on Wicked Witch, Retired.
Update Round 4, Week 5
Man, some weeks.
Occasionally, I get a little overly neurotic. And every-so-often I get really worked up. This past week was every-so-often.
I didn’t finishing rewriting what I wanted to rewrite. I don’t know how many words have been added to the manuscript. I intend to finish the rewrite tomorrow and get a good four days of writing in. Saturday is fall league finals.
Research of the Week
History of the use of “hotel” as a word and concept
Plural of faux pas
Parts of an umbrella
A Round of Words in 80 Days on Facebook
November 5, 2016
Deal Me In, Week 44 ~ “The Lost Room”
Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis
What is Deal Me In?
“The Lost Room” by Fitz-James O’Brien
Card picked: Three of Hearts
From: Masterpieces of Terror and the Unknown, edited by Marvin Kaye
Thoughts:
“Queer house, isn’t it?”
“I have only found it quiet.”
“Hum! But you will find it queer, take my word for it.”
“The Lost Room” begins with a lengthy description of the room in question and what its contents mean to our narrator. Through his possessions, we learn that he’s lost his lady love, that his family was duped of its fortune, and his friends don’t visit as often anymore. But truly, he seems to be content in his quiet room. Alas, maybe the room isn’t his after all…
The best part of Deal Me In is finding new authors to investigate. O’Brien was an author in the mid-1800s and is credited with writing some of the first science fiction. Based on how readable “The Lost Room” is, I’m looking forward to reading some of that!
Is This Your Card?
A transformation as quick as our poor narrator’s room.
November 2, 2016
October Reading Wrap-Up
I pretty much exclusively read R.I.P. books during September and October and ended the “challenge” with six books, eleven short stories (or so), and posts about a handful of movies. Probably my best R.I.P. yet! Had a good readathon too. I read 525 pages, making 1530 for the month!
Finished in October
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay – eLibrary
A Vampire Quintet by Eugie Foster – #MyOwnDamnBook
Wild Nights! by Joyce Carol Oates – #MyOwnDamn Book
The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian
Revenge by Yōko Ogawa – Library
The Escapist by Michael Chabon, Glen David Gold, Bill Sienkiewicz (Artist), Howard Chaykin (Artist), Gene Colan (Artist), Steve Lieber (Artist), Eric Wight (Goodreads Author) (Artist), Kevin McCarthy – Library
Not as good a month for #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks as I thought. Lots of library books. I also read thirteen short stories.
Additions to my Library
Just one addition:
Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans by Melissa Daggett, 10/14/16, NetGalley, ARC
October 31, 2016
Nonfiction November ~ My Year In Nonfiction (thus far)
Hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey, Lory at Emerald City Book Review,
Sarah at Sarah’s Book Shelves, Rachel at Hibernator’s Library, and Julz at Julz Reads
Week 1: (Oct 31-Nov 4) – (Katie) Your Year in Nonfiction: Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What is one topic or type of nonfiction you haven’t read enough of yet? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November?
Nonfiction sometimes gets a bad rap from hard-core readers. The perception is that nonfiction is dull and dry and that reading nonfiction doesn’t provide the same “benefits” as fiction reading. To that I say, “Pshaw!” and “False dichotomy!” Nonfiction can be just as entertaining as fiction and as edifying. For me, Nonfiction November is a chance to celebrate the best-of and maybe woo some of those fiction-only types.
So far this year, not quite a third of my reading has been nonfiction. That might be a little light for me, but the last two months have mostly been RIP reading. My top three of the year so far:
Shocker, two of my favorites have been about magicians:
The Magician and the Cardsharp: The Search for America’s Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist by Karl Johnson – Johnson details master card magician Dai Vernon’s search for Allen Kennedy, a gambler known for an undetectable middle deal. This book is not only about a slice of magic history, but about the history of the American mid-west in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Amazing Harry Kellar: Great American Magician by Gail Jarrow – This being a book for children instead of an in-depth biography of a magician from the turn of the 20th century who isn’t Harry Houdini, I was dubious of its seriousness. It’s easy to concentrate on the wiz-bang aspects of a personality rather than the facts. I was happily surprised by The Amazing Harry Kellar. Jarrow gives a great overview of Kellar, warts and all, amid gorgeous reproductions of Kellar’s promotional posters.
The third book is probably the one I would recommend the most:
The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day
by David J. Hand – Really big numbers are difficult fully fathom, but very important to how the world works. How is it possible that someone could win the lottery three times? Or be hit by lightning more than twice? Hand breaks down the hows and whys of big number statistics in a very readable way. Trust me, this is math explained in a way that even I can understand.
October 30, 2016
#ROW80 ~ Sunday Update, 10/30
Add 3125 words per week on Wicked Witch, Retired.
(Or, 12,500 per month / 75K in 6 months.)
Update Round 4, Week 4
It was a flat week for me across the board. Which is funny considering how good the week before was. Oh, well. That’s how it goes. The manuscript is badly in need of some rewriting. The last 4K words or so have been sketchy. And, I haven’t been taking good notes/recording details. So, I will start out Week 5 doing a rewrite and try not to lag too far behind in word count land. All the more reason to not engage in some crazy NaNoWriMo plan…*
Word counts:
Monday: 266
Tuesday: 871
Wednesday: 530
Thursday: 525
Friday: 532
Saturday: 534
Week Total: 3,258
Month Total: 13,691
Manuscript Total: 29,135
* Like trying to write 25 2000 word short fiction pieces based on pictures and word prompts. I totally wouldn’t consider doing a nutsy thing like that with a standing goal of 12,500 words on the novel I’m already working on, the usual blog schedule, an attempt to finish a macroeconomics course by the end of the year (with additional reading), the busiest time of year for VOTS going on (including league finals), and the first holiday that my parents are in-state. I absolutely wouldn’t be *that* crazy.
Research Link of the Week
I got nothing.
Playlist
The Kills, Ash & Ice (2016)
A Round of Words in 80 Days on Facebook
October 29, 2016
Deal Me In, Week 43 ~ “Beyond the Wall”
Hosted by Jay @ Bibliophilopolis
What is Deal Me In?
“Beyond the Wall” by Ambrose Bierce
Card picked: Queen of Spades
From: Jay’s Top 10 Ghost Stories
Thoughts: I’m sorry to say it, but a relentless heat wave has zapped my Halloween spirit. (Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler. A high of only 93F!) My spooky reading has bottomed out. Thank goodness for this Deal Me In pick!
My favorite type of horror is the horror of the unintended consequence. Many supernatural tropes are based on the courting of the occult. Playing with a Ouija board. Chanting “Bloody Mary” into a darkened mirror. Studying non-euclidean geometry. In fiction, all these things are pretty much invitations for angry spirits to come visit. But for me, the more nerve-wracking horror is the sort that fills the world with unknown supernatural missteps. Playing party games. Watching a random video tape. Or flirting with the girl next door.
Who hasn’t let love (or, at least, lust or a crush) make them “be an unspeakable idiot”? I know I’ve had my moments. But what if an innocent act flirtation, knocking on a shared wall, leads to something not entirey sinister, but…unintended?
