Abandoned

 In the unlikely event that someone stumbles across this blog and can't live without know why posting suddenly stopped, it's because I moved over to substack. Google will probably give up on this platform in a hot minute anyway.

Later.

Review: In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't know if I can say anything about this book that hasn't already been said. It only takes the first few pages to let the reader know its reputation is clearly earned and further reading never lets up its hold. Even the most negative of negative people (namely me) can't deny how great this book is. Of course, I'll find something to gripe about. And that is why I'm putting the disclaimer that you should turn back now. Just know that "In Cold Blood" is as good as everyone says it is and go from there.

There had always been a lingering thought about ICB that had floated in my head. Something that persisted for years and kept this book on my 'to read' list for seemingly an eternity. The moral question of writing a story on a real-life murder. As the true crime genre continues to expand, especially among all the bored housewives, the debate only grew. This question continued as I read the granddaddy of true crime, wondering how much was real and how much was invented by Capote. Was it artistic license run amok, or was this the most thoroughly researched book of all time in the hands of the 20th century's most capable writer? While the latter seems the least likely, it should be left to each reader to ultimately decide. Though, before I finished reading, I concluded that morality has no real place in literature.

I took my time with this book. And, if I have any advice to give, it's that you should as well. Not because this book is deep, but because it's rich. A book not to be pretentiously dissected, but to be appreciatively absorbed. Instead of knocking around quips or vomiting plot points, every sentence wraps itself in the humanity of it all. It gets my highest recommendation as, while it is bloody in the most conceivable way, it is far from cold.

View all my reviews

Review: Discourses and Selected Writings

Discourses and Selected Writings by Epictetus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There's a section of Discourses titled "On the Treatment of Slaves". I understand there is a nuanced difference between the slaves of Ancient Greece and the brutality of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but having a class of people with no rights is still not a good thing. Still, there seems to be a lack of self-awareness on Epictetus' part where he rants on and on about freedom but seems to be okay with a slave cleaning his house. I point this out to explain the overall tone of this work, a journal of sporadically good advice mixed in heavily with outdated thinking.

I could probably write a companion work to Discourses highlighting every ounce of the archaic, but I would mostly be repeating myself throughout most of it. As the one example I'll give, Epictetus makes several points about how illness can't hurt you because your body is meaningless when compared to the mind. While I won't dispute the overall point, the thing is, in Epictetus' time, if you got sick and didn't get well on your own, you probably just died. Sure they had doctors, but their solution to everything was leeches. I don't oppose the mindset of Stoic thought, if I did I wouldn't be reading Discourses, but with Epictetus there always felt there was a lack of flexibility.

There's also an underlying religious element to Discourses along with a strong believer in fate. When shit happens, I've always been a 'it is what it is' kind of person, but Epictetus leans heavily into it being 'God's will'. On a practical level, those mindsets aren't that different as both allow you to accept whatever happens with resolve, but how you frame it does matter. The way Epictetus frames his thoughts allows him to drift, occasionally, into self-righteousness. Example: There's a bit about how he thinks you should avoid sex until marriage. While I could argue that sex is a skill like any other that needs to be practiced (Queening, tickling the pearl, etc.), honestly, Epictetus comes off as believing this not because of Stoic thought, but because he's just a prude.

The phrasing is also entirely intended for cis-gendered males of a certain class while the translation is so obviously done by a British person(s) that I felt myself colonized just by purchasing it. But I won't even bother unpacking all of that.

Discourses is basically a couple hundred pages of a guy arguing with himself. However, despite certain outdated aspects, there is good to be had here once you cut through all the stuffiness. He hits upon several gems of wisdom but also suffers from not being able to recognize when he's wrong about something. As a stoic tome, I would say it's required reading. As anything else, I would describe it as an extra-long opinion article in the New York Times. Something intelligent and well-written, but you'll end up turning up your nose to it more than once.

View all my reviews

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, here you are. At the very last final conclusion. ...Or are we? There's an inherent flaw with a series, especially when it becomes a full-fledged franchise. And that's the inability for people, even the creator(s), to just fucking let it go. There always seems to be one more series to beat out of the corpse or a sequel that is crapped out twenty years too late. And Harry Potter, the little tosser, isn't any different. While the Grindelwald stuff has its place in the story, JK races right past the need for it and starts pitching their next idea. And, let me tell you, rolling your eyes makes it really difficult to read a book.

I hate to start off a book review like that, as it undermines it, but the inclusion of a backdoor pilot does the same for the book as well. There is a need to be reflective about Dumbledore and to acknowledge that he lived an entire life (if not several) before Potter was even born, but I have this feeling it takes up too much space in the story. It is fair to say that I might not have even noticed it if I read this book before the next movie series emerged from the capitalist boardroom, but I think it's equally fair to say that JK only allows the subplot to take as much of a hold because of their future franchising.

It's also a problem I have with the latter three books in the series. As the pacing seems to suffer from the inclusion of various unneeded things. There is something to be said about a book series that was able to grow up with its audience, but the latter novels just don't hold up on their own. I could see myself re-reading Prisoner of Azkaban on its own, but never Order of the Phoenix. That's the biggest issue with a book series such as this, they need to live together or die alone.

I suppose I need to talk about Deathly Hallows as a book on its own. It's fine. I would even say it's good for the most part. It just needs to be trimmed down a couple hundred pages. When it shines, it really fucking shines. The rest of the time, I'm kind of waiting for the next good bit. If the book needs downtime to establish something, that's great, but here I feel we have an author who has the authority to do whatever they want. So, bottom line, it's mostly good with a side of bad pacing.

One thing that stuck out to me was the actual Battle of Hogwarts. JK taking a very much JRR Tolkien approach to battle writing. As in we don't actually see much of the battle as we have to follow around some noncombatant asshole. It's more of an observation than a criticism, but I will say this is why third-person omniscient is the best literary perspective. That's a hill I will die on.

There we have it I suppose. A book series I finally got around to reading and didn't feel I wasted my time. Which is probably the highest praise I can muster unless your last name is Heinlein. A book, and series as a whole, that was clever, charming, and well-written, but got more and more up its own butt. The last never becoming a fatal flaw, but probably would have if they wrote two or three more books/movies.

View all my reviews

Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

HP&tH-BP is a massive lore dump. It's a much needed one, but that aspect keeps it from being a real book. There, I just reviewed the entire thing in two sentences. I'm going to keep reviewing and nitpicking, but you can stop reading (if anyone is even out there). I spent two 1/2 weeks reading this book, so the least I can do is give it a few paragraphs.

I will say, as lore is concerned, it does a lot of things right. It not only digs up the past, but it properly connects to the present and offers options of how they're going to get out of this shitshow. It's also spaced out over the course of the 'story' instead of laying it all out at once like the world's nerdiest history book. It also doesn't make the mistake of trying to reinvent or provide unnecessary characterization. Like attempting to make Voldemort sympathetic, tragic, or something like that. It's a good thing he was always a creepy Damien-like kid.

Everything else about the book, however, can barely register as mediocre. The actual story of this book only exists to pace out the lore dumps. None of the other characters really have much to do as everything, even the mystery that makes up the book's title, takes a backseat. There is one major plot point at the end, but I feel it didn't create the 'all is lost' moment it had intended. Though that might be because I was spoiled by the movies.

This volume of HP didn't have much to say outside of the lore, and thus, neither do I. From a purely writing standpoint, it's okay. I found the pacing to be tight and the lore interesting, but everything falls apart once you put it in a vacuum. The previous volumes could be enjoyed, at least somewhat, on an individual level. This book exists solely as the penultimate volume and nothing more.
View all my reviews

Review: Mistborn

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book. I swear. I know that I'm going to sound like I didn't, but I do think it's a good book. The thing is, there are glaring issues I can't ignore. Imagine that you're on a date with a great person that matches your preferences and values perfectly. Now think of them having just one small flaw. A huge mole on their face or an annoying habit that just grinds your gears. That's Sanderson's writing. Great in many ways, but also annoying in ways that a lesser reader could probably just let go of.

Let's get my biggest problem out of the way first, and, if you've already read this book, it should be fairly obvious. That is: we're reading another hero's journey story. Vin is basically Luke Skywalker. Kelsier is, admittedly a more interesting, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Even Allomancy is just the Force with extra steps. This doesn't make the book drab or predictable, but, once a writer commits to the hero's journey, there are certain tropes that the book has to follow by the rule of law. The most annoying trope is that the hero is special for no real reason beyond being born that way. I can write an entire book on why that's a terrible way to think, but I'll save both of us the trouble.

This larger problem of being trope-heavy pretty much feeds the rest of the problems. Most of which I can't complain about as they would technically be spoilers. I won't use the word 'predictable' as you don't know when or how certain things are going to happen, but just knowing those things are unavoidable is enough.

Most of what anyone should look for in enjoying a book, it does well. The writing properly communicates everything going on which I consider an achievement given how easily high fantasy can get mangled from a description standpoint. Characters are interesting despite their existence being tied almost entirely to their purpose to the plot. The pacing is solid and the plot is satisfactory. Even the world-building is interesting and introduced well. The prose was 'good' but there are aspects about it that I can get super petty about. The internal dialogue, written as if Frank Herbert was standing over Sanderson's shoulder, comes to mind.

I also normally rail against book series, but I won't in this case. Here, there is enough resolved while keeping enough unanswered questions for the follow-up. Not making the mistake of doing nothing for two hundred pages before the contrived cliffhanger.

This is my first Sanderson book and I liked... I guess. It was good, but it wasn't the orgasmic revelation some of his fans would have you believe. I'm considering reading more, but I have this lingering thought that his writing won't improve with time/experience. I'm not saying it gets worse, but I feel that this book series is what it is and nothing more. But hey, I love being proven wrong. Being negative is my default and that means, if I'm wrong, it's because the reality can only be positive.

View all my reviews

Review: Fourth Wing

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book begins with a warning, a caution to its contents. Which I think is very apt for this book as it behaves mostly like a pack of cigarettes. Tasty, strangely satisfying, but, ultimately, not good for you. The warning exists not so much because it's dark but rather because it might be a little much for the younger audience it is intended for. Sure there's a lot of violence, death, and sex, but I didn't find it to be particularly nerve-racking. I was born reading dark literature, molded by it. I didn't read anything cheerful until I was already a man and it was nothing to me but sappy nonsense. So I walked away from this book feeling more like I had taken some nerdy drugs than rather having read anything that might have harmed my soul. This is a shame, for what I found to be a mostly enjoyable book, I still can't get a bitter taste from my mouth.

I suppose the first thing I'll tackle is the book's horniness. If you ignore the dragons, magic, and murder, this novel is almost scene for scene the abject picture of a coed college dorm. Which is why everyone is thirstier than the Death Valley summer tour group. I didn't mind this aspect too much, in fact I found it to be rather charming at times, but there's a tonal shift about the book's 2/3rds mark. What was mostly played off in the background or as tension between certain characters, quickly becomes content usually reserved for the OnlyFans account. That, in and of itself, was fine. It wasn't the best written boning down I've ever read, but it was fine. What turned me off was how quickly lust turns into a rather poorly conceived idea of love. The two characters that end up falling in love, I feel, aren't really in love. They're just both really clingy.

The book is also terribly predictable. What is normally described as Checkov's gun, here, I call Checkov's problem. The world-building is clunky and inorganic, so, whenever a detail is mentioned, the reader knows what change to the plot is coming. It's actually why I have a complete and total hatred for the establishment of rules in writing. It leads to writing that is formulaic and all sounding the same. And this book follows the Checkov rule like she has a gun pointed at her head. The sad thing is, there's nothing here that is trope or cliche. Sure it takes ideas we've seen before, like dragons, but not story elements or characters. This book is truly original in many ways and it makes me weep what might have been if the author was more fixated on the writing rather than the formula.

I think my only other major issue with this book is the pacing. I was leaning towards a 4-star rating throughout most of my read-through but settled on 3-stars by the time I approached the end. There's a major game change towards the end that was the one and only surprising thing that happens throughout the plot. The problem is that almost everything that happens from that point on has nothing to do with the book itself, it has to do with setting up the sequel. Because everything has to be a fucking series. Kurt Vonnegut described a novel's plot as the story of a person falling into a hole. The person is introduced, person falls in hole, person climbs out of hole. The game changer is the person falling in the hole part. The beginning of the second part, i.e. the middle. Not the end. The book has confused instigation with climax. Something I found to be ironic.

There's much to like in this book. There really is. The prose is well-written, we have interesting characters. The book just spends so much time in first gear it never really has a chance to let loose. My problem is that I'm too much of a drifter. Moving from book to book like the player I am. Something that strives to be a series needs to be truly compelling and have enough satisfying closed plot points in order for me to stay long enough for breakfast. While I had my fun, it just wasn't good enough and was checked out before it even really ended.

View all my reviews

Review: Rain

Rain by Joe Hill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was the exact level of okayness that I expected. And there wasn't a high level of expectation to begin with. It's a decent blend of shock and grief under a roof of decent pacing and predictable characters. Any attempt it makes for a wider world or theme is taken down by the limits of its own storytelling. A small story that casually tries to think big. Nothing bad, but also nothing special. At least it won't take you long to read.

The art is good. Nothing that racked my brain until I saw God, but it's several levels above serviceable. I will say that the artist has a thing for eyeballs. Both in and out of their sockets. There isn't a particular point there, it's just, once you realize it, you can't unsee it. You're welcome.

Probably the only other thing I have to say is the reveal at the end. Honestly, I thought it was kind of stupid. If I had a month I couldn't list all the reasons why, so I'll just leave it to your own interpretation. I also choose not to dwell on it as I just roll my eyes and move on to the next thing. My final note being that it feels like the author couldn't decide if this was going to be an ongoing story, or be something that wrapped up in a hurry. Either way, my investment with the story ends here.

View all my reviews

Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While previous Potter books slide by with only mild infractions, Phoenix makes a large blunder that's much harder to avoid. There's no throughline. Or perhaps it's better to say nothing is driving the plot. In the previous books, the title would spell out what is the center of that particular volume. Here, the Order is more of something that is just introduced. Leaving the plot to be far more fragmented and about world-building than anything else.

Not to say the book is bad. It doesn't fly off the rails to become something completely different. I'm looking at you Frank Herbert and C.W. Lewis. It's just that the book sacrifices itself for the sake of the overarching plot of the series. Caring more about what has happened and what will happen instead of what is happening. Also, the most interesting plot points happen outside of Potter's purview. Or am I the only person who wants to see a break out from a magical prison?

Everything else I could say about it would be minor in comparison. Luna Lovegood is underutilized. Hagrid's 'adventures' could have been an email instead of a meeting. Despite a lack of a mysterious plot this time around, we still get a long explanation at the end.  One that just boils down to: all of this could have been avoided if Dumbledore would have just said something. While aspects like this give me pause, none of them are deal breakers. Though I will say that reading it today allows me to see one character is meant to be more of an aspect of society that leads me to one inescapable conclusion:

Professor Umbridge is just Ron DeSantis dressed like Jackie Onassis. Change my mind.

View all my reviews

Review: Meditations: A New Translation

Meditations: A New Translation by Marcus Aurelius
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is a strange dichotomy to Meditations. There is great wisdom to be had while also containing rambling nonsense. The thing you have to understand is that this book is a series of entries some guy made of his, sometimes completely random, thoughts. Conceitedly, that's basically what philosophy is. Forced perspective in written form. And, as with the rest of the human race, not every thought is a winner.

I will also note that I have not read any other translations of Meditations. So I'm not qualified to note if this is a good one or not. Considering how many people a book like this has to go through before getting published, I would imagine that it is at least passable. People's opinion on this subject tends to depend on which translation they read first.

If you're looking to study Stoicism as a whole, I would like to recommend not starting with this. Most of Aurelius' words are built upon centuries of other stoic philosophers, and there are themes related to Stoicism that need a precursor. The idea of Logos being chief among them. I will say it's the pinnacle of Stoic thought, but that is what makes it a terrible starting point.

Petty grievance time: I read the Kindle version, and there are no links from the passages to the notes. Only from the notes to the passages. Making it a daunting task to go back and forth to further dive into some of the harder to understand passages. Only to find that some of the notes literally say "the latter part of this passage is unclear." Thanks for that.

Overall, there is a lot of here to take in. In only one read-through, I made a shit ton of highlights and notes. Yes, some of it doesn't make sense. Yes, some translation issues remain. Yes, Aurelius repeats himself on more than one occasion. But, once you filter everything down to it's core concepts, this book has wonderful things to say. Knowledge isn't a singular answer. It's a puzzle that you have to put together piece by annoyingly stubborn piece.

View all my reviews

Well, that happened.

 

I finally took the plunge and published my novel. Honestly, I should have done it years ago, but final edits and good old-fashioned fear kept me from doing so. And, to double down on the honesty, I don't think I'm the same person I was when I wrote this book. I'm still happy with it and all that, but I think if I started on it today it would come out differently. Not better or worse, it's just I've been through a great deal these past several years.

Recent events have stirred something in me. Made me take a second look at what's important and what I want to do with what's left of my life. Or it might be better to say that the incremental improvements I've made over these years have been accelerated by a return to focus. Making me far less tolerant of bullshit, including my own.

I won't bore you with any more details. I'll let my novel do that. All I can ask is that you give it a chance. I'm not very good at selling myself, or my work. Making the mistake that quality can speak for itself and people don't need to be tricked into buying stuff. But, let's face it, we do. So, hover your mouse over that buy button and close your eyes. Imagine the most beautiful desirable thing you can conjure, that hitting that button will make that dream come true. It won't, but just imagine. Then, just hit buy.

For those who do give it a chance, thanks and I hope you enjoy it.

Buy my book: The Variant War

Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm just going to go ahead and say it. This book is slightly bloated. It's not a systemic problem were you can see the bloat everywhere. I've read books that just drone on and on without any real point (that still manage to get published) and GoF doesn't come close to any of those. But the issue is noticeable enough to point it out. This is particularly apparent as the villain(s) just stand around and give their dissertation on how they fooled a 14-year-old. Making special note on how they had to continuously help Potter with the puzzles because he wasn't smart enough to solve them himself. Which is fair.

Aside from the notably weaker pacing, this book is more of the same from the series. There's a magical concept introduced, a mystery surrounding it, and no questioning why students are taught defense against the dark arts instead of taking them to a gun range. If they somehow did, don't let Trelawney be the teacher.

Side note, the opening chapter is a prologue not an actual chapter. I know it's super petty, but, when you read as much as I do, shit like that annoys you.

Except for poking some fun at this book, I really don't have much to say about it. It still has much of the same charm as the previous volumes provided you make the same conceits. Even though it takes a dark turn towards the ends, it doesn't seem out of place from the rest of the book. Nothing is worse than a book starting as something and tries to become something else. Thankfully, GoF is able to change tone but still stays on brand. Which, honestly, is harder to do than most readers might realize.

View all my reviews

Review: Legends & Lattes

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

There are probably hundreds of little things I can point to in what I didn't like in this book. It starts too early so the opening chapters read like a fantasy version of HDTV. There's nothing particularly original here outside the general premise. At about the 2/3rd mark, the story gets bored with its own idea and tries to become something else. It's broadly plotted for such a short book as if it's more interested in being a franchise than a story. Believe me, I can go on.

Here's the thing, I could forgive everything wrong with it. Every. Last. Thing. Only, if only, the book was at least fun. When you sit down to read something like L&L, you expect it to give you a Cheshire grin and a rocking belly laugh. Not everything has to be a Hemingway or Baldwin. Hell, Terry Pratchett built an entire career on the concept of being heavy on wordplay but light on plot. It can be done. But L&L isn't that fun, especially in the prose department. It's written rather conventionally for a short book about an orc opening a coffee shop.  There's a serve lack of tone, fun or otherwise, as if the author developed a marketable title and book cover first and revered engineered everything else. I rushed through reading it just so I could move on to something better.

View all my reviews

Review: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first three Potter books, so far, have been largely mysteries. But while the first two had a flavor of whimsy, this time it's far more in line with the tradition of the genre. So much so it starts with a murderer on the loose. It's even initially conveyed in the pompous manner that only the British are specially equipped to present. Point is, there is a noticeable tone shift in this book, as if shit started to get real.

While I could nitpick several things to death, there is one major problem I have with the book, so I'll focus on that. It's something you see a good deal in literature using third-person limited, particularly with British authors, and that's eavesdropping.  Potter can't know everything, and not just because he's a C+ student at best, but rather because the plot remains elusive from him. This is either done because the plot elements are posed against him, or because other characters keep it from him. This forces Potter, and as consequence the reader, to literally hide in a corner and listen to other characters grab their copy of the Daily Prophet to take their exposition dump. Personally, I've always found this method to be lazy, and typically means the author didn't have any other way to further the plot. But, even Shakespeare did it, so I guess even the best write themselves into a corner.

There are other problems of course. The pacing ramps up too quickly in favor of a more surprising resolution. Ron has nothing to do. Everyone is unjustly worried about a group of evil wizards who can't even kill a thirteen-year-old. Gryffindor is always favored even though Slytherin is clearly the best house. But I don't want people to think I didn't like this book. I did. It still has much of its charm, regardless if the murderous, more personal, tone subdues that somewhat. The ending is also bittersweet, which I appreciated considering it would have been too easy to go either a dark or happy ending route. While the overall structure feels more traditional, the ending left me satisfied the series kept true to itself.

View all my reviews

Review: Under Fortunate Stars

Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It's not often I alright say that a book isn't worth your time, but, just this once, I can't help it. It's not particularly bad in any real way, I just found myself regretting even reading it. Time is more than just a linear passage of space through the existence of the universe, it's also a limit. With that deathly constraint, I almost abandoned this book after the first few disappointing chapters. I don't like quitting books, even if I'm not enjoying it, but I have better things to read. Then this book commits the sin of getting interesting, so I stuck with it. Then it got boring again, then interesting, then boring once more until its putters around towards its unearned conclusion. Honestly, if this book had a better editor, I probably would have been singing its praises, but its bloated and its pacing is terrible. So yeah, don't waste your time.

So I don't feel like a complete jerk, I will say the prose are detailed. I'm not saying 'good', just 'detailed'. There are lots of shrugging of shoulders and dodgy eye movements. It makes the story come alive, but whatever it does right on the small scale doesn't make up for its larger issues. I will repeatedly die on the hill that small detail and large scope should be equally treated but you should always strive for both rather than just one.

Back to being a jerk, I will also say that's nothing particularly original here. The author doesn't outright rip anyone off, but the plot points are a massive blender of things we've seen before. The world building is well introduced. There's nothing that hasn't already been done in a decent episode of Star Trek: TNG. At least none of the crew members bone a ghost. That would be awkward.

View all my reviews

Review: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The thing I hated most about this book is that Goodreads now keeps recommending the 'book' "The Secret". A book so notoriously full of bullshit even people who worship Q Anon won't read it. Secret also left a somewhat tattered reputation for self-help books. While the genre has never been a stranger to trashy advice, mega dumps of the stuff can make it hard for books that can genuinely help people. So much so that I nearly skipped over AH entirely because of it. It also forced my preconceptions into distrusting it from the get-go. Something that might have affected how I read this book, but at least I was self-aware of it.

Overall, I think this is a good book to read. It's flawed, which is something I'll get into, but has enough good information to justify its existence. As with literally all self-help books, you should read this with your highlighter at the ready. A book, of course, has to put things in a book format, so the mineral of relevant information needs to be filtered out from the rubble of structure. The value of such books can be weighed by how much you take note of to be used in your actual life. As I indicated before, it was just enough to make reading this book worth it.

Though, a major flaw in this book is how it's structured. Or, to be more accurate, is how the information is presented. The book mostly repeats the process of telling a story as an example of the larger point and then drips out the useful information, sometimes repeating the process of telling a story in an effort to pad things out. I know it's too much to ask of this book, or any book really, to just list out what it wants to tell me, but doing it this way isn't much better. One, it feels like the author is pitching something rather than teaching it. Plugging his website and newsletter doesn't help matters. Two, the space between story and information is spaced out to larger degrees than it should be. 99% of books of this type use this story method, but there is a nuanced difference in how this book does it. If I had to pin down a more precise reason, I would say the stories, and by consequence the information, felt more anecdotal than scientific.

The book also has a minor habit (get it?) of pointing things out rather than teaching the reader something useful. This is particularly true in a couple of the later chapters where practical methods give way to one-way discussions. Author Pro-tip: if most readers can't use what you're saying in their lives, then it isn't worth telling them. There's a difference between having a point and being helpful.

I can't use the phrase 'few and far between' when it comes to the usefulness:uselessness ratio. There are plenty of things here that can at least put you on the right track to making this book helpful. How that information is presented and a lack of implementation keeps it from being the revolutionary tome it wants to be. It finds its own way to be useful, but beyond that, there's nothing in here that's a big secret. 

View all my reviews

Review: Nettle & Bone

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I feel that a book isn't working, I try my best to pin down why it isn't working. Not to justify my uneasiness, but rather to sharpen my skills at becoming a better reader. Sure, there's the whole escapism aspect, but, if you don't analyze a book, did you even read it?

With N&B, I feel its biggest sin is that it starts in the wrong place. To be fair, most of the world-building should be in the first act, but this book is so overly weighed down by set up it could tip even the scales of justice. While the first act remains engaging enough to keep with it, not much happens in terms of plot. A good one-third of the book has passed before it truly gets started. Not that I'm recommending you skip ahead or anything.

Once it gets started, everything else does fall into place nicely. Pacing beyond that point is strong. So are prose and characters. If it wasn't for this book's original sin, I probably would have rated it higher. Though, I will say nothing in here really knocks my socks off. While maintaining its own imprints of originality, much of it just feels like I've read it somewhere before. It's good in many ways, but limbos under being great in every way I can think of.

At the end of the day, there isn't much to say about N&B. If someone asked me to recommend this book, I would say they can do a lot worse. Though, maybe I'm too overbearing on the books I read. That I can't see the forest for trees and all that nonsense. Then again, it might all just come down to personality. After all, you can't spell analyze without (being uptight).

View all my reviews

Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have a seemingly inescapable urge to make this review quick. Or, at the very least, link my review of the first HP book as a more full review would just tread over old ground. Not to be viewed as a negative point, I just feel this book contains much of what made the first book work. The major exception is that all the annoying, and time-consuming, introductions are out of the way. To further credit the book, it uses that extra space wisely to expand on its characters and produce a more well-paced story.

To get this pet peeve out of the way, I need to complain about the Dursleys. First, they're mostly Matilda ripoffs. Second, their motivations to keep Potter away from Hogwarts makes no sense. If I had a kid mooching off my livelihood that I could just send him off to a boarding school for most of the year, I would jump at the chance. This would be especially true if I didn't like the little shit and didn't have to pay for said school.

Speaking of which, who is funding Hogwarts anyway? Is that where all the investments into NFTs end up?

Most of what I liked about the first book is what I liked about the second book, so I won't repeat myself. Just go back and read that review. I will say that this book, like the first, mostly boils down to being a middle-aged youth mystery novel. The solution I found to be rather inventive to the extent that it would have made Agatha Christie proud. Walking the fine line of staying within the magical realm, but not stepping outside to bounds of logic.

The only other thing I have to say about this book is that having watched the movies first, I can't help but picture everyone as their film version counterparts. I still can't believe they got Kenneth Branagh to play Lockhart, and not seeing his stupid grin while reading this book becomes impossible. Though that's one me I suppose. Regardless, CoS comes out much the same way as the first book. An enjoyable older kids book that improves ever so slightly over its predecessor.

View all my reviews

Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's 2023 and I'm just now getting around to reading Harry Potter. There are a number of reasons for this. One, I don't have a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) because if you spent your life worrying about how other people feel then you'll waste all the time on your deathbed thinking about how you were a disappointment to everyone. Two, I'm a pretentious prick. In my youth, I would say that I just have good taste. And, while that remains to be true, sometimes it would keep me from enjoying something if it was popular among the unwashed masses.  So now that mob mentality from all those unwashed has finally turned against JK, I feel I can sit down to see what all the fuss was about.

I can tell right off the bat there is an inescapable charm to this book. In tone, it feels like someone is reading this story to me from my bedside while I'm curled up in my blankie. While I would normally be offended by such a delivery method, it manages to strike a perfect balance between what it is saying and how it is saying it. The book reads as if we're children but doesn't speak to us as if we're children. It handles themes of harsh seriousness as if post-toddlers can actually deal with it. I know overprotective and strictly religious parents have a hard time hearing this, but they can.

The pacing is great for the first half of the book but tends to hit the fast-forward button during the second half. One of the things I noticed when watching the movies is that, for a book series that spends 90% at a boarding school, there is a surprisingly little amount of school work. While I normally praise books that skip over anything that isn't relevant to the plot, the setting makes this skipping over more awkward. There's also the fact that it takes place over the course of a year which makes it noticeably top-heavy on the same level as Christina Hendricks. Issues I probably would have a bigger problem with if not for the intended younger audience.

Characters are just different enough to tell them apart. They also tend to be interesting but more in a quirky kind of way. I know most of these characters are children, but even the adults aren't bothered with much of a backstory. Defined more by their physical traits and functional position to the plot rather than characterization. I know through osmosis that much of this is flushed out more throughout the series but it's noticeable when your characters are bullshitting their way through the book.

Even from the very first chapter, I can tell why this series is popular. While it's not a perfect book, it's perfect for the audience it sought out. It's charming and imaginative but not in an overly stupid way as with most books in this genre. I can't help but escape the fact that sometimes something is popular because it's good. Or has an OnlyFans account.

View all my reviews

Journaling: 2023 Edition

This post might be for my own sanity than anything else. What we have here is a reference guide to how I currently organize my journal. For the two people who might read this, feel free to comment on any suggestions/thoughts you might have.

I use the Leuchtturm 1917 Medium A5 Ruled Hardcover Notebook. In my opinion, the gold standard. There are trillions of planners out there that claim to be great, but I find predefined notebooks prevent me from making a system that works for my particular needs. Also, most of them tend to have a wellness section to ask what I'm grateful for or what I'm feeling. So, what am I feeling? Angry. Or horny. That's it. Those are my moods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First things first, write the current year and my name. Never know when that information will become useful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the title page, the journal has a place for an index. Instead of indexing everything in some hard to sort out page, I have created an indexing system. Basically, this journal has multiple functions and I have an index for each separate function. The index at the beginning of the journal simply indexes the indexes. I'll get into each index as I proceed. I also fill in the index as I create the journal and what you're seeing is the finished product.

I also place the page numbers on the far left side as some indexes will take up multiple pages as the year goes on. This is especially true of the planner index.

 

 

 

 

The first page is dedicated to the key. 

 Like most bullet journals, the first section is to layout different types of bullets. Tasks, events, notes, deadlines, and memories. Also known as: shit I need to do, shit that's going down, shit I need to remember, shit I need to do but by a specific date/time, and shit I need to remember but in a more profound way.

Then, we have modifiers. Checking off stuff I did, cancelling stuff that wasn't too important, and moving things to another list.

Signifiers. Asterisks are for things that are important. For context, I define 'important' by what kind of log that task/event is in. If it's something on a particular day, than I need to get it done that day. If it's in a project page, than it needs to get done before anything else can proceed.

I also color code tasks based on certain criteria. Thanks to a good friend who gave me a bunch of colored pens.

Red - A task on the weekly log related to a project.

Blue - A task on the weekly log related to a monthly task. Monthly tasks are typically multiple step endeavors, so I space those steps out in the weekly log.

Green - A task in the monthly log related to an annual goal. Same basic concept as the blue tasks.

Purple - Tasks/events/notes related to my wife Camille. Typically mundane shit I need to go over with her.

Then we have dimensions which are literally the measurements of the journal pages. A reference that can be useful when drawing or making the weekly logs.

Next page is annual goals. This is pretty straight forward as it's where I list things what I want to get done during the year. I like to define them as 'goals' rather than 'tasks' as they tend to take up greater resources of my time and are broader in definition and scope.

Also, I'm using a fresh pen. Hence the bleed through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we have the planner index. This is where you'll see all of the traditional bullet journal pages. Starting with my own take on the future log. Then a monthly log followed by several weekly logs. I also do a monthly review that I might update this blog on at a later date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second function of this journal is, well, a journal. This is where I index diary journal entries where I express my thoughts, ideas, and innermost feelings. You know, dude shit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third function is a logbook. Simply put, things to keep track of that can be referenced to later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fourth function, projects. Mostly a place to keep notes and track my progress on larger things I need to do. I try not to put tasks on these pages as I've found they tend not to get done. So I keep notes and transfer tasks to the weekly log.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fifth function, an index for a Commonplace book. A page dedicated to commonplace entries can typically hold multiple quotes, so the index will list a page, list an entry (separated by A,B,C, etc), and a short reference to the entry itself. If you don't know what a Commonplace book is...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such books are similar to scrapbooks filled with items of many kinds: sententiae (often with the compiler's responses), notes, proverbs, adages, aphorisms, maxims, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, prayers, legal formulas, and recipes. Entries are most often organized under subject headings[1] and differ functionally from journals or diaries, which are chronological and introspective."[2] Commonplaces are used by readers, writers, students, and scholars as an aid for remembering useful concepts or facts; sometimes they were required of young women as evidence of their mastery of social roles and as demonstrations of the correctness of their upbringing.[3] They became significant in Early Modern Europe.

Sixth function, drawing. Mostly I'm drawing designs of things I'm building or organizing. I only draw people if it's in stick figure form. Honestly, this function doesn't get used that often, but it's nice to have when I need it. Below might be the most boring picture in this blog post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first page of the planner is the future log. You might have seen future logs take many forms, but this is mine. I just list the month, date, and what the task/event is. At the beginning of each month, I transfer any relevant items to a newly created monthly log. Once this page gets filled up, I'll create a new Future log on the next blank page. Then I'll update the index to make it easy to find. I also write a note at the bottom of the page telling me where the next future log page is. It's one of the big reasons I love the 1917 as the numbered pages are a huge help. I find this way works best for me as it only takes up one page at a time and months can get uneven.

 

 

 

 

The following page is for the first journal entry of the year. I typically make this journal in December so I reserve a page for whenever I start actually using it. It's not pictured because no one needs to read that shit.

Next we have the monthly log. First page is the calendar as I write down upcoming events/tasks. It works much like the Future log where, at the beginning of each week, I transfer any relevant items to the new weekly log. The second page is my monthly to-do/goal list. As mentioned before, I create steps in the weekly log to help complete this list. I actually don't reference this log too often as most of it is split up among the weekly logs.

 

 

 

Following the monthly log, we have the weekly log. I use two pages split into four pieces each. The first section is weekly goals. A place that mostly contains blue and red tasks that have no real need to be done on a specific day. The following blocks are the days of the week. I tend to focus on the day blocks first and work on the weekly goals as I have time. There is also a place next to the day where I might put a note of something to focus on or an event that will consume my day. The last block is for Sunday, but I also place tasks in there meant for next week. I place the next week tasks on the bottom and work upwards. If Sunday and next week tasks meet, I draw a line separating them. Sundays are typically a lazy day and I try to avoid planning things on this day unless for specific reasons.

The next few pages are projects and logs that you've already seen the index for, so I won't bore you with them.This is pretty much how I start out my year with my new journal.  It gets added to as the year goes on and sometimes I even add a function or two. If I have the time, or if there's any interest, I might include more posts like this to go over my boring ass systems and additions to this journal.