Aliverse

So I know I’ve been busy lately and haven’t been publishing reviews all that much. I’m remedying that now, as I’ve got 3 books I’m reading concurrently. On Twitter (@aliverse) I’m trying to catch up with what’s happening in the literary world and other bloggers. What I came across this morning was just mind-blowing to me. Almost disgusting, really.

Go ahead and take a look at this link:

http://www.vidaweb.org/the-2011-count

Notice anything ridiculously off? Say…maybe the numbers of females versus males who were reviewed, read, written about, etc? That is why March is now my Women Writers month. My aim is to review 2-3 books a week during March, all written by female authors.

Women write and they’re talented at the profession. Why, then, are they ignored? Why would The New Yorker, New York Times, The Atlantic, etc. favor men over women when it comes to their books? I can’t even begin to guess. What I can do, is take part in an effort to give women writers more visibility.

So please get ready for March here at the Aliverse. I don’t ignore female authors. (maybe in part because I am one) I don’t pull punches either. You can expect full and honest reviews, including the good and the bad. A list of all the upcoming books and their authors will be up here by the end of the week.

Stay tuned!

So I’ve been excited about finding a new book to read. I’ve been looking forward to my next review. Problem is, I can’t find anything that is catching my attention at the moment. Mira Grant (also known as Seanan Macguire) has the final book to the Newsflesh trilogy coming out in June. I put it on pre-order today, but that’s months from now.

I don’t know what to read. I do tend to prefer thrillers and suspense. I love John Connolly, so there’s a bit of the supernatural in there as well. I like a well-written memoir, although I admit I’m partial to Jen Lancaster.

I have some freebies downloaded on my Kindle, but I rarely review those as they tend to not be as good as the ones I pay for. (a bit of a bias, I know, but so far it’s been true for me)

If you have a suggestion, please make it! I’m actually keeping myself from BEA this year because I’m not posting and reviewing enough here. It’s sad for me because this is what I truly love, besides writing.

Not only has my muse flown the coop, but my run of great books to read seems to have petered out.

Wish me luck, or if you can, please recommend something for me to read. I’m willing to try almost anything at this point!

Oz. TV show on HBO from 1998-2003. (or was it 1997?)

So how did I get so sucked in that I stopped reading or watching any other TV or doing anything else for a week? Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

So I’m at work, bored because I’m waiting to be able to do some things. I’m talking to my co-worker Cathy and we’re talking about the hotness of Law and Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni. I totally love him and I love the chemistry between him and Mariska Hargitay. So Cathy busts out with ‘you know there’s this movie where he’s all naked?’ Whaaaaaa? Seriously? She tells me there’s full frontal and everything. I’m stunned.

Never ever is one of my favorite, hottest actors naked. Not like that. She couldn’t remember what movie it was, so I had to look it up. I don’t think it was a movie, I tell her. I think it’s Oz. I did a quick Google search and saw a zillion naked pictures of Christopher Meloni. (hello!)

So that led me to download season 1. Then I realized, Christopher Meloni isn’t in season 1. Great. Download season 2. Woah! Now I have to know what happens next. Download season 3. Holy shit. Season 4. Then 5 and 6. I think I started watching last Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest. I finished it a couple of hours ago.

First of all, I cried like a baby. That show was kick-ass and well done.

So I guess you could say this is a little bit of a TV show review instead of a book review. Thing is, I can’t be even remotely objective about it.  I went into it knowing I’d love at least some of it because hello…hot relationship with Christopher Meloni and Lee Tergesen.  Also, I got emotionally invested in this show. I always get a little involved in whatever I watch. I’m just like that (my Myers Briggs personality type is INFP, that’s just what I do.)  When I started to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I had a similar reaction. But that show, as good as it was, never showed James Marsters stark naked. And it certainly never showed him kissing anyone hot. (sorry, I’m not a big Sarah Michelle Gellar fan)

Anyway, Oz had a great, compelling story line that progressed with every season. Unlike my beloved Buffy, there were no ‘off’ seasons that didn’t make sense or that sucked in some way. The entire show was good start to finish. There were tons of good, in-depth characters, and none that made me want to turn the television off.  The show didn’t shy away from the reality of the harshness of prison. And Meloni and Tergesen didn’t shy away from the reality of a fucked up, emotionally twisted, deeply-in-love relationship between two men.

So, like I said, I love it. I got hooked. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I suppose. It’s not a conservative show in the least. It pushed me past a few comfort zones and made me think and wonder and ask questions. I like that in a show.

And…Christopher Meloni.