flaneurs | Member Posts

2026/059: A Legacy of Spies — John Le Carré

...how much of our human feeling can we dispense with in the name of freedom, would you say, before we cease to feel either human or free? [loc. 3719]

Published in 2017, and very much a post-Brexit novel: at one point Smiley says to Peter Guillam "was it all for England, then? Of course it was... But whose England? Which England? England all alone, a citizen of nowhere? I'm a European."

Told from Peter Guillam's point of view: he's an old man now, retired to his family's farm in Brittany, but he's called back to London to explain his actions during Operation Windfall( Read more... )

Current Mood: impressed

oursin

Happy birthday,

mme_hardy and

polyamorous!

ysabetwordsmith

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are the content notes for "Where You Find Light."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are the location notes for "Where You Find Light."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

weofodthignen

More rain, but more condensed. After I'd grabbed what I thought was a momentary clearing and given the dog her opportunity to go somewhere (she crossed the street then, discovering it was dank over there too, noped out), the blue spot in the western sky kept growing and the sun shone wanly until it went down. I'd taken my own walk–using an umbrella—on a route that didn't involve the block I had to wade the last time it rained a lot. There were some leaf-clogged gutters, but not bad. And at one house, a large branch had come down from their tulip maple, but appeared not to have damaged anything.

ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the August 5, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

dialecticdreamer,

rix_scaedu, and

jake67jake. It also fills the "Before the Fact" square in my 8-1-25 card for the Crime Classics Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the Big One thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It is the first in a triptych, followed by "When You Learn to Read" and "No Faster or Firmer Friendships."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

thistleingrey

Jinwoo Park, Oxford Soju Club (2025): character-centric spy thriller from a Canadian publisher, which I picked up while glancing at a different library epub (by someone who blurbed Soju Club). Subject line is from ch. 5.

If you know which Korean surnames are border-straddlers, you'll find them well represented amongst Soju Club's associates, either directly or via central-casting allusions to kpop/kdrama stars' names (including the voice actress for Meitantei Conan's Korean dub, if I'm not mistaken). One character totes around a copy of The Golden Compass, thus named. The Oxford around Soju Club and another pub is barely sketched in, a liminal space for crossings, as though to assert that there's no need for the Arctic; southern England is unlikely enough.

Soju Club is the type of novel that, while layering secret-handshake refs that most readers wouldn't see (I caught the doublings related to Sacheon in Yeongnam, but I know I've missed a bunch), tries suggesting that it doesn't matter that gyopo Park did his homework for those resonances and evocations as though preparing for a Suneung he never took. If you catch the Korean bits, you won't catch the UK-related or NorAm-related ones.

All you need are the sense that you won't catch everything Park has learned while touring himself out of some boxes, and the fact that he did a master's at Oxford and then some writing/managing for computer games. The latter furnishes the novel's vignette-driven scrambled sequence: turn the page or tap the screen to find the next puzzle-segment.

I think that Park, with this debut novel, doesn't imagine the author to be dead.

ysabetwordsmith

We went out to Mattoon today.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

sanguinity

Intro/FAQ
Days 1-15

Note: I'll be away from email for the next two days, so check-in posts will go up a couple hours later than usual. If that proves inconveniently late for you, just go ahead and drop your check-in on the most recent post whenever is convenient for you. (Just make it clear what day you're checking in for!)

My check-in: ~~No writing yet! A little later this evening, I hope!~~ I wrote a long chatty email to my cousin. It counts if I say it counts!

Day 21:

sanguinity

Day 20:

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 19:

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

( More days )

When you check in, please use the most recent post and say what day(s) you’re checking in for. Remember you can drop in or out at any time, and let me know if I missed anyone!

ysabetwordsmith

Chimpanzees Have Entered The Stone Age

Kanzi learned how to make and use sharp stone flakes.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

oursin

That is, I have finally knocked off a review that has been hanging over me for months, probably needs a little more fiddling with but it was very much I had got to the stage of 'just sit down and write the bloody thing' and did it. It's a book I'm fairly lukewarm about, doing fairly useful work with what it does but it feels a bit all over the place and hard to get a proper grip on.

Also, yay, am feeling rather less washed out than the past few days following vaxx.

We have appointment to see solicitor about our Testamentary Dispositions next week - finally found one in the fairly close vicinity through the Law Society Find a Solicitor facility.

Have just been getting Documentation from the local authority who are actually paying me to go and talk about johnnies in their collections in just under two months, so I guess that's sort of the next thing on my agenda.

Though am gradually making my way through ms by deceased colleague, though there is not major urgency on this as my collaborator is still in academic life and overwhelmed with the responsibilities of that at present.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few house finches and a brown-headed cowbird. Several vultures were circling low over the yard, but by the time I grabbed my camera, they were gone.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/21/26 -- We went out to DeBurh's. I picked up a different brand of sun/shade grass mix that should be without chemicals. I also picked out a flat of small single pots, a flat of 4-packs, and a few extras in larger pots.

EDIT 4/21/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a male cardinal and a fox squirrel.

EDIT 4/21/26 -- I planted a large rectangular pot with four purple and pink plants and one pink-and-yellow verbena.

EDIT 4/21/26 -- I planted a pot with a yellow-and-white nemesia, a small yellow flower, and a small white flower. This completes the leftover plants from yesterday.

EDIT 4/21/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 4/21/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I watered plants.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

nerdsorrow

week 2 of god awful back pain.

I lamented being told that it wasn't that serious, two or three flareups ago when I saw doctors, but unfortunately as I look around the internet for tips, what I'm seeing is that it truly wasn't/isn't that bad, and people deal with much worse for much longer (and still fix themselves with pt exercises and anti-inflammatories)

Anyway, the disc between my vertebrae is out of position and it's aggravating my nerves. This happens for a few weeks once or twice a year because I get hubristic and stop doing my back exercises.

Anyway do these three simple excercises 10 minutes a day, don't turn out like me. https://squatuniversity.com/2018/06/21/the-mcgill-big-3-for-core-stability/

oursin

Happy birthday,

lexin!

tamaranth

2026/058: Hidden in Snow — Viveca Sten (translated by Marlaine Delargy)

All these fucking men, exploiting vulnerable women. [p. 386]

First in a new series of crime novels set in the Swedish town of Åre, a quiet ski resort surrounded by mountains and forest. Hanna Ahlander's life has imploded, both professionally and personally: her boss has 'sent her home to think things over' and clearly wants her gone, and her boyfriend has broken up with her -- leaving her homeless.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: disappointed

squirmelia

-- --- --- --
-------- ------- ------- --------
-------- ----- -- ----- ----- --------
-------- ------- ------- --------
-------- ------- ------- --------
-------- ------- --------
-------- ------- ------- -------- --------
-------- ------- --------

A listing of the number of carriages on each form of public transport I took for two weeks. One dash is one carriage. I also included buses and used one dash for a single decker, two dashes for a double decker. Most days are quite symmetrical, but not all.

weofodthignen

The rain came on at noontime, light at first, then steady for most of the afternoon. The housemate had taken the car out, so poor old Mama Violet hunkered down on the porch. I wish she'd use that cat house, but she's probably still spooked by the strangely unshaded driveway. No sign of the other cats.

The dog is curled up on my bed, between two bunched-up fuzzy blankets and a flannel-covered pillow. Her rear is on my nightie. She looks very comfortable.

ysabetwordsmith

dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday with a theme of "Recovering from Setbacks." Leave prompts, get ficlets!

Current Mood: busy

sanguinity

Intro/FAQ
Days 1-15

My check-in: Received the first round of beta notes on a story (not the longfic), and accepted a number of minor edits. Beta and I will get together and talk about possible bigger revisions later tonight.

Day 20:

china_shop,

sanguinity,

ysilme

Day 19:

badly_knitted,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

dswdiane,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,