The Friday Five spring forward....

[magnetic_pole]

First and most importantly, happy birthday, write_out! Two photos to brighten your day:





And a springtime set of questions courtesy of thefridayfive

1. What is your least favorite part of Spring?
Precipitation. Last week I got caught in a downpour with graupel sans umbrella (because I'm optimistic and foolish like that). What's that? You hadn't heard of graupel? Me, neither. Wasn't aware such a thing existed until it was dumped out of the sky on my head. *sigh*

2. What is your most favorite part of Spring?
Longer days! It's such a relief to have a bit more sun in the evenings.

3. What is the latest good book you've read?
Hm. I'm just starting this: Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State. Hopes are high. I'll let you know how it goes.

4. What are your plans for this weekend?
The second half of the grading I was complaining about last week.

5. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?
Only qualitative analysis 'round these parts, thank you!

What's a good book you've read recently, flist?

Comments

[mecurtin]

So many good books! Just finished The True Queen by Zen Cho, very excellent. Before that it was The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie, my socks are still in orbit.

[ancientreader]

Oooh, The Raven Tower is next up on my fiction list! I have heard it's brilliant and I gather your socks agree.

[mecurtin]

Avoid all spoilers if possible! It's an AMAZING book.

[ancientreader]

I stopped about 50 words in to the one review I saw because it had already given away a plot point and I wanted to scream.

You've read the Ancillary books and Provenance, yes?

[magnetic_pole]

my socks are still in orbit.

That's the highest praise I've heard for a book in a long time! :) Hurrah! for good books like that--like good people, you just have to enjoy them and hold onto them. M.

[mecurtin]

It is an AMAZING literary accomplishment.

[ancientreader]

The answer to #5 is, obviously, as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck.

I recently finished Kate Atkinson's A God in Ruins, which I loved although why I always forget that every Kate Atkinson book has a sting in the tail I don't know, and have started Andrew Delbanco's new book, The War Before the War, which is a history of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 (and of fugitive slave law in general). I might have expected it to be dry (history of a law, hm) except that I heard Delbanco interviewed about it on NPR. It's riveting.

ETA: I'm a little jealous of your experience of this uncommon meteorological phenomenon!

[magnetic_pole]

Both these books sound great! I'm somehow out of the habit of reading much fiction, so I'll bookmark the Kate Atkinson for a later date, but I'm going to take a look at the Andrew Delbanco soon. What are laws but possible master plots that come to life in their subverting?

Ha! I should have enjoyed it more myself, but I was carrying a canvas bag of student papers that I was overly worried about. M.

[ancientreader]

What are laws but possible master plots that come to life in their subverting?

Or in a close reading of their origins and implications. If you read the Delbanco I would love to know what you think.

[write_out]

Thank you, thank you! London, Sherlock Holmes, AND R! Three things that make me very happy!

I just looked up that book and it sounds fascinating. It's going on my list!

Longer days are so lovely, aren't they?

[splix]

Clearly, a woodchuck would chuck all the wood it could chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood.

I am reading Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies. It's a memoir from the Chief Usher [kind of a majordomo but with ALL the responsibilites] of the White House. He served under Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and I think a bit of Nixon, not sure yet. It's fascinating stuff, all behind-the-scenes to make the place run smoothly. It's a very accessible and fun read.

[semielliptical]

Graupel is a new word to me! And I thought I knew a lot about snow...

I am also very relieved to have longer days. I just went for a walk after eating supper - amazing!

I recently read Michelle Obama's book, Becoming. I particularly enjoyed reading about her childhood and then her early adulthood, how she navigated education, career and family. It's not an unusual story (until Barack decides to run for president) but maybe that's what makes it interesting.

[nachodiablo]

Those photos brightened my day, too! :)

"Only qualitative analysis 'round these parts, thank you!" I'm still laughing at this, lol!

[secretsolitaire]

I have learned a new thing from this post (graupel)!

I totally agree re: longer days. It's so nice not to drive home from work in the dark.

I haven't written up this book yet, but one of the better books I've read recently was Less by Andrew Sean Greer. Just delightful.

[liseuse]

Graupel sounds terrible! And I had never heard of it!

Books! I'm good at book questions!
Recently, I inhaled Sally Rooney's Normal People (https://liseuselonglist.home.blog/2019/03/17/normal-people-by-sally-rooney/) and have been fervently recommending it to all and sundry. I just finished Melissa Harrisons' All Among The Barley which is great if you like novels about the rise of pastoral fascism in the 1930s in England?

Sunlight = Spring = YES

[jesse_the_k]

I've just DNFed several graphic novels, but I'm delighted to report I finished two novellas by Margaret Killjoy, set in a near future where Shit Has Fallen Apart, and romantic anarchist punks squat in libraries and provide public services for free. Also, magic is real, and scary. I enjoyed THE LAMB WILL SLAUGHTER THE LION and THE BARROW WILL SEND WHAT IT MAY even though I'm usually a hard SF lover. The magic has no charm whatsoever, and the way the community is attracted to it and then fights it is realistic. The viewpoint character is massively anxious and deals with it as well as one does, and that's also intriguing.

GLADSTONE! You got a picture of Watson's bull pup.