Sarah Monette's Blog, page 63

UBC: The Logic of Millennial Thought

Davidson, James West. The Logic of Millennial Thought: Eighteenth-Century New England. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977.


This is another book that I bought mostly because it was there that turned out to be excellent. James West Davidson is a careful and respectful, but not at all reverent scholar of the eschatology of eighteenth-century New Englanders, and he pursues his exploration mindfully, discussing overtly and straightforwardly the differences between what modern readers expect of ...

Project Valkyrie

(Lap swim is from noon to one, so I'm assuming a nominal hour across the board in terms of time spent exercising.)

LAPS: 28
YARDS: 1400
MILES: .8
TOTAL MILES: 276.96
MILES LEFT TO RIVENDELL: 181.04

NOTES: Nothing like doing freestyle in the lane next to the guy doing butterfly. Also, my breast stroke technique sucks.

putting it out there to the universe

Dear Universe:

For a variety of reasons that do not need exploring at this juncture (but that you, being the universe, already know about), I am looking for a part-time job. This is a tricky proposition for me, because my intensive training in one particular, esoteric field means that I am both over- and under-qualified for almost every job in existence--except teaching English, which, ironically, is not a job I want. (Teaching is never a part-time job.) Also, historically, I have proven to be...

dog-paddling to Mordor brb

While Project Valkyrie has not stopped, I did, several months ago, quit using the rowing machine--for a variety of reasons, all of which were problems with me, not problems with it. I've been using the EA Active Sports program for the Wii as my regular exercise, plus a dressage lesson once a week (and if you think that's not exercise, I have news for you) and walks with mirrorthaw on the weekends and mucking around in the yard, etc. etc. But nothing that could take over for the metrics. Which...

Bah.

Today has not been one of my better days. Depressed, disheartened, misanthropic. And my uterus decided that what would be REALLY FUN tonight would be unscheduled, unannounced, and copious menstrual flow (for certain values of "copious" which I realize are a mere nothing to some women). However. I did exercise. And I paid the quarterly taxes--which did not exactly help with the disheartened and misanthropic part. (Dear Federal Gummint: LIVIN IN THE FUTURE, UR DOIN IT RONG.)

On the unambiguously...

PSA: the pronunciation of my last name

Please disassociate me in your mind from the famous French painter, Claude Monet. Instead, think of the Radio City Rockettes. That should clear up any lingering mental confusion.

5 things

1. Went to the vet's office this morning to buy cat food and got to see a Newfoundland heading into one of the exam rooms for his or her check up. I love Newfies; they look so exactly like small bears, and those that I have seen have clearly been deep in love with the whole wide world.

2. My dreams last night starred Avery Brooks and Hulk Hogan. I'm still decidedly nonplussed about that.

3. I now know of two cats named Mildmay (thank you, hominysnark and topknot , both for choosing that name and...

UBC: A Quest for Security

Gragg, Larry. A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris, 1653-1720. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990.


Ironically, while I was very excited to find Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem and picked this up mostly because (a.) it was right there and (b.) it seemed unlikely I'd ever find another copy, this was by far the better book.

It is exactly what it says it is: a biography of Samuel Parris. And Gragg doesn't try to make Parris seem either better or worse (or more interesting) than he actually...

UBC: Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem

Breslaw, Elaine G. Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies. New York: New York University Press, 1996.


I was hoping to be able to make a post about how much better this book was than The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers , and for about half the book, that was looking really likely. The first half of this book, in which Breslaw traces Tituba's probable early life, is quite good. She explains very clearly the speculative leap she's making in assuming that the slave...

5 things

1.
Kelly Link, who is one of the most amazing writers working in our field today, made a guest blog post at Forever Young about her daughter Ursula. It is a beautiful, sad, scary, hopeful essay, and although, as Kelly says, it isn't much like the stories she writes, at the same time, it really is.

2.
Jay Lake has an ambition for The Specific Gravity of Grief:

I have a long term ambition for this book, which is to have copies make their way into oncologist's offices and infusion centers around...