mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2022-04-09 09:26 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2022-04-09 09:26 pm
Misc stuff:
Long day at work: had a center meeting after work, so it was close to a 10 hour day.
Chronic caller-outer coworker called out... well, texted the manager a few minutes before his shift. Unfortunately the manager was asleep, so no one was aware he'd called out until his first student called the main number 25 minutes after his appointment was supposed to start.
Got the rest of his day rescheduled surprisingly painlessly.
Weird added task on the day: babysitting a zoom class. We're discontinuing doing the classes via zoom, but students who started doing the class that way are required by the state to finish doing them that way, so we're running a final series for the couple students with make-up classes. Only one student today, but the instructor kept having internet problems. In order for the student to get credit, someone had to be logged on and monitoring that she was still on camera, so I had to do that while the instructor battled his internet.
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I finally finished Strange Grace! I enjoyed it. I hold to my earlier thought: a bit too YA for my taste right now, but would probably have been very much my thing when I was the target audience. As it was, I wanted a deeper emotional look into the characters than it provided, but I enjoyed what there was. I also enjoyed the resolution to the plot. I wish it had existed a good decade+ ago and that I'd been able to read it then. For now, I'd give it an 8/10.
I think everything I've read this year so far (not much, admittedly) has been an 8/10. I've been... mildly disappointed? I've read Dark Rise, When Sorrows Come, Upright Women Wanted, and now Strange Grace. All have had things I've liked, but none have super gripped me, and none have given me the OMG I NEED SOMEONE ELSE TO READ THIS RIGHT NOW! or I NEED TO REREAD THIS RIGHT NOW! feeling.
I think I'll read The Hanged Man next. It's book two of the Tarot Sequence. I read and enjoyed the first book, The Last Sun, last year. Taylor recommended them to me, largely on the strength of the second book, so I've wanted to read it. The third book just had a cover announcement and is coming out soon, so I guess now's the time! The first book was another 8/10 for me - I enjoyed it, but similar to what Taylor had mentioned, it felt a *little* like reading a DnD campaign? Just in the way encounters seemed to work. But I liked it, and allegedly the second book improves on everything all around. Taylor is a harsher critic than I am, and they really liked it, so I'm hopeful.
I really *want* to read something that I genuinely love, and it's been a while. I'm also considering rereading either The Southern Reach trilogy or The Broken Earth trilogy, because those are strong 10/10s that I WANT to reread... but with such a huge TBR list, I feel bad doing a reread, heh.
[My current "grading" scale:
10/10 - I want to reread it as soon as I finish it. I want badly to flail about it with someone, because I have so many thoughts and feelings. Alternatively, even if I don't so much want to flail and reread, it has something that sticks with me super hard and has left an impression.
9/10 - Really enjoyed it. Definitely one I'll keep, because I'll likely have the urge to reread it. Leaves me thinking about it after.
8/10 - I enjoyed it pretty much the whole way through. Don't regret spending time reading it. Had at at least a few aspects of it that really appealed to me, or may have had some parts that were more engaging than others.
7/10 - It was fine. I was able to finish it, but spent at least some of that time bored, or was bothered by something in terms of plot/structure/character that I just couldn't get past.
6/10 - Meh. I probably finished it, but wish I hadn't wasted my time. The book may have been fine, but just wasn't the kind of thing that appeals to me or that I enjoy.
I... don't usually finish anything that I'd rate lower than that, unless it's a bad-book-read-aloud with Alex on a roadtrip, ha.
I guess with that in mind, since I'm not using my full range of numbers, I should change the above to a 1-5 scale and anything lower is a 0/DNF. Or an A+/A/B/C/D (lower is an F/DNF) scale, which seems a bit more accurate to how I feel. Making my current "8/10" into a "B" grade feels more accurate than saying a 3/5, which sounds harsher.]
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For writing: I finished the rough draft of chapter 2 of Island Territory the night before last! Can't remember if I mentioned that, ha. Last night was the first night in quite a while where I struggled pretty badly at trying to hit 500 words. I still managed, but it was a fight. Today I wrote a bit by hand during a lull at work, so I hope that helps.
Chronic caller-outer coworker called out... well, texted the manager a few minutes before his shift. Unfortunately the manager was asleep, so no one was aware he'd called out until his first student called the main number 25 minutes after his appointment was supposed to start.
Got the rest of his day rescheduled surprisingly painlessly.
Weird added task on the day: babysitting a zoom class. We're discontinuing doing the classes via zoom, but students who started doing the class that way are required by the state to finish doing them that way, so we're running a final series for the couple students with make-up classes. Only one student today, but the instructor kept having internet problems. In order for the student to get credit, someone had to be logged on and monitoring that she was still on camera, so I had to do that while the instructor battled his internet.
-
I finally finished Strange Grace! I enjoyed it. I hold to my earlier thought: a bit too YA for my taste right now, but would probably have been very much my thing when I was the target audience. As it was, I wanted a deeper emotional look into the characters than it provided, but I enjoyed what there was. I also enjoyed the resolution to the plot. I wish it had existed a good decade+ ago and that I'd been able to read it then. For now, I'd give it an 8/10.
I think everything I've read this year so far (not much, admittedly) has been an 8/10. I've been... mildly disappointed? I've read Dark Rise, When Sorrows Come, Upright Women Wanted, and now Strange Grace. All have had things I've liked, but none have super gripped me, and none have given me the OMG I NEED SOMEONE ELSE TO READ THIS RIGHT NOW! or I NEED TO REREAD THIS RIGHT NOW! feeling.
I think I'll read The Hanged Man next. It's book two of the Tarot Sequence. I read and enjoyed the first book, The Last Sun, last year. Taylor recommended them to me, largely on the strength of the second book, so I've wanted to read it. The third book just had a cover announcement and is coming out soon, so I guess now's the time! The first book was another 8/10 for me - I enjoyed it, but similar to what Taylor had mentioned, it felt a *little* like reading a DnD campaign? Just in the way encounters seemed to work. But I liked it, and allegedly the second book improves on everything all around. Taylor is a harsher critic than I am, and they really liked it, so I'm hopeful.
I really *want* to read something that I genuinely love, and it's been a while. I'm also considering rereading either The Southern Reach trilogy or The Broken Earth trilogy, because those are strong 10/10s that I WANT to reread... but with such a huge TBR list, I feel bad doing a reread, heh.
[My current "grading" scale:
10/10 - I want to reread it as soon as I finish it. I want badly to flail about it with someone, because I have so many thoughts and feelings. Alternatively, even if I don't so much want to flail and reread, it has something that sticks with me super hard and has left an impression.
9/10 - Really enjoyed it. Definitely one I'll keep, because I'll likely have the urge to reread it. Leaves me thinking about it after.
8/10 - I enjoyed it pretty much the whole way through. Don't regret spending time reading it. Had at at least a few aspects of it that really appealed to me, or may have had some parts that were more engaging than others.
7/10 - It was fine. I was able to finish it, but spent at least some of that time bored, or was bothered by something in terms of plot/structure/character that I just couldn't get past.
6/10 - Meh. I probably finished it, but wish I hadn't wasted my time. The book may have been fine, but just wasn't the kind of thing that appeals to me or that I enjoy.
I... don't usually finish anything that I'd rate lower than that, unless it's a bad-book-read-aloud with Alex on a roadtrip, ha.
I guess with that in mind, since I'm not using my full range of numbers, I should change the above to a 1-5 scale and anything lower is a 0/DNF. Or an A+/A/B/C/D (lower is an F/DNF) scale, which seems a bit more accurate to how I feel. Making my current "8/10" into a "B" grade feels more accurate than saying a 3/5, which sounds harsher.]
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For writing: I finished the rough draft of chapter 2 of Island Territory the night before last! Can't remember if I mentioned that, ha. Last night was the first night in quite a while where I struggled pretty badly at trying to hit 500 words. I still managed, but it was a fight. Today I wrote a bit by hand during a lull at work, so I hope that helps.
no subject
Now I feel bad about my own to-read list, mostly graphic novels in digital form. When the list is long and they're all the kind of reads that take some effort I keep putting them off for later and going for easier things. ^^;;
Yay for writing (a little) at work!
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Oof, my TBR list is a monster right now. I have so many books that I've been gifted for holidays and birthdays and things, a bunch my younger sibling has wanted me to read... But yeah, some of them are the kinds of things I want to be able to pay deserved attention to. I mainly read for about fifteen or twenty minutes in the morning before work, and those tiny little bursts can make it hard to appreciate more intense writing and story.
no subject
no subject
(And I have LIKED everything I've read this year... some, like Dark Rise, I'm excited for there to be more of! I just really want something that I absolutely LOVE.)
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Wow! I'm impressed with all those books you've read!
You can always read the one I recommended 😉
I like your grading scale!
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Thanks! I wish I had more time to read, because I've got way too many books waiting for their turn!
The one you recc'd does sound good, though. I'll add it to my ebook list.
no subject
You're welcome! Self-care is important 😉