Trismegistus

The first six months of this year really tanked my standard reading pace, but as it seems to be picking back up in recent weeks, let's get back into the swing of:

What I Finished Reading This Week

The Twelfth of Never – Ciaran Carson
Although I'm much more of a lyrics person, I will read Ciaran Carson's poetry any day of the week. The 77 linked sonnets in The Twelfth of Never are as trippy and beautifully written as anything he's ever penned, and I'll definitely need to read this once more to get a handle on everything that's going. As a bonus, the volume also contains some vintage 80s "Japan is just so weird" goggling, apparently occasioned by a junket Carson took to Tokyo.

The Party and the People – Bruce Dickson
The first half of this book is excellent: Dickson's writing is crisp and informative. Unfortunately, the quality—in terms of proofreading, thoroughness, and argumentation—drops precipitously in the later chapters, as if Dickson was forced to rush through them, or possibly even author them.

Scotland's Forgotten Past – Alistair Moffat
I was worried this book would be superficial listicle-style content. My concerns were misplaced. Scotland's Forgotten Past is engaging and informative. Moffat touches on geography, politics, culture, and more, focusing on both the good (e.g., the Scottish Enlightenment) and the bad (e.g., antisemitism) with a deft and objective touch. I'll definitely read this one again and look for more by this author.


What I Am Currently Reading

How To Dodge a Cannonball – Dennard Dayle
It took about 100 pages for this book to find its footing, but it's pretty enjoyable now that it has.

The Third Revolution – Elizabeth Economy
Economy also has a wonderfully crisp and informative style; I'll probably finish this book by the end of next week.

Under the Nuclear Shadow – Fiona Cunningham
Cunningham, by contrast, does not. There's some thought-provoking stuff in here, but dear god are her sentences convoluted.

The Woman's Day Book of House Plants – Jean Hersey
It's interesting (and occasionally perplexing) to compare Hersey's notes on plant care with the guidance circulating in the 21^st century.

Mother, Creature, Kin – Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder
In a month of extreme weather (both locally and in the news), this book is hitting hard.


What I'm Reading Next

This week I picked up Zen at Daitoku-ji by Jon Covell and Yamada Sōbin, and Recorder Technique by Anthony Rowland-Jones.


これで以上です。

...with June's falling on this weekend. It was grand. There were four of us at final count; we sat down to read at 11:30 and didn't stop until 6:15 pm. The only time anyone spoke was when one of us got up to get more tea and asked if anyone else wanted any, too. I love that I can do this, and that I know multiple people who are also happy to spend their weekends doing this. (And it's even better now because having those other people with me means that when I sit down to read a book, I actually read the book, instead of pushing through a page or two and then picking up my phone "for just a minute" and doomscrolling updates about things I have no ability to affect for hours on end.)

I finished Kara Cooney's When Women Ruled the World, which was an incredibly frustrating book and Maggie O'Farrel's Hamnet, which was an incredibly good one (but which left me as melancholy as if I had doomscrolled the news for hours on end).

Afterwards we popped over to Near BBQ and introduced one of the SSRers to one of the employees, a Geek BBQ alum whom we hadn't seen in ages and with whom it was great to catch up. Then we walked SSRer A to the metro, with a short interlude to kill 30+ lanternfly nymphs on the way.( Read more... )

All in all, a pretty good weekend.

これで以上です。

To slightly misquote John Oliver, ( It has been a busy three weeks. )I also got some reading in.

What I Finished Reading This Week

The Bee Sting – Paul Murray
This is an outstanding book with a horrifically bad ending. I am hard pressed to think of another book with such incredibly incisive characterizations: Murray writes sympathetic, flawed, and utterly believable characters. And I mean all of them—not just the main characters, or the male characters, or the preteen characters, or the educated characters—all of them. The motivations are spot on. The actions and reactions are spot on. The dialogue is spot on. The inner monologues are spot on. The humor is sly and wickedly funny, the sad parts are tragic, and the tension in the tense scenes is through the roof.

But oh my god, the ending. ( Read more... )

I am still incredibly glad I read this book. It is 99 percent excellent, one of the consistently best novels I have read. But oh, if only that last 1 percent had been different.


What I Finished Reading Two Weeks Ago

Gardener’s Magic and Other Old Wives’ Lore – Bridget Boland
So this is absolutely a novelty book, essentially the pre-Internet equivalent of a listicle or low-calorie trivia article. But as I have an enduring interest in the subject matter, it’s attractively illustrated and typeset on high-quality paper, and I enjoy the pre-social media version of "lighthearted and breezy voice" that Boland writes in, it worked quite well for me.


What I Finished Reading Three Weeks Ago

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents – Lindsay Gibson
Overall, this was a pretty good book. I very much appreciated that unlike other psychology/self-help authors, Gibson does not belabor her points. She’ll state a fact or observation once, in plain language, and that’s it. There’s almost no bloat here, and it’s refreshing and lovely.

Additionally, I found Gibson’s insights pretty sound, especially in the latter five of the book’s 10 chapters, which deal with how to set boundaries, rethink your relationship with emotionally immature parents, avoid falling into old patterns—both with your internal narratives and with your interactions with parents, and how to ride out extinction events (although Gibson herself does not refer to them as such).

It’s not a perfect book; the first few chapters in particular are a little too “You, wounded reader, are without blemish” to my eye; there’s affirming the reader's experience and there’s writing as though the reader can do no wrong and their parents no right, and that's a little too black-and-white to be realistic to my eye.

In general, the early chapters would have benefited from more intellectual rigor. ( Read more... ) This is frustrating—doubly so, given how insightful the latter half of the book is—but overall, the book's strengths outweigh its weaknesses and I'm glad I read it.


What I Am Currently Reading

Tomb of Dragons – Katherine Addison
On the one hand, I am stoked to read this. On the other hand, once I read this, the trilogy will be over.

Milkman - Anna Burns
I’m just shy of 60 percent of the way through, and it’s been consistently excellent.

The Legend of Robin Goodfellow – Phineas Cricket
I will finish this book tonight.

The Year in Ireland – Kevin Danaher
I read up to the section on Easter.

Scotland’s Forgotten Past – Alastair Moffat
I read the first of this book’s 80 chapters on said forgotten past, which deals with the geological and tectonic developments that created the Scottish landmass.

Winters in the World – Eleanor Parker
I read up to the section on Easter in this volume too.

Sex and Marriage in Ancient Ireland – Patrick Power
I’ll finish this volume today as well.


What I’ve Also Been Reading Over The Past Three Weeks

Irish Tin Whistle Tutorial vol. I – Mary Bergin
I continued revising the first seven or so chapters.

Mars House – Natasha Pulley
I read a few more chapters, but ultimately put this one on hold to concentrate on The Bee Sting and Milkman.

How Computers Work – Ron White
I finished the chapters on databases and disc drives.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I acquired Katherine Addison's Tomb of Dragons, Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, Francine Oomen’s Hoe overleef ik Alles Wat ik Niemand Vertel, Patrick Power’s Sex and Marriage in Ancient Ireland, and Robert Vuijsje’s Alleen Maar Mette Mensen.

Last week I acquired Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, Michael Hultquit's The Spicy Food Lovers' Cookbook, John Mansfield Thomson's The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder, and Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes (no author credited).

Three weeks ago I acquired 이국종's 골든아워1 and 골든아워2 (Lee Gukjeong's Golden Hour vols. 1 & 2).


これで以上です。

...( my terrible, horrible, (mostly) no good, very bad Saturday. )

So, yeah. That Saturday was one for the ages.

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I'll do a proper entry at some point next week, but in the interim, it's been awhile since I did one of these, so:

What's my February language progress look like?

Last month I primarily focused on Japanese and Manx, with side helpings of the others as my whims dictated.

• Chinese — Completed Rookie Unit 7; legendary through Rookie Unit 4
• Dutch — Halfway through Rookie Unit 6; legendary through Rookie Unit 3
• Gaelic — Finished Explorer Unit 2; legendary through the first third of Explorer Unit 2
• Hindi — Halfway through Unit 2; backburnered for the time being
• Indonesian — Finished Explorer Unit 4; legendary through Explorer Unit 2
• Japanese — Finished 2/3 of Traveler Unit 5; legendary through Traveler Unit 1
• Korean — Finished 2/3 of Rookie Unit 16; legendary through Rookie Unit 10
• Latin — Finished 2/3 of Rookie Unit 5; legendary through Rookie Unit 1
• Manx — Finished lesson 10 of the Phil Kelly textbook
• Welsh — Halfway through Rookie Unit 3; legendary through Rookie Unit 2

これで以上です。

What I Finished Reading This Week

I feel like I finished something, but can’t for the life of me remember what it was. That is the sort of week I have been having.


What I Am Currently Reading

Lexicon – Max Barry
I knew absolutely nothing about this book going in, but it came highly recommended by a friend. I’m enjoying it so far. The action and character reactions are very well done. I just hope the author isn’t going to lean as heavily into the “women are natural born liars and deadly manipulators” trope as the text so far suggests he might.

Book of Night – Holly Black
I read this when it first came out and remember very little of it; thus, I’m reading it again.

The Party and the People – Bruce Dickson
I said last week that I’d have this one finished by today and then…managed to read a whopping two pages of it over the following seven days. Oops.

Galatea – Madeline Miller
I read a page or two last night before bed, so it's still very early days for this small book.

Lucy Holland – Song of the Huntress
I did not have high expectations for this novel when I bought it, but I'm please to report I am very much enjoying it.


What I DNF

The Welsh Fasting Girl – Varley O'Connor
This novel had an intriguing premise: an American journalist and probable war widow (her husband went MIA in the US Civil War) travels to rural Wales to investigate reports of a Welsh adolescent who hasn’t eaten in 18 months; the fasting girl of the title was a real person.

But the writing. OMG, the writing. It's far from the most affected prose I've ever read but the affectation is such that I really have to work to absorb what's going on in each sentence, to the point that it's a struggle to get through five pages at a time. I am therefore putting this is one on permanent pause.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I acquired Nancy Gareth’s Tarot Made Easy, Madeline Miller’s Galatea, and V.E. Schwab’s The Near Witch.


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For anyone who owns a kindle, some very unobtrusive fine print informed me today that amazon is sunsetting the "download and transfer via USB" option on February 26. Make sure to download the contents of your library to a non-kindle device before that, because once the option goes away anything you've paid money for will become wholly rent-to-never-own.

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...makes a post.

Alas, Saturday’s snow turned out to be an utter bust, in that zero of the predicted 1-2 inches actually fell. Cloudless + cold is the absolute worst way for weather to do winter and I will never acclimate to it.

Sunday, combined session 0/1 with newest D&D group went really well! The campaign is a soft reboot for the DM, who’d lost most of her original players to scheduling conflicts. The GC and I came onboard because the DM’s good friend is one of the players in the TTOS campaign and extended the invite to us. This one looks like it will be incredible fun: the DM is new but has done her homework and ran a really excellent session 0 in terms of setting out group dynamics, expectations, redlines, and backstory. All of the five players (half of whom are new to the game) seem really cool and the group had good cohesion from the get-go. We’re tentatively scheduled to play every other week, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how this campaign develops.

Even cooler: I mentioned during introductions that I play Irish flute. TTOS Player did a literal double take and said “No way, I’m a fiddler!” We’ve both been playing since we were kids, she plays now with a local contra dance group, and is going to make introductions so that I can play with them too. As most of the local sessions here either died during covid or moved their communication and organizing to facebook (and sorry, nope, not even ITM can convince me to sign up to use that garbage) getting an in-person intro to a group is huge. Plus, someone I already considered very awesome shares not one but two niche interests with me, which is pretty great. 🥳

Longest D&D campaign had a session Monday, following a two-week hiatus. We got some major world and character backstory explanation in, which was a nice change following the previous two sessions of grueling combat.

AEW Collision this week was great fun, in no small part because the GC’s best and oldest friend had ringside seats, so we got to watch him watch the matches, in a mirror image of him watching us watch the matches at Dynamite last year.

Yesterday’s snow actually managed a respectable amount of accumulation. (Of course, opm bungled its response both yesterday and today, once more screwing employees who don't have telework authorization). I took a long walk in it after work, and was virtually the only person outside, so the atmosphere was lovely. I'm going to take at least one more hike today before the predicted rain melts it all away.

これで以上です。

Continuing to work through this year's remaining challenges, we have:


Challenge #9

In your own space, create a fanwork.


Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3
Relationships Astarion/Tav
Summary: Standing in the sun, wading through a river, wandering into homes without an invitation... The world abounds with novelty for Astarion after his infection with a mind flayer tadpole, but this? This he could do in his sleep.
Notes: Takes place early-ish in Chapter 2, with spoilers for a specific scene. Assumes a female tiefling Tav urchin from Baldur's Gate.

Title: ( Away with words )

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Challenge #15

Talk about an unexpected joyous moment you experienced last year.

( PJ Harvey went on tour last year. )

So not only did I have that experience, but I can listen to it at will. And if I (or you!) want to see it, some wonderful soul has posted of video of the entire show here.



これで以上です。