DYRC 19/Merry Misfits Book Club December: The Snow Tree by Caroline Repchuk

So this is my second time writing this because the computer I'm using is a literal piece of shit and decided to just... go ahead and delete the entire fucking thing after I added an image lol.  (And then it autosaved before I could load a previously saved draft.  Cool, so cool.)  My next blog post should probably be my computer woes lol.

Anyways...

So there was a lot of cheating involved in the selection of the book I read for December.  As I've mentioned before, I don't have a lot of time to read anymore and due to stress and depression and etc I don't necessarily spend a lot of my very little free time reading (like arguably I should/could).  So in these reading challenges, I'm always excited when I can have a shortcut -- covering both challenges with one book, whenever I can read a short book or a comic or children's book, etc.  The theme for Merry Misfits was holiday -- easy enough.  The theme for DYRC was fantasy.  Now, I know they mean something like Lord or the Rings or Game of Thrones, but I didn't want a big long book right now.  I decided to take "fantasy" as a broad descriptor rather than as a genre, really just so I could make things a little easier on myself.  Sue me, lol.  I just wanted a fantasy-esque Christmassy children's book, so I picked The Snow Tree by Caroline Repchuck.

I'm giving myself a pass on calling this fantasy because it has talking animals and nothing could be more fantastic, lol.  Anyways, this is a really cute little book and the art is beautiful.  The pages are textured and it's really fun and sweet.  Because it's just a little children's book I don't have a lot to say, but I just really wanted to read a cute little book like this and it hit the literary spot.

I didn't post a goodreads review on this book.  However here is my profile, and you should follow me.  Here is the page for this book... other people have written better reviews than this one and you can read them there, lol.

I read this book on December 22.

Would I recommend this book to a friend?  If you like children's books, yes.

it's a wonderful life

My main goal for the new year is to have a good time. I know that sounds frivolous, but a someone who has spent waaay too much time depressed and miserable and having lots of bad times, I feel like it's important that I make that effort for myself. Enjoy life as much as I can. But due to the fact that I've been extra stressed and miserable (like… stressed to the point that it's caused me to be physically ill), I'm making a concentrated effort NOW to enjoy the little things. One thing I really enjoy is live theater… but you know, I couldn't remember the last time I saw a play. So last weekend, I went to see It's a Wonderful Life performed live at a local community theater.

It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite Christmas movie, and honestly one of my favorite movies in general, so I was excited to see a live production! I had a really good time… the actors did a great job and it was staged really well. I ended up getting really emotional though of course… that story means so much to me. The play really made me think about it.

I relate to George Bailey. I relate to this character who feels out of control of a life that didn't turn out like he thought it would. This is a man who has done for others and lost out on so much, but has always tried to be kind and be thankful for what he has… a man who ends up in a situation that he feels there is no way out of.

There have been numerous points in my life where it felt like the sky was falling. Sometimes the crisis was real, and sometimes it was just a regular problem that my anxiety magnified… but I've been where George Bailey was. I've struggled with depression and suicidal ideation for years. And when I was at the worst of it (as, uh, I sometimes still am… healing isn't linear lol), I found myself at times wishing for a miracle like George got. When I was lonely, again as I still often am, I found myself wishing to feel like I had friends enough to be as rich as George Bailey.

I have had some miracles to get me through the really bad times and keep this leaky roof over my head, and this story reminds me to be grateful for that.

I could also sit here and go into how any criticism of this movie for being “too depressing” truly misses the point, or how it's incredibly timely that the backdrop of this story is a poor community full of people struggling for property rights (and how, as someone who has survived foreclosure, this resonates deeply with me)… but I'll leave it here and save the in depth thoughts to more eloquent folk.

The play was a really lovely experience – at once true to the movie and able to stand on its own. My fellow Bakersfield peeps, it's playing at the Empty Space for one more weekend… you should catch it if you can! As I said, I saw the play last week… I meant to write this sooner, but I was having computer difficulty. And then I got worn out because of work, lol. Better late than never I guess.

When I checked in on facebook at the theater last week, I got an ad that another local theater (Bakersfield Community Theater) was showing Miracle on 34^th Street, so I went to that tonight. I really enjoyed it too, and that's another favorite Christmas story of mine… but I don't have the energy to go in depth with my thoughts. There wouldn't be as much to say because as much as I do love it, I don't have quite the same connection with it. But I would recommend going to see it at BCT next weekend if you can!

12 meses 12 libros: December: just... several Christmas themed comic books

Imma keep it real wit you, chief.  I did not complete the assignment.  However I can explain, lol.  December's theme was a book with illustrations, and I actually picked the book I planned to read right around the same time I picked my January read.  I was going to read Tales of Zorro, a short story collection I actually bought back in 2017 when I was working on my Zorro NaNo story.  But since I had so many other Zorro books (ones I bought and ones I checked out of the library) I didn't end up reading everything, and since this particular book has nice illustrations I thought it would be perfect for that category.  However I ended up being really stressed, depressed, and even sort of busy and occupied with other things.  So I read a handful of Christmas themed comic books in the week leading up to Christmas, and that was about all I finished in the month.  However, it added up to a couple hundred pages so... book?  Book.

So a lot of Disney comics and one Betty and Veronica, all Christmas themed.  That's Betty and Veronica Christmas Spectacular #1, Mickey and Donald Christmas Parade #1-4, Dell's Four Color Comic #178, and Uncle Scrooge #9 (from the current IDW series).

Because there were several titles here, I'll have to do this a little differently than I usually do these posts.  I did put brief reviews of some of them on Goodreads, but I read them all pretty quickly and didn't want to bombard all my friends with tons of comic book reviews in a row, lol.  I'll just give my brief thoughts.

The Betty and Veronica comic is super short, just a standard 22 page issue with several shorter stories.  I was thinking it'd be a longer collection, like the ones they have for Halloween in the Pep Digital line.  It was cute, but not worth the $3 comixology asks.

The Mickey and Donald Christmas Parade issues were all really fun. Some were better than others (the second was my favorite), but they're all worth reading, especially if you like comics and Disney.  And Christmas, obvs lol.

Four Color #178 and Uncle Scrooge #9 are an interesting back to back read.  The four color story is Scrooge's first appearance in a story called "Christmas on Bear Mountain."  (Fun fact: Uncle Scrooge was actually created for the comics, not the cartoons!)  Scrooge is more of a curmudgeon than he is later, but it's still a fun story and very historically significant for fans of Disney Duck comics.  I originally read this story in the Carl Barks collection just called Christmas in Bear Mountain, so this was the first time I read the back up story (which wasn't written by Barks, but it was weird and fun -- Mickey and Goofy got jobs at Santa's workshop and had to find a missing reindeer).  Uncle Scrooge #9 is a retelling of that story, sort of a what-if, told from Scrooge's POV.  I enjoyed both of these a lot.

I would recommend these comics for the next holiday season!  Also, since I feel bad about not finishing and reviewing that Zorro book like I planned, I will review it when I finally do finish it.  (I've read two of seventeen stories and will be reading other stuff for reading challenges I'm working on for the new year, so it may not be soon... but I WILL do it, because I am a dumb and determined bitch,  lol.)