2013 books!

SO I haven't written much here this year. In part, I've been busy and occasionally sick, but mostly I've been not very exciting.  Despite new uncertainties and limitations, life mostly proceeds as it always has.  I wrote a bunch of grants, one of which was funded.   I drank a lot of cocktails on patios and at the back tables of new bars, and spent some time on the beach.  I saw the Finger lakes and the rocky coasts of Maine, went to San Diego twice in three weeks,  had many adventures.
 I also spent a lot of time in bed recuperating from one thing or another, which is pretty lame.  The upside of being sick all the time is, of course, lots of time to read!  These are the books I finished in 2013. I put asterisks by my ten favorites.  I should note that I am not one of those people who finishes every book they start, in fact I frequently start and don't finish.  If I don't find a book enjoyable or engaging or interesting, I stop reading (unless I'm super bored or on an airplane or something) So unless otherwise noted, any book on this list is one I considered worth reading, even if it wasn't one of my favorites ever:

1. Sharp Objects Gillian Flynn    Dark but good. I also tried to read Dark Places by her, but couldn't get into it
2. Year of the Flood Margaret Atwood  re-read
3. The Dovekeepers Alice Hoffman  re-read
4. Ghost Map Steven Johnson  A rare non-fiction book. Would you like to know more about cholera? Then this is the book for you!
5. The Garden of Evening  Mists Tan Twen Eng
6. Sweet Tooth Ian McEwen  A nice engaging read, but the finale felt a little bit like a re-tread of some of his surprise endings.
7. Through the Ever Night Veronica Rossi
8. Little Wolves Thomas Maltman
9. The Sense of an Ending Julian Barnes
10. Scarlet Marissa Mayer
11. The Gentle Axe R. N.  Morris
12. Philida Andre Brink 
13. *Vampires in the Lemon Grove Karen Russell  I don't usually get that into short stories, but I devoured these.  This lady can write!
14. *Out of the Easy Ruta Septys This one is technically for teenagers, but it takes place in a brothel and other assorted stations of the criminal underworld in New Orleans, so...older teenagers? Upon finishing, I immediately wished it was a series so there could be more
15. A Vengeful Longing R. N.  Morris
16. Wise Men  Stuart Nadler 
17. Legend Marie Lu Decent for those of you who like dystopian worlds saved by plucky teens
18. Between Shades of Grey Ruta Septys  Not that shades of grey! This one is about life in a gulag. Slightly less sexy. 
19. Jacob's Folly Rebecca Miller It took me a while to get used to the premise (17th century parisian jew is reincarnated as a fly on long island), but once I did I enjoyed it
20. When We Wake Karen Healey
21. *A Tale for the Time Being Ruth Ozeki Lovely, reminds me a little bit of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, which is one of my all-time favorites
22. Dark Triumph Robyn LaFevers
23. *The Golem and The Jinni Helene Wecker  
24. The Fever Tree Jennifer McVeigh 
25. Southern Cross the Dog Bill Cheng I
26. *Constellation of Vital Phenomena Anthony Marra  Probably my favorite of the year. Completely beautiful and haunting and poignant, it's a book that makes you ache long after you finish. 
27. Seige and Storm Leigh Bardugo
28. Until She Comes Home Lori Roy
29. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without me Mindy Kaling
30. Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway Sara Gran Not quite as good as the first Claire DeWitt novel, but still a fun read
31. Shining Girls Lauren Beukes This started off so good and interesting, and ended up sort of...blah.  
32. The River of No Return Bee Ridgeway
33. The Time in Between Marie Duenas 
34. A Moment Comes Jennifer Bradbury
35. The Last Runaway Tracey Chevalier
36. The Never List Koethi Zan 
37. The Arrivals Melissa Marr
38. The Wicked Girls Alex Marwood
39. Blood and Beauty Sarah Dunant
40. Love and Lament John Millikin Thompson 
41. Lost Girls Robert Kolker
42. *Maddaddam Margaret Atwood The sequel to Year of the Flood and Oryx and Crake,  not quite as spectactular as those two, but a nice ending to the trilogy 
43. *The Daughters of Mars Thomas Kenneally The story of two sisters who become nurses in WWI. Aside from an annoying habit of saying things like "we're going to Gallipolli where I'm sure nothing bad will happen", this is great
44. Seven for a Secret Lyndsey Faye
45. The Hired Man Aminatta Forna
46. The Fire Witness Lars Kepler
47. The Last Animal Abby Geni 
48. We are Water Wally Lamb Wally Lamb has this annoying tendency to try to work a bunch of hot-button issues into every book he writes. It was obnoxious in earlier books, but in this one renders an otherwise interesting story pretty much unreadable. I wouldn't have finished if I hadn't been trapped on an airplane. 
49. The Bone Season Samantha Shannon   A new sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian series. This book was definitely flawed, but I think the series has a lot of promise. 
50. My Notorious Life Kate Manning
51. *Life after life Kate Atkinson Really fascinating, sort of darkly funny.  The only downside is that the story is about a woman who has infinite lives, so the first fifty or sixty pages feature a baby/little girl dying over and over again, which is a bit of a bummer
52. *The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri 
53. Rustication Charles Palliser
54. *Code  Name Verity Elizabeth Wein  SO GOOD.  This was one of my favorites. Great storytelling, characters, everything.  Technically a book for teenagers, but I think it would appeal to adults who don't like YA lit too.  A pretty quick read, but as soon as I finished (and stopped crying), I immediately flipped back to the front and re-read the first half. 
55. Rose under Fire Elizabeth Wein   Sequel to Code Name Verity.  Not quite as good, but still worth reading
56. All the Truth That is in Me  Julie Berry
57. Fool Christopher Moore
58. The Road Cormac McCarthy   Just to end the year on a positive note...

   Also, some re-reads:

   59-61.  The Hunger Games Trilogy
   62-68.  Harry Potter 1-7

Reptile in a Human Costume

me

9:06 PM

I can tell you one thing

however history turns out

I am pretty glad Antonin Scalia and I will be on opposite sides of it

---

Elizabeth 

9:07 PM

haha

it would not surprise me at all

if he turned out to be a reptile in a human costume.

Mocking Florida Man is our favorite game

me: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/28/3259241/court-rules-judge-cant-ban-florida.html

  Florida man!

5:48 PM Keri: Florida man wants to be Ohio man!

me: Ohio man says NO

  but then Ohio court says ok

 Keri: and then...

  ok.

  but only if you stay away from belly shirts, manatees, the zoo, children, and any thing that consumes oxygen actually

  of course

 

5:50 PM Keri: florida man could hole up in a cabin in the woods and get high on bath salts

 

 Keri: blow up said cabin

  start a forest fire

 me: to be fairme: there are plenty of Ohio men doing that too

 Keri: and florida man could be arrested for that

  i feel that florida man is safe nowhere

 me: and the best way to get rid of Florida Man is probably just to wait for winter

 Keri: as long as himself is around

  haha

  yeah i think so!

  he will only bring flipflops to ohio

  and his florida gator flag

5:51 PM me: and jean shorts

 Keri: how could i forget those?

 me: you need real pants for real winter

  Florida man

Surprise 3-day weekend

Parental Encouragment

Because my still-unidentified-probably-autoimmune arthritis (doctor's plan: "let's see if it gets worse" My plan: new doctor) rules out land-based exercise for the forseeable future, I have been exercising in the pool.  I haven't spent regular time in the pool since I was a kid, so re-acclimation is a slow process.

My father is supportive.

me

9:17 PM

Hi da

you'll be happy to know I didn't drown in the pool yesterday

and that I can swim a 100 m freestyle in 4 minutes

which is only...3 minutes and 15 seconds off of michael phelps pace

---

Dave 

9:17 PM

Well, that's pretty much drifting with the current, but it's a good start

Haiku

Kerita and I have both been working on a grant that is due soon, and we have found ourselves...frustrated. More me than her, I think

5:17 PM me: I am just having a complete mental block

 Keri: maybe you should write a haiku

5:18 PM me: Please please fund my grant       I want a real job so bad       fuck you i'm awesome

  there

  did it

 Keri: did it help?

 me: well

  I think it is a pretty nice haiku

5:19 PM Keri: ha me too

  too bad they don't accept appendices

PS: I've had lots of gchat snippets lately. I try to write posts more frequently, but then I get perfectionist and ADD and type A about how much my writing sucks and how boring I am. Which is something I battle with pretty much constantly about my more academic writing. So I post chats when people  are funny. I am at  my maximum level of hilariousness in short bits, anyways.

Books-2012

In 2011, I read sixty books, seventy counting the annual harry potter and hunger games re-reads.  My goal for 2012 was seventy, not counting rereads. I failed miserably! In my defense, I wrote a grant, taught three continuing ed classes, and had a bustling social life, so it isn't like this is a tragedy. Anyways, here is what I read-I put stars by my top ten of the year.

1.  Tomorrow when the war began John Marsden
2.  The Snow Child Eowyn Ivey  
3. The Flame Alphabet Ben Marcus  
4. The Devil All the Time Donald Ray Pollack  Really dark and twisted, but good!
5. *The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides wonderful! characters are not particularly sympathetic,  but it's a great book nonetheless
6.  Monsters of Men Patrick Ness
7.  The Illumination Kevin Brockmeier
8.  The Fault in our Stars John Green This is a book about teenagers with cancer, so obviously right up my alley.  But despite the sadness of the topic, it is really sweet and well written-I think would be enjoyable even for those who don't like YA fiction
9.  *The Dovekeepers Alice Hoffman Probably my favorite of the year. just beautifully written and told.  Reminds me a little of The Red Tent.
10. The Flight of Gemma Hardy Margot Livesy  This is a retelling of Jane Eyre, set in the 1950s-  a pleasant enough read, but I would rather just re-read Jane Eyre
11. The Great Big Book Horrible Things: A definitive chronicle of the world's 100 greatest atrocities Matthew White  My non-fiction of the year. Surprisingly funny!
12.  Cinder Marissa Mayer
13. Under the Never Sky Vanessa Rossi
14. Song of Achilles Madeline Miller
15. Gods of Gotham Lyndsey Faye Great historical fiction in old Manhattan
16. Lamb Christopher Moore A reread for sister book club.  Still really good!
17. The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood  Another re-read of one of my all-time favorites
18. *Claire DeWitt and The City of the Dead Sara Grann Murder myster in post-Katrina New Orleans. Claire DeWitt is a great detective heroine, the mystery is sufficiently twisty without being ludicrous, the story is poignant without being cloying.
19. *Shadow and Bone Leigh Bardugo  This is a teenage fantasy/dystopian novel, of course.  The story is pretty typical, but the setting and the world the author built are completely fantastic. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel.
20. The Chemistry of Tears Peter Carey
21. Out of Oz Gregory Maguire 
22. A Secret Kept Tatiana de Rosnay
23. *The Orphan Master's Son Adam Johnson. This one is set in North Korea. Interesting story and oddly funny.  You hear the story from the protagonist, the torturer interrogating him, and the official news version
24. *Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel The Sequel to Wolf Hall,  a sympathetic (ish) portrait of Thomas Cromwell
25. Insurgent Veronica Roth
26. The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood
27. The Virgin Cure Ami McKay
28. Into the darkest corner Elizabeth Haynes. 
29. *Tell the Wolves I'm home Carol Rifka Brunt  simple and lovely.
30. The last policeman Ben Winters  A new series-mysteries set in an apocolyptic future! Sort of slow paced, but I am looking forward to reading the next installment
31. Age of Miracles Karen Thompson Walker
32. Hell or High Water Joyce Castro
33. Broken Harbor Tana French
34. What Dies in Summer Tom Wright
35. Talking with the Dead Harry Bingham
36. *Sandcastle Girls Chris Bohjalian Really, really good-very dark and , as it is about the Armenian Genocide. Engrossing throughout.
37. City of Women David Gilham
38. Gone Girl Gillian Flynn  Everyone and their daddy and all their cousins read this book. It was an engaging enough story, but I wasn't terribly impressed
39. *The Diviners Libba Bray  This is, technically, a book for teenagers. It is silly, a supernatural mystery in Jazz Age New York. The antagonist is largely ripped off from Dr. H.H. Holmes, except with more magic. Still, it was one of my favorites of the year.  I tore through it in a few days, slowed down only by the fact that it creeped me out too much to read late into the night. The writing is beautiful, way, way more poetic than you would expect in a silly book for teenagers
40. Illuminations Mary Sharrat
41. The wonder show Hannah Barnaby
42. Live through this Mindi Scott
43.  Life Among Giants Bill Roorbach
44. Grave Mercy Robin LeFevers 
45. Lazarus is dead Richard Beard This book is totally bizarre.  It is a fictionalized biographyof Lazarus (of raised-from-the-dead Biblical fame), written in a serious, scholarly tone but drawing from sources like artwork, history, and other works of fiction.  Really weird. Honestly, I probably only read past the first chapter because I was delayed forever on the second leg of my trip home for christmas.  But I am glad I persevered, because as much as the first half was a struggle to figure out what was going on the second half flew as it drew towards a touching end.

spreadsheets

Elizabeth 

9:12 PM

i have new years resolution writer's block.

it's an odd feeling.

---

me

9:12 PM

um

---

Elizabeth 

9:13 PM

not, like, I can't think of resolutions. I CAN.

I just can't organize the spreadsheet, due to laziness.

---

me

9:14 PM

so

a couple things

1) you are making a spreadsheet of new year's resolutions?

---

Elizabeth 

9:14 PM

yes.

---

me

9:15 PM

2) you are having trouble with a spreadsheet?

you LOVE spreadsheets

---

Elizabeth 

9:15 PM

I know.

I love resolution spreadsheets, especially.

with color codes!

but. I just don't know where to put things.

---

me

9:16 PM

...

...

---

Elizabeth 

9:17 PM

I don't understand.

your ellipses are full of judging.

but are they full of meaning?

no.

probably, they are full of jealousy.

---

me

9:18 PM

sure

jealousy

Hunger Games for congress

A Wednesday morning conversation...

me

9:12 AM

I sort of think that the house republican conferences are going to turn into the Hunger Games.

and I can't say I'm sad?

---

Katie 

9:13 AM

I was actually thinking about that yesterday!

Only mine was "Can we execute a congressperson from each party every 2 hours until they solve this?"

"Like the Hunger Games, for Congress."

---

me

9:13 AM

hahahaha

I like yours better

Hannukah Miracles abound...

1)our paper, which I am second author on and has been in review/revision/review FOREVER was accepted by Neuron yesterday. This is the paper we went to Philly to do insanely hard experiments for (I think 8 days of recording, 4 cells from 30 animals!).  

2) My hands, after two weeks of unexplained stiffness and distracting levels of pain, a doctor's visit where they took approximately half my blood for testing, and a lot of hyperventilating while googling bone cancer and lupus, have spontaneously healed. Ok, so I know they are not healed and whatever is wrong is unlikely to just disappear, but today I can move them and the pain is minimal and I am making cookies