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Monday, February 25, 2008
I am so, so bad.
As the delurking Mandy pointed out (hi, Mandy!), I have, um, kind of not been doing monthly book posts. I missed the first one back in December (I think) because there was the move and the stress and augh and I hadn't been reading much and it was all repeats anyway and how many times do you want to read my review of my Mitfordy comfort-book crack? Then I didn't do one for January either, and I felt kind of guilty, but nobody noticed, and I figured if anybody HAD noticed (and cared, which was somewhat less likely), they'd know that I was moving, and making home improvements, and pursuing higher education, and all kinds of totally valid excuses like that.
Right?
OK, I'll try to catch up the memorable ones (good and bad) through February, and get back on track next month with the regular posts. Because I really have missed doing them, and they're some of my favorite posts to look back at later.
Seriously, in December it was pretty much all Mitford books, when I could keep my eyes open at night long enough to read. But there's a new Jan Karon book out, and I read that one:
Home to Holly Springs -- Jan Karon -- 3.75
- Technically, this is not a Mitford book; it's a Father Tim book, a distinction which was lost on me when I first picked it up, but it was clear by the end. Overall, there's nothing in the Mitford books that I wouldn't want Claire to read, if she should happen to be interested in the lives of people her grandparents' age who get really het up about things like the local Grill having to go out of business. Apparently the Father Tim novels are going to be more... adult in nature. Not that they're smutty, or anything, but there are considerably more adult themes covered. Timothy takes Barnabas to the town where he grew up, and meets a few people who knew him as a boy, and learns unpleasant things about his dad, and, oh, becomes a bone-marrow donor. The End. It was good, but not quite good enough to be a 4. There you have it.
January was another month of little reading and mostly rereads (picked up some LMM), but I did read the newest E.L. Konigsburg. I can't remember the name of it. It has a picture of kids holding frames on the front, and it's really hard to follow, and it has character cameos from her other books which I found a bit confusing, and it turned into a preachy kind of After-School-Specialish Book About Serious Issues at the end, which is one of my most serious literary pet peeves. I actively did not like this book, which is sad, because I wanted to like it. A woman who can have written two Newbery winners thirty years apart deserves more than an eye-rolling attempt to get through to the last page of her latest work just for the sake of finishing it. But there it is. Oh, yes, it's The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World. You might like it. I didn't.
This month I actually got some stuff from the library (well, I got a LOT of stuff from the library, because I'm writing a history paper on the International Geophysical Year, but I got some stuff that had nothing to do with school, for a change). The jury is still out on Julie And Julia by Julie Powell. I gave up on The Buenos Aires Broken-Hearts Club -- looked interesting, but it turned out to just be trashy and very, very first-novelish -- and I wasn't awfully impressed by Jodi Picoult's early effort, Harvesting the Heart. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't as good as she got later, with the knowable characters and concisely perfect descriptions. It came across more like an ordinary soap-operaish kind of novel. No annoying twist at the end, though! So there was that.
As a family, we've listened to The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and The First Men In The Moon by H.G. Wells, both read by the highly skilled Mark Smith. We really REALLY liked the first one, and liked the second one pretty well, although it dragged in spots and didn't end the way we wanted it to. Meanwhile I'm slowly but surely making my way through The Shirley Letters for LV, a book which is pretty much required reading for anyone interested in (or forced to study) California history.
Other than that, it's all been rereads. I'm on Rilla in the Anne series, but I didn't feel like starting with the ones I had pretty thoroughly memorized, so I picked up at Windy Poplars, back in January. I did buy new books with my Christmas gift cards, but I haven't been able to sit down and really get into them. One of my favorite finds in a late-night Barnes and Noble shopping trip was a copy of Problem Solving Through Recreational Mathematics, which is a college textbook full of logic and algebra puzzles, for NINETY CENTS. Here's the problem that has had me stumped since I first read it. The solution is RIGHT THERE on the tip of my brain but I just can't quite grab it. Math geeks, please give me hints: There's this woman, see, and she's rowing up a river. She passes a piece of driftwood. Half an hour later, she decides she wants the driftwood, so she turns around and rows back to it. She catches up to it a mile downstream from the point where she first saw it. How fast is the current of the river? This has been tormenting me in the odd minutes when I'm not studying, sleeping, transcribing, teaching the kids, cleaning up dog messes, cooking supper, doing laundry, tidying the house, planning the garden, walking the dog, shopping for groceries, or mediating sibling conflicts that make me want to tear my hair out by the roots. It makes me feel very, very stupid because I am sure I should know it. Any helpful math geeks who want to put me out of my misery are welcome to do so.
Comments
that is so funny! I was just thinking last night (actually about 3:30 this am) that I did not remember seeing a book post from you lately. how are you?
Posted by: debi at February 25, 2008 07:44 PM
I think the woman is irrelevant (as if woman rowers are *ever* irrelevant, humph). The salient fact is that the current has borne the driftwood a mile in half an hour.
Posted by: Dichroic at February 25, 2008 10:37 PM
Have you read The Shifting Fog, by Kate Morton? Very, very good read.I whizzed past your Father Tim review, because it is NOT OUT HERE YET! Sorry. Not happy about that. :)
Posted by: Valerie at February 25, 2008 10:51 PM
Paula -- except that it drifted a mile in a half an hour PLUS whatever time it took her to row back downstream, for the distance she had rowed upstream plus the distance the wood had drifted. (You should have SEEN me scribbling equations when I first read the problem. I've since backed off and realized that the answer isn't going to require complicated equations, it's just going to require getting my brain around it the right way.)
Valerie: Seriously? You want me to mail you a copy? I'll cover the shipping if you'll send me Tim Tams in return. ;-)
Posted by: Rachel at February 25, 2008 11:00 PM
I always love your book posts, but yes, I did assume you were busy with moving, so I was glad to see it now :)
I haven't yet decided whether or not I want to continue with the Father Tim books. I enjoyed the Mitford series, but thought the earlier ones best, so I'm not sure I'm ready to start another series. I think I'll hold out until more people have read and reviewed it :)
Posted by: Maria at February 25, 2008 11:15 PM
I'm glad the book posts are back! I haven't read the Fr. Tim book yet so I'm glad to read your review. I have it on my wishlist at Bookmooch so maybe I'll get it someday. It's interesting that they are more adult.
Julie and Julia -- my SIL said it was pretty good except for all the political nonsense that sort of spoiled it for her.
The math problem is giving me a headache too but I will think on it more. That or ask G -- it will be super-simple for him, I am sure.
Posted by: mary at February 26, 2008 06:30 AM
1) I DID notice and care that you weren't doing book posts, but I didn't want to make you feel guilty because I knew you were busy.
2) I have only ever read the first Mitford book. I should do something about that, huh?
3) That math problem will drive me crazy now too.
Posted by: Kat with a K at February 26, 2008 08:32 AM
Wait, are we assuming that she rows more quickly downstream than upstream? Gah. I'm going to ask one of my math geek friends for a hint.
Posted by: Kat with a K at February 26, 2008 08:38 AM
Kat, yes. We know that the current is steady, right? And it is pushing against her as she rows upstream, and pushing WITH her as she rows downstream; meanwhile that same force is acting steadily on the driftwood going downstream. I am sure that this is the key to the whole thing, I just can't quite figure out what to DO with it. I am also sure that some math major is going to wind up Googling my site someday and will laugh her brainy little head off at the fact that this is puzzling to me at all, but hey. I am what I am. :)
Posted by: Rachel at February 26, 2008 08:48 AM
Okay, I talked to my friend and I think I've almost got it. I'll let you know. :)
Posted by: Kat with a K at February 26, 2008 08:50 AM
And if anyone figures it out, don't post the answer yet! I want to figure it out myself. :)
Posted by: Kat with a K at February 26, 2008 08:53 AM
I'm gonna ask my brother Mat about this.
Posted by: jenn at February 26, 2008 09:39 PM
Did you get my e-mail yesterday? I have the answer...
Posted by: Kat with a K at February 27, 2008 09:07 AM
You're a honey! How much is the book? It's hardback, right? I'd be happy to pay for the book, and I can definately send you Tim Tams (where did you taste those?!) Name a flavour, and they are yours!
Posted by: Valerie at February 27, 2008 10:51 PM
Valerie -- yes, it's hardback. Amazon has it new for $18 US or used in new condition for $10US. If you'd like to use me for a go-between I can get it delivered to me and send it on to you. Email me (reg@sti.net) and we can set it up. I won't be offended if you want to go straight through Amazon, which might be simpler for you. They ship internationally, if you'd rather just go that route -- you can get the used-new one shipped to you for $12US, it looks like. Either way you go, it's a good time to buy stuff from us -- our dollar is relatively weak against yours right now.
Tim Tams: I have a friend from an email list who lives in Australia. She sent me a few packages of Tim Tams once. YUM. Free trade is a dicey issue, but if it would get me Tim Tams in the US I would vote for it in a heartbeat. :)
Posted by: Rachel at February 27, 2008 11:10 PM
