Finally, an August Post!

I've been just terrible about blogging this summer.  I keep starting posts, then not finishing them.  Or finishing them, then deciding they are not worth posting.  I never blogged about my amazing trip to GeekyCon nearly four weeks ago, and my visit to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the Open at the Close event-- which mostly involved drinking unlimited amounts of butterbeer in Diagon Alley at 1:00 AM.  Aside from that event, the Con itself was fantastic, too!  I attended some really interesting panels, met some wildly creative people, reconnected with favorite artists, and discovered new artists to admire.  I fell in love with the artwork of Casey Robin (check out her etsy shop!), who was as nice as she is talented.  Most excitingly, I finally got to meet Mary Kate Wiles in person-- she is one of my favorite actresses (check out her YouTube channel!).  I listened to interviews with screenwriter James Moran, with the Hillywood girls, and with Anthony Rapp.  I bought a Hermoine time-turner necklace in the marketplace for only $5!  And on the last day, I went to Disney World.  Because really, how could I be so close and not visit?  A few laps around the World Showcase were just what my heart desired.  The potato-wrapped snapper at Flying Fish Cafe didn't hurt either, nor did the Polynesian Pearl cocktail at Trader Sam's Grog Grotto.

In the ensuing weeks, I've taken a short jaunt to the Outer Banks for Zan's family beach week, and this past weekend Zan and I visited Natural Bridge, VA.  For my birthday, my friend Kay gave me a night's stay at the Historic Natural Bridge Hotel.  The package came with tickets to the bridge itself, and to the caverns nearby.  Additionally, Zan and I spent an afternoon at Virginia Safari Park, feeding tons of animals and even petting a kangaroo!  It was an incredible weekend.

Most of my time, of course, I've spent processing my collection at Special Collections.  I will be wrapping up that project soon-- in fact, my last day of full-time employment is Friday.  After that, THE WORLD!  Err, no... after that, I'm a little uncertain.  Change is definitely in the air: from the cooling days and the sun setting noticeably earlier, to the sudden end of the pattern of my days.  I feel a bit like I'm on a ski jump, the kind that let off suddenly into mid-air, leaving the skier flying through the sky-- whoosh!  I'm trying to look at it as a fun adventure, to remain calm and even a little zen, but I've always been too nervous to try skiing.  I have some fun adventures lined up for the autumn (including a presentation at an academic conference in the UK), and I have some ideas for new projects that I hope take off, but I feel like I'm mostly making it up as I go along.  I suppose what I need to learn is that everyone feels like they are making it up as they go along, cobbling together days and activities and hoping for the best.

Before I go, quick book list (if I can remember them): a long while back I read Jade Green by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, an old favorite from middle school.  I've read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (to prepare for GeekyCon, of course).  I read all of Jenny Trout's hilarious/troubling recaps of 50 Shades of Grey on her blog (she read that one so I didn't have to-- thank goodness), which prompted me to read Trout's novels The Boss and The Girlfriend (written under her pen name Abigail Barnette).  I also read an incredibly sweet debut novel by Natalie Lloyd called A Snicker of Magic.  It's a children's novel (think Newbery Award age) with a lot of heart.  The writing is so unique; I can't even explain it.  As for audiobooks, I finished listening to Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, and then pretty much mainlined My Antonia by Willa Cather.  Currently, I'm nearing the end of Felicia Day's audiobook You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) and I'm re-reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in order to revise my conference paper.

Until next time, which hopefully won't take another month...  gonna get better at this...

Book Update / Dinner Party

Since April, when last I wrote about what I've been reading, I've finished both Sense and Sensibility and Shades of Milk and Honey.  I've also completed the sixth and final book in the Rebecca series, Changes for Rebecca.  It definitely elevated my opinion of the whole series.  Additionally, I've read two of the books that I brought home in my library haul: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly and Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman.  Plus, I've listened to two shorter stories: Clockwork by Philip Pullman and Porch Lies by Patricia McKissack.  I've also gotten started on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (audiobook) and I'm still working on Discoverers of the Universe by Michael Hoskin (print book).  Also, I finished another season of the BBC Radio series Cabin Pressure.  Also also, I forgot to mention that long, long ago (in February) I listened to Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen. And, I finished the first four episodes/interviews in Michael Ian Black's podcast, "How To Be Amazing."  As predicted, Lin-Manuel Miranda's interview was my favorite of the four.  I admire Miranda's work so much and I really hope to see Hamilton when it hits Broadway. 

In other news, I forgot to mention that last Wednesday, I held a dinner party!  It was so much fun to actually take the time to cook and to have the food appreciated by my friends.  I made an herb tart and a chicken-plum pie, a loaf of cheddar-thyme bread, a lemon-basil pasta salad, a caprese salad, stewed cherries, buttered crab with tortilla chips, Thug Kitchen cauliflower, and syllabub.  In addition to my friends from graduate school, a couple of friends from college dropped by!  I was so excited to see Mel, since she lives in L.A., but we didn't get to talk a lot (we will have coffee when next I am in L.A. to really catch up).  We all gathered round the kitchen island and ate and drank and watched a Bollywood film on Netflix and at the end of the night there were no leftovers, which I say is the sign of a dinner party well done.

Library Haul

What to do when your apartment becomes a film studio for your MFA-degree seeking partner?  Escape to your parents house!  At least, that's what I did.  Zan is in the midst of a crazy season of final projects, so to get out of his hair I spent the last weekend in Williamsburg.  Three beautiful days of relaxing walks down DoG Street, dinners at La Tolteca and the pub, and some time spent in The Shoe Attic with Brittany.  But the best part of this particular weekend was going to the library to pick out books to read for fun.  Have I mentioned how much I love the public library?  I love its wide windows, its study carrels, its wall of DVDs and audiobooks, but most of all-- I love the children's section.  I never fail to find amazing reads in the children's section (I also enjoy overhearing children picking out new books and discovering what will probably be a life-long love of reading).  I truly believe that some of the best books in the world are housed in that children's section, so often overlooked by so many adults.  So, on this particular visit, I picked out a nice selection of books to see me through the spring, and perhaps to inspire a little bit of my own writing.

Book List Update

Although I no longer keep a sidebar list, I still think it's nice to periodically stop to remember what I've read this year.  Since my last update, I've read mostly American Girl books.  Yes, I'm too old for them.  No, that doesn't stop me from enjoying them or learning from them.  Each book takes about 35 or 45 minutes to read, so I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something in a short period of time.

As rewards for finishing various stages of my thesis, I've read two Kit mysteries: Midnight in Lonesome Hollow and Intruders at Rivermead Manor.  I really loved these, and Midnight in Lonesome Hollow re-sparked an interest in Appalachian culture, anthropology and folklife, and also (tangentially) the history of Shenandoah National Park.  Once upon a time Zan and I were thinking of writing a film about the Great Depression and the National Parks.  I hope to spend some time doing more in-depth research on this stuff once I've officially submitted my thesis. Then, over Spring Break, I wrote around 20 pages of my thesis-- in order to wind down at night (or, actually 2:30 AM or later), I read most of the Rebecca series over the course of the week (Meet Rebecca, Rebecca and Ana, Candlelight for Rebecca, Rebecca and the Movies, Rebecca to the Rescue). 

In addition to American Girl books, I've nearly finished Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (as an audiobook) and I'm about halfway through reading Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (as a print book).  Also--not a book, but-- I listened to the first season of a BBC Radio One show called Cabin Pressure which is hilarious.  It stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Roger Allam, John Finnemore, and Stephanie Cole.  I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a lighthearted sitcom to enjoy whilst cooking dinner or during the morning commute.

So, certainly not the book list I would like to see if I were keeping a sidebar.  A series of books aimed at nine-year-olds?  A radio show (that's not even a book!!!)?  And so little reading, in general!*  But, that's why I got rid of my widget.  These are media that I've highly enjoyed, fluff and all.  And it's what I've needed in the past two months.  Since mid-February I've felt that my world has mostly gone sour, and these little stories have really stood out as bright spots in the dreary landscape.



*Of course, I have written about 80 pages of my thesis since my last update, and have read quite a bit for that-- although, not full books, so that doesn't "count."  I've also managed to Rosetta Stone a little nearly every day, which is about the only thing keeping me sane.

EDIT on 4/18/15: I forgot to mention that I also read Tina Fey's Bossypants and I really enjoyed it.

Audio Books/Book List

So far this year, I've read five books-- and four of those I've "read" via audiobook.  I started out with an Audible trial in August, to get The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet for free, and despite thinking that I'd cancel my membership after the trial, I've stuck with it.  I love it.  I've "read" all of my Austen books with Juliet Stevenson narrating (and Carolyn Seymour, for Pride and Prejudice, since Juliet Stevenson never recorded that one), and I've even gotten in some "for fun" "reading" while I cook dinner, during my commute, and if I have some not-too-involved task at work, like numbering folders, fulfilling scan and copy requests, or consolidating maps (long story).

I will say, though, I've quite enjoyed not having my sidebar "Books" widget.  I think if I had just those five titles staring back at me I'd feel guilty doing anything but reading.  Only five books this year so far?!  FIVE?!  But that doesn't take into consideration the hours upon hours I've spent writing my thesis, or the hours I've spent reading and rereading the poems on which I'm writing, or all of the secondary research articles and chapters.  Nor have I seen any movies--at all this year-- so it's a good thing that my "Movies" widget is gone, too.  But what fun I've had watching Doc Martin, the new season of Parks and Recreation, and Agent Carter!  It's pretty freeing not feeling the need to catalogue these activities.

But, even so, I am going to tell you what books I've read (or "read"): holding the actual book, I've read The Mysteries of Udolpho, perhaps the longest book ever written (a little hyperbole, but not much).  It was 633 pages, but the font size was somewhere around Times New Roman 10, maybe 8.  Not hyperbole.  The books I've listened to are Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, Peter and the Starcatchers by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and As You Wish by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden.  I have so much to say about these that it wouldn't all fit in one post--maybe I'll start doing book reviews--but it's been a fun 2015, reading/listening-wise!



Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, no, this is not a sponsored post.

Going Back to Canon

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is, in a way, fan fiction writ large.  I'm sure I'm not original in thinking so.  But the thing is, I've never been a hard-core Austen devotee, so over the past two years (yes, I found the series pretty late in the game) The Lizzie Bennet Diaries has been my Pride and Prejudice.  Yeah, I'd seen the Colin Firth mini-series a couple of times and swooned over the clothes and the men, and I read the book once during undergrad, but what really made it breathe for me was this YouTube series.  It's no secret that I totally fell in love with the characters, and especially Lydia.  I loved gossiping with my friend Megan over Jane and Bing, and I actually took time out of a graduate school admitted students day to go watch when Lizzie posted the video of her and Darcy's first kiss.  Unfortunately, no one else there that day could understand my excitement.  This past summer I listened to the audiobook of The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet and I'm so looking forward to Lydia's book.

So fast forward to today, when I realize that I need to read Pride and Prejudice this weekend for the class I'm auditing.  I considered skipping it, since I mean, I just listened to The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet a couple months ago and how different will it really be?  Plus, I've listened to/read a lot of Austen and other 18th-century novels recently, so I have the style of it down in my head.  I can pretty much imagine how Austen wrote it.  But I went ahead and downloaded it in audiobook format (because I'm positive that I'll "read" more of it while cooking dinner and during my morning commute than I will if I try to carve out dedicated time for it-- I need that time for thesis-writing right now).  And while yes, it's just what I expected on most levels-- even in the first hour, I'm shocked to remember that Kitty Bennet is not an actual cat, and the I'm beginning to recollect the level of loathing that I formerly felt towards Lydia.  I mean, yes, logically I knew these things, but when you become so invested in a story, it can be hard to remember how it feels when those "facts" revert to something else.  This will be an interesting couple of days.  And I think it will probably spark a lot re-watching on YouTube.

Books and Movies, 2014

Time for the yearly round-up of books and movies!  I think this will be the last year-- at least for awhile--that I keep track of these things on my blog.  I might keep a reading list just for me next year, but include academic articles and chapters in edited volumes, since those comprise the bulk of my reading.  The book list stifled me a bit this year; in past years I've had fun with it, but this year it started to feel like a mental block.  I pushed through some books just so I could add them to my 'Books' list, and that's not how I want to live my life.  I shouldn't waste time on a book I dislike or don't need to read, when I have so many other things I need and want to read!  Other things, like The Lunar Men, didn't make the list despite their deep impact on my life this year and despite the hours I engaged with them-- simply because I didn't finish the last 75 pages or so (of a 600 page, very tiny print book)!  And I didn't need those 75 pages as much as I needed other pages this year, so I had to make choices.  And what of all of the poetry I've read this year?  My thesis is based entirely on poems-- poems I've spent hours with-- but they had no place on the list since they didn't come in the kind of poetry 'book' that would meet my self-imposed criteria.  When my reading list ceases to reflect the things that I've read that really resonated or changed me, it's time to call it quits.  But here it is: 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman; Kit Learns a Lesson, Valerie Tripp; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain Poet (trans. by Marie Borroff); The Tragedy of Gorboduc, Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville; Before Reading: Narrative Conventions and the Politics of Interpretation, Peter J. Rabinowitz; Kit's Surprise, Valerie Tripp; Pearl, Gawain Poet (trans. by Marie Borroff), Sir Thomas More, Anthony Munday and others (ed. by Gabrieli Vittorio and Giorgio Melchiori); Professing Literature: An Institutional History, Gerald Graff; Showings, Julian of Norwich; Arden of Faversham, Unknown(s); King Richard II, William Shakespeare; Happy Birthday, Kit!, Valerie Tripp; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz; King Edward IV, Part 1, Thomas Heywood; King Edward IV, Part 2, Thomas Heywood; Eastward Ho!, George Chapman, Ben Jonson, John Marston; Troilus and Criseyde (in Middle English), Geoffrey Chaucer; Kit Saves the Day, Valerie Tripp; The Literature Workshop: Teaching Texts and Their Readers, Sheridan D. Blau; The Roaring Girl, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker; Changes for Kit, Valerie Tripp; Really, Truly Ruthie, Valerie Tripp; Bartholomew Fair, Ben Jonson; The Witch of Edmondton, Thomas Dekker, John Ford, William Rowley; A Game at Chess, Thomas Middleton; What Katy Did, Susan Coolidge; A Kit Mystery: Danger at the Zoo, Kathleen Ernst; Five Children and It, E. Nesbit; The Blazing World, Margaret Cavendish; The Country Wife, William Wycherley; Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift; Candide, or Optimism, Voltaire; Utopia, Thomas More; The Beggar's Opera, John Gay; Brave New World, Aldous Huxley; The Rover, Aphra Behn; Don Quixote in England, Henry Fielding; The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon; A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole; A Kit Mystery: Missing Grace, Elizabeth McDavid Jones, A Kit Mystery: A Thief in the Theater, Sarah Masters Buckey; The Dud Avocado, Elaine Dundy; Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn; The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, Kate Rorick, Bernie Su; Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson, Paula Byrne; Heaven to Betsy, Maud Hart Lovelace; Frankenstein, Mary Shelley; The Vampyre, John Polidori; The House at the End of Hope Street, Menna Van Praag; Lessons for Children from Three to Four Years Old, Anna Letitia Barbauld; Original Stories, Mary Wollstonecraft; Vampires, Bones, and Treacle Scones, Kaitlyn Dunnett; Organizing Archival Records, David W. Carmichael; Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert; Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen; Yes Please, Amy Poehler; Persuasion, Jane Austen; Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Emma, Jane Austen

As for movies, I've actually enjoyed this list.  It did inspire me to watch some films I wanted to watch, but probably wouldn't have otherwise, like Le Tableau.  However, I've found myself wanting to watch multi-part documentaries or mini-series, but then not doing so since the episode won't make the list.  Also, I had no list for theater, so going to see things like Peter and the Starcatcher or Little Dancer had no place, nor did seeing singer/songwriters at local bars.  So, I think I subconsciously devalued these experiences, and didn't seek them out like I should have.  Again, like with my books list, not super healthy.  So, adieu Movies List!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Robin Hood (1973), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Divergent (2014), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Monsters University (2013), Pretty in Pink (1986), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), The Secret of Kells (2009), Gulliver's Travels (1939), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), Begin Again (2014), Dirty Dancing (1987), Labor Day (2013), Tammy (2014), Austenland (2013), The Triplets of Belleville (2003), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979), 8 1/2 (1963), The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), Halloweentown (1998), Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001), Muppets Most Wanted (2014), The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), Practical Magic (1998), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Hocus Pocus (1993), The Addams Family (1991), Addams Family Values (1993), Le Tableau (2011), The Santa Clause (1994), Little Women (1994), Big Hero 6 (2014), Frozen (2013), Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (1978), Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999), Elf (2003), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), White Christmas (1954), The Lego Movie (2014), Love Actually (2003)

I hope you all did some excellent reading and watching in 2014!  Let's let go of categories for 2015, and just read, watch, and participate in whatever inspires us! Instead of rushing from one book or movie to the next, I will give myself leave to think about the art, history, and theories I imbibe.  I want to slow down, to re-read, re-watch, to dwell, and consider.  Perhaps that's my resolution for 2015.

Quiet in the Noisy Swirl

My life this past week turned into a noisy swirl.  I led an ordered life during the summer: in June, I read during the day and attended class in the evening.  In July, I spent carefree days in Williamsburg, reading in the mornings, watching movies during the afternoons, and visiting friends in the evenings.  In August, I spent a lovely week at the beach, finishing a book for my thesis, completing a Rosetta Stone unit, and starting on a cross-stitch sampler.  Then it all changed, and suddenly the noise came back to my head, telling me to read more and do more and that I'm not enough.

This week, I had meetings to go to, appointments to attend, interviews, and events to plan.  Suddenly the rapidly approaching change of seasons started to agitate me; how will I withstand the cold of another winter?  Why are we drinking pumpkin spice lattes in August?  Then I begin to have anxiety about how will I ever learn Spanish and have all these hours been for nothing, because I can't even read children's books without stumbling over at least a few words, and why am I not perfectly fluent yet, and will I ever be? (My perfectionism won't let me appreciate my small accomplishments as I learn more and more words.)  Mostly, I began to panic again about my thesis project and the seeming impossibility of it, and dread that seeps into my bones when I try to imagine writing another thesis.  I know this dread is of the moment, and will dissipate as I read and formulate ideas (better-- will turn into joy! I do love the eighteenth century) but that doesn't stop it from feeling awful now.

So on Wednesday I decided to try to quiet my mind.  I walked up the hill listening to my Frankenstein audiobook, feeling productive (I am loving audiobooks).  I stepped inside the Bayou Bakery, where zydeco music is always playing and the smell of chicory coffee and beignets fills the air.  I ordered a glass of sweet tea and a slice of freshly made blackberry-almond coffee cake, still warm from the oven.  One gooey bite of warm blackberry dispelled most of my worry.  I opened my new book, the one I really didn't need to buy at the beach, but that I felt I needed to buy at the beach, and I began to read.  Then I stopped, because this book is too good and I don't want it to ever end, plus I needed another bite of that warm crunchy coffee-cake top.  With a bit of blackberry, too.  Then I read a bit more, and I think some odd sixth-sense must have led me to this book, or maybe this book-- like the house it's about-- is magic and it knew that I needed it and it placed itself on the shelf just so, that my eye might catch its bright cover.  I'm only twenty-two pages in, but already I think this may be a book I read again and again, like Eat Pray Love or The Alchemist.  I feel comfortable in its pages, even though I'm still new to it.

Then I finished my tea and coffee cake, and I walked further up the hill, listening to Frankenstein, and I bought a pair of crop jeans and I used up the last of a Barnes and Noble gift card on a Spanish children's book full of illustrations and some words I understand and lots of words I don't understand, but have faith that I will learn.  Then I walked home in the warm-but-not-too-warm evening sunshine, and I cleaned up the apartment a bit, which helped my mood considerably.  The noisy swirl inside my head felt calmer; my mind felt clearer.  And even now, as anxiety again tugs at the corners of my thoughts, whispering horrible things about my academic preparedness and the state of my thesis research, I try to remember that my adviser told me not to harden my thoughts, and that I'm on track, and that I have two books ILLed that should arrive at the library anyday, and in the meantime I'm just a short walk from sweet tea and just a few pages from a magical house full of hope.

Invasion of Oktoberfest and a Return of Lizzie Bennet!

Today has felt entirely too fall-like for August.  Don't get me wrong, I love this weather, but... it's unsettling.  Is this recompense for the harsh winter?  Or does it mean a harsher winter ahead?  It also brings thoughts of melting glaciers and rising sea waters to my mind.  Sometimes I just can't let myself enjoy a good thing.  But I should, because, I mean, this weather might be the only silver lining!

And, strangely, it's like everyone else is conspiring to make fall happen in the middle of August, too.  I ordered a seasonal ale today at a pub up the street, and I was told that they now had the Oktoberfest on tap.  What?!  What happened to my summer seasonals?  I understand that clothes lines get in fall merchandise early, since people start buying for the season in anticipation of the season-- but beer?  I want my pumpkin ales and Oktoberfest brews in autumn, not August!  Right now I want to continue to savor my wheat ales... and my days without classes.  Especially those.

Because days without classes mean time to read (okay, most of that reading is for my thesis, but it feels so relaxing and pressure-free right now!), time to use my Rosetta Stone, and time to listen to audiobooks while driving and/or cross-stitching!  I've started a free trial of Audible and got the audiobook of The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet.  It's a companion to the webseries The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which you may remember I became totally obsessed with last year.  It's an eight-ish hour long audiobook, and I'm about four hours in.  Surprisingly, I really like it.  I thought it would just sort of be a recap of the videos, but it's not.  It's like seeing behind the scenes into "Lizzie's" life.  I'm learning all sorts of salacious details omitted from her videos!  It makes me miss last year when I could look forward to new videos and tweets from the characters, and when Megan and I had lunch at the Blue Talon and gossiped about the Jane, Lizzie, and Lydia as if they were real life people.  Interactive webseries are the way of the future, people.*

So, that's where I'm at right now.  Trying to enjoy the last few days of summer, despite the world (and the weather) suddenly pushing onto autumn.  Tomorrow I'm attending a baby shower for a friend, on Monday Zan starts some pre-classes school stuff, and I'm going to do my best to finish at least one more research related book before my own classes start, in an effort to sharpen/focus my topic.  Wish me luck!

*As in the post I linked to, this is not a sponsored post for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries or Audible.  I just really like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and, now, the audiobook of The Secret Diaries of Lizzie Bennet.  

2013 Wrap-Up!

It's the last day of the year!  Can you even believe it?  I can't.  It took me until about July to feel like 2013 wasn't a brand-new baby year, and I am still having trouble realizing that it's nearly over and we're onto 2014!  But, as December 31st is once again upon us, it's time to reflect on the past year.

First, books!  Again, the "books" list is not a comprehensive list of everything I've read this year.  You may notice that it appears that I read hardly anything at all once I started grad school (again), but of course, that's not true.  It's just that in grad school we read lots of articles, chapters, and parts of books, rather than books cover to cover.  And to count for my "Books, 2013" list, I needed to have read the book (or play) cover to cover.  Articles, no matter how good or influential, don't count for this list. So, Books 2013!

Persuasion, Jane Austen; The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente; The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, Catherynne M. Valente; Sorcery and Cecilia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer; The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson; Bringing Up Bébé, Pamela Druckerman; Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Communists, Gideon Defoe; Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman; A Walk with Jane Austen, Lori Smith; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon, Gideon Defoe; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, Gideon Defoe; Peter Pan, J.M Barrie; not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them, Jenny Boully; Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab, Gideon Defoe; A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway; Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder; The Postman Always Rings Twice, James M. Cain; Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg; Cold Tangerines, Shauna Niequist; Colonial Virginia Cookery, Jane Carson; On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder; By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Divergent, Veronica Roth; Lady Susan, Jane Austen; The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder; The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera; These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder; The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Deathless, Catherynne M. Valente; The Pirates! In an Adventure with Romantics, Gideon Defoe; Brida, Paulo Coelho; The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat, Edward Kelsey Moore; Insurgent, Veronica Roth; The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction, William Doyle; Poems 1792, Anna Letitia Barbauld; Romanticism and Revolution, eds. Jon Mee and David Fallon; The Railway Children, E. Nesbit; Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Lyrical Tales, Mary Robinson; The Tempest, William Shakespeare; Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder; Meet Kit, Valerie Tripp; A Cat on Stage Left, Lydia Adamson

I really like keeping a "books" list, because when I look back on what I've read I can remember what the year felt like.  I remember rereading my Valente "Fairyland" books early last year, and checking out Sorcery and Cecilia from the public library in Williamsburg.  I remember listening to Bringing Up Bébé as I drove up to Midlothian to meet Zan for movies early last year, when we were long-distance.  I remember reading my Pirates! books at the beach with my friends, and in Vegas.  And, despite thinking this would be the year of Jane Austen-- so promising at the beginning, and with the subsequent addiction to the webseries The Lizzie Bennett Diaries-- it turned into the year of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I read every single Little House book this year, thanks in large part to inspiration from my Foodways job.  I remember late summer and crying so hard over The Supremes at Earl's All-You- Can-Eat, and starting Insurgent as I tried to pack for moving up to Arlington and Georgetown.  There were early days of reading The French Revolution outside while the weather was still nice, and after October midterms from hell, relaxing on the law center bus with The Railway Children as I headed to Cabaret rehearsal.  Then Thanksgiving as I formatted The Tempest script, and Foodways and Christmas again-- which always brings out The Little House in the Big Woods.  Plus, this year... I got a Kit Kittredge American Girl doll for Christmas!!!  She's so beautiful, with blue eyes and freckles and so of course, I just had to read the Meet Kit book that came with her.  Call me crazy, but I'm definitely back into the American Girl fold, at least for a bit.  Slightly obsessed.  I predict that this coming year might be the year of the American Girl books... in between reading for my classes.

Next, Movies 2013!  This is the first year I've done movies, and I've really enjoyed it.  I think recording the films I watch has inspired me to see more films than I would have otherwise.  There are always a million reasons not to watch a movie, even if I really want to, but feeling a kind of accountability on this blog motivated me to see things such as The Artist, Fargo, All About Eve, The African Queen, and Mud.  It's even gotten me into the theaters a few times this year!  Granted, a few of those times were meet-in-the-middle, long-distance dates with Zan in Midlothian, but it was still really fun to see the films and to add them to this list.  And, as with the books, this list reminds me of times and places, like visiting Kay in Philadelphia, or watching The Incredibles on Captiva with Zan and my mom in our little beach villa.

Les Miserables (2012), The Cabin in the Woods (2012), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), Fargo (1996), The Artist (2011), The Princess Bride (1987), Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013), Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Chocolat (2000), Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Music Man (2003), Pride and Prejudice (1995), St. Ives (1998), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Jurassic Park (1993), The Kids Are Alright (2011), All About Eve (1950), Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), Life of Pi (2012), Princes et Princesses (2000), Monsters University (2013), Cars (2006), Tales of the Night (2011), 1776 (1972), Despicable Me (2010), Much Ado About Nothing (2012), Lilo and Stitch (2002), Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979), Mary Poppins (1964), The Incredibles (2004), The African Queen (1951), Mud (2012), Bridget Jones' Diary (2001), Practical Magic (1998), Halloweentown (1998), The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); Hocus Pocus (1993), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), White Christmas (1954), Brave (2012), Frozen (2013), Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999), The Santa Clause (1994), Love Actually (2003), A Muppet's Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008), The Year Without A Santa Claus (1974), Elf (2003), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), American Hustle (2013)

I think a Movies widget was a successful experiment, and I look forward to Movies 2014!  I think I'll start with either the new Hobbit movie, or else Saving Mr. Banks.  

To be honest, I'm ending this year on a bit of a down note.  The past few days I've felt, as noted in my last post, a little blue.  I don't feel like I'm where I should be with my life-- still in school (for my fourth year of grad school, and I'm not in a PhD program), apartment-less, career-less (see, "still in school"), unsure of the future.  I know I'm working towards an M.A. that will be useful to me, but I can't help but feel like I'm treading water.  Working and working and getting absolutely no where at all.  I guess most of us feel this way in our 20s.  But it doesn't help to look around at friends building successful careers, marriages, families, and lives.  Or to look at Jennifer Lawrence, whom I adore, but who is younger than me and acting with Christian Bale-- a.k.a Laurie, from Little Women.  I mean, he was grown-up when I was a kid.  How am I old enough to play his wife, and yet, I'm not doing just that?  I'm treading water.  She has an Academy Award.  Zan always says I shouldn't compare myself to other people (granted, Jennifer Lawrence is not who I am usually comparing to; it's usually Kate Middleton.  JUST KIDDING!  It's really usually all of the people in my Facebook feed buying houses and posting about engagements and landing dream jobs; I'm so happy for them, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong with my own life).  He has a point, but it's hard not to compare, especially when I feel so totally unsure all of the time.  It's not that I'm gunning for a ring, or that I know what city I want to settle in.  I don't even want kids-- ever!-- but I can't help feeling like I'm doing something wrong.  I feel so... behind.  And really, I feel like all I want right now is to get in the car and drive.  I want to go to the beach, to write and paint.  I want to cut across Tennessee and Texas.  I want to go to the other coast.  

But, 2013 has been a very good year, overall.  And 2014 is on its way in just a few short hours.  Here's to a new year, new adventures, new books, new movies.  Here's to old friends and new experiences.  Here's to letting go of stress and worry.  Here's to optimism.  Here's to opportunity.  Thanks for everything 2013!  Welcome, 2014!

Thankful for Books, Cats, and Christmas Trees

I haven't yet written about Thanksgiving day or my weekend at home yet, but it was lovely, so I don't want to forget it.  It sounds quite simple: I went home for a the long weekend.  I spent time with my beautiful cats (and my parents, of course).  We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I took advantage of online sales to get most of my Christmas shopping done.  We ate delicious food, including two kinds of pie.  After dinner, we went for a walk down DoG Street; the air was cool and crisp and perfectly autumnal.

Over the weekend, my mom and I visited a rare bookstore, and I found quite a few goodies-- including a facsimile of the First Folio (Shakespeare)!!!  Merry Christmas to me!  I also got a lovely edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass from the 1940s-- hardcover and fully illustrated for just twelve dollars (!), a first edition of a book of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay for eight dollars (!) and Princess Mary's Gift Book-- a book put together for Princess Mary during WWI (around 1918) with all proceeds going to the Queen's "Work for Women" fund (on sale for three dollars!).  It has in it a specially written Scarlet Pimpernel story by Baroness Orczy!  Oh I love bookstores full of old and interesting books!!!  Perhaps I should take this as a sign that I should get into the rare book business.  Such joy in books and bookstores!

After spending the afternoon in the bookshop, my mom and I finished decorating our Christmas tree.  We had started that morning with my dad before he returned north for work-- we hung our traditional first ornaments-- then that night, we put in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, popped popcorn, made hot chocolate, and finished decorating.  Decorating the tree just after Thanksgiving-- usually within a day or two-- is one of my favorite ways to usher in the Christmas season.  This year, we even put out this little Hallmark ornament set we got when I was very little called The Bearingtons of Victoria Circle.  Everything looks so festive and bright.  I just love Christmas time.

But as much as I loved the Thanksgiving food, the Christmas decorating, formatting The Tempest script for performance, and those gorgeous hours in a rare bookshop, my favorite moment of the weekend came Friday night.  All was still and quiet; a kind of drowsy, contented quietness.  I sat with my both of my kitties on my lap, the only light coming from the glow of the Christmas candles in the window, the only sounds the soft purrs and snores of Rhett and Felix.  Happiness.

Being transported and rapt in secret studies

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I officially donned by dramaturg hat!  I formatted and edited The Tempest for our GGSS production.  The directors sent me an HTML edition with their initial cuts.  I then went through and, cross-referencing the 2008 Norton Shakespeare edition, formatted to show shared lines, corrected spelling from the HTML edition, made additional cuts, and-- at times-- chose places to share lines differently from the choices made by the editors of the Norton Shakespeare.  I would have liked to use a facsimile First Folio, but at the time I didn't have one on hand...

I also had variable punctuation between the two versions-- and boy, does punctuation matter.  Figuring out how to punctuate was a beast, because it can make such a difference in how an actor interprets a line.  Additionally, since we have several women cast as male characters, and the directors want those characters to be women, I changed pronouns, "sirs," "fathers," "brothers," "lords," and "masters" to the feminine (while trying to maintain the meter).

Altogether, formatting and editing the script for performance took nearly ten hours, but I had so much fun working with the play that I didn't even notice the time passing.  I actually wished I had more time to work with it-- but alas, it needed to get sent to the directors for approval ASAP, and I had obligations for class to worry about over the break.  And, now that classes are over... I still have two major papers to write.  But all I want to do is research for the actor packets and compile the glossary!!!  ...I think I should take this as a sign that I need to find a way to throw myself back into researching and making early modern drama-- or making some kind of theater-- full force.

Shrewsbury Cakes

Did anyone else read the American Girl Felicity books as a child?  If so, you may remember that Felicity made Shrewsbury Cakes with her family in the book Felicity's Surprise.  Well, Shrewsbury Cakes really are an eighteenth-century recipe, and I made them the other day in the kitchens.

 (Me, with my tray of Shrewsbury Cakes)

I used Hannah Glasse's recipe: "Take two pounds of flour, a pound of sugar finely searced, mix them together (take out a quarter of a pound to roll them in); take four eggs beat, four spoonfuls of cream, and two spoonfuls of rose-water; beat them well together, and mix them with the flour into a paste, roll them into thin cakes, and bake them in a quick oven."

Pretty simple, right?  Let's clarify something first: once made, these should end up more like sugar cookies than like what we think of as "cakes."  In the eighteenth century, things that we now call "cookies" were termed "cakes," since the word "cookie" had not yet entered the English language, at least not to signify a small sweet treat.  Shrewsbury Cakes are also flavored with rose-water instead of vanilla.  Why not vanilla?  Well, vanilla isn't really used in the eighteenth-century; rose-water and orange-blossom water are much more common flavorings.  Try them!  They are quite nice.

So, to make these, take a pound and twelve ounces of flour (because we set a quarter aside to use when we roll out the cakes/cookies), a pound of granulated sugar, three or four eggs, enough cream to make it into a paste about the consistency of a cookie dough, and a little rose-water for flavoring.  Once you've rolled out your dough until about a quarter of an inch thick, take cookie cutters in whatever shape you choose and cut out your Shrewsbury Cakes.  Put them on parchment paper on a baking sheet, and bake them in an oven at around 350 degrees F, for maybe 10-15 minutes.  They should not get golden brown!  Carefully tap them to check if they are hard-- then they are done.  You can also look at the bottoms, which may get slightly brown when done. 

Then, arrange them prettily on a plate and enjoy! 

A Vlog For You!

Here it is, guys!  My first vlog!  Hope you enjoy! I embedded it here, but I think the photo quality is better if you click on the link to YouTube below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUL3UGlfHvc

Good 'Til the Last Drop

In just a few hours 2012 will be no more, and 2013 will start.  In some parts of the world 2013 has already started, but while I still can call it 2012, let's have one final post.  The last post of the year, and I've also achieved my goal of posting fifteen times this month!

I am spending the last few hours of 2012 in Philadelphia with my best friend Kay, her husband Brian, and Zan.  Last night we stayed up too late eating amazing Chicken Parmesan prepared by Brian, drinking red wine, and answering trivia questions from our new board game "Geek Battle."  This morning we slept late, then spent several hours in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting some more.  Is there a better way to end the year?

New Year's resolutions?  As I mentioned in my last post, I just want to live simply, but I did take some inspiration from my friend Amanda Lee, and following her lead I also want to do a bit more self nurture.  A few massages might be in order in the new year, as well as a bit less being so hard on myself.  I need, essentially, to de-stress.  To let myself believe that I'm ok where I am in my life, and to admit that taking a few months off actually helps my mental and physical self, rather than stunting it.  I also want to take time to do some things that I really want to do, particularly in the cooking/crafting realms.

And now, for the second year in a row, I will commemorate the books I've read this year.  I slacked these past few months and haven't read as much as I should, but a new year is on the way, and I received several books for Christmas that I can't wait to start.  I also want to read the three Jane Austen novels that I've never read and sink my teeth into some literary theory.  So, here is my list of Books, 2012.  Again, to count, I must have read the whole book or play, cover to cover, so it does not include books that I read the majority of (like Shakespeare After Theory, which has two chapters left to go-- though I should probably just re-read the whole thing) or scholarly articles.

The Ruby in the Smoke, Philip Pullman; Salmacida Spolia, William Davenant and Inigo Jones; The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels; Woyzeck, Georg Buchner; Marat/Sade, Peter Weiss, trans. by Geoffrey Skelton; The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, Catherynne M. Valente; The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov; The Weavers, Gerhart Hauptmann; The Exception and the Rule, Bertolt Brecht; The Good Woman of Setzuan, Bertolt Brecht; Mephisto, Ariane Mnouchkine (and the Theatre du Soleil); Angels in America, Tony Kushner; A True Reportarie of the Baptisme of the Prince of Scotland, William Fowler; The Tower, The Zoo, and the Tortoise, Julia Stuart; Stardust, Neil Gaiman; Ubu Roi, Alfred Jarry; The Order of Books, Roger Chartier; Harvest, Manjula Padmanabhan; Doctor Faustus A-Text, Christopher Marlowe; The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Francis Beaumont (and possibly John Fletcher); A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen; The Spanish Tragedy, Thomas Kyd; Lucrece, William Shakespeare; A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness; The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova; The Forgotten Garden, Kate Morton; Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert; Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë; The Paris Wife, Paula McLain; Baby-Sitters On Board!, Ann M. Martin; I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith; The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, J.R.R. Tolkien; Palimpsest, Catherynne M. Valente; Childcraft: Poems of Early Childhood, various authors; Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs; The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster; Anne of the Island, L.M. Montgomery; Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman; Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson; Lone Star, Catherine Palmer; Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder


Goodbye, 2012!  And hello, 2013!!!

Useful and Necessary

This holiday season I reread all of Little House in the Big Woods.  I usually only read the chapters about Christmas and the sugar snow, but I started it this year and wanted to read it all.  So, I did.  And now I long for times I never knew.  Not that I necessarily want to live in 1871 in the woods of Wisconsin, but I love the idea of using everything available without waste and having no unnecessary items.  I love the idea of appreciating everything, which so few of us do these days. 

For Christmas, Laura got a pair of mittens, a piece of candy, and a rag doll.  The rag doll was special; she was the only child who got more than mittens and candy.  Ma got a baker's rack carved by Pa.  Ma herself sewed a felt needle-holder for Laura's aunt, and Laura's aunt gave Ma a sweet-smelling apple full of cloves.  Not much, but so appreciated.  I think it really hit a cord with me this year because aside from a needlepoint ornament, I didn't make any gifts this year.  My clay stayed in the closet, my paints and canvases remained in their boxes.  I like making things.  I did get things to make, though, like a cross-stitched sweet-bag kit for potpourri, and a book on doll-making.

And now I'm looking around my room and I see so many unnecessary things.  Too many books (though those can never actually be unnecessary in my opinion), too many clothes that I've been holding onto for sentimental reasons or simply because they look "ok" and haven't totally fallen apart yet, too many brochures from places I've visited, hotel keys, and all the bric-a-brac of life that piles up until you can't see the shelves or the floor anymore.  Things that I don't need.  Things that are neither pretty nor useful anymore.  I desperately need to organize and clean.  Same thing with food-- I need to use it.  I need to use my olive oils and jars of honey that came as gifts.  They are good, and need eating.  I shouldn't put them on a shelf, "saving" them for a "special" enough time.  That turns into crystallized honey.  Same with soaps and candles.  They are meant to be used.  I shouldn't save a soap or candle.  Then they pile up.  They were made for me to use.  I can't enjoy them if I don't use them.

So, as far as I have a New Year's Resolution, it's to live more simply, more usefully, and more beautifully.