Skip to main content

What I read -- July 2021

You can't see what I'm reading in this pic, alas. It's over on the floor.

LHC #127: "The Bonjour Effect" by Julie Barlow & Jean-Benoit Nadeau. This probably wound up on the list because one of my main characters in Persephone speaks French and not English, and I spend a lot of time on Duolingo. I didn't really enjoy this book. It made me feel icky. I think it was the whole "we" thing and then the authors referring to one or the other of them in third-person, which sort of reminded me of "The New Basics Cookbook" from the 80s. 

There's also the problem of the inclusive vs. exclusive We (which I read about on Lingthusiasm a little while ago). 

LHC #128: "The Screaming Staircase" by Jonathan Stroud. Hard copy. I loved the Bartimaeus books. It took me about a day to read, very fun.

LHC #129: "The Little White Horse" by Elizabeth Goudge. Hard copy. Maybe because of Terri Windling? It was sort of ridiculous, in a 1940's way. 

LHC #130: "A Conspiracy of Truths" by Alexandra Rowland. eBook. She had a controversy last year, and when I heard about it I was amused to see that this was already on my list. The voice didn't totally work for me and it seemed to go on and on. I wanted to know more about the interauthor. 

"The Karate Way" by Dave Lowry. It's karate grading season! When I was trying to figure out if I'd read this one before, I discovered I'd read a different one twice, several months apart, without realizing, and thought it was a little bit "the same." Oh dear. I could find no evidence that I've read this one before, but it sure felt like I had.

Popular posts from this blog

In progress: March 2026

Wind/Water/Salt Chapters 39-51 :   Nothing.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): Nothing.  Vinterlys:  Working on Chapter 3 still, though this one seems more stable. I did work on it quite a bit during Chapter 2. 1-3 are in the same locale so it made sense to work on them together. Maybe I'll continue in this vein, doing the next locale all together too.  Critted  4  Got back  3 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Aberlady  (AS Celtic Collection). I added markers at each pattern repeat. Hopefully that will make it easier to work on.   Summer in Tokyo  (Isager):Started the month with eleven rows left on the second sleeve, the yoke, and the finishing to go. And as I wanted, I finished this and now I can wear it for a little while before sweater weather is over until fall. I could not follow the yoke short row instructions as written so I did my best to make it look like th...

In progress - January 2026

  Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Nothing  Persephone  (probably not its real name): NOthing Vinterlys:  Worked on Chapter 2 some more.  Critted  4  Got back  1 Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   0 Knitting Georgia  (Norah Gaughan). Started the month with one sleeve and half a front to go. Finished. Love this sweater.  Aberlady  (AS Celtic Collection). Did a few rows while listening to podcasts.  Summer in Tokyo  (Isager): Started. I was looking at the pictures and the charts, and the pattern as written is not what is in the pictures! So odd. I am going to finish up two cones of yarn with this project! Pretty exciting. I hope I don't run out of light blue.  I was working along on it, and if you go and look at the sweater, it's knit bottom-up, and I was at the part where I only had two colors, about 5" maybe. And I was thinking, "wow, this is pretty ugly! Maybe I should stop...

What I read: September 2025

LHC #295: "The Last to Leave the Room" by Caitlin Starling. Audiobook. Workplace horror? Loved it.  "Careless People" by Sarah Wynn-Williams. Hard copy, for office Data Ethics book club. The stories about Sheryl Sandberg really made me like my boss better.  LHC #296: "The Fated Sky" by Mary Robinette Kowal. Hard copy. This got moved up the list because Ed had read book 1 in the series and got the rest out of the library. Loved it. He's got the next one in the series upstairs, I suppose I'll read it when he's done.  LHC #297: "Bluegrass: A History" by Neil V. Rosenberg. Hard copy. No idea why it was on my list, I don't care that much about bluegrass. Nevertheless, the second half was interesting. I guess the first half was necessary, as it described in great length the way people came and went in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys band, and also how technology and social pressures affect how music is made and performed.   LHC #298: ...