annie's microblog

A needed reminder:

Any thing you can think of follows this same path.
Any action by any being gently changes the world.

Live accordingly.

Favorite part of last weekend: Going to Renaissance Festival with friends, dressed as monks, walking around and re-enacting this scene from Monty Python.

my brain is not brain-ing very well today

A journal of collective delight, open for public contributions.

Like he said, it’s always the same—they start out burning books and end up burning people.

—Terry Hayes, I Am Pilgrim

Sub “banning” for “burning,” the concept holds.

Finished reading: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 📚

When a book has this much hype, I usually avoid it because inevitably I get myself too hyped up and then am disappointed. But when people whose reading taste I admire recommend it… Well, that’s different. I was still a little unsure through section 2, because a couple of the character weren’t quite connecting for me. But that changed and I enjoyed the rest thoroughly. Great writing, real characters, hope and dismay and connection, the complexity of love, the importance of both knowing what you want and being able to let go of it. Also, video games!

Finished reading: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber 📚

I’ve read a lot of parenting books and recommended very few. This is one I will definitely be recommending. It’s really about communication and how to be better at it, applicable well beyond parenting. (I’ve tried a few of these techniques already during several tricky conversations with peers/adults and, well, they’re helpful). The examples are out-dated and mostly geared toward parents with younger children but (anecdotal evidence ahead) the concepts have been pretty effective with my teens. Each chapter has an “Assignment” section with activities you can do to cement those concepts in place. I skipped these, but I did find some of the “real parent stories” at the end of each chapter helpful. You could skim this book in an hour or so, get the main ideas, and put them to use right away.

Finished reading: Binti (Binti, 1) by Nnedi Okorafor 📚

Really enjoyed this sci-fi afrofuturism novella, though I didn’t expect to at first. The initial chapter (especially the first few pages) felt awkward and poorly edited to me, like some pieces got cut out and nobody went back to smooth things over. But from there it starts flowing well, an easy and enjoyable read about fearing the other, the courage to change, and what home really is.

sorry for all the reading posts at once, catching up on the backlog

Finished reading: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes 📚

Engaging spy thriller in the post-9/11 world, with a good helping of the assumptions and politics from that time. So, be aware of that, I guess. This is not my usual kind of book - spy thrillers tend to be all about Male Heroism! and Complex Political Machinations! and Sweeping Historical/Cultural Generalizations! and Some Extraneous Violence, Often Torture, for Good Measure! and this one did, indeed, have all those elements. But it’s also just good storytelling and the way the book is laid out you get all these excellent individual stories that come together (too neatly? Sure. But come on. That’s kind of the point) in one big story. I enjoyed it.

Finished reading: How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler 📚

Second read (after many years). Plenty to think about (knowledge, memory, understanding, the point of reading, limits and usefulness of categorization, different types of reading). Helpful strategies for, well, how to read a book: specifically, how to analytically read and, once you’ve mastered that, how to syntopically read (multiple books across the same topic). Some points are hammered in till there are hairline cracks on the wall but I admire the passion.

Finished reading: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah 📚

A lovely YA book (not sure if it’s supposed to be YA but it reads that way to me) dealing with dysfunctional family relationships and community and what we’ll do to survive. I cried three times, so we’ll call this one cathartic as well. The plot wraps ups a little too neatly but if you like rugged wilderness settings and want to feel some things but not be left in despair: this is a good one.

Saw an albino (I guess?) squirrel this morning on my run. Tried to grab a photo but it scampered into the branches too fast. It was so cute, a very light tan/off white color all over with darker brown face and front paws.

Up to 6!