What I read -- March 2026

LHC #315: "The Brides of High Hill" by Nghi Vo. eBook. Sequel. Nice and short. This one took a turn I did not expect.

"The Grifters" by Jim Thompson. Hard copy. Got it for Christmas, my sister said it was amazing, just got better and better. She was absolutely right.

"The Listeners" by Maggie Stiefvater. Hard copy. I got it for my birthday last year. I never really bonded with the main character, and for vast tracts it felt like nothing happened, and I kept wanting more from the water, but it had a satisfying conclusion.

LHC #316: "History of medicine: A scandalously short introduction" by Jacalyn Duffin. Hard copy. So, funny story. I swear I bought this book like 10 years ago and it disappeared somewhere in my house never to be seen again. I periodically search for it.

Anyway, the main character of the novel I'm working on (Vinterlys) is a young woman in 1888 Providence RI who wants to be a physician. This book was always intended to be research for that, and I'm so glad I read it. If I came across my copy of it in a box somewhere, I would not be sad to have it, having already read it.

Actually, even if I wasn't writing Vinterlys, I'd still be glad I read it. It provides so much context and was such an easy read, considering I had to google terminology constantly as I'm not a med student.

LHC #317: "A Sleight of Shadows" by Kat Howard. eBook. Sequel. Sydney is awesome, but I found this to be a very stressful read. I did not tear through it, except when I got to about 75% and then I just burned through to the end. Very good.

Moraine

So a couple of days I thought I was done with this short story, and I wrote the last line of the story. I even dated it (that's how I can tell it's over). It was a little long, at 6600 words (I was aiming for 5000). But then I was walking to work, and I thought, "My, that was a lame ending. My endings are all crap." So yesterday morning, I scribbled out the date and wrote a bit more. And this morning I wrote a bit more again, and I dated it and called it done. And still, that ending seemed lame. So a few minutes later, in the last paragraph, I scratched out "the Oak Ridges Moraine" and wrote in "that stupid moraine". Much better. Now I can move on. But in the meantime, I was doing a little research about the Moraine, and I discovered that EGTourGuide lives on it. Only by one or two hundred feet, but I thought it was funny. Good for you, EGTourGuide, with all those excellent plants growing on that substandard soil, where in the olden days (you kno...

In progress: August 2024

Wind/Water/Salt Chapters 39-51: Still n eed to take up comments and revise. Persephone (probably not its real name): Continued to think thoughts. Short Stories: After posting that short story from last month onto the workshop, I picked one of those short stories I'd started and forced a plot onto it. Critted 5 Got back 4 Submissions 0 Out there 0 Rejects 0 Knitting Cathar (self). Started month with two inches done above the armholes. Listening to audiobooks, I finished the fair isle portion, cut the steeks, and set up and knit the neckline. Just the endless finishing now. Blushing Cloud (Knitty S/S24). Started the month with (still) three inches of back done. Socks take priority. Elbrus socks (Knitty first fall 2024). Finished. Elbrus socks II . Started the first. Pole shorts (Joan McGowan-Michael). I knitted these several years ago, but the...

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: ...

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