Ron > Recent Status Updates

For my 25th book of the year, I went to my library's Overdrive site and picked the least popular novel they had. This is that book, "Village of the Full Moon Curse", in which a werewolf must rescue his girlfriend from a centuries-old vampire.

Okay so far. Even in the beginning they're rather different. Author Wes's having a stable home and a dad who was at least partly present and employed. Convict Wes lived in a war zone, with an absentee father and a brother who sold drugs (though to his credit, the brother hopes his sacrifice will get Wes off the streets). Even among the black neighborhoods of Baltimore, there is a class gradient.

Reading 1 Kings and Proverbs. I'm about a week behind where I should be, but it would only take about two hours of focused reading to catch up. Or, more likely, doubling up on readings for a few days.

Mostly setup, getting the characters where they need to be for the main story. Also, in what appears to be Larsson's fashion, there's plenty of dialogue and the occasional vignette illustrating how society treats women. These border on being author tracts -- any further and it would be over the top and thus easy to dismiss as mere fiction -- but Larsson stops just in time.

This hasn't been a terribly adventurous memoir; as with Sarah Silverman's /The Bedwetter/, Nayyar hasn't overcome any great trauma or addiction or anything like that. However, I think it would be helpful to anybody who's considering a career in acting, as he talks a lot about the process of auditions, rejections, setbacks, and eventual success (which you're sure will last forever, but of course does not).

So many Psalms

The main character (Rachel)'s background is based on the author's, and I feel that that authenticity shows in Rachel's view of the world. When I was an Army brat, race was pretty much a non-issue. Rank and your ability to do your job were far more important than color. When I moved into civilian life, I was expected to pick a team and stay within their arbitrary but nevertheless firm rules.

Through part 4 of 8. Story's good, dialogue is generally okay but sometimes feels rehearsed (Grimes' speech at the end of part 4 is a prime example). Aside from a few full-page spreads, the art is just okay; I think "Maus" made better use of the format.

Working through 1 Samuel, two days behind schedule but still making progress.

A clever and concise summary of the Bible. Irreverent, and often calls attention to things like the characters' bad judgment or Roman-era misogyny, but does this without ever feeling mean spirited.

Chapter 4 is more stuff about appearance, good grooming, etc. Chapter 5 is about giving and receiving feedback. Best idea: Instead of just intervening when people mess up, acknowledge when they do well. Also, if you have a laundry list of talking points, you've waited too long to deliver feedback. Do it frequently and timely, unless timely means you're still angry. Don't deliver feedback when angry.

Through Proverbs. These are actually decent concise summaries of the books. Again, he sometimes shows lapses in context, but he shows his research often enough that I assume it's done for comic effect.

This book is a very abridged, comical, mostly accurate reading of the Bible, wherein we question Samson's sense for trusting Delilah after she repeatedly had him bound and ambushed, Ruth goes "trouser fishing", and the Philistines are described as "Israel's division rivals." There are a few places where additional research or context would help, but it's still pretty good, and certainly funny.

(Page number appx.) Through part 2, where Jack knows the truth, but it's not quite clear he understands the full implications. The question is, how do they get out?

Again, don't want to get too spoilery, but all the major players are now in one place, and all the secrets have been let out. I can't see the current situation being stable, but can we go back to anything resembling how things were? Christopher doesn't seem like he can forgive and forget, but he's pushed through several barriers to get this far.

Without getting too spoilery, the book undergoes a genre shift around chapter 150-something. Whatever there was of a detective story is pretty much gone, and now it's very much about Christopher, his family, and what they've been through the last few years.

The story so far: At the higher levels of an organization, competence is a base assumption. You also have to project and demonstrate that you can be trusted when the stakes are high, that you'll make decisions when everybody else is afraid to, and that you'll own the consequences of that decision even if it turns out badly. You can't do it all at once, so start small and establish that you're not afraid to speak.

Done with Joshua, on to Judges. Here we start to see the pattern that will continue through the OT: Israel gets comfortable and decides they don't need God anymore, so He sends an invading army to oppress them, and suddenly they realize they should have listened to Him.

The book isn't very plot-heavy. After all, we're talking about a boy investigating a dog who died in his neighborhood, and his main tool so far has been to ask people if they know who the killer was. It's more about seeing the boy interact with his surroundings, and also about the secrets and memories that the dog's death and Christopher's investigation appear to have dredged up.

Like *The Nightingale*, this is a library book with a long waitlist, and of course they both pop at the same time. I don't know much about this one, just that someone lost his family pretty much all at once, but I've heard good things.

Through Joshua 12, wherein the Israelites conquer the people who until recently lived in the Promised Land.

This is a library book, and the waitlist was looong, so I'll need to make sure I finish before it's due (April 20). Definitely looking forward to this one. As I understand, it's a love story set in WWII Europe.

Ten percent of the way in, and it's... interesting. The chapters are really short, two or three minutes when read aloud. Right now we're still setting up; the author alternates between describing the Incident and establishing the narrator, specifically that he's 15 years old and autistic, very logical, but not so great with emotion and communication.

It's been a good book so far, but not as... well, as focused as I would expect. It's more about cognition and awareness in general.  Part II is about self-awareness, Part III about reading nonverbal signals from others, and Part IV about understanding the often invisible systems around us.  So basically, it's about anything that a person can or should notice.

Through Numbers, and the Israelites are about to cross into the Promised Land. Deuteronomy is Moses, knowing that he won't be allowed to travel any further with them, recapping the journey and restating the laws of the Covenant.

The second quarter was pretty slow, but it feels like we're moving again. Mikael finally has a lead in the case, and he's hired Lisbeth to help him with research, so our two stories are finally coming together. It seems pretty unlikely that he'll be able to find that other photographer and she'll still have that photo, but fiction deals up unlikely coincidences all the time.

Lisbeth's revenge story struck me as kind of stupid. She's a smart person; she had to know that if she walked into a police station with physical proof her Advokat had forced himself on her, they'd have to take that seriously. I suppose we could see this as a victory for Salander because *if* he complies, she'll get emancipated in a couple of years. But at what cost?

Through Part I. Unlike many magazine articles and online commentators, Goleman doesn't harp on how we need to "live in the moment" every second of our lives. A wandering mind is good for creative thinking, and allows our executive functions to rest. The key is developing both of these systems so we can make good use of each. He does point out, though, that a nature walk is much more mind-refreshing than your tablet.

Basic idea so far: People tune out far more often than they realize while reading, working, or whatever. This is normal; the human brain has a great creative capacity when allowed to roam free. If you can learn to control this and focus on things when it's helpful or necessary to do so, you'll get more done and spend more of your time on the valuable stuff.

Aaaand we've had our first sexual assault of the series.