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Technology fails us again
Dec. 17th, 2006 01:38 pm*vex* The crawlspace heater has errored out. Luckily it's not that cold ("only" about -10) and thus, things aren't in danger of instantly freezing up if we can't get it online for a few days. Unluckily, neither one of us want to crawl down there and try to do anything with it, which means we seem to be kind of ignoring it and hoping that it miraculously heals on its own.
I knew this winter was going too well.
It's only about a week 'till Christmas. I'm really feeling "into" the holiday this year, for the first time in several years -- but I can't really put up decorations because of the cat. I mean, I *could*, but I suspect that the level of frustration wouldn't be worth it. He's still destroying anything that isn't nailed down. Current score on headphones is, I believe, Headphones 0, Cat 4. Or is that 5? Anyway, all I have to do is forget to put them away for one night, and in the morning, I wake up to find the wires neatly chewed through by little cat teeth. So this year, I'm feeling Christmasy on the *inside*.
I have a book to recommend to Diana Wynne Jones/Harry Potter/Phillip Pullman fans: Frances Hardinge's Fly by Night. This book resulted in sleep deprivation last week because I had to stay up late for two nights in a row reading it. Essentially it made me think of a kinder, gentler brand of Phillip Pullman -- there is a mild atheistic bent to this book, but it's a very libertarian form of atheism. All in all, it's a very libertarian, or perhaps more classically liberal, sort of kids' fantasy novel, which is just as unusual a combination as it sounds to describe it. It's disarmingly hilarious and then waps you upside the head with some surprisingly adult themes for what is basically a YA novel about a 12-year-old orphan. (Such as, say, genocide, freedom of the press, and other things of that nature.)
The only depressing thing about it is that it's her first novel, so there's nothing more of hers to read! If she can steer clear of the Pullman trap of over-moralizing, I do think she's going to be a writer to watch, regardless of whether she keeps doing young-adult novels or spills over into adult fantasy.
I knew this winter was going too well.
It's only about a week 'till Christmas. I'm really feeling "into" the holiday this year, for the first time in several years -- but I can't really put up decorations because of the cat. I mean, I *could*, but I suspect that the level of frustration wouldn't be worth it. He's still destroying anything that isn't nailed down. Current score on headphones is, I believe, Headphones 0, Cat 4. Or is that 5? Anyway, all I have to do is forget to put them away for one night, and in the morning, I wake up to find the wires neatly chewed through by little cat teeth. So this year, I'm feeling Christmasy on the *inside*.
I have a book to recommend to Diana Wynne Jones/Harry Potter/Phillip Pullman fans: Frances Hardinge's Fly by Night. This book resulted in sleep deprivation last week because I had to stay up late for two nights in a row reading it. Essentially it made me think of a kinder, gentler brand of Phillip Pullman -- there is a mild atheistic bent to this book, but it's a very libertarian form of atheism. All in all, it's a very libertarian, or perhaps more classically liberal, sort of kids' fantasy novel, which is just as unusual a combination as it sounds to describe it. It's disarmingly hilarious and then waps you upside the head with some surprisingly adult themes for what is basically a YA novel about a 12-year-old orphan. (Such as, say, genocide, freedom of the press, and other things of that nature.)
The only depressing thing about it is that it's her first novel, so there's nothing more of hers to read! If she can steer clear of the Pullman trap of over-moralizing, I do think she's going to be a writer to watch, regardless of whether she keeps doing young-adult novels or spills over into adult fantasy.