Sigyn

I wish I could help you, Guess, but I only made it a few chapters into Lies of Locke Lamora before giving up because of the language. My tolerance for that sort of thing is pretty low. Right now I'm reading Switched by Amanda Hocking because I won a free copy. It seems like decent YA so far.

I've been playing lots of boardgames and cardgames lately: Smallworld, Ticket to Ride, Citadels, and Guillotine. I found the last one pretty funny--you get points for which nobles you've sent to the guillotine while trying to keep your opponent getting high-point people. There's also the Martyr and Hero of the People which are worth negative points if you get them.

I finished The Sun Sword by Michelle West. I really enjoyed this series, and I'm excited to start the next one. Right now I'm reading All Men of Genius by Lev AC Rosen. It's a mix of Twelfth Night and The Importance of Being Earnest. I'm really liking it so far.

I thought about doing a little NaNoWriMo---30K instead of 50K. Instead of starting today, though, I am taking care of my sick five-year-old.

I saw the Halloween episode of Suburgatory last night, and I actually found it pretty funny.

This past week I dreamed that an evil bad guy had stolen Papa Smurf's magical powers and was making everyone do a big song and dance number. Then I dreamed I was a vampire who was trying to kill another vampire (played by a girl I knew in high school) while we were both living in Paris, but it turned out we were really both in a musical and we could fly because of the harness sets. She was trying to steal all the applause at the end. A strange number of my dreams involve musicals.

We're watching Rah Xephon which slews back and forth between being enjoyable and pretentious but seems to be getting better the more episodes we watch. I wish Haruka would stop screaming Ayato's name whenever he's fighting, but I have little hope for that actually happening.

I watched the first episode of Once Upon a Time. It seemed okay with potential to be good or terrible.

I read Give up the Ghost by Megan Crewe, which was thoughtful, and now I'm reading Nova by Samuel Delany.

I forgot to mention The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It's a fun movie.

I'm reading Sung in Blood by Glen Cook. It's a fun story, and the characters have almost no back story. No angst. It's different.

I'm listening to The Weepies.

A lot of people don't believe books should be used to educate, as in to expand a child's understandings or beliefs. They think that books are there to convey information, develop reading skills, or teach morals. That's the way it seems to me when people talk about banning books, though they may not phrase it like this. They don't want their children reading anything that describes alternative behavior unless it is obviously portrayed as bad. They don't want other people's children reading these books either, because they think it will lead to negative behaviors in their communities. They don't understand that children are going to be exposed to alternative ideas eventually and that the better choice, at least in my mind, is to prepare children for these exposures.

I have no idea. I thought they usually promo-ed newer books.

Has anyone read Deus Irae by Philip K. Dick and Roger Zelazny? I tried reading it and only made it in thirty pages before deciding that I didn't care about anyone in the world or anything they were doing. Does it get better or am I better off leaving it alone?