Night Island

Come join us if you haven't already! I still need to fill out mine. :D

Go this from tamsin.

1. What are the five newest additions to your to-read list?
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune
The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
And Then We Grew UP: On Creativity, Potential, and the Imperfect Art of Adulthood by Rachel Friedman
The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters

2. What are the five oldest additions to your to-read list?
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Odyssey by Homer

Clearly, I was trying to make up for all the books I didn't read in school! Notably, almost all of this is American.

3. How many books do you have listed as read?
264

4. How many books are in your to-read-list?
361

5. Are there any authors who are more heavily represented in your have read list?
Probably Rick Riordan and Jim Butcher. Wasn't there a tool that used to let users see what their most read authors were?

6. Are there any authors who are more heavily represented in your to-read list?
Probably C. S. Lewis... seriously, is there an easy way to check this?

7. How do you sort your books?
Not very well. I used to add a lot of descriptive tags to comment on the books, but I don't do that much anymore. I've been thinking about reorganizing them.
8. Do you participate in the 2020 reading challenge?
Yes, my goal is a modest 33.

9. Do you participate in any discussion groups?
I've always wanted to, but I never really have.

10. How many books have you read so far this year?
12

11. How many books are in you currently reading?
Just one--The Book of Yoaki by Michael Dylan Foster.

12. Do you write reviews? Do you read reviews?
Sometimes. I want to get in the habit of writing reviews more regularly. I usually read reviews by people I follow, books I'm interested in, and books I've just finished.

13. Any other goodreads feature you use?
I like to check the recommendations, quotes, and trivia sections now and then. I want to get more into groups.

14. Do you follow any interesting authors or other people worth mentioning?
Rick Riordan is always fun. I can't think of any others without looking them up.

I've always wanted to do one of these! I got this from nay when I was trying to kill time before the Tonys started last night.

Rules: list the first lines of your last 10 published stories. See if there are any patterns yourself, or have other people say what they notice. (Tumblr
memes always include tagging, but here I'm setting it free for anyone else who wants to play!)

( Here's a reminder that I should try to write more than just drabbles for once )

These are all Night Vale and Harry Potter fics, which makes sense since those are fandoms I always returned to when I'm not really into any others. Reading over these first lines kinda makes me want to go back and tweak them. I feel like I use a lot of adjectives and adverbs, but I'm not sure if I totally enjoy the effect on second glance. Since most of these are drabbles, the opening lines all seem direct and to the point. I was surprised that I used dialogue on several occasions to open the stories, but again, it makes sense for drabbles. I actually like opening a story with dialogue and should try to do it more often. Some of these probably could have been expanded into longer stories, but I was sticking to drabbles at the time to get back into the habit of writing. Also, it is really obvious that I'm a Snape fangirl.

From now on, I will try to post on a more regular schedule at least once a month if I can help it. Without looking it up, I can't even remember when I posted last. *sighs* If I post more often, I won't feel like such a guilty teenager slinking in after curfew every time I post after months of journal neglect.

This looks like fun. ^^; I got it from inkstone.

block quote
Comment with a fanfic trope and, if you'd like, a character/pairing, and I will tell you:
• how likely I am to write it
• A few lines of theoretical fic

1. What’s your favorite part about taking a vacation/holiday?

Different surroundings. I'm not too crazy about my home right now, so it's a breath of fresh air. It's not the general area of southern California that I dislike; it's the specific condo and neighborhood that I have grown tired of. Yet, at the end of most vacations, I am happy to return to the room that I can call my own even if it is not perfect.

2. What’s your least favorite part about taking a vacation/holiday?

I'm not fond of plane travel. In fact, I'm kind of sick of it.

3. What’s the farthest you’ve traveled on a vacation/holiday?

I'm guessing it would be the two trips I've taken to New York. Actually, I just asked my phone, and it appears that Honolulu is a little bit farther.


4. Have you ever taken a vacation/holiday (spent time in a hotel for pleasure) in your own town/city?

Not my exact city but one close to it. I have stayed in the Disneyland Hotel even though I live close enough to drive there every day. I also got to stay in a suite during Anime Expo in LA, but that's more justifiable because it can be a pain to drive up to LA every morning.

5. If you could go somewhere right now, where would it be?.

Probably England. I'm something of an Anglophile. ;)

What is your fondest memory of something related to the stars or space?

I have fond memories of watching various educational shows related to space, particularly the Magic School Bus episode where they visit all of the planets in our solar system. :D I also enjoyed visiting the Griffith Observatory for my grandma's birthday.

What is a celestial body that you find particularly interesting?

Right now, I will say Mars. I blame this on the Dear Hank and John podcast. It's fun to learn about, and I find the idea that it may have had life on it to be fascinating.

When you look at the night sky, what thoughts cross your mind?

I feel small. We are just a tiny spec in the vastness of the universe. It's mostly void, partially stars.

Have you ever seen anything weird or inexplicable up there?

No, I wish.

Would you live in space or on another planet?

Probably not. It's fun to read about it, but I think it would be too much trouble in real life.

I got this from dancing_serpent. Comment if you would like a letter as well.
Something I hate: Olives. I've never liked 'em.

Something I love: Oceans! I love the ocean. It's so beautiful and full of life.

Somewhere I've been: Oregon--I've been to this state much more than I would have liked, but I've never been outside of Portland. Overall, I prefer Washington state if I'm going to visit the Pacific northwest.

Somewhere I'd like to go: Ontario, Canada. I've never been to Canada, and I would love to go someday soon because it's right above us on the same continent and everything. I used to have a dream of going to Ontario for Anime North. I loved the anime website LELOLA.net when I was growing up, and the webmistress Pan-Chan would post con reports of that convention all the time. I know for sure it was the third biggest anime con in North America at one time, and I believe it still is. I'm not as obsessed with going to that con as I used to be, but it would still be nice to visit Canada. I could have picked Ottawa, but I'm drawing a blank as to where that is. I know for sure that Ontario is on the east coast.

Someone I know: Miss Kat Orta, a friend on Facebook from my days with the Risembool Rangers. I had the hardest time thinking of anyone who had a first name that begins with O, and she was the only person I could think of with an "o" in her name at all. Unfortunately, I don't know Oscar Wilde or Conan O'Brien in real life... I'm sure I'll think of someone else after I've posted this.

A film I like: Othello with Lawerence Olivier. Like I said, I will probably think of a bunch more films after I post this. I wouldn't say that I love this adaptation, but it is what introduced me to Shakespeare's Othello. I have very strong memories of watching this in the middle of the night years ago. Even though I already knew what would happen because of spoilers, it was still very powerful. IIRC, Maggie Smith played Desdemona.

A book I like: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, which I just read last month. :) I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting.

"o" seemed like kind of a tricky letter, but it was easier than I thought.