![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Life and Reading/Reading and Life
Feb. 28th, 2016 04:24 pmI feel somewhat responsible for the snow that fell this morning. I was out of coffee in the house and decided to 'turn that frown upside down!' by using that as an excuse to fetch a fancy latte for me and muffins for my family. At the coffee shop, I was talking to the barista about the weather (like you do in Minnesota) and I said, "It's raining, but I wish it would snow, instead." Everyone in the coffee shop looked at me like I'd sprouted a second head. Thing is, it's only February. The warm is nice, but it's not natural. More than that, it's going to break our hearts when it does start snowing again, because March hasn't even started yet!
Here on Sunday evening, I can say I've had a pretty good weekend.
Mason had the day off on Friday, and so we ended up taking a friend of his Christy out to lunch and Japanese candy shopping at United Noodle. Then, she came over to ours for a little otaku bonding, aka watching anime on our TV in the basement. The funniest interaction I overheard was this:
C: Um, so... would you be willing to watch dubbed?
M: Oh. In English. Um, yeah, sure, I guess.
C: A true otaku friend! Someone who prefers sub, who will watch dub with you!
Meanwhile, upstairs, I was thinking: Man, I don't know if I like anyone THAT much.
That same night, I had an invitation to a board gaming night at a friend's house. Shawn and Mason were also invited, but they are true introverts and had filled up on their people quotients. Mason was pooped from having entertained Christy, and Shawn has been having to deal with Swedes all week (guests to the Minnesota Historical Society, naturally, but Shawn has been required to do those dinner out with work colleagues things that tire her out). So, I went to the party on my own, which was still a great deal of fun. I played <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cash-N-Guns-Second-Edition/dp/B00KU10OUU">Cash 'n Guns</a>, which was a tremendous amount of fun, and had also brought along a card game called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sushi-Go-Pick-Pass-Card/dp/B00J57VU44">Sushi-Go</a>, which Shawn had bought the family for Solstice, but none of us had figured out the rules. The nice thing about bringing along a game you haven't played before to a party like that was that someone usually has played it and/or is willing to read through the rules and figure it out with/for you. It was a fairly fun game. Low-key, I'd say. Not like getting to point a foam gun at your former martial arts head instructor.
Saturday was the insanely beautiful day here, and, so of course, I had to work. It was one of my tiny 3 hour shifts, however, at North Saint Paul. I really enjoy working there because not only is my shift super-short (3 hours, from noon to three,) but also so is the library. It's so small that usually by the time someone turns in a book, we can have it back on the shelves within the hour. There just aren't that many books (or patrons.) Plus, I've done so many shifts for them there that the regular patrons sort of know me and the staff trusts me enough to set me up on the desk or wherever and get their other, backlogged work done. Which makes me feel useful.
Today, I just didn't feel like doing much, and I absolutely managed it. I mean, I did some basic maintenance things like taking out the garbage and doing the dishes, but a lot of they day was spent like a Sunday should be, IMHO: relaxing. I finished a book that is up for the PKD award, (R)evolution by PJ Manney, which I'll have plenty to say about on Tuesday, when my review goes up on BitterEmpire. (Not a good book, IMHO. Actually, I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been a fail, because there is much fail in this book.) Last night, I started Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong. I can no longer remember which award that one was up for, but I had to read it because of the title. I should probably be reading either of the last two PKD nominees: Brenda Cooper's Edge of Dark or Windswept by Adam Rakunas. I will say I've hesitated to rush out to get Cooper's book. I was not overly fond of Creative Fire, the first book in the series that this new one continues. I just bought Windswept for my Kindle, so we'll see if that one is any good.
I have to say the PKD has been a mixed bag this year. I liked both Archangel and After the Saucers Landed quite a bit, but the rest have been a really mixed bag (including one serious stinker.) I feel like last year the quality was consistently much higher. Out of the 5 books I read (I skipped the short story collection), all of them were at LEAST more than passably entertaining and well written, if not knock-your-socks-off amazing like Memory of Water, Elysium and Book of the Unnamed Midwife.
There are new judges every year, and I did a little research into the two groups (not hard, as their names are published on the PKD awards page.) Out of the five judges, one was a woman... The previous year, the year with all the books I found fantastic? THREE out of the five were women (and women I know and respect like Ellen Klages and Laura J. Mixon.)
Here on Sunday evening, I can say I've had a pretty good weekend.
Mason had the day off on Friday, and so we ended up taking a friend of his Christy out to lunch and Japanese candy shopping at United Noodle. Then, she came over to ours for a little otaku bonding, aka watching anime on our TV in the basement. The funniest interaction I overheard was this:
C: Um, so... would you be willing to watch dubbed?
M: Oh. In English. Um, yeah, sure, I guess.
C: A true otaku friend! Someone who prefers sub, who will watch dub with you!
Meanwhile, upstairs, I was thinking: Man, I don't know if I like anyone THAT much.
That same night, I had an invitation to a board gaming night at a friend's house. Shawn and Mason were also invited, but they are true introverts and had filled up on their people quotients. Mason was pooped from having entertained Christy, and Shawn has been having to deal with Swedes all week (guests to the Minnesota Historical Society, naturally, but Shawn has been required to do those dinner out with work colleagues things that tire her out). So, I went to the party on my own, which was still a great deal of fun. I played <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cash-N-Guns-Second-Edition/dp/B00KU10OUU">Cash 'n Guns</a>, which was a tremendous amount of fun, and had also brought along a card game called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sushi-Go-Pick-Pass-Card/dp/B00J57VU44">Sushi-Go</a>, which Shawn had bought the family for Solstice, but none of us had figured out the rules. The nice thing about bringing along a game you haven't played before to a party like that was that someone usually has played it and/or is willing to read through the rules and figure it out with/for you. It was a fairly fun game. Low-key, I'd say. Not like getting to point a foam gun at your former martial arts head instructor.
Saturday was the insanely beautiful day here, and, so of course, I had to work. It was one of my tiny 3 hour shifts, however, at North Saint Paul. I really enjoy working there because not only is my shift super-short (3 hours, from noon to three,) but also so is the library. It's so small that usually by the time someone turns in a book, we can have it back on the shelves within the hour. There just aren't that many books (or patrons.) Plus, I've done so many shifts for them there that the regular patrons sort of know me and the staff trusts me enough to set me up on the desk or wherever and get their other, backlogged work done. Which makes me feel useful.
Today, I just didn't feel like doing much, and I absolutely managed it. I mean, I did some basic maintenance things like taking out the garbage and doing the dishes, but a lot of they day was spent like a Sunday should be, IMHO: relaxing. I finished a book that is up for the PKD award, (R)evolution by PJ Manney, which I'll have plenty to say about on Tuesday, when my review goes up on BitterEmpire. (Not a good book, IMHO. Actually, I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been a fail, because there is much fail in this book.) Last night, I started Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong. I can no longer remember which award that one was up for, but I had to read it because of the title. I should probably be reading either of the last two PKD nominees: Brenda Cooper's Edge of Dark or Windswept by Adam Rakunas. I will say I've hesitated to rush out to get Cooper's book. I was not overly fond of Creative Fire, the first book in the series that this new one continues. I just bought Windswept for my Kindle, so we'll see if that one is any good.
I have to say the PKD has been a mixed bag this year. I liked both Archangel and After the Saucers Landed quite a bit, but the rest have been a really mixed bag (including one serious stinker.) I feel like last year the quality was consistently much higher. Out of the 5 books I read (I skipped the short story collection), all of them were at LEAST more than passably entertaining and well written, if not knock-your-socks-off amazing like Memory of Water, Elysium and Book of the Unnamed Midwife.
There are new judges every year, and I did a little research into the two groups (not hard, as their names are published on the PKD awards page.) Out of the five judges, one was a woman... The previous year, the year with all the books I found fantastic? THREE out of the five were women (and women I know and respect like Ellen Klages and Laura J. Mixon.)