Sentences of Doom

[lady_schrapnell]

You have been weighed and found wanting.

The drain outside is blocked again and no home remedies have done anything to unblock it.

No, there's no real connection, aside from the fact that the former popped into my head this morning and I thought how large a part of my life had been spent feeling at risk of receiving verification of the inner voice saying that. And somehow, I feel guilty of having been involved in the production of - effluent, I suppose - which didn't keep on flueing where it ought to have.

On more pleasant topics, despite the amount of time spent sorting, boxing/unboxing, arranging, selling and re-boxing books last week, I did manage to read a little bit! Still working away on Little Women, which is a legitimately slow read because of the markings and scribbled comments in the margins. And I'm still not loving it, though it's fascinating to read the way I'm reading it (contextually for the 'origins and development of children's literature'). Why I love An Old-Fashioned Girl, What Katy Did and many apparently like-minded others and not it, I can't entirely figure.

In newer books, I finished Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse recently and thought it just as good as the first two. 'Nuff said? Really - I'm sure I gave an in-depth review of, er, at least one of the previous books, and I definitely gave one of them some kind of best book award somewhere or other - and everyone who's teaching or librarianing to kids knows about these books... Besides, I have blocked drains and all the effects ensuing. AND I recced them to a teacher and school librarian at the fete! Bottom line: Greek Gods & Heroes in modern-day USA (in an entirely credible and non-Jingoistic way) very well done. Highly recommended!

Mostly I'm sticking with Little Women but somehow this morning, it seems that Maureen Johnson's Devilish fell open of its own accord and sucked me in. A bit. (I suspect there will be no 'bit'.) If I'd seen the cover and not heard Good Things about it, first from sartorias, I'd probably have thought fun & fluffy and not added it to the pile of books which have to be ordered, from overseas. But already I'm glad I trusted the rec, which was reinforced by emmaco's rec of other of Johnson's books. It's all good. Well, except for the lack of self-restraint shown in reading from the pile of non-study-related books rather than waiting for Motherreader's 48-Hour Book Challenge, now almost upon us!

Comments

[wyvernfriend.livejournal.com]

I've heard good things of Devilish, it's lurking on my wishlist.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

You're welcome to borrow it! I think Y.D. will read it after me but with school over soon (Thursday!) she should be quick.

[wyvernfriend.livejournal.com]

Perfect reason to meet up and to arrange an exchange of hostages :)

Thank you.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

:) If we could just do an exchanging of reading rates too, even temporary, how good it would be for me! (Not so good for you though.)

[scholars-blog.livejournal.com]

I quite enjoyed Devilish, though it wasn't my favourite of the Cybils books !

Hallie, you've been tagged - please check out my Blog !

Michele
http://scholar-blog.blogspot.com/

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hadn't remembered Devilish was a Cybil nominee! But then there were so many good books there - Sartorias doesn't recommend books that often, so they stand out very notably.

Thanks for the heads-up about the tagging! I would have seen it soon as I just today got Bloglines set up for myself, which makes me feel a tiny bit more organized.

[scholars-blog.livejournal.com]

Well done you for organising yourself with Bloglines (I use FeedBlitz myself)...

Yes, Devilish was a Cybil nominee...

Michele
http://scholar-blog.blogspot.com/

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Johnson is a goddess--I will now buy anything she writes as soon as I know it's out.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Wow. Never heard quite such high praise from you for an author! Also 'wow' to the book as I'm about half-way through now, thanks to staying up later than I should have.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

She writes with a distinctive blend of wit and compassion (with an eye for detail) that hits me right on target.

[gair.livejournal.com]

Gerald is reading me Little Women as my going-to-sleep book, and mostly it works beautifully for this purpose (and is possibly annoying her slightly less to read out loud than Katy did, although she does always read the first two pages in an irritating sarcastic fake-sweet gushy voice before she settles down) BUT occasionally it is just really triggering. Like the other night when I was nearly asleep when Marmee suddenly cornered Jo to talk to her about anger management and I suddenly sat bolt upright and went OH GOD I REMEMBER THIS BIT IT IS ALL LIKE 'WHENEVER I FEEL ANGRY I JUST STAB MYSELF IN THE THIGH WITH A HATPIN, HERE IS A HATPIN OF YOUR VERY OWN, AND BTW NO-ONE IS GOING TO PUNISH AMY FOR BURNING YOUR BOOK BECAUSE THAT IS NOT A BAD THING LIKE, SAY, EXPRESSING ANGER IN ANY WAY THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE SELF-HARM.

But apparently I just made the hatpin up. That whole plot about turn your anger inward (unless you are Amy) just makes me sick, though.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's uncomfortable - very nauseous laughter! That invented hatpin is brilliant - the nineteenth century equivalent of the snappy rubber band on the wrist. Exclusively female, of course! (Ditto on the anger deal, btw. And the burning of the book is so horrendous.)

All kinds of follow-ups I want to do on this - I even had a thought about An Old-Fashioned Girl that WASN'T in the shower this morning (the drains. No shower for me.) But does Gerald dislike Katy compared to Little Women or is it just the reading aloud?