The Family

OK, Chris. This is limited to 52 books – just seemed like a fun number to hit. And since you’ve probably already read some of these, and some of these you might not be interested in at all, this shouldn’t overwhelm your whole year’s worth of planned books.

I had you in mind for these recommendations. However, some of the selections might not be really obviously you – but I included them because the book is just so well written. Some of these recommendations are from me and some are from Joseph – neither of us have read all the books on this list, though eventually we will.

And as I went through, some of them I thought Dad (or Mom) would also like – so this could be worth skimming for those of you who aren’t Chris.

I wish we lived closer! If we did, it would be no problem for you to borrow most of these (there are some we don’t have). It’s still no problem for you to borrow .. say, half of these. But some of them are pets we’d loan in person, but sending them through the mail is nerve-wracking.

And by the way … what would be your 52 recommended book list?

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Top 5 picks

I looked through the list and narrowed it down to 10 books. This is the Yes, Seriously, READ THESE BOOKS list.

Links are to whatever I thought made sense. Book reviews, mostly, but sometimes Wikipedia articles or whatever else struck me. Some are even to Amazon (which might be too convenient)

Fiction
Mouse Guard, Fall 1152, by David Petersen. Graphic novel. Style is High Adventure; setting is medievalesque, protagonists are mice. Love the story and the art. Will probably take you an hour or so to read. Fall is the first, but you’ll want to read Fall and Winter. There are 2 others books, but they’re ancillary to the main story.

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. This is the first of his Mars trilogy. If you want to continue, the next ones are Green Mars and Blue Mars. Beautifully written, with a real gift for description.

Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin. This is one of LeGuin’s greats. Christina & Mom should read this one too. In the Aeneid, Lavinia is Aeneas’s wife .. and this is her full story.

What Dreams May Come, by Richard Matheson. Yes, the source for the movie. The book is beautiful and haunting and has such a wonderful description of the afterlive; of both Heaven and Hell. It really sticks with you. It’s my absolute favorite of Matheson’s works.

Bridge of Birds, by Barry Hughart. Recommended for everyone. OK, it may not be Dad’s thing, but the book is just brilliant. Hilarious, fast paced, and the ending was perfect. I actually cried; it was very moving. I haven’t read the other books in the series – everyone says they aren’t as good, and I’m afraid of the let down .. but I so want to return to these characters. Wonderful characters, wonderful book.

Nonfiction
1812: The Navy’s War, by George Daughan. About the War of 1812 from a naval perspective. The writing is clear and makes the subject interesting, compelling, etc. He also wrote ‘If By Sea’ which is the same kind of thing for the Revolutionary War. I’m sure it’s just as good, but we haven’t read that one (but we bought it and will read it). Either is recommended; 1812 just happens to the be the one we’ve read. Both are very highly recommended for Dad as well.

Closing of the Western Mind, by Charles Freeman. There are a lot of different perspectives on this book – that he’s completely right, that he’s completely wrong. But it’s amazingly well written, well argued, thought provoking – even if you disagree with him.

Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace. OK, anything at all by David Foster Wallace. Well – all I’ve read are his essays. I haven’t read any of his fiction, so my perspective is one-sided. But he can write essays like no one else I’ve ever read. The book is a collection of essays; the link goes to the full text of the title essay. If you like the way he writes, then by all means get the book. The other essays aren’t about food – the range of topics is amazing. The porn industry, Modern American Usage, the McCain campaign, radio programs.

Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. I’d also recommend Tipping Point, but Blink was my favorite. The writing is very clear, the examples are all interesting (some exceptionally so), and the conclusions are fascinating. A book that makes you think about how you think.

Secret Life of Dust, by Hannah Holmes. Fascinating, absolutely fascinating book. Though if you’re going to be upset about learning just how much dust is in your home and just what’s living in that dust, you might want to skip certain chapters. But my goodness, she makes dust the most interesting thing you’ve ever read about.

Those are the top 10. Now for the 52. I won’t go into as much detail, and it might take me some time to get links for all of them.

Continue reading →

This year I’m toying with the idea of trying to read 52 books. A book a week. Right now I am slightly ahead – I’ve finished two books (Dresden Files – Cold Days, Iron Druid – Trapped), but they were both easy reading.  The kind of books you can sit down and plow through.   But now I have a thick book in front of me: A Memory of Light, book fourteen of the Wheel of Time series. 900 or so pages of condensed, thick story.  It should take me a bit longer to read through this one.

But after I finish this beast I don’t have anything new to read. Anyone read an interesting book lately?

Does everyone get extra links in the site that connect to BuySpan.com or is it just me? I get them in other sites too and figured they were being paid by the linked site to let them put their links in, but I doubt seriously if Chris has anything like that set up here. Do you know if there is a way to block others from adding these links?

And while I am thinking about annoying things, in Firefox, I now have an add box that pops up on the right of my screen. I don’t like it. I can close it, but does anyone know how to make it so it doesn’t pop up in the first place? I have pop-ups blocked but this one is unaffected. I also have Adblock Plus, but apparently it doesn’t block that one… or if there is a way to make it block it, I don’t know what it is.

Since the earth does not show signs of ending, like the Mayan calendar fortold, and there are unlikely odds on there being a massive or not so massive Zombie attack, I have chosen a blast from the past as this years theme.  As such I am highly recommending that all gifts be purchased from “The Vermont Country Store“.

This store has a little of everything from the past.  Thirteen different categories from Food and Candy to Flannel Sleepwear.  I do not get a kick-back from the store nor do I own stock in the parent company, just think this is an interesting place to visit occasionally.  This seemed like a good occasion.

Try to find something that will be useful for the person you are buying the gift for, no need buying either a dust catcher or a potential garage sale item.

Comments, questions and kudo’s are welcome; criticism, complaints and bad manners can go sit in the corner.

You now have the criteria for this years Christmas Eve Gift, good luck.

Luke

Names were written on small pieces of paper and the slips put in a box.

Here are the results:

Luke drew Chris

Nelia drew Joseph

Ramona drew Luke

Joseph drew Christina

Chris drew Ramona

Christina drew Nelia

There have been some conversations, but I wanted to make it explicit – Dad has the Christmas Cat.

I don’t remember if I said anything last year about it .. if anyone else out there thought they had the Cat, let me know and I’ll take my flogging.

And on the same topic …

Joseph & I are going to do something a little different to control costs this year. For the adults (just the adults), we’re only going to get one thing from both of us. Chris gets something from Joseph & Ramona; Dad gets something from Joseph & Ramona .. etc. If anyone would like to do the same to/for us, that would be welcome.

With that kind of approach in mind, on my wishlist there’s a section of things that will work very nicely as gifts to both of us. So if Chris & Christina wanted to get one thing for Ramona & Joseph .. there’s a list for it. It would have worked to put it anywhere, I guess, but Joseph is still getting used to having a list 🙂

Trying out a new theme. I’m not much into getting into developing a theme myself right now, so I’m just picking on that looks nice out of the box. Ok, I made one adjustment – increased the default font size. 12px was way too small so I bumped it to 16px. Much easier to read on my screen. How about yours?

Had my eyes checked today. My doctor kept telling me how improved my eyes are. She said they had changed so much that she checked my records twice thinking she had been given the wrong ones, and then that she must have misread my name. I have been getting more far sighted for years, as one does when one ages, but this time the improvement in my near sightedness is a big enough jump that she kept commenting on it.

The most telling thing to me is that the elasticity of my eyes has improved. I still need bifocals, but last visit we talked about the eminent need for trifocals because of my shrinking range of focus. This time the improvement in the range of focus in my near vision is, she said, amazing.

She asked, “OK, what are you doing different?” I told her i went vegan about 6 months ago. She said I was obviously working toxins out of my body and it showed in my eyes.

Happy. 🙂

December 21st, 2012. The Mayan Long Count finally ticks over.

The time of change involves great physical upheaval. Galactic alignment brings great forces to bear on our planet. The pole shifts. Massive earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the instantaneous melting of icecaps follows. By the end of the day, no less.

And that’s nothing compared to the subsequent societal chaos. Stock market collapse, wars, famine, end of all electronic communication (see: pole shift). Bioterrorism, of course, leads to zombies. That’ll probably take till the end of December.

So. Your gift this year (plus 11 months of diligent practice) will help get your person through this upcoming difficult transition.

Mom -> Chris
Dad -> Ramona
Chris -> Joseph
Christina -> Dad
Ramona -> Mom
Joseph -> Christina

All for around $10, of course. Well, no more than $15. You have to look after yourself, too, you know.

I am overwhelmed by clutter. The feeling has been building, but it is reaching crisis level and I am fixing to do something about it… namely freecycle, ebay, garage sale (Mary is having one), donate, etc. So, if there is anything I have that you want, please let me know, just in case. Or would it be easier if i post or email lists of anything I think anyone might want?

It’s so hard getting rid of excess. I am down to things I really like or still have good intentions for or things that I remember how much I paid for or how long I wanted. There are 2 sets of dishes, for example. I had long wanted multiple sets of dishes. I craved variety. Now that I have them, though, I also have my Fiesta which I love and always use, and I never wish for something different, perhaps because of the variety of colors. So I could easily get rid of the 2 extra sets… only I remember wanting them, remember buying them a piece at a time, on ebay, remember what I paid, which was always on the low end of what they were bringing, but, still, there is a certain amount of money involved. I checked ebay. One set I might be able to sell, particularly if I sold it in pieces, but that is the set that has a place in the china cabinet and I don’t really need to find a home for right now. The other set is taking up space I could use. I found lots of it for sale on ebay, but when I checked the completed auctions, Not one single piece had sold. What would be the point of photographing and writing descriptions and paying selling fees? It is a nice set… What do I do with the blasted thing?

Sigh…. The frustrating thing is that there are still things I want. I am not used to getting what I want, not wanting it any more, getting rid if it, and then getting what I want now. I know that is what some people do all the time, but not me. This is weird for me… wasteful.

But my house is too full. When everything is put away, it is ok… difficult to manage because everything that is put away is put together like a jigsaw puzzle, but at least I do not feel overwhelmed. But when things are out, it is difficult to think. Right now, the sewing room is still in the process of being put back together and becomes chaotic very quickly. We have all the Christmas stuff out. To top that off, we came home from Bill and Eliane’s with the food they gifted us with and I cannot find room for it in the cabinet. I am so overwhelmed that when I took a nap I dreamed a frantic restless dream about it (well not about it, but about something else overwhelming that clearly represented my clutter).

I wish it wasn’t so hard to part with things. I wish I could know for sure that when i Freecycled something, it would go to someone who would value and care for it. I don’t want my dishes to go to someone who says, “Oh, we could always use more dishes,” and then lets them be broken and feeds the dog in them.

I am so happy we have Christmas wish lists so we can be sure what we give is not going to instantly become excess clutter.

As everyone knows, the Mayan long count will end on December 21, 2012. This is either the end of the world, the end of the world as we know it, or an excuse for an ENORMOUS party, depending on how you interpret Mayan rituals.

This is going to form the basis of this year’s Christmas Eve exchange. Cause if we wait for next year – it’ll be too late.

And like the various end of the world prophets, I’m not entirely sure how we should properly commemorate this event. I have three options in mind. I’d like input, suggestions, refinements, and reactions.

Option 1: The Mother of all Mayan parties
Getting to see the short count calendar switch over was a big deal – kind of like our century parties. Getting to see the long count one switch is an ENORMOUS deal. So get your person ready to party, Mayan style.
Possible gifts:
lots and lots of fine dark chocolate
severed heads of your enemies
a temple
stuffed Ixmucane doll

2 – Surviving the end of the world as we know it.
Colossal global convergence of environmental destruction, societal collapse, wars, famines, dogs and cats living together … total chaos. So get your person equipped to survive.
Possible gifts:
zombie survival guide
water purification tablets
box of twinkies
knitting supplies (see http://wondermark.com/491/)

3 – It’s the end of the world. Life. The Universe. And Everything.
An asteroid or rogue planet will collide with earth. The earth will experience a polarity shift and our magnetic field will collapse, instantly frying all life. The stars are aligning and Cthulhu will escape and walk the sunlit world. Well, maybe the universe won’t end, but our place in it is well and truly over. Prepare your person for the afterlife.
Possible gifts:
Armies of shabtis
Egyptian Book of the Dead
Shiva’s blessing
“preserving” spirits (don’t embalm me in the cheap stuff…)

OK – comments?