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Jun. 6th, 2005 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelseagirlSaturday, the women's sf/f/h reading group organized by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kittyjosephine had its first meeting. We discussed China Mieville's King Rat and it was a great discussion; everyone had interesting and insightful things to say. (Waves to the LJers who were there.) Due to summer schedules, we're next meeting at the end of July, so we're going to tackle Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, on the grounds that we'll all have beach time between now and then for this big, lovely book.
Otherwise, a quiet weekend. M.'s just really depressed, and more than a bit moody, so that's been claiming most of my attention, outside of my freelance project. It's a difficult balance -- it's hard to work at home, so mostly I spend my days at libraries; then I feel like I need to be with him in the evenings, though I also feel a strong need to spend some social time with people who, er, aren't really depressed, for both fun and, you know, perspective. So I'm kind of easing into that but mostly spending my evenings M.-sitting. Today he's tackling his first non-holiday weekend Times job section, so hopefully things will start to click into place, since getting back to work is going to be what shakes him out of this. I think I was kinda blithery at the book group, and it was mostly because it was the first sustained non-M. social interaction I've had since coffee with Jen mid-last week.
I really appreciated King Rat a lot more this time; reading it immediately after Perdido Street Station and the Scar in my first flush of discovering China's writing meant it was bound to be a bit of a letdown, but this time I really revelled in his descriptions of London and his use of the source material. Otherwise, in my jet-lag-based insomnia, I've been plowing my way through Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver. For anyone who's got stuck in the first couple of hundred pages or so, it does pick up. I'm not jumping directly into the sequels, though, as the insomnia's decreasing and thus my reading time for 900 page tomes is rather more limited. Since spring semesters I teach about the Scientific Revolution, and the slave trade, and the Puritans and the Glorious Revolution and all that, this book is a lot of fun in the way it converges with my school stuff -- frustrated sometimes in the way Stephenson's writing will break out of historical credibility here and there (mostly in the odd phrase or character reaction), but considering everything, he's done a remarkable job. And I think I can even pronounce Gwghlm now.
Thanks tomisskittytalks, who tivo'ed all the season finales we missed by going abroad during sweeps week. Two spoilery comments on Alias, which has slipped massively in my esteem this season, but which I somehow doggedly kept on watching, quite possibly because it was on after Lost. Zombies? You're saying that Rambaldi, this da Vinci-like genius, created a machine that turned people into outtakes from Shaun of the Dead? And, otoh, Lena Olin *so* rocks; as soon as she turned up, my interest level rose about 100%!
kittyjosephine had its first meeting. We discussed China Mieville's King Rat and it was a great discussion; everyone had interesting and insightful things to say. (Waves to the LJers who were there.) Due to summer schedules, we're next meeting at the end of July, so we're going to tackle Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, on the grounds that we'll all have beach time between now and then for this big, lovely book.Otherwise, a quiet weekend. M.'s just really depressed, and more than a bit moody, so that's been claiming most of my attention, outside of my freelance project. It's a difficult balance -- it's hard to work at home, so mostly I spend my days at libraries; then I feel like I need to be with him in the evenings, though I also feel a strong need to spend some social time with people who, er, aren't really depressed, for both fun and, you know, perspective. So I'm kind of easing into that but mostly spending my evenings M.-sitting. Today he's tackling his first non-holiday weekend Times job section, so hopefully things will start to click into place, since getting back to work is going to be what shakes him out of this. I think I was kinda blithery at the book group, and it was mostly because it was the first sustained non-M. social interaction I've had since coffee with Jen mid-last week.
I really appreciated King Rat a lot more this time; reading it immediately after Perdido Street Station and the Scar in my first flush of discovering China's writing meant it was bound to be a bit of a letdown, but this time I really revelled in his descriptions of London and his use of the source material. Otherwise, in my jet-lag-based insomnia, I've been plowing my way through Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver. For anyone who's got stuck in the first couple of hundred pages or so, it does pick up. I'm not jumping directly into the sequels, though, as the insomnia's decreasing and thus my reading time for 900 page tomes is rather more limited. Since spring semesters I teach about the Scientific Revolution, and the slave trade, and the Puritans and the Glorious Revolution and all that, this book is a lot of fun in the way it converges with my school stuff -- frustrated sometimes in the way Stephenson's writing will break out of historical credibility here and there (mostly in the odd phrase or character reaction), but considering everything, he's done a remarkable job. And I think I can even pronounce Gwghlm now.
Thanks to
misskittytalks, who tivo'ed all the season finales we missed by going abroad during sweeps week. Two spoilery comments on Alias, which has slipped massively in my esteem this season, but which I somehow doggedly kept on watching, quite possibly because it was on after Lost. Zombies? You're saying that Rambaldi, this da Vinci-like genius, created a machine that turned people into outtakes from Shaun of the Dead? And, otoh, Lena Olin *so* rocks; as soon as she turned up, my interest level rose about 100%!
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Date: 2005-06-06 03:30 pm (UTC)I wish you watched NCIS. Then I could talk about the finale.
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Date: 2005-06-06 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-10 06:52 pm (UTC)FWIW, reaction on the Internet to the zombie resolution of the Rambaldi plotline is almost resoundingly negative. It's usually coupled with a vague hope that this wasn't the *real* resolution, and that this may be further explored next season. I'm not holding my breath, though. I almost resolved to stop watching entirely, then they gave us a cliffhanger in which I am at least vaguely interested in following through. Notice I said "vaguely" .