Wednesday is reading the same old thing

[pameladean]

Every time Wednesday goes by with my friends posting descriptions of what they have read or are reading, I wonder vaguely, "Why am I not reading more?"

The answer, of course, is that I am reading ALL THE TIME, but it's the same thing; the not-quite-finished novel that I'm writing and revising. Very occasionally I break out wildly and read sections of the books that it is a sequel to, but mostly I just read it, the oldest stuff, the middle stuff, the newest stuff, and shove it around until it looks right or my eyes cross, whichever comes first. Guess which comes first.

I think the last books I finished were all rereads: the entire Tony Hillerman series; Nevada Barr's first Anna Pigeon novel; and Hilary McKay's Saffy's Angel, because it's always time for that book, at least in my head. I'm going very slowly through an amazing collection of essays by Harriet Walter. People reading this journal are perhaps most likely to recall her as the person who played Harriet Vane in the actually good TV adaptation of some of Dorothy Sayers's novels. But she's had a long and very distinguished career on the stage as well. The book is called Brutus and Other Heroines, and I can't wait to read about her experiences playing in all-female casts of Shakespeare.

I am only as far as her discussion of Imogen in Cymbeline, which is riveting.

Finishing the book I'm writing would go further if things didn't keep getting in the way. I lost a lot of yesterday wrestling with the pharmacy system. Everybody in it was very helpful, except for me, as I had originally ordered a refill a bit late given when I would run out of medication, and then blithely assumed that the mail-order pharmacy would come through as fast as it usually does. I don't understand the Medicare prescription-drug pricing structure at all, but it results in my paying several hundred dollars for the first and last 90-day prescription of linagliptin every year, but only $47 for the middle two. (The plan I'm on pays about $1300 before I get socked with the remainder. Yikes.) The pharmacy always calls to make sure it's okay to charge my credit card for the expensive winter supply. I surmise from this that for a lot of people, probably one day including me, it is not okay, and therefore they aren't getting the medication they need. Thanks, Republicans. In any case, this time they were so busy they never did call me, so the prescription hung fire until I noticed it hadn't arrived, and then with rising alarm that the website still listed it as "being refilled." It all got straightened out, but this will teach me not to be sanguine about, well, anything.

My youngest brother was in town for a few days, and cooked us all a magnificent dinner. He is now a professional bass player, but for some years he was a professional vegetarian cook, and anything he provides is always delicious.

I will pretend there are five things up above, and make the post. My best wishes for a salubrious end to the year and for light in the darkness for all of you.

Pamela

Comments

[halfmoon_mollie1]

I got Cassandra Clare's "Queen of Air and Darkness". Yes, I realize it is YA. A friend of mine got me started on the books, and also the 'Clockwork' steampunk series. I was never into fantasy until these books but OMG. It is the third and final book in the Dark Artifices series and I swear every time I put it down another chapter appears. It is taking me FOREVER. She does have one character who piqued my interest (did you notice I spelled 'piqued' right?), Magnus Bane. Also I waited too long, I keep having to go back and look up the names of the characters.

[pameladean]

Some of the BEST stories are YA. People who think they are too grown up to read YA are just missing out.

English spelling is so weird that spelling "pique" right is definitely a victory.

P.

[halfmoon_mollie1]

We all have our 'things' and one of mine is people who write that something peeked their interest. Right up there with first come first serve.

[pameladean]

Drives me nuts too, to be honest.

P.

[carbonel]

I'm about a third of the way through Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon). This is the first novel of hers I've read that's intended for adults, so it takes me aback from time to time, but I'm quite enjoying it.

[halfmoon_mollie1]

I will have to look into this one if I EVER finish the one I'm reading.

[sovay]

The book is called Brutus and Other Heroines, and I can't wait to read about her experiences playing in all-female casts of Shakespeare.

Well, I should read this book.)

[pameladean]

I strongly suspect that you should, though I am far from those productions and still reading about the parts that Walter had in her youth. The cover alone, though, oh my gosh.

P.

[sovay]

I strongly suspect that you should, though I am far from those productions and still reading about the parts that Walter had in her youth.

I mean, I'll enjoy reading about those, too. I feel I saw her in a role before Harriet Vane, but right now I can't think what.

[pameladean]

Of course you will. I was projecting my impatience to get to the later essays.

I always forget about this, but Harriet Walter played Fanny Dashwood in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility.

P.

[sovay]

I always forget about this, but Harriet Walter played Fanny Dashwood in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility.

Ah! That would be it.

[athenais]

The Harriet Walter book sounds great, thanks for the mention. I'm reading one book very slowly, but in any case I never do reading round ups because I don't often have anything to say about what I read. If they entertained me that's all I ask.

Happy December, happy new year!

[pameladean]

It's amazing so far. I'm obliged to my friend Vavia on Twitter for calling it to my attention.

I will eventually have a lot of thoughts and opinions about a book that I read, but especially with fiction, I don't have them in a timely fashion at ALL. If I did reading roundups I should do last year's.

Happy December and happy new year to you too!

P.

[asakiyume]

Costs of drugs without insurance are strange, made-up numbers that make me go ??? If a treatment really costs $10,000 a dose, then maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board and work more on the treatment before you offer it to the public, you know? Like, if part of a treatment involved sacrificing a child, we'd say, uh, nope, try again--that's not going to work as a treatment. But of course, medicines in the US **DO** require that, when they cost so much that people are trading off paying for food, or paying for heat.

I hear you both on the matter of reading only a tiny bit, and on spending a lot of the time that might go to reading on your writing. We all look forward to your writing <3

Best wishes for a salubrious end of the year to you too!

[pameladean]

I know. It is just bananapants, only that's rather a cheerful word and there is nothing cheerful about how the pharmaceutical companies are screwing over people who can't deal with it because the U.S.A. has a horrible fetish about corporations' never being in any way inconvenienced unless they want to provide abortions. Your observations about child sacrifice are all too apt.

Thank you for still looking forward to my writing; I fear that some people must have given up in disgust.

And thank you for the good wishes!

P.

[graydon]

I continue to admire your ability to keep engaging with the work you are writing long after I would be trying to immolate each individual electron so the thing would at the very least go away.

(I more or less don't read other fiction at all since I started writing with intent; the occasional exception (Going North will certainly be one!) but for the most part it seems to be the same part of my brain, and it does the one or the other but gets cranky when asked to do both.)

[mrissa]

That essay collection sounds great, though.

[pameladean]

It really is. I think a lot of actors are very smart about their jobs, but not all of them have the skill of expressing this in words. Walter is really good at it.

P.

[lokifan]

Hilary McKay's Saffy's Angel, because it's always time for that book, at least in my head

<333 Absolutely. I thought of it just yesterday, when Sienna came up in conversation.

[ethelmay]

I think the only thing I've seen Harriet Walter in besides the Wimsey/Vane adaptations is Ballet Shoes, in which she's one of the Drs. who tutor the Fossil girls, wearing a monocle and playing cricket at someone's birthday party.