corvicula1979

books read, oct-dec 2007

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:27:19 GMT

1. Oct 3 - The Secret Country by Pamela Dean
2. Oct 5 Mister Boots by Carol Emshwiller
3. Oct 10 An Unexpected Apprentice by Jody Lynn Nye. Shameless rips off Tolkien; if you can stand that, it's a great yarn.
4. Oct 17 The Epidemic: A Global History of AIDS by Jonathan Engel. Spends too much time on the American epidemic, which is old ground for me; otherwise very informative.
5. Oct 18 Touchy Subjetcs by Emma Donoghue
October 18 Serenity: Those Left Behind (graphic novel) by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews and Will Conrad.
6. Oct 23 Belladonna by Anne Bishop.
7. Oct 24 Tithe by Holly Black
8. Oct 26 Rollback by Robert J Sawyer
9. Oct 28 Valiant by Holly Black
10. Oct 30 Wolf Who Rules by Wen Spencer. I love this pair of books. I want more!
11. Oct 31 Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alaistair Reynolds
12. Nov 4 Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead by Alan Deniro
13. Nov 6 Serpent's Shadow by Mercedes Lackey
14. Nov 7 The Tears of the Salamander by Peter Dickinson
15. Nov 11 War Hospital by Sheri Fink. Deeply disturbing.
16. Nov 20 A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon.
17. Nov 24 Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson. Occasional disconnect, when the plot changes and I don't know how we got there. The China thing was a bit Deus Ex Machina.
18. Nov 28 Sgeul gu Latha - Stories til Dawn (Cape Breton Gaelic stories, in original and translation.) By Joe Neil MacNeil, trans John Shaw.
19. Nov 29 The Deportees by Roddy Doyle
20. Dec 2 Pontoon by Garrison Keillor
21. Dec 5 The Paladin by C J Cherryh
22. Dec 7 (?) Luminous by Greg Egan. Short stories, only two of which live up to the mind-bending weirdness I'm used to from him.
23. Dec 12 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
24. Dec 13 New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
25. Dec 15 Palestine: Peace not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter
26. Dec 17 Hestia by C J Cherryh. Sobering to realize the book is as old as I am (and I'm not just talking about the copyrighted material, but the actual physical object.)
27. Dec 20 Rewired The Post-cyberpunk Anthology eds John Kessel, James Patrick Kelly. Nifty.

TOTAL for the year: 80

Books read, sept...

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 22:52:38 GMT

1. Sept 2. "Yiddishe Mamas": The Truth about the Jewish mother by Marnie Winston-Macauley. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Too much of a puff piece for me.
2. Sept 2 Garbage Land by Elizabeth Royte.
3. Sept 4 Spirits that walk in Shadows by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Wow.
4. Sept 6 Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge.
5. Sept 9 Tinker by Wen Spencer. A new twist every minute yarn. Yeehaw!
6. Sept 13 Cygnet by Patricia McKillip (omnibus edition of The Sorceress and the Cygnet and The Cygnet and the Firebird)
7. Sept 17 Harrowing the Dragon by Patricia McKillip (short stories)
8. Sept 19 Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
9. Sept 21 Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
10. Sept 25. Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire
11. Sept 26. The Future is Queer ed. Richard Labonté and Lawrence Schimel
12. Sept. 27 The Secret City by Carol Emshwiller
13. Sept 30 Mulengro by Charles de Lint. Yes it's voice appropriation, but it was 1985, and besides it's a brilliant read.

Books read - July - August

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:54:22 GMT

1. July 2 - A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. Definitely a lark to read. As the title implies, the impact of these beverages (beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coke) on world affairs and history. While most people realize (at least some of) the impact of tea with its close intertwining with the British Empire - there's a lot we might not realize about Coke. Fascinating.
2. July 7 - Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger.
3. July 9 - Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I saw the movie first and it's quite amazing that it managed to capture the feel of the book but very little of the plot.
4. July 14 - The White Tyger by Paul Park.
5. July 27? - Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama
6. July 30 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
7. August 2 - Paula Spencer, by Roddy Doyle.
8. August 5 - Sebastian by Anne Bishop
9. August 19 - Lamb The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. Okay, some of the humor is pretty juvenile, but on the whole, it's worthwhile.
10. August 20 - Physik (Septimus Heap, book 3), by Angie Sage
11. August 22? - Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane.
12. August 23? - Cat Stories by James Herriot
13. August 29 - The Virtu by Sarah Monette

Books read - March/April/May/June

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 16:05:05 GMT

1. Red Star, by Alexander Bogdanov, trans. Charles Rougle. An interesting peek through a different world-view.
2. Heavy Time, by C J Cherryh. Classic Cherryh, 'nuff said.
3. Angel of Darkness, by Charles de Lint. This is him trying his hand at horror... it's definitely still his style, but darker, nastier, more graphic.
4. Od Magic, by Patricia McKillip. As usual, a self-contained gem.
5. Before the Dawn, by Gerry Adams. It's the personal anecdotes that make this book.

Whoops! Noticed I hadn't been dating this. In any case, a considerable gap from the last, because I was playing on my Gameboy in situations where I'd otherwise be reading (eg, on the subway.)
6. April 16 - The Collected Short Fiction of C.J. Cherryh - some hits, some misses. Some favorites were "The Haunted Tower," "MasKs," The Dark King," "Gwydion and the Dragon," and "The Sandman, the Tinman, and the BettyB."
7. May 5 - Fifty Degrees Below, by Kim Stanley Robinson. I don't remember how I felt about the first book (Forty Signs of Rain) but I actually really got into this one.
8. May 21 - Nightfall, by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg. Amusing, but forgettable.
9. May 30 (?) - When History was Made: The Women of 1916, by Ruth Taillon.
10. ??? - The Complete Neurotic, by Charles A. Monagan.
11. June 30 - Cyteen, by C.J. Cherryh (omnibus edition). Merchanter 'verse, but it's the other side (Union) so it doesn't feel familiar. Nevertheless very absorbing, and epic.

more silliness

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 00:33:46 GMT

Your Birthdate: January 9

For you, love is a feeling that lingers for really long time - even after a relationship is totally over.
In fact, you still make have strong feelings for the first person you fell in love with.
You usually are reluctant to end relationships. And sometimes you're the last to know that things are ending!

Number of True Loves You'll Have: 5

Number of Times You'll Have Your Heart Broken: 4

You are most compatible with people born on the 9th, 18th, and 27th of the month.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean For Your Love Life?

Too true!!

Your Inner European is Dutch!

Open minded and tolerant.
You're up for just about anything.

Who's Your Inner European?

Knew it.

So this kind of follows....

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you're the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam.
Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

What European City Do You Belong In?

You Should Be A Cancer

What's good about you: you're incredibly kind, caring, and generous

What's bad about you: you can be too moody and impossible to understand

In love: you enjoy wining and dining the object of your affection

In friendship, you're: likely to depend on other friends for emotional support

Your ideal job: historian, marine biologist, or religious figure

Your sense of fashion: you dress to match your mood

You like to pig out on: classic home cooked meals, like mac and cheese

What Sign Should You Be?

Your Vocabulary Score: A+

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!
You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

You Are The Hermit

You posses a great deal of wisdom and the ability to see people for who they are.
You are always looking ahead at the future, developing visions.
A loner, you tend to travel by yourself through life, seeking your own truth.
You don't crave material things or fancy titles. You have no baggage.

Your fortune:

It's possible that there is a unknown guiding figure in your life, ready to help you.
All you have to do is find this person and seek their advice.
It's also possible that you need to start seeking the meaning of your own life.
Either way, there's some deep thinking you need to undertake, and it needs to be done soon.

What Tarot Card Are You?

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.
You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.
Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.
Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

You Are the Very Gay Velma!

She might not even realize it...
But Velma is all about Daphne... not Fred!

What Gay Childhood Icon Are You?

Your Boobies' Names Are...

Kermit and Miss Piggy

Boobie Name Generator

never date a taurus? and more blogthings

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 05:39:50 GMT

Never Date a Taurus

Stubborn, materialistic, and even a little greedy - you don't fit into a the strictly crafted inner world of a Taurus.
You definitely need more excitement than a Taurus offers. After all, even expensive dinners get boring after a while!

Instead try dating: Gemini, Libra, Sagittarius, or Aries

What Sign Shouldn't You Date?

You Are a Chihuahua Puppy

Small, high strung, and loyal.
You do best in the city with a adults - young kids could crush you!

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

You are 60% Pisces

How Pisces Are You?

what I've been up to.

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 03:41:21 GMT

16 Feb: Birthday party for several people around that date. Leah turned (only) 18, and I spent much of the night teasing her about just being a baby :) A fun time was had by all.

24 Feb: Birthday party for chryx - his bday was actually 21st (wednesday). Went to a teeny tiny Malaysian fusion restaurant, we were a party of "10 people" - for large values of 10... took over half the place and it was a crowded, but yummy, experience. I managed to splash curry sauce in my eye, though. Ouch. Don't try this at home, kiddies, take my word it's something to be avoided. Then went to hang out at a friend of his' place, who had an adorable little fluffball of a dog, named, incongruously, Odin. (Odin!?) He was very playful and friendly to everybody and sweet and cuddly, and all of maybe 9 pounds, a bit nippy, but only in a playful way. And OMG - he didn't shed. At all. Half tempted to trade in my cats for one of that breed, except that, well, it's a fancy expensive silly dog.

Bit of a medical mystery. At the beginning of the month I had that horrendous stomach flu that's going round, no mystery there, but a week and a bit later I had abdominal cramps, for 2 whole days, some of them rather excruciating, with no relation to my bowel movements. Then they just as suddenly stopped. We're all flummoxed as to what it might have been; I'm going to have an ultrasound on Monday but I doubt there'll be anything to see after the fact. Probably the only tidbit of info to come out of that will be how many ovarian cysts I'm growing these days. And today I randomly had my right thumb joint get inflamed, for no good reason.

Who knows.

Books read in 2007 to date

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 01:18:50 GMT

I'm listing everything, but not "counting" the graphic novels, manga etc. Coz it's mostly pictures, not reading.

1. January 1 - The Dreaming Tree, by C J Cherryh. So-so fantasy, not the usual SF we expect from her. Enjoyable.
2. January 4 - The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850, by Brian Fagan. If it weren't for anthropogenic greenhouse gasses, would we still be in the Little Ice Age? Hmm.
January 4 or 5? - Death Jr. #2, Gary Whitta and Ted Naifeh. Tee hee.
January 6 - Courtney Crumrin in the Twilight Kingdom (#3), Ted Naifeh
3. January 6 - Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog, by John Grogan. Side-splitting in places.
January 7 - Poison Elves Ventures Volume 1: Hyena, by Drew Hayes et al.
4. January 18 ? - Isabella: She-Wolf of France, Queen of England , by Alison Weir. Even with Weir's usual succint style, this was slow going. (It was started on the 4th!)
5. January 23 - Flyte (Septimus Heap, book 2), by Angie Sage
6. January 25 - Starplex, by Robert Sawyer. Another winner from him, I especially like how he has created several truly alien alien races.
7. January 30 - Mélusine, by Sarah Monette. Not for the faint of heart. I only wish we weren't plunged into the fully created world with very little explanation.
8. February 1 - The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, by Steven Johnson. Very enjoyable, except in the conclusion he goes off on speculative stuff about the future of cities and humankind and war and whatnot, and I think it's way off his topic.
PS. Thanks to kanabysstee!
February 2 - Snow Drop #11, by Choi Kyung-Ah, trans. Sarah Dyer.
February 3 - Snow Drop #12 (see above)
9. February 5 - Orkneyinga Saga, trans. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards.
February 5 - Beyond My Touch, by Tomo Maeda.
10. February 6 - Rimrunners, by C J Cherryh
11. February 7 - The Birth House, by Ami MacKay. The life of a midwife in WW1-era Nova Scotia. Brilliant and much recommended!
12. February 9 - Homegrown Democrat, by Garrison Keillor. His soapboxing - albeit gentle, compassionate soapboxing, this is Garrison after all - may not be for everyone, but his silly limericks at the start of each chapter are worth it.
13. February 14 - At Swim, Two Boys, by Jamie O'Neill. The setting and the plot is immediately pre-Easter Ireland - old territory for me - but given a new poignancy in this tale of love between boys. Not for everyone - you'd have to appreciate both the Irishness and the gayness to plough through 400+ pages, and a book roughly the size and heft of a cinder block - but if this is your sort of thing, as it is mine, it's worth the effort.
14. February 15 - A Matter of Degrees, by Gino Sègre.
15. February 25 - The Bonehunters, by Steven Erikson. This series sucked me in - but it took the first two books to do it. Now I'm hooked.
16. February 28 - Firebirds Rising, ed. Sharyn November. A collection of YA fantasy and sf short stories. Mostly little gems. Gave me a few ideas of books to add to my "to-read" list.

I'm going to stop editing this post here, and start a new one for March.

The numbers - On average, one book per 3.6875 days. Probably skewed to somewhat longer, because of the Weir (14 days, tho I was reading other stuff concurrently), and Bonehunters (10 days).

san diego trip, and other things.

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:25:20 GMT

In brief. Had a great deal of fun at a new year's house party, even though it was miserable pouring rain and my skirts got soaked at the hem between ritual and there.

Re: San Diego.

For further details, see what almeda posted about the trip. She's way ahead of me - well, she DID have her laptop with her, and I don't even OWN one.

(5/1) About the Zoo. If you're into zoos, this is quite a good one, although I found the layout completely confusing. I wish I could take a Turkmenistan caracal home (Google images has some nice pictures, or check Wiki's entry about it.)

(6/1) About Air and Space. I was happily geeked out by the Apollo 9 command module - aka "Gumdrop" - and the actual worn by astronauts spacesuits, but kanabysstee had to keep telling me that I need to go to DC to see the NASM. The problem with which is that I don't intend to go to DC unless I can possibly avoid it. It is a small place, but kind of charming. Most of the space stuff, I gather, is stuff that Wally Schirra donated from his personal stuff (he's a local boy).
As for Chopahn , I agree. That was definitely the best meal of the trip. I had a lamb and seasoned rice dish, with raisins and carrots, and all I can say is OMG.

(8/1) The Getty Villa was... well I wasn't as into it as I might have been, just in terms of mood and what not, so I got about equal amounts of satisfaction from looking at the artifacts, and basking in the warm LA sun and enjoying the architecture. The "tour-guide" on the bus there was incredibly annoying and asinine, though, so I heartily wish I had brought my headphones (with or without my mp3 player - just so I didn't have to listen to her).

(9/1) We went on one of those whale watching tours. We DID get to see a (grey) whale, but they never really come all that close; the white-sided dolphins were much more cooperative, so I enjoyed getting lots of good looks at them riding the wake.
Dinner was at a nice, but overpriced, sushi restaurant. The brothers managed, as often happens, to completely dominate the conversation, with occasional interjections from almeda, and myself feeling entirely left out, during my own birthday dinner. Ditto back at the hotel with the prezzies, mostly with only the parents paying any attention to what was going on.

I must remember NEVER to spend my birthday with both brothers again. It's too upsetting; behaviour that's alientating enough at any time, but twice as bad on the one day where it's supposed to be all about me.

xmas sux

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 04:49:02 GMT

Well, okay, sometimes the loot is nice.

But... hmm. Phil and his friend Leanne were here (now in Montreal, back tomorrow.) I didn't post anything about that because, if you can't say something nice....

And too much chocolate. There is such a thing. Especially for those of us as can measure our overweightness in STONES not just pounds. (If I knew what one stone was.)

The parentals got me several shirts for xmas which are warm and cozy and practical, also guy-shirts and not incredibly flattering. So not exactly exciting. I think the most exciting thing I got for Xmas was the no-slip house socks, which were warm and no-slippy and got worn all day on the 25th.

Frankly the holidays tend to get me down. For several reasons. (1) Doesn't live up to xmases past, with all the family. (2) doesn't live up to it because it's not as exciting as when you're a kid and there's SURPRISES! And TOYS! (3) Even several years later, I can't help think of how I used to spend them with Todd, and half the day with each family. (4) The rest of the world is so keen about it. (5) I dunno. It just makes me blue.
This year, add to that (6) self-invited houseguest.

I'd like to say I'm looking forward to San Diego but I'm too blah to get up much excitement even for that.

And I tend to get apathetic/disinterested when I'm like this. I was thinking earlier, hmm, maybe I'll go catch a movie... can't be bothered. Maybe I'll go out clubbing... Naaah, don't feel like it. Stay in, watch DVDs and eat popcorn... no, I couldn't even rouse any interest in something as simple as that.

On the plus side, I baked some honey cake to take to tomorrow's ritual. Hopefully I will at least manage to get up the interest to go.

No useful title

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 02:28:13 GMT

Revving up for the festivities.

- Melodie gave me several pairs of toe-socks for Yule, which are cute but only ankle high! WTF? What were these people thinking?

- Just read "Cancer Vixen", a graphic novel by Marisa Acocella Marchetto about her experience with breast cancer. Funny and poignant, and as someone who works in the medical field, rings true.

- I think I'm not so much looking forward to the whole Xmas thing as looking forward to a 4-DAY WEEKEND! Woohoo! Wish the week was over already.

- My latest hair conditioner is "orchid and coconut milk"...it makes me smell like a BLEEPing pina colada... I can't stand that. Will trade it to my dad who doesn't care what his hair (all 3 of them) smell like.

-Latest beading: CLASSIFIED! Xmas present. Done on Monday.

- My dad is, right now as I type this, cooking the traditional Swedish meatballs for my uncles arrival from BC tomorrow. Smells so YUMMY... drool.

Today's updates

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 04:30:57 GMT

Slept in til late.

Did a bit of tidying.

Went to circle tonight, mainly so I could distribute prezzies. They went over well. Had a good time and ate way too many sweets. Mel gave me several pairs of toe socks. I think I have at least enough for every day of the week, now.

It was warm enough out today that Dad did hamburgers on the barbeque. Weird.

Finished "20 Ads..". Interesting to see where the things we take for granted in advertising came from. Only the last 4 of the 20 were recent enough for me to remember.

First post ever

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 05:28:26 GMT

I don't know where to start with this, except a brief intro of who I am, and what I'm into and likely to be posting about.

I live in Toronto with my parents and my cats (two)... A few friends, no serious romantic prospects. I work as a medical receptionist, though I'm told "administrative assistant" sounds so much better. This involves being employed by my mother. How I feel about my job changes, but recently it's an odd mix of hating-the-fact-I-have-to-work with being absurdly fond of some of the patients.

almeda and kanabysstee are my sister-in-law and my brother. Like Almeda, I'm a voracious reader, tho' not perhaps to her volume. So expect to see me geeking about books. Also we have a lot of overlapping fandoms.

Current hobby-of-the-moment: making jewelry of semi-precious stone beads, generally necklaces. Just made tonight: Single strand, iolite and amethyst, with two small pewter fishes and a honking great labradorite pendant.

What's been going on: Holiday shopping (given that only maybe two or three of the people I'm giving things to are even Christian, I'm not going to call it Christmas gifts). Spent last saturday (9/12) shopping with my pal Melodie, which involved trawling Queen St. W for some very specific beads/pendants/findings (and I'm not going to say any more because it would be a spoiler for someone's surprise gift.) One very specific thing I was looking for, which used to be inescapable, I now couldn't find, and had to resort to ebay. Now impatiently waiting for it to arrive from England. Then the WCC (Wiccan Church of Canada) Yule auction that night, which managed to round off most of the gift-getting. In fact as of today, except for the beading job which is awaiting the arrival from the UK, my gifting work is DONE! With still 9 days to go. Woohoo!

What's new: After spending the other night with my headphones plugged into my computer listening to mp3s while beading, and finding myself squirmingly wanting to dance in my chair, I decided to get a wee little mp3 player doodad - the idea being, I so rarely go out dancing, because "sucks to go without friends" and "don't want to run into my exes" and not always what I would choose for music. But I love to dance. So.... i'm thinking gothercizing in the living room.
PS I love my Sennheiser headphones.

The cashier at Pages books this afternoon was really gorgeous. I was staring at him thinking he really reminded me of someone, couldn't put my finger on who. 9-odd hours later, I think it's Marcus from Bab5.

Any advice on this? I'm tempted to go back down there and hit on a complete stranger. In the middle of the busy xmas shopping season. And I'm not sure I know how if my life depended on it. However part of me is going, if I don't take this chance, when is something going to come along like that again?

Current books: Stephen Erikson, Midnight Tides (main book); and James B Twitchell, twenty ads that shook the world (bathroom book).

Current music: Voltaire, "When you're Evil" (on my mp3 player) and "Almost Human" (running through my head the rest of the time).

That's enough, I've realized that this is a hugely long post.