pedanther

Fiction books
Lois McMaster Bujold. Penric's Travels (e)
Terry Pratchett. The Shepherd's Crown
Rafael Sabatini. Scaramouche (e)
Jean Webster. Daddy-Long-Legs (e)
Andy Weir. The Martian (e) (re-read)

In progress
(anthology). Batman Black and White, volume 2 (re-read)

In hiatus
Caroline Stevermer. The Glass Magician (e)

Non-fiction books
(none)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Rex Stout. Fer-de-Lance

. Baen have now published Penric's Travels, their second collection of Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric novellas, set in the same world as The Curse of Chalion.


. Learned League, the online quiz contest I play in, recently had a one-off quiz on the subject of The Newbery Medal. The question and answer set is viewable to non-players after the quiz finishes, and I figure a few of you might be interested in seeing how well you do with the questions.


. A problem I have when I'm listening to a podcast (or trying to watch a talking-heads video that might as well be audio-only) is that I don't seem to be able to settle and just listen; I concentrate better when I'm doing something else at the same time. But it can't be something too engrossing or then I get distracted. I tend to default to playing casual mobile games, which feels suboptimal for a number of reasons. Recently, as a consequence of changing to work from home, I had a few boxes of old paperwork from the office that I needed to sort through and divide into stuff to be kept and stuff to be junked or recycled; that felt like just the right level of engagement (and perhaps it helped that it was a definitely productive activity), but alas even a neglected filing system only contains so much old paperwork. Perhaps I should take up knitting, or crochet, if I can find a hobby shop that's still open.


. Another for the collection of cleaning solutions I've had for years without remembering: it turns out that the microfibre dusting glove that's been sitting forgotten in the hall closet is just the thing for dusting the table with the black tempered glass top that looks great when it's clean but I've been leaving to accumulate dust because dusting it was such a pain.


. A postman knocked on the door recently to deliver a parcel, which proved to be my copy of Half Truth, a board game I backed on Kickstarter that's designed to be played on casual social occasions. Just the thing to fill out the days when I can't visit or have visitors!

. I wrote something! In fact I have now written several things, all thanks to the 3 Sentence Ficathon. They might be hard to find amongst all the action on the ficathon itself, so I've started copying them over to my AO3 archive.


. Auditions have happened for this year's musical, which is to be Hello Dolly!. Now we're waiting to find out what the results are. In the past few years, I've usually had a solid idea which role I'm going to get in the musical, because the club's pool of male talent for musicals is not large and most of the people in it have particular character types that they gravitate toward. In the case of Hello Dolly!, I don't know the show well enough to have a firm opinion, and the director said at the audition that she has me in mind for a couple of roles and was keeping her options open until she saw who else was available.


. I went to see Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi's new movie, and I'm glad I did; it's an experience I would not want to have missed.

(One of the reasons I considered not going is that I'm susceptible to getting ferocious second-hand embarrassment on behalf of fictional characters, so I'm always very cautious about comedies with the premise "protagonist talks to someone nobody else can see or hear"; I'm pleased to be able to report that Jojo Rabbit doesn't go in that direction and nothing in it set me off.)


. In the foreword to her most recent book, Lois McMaster Bujold talks a bit about her writing process. One thing she says that struck me, and gives me hope for my own writing, is that she starts by accumulating ideas and for a novel can have as many as fifty pages of notes before she knows enough about the story to begin writing the actual words.


. One of my relatives has acquired a new kitten named Ivy, who is adorable and very friendly. I forget whether she was always named after the comic book character Poison Ivy, or if that was something my relative decided retroactively upon acquisition, but in any case I find it an appropriate name because if I let her come and nuzzle me I itch for the rest of the day. Totally worth it.

. It's been that kind of day. I got up, got dressed, started the washing machine, poured milk on my breakfast, and fell down a task fixation rabbit hole until I had to go to a lunch meeting, at which point I remembered I hadn't eaten the breakfast yet. The washing machine I didn't remember until nearly dinner time. (Fortunately it's good drying weather.) On the plus side, I've definitely done my bit for crowd-sourced internet reference works today.


. In my first year living in this house, I'd never been able to figure out how to get the oven going, which was a pity because it seems like a much nicer oven than the ones in the last two houses I've lived in. (To be fair to the oven, I wasn't trying very hard; each time I failed, I took a few months to get around to trying again.) I knew it wasn't the gas, because I sorted that out on an earlier attempt, which got the stove and the griller working but not the oven. It turns out that there's a safety feature where the oven won't ignite unless you're pushing in on the temperature dial at the same time.

To celebrate, last night I revised the subject of "preheating an oven" and then cooked one of a popular brand of frozen pizzas. It's fairly filling and you get from frozen to plated in less than half an hour, but that's about all that can be said for it. Some of the other things I've obtained to try out look more promising.


. On Friday night, I went to the out-of-town tryout for an improv comedy show one of my friends is working on. The premise is that it's a memorial service for [insert name here]; at the beginning, one of the actors in the role of a funeral director asks the audience to "remind" him the name of the deceased and what one thing everyone remembers them for, and then the improv troupe takes over and invents the rest of the dear departed's biography as they go along, with eulogies, flashbacks, a tribute song, and a dramatic emotional confession that casts everything in a whole new light. On this occasion, we heard the life story of Wezz Roberts, who put aside his own needs to fulfill his father's dream of a son who was a star trombonist, despite only having one lung and also, it developed, lacking several other significant body parts. It was a lot of fun, and weirdly heartwarming in places, and I would absolutely go and see another rendition of the show if it makes it into full production.


. The current New York revival of Fiddler on the Roof is notable for several things, among them that it's directed by Broadway legend Joel Grey, but most importantly that it's performed entirely in Yiddish. There are subtitles, apparently, which is good because I want to see this and I only know as much Yiddish as you pick up by osmosis from listening to New York comedians. An Australian transfer is opening later this year; I think it's unlikely to be one of the few musicals that makes it over to this side of the continent, so I'm seriously contemplating making the pilgrimage east to see it.

Here is the New York cast, and Broadway legend Joel Grey, performing at last year's Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet fundraiser (they got judged "Best Presentation", according to the video blurb).


. Baen recently published a collection of Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric novellas, set in the same world as The Curse of Chalion. If I have this right, this marks their first appearance in a hardcover dead-tree edition, and also their first appearance in a DRM-free ebook edition.

Fiction books
Terry Pratchett. The Fifth Elephant (e) (re-read)

In progress
Arthur Conan Doyle. The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes (e)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. The Gathering Edge (e)
Terry Pratchett. The Truth (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Michael Troughton. Patrick Troughton

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Kai Ashante Wilson. A Taste of Honey

Fiction books
Lois McMaster Bujold. Diplomatic Immunity (e) (re-read)
Lois McMaster Bujold. Komarr (e) (re-read)
Kieron Gillen, Salvador Larroca. Darth Vader volume 1
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Alliance of Equals (e)
John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell, et al. Suicide Squad volume 1
Terry Pratchett. Feet of Clay (e) (re-read)
Anthony Price. Sion Crossing (e)
Mark Russell, Ben Caldwell, et al. Prez volume 1
William Shakespeare. Hamlet (re-read)

In progress
Terry Pratchett. Hogfather (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books
Adrian Goldsworthy. Augustus (e)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Eleanor Herman. Sex with Kings

Fiction books
(anthology). Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01

In progress
GK Chesterton. The Innocence of Father Brown (e)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Crystal Soldier (re-read)

Non-fiction books
Chad Orzel. How to Teach Physics to Your Dog

In progress
Chad Orzel. How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Crystal Dragon

Fiction books
(anthology). Kitties
(anthology). Liavek
Lois McMaster Bujold. Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (e)
John Masefield. Sard Harker
Tamora Pierce. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man (re-read)
Bram Stoker. The Jewel of Seven Stars

In progress
John Masefield. Odtaa
Tamora Pierce. Lioness Rampant (re-read)

Non-fiction books
Alain de Botton. The Consolations of Philosophy

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
John Masefield. The Taking of the Gry

Fiction books
Ben Aaronovitch. Rivers of London
Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark. Gotham Central: In the Line of Duty
Lois McMaster Bujold. Cryoburn
Warren Ellis, Darrick Robertson. Transmetropolitan: The Cure
Warren Ellis, Darrick Robertson. Transmetropolitan: Dirge
Warren Ellis, Darrick Robertson. Transmetropolitan: One More Time
Peter O'Donnell. Pieces of Modesty
Terry Pratchett. I Shall Wear Midnight

In progress
Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace

Non-fiction books
(none)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Naomi Novik. The Tongues of Serpents