restiva, posts by tag: lists - LiveJournal

A friend posted this list 25 Things to Do Before You Turn 25 up on Facebook today. It's full of fairly good advice, although the title makes me feel old. But mostly I liked the last thing in the list...

25. Quit that job that’s making you miserable, end the relationship that makes you act like a lunatic, lose the friend whose sole purpose in life is making you feel like you’re perpetually on the verge of vomiting. You’re young, you’re resilient, there are other jobs and relationships and friends if you’re patient and open.

Done, done, and not applicable. Life is so good at the moment!

The 50 book challenge once again!

1. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (Science Fiction)
2. Saints Ashtray by Jacqueline Carey (Dystopian)
3. So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld (Young Adult)
4. The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed by Michael Meyer (Non-fiction, China)
5. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson (Fantasy)
6. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Science-fiction, Comedy)
7. Fat China: How Expanding Waistlines are Changing a Nation by Paul French and Matthew Crabbe (Non-fiction), China)
8. Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint (Fantasy, Mythic Fiction)
9. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (Science-fiction)
10. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Science-fiction, romance)
11. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Urban Fantasy)
12. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (Fantasy, re-read)


Currently reading:
The Terra Cotta Army: China's First Emperor and the Birth of a Nation by John Man (Non-fiction, China)

Same as last year, I intend to:
1. Read & review at least 50 books
2. Update this blog more
3. Improve my Chinese (from survival to conversational)
4. Buy another sewing machine and learn to make clothes, rather than just altering them, and
5. Learn how to make fantasy maps with GIMP 2.

The fact that I waited February to post this means it's unlikely I'll succeed with number 2 at least! But we'll see. Never say never, blah blah blah...

I currently work part-time teaching ESOL discussion classes at a tiny school in Auckland. The school itself is terrible (and will therefore remain unnamed!) but the students are great. Because the school's resouces are minimal at best, I tend to rely on the internet for creating my classes.

These are the sites I use regularly ( Collapse )

And here are some helpful articles I've found ( Collapse )

I read 37 books last year. Aiming to reach 50 in 2011...

1. The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of The Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe.
2. The Scar by China Mieville
3. Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
4. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
5. The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester
6. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
7. A Long Way Gone: The True Story of a Child Soldier by Ishmael Beah
8. Leviathan by Paul Auster
9. In Great Waters by Kit Whitfield
10. Shadowmarch by Tad Williams
11. Little Criminals: The Story of a New Zealand Boys' Home by David Cohen
12. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
13. King Rat by China Mieville
14. The Ambassador's Mission by Trudi Canavan
15. The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan
16. Shadowplay by Tad Williams
17. The Novice by Trudi Canavan
18. The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
19. Game of Thrones by George Martin
20. A Clash of Kings by George Martin
21. When Horse Became Saw: A Family's Journey Through Autism by Anthony Macris
22. Shadowrise by Tad Williams
23. A Storm of Swords by George Martin
24. A Feast for Crows by George Martin
25. Rouge by Trudi Canavan
26. Embassytown by China Mieville
27. Plugged by Eoin Colfer
28. Feed by Mira Grant
29. A Dance with Dragons by George Martin
30. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (a reread)
31. Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey
32. Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey (a reread)
33. Shadowheart by Tad Williams
34. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
35. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
36. Storm Front (Dresden Files 1) by Jim Butcher
37. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
38. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
39. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
40. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
41. Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende
42. Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler
43. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
44. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
45. Iron Council by China Mieville
46. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1. Chart Throb by Ben Elton
2. The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
3. The Philosopher's Apprentice by James Morrow
4. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
5. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
6. Story of O by Pauline Reage
7. The Trigger by Arther C. Clark and Michael P. Kube-McDowell
8. Childhood's End by Arther C. Clark
9. Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
10. The City & The City by China Mieville
11. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
12. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
13. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
14. The Dragons of Babel by Micheal Swanwick
15. White Cat by Holly Black
16. The Night Book by Charlotte Grimshaw
17. Naamah's Curse by Jacqueline Carey
18. The Ingenious Edgar Jones by Elizabeth Garner
19. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
20. Kraken by China Mieville
21. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
22. Bareback by Kit Whitfield
23. Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson
24. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
25. For the Win by Cory Doctorrow
26. Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
27. The Well of Asension by Brandon Sanderson
28. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
29. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
30. The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
31. Invisible by Paul Auster
32. Never Far from Nowhere by Andrea Levy
33. Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
34. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
35. Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
36. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
37. Relentless by Dean Koontz