The Woman Who Would Have Thunder in Her Heart

Best novel

Translation State by Ann Leckie

Wonderful as always! In contrast to her earlier work in the setting, this is more characters learning to be people with a backdrop of sweeping politics and less sweeping space opera where the main character learns to be a person in the spaces in between. But it does also feature some fascinating details on the wider setting outside of Radchaai space. This will be my number one vote unless something else on the list blows me away.

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh.

So I said that Translation State would be my number one vote unless something blew me away and this did exactly that. It's a tale of escaping a cult and saving human kind, and it is *fabulous*. It comes with all the trigger warnings under the sun but by god, if you have the stomach for it, it's a brilliant piece of work. Absolutely my choice for best novel.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi.

I have not read any Scalzi before, despite following him on social media for years but I should have know that the fact he's a smart, fun guy, absolutely translates to his fiction. This is a fun story of someone who inherits a business from what is essentially a Bond villain, while also being a very neat critique of capitalism. It is fun, but it is *clever*, very well executed fun. It didn't teach me anything about what it means to be human but it absolutely entertained me and I will be reading more of his stuff. Because *clever* fun is totally a thing I can enjoy.

Witch King by Martha Wells.

The start of this week was a tad full on:

- We now have a set of kitchen units piled up in our dining room and also a spare fridge (it's an integrated one and we'll be using it once the unit that houses it is sorted and we have a separate freezer), a rather aged extractor unit (probably going to the tip), and a 1 1/2 stainless steel sink (which we are *probably* keeping but I did kind of want a ceramic sink so it depends if we can source one for reasonable money)

- I had two different plumbers round to quote for moving the kitchen radiator and putting a new bigger one under the window in the master bedroom. We need to decide if we want the kitchen one done by putting new pipes through the loft (more expensive) or by digging two channels in the floor and extending the pipes from the current location (more disruption). I am leaning towards the former because it's also a chap that has done work for us before and always turns up when he says he will, whereas dig-up-the-floor chap just didn't turn up the first time he was supposed to be giving me a quote and maintained radio silence for several days then phoned me at 9am on Tuesday wanting to come round there and then (not happening because I was half way round the loch with Wilbur at the time).

- The tree surgeon came on Wednesday and took down our big ash tree which had sadly contracted Ash Dieback disease. The top of the garden is something of a scene of devastation now but hopefully I'll get it sorted before everything starts shooting. The weeping willow which tipped over in Storm Arwen has also started rotting at the base after all the rain we've had over the autumn so we can't save it after all (it was still alive in the summer) so I need to chop the rest of it off and at some point, buy a new one because I shall miss it (stupid storm!)

- Also on Wednesday, the local biofuel chap turned up and dumped half a tonne of kiln-dried hardwood on the drive which I then had to assemble into a wood pile and rig up a tarp over before it started raining again! That was more exercise than I was entirely prepared for!

- Pottery was supposed to be back on yesterday afternoon but poor Cathrine's new-to-her car broke down so it was cancelled. On the one hand, we are going to do coloured slip work with porcelain this block and I'm quite excited to have a go at agate ware etc, but on the other, I was *absolutely knackered* after the wood pile assembly so an afternoon on the sofa did not go amiss!

- Today was actually dry and my Zoom call about my volunteer role was cancelled at the last minute so I spent the afternoon chopping things in the garden instead. I need to finish painting my study but it's forecast to pee with rain again tomorrow so I will paint then because I certainly won't be doing any gardening!

Next week will involve several Zoom calls but also hopefully more gardening as after tomorrow, the forecast is dry and cold again so far *fingers crossed*. We have had quite enough rain since September thank you!

I'm not quite sure how it is 2023, my brain is still struggling to register that we are in the 2020s now but then I think the pandemic has screwed everyone's time sense so I'm hardly alone there.

Kev actually had Christmas Day off work for the first time since 2018 so we ended up having Mandy, Oz, and Oz's wife Katherine and their 18 month old daughter over for dinner. Mandy was planned, Oz and family were a short notice paying-it-forward rescue as they'd travelled over from Germany only to have Oz's mum come down with COVID and not be able to host them - they had somewhere to stay but were arriving into Tayside late Christmas eve with no supplies and Kev had done his usual buy food as if he's catering for twice as many people thing so we took pity on them. Back when Oz was an undergrad in the roleplaying society, he was a bit of an arse. Fortunately, with the assistance of good friends prepared to tell him so, he has grown out of it, and his German wife and little daughter are lovely so we had a very pleasant afternoon indeed and lots of yummy food.

Kev was back at work on Boxing Day and was on call all weekend over New Years so things have been rather business as usual since, but in a pretty good, getting things done way. Things are progressing on the cottage renovation - picking up the kitchen on Tuesday and starting to get tradespeople organised - and I finally got out in the garden today. Just waiting to get my 'on-boarding' sorted and then starting my volunteer job - I have a meeting with one of the project Executive Directors in a couple of weeks. Also looking forward to getting back to pottery next week - we are supposed to be doing some slip casting this block so I have plans for a kitchen utensil holder, a jug and possibly a couple of mugs.

We were supposed to be going to Dunblane tomorrow but poor Helen G has COVID again so we are having friends round for food and board gaming before the dining table gets taken apart to make room for the kitchen units.

Hope the first week of January has not been too painful for you all!

Via more or less everyone now ;)

And yes, I will write an actual life update this week, honest!

Pick a number to get an answer from me. Or give your own answer to someone else's question. Or just borrow the meme – it would be amazing to see this one get some traction!

1. A book that haunts you

2. A book that was an interesting failure

3. A book where you really wanted to be reading the "shadow" version of the book (as in, there are traces of a different book in the work and you would have much preferred to read that one)

4. A book with a worldbuilding detail that has stuck with you

5. A book where you loved the premise but the execution left you cold

6. A book where you were dubious about the premise but loved the work

7. The most imaginative book you've seen lately

8. A book that feels like it was written just for you

9. A book that reminds you of someone

10. A book that belongs to a specific time in your mind, caught in amber

11. A book that came to you at exactly the right time

12. A book that came to you at the wrong time

13. A book with a premise you'd never seen before quite like that

14. A book balanced on a knife edge

15. A snuffed candle of a book

16. The one you'd take with you while you were being ferried on dark underground rivers

17. The one that taught you something about yourself

18. A book that went after its premise like an explosion

19. A book that started a pilgrimage

20. A frigid ice bath of a book

21. A book written into your psyche

22. A warm blanket of a book

23. A book that made you bleed

24. A book that asked a question you've never had an answer to

25. A book that answered a question you never asked

26. A book you recommend but cannot love

27. A book you love but cannot recommend

28. A book you adore that people are surprised by

29. A book that led you home

30. A book you detest that people are surprised by

Tehanu (Earthsea book 4) by Ursula Le Guin.

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson.

Planetfall by Emma Newman. Kindle

The Covert Captain by Jeannelle M. Ferreira. Kindle

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

A Lady's Desire by Lily Maxton. Kindle

The House of Sundering Flames by Aliette de Bodard. Kindle

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley

Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London) by Ben Aaronovitch

False Value (Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Torches (Clorinda Cathcart's circle) by L.A. Hall. Kindle

A Hidden Hope (Romancing the Page novella 1) by Laura Ambrose. Kindle

Goldilocks by Laura Lam

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers. Kindle

A Perfect Balance (Romancing the Page novella 2) by Laura Ambrose. Kindle

An Unheard Song (Romancing the Page novella 3) by Laura Ambrose. Kindle

This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. RE-READ

Snowspelled: Volume 1 of the Harwood Spellbook by Stephanie Burgis

Thornbound: Volume 2 of the Harwood Spellbook by Stephanie Burgis

Network Effect (Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells

Moontangled (Hardwood Spellbooks) by Stephanie Burgis. Kindle

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Kindle

Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders: A Dominion of the Fallen Story by Aliette de Bodard. Kindle

Star Trek Picard: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack

The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan

An Infamous Army by Georgette Heyer

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. Kindle

The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie. Kindle

The Comfortable Courtesan volumes 1-12 by L.A. Hall. Kindle RE-READ

A Man of Independent Mind (Clorinda Cathcart's Circle Book 2) by L.A. Hall. Kindle RE-READ

Incalculable Diffusion (Clorinda Cathcart's Circle Book 3) by L.A Hall. Kindle RE-READ

Kev was working on Easter Sunday. As he left, he called out that someone appeared to have nicked our front door mat. I mostly shrugged, because it's ancient anyway, but when I left the flat 30 mins later to walk Wilbur, I discovered it had actually been borrowed. By a woman, who had slept on it in the close and was now sitting on the steps shivering in just a tracksuit. Having established she had nothing on her and nowhere to go - I couldn't follow half of what she said, but she told me she'd been robbed and something about her stepfather, which I think was that he'd thrown her out of her mother's house - I gave her one of my old jackets and the dog's sofa blanket, because it was what I could grab easily that I wouldn't be devastated to never see again, and told her to wait while I walked poor Wilbur, who by this time was crossing his paws and most confused.

I wasn't sure she'd still be there when I came back but I saw one of the council community workers arriving at the carehome down the road while I was out with Wilbur so I asked her if there was anyone I could phone to get her help other than the police*. She assured me there wasn't given Easter Sunday AND pandemic and told me to phone the non-emergency number. I got back to find the poor woman still in the close so I gave her a bottle of water and a bowl of hot porridge and then phoned the police. I assured the call handler at great length that she had been neither violent nor aggressive and hadn't even asked me for money (I didn't have any cash in the house to give her, but given everywhere was shut, it wouldn't have been much use to her anyway!) and hoped they would send someone who wouldn't just see her as a nuisance to be moved on.

Luckily, the two officers turned up quite quickly, I explained the situation from my doorway and then left them to it. They spend more than 30 mins talking to her and although I got rather worried when I could hear her getting distressed, they did respond with patience and eventually knocked to return my jacket and blanket and then coaxed her out to the squad car to hopefully go somewhere safe.

I was really quite upset after they left, as she was in a right state and it felt horrible leaving her on the doorstep when she was full of apologies for bothering me and kept telling me she wouldn't rob me, but I knew the police wouldn't want to have to come in the flat given pandemic, and both the call handler and the council worker had told me not to let her in. Fortunately, lovely twitter friends made me feel much better by assuring me I'd done the best thing and helped her as much as I could.


My mother's entire reaction when I texted her later to explain why she hadn't heard from me all morning, was "oh dear, that sounds a bit grim". Which perfectly encapsulates why I've had to give up expecting her to approve of the person I want to be. That thought made me sad all day Monday but hey ho. I always swore I wasn't going to be someone who grew out of being an idealist and I'm glad that when tested, I acted in a way I can be happy with, with kindness, and didn't just walk on by or phone the police without helping her first, and trying to listen to her story, even though I couldn't follow half of it.

I really hope the police found her some proper help and somewhere safe to stay. Her name was Emily.





*She was filthy and quite probably a regular drug user; in normal circumstances I'd have contacted a community support worker over the police.

So after the Stitch Fix debacle, I realised that what my wardrobe was actually missing was patterned long sleeved tops that were a bit dressier than Seasalt stripes (for some reason, Seasalt don't do their long sleeved tops in other patterns, only tunics). This is because I used to live in patterned skirts with them, but these days I'm living in jeans or cords because a) most of my skirts are falling off me and I haven't decided if I can be bothered getting them taken in and b) trousers are much more practical for dog walking especially given it is frequently windy here!

Anyway, having established this, I went hunting and found the following from Thought Clothing (an ethical brand similar to Seasalt but with a dressier, less outdoorsy aesthetic):

( pictures, cut for your viewing pleasure )

I bought the slinky one to wear with my culottes but then I wore it with skinny jeans and my Duo brogue knee-high boots to go out for dinner after our offer was accepted on the house :)

So Ros posted the other week about trying out a Stitchfix box and had £25 credit for a friend to sign up so I thought I'd give it a try. My wardrobe is very Seasalt dog walker at the moment and I thought it might be nice to get a few dresser items, especially as I've just bought myself a pair of lovely navy dress culottes, which I don't currently have a top to wear with.

( Read more... )

The awful political situation in the UK and further afield is not going anywhere any time soon and indeed is likely to get worse before it gets any better, and I'm no use to anyone if I'm thoroughly depressed all the time so I'm finally seriously embracing the 'do what I can and let go of the stuff I can't change' philosophy.

I have tried party politics and I don't have the emotional spoons for it. I find it too hard to stick my neck out at meetings and then spend the next few hours beating myself up for not speaking up. There's a limit to how much wider political influence I can have because most of my friends share my views and social media is now so polarised that there is rarely any point trying to engage with people who disagree with me there. Mostly I can just be kind and encourage others to be too.

I *am* however, in the privileged position that I can put my money where my mouth is and get serious about being a more ethical consumer.

My clothes buying is now either secondhand or ethical, natural fibres and the best quality I can afford. Synthetic fibres are for technical gear only and I'm well stocked with that already. We're getting a new king size bed in a week or two and I've bought ethical good quality cotton bedding and a wool-filled duvet for it.

I'm also trying to limit the amount of plastic we buy. We've moved to soap bars and stopped buying liquid soap in plastic bottles and I try to buy loose veg and things that come packed in cardboard or paper over plastic (e.g. porridge oats and dog treats). Food-wise, my metabolism and digestive system will not cope with being vegan but we have moved to buying only one or two meat products a week (British, outdoor-reared only) and eating veggy meals several days a week. Admittedly I have somewhat replaced meat products with cheese, which I'm aware isn't really any better for the environment, but we are buying less milk now I've switched to oat milk (except for tea - sorry, it just doesn't taste right!) and I buy goats cheese more often than cows cheese at least, although admittedly that's because I don't have to take lactase to digest that.

My next switch is from tissues to handkerchiefs - I need to find somewhere that sells decent cotton or linen ones. I may also finally have to learn to knit my own socks...

1. Do you enjoy receiving books as holiday or birthday gifts?

Oh yes. I mean preferably from someone who knows my taste so I can expect to enjoy it, but in general, gifting books is good.

2. What book are you reading (or, what is the last book you read)?

I'm currently reading 'The House of Binding Thorns' by Aliette de Bodard on my kindle.

3. Are you enjoying (or, did you enjoy) that book? Why or why not?

I am, yes. It's the second book about Fallen angels and warring factions in a post apocalyptic Paris and it scratches the same itch as a good vampire novel but without the dodgy sexual politics.

4. About how many books do you read in an average year?

Erm, about 30 in recent years but I'll probably manage more again in the future now I'm not going to be reading all day at work.

5. What are some of the books on your to-read pile (or list)

My physical to-read pile consists of 'Nevernight' by Jay Kristoff, 'Fools Fate' by Robin Hobb, 'The King Hereafter' by Dorothy Dunnett, and 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood. I also have 'Ninefox Gambit' by Yoon Ha Lee sitting on my kindle waiting for me to be in the right mood for it.