Changing things around...
Hey, all.
Some news about me and my lack o' posting coming up, but first - some books
Absurdistan
by Gary Shteyngart
My mother has been in this book club for something like 30 years now. At 72 she's the youngest member. I've been hearing stories about it forever, and tried to go once before. The problem was that I couldn't force myself to finish the book (I think it was "The Wizard of Menlo Park"). So, this time I decided I'd wade through it no matter how bad it was.
Started off terrible... I can sit through a 2 hour movie where I dislike the protagonist, but a book is a major time investment, and, for me, a much closer connection.... and Misha just wasn't likable. So full of self love/self loathing, and whining about it constantly. I could see where the humor was supposed to be, but it was just mean spirited nastiness. I hung in there, because the book club itself just sounded like fun.
By the end of the book I was getting something out of it. The targets for lampooning were more deserving. Misha actually began to grow as a character. It was and OK book with some good bits.
Then it came to the end. The entire story was building towards 9/11, when I was sure the protagonist would be flying back into New York, but it just stopped on the 10th, with no way for him to get home. Very strange.
The book club, however, was delightful. This months hostess is an artist, living in a beautiful home in Bannockburn, with an indoor garden and walls covered with light and form. Her living room was incredibly furnished, with no two chairs seeming to come from the same style or period, but they formed a friendly, and comfortable, whole (except for the folding chairs...)
Lunch was exquisite, with breaded salmon (I think, like I know from fish) and squash stuffed with cranberry sauce, and the company was delightful. I've been invited to come back, and, if the temp job fails to come through I definitely will).
Knit One, Kill Two
by Maggie Sefton
Have I mentioned before that mysteries are my 'popcorn reading'? Well, examples like this are the reason why. Light and fluffy, but no substance. Fun, but no story to get in the way of the formula.
This particular mystery is one of a subgenre - the cooking mystery. I kid you not, there are a number of mystery series in which the author includes a menu in each book. Maggie (who, apparently, learned to knit while she wrote the book) also added a couple of beginning knitting patterns at the end of the book, the very ones her protagonist was working on during the story. It was all very cosy.
Since this was the first book of the series, I actually misidentified one of the continuing characters as a potential suspect, but couldn't come up with a motive. I also misread the little old ladys introduction, and thought she was a lesbian. She wasn't, which was a shame, but I'm sure the author thought it would disrupt the ultimate cozy atmosphere she was trying to build if any of the characters were unexpected.
The set up? The protagonist has inherited her aunt's cottage, next door to the old farm house she grew up in, which has been converted to a yarn shop and cafe. Definitely going for the "I want to live there" button. A place where everything is impossibly cozy, life is slower and simpler, and, oh yea, occasionally murder threatens paradise and audience identification character has to save the day... There are a slew of books like this, usually with some form of animal companion and/or recipes. This book has both.
Quick and fun. Somethiing to pick up when my hands are tired from knitting... or one of the other knit/murder series.
I've been wanting to wean myself off of LJ for a while. Not because of any problem with FList, not even (really) because of time-sink factor, but because the last Six Apart kerfluffle pissed me off, and I don't trust them anymore.
So I've started another blog. Many of you have already seen it on scooterbirds LJ. It's called, somewhat pretentiously, Penumbral Lore; Shadows of Science, and ednoria has graciously set up an RSS feed account called penumbrallore (which wasn't working at first and seems to be fine now).
It's going to be a place for more musings, less personal information. The subtitle is "comments on the intersection of science and !science", so you have an idea of the kinds of posts I'll be making. You are all very much invited to subscribe. Word of warning - I've joined NaBloPoMo, so the expected post frequency is a bit high...
This account will gradually be transitioned to 'read only', but I think I'll keep up with the book entries at least until the end of the year.
Some news about me and my lack o' posting coming up, but first - some books
Absurdistan
by Gary Shteyngart
My mother has been in this book club for something like 30 years now. At 72 she's the youngest member. I've been hearing stories about it forever, and tried to go once before. The problem was that I couldn't force myself to finish the book (I think it was "The Wizard of Menlo Park"). So, this time I decided I'd wade through it no matter how bad it was.
Started off terrible... I can sit through a 2 hour movie where I dislike the protagonist, but a book is a major time investment, and, for me, a much closer connection.... and Misha just wasn't likable. So full of self love/self loathing, and whining about it constantly. I could see where the humor was supposed to be, but it was just mean spirited nastiness. I hung in there, because the book club itself just sounded like fun.
By the end of the book I was getting something out of it. The targets for lampooning were more deserving. Misha actually began to grow as a character. It was and OK book with some good bits.
Then it came to the end. The entire story was building towards 9/11, when I was sure the protagonist would be flying back into New York, but it just stopped on the 10th, with no way for him to get home. Very strange.
The book club, however, was delightful. This months hostess is an artist, living in a beautiful home in Bannockburn, with an indoor garden and walls covered with light and form. Her living room was incredibly furnished, with no two chairs seeming to come from the same style or period, but they formed a friendly, and comfortable, whole (except for the folding chairs...)
Lunch was exquisite, with breaded salmon (I think, like I know from fish) and squash stuffed with cranberry sauce, and the company was delightful. I've been invited to come back, and, if the temp job fails to come through I definitely will).
Knit One, Kill Two
by Maggie Sefton
Have I mentioned before that mysteries are my 'popcorn reading'? Well, examples like this are the reason why. Light and fluffy, but no substance. Fun, but no story to get in the way of the formula.
This particular mystery is one of a subgenre - the cooking mystery. I kid you not, there are a number of mystery series in which the author includes a menu in each book. Maggie (who, apparently, learned to knit while she wrote the book) also added a couple of beginning knitting patterns at the end of the book, the very ones her protagonist was working on during the story. It was all very cosy.
Since this was the first book of the series, I actually misidentified one of the continuing characters as a potential suspect, but couldn't come up with a motive. I also misread the little old ladys introduction, and thought she was a lesbian. She wasn't, which was a shame, but I'm sure the author thought it would disrupt the ultimate cozy atmosphere she was trying to build if any of the characters were unexpected.
The set up? The protagonist has inherited her aunt's cottage, next door to the old farm house she grew up in, which has been converted to a yarn shop and cafe. Definitely going for the "I want to live there" button. A place where everything is impossibly cozy, life is slower and simpler, and, oh yea, occasionally murder threatens paradise and audience identification character has to save the day... There are a slew of books like this, usually with some form of animal companion and/or recipes. This book has both.
Quick and fun. Somethiing to pick up when my hands are tired from knitting... or one of the other knit/murder series.
I've been wanting to wean myself off of LJ for a while. Not because of any problem with FList, not even (really) because of time-sink factor, but because the last Six Apart kerfluffle pissed me off, and I don't trust them anymore.
So I've started another blog. Many of you have already seen it on scooterbirds LJ. It's called, somewhat pretentiously, Penumbral Lore; Shadows of Science, and ednoria has graciously set up an RSS feed account called penumbrallore (which wasn't working at first and seems to be fine now).
It's going to be a place for more musings, less personal information. The subtitle is "comments on the intersection of science and !science", so you have an idea of the kinds of posts I'll be making. You are all very much invited to subscribe. Word of warning - I've joined NaBloPoMo, so the expected post frequency is a bit high...
This account will gradually be transitioned to 'read only', but I think I'll keep up with the book entries at least until the end of the year.