books

Rainy day

I thought I might give the dog a much needed bath this afternoon, out in the backyard, but the weather had different ideas in mind. (I suspect the dog and the weather may be in cahoots on this.) It rained on and off all day, and the sun never really peeked out from behind the clouds. Maybe tomorrow, although given the forecast probably not until later in the week.

Instead, I spent the day not doing a whole lot. Reading a little Kaleidotrope slush, watching a little Blackadder, getting a new propane tank for the grill, watching Apollo 13. (I’ve been reading Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars lately, and it put me in the mood to see it again.) That sort of thing. This evening I watched Jaws of Satan online with friends, making fun of what is a pretty lousy and justifiably forgotten horror movie. There’s a halfway decent movie lurking in it somewhere — or at least a quarter-way decent rip-off of Jaws — but it’s bogged down by lousy effects, worse writing, and terrible pacing. It’s notable mainly for being the film debut of Christina Applegate.

And that was Saturday.

Party Tuesday

Today was a typical Tuesday, for the most part. We had a small birthday celebration for a coworker at the office this afternoon, with cookies and brownies and a card I don’t remember being asked to sign. It’s not really his birthday, but he’ll be out the rest of the week at a conference. Then this evening, my parents and I celebrated my father’s birthday, which is actually today. There were presents and cake and all that good stuff.

And meanwhile, the weather outside has just be lovely.

Oh, and I finished reading William Sleator’s House of Stairs. I don’t have a lot to say about it, except that I can maybe see the influence it had on the movie Cube, and that ultimately I was left kind of disappointed. It was one of those books, like A Wrinkle in Time, for instance, that I probably would have loved if I had read when I was younger but now…

Still, lovely weather.

The goon show

Not a lot to say about this particular Thursday. It felt very much like a Thursday, and any lingering Wednesdayness about it faded as the afternoon wound on. Tomorrow, after all, is Friday.

I did finish reading Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad. I’m not entirely convinced that the late science-fictional elements that found their way into the story weren’t just a touch silly, but overall I thought it was a really lovely book, weaving in and out of different times and characters’ lives, warm while also wonderfully inventive. (There’s a chapter that’s a PowerPoint slide presentation. Which somehow managed to be one of my favorite chapters in the book.)

Memorial Day

I spent the day mostly reading, mostly in the backyard, except when the sun got too hot and I had to come back in. My iPad actually overheated, which has never happened before, and refused to start again until it had cooled down. The next time I went out, I brought along the more traditional paper-and-binding type books. I’m mostly alternating between Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad and Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan, although I threw a little collected Tintin in for good measure.

It was a lovely day, and the weather, although warm, couldn’t have been much nicer. When I woke up this morning, a little after eight, I noticed it was raining, and I thought, well, that’s it then. Our streak of unanticipated clear and sunny skies has come to an end. But the rain had all gone away by the time I actually got dressed, and it must have been perfect weather for a Memorial Day parade.

I didn’t see any of the parade myself, even though the route runs past just a couple of blocks away, and I could hear some of the gun salute at the town memorial up the road. I don’t think I’ve seen the parade since I was last in it, and that was easily sixteen or seventeen years ago, when I was still in the Boy Scouts.

Nevertheless, I am grateful to all the men and women who’ve served in the Armed Forces over the years, particularly those who have died defending our nation and freedoms. I recognize that I wouldn’t have this day of good weather and lazy reading — though no barbecue; we had burgers last night — were it not for their sacrifices. Many thanks.