A Fortnight of Reading

Here's what I've read over the past two weeks (all stars out of five):

Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Cruisie ★★★

Ms. Cruisie came highly recommended so I gave her a shot.  Witty as promised but not spectacular. After reading so many series a single book feels too short.

Charlie all Night by Jennifer Cruisie ★

Just awful - no banter, no logic.  I never understood the characters' motivations and I kept on wondering if a radio station would actually work like that.  "He put in the news cassette...." Wouldn't the news be read live?  Who wants taped news?

Maybe contemporary romance isn't my thing.

Matched by Ally Condie ★★★

My first dystopian novel since reading Brave New World in high school.  The author tends to hit you over the head with some things but once I finished I was able to tease interesting symbolism and themes out of the story.  Three stars instead of four due to over-obviousness ("Do not go gentle!") and feeling like I scraped the bottom of the world even though there are two books remaining in the series.

Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton ★

Short.  So short she added an essay about where she gets her ideas (not that I read it).  Another bad Anita Blake novel, held back by a lack of vampires and an abundance of telling, not showing.  Grah.

Hit List by Laurell K. Hamilton ★ ~abandoned~

This review on Goodreads put it best - a book was beyond saving.  When you go and ruin Edward, arguably the most interesting character in the series, all is lost.

Naked in Death by J.D. Robb ★★★★

Not in my wheelhouse - I don't usually do mysteries, and Roarke isn't my kind of leading man.  He is way too pushy and the romance side felt rushed.  On the other hand, the near future setting was interesting, the leading lady rocks, and solid writing closed the deal. I already put a hold on the next book in the series.




I'm also doing a couple of challenges on Goodreads (find me here!) while I rip through my hometown library's digital lending shelves.  It's been years since I've done any appreciable amount of reading in English - it feels like coming home.

Re-falling in Love

In high school I used a cheap cartridge fountain pen for my personal writing.  I loved it dearly, carefully rinsing the nib between colors and carrying it with me everywhere I went.  Somewhere I have notebooks upon notebooks filled with my scrawl, made slightly more tolerable by the beauty of the ink.

The fountain pen even made it to college... until I left it by a computer in the main library.  I ran back ten minutes later and it was gone.  After a period of mourning and fruitless ebay searches I gave up.

Fast forward - I'm an adult.  I can budget for and buy the things I like, even if they're a little expensive.  A couple weeks of frugality later and I have this:

Lamy Al-Star in Purple

An absolutely gorgeous fountain pen.  It's not one of those crazy $100+ dollar ones, but it cost enough to feel like a luxury.

And what a luxury!  I got a converter to go with it so I can use any color or brand of bottled ink I like.  I got plain ol' black to start but I'm eyeing this mysterious purple.

My "me" handwriting - I use better in my letters!

Writing to penpals will be even more fun!  Next up - handmade envelopes.  Bwahaha.

Eeep

The interpreting test is two days away - eep!  I just got a voice mail (note to self: keep cell charged) that they're going to give me a Japanese test as well as the interpreting test, so could I show up a little early?

I blanched.  My heart sped up.  They did not say what form the test would take or what it would cover.  The website hints at reading aloud and an interview.

Gulp.  So until then...

Incoming - 11th and 12th

I got my first incoming mail since getting back into this penpal thing, yea!  I sent a letter to Victoria after reading her ad on Penpal of the Week and she replied with this postcard.

The front was inked up a little by another postmark, boo.

It's very fitting as there are cranes in my neighborhood - I see them flying over the houses once in a while, or fishing in the river.

I also got some mail from the Cup - I won a prize for being third in Slytherin for Ravellenic Quiddy, woo!  (If that sentence made no sense to you there's a good chance it never will.)  Along with the most delicious laceweight was this card:

"There are no good girls gone wrong - just bad girls found out."  Mae West

Love.

In other news this week I've been studying like mad for an interpreting school entrance exam on Monday.  I know I'll be asked to interpret Japanese into English and vice versa so I've been working on that specifically.  There's also a chance they'll interview me or have me read a newspaper.  Scary!  If the article is about nuclear power or bullying I'm okay but politics = death.  There's too many names of people I don't know with hints about past events I know nothing about.  Give me radiation levels or a car wreck any day.

Next correspondence in the hopper - a looooong letter to my best friend from college.  Yes, that means you, E!  It's been too long.

Hello

My name is Karla and I'm a 29 year old American woman living in Kyoto, Japan.  I'm a knitter, a reader, a writer of letters, a student of Japanese, a news junkie, a fiancee.  I prefer collecting experiences instead of things, fall instead of spring, and vanilla over chocolate (most of the time).

I figure that most of the people reading this blog will already know something about me so I'm going to dive right in.  To everyone else - hello.  Nice to meet you.  I hope you like what you see.