My Year in Reading: 2016

Posted in Books
on December 8, 2016

I realized early this year that I do not read enough female authors. Reflecting on what I’ve read over the past two years, I think I may have only read like three books written by women. How dismal.

I suspect it’s a ratio thing — a lot of books on the shelves are penned by male authors, so it’s just more likely that when I do pick something up, it’ll be something written by a man. (And I shouldn’t have to say this, but just in case, I don’t have anything against male writers.)

But that’s hardly a good enough reason, is it? (Nope, it’s not.) I do feel it is important that I make more of an effort to read female authors, just to diversify my own reading habits. I already make it a point to read non-English books (translated into English, obviously) on a regular basis, so why not also make it a point to read more works by women too?

I’m not sure what kind of point I’m trying to make. Most likely no point. This is just my par-for-the-course rambling way of saying that I’m pleased to see a lot more women make it into my list of favorite books this year.

 


 

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

Pop the champagne and pass out the noisemakers because this is the best thing I’ve read all year, hands down. It’s a difficult story, and I’m sure elements of it will drive a lot of people to hate it — you know, like the rampant physical abuse of a mute child, and how frustrating the characters can be as they get in their own way. The novel is about Kerewin, a loner who finds a mysterious mute child in her home one day and becomes enmeshed in the lives of this child and his deeply flawed stepfather. It’s refreshing to read about someone who is cynical, but not cartoonishly so, and where they aren’t set up as someone who needs to undergo a complete personality transplant to be “saved.” She’s complicated and messy, like everyone else in the book; though admittedly, that does make it weird that it wraps up in a too-neat kind of way. But it’s such a beautifully written story, and a great glimpse into the Maori language and culture. There’s even a glossary in the back of the Maori terms used, though if you’re lazy like me, you won’t bother to refer to it until after you’re done reading the book to see if your “figure it out via context clues” method worked.

 

Augustus by John Williams

This is very similar to I, Claudius by Robert Graves, in that both are fictionalized accounts of the lives and reigns of Roman emperors. And maybe that is a very specific genre that I enjoy because I loved this one too. If you know of any other “fictionalized accounts of the lives and reigns of Roman emperors,” please alert me immediately to its existence. The only other thing I’ve read by John Williams is Stoner (I highly recommend it) but Augustus does not at all resemble it. To give you an example, I laughed quite a few times reading this — Williams does thinly veiled contempt quite well –, whereas I laughed approximately Not At All times reading Stoner. I will say, though, that it helps to know your Roman history to really appreciate this book, otherwise it’s a little too easy to get lost in the names of people and places and events.
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5 Hidden Netflix Gems

Posted in Movies / TV
on November 16, 2016

This is a VERY LATE guest post by my friend Blair of Lovers of Weird! She wrote this wonderful guide to hidden Netflix gems months ago, but I am a forgetful person and am only just now getting around to posting it. Eeeeeek, sorry Blair! Enjoy, all!

– AmyK


Okay, so here goes. My name is Blair Casey, and I‘m a Netflix addict. 😉 Ok, that’s probably a bit of an exaggeration. But I’m openly obsessed with storytelling and spend a lot of time writing, reading and watching things. I especially like weird things. The strange, the foreign, the alien, the uncomfortable, the mind-bending, the galactic. Typically I find these types of stories the most beautiful. So in my quest to seek the best weird titles on Netflix, these were the gems I uncovered.

THE BEST OFFER *** (Solid)

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At the center of this film is Virgil Oldman, a master auctioneer who floats among the wealthy, a private man who guards his pride and his company closely, always looking down his nose, assessing the value of things, selling them to the highest bidder.

Carried to fortune by his professionalism, reputation and taste, Virgil runs like clockwork until a fragile young heiress appears in his life. What begins as a glimpse through a keyhole becomes a whirlwind of romance and gears.

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Happy 50th Anniversary, Star Trek! The 10 Best Episodes of Star Trek: TOS to Stream RIGHT NOW

Posted in Geekery, Movies / TV
on September 8, 2016

I meant to post this exactly on September 8th, but it got away from me. But I still want to share this because 50 years ago, NBC aired the very first episode of Star Trek. Both Sam and I are huge Star Trek fans — in fact, here’s a photo of us visiting Captain Kirk’s future birthplace in Riverside, Iowa earlier this year!

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I could go on and on about why I love Star Trek and what it means to me — but ask me in person and when you’ve got hours to spare because I will talk your ear off and maybe also involuntarily cry a bit. Something about Star Trek drives past my crunchy exterior into the warm, squishy caramel of my soul. So in celebration of this anniversary and because I feel like it, here are my 10 favorite episodes of Star Trek: TOS, all of which you can stream right now from Netflix.

10. The Doomsday Machine (season 2, episode 6)

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There are a few “officials who pull rank and put the Enterprise in jeopardy” episodes out there, but this storyline with Commodore Decker is by far one of the most intense. The Enterprise goes to answer a distress call from the USS Constellation, only to find it severely damaged and the entire crew missing, aside from Decker, the Constellation’s captain. It turns out Decker had tried to save his crew from a giant attacking machine by beaming them down to a planet, only to witness that same machine devour the planet, taking his crew with it. Obsessed with his need to destroy the machine that destroyed his ship and his crew, Decker perilously takes command of the Enterprise while Kirk is stranded on the barely functional Constellation. Scotty also has a big part in this one, and I feel like every episode could have used more Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott.
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Girl Rambler: Fremont Lookout

Posted in Hiking
on August 21, 2016

Length: 5.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 800 feet

My little brother came to visit this past weekend, and to best show him my favorite local Super Dangerous Volcano That Will One Day Awaken & Kill Us All, we decided to hike to the Fremont Lookout in Mount Rainier National Park. My friend Nicole came with us, and we all got the hell out of Seattle bright and early Sunday morning.

The Fremont Lookout is the highest lookout in the park at 7,000 feet. But because you begin the hike at the Sunrise Visitor Center, which is already pretty high up, the elevation gain is easy to handle. In fact, the beginning climb from the parking lot to the trail junction was the most difficult part, and even that was most likely because we went straight from a two-hour car ride to legging it. Even my brother, who has never hiked before, successfully completed this without issue in his running shoes.

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Girl Rambler: Billy Frank Jr Nisqually Wildlife Refuge

Posted in Hiking
on August 5, 2016

Length: 2 miles
Gain: none

I liked this place so much that I went here twice in one week! It’s a beautiful little slice of estuary life, and I love going here to see shorebirds. I think the best time to visit if you’d like to see birds is as close to sunrise or sunset as possible — I drove here after work from Seattle to see the sun set, and the trees near the visitor center’s boardwalk area were just teeming with birdsong. I am a very subpar birder, though, so I didn’t see too many of the birds, though I certainly did hear them. The ones I was able to identify were: dark-eyed juncos, black-capped chickadees, barn swallows, and Western wood-peewees. But most impressively (to me), an American bittern! He caught a tiny silvery fish and everything.

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The boardwalk paths around the visitor center are in good repair, and the shades provide plenty of shade. But the real treat is the new boardwalk that takes you out over the estuary. To most easily get to it, enter the trail to the left of the visitor center and follow the boardwalk until you get to a T-junction past the “Twin Barns.” Go left to hug your way around the barns, and you’ll eventually get to a spot where the boardwalk meets a gravel path. Go onto the gravel path to leave the shade of the trees and follow the path it as it swings out towards the water. You’ll see the new boardwalk in the distance ahead of you.

As you walk further out on the new boardwalk towards the Puget Sound viewing area, look to your right and on a clear day you’ll see Mount Rainier! Maybe you’ll also see the Improbable Seagull Who Can Stand On Water — tell him I said “‘sup.”

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Girl Rambler: Mima Mounds

Posted in Hiking
on July 30, 2016

Length: 2.75 miles
Elevation Gain: 10 feet, so practically none

I don’t know what I was expecting when I visited the Mima Mounds after hanging out at the Billy Frank Nisqually Wildlife Refuge (it’s only a 30-minute drive from one to the other), and maybe something is just deeply wrong with me, but I found the mounds completely underwhelming. Perhaps if I had come when the wildflower show was still going strong, my opinion would be different. But I came in late July when all the color was gone from the mounds, aside from the endless sandy gold of the grass.

The mounds are also next to a shooting range, or at least so close to one that during the entire time I was there, I could hear endless BLAM!BLAM!BLAM! even when I rambled to the far end of the trail. It certainly didn’t add to the experience, that’s for sure.

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Girl Rambler: Heybrook Lookout

Posted in Hiking
on July 7, 2016

Length: 2.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 850 feet

I did this hike on a whim. At approximately noon yesterday, I realized that the weather forecast for the rest of the week, the entire weekend, and most of next week would be rain, rain, and more rain. So much rain we all might grow gills, I mean, it’s anyone’s call at this point.

I was seized by a sudden need to get one more outdoor jaunt in while the weather permitted, so after work, I ran home, threw my hiking pack together (water, flashlight, sweater, 75 cameras — you know, the usual), and drove through rush hour traffic to get to the trailhead for the Heybrook Lookout. Thank goodness for late summer sunsets.


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Girl Rambler: Franklin Falls

Posted in Hiking
on June 23, 2016

Length: 2 miles
Elevation Gain: 400 feet

My friend Jessica was in town this past week, and because Houston isn’t exactly known for splendid mountain views, lush forests, and gushing waterfalls, we decided to go for a ramble for all three of those things.

Franklin Falls is one of the easiest hikes I’ve done, and because it’s pretty tame and short, it’s also quite popular. Luckily, we were able to go on a weekday because I took the day off work, which meant the trail was far less crowded than I imagine it’d be during the weekend.

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Girl Rambler: Deception Pass State Park

Posted in Hiking
on May 16, 2016

Length: 6 miles
Elevation Gain: ???

My friend Nicole and I went to Deception Pass State Park yesterday, though we definitely did not strictly do any of the trails on the WTA website and just rambled around a bunch of random trails and along the beaches instead. This was my first time at this park, and also my first time on Whidbey Island! Bring your Discover pass.

First, a tip: your phone will think you’re in Canada when you’re here and begin roaming. Put that phone on airplane mode or else this will happen —

PHONE: we’re in Canada!
ME: we’re not in Canada
PHONE: pretty sure this is Canada
ME: it’s not, trust me
PHONE: …nah, this is Canada! -roams for signal, drains a previously 50% full battery in 36 seconds, dies-

Thank goodness I happen to always carry at least two additional cameras on my person on any given hike (I am that person you see on the trails, it’s true).

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Girl Rambler: Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area

Posted in Hiking
on May 7, 2016

Length: 7-ish miles, roundtrip (not 8 like the WTA site says)
Elevation Gain: 1,750 ft

The Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area is in Kittitas, 2.5 hours outside of Seattle. I know. Whiskey Dick? It gets its name from Whiskey Dick Mountain, but how the mountain got that name, I… don’t know the backstory. Maybe there is none. Maybe it was named by a 13-year-old boy who thought himself quite hilarious.

The drive was a breeze — I was on paved road the entire way (I-90 to small town streets), which is important because I drive a very not-for-offroading sedan. Once I was inside the Wild Horse Solar & Wind Facility (which is where the wildlife area is located), I got my recreation pass from the main visitor’s building. Despite what the WTA website says, I didn’t need a Discover Pass to hike here.

A mile back down the same road is where the trail began. This was marked by a tiny stone with a plaque on it.

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And I mean tiny.

This place was nothing like the green old growth forests of Western Washington, so I can imagine that some people might find it kind of boring. But I loved the tumbling hills of low sagebrush as far as the eye can see — it just made everything that much more vast, especially since I also hiked this on a clear, cloudless day. The sky went on forever.

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