(no subject)

I just finished.... um, almost.... reading The Necromancer, or The Tale of the Black Forest by Karl Kahlert - another trashy novel of the late eighteenth century. This was just about unreadable, I thought - no plot, just a series of loosely connected tales about spooky things happening that may or may not involve ghosts. As in Radcliffe, everything that seems spooky and supernatural and otherworldly has a very plausible rational explanation. This had the most contrived and laborious frame narrative I have ever encountered - at one point, Person A gives Person B a manuscript by Person C, who then tells some of the story in the words of Person D who further quotes Person E's tale. That's too many iterations of nested narrative for me. If I had to put down the book (and that happens frequently, due to the small child's demands) - when I picked it back up, it was almost impossible to figure out who was talking.

OTOH, I think this is, in parts, the slashiest book I've ever read. If I liked it better, I'd construct a slash story using only selected (and remixed) sentences from this book - but I don't want to spend that much time re-reading it, so it's not going to happen. :)

Bullet Points

* I have "Turkey in the Straw" stuck in my head, but with alternate lyrics penned by saltcod from many many years ago. ("The weasel who couldn't lay an egg"?) My brain is weird. (The song is in my brain because we've been playing a CD of children's folk songs.)

* I got a huge packet of information today in the mail from the Nova Scotia Tourism Office! We're hoping to carve out a week or so in early September. I'm so damned excited.

* Right after discussing whale-watching with galagan and how I've never been and always wanted to go, my sister called and then we had a conversation about she feels the same - always wanted to, never gets to.

* My sister did tell me that when she was in Maine last month, she saw a place where they were giving PUFFIN TOURS. OMG, how did I not know such things exist? I want to drive up there right now in order to be first in line to see puffins.

* My sister is leaving for Switzerland in 3 days (for a month in Europe - one week of singing, followed by 3 weeks of putzing around with her boyfriend), but she was rather envious of our planned trip to Nova Scotia. So I guess we're even.

* I have a splinter in my foot, and this is not the first I've had this week. (galagan thinks I need to stop going barefoot, but *that's* not going to happen.) I can't get this one out. There's been lots of digging around with pin and tweezers. Damn it, it hurts, and it's right on the pad of my foot where it bears pretty much all my weight. Bugger.

* I'm giving in to the global mindmeld, and re-reading HP Book VI.

* I got a free doll stroller today, via Freecycle. As soon as I straighten the frame a little bit and clean it out, Elena will be So. Excited.

* Nova Scotia! I think I need a kilt. I had one when I was little, complete with one of those giant safety pin thingies.