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Book List
I want to keep a list of all the books I have read this year, in case I ever get time to review them (unlikely).
Finished
Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino
The Leisure Seeker - Michael Zadoorian
Man In The High Castle - Philip K. Dick
Love In Infant Monkeys - Lydia Millet
Demon's Covenant - Sarah Rees Brennan
Leviathan - Scott Westerfield
Reading Lolita In Tehran - Azar Nafisi
In progress
Daniel Deronda - George Eliot
Locksley - Nicholas Chase
At The Water's Edge - Carl Zimmer
Next Up
Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
Harold and the Pursuit of Happiness -
The Girl Who Played Go
On Hiatus
Cosmos - Carl Sagan
I don't know how it can possibly be that I've only finished five books so far this year. Possibly all the fanfic . . . But Daniel Deronda should count as six!
Finished
Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino
The Leisure Seeker - Michael Zadoorian
Man In The High Castle - Philip K. Dick
Love In Infant Monkeys - Lydia Millet
Demon's Covenant - Sarah Rees Brennan
Leviathan - Scott Westerfield
Reading Lolita In Tehran - Azar Nafisi
In progress
Daniel Deronda - George Eliot
Locksley - Nicholas Chase
At The Water's Edge - Carl Zimmer
Next Up
Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
Harold and the Pursuit of Happiness -
The Girl Who Played Go
On Hiatus
Cosmos - Carl Sagan
I don't know how it can possibly be that I've only finished five books so far this year. Possibly all the fanfic . . . But Daniel Deronda should count as six!
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I REALLY like it so far. Hopefully I can talk to you about it afterwards!
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Also, how ARE you?
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It's also hooking up with thoughts I've been having about fandom as post-colonial space. I.e., how do you (we, women) write about ourselves and things we care about when all the words we have come preloaded with meanings/contexts/allusions/assumptions developed in and by the kyriarchy? How, for eg., can one write a story about robots without, also and perforce, writing about Issac bloody Asimov?
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I think the best book I've read on evolution in general is Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner. One book more relevant to whale evolution that I've not read yet but I have heard a lot of great reviews of is Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin.
Oh, and not really relevant to the whale cart, but another book that I think you would really like (talks about philosophy, Darwinian themes and Victorians) is Angels and Insects by A.S. Byatt. I've read it and it is very good. Although apparently it was made into a movie but I can't vouch for that.
I'll try to track down Love In Infant Monkeys. It sounds intriguing (Tesla? Wow, he gets everywhere, it seems).
I'm doing pretty good, actually. I have a job in Seattle that starts at the end of the month so yay paycheck! I'm in the process of finding a place to live in Seattle which is making me really happy. I can't wait to move back.
How are things going with you?
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I like Byatt. I read Possession, and really loved it. I've been meaning to read more.
Tesla DOES get around. In my head he and Edison have angry sex. (I . . . yeah. Got nothin'.)
What's your job?
I'm good. K (housemate) and I are producing an outdoor play; it's an episode of the Original Series of Star Trek. That's taking up a lot of time. S (other housemate) and I are talking about starting a literary journal! I've been writing a lot, mostly fanfic, but I'm feeling good about original stuff that's stewing, too. I'm also glad to be reading a lot again, especially a lot of different material. I'm in a book club we started at the science center (YOU SHOULD JOIN!) and I know of two book clubs online I'm trying to get into. And work is currently kind of awesome, though really busy. Anywho, so there's a fair amount of culture and science in my life right now, which is nice!
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I hadn't thought about it quite in terms of colonization, but yeah, that problem is difficult and interests me. There are rights some people (myself included, most the time) see as universal and so we seek to give those rights on others, when really what we're doing is imposing our culture onto others, saying our culture is better and right. And yet there are those who would choose our culture and the rights that come with it over their own. And I think they have a right to choose. But is that right to choose also something I'm imposing?
fandom as post-colonial space
Isn't anyone who is writing or trying to express themselves using words that come preloaded? Unless it's someone at the top of the kyriarchy trying to express ideas that are perfectly in sync with the kyriarchy it's going to be a problem. Even in that case, I think the individual is oppressed by canon (by which I mean all literature. And art. And forms of expression, basically). We most of us do have singular individual things to say, and it is difficult to differentiate that singularity from the cacophony that has come before. I'm not sure my being a woman makes that particular difficulty . . . more difficult.
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Dude, you're totally on the mark about Tesla and Edison. I mean, it makes so much sense. Have I showed you the comic book "Five Fists of Science"? It stars Tesla and Mark Twain (Edison is one of the villains).
My job is a summer naturalist at an environmental education daycamp at Carkeek Park. Basically, the same kind of thing I did during grad school only with more kids and more of an age range. It should be fun!
ooh, when does this outdoor play make its debut? That sounds like so much fun! What kind of literary journal would it be? I would love to join the science center book club! But would it be okay since I'm not working there anymore? How would I go about joining? I'm glad that work is going awesomely for you, it sounds like you're involved in a lot of fun stuff.
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NO, you have not shown it to me! I need it!
Oh, your job sounds so fun! Carkeek is right near me. Any plans for fall?
Star Trek is the last day of July and first week of August.
Not sure about the lit journal . . . I just pitched it to my housemate the other day. But I'm sure it will be the awesome kind . . .
Book club is not really a science center book club. Just some of us at the science center all wanted a book club and didn't have one. Sarah Moore is in it and brought a friend who is not science center. I recruited my housemates but they said they didn't have time. I think one or two more people would make it . . . rounder (we have five people right now) and you're the type of people we like! If you really do want to join, you could just read our next book and show up at the meeting. If you're not sure, just see if you get the book read by the due date and if you do, just drop by ;o) The book is Reading Lolita in Tehran, and our meeting date is tentatively July 20.
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Fall is still up in the air. I'm going to continue to search for more long-term, not seasonal, employment. Hopefully I can find something decent.
huh, I've heard lots of good things about "Reading Lolita in Tehran." I'll see if I can track down a copy and get it read by the 20th. :)
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Best of luck future job hunting, and the move. Lemme know if you need help unpacking/unloading/setting up; sometimes I have days off!
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But I wanted to say, in case I forget, the reason I am wary of the lit journal is that I am hideously embarrassed by my contributions to the last one I was part of, and I don't feel I can write original fiction, and... yeah. It just makes me depressed. But I think it's awesome. The concept is awesome. You and S. are awesome. I am not confident I can be, in that context.
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And then right after this I read a Bernard Malamud novel about a Russian Jew unlawfully imprisoned who finds his faith, and I thought holy crap, pogroms and prisons were pretty awful. If I recall, it was "The Fixer" which I'd also highly recommend. Yes, it was The Fixer, I checked.
Daniel Deronda is also a lovely little film with the very pretty Hugh Dancy and Romola Garai. Book's better, though.
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How ARE you?
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HOW ARE YOU?! What is going on in the land of you-ness. Sorry to hijack your DW. It's so weird to not say LJ. Well, also, I am slightly tipsy on chardonnay.
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You're not hijacking! I haven't been around in forever. Perhaps obviously. And I miss everyone, but I just don't know how to keep all the buoys of my life afloat. As soon as I cling to one the other ones go down. Buoys aren't supposed to do that. L, you are one of my buoys because whenever I talk to you I just get happy.
Anyway I am good. Like I said, work is eating my life. I finally got full time, and now I'm trying to work my butt off to show them I can move up again. But summer at the science museum is CRAZY busy and I have no time to do anything. I'm also directing a play. A Star Trek play. It's so good to hear from you.
I was having a big long conversation with someone about k-dramas and j-dramas the other day and I asked them about Boys Over Flowers and they all went GAAAAAHHHHH it's so cracktastic! I have yet to try one.
Paradiiiiissseeeee!! BOF IS cracktastic like the best crack ever!
The non-profit helps small LMI (low to moderate income) businesses to become credit worthy. She also does some things with helping people to keep their houses and right now we're working on a program that involves training bankers to understand the challenges faced by small businesses and to be more proactive about helping them as opposed to rejecting their applications for loans and tossing them out on their ears. There is this huge disconnect between bankers, small businesses and other non-profits. Largely because the banks look at the applications as transactions and not as potential clients with correctable problems. It's interesting but stressful as all hell. I will be here until August. I think that I would like a reception job while I go to school. Something that does not require a lot of effort on my part. My nerves are shot already and it's only been like a little over a month.
I've always wanted to teach, only it used to be at college level, well now it will be high school and maybe a community college class in the evenings. I like school. I have always liked school. I'm good at school. So I think that the fit will be good. Fingers crossed, anyway.
I've been thinking about you alot because I was considering trips and I would love to come to Seattle. Only I have to be careful with the fund since I am not working full time. It is kind annoying, but I keep thinking that in a year and a half, if I really work hard, I will get this whole thing done and w00t! I can go on vacations for an entire month if I want to. Of course, I won't have much of a life while school is in session, but that's okay. It's not like I love the winter anyway.
If you decide to come down, let me know! I'd love to see you again! I hope that your job continues to be awesome. And that you love it! Do things that you love! I am learning to embrace this concept more every day. And when I don't love it, I'm realizing that I need to fight like hell to figure out what it is I do love and to get busy doing it. It's been a learning experience all the way around.
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Maybe I can catch the book club meeting for the next book.
What all are you up to this weekend? I'm mostly free and it'd be fun to hang out if you have time.