Hope you all have your full gene ration complement today. :-D
Today was a good day on which I got a lot of little things accomplished. I even managed to go to the store for supplies and get dinner all ready to pop into the oven before I went to work! That way Mah*Sweetie (who gets home first) could put his feet up. Good thing I did it, too, as he got two home business jobs to do on top of his regular full work day. He did one at lunch and is doing the other now. Talk about a full day!
I finished Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union: PS last night. I had suggested it to my book discussion group, but it turns out not to be entirely to my taste -- although I wouldn't deny that it deserves its many awards, including the 2009 Hugo.
It's both alternate history and crime noir. If it were set in 1930s/40s Los Angeles rather than 2007 Sitka district, it could have been by Raymond Chandler. Indeed, I read that Chandler shared Chabon's (IMO, overdone) love of simile.
The alternate history setting is also decidedly noir. In 1939, the US offered Jews fleeing Nazi persecution a place of refuge in sitka, Alaska. When the attempt to establish a Jewish state in Palestine was crushed in 1948, this became the only place of refuge for the world's Jews. Sitka District was granted a large degree of self-government, but this was provisional and is being revoked in 2007. And to make things more bleak -- although unrealistically so -- Chabon posits that this makes the Jews subject to expulsion.
Altogether a pretty depressing, even if you brush aside the utter cynicism about any and all governments. Not to my taste. Can't honestly say I cared that much for Chandler or Hammet, either. But that's my personal reaction.
It was going around on Library Thing a couple years back, but I never had the desire to read it. I agree on not much caring for Hamit, though on admittedly rather slim experience. I Like Chandler though.
Thinking about the "we didn't have that green thing" subthread, how about we didn't need coal, petroleum, or nuclear power to provide light--just renewable, natural, organic things like wood, beeswax and WHALE OIL. [grin]
My granny, who lived in the mountains of southwestern Virginia, didn't get indoor plumbing till the late '70s, when PVC piping came in. Visiting her became a great deal more comfortable after that!
Call me demanding, but I like at least minimal creature comforts: Electricity, indoor plumbing and central heating.
Yep, those are all nice, cat. How's the elevator? Felines getting used to it? I continue to wonder just how it works; I suppose there must be an electric motor in the seat, with a power pickup from a concealed electrical line--or maybe power is communicated by induction, so the power line is completely insulated? That sounds like a better solution. And there must be a safety of some sort that keeps it from running away downhill if the power goes out; one could imagine various types. Just idle curiosity. Is there an advertising web site?
Moderately busy day today, roughly the same amount of work at work as yesterday, but I had a helper.
Bought a sweater vest on eBay that arrived today. Too heavy to suit me, and the color is less neutral than in the eBay photo. But the knitted pattern is nice. Will have to think about it.
Another day on which Dean is first.
ReplyDeleteListener, gene ration is brilliant, if accidental. Yesterday sounds like a perfectly loverly day!
Agree absolutely about gene ration! Every twenty years or so a different gene ration is distributed. . . .
Delete♥Howard♥
ReplyDeleteHope you all have your full gene ration complement today. :-D
ReplyDeleteToday was a good day on which I got a lot of little things accomplished. I even managed to go to the store for supplies and get dinner all ready to pop into the oven before I went to work! That way Mah*Sweetie (who gets home first) could put his feet up. Good thing I did it, too, as he got two home business jobs to do on top of his regular full work day. He did one at lunch and is doing the other now. Talk about a full day!
I finished Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union: PS last night. I had suggested it to my book discussion group, but it turns out not to be entirely to my taste -- although I wouldn't deny that it deserves its many awards, including the 2009 Hugo.
ReplyDeleteIt's both alternate history and crime noir. If it were set in 1930s/40s Los Angeles rather than 2007 Sitka district, it could have been by Raymond Chandler. Indeed, I read that Chandler shared Chabon's (IMO, overdone) love of simile.
The alternate history setting is also decidedly noir. In 1939, the US offered Jews fleeing Nazi persecution a place of refuge in sitka, Alaska. When the attempt to establish a Jewish state in Palestine was crushed in 1948, this became the only place of refuge for the world's Jews. Sitka District was granted a large degree of self-government, but this was provisional and is being revoked in 2007. And to make things more bleak -- although unrealistically so -- Chabon posits that this makes the Jews subject to expulsion.
Altogether a pretty depressing, even if you brush aside the utter cynicism about any and all governments. Not to my taste. Can't honestly say I cared that much for Chandler or Hammet, either. But that's my personal reaction.
Sounds interesting at first blush, but I think I would ultimately not care for it either, Bill.
Delete--Alan
It was going around on Library Thing a couple years back, but I never had the desire to read it. I agree on not much caring for Hamit, though on admittedly rather slim experience. I Like Chandler though.
DeleteThinking about the "we didn't have that green thing" subthread, how about we didn't need coal, petroleum, or nuclear power to provide light--just renewable, natural, organic things like wood, beeswax and WHALE OIL. [grin]
ReplyDelete--Alan
Yeah, and outhouses? :P
DeleteMy granny, who lived in the mountains of southwestern Virginia, didn't get indoor plumbing till the late '70s, when PVC piping came in. Visiting her became a great deal more comfortable after that!
Call me demanding, but I like at least minimal creature comforts: Electricity, indoor plumbing and central heating.
Yep, those are all nice, cat. How's the elevator? Felines getting used to it? I continue to wonder just how it works; I suppose there must be an electric motor in the seat, with a power pickup from a concealed electrical line--or maybe power is communicated by induction, so the power line is completely insulated? That sounds like a better solution. And there must be a safety of some sort that keeps it from running away downhill if the power goes out; one could imagine various types. Just idle curiosity. Is there an advertising web site?
DeleteModerately busy day today, roughly the same amount of work at work as yesterday, but I had a helper.
Bought a sweater vest on eBay that arrived today. Too heavy to suit me, and the color is less neutral than in the eBay photo. But the knitted pattern is nice. Will have to think about it.
--Alan