Vicious by V.E. Schwab

I like independent bookstores, mostly. I just love the idea of them, but between various tax laws and a public addicted to the convenience of an online platform, it's hard for independents to survive. Obviously, I do buy from Amazon at times, but by far I get most of my books used. However, when I do go into an independent to browse, I try to make a point of buying something. During the massive most awesome road trip of all time last summer we stopped in an independent in Little Rock, Arkansas called Wordsworth Books. Great people and solid selection for the size. They even had some interesting imports in the kids section. We bought Thomas a Where's Wally book (Where's Waldo but British) none of us had seen before and I picked up Vicious. 

Sometimes your favorites creep up on you. It starts out as a solid like, but after a time it suddenly becomes apparent that you'll pick up anything with their name on it. V.E. (Victoria) Schwab was like that for me. Some time over the summer, I realized that I'd happily give anything she writes a shot. 

Schwab writes fantasy about half of which is set in a mostly real world setting. Vicious is about two overly intelligent young men who develop a theory in college about how to create people with extraordinary abilities (EOs). In the world of the book, EOs already exist but they are rare and generally unconfirmed. Most people don't believe in their existence and no one seems to know why it happens. Victor and Eli, as part of their senior seminar, aim to not only figure out what these individuals have in common, but also why it happens.

From there it is really only a short step to trying to create these abilities in themselves. From there things go awry. Turns out that both Eli and Victor have some unresolved issues and super-powers just complicate things.

It's an interesting narrative told along two timelines. The first is when Eli and Victor are seniors in college. The second is ten years later after Victor has escaped from prison with his cellmate Mitch. I often find following two timelines a little confusing, but Schwab did an excellent job keeping the two distinct. While the story overall was pretty dark, I very much enjoyed Victor not because he is the good guy, because he's not, but because he struggles to keep his darkness in check.

A fun read overall and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Exercise Resolutions

 Exercise routines are hard to start. The first day is great. Your fired up, your ready to go. You've decided enough is enough and things have got to change. So getting on that treadmill on day 1, that's a piece of cake. The running routine is a little rough, don't get me wrong, but by jiminy you set a goal and you met that goal. . . on day 1.

Yeah, the hard thing about a new exercise routine is the routine bit. The first few sessions are always pretty decent. It feels good even. However, sooner rather than later there's a day where I just don't wanna. There's nothing really wrong with me, I'm just tired or something and I don't want to. If I don't push through it, often enough that's the end of the routine. 

The secret is that its easy, in the end, to sit still, or find little things to keep occupied. It's hard to get all dressed up for half an hour of exertion. It's easy to rationalize a day off (not counting a legitimate rest day). 

Today was the day I really didn't want to but I did it anyway. I put on my silly running pants and I slogged through the running routing on the treadmill. I'm glad I did, but I'm still not looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully it feels better when tomorrow arrives.

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane

 Originally published in 1893, Maggie: a Girl of the Streets is both a classic and a curriculum relic in some areas. I read it because my American Lit teacher is going to be teaching it this year. After a couple of rough experiences I make sure that I've read everything my teachers are teaching if only I so that I can respond with an emphatic "Yes, I have," to the question of "Have you even read what she's teaching?" (The irony is that usually the person asking the question has not read the whole thing, whatever it is, and being able to say yes tends to short circuit the tirade.) Anyway, give the title, I figured that I should really get it read before it's introduced. 

It's a brutal story. In fact, Crane had to self-publish the novella in 1893 because publishers objected to the content and felt that it was risqué. It was later revised and republished in 1896. Honestly, I can see the publishers' point. I don't find it particularly risqué from a modern context, but it's an excellent example of literary realism and it's a story about two kids of alcoholic impoverished Irish immigrants. It's a grim story involving violence, hypocrisy, and rampant alcoholism.

Maggie, the main character, is less a protagonist than she is a victim of her circumstances. Essentially, Maggie first appears as a young girl with her brother Jimmie being terrorized by her parents. Later as a young adult, she begins dating Jimmie's friend Pete which causes her to be kicked out for "going to the devil." Pete later ditches her and it is heavily implied that Maggie turns to prostitution which ultimately causes her death. Like I said, grim. 

In terms of a class text, there are many virtues that outweigh the problems I think. First, it is an excellent example of literary realism which was an important style for the time period. Additionally, it can be used as an example of Naturalism. Second, the content does a good job of illustrating several concerns of the time period as well as illustrate the poverty that was rampant in the big cities. Third, it's short. The copy I read was only about 60 pages long. It packs in a lot of good educational fodder for its size.

However, I got to say, it is not an enjoyable read and I grew to detest just about all of the characters surrounding Maggie. I think that was rather Crane's point though, so I can't really call it a flaw.

Fruits Basket Another by Natsuki Takaya

 I'm a huge fan of Fruits Basket. I read the whole series in '22 and have watched the associated animes several times. I even have a pair of Fruits Basket PJ pants. Ryan is a great one for noticing when I am enthusiastic about something and researching out anything related. Apparently, Takaya wrote a short 4 volume follow up series when they produced the new anime. All four English language volumes came out in 2022. Ryan scooped them all up for me and I just finished volume 4.

Fruits Basket Another is basically a short narrative following the next generation of Somas. The curse is over, so there is no crazy turning into animals when hugged by a member of the opposite gender but a lot of the coloring markers remain. Yuki's son has grey hair, for example. The Somas are still unnaturally beautiful and popular as well.

In this generation, our hapless heroine is a girl named Ayha Mitoma. Unlike Toru from the main series, Mitoma has a horrible borderline abusive home situation that has caused her to be withdrawn and insecure. The main group of Somas pretty much adopt her at school and force her to join the student council. 

Her interaction with the student council members sets Mitoma on a path that builds her confidence. Eventually, she meets Akito's son who is still in Middle School. He is just as withdrawn as she is and their budding friendship helps them both heal.

It's a great character drama that echoes the themes of the original series. The fourth volume really only has the last chapter of the story. The rest of the volume looks like vignette's that were created as promotional material for various releases of the collected volumes and anime seasons. They are interesting but a little lacking in context.

If you are a fan of the original series, I recommend Fruits Basket Another. However, there are a lot of references to events in the original series, so if you haven't read it yet, don't try to start with Fruits Basket Another. It'll lose something by lack of context.

Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story) by Daniel Nayeri

 I'm beginning my resolve to blog all my reads this year by reviewing the last book I read in 2022. It is lucky then that the last book I read was such a good one. Everything Sad is Untrue is a memoir. I don't read a lot of memoirs and I didn't properly realize that this was one when I started. 

The events are told from the perspective of Daniel Nayeri when he is in middle school and appears to be in the form of a series of journal entries written for a class assignment. Daniel is both directly addressing the reader in places while also clearly writing with the idea of his classmates and teacher as his audience. 

The narrative covers Daniel's first memories around age 3 and continues through to the "present" point in the narrative. In those years, Daniel and his mother an sister leave their homes in Iran as refugees fleeing a fatwa placed on their heads and end up in Oklahoma. Despite being a doctor in Iran, Daniel's mom is forced to start over and life is tough.

Daniel tries to explain a completely different culture to a class of middle-schoolers. He uses Persian stories and episodes from 1001 Arabian Nights to explain ideas to a bunch of kids who are...well, awful but typical.

Despite being bullied and harassed, Daniel's narrative is about finding understanding through narrative. In a way, it does a good job of examining how life and story can never be quite the same thing. I really enjoyed the voice and interweaving of the narratives. By the end of the memoir, I found myself fully engaged and interested in the story. It really is a very good book.

A Clean House is a Sane House

 I don't think of myself as being a "stuff" person. I'm not, generally, tied into having things...especially not things that confer some sort of status. It's just stuff. Yet, somehow I've found myself at a point in my life where I feel swamped by clutter. There's just a ton of stuff in my home and it's everywhere. Sometimes it feels like we are literally wading through clutter.

On reflection, it's not hard to figure out how we got here. While we don't pursue stuff generally, as individuals we have areas where we could be called collectors (if you are feeling charitable) or hoarders (if you aren't). Ryan collects music; his CD collection is enormous. He also is quick to pick up movies and games for Thomas and I. Thomas loves anything Lego, board games, and has a collection of books impressive for an 8 year old. I'm probably the worst of us. I collect books, cook books, cookware, pantry staples, and (bizarrely) yarn. 

Over the years, we've run culls. Boxes and boxes of media have been appreciated, considered, and ultimately left the house as gifts, donations, or second hand sales. Even so, there are literally thousands of books in the house, cds and other disc media is well up over 4 digits, and Thomas has two craft drawer sets filled to bursting with Legos. Board games are overflowing their storage areas, many of which we haven't gotten around to playing. We have stacks and stacks of books, movies, and cds all over the house. We also have full bookcases and racks. It's just a lot, and it doesn't even address all the other incidental clutter that life generates.

The biggest problem is that most/many things just don't have homes. Not being stuff people, for most of our adult lives if the house got messy, it was really just a process of rounding up all the stuff that needed to be tossed out or donated. It took a few hours. We really just didn't have much that needed organizing. As we've aged our collections grew, life became more involved, and we have more things that are worth keeping. Yet, neither of us really has the organizing habit ingrained, so things accumulated over time. They didn't have homes, so they just built up all over the place stuffed into whatever corner was convenient at the time.

I'm out of corners and my tolerance for clutter is tapped out.

The goal for 2023 is to fix it. 

By fix it, I mean everything off the floors. Everything has homes and the storage spaces are organized. This is not going to be a quick process. We are going to need to buy shelving for the basement and finally get around to sealing the wall (before I stick shelves in front of it). I am going to have to consciously work at the backlog of books and finish the various yarn projects I'm in the middle of. We need to unbox and actually play our board games.

Thomas and I actually started in December by cleaning his room and moving his toys out of the old dining room (which we turned into a play room for his toddler years.) It felt doable and his support was amazing. He earmarked 5 boxes of old toys, books, and games that were in good enough shape to be donated and two full bags of broken toys. His room, while still cluttered, is clean and it feels like such a better more inviting space.

With support like that, I feel like this is an achievable goal and it will be nice to feel like we have a house in good enough shape to have company in. 

January List

So my first attempt at pulling 15 books randomly from the shelves was an interesting experience. One of them was a dud in the sense that I only have book 3 in a series. We'll fix that and try again but for time being I replaced it with something from the same shelf. The resulting 15 books are an odd assortment heavy on nonfiction. (They are all marked with RP on the list) About 2/3's of them I remember buying and why we have them. There are a few though that are complete mysteries so it should be interesting.

I'm not really sure how to tackle this. Part of the point is to work through the really old stuff and either read or release them. If I use a strictly random system, it's possible that it will miss all the random picks or will hit them one after another. Either could be bad. On the other hand, if I'm picking from the list, the tendency is going to be to pick the shiniest ones. I'll end up with the least enticing books languishing on the list month after month. It's a quandary. 

I think for now, I'll try the random system with a few caveats. 1. If I start a series, I'm allowed to keep going through the series until I'm ready to stop. 2. I'm allowed a free pick after a couple of random ones just so I can hit the things I'm most excited about.

As always it seems, I have an urgent list still that I can pick from any time I need to.

1. Complete Short Stories by Isaac Asimov (class prep)
1. Volume 1
2. Volume 2 (Christmas Gift)
2. The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi (Finished 1/21/2023)
3. Flavia de Luce Series by Alan Bradley
1. A Red Herring Without Mustard (Finished 1/28/2023)
2. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
3. Speaking from Among the Bones
4. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
5. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
6. Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd
7. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place
8. The Golden Tresses of the Dead
4. How to Bake Pi by Eugenia Cheng (RP)
5. The Ghost Bride: A Novel by Yangsze Choo (TBR)
6. I by Zoraida Cordova (Christmas Gift)
7. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey
1. Abaddon's Gate
2. Cibola Burn
3. Nemesis Games
4. Babylon's Ashes
5. Persepolis Rising
6. Tiamat's Wrath
7. Leviathan Falls
8. Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick (RP)
9. Desert Flower by Earis Dirie (RP)
10. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (classic)
11. The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos & Sam Taylor(TBR)
12. Count Zero by William Gibson (RP)
13. The Mindwar Trilogy by Andrew Klavan
1. Mindwar
2. Hostage Run
3. Game Over
14. The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie - well, it's by Hugh Laurie so it's probably not leaving the house, but I officially have no interest in reading it any more. It's probably not awful, but narrator is winking at the audience way too much. It made it hard to get into the story.
15. Trader by Charles de Lint (RP)
16. The Color of Water by James McBride (RP)
17. Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (RP)
18. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin (RP)
19. Themis Files Trilogy by Sylvain Neuvel (TBR)
1. Sleeping Giants
2. Waking Gods
3. Only Human
20. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series by Louise Penny
1. The Cruelest Month
2. A Rule Against Murder
3. The Brutal Telling
4. Bury Your Dead
5. A Trick of the Light
6. The Beautiful Mystery
7. How the Light Gets In
8. The Long Way Home
21. The Bridgerton Prequels by Julia Quinn
1. Because of Miss Bridgerton
2. The Girl With the Make-Believe Husband
3. The Other Miss Bridgerton
4. First Come Scandal
22. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins (RP)
23. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
24. Cooking Light: Mad Delicious by Keith Schroeder (RP)
25. Villains by V.E. Schwab
1. Vicious (Finished 1/7/2023)
2. Vengeful (Finished 1/20/2023)
26. The Settlement Cook Book
27. White Teeth by Zadie Smith (RP)
28. Battle Royale: The Novel by Koushun Takami Translated by Yuji Oniki
29. Fruits Basket Another vol 4 by Natsuki Takaya (Finished 1/2/2023)
30. A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg (RP)

The Urgent List:

1. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA, Library)
2. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (borrowed from Dad)
3. Maggie Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane (Finished 1/2/2023)
4. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers (Ryan Pick, because he really wants me to read it)
5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (YA, borrowed from Amanda)
6. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA, Library)
7. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (borrowed from Stephanie)
8. Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventure's Guide by Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras (NF, finishing it up)