People

Aug. 17th, 2025 10:53 pm
vampwillow: thinking (thinker)
[personal profile] vampwillow
People who need people ...

(I was watching a Barbra movie recently in fact... ) Anyway ...

Having not seen or talked with anyone in ages S came to visit on Thursday and stuffed lots of my mum's stuff into rubbish bags for chucking. Because I haven't been able to bring myself to do it, basically. It's all so final.

Then Friday evening I get a totally unexpected phone call from my former London neighbour so caught up on everything for well over an hour. Hopefully we will meet for lunch one day as she comes in this general direction to go horse riding.

I almost feel human again. *Almost*
vampwillow: camel (camel)
[personal profile] vampwillow
I'm finding life far too complicated. I want to schedule things but find doing so stressful so put it off then get stressed _because_ I've put things off.

I don't understand.
tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
[personal profile] tamaranth
2025/128: A Memoir of my Former Self — Hilary Mantel
You can control and censor a child’s reading, but you can’t control her interpretations; no one can guess how a message that to adults seems banal or ridiculous or outmoded will alter itself and evolve inside the darkness of a child’s heart. [loc. 5001]

A selection of Mantel's short non-fiction, ranging from book reviews (originally published in the New York Review of Books) and film reviews (originally published in the Spectator), through articles about writing and reading, to a delightful review of perfumes and a piece about stationery. ('...comrades, the hard-spined notebook is death to free thought. Pocket-size or desk-size, it drives the narrative in one direction, one only, and its relentless linearity oppresses you, so you seal off your narrative options early.' [loc. 5349]... I, with my plethora of discbound notebooks, wholeheartedly agree.) 

Read more... )
tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
[personal profile] tamaranth
2025/127: The Haunting of Hill House — Shirley Jackson
“I could say,” Eleanor put in, smiling, “‘All three of you are in my imagination; none of this is real.’”
“If I thought you could really believe that,” the doctor said gravely, “I would turn you out of Hill House this morning. You would be venturing far too close to the state of mind which would welcome the perils of Hill House with a kind of sisterly embrace.” [loc. 1870]

Reread, for comparison to A Haunting on the Hill: my original review from 2016 is here.

Read more... )
tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
[personal profile] tamaranth
2025/126: A Haunting on the Hill — Elizabeth Hand
“If you’re scared, channel that into Tomasin.”
“He’s a demon. He doesn’t get scared.”
“So tap into that. You’re a demon in a big spooky house—you should feel right at home.”
“I do...That’s what scares me.” [p. 176]

This isn't exactly a sequel to The Haunting of Hill House: it's more of a tribute, with a rather different ambience. Read more... )

tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
[personal profile] tamaranth
2025/125: The Corn King and the Spring Queen — Naomi Mitchison
All I can say is that this is a very strange country, and that one has evidence of things occurring here which would certainly be against all the laws of Nature at home. [p. 412]

Reread, with perhaps a better understanding now of the Greek elements: I thought I'd read it quite recently, but it turns out that was in 2015 (review here).

I'd forgotten a great deal: just how murderous Erif and Tarrik are; the snake that protects Kleomenes; the death of Harn Der. And this time around, more interested in the Greek (and especially the Spartan) elements, I found Kleomenes' story fascinating. Read more... )

Cotswold JIg

Aug. 8th, 2025 08:06 pm
watervole: (Default)
[personal profile] watervole

 Every year at Sidmouth Folk Festival, they hold a jig competition.  A jog is a traditional dance (either solo or with two people) that is far, far more knackering than it looks.

I remember watching Emma dancing with a morris team a few years ago, and asking if she was entering the competition.  She's really a brilliant dancer.

 


  She almost floats on her feet!

Sandman

Aug. 8th, 2025 07:47 pm
watervole: (Default)
[personal profile] watervole

 I'm enjoying the new series of Sandman.  It's so nice to have something that is slowly paced and gives you time to soak up the atmosphere.

 

Also, it's fun spotting the Dorset locations standing in for Ancient Greece !

 

I wasn't quite sure which abbey they were using for Destiny's realm, but it worked very well.

tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
[personal profile] tamaranth
2025/124: The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America — David Baron
It is an inspiring epic of human inventiveness. It is a cautionary tale of mass delusion. It is a drama of battling egos. Ultimately, though, it is a love story, an account of when we, the people of Earth, fell hard for another planet and projected our fantasies, desires and ambitions onto an alien world. [Introduction]

This is an account of Percival Lowell's obsession with the planet Mars, and its profound consequences for the human race. Following the observations of Schiaparelli -- who described a network of long straight lines on the planet, 'canali' (channels, but mistranslated as 'canals') -- Lowell, a wealthy businessman, published a number of books about his observations and his interpretation of them. He also founded the Lowell Observatory, and inspired a generation of scientists and science fiction authors.

Read more... )
tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
[personal profile] tamaranth
2025/123: Drop Dead Sisters — Amelia Diane Coombs
"Should I be offended that the most you’ve ever agreed with me is over how to deal with a dead body?" [loc. 1421]

Remi works as a community moderator for a games company. She hasn't dated for a while, and she doesn't have many (any?) friends. At the opening of the novel, she's heading for a family reunion: her hippie parents are renewing their vows on their fortieth wedding anniversary, and Remi -- the odd one out, the introvert in a nest of extroverts -- is going to have to see her two elder sisters, Maeve and Eliana, for the first time in seven years. 'If our lives were a video game, we each adventured off on our own side quests nearly a decade ago and never returned to the main storyline.'

Read more... )
tamaranth: me, in the sun (Default)
[personal profile] tamaranth
2025/122: Of Wind and Wolves — J M Elliott
"... in this country, tombs are the only permanent thing we build. Only the dead have ceased their wandering -- their bodies have, at least." [loc. 2343]

The setting is Scythia -- here spelt Skythia -- in the fifth century BC. Araiti's father has betrothed her to the ageing king of the Skythians, Ariapeithes, in order to forge a lasting peace between their tribes. Araiti, fostered by her mother's Amazon tribe, has earnt her status among her father's people, the Bastarnai: she's a formidable horsewoman and has been trained in the arts of war. The Skythians recognise her for what she is, androktones -- man-killer -- and decree that she may not marry the king until she has killed an enemy in battle and taken his scalp.Read more... )

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