Recent reading
Apr. 7th, 2025 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaAm I reading anything? Still very little fiction, due to life circumstances. But I'm not worried--my fiction-reading has previously gone down to almost zero in similar circumstances, and then bounced back later. The books will still be there.
I think one reason I read fiction is to vicariously experience other people's lives and emotions. And when my own life is full of experiences and emotions (especially romantic emotions, but it can be other kinds of intense feeling, too), then that can leave little mental space for reading fiction. What fiction I am reading is (perhaps surprisingly) my own fic, and occasionally other people's fic. I recently reread one of my own longfics, for example. But that's good, it keeps me in fandom.
I am, however, reading some non-fiction. I made it through the pile of magazines that had accumulated; these are mostly biology-related in some way or other (like membership magazines from such things as the Swedish botanical society). During my first illness in January (covid??) I read Sandor Ellix Katz' The Art of Fermentation, which was quite interesting and gave me ideas for further things to try, though there was some repetition from the other book by the same author that I'd already read. Currently I am making my way through On Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee, which is brilliant and comprehensive. I am learning so much from it! Highly recommended if you're interested in why cooking works the way it does, and learning more about various ingredients.
I've also dipped into some of housemate's books on market gardening, which (quite understandably) are a bit different from gardening books aimed at home gardeners. A reasonable way of sowing, watering, weeding, harvesting etc for someone who is growing vegetables for the household, can be a time sink for someone who is growing vegetables to make a living, because it doesn't scale up. Thus a focus on efficiency and how one can save time. I am obviously not going to be a market gardener, though housemate is, but it was interesting to read. And perhaps some methods might carry over.
I think one reason I read fiction is to vicariously experience other people's lives and emotions. And when my own life is full of experiences and emotions (especially romantic emotions, but it can be other kinds of intense feeling, too), then that can leave little mental space for reading fiction. What fiction I am reading is (perhaps surprisingly) my own fic, and occasionally other people's fic. I recently reread one of my own longfics, for example. But that's good, it keeps me in fandom.
I am, however, reading some non-fiction. I made it through the pile of magazines that had accumulated; these are mostly biology-related in some way or other (like membership magazines from such things as the Swedish botanical society). During my first illness in January (covid??) I read Sandor Ellix Katz' The Art of Fermentation, which was quite interesting and gave me ideas for further things to try, though there was some repetition from the other book by the same author that I'd already read. Currently I am making my way through On Food and Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee, which is brilliant and comprehensive. I am learning so much from it! Highly recommended if you're interested in why cooking works the way it does, and learning more about various ingredients.
I've also dipped into some of housemate's books on market gardening, which (quite understandably) are a bit different from gardening books aimed at home gardeners. A reasonable way of sowing, watering, weeding, harvesting etc for someone who is growing vegetables for the household, can be a time sink for someone who is growing vegetables to make a living, because it doesn't scale up. Thus a focus on efficiency and how one can save time. I am obviously not going to be a market gardener, though housemate is, but it was interesting to read. And perhaps some methods might carry over.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-04-08 05:11 pm (UTC)I just started the McGee book from the library, and I'm going to purchase my own copy. What a brilliant work it is!
I learned almost zero science during my mis-spent educational years (in high school: 1 biology with no DNA in the curriculum!, in secondary school: 1 "physics for poets" and 1 basic statics/mechanics--both without calculus.) McGee's book serves as a fascinating intro to basic chemistry on the journey to how liquid, flour, and fat make a sauce.
That dairy animals create the ideal environment for fermentation via free yeasts or rennet is lovely. The dairy nutritional chart explains how circumpolar peoples survive the cold climate thanks to reindeer milks having more than double the fat and protein of most other herd animals. (I want to read the SF novel where folks are dairying fin whales, because the ice cream from that 42% fat milk would be cosmic).
(no subject)
Date: 2025-04-09 06:10 am (UTC)