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I finished The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber this afternoon, and boy am I glad to be done with it. The characters were unbelievable, the story was slow, and the writing was stilted.
I could not stand how one main character provided commentary on how scattered of a memoir-writer he is. Equally annoying was the other main character’s propensity to analyze every situation and course of action as though it was part of a movie script. I gradually became used to these self-referential first-person perspectives, but it still made me feel stabby.
One main character goes on unnecessarily about his numerous sexual conquests, and another is involved in an awkward relationship with an untrustworthy woman who had tattooed a cipher grille onto her inner thigh:
“She stopped his mouth with her tongue and pressed [the] long-lost cipher grille against his groin.”
At which point I threw the book down and exclaimed to Steve that my book had become so ridiculous I couldn’t stand it.
10 MAR
2010
I met Jessamyn this weekend. Jessamyn is a geek librarian superhero and MetaFilter moderator. The Alaska Library Association brought Jessamyn to Anchorage as a speaker for their annual conference.
Alison, another local MetaFilter member, and I met Jessamyn downtown on Friday night, which happened to be First Friday, the night of Kathy Griffith's comedy performance, and the eve of the Iditarod ceremonial start. In other words, downtown was packed to the gills and it was going to take two hours to get a seat at a restaurant. We moved to midtown and got a table at Spenard Roadhouse where they gave us free popcorn and half-off appetizers.
I didn't get any photos because my iPhone died a nasty death and I left all of my memory cards at home. But Jessamyn ate all of my tater tots, and that's all the proof I need.
08 MAR
2010
Because of personnel changes in December, I had to cancel my time off around the holidays to be in the office. As of the beginning of February we have been fully staffed once again and I took the opportunity to make up for some of that lost time by visiting my mother in Homer.
I have driven a lot in the state of Alaska, many thousands of miles from this city to that. Over 200 miles from Homer to Anchorage, and over 350 miles from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Over and over and over again. I know where the cleaner porta-potties are and I know where the next passing zone will be.
I don't much like to stop on these trips unless someone's bladder is bursting because 1. I just passed a bunch of pokey cars and don't want to pass them again, and 2. Stopping makes the trip that much longer, especially when taking into account item #1, above.
But this trip I made a conscious decision to make the drive with an eye for photography, and as a result Olive and I stopped a number of times on the drive south. Olive doesn't like traveling long distances in the car, and I think the multiple stops helped her nerves.
It was a great drive and a great visit.
27 FEB
2010
