Reading List

Found this at https://saeriellyn.livejournal.com

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

If it's okay with you guys, I'm just going to do Number 1 since I'm tired and I can't remember which books I loved and which books I intend to read... XD

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (Doesn't this account for most people's six?)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (Not all the way through, no)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (I've read just one)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (Ugh, stop doing this! I've read some, but not all.)
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas...well, some of it, in french class.
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White (Not all the way through, but I've skimmed through it plenty of times)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - one of the funniest things ever written. This man had New Orleans characters down to the last flamboyant head toss.
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

So I have read thirteen! Go me! XD

Another Pro-Notebooks Article, and a New Idea

On Keeping a Notebook in the Digital Age

Like the title says, this is another article describing the virtues of keeping a notebook!

This talks about needing a place to dump all the ideas that come into your head. This is why I love notebooks: I've got volume after volume of binders full of journal entries, scenes from stories, sketches, research notes, etc. I need a place to keep all this information, whatever form it takes.

The main way my method differs from the author's (the author of this article) is that my notebooks are pretty organized. Well, maybe not that organized, but they're very structured. The writer of the article talks about using small notebooks to keep random, very disorganized notes. Of course the notebooks are already bound, whereas I use loose paper I keep in binders or folders. I've found that I just don't feel comfortable with the kind of notebooks described in this article. I like the freedom of using whatever paper I want, of being able to organize and reorganize, of having my journal entries and prose and sketches all separate, of being able to add things I've typed on the computer. For some, the systematic way I keep my notebooks might discourage using them. For me, personally, it creates a "comfort zone" (usually a bad thing, I know), and it's actually LESS intimidating.

That being said, having a "dumping ground" is important. Sometimes I have ideas that I write on scratch paper because I don't know where in my notebook to put them. The "Spark File" the article talks about made me think: should I have notebook pages that are full of random ideas that I accumulate over a period of time, like a week? It's something to consider. I should try it. :)

Am I A Stationery Addict? Part 2!

Found another list! This one is "Things Anyone Who's Slightly Obsessed With Stationery Has Done."

Time to compare.

1. Practised your handwriting before making that first sacred mark in a new notebook.

Nope; that's the joy of working on loose paper!!!

2. Or torn an entire page out when you’ve made a mistake.

Again, this is why I use loose leaf. :3

3. Organised your pens by colour, type of pen, or some other miscellaneous factor.

I do separate my pens by whether or not they're ball point pens, fineliners, or fountain pens.

4. Taken the line width of your ruled paper incredibly seriously.

College ruled ONLY.

5. As well as the size of your pen nibs.

Heck yes!

6. Got overly attached to a particular pen because you’re convinced it’s the one that makes your handwriting look the nicest.

I just got fountain pens, so YUP.

7. Told yourself you couldn’t start a new task until you’d bought a notebook for it first.

I like putting everything in the same notebook. :) Loose leaf notebook, of course.

8. Lied and said you didn’t have a pen because you didn’t want someone to take it.

I don't mind if people borrow my pens as long as they treat them well and give them back!

9. Or kept a separate stash of pens for borrowing.

See above.

10. And convinced yourself that your pen just didn’t write the same afterwards if you actually had the heart to lend it out in the first place.

Depends on the type of pen... I suppose I might have this problem with the more delicate fineliners. I confess I would be hesitant to loan those out.

11. Secretly harboured an intense jealousy of anyone with nicer handwriting than you.

YEEEEEEEES.

12. Used the new year as an excuse to buy yet another planner.

I like making my own planners via the Bullet Journal system.

13. And then bought several more during the year because you couldn’t bear to look at all the empty pages you forgot to fill out for a few weeks.

Again, bullet journals. :3

14. Winced when someone asked to borrow a piece of paper because it means ripping a page from your precious notepad.

Don't have this problem with looseleaf!

15. Sharpened a pencil for no reason but to witness the beauty of a perfect shaving curl.

Eh... I hate sharpening pencils. I much prefer my mechanical one.

16. And so that all of your pencils look like this (picture of perfectly sharpened pencil)

Again, I prefer mechanical pencils, and I only write with pens. However for drawing I will use art pencils sometimes.

17. Been excited by the prospect of starting a new job or term at school because it means having to go stationery shopping.

I'm always excited when I get to buy new binders and paper for them!

18. Bought a pen that you knew was way too expensive and you’d probably never use because you “needed it”.

Yup. XD

19. Secretly enjoyed the smell of Sharpies.

Eh... I'm afraid of what will happen if I smell them...

20. And felt both calmed and slightly aroused by the art of calligraphy.

I love calligraphy but i can't do it!

21. Refused to use a beautiful notebook for way too long because you still haven’t found a good enough reason to use it.

Yup. why do you think I use loose leaf notebooks?

22. Slightly judged someone for their taste in stationery.

No, I'm not a judgmental person. We all have unique preferences and that's what's so fun!

23. And finally, convinced yourself that new stationery is the key to organising your life.

In the past, yes, but I didn't actually like the feeling, you know what I mean? That's why I keep everything in the same notebook. It's fun to have multiple volumes of everything creative in your life!

Am I A Stationery Addict?

Saw this list awhile ago. Let's see how I match up!

1. You delight in pens that come in a rainbow of colors.

DEAR GOSH YES. I love colorful pens. <3

2. The smell of freshly sharpened pencils makes you swoon.

Pencils do smell nice, but I prefer mechanical pencils. I honestly don't like sharpening pencils.

3. Doodling is a recreational pastime of yours.

Yes! I love drawing!

4. You have a giant collection of adorable erasers….

Actually, no. I always hated those things because they were useless. And I hate erasing stuff. Don't ask me why. I prefer to cross it out.

5. Which you would never ever use because they are too precious and cute.

See above.

6. This is how you feel about the smell of erasers:

I guess erasers do smell nice, I just don't like using them. XD

7. You actually own weird contraptions, like the eraser shield.

What is that? Sounds cool.

8. Or the ingenious pencil with the cool built-in sharpener cap.

I don't, but that would be awesome!

9. Running your fingers over a letterpressed card is like…. (picture of swooning people)

Those things are cool. ^_^

10. In fact, you’re in the market to get married just for the experience of picking out wedding invitations and handwriting all of your thank you notes.

Well... no.

11. Making lists is your forté.

I do love making lists!

12. You own more notebooks than space for all the thoughts in your head.

Notebooks are cool, but you know me--I prefer folders and binders.

13. This is what cracking open a brand new moleskine feels/looks like:

Again, moleskines are awesome, but I prefer loose leaf paper.

14. The Sanrio store was your favorite store in the mall growing up.

I actually don't know that store.

15. You didn’t even dread the first day of school because of school supply shopping.

Oh, I dreaded the first day of school, but buying that stuff is always fun. And now that I've graduated college, I can enjoy the atmosphere of Back To School Shopping Season without worrying about school! :D

16. You haven’t used Scotch tape since the day you discovered WASHI TAPE.

Washi Tape is a new discovery for me, but it's pretty awesome! I love decorating my journal pages with it. <3

17. You’ve owned pens with charms dangling off of them.

Actually, no, but that would be awesome.

18. You’re of the dying breed of people who still choose to write a letter over email.

I don't really write letters or emails for fun, but if I did I think it would be fun to hand write stuff. Though when I wrote emails for fun I got to play with fonts and everything, but that was back when I was fourteen-ish.

19. As a grown ass adult, somehow you are STILL collecting stickers.

I think I prefer washi tape, but I do love stickers.

20. You’re always looking out for the perfect pencil case.

Oh, heck yes. I have a whole collection of pencil/pen cases. XD

21. You’ve fallen in love with someone via their penmanship before meeting them IRL.

Well, no, but I do love old-fashioned penmanship!

22. You much prefer a physical planner to Google Calendar.

I tried digital calendars, but hand-written stuff is easier.

23. You have your own definitive ranking of holy grail pens.

Oh yes!

24. You, when someone borrows your favorite pen and doesn’t return it. (Picture of girl with a sword.)

YES!!!! THOU SHALT NOT TAKE MY PENS

25. You’ve never left a Japanese stationery store without spending hundreds of dollars.

Alas, I've never been to a Japanese stationery store.

26. The smell of Kinko’s conjures up joyful childhood memories for you.

Rarely been to Kinko's, either! What's wrong with me?

27. You’ve actually listened to episodes of The Pen Addict podcast.

No, but then I don't listen to podcasts. I HAVE seen pen-related youtube videos!

Why I Use An Analog Notebook

So recently I stumbled across and fell in love with this article:

Why I Still Use A Sketchbook

I sympathize with the narrator, but the content of the article makes me fear for our society as a whole. "What is a 'sketchbook?' Some kind of laptop?" I'll just take that as a sign of the upcoming apocalypse.

One thing I appreciate about this article is how the author is not at all criticizing technology--he is merely criticizing our dependence on it. I love technology, myself. I have a laptop, an iPhone, and an iPad. I adore them all, and I use them well. Hell, as you know, my art journal is digital. But if you follow my instagram account, you know that I really love handwriting things, and I prefer drawing on real paper as well. At the end of the day, my padfolio is easier to carry around than my laptop or even my tablet. Plus, as the author reminds us, pens and paper do not require batteries. It's a cliche explanation of why we love analog, but it's true.

I repeat: I love our modern digital age. Sometimes I'll type a journal entry or a story scene and I've enjoyed doing art on the computer, too. (Photoshop FTW.) I've also been sucked into the world of eBooks. But at the end of the day there's no replacing the basic simple notebook. Embrace technology, but don't let it consume you.

I'm not saying anything new here, I know, but I really had to applaud that article. That and the idea that someone didn't know what a sketchbook was kind of freaked me out. XD

"You sure you want this? It's so beat up!" Yeah, because it's USED and it's filled to bursting with creativity and expression!

Read the article, it's a good one. :)

Comment on a previous post. @nelevonlanthen gets it. :3 <3 #writing #writersofinstagram #amwriting

A photo posted by Mary DeMauro (@marydemauro) on Aug 3, 2016 at 2:09am PDT