What I'm Reading Now

As usual, I'm leaving the SF off of this list, unless it was a SF re-read. The new SF I'm reading I either don't like at all or I review it for one of my magazines.

Laurie King, Knave of Diamonds

This is the new novel in King's Mary Russell series. That series is hit or miss lately, and this one is mostly a miss. It features Mary's uncle Jack Russell (yes, like the dog) who is a scapegrace and a conman and who apparently got involved with a plot to steal the crown jewels of Ireland way back when. I didn't find the uncle all that charming. There's some historical issues with how gay people were treated back in the early 20th century that might be of interest to anyone who knows little or nothing about LGBTQ history.  I'd recommend this to big fans of the series. If you're not a big fan, or haven't read any of them yet, don't start with this one.

Larry McMurtry, Terms of Endearment

This is a re-read. It has a deeply flawed structure -- the first 9/10ths of the book are about Aurora Greenway, a 50 year old woman living in Houston who has many, many beaus, ranging from an opera singer to a retired general to an oil millionaire (it's 1962, so he'd be a billionaire now). They're all hopelessly in love with her, and the book is about that, a bit, Aurora and her beaus. It's also about Houston in 1962 and Aurora's daughter Emma and her friends and husband, and about Aurora's maid Rosie and her family.

This part of the book is excellent. Highly recommend. McMurtry captures place and time beautifully, and the characters are great. This is a Houston without air conditioning, where widows can live on the income left by their husbands, and have a maid, a Houston without any interest in politics. Aurora is relatively wealthy; Emma and her friends are poor, but it's student poverty. Women keep house and go shopping. Men have jobs.

Warning: the characters are all white, and are unashamedly racist, even characters we're supposed to like. There's more racism in the working class characters, but at one point Emma says something appalling to Patsy -- not hateful, just casual racist. That too is, sadly, part of the place and time.

The last tenth of the book is about Emma and how she dies of cancer. WTF, is my only response to this part of the book. It's still well-written, but it's a the salt-truck ending. (This is named after a thing young writers love to do, which is instead of actually finding an ending for a story, they will run a character over with a salt-truck, or the equivalent.)

Moving On by McMurtry is a book with some of the same characters which avoids the salt-truck ending. I don't remember as much casual racism in that one either, though the characters there are also all white people.

Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express

Somehow I missed this one back when I was reading all of Christie. It's entertaining. Also a lot of casual racism. It's aimed at 'foreigners,' though, rather than just black and brown people. For example, there's an Italian in the book. Mild fun is made of Americans, also, though that seems cultural, and like it's supposed to be funny, while the disparagement of the Italian is off-hand racism.

There was lots of French in the book, since Poriot is French. I enjoyed being able to read it. Other than that the book is meh.

I'd read this one only if you're a big Christie fan or you're interested in the history of mystery novels.

D.E. Stevenson, The Four Graces

This is a re-read. Stevenson writes what my kid calls "family" books, which is accurate: novels about families in a community in England between the wars and during WWI and just after. This one is set during WWII in a small village in southern England, and follows the mundane events during a few months in the life of four sisters (the four graces) who are the daughters of a vicar. As with most Stevenson books, nothing very terrible happens -- minor conflicts only. Stevenson is a comforting read, and this is one of her most comforting. It's part of a set of books that starts with Miss Buncle, and shares a few characters with the second and third book in that set, but it can be read on its own, which was how I first read it.

Anna Quindlen, Rise and Shine

Another "family" book. Two sisters whose parents died when they were young, so that the older sister has parented the younger one ever since. The older sister is a famous morning talk show host; the younger is a social worker. When the older sister's life begins falling apart (after she calls a guest an asshole on the air), the younger sister steps up to help deal. Like most Quindlen books, there's nice writing and good characters. There's also an interesting romance between the younger sister and a law enforcement officer. The older sisters flees to a remote Caribbean island, and Quindlen does a good job of giving us a sense of place about the community there. The big sister's kid is a charmer.

Read this if you like stories about families in a community. 

Dr Skull Returns Home

He was on IV antibiotics pretty much non-stop for three days, and now they have sent him home. A home health nurse is going to come check his wound every couple of days.

I am almost positive that we aren't going to owe any money at all, though I'm still alert for bills in the mail. Medicare for all, y'all.

In other news, it is SO HOT here. Nine more weeks of summer. Ugh.

American Health Care System

Dr Skull is in the hospital with cellulitis, which if you don't know what that is, maybe don't google it. Anyway, 0/10, do not recommend.

Luckily Medicare is 100% better than our university insurance, so there won't (knock wood) be a ten thousand dollar bill like last time. (Knock wood again.)

How Do I Like Being Retired?

So much.

Technically I've been retired just over two months, since May 13, and if I hadn't retired not much would have changed on the surface, since I'd be on summer break now. 

But in fact just knowing I'm done with teaching has changed so much. I had no idea how much of my mental space the university was taking up until it was gone. I do still find myself making notes about how to teach this or that, or what reading list I might use for a given class, and then saying, well, wait.

I'm doing what I always planned to do with my retirement -- writing a lot, reading a lot, taking lots of walks. I am much busier than I expected to be, what with medical appointments, taking the kid shopping, and dealing with the dog.

Do any of you remember how in adolescence, and even young adulthood, we were so bored for so much of the time? Just endless hours to fill, and nothing to fill them with? Remember television? I remember lying on the couch in the living room watching tennis matches. That's how bored I was.

I was expecting retirement to be a bit like that. Not so far.

UGH

 Not quite hitting a hundred. We should be grateful, I guess.

Nine more weeks of summer.

Inside of a Dog

The humidity inside of a dog's mouth is 87%. 

How do I know this?

Shamus stole my hygrometer off my desk to chew on it this morning and when I noticed and wrestled it away from him, that's what the humidity indicator read.

Horrible little dog.

Rain

It's raining and raining here. I am recovering from the flu or whatever this was. Three to seven days of symptoms if it's flu, doctor google tells me, and then a couple weeks to recover. Ugh. Today's the first day I've felt even moderately healthy.

Meanwhile the house has collapsed around me. If I stop doing any of the housework, it just doesn't get done. The recycling hasn't gone out, the dishes haven't been done, trash is overflowing the container, and there is nothing to eat. Ugh.

I spent all the days I was sick listening to the Murderbot diaries. My eyes hurt too much to read, and I know them well enough that when I fell asleep (often) I would know what I had missed when I woke up again. I'm on the last one now though. Martha Wells needs to write some more. (I do know about this short story.)

I'm considering doing a review of the TV show, which I liked but which was an entirely different animal from the books.

Have to go take a nap right now though.

Still Ill

Still mostly fever and body aches. I do have some nausea now. 

Ugh, I hate being sick. It's such a waste of time.

The little dog is very upset that I won't take him for walks or play with him.

UPDATE: It's not Covid -- I took a test.

Illness

I've contracted some sort of illness -- I don't think it's covid, bc the only symptoms are a fever and body aches. Also I'm exhausted.

The dog is not at all happy that I am ill. He races around the house trying to get me to play with him. But I can barely move.

Here's hoping I'm better tomorrow.

Freedum!

 But not for you:

Happy 4th to Those Who Celebrate

Stolen off of Blusky:

No one is trying to make your kids trans or gay, but they sure are trying to make them Nazis.

Happy 4th to all y'all celebrating what is left of our democracy.

Life in Fayetteville

Here in my new city, it is usually from three to seven degrees cooler than the city I used to live in, and a bit less humid. Three to seven degrees doesn't sound like a lot, but it is the difference between a low of 73 and a low of 70. Or 67, which was the low this morning. It was actually cool when I took the dog for his dawn walk this morning.

All week, also, highs will be in the 80s. 

So long as we avoid the mid-day sun, in other words, this is pretty bearable.

We Made Vogue!

Vogue confirmed the 40,000 number, and gives more details and photos!

Go here.

Fayetteville Pride almost didn’t happen this year. NWA Equality struggled with a significant funding gap back in December, Porter noted, amid rollbacks to DEI efforts across the country under the Trump administration.

“Like a third of our budget could have been wiped out,” Porter said. So NWA Equality participated in a local fundraising weekend called NWA Gives. In years past they hadn’t raised more than $10,000; this year, they raised $36,000.

“We explained to the community, this is what has happened and we need you to step up,” Porter said. “They did, and it was amazing. A lot of people stepped up to make sure we were still able to do this.”

 

 

Photos from the Pride March in Fayetteville

I've seen estimates that 40,000 people attended this year. I was not one of them, because heat and noise and people are all my specific triggers.

Photos here!

Shamus Update

He is still very bitey at times. The tactics given to us by the dog trainers really don't work.

In other regards, he is coming along. He will fetch the ball and bring it and drop it; he will occasionally come when he's called. He sits and he has one premium trick, in which he does a spin.

Housebreaking is about 75/25, so long as I watch him and take him outside when he starts doing the I-gotta-pee pace.

I am still taking him on walks twice a day, which I guess will be as good for me as it is for him -- I've essentially doubled the amount of exercise I'm getting.

He is not a good watchdog. He loves everybody. He would tackle a burglar and give him many kisses. 

He still really wants to play with the cats, but they are still having none of it.

He's maybe 22 pounds now, and getting bigger every day.

Sleepy Guy

Shamus not biting me for once

Earlier Shamus for comparison