Current reading: Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks, for book club. Just started it, so no thoughts yet. Also listening to The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis on audiobook, although I am beginning to think Willis isn't a good choice for that format; the endless digressions and communication mishaps come across as far more annoying when you can't skim ( Read more... )

Just Finished: Erm. I put down a couple of books recently (Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson and Too Like the Lightning by Amanda Palmer; neither of them were doing it for me), but I did read, and enjoy, Stranger by Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown. I enjoyed the heck out of the world-building and the food porn, and will certainly be reading ( Read more... )

Five new documentaries about women, mostly women of color. I've seen What Happened, Miss Simone, and it was excellent. I don't think I'll need to see Zoe Saldana in blackface after watching that.


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Oh, hey, why have I never seen this site before? The Fresh Loaf, for all your bread-baking neepery. (Via MeFi)

Amy Davidson on why the conservatives calling Obergefell the new Dred Scott are so wrong.

I think it would be fun to have a fic challenge that involves using the titles of these unreported Holmes & Watson cases. Seriously, how fun would ( Read more... )

This is a fabulous essay on female fantasy writers and how their influence is ignored by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Check it out.

Mari Ness talks about Peter Pan over at Tor.com, although I think she's far more forgiving than I am about the grossness of the sexism & racism in the story.

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I am reminded to post a link to this fascinating article by ( Read more... )

I love that the tech is now available for these really marvelous short animated films to be made independently.

I've been making cookies lately, although not specifically Christmas cookies. Molasses cookies, snicker doodles, and Mark Bittman's butter cookies with pecans and crystallized ginger (which were a bit of a disappointment). Here's an ( Read more... )

Just an FYI: Amazon has the entire Jaran series by Kate Elliott on sale for Kindle for $14.00. Check it out. That's a great deal, even if (like me) you don't much like the last book ( Read more... )

Man, it is hard to recall a day in which I did less than today. I folded a load of laundry, and started some potato-rosemary dinner rolls for Thanksgiving, and that's all. Ah, well: sometimes you just need a day to sit on the futon and rest your braincells.

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So, hey, this Doctor Who timeline is cool.

And this might be my new favorite tumblr. ( Read more... )

In case you missed it, Allie Brosh of Hyperbole and a Half was on Fresh Air last night. (Trigger warning for discussion of suicide and depression.)

I didn't think it needed saying, but apparently it does: don't bring your parents to work.

The chart of seasonal pies.

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Noted for later reading: Why I made terrible decisions, or, poverty thoughts ( Read more... )

By way of BoingBoing: Photographs of New York after the storm. One of the things I find interesting from an anthropological perspective is the use of the American flag in some of these photos. It's talismanic, somehow: how did the US flag become a symbol of resistance rather than--or in addition to--patriotism ( Read more... )