Four things make a post
Jan. 10th, 2026 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ermingarden1. I donated blood today, mentioned it in a text message to my dad, and received a reply asking "How did the blood removal go?", which is a masterful example of making something sound wildly ominous while still technically being an accurate description! ("Blood removal" went fine, as usual.) Side note: If you're in NY or NJ and are able to donate blood, please consider scheduling an appointment ASAP - we currently have less than a two-day supply and a blood emergency has been declared.
2. Recent reads:
- The Tsar of Love and Techno, by Anthony Marra, is a collection of interconnected short stories set in Russia, from the 1930s to the present (and arguably outer space in the near future, depending on how you read the last story). I read this for a book club with some coworkers and enjoyed it. Some stories are naturally stronger than others, but it's good throughout and at times excellent.
- New York Sketches is a collection of E. B. White's short pieces about NYC - vignettes, poems, brief essays, and assorted snippets resistant to categorization. It's very fun! A quick read, if you plow straight through it - I bought my copy at a bookstore in Washington Heights and finished it by the time I made it to Chinatown, so somewhere around an hour - but also a book amenable to being read in bits and pieces. Pages 35-44, devoted to the observation of pigeons and their nests (with illustrations!), particularly charmed me: "While [pigeon nests] endure we must note their locations, elevate our gaze above the level of our immediate concerns, imbibe the sweet air and perfect promise: the egg miraculous upon the ledge, the bird compact upon the egg, its generous warmth, its enviable patience, its natural fortitude and grace."
- Death in Dover is the latest book in Maureen Ash's Templar Knight Mysteries series. Unfortunately, it does not measure up to the earlier books in the series. I think it's primarily a matter of editing, or the lack thereof: The first eight books, through A Holy Vengeance, were traditionally published, but starting with Sins of Inheritance they've been self-published, and there's a noticeable difference. (Actually, I've noticed a distinction among the trad-published books as well: the first six were published by Berkeley, a Penguin subsidiary, while the seventh and eighth were published by a different Penguin subsidiary, InterMix, and there's clearly a bit less attention devoted to the seventh and eighth compared to the previous, including less detailed covers; I also believe that's when they started to be published as ebooks only, though I can't confirm that.) Even compared to the other self-published books in the series, though, Death in Dover disappoints. I hate to say this, I really do - you all know by now that this series is one of my favorites - but I unfortunately can't recommend this book.
3. I just started Mansfield Park, at the suggestion offiona15351, who wants to know what I think of it. I'm not far enough in to think much of anything, though I did accidentally text Fiona "Mary Crawford is such a butch omg" earlier today. I meant bitch! That typo is far too easy to make, in either direction.
4. Tomorrow is a red letter day: the anniversary of my adopting Queenie! Hard to believe it's been a year already! Cats may not keep calendars, but I do have a gift for her.
I don't know how I ever managed without a cat before!
2. Recent reads:
- The Tsar of Love and Techno, by Anthony Marra, is a collection of interconnected short stories set in Russia, from the 1930s to the present (and arguably outer space in the near future, depending on how you read the last story). I read this for a book club with some coworkers and enjoyed it. Some stories are naturally stronger than others, but it's good throughout and at times excellent.
- New York Sketches is a collection of E. B. White's short pieces about NYC - vignettes, poems, brief essays, and assorted snippets resistant to categorization. It's very fun! A quick read, if you plow straight through it - I bought my copy at a bookstore in Washington Heights and finished it by the time I made it to Chinatown, so somewhere around an hour - but also a book amenable to being read in bits and pieces. Pages 35-44, devoted to the observation of pigeons and their nests (with illustrations!), particularly charmed me: "While [pigeon nests] endure we must note their locations, elevate our gaze above the level of our immediate concerns, imbibe the sweet air and perfect promise: the egg miraculous upon the ledge, the bird compact upon the egg, its generous warmth, its enviable patience, its natural fortitude and grace."
- Death in Dover is the latest book in Maureen Ash's Templar Knight Mysteries series. Unfortunately, it does not measure up to the earlier books in the series. I think it's primarily a matter of editing, or the lack thereof: The first eight books, through A Holy Vengeance, were traditionally published, but starting with Sins of Inheritance they've been self-published, and there's a noticeable difference. (Actually, I've noticed a distinction among the trad-published books as well: the first six were published by Berkeley, a Penguin subsidiary, while the seventh and eighth were published by a different Penguin subsidiary, InterMix, and there's clearly a bit less attention devoted to the seventh and eighth compared to the previous, including less detailed covers; I also believe that's when they started to be published as ebooks only, though I can't confirm that.) Even compared to the other self-published books in the series, though, Death in Dover disappoints. I hate to say this, I really do - you all know by now that this series is one of my favorites - but I unfortunately can't recommend this book.
3. I just started Mansfield Park, at the suggestion of
fiona15351, who wants to know what I think of it. I'm not far enough in to think much of anything, though I did accidentally text Fiona "Mary Crawford is such a butch omg" earlier today. I meant bitch! That typo is far too easy to make, in either direction. 4. Tomorrow is a red letter day: the anniversary of my adopting Queenie! Hard to believe it's been a year already! Cats may not keep calendars, but I do have a gift for her.
I don't know how I ever managed without a cat before!
(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-11 08:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-11 12:05 pm (UTC)How I wish I could donate blood, but apparently I don't weigh enough. I've always wondered why they just can't take less from me than from others. *ponders*
(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-11 01:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-11 11:10 pm (UTC)E.B. White is a real treasure. I haven't read the pigeon essay, but I clearly should, so thanks for the tip!
Mansfield Park is probably my favorite Austen - I think P&P is better in terms of structure and of course has a lot more popular appeal and influence, but I like MP because it touches on the same subjects as Jane Eyre and it's complicated in ways that her other books aren't.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-12 02:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-12 02:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-12 02:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-12 02:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-12 02:57 am (UTC)And happy adoptiversary! Queenie is looking so cute!
(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-12 10:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-12 04:49 pm (UTC)Happy 1-year anniversary, Queenie!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2026-01-12 06:09 pm (UTC)Okay, I won't say too much more until you finish the book, because I don't want to influence your opinion prematurely, but IMO Jane Eyre is a Gothic romantic riff on MP (although it's unclear to me how much Charlotte Bronte was influenced by Jane Austen and MP specifically and whether this was intentional), which is really funny given how Austen felt about Gothic romances as a genre (cf. Northanger Abbey).
But all that aside, Jane Eyre is quite good and if nothing else, is worth reading simply because of how many other things it's influenced.