Some of the very good reasons I've been a distracted blogger this year. Here's what I've been doing this summer.
What I've Been Watching -
The World Cup - Well, watching as much as I'm able to, what with this whole work thing that gets in the way of Euro-centric game times. And also the lack of cable. Having been overseas for two World Cups (China in 2002 when Korea/Japan hosted and then Argentina in 2006), I caught World Cup fever from countries where the world stops when your team in playing over a decade ago. Also, I have a long history dating back to high school of supporting (stalking?) soccer players. A little creativity means I've been able to catch a good number of games - ESPN at the gym, Univision live streaming (should so have taken Spanish instead of French), friends' Watch ESPN logins, data plans, more time in sports bars than any time other than when I worked in one. The whole sports bar thing has been detrimental to both my wallet and waistline this month, so that's a silver lining of the US being out. Here are a couple of fun world cup links.
Faking It Through the World Cup - has some language, but funny
The Definitive Ranking of the Hottest Guy from Each Team - don't agree with all their choices (Two words: Graham Zusi)
Which Team to Cheer For
Here's this little gem from Glennon Doyle Melton over at Momastery:
You guys. I've been watching the World Cup for a few days now. I have a question. I cannot ask my husband this question for reasons that will make themselves apparent in a moment. WHAT THE SAM HILL IS GOING ON???? Is there some sort of attractiveness test that these people must pass before they are issued cleats? If so, after they pass the hot test are they placed onto some sort of factory conveyor belt thing where they each get hip haircuts and the ideal amount of stubble and perfectly placed tattoos and then their real normal eyeballs are removed and replaced with PIERCING, HURT YOUR PRECIOUS HEART SOCCER MAN EYEBALLS???? I repeat... WHAT THE SAM HILL IS GOING ON?? And for how long are we supposed to just pretend to be watching the ball HERE???
So You Think You Can Dance - So very happy it's summer and this show is back. It's the only reality show I watch and I LOVE it. Already the dancing is phenomenal! And even if Niles and Mary get a little annoying at times, and even if the guest judges are sometimes only there to promote an album or raise ratings for the evening, the dancing is still so good. I may actually watch more for the choreographers than the dancers - Travis Wall, Stacey Tookey, Sonya Tayeh, Nappytabs. They're fantastic!
Friday Night Lights - I've heard such great things about this show and decided it would be what I watch on Netflix over the summer. I've prepared a little spot in my heart for it on the same shelf as West Wing (best. ever.) and while it hasn't quite earned a spot there yet, I am still really enjoying the complexity of relationships on the show and the goodness that undergirds most of the characters. Only on season 2, so we'll see.
What I'm Reading?
This summer started with a bang in the book department, but hours devoted to World Cup viewing have thrown off my pace.
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman - I'd read a lot about the Netflix show and really didn't have any desire to see it. I'm not prude when it comes to TV shows, but I do have limits. However, a friend read the book and said it was quite different from the show, and it really is. I loved the book. I found it laugh out loud funny and ultimately heartwarming as well. I also found it made me pretty infuriated at the US penal system.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- It's rare that I read a book where teenagers come up to me and comment on my selection. However, at the beach over Memorial Day more than one teen passed by my beach chair with a "Oh my gosh! That is the best book!! I just love that book!!! Don't you just love that book!?!?" It was a very good book and I did cry when I finished sitting in my beach chair looking over the Gulf. This was a deliberate choice of setting on my part. If I'm going to read a book that's ultimately horribly sad and where crying is likely, then I choose to do so in a beautiful location (see also: The Kite Runner, My Sister's Keeper, The Book Thief). Also, I found the movie to be one of the most faithful book adaptations I've seen.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn- A friend on vacation was totally sucked into this book, and since I'd seen it around a lot (my mom and step-dad each gave it to the other for Christmas a couple years ago), I thought I might try it. It will completely suck you in. It is so fascinating. How everything is constructed is amazing. Also, it's horrifying, and may make you never want to get married. And then the end. That end. Ugh, it's hard to say anything without spoilers, but...really, just, eh, ugh. Maybe don't read it. Wait for the movie. I hear they're changing the ending for the movie.
The Expats by Chris Pavone- I started this on the flight back from Australia (that was an interminable 43 hours), but got distracted by other new, shiny books and needed to finish and get it off my goodreads list. While the premiss is totally different than Gone Girl, finishing one right after the other brought out a number of similarities. Mainly about duplicitous marriages and endings that I do not enjoy. So, you know, this isn't a glowing recommendation or anything. It is kind of interesting about spies, though.
A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson - This book combines two prominent themes of what I've been watching this summer - dance and Brazil. It's a book that takes place early in the 1900s about a girl who runs away from an oppressive British home to join a ballet troupe traveling to Brazil. When they mention traveling to Manaus I actually have a frame of reference for that now (thank you, World Cup). The author wrote 5 lovely novels that take place roughly around the World Wars. She's passed away, so these are the only five stories we'll get from her, but they're precious. Today they'd likely be classified as Young Adult, and they can be dramatic and you can generally see where the plot is going, but they're also sweet, and have lovely details about European culture and the arts, and romance, and bad guys getting thwarted, and other things I tend to like in books more than bad marriages. I recommend starting with The Countess Below the Stairs. It's still my favorite of the group and has kind of a Downton Abbey vibe with the upstairs/downstairs component.
If the weather stays nice, and I get some quality pool time in, here's the rest of what I may be reading this summer-
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear -British lady detective between World Wars
Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost -Travel book on China that I've read before but LOVED. Troost sees China almost exactly the same way I did.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - It has pictures and images that are part of the story, so kind of a different premise
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan -Don't know much about this one, but really, this title is so right up my alley.
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson -Fictionalize North Korea
An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd - Nurse/detective novel during WWI but the writers are a mother/son team which is interesting to me
What I've Been Watching -
The World Cup - Well, watching as much as I'm able to, what with this whole work thing that gets in the way of Euro-centric game times. And also the lack of cable. Having been overseas for two World Cups (China in 2002 when Korea/Japan hosted and then Argentina in 2006), I caught World Cup fever from countries where the world stops when your team in playing over a decade ago. Also, I have a long history dating back to high school of supporting (stalking?) soccer players. A little creativity means I've been able to catch a good number of games - ESPN at the gym, Univision live streaming (should so have taken Spanish instead of French), friends' Watch ESPN logins, data plans, more time in sports bars than any time other than when I worked in one. The whole sports bar thing has been detrimental to both my wallet and waistline this month, so that's a silver lining of the US being out. Here are a couple of fun world cup links.
Faking It Through the World Cup - has some language, but funny
The Definitive Ranking of the Hottest Guy from Each Team - don't agree with all their choices (Two words: Graham Zusi)
Which Team to Cheer For
Here's this little gem from Glennon Doyle Melton over at Momastery:
You guys. I've been watching the World Cup for a few days now. I have a question. I cannot ask my husband this question for reasons that will make themselves apparent in a moment. WHAT THE SAM HILL IS GOING ON???? Is there some sort of attractiveness test that these people must pass before they are issued cleats? If so, after they pass the hot test are they placed onto some sort of factory conveyor belt thing where they each get hip haircuts and the ideal amount of stubble and perfectly placed tattoos and then their real normal eyeballs are removed and replaced with PIERCING, HURT YOUR PRECIOUS HEART SOCCER MAN EYEBALLS???? I repeat... WHAT THE SAM HILL IS GOING ON?? And for how long are we supposed to just pretend to be watching the ball HERE???
So You Think You Can Dance - So very happy it's summer and this show is back. It's the only reality show I watch and I LOVE it. Already the dancing is phenomenal! And even if Niles and Mary get a little annoying at times, and even if the guest judges are sometimes only there to promote an album or raise ratings for the evening, the dancing is still so good. I may actually watch more for the choreographers than the dancers - Travis Wall, Stacey Tookey, Sonya Tayeh, Nappytabs. They're fantastic!
Friday Night Lights - I've heard such great things about this show and decided it would be what I watch on Netflix over the summer. I've prepared a little spot in my heart for it on the same shelf as West Wing (best. ever.) and while it hasn't quite earned a spot there yet, I am still really enjoying the complexity of relationships on the show and the goodness that undergirds most of the characters. Only on season 2, so we'll see.
What I'm Reading?
This summer started with a bang in the book department, but hours devoted to World Cup viewing have thrown off my pace.
Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman - I'd read a lot about the Netflix show and really didn't have any desire to see it. I'm not prude when it comes to TV shows, but I do have limits. However, a friend read the book and said it was quite different from the show, and it really is. I loved the book. I found it laugh out loud funny and ultimately heartwarming as well. I also found it made me pretty infuriated at the US penal system.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- It's rare that I read a book where teenagers come up to me and comment on my selection. However, at the beach over Memorial Day more than one teen passed by my beach chair with a "Oh my gosh! That is the best book!! I just love that book!!! Don't you just love that book!?!?" It was a very good book and I did cry when I finished sitting in my beach chair looking over the Gulf. This was a deliberate choice of setting on my part. If I'm going to read a book that's ultimately horribly sad and where crying is likely, then I choose to do so in a beautiful location (see also: The Kite Runner, My Sister's Keeper, The Book Thief). Also, I found the movie to be one of the most faithful book adaptations I've seen.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn- A friend on vacation was totally sucked into this book, and since I'd seen it around a lot (my mom and step-dad each gave it to the other for Christmas a couple years ago), I thought I might try it. It will completely suck you in. It is so fascinating. How everything is constructed is amazing. Also, it's horrifying, and may make you never want to get married. And then the end. That end. Ugh, it's hard to say anything without spoilers, but...really, just, eh, ugh. Maybe don't read it. Wait for the movie. I hear they're changing the ending for the movie.
The Expats by Chris Pavone- I started this on the flight back from Australia (that was an interminable 43 hours), but got distracted by other new, shiny books and needed to finish and get it off my goodreads list. While the premiss is totally different than Gone Girl, finishing one right after the other brought out a number of similarities. Mainly about duplicitous marriages and endings that I do not enjoy. So, you know, this isn't a glowing recommendation or anything. It is kind of interesting about spies, though.
A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson - This book combines two prominent themes of what I've been watching this summer - dance and Brazil. It's a book that takes place early in the 1900s about a girl who runs away from an oppressive British home to join a ballet troupe traveling to Brazil. When they mention traveling to Manaus I actually have a frame of reference for that now (thank you, World Cup). The author wrote 5 lovely novels that take place roughly around the World Wars. She's passed away, so these are the only five stories we'll get from her, but they're precious. Today they'd likely be classified as Young Adult, and they can be dramatic and you can generally see where the plot is going, but they're also sweet, and have lovely details about European culture and the arts, and romance, and bad guys getting thwarted, and other things I tend to like in books more than bad marriages. I recommend starting with The Countess Below the Stairs. It's still my favorite of the group and has kind of a Downton Abbey vibe with the upstairs/downstairs component.
If the weather stays nice, and I get some quality pool time in, here's the rest of what I may be reading this summer-
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear -British lady detective between World Wars
Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost -Travel book on China that I've read before but LOVED. Troost sees China almost exactly the same way I did.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - It has pictures and images that are part of the story, so kind of a different premise
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan -Don't know much about this one, but really, this title is so right up my alley.
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson -Fictionalize North Korea
An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd - Nurse/detective novel during WWI but the writers are a mother/son team which is interesting to me
