P&PS

My reading goals for this fall are a lot more sedate than my plans were for the summer.  I'm hoping to finish up the majority of the books that I've started this year and have yet to finish as well as check off a few more books on my 2013 TBR list.  Of those, these are the books I'm most looking forward to reading (plus a few extra). * Top Ten Tuesdays is run by The Broke and the Bookish .

I've tried to step a bit outside the box on this one, so I've left off a lot of my usual favorites, in order to focus more on the visual aspect of film making (instead of focusing solely on great stories). O Pioneers! by Willa Cather I didn't even blink when I saw the title for this week's list.  I absolutely adore this book and think it would make an amazing film, particularly if the cinematography held true to Cather's stark descriptions of the landscape. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan I would love to see the bookstore come to life, but even more than that I would love to see the tech, and watch the interplay between the two. Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking Trilogy Yes, I have a not so secret need to see Amanda Tapping play Mistress Coyle, but I would also love to see this as a series of films or as a miniseries because there's such a sensory feel to the books with the typography and the presence of noise, that I would lo

My flight to Seattle ending up being a bit more eventful than I had planned, but all in all it went pretty smoothly thanks mostly to some pretty awesome customer service on Frontier's part.  Seattle so far has been chilly, although the rain's held off which is nice.  I haven't seen much of the city yet but I did walk around part of downtown and do some window shopping which was fun considering it involved bookstores, sustainably made clothing, and fluevogs. Right now I'm settling down for the night.  I'm tired, having gotten up at five in Minnesota, but I'm tempted to stay up just a bit later to soak in more of the odd quiet that's settled over this room full of people who haven't quite fallen asleep yet.  Ten minutes ago the room was full of conversations, none of which I understood aside from the odd English phrase, and now it's silent save the occasional noise from the street.  It's nice, more like the last couple of nights I spent in Minnes

I can never quite decide what I want this blog to be.  I post things and then delete them.  I sit around debating what I want this blog to be.  The truth of the matter is I know what I want this blog to be, I've known for a long time, I just don't know how to get it there, or rather I don't know how to be the person I want writing the blog I want this blog to be. It seems a bit ridiculous wanting to document my journey towards self-sufficiency and a(n urban) homestead of sorts, while simultaneously feeling like I need to have achieved these goals before I can talk about them.  Maybe I feel like I'm not trying hard enough, not working consistently enough toward these goals, but maybe that's the point.  It doesn't have to be a monumental undertaking, it doesn't have to mean huge shifts in the way I live my life.  Maybe it's one step at a time day after day until one day I wake up and realize I'm there.  I don't know, but I guess this blog will he

This is my version of a monthly wrap up/going up in.../monthly favorites/monthly time capsules.  It's a quick list of the things I love and my thoughts at the moment. On Repeat: Sara Bareillis - Islands Eminem  - Love the Way You Lie  [it was on my ipod and catchy so...] The Newsroom (2012) Roasted sunflower seeds Favorites: Film : The Wolverine [the only film I saw this month] Book : Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan Food : Corned Beef; Quinoa with pasta sauce and meatballs Game/Tech Item : Flow Colors 101 Status Report: Back at the beginning of August I made a 101 in 1,001 list which is a list of 101 goals to be met in 1,001 days (roughly 2.75 years).  So far I've completed five with plans to complete five more in September.  The goals I met were: Make a list of 101 things :: 05 August Write a letter to myself to be opened at the end of the project Make a list of family and friends' birthdays Make a list of the simple things t

This week's Top Ten Tuesday (run by The Broke and the Bookish ) is all about books in school and required reading.  A lot of these are going to be historical fiction.  I can tell you that right now before I even start my list because history is where my book!nerd and academic love collide.  I am stretching the idea of "contemporary"a bit on a few of these, but I have tried to stick with pairs of books where the books themselves are separated quite distinctly in time. The Heretic's Daughter by Katheleen Kent and The Crucible by Arthur Miller I love both of these to pieces, plus I like that they present the same series of events from two distinct points of view, the former focusing on a POV we don't often see, while the latter focuses on the more typical story line, but in a lesser used format (i.e. a stage play). Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Both of these novels present a wealth of discussion opportunities on their own, but p