nishatalitha

I recently finished one of my non-fiction resolution books: Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman by A.J.P. Taylor. It was interesting. I learned a lot from it. Prior to reading this book, I had vaguely thought of Bismarck as some great man who had entered politics with a clear plan for the future and uniting Germany, a great man who had several contingency plans in mind for any set of events, one who was calm and controlled and knew exactly what he was doing.

I was rather surprised to find that this was not the case. Bismarck reacted to whatever was going on in a way that would keep him in power. He manipulated the Emperor and the Reicstaag so that, essentially, he was the only one with any power. He was passionate and uncontrolled, given to bouts of crying. He did great things, but he did them accidentally, reacting to events and trying deperately to stay in power.

He was, in a nebulous way, someone I admired. The great things that I admired him for are still there, but the man himself... not so much anymore. And so another icon has fallen.

Have now started Quacks: Fakers & Charlatans in Medicine by Roy Porter, which is a look at the economic impact of the medical profession (be it regular, quackery or irregular) during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Interesting, and yet another area that I've never really considering studying. Porter is an interesting writer; unfortunately, I'm much more interested in the social impact of the medical profession during that time period than the economic one.

The Sharing Knife: Legacy arrived yesterday at Arty Bees for me. I read it last night (starting where I left off after the three chapters published online) and will reread it shortly. I have to know what happens before I can think about books. I'm still formulating what I think about it; it has to be considered in tandem with Beguilement. It is very much the second half of a book and I can totally see why the next pair has a working title of Wide Green World.

I have a pile of books to shelve and reshelve and we were planning on tidying the lounge at some point. It's turned very cold; the kitchen door is open because the dryer is on and I can see my breath in the air. My room, on the other hand, has the heater on and is nice and warm.

Current Location: Home
Current Music: Don McLean - American Pie - Streets of London

I have been vastly distracted this week with study and embroidery. No, not my dragon. I did a Christmas decoration from a kit that Mum bought when I was up north earlier this year. It's very beaded and stuffed and I may yet do another one for our flat. Test was disturbingly easy, so either I'm doing something right or I'm doing something wrong - and I'm not the only one in my class who thought this. We started ten-fifteen minutes late and I walked out twenty minutes early and this was a two hour test!

Have been reading actual books a bit lately. Ally by Karen Traviss (futuristic environmentalism taken to extremes), Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (teenage angst with bad BDSM), Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie (light-hearted romance with food) and A History of Modern Japan by Richard Storry (interesting, especially around WWII, which reminded me of the army divisions in Barrayar). Am going to read Bismarck: the man and the statesman by A.J.P. Taylor next, as well as other books.

Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold is released shortly. Sample chapters are available here. Only one is up at this stage, but I understand there'll be another one or two before the book is released in ten days or so. I'm looking forward to getting my copy and (eventually) being able to put my two hardcovers together to see the complete picture in front of me.

Jenny Craig's is going well. Am having trouble managing to eat everything on my menu, and miss not eating what I cook, but it's working and that's the main thing. Have lost weight, which pleases me.

The cold weather appears to have settled in. We had a fire on Tuesday night and it was so nice being able to get wood from under the house and know that there was plenty to burn. Some of the gorse is probably still too long to fit in the fireplace safely, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

Tobias remains entertaining. He and Jemima have begun to get along better. I kinda enjoy watching them chase each other around the lounge in the morning before I leave, especially when Jemima drugs herself up on catnip. Other than that, he still has to learn about not digging claws in and the like. And to leave various things alone and not jump on the table. He is growing at a phenomonal rate.

LARP writing is going well. I need to contact N to confirm things. We have yet to name characters, but most of them have a history and connections and goals. Over the next couple of weeks we have to name them and post a list for people indicate interest in. Still, Confusion is in August, so we have plenty of time, really.

Last night C and I went around to

darthsappho and

tofulope where we watched, various, The Call of Cthulu (the recent silent release) which was pretty good, Renaldo: first sheep on the moon (

stephanie_pegg, I never knew you felt like that about sheep) and more Blackadder.

And now, seeing as my alarm is set for another six and a half hours and my fingers are going numb, I should go to bed.

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: mmm, bed
Current Music: classical

To do today:

~~Harvest coriander~~
Plant new coriander
Clean and put away barbeque
Chop wood
Finish homework
Start readings

Somehow I'm not sure if the last one is going to be managed, but I will try. I don't have that much to go on the hard section (Legal Ethics), although I have a fair amount to type up.

I handed in questions 1 - 6 ages ago, when I'd done them, and did relatively well, so I don't expect to do badly. I have a lecture for this class tomorrow, but for some reason, my Wednesday one is cancelled. I wonder why.

Is anyone going to a dawn service down at the Cenotaph? I was thinking it might be nice to go to another one.

Already A History of the Jewish People is proving to be much more interesting than The Barbarian West, so I might eventually be able to catch up on the non-fiction reading. I should work out how far behind I am...

There are still some brownies left. I shall have some shortly and drink the first of many cups of tea of the day (for some reason, I always seem to drink a lot of tea when I'm doing homework).

We grew coriander last winter and it went really well and we used a lot of it. It didn't last as long as the italian parsley, but they were about the same size and right next to each other. So when we planted more over the summer, we made sure they weren't side by side. The coriander promptly went to seed and because I hate seeing such things go to waste, I harvested the seeds this morning. They will sit on a tray on the table for a few days drying and then I'll stick them into a spare jar.

...F said yesterday that we'd buy any baking ingredient if it was on special and we'd never heard of it before or could come up with a possible use for it (this was after hearing of our purchase of 72% cocoa chocolate to make hot chocolate out of) and I've come to the conclusion that she's right.

I'm not very good at regular maintenance of a garden - which is one reason why the gorse is starting to grow back and weeds surround the plants - but I do enjoy one-off jobs such as harvesting coriander or making the occasional jar of pesto. Mmmm, pesto.

Hmmm. It could possibly be construed as being lunch time. I can come back and type up notes after lunch, surely...

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: at my desk, pretending to do homework
Current Music: Amiee Mann - The Forgotten Arm - I Can't Help You Anymore

I have been out every night this week since Monday - Ultimate, groceries, videos, and

darthsappho's birthday dinner, which makes me quite glad I'm not going anywhere tonight. I'm not planning on doing anything tomorrow, either, besides homework. I did manage to get to practice around 10.00am this morning and the plan is to arrive at that time from now on, since I need the agility drills.

We did dishes this evening. There were many because we are very slack at doing dishes and relatively good at cooking, which uses up said dishes. And now none of us feels like cooking, which is a shame, because now I'm kinda hungry.

There is brownie, though. F came up after lunch and we made chocolate-caramel brownies and read on the couch while they cooked. I was reading one of my non-fiction books for the year (I'm rather behind on all this) which I have been struggling through for a while. It's a very dry and dull account of the socio-economic-cultural impact of the Romans on the Visigoths, Goths, Lamboards, and other major Germanic or Spanish tribes and the impact of said tribes on each other, done in roughly chronological order, separated out by geography. Covers some of the Scandinavian impact, too. It's called The Barbarian West 400 - 1000AD by J. M. Wallace-Hadrill and if it wasn't that I have a fairly firm policy on not getting rid of non-fiction books, it would probably end up in the cull pile. It's not that the scholarship is particularly bad, that I can tell; it's just boring. Hopefully, A History of the Jewish People by James Parkes will be more interesting.

C and

maudlinrose threw together what was essentially an antipasta platter and we hadthat for dinner, followed by conversation. It was good. Not that we ate the conversation but we did enjoy talking.

Must go to bed soon. Much homework to do tomorrow.

EDIT: I will note, because I think this is a good thing, that we found the tupperware cake tin that has been missing since we cleaned it just after Christmas today. I have wanted to use it several times since then but couldn't remember where I put it. And I was the one who put it away, I clearly remember that. Turns out it was hidden in our roasting dish. I feel stupid now.

Also, turns out that when you grate nutmeg, the bit you're holding as you grate it looks pretty awesome, all varigated light and dark.

Current Mood: mellow
Current Location: home, you know, the usual
Current Music: Apocalptica - Reflections - Prologue

Gacked from

bright_lillim

# Are you careful with the spines? Or do you crack your books open to make them lay flat? Hardbacks I open enough to lie flat(ish), not so much with paperbacks.

# Do you use bookmarks? Or do you dog-ear the corners? If you do use bookmarks, do you use those fashionable metal ones? Or paper? Mostly paper. I make embroidered ones but don't tend to use them - except in Bibles. I keep paper bookmarks in a lot of my books so I remember to use one.

# Do you write in your books? Ever? If you do, do you make small marks, or write in as much blank space as you can find? Pen or pencil? Highlighter? Your name on the front page? I did when I was a kid. I'm kinda embarassed about that now. Only in textbooks or underlining in my Bible now.

# Do you toss your books on the floor? Into book bags? Or do you treat them tenderly, with respect? Depends on the book. If it's mine, eventually tossing is involved.

# Do you ever lay your book face-down, to save your place? Sometimes and if I don't have a bookmark in it.

# Um--water? Do you bathe with your books? Hold them with wet hands? Read out in the rain? Anything of that sort? Library books and cheap-ass Mills & Boons only.

# Are your books lined up on a bookshelf? Or crammed in any which way? Stacked on the floor? None on the floor at the moment, although the pile on my desk migrates between there and the floor.

# Do you make a distinction--as regards book care--between hardcovers and paperbacks? I probably treat my hardcovers more carefully. I usually paid more for them. The primary distinctions would be author, age of book, current condition of book and ease of replacement.

# And, to recap? Naturally, you love all of your books, but how, exactly? Are your books loved in the battered way of a well-loved teddy bear, or like a cherished photo album or item of clothing that's used, appreciated, but carefully cared for? More like the former, although I aim for the latter. Again, it depends on the book.

# Any additional comments? No

Have been managing my santa resolution - have read three non-fiction this year:

The Sun King whose author I currently forget and can't be bothered checking;
The Betrayal of Arthur by Sara Douglas; and
Same Sex Different States: When Same Sex Marriages Cross State Lines by Andrew Koppelman

The last was really very interesting.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: home
Current Music: Delta Goodrem - Moment Like

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My windows have not been clear of condensation all day

When the light and the buildings are right it looks like an artist practicing perspective

(no subject)

Cellos are neat

Books

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January 2019

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