Recent reading and listening
Apr. 14th, 2013 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination, by Francis Spufford
This is non-fiction about the cultural history of British polar exploration up to about Shackleton and Scott. Well worth reading! I especially liked the bit about the roles available to women as explorers' wives, and the bit about how the public image of the Franklin expedition and other earlier expeditions influenced the staging of the Shackleton and Scott expeditions. Also, I can't help quoting this little tidbit: here's a 19th century translation of a line from an Inuit story: "I'm a better man than any of you!" A more literal translation of the line is apparently: "My clitoris is bigger than all your penises put together!" *g*
Barrayar, by Lois McMaster Bujold (audiobook)
Still very enjoyable! I could listen to Cordelia kicking ass all day, thank you. \o/
First Successful Ascent of Mt. Rainier, 1870 (Librivox audiobook)
What it says on the tin. Apparently they thought they could do the last little bit in one day and left coats and blankets behind? And then they had to spend the night at a volcanic steam vent with one side of the body scalding and the other side freezing to ice, gah.
As for fanworks, I finally found the Avengers fic I've been longing for! I am not really much of an Avengers fan, but ever since I watched Captain America I've wanted a fic about Steve Rogers being friends and hanging out with the showgirls in the USO, and now I've found one: Star Spangled, by![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
boombangbing. Yessssss, I love it. ♥ I have no idea why this fic satisfies my id, but it does.
I've also really enjoyedbghost's Shadow of the Bookman. I've only read the first part so far, but it's a gripping gen fic about Vecchio in Vegas (although the first part is all about how he was convinced to do it). There are family secrets and ghosts!
This is non-fiction about the cultural history of British polar exploration up to about Shackleton and Scott. Well worth reading! I especially liked the bit about the roles available to women as explorers' wives, and the bit about how the public image of the Franklin expedition and other earlier expeditions influenced the staging of the Shackleton and Scott expeditions. Also, I can't help quoting this little tidbit: here's a 19th century translation of a line from an Inuit story: "I'm a better man than any of you!" A more literal translation of the line is apparently: "My clitoris is bigger than all your penises put together!" *g*
Barrayar, by Lois McMaster Bujold (audiobook)
Still very enjoyable! I could listen to Cordelia kicking ass all day, thank you. \o/
First Successful Ascent of Mt. Rainier, 1870 (Librivox audiobook)
What it says on the tin. Apparently they thought they could do the last little bit in one day and left coats and blankets behind? And then they had to spend the night at a volcanic steam vent with one side of the body scalding and the other side freezing to ice, gah.
As for fanworks, I finally found the Avengers fic I've been longing for! I am not really much of an Avengers fan, but ever since I watched Captain America I've wanted a fic about Steve Rogers being friends and hanging out with the showgirls in the USO, and now I've found one: Star Spangled, by
I've also really enjoyed
bghost's Shadow of the Bookman. I've only read the first part so far, but it's a gripping gen fic about Vecchio in Vegas (although the first part is all about how he was convinced to do it). There are family secrets and ghosts!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-15 10:28 am (UTC)I basically just saw the title going by on my Librivox feed and grabbed it because I was curious. But all the place names filled me with fondness somehow. I know I only lived there two years as a kid, and have visited a couple of times since, but I guess the Pacific Northwest is an area that is easy to grow fond of.
Somewhat related: have you read Wild Life by Molly Gloss? If not, I think you'd enjoy it.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-15 03:33 pm (UTC)I can't understand why people live in other places, although days like yesterday, when every time I went outside and got started on an indivisible chunk of work it started to hail with at least ten minutes left on the job, Hawaii sounds feasible.
Julia, needing to get a piece of time fenced off to update here, except for the part wher I have to have clean housing for two new roosters by Friday