It was a busy month, so little to report. Stay tuned for a recap of Proof! The Grand Tour, Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermere {NOTE: I accidentally wrote this up with August, but I actually finished it in early September. My comments are reproduced from the August page.} This is book two of three in …
Category: Books
Books, August 2017
Apparently this month's theme is that I don't like and/or get poetry. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo, traditional, translated by JRR Tolkien So, as far as epic poetry goes, this was pretty good. There was some real action, some beautiful imagery, weird and wacky Middle English vocabulary (translated, of course, …
Books, July 2017
Come see my play! bit.ly/ProofTheatre Thinking Like a Director, Michael Bloom The core of directing, according to directors with an actual education in directing, is picking a strong script, a great cast, and getting out of the way. Fortunately, I managed to get those first two steps right before I ever thought of picking up …
Books, June 2017 and halfway through the year
I've been really heckin busy. Come see Proof in just 2 short months, everyone! Has Feminism Changed Science?, Londa Schiebinger So, has it? In short: some, but nowhere near enough. I've been extraordinarily lucky in my career that I've worked with institutions and individuals who were nothing but supportive of me. But this is far …
Continue reading Books, June 2017 and halfway through the year
Books, May 2017
I wrote a 35 page academic paper not in my field, a 15 page thing also not in my field, and finished a 25 page academic paper in my field this month. Because you know what I do when I have free time? Find things to use up my free time. Scene of the Climb …
Books, April 2017
The end of the quarter is ramping up which means I don't get to read for fun as much. Mostly worth it. Mostly. Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer Our characters are an expedition investigating a mysterious supernatural/environmental event. They think they're in a mystery, or maybe an adventure. They're not. They're in horror. (Because I'm slow this …
Books, March 2017
Hi world. I have a million things going on this month, so ACTUAL short reviews for once. Proof, David Auburn * Automatic bonus points for making me cry, plus every bonus point there ever was for media featuring realistic, humanistic, flawed but in a "you succeeded at character development" way, motivated characters. (The Pulitzer and …
Books, March 2017
This is shaping up to be the year of anything-but-novels. 13 books so far this year and just 4 have been novels - last year, they were half of what I read. And the one I did read this month was not a typical novel either... The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Colbert I am constantly delighted by …
Books of the Month, January 2017
I accidentally read only books by ladies this month, and I am quite pleased. Also this month: the introduction of the new genre system. As I have perpetually complained, I have not yet hit upon a genre categorization system that I am totally happy with. I'm going to experiment this year with the Writing Excuses …
Best Books of 2016
The time has come.... statistics, and best of 2016! If you're looking for recommendations, this is just the hard-fought best-of list - anything rated a 3 on any of the monthly reviews is worth reading. And I will be the first to admit that these winners are anything but objective and suffer from a very serious …
