Gillian Polack's Blog, page 281
December 6, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-12-06T20:25:00
What do Carrie Vaughn, Daniel Abraham and Seanan McGuire have in common besides their excellent writing? The poor souls agreed to a round-table interview by me... They may never be the same. Seanan won't, for certain, because I kept getting her name wrong. Carrie won't, because I kept tangling what she said and ascribing it to Daniel. Daniel may, however, survive the experience.
gillpolack @ 2010-12-06T19:17:00
My flat decided to shake and rattle for three hours today. My next door neighbours are moving out and obviously they chose today to clean the carpets and etc. Everything smelled of yeast and the world would just not remain still.
I now have a problem with sea legs.
I now have a problem with sea legs.
December 5, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-12-05T19:27:00
I slowed down today and suddenly I'm very tired. This is a mystery to me.
Actually, considering I got to the CSFG end of year party today (thanks to Matthew and Val, who gave me lifts) I'm doing very nicely. This time last year I only had one Chanukah party (not two) and avoided most of my housework and *still* was too sick for the CSFG party. In other words, my health is slowly improving. And the dams in the ACT are 100% full. These things must be related.
This time next year I shall party wildly. In the interim, I'd better do a bit of resting on laurels.
Actually, considering I got to the CSFG end of year party today (thanks to Matthew and Val, who gave me lifts) I'm doing very nicely. This time last year I only had one Chanukah party (not two) and avoided most of my housework and *still* was too sick for the CSFG party. In other words, my health is slowly improving. And the dams in the ACT are 100% full. These things must be related.
This time next year I shall party wildly. In the interim, I'd better do a bit of resting on laurels.
December 4, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-12-04T23:16:00
I've read seven review books in seven days. One of them was the new Wheel of Time one. In that same time I did my normal amount of book-based research (another twenty-odd books). I have one more review book to read and then I shall take a whole afternoon off and NOT READ. Maybe.
This is the life of a PhD student in my discipline. I could get to like it. I might need to take measures, however, to maintain the flow of books.
This is the life of a PhD student in my discipline. I could get to like it. I might need to take measures, however, to maintain the flow of books.
gillpolack @ 2010-12-04T21:34:00
My flat is now completely dressed-up for Chanukah, thanks to the help of my friends. The mirror wall is delicately decorated with decals and Sephardi-style cut paper. Also with the occasional bit of tat, thanks to the kindness of a US friend, who sent me an emergency package some years ago. This tat is sadly ageing, but will last me until I find more.
This year, one outside wall is decorated too, and anyone walking down Melrose Drive using the garden of the block of flats (as many do) will admire the giant silver man with square pants, chasing a trail of laser-etched stars. His hands are the hands of G-d and he carries a heart. The whole wall was designed and decorated by two of my favourite children, with occasional stickytaping help from adults.
The menorah for tonight was made of ice, also by one of the children. Candles burn very cold when buried in ice. They also burn exquisitely beautifully, with reflections and swimming depths and, in the background, a silver man with giant square pants, carrying a heart in a deity's hand.
This year, one outside wall is decorated too, and anyone walking down Melrose Drive using the garden of the block of flats (as many do) will admire the giant silver man with square pants, chasing a trail of laser-etched stars. His hands are the hands of G-d and he carries a heart. The whole wall was designed and decorated by two of my favourite children, with occasional stickytaping help from adults.
The menorah for tonight was made of ice, also by one of the children. Candles burn very cold when buried in ice. They also burn exquisitely beautifully, with reflections and swimming depths and, in the background, a silver man with giant square pants, carrying a heart in a deity's hand.
December 2, 2010
gillpolack @ 2010-12-03T08:31:00
I have everything I need for tonight and tomorrow except doughnuts. Woolworths gave me lamingtons instead. I rang up and said I didn't think that $8 worth of lamingtons was a sensible substitution for $9 worth of doughnuts. They couldn't replace the lamingtons but gave me a refund. I can understand the lack of replacement - it would cost them more to send a driver out specially to deliver doughnuts than it costs to give me a credit. I asked what they wanted me to do with the lamingtons and they really didn't mind. So I shall feed them to people and ask them to close their eyes very hard and pretend they're doughnuts.
Yesterday and overnight were just a tad stormy. I rather suspect that the water falling from the sky was more in 24 hours than it usually is the whole month of December, too. While this is good in many ways, it means I'm behind on things again because my eyes would only do certain types of work when faced with a migraine (it was a visual migraine this time, which totally confused me - I kept thinking I was wearing the wrong glasses).
My to-do list is a bit odd for a Friday in Chanukah. It includes getting party things out, but it doesn't include much cooking (visual migraines do not make for safe cooks, so I've pared cooking right down), it includes less cleaning (because R gave me a Chanukah present of the worst of the cleaning which was just the awesomest Chanukah present ever) but it does include the writing of at least three short pieces. I've finished with eleven books and I have eight more books to deal with, in an ideal world. The more that get finished, the less I have to worry about facing them when I finish partying.
And those are my plans for the day. Now I need coffee. Enough coffee to write up two books worth and check the writing and email the pieces where they need to go.
For those planning a Canberra weekend, my head tells me that the Weather is not yet completely gone.
Yesterday and overnight were just a tad stormy. I rather suspect that the water falling from the sky was more in 24 hours than it usually is the whole month of December, too. While this is good in many ways, it means I'm behind on things again because my eyes would only do certain types of work when faced with a migraine (it was a visual migraine this time, which totally confused me - I kept thinking I was wearing the wrong glasses).
My to-do list is a bit odd for a Friday in Chanukah. It includes getting party things out, but it doesn't include much cooking (visual migraines do not make for safe cooks, so I've pared cooking right down), it includes less cleaning (because R gave me a Chanukah present of the worst of the cleaning which was just the awesomest Chanukah present ever) but it does include the writing of at least three short pieces. I've finished with eleven books and I have eight more books to deal with, in an ideal world. The more that get finished, the less I have to worry about facing them when I finish partying.
And those are my plans for the day. Now I need coffee. Enough coffee to write up two books worth and check the writing and email the pieces where they need to go.
For those planning a Canberra weekend, my head tells me that the Weather is not yet completely gone.
The Story of Chanukah
Once upon a time there was war in the Middle East. This is a rare and unusual occurrence. As a result of that rare and unusual occurrence, Israel (or Judea, or whatever that stretch of territory was called around 165 BCE) was overrun by rather pagan invaders. This led to some interesting history being written, down the track. It also led to the establishment of a festival which can be technically classified under the standard category of "They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat." Unlike other festivals in this category,* the story is not about death. Also, the invasion was more about freedom of religion than about mass murder and eliminating Jews from the face of the earth. This qualifies Chanukah as a cheerful festival.
Permeating the Jewish tradition about the reign of Antiochus in Judea are many exciting tales. They include stories of patience in adversity and of blood and gore. There are stories of alcoholism, preceded by patience in adversity and followed by blood and gore, and of weaving cloaks from those odd bits of wool that get caught on brambles when sheep walk too close.
Of all these stories, the most famous one is how the Maccabees** won back the Temple. They won back a lot more than the Temple, but the Temple was the important bit. The straw that broke the camel's back were the pigs, apparently. Pigs in the Temple. And straw. And camels.
No, only pigs. Sorry.
Still, the problem with the Temple was that it was being used for worship of a rather interesting Hellenistic pantheon. The pigs were the symptom, not the problem.
The Maccabees were a strong Jewish family. They could have been role models for Che Guevara, because their preferred type of politics was charismatic, and their preferred form of warfare, guerrilla. They had not, however, read Karl Marx. They also didn't speak Spanish. They practised all those heinous acts forbidden under Antiochus' enlightened pagan rule, namely Torah study, keeping Sabbath holy, keeping a kosher kitchen, circumcision, and so on.
This family didn't like the obligatory nature of Antiochus' intriguing variety of paganism. Other rebellious souls who kept kosher suffered martyrdom for their efforts. But then, they weren't charismatic guerrilla leaders.
After long and bloody trials and much hiding in the wilderness, the Maccabee family and their followers won back Judea and - most importantly - the Temple.***
Let me remind you that Antiochus had insisted that all Jews worship his own, not-at-all-Jewish, deities. This worship was enforced everywhere, including at that holiest of holies, the Temple. It was used for worship that looked decidedly unsavoury to the pure-minded revolutionaries. (Revolutionaries are always pure-minded.) When the Temple was won back, they wept because it was defiled (putative pigs!).
The solution for the defiled Temple was simple. Firstly came a big spring clean. After that, re-sanctification.
Re-sanctification was a big problem. Not that re-sanctification in itself was a difficult procedure, but there was no holy oil. The Temple had, after all, been defiled, and that went for most of its contents, too. In fact, there was only enough holy oil for one day. But one little lamp of oil lasted eight days, and the ancient Judeans declared that "A Great Miracle Happened Here****" and threw a party to celebrate. Jews ever since then have spent 8 days of the year enjoying the miracle.
The Hebrew acronym describing the event became the basis of gambling using a spinning top, probably around the eighteenth century. It is pure co-incidence that the annual Jewish gambling and gift-giving stint is between Melbourne Cup Day and Christmas.
*Note 1: other key categories for Jewish festivals include "Let's be miserable together" and "Something important happened on this day, but it was thousands of years ago and we will spend the whole day trying to remember, and half the night too" and "Three thousand years ago or so we probably planted/harvested/rioted around now" and "We haven't overeaten for a few days, time for a festival" and "Let's do no housework."
**Note 2: readers with spellcheck are advised to turn their spellcheck off at this point. The MacAfees were not major players in ancient Jewish history.
***Note 3: the hiding in the wilderness is where the cloaks came in. Public nakedness is seldom encouraged in Judaism.
****Note 4: these days most of us say "A great miracle happened there." If you live in Israel you get to celebrate locally, though, and use the words of the ancients. That reminds me, one day I must try making the alcohol of the ancients.
December 1, 2010
100 memorable books
This list has been compiled very scientifically (as are all lists of this kind). All these books are important (I own them) and memorable (I remember having read them) and the spines are mostly easy to read at a distance (my eyes were tired as I walked past my shelves) and I've tried to only have one volume for any writer. It's not representative because I own at least 5900 other books and I didn't calculate the percentages of books from various periods and in various genres. French fiction is under-represented except in certain categories, for instance. This is due to the illegibility of the spines.
What else do you need to know? Well, if there's a book you think ought to be there (including books by you), ask me if I've read it and own it and if both apply, then I'm happy to add it. If it's by you I guarantee I intend to own it eventually, simply because a book written by anyone daft enough to read my list deserves a place in my bookshelf. Also, I collect books by friends. You can decide which of these applies.
A Civil Campaign Lois McMaster Bujold
A Game of Thrones George RR Martin
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce
A Traveller in Time Alison Uttley
Always Coming Home Ursula le Guin
Andromaque Jean Racine
Anna of the Five towns Arnold Bennett
Becket Jean Anouilh
Black Juice Margo Lanagan
Black Light Elizabeth Hand
Blood Imperial Pamela Belle
Catch 22 Joseph Heller
Cold iron Nicholas Freeling
Collected Poems AD Hope
Complete Nonsense Edward Lear
Daniel Deronda George Eliot
Dark Space Marianne de Pierres
Dawnspell Katharine Kerr
Dragon in Chains Daniel Fox
Eight Cousins LM Alcott
Emma Tupper's Diary Peter Dickinson
Fien Day for a Picnic John Verney
Forbidden Rites Octavia Butler
Fundamental Disch Thomas M Disch
Gentlemen's Agreement Laura Z Hobson
Ghosts and other Plays Henrik Ibsen
Greewitch Susan Cooper
Harpist in the Wind Patricia McKillip
I am David Ann Holm
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke
Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
Justine Lawrence Durrell
Lavondyss Robert Holdstock
Le Mort le Roi Artu Anon.
Light in August William Faulkner
Little, Big John Crowley
Magic for beginners Kelly Link
Magic Lessons Justine Larbalestier
Midnite Randolph Stow
Moominvalley in November Tove Jansson
My family and other animals Gerald Durrell
Out of the Dead City Samuel R Delaney
Pawn in Frankincense Dorothy Dunnett
Plays Christopher Fry
Rain upon Godshill JB Priestly
Rebel Angels Robertson Davies
Red Moon and Black Mountain Joy Chant
Rewards and Fairies Rudyard Kipling
Shatterheart Lili Wilkinson
Siddhartha Herman Hesse
Sister Light, Sister Dark Jane Yolen
Sylvie and Bruno Lewis Carroll
The Abbey Girls on Trial EJ Oxenham
The Adventures of Turkey Ray Harris
The Anglo-Norman Voyage of St Brendan Benedeit
The Arrival Shaun Tan
The Black Crusade Richard Harland
The Book of Beasts TH White
The Cub Ethel Turner
The Face of Time Camille Bacon-Smith
The Fairy of Ku-She M Lucie Chin
The Fox Sherwood Smith
The Fresco Sheri S Tepper
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe Penelope Lively
The Greatest knight Elizabeth Chadwick
The Grinding House Kaaron Warren
The Heart of a Goof PG Wodehouse
The Hill of Evil Counsel Amos Oz
The Hill of the Red Fox Allan Campbell McLean
The History of Mr Polly HG Wells
The Island of the Mighty Evangeline Walton
The Lark on the Wing Elfrida Vipont
The Last Defender of Cmelot Roger Zelazney
The Lives of Christopher Chant Diana Wynne Jones
The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead
The Moon in the Cloud Rosemary Harris
The owl Service Alan Garner
The Paperbag Princess Robert Munsch
The plays of Christopher Marlowe
The Rose and the Ring WM Thackeray
The Shoes of the Fisherman Morris West
The Silver Curlew Eleanor Farjeon
The Skewed Throne Joshua Palmatier
The Stolen Lake Joan Aiken
The Stone Cage Nicholas Stuart Gray
The Whirlpool George Gissing
The White Dragon Anne McCaffrey
Time Future Maxine McArthur
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Tristan Beroul
Triumff Dan Abnett
Trouble with Lichen John Wyndham
Twisting the Rope Roberta Macavoy
Under Milk Wood Dylan Thomas
Watership Down Richard Adams
We didn't mean to go to sea Arthur Ransome
Well Done Secret Seven Enid Blyton
When Christ and His saints Slept Sharon Kay Penman
Within the Fetterlock Brain Wainwright
Zoo City Lauren Beukes
What else do you need to know? Well, if there's a book you think ought to be there (including books by you), ask me if I've read it and own it and if both apply, then I'm happy to add it. If it's by you I guarantee I intend to own it eventually, simply because a book written by anyone daft enough to read my list deserves a place in my bookshelf. Also, I collect books by friends. You can decide which of these applies.
A Civil Campaign Lois McMaster Bujold
A Game of Thrones George RR Martin
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce
A Traveller in Time Alison Uttley
Always Coming Home Ursula le Guin
Andromaque Jean Racine
Anna of the Five towns Arnold Bennett
Becket Jean Anouilh
Black Juice Margo Lanagan
Black Light Elizabeth Hand
Blood Imperial Pamela Belle
Catch 22 Joseph Heller
Cold iron Nicholas Freeling
Collected Poems AD Hope
Complete Nonsense Edward Lear
Daniel Deronda George Eliot
Dark Space Marianne de Pierres
Dawnspell Katharine Kerr
Dragon in Chains Daniel Fox
Eight Cousins LM Alcott
Emma Tupper's Diary Peter Dickinson
Fien Day for a Picnic John Verney
Forbidden Rites Octavia Butler
Fundamental Disch Thomas M Disch
Gentlemen's Agreement Laura Z Hobson
Ghosts and other Plays Henrik Ibsen
Greewitch Susan Cooper
Harpist in the Wind Patricia McKillip
I am David Ann Holm
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke
Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
Justine Lawrence Durrell
Lavondyss Robert Holdstock
Le Mort le Roi Artu Anon.
Light in August William Faulkner
Little, Big John Crowley
Magic for beginners Kelly Link
Magic Lessons Justine Larbalestier
Midnite Randolph Stow
Moominvalley in November Tove Jansson
My family and other animals Gerald Durrell
Out of the Dead City Samuel R Delaney
Pawn in Frankincense Dorothy Dunnett
Plays Christopher Fry
Rain upon Godshill JB Priestly
Rebel Angels Robertson Davies
Red Moon and Black Mountain Joy Chant
Rewards and Fairies Rudyard Kipling
Shatterheart Lili Wilkinson
Siddhartha Herman Hesse
Sister Light, Sister Dark Jane Yolen
Sylvie and Bruno Lewis Carroll
The Abbey Girls on Trial EJ Oxenham
The Adventures of Turkey Ray Harris
The Anglo-Norman Voyage of St Brendan Benedeit
The Arrival Shaun Tan
The Black Crusade Richard Harland
The Book of Beasts TH White
The Cub Ethel Turner
The Face of Time Camille Bacon-Smith
The Fairy of Ku-She M Lucie Chin
The Fox Sherwood Smith
The Fresco Sheri S Tepper
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe Penelope Lively
The Greatest knight Elizabeth Chadwick
The Grinding House Kaaron Warren
The Heart of a Goof PG Wodehouse
The Hill of Evil Counsel Amos Oz
The Hill of the Red Fox Allan Campbell McLean
The History of Mr Polly HG Wells
The Island of the Mighty Evangeline Walton
The Lark on the Wing Elfrida Vipont
The Last Defender of Cmelot Roger Zelazney
The Lives of Christopher Chant Diana Wynne Jones
The Man Who Loved Children Christina Stead
The Moon in the Cloud Rosemary Harris
The owl Service Alan Garner
The Paperbag Princess Robert Munsch
The plays of Christopher Marlowe
The Rose and the Ring WM Thackeray
The Shoes of the Fisherman Morris West
The Silver Curlew Eleanor Farjeon
The Skewed Throne Joshua Palmatier
The Stolen Lake Joan Aiken
The Stone Cage Nicholas Stuart Gray
The Whirlpool George Gissing
The White Dragon Anne McCaffrey
Time Future Maxine McArthur
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
Tristan Beroul
Triumff Dan Abnett
Trouble with Lichen John Wyndham
Twisting the Rope Roberta Macavoy
Under Milk Wood Dylan Thomas
Watership Down Richard Adams
We didn't mean to go to sea Arthur Ransome
Well Done Secret Seven Enid Blyton
When Christ and His saints Slept Sharon Kay Penman
Within the Fetterlock Brain Wainwright
Zoo City Lauren Beukes
Happy Chanukah
I thought no-one wanted silly e-Chanukah presents this year. It turned out that some people missed the request, some thought that it didn't apply to them (if you are reading this, then it applies) and one friend was worried about email.
How does this work? If you want one of the presents, all you have to do is tell me before anyone else. There are more than eight possibilities, but I'm only delivering on eight, so if you really want something, don't leave it.
What are your choices of amazing and sumptuous gifts?
1. A copy of the first batch of recipes I put together for friends and family (email only)
2. A copy of the second batch of recipes I put together for friends and family (email only)
3. The story of Chanukah blogged (same text as usual, except this year I won't blog it unless someone nominates it as a gift)
4. An envelope containing a selection of exotic spices (only for people living in Australia -sorry - I refuse to get into arguments with the nice folks in quarantine) - including grains of paradise and cubebs
5. A random book from my shelves (possibly quite awful, possibly almost tolerable, possibly quite fine - you won't know until you receive it) - personal collection only (I need to see faces for this one)
6. A list of a hundred books I own that is strangely dissimilar to all the lists floating round (I can blog this)
7. Many versions of Mary Had a Little Lamb (probably best emailed, but I can blog it if this is important to you)
8. A late Medieval "I own this book" rhyme (emailed)
9. An open question thread on the blog (open for as much of Chanukah as is left)
10. A picture of me as a toddler (emailed)
11. A high resolution version of my new author portrait (the one where I sit in a giant teacup)
How does this work? If you want one of the presents, all you have to do is tell me before anyone else. There are more than eight possibilities, but I'm only delivering on eight, so if you really want something, don't leave it.
What are your choices of amazing and sumptuous gifts?
1. A copy of the first batch of recipes I put together for friends and family (email only)
2. A copy of the second batch of recipes I put together for friends and family (email only)
3. The story of Chanukah blogged (same text as usual, except this year I won't blog it unless someone nominates it as a gift)
4. An envelope containing a selection of exotic spices (only for people living in Australia -sorry - I refuse to get into arguments with the nice folks in quarantine) - including grains of paradise and cubebs
5. A random book from my shelves (possibly quite awful, possibly almost tolerable, possibly quite fine - you won't know until you receive it) - personal collection only (I need to see faces for this one)
6. A list of a hundred books I own that is strangely dissimilar to all the lists floating round (I can blog this)
7. Many versions of Mary Had a Little Lamb (probably best emailed, but I can blog it if this is important to you)
8. A late Medieval "I own this book" rhyme (emailed)
9. An open question thread on the blog (open for as much of Chanukah as is left)
10. A picture of me as a toddler (emailed)
11. A high resolution version of my new author portrait (the one where I sit in a giant teacup)
gillpolack @ 2010-12-01T16:29:00
I'm getting in early because I really get tired of people asking what I'm doing on Christmas Day and that question has begun to roam in my vicinity. If I write it here, some of you will know and won't ask.
Right now my plans are to work through the whole period. The friends I normally visit for Christmas dinner are celebrating early this year and everyone else is busy with family. It's my late father's birthday on Boxing Day (I've got to stop saying "my late father" now that both are gone, but it's a longtime habit) and I normally plan something with friends, but lots of people are on vacation and it looks like I shall be alone.
This is not the end of the world. It will become the end of the world if people forget that these are normal workdays for me. If this changes, cool (social life!). If it doesn't change, then expect me to become grumpier and grumpier the more people expect me to be all kinds of sweetness and light and ask me if I like watching Christmas movies (one day I shall ask the people who ask this what festive Jewish movies they watch). Three workdays with no friends and no distractions are awesome and useful and I shall get much work accomplished, but they aren't precisely the stuff of good cheer.*
On a happier note, I got my first Christmas card. I don't celebrate for myself (being of the wrong religion), but I really love it when people include me in their happiness.
Which reminds me, Chanukah starts soon. In a few hours. No-one indicated they wanted presents when I asked the other day, but if the situation has changed and you'd like silly e-presents or strange things posted by snail mail, it's not too late to let me know.
ETA: My life keeps changing. I am now spending 25 December with some of my favourite people.
*If you are a close friend and you ask, I shall wait for a Monday morning when the rest of your Section is away and I shall ring at 9 am and tell you you should be very happy. In other words, stirrers get what they give.
Right now my plans are to work through the whole period. The friends I normally visit for Christmas dinner are celebrating early this year and everyone else is busy with family. It's my late father's birthday on Boxing Day (I've got to stop saying "my late father" now that both are gone, but it's a longtime habit) and I normally plan something with friends, but lots of people are on vacation and it looks like I shall be alone.
This is not the end of the world. It will become the end of the world if people forget that these are normal workdays for me. If this changes, cool (social life!). If it doesn't change, then expect me to become grumpier and grumpier the more people expect me to be all kinds of sweetness and light and ask me if I like watching Christmas movies (one day I shall ask the people who ask this what festive Jewish movies they watch). Three workdays with no friends and no distractions are awesome and useful and I shall get much work accomplished, but they aren't precisely the stuff of good cheer.*
On a happier note, I got my first Christmas card. I don't celebrate for myself (being of the wrong religion), but I really love it when people include me in their happiness.
Which reminds me, Chanukah starts soon. In a few hours. No-one indicated they wanted presents when I asked the other day, but if the situation has changed and you'd like silly e-presents or strange things posted by snail mail, it's not too late to let me know.
ETA: My life keeps changing. I am now spending 25 December with some of my favourite people.
*If you are a close friend and you ask, I shall wait for a Monday morning when the rest of your Section is away and I shall ring at 9 am and tell you you should be very happy. In other words, stirrers get what they give.
