New Books: How Should I Sort Them?
I have some serious sorting to do.
So I own some books. Well, ok: "some" is being a bit conservative. I own a lot of books. Most of them are fiction, with some nonfiction that's mostly sociological. I added to my collection a bit the other day, picking up The Great Gatsby, Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel (author of Life of Pi, which is currently among the top 5 books I own), a nice hardcover edition of Ender's Game, a big, beautiful, hardcover, illustrated edition of The Divine Comedy (mostly for display purposes), and another big, beautiful, hardcover, $5 Brönte sisters collection. (Something interesting that I only realized the next day is that Beatrice and Virgil are Dante's two guides during The Divine Comedy, so it's a neat little coincidence that I bought those two books together without being aware of the connection.)
In order to sort and display my books, I have three shelves, one large, one medium, and one small. They can be seen below.
Until yesterday, I was using the small shelf for my movies and video games, and they all fit pretty neatly. But I realized that I had some built-in shelf space that was being wasted by some old phone books, shoes, and odds and ends. So I cleared that stuff out and found better places for it, then moved my games and movies over. I also moved some stuff out of the bottom compartments of my large shelf and put it in the closet.
These moves left me with quite a bit more shelf space for my books, and that's where my dilemma comes from.
Previously, I had my books organized into two groups: speculative fiction (fantasy and sci-fi) went on the medium shelf, while everything else went on the large shelf. But now I have three shelves instead of two! So which books do I put on the small, prominent shelf? I think I'm pretty much set on putting the spec fic in the medium shelf, because it fits well there, and the large shelf will end up holding whatever's left over after I sort things into the small and medium shelf, so it all depends on what goes in the small shelf.
A couple options I've thought of are to make the small shelf hold my Nonfiction, a couple of series or collections (Tom Clancy, JRR Tolkien, Orson Scott Card, Terry Pratchett, etc.), my Top 50, or just a handful of my "prettiest" books, like the old leather-bound "Children's Classic" series you can see in the above photo.
Help me, please! Also, I have more room now, so send more books!
English is Fun: “Objurgate”
I learned a new word while reading Les Miserables last night. The word is "objurgate," and it means to scold or rebuke.
I don't know that I really have to say all that much about this. It's obviously a phenomenal word, and I hope I am granted frequent opportunities to include it in my vocabulary. Perhaps I will invoke it during one of my verbose remonstrations of a sports team that is disappointing me.
Yay words! English is fun.
Who Will Be the Next 65+ Goal Scorer?
I'm curious how other people feel about this question: who will be the next NHL player to score 65 or more goals in a season?
The most recent player to do it was Ovechkin in 2007/08, when he had 65. Before that, Mario Lemieux had 69 in 1995/96, and Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny both scored 76 in 1992/93 (Selanne's rookie season, no less). Since Lemieux's 69, no player other than Ovechkin has scored more than 59 (Pavel Bure had seasons with 58 and 59 in Florida).
From 1980/81 to 1992/93, only one goal-scoring leader had fewer than 65 goals (Gretzky had 62 in 1986/87), so goal-scoring has obviously changed in the league since then. There used to be more goals scored per game, on average. It seems that the NHL is beginning to trend in that direction again, which makes for more exciting hockey, in my opinion. So will one of today's top scorers hit 65+ in the years to come, or will it be someone most of us haven't heard of yet? Will it happen at all?
Who will be the next player to score 65+ goals in a season?
- No one currently in the league (0%, 0 Votes)
- Other (specify in a comment) (0%, 0 Votes)
- Ovechkin (0%, 0 Votes)
- Stamkos (17%, 1 Votes)
- Crosby (83%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 6
Loading ...Rheingold Wears My Glasses
Rheingold's glasses.
I realized the other night that Rheingold, my stuffed rhino, makes an excellent glasses holder while I'm sleeping. So here he is, taking care of my glasses for me while I dream.
What a great friend, eh? I don't know what I'd do without him.
Well, I'd probably keep storing my glasses in the bathroom overnight, actually. But that would be way less cool.
Thanks, Rheingold, for making me so much cooler. I'll make sure Larissa lets me keep you beside our bed once we're married. Promise.
Playin’ Hockey!
On Saturday I played ice hockey for the first time in a few years. Now, that's not to say that I used to play a lot of ice hockey. I can probably count the number of times I've played ice hockey in the last 15 years on one hand. But this time was a bit different. This time I owned my own equipment, and I have expectations of playing again with the same group in the next month or two.
I'm still a bit sore, and it's Wednesday now, but my back is almost back to normal. On Sunday and Monday I was having a hard time bending over to tie my shoelaces! Some good news is that I'm getting a massage on Friday from a not-yet-certified professional masseuse who's offering free massages in order to get testimonal signatures towards his/her certification, so that's pretty awesome.
My skating felt about as good as it always has. I learned to skate as a kid, when I played in a kids' league at ages 6 and 7. So I have an ok stride, I can skate backwards (slowly, admittedly), and I can stop properly. Well, ok, I can only stop properly with my left foot, for some reason. I've never had the right balance to stop with my right foot. I'm not sure why.
My shot was better than I expected. I'm not sure how much credit to give to my new stick. I bought a composite stick with a decent curve in it, and I found I could get a pretty accurate wrist shot off. The biggest thing holding back my slapshot is my skating balance, I think.
Most of the people I was playing with had a similar skill level to mine. My skating ability was probably just above average for the group, but my stamina is still subpar. I found I was able to deke around people better than I expected, but one of the hardest things for a poor skater to do is skate backwards on defense (trust me; I know), so being able to deke around a guy in that situation isn't that big of an accomplishment.
All told, I think the biggest things I need to work on are 1) stopping with my right foot, 2) skating balance, which will help me going backwards and shooting, and 3) stamina. Altogether, improving my overall sense of balance will contribute to all of these things, I think, so I'm going to see what I can do about that.
I'm also going to see if I can get a jersey to wear that isn't advertising Molson Canadian...
Special People
Special People is serialized superhero fiction with a fistful of twists.
Special people have special problems.
BECOMING
The second quarter of the Year of Stories has arrived in print! BECOMING contains over 200 pages of great short stories for only $11.99. Order yours now.
DISCOVERY
Prefer the feel of paper to the look of a screen? DISCOVERY is the first quarterly Year of Stories print book. You get nearly 200 pages of exciting fiction for only $11.99! Grab your copy now.
Galloway’s Hunt
Galloway's Hunt is a novelette set in the world of Galloway's Voyage, my work-in-progress novel based on the same title character. Buy it now for only 99¢!
Losing Freight
Losing Freight is a serialized sci-fi novel where you get to vote on what happens next at the end of every page.