Categories
#amreading genres list reading

Book Genre Preferences

You know, it’d been awhile since I had read a book for leisurely purposes. Throughout the last half of high school and all of college, I put my hobby of reading on hiatus to concentrate on reading school textbooks. Six months after college, I decided I would make up for all that time by compiling a book list for myself.

In general, I’m open to almost anything in all aspects of life. It’s the same thing with books: I had no real idea what kind of genres I preferred since I had taken such a long leave-of-absence form reading, so I just asked my friends and family for any book recommendations they had.

As of this past week, my book list is at 330+ books (yikes!) Of course, I’ve been adding onto the list ever since last January, so that explains the huge number of books on the list. I read 26 books last year, and so far have read 16 books this year. From these 40some books, I notice where my preferences lie: in self-help, nonfiction, and general fiction. I have a lot of books on my still to-read list from all sorts of genres, but it seems that I find books in the three aforementioned categories most enjoyable.

There’s obviously nothing wrong with other genres I haven’t read/don’t prefer to read. It’s just, I tend to enjoy books that make me think a little more past what I already know. Many of my peers/friends prefer books in the Science Fiction/Fantasy, or Chick Lit genres. While I may not prefer reading those kinds of books, I wouldn’t say I would never read anything from those genres.

Categories
#amwriting editing Facebook Internet list Twitter

Taking the Next Step–

Thanks for the feedback on my entry about what I should do to self-promote for my writings/novels. For those of you who follow my Twitter, you may have noticed my Tweet about what I plan to do within the next couple of weeks or so:

  • New email account – I would set up my official email through this new account, just so I won’t be receiving a huge amount of mail at my two existing (personal) email accounts. All writing related mail would go to this account.
  • Set up a Facebook Page – I have been researching ways I can get around creating a personal profile on Facebook again (as you can see, I am really trying hard to avoid that option); apparently, I can just create a “Business” account and I could create a Page for myself. However, I’m hesitant in doing this right away, since I’m not sure I would qualify for a Page; Facebook states that they do not usually check the Pages that are created (unless they infringe upon copyright or privacy issues).
  • Writing Blog – Along with the new email account, I would create another blog specifically for my writing and thoughts about writing. I will probably post short stories and maybe some excerpts from longer works. However, I have heard from a friend that if I intend on getting published through agencies, I cannot post any of my novels online since that would be considered “self-publishing”.
  • Domain? – I’m still questioning this option. For the longest time (well, ever since I began using the Internet as a tween/young teenager), I had wanted to buy my own domain. Of course, back-in-the-day, I didn’t really have real use for a domain, it just seemed cool. Now that I am actually presented with the opportunity to have my own domain to establish myself online as a writer….well, I am a little scared at the thought. Do I want my real name plastered around the Internet? I suppose I could go for a pen name, but I don’t really fancy that idea right now (plus, I was mildly traumatized in the past with having pen names and having family members embarrass me with how ridiculous the names were). Anyway, I am also a little stuck on which domain registration service to go with–GoDaddy or Dreamhost? Any other suggestions?
  • Twitter – I’m already on Twitter obviously, but I suppose it would be helpful to have a separate Twitter for my writing updates…right?

These are all tentative plans of course; even though I want to get started on everything right away, I also want to make sure I am making the right decisions as to where I would launch my presence.

**************

In other news, I have begun looking over Novel 1 and outlining the chapters. I notice that many of the scenes so far have moved too fast, and some of the chapters have been too short. However, I still feel amazed that I was able to write this whole novel last November; at that point in time, I hadn’t written anything creative in quite awhile. It had been so long since I actually wrote anything that even my closest friends were surprised to hear that I was writing a novel.

Anyway, I still feel surprised and impressed at the prose that I did manage to write during that point in my life; if I compare the two works I completed this year with Novel 1, I feel like they pale in comparison with that novel. Well, then again, all three novels are still first drafts, so…there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Plus, Novel 2 and 3 were written from guys’ standpoints, which is difficult for me right now since I am a woman.

Well, it just takes practice.

Categories
#foodie health Japanese culture Japanese food list

100 Japanese Foods to Try

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a blog called Just Hungry, written by a Japanese expatriate living in Switzerland. I found her blog while searching for a recipe for 中華そば (Chinese Cold Noodle); anyway, today Maki has posted a long, interesting, and delicious-sounding list of Japanese foods that people should try. The list includes foods widely available throughout Japan with various price ranges. I thought I’d share the list here, but also link you guys to her blog as well. The blog is really handy in terms of Japanese food explanations and healthily adapted recipes.

Enjoy!

P.S. I’ve highlighted the ones that I have tried so far, although there are a few I’m not sure about since I don’t have the kanji/explanations available.

A List of 100 Japanese Foods To Try At Least Once

  1. Properly washed and cooked, top quality new harvest white rice (shinmai)
  2. Freshly made tofu, as hiyayakko or yudofu
  3. Properly made misoshiru and osumashi
  4. Properly made homemade nukazuke
  5. Very fresh sanma (saury), sizzling hot from the grill, eaten with a drizzle of soy sauce and a mound of grated daikon radish
  6. Homemade umeboshi
  7. Freshly made, piping hot crispy tempura. I prefer vegetable tempura like shiso leaves, eggplant and sweet potato.
  8. A whole grilled wild matsutake
  9. Freshly made sobagaki with sobayu
  10. Mentaiko from Fukuoka, or tarako
  11. Onigiri with the three classic fillings: umeboshi, okaka, shiozaki
  12. Assorted fresh-as-possible sashimi
  13. Saba oshizushi
  14. Mugicha
  15. Kakifurai
  16. Morinaga High-Chew candy, grape flavor
  17. Karasumi
  18. A pot of oden, preferably with homemade components especially ganmodoki, boiled eggs and daikon radish
  19. Ika no shiokara
  20. Calpis
  21. Ankou nabe
  22. Unadon
  23. Komochi kombu or kazunoko
  24. Yamakake, either with maguro (red tuna) cubes or a raw egg
  25. Properly made gyokuro shincha
  26. Milky Candy
  27. Wanko soba
  28. Omuraisu with demi-glace sauce
  29. Handmade katayaki senbei
  30. Yohkan (yokan) from Toraya
  31. Ishi yakiimo – sweet potatoes cooked in hot stones, available from street vendor carts
  32. Natto
  33. Fresh seaweed sunomono (can also have some tako in it)
  34. Ikura or sujiko
  35. Tonkatsu
  36. Goma dofu
  37. Chawan mushi or tamago dofu – the same dish either piping hot or ice cold
  38. Freshly made mochi, with kinako and sugar, grated daikon and soy sauce or natto
  39. Gindara no kasuzuke
  40. Hoshigaki
  41. Inarizushi
  42. Chikuzen-ni
  43. Surume
  44. Yakinasu with grated ginger
  45. Tamago kake gohan
  46. Kabuki-age
  47. Nikujaga
  48. Spinach gomaae
  49. Fuki no tou
  50. Okonomiyaki
  51. Yakitori
  52. Ohagi
  53. Japanese style curry, with rakkyo and fukujinzuke as condiments
  54. Kenchinjiru
  55. Yakult
  56. Kakipea
  57. Takoyaki
  58. Sakura mochi
  59. Buta no kakuni
  60. Daigaku imo
  61. Kappa Ebisen
  62. Chicken tsukune
  63. Hakusaizuke
  64. Hayashi rice
  65. Goya champuruu
  66. Dorayaki
  67. Ochazuke
  68. Sakuma Drops
  69. Stewed kiriboshi daikon
  70. Takenoko gohan (or in fall, kuri gohan)
  71. Cream or potato korokke
  72. Fresh yuba
  73. Real ramen
  74. Monaka
  75. Ekiben of all kinds
  76. Edamame
  77. Chicken karaage
  78. Kuzumochi
  79. Mitarashi dango
  80. Konnyaku no dengaku
  81. Yukimi Daifuku
  82. Sukiyaki
  83. Nama yatsuhashi
  84. Panfried hanpen
  85. Nozawanazuke or Takanazuke
  86. Kiritanpo
  87. Amanatto
  88. Narazuke
  89. Aji no himono
  90. Baby Ramen
  91. Kobucha
  92. Kasutera
  93. Tazukuri
  94. Karintou
  95. Sauce Yakisoba
  96. Kamaboko
  97. Oyako donburi
  98. Atsuyaki tamago
  99. Kuri kinton
  100. Japanese potato salad

(Source: Just Hungry)