Archive for the '2007' Category

Resolutions (sort of)

Published on 7 January 2008 in 2007. 2 Comments

I haven’t bothered to make new year’s resolutions for some years now, although in 2006 I did blog that I wanted to:

  • make the most of everything I have (to be grateful for everything I have!)
  • do my best with every opportunity I come across

Which are good, general ideals to live by for every month of every year, and not just at the fresh beginning of the year, in my humble opinion.

I don’t think new year’s resolutions work for me, although I do like the idea of starting anew and trying to improve oneself.  For some reason my annual improvements always seem to occur around the middle of every year - like 2005’s Early Rising Experiment; the (not one, but) two conference papers in 2006, and last year, changing the way I eat with Eat to Live. (Maybe I’m just too tired at the end of every year, with all the year’s activities and recovering from the festive season to make meaningful changes then.)

Anyway, I’m definitely not an experimental early riser these days (I like my 5am wakeup time), I’ll be presenting a paper and a poster at the upcoming VALA conference in Melbourne (the Click06 experience didn’t scar/deter me), and I’m pleased to report that I continue to mostly follow and enjoy the Eat to Live principles some five months later (and I’ve lost some 14 kg over this time - the most annoying/gratifying thing has been having to buy lots of new clothes). These mid-year improvements have been far more life changing than any new year’s resolutions I’ve ever made!

I’m not sure what this year will bring, but I think it will be interesting. Yesterday M and I booked flights to Europe - to celebrate ten years of being together. We’re going to be visiting London, Amsterdam and Berlin in the middle of the year (I’ll be blogging more on this over the coming weeks, I’m sure). I’m looking forward to reading more about the history of these cities, and brushing up on my Dutch and German.

Work wise, this year should also be a good one. The acting position I started in September has been extended until March 2009 and I intend to use this time to continue to learn and consolidate what I’m learning.

2007 Reading List

Published on 3 January 2008 in 2007, reading and books. 5 Comments

The numbers:

Number of books read in 2007: 85
New reads: 65 (re-read lots of Ruth Rendell)

Number of books read in 2006: 64
Number of books read in 2005: 56

Average read per month: 7.08
Average read per week: 1.6

Number read in worst month: 1 (June - not sure why)
Number read in best month: 14 (December - holidays)

Male authors: 26
Female authors: 24

Fiction: 75
non-fiction: 10 (marked *; 2006: 4, 2005: 2)

Scifi/fantasy: 21
Mystery/crime: 36
Literature/fiction: 11
Graphic novels: 0
YA: 13

January
*One of the Family by Pearlie McNeil
Nightchild by James Barclay
Fledgling by Octavia Butler
Shooting star by Peter Temple
Words of the heart by Ouida Sebestyen
*Counting the rivers by Pearlie McNeil
Counting the rivers by Ouida Sebestyen
Maigret’s revolver by Georges Simenon
The black book by Ian Rankin

February
Mortal causes by Ian Rankin
The shape of dread by Marcia Muller
Maigret meets a milord by Georges Simenon
Maigret and the hundred gibbets by Georges Simenon
Maigret and Pietr the Lett by Georges Simenon
Shake hands for ever by Ruth Rendell
End in tears by Ruth Rendell
Out by Natsuo Kirino
A surfeit of lampreys by Ngaio Marsh

March
Kissing the gunner’s daughter by Ruth Rendell
The enemy in the blanket by Anthony Burgess
Simisola by Ruth Rendell
Road rage by Ruth Rendell
Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Those who watch by Robert Silverberg
Gifts by Ursula Le Guin
War trash by Ha Jin

April
Raising the stones by Sheri Tepper
Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
The falls by Ian Rankin
The face of the waters by Robert Silverberg
*Stasiland by Anna Funder
Wolf to the slaughter by Ruth Rendell

May
Rainbows end by Vernor Vinge
To fear a painted devil by Ruth Rendell
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
*One pair of hands by Monica Dickens
A killing kindness by Reginald Hill
A sleeping life by Ruth Rendell

June
The Ptolemies by Duncan Sprott

July
Glasshouse by Charles Stross
The Chinese gold murders by Robert Van Gulik
The lacquer screen by Robert Van Gulik
Cover her face by PD James
Shroud for a nightingale by PD James

August
The black tower by PD James
*Eat to live by Joel Fuhrman
Sundiver by David Brin

September
Revelation space by Alastair Reynolds
I am David by Anne Holm
Vida by Marge Piercy
The laughing policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Over sea, under stone by Susan Cooper
Greenwitch by Susan Cooper
The grey king by Susan Cooper
Silver on the tree by Susan Cooper
*The lost world of the Kalahari by Laurens Van Der Post
*The ethics of what we eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason
*A long way gone by Ishmael Beah

October
The night watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
The world waiting to be made by Simone Lazaroo
The gate to women’s country by Sheri S Tepper
About a boy by Nick Hornby
Wolf brother by Michelle Paver
Day watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Hard time by Sara Paretsky
Killing orders by Sara Paretsky

November
Guardian angel by Sara Paretsky
Total recall by Sara Paretsky
*The concubine’s children by Denise Chong
Goose girl by Joy Dettman

December
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Three women by Marge Piercy
The water’s lovely by Ruth Rendell
A place of execution by Val McDermid
Chronicler of the winds by Henning Mankell
The longest way home by Robert Silverberg
In the flesh by Ruth Rendell
A solitary blue by Cynthia Voigt
Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
*Animal, vegetable, miracle: A year of seasonal eating by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
Lullaby by Ed McBain
Vespers by Ed McBain
Widows by Ed McBain

Most memorable:
Out by Natsuo Kirino (enjoyed this, but it gets this status because it was somewhat gruesome)

Most life-changing:
Eat to live by Joel Fuhrman and The ethics of what we eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason tie.

Particularly enjoyable:
Shooting star by Peter Temple (especially because the author himself sent me my copy!)
*Stasiland by Anna Funder (very evocative, made me want to go to Berlin)
Rainbows end by Vernor Vinge (I am a VV fan)
Glasshouse by Charles Stross (also a Stross fan)
About a boy by Nick Hornby (fun)
*Animal, vegetable, miracle: A year of seasonal eating by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver (great writing, thought provoking, and I learned a lot.)

I’m pleased that I read a few more non-fiction titles in 2007 than in previous years. I really enjoyed/got a lot out of all the non-fiction titles, so I think I might have to try and increase this number in 2008.

I don’t seem to have read much in languages other than English in 2007. This list doesn’t include all the Qing Nian Wen Zhai “Youth Digest” magazines I have read during my work commute, I suppose. I might have to seek out more Indonesian/Malaysian novels this year - the public library only seems to have schmaltzy romances which I can’t abide; maybe they will get other genres in if I ask nicely. And I might just start reading in Dutch this year, assuming we can do level 3 Dutch lessons sometime!

I believe a new Peter Temple novel is due this year, as is a new Culture novel by Iain M Banks - I can’t wait to read both of these!

Other people’s lists:
Jessamyn’s, Jiwa Rasa’s (in Malay), Angel’s , and Bibliobibuli’s Best of 2007. What was your reading year like?

The Year in Sentences

Published on 18 December 2007 in 2007, review and meme. 5 Comments

Meme: Post the first line of your first journal entry of each month for 2007. I don’t write regularly enough in my paper journal for this, so I’ll use this blog. Via No Feeling of Falling (the blog of Maureen McHugh, author of China Mountain Zhang. I think Maureen looked over her blog too.)

December: While tidying my study, I found, and started reading, a library book I’d forgotten I’d borrowed: The Top Ten: Writers pick their favorite books, edited by J. Peder Zane.

November: Have just closed off comments and trackbacks - seem to be getting a lot of spam at the moment.

October: Recently read A long way gone by Ishmael Beah.

September: Am still trying to write up Stephen Abram’s talk, which I attended on Friday.

August: Bloggers, care to share with me the reasons you blog?

July: I’m still pondering/processing Barcamp.

June: If you are interested in this whole Web/Library 2.0 malarkey and would like to have coffee with a bunch of us, come on down to the XWray in Fremantle at 3-13 Essex Street, tomorrow (Saturday 2 June) at 3pm.

May: I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to name another blog in this list this morning (we had a late night - puppy school then a birthday party) but it’s easy: blog number two out of five blogs that make me think is No Impact Man.

April: A terribly busy weekend, with two birthday celebrations and much running around after Paco.

March: I had the task of looking through a couple of boxes of books donated to the library yesterday.

February: My grandmother is still in hospital. [The worst month.]

January: I did this last year - it satisfies my enjoyment of making lists.

Nice way of looking over the year. I seem to have told myself that I haven’t done or achieved much this year. I think it’s time to let up on myself, somehow…

What’s your year been like?