Archive for January, 2012
Midnight at Spanish Gardens, part 2
I wrote that last entry after reading the first part. The second part is much better. (Translation in case required: the first part was absorbing. While reading the second I must have been channeling Alma herself, because I’m not much of a crier over books but I was sobbing, joy and pain and hope all [...]
capsule review: Midnight at Spanish Gardens, by Alma Alexander
Don’t read it while mending. I kept stopping between stitches.
back in Yokkaichi again
Blah – woke up at 3 this morning, couldn’t get back to sleep, started to really crash at 4 this afternoon. Unfortunately I had a meeting at 5 – luckily it turned out to be short. You know you are seriously jetlagged when you catch yourself misspelling three letter acronyms. I’m more awake now, mercifully, [...]
the usual round-up
I’m going to WorldCon … wait, not I’m not. But I bought a Supporting Membership, which means I get to pretend I’m there. I get to vote on this year’s Hugo and Campbell awards and, if this year follows the pattern of the last few, I get digital versions of the works that are up [...]
review: Strange World, by Don Saxman
Way back in the first half of the 1990s, my husband worked for a small NASA contractor on a project that had the worst acronym ever: the TOCWQM, or total organic carbon water quality monitor. It checks for the presence of carbon in parts per billion, needed for some of the Space Station’s ultrapure water [...]
rowing: a mixed bag today
Ted had committed to go rowing in a double with his partner today; it was warmish (mid-40s) but wet, misty to drizzly, and with very high winds. I was looking for excuses not to go, until I realized that I’d made a mistake and signed up to take out my own boat (a Wintech Explorer [...]
you can all envy me now
… well, I would, if I weren’t me. Because I have just received an ARC of Flora’s Fury, sequel to Ysabeau Wilce’s Flora Segunda and Flora’s Dare. Also, tasty-looking exotic chocolates and a poster for the book (it was all part of the Magick 4 Terri auction). I haven’t read it yet, having opened the [...]
knitting to-do list
I finished my sweater yesterday! It’s blocking now, and should be dry in time to wear to my local knitting group night on Wednesday. Possibly I should have done some waist shaping so it wouldn’t be quite so rectangular. It does fit well, though. Once again, I seem to have my knitting planned a ridiculous [...]
words from the ROM part of the brain
I wrote a few days ago about how some books have a permanent address in my head. I meant that fairly literally, in the sense of a computer memory address, andd thought I’d provide a fwe short examples here. I will spare you all and not do a complete brain dump. from Little Women: A [...]
a few notes on yesterday’s list
A few people have mentioned getting ideas for their reading my list of minireviews yesterday, and I realize that I may not have been sufficiently clear about what those books were – genre, subgenre, age, etc. I did try to go back and mention which ones were kids’ or teen books, because my brain doesn’t [...]