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Jan. 7th, 2005 12:25 pmSpent yesterday at Columbia Presbyterian, first waiting to meet with an endodontist and then having my tooth extracted. Yup, turns out my dentist not only did an incompetent job with the root canal, but he also overcharged me. However, I'll be able to get the implant done quite affordably through Columbia Dental School. ($1200-1400 is what I was quoted, but since that's in several stages over 3 to 6 months, we can swing it for certain.) M. wants to write the dentist a very stiff letter, with threats of lawsuits; I doubt it'll do any good, but maybe at least he'll take us off his Christmas card list. (I was NOT letting this man near my mouth again to do any kind of corrective work.)
And hey, after several days of antibiotics, my sinuses are almost clear. (Can you tell I never get sick, ever, and don't deal well?)
Books read so far in '05:
The Etched City by K. J. Bishop. Appropriate to read a book with fever-dream aspects when I was kinda, well, feverish. I first heard about this book on the China Mieville mailing list, because the author had been credited with doing some pretty good world-building, akin to China's. It's not quite there (the listmembers had reached this conclusion) and the characters are not that easy to connect to, but at the same time there is something appealing about a fantasy book that is well-written and heavily influenced by Decadent/Fin-de-Siecle imagery. A qualified yes recommendation.
The Known World by Edward P. Jones. I started reading this on the train down to see![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
silme in Philly, before the holidays, but this book is too good to read without total concentration, so I set it aside when I got sick, and finished it in the waiting room yesterday. I've read a few (contemporary urban) short stories by Jones, but his take on black slaveowners (and on the slaves and whites who surround them) in pre-Civil War Virginia is truly extraordinary. His characterizations, prose, storytelling -- only the highest praise. (And I know I should be writing a thoughtful critical examination, but I'm still pretty wiped out.)
And hey, after several days of antibiotics, my sinuses are almost clear. (Can you tell I never get sick, ever, and don't deal well?)
Books read so far in '05:
The Etched City by K. J. Bishop. Appropriate to read a book with fever-dream aspects when I was kinda, well, feverish. I first heard about this book on the China Mieville mailing list, because the author had been credited with doing some pretty good world-building, akin to China's. It's not quite there (the listmembers had reached this conclusion) and the characters are not that easy to connect to, but at the same time there is something appealing about a fantasy book that is well-written and heavily influenced by Decadent/Fin-de-Siecle imagery. A qualified yes recommendation.
The Known World by Edward P. Jones. I started reading this on the train down to see
silme in Philly, before the holidays, but this book is too good to read without total concentration, so I set it aside when I got sick, and finished it in the waiting room yesterday. I've read a few (contemporary urban) short stories by Jones, but his take on black slaveowners (and on the slaves and whites who surround them) in pre-Civil War Virginia is truly extraordinary. His characterizations, prose, storytelling -- only the highest praise. (And I know I should be writing a thoughtful critical examination, but I'm still pretty wiped out.)
