Must Stop Talking Snow

Current report: So far, the weather today has not been as bad as predicted, but it's still raining, and should all that freeze, walking will be even more treacherous than it already is.

I took a picture the other morning of the rising sun glinting on icicles:


Were that my view, I would be sorely tempted to open the window and bat at them. Perhaps I am part cat.

As for this, can you guess what it is?


Go on, guess. Look again.


That lump in the middle? Underneath the snow is a picnic table.

Lord, even I'm getting tired of my talking about the weather. It's just such a large part of life right now. And after all, discussing how I have to empty the dishwasher, or clear off the kitchen table, is hardly more enthralling. Tomorrow is hardly better, with laundry, and perhaps grocery shopping! Today's high may have been doing my taxes and learning that I'm getting more back than I did last year, which is satisfying, but hardly exciting--and, I'm disappointed to report, my first thought was not, "How much yarn/chocolate/books will I buy?" but instead, the extraordinarily prosaic, "Well, there's the mortgage for March."

All right, I can do better than that. How about talking books? I've certainly been reading a lot, trying to escape from everyday life. Have you heard the buzz around Among Others, by Jo Walton? I read a bunch of raves about it, and finally read it myself this week. I found myself flagging a bunch of quotes that really grabbed me.

I have books, new books, and I can bear anything as long as there are books.

Interlibrary loans are a wonder of the world and a glory of civilization.

Class is entirely intangible, and the way it affects things isn't subject to scientific analysis, and it's not supposed to be real but it's pervasive and powerful. See; just like magic.

I don't know if she does this because it's magical or if she does it because she's mad. It's very hard to tell the difference.

...and anyway she's fictional. I can tell the difference, really I can.

Bibliotropic ... Like sunflowers are heliotropic, they naturally turn towards the sun. We naturally turn towards the bookshop.

If you love books enough, books will love you back.

Beyond that, I don't want to say too much, but it was wonderful. If the tone of the quotes speaks to you, then hurry and read it!

What else? Well, I quite liked a new YA/middle readers book called The Candymakers, by Wendy Mass. It's reminiscent of The Mysterious Benedict Society, as well as of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, except that it's entirely its own book. Four twelve-year-olds and a candy-making contest, new friends and hidden pasts, secrets and lies...

If you're a Dorothy Sayers fan, by chance, I highly recommend the new Wimsey, written by Jill Paton Walsh, The Attenbury Emeralds. The story was good, and I enjoyed seeing how Peter and Harriet were doing post-WW II.

What have you read lately? Anything worth talking about?