Now, for the weather...

[likethebeer]

It's finally snowing, although not the 2-6" originally forecast. The night is young (however, it was supposed to start snowing at 6-8am today, and did not begin in earnest until 3:30pm). As mda knows, I curse the snow when there is none, and when there is too much. Yes, the grass is always greener in my world. Still, I'm excited. I want snow. Right now, i think I could even stand the insanity that comes from snow-covered ground for 2 months. It just makes me feel better about the plants in the ground that need the cover, and well, dammit, I want to earn my ironic midwestern attitude. Of course, having said that, I could also move to Montana and be done with it. BTW, have I ever mentioned the book, Breaking Clean, by Judy Blunt? I took it back home with me after visiting my parents' house. She's a former classmate of my friend, MD, who persuaded me to see Judy read from her book on my 34th birthday. It's devastating, a series of essays about her life growing up in Montana until she left her husband. I had to read the chapters 1 at a time, pausing in between because they could be devastating. The 1 about the '64 blizzard was horrendous, as well as the one about her daughter (or was it her son) and their bout with high fever when the child was about 3-4 years old. She lived out on the farm, the spring rains had come, turning the mud to what she calls, "gumbo." It was 2 hours to the hospital, and they didn't want to get into this gumbo and make things worse, but then the child's fever hit an unbelievable 106 degrees, and she & her husband set out on the road. In the beginning of the book, she relays moments from meeting w/a marriage counselor, and what her husband says is so matter-of-fact, but unnurturing, that you're left wondering why the hell she would stay with that man, and in that place. But in the chapter about the child's fever, you can see why. When they got out onto the main road, all of the local families/farmers (including her in-laws, who had called all the neighbors), went to the edge of their property with their headlights on the their trucks to light the way. Each farm they passed, the neighbors would shut the headlights off, so this whole tiny community could tell if Judy & her husband had gotten stuck in the gumbo. I finished that chapter at about 2am, and went outside to cry (turns out that MD also cried).

Yesterday, I put on whatever archivist hat I had and went to try to figure out the "archives" of the Spring Green Literary Festival (an institution since 1998!). Oh, shit. Apparently, they had someone else try to sort this stuff out, but jeez. Stuff from 2000 in the 2001 files, stuff from 1999 in the 2002 files. I'm still working on it, slowly. "Working on it" in this case involves just stacking the things that belong in the same year together, and within that year, what seems to go together. I'm sure there's more to archiving, but that seems to be the way I start things. One rule of thumb I have: don't start something new until you figure out the old. If there is an organization, no matter how fucked up I think it is, someone had an idea in there, and if I just jump in with what I think is a new, great idea, I'm bound to simply get lost and make mistakes anyway, which will take more time to correct.

Then last night, I spent a scintillating 4 hours reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. It's not as captivating as Cryptonomicon, although the last section had some of the same writing style, in part b/c it was the story of "Half-cocked" Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds and his companion, Eliza. The first part of the book, though, could be, at times, as boring as dirt. Half of it took place in the late 17th Century in England, the other half in the first part of the 18th Century, on a boat off the North American coast. (a) I find that boat descriptions do not interest me, neither does (b) early American history. I try to keep an open mind, but nope, still don't care. And I still can't keep straight in my head everything that's going on, mostly b/c the story involves political intrigue between France, England and the Netherlands in the 17th century. I wanted to give it to jujupees and WI-C, but I've been holding off for these reasons and more.

Comments

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

Quick note: I read Breaking Clean on your recommendation, and yep, it was quite good and the part you quoted was the best.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

I thought of you when I was posting this. Unfortunately, that's about the last, recent, good read I can recommend. Glad you liked it ;>

[waning-estrogen.livejournal.com]

that does sound like a good read. I went to powell's to read about it, though (I hate going into amazon, just on principle), and I ran across so many others books there, just on their front page, I was lost for 40 minutes. I'm so easily distracted, it's a good thing I'm not piloting that plane - on the way to Chicago, I'd probably stop off in Montana to check it out, then maybe just a little trip south to Arizona, and ... who knows where from there ... I might have to go on to South Carolina to catch up with my daughter ...

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Does Powell's have reader reviews? I try not to get distracted, which is why I only visit jumpingtheshark.com about 2x a year. Amazon has sections of books "like" the one you're looking at, and that can get me lost, as well, especially if I'm not looking for something specific.

[waning-estrogen.livejournal.com]

I don't think they do. they do have someone from the store reviewing in most cases, though. actually, on principle, I should refuse them, too, since they've gone from the little musty cellar-smelling store I used to visit in high school to the huge corporate, www-monster they are now. I guess it's just because "I knew them when" that I still go there. they have that same thing though, 'people who bought this also bought this' - they just don't carry it as far as amazon does - it's limited to books, I think. where amazon actually did something once, like telling me that people who bought n book also bought something like underpants or something equally ridiculous and completely unrelated, and that was the last time I went willingly to amazon.

[livsmama.livejournal.com]

I loved Breaking Clean. I read it when Olivia was tiny and I soeny hours sitting in one place nursing her...got lots of reading done. Thanks for reminding me of it.

[livsmama.livejournal.com]

So did Quicksiler really get better after the first 300 pages? we had it from the library and had to take it back, but I don't think I will pick it up again. I kept saying "well, it's a long book, maybe he needs another 100 pages to get going..." but a third of the way in it shouldn't still be as boring as dirt, yet it was.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm glad to read those words. The first part really didn't change, although I knew I should be absolutely spellbound by the prospect of Isaac Newton's esoteric meanderings. The middle section w/Jack Shaftoe was v.much like Cryptonomicon, v. enjoyable and witty. But I've just finished that section and have yet to start the last 1 of the book, which begins again w/Daniel Waterhouse. I think 1 of the problems w/the first part is that we see Daniel, who doesn't have much of a personality, watching Newton, who he's a friend and protector of, but still in the distance, where as Jack & Eliza are close-up personalities you can grab onto. I just wish the whole book were like this. Maybe the subject matter, of the Royal Society, was too much for Stephenson to overcome. Still, he's supposed to be the professional!

I don't think you should have to expend that much mental energy to enjoy the book. Stay away and feel no pain.

[livsmama.livejournal.com]

I loved Crytonomicon and Snow Crash and even Zodiac, which I read years and years ago. But I think I may have to give the whole trilogy a pass.

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'll buy all 3 books, xerox the Jack Shaftoe story and sent it out to you, jujupees & WI-C. That should be a hefty book all its own.

[livsmama.livejournal.com]

Sure. Or you could read all three and tell us the page numbers to read and we could aviod the rest

[likethebeer.livejournal.com]

that's a much more efficient solution.

[livsmama.livejournal.com]

That's me. all about efficient solutions.