The Aviary

Things:

- My tablet apparently decided to die completely and irretrievably today. Not the end of the world - I am fortunately able to replace it - but I mostly read on my tablet these days and the two books I'm in the middle of are indeed both ebooks. And yes, I do have other ways to read ebooks but they are all irritating.

( - Yes, okay, the most priviledged of problems. I know.)

- Also, someone on tumblr today reblogged a post of mine from 2018, when I was reading the Black Company books. Which reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading those and how I never actually read all of them and maybe I should start the series over again but, of course, my copies are all ebooks.

- If my hold on She Who Became the Sun comes in before I can replace my tablet (the hold is, of course, on the ebook copy), I am going to have to break something.

I have been working at the library for 15 years and reading for significantly longer and still, every time I see one of those children's books that has a title like Everything You Need to Know About Bugs, my first reaction is always to think, "I feel certain that your book does not contain everything that I need to know about bugs."

The library closed early on Friday afternoon due to air quality issues* and has remained closed since, so I have not been at work for the past few days. Here is what I have been doing instead:

- I finished a sweater! ( Here is a picture of it! ) This is the second sweater I've made using this pattern and if you have always wanted to knit a sweater but have been intimidated by the process, I highly recommend it. The pattern is well-written and easy to follow (it's part of collection aimed at people learning to knit), it makes a nice basic everyday sweater, it comes in a million sizes, and the pattern is free. The Flax Light pattern uses fingering weight yarn but there's also a worsted-weight version if you want a heavier sweater.

- I have almost finished watching The Untamed. Which I am technically watching twice at the same time, as I started watching it on my own, then convinced my sisters to join me on our weekly streaming night. We are on episode 17 in the shared watch-through, and I'm on 48 on my own. I am being very good and not spoiling them for things but I am excited to get to send them fanfiction when we're done. (Also, because they are much more spoiler-averse than I am, I get to have the vicarious experience of them getting reveals when they're supposed to rather than, for example, knowing about the whole golden core thing the whole way through. It's exciting.)

- Yesterday I started playing Blaseball? I don't know, guys, they talked about it on Friends at the Table, I don't really know what's going on, but it's kinda fun. Anyway, go Tigers.

- I am trying to read Gemma Files' Hexslinger trilogy, but I have to read it with the Libby app (as that is the only format any of my libraries have it in) and, you guys, I am glad the Libby app exists and it's significantly better than the old Overdrive app in a lot of ways - I am happy to use it to manage my library ebooks and various library cards - but ye gods, I hate reading with it. The default font is bad to look at but if you choose a different one it destroys a book's formatting, and it won't rotate the text orientation if you read on a phone. Which isn't my preferred reading device, certainly, but the fact that it will rotate on a tablet but not a phone is absurd and infuriating. So I'm constantly frustrated with the reading experience, to the point that even though I'm really enjoying the books, I'm considering stopping in the middle of book two to wait for them to be rereleased for the kindle next month. It's a problem.





*Curbside service means having staff stationed outside the buildings all day which is Not Great what with all the smoke in our area.

Today, I finished reading Sherlock Holmes and the Instrument of Death, the Holmes vs Caligari crossover novel. Which was sadly not great - too many chapters of Dr Caligari committing random motiveless crimes, not enough Holmes&Watson - though entertaining enough (or possibly I am bored enough) that I finished it.

The ending did make me think about the difference between semi-official published fanfic and what I think of as "proper" fanfic. Because a proper fanfic writer would have dealt so much more satisfyingly with the situation presented at the climax.

( Spoilers, in case anyone else is interested in this very silly book. )

I am thinking about starting a book group on Meetup, because there are no spec-fic book groups in my area*, and I would love to talk about nerdy books with other people. I cannot decide if this is a bad idea or not.

Pros:
• Get to talk about nerdy books with other people
  
• Maybe make friends, I guess? In any case, more social interaction, which is probably a positive
  
• Force myself to finish books, rather than get bored and stop halfway through
  
• Exposure to books I would otherwise not have read
  
• If I run the book group, I can declare from the outset that quiet handcrafts or other similar activities are acceptable during discussion

Cons:
• Talking to strangers, oh no
  
• I have neither run nor really ever been a part of a book group before
  
• Meetup groups cost money
  
• If I run the book group, I have to do all the organizational tasks and I hate those and I'm already doing it for my D&D game

I'm going to give myself till Saturday and if I still want to do it, I'll set the group up then.





*The idea has occasionally been brought up as a library program, but the person in charge of book groups for the system has yet to go for it. She does not read spec-fic. I was part of a conversation with her about this once, during which she said that she didn't think the books in question would "provide enough scope for discussion" which, I mean, have you ever met a nerd? I personally could talk for an hour about individual twenty-minute episodes of The Magnus Archives - you don't think a group of nerds could talk about even a bad book for an hour?

Things:

- My supervisor changed my start time today to two hours before I normally start on Tuesdays (when all of our start times are normally set in stone and also after I have been on vacation for the last week) and did not say anything to me about it or send me an email or anything. The first I heard about it was when I got a text message from my manager after I'd already been - unbeknownst to me - half an hour late. So I got to work an hour after I was scheduled but an hour before I would have normally started and I'm so stressed about everything right now.

Happier things:

- I spent my Christmas money from my grandmother on spinning fiber. Last year taught me that I can spin enough yarn to make a sweater in about half a year (less, if I spin more regularly) and I see no real reason why I should do so again this year. This time, it will be a cardigan.

- Also, I am currently knitting a big cabled fisherman's sweater in a soft grey natural wool and I'm so pleased with how it's coming out. It's slow knitting because of the cables but I'm enjoying it.

- I finished listening to the extant episodes of The Magnus Archives on Sunday, which means that now it's time to do the relisten-but-take-notes-this-time! To be finished before the new seasons starts in April. Good times.

- I'm rereading Always Coming Home by Ursula K LeGuin right now and you guys, this book is still so good.

While I have frustrations with the industry* and general reservations about amazon, I sincerely love ebooks (which are linked to amazon for me because most of mine are kindle books). I like how easy they are to use, I like that I can adjust the font to be whatever I need, I like that I can write notes without feeling guilty, I like that I can carry one device and have dozens to hundreds of books at my fingertips, I like that I never have to carry around a book version of the complete Sherlock Holmes every again.

However.

I am constantly frustrated by the fact that amazon seems to think that all readers want to start each kindle book on page one, rather than the cover. Every time I start a book, I have to page backwards to make sure I haven't missed something. Often, it's just the epigraph or dedication but for gods' sake, I am a fantasy reader! There might have been a list of characters or a map! Why would you think I didn't want to see the map?

It's very annoying.






*I work in a library, you guys.

So, I'm reading this book: Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which is the first in a series of epic fantasy novels about bug people that I found out about thanks to rachelmanija. I'm about 3/4 of the way through it and enjoying it immensely, to the point that I've already put the second one on hold.

But! Y'know that thing, where you have a character type that nearly always works for you but that you're ever so slightly ashamed of? ( Mild spoilers, but only really at the level of describing a couple of the characters. )

Yesterday, Because of Reasons*, I was seized with the urge to reread Dante's Commedia. Because it is summer and I have no attention span for actual reading, I have downloaded the audiobook of the Hollander translation of The Inferno.

While I am in no way ungrateful for the college course that introduced me to Dante - I would almost certainly never have gotten through his work, let alone developed an affection for it, without it - it is amazing how different it is to experience the poem on my own, instead of as a focus of academic study. Now, I get to read at my own pace and feel my own feelings about the text, instead of constantly having in the back of my mind the worry that I have to produce reactions that are intelligent and worth discussing and writing papers about. Reading on my own may not be as intellectually rigorous or whatever, but it's a much more pleasant and satisfying experience.

(Not that I would mind discussing the poem with people. It's just that, right now, my reactions are more on the level of "God, Ciacco in Canto VI is so sad!" and "Heh, Dante's petty grudge against Filippo Argenti is hilarious." I'm liveblogging a bit over on tumblr if you want that level of reaction.)

There are, alas, no audiobooks of the Hollander translations of Purgatorio or Paradiso. I understand why this is - I can't imagine there's anywhere near the level of demand - but I still feel a little bitter about it. Hopefully, by the time I get to the end of The Inferno, I will be over this bit of summer malaise and the momentum will carry into actually reading the rest.







*Good Omens = thinking about angels and demons = thinking about the structure of Heaven and Hell = thinking about the Commedia.

So I'm over halfway through The Shining and, much like every other time I've read a single Stephen King novel, I now want to read about 5 more. (And, because it's me, that desire is mostly leaning towards Dark Tower novels.) Help me decide what to read next.




Thanks!

Today, my family has been cleaning out our storage unit, in preparation for no longer having a storage unit. In doing so, we found one of my favorite childhood books, that I thought was long lost or given away - Folktales of the Amur.

Oh my god, you guys - first of all, the stories are great, and I very much look forward to revisiting them. But the illustrations are the best part. The art is by Gennady Pavlishin and it is amazing. I will give you just two examples, but I invite you to google for more, as it's amazing. ( pictures under the cut )

I am so excited to have this book back, I cannot even tell you.

Things:

- I have done something to my back, it is most annoying.

- This past weekend, I went over to see my sisters and we had a Hamilton singalong, in the style of the ones Megan and I used to do when we were kids, where we assigned parts and had to sing five things at once in ensemble numbers. Except this time, we included Katie as something other than dead people. It was absurdly fun.

- When I was reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell a couple of months ago, I got distracted while Mr Strange was in Venice and wandered off to read other things. Yesterday, I finally finished it and am currently a little bereft. So I went and started the audiobook from the beginning, like a goober.

- The 5th Avenue Theatre is showing Assassins next year and I bought tickets today. My sisters (and possibly my Mom) want to come as well, which will be fun. (And I also bought myself a second ticket for a different day, because I love this show so much and the chances that I will ever see it staged professionally again (or at all) are slim to none.)

- The Bainbridge library is having a Halloween movie double feature on Friday, which I've promised my coworkers that I'll attend. (One of my favorite coworkers at Bainbridge runs the movie nights and I think he's a little worried no one will show.) They're showing The Serpent and the Rainbow and...one of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers films. I don't actually know which one. Not the first one or the most recent one, anyway. I have seen neither of those movies, so that should be cool.

- Other than that, my Halloween plans at this point mostly involve going to see Crimson Peak and then watching every Peter Cushing movie I own. (Except maybe Night Creatures, since that's not a horror movie. Though it is pretty awesomely swashbuckly, so I might watch it anyway.) I feel like that's a good plan.