EntropicalVacation 4 weeks ago • 100%
I’m reading The Garden of Departed Cats by Bilge Karasu. It’s a collection of very strange and seemingly unrelated short stories, interspersed with chapters about a traveler in a Mediterranean city who ends up taking part in a human chess game. The publisher’s description says, “With many strata to mine, The Garden of the Departed Cats is a work of peculiar beauty and strangeness, the whole layered and shiny like a piece of mica.” If you like Kafka, or Italo Calvino, this might be up your alley. Me, I’m not too sure yet.
I’m also listening to the audiobook of The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. It’s told from the point of view of Tookie, an ex con who works at a bookstore in Minnesota owned by an author named Louise. Tookie is now married to the tribal cop who arrested her, she has a fraught relationship with her step daughter and with the ghost of a former bookstore customer who died while reading a book that is now in Tookie’s possession that she thinks may be cursed. It takes place in 2020, and COVID-19 has just struck. I love Louise Erdrich, and this is much more engaging than the Karasu.
EntropicalVacation 2 months ago • 100%
For SF, I recommend anything by Becky Chambers. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is the first of her Wayfarers series.
EntropicalVacation 6 months ago • 92%
Greebles. They’re often on the ceiling at our house.
EntropicalVacation 6 months ago • 100%
“She had six strong legs and it frightened me. She had insect eyes but I could still see that the look she gave him you give to me.”
EntropicalVacation 7 months ago • 100%
Why would he want to? The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
EntropicalVacation 7 months ago • 100%
Enjoy what you enjoy—life’s too short and there are too many other books out there to waste time on what you don’t enjoy! I have no qualms about not finishing a book, no matter how far along I’ve gotten. I’ve been known to skip to the last chapter or last few pages just to see how it ends, then move on.
On the other hand, for books that you have to read (for school, e.g.) set a goal of X pages per day, and reward yourself when you make the goal. I also find it helps to read more interactively: take notes, argue with the author, think about what you read and whether it’s total b.s. or whether there was anything, however small, of value in it.
EntropicalVacation 8 months ago • 100%
I love doilies, and this one is amazing!
EntropicalVacation 8 months ago • 100%
The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (no, I’m not reading anymore Donna Tartt), Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
EntropicalVacation 8 months ago • 100%
It’s an unwieldy word, which I think was a deliberate choice.
EntropicalVacation 9 months ago • 100%
I love Becky Chambers. Psalm for the Wild Built was one of my favorites from 2022.
EntropicalVacation 9 months ago • 100%
Dutch House was one of my favorite reads from 2022.
EntropicalVacation 9 months ago • 100%
I actually split between reading and listening to the audiobook. It was long either way! I didn’t care for it as much as I thought I would. The first part took me a while to get into, I loved the second part, but after ::: spoiler spoiler Maidenhair dies ::: it was all downhill.
EntropicalVacation 9 months ago • 100%
In very roughly descending order:
Auē by Becky Manawatu
Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson
Open Throat by Henry Hoke
Autumn by Ali Smith
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Home by Toni Morrison
Gnomon by Nick Harkaway
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
The Book of M by Peng Shepherd
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Door by Magda Szabó
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
EntropicalVacation 9 months ago • 100%
I had a cat that was maybe 6 or 7 years old when she suddenly started having seizures. After a seizure, she’d be wobbly for a few days, then eventually back to normal… until it happened again. Vet couldn’t figure out what was going on. We decided to try to track when she had the seizures—was it when she ate something out of the ordinary, got exposed to something unusual, on a recurring schedule? That sort of thing. We quickly found out that within a day or two of giving her a dose of Frontline flea treatment (the kind you drip on the back of their neck) she’d have a seizure. We stopped giving her Frontline and she never had another seizure.
EntropicalVacation 9 months ago • 100%
It turned out beautifully!
EntropicalVacation 9 months ago • 100%
Just want to say that (a) I love the pattern and colors, and (b) it doesn’t look horribly wonky to me. Blocking might improve it, but I don’t think it needs “saving.”
EntropicalVacation 10 months ago • 100%
We have one. The cat likes it, and we love it. Super-easy to empty.
EntropicalVacation 10 months ago • 100%
—Oh, we use only the finest baby frogs, dew-picked and flown from Iraq, cleansed in the finest quality spring water, lightly killed, and sealed in a succulent, Swiss, quintuple-smooth, treble-milk chocolate envelope, and lovingly frosted with glucose.
—That's as may be, but it's still a frog!
—What else?
—Well, don't you even take the bones out?
—If we took the bones out, it wouldn't be crunchy, would it?
EntropicalVacation 11 months ago • 100%
Central Illinoisan here, and I’m pretty sure the half of Illinois south of the Mason-Dixon Line is the South, not the Midwest.
EntropicalVacation 12 months ago • 100%
I hadn’t thought about it, but it sounds like a fun idea, so I’ve checked out The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, a horror classic that’s been on my to-read list for a while: “a collection of spine-tingling horror stories that are woven together by a fictional play called The King in Yellow.”
EntropicalVacation 12 months ago • 100%
So cute! And done in plenty of time for Halloween!
EntropicalVacation 12 months ago • 100%
American here, but I agree with a traditionally Polish or German gift. I’ve always thought Polish pottery is lovely.
EntropicalVacation 12 months ago • 100%
My first instinct would be Southwest, like Texas.
Here’s an article with maps that show the Census regions that @Jackcooper@lemmy.world mentioned puts OK in the South: https://www.businessinsider.com/united-states-regions-new-england-midwest-south-2018-4?op=1
And here’s a map from National Geographic that puts OK in the Southwest: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/united-states-regions/
EntropicalVacation 12 months ago • 100%
I’m so happy to see “A Song for Lya” on your list. It’s one of my favorite SF stories!
A law abolishing cash bail will take effect in Illinois on Sept. 18. The change makes Illinois the first state to eliminate the practice and a nationally watched testing ground for whether such a change can work.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
This is pretty much my process too, except I’m not so organized as to have an expenses spreadsheet.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
Most of my savings is in IRAs, which are mostly invested in Vanguard index funds. I try to keep about what I’d need to live on for a year in short-term investments and high-yield savings, any extra in some longer-term investments. I have a couple of CDs, some T bills, an I bond, some stocks. I’ve been shifting money around lately depending on where the best interest rates are.
Bread Savings has a 4.88% rate (5% APY) right now, no fees. The T bills have rates between about 5.3% and 5.5%. Right now, even 4-week T bills have rates over 5%.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
A kidney donated from a living donor often lasts longer and performs better than a kidney from a deceased donor. Donating a kidney to a stranger can begin a paired donation chain that can result in several people getting kidneys. If you are seriously thinking about donating, I strongly encourage you to do some research with reputable sources, talk to some people who’ve donated themselves, talk it over with your loved ones, and maybe talk to some transplant coordinators at the nearest transplant center. It’s not something to be undertaken lightly, but living donors are saints.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
Cosmos by Carl Sagan. A little dated, but a classic. Sagan’s enthusiasm for his subject is inspirational.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Part memoir, part reflections on how to repair humanity’s relationship with the natural world. The author is a botanist and a Potawatomi, and brings both perspectives to her work.
The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green. Thoughtful, heartfelt observations of humanity and its effects on the planet and the other beings that live on it, from a kind, decent, engaged, and nevertheless hopeful person.
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery. Really more personal reflections on octopuses the author has known and loved than an objective look at consciousness, but the tales are very moving.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
I almost always have at least one book checked out in Libby. A couple of weeks ago I made my first in-person trip to the library and checked out my first paper book since COVID.
“The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is trying to fight back. It recently launched the Banned Book Program, granting free nationwide access to books restricted in schools or libraries. “It functions through GPS-based geo-targeting; by typing in your zip code, you are shown the complete list of titles prohibited in your area. Once you download the Palace e-reader app, these books are available to download.”
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
A feed full of cats.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
This is captivating! I am transfixed by that look, but then my eye is also drawn to that moon, and the geese, and the entire canvas of hyperrealistic details. Thanks for introducing me to this artist.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
I see lemmy.eco.br on the midwest.social/instances page.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
TheColor Purple by Alice Walker, I presume.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
I love the Pre-Raphaelites.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
I believe it’s oil on wood.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 92%
School shooter drills
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
I just wanted to add this link to xkcd’s survey results about color names because it’s fun and possibly relevant.
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
Cute! For the hair, uou could use strands of eyelash yarn or chenille or something super fuzzy, maybe?
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
Lou Reed - Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal
EntropicalVacation 1 year ago • 100%
Blem? Mlep?
For those who’d like a little more schadenfreude.
First of all, I want to say I’m happy to see this crochet community on Lemmy, and to get the ball rolling, here’s one of my many WIPs. It uses the [Draco Shawl](https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/draco-shawl) pattern on Ravelry. It’s one of my older WIPs since the beading takes *forever.* ![](https://midwest.social/pictrs/image/e2ec8e0a-7ed6-440b-ba49-0581f7b64571.jpeg)
I’m using [LibraryThing](https://www.librarything.com/), after fleeing GoodReads a few years back, and I just learned about [BookWyrm](https://joinbookwyrm.com/). I’m interested in what others apps and sites are out there for keeping track of your books and/or to-read list, and/or reviewing and/or discussing them, and what folks think about them.
Here, I’ll get us started with a picture of one of my many WIPs. ![](https://midwest.social/pictrs/image/1949eabb-3ee5-42f4-a5d6-fe2ad2e79a88.jpeg)