Life in a Suitcase: April 2014

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Review: Kilingiri

Kilingiri by Janna Gray

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It's hard to express what I didn't like about this book, exactly, except that it felt like the narrative just went from tragedy to tragedy without enough emotional impact of each. It has what I call Party of Five syndrome - too many bad things happening to one family making the whole unbelievable. I did enjoy all the exotic settings.

View all my reviews

Friday, April 25, 2014

Review: The Grrrl of Limberlost

The Grrrl of Limberlost by Annie Pearson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was okay. It took me something like a third of the book to really see what was going on - if I didn't have such long stretches of reading time right now and an anal need to finish all books started, I might have given up. But I did come to be interested enough in the main characters to enjoy the rest of the book.

View all my reviews

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Review: The Boy in the Suitcase

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbøl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I accidentally clicked on this on my Kindle while looking for something else, but it drew me in immediately. First, because the switching between the various characters without much information put me right into the story before I knew what was what and secondly, because I found the main character, Nina, intriguing. I hadn't realized it was the first in a series, but I look forward to the next one, especially since I read this one in half a day, between spurts of napping. This baby growing is tiring.

View all my reviews

Review: The White Dragon

The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reread - April 2014 - I had forgotten how much I love this book in particular. It shifts the series significantly in a new direction and Jaxom is one of my favourite characters.

View all my reviews

Review: Dragonquest

Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reread - April 2014

View all my reviews

Review: Dragonflight

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reread - April 2014 - Clearly I haven't reread this part of the series as often as the Harper Hall ones because I wasn't quite as good at predicting what would be in the next chapter. Which I'm guessing is because it's a longer book, because I like Lessa just as much as Menolly.

View all my reviews

Profile

Cities

Carpe Diem

1. Finish this frickin' list. In 1001 days, write a new one. (1/2)

Reading
2. Read 101 books. (124/101) (40/101)
3. Read 50 children's books. (57/50) (32/25)(0/25)
4. Finish reading War and Peace.
5. ~~Spend 30 days reading out of the house for at least one hour. (36/30)~~
6. Fail! Maintain the book ban (no books without trade-in credit) with 5 slips. (15/5) (5/5)(0/5)
7. ~~Go to a book club meeting.~~
8. Read all the magazines in my place.
9. Read Man Booker Prize and Pulizter Prize winning book from the year of my birth. (1/2)

Writing
10. Write a haiku.
11. Finish up all draft blog posts.
12. ~~Complete a month of posts each year (NaBloPoMo or other month.) (7/3)~~
13. Learn to write my name in 5 scripts. (0/5)
14. Send 60 handwritten letters or postcards. (24/60)
15. ~~Complete Postcrossings.~~
16. Send Christmas cards. (1/2)
17. Send flowers at random.

Smarts
18. Do something to put knowledge in, rather than spouting it out.
19. ~~Be able to label a map of Africa.~~
20. Be able to name 20 foreign leaders and their countries. (0/20)
21. Memorize a poem.
22. Stop saying THAT word (the one Martha doesn't like.)

It's All Fun and Games
23. ~~Win at any of the quiz nights.~~
24. ~~Participate in a scavenger hunt.~~
25. Play croquet or bocce.
26. ~~Learn to play a new game (Backgammon, Bridge, etc.)~~
27. ~~Play 5 board games. (5/5)~~
28. ~~Learn how to do Suduku. And how to spell it.~~
29. Complete a jigsaw puzzle.
30. Watch Gone With the Wind.
31. Only use candlelight for one full evening.

Being Creative
32. ~~Do something creative - paint a picture, throw a pot, etc.~~
33. Take pictures at one of those weird photo places in Hongdae.
34. ~~Take a photo every day for a month. (31/31)~~
35. ~~Take the good camera out once a month. (30/30)~~
36. Complete 26 Things.
37. Send a postcard to Postsecret.

Because You're Never Too Old
38. Color an entire coloring book.
39. Climb a tree.
40. Play with PlayDoh.
41. Rewatch the Princess Bride and reread A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. (0/2)
42. Do a cartwheel in the sun.
43. Make a snowman.

Yum!
44. Go on a picnic.
45. ~~Try making lasagna in a toaster oven.~~
46. Try 10 new foods. (7/10)
47. Make pancakes with my nieces twice. (0/2)
48. Bake a cake from scratch.
49. Make a curry dish from scratch.
50. Learn to make good cream sauce.
51. ~~Try a new kind of alcohol.~~
52. And a new kind of tea.
53. ~~Eat chicken wings in a bar for the first time.~~
54. Make and decorate cupcakes.
55. Make banana bread and once again make my poor mother mail me the recipe.
56. Have a banana split party.
57. Eat at 25 new restaurants. (29/25) (4/25)
58. ~~Make that chocolate/whip cream dessert from when I was a kid.~~
59. ~~Make popcorn on the stove.~~

The World is an Interesting Place, So Get Out in It
60. Visit a new continent (South America, Australia, Antarctica, ~~Africa~~.)
61. Visit 5 countries I've never been to. (2/5)
62. ~~Dip my toes into two oceans/seas. (2/2)~~
63. Visit 5 UNESCO Heritage Sites. (2/5)
64. ~~Visit a country from the Axis of Evil.~~
65. Go canoeing or kayaking again.
66. Participate in a winter sport that is not sledding.
67. Go zorbing/hot air ballooning/skydive or something along those lines.
68. Go to a ~~sporting event~~, a ~~play~~/opera/ballet,<>a museum, and ~~an art gallery.~~ (4/4)
69. ~~Take an odd form of trasportation (dog sledding, etc.)~~
70. Control one vehicle.
71. Encounter an interesting animal in its natural habitat.
72. Sleep in a tent.
73. Watch the sun ~~set~~ and rise. (1/2)

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood
74. Take a series of pictures of the neighbourhood I live in.
75. Finally go to the National Museum, which I pass every day, and Seoul Tower, which I can see from my window. (0/2)
76. Take the subway to or from work once a week. (44/38) (42/42)
77. Walk into Itaewon to get coffee at least 15 times. (8/15)
78. ~~Buy a round for the bar.~~
79. ~~Let Shawn talk me into Hashing once.~~
80. Explore 12 new places in Seoul - one for each month. (3/12)

Because My Body is My Temple
81. Get a tattoo or a piercing.
82. ~~Go to the dentist.~~
83. ~~Buy a frickin' toothbrush.~~
84. ~~Finish all my multivitamins.~~
85. Be a vegetarian for a month.
86. Be a vegan for a week.
87. ~~Buy new glasses.~~
88. ~~And sunglasses.~~
89. ~~Buy a bathing suit.~~
90. ~~Go to bed by midnight thirty times. (30/30)~~
91. Start and stick to an exercise routine.
92. ~~Buy purple underwear.~~

Because It Needs to Be Done
93. Pay off half my credit card.
94. Then pay off the rest.
95. Make one day a month internet and TV free. (37/30)(0/18)
96. Clean up iTunes.
97. ~~Buy a new iPod.~~
98. ~~Buy another external harddrive~~ and have old harddrive fixed.
99. Find a charity I believe in and ~~donate~~/~~join a protest for a cause I believe in.~~
100. ~~Get my damn hair straightened already.~~ ~~cut!~~
101. ~~Wash Martha's dishes.~~

Life in a Suitcase

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Review: Kilingiri

Friday, April 25, 2014

Review: The Grrrl of Limberlost

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Review: The Boy in the Suitcase

Review: The White Dragon

Review: Dragonquest

Review: Dragonflight

Toronto

Seoul

Sitemeter

Historical Musings