asakiyume: (Em reading)
[personal profile] asakiyume
Two weeks running with posting about reading on Wednesday, whohoo! ... It won't happen again for a while.


The Tail of Emily Windsnap, by Liz Kessler

I wanted to read this after [personal profile] troisoiseaux recalled loving it as a kid and enjoyed it on a reread. I was intrigued by her description of Emily’s starcrossed parents’ romance and Emily’s needing to rescue her father from mer-prison (which is only half the story; the other half is Emily discovering she turns into a mermaid in water, meeting a mergirl who can be her best friend, and learning about mer-school, etc., while meanwhile managing her mother and babysitter and the mean girl at human school).

more analysis than a slim volume should have to bear )

The tl;dr of this is that I thought it was a fun, imaginative adventure story, and I can understand why [personal profile] troisoiseaux remembers it fondly.
asakiyume: (man on wire)
[personal profile] asakiyume
The first I heard from behind me as I was walking along the boardwalk that crosses over a low-lying area on the way to the supermarket.

"No. No, if you've lusted after him in your HEART that's the same as ADULTERY ... Okay. But like Job. Job said--"

I couldn't quite get what Job said, and I'm surprised to hear Job referenced in this context (so maybe I misheard), since Job wasn't lusting after anyone; he just had his family wiped out in a divine thought experiment.

I took a covert glance behind me, and it was a young woman talking on the phone to someone. I didn't want to stare, so I didn't get a close look, but she *might* be the same woman I see walking this route sometimes, with large, bright headphones on, wearing a rapturous expression. I always thought she must be listening to very excellent music but now--if it's the same woman--I'm thinking it might be something else.

The second was a tiny daughter to her mother--they were leaving the supermarket as I was entering.

"We got SO MUCH candy, mom," the girl said. Sounding highly satisfied.

Third was actually a person I was talking to. It was at the Western Union counter. Every four weeks I send my tutor payment for my Tikuna lessons, but I always get $2.00 change. At the same counter they sell scratch tickets and the non-scratch-ticket lottery stuff, and last month I decided that for ten tries, I will spend my $2.00 change on $2.00 lottery tickets and see what happens. Will I lose a full $20? Or will I win some fraction of it back? Or will I make a KILLING! ... I have a strong feeling it will be Option No. 1 (two goes have netted me zero), but letting the test play out means I get to handle these glittery, shiny, throw-your-money-away-on-us tickets. I'm taking photos of each one--when I'm all finished, I'll post them and tell you the results.

So I asked for one once I'd sent the money, but the woman behind the counter was young, and I felt self-conscious, so I blurted out why I was doing this, and she nodded. "I sometimes buy a $10 ticket on my break," she said. "I've never won ANYTHING."

There you have it!

Wednesday reading

Jul. 9th, 2025 10:26 am
asakiyume: (Em reading)
[personal profile] asakiyume
Look at this! Posting about books I've read or am reading on an actual Wednesday. Wohoo, winning!


The Lincoln Highway )

Saint Death's Daughter )

The Tail of Emily Windsnap )

July 25, 2000

Jul. 4th, 2025 03:42 pm
asakiyume: (glowing grass)
[personal profile] asakiyume
My mood improved markedly with a visit from the tall one and his son, my grandkid, little treelet.

Wakanomori brought down a diary the tall one had kept as a kid: here is the entry from July 25, 2000, which includes our visit to Lloyd Alexander's house, where we put on a play for him and his wife Janine. Also included is a visit to the US mint in Philadelphia and commentary on the Delaware River (big!)

a handful of microfictions

Jul. 4th, 2025 11:35 am
asakiyume: (black crow on a red ground)
[personal profile] asakiyume
Having some feelings, so ... have some microfictions.

May 20, prompt word "serve"

Directions for serving certain abstract dishes:

--revenge is a dish best served cold
--pornography is a dish best served hot
--satire is a dish best served salty
--mockery is a dish best served bitter
--disappointment is a dish best served sour
--romance is a dish best served sweet


June 26, prompt word "kind"

"May I pay you in kind rather than currency?" the woman asked. The man was selling Dastrian funerary masks, perhaps war loot from the last conflict.

"That depends. What you got to offer?" He was suspicious--she looked Dastrian.

"These magical birds."

Impressed, the man agreed.

As he neared home that evening, the birds suddenly took flight. They plunged through the windows of his house, seizing precious objects in their talons, and flew off.

Payment in kind.

July 2, prompt word "clear"

"I'm not guilty," I insisted. It was true. Sure, I'd taken the bribe and misplaced evidence, but I did NOT betray Pereira. Yet now all I got were angry looks and curses.

"My spell will clear your name," Lady One Eye said. I believed her and didn't notice when she added, "Clear it but good."

The next day, no one knew me. I introduced myself and they looked confused. I wrote out my name, but it was like they couldn't see it.

My name had been cleared into invisibility.

Profile

nattalie: (Default)
nattalie

May 2018

S M T W T F S
  12 345
678 9 101112
13 14 151617 18 19
2021 2223 2425 26
2728293031  

Tags

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags