Time and Place | About 7:50 a.m. on Sunday morning, sitting at my desk.
Reading | This week was very busy, so I didn’t get much reading done — I finished up Eye on the Struggle by James McGrath Morris (a biography of African American journalist Ethel Payne) and Hammer Head by Nina MacLaughlin (March 16 from W.W. Norton), a memoir about becoming a carpenter. I’m also in the middle of Being Mortal by Atul Gawande (a look at how to improve the process of aging) and Americanah by Chimamande Ngozi Adichie.
Watching | For Valentines Day, the boyfriend and I rented The Book of Life and re-watched Nightcrawler (one of those was my pick, the other was his). The soundtrack to The Book of Life was delightful — I expect to be listening to that today.
Listening | Lately I don’t seem to have the attention span to get into any audio books. But I have been listening to podcasts, which made me think a book of short stories might be good on audio — any suggestions for a great collection to start with?
Cooking | I’ve got this recipe (pork shoulder with beets and artichoke hearts) going in my slow cooker today. Last week’s slow cooker meat sauce turned out great — I’ve been eating it all week poured over spaghetti squash.
Blogging | This week I reviewed The Lonely War by Nazila Fathi (awesome memoir about contemporary Iran) and shared four comic books I’m into right now (Alex + Ada, Rat Queens, Ms. Marvel and The Unwritten).
Linking | There’s a lot of to ponder in this New York Times piece about the culture of Internet shaming. I’ve seen a lot of these events go down on Twitter and they make me really uncomfortable.
Linking II | The Black Lives Matter reading list mentioned in this NPR story looks amazing. I’ve got a bunch of those books on my reading list already.
Hating | While Minnesota hasn’t had much snow this winter, last week we had a storm that was a mix of freezing rain and snow. It’s been frigid since, so basically all roads and parking lots are covered with a sheet of ice. It’s lovely.
Loving | Jeff Shotts, executive editor at Graywolf Press (publisher of The Empathy Exams, On Immunity, and Citizen, to name a few), gave a great talk at my local college campus this week. But even better, I got invited to have breakfast with him and a few other campus friends Friday morning. It was the best, most interesting book nerd talk I’ve gotten to have in awhile. I loved it.
Avoiding | Our bathtub needs to be cleaned but ugh, I hate that chore.
Anticipating | Since it’s snowing and cold today, I’m excited to spend the day cuddled up at home with a cup of tea and a book. I might have to venture outside to get the gym, but otherwise my day is going to be full of reading and writing.
Happy Sunday, everyone! What are you reading today?
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I should send my daughter to your house. She loves to clean the bathroom. Give her some Lysol wipes and the chick will go to town on every surface in the bathroom….an activity I am actively encouraging as I hate cleaning.
Could you please? That would be the greatest thing ever.
They’re calling for snow or wintry mix here tomorrow, depending on who you listen to. I’m not looking forward to it. Stay warm!
I do a little jig every time I see someone loving Alex + Ada. I finished all my available single issues yesterday, and it was amazing!
Eek! I can’t wait until the trade is out — soonish, I think.
I was thrilled to get on a reading buzz and finished two books in print, and started a new one yesterday and it’s moving very quickly.
I too read the NYT piece on internet shaming, and yes I agree, I too have recently seen some twitter shaming and it saddened me, so little concern for a person’s whole self, beyond the offensive act or tweet.
I loved your Vday card!!
Bundle up, and have a good day.
Internet justice is such a hard thing. On the one hand, individuals bloggers aren’t really responsible to anyone, so it seems like a public outing is the only way to make an impact when the norms or terms of a community have been violated. On the other hand, calling out legit bad behavior can easily swarm out of control (which is what I hate to see). If someone makes a public apology, we have to calm down and give them space to correct. But of no apology is forthcoming, it’s really hard to feel justified in trying to call back the mob… it’s complicated :-/
I’m intrigued by the Pork recipe though a little skeptical about the canned beets… I saved it and will try it sometime perhaps with fresh beets put in at the beginning. Hope it turns out yummy for you! Thanks for sharing! I don’t see a lot of fantasy or sci fi on your blog so may not be your cup of tea but Escape Pod and Podcastle have a weekly dose of short stories in those genres and they are usually pretty great: http://escapeartists.net/
The recipe turned out ok. I wish I had seasoned it a little more, and maybe cooked it a little less — the pork was a bit dry in parts and I’m not entirely sure why.
Thanks for the short story recommendations — I’ll take a look!
I’m reading Trigger Warning right now by Neil Gaiman and I keep thinking I should get it in audio too – I can almost hear his voice saying the words in my head. Almost but not quite!
I caved and got the audio of that one even though I got sent the print for review — I think that’s going to be a good choice.
Hannah looks happy!
Well, she had just forced her way on to warm lap for awhile — that’s her favorite spot lately because it is so darn cold!
I’m halfway through Americanah myself – interested in hearing your thoughts on it.
I really, really like it so far. I think it’s quite funny, and also interestingly told. I’m still not sure where it’s all going (just got to part four, I think).
So you must have picked Nightcrawler, huh? 😉
Today I’m reading The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin. So far, so good. I’ll probably give it a break, though, since it was a pick for Lenten reading and Lent doesn’t start until Wednesday.
I agreed to Nightcrawler — better than I expected 🙂
I was SO into The Year of the Flood this weekend and wrapped it up this morning. Now into a little amusing bio of Oscar Wilde and I picked up Science Tales for something different (for me!) Will look at that Black Lives Matter list and will be out this Thursday to an event that will likely give me book-buying opps.
Also, btw, you have won the drawing for Colors by Victoria Finlay. I think I have your addy…. If your PLUS-4 is NOT -1862, let me know. 😉
Make sure you share what books you end up buying!
So is Nightcrawler a pretty decent movie? When it gets to pay-per-view we will rent it. Perhaps it’s already available. We haven’t had much snow this year in Western Canada — a mild winter here! I’m reading and liking The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones for a book club read. Enjoy your week.
Yeah, I thought it was pretty good. I was expecting something more violent and gory, but it ended up just being pretty creepy. Gyllenhal is great in it — his character was very unexpected to me, but I didn’t know much about the moving going in. I think it’s definitely worth a pay-pre-view rental.
Seriously, I don’t know how you all (you all being anyone who lives where it snows) make it through the winter. I only lived in a snowy state as a kid, so the whole driving in snow scares the pants off of me. Plus, there’s that thing about being cold. I’m surprised everyone hasn’t moved to the West Coast by now. Have you seen the US map that’s labelled areas with things like “cold as fuck” and variations thereof, and CA is just labelled LOL?
I did see that map. It’s basically perfect. That’s why I made a trip to CA last winter — always beautiful!
That said, I think I’d miss having seasons if I lived somewhere else. They help track time passing in a way that’s important to me. I could do without ultra-freezing temperatures, but we adapt 🙂