books 2023

* = book club book

	audio books fall guy - archer mayor marked man - archer mayor misfit - gary gulman orphan's guilt - archer mayor ascension - nicholas binge * the narrow road between desires - patrick rothfuss bomber's moon - archer mayor bury the lead - archer mayor trace - archer mayor presumption of guilt - archer mayor the company she kept - archer mayor proof positive - archer mayor where the forest meets the stars - glendy vanderah * three can keep a secret - archer mayor paradise city - archer mayor portrait of a theif - grace d li * tag man - archer mayor the price of malice - archer mayor the catch - archer mayor chat - archer mayor the second mouse - archer mayor st. alban's fire - archer mayor the surrogate thief - archer mayor gatekeeper - archer mayor the sniper's wife - archer mayor tucker peak - archer mayor the marble mask - archer mayor occam's razor - archer mayor the disposable man - archer mayor bellows falls - archer mayor the ragman's memory - archer mayor the dark root - archer mayor fruits of the poisonous tree - archer mayor skeleton's knee - archer mayor scent of evil - archer mayor borderlines - archer mayor open season - archer mayor hello (from here) - chandler baker and wesley king ocdaniel - wesley king * the recovery agent - janet evanovich every city is every other city - john mcfetridge you can't joke about that - kat timpf sycamore - bryn chancellor * folly - laurie r king crazy brave - joy harjo * greywarren - maggie stiefvater mr impossible - maggie stiefvater call down the hawk - maggie stiefvater eternity's wheel - neil gaiman the silver dream - neil gaiman interworld - neil gaiman mouth to mouth - antoine wilson * the activist - john grisham the accused - john grisham the abduction - john grisham kid lawyer - john grisham the searcher - tana french cold, cold bones - kathy reichs a conspiracy of bones - kathy reichs the bone code - kathy reichs back to the garden - laurie r king slow fire burning - paula hawkins * the ink black heart - robert galbraith
	paper books lessons in chemistry - bonnie garmus *
	ebooks an echo in the bone - diana gabaldon

books 2022

* = book club book

	audio books the lethal white - robert galbraith the career of evil - robert galbraith the silkworm - robert galbraith the cuckoo's calling - robert galbraith northern spy - flynn berry* castle shade - laurie r king riviera gold - laurie r king island of the mad - laurie r king the murder of mary russell - laurie r king dreaming spies - laurie r king garment of shadows - laurie r king pirate king - laurie r king beekeeping for beginners - laurie r king the language of bees - laurie r king locked rooms - laurie r king the game - laurie r king harry potter and the sorcerer's stone - jk rowling (while waiting on the game) justice hall - laurie r king o jerusalem - laurie r king the moor - laurie r king a letter of mary - laurie r king a monstrous regiment of women - laurie r king the maid - nita prose* harry potter and the deathly hallows - jk rowling harry potter and the half-blood prince - jk rowling harry potter and the order of the phoenix - jk rowling harry potter and the goblet of fire - jk rowling harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban - jk rowling harry potter and the chamber of secrets - jk rowling harry potter and the sorcerer's stone - jk rowling the last bookshop in london - madeline martin* the kindest lie - nancy johnson* the madness of crowds - louise penny all the devils are here - louise penny a better man - louise penny kingdom of the blind - louise penny glass houses - louise penny a great reckconing - louise penny the nature of the beast - louise penny the long way home - louise penny eleanor oliphant is completely fine - gail honeyman* how the light gets in - louise penny the beautiful mystery - louise penny educated - tara westover* a trick of the light - louise penny
	paper books wish you were here - jodi picoult*
	ebooks an echo in the bone - diana gabaldon a breath of snow and ashes - diana gabaldon

books 2021

	audio books bury your dead - louise penny the brutal telling - louise penny a rule against murder - louise penny the cruelest month - louise penny fatal grace - louise penny the weed that strings the hangman's bag - alan bradley thrice the brinded cat hath mewed - alan bradley still life - louise penny the stationery shop - marian kamali the madness of crowds - louise penny rooster bar - john grisham all the devils are here - louise penny code girls (young readers edition) - liza mundy harry potter and the chamber of secrets - jk rowling harry potter and the goblet of fire - jk rowling harry potter and the half blood prince - jk rowling harry potter and the order of the phoenix - jk rowling
	paper books the stationery shop - marian kamali while justice sleeps - stacey abrams red cross lifeguard manu 2017 edition the war that saved my life - kimberley bradley the last story of mina lee - nancy jooyoun kim the midnight library - matt haig the family upstairs - lisa jewel the exiles - chritina baker kline
	ebooks a breath of snow and ashes - diana gabaldon

rhetorical question

it's just a rhetorical question,

that's what i chose to believe.

when she asked that thing 

at the place 

with the people 

where the packages all were recieved. 

it's a ridiculous question, 

i decided soon after that. 

when she asked that thing 

at the place 

with the people 

where it rained and i let in the cat. 

it's an unreasonable question,

i realized then, in a mo. 

when she asked that thing 

at the place 

with the people 

where nobody wanted to go. 

it's just a rhetorical question,

i made up my mind in the end. 

cause asking that thing 

at that place 

with those people

begged what came next, even then. 

mabon balancing

i wrote this poem inspired by the celtic celebration of the autumnal equinox in sept 2011 and posted it on a blog which is now deprecated yet still accessible through my profile page.

********

stand precarious
tiptoe
one foot
facing west.
hold in your northern hand
light.
hold in your southern hand
darkness.

exposure:veil::awareness:oblivion
you cannot know what you do not see.

stand precarious
tiptoe
one foot
facing west.
hold your northern hand
open.
hold your southern hand
closed.

revelation:secret::awareness:oblivion
you cannot know what you do not know.

stand precarious
tiptoe
one foot
facing west.
hold in your northern hand
water.
hold in your southern hand
sand.

nourishment:drought::awareness:oblivion
you cannot know what you do not cultivate.

stand precarious
tiptoe
one foot
facing west.
hold in your northern hand
future.
hold in your southern hand
past.

wax:wane::awareness:oblivion
you cannot know what you do not experience.


mabon balancing

snow white and the seven extraneous circumstances

 topic of the day: when prince charming kissed snow white, he did so without her consent. is this offensive?

on the one hand, making out with unconscious people is offensive. it offends their right to consent - to say, yes, let's make out or no, i'd rather not. we all have the implicit right to say what happens with our own body and therefore, the right to accept or deny being touched, kissed, having our hair cut, and so on.

on the other hand, performing resuscitative efforts on unconscious people is heroic. it is the job of everyone in the medical supply chain - from someone trained in first aid to EMTs to the top doctor - to "apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism." (from the modern version of the hippocratic oath). resuscitating an unconscious person would fit this bill.

so what is prince charming doing? is he assaulting an unconscious victim or resuscitating an unconscious sick person?

take the kiss out of the picture. what if prince charming had spoken a magic word or given snow white a pat on the arm? what if he had called a doctor and the doctor performed surgery - with snow unconscious all the while? 

what if prince charming had administered a potion that woke snow up? that doesn't sound like assault and doesn't sound like something he'd need her consent for. what if he didn't have a syringe so he administered the potion by pouring it in her mouth? sounds okay, depending on snow's swallow reflex... to avoid choking her, maybe he gets a potion that can be absorbed through the skin. that actually seems like a good idea. but what if the potion needs to be body temperature when delivered and all it does is wake someone up, causing no harm to persons who are already awake and it can only be absorbed by the skin of the mouth and it only takes a tiny amount to work?

so here we have unconscious snow white and (1) prince charming standing there with a potion that will wake her up and (2) needs to be administered (3) in a tiny portion (4) at body temperature (5) to the skin of the mouth (6) and it won't hurt him, (7) only help her. in order to get it to body temp, he can't just stick his finger in it and then daub it on her mouth. to really warm it up, and to get it to the correct temp without measurement equipment, his best bet is to put it in his mouth. it's not going to hurt him, after all. 

so he puts the potion in his mouth and holds it there until it is the same temp as his mouth. then he lets it out of his mouth in a way that coats his lips and immediately touches his lips to hers to administer the tiny dose. that seems okay, right? that's not assault... that's heroic.

now, take away the potion. 

 

let it go and do better next time

there comes a time you* just have to throw it* out.

*i 

*3yo frozen meat

i am sorry. sorry. sorry. i bought too much ground turkey 3 years ago. mea culpa. 

but y'all - i am clearly not going to use this - ever. i mean, have you seen the steady stream of fresh meat parading through here? obvs not reaching into the ol' frigidaire to partake of the existing inventory. AND, starving children around the world do NOT need to be subjected to the presence of this frosty hardened lump of something only formerly known as food.

it's time to free myself of this culinary anchor. let it go and do better next time.