Quick Catch-Up
Cold Fire by Kate Elliot: Good, with some great bits. Looking forward to the third book. It seems as if Elliot is more or less letting the characters take her where they will, within an outline with pretty large parameters. This also bugged me in the Crown of Stars series, but this world is waaaaay better, and the characters are better too. I want more Bee!
Pride and Prejudice: Read it too fast, in one weekend. Still good. For the first time, when Mrs. Bennet says something to the effect of, "I assure you we have quite as much of that in the country as you do in London!" I allowed myself to believe that the others were shocked because her comment was actually salacious.
The Hydrogen Sonata by Charles Stross: Good solid and enjoyable science fiction. I especially enjoy the names and witticisms of the ship-minds. Always worth a read, though his very first book I actually couldn't get through. ETA: his science fiction is always worth a read, esp. the Culture novels.
Six-Gun Tarot by Belcher: A so-called "weird western" that I picked up in the library yesterday. It was ok, and I tore through it, but I felt that the spread of characters was just too thin -- I didn't get to hear as much about the characters I really liked as I, er, would have liked.
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance: All hail Lois MacMaster Bujold. I've read about two-thirds of it in two sittings, it's that good. Who else could take a plot straight from the inimitable Georgette Heyer, put it into science fiction, and make it better?? I suppose it helps that there are layers of background that I already know from having read all the other books in the universe (and there are many), but wow. Super-impressive on every level that matters: plot, character, details, world-building, genre.
Field Trip: I got to hear a survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima speak. He is the son of a Korean who was a forced migrant laborer. Amazing.
Cambodian Ballet: I got to go see the Royal Cambodian Ballet at BAM, at the last minute, in box tickets that were "partial view" but weren't. The master of the dance troupe was a survivor of the Khmer Rouge, and he (and the princess of Cambodia) talked after the show a bit. That was an intense week, what with the previous event and this one on a Wednesday and a Friday.
Things I no longer own: This weekend I recycled my printer (who knows why it didn't print, but I can't use it, so...) AND went to Shred Fest NYC and shredded 1 3/4 inches of paper. Some people had BOXES, but I assure you I was very proud. Also I recycled some shirts at the farmer's market. And I composted. It's a wonder that anything goes in the trash, in this city. Fair credit to Bloomberg.
Met exhibit: Today I finally got to see "Impressionism and Fashion" at the Metropolitan.
It was crazy crowded (but note it was at least the weekend before the last weekend of the exhibit, so it could have been worse), I was hungry, and it went on forever. The dresses were so cool to see, and the evolution from the 1850's to the 1880's from sloping bustle to no-bustle "cuirass" gowns (my favorite) to bump bustle and fishtail gowns was great. There was an amazing House of Worth gown-just wow.
There was, to be fair, not a lot of what I think of as "classic" Impressionism in the exhibit, at least not before the end, which makes sense looking at the years I mentioned above. There WERE impressionist artists (Manet, Renoir, Monet, Degas, a lot of Berthe Morisot, whom I now want to read a biography of) but they did point out that Impressionism was, erm, mostly about landscapes. There was "Woman with a Parasol, all in pastels -- a Monet, and it seems to have been a theme of his -- but mostly the exhibit talked about how painting people's clothes (as fashion became accessible to the masses) led off a movement of painting modern everyday life instead of traditional subjects. I liked the Tissots the best, espicially of the women with the yellow dress, and a ball scene -- I will have to put in links later. They had a study for the famous Seurat, and "Paris, Rainy Day" by Caillebot as well, but I was so hungry by then that I decided to spend my energy on the Worth. All in all, great, and I almost could see Impressionism as fresh.