Dodger- A Review

I am a large fan of Terry Pratchett books, and I hold him as a writer in high regard. Which is why I was very much surprised when I finished Dodger. Dodger is written very much in the same style as all of Terry Pratchett's books, and at time London heavy resembles  Ankh-Morpork in the Discworld series.

 The history that is interwoven into the book along with being from a young lads point of view, kept me turning the pages.  They had interesting real characters, such as Charles Dickens and Sweeney Todd that were a lot more fleshed out than most history  books give them credit for. While it is true that Sweeney Todd is known as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and has been immortalized in musical and somewhat romanticized for the brutal murders he committed, not a lot has been said about why he did it, and in Dodger they talk about briefly the sensationalization of it for the time and what had made him mentally unstable.

 The true beauty of this a book about a young man trying to figure out who he is and what he wants to do with his life, it also brings forth the harsh reality that there are two sides to every coin. The self realizations that are made by the main character and the quick jaunt into several of the class levels of a Victorian London is a good guide to any individual to help them come to terms with some of those life realizations that only come with time and self analysis.

I would recommend this book to any person of youth that is on that cusp of self discovery and self realization.  This is not your typical Pratchett book that tends to run the gambit of irreverent humor and wit, but is more of the sort of book that father would write for growing son or grandson to help explain the path to adulthood and how the path is never easy.

Gifts Ideas

Every year around this time of the year I start the internal debate as to if I have sufficiently acquired enough gifts for those people that I care about. I enjoy giving gifts. I think it is fun. I enjoy seeing the surprise on the persons face when they open something that rocks their socks off. It isn't easy to surprise half the people on my shopping list and most of it requires use of the internet to acquire, unless it is a craft, and then I either go local or do it myself.

I don't want to tell you what to buy a person, because I believe that everyone deserves a little bit of thought when comes to a gift, but I will share with you some of site that I enjoy and have found a few of the odd, interesting and just plain amusing gifts at. (Also the numbers have no significance, other than the fact when I am writing a list I like to use them. It is not a rating system.)


1.  ThinkGeek

Dib is a fan of ThinkGeek Pillows!

- I love ThinkGeek, because what ever you passion is, they try to have it. There is everything from Star Trek/Wars to Doctor Who to Game of Thrones. They cover almost anything that has to do with video games and popular television shows, and a lot of other really neat things also. It is geared to a variety of ages, and if you sign up for their email notifications, sometimes you can get some really good deals on shipping.


2. TopatoCo

Dib loves putting cat hair on shirts!

-  I love tee shirts, and I love web comics. TopatoCo is a marriage between the two. They do have other things besides tee shirts, but because of my love for tee shirts, that is all I have ever purchased. I can attest that their shirts do not shrink, and that the print does not fade after multiple washings.  I know that most people can not give every person a tee shirt, but I then you can certainly fill their shoes with the various buttons, stickers and stuffed animals that they have.

3. Fred & Friends

Iggins loves shopping online!

- Weird and Off Beat probably should have been my middle name, but my parents knowing that I would be teased to the ends of the earth if they had actually did that instead of Marie. This site is where I can find all the interesting things that makes some ones stocking buzz or their birthday gift rattle. You know that thing you got from me, it might have been a Fred & Friends product. The beauty of Fred & Friends, is that most of the time you can find their products in those fun off beat stores locally, or if you are really desperate for that free shipping Amazon.

4. The Literary Gift Company

Iggins approves!

-This has been described as "The Intelligent Gift store with an Academic Theme". I think this is a fun site for anyone that has a love for reading or writing. There are more than just books on this site, and the wide variety of items that a person can find is refreshing.  I will admit that I am very much amused by the bookshelf wrapping paper, and considering that I do get a lot of books for people in general, it it is a little bit of fun to wrap a book in a picture that a book would go.  If you have never been to this site, I would say at least check it out. It isn't a cup of tea for everyone, but I know there are at least a dozen or two things that I would love from there.

Be Real

It is that time of year where traditions reign supreme, and based off of what culture you are raised in, depends on what you celebrate.  No matter what you celebrate or don't celebrate it is undeniable that the year is winding down, while it is gearing up for a new one. That sort of energy makes people crazy. I don't think there is any way around the crazy, and I think that is why some people cling to family during this season. Not because of tradition, but because if you are going to go crazy, you want to go crazy with the same people that probably instilled that crazy in you. 

I have been doing a lot of thinking about family, and not just because my father is flying in for the holidays. (Really, I swear.) I am not super close to my family.  It isn't because I don't want to be, it is because I don't know how to. I don't know how to just be. I think, and I worry, and I obsess of small things quite neurotically. I blow things out of proportion from time to time, and if I am blowing it out of proportion, then it most likely was a small thing to begin with, because the truth is I don't like to talk about the big things.  It is so much easier to throw some drama around about something I don't care about, then to actually talk about what I do care about.

I don't think that I am alone with this sort of disconnect.  I don't want to be disconnected. I don't want to die alone with my cats going feral and eating my body to survive. (I think that would only happen if my husband died first, but I don't want to tempt fate on that.) I am trying to open a dialogue. I real dialogue, not just the scripted ones about the weather, and the non conversations with canned responses.  I am opening that dialogue with my friends, and with parts of my family, which means it is going to be messy, and emotional and all those other things that sound awful. But... It will be real. And more than anything I value real.  Being real with who you are, and what relationships you have, makes all the bad days a little hard and the good days a little brighter, but I think it is worth it. 

It is easy to get caught up in holiday madness and to grow cynical over how fake it can be, and how over whelming it can be to try and get everything accomplished.  I am no saint, and I am probably not always the best person I can be  at any time of the year, but I urge everyone to develop relationships that are real. Create a real bond, and do what traditions feel real to you and have worth to you, or better yet create your own traditions.  Someone once said, "What you allow, will continue." I think that is so incredibly true when it comes to communication and relationships. 

It isn't New Years. It isn't a holiday today (that I am aware of.)  It is just today, but what I want is a better relationship and a more real relationship with some of the people in my life. To do that, I have to be real myself. Good luck world, and happy holidays. 

Writing is Hard

Writing is hard.  For the past several years I have participated in NaNoWriMo. It has not gotten easier with time. In fact I think that it gets harder. It has gotten easier to talk myself out of it, or rationalize why I shouldn't write that day. This year was the first time that I was writing up until the last day and  trying to figure out where I wanted to go next.  I was so easy to get distracted. Laundry, dishes, cleaning...things that I normally put off on my to do list, suddenly were getting done, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to write.

I did get my novel done this year, and it was with a lot of thanks to my husband for his constant encouragement. My husband has that unique ability to remind me the reason that I was doing NaNoWriMo, and it was because I like to write. I like to tell stories. I am not good at it, but you don't have to be good at something to enjoy it. The only way to get better at anything is to practice and to keep at it and not to get discouraged.

That is so much easier to say then to actually do. How does one not get discouraged? I don't have a 100% answer on that, but I do know something that works for me. If it is something that I really want to do, I need to keep a positive mind about it, and to surround myself with genuine encouragement. My husband genuinely encouraged me on my Nano novel, because he knew it was important to me and wanted me to succeed. That little bit of genuine encouragement is a large reason as to why I got to the finish line, and it also let me know that people that truly care about you will make a point to encourage your dreams.

Not everyone has a dream of writing, and sometimes dreams change along the way. I am never going to make a living as an author. I don't want to. I do a decent job at my job and enjoy my day job (most days).  I enjoy writing and writing is hard. I also have an incredible respect for authors and artists (you should see my library), however I would like to think that I am smart enough to know when something fits better into my life as a hobby. Writing is a hobby for me, and I will probably continue to challenge myself every year with NaNoWriMo, because I feel that sometimes a person needs to push their personal boundaries, even in their hobbies to truly grow as an individual. I encourage everyone to challenge themselves and grow.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Ralph Waldo Emerson