Amber's (scaifea) Thread #13

Hey, everybody!

I'm Amber, a one-time Classics professor, turned stay-at-home parent/lady of leisure, turned part-time library assistant, turned once again Classics professor. I spend my free time sewing, writing, knitting, baking, and, of course, reading.

My reading life is happily governed by lists, which means that I read a healthy variety of things across various genres.

I'm 45 going on 12 and live in Ohio with my husband, Tomm; our son, Charlie, and Mario the Golden Retriever.

Here I am in Dr. Scaife Mode (you can tell that because my hair is, for once, actually combed and not just in a messy bun):



Favorite Books from 2020
The Lumberjanes collected comic volumes
Call Down the Hawk
New Kid
The Wise Man's Fear
The Slow Regard of Silent Things
Pride and Prejudice
Silver in the Wood
A Tale of Two Cities

What I'm Reading Now:
-Guard of Honor (Pulitzer list)
-In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World (Newbery Honor Book)
-(awaiting library holds) (romance list)
-Where the World Ends (audiobook)
-On the Banks of Plum Creek (family bedtime read-aloud)
-The Kite Runner (books I'm reading with my friend, Rob)
-The Worm Ouroboros (Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy list)

Books on Deck:
-Uncle Silas (books by year - 1864)
-(an unread book from my shelves)
-(a book from my Read Soon! shelves)
-The Experience of Insight (Buddhist reading list)
-A Likely Story (cozy mysteries)
-Henry VI Part 1 (Shakespeare re-read)
-Children of the Alley (Banned Books)
-Lud-in-the-Mist (Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy list)
-Wheels within Wheels (Prometheus Award)

The five-ish or so books I have going at once and the On Deck books nearly all come from the following categories and lists:

1. A book from the 100 Banned Books book (at least currently. As soon as I finish this list, I'll replace it with another, and oh, I've got tons of lists).

2. A children's book, for Charlie's library. I'm trying to collect books from various award lists, and I like reading them before reading them to Charlie or deciding to add them to Charlie's shelves. For this category, I’m currently working through three lists:
a. 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Die
b. The Newbery Honor books
c. Cooperative Children's Book Center list

3. A book from the Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy List, in chronological order.

4. A list I'm working through together with my best friend, Rob: The Hugo/Nebula/WFA/Bram Stoker (and other) lists (combined, in chronological order)

5. For this category, I cycle through 9 different stacks:
a. Agatha Christie's bibliography (in chronological order)
b. Stephen Fry's bibliography (in chronological order)
c. John Boyne bibliography (in chronological order, sort of)
d. Neil Gaiman's bibliography (in some order other than chronological (don't
ask)).
e. Christopher Moore's bibliography (in chronological order)
f. Maggie Stiefvater's bibliography (in chronological order)
g. The NEH Timeless Classics list
h. The National Book Award list (in alpha order by title)
i. The Pulitzer list (in alpha order by author)

6. An unread book from my shelves.

7. A book from my Read Soon! shelves.

8. A book on Buddhism or from the Dalai Lama's bibliography.

9. Book-a-year challenge: Three years ago, along with a few others in this group (*cough* Paul *cough*), I made a year-by-year list to see how far I could go back with consecutive reads. I've since been trying to fill in the gap years.

10. A book from the couple of series that I'm reading together with my mom.

11. A full-on re-read through Shakespeare's stuff.

12. A read-aloud-to-Charlie-at-bedtime book (or two).

13. An audio book, which I listen to as I knit/sew/otherwise craft/drive.

14. A romance novel, using as a guideline an excellent list of authors and works curated by lycomaflower (I know virtually nothing about this genre, but I now work in a library where many, many lovely people come through to check out books of this genre, and I want to know something about it).

15. This slot is reserved for books that just grab me and shout that they need to be read Right Now.

Books Read

JANUARY
1. Spinning Silver (Alex Award) - 10/10 = A+
2. Swamp Thing: Twin Branches (Stiefvater bibliography) - 8/10 = B
3. Manchild in the Promised Land (Banned Books list, AlphaKIT: M) - 9/10 = A-
4. The Wish Giver (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B
5. Silas Marner (audiobook) - 8/10 = B-
6. The Story of Tracy Beaker (1001 Children's Books) - 8/10 = B-
7. Thick as Thieves (series reread) - 10/10 = A+
8. Lumberjanes #16: Mind over Mettle (series read) - 10/10 = A+
9. Pilgrimage (Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy Books) - 7/10 = C
10. Each Tiny Spark (Schneider Honor Book) - 7/10 = C
11. The House on the Borderland (Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy list) - 6/10 = D
12. Beyond Religion (books on Buddhism) - 9/10 = A
13. Outlander (romance list) - 6/10 = D
14. Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun (Newbery Honor Book) - 7/10 = C
15. Far Away Across the Sea (1001 Children's Books) - 10/10 = A+
16. The Daylight Gate (Read Soon! Shelves) - 8/10 = B-
17. The Queen of Attolia (family bedtime read-aloud) - 10/10 = A+
18. Works and Days & Theogony (Myth course readings) - 9/10 = A-
19. The Book Thief (books I'm reading with my friend, Rob) - 10/10 = A+
20. Return of the Thief (series read) - 10/10 = A+

FEBRUARY
21. The Bacchants (myth course reading) - 9/10 = A
22. Camp (romance) - 8/10 = B+
23. Song of a Whale (Schneider Award) - 8/10 = B-
24. Gardens of the Moon (Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy list) - 4/10 = F
25. Oedipus Rex (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
26. Antigone (Myth course readings) = 10/10 = A+
27. Agamemnon (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
27. Upon the Head of a Goat (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B
27. Volcano (Newbery Honor Book) - 7/10 = C
30. A Promised Land (audiobook) - 8/10 = B+
31. The Stone Book Quartet (1001 Children's Books) - 7/10 = C+
32. The Libation Bearers (Myth course readings) - 9/10 = A
33. Eumenides (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
34. Electra (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
35. The King of Elfland's Daughter (Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy Books) - 7/10 = C
36. The Goalkeeper's Revenge (1001 Children's Books) - 7/10 = C
37. Conrad: The Factory-Made Boy (1001 Children's Books) - 8/10 = B
38. Medea (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
39. The Frogs (Myth course readings) - 9/10 = A
40. Metamorphoses (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
41. Iliad (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
42. Odyssey (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
43. Aeneid (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
44. The Histories (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
45. Till We Have Faces (Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy Books) - 8/10 = B-

MARCH
46. My Sweet Orange Tree (1001 Children's Books) - 9/10 = A
47. Lord Foul's Bane (BSFA) - 2/10 = F
48. Manolito Four Eyes (1001 Children's Books) - 7/10 = C
49. The Early History of Rome, Book 1 (Myth course readings) - 9/10 = A
50. Farmer Boy (family bedtime read-aloud) - 9/10 = A-
51. The Henna Wars (romance list) - 8/10 = B+
52. Cursed (Schneider Award) - 9/10 = A
53. Heroides (Myth course readings) - 9/10 = A
54. The Apocolocyntosis (Myth course readings) - 9/10 = A
55. Sandman: The Kindly Ones (Myth course readings) - 10/10 = A+
56. Tales of the Rue Broca (1001 Children's Books) - 7/10 = C
57. Far Away Across the Sea (family bedtime read-aloud) - 10/10 = A+
58. After the Rain (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B-
59. Ready Player Two (from my Read Soon! shelves) - 9/10 = A
60. The Moonstone (audiobook) - 8/10 = B+
61. Memoirs of a Geisha (books I'm reading with my friend, Rob) - 8/10 = B

APRIL
62. The Club Dumas (unread book from my shelves) - 9/10 = A
63. Good Night, Mr. Tom (1001 Children's Books) - 9/10 = A
64. The Liverpool Cats (1001 Children's Books) - 8/10 = B+
65. The Ugly American (100 Banned Books) - 9/10 = A
66. The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler (1001 Children's Books) - 8/10 = B+
67. The Haunting (1001 Children's Books) - 8/10 = B
68. The Whistle, the Grave, and the Ghost (family bedtime read-aloud) - 9/10 = A
69. Sense and Sensibility (unread book from my shelves) - 8/10 = B+
70. Middlemarch (audiobook) - 2/10 = F
71. Ordinary Hazards (audiobook) - 8/10 = B-
72. Chaotic Good (Read Soon! Shelves) - 9/10 = A

MAY
73. The Beast Player (Printz Honor Book) - 8/10 = B+
74. Another Country (100 Banned Books) - 8/10 = B-
75. Lumberjanes Vol. 17: Smitten in the Stars (series read) - 10/10 = A+

The Kiddo at Work:



The Mario and her Magical Rainbow Snoot:

Next one is yours!

The Bonus Question:

If you were living in a Greek myth, what sort of talent would you need to be careful not to commit hubris over, i.e. what is your special talent, like Arachne's weaving or Niobe's...ability to reproduce...?

Happy new one, Amber!

>7 scaifea: Hm. Maybe my tendency to act like a know-it-all when I know it all.

You're going to read Uncle Silas! I've never read Le Fanu. Maybe I'll try it.

>8 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie!

>9 ffortsa: Welp, that *is* the textbook definition of hubris, so...nailed it?

I will eventually get to Uncle Silas. He's been on deck for quite a long while already. Soonish.

>7 scaifea: Happy new thread, Amber. I have so much imposter syndrome over things that I'm not sure I'd get to the hubris point. Unless one can get hubristic about their imposter syndrome...

>12 MickyFine: *snork!* I've long wondered about people who *know* they have imposter syndrome...is it really imposter syndrome, then? I mean, I don't have it - I'm *actually* an imposter and you won't convince me otherwise...

>13 scaifea:

>14 MickyFine: *snork!*

>7 scaifea: Does getting along with cats really well count? Could I be the target of a tragic multi-generational curse on my house because I was too proud about knowing how to get affectionate head-butts? "Hear me gods, for I have the power of the mew!"

>16 ebeeb: Hi, Elizabeth!

*snork!!* Oh, I LOVE that one! Yes, I could see Artemis getting jealous of your power over feline affections...

Happy new one!

My superpower is finding good restaurants, so I'm guessing that's where I'm most vulnerable hubris-wise.

>16 ebeeb: >17 scaifea: Ooh, can I be that but for dogs?

Happy new thread, Amber!

I know I've mentioned here at some point before that when I was teaching at Kenyon, I was part of a small group of faculty members who would meet once a week to sight read Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Our host was an emeritus classics professor and one of the sweetest - and also smartest - people I have ever met, and the meetings were so special to me. The translating was fun and the atmosphere was so comforting and happy; we were a lovely group of friends bonding over a weirdly specific hobby, and there was always tea and cookies and happiness.

Well. One of the members of our former group sent me an email asking if I'd like to contribute to a book of poems she's putting together for our host's wife in celebration of her 90th birthday. Now, I like to cobble together the occasional limerick, but I will never be accused of being a celebrated poet. I thought I'd give it a go, though, because I loved that group and still love Bill (host) and Pat (his wife). So in the spirit of others who have shared their compositions in *this* group (another that I love and cherish), I humbly offer up my feeble attempt here (NB: By doing so I am in no way equating myself with the likes of Joe or Paul!):

Thursday afternoon
there's a chill outside
or maybe it's a spring breeze
but inside it's always warm, inviting
a safe, comforting, welcoming space
surrounded by books crowded on shelves
friends crowded on couches, chairs

there's tea and cookies and Italian to translate
companionable collaboration and consumption
this place is a weekly refuge and a treat
to be cherished and anticipated
a reward for the day-to-day-ness outside these book-jumbled walls

our happy club has a benevolent king
humble and gracious, as much as you could possibly wish
the warmth and happiness of the place
is personified in his soft voice, his thoughtful eyes
proof that genius can also be kind

and then, the queen
her presence felt in the quiet bits of beauty
dispersed within the space
she glides into the room
on loan from her studio
or another non-Ariostoian area of the house
a smile and an easy self-possession
she greets her subjects
talks of her work and asks after others'

and suddenly the Thursday afternoon
always-already special and hoped-for
is even more so
a quiet carnival
and I'm secretly amazed
that with a simple entrance through a doorway
she can turn a happy gathering
into an adoring audience

>19 curioussquared: Ha! Of course!

>20 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita!

>21 scaifea: Wow, that's great!

>21 scaifea: - Well done, you!

I'm not really a "poetry person" but I think that's quite lovely Amber!! (for what my opinion is worth)

Happy new thread!

Nice appreciation of your professor and wife.

I looked up Orlando Furioso, hoping to find new material for the epic poetry out loud group I participate in, and of course, in English (although a few of our members are pretty fluent in Italian). There's an abridged translation published in 2009, and I noticed a comment that there was a subsequent publication with the cut portions restored (or at least that's what I think it meant) which I can't find. Do you know these translations, and would you recommend them for a group read? We've done The Iliad and Odyssey (Fagles), and we are at the beginning of The Aeneid (also Fagles), and we've done Dante's Inferno (can't recall the translation, but in verse) as well as The Canterbury Tales. We threw in some lyric poetry too, but it's not our preference. Would you advise?

That's a lovely poem, Amber. And kudos to you for stepping out of your comfort zone to both write it and share it with us.

Hi, Amber. Nice new thread here, I see. But you sure do read some old old stuff.

>7 scaifea: Mine might be...being a jack-of-all (well, lots of)-trades? I bake, I make cheese, I garden, I fix computers, I read (and I used to remember what I read...that one's fading)...I braid and knit and weave, I make ceramics...

Happy new thread, Amber.
And thank you for sharing the poem - it is touching.

Happy new one, Amber.

>21 scaifea: Thoroughly enjoyed it! I'm sure Joe will say the same thing. I would esteem it an honour to be equated with you. xx

Happy New Thread, Amber.

>24 drneutron: >25 katiekrug: >26 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks so much, Jim, Katie, & Reba!

>27 quondame: Thanks!

>28 ffortsa: He's a colleague, not my own professor, but I would have loved to have taken a course from him if I had been a student at Kenyon and not a faculty member.

I'm not completely familiar with all the translations available for Ariosto. The one I have is by Guido Waldman and is complete, but is also a prose translation, which may not be what you're looking for. Penguin Classics has a two-volume translation, which seems like it's probably complete (I'm not sure why it wouldn't be, anyway), but I have no idea if it's a prose or a verse translation.

NB: Ariosto's Italian is not modern Italian and may even give your friends a bit of trouble...

For other epic options, there's always Ovid's Metamorphoses (I'd recommend the Lombardo translation, of course), Lucan's Civil War, or Lucretius' On the Nature of Things, all in epic meter (dactylic hexameter) but with varying subjects. All excellent reads, though.

>29 lauralkeet: Thanks for that, Laura. It's not stepping too far out of the comfort zone to share things here, because this group feels like such a safe space.

>30 weird_O: Ha! Thanks, Bill. Yep, I do enjoy the old stuff. Occupational hazard, I guess.

>31 jjmcgaffey: *snork!* Well, but isn't the second half of that phrase "and master of none"? Sort of keeps you safe from the gods' anger there, no?

>32 SirThomas: Thanks so much, Thomas. I'm so glad you enjoyed the poem!

>33 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul. I suspect that both you and Joe would say you loved it even if it were awful, you're such softies. I'll take it at face value, though, for the ego boost.

In general I enjoy writing about as much as I enjoy dental work, but every so often the inspiration strikes and I can churn something out pretty easily. It's usually bits of prose, though, but honestly, I'm quite pleased with how this poem turned out. Not so awfully shabby, maybe.

>34 connie53: Thanks, Connie!

Happy Wednesday, Amber! Happy New Thread!

>21 scaifea: I like the poem. There is a warmth and brightness to it. Much of the poetry I am drawn to, is the dark stuff.

Today's Agenda:
Class prep, keeping an eye on Charlie's work, office hours, teaching.

We woke up to about 4 or 5 inches of snow this morning. Heavy, wet stuff by to looks of it (it's bending down the bush just outside my office window something terrible, poor thing). So that's happened. Yoicks. I'm happy I don't have to leave the house today, at least.

On the reading front:
I started The Kite Runner yesterday, read a bit of The Beast Player and listened to some of Ordinary Hazards.

What We're Watching:
Tomm worked late yesterday evening, so Charlie and I got more OUAT watching in. I predicted last time we watched OUAT that it wouldn't be long before Emma is melting in Hook's arms, and by the looks of things in the episodes we watched last night, she's certainly heading in that direction, and that's cute and all, but there was definitely not enough screen time for my Mr. Gold in these episodes, either. Gah.

>21 scaifea: Love the poem, and so will they!

I'm very good at finding things that have been "mislaid" by someone whose name I will not mention. Now if I put the damned thing somewhere and can't remember where it is, it's lost, so maybe that tempers the hubris danger?

>45 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks for that, Linda. I'm so happy that you all are enjoying the poem!

Oooh, yes, maybe that *is* your nemesis from the gods, and if so, you've got off pretty easy, really (although losing something like that can be *so* frustrating).

>44 scaifea: Ooof The Kite Runner. It's good but such an emotional gut punch.

Don't worry, there's some Rumple-centric episodes later in the season. Hook isn't technically a series regular until season 3.

>37 scaifea: Yeah I've heard things about Kite Runner. We'll see how it goes.

And yay for Rumple eps! I was seriously grumbly about him not being around much last night.

>48 scaifea: Joys of an ensemble.

>36 scaifea: Oh, thanks for all the info, and the suggestions. I'll make the suggestions to our fearless leader.

>49 MickyFine: Right?! I mean I love a good, big cast, but sometimes it's frustrating.

>50 ffortsa: You're welcome, Judy.

OUAT? Ah, Google is my friend, and I learned what OUAT is.

>53 weird_O: That Google sure is helpful, no?

Happy new thread Amber my dear.

Hi Amber and Happy New One!

I was perusing the last thread and chuckling at the discussion of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.... YES to the wet shirt, the bath scene, and almost every other moment of him. Of course, we also own "Love Actually" and he's pretty nice there, too (although I have to admit that the scene where his housekeeper lifts the rock and all the pages of his presumably mediocre novel go flying off into the lake and she strips down to go diving after them.... well, that scene is pretty nice, too). I'm definitely in the I'll-Watch-Anything-With-Colin-Firth camp.

>56 EBT1002: Hi, Ellen!

Oh, I've very much on the Love Actually Firth Team. Between that one and Bridget Jones... *sigh.* So I think I just prefer a slightly more...mature Colin?

Today's Agenda:
Post-teaching tidying, helping Charlie if he needs it, menu planning and grocery ordering, a quick pop to the library to pick up holds, reading.

On the reading front:
Even though it was a teaching day, I did manage to read some and spent that reading time with Chaotic Good and The Beast Player. Also still listening to Ordinary Hazards and honestly only sticking with it because it's short (I'm just not connecting with it much).

What We're Watching:
Tomm had his evening class last night, so more OUAT for Charlie and me. Spoiler for Micky: I've decided that Cora is a crappy villain. She's annoying and uninteresting and the actor is not great. Blech. I'm still loving the show in general, but I'm hoping that Cora doesn't stick around much longer than this season. And I actually shouted at the screen, "NOT PONGO, YOU HAG!" when she attacked Dr. Hopper, but whew, they're both okay (or, at least, not dead...).

>58 scaifea: Yeah I'm not a fan of Cora either. But there's some good storylines coming up in the second half of this season. :)

>59 MickyFine: Woot!

Hi Amber, Mr SandDune has to research a list of historical fiction for his classes (age 11-16). He doesn’t read a lot of historical fiction (and particularly not books that are aimed at young adults).

I wondered if you had any ideas for historical fiction for 11-16 year olds on any of the following topics? I wondered if you had come across anything with Charlie?

French Revolution
English Civil War
Henry VIII & Elizabethan England
Suffragettes
British Empire & Slavery
Industrial revolution
American West

>61 SandDune: Hi, Rhian. I don't have any specific recommendations, but here are a couple of promising-looking lists for Mr SD to start with:

https://bookriot.com/historical-fiction-books-for-middle-school-readers/

https://readingmiddlegrade.com/middle-grade-historical-fiction-books/

>62 scaifea: Great "book riot" link, Amber. I saved it for my reccy list for my granddaughter.

The other url (https://readingmiddlegrade.com/middle-grade-historical-fiction-books/) lead to a completely blank page when I used Firefox as the browser!
Loaded okay-fine on Safari.

That poem (at #21) was brilliant. I have never achieved anything but doggerel so I am in awe.

>63 SandyAMcPherson: Hi, Sandy! I'm glad the links are helpful, and thanks for the tip about the second one.

That's lovely of you to say about the poem - I appreciate the kind words!

Today's Agenda:
Bill sorting, grocery pick-up, helping Charlie with school if he needs it, baking (peanut butter cookies), reading. I'm in that liminal state where I don't have a ton of work to do at the moment, but my myth students have a project due today, so I know I'll be busy grading next week. Makes me a little antsy. A few of them have turned their projects in early but I want to grade them all in a chunk, so I'm resisting looking at them.

On the reading front:
I started Another Country yesterday and I can already tell that it will be a difficult but stunning read. I also read a bit more of The Beast Player and listened to some Ordinary Hazards.

What We're Watching:
A couple episodes of Coupling, a couple of Arrows, and an episode of Psych.

>21 scaifea: You're a poet, and now we all know it! Well done — I'm sure your colleague's wife will be quite tickled with your tribute to her.

>66 rosalita: *snork!* Thanks, Julia!

>65 scaifea: Sounds like a good Friday ahead, Amber. Do you leave the grading for the work week or will you peek at it on the weekend?

I just finished the last of our Christmas cookies (I know, I know - they keep really well though) so I'm trying to decide what to make next. Maybe chocolate chip since they're Mr. Fine's favourite.

>68 MickyFine: Weekends are sacred, Micky - no worked allowed unless it's absolutely necessary - so nope, the grading will wait until next week, and I'll have plenty of time to finish it then.

I have no doubt that some kinds of cookies keep well, but honestly I've never had it as an issue. I mean, how do you just...not eat them all? Like in one sitting? But yes, chocolate chip cookies are always welcome.

>69 scaifea: Huzzah for work-life balance. So glad to hear your weekends are yours.

I make A LOT of cookies at Christmas, my Mom gives us some of the ones she makes, and there's all the other chocolate and treats. Also Mr. Fine views any cookie that isn't chocolate chip as not worth the time pretty frequently so I end up eating most of them on my own. All of which adds up to cookies often lasting until Easter. All other cookies I make don't tend to last longer than a month. Making chocolate chip, I'll be lucky if they last two weeks.

>70 MickyFine: *smiles and nods, pretending that eating a metric ton of Christmas cookies and chocolates within the space of a few days is certainly NOT something I do*

>70 MickyFine: I'm still impressed by two weeks!! How many cookies do you make at a time? If I bake something it's gone within a few days at most. Tim is a human garbage disposal especially when it comes to chocolate things.

>72 curioussquared: Same! When I make a batch of cc cookies, it lasts 2-3 days, tops. And Tomm doesn't eat them, so it's just Charlie and I...

>71 scaifea: No judgment here. The amount of treats I eat around the Christmas holidays is... not within suggested serving amounts. :P

>72 curioussquared: I'll often do a double batch of a recipe. Of course yields vary widely depending on size of cookie so it's hard to give an exact number. Do I strategically make not chocolate chip cookies more often so that Mr. Fine doesn't inhale them all in a week? Maybe...

>74 MickyFine: Very reasonable. I definitely hide some treats on a semi-regular basis because Tim eats them at a much faster pace than me and I want to make them last a little longer so I actually get some...

>74 MickyFine: >75 curioussquared: I should maybe get Charlie to hide some of the cookies from me...

>75 curioussquared: Depending on the treats we'll sometimes split them into his and hers containers so that we get the same amount but can eat them as slowly or quickly as we want. ;)

>76 scaifea: Snort. Been there.

We can't keep baked goods in the house, either. Since it's just the two of us, sometimes I make a half batch of cookies because we will eat them all in the same amount of time regardless of how many there are. Likewise, bar cookies in a square pan instead of a 13x9.

Today I actually hid a bag of tortilla chips from my grocery order, because I want to have them with chili during the week and if *someone* knew about them they would disappear. Shhhh ....

>78 lauralkeet: Ha! I have a special shelf in my Hoosier cabinet where I put stuff that I need for a future recipe; Tomm and Charlie know that it's off limits, and they're pretty good about respecting that. Similarly, there's a particular section of the fridge that's For Recipes Only.

>79 scaifea: oh, that's a smart idea, Amber. I think I could make that work. It beats storing tortilla chips under my jeans in the dresser ha ha.

>79 scaifea: Oh, very smart. And what good men you have.

I have to hide chocolate chips, never mind the cookies. I too have a "secret place" for any goodies that I want to be sure of getting my share of. I've already had to change it once. I kind of like Mickey's method in >77 MickyFine:. I wonder if that would work here.

We don’t even bother to make the cookies, just eat the chocolate chips right out of the bag. Also a spoonful of peanut butter with a honkin’ helping of chocolate chips mixed in thoroughly us a fair sub for a Reese’s peanut butter cup....

Hiding treats is always a great way to eat less. As long as you are not the one who knows where they are hidden ;)

When I was 10, I decided to clean the laundry room for my parents. I even got up on a chair to clean the top of the cabinet. I found my favourite homemade cookies there, in a tin. Of course I took them down and shared them with my dad. Apparently, she kept them there so we would not eat them all. They were meant for the guests at Christmas- oops!

Cookie talk! I don't make cookies anymore but still bake even though it's only me in the house. The baked goods still disappear anyway.

I may have to bake something tomorrow!

I, uh, may or may not freeze extra cookie dough because I know that I cannot be trusted with a fully baked batch of cookies. And I, ahem, may or may not just end up baking (and then eating) several cookies every day until the frozen dough runs out because every time I open the freezer I think "ooh, cookies!"

I plead the fifth.

>62 scaifea: Thanks Amber - I’m having a look at the lists.

>80 lauralkeet: Ha! My problem would be that I'd forget where I put the hidden chips!

>81 laytonwoman3rd: Smart and good - that's most definitely how to describe Scaife Manor. *ahem*

I love that so many of us have secret stashes for treats! Too funny.

>82 drneutron: Oh, yeah. We get those individual serving cups of peanut butter just for that reason. Makes a pretty good dessert in a pinch.

>83 figsfromthistle: As if Christmas guests deserve the cookies more than you?! The nerve.

>84 Familyhistorian: So what do you bake, Meg? Breads? Cakes? Muffins? I need details!

>85 laytonwoman3rd: I'm going to try my hand at baklava for the first time tomorrow, I think. And of course I made cookies yesterday. There are *always* baked goods in this house, mostly because that's one of my favorite memories from childhood - that our house always smelled amazing from the things my mom baked and there was always something homemade as a treat waiting when I got home from school. Baking = love for me and I want to pass that on to Charlie: how do I know my mom loved me? Because the house always smelled like love.

>86 ebeeb: Ha! I like your logic, Elizabeth! Seems completely legit.

>87 SandDune: You're welcome, Rhian.

Hi Amber!

This hiding food discussion is a riot. We used to buy 8-9 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies and just leave them in the Pantry. However, one time Bill ate them all before I was in the mood for any, so I bought 8 more boxes and Jenna and I hid them upstairs. The first time we brought out a box Bill was so offended that I thought his head would explode.

Today's Agenda:
Laundry, then sewing and reading. Should be a nice, relaxing day, I think. I've got one more week of classes coming up, and then a week of finals and grading, but the end is near and that puts a nice legitimacy on my laziness this weekend. Tomm's in charge of dinner tonight and I think we're having brats on the grill. I suspect it'll be up to me to come up with a salad or something...

On the reading front:
I read more of Guard of Honor yesterday, and I'm surprised that I'm liking it okay - I really thought I'd not like it at all - my brain stubbornly refuses to let go of the notion that I don't like war books, even though I've like probably 85% of the war-related novels I've read *self eye-roll* - but, well, yeah. It's well-written and interesting so far. I'm also still moving along with The Beast Player, which is shaping up to be a nice fantasy YA, and Ordinary Hazards, which I'm going to finish but I'm not all that enthusiastic about it still.

What We're Watching:
Some more Coupling while Charlie had a virtual hangout with his friends, then when he was finished, we watched the last episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I'm pretty happy with how they wrapped up Sam's storyline, but I wanted more for Bucky's ending. They've clearly set up some new character story arcs, though, and that's interesting. The issue now is if I can be patient enough for June to come round with the Loki show...

>96 karenmarie: Ha! This is the first year in a long time that I didn't buy and GS cookies. Just wasn't around...people...to order any. And hoo yeah, we order those things in BULK and then stick the boxes in the freezer. They still don't last very long. I got through the pain of writing my dissertation by telling myself that I could have a Thin Mint (or an Oreo, whichever was on hand at the moment) if I finish one more sentence... (And I *so* wish that were an exaggeration.)

Speaking of baking, I forgot to post yesterday's Friday After-School Snack (Peanut Butter Chews):

>69 scaifea: I mean, how do you just...not eat them all?.

Yup. Same here... the cookies story in Frog and Toad Together is a very true story around our house!

Edited to add, "LMAO" re >96 karenmarie:. That scenario has played out in our lives several times. Then we went to separate cookie tins for each family member.

>100 SandyAMcPherson: Aw, yes, Frog and Toad are the best!

71. Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes (audiobook) - 8/10 = B-
A childhood memoir in free verse, this Printz Honor Book takes on Grimes' troubled early years with a schizophrenic mother, an unreliable yet loving father, an abusive step-father, and times in and out of foster care. It's one in a happily-growing number of #ownvoices narratives, although it didn't quite work for me. It's an important story and I'm glad that Grimes is brave enough to put it out there, but her writing style, I think, just isn't to my tastes. I'm certain that it would work well for others, though.

>93 scaifea: So, will you be taking orders for the baklava? And are you using pistachios, or some other nut? I was going to bake today, but got embroiled in preparing for a Cemetery Association Board meeting, and ran out of time.

>13 scaifea: My imposter syndrome is more real than yours?!

*sigh*

The human species is so very illogical.

>103 laytonwoman3rd: Welp, not as such. The grocery store didn't have the phyllo/filo dough, so I'll try again next weekend when I can send Tomm farther afield for groceries. The recipe I'm going to use is from a Mary Berry cookbook and calls for walnuts.

"preparing"...right...(Hip tip: if you plant an endangered plant species over your backyard graves, the cops can't dig 'em up, or so I've heard...)

>104 ArlieS: Well, seeing as how I *don't* have it at all, sure, you're is more real. *ahem*

Today's Agenda:
Sunday. Cleaning Day. *SIGH*

But after that horribleness is over I'll spend the day split between the sewing room and my reading chair. Root Beer Chicken and Buttermilk Biscuits for dinner tonight, I think.

I *finally* finished all the work on the pieced quilt squares, so the next step is to cut out the plain squares that will go in between, plus the borders, then find some place in the house with enough floor space to plan out the structure before sewing it all together.

On the reading front:
Yesterday's reading time was spent with The Kite Runner (very good so far) and The Beast Player, and I started listening to Where the World Ends, which seems promising.

What We're Watching:
We had postponed Family Game Night from Friday until last night, so we played the kid-friendly version of Cards Against Humanity, then watched some Gilmore Girls.

>105 scaifea: LOL glad to see you on the "Linda has bodies buried in her backyard" bandwagon, Amber!

>108 lauralkeet: I think there's a Faulkneresque novel in there somewhere, don't you? "As I Lay Buried in Linda's Backyard"...

>205 scaifea: *licks pencil point* *takes notes* So poison ivy won't do it, then?

I hope the cleaning goes quickly and you get lots of time for putting your quilt together.

>110 laytonwoman3rd: Oh no, I wouldn't think so. It would only serve to irritate The Fuzz, and you don't want that.

>111 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky! Cleaning is finished and I now have all the pieces and borders and such cut out for the quilt. Next weekend will be sorting it all in the order I want it; I'm switching over to my reading chair after lunch now.

72. Chaotic Good by Whitney Gardner (Read Soon! Shelves) - 9/10 = A
Cameron and her twin brother, Cooper, are adjusting to life in smaller-and-more-backwoodsy-than-Portland Eugene, so when Cameron walks into the local comic shop looking for inspiration for her next cosplay costume, she is horrified at how the dude-bro behind the counter mistreats her as just a girl trying and failing to be a True Geek. She's suffering from massive troll attacks on her blog for her recent win at a con with her amazing cosplay designs and this is the last straw. So she has Cooper help her transform with the ultimate cosplay: into a boy. And the transformation opens up so many doors for her, including one into a fun D&D group at that same comic shop, with a completely dreamy DM. But keeping the secret will of course mean trouble down the line and Cameron needs to find the confidence and strength to be proud of her abilities *and* her gender.

This book is a perfect storm of all things I love: Shakespearean nods, comfortably predictable yet still well written YA romance, a main character who can sew amazing cosplay, excellent and totally loveable characters with wonderfully happy-making and believable interactions and relationships, and a fun D&D side story. If any of that is your jam, you *need* to read this book. Many thanks to Micky for drawing my attention to it: excellent librarianing, friend.

>113 scaifea: Excellent review!
I uptumbed it and added it to my list for the granddaughter in due course. I can see her identifying with this novel when she's about 13 or so. Is that a suitable age - she's already into books that I (old-fashioned me) think are teenager material? She's just turned 10 yo, btw.

>114 SandyAMcPherson: Well, I'm going to hand it over to Charlie (he's 12) pretty much right now because I think he'd love it, so yeah. There's a tiny bit of language, but otherwise it's fine.

>113 scaifea: Having met the conditions I am lying on the floor bleeding....

>113 scaifea: Huzzah! I had a feeling you might be the perfect reader for that book.

>116 quondame: I hope you enjoy it if you get round to it.

>117 MickyFine: Ha! YES.

Today's Agenda:
Today starts two weeks of potentially crazy-busyness. This is the last week of classes, and Tomm and I have our second vaccine shots tomorrow, which means that I may not be well enough to teach on Wednesday (the last day of class for both of my courses). So I need to get lectures typed up and ready to email to my students if I feel like I'm not up to teaching. I also have a pile of mythology projects to grade, Latin quizzes, and then next week I'll have 14 individual exam meetings with my Latin students, plus essay exams to grade from my myth students. But, still, it's the home stretch and that's good. Oh, and one last meeting on Friday for the CAP course approval (this system of sub committees on top of sub committees is straight up ridiculous).

Anyway. Today it's class prep, quiz grading and reader response grading, getting those typed lectures started in case I need them, helping Charlie with school work if he needs it, office hours, and teaching. It's DC Night again, so I have early PJs and books in bed to look forward to at the end of the day.

On the reading front:
Yesterday's reading time was spent on Another Country, which is darker than I usually ike but Baldwin is important and I'm sticking with it, and The Beast Player, which is still coming along nicely. I also listened to a bit of Where the World Ends and I'm not sure where it's headed (besides the obvious, of course), but I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

This week's Latin Bonus Question:

What's the worst advice you've ever been given?

'Morning, Amber.

Whew. Busy 2 weeks ahead. I hope you don't have a bad reaction to your 2nd Covid vaccine, but you're wise to get lectures ready to send out just in case. Your students are lucky to have you.

>121 scaifea: Take French Horn in the 5th grade? Go out with all the men I went out with who were not right for me? Actually, nothing that I regret with a major passion or that blighted my life. I think I'm rather lucky...

>122 karenmarie: Hi, Karen!

Thanks, but I suspect the students would rather I not be that prepared and that they just get a freebie day...

I feel the same way - there's no major bad decision that was based on advice in my past. All my stupid mistakes were all pretty much my own idea.

>120 scaifea: Hope your day with all the things go smoothly! Such an awesome prof to have lecture notes set up in case of absence.

I'm drawing a blank on your bonus question but I'll ponder it some more.

>124 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky. Now that I'm in the middle of typing up the lecture notes, I'm not of the opinion that it's that awesome, really. Ha!

Well I was given plenty of direction that might have worked for someone different but wasn't right for me. Very few people have a clear view from others' eyes and hearts.

>121 scaifea: I don't know that it was advice, exactly, but I think the worst mistake I've ever made was to go to university straight after high school. Not that there was really a choice back then — gap years had not been invented yet — but looking back I realize now that I was suffering from extreme burnout (I offer for evidence my previously confessed recidivist truancy). A year's break to remind myself how much I love classes and learning would have done me a world of good.

Still, I reckon everything happens for a reason, so I tend not to dwell on past forks in the road.

>126 quondame: Which is partly why unsolicited advice in particular absolutely chaps my behind quarters.

>127 rosalita: Ooof, yeah. That really does need to be normalized - the choice to take a year and Do Something Else First.

Not advice exactly, but Julia's reminded me that during grad school I had a lot of professors and people at the school confident that the new graduates would find jobs right away because "the librarian profession is aging, and a lot of people should be retiring when you graduate in 2008". Yeah... A lot of those retirements didn't happen. There were jobs, certainly, but after the recession hit, you had to be willing to move or work in really small towns for little pay. I job searched until June 2010, after which I cobbled together two part-time jobs for a year and a half before a full-time job opened at one of the libraries where I worked and I was an internal candidate.

>130 bell7: Yep that’s a huge issue in academia, too. Jobs are very difficult to come by.

>121 scaifea: A college friend told me to "Dump that guy. He's ruining your life." That was over 50 years ago. I did not give this advice a moment's consideration. My life has not been ruined. The friendship suffered, however.

>121 scaifea: Hmmm. I would say the one that immediately leaps to mind is that I should let my then-partner make his own decision whether or not to stick with me when I relocated for grad school. My plan had been to let moving away be my gentle, inevitable breakup with him. Of course, he chose to move with me, we moved in together as a result, because why would 2 people relocate together then move into separate apartments, and spent another 6 (abusive) years together. Two more attempts to break up with him before it stuck (4 total, including that aborted attempt because I followed the advice). Pretty grim.

Sorry, I can't really think of a lighthearted example.

>121 scaifea: "Plastics."

>134 weird_O: I see what you did there!

>121 scaifea: Oh sure, that one's dead easy:
What's the worst advice you've ever been given?
You should go to grad school. You'll have a better time finding a permanent position with an advanced degree.

Oh yeah? 🙄

>131 scaifea: Ha. A theme here... I fit right in. How comfy.

>134 weird_O:, >135 justchris: That's hilarious (only if I'm on the page you're on). I saw that movie and loved it... otherwise this comment will have everyone rolling their eyes/scratching their heads.

>136 SandyAMcPherson: Now that I think about it my sister did get me to add a pre-med major as an undergraduate. Really I should not have tried for medical school, that was a mistake. But the bio courses landed me a job which got me experience which landed me a job, so it wasn't all the wrong path. But if I could have had instead the benefit of my informed future self - well, a great deal a wow for more than one person might have been avoided.

>132 laytonwoman3rd: Oh, wow. That's...wow. I think that friendship would suffer a punch in the nose, were it mine.

>133 justchris: Ooof. I'm glad you're well out of it now, though.

>134 weird_O: *SNORK!!!*

>136 SandyAMcPherson: Ha! My undergrad adviser told me I *shouldn't* go to grad school because I only had 1.5 years worth of courses in the field (I changed my major late) and if I managed to get accepted somewhere I'd be hopelessly behind, plus there aren't many jobs waiting on the other end. I...don't like it when people tell me "no," so I did it anyway. And it miraculously worked out for me. (Stress on "miraculous" as far as TT the job falling into my lap goes. I *was* completely and (nearly) hopelessly behind my first year of grad school but worked my honkus off and caught up to everyone else. Oooof, I'd love to have that sort of mental energy now...)

Today's Agenda:

Today's the day, folks! Vaccine Day!!

That's this afternoon. This morning will be post-teaching tidying, tackling the pile of things I need to grade, and helping Charlie with school if he needs it. Curried Carrot Soup for dinner tonight.

On the reading front:
I focused on The Beast Player yesterday and made some good progress, and I'm still listening to When the World Ends.

Hoping your stabbing goes well!

>144 drneutron: *snork!* Thanks, Jim!

Congratulations on Vaccine Day!! I was so excited when it was my turn that I almost hugged the nurse when she was done!

Paros is where Claire will go this summer, if all works out (pandemic-wise). I'll imagine you know of this Greek island in the Aegean. The dig is on Antiparos, a neighboring island. It'll be a month-long adventure. Claire got her second injection Saturday and was feeling Meh.

>146 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba! I am *so* happy. For the first shot, I nearly cried!

>147 weird_O: That's wonderful, Bill! I suspect that she will have an amazing time.

>130 bell7: Ugh, yes! I graduated from library school in 2011 and they were still saying this. The promised "greying out" of the profession did NOT happen. Not as many retirements as expected and in a lot of cases, when the librarian retired, they weren't replaced.

Congrats on shot number 2, Amber! Fingers crossed you have mild side effects this time as well.

>150 MickyFine: That's a huge problem in (Humanities, at least) academia, too: people just don't retire, and when they do, many times the position is just not renewed.

And thanks!

>143 scaifea: Woohoo, happy vaccine day!!

>152 curioussquared: Thanks!!

We've been and are back now. Curried Carrot Soup will wait until another day - we're celebrating tonight with carry-out pizza...

>151 scaifea: It's so sad because universities keep churning out new graduates in fields where there's no demand for them. My university alone spits out cohorts of 100 students a year from their MLIS program and I can tell you there are not that many library jobs opening up...

Huzzah for pizza! Enjoy the sweet victory of being two weeks away from full(ish) immunity. :)

>154 MickyFine: Yeah. I wonder if being up front with applying students would help - I mean, clearly it wouldn't have helped in my case because I'm so stupid stubborn and hate to be told no. *sigh*

And YES to the pizza! I can't tell you how excited I am about it!

I imagine you love pizza as much as I do so pretty dang excited.

>154 MickyFine: >155 scaifea: I toyed with library school after college but got the message from somewhere that jobs were hard to get especially if you were set on a specific city, so decided against it. So the knowledge is out there -- but I have no idea where I heard it from!

>156 MickyFine: *fist bump*

>157 curioussquared: Yeah, same with Humanities academic jobs. People kind of know? But still.

>154 MickyFine: I remember watching a film promoting the profession in the very first course of my MLIS program (late 1990s). I'm pretty sure it was produced by the ALA. Early in the film the narrator claimed that "Librarians are well compensated and in high demand."

The class erupted in laughter. We knew already.

>155 scaifea: My mom got her PhD in philosophy way back in the 1970s and she says that on one of her first days she and all her cohort were required to sign a document saying they understood that they were not guaranteed a tenure-track job afterwards and that in fact it was very unlikely they would ever get one. This didn't stop anyone, least of all her! She's now been a prof for some 40-odd years. Some people just have a passion and won't be dissuaded -- I don't know that it's really a matter of ignorance about the job market so much. When I was in graduate school all I'd hear day-in, day-out was constant anxiety about how few tenure-track jobs there were, it was enough to actually distract from my work.

On that uplifting note -- happy vaccine day! If you can't lift up your arm that means it's working!

>160 swynn: Hahahahahaha *ahem*
Okay that's hilarious.

I will say, I'm seeing more (public) positions opening up locally lately than I have in awhile, based solely on the emails I'm getting advertising the jobs (also, I know of several towns that furloughed librarians instead of letting them work from home like we did). But certainly anytime there's an economic downturn, jobs are frozen, and a lot of the full-time librarian positions are filled internally in my experience. I'm not sorry I went to grad school, and I appreciated the learning that happened in the classroom, but I'd say about 50% of it was hands-on useful, and there's a LOT that I've learned on the job. Also, for many libraries in my state, an MLS isn't actually required... unless you want to be a director, and even that depends on the town's population. It does make me a little more competitive as a job candidate, though it doesn't affect my salary any.

Anyway... sorry to talk shop on your thread, Amber. I didn't realize how much I had to say about it until I got started, and it's interesting to me to see how much the library job market matches that of academia. Hooray for jab #2 AND the pizza! Hope you're feeling okay over the next few days.

>160 swynn: Ohmygosh, that is hilarious!

>161 ebeeb: I wonder how much of that (the grad school doom chatter) is just grad school mindset? At least in my experience, my colleagues and I were constantly worried about one thing or another and everything seemed a half step from The End of the World. It's...not a mentally healthy time, in general.

And oooh yeah, my arm is *so* sore.

>162 bell7: Yep. I was "furloughed," although they misused the term because we weren't called back, and now that those jobs are needed again, they're running searches and not offering them back to the "furloughed" people. Um, that's not how any of this works, people. They ask me to apply for my old job and just...no. Besides now having another job, I'm too stubborn to reapply for a job I had already been given! Also, of course, I don't have an MLS, and the only person working in my branch who does, and I'm including the full time people in that count, is the director. So, yeah.

And no apologies! Feels like a pretty good discussion to me, yeah?

Welp, I don't feel full-on flu sick (yet), but boy-o I have *zero* energy. Walking across the room is exhausting this morning. If this doesn't pick up by mid day, I'm calling off my classes - there's no way I have the energy right now to lecture in two classes back to back. I'd crawl back into bed, but, well, there's the whole parenting thing; The Charld needs to be fed, I suppose, and there's his school work to keep an eye on. Otherwise I'm planning on resting as much as possible today, of course.

On the reading front:
Not much to report here, although I did get a few pages of Guard of Honor read while waiting our 15 minutes after the shot.

What We're Watching:
My pick last night and I decided it was high time Charlie was introduced to the joys of MST3K. We watched Manos: The Hands of Fate. He *loved* it, I can happily report.

Well I'm glad you're not feeling full-on sick. I hope "zero energy" is the full extent of your side effects and that you feel better over the course of the day.

MST3K is brilliant and Charlie is the perfect age for it! How fun. We watched several back in the 90s, some hosted by Joel and some by Mike. I remember that film title but not the specifics (although those specifics don't really matter, do they?)

'Morning, Amber!

>167 lauralkeet: I've had much lower energy all around ever since I got my 2 doses of Pfizer in February. I hope you rebound quickly, young'un!

>167 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura! The feeling better by teaching time is a little too much of a crap shoot, I think, so I'm definitely leaning toward canceling. I want to make the decision by noon to give my students fair warning, so we'll see. I'll have to feel significantly better by then to be able to teach, I think.

Charlie *is* the perfect age! So fun. Manos isn't my favorite (that's a tie between Puma Man and Space Mutiny), but it was still a hoot. They're working on a reboot, I think, with the original Joel, which is pretty exciting.

>168 karenmarie: Morning, Karen! Oh, yoicks, I'm sorry the no-energy blues are sticking around for you. I've never been Super Energy Girl (I blame the chronic anemia I had from kidhood through college), but this is bananas. I suspect that once Charlie's done with his schoolwork for the day, I'll crawl back into bed for the afternoon.

>165 scaifea: Well, that just sucks. You would think that anyone furloughed would be offered the job back first and then if they didn't want to come back, the job would be posted for just anyone. Kinda sounds like a convenient way to try to get new people in and save money by hiring at a lower rate. Ugh. One thing the pandemic has been is eye-opening as to which employers really have their employees' backs. My town hasn't been perfect, certainly, but they won a LOT of goodwill letting us ALL work from home with full pay, including pages who couldn't actually shelve from home. And the trustees have been cautious with reopening plans, giving us a full month's notice before we reopen with no appointments. I'm glad you came down on the "discussion is interesting" side instead of "what are these librarians doing hijacking my thread?" Lol :D

Sorry to hear the vaccine has left you wiped out. I got shot number 1 on a Thursday, late morning, and had a super sore arm overnight, felt better on Friday and thought I was gonna get away with limited side effects, but woke up on Saturday with swollen glands, sore throat, and dead tiredness. I'm planning ahead for having no energy after shot number 2, but we'll see what happens next week. Hope you're able to get plenty of rest and feel up to snuff tomorrow.

>171 bell7: Yeah, it was pretty crappy of them, honestly. I think there was a lot of push back about it because they have now replaced the library director (not my branch director, who is *amazeballs* and I love her, but they Big Boss, who was, along with the trustees, the source of all these awful decisions). I'm so glad your library is more supportive - that's wonderful!

Yeah, Tomm also thought ahead and took the day off work today, and I'm very glad I have those lecture notes typed up and ready to go. My brain is so foggy, too, that I just walked downstairs with an armload of folded laundry before realizing that, hey, that stuff actually goes in the bedrooms... Not a great mental headspace to teach. Ha!

The brain fog was my biggest side effect after the 2nd shot, so you are in good company :D It only lasted about 6 hours for me, so I hope it's short-lived for you, too!

>173 katiekrug: Ha! Good to know I'm not alone! Things don't seem to be improving; in fact, chills and such are coming on, so I'm trying to race through a bit of grading before I become completely good for nothing today... (Well, "race through" to the extent that I'm clearly taking breaks to check LT, but, well, priorities, eh?)

Oh, boo to chills and such. I was glad to escape that because I would have been convinced I was dying, despite the commonality of that as a side effect...

>175 katiekrug: Ha! As much of a worrier as I usually am, I'm surprised I don't feel that way about it, too, but nah, I'm okay.

Crossing my fingers that your side effects pass after 24 hours. Time for couch and mindless TV, methinks...

>162 bell7: >171 bell7: Mary, this is happening in many employment sectors and as you say, library science does indeed match academia. Sadly, readvertising the same job at lower pay has plagued the research science sector as well. I have noticed the affected positions are never the senior admins however. 😡

>164 scaifea: Amber, you nailed it, not a mentally healthy time, in general.. My belief is firmly rooted in that the atmosphere in grad school fosters some very dysfunctional behaviour and certainly leads to very poor personalities who end up in senior admin positions... acting like they're still coping with grad school.

>165 scaifea: Indeed, this definitely feels like a pretty good discussion to me, too.

Hope the vaccine side-effects are short-lived from here on out. This was jab#2, yes? Is Tomm vaccinated now as well? I missed that, and hope he's not equally wiped out.

>177 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky! Here's hoping it's a one-day thing. I've been trying to do some grading, but I think I may just give up for the day.

>178 SandyAMcPherson: Great points all around, Sandy. You may be right about grad school crafting dysfunctional personalities in academia - there sure are a lot of them...

Yep, shot, #2 for both Tomm and me. He's feeling just about as cruddy as I am today.

I'm sorry you're both feeling so cruddy.

Crawl into bed and just take care of yourselves.

>181 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen. Charlie's nearly finished with his school work for the day, so I'll be doing just that soon.

>147 weird_O: Oh, cool! We lived several summers on Paros when I was a kid. We were in Naousa Bay, across the island from Antiparos. What's the dig? I didn't think there had ever been habitation over there.

Today's Agenda:
I'm feeling better this morning than yesterday, although still pretty tired and I suspect that will follow me around today. I've got grading still to do, and some prep work for the Latin final exam, and if I'm feeling up to it, a trip to the library to pick up holds. Charlie has his first of two days of standardized testing this morning - no real worries there since he generally does really well on those. Tonight I'll make the Curried Carrot Soup that keeps getting pushed back.

On the reading front:
Not much to report since I spent the afternoon napping, but I did get a few pages of The Kite Runner (which I'm deciding to dump - more on that later), Another Country and The Beast Player read.

What We're Watching:
It was Charlie's pick last night, and we watched a few episodes of Gilmore Girls.

Okay so I'm abandoning The Kite Runner. I know this one is hugely popular, but just...no. The writing is very good, but after getting through 1/3 of the book, absolutely none of the characters are even a little bit likable, and it seems like it's purposefully bleak because this kind of bleak is a formula for Definite Awards Nominations (sorry, I know that's snarky and jaded, but I'm actually angry at how much I disliked this book). Before I decided to cut and run, I looked up a summary of the rest of it, and well, it doesn't get any nicer or less full of gratuitous nastiness, does it? So that's a nopenopenope from me. Blech.

>185 scaifea: Amber, I wonder if The Kite Runner is one of those books that rode the wave of popularity and hype? And perhaps it was even unique at the time it was published, and so its popularity was justified, but it doesn't have staying power?

I'm currently reading a book that's been on my "want to read" list for some time, a 2016 crime novel set in late 1940s Atlanta, where the city's first Black police officers are investigating crimes against the Black community. It's a unique angle, but it seems designed to make me think "wow, those Black people really had it rough back then." Given all that's happened since 2016 in terms of race in America, and policing specifically, the book is just not landing on me the way it might have a few years ago.

So this is kind of long-winded but I'm wondering if something similar is happening for you with The Kite Runner.

Hi Amber!

I'm glad you're feeling better and hope the tiredness goes away as the day progresses.

>185 scaifea: I loved The Kite Runner when I read it, but perfectly understand abandoning it. Why waste your time on something that doesn’t please you? It was a very tough read, as I recall. I’m much less into tough contemporary fiction these days, although I love mysteries and thrillers, with all the attendant murder and mayhem.

>186 lauralkeet: I agree, Laura, about the popularity and hype. Current events and all. (And you're reading Darktown, right?)

>187 karenmarie: Yep, that's the book, Karen!

>186 lauralkeet: Oh, that's a really interesting thought, Laura, and I suspect there are in fact a big pile of books out there that fall into that category. That's not what happened here for me, though. I'm pretty sure that if I had read it when it came out that I'd feel exactly the same way. Are you still enjoying the book or is that angle of it sort of ruining it for you?

>187 karenmarie: I know there are many people who loved the book, and I'm happy you did, Karen. It's not the tough read part that bothers me, though. It's the feeling that he seems to have set out exactly to write a tough-to-read book for the sake of writing a tough-to-read book, if that makes sense. I don't really see any other Purpose behind it? I could be missing something, of course (that's very likely), but he just seems to me to have made a list of Things That Make a Book Bleak and 'Gritty' and Sad-Making and Hard, and then proceeded to tick off all the boxes as his entire end game and not a means to some greater end. And if that's your (impersonal 'you' here) jam, then great! It's superduper not mine, though.

I also liked The Kite Runner when I read it ages ago (though I remember very little of it now), but I think Laura is on to something. The other thing about it was that it told a story with a setting/place/culture/history that a lot of us knew very little about before 9/11, so there was some curiosity in that sense, too.

I'm glad you're feeling a bit better!

>191 katiekrug: Ah, sure, the setting was probably a big New Thing kind of draw. Makes sense.

And thanks!

It's hard to get back to the mindset of 2005, when I read this book for my RL book club. I read it, I liked it, I don't feel the need to read anything else by him. I'm also getting away from what someone (Richard?) labeled 'misery porn', which is what I'd now classify this book.

I just read a few bits about the author, and it's not clear to me that he wrote the book to check off things on the tough-to-read checklist. I do think he took this book to a much darker place than he might have originally intended, either spurred on by his editor, or his feelings about Afghanistan, personal issues, something else, or bits and portions of each.

Much longer discussion of why people write books, consideration of their motives, and the publishing of books should ensue, I suppose, but I'm happy to leave it here.

>189 scaifea: It's not quite ruining it for me, Amber, but I just haven't been sucked in. I'm now in the last 50 pages or so where the crime-solving pace picks up, and I'm interested to see the resolution. But getting to this point was more work than I expected.

>191 katiekrug: yeah, we know a lot more about Afghanistan and the Taliban now, don't we? That's where my head was, in comparing The Kite Runner to Darktown.

>193 karenmarie: It's an interesting discussion, for sure Karen.

>193 karenmarie: Well, you're more invested at this point than I am, Karen, in your looking up the author deets! I was doing the hyperbole thing up there about his theoretical checklist, although I honestly don't see the book successfully conveying any other motives. Keep in mind, though, that I didn't actually finish it and only read a summary of the rest, but from the summary I didn't get the sense that there was much more than an on-the-surface redemption for the main character. *shrugs*

(ETA: There's also probably a fair amount of me just being a butt about it since I'm grouchy about how much I didn't like it. So, grain of salt and all that, and fair warning that logic will likely not change my stubborn toddler brain about it. (We hates it, Precious.))

Much longer discussion of why people write books, consideration of their motives, and the publishing of books should ensue, I suppose, but I'm happy to leave it here.
Ooof. Yeah, let's maybe leave it here. I'm still too vaccine-brain-foggy for such a thing, and having wrapped up my year of literary lectures along those lines, I'm ready for summer vacation.

>194 lauralkeet: Oh, I've been there with books before: not honestly quite worth the time maybe, but juuuust interesting enough to make me want to know how it ends.

Good morning all you bright and intelligent sparks.
I am bleary (with seasonal allergies) this morning but my gosh, this discussion (#184 to #196) was really interesting to me.

This whole month has been a weird reading saga (for me). I've been thinking about how wiffle-waffley I'm being with my opinions and take-away thoughts on all the novels I've read in April (all of 9 or 10) and the ones I've DNF'd. Kind of 'massive enthusiasm' and then, a span of 'meh' for the same author in the next title.

I'm also skeptical of the hype around books. I look at the 'Hot Titles on LT' list which appears in the monthly news and hardly any of them appeal to me, or I read a couple and am 'What?? Why is everyone all over that title?'

So yeah, I think this idea, 'Big New Thing kind of draw', is a good deal of the ensuing hype. I also agreed with RD when he said (quite awhile ago now, but I didn't fave it) some books are just plain 'misery porn'.

I wonder if I re-read something a couple of years from now, how would the book strike me? Would the 4- or 5-starred titles and my thoughts stand the test of time? Or was it a flash-in-the-pan and subject to my pandemic-brain? I know I've alternated between just plain junky books that are strictly silly escapist reading (which I don't analyze very deeply) or I read YA novels because the magic and naivety of a child appeals to me.

Now I need more coffee and will leave here with best wishes to Amber to feel better soon. Your immune system sounds like it is operating well and for that I am happy you will have a body primed to take care of Mr. Virus.

>197 SandyAMcPherson: Oh, now *that's* another really interesting question: the flip side of author motivation is reader response and how it fluctuates according to mood, particular seasons in your life, age, external circumstances (ex: pandemic brain),...

I'm not a big re-reader unless it's a really-really fave-favorite. Otherwise, I'm happy to continue to believe in my original assessments.

And thanks for the well wishes! I am indeed feeling *much* better today and I'm also happy to have endured a day of bleh as a very small price to pay for happy immunity.

>102 scaifea: free verse huh? Colour me interested.

>185 scaifea: well, I wasn't expecting that! ;) I recall quite liking The Kite Runner, but for reasons that I can't remember...so that kinda leaves my argument hanging. lol

>199 LovingLit: Hi, Megan!

Yeah, YA novels in free verse are having a bit of a moment right now, it seems. Some of them are excellent, although I think this one isn't one of the better ones. It's won some awards, though, so it's very possible that you'd love it...

*shrug* Not everyone likes every book and that's okay, of course. It always makes me happy when books have people who love them, regardless of what I think about them.

Today's Agenda:
Weekly bill sorting, grocery pickup, baking (brownies), office hours, and one final meeting about the CAP course business. Then hopefully some reading time this afternoon.

On the reading front:
I'm focusing my reading time on The Beast Player just now because I think it's coming up due soon. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it this weekend. Still listening to Where the World Ends, too.

What We're Watching:
A couple of episodes of Coupling, one of Arrow, and then we started one of my favorite MST3K movies: Space Mutiny.

Hope the final meeting for your course goes smoothly and no other butts make an appearance. ;)

I might steal a brownie but only if there's no nuts in them. If there are nuts than you're safe from my thieving ways.

>202 MickyFine: Ha! Thanks, Micky! Butt shouldn't be there this time, so hopefully it'll be fine.

And no, there are never nuts in Scaife Manor brownies. EVER. So help yourself!

>203 scaifea: Mmphmg. *translates as thank you when mouth full of brownie*

>204 MickyFine: *snork!* You're welcome!

CAP course proposal *unanimously* approved and with all kinds of lovely compliments from the committee! WOOT!

Congrats on the CAP course proposal approval.

Darn. Brownies. I may have to make some this weekend.

>206 scaifea: - Well done!

>206 scaifea: Woohoo! Time to party!

>207 karenmarie: >208 katiekrug: >209 MickyFine: Thanks, all! It's *such* a long process and I'm glad it's over. For this class. Yoicks.

>206 scaifea: >210 scaifea: That's great!

Hi Amber my dear, sorry to hear that both you and Tomm felt cruddy after you both had your second Covid jabs, we both felt off colour after our first jab although it lingered longer with Karen. We are due to get our second jab on the 8th of June.

I am slowly catching up with the threads, some, like yours move so fast that i can be a thread behind if i am not careful.

We are still waiting for Amy to give birth, her due date was yesterday but that came and went and still no sign, oh well it will come when it is good and ready, lol.

We are both well and i am going well with my reading and am getting on well with the garden project despite shortages on sharp sand and building sand, luckily i have other things to be getting on with.

I hope that you, Tomm and Charlie and the dogs have a really lovely weekend my dear and we both send love and hugs to you all dear friend.

Wishing you a great weekend!

Congrats on being fully vaccinated.

Congrats on getting the CAP course proposal approved! Hope you have a great weekend, Amber.

Congrats on being fully vaccinated, Amber.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks, everyone!

>212 johnsimpson: Hi, John! I can't believe it's time for Amy's due date already! You'll have that new grandkiddo in your arms in no time now.

Today's Agenda:
I've spent this morning already trying to sort out a phishing attempt on an old apple id account that I haven't used in years. SO annoying. I'm finally giving up and Tomm says he'll try to sort it out. Bleh. I'll finish my coffee while puttering around here, then do some baking (Banana Bread and possibly some Lime Bars (a Mary Berry recipe that's really cake with a lime glaze, it seems, and not the kind of lime bars I generally think of)), some sewing, and some reading.

On the reading front:
Nearly finished with The Beast Player - I should be able to polish it off today.

What We're Watching:
Family Game Night was another D&D session with Charlie as our DM, then we finished watching MST3K: Space Mutiny.

Morning, Amber! I hope you have a nice weekend. Those lime "bars" sound right up my alley. Do let us know how they turn out!

>218 katiekrug: Morning, Katie! I'll report back with my results!

I'm also curious about the lime bars. Have a lovely and restful Saturday, Amber!

>220 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky!

It's really essentially a yellow/vanilla cake with a lime-flavored powdered sugar glaze. We'll see how it turns out.

Congratulations on getting that second shot over with, and on the course approval.

Mmm....love Mary Berry, but lime-flavored glaze doesn't really call to me. Can you leave a couple edge pieces uncoated? P&TY.

>22 scaifea: Well, you and Charlie both prefer the "bars" (it's a cake, honestly) unembellished, so no glaze at all. We had a warm piece for lunch and it's lovely.

73. The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi (Printz Honor Book) - 8/10 = B+
Elin is the daughter of an outcast; her mother is a foreigner who was loved by the prince of the people they now live among, loathed yet needed by them for her special ability to care for and train the water beasts -the Toda - that they use as weapons. But when one of the beasts dies, she is sentenced to death. She leaves Elin saved yet orphaned, carried on the back of one of the warrior beasts to another life, but one in which she will return to the skills of her ancestors, possibly dooming the kingdom with the discovery of her birthright abilities to communicate with Toda and Royal Beasts alike.
Hm. It's...okay. The story is fine: it's fairly interesting if not wholly original - it's so much in the vein of the How to Train Your Dragon movies (*not* the books) in concept (and minus the humor) that it's difficult to believe either that Uehashi was heavily influenced by the movies or that both have been influenced by another, older work (which seems more likely, really). The dialogue is stilted in places, although I'm not sure whether that's an issue with the original text or a product of the translation. Overall, I enjoyed this one fine, although I'm not invested enough to read the second volume.

74. Another Country by James Baldwin (100 Banned Books) - 8/10 = B-
Rufus is a jazz musician in NYC, a black man down on his luck as a result of a toxic relationship with a white southern woman. The novel follows the fallout of this relationship and the ripple-effect consequences its ending has on Rufus's circle of friends.

Baldwin's works all have the same effect on me: I recognize his talents in the language he uses and the way he crafts his novels, but I never really enjoy them. They're just...not my thing. He is absolutely excellent at what he does - gritty books in which people and their relationships with one another are the entire story - and I'm never sorry I've read them because of how good a writer he is, but I just don't enjoy novels in which the focus is on not-exactly-likable characters doing not much else except interacting with other not-very-likable characters.

>198 scaifea: I have definitely both run into books where I wrote an ecstatic review and the reread was meh, and even more often wrote a meh review and loved the book when I reread it (usually by accident, or as part of a series reread). I can also sometimes detect that I'm not enjoying a book because I'm not in the mood for it, or not in the mood for anything, rather than because it's not good (for me).

I detested The Kite Runner - I really wanted to like it (I lived in Afghanistan as a kid), but I didn't recognize anything I liked and I hated all the characters. Ugh. I also quit in the middle, for much the same reason you did; I don't remember if I looked at the end or looked up a summary or just dropped it.

Hi Amber, just popping in to say Hi!

>226 jjmcgaffey: Oh, that's really interesting that you more frequently like the book better the second time! I bet that doesn't happen very often in general, mostly because I also suspect that most people don't reread meh-the-the-first-time books. I kind of love that.

And whew! I'm sorry you didn't like The Kite Runner, but I'm also a little relieved that I'm not the only one!

>227 connie53: Hi, Connie! Good to see you!

Today's Agenda:
House cleaning (barf), and then I think I'll work on the quilt project a bit - all the squares are finished and now I need to sort out how I want to arrange them before sewing them all together. After that, rocking chair and tea and books. Shepherd's Pie for dinner tonight.

On the reading front:
After finishing the Baldwin, I started The Worm Ouroboros and the latest Lumberjanes volume.

What We're Watching:
Tomm's pick last night and we watched several episodes of Spin City.

'Morning, Amber.

Shepherd's Pie sounds like max comfort food. I've never made it before, but it sounds simple enough. I might make it this week.

>231 karenmarie: Morning, Karen!
Shepherd's Pie is easy-peasy and definitely comfort food.

Hope the cleaning is quick and all the leisure time feels luxurious.

>226 jjmcgaffey: You've expressed very well what happens to me. I've resolved to be very cautious about my re-reading books I enjoyed more than 20 years ago. I'm not *that* person anymore. So it shouldn't surprise me that my perceptions and attitudes have changed.

Also, I'm not enjoying a book because I'm not in the mood for it, or not in the mood for anything, rather than because it's not good is well-phrased. I have trouble writing reviews when that happens because I'm sure in a different time and circumstance I'd write a different review. So, it is what it is, at the time. Right?

>233 MickyFine: Thanks, Micky.

>234 SandyAMcPherson: I generally try to express in my reviews when I think I didn't like a book because of something in *me* rather than something in the *book*. I think it's a good distinction to make.

>236 scaifea: I couldn't agree more. I've got one of those right now and I feel conflicted because I honestly don't think it's a bad book but it is certainly not the book for me (right now and possible ever).

>236 scaifea: I like that distinction. It's what I try to go for, too, describing what did or didn't work for *me* in a way that would allow someone with different reading taste to tell if it's something they would like more (or less) than I did.

Hope your house cleaning was snappy so you could get to the more relaxed and fun part of the day.

>237 rosalita: Julia: There's also a distinction for me between books I don't like but I want the experience of (for example, important, canon, or essential books like the Baldwin) and books that I'm not enjoying and don't feel the need to know or place within my greater knowledge of literature and culture. The latter I'm happy to abandon for better reads.

>238 bell7: Mary: For me it's also important to try to distinguish that difference because I don't want to yuck someone else's yum. In general, even if it didn't work for me, I'm still very happy if it does work for someone else.

75. Lumberjanes Vol. 17: Smitten in the Stars by Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh (series read) - 10/10 = A+
The 'janes are at it again, this time half of them follow along and support a fellow camper who's looking for proof of alien life, while the other half have a close encounter with a Norse goddess.

This series continues to be one of my very favorite things for its insanely clever wit and its all-encompassing acceptance. (In particular this time around for its revealing of the goddess Diane as a grey ace in loving, NBD style. Just...so wonderful.)

>241 scaifea: Congratulations on reaching 75, Amber!

>242 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita!

>241 scaifea: Congrats!

You have reached 75! Wow, and that with all the cleaning and the classes and all the other stuff you do. I guess you have more hours in a day then over here in the Netherlands.

>244 bell7: Thanks, Mary!

>245 connie53: Ha! Thanks, Connie! I don't know about more hours. I'm fairly consistently tired, though, if that helps explain things...

>228 scaifea: I can think of only one book to which this absolutely applies, Speaker for the Dead. It wasn't Ender's Game and I just couldn't get into it. Then after a few months, pieces of the narrative would pop into my head and I'd have to root around in my memory to figure out which book they'd come from. After the third time, I decided that I'd do a re-read and was bowled over.

>241 scaifea: Congratulations on 75 reads!

>248 quondame: Interesting! I devoured that entire series in a matter of days, way back when.

And thanks!

Congrats!

>249 scaifea: Heh, way back in my when they came out one by one.

Congrats on 75!

Congrats on reaching the magic number, friend. And agreed that volume of 'janes was so excellent.

Thanks, all! After this week of exam proctoring and grading, I should have even more reading time for the summer, and I'm really looking forward to that.

Today's agenda:
I'm giving three exams today, helping Charlie with his school stuff if he needs (he very rarely does), possibly starting an end-of-year tidying (organizing lecture notes, filing old exams, and such), making a quick trip to the library for holds, and hopefully finding some reading time this afternoon. We have leftovers enough in the fridge for dinner tonight, so no cooking necessary.

On the reading front:
I spent most of my reading time yesterday with The Worm Ouroboros and, well, yeah. It's...not great. I would drop it altogether but I'm reading it for a challenge and so I feel I should make a fair effort. I *am* skimming large chunks, though, and I'm hoping to finish it off today and move on to other things. I also started In the Beginning, which is pretty fun, and I'm nearly finished with Where the World Ends on audio, having listened to it yesterday while figuring out how to sort my quilt squares.

What We're Watching:
My pick last night, so we rewatched a favorite: My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Charlie's first time and he loved it.

>247 scaifea: Well no wonder you are tired!

>256 connie53: *snork!* Right?

One of our favorite movies! I’m glad Charlie liked it.

>258 drneutron: Jim: It was even better than I remembered it! I saw it in the theater when it first came out and went to watch it with a grad school friend, who is Greek. She laughed through the whole thing and said that Yep, that's exactly what it's like growing up in a Greek family!

Congrats on 75!

>260 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie!

‘Morning, Amber!

>241 scaifea: Congratulations on reaching 75!!

>236 scaifea: I rarely finish a book that's not working for me, whatever the reason. When I do finish a book and go "yuck" at the end, I give it the lightning round treatment and don't honor it with a full review. I abandon books with glee and have already abandoned 5 this year.

>255 scaifea: Excellent movie and I’m glad Charlie loved it. Definitely time for a re-watch…

>262 karenmarie: That's a sound philosophy, Karen - I'm glad you've found something that works for you!

Congrats on 75, Amber! My family is Bolivian and My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a pretty accurate representation of how we operate, too. And now that I'm planning a wedding... One of my aunts waltzed in the other day announcing she had found the flower girl dresses, lol. At least they all have better taste than the family in the movie!

>264 curioussquared: Ha! Overly-helpful family is one of the most stressful parts of a wedding, I think. I'm glad your aunt's taste is better, at least!

Another fan of My Big Fat Greek Wedding here. I think the last time I watched it was when Mr. Fine and I were planning our wedding - just so I could show him that the whole process could have been much worse. ;)

>266 MickyFine: - That's why I made TW watch the TV show Bridezillas when we were engaged. In comparison, I was a model of reason and economy....

>267 katiekrug: Good tactics, Katie.

>266 MickyFine: Ha! Smart thinking, Micky!

>267 katiekrug: *snork!!*

>268 connie53: Agreed, Connie!

>267 katiekrug: Snort.

>269 scaifea: I definitely went on a wedding movie kick while we were engaged. That was the point when I finally got why Steve Martin nearly had a heart attack in Father of the Bride over the cost per head for the reception - a joke I never understood as a child.

>272 MickyFine: Oh, I *love* the Father of the Bride movies! Thanks for reminding me - they need to go on the list!

The new thread is up:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/331923

Hi Amber my dear, congrats on reaching 75 books for the year so far.

>275 johnsimpson: Thanks, John!