Books Read in 2024

1. American Brutus John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies by Michael W. Kaufman

2. The Second Chance Shop & Other Stories by Bette Bono

3. The Woman Who Ran for President The Many Lives of Victoria Woodhill by Lois Beachy Underhill

4. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

5. Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon

6. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

7. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

8. A Light in the Storm The Civil War Diary of Amelia Martin by Karen Hess

9. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

10. Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog with Richard Erdoes

11. The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

12. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

13. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

14. Reel Art Great Posters from the Golden Age of the Silver Screen by Stephen Rebello and Richard Allen

15. Overboard by Sara Paretsky

16. Pay Dirt by Sara Paretsky

17. Angel of Vengeance by Preston & Child

18. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

19. The Alienist by Caleb Carr

20. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

21. Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir

22. The Entertainment Weekly Seinfield Companion Atomic Wedges to Zipper Jobs: An Unofficial Guide to TV's Funniest Show by Bruce Fretts 

23. Love and Other Crimes by Sara Paretsky

24. The White Princess by Philippa Gregory

25. The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

26. Educated by Tara Westover

27. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

You Have to Start Somewhere

I'm bummed about many aspects of my 2024. My biggest issue/concern/failure is my lack of writing. I have written here and in journals about this before. It's not an issue of having enough time. It's an issue of setting priorities.

Recently I read about an author who trained herself to write 500 words in a half hour each day and then stop. Why couldn't I do that?

Today I woke up around 6:30. Jace got up with me so I could get him breakfast. After I fed him, I made a cup of coffee and sat down before the computer. 

I wrote for a half hour: 423 words. Not a bad start. 

2025 is Here

I wasn't happy with my 2024. It will be hard to come up with 10 positive things about the year. (Off the top of my head--I've got three.)

These are possible images of my year 

running in a hamster wheel

running on a treadmill

treading water.

I went through the motions, but made no forward progression.

How do I change that?

Seriously?

The End of the Road for Vanderpump Rules 1.0

I read about the end of Vanderpump Rules and discuss its reboot here, 

It's time for a retrospective. 

A big reason for the show's initial success is that five of the original six cast members were already friends and co-workers (Stassi, Jax, Kristen, Tom Sandoval, and Katie.) The new girl Scheana was the exception

Cast members were (relatively) real--they weren't trying to put on airs and pretend to be more than they were. They were waitstaff and bartenders with dreams of acting, music, and writing. Main storylines focused of three best friends (Stassi, Katie, and Kristen) dating three best friends.(Jax, Tom Schwartz, and Tom Sandoval.)

Their fights were ridiculously, stupidly funny. 

Kristen getting mad at Tom because she ran into someone (on a modeling job) that Tom slept with before they met. 

Jax and Stassi's breakups and their rebound flings with other SURvers Laura Leigh and Frank. 

Jax crashing Stassi's Las Vegas birthday party where a chunky sweater was torn off before a fight and a beer was poured on someone's head. Abandoned by her best friends, Stassi hosted a brunch of her second tier friends the next day.

They were messy and ridiculous and genuinely funny.

Over eleven seasons friendships shifted, and romances heated up and burned out. Cast members were spending less and less time at SUR and with Lisa Vanderpump; they making money elsewhere. Some cast members quit or are fired. Some new cast members came aboard.

Onto Season 10 and Scandoval. The scandal broke just as the season started airing. Fans could watch the affair unfold on the air, looking for clues.

I suddenly became interested in social media posts and stories about the VPR cast. When production was rushed for Season 11, I learned more about the show from these stories than from the episodes themselves. That upended the normal viewing process and made it less enjoyable, though I still kept watching.

Over the last few weeks, I've been rewatching the early episodes--the first season and a few episodes of the second. The show is still messy fun, but I am beginning to see patterns in relationships that will manifest themselves over the next several seasons. I'll keep up my re-watch. 

As for VPR 2.0? I'll definitely give it a try.