Only two books left for my Monthly Thing To Do, which is great because today I remembered February only has 28 days. Ack! I actually just finished The Pox and the Covenant, and was determined to finish it before I posted this blog post update.Now, let's go through a short review of each, starting with the shortest title first.
Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest, is the first in the Clockwork Century series that spans the United States during the 1800's. It takes place in Seattle, set up as the final stop before gold miners got into Canada on their way to the Klondike. Stuff happens, they have to wall off a large section of Seattle because of an underground pocket of crazy poisony gas was accidentally tapped. Kid goes in exploring, mom goes in and earns several Mom of the Year awards, specifically for "Ass Kicking" and "Keeping Secrets." It's super steampunk, and I really liked it! It's a good, fun romp that requires heavy suspension of disbelief. Like I said, it's the first in a series I plan on picking up (I placed holds on the next few books in the series, too)
The Art of the Steal is one of three novels by Frank Abagnale (you know, the Catch Me If You Can guy who lucked out by having Leonardo DiCaprio play him. Seriously. A biopic with Leo starring as you? Lucky) and covers a wide variety of scams and cons he's seen working with banks and institutions over the years (as well as some he saw while working his old 9-5). It's very interesting, if a little dated (it was released in 2002, and for instance offers quite a bit of information on check fraud [side note: what are checks]), and talks about several electronic scams still in use today. I enjoyed it, though I would have enjoyed it ten years ago if I were a little more criminal.
The Pox and the Covenant goes into great, almost annoying, detail about a smallpox epidemic in Boston in 1721, and the resistance Puritan ministers and medical doctors felt while trying to introduce inoculation as a viable means of defeating smallpox (featuring the debut of Benjamin Franklin, who talks so much crap). It's a great view of Puritan Boston, and piqued my interest in learning a little more about Puritanism (specifically, in the foundation of the country). I dislike how the book seems to skip around chronologically and how several details are missing or not explained fully at first. Also, you know in National Treasure, that documentary with Nicholas Cage, how they talk about the Silence Dogood letters Franklin wrote (spoiler alert: he hid a secret message in his letters to lead explorers in the future to a cache of artifacts)? They were written during the smallpox epidemic of 1721 and are talked about in this book~!
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was actually the first of this group of books I read. You may know that Blade Runner was based on this novel? I gotta say... read the book. Then watch the movie again. So much makes sense now. "What's with all the weird questions about animals," you may ask while watching the movie, and I say "It's because stuff, also that dust is toxic." I liked it. A lot. Maybe because I've seen the movie and was able to connect characters and locations and what things looked like. But yeah. Much greater appreciation for Blade Runner after reading the novel it's based on.
With those out of the way, let's get to the Weekly Things to Do! Last week was a "No Soda Week," but I think I failed yesterday because I made a pulled pork recipe that used Dr. Pepper instead of a stock. And it was really good and No Regrets. I'll be enjoying no soda tomorrow because of it, though, and because I had some more soda yesterday because I was like whatever.
This week, as much as it pains me to say, I have to run 3 miles. Not the worst thing ever, especially considering how much walking I've been doing recently. It's been keeping me from being totally sedentary. Let's do this.
As a quick reminder, I'll be making a post this Thursday (or Friday, I don't know) with the month-end status update, a drawing for next months Thing To Do, and I guess an update on the running? See you then
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