bethbethbeth: An excerpt from a Marc Chagall painting (Art Chagall Winter (bbb))
[personal profile] bethbethbeth
On May 8th, I offered to read the first five books people recced - assuming they were available (preferably from the library) - and I'd give a short review [https://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/701769.html].

This is the eighth recced book review.

The Book of Koli (2020), by M.R. Carey (recced by china_shop on dreamwidth)

I'm certain I can't count the number of post-apocalyptic dystopian novels I've read in my life, but apparently there are still new & engaging ways of approaching that genre.

Here's what I'll tell you: the protagonist is a young guy, growing up in an isolated village, and...no, you know what? I'm not going to share any of the specifics. I'm glad I wasn't spoiled at all before starting to read, and I think I'm going to share the spoiler-free experience with you.

Somehow, I'd never heard of this book or its author, so I didn't know there were sequels. I literally just finished book 1 a half hour ago, but I'm already looking forward to book 2.

Note: If you want trigger warnings, feel free to message me with questions.

The Friday Five - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Jul. 18th, 2025 01:41 pm
smallhobbit: (sunshine revival 2025)
[personal profile] smallhobbit
Today's[community profile] thefridayfive  questions:

5. Name five favourite movies.
Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, The Sting, The Italian Job, The Fifth Element

4. Name four areas of interest you became interested in after you were done with your formal education.
History, Crafting, Astronomy, Battlefields

3. Name three things you would change about this world.
Greater respect for all people; greater care for ecology; a true desire for peace

2. Name two of your favourite childhood toys.
My teddy bear, which I still have, my collection of zoo animals

1. Name one person you could be handcuffed to for a full day.
Please no!

thursday reads and things

Jul. 17th, 2025 07:02 pm
isis: (squid etching)
[personal profile] isis
I really did intend to post yesterday, but I didn't get to it. Well, it's Thursday!

What I recently finished reading:

The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison, the third book in the Cemeteries of Amalo sub-series of The Goblin Emperor books. I had gone into it with mixed feelings; not that I strongly cared about
spoilerthe Thara Celehar/IƤna Pel-Thenhior ship, but I had heard that the way it was sunk was awkward and issueficcy and felt like "I was going to write this relationship in but it felt pointless after all the fanfiction", and - yeah, it was
but I enjoyed it, overall. I liked the low-ish stakes plot, and the DRAGONS, and the fairly mild author's message of what makes a person a person, and the importance of basic rights and the rule of law, which, let's face it, is a relevant message these days.

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky, stand-alone SF. Again, a lot of people whose reviews I follow didn't like it, but I did; Tchaikovsky is hit and miss for me, but this was a hit. A biologist who is also a political dissident on an extremely authoritarian Earth is exiled as prison labor on a planet with native life that is very weird and apparently hostile. This is basically another exploration of Tchaikovsky's Theme, which is at core, I think, "How can we see the Other as a Person? How do we overcome the instinct to be closed and tribal, and instead practice empathy, leading to discussion and exchange?" There are echos of the Children of Time series, in particular Children of Ruin (the second book), I think. There is also the strong contrast between a culture which gives lip service to the importance of individuality, but demands conformity, and a culture which emphasizes the communal and the good of the community. And of course, the importance of resistance, of holding to one's core beliefs even in the face of a terrible horrible authoritarian government.

I mostly enjoyed the style except for a few references which seemed a little too grounded in 21st century reality for this future in which humans are mining multiple far-flung planets. The structure and pacing worked well for me. Warning for a terrible horrible authoritarian government that doesn't give a shit about human lives other than their own, and body horror, and an ending which may strike some people as not entirely happy, but which satisfied me. [personal profile] sovay, it's very different from Elder Race but if these themes appeal I think you'll like it.

"Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy" by Martha Wells, a Murderbot short story, in which Murderbot doesn't explicitly appear, but ART | Perihelion has recently met it for the first time. It's from Iris's point of view, on a mission with the rest of the crew, and really the mission is just a framing device McGuffin for "Peri has changed because it met someone?!?", and I agree with [personal profile] runpunkrun's take that there are way too many words devoted to them walking around on this mission which turns out to be not really relevant, compared to the actual point of the story. Still, it's nice to have a bit about Murderbot from not Murderbot's POV.

What I'm reading now:

Just started on the seventh and last Shardlake book by CJ Sansom, Tombland.

What I recently finished watching:

Murderbot! I enjoyed it! I (mostly) appreciate, or at least understand, the changes they made in adaptation. (Not sure why it's not enough for Pin-Lee to be Space Lawyer, but also must be Badass Fighter? And the Arada/Pin-Lee/Ratthi thing didn't seem to have any reason for being and just felt a bit cringe.) I really loved the ending, and Gurathin's whole general arc, and SANCTUARY MOOOOON, and Mensah is chef's kiss perfect.

Speaking of Sanctuary Moon, Murderbot vidded it! Okay, it was really [archiveofourown.org profile] pollyrepeat, but: RADIOACTIVE by Murderbot [vid]!!!

What I'm watching now:

Arcane, because B watched the first episode during the winter, riding the stationary bike, and decided I might like to watch it with him, so moved on to something else so we could watch it together. Not very far into it yet.

What I recently listened to:

The third episode of S3 of The Strange Case of Starship Iris, which, I really liked this one!

Sunshine Revival Challenge #5

Jul. 17th, 2025 12:04 pm
smallhobbit: (sunshine revival 2025)
[personal profile] smallhobbit
Journaling prompt: Be a carnival barker for your favourite movie, book, or show! Write a post that showcases the best your chosen title has to offer and entices passers by to check it out.

My chosen subject is Sir Matthew Bourne's New Adventures productions.  

No surprise to my regular readers!

For those who aren't: these are dance productions based on classic ballets (Swan Lake, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker), films (Edward Scissorhands, The Red Shoes), play or opera (Romeo & Juliet, Car Man) or books (The Midnight Bell).  There are a few more, but I haven't seen them (yet!)

They aren't traditional ballets, but do use some ballet moves, as well as modern dance.  The key thing is the story which is told and which requires no prior knowledge.  These are the dance version of fanfic or fanart, taking the original stories but changing them in interesting ways.

Details can be found here: New Adventures

And you can find out more of my thoughts using my tag: Matthew Bourne 

Here's my bedroom walls:

Sunshine Revival Challenge #4

Jul. 13th, 2025 03:32 pm
smallhobbit: (sunshine revival 2025)
[personal profile] smallhobbit
Journaling: What is making you smile these days? Create a top 10 list of anything you want to talk about.

In no particular order.  Feel free to ask about any of them, I might even create a post about some of them next month.

1 - The Ferret  A creation of my own, based in the Sherlock Holmes (ACD) 'verse.  A song and dance mustelid.

2 - Werewolf!Lucas  Another of my creations.  Based in Spooks (MI5) where Lucas North is now a werewolf, and continues to work for Section D in both human and vulpine forms.  This is a party-loving werewolf, who likes to look smart.

3 - Cake  I have already posted about cake for Challenge #2

4 - Families at church.  We have a lot of engagement with local families, and apart from baptisms, we also have a toddler group and after-school club, a youth group, occasional Saturday activity mornings and in a couple of weeks we're running a Teddy Bear's Zipwire.

5 - Getting engrossed in my cross stitch while listening to something on the radio on my headphones.  Perfect for shutting out the rest of the world.

6 - My To Be Read list which is once more threatening to fall off the shelf and onto my head when I'm asleep.

7 - My total inability to resist the urge to 'complete' a list.  Recently I found two music programmes on the radio which have a number of series, going back several years.  So, of course, I need to listen to them all (or at least the interesting majority) over the next year.

8 - The thought of [community profile] no_true_pair main challenge (with 8 characters) sign up coming next month.

9 - The fact that the skirt I bought some years ago and rarely wore still fits and was perfect to wear today in the heat.

10 - The sheer wonder of creation - how the sun is changing its poles between North and South; all the amazing galaxies out there (points vaguely in all directions at once).

wednesday update

Jul. 9th, 2025 07:00 pm
isis: (coffee label)
[personal profile] isis
I don't have much to say about books or TV, because I am still in the middle of my current read and current show. But! For those of you who casually enjoyed the podcast The Strange Case of Starship Iris, the third (and final) season is coming out now. There are a couple of "mini-sodes" which will help you catch up to what's going on, and two regular episodes, and the third will be out soon (it's out to high-dollar Patreons but I am a low-dollar contributor). I listened to the mini-sodes when they came out, and today on my run I listened to the first two regular episodes. Again, I kind of feel like I'm using dystopian fiction about authoritarian regimes as escapism from actual authoritarian regimes...

But the real reason I wanted to post was to say that I'm a bit more than 55% through Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, and there's a 30% discount for it in the Steam sale which ends tomorrow, so - if my post last week intrigued you, I encourage you to buy it, it's inexpensive, it's captivating, it's sophisticated and spooky and atmospheric with occasional touches of humor, fourth-wall smashing, and weird supernatural stuff, and the puzzles are clever and thinky and (mostly) fun. As I mentioned, I told my brother about it and he bought it - and he finished it last night! He admits he got so into it that he put in way too many hours too quickly, but he really loved it.

If you do buy it, the hints page at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3249636035 is really great as it is nudge-y rather than sledge-y; it points you in the right direction (or tells you what a wrong direction is) which for me is mostly all I have needed.

Also, there are in-game espresso machines.

Sunshine Revival Challenge #3

Jul. 9th, 2025 04:33 pm
smallhobbit: (sunshine revival 2025)
[personal profile] smallhobbit
Journaling prompt: What are your favourite summer-associated foods?

Not so much food, as the memory of summer picnics.  Which conjures up ideals of everyone sitting round a check tablecloth, relaxed and enjoying a selection of delicate foods.  Whereas the reality is the wasps after everything sweet.  The sudden gust of wind blowing over a tub of mini sausages and taking off with the pretty, carefully chosen, paper serviettes and causing children to rush madly after them, thus falling over and returning with muddy hands etc.  Trying to drink a mug of hot tea, because the calendar might say July but otherwise you'd never know, and having hair blow in the mouth.  And just when you think it's going to be okay after all, half the tablecloth blows up and falls on top of the iced cupcakes.

Of course, all this may be alleviated by sitting in the car because it's raining and still enjoying the bread rolls, packets of crisps and chocolate mini rolls - which certainly haven't melted.

Or even better, giving up on the whole idea and spreading the tablecloth out on the living room floor and picnicking at home! 

Courses - June/July 2025

Jul. 6th, 2025 03:06 pm
smallhobbit: (Default)
[personal profile] smallhobbit
FutureLearn

Italian for Beginners - Part 4 (Open University)
Much to my surprise I'm finding I'm able to complete the quizzes with fewer mistakes and understanding more, which is encouraging.

What do Popular Songs Mean? (University of Leeds)
Like the previous music course I've done with Leeds Uni, this was aimed at potential music students, which I imagine is only a very limited proportion of those taking FutureLearn courses.  Some things were interesting, some were a reminder of things I learnt on an OpenLearn course; at other times they would teach about analysis, but then when I came to work through an example for myself the answer would come up 'you may think xxx, but in this case yyy applies'.  And in at least one occasion there seemed to be a contradiction between something stated earlier and than later in the course.


OpenLearn

Egyptian Mathematics
I read through the course, but it lacks the presentation of later courses.  It was interesting to see a little about Egyptian mathematics, although very little has survived, probably because most of their maths had to do with practical problems they encountered rather than matters they deemed sufficiently important to save for posterity.

Babylonian Mathematics
Similarly with this course, although there was a small amount that was presumably kept for teaching purposes.  Unlike our modern maths, with a decimal system of counting, the Babylonians worked in 60s, so comparing then and now isn't always easy.

The Science of Nutrition & Healthy Eating
My latest badged course.  Definitely interesting and made me consider what I do eat.  Not sure it will change my diet - but I'm more aware of food labels and what I should be considering.



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