Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read

Last year, I started keeping a formal reading list. It was kind a fun to go back and look at the books I'd read over the year. So I decided to do it again in 2009.

Except, looking at it now, this year's list is kinda sad. I read about 40 books in 2009. Which is probably less than half of what I'd read in a "normal" year (whatever that is).

I could make excuses: Busy year, two small kids, new challenges at work, more blog reading ... blah blah woof woof. Whatever.

Bottom line is: It's slim pickin's on the old ZenMom Reading List this year.

And the titles that are there ... well, let's just say this year's list is heavy on the light reading: Lots of sci-fi and fantasy, some mysteries, and a few vampires. I do love vampires. :) Astute readers will also note the continuing underlying theme of strong female protagonists.
 
In fact, seems most of these are continuations of series I've been reading for a while. I think the only new-to-me authors on this year's list were Ann Aguirre and Jeanne Stein.

The good news is that I can't think of a single book on the list that I didn't enjoy.

The really good news is that my in-laws usually give me a very generous Amazon Gift Card for Christmas, so I hope to be stocking up soon on several books that have been languishing away on my Amazon Wish List! Hopefully that bodes well for next year's list. :)

So, now, for posterity (snicker) and anyone who cares, here's ...

ZenMom's 2009 Reading List

The Time Paradox - Colfer, Eoin
Dead Over Heels - Davidson, Mary Janice
Hotter Than Hell - Harrison, Kim
True Blood - Waddell, Patricia
Promises in Death - Robb, J. D.
Plum Spooky - Evanovich, Janet
Watchmen - Moore, Alan and Gibbons, Dave
Just a Geek - Wheaton, Wil
Grimspace - Aguirre, Ann
Bone Crossed - Briggs, Patricia
Magic Strikes - Andrews, Ilona
Swallowing Darkness - Hamilton, Laurell K.
Fray - Whedon, Joss
Wanderlust - Aguirre, Ann
Blue Diablo - Aquirre, Ann
Made to be Broken - Armstrong, Kelley
Dancing Barefoot - Wheaton, Wil
Dead and Gone - Harris, Charlaine
Undead and Unwelcome - Davidson, Mary Janice
Dime Store Magic - Armstrong, Kelley
Industrial Magic - Armstrong, Kelley
White Witch, Black Curse - Harrison, Kim
Unusual Suspects - Harris, Charlaine
The Prophet - Gibran, Kahlil
My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon - Armstrong, Kelley
Holidays are Hell - Harrison, Kim
In Odd We Trust - Koontz, Dean
Suite 606 - Robb, J. D.
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand - Vaughn, Carrie
A Carribean Mystery - Christie, Agatha
Glory Road - Heinlein, Robert
The Becoming - Stein, Jeanne
Finger Lickin' Fifteen - Evanovich, Janet
Skin Trade - Hamilton, Laurell K.
On The Prowl - (anthology) Briggs, Patricia


On a side note: See all those links up there? You can thank Amazon Associates for that! Used to be I'd have had to go manually look up and link up each book title. Blech. No thanks. But Amazon and Blogger just created this neat new widget that let's me do it all with two clicks right in my Dashboard! I know most of you are yawning about that. But, geek that I am, I thought it was very cool! And it made linking up my titles WAY easier!


So, what are you reading right now? What was your favorite book you read this year?


Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. ~ Groucho Marx

You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it

October is a rough month for me.

Oh, it's not because October is when things really start to heat up at work. And it's not because the weather starts to turn chilly and I'm a wuss about the cold. It's not even because it's when the deadly Valley fog starts rolling in, making my morning commute a life-threatening activity.

No ... It's the movies.

I love scifi movies, action movies, even a very small handful of whatcha might call "scary movies".

But I HATE "horror movies".

You cannot pay me enough to make me watch movies like Hellraiser or The Ring or The Grudge or The Hills Have Eyes or The Blair Witch Project or those damned ubiquitous Saw movies and the like.

I. Will. Freak. Out.

Urban horror? Slasher flicks? Anything with guys named Freddy or Jason? Fugeddahboutit - I am not watching. I don't even want to see the commercials or trailers for them. And please don't tell me about them.

I am just not constitutionally capable of watching stuff like Paranormal Activity or even The Exorcist.

Do. Not. Want.

The weird thing, though, it that there are "scary" movies that I DO like.

Vampires? Werewolves? Zombies? Space Aliens? ... I'm your gal! All over it!

I love Aliens, Predator, Resident Evil, Evil Dead 2, Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein, Shaun of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Dusk til Dawn, Silver Bullet, An American Werewolf in London, Hellboy, Underworld, Hitchcock movies ... hell, I even like the uber-cheesy ones like Dracula 2000, Doom, Ghosts of Mars, Bats and Bubba Ho-Tep.

And Jason X was the notable exception to my "no Jason or Freddy movies" rule. Because it was all scifi and comedic, so I just closed my eyes during the gory parts.

I even like Stephen King's It - Oh, it scared the bejeesus out of me - but I've still seen it five times. Because it had such a great story and such a life-affirming message under all of the OMFG-it's-a-man-eating-clown.

What's the difference? How is it that I can love Zombieland and hate Saw? Where do I draw the line between "horror" movies and "scary" movies?

I dunno. But it's there. Maybe somebody else can 'splain it to me. In the meantime, I will pass on the "horror" movies ... but you can pass the popcorn, please, for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

What about you? Do you like horror movies? Scary movies? Vampires, weres and zombies, oh my?

* Inspired by DaddyGeekBoy, who is a self-proclaimed scary movie wimp. ;)

Fun with Google

I love my paying job, but my "hobby" writing leads to the best Google searches. I just love learning random new things. (Yes, I'm that kind of geek.)

This week, I Googled* ...

• iwb holsters
• Miwok mythology
• heather tea
• vampire group

Um, don't try that last one. I was looking for a collective noun and instead I found ... weird things. :)

(While we're on the subject, what would you call a group of vampires? You know: Pride of lions, herd of buffalo, murder of crows, pack of werewolves, coven of witches, ________ of vampires?)

On the flip-side of my Google-related entertainment this week, someone from Colorado landed on my blog with the search term "jean gray's ass".

Um, okay. That's a new one.

Even more disturbing, though, were the guys (and you know they were guys) from Asia and Northern California who were looking for, respectively, "my mom ass pictures"** and "moms take it in the ass".***

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

I am SO not Googling to check, but I can't imagine how my innocent lil' ol' blog could have landed among the top searches for, I assume, MILF**** p-o-r-n?!

I can't help but think that they must have been terribly disappointed when my page loaded, no?

Happy Googling,






* Shut up! It's totally a verb, now. Ask Webster's.

** It's the pronoun that creeps me out most, I think.

*** Note to self: Don't use the word "ass" in my blog anymore ... Oh. Oops.

**** Oh man, I'm going to regret using that term later, aren't I?

Kick-Ass Chicks 2: Moving Pictures

Every girl needs strong female role models. Not just in her personal life, but in pop culture.

When I was growing up, there wasn't exactly a surplus of female "heroes" on TV or in the movies. While my brother and his friends had a plethora of heroic characters to choose from at "pretend time", I was pretty much stuck with Wonder Woman or Princess Leia.

Not that they aren't awesome. But, it's nice to have some variety, eh?

I still think young girls get the short end of the stick when it comes to pop-culture heroes. But, fortunately, we older would-be heroines have a few more strong women characters to choose from than when we were young.

I've already shared some of my favorite books about ass-kickin' chicks. So, I guess it's time to give moving pictures their due, too.

ZEN'S TOP 10: SCIFI HEROINES

10. Elizabeth Swan, Pirates of the Caribbean
The girl who went a-pirating. This character speaks to the little girl I was - the one who wanted to climb in Max's boat and go adventuring with the Wild Things.

9. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider
I've loved this character since I played the first game. She was like a female Indiana Jones - finally! And - as cheesy as they are - I like the movies, too. Mostly because Jolie plays her as an awesome balance of hot-hot-hot and so cool ice doesn't melt in her mouth.

8. Zoe Washburn, Firefly/Serenity
Speaking of cool: Zoe is the epitome of "cool under pressure". She's tough as leather and loyal to a fault. She just edged out her ship-mate, River Tam, for this slot because, while River is the picture of deadly grace, Zoe is who I would want by my side in a tough spot.

7. Katherine Janeway, Star Trek: Voyager
A smart, rational leader who thinks things through and always tries for the peaceful solution, (She's like the anti-Kirk. But, in a good way.) but who isn't afraid to give 'em both barrels if the situation calls for it.

6. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, Battlestar Galactica
She's a hard-drinkin', fast-flyin', bad-mouthin' SOB. And proud of it. Brave, brash, and just a little bit damaged. You gotta love her.

5. Sarah Connor, Terminator
Some moms say they'd take on the world for their kid. She actually does it. Yeah, she's kinda soft and fluffy in the first movie. But you get glimpses of the tough core underneath. The one that lets her become the hard-as-nails mercenary who fights the future and her own darkness in T2. And - damn- is she scary, then, or what?!

4. Leia Organa, Star Wars
"Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, flyboy!" Tough, determined, and just a tad snarky - exactly how I like my princesses. She's iconic - one of the first.

3. Trinity, The Matrix
Sure, you could argue that almost anybody could be kick ass in Bullet Time and a leather body suit. But, her toughness is tempered with a vulnerability that makes her so much more appealing. Oh, and did I mention the body suit? Day-amn.

2. Ellen Ripley, Aliens
She was one of the first of her kind - a tough, smart, brave, self-reliant woman who doesn't need a man to rescue her - she can handle it, thank-you-very-much. She was one of the characters that changed the way we saw women in SF action movies. For that alone, she would have earned a top spot on this list.

1. Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer
"She Saved the World. A Lot." I could write a book on the subject of why this was such a smart, fun show and why Buffy was such a beloved character. In fact, people have. Written books on the subject, that is. But, the truth is, if you are a fan: You already get it. If you're not, well then, you don't. Bottom line: Buffy was an interesting, original and totally kick-ass character in a show filled with outstanding plots, characters and writing. It was fun and fantastic. And I miss it.

Well, there's my list. What do you think? Did I miss anybody?
Who are your favorite SciFi heroines?

SF Junkie: Books that Suck

Apparently, vampires are hip again.

Yay!

Earlier, I shared about my SF addiction and my favorite Kick-Ass-Chicks books of that genre. But I intentionally left out one of my favorite "Guilty Pleasures" - Vampires.*

Love 'em. Can't lay off 'em.

I can't remember my first vampire book (oh, wait, does Bunnicula count?), but I do know that Anne Rice, Bram Stoker and The Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Anne Pierce were among the early ones.

But it was probably Anne Rice more than any other author who really "turned" me (I know. Vamp puns: *groan*) and Lestat is still one of my all-time favorite preternatural characters.

But, I'm a sucker (Oops. did it again.) for anything with fangs. I read (and watch) all kinds of vampire books (and movies and TV shows). Even the cheesy ones. :)

I could write a whole post about the fascinating psychological and cultural aspects of our attraction of vampires (and, knowing me, I probably will eventually), but today I just want to share a few of my favorites.

Astute readers will notice that there is some cross-over between my favorite fang-fiction and my proclivity for Kick-Ass Chicks. :)

Charlaine Harris
Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 1: Dead Until Dark
How much am I hating the fact that I don't get Showtime now that they've made these fabulous books into a TV show? Oh well. The books are still awesome. I just finished #9 Wednesday night. Sookie is a great protagonist and Harris' vamps have a lot of life in them. Harris has several other great series, too. The others are more mysteries than scifi, though one is a bit of both. But the recurring theme in them all is strong women protagonists. I pretty much love everything she's ever written.

Laurell K. Hamilton
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 1: Guilty Pleasures
I really loved the first ten or so books in the Anita Blake series. Unfortunately, the last few books have been really disappointing to me as Hamilton basically turned them into erotica. I mean, I don't mind a little romance or a few steamy sex scenes, but they should support the story, not supplant it. But, again, the first ten or so? Awesome.

I should also mention Hamilton's Merry Gentry Series (A Kiss of Shadows, Book 1). They're about fairies rather than vamps. I love Merry as a character and I love the stories - especially the way they touch on Celtic and English mythologies. But, again, the copious, gratuitous, graphic sex tends to be - to me - more distracting than enhancing. Still, I keep reading them. So, there must be something good there. :)

In the most recent Merry and Anita books I've read, I noticed that there was a little less sex and a little more plot. So, I'm hoping that maybe these books are heading for a return to their previous greatness. We'll see.

MaryJanice Davidson
Queen Betsy, Book 1: Undead and Unwed
These books make me laugh out loud. Really. Davidson has a talent for telling a great story without taking herself too seriously. Betsy is a reluctant vampire queen more addicted to shoe shopping than blood. She is hilarious and every book is an irreverent romp. For the record, I like Davidson's non-vampire books, too.

Nancy A. CollinsMidnight Blue: Sonja Blue Collection
This is an great trilogy that doesn't get the attention it deserves. Probably because it's darker and more violent than most modern vampire stories. Readers looking to pick up the latest Twilight-style paranormal romance would probably suffer serious culture shock with the Sonja Blue stories. It's gritty, violent, gory vampire-punk. These vampires don't woo teen girls. They just eat them.

Geek side-note: It's published by White Wolf. If you know who they are, you know what that means. If you don't, then don't worry about it.


Anne RiceThe Vampire Chronicles
Again, no list of vampire books could possibly be complete without Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. I mentioned earlier that she was pivotal in drawing me into the genre. I liked Interview with a Vampire. But I was completely hooked by The Vampire Lestat. I adore Lestat. These were among my first "adult" vampire stories and my first introduction to the blood-sex-life-death themes in vampire stories.



I've read lots of other vampire books and books-with-vampires, of course. Some that were good. And some that were not so good. But these are my favorites. The ones with ... bite. (Oh gawd, I really can't stop myself, now.)

You'll notice Twilight is conspicuously absent from the list. My sister-in-law did give me the first book for Christmas. But I haven't read it yet.

To be honest, I'm a little afraid to. They seem to be the kind of books that suck (Oh hell, will someone just stake me and get it over with?) people in. And I have a tendency to get just a teesny bit ... rabidly obsessed(?) over a really good series. But I suppose I'll get to it eventually.


So ... what're your favorite vampire books? Anything I should add to my must-read list?


*I mentioned a few other books with vampires in my Kick-Ass-Chicks post, too. But vampires aren't the focus of those books, thus the distinction.