It came up in Book Club that it would be nice to have notes about what people enjoyed or didn’t enjoy on our book club reads. So here’s the nutshell information about what we read and how we felt about it.
Overall impression: Liked by people who finished, but it was a small meeting.
Warnings: Colonialism, Long, unfamiliar words (assuming you’re a typical Midwesterner.)
My personal take: I was ill on book club day. That said, I can’t say enough good things about this story. I bought the sequel. Don’t be put off by the long words. The story is worth it.
It came up in Book Club that it would be nice to have notes about what people enjoyed or didn’t enjoy on our book club reads. So here’s the nutshell information about what we read and how we felt about it.
Overall impression: Split. One of the themes of the book is how tied into antisemitism the monster myths of the Western world are, and some found it an uncomfortable read. Some people liked the story.
Warnings: Antisemitism. First-person narration. Multiplicities of first-person narrators. My notes say 6 different first-person narrators.
My personal take: I skipped this month. I have a bias against first-person narration, especially when there are more than three first-person narrators in a book. Who is speaking again?
It came up in Book Club that it would be nice to have notes about what people enjoyed or didn’t enjoy on our book club reads. So here’s the nutshell information about what we read and how we felt about it.
What is missing from the world is a Quenton Tarintino movie adaptation of the book Trilby, by George du Maurier. It would be one dark film and it would cater to all the things Tarintino is good at: dark themes, a controlling manager (the trope namer for The Svengali) trying to own Trilby’s mind and soul, and Trilby’s a foot model – so it’s got plenty of reasons to film the feet of the actor who plays Trilby.
I mean, seriously. This book was practically written with Tarintino in mind, despite being a Victorian-era novel.
We lingered in the 50s throughout April cold, damp April showers, never once creeping into the 60s, and precious few sunny days. We’ve started seeing the promised May flowers and temperatures in the upper 80s.
Violets in time for Mother’s Day bouquets
Plants are starting to go into the garden spaces. We set up new planter beds up on the deck for herbs, finally replacing the smaller pots we lost in the 2020 August Derecho.
My tennis elbow persists, and it’s time to start the drastic measures. I went for a cortisone shot last week.
My doctor put me on light stretching and no repetitive activity. That takes out both knitting and crocheting, which I find inconvenient. Yarncrafting soothes the artist in my soul.
I need to schedule physical therapy again to continue working on this.
Or, if you’re patient, perhaps your preference is dandelions for wine.
Instead of picking up yarn and my hooks or needles, I’m using this gift of time to focus on building up my writing portfolio.
I’m also enjoying the perennials as they begin to bloom in my front garden. The early daffodils are almost gone, but the late spring daffies have taken their place. They’re blooming in abundance.
I think this is the most I’ve seen my white daffodils blooming.
Given it’s supposed to be in the 90s on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I need to enjoy them before the heat gets them.
We got a late start on planning the garden and started all the plants on Saturday, which is late for almost everything we’re planting.
BR is for BRoccoli, T is for Tomato, E is for Eggplant
We may end up with a late harvest on some of these things or need to supplement with purchased plants. This was done on the back of a page of notes, which included this kitten drawn on a tea stain left by some idiot (me) plopping their used teabag on the steno pad we take random notes on. (oops.)
Cat in pen and tea stain.
It’s really hard to think about planning the garden when the days continue to struggle to get into the 50s F.
I’m super close to finished with my Lavender Zig-Zag sweater, but I’ve got to put it up for a little bit. I’ve got myself a lousy case of tennis elbow in my right arm and I’ve got to avoid overdoing it for a couple of weeks while I heal back up.
Zig-Zag Lace, lurking
Things I’m not currently supposed to do:
Crochet
Knit
Bike
Grip anything larger around than the circle made by touching my index finger to my thumb.
Grip anything smaller than the circle made by touching my index finger to my thumb.
Lift anything with my palm facing down.
I’m getting laser treatments, which seem to be helping, but I’ve still got at least two weeks before I’m supposed to return to full normal activity with my right arm.
Remember that time you enthusiastically waved at your friend but soon realized that they were a complete stranger? What about the time when that incy-wincy pebble tripped you in front of all of your classmates? For some of us, it feels like these awkward moments come looking for us.
My mom shrieks like a child when she’s startled. Some time back, when cellphones weren’t really common, I caught a glimpse of her unexpectedly at Walmart. Today, I’d just text her and tell her I was in Walmart, too. I was in my 20s, though, and figured I’d sneak up on her hug her for the giggle of her shrieking about it.
Now, I should have had some pause about this and not just because giving your mom a heart attack for the Lulz is kind of rude. For years, my mom has had close friends come up to her and give her crap for not saying hi when they saw her out and about. It always happened when Mom hadn’t been anywhere near where the alleged incident happened and she had an alibi to prove it.
Mom called this mystery doppelganger her evil twin and chalked it up to people not really paying attention when they were out and about. I really didn’t think about it much, other than when people were telling Mom they’d seen her twin again.
I should have been thinking about that.
Just as I was about to pounce, the person in front of me turned just enough that I could see that it wasn’t actually my mom. It was Mom’s doppleganger and I almost bear-hugged them in the middle of Walmart. ?
Happy Awkward Moments Day! May your day be blissfully free of new awkward happenings.
