Some Amount of Things Make A Post
Not much has been happening while under the influence of massive sleepination (I have been sleeping a LOT) but I have gotten a few needful things done and I have read some books.
- Root canal part 2: Again, not as bad as I thought a root canal was supposed to be. Kind of like getting a tedious, shove-y, filling. Probably the worst part is having the x-rays taken, because it triggers my gag reflex to have the film card positioned the way it needs to be positioned, and even for that they slapped on a little numbing gel and presto, it was easy. I still need to get a crown because it's on a back molar, but the root canal part is done.
- Many walks! I have been making it out to walk every day for... um... a few weeks now. Which is good, as I was missing occasionally before that. I am still very low energy but I like seeing some improvement. Mr. Dog helps me put on my shoes every morning, which only makes it take three times as long as it ought to (but I get more snuggles in, so it works out.) I still need to lure myself with coffee, but the cafe is still a decently good walk away, so it works out.
- Redemption in Indigo -- this is a book that reminds me of Nobilis. It features creatures that could easily be written up as Powers (or also as angels, or trickster spirits, or....), with their different perspectives on humanity, and a mortal woman who perseveres despite being put into overly vexing circumstances.
- Velveteen vs. the Junior Super Patriots -- I think this is my favorite Seanan McGuire book yet. The combination of cynicism and lightheartedness just works really well for me, and while she experiments with style in the early stories, she quickly finds a suitable voice. The relationships are what really makes it work, and I really like rooting for the quite downtrodden Velveteen. This is definitely not shiny four color comics, but it's not gratuitously grim and gritty either; it's often very funny as well as poignant.
- After the Golden Age -- Thematically this would go with the above; this book opens with the completely ordinary daughter of two superheroes being kidnapped for the umpteenth time. She's bored with the process by now. Despite being cast as the automatic damsel in distress by so many villains, she wants nothing more than to get out of the shadow of her parents, and she figures out ways to use her completely mundane abilities to help out.
- Agyar -- I remember reading this a long time ago but not really being able to finish it because I strongly disliked the narrator. I still do, but was able to finish it this time. There are some things I like about it this time around (it's a great example of an unreliable narrator), but it's not my favorite Brust.
- The Language of Flowers -- The main character has turned 18 in the foster care system, always feeling abandoned and let down... sometimes triggering a crisis in foster homes so that she can reject them first so she doesn't feel the pain of rejection herself. She relates to people based on a dictionary of the language of flowers that she found, and learns how to form relationships using that as the basis. It tells the story of child-her living with the woman who came closest to being her adoptive mother and the adult her struggling to find a place for herself.
- The Hammer -- I really liked this, which is good as I ended up reading it twice because I completely could not remember it after the first reading. Not that it's unmemorable, but I've been so sick my memory is on the blink for this one. In fact, this has been long enough in my "read" stack that I'm having trouble remembering all of the particulars. Darn it. That's not much to go on. Anyhow, flintlock guns play a role, as does a drop hammer for a forge. And nasty Machiavellian revenge plots. And um... yeah, I liked it but can't completely recall why.