homebound, books
Mar. 18th, 2020 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishOn the one hand, "social distancing" / "self-quarantine" isn't that much different from how I live my life three weeks out of four. Erin and I are functionally quarantining as a unit despite maintaining separate households, but apart from that my encounters with human beings closer than three feet are limited to the grocery store anyhow. Yoga's out for the foreseeable; that makes me sad, but I can exerbike and watch Kipo and the Wonderbeasts, or whatever once I run out of Kipo (got lots of good suggestions both here and on the Book of Face). I have a sufficiency of stuff to cook, and stuff to bake. I sometimes talk to people online.
On the other hand... that one week out of four was pretty important to my mental health and well-being, turns out, as were the semiregular semiannual distant-sweetheart visits.
Bah. Gonna be a rough spring all around.
What are you reading now?
Rereading Ha'penny by Jo Walton, because I decided that what I needed to distract me was a trip through an alt-history midcentury fascist England. I may yet regret this by the end of the book. I'm enjoying it thus far, though, and I have basically no memory of the ending (except for Viola's fate) so it's functionally a first read. As I recall I got irritated with the third book for its deus-ex-machina in the form of the Royals; will see if that holds up, I guess.
What did you just finish reading?
First reread of The Sorcerer's House by Gene Wolfe. What an odd book. It's nominally set present-day (well, 2010) but apart from a few references to email and cell phones it would feel more at home in, say, the late seventies. It's an enjoyable puzzle-box, and I'm sure there's more to it than I think, despite my feeling of smugness at having picked up on one of the key mysteries (the author of the last letter).
What do you think you'll read next?
Jeez, I don't know. Maybe Half A Crown, maybe A Mist Of Grit And Splinters, maybe something completely different. I seem to have spent last week binging on ebook sales so it's not like I'm starved for choice.
On the other hand... that one week out of four was pretty important to my mental health and well-being, turns out, as were the semiregular semiannual distant-sweetheart visits.
Bah. Gonna be a rough spring all around.
What are you reading now?
Rereading Ha'penny by Jo Walton, because I decided that what I needed to distract me was a trip through an alt-history midcentury fascist England. I may yet regret this by the end of the book. I'm enjoying it thus far, though, and I have basically no memory of the ending (except for Viola's fate) so it's functionally a first read. As I recall I got irritated with the third book for its deus-ex-machina in the form of the Royals; will see if that holds up, I guess.
What did you just finish reading?
First reread of The Sorcerer's House by Gene Wolfe. What an odd book. It's nominally set present-day (well, 2010) but apart from a few references to email and cell phones it would feel more at home in, say, the late seventies. It's an enjoyable puzzle-box, and I'm sure there's more to it than I think, despite my feeling of smugness at having picked up on one of the key mysteries (the author of the last letter).
What do you think you'll read next?
Jeez, I don't know. Maybe Half A Crown, maybe A Mist Of Grit And Splinters, maybe something completely different. I seem to have spent last week binging on ebook sales so it's not like I'm starved for choice.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-23 05:50 pm (UTC)I also have a kneejerk reaction to praise of B5. I'm sympathetic to "judge it in its context / based on its time" but I have a lot less energy for "judge it based on what JMS wanted to do and couldn't because of network/actors/etc".