Which will win, my distaste for history of science or my love for medieval shit? Medieval shit, it turns out. A concise little summary of how it's wrong to label the medieval era as stagnant, with lots of interesting bits about engineering, astronomy, clockwork, but more importantly their impact on society. That said, Gimpel is VERY based in the mid-1970s and draw some far fetched (we've seen) conclusions about the fate of the western world.

"... That christianity, by destroying classical animism, brought about a basic change in the attitude towards natural objects and opened the way for their rational and unabashed use for human ends..."

On the one hand I really liked the topic and the general idea of writing a road trip. On the other hand, the stories feel like they're chopped up into tiny, unconnected parts, and for some reason Russ Williams, who must be about my age, reads like an old man. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did.

Oh boy. It ends in a "meh" despite the subject being extremely interesting, mostly b/c the intro and chapter 1 weren't quite on topic; Frantzen is in literature, not history, so for him the narrative is important enough to spend a chapter on 19th c opera. That said, the bits about Anglo-Saxon England and how later texts reflected it? Awesome.
Photo from Friday; today was so rainy I had to finish the book at the gym after the coffee shop closed.

"unlike me, an intellectual, those stupid basic Kushner fans don't notice the true depth of Angels."

Maybe I'm being uncharitable, but nothing in Frantzen's style of writing so far, 95% through the book, leads me to any other way of interpreting that quote.

Why why why was a typeface where the eth, the wynn, and the thorn are all so ugly and mismatched chosen for a book full of quotes in Old English?

This is becoming a situation; my IMMEDIATE tbr of books I own or have checked out (moved to the top for prio).

I love how Frantzen goes from "Foucault missed a lot in The History of Sexuality when it comes to the medieval era" (true) to "so all of queer theory is stupid and invalid and also they probably said something mean to me". I don't even care. I usually like academic pettiness, but this has been going on for 21 pages! I'm not out of the fucking intro yet. Do your own work instead of bitching at everyone else. Jesus fuck.

It's probably not a good sign when I'm irritated with the author before even leaving the introduction.
More soon.

We all know the victorians is why we can't have nice things, so it's a little jarring when 60s historians praise their horror show (in a quote).
"I admire the 19th century West's success in postponing the age of sexual awakening, sexual experience, and sexual infatuation far beyond the age of puberty. You may tell me that this is against human nature; but to be human lies precisely in transcending nature..."
Again, why we can't have nice things.

Must read. After class ends though.

Saturday is homework and fika.
(Revised statement from previous version of entry: apparently reading books now.)

So I started an online class, and between it and job applications, I apparently barely had time to finish a middle reader book (that I devoured multiple times when I was a kid) before the library wanted it back.
That said, this is still very sweet and it was fun reading it as an adult that understands the framing story of mid-century England much better. I also think it was what originally set me on the path of becoming a time travel bitch.

In case you didn't see it already #Kindle users have until the 26th https://www.theverge.com/news/612898/amazon-removing-kindle-book-download-transf...

"This suggests why France played such an important role in the medieval period, in the agricultural and industrial revolutions. Her population was nearly one-third that of the whole of Europe."

Fantastic weird little book that cannot in any way be described without being spoiled (I don't believe in the concept of spoilers, but they tend to piss people off). Literally my only complaint is the continued use of Courier in the non-dialog bits. I understand WHY it was used, but Courier isn't meant for longer bits of prose and my eyes kind of hurt now.

And then I stayed up until 3AM to read the last part of the series, which hadn't come out yet when I was peak age, and once it was out, I felt too old for. Not to spoiler untranslated middle reader books from the 90s, but I'm glad Lotten's mom didn't end up marrying that guy.

"He's entirely dressed in black," she whispered, mysteriously. "like Hamlet."
"who?"
"Hamlet... a chipper type from Denmark who can't keep track of whether he exists or not. Now guess!"

I noticed that one of my favourite middle school series was published as ebooks, so I'm rereading them. For some reason, it itches my brain in an unpleasant way when I can't place a story in time - this one takes place between the wars, I think? There are cinemas, chewing gum, telephones, and trains are commonplace, but there are still domestic servants. A lovely story still, although not Gripe's best. Love a headstrong protagonist.

I technically own a paperback of this one (bought in order to get a tote bag). But when I reread it for book club with @donut_jefa, I read the free one from Project Gutenberg. It's still delightful, although the supposedly phonetic transcription of the Yorkshire dialect gets a bit of side eye. Also I don't think I read it in English before.

Reread Interview for the first time in about twenty years, for book club, and yes, Lestat is still the moste melodramatique™️ and Louis is still mostly whiny (jfc man).
New appreciation for: New Orleans as a character, and the grudging respect paid to the African slaves in part 1; it's still icky, but at least they're recognized as skilled and powerful antagonist.

Overall good at exemplify all the instances where women's bodies and lived experiences are the excluded from public life, I knew a lot but not all of them. Unfortunately lacking in the solution area ("get more women into decision making processes" feels outright stupid in the chapter directly following how women in politics are treated.) the answer imo is violence, but Perez feels a little too centrist to admit that.

Two thoughts: 1) very realpolitik that the two main places I've lived in my life has been shaped - and thus shaped me - my the glacial cover of the last glacial maximum.
2) it's kind of mind boggling how quickly Seattle has changed. All cities are engineered - the one I grew up in was half dug out of swamp land. But in Sweden that took hundreds of years (my hometown is over 800), Seattle is around 150, with a fire resetting to it 115 years ago.

"The nearest city of any size, Portland, with around twenty-five hundred people, was eight days by schooner."
That seems pretty slow for a ship? For reference, it takes three hours by car, or three hours by train (because especially west coast American rail is awful) now.

Christmas Eve morning book! With bonus featured embossing stamp, a birthday gift from @donut_jefa.
(and no worries, I'm not doxing myself, my name is common enough that there are hundreds if not thousands of people with my exact name combo)

Got a very old (as in from the year of publishing, although from a German publisher) copy of A Christmas Carol for my birthday!

"when I counted all the statues in the UK's Public Monuments and Sculptures Association database, I found that there were more statues of men called John than there were of historical, named, non-royal women (the only reason adding royal women to the figure just beats Johns is down to Queen Victoria, whose enthusiasm for putting up statues of herself
I have a grudging respect for."

Cookbook time again! Got this one from the library because I was looking for a specific shortbread recipe but alas, wrong book by the right author. Otherwise lovely recipes and charming "wee stories", although as always, people who come from small places and either stay or come back give me screaming claustrophobia.

It was... okay I guess? I had been expecting a more detailed history from conception to the present, and this was more of a meditation once the author got past some 19 century warring grammar guide writers. Which isn't bad, but it also wasn't what I wanted to read.

Kitten tax

Been prevented from reading by Adorable Kittens, but this one should be pretty fast.
(cortado with a pinch of brown sugar is my new best friend)

Something something the Greeks were always doing shitty gender things.

I was recommended this book because it was supposed to be similar in vibes to Natasha Pulley's The Kingdoms, which it's NOT.
I reckon there are two types of target audience: The Terror girlies and time travel fans. I'm the latter, and was disappointed, as it's 75% romance, 15% government thriller and 10% time travel nerdery, and I was firmly uninvested in the romance. There were about three really interesting sentences about diverging timelines.

Took me awhile to finish (mostly because I get getting weepy about 20th century swedish vacation ideals. I went to rent a cottage on the coast like we did when I was a kid!) but very interesting. Orvar is one of the most important ethnologists in sweden and he takes you a thorough tour through the history of vacationing, from Georgian sea bathers and American national parks in the 1800s through scandinavians in the 1960s Mediterranean and beyond.

Goal accomplished

Here, have some rape culture in your wilderness travel propaganda

I need this. At €46 it will have to wait until next month though.

1) ethnologists are the best and most ignored and I want to be one (not hyperbole) 2) love how Linnerhielm does a "satisfying water asmr" two hundred years early.

I had a pretty picture of this one in my living room, but then I finished it in a cute little lunch cafe on Bainbridge Island, so there you go.

I really enjoyed seeing the parallels between Welsh and other folklore I know, although I was feeling a little unsure whether all entities described really falls under the ghost umbrella. Lovely with the long Welsh passages, but some IPA to help at the start would have been a nice addition.

I ended up paying for a lightroom preset that copies vsco a6 so now I'm okayish. At least it's better than paying $30 a year.

Eleanor Janega is always terrific, although I kind of wanted a little bit drier of a tone, this is basically 90% of my interests all in one small book.
Oh well. Enjoyable read, especially tearing down weird evopsych claims about sexuality at the end.

(Although wtf is up with the blurb depriving her of her doctorate?)

(also also new photo editing software, it's gonna be a struggle for a bit)

1) language is a discrete combinatorial system that frequently creates combinations of words that have never been heard before 2) my camera has a level finally thank fuck

Inspired by @thegirlwiththelibrarybag, an A+ vampire chronicles post from tumblr. This one by user 👤licncourt

This just in, medieval brits ate senapssill

On the one hand: a nice little book that narrates to origin of mid century Danish design's popularity in the US and across the world through through the lense of two chair designs. On the other, the size (smol, not coffee table) and length (short, not a standard non fiction book) makes me wander where it fits outside of museum gift stores. I'd prefer more and larger pictures or more in-depth text (also not 100% on the translation of some terms.)

I already like Ramstedt's first, "the interior design handbook", as well as her interior design blog. If I had to criticize, it would aimed at her tendency to err towards the natural fallacy, and sometimes it's noticeable that she's coming from an economics background and not from a real social science or art
That said, interesting about anthropometry, materials, architecture, etc.

Out on may 21st! North American edition will be using imperial measurements, British edition will be using metric. Photo from Frida Ramstedt's instagram @ trendenser. I'm loving the swedish edition, it's such a great complement to The Interior Design Handbook.

Furniture Handbook giving me an impromptu refresher in geology.
Oh, and it's going to be out in English in May

I took off the dust jacket and now it's in storage ?
Anyway
Overall a really nice long form debut from Link; I wanted to love it a little more than I actually did though, mainly because it was Too Long. I can justify length if you're doing worldbuilding in scifi or fantasy, but this wasn't a 650 page story.
Still overall positive to it, @donut_jefa called it "casually dark", which is very accurate and very typical of Link.

Yes, I realize I'm not the target audience 😅. But I was OBSESSED with Momo and with The Neverending Story when I was a kid, so when I realized there was a famous Ende book I had missed, I wanted to read it. Honestly, I don't think I would have liked it as a kid either; I didn't like books without child characters, and the heroes in this one are animals. Also too much verse. Meh.