Door Co. Reflections

So I was in Door County last week and part of the week before (for the ignorant--if you look at a map of Wisconsin, Door is the little thumb-ish peninsula jutting out into Lake Michigan). The digital camera ran out of batteries on the second day, which was a pity because there really are some spectacular shots to be had up there. (There's a restaurant with goats on the roof, for one thing...) Ah well. At least half of that place's charm is incommunicable to someone who hasn't actually been there.

So despite an overabundance of obnoxious yuppies (mostly from Illinois) and a slightly smaller but still overabundant crop of obnoxious pizzles (most of these, sadly, from Wisconsin), it was a good time. There weren't many experiences to report: went to every bookstore in sight, (as well as every antique store, that one being my mom's fault), went go-karting just after it rained, barely keeping the kart under control and having loads of fun almost-crashing; saw Ratatouille and Pirates at the Drive-In Theatre. There seemed to be fewer pretty girls there than in other years; I have no idea why. I managed to read three books and write most of a short story while there.

I'm thinking of working at Wilson's next summer.

Note

Starting tomorrow, until the 15th, I will be in Door County, WI, with my family. Feel free to contact me, but I probably won't get back to you till I return. Hopefully I'll have pictures.

Reading Goals

So, about a month ago I realized I might want to have some kind of goal or project to work on during my free time (a laughable concept, right enough) this summer. I realized, however, that 1) I'm pretty sure I've never finished (nor even usually half-finished) a summer project I've set about in the past; and 2) that I would probably want to spend any time I might get for a project reading. Hence I have decided to make that my project.

I already had the rather vague goal of catching up on my sci-fi/fantasy reading before school started. But I have more specifics, now: finish the Harry Potter series; finish The Company series (the last book of which also comes out in late July); read up on "old" (pre-Tolkien) fantasy; and Other.

As for HP, I am currently reading the Blue Brick and will probably be done with the Dark Green Brick by July 21st. I will soon start the fifth Company book (including the last one, there will be 8). (And btw, it's too long a sysnopsis to put here, but the Company novels are awesome. That's with emphasis.)

In case anyone was wondering, the reason I'm doing the old fantasy stuff is because I've noticed the best fantasy writers are extremely well-versed in the formative works of fantasy literature. That is, not just Tolkien, but Dunsany and ER Eddison and Robert Howard and other really great authors who somehow nobody's heard of. I think I have a lot of my bases covered here; the only glaring omission so far is that I've yet to read any Lovecraft.

Other is just, well, other stuff I've been meaning to read. Battle Royale, the second Abarat book, Galilee (another Clive Barker), Altered Carbon, Mistborn--the road, er, list goes ever on and on and on...