Book help?

[renrenren3]

I've been awful at keeping this journal updated. Big surprise. Work's still going okay, I can't believe we're quickly approaching the halfway point of my internship. Mostly I'm scared that they won't keep me on and I'll have to go back to job hunting. It's not that I think I'm doing bad, it's just... I'm not sure they're hiring, the economy being what it is, and despite their assurances that most of their interns will stay on, I can't help being pessimist. Going to send out a few CVs in the new year, just to be on the safe side.

I'm quickly turning into an old lady. I went to the Fiera in Milan this other weekend, same one I went to with my uni mates, and I was just so damn tired all the time. I remember five years ago we walked around for ages and I bought everything and the next day I went to class like it was no big deal. Now I mostly felt cranky and bothered by the crowd and my legs were sore and the next day it was a Sunday and I slept like a log until 2pm. I did get a cute new hat, though, so at least there's that.

For pie's sake, I'm wearing an undershirt because my stomach was cold. I haven't worn an undershirt since I was eight and under parental orders. I'm turning into my mother.

So anyway, the point of this post is that I'm a horrible person and my plan of reading a lot during my commute fell by the wayside, because I mostly SLEEP during my commute. Somewhat of a hazard but I haven't missed my stop yet. Or, well, just once, but that doesn't count. There's this reading challenge I've been doing since March, it's Avengers-themed and you have to read books that fulfill certain criteria to recruit heroes and defeat villains. You can see my progress here. I've still got three weeks left and 10 books to read, so I probably won't be able to recruit all heroes like I wanted, but I'd really like to try and get a few more.

Problem is that the heroes left are the ones with tricky books, the ones that I've spent months looking for but never quite found. So I figured that maybe you could give me a hand. This is what I have left:

• Read a book with the US flag on the cover, or with a main character who is part of the military.


• Read a book with a laser beam or rocket on the cover or with a character/ship using those weapons.


• Read a book with a hammer/mace on the cover or where a major character carries a hammer or mace.


• Read a book with a political leader (president, Queen, King etc.) on the cover or as the main protagonist.


• Read a book with a character in a black suit on the cover or with a spy as the main protagonist.


• Read a book by a russian author or with a russian main/side character.


• Read a book with numbers on the cover or with a science centric plot.


• Read a book with a skeleton on the cover or where a character sacrifices himself for love.


• Read a book with a square or cube on the cover or where a character gets his powers from a non-human/alien artifact.


• Read a book with a gauntlet on the cover (can be part of an armored character) or where an immortal character plays a significant role.

The only requirement is that the books have to be at least 100 pages long, and of course the shorter the better since I'd like to be able to cram a lot of books in the time I have left. For the items in italics I have already something in mind, but any suggestion would make me happy, because some of those... total blank! Laser beams? Hammers? Russian authors?? Help!

Comments

[scatteredintime.livejournal.com]

For pie's sake, I'm wearing an undershirt because my stomach was cold. I haven't worn an undershirt since I was eight and under parental orders. I'm turning into my mother.

Me. That's me.

[renrenren3]

Who is you? Pie? Or your mother? Both? I am confuse

[scatteredintime.livejournal.com]

Don't be silly, I am not Pie, Iris is Pie. I was merely expressing the sentiment "same" without trying to say "same". Because I, too, have taken to wearing undershirts and the like. We're all going to be grumpy old grannies soon.

[batgurl88]

Read a book with a political leader (president, Queen, King etc.) on the cover or as the main protagonist.

Pretty much any Phillippa Gregory book will get you this (she loves her books about queens), though I can't speak to the quality of any of them.

[renrenren3]

Ooh I'd forgotten all about that, I think someone was reading those books in my Goodreads timeline. Thanks for the tip!

[hamsterwoman]

re: interns being hired -- that's pretty much why companies do internships, so not to hire someone who's gone through the training and vetting process would be a waste. Also, I think larger companies frequently have different rules about hiring former interns/RCGs vs hiring experienced people -- in our case, at least, there are headcount games where we can hire an RCG because the company said they would hire X RCGs, but may not hire anyone else. Also, RCGs are cheaper. :P

re: sleeping on commute -- I have trained myself to set my cell phone alarm to wake me up ~5 min before my stop (of course, this only works if your transit is mostly on time and not so loud that you would not hear the alarm)

re: books

rocket: there's Bradbury's R is for Rocket (short stories collection, which I think is >100 pages)

Russian authors -- well, I love Master and Margarita (Bulgakov), and Lolita would count as well, since Nabokov was Russian. If you're looking specifically genre, I've heard good things about Pehov. I can't think of too many others readily available in translation. Or, for the Russian character side, you could read Deathless by Cat Valente (I have not, and do not plan to, but other people seem to like her stuff).

political leader: I enjoyed both The Goblin Emperor (Addison) and Prince/King/Emperor of Thorns (Mark Lawrence)

[hamsterwoman]

Also, my edition of Good as Gold has an American flag on the cover. (I find it very funny, but it's possible that one needs to be Jewish and/or American to enjoy it properly.)

[renrenren3]

Re: interns -- that's the theory, but as a matter of fact my annoying coworker was never hired, she's technically an external consultant. Our boss wants her to stay, but the higher ups said that our section doesn't have the budget. I don't want to jump to conclusions, because it's all stuff I heard secondhand, and other people do get hired at the end of their internship. But not everyone, so I can't help but quibble.

Re: commute -- I should start doing the cellphone alarm thing too, negl.

Thanks for the book suggestions, I'm going to check them out as soon as I've finished what I'm currently reading! :D

[hamsterwoman]

But your annoying coworker is an idiot -- maybe they're not hiring her because they're waiting for someone better to come along? :P (But, yeah, you probably don't want to get complacent / expect it as a matter of course.)

And you're welcome!

[renrenren3]

Oh my god she is such an idiot, today she explained to me how to sign a card for another coworker who's moving away. She literally told to me to "open the card and sign your name there, where there's an open space". I secretly hope that's why she's not getting hired, though ofc it would be rather awful for her since she loves this job.

[hamsterwoman]

today she explained to me how to sign a card for another coworker who's moving away. She literally told to me to "open the card and sign your name there, where there's an open space".

Oh my god XD I wonder how this person functions day-to-day, if she thinks signing a card requires step by step instructions XD

Book by a Russian author

[bowl-of-glow.livejournal.com]

...if you don't have much time, Heart of a Dog by Bulgakov is super-short (should be just a bit over 100 pages, depending on the edition of course). Also, I liked it.