Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 104

Alif the Unseen--a big fat review!

In case you'd like to hear *more* of what I liked about Alif the Unseen, here is a copy of what I wrote on Goodreads.

Characters I absolutely loved, talking about philosophical, intellectual, and spiritual questions and ideas, while meanwhile moving through an exciting, imaginative plot, and with liberal doses of good natured humor throughout—what more could I possibly ask for! I loved this book.

Alif (that’s his handle, not his real name) is the rather clueless, somewhat emotionally obtuse com...

Alas, the flower was a fraud

I should be less credulous.

I noticed in the photo I'd taken the other day that the stalk in the background looked spattered, as if by paint. This morning I went back and looked at the flower again. It's closed up now, and you can clearly see where the paint hit and where it didn't.

Ah well!





ETA: To see what genuine pigmented Queen Anne's Lace looks like, check out this photo by clarentine on Flickr:

Blood on the queen's lace

I discovered this freaky Queen Anne's lace blossom growing beside a very-little-traveled road. It's the sort of thing that would be used in augury, a prophecy that can't bode well. As stillnotbored remarked, little-traveled roads are great places to dispose of inconvenient bodies. The blossom is proclaiming that the truth will out?



And here are my favorites, the foxtail grasses, golden macro-paramecia, playing in the sun.



ETA: Nope, not for real--see next entry. If only the spray painter knew h...

miscellany

It's been a whole week since I posted. I used to never let a week go by without posting; I couldn't bear to. I don't know precisely what's changed, though I have some ideas . . . but enough of that.

Here are some things I've been thinking about and would like to talk about more at some point. Alif the Unseen . I finished this book and loved it. It was funny--I was reading humorous bits out to family members--had excellent characters, an exciting story, and faith was an integral, moving part of...

Alif the Unseen--no spoilers!

I am really enjoying this book. Right now I'm in a chase scene. It's better than watching a movie. Alif rushes into a mosque, and the sheikh there shields him from the state security men who are pursuing him. The sheikh and the security men then have this conversation:

"W have the authority to search the whole mosque anytime we please." The voice was fat and guttural.

"Whose authority?" the sheikh asked.

"State's, you impudent old man--what other kind is there?"

"God's," he answered serenely. The...

Shopping cart number 2

Well, removing the one shopping cart must have registered as a gauntlet thrown down, because a new one appeared, and this time in the rosa multiflora, which will KILL YOU if you try to go through it--which meant, no lifting from underneath.

But today, I had three of the four forest creatures to help me, and they are grown into their power! We got that cart out in no time.

pondering the shopping cart


hands and hooks


lifting


up over the rail


success!


I'm a little worried about the cart tossers upping...

Spoilers make me happy: an example

This entry will have mild spoilers for Alif the Unseen, but I promise to put them behind a cut. If you're coming directly to his entry (and so won't see the cut), it's the fourth paragraph you want to avoid (unless you've already read the book or don't mind mild spoilers).

I only just started reading this. I like it already. The prologue has a spirit talking about how symbols don't carry hidden messages, they are, themselves, the message. Then the story proper begins. Alif [an alias] is a comp...

a skateboarder, earrings, misty moisty morning

skateboarder
We went to a housewarming the other day--a lovely housewarming, lovely house, lovely guests. One of the guests was a skinny seven-year-old girl who was experimenting with a skateboard on the slightly inclined driveway. She may have had glasses; I can't recall. She had skinny short blond-brown hair to match her frame, and a big grin, and missing teeth because that's the age when you lose your teeth.

"I had brain surgery," she confided in me. "In PT I have to do balancing, forward an...

open-mouthed birds

I saw a sparrow hopping around in the noonday sun. It had its mouth open--panting.

And then there's a young red-tailed hawk who lives nearby who cries like a seagull all the time. He cries in flight, he cries when he's sitting on a post or tree. Not that famous red-tailed hawk scream. No, this is less terrifying and more querelous, or maybe brooding, or slightly grumbly. Sometimes seagulls do pass this way. Maybe this hawk had a seagull as a babysitter. Anyway, I've seen this hawk in flight, w...

The Aldrich mill

So here is the bright red mill building--Aldrich Mill--which we passed on our way to the dino tracks place last weekend.



Look at its lovely foundations. . .



And the Batchelor Brook, streaming away beside it



The earliest mill on this site was used as a distillery, but this mill was built in 1836 to manufacture woolen goods. The Aldrich family acquired an interest in it in the 1840s, and from 1860 on, it was solely theirs. During the Civil War, it manufactured wool blankets. In 1870, it became a g...