January, 2019 | The Plaid Pladd Blog

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2019 Goals: January

January 31st, 2019 by pladd

The theme for my 2019 goals is “Aim Low” after what happened last year. This year you’ll notice that most of them can be accomplished from my bed lol and that is BY DESIGN

1. Cookbooks Cook Through: 23%
This is the stretch goal. On New Year’s Day, Steven and I went through our cookbooks and marked all the recipes we’d never made but wanted to try this year. In all, it was 29 books, and I marked 70 recipes. Steven marked 215 lol. So far I’ve made 16 recipes (see below) and he’s made 11 (5.12% complete).

You can probably guess that Steven’s are yellow and mine are pink

2. 50 States of Reading: 31%
This is a project I actually started in 2018: Read a book set in each US state. I’m doing it like a legit road trip where I started in Maine and headed South. Here’s the map of what I’ve done so far:

I also stopped in Washington, DC because I’m into the DC Statehood Movement

And here are the books I’ve read:

3. Read One Book a Month We Already Own: 8%
We own a lot of books I’ve never read, mostly because Steven. So I forsee a lot of really bad sci-fi in my future. But in January I found one I’d gotten at a past library book sale!

A History of Histories by John Burrow

It wasn’t as good as I was hoping, but whatever.

4. Transcribe my Grandmother’s Diaries: 37%
My grandmother kept a diary for SIXTY YEARS, y’all, (1941-2000) and this year I’m going to transcribe them all. Right now I’m in 1963. No thoughts on the Cuban Missile Crisis, but I do have a window into how much time our foremothers spent ironing (hint: A WHOLE HECKIN LOT). Here’s a sample entry from An Historic Day:

August 14, 1945. Stayed here and did work all day. Went town at noon and bought suit. War over at 4:00PM

5. Take a Picture of Everything I Make: 100%
Last year I had all these goals that involved making things but never had photographic evidence. No longer! Here’s everything I made in January:

Mostly baked goods, I guess

Total: 40%
Not bad for January!

Tagged: 2019 goals, books, things I've made

Posted in Uncategorized |

2018 Goals: Wrap Up

January 1st, 2019 by pladd

Lol what even was this year. I’m pretty sick, so the only goals I accomplished are ones I was able to do from my bed.

1. Hike Every Trail in Umstead: 43%

Oh yeah, I did nothing on this between now and the last time we talked. I am WAY out of shape and would not trust myself to make it out of the woods. Honestly, I get dizzy on light walks with Olivia now.

This is all I did

2. Learn to Juggle: 5%
I’m giving myself a few points for actually buying juggling balls and watching some tutorials. But I can’t juggle. I want to be a person who can juggle, but not enough to actually put in any effort. This was the stretch goal.

3. Review every book I read on GoodReads: 100%

All 177 of them

This is definitely a habit now, so I hope I will continue it!

4. Send everyone in my penpal club a birthday postcard: 58%
Yeah, I gave up after 7 months and 184 postcards. Respectable, still.

5. Give to a different charity once a month: 67%
Literally forgot I was supposed to be doing this. Sorry, charities. It is back to haphazard, spur of the moment donations for me.

6. Cook or discard everything in my recipe binder: 100%
Despite being pretty incapable of eating most foods, I somehow managed to complete this goal? Probably because I threw away A LOT of recipes, but the binder is cleaned up, and that’s what matters.

7. Make Pageapalooza a Success: 100%
Wow, the secret to padding these things is making a goal that will end before the halfway point in the year.

Total: 68%

More than half! I’m kind of shocked. Sure, I only advanced 1 percentage point from the last update in August, but considering I spent MOST of those 4 months lying on the floor in pain, it’s surprising I managed to do anything else at all. It’s been a shitty year, friends.

Previously: 2/3 of the way there
Next: 2019 goals -or- Aim Low

Tagged: 2018 goals

Posted in 2018 Goals |

2018: The Pretty

January 1st, 2019 by pladd

Since I feel bad for making fun of the ugly covers, here are all the best book covers from the year! A lot of them are graphic novels this time around, and a bunch showed up on my The Good list(*)!

The Inevitable Victorian Thing by E.K. Johnston

This cover really captures the dichotomy in the book between prim Victorian sensibilities and invasive gennome-mapping technology.

The Stone Heart by Faith Erin Hicks

*I really like the art style, which I guess is how most graphic novels end up on here.

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

*This is my aesthetic, basically.

Piper by Jay Asher

*Of course gorgeous graphic novels have gorgeous covers.

Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel

When a woman writes an AU crossover fic, it’s trashy, but when a dude does it, it’s Serious Literature(TM). Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: 2018 books

Posted in Book Reviews |

2018: The Ugly

January 1st, 2019 by pladd

Time to make fun of all the ugly book covers I read this year! A bunch of these already showed up on The Bad list(^), but one is from The Good(*)! You can’t judge a book by its cover, I guess. But I will still judge these covers themselves hardcore. Here they are in the order I read them:

Kodiak’s Claim (Kodiak Point #1) by Eve Langlais

Grizzly bear shapeshifter romance novel!!

Outfoxed by Love (Kodiak Point #2) by Eve Langlais

This romance novel is about A MOOSE SHAPESHIFTER!!! Dreams come true

Polar Bared (Kodiak Point #3) by Eve Langlais

Polar bear shapeshifters seem kind of whatever after the moose one, right? Don’t worry, next up:

Caribou’s Gift (Kodiak Point #3.5) by Eve Langlais

CARIBOU SHAPESHIFTER CHRISTMAS ROMANCE NOVEL!

Nearly Dead by Brendan P. Myers

^A satellite image of the setting? Try harder, Brendan. Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: 2018 books

Posted in Book Reviews |

2018: The Bad

January 1st, 2019 by pladd

This year I only rated 13 books 1 star! The worst book I read this year, by a wide margin, was:

Darker by ELJames

This series has so many problems I started a separate blog to discuss them all in detail.

The other terrible books I read mostly fell into these categories:

Bad Romance Novels
You kind of expect these to be terrible, right?

The Winter King (Weathermages of Mystral #1) by C.L.Wilson

This book was basically Frozen 2: Your Brother Is Mad You Have Weather Powers And All He Can Do Is Talk to Birds

Dragon Pact by Mac Flynn

This plot-hole ridden ride is about a dragon vampire, as you do.

The Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl by Gina Lamm

This time traveling romance is somehow even dumber than the cover makes it seem. And yet I still read the sequel:

Geek Girls Don’t Date Dukes by Gina Lamm

Another time traveling idiot finds love instead of being burned as a witch or immediately getting typhoid.

Love Finds You in Humble Texas by Anita Higman

This book was not reflective of my time in Humble, Texas. No one went to Sonic? No one spent forever in traffic? At one point, a character falls asleep outside and doesn’t wake up covered in mosquito bites and sun burn? Okay

My Wild Irish Dragon by Ashlyn Chase

This book is about two supernatural shapeshifting fire fighters, a dragon and a phoenix, finding love.

Other Books That Did What They Set Out To Do
It’s really my own fault for reading these

Nearly Dead by Brendan P. Myers

This is about zombies attacking my hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. I was hoping it would be hilariously bad, but it was just normal bad. I wrote that on my GoodReads review too, and the author liked it. So maybe he agrees.

By Book or By Crook by Eva Gates

Cozy mysteries are just not for me, gang. I just can’t suspend my disbelief enough. Plus, this one was about a library, so there were a lot of setting details to gripe about.

Color Me Murder by Krista Davis

This one REALLY pissed me off because I ordered it thinking it was a coloring book. I was so disappointed to just get a shitty cozy mystery about a coloring book designer instead.

The Battle Begins: The Story of Creation by Caleb Seeling

This one was actually pretty hilarious.

True Disappointments

Unpunished by Charlotte Gilman

I wanted to like this mystery because of its place in early feminist history, but, like a lot of early feminism, it is hella racist. Plus the mystery story was very boring.

The Space Between Us by Brenna Yovanoff

This book is a YA romance about star crossed lovers: a human boy and THE DAUGHTER OF SATAN. That has so much potential, but inconsistent world-building just made it frustrating.

Previously: 2018: The Good
Next: 2018: The Ugly

Tagged: 2018 books

Posted in Book Reviews |

2018: The Good

January 1st, 2019 by pladd

I read 177 books this year, and 31 of them I marked 5 stars! My top pick for 2018 is:

A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge

Frances Hardinge is one of my favorite authors, so it’s no surprise that this book was amazing. It’s set in an underground city where talented craftsmen can make wine that erases memories and perfume that makes you trust the wearer even while they’re stabbing you. There’s Medici-style politics, class warfare, and a heroine who isn’t taking any shit. I love it.

The rest:
Nonfiction

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman

This narrowly avoided being my top pick for the year! It was so good! A history of the 14th century that reads as easily as a novel.

Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of 80s and 90s Teen Fiction by Gabrielle Moss

This book was a great nostalgia trip, and also hilarious.

The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of “Proper” English from Shakespeare to South Park by Jack Lynch

I’ve read a lot of history of language books, but I still learned somethings from this one about where how the “rules” for our language developed.

The Gossamer Years: The Diary of a Noblewoman of Heian Japan

This autobiography was written around 974 in feudal Japan, and the author is so extra I LOVE HER. Most written communication happens through poetry, and girl attaches a mean poem to A DEAD FLOWER to send to her neglectful lover. Plus once she moves without telling him.

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I feel like I highlighted this entire book.

Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America by Craig Childs

This book was a really interesting look at what we know and don’t know about the earliest people to live in the Americas. The author travels to different archaeological sites and talks about how the land would have looked different back then.

Asking For It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture and What We Can Do About It by Kate Harding

This book was depressing as fuck, but important and well-researched.

Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse who Became a Hero by Patricia McCormick

This horse is more badass than most humans.

Fiction

The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett

I finally read this, the last Discworld book, this year after rereading the entire series. I was scared it wouldn’t be a fitting end to my favorite series, because Raising Steam really kind of sucked? But, no, it was perfect.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This book was like the lovechild of Isabel Allende and Umberto Eco, and I am here for that.

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

A teen ghost fighting agency!!!

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed

Hard to read, but amazing.

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

Another third wave girl power book which I really wish had been around when I was in high school.

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson

Epistolary novels are my jam

My Lady’s Choosing by Kitty Curan

A CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE REGENCY ROMANCE NOVEL! RUN! DON’T FUCKING WALK!

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

This book was about Haiti, and is the first Allende novel I’ve read that I think rivals House of the Spirits.

A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett

A collection of Terry Pratchett short fiction I read for the first time during my giant Discworld reread.

…And the Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer

I had to read a book over 1000 pages, and I’m really glad I picked this one. It reminded me of Edward Rutherford, but on a much smaller scale.

Graphic Novels and Comics

The Stone Heart by Faith Erin Hicks

The sequel to The Nameless City, about the friendship between a street urchin girl and a boy from the ruling caste foiling an assassination attempt, politics get even more murky here. The art style is beautiful too!

Step Aside, Pops: A Hark! A Vagrant Collection by Kate Beaton

I’m slowly building up my Kate Beaton collection.

Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch

This was a pretty funny D&D parody universe.

Piper by Jay Asher

A retelling of the Pied Piper folk tale, following a deaf girl who lives in the town and is therefore the only one immune to the piper’s powers. The art style is beautiful.