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filkertomchomijiWhat have you just finished reading?
Loveless (manga) volume 11, Seanan McGuire's An Artificial Night (October Daye #3), and Anne of the Island and Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery.
Loveless managed to ratchet up both the angst and the humor (spoiler for the latter: Yohji manages to unhook his first bra - Shinonome's, of course! She thwacks him on the head with a book.). I wonder if we'll ever find out how Seimei became such an awful person?
In An Artificial Night, Toby is getting a little more sensible, but just a little. I was really enthralled with the first two thirds of this one. Then McGuire started to adhere to a classical trope of legend – one with which I am very familiar – and did it basically paint-by-numbers, which sort of wrecked the whole mood for me.
In the Anne books, it becomes more and more clear that Montgomery has hundreds of little vignettes that she wants to share. Anne of Windy Poplars, which is framed as a series of letters from Anne to her fiance, actually got a bit tedious. The narrator's voice is a little more wry and tart than Anne's, and it makes a better foil to the endless series of incidents in which Anne manages to tame human ogres, dragons, and snakes. I was gratified that Anne had a couple of protégées this time around, as well as a young man whom she's trying to encourage to continue his education.
What are you currently reading?
Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones (re-read; almost finished), Richard K. Morgan's The Steel Remains, and Anne's House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery. The contrast in moods and subject matter between the latter two is giving me whiplash of the brain.
What do you think you'll read next?
I should try to re-read Redshirts by John Scalzi, and write it up. Ditto with Among Others by Jo Walton. The Morgan book will require antidotes in the form of more Anne and maybe some favorite children's books. I'm also beta-reading a book manuscript for an old friend, but I'm not sure that counts.
filkertomsupergeeithilianaowlectomyithilianaAnd these provosts from some of America’s top research universities have concluded that they – not corporate entrepreneurs and investors -- must drive online education efforts.
Sands said the provosts’ talks have been primarily driven by a desire to improve education using technology. But there are also secondary concerns about partnerships with companies and what those deals mean for student data and for faculty intellectual property rights.
owlectomydglenn"No slavery can be abolished without a double emancipation, and the master will benefit by freedom more than the freed-man." -- Thomas Huxley
[Though I guess it can take a few generations for some groups to get the clue and stop trying to hold other folks down ... *sigh*]
chrysillatwistedchickdglenn"Maybe the most disturbing implication of the famous sentence 'They create a desolation and call it peace' is that apologists for violence, by means of euphemism, come to believe what they hear themselves say." -- David Bromwich, "Euphemism and American Violence", The New York Review of Books, v.55,#5, 2008-04-03
marnanelfilkertomsupergeeWhy don’t we make the girls debating whether or not to date men in prison? I know that’s what Latinas talk about, just like it’s what black women talk about.Thanx to Feministing
dglenn"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged against provisions against danger, real or pretended from abroad." -- James Madison (b. 1751-03-16, d. 1836-06-28; US President 1809-1817; principal author of US Constitution; co-author of the Federalist Papers), 1798-05-13 (letter to Thomas Jefferson)
filkertomithilianaAs colleges begin using massive open online courses (MOOC) to reduce faculty costs, a Johns Hopkins University professor has announced plans for MOOA (massive open online administrations). Dr. Benjamin Ginsberg, author of The Fall of the Faculty, says that many colleges and universities face the same administrative issues every day. By having one experienced group of administrators make decisions for hundreds of campuses simultaneously, MOOA would help address these problems expeditiously and economically. Since MOOA would allow colleges to dispense with most of their own administrators, it would generate substantial cost savings in higher education.
"Studies show that about 30 percent of the cost increases in higher education over the past twenty-five years have been the result of administrative growth," Ginsberg noted. He suggested that MOOA can reverse this spending growth. "Currently, hundreds, even thousands, of vice provosts and assistant deans attend the same meetings and undertake the same activities on campuses around the U.S. every day," he said. "Imagine the cost savings if one vice provost could make these decisions for hundreds of campuses."
Asked if this "one size fits all" administrative concept was realistic given the diversity of problems faced by thousands of schools, Ginsberg noted that a "best practices" philosophy already leads administrators to blindly follow one another's leads in such realms as planning, staffing, personnel issues, campus diversity, branding and, curriculum planning. The MOOA, said Ginsberg, would take "best practices" a step further and utilize it to realize substantial cost savings.
dglennFrom the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2013-02-13:
"Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs." -- Vaclav Havel
(submitted to the mailing list by Terry Labach)
chomijiIn a desert, on the shores of a long river with seasonal life-giving floods, is the city-nation of Gujaareh. It has very little crime and almost no signs of poverty. Its people die of disease far less often than do the citizens of other nations. The priests of the city's patron deity, the dream goddess Hananja, succor her people with the four dream humors, with which they can cure most physical and mental illnesses and remediate many birth defects. One of these humours, Dreamblood, is harvested from the dying: those who suffer because they cannot be cured by other methods, those who have simply outlived their time in the walking world — and those whom the priesthood have judged corrupt.
Ehiru, the most talented and respected of the Gatherers (those who collect the Dreamblood), loses control of one of his tithing operations and learns that something is badly amiss in his peaceful land. He and his devoted new apprentice, Njiri, find their lives entwined with that of Sunandi, a foreign diplomat accused of crimes against Gujaareh. Magic, dirty politics, and angst ensue. I enjoyed it.
Jemisin plays some games with U.S. cultural norms in this. The society of Gujaareh far from perfect, and as in many societies, some groups of people are considered better than others. Higher-caste people have darker skin. Women "are goddesses": for this reason, they are not expected — or permitted — to work at most professions. The sequel, The Shadowed Sun, delves more deeply into the issue of women in this society.
One aspect of the worldbuilding that I especially liked is that the neighboring country of Kisuati is Gujaareh's motherland. The two cultures have a number of aspects in common, still: for example, Hananja is also a goddess there, although she is just part of a wide pantheon instead of reigning supreme. This is a realistic situation that existed and still exists in many places in our world, but it doesn't come up all that often in fantasy.
( Read more ... with some spoilers )
filkertomchomijiFor very odd reasons that will go unspecified at the moment, I may need to re-read one of the volumes of this series. And I got to wondering about how many of you have read it, and what you all think about it. And because I am a DW/LJ kind of person, that means it's time for a poll!
So, the Lymond Chronicals by Dorothy Dunnett:
Are among the most awesome books ever written!
1 (9.1%)
Are quite good, although they suffer from problems such as a bit too much melodrama and the stereotypes of the time in which they were written.1 (9.1%)
Are OK. I don't regret having read them, but I'm not tempted to read them again (especially given how long they are).2 (18.2%)
Are pretty bad. And they took me forever to read, too.0 (0.0%)
Are terrible! OMG, I can't believe people actually re-read them!0 (0.0%)
Are something I have not read, but I have heard of them.4 (36.4%)
Bzuh?3 (27.3%)
Are something else that I will explain in comments0 (0.0%)
For the completely uninitiated: Dorothy Dunnett's Excellent Adventures. ( And I don't like the Niccolò series nearly as much.)
See LJ Post if you prefer. Ignore LJ crosspost info below because polls don't translate right, so I had to re-post.
filkertomdglenn"Snipers aren't deadly because they carry the biggest guns; they're deadly because they've learned how to weaponize math." -- Robert Evans, "5 Weapon Myths You Probably Believe (Thanks to Movies)", Cracked.com 2012-10-14 (spotted via link in a friend's locked LJ entry)
supergeechrysilladglennFrom Orion Shall Rise by Poul Anderson (1983, Timescape Books):
"Sir President, honored Seniors, Clansfolk and people of the Domain, let me first thank you sincerely and humbly for your patience. This occasion is unprecedented and therefore twice difficult--"
Not altogether meaningless noise. Monkeys groom each other with fingers, humans with words.
filkertom - Farewell, James Gandolfinichomiji - Weekly Wednesday Reading Meme - June 19, 2013filkertom - Farewell, Slim Whitmansupergee - Now here's my plan…supergee - Almost forgot againithiliana - deja vu all over againithiliana - ReaderCon's new COde of Conductowlectomy - (no subject)ithiliana - Teaching and Technologyowlectomy - Reading Wednesdaysupergee - Recursivesupergee - Excessive punishment for liking Margaret Atwooddglenn - QotDsupergee - RIP Dennis Dolbearchrysilla - Bodies iz Confusingtwistedchick - imagine that you could not die or be killed...princessofgeeks - New SG-1 Fic: "Downhill From Here"princessofgeeks - writing insightsupergee - Needed informationsupergee - Reasonable ideadglenn - QotDdelux_vivens - what has happened to this country? farreal. what?princessofgeeks - fyiprincessofgeeks - *sigh of relief*marnanel - Poetry on tumblrfilkertom - Can You Believe It? NEW PRODUCT! And A Small Web Page Updateithiliana - Good Results of Fund-raising (for NO particular reason) effortsprincessofgeeks - catching upsupergee - Surprise! Surprise!supergee - Real peopledglenn - QotDfilkertom - Kickstarter Giant 2 Inch Soft Foam Polyhedral Dicefilkertom - Happy Father's Daysupergee - June 16ithiliana - OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, yes, THIS is wonderfulsupergee - Mass debatingsupergee - Zen nerd has porno in the basementdglenn - QotDchomiji - The Killing Moon (Dreamblood vol. 1, by N.K. Jemisin)filkertom - New Stuff in the Subscribers Folderchomiji - Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chroniclesprincessofgeeks - "Hannibal" fans...filkertom - Origins and Free RPG Daydglenn - QotDtwistedchick - assorted 'words of wisdom' as another year rolls around.supergee - "Oh, ick"princessofgeeks - fyichrysilla - *THUD*dglenn - QotDdelux_vivens - *sigh*![[livejournal.com profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
