Eccetera and Errata

Sorcyress
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Eccetera and Errata

Unread post by Sorcyress »

The new (white) equity specialist for my school district irritates the fuck out of me. Haven't quite worked out why. Quite miss the old one (although really happy that a competent black woman has moved up to assistant superintendent since that is great for her and great for our district, but I interact with supers a whole lot less than I did equity specialists and I genuinely miss her).

I think it's mostly that new-specialist seems very....surface level 101 basic stuff? Like, too focused on "let's learn about different holidays!" and not focused enough on "let's take action against putting cops back into our schools"? Also she routinely uses the word folx, which I find incredibly grating ((although I understand it's a word that has special connotations of inclusivity for BIPOC folk, so maybe that's why? I should research more because right now I just get super irritated every single time someone says it because _you don't have to make "folks" gender neutral!!!))


Am reading the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. Verdicts so far:

Murder Must Advertise probably really is the best one, as da cited when he got it for me. It's sharp and a pretty good entry point, although since it's late in the series it vaguely spoils some unimportant overarching stuff.

Usual Suspects was...kindof a slog and I really didn't care about any of these rich people or their problems, especially since it's much earlier and aforementioned spoilage means some of the tension of "will this character (who is fine and thriving later) be put in jail forever?!". Has Lord Wimsey's mother for a bit, and she is fantastic. Has...a lot of Being Weird About Women, which I can forgive as being of it's time~ or whatever, but not enough to want to reread it.

Five Red Herrings is like...two thirds written with heavy Scottish accents, in a way that actually causes me to need to reread sentences, and I quite enjoyed it! I found the details of the mystery (which of the six suspects did it, and which five were red herrings) to be mostly unimportant, but I thought the prose was in finest form, and Wimsey is clearly having the time of his life, which is sorta what you want from spoiled dilettante lord solves murders. And I liked that it clearly gave you an important mystery clue in the second chapter (of twenty or so) and lets you look out for what that was up until chapter 19 or so --I didn't have the exact thing, but I made some good guesses throughout, and thought it was a nice hook.

Next up is probably Nine Tailors, which is on the late end again --I have a collection of short stories published between 5RH and 9T, but I might do novels first and then shorts? I put a bunch of holds out at the library, so I'm hoping the first of those arrive before I lose interest in the series or in the ability to PowerHour and do no-internet time each day (which is when I get reading done). It's somewhat freeing to not be worrying overmuch about the order the books are written in --usually I'm very distressed about that kind of thing.


Sor
MOOP!

Sorcyress
Posts: 135
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:51 pm
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Re: Eccetera and Errata

Unread post by Sorcyress »

A thing I said earlier to Ezri that I want to save somewhere:

But bodies are malleable with modern science! It's one of the cool things about bodies, and science!

Sorcyress
Posts: 135
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:51 pm
Pronouns: They

Re: Eccetera and Errata

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I read one of the short story collections (Hangman's Holiday) instead of 9 Tailors. I only read the Wimsey stories and not the Montague Egg, which feels very weird to me, putting down a book halfway and declaring it done, but if I finish all of these Sayers and want more I can go on and read the other detective. Verdicts:

Image in the Mirror: Ultimately pretty stupid. Would love to have seen this one rewritten by Spider Robinson though! The sci-fi adjacency makes it feel like it could've been a Callahan's story, and that's probably the weirdest comparison I'll ever make.

Incredible Elopement etc: This one was great because I am always a sucker for stage magic casually used, but wow it is also_so_ racist and ableist. Fewer "savages" please!

The Queen's Square: Murder at a dance party, Sir Roger de Coverley is a critical part of the story and is emphasized and explained throughout, ten out of ten, no notes.

The Necklace of Pearls: Perfectly cute Christmas short story. Not as heinously "of its time" as some of the others. Kinda bland, honestly. I almost figured out the mystery myself --wasn't quite as smart about it.

Now I've gotten a HUGE stack from the library (seriously, I saw I had holds, handed them my card...and they wheeled a little cart out of the backroom with the eleven books on it. Whoops.) so I can read the rest in full chronological order. I'm a couple chapters into Whose Body, and it's proving to be very cute except for all the weirdness about Jew/Hebrew/Semitic characters.

--Sor

Sorcyress
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Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:51 pm
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Re: Eccetera and Errata

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Working on reading "Whose Body" and I would like them all to be about 500% less weird about Jews please and thank you

Sorcyress
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Re: Eccetera and Errata

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I'm almost done Whose Body. It hasn't stopped being weird about Jews. It does seem to have wrapped up with a mad scientist as the killer, which is grand, except he turns out to be all gentlemanly and has quietly turned himself in once Our Hero made it clear he'd been out-chessed. I'm enjoying the woe Lord Wimsey has about just playing detective and feeling like it's a game until he remembers actual people are involved and then feeling weird about it (I'm told that continues). I'm also pleased by the fact that he had a PTSD episode, given that this is set about three years after the Great War and he was a soldier thusly. I'll probably finish it as I walk to school today, assuming I can get out of the house fast enough and my fingers don't freeze.

I liked that at bells this weekend, I casually mentioned the bit where he had to frantically fly back overseas in a storm and it was extremely fraught and Ricky immediately piped up with "oh yeah, Whose Body?" I don't think I'll be able to remember them all that distinctly once I'm through the whole set (although the storm was pretty extreme).

Sorcyress
Posts: 135
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:51 pm
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Re: Eccetera and Errata

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Sor: Hm, maybe I just go to work now, a little early
Gabriel: GASP ~ Without reading your comics?! ~
Sor: Stop clutching your pearls. Who even gave you pearls in the first place?
Gabe: Alis did! Aren't they pretty?
Sor: Very pretty. But you were already enough of a menace before

Sorcyress
Posts: 135
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:51 pm
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Re: Eccetera and Errata

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Reading Unnatural Death and the pro is that there are definitely lesbians. Like...these women...were clearly lesbians. Holy shit wow lesbians. Which is a pretty great part of the book!

It also used the n-word a bunch which is, uh...less great. Might've defaced a library book. Not sure that was the right answer, but also nnnnnnn.

Sorcyress
Posts: 135
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:51 pm
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Re: Eccetera and Errata

Unread post by Sorcyress »

Finally finished Unnatural Death. The lesbian parts were great, although one of them turned out to be a pretty ruthless murderer. I liked the second-to-last-chapter twist! I really disliked the use of the n-word, although I appreciate that the one black side character was mostly portrayed sympathetically.

Ranking right now is:

Murder Must Advertise
The Queen's Square (short story)
Five Red Herrings
Incredible Elopement (short story)


The Necklace of Pearls (short story)
Unnatural Death
The Image in the Mirror (short story)
Whose Body
Usual Suspects

With the stars denoting whether or not I think I will feel compelled to reread them sometime. Soon I get to read the ones with Harriet Vane, and I'm told she's quite good!

--Sor

Sorcyress
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Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:51 pm
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Re: Eccetera and Errata

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Been a while since I posted here, also been a while since I could be arsed to finish any Wimsey-books. I finally got around to reading another collection of short stories (Lord Peter Views the Body) on the plane to Jeremy's wedding. I don't remember enough to give specific rankings, but the first one was great --I feel like we get more weird-ass morbid body-horror in the short stories than in the full length stuff!

I also did "Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club" which was...fine. It was fine. It was a perfectly entertaining read and I never have to read it again.

Sor

Sorcyress
Posts: 135
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2022 6:51 pm
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Re: Eccetera and Errata

Unread post by Sorcyress »

Okay, well, I am typing this on my new keyoard, which is GORGEOUS and heavy and actually fucking lights up and who cares that I'll eventually have to figure out how to make it have modes other than rainbow-scroll for lighting up (because as deeply great as it is, I will probably want just...static background lighting sometimes).

And mek was all "I included extra keycaps in case you hate the texture" but I am fairly confident I love the texture, I love the faint roughness under my fingertips, feeling like something I can grip and move against, something to stim against a little bit as I go.

And damn, this isn't gonna be true if I try to bring it anywhere, but I love the weight of it, I love what a solid piece of machinery it feels like. Not a clickity clackity monstrosity, just a compact little orange keyoard with a gay core and oh hey, this is me in keyoard form. It even has a pumpkin!

(Seriously, the ESC key is a tiny green pumpkin, perched up in the corner looking merry. I adore it. It's quiet and loud in all the right ways (audibly, visually, respectively) and the fact that love went into this --love for me sure, but also love for the hobby, making keyoards is something mek really enjoys doing and I feel really special to have gotten one as a treat-- is all the better.)

It's real beautiful and I'm really really happy with it!

(and it types like a dream too --the only keys even the slightest bit confusing to my Utterly Horrible typing stance are the parentheses, and even those I'm finding okay, just having to sometimes miss)

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