Books: November 2003 Archives

Should one finish a book that you aren't enjoying? I often do. I think I do it out of guilt more than anything. What is stanger still to me, is that I will often pick up another book by the same author a year later and see if the next book is as bad. In some cases this has worked as I really like "Red Mars", "Green Mars", "Blue Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson, while I loathed "The Years of Rice and Salt."

There are so many good books, I probably shouldn't finish books I hate. It's not that I think it will get better just around the corner. It's that I don't want to be a quitter. If it's really stinko, I'll skim. When it's over I'll know the character went to Prague, but I won't remember exactly why.

I am reminded of something I both heard and read Garrison Keillor say when he was talking about which poems he had included and excluded from his anthology "Good Poems."

Just finished "Journal of the Dead: A Story of Friendship and Murder in the New Mexico Desert, by Jason Kersten. It's a good journatlistic look at a very strange murder in the New Mexico desert. The story is fascinating to me. The basic deal is that two guys went camping in the desert who were unprepared. They get lost . Four days later the boys in brown go looking for them. They find one guy half crazed with dehydration, the other guy dead. The first guy admitted killing him, but claimed his buddy begged him to.

Makes me think I gotta think twice about inviting people to go camping with me.

I've been reading through "Google Hacks". Good stuff there. Sometimes I wish I could make a living as a researcher. Finding data is so interesing to me. Of course, that's part of what my job is now, I suppose.

John Sundman has his whole novel available now for d/l under a Creative Commons license. I have read the first few chapters a while ago and thought it was pretty good. Better than some other books I have read. He has a harrowing account of writing his first book on-line as well.

Also of note Christopher Moore has a web site. I read "Fluke", over the weekend and liked it quite a bit. Not as much as "Lamb", but it was still all right.

A long time ago, Jennie, sent me an url for Jon Udell's LibraryLookup (bookmarklet).

I finally got around to "installing" it and it's fabulous. I can get all the goodness of amazon with it's user reviews and what's related functionality, and be able to borrow the book instead of buying it.

Note: For ramsey county library, I had to change the 'ISBN' in the java script to 'ISBNE'. Then is worked as slick as can be.

I so hated Iduro, I didn't think I would pick up another Gibson book, but I am really enjoying "Patten Recognition". Hope it holds up until the end.

We have been reading "Little House in the Big Woods" to the kids at night. I love this book. I know it might seem like a "girls" book, it might be outdated, etc.., but I just love the simple life the family lives. Sometimes I yearn for that kind of simplicity.

I mowed the lawn for the last time this year, hopefully. It was looking pretty shaggy and defied mulching. That meant a trip to the county compost pile. I had never been there, as I don't generate much in the way of yard waste. I mulch the grass, and have my own compost pile at home. Evidently, it was "take your leaves to the compost pile day." I had never seen so many leaves in one place. It was all I could do to not jump on the bug piles and shout. The fact that it was likely rotting in the middle tempered my desire. I am going to have to get some compost out in the spring and cover my lawn with a thin layer. My chem lawn neighbors will love that, no doubt.

Halloween came and went without much incident. Some children couldn't identify their own costume which I thought was a little sad. I like the home made ones best. Kids who show up in their hockey uniforms don't get much candy from me. No child said "is that all you have" this year. My plan was to fill their little bag with hot maple syrup if they did. I don't mind begging for candy, but be gratefule for what you get for pete's sake.

The great web migration project is done. Although my humble little K6-2 450 hummed along for the better part of six years, I think. I was glad to get it out of the colo. Shared hosting was so much cheaper and relieves me of certain concerns like making sure that I'm not an open relay, or checking on net attacks, or keeping up to date on patches.

I finish "Lamb" by Christopher Moore. I can't recall the last time I read a novel so funny and still thoughful in a variety of ways. Two thumbs up.