52 Books in 52 Weeks (2018 Edition)

Another year has gone by which means it's time for my annual update to this mostly defunct blog to list the 52 books I read in these last 52 weeks. Before I get into any listicle fun, let me just say that another year has gone by without The Winds of Winter by Mr. George R.R. Martin. GEORGE! SRSLY?! I am respecting your process, but come on... the show is ending in 2019 and we still haven't gotten book 6!

Anyways sidestepping that rage, I continued the tradition of reading my way through ol' Dame Agatha Christie's collection of mysteries, but only 3 this year. I'm still not done because she wrote a hell of a lot of mystery novels and I can't just keep Jessica Fletchering myself all day, e'ryday. But I did get to visit London and watch one of her plays LIVE (Unfortunately, The Mousetrap wasn't one of her bests).

Also, re-read a Harry Potter because DUH.

ALAS, I am also taking a trip down the old William Shakespeare train, trying to get through as many of his works as I can. So far, comedies > tragedies. His wit and hijinks far outweigh the death, gore, and drama.

Let me implore you, devoted blog reader: reading fiction for fun is fun! It's nice to escape from the hellscape of reality and dip into another world for a few hours. I mostly read fiction, sci-fi, mystery, and fantasy -- but more power to all those who read whatever book brings them joy. READ PEOPLE, COME ON. Also, check out my Goodreads page for more in-depth reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2018/23079812

Without further ado, it is time to get to listing stuff. Because lists are fun. Almost as fun as reading.

Favorite Book: It's a tie: Kindred - Octavia Butler & The Princess Bride - William Goldman.

Least Favorite Book: Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis. HATED.

Longest Book: A Column of Fire - Ken Follett.

Shortest Book: Oleanna - David Mamet (Also, the most explosive & thought-provoking!)

Biggest Letdown: Mortal Engines Sequels (Infernal Devices, A Darkling Plain). They just weren't as good as the first novel.

Most Depressing Book: A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara.

Favorite Character: Starr Carter (The Hate U Give), Professor Trelawney (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), every character in The Princess Bride.

Least Favorite Character: Every single character in Less Than Zero. THEY ALL TRASH! Also, Joe Goldberg from You was not great.

Most Misogynistic/Racist Character: James Bond (from Casino Royale & Live and Let Die). He's pretty terrible.

Most Surprising Character: Mary Poppins was quite the asshole.

Most Read Author: William Shakespeare. Sorry, Dame Agatha!

Favorite Author: Octavia Butler, William Goldman, JK Rowling (duh).

Okay, y'all that's it for 2018. See ya next year. 2018 was hard and at times awful, but here's to hoping 2019 is better. Vive la resistance! Happy reading.

- ben fleck

52 Books in 52 Week (2018 Edition)
1. The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides
2. The Ice Dragon - George R.R. Martin
3. The Book of Dust - Philip Pullman
4. Endless Night - Agatha Christie
5. Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
6. Oleanna - David Mamet
7. A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams
8. The Glass Menagerie - Tennessee Williams
9. Equus - Peter Shaffer
10. Casino Royale - Ian Fleming
11. Nightflyers - George R.R. Martin
12. Red Sparrow - Jason Matthews
13. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
14. A Column of Fire - Ken Follett
15. Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis
16. The Man in the Brown Suit - Agatha Christie
17. Mary Poppins - P.L. Travers
18. The Marriage Plot - Jeffrey Eugenides
19. Timekeeper - Tara Sim
20. The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett
21. Infernal Devices - Philip Reeve
22. The Shape of Things to Come - H.G. Wells
23. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
24. Speed the Plow - David Mamet
25. Jamaica Inn - Daphne Du Maurier
26. You - Caroline Kepnes
27. The Merry Wives of Windsor - William Shakespeare
28. Bioshock: Rapture - John Shirley
29. Atonement - Ian McEwan
30. A Simple Favor - Darcey Bell
31. The Invention of Hugo Cabret - Brian Selznick
32. Death in the Clouds - Agatha Christie
33. The Girl who takes an Eye for an Eye - David Lagercrantz
34. Othello - William Shakespeare
35. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer
36. The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas
37. All's Well that Ends Well - William Shakespeare
38. Lethal White - Robert Galbraith
39. A Darkling Plain - Philip Reeve
40. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
41. A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
42. Kindred - Octavia Butler
43. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? - Maria Semple
44. The Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare
45. The Princess Bride - William Goldman
46. Love's Labour's Lost - William Shakespeare
47. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
48. Live and Let Die - Ian Fleming
49. If Beale Street Could Talk - James Baldwin
50. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
51. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry
52. The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah

Oh, Hello There!

I haven't forgotten about you, beloved blog. Well, er, maybe I have! But now I'm back. Cue studio applause.

No, I'm not hearing anything either...

Well, the past 7 months have been insane. I got an amazing new job with shiny new responsibilities, which has led to a major lackage of bloggage. Those are words, trust me. But if anything can get me back to blogging & writing, it's my favorite month of the year: November! Thanksgiving, fall weather, wispy winds, darker days, and, of course, NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month -- duh!).

So, because November is in two days time, I gotta get on that - like, now. And for the last (hopefully, Lord Jesus) time I will FINALLY BE FINISHING MY NOVEL, Buoyancy. The idea for this novel came to me in 2011. Cut to five years later and I'm still working on it. It has been fleshed out and changes constantly, but still I keep chugging along on it. Even though I am way more busy this November than ever before, I shall finish it once and for all! YAR!

So, stick with me as I embark on a month of no TV (I'll miss you Netflix, Hulu, HBOgo, and more...), a month of writing every day, and a month of pure, unadulterated JOY (ha!).

Together we can finish our books...

I'm gonna bring the Alabama Shakes along this year. They're my writing squad rn. Currently listening to Sound & Color. Please give your ears a happy gift and listen too.

HAPPY WRITING.
 (aka pray for me!)

Twenty Six: The Year of Creativity

Get ready you guy(s) for a very DEEP blog post as it is the eve of my birthday (technically, it's the afternoon before my birthday).
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What is more important to a person: a life of safety and blandness, living in a world of total happy ignorance -- or a world where emotions, curiosities, ambition, and love are real, but so are pain, regret, depression, and loss? For me, the second option is the only way it can be. To take away any of those things (good or bad) takes away the essence of life.

On that note, today is the last day that I, Benjamin Fleck, am 25 years old.

Cue internal anxiety and panic.

It's been a great quarter of a century and I can't believe August 30th, 2014 - my 26th birthday has finally arrived. I remember when I was (still am) a kid. Being 26 years old was some elusive old thing that I thought I would never happen to me. Five seconds later, I'm turning 26. Time has proven over and over to be a bitchy, unending pit and I need a ladder. Or a helicopter. A hovercraft!

When looking back over my past 25 years, I've experienced a lot of great things. I was able to do so much, for which I am so grateful for. But, then again, I also look back and see all the things I never did or accomplished. I find I often regret the chances/opportunities I missed rather then regretting actual things I did.

Does that make sense? No. Well, it shouldn't because what I came to realize was that I literally want to do it *all* and I can't. There is no feasible way for me to make a student film, while rowing crew 6 days a week, and writing for a newspaper, while interning at a production company, and traveling leisurely on whims as I check in on the Game of Thrones set in Croatia. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, but I AM INSATIABLE.

How can I fix this? Anybody? I am seriously asking. Will I just have to learn to accept this and be happy with what I can do? Is wanting to do and experience everything actually a curse? They say "ignorance is bliss" and I am really starting to believe them, whoever "they" are. But, being ignorant is awful and I can't imagine having no idea what is going on around me. I am a very self-aware and curious (some say nosy) person. And taking that away from me would take away what makes me, me. Perhaps, I am just talking this talk because I just saw the movie, The Giver (which is an even better book. PLZ READ NOW). Regret can't exist without a desire to learn, see, feel, and experience. The bad comes with the good.

Read Me, baby Gabe!

So, that being said, I know I can never get rid of the regret. It will always be there. So, to counter that, I just have to promise myself that I will do my best to live life to the fullest. That means:  creating things, traveling, seeing as much of the world as possible, reading as many book as possible (I'm over half-way through with the '52 books in 52 weeks' challenge), experiencing things I've never experienced before, making new friends, starting things I've been wanting to start, connecting with people all over the world, putting myself out there, and finding what I love to do and doing it.

It is no easy task, but I am going to try my best so that when my 27th birthday arrives, and I look back over the past year, I won't be able to say "I regret not doing..." anything because each day, I did something creative, new, and engaging. I put myself out there and that is something that I can't regret.

Ya? Ya!

Oh, and I plan on taking a small video of something every day of my 26th year and maybe compiling it into one big video. That will encourage me to do cool things so I don't have a video of me just sitting in my room, binge watching Netflix (Olive Pope, you scandal!), while petting my cat and eating a bag of banana chips. Damn you, Trader Joe's.

So, cheers to my 25th year. On to the next...

- ben josé, 25.99 years old

EDIT: As luck would have it, I broke my phone in the Salt Lake City Airport the day after my birthday and since my cellphone was going to be my means of recording a video every day, I definitely have a problem! WOMP, WOMP. So, looks like that is going to be put on hold until I get a new phone - which might not be for a bit since the new iPhone 6 was just released! Stay tuned...