Daphne awards

Bookslut, which I had not heard of before, wants to correct the major book awards from 50 years ago. 

According to my records, I've read six books published in 1963:

• The Graduate, which I hated; it's not on their short list
• Cat's Cradle, which is on their original short list.  I remember liking it, but don't remember any details of the book.  That's not a particularly good sign.
• The Game Players of Titan, which is not on their list, but I don't remember particularly liking it; at least, not as much as Cat's Cradle; I don't think it warrants a suggestion.
• V., which is on their original short list.  I kinda liked it, but not nearly as much as Gravity's Rainbow or The Crying of Lot 49.
• Way Station, not on their list; like The Game Players of Titan above, it can be left off
• The Girls of Slender Means, which is on their original short list.  I kinda liked it, but not nearly as much as Memento Mori or Loitering with Intent.

I would have sworn I'd read Hopscotch and The Bell Jar.  In the case of Hopscotch, I think I started it and put it down, but that was in the days before I recorded my DNFs.  I will now go read The Bell Jar.  

I'm torn about the last book on their original short list, The Man Who Fell to Earth.  I've read two of Tevis's other books, Queen's Gambit and Mockingbird, and liked them both very much, but neither struck me as written by an author who could produce a novel worthy of "Best book of 1963".  Then again, unless The Bell Jar knocks me out, I'm not too crazy about any of the other books on the short list.

The dangers of seeing sarcasm quotes everywhere

The Slate post Here Are the Charts Showing Vermont's "Full-Blown Heroin Crisis" illustrates the problem with using quotation marks in headlines.  Instead of seeing the marks and thinking, "that's a direct quote from Shumlin," I thought, "this post is going to try to refute Shumlin's focus on VT's drug problem using some visual analytics."  Sadly, no, we really just have a serious problem with heroin in VT. 

Part of the miscommunication is my own cynical generation's continuing love affair with sarcasm, but part of it is also a failure on the part of the headline writer to understand that you can't use direct quotations in a vacuum.  I already knew about Shumlin's comments, but didn't recognize "full-blown heroin crisis" as a direct quote from his speech.  Better to leave off the quotes entirely.

My wild guess, based on the skyrocketing rate of abuse in the 25-34 crowd, is that the people who are most at risk are those coming out of college and not finding jobs in VT.  

Sharks on Twitter

I was hoping that each shark would have its own twitter account, but no, you have to follow @SLSWA.  

What do tweets like "The SW Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter has sighted a 2.5m U/K shark, 2m off shore at Rocky Point, Eagle Bay." mean, anyway? There's a 2.5 meter-long shark 2 meters off shore, or a 2.5 mile-long shark 2 miles off shore?  

Inconsistent use of the metric system aside, the article states that SLSWA will tweet "when a tagged shark swims within about a kilometre of a beach".  2 miles is more than three kilometers off shore.  Some of the tweets are tracking sharks tens of miles off shore.  What the hell, SLSWA?

2013 in reading

2013 was a good year; I read a lot of great books.  Top three in the order in which I read them:

1. Night, by Elie Wiesel (first in a series; I didn't like Dawn and Day nearly as much, but they are still affecting)
2. Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld (second in a trilogy; the others are worth reading, too)
3. Crossing to Safety, by Wallace Stegner

Other highlights/favorites:

• The new Bujold novel
• Catching up on  Kelley Eskridge's collection of stories, Dangerous Space, and feeling sad that it's been 11 years since her wonderful novel Solitaire.
• Discovering Mary Robinette Kowal's "Glamourist Histories", starting with Shades of Milk and Honey
• Finally getting around to reading Lan Samantha Chang's collection of stories, Hunger
• Being introduced to Nancy Mitford's books by my SIL 
• Finishing the year with Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's and "A Christmas Memory".  Regardless of his later output, he was a fabulous writer at this point in his career.

Weather report: snakes chasing the car

Been slippery out on the east coast the last few days, and about to get even worse.

The Snow Village murders: the case of the ice skater

The body of the victim was found after it had been dismembered and discarded in the seedy underside of the quaint Alpine town.  She was identified as one of the "Crack the Whip" skaters  who frequent the pond, where she was last seen three days ago.  We rounded up the usual suspect, who denied any knowledge of the victim's existence, much less any wrongdoing, and the case remains unsolved.

Fortunately, being made of ceramic, it was a simple matter to put her back together again, though her right knee will never be the same.

Calville Blanc d'Hiver

Four years ago, I discovered the Scott Farm heirloom apples at City Market.  They continue to be my favorite orchard**, though I still haven't visited Dummerston in fall.  

One of the apples they grow that I particularly enjoy is the Calville Blanc d'Hiver, or "white winter calville".  Based upon the pictures I've seen elsewhere, this apple's appearance seems to be highly variable, so I've included a couple representative pictures of what is sold by Scott Farm.  The most distinctive visual features are the vertical ridges -- the Orange Pippin review calls it ugly and misshapen, but I find it unique and beautiful.


The Adam's Apples blog has a fairly good description of the apple, and notes its distinctive banana-pear smell and taste, but I strongly object to the idea that this apple is "not really for eating out of hand."  It is, in fact, delicious on its own as a light dessert or late night snack.

** though I'm very partial to picking the early macs at Shelburne Orchards, and my kids love the tire swing