Rebecca Blogs Comic-Con, Saturday

Day Three of Salt Lake Comic-Con's Fan Xperience was Saturday, April 19. What a ride. In case I haven't made this point enough, conventions are awesome and I love them, the end.

I worked Saturday morning, so unfortunately I wasn't able to meet or see either Nathan Fillion or Karen Gillan, the featured guests of that day. I would have loved to be in the same room with Nathan, as he's one of my top ten favorite actors, but a girl's gotta pay the bills too. I met who I came there to meet and everything else was icing on the cake. Patrick Stewart was also signing autographs this day, but I didn't even touch that line. I can't afford him, haha. Instead I got in line for the Adam Baldwin panel, sat down on the floor, and read my Star Wars Shakespeare book The Empire Striketh Back. I shared it with a few other guests-- conventions are the best place to find new areas of geekdom.

About the panel: Umm, what can I say? Adam Baldwin is a delightful person. He was giving out hugs left and right and it was pretty adorable.

There was a six o'clock panel that I much wanted to go to, but there were a few hours yet to come, so I tried to make the best of the final day. I walked through the booths and took more pictures of cosplayers and just attempted to suck up the spirit of Comic-Con to keep in my heart for another five months.

Look at mini Deadpool! So much cuteness, wow!

Disney cosplayers are the best. And please take note of Pocahontas in the back.

Characters hanging out with characters they would never hang out with are my favorite thing.

And while looking around the meeting rooms I found a whiteboard with this awesome dragon art drawn on it. Check it out!

This makes me want to cry because TALENT.

Anyway, it got to the point where I couldn't wait anymore to get into line just to be sure that I got into the Joss Whedon discussion panel. Joss Whedon is the reason I have trust issues, but his work is genius and I couldn't think of a better panel to end Comic-Con on. So I headed on up and parked myself in line. As the time lapsed the line grew, and I was glad to be where I was. The room they held it in has three hundred and fifty seats, and it was packed to bursting.

The panel was great. One of Joss Whedon's brothers, Matt, was there "not as an expert, just a brother of Joss" haha. The moderator started out the discussion by saying, "You're all here because Joss Whedon has made something that you just can't get out of your head." So true. I know I've written about Buffy the Vampire Slayer before, but seriously I can't get over it. Buffy Summers is the most freaking legit person. Giles, Xander, Willow, all the other characters are just so well written. I believe I've mentioned how I feel about Spike. And I'm not at all exaggerating when I say that I ship Spike/Buffy harder than I've ever shipped a ship, EVER.

Anyways, the panel was nice. There were six panelists and at one point they went down the table answering who their favorite character was in the Whedon-verse. These are people who are well versed Firefly, Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog, Buffy, Dollhouse, Cabin in the Woods, all of it. Well, except for Matt. He admits that there are some things he hasn't even seen. But out of the six panelists, four of them named Spike as their favorite character. Awwww yeah. :D The others mentioned were Malcolm Reynolds and Simon Tamm. Matt said he also really liked Dr. Horrible.

It was so nice to be in a room full of Whedon fanatics like myself. Joss Whedon is a genius. Maybe it was the fact that the convention was coming to an end, maybe it's because we were talking about gut-wrenching moments in television and film that Joss has forced upon us ("Joss knows exactly what his fans want and he never gives it to them."), maybe it's just because I get emotional at unpredictable moments, but I was moved almost to tears. It was a great way to end the convention. I have trouble articulating it, but there is something extremely beautiful about seeing so many people that LOVE so strongly. Seeing Batman and Princess Leia just chilling together. We might love Battlestar Galactica or Portal or Disney or comic books or steampunk or whatever but we love it SO MUCH. We want to talk about it and dress up like it and just basically celebrate it and it puts joy in my heart. <3

These are my people.

Rebecca Blogs Comic-Con, Friday

All right, all right, all right, who's ready for some more Comic-Con stories? Friday was the highlight of the convention for me. It was the only day that I was there from start to finish and by the time it came to leave I was exhausted, but it was one-hundred percent worth it.

I arrived on Friday and stood in line for probably half an hour or forty minutes waiting to get in, since now everyone was registered and had transferred over into what had previously been my lovely short line. But, as the man in front of me pointed out, these were the most polite people out there. I mean, we were exchanging high-fives with strangers as we made our way forward. A hundred thousand people went through Comic-Con over the three days and not once did I see a single argument about cutting in line or literally anything else. That's how we geeks do it!

The first thing I did upon entering the main Expo hall was head to James Marsters' table and get in line. Having kept on eye on the line yesterday I knew that it would only grow as the day progressed, and I needed to meet James Marsters. I chatted with a Harley Quinn cosplayer and her boyfriend as we stood and waited for an hour. Occasionally I would stand on tiptoe and yup, there was James Marsters, chatting away. Our general admission line was being superseded by the ever-expanding VIP line, so we weren't making much progress. Eventually a volunteer came with the news that James was going to a panel, and would be back at 1:30. It was about eleven now, and this news was not pleasing to me. The line mostly disbanded, and I went down the tables to Ioan Gruffudd's table.

You all remember Ioan Gruffudd. I loved him in Amazing Grace and went to his spotlight on Thursday. His table was virtually deserted, so I strolled right up and paid the volunteer (I don't think I mentioned that autographs/photos come with a price.) before nervously stepping towards the man himself. Having to wait in line would have been nice in this case, because I would have thought of things to say. As it was, being a spur of the moment stop, I was even more flustered than I had been with Adam Baldwin the day before. My end of the conversation went something like this: "Hi will you sign this I love Amazing Grace it's the best movies my sisters are going to freak out my name's Rebecca R-e-b-e-c-c-a. Thank you can I get a picture?" As he came out from behind the table I said, "I meant to have clever things to say but I got flustered." Him: "It's okay, happens to everyone." (Welsh is a beautiful accent.)

I started heading to the ballroom but decided it might be best to just go wait in James Marsters' line so as to avoid the crush of fans that would return after the ballroom let out. I was surprised to find that James Marsters was still at his table signing and chatting away. I was pleased to see that the dispersed line had not yet returned. I got back in the shorter line and found that there had been a mix-up; James hadn't left at all, the volunteer just thought he was going to. Well, I'll take it.

I made friends with the girl in front of me, Kelly, who was cosplaying Jayne. We bonded over our inability to breathe because James Marsters. We both hardcore ship Spike/Buffy and hate Angel, and I've had friendships based on less. My excitement was uncontainable and she kept telling me, "You're going to touch him!" and then "Breathe, breathe...."

It finally got to me being at the front of the line and I was taking the last few steps towards him, my hands already shaking, when I realized that though I'd practiced what I was going to say I'd forgotten the awkward hellos at the beginning of every meet and greet. So this is how it went down--

James Marsters: Hi, what's your name?
Me: Rebecca.
JM: How are you today?
Me: Thank you. *realizes mistake and goes straight into script* I got into Buffy over the summer and Spike is my all-time favorite fictional character. I watched all of it in like a month. Thanks, Netflix.
JM: Netflix is great. When the show was on the air we worried that people wouldn't remember what was going on, because sometimes there would be three or four weeks between episodes.
Me: I would have died!
JM: We'd ask, "Will people even remember what's going on with the story?" That's why we had those "Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer..." at the beginning.
Me: Haha yeah I always skipped those.
JM: *laughs as he signs his photo for me*
Me: I heard you were going to be here and I had to be here, so here I am. (I'm not one of those fans that knows how to say clever things.)
JM: Is this your first Con?
Me: Yes.
JM: Can I give you some advice?
Me: *noises of assent*
JM: There are a lot of great people here dressed up like storm troopers or whatever else. They're smart and geeky and you can meet a lot of people, make a lot of friends.
Me: Yeah, these are my people.
JM: Here. *gives me an m&m*
Me: Can I get a photo?
He came around the table and put his arm around me, then we got the photo and I was bending over to pick up my backpack when he touched my arm and said, "Thanks for coming out." I said, "Thank YOU." and he said, "You have a great smile."

So that is the story of how James Marsters likes my smile. He was so down to earth and kind to his fans; everyone I talked to was impressed as well. Seriously the coolest celebrity ever. At that point I floated back to my car to put my signed photos (he wrote "To Rebecca, Bite Me) away for safekeeping. I went back into the convention, but meeting James Marsters was definitely the highlight of the day. I went to the spotlights for Edward James Olmos and Jonathon Frakes. Actor stories are the best stories. I listened to a few panels and then I went home.

Friday was fun. I wasn't quite so overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, and I got brave enough to ask to take some pictures of cosplayers as I wandered about.

Cosplayers are legit.

Rebecca Blogs Comic-Con, Thursday

Friends, this post is going to be a long, rambling, fangirly one and the first of three.

I spent the last three days at Salt Lake Comic Con's Fan Xperience here in Salt Lake City. I've never been to a fan convention before, and I wasn't sure how I was going to like it, but it turns out I am most definitely a fan. I won a free multi-pass, so I was able to go all three days. This is a good thing. Had I bought my own tickets I would have likely just gone one of the days, and there is way too much going on to take it all in during one day.

In case you want the TL;DR version now: Cosplayers are awesome, I got to meet one of my favorite actors, and I'm now a convention addict. And now, the stories of Thursday, April 17.

I knew Comic-Con was going to be a horse of a different color from the first time I tried to find a parking spot. Lots with available spots were blocks away, and I walked up to the Salt Palace (where Comic-Con is held) behind Spiderman, Zelda, and what appeared to be a purple fox. (All of us recognize some of the characters being cosplayed, but no one recognizes all of the characters being cosplayed.) The lines for registration stretched across many crisscrossing lines, and I was glad to have pre-registered the day before. I flashed my wristband to the security volunteers at the start of the hall of vendors and was sucked into the most condensed population of fellow geeks I've ever been enveloped by.

I cannot explain the hall of vendors to you. I can't really explain much of anything, but a description of this main hall just completely eludes me. There were booths side by side like an old-school open market stretching up and down in rows and columns, all completely filled with people. I spent three days walking up and down the hall trying to figure out what all was being sold and I'm sure that I still managed to miss some booths. T-shirts, posters, board games, natural medicine, comics, action figures, food, autographs insurance, movies: you name it and it was being sold by a vendor in that hall. I spent almost an hour on Saturday searching for a booth I'd seen on Thursday with FanX t-shirts. It wouldn't be quite as difficult if the passage ways weren't always obscured with people, of course. Traffic flew pretty smoothly, which was a blessing. I don't have a high crowd tolerance and being stopped for longer than a few seconds in the crush of humanity would definitely have started lighting up my panic buttons.

A tiny, tiny portion of the vendors' booths



So that took up the main portion of the Expo Hall. In the back were a line of folding tables set up for the celebrities who would be meeting fans, signing autographs, and the like. I saw the banner for James Marsters and just kind of got anxious/excited/is this the real life?

[Side note paragraph: You may recall that I became deeply obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer last summer. The obsession has not abated. James Marsters played Spike, who from his very first appearance on the show caused me to go, "Who is that and why is he not onscreen more often?" As I shotgunned the rest of the seasons Spike rose to the rank of my Favorite Fictional Character of All Time, and I adore legions of fictional characters, so that is very lofty praise indeed. He is perfect. Anyway, I have been freaking out about James Marsters being here ever since it was announced that he was coming, and seeing the banner made it seem that much more real.]

There are so many people at Comic-Con. I mentioned that in regards to the hall of vendors, but it bears repeating. There are people everywhere-- cosplayers, volunteers, just regular attendees lounging on the stairs and walking about and snapping pictures. There are so many more people than I am used to. I have never been around so many people that have interests similar to my own.

The first event I went to was Ioan Gruffudd's spotlight. These are the panels where a generic host sits on stage with the featured guest and usually asks a few questions and then members of the audience can ask questions. It's a good time. Ioan Gruffudd starred in of one of my favorite movies, Amazing Grace, and I was quite excited to see him in person. My sisters and I quote Amazing Grace literally every time we are together and can do the whole movie pretty much verbatim. Turns out that we've all been saying his name wrong-- it's pronounced Yowan Griffith. Yes, Gruffudd is pronounced Griffith. Welsh is a weird language, but a beautiful accent. The best part of this panel-- besides the fact that he basically called Amazing Grace his favorite-- was having him pick pirates over ninjas and Star Wars over Star Trek. Right on, Ioan. Right on.

A horrid, blurry picture of Ioan Gruffudd



After getting out of that I went on a quest for the south ballroom where James Marsters would be spotlighted because there was no way that I was going to miss it due to my inability to find places. It was being taken up by one Sean Patrick Flannery who I cared about not at all. I went to look at some more vendors, then came back to find that most of the people milling about were like me, waiting for James Marsters. The volunteer at the door told us they were going to start early seating, so we should go in and listen to the end of the current spotlight, then we could move up and claim better seats when the current guests left. This I did, and it turns out I don't like Sean Patrick Flannery. But I did get a nice seat out of it in the center section with an unobstructed view of the stage.

The host came out and the intro clip played and it was literally all clips from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, aka this was where I started screaming. The host said, "James Marsters!" and he ran out saying, "Hello!" in the most cheerful voice you ever heard and it was so cute. Before my camera battery died I recorded the first half of the Q&A (which he started by saying that we could ask literally anything because he has no shame) and friends it was delightful. He sang one of his original songs for us (he's in a band if you didn't know) and did his Spike voice (my only problem with him is that he's not truly British. Nobody's perfect, I guess.) and was hilarious and awesome. There was much feminine screaming.


I'm somewhere in this picture!


After James left the stage I went back to the vendor booths, having resolved to not seek after his autograph until the next day. Spread out your James rations and all that, haha. I bought a few things and then stood in line to meet Adam Baldwin. He's most well-known for Chuck (Agent Casey) and Firefly (Jayne Cobb). I tried to think of clever things to say, but that was an exercise in failure. I just stuttered on about liking Firefly and I am sure that he could tell how flustered I was. He gave me his signature and said, "Nice to meet you, fangirl." I should note that my shirt said Fangirl, so this was cute and not rude. He shook my hand (he has a warm handshake) and I said my stuttering adieus. It was so surreal to see people that I watch on television standing right in front of me.

I went to a panel on the unsung heroes of the film industry talking about people like makeup artists, sound mixers, location managers, etc. but I wasn't really into it, haha. Too up in the air from just being at Comic-Con. I was in sensory overload the whole day; a friend trying to get my attention had to yell at my three or four times before I realized he was even talking to me.

And that ended day one of my Fan Xperience. As I headed home I drove past the convention center and watched everyone exiting the building. I saw Batman's cape billow up as he jumped down the steps, and Maleficent taking a picture with a little girl, and so many other people that had come together to celebrate these things that we love. Fandoms are so wonderful. Thanks for including me, fandoms.

Finding the Bright Side

Oh, friends, this has been a month of exhaustion and if you've been around me at all in the last couple weeks you've probably heard me rant about working way too many late nights and early mornings. But there comes a point where you get tired of wallowing in negativity and have to find something to smile about. So this post is about the little spots of sunshine in life that brighten up the gray days.

--Rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's a much slower process this time; I'm savoring it. First season Giles is the best. The absolute best. And I don't understand how anyone can watch this show and not love Buffy Summers. And holy cow is Joyce the ditziest of ever or what? I forgot how ridiculous she is.

--A cute boy texted me out of the blue and called me pretty. DO YOU KNOW HOW OFTEN THAT NEVER HAPPENS???

--After my thirty-six hour shift from hell (with a couple four hour sleep breaks) I now have two closing shifts and then two whole days off. Mmmm. That means I get to sleep in and wake up naturally. My circadian rhythm is set to the beat of a 3:45 a.m. drum so I don't have to set an alarm; I always wake up before seven now.  Four days with sleep and breakfast! #winning

--The Lego Movie. THE LEGO MOVIE IS PERFECT. I want to read a Batman Meets Lando crossover fic so bad. Other best parts: Metalbeard, Bad Cop, and Abraham Lincoln. Historical jokes are the best jokes. I would totally see it again-- everything about it was awesome!

--I'm reading Living My Life by Emma Goldman and I basically want to BE Emma Goldman. I've loved her since discovering Ragtime and it turns out she was EVEN MORE PERFECT than I thought. Feminist, anti-violence, pro-birth control, not afraid of authority, bookworm, emotional lady: everything I love.

--It's seventy degrees and sunny here in Salt Lake. Beautiful-- it feels like April.

--Did I mention that a cute boy called me pretty of his own free will with no prompting from me at all?

A Hodgepodge-esque Post

This post is going to be a random assortment of topics that I want to write about, but not a whole entry about. You have been warned.

Reasons February is the Worst Month
1. It's so short. You blink and it's March and then you start panicking because you're a FOURTH OF THE WAY through the year and haven't done anything yet.
2. Cold. The cold drags on. This is not specific to February, but it doesn't help me like it any better.
3. Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day is evil.
4. Spelling. FebRuary? Come on, bro. Just spell it Febuary like everyone freaking pronounces it.


What's going at work, Rebecca? You seem stressed.
I'm glad you asked. Due to some unforeseen staff changes from corporate, I'm now basically the manager of the store while we wait for our new one to fly in from Arizona in a couple weeks. Have I been trained to be a manager? No. Nope. None of that training has been completed. But I am still in charge of the store and providing paperwork and faxing forms and scheduling shifts and all the other alliterations that managers do. The challenge is kind of intoxicating, not gonna lie. But I'm also working six days a week. That is most decidedly NOT intoxicating. I've been at this company for only three months, so it's very surreal to me to look around and realize that for the moment I'm the authority figure. I'm the one people call when there's a problem. Not sure how this came to be.

In related news, I didn't go back to school this semester so I could work full time. This turned out to be handy due to the previous paragraph.


Reading updates, please
But of course! I just finished Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Not exactly summer beach reading material, but an interesting story. Very psychological. I started drawing comparisons to Les Miserables (character wise, not plot wise). Raskolnikov is a darker Valjean. Petrovich is clearly Javert with a few more shakes of cunning. Razumikhin is a mix of Enjolras and Marius. Sonya is Fantine. Luzhin would be Mssr. Thenardier. And then there's Avdoyta. I'd say that she's Eponine, because I'm lacking an Eponine, but she's not. She's just the best. Girl power.There's a passage where Dostoevsky describes Luzhin's idea of a perfect bride and I had to stop reading and say out loud, "It's Cosette. He's looking for Cosette." I mean, a pretty young thing who has lived a life of deprivation and will be eternally grateful and obedient to her rescuer/husband? IT'S SO COSETTE I CAN'T EVEN SAY #notahugefan

Also, I've started using hashtags more. #guiltypleasures #makeitstop #idon'twanttobethisperson


Miscellaneous 
-I fell in love with Frozen-- top five Disney movies for sure. They did such a great job on Hans; I've dated a Hans and wow they hit the nail right on the head. I went in with the expectation I would hate Olaf and everything about him, but I'm happy to say I was wrong. "I don't have a skull. Or bones." Kristoff is adorable and Anna is me and Elsa is a boss. I got Wicked vibes all through-- two female leads, people aren't what they seem, and Idina Menzel-- and we should all know what a fan of Wicked I am.

-My car is back. In related news, my gorgeous rental car is gone. I was driving a 2014 Chevy Malibu for two weeks, and it was the best of ever. I didn't think I cared about cars or saw them as a status symbol until I was driving one that I can't afford to touch, let alone own. I might care more than I thought.

-I already completed one New Year's resolution-- I went on a date! Miracles do happen! Haha, in all seriousness it's nice to have checked off both my go-on-a-date-before-my-birthday and go-on-a-date-in-2014 in one fell swoop.

That's about it for now, faithful readers. I have a feeling this year is going to be VERY dramatic (it's already gone in a radically different direction than I predicted), so buckle up and try to enjoy the ride!

The Perfect Storm

You know that gif from Avengers that's an endless loop of the Hulk thrashing Loki up and down? I feel like I am Loki and yesterday was the Hulk. 

It started out normally enough. My alarm went off at 3:45 a.m. (my normal is different from yours) so I could be to work by 4:30. I sold gadgets to people all morning and goofed off with my coworkers by reenacting Lord of the Rings in gangsta voices. (Have I mentioned how much I love being the only girl in our Brookstone team? Because I love it a lot.) Same old, same old, nothing to write home about.

After work I get in my car and start driving home. Everything's fine until I get on the interstate, and then I start feeling like the car is having trouble accelerating. I have felt this way occasionally ever since it happened to me with my old car, so I wasn’t overly worried. I mean, I got this car less than a month ago. I did what I usually do, which is accelerate to prove to myself that I still can accelerate. Well, that didn’t go as expected. There was a sharp noise and suddenly Houston, we have a problem, the problem being that now I am coasting down the interstate in a lane with no shoulder. Luckily such a shoulder did appear soon enough for me to pull into it before the engine died completely. I had no phone, due to my one being dead except for when it is literally plugged into the wall and the other being not activated yet. So I sit there just being like, “What.” I had never been in such a situation, but I wasn’t afraid. The cars are flying by and although I have no way to contact anyone, no idea who I should contact, and no idea of what to do, I never felt afraid. I felt more awkward than anything. I sat there just being kind of bored and occasionally brainstorming. I nearly fell asleep. What a weirdo. (In my defense, I did get up at 3:45.)

 Anyhoo, I got out of the car and walking towards the exit, with the end goal of getting down to the Ramada I could see and finding a phone to use. I wasn’t sure if I would have to risk life and limb by running across the traffic or what, but it turns out there’s a nice cement divider that you can walk in and not die. Party on.

So I get down to the Ramada and attempted to call my roommate but it isn’t a local call so that was a no go. I ask the desk guy if he had a phonebook and he said he had the internet, which was better (cute and helpful!) so I told him my situation and I was soon on the phone with Gavin, who promised to send me a truck. So I hike back up to my car and then a highway patrol guy pulled over. I had been doing so good with staying calm, but talking to this guy made me cry, not because of anything he did but just the stress of not knowing what to do and the tow truck not showing up. The officer called the tow place and assured me that yes, someone was coming. Good bye, officer Perfect Teeth. (The dude seriously looked like Ponch from CHiPS.)

The tow truck did show up soon, much to my relief. The driver was so nice to me and let me use his phone, although for some reason I still couldn’t call Amber but I faked half of a brief conversation because I was too embarrassed to admit that I apparently couldn't remember my roommate's phone number. I directed him to a mechanic near my house, we got my car squared away, and off he went.I started walking home, but was picked up by my roommate. Once we were home I immediately reactivated my phone and called the mechanic to give him a contact number. The guy says it was definitely the dealership’s fault, because the oil filter they put in was wrong and so currently there is no oil in the engine. Oh, what a delight. I'll deal with it tomorrow.

I hitched a ride with Amber to Fashion Place and was introduced to Tyler, who I would be closing the store with. I'm extremely not a mall person I can't remember the last time I've been in a mall and been happy about it. Probably middle school. But I didn't think it would be that different from my airport store.

Ladies and gentlemen, mall stores are evil. Evil, evil, evil. Do not ever work in a mall store. They have a million items I’ve never heard of, for one thing. It was like being a brand new employee again, and I HATE feeling useless. I was so happy whenever anyone would look at the sand or the headphones or the projector and be like, “I KNOW HOW TO SELL THAT.” Because everything else was just me fetching Tyler or making stuff up. Also there are a lot of hoodlum teenagers who steal sand displays (who steals sand displays?) and no one has to leave until they feel like it, unlike the airport where you have to have a boarding pass to get in and there are flights to catch, so people don't linger overly long. I was fine at the registers (wow, they do ten thousand times more returns than we do) but not so great on the floor and so tired I wanted to cut my feet off and die. I’d been going nonstop for seventeen hours, my car was broken down, and if one more person asked me where the food court was I was going to lose it. Luckily I did make it to 9, and then I just vacuumed and double counted the deposit. Home again. 

Well, not yet. I sat and waited for Amber and Mickie to come back from their gymnastics meet and failed at buying candy from a vending machine much to my annoyance and realized my phone was on silent so I couldn’t hear calls but eventually we did meet up and drive home, where I sat on the floor eating a peanut butter sandwich before going upstairs to pass out. [Run on sentences are fun.]

So that was yesterday. *deep breath* Quite possibly the most exhausting and stressful day I've ever had. Certainly in the last year or two. I require chocolate stat. So much chocolate.

2013: A Year in Books

I, along with many Americans, made a handful of resolutions in January. And I, along with many Americans, promptly forgot/ignored/procrastinated most of those resolutions. I don't even remember what most of my resolutions were, but the one I was actually intent on was my reading goal. At the end of 2012 my grand total stood at 71. Not too shabby, but I felt I could do better. So in January I set out to have read 85 books by the end of the year, and at least one new-to-me classic a month.

I met the goal handily. I surpassed 71 in September and 85 the second week of November. Final count (I know I'm not going to finish The Real Pepsi Challenge by tomorrow night): 95

48 fiction, 47 nonfiction

9 books were rereads

The longest book I read was Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. The first half really flows, 5/5 the second half drags, 2.5/5. Worth a read, but not my favorite. It wasn't the tragedy and death that made the latter half lag, it was the focus on Marius and Cosette as characters. There's not a lot of depth there. The Bishop, on the other hand, is awesome, and of course, Javert. It's a good book, but you do have to be prepared for fifty page tangents on Waterloo, royalty, whatever caught Hugo's attention.

The oldest book I read was Samuel Richardson's Pamela, published in 1740. It's been out for nearly three hundred years! Crazy. (Another crazy, not-as-fun fact: rape-justification arguments used in this book are still thrown around today.)

The book that makes me happy just by its very existence: Verily, a New Hope by Ian Doescher (Star Wars in the style of Shakespeare! I am one-thousand percent okay with this! Fetch me a sequel!)

The book that I saw in a book store when I was like twelve and wanted to buy but didn't and I just barely got around to reading it: Brainiac by Ken Jennings. (It was delightful.)

And now, Rebecca's Top Ten Books of 2013 (Only books I hadn't read before were considered.) Drum roll, please.

10. Through the Children's Gate-- Adam Gopnik
9. The Ballad of Tom Dooley-- Karyn McCrumb
8. The ABC Murders-- Agatha Christie  
7. The Violinist's Thumb-- Sam Kean
6. Okay For Now-- Gary D Schmidt
5. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks-- E Lockhart
4. The Color Purple-- Alice Walker
3. The Clockwork Universe-- Edward Dolnick (A.W.E.S.O.M.E.)
2. The Kite Runner-- Khaled Hosseini (Read this book. But be aware it will Rip. Your. Heart. Out.)
1. Mao's Last Dancer-- Li Cunxin (Read this book. Just, read it. Read it, read it, read it.)

Honorable mentions:
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and Emma by Jane Austen (Fiction)
At Home by Bill Bryson and The Ghost Map by Samuel Johnson (Non-fiction)

"I cannot live without books." -Thomas Jefferson