lunabee34

tamsin linked to the excellent Field Biology of the Wee Fairies by Naomi Kritzer. I really liked it and think you will, too. It's a quick read.

Dwellers in the Crucible by Margaret Wander Bonanno

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this book over and over again as a kid/teen. It's just so kinky without ever being explicit; in fact, on this reread, I was surprised by how little the sex is described. I had remembered it being much more explicit.

I think that what I really like the most about this book is the way it's really about Kirk and Spock, that the depth of the love these women have for each other is a mirror for the love between Kirk and Spock.

I don't buy all the characterizations, but I very much like the world building about Vulcan.



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1. Who's written 1000 words of Shen Wei turns into a Dire Panda? Oh, yeah.

2. The Other Alcott by Elise Hooper

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Meh.

This is okay. It's written on about a fifth-grade level and so does not contain the depth or nuance I was hoping for.

I am also a bit taken aback by the depiction of Louisa who is pretty much unremittingly unpleasant and full of herself. She and May spend most of the book quarreling, and then May will think about how much she loves her sister, and I'm all why? Why do you love her? IDK I've read a couple of biographies of Alcott, and while I can totally buy that there was some sibling rivalry or jealousy, I didn't read anything in those bios that makes me believe Louisa was the kind of person depicted in this book. The author is weirdly hostile to Louisa.

I'd give this a pass unless you are trapped on an airplane or something with no other reading material.



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3. The Devil You Know by Mike Carey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a really fun book. It's told in close third from the POV of Felix Castor, exorcist, and his voice is utterly delightful. Excellent world building and very strong sense of place (London).

Can't put my finger on exactly why, but this book reminds me of Mieville's Kraken; if you like that one, I think you'll like this one, too.



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I'm about halfway into the second book, and I have to warn anyone who's interested that the protagonist is an exorcist of ghosts, so violence and death abound in these books. ( spoilery warnings for books 1-2 ) I think y'all know how much that kind of content is not my bag, so I think it's a testament to how good these books are that I am reading them despite the darkness.

1. esteefee made me a beautiful, pottery bowl! It is the most gorgeous shade of blue and big enough to hold a whole pint of raspberries. I loves it! Thank you so much. :) It now has pride of place in the china cabinet!

2.

Next of Kin by Joanna Trollope

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This book is well written. It has a great sense of place, and I feel like it is probably describing very accurately the culture of a close-knit, hard scrabble farming community in England.

The problem is that I don't find any of the characters likable. They're all emotionally stunted, incapable of meaningful communication, holding everything close to the vest, stoic, reserved--doers, not sayers. And I think this is, again, probably very true to those sorts of communities, but it's tedious to read. I find empathizing with and sympathizing with them very difficult and so couldn't get into the book at all.





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3. And this post was interrupted by me falling for a fraud scam. *headdesk* I'd like to say that it was brilliant and clever and that I was duped by the best, but the truth is that I was an idiot and fell for it. *sigh* Fortunately, when I suggested, "Hey, this doesn't seem right. Is this a scam?" the dude responded by hanging up on me, so I was immediately able to contact Verizon and get it all sorted out (which took less than 20 minutes on the phone, I might add; it's clear that they deal with these scams and this kind of fraud so frequently that they've got it down to a science). So the guy changed my email and shipping address and tried to buy three $1200 i-phones, but they nipped that shit in the bud and everything is right as rain. I am so grateful that every time someone has tried to defraud me or steal from me, it's been instantly detected and instantly dealt with. I am very lucky. But also, I am a dumbass.

1. We weathered the storm with zero property damage. Lots of limbs down and a tree fell in the wooded area (nowhere near the house). We've done several hours of yard clean-up with many more to go but so grateful.

We were without power from midnight Thursday night to midnight last night. It stayed cool in the house all day and was pretty much the best experience without power I've ever had.

2. Josh's endoscopy went off without a hitch this morning. Nothing immediately visibly wrong; we'll see at follow up in a few weeks if anything was actually discovered. I suspect no, but *shrugs*.

3.

Writing Without Teachers by Peter Elbow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I first read this book in 2001 as a newly minted graduate student. It's hard to overstate Peter Elbow's influence on the academy; if you teach writing, you probably use at least some of the strategies he talks about in this book (whether that's writing with your students, freewriting, metacognition about the writing process, peer review, etc). What made this re-read especially fun is my almost twenty year old marginalia; on this re-read, I'm picking up some things that I missed as a newbie scholar, but on the whole, I have to say that my feelings about this book haven't changed much since I initially read it, and for the parts I am most resistant to, that resistance feels even stronger now than when I could barely call myself an academic.

Most of what Elbow has to say I am completely on board with. But he's extremely skeptical and hostile toward teachers (in general but of writing in particular); over and over again, he accuses teachers of conflating themselves with God and of teaching in certain ways because they are easiest (as if teachers are inherently lazy) and of being disingenuous. I think some of this antipathy is probably coming out the political/social climate at the time, but I think his valuations of what teachers of writing are doing in general are unnecessarily harsh and unfair, especially since the kind of teaching he's advocating for is extremely time-consuming and not quantifiable in the way that SACS and other accrediting boards would like for the work of college students to be; criticizing teaching without acknowledging the parameters within which teachers have to work is irritating to me as a reader.

I was also shocked once again when I got to his appendix essay. He spends some time talking about the academy as more tolerant of male voices and male scholarly styles while suggesting that female voices and scholarly approaches are valuable; Elbow follows that up with using a rape metaphor and a woman of loose morals metaphor a few pages later. 21 year old me circled that hot mess and wrote, "so this is the non-sexist language the believing game will use." 39 year old me would have led off with WTF, but I do not believe that term was in common parlance at the time.

So, if you teach writing, I highly recommend this book. Lots of useful stuff here to mine, but the occasional WTF moment rears its head throughout.



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4.

Gemini Bites by Patrick Ryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a really fun read. Kaleecat gave me the uncorrected proof of this book to read, so there might be some small discrepancies between the copy I read and the final version.

First, this is really funny. Excellent narrative voice. Really nicely drawn characters.

It's a quick and easy read, but I think it will appeal to readers of all ages, not just teens.

It alternates between POV chapters from Kyle and his twin Judy. Kyle is struggling with being gay without a gay community; Judy is struggling with trying to find a boyfriend and lands on a scheme of pretending to be a born-again Christian in order to do so. They both are fascinated with Garret, their new house guest who might be a vampire. And he seems fascinated with them both.

I think most of you would enjoy this.



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