Top Books of the Year 2014

Here are the posts for 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. I didn't do this feature for 2013.

And here are the top 5* books I read in 2014. I enthusiastically recommend them:

5. The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey

Young Adult Fiction

This is book 2 of Yancey’s “Monstrumologist” series. Unaware of that, I purchased it before reading the first. I was able to follow it without trouble, and while I later in the year went back to read the first book, I ended up preferring this one. The Monstrumologist series follows the life and times of Will Henry, young apprentice to Pellinore Warthrop, world-famous “monstrumologist” (a man steeped in the science and study of monsters). In this book, they’re hot on the trail of a wendigo, a monster that eats human flesh. It’s full of foul language, gore, and distressing amounts of life-threatening danger for Will Henry. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

4. Hidden America by Jeanne Marie Laskas

Non-Fiction

Journalist Laskas travelled the country to interview people involved in a variety of jobs that most Americans give little thought to, from coal miners to waste management technicians to ranch hands to pro football cheerleaders. The results are mixed. Some chapters are only so-so, a bit boring to be honest, but most of them are really interesting, chock full of odd tidbits and new-to-me information. It was a unique way to look at the melting pot that is America.

3. The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

Non-Fiction

After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, journalist Seierstad spent some time living with a bookseller and his family in Kabul. This book discusses what that time was like. As a Westerner, I found this book incredibly difficult to read. This family’s way of life was completely foreign to me, and I couldn’t help but to feel bad for these people, who had virtually no freedom compared to me and the people I know. However, it was really fascinating. I felt like I learned a lot about Afghan culture and history. A truly interesting read.

2. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

Non-Fiction

This book is Egan’s exploration of the Dust Bowl, America’s greatest ecological disaster. I liked it because it's about the people who stayed during the Dust Bowl (rather than the ones who fled). It had a lot of interesting information about how the disaster came about, its effects, and how humans ultimately prevailed. It also included first-hand accounts. Although it could be a little repetitious, I read the whole thing completely spell-bound, amazed that I spent my whole life knowing so little about this devastating piece of American history. It was also a great reminder that previous generations were a lot more bad-ass than my own.

1. Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Fantasy Fiction

This is the tale of Prince Honorious Jorg, a foul-mouthed 14-year-old who’s spent the last 4 years of his life raping, pillaging, and killing his way across the land in order to exact revenge for the death of his mother and lay a claim on the throne. The brilliant thing about Lawrence’s novel, other than some innovative plot twists that injected life into what could have been a tired plot, is that Jorg is the king of anti-heroes. In fact, I spent the first few chapters of the book wondering why I kept reading it, why I hadn’t put it down in disgust. By the end of the book, Lawrence had managed to make Jorg sympathetic, and I found myself rooting for him to win. I thought it was a brilliant piece of writing, and I can’t wait to read the sequels.

*Honorable Mention 6th place goes to The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, an intricate and lovely tale.

Toys My Dog Destroys: Yellow Slipper and Striped Monkey

I have a weird sense of humor, so when I saw a toy shaped like a slipper, I thought it would be pretty funny to buy that for my dog, not that we've never had a problem with Major going after our slippers. Here is yellow slipper when I gave it to Major on 12/12/14:

Major was extremely fond of yellow slipper, as you can see here:

That very same day, he'd chewed off enough of the yellow fuzz on the outside to create a bare patch, so I figured the toy wasn't long for this world:

Sure enough, by the next day, Yellow Slipper was destroyed:

Here Major is in the act of pulling out some of the stuffing:

In fact, he destroyed Yellow Slipper so violently that he somehow flung the squeaker up on top of the printer:

Even so, Major loved this toy, and continued to play with it every day. It was still easy to throw because it had the flap that I could hold onto. So I kept it around, but it was leaving little yellow fuzzies all over the house. Finally, on 1/4/15, my husband insisted we throw it away. Here's Yellow Slipper before it went in the trash:

That same day, I gave Striped Monkey to Major:

 Within ten minutes, Striped Monkey was already torn open:

Is it my imagination or does Major look a little regretful to have destroyed his new toy so quickly?

On 1/10/15 Major somehow found more stuffing in Striped Monkey to pull out:

I threw Striped Monkey away on 1/11/15:

These toys were bought at the same time from a major pet store retailer for $2.50 each. Yellow Slipper lasted about 3 weeks. Striped Monkey lasted only a week (in reality, only about 10 minutes).

Solo at the Movies: "Wild" at Landmark Theatres

Theater Info:

Landmark Theatres

10850 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles

Cost: $10.25 for an 11 a.m. matinee showing

Movie Stats:

Released 2014 (USA)

American, in English

Director - Jean-Marc Vallee

Stars - Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern

Plot Summary:

Lost in grief after the untimely death of her mother Bobbi (Dern), Cheryl Strayed (Witherspoon) embarks on a journey of self-discovery while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

Warnings:

Blue language; female and male nudity (no full frontal); gore; drug use; relatively explicit sexy times.

Bad Stuff:

I felt that the nudity was all fairly gratuitous. It did nothing to further the story and seemed really out of place to me.

There was something about the way that every man behaved as though Cheryl was the most beautiful woman on the planet that I found self-indulgent.

Good Stuff:

There’s a lot to like about this movie. The acting is fantastic. The cinematography is breathtaking (the scene in the field with the cows made me want to pack up and move to the country). The film was handled in such a way (excellent script and direction) that it made a story that could have very easily been boring (it’s a woman walking in the woods for two hours) very interesting. I also really enjoyed the story itself. I feel that it’s relatable for pretty much anyone. Haven’t we all been a little lost at some point in our lives? For me, it was especially poignant, since I lost my mother in a similar fashion (although I didn’t go on a drug and sex binge afterward).

The Verdict:

I liked this movie a lot. When I initially heard of it, I didn’t have much interest, and I didn’t find the trailer particularly compelling. But I kept hearing a lot of good things about it, so when I happened to find myself with some free time, I decided to check it out. I wasn’t disappointed. This is a really great film.

I give it 4.5 stars.

About Landmark Theatres:

I’m very fond of this movie house. Located inside the Westside Pavilion (a mall), the parking is plentiful and free if you’re only there for three hours (they validate for a cheaper fee if you’re there longer than three). The staff is always friendly. I’ve been in four of their theaters and they were all quite comfortable. Also, there’s a great view of the mountains from the main lobby. My only gripe is that the tickets there are kind of spendy. $10.25 for a matinee is a lot, as far as I’m concerned.

Solo at the Movies, Maintenance Post

I love going to the movies by myself. In fact, I prefer it to going with other people. When I go by myself, I can choose to see whichever movie I want, without someone else’s input. I don’t have to wonder if my companion is enjoying the film. I don’t have to worry about my companion talking during the film, or getting annoyed with me if I occasionally make a comment. Best of all, I can spend my time after the film contemplating it, rather than having to engage in a discussion about it with someone else. (I’m still trying to figure out whether or not I liked “Birdman” and I both saw and had a discussion about it with friends.)

Last year, I contemplated the idea of doing a monthly blog series about seeing independent films in the theater. I never got around to doing it. I think making the potential series specific to independent films is what did it in. I just can’t seem to make myself to commit to that.

Since I can’t make myself commit to one independent film per month, I’ve decided to broaden my scope. What I plan to do is visit a different movie theater each month, by myself. This theater may be part of a chain, or it may be independent. The film I watch may be mainstream or independent. It may be old or new, although I plan to only see movies that are new to me.

The purpose of this series will be to review not only the movie, but the theater as well. If I enjoy the series, I may continue it into next year. Who knows? It’s an adventure! 

That’s the “Solo at the Movies” project in a nutshell. Right after this post, you will see the first review of the series.

Final Reflections on December 2014

December 2014 was pretty great, a nice cap on a year that was full of lots of ups and downs (More on that, perhaps, later. I’m still deciding whether or not to do Final Reflections on the year 2014). The month began with a visit to my beloved Austin, where I attended my friends’ wedding, got to enjoy some of the city, and hung out with most of my really awesome Austin friends. It was a short trip, but I had a great time.

After flying back to Cali, I spent the rest of the month really busy with writing, work, household errands/chores, and holiday festivities. In some respects, it’s been a little overwhelming. I’m finding it difficult to balance everything I need and want to do. I feel like I have three jobs: novelist, part-time admin assistant, and housewife. “Why don’t you pawn off some of those household chores on your husband?” I hear you thinking to yourself. Sadly, my husband is working 10-12 hour days right now, and often works on the weekend as well, so he doesn’t have a lot of time or energy for the household errands either.

I think I’m beginning to figure it all out. Getting up earlier in the morning is helping (I sleep too much anyway), and spontaneously losing interest in watching much Netflix has freed me up to get more reading done, a hobby I’ve been meaning to get back to for a while. Even so, after the go-go-go of the first few weeks of December, it was nice at the end of the month to be off work so I could relax and spend a lot of time by myself, which I enjoyed.

Just before New Year's, I released my first novel. My goal had been to release by the end of the year, so I was both thrilled and proud to reach that goal. Since this is my personal blog, and not intended for professional promotion, I will not be using it as a platform to launch my career. However, at the release of each book, I will make one post containing the relevant info. Here is the info for my first book, The Artifact (by J.E. Lorin):

Book on Amazon

Book on iBooks

My Author Website/Blog

My Author Twitter

My Author Facebook

The outpouring of support from my friends has been both tremendous and humbling. It’s been a great reminder that I know a lot of truly wonderful people. The journey to get to this point has been a long one. It wasn’t easy to give myself permission to chase this dream. I’m so happy that I did. Even if the book never gains traction, releasing it fulfilled a lifelong dream. It’s been tremendously gratifying. 

Here’s to hoping that your December was filled with as much fun, laughter, and satisfaction as mine! I wish you all the best in 2015.

On Loneliness: Social Media

I have a love-hate relationship with social media. I suspect that most people feel this way.

On the one hand, social media has been a boon to my existence. It’s brought people back into my life that I thought were lost to me forever. It’s helped me forge friendships with people I’ve never met in real life. It’s also let me stay in contact with all the wonderful people I’ve met these last six or so years, while we’ve been moving frequently. It helps keep me informed of what’s going on in the world. It makes me laugh every day, and sometimes it even helps me feel better when I’m down.

On the other hand, social media has been a bane of my existence. It makes me feel pressured, like I need to prove to everyone how popular I am. Whether I spend too much time on it or no time at all, I feel like the message people are getting is that I don’t have a “real” life. A lot of people (including people I think are awesome when I see them in person) are jerks on social media. It’s usually so full of bad news that it depresses me, or so full of everyone bitching about inane things that it annoys me. It also frequently makes me feel like I’m missing out on something.

I go through periods where I do a lot of “nothing.” I stay home, watch shows and movies, read, write, and play games. I try not to indulge too much in these periods, because I know that I’ll never get to the end of my life and wish that I’d sat around the house more. But sometimes it feels like how I want to spend my time for a few days, and I think that’s okay. I always enjoy myself. I never feel bad about it - until I get online and see all the awesome stuff that everyone else has been doing while I’ve been a boring homebody. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

I don’t blame social media for the bouts of loneliness and inadequacy I sometimes feel. Some of the loneliest periods of my life occurred well before social media ever existed. But I do think that it’s an extension of the human problem in general, and perhaps of America’s problem more specifically. It’s not truly a place to make connections. It’s a forum for us to show everyone how many friends we have, how successful we are, how attractive we are, and how much we’ve been doing. And it’s not easy to resist getting sucked into all of that. 

There’s nothing new under the sun. Everything you’ve ever felt or thought, people before you have felt and thought for thousands of years. That includes loneliness. I think that being a living, thinking, breathing human being is simply, on some level, an isolating experience. No matter how many loved ones you have, or how much you do, at the end of the day, you’re still alone inside your head. No one else can truly meet you in there.

So I don’t think that social media causes loneliness. I think it’s a symptom of a greater problem. It just happens to be a symptom that, on the surface, seems like a bit of a cure. You go online, like and comment on your friends’ stuff, and they like and comment on yours, and for a while, you feel a little bit happier. You feel loved and validated. But then you close your browser and all that goes away. You’re alone inside your head again. So maybe you go online for longer, or more frequently, trying to get that feeling back. It’s almost like a drug. Maybe it is a drug. I sometimes feel like a drug addict with it. “I’ll just post this real quick and not get on it the rest of the day,” I tell myself. “Oh, but now someone has commented on my post. I want to see what they said, perhaps respond to it. Oh, look, that George Takei is so funny!” Ad nauseum. Ugh.

In and of itself, it’s not the problem, but how we interact with it certainly can be. 

The people in my life I feel closest to, besides my husband, are the few people that I exchange physical, hand-written letters with. While all of these people are also friends online, we rarely talk there. I’ve always been best at expressing myself in the written word, a writer through-and-through. I tend to tell people things in my letters that I don’t tell even the friends I see in person. I’m not the type of person who can easily admit out loud that I’m depressed or lonely or scared. It seems like less of a commitment to write those things down, but I’m not capable of expressing them in one or two sentences either.

And perhaps therein lies the crux of the issue with social media. While it scratches an itch, it’s not the right itch. It alleviates the immediate need without addressing what’s both deeper and more important. I think that’s why, nearly every time I log off, I’m left feeling slightly (or sometimes greatly) disappointed. The more time that passes, the more I think that I need to find a way to disconnect from it, although probably not completely. I feel like I’d be happier without it, or at least without it so easily accessible.

I’m not sure what the right answer is for me on this issue. It’s a bit of a catch-22. On a professional level, as a self-publishing author, I see that I’ll need to become more involved with social media. It’s not a matter of what I want, but of what I need to do to succeed. 

Socially, it can depend on one's circle, whether or not social media is necessary. Fortunately, here in California, my friends tend to make plans via email and text, but when I lived in Texas, most invites came via social media. Right now, it's not necessary for me on the personal level, but I think I'll stick with it so long as the positives outweigh the negatives. And when the bad begins to outweigh the good? Well, I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

A-Z Movies, Q: "Quiz Show"

Recommended by:

Al (friend)

Movie Stats:

Released 1994 (Canada)

American, in English

Director - Robert Redford

Stars - John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes

Plot Summary:

Set in late 1950s America and based on a true story. When former contestant Herbie Stempel (Turturro) accuses the producers of the quiz show Twenty-One of match fixing, federal investigator Dick Goodwin (Morrow) becomes involved. Fiennes co-stars as fellow Twenty-One contestant Charles Van Doren.

Warnings:

Blue language.

Bad Stuff:

Didn’t like the cold opening. It was so confusing and I didn’t understand what was going on, especially since I didn’t know any of the characters yet. I’m still not sure what it was about.

I found it painfully long, dry, and boring.

Good Stuff:

Great acting. Fiennes was, as always, a joy to watch, a true master of his craft. I also really enjoyed Christopher McDonald as show host Jack Barry. Even Morrow was pretty good. I liked his accent.

The costuming is very good.

I enjoyed the exploration of the camaraderie that built up between Goodwin and Van Doren. I thought it was really interesting and complex. I liked that, as much as Goodwin came to like and admire Van Doren, he remained skeptical of him and wasn’t taken in. It was nice to see a shrewd character (although he turned out to be naive in other ways).

The Verdict:

I’ve heard so many good things about this film. It’s one of those that people really seem to love. And here I am, scratching my head, wondering why. I thought it was a total snooze. Part of me wonders if the nostalgia factor is in play, like with Forrest Gump; the Baby Boomers loved it because it reminds them of their childhoods. As for me, I’ll take a great, big pass on ever watching it again. I could barely sit through it once. I honestly just did not find it that interesting at all. I think it would have been better if it had been a little shorter. It was definitely way too drawn out. 

I give it 2.75 stars.