rolanni: (tortoro)
[personal profile] rolanni

Today is all about the errands, including a physical therapy session, a stop at the library to return books, at Staples to drop off used ink cartridges, and at Goodwill to drop off Various and Sundry.  Deliveries may happen; in particular, delivery of my replacement trackball.  There's also a phone call to make, but that may wait.  I'm in phone-avoidance mode, and it's not an emergency phone call, after all.

Also, somewhere in there I ought to do some writing.

The weather has reverted, slightly -- down to 30F/-1C on the overnight, and slow to warm this morning, though it's nice and sunny; should be a good day for running around.

For those who care about such details, I'm re-re-re-re-re-&c-reading Hellspark by Janet Kagan, because -- comfort book.

What're y'all reading?

Date: 2013-04-22 01:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] melita66.livejournal.com
I'm in the midst of Guy Gavriel Kay's River of Stars. It's set in the same world/country as Under Heaven but another dynasty or two later. Kitai is a reduced place...I'm rocking along. Because I stayed up way too late on Saturday night (late night caffeeine! cold! great book!) I'm almost halfway through it's 600+ pages.

Before that, Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells.

To Be Read Pile just got bigger

Date: 2013-04-22 02:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bookmobiler.livejournal.com
Currently I'm sort of re-reading C E Murphy's (Mizkit) Walker Walker Papers because I some how lost track and missed a couple. I just finished #7 and have started No Dominion.
HellSpark is getting added to the TBR pile. Now I just have to find one of my copies.
This is one of those books that always makes me sad when it's over because she never did a sequel.

reading

Date: 2013-04-22 02:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] k-10b.livejournal.com
Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs (print)
Besieged by Rowena Cory Daniells (nook)

Date: 2013-04-22 03:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sb-moof.livejournal.com
Just finished rereading the Theo books. Have started reading With the Lightnings by David Drake. It's taken me a while to warm to it, but I think I will like it when all is said and done. I need to find a copy of Hellspark for my collection. $45 or $48 new on amazon is a bit beyond me at the moment.

Date: 2013-04-22 03:29 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 6-penny.livejournal.com
I wish it was available on Kindle. Also her Mirabile. Great comfort reads. Would that I were in the alternate universe where she was still alive, and had written lots and lots more.

Date: 2013-04-23 02:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rolanni.livejournal.com
I don't know who is administering Janet's rights...possibly her husband, or the erights might still be at Tor...

Date: 2013-04-22 03:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] 6-penny.livejournal.com
Also: there are some short stories up on the Janet Kagan website.

Date: 2013-04-22 05:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] doccolt.livejournal.com
It's interesting to watch the characters grow and change as the series progresses.
Sam

Date: 2013-04-22 05:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] doccolt.livejournal.com
The "With the Loghtnings" series by David Drake I mean.

Date: 2013-04-22 10:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] margotinez.livejournal.com
For a moment, I thought you meant "Sword Dancer", which I enjoyed. Haven't tried Daughter of the Sword.

Date: 2013-04-23 02:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rolanni.livejournal.com
Drop me a note off-line; I've got one or two of the MM edition in the top of the closet.

Date: 2013-04-23 03:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sb-moof.livejournal.com
Thank you so much! The note has been dropped.

Hellspark

Date: 2013-04-28 03:40 am (UTC)
filkferengi: (Default)
From: [personal profile] filkferengi
There're two paperback copies on half.com for .75, 3 for $1, & 2 for $5, here:

http://product.half.ebay.com/Hellspark-by-Janet-Kagan-1988-Paperback/1318025

Hellspark

Date: 2013-04-28 03:42 am (UTC)
filkferengi: (Default)
From: [personal profile] filkferengi
Over on half dot com, there're paperback copies: 3 for .75, 3 for $1, & 2 for $5.

Date: 2013-04-22 03:28 pm (UTC)
reedrover: (Summer)
From: [personal profile] reedrover
Hellspark is awesome comfort reading.
I'm trying to get through Daughter of the Sword. I'm having trouble sympathizing with the main character.

Date: 2013-04-22 10:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] margotinez.livejournal.com
Got my comment in the wrong place (my apologies). I thought you meant "Sword Dancer, which I enjoyed. Especially because the male main character can be hard to take at first.

Date: 2013-04-22 11:54 pm (UTC)
reedrover: (Summer)
From: [personal profile] reedrover
Sword Dancer is fun, if very 80's. I enjoyed Sword Breaker the most in that series.

Date: 2013-04-22 03:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bercilakslady.livejournal.com
I'm rereading Midnight Blue Light Special by Seanan McGuire. I may start rereading War for the Oaks by Emma Bull right after.

By the way, I enjoy finding out what you're reading, so thank you for posting that info.

Date: 2013-04-23 02:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rolanni.livejournal.com
I hesitated between War for the Oaks and Hellspark, but Om im apparently still enjoys a slight edge over the phouka...

Date: 2013-04-22 04:19 pm (UTC)
pedanther: (Default)
From: [personal profile] pedanther
I just finished reading A Little Princess for the first time. (Another first: it's the first novel I've read on my new e-reader.) Parts of it are really charming, but on the whole I still prefer The Secret Garden.

Date: 2013-04-22 05:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] otterb.livejournal.com
I also find Hellspark and Mirabile great comfort reading and wish I could get e-book versions so that I'd be able to fall back on them easily while traveling.

I just finished Martha Wells's new steampunkish YA fantasy Emilie and the Hollow World. As with all of Wells's work, the worldbuilding and nonhuman civilizations are marvelously complex, believable, and fascinating. Emilie is a wonderful heroine who meets her inadvertent adventures with great sense and courage and meets some fascinating people (some all of them human) along the way. Plus, dirigibles and a submarine. Highly recommended.

I'm not sure what I'm reading next. I want to get the new Mary Robinette Kowal. I also have sitting on a corner of the piano A Turn of Light by Julie Czerneda, Siding Star by Christopher Bryan, and Cascade Effect (sequel is to Fighting Gravity) by Leah Petersen.

Date: 2013-04-22 07:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tuftears.livejournal.com
Yay, Hellspark! I love the trader/languages angle. Luckily, I still have my worn paperback copy. I wish for more fun space traders in exotic cultures stories.

I've just finished reading Carol Berg's The Soul Mirror. Impressive stuff, I was so caught up in the story I had to block off more time than my usual snippet-at-a-time pace to see how it ended.

I am of course, saving Necessity's Child for the right time to read it.

Date: 2013-04-22 07:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] charlie russel (from livejournal.com)
Boundary by Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor. This is a re-read, since I've forgotten everything about it, and I want to read the latest in the series, Portal. So a quick run through the earlier ones.

Date: 2013-04-22 10:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] manywaters.livejournal.com
I prefer Mirabile to Hellspark, but they're both good. Presently trawling through cookbooks and blogs and mounds of vegetables in my quest for the perfect pickled carrots and radishes to pile on a Vietnamese style sandwich.

Bahn Mi topping!

Date: 2013-04-23 02:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mothadventures.livejournal.com
Pickled carrots and Daikon -- called Do Chua. Easy to make at home, can be canned in a simple boiling water bath and keeps well. Me, I grow my own daikon, but that's a tad of overkill....storebought will work just fine.

If you can't find a recipe for it on the web, I can provide mine.

Re: Bahn Mi topping!

Date: 2013-04-23 02:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] manywaters.livejournal.com
Would love a copy of your recipe - I've been playing with a few Do Chua recipes in my search for The Perfect Pickle. It's interesting what differences the vinegar/sugar proportions make when jimmied, as well as processing.

Re: Bahn Mi topping!

Date: 2013-04-23 03:37 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mothadventures.livejournal.com
In your LJ inbox -- if our gracious hostess wants it posted here, I would be happy to do so, but it's several paragraphs long.

Re: Bahn Mi topping!

Date: 2013-04-23 02:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rolanni.livejournal.com
Why not? There may be others who are too shy to ask, but who may be interested.

Re: Bahn Mi topping!

Date: 2013-04-23 03:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mothadventures.livejournal.com
Here you go. I think I'll open a jar of this to go on rice for lunch....Daikon, it's not just for sandwiches anymore.

Do Chua (Vietnamese Daikon & Carrot Pickles)
• 1 1/2 c. white vinegar (5% acidity, for safety in canning)
• ¼ c rice vinegar (Unsweetened, Unflavored)
• 1 1/4 c. water
• 1-2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
• 1/2 c. + 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 lb. carrots, julienned (many mandolines have a julienne setting)
• 1 lb. daikon radish, peeled & julienned to the same size as the carrots
• ¼ tsp. whole coriander seed PER JAR (use 1/8th tsp if using ground coriander seed) – a little less for 4 oz jars.

Prepare canning jars, lids, etc as normal: this makes roughly 2-3 pints (16oz) depending on how you cut the daikon and carrots, but I usually make it in half pint (8 oz) and small jelly (4 oz) jars; processing time is the same for all three sizes. Think about the size of your jars as you prep your veggies: don’t want 3” long julienne sticks with a 2” tall jar! Place the cut vegetables into a large bowl and sprinkle with salt and 2 tsp. sugar; use your hands to knead the salt and sugar into the vegetables for 2-3 mins. to remove some of the excess water. Really get into it – don’t be timid with the kneading! Drain them in a colander and rinse well under cold running water; set aside to drain more, you want them as dry as possible.

In a non-reactive saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, sugar and ginger; bring to a boil and cook just until sugar is thoroughly dissolved. Keep this hot. Working quickly, one jar at a time, measure coriander into the bottom of a hot jar and then pack it full with vegetables, pressing down gently but firmly until the jar is filled. Ladle boiling hot brine over the vegetables, leaving 1/4″ of headspace. Use a non-metallic spatula to release air bubbles and check the headspace again, adjust as needed. Wipe the rim and put on the lid, following good canning procedures. Repeat until your jars are filled. Process in a water bath for 10 mins.; remove from the water bath and set aside, untouched, for 24 hours.

Do chua should sit for at least a week before eating; it gets better and better with age, like wine.
If you don’t know how to can, you can put everything into a big non-reactive container in the fridge (a glass or plastic container is best) and let it sit for a week, then eat. If you use this method, the Do Chua should be used within a month or so.

Date: 2013-04-22 10:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] patknuth.livejournal.com
I'm reading Tracy/Teresa Grant's Regency mysteries. Deborah Crombie recommended the newest one on her FB page and Amazon had an earlier title at bargain book price so I read one and kept going. She started writing the series about Charles and Melanie Fraser as Tracy Grant. When she got a new publisher, she was asked her to change her name and the name of the primary characters, so now Teresa Grant writes about Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch, who have friends, children and servants with exactly the same names as Charles and Melanie Fraser.

To make things more complicated, the books written by Teresa Grant take place (so far) before the ones Tracy Grant wrote about Charles and Melanie Fraser.

I see that Barnes & Noble has got some of the Tracy Grant books, including some Romantic Suspense titles I haven't read yet, listed for 2.99 each right now.

I think it might be time to pull out Hellspark again. It's definitely one of my comfort books, and since we're getting ready to move back into our newly renovated library, comfort reading sounds like a good thing.

Date: 2013-04-23 02:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rolanni.livejournal.com
She started writing the series about Charles and Melanie Fraser as Tracy Grant. When she got a new publisher, she was asked her to change her name and the name of the primary characters, so now Teresa Grant writes about Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch, who have friends, children and servants with exactly the same names as Charles and Melanie Fraser.

That's just...wow. What a stupid concept. I'm not even sure if it would have occurred to me to agree to something so dumb, in Ms. Grant's place. I'm glad it's working out for her, but I can't imagine what was in the new publisher's mind.

Date: 2013-04-23 11:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] patknuth.livejournal.com
I picked up one of the Tracy Grant books right after reading two of the Teresa Grant titles or it might not have been so obvious. I might have missed the little boy's name being the same, but the valet and maid are Addison and Blanca, and running into the same names sent me off to the web site to try to figure out what was going on. It did make my head hurt for about 1/2 a book. Now I just think of the primary characters as Malcolm/Charles and Suzanne/Melanie and go with it. I've enjoyed the books enough that I'm willing to put up with it.

Reading/listening

Date: 2013-04-22 11:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daughterofhonor.livejournal.com
Reading? Well, besides books and papers and projects for work (teacher and all), I'm ostensibly reading Prince in Camelot by Courtway Jones. I think I picked it up about three weeks ago. It's an enjoyable book, and I love the abnormal type face, but apparently I'm not really reading at the moment.

So where am I getting my story? Liaden audio books, actually. :) I'm in the middle of Fledgling at the moment, and champing to get to I Dare, but enjoying the fact that I haven't read the Theo books as often as the others, so there's more I have forgotten.

Stephanie

replacement trackball

Date: 2013-04-23 02:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barbinbandon.livejournal.com
Seems like you just replaced one a few weeks ago. If you find a good one, please dish.

Just finished Protector by Cherryh and Magnificent Devices and Brilliant Devices by Adina. They were all awesome.

Now I'm reading Fated by Benedict Jacka. So far so good.



Edited Date: 2013-04-23 06:04 am (UTC)

Re: replacement trackball

Date: 2013-04-23 02:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rolanni.livejournal.com
Well, to be fair, I do put a lot of miles on my equipment. This time, I just wore out the right button. I did remap the buttons (so now the left button performs the functions the right button has abdicated) and switched it over to my left hand, but it makes my brain hurt to use it that way. Probably a good reason for continuing, but lazy will, I fear, triumph. The UPS website reports that the new trackball is on the truck for delivery and will be in my hands by the end of the day.

Re: replacement trackball

Date: 2013-04-24 01:38 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] barbinbandon.livejournal.com
Ah! Being able to track the UPS guy...priceless!

Date: 2013-04-23 03:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thewol.livejournal.com
I'm rereading C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series to culminate with the just published "Protector" -- I'm at book 12 now, and "Protector" is #14. Behind on Kindle reading. Have Jane Fanchers two (of three) Netwalkers books in the queue as well as "Queen Victoria's Book of Spells" which is a collection of short stories, first two books in Robin Hobb's Rain Wilds Chronicles, the first two books in the Aetherial Tales by Frieda Warrington, the new Shadow Unit stories by Bull, Bear, et. al, So many books, so little time. . . .

What I'm reading

Date: 2013-04-23 03:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] craig reed (from livejournal.com)
Alternating between these three:

"Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History" by Florence Williams

"Stolen Words: The Classic Book On Plagiarism" by Thomas Mallon

"Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, From Arsenic to Zinc" by Hugh Aldersey-Williams

Shifter

Date: 2013-04-23 12:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gilraen2.livejournal.com
I got Shifter by Janice Hardy in the mail on Saturday and opened it to just look at a couple of pages before putting it somewhere on my "to-be-read" shelf. 200 pages later I stood up and made some breakfast. It's a well-paced fantasy with a novel premise (at least one I haven't seen before) and nicely wrought characters. I think it's a YA - but that's not really meaningful. Good story.

Comfort books...

Date: 2013-04-23 03:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gareth griffiths (from livejournal.com)
Loved the comment about comfort books. Back in the 70's mine used to be 'pilgrimage' by Zenna Henderson - one of the first what I guess now would be called fantasy books. For many years now it's been Elizabeth Moon's "Deed of Paksenarion" original and now the new series, and of course as the Liaden books. What I love is the way they operate on many levels - each re-read I pick up more bits I missed or didn't have the context to understand last time. They have the emotional warmth and comfort that make them like playing a favorite piece of music. I love hearing some songs over an over - why shouldn't I love reading some books the same way...

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