#Marjorie Bach

[littlequeenies]

April 27, 1981 - Ringo Starr's and Barbara Bach's wedding at the Old Maylebone Town Hall.

Among their relatives we can see (in photo 1) his children Lee (L) and Jason Starkey, Ringo's mother Elsie Graves Starkey, his son Zak, and Barbara's sister Marjorie.

#1981 #Lee Starkey #1981 Lee #ringo starr #barbara bach #1981 barbara #Jason starkey #zak starkey #marjorie bach #1980s #1980s lee #1980s barbara #model #actress #make up artist #designer #boutique owner #shop assistant #backing vocalist #childhood

[beatlesonline-blog]

[theeaglesfeeling]

Collection of Ringo Starr & Joe Walsh’s together✌🏻:

From friends to brother in-laws (Walsh is married to Marjorie Bach, the sister of Starr’s wife, Barbara Bach)

#joe walsh #ringo starr #barbara bach #marjorie bach #I love their friendship

[lioninsunheart]

“I do not understand how anyone can live without some small place of enchantment to turn to-to be in.”

~ Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings-

#marjorie kinnan rawlings #enchantment #sanctuary #love #beauty #safe spaces #sacred spaces #johann sebastian bach

[sidercal]

* & ASK MEME ( ACCEPTING )!

@amelorates​​ pinged: ❝ You ever had a near-death experience? ❞ (mirian & marjorie)

“Have I ever–– you’re kidding, right?” A dash of genuine surprise and dollop of confusion, Marjorie was almost rendered speechless. There came an breathy laugh; lip draw back to reveal a few teeth. Then her full composure returned and washed away the astonishment a second later.

“Shouldn’t you be the one to keep track of it? Pretty sure we’ve played cat and mouse more than a dozen times.” Maybe even a hundred, a thousand, even. Her role as the world’s real Final Destination lead was only witnessed by a handful of people. And Mirian was one of said few that had a direct impact. 

Lips curled into a crooked smile, she reclined with arms loosely folded over her chest. “Conducted a live wire, three-fourths drowned, extreme delay in parachute, tag with an enraged moose– I could go on for eons.”

#* & answered . #mirian bach – interaction . #001. ––––––– marjorie // * dialogue. #// her: blows kiss 2 her reaper

[george-harrison-marwa-blues]

(Top and Bottom) 25 February 2017 at Subliminal Projects Gallery in Los Angeles, book launch for “I, Me, Mine” the extended version. Middle : George and Ringo Handwritten lyrics to “Hey Ringo” from “I, Me, Mine” the extended version.

“At a private reception February 25 at artist Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Projects gallery in Echo Park, Starr was perusing the lyrics to one of the previously unpublished songs included in the new volume, one that name checked him, “Hey Ringo.”

After smiling at a rhyme about “my guitar sounds so bare / when your drums aren’t there”  the 75 year old drummer * became choked with emotion by the next line, “Hey Ringo, there’s one thing that I’ve not said/ I’ll play my guitar with you til I drop dead”

“I’m sorry” he said, his eyes misting and turning back toward his wife, actress Barbara Bach.  

- Excerpt from Los Angeles Times, 2 March 2017, “Memories Of the Quiet Beatle” by Randy Lewis

(*Edit: Ringo is actually 76)

#quotes about george harrison #quotes about ringo starr #george harrison #ringo starr #olivia harrison #barbara bach #joe walsh #marjorie bach #shepard fairey #I Me Mine #hey ringo

[macneiceisms]

Obligatorily: Running Like Water!

here's a snippet from chapter 16 - hannibal

“Would you like to come in for tea, honey?” Marjorie asks. “It’s sweltering out.”

It’s nice to be surprised every once in a while.

Marjorie’s house is small and neat. Photographs of lively children cover the walls. There’s a kitchen with white cabinets in the back of the narrow house and a dining table separating the living area from the kitchen. The air conditioning unit in the back rattles, blowing cold air into the kitchen.

“May I take your jacket?” she asks.

“Please,” Hannibal says. She hangs it neatly in the entry closet. Marjorie’s collection of kitten-heel shoes sit in orderly lines on the floor under her cropped jackets and few old-fashioned but meticulous wool overcoats. “Thank you.”

“Feel free to sit on the sofa,” she says.

The sofa in question is a pristine-white, overstuffed damask monstrosity. An upright piano covered in books and books of sheet music sits just inside the sitting room. Hannibal catches the classics — Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Tchaikovsky — amongst the music from the likes of Ray Charles and Nat King Cole. He wonders if Will ever sat in this very room. Perhaps at that very piano.

“Do you play?” Marjorie asks, noticing Hannibal reading the folders of sheet music. She pours tea from a pitcher, frosty with condensation, into two neat glasses.

“I do. Though I prefer the harpsichord,” Hannibal says.

“That’s a hard instrument to learn. Most people start when they’re children,” Marjorie says, setting the glasses down on the coffee table in the sitting room. She adjusts the coasters to catch any beading condensation.

“Most do,” Hannibal agrees.

Marjorie smooths her dress and sits in the matching chair adjacent to Hannibal’s seat on the sofa.

“But you didn’t. Impressive,” she says. “Virtually no dynamic range to a harpsichord, but still that loud attack and steady decay of sound like a piano.”

“Spoken like an organ player,” Hannibal says. The tea is over-sweet and from a bag as expected, but he’s a gracious guest. “Thank you for the tea.”

“You’re welcome, honey. I play the organ at church,” she says.

“A magnificent instrument. An incredibly complex harmonic structure. There’s a human presence in every sound — a great exhalation,” he says. “I imagine your primary occupation is that of a piano tutor.”

“I’ve taught a lot of people,” she says.

“Did you ever teach Will Graham to play?” Hannibal asks, sipping his tea again. The flat flavor is more tolerable, but it might be only the heat outside.

“Will you show me your photograph again, Doctor?” she says.

Marjorie taps her index finger over Will’s mother. In the photograph, she’s wearing a calf-length belted skirt with a short-sleeved blouse tucked into it. Her arm loops through her husband’s elbow. She’s whip-thin and delicate-featured with keen eyes. Strange and striking and intelligent.

“I remember them,” Marjorie says on a heavy exhale. Then, softer. “It’s a sad history, Doctor, I don't want to raise no ghosts tellin’ it.”

“All sorrows can be borne if we put them in a story,” Hannibal says.

“Would you play me something?” she asks.

Hannibal blinks.

“What would you like to hear, Miss Marjorie?” he asks.

“Whatever comes to mind. I just think I need a bit o’ music,” she says.

#wip ask game #my writing #fic: running like water #8k words in this chapter no end in sight!!!! lol

[pattie-remembers]

How did you feel when you saw George at Marjorie Bach’s wedding to Lord Alexander Rufus Isaacs?

When I first saw him at Marjorie’s wedding, my heart , as usual, skipped a beat, and the excitement made me a bit sick to my stomach. Despite his sunglasses, I knew he’d seen me because of the smirk on his face. He put his arm around Olivia and they made their way to where Rod and I were waiting. It was hellos and kisses all around. Being next to tiny perfect Olivia made me feel like an awkward giant, but Rod was there to save me. He wasn’t intimidated by George and the four of us made small talk until the church doors opened and we were led to our seats.

The wedding was gorgeous. Marjorie looked like an angel and Xan was handsome and happy. We all followed the newlyweds out and soon the reception was in full party mode. It was wonderful to talk to old friends and meet new ones.

After posing for pictures and waving the newlyweds off, the party really took off. The champagne flowed freely. I remember dying for a cigarette and I stepped away from the crowd and deeper into the garden for a moment of peace. I found a secluded bench amongst the trees and as dusk descended I was hidden from view. I watched Barbara and Olivia deep in conversation and across the way, Rod was laughing at something Ringo was telling him. I heaved a sigh of relief and leaned against the wooden slats of the carved back. It wasn’t all as terrible as I had thought it might be. I scanned the crowd and wondered where George was. Probably chatting up some young beauty who found him irresistible. Even after 19 years apart I was still infatuated and bewitched by him. As I smoked my cigarette I felt jealous of whoever was with George, because I wanted to be with him. I wanted to hear his sarcastic comments and laugh at his cruel but accurate observations.

“Move over,” I heard him say and suddenly he was next to me, taking my cigarette from my fingers and inhaling deeply before handing it back over.

“I thought you’d stopped smoking,” I said looking at him. He took a drink from a beer he had in his other hand before setting it down beside the bench.

“Trying, but sometimes I can’t resist.” He took my hand and held it up to his mouth so he could have another puff. He looked at me and blew the smoke away from my face. I took a last drag and threw the ciggie to the ground, rubbing it out with my shoe, before picking it up and dropping it in my purse.

I leaned back into the bench watching the party, but feeling very aware of George sitting close, his thigh against mine.

“Like you,” he said as he put his arm around me. “When I saw you before the wedding standing in the sunlight, I thought I’ll never get over her. I still want her.” He hugged me tightly and I felt his lips on my neck. “I want you now,” he whispered.

I laughed. “Don’t be daft.” I slapped his leg.

“No one can see us. In a minuet it will be dark.”

“George....”

“Just let me.” His hand was up under my blouse and his mouth was on mine. How could I refuse him? I kissed him back. My tongue searched his mouth frantically. He bit my lower lip, just enough to make me desperate for him. Guilt and lust and fear raced through me and excitement overcame any reluctance. He pushed my top up and as he sucked and licked and groaned, I was relieved to see Ringo and Rod had joined Olivia and Barbara.

“Darling, I don’t think....”

“That’s right,” he growled. “Don’t think.”

My hands were in his hair and I arched my back as he turned his attention back to my breasts.

“God, you have the best tits.” He always knew what to say. I could feel myself wanting him achingly. I realized I’d do what ever he wanted. “Thank God you wore a skirt.” Before I could change my mind my panties were off and my skirt was hiked up around my waist. “Should I fuck you or eat that sweet ...”

“Or both,” I said softly and then he was kneeling in the grass in front of me. He roughly put my legs over his shoulders and his fingers tormented me and then he lowered his head and went down on me. His tongue and lips were busy licking and sucking and pulling. I bit my hand so that I wouldn’t cry out. I was frantic not to be caught and appalled at how much I was enjoying being made love to by George. I wiggled just a bit and his mouth was just where I wanted it.

“That’s right, baby,” he crooned. “Jesus you taste so good.” He licked and his tongue found that very spot and I closed my eyes as I came hard on his mouth and then came again as he continued teasing me into another orgasm.

I pulled his hair to get him to stop. He looked up at me and even in the dark I could see him grinning, his mouth and chin wet. Something made me look up across to where the party was still going full swing.

“Fuck. They’re all coming this way!” I started to panic.

George handed me my panties. “Go to the back and there’s a path to the house. I’ll stay here and keep them busy.” He kissed me hard. “Don’t worry.”

“Jesus your face ....you can ....Jesus Christ.” Olivia would know right away.

George grinned and lifted up his beer. “I’ll wash my face with this. I’ll just pretend I’m drunk.” Luckily they were still far away, but steadily coming this way. “Wednesday I’ll be in London. Meet me at the flat, say around noon?” I nodded in agreement. Would I ever learn to say no to him?

“Light me a cigarette,” he told me and my hands shook so that I could hardly get it lit.

“Relax, baby. Just stay cool.”” I took a hit of nicotine to calm my nerves before handing him the lit cigarette and disappeared into the night. I stopped yards away to gather myself and straighten my clothes. I could hear them talking and George laughing. I knew they’d believe what ever he told them. I took my time getting back and as I made my way through the crowd I found the five of them sitting at a table. George was having another beer. Olivia and Rod had wine. Ringo and Barbara were having sparkling water.

“Hey, love,” Rod put his arm around my waist and tugged me in for a hug. “Where you been?” he asked and he pulled a chair out for me and I sank down relieved to have gotten away with my bad behavior once again.

“Just walking around the gardens. They’re lovely. It got dark and I rather lost my way.” I smiled at Rod and he handed me a glass of champagne. “Thank you, darling.” I leaned over and kissed him.

“Pattie, Ringo will be in London on Wednesday, and Olivia and I will be having lunch and then some shopping. Why don’t you join us?” Barbara asked.

“That sounds lovely.” I smiled at Barbra and Olivia nodded her head in agreement. “I have a doctor’s appointment but I could definitely meet up for shopping!”

I saw George unable to keep a straight face and he pretended to cough. I never quite understood why he’d been labeled the quiet Beatle. He was by far the baddest Beatle, the one all the girls loved. Daring and fearless, and most always getting his way, he was a charmer. I didn’t matter that he was married or that I was now with Rod, for some reason we could never completely sever the ties that bound us together. The passion was deeper than sex. I gave up trying to fight it. Right or wrong it was just who we were.

#pattie boyd #george harrison #pattie remembers

[ludmilachaibemachado]

Harry Graves, Elsie Graves, Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, Marjorie Goldbach and Howard Goldbach in London for Ringo and Barbara Bach on April 27, 1981.

Barbara’s wedding dress was designed by David and Elizabeth Emmanuel, who also designed Princess Diana’s wedding dress the same year for her wedding to Prince Charles

Thanks to Instagram💞

#ringo starr #barbara bach #ringo and barbara #wedding day #1981

[sandramiksaauthor]

Yearly Reading Wrap Up: 2020

1. La Description Du Monde by Marco Polo ⭐⭐

2. Du côté de chez Swann (À la recherche du temps perdu #1) by Marcel Proust ⭐⭐⭐

3. Discours Du Récit by Gérard Genette ⭐⭐⭐

4. The Private Life of the Diary by Sally Bayley ⭐⭐⭐⭐

5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

6. Let it Snow by John Green ⭐⭐⭐⭐

7. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe ⭐⭐⭐⭐

8. Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes ⭐⭐⭐⭐

9. L'ignorance by Milan Kundera ⭐⭐⭐⭐

10. Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom: A Story by Sylvia Plath ⭐⭐⭐⭐

11. Volkswagen Blues by Jacques Poulin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

12. Enfance by Nathalie Sarraute ⭐⭐⭐⭐

13. Une femme by Annie Ernaux ⭐⭐⭐⭐

14. Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit by Annie Ernaux ⭐⭐⭐⭐

15. L’Amour, roman by Camille Laurens ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

16. Open City by Teju Cole ⭐⭐⭐⭐

17. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern ⭐⭐⭐⭐

18. Philosopher ou faire l'amour by Ruwen Ogien ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

19. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ⭐⭐⭐⭐

20. The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait by Frida Kahlo ⭐⭐⭐

21. On the Road by Jack Kerouac ⭐⭐

22. Les particules élémentaires by Michel Houellebecq ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

23. Red Doc> (Red #2) by Anne Carson ⭐⭐⭐⭐

24. Queen of Air and Darkness (The Dark Artifices #3) by Cassandra Clare ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

25. La Barque silencieuse by Pascal Quignard ⭐⭐⭐

26. L'autofictif père et fils by Éric Chevillard ⭐⭐⭐

27. All We Saw: Poems by Anne Michaels ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

28. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon ⭐⭐⭐⭐

29. Blue Horses: Poems by Mary Oliver ⭐⭐⭐⭐

30. The Latte Factor by David Bach ⭐⭐⭐⭐

31. La Poursuite du bonheur by Michel Houellebecq ⭐⭐⭐⭐

32. Rester vivant: et autres textes by Michel Houellebecq ⭐⭐⭐

33. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games #0) by Suzanne Collins ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

34. I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

35. The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin ⭐⭐⭐

36. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

37. Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit ⭐⭐⭐⭐

38. The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses #1) by Cassandra Clare ⭐⭐⭐⭐

39. Ghosts of the Shadow Market by Cassandra Clare ⭐⭐⭐⭐

40. Borderline Personality Disorder Demystified by Robert O. Friedel ⭐⭐⭐⭐

41. I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi ⭐⭐⭐⭐

42. Wild Is the Wind by Carl Phillips ⭐⭐⭐⭐

43. Unshakeable by Anthony Robbins ⭐⭐⭐⭐

44. Stray by Stephanie Danler ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

45. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki ⭐⭐⭐⭐

46. Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

47. She Came to Slay by Erica Armstrong Dunbar ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

48. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey ⭐⭐⭐⭐

49. Life of the Party by Olivia Gatwood ⭐⭐⭐⭐

50. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin ⭐⭐⭐⭐

51. Twilight (The Twilight Sage #1) by Stephanie Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

52. Evermore by Julian Barnes ⭐⭐⭐

53. The Dark Between Stars by Atticus Poetry ⭐

54. The Truth About Magic by Atticus Poetry ⭐

55. Wenjack by Joseph Boyden ⭐⭐

56. It’s Hard to Be Human by Valerie Buhagiar ⭐⭐⭐⭐

57. New Moon (The Twilight Saga #2) by Stephenie Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

58. The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off! by Gloria Steinem ⭐⭐⭐⭐

59. Twilight: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1 by Young Kim ⭐⭐⭐⭐

60. Eclipse (The Twilight Saga #3) by Stephenie Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐

61. Orbit: Poems by Cynthia Zarin ⭐⭐⭐

62. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle ⭐⭐⭐⭐

63. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

64. A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi ⭐⭐⭐⭐

65. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga #4) by Stephenie Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

66. Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin ⭐⭐

67. In Conclusion, Don’t Worry About It by Lauren Graham ⭐

68. My Ideal Bookshelf by Thessaly La Force ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

69. Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

70. Saga Vol. 9 by Brian K. Vaughan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

71. I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

72. #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso ⭐⭐⭐⭐

73. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell ⭐⭐⭐⭐

74. Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass by Lana Del Rey ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

75. The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon ⭐⭐⭐

76. The Secret History by Donna Tartt ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

77. She Must Be Mad by Charly Cox ⭐⭐⭐

78. home body by Rupi Kaur ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

79. Wind in a Box by Terrance Hayes ⭐⭐⭐

80. No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg ⭐⭐⭐⭐

81. Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

82. Normal People by Sally Rooney ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

83. Almost Midnight: Two Festive Short Stories by Rainbow Rowell ⭐⭐⭐

84. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ⭐⭐⭐

85. Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris ⭐⭐

86. Monstress, Vol. 3: Haven (Monstress #3) by Marjorie M. Liu ⭐⭐⭐⭐

87. Monstress, Vol. 4: The Chosen (Monstress #4) by Marjorie M. Liu ⭐⭐⭐

88. Monstress, Vol. 5: Warchild (Monstress #5) by Marjorie M. Liu ⭐⭐⭐

89. My Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

90. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (The Twilight Saga #3.5) by Stephenie Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐

91. The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide by Stephenie Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐

92. Midnight Sun (The Twilight Saga #5) by Stephenie Meyer ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#yearly reading wrap up #2020 #2020 books #goodreads #star raitings #books #fiction #literature #French books #French literature #English literature #classics #the twilight saga #graphic novels #reading list #reading wrap up

[soundsof71]

TURN IT UP! Joe Walsh with The James Gang, “Walk Away”, 1971

The James Gang was one of those bands that hit so much harder live than on their studio records that it’s almost impossible to believe that they’re the same guys. Their two 1971 albums offer the perfect contrast, Thirds (from whence comes this glorious single), and James Gang In Concert, recorded in May 1971 at Carnegie Hall and released later that year.

I’m surprised the hall was still standing when they were done. It’s the loudest slab of vinyl I’ve ever put on a turntable -- even with the volume turned all the way down, the racket coming straight out of the needle scraping through the grooves unamplified was flat out unbelievable. Very much in keeping with the ethos proclaimed in the liner notes of the previous year’s James Gang Rides Again, “Made Loud To Be Played Loud.”

This performance from Germany’s Beat Club, first aired July 24, 1971, somewhat splits the difference between the civilized, if still loud, studio band, and the utter savages (in a good way!) of James Gang on stage. Surely you’ve already pressed play, and heard Joe Walsh absolutely ROAR into this thing. If all you know of him is what you’ve heard on the radio or with the Eagles, you’re in for an eye-opening, and ear-opening delight.

I had once thought of this song as a pleasant bit of science fiction. The MAN in the song is the one who wants to talk about his feelings and where the relationship is going, while “you just turn your pretty head and walk away.” Riiiight. Because that’s how men are. Just won’t shut up about relationships.  ‾\_(ツ)_/‾

Well, maybe Joe really IS that way, because the song sounds pretty damn persuasive, and other than being a little condescending, it’s not especially mean, which automatically sets him above most men of the day.

(1971 was the first great year for a wide swath women artists in classic rock, but women as a lot were alas still not faring well at the hands of male writers. Still aren’t, either, which is a story for another day.)

I actually started rethinking this song when I read what Stevie Nicks had to say about Joe Walsh, who she describes as "the great, great love of my life.”

She said of their breakup: “It nearly killed me. We had to break up or we thought we’d die. We were just too excessive. We were busy superstars and we were doing way too much drugs. We were really, seriously drug addicts. We were a couple on the way to hell. 

But there was no closure. It took me years to get over it — if I ever did. It’s very sad but at least we survived. 

He was the one I would have married, and that I would probably have changed my life around for a little bit, anyway. Not a lot. 

[my note: the fact that she concedes that she’d have changed only a little bit, and only “probably”, suggests that she’s maybe not exaggerating the rest.] 

There was no other man for me. I look back at all the men in my life, and there was only one that I can honestly say I could truly have lived with every day for the rest of my life, because there was respect and we loved to do the same things. I was very content with him all the time. That’s only happened once in my life. 

This man, if he’d asked me to marry him, I would have. There was nothing more important than Joe Walsh — not my music, not my songs, not anything. He was the great, great love of my life.” (more here)

So on top of being better at relationships and rocking harder than you might have thought, he’s also a terrific technical guitarist, and a hilarious storyteller. I heard him tell a story on the radio in 1988 or so, involving him and George Harrison, that I’ve never seen documented, but I dropped everything I was doing to listen. 

I even remember exactly where I was -- in the back room of the bookstore I managed in Washington, DC, way past time to go home, but I didn’t want to miss the end of the story during the long walk to my car.

This is paraphrased, but it’s pretty damn close. I started telling this story to everyone within earshot right away, and you’ll get why. 

(btw, I don’t have a picture of Joe and George together, although they shared a stage a time or two. There are quite a few pictures of Joe and Ringo, though -- not only did Joe play in some editions of Ringo’s All-Star Band, they’re married to sisters! Marjorie and Barbara Bach, so yeah, they’re brothers in law.)

Anyway, Joe said that the one piece of advice he gives every guitarist trying to learn the instrument, “Learn to play every song The Beatles ever did, and sound exactly like they did. Doesn’t matter if you hate The Beatles or don’t want to sound anything like them when you’re done, but once you can play everything they played, exactly the way they sounded, you can do anything that it’s possible to do on a guitar.”

Well, there was one song that was vexing him, the very last one that he still couldn’t figure out -- “And Your Bird Can Sing” from Revolver. When he finally got it, he was beside himself. He called up George Harrison to make sure he was home (both fellas were living in Los Angeles at the time), said, “Stay there, I got something you gotta hear!” 

He packed up his amps and his guitar, drove over to George’s house, and started setting up. “What is it?” asked George. “Just wait,” replied Joe, and kept setting up. 

When Joe finally unleashed a note-perfect “And Your Bird Can Sing”, George fell out of his chair laughing. “How the hell did you do that?” “Well, it took me long enough to figure out,” Joe said, “so I was going to ask YOU how YOU did it.”

George said, “The way *I* did it was John and me playing in unison, and then double-tracked! I can’t figure out how you did it by yourself, even though I just saw you do it!” 

Well, Joe was left feeling pretty good about himself, managing to sound like the equivalent of four Beatles guitarists all by himself, if a little exasperated to have spent so much time figuring out something that he should have known better than to try -- but he did it anyway. THAT’s Joe Walsh for ya.

I hope you’ve already hit play AGAIN on that blistering take on 1971′s “Walk Away” up top, because Joe really was killing it that year. There’s more to him than you probably think, too, so if you’re into the heavy guitar thing, you should definitely do some exploring.

Led Zeppelin fans in particular, I’m looking at you. Joe and Jimmy were friends from Jimmy’s days in The Yardbirds, and it was Joe who said, man, you’ve gotta quit monkeying around with that Telecaster. When you’re ready to rock, switch to a Les Paul -- and indeed, Jimmy bought his first Les Paul (known as “#1″) from Joe in 1969, for $1200, which Joe says he flew out to hand-deliver to Jimmy. Says Jimmy, “Joe brought it for me when we played the Fillmore. He insisted I buy it, and he was right."

(btw, nifty pic from Joe’s Twitter feed of him and Jimmy hanging out after LZ’s February 12 show at The Garden in 1975!)

I wouldn’t want to say that Led Zeppelin’s approach to live jamming was necessarily influenced by James Gang, but I’m saying that they were similar and Joe got there first. LOL And seriously, if you dig live Zeppelin, you NEED to know more about live James Gang and early solo Joe.

(More details about #1 than anyone but a gearhead would want here, here, here, and here, but hey, maybe you’re a gearhead!)

To give you a head start for exploring more James Gang and early solo Joe, I’ll add one more video, from 1972, “Turn To Stone” featuring Fanny’s Jean Millington on bass absolutely slaying dragons on this monster. As Joe told Rolling Stone,

"Turn to Stone" was written about the Nixon administration and the Vietnam War and the protesting that was going on and all of that. It's a song about frustration. Also, I attended Kent State. I was at the shootings. That fueled it, too. In those days it felt like the government's priority was not the population. They had an agenda that was about something other than doing what was necessarily good for the country.

A few years later [in 1980], I decided to run for president myself. [Ed. Note: Walsh pledged to make "Life's Been Good" the new national anthem.] I thought it'd be a great idea and I had fun with it. And the reason I did it is because there was, and there continues to be, a very apathetic attitude toward voting. There's a total separation between the federal government and the people. So running for president was an attempt on my part to get people to care enough to go vote. But people just don't bother. And that's why it's not working.

TURN IT UP!

Oh what the heck, and one more from July 20 1971, from the French TV show Pop2, “The Bomber” (from 1970′s Rides Again) which includes a quick little nod to “Beck’s Bolero” along the way.  (Well, technically I suppose, Ravel’s “Bolero”, and indeed, Ravel’s estate made them remove the reference from initial pressings of the album!)

And another note for LZ fans: Joe does some crazy stuff with his bare hands at around 2:30-3:30 going into “Bolero” that Jimmy did with a violin bow. THAT’s Joe Walsh for ya.

TURN IT UP!

#joe walsh #james gang #classic rock #rock and roll #1971 #1971 music #1971 single #walk away #stevie nicks #jimmy page #led zeppelin #quote #1971 school #turn it up #ringo starr #jean millington #women in rock #long post #essay #les paul #the beatles #revolver #and your bird can sing #1971 album #1971 concert #music on tv #beck's bolero #bolero

[littlequeenies]

April 26, 1981 - Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach celebrated a pre-wedding party at their home 'Tittenhurst Park’ in Ascot, England. Starting from the bottom to the top: Jason and Lee Starkey, Francesca Gregorini, Rachel Blakey (?), Polly (Lee’s friend). Elise and Harry Graves (Ringo's mother and stepfather), Howard and Marjorie Goldbach (Barbara's parents). Philippe Quilici and his wife Marjorie (Barbara's sister), Peter Goldbach (Barbara's brother) and his wife Jo Shapiro. Gabrielle Jensen (Matthew's first wife, right behind Howard) and Matthew Goldbach (Barbara's brother). Joan Woodgate (Ringo's secretary), Raymond (Jason's friend), Charlie Collie (Ringo's colleague based in California), Leslie Parma (family friend), and Barbara O'Donnell (Ringo's secretary).

Information either from Jeannette or Lynn - thank you, ladies!

#1981 #Ringo Starr #Barbara Bach #Francesca Gregorini #Lee Starkey #Jason Starkey #Marjorie Bach #family #childhood #1981 Lee #1980s #1980s Lee #make upartist #stylist #designer #model #boutique owner #shop assistant #backing vocalist

[witch-of-time-and-letters]

WFantasieherz, schöner Verstand. Pt II Youth On Arda.

Jugend von Briefen.

While in his early teens, Tolkien had his first encounter with a constructed language, Animalic, an invention of his cousins, Mary and Marjorie Incledon. At that time, he was studying Latin and Anglo-Saxon. Their interest in Animalic soon died away, but Mary and others, including Tolkien himself, invented a new and more complex language called Nevbosh. The next constructed language he came to work with, Naffarin, would be his own creation.

Tolkien learned Esperanto some time before 1909. Around 10 June 1909 he composed “The Book of the Foxrook”, a sixteen-page notebook, where the “earliest example of one of his invented alphabets” appears.Short texts in this notebook are written in Esperanto.

In 1911, while they were at King Edward’s School, Tolkien and three friends, Rob Gilson, Geoffrey Bache Smith and Christopher Wiseman, formed a semi-secret society they called the T.C.B.S. The initials stood for Tea Club and Barrovian Society, alluding to their fondness for drinking tea in Barrow’s Stores near the school and, secretly, in the school library.After leaving school, the members stayed in touch and, in December 1914, they held a “council” in London at Wiseman’s home. For Tolkien, the result of this meeting was a strong dedication to writing poetry.

In 1911, Tolkien went on a summer holiday in Switzerland, a trip that he recollects vividly in a 1968 letter, noting that Bilbo’s journey across the Misty Mountains (“including the glissade down the slithering stones into the pine woods”) is directly based on his adventures as their party of 12 hiked from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen and on to camp in the moraines beyond Mürren. Fifty-seven years later, Tolkien remembered his regret at leaving the view of the eternal snows of Jungfrau and Silberhorn, “the Silvertine (Celebdil) of my dreams”. They went across the Kleine Scheidegg to Grindelwald and on across the Grosse Scheidegg to Meiringen. They continued across the Grimsel Pass, through the upper Valais to Brig and on to the Aletsch glacier and Zermatt.

In October of the same year, Tolkien began studying at Exeter College, Oxford. He initially studied classics but changed his course in 1913 to English language and literature, graduating in 1915 with first-class honours.

#biography #literaturebiography #fantasiebiography #Tolkien #Lotr

[kbrown78]

Yearly Wrap Up: 2018

Sorry this post is so late, it took awhile to get all the information I needed and I kept going back and forth on the format I wanted to do for this post, but I finally have an end result I am happy with. In this post I will be going over all the books I read in 2018, all the stats, completion of 2018 reading goals as well as 2019 reading goals. Also fair warning, this is going to be a long post. So to begin with I'll talk about my 2018 reading goals and of I was able to accomplish them. This year was the first year that I did the Goodreads Challenge, I thought it would be good to see how many books I could read in a year. My initial goal was 50 books and I ended up reading 80 books, so I was definitely able to tackle my Goodreads goal. Unfortunately that was the only reading challenge I was able to finish. One of my reading resolutions for 2018 was to finish a reading challenge and I did that with the Goodreads one, but I also did the PopSugar 2018 Reading Challenge. That one provided a large number of reading prompts that I hoped would help expand the genre of the books I was reading (which was another reading resolution of mine) and of the 50 prompts I was only able to complete 34, which is not bad, it's more than half, but I still wanted to complete all of them. As I mentioned I wanted to expand the genre of books that I read, since I mostly read YA fantasy, and I do think I achieved that goal by trying to read more adult fantasy, science fiction, different fantasy sub genre's, and a few books in other genres, but I will go more into that when I do a break down of all the books I read this year. I also wanted to go to more book events and that did not really happen. I only went to 1 this year and the rest I was unable to go to for various reasons, so I need to get better with planning in order to go to more events this year. I did want to be more active in the book community and I definitely think I achieved that, with providing regular posts and book reviews. I was originally going to do a channel on YouTube but I suck with editing software and I honestly prefer writing. Finally my #1 resolution for 2018 was to tackle all the books in my physical TBR, with books from 2017 and 2018, I was able to narrow down my overflowing basket to just 5 books. Since I now have a rule where I have to read 10 books before I buy a new one (holiday's are an exception) I'll probably have the rest of those books read by the end of 2019, so that all new books in my TBR pile will all be from 2019. Now that I've summarized my status on all my reading goals for 2018, I'm now going to start going into the actual books. I'll begin by listing all the books I've read and putting them in different groups based on their star ratings. Then I'm going to go into the statistics of all the books, like genre, authors, status, and other things.

Ratings:

5 Star Books: These are without a doubt my favorite books of the year, the cream of the crop, and some of them are possibly my new favorite books or series of all time. 

A Natural History of Dragons (Memoirs of Lady Trent #1) by Marie Brennan, The Tropic of Serpents (Memoirs of Lady Trent) by Marie Brennan, The Tethered Mage (Swords and Fire #1) by Melisa Caruso, The Defiant Heir (Swords and Fire #2) by Melisa Caruso, East by Edith Pattou, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu, Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) by Seanan McGuire, Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3) by Seanan McGuire, The Star Touched Queen (Star Touched Queen #1) by Roshani Chokshi, Crown of Wishes (Star Touched Queen #2) by Roshani Chokshi, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers     

4.5 Star Books: These are the books that I did really love and couldn't find much fault with but I couldn't fully connect to the story (would still recommend all).

A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers #2) by Becky Chambers, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire #1) by C.J. Redwine, The Voyage of the Basilisk (Memoirs of Lady Trent #3) by Marie Brennan, Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1) by Seanan McGuire, The Call by Peadar O'Guilin, Robots vs Fairies

4 Star Books: This one is a bit split because some are books that are solidly 4 stars and lean more toward the 4.5 star rating, and other were saved by a fantastic ending from a 3.5 star rating. There are things that could have been improved on within the story but overall I enjoyed reading all of them.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2) by Seanan McGuire, Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi, Vivian Apple at the End of the World (Vivian Apple #1) by Katie Coyle, A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle #1), Ice Like Fire (Snow Like Ashes #2) by Sara Raasch, Frost Like Night (Snow Like Ashes #3) by Sara Raasch, Uppity Women Speak Their Minds by Vicki Leon, Invisible Planets translated by Ken Liu, In the Labyrinth of Drakes (Memoirs of Lady Trent #4) by Marie Brennan, Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers #3) by Becky Chambers, Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (Harry Potter #1) by J.K Rowling, Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs, Code Name Verity (Code Name Verity #1) by Elizabeth Wein, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan

3.5 Star Books: This is a bit of an unusual rating because it usually means that I was expecting to be disappoint by these books, and while there were still issues that I couldn't ignore, I surprisingly enjoyed.

The Registry (The Registry #1) by Shannon Stoker, Caliban's War (The Expanse #2) by James S.A. Corey, Snow Like Ashes (Snow Like Ashes #1) by Sara Raasch, You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero, The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

3 Star Books: These were books that I thought were decent, but they had flaws in them that I was unable to over look.

A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #1) by Sarah J. Maas, Walk on Earth a Stranger (Gold Seer #1) by Rae Carson, Like a River Glorious (Gold Seer #2) by Rae Carson, Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha) by Tomi Adeyemi, An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard, After: 19 Stories of Dystopian and Apocalypse, Illuminae (The Illuminae Files) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1) by Renee Ahdieh, Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Red Sister  (Book of the Ancestor #1) by Mark Lawerence, Sabriel (The Abhorsen #1) by Garth Nix, Monstress Volume 3: The Blood by Marjorie Liu, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski

2.5 Star Books: These are books that I had a lot of issues with but were redeemable enough that I would still give them a try.

The Collection (The Registry #2) by Shannon Stoker, Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake, Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #3) by Laini Taylor, The Bone Witch (The Bone Witch #1) by Rin Chupeco

2 Star Books: These are books that I had lot of issues with but it didn't upset me enough to make me want to quit it. These books and downward I personally wouldn't recommend reading, but that's just my opinion.

Princesses Behaving Badly by Linda Rodrigez McRobbie, Days of Blood and Starlight (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2) by Laini Taylor, Vivian Apple Needs a Miracle (Vivian Apple #2) by Katie Coyle, The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Trilogy #1) by Patrick Ness, Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey, Bitterblue (Graceling #3) by Kristin Cashore, Sandry's Book (Circle of Magic #1) by Tamora Pierce, Lirael (Abhorsen #2) by Garth Nix, Torn (The Unraveled Kingdom #1) by Rowena Miller, Into the Bright Unknown (Gold Seer #3) by Rae Carson, Front Lines by Michael Grant, American God's by Neil Gaiman, The Falconer (The Falconer #1) by Elizabeth May  

1 Star Books: These, sadly, are the bottom of the barrel. I had a hard time finding good qualities with these books and some of them I got so frustrated by I ended up quiting them.

The Wicked and the Divine Volume 1: The Faust Act, Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by Victoria Schwab, Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1) by Susan Dennard, Rebel Angels (Gemma Doyle #2) (DNF) by Libba Bray, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides, Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) by Veroncia Rossi, The Library at Mount Char (DNF) by Scott Hawkins, Daughters of the Storm (Blood and Gold #1) (DNF) by Kim Wilkins, The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan, Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1)(DNF) by Ann Leckie (I didn't hate this book, it was just too weird and confusing to carry on)

Statistics:

This is the part where I'll break down authors (gender and ethnicity), status (finished or not finished, companion, stanalone, special cases), and genre of the books.

AUTHORS: (Not counting anthologies with multiple authors, also series counts as one)  

Male: 16

Female: 42

White: 48

POC: 10

STATUS:  

Finished (If the book was part of a series that ended than had a companion series follow it, I'm still counting that as a finished series, also I'm counting anything 2 or more books as a series): 8 (A Court of Thorns and Roses, Gold Seer, Monsters of Verity, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Vivian Apple, Snow Like Ashes, Ignite Me)

Unfinished and Completed (Unfinished means that I haven't finished reading the series, uncompleted means that all the books in the series haven't been released yet): 12 (Gemma Doyle (won't be completing), The Knife of Never Letting Go (won't be completing), The Wrath and the Dawn (won't be completing), The Facloner (won't be completing), Under the Never Sky (won't be completing), Abhorsen, Memoirs of Lady Trent, Imperial Radch (won't be completing), Harry Potter, Front Lines (won't be completing), The Registry, Circle of Magic (won't be completing))

Unfinished and Uncompleted: 10 (Legacy of Orisha, The Witchlands (won't be completing), The Bone Witch (won't be completing), The Expanse, Swords and Fire, Book of the Ancestor (won't be completing), The Unraveled Kingdoms, Three Dark Crowns (won't be completing), October Daye, Blood and Gold (won't be completing))

Companion series: 8 (Wayfarers, Wayward Children, Star Touched Queen, The Illuminae Files, Code Name Verity, Graceling, Nightfall, Ravenspire)

Stand Alone (includes non fiction): 13 (Princesses Behaving Badly, Beauty Queens, An Unkindness of Magicians, Uprooted, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Uppity Women Speak Their Minds, The Virgin Suicides, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, You Are A Badass, The Library at Mount Char, American Gods, The Red Tent, The Legend of Holly Claus)

Anthologies/ Short Story Collections: 6 (After: 19 Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Robots Vs Fairies, Invisible Planets, Tales of the Peculiar, The Language of Thorns)

Comics/ Graphic Novels: 2 (Monstress Vol 3: The Blood and the Wicked and the Divine Vol 1: The Faust Act)

Special cases (Special cases are for books that I'm leaving as a self contained standalone even though they have a sequel): 2 (East by Edith Pattou, The Call by Peadar O'Guilin)

GENRE: I'm going based off of where these books are shelved in stores, even if I don't agree with some of them.

YA: 44

Adult: 33

Fantasy: 42 (A Court of Wings and Ruin (Epic fantasy/ Romance)(YA), Every Heart a Doorway (Portal fantasy/ Contemporary fantasy/ Mystery)(A), Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Gothic fantasy/ Mythic fantasy)(A), Beneath the Sugar Sky (Portal fantasy)(A), Walk on Earth a Stranger (Historical fantasy)(YA), Like a River Glorious (Historical fantasy/ Romance)(YA), Into the Bright Unknown (Historical fantasy/ Romance)(YA), A Crown of Wishes (Epic fantasy)(YA), Day's of Blood and Starlight (Epic fantasy/ Portal fantasy)(YA), Dreams of God's and Monsters (Portal fantasy/ Epic fantasy)(YA), Children of Blood and Bone (Epic fantasy)(YA), Truthwitch (Epic fantasy/ Romance), A Great and Terrible Beauty (Historical fantasy/ Portal fantasy)(YA), Rebel Angels (Historical fantasy/ Portal fantasy/ Romance)(YA), The Bone Witch (Epic fantasy/ Romance) (YA), The Wrath and the Dawn (Retelling/ Romance/ Historical fantasy)(YA), East (Retelling/ Historical fantasy/ Romance)(YA), The Falconer (Historical fantasy, Steampunk, Romance)(YA), Uprooted (Epic fantasy/ Retelling)(A), Tales of the Peculiar (Fairy tales/ Short stories)(YA), The Tethered Mage (Epic fantasy/ Mystery)(A), The Defiant Heir (Epic fantasy)(A), The Library at Mount Char (Urban fantasy), Circle of Magic: Sandry's Book (Children's fantasy)(YA), Sabriel (Epic fantasy/ Gothic fantasy)(YA), Lirael (Epic fantasy/ Gothic fantasy)(YA), The Star Touched Queen (Retelling/ Romance/ Epic fantasy)(YA), Nightfall (Thriller/ Low fantasy)(YA), Monstress (Epic fantasy/ Horror/ Comic)(A), The Wicked and the Divine (Urban fantasy/ Mythology/ Comic)(YA), Torn (Romance/ Epic fantasy)(A), Three Dark Crowns (Epic fantasy/ Gothic fantasy/ Romance)(YA), Rosemary and Rue (Urban fantasy/ Mystery)(A), A Natural History of Dragons (Fantasy of Manners)(A), The Tropic of Serpents (Fantasy of Manners)(A), The Voyage of the Basilisk (Fantasy of Manners)(A), In the Labyrinth of Drakes (Romance/ Fantasy of Manners)(A), American Gods (Urban fantasy)(A), Daughters of the Storm (Epic fantasy)(A), The Shadow Queen (Retelling)(YA), The Legend of Holly Claus (Juevnile fantasy)(YA), The Language of Thorns (Retelling/ Short Stories)(YA)  

Science Fiction: 10 (The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Soft SF)(A), A Closed and Common Orbit (Soft SF/ Biopunk)(A), Record of a Spaceborn Few (Soft SF/ Generation Ships)(A), Leviathan Wakes (Space Opera/ Crime Noir/ Alien Invasion)(A), Caliban's War (Space Opera/ Alien Invasion)(A), Invisible Planets (Anthologies/ Translated/ Soft SF/ Hard SF)(A), Ancillary Justice (Hard SF/ Space Opera)(A), Under the Never Sky (Survival/ Romance)(YA), The Knife of Never Letting Go (Survival/ Alien)(YA), Illuminae (Survival/ Soft SF/ Cyberpunk)(YA)  

Science Fantasy: 3 (contains magic and technology): 3 (The Paper Menagerie (Short stories)(A), Robots vs Fairies (Anthologies)(A), Red Sister (Grim dark fantasy/ Epic fantasy)(A))  

Dystopian/ Post Apocalypse: 8 (survival's the name of the game): Our Dark Duet (urban fantasy/ post apocalyptic)(YA), Vivian Apple at the End of the World (Contemporary/ apocalyptic)(YA), Vivian Apple Needs a Miracle (Contemporary/ apocalyptic)(YA), After (Anthology/ dystopian/ apocalyptic), The Registry (Dystopia/ Action)(YA), The Collection (Dystopia)(YA), Ignite Me (Dystopian/ Science fiction/ Romance)(YA), The Call (Contemporary fantasy/ Portal fantasy/ Horror/ Apocalyptic)(YA))

Literary Fiction (lacks magic or new technology): 6 (Beauty Queens (Contemporary/ Satire)(YA), Code Name Verity (Historical fiction)(YA), Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Philosophical fiction)(A), The Virgin Suicides (Contemporary)(A), Front Lines (Alternate history/ historical)(YA), The Red Tent (Historical/ Biblical fiction)(A), The Giving Tree (Poetry)(YA))  

Non Fiction: 4 (Princesses Behaving Badly, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, Uppity Women Speak Their Minds, You Are a Badass)

2019 Goals:

I did a T5W outlining my 2019 reading goals, and I promised I would talk about them more in this post. So I'm going to conclude my Yearly Wrap Up post by discussing what I hope to accomplish in my 2019 reading year. For starters I have a goal that I'm carrying over from 2018 and that is to read a wider genre of books. I wanted to accomplish this last year, but going into 2019 I have a better idea of what specific genre's I would like to try more of. This year I really started to transition from YA fantasy to Adult fantasy, but I haven't given up on YA yet. I want to try some YA contemporary and magical realism, but as of right now I only have specific picks in mind for this. I want to read more historical fiction and historical fantasy, like the Golem and the Jinni. I enjoy reading about settings from different time periods, especially if they have magical elements, I just need to be careful about finding books that don't get heavy handed with a crappy romance. I want to read more science fiction, specifically Adult Science fiction, since I haven't come across a YA science fiction that intrigues me. I'm sill trying to learn what exactly I like in science fiction, but I know I like character driven stories, like Becky Chamber's series. I knew I would like to attempt the New Weird and Hard science fiction genre's but at the same time I'm a little intimidated by them. I also want to get back into literary fiction, including adult dystopian's and classics. I used to have no problem reading classics and would read 1 or 2 a month, then I just got burned out by it, but I want to pick up that genre again. In terms of fantasy, I still expect that to be the genre that I read the most of put there are still some things I would like out of 2019. I've already said that I'm leaning more toward Adult fantasy and wanting to read more historical fantasy, but I would also like to read more fantasy standalone's. That's something I wanted to do in 2018 but sadly did not find any new ones that I really loved. I also want to read more anthologies or short story collections, in any genre really, because that was something that I discovered that I really liked in 2018 and want more of. The next reading goal I want to accomplish in 2019 is to complete is to finish at least 5 series. For this I'm counting anything that is 3 books or more as a series. I finished 7 series in 2018 but 2 of those were duologies, and I feel like those are super easy to finish. There are several series that I started I won't be completing or the series isn't completed yet. Fortunately most of the series that aren't completed yet I already know I'm not going to continue, and the rest are either being completed this year or have a large number of books that I need to get through for me to catch up with the series. With that being said there are at least 3 series that I will definitely be finishing this year: the Memoirs of Lady Trent, The Registry, and the Swords and Fire series, and I have also already completed one series, so this is goal I can definitely tackle by the end of the year, maybe even half way through the year.  Something else I want to accomplish this year was to go to at least two book events, but that's going to be difficult to do. Most of the bigger book events or conventions, are over 8 hours away. I could also attend book signing events but all of the others that I want signatures from are either not doing events or are doing ones not within a close driving distance for me. That might change as the year progresses, but for now I'm not expecting to be able to accomplish this goal and will instead invest my time in completing a reading challenge, which I was not able to accomplish this year. Another goal for 2019 is to read more diverse books. I want to read more books with POC people as POV characters, or disabled characters, or on the LGBTQ spectrum. I think I've been progressively getting better about that over the years but where I really want to focus on is more diverse authors. As you can see from the statistics section my reading from last year was heavily skewed toward white authors. I want to change that and work toward at least having more POC authors, and almost all the brand new books on my TBR pile are from POC authors and I'm excited to get to most of them (although all authors I've read this year so far are Caucasian). I would also like to read more books by authors that are diverse in other ways beside their ethnicity but it's more difficult to identify those things. Like last year there's only a few couple authors that I'm pretty sure qualify in that way, but I'm not absolutely sure. My final reading major reading goal of 2019 is to get through half of my reread TBR pile. About half way through last year, I decided to go through all my books that I hadn't tabbed and reread them. I wanted to do this for a few reasons. I have a small bookshelf and large container and that's about all the room I have for books, including my non fiction ones. As I read more new books and find new series that I enjoy, that means that there will need to be more room. So rereading books will hopefully help me be able to tell which books I should keep and which ones I should give away. I also want to reread all these books in order to better review them and have a fresh opinion of them. At the beginning of this year I have about 50 books, and I know I'm not going to get through them all this year, so I set a more realistic goal with tackling half of my TBR which would be about 25 books. The last thing I want to talk about is the reading challenge's I'm currently participating in. On Goodreads I have set the yearly amount of books I read to 50. That was my goal last year, and I ended up reading 80 books, so I think setting it at 50 again is something I can manage. I'm also doing the PopSugar 2019 Reading Challenge, which I tried to do last year but failed to complete. How I want to accomplish that this year is by always reading a book that is can be applied to one of the prompts, that way I'm knocking out these prompts as quickly as possible. The last reading challenge I'm doing is a group on Goodreads called The Reading Frenzy, which I joined toward the end of last year. They have several monthly reading challenges, but this year it has been announced that every month there will be a pick my TBR Reading Challenge, which means every month you will be randomly matched with a person, and will pick one book for the other to read that month. I look forward to doing this, just because I like that random element to it, and this will help my slim down my Goodreads TBR (as long as I can get a physical copy of the book). So that sums up my 2018 reading year as well as what all I hope to accomplish in 2019. I look froward to it, and hopefully it's going to be a good year for everyone.  

Thank You Everyone

Keep Calm and Keep Reading

#yearly wrap up #books #reading goals #2018 #2019 #reading stats

[marriedwikibio1]

[george-harrison-marwa-blues]

More of Olivia Harrison at the Subliminal Arts Gallery for the book launch of I, Me, Mine extended version. Pictured with Ringo & Barbara, Majorie & Joe Walsh and also along with Eric Idle & Tania Kosevich. Held on George’s birthday :)

#olivia harrison #ringo starr #barbara bach #marjorie bach #joe walsh #eric idle #tania kosevich #I Me Mine