consciousness stream misc, and books
Jun. 26th, 2024 07:37 pmI am home, after having been away for two weeks, which is (it turns out) a long time. Mr Tuppert has mostly forgiven me for the twin indignities of leaving him alone and then brushing him vigorously.
In Minneapolis I visited Uncle Hugo/Edgar's Bookstore(s) and met some of Steph's friends, and also her two cats. Then in Fort I petted a lot of cats and not a few dogs, and stacked wood and fed geese and pigs and helped plant some ritual-space trees. Also I made a second key lime pie (with normal limes instead) and it turned out pretty well.
I finished my classes and I believe I passed them all, for credential-granting values of "passed." Pretty sure I did quite well in three and acceptably well in a fourth. As for the fifth, I consider it a triumph that I managed as well as I did. Bah. And I have at least one and possibly/probably two more classes with this instructor.
I have also received an unexpected US$2000 check from the IRS. I have no idea why (I have a couple of theories but that's all they are) (UPDATE: It is in fact the stimulus payment from 2020/2021 that I missed, plus interest), and after spending an hour plus getting Verified, the account page is useless. So tomorrow I will spend some time On Hold figuring that out. Tomorrow is also for groceries and journaling.
Tonight is for petting the cat and staring at the wall. And also blathering about books, because Wednesday.
What are you reading now?
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen #2 of 10 and then some. This one has taken a bit to spin up, I guess in the same way that Gardens of the Moon (#1) did, but it's rolling along quite nicely now. I'm enjoying most of the characters and much of the complex worldbuilding. My sole problem is that I can't tell if I want to be reading an ebook or not.
What did you just finish reading?
Rereads of Gideon/Harrow/Nona The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Gideon remains a triumph of imaginative storytelling, narrative deftness, and voice, and I unreservedly recommend it. Harrow feels sluggish and pointless until three-fifths through (specifically, page 302 of 500ish) but the last two hundred pages are worth the price of admission. Nona does almost exactly the same thing but on reread I find Nona hanging out with the kids to be less annoying than Harrow's angst. On the other hand, to quote Douglas Adams, "I think this is getting needlessly messianic." If I wanted to read far-future sci-fi with crypto-Catholic mysticism I'd reread Gene Wolfe. And sometimes I do want that! Here it just annoys me. (Granted, I am partly annoyed because Camilla Hect, the absolute best character in the series, has been SPOILERed.)
What do you think you'll read next?
Deadhouse is gonna occupy me for awhile. If I'm wanting something hardcopy I might dig into The Saint Of Bright Doors which I picked up in Mpls, after seeing recommendations from a rather diverse set of people. Or I might get into one of my Silvia M-G books. Or I might reread Fonda Lee's Green Bone books. Who knows.
In Minneapolis I visited Uncle Hugo/Edgar's Bookstore(s) and met some of Steph's friends, and also her two cats. Then in Fort I petted a lot of cats and not a few dogs, and stacked wood and fed geese and pigs and helped plant some ritual-space trees. Also I made a second key lime pie (with normal limes instead) and it turned out pretty well.
I finished my classes and I believe I passed them all, for credential-granting values of "passed." Pretty sure I did quite well in three and acceptably well in a fourth. As for the fifth, I consider it a triumph that I managed as well as I did. Bah. And I have at least one and possibly/probably two more classes with this instructor.
I have also received an unexpected US$2000 check from the IRS. I have no idea why (I have a couple of theories but that's all they are) (UPDATE: It is in fact the stimulus payment from 2020/2021 that I missed, plus interest), and after spending an hour plus getting Verified, the account page is useless. So tomorrow I will spend some time On Hold figuring that out. Tomorrow is also for groceries and journaling.
Tonight is for petting the cat and staring at the wall. And also blathering about books, because Wednesday.
What are you reading now?
Deadhouse Gates, Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen #2 of 10 and then some. This one has taken a bit to spin up, I guess in the same way that Gardens of the Moon (#1) did, but it's rolling along quite nicely now. I'm enjoying most of the characters and much of the complex worldbuilding. My sole problem is that I can't tell if I want to be reading an ebook or not.
What did you just finish reading?
Rereads of Gideon/Harrow/Nona The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Gideon remains a triumph of imaginative storytelling, narrative deftness, and voice, and I unreservedly recommend it. Harrow feels sluggish and pointless until three-fifths through (specifically, page 302 of 500ish) but the last two hundred pages are worth the price of admission. Nona does almost exactly the same thing but on reread I find Nona hanging out with the kids to be less annoying than Harrow's angst. On the other hand, to quote Douglas Adams, "I think this is getting needlessly messianic." If I wanted to read far-future sci-fi with crypto-Catholic mysticism I'd reread Gene Wolfe. And sometimes I do want that! Here it just annoys me. (Granted, I am partly annoyed because Camilla Hect, the absolute best character in the series, has been SPOILERed.)
What do you think you'll read next?
Deadhouse is gonna occupy me for awhile. If I'm wanting something hardcopy I might dig into The Saint Of Bright Doors which I picked up in Mpls, after seeing recommendations from a rather diverse set of people. Or I might get into one of my Silvia M-G books. Or I might reread Fonda Lee's Green Bone books. Who knows.