SO MUCH FOOD (altho tbh i'm not complaining)
What I just finished reading:
nevernever after which i had the same kind of reaction i had when i went to see streets of fire - i recognize that it's just not that good a book (it's essentially two separate stories from two separate anthologies plus some connective tissue to make everything into a single coherent story) at the same time i can still see why the younger me was so into it. i had to keep reminding myself that the main character is seventeen because he acts a lot older, and he and the girl he's interested in have a weird, stilted, "i don't want my readers to think unprotected sex is ok" conversation about condoms right before they have sex for the first time. and this isn't necessarily a critique but part of the book was originally written for the anthology bordertown which came out in 1986 which makes it a very specific and (i think) very dated kind of urban fantasy. (another big chunk was written for life on the border which came out in 1991, so not a whole lot different.) so i'm reading it thinking "i remember when i was into this kind of thing" and "wow i am so not the target audience any more" and "ah, nostalgia".
also paris, written by andi watson and drawn by simon gane. it's about an american girl in paris, in the 50s or early 60s, who's there to paint and gets by partly by taking portrait commissions. she gets a commission to paint an english girl and they develop fine feelings for each other and i remember it being very cute and it is. (no spoilers if anyone wants to read it but it has a happy ending.)
also also ride on, written and drawn by faith erin hicks - i had a run of graphic novels - which is about a teenage rider, formerly competitive, who just wants to spend her summer riding horses at a local barn and not competing. faith erin hicks's stuff is an automatic yes for me - allow me to pimp the nameless city trilogy while i'm here - and ride on is very cute altho it has some awkward dialogue. the main character used to be a competitive rider and had a good friend she'd compete with (and against, i guess) and this friend is going to be going to meets all summer and the mc isn't. and they have a conversation that's kind of like "i thought you were going to compete with me this summer." "i just want to take it easy this summer." "so i'll be going to meets by myself this summer?" which. i dunno. needs better editing? on the other hand the mc is a fangirl of a scifi tv show and bonds with some of the kids at the new barn over it, which is ADORABLE. (faith erin hicks is a fangirl so, you know, writing about them probably comes easy. i approve.) also the supporting characters are great and varied, and the mc's sister is fun and i just really liked it.
What I am reading now:
the very secret society of irregular witches, by sangu mandanna, in which a british-indian witch named mika is hired to teach three little girls how to control their magic in a world where witches are supposed to keep it on the down-low and tell no one they can do magic. it's a very sweet, very cozy book. there's a love interest who does the annoying, cliched thing of hating mika on sight - altho it's less about her specifically and more about what she represents - and who elicits an equally cliched "oh no he's hot" reaction from her when they first meet. i wouldn't call them enemies to lovers, because for one thing if she dislikes him it's because he doesn't try to make himself likable, and there's more to their relationship than just "future romantic partners" - like, they have interactions without any sexual tension - but every so often i'm kind of annoyed. but i like mika and i like the magic and she has a dog and eventually there will be conflict that isn't interpersonal-romantic and i wanted to read something light and this is certainly that.
also, uh, dracula daily, which i never actually finished. >.< the last three days are still sitting in my inbox. >.<
What I'm going to read next:
i have two graphic novels - the book tour, by andi watson, and sunburn, by him and simon gane (do you sense a trend?) - so maybe one of those, or an anthology i helped kickstart partly because
apiphile has a story in it. or something else, i don't know.
today there was a conference at work for which the admin in charge ordered breakfast, second breakfast, and lunch. second breakfast included lox flatbreads - giant flatbreads with cream cheese, lox, capers, and scallions. there were two and NO ONE ATE THEM. so they ended up in the fridge on my floor and i ended up walking around and telling everyone i ran into "hey, there are lox flatbreads in the fridge, go eat them". i brought my lunch but ended up having leftovers from the conference instead. (there were meatballs. i couldn't say no. also little caprese sandwiches.) and then a group i'm sort of in - it's like an umbrella group a bunch of my pi's belong to - had their holiday party which makes the third one for me so far and there were DOUGHNUTS AND LOTS OF THEM. also mini cheesecakes in individual boxes. (i took one home. also a doughnut.) also also savory appetizers including potato pancakes. me and another woman in my group pimped top gun: maverick to someone who legitimately wanted to see it, and then i discovered that she also has the hots for the hotter hemsworth. i mean. can you blame her? AND she lives down the street from my old apartment two apartments ago. i moved out in 2011 and she moved in in 2012. fun!
it's going to be VERY QUIET at work next week and i don't know what i'm going to do with myself.
this happened last weekend but the orion capsule from nasa's artemis 1 mission successfully returned to earth (by which i mean it splashed down in the ocean) and this is cool because a. it means nasa can go on to phase 2 of putting people back on the moon - and i think eventually getting us to mars - and b. there was a snoopy and a shaun the sheep on board. both were wearing flightsuits, natch. shaun was there in partnership with the european space agency, so he was wearing an esa suit.
i think i mentioned this before - in 1999 two sisters, refugees from yugoslavia, met an american woman on the plane to the us who gave them $100, and this spring they finally found her again. now they've reunited in person.
nevernever after which i had the same kind of reaction i had when i went to see streets of fire - i recognize that it's just not that good a book (it's essentially two separate stories from two separate anthologies plus some connective tissue to make everything into a single coherent story) at the same time i can still see why the younger me was so into it. i had to keep reminding myself that the main character is seventeen because he acts a lot older, and he and the girl he's interested in have a weird, stilted, "i don't want my readers to think unprotected sex is ok" conversation about condoms right before they have sex for the first time. and this isn't necessarily a critique but part of the book was originally written for the anthology bordertown which came out in 1986 which makes it a very specific and (i think) very dated kind of urban fantasy. (another big chunk was written for life on the border which came out in 1991, so not a whole lot different.) so i'm reading it thinking "i remember when i was into this kind of thing" and "wow i am so not the target audience any more" and "ah, nostalgia".
also paris, written by andi watson and drawn by simon gane. it's about an american girl in paris, in the 50s or early 60s, who's there to paint and gets by partly by taking portrait commissions. she gets a commission to paint an english girl and they develop fine feelings for each other and i remember it being very cute and it is. (no spoilers if anyone wants to read it but it has a happy ending.)
also also ride on, written and drawn by faith erin hicks - i had a run of graphic novels - which is about a teenage rider, formerly competitive, who just wants to spend her summer riding horses at a local barn and not competing. faith erin hicks's stuff is an automatic yes for me - allow me to pimp the nameless city trilogy while i'm here - and ride on is very cute altho it has some awkward dialogue. the main character used to be a competitive rider and had a good friend she'd compete with (and against, i guess) and this friend is going to be going to meets all summer and the mc isn't. and they have a conversation that's kind of like "i thought you were going to compete with me this summer." "i just want to take it easy this summer." "so i'll be going to meets by myself this summer?" which. i dunno. needs better editing? on the other hand the mc is a fangirl of a scifi tv show and bonds with some of the kids at the new barn over it, which is ADORABLE. (faith erin hicks is a fangirl so, you know, writing about them probably comes easy. i approve.) also the supporting characters are great and varied, and the mc's sister is fun and i just really liked it.
What I am reading now:
the very secret society of irregular witches, by sangu mandanna, in which a british-indian witch named mika is hired to teach three little girls how to control their magic in a world where witches are supposed to keep it on the down-low and tell no one they can do magic. it's a very sweet, very cozy book. there's a love interest who does the annoying, cliched thing of hating mika on sight - altho it's less about her specifically and more about what she represents - and who elicits an equally cliched "oh no he's hot" reaction from her when they first meet. i wouldn't call them enemies to lovers, because for one thing if she dislikes him it's because he doesn't try to make himself likable, and there's more to their relationship than just "future romantic partners" - like, they have interactions without any sexual tension - but every so often i'm kind of annoyed. but i like mika and i like the magic and she has a dog and eventually there will be conflict that isn't interpersonal-romantic and i wanted to read something light and this is certainly that.
also, uh, dracula daily, which i never actually finished. >.< the last three days are still sitting in my inbox. >.<
What I'm going to read next:
i have two graphic novels - the book tour, by andi watson, and sunburn, by him and simon gane (do you sense a trend?) - so maybe one of those, or an anthology i helped kickstart partly because
apiphile has a story in it. or something else, i don't know.
today there was a conference at work for which the admin in charge ordered breakfast, second breakfast, and lunch. second breakfast included lox flatbreads - giant flatbreads with cream cheese, lox, capers, and scallions. there were two and NO ONE ATE THEM. so they ended up in the fridge on my floor and i ended up walking around and telling everyone i ran into "hey, there are lox flatbreads in the fridge, go eat them". i brought my lunch but ended up having leftovers from the conference instead. (there were meatballs. i couldn't say no. also little caprese sandwiches.) and then a group i'm sort of in - it's like an umbrella group a bunch of my pi's belong to - had their holiday party which makes the third one for me so far and there were DOUGHNUTS AND LOTS OF THEM. also mini cheesecakes in individual boxes. (i took one home. also a doughnut.) also also savory appetizers including potato pancakes. me and another woman in my group pimped top gun: maverick to someone who legitimately wanted to see it, and then i discovered that she also has the hots for the hotter hemsworth. i mean. can you blame her? AND she lives down the street from my old apartment two apartments ago. i moved out in 2011 and she moved in in 2012. fun!
it's going to be VERY QUIET at work next week and i don't know what i'm going to do with myself.
this happened last weekend but the orion capsule from nasa's artemis 1 mission successfully returned to earth (by which i mean it splashed down in the ocean) and this is cool because a. it means nasa can go on to phase 2 of putting people back on the moon - and i think eventually getting us to mars - and b. there was a snoopy and a shaun the sheep on board. both were wearing flightsuits, natch. shaun was there in partnership with the european space agency, so he was wearing an esa suit.
i think i mentioned this before - in 1999 two sisters, refugees from yugoslavia, met an american woman on the plane to the us who gave them $100, and this spring they finally found her again. now they've reunited in person.