we were light and paper thin
Books!
What I've just finished
Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer (translated by Ursula K. Le Guin), which is beautifully written on a sentence by sentence level (I imagine it must be, since the translation is beautiful), and full of interesting stories of an Empire that never existed, and the people who ruled it well and badly and indifferently. I'm not sure it comes together to tell any kind of overarching story though? Is it meant to be post-apocalyptic? Is that what that final story with the names of famous actors and directors supposed to indicate? Or is it some far-flung future colony? Idk.
The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports by Jeff Passan, which I found a really interesting, compelling read, even though the conclusion is basically we don't know much but we're developing the technology to learn more about the interaction between throwing mechanics and the wear and tear on the UCL etc. It does open with what I thought was a pretty graphic description of Tommy John surgery, and I did not really need to read that? But I'm easily squicked by surgical procedures. I also imagine the book as a whole is pretty terrifying if you're the parent of a kid who plays baseball and shows any aptitude for it. But it's very up to date - I didn't expect it would include last fall's Matt Harvey innings contretemps, for example, but it does. I definitely recommend it if you're interesting in baseball and why so many pitchers seem to need Tommy John surgery.
What I'm reading now
Ardennes 1944: The Battle of the Bulge, by Antony Beevor, came from the library (on July 4, which I thought was pretty funny), so that's what I'm reading. I just made it through the Hürtgen (or at least the parts of it leading up to the Battle of the Bulge), and yeesh. The ineptitude of the general who insisted on that line of attack (Hodges) is horrifying. Beevor doesn't spare any of the Allied High Command, though I'd say Montgomery gets the worst of it. What a bunch of dick-swinging egotists. I'm impressed they ever managed to win, though I guess the fact that Hitler was both delusional and paranoid and unable to let go of micromanaging helped, since his generals were hamstrung by his inability to let them do their jobs without interference. (I mean, even Stalin at some point started listening to his generals instead of insisting he knew best!)
Anyway, as of my stopping point this morning, the Germans are prepping for Wacht am Rhein and the Allies are stretched way too thin in the Ardennes, so the shit is about to hit the fan.
What I'm reading next
With my Kindle refund, I bought a bunch of new well-reviewed mainstream literary type novels, so probably one of those.
***
I know some of you out there make jewelry etc., so does anyone know if I can have a pair of earrings made into a pair of (finger) rings? The hook/clasp on one no longer catches, and they actually fit my middle fingers perfectly as rings. Is this a thing a jeweler could do? (I suppose I could just have the hook/clasp part fixed, but I have another pair of similar earrings I bought when I could no longer wear these, so I don't really need them as earrings anymore...)
***
Boss1 is taking us to lunch today as a thank you for working on the event. Which is great and all, but we're going at noon and I don't usually eat lunch until 2 pm, so I'm a little "...?" about the whole thing.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/854205.html.
people have commented there.
What I've just finished
Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer (translated by Ursula K. Le Guin), which is beautifully written on a sentence by sentence level (I imagine it must be, since the translation is beautiful), and full of interesting stories of an Empire that never existed, and the people who ruled it well and badly and indifferently. I'm not sure it comes together to tell any kind of overarching story though? Is it meant to be post-apocalyptic? Is that what that final story with the names of famous actors and directors supposed to indicate? Or is it some far-flung future colony? Idk.
The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports by Jeff Passan, which I found a really interesting, compelling read, even though the conclusion is basically we don't know much but we're developing the technology to learn more about the interaction between throwing mechanics and the wear and tear on the UCL etc. It does open with what I thought was a pretty graphic description of Tommy John surgery, and I did not really need to read that? But I'm easily squicked by surgical procedures. I also imagine the book as a whole is pretty terrifying if you're the parent of a kid who plays baseball and shows any aptitude for it. But it's very up to date - I didn't expect it would include last fall's Matt Harvey innings contretemps, for example, but it does. I definitely recommend it if you're interesting in baseball and why so many pitchers seem to need Tommy John surgery.
What I'm reading now
Ardennes 1944: The Battle of the Bulge, by Antony Beevor, came from the library (on July 4, which I thought was pretty funny), so that's what I'm reading. I just made it through the Hürtgen (or at least the parts of it leading up to the Battle of the Bulge), and yeesh. The ineptitude of the general who insisted on that line of attack (Hodges) is horrifying. Beevor doesn't spare any of the Allied High Command, though I'd say Montgomery gets the worst of it. What a bunch of dick-swinging egotists. I'm impressed they ever managed to win, though I guess the fact that Hitler was both delusional and paranoid and unable to let go of micromanaging helped, since his generals were hamstrung by his inability to let them do their jobs without interference. (I mean, even Stalin at some point started listening to his generals instead of insisting he knew best!)
Anyway, as of my stopping point this morning, the Germans are prepping for Wacht am Rhein and the Allies are stretched way too thin in the Ardennes, so the shit is about to hit the fan.
What I'm reading next
With my Kindle refund, I bought a bunch of new well-reviewed mainstream literary type novels, so probably one of those.
***
I know some of you out there make jewelry etc., so does anyone know if I can have a pair of earrings made into a pair of (finger) rings? The hook/clasp on one no longer catches, and they actually fit my middle fingers perfectly as rings. Is this a thing a jeweler could do? (I suppose I could just have the hook/clasp part fixed, but I have another pair of similar earrings I bought when I could no longer wear these, so I don't really need them as earrings anymore...)
***
Boss1 is taking us to lunch today as a thank you for working on the event. Which is great and all, but we're going at noon and I don't usually eat lunch until 2 pm, so I'm a little "...?" about the whole thing.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/854205.html.
people have commented there.