March 2020 Wrap-Up + April Goals

This month has been absolutely chaotic between the oldest's school being cancelled for basically forever (I think the tentative date back right now is April 28th?), other shutdowns (libraries, bookstores are my most upsetting ones - especially the ones that may not come back after all this starts getting better),  and my job's hours being reduced before me ultimately getting temporarily laid off (I spoke to our HR gal and she's assured me they'll call all of us back - we'll see). I've had to nativagate filing for unemployment for the first time in my life, avoid people more than usual (because certain people I live with either can't or won't). I've been trying to support as locally as I can, but it's going to start getting tough if the other earners in the apartment get laid off as well.

So of my goals I set in February, I've solidly finished two. I got everything for my book swap and got the box sent out, luckily before the post office closed (currently, it's still open, but a lot of the other folks in the swap have been talking about theirs being closed, so I doubt everyone's going to get their box when they're supposed to). I spoke with the person that's supposed to send me my swap and I likely will fall into that 'get it later' category. That's ok. The world is crazy right now.

I also posted about Twelve Nights at Rotter House. See that here. My goal about that book club was only really half completed as there's no longer going to be face-to-face meetings and I haven't heard of a virtual one for horror group yet. But I got The Exorcist and listen/read it and also watched the movie. See that here.

I've been chugging away at The Girls and The Stars and while it is so fast paced and interesting, I think it's also bogging me down at bit with how breakneck it is and the world building is just so vast. It's lovely, but it's taking me longer to complete than expected. I may not get it out to the next in line before I get the one sent to me.

Have been social distancing and haven't been able to get out to do any magnet fishing. I think technically we can, so long as we stay away from anyone else, but the motivation to do things like that with everyone is slim. I also wrote next to nothing besides a few notes and scenes over the course of the month.

The chaotic-ness of me trying to get any work done (piles of notebooks, books, cords, and my laptop)

All those people saying that this time of being cooped up should be time everyone should be working on their creative endeavors obviously hasn't had a houseful of kids and paranoid people, with an endless barrage of bad news on their phone, and stress shutting off every creative synapses in their brain. I've been an almost useless puddle of goo.

I finished three books.

The Exorcist, obviously. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (translated by Gunny Tapley Takemori), which was a quick and entertaining palate cleanser. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, which I listened to it narrated by him and it was a little bittersweet. I miss seeing the man travel around to interesting places and eat interesting things.

Anyway, I'm not going to give my self any strict April goals as I got a feeling it's going to be just a ridiculous as March.

• Finish a book
• Write anything at all
• Try not to be on social media 24-7

Have You Heard About Litsy?

Why am I posting about this? It's like when a big publication posts about a nice beach spot and then the small, secret spot is suddenly overrun with trashy tourists letting their dogs poop everywhere, driving up prices.

But in these times of everyone staying home and having to be amused by their phones and TVs, I thought maybe there'd be more reading. So here's Litsy. It's kind of like a mix of Instagram (pictures) and Twitter (word limit). You can have a to-be-read list (which you can add to directly from other's posts) and the only ratings are pick (love), so-so (meh), and pan (not good). You can also bail, which has been a fucking revelation to me. That I don't have to finish a book I'm not enjoying. Embrace it. Life is too short for crappy reads.

There's tons of little games and read-a-longs and swaps that are community organized and it's generally a very friendly and welcoming group. We very rarely get spammers or harassers (and if we do, they get the ban hammer pretty quickly). People have made pretty genuine friends on there and I know some of them meet IRL.

So if you're a reader and are interested in posting your meh pictures you took before you got that perfect one for bookstagram and mini reviews that don't have to be full of hashtags or promotions, come on and join us! The link above is actually directly to my profile. The website is OK, but I'd suggest a combination of it (to block any hashtags you're not interested in seeing and for a more organized notification bar) and the app (which is just more convenient).

Add me! :)

'Twelve Nights at Rotter House' review

Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W. Ocker (published in October 2019) is his first adult fiction book. Mostly, he's written travelogues about horror locations and history, so not a huge surprise that the main character of this, Felix, is also a horror travelogue author. I got this for my horror book club, but didn't finish it in time for the meet, which is disappointing as I had some things to say.

The premise of this one is that Felix, not a believer of ghosts, convinces the owner of Rotter House to let him stay alone for 13 days for a book. Immediately, you know things are going to go wrong seeing as the book is twelve days, but alas. The first couple of chapters detail him exploring the abandoned, ramshackled house and have some eerie moments. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he's joined by his friend Thomas. There's some tension between the two of them as they haven't spoken in over a year due to some falling out that isn't mentioned for some time. Both are horror junkies, though Thomas believes in ghosts/supernatural stuff, and it goes from there.

pictured is 'Twelve Nights at Rotter House' by J.W. Ocker

So, my biggest issue with this had to do (besides the ending) with pacing. It dragged so much, separated by days where much of the time nothing happens except the two men having long conversations about their history and horror stuff. It seemed to delve more into a drama than a horror/haunted house. Sometime after the halfway point it starts to pickup and dive headfirst into crazy town.

At this point, I could not put the book down as the tension between the two is revealed and some of the hauntings feel very personal. And then the ending, which threw me for a complete loop and made me angrily shut the book. I do not like endings like that.

For what it's worth, it did had some creepy parts and the horror trivia was fun, but I ultimately dropped the star rating from a four to a three after mulling on it for a couple of days. I'd suggest it for haunted house fans, but I guess be warned there's a twist ending.

'The Exorcist' review (book + movie)

I picked this up as my local bookstore was reading it for horror bookclub (it was rescheduled to April and then outright cancelled. I think they're going to try to do an online meetup, but we'll see). I heard from tons a folks that it was really scary and honestly, it wasn't.

I think it said a lot about gender and cultural norms and mental health (probably not intentionally in some cases) and overall I found it interesting. It was gross and perverse and though it had tons of scenes of research... we never got an explanation as to how Regan got possessed.

I have two theories. I haven't done any research into what people are thinking and I know there's a sequel but I haven't looked into it so no clue if it delves into it. So, first... she didn't close the ouija board. It was such a minor thing though and wasn't spoken about again once Regan started to really go off the deep end, but maybe? I mean, ouija is bullshit, but in the realm of possessions and such, it could be a possibility.

OR it's all just a visceral allegory. Regan is hitting preteen age and going through puberty. I've heard somewhere that some people think that during that time you're open to possession, but I think it's more simple than that. Just an ew, yucky thing. I mean, the possession could've been scary and apart from a few creepy moments, the entirety of it is just sexual. She asks people to fuck her, she masturbates, sometimes violently. A good chunk of her insults to taunt the priests are sexual in nature. For a seventies crowd, that is horrifying seeing a young girl talk/act that way. Overall, girls don't do that. People still feel that way now, to an extent.

Another thing I was annoyed with was Chris' atheism and how it wasn't really explored well in my opinion. She comes off as dumb and a bit of a floozy and it sort of felt like victim blaming at times - a 'where's the father, your broken home caused this' or 'well, your lack of belief brought this demon into your house' sorta thing. I would've liked the utter horror at finding very convincing evidence that there's something else, more. But she just kinda cowtails. I do appreciate that they explored every avenue of health/mental health before even suggesting such a thing, especially consider this was set/written during the time where women were basically doped up on tranquilizers to be "normal" and there was no real exploration beyond that.  Tranquilizers are used quite often in both book and movie.

I also watched the movie. It was good, the practical affects were really interest to try and figure out (and in some cases, google - looking at you cold breath). I think they were trying to lean more into Karras' crisis of faith and everything with his mother, but it didn't come through as strongly as in the book and so that final scene I think wasn't as potent. I also found the pacing to be... bad. We don't get to see Regan slowly descend, she just IS one day and there really was no build up. I think that was the probably, as a mother, the creepiest thing while reading - thinking about these little things adding up to a child who I don't recognize anymore and nobody knows how to help.

For what it was, it is a masterpiece of horror literature/film, an entire genre of horror films wouldn't exist without it and overall, I'm glad for the experience.

February 2020 Wrap Up + March Goals

To start, have you seen the picture of that hospital nursery where they put all the babies into little frog hats for the leap day? Very cute. Highlight of my month considering it wasn't a great reading month, I didn't get much done with my other goals, and the news has been an absolute shitshow. So here's some cute frog babies.

I finished one book I started in January, Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (review here). And only actually started and finished two other books. The Princess Beard by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, a very funny audiobook borrow (I'm working on a review of the trilogy now and some commentary not strictly review related) and Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W. Ocker, a physical book for horror bookclub at my local bookstore. I didn't finish it in time for the meet and didn't want to spoil the ending by going anyway, but there longer I have mulled on it, the more I wish I'd let it be spoiled. The ending honestly ruined the book for me and I'll likely post a spoiler-y review in a day or so.

As much as I was looking forward to Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer, I just could not get into it and returned it to the library. I'll have to pick it up again when I think I can focus. I bailed on Highfire by Eoin Colfer, which is a shame as I dug Artemis Fowl, but just could not get into this adult fare. Didn't read any Way of Kings.

I'm slowly chugging along with American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson (it feels a bit disjointed with lots of facts thrown at you and also, wtf was original CSI. Insane.), The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey (which I'm not feeling so far, but I got it for review), and just started Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore on audio the last day of February (it's good so far).

On Litsy, I joined a group of gals who are going to be swapping books for four months. The 4 books we're going to cycle among ourselves sound interesting and I'm especially excited to get my choice back in the mail at the end. I'm reading my proof copy of The Girl and The Stars by Mark Lawrence, which I was SO stoked to receive a copy of. I've heard the author's other stuff has just been great.

I also set myself up for a bookswap, which I may end up regretting as I may spend too much on my match. The host hasn't matched everyone up yet, won't be until March 11th, I think? It's like spring/Easter themed. I'll probably post what I get on here (or if it messes up - which is why I stopped with the swaps originally - I'll complain about that instead).

Not much TV watched last month. I think I watched a single movie? Idk. Lots of YouTube. Just playing Dragon Age: Inquisition on hard and getting my ass handed to me. Bioshock and restarted Skyrim with a warrior, necromancer orc.


March Goals:

• Finally use the giant magnet to go magnet fishing.
• Finish The Girl and The Stars, primary, but also the others I'm currently reading (3, with the exception of Way of Kings since there's just no way)
• Get one book for one of the bookclubs (I'm leaning towards The Exorcist for horror bookclub)
• Once I get the match for the swap, get everything for it ASAP
• Write a short story (or anything, seriously)
• Get review for Rotter House posted here and two other posts (I have one solid idea and the other is a maybe)

Anyway, how was your February?