(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

Athenos was giving out Greek yoghurt in downtown again this yesterday. I've decided I really like Athenos yoghurt; it's rich, it comes with jam you can stir into it, and they keep giving it to me for free.

Talking of free, a quick note that couldn't wait until Radio Free Monday -- jonaht tipped me off that this Earth Day, the 23rd, Lowes home improvement stores are giving away a million trees -- I couldn't find a whole lot of detail but apparently you just swing by a Lowes and grab a sapling. Those of you blessed with yards and concerned with shade and oxygenation may wish to partake, if you've got a Lowes in the area.

Now that I've given up on The Black Swan, I've been oscillating between The Vesuvius Club on the train and The Sea Wolf (unabridged audiobook) while walking/working at home. I first read The Sea Wolf when I was fourteen, I think, and loved the hell out of it. I understood probably only about half of it; over the years I re-read it probably a dozen times and figured out a bit more each time. But the last time I read it I was twenty-two, so almost ten years ago.

Man he does talk some shit, doesn't he? I think it'd be about half as long if he'd had a more active editor. It's almost farcical, the way he sidelines to spend a couple of pages describing Wolf Larssen's eyes. I always thought I liked it in spite of the purple prose, but I'm not sure I realised just how much of the book is purple prose to start with.

I still can't pull myself away from it. I love the story of Hump's transformation, and all the little dramas on the Ghost, and the weirdly chaste but totally sexual way Hump and Larsen continually interact. I keep trying to puzzle out if London meant to make the whole book as blatantly homoerotic as he did, given a) he spent quite a lot of time on a Pacific Rim sealer but b) he's weirdly insistent on chastity in all-male society and also heteronormative relationships (specifically the influence of woman on man) as "civilising". I just can't decide.

It's not a book I would ever recommend to someone who I thought might judge my taste in literature, because by modern standards it's not a very well-written book. But I do love it despite its many flaws.

Comments

[evilstorm.livejournal.com]

a) he spent quite a lot of time on a Pacific Rim sealer but b) he's weirdly insistent on chastity in all-male society and also heteronormative relationships (specifically the influence of woman on man) as "civilising"

Repressed homosex sounds kind of normal for that situation. Not sure about that time period, but definitely the all-male UST onboard ships that remain isolated for months and months at a time, in stressful situations where some shagging might do well as catharsis. It's what the RN is famous for, after all.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I did wonder. It's a bit protesteth-too-much and he did LOVE to write about all-male societies, he did it several times.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Aah, nothing better than Greek yogurt + jam. (Except possibly Greek yogurt + honey, but some people are allergic.)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I thought honey was hypoallergenic! *boggle*

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

I know someone who sneezes if they eat any of it.

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

Are they allergic to all honey, or are they allergic to the pollen from the plant whose nectar was used to make the honey?

[stasia]

My MIL can't eat honey because she's got pernicious anemia. (Or at least that's what I was told about her condition.) I thought it was one of the few "safe for all" foods as well.

Stasia

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

How is honey connected to PA? My mom has it and no one told her anything about forgoing honey.

[stasia]

This is the odd thing - she's lactose intolerant and has PA and I know for a fact that she's been told off honey (which she bemoans every time I see her in person (which isn't that often, given she's in Newcastle Upon Tyne and I'm in Alameda, CA, most of the time)), and I'm not sure either what the connection is.

I'll ask her, this Sunday, when my partner makes his weekly call home. It's confused me for a while.

Stasia

ETA: It's something to do with autoimmune responses. I'll find out more, promise!

[stasia]

Ha! Okay, after we couldn't talk to her last week (we were out of town and our phones had no connection!) we talked to her today. It turns out her doctor told her that she should be careful of honey fresh from the comb - something to do with royal jelly, she thinks. She said today that she can eat older honey, just not 'new'.

Unfortunately for all of us, she didn't ask more at the time, so she's not really sure at all. AND, this isn't at all what she's said before, as she sat at her table wistfully watching me use honey in my tea. *sigh*

So, apparently there's nothing to worry about unless your mom is eating honey directly from the comb.

I hope she's doing well!

Stasia

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

She is doing well, thanks for asking. Actually, she thought she had MS and was dying and was very depressed about it, so finding out that she only has PA was a huge morale boost.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Well, I, for one, am still grateful you introduced me to The Sea Wolf, purple prose or no.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I still love it! That's what's so weird!

...did I introduce you to it? That's kind of awesome :D

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

You did! Back in the Coffee Pirates days! Ancient history ...

And there are still things I love from my youth, even though I am fully aware of their faults ... I don't think it's that unusual.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD THE COFFEE PIRATES. I had forgotten about that completely!

[equusregia.livejournal.com]

FYI, Earth Day is on April 22 every year. They are probably giving the trees away on Saturday because more people are free to come to the store. Yay, free trees!

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

D'oh. I never know these things. Somehow I got it in my head that it was the 20th and have never been able to shake that.

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

Does anyone happen to know what type of trees they are giving away?

[yudinsoha.livejournal.com]

If it's a pine tree like it is in the picture, just swing by my house, I've got plenty.

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

If it's a pine we're gonna skip it. We don't currently have any in our yard and we'd like to keep it that way.

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

But they're immune to European gypsy moths!

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

Doesn't mean I want them cluttering up my yard. Damn coniferous weeds.

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

That is so strange to me. I'm a Pacific Northwesterner, pine trees are totally normal for me...

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

I'm Georgian. They're normal for me, too. Normally they drop crap all over the yard and fall over on your house when there's any sort of substantial wind.

[dreamwaffles.livejournal.com]

Huh. That's never bothered me...I hate raking the non-conifers though.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I would hope that it varies by locale -- matching appropriate trees to the climate/indigenous plant life.

But probably pine trees. :D

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

The Vesuvius Club is now on my pile to books to read. Picked it up yesterday along with Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

I have a lot of books to read at the moment, even most of them are re-reads.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I'm really enjoying it. I wasn't that enthused by Neverwhere -- it's a decently-written book and apparently the miniseries is stupendous, but it felt like it never really hit a climax, and there were a lot of plot threads that never went anywhere.

At the moment, Neverwhere is the "One City, One Book" selection for Chicago -- the public libraries are encouraging everyone to read it.