Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 12
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booksFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 12 by Kanehito Yamada
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 11
Aug. 1st, 2025 09:56 pmmarycatelli posting in booksFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 11 by Kanehito Yamada
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volume.
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Spoilers ahead for the earlier volume.
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(morning writing)
Jul. 31st, 2025 01:29 pmelainegreyQuick proof of life post.
Sister's life seems to be on the road to some improvement, although original issue of concern hangs out there still being a concern.
Dad has had a terrible viral infection. Saw him a week ago laying in bed and was taken back to when his mother was in the same bedroom dying. Saw him on Saturday and he was better. Sister saw him on Sunday and observed how terribly he was doing, which was still, per departing brother, better. L-- took him to the transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) and found he was supposed to be monitored 24 hours after, so he stayed with her.
Brother traveled on Sunday to take the California Bar on Tuesday and presumably failed. (He kept explaining he wasn't getting studying done, it was all about memorization, nothing he works on is covered, and he was definitely going to fail.) Yesterday he found a dear friend died of a heart attack.
Excellent kitchen adventures included steam juicing (although the instant pot got in some confusion about depressurization and lied about keeping the lid locked) and making bay scallop egg rolls with bits of veggie bacon. Also had made blueberry sheet pan pancakes which i took to my Dad and brother on the Saturday.
Christine and i have made reservations for a vacation. We haven't been on a vacation in ages, since the 2017 eclipse. And haven't been to the beach together since ... a Monterey Bay trip? Was that a wedding? Wow dim recesses of memory.) For Reasons i am both looking forward to it and also tempering my expectations. And it may be rescheduled if Dad has medical needs. Still, it was a reach for something positive.
Weather has been dreadfully horribly humid and sauna-like. My temperature sensor in the part of the yard that gets full sun much of the day recorded a heat index of 135°F. No movement on fixing the fence that is a prerequisite to getting kittens (also, we won't get kittens before going on vacation). Contractor we hoped to work with on the barn isn't available/responsive. So on to a random person, i guess.
Continue to escape to novels. Much left undone.
A+ Library Review: Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Jul. 29th, 2025 06:08 pmrocky41_7 posting in booksA+ Library is my bit where I review books with asexual and aromantic characters.
Went on a weekend trip with the squad this weekend and we had to stop at the local Barnes and Noble (It's been a while since I was in one that big! Ours in my town is now in the mall, so it's quite small.) where I spent too much and picked up some things on my TBR plus my own copy of Our Wives Under the Sea. We had some downtime on the trip and I managed to finish the first of the new books while we were there. This was Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell.
Went on a weekend trip with the squad this weekend and we had to stop at the local Barnes and Noble (It's been a while since I was in one that big! Ours in my town is now in the mall, so it's quite small.) where I spent too much and picked up some things on my TBR plus my own copy of Our Wives Under the Sea. We had some downtime on the trip and I managed to finish the first of the new books while we were there. This was Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell.
I wanted so much to like this book, and not just because I was charmed by the purple-themed Barnes and Noble-exclusive cover and edging. It landed on my TBR for being an asexual romance (sapphic, if you take Shesheshen for female, which you don't have to do), and I enjoyed the plot concept. Unfortunately, I did not like the book. If I had not paid for it I probably would not have finished it. The following review is not to say it's a bad book—it has an average rating of 4.05 stars on StoryGraph based on over 6,000 reviews, so obviously people like it—but to say that it specifically had a number of things that made it a big thumbs down for me.
The Character(s): Shesheshen, asexual; Homily, asexual
Verdict: Thumbs down
Previous read: To be Taught, if Fortunate
( Full review below )
The Character(s): Shesheshen, asexual; Homily, asexual
Verdict: Thumbs down
Previous read: To be Taught, if Fortunate
( Full review below )
The School Reader, Fifth Book
Jul. 29th, 2025 07:32 pmmarycatelli posting in booksThe School Reader, Fifth Book: Designed As A Sequel To Sanders' Fourth Reader by Charles Walton Sanders
An 1859 book presenting texts for elocution classes. Probably mostly of interest for the selections, chosen for the edification of the young as well as the elocution -- and to keep them interested. Often has several selections on the same topic. For instance, at one point, the condor. Eulogies on Thomas Jefferson and John Adams -- both, considering their common death date -- and on John Quincy Adams. Among many other topics.
An 1859 book presenting texts for elocution classes. Probably mostly of interest for the selections, chosen for the edification of the young as well as the elocution -- and to keep them interested. Often has several selections on the same topic. For instance, at one point, the condor. Eulogies on Thomas Jefferson and John Adams -- both, considering their common death date -- and on John Quincy Adams. Among many other topics.
Recent Reading: How I Survived a Chinese Reeducation Camp
Jul. 28th, 2025 10:25 pmrocky41_7 posting in booksSome books you read not for the experience of reading them, but for the information within. Such is the case with Gulbahar Haitiwaji's memoir, How I Survived a Chinese "Reeducation" Camp: A Uyghur Woman's Story. As the title suggests, this is a first-person account of Haitiwaji's experience in Xinjiang, where she was subjected to "reeducation" on suspicion of terroristic activity. This book was written with the help of Rozenn Morgat and Haitiwaji's daughter Gulhumar, and translated from French by Edward Gauvin.
To quickly summarize for anyone unaware, the Uyghurs (also spelled "Uighur") are an ethnic minority in China, inhabiting the northwestern region of Xinjiang, which is quite large. They are predominantly Muslim, and speak Uyghur, a Turkic language, and frequently have more culturally in common with neighboring Kazakhstan and Tajikistan than with the Han in eastern China. For many decades, the Chinese government has viewed Uyghurs with suspicion and since the 1950s has continually ramped up levels of surveillance against Xinjiang. I wrote a paper on this situation in graduate school several years ago concluding that China is enacting a slow genocide against Uyghurs, with the intent of fully wiping out their culture.
Uyghurs are subjected to relentless video surveillance, intrusive police home visits, regularly summoned to the police station for interrogation without any suspicion of a real crime, forcibly sterilized. and punished for any excessive displays of religiosity such as wearing a hijab or visiting mosque too frequently. Some years ago, "reeducation schools" entered the picture.
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 10
Jul. 27th, 2025 01:24 pmmarycatelli posting in booksFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 10 by Kanehito Yamada
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Dracula
Jul. 26th, 2025 11:16 ammarycatelli posting in booksDracula by Bram Stoker
The original. An epistolary novel starting with a young man going on a lawyer's behalf to Transylvania and discovering much trouble there, followed by increasing horrors.
The original. An epistolary novel starting with a young man going on a lawyer's behalf to Transylvania and discovering much trouble there, followed by increasing horrors.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 9
Jul. 25th, 2025 05:53 pmmarycatelli posting in booksFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 9 by Kanehito Yamada
Adventures continue. Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Adventures continue. Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 8
Jul. 24th, 2025 08:01 pmmarycatelli posting in booksFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 8 by Kanehito Yamada
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Recent Reading: Consent
Jul. 23rd, 2025 10:02 pmrocky41_7 posting in booksWe're back to the "Women in Translation" rec list, with book #10: Consent: A Memoir by Vanessa Springora, translated from French by Natasha Lehrer. This autobiographical novel is the story of Springora's sexual abuse as a young teenager at the hands of Gabriel Matzneff, a well-regarded and prolific French writer, who was in his late forties when he entered a romantic and sexual relationship with Springora (called "V" in the book).
The rest of this review is under the cut, given the nature of the content.
( Read more... )Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 7
Jul. 23rd, 2025 09:34 pmmarycatelli posting in booksFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 7 by Kanehito Yamada
Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes
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Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 6
Jul. 22nd, 2025 11:11 ammarycatelli posting in booksFrieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 6 by Kanehito Yamada
Spoilers ahead for the earlier works.
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Spoilers ahead for the earlier works.
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