laurenisms » reading

Non-fiction books that I have started but will not be finishing at this time

lauren — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:04:59 +0000

I do intend to put these back on my list at the library and finish them someday.

The stuff of thought : language as a window into human nature / by Pinker, Steven, 1954-

Interesting, but for some reason I cannot pay attention for more than a couple of pages at a time.

The death and life of great American cities / by Jacobs, Jane, 1916-

SO FASCINATING, but I must have more attention to devote to it. I think it is a book I should read in the winter.
Note that Ms. Jacobs died in 2006 (at almost 100!), but apparently her authority file has not been updated yet? I copied this directly from the record of the copy I have checked out at SPL.

The thing about life is that one day you’ll be dead /by Shields, David, 1956-

I like the writing, but it’s too depressing for now. I will work on being less anxious and worrying, and try it again then.

January 2008 books recap.

lauren — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:34:48 +0000

Books I read in January 2008!

Dies the Fire: A Novel of the Change, by S. M. Stirling

At the recommendation of John Glover, I believe. Apocalypse in Oregon! Pagans! Survivalism! Farming! Hooray! The writing kind of bugged me, but along with Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents (both by Octavia E. Butler and highly recommended), this felt like a very true version of what would (will) happen when Western civilization falls apart.

Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay

The third of the Dexter series. Not nearly as good as the first two, which I quite enjoyed.

The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language by Christine Kenneally

Really nice summary of the research to date about evolution & language development, especially re: what is it that makes only humans have language like we have it, when so many other species have several of the qualifications, but none has all? Recommended.

In the Woods by Tana French

An engrossing book that I only took about two days to read. I cried, but then, I always cry at books. It reminded me, somehow, of The Black Dahlia, which I read in December. Semi-mystery, semi-cop-story, semi-drama, semi-totally-depressing-story-about-humanity-being-lame. Recommended.

The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket by Trevor Corson

Not that good. Non-fiction story of a group of students at the California Sushi Academy, but the author is not present in the book — he writes as an omniscient narrator, rather than a participant; there is no “I.” Which for some reason kind of drove me crazy. Interesting historical bits about sushi though.

Sunday 01/13 listy roundup

lauren — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:04:15 +0000

(I think if I’m really going to blog more, I’m going to have to get over using song quotes for everything; it gets hard to think of things.)

watching: Season 3 of Deadwood, FINALLY
reading: homework for class; Visual Design for the Modern Web; The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language
eating: vat of lentils from last week; queued up is chorizo-and-potato stew
knitting: a sock that I abandoned two years ago; a sock-yarn hat for Garth (slow going)
buying: a bajillion things at Ikea yesterday, most of which are already unpacked and assembled, yay!
anticipating: a package of goodies from Lehman’s; a package of work-related books from Amazon; G’s first Bacon-of-the-month delivery next week; baby chicks in 4-6 weeks!

In a disco radical trans-global

lauren — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 03:38:31 +0000

How to get a complete collection of books you have always wanted but couldn’t afford to buy (i.e. Sandman): buy the first one and force your boyfriend to read it. Then he will love it and buy all the rest of the series for you!

(song: “Dogs Were Barking,” Gogol Bordello)

She’d had no idea

lauren — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 02:55:08 +0000

Oh good, it’s still here!
Several smallish stories piled up over the last … month.
***
Mentally composed on Monday, September 19: I am cranky because last night I organized my life: figured out hours at my new job (which is the same as my old job), blocked out homework time during every day so I can try to keep it out of my free weekend time, made sure to schedule gym time three days a week. I was excited and energetic about my goals and I was going to DO IT, dammit, and today I woke up sick. Now no gym until I can breathe again; no work until I can move without feeling like my head is going to fall off. I get sick so rarely; did it have to interfere with my beginning-of-the-term optimism about getting things done? Now I may never recover.
***
Mentally composed at some point within the last couple of weeks: Yes, it’s definitely fall now and this means it’s time to reread Jane Eyre* and Ahab’s Wife. For some reason — perhaps the fact that they are full of wind and water and darkness — they remind me of fall and fall reminds me of them.
***
Mentally composed at some point within the last several weeks: Seven thousand fifty-eight flying and driving miles, four states, and ten-ish months later, the fourth and final stage of the extensive project that is meeting all the various combinations of divorced and remarried parents is over. We learned that the interaction between my mother and me at Thanksgiving is not a good first introduction to my mother; that Hawai’i is too hot, even in December, that I have become a (or discovered my hidden inner) dog person, and that three days in different states is bizarrely traumatic; that Wisconsin weather is hard on poor Northwesterners, but that Madison would be lovely if it weren’t so sillily flat and if it would just cool down at night (although then there would be no thunderstorms); and that my Reno family is almost too large to be tolerated, but that drinks in Reno are very cheap. It was a fun and adventurous project, the meeting of the parents, but I am happy never have to do it again.
***
Composed today: I did recover from the cold, physically and in terms of optimism as well. I started going to the gym again last week, finally, and though I couldn’t make it last Friday, I went today, and it’s already getting easier. School is well underway and I am actually getting stuff done. I am almost done with my portfolio; pending a few changes, my advisor will pass it and it will be on the randomly-chosen secondary reader. I got to see my sister last weekend, and we drove to Astoria to take her to her orthodontist appointment. That meant we also got to go to the beach and Shannon’s favorite restaurant and a wonderful fishmonger. I saw Serenity again and everyone else should go see it, too, even though J.W. ruined all my hopes and dreams. Today I applied for a really exciting job that I’m actually qualified for, even though I’d have to be in school full-time and working full-time through December. It might be the perfect job, though, so I am willing to sacrifice those six weeks to misery. In about a year an honest woman will be made out of me. I plan to wear a red dress. So maybe not that honest.

(song: “Question,” Old 97s)
* I love Project Gutenberg. Everyone should use it all the time.

Snaking its way through the memory of

lauren — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 03:56:48 +0000

I don’t know why it always surprises me that I am most likely to run into folks I know when I’m at the library on campus …
I’ve been sad because of a lack of being on campus and randomly running into people — it’s weird that I got so used to being able to do that, when I couldn’t, here, for at least a year. But today I was in the library to pay my $19 fine (I am a bad person) when I encountered my two favorite Writing Center customers from last year, Adam and Reese. Reese had to run off but I was especially pleased to see Adam, because I learned that he is to be in my Class of Deathly Boredom, aka Management for Information Organizations. I like Adam so am glad we get a class together, but was extra special happy because that means he can take notes for me on the first day.
I have to miss the first day because I am too dumb to double-check my calendar and figure out when class starts before I buy non-refundable tickets to Madison. (Yay, a sixth state to check off! I am a wimpy US traveler.) The first half of the summer term, in which I had one class, ends this Wednesday, and for some reason I thought the second half, in which I have a different class, would start next Monday, but no, it starts on Thursday. And I am leaving for Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon. This is dumb. I am dumb.
But Adam will be there to take notes for me!

This weekend was surprisingly eventful!

Mom’s marriage:
L: “Do you two want to get married?” (It’s the only thing that Washington requires in the ceremony.)
Them: “Yep!”
L: “Yay! Then you’re married!”

Harry Potter:
Finished Saturday night. Interesting. Not sure what I think, actually.

Homemakerdom:
Pulled lots and lots of weeds; did the dishes and cleaned the counter in preparation for a mini party on Sunday night.

Mini party:
Gins&tonic, bourbon, Oban (grâce à Chelle, thanks!!!); delicious guacamole (made-up recipe to be posted on Kitchenisms when I get it transferred); Simpsons, Firefly. Chelle and Tom and John & Laura. Good group!

This week: write a paper; laundry; pack; cash checks; figure out how I can get out of going to the first day of class.

(song: “The New Face of Zero and One,” the New Pornographers. A trail of sisters through New York.)

a sea of pens and feathers

lauren — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 19:46:17 +0000

so i’m sitting at my desk in my office, in front of my computer with my book (discovery and decision: exploring the metaphysics and epistemology of scientific classification, by rebecca bryant), and i’m trying to finish my reading for class at 1:30. i just checked my email so i still had my hand on the mouse when i went back to reading the book. i got to the end of the page and instead of turning the page, I TRIED TO SCROLL DOWN.

maybe i need to spend less time at the computer.

(song: “rain king,” counting crows)

sing a lazy song

lauren — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 20:00:51 +0000

so i’m reading the polar bear book aka information architecture for the world wide web. i got it used from amazon for fifty cents. the price of saving that much money is that i have to read stupid yellow-highlighter-and-red-pen comments such as the following:
on “if a site’s content and functionality don’t merit launching, then why launch it?” is written “TOTALLY!”
the next paragraph includes the sentence “then there are sites full of haphazard information, rife with typos, broken links, out-of-date content, factual errors, or poorly executed HTML.” the margin reads “YUCK!”
and on a later section about good things about the web, in a paragraph called “personalization,” the word “sensitive” has been circled in red pen five times (five!) and “right on!” is written next to it.

i’m glad i stopped writing in books. how embarrassing to be yellow-highlighter-and-red-pen person.

(song: “mother nature’s son,” the beatles)

from where you think you’ll end up

lauren — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 17:43:42 +0000

i had a very pleasant weekend of playing homemaker/subsistence farmer. friday and saturday i started cutting and pinning for my pal skip’s curtains, but i didn’t do much else. yesterday, though, i made crock-pot apple butter (crock pots are fun! you just leave it overnight!), bread that did not actuallly rise and so did not turn out at all, though it looked pretty, and salmon for dinner with shannon. i also dug up the weeds in an already raised bed in the yard, killed some rogue blackberry plants in the part i want to garden in, raked up all the pinecones and branches, and talked to the nice neighbor man who works at home depot about renting a rototiller so i can take up the grass/moss/weeds. then i planted some basils in a pot and then i sewed.
i like making stuff!
this morning i started listening to the dracula audiobook i have been putting on ipod. i have decided i adore audiobooks! i have never listened to one before but this is super fun. i think it’s also a good one to listen to – it’s properly creepifying, like stories read aloud should be.
i am planning to spend valentine’s day writing database queries. i am looking forward to this.

(song: “st. robinson in his cadillac dream,” counting crows)

eager to fly now

lauren — Sun, 26 Dec 2004 05:05:00 +0000

more normal tourist things: drove around the island and went to the blowhole, where a lava tube at or below water level has a hole in the top of it too, so waves that come inside it at the right angle, or something, come out the hole in the middle of the rock and it looks like a little geyser, or, yes, a blowhole. i think we drove around most of the island that day; we also had lunch at a little shack where they cook pigs in the ground and plan to do so until the health department comes to shut them down. i had squid in taro leaves and coconut milk thingy, which was quite good; the rest of the group had pig that had been cooked in the ground. there was also poi which was very interesting, and some yummy salmon thingy that shall be discussed on foodblog eventually.
i also had dim sum for the first (and later the second) time ever in chinatown. it was really good. i can’t believe i had never had it before.
the bishop museum, which was part of the geeky section of the trip, was really neat. i was wrong about the scienceness of it; it was mostly a hawaiian/polynesian culture and natural history museum. which was very cool.
oh, and a major part of the geeky section was sitting around reading. i read the last samurai which has nothing to do with the movie and which my pal jeanne recommended; i quite liked it. i read most of wicked, which i also liked but did not get a chance to finish before i left for reno, which is where i am now. but i did not bring it with me because i was too close to the end; instead i brought fingersmith, also recommended by jeanne. i like it; she is good at recommendations.
christmas was relatively unstressful, considering. my stepmom & her husband (not my father; long story that you prolly all know) are having the kitchen and dining room redone so there is no sink, no countertops (just plywood), no stove or oven, and no fridge in the kitchen (though there is one in the garage). fortunately, christmas eve dinner, which is held here, consists of soup cooked in a crock pot and caesar salad with meat grilled on the barbecue. dishes were washed in the bathroom sink, which was a fun adventure, but the whole thing was easier than we could reasonably expect given the utter lack of kitchen appliances.
i did not, alas, get an ipod, though i was not surprised since i did not ask for one. but i might buy one. i am having serious lust. it’s pretty bad.

i get to go home tomorrow. this is good.

(song: “the only living boy in new york,” simon & garfunkel)