Reviewer recommendation

I don’t read much in the way of book reviews. It’s not that I’m opposed to them, it’s more that time is finite and I don’t get around to it. Yet I value good reviews — see the aforementioned “time is finite.” If I’m going to read something, I want to go in with a reasonable expectation that I will find some value in the text. I want to enjoy it, or have my understanding of the world broadened, or have my feelings challenged in a good way.

I do not want to spend my time reading books that are not going to give me anything I’m looking for.

To that end, I truly appreciate the reviews of my friend Heidi. You can find her reviews here. Heidi does the thing a reviewer needs to do — she gives you the information you need to decide whether or not this is a book you want to read. That may include information about the quality of the writing, the ideas contained therein, the development of the characters, the use or misuse of familiar tropes, the presence of difficult scenes or subjects, or the absence of romantic plots. Heidi understands that sometimes a reader wants a challenge, and sometimes a person might want A Book Just Like The Books I Already Love Except One I Haven’t Read Before. On reading her reviews, I always know what sort I am getting.

I particularly enjoy the closing remarks of the reviews — the Read If You Enjoy sections. For example:

“Read if: You read and loved the first and plan to read the third. You will forgive it for only having two, relatively short, wolfboy sex scenes.

Skip if: you are a patient person. Wait until the third book comes out and read all three at once”

Or:

“Read if: you are a voracious pre-teen reader systematically working your way through the library, you are also studying for the LSAT and need something as a palate cleanser at night.

Skip if: You might get your hopes unreasonably raised by a book named after an interesting historical character, you have limited reading time and like to allot it judiciously.”

Or:

“Read if: you like thinking about the future-that-may-be, you wonder what the nature of humanity is if we don’t have bodies anymore.

Skip if: you are going to feel awkward liking unembodied crustaceans better than humankind’s continual fucking up.”

If you think those are amusing and informative, you will enjoy these reviews.

I don’t always read the books Heidi reviews — that is the entire point. I know, ahead of time, whether I want to spend my time with the work in question. When I do pick up books she has reviewed, I almost always enjoy them.

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Whedonistas review!

Lisa Fary at Pink Raygun reviewed Whedonistas quite favorably, with some especially flattering remarks about my essay, “The Ages of Dollhouse: Autobiography Through Whedon.” Thank you, Ms. Fary, for the kind words.

Whedonistas debuted at the Gallifrey One convention last week, and goes on sale March 15th. It is available for pre-order through Amazon, through Mad Norwegian Press, and through Barnes & Noble.

Catching up with yesterday

Yesterday was a perfectly lovely day of really a lot of things going on.

1. We’re trying the Singapore Math curriculum for the kids. After a few lessons it seems to be working out quite well. After the placement tests, we seem to have selected the right level of work for each kid. And the textbooks and workbooks are easy to follow and do. So, now, these days we do math with one kid while the other kid does reading on their own, or handwriting practice, or a typing tutorial, or some such.

2. School in general is going well. The kids are slowly getting the countries and capitols of South America, they know their parts of speech rather well, math is fine, and they have a reasonable grasp on world history. Yesterday I spent some time discussing the history of the Bible, and the problems of the entire idea of literal “Word of God” due to the fact of TRANSLATION. And we discussed written languages without vowels. (Is “th ct st n th mt” the cat sat on the mat? The cot sat on the mat? The cat sat in the meat? This cut stay in thy moot? What does it mean?)

3. Karate is going quite well, I think. The instructor assures me that my kids are by no means the least attentive or most dilatory and vague of her students. So I’m taking her word for it.

4. I am deciding that I actively dislike swimming as a form of exercise. On Thursdays (soon to be Fridays) I take the kids to the Y to swim. This fulfills a few needs. The kids get extra time in the water, and even if they are not practicing kicks and strokes and laps, they are playing and being extremely comfortable in the water, and that is all good. I do, though, make M practice some extra kicks and floating and strokes before he can go play. Full-body coordination is hard for him. While we are out, J gets to work in peace and quiet and then nap before her night class. And I get to work out. Except, the thing is, I can’t really leave the kids in the pool and go workout. I could, technically, but not practically. And there’s not enough time to put them in childcare, work out, then have them swim. So I have to swim.

It is so damn boring.

You have to understand — I cope with cardio by not paying attention to it. I read, or watch tv, or listen to audiobooks, or to music. I don’t sit there and ponder my workout. That way lies madness, or, at least, complete boredom. But with swimming laps all I can do is sit ther and ponder my swimming. There’s no distraction. It is so boring.

5. I’m on GoodReads, in case anyone is interested. I tend to write a few remarks or a short review of the books I finish. Though, I have not and am likely not going to go through and add reviews of all the books I list as read.

6. Gaming last night was fun. We played Rock Band 3, and I sang all four Lady Gaga songs in a row \o/

7. Yesterday’s news cycle was completely depressing. Here’s hoping that today’s is better.

Cool Kids review.

Over at Alert Nerd, Sarah Kuhn gave Cool Kids a really nice review. She says:

“All of this is to say that I think Sigrid Ellis’ and Sean Lynch’s lovely black and white mini-comic, Cool Kids, gets the college experience exactly right and tells these perfect little stories in the space of a few pages. The dialogue is spare, the interplay between the four friends is fun and authentic, and issue #3 has a fantastic sequence revolving around a Louise Brooksian bob.”

(I like issue #3 the best, personally.)

Thank you, Sarah, for the kind words!

As always, Cool Kids can be ordered here.