MickyFine Attends the Assembly Rooms in 2021, Second Cotillion

My second favourite adaptation of Emma is this miniseries. The cast is perfection and with four episodes the whole plot gets to breathe more.

I'm Micky, 34 years old, librarian, and generally bookish nerd. I usually have a good mix of reads going on every year with strong doses of romance, sff, historicals, and a dash of non-fiction. My only reading project this year is a re-read of Jane Austen's six major novels - the ultimate comfort reads for me. I'm trying to be a bit more chatty on my own thread and others and in addition to my reading, I'll also discuss what I'm watching, and general life goings on often featuring my husband, Mr. Fine, and our two cats, Ash and Smee. Posters and lurkers alike are welcome.

January
1. Paper and Fire - Rachel Caine
2. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
3. Fangs - Sarah Andersen
4. I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are - Rachel Bloom
5. Not Quite the Classics - Colin Mochrie
6. Giant Days Volume 11 - John Allison & Max Sarin
7. Ash and Quill - Rachel Caine
8. Emma - Jane Austen (re-read)
9. Giant Days Volume 12 - John Allison & Max Sarin
10. Read It and Weep - Jenn McKinlay
Favourite(s):


February
11. How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse - K. Eason (re-read)
12. Giant Days Volume 13 - John Allison & Max Sarin
13. Death by Shakespeare - Kathryn Harkup
14. Lumberjanes Vol. 16 - Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh
15. How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge - K. Eason
16. Little Moments of Love - Catana Chetwynd
17. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (re-read)
18. Clean: The New Science of Skin - Jame Hamblin
19. Giant Days Volume 14 - John Allison & Max Sarin
20. Ready Player Two - Ernest Cline
Favourite(s):


March
Favourite(s):

My rating system:

/ = Ran screaming in the other direction (aka did not finish)
* = Suffered through it for reasons I'm still not sure of
** = Had far more flaws than virtues
*** = A read I don't regret but could use some improvement
**** = A good, solid read that I might revisit
***** = Loved it beyond reason and will probably re-read in short order

It's February Eve and with Groundhog Day nigh, let's start this thread by sharing our favourite takes on the time loop trope (book, film, TV, what have you).

My first love for this one will always be the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect". The Enterprise blows up! Over and over! Plus there's a poker scene, which was always one of my favourite things in the show.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread. My Austin re-read will always be Northanger Abby.

A new thread!

Happy New Thread! Have you read the sequel to How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse? How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge is just as good if not better.

Happy new thread!

Re: #302 on the last thread: I downloaded Read It and Weep to listen to on my commute. It was next in the series for me. I hope the audio version enhances its enjoyment a bit. You didn't seem all that thrilled with it.

Happy new thread, Micky. Kudos to you for keeping up daily posts.

Happy new one, Micky.

I know you don't really follow the stats that I keep up on posts to threads but this year so far, for the first time, you are the leading Canadian thread.

Happy new thread, Micky!

Hmmmm... I can't think of many things I've read/seen with a time loop, but the first one that came to mind was "Mystery Spot" the Supernatural episode, and Groundhog Day, both of which I remember liking.

Happy new thread!

>3 MickyFine: I love several things with good time loops. The Magicians do it really well in "Oops, I did it again." Star Trek Discovery's ‘Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad’ was very enjoyable. Russian Doll has to make the list.

Happy new thread - and >3 MickyFine: that is an excellent episode :)

> The most recent show I have watches with a good time loop episode is Agents of Shield - season 7, episode 9. I found the episode comedic (until the end).

The only book I can think of is the Miss Perigrine series - which had an interesting take on time loop theory.

Happy new thread, Micky!

We watch Groundhog Day every year, of course. Also the SPN episode. Of course. Agents of Shield has a cool one in the last season, too.

Happy new thread! Ooh, Groundhog Day -- maybe I'll watch that this evening.

Happy new one!

Happy new thread, Micky!

>4 quondame: Thanks, Susan.

>5 BBGirl55: Northanger Abbey has my favourite Austen man, Bryony, so I totally get why it tops your list.

>6 richardderus: Not as lovely as His Grace. Smooches for you, RDear.

>7 ronincats: My re-read is in prep for starting volume two, Roni. I got the newest book for my birthday back in November and I'm finally getting around to it. #readerproblems

>8 drneutron: Thanks, Jim.

>9 thornton37814: I liked it fine, just wasn't the strongest entry in the series. Hope you enjoy it, Lori.

>10 Familyhistorian: Thanks, Meg!

>11 PaulCranswick: Oooh, thanks for that tidbit, Paul. *adjusts crown*

>12 bell7: I enjoyed that episode of SPN too, Mary. I have to admit that I've never actually seen Groundhog Day. Maybe this year...

>13 leahbird: I haven't watched Discovery since the first season and should really get back to it, Leah. Not sure where I can stream it Canada.

>14 BekkaJo: Thanks, Bekka.

>15 jayde1599: I've been hearing good things about the last of season of AoS, Jess. Maybe I'll get back to it one of these days.

>16 scaifea: All good choices, Amber.

>17 foggidawn: Hi Foggi. Glad to help solve the what to watch question. :)

>18 figsfromthistle: Thanks, Figs!

>19 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie!

What's on the agenda: So far work has been a lot of housekeeping - making sure my work calendar is in good order for the year, prepping agendas for a couple meetings I'm chairing this week and next. Now that that's out of the way, I'm back to customer suggestions. Will I catch up today? I've got a meeting this afternoon so I doubt it. After work I think I'll do a quick trip over to Purdy's to get some peanut butter fingers for Mr. Fine's Valentine's Day gift. Supper is (frozen) pizza tonight and afterwards I've got my virtual craft circle.

What I'm reading: Into the third section of How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse. Might finish it today but odds are better I'll wrap it up tomorrow. I also started an audiobook of The Hunchback of Notre Dame yesterday - this might be my preferred method for classic chunksters going forward. So far I'm over an hour in to the books 22 hours and no appearance of Quasimodo yet. Plans are to listen while I do chores and as a motivation for going for walks more often. We'll see how it works.

What we're watching: Fantasia 2000 was the film for my Disney project, which I'd missed out on (we're approaching the stretch of films from 2002-2010ish where I was too busy with high school and uni and rarely saw the new Disney films). Followed that up with a couple episodes each of Castle and As Time Goes By.

>12 bell7: and >13 leahbird: Add Run, Lola, Run, Triangle, Primer, and The Final Girls to that list, based on my viewing experience. Oh hey, here's a list already compiled:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_featuring_time_loops
And this list includes tv show episodes:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls031062792/

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread, Mickey!

Housekeeping days are pretty dull, it's true, but results feel so good that they're worth it.

How many more suggestions are you in need of processing?

>22 justchris: Handy lists, Chris. Thanks!

>23 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle!

>24 FAMeulstee: Thank you, Anita!

>25 richardderus: Yes, housekeeping stuff definitely helps keep me on top of the less frequently recurring stuff. Plus one of the things I input was stat holidays - so thankful there's one coming up soon.

As for requests, I'm close to the 100 mark left but it's the start of a new month so the regulars who use up all 5 of their suggestions as soon as they can are starting to show up. Last Friday I finally got to suggestions that were submitted the day I went back to work so from January 11 to now I've worked my way through 500+ suggestions.

>22 justchris: How did I forget Run, Lola, Run? It was my favorite movie for several years!

>26 MickyFine: Wow, that's a lot of suggestions! Are they all for physical book requests or audio and ebooks too?

>28 ChelleBearss: That number is just for non-fiction paper books. In a typical year the collections librarians receive 18,000 requests through our catalogue for all formats and audiences. And that's just a part of the work we do. :)

What's on the agenda: I've got three meetings plus one session from the virtual Ontario Library Association conference that I get to attend this year. In between I need to check on our Lucky Day content in OverDrive and, of course, customer suggestions. Mr. Fine is supposed to work later today so I'm considering moving grocery shopping today rather than tomorrow but we'll see how I'm feeling after work. Take out for supper tonight and Mr. Fine was leaning towards Swiss Chalet when we last discussed it.

What I'm reading: Still hanging out with Rory Thorne on paper. Did get in an hour-ish of listening to Hunchback and I'd forgotten how much Victor Hugo loves to meander through his narrative. Still haven't forgiven him for the history of the Paris sewers section of Les Miserables.

What we're watching: A couple episodes of Fringe last night and one episode of Carmen Sandiego (I'm still near the beginning of season 3).

>31 richardderus: Snort. Not recently.

>31 richardderus: The next time I see a moose in East Tennessee, I'll try to remember to find him a box of Morton's instead!

I apologize if you explained this before (and if you did feel free to ignore me), but what are the customer suggestions? Are they requests for items to purchase?

>33 thornton37814: Snort.

>34 scaifea: Yup, you got it in one. The catalogue system we use (Bibliocommons) has a module that allows customers to submit suggestions for items for the library to purchase. On our end the librarians see the requests and then send a response back to the customer (mostly canned responses to save on time).

>35 MickyFine: "On our end the librarians see the requests and then send a response back to the customer (mostly canned responses to save on time)."

I never see anything come of recommendations, even though the auto-reply states that a hold will be placed on the title if it is purchased. I missed out the queue for the latest in an author last year. When I finally discovered it in the catalogue (I only recommend titles on Overdrive), and manually submitted a hold, I was around 85th in the requests.

Too bad there isn't an automatic software design to spare librarians the tedium of doing anything about recommendations. In the physical book requests, I do get a notice when something was available but I rarely request there at this time, since I'm avoiding the actual library as much as possible. Our province is handling this pandemic really poorly!

What's on the agenda: I've done the keynote session for my virtual conference this morning already, with the wonderful Anna Maria Tremonti. I've got a few other sessions smattered throughout the day and in between is the ongoing attempt to catch up on suggestions. Today may be the day I finally motivate myself to pop over to the mall after work to get the chocolate for Mr. Fine but I've been saying that for a week. :P Chicken taco kit from Costco for supper tonight. I love the cilantro sauce they include in there. *cue cilantro debate*

What I'm reading: Finished my re-read of How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse last night and loved it just as much as the first time. Next up will be volume 13 of Giant Days and since that's a quick read, I may also start Death by Shakespeare today.

What we're watching: A real smorgasboard last night. A couple episodes of Brooklyn 99, one episode of Supergirl, and an episode of Carmen Sandiego.

>35 MickyFine: Cool. Thanks! As far as I know, we don't have such a system in place at my library. At least, I wasn't trained on it, but I didn't work at the main library and they may have such a thing there. Patrons can request books in person that our system doesn't have, but in my limited experience at our branch, that never happens. Instead, if a librarian is looking up a book for a patron and the system doesn't have a copy, she can offer to have one ordered.

*ignoring the cilantro thing, since everyone knows how I feel about that business*

Woot for Brooklyn 99!

>36 SandyAMcPherson: Recommending titles in OverDrive (which we also have available) is a whole separate system, Sandy. That one doesn't have any response back system in place. On our side, we get a cart once a week with titles customers have suggested and then we make our decisions.

Sadly automation for requests is never completely going to be a thing. Even if there were some way to screen out titles we just can't get, I'd still have to do my evaluation work - is the author an authority on the topic? do we have other/better sources on the topic already? are just some of the questions I have to think about for each request.

>38 scaifea: It really depends on the size of the library system. My home library just has an email/paper form system for purchase requests. But I think their volume of requests is way lower than we get in our much bigger system.

And yes for 99! We watched the episodes where Season 6Amy and Jake debate having kids and Holt tries to prove he's not the Jake in Kevin's circle of academic colleagues.

I quickly tired of the Jake/Amy kid thing, because, well, kids. Thank goodness for all the great secondary characters that kept the show fun and funny :)

>37 MickyFine: Team Cilantro! Rah rah rah!!

Interesting about Overdrive not having a response system in place. It explains a lot; and it seems like a very serious flaw in the system design. Even a canned response is better than a yawning chasm of silence.

>40 katiekrug: I don't mind the storyline but I totally get why you didn't enjoy it.

>39 MickyFine: That completely makes sense about the bigger vs. smaller library systems. I suspect the Columbus Metro Library system has an online request thing, but I've never gone looking.

And omg I LOVE Kevin. LOVE.

>41 richardderus: Glad to have you with me on that, Richard.

On one hand I agree it would be great for customers to hear something about their OverDrive suggestions (besides the hold showing up in their account if we approve it). From my side, we get tons of request in that platform too and having to send responses in there too would be time consuming. So I waffle on whether I'd want it.

>43 scaifea: Right?! I always cheer for him whenever the actor shows up on any show.

>45 MickyFine: Have you watched The Good Place? I really *really* love him in that one.

>46 scaifea: Mr. Fine watched it and I saw or was in hearing range of the occasional episode (it was his background show while cooking). I get why people love it but it wasn't completely for me.

>35 MickyFine: I have used the request feature in Bibilocommons a few times and always felt very special when my request was approved!

>37 MickyFine: That Costco taco kit is so good! We've had it once or twice. I love Costco a lot. We have been doing the grocery delivery thing since the pandemic started and I never thought I would miss grocery stores so much.

>48 curioussquared: It's nice to think about how happy people are when they get that "We are pleased to inform you...". Grocery stores and the library (for curbside) are about the only places I go regularly anymore. So grateful for our house being a place I love because I can't imagine being cooped up somewhere I didn't like this much.

>35 MickyFine: >36 SandyAMcPherson: I've seen recommendations I make from the e-book sections of the two libraries that allow them go from requested to hold, but when I put in requests for books via the older interface which covers all library materials, I just have to keep checking back myself to see if the book was acquired.

>49 MickyFine: Yeah, it's a tricky beast, Susan. Without getting super inside baseball about it there's no way for us to connect the suggesting piece with the holds and checkouts piece of our back end.

Book 11



How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse - K. Eason (re-read)

So thoroughly enjoyed my re-read of this one. The book really straddles the border between science fiction (space ships! blaster guns! space stations!) and fantasy (hexing! auras! fairies!), while riffing on Sleeping Beauty. It's smart, it's funny, and I'm so looking forward to diving into the new book shortly.

Rating: *****

Book 12



Giant Days Volume 13 - John Allison & Max Sarin

Esther grapples to write her English dissertation and also figure out what she's doing after uni. McGraw's cricket team needs to recruit a bunch of players on short notice before the pub cup match. He and Susan struggle to communicate after he loses someone close to him. Esther goes on a job interview in London and figures out her first steps after school ends.

Fun as always and it managed to explain cricket in a way that I mostly understood! There's sweetness and pathos here and as always I loved it.

Rating: ****

>52 MickyFine: *****

Oh hell.

FINE FINE, I will ignore the fact that it's about teenagers, sure why not, it's not like there are any OTHER BOOKS I might want to read, why perish forbid!

*grumbles off to Overdrive*

>54 richardderus: *cackles*

>37 MickyFine: What's there to debate? Cilantro is awesome! (I'll happily take the bait)

>52 MickyFine: Sounds lovely!

>39 MickyFine: (Re#36) It's the fact that we get an auto-reply message (after making an Overdrive recommendation) that says if we acquire the title, your name will be added to the hold list. Except, I have checked maybe even a year later, and there's the book with a long hold list, except my hold request has to be added by me... apparently it isn't automated at all!

Is Overdrive a Canada-wide system? Or is it restricted to provincial boundaries, so each province is managed differently?

>56 justchris: Welcome my cilantro co-fan! And if you try Rory Thorne, I hope you enjoy it!

>57 SandyAMcPherson: The culprit for that is the library could have ended up ordering a different edition than what you originally requested (the book might look the same but publisher or ISBN is different - it happens more often than you'd think).

As for OverDrive, it's a platform libraries subscribe to and purchase content within. The company is based in the US but has customers all over the globe. I know you're in Saskatchewan and they do libraries SUPER differently from mainland Canada (the Atlantic provinces are so small that everything is pretty different there), so your OverDrive collection may be province-wide. Here in Alberta each library's collection is different. Calgary and Edmonton each have their own OverDrive collections and lots of the smaller/rural communities may participate in what's called a regional library system (pooling resources essentially) and can share an OverDrive collection to share costs.

What's on the agenda: Had two virtual conference sessions back to back first thing this morning. Yesterday I got suggestions for books down below 100 so I might finally get on top of it today (by tomorrow for sure). Tortellini for supper tonight, likely with salad on the side.

What I'm reading: Did 100 pages in Death by Shakespeare yesterday and it's really fascinating so far. Yay for good non-fic! I've also done some listening of Hunchback and still struggling with Hugo's meandering narrative.

What we're watching: It was Outlander night! Three whole episodes last night. *swoon* And Mr. Fine is enjoying it so far so win!

Time for the weekly Jamie image spam.

Season 1 Episode 3

Damn. The way he stares at Clare. So steamy.

Season 1 Episode 4

Me too, Jamie. Me too.

Season 1 Episode 5

That smirk.

I'm also "attending" OLA this week. I miss seeing library peeps from across the country and having great hallway / coffee shop / bar conversations.
Hope you get some good stuff out of it.

Happy New Thread, Micky.

I loved the Anya Taylor-Joy Emma, and it's my new favorite, with the Jonny Lee Miller one in second place (although I liked his Knightley better). I saw she got nominated for a Golden Globe for it, and for The Queen's Gambit. What a breakout year for her. I want to track down her Witch movie, too.

>61 Deedledee: Attending IRL is definitely superior, Dee, but the lack of jet lag is pretty sweet. :)

>62 jnwelch: Sounds like you've got a bit of a crush, Joe. ;)

I'm surprised no one's come out in favour of the Kate Beckinsale version of Emma. I enjoyed it but find Mark Strong so terrifying from all his other roles that I couldn't wrap my brain around him playing Mr. Knightley.

>63 MickyFine: I love that version of Emma, well it goes overboard at the end, but it did take me a while to get used to Mark Strong as Knightly. I think it's a valid interpretation, but Oh! Jeremy North, le sigh!

>64 quondame: Jeremy Northam is my favourite too, Susan.

What's on the agenda: TGIF. I've got a couple virtual conference sessions today. Rest of my work will be focused on my weekly OverDrive order and customer suggestions. Fish, rice, and cooked veggies for supper tonight.

What I'm reading: Death by Shakespeare is a fun cross between history and science and I continue to enjoy it. I'm contemplating giving up on Hunchback - this one just may not be for me.

What we're watching: A few episodes of Supernatural last night including "Swap Meat," which was the lightest of the episodes. Also finally watched the episode that's the source of the pudding reference Mr. Fine makes every time we talk about pudding.

>60 MickyFine:

>Ah, Jamie, when will he return...?

Yep, cilantro IS "bait" - for a migraine!

>67 m.belljackson: I still haven't watched season 5 yet (and now that I'm watching the whole show with Mr. Fine, I'll wait a bit more) so I'm not quite suffering from Droughtlander. If Sam Heughan will fix you, I think the new season of his travel series starts in a week or two.

Boo for cilantro being a migraine trigger. That's no fun at all.

What's on the agenda: Virtual church this morning. No walk today though as we're currently in the deep freeze; with the wind chill it's supposed to feel like -31C (-24F) this afternoon. Probably do some yoga instead - I fell off the wagon for about a week and hadn't realized how much I missed it until doing some yesterday and feeling tons better afterwards. I've also got a letter to write - my library school's alumni association set up a pen pal program to help people connect during the pandemic and I got a response back to my first letter yesterday. There will likely be some crochet, reading, and board game time today too.

What I'm reading: Death by Shakespeare continues to be fascinating. Did you know that women burn faster at the stake than men because of their higher body fat?

What we're watching: Last night was the new episode of WandaVision, which continues to be awesome week after week. Then we built a Lego X-wing.

Happy Saturday, Micky! Happy Belated New Thread! I also enjoyed Giant Days. Keep warm up there, that sounds distressingly COLD!! Yikes.

Whew! Catching up after nearly a month because your thread moves too fast for me.

I thought I'd drop this off here: Barnes & Noble tell me there's a virtual event on 10th February: Live on B&N Facebook and Twitter – Love is in the Air in February! Please join our “Love Through the Ages” panel featuring: Julia Quinn / Bridgerton: The Duke And I; Jasmine Guillory / While We Were Dating; Alisha Rai / First Comes Like; Eloisa James / Wilde Child; and Sophie Jordan / The Duke Effect.

On the Overdrive requests, I'm pretty sure that a book I requested came through and I was notified about it. Maybe they happened to get the same edition; it was a 'box set' (of e-books) of five, so fairly unlikely there'd have been more than one edition.

I'm not sure what the cilantro debate is. Over here, we get 'Chinese celery' which looks like long stemmed Italian parsley but doesn't have a huge punch with regards to flavour (so I don't bother with it) but I prefer coriander, which can also be labelled cilantro but I think has more flavour.

>70 msf59: It's pretty cold but as long as the furnace works, I'm all good. Also grateful I don't live in some other spots in Canada. A friend in Saskatchewan had -40 yesterday.

>71 humouress: Thanks for sharing the panel link, Nina!

What's on the agenda: I lost a bet to Mr. Fine so I'm buying us breakfast from Timmies this morning (donuts for me so it's not terrible). Cleaning and bills day here, after that who knows what I'll get up to. -34C (-29F) when I woke up this morning and the forecasted high is -25C (-13F) before wind chill so probably still staying inside as much as possible.

What I'm reading: Death by Shakespeare continues to provide fascinating macabre factoids. Forgot to note yesterday I gave up on Hunchback of Notre Dame on audio as it was just so boring. I've got an audio of The Three Musketeers to try and we'll see if Dumas treats me better than Hugo.

What we're watching: Mr. Fine has been rereading The Lord of the Rings so we watched The Fellowship of the Ring last night. He has the extended versions, which I've never seen, so that added something new. Wasn't up to a full movie after that so followed it up with a couple episodes of As Time Goes By.

Very belated happy new thread Micky!

>1 MickyFine:, >62 jnwelch: I really liked that adaptation of Emma too. It might be my favourite in fact, but I haven't seen the new film adaptation yet.

>73 MickyFine: I love that y'all're watching your way through As Time Goes By. I did enjoy that show. Vale Lionel, sadly, since Old Man Palmer has passed from our midst.

Happy new week's reads.

>74 souloftherose: Thanks, Heather! The newest Emma is good but I didn't love it enough to add to my collection.

>75 richardderus: I adore As Time Goes By, Richard. I used to catch episodes on PBS when I was younger and borrowed the whole series from the library a few years ago. I got the complete series boxset from Mr. Fine for Christmas so I'm introducing him to it. We're halfway through series 3.

>76 MickyFine: I love that show too! I'm not sure I've seen every episode, since I've only ever watched it on PBS, but I may well have after so many years.

It was 15F here when I woke up and I thought about complaining, but then thought of your temps, Micky!

Happy new week...

>77 justchris: It blew my mind when I watched some of the early episodes and learned that Sandy wasn't related to the rest of them. I'd mostly seen later episodes when she lived with Jean, Lionel, and Judy and had always assumed she was another daughter.

>78 katiekrug: If 15F is out of the realm of normal for you, you can totally complain. I just might laugh behind my hand at you. ;) It was once again -30C this morning and the wind is supposed to kick up pushing windchill to -45C today.

What's on the agenda: Back to the grind this frigid Monday. I've pulled out my wool Hogwarts cardigan to wear in my basement workspace today (along with being wrapped in a quilt). Our furnace is great but can't quite compete when I'm sitting less than 3 feet from the wall - the chill seeps through. Today is the day that I swear I'm conquering customer suggestions. Depending on when I wrap that up, I may start on my performance appraisal document (blech!). It's the big annual review (as opposed to the more minor mid-year check in) so more writing. 5 years for me in this job as of next Tuesday. Supper will be turkey soup made from Thanksgiving leftovers and then frozen. Virtual craft circle tonight.

What I'm reading: Death by Shakespeare remains fun and depending on how much eyeball time I give it today, I might wrap it up tonight.

What we're watching: In honour of Christopher Plummer, I pulled out The Sound of Music for a rewatch. He was such a dreamboat. After that epic, there were a couple episodes of Castle for Mr. Fine.

It's not that abnormal for here. I'm just a wuss, I guess :)

In our rental house, before we bought this one, my office was in the basement, so you have my sympathies about the chill. In the winter, I had lots of layers, a lap blanket, and fingerless gloves. It was nice in the summer, though!

>80 MickyFine: Our upper floor isn't heated by our furnace, and the little attic room where I have my books and my office doesn't have any heat at all. I wouldn't last without my little space heater. I feel you!

>81 katiekrug: All those years in the south made you soft. ;) For work today I've got fleece-lined leggings, the aforementioned wool cardigan, quilt, fingerless gloves, and my lovely moccasins working to keep my warm. Plus a mug of tea, of course.

>82 curioussquared: Oof. Our attached garage is unheated and when I went out to plug in the car on Saturday, that space was pretty cold (my car read -19C when I started it up this morning). I know you're more temperate in the Pacific Northwest but I'd imagine the humidity would make it pretty dang chilly in those spots.

I usually do my yoga in the basement because there's more space. Yesterday I did it in front of our gas fireplace, which was wonderful.

>83 MickyFine: Luckily it's been a mild winter (lots of rain, not cold enough to snow yet), and I do get some benefit from the heat from lower floors rising, but it can definitely be chilly, especially in the morning when my heater is struggling to warm up the room :) I keep a few blankets and my shearling slippers at my desk.

>84 curioussquared: Smart!

On Mondays, I am scheduled to sit at our check in station where we give tickets to patrons as they come in the building, answer the phone, check in our quarantined book return and cargo items, and so on. We have two sets of automatic doors that open each time someone goes in and out, so I always dress in warm layers on Mondays. I have a blanket on my lap today too, as well as a big mug of tea.

Good luck finishing those customer suggestions!

>80 MickyFine: Good luck slaying the dragon of suggestions today.

What a sisyphean labor, in a world where publishers sling the books out by the cartload every single week!

>86 aktakukac: In a previous job, my office that I shared with one other librarian had been built in a space that wasn't designed to actually be an office. They'd built a wall in the corner (that didn't go all the way to the ceiling) and our exterior wall was almost entirely windows. Freezing in the winter but also freezing in the summer as the vents in our space were meant to help cool the whole section of the library.

>87 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. It's looking pretty good but you hit the nail on the head with Sisyphean. Especially because in responding to all these suggestions, I don't have time to be seeking out upcoming books to order (via reading reviews, publisher catalogues, etc) and so I get more requests than usual and... you see that rock coming back for me.

As of 3:50 p.m., I am officially caught up on customer suggestions.

>89 MickyFine: Congratulations! Phew!

>89 MickyFine:

>89 MickyFine: woohoo! Nothing like catching up on the task that piles up while on vacation 😁

>89 MickyFine: Woo Woo!!

>89 MickyFine:

Morning, Micky! This frigid weather pattern is keeping me indoors but at least I am getting some great reading time in. I could not imagine being stuck at home, without books in my life. Shudders...

>72 MickyFine: Our memories of first living here (25-30 years ago) were that January featured the -40's many times all the month long. Then we got spoiled by El Niño events for quite a number of years. Kind of lost our toughing-it-out resilience.

I'm really missing the ability to go out walking. No mater how well-dressed for warmth, when that wind blows, even a light breeze, it's frostbite in minutes.

>89 MickyFine: - Oh, were you working on customer suggestions?

*blinks*

*grin*

Thanks for joining in the celebrations Foggi, Richard, Mary, Nina, and Amber (whose gif gets a gold star).

>95 msf59: Books sure make it much more fun cozying up inside, Mark. Stay warm, friend!

>96 SandyAMcPherson: From what I've seen it's even colder in Saskatchewan than here. Our wind is higher today so it's -30C and feeling like -40C here this morning. I've been doing yoga for my indoor exercise and while my abs hate all the planks, it's generally a nice feeling after I finish the workout.

>97 katiekrug: Snort. Hysterical.

-31°C is so far outside anything that I’ve ever experienced. It’s supposed to be -9°C here tomorrow night and we’re getting quite excited about how very cold that is!

What's on the agenda: First thing on my work agenda is putting together my notes for my annual performance appraisal. It's not a lot of fun but several of my goals are perpetual so I can usually just tweak responses from the previous year for a few of the sections. After that I need to clean up some expired content in OverDrive and then I can do some actual fun selection. Going to start with checking the new issue of AudioFile, I think, and then move on to Library Journal. I've also got a department meeting this morning and I'm leading a meeting this afternoon with the team who's running our virtual book clubs to talk about some issues our group has to deal with for those. Tacos for supper tonight and I'll get a bit of solo time as Mr. Fine has his virtual D&D group.

What I'm reading: Finished Death by Shakespeare last night (review later today). I'm excited to start volume 16 of Lumberjanes today (I was first in line at the library so I've got a shiny new copy) and then I'll be on to How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge.

What we're watching: My hold on season 2 of Dollhouse came in last week so we'll be watching that on my TV nights for the next few weeks. First three episodes under our belts last night.

>99 SandDune: Are you hoping for some snow, Rhian?

Hi Mickey,
I'm at a loss for a granddaughter's birthday gift and need a kid's librarian consult. Is that your professional genre?

I'm looking for an engaging adventure along the lines of Hilary McKay's books. We have The Time of Green Magic set aside at the local McNalley-R store but we want to add another book (and the local shop doesn't have any other of McKay's novels available). I don't know what to look for at all. The G-daughter will be 10 but she's reading at about a Grade 6 to 8 level.

Awhile ago, I received Me and Banksy. It was a great story (but maybe not suitable for a 10-yo who doesn't "seem" like she's interested in boys yet). However, I could be totally out to lunch on that aspect (but Grade 4!). If you know Kyi's work, what's the take on that book?

I am also open to any and everybody else's opinions here... I'll post on my thread, too.
Thanks!

Congrats on finishing the customer suggestions!!

>102 SandyAMcPherson: Unfortunately, Sandy, kids lit is not my area of expertise - my specialty is adult non-fiction. I dabble a bit for my own personal interest but Foggi is the person to talk with about all things children's lit.

>103 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie!

>104 MickyFine: Thanks Micky. For some reason I thought of you as being in juvie lit.

Book 13



Death by Shakespeare - Kathryn Harkup

In this mix of history, science, and literature, Kathryn Harkup takes us on a tour of Shakespeare's works focusing entirely on the deaths and the science behind them. After a brief introduction to Shakespeare and his times, she explores the familiar relationship people of the Elizabethan era had with death in its many forms and then delves into the major types of death in Shakespeare's works. Whether she's exploring the explosion of syphilis in the 1500s, what actually kills someone when they're strangled, or if it's possible for someone to die of grief, Harkup's writing is understandable for the layperson and downright fascinating if you're into slightly macabre facts. For those people who find themselves at the centre of the Venn diagram of Shakespeare fans and fans of Mary Roach's Stiff. Also, if you're looking for a table outlining every character who dies and how in Shakespeare's works, you're going to love the appendix to this book.

Rating: ****

>106 MickyFine: For those people who find themselves at the centre of the Venn diagram of Shakespeare fans and fans of Mary Roach's Stiff.

Less Billy, more Mary for me, but still a brilliant précis of the audience.

>106 MickyFine: Nice review :0)

>102 SandyAMcPherson: Sandy, I have a just-turned 12 year old boy who's probably reading ahead of his age but maybe there's some overlap. Have you looked at things like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Geronimo Stilton? They're always favourites and my son goes back to re-read them. I recently recommended Tashi and I think it would suit quite well but the series is written by Australian authors and may not be easy to find in Canada. Or the Ranger's Apprentice series - which I'm still reading for the group read from a while ago (maybe a couple of years?).

At the moment, he seems to be turning gothic and is into things like Skulduggery Pleasant and Five Nights at Freddy's but I suspect that isn't the kind of thing you're thinking of.

What about the Amulet graphic novels? By Kazu Kibuishi. I am an adult and I liked them.

>108 humouress: >109 reconditereader: Thanks for those suggestions. I'm keeping a list at the moment.

We decided on the newest Hilary McKay (The Time of Green Magic) and one of the Pages & Co. books (a new author to me), but apparently the first book was a big hit, The Bookwanderers.

>110 SandyAMcPherson: Those sound like great choices! I second the recommendation for the Amulet graphic novels, and for fans of McKay, I'd recommend Noelle Streatfeild (Ballet Shoes, etc.) except I think maybe you've already got her those, and The Penderwicks, and The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street.

>107 richardderus: Thanks, Richard. The same author is also responsible for A Is for Arsenic, which focuses specifically on Agatha Christie's poisons, and might be even more in your wheelhouse. :)

>108 humouress: Thanks, Nina.

What's on the agenda: An almost entire work day devoted to self-directed selection work. Yay! I've also got to tackle creating a readalikes list for our upcoming March virtual book club title. And my work group has our weekly meeting today. Take out night tonight and I'm super excited as I'm getting shawarma.

What I'm reading: As predicted, I blitzed through the Lumberjanes volume yesterday (review to come) and got in 50 pages of How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge, which I am already enjoying a ton.

What we're watching: Tuesdays are Arrowverse night so we watched episodes of Flash, Legends, and Arrow and then the first episode of the big crossover Crisis on Earth X.

>113 MickyFine: Sounds like a good day!

>114 foggidawn: As with any work day, it hasn't turned out completely how I planned, but it's been going pretty smoothly.

>113 MickyFine: Still, your work day's inevitable slide into entropy's arms started from a high plateau. Kudos for a shawarma night, too!

*smooch*

Mmmm, shawarma......

>111 foggidawn: Yes, thanks Foggi, for last year's recommendations. She got The Penderwicks, and The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street on her e-reader. Don't know if these were library check outs or e-books by gifts or whatever. At least I think these were e-books... Ballet Shoes was a fave. That was a physical book.

We've been told to avoid e-books at the moment as the Kobo reading was resulting in headaches. I'm a fan of physical books for kids. Is it my perception that stories seem to be more effective in "drawing one in" when you read it in physical print? Are there any reputable studies on this?

>116 richardderus: Sure did.

>117 katiekrug:

>118 SandyAMcPherson: Oof, clearly I can't remember to whom I have recommended what! Glad she liked those. I haven't heard of any studies to that effect (re: e-readers), but plenty of anecdotal evidence supports it.

Book 14



Lumberjanes Vol. 16: Mind Over Mettle - Shannon Watters & Kat Leyh

Mal in frustration with her inability to overcome her fears recruits Ripley to help her be more fearless. Time portals and dinosaurs make the exercise more challenging but also a pretty typical day at camp for our Lumberjanes.

This series continues to deliver all the weirdness, friendship, and general warm cozy feels that I expect from it.

Rating: ****

>121 MickyFine: *love*

Morning, Micky!

>122 scaifea: Morning Amber! I definitely submitted purchase requests for volumes 17 (February) and 18 (May) to my local library when I finished this one. :)

>123 MickyFine: Ha! Excellent!

What's on the agenda: Thursday is one of my regular days for checking customer suggestions. Once I'm through those, it'll probably be looking through reviews in Library Journal for the rest of the day. Perogies, turkey sausage, and veggies for supper tonight.

What I'm reading: How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge continues to entertain.

What we're watching: Last night was my choice so more episodes of Dollhouse.

Perogies, turkey sausage, and veggies for supper tonight.
...
What time should I be there?

>126 scaifea: - Seriously, that sounds so good right now...

>126 scaifea: We usually eat around 5. :)

>127 katiekrug: It's one of my favourite meals. I'm so grateful I live in a province with a ton of people with Ukrainian heritage and the freezer aisle in any grocery store always has perogies. I have friends in Ontario who inform me it's not the case out there.

>127 katiekrug: Right?! Maybe we should take our food vacation on the road...

>128 MickyFine: We have some pretty good perogies options here, too, and Charlie and I LOVE them. Tomm not so much because he great up with lackluster homemade ones, apparently.

>128 MickyFine: - We have lots of people of Polish descent here, so perogies are easily obtained. Thank goodness.

We decided last night that we were doing a smorgasbord for Valentine's Day dinner. I might have to add perogies to the offerings...

>129 scaifea: - Netflix should just give us a show right now.

>130 katiekrug: Be careful what you wish for....

Hi Micky, I'll be glad to eat at 5 your time because it's 8 mine and that's my dinner hour of choice. Cabbage goes gorgeously with that meal, of course, but really how can one go wrong?

Have a great time thumbing through the reviews! The Anxiety Reset just got offered to me by Tyndale, which is *totally* weird since they're usually a christian house and I'm decidedly not among their flock; but Edelweiss+ thought I'd like it, so I might give it a whirl. Out 9 March if you want to look it up.

>131 richardderus: - I shouldn't wish for perogies? Or a Netflix road trip show with Amber? I mean, she probably will hog the radio, but...

>132 katiekrug: Imagine the stress of being on the road, eating stodgy, butter-drenched foods, and making (and hearing) bad puns and video-game humor and literary allusions for public consumption! You'd be miserable in a week!

...I, on the other hand....

>133 richardderus: - Stop trying to steal my show! It's gonna be awesome. And I love butter-drenched foods, puns, etc. Sounds like a dream, really...

And I love butter-drenched foods, puns, etc. Sounds like a dream, really...

SAME! I am HERE for this! I very well may hog the radio, though...

>129 scaifea: I'd be sad that Tomm doesn't like perogies but that means more for you and Charlie, so...

>130 katiekrug: Perogies on the smorgasboard sounds brilliant.

>131 richardderus: I'm always surprised by some of the titles imprints put out. I'll keep my eyes peeled for the title you mentioned as books on anxiety have (understandably) been very popular lately.

>135 scaifea:

>136 MickyFine: It's true that it means Charlie and I don't have to share...

And I wouldn't kick those two out of the car. Just sayin'.

>136 MickyFine: - I'm definitely the driver or Amber will go all MarioKart on the highways and by-ways of North America...

>137 scaifea: Ooookay, but just so you know, if I'm not driving I get carsick.

>139 scaifea: - Hmm. The smell of barf makes me barf, so maybe we'll have to take separate cars and communicate via C.B. radio. We could call the show "10-4, Good Buddy" :)

>140 katiekrug: *snork!!*
(This show is already funnier than most actual ones. Our ratings would be through the roof!)

The world doesn't know what it is missing.

Sounds a bit like a female-led Top Gear with more food and I would be there for it.

>142 katiekrug: It's tragic, really.

>143 MickyFine: OMG, throw in a Stig and I'd be in heaven.

Suddenly my actual job, which I am successfully ignoring right now, holds even less appeal.

Congrats on getting caught up at work!

>60 MickyFine:
Nate offered to watch Outlander with me and I may just take him up on that offer now that we have finished Kim's Convenience

>146 ChelleBearss: Nate's definitely a keeper. Hope you loved Kim's Convenience.

What's on the agenda: TGIF! And it's the Friday before a long weekend here so extra excitement when I make it to the end of the work day. First order of business is checking on requests for titles made in the OverDrive app for the past week. Once I've waded through those, back to checking reviews in Library Journal. Butter chicken on the meal plan tonight.

What I'm reading: How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge is really ramping up the action at the halfway point.

What we're watching: Thursdays are Supernatural night around here. We managed to line up the (kinda gross) Valentine's Day episode for this week by fluke.

>148 MickyFine: Butter chicken, yum! I haven't cooked Indian food in a while; must remedy that soon.

I agree with foggi - butter chicken is definitely yum.

And *snork!* to the Cupid gif! Love it.

You got me, Micky - I do have a bit of a crush on Anya Taylor-Joy. :-) She was so remarkable in The Queen's Gambit, and awfully good in Emma, too.

I should re-watch the Kate Beckinsale Emma. I did like her a lot as Lady Susan in the mis-titled Love and Friendship movie.

>149 foggidawn: It's one of the dishes in our regular rotation. We usually cheat and get pre-made sauce at Costco and add some coconut milk to make the flavour even better.

>150 scaifea: You know all the SPN gifs I post are totally for you. :) (And I guess Laura if she ever wanders through).

>151 jnwelch: Kate Beckinsale's almost as young in Emma as she is in Much Ado About Nothing. Cute little baby face.

Happy Friday, Micky! I hope the work week went well and you have a bookish weekend planned.

>152 MickyFine: Aw, I love it! And when it comes to SPN, Laura and I are a matched set - there's no separating us.

>148 MickyFine: You inspired me to make my favorite chicken tikka masala recipe... but then I discovered we're out of coconut milk :(

The Anxiety Reset really should go on y'all's shelves. Three-hour read, very lucid if a little squicky for me; but yeah, definitely very helpful for its best audience.

>153 msf59: Thanks, Mark. Not sure what I'll get up to on the long weekend but it's a safe bet there will be reading time for sure.

>154 scaifea:


>155 curioussquared: Aw no. I hate when my pantry fails me like that. Something for your next grocery trip/delivery.

>156 richardderus: Good to know. Thanks, Richard!

What's on the agenda: Pretty quiet plans for today. Virtual church this morning and probably board game this afternoon (it's my turn to pick and I'm leaning toward Isle of Cats). Lasagna for supper tonight and likely a double feature this evening.

What I'm reading: Finished How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge last night (review sometime this weekend; quick preview, I really liked it). Planning to pick up a romance next since it's Valentine's weekend but not quite sure yet if I'll opt for the historical or the contemporary I've got checked out from the library.

What we're watching: No TV last night. We played some Mario Party and then Mr. Fine played the new Mario game (3D something - he gets to play as cat Mario) while I read.

And to all my wonderful lady friends around here, Happy Galentine's Day!

>157 MickyFine: Same, Cas, same.

>158 MickyFine: OoooOOOOooo lasagna sounds amazing!

>159 MickyFine: One of the friends I left behind in WI sent me a Galentine's Day package! It had HoCho mix, bath salts, tea, chocolates, and a little craft kit (she's a librarian (because of course she is) and she's in charge of the monthly craft club, so she tossed an extra kit into the package). It was such a lovely surprise.

>160 scaifea: Awww that's so lovely!

Oooh the Death By Shakespeare book looks fantastic! On the list it goes. There's a whole lotta BBs on this thread, dangit... :P Hope you're enjoying whichever read you've picked up for the weekend!

>162 dk_phoenix: Always happy to hand out BBs, Faith.

I ended up flipping a virtual coin to decide on the romance novel so I'm about to dive into a Lisa Kleypas historical.

What's on the agenda: I've been promised blueberry pancakes for Valentine's Day breakfast this morning, which I'm really looking forward to. As of last night, we hadn't decided if we were cleaning today or putting it off to the holiday Monday. So we'll see what the day looks like. If we put it off there will probably be Lego assembly, board and/ or video games, and some TV time in the mix. Dinner will be Mr. Fine's domain and he usually has something nice up his sleeve on Valentine's Day.

What I'm reading: I read the first third of Tempt Me at Twilight yesterday and it's shaping up to be a pretty solid read so far.

What we're watching: The new episode of WandaVision, followed by The Two Towers. Battle of Helm's Deep is probably my favourite of the fight sequences. I wasn't quite finished a row on my crochet blanket by the time the movie ended so Mr. Fine put on the first episode of Flight of the Conchords. New show for me and I laughed quite a few times.

>164 MickyFine: Oh I LOVE Flight of the Conchords -- you are in for a treat! I got to see them in concert probably back in 2008 or 2009 and they were incredible. I also highly recommend What We Do in the Shadows (the movie was great but the show might be better) if you haven't watched that one.

Also, here's a little LOTR/FOTC connection for you :D https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figwit

>165 curioussquared: seconding Flight of the Conchords. SO funny.

In the US, Monday is the President's Day holiday. What is it in Canada?

>164 MickyFine: Do share with us (where you can!) what lovely surprises were in store for you today, Micky.

Hani was not feeling too well after eating something that disagreed with her in the morning so I had to cancel the romantic dinner for two that was scheduled at our favourite restaurant in the evening.

Ha! The second mention of blueberry pancakes for Valentine's Day on my thread wanderings this morning! It is a Thing and I'm just not aware? I now feel cheated. Also, I'm eagerly awaiting the dinner report...

>165 curioussquared: I'll keep my eyes peeled for Bret when we watch Return of the King. I have to admit I'm fond of him for his role in Austenland.



>166 lauralkeet: It's Family Day here in Alberta, Laura.

>167 PaulCranswick: Oh I'm sorry to hear Hani was unwell, Paul. Hopefully it passes quickly and you can have belated celebrations.

>168 scaifea: They were even heart-shaped because Mr. Fine is the sweetest.

Dinner was delicious charcuterie plates with sparkling juice and nanaimo bars for dessert.

What's on the agenda: It's Family Day here and since we did all the cleaning yesterday, I'm planning to stay in PJs all day because I can. Likely to be reading, gaming, crochet, and TV viewing today. Possibly a video chat with my family in honour of the holiday. Handmade pizza is in the offing for supper.

What I'm reading: Tempt Me at Twilight is still in progress.

What we're watching: Mr. Fine gave me control over the remote so we watched movies 2 and 3 in the To All the Boys trilogy on Netflix and then some episodes of As Time Goes By. Sweet romances for the win.

I need to watch #2 and #3 of TAtB... Maybe re-watch #1 first, though, as I don't remember a ton. It tends to get mixed up in my head with The Kissing Booth...

I think 1 is my favourite of the series (fake dating is one of my fave romance tropes) but they're all really enjoyable.

How's The Kissing Booth? I haven't tried it.

I remember TKB being cute, but I like To All the Boys a bit better. Still, worth a watch when you want something similar...

>169 MickyFine: Thanks Micky. I wasn't familiar with that particular holiday. I was pretty sure you weren't remembering two long-dead US Presidents LOL.

>174 lauralkeet: I've never cared much for Presidents' Day but the Monday after an impeachment trial seems a particularly inauspicious time to celebrate it. :(

Hope your air is defrosted by now.

>173 katiekrug: Good to know. Thanks!

>174 lauralkeet: Happy to expand your knowledge. :)

>176 richardderus: The polar vortex is finally on its way out, Richard. It's a balmy -16C (3F) out there right now. :)

Very late update today but here it is anyway.

What's on the agenda: I had a crummy night's sleep last night - a mix of going back to work week sleep schedule and anxiety about my performance appraisal today - made worse by an early wake up to take Mr. Fine to the bus for 6 a.m. Came home and went back to bed, which I try not to do so that my sleep schedule isn't too screwy but he's on later shift the rest of the week so no more 5 a.m. wake ups this week. Performance appraisal this morning went well as well as another meeting I had. Now on to updating content in our Lucky Day collection in OverDrive, doing some follow up from the second meeting today, and maybe some customer suggestions. Grocery shopping after work today and take out for dinner tonight.

What I'm reading: Abandoned Tempt Me at Twilight yesterday (I'll probably write a mini-review for that one) and then picked up Little Moments of Love to cleanse my palate. Started my re-read of Ready Player One last night - refreshing my memory before reading the sequel.

What we're watching: We binged the second half of Dollhouse season 2. There were some twists I'd completely forgotten so I was just as surprised this time. And as with any Whedon product, some character deaths that I'm still not over.

Book 15



How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge - K. Eason

After starting a war and pretty much breaking the multiverse, Rory Thorne has renounced her title as princess and take up a job as a privateer on the fringes of known space with her former bodyguards and the son of the former Regent she dethroned. Meanwhile her long-time advisors and surrogate parents have taken up sheep farming and a reclusive life. That is until one of the fairies that attended Rory's Naming Ceremony makes an appearance and warns of impending conflict with a previously unknown xeno species who could completely destroy all humans in the multiverse.

This sequel is missing some of the slow political machinations of the first novel but is jam-packed with plenty of sci fi action. While I missed some of the quieter character moments, there is still plenty to enjoy here with the whole cast of characters getting chances to grow and develop (except for maybe Zhang, which is a bummer). If you liked the first book, you'll be pleased with this sequel. Now I need to get back to checking for announcements on book three...

Rating: ****

Abandoned



Lisa Kleypas is usually a reliable author for me for historical romance but I abandoned this one at the midway point because the "romance" was squicking me out. The male lead, Harry Rutledge, is a manipulative bastard who breaks up the nascent betrothal of our female lead, Poppy, and another character and then compromises Poppy so that she's forced to marry Harry. And after that not so promising start, we get to the wedding night, which has the most coerced consent I've seen in a while and left me so uncomfortable I dropped the book at that point because there was just no redeeming the male lead for me.

I looked back at my reviews for other books in this series and I've felt pretty ho-hum about them so I'm abandoning the Hathaways here. I'll be trying the Ravenels series by Kleypas based on how much I loved her Wallflowers series but if that doesn't fit me either, Kleypas and I may part ways.

Rating: /

Book 16



Little Moments of Love - Catana Chetwynd

I've been following Catana comics for years and this book is a perfect sampling of her adorable relationship comics. Plenty of giggles and several moments I've found super relatable. If you haven't seen her work before, check her out online and enjoy the sweetness.

Rating: *****

>178 MickyFine:
What would reduce your anxiety around your performance appraisal? As the person who is administering them I'd love to know.

>179 MickyFine: The Rory Thorne series sounds fun.

And, congratulations on the positive performance be appraisal!

>182 Deedledee: It's a tricky question. Some of my anxiety is just my personality and some of it is previous interactions with my manager in previous performance appraisals that left me feeling blindsided by her comments. I'd say maybe offering feedback on performance regularly throughout the year and not isolating it to the 1-2 times per year there's a formal performance appraisal would probably help.

>183 swynn: Rory Thorne is a lot of fun, Steve, and I think it might suit your fancy.

What's on the agenda: A better night's sleep has left me feeling much happier with the world today. It being a short work week doesn't hurt either. Today I've got my weekly work group meeting plus a lecture from Irshad Manji, who in addition to doing a virtual talk for the public is also doing a "leader-in-residence" virtual talk for our library staff. Around those virtual events I've got some optimistic goals for selection but the big must is doing my monthly order of non-fiction audiobook CDs and non-fiction DVDs. Watching trailers for work is always a sweet gig. Did a bit of looking yesterday and learned that Ken Burns has a 23-hour documentary on baseball coming soon from PBS. Not likely to be a big circulator here (our library users are big into hockey and baseball is of minimal interest) but I mention it as I know there's Ken Burns and baseball fans who wander through here occasionally.

What I'm reading: Being tired, I didn't make a huge dent in Ready Player One yesterday. Getting close to Wade finding the copper key at least.

What we're watching: Watched episodes 2 and 3 of the Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Earth X". None of the plot beats have been very surprising but it's pretty fun. Also, impressed with Russell Tovey's American accent.

>180 MickyFine: - Welp, that sounds pretty terrible. I also liked her Wallflower series and some of her earlier romances, but then kind of fell away from her when she was riding contemporaries. I've hear good things about the Ravenal series, though, and I have a couple on my Kindle so might give them a whirl...

Is the Ken Burns baseball documentary new? Or just newly available in Canada? He did a baseball documentary a few years ago (maybe several years ago...).

>186 katiekrug: You're right. This is a re-release of the Ken Burns documentary.

If you get to the Ravenals before me, I'll keep my eyes peeled for your reaction.

Hi Micky. I bought the Kindlebundle of Irwin Shaw's fiction because the 900pp 1982 mass market paperback of Short Stories: Five Decades was *agony* to hold anymore.

I know you're utterly riveted by my collection management doings, so I hustled over to let you know the latest.

>188 richardderus: I'm always happy to see you, Richard. *smooch* I hear you on those chunksters. My hands are on the smaller end of the scale and so when it comes to the Gabaldon doorstoppers I can only handle them in the mass market paperback size. Whenever the newest one gets released I'll probably borrow it as an ebook from the library until I can buy it in the size I can actually hold for the time required.

Happy Wednesday, Micky! Glad to hear you had a good nights sleep and I hope you get the same tonight. I probably won't reread Ready Player One but I sure like the idea of it, before reading the sequel.

>190 msf59: Thanks, Mark. Mr. Fine listens to the audiobook at least twice a year (it's one of his favourite books and Wil Wheaton's narration is top notch) so I often hear bits and pieces of it when he listens to it around the house but I haven't read it myself since Mr. Fine and I started dating.

What's on the agenda: Feeling proud of myself this morning as after dropping off Mr. Fine at the bus I then did a gas station trip and dropped off returns at the library. All before 8 a.m.! *preens* First hour of my work day has been consumed by pulling together statistics on our radon screening kits for the CEO. Rest of my day should be customer suggestions and then digging into the EarlyWord galley chat spreadsheet and then Library Journal. Pasta for one tonight as Mr. Fine will be working late.

What I'm reading: Re-read of Ready Player One continues.

What we're watching: Outlander night on Wednesdays! Only two episodes but one of them was the wedding. *waggles eyebrows*

Time for weekly Jamie Fraser spam!

Episode 6 "The Garrison Commander"


Oh Jamie.

Episode 7 "The Wedding"


All cleaned up.

And because I can't have just one from the wedding episode...

I used to have the mad hots for Jamie until I realized that that basically means I have the hots for my brother.....

Re the performance appraisal, Micky, quite often in my experience the assessor uses the opportunity to demonstrate their own power rather than being constructive. A good assessor will try to encourage and find the good points as well as the areas where improvements could be made.

>194 leahbird: Too funny and he could be a useful body double.

>180 MickyFine: Yikes! I had hoped that kind of storyline had died away after the 1980s. Sorry to hear rape/coercion-as-romance is still a thing.

>194 leahbird: Snort!

>195 PaulCranswick: Our organization has a template they use for performance appraisals but no one really likes it and HR keeps promising they'll change it but they've been saying that for at least 10 years...

>196 justchris: The book was from 2009 but I was surprised it went to such a fuzzy consent place (she said yes, but from the internal monologue it was pretty obvious she didn't want to). Like I said, squicky.

What's on the agenda: Even with it being a short week, I'm still thrilled it's Friday. First order of business is dealing with requests in OverDrive and then on to other selection work. After work I'll be picking up Mr. Fine's daughter who's staying for the weekend. Fish n chips for supper tonight.

What I'm reading: Halfway through Ready Player One. Getting close to the Jade Key.

What we're watching: Mr. Fine had to work late yesterday so I binged some episodes of Bridgerton. I've got a little under a half hour left in the final episode to go.

Have a good weekend with Mr Fine and little miss Fine!

>199 ChelleBearss: Thanks, Chelle!

What's on the agenda: Breakfast and virtual church are already under our belts this morning. It's absolutely gorgeous out today with a forecasted high of 4C (39F) so we'll definitely be going for a walk. Likely some reading and crochet time and we'll see if I can convince the fam to play a table game rather than just games on the Switch. Lamb chops, sweet potatoes, and some other form of veggies on the meal plan tonight.

What I'm reading: Finished Ready Player One last night and have read a teensy bit of Clean: The New Science of Skin already this morning. The latter is shaping up to be some really interesting pop science.

What we're watching: No TV viewing last night but we played a few levels of SuperMario 3D World and some Mario Party (there was also some MarioKart for Mr. Fine and his daughter while I snuck in extra reading time).

What's on the agenda: Cleaning day here, plus I've got my weekly bill sorting. Afterwards there will probably be some Switch gaming with the step-daughter and I'll sneak in some reading, I hope.

What I'm reading: Clean is turning out to be fascinating reading although I'm not sure how much of the science I'll implement personally.

What we're watching: We watched the new episode of WandaVision together. Then while waiting for step-daughter to wrap up some things from her tea thing (she's selling tea for a company that operates similar to Tupperware) we watched the first episode of The Muppet Show and most of the Pixar Popcorn shorts (which led to me making popcorn). And then all of us watched Legally Blonde, which remains funny and charming.

Delurking to say Hi.
We had a gorgeous day here in Saskatoon. A High of -2 and sunshine. My walk was warmer than its been for quite awhile, although the windchill meant wearing padded pants and a parka.

I'm not reading much these days and feel like a bit of a charlatan as an LT member.

I see you are reading Clean: The New Science of Skin. I'll be very interested in your opinion of the book. The reviews, especially the most recent one, were shall we say, eyebrow raising.

>203 SandyAMcPherson: It's supposed to be very warm here today with a high of 8C. Low is still on the plus side too but what's weirding me out is there's a risk of a thunderstorm tonight - in February! Madness.

>204 MickyFine: Totally madness ---> a thunderstorm tonight - in February!
Our overnight low is also strange at 0 oC. I think the effects of the so-called pineapple express are showing. Not sure I like to sound of overnight rain here. Too much snow lying around.

>197 MickyFine: If *no*one* likes it, then it's succeeded, the playing field is level. If some people like it and others don't, it must be changed.

Happy week-ahead's reads.

Between your agendas and "weekly bill sorting," I thought for a minute that I was on my own thread! Ha!

>206 richardderus: Possibly true. But if the format doesn't actually permit for useful feedback on job performance, is it doing anything at all besides creating work and allowing HR to check off a box?

>207 scaifea: We're secret twins, Amber. ;)

What's on the agenda: Early shift for Mr. Fine this week means 5 AM wake ups and some solo time for me in the mornings. After dropping him off at the bus this morning, I showered, folded some laundry, and then played games on my phone while listening to an audiobook. Work should include customer suggestions and then probably the rest of the day with Library Journal. Chili for supper this evening and I've got virtual craft circle tonight.

What I'm reading: Made a good dent in Clean yesterday and odds are good I'll wrap it up today. Was in the mood to listen to a play while cleaning yesterday so checked out the LATW Noel Coward Collection from the library. I've listened to it a few times but it's always enjoyable. Finished up Blithe Spirit this morning and am now onto Design for Living.

What we're watching: Attempted to watch the next film on the Disney list, Dinosaur, but could not get through it. Animation on top of real landscape footage makes it look like a low-budget made for TV movie. And the plot was boring. After half an hour we gave up. Got in a couple episodes of Castle though - finished season 2 and started season 3.

>207 scaifea: and >208 MickyFine: - What does weekly bill sorting entail? I keep picturing the two of you at old-fashioned roll-top desks with pigeonhole cubbies marked "Electric," "Mortgage," "Car Payment" etc... :)

>209 MickyFine: - The Wayne made chili last night, but I think we're having it for lunch rather than dinner. I'm sure this is important information you need to have :D

>210 katiekrug: I don't know about how Amber does it but for me it involves a bunch of Excel spreadsheets for tracking accounts, my budget, my actual spending and then doing data entry from receipts (paper and virtual), sorting any financial papers I need to hang onto, plus scheduling any bill payments I need to do that week. No roll-top desk but I do like the desk with credenza that I have.

Chili for lunch also sounds tasty. Ours is leftovers that we froze from the last time we made it in the slow cooker. Love me a meal with almost no prep beyond putting in a pot and warming up. :)

I am slightly disappointed there is a spreadsheet and no pigeonholes, not gonna lie ;-)

I have a feeling we'll have some leftover to freeze, as I get tired of things pretty quickly and TW made a TON!

Oh, wow. Spreadsheets, eh? I, um, still have a physical checkbook ledger. Most of our bills are auto-pay now but there are a handful that aren't, plus I check my ledger against our online bank statements once a week. That's pretty much it for me.

I *do* have an antique writing desk with pigeonholes waiting for me at my parents' house. I used to LOVE to play pretend writer with it when I was a kid and they've said it's mine whenever I want it (I just need Tomm to figure out how to transport it.)

So this sorting business is not nearly as interesting as I imagined.... Ha!

>214 katiekrug: How dare. Every aspect of my life is glamorous and fascinating, Katie.

>215 scaifea: - Oh, absolutely! That's why I had really built up the bill sorting in my mind. It's still a wondrous thing, I'm sure, but perhaps not quite as glamorous and fascinating as other parts of life at Scaife Manor...?

>216 katiekrug: *snork!* Yep, let's go with that.

>212 katiekrug: There's colour-coded file labels, if office organization leaves you twitterpated. ;)

>213 scaifea: Spreadsheets do the math for me, which is handy particularly for things like my budget as it can very quickly tell me how much fun money I have left for the month.

>215 scaifea: Agreed. We're utterly fascinating. ;)

Color-coded file labels are no substitute for pigeonholes.

But they're so pretty!

>208 MickyFine: ...is it doing anything at all besides creating work and allowing HR to check off a box?

...and your point would be...?

I too lament the absence of sleeve garters, isinglass eyeshades, and roll-top desks with pigeonholes in y'all's techno-fested organizational orgiastics.

>221 richardderus: ...and your point would be...? Snort. That I wish it were actually a useful process. Pie in the sky wish, I know.

Dang I wish sleeve garters would make a comeback. I find them weirdly sexy...

>222 MickyFine: Taking them off his sleeves is, um, stimulating.

>223 richardderus: Sounds like a good idea for a seduction scene in an historical romance, Richard. If you ever decide to write a novel. ;)

Book 17



Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (re-read)

A re-read to refresh my memory before picking up the sequel. Particularly necessary as I'd seen the film more recently than reading the book and they're both good in their own ways but other than title and the basic structure of a competition with three levels, have little else in common. While I'm a 90s rather than an 80s kid so the nostalgia doesn't have the same effect, the plethora of pop culture references are fun and the various puzzles and competition remain entertaining.

Rating: ****

>211 MickyFine: it involves a bunch of Excel spreadsheets for tracking accounts, my budget, my actual spending and then doing data entry from receipts (paper and virtual), sorting any financial papers I need to hang onto, plus scheduling any bill payments I need to do that week. As a qualified accountant I’ve always been very organised at work, but at home I’ve always been more of a ‘put all the papers in a big pile and then sort them out once every few months when the pile gets too big’ sort of person. I do keep a general eye on the bank account balance though, and in the U.K. most bills are cheaper paid by direct debit, so there’s hardly ever any actual bill paying to be done.

>226 SandDune: Mr. Fine would be in the pile of stuff category if I didn't sort his papers. As long as you have a system that works. :)

What's on the agenda: So far this morning I've got in a lot of snuggle time with Smee while playing games on my phone and reading. Also got very excited by the new adult content section of Disney+. Work will include one meeting and the usual checking of reviews and lists for ordering. Chicken fajitas for supper tonight.

What I'm reading: Finished Clean last night and the final volume of Giant Days this morning (reviews soon). I'll start Ready Player Two at lunch.

What we're watching: Couple episodes of Fringe last night.

"adult" content on Disney+? *waggles eyebrows*

NO WAY. We are having chicken fajitas for dinner tonight, too!

>226 SandDune: :D :D ~ put all the papers in a big pile and then sort them out once every few months...

We have a box in the study/studio. It's called the Time will Tell box (named courtesy of Younger Daughter).
Such a pretty box, light blue with gold accents ~


And a perfect system: throw the paperwork or homeless interlopers into the box. When the lid doesn't close properly, sort it out for what actually needs to be filed in the household file cabinet, shred the rest.

The bills in our house are paid automatically from the bank accounts and the paperwork received electronically, otherwise this method would totally fail.

The key thing was that we discovered over half our paperwork and various other bits didn't have a 'home' or we didn't know what to do with it. The T-W-T box saved these homeless interlopers in one spot and after a time, the unfiled stuff either becomes unnecessary to keep or we had to find a logical storage place. Sure led to a lot of "tell me again, why are we keeping this" dialogue.

>226 SandDune: >227 MickyFine: 'Pile of stuff category'? What's that? *deliberately not looking at large pile lurking in dark corner*

>230 SandyAMcPherson: Ah, I see. I was going to say that my stuff would never fit in that (I have many boxes/ bags/ piles in various places that were logical when they were initiated) but I see that the important part is 'When the lid doesn't close properly, sort it out' Maybe I should try that ...

>231 humouress: Indeed, "Maybe I should try that ..."

We were forever heaped with unsorted "stuff" and I was so tired of never getting it cleared away, so something had to give. The one box/one place works well for us. So did converting as much as possible to electronic files with their designated folders turn out to be a godsend.

When did this inundation of paper begin? I don't remember it being a problem until the last decade. And we're buying way less because we're so done with accummulating anything. I don't have it figured out at all...

>229 katiekrug: Basically it's everything over PG-13. Includes stuff like Deadpool and Pretty Woman. At the moment I'm pretty excited that Alias is finally in there. So going to rewatch it. Also yay for meal twins!

>230 SandyAMcPherson: I should use that system for the papers I set aside to be shredded. We have a shredder but my Dad had to hotwire it as the on/off switch broke so now it just turns on if it's plugged in. And while the outlet is not far from where the shredder is, it means crawling under my desk to plug it in so I avoid it until the pile on top of it gets unmanageable. A box would be much tidier.

>231 humouress: Snort.

>233 MickyFine: We caved and recently bought a new shredder.
The switch must be a really lame piece of rubbish, because that's what failed on ours, too.

Just a few years ago, I burned out a motor in the shredder that was supposed to have an automatic shut off to prevent overheating. Today's small appliances are so shoddy, what a total manufacturing fail.

One of my co-workers is from Prince Edward Island (for non-Canadians, it's the smallest province with a population of about 150,000 people). She regularly shares with us some of the hysterical news stories from out there and today's story about a seal on a sidewalk is perfection. The best part is when they quote the woman who originally spotted the seal as she imitates seal noises. 🤣

Book 18



Clean: The New Science of Skin - James Hamblin

James Hamblin starts off his book by stating that he hasn't showered in 5 years. He's clear up front that he's not advocating that as a life choice for everyone, and that as a white, straight, man of a certain level of socioeconomic standing he has privileges that make it easier to make that choice. What follows instead is an exploration of the history of hygiene, particularly of soap, the growing body of knowledge about the importance of our skin's microbiome, and the growing acknowledgement that while washing our hands is massively important, washing everything else is a little more optional. The book did make me grateful to live in Canada as cosmetics and skin products are regulated up here and there's almost no oversight in the US. Fascinating content and well written (Hamblin is both a doctor and a journalist).

Rating: ****

Book 19



Giant Days, Volume 14 - John Allison & Max Sarin

Daisy tries to prevent a year-end prank from her resident first-years. Daisy and Esther graduate. Susan, Daisy, and Esther work to figure out how their relationship works when they're not all at uni together.

Not a perfect last volume but it remains sweet and leaves the readers content that these young women are headed to good places.

Rating: ****

>234 SandyAMcPherson: I also just recently bought a new shredder. My old one was jammed beyond repair -- after over an hour of attempting all of my old tricks to clear it, I decided to give up and buy a better one. The jammed one was at least 15 years old and only shredded the paper into long strips; the new one will cross-shred. Chiming in on the paperwork conversation, I also tend to let things pile up. Most of my bills are auto-pay or paid online, but it's the other stuff that gets me. "Do I need to keep this? For how long?" are questions I often find myself asking. (I usually go down an Internet rabbit hole finding various articles with recommendations for how long to keep this document or that.)

>230 SandyAMcPherson: >232 SandyAMcPherson: Last year I sorted into 3 boxes. That lasted about 2 months. Now it's papers everywhere. Good thing Mike catches the Tax relevant statements and squirrels them away until we visit the accountant. Though he's always after me to come up with a bank statement or charity receipt.

>235 MickyFine: Love it! Thanks.

>236 MickyFine: Want!

>237 MickyFine: Glad you enjoyed it.

So you're bound to be in mourning for Ferlinghetti, gone from us at 101, but I appreciate your soldiering on to serve your patrons in their quests to absorb more poetical non-fiction.

...hm...

>238 foggidawn: >239 quondame: I'm getting a lot of comfort from hearing about other folks paper-dysfunction and shredder stories. Thanks for telling us.

Micky, that seal story was hilarious ...until I realized the sadness of climate change and the loss of adequate sea ice. Thanks for mentioning it. I usually key in to western Canadian news on CBC.

>239 quondame: It gave me a lot of joy yesterday.

>240 richardderus: I'd hedge a bet your local library has a copy of Clean hanging around.

>241 SandyAMcPherson: I usually focus on Alberta news too but, with friends and a spouse from the Atlantic provinces, I get occasional stories from that end of the country.

What's on the agenda: My early morning free time was divided between a bit of laundry and playing games on my phone while listening to an audiobook. Bibliocommons (our public catalogue interface provider) is running a virtual conference today and tomorrow so I've got a couple sessions for that. Around those I'll be doing my usual selection work as yesterday I ended up getting sucked down the rabbit hole of titles in OverDrive where the edition we own is no longer available for purchase but there are still holds - leads to things like 55 holds on a single copy. Take out tonight and I'm leaning towards getting Fatburger.

What I'm reading: Made it through the first 100ish pages of Ready Player Two yesterday. I also swapped out the version of Noel Coward plays I'm listening to as I discovered a BBC Radio collection. Listened to a big chunk of Private Lives this morning with Helena Bonham-Carter and Bill Nighy in the leads.

What we're watching: Arrowverse night had us finishing up the Crisis on Earth X crossover and now we'll watch the rest of each show straight through instead of swapping back and forth, starting with Arrow.

>239 quondame: Yup. My husband has banned me from opening or even collecting the post.

... You see, I put things in an 'urgent' pile, to be dealt with later. But then it gets bigger and I have to start building a more recently received 'urgent' pile, so the first one becomes 'less urgent' in my mind

... And, of course, I'm always putting things in a safe, logical place and forgetting where that is. Of course, I'd find it faster if people wouldn't 'tidy up' my stuff. Hmph.

>243 MickyFine: Welp, you've passed me with RP2, then. *sigh* I'm so slow.

>244 humouress: Ah the piles of stuff people. My Dad is one of those and he and my Mom have regular tiffs over it if she moves them because people are coming over and he hasn't done it yet. :P

>245 scaifea: Not slow. You've got eleventy-one books going on at the same time so you're far speedier than I. ;)

What's on the agenda: Did some laundry this morning before work (yay for folding and putting away the day after washing it all - I am NOT good at that). Work will involve more virtual conference sessions (yesterday learned about the cool things Pima County and Chicago public libraries are doing with collection promotion), customer suggestions, and then going through lists from library vendors. Soup and sandwiches tonight - may make mine open-face grilled cheese.

What I'm reading: Ready Player Two continues. While doing laundry I listened to more Noel Coward plays. Started Hay Fever which boasts Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer among its cast. Love when actors reunite in other projects.

What we're watching: Three episodes of Outlander last night. Ending with Season 1 Claire's arrest for witchcraft.

>242 MickyFine: I'm first on the holds list for Clean: The New Science of Skin and, TBH, am delighted that someone else is interested in it!

An echo-YAY for laundry accomplishments. I'd rather do dishes than laundry, the most Sisyphean labor of them all.

>247 MickyFine:'s spoiler: *eeek*

>248 richardderus: Yay for not having a long wait for Clean. I look forward to your thoughts as they're bound to be full of bon mots.

Ah yes, I'm also not great at staying on top of dishes. Mr. Fine usually does them but we've both been putting it off this week and the pile next to the sink is starting to annoy me.

I'm excited for our Outlander viewing next week because I love the episodes at Lallybroch. Domestic and cozy Jamie and Claire moments are my faves.

>249 MickyFine: I love institution living when the time to wash dishes comes: ain't none.

Well, a few of my own, but not many compared to living-in-a-house days.

Re: spoiler, awomen.

>246 MickyFine: Amusement of the day: Ah, the piles of stuff people.

That would be the hubs around here. Auto-pay from the bank account has saved us from all those unpaid-bills and late charges, back when he insisted he would take care of the bills.
Yup, he piled and buried the mail with the "open and put back in envelope technique".

>250 richardderus: That's a definite upside, Richard.

>251 SandyAMcPherson: Glad to give you a smile, Sandy.

What's on the agenda: Yay for Friday. I've got customer suggestions in both our catalogue and OverDrive to sort out. Before diving into those I did some fun testing of a virtual Bridgerton-themed activity one of my friends/co-workers is developing. Meeting of all librarians across the system late this afternoon. After work I'll pick up Mr. Fine's daughter who's with us again this weekend. Stir fry for dinner tonight.

What I'm reading: Still chugging along in Ready Player Two. Made better progress on my audiobook yesterday and am on to my third play (of seven) in the collection.

What we're watching: Supernatural night on Thursdays. We've passed the 100th episode and the end of season 5 is in sight.

Ooooh, stir fry sounds good! We had fried rice last night, which is a favorite around here.

Also,

Well I did finally get context for all the drunk Cas gifs.

>255 MickyFine: *snork!* YAS!!

My husband and I are watching Supernatural quite slowly. We're on Season 11. It's pretty good! :)

>257 The_Hibernator: Glad to see that, Rachel. We've got a ways to go yet.

Happy Saturday, Micky! I hope all is well. I am really enjoying this warm-up we are having in the Midwest but I want this snow and ice to leave, so I can get back on the trails.

What's on the agenda: Having a good lounge around in bed for an hour or two before breakfast and virtual church. Maybe a walk this afternoon but we had a sudden cold snap overnight to -20C (-4F), which after all our above freezing temperatures for the past week is going to mean a fair amount of ice, so it may be safer inside. With Mr. Fine's daughter here, there's a good chance of playing games on the Switch this afternoon. Homemade pizza for supper tonight and then movie night.

What I'm reading: Finished Ready Player Two last night. Might review it today but more likely tomorrow. More Than Words Can Say is up next.

What we're watching: No TV, just a round of Mario Kart (step-daughter wiped the floor with us as usual) followed by the cooperative river rafting game in Mario Party.

>259 msf59: I hear you, Mark. Several of my favourite paths in nearby parks have a lot of packed snow, which gets treacherous when we have all the melting and freezing common to this time of year. Up here we're not truly free of winter for another month or two.

>251 SandyAMcPherson: Well, if you didn’t put it back in the envelope, how would you know what it was? ;0)

I haven’t watched ‘Supernatural’ because the premise and the trailers looked too scary.

>262 humouress: I am also not a horror fan and the first couple seasons have a stronger scary vibe. After that it mellows a bit.

What's on the agenda: I woke up at 5 AM for no good reason. Stupid body clock. At least it'll make going to sleep tonight and waking up at 5 tomorrow slightly less painful. Cleaning day, meal planning, and bill stuff. Gotta sneak in one more RSP contribution before the deadline. Then just chilling with the fam jam. Not sure yet if I have to drive Mr. Fine's daughter home or if her boyfriend is picking her up. Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and probably cooked peas for supper tonight.

What I'm reading: Only read 50 pages in More Than Words Can Say yesterday but it's a solid read so far.

What we're watching: We started the evening with the newest episode of WandaVision, then Night at the Museum, and wrapped it up with an episode of The Muppet Show.

Sorry to see your cold snap! Ontario is in a bit of a heat wave and it's going up to +8c today. The kids are sad as their snow forts are melting now and our lawn is just a sheet of ice instead of fluffy snow.

Enjoy your Sunday, despite the early wake up!

>265 ChelleBearss: It wasn't a long cold snap thankfully. We're back up to -4C today and it's supposed to get warmer overnight, with highs on the plus side of freezing all week. :)

Book 20



Ready Player Two - Ernest Cline

Days after winning Halliday's Easter egg contest, Wade Watts discovers a new piece of technology that completely changes how everyone interacts with the OASIS. At the same time he also reveals a new quest from Halliday that can only be completed by Wade. However foes old and new await him and the threats they pose are beyond imagining. As Wade teams up once again with his friends, he'll need all the pop culture knowledge he can get to make it to the end.

Turning off the analytical part of my brain made this a thoroughly entertaining read. Think too hard about any of the troubling issues raised by the novel but that are never truly addressed (global warming, economic disparity, the dangers of excessive escapism) and it becomes less entertaining and more a dark picture of a potential future. Also I have a lot of mixed feels about the ending. Fans of the first novel will likely be pleased with this sequel.

Rating: ***

February Summary





Numbers in parentheses are for year to date. Note pages read/hours listened for abandoned books are included in totals.

Books read: 10 (20)
Books abandoned: 2 (2)

Fiction: 7 (16)
Non-fiction: 3 (4)

Adult: 7 (13)
YA: 3 (7)
Children's: 0 (0)

Library: 5 (12)
Mine: 5 (8)
Borrowed elsewhere: 0 (0)

Re-reads: 2 (3)

Female authors: 5 (11)
Male authors: 5 (9)
Non-binary authors: 0 (0)

Pages:2,815 (5,436)
Hours: 4 hours, 20 minutes (4 hours, 20 minutes)

Average rating: 3.95

Average time to read book: 3.15 days

Favourite book(s): Favourite re-read was How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse. Favourite new read was Giant Days, Volume 14, which did a solid job of wrapping up the series.

And with that done, head on over to my new March thread!

>267 MickyFine: Hmm, I really enjoyed Ready Player One but haven't felt compelled to pick up the sequel at all, and I think your review cemented that feeling. Maybe someday, but definitely don't feel the need to read it now.

>270 curioussquared: Mr. Fine is a huge fan of the first book (he listens to the audiobook of it probably twice a year) and he really liked this one as well, so for the dyed in the wool fan it's likely to be enjoyable.