Another far fetched change I would like to see in our society: shorter work days. I don’t think there is any real reason why we settled on 8h work days, and with the growth of productivity I see no reason why we should stay there. A shorter work day (at same pay) would allow the worker to have more time to enjoy life - and the family they chose to create.

He is learning to speak, and the latest discovery is letting me know the process of bunping into stuff (a second ago, in front of me, usually without hurting himself). He comes to me, tells me “boom” pointing at where he fell, then “aua” with the saddest face, pointing at what he supposedly hurt. Sometimes it’s even the correct spot! He often then patiently waits for a kiss on it.

My kid started hating waking up from his daily nap. I still don’t understand why or how, but at least half of the times, he wakes up so mad! And there seems to be nothing to do. At times he gets more mad if you try to comfort him. Sometimes taking in a soothing voice helps, but not always. Often giving him his pajama pants helps -and that’s the only time in the day he requires them. I don’t know if it counts as tantrum, but i can’t classify it as anything else… we usually wait it out, can take up to 20 minutes of screeching.

1.5 years old he is understanding the concept of hot, so he is learning to blow on warm food, let me know if it’s too hot and communicate this: a hand over the head is the signal for “hot”. It gets used when he passes near the oven, when I am cooking and when we serve food.

At 1.5y, diversion has started to loose its power when having to stop playing or having to leave toys. Luckily I found out that “saying goodbye” is extremely effective. It gives the kid an understanding of what is happening (we are leaving) and a moment to process the loss. So now every time we go home from the playground we say goodbye, even if there are no other people around.

Finally got to read this short story yesterday. As good as always, thanks for the recommendation!

I don’t think that would be a problem related to not write chronologically. Think of a reader reading about Ireland nowadays. How much do you need to know about why Irish people do not like English people in order to understand and enjoy the story? I don’t think much other at all. If you really want, you can easily insert a brief line about the background and have later in a gull story about the background itself.

“Latest hack you figured out”

As a new parent, there have been countless little hacks shared with me that really helped my life. The first one: “sometimes babies just need to cry it out” (within reason). Helped me drop the parent guilt of hearing your baby cry and not being able to fix it right away.

Latest one: if you are excited, they will likely be as well. (Experiences of potty training)

Everything by Le Guin is pure gold! I will add this one to my reading list, but I lived “The Dispossessed “ as political science-fiction, while “the left hand of the darkness” explores gender and prejudices, and “earthsea” is a series of coming of age novels. Every is so good

Writing style.

I am down for any book, as long as the author can play with the language. It can be long winded as Wallace, or poignant like Vonnegut, or poetic and soft like Haruf, or dry and almost scientific like Asimov, or logic bending like Pratchett, but all these authors can use language like an instrument. This property doesn’t make a book easy to read, but makes it most definitely worth my while.

It is! I also find unsettling how human-like the cast looks, both with the eye and the position of the elbows…

I started Blood Meridian by McCarthy. It was a Christmas gift from an American friend. I had never heard about it before then, and I went into it more or less blind. It’s a much bleaker read than I was expecting, but the language is keeping me hooked: it has been a while since last time I had to check the meaning of an English word, and this me taught me plenty.

On the side, I’m reading a German young adult romance novel to learn better German. It’s a light read, to nicely compensate and lift my spirits a bit.

From an academic level, he stands aside, presenting himself as and taking pride in being a “poet maudit”, a cursed poet. So his themes are very peculiar. But he also has a really good classical education, thus he builds very balanced verses, while often playing with the musicality of words.

For me, very personally, it sounds so incredibly good while being almost over the top dark and tortured. I love the contrast that creates.

The poem I particularly like is the one he chose as introduction of his works. It’s alluring, while alluding to the future corruption. I imagine it to be the call of a new drug.

A problem with poetry is that it cannot be translated, so I’ll refer the originals:

• Correspondences by Baudelaire (what do you get if you mix many drugs in the French noble 1800s)
• The Road not taken by Frost (every choice has a consequence)
• Invictus by Henley (the power of the will and the soul)
• Non chiederci la parola by Montale (the impossibility of knowing)

Lol! My mum still asks both me and my husband (“techy” jobs according to her) to solve all her problems with computers/printers/ the internet at large/ any app that doesn’t work… the list is endless. I take it as a statement of how proud she is of me that she would still ask us first, even if we haven’t succeeded in fixing a single issue since the time the problem was an old cartridge in the printer some 5-6 years ago.

I think the Tiffany Aching quadrilogy is also great, a bit apart in the discoworld, sweeter and less irreverent.

I walked into a random bookstore and got advised to read “Rossignol” by Audrey Pleynet. As far as I know it has only been published in French, but I hope this is going to change.

It’s a short read, but absolutely amazing. A woman is on the run, and mixes memories of her past in a futuristic space station to flashes of her escape. Only slowly do all the pieces fall together, creating a tale with many emotions, strange characters and glimpses of a lively mixed station where all are welcome, but where tensions between groups are rising.

I loved it for the deep characterization of the main character, while all others are just fast drafts. I loved it for the sci-fi and the politics and the action.

I started it yesterday and already finished it.

Thanks for the extra info. In the meantime I finished the book, so I have a better outlook. At the beginning, the push is towards a revolution against the authoritarian regime, with some sprinkles of “workers unite”, so I expected to go more towards socialism. Then it becomes more clear that he is against all a d any government, even while accepting that it can’t work. Quite interesting overall!

Me too! I haven’t read the second one because I don’t want to invest too much in a series that doesn’t go anywhere (yet?). But as soon as number 3 comes out, I’ll read all of them.

I am reading “The moon is a harsh mistress” by Heinlein. It’s the first time i read him in the original language, and it’s glorious! He talks about a moon uprising against the earth government. The book reads a bit like a battle diary, at times quite dry. The part I love the most is how he plays with so many political and ethical concepts, like completely supporting prostitution. His extreme left tendencies are not hidden in this book. I’m enjoying it a lot!

I couldn’t finish Dead Souls. It’s supposed to be hilarious, but i just did not get it. How do you like it so far?

Not necessarily literal winter, but when i need something cozy and comforting, maybe somewhat meditative, I always turn towards The Lord of the Rings. All the characters are so pure, and simple, the story is pretty, beautiful and calming, the evil so obviously evil. And the language, while maybe dry, is soothing and takes a lot from oral tales. It all makes for a comfort read.

I loved that episode ! One of the few I watched multiple times (together with the zombie apocalypse)

Wow, that’s great news! Thanks for sharing! I read my father’s version, so definitely older than 1991.

I just started reading The Moon is a harsh Mistress, I’m hope it keeps up with the hype.

I randomly picked up “On”, an old sci-fi book I never heard of. While reading, I understand why it got lost in the mists of time, but it’s an okay read with an interesting idea: what if gravity went sideways?

You are not! Books are not time bound! How are you liking it?

I have just finished “Stolen Focus”, all in all an enjoyable and relatively informative read on the key ingredients of attention and why we struggle with it nowadays. While some parts were unexpected, and the topic was fairly deeply researched, i still felt like i already knew a bit part of what he talks about. Okay book, would not recommend unless you are really into TedTalks.

I also read “A Little Life”: American slice of life. This might be the book with the longest list of trigger warnings that I have read, easily rivaling Berserk (the manga), and it’s absolutely worth it. It has some pitfalls (namely, everything is a little extreme), but the psychological characterization of the characters is gut punching and reminds me of the best of Victor Hugo and Dostoyevsky. Fullheartedly recommend to anyone that can stomach written violence on many forms.

Now I’m here looking for inspiration on my next read.

Thanks for your point of view! Always fun to see other perspectives.

I haven’t read many multi-generational books, and I often felt the characters being flat on the page, so maybe it’s my own shortcoming.

The two things are actually often related: junk food is faster, more accessible, stores longer, and is cheaper per calorie. So you can be hungry, skip a salad meal (that would need to be bought fresh and prepared) while having “mcdonalds”/microwave meal/high calorie meal for your leftover meal. Third has been the pattern, following US, where it is very common for the poor to eat more calories than the rich, while eating less healthy meals.

So glad to hear that you are feeling better!

I enjoy this weekly chat, allows me to get a glimpse of other people’s interests and approaches to reading. I am particularly fascinated by the people having a full stack of books they will soon be reading. That’s so different from how I usually choose my books. For me, it’s mostly a spur if the moment decision which new book to start, depending on my mood and my reading list. As an aside, this is for me one of the biggest pros of a kindle: I can download my next book as soon as I decide what it will be.

Anyway, I’m reading Stolen Focus, interesting and entertaining enough, but nothing much to write home about.

You are in for a great experience. Personally, Japanese teas are probably my favorites, with Gyokuro and Genmaica at the top of the list. Plenty of variety for “pure green teas”. :) Enjoy!

The first line got copied from the other post! 😝

Why has this question been downvoted?

How did you like your first Sencha? Exciting!

Same here!

The Netherlands has Tikkie, same thing. And my bank has instantaneous transfers all across the EU… I’ll never change bank

Thanks, I was also struggling with the weird INRI, and the original orientation makes more sense.

It’s a great piece of art, really punchy.

Absolutely, and all the people that now have the artifacts benefit in keeping the status quo, so there is effectively little push to solve a very complex problem.

I didn’t know about Common sense media, nice initiative!