Skip to main content

What I read -- August 2015



“Flex” by Ferrett Steinmetz. He was in my Viable Paradise class, so how could I not read this? The boy saw it and said the cover looked cool. I read the scene where Valentine and Aliyah made up while I was sitting in the coffee store, and tears ran down my face, so way to go Ferrett. So proud to know him! 

“The Darkest Part of the Forest” by Holly Black. The boy has an unexpected hatred for the Spiderwick Chronicles that he’s never explained. So this book didn’t attract him at all. Me, on the other hand… I couldn’t put it down. I especially loved how Hazel and Ben had the shadow of their parents’ neglect hanging over them, which got fixed about when they didn’t need their parents anymore. I also loved Ben and Hazel’s relationship so much. 

“The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett. Last week I read a quote from William Gibson that referred to DH and plot, and it seemed worth reading something. This book was published in 1929! It held up just fine, seemed like reading the script from a black-and-white movie. Though I did have to google excelsior (a brand of wood packing chips). 

“A Universe from Nothing” by Lawrence M. Krauss. The boy bought this a couple of months ago, and read it and then forced it on me. The weird thing was I felt like I understood it! And I can’t even understand routers. A little bit rabid on the atheism, but whatever.

Popular posts from this blog

Best TW feedback ever

Over at the dayjob, SMEs are feverishly trying to get documents back to me all marked up, in preparation for the release that's supposed to happen the week I'm back from VP. Today's best comment: Unfortunately not true. SMEs, they're so cute.

What I read: August 2023

"The Absolute Book" by Elizabeth Knox. I got it for Christmas. It was delightful, even if maybe some stuff wasn't explained completely. Or maybe that's part of why it was delightful.  "Crucial conversations" By Joseph Grenny and three other old white men. Another office book club selection. The word "candor" comes up a lot. I really resented this book.  LHC #220: "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. There was a girl at my previous company who wanted to have an office book club, and she had this book on her desk for months and months. I can totally understand this. I found portions crazy stressful to read. Like, I would be skipping ahead to see how much more in the section, could I get through it, pacing around, etc. I wanted to know how it ended, sure, but I was having weird stress dreams and stuff. If it wasn't a library book I might not have finished it at all. It was such a relief when Boris showed up again and something happened. I di

In Progress -- July 2023

  Wind/Water/Salt  Chapters 39-51:   Still n eed to take up comments and revise.  Persephone  (probably not its real name): Nothing but thoughts.  Short Stories:  As I mentioned last month I had a dish-washing epiphany on a story that wasn't going well. I'd already changed the POV character, but I knew that wasn't enough because I had no ending. It has an ending now.  Critted  4  Got back  0    I really need to post something new. Submissions  0  Out there   0   Rejects   1 Knitting Tay Tartan cardigan  (Martin Storey). Finally finished the danglers and minor seaming and chose buttons, then had to wait to block because the space I normally block in needed to be cleared, and this would be very disruptive to my work, so I waited to block it for the night before I went on vacation. It would appear that the finishing of this sweater took 4 months, which may be a new record. It fits for the most part. Yay!  Cathar  (self). Started the month just about done with the body edging.