Ursula Continues to Explore in 2022 (Part 3)

Hello there, it seemed to be time to start another thread.

I'm Ursula, living in Istanbul since August 2020. I'm an American, Californian by birth, but I keep finding myself living in various other places. My husband is a mathematician, I'm theoretically an artist ... but my time has lately been taken up with trying to get competent in Turkish, and an entire month disappeared in medical issues, a hospital stay, and a gallbladder removal surgery. In addition to my reading, I talk about music - Morgan and I try to work our way through a bunch of "best albums of the year" lists.

I haven't been out and about much recently thanks to the medical issues mentioned above, but here is a view of the Bosphorus just after sunrise, taken about a block away from our house.

Currently Reading:

Books read in 2022

OCAK / January

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wild Palms by William Faulkner ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Walking on the Ceiling by Ayşegül Savaş ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara ⭐️⭐️⭐️

ŞUBAT / February

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

MART / March

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib ⭐️⭐️1/2
The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Funeral Rites by Jean Genet ⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
We Wrote in Symbols edited by Selma Dabbagh ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

NİSAN / April

Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Beirut Hellfire Society by Rawi Hage ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Turkish Gambit by Boris Akunin ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Immortals of Tehran by Ali Araghi ⭐️⭐️1/2

MAYIS / May
The City & the City by China Miéville ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Nothing but Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw ⭐️⭐️1/2
People Want to Live by Farah Ali ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami ⭐️⭐️⭐️

HAZİRAN / June
Read Dangerously by Azar Nafisi ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Miracle and Wonder by Malcolm Gladwell ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
We Had to Remove this Post by Hanna Bervoets ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Abandoned: Sentence: Ten Years and a Thousand Books in Prison by Daniel Genis

TEMMUZ / July
Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Denver Noir by Cynthia Swanson, ed. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Graveyard Apartment by Mariko Koike ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Everything I Need I Get from You by Kaitlyn Tiffany ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

AĞUSTOS / August
Palestine +100 by Basma Ghalayini, ed. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
On the Road by Jack Kerouac ⭐️⭐️1/2

EYLÜL / September
You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Book of Salt by Monique Truong ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez ⭐️⭐️⭐️

EKİM / October
Death by Water by Kenzaburo Oe ⭐️⭐️
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson ⭐️⭐️1/2
Blood Feast by Malika Moustadraf ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Oroonoko by Aphra Behn ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

KASIM / November
From Hell by Alan Moore ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Jawbone by Monica Ojeda ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgård ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Scattered All over the Earth by Yoko Tawada ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dare to Disappoint by Özge Samancı ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ARALIK / December
Little Eve by Catriona Ward ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This Is What It Sounds Like by Susan Rogers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
King Jesus by Robert Graves ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Saint Sebastian's Abyss by Mark Haber ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa ⭐️⭐️

Abandoned: Above Us the Milky Way by Fowzia Karimi

2022 totals
January: 5
February: 5
March: 7
April: 5
May: 8
June: 4
July: 4
August: 3
September: 3
October: 7
November: 5
December: 6

Total: 62

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones

First line: My grandfather used to tell me he was a werewolf.

Our narrator is a teenager in a family of werewolves. He lives with his uncle and his aunt, who both change form regularly. Not in that movie sort of way, he assures us - there's no connection to the moon, not a lot of howling, etc. He's waiting for his first change, which is probably coming soon - or maybe not. Just because you have the blood doesn't mean you will definitely be a werewolf. Sometimes people just never change, and live out their lives as a human.

His mother is dead, his father is unknown, so his models for what his life could be are his uncle and aunt, though they don't have any real models for their lives either. Eventually they meet another werewolf who is more connected to their history and can shed more light on things. Somewhere around the first third of this book, I turned to my husband and said "I think it's a metaphor for being Native American". This is an obvious statement in a lot of ways, but I admit that I read about 90% for story and very little for metaphor and symbolism, so it always surprises me when I feel compelled to say that.

This is my second book by Stephen Graham Jones, and my second book by him this year, a truly rare event. I didn't like this one as well as The Only Good Indians, but I also feel like it's a more nuanced book. Maybe I'm just not that into werewolves.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Ursula!

Happy New Thread. I’ve read 2 books by Stephen Graham Jones My Heart is a Chainsaw and The Only Good Indians. The Only Good Indians was the best for me, too.

Happy new one, Ursula. I trust that this thread see you fully restored to health, vim and vigor! I have much enjoyed your updates from the banks of the Bosphorus this year. x

>1 ursula: Lovely view Ursula. I too hope the health issues are behind you.

Happy new one!

>6 figsfromthistle:, >7 FAMeulstee:, >8 Kristelh:, >9 PaulCranswick:, >10 Caroline_McElwee:, >11 drneutron: Thanks for the well wishes!

I am feeling pretty decent at the moment. I took a walk to a cafe on İstiklal Street, it was the longest I've walked in a couple of months at this point, so that's good.

Here's another album that I've been enjoying: Devil Is Fine by Zeal & Ardor. It's a combination of metal and spirituals. Yes, you read that right. It works so amazingly well, this whole album is really good, but Morgan sent me the title track to listen to and I had to hear more. Here it is on YouTube for the curious.

My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura

First line: A cramped room in a rundown mountain lodge, and on the desk a manuscript, left open to page one, as if it had been waiting here for ages to be read.

I thought this was going to be a horror novel, and maybe in a way it was, but it was also sort of a mystery or a thriller. As you can see from the first line, you're thrown right in without any information. You shortly find out that the narrator is planning to assume the identity of the person who wrote the manuscript. Why, we don't know. Who the writer is, we find out by reading the manuscript.

After finishing this, I was really pretty confused so I went looking to see what other people had to say about it, and it's pretty mixed. The highly positive reviews seem to share one trait: they read it in one sitting. I think that could definitely help; I found it pretty difficult to follow the ins and outs of the admittedly few characters in the book. It's one of those where you keep having to re-evaluate information you've received in light of new information as it is revealed.

I didn't enjoy it that much (I rated it 3 stars - which is "it was fine"), but I would read something else by the author because there were interesting ideas here.

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

First line: Nothing moved except the mirage.

This is a short book (144 pages), divided into two sections. The first one takes place in 1949, in the Negev desert. An Israeli patrol is securing the Israeli/Egyptian border. The commanding officer is bitten by an unknown creature in his tent, and afterwards, the patrol finds a Bedouin girl. What happens from there is not good for anyone. The second section takes place much later, and a Palestinian woman who was born 25 years after those events in the desert would like to find out more information about what happened. She has no real reason for needing to know, but she's become obsessed with it. She doesn't have the appropriate ID to be able to travel to other parts of the country; how she circumvents this problem, and the stress that engenders, take up most of the second story.

I found this book sort of fascinating. The first half is told in the most matter-of-fact, repetitive and sparse way possible. The symbolism of the commanding officer's wound is clear, and it was interesting to me how we're kept at a complete distance from any sign of his internal life. The second half reminded me so much of my classmate here telling me "when you're living in Palestine, it seems normal, but when you leave you realize how crazy it is."

Quote: He replies that everything he has is there in the article. I add that, even so, I would like to look at them myself, and he says that if that's what I'd like, I can go and look for them myself. Where? I ask him. In museums and archives of the Israeli military and Zionist movements from the period, and those specializing in the area where the incident occurred. And where are they? He replies, in a tone betraying that his patience has nearly expired, that they're in Tel Aviv and in the northwest Negev. Then I ask him if, as a Palestinian, I can enter these museums and archives? And he responds, before putting down the receiver, that he doesn't see what would prevent me. And I don't see what would prevent me either, except for my identity card.

From Hell by Alan Moore

Long, involved graphic novel about Jack the Ripper. I saw the movie with Johnny Depp a million years ago and clearly remembered nothing about it because I was rather surprised when the supernatural entered into this story.

There is a lot of stuff here about Dionysian cults, Freemasonry, and why women are destroying society. Like, a lot. Eventually it pays off, I suppose, but one entire volume of the original series must have been just that: the main character, Dr. William Gull, lecturing his coachman Netley on those topics. The art style by Eddie Campbell works really well with the chaotic nature of Gull's mind, and London in general in that era. The downside is that sometimes it can be difficult to discern exactly what we're seeing.

Also, this is a graphic novel in the other sense of the word "graphic." I think it was page 2 when the first sex scenes happened, and obviously the murders are also pretty vivid.

I'm not sorry I read it but it's certainly not a favorite experience.

Jawbone by Monica Ojeda

First line: She fluttered her eyes open, and in rushed all the shadows of the breaking day.

The author is Ecuadorian, and in my (somewhat limited) experience with horror stories from South America, they are generally Weird with a capital W. This is no exception. We have a teacher at a girl's school (high-school-for-girls, as it's always said in the text), Miss Clara, who has a strange obsession with her dead mother and a traumatic experience in her recent past. We have a group of teenage friends at the school who play weird games together in an abandoned building. They tell stories based on "creepypasta" from the internet, do rituals, tempt fate by walking on ledges, hurt each other and dare each other to push their limits. The ringleaders, Annelise and Fernanda, push things farther than the rest.

This book grew on me as I read it, although it was always a little bit of an odd read and difficult in some ways. I read the translator's note at the end, and she definitely had some challenges, but I think she handled them well.

Teenage girls are a perfect subject for horror; it is an age with intrusive thoughts, inexplicable feelings, and physical changes that lend themselves to body horror. This book definitely doesn't shy away from any of that.

I've been trying to write that review for a day and a half. In addition to it being a hard one to write about, I've been wrestling with a few other things, namely:

• Morgan is away for 2 weeks to collaborate with another researcher in Belgium


• I'm working on a project I'm trying to finish by Friday


• Morgan just accepted an offer for a new job and we're moving to Germany in February

>18 ursula: That is a lot going on for you, Ursula.
Where in Germany will you go?

>18 ursula: I feel like you buried the lede in this post! The move sounds both exciting and daunting :)

>19 FAMeulstee: It is a lot! We'll be in Kaiserslautern, near the French border.

>20 curioussquared: Haha, I can see why you'd say that. But they're in order of things that are stressing me out. The move isn't on that radar for a while yet!

>21 ursula: Lol, that makes sense! I haven't been to that area of Germany, but one of my friends from college lives in Strasbourg across the border and I got to visit her there a few years ago. It's a beautiful area!

Oh wow! What a move. Kaiserlautern is a wonderful place. Lots of forest and things to do.

Happy Weekend!

>22 curioussquared: I haven't been to that area of Germany either! :) It does seem like it's near some scenic areas.

>23 figsfromthistle: Yeah the nature looks promising! Happy Weekend back at you :)

>18 ursula: You are on the move again?! LOL. Do you know any German? Did you finish the project and can you now have a relaxing weekend? Sounds like you need one. : )

>25 Berly: Yes! I finished my project! I celebrated by going out for coffee yesterday morning. (It cost 51 lira, where it used to be about 20.)

We are on the move again - although the pace has slowed considerably in recent years. We were in Fresno for 3 years, and we'll be leaving here at about the 2 and a half year mark.

I do not know any German aside from random words and vague ideas about some of the mechanics. I will be trying to learn some now, although I also hope to get into classes there ASAP.

Amazing how the prices have gone up. But yay for small celebrations! And I know you. You'll master German in nothing flat. : )

>26 ursula: I am excited for your move to Germany, Ursula, My dad had been born in Germany, and I do know some German.

I thoroughly loved everything you shared about living in Turkey, especially the videos. I'm sure you'll be sharing lots of information about your new location in Germany., I'm looking forward to hearing all about the transition. Best wishes on your move.

In case anyone has seen it - yes, there was an explosion this afternoon on İstiklal Street, which is about 7 minutes' walk from my house. I was at home when it happened, so I'm fine, and of course Morgan is in Belgium. I believe 6 people were killed and 81 people injured. I don't know more about it than that...

Especially because access to all social media sites was shut down about an hour after that happened - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube all became inaccessible and it seems that now, 3 hours later, they are still intermittent at best.

>29 ursula: I wondered if it was near you, Ursula. Glad to know you were at home, and fine.

When will Morgan return?

>30 FAMeulstee: Thanks Anita, everything is okay. And it looks like access to social media has been restored (kind of, I guess it's still pretty unreliable).

Morgan will be back late on Saturday, so still quite a few days to go.

So glad to hear you are safe!! So scary.

>28 SqueakyChu: Thanks to you saying that, I did another walking video this morning. This is part of my usual route around the neighborhood. It was 9.10 in the morning, and yes, it's really this quiet and deserted at that hour!

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0ba5P9wk96wWvtzJmBbMyEFMg (just click on the thumbnail at the bottom to play the video)

Glad you're ok Ursula. I love the video you posted in >33 ursula: - the cats sitting on the scooter near the beginning are so cute.

>33 ursula: Nice video again! I like the cats! :D Any idea what that construction equipment was for?

My husband also likes to walk first thing in the morning. That's too early for me plus it's getting to be pretty cold here at that hour now, I live near Washington, DC.

Glad you are OK -- that is so scary!

Glad you are okay and I enjoyed the video.

>34 charl08: Thanks! The cats love the scooters, although there's not a double decker that often, it's usually a one cat per scooter sort of affair.

>35 SqueakyChu: I was pleased to catch a cat up on an awning. You really find them everywhere. I can't remember what they're doing to that building (I'll try to take a look this morning), but they'll build the scaffolding they stand on every morning with that stuff.

I don't really walk first thing - I'm up between 6.30 and 7.00, and don't usually get out the door until 8.30 or so, after feeding myself and the cats, playing with them, etc. Usually I'd be walking with Morgan but I'm trying to keep up the habit even with him gone. Our weather is still pretty good at the moment, the lowest low we've had so far is 8c (46f).

>36 curioussquared:, >37 Kristelh: Thank you both.

>38 ursula: That's a bit chilly for me...as it is getting here. I'm still supposed to be walking, though, so I might have to turn to walking videos soon! :D

>39 SqueakyChu: That's the coldest it's been overnight so far. For example, I'm about to go walking and it's 15c (59f), so that's not bad. I will try to keep it up when it gets colder but it's not easy, I agree. Once I'm out there, it's fine, but convincing myself to get out ... well!

And the answer to what they're doing to the building in the video with the scaffolding waiting:



Painting! The other side is already the green color you see in a few patches on the lower left here.

>40 ursula: I guess you were out walking today to see the painting in action! I’m having a hard time finding the time because daylight savings time is cutting the daylight short. Sunset is before 5pm so I run out of time if I have chores to do or cook or bake something that takes time. My husband says I have to prioritize my walks. I don’t. He’s right!!

>41 SqueakyChu: I have a pretty good routine - every morning after our cats are fed, I go out to put food in the bowl outside the front door for our local street cats, then go to the alley on the next block to give food to the kitties there. Afterwards, a short walk around the neighborhood. Knowing that those cats are excited to see the food makes me go out even when I don't want to. Of course, usually I'd be doing this with Morgan when he doesn't have an early day at the university but I still have a few days left of doing it by myself before he gets back from Belgium.

We don't do daylight savings here, so sunrise is currently at 7.45 and sunset at 5.44. Definitely easier to do it in the morning for me!

Glad you are safe! Quite scary to be so near an explosion like that.

Glad to hear you're safe after the explosion, and best wishes for your move to Germany! I have an old friend who moved there with her husband and two sons, but I confess I have no idea where in Germany they are (we fell out of touch for the most part, but I follow her on Instagram).

>42 ursula: Interesting. What gets me out is that I always go to the park to drop off a book in a Little Free Library there. Of course, that doesn't have to be first thing in the morning, though! :D

>43 figsfromthistle: Thanks. It's just the way it goes - we live near a major tourist area.

>44 bell7: Thanks. It probably wouldn't mean much to me anyway! My German geography is not great. I know where Cologne and Munich are, and Berlin in a general sense. Hamburg, maybe?

>45 SqueakyChu: Yes, that's definitely more changeable. Also it's nice because the streets are quiet here until about 10 AM. After that, the chaos descends. :) (Although if I'm being honest, I will miss that aspect of the city, the chaos.)

Glad you are safe Ursula.

>33 ursula: loved the cats on the bikes and elsewhere. Also explained something friends who have visited Istanbul mentioned, the short bollards everywhere, that one or two of them had come a-cropper on as they are not used to them.

>47 Caroline_McElwee: Yeah, they are on all the sidewalks. Sometimes they are taller metal pillars, but then those get broken off or there are just the bolts in the ground where they used to be to trip over. The point is, the sidewalks are full of hazards for the unaware. Stealth stairs are another one.

Autumn by Karl Ove Knausgård

I didn't realize this was nonfiction, small essays really, often written about the most banal things in life. He's inspired to write about what the world is like before his daughter's birth. He describes things like what it was like when the only way to communicate over distances was via the landline in his childhood home, he talks about various ordinary objects like tin cans, and experiences like your child having lice. Some are interesting, some are boring, some are pretentious (unsurprisingly). It was fast to get through, but if the others in the seasonal quartet are like this I probably won't continue.

Quote: "So much of life and living has to do with sound, from the patter of children's feet running across the floor, their crying and their shrieks of joy, to their regular breathing at night. But the literature about life and living is more closely related to nothing and lifelessness, night and silence, than we imagine it to be. Letters are nothing but dead signs, and books are their coffins. Not a sound has issues from this text while you have been reading it."

>49 ursula: I still haven't got to Knausgaard, Ursula, though do have the first part of his autobiography. I get the sense he is like marmite, you love or dislike him, no middle ground. I suspect I'd enjoy this volume in other hands.

>50 Caroline_McElwee: Absolutely like marmite. I loved all 3 volumes of My Struggle that I read (volumes 4 and 5 are no longer available in the library's digital collection). I feel like this was an interesting experiment, but it didn't really work for me.

Thank you as always for books, thank you for this group and thanks for you. Have a lovely day, Ursula.

>52 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul! It was just another Thursday for me, but I appreciate the sentiment. I hope you had a lovely day as well.

Scattered All over the Earth by Yoko Tawada

First line: I spent that afternoon lying on the sofa, hugging a cushion, watching TV with the volume turned down.

This is a novel about language, and communication. It takes place in a few different locations in Europe, starting off in Copenhagen where a linguist, Knut, decides he must meet a woman who speaks her own invented Scandinavian language, Panska. Her name is Hiruko, and she is from a country that no longer exists - the land of sushi. Eventually there is a group of people who end up traveling together in search of another person from the land of sushi who speaks Hiruko's native language.

If you are expecting a plot that resolves itself, or a plot that goes along a clear path, or perhaps even a plot at all, this probably is one to skip. Things happen, people go places, characters are introduced, but really it's all about the ways we communicate with each other, or don't. I previously read this author's book The Emissary and that was also an odd one. I think I liked this one better, although I didn't dislike The Emissary.

Quote:

The menu was new: it still had a list of different kinds of fish, but now each had from one to five stars beside it. I called a waiter over to ask him about it.
"What do these stars mean?"
"They indicate degrees of pain."
"Degrees of pain?"
"How much pain each species felt while it was dying after being caught. Fish caught in a big net die slowly, writhing and struggling. Those caught one at a time are immediately euthanized by more compassionate fishermen with a bang on the head. Our customers are free to choose."

Hi Ursula, and happy new thread. The photo in your topper is wonderful.

From your last thread, I’m so sorry about the gallstone and gallbladder surgery and am glad that you’re mostly (?)/fully (?) recovered. It really sounds like you had a terrible time of it with the infection and coming out of surgery.

Also from your last thread, Oroonoko is on my shelves and I’ve just tagged it for reading in 2023. I’m still in a romance phase to pretty much the exclusion of everything else, but finish up two books and start adding non-romance books back in 2023 to get more balance.

>14 ursula: Added to my wish list. It sounds intriguing enough to read, not intriguing enough to buy now. I might ask for it for Christmas.

>18 ursula: Oh my. Huge changes coming, and quickly.

>55 karenmarie: Thank you!

Yeah, I'd consider myself fully recovered at this point. It was not the most fun month I've ever had. It's probably the most un-fun month, in fact. That whole stretch of time just disappeared into a black hole, honestly.

I love that you've been in a romance phase! I wish I could do that, but I'm just not wired that way (reading a lot of "lighter" books).

As for the huge changes, I'm going to do another post about that now.

Update on moving:

We were originally thinking we would be starting the job on February 1, since Germany said they couldn't get things together for January 1. Great, that meant we'd want to move around mid-January to find a place and be settled, etc. We bought tickets to a concert in Köln for February 3. Everything is terrific!

The university told Morgan that he needed to make an appointment at the German embassy here to start the process for his paperwork, and then when he arrives in Germany his work contract will be ready and he'll go to City Hall to finish it all. Yesterday he talked to the embassy here, and they said that he should just go in the usual 90-day visa-free way and then deal with all the work paperwork there, and that in fact, if he makes an appointment here and goes through everything they might deny it "because that's not the correct procedure". So he goes back to the university with that information and they insist he needs to go to the embassy first. Well okay then. I guess he's going to the embassy and trying to figure it out from there.

Also yesterday I looked up the requirements for our cats and the requirements coming from Turkey are: microchips (Archie and Cleo have them, Rollo does not yet), rabies vaccinations (check for all of them), and rabies titrations done at least 30 days after their rabies vaccinations and no LATER than 3 months before they enter the EU. So, it's not possible for us to go in January. And there was a moment where we were afraid that actually it wouldn't even be possible for us to go in 3 months if Rollo needed his rabies vaccination to be tied to the microchip he doesn't yet have. (He'd need to get the microchip + vaccine, and then wait 30 days, and then he'd finally be able to travel 3 months after that.)

However we talked to the vet and it sounds like they will draw their blood today, and put in his microchip on Monday (they need the secretary to be there to do it so it can't be done over the weekend), and that's when they'll send everything together. So the 3 months clock starts ticking when the blood is drawn, meaning from today. We could then go at the end of February, I guess starting March 1.

As for the concert, we'll just have to fly in and out for it like we did to Budapest to see My Chemical Romance. Not ideal, not what we were planning, but I guess that's the way it goes.

Okay, another update.

We're screwed.

Turns out, all the cats need a rabies vaccination within the last year (even though the ones Archie and Cleo have are good for 3 years, and are still good right now). So they all need vaccinations now and then titrations in 30 days, and then can't go to the EU for 3 months after that.

So, the cats and I can't leave Turkey until March 26 at the earliest. When Morgan starts his job, when he leaves, etc., is yet to be determined.

Ugh, sorry for all the complications, Ursula. I'm sure it will work out in the end, but I know it must be frustrating!

>59 katiekrug: Thanks. It means that we will be separated for somewhere between 3 and 6? 8? weeks. Not ideal. We're trying to figure out how this affects all the various things that need to be done in each country.

We got Rollo his chip/vaccine today and got the other two their vaccines. Also, the 2 American cats have pet passports coming because although we didn't need them coming from the US to here, we need them leaving here.

Dare to Disappoint by Özge Samancı

This short graphic novel describes the author's experiences growing up in Turkey in the '80s and '90s. The art style is charmingly simple and the book is overall somewhat text-heavy. I didn't learn a whole lot from it, but I can imagine it would be informative to a lot of people.



This page reminded me of a conversation I recently had with someone, where they were saying "but Turkey is 99.6% Muslim!" and I said "yes, on paper." One thing I learned quickly from my classmates in Turkish classes who were from Muslim countries - they did not find Turkey to be comparably Muslim to their home countries. There was much discussion about things they thought were haram which are not considered such here.

A lot of things have changed in the country since the time this book describes ... and a lot of things haven't. Like anywhere else, I suppose.

Your life seems very complicated at the moment. I hope it all goes smoothly and that your separation from each other is short.

>58 ursula: Sorry it is so complicated to get the cats into the EU, Ursula.
I hope it all works out, and that you and Morgan won't be apart for long.

>62 Kristelh:, >63 FAMeulstee: Things are very complicated!

Morgan finally talked to someone at the embassy who seemed to actually understand the situation and agreed to make an appointment for him. He needs some paperwork to come through from the university first so they made the appointment for "near the end of January". No, we won't know the exact date for a while, and no, it can't be rescheduled once it's made. 💀

We also booked our flights for the concert in Cologne. And actually, being here through the end of March means that at least I will for sure be here to go to the concert in Istanbul we bought tickets for a couple of months ago as well. (And since it's close to the time we would probably be moving, odds are Morgan will be here too.)

>64 ursula:, Ursula, it’s good to see the silver lining in the stormy clouds.

I could imagine there would be a very entertaining book on the differences between what Turkey and Germany has / will require/d of you as migrants. I knew a few folk who did ECR jobs around Europe and it was noticeable how some universities seemed to pay attention to the support set up for new international staff and some others - not so much! I'm not sure the UK would score well on this front generally though, hasten to add.
Hope this is just a starting out glitch, and (of course) that you have a great time at both gigs.

Oh yikes, so sorry to hear about the complications in moving and Morgan starting his job. I hope things calm down for you soon, even if it's just knowing what to expect.

I read Dare to Disappoint back in January and while I didn't note if I learned a lot, I did appreciate seeing the way the events in Turkey impacted Ozge's family specifically.

Oh no!! Sorry the move is turning out to be so complicated.

Sorry to hear about the craziness of you move ahead Ursula.

>67 charl08: It was actually somewhat more complicated to get settled in Turkey - we needed visas to come (just one you pay for at the airport in my case), and then we had to do a lot of visiting immigration offices here. In the end though, it's good for me, my visa is good until August 2023 and not tied directly to Morgan's so I don't have to worry about any configuration of situations. Morgan, on the other hand, will have to leave the country within a week of when he is no longer employed by the university, so giving notice has to be managed carefully.

The main complication with Germany is this back and forth with Morgan as the middle man with the university wanting him to have things half-sorted with the German Embassy, and the embassy telling him he should just go and do everything there.

But that's also what Italy said when we went, and it resulted in them not being able to pay him for 3 months because the paperwork for work visas takes forever, and they couldn't pay him before that. We would like to avoid that situation in Germany!

ETA: Once we get there, the university has a pretty comprehensive guide to the city for incoming foreign students, which is super nice. It's definitely more information than we've seen about any other city we've moved to!

>68 bell7: We're working through it one thing at a time, we were happy the vet backdated Rollo's microchip because apparently he's technically supposed to get the chip, wait 30 days for the rabies vaccine, and then wait the 30 days we are currently waiting until he can get his titration. We could not handle another 30 days added into this mix.

It's really stressful but we are trying to just keep going forward with everything that we can, and trying to guard against anything that creates more of a delay than we're already dealing with. If that happens, it will mean more time with him in Germany and me in Turkey and we are trying to avoid that!

>69 curioussquared:, >70 Caroline_McElwee: Thank you both! It is turning out to be stressful in ways different than we were expecting, but that's the way these things go. Not a single one of these moves has gone without stress, surprises, complications, etc. I guess it's good for me to keep that in mind!

>58 ursula: That is tough, Ursula. Still it does look like your vets in Turkey are pretty efficient and responsive.

8 weeks is not the end of the world and at least you will avoid some of the initial relocation hassle if it is picked up by Morgan. Traveling alone is no fun though either.

I spent some time in cycling training many moons ago in Koblenz near by Koln and it is a lovely part of the world.

>73 PaulCranswick: The vets are pretty good, their willingness to backdate the microchip was very helpful.

8 weeks would be the end of the world - we've never been apart for longer than 2 weeks and that only a couple of times. :)

We visited Köln in 2013 and it was nice, but we're only going to the concert there, we won't be living there. We'll be in Kaiserslautern, which is about 3.5 hours from Köln by train.

>74 ursula: I don't think I ever visited Kaiserslautern but I know of the place by occasionally following German football!

I haven't written nearly enough about music this year, and not at all in this thread yet! So here's another album/artist I love:

Bonny Light Horseman - Bonny Light Horseman



The band is made up of solo artist Anaïs Mitchell, and two guys from other bands (The Shins and The National). The songs are traditional folk, although not completely - they're reworked, things added and subtracted. You can see one of my favorites from the album here: The Roving.

They have another album released this year, called Rolling Golden Holy, which I like although slightly less than the first one (which still makes it a favorite).

Moving update: Denied by the embassy again. We got an email saying they won't make an appointment because they would just deny his request since Americans can go to Germany for 90 days without a visa. Which we know. But they can't go and work in Germany on that visa.

The ping pong ball is back on the university's side now.

>76 PaulCranswick: I only knew of it from receiving postcrossing postcards from there (both of the football stadium since I used to specifically ask everyone to send football-related cards if they had them).

>78 ursula: - :headdesk:

>80 katiekrug: Exactly!

Now the university says "we will try it the embassy's way". Which ... well, let's just say we'll have to see what exactly that entails.

Little Eve by Catriona Ward

First line: My heart is a dark passage, lined with ranks of gleaming jars.

Let's see, we've got an island off the coast of Scotland accessible at low tide by a causeway. On that island is a rundown castle, occupied by a man who is called Uncle by his companions - Nora, Alice, Dinah, Abel and Evelyn. He spins tales of the end times, during which a snake will come from the sea and devour everyone. There are rituals and strict rules and punishments. Along with the requisite storms, this novel is about as gothic horror as it gets.

The chapters are narrated mostly by Eve(lyn) and Dinah, separated by years, so right off the bat you know how things go awry, or at least the end result of it. The story is unraveled between the two of them, with a few chapters narrated by another character.

Sometimes when Morgan and I listen to music, we'll say something like "I mean, they're not exactly inventing anything here but it's a good execution of the standard." This novel was like that for me. As I said, it had all the expected ingredients, and it put them together in pretty much the expected way, but I enjoyed it. Most of it - I didn't really like the wrapping things up part at the end, but it is also a pretty standard ingredient so I can't complain too much.

Quote: How I burned for freedom once. Now I hold it in my hands, useless - like wanting a kitten and being given its corpse.

>77 ursula: Excellent taste, Ursula.

I especially like the song The Roving. Wistful and plaintive.

I hope the University gets itself properly in gear.

>82 ursula: Well, that one sounds like fun!

>83 PaulCranswick: Yep, I pointed out The Roving as one of my favorites because I always go back to it, although there are some others I like nearly as much!

>84 drneutron: It was pretty fun, honestly! The author was pretty good at setting a mood.

In trying to rank my favorite albums of 2022, I had a "gut feeling" #1, and then I tried using average track rating and came out with something entirely different as number 1. I'm going to try to rank them by "gut feeling", and then maybe also by number of plays, and see how those two compare to the first one.

Oh, I'm also still reading. Seems I will probably finish the year somewhere over 60 but under my mental goal of 65.

This Is What It Sounds Like by Susan Rogers

The subtitle of this book is kind of overblown, like a lot of non-fiction books: What the Music You Love Says about You. That's not really what this book is about. It's about figuring out your own "listener profile" by helping you figure out where you stand in a variety of different categories. It's not a personality test in a book, it's just a way to quantify why some music pushes certain buttons for you. The author is a former audio engineer and producer who got a degree in neuroscience and now teaches at Berklee.

The categories she covers are as follows ...

Styles:
Below-the-Neck / Above-the-Neck
Realistic / Abstract
Familiar / Novel

Musical characteristics: (each of these has several ways to measure it but the things in parentheses are one aspect)
Melody (Narrow / Wide)
Lyrics (Personal / General)
Rhythm (Straight / Syncopated)
Timbre (Acoustic / Electronic)

It was really interesting to discuss the various subjects with Morgan and see how his feelings differed from mine, or didn't. We have discovered that our tastes overlap a fair amount, but there are definitely things that hit the sweet spot for one of us and completely turns the other one off. And those things are not always what either of us might expect. The author gives some songs to listen to in each section to help you understand where you might fall on a continuum - for example, in the first section her suggested songs are by The Shaggs and then by Bach. In another section, the songs were by Creedence Clearwater Revival and Daft Punk.

Also it was fun to think that it's just encoded in my brain somewhere that the most appealing singing voice for me is a high-pitched man's voice.

Quote: Though your appetite for novelty can vary dramatically across contexts and life stages, your personal playlist can reflect a deep-seated preference for well-traveled musical boulevards or for unmarked back alleys twisting along the edge of town. Some of us feel magnetically drawn to artists whose odd, intriguing names we heard only in passing, while others think of our music libraries as old companions we enjoy visiting and revisiting throughout our lives.

>87 ursula: I've got this on my library holds list to read sometime soon, hopefully in the next month or so. Glad to see it look like a generally solid read, and that she gives listening recommendations.

>88 bell7: There are two big recommendations in each section to help you understand what the concept is, and then there are others sprinkled through. I didn't always listen to those, but I think it would be worthwhile. I'll be interested to see what you have to say about the book when you get there!

I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti

The poet Mourid Barghouti was born in a village near Ramallah, a few years before the Nakba of 1948, after which his family went to Jordan and scattered from there. This is his story of returning to Ramallah for the first time in many years. But really it's about the experience of displacement and what that does to a person, a family, a people.

He was a poet (I didn't realize it, but he died in 2021), and so the writing is often beautiful. I saved a lot of quotes from this one.

Quote: The Occupation forced us to remain with the old. That is its crime. It did not deprive us of the clay ovens of yesterday, but of the mystery of what we would invent tomorrow.... I used to long for the past in Deir Ghassanah as a child longs for precious, lost things. But when I saw that the past was still there, squatting in the sunshine in the village square, like a dog forgotten by its owners - or like a toy dog - I wanted to take hold of it, to kick it forward, to its coming days, to a better future, to tell it: "Run."

With every good wish of the season Ursula. I look forward to reading about your new adventures in 2023.

Happy Christmas from my Christmas gnome!

>91 Caroline_McElwee:, >92 SandDune: Thanks for the wishes, I hope you have happy holidays!

Merry Christmas and the best in the New Year with all your plans falling nicely in place.

King Jesus by Robert Graves

I finished this yesterday. I had picked it up on the $5/bag day of the Friends of the Library sale in Fresno one year, and finally got around to reading it now. It was fine.

I mean, I guess that someone at some point around when this was written was probably outraged by the way Graves made Jesus's miracles into sort of comedy bits, like Jesus had people pretend they'd eaten some of the loaves and fishes until everyone said they were full, and so it got around that he'd literally fed everyone, etc. And of course the human parentage and all of that. But anyway, the main thing I was worried about as a godless heathen was that I wouldn't be able to follow the story well enough to really get it, but I didn't have to worry.

Also I guess there's maybe a lot of historical inaccuracy? I have no clue, this is not my area either. So I'll just say it was a fine, not difficult read as a story and leave it at that.

>94 Kristelh: Thank you Kristel, plans falling into place sounds like the perfect wish!

>97 Berly: Thank you! It appears to be time to move over to the other group from the crickets I hear around here.

LT makes the world smaller and better. Have a good holiday, Ursula.

>99 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul!

Saint Sebastian's Abyss by Mark Haber

First line: After reading the email from Schmidt I knew I would have to fly to see Schmidt on his deathbed in Berlin.

This is a story about two art critics and their relationship with each other, but mostly their relationship with their favorite painting in the world, Saint Sebastian's Abyss. Their intense adoration of the painting Saint Sebastian's Abyss has been their single-minded purpose in life. Each of them has written multiple books about Saint Sebastian's Abyss, and it has created a bond as well as a rivalry between them.

Yes, the book is written a bit like that. It takes a minute to get used to, but it fits quite well - these two are the most pedantic academics you can imagine (or you don't have to imagine, if you've spent any time around academics).

My daughter read this from a lithub list, so I decided to read it as well. It was a super-quick read, sometimes laugh-out-loud ridiculous.

Quote: Whenever Schmidt and I argued, invariably about art and more specifically about Saint Sebastian's Abyss, he would resort to calling the United States a second-rate nation and explain that, having been born and raised in the United States, unequivocally a second-rate nation, a lethargic infant of a society, a babbling baby of a drive-through culture, my opinions could only be infantile too, indulgent and crass and, like the United States, requiring centuries, perhaps epochs, to mature.

Hi Ursula.

Your job/moving/visa/no visa/kitty issues sound dreadful. I hope things go better soon.

>102 karenmarie: Oh I guess I feel like it's par for the course in a lot of ways, every time I end up saying thank goodness this isn't our first rodeo! ;)

Thank you for the wishes, happy new year to you as well!

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

First line: First things first, Grandpa's gone.

Last book of the year. Not a good one! It seems like it would be cute and maybe entertaining - the main character, Rintaro, is a high school student. He is also a hikikomori, a voluntary shut-in. He spends most of his time at his grandfather's bookstore. But as the first line tells us, his grandfather has just died. A mysterious cat appears and says he requires Rintaro's help with something and ... honestly I'm bored writing this. It's a cloying, simplistic tale that some people have the patience for (I'm not judging, I'm just saying), but I don't really.

Quote: It's not true that the more you read, the more you see of the world. No matter how much knowledge you cram into your head unless you think with your own mind, walk with your own feet, the knowledge you acquare will never be anything more than empty and borrowed.

Happy New Year, Ursula.

Literally one of new, Germanic, horizons for you which I am sure will be a wonderful success. You helped bring Istanbul to life this year a little for me (I remember vividly your footpath video through its streets last January.

I look forward to learning about your new abode, when you get there, and keeping up with your books and music choices.

>105 PaulCranswick: Thank you! New adventures await, indeed.