What I read -- March 2019

“The Scar” by China Mieville. I started this before everything I finished in February because it was small enough to carry around and I own it so it’s okay if I drop it in a snowbank. CM is so baroque! I never really quite connected with Bellis (the main character), but it didn’t really matter. About 50 pages from the end I started to get nervous that the ending wasn’t going to be satisfying, but turns out, it was.
The mosquito people felt like they were that way for a reason other than to squick me out, compared to the grotesqueness in that Ian M. Banks book I read back in… November?

LHC #31: “Sideways Stories from Wayside School” by Louis Sachar. Must have been recommended by someone… It was cute.

LHC #32: “Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter” by Tom Bissell. I did have someone who played games constantly! It was maybe a phase. Now I think he wants to have a life. Games can be part of that. I probably added this to my list when games were still a problem in our house and am just getting to it now. It would be good if I got to things faster…

LHC #33: “Hammered” by Elizabeth Bear. This one had an actual wait! I waited like a month, even though it was the oldest thing on my holds list! I think the Toronto Public Library might only have one copy. I’ve read at least two complete series by EB, plus at least one other book (maybe two) so this is like the 8^th or 9^th book by her I’ve read.
She was an instructor at VP when I was there (probably still is) and spoke well of my boots.
Because of Persephone, I took note of how she used French. It’s different than I’ll do it I think.

Best TW feedback ever

Over at the dayjob, SMEs are feverishly trying to get documents back to me all marked up, in preparation for the release that's supposed to happen the week I'm back from VP. Today's best comment: Unfortunately not true. SMEs, they're so cute.

What I read: August 2023

"The Absolute Book" by Elizabeth Knox. I got it for Christmas. It was delightful, even if maybe some stuff wasn't explained completely. Or maybe that's part of why it was delightful. "Crucial conversations" By Joseph Grenny and three other old white men. Another office book club selection. The word "candor" comes up a lot. I really resented this book. LHC #220: "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. There was a girl at my previous company who wanted to have an office book club, and she had this book on her desk for months and months. I can totally understand this. I found portions crazy stressful to read. Like, I would be skipping ahead to see how much more in the section, could I get through it, pacing around, etc. I wanted to know how it ended, sure, but I was having weird stress dreams and stuff. If it wasn't a library book I might not have finished it at all. It was such a relief when Boris showed up again and something happened. I di

In Progress -- July 2023

Wind/Water/Salt Chapters 39-51: Still n eed to take up comments and revise. Persephone (probably not its real name): Nothing but thoughts. Short Stories: As I mentioned last month I had a dish-washing epiphany on a story that wasn't going well. I'd already changed the POV character, but I knew that wasn't enough because I had no ending. It has an ending now. Critted 4 Got back 0 I really need to post something new. Submissions 0 Out there 0 Rejects 1 Knitting Tay Tartan cardigan (Martin Storey). Finally finished the danglers and minor seaming and chose buttons, then had to wait to block because the space I normally block in needed to be cleared, and this would be very disruptive to my work, so I waited to block it for the night before I went on vacation. It would appear that the finishing of this sweater took 4 months, which may be a new record. It fits for the most part. Yay! Cathar (self). Started the month just about done with the body edging.

Robynettely

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