Our fantasy library

So, some day when one of us becomes extremely wealthy… you know, when #2′s partner’s long-lost great-uncle dies and leaves him his hundreds of millions… we’re going to buy a three story flat in San Francisco.  #2 and company will live on the top floor, my family will live on the bottom floor where the running of small feet won’t bother anybody, and the middle floor will be our joint library.  (Yes, we know it would be smarter to have the library on the bottom floor, but #2 will be rich enough that they can reinforce it or something.)

While I was viewing the shots of #2′s bookcases, I realized something horrific.  “Oh man, I don’t think we could ever consolidate libraries though,” I typed.  “I’m itching to go through your shelves and sort by author alphabetically.”

Fortunately, that turned out not to be a problem.  “You could curate my books for me. You could even add yours in. I would keep them in order once they were in order,” she replied.  Apparently she doesn’t have her own strange filing system that I just wasn’t understanding.  They’re just not… in order.  *twitch*  You know that episode of Big Bang Theory where Sheldon goes to a party and organizes his hosts’ closet and begs to be allowed to take the button box home to organize in the car?  That’s totally me.  Though mostly with bookcases and spice racks.  I’m not a clean person, but I love my alphabetizing.

Well, it’s not quite fair to say that they’re not in order.  She does have them in “an order.” “For example,” she says, “there is one case that is all my best-loved and most-personal books.”  Which totally makes sense to me.  I’ve often had my most beloved books on the shelf closest to my bed in my life.  Or I’ll have a separate shelf for not-yet-read books.  But the former are generally organized by genre and then by author’s last name, while the latter are organized either by order I should read, alphabetically, or if there are a lot of them, in a manner than will help keep the towers from toppling (largest on the bottom).

“I would let you alphabetize them,” she said.  “I might even help. I just wouldn’t do it all myself.”  This is a good thing, because I might have a nervous break-down if I had to continually see Dave Barry coming right after Diana Wynne Jones.  My mind would not be able to handle it.  In no world does that make sense unless you have very few books by other authors and that just happens to be where you break between fiction and non-fiction/humor.

#2 also has another odd need– she wants authors who coauthor books to have the coauthored book in between the other two authors.  “Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett wrote a book together, so Good Omens is filed in between the two authors, who are next to each other.  I believe that Patricia Wrede and Carolyn Stevermer belong together.”  However, that problem is easily solved, “How about two copies of good omens, one housed with each author?”  “That will work.”

Series order is also important– we are agreed that the Discworld books should be in publication order.  After all, many of the characters show up in other folks’ series.  Especially the Librarian.

Some more discussion decides that hardbacks and paperbacks should be put together in the same shelves.  We are not facing space constraints in our fantasy library, and nothing has to be in a fancy display shelf.  If you don’t think old paperbacks are beautiful, you don’t belong in our library, even if you might be invited to our living rooms.

Then we move on to the more difficult discussion of how to group fiction vs. non-fiction and different genres.  I favor separation of fiction and non-fiction at the very least (though humor like Dave Barry could go in either or in a separate category), and have a slight favor towards subdividing fiction.  She prefers putting everything together.  She wants Malcolm Gladwell in with her fiction.  I don’t.  We throw the question to our partners.  Mine wants everything to be completely subdivided by genre.  Hers says that we should totally separate fiction from non-, and that his books have to go in, too, so, she reluctantly agrees, “I guess separation it is.”  As a concession I allow her to include the graphic novels, manga, and comics with the fiction by author.  She notes that we should put their gaming/RPG books in a separate section as well.

We agree on comfy brown leather chairs with ottomans.  And a divan or two.  And a window seat.  Also, comfy couches, cushions and blankets for the windowseat, curtains, and a fireplace.  Some super-fluffy rug so we can sprawl on our tummies on the floor in front of the fire.  Lighting will somehow be perfect.  And, of course a cat, though we’re not sure whether it should be our already existing felines or a new one specific to the library.  Possibly a marmalade tabby.  And some kitty-specific furniture that allows them to avoid other kitties.

X-rated stuff goes on high high shelves, or goes in individual bedrooms.  #2 must have a lot of pr0n.

We decide on a separate area with low bookcases for books for 0-4 year olds, but chapter books will be shelved with the adult ones.  I add some children’s puzzles and a little desk with little chairs.  Like at the library.  #2 adds a beanbag.  And step-stools.

Finally, we make sure the wifi covers that room too so we can get to LibraryThing.

Now we just have to wait for someone’s unknown rich relative to die and leave us lots of money.

What does your fantasy library look like?

Book Review: The Zebra Said Shhh…

The Easter Bunny brought DC2 a paperback copy of Wandering Scientist’s The Zebra Said Shhh.  I figured I’d review it here.

The quality of the book itself is quite good.  The paper is thick and better suited to destructive little hands and mouths than most non-boardbook children’s books.  Well worth $11.25 (or $9 if it’s on sale).

The pictures are quite nice and are similar to several of our other children’s books.  I think this style that looks like cutouts was popularized by Eric Carle, though these are not as sparse and come with full backgrounds.   I especially like the parrot.  Lots of bold bright colors.

As for the story, it has a pleasant repetition and simple concepts for its target audience.  It holds the same wish fulfillment for adults that Go the F**k to Sleep does, only without the profanity.  If only saying “Shhh” worked on small human children.  There’s always the hope that books like these will build that connection.

After the excitement of breaking open plastic Easter eggs and scattering their contents (raisins) over the floor waned, DC2 was immediately drawn to the book.  Ze opened it, folded over the cover, chewed on the inside a bit (another note:  the book itself was not made in China), and generally seemed to enjoy it.  Miraculously, the book is still in really good shape.

When DC1 (age 6) woke up and started going through DC2′s loot, hir attention was arrested by the book and ze immediately read through it.  Later I noticed hir reading it out loud to DC2.  So that passed some sort of test.

In any case, I recommend purchasing this book.  It’s a good solid children’s book in every respect.  And we own a lot of children’s books.  Hat-tip to both Wandering Scientist and to X-ist publishing.

What are we reading?

Sherlock Holmes short stories (free! on kindle)

The Indiscreet Letter, (also free! on kindle)

Goblin Tales series by Jim C. Hines. Here’s an omnibus.  Oh, but the omnibus doesn’t include the short stories that #1 was actually reading… hm… that’s available on amazon.

Mort. by Terry Pratchett

Sourcery, also by Terry Pratchett

(both of us have read these Discworld novels multiple times!  #1′s current project is to read these in order for the first time. :)  )

Bossypants (I think I was the last person in the world to have not read this yet. Or, if YOU are the last person, read it!)

Saga, volume 1, by Brian Vaughan — amazing! Please read it!

Freakangels vol 1 — interesting. I will read some more in this series and see how it goes.

Darkbeast — this is a YA book but I think adults might even get MORE out of it. Highly recommended. Do check this out.

Skylark — dystopia and magic

The Immortality Engine. Third in a series, and I love it!

Grumpeteers, got anything we should add to our lists?  (Like we need more!)

Also, courtesy of CPP’s request, here’s some shots of our bookshelves (only a partial shot, of course).

Latte factor vs big item spending

One of the good points that Laura Vanderkam makes in her book,  All the Money in the World, is that if you don’t buy the big ticket item, if you spend less on your wedding, take the cheaper vacation, buy the less expensive house, hold on to your car a few more years etc., then that money can easily buy a large number of lattes, weekly housecleaning, and so on.

Earlier personal finance books, such as those by David Bach, mention the other trade-off.  By not indulging in those lattes, you can get that fancy vacation, the bigger house, the wedding of your dreams, and so on.  (Of course, he also makes the point that if you’re not saving for retirement, the latte should probably go until you’re making ends meet and providing yourself a safety cushion).

Elizabeth Warren with her balanced money formula combines these two views, by saying that really no more than 50% should be going to the mandatory items like your housing, and something like 30% can go to either lattes or vacations (or both)– your choice. 

What view is right?  Well, it all goes to diminishing marginal utility.  At some point you have had enough lattes that another one isn’t going to make you marginally more happy than saving the equivalent amount for a big ticket item.  At some point with housing, your house is nice enough that rather than paying for more housing you should allow yourself little treats.

The problem, Vanderkam notes, is that people tend to misjudge the happiness they get from small daily treats compared to larger ticket items.  Most people would be a little happier indulging a small amount regularly compared to having the large annual vacation.  Although, with anticipatory happiness while saving for the big ticket items, those happiness numbers may be more equal than some happiness studies claim.

So should you get rid of that latte factor in order to buy the house or the vacation?  Or should you buy a smaller house and scrimp on vacations so you can have a cleaning lady or Starbucks without guilt?  Only you know the shape of your utility function and where it hits your budget constraint, and only you can make that decision.

Are more a saving up for big purchases kind of person or a sweat the big stuff so you don’t have to sweat the small stuff kind of person?  Or has your budget constraint shifted so you can have both?

What’s your gazingus pin?

I could have sworn I already did a post on this.  But I was trying to type up a tiny rant and wanted to link to it and I could not find it!  (Right now I’m thinking it was a post on a forum and not on the blog.)  And the tiny rant won’t make as much sense if you don’t know what a gazingus pin is.  So this post is so a future post makes more sense.  :)  Also, it’s an awesome idea by itself, thanks go to the book Your Money or Your Life for initially posing it.

A gazingus pin is something that you just buy.  You may not have it in that color.  You may not have quite that flavor.  You tend to have a lot of them, far more than you really need, and sometimes you may even have more than you can use.  Common examples are flavored lip balm, or shoes, or yarn.  Alternatively they could be the latest electronic thing, or power tools, and so on.  They’re tiny pleasures, but if overdone, the pleasure can be diluted because it has become a habit more than a treat.  And sometimes they’re not so tiny pleasures because the gazingus pin in question is expensive or the sheer quantity of pins adds up disproportionate to a person’s budget.  When either one of those scenarios happen, it’s a good idea to think mindfully about the spending habit and maybe even cut back on it.

At grumpy rumblings, it’s pretty obvious that both of us have the same gazingus pin:  books.  And this isn’t a habit that we’re willing to give up.  However, it’s a habit we can afford.  We don’t let it interfere with maximizing our individual utilities subject to our budget constraints.  We also put book-wants on our Amazon lists rather than just buying them.  Using the Amazon list in this way, btw, is a form of delaying gratification to get only what you really want– a month or so before Christmas or her birthday, #1 will cut out the books she didn’t really want, thus limiting the total number of book purchases.  Eventually all those books will get read and/or reread.

What’s your gazingus pin?  Are you buying the right amount of it?

Cookbooks we have loved

My maternal grandma got a copy of The Old Fashioned Cookbook by Jan Carleton McBride for my father as a wedding present.  It’s full of wonderful American recipes from appetizer to dessert.  The cake section is especially amazing– I did not like cake at all before trying this book.  When my mom went to a low-fat diet, I was able to obtain ownership for our copy.

Another favorite from my parents’ is The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash. This fantastic book goes in and out of print all the time and has gone through a few editions and updates (now with microwave technology!). My parents would not part with theirs so we bought our own copy. If you belong to a CSA or have a garden of your own, you must get a copy of this book. It answers the question of, “What on earth are we going to do with all this X?” from basic preparation to elaborate recipes. And the recipes are delicious.

The New Laurel’s Kitchen book is fantastic if you’re trying to eat healthily and/or vegetarian. The recipes in it are creative and tasty, even though they only contain healthy stuff.  It’s a fun read too.  But very hippy-dippy.  What else would you expect from a cookbook coming out of a commune in the Berkeley area?  Additionally, if you want to bake with only whole grains, their bread book is not to be missed.  There are different techniques for baking with whole grain flour (which is “thirstier”) and The Laurel’s Bread Book covers them.

We’ve already talked about this duo of cookbooks from son Kevin and mother Nancy Mills. These are fantastic quick recipes for weeknights. We love them all.

The Cake Bible.  It is as advertised.

Baking with Julia. This cookbook encourages you to master a few basic recipes and use them with an array of different recipes. The weeks my partner spent mastering pie dough were wonderful indeed.

A new favorite that we’ve been going through, Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick and Easy Indian Cooking.  It should be called, Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick, Easy, and Delicious Indian Cooking.  Also:  pretty sure it’s healthier than the stuff we get for take-out.

We have a few Best Recipe books, which are good go-to books when something isn’t in the Old-Fashioned Cookbook.  Our favorite is the Best Recipe Make-Ahead cookbook. It is great for making food in advance whether for a party, for someone with a new baby, or for yourself in the future.

What are your favorite cookbooks?

Pre-holiday what are we reading?

#1:
When a Writer Can’t Write: Studies in Writer’s Block and Other Composing Problems by Mike Rose (no link):  Has some interesting bits, but some of it isn’t really that relevant to me.  Still, a fine read.

The sorrows of an American: I appreciated this. Read it.

This book is not a toy!: Not hilarious, but funny, and light. Ranges from Dave-Barry-esque humour to more essay-ish.

Murder in Luxury by Hugh Pentecost: I wish these mysteries weren’t OOP!

Call for the Dead by John LeCarre

fanfic: not recommended for anyone but me.

Newton’s Cannon: Awesome. Makes an especially nice companion read when your partner is playing Assassin’s Creed III.

Venetia: You know we love Heyer.

#2:
reread A Wrinkle in Time… not as good as an adult.  My recommendation:  keep it locked in your childhood memories.  (I am told it would be wise to do this with any and all C.S. Lewis as well.  Anne of Green Gables, OTOH opens up new layers as an adult.)

Finished last grown-up Diana Wynne Jones book, Enchanted Glass.  It was good, though I’m not quite sure who it was aimed for.  It seems like a children’s book… but contains some adult themes.

An infamous army… it was ok.  I sort of skimmed through the long battle scenes that are what the book is most famous for.  I was a little disappointed in the next generation of the two families she follows from previous books.  The love matches are somewhat dissatisfying as well.

What should we put on our Christmas wish lists?  (Or scrounge the library for if you’re more into recommending borrowing.)

Ask the grumpies: Suggestions on books for the new sibling?

Reader I asks through email:

I have a question for the one of you who recently had a second baby. I have a 4yo daughter and am soon due with a second girl. Were there any books that you found helpful in preparing DC1 for what life might be like with a new baby in the family? (that are not aimed at toddlers) What did you do to prepare hir? My daughter is super excited about getting a baby sister, but obviously she has no real clue how her life is going to change.

We talked a bit about books for parents on sibling rivalry, but came up with pretty much a blank.  However, there are a lot of books aimed at kids themselves.

We went through a bunch of books on what’s going on in mommy’s belly, though you have to scan through them because many are not age appropriate. For this we just hit the children’s nonfiction section in the library, and I read through a bunch before checking them out.  Finding out more about what was going on made.the process less scary, especially after I stopped throwing up so much.

Many sibling books tell kids that they’re going to be feeling jealous but mommy and daddy still love them. We avoided these books based on research about how educational television makes kids misbehave by providing examples of misbehavior.

The book we found most helpful was Dr. Sears, What Baby Needs. It’s great because it explains generally what is going on (you’ll still want more about the baby developing and stuff, most likely– we found that “what size fruit/veggie is the unborn baby” each week helped), and what big sibling can do to help.  It’s upbeat, explanatory, and not preachy.  DC1 read it over and over, and definitely liked the suggestion to cuddle with mom while she’s nursing the baby.  (Ze also liked to mention that the baby doesn’t know how to do anything at first.)

There were some other books we had on the amazon wishlist but didnt actually get. There’s a Mr. Rogers book that looked good, but we haven’t seen it so I can’t be sure of it.  We also had some videos on the Netflix queue, but I can’t recommend the Sesame St. one and we never did end up watching the rest.

Grumpy readership, do you have any more suggestions for books for older siblings?

What are we reading?

Finished Damned Busters.

It was good and I look forward to the next two books, though I identify more with Henghis Hapthorn!

Black Sheep (sweet) [#1 reread this recently!  <3 Heyer!]

Three Men in a Boat (quite funny!) [free on kindle!]

Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions, by James W. Pennebaker — informative.

I really liked this one:

This one was powerful and recommended:

I love them:

Latest one I read in this series and it’s starting to get seriously weird as well as tying lots of insanely complex plot lines together across multiple books (#1 sent the author fan mail right before her death.. very sad):

Fair readers, got any good suggestions for more stuff? I’m far too lazy to read the new Hillary Mantel book because it will probably make me think. Other ideas?

More series I don’t feel the need to finish (and why)

The Last Werewolf (POV shift)

When I get used to a protagonist, I don’t want to start all over with another one.

Moira Moore Heroes (gah) (#2 did finish this series, however, she skipped the poorly rated second to last book and there’s another book in the series she could have done without… really the first, second, and last books are all that are needed.  It would have made a decent trilogy!). #1 read the first and second, and then on the third one I started going enh…

Spirit Lens (POV shift)

I loved this book! I don’t want to read another character!

The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack (only half the book was good)

Vish Puri mysteries… the first one was interesting, but I don’t think I need more than one.

#2 is not sure if she’s ever going to finish the Kim Harrison series.  She wishes the author would give the main character a break, maybe even between books.  Some time off to heal or something.

The Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher.  I just don’t care enough.  (#1 agrees.  There are some parts I really like, but I don’t have the stamina for the whole thing.)

#1 is still happily going on the darkborn/lightborn/shadowborn series. 

Really amazing world-building.

Also about a million other series I am still working on!  I can’t list them all; it’s easier to list the ones I quit on. According to my LibraryThing tag “awaiting sequel”, I am awaiting approximately 45 sequels.  Doh!

Are there any series you’ve decided not to push through?  How about awesome series that you can’t not finish?