Magdelanye’s Comments (group member since Apr 05, 2011)

Magdelanye’s comments from the flight paths group.

Thanks Ice for taking the initiative. It might be a good idea to have an in-group discussion on possibilities.
This group may be small but the archives are amazing.

My garden plot is not very big but I like the idea of spring onions.

Today I managed to publish 3 reviews that I'd been working on for a while. One of them was Also a Poet: Frank O'Hara, My Father, and Me which Ellen wrote a wonderful review that almost intimidated me into not publishing mine. Which I realized is silly. So few people actually even notice my reviews I am writing for myself mostly.

And reading! My amazing roll of the last months has kind of spluttered to a pause. A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age by Daniel J. Levitin. is actually quite well presented but still, anything about statistics leaves me cold. It does confirm my intuition.

For fiction, learning it recently won the Ursula La Guin prize for SF ,I rushed to put a hold on Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera. Yikes! The strangest thing is that occasionally I understand it.

Does anybody notice a sharp difference in summer and winter reading.?The fall this year was so short. The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus. by Emma Knight which I just finished was definitely beach reading. I bundled up and was happier reading it there.

So glad to hear from you Ellen. Sounds like you have a lot of things on your plate. Up here in Canada, dealing with the aftershocks, we certainly feel your angush regarding your awkward situation. I hope flight paths can be a refuge!
How is your son liking married life?
What about your poetry? You didn't mention.
I will post my weeks new titles when Im next on the computer. Just saw your message and wanted to reply right away. Im sure Petra will be delighted also.
For those of us who are ignorant, Ice where is Vera country?

November can be naughty
With cold winds and long nights
but we can sink into a book
and reclaim our reading delights

It seems messages are appearing at least a day later: this says your message was sent Monday but was not here yesterday when I checked the site.
Is there a main page?
would you like to be on the right side of the page?

dont we already have a question? Do you think I can remember?
Are you a troll might be a necessary one.

are you sure?
As group librarian you are part of the administration. :-)

before I plunge in to my update, I might as well state it here though I did make a comment on your review of Vanessa and Her Sister. It's a good review, and in fact I ending up enjoying it as my bedtime story all last week. AND I hated when Virginia was yelling NESSA and I did fall asleep and had a hard time keeping track SO I got the book and it's way better. It's quite the underside of Bloomsbury.

So what I have been reading
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
He's a bit arrogant but right on point I'm afraid.

Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Another book of hard facts that really need to be faced. I grabbed both of these books from the new arrivals shelf at the library and they are rather complementary. To soften the whole experience I listened to her music. which has really grown on me.

I was a little nervous starting another doorstopper, Katabasis by R.F. Kuang not because of its size particularly, but because I've loved her other stuff and kept hearing that this was not as good. Well I'm glad I overrode that opinion. Right from the first page I adored it. It's a fantasy satire of academia and so I get some people will not care for it, but it so reminded me of my uni days. Note to Ice: may or may not appeal

Somewhere in there I read Field Notes from a Catastrophe byElizabeth Kolbert It's quite dated and not as good as The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History which is more recent and pertinent I think.

I whipped through The Last Days of Café Leila by Donia Bijan The beginning was slow unfolding and then bam. I think you might like this one Petra.

Now for what I am currently reading:
Finally reading two books long on my tbr mountain
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Has anyone read it? I find it interesting but I can hardly imagine this as a letter to a young son.

As for fiction, I've been dipping into Walk the Blue Fields: [book:Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan I'm afraid it can't measure up to the fantastic others.

and one more (I'm only halfway through)
This was not the book of my choice by this author but its what they had available. Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec. may be one of the strangest books I've read. I am surprised that I'm having so much fun with it.

oof

okay!
and would you like to do it? :-)

There it is, the reason I'm leery about posting for new members. But Petra you are right that we could use a few.
There is a header i see sometimes inviting people to post links to their groups. I'm not sure how to do that or even if we should do that. Petra and Ice Bear, What do you think?
We do have some great members in the background. It would be fabulous if even a few started to participate. And Ellen of course
but no sock puppets please!

could be Petra though somehow I think it was another trilogy that you read in the summer that I have put a hold on. I so try to keep track: well thats why I rely on GR.
The day went by so fast. I managed to publish one review and then the power went off. Not for long but It was a sign to pack it in for the day and go make dinner.
So I will do my update tomorrow.
I did make it to the library and the sun came out. What a difference the sunlight makes!

yes!
wonderful to hear from you Petra. It seems you are on a reading roll. What's the scoop on One Damned Thing? It sounds pretty wild. I missed this one.
I did finally get in to Vanessa & her sister.
Enough to have ordered the physical book which is ready for pickup today.
I am hoping to move to the laptop before I have to leave so I will add what Im reading at that point.

is this synchronicity or just a close cousin?
I just finished reading Juice by Tim Winton, quite a departure for a writer so embedded in place.
I had to look up the word katabasis which he uses twice. Should I have been so surprised (after all I did order it from the library as soon as I knew R.F. Kuang had a new novel out; but that was long ago) at the library the next day there it was, Katabasis, the new Kuang

yes its very evident now the equinox is past. May there be some red and gold among the brown :-)

at last I am finished Colin Woodward American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America considering my knowledge of American history is feeble, made up of mostly cliche, there was a lot of cross checking to do, yet this is American history like no other. Fascinating and helpful in making sense of our fractured neighbours.

And I am finally tackling Juice by Tim Winton. Really, it's just the size of the thing that's so intimidating. Once I got orientated, it's still the Tim Winton that I know and love.

Next up: Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian.

I seem to be all set for the next week.

Now what are the others up to? Petra I got my order in for the first volume of that last trilogy you loved so much. Sadly, inter-library loans are suspended until the postal strike is resolved.
Ice Bear, (awkward grin) I hated the latest Shwab so much I DNF and hustled back to the library right away.

Do you think its time we did another attempt to add more people?
I have been in touch with Ellen as she prefers to be called now. She promised to check in but she seems overwhelmingly busy.

the summers past
brilliant colours
make light last
until the leaves are
all but gone
snug in sweaters now
we read ourselves warm

the eqinox is not the solstice i do realize
but where else to mark this celestial event.
New moon equinox time of equilibrium and fresh starts.
May the world find a way to peace

Ice Bear: LOL

Today the entire coast from Saltery Bay to Lund is under a shut down, no electricity or water from 7 this morning until 7 tonight.
I have a cooler full of stuff from the fridge.
It feels odd but nice.

I got the first volume of the Jodi Taylor on order at last.

I survived the reading of Solenoid AND
12 Rules for Life.
Astonishing comb

true confession, positively triggered by Petras remarks on dodoes:
I took a clown training for a few months and earned my clown nose.
My clown name is Madame DoDoe

Do you have volume 3 lined up? Sounds like the kind of book you want to carry on.

I am reading Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu It's the kind of book that takes over. I know the feeling we'll, when one is itching to be reading but called away by life. I almost quit back on page 247 or thereabouts because there's some really unpleasant parts, but overall it is an exquisitely written masterpiece.

The other book I'm reading, curiously, nothing at all to suggest that there would be so many crossover thoughts, ideas, and even a few similar incidents. This is a book I picked up with a lot of reservations, but it seems necessary to read it before I make up my own mind on the intentions of the author. Jordan B. Peterson is not someone I'm attracted to but his 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is more interesting than I thought it might be.

Now would be a good time for Ellen to chime in!
Ice Bear, what about you?